#me: also me: *top tag is india*

[blackboard-monitor]

how i've finished inktober every year for eight years and counting

Every time I mention around other artists that I finish inktober every year (meaning I draw and ink 31 drawings, one every day in October), I get questions like "how???", so I figured I'd make a post about it on the off chance it's helpful to someone. Please note that all my advice is based on my personal experience and you're a different person so what works for me may not work for you, and you can do whatever you want forever.

What it boils down to for me is two basic rules: 1) keep it simple and 2) manage your expectations.

Tools

Paper/sketchbook

I started my first inktober in my journal at the time, and because I'm neurotic like that, I've had to do every subsequent inktober in whatever journal I was using at that point.

The benefit of this is that each journal has had a page size of A5 or smaller, which can be tricky when trying to get in a lot of detail, but on the other hand forces you to limit the size of your drawings to a pretty managable size.

Paper type can also be important! Last year in 2023, my journal was a Moleskine sketchbook (image 1), which was actually designed to handle some degree of wet media, which was a game-changer for me as an ink wash enjoyer. Don't get me wrong, I've been using ink washes in most of my previous journals as well, but inking is a lot nicer when your paper isn't constantly buckling (image 2) or pilling and the ink isn't bleeding all over the place, inclunding through the page (image 3). Pages that stay flat instead of buckling are also a lot easier to scan or photograph, if like me you want to post your art online.

In short, my inktober paper recommendation is to use a sketchbook no larger than A5, and go for one with nice, thick paper if you intend to use wet media.

Sketching

I sketch everything with a single 6H pencil that I got from my brother in 2019. Because the lead is so hard, it allows me to scribble to my heart's content without the sketch getting too dark or hard to erase. Sometimes I'll refine the sketch with a HB mechanical pencil, which shows up really nicely on top of the 6H lines, but I may skip that step if I'm feeling lazy or the first sketch is clean enough.

Inking

I've used a variety of art supplies in my inktober drawings. For the most part I've always stuck to greyscale, with the exception of a couple of red or gold accents some years.

My main inktober tools are a set of Micron fineliners in various sizes, and liquid India ink, which I use with a dip pen and with brushes. I usually mix up a mid-tone ink wash in a small bottle, and use that throughout the month.

Fineliners pros: portable, require minimal setup, can use on the sofa or in bed or wherever Fineliners cons: creating texture and filling large areas is a lot more time-consuming. In 2021 I did inktober exclusively in fineliner because I was tired and couldn't be bothered to deal with liquid ink, but I ended up spending more time than maybe ever on the drawings because it took so long to add texture with pens.

Ink pros: you can achieve small details with a dip pen as well as quick texture and fill in large areas with a brush and ink washes Ink cons: can be messy (protip from 2022 Liekki, don't spill ink water all over your laptop), usually you have to sit at a table of some kind, you need to wash your brushes and dip pens, if your paper isn't designed for wet media, it'll buckle or bleed

Pick your inking tools and techniques based on how much time you have!

Prompts/ideas/subject matter

I've always stuck to the "official" prompt list, because it brings me joy to scroll through the tag of the day on instagram and see how others interpreted the same prompt. Or, rather, it used to bring me joy to do this, until instagram's enshittification stole our ability to look at tags. Maybe I'll have some luck with that on Cara going forward; here's hoping.

As for ideas, sometimes they come easy, sometimes it's like pulling teeth and I have to enlist all my friends to brainstorm with me (sorry, y'all). When in doubt, draw the first thing that comes to mind when you read the prompt; don't overthink it (like I often do). I like to try to come up with a less obvious interpretation of a prompt, but this is also where I often get stuck and have to harass my loved ones for ideas. Sometimes it helps to relate the prompt to a tv show/book/etc. you're into; I've done quite a bit of inktober fanart, as well as art of various DnD cahracters from games I've played/DM'd. If all else fails, just look at what everyone else is drawing that day.

Time management

Be realistic about how much time you have in a day to work on inktober, and then set your expectations accordingly. If you only have an hour, stick to a size and level of detail that you can realistically finish in an hour. I've done some very quick scribbles in my years of inktober when I've been busy that day.

My personal philosophy is that I try not to plan too much ahead; I don't do any sketching until day of, and ideally I don't try to come up with ideas for a prompt or at least decide on an idea until the day before at the earliest. Containing each drawing in one day helps me have realistic expectations of what's doable. This does mean drawing late into the night sometimes after procrastinating or struggling to find an idea all day, but it's what works for me.

If your goal is to complete inktober, it's better to do a small shitty drawing in ten minutes than to fall behing by starting something way too ambitious that you'll never be able to finish in a day.

Secret third rule!

Accept the fact that you aren't going to be happy with every drawing.

Inktober was created as an exercise to practice inking. Think of your drawings as sketches, not finished masterpieces. Some of them will be bad, at least in your own eyes. Sometimes you'll put a lot of effort into something that just doesn't work out. For example:

To quote Joe Hills, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of practice. So you fucked up today's drawing. Tomorrow is a new day – that's the beauty of inktober. "Ever tried, ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." (Samuel Beckett) Progress isn't linear, either; some years are consistently mediocre, other years it's all over the place with a couple bangers and a couple really shitty ones.

Every inktober I've made drawings I love,

drawings I'm indifferent to,

and drawings that straight up suck.

And I'm at peace with that.

Thanks for reading what turned into a pretty long post, and I hope some of it was helpful. Happy inktobering!

[candywife333]

There is Never A Right Time

Summary:

Jungkook hadn’t thought about the woman he had left for a long time. He had gotten secretly married to her, his judgement clouded under the influence of alcohol,  and all it took was a shadow of distrust to make him abandon her. If the world questioned the sanctity of her character, then the world had to be right. Right? He hoped he was right at least. Because if he wasn’t , he had lost the best thing that had ever happened to him in his life. As he continued to work as a top idol, artist, and entrepreneur time went by. He had other women but they never lasted long in his life. When he attended an award show with the rest of the members, he saw a girl there. Another artist. Definitely someone he knew he had never seen or heard of before. Who was she? Something about her was familiar. Maybe her eyes. And then it struck him, making him go as cold as a corpse. He had seen those same eyes somewhere else alright, in the mirror when he looked at his own reflection every morning.

DISCLAIMER: The character written in this fan fiction does not represent the real Jungkook’s personality or behavior. All of this is fiction. 

WARNING: Fic mentions noncon/rape (does not describe it explicitly in this part), please don’t read if this is a trigger. 

This series is slated to be a trilogy. Here is PART ONE, hope you guys enjoy. Also, I will be creating a permanent tag-list for all my chubby reader fics, please let me know in comments whoever would like to be a part of that. 

  PART 1

The lady stood in front of him and the other members. She exuded a powerful aura, regal and dignified. These qualities were rather an unusual combination for idols, especially Korean idols so he was a little starstruck. Something that was rather unusual for any member of BTS to feel. She couldn't have been more than 18 years old though based on her appearance. The girl must be mixed race because she had very unconventional features for an idol. She had dark thick curly black hair that trailed to her hips and her skin reminded him of strongly brewed milk tea. The even more startling features were her plush lips, a prominent straight nose graced by a diamond stud, and double lidded eyes fringed with what seemed to be thick eyelashes.

She was sporting an unusual outfit as well; a customized skirt and bra set that he only saw gypsies and belly dancers wear. A gold belt adorned her waist sitting lower on her hips with a diamond belly piercing highlighting her lithe , toned figure. He couldn't stop looking at her because strangely enough something about her was familiar.

He made eye contact with her accidentally and what he saw made his heart palpate against his chest. He had seen those same eyes every day of his life in his mirror. Her doe eyes were too similar to his own. They say that eyes are a mirror to the soul, but her eyes were a mirror to his own.

Who was she? He felt a stir of panic as their eyes met and she bowed down low. She was of average height, but her presence seemed to envelope the room since other well known artists,  idols, and staff greeted her politely. The stage director came near her bowing. To Jungkook’s surprise , she spoke in fluent Korean though she seemed to be a foreign artist.

The stage director and the girl were a few feet away from BTS when the stage director exclaimed , “How is your mother doing Cha-ya? She must be worried since you have only promoted up til now in the US, Thailand, and India. Are you having a comfortable time adjusting over here?”

The girl’s eyes lit up in glee as she responded with a little chuckle, “It has for sure been a different experience than the U.S. and India for sure. The stage is so organized and everything is so close by for promotions. I am enjoying it to the max. Mom told me to eat well and sleep 8 hours a day. You know how doctors are like. She’s constantly checking in on me to see if I am stressed out. Saiyan and Arang are also being such worrywarts since this is the first time I’ve been here.”

