#not even to mention... labels exist for people to use not to be boxed into. i wouldnt be surprised if straight enby ppl exist!

[solarsodas]

i am kind of tired of people (including other nonbinary people) just reinventing gender roles and forcibly assigning them to strangers

[cluescorner]

There's no feeling stranger than knowing that something is bad but liking it anyways. Not in a 'it's so bad it's good' way. Because that implies that it has become good. I'm talking like this thing is just kinda bad in the normal ways things are bad, but i like it anyways.

[rxmxa]

⊹₊⟡⋆ pluto in aquarius (future) observations ⊹₊⟡⋆

Disclaimer: This is not about my personal politics or literally "predicting the future." These are just my observations based on past and current trends regarding Pluto in Aquarius and its corresponding themes. TW: brief mention of death.

"I rebel; therefore I exist." – Albert Camus

⊹₊⟡⋆Pluto is going to be in Aquarius until January 2044. Last time this happened was over 200 years ago, during the American, French, and Industrial revolutions. aka huge times of change! If you look at what's happening now, you'll see that we’re already at the start of another big shift.

⊹₊⟡⋆We’re about to see marginalized groups—women, people of color, queer folks, the elderly— taking the spotlight in ways we’ve never seen before. What used to be radical is about to be the norm. People who’ve always been pushed to the outskirts of society (Aquarius vibes) are going to start shining bright (Leo energy), and it’s going to be everything.

⊹₊⟡⋆it’s not just people tho it’s places too. Look at South America! These countries are about to flip the script, improving their economies, boosting investments, and raising their standards of living, while we might see a downturn in the West (for example, an American passport isn't really being seen as the epitome of "luxury "or "succes" aka MY MOM lol telling me "when ur dad brought me to this country i thought it was gonna be different- better.. but i liked living by the beach more than this!) Its not gonna be like "oh you live in america! wow! cool!" its gonna be like "oh you live in america? that sucks :(" LMAOO (and Ik this is a comment sentiment already so no need to get IN MY ASS im just EMPHASIZING that its gonna be way more common and the commentary might feel more extreme in a sense as we see transformation in our infrastructure, government, and communities.

⊹₊⟡⋆ El Salvador is a prime example of this shift in international perspective (flipping the scripts). They’ve done a complete 180 under their current president in regards to their public presentation. I’m not saying I agree with his policies, im saying its wild to see how different the conversation around El Salvador is compared to just 5 or 10 years ago, especially when I hear other older latinos in my community talk about. The presidents mention of investing in bitcoin (aqua) is part of this shift too.

⊹₊⟡⋆Here’s the thing: Pluto doesn’t just destroy—it transforms. And transformation means becoming something you’ve never been before. As Pluto moves through Aquarius, people and places are going to break out of the boxes we’ve put them in. Labels will get flipped upside down, and what we used to think was impossible is going to become reality. It's not about "oh, this is so weird." It's about shit happening that your brain couldn't even fathom (its like those jokes about how if we time traveled and gave a pilgrim a taki they would die lmaooo, WE'RE ABOUT TO BE THE PILGRIMS! just shook and COUGHING!)

⊹₊⟡⋆Now, as these marginalized groups find their voice and power, we’re going to see new groups stepping up and demanding rights, and it’s probably going to feel strange at first. Think about how 200 years ago, people probably thought it was ridiculous for women to want jobs or for people of color to demand voting rights. Future generations are going to look back at us and wonder why we didn’t extend rights to other groups sooner.

⊹₊⟡⋆One group that might surprise us? Children. Look at how kids are plastered all over social media by their parents. There’s going to be more serious debate about consent and protections for kids—or maybe even the opposite (pluto can mean danger/death), with kids being put in more risky situations before they stand up for their own rights. I wouldn’t be shocked if kids started suing their parents for exploitation someday. Or a future where kids can somehow just represent themselves in court... stuff like that.

⊹₊⟡⋆These movements might sound far-fetched at first, but they’re going to gain traction. Expect a lot of Aquarius-Leo themes, like fights for children’s rights (Leo), technology and tech freedom (Aquarius), and creative expression (Leo). We’ll keep seeing these ai debates about what really counts as art continue to intensify.

⊹₊⟡⋆And on that note, Pluto in Aquarius is going to flip the job market upside down. It’s not going to be about the boring old “I’m responsible and always on time and blah blah” stuff anymore on applications. It’ll be all about what makes you stand out (Leo)—the niche interests you have and the creative talents that make you you. I’m talking about people listing shit like dream interpretation or crocheting blankets as their job skills. It’s going to be totally normal one day! Those unique talents (Leo) are going to help you get ahead in this new era (Aquarius).

⊹₊⟡⋆I was watching a video about how, during the Industrial Revolution, the uber-wealthy were obsessed with collecting porcelain (and apparently pineapples too, because they were hard to get domestically). We're going to see the same thing happening with different stuff today. The uber wealthy going to go to extremes to prove they’re nothing like ordinary people. (you've seen those posts about celebrity events looking like the capitol in the hunger games).

⊹₊⟡⋆(This reminds me of Kim Kardashian admitting she got a salmon sperm facial—like, what the fuck!) But it’s going to be stuff like that. It won’t be about collecting cars or purses anymore; it’ll be about who’s getting the latest futuristic tooth-remodeling, gum-cleansing beauty treatment! It’s going to be about hoarding rare, everyday objects that, in 15–20 years, won’t be so accessible to the public—things like natural foods, fresh water, handmade furniture, printed books, vintage electronics (that old nintendo might be useful one day $$)… even clean air! The uber-rich will also start securing homes in countries or places that won’t be as susceptible to the effects of global warming.

⊹₊⟡⋆Listen carefully to your friends with Aquarius placements if you don't have any yourself! Aqua placements are the trendsetters! They are ahead of the game and if you listen to when they're trying to put you on you are not gonna get left behind!

⊹₊⟡⋆I'll give you a great example. My best friend has an Aquarius moon conjunct her aqua Uranus in the 6th house. So you really know she's getting sudden flashes of insight (Uranus) that are ahead of the game and innovative (aqua) all about self care, hygiene, work, and daily routines (6th house). These insights are really based on her intuition and her emotions that she is very in tune with (the moon).

⊹₊⟡⋆The other day we were talking and she was telling me that she is really trying to transform her daily routines. She is making her own detergent, ice cream, soaps etc (she wants to avoid toxic chemicals and preservatives). She is focusing on eating natural foods and she talked about how she wants to cut artificial sugar out of her diet completely. I kind of laughed it off and was all like "cmon one treat wont hurt! its all about moderation" and then she was telling me how moderation is actually such a subjective word and that when she's 60+ she wants to be able to run and hike and lift weights and play with her grandkids and she was really yapping it up with me! it was very descriptive!

⊹₊⟡⋆Now ofc my first reaction is to be like this sounds extreme because usually when aqua placements share their vision it's going to sound farfetched and throw people off. It's always how it's been. (RIP Galileo !! our aqua sun-mercury conjunction king who was thrown in jail just bc he was trying to let the homies know the earth orbits the sun!! he's always the first example I think of when it comes to that aqua backlash lol). But ANYWAY, after I let it sit for a while, I was like you know what she's right? I should take initiative to really pay attention to what I'm eating.

⊹₊⟡⋆During Pluto in Aquarius it's going to be REALLY important to take care of yourself. Disease will never go away but Pluto in aqua is going to give us more innovative ways to take care of ourselves! Modern science and tech WILL find ways to extend our lifespan! But we need to be able to survive and get there in the first place.

⊹₊⟡⋆Especially as it continues to become more difficult to access fresh food and water. Let's not make it worse for ourselves by eating like shit + not investing in your own forms of healing, medicine, exercise, and routines. Health must be a big priority if you want to reap the rewards of the up and coming tech and option.

⊹₊⟡⋆For example, smallpox was a significant and deadly disease in the 18th century, causing widespread outbreaks across the globe. In 1796, during the last Pluto in Aquarius cycle, Edward Jenner made a groundbreaking discovery in the prevention of smallpox by developing the first successful smallpox vaccination using cowpox. This was a major leap forward in medical science, marking the birth of modern immunology. We are going to see advancements in healthcare! Procedures that could have formally taken a long time or been very expensive will become more accessible and less invasive during this cycle of Pluto in Aquarius! Focus on your health now so you can be at your best later!

⊹₊⟡⋆ And that's also another reason why the wealthy are going to go more extremes to prove they are "not like us." Because the shit that maybe 5-10 years ago would have seemed wild for someone who works at target or is a fucking teacher or anyone thats low income-middle class to get (like a nose job or botox, etc) would have been deemed inaccessible or only for the "elite" will be more acessible and cheaper to the public.

⊹₊⟡⋆the real expensive shit will be things and tools that most people still can't get or do. The new ways to show wealth and exclusivity will be through AI-driven personal enhancements, high-end space travel, and the cutting-edge medical treatments (nose jobs and botox and other stuff like that will be "old news" or “thats so last year” energy and therefore easier to get). Rich people will use these new technologies to set themselves apart, widening the gap between what most people think they can achieve and what the rich can achieve. The focus will move from traditional status symbols like designer clothes or expensive cars to more futuristic technologies that improve people's lives and show wealth by giving them access to a world of opportunities that most people can't afford.

⊹₊⟡⋆I dont wanna end on this note though LOL (theres always been disparities in wealth throughout history and there will be until we all die) but theres going to be power (pluto) in community (aqua). That's why it's really important you find yours where you share on an equal load, no one is feeling overworked or exploited, and you can use your creativity (leo) to succeed. think about how much stronger we are when we unite with people who share our values and aspirations.

⊹₊⟡⋆Real transformation (pluto) and empowerment are possible in these communities (aqua), where cooperation and creativity (leo) are encouraged. We may strike a balance between uniqueness and group power by embracing the energies of both Leo and Aquarius. It's about sharing your special talents and helping others develop as well. In a future not too far away, my bestie can help me with holistic medicine and give me some of her home made tooth paste lol and in turn I can help with making her a website or some digital art for her business. To build a network where everyone brings something useful to the table, we need to share our skills and resources.

⊹₊⟡⋆This kind of trade is going to be common with pluto in aqua (bartering our skills) and not only builds community, but it also supports a long-term way of life that puts working together ahead of competing for resources (which is also gonna be more common and which is why we have to stick with the homies bc people are already being INSANE). In this future, we depend less on big businesses and the government (aqua) and more on the skills and imagination (leo) of the people around us.

⊹₊⟡⋆ In order to improve not only yourself but also everyone in your community, consider how you might develop deep relationships, create networks of support for one another, and apply your skills. Real improvement and fulfillment can occur here. Invest in your hobbies and creativity. Write down your unique ideas. They are NOT stupid or silly or pointless, one day they can come in handy :)

⊹₊⟡⋆ love, ramona <3

[lordcrumps]

The Sims 2 For Rent - CC EXPANSION PACK

Sul Sul!

~ More photos under the under the cut ~

Last week the Sims 4 got a new pack, this week Sims 2 players get that same pack! In a collaboration with @platinumaspiration and @tvickiesims and a HUGE assist from @episims, we bring you "The Sims 2 For Rent CC Expansion Pack!"

This is a large set, and advisable that it does not get merged even further than it already is! - I ran into some issues when trying to do this!

When you explore this pack, please take a look at the marble ring rug, it has some surprisingly cute rug swatches! I put a swatch in it to remove the marbles themselves, so you have a cute small rug! - I only mention this as I was going to bin the rug off once uploaded, but then I found it had some lovely swatches!

FUNCTIONALITY

So most of the items will function as they should and intended as. Its just not just deco items.

There is two collection files included, separated into build buy! Please note that fences and stairs and spandrels cant be but into a collection!

