#like that's ever been even remotely the biggest of my problems

[seawitchkaraoke]

Adhd is just so fucking annnooooyyiiiing! Like I can do one (1) task a day and that's on a good day, on meds. I can either go to the doctor OR clean my room OR do my uni work OR write like three emails, and doing any of these lowers the chances at still being able to cook proper food or floss or go to sleep at a healthy time, I have SUCH a light work load uni wise this semester and all it results in is me being able to at least keep my place slightly cleaner than usual, how am I ever gonna work a full time job? I hate this shit

[shurisasthmaticgf]

wait a damn minute: max verstappen x black fem! reader

summary: in the midst of the biggest worldwide IT outage you realize your name has come up at the worst time possible

author's note: i wrote this on friday when the entire thing happened, i thought i posted it but turns out it was camped out in my drafts still. this is my first max fic so i hope it's an enjoyable read! feedback and comments are always appreciated and highly encouraged, i like to know what you all think of my work!

warnings: google translated dutch

the hungarian grand prix was only days away and you couldn't wait to surprise your boyfriend with a visit. it killed you to miss his races but you'd recently been promoted to a new position in your company which required more days in office than remote. you'd managed to balance work and personal life pretty well but when you weren't missing due to your new job, you had something else happen last minute. finally, after weeks of working long hours on end in an office, you were in the clear to start remote working more frequently.

you managed to clock out of work right on time so the minute the clock hit 6:00 pm, you were logging out and grabbing your already packed bag. one of your coworkers passed by you in the elevator, he was the only one around your age in the entire department so immediately you both clicked. he lightly bumped you with his shoulder and commented, "three side profiles and a headshot or selfie." you furrowed your brows in confusion and he clarified, "photo requests for my husband of course." the two of you burst into laughter as you teased, "was the autographed photocard not enough for you, théo? i even decorated it and put it in a holder for your desk." the young man smiled fondly thinking of the small 3x4 inch card that sat on the corner of his main monitor. he brushed one of his locs from his face and dramatically sighed, "fine i won't be pushy...i only want the selfie." you shook your head and refused with a chuckle, "i'm not asking toto wolff for a selfie, théo." your coworker let out a fake sigh of disappointment and lightly pushed you in the other direction as you parted ways to your cars. you laughed and called out, "i'll see what i can do, no promises though!" his face lit up and he blew your air kisses before calling out a goodnight.

‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

just thinking about seeing your boyfriend racing again brought butterflies to your stomach. although he was doing well this season a few problems had cost him a few wins here and there. fans had jokingly mentioned that you not being at races was the cause of the missed first place wins because coincidentally, every race you've ever attended, max has won exactly that. for weeks fans have asked about your whereabouts and you'd practically ghosted them simply because you were working so much. you were known as one of the more down to earth f1 WAGs who had no problem interacting with fans in person and over social media. so you suddenly not showing up for max and not interacting with people online made them wonder what was going on with you during the past few weeks. now that work had chilled out, you were happy to be back online again, and even happier to be able to make it out to hungary this weekend.

the moment you stepped into your apartment you made a beeline for your bedroom to change out of your professional clothes. you snatched a pair of scissors, a spray bottle, conditioner, a towel, a comb, and a crumpled up paper bag and cozied up on the couch with shrek queued on the tv. you sprayed your head with the warm water in the bottle and spread a glob of conditioner all over the roots of your hair. you pulled one of your braids forward and snipped the end before unraveling it and picking out whatever knots formed in the 6 weeks your hair had been tucked away. thankfully this time it didn’t take too long to get your braids out, only 3 hours compared to the usual 5 when you didn’t have your boyfriend’s help.

right as the last strands of synthetic hair slipped out of your own curls, your phone rang the familiar tune and a picture of your boyfriend flashed on your screen. a warm smile spread across your face as his camera turned on to show face. you braided you hair on each side to get it out of your face as you spoke, “hi my love how was your day?” he rolled over to his side and grumbled sleepily, “long, usual press day so you know how that goes.” you frowned slightly, “i wish i was there with you today.” max hummed and admitted, “i do as well. but your work is more important so i can deal with this.” you watched as his eyes lingered on your face and you giggled while moving out of the frame shyly, “stop looking at me like that.” although it was dimly lit in hotel room you could see the light pink tint to his cheeks as he smiled, “i can’t admire my lovely girlfriend?” he yawned mid sentence and you insisted, “as much as i love talking to you i know you’re tired and you need to go to sleep. so i’ll talk to you tomorrow, yeah?” he sleepily agreed and murmured, “welterusten mijn liefste.” you blew him a kiss and whispered softly, "goodnight baby." [goodnight, my love]

instead of heading straight to sleep you chose to wash your hair rather than waiting until the morning to do so. the flight you managed to snag last minute to hungary was set for tomorrow evening and you hadn't packed anything. not wanting to get onto a plane with a damp head of coils, you decided to just deal with it tonight. the entire process didn't take as long since you were speeding through just so you could sleep. by the time you were done it was around 2 AM and you were more than happy with the results. a dozen thick twists hung past your shoulders until you wrapped them up into a scarf and covered them with your bonnet to head to bed.

‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

when you woke up in the morning you noticed your phone had over 50 missed calls, messages, and emails. your mind conjured up the worst possible thoughts as you called your boyfriend to see what was the matter. max answered on the first few rings and you anxiously stammered, "baby? maxie? what's going on are you okay? where are you?" on the other line max answered clearly confused on what you were talking about, "schat? i am fine, i'm heading to the track. nothing is wrong here, what are you talking about?" you started to calm down realizing that he was fine but you responded, "i thought- didn't you blow up my phone early this morning? i was worried something happened and-" your boyfriend interjected with a calm tone, "y/n, i promise you nothing is the matter-"

an incoming call from théo, your coworker cut max off and you spoke up, "i'm sorry i think it's work related because théo is calling me." max let out an annoyed sound and you laughed, "i don't get why you don't like him." max scoffed, "he is too touchy and handsy with you." there was a playful groan, "oh god here you go- max, we've been over this. théo is a 27 year old gay man from san francisco who's convinced he's princess diana's reincarnate. he's the least of your worries okay?" max conceded, "okay fine i guess...but i still have my eye on him." another call from théo interrupted your conversation and you added, "but he's blowing up my phone so i need to see what's wrong. i'll talk to you later okay?" max agreed and bid you goodbye before hanging up the phone.

meanwhile you answered théo's call and he was literally running through what looked like the parking garage of his high rise. he panted, "you- you nee-...oh god i'm out of shape- you need to get up right now.. i'll be there to pick you up in fifteen minutes so be ready downstairs." you looked around confused and your coworker/ friend explained, "there's some massive outage or something happening. i know we had off today but they're calling the entire office in to see if we can figure it out." you were already climbing out of bed and you pressed for more information, "what do you mean an outage?" théo shrugged and wiped sweat from his brow as he tried to make himself look less winded, "i dunno i was thinking a breach or something? whatever it is we'll find out but we gotta go right now babes." you hurriedly grabbed an outfit from your closet and started to get dressed and ready to go, keeping him on the line.

‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

when you finally managed to get to his car, théo pointed to your phone and told you, "check twitter too, the fans are making jokes that you did something to the platform." despite having no idea what the hell he was talking about you opened twitter to see the flood of tweets under your name on the trending topics list. a pit formed in your stomach and you nearly fainted when you realized what he was talking about. you were completely new to this job and panic coursed through your veins on the thought of losing everything you worked hard for. the look of panic drew a laugh from your best friend and coworker as he jested, "they're funny aren't they?!" you shook your head and nearly shouted, "no it's not i'm gonna get fired!" théo waved off your concern, "girl the issue is definitely not from you and nobody thinks so. besides, dante from marketing and eleni from HR were sending the funny ones to our group chat...not that this isn't serious but just to make light of a shitty situation you know?" you shifted in your seat unsure how to feel and he promised, "i guarantee it's fine."

when you actually got to work with théo you were pulled into a meeting where you all were briefed about the situation. they clarified that they knew it was an issue with an update that was sent out early in the morning. after the meeting your boss told you that he knew you weren't supposed to be working today but you did need to stay and potentially over the weekend as well to help your team mitigate the issue as much as you all could. despite it being a global issue and not directly an issue from the monaco office, you knew that he meant he needed you there to help deploy the solution when it came through. he let you have a fifteen minute break to rearrange your travel plans and make the cancellations you needed before having you start work.

‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

the work day ended later than usual, the later hours were spent at your home office while you were on meetings with other people on your team. luckily you were able to catch up with the results of max's first and second practice sessions through peeking at live updates while you worked. when you got the okay to clock out, you nearly fell asleep on your desk but waking back up when your boyfriend's ringtone jump scared you.

you kept your head on the desk as you opened the video call, "hey you." max's features softened when he noticed the look of exhaustion on your face, "it was that bad huh?" you gave a silent thumbs up and sighed, "i wish it didn't happen...i was so excited to come surprise you and finally be there to see you again. i'm sorry i can't make it work." max rushed to your defense, "er zijn nog genoeg andere races over in het seizoen, je kunt in plaats daarvan naar die races komen kijken." you let out an annoyed groan, "i know but i wanted to be there this time. now you'll have bad luck." max chuckled at the mention of the running joke of you being his lucky charm, "it's alright. don't worry your pretty little head about me. now come on let's go to sleep, i know you're tired." you shuffled your feet against your bedroom floor as you took your phone with you to get ready for the night. [there are plenty of other races left in the season, you can come and watch those races instead.]

as you lay in bed with your lights off max asked, "did you see they asked me about you today?" you hummed a soft, "nuh uh." he smiled at the memory and explained, "i was in an interview and they mentioned that your name was trending on twitter and asked if i saw it. i only saw that your name was trending but i didn't see what for so they told me fans made jokes that you crashed the mercedes, mclaren, and williams servers so that i could win this weekend." a sleepy smile crossed your lips and you asked, "what'd you say?" he turned over in his bed and answered, "i told them it wasn't you because you don't make mistakes in your work. you're too good at what you do. also that you aren't the one that sends out the updates so people don't need to use your name in a bad light." you grinned wider already knowing what he was going to say, "and how did that go over?" max let out an sigh and small chuckle, "the guys have been making fun of me all night for it." you let out the loudest laugh max has heard from you in weeks making him somewhat more fine with getting teased by his friends.

your laughter subsided and you told him, "tell me about something interesting." max thought for a moment then started rambling on about the geologic history of the netherlands, watching as your eyes started to droop with the passing minutes. falling asleep with your boyfriend still on the phone became a habit especially in the early days of you dating. but now you were spending more time with him that occurrences like this just started happening once more, leaving you missing his presence at night. as for now, this was the best you could get.

‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

the end.

[takusan-no-ai]

A Love only words can Express

PAIRING: Miko x Male Reader (Romantic) (Fluff)

SUMMARY: Only her true self can fluster him.

Sakura blossoms blew in the wind as a welkin of thunder strikes reverberated the night. It was there that the Sacred Sakura stood firm and tall, encompassing all of the Grand Narukami Shrine. All of Inazuma under its protection, where it would remain eternal.

That shrine housed one of Inazuma’s most prominent youkai, if not the most: Yae Miko, the kitsune; and Narukami Island was her home. Where she and many youkai had come to know as a place of belonging. A place that many have fought to preserve and died proud.

It was there that the kitsune honors the youkai in her beloved shrine. For she was the Lady Guuji Yae, head shrine maiden and leader of everything within her domain.

But she’s not just the chief priestess; Miko was also boss, founder, and editor-in-chief of her own company: Yae Publishing House. Renowned across all of Teyvat for its incredible volumes of novels.

And yet all of those achievements do nothing to describe herself. Miko was a trickster at heart, teasing everyone she knows and doesn’t know. Her personality knew no bounds, even when the situation called for her to be serious, Miko would get her way. Friends of hers were already well aware of the danger her entertainment posed.