The stage director continued in mild surprise, “Are they your brothers? I thought you were an only child ?”

She guffawed in a cacophonous fashion which made several idols and artists look her way, in awe and confusion. Jungkook thought that she was a rather different type of artist. Very uninhibited by social norms. Clearly she had not been brought up in Korea.

“Director, we are actually triplets but both of them were born a few minutes ahead of me so they insist that they are my older brothers. We are very tight knit and they will be coming to visit soon. Saiyan is a pretty popular model right now and so he will be finishing his Engineering degree at Washington State and rush over here for Seoul fashion week. Arang on the other hand finished his MBA/Medicine dual degree, so he will be managing a chain of Health and Wellness Resorts over here. “

The director’s jaw slid open in an exclamation. He sputtered in disbelief, “ How are all of your siblings so well studied and managing jobs like that? You must be the only sibling purely in entertainment.” The girl deliberated for a second before responding, “Mom made sure we all had solid educations before pursuing these types of careers. She is always skeptical of fame, and she brought us up to be extremely disciplined, stable, and loyal individuals. I am actually finished with my course in Law (focus in international law) ,but currently all that is stalled for the time being because of my activities in entertainment.”

As Jungkook was hearing this conversation along with the other artists in the room who were curiously eavesdropping as well, the Director continued in awe, “Your mother seems to be an extremely strong lady. I knew she was a doctor  who seemed extremely rich and well off, but she must literally be a goddess to give birth to such high achieving kids. What about your father, what does he do?”

Cha-ya scoffed with a quizzical, somewhat bitter look, “He actually left her before we were even born. We found out who he was when we all finished college. Our mother made sure our upbringing was never lacking. We saw him a lot on the Korean and world news growing up but never knew that he was our dad. You know,  he is someone whose popularity never fades strangely enough. He sold his soul for fame, so it is to be expected perhaps.” The director looked so intrigued and invested as he prodded for more info, “ Who is he? Definitely we would know who he is? Is he a singer, actor, businessman in the industry over here?”

Cha-ya’s entire expression became rigid and mask-like as she replied in what seemed to be a disinterested tone, “ We do not consider him our dad, so neither my brothers, nor I would like to claim him. He was a sperm donor. That is the long and short of it. Who he is, is as irrelevant as what today’s weather forecast is. He betrayed my mother and trusted the world over her. She went through so much pain just to be by his side. And when she thought the pain would end, he left her. I have to be on stage, so if you will excuse me now Sir.”

She side stepped the director and went closer to the entrance of the main stage. Jungkook could feel the bile and vomit rising to his mouth. She had been pregnant when he had left her? He had three kids, that he never knew anything about? This grown beautiful artist was his daughter?And he had two more accomplished sons?  His parents had grandkids? And how the hell did she brith triplets?!! Wouldn’t her vagina tear ??????!!!

His world was crashing down on him as the rest of BTS stared at him with stark grief painted across their faces. They all remembered her name, it was unforgettable.

Before he could process anything, he heard the booming noise starting up on the stage. Wait, wait up a minute! This track was the most popular pop/ rock release of the year all over the US. He saw his daughter he never knew he had on stage in an elaborate headdress dancing with precision and fluidity on stage. She had no backing track, the other idols could tell. This was live. Only one artist sang with no backing track in all her performances this year in the US. She was on MTV and all other award shows, becoming sensational, l hitting all headlines for singing with no backing track usually acapella . Shadow, that was her romanized name, but in all Asian countries she went by Nee-Da.

She had risen to the top for the past 3 years for her herculanean work ethic , creative marketing/business acumen. She was known for her cutthroat ruthlessness in the music industry, mostly aided by the fact that her mother was known to own and manage the world’s most innovative new security system, Poison. He did not know what to be more shocked about at this point? How could he not have recognized her? Seeing her in real life was different from seeing her on stage with all the makeup and ornamentation on.

She was the pop-star of the era, a business mogul with a net worth of close to 300 million dollars at such a young age due to her clothing and makeup line. She was his daughter. How could this even be possible? Jungkook could feel his identity crisis coming. How did he birth the most iconic popstar of this generation, who as of now hated his guts? What scared him even more was the realization of who her mother was.

The lady he had left, the woman he could never forget even in his dreams was her mother. And her mother owned the world’s scariest personal security company, Poison. The company had revolutionized personal security by founding a bracelet and many other gadgets that created magnetic repellant force fields around individuals. It was notorious for being marketed only towards woman and could only be activated when the device recognized the XX chromosome, so the device would never protect men.

Basically, women all around the world who had these devices now had a programmable magnetic forcefield around them which shielded them from the outside world. Firearms, Tasers, and aggressors were all repelled by this technology. Women could safely walk out in the middle of the night as long as they had a device, which was continuously made affordable at its very inception by the reclusive owner of the company.

With this  technology ,the owner instantly became the most powerful business woman, icon, feminist, that the world knew. That is in fact all the world knew. That she was a woman. But nobody knew anything else about her, she was an elusive person who didn't show up to most media events. Her personal motto was that the products advocated for themselves. Her financial officers and other company higher ups showed up in the media, but she never did. Most people in the world didn't even know how this woman looked like, because of how reclusive she was.

All people knew was that she was Cha-ya’s mother and that she had two other kids.

What Jungkook got to know that made him almost go into a stroke was the sheer fact that Cha-ya’s mom was his Y/N. The one whose heart he had broken years ago.

Y/N was a billionaire of gargantuan proportions, a net worth that made his look like chump change.  His daughter was the iconic popstar of the century, someone whose craze and popularity surpassed his own in his heyday. Which meant that his son Saiyan was the new model who had just walk in Paris Fashion Week as the face of Armani. The same one that Jimin’s daughter had raved about the other day. Which meant that his son Arang became the CEO of the exclusive wellness resort, Ellysium , a resort only catered to the richest of the richest. All this calculations overwhelmed Jungkook to the point that there was only one reasonable outcome. He fainted.

He woke up to the sound of his members whispering in anxious voices to one another. “Do you think he can handle this right now?” Jin asked Namjoon. “I have no clue bro, I mean he hasn't seen her in years and the last time he saw her, he treated her so badly that even I felt ridiculously hurt for her” Namjoon sighed in a rather morose tone of voice. Hoseok scoffed as he seethed,  “Do you think she will even acknowledge him after all he had done to her? Jungkook left her to face a whole media circus alone while he impregnated her when he was inebriated, mind you. Then, to top it all of with a cherry he not only remembered nothing of the process, but she found him shagging a whole different girl the next day. Do you think that you would forgive actions as heinous as those”?

Jungkook felt dizzy as he struggled to sit up on the sofa. Jimin rushed to him with a frown on his face and worry painting his eyes, “You doing okay Kookie? Are you alright staying here for the rest of the award show, or do you want to head back home?” Still dazed from his fall, Jungkook responded pensively, “No it’s alright. I just need to catch my bearings and I can be there for the rest of the show”. Before the rest of the members could stop him Yoongi spit out bitterly, “You say you are okay attending the show. But are you sure you really want to? Cha-ya’s mother will be in attendance, flying out to see her babygirl win an award. You sure you can handle that Jungkook”?

Jungkook felt his heart racing, panic overtaking his mind. How could he face her? He had wronged her in so many ways? How could he show his miserable face to her after the way he had ruined her life? Y/n was never even his girlfriend or fiancé at the time. But, he had compromised her in the worst way possible and then had not even remembered his mistake the day after. She had paid for his mistakes by bearing children and caring for them when he had not even known they existed. Even if he had known , it was questionable whether he could've done anything signifiant. He had been embroiled in multiple scandals and caught in alcohol addiction during that phase of his life. He was living wild and no way would he have been a sober, or healthy father to his kids.

With the help of a few assistants , the group slowly trudged towards the celebrity seating quadrant of the award show venue. Cha-ya was up on the stage receiving the award for Most Streamed Artist from the hands of a veteran Korean actress. As Jungkook watched his daughter---as strange as it felt to say those words, receive the award with a blinding smile on her face, he felt his chest hurt. What type of crime had he committed in his previous life that he didn't even get to see his girl grow up? She was beautiful, sharing so many of his features, his bulbous nose, doe-like eyes, and rounded face.

She resembled him more than she resembled her mother. And before anyone could even expect it Cha-ya spoke into the microphone, “I thank everyone at VEX entertainment for helping me get to where I am today. I would also like to thank my staff and all the people behind the scenes who have pushed me to this position. I hope to make all of you proud. None of this would be possible without all of you”. She took in a deep breath as she announced, “But, most importantly I have to thank my mother. She brought me up to be the strong woman that I am today. She worked so hard to give us everything and never left us lacking. We never felt the absence of a father because she is both to me and to my brothers. I would like to call her up on stage, so I can dedicate this award to her. Please mom, come up on stage”.

