#little hater variety hour

[porcelain-animatronic]

man i miss going to the nice seafood steakhouse for thanksgiving...

idc about being with family or whatever i just want a meal that isnt southern comfort (my least favorite catagory of food)

honestly what i might do in the future is duck out of the family get together and go to said seafood steakhouse alone. cant do that this year but in future years that sounds quite nice

[leahsgf]

BOUQUETS – leah williamson

in which leah, famous hater of tiktok joins in on a trend, for you.

one thing about your girlfriend that not many people knew - is that she is secretly an absolute dork, through and through. her signature frown and grumpy expression when she focused, meant that not only was she endlessly teased by you for it, and jokingly reminded that if the wind blew she’d be stuck like that - but also that she gained a reputation for being very serious, and rarely showing her emotions, particularly on the pitch.

you however, and anyone who had the pleasure of getting to see her behind closed doors, and truly knowing her - knew that that was the furthest thing from the truth.

which, is what led you to now.

you’d been sprawled almost flat on top of her in bed for what had felt like hours on end, your favourite place to be on the rare occasion that you both had a day off, when an unusual silence settled between the two of you.

unusual, in the sense that these private moments between the pair of you were usually filled by leah’s rambles about anything and everything, a narration of every single thought that had remained unspoken over the time she wasn’t with you.

“what are you doing?” you protested, breaking the silence and grumbling into the crook of your neck, not even a millisecond after her fingers stopped trailing through your hair.

“nothing, grouchy! just trying to figure out this stupid thing. bloody tiktok i swear! i don’t know how you and the girls love it so much, makes no sense!” she waved her phone in the air, eyebrows furrowing and that frown deepening - but her fingers instantly resuming their actions in your hair, causing you to slump once more.

“wait babe why are you on tiktok! you hate tiktok!” the realisation hit you rather slowly due to your state, your mind flashing back to the what must be hundreds of times that you begged her to do a cute video with you - only to be met with a rant about how much she despised the app.

“oi! mind your business. you’ll see! just need some patience my girl!” she chuckled, bopping you on the nose as she tilted her screen just out of your eyes’ reach.

to say you were confused was a major understatement. you knew you could’ve seen her screen if you really wanted to, your position on top of her giving you a rare power.

one that you knew not to test, however. so, you let yourself shrug off her strange behaviour and settle back into her, being pulled in by the addictiveness that was her skin, and her scent.

“there! done!” she pushed her phone into your face, so suddenly it almost made you jump.

and what faced you, confused you almost as much as when it was hidden from you.

it was her lockscreen. a new one, replacing the picture of the two of you.

a bouquet of flowers.

they were cute, undeniably. dainty little illustrated cartoon flowers, in a variety of colours and styles, put together in a bouquet - in the middle of a plain background.

but not enough to match the shit eating, proud yet almost shy grin that was spread across her lips.

“it’s….cute? lee i don’t get why you’re showing me this though?” your frown mirrored her previous one, confusion visible all over your face that made her giggle, and prod at your flushing cheek.

“look silly girl, it’s some trend on tiktok that beth showed me. there’s a flower for each letter of the alphabet, and people have been putting them together and spelling out their partner’s names to make a little bouquet and i thought it was cute, okay!” she said, almost sheepishly - looking away from you as you sat up, grinning.

“you’re so cute oh my god.” you peppered kisses all over her face, ignoring her protests.

“the team cannot hear about this. kay? i’m their captain, i have a reputation to uphold!” she met your lips in a kiss, almost immediately proving her own point wrong.

“i think everyone knows how much of a dork you are baby i’m afraid, we’re way past that point!”

[the-epic-hiram-lows]

Archie time! I will do this even though the board itself was mysteriously removed from the post (should I re-upload it, or keep it as an esoteric limited edition item?) Haters are fuming. For extra context, you might want to see the boneless version, which shows the original photos without color edits but still cropped.

As always, commentary is L-R, top to bottom.

This idea came so easily and so vividly to me that I almost feel like I can't take credit for it. It took surprisingly little time to find a good font as well. As for the meaning of it, I think it's pretty much what it says on the literal tin. Archie is often bruised, literally and figuratively, throughout the series. More often than not, the situations that bruise him were never his situations in the first place. He has a huge martyr complex- both a cause and effect of his need for psychic bandages.

As I noted earlier in this series, I told myself that using photos of the actual source material was cheating. After breaking that rule with Jughead, I wanted to double down on this (which I successfully did on Veronica's, whose board I started before Archie's,) but had to fold here. Aside from the fact it is nearly impossible to find a photo that looks like these four, how do you Archie Andrews from Riverdale? You cannot do so meaningfully. I chose this specific photo for three reasons. Firstly, of course, that it fit the color palette. Secondly, it looks like a memory. Thirdly, the way Archie is breaking the fourth wall of the photo. He is present in the moment but acknowledging the people off-screen looking back. While this is textually more of a Jughead thing, Archie is Riverdale. This is a subtle representation of the thin veil between Riverdale the universe and Riverdale the product. Its increasingly meta nature. In terms of composition, I didn't crop faces out, which would normally be my instinct. It didn't feel right. Archie wouldn't obscure the faces of his friends. They are everything to him- one of the reasons the picture is in the center row.

I originally found this quote doing research for Veronica's board. I thought it was very interesting from an 'abusive father intentionally makes himself vital to child to feed his narcissism' type of way, but at second glance I read it as mournful. This was almost certainly what the creator intended, but the context in which I found it confused my perspective. This is, of course, a tribute to Fred. A summary of Archie's psyche would be incomplete without one.

When I saw this pin, I thought 'Archie!' The original photo was lackluster, so I spent 2-3 hours photoshopping this pin onto a Riverdale varsity jacket. I eventually reached photorealism, where someone would easily accept there is a pin on that jacket, but at that point it didn't catch the eye. I had to sacrifice some realism for the sake of the mood board. After another hour or so, it is exactly Fine. In the end, nobody mentioned the jacket either way. Maybe that means I did a good enough job that no one consciously noticed it. Maybe it means I did all that for nothing. Who's to say? Either way, this pin is a bit off when you consider my intentions of representing Archie's psyche. This is something Archie hears, but doesn't say. I kind of justified it to myself by saying he would wear this as a way to laugh at those who think he is a fawn who should stay out of danger, but... I don't know. Maybe the fourth wall gets one panel as a treat? The more I think about it, the more I think I wasted that photoshop time on something that betrays my thesis statement.

Not my best work!

Firstly, let's call it like it is- this is, for the most part, a filler image. However, within that, I did have reasoning! Though it isn't ever alluded to through dialogue or camera work, Archie does have quite the thing for Converses. He often wears them throughout the series, and seems to have a good amount of variety in his collection. But, beyond that, Converses have been a staple of the American teen for generations. Archie, as we often state, is a representation of Americana. Though Converses are often seen in modernish counter culture, they also have a sincere athletic-but-not-an-athlete charm.

The first image I had for Archie, saved days (even weeks) before I committed to making a mood board for him. This is, again, less about his brain and more about him as an abstract. I will kick myself about that later. Actually, pretend I never stated this was supposed to be a psychological study. Pretend I said it was mostly focused on his psyche, but not entirely. Thanks. Anyway, this is embodies season one Archie. Pre-pilot Archie, even. Considering the fact Archie turned 16 during his affair with Grundy, the text stings even more.

Nothing I say about this picture will be as well-worded as @hauntingattheblackberrypatch's brilliantly apt observations on it, but nevertheless I persist. I immediately fell in love with the symbolism. In so many ways, and for some many reasons, Archie fights with his heart. When we examine physical fights Archie gets in, they are often matters of the heart. He is never violent without deeply emotional violation. He often uses his physicality on someone else's behalf- his way of showing he cares. Instead of a sleeve, Archie wears his heart on his boxing glove. There are probably dozens of layers to this sentiment that range from the fully literal interpretation I gave to an entirely psychological one, several steps removed from Archie's conscious thoughts. I think the visual provides enough for the viewer to pick and choose their metaphors, and they would probably be correct in their interpretation. If you saw the boneless board, you might have noticed I swapped the background of this photo. The plain background made me focus too much on the first and not enough on the heart, so to speak. It felt too cold. I wanted warmth, texture, and sentiment. I went with a photo of yellow flowers. Though they don't really read as flowers, the effect is there.

A view from inside the diner. Another fond memory. Or, if you choose, a stock photo chosen for its generic Americana charm. (It's both.)

Broad notes now! Like I said in the original post, I did this board instead of sleeping. I finished it about five minutes before my alarm went off and I had to get out of bed.

I wasn't 100% positive about the color scheme I'd end up with going in, but I knew I wanted Americana and primary colors, and I knew Archie's board would be less muted. I wanted it to feel like nostalgia in its least cynical form.

[clouds-of-wings]

I don't even know what my top albums of the year are, but here are some I discovered this year that I really liked, so that I don't come across as ONLY a hater. Linking my fav track, or one of my fave tracks, on YT every time.

Molllust - Mother Universe (A glimmer of hope in the irradiated wasteland that is symphonic metal at present. Also one of the four female-LED metal bands I know. Like with a female composer! Such wow!)

Knights of Heliopolis - Ferrum Fero Ferro Ferror (ditto about the hope thing. Also they have an operatic bass frontman and holyyyyy shiiiit that is the best thing ever! I keep fangirling about this band but they used to be called "Phoebus the Knight", so that's the tag that's in.)

Nostra Morte - Sin Retorno (A flicker of light from the NON-wasteland that symph was 12 years ago)

Silent Opera - Immortal Beauty (ditto. Oh how I wish for soothing rain and some fucking OPERA VOCALS in the fucking OPERA GENRE. Why is symph metal full of COWARDS and CASUALS? I know I sound like Holden Caulfield, but that's because he's right and my role model.)

Nanowar - Dislike to False Metal (Power Metal, Nanowar being awesome as usual. I link perhaps one of their less surprising songs bc I'm a sucker for that Rhapsody stuff but plz listen to the whole album, it also has tracks like this - great variety really, and greater wtf! I gently pat Gatto's head and wonder what he will do next, clearly he's called Cat for a reason.)

Elina Garanca - Habanera (These are just some famous arias, but her voice is really nice! Dark-voiced mezzo-sopranos rule the world!)

Snowy Shaw - White is the New Black (I have been listening to this so much lately. Somehow I always ignored his solo work after the Notre Dame stuff except for some of his singles, but this album is actually really really cool! I don't know which genre it is lol. Metal Archives says "Heavy Metal", but that doesn't really describe it so well. Snowy has a lot of personality, and so does his music. Just click! You may not even regret it!)

Wolfenmond - Can't pick an album... Galdra (EP!) I guess. Folk metal or medieval rock with a woman who doesn't get forced to sound cute.

Grendel's Sÿster - Myrtenkranz Heavy metal / folk metal with a woman who REALLY doesn't get forced to sound cute. As SATW said, women should be respected, but sister Germany should be feared. Damn straight. This is an EP, same music first in English, then in German.

Kornalyn - Intemporel (French acoustic folk, revolutionary communist and anarchist songs. This guy is a folk song recording MACHINE and I like almost everything he releases.)

Therion - Leviathan 3 (I still wrestle with this album. A lot! I also know from past experience that in retrospect I'm more likely to regret not including it than I am including it.)

---

I also watched like 20 operas this year in an attempt to be a little less of a poser in the genre. I don't know which I would recommend the most. Wagner's "Die Walküre" touched me the most, both in terms of story and of pure epicness of the music. Kinda wiped the floor with everything else :/ It seems Wagner is the only one in opera who isn't shit at plots. Lohengrin also had a good story! Vivaldi's "Juditha Triumphans" (not technically an opera but an oratorio, but really I don't care, it's basically an opera) and Bizet's "Carmen" (I'm not linking that, there are 8945098340 good recordings, just find one that looks appealing to you) had the most pleasant music.

I also liked Alessandro nell‘Indie by Leonardo Vinci (no relation). I link my favourite scene. Don't worry about the lack of English subs, the plot is 4 hours of soap opera. They did a very traditional staging of this, like back in 1730, which means it's all countertenors and sopranists, half in drag. Thus it pairs nicely with the all-female Vivaldi one above. Back when women were real men who led armies and men had fake boobs or danced under falling rose petals singing about love, LIKE GOD INTENDED! TRADITIONAL VALUES!