Mizuki could never escape the shadow Miko deliberately put between them, evne though they would get along just fine. And Ei, no matter how powerful, calm, and intimidating she was, could shake off the rage baiting remarks that escaped from her dear friend’s mouth.

And it was because of her personality that many avoided her. People were wary of Miko, because for all the good that she did do for them, being even slightly rude to the Lady Guuji Yae, confidant of the electro archon, protector of the Sacred Sakura, seemed like a fate worst than death.

So people walked on eggshells. Treaded the lines carefully. And never overstepped any boundaries.

Except for him.

(Y/N). He was Miko’s boyfriend. A long standing one at that. Most people couldn’t handle being near her for long periods of time, so to see him stand so proudly next to her like it was nothing made her feel butterflies. They fell in love fast and their romance blossomed with roots deep inside.

(Y/N) had never been scared of her. He never was wary of her or even remotely nervous when they first met. It was his complete lack of caution near her that made him so intriguing to her. And ever since then that curiosity flourished into their budding romance they had now.

But there had been one problem. A horrendous atrocity so bad it had become the biggest, most awful, most tragic problem in her life: Miko couldn’t fluster him. Try as she may, because she just loved to tease, (Y/N) wouldn’t even so much as flinch at her words.

Reason being he could see through her words, her half-hearted attempts at humor; he could see her true intentions. He’d even go as far as to say that Miko was adorable. And he’d say as much to anyone who would listen. But most were baffled by his statement; the Guuji Yae? The kitsune? Cute?

Miko was flattered by his compliments, but they did nothing to quell her desire for him to become flustered. So she sought counsel from one of her closest friends.

…

“Hmm. And is that all?” Mizuki said with an exasperated sigh, her brows knitted tightly. She was currently sitting in front of her childhood friend, Miko, who was as…delightful…as ever.

“At this rate I might have to quell my thirst for fun with someone else.”

Mizuki clenched her fists.

“Say, how big are you baku on—”

“Hold it right there.” Mizuki interrupted. “Instead of exploring that train of thought, let’s delve into why he doesn’t fluster.” She quickly led Miko into her client room to continue the conversation.

“Well he certainly isn’t immune to my charms.” Said Miko. Mizuki deliberated her friend’s words. “But every time I try to get a reaction out him: nothing. It makes me so heart-stricken that I just get the urge to bite on objects.” Miko chattered on.

“Mizuki?”

“…yes?”

“Can you turn into your baku form? I’m feeling sorrowful just thinking about it~”

“Conversely, let’s continue this discussion; I believe I know what the issue is.” Mizuki said, ignoring Miko’s teasings. “You just need to be upfront and honest.” Miko’s eyes flickered like a bright light. “If your jokes aren’t hitting the mark, then being earnest should do the trick.”

Miko stood up immediately to leave, handing Mizuki a pouch of mora as payment. Mizuki watched as she left, finally slumping forward.

“When did I start giving love advice?”

…

As full proof as the plan was, Miko was still hesitant to use it; her final scheme to make (Y/N) flustered was to be honest like Mizuki suggested. But being so open would be a hard transition for her. It’s not like Miko couldn’t share her feelings truthfully, it’s just more uncomfortable than she’d like; especially with her lover.

Nevertheless, she continued on with her plan.

…

The shrine was now closed, leaving the lovers with each other. Sakura blossoms blew in the wind as a welkin of thunder strikes reverberated the night, a cool breeze causing a chill to run down both of their spines. So they snuggled up, gazing up at the moon.

Miko wrapped her tail around (Y/N)’s waist. Immediately he turned to look at her, eyes squinting. “Something up? You don’t usually show your tail, even around me.”

She didn’t respond back, simply rubbing her head against his, grasping his hand, and smiling softly. At this point (Y/N) was visibly nervous; Miko was never this physically affectionate before.

“I really do love you, you know?” She said.

“I know. And I love you too.” He said back.

“I tease everyone a lot. But I like teasing you the most; I do it because my love for you is a love only words can express. I love you so much I just feel the need to smother you in affection.”

(Y/N) didn’t say anything back, having turned his head away from her. Miko frowned. Had she still failed?

“Hey~ I’m waiting for a response.” She regressed to teasing, feeling the heat starting to bloom on face. She kept trying to look at his face, but (Y/N) would just turn the other way.

Eventually Miko had enough and grabbed his chin, forcing him to look at her.

And what a sight it was.

He was avoiding eye contact, face hot as fire to the touch, sweating and heart beating fast.

Miko hummed happily as she poked and prodded his face. Her satisfaction at the victory clear as day.

Even if it left her slightly flustered herself.

- Fin

[fastboatsmojito]

Hi lovely!! Biggest congrats on 100 followers! Can I request ❛ when was the last time someone fucked you? ❜ and ❛ stop teasing and just put it in already. ❜ for Carmy?

( the whore in me wants to ask for roommate au but pls feel free to do whatever speaks to you)

YEAHHHHH

“When was the last time someone fucked you” + “stop teasing and just put it in already” from these smutty dialogue prompts for my 100 followers party!

| a/n; I can’t stop writing these softer than I mean to I’m sorry 😭

| cw; 18+ smut btc !! Roommate trope, he’s a little mean if u squint but not really, fingering, implied PnV, filthy fingers in ur mouth ?? lmao

| wc; 794

You kept telling yourself it was good that you were just roommates, there was zero chance you’d be able to deal with all the late nights and constant steady-stream-of-busyness that seemed to follow him around anyway.

And you’d be correct if it wasn’t also the hardest thing you’ve ever done, having to keep your thoughts to yourself whenever he’d walk around the apartment in those tight white t-shirts. Mentally cursing yourself for not looking away and cursing him all the same for being so clueless.

You ignored it for a while, biting back jokes about how he got so toned working in restaurants as he walked into the kitchen for a snack after a shower, towel sitting just above his v-line that you’d convince yourself wasn’t haunting you - following him with your eyes anyway.

You kept it all to yourself for both yours and Carmys sake, not wanting to ruin one of the steadiest relationships in his life, even if he did feel the same way.

Though it got increasingly harder when you couldn’t compensate with other people anymore - the dating scene in Chicago was rough and it showed, coming back home after your roommate for the first time since you could remember after a disappointing date.

He was on the couch when you walked in, sighing as you took off your shoes and smiling to yourself when you looked over to see him half asleep on the couch. Likely exhausted from work, waking himself up only when the remote fell out of his hands resting over the top of the couch.

He stretched his arms before looking at you, giving you one of those classic carmy sleepy smiles you could only describe as subconscious.

“Hey, how’d your date go?” He asked, sitting up and scooting over to give you room to sit down. You didn’t feel like getting into it really, especially not when he was so liable to coax a secret out of you.

“Shitty?” He answered for you when you didn’t respond, slumping down into the couch and nodding.

“Not great, yeah.”

“Sorry.” He hummed in understanding and said it sincerely, like he’d done something wrong, reaching a hand over to squeeze your shoulder. And maybe you were just sleepy too, just emotionally exhausted and clinging onto the warmth radiating from his palm but he didn’t move it away, letting his hand linger until you looked back over at him.

Speaking your name into the low-lit room, his voice blending into the usual Chicago winds outside the window, and surely he wasn’t actually looking at you like that. Like he was trying to figure out how to make it up to you, trying to solve all your problems in his own head.

He mumbled something to himself then, when you shifted in your seat and your dress rode up just above your mid thigh. You didn’t hear it really, but all the sleepiness on his face was suddenly gone.

“When’s the last time someone fucked you?” He said it so abrupt and casually you thought you made it up, taken aback as he just looked at you, hand unmoving on your shoulder.

“I don’t, uh-“ You shook your head, trying to wake yourself up for what was obviously a dream, taking a deep breath before answering him when he didn’t take your confusion as an opening to explain himself.

“It’s been awhile, I guess.” You shrugged, crossing your arms when he moved his hand from your shoulder.

“Mhm. That’s all you need, isn’t it? Staring at me all the time like you want something, so why don’t take it?” He was challenging you, tempting you to do the very thing you’d just gotten good at convincing yourself not to do.

Leaning back against the couch, his lap practically inviting you in as you waited for your brain to let your body do what it was screaming at you to do, and finally giving up when he patted his lap like he was giving you permission.

☾⋆⁺₊⋆

He was even better than you’d imagined, leisurely working you open with his fingers just enough that you were ready for him and begging for more, retracting them only when your absentminded praises got less and less coherent.

“Carmy, stop teasing and put it in already.” You pleaded, nails digging into his back as he admired the string connecting his still-wet fingers.

“You telling me what to do now?” He scolded, and if you weren’t seconds away from getting what you’d waited so long for you might have built up the courage to be been a little meaner.

“Please.”

“Patience.” He corrected, leaning over you to guide his fingers into your mouth, warm lips meeting your head when you opened your mouth to accommodate them.

☾⋆⁺₊⋆

[rizzlesregal13]

I’ve been seeing the comments floating around about Lights, Camera, Magic, mostly on Tumblr (I avoid Twitter / X - and this proves why!)

I get it… People have opinions, and chapter 49 isn’t going to be to everyone’s taste. That’s fair. But let’s clear one thing up right away: the reader was not under Agatha’s control. The issue of non-consent? Irrelevant in this case. The reader was fully aware of her actions. You don’t have to like it, but let’s at least engage with the text properly before throwing accusations around.

However, the second I read that Lunargrrrl has been getting death threats over this? I’m sorry! What the actual fuck?! How is that even remotely okay? I don’t care how strongly you feel about a story, sending someone a death threat is never acceptable.

Ever.

And what’s even more infuriating is that so many of these comments seem to be coming from people who haven’t even read LCM. They’re just hopping on the outrage bandwagon based on out-of-context snippets.

Lunargrrrl is one of the kindest, most genuine authors on AO3. Not only is she insanely talented, but she actually takes the time to respond to comments, interact with fans, and celebrate fan works. She doesn’t have to do that. She’s given her time, her heart, to this story and to this fandom, and now people are treating her terribly because they didn’t like one chapter? It’s disgusting. And honestly, it breaks my heart.

And if after all this hate and vitriol Lunargrrrl decides to say, “fuck it” and walk away from LCM, I wouldn’t blame her one bit. I really hope she doesn’t, because I know the haters are just a loud, miserable minority. The rest of us? We’re here. We’re grateful. And we’re staying. 💜

Look, I know this whole storm started over whether the proper tags were used. And if something triggered you—I’m genuinely sorry. I mean that. Life throws enough pain at people, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. But this is a MDNI story. Meaning we’re all supposed to be adults here. If you don’t like the story? If it’s not for you? Then click the X. Close the tab. Swipe away and move on. That is your power. That’s your choice. But choosing to spread hate, to attack an author, to send death threats… you’ve crossed a line. You’re not helping anyone. You’re just becoming part of the problem.

@lunargrrrl—I’m sending you the biggest virtual hug right now. 💜 You’ve done nothing to deserve the absolute trash being thrown at you. I’m sure a big part of the backlash is jealousy, plain and simple. But here’s the thing: they only get one choice - spread hate. You? You’ve got two. You can let it break you, or you can say “fuck you” and rise higher than they’ll ever reach.

And something tells me Mama Lunar knows exactly which path she’s taking.💜

[marreddream]

TAS Raising Project: Reskin Summary: Seven unlucky Tokyoites are warped into a video game world. Things go poorly. They also have new powers and stuff.

This is basically a one-to-one recreation of MGRP: Restart, with Housamo characters. No knowledge of the MGRP series is needed. Spoilers for MGRP: Restart.