The squatty toilet that took me over 12 hours to make, yeah they squat, animation can be a bit bouncy but such is life. This toilet also can be flushed, get dirty and is cleanable!

Outdoor plants are seasonal!

Counters are animated with insides built, there is no drawer on the counter, I did not want to change the shape of the unit, and saw EA did the same - ignore the fact they grab something from a non existent drawer

Wardrobes have interiors elements, and have working doors!

Each Kettle have two versions, choose only one, one for the colour traits mod / one 'normal'. They function as Tea makers! Huazzah!

Spandrels in build mode are classified as fences. I made a variant with fence / no fence.

Several of the larger deco pieces such as the Arch Gate, or umbrella are actually lights!

Radiators act like radiators!

The Aircon Unit is completely functional, doesn't lower bills, but it does lower sims temperatures!

"Water Heaters" act like solar panels, they get money off your bills!

The Electrical Fuse box has 2 versions, I kept them both in, one wall deco and one functions as a burglar alarm - I wanted more alarms.

Most Sofas / Chairs have morphs!

Slots added to the Vanity and Bathroom Cabinet!

FENCES / SPANDRELS / STAIRS OH MY!

I have included swatch images of each of the spandrels, fences and stairs and labelled them to match, this is so that you can go in and take out any of the swatches you do not want. This is because there are lot of new fences and the menu can feel cluttered with them in for some people.

DOWNLOAD

ALT - SFS

~ Credits / Thanks / List of items not converted under the cut ~

MORE PHOTOS

CREDITS

Mini fridge is cloned from Targa over at MTS - so now it works just like a regular fridge barring a few animations (get baby bottle and juggle)

Kettles were cloned from @pforestsims's kettle, link here.

@jacky93sims for the base of the squat toilet! Epi for the code edits!

THANKS

@tvickiesims, @platinumaspiration thank you soo much for helping with the objects, really couldn't do it myself!! Your amazing, awesome, and some of the best creators out there! Thank you again!

@episims - YOU ARE DA BOMB! Thank you for all your help in getting those toilets working with me, and everything else you do when you answer my little annoying questions! Appreciated like you wouldn't believe!

LIST OF ITEMS NOT CONVERTED - @sims4t2bb

Due to the sizing / functionality of these objects, they will not be included in this pack!

All Yer Fixins Untenable Food Stand

Mali's Moonlight Market Craft Stall

Vegan Vittles Night Market

Late Night Snack Dessert Stall

Rice to Meet You Night Market

The Unrestroom

Fisherman's Slats Window - Tall

The Secret Maze Window - Very Tall

The Secret Maze Window - Super Duper Tall

Stained Glass Tomarani Shutters - Tall

Stained Glass Tomarani Shutters - Tall and Open Wide

The Save Us From Ruin Tallest Cinched Wall Curtain

The How Many Times Do We Need To Tell You It's Not Silk Taller Wall Curtain

The We Are Going To Jail< Tallest Wall Curtain So You Know the Truth Curtain

[pinksilkribbons]

COLLAGE: yan! classmate

CW/TW: non-consensual candid photos, elijah has a shrine of [name], mentions of praying to and basically viewing another human being as god, small implication of a boner, general yandere stuff ig.

You guys my last post on Elijah got quite a few likes I’m so glad y’all like him!! He’s my least developed OC so i decided to write more on him and develop his character. I’ll post some of my others soon!

Ever since he bought his new polaroid, Elijah has discovered a new side of himself. At the beginning he’d only taken pictures of you and hung them around his closet.

But eventually…he grew tired of it. Not of his darling, no! Of course not! But…it was rather difficult to sneak photos of you without getting caught. Not to mention the majority of them turned out blurry anyway.

Something needed to change.

He didn’t just want pictures of you at school. He wanted pictures of everything. When you’re angry, when you’re sad, when you’re eating. Pictures in normal clothes instead of a school uniform for fucks sake!

In the beginning school was the easiest (and only) way he could gain access to you, but now it’s proving to make his job that much harder. There’s too many risks involved.

With a dramatic sigh he shut his closet door, making sure to click the padlock into place. After hanging so many pictures of you on his closet walls he decided it would be wise to invest in a lock.

He knows it isn’t normal. Taking pictures of people without asking isn’t normal. Being so deeply obsessed with someone isn’t normal.

But not being normal doesn’t make him bad. Just…more passionate!

“Hey mama?”, He asks, trudging down the stairs.

His mother turns away from her phone with a quick glance his way. Her head tilts up as if to silently ask him what he needs.

“You aren’t using these magazines anymore, are you?”

A small stack of magazines with a bunch of ‘trendy fashion’ labels catches his eye. On the front cover a young lady with blonde hair is posed in a field of flowers. The lady, however, isn’t what he’s interested in.

She laughs playfully and watches Elijah pick up the stack. “Well, not exactly. But why do you need them? I’ve never known you to be interested in fashion.”

Elijah feels a rush of red to his cheeks. A part of him feel dirty. Perverted, even. It’s clear his mother is implying something dirty, and while she isn’t even wrong, he’s probably planning something much worse than whatever she’s imagining right now.

It takes a few good seconds for his mind to come up with a plausible excuse. “W-well, I’m not interested in fashion! I just need some material for this project in art class.”

Luckily his mom doesn’t question him further. She definitely rolled her eyes at him though, clearly not believing his story.

As soon as he makes it back to his room Elijah is quick on his feet. He rushes over to his closet so quickly he almost falls over. A pulse of excitement gushes through his body as he begins to unlock his closet door.

The password to which is his darlings birthday, of course!

Upon opening the door, one wouldn’t suspect much of anything. Clothes, shoes, some random boxes, but nothing out of the ordinary. The real magic is in the far right corner, at the very bottom of the wall.

So far his collection is pretty small. The few photos he does have are all taped beside one another, carefully placed to ensure nothing is crooked or overlaps with the other. This small corner is Elijah’s entire life.

He lives and breathes [Name]. In fact, every morning, without fail, he finds himself in this exact position; sitting on his knees, admiring his darling. He bows his head and prays to your existence.

The amount of sheer joy your being grants him should never be taken lightly. Elijah is a good boy. He’s thankful. And He proves it every single morning.

“I feel kinda bad, cutting up her picture like this”, he mumbled to himself. His hands carefully maneuvered the scissors, making sure to save as much of his darlings face as possible.

Believe it or not it came out pretty good! Next he needed to cut the cover from his mom’s fashion magazine, which proved to be the real challenge.

The blonde lady on the cover was dressed in a blue flowy sundress. From the moment he saw it Elijah knew that dress was meant to be his darlings. The chances of him getting a real photo of you in this dress were zero, but he’d like to think he’s quite creative!

To finalize his creation he glued [Name]’s head onto the models face, successfully dressing her in the beautiful gown. Just imagining her in such an outfit had his heart racing and pants tightening.

It made him feel proud knowing he found a way to grow his collection while also reducing the risk of getting caught. Next time he visited the library, Elijah would be sure to pick up a few books on collaging.

You truly did bring out a new side of him. Who knew he was so artistic?

[notafraidofredyellowandblue]

Flake (from about 0:04) reading for Drecksack evening 2024-10-18

Topic "His better half" which Flake first mentions is his wife, who everyone who knows them will say is definitely his better half, but then moves on to the actual subject of the reading: his keyboard ❤️

While doing so, he mentions a couple of nice side-notes (like Flake always does) like the disadvantages of playing with Rammstein

like wanting a little painkiller at the dentist only to be laughed at '....but you play with *Rammstein*!"

or people charging him to pay double for stuff because Bild wrote how many millions Rammstein earn, without mentioning the costs they have

or his place getting burgled because the tourdates are published so everyone knows when he's away (but his place is a bit of a mess anyway so he still doesn't know if something went missing)

has a little dig at guitarists who give their guitars a women's name, Flake names his keyboard just what it says on the label. Keyboards and samplers all have nice long names like Ensoniq EPS 16 Plus, not like guitars which are just called 'Gibson' or something.

When Flake got a real keyboard that he could take along to concerts, his dad got him an old violincase, a straight box, which fitted the keyboard perfectly. For concerts further away it also had room for a toothbrush and some underpants. After Flake got a new keyboard that was a little bit bigger, it still fitted the case, but there wasn't room for underpants anymore.

(After 20 minutes and turning another page he says "such a long text...who writes something like that" 😄)

His band (and himself) got a bit tired of the keyboard and got the idea of getting a sampler, with which you can take random noises and play them with the keys, at 0:30 he mimickes how a sampler works 😊

Flake loves music because it just exists in a moment, then it's gone, there's nothing left. Just air being moved in specific waves (at abt 0h32 he mimickes this) which create sound, it's there when you play it, and then it's gone, and evrything is back to how it was, but different because the music changed things. Just like a concert, it's there in that moment, but after that it's over and that's it, everything back to normal. Just like life..

The Ensoniq sampler was very complicated and you had to think of a whole lot of things to use it, and even had to take care to remove the bits you didn't use, because storage space on the device was very limited, for storage you needed floppy-disks (Flake says he sounds like opa before the worldwar talking about it)

At one show (0h36) Flake wanted to play his solo with a broken down micstand, but then the sampler didn't play any samples anymore...when he tried the old trick of turning the sampler of and on, it didn't even do that. At Rammstein Flake's sampler starts the sequencss at which the whole band takes direction to start songs, so when the sampler broke down, the others just stood there and waited (Flake chuckles mischievously at the memory) 😊 after that he got an external harddrive, and a UPS (in case electricity failed) and had to schlepp more and more stuff to shows, but nobody really noticed because by that time the guitarists had started to a (gear) competiton (bringing ever more stuff)

As there came more songs and Flake wanted to have them all on one sampler to avoid having to changes storage in between, he ran out of keys to put the samples on and often shifted an octave to different keys, until no key actually matched the right note anymore... at this point the band 'with soft pressure' to move with the timds and made him start using a keyboard device linked to an Apple notebook, and Flake was amazed how much music he could now play with the one keyboard. He had to redo all his samples, get used to playing this all new, and what was worst...because all the others in the band used a similar system and actually did understand it, they all felt they could help invent new samples and keyboardmusic, some even better than his own.

With all these electronics, when a loud bang happened on stage or a huge pyro or light went on, sometimes the computer froze and had to be elaborately restarted which took it's time. Maybe that's the reason why you can see Flake dancing or walking around on stage so often.

In the end all the electronics failed too often, and the Ensoniq got too old (like Flake himself he says) so he bought a Nordstage organ, two of them, both having the same sounds on it so he can choose which to use. Problem with that one is that everyone has it, you see it everywhere, like a Volkswagen Passat car, everyone has it, it works, but you'd rather have something different.

(0:43) Imagine saying that about your better half, Flake realises he is a lot better off with his wife 🌺

(couldn't help doing a little 'take'...i miss his podcasts)

[imfoive]

The Youngest Son - Chapter 8

Minho x Reader (fem.) Genre: non-idol au!, Suspense, Angst, Romance, Mature Warnings: mentions of cursing, death, somewhat proofread WC: 9.6k A/N: Feedback is always welcome, enjoy! ── MASTERLIST

Synopsis: The youngest son of the Lee family was stubborn, he was arrogant, he was conniving. Hiding it all behind the mask of a calm and collected man, the youngest son was a master at mind games. Playing a dangerous game where trust is a luxury and betrayal lurks around every corner. He had sworn once, to not let family ties or any feelings hold him back. Yet, against all odds, she had him completely wrapped around her fingers, and he had no desire to break free.

Missed a chapter? - Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7

CHAPTER 8 ────────────────────

There was a stark silence in the Chairman’s dark study. Glowing slightly by the dimness of the cellphone’s flashlight.