Everything was moving too fast around Jungkook as he breathed in shallow pants. He felt like he was breathing too fast and his brain was not functioning. He felt paralyzed. Stuck. But he couldn't even catch his breath when he saw the mother of his children sweep into the area where he and the members sat. He could barely recognize the bold woman he was looking at. She looked lethal, powerful, untouchable ---the direct opposite of what she had been, a warm approachable girl.

She was draped in a blood red shimmering sari crafted with gold thread, an ensemble exposing a massive fire breathing dragon tattoo overarching the entirety of what seemed to be her left hip barely reaching to her belly button . The dress was close to backless with just a red resolute thread holding the top sleeveless jacket in place. You could tell she worked out, but she had all the feminine curves befitting a woman, a rounded stomach hidden by the shadow of the sari covering her modestly. Her face was covered with black sunglasses and she adorned her wrists with plain gold bangles, her neck laced with a simple gold chain.

She walked onto the steps leading to the stage in blood red heels as the entire celebrity section of the audience got a view of her back and tattoo. The lady was arresting to look at--all the way down from her aura to her body to her attire.

Y/N walked up to her daughter with arms opened, hugging the girl on stage with all the warmth that you would expect a mother to have for her child. A smile as radiant as a sunrise obliterated Y/N’s face as she spoke into the mike, “I am so proud to be here today to see my baby girl receive this award. She has worked so hard and all her efforts have come to fruition today. Thank you for allowing me to be on stage to celebrate this award with her”.

Both mother and daughter walked off the stage hand in hand as one of the MC’s for the award show started to walk up the stage. Collective gasps rang through the aisles as people saw who the next MC was. It was Saiyan. He had donned a simple Black Armani suit which highlighted just how devastating he looked. He took after Y/N more as he had slightly more defined cheekbones and huge eyes fringed with thick dark lashes to make any woman envious. He hulked onto stage, towering over his mom and sister at a height of 6′3. He laughed and hugged both of them, kissing his mom on the forehead,  and strolled to the mike to present the next award.

Jungkook’s eyes felt like they were about to pop out his head and his head was about to fall off his body. All three of them were on stage looking like such a happy family, radiant and warm. He could tell how much love his kids had for their mother . Y/N kissed Saiyan back on his cheek and walked off stage with Cha-ya in hand, giggling with her. These were all the people who he should've had in his life for years, held closest to his heart, but his poorly made decisions or lack thereof had distanced him from his own flesh and blood. 

Blinded by agitation and grief, Jungkook rushed out of the aisles, surprising his members as he absconded backstage to catch hold of Y/N and Cha-ya. But they weren’t alone. Cha-ya and Y/N were inundated by so many stage staff and artists who wanted to welcome them. His gut clenched as he saw all the men eyeing Y/N like she was the tastiest meal they had seen in centuries. He heard Y/N respond graciously to one staff member, “Oh, thank you for loving my outfit. It was designed by an upcoming Thai/Indian designer. She really went over the top with the gold motifs.” 

Jungkook couldn't stop himself as he pushed people, shoving past them trying to get to Y/N and his daughter. Staff around him were startled as they saw him wading through the crowd to the center of the room, whispering in shock at his pushy nature. As soon as he got in front of them, he was finally able to process the magnitude of Y/N’s beauty. Y/N was shocked for a mere a second at his sudden appearance and to his great surprise, kissed Cha ya on the cheek walking away from him as she told her, “Baby, mommy will be in your changing room. I have to take care of something”. Cha ya nodded at her mother, her eyes glazing over with a coat of suspicion and bitterness. She bowed stiffly towards Jungkook , “Sunbae, nice to meet you. It is an honor to meet you”. Her eyes took up a hard glint as she saw the rest of BTS filter into the room. She faced them and bowed to all of them, speaking in a lackadaisical tone “It is an honor to meet all of you. I have grown up watching all of you”. Her face did not show interest in engaging with them and she looked at them with a rather disinterested attitude. 

“Well I should get going. My mother is waiting for me”, she said as she glided seamlessly out of the room towards her dressing room. 

Jungkook felt tears well up in his eyes and anxiety stain his mind as he could see how cold his daughter was being towards him, as though he were a stranger. She had greeted him as though he was just any person on the street, as though they didn't share blood. As though he meant nothing to her. Jimin and Namjoon closed in around him, steering him towards a secluded corner of the room as he started sobbing miserably as though he were not able to breath. His eyes were red, tears flowing down his eyes, wetting his cheeks as he understood the gravity of what sin he had truly committed. 

He wiped frantically at his eyes, pushing away from his members as he ran towards Chaya’s changing room. He heard Yoongi scream beyond him, “Jungkook you better get back here! Don’t do this Jungkook, You need to calm down!!” Jungkook could not be reasoned with as he darted towards the room that a surprised staff had pointed at. He arrived in front of the door, barely catching his breath as he knocked in a hurried manner, desperate to speak with the most important people in his life that he had alienated. 

Chaya opened the door in a pink satin robe, leaning against the door with a sigh, “I knew you wouldn't be patient. I told mom it was a bad idea for her to fly out. She did anyway knowing that she would have to contend with you.” She sneered as she bit out in a crisp manner, “Well, why don’t you come in Jungkook -sshi? Or will you stay outside and make a circus of our reputation? Funny how you are obsessed with keeping yours, but have no problem blemishing others. You couldn't stay away, could you? You managed to for so many years, but now you fail at what you claim to be best at. Not caring. How juvenile”. She snarked all this at him vindictively as she simultaneously opened the door, gesturing for him to come into the room. 

The rest of the members stood outside as she sardonically queried, “Well, would you all grant us some privacy? I am sure we will have Jungkook-ssi out of the room soon enough. It shouldn't be a very long conservation. There isn't much to say anyway.” Yoongi’s eye twitched as he glared in silence at the rude girl who was literally the unexpected niece of all of the members. 

She closed the door on their faces.

Inside the room, Y/N sat on the couch surveying Jungkook’s appearance with mild interest. “Why are you here Jungkook? Do you need to say something?”, she calmly asked.  Y/N’s mind whirled in turmoil even as she looked calm on the outside. Why was he in front of them all these years when he himself had shunned her at her weakest moment? Jungkook was hyperventilating as he asked in a cracked voice, “I am not going to ask you the Stu-pid question of whether these kids are mine or not. Because I know that they are all the same age and I can see it in their faces and their mannerisms. They are mine”. He took a deep breath as he felt the panic overtake him, “But why did you never tell me about them? Why did you take me away from their lives. You know how much my mother and father wanted grandkids. Out of everybody in the world, you knew it the best. Why did you deprive me and my parents of them?” 

In an infuriatingly placating tone, Y/N responded without a hitch in her voice, “Don’t you remember? You didn’t want anything to do with me because I had apparently betrayed our friendship by being a characterless bitch and luring you into fucking me when you were drunk. Can you not make a quick trip down memory lane? Or has it been too long for you to remember the lurid media details that tore me apart? You may have forgotten but I never will”. 

She took a sip of tea as she tapped her nails on her lap, “You wouldn't hear me out when I told you that we had both accidentally gotten married when were drunk. Even though I knew that you never wanted anything to do with me romantically, you still initiated intercourse even as I clearly told you no. I begged you to let go of me. But in your blind livid anger of finding the marriage certificate lying on the couch later that night, you didn't do what most men do. You didn't do the practical thing, which is to rage and get over it. You didn’t tear the certificate and put an end to it there. You decided that I deserved to pay, and you fucked me even as I begged you to not ruin me. But, then again,  why are you asking me all the gruesome details, when you were the perpetrator?”

As Jungkook clutched his head, bending it down in dismay and shame, she quietly drawled, “We could've simply dissolved the marriage. It was not done seriously. It was done in a compulsion, as both of us were under the influence. Influence that you forced down my throat if we are being truly accurate. But, why did you have to ruin my life even when you were in a sober state? What excuse do you have for that? Other than your ridiculously misplaced anger? So you forced me when you were sober, making me pay in the most pitiful manner.”

 She laughed bitterly, eyes bereft of emotion, retreating behind a mask of forced complacency , “You knew, out of everyone else, since you were my friend at the time, that I had never even done it before. But you still treated me more pathetically than a piece of trash on the sidewalk. You degraded me as you violated me, taunting me with the most hurtful epithets known to man. You stripped me of my dignity. Don’t you remember jungkook? Don’t you remember any of it ? If you do, why are you forcing me to re-live it? I had kids, and I moved on from that pathetic, trusting, giving version of myself. You taught me that I must always pay the price for being kind. I will never forget it”. 