Content: Isekai, Crack Treated Seriously, Character Death, Completed Fic

Index: Part 1 (you are here) -> Part 2 -> Part 3 -> Route A/Route B -> Route BA/Route BB

Roster: Housamo MC, Horkeu Kamui, Hippolytus, Tezcatlipoca, Yule, Kurogane, Shinya Tennoji 

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prologue (skip to get to Housamo stuff)

Keek

Deus Ex Programma - A magical string of code written on a parchment that resolves any coding issues in a project, but sends a corrupted version of that project to a different dimension.

Magicaloid 44, whose magical power was to procure one random magical object from the future that lasted for 24 hours before breaking down, had summoned this item. She unsurprisingly failed to sell it to any of the other magical girls of N-City and could do nothing but watch it expire. Yet unconventionally enough, it wasn’t the code that was time sensitive but the existence of the parchment itself, which had long since crumbled away into nothingness. 

No record or impact of this object would have been made had Magicaloid 44 not taken a picture of it with her magical phone. That phone and photo gallery had been wiped upon her death, but data recovery was no issue for somebody like Keek. Thus, she was able to stumble upon this holy grail for a magical programmer such as herself. 

She was not even remotely close to reaching the end of her biggest and most ambitious project to date, and yet she was encountering the biggest and most vicious issues she had ever come across in her entire life. Continuous all nighters weren’t impossible, but they weren’t ideal. Neither were way-too-close deadlines. She steeled her resolve and opened up the saved PNG of the code to input into her work. 

“So over this…”, she grumbled.

She typed down one line of assorted characters in a random location and watched all of her code buzzle around before settling down into a considerably more clarified state. Anybody who programmed knew that was not how coding worked, but anybody who knew magic knew that was how it did, and Keek was both of those people. The magical code refined the project, but did not complete it for her, so she got back to work.

“It ‘sends a bugged version of that project to a different dimension’. What does that even mean…? Well, it’s not my problem.”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

ERROR

<Operating Capacity> Damaged

>[66%] Reduction

ERROR

<Team Forming> Not Found <Quests> Not Found <R Item> Not Found

>Omit

ERROR

<Memory Restoration Device Item> Not Found <Referential Callbacks> Not Found

>Substitutions Found

ERROR

<Cranberry’s Children> Not Found

>Generate @ Random

>Targets Located

0%...

4%...

16%...

44%...

PROGRAM START

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Love Me Ten-Ten

Shinya Tennoji found himself in an apocalyptic-like wasteland. Bizarre, considering he had been standing in his perfectly fine cafe just a moment ago. Nothing but cracked dry earth and crumbling buildings surrounded him. The sun beat mercilessly from above.

“Is this… a world collision?” 

The concept wasn’t foreign to him, but there was something queer about the current situation that an explanation of it as a world collision didn’t fully cover.

Shinya looked down at himself, and then tugged at his outfit. It was not the garb he had put on this morning but instead a bold interpretation of a Greek style chiton. His right arm was gilded with a latex glove so thin it was as if it was painted on. The knee high boots he wore on his legs were of the same material.

He heard the flapping of wings and instinctively looked around for Cupid, only to realize the wing-shaped shadows being cast belonged to the six avian wings affixed to his back. The silhouette of bull ears, horns and tail in his now quite expansive shadow guided his hands to his head and sacral region to unsurprisingly find bull ears, horns, and a tail growing out of where one would expect those parts to sprout from.

“What in the world is going on?”

There was nobody around to hear his words. The absence of Cupid unnerved him. In his left hand, he found himself clutching a glossy pastel compact instead of the phone that he had been holding before he wound up in this place. It slid open into a heart shape, revealing a digital screen and a user profile. Gone were the Roles and Rules and Sacred Artifacts of the Summoner app he was used to. In its place was:

Love Me Ten-Ten

Magic: Anyone he shoots with his magic bow will fall head over heels in love in a chain. 

My power has changed?

Although incredibly similar-sounding, it wasn’t a match. It was Cupid who had a magic bow, and dispelled the energy Shinya accumulated in the form of light arrows that infatuated those who were stuck. The memory of Cupid’s cute and white bow contrasted heavily with the dark and menacing crossbow he found by his side. It was adorned with heart accessories, and embedded with thorns as well. Loaded in was a red-tipped steel arrow, as if pre-used.

A tool suitable for a demonic angel, Shinya thought. 

He recalled being called that once. Not a ‘demonic angel’, but a ‘suitable tool’, by a fallen angel named Rosier that Shinya’s new look reminded him of. He was a pretty cool guy, all things considered, but now really wasn’t the right time to be strolling down memory lane. He navigated through his new device and tapped on Messages. A text from a "[kE3k]" was found, and he opened it up.

What is [9zLA] Raising Project?

[1cuF] feels just like real life!

[RsLQ] items [Px9D] mobile game [lvEj] face powerful enemies with your abilities [26MP] surviving [3JK2] progress through the world [LjdQ] training simulator [vvIy] Objective: to defeat the Evil King.

That’s right. Earlier before, he had heard a message notification from his phone, pulled it out to check, and was then enveloped by a glowing light from his screen and teleported here. From what he could read, this was some sort of video game simulation where he’d have to traverse through locations to defeat the Evil King boss at the end. 

VR simulations had been getting pretty popular in recent times. Was that really what this was though? He tred to reply to this "[kE3k]", and got an "ERROR: Message Could Not be Sent" right away. He tried texting his co-workers' numbers to no avail. He visited the other tabs in the bottom menu. Asides from an empty Items tab and an empty Map tab that marked this area as the Wastelands, the others were bugged out. He felt he had seen everything the phone had to offer, so he stepped forward to traverse through the bizarre world.

As he did so, patches of dirt became disrupted as five human skeletal remains began to rise up from the earth to menacingly approach him.

Shinya watched the bizarre sight unfold before him, and then sighed.

What kind of mess have I gotten into now?

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Magicolytus

After recovering from the initial surprise, Hippolytus lunged at the skeleton in the center with a straight punch. His fist crunched through its rib cage, and it crumbled to the floor. Hippolytus kicked to the side to crush another skeleton’s leg, and grabbed the arm of an attacker on the left to flip onto an attacker on the right.

He was already strong to begin with, but he had the feeling his body had changed somehow, alongside his outfit and Rule. His practical gardening gear had been swapped out for a not-so-practical frilly-frill daisy-themed ensemble. His Sacred Artifact that let him turn any plant-based wreath into pure barriers was no longer available to him.

The Profile tab on the compact that had replaced his phone read:

Magicolytus

Magic: Can shoot lethal Daisy Beams.

Hippolytus spread out his palms, and a four foot wide laser beam instantly emerged from them to burn the upper half of the last remaining skeleton into nothingness. For an ability he’d never once had before, it felt rather natural to do.

The fight had taken less than a minute, yet Hippolytus’ heart raced. Practicing… no, unleashing all of his pankration skills without reserve on monsters he felt no moral need to hold back on was refreshing. If this was some sort of VR game he had been dragged into, he’d ask for a copy after giving whoever forced him in here without his consent a good scolding.

The fact there wasn’t a logout button or anything that would get him out of here straight away was pretty concerning.

All he really had to work with was the semi-coherent mail in his Messages. Progress through the world and defeat the Evil King. If he walked forward, he was likely to get somewhere. 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Horkeu Winterkamui

Horkeu Kamui zoomed through the plains. The distance he was covering and the speed he was covering it at was ludicrously impossible, and yet he managed so without even breaking a sweat, in a heavy coat and scarf, and heels. This situation was truly abnormal.

He found himself in a dry and dusty wasteland when he had been in Ikebukuro’s colosseum locker rooms only a moment ago. His outfit and rule had been altered, and then the undead rose out of the earth to attack, which he made quick work of.

Horkeu Winterkamui

Magic: Can create walls anywhere.

Gone were his ice powers, and in its stead, the ability to raise walls from pre-existing material within sight. He experimented with it briefly after defeating the skeletons manually. The walls were fixed to the size and shape of a typical door, and a foot in thickness. They were more durable than the material summoned from, attached to the material summoned from, could be summoned at slight angles, and could be stacked upon. 

Nothing else of event occurred after the skeleton attack, aside from his currency rising from 0 to 5. Waiting around wasn’t going to get him anywhere, so he began to walk, and then run. He already knew his body had changed the moment he first moved his arm when he had arrived, but this was really something else. The best he could reason was that this was some sort of video game simulation he was controlling some sort of avatar in. 

He could see the shadow of a town in the distance, and began to route himself towards it when he heard the patter of footsteps from behind. A brown haired teen in a french maid outfit was hurrying away from pursuing skeletons, which were following at a speed that belied their tottering appearances. With nonchalance, he rushed in the maid’s opposite direction and wiped them all out with a few good kicks.

“Wha~ Thanks for the help.”

“You really couldn’t beat these on your own?”

The maid frowned and averted his gaze. Horkeu Kamui then realized his mistake. His words that had been mistaken as chastisement came out of a genuine confusion and casualness. Horkeu Kamui was a trained warrior whose daily surroundings mainly consisted of other fellow fighters. It sometimes slipped his mind that the average person was generally not. It hadn’t even all too long ago, but the heroes he had trained in Kamui Kotan hadn’t always been strong when they started either. This boy in front of him...

“It’s not like I’m weak, but they looked slow at first, so I thought I could outrun them. And I don’t have my sword that I normally use either.” 

“I apologize. It’s quite the situation that we’ve found ourselves in, it seems. My name is Horkeu Kamui.”

His Profile had written his name as Horkeu Winterkamui for reasons unbeknownst to him, but he saw no real reason to go by it when his actual name was already quite serviceable.

“I’m Mocco. I ended up here after checking my phone messages. You as well?”

“Me as well. I saw a town up ahead. Shall we discuss our circumstances while we head there together?”

Mocco nodded. “Yes, that sounds like a good idea.”

Horkeu Kamui started off with a walk as they conversed, then gradually increased his pace, up to the speed he had been running at earlier. Although lagging a bit behind, Mocco seemed able to keep up enough, and the two quickly approached the town.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Love Me Ten-Ten

“Shinya Tennoji, reserve representative of Zeus?”

“Tezcatlipoca? Is that you?”

After using his crossbow to melee bash down the skeletons that had sprouted up, he spotted a town from a high up vantage point and quickly flew over. There he encountered Tezcatlipoca, in a getup Shinya could describe as “probably uncharacteristic for him”. Reflective gemstones and equally reflective cherry decorations were scattered all throughout his holographic clubbing style outfit.

“In the flesh, and quite literally. This new body of mine is quite extraordinary. I see you’ve gotten quite the update as well.”

“Yeah, being able to fly sure is something else. You and Cupid sure are lucky.”

“Flight is pretty awesome, huh? Space rockets are more my style though.” 

A man wearing an open coat and a black bodycon jumpsuit underneath joined the conversation. Safety goggles rested on his head alongside a nurse cap. Ribbons connected to high heels wrapped around his calves.

“The name’s Kurogane.”

“Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Shinya.”

“This guy named Yule gave me a ride here on this flying broomstick. That thing was seriously crazy! I wanted to give it a real thorough look over, but he got me here and then zoomed off super quick to search for others. Told me to stay put to greet anybody else who arrived, so that’s Tezcatlipoca and you.”

Kurogane spotted the crossbow Shinya held by his side.

“Oh! First off. That’s a tool that you arrived here with, right? Like my tools, and Tezcatlipoca’s mirror. If you hadn’t already figured it out, you can summon and de-summon it with will.”

Kurogane summoned an enormous pair of scissors and wrench from out of nowhere, and then vanished them just as quickly. 

“Second, can you see if you and Tezcatlipoca can exchange contact information in Messages? My phone... broke."

Shinya internally raised an eyebrow at Kurogane's almost perplexed tone. Perhaps he encountered some skeletons like he had and broke it while fighting.