[glassmarcus]

Easy, Breezy, Beautiful, Super Mario RPG

*Played in November 2023, Written in December 2023

There was always this mysticism encompassing Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars when I was growing up. I was born around the time the game actually came out, so I had no exposure to it outside of the internet. All I had to go off of was Newgrounds animations featuring characters from the game and people saying Geno should be in the next Super Smash Bros. So the Legend of the Seven Stars truly felt like a legend. Then the game got ported to the Wii Virtual Console and I was pumped. I checked the Wii Shop Channel every hour the day it was set to release. I had no clue what sort of expectations I were to set, but they were high. And after playing it, the game met most of them.

For those who don't know, Super Mario RPG is designed to be a beginner’s RPG. It's incredibly well made, but still relatively simple and introductory. Lucky for me, I was an RPG baby who had only fully played Pokémon as far as the genre went. Super Mario RPG was more engaging than any turn based game I had played up til then and really made me think about individual character stats and strengths instead of just having a bigger number than your opponent in your rock paper scissors match. The world was so weird for a Mario game and I really dug it. And even at the meager age of 11, I could understand how hard Yoko Shimomura was cooking with that soundtrack. I adored it and it quickly became one of my favorite games. I soon joined the correct side of the war that wanted Geno in Smash.

Quick aside, Geno is cool and I’m getting REAL tired of all these contrarian Geno haters acting like wanting him in Smash is some capital offense. Every time that character is brought up, it is immediately accompanied by some dude saying that Geno has no personality and that Geno fans are the most annoying people in the world. No, you foolish Strawman! The most annoying people in the world are the ones who get upset at others for liking things. We just think he's neat dude. He's got an arm canon and shoots lasers from the sky. He’s like if Pinocchio was Megaman, but even cooler than that. He’s like if Pinocchio was Protoman. He's stoic and mysterious. Yet he has moments of levity which make him endearing. Geno has a sick cape and a baggy hat, so by Mario standards, he is dripped the fuck out. This little dude rules. And you want us to pretend he's not cool? Are you annoyed that we aren't gassing up Mallow instead? I also like that guy too. But even if I didn’t, I’d be cool with him being in my kooky crossover fighter as well. We should all be Gassing up our own favorites instead of tearing down each others. OK, now back to the topic.

After playing Super Mario RPG I was kinda bummed there was no follow up. But then I learned there sort of was. See, I had only played Super Paper Mario up to that point, thus I was only familiar with the gameplay of that game. I assumed all Paper Mario games were strange 2.5D platformers. So when I learned the first Paper Mario was intended to be Super Mario RPG 2, I got really embarrassed before getting really excited. I downloaded it on Virtual Console, played through it and liked it even more than Super Mario RPG. Sure the party members were a downgrade for me, but the minuscule

Damage Numbers and complex build variety allowed me to plan more both in and out of battle. I found It was much easier to form specific strategies when you know the exact rules and damage values you and your opponent are playing with. The badge system was an equip system far deeper than just wearing stat increasing armor, as it took the concept of accessories and fleshed it out into a web of equipable secondary abilities and attacks. These two things along with the charming art style made it my new favorite Mario RPG almost immediately.

Then Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story came out and has reigned supreme ever since. The build complexity wasn't as interesting as the Paper Mario games, but the action part of battles really spoke to me and I adored having Bowser in my party again as he was my favorite party member in Super Mario RPG. I went back and played every other Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario game, and while some got close, none surpassed Bowser’s Inside Story for me. But a good amount surpassed Legend of the Seven Stars. So it’s weird how my feelings for the game have cooled now that it has been outclassed by its successors. I found no reason to return to it. If I wanted customization I'd go to the Paper Mario Games. If I wanted creative battle scenarios and skill checks I’d go to the Mario & Luigi games. There was nothing this game could give me anymore.

When the remake for this game was announced I basically lost my mind. Not just because I didn't expect it, but because I had an instant desire to play it, despite me thinking it wouldn't have much value if I experienced it today. Why? Well obviously there's the nostalgia. Despite it not being a favorite anymore, I still have a positive history with it. But mainly, the initial excitement came from my biggest gripe with the game being solved: The Art Style. In theory the look of Super Mario RPG should appeal to me as I like the characters designs and general color pallet. But I DO NOT like pre-rendered SNES era graphics. I played it on a CRT initially too and I still hated how murky it looked. It was better than Donkey Kong Country, but still not good. This is also why I want a normal remake of Final Fantasy 7, because I hate the pre-rendered backgrounds in that game too. This is probably one of my sauciest takes regarding video games. Hell, all my takes even tangentially related to Donkey Kong Country are kinda wild. Anyway, The remake doesn't have this problem because it's one of the best looking games on the Switch. It's exactly as good as I want it to look in my head when I recall it and that's how remakes ideally should operate. Everything in this game is visually consistent in tone and principle between it and its origin. The soul is completely maintained despite the graphical overhaul.

I was also interested in what the remake would bring to the table in terms of mechanics. As it turns out, every addition benefits the game substantially. The game actively teaching you how to block and time hits made it feel like I wasn't just pressing buttons randomly when an Area of Effect attack reared its ugly head. The combo system encourages good active play by rewarding you for not messing up timings. The team gauge allows for different team attacks, which makes you think about which party members you want out. And it’s not much, but the few team attacks you do get are sick and man I will never tire of Triple Techs being in games like these. It just makes your team feel like a team, and more than ever, that’s what this party feels like. The mid battle party switching is the real winner addition here and I now know what Mallow does in combat instead of putting him on the bench the whole game after getting Peach. Sure, all these additions make the game easier, but the game already was. It is still at its core a simple RPG and it sticks to that philosophy while also adding mechanics.

And I think the simplicity is what I overlooked for all these years. The successors are all longer games that demand more from you. Seven Stars is like a 10 hour game. Some other Mario RPGs can end up being 3 times as long and yea that's too long for me. I feel like the older I get, the shorter I want games to be because they usually end up being bloated as result of their length. Look at Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam. It's a deplorable game in a lot if ways, but the solid combat can carry it pretty far, like 15 hours far. But it's a 30 hour game for some reason. I got bored and it's still to this day the only one of these titles I started and didn't finish. That would never happen in Seven Stars. It is perfectly paced. You are always doing something new in the game, exploring the world at a brisk pace, enjoying everything along the way, and then the game ends on a high note. You crave more and there is more, but that's bonus stuff. You can also replay the game relatively quickly too. And because of its short length, it can be polished to a blinding sheen. This game is stuffed full of flourishes and details that would definitely be missing if this was a 30 hour game. While mechanically I still prefer the other two series, I think now is a good time to explore this brand of shorter Mario RPGs and this team is the one to do it. Every addition they added has been great, so I trust them with a sequel to this entirely. Both of the other types of Mario RPGs are basically dead anyway so it's not like the niche is being filled. Hopefully we'll get another one like this, and if it sucks? Whatever, it only took 10 hours of my time.

[celestius]

Barbiety is the soul of wit

Walking into the movie theatre, I never would have though that seeing Barbie would be such a stimulating experience that it would prompt be to write about it.

In many ways, Barbie reminded me of the Black Panther - the focal point of both movies being emancipation, and both movies suffering from issues mostly unrelated to their message. However, much like the haters confuse liking the movie with liking the message, so do its fans, which makes any debate of its qualities seem like an attack on its ideology.

Unlike the Black Panther, however, Barbie is actually fun to watch :). Most of its narrative flaws come down to its emotional thread falling flat, some questionable acting, and its strangely anticlimatic ending. The screenplay is all over the place, but that somehow feels appropriate given the subject matter, and many of the scenes are hilarious, brilliantly constructed, and cleverly penetrating.

Throughout the whole movie, however, I was struck by the fact that it tries to say too much and thus fails to say enough.

Distilled to its basics, Barbie tries to be a movie about what it’s like to be a woman. That in itself is not merely a daunting, but a downright impossible task! A topic so complex cannot be distilled into a two hour movie about a doll that came alive, and if it does, then it certainly cannot be done by explicitly talking about it.

Time for a little side note: very early into my “writing career” (my writing career meaning creating 500 different word documents with two paragraphs of aborted plot), I came to the following conclusion: the more a work of art leans towards storytelling, the less likely it is that its themes can be openly discussed by its characters, rather than “seeded” in the reader’s heads through the story.

I always dreamt about writing a fantasy epic that somehow encapsulates all of my life beliefs: however, any attempt at having the characters actually TALK about them made them seem simultaneously inane and reductive - because those ideas necessarily had to be “dumbed down” in order to not become a treatise. This made me realize that if a story wants to address a larger topic, it needs to do so in a way that’s preferably brief and widely “applicable”, presenting a stimulating thought or question, but leaving the actual act of thinking to the audience, not to the characters.

Back to Barbie then: in order to actually address the topic of feminism, emancipation and “what it’s like to be a woman in a man’s world” in all the seriousness that the topic deserves, one would need thousands of pages with meticulous considerations of each and every facet of the experience and contradictions between its various tendencies, and work with the whole spectrum of the experience. Any other rendition necessarily reduces the topic, disregarding not only the breadth of the experience, but also its inherent variety (no matter how similar any experiences can be, it is unlikely that any group’s experience can be exactly applicable to each representative - therefore, being a woman is invariably a different experience for different women, in spite of the possible underlying similarities). Having said all that, that still doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to address it, obviously, and props to Barbie for trying to do so!

So: if we don’t have thousands of pages, we need to figure out something else. In this case, it would have paradoxically been saying LESS. Having a character make an actual speech about what it’s like to be a woman only brings attention to the painful insufficiency of this approach - every word said points an accusing finger at the thousands of words unsaid. The key, I believe, is to instead work with stimulating “hints” that then cause the audience to fill in most of the words themselves, and therefore feel like everything that needed to be said was said, because THEY are saying it, not the movie.

Barbie works best when its themes are boxed within brief but more general comments and jokes, which, due to their “vagueness”, allow a wider range of interpretation. Whenever the movie gets too “literal” and heavy-handed with its message, it only brings attention to the observation that the sheer gravity and immensity of its subject matter cannot be summarized in a single speech, no matter how well written - and that part could honestly have been written with much more talent and feeling as it is.I found the presumably apotheotic description of what it’s like to be a woman preachy, cringy and reductive - not because I wouldn’t agree with any single segment of it, but because of everything that it failed to say.

….

And yet, having said all that, I was still struck by the realization that even the movie’s on the nose feminism is so rare it induced me to write something about it. Since I am already planning to write another piece about the movie’s central topic - female beauty standards in entertainment - I have to ultimately bow to the fact that in spite of its presumed shortcomings, the movie managed to be surprisingly stimulating - and although I would have preferred to go see Oppenheimer, I doubt it would have actually prompted me to write so much.

Barbie might not be the perfect feminist movie, but she definitely is more than Kenough.

[careergurukul]

Most Excellent Way To Prepare For AFCAT Exam In 30 Days

The AFCAT examination is the Air Force Common Entrance test, which is conducted by the Indian Air Force twice every year. Through this examination men and women can apply for different branches of the Indian Air Force. These branches comprise the Flying Branch, Technical Branch and Ground Duty Branch. By study, it's been noticed that most of the aspirants who attend AFCAT are either in college final year or functioning job professionals, which means for most of the AFCAT appearing candidates' preparation for AFCAT is not in their chief curriculum since they are already occupied by the busy academic schedule or job working schedule. Such aspirants' preparation is frequently called nick-of-time raw training.

The AFCAT examination syllabus or AFCAT exam pattern is not very hard to crack as compared to other national-level competitive exams, questions asked from the syllabus are very fundamental and can be mastered with a little bit of hard work, but as mentioned before appearing candidates don't have any additional schedule for the preparation of the exam as a result in AFCAT it's been noticed that probable candidates with good intellect are not been able to answer basic questions which further becomes very annoying for them and it's all because they don't have adequate time to practice.

Preparation Tips For AFCAT in 30 Days:

Follow Schedule:

One should make an appropriate schedule and follow it religiously with studying for 5-8 hours daily.

Make Notes:

Making notes does two things: first – it helps you to retain the topic and second – it helps you to revise it before the exam without difficulty.