The torture was too much to bear. Jungkook crumpled off the sofa, onto the floor as he started sobbing, remembering what he had done to her. He remembered how he had hurt her again and again. They had been extremely close friends at the time, and he had ruined their friendship by crossing the line when both of them were drunk. At the time he had loved another girl, one who showed him how disgusting humanity could be. Y/N had warned him against her multiple times when they were friends , but he stupidly enough had stuck onto that girl, having a toxic relationship with her. 

When that girl had walked in on Y/N and him, finding the marriage certificate splayed out on the couch, she had broke up with him. In that frenzy of indignation, he had committed the vilest mistake of his entire life. He had forced Y/N, someone with no sexual experience, to suffer. He had degraded her verbally as he had humiliated and forced her. He remembered it as if it were yesterday. He remembered it everytime he looked at his reflection. When the violation was done, she had walked away pitifully, stumbling away from his form as she quietly uttered, “I am sorry for taking away your chance at happiness. You have punished me in a way I can never forget. I will never forget what you have taught me about our friendship. Now I know how much our friendship meant to you. Don’t worry, you will never hear from me again ”. 

As cum and blood had streamed down legs, she had dragged herself out of his house, to go back to her lonely hotel room where she sobbed and cursed at her mother for giving birth to her.  She cursed at god for her sheer existence. She would never trust again. He had damaged her forever. 

An hour after she left his house, Jungkook had understood his grievous mistake and told his Hyungs the sin he had committed. They all stared at him in shock as Yoongi started beating him, “Is THIS what we taught you Jungkook? To be a rapist and a miserable excuse of a human being?!” Everyone else stared at him in shock. Namjoon went to Bang PD to ask him to contact their lawyer. What if Y/N launched a lawsuit against Jungkook and the group? 

To all their collective surprise, they received news from Y/N’s friend Myrna, a foreign communications director at HYBE, that she had left for the U.S., going back to her home country. She had stopped at a hospital before leaving and handed Myrna an NDA drafted by a lawyer, before leaving, stating that she would not reveal anything that had gone down that day. The NDA also stated that she would like to never be contacted again, and that HYBE would face heavy legal repercussions if they ever attempted to do so. A divorce application form had been filled out and left in a pamphlet as well. All Jungkook had to do to nullify the marriage was to sign off on it”. 

Jungkook lived through his memories once again as Y/N smoothed down her dress, “If you would like to get to know the kids, I will not stop you. In fact, I had reached out to your company regarding the kids when they were born. But, I never heard back from them since. I even personally tried contacting you and your members, but none of you ever responded. Regardless, bygones will be bygones. The past is in the past. Cha-ya, Saiyan, and Arang have been brought up to be kind, forgiving individuals. They are not ruthless like their dad. Though they are angry, rightfully so as of now, they will come around and try to get to know you eventually.”

“Now, I will leave the room and allow you to talk to Cha-ya and Saiyan if that is what you wish to do. Arang will be arriving in five minutes”. 

As she got up to leave the room, she felt a firm vascular hand wrap around her wrist. She looked back to see Jungkook on his knees, head down, whimpering “I don’t wish to just know my kids. I wish to know the wife I never had”. 

Y/N reached to remove his hand off her wrist, “You must not understand what the true definition of the words ‘too little, too late’ mean”. 

TAGLIST:

@sporadicarcadebanana , @darkuni63, @jessicalynn85

[wounds-seen-and-unseen]

Whumpas in July: Day 1 and Day 2

Late entry to Whumpas! (unfortunately it is almost July 3 in my timezone, but my previous attempt was deleted by Tumblr instead of getting posted, I still hope it counts)

Day 1: Introduce yourself

Hi everyone! I’m Nila, I go by Archer as well. I am an intern physician from India. My main blog is @ambidextrousarcher which is a reference to an Indian mythical character, Arjun, who is often a protagonist/PoV character in my stories.

I discovered that finding hurt/comfort interesting has a specific name to it fairly recently, but since I found the community, I have avidly enjoyed a lot of good whump! Sadly, due to lack of time, I can be a bit of a lurker sometimes.

My favourite medium of whump is prose, although I am discovering an interest in visual mediums of whump lately as well.

I am trying to write my whump stories but am unfortunately in a trough with regard to inspiration, I hope that Whumpmas helps a little with that!

I would like to end this intro with a shoutout to @whumperofworlds @i-eat-worlds and @whumpninja for being really sweet with me when I just entered this community, as well as @redwingedwhump whose writings were crucial in inspiring me to be a more active (such as it is) member of this beautiful community!

Day 2: Favourite Tropes

Here is a non-exhaustive list of my favourite tropes: (Top 3 + 2 extras)

1. The “good” whumpee: The whumpee who is in this mess because of a moral reason, usually heroic. Self-sacrifice, whumpee with a code of honour, whumpee who endures for a greater cause, whumpee who tries not to let caretaker just how badly they are hurt, the list goes on.

2. The unravelling of the stoic whumpee: Whumpee who is stoic (usually an extension of the “good” whumpee aka they want to protect caretaker) until. It is just too much. They lose control over the pain, and tears ensue. Especially love it if whumpee in their PoV is trying to keep a smile on their face just for caretaker’s sake, and that is precisely what hurts caretaker the most.

3. Misunderstood whumpee: Whumpee who is, intentionally or unintentionally, misunderstood. By a loved one, the system itself, someone they idolize, you name it, I probably love it.

4. Caretaker PoV at crucial moments: Moments like “Oh, God, this can’t be anyone else but this person I care for/love.” Moments where Whumpee is having a breakdown. I love caretaker’s PoV when it is carefully used.

5. Historical period whump: Historical fiction is my favourite genre, and there are so many whump possibilities in this genre!

So ends my post for Day 1 and Day 2 of @whumpmasinjuly

Also tagging @whumpmasinjuly-archive

Much love,

Nila aka Archer

[disasterbiwriter]

Tagged by our collective darling @belleandsaintsebastian to share a bit of a WIP. This is from Say What You Want... and I'm gonna pop it under a cut so those who want to avoid spoilers can!

Lane has fled and Luke is God knows where and Jess figures Babette and Patty are about to bustle in for brunch and goss, and what else the fuck is he supposed to do with Liz except escort her up to the apartment?

He’s spinning out. Liz in Stars Hollow. His mother, in his town. It feels apocryphal, in spite of the photographic evidence he once found at the bottom of a pile of William’s Hardware detritus: teenage Liz and Luke at the Gazebo, Liz at Stars Hollow High in Jess’s math classroom, Liz with a parcel of girls her age, all cobalt eyeshadow and Aquanet fumes, Liz in a fuschia taffeta monstrosity, sandwiched between her parents. Seeing the set of William’s shoulders and the slant of his brow made Jess feel like looking into a funhouse mirror or a crystal ball. Behold thy future.

“Have a seat,” the autopilot feature of his brain says. “Do you want, uh, coffee? Or tea?”

“No caffeine for me,” Liz chirps. She rummages into the giant bag slung over her shoulder and pulls out a slightly crushed, bright pink box. “But I’d love some tea!” She passes the box to him.

“Tea. Sure.”

He busies himself with setting their ancient kettle to boil, reading the box of tea in desperate dissociation – Also known as holy basil, the label informs him, tulsi is a sacred plant for many in India and may have anti-inflammatory properties – and tries not to notice Liz drinking everything in around the apartment. His skin prickles when she lightly runs her fingers over his bookshelf; it takes a titanic effort not to blurt out “Don’t!” when she plucks Rory’s copy of Krik? Krak! off the shelf, but he still holds his breath until she puts it down.

He fills a mug for them both (not that he’ll drink, his stomach’s shrunk to a walnut, equally shriveled) and clears his throat. “It’s ready,” he says.

“Great!” She comes over to the table and drops into the chair Jess usually sits in – it hits him like electroshock. He wordlessly sits down in Luke’s chair.

Liz blows the steam from the top of the mug, then takes a scalding sip. “Perfect. Have you tried tulsi before?”

“Never,” he answers truthfully.

“Oh, it’s lifechanging. If you like it I’ll send you some.”

“Okay.”

They sit, Liz drinks, and Jess spirals.