Lee Minho had gotten himself entangled in a web of secrets he didn’t know existed.

Was he important enough for his birth origins to be shrouded in mystery?

He stared at the creased paper, his name and real birthdate glaring back at him.

Yet, the youngest son didn’t get to ponder his thoughts for long. Already finding himself snatched back to a reality where he suddenly found himself to be an enigma.

The vibrations of his cell phone broke the stillness, an incoming call from Chairman Lee causing him to clench his teeth and tighten his jaw. He let the call end, watching as the screen dimmed, leaving the room illuminated only by the flash of the phone once again.

This old man, the keeper of all these twists in his life.

Minho hastily closed the files, returning them to their original order. Yet, still hesitant fingers hovered over the small boxed compartment in the back, filled with countless flash drives, each labeled differently. 

He recalled how Secretary Cha just added another one to the pile, though was unsure exactly which one.

His brain wracked in the intensity of his snooping. It was clear that the drive labeled “Joohyun—Jae” was the one from the night Lee Jae overdosed. He was sure the chairman had already figured out the truth behind Jae’s demise.

The contents might be a copy of the yacht CCTV footage, but that was highly doubtful since Minho himself had the original footage, and had never shown it to anyone, not even his grandfather.

Then it struck him.

The dash cam footage from the car. 

The one the Chairman had pretended not to know about. The evidence Minho failed to get a hold of. Minho had fallen for his feigned deception, like a fool.

   “That sneaky old man.” Minho muttered to himself, dropping everything back into place and closing the locker. 

The cabinet shut slowly with a soft click and locked with a low beep.

Sneaking out was easier than sneaking in, but Minho left with even more questions than he had when he arrived.

He ignored the Chairman’s calls, but as he settled into his car, his phone rang again.

   “We’re on our way to the restaurant from the wineries. Pick up Haneul from the hotel on your way here.” Chairman Lee instructed through the car speaker.

Minho glanced at the dashboard, noting his route to the restaurant.

   “Is Miss Son joining us as well?” He asked, well aware of his grandfather’s intentions.

   “Yes, she’s staying at The Rose Hotel.”

The grandson covered his mouth with his hand in frustration.

Great. The Rose Hotel.

   “Yes, I got it.” He muttered instead, turning his car towards the hotel.

Sky Son was as awkward as ever. 

The young woman stuttered through her greeting yet smiled shyly at Minho, who returned the smile as she buckled into the passenger seat.

   “How are you liking your stay here so far?” Minho asked, glancing at her while pulling out of the hotel driveway.

She stole a glance, taking in his profile, but quickly looked away when he met her gaze, blushing slightly.

   “It’s good. The people here are nice…” She responded, trailing off as she looked up at him again.

He nodded, smiling once more but kept his focus on the road.

   “And The Rose Hotel?” He inquired.

   “Ah! It’s great. I actually met Miss Y/N Park the night after the party at your residence. She’s a wonderful person.”

Minho’s smile faltered briefly before he recovered, his lips stretching into a different kind of smile. “Is that so?”

   “She told me you two went to school together.”

He nodded, confirming her statement.

   “You guys must be close then.” She said, her eyes hopeful.

He glanced at her briefly before pulling his car into the venue they were to dine in.   

“You could say that.” He replied, noticing her expression fall, clearly disappointed.

But he didn’t care. He was just babysitting at this point.

Minho walked to her side of the car, opening the door with practiced courtesy. Her expression brightened at his gesture, reminding him of Y/N and how her eyes would light up at simple gestures from him. But he didn’t like that look in Miss Son’s eyes.

It made him feel gross.

Handing his keys to the valet, Minho masked his unreadable expression with a forced smile as he led Sky into the private area where their grandfathers awaited.

───────────────────────

Y/N sat at the breakfast table, between her parents. Park Hyunmin, adjusted his glasses and took a sip of his coffee.

   “I didn’t know you came home.” The older man said, surprised by her presence so early in the morning.

He grinned widely, and her mother’s face lit up with a smile.

   “I can’t miss you guys?” Y/N raised a brow, reaching for her food.

   “The house just brightens up whenever she’s here, doesn’t it, honey?” Her mother asked her husband.

Park Hyunmin nodded and passed Y/N a bowl of fruit. The daughter who’s presence apparently lit up the room, couldn’t help but notice how their affection had seemed to increase since her return from New York, but she wasn’t complaining. 

   “Ah, did you hear the news about Lee Minho getting engaged to Son Hyungdon’s granddaughter?” The mother asked suddenly, recalling the fresh gossip she had heard that morning.

Y/N froze, her throat going dry, and she found herself unable to continue eating.

   “You and your gossip.” Park Hyunmin sighed, glancing briefly at Y/N.

   “We have nothing to do with Lee Minho or Son Hyungdon outside of our business. Who cares what they do?” He muttered, bringing his coffee back to his lips.

   “No, no, I was just saying. It’s not official news yet. Possibly just rumors.” Her mother said, brushing it off.

Unbeknownst that their daughter sat with her hands clenched around her fork and knife, her eyes fixed on her mother’s cooling mug of coffee set infront.

   “Minho’s office door burst open, and Y/N stormed in, her anger evident in her expression.

An anxious team member trailed behind her.

   “Miss Park, please, you can’t—”

Minho raised a hand to signal the man to step back. Who nodded and bowed before retreating and closing the door behind him.

Y/N glared at Minho, her anger unmistakable.

   “Are you fucking around with me?” She demanded.

Minho was initially startled, slowly morphing into confusion before he ultimately came to a conclusion. He realized that Y/N had likely heard some unsettling news, perhaps the whispers had reached her ears already. He approached her, trying to calm her down.

   “Listen, Y/N, whatever you heard is not true—”

   “Did you or did you not have a marriage meeting with Son Haneul?” She interrupted, eyes locking onto his with a fierce glare.

Minho hesitated, falling silent. His lack of response was enough for her. Yet, he attempted to grasp her arms, but of course the stubborn woman would not allow him to do so. She scoffed, turning away in frustration before glaring back at him.

   “It was your idea to date secretly.” She said, jabbing a finger into his chest and pushing him backward.

He allowed her push, closing his eyes momentarily as he tried to collect his thoughts, his arms falling to his sides in defeat.

   “You’re the one who said we’ll announce our relationship when the time is right. But now this is what I’m hearing?” Disbelief dripped from her words, her face flushed with anger.

His back pressed against the wall, while her figure loomed close, voice dropping to a whisper as tears brimmed in her eyes. Y/N pressed against him, one arm across his chest, pinning him in place.

   “I won’t give you a third chance. You can’t fuck me over and expect me to sit back and do nothing.” Y/N spat, her eyes darting between his, her composure almost faltering as she searched his apologetic gaze.

   “It’s not what you think.” Minho said, hoping she’d hear him out.

But her mind was clouded with the fear of being betrayed. Despite knowing deep down that Minho would never do that, the whispers of a sudden marriage between him and Son Haneul were overwhelming her.

He had made promises. In the quiet of his bedroom. As he littered kisses down her body.

While he pushed her up against the glass of her penthouse suite back in New York. Whispering into her ears.

He swore he was hers.

Murmurs about a sudden marriage between Lee Minho and Son Haneul already began spreading throughout high society. It was only a matter of days before it would make headlines, cementing their names together. And perhaps the two would suddenly find themselves standing at the altar saying their “I do’s”, something that happened quite often in their circle.

Something that had almost been her own reality if Minho hadn’t intervened. If Jae hadn’t died.

Haneul seemed like a sweet girl. From their brief, coincidental encounter, Y/N had sensed that. Sure, she was a bit naive, but that might be due to her younger age and introverted nature. Haneul was kind, calm, and thoughtful. She was the kind of girl who would listen before jumping to conclusions.

Things that Y/N clearly was not. 

Perhaps those were the qualities Minho truly desired in his partner.

   “Please don’t tell me you were just using my love.” Y/N said, her voice breaking as tears finally trickled freely.

Minho was at a loss for words, unable to think beyond her tearful eyes. He reached out to console her, but she stepped back abruptly, releasing him from her grip and composing herself.

Without giving him another moment to respond, she nudged him back against the wall and turned to leave.

   “Y/N, please…” He murmured, reaching out to grab her wrist, his voice tinged with a sudden desperation.

   “I can’t face you before you fix this.” She replied coldly, not looking back.

Her wrist slipped from his grasp, and she exited the room. Minho stood there, feeling almost defeated, running a hand through his hair as he tried to process everything that had happened just now.

Everything that had happened in the past two days. 

He had just disappointed the one person he never wanted to hurt. 

A friendly dinner.

Hah.

The dinner the other night with those old men had been nothing but an ambush. An unofficial announcement of his engagement to Son Haneul, staged in front of just the two of them and their grandfathers.

The old men laughed, clearly delighted. Miss Son had either covered her face in shock or shyness, Minho didn’t care which. His gaze had been fixed on his grandfather, whose laughter had seemed mocking almost.

After Son Hyungdon and his granddaughter had left, Minho had confronted Chairman Lee. A glare in his gaze.

   “I see you’ve decided everything among yourselves.” Minho said, leaning into the table.

The Chairman smiled. “Son Hyung-Don is ready to invest billions in us. We should repay him well, don’t you think?”

   “By selling me off?” Minho retorted.

It felt like the same cycle all over again, but this time Minho was the one up for sale.

Chairman Lee studied the challenging look in Minho’s eyes, his lips twitching into a grin that he quickly suppressed. His demeanor turned serious as he spoke.

   “I’ve given you enough time to look through those profiles of young women. You seemed too busy, so I chose one for you.”

Minho let out a silent laugh, his lips curling as he looked down at the tablecloth. But before he could respond, the old man beat him to it.

   “Are you going to act out because of Y/N Park?” The Chairman finally asked, his tone suddenly stern.

Minho’s smile vanished at the mention of the woman he loved, his eyes shot a protective glare at the old man.

He had never underestimated Chairman Lee, knowing the old man would eventually catch onto his relationship with Y/N. He was more curious about why the Chairman had waited so long to address it. But now this sudden engagement has become an unexpected obstacle.

He should’ve considered it the moment he met Sky.

   “If you already know, why are you pushing me to choose another side?” Minho demanded, unable to understand the old man’s motives.

The Chairman laughed. “I can’t let you jeopardize the relationship I spent years cultivating with Son Hyungdon. He has connections all over Europe—”

   “And Rose Enterprises is a global name, even bigger than Son Hyungdon probably.” Minho argued.

The old man fell silent for a few seconds, studying the young man’s determined face.

   “I can’t base decisions on arguments that end with ‘probably.’ Besides, what makes you think Park Hyunmin will accept you? Have you forgotten your background?”

A cold silence fell over the room as Minho stared at his grandfather. A little stunned.

He had never heard such a direct insult from Chairman Lee before. A clear jab at his illegitimacy. 

Except now all Minho could only think about was the altered birth certificate hidden in the old man’s safe.

He didn’t even know his true background himself.

No.

Who was he?

───────────────────────

The new mother didn’t know how to feel. Her baby was born prematurely, frail, and possibly not strong enough to make it through the next few days. He had been born in a monastery but was rushed to the nearest hospital, where he was kept under intensive care. The doctors claimed it didn’t look to good.

She had named him and clung to the hope that he would survive. 

He was her only link to the Chairman, her connection to the Lee family. She had fled after Chairman Lee had threatened her, planning to stay out of the public eye until the child was born and the old man could no longer deny his existence.

The Chairman had been right about her.

She was a sneaky thing that wanted to trap him.

Why else would a young woman like her allow an old man to take her to bed if not to secure her future?

The young assistant had understood from an early age that navigating the world required powerful connections and financial backing.