Shinya opened up Messages to show Tezcatlipoca his contact information. Tezcatlipoca added him, and a new contact appeared. Poca Cherry. Seems like they all got weird nicknames.

"Kurogane, how did your phone break? Did it get smashed during a fight?"

Kurogane scratched his head.

“Ah, well, my new power is to modify machines. I used it to successfully upgrade my shoes and tools, so I tried using it on the phone to see if I could make it able to call for help. But then an ERROR message appeared and now it refuses to turn back on. Looks like the phones are the one thing that are off limits to tinker on." Kurogane grimaced. "It feels a bit unfair to not have been warned beforehand. But seeing as how me and Tezcatlipoca, and you too, probably? Were dragged in without so much as a warning, fairness's likely the last thing on... whoever's mind."

Shinya was about to respond when the sound of people approaching came from behind him. A wolf dressed for winter and a young maid were approaching, with two figures on a broomstick in the sky a bit further behind quickly closing the distance. Seemed like a lot of introductions were about to be made.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Magicolytus

The fey reindeer Therian named Yule said he wanted to do a few more flights to ensure he’d found everybody he could, so they all decided to wait at the town until his return.

The crumbling buildings scattered throughout the wastelands were not only devoid of people, but objects inside as well. All but one of the town buildings were no different. The sole exception was a Shop, which harbored a menu where weapons, shields, food rations, and recovery potions could be purchased. Hunger pangs were beginning to arise, and rations were the only item they could afford with what they currently had anyways, so some were purchased to consume. Kurogane, whose phone was broken, had no access to his currency nor inventory space. The others were able to hand the rations over to him after summoning them from their inventory. The stomach filling properties of the food blocks were average, but the same could not be said about the taste, which was below average. 

They regathered by the sand-filled fountain in the open town square. With nothing else to do, they introduced themselves and their prior circumstances.

All of them had checked their phones before suddenly being enveloped in light and finding themselves in the Wastelands, with new outfits and abilities that they did not have before. 

Aside from some people knowing one another, such as Kurogane and Tezcatlipoca, Shinya and Tezcatlipoca, and Tezcatlipoca recognizing Mocco but not the other way around, nobody seemed to share any particular relationship or commonality with one another. Some changes in powers or costume seemed thematically apropos, and some did not, so no real pattern could be determined in that regard as well.

They had all gotten a bugged out message from a "[kE3k]" in Messages. Their assigned mission seemed to be to traverse the worlds to get to and defeat the Evil King boss. There was no written guarantee they’d be able to return back to their Tokyo once they had done so, but all they could do was hope that would be the case.

After covering everything they felt they could cover as a group, the six inevitably fractured into smaller cliques; an inevitable phenomenon in most gatherings of people. Tezcatlipoca had gone over to Mocco to ramble at about… brotherhood, something or another, while Horkeu Kamui stood protectively beside them. Kurogane was bashing his wrench on Shinya’s crossbow while the owner watched with a bemused expression on his face.

That left Hippolytus as an odd one out. Of course, there was still Yule who Hippolytus had gotten along with fine on the brief broomstick ride he had given him, but he hadn’t yet returned. Hippolytus went to sit down by the defunct fountain and sighed. Without a single piece of greenery to even rest his eyes, the place severely bummed him out. He toyed with the flowers on his outfit. They were ultra realistic, even in touch, but an experienced gardener like him could tell they were artificial.

Kurogane came up to approach him.

“Hey, Hippolytus, want me to upgrade your shoes?”

“Huh? They feel pretty okay, actually.”

Unlike the others who all had on heels, Hippolytus was the only one who got a practical pair of brown boots. They were quite similar, if not superior in quality, to the boots he normally had. Looking down at them gave him a weird sense of reassurance; a singular piece of normalcy in a beyond normal situation.

“Trust me, you’ll feel the difference. Magic sure is crazy.”

“Well… okay, go for it.”

He pulled off his boots and handed them to Kurogane, who pulled his wrench and scissors out of their holsters and began to whack and hack away without a perceptible sense of purpose. Kurogane handed them back unharmed and not noticeably different. He slipped them back on and gasped in surprise.

“Wow!”

“Told ya’ so!”

“You said your magic was to upgrade machines, didn't you?” 

“The term ‘machine’ encompasses a lot more than you might think. Simple machines are machines too. It’s not like there’s anything that could replace my Sacred Artifact, but this power is so interesting to use it makes me wish I could bring it back with me to Tokyo.”

“So you're already an engineer-type, huh...? Hey, what are your thoughts on this whole thing? We’ve seriously been dragged into some video game world?”

Kurogane’s easy going expression shifted into something a bit more tense.

“... I’ll be straight with you. This is probably a pretty serious situation. We were forcibly dragged into a world where we’ve lost our Rules, Roles, and Sacred Artifacts, and have been given these strange outfits and different powers instead. I can’t even imagine what sort of force could be capable of creating a scenario like this.

...well! You know, nothing to do but press on! And you know, your magic sounds pretty awesome too! All of us seem pretty strong. Nothing will get in our way!”

Kurogane flexed his biceps and grinned. Hippolytus smiled back at him. 

“Let’s do our best.”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yule Speed

Yule had covered the entirety of the wastelands on his motorcycle-like flying broom. As he flew, crowds of skeletons spawned from the ground below him in select areas. They didn’t appear to have any projectiles and could only watch as he soared past them above in the air.

Although the wastelands seemed to go on forever, there were invisible boundaries forming a perimeter and ceiling that could not physically be passed. Yule had come very close to meeting the same fate a bird that flies into a window usually meets had he not somehow reacted in time. 

At one end of a boundary was an ancient wooden gate. Upon flying through, his surroundings instantaneously changed from a wasteland to a grassy area. Going back through returned him to the wastelands.

This must be the entrance to the next area.

Yule decided to return to the town to inform everybody of the things he had learned. 

It felt rather strange to be clad in a Halloween themed outfit on a day that wasn’t Halloween. As one would expect of a floating broom rider, he wore a witch costume with a cape and pointed hat. His profile read:

Yule Speed

Magic: Uses a broomstick to fly at high speeds.

When one thought about it, witches were like the Santas of Halloween, in regards to being the most representative mascots of their respective holidays. Also, they both flew around on things that weren’t meant to fly, and their hats were cone-like. That was where most of their similarities ended though. If Santas and Dark Santas existed on polar ends of each other, witches were somewhere closer to where the Dark Santas would be.

A change in pace could be novel, but Yule would always be the most comfortable in his Santa gear as an aspiring- no, as any official Santa would be. Yule would beat this weird game with everybody here, return to Tokyo, and have a funny story to tell everyone back at Santa School.

He hadn’t been flying at the fullest speed his broom could go, to more carefully scan the surroundings, but with the area already covered, kicked it up a notch to return to the town.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Magicolytus

Everyone went over what they had covered with Yule, and Yule filled everybody in with what he had discovered. He pointed them towards the gate he had found, and while he stayed behind with Kurogane, who wanted to work on his broomstick, the rest could make some progress and the two would catch up in no time.

There wasn’t any apparent deadline or timer in place, but a more concrete marker of progress to be achieved gave some motivation for the five to hurry along the pointed direction. Shinya, who didn't particularly care for fighting, flew ahead of the group to trigger the skeleton horde spawns, Hippolytus would thin, if not wipe them out with his beam attacks, and the remainders would be cleaned up by Tezcatlipoca, Horkeu Kamui, and Mocco. The group arrived at the gate in no time and were transported to a breezier, greener world.

Hippolytus kneeled down to sift through the knee high meadow. 

“Nothing but grass. Don’t think we need to worry about bugs or ticks, thankfully. But really, not a single flower in sight…”

“I think, perhaps, there will be another town with a shop like in the Wastelands”, suggested Shinya. “Should we search as a group, or should we split up to search?

“It wouldn’t hurt for it to be found faster,” said Horkeu Kamui. “You and Tezcatlipoca can fly, even faster than we can run, so you two can go off on your own, or even together if you'd like.

Mocco, Hippolytus and I should stick together as a group. The first group to find the town should text a picture of a landmark nearby and wait for everyone to head over. Is that okay with everyone?"

Everybody agreed. Tezcatlipoca and Shinya briefly conversed before apparently agreeing to go it solo. Hippolytus texted Yule the plan before the three of them headed off.

As they explored, Hippolytus began to perk up little, perhaps in part due to the change in scenery. Horkeu Kamui seemed as stoic as usual, but if he asked he bet Mocco would agree with him, if the change in his body language was anything to go by. In spite of the unfussy maidservant theme and the sopping-wet-puppy-in-a-cardboard-box vibes he gave off at the start, he had cheered up since and was surprisingly zealous regarding battle, perhaps in part due to Horkeu Kamui and Tezcatlipoca’s encouragements and combat instruction. Hippolytus wouldn't say it unprompted, but he was quite enjoying the fighting as well.

It seemed like monsters wouldn’t show up so near the gate, as it took a good amount of distance for some to finally appear. Skeletons spawned around the group in a circle. This time around, red skeletons appeared, intermingling amongst the white.

Horkeu Kamui went towards the left and Mocco headed towards the right, so that left Hippolytus to charge straight forward.  Even if the others were positioned by his sides, he kept from using his beam attack straight away out of concern for friendly fire. He wasn’t embarrassed to admit he had grown quite attached to this new power of his, but he wasn’t going to let it get to his head and fire all willy-nilly. After all, it wasn’t as if his beam was the only skill he had and enjoyed putting into practice.

“Hyah!”

The red skeletons didn’t appear to be all too different from the white version aside from appearance, but it wasn’t as if Hippolytus was letting himself get hit by them to learn whether they actually were stronger or not.

Hippolytus looked from side to side to see Mocco and Horkeu Kamui a fair enough distance away. He had just told himself he would have some restraint, but on the other hand, it wasn’t like he had a limited amount of beams he could use before he ran out. He ought to be putting them into practice to better his aim, if anything.

He would compromise with a pointer finger beam instead of his larger palm beam, and shout out he was doing a beam attack beforehand to let the others know for good measure. He interlocked his hands and made a finger gun. What had his profile called the name of the beam?

“Daisy Beam!”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yule Speed

“You spent way less time on my boots than the broomstick,” Yule remarked. Yule and Kurogane were heading to the next area to look for its town.

“Well of course! Had a lot more to work with on the broomstick. Would have spent even longer on it, actually, but don't want to keep the others waiting for too long.”

That was a stupid question for Yule to ask, in hindsight. The broomstick with a mechanically complex motorcycle head attachment would of course have more to work with than a pair of simple suede boots. He didn't want to admit it, but he had gotten more and more nervous the longer Kurogane tinkered away at it, especially due to his phone having been broken because of his power.

"Hey Kurogane, please don't take this the wrong way, but how did you know your magic would work fine on the broomstick? With your phone breaking and all..."

"It's not like I knew for certain, but I was decently confident what happened to my phone wouldn't to your broom. Shinya had let me work on his crossbow beforehand, since he said he didn't care if it broke or not, and it went fine. If it's any reassurance, I was extra careful working on the broomstick."

Appearances said otherwise. From Yule's point of view, Kurogane had been smashing his tools against it the same way a miner hacks away at bedrock in a quarry.

“When you’re using your magic, does what you’re doing… make sense to you? From my point of view, it looks like…” 

“I’m playing with a plastic toy tool kit for kids?” Kurogane grinned. “It really does feel that way too. But I just kinda… think about what kind of improvements I’d like to be made, and bam! Most of my suggestions, just like that! Not everything, but more than what really should be possible.

So, how about you? What’s piloting a flying broom like?”

“I dunno... it’s like you imagine how you want it to move and it does. Pulling along a sleigh in the sky is sort of similar, actually, but different. This is way easier in terms of physical exertion, but I have more experience with sleigh pulling, so in terms of control they're about the same really.”