[brb-on-a-quest]

The Toxic relationship between America and England As Told by Me Which Will Have Many Questionable Oversimplifications Due To the Lack of Time I Currently Have Before My Last Final Paper For A Different Class is Due: a story told by me. Tagging @igotthisaccountunderduress bc she asked for this specifically and now must suffer the consequences

Source: My history notes and a chat where I have infodumped all this to my best friend who has somehow still put up with all of my ramblings. If people would like I can and will make a series out of this with more actual research because Damn History is so much more interesting when it's not for the grade and stress and finals (like I love the tea, love the reciepts, but to memorize all of it on top of other things? *stress ensues*

((Under cut))

There was a war. There have been many wars. But during this period of like literally forever ago England, Spain, and France really just couldn't stop bickering at each other like siblings. This became more problematic when Spain started getting Colonies in this New World after the whole Christopher Columbus shenanigans (Fun fact: Isabel and Ferdinand really only sponsored like 20% or 30% of Columbus' original costs; Columbus still had to like find the other major chunk of it through sponsorships and donations). But anyway Columbus Task Failed Successfully and discovers Not India/Spice Islands but ~a whole new world~ (so many more shenanigans with that Columbus had to straight up lie to his crew multiple times to stop mutinies from happening I want to read his diaries at some point bc the more things I hear the more intrigued I get). But anyway Spain gets a lot of shiny new income in plenty of resources, spices, diseases, tomatoes, chocolate, etc.

England and France get jealous. France is like "omg I want some" and they go to Not The Spice Islands via the fabled "Northwest Passage" and get to canada and make bank off fur trading. England however in true Chaotic Sibling Fashion originally goes "why would I need to go over to America when I can just steal from France and Spain"

and thus PIRACYYYYYYY yo ho ho ho and a bottle of rum for meeeee

Spain and France are (unsurprisingly) Not Cool with this whole "sharing is caring" attitude of England and again more wars start. England in the meantime decides it wants to get its stuff together and allows the prototypes of corporations called Joint Stock Companies (basically a bunch of people would share the risks and the reward of running a business) that lead to the Virginia Colony. There were also people who were cashing in royal debts in exchange for land in the new world (the Calverts who started Maryland who wanted to Bring Back The Feudal system and that went so well for them *cough cough*/sarcasm) and a bunch of people who wanted to ability to Practice Their Religion Better than Other People (there was religious persecution when Queen Elizabeth was reigning during the Great Migration of people to America but from my understanding it was more like she didn't care what you did if you were loyal to England but also that is literally only from my professor and I have heard conflicting stories with other professors soooooo take this with a heavy grain of salt).

Anyway now with income coming in from the Americas both Spain and France and England are doing relatively well for themselves. And then guess what happens. Ah yes, more jealous and fighting. In this case, it's over the Ohio Valley Area because both countries wanted to expand their holdings in the new World. Basically this area touched Canada and France is like "C’est à moi" and England's like "GET YOUR TOASTY BAGUETTES AWAY FROM MY LAND" This leads to what we call here the French and Indian War (also called the Seven Years War in Europe I think, a lot of wars have American Names vs European names). Despite being called "The French and Indian War" here, it was fought by England and their Indian Allies and French and their Indian allies. England wins but at what cost?

The cost is money. It's always money. Now everyone has super heavy debt as a sum of like four(five?) wars that are fought in this period of time. England is now trying to raise funds to help get themselves out of the mess they put themselves into. Their solution: make America Pay Rent. Kind of a "we fought this war for *you* actually now give us money for it.

Note: they were only trying to raise part of the money for it via Direct Taxes which are taxes added on top of the price (which btdubs they were paying taxes to England already they were pay just English Version of Taxes which are built into the price so you don't know how much if it is taxes. They were fine with that. They just didn't want extra taxes. So this made them reevaluate their whole relationship with England. It didn't also help that England was starting to revoke some of the major perks like support past the appalachian mountain range, and among other things).

this tulmultuous period can be summed up with (an overgeneralization):

England: *tries to control America over much by being like 'you have to pay taxes on this this and this*

America: fine *just doesn't buy anything from England period until England recants and is like fine you don't have to pay this tax*

England: *plays the jealous girlfriend card* "you can only trade with England!!! No one else!!!

America, the two-timer: *increases smuggling* Also radical terrorists//the sons of liberty start crying for independence (Takes a Long Time For anyone to Listen to them Because Why Would They Rebellion is a stupid idea)

The East India Company thing was such a whole thing that kinda highlights this to an extreme. East India Company was part of the joint stock company that was about to go under because they had taken loans from like literally almost every bank in England. Which if they failed would be REALLY bad news for England. So in an attempt to lower cost, England told East India company that they could bring their tea from india to America directly instead of having to go through british ports as was custom. America took one look at the now So much Cheaper Tea and was like "mmmm sus" and didn't buy it in favor of dutch tea so RIP east India Company. Also Terrorist Group from before burned several of the ships while being disguised as Indians (no one was buying it) and that's what we call the boston tea party. England shut down Boston as they should and basically war ideas were spreading really quickly through new england and further onward (south was less so but they came around).

Anyway. I realize this comes off as very-anti American and it's really not meant to be, both countries were really annoying to each other throughout this whole process. But yeh then theirs gunshots and a declaration of independence and then we barely win by the skin of our teeth (that's mainly bc british merchants were like stop this we can't make money if you're fighting with our best customers at the end) and things get only stranger from there. First modern Democratic Republic so things were bound to get...very wonky.

[mimamongbusowg]

SPIDERMAN/PAVITR PRABAKHAR SET (SPIDERMAN: ACROSS THE SPIDERVERSE)

Adding to the roster of Spider-People in your game, here's a custom content set inspired by Pavitr Prabakhar (also known as Spiderman India) from Marvel's Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse! This will be up for Early Access for my 5 dollar tier patrons and up and will be available to public by July 25th!

CAS PREVIEW

Set Includes:

SPIDERMAN/PAVITR PRABAKHAR MASK (Hat Category)

SPIDERMAN/PAVITR PRABAKHAR TOP (Gloves Category)

SPIDERMAN/PAVITR PRABAKHAR SHORTS (Bottoms/Shorts Category)

CUSTOM THUMBNAIL

As always, feel free to tag me on your works!

EARLY ACCESS LINK

[tuppencetrinkets]

Sorted caps from multiple MCU resources, a continuation of an earlier project. Previous caps found in THIS tag and also some icons and other MCU/Marvel related resources HERE. You'll find sorted caps from Werewolf by Night, Secret Invasion, Ms. Marvel, Morbius, Loki S1&S2, Thor: Love and Thunder, Marvel One Shots, Agent Carter, Spider-Man No Way Home, Black Panther Wakanda Forever, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 & Christmas Special and She-Hulk in this collection.

FC's listed below cut. 45 gb; ~385k caps, 110 characters.

This content is free for anyone to use or edit however you like; if you care to throw a dollar or two my way for time, effort, storage fees etc you are more than welcome to do so via my PAYPAL.  Please like or reblog this post if you have found it useful or are downloading the content within.  If you have any questions or you have any problems with the links or find any inconsistencies in the content, etc. please feel free to drop me a politely worded message via my ASKBOX (second icon from the top on my theme!)

Face claims: Saegar Shaikh, Alysia Reiner, Mehwish Hayat, Murry Hammond, Lotte Verbeek, Lyndsy Fonseca, Mark Ruffalo, Matt Iintz, Currie Graham, Lizzy Caplan, Richard E. Grant, Enver Gjokaj, Kat Dennings, Alfred Molina, Rhys Coiro, Bridget Regan, Matt Braunger, Dave Bautista, James D'Arcy, Jamie Fox, Laura Donnelly, Martin Freeman, Samuel L. Jackson, Zoe Saldana, Kate Dickie, Emilia Clarke, Christian Bale, Kingsley B'Adir, Willem Dafoe, Vin Diesel, Chad Michael Murray, Tatiana Maslany, Iman Vellani, Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, Hayley Atwell, Tom holland, Sophia de Martino, Chris Hemsworth, Jon Favreau, Fawad Khan, Steve Coulter, Dominic Cooper, Wunmi Mosaku, Gael Garcia Bernal, Don Cheadle, Natalie Portman, Reggie Austin, Ken Marino, Liz Carr, Rish Shah, jonathan Majors, Nathan Fillion, Kevin Bacon, Jack Veal, Sean Gunn, India Rose Hemsworth, Patty Guggenheim, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Pom Klementieff, Cobie Smulders, Adria Ajoa, Charlie Cox, Marisa Tomei, Matt Smith, Zendaya, Jared Lto, Mark Link-Baker, David Pasquesi, Zenobia Shroff, Lupita Nyong'o, Tenoch Huerta, Karen Gillian, Jacob Batalon, Ginger Gonzaga, Ke H Quan, Danai Guirra, Anna Madeley, Chris Pratt, Clark Gregg, Angela Bassett, Aramis Knight, Dominique Thorne, Shea Whigham, Lesley Boone, Samina Ahmed, Laith Nakli, Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire, Benedict Cumberbatch.

[allamericansbitch]

Hi again Sarah! My Indian films rec list just got super long cos of all the tropes and summaries so I'm making it into a proper post I can tag you in!

