#not a lot happens but it's stuff that still needed to be said/shown

[thatdisasterauthor]

I do indeed have much I can say on all of this! I don’t have time for a full breakdown, but let’s hit some key points.

🌪The Milton evacuation and changing the direction highways.

This is called “contraflow” and it is indeed a thing that is frequently used in evacuations. However, from what I understand, Florida might have laws against this? At least that’s what I’ve heard, or maybe just laws that do indeed make it very difficult. I haven’t had a chance to look into it too closely. And it is a tricky thing to do safely just off the cuff without a known procedure in place, which you wouldn’t have if it’s against the law in your area. You’ve gotta shut down all the exits/entrances accordingly so you don’t have issues with head-on traffic, you’ve gotta make sure you have effective alternate routes for emergency traffic, you’ve gotta have a space to reintegrate traffic into the proper lanes once the contraflow segment has ended, etc. etc.

You’re right that this isn’t a police problem, it’s a LAW problem. Maybe also a police problem in the sense of what trainings are available to them, what procedures they have in these situations, etc., but not an ACAB style police problem. Plenty of places DO use it, like I said. (Also, sometimes you’ll get spontaneous contraflow, where people just start doing on their own, but that’s a whole different can of worms.)

🚗 Over dependence on cars.

America is indeed super car dependent, but that’s not exactly the issue here, at least not in the way you’d think. First off, evacuations are just HARD. That’s a lot of people to move. Even if you took every large transport vehicle in a given area (so all the buses of any sort, any trains, any planes), you’re not going to get the entire population moved out in a timely manner, even if every seat is taken. It just isn’t feasible for so many reasons. People DO need to be able to evacuate via car. It’s also very dependent on the disaster in question. An evacuation for a hurricane is very different than most other evacuations due to the amount of time you, usually, have.

Now, one thing that happens and causes problems during evacuations is that people take ALL their cars instead of just one. Mom takes one car with the kids and as much stuff as possible stuffed in the back, and Dad takes his truck with the dogs and the bed piled high. A lot of evacuation planning doesn’t account for this. They see a four person family and think, “ah yes, the family sedan has six seats, they’ll just take that and go, we don’t need to plan for them to put both their cars on the road and at all the gas stations along the way.” But then they do take both cars, and so does every other family on the road, and suddenly you’ve got a shit ton more cars doing something that you expected a lot less cars to be doing. I have a lot more thoughts on this I can share later, if people are interested, but for now we shall move on.

(There’s also definitely an element of poor city planning and infrastructure in some places, but that’s very much a case by case thing.)

👩🏻‍🚒 We need a better emergency management system.

Yes! Though, actually, we already have a pretty good one as compared to other countries. Not great, by any means, but something like FEMA is pretty rare. Most countries just kind of ad hoc disaster response on a case by case basis, which is also what we did until we created FEMA in the 70s.

I have A LOT of thoughts about how we could improve the system as it currently stands, which is a big part of why I want to do a PhD in emergency management.

🔥 When to evacuate.

You mentioned this in relation to the Camp Fire, and that one is…yeah, that one was so bad. There’s a lot that goes into making evacuation decisions, and unfortunately studies have shown that a lot of emergency officials still believe the myth that people will panic if you give them too much information about a disaster. This leads to delays in evacuations, among other things. Also, evacuations are expensive, and that makes officials hold back. Plus, there’s the “cried wolf” effect where if it turns out the evacuation WASN’T needed, the next time it IS needed, people will be less likely to go, which again makes officials hold back.

With the Camp Fire, though, I don’t know if any of that specifically was what was at play. That thing just moved FAST. Also, this was a small mountain town. There were not a lot of ways out, just thin mountain roads. I guarantee those officials who made the evacuation call hesitated because they knew people WOULD get stuck on the few potential roads to safety. They weren’t making a choice about evacuation, they were making a choice on where they wanted people to be when the fire DID hit. Because it was going to hit. So do they concentrate people all in one spot, on a road that itself won’t burn but will be completely surrounded, or do they keep people spaced out all over town hoping that pockets of it might be safe? And they had to make that decision at the drop of a hat, knowing people were likely to die either way.

Fires are, in my opinion, the most terrifying thing to have to manage an evacuation for. They are both incredibly quick, but also potentially long lasting. They can shift direction at a moment’s notice. They can do things you never knew they could do. They can consume absolutely massive areas. They can die down and pop back up when you least expect it. And to be the person making the decision on how to handle that must be a very, very heavy weight.

👋🏻 People in positions of power just waving their hands.

Some do, some don’t. There are so, so many amazing people out there who care about this stuff and are doing their best to address these issues. But they need support. Taking over the department of transportation isn’t the answer, your local emergency management department is. Check out what their emergency plans look like, they should be on your county and state websites. Read through them, find the holes, go to meetings, contact your representatives. Be a nuisance to Congress RIGHT NOW.

🎓 Disaster education

Lastly, to @kyraneko’s point about needing better disaster education, yes! Yes we do! I think one of FEMA’s weakest points is its lack of addressing and helping individuals directly prior to a disaster, rather than in large groups. I’m working on it. Got a big project in the works that will, hopefully, start addressing this issue. And that’s not including the PhD.

Sooooooo….yeah! :D That ended up a lot longer than I thought, lol. Hope some of it was interesting to those of you who have made it to the end.

So I have a friend from high school who is a cop. (Yes, I KNOW.) I shared a photo on Facebook of a packed highway of people attempting to evacuate from Hurricane Milton, all while the lanes going in the opposite direction were open and empty. And my Facebook post was basically me screaming, “Open the other side of the highway and reverse it so that people can GET OUT.”

His response was essentially, “Yeah, that is *really* difficult for us to do.” Not in a condescending way, because he genuinely isn’t a huge asshole. (Yes, I KNOW.)

And then I may have vented in my response, in which I tried not to imply that the police were a problem. Because to be honest, I don’t see this as a police problem. I see this as how we have fucked ourselves as a nation by making ourselves so dependent on cars.

There is that poll on this site – or multiple polls, at this point – asking how long people can tolerate being in their cars. And the thing is, Americans (and Canadians as well, I am imagining) have almost no other options. We have to be used to spending a good 12 hours in a car without breaking a sweat. Everything in this country is built around being in a car. There’s a reason when you ask us how far away a place is from somewhere else, we normally give that distance in hours and not miles.

Air travel sucks. It sucks for a multitude of reasons – cost, the hassle of dealing with security, the time suck, etc. – and in an emergency, only a select few are going to be able to use it to get away from a hurricane. And that’s one of the few disasters where air travel is an optional escape.

Train travel sucks. Amtrak is not something you’re gonna be complaining about if you’re trying to get away from whatever disaster you need to evacuate from. But next to so many other countries, Amtrak looks like we’ve been receiving other countries’s leftover railway systems from the 70s. It also doesn’t go everywhere. I live in northeastern Pennsylvania near Scranton, which prides itself on its history in the train industry. We have a museum and everything. We have multiple things named after that museum, including the Steamtown marathon which is happening tomorrow.

Can you get on a passenger train in Scranton? Nope.

(The main argument against this always seems to be that people will come here from New York City and commit crimes, which is hilarious considering if somebody wanted to come here from New York City and commit crimes it’s only a 2.5-hour drive.)

Anyway, disasters.

If the only option you’re gonna give most people to get out of areas of Florida that are being targeted by hurricanes or areas of California that suffer from wildfires or places in the Midwest that face flooding are cars, then we need a better fucking emergency management system regarding transportation in this country. You can’t just sit there and mock people for not evacuating because they can’t or won’t when getting away from Milton meant sitting on highway for hours with absolutely no gas stations whatsoever nearby having any gas at all. (It just makes me think of those photos of people stranded on the highway in their cars in blizzards where people are like, “Now imagine imagine how bad it would be if all of those cars were electric!“ Well, all of those cars in that photo in that blizzard run on gas and they’re fucking stranded, sooooooo.)

Look, we can change the transportation system in this country. we did it before and we can do it again. We used to have more train options, fewer highways. My small hometown had a fucking trolley in the 40s. Now, if you don’t have a car here, you’re stuck. You can’t even get Uber here. if a wildfire started here and surrounded the town, it would be a clusterfuck.

Regardless of how you feel about the police, if police and fire departments in this country cannot organize an evacuation on a highway in a way that will reduce the backup so that tens of thousands of people aren’t sitting in their cars when a hurricane hits, that’s a problem – not just for those people, but for the police, and the fire department, and emergency management in general.

The people in charge of emergency management are just people, just human. I’m researching the Camp Fire in 2018 right now, and you had a bunch of people calling 911 saying, “I can see a huge fire off to the east. Are we safe? Should we evacuate?” The 911 operators could only work off the information they had. They could have told people to evacuate earlier, but Cal Fire didn’t anticipate the strength of the fire. Which is understandable. Nobody could anticipate the strength of that fire. But the 911 operators were sitting in an office with no windows, and they had no idea what was going on the east. They couldn’t look out and see exactly what was happening. If they could have, they probably would have told people to leave as soon as possible much sooner than they were told to. Instead, they waited for official confirmation, and when they did start telling people to evacuate, traffic managed to back up in a small town of 25,000 people until many of them were trapped in an unimaginable hellscape.

When people need to evacuate from a disaster, and they stay instead, far too many people - including those in positions of power – just kind of wave their hands and say, “Well, we tried.” No, we didn’t. This country made not trying its watchword, and now we’re at a point where unless you own a car, which is a luxury a lot of people cannot afford in this economy, escaping from disaster is impossible. So you can get in your car or somebody else’s car and go sit on a highway and hope your gas doesn’t run out, since none of the gas stations for 100 miles have any gas to give you, or you can stay in your house and hope you don’t die.

Sometimes, I really wish somebody would make me the head of the department of transportation. I would demand an absurd amount of money to build a better train system, to provide better transportation options for smaller towns, to provide extensive training for rescue personnel in managing evacuations like the clusterfuck in Florida this week. I would become an absolute fucking nuisance to Congress. I would be asking for money left and right to make it so that our only options as Americans weren’t to get into cars we can barely afford these days and attempt to organize our own evacuations from the growing number of natural disasters in this country.

Y’all keep posting these polls about how long you can tolerate being in a car at the same time that tens of thousands of Floridians were sitting on highways trying to get away from Tampa so they wouldn’t die in a hurricane.

We can tolerate being in a car all goddamn day. It’s because we don’t have a fucking choice, even when it’s life or death.

[bringthekaos]

are you gonna keep writing jayvik now that viktor is confirmed straight?

Gunna answer this one diplomatically, even though this ask was clearly sent with malice. Warning for Act 2 spoilers (and possible Act 3 spoilers, since the footage used in the "The Line" music video is most likely from Act 3).

First, when I continue to write Jayvik, it will probably have to be an AU anyway, because I have about 2% confidence that both of them make it out of this show alive.

Second: he is still not confirmed straight. He was depicted taking Sky's hands as she fades away for a second time. This means nothing, romantically. It means he regrets this is happening, he knows it's his fault, and he wishes to bring comfort to her in her last moments.

And that's if it even is her, and not a manifestation of his guilt, given that she doesn't look like herself at all in his hallucinations, or whatever it is. Her eyebrows are thinner in the hallucination, and her hair is wholly different: not as high on her head nor as tightly bundled or curly. This points to a suggestion that this manifestation is his best effort of representing her in his mind, and it is wrong because he didn't know her well at all.

Not to mention, in the very few interactions that they had (before Jayce's Progress Day Speech and when she asked him to walk home together), he was shown just... not receptive. It could have been read as disinterest because he is gay (which obviously many people did), or just that he has a very one-track mind on his research at the time, and isn't even cognizant of the missed social interaction. But either way, there was no foundation for connection, intimate or otherwise, between them. Certainly not enough for the heavy-handed and forced connection depicted in season 2.

THAT SAID, I am a very ship and let ship person. I have certainly fabricated ships from less. Hell, I've shipped characters that never even interacted in canon. And I have no problem with the SkyVik ship, given that his sexuality was never confirmed one way or the other. Honestly, if it had been built up better in the writing, there is potential there! Both of them being from Zaun, and clawing their way into the Academy, which as Jayce said has a success rate of 3%. But it is not groundbreaking or even remotely incorrect to say that this ship is fabricated (and not in a negative sense. It's just fact). There wasn't enough to support it. He brushed her off multiple times. And he only seems to give her the attention after she is dead, which again points to a motivation of guilt: he wishes he'd gotten to know her and her aspirations and dreams before her life was cut short by him. But it's too late.

And lastly, the thing everyone needs to understand is this: Jayce and Viktor were released in League in 2012, and Jayce was specifically built as the mirror to Viktor. It was honestly quite a poetic "formed from the rib" kind of release for Jayce, who came 7 months after Viktor. These two had no canon romantic involvements in that time beyond mere speculation, so naturally they had very queer undertones for almost ten years before Arcane came out. And I don't think it's much of a leap to be disappointed when the producers and distributors of the show decided that they couldn't make their show "too gay" for mainstream audiences. Especially when the pre-established League fanbase consisted of 87% men (source), and a lot of cishet men are threatened/disgusted by/afraid of gay men, yet fetishize lesbian sex. So yeah. The Jayvik shippers get understandably disappointed when their 10-year old ship gets no-homo'd at the finish line.

So to answer your original question. Yeah. I am probably gunna continue to write Jayvik. Yes, even if they're both "confirmed" straight. I will hit them both with the bi hammer. And I will tag my stuff accordingly, and "stay in my lane" so to speak, and everyone is welcome to block me if they don't wanna see it. I'm not gunna go around harassing SkyVik shippers, just as I have never harassed MelJayce shippers. And I'm sure this will be called "misogyny" by many who'd like to assign a moral high ground to their attempts at eradicating the JayVik ship. Trust me, if I could have my ship without disregarding two amazing women, I would do it. But I can't, because someone at the decision making table decided to give two characters who never had any romantic involvements in League the no homo treatment.