Practice for AFCAT through CDSE:

The topics of Numerical Ability are the similar as those in CDSE. CDSE has some supplementary topics than AFCAT so this is an improvement for Math-haters.

Previous Papers are Critical:

Just solve previous year's question papers for the reason that the pattern of the examination is almost similar in every session

Take Breaks:

After each 55 minutes of studying, take a 5-minute break. After each 2 hours, take a 15-minute break.

Stay Hydrated:

The body is 70% water and so is water. Being hydrated is the easiest way to make your mind focus. It will also be a reason to make you take those breaks in between to refresh your mind as well as lighten your body.

During Exams:

During exams do not attempt hard questions first. Focus on your tough areas. For me, it is English reasoning as well as aptitude. 30-40 questions are asked in these sections if you get all of them accurately you can score 90-120 marks without difficulty. Rest, giving the major time to solve the next easier topics like GK, Current Affairs and finally, Math.

Way to Prepare for AFCAT in 30 Days:

Day 1 – Day 30: Daily 1 hr GK, as well as 1 hr Current Affairs, 1 hr newspaper.

Day 1 – Day 10: Study Math deeply for 5 hours daily, making notes for all the formulae and practising a lot.

Day 11 – Day 15: Study reasoning and aptitude profoundly for 5 hours daily. Practice variety.

Day 15 – Day 20: Study English in intensity for 5 hours. Learn antonyms as well as synonyms.

Day 20 – 30: Enough with studying, practice at least 2 previous papers daily as well as evaluate for yourself and award marks to yourself.

AFCAT Coaching institute in Chandigarh

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[sugar-petals]

SuperM: Their Orgasm Faces

a/n. i’ve written the same scenario for bts and thought this is perfect for these guys as well 💦

warnings ⚠️ multiple rounds, masturbation, loud sex, crying

➸ Taemin Constant little trembles. Puffy lips and a huge back arch. Softly moving hips that know exactly what they’re doing, reacting to your every touch. Balmy moans for the gods, they’re such a giant turn-on. His face looks so soft and relaxes into the pleasure without restraint. And my god, the hair. It’s like an old Italian painting. The voice is just as indulging — all those little “ha...” noises he makes. So lush and super breathy. Long story short: He looks perfect in the unlikely case someone forgot. What more can I tell you. He’s broadcasted it to the entire world at this point. In fact, isn’t Taemin’s entire cinematic work a silk and satin-laced compilation of o-faces? Even his haters can’t deny that. He has the perfect variety, perfect sensuality. Never out of place, never too feeble nor too much. He doesn’t just show that to you in bed, he truly owns it. Taemin’s orgasms are really drawn out, it’s the most amazing spectacle. So much to see: And you never know when the first one ends and the second one starts. He’s that erotic and completely swayed by you. If there’s one person completely in tune with his arousal and amps it up to the maximum, and takes you higher yourself with him, that’s Lee Taemin. He cums more beautifully than anyone you’ve ever seen. Fuck, it feels like you have to write him a ten-page thank you letter for being able to witness that. One word suffices: he’s fantastic.

➸ Taeyong You won’t believe it. He is so handsome, but he tries to hide his face. Or buries his hands in his hair, and twists himself to the side. Sometimes, into a pillow. Othertimes, a blanket or a sleeve. Taeyong doesn’t like his pleasure being seen. He’s not just shy; he’s reserved, delicately cautious. He’d rather have his hair fall into his face and conceal all the sweet emotions that surface. His lips are tightly shut and more often than not, he looks away. Even when he’s by himself getting off to the thought of you, he can’t keep his head up. It’s a shame, but you also figure it’s because he gifts himself to you to be very protected, not judged or consumed. Taeyong needs your guidance and strength. That’s why you hug him and let his face rest in the crook of your neck, and it becomes his favorite spot to lean into when he’s coming. Taeyong is more reassured this way. His eyebrows raise and he’s giving you the most heavenly whimpers. It overwhelms him every time. But that’s the place where he can finally moan it out. His voice is so gorgeous, and desperate, and full of gratitude towards you. When he really trusts you, he’s — god — actually grunting in his deep voice and sometimes meets your eye fleetingly. Or sucks in air and holds it before his whole body erupts. Oh my god. Those thighs are gonna go through an entire earthquake. Truth be told: NCT didn’t lie when they sang about a volcano, did they.

➸ Jongin Come on. The main dancer who has his face all up in a camera every stage, making people worldwide bust a nut by just raising a corner of the mouth. If there’s one person with the best, most intense facial expressions? It’s Kai all the way. Just throw the OSCAR right at him. Matter of fact, we all know he is the king of being absolutely stunning in bed. Jongin always looks like he wants to take you in completely, his entire upper body goes forward. His eyes are deep and glistening, but not fully mysterious. First and foremost they’re hundred percent passion just as you’d expect from him. The brows, the fucking brows! The lips, mumbling, and the jaw is in motion even if you wouldn’t pay attention to it at first. And by contrast, he looks more in love than anyone else. Can we appreciate how romantic Kai’s vibe is? How does he do it? He yearns and calls you babe, the entire face feels twitching and shaky. As if he was suffering from being so enamoured, but it feels so good to him. Every new thrust makes his expression change a bit. How he’s allowing himself to feel you literally paints a living story on his features. Toward the middle and the end of his climax, Kai looks so vulnerable and lost in the pleasure that you gave him or he gave himself. It’s almost like he is underwater. If you ever look into those dreamy eyes... Kai’s orgasm face will put an actual spell on you. Have a guess. The spell is called: Make you even hornier and throw your fucking head back from all that good stuff.

➸ Mark Yeah, uh-oh. The bomb is going off right here. It feels like Mark didn’t fuck for literal months every time even if you had sex the other day. His jaw is hanging open throughout. The eyes wide. Lips shivering, only a little. A bit of saliva is pooling just there. Then, his head falls forward. Hair in his eyes, brows clenched toward the middle. He looks like he can’t believe it, he’s helpless to the power it has over him. His orgasm darts through his body like a thunderbolt. You got it, sex with Mark is exactly that, so electric. It arrives fast and it’s over fast. And it’s massive, catches him off guard so often. A big, sweeping “Ah—h!” that carries him away like a tidal wave. Who’s the living super car in SuperM? That’s Mark Lee who goes through his climax like he’s watching a train speed by. What can he do but curse himself and moan. Something is possessing this poor man. His face looks like he has to keep up with his own damn reflexes. Can you imagine how hard his body is going to clutch if he just cums in one go? And if he tries to kiss you during that? What the fuck Mark! He just never calms down, does he. Or wait — fast forward... oh wonder: He falls asleep only minutes after. His face: now completely angelic. Mark really put all his heart and mind and cum into this one orgasm. This guy has dedication and it shows. He always delivers you one hell of a show. Rumor has it you have a couple videos of it on your phone.

➸ Baekhyun Clenches his teeth so hard. The first you’ll hear is a loud and whiny “nnh!” in the buildup. And that’s when you know he can’t go back. The entire neck seems under pressure. He stares. Gasps for air. The breathing, raw as fuck. Up and down goes that chest all the way against you. In fact, he breathes the fastest in the group. His face gets so heated. All those veins come out. This guy’s blood flow is a new level. Releasing tons of stress and energy. His eyes are squeezed shut as soon as it begins because it’s so strong and relieving, it’s borderline painful. He couldn’t speak for the first five seconds even if he tried. Only the second wave brings out a stifled chain of moans that he surrenders to. On some days, he even starts crying from relief. It takes minutes upon minutes until he cools off entirely. Baekhyun is so orgasmic, he’s all splayed out on the bed afterwards or deeply engrossed in your embrace for endless cuddles. I’m telling you. Should you ever get a second orgasm out of him, he’s gonna be reduced to a puddle. A shaking, sobbing mess that can’t stop wailing. There’s only begging for more in these eyes. It goes without saying that you need the most sound-proof room there ever was because he is at the top of his voice. Baekhyun being loud for you is a natural staple. PS: Mark my words. Should you get him to a third orgasm, he’s gonna be screaming without a pause and his fucking tongue is hanging out. 

➸ Yukhei As if he can ever stop wiggling his brows at you. Did you expect he just lets loose and rolls his eye back? No, no. He keeps looking right at you until the end. Full Xuxi confidence and charisma at play. Lots of nicknames coming at you, he’s gonna say them all. That level of eye contact is gonna get you going big time. You know how large and wonderful his eyes are, like a doe’s. Lucas hardly closes them unless it comes to getting blowjobs. Where he’s gonna look at you very intensely most of the time anyway. Lucas tries to not let the sensations overcome him so he remains present with you. He never really seems like he indulges all the way like Taemin or Kai would. The whole thing is pretty suspicious because he doesn’t fully ease into your interplay of movements. Guess why... at any point, he’s invested in making you cum and keeps on pulling out his magic tricks until you’re getting there. He’s gonna use those big fucking hands (he knows you love ‘em) and goes on and on until he has you there. Yukhei’s personality is all over the place, but he has steely concentration during sex. Not to mention the technique. He’s even gonna go for pushing his hair back as a killing part. No mediocre, he’s doing the most. After all: Lucas cums the best if he just saw you losing it or you’re on the way. Synchronizing your orgasms is difficult, but he puts all his focus into achieving just that. Yukhei is an expert in how close you are after a while, and even starts letting himself fall back into the sheets below you when you release together. 

➸ Ten Perfectly understated. Lids heavy, lips opened just a bit. Elegant, almost, and chesty in tone. He’s the connoisseur. My god. It’s the most gentlemanly someone could ever cum. His forehead is so sweaty as is his hair and back, because if Ten fucks he does it properly, but still. He’s so calm. He could be in your arms for more than half an hour and be fully composed. The focus and self-control is just phenomenal. Completely in the moment, not missing a heartbeat. Which is such a hard thing to do but it’s effortless with him. Ten knows the value of moderation and tension. He’s not keeping his groans in for the whole time and only moans when he comes. Not at all. It’s a different story with him. It all builds up perfectly and comes out freely whenever. He’s actually pretty close to singing, his voice accompanies his breathing in ideal sync. So melodic. Ten is all smitten by you. Nothing is kept in. He looks at you so fondly, he enjoys himself so much. So, it becomes a beautiful loving serenade. His face doesn’t make any sudden or extreme contortions either. The expression moves and changes very slowly, is very easy on the eye. Every minute with him is fulfilling. Ten is all wrapped up in the mood and the groove like it’s business. Prepare to lose your fucking mind, these are new levels of feeling good. Not one awkward moment, just making love. Oh my god are you lucky.

art: The Great Wave off Kanagawa (1829-33) — by Hokusai

© 2017-2021 submissive-bangtan. all rights reserved. no reposts allowed.

[honeysidesarchived]

× hereditary // herald elliot honeysett-seed

prompt: ❛ i’ll never be that me again. ❜ + herald elliot requested by @shallow-gravy taken from this list! thanks baby ilusm xo set briefly before the reaping but i will not be taking questions about the timeline, thx

words: 2.3k

rating: m, bordering on e for explicit violent daydreams (lol)

warnings: mentions of past trauma, fantasizing about acts of violence and bodily harm, mentions of blood & neglectful/abusive parent-child relationships, some active dissociation, all of this is explored in a very public grilling in the middle of the spread eagle. john is doing doomsday prep with the locals while his wife gets harassed by a hot cop. no proofreading we die like men

notes: i feel like i haven't actually written something in a thousand years, and then jess sent me this prompt after i was wallowing about how much i miss burke and it just fell out of me. missing ell hope she's doing ok ! also burke haters dni i'm allowed to be mean to him bc i love him.

“I know you.”

Click-click. It’s like the cocking of a gun, the way U.S. Federal Marshal Cameron Burke strides across the Spread Eagle, the way he says the words. I know you, just like that afternoon she’d been sitting in her car, watching them wander across the street in their little three-man pack, greeting her with a drawled-out Mrs. Seed.

But he wields it like a weapon: I know you, he says, closing the distance between them as she looks up from where she’s tapping out the end of her cigarette into an ashtray, leaned against the bar. It’s sticky-hot in the room, the ticking of a fan whirring somewhere in the corner, collecting sweat in the dips of her collarbones and beneath the hair at the back of her neck, slung lazily into a ponytail.