“How curious… could I try riding your broomstick on my own later on? It just occurred to me that it might be possible for other people to fly it.”

“Sure. You did upgrade it for me after all. Um, thanks again for that."

“Heheh, th-Oh!”

Yule screeched to a halt above the scene of Mocco, Horkeu Kamui, and Hippolytus beginning to brawl with a skeleton horde, now with some red-colored skeletons amongst the crowd. Before Yule could react, Kurogane dropped from his broom to touch ground and join the fray. In their new enhanced bodies, it wasn’t a lethal or even harmful height for Kurogane, but the two had been high enough in the air for Yule not to have expected him to do so. 

“Daisy Beam!”

Yule’s eyes went from Kurogane to the shouting Hippolytus, then to the red skeleton Hippolytus had aimed at to fire a beam attack. 

It was a direct hit, and yet the skeleton remained standing.

His eyes returned back to Hippolytus, who had fallen forward, onto the grass. There was a large hole in his body that hadn’t been there before. A pool of red was expanding in a sea of grass green.

Kurogane, who had been directly behind Hippolytus, had fallen as well. He also had a large hole in his body that hadn’t been there moments before.

What?

Everything happened in a flash. Yule could not process what had just occurred. 

“...What?”

TBC

[cacw]

what don't you like about frostpaw/dawn? no hate, just curious :)

thanks ive been waiting for someone to ask

theres a lot i could say about her because shes been around for long enough and now that this arc is 100% done i can safely voice my opinions which will never have any future opportunity to change. this is 3 years (and particularly the last 3 months) worth of angry impassioned and disillusioned thoughts but its still not everything. and maybe someday ill better describe what i actually wanted from her

i dont like frostpaw because everything about her and her story was pathetic and horrible. frostpaw had every chance to be a great character but unfortunately she was born into a corrupt fictional world and raised under a broken system and she never stood a chance to bring about any real change (i knew this all along and i hate to whinge but really i did. nothing ever changes! meditating isnt going to solve anyones problems no matter how nice and agreeable a concept it sounds). frostpaws story is one full of couldves shouldves and wouldves

everything about this arc bothered me and there wasnt a single chapter i couldnt find something to complain about. i know this makes me sound like a total bitch. but somehow she still managed to be the better protagonist even when the bar was set incredibly low which is a feat in and of itself

i could be pedantic here and bring up smaller scale things about her story that bother me like the way she would have made more sense as an only child (for the exact same reasons as shadowsight), or the age retcon at the beginning of the arc and how she should have just trained as a warrior first, or i could rave about the way her friendship with splashtail hardly had any spotlight which ultimately made the dynamic difficult to enjoy for anyone who isnt named cheyeh. maybe im just sick of light-haired girls with blue eyes. but those are for another day. they add up quick though. my biggest gripe is probably her relationship with her mother (and by extension starclan) and the way both of them were treated over the last three years. i wouldnt feel so negatively toward frostpaw if she hadnt been so quick to turn on the one who raised her and kissed her skinned knees and made her hot chocolate after school. she agonizes over the realization of what her mother has done, but she is incredibly quick to toss out all sentimentality and claim that curlfeather deserved her fate and worse. theres not much heart here (and thank god that wasnt her suffix). its poor writing, its incredibly angering boring and disappointing and its something ive been meaning to write about for a long time

actually i might as well bring up the splashtail problem now because i know im never going to get around to making a big post about them

frostpaw and splashtail were supposed to be important to each other at some point early on in their lives, but we are never properly shown this and so the general fanbase was put off by her sudden crush on him. and i undersand that. i know were all sick of the same thing over and over. but frostpaws feelings for him were completely reasonable, and if either of them were written even a little better i know it would have made a lot more sense. and yet instead of the writers trying for anything remotely interesting, frostpaw becomes obsessed with marrying him and having his children. she says shed like to name one after her mother. because this is what all women are meant to do with their lives and this is what being a warrior is all about. she cannot just have a best friend and be done with it; she needs to want this and he needs to give it to her because its what they do. this is all very fucking stupid and it almost ruined both of them for me

we dont see inside splashtails head at all so we have no idea why hes doing all this or why he cant bring himself to care about her as a person anymore, and we are left to watch frostpaw mourn the relationship with her best friend that never came to be. and once again, although she didnt want to admit it for a while, she simply accepts the fact that, like curlfeather, he is just evil and theres nothing to be done but get rid of him. that sounds like a major oversimplification but it really isnt. she doesnt examine this in any way that matters and neither does anyone else. and no one else was ever going to! that should have been her job as the protagonist! she is supposed to think differently. its not so much a frostpaw problem as it is just flawed writing overall. curlfeather and splashtail were just a few bad apples and we dont need to think about the rest of the bunch because now that theyre both dead and in hell well never have to consider the possibility that something like this could ever happen again or think about why it even happened in the first place. thanks for getting rid of the problem for us frostpaw. no one will ever know just how much this hurt you because they never knew him like you did but since they didnt you can just spend the rest of your life pretending those feelings arent there

im also very put off by the fanon interpretations of her character, and while this doesnt affect her canon characterization its still something that drives me completely insane. theres a pattern ive noticed over the years where people try to paint every medicine cat protagonist as wimpier than they actually are and will act like they need to be protected by the other two (and most recently, inferior) protagonists. i shouldnt have to explain why this is annoying and sort of ruins any enjoyment i could ever possibly get from fanart. i dont want to sound mean but i dont find anything sweet or cathartic about her ending and i think art celebrating it is lame and makes me feel absolutely nothing

ive said it before but frostpaw can be very angry and defensive and i wish people utilized this aspect of her personality without making her look like some naive idiotic crybaby! (and without having her direct ALL OF IT toward her mother. she has more to be angry about) its one of my favorite things about her. i love how ugly she can get. i wish she had been angrier about a lot more. another common occurrence over the years involves characters getting angry at starclan for using them or lying to them or refusing to leave them alone, but in the end the protagonist always ends up forgiving and accepting their ways because they are holy and righteous and good. starclans overwhelming significance to the story isnt the problem here; its the way no one ever seems to learn anything of value and instead come out of their arcs wearing the same black and white colored glasses. frostpaw fought the whole way until she couldnt anymore. her arc went nowhere and she drowned in a deep dark puddle of erin hunters pen ink

i will say i do genuinely enjoy frostpaw for what she could have been, and i always have. unfortunately this version doesnt fully exist. but she was still the best protagonist and her chapters were all i ever cared about. ive enjoyed her more than any other protagonist in the last 10+ years (aside from shadowsight, but even his ending disappointed me). she was fun and fresh for a while but at her core shes just another soldier and she was always going to end up exactly like everyone else in the end. which of course i mean dull and indistinguishable and a stickler to the status quo (which is ironic considering the themes of the last two arcs, let alone her own story and personal goals). i care about her a lot. i would even go as far as to say i love her truly and deeply, but she is terrible. im not joking when i say that she sucks. but shes better than most and somehow thats what matters here. she isnt my favorite. but she probably is in her own special way

i do not dislike frostpaw for the reasons other people have bashed her for over the years; she got a lot of hate when this arc was just beginning, and i never agreed with any of it. she was never just a camera, she was never a whiny bitch, and she wasnt just a lovestruck schoolgirl down on her luck. frostpaw is smart. frostpaw is kind and brave. frostpaw is not a child and she hasnt been one for a long time. its not frostpaws fault she exists in an arc from a series so overtaken with a deep-running hatred for women spanning 20+ years with a fanbase that has never known how to act right, but she also isnt real. so whatever. i hope she enjoys her future of irrelevancy and lack of any real and true relationships and the occasional outlandish and/or ooc remark shell spit out that makes the next medicine cat protagonist look sympathetic in comparison. i hope she enjoys knowing shell never see her two favorite people again. thats what she wanted all along!

and her name is stupid

[avatar-legends-confessionblog]

begging people to realize that someone who is/acts like a child is the absolute worst partner for someone who has issues with being forced into a parental role. thats just going to be toxic and stunt both of their development

Okay, so, I understand where you're coming from as, theoretically, this makes sense, however: as someone who gets called a parent by almost all of their friends even when said friends have no contact with eachother, there is something to be said for how having friends who act immature can be downputting, but acting like a kid and acting immature are two different things.

The biggest thing here that I feel people are missing is Aang never asks Katara to be that way and, when Katara needs it, Aang steps up to a more mature role. The people I love most are often the people who act like kids, who are silly, and a bit of messes, but they are also the people who, when I need it, can drop that.

I've only ever romantically loved one person in my life, and I loved him because he encouraged me to be silly and encouraged my silly ambitious ideas and believed in them wholeheartedly. I loved him because he could watch me be an absolute bitch and still treat me like I was one of the coolest people he knew. I loved him because he took everything in stride whether I felt like being wise and helpful that day, or I felt like literally spamming him with pet names for a fucking hour.

I'm not saying he was like Aang, he very much wasn't, but what he did for me is something I see reflected in what Aang does for Katara.

Also, I feel like people see that Katara was forced into a parental role and then assume she would reject anything remotely parental. I do not like being put into a parental role with most of my friends and will discourage it when I start to realize they are genuinely starting to see me as that, however, jokes about me being a parent friend are common because I do show love by being caring and listening and offering advice and stuff. That's okay. And that's okay for Katara, the problem is not that she's supporting her friends in a specific way, the problem is that she doesn't want to be seen as a parent or unequal to her friends because of the way she supports them.

Now, I know I don't speak for all people who have been forced into parental roles, and I'm sure there are others who don't like being around people who act like kids at all because of it, and that's okay, and I understand why they wouldn't like kataang, but I want to express that that is not a universal experience and "parent friends shouldn't be with people who act like kids" is not a universal rule. Different people lile different things and we see in canon that Katara likes Aang, and that, by pure canon statements, she is not one of the people who wouldn't want to be with someone who acts like a kid. You can interpret her different, that's fine, or say it was bad writing, that's fine, but as canon is, Katara likes Aang.

X

[pseudophanti]

Also afraid of sounding preachy, but i've been thinking about that too. Like if you stan dnp then i assume you like having a parasocial relationship with them? And you want it to feel like you are both getting something out of it right? They do lean into that aspect a lot (and profit from it of course) but i really dont think they exploit it for money as much as they could all things considered. And they are also pretty accepting of the phandoms intensity, which like you said is kinda the trade off. We get to be weird, they get to be weird, we get content they get money etc

the part about them not expliting it as much as they could is probably my biggest thing. whenever dnp do anything that makes people call them greedy and exploitative and say that they're only here to foster the parasocial relationship for profit i'm like... man if that's the case they're really bad at it! sure you could say they're just smart enough to know that if they push it too far people will leave, but there are SO MANY THINGS they could do that wouldn't drive most people away yet still make them a fuckton more money

i saw a lot of "dan is a hypocrite for making fun of jack and tommy's patreon while selling merch and charging for the tit stream" which is a ridiculous statement because oh my god, not even remotely the same thing. to be clear i don't personally have a problem with that patreon or most patreons for that matter and lets be real neither does dan, he was taking the piss a bit but he wouldn't be on the podcast at all if he had some sort of huge moral objection to their business model lmao. the difference is though charging people for a one-off livestream of their hugely expensive stageshow is sooooo not the same as a monthly subscription to get what is essentially just the second half of the content you get for free. again, i don't think there's anything wrong with that, but dan is right when he makes the point that that's the kind of thing that's WAY easier to sell when there's a parasocial aspect involved. lots of people put extra content on patreon but the second there's a big fandom involved and you have sort of connection with the creators there's way more fomo than if it's just a couple of extra videos from a video essayist you enjoy twice a year, you know? it's not really shady it's just something to keep in mind

all of that to say - that's the one line dan and phil have never crossed, they seemingly won't do paid regular content. phil had his channel membership and it would be so easy to put out just one extra video a month for members to make it more worth it an incentivise people to buy it, but he was always very clear that the membership was first and foremost an optional way to support him that just happened to have a couple of small perks (shoutouts, emojis, written update posts). i remember people were mad about that as well because they didn't think he made it worth the money and idk how many times i was screaming THATS THE POINTTTTT THATS THE POINT!!!!! it was always just meant to be a way to support a creator you like, not something you feel like you have to buy in order to not miss out. HOWEVER if dan and phil ever did do extra videos on patreon or something like that, that - to me - seems like something they could eeeaaaasily get away with. some people would be mad for sure but it wouldn't be a mass falloff. well, if they did it right now then yes lmao, if they announced smth like that next week or something i assume it wouldn't go over well at all especially after dan's jabs at the concept but ykwim they could've paywalled regular content at literally any point throughout the years (at least more recent ones since most phannies have jobs and shit now) but they haven't because that's their line

i'm not even gonna say for sure that they never will do smth like that, hell i even think it could be a good move on their part as long as they did it right and it was some actually good content, but whether they ever do or not that doesn't change the fact that so far they haven't and so the idea of saying they're ONLY HERE to ACTIVELY EXPLOIT their audience is stuuuuuuppppiiiiiidddddddd when they won't even do like, the easiest and most profitable thing they possibly could

semi-related sidenote isn't it hysterical how so many phannies want them to release everything they ever make for free, not take a lot if any sponsorships AND sell top quality yet cheap merch? and then get actively angry at them because that's not the case? idk if that's due to having absolutely 0 clue how anything works or just blatant entitlement or what but. it's fascinating. might also just be that classic "all rich people are the same so if billionaires don't ever need to make any more money then neither do dan and phil", idk