And of course, as always, the season is not over. Some of this could change. But my love of the JayVik ship won't. Block me if you don't like it.

For obvious reasons, anon is now off ✌️

[joyful-soul-collector]

I've seen a lot of people talking about how Barbie talks about how the patriarchy affects women and how well it does that, so I wanna talk about how Barbie talks about how the patriarchy affects men and how well it does that. Because it does that really well tbh.

At the beginning of the movie, it's made very clear that the Kens are constantly competing with each other, and trying to prove their worth, their Ken-ness, to both the Barbies, and more importantly, to the other Kens. In fact, multiple times through the movie it's shown that Ken seems to find the opinions of other Kens as a motivator for him to do things. He tries to show off to Barbie only after he sees the other Kens saying hi to her. He only starts dancing with Barbie when he sees the other Kens dancing with her. He only goes with her to the Real World after another Ken accuses him of cowardice and he decides to prove him wrong. Barbie says "Ken's not cool!" and Ken responds "He is to me."

This shows so damn well what the patriarchy is like for men. Because for the Kens it's not necessarily about Barbie, it's about what other Kens think of you. Being a man you are constantly, incessantly trying so damn hard to prove to the other men around you that you are a man, the manliest man to ever man, the best Ken to ever Ken. Literally doing backflips trying to prove yourself. And this is before patriarchy is even officially introduced to the story, there's no undertone of power yet, this is just what it's like to be a man around other men. It's toxic masculinity.

And when the patriarchy is introduced, that's increased tenfold. At first it looks like they've banded together to take power, but really they're still competing with each other, they're just doing it differently. Rather than competing to see who can get Barbie to fall in love with them, they're competing to see who can be the manliest, have the manliest stuff, wear the manliest clothes, have the manliest house and decorations.

And then they literally go to war. War is considered one of the few places where it's socially accepted for men to be more emotional, form deep and personal bonds with other men, and that's exactly what happens in the movie. They go to war, and there's an entire song where they bond and learn not to fight with each other anymore.

And that I think is the message from the Kens. For men, the way the patriarchy affects them is it forces constant competition and animosity, even around people that are supposed to be your friends. It makes it impossible to express your feelings unless they're with a romantic partner, and all of this turns you into a pent up ball of emotions with nowhere to go.

Which means that the message is: In order to fix the way the patriarchy oppresses men, men need to learn how to form close bonds with people, especially other men. Because like Barbie said to Ken, he needs to discover who he is without her. Men have learned to lean on women as a crutch, using them to figure out how to Be A Person and express emotions in a healthy way, but this can very quickly turn into a woman feeling like she needs too be his mother and teach him how to do these things. And Ken was 100% doing this, or at least he was trying to throughout the movie. Ken was so desperate for Barbie to be in love with him, not necessarily because he loved her, but because he needed a person he could just exist as himself around. Because he couldn't do that with the other Kens, the only person he could be himself around was Barbie.

And what's so great about the end of the movie is that the Kens did eventually figure out how to form close bonds with each other! They went to war, argued and fought, but by the end of the song they were holding hands, kissing each other on the cheek, telling each other they were enough. Even when Ken is up in the dreamhouse, crying and saying that he looks stupid, all the other Kens start shouting back up to him, saying that he looks cool. And Ken responds by giving one of his new friends his coat, which was clearly very important to him.

What the Kens did, that's what men in the real world need to do. They need to form close bonds with other men and stop competing with each other. Hopefully not by going to war the way the Kens did, Barbie isn't a blueprint for solving the patriarchy lol.

I'd be happy to do it through a song though.

[daistea]

Heyyyy! What would it be like if reader is pregnant with Mithrun's child, post story mithrun?

Tw pregnancy / children lol / 

˚. ✦.˳·˖✶ ⋆.✧̣̇˚.

Whether the pregnancy is planned or not really depends on you and your relationship.

If you want a child on purpose, it would take some time and patience and convincing to get Mithrun on board. Pre-dungeon he was far too busy doing hot girl stuff to think about starting a family. Post-dungeon he was far too busy trying to stay alive and getting revenge to think about anything else. Post-canon, give him some time. He needs to figure out how to live. Once he’s settled for a bit, he’ll hear you out. 

If you’re a tall-man or some other short lived race, then he’s even more opposed. Not because you’re not good enough to have a baby with, or that he’s afraid of what society will think, but because how they age is so different. It’s a huge challenge. And halflings have difficult lives. It feels a bit cruel. He wouldn’t usually care whether or not he’s cruel, but this is different. This is one of his new purposes in life and he refuses to mess it up. 

However, in the end a child is still a product of love. You just discuss the ethics a lot. Even if you’re a long-lived race, he still takes into consideration the world and your families and how you’re living.

If the baby is unplanned… You break the news to him and he just disappears for a few hours. He was walking through the woods in silence. He made eye contact with a deer that had a fawn. It was a very spiritual moment. 

He returns ready to take on this challenge, exhibiting 2% more enthusiasm and motivation than he does most things. 

Mithrun is already quite protective, but it gets more intense once you’re pregnant. He watches you like a hawk. It’s actually kind of annoying and you have to tell him to chill out (he does not, but he will stop hovering so you don’t get stressed out)

As you get further along, he accompanies you when you leave the house. He prefers to be near in case anything happens, despite how safe Melini is in general. However, if you’re far along then you probably don’t want to be walking around anyway. 

Already, Mithrun is willing to do anything for his partner— as long as it doesn’t get in the way of his or your shared goals. He’s partly willing to do anything because that’s just the nature of his lack of desires. Yet, one of his new desires is to please you, so his willingness is also just for his own enjoyment. (I might develop this idea further sometime, the ensuing issues from complete willingness would be interesting to explore.)

So, it’s two in the morning and you want a very specific snack? Mithrun is already very nonchalantly pulling on his boots and leaving to get it, without you even having to ask. You stop him though because he’s about to go knock on a merchant’s door so they’ll open just for him. But if something is open, he’ll get it. If it’s possible for him to make it himself, he’ll make it. 

On his journeys to retrieve your snacks, though, he gets lost. Many times Melini guard or a friend has shown up at your door with Mithrun in tow like ‘is this yours?’

Mithrun doesn’t hide his emotions, per se, he just doesn’t connect with them enough to display them most of the time. So his anticipation for the baby doesn’t show much. It’s through his actions that you realize how he’s feeling. He touches your belly a lot, waiting for the baby to kick (he is very determined and very focused on the matter) and of course, as I said, he’s determined to give you whatever you need. Sometimes, when he’s kneeling in front of you, touching your belly, he furrows his brows a little in this small expression. It’s as if he’s confused as to why he loves this little baby so much already, when he hasn’t even met them. Parenthood is a very unfamiliar concept to him and he has trouble connecting with the idea, despite his decision to do well. 

He contemplates his own childhood a bit during this time, something he wouldn’t usually bother doing. He approaches the matter objectively, not feeling much of anything about how he grew up. He doesn’t really psychoanalyze himself. But he does make the decision to raise his child a bit differently than how he was raised. 

He becomes a little clingy at this time. Even before the pregnancy, he always found some way to be touching you, but it becomes more pronounced. He’ll have his hand on your stomach a lot, or pull you into his lap and bury his face in your hair. 

Mithrun is very prepared when you’re on outings together. You meet up with the Canaries for dinner or something and you need… Idk what pregnant people need. Napkins? Nausea medicine? Water, obviously, and good shoes. He has snacks too. He nonchalantly reaches into this overstuffed bag and pulls out what you need and the Canaries are like oooooooooo

Fleki asks if they should call him Daddy now. Mithrun doesn’t bother protesting because he knows they’ll do that no matter what he says. 

You and Mithrun are mamá y papá. Fleki and Lycion say they’re your free trial children. Modern au they beg to go to Mcdonalds and you’re like ‘ask your father’ so Mithrun pulls into the Mcdonalds drive through to shut them up. They cheer. He orders a single black coffee and drives away. 

If you get nausea early on in the pregnancy, he doesn’t really know what to do. He’ll hold back your hair if you need it. 

He does some research on what you can and can’t do while pregnant and becomes a know-it-all. 

Mithrun gives girl-dad energy, but he wouldn’t care what gender the baby is in the end. 

He doesn’t really know how to physically handle you. He’s never hurt you or been rough before (unless you wanted that) but he becomes way more gentle. 

If you headcanon that his parents are still alive, I feel like he wouldn’t really care whether they know about the baby or not. They’d probably find out through his brother. 

In fact, he doesn’t tell anyone the news. You and Mithrun visit his brother randomly and there you are, pregnant, months along, and his brother is like …Mithrun? Is your wife.. Pregnant? He just glances at you, then back to him, completely unfazed. Yeah. She is. 

Or his brother visits after the baby is born. He knocks on the door and Mithrun answers with the baby in a little carrier hanging from his chest. He doesn’t even acknowledge it or the fact that his brother had no idea, not unless his brother acknowledges it first. Mithrun’s just casually giving the baby a bottle or toys and his brother is waiting for him to explain why he thought it was a good idea to not inform his family that he was expecting?!

There was no pregnancy announcement. You were just with child one day and the world had no choice but to accept that. 

Modern au, he might have a very simple banner that says ‘it is a baby’ with a few sad, half-blown up balloons taped to the wall. You’re both just awkwardly standing beside it, staring into the camera. He texts this to his family or the Canaries with no caption then proceeds to ignore the ensuing panicked phone calls. 

He does not care what you name them as long as it’s not stupid.

Until a name is decided, you both just call them a placeholder name. (“How’s The Bean doing today?” “They’re kicking more than usual.”)

After they’re born, Bean sticks and turns into an affectionate nickname!

Mithrun walks around with the baby strapped to his chest. If you have twins and someone comments on the baby strapped to him, he just turns around and there’s another baby on his back. Yeah he open carries brandishes his son or daughter

Since he’s awake most of the time, I think he’d take over night duty a lot. He might fall asleep with the baby cuddled up in his arms or against his chest. 

He has to be taught how to change a diaper, but he learns quickly and becomes quite fast and proficient at it. 

He does not care if he’s covered in baby drool. He doesn’t get icked out easily. 

He’ll be feeding the baby, and if he needs his hands for something else he’ll just casually stick the spoon in his mouth to free up his hands. Some baby food tastes so bad but he can’t really taste it anyway. 

He can be found holding the baby often, with them usually leaning over his shoulder, held up by one of his hands (when they’re old enough to lift themselves a bit, of course.)

He is very careful with them as a newborn. 

He’s also very prepared at this point as well. He will be the one carrying the huge diaper bag most of the time. 

When they’re born, his first question for you is ‘are you okay?’ (You’re not, you just gave birth, idiot) but once that’s out of the way, his second question is ‘why does our baby look like a lumpy potato?’ as newborns frequently do.

In all, it’s a complicated subject for him. But he eases into the idea and the life, and he tries his best. He’s not the most emotionally present father, he’s imperfect as we all are, but he thinks things through and tries to make decisions that will benefit the growth of the child. He’s willing to make sacrifices. But he still gets very lost when going out to grab milk and your child is like ‘is daddy ever coming home?’ and you’re like sigh. Come on let's go find your father. 

[artist-issues]

I Saw Wish

And it was the worst animated Disney movie I’ve ever seen. I have to watch it again before I can get into the nitty gritty details. But I don’t need details to sum it up, because my dad actually said it perfectly as we left the theater:

“It was like someone who didn’t really understand Disney movies tried to make a Disney movie.”

Both the form (the technical arts of filmmaking) and the content (the morals, values, and themes of the movie) were totally horrible.

I don’t know who’s fault it was. Jeremy Spears was in the storyboard room and Mark Henn and Eric Goldberg did some 2D animation. But they must have gotten outvoted, or they must not care anymore.

Because holy cow. Here’s some stuff that’s just off the top of my head.

SPOILERS. Not that it matters, because nothing interesting happens in this movie.

The writing? Terrible. Ninety percent of it feels like the characters are filling time with quirky one-liners that are trying too hard to be appealing, then failing, then taking you out of the movie. The jokes aren’t funny. The characters just respond to each other in conversation to check a one-liner box. The other twenty percent is whole conversations repeating tell-don’t-show exposition that has already been covered, usually twice, in previous scenes. Like if in Tangled, every scene had included some variation of Rapunzel saying to friends and enemies alike, “I have to see the floating lights so I’m sneaking to the castle with this thief who wants a mysterious tiara I hid from him. Don’t tell my mother, she’s a bit overprotective!” Over. And over. And over.

The character motivations are way too broad. Asha? Her dream is just “that everybody around me gets to be happy.” That’s it, in a nutshell. No deeper exploration of that. Nobody asks, “why do you care so much?” Nobody tries to convince her she should look out for herself, and then she proves she was right all along. The King? We are told (not shown) that he doesn’t want anyone else’s dreams to be “destroyed.” But he in no believable way expresses that that motivation is still what’s driving him during the movie—what’s driving him is just a plain old lust for power, no nuance.

By the way, the whole premise of the movie? Undercooked. Half-baked concepts strung together with no definitive meaning. Therefore, it’s not believable. Example: The characters act like the wishes are beautiful—well, actually, no, this movie doesn’t know how to show, so there’s not a lot of meaningful acting—the characters just tell us that wishes are “the most beautiful part of someone,” and that’s why it’s worth going through this adventure to give their wishes back to them. But there’s no proof of that in the movie. In fact, it directly kicks it’s own legs out from under that idea, because it has every character who gives up their wish forget that part of themselves. Asha’s grandfather has forgotten his wish, but that doesn’t make him any less “beautiful.” She, and everyone, still treats him like he’s this wonderful old man who deserves the world, who everyone loves…but why is he so appealing? If he “gave up the most beautiful part of him?” The only character who is changed by their lack-of-wish is the Sleepy-analogue character…who is just sleepy, which is described as “boring.” But nobody else who’s given up their wish in the whole kingdom acts like that. It’s just him. Also, the King acts like it’s so important to protect the wishes from destruction. But what does destroying a wish look like? That actually happens to Asha’s mom. Her wish-bubble is broken, literally, and she just says she feels grief. But like. Why? She never remembered it in the first place; it had been missing from her life for years. Also, what the heck is a wish?! It seems to range from broad concepts like “inspire people” to “fly.” Just “fly,” like a bird. The desire to levitate off the ground is the most important, beautiful essence of one background character. Like, what?! But no character ever has the why behind their wish to make us care.