And here comes Cameron Burke, swinging his proverbial fucking big-boy-gun, folder clutched in his hand.

Behind the bar, Mary May sets the glass she’s been cleaning down. Her patience when Elliot and John are in the bar is tenuous at best, rapidly thinning at worst; and given that John hasn’t shut the fuck up for the last hour, it’s probably at worst.

“Marshal,” she says, “you think you could take whatever...” Mary May gestures with a hand vaguely. “...this is somewhere else? I’ve already been havin’ to deal with—”

But Burke isn’t listening. He slaps the folder on the top of the bar next to Elliot, and somewhere across the room she can hear John prattling on about this Sunday’s service, you’re not going to want to miss it, this I guarantee, and Burke plants his index finger on the folder in a point.

“I know you,” he says, “Elliot Savannah Honeysett.”

Elliot takes a drag of her cigarette. It’s too hot to be smoking, and Mary May has made more than one passive-aggressive comment about smoking indoors, but the bite and burn of a cigarette is one of the only things that keeps her attention here, keeps her mind from drifting far away from her body to be somewhere else.

The folder sits, a vanilla-gold beacon. It’s thick. She doesn’t like how thick it is.

“You ever heard of Google, Marshal?” she drawls, tapping the ash from her cigarette again and looking back at the variety of alcohol bottles behind the bar. “You and every dumbass in this town could find out my legal name. Doesn’t take a government database, and it certainly only takes about half a brain cell.” She waves her hand. “Go ahead though, I’d like to hear your little presentation.”

The Marshal flips the folder open, plunging on, like what she’s said doesn’t even matter to him. Maybe it doesn’t. “Born here, but your mama’s from Georgia. Daddy too, huh? Italian, English—originally Catholic growing up, I’d guess, given that your mama must’ve had to drive you four hours to find the nearest Catholic church in Georgia.”

He turns the page. He doesn’t bother leaving it in the folder; it slips to the floor with a whisper, drawing eyes. Why would he? He has the information in his head already, has the half-deranged look of a man gone on less hours of sleep than he ought to, maybe spent forever clicking and searching and double-checking and referencing, by the size of this fucking file.

Elliot looks at the paper on the floor. There’s a photo of a girl, barely scraping nineteen years old, and it almost startles her when she realizes that it’s her in the photo. Smiling into the camera.

When did she forget what she looked like?

“Mama comes from old Southern money, that your granddaddy made racing horses,” Burke continues, and he’s rattling off information that she thinks isn’t particularly notable—it’s all stuff that’s public record. Everyone knows her granddaddy raced horses and made a metric-fuck-ton of money from it. Everyone knows her mama’s rich. Everyone knows her daddy’s on and off the face of the earth. Everyone knows—

And then Burke says, “You know a man by the name of Henry Dawson, Mrs. Seed?”

Her instinct is to say no, because she doesn’t know Henry Dawson. She’s never met a Henry Dawson. She imagines she never will. But she doesn’t say anything, just stares at Burke, and he picks the paper up from the file—crumples the corner of it in his grip—and holds up an inch from her face.

The face in the picture is soaking wet, hair plastered to the sides of his head. Teeth are missing from his mouth. His face is swollen, purpled, the violent flash of crime scene camera casting gaunt, eerie shadows across the shape of his cheeks and mouth, both eyes swollen shut. As though he would open them, now.

Henry Dawson is a dead man.

She knows a man by the name of Henry Dawson.

Elliot lifts her eyes from the picture to Burke’s triumphant face behind it.

“No,” she replies flatly.

“No,” Burke agrees, “I imagine you wouldn’t, being as you weren’t probably quite six when you saw him last.”

Saw him last, saw him last, the last person to see him—Burke’s words rattle in her head, vibrating in the backs of her molars, reminding her of her daddy’s hands, sticky-wet with blood, gripping her face, you know what you’ve gotta do with a sick dog, Elli, and her daddy’s hands, sticky-wet with blood, gripping her shoulders, he was going to try and take you away from me. The sound of cicadas buzzing in her ears, and the heavy, wet collision of a body against water.

You wanna help daddy?

Elliot doesn’t take her gaze from Burke’s as he slaps the paper down and pulls up the next one.

“Mason Cooley,” Burke says. “You recognize him?”

She does. His face, though in yet another array of violent repose as it's littered with bruises and cuts and a split across his forehead she remembers with a tingling at her hairline, elicits in her a flurry of emotions she thought she had desensitized herself to; rage, mostly. But there’s fear in there, too, swirling around inside of her. Stop crying, Ell-baby, what’re you fucking crying for, and the thick, sticky taste of copper in her mouth chief among the images procured at the sight of Mason’s face.

“We dated,” she replies flintily. She’s steeling herself, but she can feel it whittling away—she’s not like Jacob, unflinching and resolute, steadfast. She’s not like Joseph or Faith. She’s not even like John. She’s never pretended to be anything except what she is; an open wound, a knife, anger wadding up and infecting every inch of her, cut-it-off-at-the-source-and-maybe-you-can-save-the-limb type of sickness.

Where is John? What the fuck is John doing? She doesn’t want to cast a glance around the bar, because Cameron Burke is waiting for her to flash her jugular just for him to get his teeth into, and Mary May is trying to act like she’s not interested in what’s going on, and her cigarette is burning out.

Burke doesn’t grin, but he does do something funny with his face—like a grimace. Baring his teeth. “That’s funny.”

“I suppose,” Elliot says, taking another drag, “if you think datin’s funny, Marshal.”

The paper gets slapped on the bar top. Another is lifted, put in her face. It’s her father’s mug shot—one of, what she assumes, many—his lip split and the black eyes purpling. There’s blood smeared on his face. He looks pleased.

“This one you ought to know,” Burke says.

“I’d imagine it’s normal to recognize my own fucking father,” Elliot snaps at him. Mason’s face is looming in the corner of her vision, and where the fuck is John? “I would’ve preferred a PowerPoint, you know—”

Thunk. Paper down. Yet another picked up. “You know her?”

It’s that girl again. Scraping nineteen. Barely cutting her teeth. Her lip is split, and there are two black eyes forming, and blood smeared down the side of her face. It feels weird, looking at that girl in the mug shot, knowing in her head rationally that it’s her and also not recognizing a single feature of her face—the nose, the lips, the eyes; not even the color of her hair or the way her bruises are purpling, a thing so intrinsic to her own body, cells blooming beneath the surface of her skin, is familiar to her.

Her stomach wrenches.

When did I forget what I looked like?

“Like father like daughter,” Burke says, and she—

( wrenches his hands out of her face and shoves the burnt end of her cigarette into his eye and makes him squeal, slams his stupid fucking face into the bar top again and again and again just the same way her daddy slammed his fists into henry dawson’s face again and again and again and she’ll do it until his nose is caved in and there’s blood pooling on the floor and he’ll slip in it on his way to hit the ground and john will probably tell mary may he’ll pay to clean it up (can’t have the locals fucking with us now, baby!) and she’ll drive the heel of her boot into his face again and again and again and agai— )

“Are you harassing my wife, Marshal?”

John’s voice is what draws her out of the daydream, the bloody fantasy so real that she can feel the slick of his blood between her fingers even now; his hand comes down on her shoulder. It’s protective, and instantly she thinks that John is worried—not about her well-being, but worried that she’ll do something that’ll undo all of his hard work, so close to the time that matters the most, now that the Marshal is here and they know that the sheriff’s department is getting ready to mobilize.

“Be interested to hear if that’s what she thinks is going on here,” Burke replies. He almost sounds sly. “Nice picture of your wife, don’t you think, Seed? Even all busted up, you can see that it’s Elliot. Was this after Mr. Cooley, you think?”

Elliot can feel John gearing up to say something, the way he takes in a breath and drops his shoulders and grins from ear to ear in that shit-eating way that is sure to rile the Marshal more, but before he can say anything she rips the photo from Burke’s hand, slams it on the bartop, and burns the end of her cigarette into it. Crushing it, grinding the ash into the photo grain.

It was after Mason; he’s right about that. The exact moment that photo was taken is burned into her fucking brain. Everything had hurt. Everything had been too bright. But even in the photo, it’s not hard to tell that she is somewhere else—somewhere far away, somewhere the splitting pain and burning hatred can’t quite reach her.

She can see Burke’s jaw tightening, like he thinks he’s won.

Maybe he has.

The Elliot-not-Elliot in the picture has eyes blacked out with cigarette burns, and it feels more than ever like she can see herself in it, that it's finally familiar.

“That girl might have my name and my face,” Elliot says, “but I’ll never be that me again.”

She sets the photo back in the folder, picks it up, and pushes it into the Marshal’s chest. Briefly, the idea of digging her fingers into his throat and shaking him like a beetle in a jar overwhelms her; long enough that her hand stays pressed against the folder, pressed against his chest, and she feels the click-click of that proverbial gun, metal clockwork the Marshal wants to fire more than anything.

Elliot knows what’s going to happen. At least, she knows what Joseph has told them what will happen. She hopes, at the very least, she gets the chance to kill Cameron Burke before the nuclear war takes him.

“I told you,” he grinds out between his teeth, “I fuckin’ know you.”

I can't wait to fucking kill you.

“This was fun,” is what comes out of her mouth, hand dropping from the folder. “Have a good night, baby.”

John is only one step behind her. Vaguely, she’s aware of him talking—saying something to her, asking her what it was Burke was telling to her, no doubt; not like it matters, he’ll be dead within days anyway—and it’s not until she hits the outside and John’s hand finds hers that she feels even remotely like she’s in control of her body again.

Henry Dawson. She’d never known his name, only known his corpse. A name doesn’t matter when someone is dead, anyway.

Fingers interlace with hers. John brings her hand up to the side of his neck, where she can feel the beat of his heart; higher than normal, but steady, and it makes her realize that hers is hitting her ribs like a battering ram driven by drunks, uneven and stuttering painfully. He keeps her hand there, and the night is cooler outside than it is inside the bar, and John kisses her and says something against her mouth that she thinks is tell me what you need, Ell, you just need to say.

“John,” she says, stilling the affectionate movements, “I want him.”

He pulls back to look at her, brows knitting together.

“When it’s time,” Elliot reiterates, “when they come—he doesn’t go to Faith, or Jacob. He comes to us.”

John’s thumb brushes her knuckles, sweeping once, twice, a third time. He nods, and says, “I’ll try, when Joseph asks, to—”

“You don’t try.” She pulls her hand from his neck, from the warmth. “You tell.”

“Elliot—”

Gravel crunches under her feet as she makes her way to the car, pulling her keys out from her pocket and then the carton of cigarettes. She’d wasted the last of her cigarette on that stupid fucking photo of the person-she-was-used-to-be-is-no-longer, and for that, she deserves another.

Quietly, as John’s footsteps eventually fall in on the other side of the car, Elliot hopes Joseph doesn’t kick up a fight. She wants to take care of Cameron Burke herself—put the sick dog down, as it were.

Like father, like daughter.

[kpop-zone]

Mamamoo reaction to meeting their ex at their debut

A/N: Hey guys!! This will probably be the last post for a week, because I’m going on vacation again. Sorry for the inconsistent uploading schedule lately. Soon my semester will start again though, so my life will hopefully be more consistent again :D

Solar

“Who are the flowers for?”

Moonbyul asked confused when she saw Yongsun getting out of the car, anxiously clutching some flowers.

“Um...Y/N’s group is debuting today. And you know...I thought, just in case we run into each other, I don’t want to be emptyhanded...”

Yongsun stuttered and her members looked at her skeptically. Which was understandable.

It had been two months now since Yongsun had broken up with you and it took no genius to see how much she regretted that decision. She had thought that your relationship was only a burden in your tight schedule, so she wanted to free you of it. But in hindsight, she realized how hard it was for not to be a part of your life anymore. Who was taking care of you now?

Therefore, she wanted to use this chance today to make sure that you were doing alright. It was totally, absolutely no way of trying to win you back. This was just a selfless and subtle gesture without any ulterior motives. At least that was what she told herself in order to appease her bad conscious.