While I do that, here are my top five faves from both Bollywood and Kollywood (Tamil films) respectively:

Bollywood:

- Dhoom 2 (2006); I'm actually rewatching this right now and it's a SUPER fun, campy heist movie with a great soundtrack! The whole trilogy of movies are great but this one is my fave and they can all be watched as standalones

- 3 Idiots (2009); a modern classic that most people have heard of if they are casual fans of Bollywood. It takes place in an engineering college and has a super compelling plot I can't give away too much of

- Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008); It's a love story of an arranged marriage between a shy guy and this outgoing girl who kind of hates how quiet and introverted he is. And she thinks he expects her to be a traditional Indian wife so she kind of is sad abt being married. Then she goes to take dance lessons and in an attempt to connect with his wife, he goes to the lessons in disguise as a confident guy and they fall in love!

- A Bonus Rec: If you liked Aamir Khan (the lead actor in 3 Idiots) and Anushka Sharma (the lead actress of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi), they did a really adorable sci-fi movie called PK (2014) about an alien called PK who crashes into India and befriends a human lady. It's just such love letter to humanity and I LOVED Anushka's character back storyline in that movie, it changed my life ahahha

- Teri Meri Kahaani (2012); Heads up this does star Priyanka Chopra but before she became a Hollywood weirdo 😭 and back when she was super talented!! It also stars this really cute actor called Shahid Kapoor. These two play different characters in three different timelines and it explores the concept of soulmates and Hindu reincarnation!! Again CHANGED MY LIFE!

- Ram Leela (2013) or the longer title is Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela. It's basically a hotter and older M18 version of Romeo and Juliet with a happy ending if I remember correctly! It starts Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh who fell in love on set (they were friends before that) and started dating just before the movie came out! They are now happily married 🥰

This got so long already hahaha I'll send you another ask with Tamil titles once you're ready for it! But these are all the fun titles I have loved, if you want more tragic ones (I love a good tragedy and having a good cry over movies), do let me know and I'll give you that list!

amazing thank you! i'm about to head to bed but i wanted to respond and let you know i got this, you can send me that list whenever you want no pressure, but these all sound really interesting! so i'll put them on my list of movies to watch!

[hurricanewindattack]

tagged by @theresa-of-liechtenstein. tysm! <3

1. are you named after anyone? not that I know of. my name means the moon in hindi.

2. when was the last time you cried? i was quite close about a fortnight ago but held together, I think it's been a month or two since the last time i cried. as expected by anyone who follows me, it's because i was feeling despair from never having dated.

3. do you have kids? no

4. do you use sarcasm a lot? more than usual i think, but not especially so.

5. what sports do you play/have you played? the only one I'm good at rn is swimming! there's still a long way to go though, and I don't swim competitively. but i love it so much...

6. what’s the first thing you notice about other people? faces. sometimes i also map it onto an animal that immediately comes to mind when looking at a face.

7. what’s your eye color? dark brown, almost black

8. scary movies or happy endings? happy endings, i don't have the stomach to watch scary stuff

9. any special talents? i think walking essentially barefoot all the time on every surface (I got some zero support minimalist shoes and sandals) is sth I'm proud of now.

10. where were you born? east india

11. what are your hobbies? hmm, off the top of my head: linotype, papercrafts, painting, analog photography, solargraphy, swimming, reading, guitar, record-collecting, swing dancing (especially lindy hop!), cooking, watching motorsport, sim-racing, D&D/board-games when I can, educational youtube and political video essays... some of these things are a bit neglected atm

12. do you have any pets? nope, and probably can't have any for a while :(

13. how tall are you? 5’6” (168 cm)

14. favourite subject? so far in uni all my fluid dynamics classes were the best (though that doesn't mean I scored well :P). If I go beyond official education though I think history+anthropology is my most favourite.

15. dream job? nah. i've lost fascination for work. anything that's mentally engaging, reasonably interesting and pays the bills. for now hoping to get a thermal/flow r&d engineer gig somewhere close to home.

tagging 15 people off the top of my head: @youjustwaitsunshine @metamatar @bauliya @urlbecca @oneblckcoffee @tubbietommo @babssionate @pierregaslyliked @sebfreak @montecrizto @cherrynika @thelittlebirdthatkeptsomanywarm @eliotheeangelis @k-ky @mickstart and anyone who wants to! <3

[dimpledpran]

2022 brought a lot of incredible moments. But it did give almost an equal amount of highs and lows. So glad that it is over, and here’s to hoping that 2023 brings nothing but the best. Thank you to everyone who has made this past year more bearable for me. Whether you are someone I’ve talked to on here, made content that I enjoyed seeing on my dash, or reblogged stuff from me with wonderful commentary, thank you for making my time on this godforsaken beloved website more fun!

Since life has been getting busy, it has been harder to keep track of content and I am sure I have missed so many creations lately. And so, I am also jumping on the bandwagon to have a tracking tag. I will be tracking #lightmiup (light me up). It is kinda a play on my name, and with the meaning since my name means light. So feel free to use that to tag me in your creations.

Will reblog: ~ Asian media (series and movies). Mostly BLs, but not entirely limited to that. ~Preferably stuff that I have watched, but I am also open to more recs ~ Asian artists (mostly CQL cast, Ohm, Nanon, Jeff Satur, Indian personalities) ~ Countries: Thailand, India, China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore

Will not reblog: ~ reposts, whitewashed content, brownfaced content, discourse

With that, I am also going to take a month off from Tumblr. Shall spend January introspecting and planning out my goals for the year. My blog will be going down memory lane, and will run on queue with my fave posts from 2022, and if I get tagged in stuff. Though I might pop in a few times with some 10YT sets if the feels get a bit too much.

Here are my top 10 series/movies I watched in 2022 (starts from tomorrow) and Fave Creations (MDZS/CQL Faves , Bad Buddy Faves, Other Faves) in the mean time.

Wishing everyone a wonderful 2023 filled with lots of love, joy, peace, positivity, success and good health! 💙

Take care and see yall around! Mimi :)

Tagging a few people to spread the word : @aheartfullofjolllly​ @carloslouwho​ @eohachu @fangrui @gege​ @highwarlockkareena @i-got-the-feels @isvisomewhere @kaajukatli @lan-xichens @liyazaki @machikeita @manhasetardis @nanons @nongnaos @nyx4 @oswlld @phukaoapologist​ @rinielle @talays-portkey @seawherethesunsets @yibo-wang​ @yilinglaozu

[daughter-of-melpomene]

Pride and prejudice OCs you say....

Tell me everything 🤩

Your wish is my command, Layne my darling!! I hereby introduce you to the Kaur siblings, Ananya and Rohan!! (And I’m also gonna tag my beloved @oneirataxia-girl since I know she’s a fan of these babies. <3)

Now, Rohan is the older sibling and the next in like for his family’s title and small fortune. His and Ananya’s father is a baron of decent means, who met their mother on a trip to India shortly after he inherited the title from his own father and married her (and would have taken her last name if he could have, but settled for allowing his children to take it instead). Their family isn’t incredibly rich or important, somewhere between the Bennets and the Bingleys in terms of money, but they have a decent-sized estate and some good business contacts that Rohan has been trained to take over since he was only ten years old.

The thing is, though, that Rohan doesn’t want to take over the estate once he gets married - he’s never had a head for business or managing relationships. He’s a bookworm through and through, fascinated with history and the pursuit of knowledge itself, and he’d much rather be holed up in the estate’s library all day with his nose in any informational text he can get his hands on than dealing with a bunch of stodgy old nobleman. And as much as his father loves him and wishes he could let him fulfill his dream of being a historian, Rohan is his only son, and his sister has no more of a head for business than he does, so unless he manages to marry a woman capable of running the estate, it’s going to be up to Rohan to keep things going.

Rohan, understandably, is incredibly upset about the whole situation, especially because he doesn’t ever really intend to marry (due to the fact that he is not interested in women at all and is, unfortunately, not allowed to marry another man). But when his parents make the decision to move their estate to Hertfordshire, wanting a bit of a quieter life as they get older, Rohan finds the perfect solution in one Elizabeth Bennet. He and Lizzie become fast friends after meeting, bonded by their love of reading and knowledge in general, and it also doesn’t take Rohan long to notice that Lizzie and his little sister seem to be taking a particular interest in one another - the same kind of interest he and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy have been taking in each other at the same time. And as luck would have it, Ananya seems to get along splendidly with Mr. Darcy as well, despite their vastly different personalities.