I could go on and on about that point. Like, think about Disney movies that wrote the book on how to make movies about characters with wishes. If Ariel were in Wish, her bubble would look like “dancing and learning and exploring on the Surface with someone who understands her.” But we believe that that is her real, genuine wish, and that it matters to her, because we are shown why being understood is so important to her. Because it’s missing from her life. There’s a scene where she explores a boat alone, and even her best friend doesn’t get excited about it with her. Her dad won’t listen to her point of view. Her siblings don’t ask her about her life even when they think she’s in love. She wants what she wants because of pieces of her life that we are shown.

We are never shown why Asha’s grandfather is obsessed with inspiring people, so we have no reason to believe it, or care whether he gets it or not. We can’t feel disappointed when his wish is said to “never come true,” like we did when Quasimodo was abused by the people he wished to join. We can’t feel elated when he finally “gets” his wish, like we did when Simba smiles on Pride Rock remembering the same way he used to as a cub and claims the crown with a roar. We don’t have anything to hang on to, nothing to relate to, nothing to grasp and feel with the characters. So we don’t feel, because they didn’t put the work in to help us feel. They just say, “the mom’s feeling grief. Feel grief.” And expect us to do the work ourselves. I have to stop harping on this point and move on.

But The main point of the movie is very broad because of that lazy premise, and it’s barely reinforced by any kind of appealing storytelling. If I had to guess, the point would be “Keep wishing for more even when it’s hard.” But the story they told to communicate that meaning was so unimpactful. Asha doesn’t have a dream of her own that’s such hard work to accomplish! (Neither does her grandfather; his wish is “to inspire people.” And at the end, we’re supposed to see him strumming a guitar and believe it’s inspiring? We were never shown how he worked hard to learn how to play the instrument. Or that he carved it with his own hands, or anything like that. So there’s no meaningful demonstration of working hard for it or achieving your wish even if it’s far out of reach.) And nobody except the king is trying to take wishes away from anyone, and he just does it literally, after they voluntarily give them to him, so there’s not even any impactful demonstration of “don’t let anyone tell you your wishes are dumb or unachievable, or stop you from reaching them.” Even when he takes them away, it’s just because they…could, someday, be used to threaten his kingdom in a vague, really unlikely way. There are so many things you could do with “keep wishing for more even when it’s hard.” For instance; you could say the main character has always been afraid to dream (wish for more), because maybe when she was a kid something wonderful almost happened but ended in tragedy, so she keeps her head down and doesn’t want much because if you don’t dream you’ll never be disappointed. She takes no risks, and has to learn that sometimes trying and failing is worth more than slogging through life all self-protective. I mean, the pieces were right there. She has this line about her dad, and how she wished he would get better but then he died. She has lines about how nobody should have to live with grief?? Then that’s never addressed again! It’s just a throwaway emotion-moment with no buildup or follow-through to tie it to and support that main theme.

The compositions of too many shots were so terrible. Characters got cut off in weird places. One shot has Asha dead center, with her grandfather on the left side of the table and her mother on the right, having a family dinner with a super exposition-heavy conversation that is meant to be emotionally charged. But despite everything else being perfectly centered, half of her mother’s body is chopped off. The movie’s shot like someone’s mom who doesn’t understand technology tried to take a video with her phone.

The charm of the art “style” wears off basically immediately. I know what they were going for. I see the sketch lines and watercolor textures. This is maybe the first time Disney ever failed to accomplish a visual “look” that turned out good. Everything looks dull. Muted. De-saturated. Slightly out of focus, but not in a cool Spider-Verse way. The sets or backgrounds are lazy; at no point does the scenery look complete; big, empty, boring spaces that do not create any kind of “stage” for impactful moments. The rendering looks unfinished. When Asha’s hair moves during her belting of the “I Make This Wish” song, it’s bad. It’s unnatural. It flops in a way that doesn’t make sense for the weight of her hair. The most impactful visual moments come from the villain, and they’re moments when he looks way too unhinged for the kind of line he’s saying.

There is no interesting character development. Asha goes from believing everyone is basically good and their wishes deserve the chance to come true , to….that, again. That would be fine, she could be a static character, if she proved contrast-characters wrong, in a believable way. But she never does. Because no other characters argue with her except the King. And it goes no deeper than “everyone’s wishes are basically good and they deserve the chance to make them true” vs. “nuh-uh, because I get to decide what makes them deserving.” The King doesn’t have any kind of interesting development, either. They don’t expand on his tragic backstory—it consists of one drawing of him near a broken boat, and a few images of the corner burned off of his family taoestry. They never say “King Magnifico wished for _____ and it was taken away!” They literally never tell you what his wish or dreams were, or what motivated him to create the whole kingdom that the movie’s premise sits on. So there’s no convincing sense of progression, how he got this way, why he’ll keep going “so far.”

The pacing is weird. It undercuts every moment that could have any kind of emotion behind it. One minute Valentino is suavely bouncing around, then he’s given a two-second beat to blubber with badly-animated tears that he’ll miss Star—then he instantly gets to have another funny one-liner so we forget he might’ve been sad a second ago. We’re clearly supposed to believe that the King and his wife are devoted to each other, and his turning evil was such a big betrayal, but there’s no time and no impactful evidence for us to believe either of those things. And even if we did, the moment he’s defeated and trapped in a mirror, and begs to be let free, the Queen kind of shrugs it off, makes a forgettable one-liner, and tells them to throw him in the dungeon. And he doesn’t look remorseful. And we don’t even get to assume he’s embarrassed or emotionally devastated that he’s come to this—because the last thing he says is “nooo, the dungeon is so smellyyy!” Like this is a half-baked LEGO short that can’t get emotionally deeper than what an actual 3 year-old’s parents might be okay with.

And that’s the worst offense: The movie is not genuine. It works hard for nothing, and it has no vulnerability. It just uses old Disney standbys to pretend to be vulnerable. Have the music swell and the characters gasp and the songs drip emotion when characters are meant to be saying or doing something emotional.

But truthfully, think of all the Disney movies you’ve ever seen with the hardest emotional moments. The sheer joy of Genie when he realizes he’s free. The anguish when Elsa thinks Anna’s been frozen forever, or when Anna thinks she’s dead. The trauma when Simba loses Mufasa. The longing and dreaming of Ariel when she reaches up out of her grotto. The sense of foreboding when Mother Gothel says “fine, now I’m the bad guy” or the heartbreak in Rapunzel’s eyes when she thinks Flynn has abandoned her, or the shame on Aladdin’s face when Jafar reveals he’s a street-rat, or the horror of cruelty when the stepsisters rip up Cinderella’s dress, or Kala’s tears when Tarzan leaves her in the treehouse, or Sarabi’s tears when Simba comes back, or Mulan’s father tossing aside the sword and token of the Emperor to embrace Mulan, or heck, even just Lilo pushing Stitch in the woods and telling him “get out of here.” This movie has no moments like that. It has moments you can tell that the filmmakers wanted to hit like that—but they don’t.

Because no work is put into building them up. You know how much Simba loves Mufasa, because you’ve been watching their chemistry more than any other character all the way up till he dies. You know how much Mulan wants to please her family because she spends all of Act I desperately attempting to do that. You know Quasimodo believes the world below is beautiful and wants them to accept him because he has interesting things like—talking to gargoyles, convincing us that he’s lonely; building a scale model of the townspeople, convincing us that he sees them in a beautiful way and wishes he were beautiful in more ways than one like them, too.

Right down to the facial expressions, none of them are as anguished, happy, sad, excited, silly, in any convincing way like all of Disney’s other movies. Asha’s “low moment” when she’s afraid her “wish” hurt everyone else (still vague on what that wish ever was) lasts two seconds, she’s not crying, she’s barely sitting with slumped shoulders, and her family barely spend two seconds comforting her. They basically just say, “aw, no, it’s not y fault, it’s the king’s.” And she’s like, “yeah okay” and that’s that. It’s like the animators we’re afraid to animate really intimate emotions on the characters’ faces. The voice actors, too.

And the whole movie is peppered with Easter eggs to past Disney movies. But all that does, if you really know Disney beyond the visuals, is make you think of how hollow this movie is in comparison. How much you wish you were watching Cinderella or The Little Mermaid or something with depth and vulnerability instead of Wish.

[fortheloveofkonig]

Hello, hope you're having a good day/night

I was wondering if I could request the 141 x Male reader, they know alot of medical like they use their knowledge of the human body against anyone whom threatens them (or people the care about). They aren't a medic are doctor parday but have extensive knowledge of the field that helps the team. Seem cold uncaring and ruthless but if anyone of them is injured its like a total switch of 'mom bear mode' checking them over the gentle hands and worry.

(Kinda of trope of don't mess with the doctor lol)

Summary: TF 141 reacts to Reader who knows a frightening amount of medical knowledge.

Note: I'm going to do this as more of a headcanons type of post ^^ hope this is good enough! ^^ I did 95% of this all in the last 2 hours

Content: Medical speak, Injuries, Slight Torture, Slightly Bad Medical Research, But I Did Research. Roach Talks.

Word Count: 1085

TF 141 x Knowledgeable in Medic Field M! Reader

Ghost

Probably first heard about your knowledge from Soap talking to him about how terrifying it is to see it come into play

Doesn't believe him.

You've always been good at what you do but have never shown any previous knowledge or interest in the medical field so, who can blame him?

There was also no way you could've went to medical school unless you were years above your usual education range

He finally sees it come into play when you two were 'interrogating' someone.

"If you're gonna stab, don't do it right there. Price said he needs to stay alive."

Ghost looks at you, annoyed. "I've stabbed many people and seen many people survive stab wounds of surrounding areas."

"In lower places of the abdomen and with quicker medical care, if you do it there" You point to where he had the knife, pointed at the tied up man's skin. "It could puncture an intestine and we will be fucked. If you want to stab, move the knife below the belly button...about right... right there. Do not remove the knife once it pierces through."

He did as you said, with questions, but still followed your lead.

From then on he watched everything you did, even noticing that you took care of some of the rookies that ended up with minor cuts and damage that wasn't enough to bother the medics with.

Needless to say, he also ended up coming to you for some patch ups, mostly when he wanted to keep his new damage a secret from Price.

He ended up finding it kind of hot during the interrogation thing so he often asked to do things like that with you again.

Soap

Honestly, probably figured out about your medical knowledge after he was being a dumbass with explosives and almost got hurt.

"Go change into some shorts and a tank top." Your voice was in a serious tone as you went to grab a nearby first aid kit.

"Already wanting to see me strip?"

You just glared at him until he actually left and did what was told.

Despite having only a few scratches, you still cleaned them up as best as you could.

You also went on a rant about it too, about how dumb he was

"Do you realize how dumb you are? What if you actually made a big explosion and a piece of shrapnel flew and hit one of the carotid arteries in your neck?

"My What?"

"Do you realize how fast you would've died? Why weren't you wearing any protective gear?"

"I'm pretty bad at forgetting protection."

If looks could kill, he'd be dead.

That was not the last time you had to clean his wounds, he seems to be a magnet for them.

Asks you more about medical stuff, just to get an idea on how much you know.

You know a lot.

Unsure at this point if he hurts himself in new ways just to hear you yell at him for what dumb way he could've gotten himself killed this time.

Gaz

He falls out of helicopters a lot, that's the truth. What's one more time?

This time (and somehow not the last?) he ended up hurting his foot, you were there the whole time when it happened.

When the both of you were both safe in the safety of a van, you got him to put his leg up so you could check it.

"This is stupid" He mutters, "It's nothing more than it has been in the past."

"Shush, let me concentrate" You mutter feeling around his bootless ankle, nodding your head when you hear him hiss at a pointed touch.

"Any pain when you walk on it?"

"Possibly....yes."

"I'm gonna say it's a sprain for now but I think we should take you to the infirmary after we get back to base. Doesn't seem dislocated. Possible fracture though."

It was just a sprain

Was surprised when you spoke fluent...doctor to the doctor.

Honestly felt like a little kid in the doctor's office, watching his parent's converse with the Doctor telling them what was wrong.

Wouldn't have it any other way.

Price

Always knew, almost nothing gets by him unnoticed

Was probably one of the reasons he wanted you on the task force.

He knows how soap and gaz the boys are

Has you teaching rookies how to probably put a tourniquet on.

"What the fuck are you doing? That's not how I taught you."

The rookie you were speaking to just looked down at the dummy that they were working on and the tourniquet, "It looks-"

"Terrible! He's still bleeding out! Retry it."

Definitely has to sit in on these sessions, some rookies have complained to him that you take it too far.

You always just use the excuse that if those were real people and not training dummies, they'd be at fault for letting them die.

He agrees with you.

The rookie looks over at Price.

"Get to it. He told you to retry it. The man is bleeding out."

Mostly just sits in because it's less complaints now that he is showing he agrees with you in front of everyone.

Roach

This fucker needs a friend that has medical knowledge

Much like Soap, it seems like he is a wound magnet

Was probably the first of the 141 that you had to go full protective, medical knowledge out and work on him.

Man's like a tank too, no matter what the day brings to him it seems he's just able to walk it off

You don't let him

"You're limping, sit down."

He just waves it off, "'m good."

"Like hell you are." You walk up to him and grab his wrist, dragging him to a nearby chair and pushing him onto it. "Stay or I'll have Ghost lay on you."

Does not stay.

You cannot get Ghost to lay on him.