And it wasn’t as if she didn’t care for her newborn. She was overwhelmed with grief, unable to stop sobbing as she watched the doctors work on her child, inserting tubes and keeping him in the NICU. The sisters from the chapel had tried to comfort her, urging her to rest and conserve her energy. She had held him for a few precious hours before the doctors had taken him away.

The Chairman wasn’t prepared for this.

He was even more shaken to learn that the child had been born a month prematurely, underweight and at risk.  

He had been devising a plan to shift the blame for the child’s arrival onto his younger son, believing it would be more plausible if everyone thought the child was the result of his second son’s mistake. This way, he could contain the scandal within the family and avoid major fallout. But now, his concern had shifted to the possibility that the child might not even survive. He couldn’t afford to lose this last chance.

The young assistant was right about one thing.

Success required money, and Chairman Lee had plenty of it.

The hospital was filled with his people, top doctors and the best nurses.

He needed his son to survive.

   “Of course a young thing like you would give birth to an unhealthy child.” He spat, looking down at the disheveled former assistant. 

   “But I’m here now. Nothing can harm my blood. Not even God himself.”

Lee Minho was born prematurely, but he had to live.

And he did.

───────────────────────

After Y/N had stormed out of his office, Minho felt frantic. He had promised himself he would never let her leave like that again, yet he had failed. Blinded by the secrets of the past, he had jeopardized his present and his future.

So he made a decision, one he should have made the moment his grandfather handed him those marriage candidate profiles.

Park Hyunmin studied the young man across from him. Minho smiled politely, leaning back in his seat.

The Vice President of L Corp. had made an unannounced visit to the head of The Rose Enterprises on a normal Thursday morning. There had been no prior appointment, no apparent reason for them to be sharing morning coffee really.

Hyunmin adjusted his glasses and leaned closer to the table between them.

“If you want to discuss The Resort Project, my daughter is planning a meeting with our partners sometime this week.” Hyunmin began, crossing one leg over the other.

The older man was aware that Minho wouldn’t have come for such a trivial reason, but it was a start to a conversation Park Hyunmin couldn’t guess

   “Actually, I’m here for something else. Though it does concern your daughter” Minho replied

The mention of Y/N had made the father raise a protective brow.

   “You asked me a few years ago if I saw myself marrying your daughter.” Minho continued.

   “Yes. And I recall you denied on the spot.”

God, was he a fool. Minho berated his past self.

But still smiled thinly and nodded.

   “I’d like to tell you that I’m going to marry Y/N.” He stated, sitting up straight with a sincere expression.

Park Hyunmin fell silent for a moment before bursting into laughter.

   “You Lee’s really take marriage for a joke don’t you? Last I heard, you’re to be wed to Son Hyungdon’s girl.” Hyunmin had tried to remain composed, though he found it difficult to suppress his irritation.

   “That was a plan that didn’t involve me.” The young man across responded honestly.

   “And you think Y/N would just jump at your proposal? You two haven’t been in contact for the past two years.”

Minho blinked, looking down momentarily before meeting Hyunmin’s gaze, who immediately got the message from his silence and sheepishly stupid gaze.

   “Of course you’ve kept in touch.” Park Hyunmin muttered, sighing as he reached for his coffee, finally understanding why his daughter’s mood suddenly shifted that morning at breakfast.

   “So why this sudden decision? Were you planning to defy your family’s plans? Or did you suddenly realize you might be cut off from the inheritance?”

The younger man leaned in, intertwining his fingers in front of him, and gazed seriously at the older man.

   “The shareholders meeting to appoint the next president of L Corp. is coming up. I know for sure that I’m one of the candidates.” Minho began, his words perking the older man’s ears.

   “With the announcement of my engagement to Y/N, I’d look better in front of the shareholders. Besides, Son Hyungdon’s investment is insignificant compared to The Rose Enterprises. This will also be good media play for your side as well.”

Park Hyunmin processed the schemes Minho had cooked up, before he laughed softly, leaning back and observing the almost sinister look on Minho’s face.

He was a Lee after all.

   “A battle amongst the successors, huh? I didn’t think I’d see this day so soon. So up close as well.” He chuckled again, sipping his coffee.

They sat in silence for a few moments.

   “If Y/N is willing to accept this challenge, I won’t stop her. It’s time she considered the future of The Rose Enterprises without my influence. But if anything goes awry, just know, I don’t give second chances easily.” He warned, the amusement from earlier long gone.

Lee Minho had lots of things to take care of, lots of things to think about. From his false birth certificate to his engagement. 

But the most important, Y/N. 

He could still picture her teary expression as she left his office a few days ago.

Minho sighed deeply, sinking into the leather of his car seat. Despite numerous unanswered calls and messages, there was only silence from her end. The few days of not hearing from her felt far longer than the years she had been away. Determined yet anxious, he dialed her number again, the phone ringing persistently in the quiet car.

As expected, she didn’t answer.

Once Y/N made a decision, she rarely wavered.

But Minho was worried she’d throw him away and stick with that decision.

No, he couldn’t let that happen. Without her, he’d have no purpose to keep going.

It was ironic. Only some years ago, it was Y/N who chased after him no matter his avoidance. 

Or maybe, deep down, it was he who had been obsessed with her, allowing her to break down his walls because his desire to have her was so painful. Or maybe he was afraid to be alone, and knew Y/N would never allow him to feel so.

It was ironic, but he couldn’t even laugh.

He hoped that his conversation with her father reached her ears as quickly as his engagement news had.

And it did.

The incoming call from her flashed brightly on the dashboard, one he swiftly accepted.

   “Hello—”

   “Where are you?” Her voice was urgent, almost demanding.

   “The parking lot of Rose Enterprises.” He replied.

   “Stay there.” Y/N commanded abruptly before ending the call.

Minho listened to her, like a good boyfriend.

Not even five minutes later, he saw her figure emerge through the automatic doors leading to the indoor parking lot. Instinctively, he got out of the car, closing the door with a thud that caught her attention. Y/N strode toward him with an expression Minho couldn’t decipher.

Her steps quickened until she was practically running. Her arms reached out, and she almost leapt into his embrace. Startled, Minho instinctively caught her, stumbling back against the car door. She clung to him, exhaling sharply.

   “I didn’t think you’d ask for my hand in marriage.” She mumbled into the fabric of his jacket, gripping him tightly.

His tension melted away as he held her close, a smile spreading across his face as he hugged her back, inhaling her scent.

   “You said to fix it. So I did.” He murmured against her.

Y/N pulled back to look at him, her eyes meeting his.

   “I’m sorry for not letting you clear up misunderstandings. For bombarding you with questions that day.” She whispered, her face contorting into a guilt-ridden expression.

He smiled instead, shaking his head before leaning in to capture her lips in a soft kiss. Relaxing into her arms, he pulled back with a contented sigh. His eyes suddenly lit up, the wide grin she loved seeing, spread across his face.

   “Look in my left pocket.” He whispered, watching as her eyes momentarily reflected confusion, hands slowly rummaging through his coat, while his fingers still gripped at her arms lightly.

Her fingers fished out the velvet box, eyes automatically shooting up to meet him, widening in surprise.

   “How could I propose without a ring?” Minho chuckled softly, the kind of sound that always made Y/N’s stomach tingle.

She slowly opened the box, and the sight of the diamond sparkling in the light made her cheeks flush, unable to contain her smile. Truly rendered speechless.

   “Please Marry me, Y/N.” He said softly, his eyes full of love as he waited.

Her lips quivered with joy and excitement, truly touched by the warm gaze he held. She nodded, pulling his face toward her for a deep, passionate kiss. 

A proper heated kiss that lifted her off her feet.

Chairman Lee stared at the photographs taken by undercover reporters, showing Y/N and Minho kissing openly. The images had already made headlines, catching high society by surprise.

The old man was angry and upset that Minho, who had always heeded his advice, was now acting on his own. 

Yet, at the same time, it was fascinating, too.

The father in him felt a strange pride that his son had made such a bold decision. 

His brows narrowed at the images again.

The businessman in him, however, was less impressed. The schemes Minho had orchestrated were not just disobedient, they were disruptive to his own meticulously planned strategy.

   “Sir, Mr. Son is calling again. He seems to have heard the news.” Secretary Cha announced, breaking the Chairman’s daze.

Chairman Lee’s eyes flicked to the television screen, which displayed more news about his youngest son and the Park heiress. 

   “That bastard.” He muttered.

The emotions Minho stirred in him, even in this brief moment, were… exhilarating. 

For the first time, Chairman Lee felt genuinely challenged. He had gotten a taste of it the night Minho had glared at him after finding out about his arranged engagement.

But this was something entirely new and thrilling. For the first time, he felt like a father whose son had truly lived up to his expectations. A new sensation of seeing his son assert himself so dramatically.

Despite the underlying pride, Chairman Lee had no intention of letting Minho get away with this newfound boldness. He had to remind his son who held the reins.

   “Get Lee Minho here, now.” He coldly instructed.

Y/N stared at the glistening ring on her finger, her eyes twinkling and her lips stretched into an uncontrollable grin.

   “We had everyone fooled, right? Our relationship hit the news with a bang, and the stocks are doubling as we speak!” Y/N gushed, crossing one leg over the other, turning to Lee Jihoon who stared at her unfazed.

They were sitting at the same bar where they had last fought. Minho had to leave abruptly for a meeting with Chairman Lee, and Y/N needed someone to share her excitement with.

   “Mmmm, I don’t think anyone really cared to notice.” Jihoon said, glancing around the place.

Y/N made a face, rolling her eyes at his response, then began surveying the room herself. 

   “I was surprised when you called me here. We’re not even friends.”

Y/N looked back at him before taking a sip of her drink. 

   “I’d like to think we’re business friends.” She smirked to which Jihoon chuckled, shaking his head.

   “I’m not even interested in business.”

   “Then I guess we can be just friends.” She said, raising her glass to his new drink.

The older man considered it for a moment before clinking his glass against hers.

   “I’ll think about it.” Jihoon laughed, downing his drink as Y/N rolled her eyes once more.

While his new fiancée celebrated, Minho found himself under the intense scrutiny of his grandfather’s gaze.

Chairman Lee observed his youngest son with a mix of emotions. There was a new, almost defiant aura around Minho, as if he had finally become his own person of some sort.

A bittersweet realization for the patriarch who had always had control of every aspect of the family’s affairs.

But deep down inside, he always hoped for a day like this to come, where he had to stand against a son that he raised to be just like him. 

He was tired of cleaning after the messes his useless children made. For once, he wanted to worry about something other than a mess. 

Though this wasn’t less of a mess, it was something that could be twisted into a good thing as well. 

The Chairman was upset for various other reasons.

He had to risk his ties with Son Hyungdon, though he didn’t really care much for the headache.

He had to control the rest of the family, who were always slow when it came to doing a good job, but first to bark when they felt threatened.

No, he was truly frustrated that Minho had chosen to act independently, without consulting him. His father.

It was a challenge to his authority that he hadn’t anticipated.

   “You’ve grown a lot. I didn’t think I’d have to worry about you this soon.” Chairman Lee said, pouring tea into the empty cups in front of them.

Minho watched the steam rise from his cup, his gaze steady as he met his grandfather’s eyes.

   “I remembered your words again. The ones about not trusting any businessman, no matter how appealing their promises are. I realized the moment you brought up my background, grandfather. I’ve forgotten for a moment that you are also a businessman.” Minho said, reaching for his tea.

The atmosphere between them was charged with passive-aggressive tension. Chairman Lee studied Minho, who now seemed markedly more mature. He chuckled softly before he leaned back, crossing his legs.

   “What are your plans now? I recall telling you that a good businessman doesn’t put all his eggs in one basket.” Chairman Lee asked.

Minho raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the older man’s tone, wondering what else was this old man planning in that mind of his.