[cha-ra-nui]

2024 Retrospective

Part 1: KPop is dead and HYBE killed it

KPop in 2024 has been. Nothing. One giant pile of nothing. Now, that might sound unnecessarily mean even by my standards, so let me explain. I did not feel like a single release this year mattered. Very few were any good, and there wasn’t a single one that felt like it would be remembered in a years’ time. I hated “Next Level” when it came out, but even then, I knew it would leave a mark. NewJeans, IVE, and Le Sserafim made a giant splash with their debuts, for better and worse. TWICE used to have more dedicated haters than fans when they were rookies but no matter your opinion on them at the time, you couldn’t escape their songs. You knew who they were, and you knew the chorus of “TT” whether you wanted to or not. And 2024 had none of that. No debut you absolutely had to check out, no unstoppable mega hit, not even a hidden gem for the dedicated fandom to obsess over, like how every 2nd gen fan would let you know how much they enjoyed Infinite’s “Time Difference” last year.

If I restrained myself to only the releases that I liked or that I felt mattered, like I did last year, I would barely have a KPop segment at all. Worse than that, it would feel like lying. Because that just wasn’t my experience with KPop this year. And besides, what even matters right now? HYBE, SM, JYP, and YG all have rookies, several each even, but none of them have an impact. How could they, if all of them are just recycling what their label did before? So, I guess this is where I’ll start, the utter lack of distinct identity 4th (5th?) gen groups suffer from. And where better to examine that issue than the biggest player in the game?

While has SM has been notoriously bad at setting their groups apart in recent years, it’s almost comical how inept HYBE is at it. So inept in fact that they had to deal with plagiarism accusations from within their own cooperation, which is, objectively, hilarious.

Even if plagiarism is not legally applicable here, and it’s not, ILLIT is a blatant attempt at recreating NewJeans. Doesn’t help that “Magnetic” isn’t remotely as memorable as any of NewJeans’ early singles, and that the visual presentation of this group isn’t either. The first time I watched the MV I didn’t notice it was hosted on the HYBE channel, and I just assumed this was some cheap rip off by a nugu label with no better ideas. It’s that bland. There is no way in hell this would be a hit without HYBE behind it, even in a year as devoid of hits as this one. A catchy chorus can’t hide just how utterly devoid of creativity this debut is. “Cherish (My Love)” looks a bit less like NewJeans, but it doesn’t look unique either and still sounds like NewJeans at their blandest, so what is the point? Now, they’re rookies, and we’ve seen plenty of groups find a unique identity a couple of comebacks down the line, VIXX and Dreamcatcher immediately come to mind. But usually, the problem is a small label failing to stand out against bigger competitors, and not the biggest label in the industry copying the homework of one of its subsidiaries multiple times over.

And it’s not just an issue that plaques ILLIT, TWS isn’t faring much better. Making a group’s entire concept “boys next door” when you just debuted a group with that name isn’t exactly peak creativity, especially not when that is the same concept both SM rookie boy groups promote with as well. TWS certainly had the strongest debut of HYBE’s now three and counting attempts at remaking NewJeans. They’re under Pledis, and if there’s one thing Pledis was always good at it’s debuting groups. Both their debut MVs are charming and cohesive. If you’re looking for a rookie boy group who’re going for the “cute boy next door” appeal, this is about as well as 4th gen has ever managed to pull this off. The problem is that this niche has been filled ten times over, and their labelmates who’re barely a year their seniors are even named after it.

Speaking of which, BOYNEXTDOOR has shown some signs of developing an identity in form of their connection to Block B with “Earth, Wind & Fire”, and I for one would love to see a group take up that mantle. KPop needs outliers like Block B, so just let Zico run wild with this group and see what happens. What’s the point in letting him produce a group for you if you don’t? If BOYNEXTDOOR gets to be the weird and fun one, that’s an identity no big group has a claim to right now, and most importantly, none of HYBE’s own groups have. Of course that is not what happened, and both “Dangerous” and “Nice Guy” are what I imagine you’d get if early NCT Dream was produced by HYBE. The concept seems to be “boys next door” in the most “teenagers are entitled assholes” interpretation of the phrase. Did no one look up what “nice guy” means, or did they intend to come across as pathetically misogynistic?

And the real kicker is, if HYBE wanted a boy group to fill that niche, they already had the biggest one there was. In that context, it becomes even more baffling how much Seventeen had their identity erased. I watch the “Maestro” MV and all I can think about is how derivative of ATEEZ it is, while their label is scrambling to put together a halfway functioning version of the concept this group used to be the pinnacle of.  

And this is where HYBE’s other big problem comes in: the songs just aren’t well produced. Even if they could distinguish their groups conceptually, they’d still fall apart because the songs don’t carry their weight.

TXT was the most obvious victim of that this year. Both “Deja vu” and “Over The Moon” are the type of songs that want to sound musically complex, the type of releases that pretend to be high art but can’t back it up. The production is too thin, too obvious, too safe. Conceptually, TXT is making exactly the type of dramatic songs I loved that 2nd to 3rd gen transition period for, but it falls flat every single time because they do not have the production quality behind them that made these releases work a decade ago. If you want to make pop music that isn’t carried by a fun beat you need to make it interesting, and HYBE doesn’t seem capable of doing so.

Le Sserafim’s “Easy” is the closest they’ve gotten to making a slower song work, and that still has a beat, it’s just a bit more chill than your usual dance songs. And Le Sserafim too hasn’t gotten much to work with apart from that one song. The EP is bland and underwritten, and listening to “Crazy” repeatedly to get past its superficial weirdness only reveals how empty the song is.

That leaves one last HYBE group. ENHYPEN still gets the best songs in this cooperation, but that has become an incredibly low bar. “XO (Only If You Say Yes)” for example is a borderline unlistenable abomination. But at least their album sounded like some effort was put into the B-sides. “Brought The Heat Back” is an infinitely better song than the title track, “Teeth” is a bop only let down by a bridge that refuses to grow on me, and according to KPop tradition any song called “Lucifer” has to be good. The problem with ENHYPEN remains their lack of a strong vocal line, as per usual for HYBE too. But, as many groups have done before them, weak vocals can be overcome by strong production and smart songwriting that considers the limits of the performers, both of which ENHYPEN repeatedly had. Most importantly though, ENHYPEN has a recognizable identity as a group. Less so now than they had as rookies, but still more so than any of their labelmates have right now.

And you might’ve noticed that for all the focus on how HYBE is trying to recreate NewJeans, I never actually said anything about the group itself. Because I can’t. Their songs this year have been so bland that I can’t recall a single one of them. I also called ENHYPEN the last HYBE group, because NewJeans aren’t under contract with HYBE anymore.

And that really shows what HYBE’s priorities are better than anything. They scrambled to copy NewJeans’ success instead of focusing on making that success long term for NewJeans itself. And then they fought out their internal leadership disputes on the backs of five teenagers they were legally obligated to protect. And while this is an ongoing situation, it seems undisputable for now that HYBE failed to make these kids feel safe and respected, and it’s easy to believe the girls’ story because it aligns so well with HYBE’s outward behavior.

So, why spend so much time on HYBE if I dislike almost everything they touched this year? It’s because they’re emblematic for every issue I have with KPop right now. As the biggest label, they set the trends, and that includes all the issues that made KPop such an unrewarding genre to follow recently. The too short and unfinished songs, the lack of creative vision, the loss of group identities, the shotty productions, the shameless pandering to the American market at the expense of its own musical identity. Never before has KPop felt less like a music genre and more like a soulless product. Like Illumination and Disney HYBE realized they didn’t need to push boundaries or advance their craft to turn a profit if they could just churn out release after release with no passion for the art they’re selling. Their alleged mistreatment of NewJeans and their staff isn’t unique either, not by a long shot. It’s unhappy employees making shitty products in a shitty work environment for a shitty company. And if that doesn’t describe the KPop industry I don’t know what does.

But I’d like to think that at some point, something has to give. And while HYBE’s profits haven’t been affected yet, we’ve seen a shocking number of big girl groups underperform on the charts this year. It would certainly be interesting to hear an expert’s opinion on how that happened, from my perspective it’s not surprising at all. Streaming hits are only hits for as long as people want to listen to the song, and the songs just weren’t any good.

And there’s no better (and more shocking) example than IVE. English songs remained a stain on a group’s discography more often than not, and with the release of “All Night” IVE had two misses in a row. There’s nothing of the sledgehammer earworm factory this group was known to be left in “All Night”, it’s an aggressively mediocre and generic song without a strong hook, and it feels very inconsequential for it. And sadly, that seems to be the trend now. Neither “Heya” nor “Accendio” work either. They’re neither catchy nor interesting, and they failed so hard as title tracks that IVE finished the album cycle without a single music show win at a time where even a far less popular group like ONF managed to sneak a win in.

Inkigayo saved (G)I-DLE from a failure like that, but their singles too underperformed this year. And once again it’s not hard to see why. “Superlady” has strong verses that get held down by an underwritten chorus; they can’t even pick one pronunciation of “lady”, it’s distracting. And once again, (G)I-DLE has no idea how to end their songs. It’s the same story with most of their singles, a half-assed and very predictable breakdown during the last thirty seconds that doesn’t close the song in any meaningful way, nor does it build on what came before. And yet, this is one of the better girl group songs this year, and it was a hit at least. Their summer release “Klaxon” is the real problem. Congratulations (G)I-DLE, this is your worst single, ever. Even sitting through the first verse is a pain, and the reward for sticking with it is a truly horrible chorus I don’t even know where to begin to rip apart.

I could continue like that. Go through my exhaustive list of over 200 songs one by one and find all the groups that failed to live up to expectations this year. It would be pretty much everyone. All I remember about STAYC’ songs is that I hated every single one of them. TWICE is on a losing streak but I guess “Strategy” is fine. Fifty Fifty totally self-destructed and they didn’t even need awful songs to do it. ATEEZ had a fine but entirely forgettable year and that just strikes me as wrong. My list tells me that OH MY GIRL had a comeback, but the song is a blank space in my memory. Most of the LOONA remnants did no better (“Birth” is literally the only memorable release to come out of that entire meltdown), SAY MY NAME’s debut was a nothingburger, Billlie somehow became just as boring as the rest. And it’s not even like analyzing why the songs are bad is getting us anywhere here. Because it’s nothing new, and it’s the same for all of them: The songs are too short, sound unfinished, are incohesive, lack transitions, and don’t have more content than what you need to do make a TikTok. It’s a culmination of several trends that have been building in KPop for years, and at some point, something had to give.