You just end up pelting pillows at him until he joins into a pillow fight, and you both end up getting exhausted.

"I'll rest right here."

"Good."

Stubborn but still okay with medical help

Often comes to you with oddly specific questions.

"Hypothetically, if a car blew up in the near vicinity of where I was at, what is the possible health issues that could arise?"

"Well, burn marks obviously, depending on the distance it could be any degree. If it was enough to knock you over, then a possible concussion. Depending if you hit the ground and hard enough, possible broken or fractured bones. Not to even mention the possible pieces of metal and glass flying, and just blast trauma in general. Could cause damage to internal organs with enough force."

"Okay, so...hypothetically, if that happened, I should go to the infirmary?"

"Roach, were you next to a car when it blew up?"

"..."

"Gary???"

You immediately dragged him to the infirmary.

[justwritedreams]

Let me in | Wooyoung

Photographer!Wooyoung x reader

Genre: angst, fluff Word count: 8394 Warnings: blackmail, toxic relationship, graphic violence, mention of a car accident, an annoying fake fiancé he's really an asshole he kisses the reader without consent twice, jealous and red haired Wooyoung because that's a warning. If you don't feel comfortable please don't read! Author: Maari Note: You have no idea how much I love Wooyoung in the halazia era. I'm watching a lot of forbidden love stuff, this obsession will pass Summary: You were ready to confess your love to Wooyoung, but a complicated and dead-end situation changed your plans. Now you don't know whether to let him in or push him away.

Taglist: @foxinnie8

⪢ Ateez Masterlist

“Woo, I already said I’ll arrive tomorrow morning.”

“But I miss you.”

Y/N even tried to contain her shy smile but it was in vain, hearing even on the other side of the phone Wooyoung's voice admitting so clearly what she also felt made her feel like she was a teenager.

“You talk as if I’ve been away for a year.”

“That’s what it seemed like to me.” she could clearly see the scene of him pouting. “No one complains about my socks lying around my room or the mess on my desk because of work.”

She took her hotel room card from her pocket as she walked down the hallway.

“I already told you that I don’t know how your mother manages to have you and your mess in her house.”

“Is this an invitation for me to move into your house?”

Maybe it was that whole month away from each other, but he seemed much more seductive over the phone, even with the usual jokes, it seemed like he wanted to find a way to flirt with her.

And well, she wouldn't complain.

She and Wooyoung had gone on a date a while ago, when the poor man was available from his work as a photographer, even though they had known each other for a little over two years it seemed like that day had been different.

And it was, because their first kiss happened in such a special way that Y/N could still feel the texture of his lips tattooed on her own. Soon after, it was her turn to travel for work and since then they haven't had time to talk about their situation. What kind of relationship did they have, even though it was clear that they both liked each other in a way that went beyond friendship.

“Do you think it’s that easy to live with me?” she replied and heard his laugh echo through the line. She was missing him so much. “I’ll want something in return.”

“Um, I know what to give you.” His voice was full of malice and she laughed, embarrassed, feeling her cheeks burn.

"You're impossible!" she said, reaching the bedroom door.

“And you like it anyway.”

She didn't even bother to deny it because it would be a lie, she just didn't want to confess over the phone. She needed to say it looking into his eyes.

“I have to go, I need to pack my bag.” She said and unlocked the door.

“Okay, come back soon. Seriously." he practically begged and she smirked.

"I promise."

The call was disconnected and she entered the room with a silly smile on her face, her stomach churning with anxiety every time she thought or spoke to Wooyoung.

It had been routine for the last month, to compensate for the distance they spoke every day.

Y/N turned on the light in the room and her smile fell when she saw that someone was sitting in the armchair next to the bed, her blood ran cold and she took a step back to leave.

Until she heard the familiar voice.

“Hello, Y/N. Did you miss me, love?”

She strained her eyes and recognized the face that held a pretentious smile.

“Chase.” her voice was barely a whisper.

He smiled widely and she knew it was because she had shown weakness in front of him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked more firmly. “How did you know I was here?”

"What do you think?" His false naivety was starting to irritate her and that answer wasn't what she wanted. “You should start choosing your friends better.”

Y/N felt her jaw drop as her heart ached from the betrayal, it wasn't like she didn't expect it but the disappointment couldn't be contained.

She and Chase went out twice a while ago, he was friends with her best friend and that's how they met. But Y/N didn't feel anything special about the boy, he was handsome, tall, rich and successful, but none of that seemed to matter to Y/N who could only see arrogance in him.

In fact, the only person that haunted her mind during the time she spent with him was Wooyoung. Nobody seemed to be better than him.

After the dates, he seemed more and more interested in her, he sent gifts, flowers, called every day and Y/N found any excuse or pretext to get away, she didn't want to go out with him again, she didn't even want to have a conversation with him because the matters seemed so superficial.

And when she kissed Wooyoung, it was like the entire experience with Chase had been erased.

He became a completely forgettable person.

Of course she politely dumped him and then blocked his number.

But the man, unlike what he had said via message, didn't seem to have given up.

Since he had gone there to the hotel where she was.

She swallowed the urge to cry and went to the door, opening it.

"Get out of my room."

Chase didn't move, he crossed his legs and put his hands together and brought them up to his mouth, resting his elbows on the arms of the chair.

“How is your brother?”

Y/N felt her neck crack so fast she turned to face him. Now instead of feeling her blood run cold, was bubbling with anger.

She knew Chase well enough to understand what he meant.

Y/N's brother was being accused of murder after a car accident, she knew he was innocent but there was no proof of that, not even witnesses. It was just his word about how the alleged victim's car had run a red light, lost control and crashed into him that was in the right of way for the green light. The victim died at the scene and Y/N's brother had been seriously injured, he was still in custody at the hospital as he was recovering but the victim's family sued Y/N's brother the next day.

Y/N's family's life had been turned upside down and that was why she was committed to working overtime, so she could pay the best-known criminal lawyer in the country.

She needed to help her brother.

She didn't respond to Chase, just took a deep breath and stared at the floor, squeezing the door handle tightly.

“I can help, you know.” he started talking. “I can get your brother and his record cleared again.”

She laughed, ironically.

“And what do you want in return?”

She knew he wasn't saying that because he was a good guy. Wooyoung would give her the world without expecting anything in return, but Chase wasn't Wooyoung.

"You."

He got up from the chair and Y/N looked at him offended.

“You marry me and in return your brother will be absolved.” he proposed and started walking towards her who didn't say anything. “You know my dad is a federal judge, he can help.”

Anger was written all over Y/N's face, she was breathing heavily now.

“That’s not helping, that’s blackmail.” she spat out the words and he raised his hand to caress her face, she moved away as far as she could.

“You’re so beautiful when you’re mad.”

She rolled her eyes.

“What if I say no?” she lifted her chin, trying to keep herself strong.

He smiled sideways and brought his face closer to hers, she just narrowed her eyes, feeling her nose itch as she breathed in his perfume.

“Then he will be judged guilty even though he did nothing.”

She laughed in disbelief and tried to find some trace of something that could indicate that he wasn't serious but she couldn't find it.

And it was like her mind snapped.

“You know he’s innocent.” It wasn't a question and he didn't even seem surprised by the statement.

“Where do you think the highway footage is?”

Y/N's eyes filled with tears, it was as if the entire weight of the world had rested on her shoulders.

So her brother could be happy and free but she would become unhappy and trapped?

She was about to be the happiest woman in the world because she would be next to the man she loved.

She had nothing to think about, she wouldn't be the reason for an injustice happening to her own family.

“If I accept, will you hand over the footage to the police?” she asked, feeling her throat close up.

Chase nodded, his eyes were shining victoriously and she hated it.

But if it was the only way to save her brother, she would do it. She didn't wanted the process to drag on any longer than it already was.

Y/N let out an ok so low, showing how much she didn't want to accept that offer.

“Pack your bags, my love. You come back with me today.”

“My ticket is already paid, I’m going tomorrow.” was all she managed to say.

“Fair enough, we’ll have our whole lives to be together.”

Chase brought both hands to Y/N's face and pulled her against her will to leave a kiss on her forehead before leaving the room.

The tears that had previously stopped in her eyes ran down her face as she wiped her forehead to remove any trace of Chase's lips on her skin.

Y/N closed the door with a thud and her body gave way, she sat on the floor while crying compulsively feeling as if strong chains were tied around her wrists.

[...]

“Y/N, this is the fourth time Wooyoung is calling, you need to answer.”

Y/N's mother spoke as she entered her room, making her sigh.

She had been managing to avoid Wooyoung for two weeks, telling him that she would have to postpone her return from the trip because she still had a lot of work to do, it was a lie of course but he didn't need to know.

She knew he was suspicious, he hadn't really believed it when she texted him the next day saying she wouldn't be back. She had done this because she didn't know what to say to him when she met him.

How would she explain that she was going to marry a guy she didn't even like, after everything they happened between them so far?

Could it seem like she was a coward? Yes and she felt that way, but avoiding Wooyoung even though her heart called for him was the only way out she found.

“I’m gonna call him later, mom.” she replied, not looking into her mother's eyes, distracting herself by putting the watch on her wrist.

“You’ve been avoiding him since you came back.” her mother noted. “That's because of Chase, isn’t it?”

Y/N faltered and almost told her mother everything that was happening if she didn't know her mother would make her act with reason. In other words, would make her give up from that insanity.

“I don’t know how he will react about the wedding.” She shrugged and busy herself with putting her things in her bag.

Probably would react the same way her family did, in shock and confusion. One day she had gone to work and the next she was coming back engaged to a guy they didn't even know?

Everyone knew that Wooyoung was in love with Y/N even before they both knew, and that she reciprocated, so the fact that the groom wasn't Wooyoung was quite confusing.

And the look on Y/N's mother's face said exactly that, even though she hadn't elaborated on the subject any further.

“Don’t hurt him.” her mother asked and her shoulders slumped.

She went to her mother and kissed her cheek, trying to smile slightly.

“I would never do that intentionally.” The mother agreed, she knew her daughter's intention but didn't know the reasons that were making her make that decision. “I have a meeting with the wedding photographer, I think I won’t be back for a while.” She explained.

“Is Chase coming to get you?”

Y/N tried hard not to grimace when she remembered that detail.

“He’s already waiting for me.”

The mother crossed her arms and before turned into an interrogation, Y/N decided to leave the house and came face to face with Chase outside the car.

She twisted her mouth and went straight to the passenger side, he hurried to open the door.

“I thought I was going in.”

Y/N frowned and sat down on the car seat.

"Why?"

He closed the door and went to the driver's side.

“Isn’t it time to meet your parents?”

She huffed and buckled the seatbelt as he started the car.

“Do this on your wedding day.” she replied impatiently, turning her face to look at the window and not him.

The last thing she wanted was to hear his voice the whole way. Every day that passed, every second that she was in his company only made her anger grow.

The only thing she felt for him was contempt.

She didn't know why he was so insistent that she accompany him to the meeting with the photographer, since most things about the wedding were his decisions, but she needed to or else her parents would be even more suspicious since the wedding was in a month.

They arrived at a coffee shop she didn't know, Chase tried to place his palm on her back but Y/N moved away, showing that she didn't wanted any physical contact.

He didn't complain out loud but it was clear that it had bothered him. He led her to a table and she saw a young man sitting with his back with newly dyed red hair. She had the impression that she knew those broad shoulders but blinked a few times trying to get that thought out of her head

She constantly saw him everywhere in the last few days, it was just a projection of her own desires.

“Jung?” Chase caught the boy's attention and he turned to face the couple with a wide smile on his face.

But the same smile on Y/N's face fell away the moment she recognized him.

Wooyoung stood up from the chair with his eyes fixed on Y/N, visibly shocked to see her there, he looked at Chase who extended his hand.

“Chase, right?” he asked still stunned, shaking his hand.

"That's right." she heard amusement in Chase's voice. “This is my fiancée, Y/N.”

The exchange of glances between the two although it took only a few seconds, seemed to last an eternity, he was speechless and she wanted to explain herself but this was neither the place nor the time.

"Nice to meet you." she spoke quickly, extending her hand to him who held it without understanding why she was pretending she didn't know him.

Wooyoung just nodded with a restrained smile.

As soon as they sat down, Y/N right in front of Wooyoung, he tried to maintain the professional pose and completely ignored his heart.

While looking and talking to Chase he even managed to act professionally so he started not looking towards Y/N, since she herself hadn't opened her mouth to say a single word but it was obvious that the weight of her gaze was making Wooyoung's task of ignoring her even more difficult.

He wanted to confront her, hearing the love plans coming from Chase's mouth filled with a boastful tone was irritating him deeply and the fact that she was standing there quiet made it even worse.

But he realized that something wasn't right when Chase announced that the pre-wedding photos, which would take place over the weekend, would be taken in a city park as he pointed out that the fountain there would be a great setting.

Y/N hated public places and the sun. That specific weekend would be one of the hottest of the year and he knew the park, the fountain attracted families who took their children to play with the waterfalls.

It was a great photo spot, that was true, but not for Y/N.

Wooyoung had his left eyebrow raised and his locked teeth highlighted the perfect shape of his jaw even more, Y/N looked at him with shame and deep sadness, at no point did he direct his attention to her even for a second. Of course she understood the reason but that didn't stop the wound in her heart from opening even wider.

It was enough for both of them when, after planning everything for the weekend, Chase got up and pulled Y/N by her hand not so gently, holding both sides of her face preventing her from moving away he placed his lips on hers. Wooyoung clenched his fists, breathing heavily when he saw that Y/N in addition to not reciprocating also tried to move away, her lips in a thin line while her arms stayed at her sides.

Although he was extremely angry about the situation, he wanted to laugh at the man's desperation in trying to mark his territory as if he were a dog, all that was left was to lift his paw and piss on her.

Chase walked away with a wide smile on his face and said goodbye to Wooyoung who returned an ironic smile and for the first time his eyes met Y/N's. Even though he needed an explanation from her, when he noticed that she had a disgusted expression and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, it was enough for him to draw his own conclusions.