   “You’ve burned the Son bridge. How far do you think the Park bridge will get you?” Chairman Lee continued, picking up a cookie and savoring its sweetness.

   “I plan on becoming president of L Corp,.” Minho stated confidently.

The old man’s delight was evident, though he masked it behind a facade of composure. He cleared his throat, maintaining a serious demeanor.

   “What makes you think it will be that simple? You’ve forgotten about your brothers. Jungshin has the elder shareholders in his pocket, and Joohyeon has been building those overseas connections.”

      “A good businessman doesn’t reveal his plans too readily, grandfather.” Minho replied with a smile.

Chairman Lee’s expression momentarily faltered before he burst into laughter, absolutely amused by Minho’s bravado.

   “I have a slight inclination that I might expect you to side with me during the selection, won’t you?...Unless my background bothers you.” Minho said, his sly smirk, both irking and amusing the old man at the same time.

   “I’m not like you son, I don’t put all my eggs in one basket. You’ll just have to see at the next meeting.” The old man chuckled, sipping his tea again.

Placing the cup back down, he sighed. A pointed sound that stated he’s moving on from this conversation.

   “What’s done is done. Son Hyungdon will have to suck it up. The news of the engagement is actually benefiting us, especially with The Resort Project. Let’s not dwell on future problems just yet.” Chairman Lee said, clapping and offering Minho a plate of cookies.

Minho smiled but politely declined.

   “How about a round of golf?” Chairman Lee suggested with a doting smile.

   “I need to get back to my fiancée.” Minho declined again, rising from his seat.

   “Ah, very well. Don’t disappoint her now, otherwise, you might have to burn that Park bridge after all.” The old man laughed.

Minho bowed and began to leave, casting a final glance at the safe cabinet before turning. He nodded to Secretary Cha at the door as he exited.

Chairman Lee called his secretary over and leaned back, taking another sip of his tea. A low snicker escaped his lips before he erupted into another loud laugh.

   “This is much more entertaining than I anticipated. I haven’t felt this alive in ages.” He said with a grin.

Looking at his secretary, he asked. “Who am I meeting next?”

The secretary checked his watch. “Your elder son wants to discuss the sudden engagement news. Your second son, will likely want to do the same—”

   “Turn them away,” Chairman Lee cut him off coldly. 

   “They just want to complain. That’s all they ever do.” There was a bitterness in his tone.

He dusted his hands on his napkin, thinking for a moment. 

   “Get my lawyer on the phone. I believe it’s time for me to do some charity work.” He said with a chuckle.

───────────────────────

The second grandson of the Lee family was puzzled. No, he was in denial. He stared at the names of the contenders in line for the title of L Corporation’s next leading President. Many different emotions flowing through him. 

His name was not amongst them.

Lee Joohyeon was the oldest son from the second branch within the Lee family. How could he not even be considered?

How was it that the person standing against Lee Jungshin wasn’t him, but the youngest son of the family? 

Joohyeon has spent all his life fighting for second place, and now he was painfully made aware that even that spot did not belong to him.

It would have been the ideal scenario. 

The eldest of Lee Mooyoung stood against the eldest of Lee Doyoung. It seemed like a fair battle. 

But Lee Minho swooped in like a shadow, his name in bold next to Jungshin’s. Minho was making his way up the ladder, getting tied to The Rose Enterprises, something he pretended to never be interested in, now made sure his name was in everyone’s mouth. While Joohyeon sat here in Japan, exiled under the pretense of managing L Corp. subsidiaries. 

He was guilty. Once upon a time. The face of Jae lying still on the cold yacht floor still haunted him in his dreams from time to time. 

But he wasn’t guilty enough. 

He wanted to go back to where he was. Even the spot of second best was more than enough for the older brother who now seemed to equal to nothing in the ranks within the Lee family.

Minho’s name left a bitter taste in his mouth. He couldn’t just let that young boy reach any higher than he was. But his grandfather was always particularly drawn to the youngest, shielding him. And his father was delusional, under the spell that Minho had cast, like his maid mother.

He knew his uncle, and the first branch within the Lee family wouldn’t sit still either. Especially with Jungshin being one of the candidates for President. This was their only chance to control the reign of L Corp. in the coming generations.

The only person who would be on Joohyeon’s side, the only sane person the oldest of the second branch could think of was his mother. His mother didn’t have favorites amongst her children. But with Jihoon being a self-appointed outcast, and Minho’s existence itself disgusting her, she had no choice but to hold Joohyeon high on a pedestal.

Even then he was just the default. But it was better than sitting thousands of miles away from his goals. He needed to find his way back.

No. He had to go back.

───────────────────────

The sudden attention from everyone around Y/N filled her with an unexpected delight. It was as if she was finally basking in the glow of something she had always wanted. Although she wasn’t exactly an attention-seeker, the fact that everyone now knew Lee Minho was hers made her squeal with excitement. Her teenage self would have never believed that the cold and indifferent Lee Minho, who would practically leap out of a window whenever she entered a room, was now completely captivated by her.

Gone were the days of secret meetings and indoor dates. They were now free to publicly display their relationship. While her fiancé wasn’t particularly fond of pda, maintaining their status as a hot topic among elite families was crucial. He needed the attention to boost his public image. Perhaps even impress shareholders who would heavily influence the decision on who to elect as the next President of L Corp.

Minho had made a promise to Y/N. If he was going to rise, he’d rise with her. 

Lee Minho had always managed to stay under the radar, keeping a low profile and avoiding any specific attention. His sudden emergence into the public eye only added to his mysterious persona. To the news outlets, he was like a present waiting to be unwrapped, a promising businessman and the youngest of the Lee family. His growing positive image only fueled his desire to reach for the stars, forget the sky.

But he also knew he was putting everything at stake. If he fails, he would only fall, fall hard. 

So he told himself. He couldn’t fail. He wouldn’t let anything hinder him, no matter how difficult the obstacle in his path was. Whether that was his father, Lee Jungshin, or his grandfather himself. Minho was going to run them all over.

He toyed with the glass paperweight on his desk, spinning it absentmindedly as he pondered his next moves. He had already handled his engagement and established his position in the so-called “battle amongst the successors,” as Park Hyunmin called it. Joohyeon was no longer a threat, leaving Jungshin as his remaining challenge.

He knew the eldest grandson had something brewing, a big scheme to make Minho fall in the eyes of the shareholders and the public, Minho would have if he was him. The youngest was just waiting for the right time to play dirty. He had to thank his grandfather when it came to things like this. The unwritten handbook to the perfect businessman was all in Chairman Lee’s mind, and he made sure he embedded it into Minho as well. 

However, a lingering concern gnawed at Minho. The thin file tucked away in Chairman Lee’s safe, containing information about his mother.

No, about Yoon Sooyeon, who might or might not be his mother.

He was torn, a part of him impatient to uncover whatever the hell the old man was trying to conceal. While another part whispered to him not to pry further, he wouldn’t be able to handle the aftermath.

Minho had dug up on the former maid that was dismissed from his family a year before he was born. The moment the doubts of her being nothing more than just a stranger to him, formed in his heart, he began looking into it. But of course with his sudden engagement to Haneul, to proposing to Y/N, and now being thrust into the public eye, the young man could only do so much to keep up with everything that was happening. 

Or everything that already had happened.

His grandfather acted as though their last tense meeting had never occurred, treating the engagement between the Lees and the Parks as if he had always been in favor of it. He didn’t even mention Son Hyungdon anymore.

But that didn’t mean Son Haneul got the message. She should have. It was all over the news. The photos of Y/N and Minho kissing in a parking lot were easily accessible, and Y/N’s public social media was filled with their relationship. 

Yet, the young girl chose to ignore it, mistaking Minho’s kindness for genuine interest.

Minho sat across from her in the lobby of L Corp., observing as she fiddled with the buttons of her fur coat. Her troubled expression was evident, and he studied her with a detached calm.

   “W-why did you break our engagement?” She asked, her eyes betraying her hurt.

Minho wanted to laugh. She was young, but he hadn’t realized she was this naive.

   “Our few days of encounters don’t really count as an engagement, do they? It’s a bit ridiculous, don’t you think, Miss Son?” He said with the polite smile that had charmed her when they first met.

She blinked, unable to smile back, hurt by his use of her formal name instead of just Sky.

   “Yes, but our grandfathers—”

   “Our grandfathers aren’t here. And frankly, don’t you think we’re past the age where we let them dictate who we marry?” He leaned in slightly. 

   “You should find someone who genuinely likes you, not just someone your grandfather approves of.” He flashed her a pleasant smile, ignoring her tears, before standing up and walking away.

God did he hate pathetic people like her.

      “Bring the new secretary to my room.” Minho instructed one of his team members as he walked to his office.

A young man in a crisp suit-and-tie stepped into the vice president’s office, his demeanor calm but his lack of experience evident compared to the seasoned members of the Secretary Department. But then again, maybe Minho had judged too quickly. Maybe this was how the older executives looked at him when he entered a room.

The young secretary bowed respectfully before standing straight in front of Minho’s desk.

   “Good afternoon sir, I’m Kim Yongguk, your new personal secretary.”

Minho studied him carefully. Every influential person had a good secretary. Take Secretary Cha, for instance, who had faithfully served his grandfather for decades.

   “Secretary Kim…how old are you?” The superior inquired.

The young man adjusted his posture, clasping his hands behind his back. “I’m twenty-five, sir.”

Minho nodded, picking up the glass paper stopper he had been playing with all day.

   “Do you plan on sticking around for a long time?” 

Yongguk straightened, his earlier confidence wavering slightly. “Yes, sir. I plan on being loyal to L Corp. for as long as I’m allowed to work here.”

   “See, that’s where you’re mistaken. I don’t need you to be loyal to L Corp.” Minho shook his head, leaning back in his chair. 

   “I need you to be loyal to me. Not L Corp. You’re going to do anything I tell you to do…no matter how sketchy you find it.”

Yongguk’s eyes narrowed sharply with a slight confusion.

   “If you think you can’t do that, you can back out now.” Minho added, his tone neither harsh nor reassuring, rather even.

   “N-no sir, I will be able to follow your orders.” The young secretary responded rigidly.

Minho’s fingers stilled, setting aside the paperwork he had been holding.

   “Even if there’s a risk of you getting into trouble… or worse?”

Yongguk paused, feeling the weight of Minho’s scrutiny. 

   “I’m not pressuring you. You can choose to walk away if you prefer.”

Minho’s intention wasn’t to intimidate the young man but to ensure that anyone who worked closely with him was prepared for the risks involved. He wanted someone loyal, someone who could handle the weight of secrets and tough decisions. 

   “I’m willing to be loyal to only you sir.” Yongguk responded after a moment of silence, his tone firm.

Minho fell silent for a moment. Thinking, observing.

He then let out a chuckle, startling his young secretary.

   “You can relax. I’m not asking you to sacrifice your life for me. You won’t have to, and I won’t let that happen to one of my people.” He stated.

Yongguk’s tension eased at the sudden reassurance.

   “I’ll give you your first task right away then.”

The Vice President reached into the side drawer of his desk. There was a pile of papers tucked into a thin file, whatever information Minho could collect over the past two weeks.

   “I need you to look into Yoon Sooyeon.” 

Secretary Kim reached forward and took the file off of the desk, eyes looking intently at it.

   “She’s apparently my ‘dirty-birth mother.’” Minho smiled up at his secretary who stared at him in shock for a brief second.

   “Sir…” He whispered, overwhelmed by the gravity of the secret he figured out.

   “If you’re going to be at my side, you should know some of my secrets don’t you think?”