As soon as Yongsun entered the venue, she started looking for you. Your group’s dressing room was just two doors down the hallway, and she contemplated whether she should “run into you” before or after your performance. Figuring that you needed to focus for now, she decided to try getting a hold of you after the show ended. Gladly, she was in the show business for long enough to not let her state of distraction show during her own performance, but as soon as she stepped off the stage her nervousness came rushing back.

With knees like jelly, she walked up and down the hallway till you finally stepped out of your dressing room and actually almost ran into her.

“Y/N! What a coincidence that we meet here.”

Yongsun chuckled nervously, but when your gaze landed on the flowers in her hand, she realized how stupid she must sound.

“Coincidence, huh?”

You raised your eyebrow skeptically and Yongsun could feel her cheeks starting to glow.

“Anyways...I wanted to give you these. I saw your performance and you were awesome. All of you were, of course, not only you.”

She tried to save herself, but with every word, she sounded more like a stuttering mess.

“Thanks.”

You answered shortly before immediately turning on your heel as soon as you took the flowers. Panic started to make Yongsun’s heart beat twice as fast and a surge of adrenaline clouded her better judgement as she saw you walking away.

“I regret leaving you!”

She suddenly blurted out, causing you to stop in your tracks.

So much for being subtle.

Moonbyul

“You know what, I’m just going to wish Y/N good luck. I mean we’re both adults, so we should behave maturely. There is nothing wrong with wishing someone good luck. Every decent human being would do that, right? You don’t think I am being clingy, right? Right, guys?”

The other members huffed annoyed after another one of Moonbyul’s ramblings.

For weeks now, Moonbyul went from being awfully confident in her plan to being completely anxious and none of the members knew how to help her at this point. And neither did Moonbyul herself. She had broken up with you over a year ago because neither of you had taken care of the relationship like you were supposed to, but till this day, she still didn’t know how to face you. Therefore, the wordcount between the two of you added up to zero ever since the breakup and now Moonbyul felt stupid for finding you on the day of your debut.

She would just let the universe decide.

If the two of you ran into each other, she would talk to you. But if not, she would accept that it wasn’t meant to be. Therefore, she didn’t stress herself out when she stepped into the venue. A variety of staff members and some occasional idols were running around in the backstage area and Moonbyul sighed. Why had she made such a fuss beforehand? The venue was big enough to avoid a person that you didn’t want to see.

That is if the universe didn’t have other plans.

“Moonbyul?”

Your voice made Moonbyul’s blood freeze and she stopped dead in her tracks. With wide eyes, she turned around to see you standing only a few steps in front of her with a big smile on your lips.

“I thought it was you! Hey! How are you?”

You hadn’t changed a bit. You were still the same loving and charismatic person that you had always been and Moonbyul instantly felt the last bit of anxiety leaving her body.

“Hey, Y/N! I’m doing good. How are you though on your big day?”

Moonbyul walked a few steps closer to you, happy to see that all of her concerns had been in vain. There was nothing awkward about this encounter and you didn’t seem to be bitter because of the breakup.

“Ugh...I’m nervous beyond belief.”

You whined and reflexively, Moonybul reached out to grab your hand. For a second, she froze, but when you didn’t pull away, she squeezed it encouragingly.

“Don’t worry about it, Y/N. I know that you are a great performer. I’ve always seen it.”

Moonbyul smiled softly, causing you to blush.

“Thanks, Moonbyul. That means a lot to me.”

Right when you closed your mouth, your leader called you and you needed to rush off. All Moonbyul was able to say was ‘Good luck’ before you slipped out of sight. Deep in thought and a little shell-shocked by her own discovery, she made her way to her own dressing room to seek the help of her members who were already waiting for her expectantly.

“Guys, I think I want Y/N back.”

Wheein

“Are you nervous?”

Hyejin asked from beside her as the two of them were driving to the venue of the music show.

“I don’t know whether I would call it nervousness. I would call it...curiosity maybe. I’m curious to see how our encounter will be.”

Wheein answered thoughtfully and turned her head to look at her best friend who had a concerned expression on her face.

“Now that Y/N has debuted, I think we’re going to run into each other a lot from now on. So we should probably learn how to deal with it.”

Hyejin skeptically scanned her face but nodded in agreement once she realized that Wheein wasn’t showing any signs of nervousness.

And Wheein was being honest. There was a time a few weeks ago when she had learned that your groups would be on the same show together that she felt a little uneasy. You hadn’t parted on bad terms, but your breakup had still hurt. Both of you had lost yourselves in your hectic lives and your relationship hadn’t been where it was supposed to be, but that didn’t mean that losing you wasn’t hard. It had taken Wheein a few months to stop her heart from aching every time she saw something that reminded her of you. But by now, she was feeling fine; she was feeling prepared to see you again.

Nevertheless, she wasn’t so sure how you would react. Therefore, Wheein moved around very carefully in the venue in order to not accidentally run into you. If you were to meet today, it should be on her terms. And she decided that it would be best if she quickly stopped by your dressing room to wish you luck before your stage. That’s what every good friend would do, and she wanted to be one for you.

Half an hour before your performance, Wheein stood in front of your door, fixing her clothes one last time before knocking three times. It didn’t take long till a manager of yours swung open the door and instantly ushered her inside when he recognized her.

“Y/N?”

He called out your name, causing you to turn your head.

As soon as your gazes met, it seemed like the rest of the dressing room suddenly faded into the background. The loud babbling and tumultuous running of the others wasn’t bothersome at all as the two of you shyly walked towards each other.

“Hey.”

You said and Wheein waved awkwardly in response.

“I wanted to wish you all the best for your performance. I’m really looking forward to it and I know that all your fans are going to be really proud. Just like me.”

A wide smile spread on your face and you thanked her profusely before casually starting to chat with her about the past months.

That actually went smoother as expected.

But what was that warm, fuzzy feeling in the pit of Wheein’s stomach?

Hwasa

Was Hyejin a smooth talker? No. Did she know how to defuse an awkward situation though? Also no.

Nothing made Hyejin more nervous than knowing that she could potentially run into you today; not even the thousands of haters that would wait for every single of her mistakes during Mamamoo’s performance. There was just so much uncertainty surrounding you. Would you be mad at her? Would she throw you for a loop and mess up your debut?

It would probably be for the better if she avoided you today. Therefore, Hyejin moved around the venue like a ninja. Her face was pretty much completely veiled even after she had stepped inside, and she hid herself behind her members until they entered their own dressing room. Everything was going according to plan until her members decided to throw unexpected hurdles into her way.

“Hyejin, could you get us some more water from the lounge down the hall?”

Yongsun asked while the makeup artist was working on her eyes.

“Me?”

Hyejin screeched panicked, attracting the attention of the others.

“Yes you... the managers are busy right now and we ran out of water.”

Her leader pointed at the mountain of empty water bottles, causing Hyejin to sigh dramatically. Everyone truly seemed to be busy and she was the only one sitting around.

Reluctantly, she got up from the couch and dragged her feet to the door. Very carefully, she opened it and peeked her head out to make sure that the coast was clear before slipping into the hallway. A number of other idols crossed her way and she greeted all of them politely, but Hyejin didn’t even stop once to chat, because her goal was to return to the dressing room as fast as possible. She was about to return when a familiar voice suddenly made her heart stop. It was coming closer and closer and in her state of panic, Hyejin quickly jumped behind the couch of the lounge room. Her breathing had become erratic by now, but she tried to be as silent as possible.

“Um...Hyejin, what are you doing?”

You suddenly asked confused and Hyejin closed her eyes in shame. Busted. Slowly, she crawled out of her hiding spot, smiling to distract from her cheeks that were glowing bright red.

“Oh hey, Y/N. I haven’t even seen you there.”

She stated sheepishly while scratching her neck.

“So you always chill behind couches?”

You tilted your head questioningly, causing Hyejin to giggle nervously.

“Your debut! It’s today!”

Nice catch, Hyejin thought to herself. You immediately started beaming and seemed to have forgotten about her awkward behavior from before.

“Yes, it is! I’m super excited.”

Your wide smile was contagious and Hyejin proudly looked at you.

“You really deserve it, Y/N.”

She stated and you shyly bowed your head.

“Thank you. That means a lot.”

You mumbled and suddenly Hyejin was glad that she had run into you. You should know that she was still on your side.

“Well I should get going. Good luck!”

With a last wave, Hyejin made her way back.

“Oh hey, Hyejin!”

Your loud voice made her stop and she turned around in confusion.

“Don’t hide from me the next time. It was nice meeting you.”

You winked cheekily while pointing at the couch, causing Hyejin to blush. Nevertheless, she nodded in agreement before rushing off.

It was nice.

[porcelain-animatronic]

I never want to go to another thanksgiving dinner ever again. My autistic ass cannot take it

If I don’t get sushi grade tuna this week I will end up on the news I will affect the trout population I will put on the best talent show this town has ever seen

[boop-le-snoot]

PARTY FAVOURS | CHAPTER 19

First time reader click here

Summary+TWs: We're talking serious feelings here, okay? Reader, you're literally emotionally illiterate. You also have PTSD, which is finally addressed - kinda. Bruce does his best. And he also knows how to kiss... But y'all know that if you read my ramblings about lucid dreaming/shifting/whatever... Chile-, anyways...

My phone kept buzzing and I ignored it until Bruce declared it was time to take a break and review the results. Whilst the man was typing up the data on a nearby StarkPad, I fought the sudden influx of messages that I received from haters and supporters alike after Tony decided on tweeting a reply that could be interpreted in an alarming variety of ways. It was a smart move, I'll admit, but a fucking bother for me nonetheless.

Disabling my DMs and dealing with a follower increase in the thousands wasn't hard; I didn't consider myself a problematic asshole and didn't need to be afraid of "exposure". The parties I went to - I doubted there was any blackmail material in there and the few nudes I'd sent over the years were always face-less. As a gen Z, I knew my internet safety.

The trolls didn't bother me either. It was more sad than annoying, people shitting on others for clout. Iron Man stans were witty, at least, if jealous. I must admit I've never considered the influx of popularity I would experience should I publicly out myself as a friend of Tony's. Girlfriend? Intern? Science child? Whatever cover story he was going to feed the press worked for me, as long as I still got the hugs, the kisses, the dick and the attention.

"Tony..." Bruce groaned, evidently done with the data processing, had to have opened his social media to see his own skyrocketing popularity.

"Yeah, our Tony is being a Tony again," I chuckled, having reset my social media settings so my phone wouldn't constantly beep, vibrate and bother me. School was going to be fun.

Bruce shook his head, fond, coming over to my side of the lab after removing his own hazmat suit. His eyes shiny with newfound knowledge and hair turned adorably fluffy in the confines of the head covering. He was smiling softly. "Food?"

"Sure."

We chewed our sandwiches in silence for a moment, each of us lost in our thoughts.

"I still can't believe Tony told everyone on Twitter you're his girlfriend, usually he keeps this stuff private or schedules a fancy press conference," Bruce's tone was thoughtful.

I raised an eyebrow. "Is that what it was? Seemed ambiguous to me..." I trailed off, confused.

"He worded it like that on purpose, I mean, you're still in high school," The scientist was confident in his words. "But I know Tony. I'm a hundred percent sure that he meant exactly that. Aren't you?"

Shock flooded me. Suddenly, I understood I completely misread the situation. "Um, no? I thought we were, y'know, just fucking. We never defined our relationship and we're definitely not exclusive." I said, chewing on my lip. "You make a valid argument, I'm a high school student and he's a grown ass man that does grown man stuff. Putting aside the fact that he could have anybody in the world so why would he choose me?" I was rambling, thinking out loud. Discussing my feelings has never my strong forte. "It would be stupid to impose monogamy on such a complex man like Tony. Downright idiotic to expect a genius to confine to social norms just because it suits others." I finished with a wave of my hand. Another bubble of thought that had festered within me for the longest time. I felt relieved, finally voicing it out loud. A weight had been lifted off my shoulders, a weight I wasn't previously consciously aware of.

Bruce was watching me intently, with an unreadable expression that held the tiniest bit of awe, admiration perhaps. The silence that followed was unnerving. I fidgeted with my hands, not really knowing where to put them or where to look.