Something was very wrong and he was going to find out what it was.

[...]

Y/N wanted that day to end as quickly as possible.

She hadn't even started the photo shoot and was already hating every minute of it. First, it was a hot and muggy day, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky and she was already sweating because of it. Secondly she was hating the dress she was wearing, a pre-wedding gift from Chase, the dress was tight in the wrong places and more see-through than she would have liked, she was feeling completely uncomfortable.

Thirdly, because pretending for who knows how many hours that she was terribly in love with her fiance was tiring just imagining it.

But she followed the plan, went to the park feeling her hands cold and her heart beating fast thinking about Wooyoung. She hoped the whole way that he had assigned someone from his team to take the photos, so she could sigh in the corners without anyone knowing that he was the reason.

The last person she imagined meeting in that coffee shop was him, with so many photographers around town how could she have predicted that he would be the one hired. Also she would never imagine him with red hair like that and how handsome he would look. She shouldn't have found his serious expression so attractive but it would be a lie if she said that his new look hadn't messed with her.

Just seeing the red hair from miles away made her legs tremble and it became even more difficult to control her breathing when his eyes met hers. She could see the hurt he felt and it made her shoulders sag.

"Hey." she greeted him shyly.

The tension was so clear that anyone passing by would be able to tell.

"Hey." he replied quietly, looking to the sides. “Your fiancé is not coming?” His voice carried sarcasm and she took a deep breath. 

Yeah, maybe she deserved that.

“He was supposed to be here.” she muttered and diverted her attention to take her phone out of her bag. At the same time as she unlocked the screen the phone rang, a call from Chase. "Where are you?" she answered.

She heard a heavy cough on the other side and frowned.

"At home." his voice didn't sound good at all, not that she really cared.

"You won't come?" she asked in disbelief and that caught Wooyoung's attention.

“I'm sick, my love, I only managed to get out of bed to vomit.”

She shouldn't have but a slight smile appeared on her face. So does that mean she would be free from him all day? Finally her wishes were being granted.

“Then we better reschedule.”

“Do whatever you want, Y/N, my head is exploding.”

Chase hung up the call and she looked at her phone in surprise for a few seconds while her heart jumped with joy, turning to face Wooyoung she saw him with his eyebrow raised and it was very difficult not to sigh.

Even though he was wearing simple black clothes, he could take her breath away like no other could.

“He’s not coming.” she shrugged, sounding much more excited than she should have been.

“He should at least let us know in advance.” he replied, adjusting the strap of his camera bag over his shoulder. “I’m not his employee.” he continued, irritated.

“I know, sorry about that, Woo.”

He shook his head.

“Don’t apologize for his actions, it doesn’t suit you.”

They exchanged a long look, perhaps the longest since the meeting in the cafeteria, trying to look for answers to questions they hadn't yet asked and perhaps already found.

"Why are you doing this?" he questioned, making her swallow hard.

“Photos are a…”

He laughed, humorlessly.

“That’s not what I’m talking about.” he interrupted her and Y/N was silent.

She knew exactly what he was referring to and the only thing she wanted to do was tell him the truth.

“Let’s not talk about it, please.” she begged or else would actually tell him why.

Y/N made to move away but Wooyoung gently grabbed her wrist, not only making her stop in place but also causing a shiver to run through her body.

She looked down at his hand, feeling all the heat from his palm and went up until she met his eyes. Her legs gave way, of course, her heart was racing so fast that even though they were in a public place he could easily hear it.

“You owe me an explanation.” Y/N looked away. He was right, she did but couldn't. “Out of nowhere you have a fiancé?”

“That’s not how it happened.” she said without looking him in the eye.

“Is that why you won’t look me in the eye?” he questioned, she felt his eyes on her and yet she didn't return them, just looked around afraid that someone would see them there.

Realizing what Y/N was doing, he pulled her without hurting to a more distant area, covered by trees and literally empty, he released his grip but stayed close to her staring at her in the same way, deeply as if he could see the answer she was giving in her expressions.

“Woo, please don’t do that.” she begged closing her eyes, she didn't have the strength to keep lying to him.

“Give me one good reason to believe in this engagement.” She opened her eyes and looked at him without the courage to admit it. “You don’t like when he touches you, I saw the disgusted face you made when he kissed you.” her jaw dropped. “And you were happy he wasn't coming, so unless your love language is not showing any affection, which I know isn't true, explain to me why you're going to marry him in a month. ”

Y/N started to sweat even more and reached for the straps of her dress, as if that would somehow alleviate her nervousness and consequently the heat. But she knew it wouldn't until saying what was stuck in her throat.

“Everything we experienced couldn’t have been a lie.” the sad and giving up tone of Wooyoung's voice made Y/N's heartbreak even more.

That's why she approached him, bringing both hands to the sides of his face making him look into her eyes.

"It wasn’t." she replied with conviction. “Believe me, I have never been happier than when I was with you.”

"So, what is happening? Tell me, please." he pleaded.

“He’s blackmailing me.” she spoke at once without breathing or blinking, and it was as if half a ton had been lifted off her shoulders.

She could only feel confidence through his eyes, she wouldn't be able to continue carrying this burden alone.

"What?"

Y/N sighed before continuing, her eyes filling with tears.

“He has the footage that proves my brother is innocent but he will only hand it over after the wedding.” her voice wavered at the end and Wooyoung looked at her in terror, not believing that someone could do that. “If I didn’t accept it, my brother would be unjustly arrested!”

Unable to say anything, he pulled her into a tight protective hug, Y/N buried her face in his neck and cried as he stroked her back. All the anger he had felt in that coffee shop seemed so small to what Y/N was going through alone, because he knew her so well that he was sure she hadn't told anyone that in order to protect her family. It was too heavy a guilt for her to bear alone.

And he would help her, one way or another.

[...]

Y/N rolled her eyes when she saw Chase standing at the door of her house with a cheeky smile on his face, she snorted when he walked in uninvited.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked, still holding the door open and saw him sit on the couch as if he were in his own home.

“I came to meet your parents, are they there?” He looked around and she had to take a deep breath to keep from screaming at him.

“They are in the hospital.” she replied with a boring tone.

“Great, you can stay at the door because the photographer is coming here.” he advised, catching her attention as she narrowed her eyes.

"Why?" she questioned, not understanding.

“We have some unfinished business to resolve with him since the pre-wedding has been postponed.” he said in a tone of obviousness and Y/N closed the door slowly, taking a deep breath.

“And why did you call him here?”

She saw the same amused smile on Chase's face that irritated her, he didn't respond immediately, just analyzed her noticing the fear in her eyes.

“Did you want me to take some mr. nobody to our apartment?’

Y/N locked her jaw both in anger and to prevent her from defending Wooyoung right away, it would be obvious to Chase what she felt for Wooyoung and she didn't need any more threats but she also felt there was something beyond that unexpected visit.

And to think that she had spent 3 days away from him and any interaction, she would give anything to have that peace again while he was sick.

Before she could think of how to respond, the doorbell rang and that was the moment her heart skipped a beat. It was the most painful dilemma she could be living in, she wanted so much to see Wooyoung again since after she had confessed what had happened they were keeping daily calls and he was being so understanding with her - it only made her fall in love with him even more - , but she didn't want Chase to use Wooyoung.

Because she knew he was up to something and she didn't know how much she could hide from him.

She answered the door with cold hands and gave Wooyoung a nervous smile, both didn't needed to say anything for him to notice the tension, his eyes swept the house and found Chase sitting as if he were a king. His serious expression mixed with anger appeared and he even tried to give Y/N a polite smile but they couldn't even call it a smile.

She directed Wooyoung to sit in the armchair while she stood, but Chase had other plans.

“I’m sorry about what happened over the weekend, I wasn’t feeling very well.” he took the opportunity to pull Y/N by the hand and make her sit on the couch beside him. He also put his hand on her knee, Wooyoung just watched him in silence, trying not to show how much that attitude was irritating him.

“Don’t worry, it happens more than you think.” he faked a smile. “It must be the wedding anxiety.”

Y/N looked at Wooyoung carefully, he seemed determined not to fall for Chase's trick who, not satisfied, began to squeeze her knee with unnecessary force.

“Maybe that’s what it should be, it’s not every day that we get to marry the woman of our life.” Y/N tried to break Chase's grip by holding onto his fist but it was impossible considering he was much stronger than her.

“Few are lucky enough to have reciprocal love.”

Y/N would have laughed at the exchange of barbs between the two - Wooyoung's hint was explicit - if Chase's fingers weren't hurting her knee, her face contorted into a grimace of pain that was seen by Wooyoung.

He clenched his fists and almost managed to get up and pull Chase away from Y/N.

“Can you give me some water, please?” he asked, trying to get her to move away from him somehow.

"Sure!" her voice came out thinner than usual, Chase released his hand from her knee as soon as she got up from the couch.

At the same moment his phone rang, apologizing he went to another room to answer it while Y/N looked at Wooyoung to follow her to the kitchen, he did so and as soon as they arrived, they were both able to release the breath they had been holding.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly and she went to the fridge to get a bottle, nodding. “You won't marry that animal.”

She turned to hold out the water bottle and crossed her arms when he took it.

"I don't have a choice." she whispered.

“I’m not going to let you live with that asshole.” he snapped, angrily spitting out the words. “He hurt you.” he pointed to her leg, Y/N was wearing shorts so the place where Chase had squeezed was visible, it was red, she even tried to cover it with her hands by lowering her head but it was no use. “Not just physically.”

Y/N stood up to look at him, he was so serious that the vein in his neck stood out, rarely had she seen him like that, his red hair matched the fire of hatred he felt.

She couldn't deny it, not when he was right. The pain in her body was very small compared to the pain in her heart and she didn't know what to do, although she agreed with Wooyoung that she shouldn't marry Chase, she didn't see any other way to help her brother.

So she just stood there, silently staring at him. He took advantage and approached her slowly, placing his hands on her shoulders so he could comfort her and also give her strength.

“Don’t push me away.” he begged, making her sigh. “I’ll find a way to help you out of this, but you need to let me in.” she looked away, afraid of the answer she wanted to give. It wouldn't be fair to involve him in that mess. But he didn't give up, he raised his hands to both sides of her face and slowly lifted her, looking deep into her eyes and just whispered. "Please."

How could she deny anything in those eyes?

"Alright." she agreed quietly and he smiled lightly.

That was enough for now.

He started to hug her, he wanted to be able to wrap himself around her to the point of protecting her from anything, but Y/N heard footsteps coming from the room and quickly moved away from Wooyoung, keeping a safe distance so that Chase wouldn't notice what was happening there.

He arrived at the door and Wooyoung pretended to act like he was a stranger.

"Thank you so much." he handed the bottle back to Y/N as if he had actually drunk it and she just nodded. “Well, I'm leaving now. I have other clients to talk to.”

He glanced at Y/N and started walking to leave the kitchen.

“So see you this weekend.” Chase spoke as soon as Wooyoung passed him, making him raise his eyebrow.

He turned to face Chase and it took a lot of strength not to wipe the victorious smile off his face with his own hands, but he just smiled back.

He didn't even know what was coming.

“If you don’t have any other unforeseen circumstances.”

Y/N tried to contain her laughter in vain, receiving Chase's furious look and Wooyoung's complicit look, he left rolling his eyes at Y/N's fiancé leaving the two alone with his heart in his hands.

He couldn't bear to imagine her alone with that idiot but for now it had to be like that, until he found a way to help her.

“Was that funny to you?” Chase asked as soon as he heard the living room door close.

She huffed, leaving the bottle on the sink.

“I have no time for your dramas.” she retorted and followed the same way as Wooyoung.

However, she barely reached the room, as Chase grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop.

“Don’t think I didn’t notice the exchange of looks between you.” he spoke threateningly and she tried not to show how much it affected her.

That's why she decided to pretend she didn't understand.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She tried to pull her arm away but he tightened his grip. “Can you let me go?” she asked, a little more firmly.

“Don’t even try to have your bachelorette party with the photographer. It won’t be worth it anyway.”

Y/N felt her palm itch to slap him but realized she didn't need to, the fact that Chase's ego was hurt because of Wooyoung was enough for her at that moment.

“Said the man who is using blackmail to have a woman who doesn’t love him.” she replied in a sarcastic tone and he forcefully brought her closer. "What are you gonna do?" she smiled wryly. "Hit me?"

She couldn't reveal what she really felt for Wooyoung but she had enough strength to defy him, knowing that she could count on Wooyoung had given her the courage she needed in that situation and for the first time she left him without an answer.

Now more than ever she was committed to finding a way not to get married.

[...]

Y/N was already lying in bed, looking at the ceiling reflecting on everything and nothing at the same time, her parents were already sleeping in the other room and the house was completely pitch black, indicating that it was already late at night. } She couldn't sleep, no matter how much she turned in bed, she didn't even need to look at the clock on her phone to know that it was already dawn and she had wasted a lot of time lying there.

The device vibrated next to the bed and she jumped in fright, she almost didn't look at her phone because she wasn't in the mood but her curiosity was greater.

When she unlocked the screen she saw a message from Wooyoung.

'Open the door'

She sat on the bed as soon as she read the message with a frown, replied asking which door and received the answer quickly.

‘From the entrance, I’m here.’

Y/N's jaw dropped and she got out of bed hurriedly, without remembering the thin fabric pajamas she was wearing she left the room trying to be silent, leaving her phone in the room. She went to the living room without turning on the lights and opened the door slowly so as not to make any noise, he was standing there in front of her with a worried expression.

Before she could question why he was there, Wooyoung took a long step and pulled her into an almost desperate hug, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his face in her neck.

Y/N just reciprocated, confused but happy to be able to breathe deeply against the heat of his body, she didn't count how long they stayed there but neither of them separated anytime soon.

"Are you well?" he whispered and his breath against her skin made her shiver.

"Yes, I am."