[maxdibert]

I hate that the face of Severus is Alan Rickman. Like Alan's vibe and face doesn't give me Severus at all. Why was he even casted? The main reason I want the reboot to happen is so I could see a more realistic Snape cast and Alan's potrayal could be cast aside in people's perception of Snape. Some of the art you reblogged fits him well but when it comes to real life look alikes - I have never seen one.

I don’t have a problem with Rickman because, honestly, aside from maybe Evanna Lynch and Maggie Smith, none of the cast really matched the image I had of the characters when I started reading the books. Especially the generation of Severus, where they cast actors who were 20 years older than the characters, and that has always been my biggest issue with this. But it’s something I’ve gotten used to as part of the lore of the movies, which for me exist in a separate world from the books. They differ in so many ways, and most of the characters’ personalities were adapted and differ significantly from the books as well.

I don’t know, Rickman was an amazing actor, and I’ve always respected him a lot, just like I respect Oldman and Thewlis. I suppose they were chosen because they’re iconic British actors. Practically 90% of the adult characters were played by great actors and actresses. I never complain about those things because I like seeing talented professionals bring characters I care about to life, even if they don’t match my mental image of them. For example, I love Gary Oldman, but he was never Sirius Black to me—not even when he was younger did he remotely resemble him (though he was a great Sid Vicious, on the other hand, lol). I feel the same way about Isaacs’ Lucius, who isn’t the Lucius in my head. And I adore Jason Isaacs—I think no one will ever top his Captain Hook because that role was absolutely perfect for him. Or McCrory’s Narcissa. McCrory is an actress who has played some of my favorite badass older women in recent years. But I just don’t see them as those characters. But that’s fine, I guess. Studios want to add prestige to their films, and they do that by casting well-known actors in big productions.

From what I understand, it was Rowling herself who chose Rickman. It’s not like Rickman resembles the designs she’s shown of Snape in the sketches she made while writing Philosopher’s Stone, for example, or the descriptions in the books, but maybe the idea just worked for her. I know they also considered Tim Roth, but he turned it down. Honestly, Tim Roth wouldn’t have made much sense to me either (even though he was 15 years younger than Rickman), so I guess the producers had their own ideas.

For me personally, the biggest issue I’ve had with Rickman’s Snape, and the rest of his generation’s characters, is the age. All of them were played by actors 15–20 years older than the characters, who canonically never even made it to 40. Like, literally, when the series starts, they’re younger than Taylor Swift. In Order of the Phoenix, they’re the same age Taylor Swift is now, lol. Literally, in Chamber of Secrets, Severus is the same age Miley Cyrus is now—it blows my mind, xD.

But aside from that, I have a lot of love for Rickman because I grew up with him, and I’ve always thought he was an incredible actor. So I don’t mind that he doesn’t match the Snape I imagine—not even remotely. None of the actors really do. The one who has come closest to my mental image is Adrien Brody in The Pianist, and even then, he’s not quite right. But, well, everyone has their own vision of these things.

[swarmofabout1000bees]

I really don't know how to word this so this will probably be worded awfully but I feel like so many teachers and people are missing one of the big factors why we have so many "unmanageable" kids in school, and to no one's surprise the problem is capitalism. So for context I'm a babysitter, paid and unpaid, it's something I'm quite passionate about and I actively try to take on the role of teacher when I'm with my kids, pushing them to learn useful life skills. These unmanageable kids are real and almost all of the ones I've taken care of have one thing in common, extremely overworked parents. I mean we're talking both parents, full time jobs, pushing 80 plus hours a week. This is not me shitting on teachers at all and I'm aware I have a perspective inside the home that many don't have and teachers are not paid enough for this shit, but the argument that I've heard from so many teachers, that *all* parents are just lazy and throwing their kids at iPads willy-nilly, is just plain wrong (i am acknowledging that there are definitely lazy parent's out there, I have unfortunately seen those too). The rich are as rich as they have ever been and the poor are the poorest they've ever been, so many of these parents don't have the time to invest in their kids' education because if they are not sleeping, they're working. The work vs home life boundary has dissolved so much since 2020 with the mainstream use of remote work and now parents are taking work home with them, they are never not on the clock. Electronics and iPads are being used as a sort of babysitter because a realistically priced babysitter or child care is way too expensive for the average "low-income" household to afford (which is a good majority of the population). It's a $200 one time payment vs $500 monthly. Not only that but the disappearance of third spaces has pushed the kids that were offline, online and I fear it's intentional. The real world has become hostile to those who aren't able to "add" to the economy, the biggest population of these people being kids. This is why child labor laws are being rolled back, this is why we have so many "protect children online" laws trying to go through, the reason they are trying to defund headstart and preschool, and these things only help to further capitalism so no lawmaker is going to try and fix it. The parents don't need judgement. They need community but if everyone is working 60-80+ hours a week, who is going to be that community? The real solution is going to be community, everything else like changing our teaching methods and supplemental work are just bandaid fixes. I think the final nail in the coffin is the older kids just have no hope for the future and they have the "what's the point?" Mentality because they know the world isn't made for them. They are watching as each generation gets increasingly fucked over and know that they're next, what's the point of learning if you don't reap the reward of learning? It hurts to talk to these kids, they need hope and support but to be frank, there is none. Their parents don't even have hope or support. Chances are teachers are the adults they get to see the most of in their life and teachers are being forced to take on a pseudo parent role because of that. Once again, the whole system is jacked and needs to be scrapped and fuck capitalism.

TLDR: Kids are feral because their parents are so overworked and poor. Parents are choosing to throw them at what they think is a reasonable solution to keep their kids occupied because they have no community, iPads. The big issue again is capitalism, not *entirely* bad or lazy parenting, though those do exist too. In addition, these kids know what the world looks like and that they are at a complete disadvantage and have just given up.

[thelreads]

sigh.

Alright, let me put my thoughts down. But first, put this song to play as you read them

oh my god where do I even begin?

Look, it had been a long time that I had given up hope on this story having some sort ending that was remotely close to what it was supposed to be, but this one... I'm honestly kinda bummed.

Again, feel free to disagree, I do respect you if you like it and the manga in general, but me... God, I'm actually kinda down because of what happened.

As it approached the ending it all just started getting more and more contrived, more and more nonsensical, but I still kept going, because I wanted to see it through. Now... I don't regret it, I still like all the potential it had from the get go, it's just the execution that let me down.

I think the biggest problem is that it wanted to be a lot of things all at once, and above all, it wanted to be bigger than the main series. The series was too ambitious for what it was supposed to be, and it all came tumbling down.

I like koichi and pop, I like the designs, I like all the sweet promises that the story whispered into my ear as it all began. I'm just not happy with how they came to end.

Because, at the end of the day, what was the point of it all? It was all so koichi could be a real hero? He already was a hero for the people of Naruhata, but the story treats it like it was just a kid messing around, the story itself treats what koichi did as just playing around without taking it serious.

The story itself degrades itself and at the end goes and says "Now Koichi is a REAL hero, alright, NOW he is making a difference"

this is all so... sad

It's so sad that the whole story just points and laugh at itself, and treats the whole journey like it wasn't important, the only thing that mattered was only koichi becoming a pro hero.

And I reread the first chapter again, and it was actually really good, I think that almost on par with the one from the Main series. It set the tone, it set the stage, it set the characters, it set conflict, and then somewhere along the way it all just... changed

And it wasn't more a story about how a person could fight for justice and make a difference in spite of not being a licensed pro hero. It was just about heroes unknowingly fighting AfO while koichi was around.

And not only the plot was mistreated and abandoned, the characters started to more and more being flanderized into caricatures that fitted the standard tropes so they could be more digestible to the public. God forbid they were unique on their own ways with their own flaws.

...

I will be revisiting this manga eventually. I will reread it, and I'll take those promises and this potential and I will write that fanfiction. I said it once before that I didn't want it to be seen as me spiting the author, and going "I can do it way better than you", and now more than ever I want that to be known. I won't write this fanfiction because I disliked the story, on the contrary, I will write it out of respect for what it could've been. Because I love the forest that could've grown rather than the charred remains that the fire left behind.

And now... I think I need to go watch something to cheer me up. Catharsis is not always a pleasant thing to go through.

[andreal831]

I just don't see the appeal for Haylijah. Aside from them having nothing in common or any chemistry whatsoever, they were easily the most cringe, disgusting, trashiest, and incestuous ship to ever exist. There's nothing beautiful and romantic or even remotely hot and sexy about a ship, where a man falls for a woman pregnant with his brother's child, and said woman is a terrible mother as a result of being more worried and thirsty over jumping her daughter's uncle's bones, rather than worrying about her pregnancy and daughter, which were far more important. Just look at how she wasted no time cheating on Jackson the first opportunity she got. I mean, I understand she was basically marrying Jackson for convenience, but come on. She literally just told Elijah she's engaged, and she goes and does that.

And don't even get me started on what a complete bitch and straight up cunt she was to Gia when she found out she was seeing Elijah. And at this point, she's already married to Jackson and has already found out about Dahlia. This just once again proves what a terrible mother Hayley is, because instead of being more concerned with the looming threat after her child, she's more concerned with banging two dudes at once and having all the attention on her. She can't even be bothered to be the tiniest bit grateful that Gia helped her out with her daughter, which she was under no obligation whatsoever to do, since that's not her problem anyway. 

And same goes for Rebekah, who spent six months of her life with Hope. And once Rebekah's nanny services were no longer required, Hayley is quick to turn on her at the drop of a dime and ready to kill her too and for what exactly? And on top of that, thinking Klaus and Elijah would agree to that? Talk about being the most selfish, disrespectful, and ungrateful bitch to ever exist. Rebekah was a way better mother to Hope in those six months than Hayley ever was throughout Hope's whole life.

Now, let's go onto Elijah and his views of women. He doesn't genuinely love the women he falls for. He loves the idea of them and whatever image and picture he paints of them in his head. And the minute they don't live up to the ideal pure, innocent, and virginal woman he pictured in his head, he drops them like a bad habit. I guarantee if he knew who Hayley really was as a person and about her history on TVD, and if he was anything in character at all, he'd have thrown her ass to the curb the same way he did with Katherine. 

And you say Elijah is not a hypocrite? He's the biggest hypocrite to ever exist and there's plenty of proof on both shows to prove it. Being buddy-buddy with Elena and even sympathetic to her for losing her brother, and even dumping Katherine over that. But having nothing to say about Elena having killed two of his brothers, and then having the gall to say on TO, "No one hurts my family and lives." Or what about having the gall to judge Cami for letting her feelings for Klaus cloud her judgment (which she wasn't, she was being very reasonable), when he did the exact same thing with Hayley, which is why he daggered Klaus and let Hayley run off with Hope in the first place? Yeah, Elijah is not the perfect, moral, and noble man you've all been brainwashed into thinking he is. 

Before you assume anything or put words in my mouth ... no, I don't ship Klayley or Klaroline either. And let's also not forget that Julie Plec promised fans that TO would be more about the family dynamics and exploring more of the Originals past and wouldn't have the same love triangle drama TVD did. Talk about the biggest bold-faced lie ever told. If anything at all, Klayley and Haylijah solidified for me why a love triangle was not needed for TO. Julie Plec should've just kept her word. Now, Elijah/Francesca and Elijah/Gia would've made for far better, more interesting, more compelling, and definitely way hotter and sexier pairings. 

Hello love. I adore the fact that you are still thinking of me after all of these weeks. Although I hope you haven't spent too much of your time being this upset.