"You know," He took off his glasses, fiddling them in his hands. "I'm not going to sugar coat it. For the longest time, I thought you were going to inadvertently hurt him when you get bored with whatever you've got going on. I respect you, don't misunderstand me, but you are young. Now, I've changed my mind. You've changed my mind," He punctuated his statement with his hand on mine, grasping it. "I think you managed to understand him in a way most people can't. Or don't want to. Understand and accept him in a way that some of us can't even after years of working and living side by side with him." Bruce's gentle fingers skimmed along the top of my palm.

"I don't always understand Tony but I do accept him," I agreed. "Because Tony is a great man."

"I think you're in love with him," Bruce said, absolutely having ignored my previous statement. Just like that, point blank, he pushed to the surface the very feelings I got so good at ignoring. There was no rest for me in this place.

My heart fluttered, picking up the pace. I kept my mouth shut, not trusting it whatsoever. My thoughts became akin to panicked hares, jumping and zigzagging aimlessly in my skull. I didn't see the point in defending myself because the scientist had pointed out the obvious.

Bruce looked at me, softly, warmly. "And don't think we haven't noticed the rise in team morale. The improvement not only in communication, but on the battlefield, too. It's easier to entrust your back to someone with whom you've shared a laugh and a drink the previous night. You're the glue that keeps us together."

Something warm and wet was on my cheeks. I stared at our clasped hands, his words echoing in my head over and over and over. The moment I realized I was crying, I willed myself to stop and failed spectacularly - only more salty fluid streamed down, some of it getting in my nose, on my lips. The sleepless nights were making me unstable.

It took a single sniffle for Bruce to pick me up and wrap up in his kind embrace. I didn't resist, tucking my face into the crook of his neck, holding onto the back of his lab coat, inhaling the smell of his skin and chemicals. It was familiar, calming. Minutes ticked by with me slowly leaking the tension out of my body.

"He loves you, too, maybe he just doesn't realize it yet." Bruce whispered into my hair. "I've never seen Tony so happy, even with Pepper. You are special and you are loved."

There was something unsaid, I felt it. It hung in the ear, it burned the tips of my ears, stood sharp on the tip of my tongue. "I love you too, Bwucie-bear," I whispered into the space between his ear and his jaw. His arms tightened around me.

The man placed several chaste kisses in my hair, running a palm over my back. In moments like these, the crush for him, the very crush that got out of control, blossomed fully into a deep sense of respect and admiration. He made me feel safe. He said all the right words at the right time.

Drowsiness overtook me. As usual, any worries and anxieties I had evaporated, once Banner had his arms around me, shielding me from the world. I didn't forbid myself this time: delicately, my hand slipped through the man's soft messy curls, eliciting a contented sigh.

"You haven't been sleeping well," He more stated than asked.

I had no choice but to nod. "Clint keeps dying in my dreams. Or even worse, he doesn't, he just suffers, endlessly, painfully." I admitted.

Bruce flinched under me, tensing. My face was in between his hands in a second, the scientist sternly looking into my eyes. "Why didn't you say anything? All of us assumed you were okay after what happened." He looked - angry. Not Hulk-out pissed but Bruce-pissed, which equalled a kicked-puppy look seasoned with a great pinch of disappointment.

"I am okay." I lied, shamelessly. "It's getting better. That's why I want to have a party - relax a little, dance, socialize. I don't think Tony would let me go on my own so I figured I can convince him to throw one here." I looked away. It was better for everyone if I dealt with my own problems - they were superheroes, not babysitters.

Bruce frowned. "Why wouldn't Tony let you go?"

"Because of that one time I snorted coke," I rolled my eyes at Bruce's naiveté, leaving the less obvious parts unsaid. Tony knew exactly what I was going to do once I got free reign, he considered it destructive and told me so himself. Admittedly, he had a point but still... I wished I'd been given a choice.

"I'll talk to him," Bruce nodded firmly. "That's not acceptable. He can't forbid you from making mistakes and learning from them."

He was met with my shrug. No excitement came from me regarding this particular turn of conversation. I was drained, limbs like jello, thoughts sluggish. My face was drooping.

"Let's get you to bed," Banner stood up with me wrapped around him. "You need a nap."

"No," I protested. If I went to sleep now, only Satan knew at what ungodly hour I would wake up.

"Yes, Princess," Bruce smirked. I wiggled uncomfortably - when he went all caretaker like, my ovaries wreaked havoc on my body and brain. My thoughts weren't appropriate if Bruce wanted me to see him as a father figure. The signals he was sending were mixed. People around me did that a lot and I wasn't sure how to act so I usually just went with the flow. I decided to do the very same thing in that particular moment.

Curiosity sparked within me, tightly interwoven with the deep longing that settled below my collarbones whenever Tony or one of the others wasn't sitting next to me or talking my ear off. I've almost forgotten how it was to be alone with my thoughts. The maze of my very own self was becoming unfamiliar territory. Alarming.

I allowed Bruce to help me shed my shoes and outer layer of clothing, shivering in the coolness of my room. Despite being a frequent visitor, I still had a 'guest' room in the tower - I mostly stayed at Tony's or Wanda's anyways. During our sleepovers neither me nor the witch minded sharing her enormous bed, to be fair, we could have fit at least two more people in it besides us. Tony took care of his own - all the tower's residents had their apartments furnished with the best stuff.

"Sleep now, Princess," Bruce chastised, tucking a blanket around me, having noticed an earbud in my ear and my smartphone in my hand. I had hoped to kill some time online, damn well knowing sleep wouldn't come easy.

"I don't think I can fall asleep, Bruce," I admitted, looking away. There was just so much going on. My brain wouldn't shut up and if I couldn't drown out the cacophony by being productive, I'd troll the internet, as usual.

Banner sighed, coming to sit next to me, leaning against the headboard. Gently running his fingers through my hair, brushing the outside of his palm against my cheek. "How do you usually deal with this?"

Involuntarily, my eyelashes fluttered. "Tony does most of the work," I admitted coyly. The engineer had a whole arsenal of tricks up his sleeve - sexy and exhausting tricks.

"I see," Bruce muttered, thoughtfully.

I opened my eyes to see him looking down at me with a look I haven't seen before. The usual mildly absent, slightly anxious face he wore was replaced by something I could only describe as hurt envy, like a kid looking at their schoolmate who had all the newest, coolest toys. I used to be on the receiving end of that look far too often and I hated it.

I hid my face against his leg, rubbing my cheek on the raspy corduroy fabric of his pants. "Got any good ideas of your own?" I wondered lowly, thinking about what in the world possessed Bruce to wear corduroy trousers on a semi-casual day, in the twenty-first century.

"Only bad ideas," He replied in a matching low tone. His soft fingertips relocated to my nape, goosebumps rising down my back.

"Humour me," I grinned against his leg.

Bruce was quiet for a moment, the sound of his thinking screaming louder than any words could have done. Knowing the scientist so closely, I found out he was full of surprises - bolder than he appeared outwardly and competitive to a boot. He thought he had a lot to prove to himself and by extension, to others. The unknown, the mystery dangling in front of my nose was exhilarating, trepidation addictive. It took me away from the chaos in my mind.

A gentle grasp on my chin had me turning to look upwards, Bruce's face flushed and focused on my own, open and trusting. He needed to see the obvious, that I trusted him to take care of me. He pulled and I followed, sitting up on my elbows, coming up to his shoulder level, our faces inches apart, enveloped in the unique, intense scent of his herbal tea. It was a tart, strong smell and it suited his quiet but passionate character.

Once, twice, I caught my eyes sliding to his plump lips. They looked far too appealing in this position. I usually strategically stayed away from positions so compromising, fearing the very thing that I'd already let happen, however this time the atmosphere was different. We stood on ambiguous grounds, waiting for Bruce to make a decision.

The man wasn't stupid, he saw the way I looked at him. The nightmares and inability to take a break from life put a significant dent in my resolve to keep a distance between us, romantically - I could have settled even for a pity kiss, a pity fuck. Anything to put my brain on pause.

His lips were softer than I had imagined. Skilled, too, he easily steered the kiss into the shallow waters of our combined longing.

With Tony, it was like an avalanche. Tony ran hot like Peterbilt engines, hard and fast, almost angry in his race for satisfaction. Tony was a man that was used to getting whatever he wanted and it became plainly obvious when we fucked.

Bruce was the opposite. He savoured the kiss, losing himself in a way that could almost be described as delicate. Bruce was humming, softly, as we tasted each other, holding the left side of my face with careful fingertips. Almost as if he was afraid to break me. The feel of his skin on mine was soothing in a way that made me sigh and relax even further.

"Wanna make you feel good." His voice had dropped, gone husky, but his breathing held even. He must know all about self-control.

"Yeah," I was ready to agree with whatever the fuck he was offering. My eyelids remained shut.

THE TAG LIST IS NOW OPEN! @another-stark-sub ​ @mostly-marvel-musings  @vozit ​ @littlegasps ​ @pilloclock ​ @shereadsinquiet @downeyreads ​ @hermione-grangers-wife ​ @individualistfem ​ @sleep-i-ness @capbrie @lillsxd @agustdowney @dee-vn @justanotherblonde23 @fanngirl19 @persephonehemingway @softie-socks @schemefrenzy @letsby @cutenessloading @romeo-the-cactus @jelly-fishy-babie

PS. Letsby, please don't combust. The underwear is coming off in the next chapter. 😶

[shokano19]

Dr stone characters as types of TikTokers

Warning: Contains manga spoilers for new characters! You can skip those you don’t know! 

Not sure where this idea came from exactly but I got super into it and it was really fun. Consider these to be my headcanons for a dcst AU where they don’t get petrified and instead everyone is TikTok famous. 

Senku

- science 101 - makes educational videos aimed generally at students struggling at school with subjects like biology, physics, chemistry, robotics, engineering, and astronomy, explaining them thoroughly and in a simpler form - random astronomical facts #n - goes live when he’s about to do a reaction experiment - wants to show his viewers how exhilarating science can be - rarely shows his face - tries to incorporate humour into his talks - it becomes evident he’s passionate or excited about the subject by his little chuckles - “visiting my father at NASA before rocket launch” - Taiju sometimes takes over his account as a lil prank - on everyone’s for you page with minimal effort - 14M followers

Gen

- magic tricks - social science veteran - shares psychology hacks he learned throughout his career - props his phone on his cola bottles to film himself - CEO of accidentally dropping his phone on the floor - Senku’s fanboy. Reacts to Senku’s videos on occasion by acting extra and makes a huge deal out of rare pictures of Senku - posts cut scenes from his magic show then makes separate videos revealing how he performed a certain trick - cynical, dark humour - makes his viewers question their moral compass - gets a lot of compliments for his hair - 10.5M followers

Chrome

- step by step 3 minute crafts - Senku’s fanboy #2. Video duets with Senku by building the same things as him, praises Senku a lot  - geology student studying mineralogy - storytime! - regular shout-outs from Senku - always has his precious rock/crystal collection displayed behind him as he films a video and makes sure to show them off every once in a while - 2M followers

Kohaku

- trash talks men without stuttering - films herself in front of a mirror most of the time - zooms a lot into her face and stares into the camera while speaking, looking dead inside - dimmed disco lights - ironic and sassy - usually spits facts about anything she talks about - confident vibes - ayo famous relative check (Lillian Weinberg’s niece) - her duets are cruel - 1.9M followers

Ginro

- the POV - makes relatable yet obscure videos - some questionable scenarios no one can explain - yes he wears a big towel on his head when impersonating girls   - includes Kinro in his videos a lot - anime weeb - always posts at unholy hours - refined sense of humour - majority of videos are taken in his bedroom - lowkey annoying - video replies to hate comments by either faking acting hurt and crying or sarcastically going along with them as a massive fuck you - 69k followers and he would like it if it stayed that way

Kinro

- beautiful scenery shots - only has a few videos, mostly nature and places he went to with his family and friends - “top 5 places you must visit this summer” - secretive about his account, no one except Ginro knows about it - 7.9k followers - after a while he switched to making ASMR?? which gained him fame overnight and now has …. - 45k followers (Ginro’s current worst fear being Kinro surpassing his own follower count)

Magma

- unpopular opinion guy - reacts to popular tiktoks and attempts to review them (for fun, he’s a jerk for clout) - loud af, angry & narrow minded - makes valid points sometimes - dislikes kohaku’s content (probably because he feels called out) - tried to cancel Senku and failed miserably - a lot of people disagree with his hot takes - ignored the haters but got some serious threats :( - considered quitting making tiktoks so he took break - apologized to those he insulted after some reflection time - now half of his account are just apology videos - people follow him for the tea  - 500k followers