Now she was much better with him there.

He pulled away and his eyes darted to Y/N's outfit.

“Nice outfit.” he jerked his head towards her pajamas, making her blush.

"Silly." she pushed him lightly and he laughed softly, closing the door behind him. “What are you doing here at this time?”

“I couldn’t sleep, I kept thinking about what that monster was going to do to you.” he admitted and she smirked.

“Modesty aside, I defended myself very well.” she said, proudly and he narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah?" he crossed his arms. "What did you say?"

She shrugged.

"The truth. That he is blackmailing a woman who doesn't even love him, it's the only way he can be with me.”

He smiled proudly and admiringly, barely able to stop his hand from going to the back of her head. Y/N did nothing but look him in the eyes and sigh.

"The only way?"

Her cheeks burned violently at Wooyoung's low and seductive tone, but she liked that feeling, it was reminiscent of their first kiss.

“He’s gonna live with the fact that my heart will never be his.” she was sincere, making him bring their bodies closer together again.

“You say as if your heart already has an owner.” he tried to contain a smile but Y/N saw it too well, moving her hand from his arm to his shoulder making him shiver.

"And has." she replied with conviction, making him raise an eyebrow. "You."

His smile grew at the same time that a sparkle appeared in his eyes, she just returned the smile. Wooyoung then took his other hand to her waist, wrapping his arm around her and took a few steps forward, automatically she walked backwards until she felt the hard surface of the wall and of course her legs faltered.

“We are so corny.” he whispered and she laughed. “We look like two teenagers in love.”

“And aren’t we?”

He laughed softly and in response brought his face closer to Y/N's, stroking her nose with his own, she just closed her eyes while her heart accelerated considerably.

He didn't rush anything even though their already heavy breaths hit each other, they both just needed that stolen moment in hope that it would last forever.

It was Wooyoung who ended the little distance that remained, hot and eager lips met in an intense and quick kiss, their bodies missed the textures of each other's lips. It was as if they had been away from each other's arms for years.

They didn't wanted to wait to lose themselves in that feeling of wet lips molding perfectly, as if they were made for each other.

When the tongues took over the action, Wooyoung's hand went to the back of Y/N's head and increased the speed of the kiss, making her hug him by the shoulders with both arms to be firm or else she would fall.

Air at that moment seemed like such a small detail, they wanted to get lost in that kiss, in each other's tastes.

And that's exactly what they did, until their lungs hurt.

It was Y/N who broke the kiss, not because she really wanted to but because she needed to, she just didn't count that Wooyoung would distribute kisses all over her face and down to her jaw followed by her neck, there would be no way her legs would stay steady anyway.

"What are we doing?" she asked with a wide smile on her face and still with her eyes closed.

“We are loving each other.” he responded against her skin, making goosebumps emerge as he began to give light bites. "So much."

Y/N brought her hands to the back of his neck, caressing while he didn't seem to be satisfied with the wet kisses he was giving on her skin.

“Woo.” she called him and in response he gave a light bite right below her ear, she had to bite her own lower lip to keep from letting out a moan.

That's why she took a hand to his hair and pulled without much force, to make him look at her.

"Don't do that." he said biting his lower lip as well and she got lost in the intense glow of passion in his eyes.

“You know how much I wanted to ask you to stay.” Suddenly her mouth went dry just with his eyes looking at her so closely and she had to wet her lips with her own tongue.

"I know." he smiled lightly and his hand went to her cheek where he caressed it slowly, making her close her eyes momentarily. "I'm leaving."

Although she nodded, the last thing she wanted was for him to leave.

“One more kiss and I’ll be gone.” he asked and she smiled sideways.

He approached for a new kiss, this time with the taste of a painful goodbye but also with the certainty that it wouldn't be the last between them.

Y/N was sure once again that she could spend the whole night in his arms.

[...]

“Your father just called.” Y/N's mother stopped at the kitchen door. “It seems that a witness has emerged in your brother’s favor.”

Y/N opened her eyes wide and went to her mother.

"Like how? When?"

“Apparently there was a witness with the guy in the other car, they were in a bar or something, he saw the guy leave the place completely drunk and speeding more than he should have.”

Y/N felt a wave of relief course through her body.

“But why did he only appear now?” she questioned, still a little lost.

“The lawyer said he didn’t know what had happened before, when he found out about the case he went to the police to tell them what he saw that day.”

Y/N's jaw dropped and she blinked several times.

"And now?"

“I’m going to the hospital to tell your brother.” said and she nodded. “Your father will meet me there.”

"Alright, mom. As soon as I get off work, I’ll stop by the hospital.”

The two said goodbye and Y/N went to brush her teeth as soon as her mother left the house, after finishing she picked up her bag on the sofa and went to the door, looking for the key that seemed to be hidden in the middle of her things in the bag.

She was too busy to notice that Chase was at the door just waiting for her to open and when she did, he took her bag and threw it far into the house, making her startle and lift her head to look at him.

Chase entered the house and grabbed her arms, shaking her.

“Do you think you can do this to me?” He asked, completely irritated and she looked at him scared.

"Are you crazy?" she spoke louder, trying to get away from his hands in vain.

“You really are a slut, all I had to do was turn my back and you stabbed me.”

"What are you talking about?"

Chase laughed in disbelief.

“From your little show last night.” she frowned. “Of course you would rub yourself against the photographer at the first opportunity like a slut.”

Y/N was unresponsive for a moment and her silence made Chase shake her harder, angrily.

"Answer me!"

“How did you-” she barely finished the sentence because he interrupted her.

"What do you think? I put a camera in this room.” Y/N looked at him completely offended. “I wanted to make sure your affair with him wasn’t just an illusion in my head.”

She shook her head, unable to believe that this was happening because she knew that he was fully capable of doing something absurd like that.

All the frustrations, fears, insecurities and doubts since Chase had blackmailed her had taken over her but now she had more than hope, she was sure that she would no longer have the weight of her wrongfully convicted brother on her shoulders.

Relief came and with it her voice became firmer and even louder.

"You really wanna know? Yes, I kissed him.” she admitted and with all the strength she had, she freed herself from his grip. “And I plan on kissing Wooyoung for the rest of my life!” he glared at her as she took steps back. “I love him and your blackmail is no longer strong because my brother will be free with or without the footage.” she smiled widely and saw him falter for a few seconds. “I'm not marrying you, Chase, ever. Not even if humanity depends on it. Now get out of my house!”

Her breathing became labored, the screams she gave were of freedom and she felt light. However, Chase didn't look happy at all.

He blinked a few times and then advanced on her, holding her jaw with one hand while with the other he grabbed her waist and made her lean against the wall.

Y/N started to struggle, trying to push him away.

"I will not give up on you." he warned. “I’m gonna have you back.”

“You can't get it back what was never yours.” she replied between her teeth, she was feeling suffocated by his presence and his hand on her face.

“We’ll see.”

He lifted Y/N's face and decided to attack her neck with kisses that made Y/N start punching his chest to make him move away.

"Let me go!" she screamed, feeling disgusted every time his mouth touched her skin and tears began to form. "Stop it.”

“If you’re not going to be mine, you’re not going to be anyone else’s.” he spoke angrily and began to hug her around the waist to stop her from continuing to fight.

"Help! Somebody help."

That was Y/N's last scream before Chase was pushed away from her, he staggered back in confusion while Y/N cried against the wall.

“Get your filthy paws off her.” Wooyoung's voice echoed through the room, the harsh tone betraying how angry he was.

Seeing Y/N being grabbed against her will by that idiot had made him see red the moment he reached his feet at the entrance of the house, he didn't see anything else, he just walked up to the two and threw Chase away.

“Woo.” Her shaky voice made him step in front of her protectively, she grabbed the dark denim vest he was wearing.

“If you touch her one more time, I’ll break your arm.” he warned and Chase laughed wryly.

“I’m not scared of a loser like you.”

“Try it if you’re a man.”

Chase felt provoked and then advanced on Wooyoung who did the same before he could get close to Y/N, she even tried to stop him while still holding his clothes but she couldn't, Wooyoung applied the first blow. A hard punch to Chase's face, enough to make a loud noise and the man staggered to the side as Wooyoung threw another punch at him.

Chase held him by the waist and pushed him against the wall, Wooyoung hit his back but managed to retaliate by kneeing him in the stomach.

“Stop!” Y/N screamed desperately when she saw that neither of them were going to stop. "Stop it!"

When Wooyoung was punched in the face, she ran to the bag thrown on the floor and grabbed her phone in desperation, dialing the emergency number.

It was time for Wooyoung to strike one more time and immobilize him by the neck she had already called the police.

“I should break your neck for daring to blackmail and touch my girl.” he spoke quietly to Chase who was trying to free himself. “But you’re not worth it.”

He released him, kicking him in the back as he sucked in the air he'd lost lying on the floor.

Wooyoung stood up and looked at him with disgust, Y/N ran to him worried.

"Are you ok?" she asked while analyzing his face, he had blood in the corner of his mouth and his hands were red from the punches he had given and even though he was breathing heavily, he was standing as if nothing had happened.

"I am fine." he replied, looking at her with a bit of guilt.

Her neck was red and just from those marks he wanted to keep punching Chase.

"Come here." He pulled her into a hug, without taking his eyes off Chase, he looked really hurt.

And even though he shouldn't have felt this way Wooyoung was proud of himself for leaving him where he belonged.

The floor.

Y/N buried her face in Wooyoung's neck and tried to reduce the adrenaline in her blood by taking deep breaths of his scent to calm down.

In the background, sirens could be heard indicating they were arriving.

That was why Wooyoung pulled Y/N further away from Chase, so they could have a little more privacy while the police arrived.

"Are you ok?" he asked quietly and the answer he got was Y/N nodding.

“I’m glad you didn’t break anything, or else my mom would be mad.” she spoke against his skin and he laughed, at the sensation and her concern at that moment.

“Mad at her son-in-law for defending her daughter?” he asked in a slightly calmer tone.

“Don’t ever scare me like that again.” she asked and pulled away enough to look at him.

He took a deep breath and nodded, in a serious tone he asked “Was it sexy at least?”

[hello-nichya-here]

Every now and then I just remember how Riley was painted as the victim in his relationship with Buffy and it just makes me so mad. The writers keep telling us that she didn't appreciate him and his way of loving her, but we are SHOWN that it was actually the other way around.

Buffy was not perfect, and it's clear she first got attached to Riley because he was a normal dude and she very much needed something in her life to be normal - but when it turned out he also had a secret life, that he was also the "hero" of his group, she accept it. She continued to like him. She still wanted him around.

Riley meanwhile seemed to resent her for being the slayer, for being stronger than him, for having other stuff going on in her life, for having dated/being the object of affection of guys that were stronger than him.

His insecurity is ridiculous. He was literally willing to die just to be a very strong, but also very dead guy, instead of being a completely healthy dude with the strength of a regular dude. He even acts like him not being able to beat Buffy in a fight, even with the "power up" is what is causing her to be "distant" sometimes, not the fact that, like he said himself, she needs to prevent the end of the world every other week and that's kinda stressful and takes a lot of her free time.

He also complains about her asking him to take care of her younger sister, the most important thing in the world to her, so she doesn't have to worry about that while out killing vampires and demons - and he thinks of that as her "not letting her be useful", and then complains again when she gives him a bullshit role in the whole "stopping the doom of all of humanity", even though he just refused the thing that would make him actually useful. He also conveniently forgets things like Buffy asking HIM specifically to take care of her after she was wounded in a fight. He doesn't see any of that as her truly including him in her life and full on needing him like he wants her to - because it's not in the way that allows him to pretend he is THE hero, not the hero's boyfriend. Being important TO her doesn't actually matter, what he really wants is to feel superior, to be more important than her.

And even outside of the Slayer stuff: this dude really heard that his girlfriend's mother was potentially dying, and instead of thinking of how he can be there for her (something he CLAIMS he wants to do) all he can think about is "Why didn't she immediately call me? Why did she tell Spike first?" (I'm a spuffy fan, but come on, she only told Spike because he just happened to show up at the very second she was ready to open up about it and just needed a shoulder to cry on). Everything, even his girlfriend's struggle with the possibility of her parent dying and her needing to step up as a parent to her sibling, needs to be about HIM, his feelings, his wants and needs.

The fucker even has the nerve to cheat on her during all of this. Compare that to Angel going to Sunnydale to give her emotional support after Joyce died, or Spike comforting her before even knowing WHY she was crying and then sending flowers without a card to honor her mom and offer Buffy some compassion, but without disrespecting her very explicit "stay away from me, Spike." It's very clear which of these three guys never actually cared about her, even a little bit.

Hell, Riley is 100% sure that the only way for Buffy to "prove" her love is to suffer for him. Her sister tells him "I like you much more than her ex, you would never break her heart like he did" - and somehow, he doesn't take that as "Buffy and her family fully trust that I'm a good guy that would never do anything to hurt her" (something Buffy herself says to Angel's face in his show) but rather as a "Nothing I do would ever hurt her because she doesn't actually love me the way she loved Angel."

Not to mention: his assumption that Buffy was only ever attracted to Angel because he was a vampire, and thus any other vampire like Draculla or Spike could easily steal her from him, just shows how much he didn't understand her at all.

Buffy started crushing on Angel thinking he was just a normal human that knew about the supernatural and wanted to fight the good fight. She didn't find out about him being a vampire until he lost control for a second and went vamp-face after their first kiss, and it freaked her out.

She fangirled for a second meeting Dracula, but man, come on, OF COURSE the slayer will be excited to see the most popular vampire ever, and she was more than willing to kill him. The whole reason there were any flirty vibes between them was because the dude had literal mind-control powers.

Spike is the closest Buffy ever got to "dating a vampire because he is a vampire" and that was because she was literally craving death. Even then, she was horrified at her own attraction to him, AND there was a different side to their relationship, with Buffy liking Spike because he was the one person that wasn't disappointed and resenting her for being depressed.