Minho didn’t know he was going to disclose this to a man he just met. It was something he never said out loud to anyone, not even to Y/N. But the look of doubt in this young secretary’s eyes irked him, and he needed to show him that he was willing to let Yongguk into the deepest secrets in return for his loyalty.

   “Now that I’ve shared one of my secrets, let’s hear one of yours.” He tried to ease the tension, eyes awaiting for the dumbfounded young secretary to compose himself.

   “I…I cheated my way through school.” Yongguk admitted, attempting to match the severity of his secret to Minho’s, though nothing could compare.

   “So you might not even be qualified to be my secretary?” Minho laughed, absolutely amused.

He was laughing at such a situation. Like a maniac.

Like his father.

Though Kim Yongguk had expressed doubts about his own competence, he completed the task faster than Minho had anticipated, impressing the vice president. Yongguk’s eyes twinkled with pride at the compliment, and Minho knew immediately that the young man would be just fine next to him. 

However, Minho’s amusement was short-lived. The information Secretary Kim uncovered was far from pleasant. The doubts in Minho’s mind were put to rest. The youngest son of the Lee family always had great instincts.

Yoon Sooyeon was nothing but a former maid at the Lee Residence.

A former, dead maid.

She had no connections to Minho. As he thought.

It felt like a maze of lies. The deeper he went, the more puzzled he became. Minho didn’t think that there were so many secrets behind his birth. Minho didn’t even know what to believe anymore. 

Was he not really a son of the Lee family? 

Was he just some kid that was picked up from an orphanage and put into cruel ties? 

But no one else seemed to question Minho’s presence within the family. Everyone accepted the Chairman’s narrative of him being an illegitimate child between Lee Doyoung and Yoon Sooyeon. Perhaps even a doctored DNA test had been used to solidify his connection to his father.

The only person who held answers was his grandfather, but extracting information from him wouldn’t be easy unless Minho were to offer something in return.

───────────────────────

The oldest grandson of the Lee family was livid. He felt disrespected. His name, his title, was being compared to the illegitimate Lee Minho by the media, shareholders, and clients.

By their family.

Lee Jungshin had always watched Minho with a mix of intrigue and disdain, recognizing early on that the youngest son would eventually surpass others. Unlike Joohyeon, who had underestimated Minho, Jungshin knew better. Yet, the debate over who was the more capable leader, Jungshin or Minho, was infuriating. He had always considered himself the true heir, a crown prince in the family hierarchy. The prospect of being compared to Minho was both bewildering and insulting. He wasn’t sure if he should laugh, or if he should get mad.

Jungshin had that confidence in himself that he’d win against Lee Minho. But the recent announcement of Minho and Y/N’s engagement had thrown him into turmoil. Unlike Joohyeon, Lee Jungshin had the core values of a competent businessman. 

He knew when he had to step up and take care of the thorns in his path. He knew exactly when to play dirty.

After the night of his nephew’s celebration party, Jungshin realized that the Chairman who had always sung the song about choosing the best businessman to hand over his entire estate and fortune to, might have been biased.

   “My favorite grandson.”

The words rang in the eldest grandson’s ears. He had never heard those words from the old man’s mouth.

He had never sat with him for long hours drinking coffee, tea, whiskey.

They had never played golf.

Jungshin wasn’t going to deny that he was envious of the youngest who was able to weasel under the wings of the Chairman. It was a smart move, something Jungshin should have gotten a head start on, but didn’t. 

Granted, Minho only took solace under the old man’s authority for protection from his own parents growing up. But Jungshin was still the old man’s grandson. 

His eldest grandson. 

Of course Jungshin had a plan for Lee Minho, for the title of President of L Corporation to be handed to its rightful owner, himself.

   “The presentation for the shareholder’s meeting is complete.” Jungshin looked up to Mooyoung who sat across from him, brow raising.

   “Lee Minho won’t realize what hit him.” Jungshin laughed, crossing his fingers into a clasp.

   “He’s too busy in his love bubble with that Y/N.” His father added.

The name of Y/N leaves a sour taste in Jungshin’s mouth. Though his courting for the young girl was a brief thing, he hated how she never even looked in his direction. It was the first time he had tried so hard to get someone’s attention. And he hated the fact that she was so unamused. 

But then again, who knew she was climbing into Minho’s bed at the end of the night, while pretending to hate his guts to fool everyone.

It was amusing, and perhaps a bit humiliating. Jungshin didn’t usually fall for such things, or maybe he didn’t want to admit that both Y/N and Minho had outwit him. 

The eldest grandson didn’t like being outwitted. But Minho was extremely good at doing just that.

───────────────────────

Y/N observed Minho intently, her gaze lingering on him as he worked diligently on his laptop at the kitchen counter. Taking in the sight of his focused expression, lit up by the bright screen in front of him, the sleeves of his button-up pushed back to his elbows. The unkempt sight of Minho was something only she got to see, but then again, there were other forms of Minho that only she got to see. The thought of it makes her cheeks flush, something that doesn’t go unnoticed by the laser visioned man across her.

   “What kind of dirty thoughts are you thinking?” Minho’s teasing voice broke through whatever she was thinking, his fingers not missing a beat on the keyboard as he glanced up at her with a smug smile.

   “Let’s get married tomorrow.” Y/N blurted out instead, her lashes batting in front of his taken aback expression.

Minho’s initial surprise slowly melted into a low chuckle as he processed her words. His gaze softened with affection and amusement.

   “You sure?” He asked, seeking confirmation.

Without hesitation, she nodded, her hand shooting up to rest over her heart.   

   “I can marry you whenever you’re free. Morning, day, or night.” She affirmed, her grin widening.

Minho leaned in closer, a thoughtful look crossing his face. 

   “I don’t think the marriage bureau is open at night.” He teased gently with a chuckle.

She opened her mouth to say something in return, perhaps even convince him that it was something they needed to do first thing in the morning, but he beat her to it and spoke out first.

   “I think your father will kill me if we do that though. Are you okay with that?” He asked, still smiling.

Y/N paused, momentarily at a loss for words. Straightening on the high chair, she cleared her throat. 

   “I heard you met Son Haneul yesterday.” She changed the subject with a curious tilt of her head.

His smile fell as he slowly pushed the laptop aside, signaling that he was fully attentive.

   “She was acting as if you had stolen me from her.”

Y/N laughed, finding his words amusing. It was ironic. She was the one who should feel as though Minho was about to be stolen from her.

   “I bet you’re loving that you’ve got two women cast under your spell.” She said, rolling her eyes as she leaned on the counter, resting her chin in her palms.

He chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest. 

   “I’ve got more than two women under my spell. But the only one who has me completely bound is right here in front of me.” He confessed softly, his eyes locking with hers in earnest.

Y/N was momentarily taken aback by his candidness her heart swelling with love for him. Unable to find words to respond to him with, she chose to laugh instead.

   “As long as you’re aware.” Her fingers reached over to the laptop, turning it to see what he had been working on. 

   “Presentation for the shareholder meeting?” She asked, glancing up at him.

Minho nodded and gestured for her to continue reading. She did so with a serious gaze, nodding along as she went through the document.

   “You know, someone let it slip to Jungshin that the man who marries me would get ten percent of shares in Rose Enterprise.” Y/N said, looking up at Minho, who furrowed his brows in surprise.

The man in front of her was clearly caught off guard by the revelation. A detail he hadn’t been aware of. But it made sense. In their world, such stakes were significant, even if they seemed trivial at first glance. Though ten percent might not sound like a lot, it was. And of course Lee Jungshin didn’t want to miss out on that. 

Made it even more obvious why he had tried so hard to chase Y/N.

Minho was silent, as if he was in deep thought.

   “You had a golden ticket the whole time, and you didn’t even know it huh?” She laughed, bringing him out of his thoughts.

Instead of laughing Minho reached over to grasp her hand in his, thumb caressing her skin.

   “Jungshin isn’t a good person. Who knows what he could do for that ten percent.”

Y/N’s smile faltered, seeing the look of concern, he didn’t find her joke funny, nor that the situation called for it. But she was aware Minho wouldn’t allow Jungshin to do anything for that ten percent.

   “That’s why I have you. My big bad protector.” She laughed again, trying to lighten the mood as her other hand clasped over his grip on her.

And of course he only nodded, smiling slightly in response before bringing the laptop back to him.

But what Park Hyunmin had said last time played in his head. 

   “But if anything goes astray, just know, I don’t give second chances easily.”

The first branch of the Lee family had something brewing against him. And they were going to give it their all. If Minho failed…

With Minho out of the way and Jungshin as President, he could easily marry into the Park family if Park Hyunmin saw it fit, and Y/N wouldn’t be able to do anything about it besides comply. 

Minho couldn’t let that happen. Minho wouldn’t let that happen. 

Y/N was his. 

Even if he fails. Even if she suddenly decided she no longer loved him.

No one could have her.

His eyes flickered up to take in the sight of Y/N treading around the dining table, busying herself while he worked.

Minho wasn’t a dancer, but he danced effortlessly to her tune. She had him completely tied.

───────────────────────

The chairman reviewed his re-written will for the third time this month. Though the beneficiary remained unchanged, various details had shifted.

   “I think this might be the final version. Tell Attorney Goh he can relax now.” The old man said with a chuckle, handing the document to Secretary Cha nonchalantly.

Secretary Cha examined the document once more, as he always did, before sealing it in the confidential envelope designated solely for the lawyer's eyes.

Secretary Cha asked, his tone neutral.

The chairman dipped his biscuit into his coffee, taking a quick bite of the soaked treat. 

   “Of course. Who else is competent enough to become Vice President at such a young age?” He said, his voice rising with pride. 

   “Only my son is capable of that.”

Secretary Cha cleared his throat, drawing the chairman’s attention back from his thoughts.

   “What about your other sons?”

The mention of his older sons soured the chairman’s mood. His smile fell, replaced with a stern expression.

   “They’re lucky if they’re even named in my inheritance distribution.” He grumbled, brushing crumbs from his fingers.

“Doyoung was never able to surpass his brother. And his sons are just like him. Mooyoung was always a conniving one, never achieving anything without sticking his nose into dirty business. And we all know Jungshin is doing exactly that as we speak.” He continued, frustration dripping from his words.

His hatred for his older sons was palpable.

   “But my youngest.” Chairman Lee’s tone softened.

   “My youngest is just like me. He’s observing. Cautious. He understands their nature and will always come out on top.” The old man’s favoritism was evident and unabashed.

Secretary Cha placed the envelope into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and stood at attention, as if he had more to convey.

The chairman glanced at his loyal secretary, curiosity piqued. “What is it?”

   “Your youngest son is looking into Yoon Sooyeon.” Secretary Cha reported.

Chairman Lee’s expression softened at the mention of the name he hadn’t heard in decades. 

   “His new secretary has uncovered something. I’m certain Vice President Lee is aware that she is not his birth mother.”

The information was less dramatic than the chairman had anticipated. Minho had only scratched the surface, yet his determination was evident. The chairman was impressed by how quickly he was pursuing this matter. The rumors about the Lee family hound was right, once he bites, he doesn’t easily let it go. 

And Minho was only going to dig deeper.

   “He wants to tackle everything at once, doesn’t he?” Chairman Lee mused.

Which he had guessed correctly. The youngest son wanted to get rid of all his problems, his curiosities one after the other. Ticking them off a check-list.

   “He’s always been too eager.” The chairman said with a serious tone, glancing at Secretary Cha once more. 

   “The truth can either make or break a man…Do you think my son will break after discovering the truth?” Chairman Lee asked, though it was more a rhetorical question. 

The intensity of his gaze made Secretary Cha shift slightly.

   “It’s about time he learns the truth, isn’t it?” 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ to be continued.