Suika (aged up)

- the animal lover - mainly videos of Chalk being adorable, Suika teaching him tricks…and him wrecking the house - “animal crossing new horizons island tour” - “my top 10 favourite cartoons” - 11k followers

Tsuakasa

- long political talks - disputable ideals - renowned martial artist  - became famous after appearing on a broadcast program with Gen and won against him in mental battle - informs on what’s currently happening in the world - has a lot of supporters as well as haters - “today’s society is flawed because - ” - encourages viewers to write their opinion in the comments - reads every single comment as well as replies to them - occasionally talks about his childhood, the good and the bad - 7.6M followers

Ryusui

- chaotic - reviews popular console/pc games of any genre - youtube channel linked in his bio - the type to walk into his bathroom and say funny shit - bombards Tsukasa’s comments section with stuff like “drop yo workout routine plz” or “your hair looks so soft I bet it smells like roses” to which Tsukasa can only reply with “please leave me alone” - generally in everyone’s comment section. He’s everywhere - bi king - super friendly and approachable - ayo rich house checkkkk XD - flexes on his personal mini yacht  - 5M followers

Francois

- quick, stylish and helpful cooking tutorials - shares rare recipes - pro decorator  - worked at 4/5 star bars, restaurants and clubs - non-binary icon - sometimes in the background of Ryusui’s videos until a lot of people asked about their relationship and revealed that they also works as Ryusui’s personal chef - 3.2M followers

Ukyo

- variety content creator - gives walkthrough’s of his job as a sonar technician - sneakily exposes his workplace’s secrets while he’s at it too - likes to gather the kingdom of science and make dumb silly videos together - archery tips for beginners - starting a new language tips - video reacts to tiktoks he finds interesting - became popular after appearing in one of Gen’s q&a videos - after that he collaborated with many others such as Senku, Chrome, Ryusui - close to everyone - appreciated for his talents - 980K followers

Yuzuriha

- fashion icon in the making - shares her everyday outfits - talks about her favourite clothing and where she bought them from - DIY accessories - cute couple videos with Taiju - fun sewing lessons! - promotes her online shop - 330k followers

Hyouga

- the type to stand in front of the camera and cover the screen with writing instead of speaking - known for his lip care routines (owns a lot of lip glosses and lip cosmetics) - occasionally takes off his mask for lip care videos - Homura is always behind the camera helping him film - kudayari spear practices - Helps Homura promote her Instagram account - tries to keep an aesthetic - trips abroad vlogs - 770k followers

Mozu

- cringey e-boy - lip-syncs  - dances  - it’s so obvious he’s fishing for attention - secretly films Kirisame for a laugh, ends up with him running for his life as soon as she finds out - expect to get second-hand embarrassment - exaggerates a lot - needs to be stopped - does tiktok challenges with Kirisame (has to beg for her to agree) - Kohaku, Luna, Gen and Nikki have him blocked - Hyouga and Kirisame are literally the only ilr friends he has :,( - 420k followers

Luna

- popular girl wannabe - desperate to get on the for you page - everyone loves her though <3 - poses in front of the camera wearing her best clothes while cute music plays in the background - complains about how she’s STILL single - pros and cons of going to med school - reads a bunch of funny tweets and almost dies laughing - recently started following Senku and can’t shut up about his content - 200k followers

Bonus: all of them tried at least once, if not more, to recreate complicated dances that went viral on tiktok. Yes, even Senku.

Coming up with usernames for them is beyond me right now so feel free to add to these however you like!  ( ✧≖ ͜ʖ≖)

[creepingsharia]

While Europe Slept, 15 Years Later  - a new preface

Bruce Bawer has updated his book While Europe Slept - detailing the destruction of the West by Islam (practitioners of Islam actually, aka Muslims) - with a new and much needed preface. Excerpts below.

Note: My book While Europe Slept was first published by Doubleday in 2006. Now the Stapis publishing house has put out a Polish edition, translated by Tadeusz Skrzyszowski. Given that the book is fifteen years old, Stapis asked for a new preface. Here it is.

   This book, which appeared first in English, has already been translated into several other languages, but it is a special pleasure to see it published in Polish. My father’s parents were both Polish...

   When I wrote this book, I used such terms as “radical Islam” and “Muslim extremist.” Indeed, the book’s original English subtitle was How Radical Islam Is Destroying the West from Within. I have asked my Polish publishers to remove the word “radical” from the subtitle of this edition. I no longer use such terms in connection with Islam, for I have recognized that Islam itself is radical and extreme; people who call themselves “moderate” or “liberal” Muslims are people who have exchanged key elements of their faith for Western Enlightenment values.

   In the same way, I no longer speak of “Islamic fundamentalism.” This expression came naturally to me because prior to writing While Europe Slept I had published the book Stealing Jesus, about Protestant fundamentalism in the U.S. Fundamentalism is a legitimate word to use in connection with certain varieties of Christianity that uphold an untenable Biblical literalism and preach a harsh legalism derived largely from the Old Testament book of Leviticus while losing sight of the forgiving, all-encompassing love that Jesus Christ preached in the gospels.

   But Islam is fundamentalist – it insists that every word of the Koran be taken literally, that every commandment in that book be followed, that Muslim men look upon Muhammed (a bloodthirsty warrior who married a little girl) as the perfect role model in every possible respect, and that women accept their role as household chattel whose lives may someday need to be sacrificed in so-called “honor killings” in order to preserve their families’ reputations. I have long since ceased, then, to speak of “Islamic fundamentalism.”

   In this book I blame the failure of Muslims to assimilate into European society in part, at least, on the fact that Europeans, while welcoming – and housing and feeding and clothing – Muslim immigrants prefer that they live apart, in their own enclaves, rather than blend into mainstream society, and prefer to give them welfare handout rather than jobs. I now feel that I put too much blame for this situation on Europeans; after all, Hindus and Sikhs and other such minorities have faced similar obstacles in Europe but have overcome them. (In Britain, the average Hindu earns more than the average British native.)

   I also suggest in the book that America, historically a “melting pot” of people from all over the world, will be more successful than Europe at turning Muslims into happy, productive, and patriotic citizens. I now realize that I was mistaken. If Muslims in America do indeed seem somewhat more likely to be well integrated, law-abiding job-holders than are their coreligionists in Europe, this has a lot to do with the fact that many Muslim immigrants to America are educated professionals from largely Westernized cities, while many Muslims who emigrate to Europe are illiterate rural villagers. Yet even the most privileged Muslim families in the U.S. manage to breed terrorists. What I failed to realize when I wrote this book was that while the American “melting pot” may indeed work wonders on people from a great many parts of the globe, Islam, when truly believed in, is a force that powerfully repels other loyalties.

   In this book I describe the 2005 election of “pro-American, reform-minded Angela Merkel” to the office of German chancellor as a “hopeful sign,” and applaud her for insisting that a 2006 Berlin staging of Mozart’s opera Idomeneo go forward in the face of Muslim outrage. This is also the woman who in 2010 famously – and admirably – admitted that German multiculturalism had “utterly failed.” Who would have expected, then, that she would later open her country’s floodgates to a tsunami of Muslim immigrants – hundreds of whom sexually assaulted German women on New Year’s Eve 2015/16 – and would turn violently against the U.S., describing it as the moral equivalent of Putin’s Russia and Communist China? This woman whom I thought so well of in 2006 has turned out to be the scariest German chancellor since – hmm, what was his name again?

   The U.S. invasion of Iraq posed a particular problem to me while I was writing this book. On the one hand, I knew enough about Islam to doubt strongly that Iraqis, once freed from the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, would institute something in their country resembling Jeffersonian democracy. On the other hand, I had never set foot in the Muslim world, so I hardly felt I was in a position to question “experts” many of whom had spent decades there. Besides, my country was at war, and I didn’t want to join in the pile-on against my president, however ill-advised I thought he was. So it is that while acknowledging that “there were sensible arguments against invading Iraq” and making clear my conviction that Islam, as currently constituted, is not “compatible with democracy,” I didn’t explicitly support or oppose the Iraq War in these pages, and instead focused on what to me, in any case, was the most relevant issue related to it: the truly vile tendency of many commentators in both the U.S. and Europe to equate Bush with Saddam and to attribute unworthy motives to decent Americans who, however misguided, truly thought they were engaged, as in World War II, in a struggle for other people’s freedom.

   This book first came out in 2006; the paperback was published a year later with an afterword that is included here and that brought my account up to date. In the thirteen years since, needless to say, there have been a great many developments in the ongoing story of Islam in Europe. The continent’s Muslim population has continued to mount, creating more “no-go zones” and increasing the incidence of rape and other violent crimes by Muslim youth gangs. There have been major acts of jihadist terror in Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Barcelona, and many other places.

   Meanwhile, in the U.S., major terrorist acts have occurred in Boston, Orlando, San Bernardino, and elsewhere. In 2018, Ilhan Omar, a hijab-clad Muslim woman who is virulently antisemitic and openly contemptuous of America, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from a largely Muslim district in Minnesota. Another hijab-wearing Jew-hater, Linda Sarsour, enjoys the respect of many leading U.S. politicians, who take seriously her claim to be a feminist.

   In Europe, Canada, and elsewhere, though (thanks to the First Amendment) not yet in the United States, critics of Islam have been prosecuted. Throughout the West, such critics have been censored or have engaged in self-censorship, resulting in an alarming decline in freedom of speech. (This was the subject of my 2009 book Surrender.) As I write these words, Turkey, a member of NATO whose reputation as an exemplarily civilized and tolerant Muslim country has been destroyed by its current leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was encouraging tens of thousands of military-age men from around the Muslim world to force their way across the Greek border and flood into Europe.

   When I wrote this book, I lived in Oslo; I now live in a small town in the mountains of Norway, a two-hour drive from the capital. If you had told me in 2006 that the Muslim population of Oslo would increase dramatically by the year 2020 (as it has), I’d have believed you; if you had told me that by 2020 women in hijab and even niqab – which covers everything but the eyes – would be a familiar sight in the small town where I now live (which it is), I’d have been surprised.

   The subject of this book, then, is more urgent than ever. Yet there is nothing new under the sun; despite everything that has happened on the Islam front in the years since this book was published, all of these developments come under the heading of “more of the same.” Hence, I believe, this book continues to be, as it was in 2006, a useful introduction and overview of its subject – a subject about which every responsible citizen of a free country, and every loving parent of a free child, should be seriously knowledgeable.  

[kinetic-elaboration]

August 5: 3x02 The Enterprise Incident

After several weeks of being in like a TOS desert (Assignment: Earth; Spock’s Brain) finally we get to The Enterprise Incident, one of the best episodes, possibly of all time. Why was D.C. Fontana so good??? How??

McCoy narration! How unusual. I like how it contributes to the generally jarring opening, with Kirk acting so out of character and so on. All of the crew being fooled and the audience too.

I’d say this scene is the only one Kirk haters have ever seen--where he’s all arrogant and impatient and mean--but he’s not being slutty enough.

When you need intel, you go to Uhura.

This is an interesting ep because the Enterprise is being uncharacteristically sneaky. Usually, they’re obviously doing the right thing in the straightforwardly right way, but this really is an espionage mission, which includes, in addition to the garden variety lying, major stuff like uh treaty breaking.

Wow, a Romulan with a name. Unusual. Is he the first named Romulan?

They want the Enterprise. They want his lady!

Hmmm, you have a Vulcan on board, do you? Very interested in that. It’s pretty funny that the Commander calls up as soon as Tal mentions Spock,like she has a sixth sense that picked up on a potential hottie on the enemy ship.

Oh no, Kirk and Spock aren’t getting along. Trouble in paradise...

Spock looks very disapproving. And Kirk is acting downright despotic. Hot.

Imagine being the Romulan hostages lol. That’s awkward. “Go their ship and uh sit in their brig, nbd, we’ll bring you back.” (And then later one of them is unceremoniously stripped naked.) (And then later still they’re completely forgotten about!!!)

Scotty’s face when he sees the hostages is very funny. Like “oh I know what to do with YOU.”

I love the Female Romulan Commander already.