For fuck's sake, she had a thing for PLENTY of normal guys - RILEY VERY MUCH INCLUDED!

He was the one that only cared about "who is stronger" and kept insisting that Buffy was the same even after overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

And for the show to then make HER go after him, make HER all sad when he is dating someone else, make one of her closest friends blame HER for everything that went wrong in their relationship, and then make HER basically claim he was right with bullshit lines like "I wasn't there for him like I was for Angel" is ridiculous - specially when, again, what made Buffy want to be with Riley in the first place was her trying to not fall into another unhealthy relationship like the one she had with Angel. They were codependent and when he left it nearly destroyed her. OF COURSE she's gonna try not being as obsessed with the next boyfriend (or with the one after him) because she knows that shit doesn't end well.

Again, say what will about both Angel and Spike, but at least Angel walked away after realizing their relationship was a dead-end that would never make Buffy truly happy, and Spike put himself through hellish torture to get his soul back and make sure he'd be a better man who would never make Buffy suffer.

RILEY being framed as "the perfect guy Buffy couldn't appreciate and let get away" is just insulting. Of all the guys Buffy has ever been with, he is the one that deserved her the least.

[project-sekai-facts]

As an “older” fan, there are transphobes of every age, but I think one big reason a lot of adult fans are more hesitant to read this as fully canon has nothing to do with media literacy and everything to do with being burned before. I’ve been in fandoms where we all felt confident about a relationship with clear parallels to canon romantic relationships and subtext that basically anyone would accept as romantic if it was for a m/f pairing, only for the creators to deconfirm it and point the finger at us, saying how it was never romantic and we all just read into it way too much so it wasn’t their fault for leading us on. Expecting all representation to be explicitly stated isn’t a good attitude, but I think the people who seek it out the most are the people who have gotten their hopes up before because they DID read the subtext but then had creators insist that subtext never existed in the first place. I’d like to think things are getting better in that regard, but it’s still important to remember that a lot of doubt isn’t coming from ignoring the subtext but instead a history of seeing clear subtext get disregarded in the end.

yeah that's true and i really really need to stop writing posts at 2am especially when i'm sick. i've been in situations like that with shows i've watched before, where they've written out characters with queer subtext or handled the subjects really badly. admittedly what i'm referring to is western media, but i know the same stuff happens in Japanese medias too. i understand the doubt that people still hold, especially since the event left things open ended at least from what mizuki had to say (classmate A did confirm Mizuki as amab and insinuate that she IDs as female when talking to Ena but it's still up in the air for now).

that said, i won't advise putting your faith in a company that keeps putting out cashgrab gachas, but clpl has shown to care about queer issues and mention them in their stories. An's wedding event criticises marriage inequality in Japan, and even though it's only a few lines of dialogue, it's a stance against the opression of gay and trans people. i'm not saying to trust them 100%, but it's a sign that this storyline should be handled with care (it also helps that sega, although just the 3dmv maker and license holder, is a sponsor of tokyo's pride events).

[crepes-suzette-373]

There is a panel that I didn't bring up in my "Ichiji's thuggish language" analysis because I had doubts about it. But with Kizaru's dramatic speech in the newest chapter (1124), I'm feeling a bit more confident about my analysis so I'm just gonna mention this now.

(still a bit nervous about jumping the gun, but hey, my theories are just for fun)

Sanji's bros don't really talk often enough, but the impression I'm getting is that for the most part Ichiji is the only one who does not use slang/informal language.

There's two times where he says words that sounds rough/informal/not polite. One is when they all got caught in candy (see the linked analysis above), and the other one is this:

The way he says "I've got to go (to my brother's wedding)" is 行かなきゃ. This is very casual/informal. The more polite form should be 行かないと or 行かなければ (the latter is the more formal one).

Originally I had wondered if maybe I was wrong, and this means that his rough talk is not a big deal after all. But the latest chapter reminded me of the trope of "someone who has been putting on an act gets provoked into anger so strongly that it breaks the mask and their real self comes out".

I'll go back to Kizaru in a bit, but following that line of thought, then this might mean that Ichiji is genuinely so angry that his fake polite attitude dropped, just like what happened in the candy scene. In that case, he's not just intimidating the guy. He really meant it when he said that he needs to go to the wedding and this fight holding him up is upsetting him.

Following that, if being held up makes him that angry, it possibly implies that when he says this ⤵️ he wasn't being sarcastic, but he might have actually meant it too:

Why, though? That remains to be seen, but there's strong suggestion that really weird stuff is happening here. (More exhibit of weird stuff in my list, scroll down to the Germa specific stuff)

Hiding this just in case of spoilers/you're not caught up yet.

So in chapter 1124, Akainu calls up the Marines at Egghead and Kizaru picks up because everyone else are still downed by haki. Akainu accused Kizaru of slacking, and Kizaru exploded. Having to obey the higher ups' orders to get rid of Vegapunk had really hurt him.

Kizaru was using his typical casual/somewhat playful manner of talking at first. Dragging out the end of the words (imagine something like "you knooooowww") and using omae-san お前さん (informal) to say "you". But then the way he talks changes. He drops the dragging words, and switched to using temee てめェ (super rude) as "you" as he went ballistic on Akainu.

Also, the translation seems to go for a more polite term, but Kizaru calls Akainu kusogaki クソガキ. It's probably more precisely "shitty brat". He really got mad.

Anyway, Kizaru has already dropped the dragging tone a few other times when he gets serious. This gives me the impression that Kizaru's "cheery" act was fake. This laid back unserious goof act is the typical trope of someone who is actually dissatisfied with life, but adopts this personality because they see no possibility of changing, so they might as well just go with the flow. I see this pretty often in manga or games.

He was already like this when he first met Vegapunk (as shown in the flashbacks), so it's very likely that he's already given up for a long time.

I have no proof of that though, so for now at the very least we know that his friendship with Vegapunk is genuine and he was faking a lot of his behaviour during Egghead.

So, is Ichiji hiding something else? Without any additional info, all that's "provable" with the above panels is that Ichiji is actually more aggressive than he lets on, but has to pretend to be polite because of his status. There's other little gestures that do give off the impression that he's hiding something else, but there's nothing clear yet.

With other superficial similarities with Kizaru (constantly wearing sunglasses + light/laser beam attacks) added on top, the parallel is kind of intriguing to ponder.

[flightyalrighty]

I think you saying that you mainly ship sonadow just made my day along with the fact you go "hell yeah" about it 😭😭

I have some questions

1) Why do you like the ship? I like it because of the whole opposites attract thing

2) I like to think of Sonic and Shadow having that sort of "rivals to lovers" trope and opposite attract as said before, which idk if it applies to you because everyone ships things differently so

If you were to do any comic media about them, how would you do it?

3) Do you think about doing more art about them in the future?

(◍•ᴗ•◍)

I'm sorry for the questions about the ship I just like that fact that my one of my favorite sonic comic artists ships my personal favorite ship, along with surgamy lmao

Since I can't do images anonymously, here's a bug playing saxophone

🎶🎷🐛

I'd say it's less that they're opposites for me and more like they're two sides of the same coin. Also I guess because I grew up with Archie Sonic and there's a lot there. Like, it's a WHOLE different dynamic than game!Sonadow (like for instance they were way more like allies than rivals in that comic) and that's what stuck with me -- But I like that they can rely on each other in a way that feels different than friendship. And they can travel together and stuff. Sonic has been all over the world and Shadow might still be trying to discover this planet Maria loved so much. He can be shown the beauty and joy of life on Earth Mobius Unnamed Planet. Does that make any sense at all? I'm sleepy. Also! I like the idea of Shadow just like. Trying to integrate himself within Sonic's friends and family (Tails). He's the only one who'd have this problem btw. Everyone else is chill (except Knuckles maybe).

I was privately writing a fanfic that i shared with my friends that was like, "Aaahhh it's (I think it was 6 total?) years into the future, but ONE year into the future Sonic and Shadow had a jewish wedding bc i hc Shadow as jewish (bc i hc the robotnik family as jewish) and Eggman has been straight up sent to prison by G.U.N. and things are great for a while and there's peace but THEN with Eggman out of the way, G.U.N. does a full-scale invasion on the whole world to "bring order" to a world they find irredeemably chaotic USING Eggman who is now forced to work under them to make weapons of war. Shadow immediately leaves G.U.N. out of disgust and as a cruel "punishment" for this, Sonic gets captured by G.U.N. and turned into their own living weapon. For five years Shadow and Tails, who now consider each other their only family (I won't get into what happened with Amy, Knuckles, Rouge and Omega rn) are trying to survive under this horrible regime and rebelling where they can BUT Shadow is completely heartbroken and sabotages bigger and more dangerous G.U.N. operations in order to lure Sonic out and accepting less help from allies as the years continue on and he's still unable to find and save blue hedgehog husband. He returns to Tails with more and more injuries that Tails has to fix up and there's a lot of yelling. So I guess I like angsty sonadow? But I don't know if I'd turn that fanfic into a comic. But if I made a sonadow comic, that would be the one.

Someone would need to chop off my hands to stop me from making more sonadow art (eventually)

[hella1975]

WHAT JUST HAPPENED

about to play thoroughfare in the car with my dad 🙏🏼

[thepersonnamedsam]

carlos‘ song - cs55

pairing: carlos sainz x fem!reader

summary: you wrote a song about carlos

word count: 1.2k

warnings: angst, mentions of death, anxiety, sad stuff

note: i have been obsessed with carlo‘s song lately and i just had to write something for carlos, bc obv carlo‘s - carlos

masterlist / taglist

Standing on the rooftop of this bar in Madrid, your short hair blew in the cold air. Apparently it’s not just any bar, the bar is placed on a fire tower.

The sun was just about to set and you tried to keep your hair under control. „You know, I liked it more when it was long.“ Carlos looked at you with his big brown round eyes and it reminded you of a deer caught in a headlight.

„Oh really?“, you grinned. When you two first met you were only 12 years old, little best friend of Isa. You never taught you would one day stay on this roof top with her brother.

„Yeah, do you remember drinking in the parking lot? By the trail head? Yeah, I liked your hair that day.“

You felt heat rush to your head, you blamed it on the cold. „Okay, I can grow it out long, if you’d like that?“

You only just moved back to Madrid. Ida was supposed to pick you up from the airport but instead there stood a bright red Ferrari with not Isa but her brother Carlos instead. And he didn’t take you to his sisters, no he treated you to a drink on the fire tower.

Only the good die young was playing on the speakers.

„You know, I never understood what Billy Joel meant with those lyrics“, you thought out loud. „Didn’t you just study english literature?“ - „Yeah, and?“ Your eyebrows raised at him, silently questioning his thoughts.

„Like, aren’t you just supposed to know what he meant with his lyrics?“

„I mean, I have my own meaning, but it’s ridiculous.“ - „No, please tell me, because I always laugh at the lyrics“, Carlos said.

„I mean, obviously in the first verse he wants to have sex with virgin catholic girls. And ‚only the good die young‘ you can argue about that - young people who die didn’t deserve it, therefore they were good. Or old people aren’t good anymore, or many more.“

„Not ridiculous“, he smiled. „Huh?“ - „Your meaning of the song isn’t ridiculous, not in the slightest.“

You smiled, hard. Carlos was an interesting man and you wondered what more grew under that perfect skin of his.

„I think we are going to be good friends, Carlos“, you told him. „You think so?“, was his answer. You nodded and grinned at him.

Over the time you grew closer together, Carlos showed you parts of Madrid you only remembered vaguely from your childhood. But the distance of his job hurt more and more. You knew what a relationship with him meant. You knew only too good, heard Isa over the phone crying over missing her brother.

But the days he spent in between were the best you ever experienced.

„I want a big house out in the open. Where the sun always shines and all the light gets into the house!“, Carlos gushed. You were laying on the couch together and planned how your future would look like if money didn’t matter - not that it did anyway.

„Whys that?“, you asked him. „I don’t like the way my skin feels when it’s not shown on by the sun. I like the warmth, never liked the cold, brrr“, his arms snaked around your upper body and shook it like you were freezing.

Your laugh was heard throughout the apartment. Carlos grinned at you, his skin warming with the sound of your happiness.

„Why don’t you like the way your skin feels without the sun?“

„It makes me feel like I need to escape my own body. Like I don’t belong, it just feels wrong.“

„Well I hope you can escape your skin with me“, you smiled at the man you were falling more and more in love with.

But you still never went to a grand prix with him. And when he asked you why, you came up with a new excuse as not to.

You started to pick up more work, started to work over the weekends. You had less and less time to call Carlos over the weekend, making him question your feelings for him.

Until it happened. It happened on a Saturday at FP2. It was quickly over. You only heard about the incident the next day, as you wondered why Carlos didn’t start.

Isa called you. 48 seconds. That’s how long the phone call lasted. The news shattered your heart. Broken into millions of pieces. You couldn’t believe it, no, Isa was definitely playing pranks with you.

You fell, you fell deep into a hole. A hole you never knew you sighed it yourself. Deeper and deeper. Until Isa visited you. She brought you his clothes he still had at home. She brought his necklace that he was about to gift you. His initials graved into the back of the pendant.

But still, everyone who started talking about him being gone, you shut out. You shut them right out, because in your mind he was still alive, he was still racking and he was winning.

But the reality was none of that. And reality hit you, it hit you hard. His memorial was held at the end of the season. And Isa asked you to talk about him. You had to admit he was dead.

„I can’t do it, Isa.“ - „Please, you were his everything, he talked so much about you! Did you know he had been crushing on you since he was 16?“

„Did you set us up? The day you didn’t pick me up from the airport and instead sent him?“

Isa looked at you, just like Carlos had when he was caught doing something he shouldn’t have. This big brown eyes. Glistening with mischief - it was something that all of the Sainz family possessed.