This whole turn of events leads Rohan to think of a (in his opinion, anyway) genius plan: he will marry Elizabeth and Ananya will marry Mr. Darcy. That way, he can leave the running of his family’s estate up to Lizzie, who has much more of a talent for running things than he does, Lizzie’s family will get a better life since Lizzie has married into nobility, and to top it all off, their little group of four will all be able to spend time with their respective lovers with little fear of having to keep a secret and absolutely no jealousy. It’s a bit of a crazy plan, he knows (and Darcy makes it very clear that he thinks so), but still a good one, and so the four of them go along with it. And so Rohan winds up married to his best friend while having nightly rendezvous with the man he loves and that his wife used to hate, while his beloved little sister does the same thing, just in reverse.

And speaking of little sister, let’s talk about Ananya!! She is a genuine ray of sunshine, almost always smiling and letting out the sweetest little giggle every time someone says something she finds funny. She is also decidedly her and Rohan’s mother’s favorite child, a fact which the woman would never admit and that Ananya would never hold over Rohan’s head, but it’s true nonetheless; for the most part, she has always been a perfect little proper lady who needed little training on matters of etiquette and manners, and her mother adores her for that.

But there is still that for the most part, and it lies in the fact that Ananya loves to get dirty in the garden. Despite the fact that her family does have a gardener on staff, she’s basically in charge of the garden both at their estate in the city and in Hertfordshire, and if anyone ever can’t find her in the house it’s a pretty safe bet that she can be found in the garden, soiling the knees of one of her day dresses with her hands shoved into the soil. It drives her mother just a little bit crazy, but she also doesn’t really do too much about it considering the floral arrangements Ananya puts together for the house always get positive comments from visitors.

Still, the countess always tells her daughter, she won’t be able to garden forever once she gets married - which Ananya doesn’t want to do, really, for very similar reasons to her older brother. When the family moves to Hertfordshire and she meets Lizzie Bennet, of course, she very much reconsiders that, and it breaks her heart every time she has to remind herself that she can never marry the person she truly loves.

Of course, Ananya then strikes up a truly unexpected friendship with Fitzwilliam Darcy - they are very much a sunshine/sunshine protector friendship - whose estate has an amazing garden, and Rohan eventually proposes his plan for he and Ananya to marry their friends and meet up with their lovers in secret. Ananya is head over heels in love with Lizzie, with her witty remarks and bright smiles that she seems to reserve specifically for Ananya, so of course she agrees to Rohan’s scheme and accepts Darcy’s proposal of marriage - especially because it will make her parents happy, and especially because Darcy agrees to give her full control over the estate’s garden and she enjoys proving her mother wrong that little bit.

Anyways, those are my two Pride & Prejudice babies!! I will make a proper intro post for them at some point, but for now feel free to ask more questions about them if you want to!!

[mermaidsirennikita]

So I saw your tags about how the Ravenel series is a bit mid, and I don't disagree despite liking some of them a lot? Marrying Winterborne was my first intro to Kleypas, and it fucks real hard, I love it. I have a soft spot for Chasing Cassandra because I enjoyed Tom in previous showings, and I found their dynamic compelling.

But I didn't even finish Ethan's book because I couldn't be arsed, and I bought West's and wished I hadn't I was so incapable of getting into it. Anyway, this is all to say that you're not wrong, and are in fact generally right.

(In positive news tho, re: Marrying Winterborne, never gonna be over the scene where she agrees to fuck him and then after she's in the bath and he's like "I'm changing her agreement" before realizing "Oh shit, I've made this woman panic, fuck shit". Anyway, have a great day.)

"you are not wrong, and are in fact generally right" I sincerely love this lol, it sounds like something I would say to a friend of mine

Marrying Winterborne DOES fuck so hard, and I think that because of this, the series in general gets a strong rep than maybe it should...? Because in terms of popularity, I think Rhys is absolutely up there with some of Lisa's top heroes--people like me who prefer her older books love him, people who prefer the Ravenels adore him (generally). I don't think I've met a Kleypas fan who doesn't love that book, though I'm SURE some don't. And you do really need to read Cold-Hearted Rake for the background of MW (the first time I tried to read MW I did it without CHR and was like "this fuck is this"). I wonder if this is why CHR gets so much flack? Even though, and I will die on this hill, it's PROBABLY better than Devil in Spring and definitely better than Devil's Daughter and Hello Stranger? (I really need to give Chasing Cassandra another fair shot because I remember very little of it; I think the one-two punch of Hello Stranger and Devil's Daughter, two of my least favorite Kleypas books, made me very burned out when I read it.)

Ethan's book was very disappointing to me because I actually was very excited about Garrett as a heroine beforehand. And I do.... wonder if Kleypas changed plans, the way she famously did with Scandal in Spring. Because there's a scene in... MW I think? Where Garrett and Tom have like, an arm wrestling moment, that makes me wonder if the original plan was Garrett/Tom. Again, I need to reread Chasing Cassandra to really experience THAT pairing again--but I do think Garrett/Tom would've been more interesting than Garrett/Ethan.

I mean, HS was also fucked from the jump because it had that really racist "Ethan got his sexual education from an exotic Indian woman" thing, which shocked people into calling Kleypas out, and I think triggered the Great Kleypas Editing Hackjob. Which, by the way--it does speak to how much name and expectation matters, because while what Kleypas wrote into that book is absolutely awful and unacceptable, I feel like it's portrayed as this shameful anomaly when I can think of at least one smaller name (but still notable) author who wrote a historical with a MUCH worse depiction of India around the same time. Which doesn't excuse what Kleypas did, I just dislike the idea that Kleypas was the only one doing that in the 2010s, when that's faaar from true. Historicals still haven't figured that out, and sometimes I think the recaps of how the Hello Stranger issue was handled read very "look Patrick, we saved the city" because the biggest name got dogged into apologizing/editing. Either way, Hello Stranger is mid without that content and it's gross with it, so I usually put it at the bottom of my rankings. Either way, it ain't up to par and I can't judge it fairly in its edited form at this point.

Devil's Daughter is just Not Good. And I will take my lashings from everyone who loves that book, because everyone loves Kleypas soyboy West Ravenel, and I just have to say--do these people like THE BOOK? Do they like PHOEBE? Because everything I see is all about West West West and even if I was into West, which I Am Not, I feel like there has to be more to a book that's being upheld as one of her recent bests than "I love him". Sorry, the plot of DD is boring at best and lame at worst. Phoebe hates West because he was her dead husband's childhood bully, and I do mean childhood? And sorry to Phoebe's dead husband, but he's dead and fictional and I never met him and I don't care. And West is a less interesting Leo Hathaway. He stopped drinking and realized booze was giving him the dad bod, so he's hot now (my kingdom for a dad bod historical hero). And now he's boring because he's not a rake anymore and has responsibilities, but like? He just sounds like a fuckboy before his redemption lmao. Like a bit of a wastrel. Leo Hathaway was out there crying in a public sphere and giving great advice to Kev Merripen like "if you don't get with my sister, one day you're gonna wake up covered in tears and your own come and realize you have nothing but regrets" to which Kev goes ".... is that what.... you do...?" Leo Hathaway readily admitted to waking up on the regular covered in tears and semen. That's a true wreck.

And Leo is in itself the softer Kleypas hero type--other "redemption" heroes are like, Sebastian, who kidnapped his wife's best friend and threatened to rape her! Derek Craven, who was born in a drainpipe and fucked for money for years (not that this is anything to feel bad about, but he does) and owns a degenerate gambling hell lol. John McKenna, who comes to find his childhood sweetheart with the explicit intention of like, filling her belly with his fetid seed and siring a bastard on her so that she'll be humiliated forever I cannot. Why would I be impressed with West going "I was kind of a loser tbh" YOU ARE FINE. THIS IS BORING. GIVE ME ANOTHER THING TO CARE ABOUT.

But yes, I love that scene in MW so much. To me, a lot of MW's charm is that Rhys severely does not know how to talk to women, or romance them in a tender way (him fucking shit up with Helen with the flower situation is hilarious sorry). And he also does get legit douchey with Kathleen, lol. He very much gets a little threatening and is all "SO YOU WANTED A BIT O' ROUGH" and Devon has to do a mild Westcliff moment. Kleypas heroes: always mad when their best friends get sexually aggressive with their women, always ready to forgive after like a week.