── ask to be tagged! - @minh0scat, @qwonyoung23, @tsunderelino, @thecutiepieme, @candyquokka

[miffmuff]

Rob and Gumball's relationship is so funny Rob is genuinely going through a Truman Show-esque nightmare and Gumball just thinks he's larping the whole time. Like Darwin and Gumball even try to be his minions at one point and Gumball gets genuinely horrified and confused when rob actually tries to hurt him. They just think he's just role-playing for fun while he's going through the horrors I'm sickkkk.

THE TRUMAN SHOW MENTIONED!!!

Yeah when Gumball and Darwin suggest being a villain it was for shits and giggles, I don't think they fully grasped that they're giving this depressed amnesiac kid who was desperate enough to live in their basement and has no purpose in life, a "purpose" to fill. And he'll take anything he can get.

Although I don't blame them for thinking it's just harmless roleplay. I mean, Rob gave zero context for his backstory in the nobody. Yeah it makes sense to us cuz we see a flashback, but all he says outloud is "I was one of the worlds mistakes, but you only cared about Molly. You saved her and left me there to rot, but I clung to life" like they don't have knowledge of the void, or saving Molly, what does that even mean. They probably think he's just really good at back stories on the spot.

I do feel bad for Rob, mf just found out their worlds existence is made to entertain some audience, and he's a background character in it. And although it's wrong to pin all of that on the main character aka Gumball I get where he's coming from. Like this world that's wronged you so much is centered around this one guy, and it trashed you because that guy found you kinda forgettable. It really does matter what other people think of you in this universe.

Rob's got all this existential dread and to top it all off he has to deal with it alone. Which is a bit upsetting, also considering he's only 13. He doesn't have much of a support system, villainy is kinda all he has going for him. Without it there's no reason to be in the show aka exist. Going off that interaction in "The Pony", Pre void Rob seems like a nice guy, he's extraverted and friendly. And now he's been shoved into a box labeled evil and has to act on that or else bad things might happen.

My hc is that he won't actually be sent into the void again if he didn't act villainous or whatever he'd just kinda exist off screen. Cuz Molly wasn't sent back and she still remained the same. But it's the fear that he might that drives him, also it's his only purpose in life soo what are you gonna do.

Gumball on the other hand is like hell yeah I have a nemesis this is so awesome!!! It's like being frenemies, like nooo please don't try to kill me but also I'm free next Saturday wanna try again then?

In the disaster is when he realized just how deep Rob's hatred for him ran. Like yeesh dude don't you think getting someones parents divorced and breaking up their relationship is a bit harsh.

But then he forgets it all so we're back to square one.

[vyl3tpwny]

Music Genres

When I was kid, you would have probably heard me say something like “I don’t believe in genre labels”. To a degree, there is still something about that sentiment that I agree with; I don’t think you can really put music and styles of music in neat little boxes. But otherwise, I was pretty much wrong about everything else.

Let’s go over that.

pictured: Mala, one of the godfathers of roots Dubstep

—

To be blunt, “genre” isn’t just about approximating what a song sounds like. If you say “I love pop music”, that honestly doesn’t mean much. The more specific you get, the more you will approach something someone can imagine like “I like experimental progressive noise pop music”. Ok, I can start to imagine things that likely approach what you're talking about, but even then it will usually not help someone fully understand what something truly is. In categorizing and approximating music styles, genres only go so far. So what makes them important then?

Well, not to say that approximating a style when describing an artist to someone is a bad thing or that doing so isn’t meant to be valued, but it’s hardly the only reason these labels exist. Importantly, “genre” helps establish culture, history, and a musical identity. So when you're trying to tell someone you're listening to a "progressive rock” project, you’re not just imagining odd time-signatures and complex riffs, you’re also meant to understand and consider that whatever is being described as to you has some sort of relevance or importance with regards to the history behind progressive rock; the culture of college bands in the UK, the sound that the punk movement revolted against, the progression of musical storytelling in rock music since the late 60’s and early 70’s, stuff like that. There’s a distinct culture and history you can pinpoint and understand when you describe something as being progressive rock and you can’t just go around calling any complex electric guitar oriented music "progressive rock" unless it has those specific ties as well as understanding and iteration of the roots.

pictured: Genesis, because progressive rock mention

—

Genre labels help to clarify what kind of culture and histories a music project is being associated itself with and where a lot of its inspiration comes from. This is much more compelling reason for underlining the importance of genre labels and why they should be used correctly.

So, there is something I need to get off my chest then. There are a lot of misuses of genre labels all over the place, especially online. And I’m not talking about saying something is “Alternative Rock” when it’s clearly some kind of “Folk Rock” record instead. What I’m talking about is something like “Dubstep”.

Even as recent as a few years ago, I started personally reclaiming the term “Dubstep” as a genre label to describe any bass-adjacent music. At the time I did this, I thought it was cool, because the term Dubstep had been dubbed (pun intended) to be cringeworthy lexicon to some people. And while I feel that’s a noble reason to reclaim something like that, because some weirdos think it's cringe, in this case I actually think it’s wrong.

The term “Brostep” has been used to describe any non-roots bass-oriented music that originates from the proper roots Dubstep. It’s a term I didn’t like FOREVER, especially because the phrase was derived as a generalization of the kind of people who tend to listen to it. However, I actually think that Brostep is a title that people should be more comfortable and confident with labeling things as.

The original Dubstep came as a result of Jamaican immigrants bringing Dub music to the UK, which then fused with the remnants of 2-Step Garage which was prominent in the 90’s just years prior. Timbah.On.Toast made a great video called All My Homies Hate Skrillex and it is a really good breakdown of what separates roots Dubstep from the Americanized Brostep, which came after it. I think everyone knows by now that I have a deep, deep love for EDM based Broste and I am the biggest Skrillex fangirl alive. So being both a Brostep and Skrillex superfan, please understand that I think the video is one of the most important things you can watch as an EDM enjoyer.

Conflating the term Dubstep with things that aren’t actually Dubstep is honestly a slap in the face to all of the pioneers of Dub and Dubstep, which famously were both pretty much ENTIRELY invented by black people. I think it’s fair to say that incorrectly labeling music in this way has racist implications. It dishonours and twists the legacy of the music. You can find og Dubstep to listen to on the RYM Ultimate Box Set > Dubstep page. Check some of that out, then listen to some 2010, 2011 Skrillex and see how different things really went.

It confused me at first when I was a teenager, I didn't understand why so many people hated Skrillex back in the day. I came to realize so much of the hate wasn’t even really with regards music itself, but the total lack of understanding or care for the roots of the genre, which all of his work was founded upon and he then subsequently bastardized without caring at all. It was pure disrespect, it was practically cultural erasure and so many people will now only know of Dubstep as “that Skrillex transformer screech music”. Yeah. It actually fucking sucks.

But there is a LONG history of black music being erased from history and being undermined, whether entirely intentional or due to systemic unawareness.

I saw a post the other day talking about how it sucks that so much music is just lumped into being “video game music” when so much of this stuff has deep roots and cultural significance. The first example pointed how a lot of acid jazz music is just described as “Persona music” by the layperson now. Meanwhile, Acid Jazz as a genre is a huge development on things like roots jazz, disco, funk, and hip hop music. You know. All genres that were invented by black people. Fascinating, right?

Jungle music was also mentioned. And this one is very particular for me. Jungle music, when not being generalized as "PS1 Music", is often just called drum & bass or breakcore (also please Google the difference between breakbeat and breakcore, thanks) which are all fundamentally misunderstanding what Jungle music even is. Much of Jungle music, AS MANY THINGS DO, finds VERY prominent roots in Reggae, Dub, and sound system culture in Jamaica as well as countless other prominently black communities in the UK.

But it doesn’t stop there.

If you’re unfamiliar, there is a genre called “IDM”, otherwise known as Intelligent Dance Music. When I was a kid, and I first heard that word, I immediately was like “that is the most pretentious, stupid thing I’ve ever heard”. Eventually as I grew up, I just stopped thinking about that and started referring to more music as IDM. This style of music is generally characterized with “complexity” and being “not much danceable”. While I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the music that is called IDM, I do think there’s everything wrong with the term IDM, intelligent dance music.

When asked how he feels about being labeled as an IDM artist, Aphex Twin responded:

"I just think it's really funny to have terms like that. It's [basically] saying 'this is intelligent and everything else is STUPID.' It's really nasty to everyone else's music."

pictured: Aphex Twin, the funnyman himself

—

I think most people would agree with this sentiment. It’s so strange to call one kind of music “intelligent”, out of the hundreds of thousands of genres out there. But let’s bring this back to Jungle music. The reality is that IDM started to become a term around the same time that Jungle music became prominent, in the 90's. Both styles of music are complex, introspective, skittery, and chaotic (but refined and often disciplined) genres. Except, of these two, Jungle music was the one pioneered primarily by black artists. IDM was a sort in competition with Jungle. To therefore call IDM “intelligent” in comparison to Jungle music ... well. I don’t feel like I really have to explain why that’s fucked up.

A lot of people have proposed different names for IDM. A quick look on reddit yields things like “Experimental Electronic” and “Brain Dance” (which was coined by Aphex Twin's label). Me personally, the term “Electro-Prog” comes to mind. Sounds cool.

Similar conversations are presently being had about the term “Riddim”. This brings us back to the dubstep side of this discussion again. Riddim, as an EDM genre, is an offshoot of Brostep music that focuses a lot on repetition over the downbeat, maintaining an insanely distorted sound design, a lot more than the average Brostep song. However, the term “riddim” originates — yet again — from the Jamaican Patois for “rhythm”. And Riddim as a musical style in Jamaica is actually more associated with things like dancehall and reggae, rather than the commercialized "Riddim" that is several hundred times removed from its own roots.

Last year, musician INFEKT proposed that what most EDM listeners call “riddim” should be referred to instead as “Trench” in an article on their website. This proposed name is derived from Getter’s use of the term on his 2014 record “Trenchlords Vol. 1”. I don’t personally know how much I resonate with the term, but whatever the consensus is, I don’t think we should be conflating a westernized, commercialized, and EDM-centric genre like this to Jamaican roots music. Over and over again, it seems that black music is constantly overwritten by developments like this, so I think more care needs to be taken in not allowing that to happen.

As a side note, a lot of people online seem very keen on appropriating Jamaican Patois quite often? There are so many examples of this. When the term “Bomboclaat” started making the rounds on Twitter a few years ago, so many white people were quick to either talk wildly about the term and trend or otherwise start saying it as well. There was a fucking article that sought to answer “The Bomboclaat >> Meme << Meaning Explained”, like they’re not dissecting an element of Jamaican slang lol. Then there was a period of time where people were constantly saying things like “On Jah?” as a stand-in for “On God?” even though this, again, is Jamaican Patois. And even now, you have tons and tons of non-black people going everywhere being like “what is blud waffling about?”, the phrase “blud” ONCE AGAIN also being Jamaican in origin.

I shouldn’t even have to explain what makes these kinds of appropriations weird and messed up. But black people lose jobs and are denied basic things in life over their hair styles, their expressions and slang, and so many other things that a white person can just appropriate and face zero consequences whatsoever for.

That aside, aside. Understanding and labeling genres correctly is such a big part of music history and highlighting and preserving cultures worldwide. When efforts are made to undermine the meaning of a genre label or otherwise use it incorrectly, so much damage is done to the communities and people groups that innovate and pioneer this art to begin with.

For these reasons, I will gladly use the term Brostep. I will happily call things Electro-Prog. And when you talk about genres like Jungle and Dubstep, say it with your whole chest. Be proud of the human race, show respect and love for the people who have forged the greatest parts of music with their bare hands. We will always stand on the shoulders of giants as musicians, so instead of pretending you yourself are the giant, build monuments and maintain the history of these people. You as an artist are nothing without them.

pictured: Augustus Pablo, one of the most important innovators of Dub. Without him, and without many of his contemporaries, I would reckon that half or more of all modern music would simply not exist.