„You caught me“, she shamelessly shrugged with her shoulders and smirked at you. „It was time? He was pining on you for so long, but you were away studying and he was so sad, I had to do it, it was his only chance!“

His memorial was beautiful, the whole grid present. Charles and Frédéric spoke about his time at Ferrari, Lando held a speech about their friendship and Isa sung a beautiful song. She still tried to convince you to speak, but you just couldn’t.

Isa and you still regularly talked to each other. She was doing good, better than her anyway. You almost never talked about Carlos. You weren’t bringing him up, neither did she.

The one thing Isa told you was: „Grief is just love letting go. It’s okay to let go.“

You almost cried - how could she say that like it was just spilled milk?

„Look at yourself, when’s the last time you cut your hair? You always kept it short, but now?“

You did visit him at his grave. Brought flowers and letters for him to read. Eventually you wrote a song. A song to remember him - Carlos‘ Song.

And one day you stood on a stage, at the bar they had their first date at and sung Carlos‘ Song.

Isa was there, smiling up at you and filming the whole thing. „I’m going to show it to my parents“, she smiled.

And you knew Carlos was smiling down on you and kept you alive.

°°°

@ironmaiden1313 , @topguncultleader , @biglittlesecret , @gulabjamooon , @lovelyy-moonlight , @peachyplumsss , @mistrose23 , @copper-boom , @love4lando , @champomiel , @serenityleah , @iloveyou3000morgan , @angelwithoutmywings , @elleeeee21 , @youkissedareaderinthedark , @mikauraur , @thybulleric , @lpab , @fdl305 , @mellowarcadefun , @teti-menchon0604 , @vildetry06 , @bibissparkles , @aurora-maria , @lunnnix , @sya-skies , @Buckywifeyy , @dakotali , @rechtrecht , @noncannonships , @1eclerc16 , @pitlanebabe , @sopheeg , @avengersheart , @thatsadsmallchild , @peachiicherries , @idkiwantchocolatee , @callsign-scully , @mehrmonga , @badbatch-simp24 , @lissyontour , @din0nugs , @elliegrey2803 , @gay-for-victoria-de-angelis , @10vely-yutazen , @daggersquadphantom , @azriel-the-shadowsinger , @i-love-scott-mccall , @darleneslane , @mikauraur , @heartmetaphor , @darleneslane , @ellswilliams , @thxtmarvelchick , @nataliambc , @dontjudgeabookbythecover , @hockeyboysarehot , @thehistoryone

[darqx]

Some BP/HH/General asks

That mood when you want to share all the things but also want to keep it under wraps for the actual thing haha! Thanks very much anon!

As for your questions, I can't actually be specific cos there's no definitive number I have in mind for either. Basically there are a number of sectors (you can consider them their equivalent of countries - they have less than what we do though), and a number of species of demon of which I've designed about seven of. The ones I've shown before are these guys (and do you think I could find this pic again? No, I had to recreate it cos for the life of me I couldn't remember what ask I'd previously stuck it in lol):

One day when i have enough species and stuff out there I want to make a proper field guide \o/

Thank you very much for the interest! ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿ I would actually love to for BP, but before I jump the gun there I have to get the comic out first lol. That being said I have made mini-games before featuring the HH versions and some other characs alas they are all lost at the moment to the sands of Flash becoming obsolete 😩

Me and Gato do still collab sometimes (and send each other Xmas presents)! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

I have been working on one off and on for a while actually! Hopefully I'll have some pages to post next year or so*, I've been doing a bit of thumbnailing recently :D

*that is the plan but i also don't know where people find the time to do anything with a full time job lol.

Hullo! Glad you are enjoying the snippets of BP I've got here and there :D Here is an older ref on Izm back when i first got the idea (at that time i didn't really plan to do anything with it, it was just an AU. Now it's my main project haha. Anyway the ref is a little bit out of date in that regard.)

I used to have a "field guide" which was also made quite a while ago, unfortunately the death of Flash kinda killed it. Here's a screenshot of some relevant info from it though.

That's an interesting one as it's questionable how sentient souls are after removal 🤔 In my mind its only form is the smoke light, it can "see" to some degree and MIGHT be able to talk (but in a very no one can hear them sort of way, a la i have no mouth and i must scream. So i guess it can think "aloud"). The more time passes the less sentience it has.

It could try, though it wouldn't really get anywhere if it's in Rire's collection. He might just eat it lol.

.D: Good with kids, will be fine in all aspects.

Izm: The fun dad however needs a partner that knows what they're doing to ensure the child safety during shenanigans.

Marcus and Zeke: Also would be good parents though might be more helicopter out of protectiveness/worry when first starting out.

Ren: Geek parent very good for homework help. Some Asian parent tendencies eg "ah see, i told you not to do that right? Now you see what happened."

They are similar to our known society for this! So basically, there are some good families out there (eg Zeke - who is a demon - is from a pretty average loving family), and there are some bad families out there who only care about power or having an heir or whatever.

HH Rire is a human. I differentiate between him and Demon Rire because they are two different characters...even though they are also technically the same character lol. You can consider them as alternate universe iterations of a base "Rire" concept.

I actually half jested this in an old comic lol

I am sorry to inform you that a HH webcomic doesn't actually exist 😅 I did a lot of art, animations and one shots (such as the HHJ comics) with them, but nothing actually planned or serialised or anything. Whatever's currently on my DA or here is basically what exists.

Bringing this image back cos it's relevant lol.

You spelled it correct there though! XD

[exactlyyoungchaos]

till forever falls apart.

bestfriendSimon x F!Reader

Part 2.

CW: Character death, trauma, angst, inaccurate military stuff, fluff, probable smut, mental health issues. Proceed with Caution!!!!!

(not proofread, it's 4.30 in the morning here)

It's been five months, six days, twelve hours, and counting since you reunited with Simon in that cafe. Life has been great since then.

He has changed a lot, he's quieter, more gruff, and talks through grunts only. he had scars both physically and emotionally, but you didn't care about any of that. He was your Simon, the only boy you ever loved.

he told you a lot about his life after you left, his job, his teammates his scars, but there were still many things to know and love. You told him stuff about your life, and now that you had him again, all you had was time. to live your life and grow old with him.

he promised you that this assignment would be the last one, after that, he was all yours.

you didn't want him to quit something he loved. but all he said was "It's bout' time love. I have you now, I don't need anything else."

The day you sent him off was very emotional for you. you had just met him again and didn't wanna let him go. You wanted to stay with him.

It was lonely after he left, it felt like somebody took oxygen away from you making it hard to breathe again. His letters and short calls were the only things that kept you from spiraling into depression but you pulled through, just for him.

now you were waiting for his return eagerly. This was the last time you'd ever have to. After this, it was just you and him.

You hadn't heard from him in a few days but you knew he would return today. You cleaned the whole apartment, made his favorite meal, and wore his favorite dress of yours to welcome him.

you were still fussing over the food as your doorbell rang. your heart skipped a beat in excitement. why is he ringing the doorbell? you mused as you went to open the door. Maybe he lost his keys or something...

You opened the door. " welcome back, Si...." but confusion slammed into you when you realized it wasn't Simon but his captain John Price, standing in his full glory.

It was easy to recognize him after Simon had shown you so many pictures of him and his teammates.

"Captain? What are you doing here? Where's Simon? he didn't tell me his team was coming too but it's alright..."

"love" he cuts you off in a soft voice, eyes full of emotion.

That's when you see it, the dog chains in his hand. The same chain Simon had around his neck. You look at him and understanding dawns on you.

"I'm so sorry, luv," he starts

but you stop him.

" No. this isn't funny Mr. Price. Where is he? Where Simon?" you asked harshly.

your heart was beating out of your chest, your vision got blurry.

One look at his face and it all came crashing down.

No, no, no, no. This isn't happening. you kept chanting in your head as Simons's words came back rushing to you

"This's the last one lovie, after that, it's you and me."

He wasn't gone. he can't be gone. you just got him back.

You felt the world tilting on its axis and suddenly two strong arms held you up.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" a soft voice whispered above you. You didn't care about any of that.

He was gone. Simon was gone. Just like that.

You felt John sitting you down on the sofa and he knelt in front of you.

you looked at him. looked at the man who came to tell you that your future would not be here anymore.

"How?" is all you managed to get out. Simon wasn't a rookie, he didn't make mistakes. He was The Ghost.

"Took the bullet meant for Soap," he told you softly.

Soap. you knew that name, but none of it was registering.

Simon is dead. He left you. Permanently.

you can't sit on the laptop and stalk every Simon in the world in hopes of finding yours. he was gone. the one person you gave your whole life searching for, is gone, not coming back.

why? why did this always happen to you? you never asked anything from anyone, never meant bad for anyone. never cursed anyone, then why?

Why would the universe do this do you? take the one thing that kept you going all these years. Do you not deserve it? was your destiny cursed like this?

you gave everything up just for him, sacrificed everything, your life, your innocence all to just find him and when you finally did, he was taken away from you.

why was this world so cruel? what have you done to deserve this? Is this a sign? your life was over now. was this the end?

tears kept coming out of your eyes as you sat and stared at the wall. you didn't scream or shout. just sat there and willed that this nightmare would be over. but it didn't.

John sat there, in front of you, looking at your state. Simon told him all about his bird. That he found her again.

"Gonna lock her down Cap'n, the second I get out of here."

But he didn't make it out. John failed him, he failed his team. Now that he stared at your faraway gaze, he realized that he failed you too.

but none of that mattered to you. You couldn't feel anything but everything at the same time.

you were numb but every part of you ached for something that's gone. Claws were ripping your insides out. Your heart ripped out from you. You were bleeding inside, and all of the wounds you had acquired over the years that were not on your skin were open and throbbing.

and no one was to blame.

It was in the lines of your hands and the scroll of your fate to never have something you want. You hoped and prayed that this time it would be different. But it wasn't.

everything you touch becomes sick with sadness or death. you weren't worthy of any grace by the universe.

so it took away the only person you ever called yours. The only one who knew you for who you are. what you are.

He was gone, all that was left of him was the memory of his faint chuckle and the crinkle in the corner of his eye when you said something ridiculous, the rumble in his chest when you hugged him, the feel of his lips on your own, his clothes in the closet that you shared and the house that was in his name. nothing else.

you had nothing else anymore.

UHMMMMM!!! HIII! THIS IS I. ALI. AND I APOLOGIZE FOR THE HURT CAUSED BY THIS.

I hope you guys liked it. I'm still writing part 3 of Loml. so enjoy this in the meantime.

I'm struggling with where to take this story next. Do you guys have any ideas? if you do, please suggest them in my inbox. And do tell me if you want to be tagged in the next part.

Thank you so much for reading!!!!

Until next time!!!

ALI-💋💋💋

[asofspades]

I've seen a lot of people trying to get into the BSD light Novels and quite frankly you can read them in order but I do have a recommendation about the order I think makes more sense chronologically regarding the story.

So:

1. LN 3. The Untold Origins of the Armed Detective Agency.

2. LN 1. Osamu Dazai's Entrance Exam.

These two take place prior to the beginning of the main timeline and are actually a great way of understanding Ranpo and the partnership between Dazai and Kunikida (also recommend LN 1 to anime only watchers because they mixed the first chapters of the manga with Dazai's entrance exam which takes place 2 years prior to the manga and they royally screwed up on Kunikida's characterisation by doing that)

3. LN 7. Dazai, Chuuya, Age Fifteen

(the manga was good but I feel like you might understand Dazai and Chūya's dynamic and the difference of their relationship to both Mori and the Mafia once you read this)

4. LN 8. Stormbringer

(you might actually understand Chūya as a character after you read this one, dives a bit deeper into his relationship with Dazai, explains who Verlaine actually is and talks about stuff that's mentioned afterwards in the manga, like singularities)

5. LN 9. The Day I Picked up Dazai side A

(this happens at some point between LN 7 and LN 2, and helps you understand Dazai and Oda's relationship prior to reading LN 2, how Oda ended up in the Mafia and also a bit more dive into Dazai's character)

6. LN 2. Osamu Dazai and The Dark Era

(better than shown in the anime, allows you to see how Oda sees Dazai since it's written from his pov, a good dive into Dazai's character while in the mafia and why he actually left )

Once you finish The Guild arc

7. LN 4. 55 Minutes

8. LN 5. Dead Apple

(so, the first one is a bit crazy but actually dives a lot into Atsushi's character, explains weird phenomena in BSD regarding singularities and how Dazai isn't affected by certain abilities even without touch, how Yosano can actually use her ability on Dazai and I find it quite interesting, HG Wells is an interesting character as well)

(Dead Apple is entertaining and dives once again into characters and their abilities but also explains weird singularities again, also the bond between Dazai and Chūya, it also gets a bit weird towards the end in regards to things happening that might be hard to understand but the rest is easier to understand than in the movie adaptation)

9. LN 9. The Day I Picked up Dazai side B

(it's set in the alternate universe of LN 6. Beast and a great point to understand Dazai's actions and motivations in said light novel)

10. LN 6. Beast

(it should come with a warning that it's going to ruin your mental health for a while, an alternate universe of BSD, brings in the Book so you might one to read this during/after the cannibalism arc because it kind of explains a bit what the book does or how it kind of works, definitely needs a bit more explaining but it is good info before starting with the vampirism arc and all that stuff, the book is important and there's talk about singularities again. It's also cool to see how the same characters adapt to a different lifestyle, Akutagawa in the ADA, Atsushi in the PM, kyouka in the PM but with Atsushi, Dazai if he stayed in the PM, the ending will fully rip your heart out if the rest of the novel hasn't done it before that and I really recommend the manga adaptation of it because the art style is *chef's kiss* and heart wrenching)

Done with my rant now, you can still read them in their publishing order this is just my recommendation. Also, LN 9 is not out on paper yet and I think we only have fan translations online but it is definitely worth it, @popopretty has a really good translation of it.

And LN 7 is getting a manga adaptation which is also looking really good so you can check it out.

LN 5 has a manga adaptation as well as being a film and this one is not written by Asagiri but is still canon so you have that.