Wow Kirk is such a liar. Just say it loudly enough and it will SEEM true. Navigation error etc.

“It’s no myth that Vulcans can’t lie,” Spock lied.

“It’s not a lie to keep the truth to oneself.” Feel like I gotta outright steal that.

Oooh, the Commander has a temper.

Kirk is “a highly sensitive and emotional person.”

He’s living for the drama.

This must be all very confusing for the crew.

I love Captain Scotty. He’s so intense.

“You make a brave noise.” Burn.

Spock’s been an officer for 18 years. I’d do the math on that but I’m not sure when one becomes an officer specifically.

“Do you like Captain Kirk?” (I don’t even remember why I wrote this down, but uh, yeah.)

...Damn this whole scene is so good.

“I don’t make house calls.”

Except for Kirk.

It’s bizarre that the Romulans are in Klingon ships (that look like Federation ships on the inside) for pretty much no reason but I do like the design of them in general.

Funny how “Attend me” sounds an awful lot like “My wife, attend.”

Lol at the crocheted board shorts on the male Romulan officers. The Commander is MUCH more stylish.

“Are the guards invited on our date?”

“It would be illogical to assume that all conditions remain stable.” What a F L I R T.

Very bold of her to basically declare “Spock, you’re Captain now.”

Kirk looks like the drunk friend, swaying in the background, gearing up to something.

“Vulcan death grip” lol. Sounds like made up Vulcan nonsense to me! (And it is.)

Even if it weren’t, Spock is an adult Vulcan and a trained Starfleet officer, he would never just accidentally death grip someone.

And now it all comes out. Because Chapel was nosy. Love that she just casually knows all this stuff about Vulcan abilities.

They told Bones pretty late about this whole plan. I feel like Scotty and Bones should have been in the original loop.

“You’re lucky they didn’t start an autopsy.”

Love that part of Kirk’s transformation into a Romulan was putting on eye shadow.

Also love Scotty’s face journey when he sees Romulan!Kirk.

Look at these decadent Commander’s quarters. Spock must love them.

Recruiting inducements lol--is that what the kids are calling it these days?

“Don’t beam me into a bulkhead.” Don’t even joke.

Spock hasn’t sent the coordinates because he’s DISTRACTED while on his DATE.

I love their little square drinking glasses.

“I do... appreciate it.”

“If you don’t tell me your name, I’ll have to make one up for you.”

TOS Spock apparently more smooth than AOS Kirk.

When she stood up, that mini-skirt basically became a shirt--barely.

His lady leaves the room and he immediately call his man--what a slut.

The Commander’s “casual” outfit is easily one of the best TOS costumes. So pretty! 10/10 would wear today.

“Stimulate...our discussion.” Sure. Your discussion.

He’s been moved emotionally.

Dammit Tal! Stop cockblocking the commander.

Love how obvious it was that she and Spock were hooking up--she's dressed up, he appears dramatically from behind the flowing white curtains in her frankly huge quarters.

The cloaking device looks suspiciously like Nomad again.

“How could you do this to me?” Girl, you’ve known him for an hour. Calm down the drama.

Also love the earrings.

That was a weak slap. She should have sent him sprawling with her Romulan strength. I guess her heart wasn’t in it.

Romulans are Vulcans but with unfiltered Drama.

I like her jellyfish chair.

Now Spock shall fillibuster his own death by reading a very long prepared statement.

She hears the phrase "historic tradition" and sighs like "this is gonna be the longest 20 minutes of my LIFE.”

Silly of Kirk to assume they wouldn't fire on the commander and/or that she wouldn't ORDER them to fire.

“Alien contraption.” Scotty enjoying himself.

Hmmm, the Commander was bragging to Spock off screen about the cloaking device--what else might she have said that we didn’t hear?

Mr. Spock will escort you to your quarters--more like Mr. Spock will escort you to HIS quarters amirite?

She would like his weaponry.

“Military secrets are the most fleeting of all.” Well that line didn’t have to go that hard.

“It was the only choice. You would not respect any other.” Where’s all the talk about loyalty and oaths now?

“They do not look aesthetically agreeable on humans.” Textual evidence for my theory that Vulcans, though humanoid, have some sort of indescribable Alien Aura quite apart from the eyebrows and ears.

That was such a good ending. Last major dialogue scene was a serious one between Spock and the Commander, but then there’s a little humorous coda, too--a good shot of Spock looking pensive, but also the peanut gallery having a little laugh.

I love that episode so much. I love how... difficult Spock is to read. On the one hand, I do think he was really attracted to the Romulan Commander. I also think he was hiding a lot of the truth about why he didn’t join the Romulans--I mean yes, that was never a real option and it would certainly be wildly out of character for him to do it. But he also talks exclusively about loyalty to Starfleet, his oath, his uniform, as if but for the happenstance of these things, if he were making a decision for himself instead of following his duty, he might prefer to be with her and the Romulans. But what about the obvious other factor--Kirk himself? What about “A starship runs on loyalty to one man, and no one can replace it--or him?” I feel like his connection to Kirk is like the unspoken undertone to all of this. Especially because, as Captain and XO, they were the only ones to know about this plan from the beginning, and probably came up with the details of it themselves. But we also know that Spock takes the mean things that Kirk says to heart, even if they’re only said as part of a mission or larger ploy. And we also know that he truly desires belonging, and that being part one thing and part another often makes him feel as if he belonged nowhere. But the Romulan Commander didn’t seem to care about his human heritage. She asked him what he was, and only mentioned the human part one other time, not in a negative way. I do see the temptation for him.

It’s also interesting that Kirk initially refers to the Commander as “he,” implying he didn’t know specifically who was in charge of the ship. That means that while he and Spock clearly planned for Spock to undermine and then “kill” Kirk, and almost certainly to play on Romulan/Vulcan cultural connections, they probably did not plan on Spock seducing anyone. He did that on his own.

This would reboot so well. Like, aside from the S/U aspects, it’s a perfect candidate: a spy narrative that has a little bit of the gray morality they’re so attached to; Kirk and Spock tension; Kirk being Dramatique; cool aliens--and it would have been very interesting to see this story play out in the context of the destruction of Vulcan. (More generally, I think completely forgetting about the Romulans after the first reboot film was a huge mistake but whatever.)

Mmmm, I just... I want to watch it again lol. D.C. Fontana was truly the queen of alien world building. That sense of alien-ness that I get in the Spock and Commander scenes is like what I’m going for in some of my own stuff.

[wickymicky]

wickymicky’s Top Ten Kpop Songs of 2020

4: Everglow - La Di Da

Retro concepts are hit or miss with me. I don’t have nostalgia for 80s music, for instance, because I was born in 1996 lol. And yet, as soon as the instrumental in this song got going and those synth hits came in right after the first line, I knew I was gonna love this. This song isn’t just a retro concept… its genre isn’t just “80s throwback”... it’s a genre called synthwave or neo retro wave or other names like that. It’s a relatively recent genre that, yes, is obviously based on 80s nostalgia, but is a new thing all its own. It’s based on the sound of action movies and science fiction movies from the 80s, but if you really look at stuff from that era, there wasn’t anything that quite sounds the same as synthwave from the 2010s. It has a lot in common with vaporwave in this way. Vaporwave is clearly retro inspired, but there wasn’t anything like vaporwave back then, lol. It’s a modern reimagining of retro aesthetics.

So like, as soon as it got going, as soon as I saw the visual aesthetic, I knew exactly what was happening and I was 100% on board. As far as I know, there weren’t any other kpop songs in this style, though Twice dabbled with some synthwave aesthetics and sounds for I Can’t Stop Me which came out around a month after this song (and that’s almost certainly a coincidence, I’m sure JYP picks these songs wayyyy in advance and it was probably chosen even before La Di Da came out), but La Di Da commits to this aesthetic and genre way harder than that song does. The thing that struck me the most on the day La Di Da came out, and still makes me lose my mind when I listen to the song now, is how authentic it is. Synthwave has had some mainstream acceptance and some songs in this vein have been released by some big artists recently I think, but for the most part it’s been kind of a niche underground genre. I first discovered it by stumbling on hour-long youtube videos that were “compilations” or “mixes” of various synthwave/retrowave songs or soundscapes found on soundcloud and sites like that. This song is a pretty hard commitment to a style of music that really does come just from the internet, and I think it’s amazing that the songwriters paid tribute to it in such a prominent way.

With that out of the way, let me talk about the song itself lol. Fuck, what a good chorus. I do have my complaints with it, but they’re relatively minor. First of all, though the line distribution in this song is marginally better than their previous title track, the chorus is still sung the exact same way all three times it plays in the song. Sihyeon begins it, Mia sings the second part, and that’s it. They’re great at it, but I would have appreciated a little more variety, at least for the second chorus, to break things up in the middle of the song. Also, I just think the word “haters” is pretty silly, there’s no way to say “I don’t care about haters” without sounding like you do really care about the haters. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be saying it lol. Anytime anyone’s like “Got no time for haters” I’m just like “wow the haters must really get to you, huh?” But anyway, they didn’t write that line, they’re just singing it, it’s not a huge deal lol, it’s fine. The chorus is undeniably really really good, it’s so good that I got over my eye-roll about the “got no time for haters” line pretty fast and I sing along with it every single time now haha. Damn, it’s so catchy. With so many choruses in kpop songs being drops lately, having a chorus sung this powerfully and prominently is like a religious experience lol, it’s fantastic. I love the verses too, I think they flow really well and really complement the synthwave aesthetic well, something about it all coming together just *works* for me. All the little synth additions throughout the song are so authentic too, it just makes me so happy. That synth solo right after the second chorus is perfect.

This song kind of snuck up on me. I like Everglow, I’ve been into them since their debut. I liked Adios, but I wasn’t as happy with the direction it went in. Dun Dun was pretty similar to Adios, and although I like it better than Adios, I still wished that they would do something like Bon Bon Chocolat again, and I could feel myself losing interest in the group as they went more and more down a road that didn’t excite me as much. Their style of girl crush in those two songs is cool, but isn’t something I come back to over and over. It’s a little too… idk… beefy, lol. Too ostentatious. Too built around the drop and saying cool lines as if they’re just catchphrases, and not as much around just being a catchy song that I find new reasons to love every time I listen. By the 10th listen, I pretty much got all of what those two songs had to offer. I do like them, and I listened to them both a lot when they each came out, but they haven’t stayed with me the way you hope a song does. 

So when La Di Da was announced, I didn’t expect much. I expected another song that I would listen to on repeat for a week or so and then move on to something else. And tbh, I was fine with that. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s like candy or junk food lol. Not everything has to be monumental and become my favorite song instantly, some things can just be something fun to listen to for a little bit. There’s value in that. And I mean, a song that is junk food to me, that I listen to for a bit and then move on, could be someone else’s favorite stuff, and the stuff that is junk food to them might be my favorite stuff, so I’m not saying that Adios and Dun Dun are objectively uninteresting, I’m being very subjective with this lol. Just speaking for myself here. In any case, yeah, I didn’t have a ton of expectations for La Di Da. 

So like, when it came out and I listened to it for the first time, I was absolutely floored. Nobody told me it was gonna be that good lol, I was not prepared at all. Cignature, Fromis 9, and CLC also released comebacks in September, and I had high hopes for all those. I thought for sure that the Cignature or Fromis 9 comeback would be my favorite song of the month, but I ended up listening to La Di Da like twice as many times as any of those other ones haha. I wasn’t even intending to! I wasn’t streaming it and forcing myself to listen to it over and over! I just couldn’t stop. I didn’t think it would be in my top 10 either, because Everglow, while being a group that I like, aren’t one of my ult groups or anything like that. But I can’t deny it. This song is so damn good lol. Here it is, at 4th place. Incredible. Completely reinvigorated my hype for Everglow too. Can’t wait to see what they do next, and I hope Yiren and Sihyeon get well soon

links to the rest of the list: 10 - Fiesta (Izone) 9 - Crossroads (GFriend) 8 - Assa (Cignature) 7 - Boca (Dreamcatcher) 6 - Kick It (NCT 127) 5 - Cool (Weki Meki) 4 - La Di Da (Everglow) 3 - Mago (GFriend) 2 - Tag Me (Weeekly) 1 - Scream (Dreamcatcher)