Despite all of that, I'm going to take this ask seriously, or as serious as possible. It will be the last one from you I respond to, the rest will simply be deleted. But if that is how you wish to waste your time, have fun!

So your first complaint is that you don't see the appeal of haylijah. And that's fine! There are a lot of different ships for different people. I don't make it a practice to tell people who to ship. Rather, I love talking about things I love, like haylijah. Thank you for providing me another opportunity to do so!

To me, haylijah has so much chemistry. From the first moment they met, I knew they would be a main ship. They had so much chemistry that the show dropped the whole brothers love triangle because it didn't compare. Again, that's too me (and the show runners), if you disagree, that's great for you! I don't get how it's incestuous since they aren't related... But if you find it that way, maybe this show isn't for you. If they are problematic for you, I'm not sure what ship you can really like.

I think Elijah falling in love with Hayley was so beautifully done. I also want to point out the way you talk about Hayley as a human incubator for Klaus is not the move. Elijah didn't fall in love with Hayley as a woman who was pregnant with his brother's kid, but as a woman. Full stop. Let's not reduce women down to their sex lives or mother's down to one aspect of their being. Also you saying Hayley is a terrible mother destroys any remaining credibility you had. Hayley is the best mother in this show, even though the bar is on the floor. At no point did she put her relationship with any man over Hope. In fact, so much of the fandom hates her for that. To finish that up, she never cheated. Hope that helps. She was not in a relationship with Jackson when she slept with Elijah and she told Jackson about it, who didn't have an issue with it. So I don't know why you do.

Your language you use to discuss women is curious. You act like a warrior for Gia and yet you would use derogatory words to talk about women. Yes, Gia deserved better. We all agree. But Gia and Hayley have like four scenes together. A couple of which show them working together. I promise you, ever woman on that show has made immature comments to another woman because the writers are immature and sexist. She was grateful to Gia though. Or are you conveniently forgetting that scene?

You also seem awfully concerned abut a character's sex life when she has maybe one sex scene a season. It's almost like you are trying to tear down a woman for having sex. So I think you are the issue here. Not Hayley. You try to use it to say she is a terrible mother and wife, again reducing her down to two aspects of her personality and are essentially trying to slut shame a woman whose bodily autonomy was robbed from her in so many ways.

I can't even take you seriously on your take with Rebekah. The only time she ever threatened Rebekah's life was when she was possessed by Eva and she did so in defense of her daughter, which seems to cut against your stance that she's a bad mother. And again, with your sexist language. Rebekah only had to be a mother for six months when she got to live safely away from the chaos and war of New Orleans and then Rebekah bailed when Hope needed her most. Hayley raised her and never once abandoned her daughter.

Your idea of Elijah is comical and based on nothing but your own spite. It's concerning how upset it makes you. At this point I don't think you even agree with half of what you say but you think everyone here is as immature as you and try to attack our "weaknesses." I promise you, I am not so immature as to be affected that you don't like my favorite characters. I love people always say "virginial women" and yet you clearly don't understand what that means. Elijah has never once been attracted to a "ideal pure, innocent and virginial woman." First of all, you say it as if these ideas are black and white. You either are or you aren't. Saying this is discrediting the amazing, strong, witty women that he loves. I think it's funny you don't think Elijah is aware of what happened in TVD with Hayley. But he does know what she did in TO and still loved her, so your point is invalid. He left Katherine for betraying him, yet again. Which is fair.

I love the amount of research you've done though. Each paragraph is clearly targeted at different posts I've made on here. I'm really flattered. That being said, I've already discussed the hypocrite thing, so I'm not going to get into it again. But you clearly don't know what the definition of hypocrisy is so it doesn't even matter.

I don't have to put words in your mouth. You are incapable of brevity and make yourself look bad all on your own. But I am laughing out loud at a Elijah/Francesca and Elijah/Gia triangle. Talk about Elijah being a hypocrite and being with the woman who is trying to take down his family. Have you even watched the show?

This is fun and all and I appreciate you came more prepared than the last time we spoke. I also love that you can't respond because you have to hide behind your anonymity in the ask box so I get to have the last word here.

I say this with all of the sincerity in the world, I think you need to take a break from this fandom. I know it is a safe space for so many people, but for others, it becomes an unhealthy obsession and will only serve to make you more upset. If this fandom is no longer a happy place for you, it isn't worth staying in it. Try to use this fandom to build each other up and connect with people who love the same things as you. For so long, this fandom has helped me because of the amazing people I've met. There are so many beautiful souls who would love to have genuine conversations with you, but if you keep acting this way, you are only serving to isolate yourself.

If you ever want to talk, to genuinely talk, my inbox is open. But if you only wish to spread hate, please stay off of my page.

[batsplat]

Stoner also revealed that he had found it immensely difficult to miss the races, so much so that he couldn't bear to watch them on TV. "I didn't want to watch the races, I just wanted to find out the results, it was too hard to watch" he said. "Even now, it feels like I've missed out on so much." "We went off lactose, we went off gluten for two or three weeks, to try and get a reaction from that. Unfortunately, medical things take some time to understand them. You need to get things out of your system before you can get other things in your system to see if it works. We've found recently that I've had quite low blood pressure and low sodium levels so we're trying to increase that to see if that helps. We might have found something with lactose, a lactose intolerance to some degree, so I've gone off lactose to see if that helps." Stoner dismissed rumors that a bad diet may have contributed to his illness. "We haven't changed my diet because I already had a good diet before, but we're trying to change it to put things in my diet that will put something in my system to help me pick myself up again." "For the first month there was complete rest, there was no physical exercise at all. After that we started training lightly on the bike again, I was out there with my trainer, and we did a good week or so training. Basically just light stuff, just to keep the muscles working, because after so long off the bike, the muscles are going to be sore and tired. After the exercise, we still found the same problems, I was still running into that wall, and we couldn't fix it." Stoner mocked rumors of his retirement, saying that he had laughed at how quickly they had appeared. "I heard on day 3 of Brno that I was retiring," he said. "It's pretty immature of people to spread these rumors." His intention, he kept repeating, was only ever to take 3 races off. "I am looking forward to my future, especially if we can sort this out. I'm looking forward to this weekend, because it's been too hard to be away from racing. It only takes you a couple of weeks away from racing to realize that this is what you really want to do and what you want to get back to doing."

Stoner also dismissed rumors of problems between himself and Ducati. Stoner told the assembled media that it had been his decision to handle the situation as they did, and concentrate on getting better in Australia without assistance from Ducati. "It's difficult for people over here to understand that being away from the sport meant I had to be away from the sport. I had to sort this out on my own. If I'm not here racing, what reason would there be for me to be in contact with the media and everyone here?" Nor had he been upset by Ducati's approach to Jorge Lorenzo. "It's understandable," Stoner said. "It was no problem for me. There was an opportunity there, I'm sure a lot of riders were speaking to a lot of teams; it was that part of the season." But Stoner was clear on where he wanted to stay: "Ducati know I'm happy here, and they know I'm happy with the work they've been doing." He also explained that part of the lack of communication was down to the remoteness of Stoner's house in Australia. "Mobile phones don't work where I live," he said. "So I was out of contact with everyone until the doctors appointments." When asked whether his problems could have been caused by stress, Stoner replied that he did not believe this was the case. Any stress he may suffer, he said, was solely down to the pressure he puts on himself, one factor which the doctors did identify. "They said over-training, things like this. Maybe pushing myself too hard," Stoner conceded. "My biggest critic is myself. All the pressure comes from me, I don't feel pressure from elsewhere. If I'm not getting results, the biggest problem I have is myself. I'm disappointed in myself. This is what confuses some people; when I'm interviewed after the races, even when I win, when I don't look so happy it's not that I'm not happy, it's that I'm disappointed that I made a mistake or I don't believe I rode the best race I could. This is the only criticism that I could have. It's definitely not a problem of pressure."

Excerpts from Casey Stoner's Estoril 2009 media session (x)

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #1171: The Diary of Beartrap (Epithet Erased)

Dear Diary,

It's been a while, hasn't it?~ I'm sorry it took too long for me to write to you. Quite a lot has happened to me as of late: Some hectic, some exciting, a few rough patches and there, but I promise you there's a lot good after that. In fact, my life has gotten a lot better since it ever been, but I'm getting way ahead of myself already, so let's get started , shall we?

To get the bad and obvious out of the way, my relationship with my family hasn't improved at all unfortunately. Lorelai's still as lazy and self-centered ever while always constantly butting heads with me every chabce she gets, dad-no, Martin, is too investing in his own little world to even care about anything anymore, and I always had to spend the last few years of my life, watching over the toy store and keep it up float while cleaning up THEIR messes on a daily basis! And yeah, I HATE every second of it and EVERYDAY!!

.....But it couldn't be helped. The day mother left has been really rough for all of us since then, so it's not too hard to understand why our relationship became so....distant, hollow, dysfunctional and so.....messy. I should've realized sooner that things would turn out the way it did and be more prepared, but even then, I doubt it would've been any less stressful and draining than it was now and after everything Lorei put me and my friends through in her fantasy world of hers that night, I decided enough was enough and leave everything behind me: the toy store, the people I used to call my family, and.....my previous life up to this point..........

And I'm happy I made that choice, because like I said, my life really turned around for a whole lot better since then. I'm doing a lot better in school, I get to spend more time with my friends stressed-free, I even did a few other things I've never thought i would ever get to do in whole life: like being a part of school plays, attend football amd basketball games, and making these suuuuuper yummy cinnamon apple raisins waffle in cute cub head shapes~

To tell you truth, I don't think any of this would be even remotely be possible if it weren't for the two people who are working their butts off into looking after me as of late: Crusher, the biggest teddy bear of a sweetheart I have ever met (Which is pretty ironic considering he actually went as a teddy bear for Halloween last year. So freaking adorable!~ i should really remember to him again when he and the others come back), and my one and only boss: Giovanni Potage.

I honestly don't think I have the proper words to express how much he means to me or even how thankful I truly am for everything heaven done for me so far. He taught me how to be more confident in myself and become more assertive, he goes out of his way and beyond to try to help me with stuff in general, and he even went out of his way to take me our of my miserable home life and does his very best to look after me to this very. He sees a lot more value and importance in me than I even realized I have any myself. He did all of this is.....because he cares about me. Because he loves me. And......I love him too. So much that.....I wanna do whatever I can to help him out: with our new villain group, any of his newer evil schemes, and everything else in general. It's the least I can do for everything he have done for me thus far.

To this day, I still don't think I have a clue as to what the future will have in store for me or what to expect going forward, but I won't let it scare me off that easily. I won't let my past life take a hold of me any longer. I am going to live rest of my life to the fullest by my own accord and with the people I truly love and cherish. And if anyone has a problem with that, they can go screw themselves right off to the blazing sun, cause I'm not stopping one bit!

Giovanni: (In the Other Room) Ohh Beeartraaaaap!~ Dinner's finally ready!~

Crusher: And we finally return with SNACKS!

Spike: Annnnd a good amount of decent quality movies we can all watch!~ None of which were chosen by Ben thank God!

Ben: Dude, seriously!?

Car Crash: Hey, we're not the ones who brought tickets to that knock off Ice Age movie that one time, didn't we?

Ben: ('Let's Out a Frustrated Scream')

Molly: (Giggles Softly) Coming! (Finishes Up Writing on her Diary)

Okay, as much as I would love to stay and wrote, I gotta go now. We're having lasagna and a whole movie night tonight. They said they'll be a lot a movie to watch through this time around, so fingers crossed for at least a few of them to be decent. But until then, I'll try and write to you more often. It is one of my many New Years Resolutions after all, might as well make the most out of them.

Love,

Molly Blyndeff A.K.A. Beartrap

@aprilbrowines