[tianshiisdead]

Worst of times: 19, 20, 22

Best of Times: 13,14,24

Just a reminder to take your time with your asks! You don’t need to finish all of em’ and you’re under no pressure to :)

wahhhh astro tysm ur always the sweetest 😭😭😭💖💖💖💖💖

19. Has anyone ever gotten mad over how you've portrayed an character or over a headcanon or something?

Not directly! Actually, funny story, there was a server I wanted to join (for hetalia) and I wasn't able to, and I assumed it was because a fic I wrote with a sensitive ship that made people uncomfortable, but it turned out to be a misunderstanding, in the end, 😅 I do think I have some fairly controversial portrayals so I'm surprised no one has commented to my face yet! Maybe that'll change someday but I hope not

20. In what ways do you think this fandom should step outside it's comfort zone

Sorry to harp but more poc pls and ty <3 it's honestly pretty shocking to me how much the trends have changed, in the past people were insensitive but there was still a general variety in terms of which characters showed up in fandom, whereas now it feels like everyone has an allergy to nonwhite characters... every single fandom for every single nonwhite character is an absolute graveyard, even the ones that were formerly popular are just zombie fandoms where everything you see was made years ago and there are barely any active people nowadays... I'm making stuff yeah, but I sometimes wish I could eat food not my own, yk? It's just a little sad to like a main character and know he's so unpopular he's less popular than pretty much every side character kjfdlghf

22. Popular headcanon you dislike

I don't like when Arthur Alfred or Francis are nice people lol they're all meanies to me. Tired of how people are like 'sharp and nuanced' Yaoyao and then they make these people nice? No way. They're a mess of cruelty and sharp edges that's just a fact to me.

13. Anything fandom-related that you are proud of?

Ngl.... not really 🗿 I didn't make or do anything I really think is meaningful. I am happy I met a lot of people here but idk about 'proud'

14. Any place now on your bucket list due to Hetalia

So many places... India has shot up to the top HAHA as has Mongolia and Central Asia. I also want to visit Austria at least once, yes due to Hetalia but more due to my 2016 stint in Hetalia... still counts!

24. Name something someone has done to make the fandom a more positive place

hmm well Astro since you asked I don't have to tag you LOLLL I think you make fandom such a positive place! You're my go-to person for Hetalia and you're always spreading positivity and idk it's really incredible, so thank you! You're such a force for good in this fandom frfr dkjslghfjkl

also @kimetsunozushi69 you know what you did 💖

[chai-hat-tea]

The lovely fellow desi @getawayheaven tagged me! Thank you ❤️✨

When did you become a Louie?

Don’t really remember, but I know I started with Niall and moved to Harry. I remember seeing a bad pic of Louis and I thought that he doesn’t look good and then when I read that one article that called him ugliest and least successful among his fellow band mates I instantly developed a soft spot for him. Then got into the Larry rabbit hole and LOVED Larry, but still leaned towards Harry. And then one day suddenly, I have the maddest crush on Louis. I don’t know how that happened, but yeah I’m not going back :P

2. Your earliest fandom memory?

One Direction fandom is definitely WMYB on the radio. Had no idea who the boys were, but enjoyed their songs a lot. Then 10 years of 1D and that’s how I got into the fandom! 

Larry fandom is because of that controversial book that got published and then at first I was a neutral before I watched the X factor diaries. I think by then I was a Larrie. 

Louis, I remember the wild thing he did during the 1st anniversary of walls.

3. Your favourite song (one off walls, one off fitf)?

Maaaan this is HARD. 

Walls - especially this. I have perfect now, only the brave and fearless tattooed on me sooo I think it’s a given? But also any song from this album just gives me so much joy. 

FITF - I frankly didn’t like the album in first listen, but then it’s something that totally grew on me. Greatest, Written all over your Face and Lucky Again are amazing songs!!

4. Favourite music video?

I enjoy his videos from pre Walls and walks because they had a story to them, and even if it felt straightforward, I could see there was more to it? 

5. Favourite gig?

Haven’t attended any because I’m in India, so nothing has been as exciting as attending it in person would’ve been. So I do like most of them, but I definitely dislike the ones that had anything to do with stunts. 

6. Favourite Louis hair?

Hmmmm I’m not able to recollect now but he’s had excellent hair styles except for one. I don’t want to mention that for obvious reasons 😂😂

7. Favourite Louis interview?

The one where he put the Australian reporter in his place was sexy as fuck 😂😂 but I also like the one where they asked him about the colour of his eyes and he looked like the smuggest bitch ever 😂

8. Suit louis or tank top louis?

Yes. 

9. Favourite Louis tattoo?

It is what it is, because I have it tattooed on me too. 

10. Favourite Louis body part? (c'mon we all have one!)

Just plain love and admiring - his eyes. Man I could get lost in them. 

Sweet lovey dovey - his tummy

Full blown slutty - collarbones and fingers. 🫠 (yeah I have a mad crush on him if it wasn’t obvious. BUT he belongs to Harry so please don’t come at me ✌️)

I definitely want to tag @beardyboyzx and @thinlinez for this!!!! 

[dogstarblues]

Last Song I Listened To:

"You" by Tennyson! it's a sweet little song and i use it for my qpr-in-my-series playlist. "What's the point of that? I could be pressing flowers with you. Savor all this time rather than fret all afternoon. Take me from my thoughts, now would be riper than limes in June." so soft.

Last Book I Read:

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle is the last book i finished. phenomenal book. absolutely wonderful on a craft level. It pushes the reader to question the role of a black main character in an american horror, pushes the reader to question what constitutes horror is for black americans, and in that push answers your question for you, delicately, carefully. Deserves all the praise it got. Recontextualizes one of the most racist lovecraft stories and shows the character of Black Tom's humanity even as Black Tom tries to leave humanity behind. also. sentence level? so fucking good. down to the sentence it's so good.

I'm currently in the middle of like 15 books but off the top of my head

Witch King by Martha Wells

Dreadgod by Will Wight

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

On the Shoulders of Titans by Andrew Rowe

The Future Is Disabled by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha which feels more like a manifesto than anything else so im not really getting as much out of it bc disabled people on tumblr have been talking about the contents of this manifesto since 2015 or earlier

The League of Gentlewomen Witches by India Holton

The Last Sun by K.D. Edwards

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor

Way of the Hunter by Samer Rabadi

Female Masculinity by Jack Halberstam

Coming up, I'm doing a buddy read soon of The Black Shoals: Offshore Formations of Black and Native Studies by Tiffany Lethabo King with @markeyverse and a buddy read of The Cooking Gene: A Journey of African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W. Twitty with @toopunkrockforshul and a book club read of When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb

Last Thing I Watched:

Star Trek: The Next Generation. I simply don't Watch things these days, unless we count youtube, in which I have watched Drawfee's "Driving from Washington to Mexico for Charity" to cope with grief bc omg you do not need your brain for that. it's comforting. and also my roommate is obsessed with Azerbaijani Village Cooking Videos and points out different foods and how like the ones he grew up with they are and how they differ from Georgian and Russian preparation and consumption and he tells me the names of the food and what they taste like. so we watch that almost every night if i dont fall asleep first.

Current Obsession:

my own work tbh. my poetry, my fiction, my paintings. trying to get better. i suppose outside of that. hm. my interest is turning toward gay nuns as of yesterday with a Realization of christian religious trauma being more real than i thought. im looking at "Immodest Acts", "Lesbian Nuns: Breaking Silence", "Scorched Grace: A Sister Holiday Mystery", and im hoping "Sisters of Sorrow" is gay bc if its not what the fuck are you doing. but i cant delve into them all yet nor buy them yet. and im trying to prioritize my TBR.

i'm also reading eco-justice poetry/nonfiction, afrofuturist, transformative justice, disabled, and solarpunk literature for my solarpunk wip

Tags 8 people:

im tagging yall. no big if you dont wanna do the meme. im gonna go lay down now. sleepy.

@filthburgur @cadencekismet @mysanaf @vorellaraek @markeyverse @pacifistrun @outside-your-window @cassandors

[humanpurposes]

Question Timeee

Thank you @fallingintoyourlilaceyes @saltedcaramelpretzel and @kaelabear for tagging me 😚

What is a bad habit you have?

None, I’m perfect.

What’s your dream job?

Actor or writer (hopefully both)

How many times have you been pulled over by a cop?

Never, and I don’t drive which helps.

What are the top two words your friends would use to describe you?

My friends often say that I'm confident. I keep hearing "mother" a lot lately too (and it freaks me out because I'm literally a baby).

Dream travel destinations?

I want to see more of Italy especially the south, and I’d love to go to India, just like everything, all of it.

Are you more independent or need lots of people around you?

I think I’m a very independent person but I really feel it when I’m not seeing people. I get a lot of energy from being with my friends or meeting new people, but I also I really need my downtime to be in my own head too.

Have you ever had sex in a public place?

Nope.

Favourite Beverage?

Absolutely loving an iced americano with honey and a lil splash of oat milk at the moment 😍

I've seen loads of people tagged but throwing in some of my own: @nyctophilic0vitnir @sapphire-writes @undertheorangetree @theoneeyedprince @aemondsbabygirl @zae5