CONTENT WARNING FOR THIS FINAL SECTION, THERE ARE LIKE LOTS OF STRANGE SLURS AND RACIST VIBES.

—

One last thing I wanna mention, this is slightly tangential but I think it's relevant to this conversation. It's always weird how lots of websites categorize things like this:

From Big Fish Audio... "G**sy*? "World/Ethnic Loops & Samples"? What the fuck are you talking about. Seems like racism to me.

On Loopmasters they have a "World" section. Any Americanized genre gets its own category, but the entire continents of Africa and Asia as well as the country of India and region of the Middle East (which are part of Asia, hope this helps btw) and lastly South America are stuffed into the nebulous "World Label". Seems like racism to me. Are you telling me you weirdos can't figure out a better way to represent these things?

But then Psy Trance gets its whole entire own category? Aren't there only like five people who listen to Psy Trance? /hj . But like come on.

Shoutout to WA Productions for categorizing a universe of suspiciously mostly black music as """Urban"""". And this company is a dime a dozen, hundreds of corpos do this shit.

East fucking West, what is this dude. There is a racism happening, I just know it. Please give me a count of how many poc are on payroll at your company, I am so curious.

And while we're at it, East West, what is this. Tell me. Fucking tell me.

Thanks for reading.

[allwormdiet]

Sentinel 9.1

Weld's lucky he's endearing, bc oh my god the ways he manages to step in it this arc

Bro, the city has been kaiju'd to hell, everyone who could use the airports to get out has gotten out, no money is gonna be made any time soon so business isn't happening, and nobody is dumb enough to come to Brockton Bay for pleasure right now. No shit the airport is empty. I'm more surprised that you're surprised by that.

Hey Piggot, sorry your job has gotten like a million times more stressful, hope you're hanging in there

Is robbing part of an airport profitable? That doesn't sound right but I don't know enough about airports or robbery to dispute it.

Also it's interesting to see economics and class inequality come up again, especially in the context of disaster response and response to disasters. The gap between rich and poor only gets wider in times of crisis, and the gap was already pretty fucking wide.

So, finally the PRT power classifications get laid out, having been introduced in Interlude 6 and mentioned again in 8.7. And it's mentioned explicitly as something that was used to sort out villains before eventually getting applied to heroes as well. Presumably an effort to know how to respond in case a hero goes off the rails, or maybe just trying to find more justifications to use the system. Dunno. Don't think it matters a ton in the grand scheme of things, trying to shove every power into a neat labeled box seems unproductive after a certain point.

Also yeah "Brute" is a bit of an unfortunate choice, with the additional yikes factor that they were specifically using it to describe villains at first. Like oh, don't worry about dishing out the punishment, it's a Brute after all.

I think Armsmaster would sooner chew off his other arm than retire, so there's definitely a story there

Also yeah Flechette locked in, as expected

This is the only real thing I can ding Piggot's standing for, I don't think it's hard to tell that a friendly rivalry would mean nothing in this context, so the fact that she's coming down on it for even existing feels like an overreaction. Then again, she's trying to bail out a battleship with a bucket, being humorless is hardly the worst offense in a time like this

"They weren't strictly homeless because they were squatting in abandoned commercial and industrial buildings" is certainly a perspective. When they talk about the intentions of Leviathan, it almost makes me wonder if the Docks were targeted to exacerbate things, get more people pissed and hurting and desperate. Between this, being able to target cities based off of social instability and potential media coverage, and possibly trying to eat or free Noelle, that's a lot of different factors possibly urging this attack and its behavior during said attack, and it might just be all of them at once. That's fucking freaky.

Also I think there was a mild slip-up here, calling Moist a Shifter instead of, I'm assuming, a Changer.

Shaper instead of Changer again

Interesting that Hookwolf is the head of the second Empire successor group, wonder if Krieg just didn't have the drive for leadership or got killed after the Endbringer stuff (thus not showing up on the memorial). Also mildly surprised that he's got the biggest number of parahumans.

The fact that the Pure have been rejected "for the time being" raises my hackles though, I've gotta be real. If the Protectorate/PRT actually stoop low enough to cooperate with fucking Nazis I'm gonna start feeling a lot less charitable

So three Masters is Skitter, Bitch, and Regent. I would guess that Skitter is the one they're concerned about, knowing Shadow Stalker's face, and that the other two would be who they consider possible sociopaths.

"Faultline's Crew" is a terrible name honestly. Coil and Faultline both just suck at naming teams...

Also 12 is the highest number we see here, which I guess means Labyrinth is on paper the most busted cape in the city. Good for her.

That's gotta fucking suck, never having a moment away from prying eyes whenever you're in public. How much of this is Weld being a champ and how much of this is Weld being resigned to this being his life?

That. Is rough.

So, that's something interesting. There's an interesting dichotomy between how parahumans can utterly wipe the floor against regular human combatants, even facing 25-to-1 odds with no purely defensive abilities (Grue's darkness can't stop a lucky hit) and coming out of it totally clean, and now there's this concern. We know that the early independent heroes got their shit rocked, Vikare got killed by a blow to the head during a sports riot of all things, so is there an upper limit on how many humans a parahuman can face at once? Does it hinge on how many parahumans are working together to face the threat, like could Grue only take on ten guys on his own if Skitter and Gregor and Spitfire hadn't been there to watch his back?

I'm probably overthinking this, but Piggot apparently considers it worth worrying about, so I won't dismiss the topic out of hand. Parahumans seem to end up above, below, or otherwise apart from the rest of humanity, and that separation could prove troublesome.

Gotta be strange to have your boss act like your dad, but needs must when you don't even remember who you are.

Also yeah fingers crossed Piggot holds to principles here, she doesn't seem the type but I've been disappointed before

Jesus Christ that's a really long-term plan. They've been at this since what, the late 80s?

Also interesting that the terminology uses is stated in-universe to be dated

So what's the "core" Protectorate team in this context? Is that at or above the standing that Armsmaster had before he derailed his own career? Are we talking Triumvirate level, or is there a middle ground I'm not aware of?

I also really really want to know what the meme was involving Weld, that's such a specific thing to have happen

I'm shocked that this would be considered frivolous. That's the kind of opportunity you'd normally seize with both hands, the idea of waving it off seems bizarre. Do they need the Wards too much to fight homicidal supervillains and disarm megaton bombs to let them *checks notes* get more kinds of training in? That feels shortsighted.

Then again a lot of things in Brockton Bay seem shortsighted. The greatest threat against Coil's grand scheme is his own impulsiveness (although easy money says that Taylor will become his biggest problem down the line), the Empire for some reason bothered with petty street crime and protection rackets while being run by, really cannot overstate this, the CEO of a pharmaceutical corporation that was doing well enough to have an entire skyscraper, and Lung put in like 1% of the effort he could've given to running the city. Maybe nobody is coming up with five-year plans because nobody is confident they'll live another five years, or maybe it's something in the water supply.

This is funny but it's so fucking rude, oh my God

Oh Weld, Weld no, do not think about Shadow Stalker like that, she'd corrode your dick off your body with her personality.

Oh, Weld. You have put your foot in your mouth already.

This story takes a pretty dim view of humanity, honestly. Poisoning an entire apartment block with chlorine gas just so you can loot it and take over feels extreme; I'm not gonna say it could or would never happen, unfortunately people are just as capable of evil as they are of good and there's not really a limit to how far either of those things can go, but for me at least it's somewhat curious that we don't hear more about any altruists in the city outside of the Protectorate; there would have to be good Samaritans somewhere in the mix, and not even most of them would've already been stabbed or beaten to death by opportunists.

Maybe that's just the perspective the Wards are giving us, but call me crazy, I don't think Taylor is going to be any more optimistic about how things are going.

Also, Clockblocker is jumping down Weld's throat here, but he's not strictly wrong. He's coming into this fresh-faced, having not dealt with any of the aftermath of Leviathan. The strain being put on these kids is intense, not least with the losses that the Protectorate suffered and the teammates they're still grieving. Fifteen hour patrols, Jesus Christ.

Bro got owned by a thirteen-year-old.

How did he not get briefed on the dead Wards? How did he not already look them up for himself? Someone, I think multiple someones, dropped the ball there. I'm also surprised that Weld even asked the question instead of just drawing his own conclusions or looking into it when nobody could catch him being a fool.

Current Thoughts

I do not envy Weld for the situation he's being thrown into. Whatever happens in Boston is clearly a different kind of ballgame from what they're doing here in Brockton Bay, and he has not been read into it yet.

I don't envy any of the Wards, this might be the most thankless position anyone in the city might be stuck with, and none of them are even old enough to buy cigarettes or vote, but they have to fend off looters and wade through waters tainted with death and ruin for hours at a time.

How many rights do you sign away taking this job, getting your ass put on the line like this when not even the military takes kids this young into combat? I think Skitter was right, this whole arrangement blows chunks

[childotkw]

In dark side of the moon, can we hear a little more about Riddle's take on things? Particularly regarding Harry?

Tom was, admittedly, a little embarrassed that it took him so long to really notice Evans.

Dumbledore’s son - and wasn’t that a disturbing notion, that someone somewhere had looked at the man who regularly wore outrageously coloured robes decorated with bumblebees and snitches and fluffy clouds and thought him desirable enough to sleep with - had initially flown beneath Tom’s radar. Oh, his arrival at Hogwarts had sparked much conversation, but his actual presence?

Tom hadn’t given the young man much thought. He had had him categorised and labelled in a neat little box from the very first mention of his existence.

Any son of Dumbledore was surely a steadfast believer in his father’s doctrine after all, and therefore not worth Tom’s time.

That impression has lasted only a few weeks.

Word had spread about Evans’ mentorship of the Shame of Slytherin, Nathan Ciro, but Tom had never seen the two together. It had been a point of discussion amongst the school and their House in particular - Dumbledore’s offspring taking a Slytherin under his wing, yet another sign he had dismissed - but for all that people were baffled by the choice, no one seemed to know much of anything about the relationship. How or even why it had come to be.

It seemed like fate that Tom was the one to stumble across the pair. Without even trying he had accomplished what so many others had not.

As it should be.

He had only seen Evans from a distant before, and the man had never struck him as someone particularly intimidating or imposing. He was short, slender, dressed plainly, and the frankly hideous glasses he wore were the only thing Tom could make out of his face - another point, everything about the man was so carefully constructed to be forgettable, Tom really was a fool - but his voice was distinct.

Tom slowed momentarily when he heard the muffled sound of a conversation, then crept closer. It was late in the afternoon, still an hour before dinner would be served, but the dungeons were normally quite empty at this point. Classes had let out ages ago, and most Slytherins enjoyed basking in the sun before they had to return to the cold hallways that bracketed their common room.

He peeked around the corner, and immediately felt his interest pique.

Evans was squatting before a curled up Ciro, staring at the younger wizard with a painfully kind expression.

“- it didn’t work.” Ciro was mumbling, hiding his face in his knees.

“It was your first try, you can’t have expected to get it right straight away.” Evans’ voice was low and patient, not dissimilar to how he spoke in classes, but with a heavy kind of intensity in it that caught Tom off-guard. “Most wizards and witches never master it.”

And that intrigued Tom more. Just what was Evans teaching Ciro?

The other boy said something else, inaudible from how his mouth pressed into his knobbly knee. Evans huffed a laugh, poking Ciro with his wand. “What’s the rule, kid?”

Ciro shifted, unfurling a little. “Head up,” he grumbled, clearly reciting this so called ‘rule’. “I said, you mastered it, and you were younger than me when you did it.”

“I was,” Evans agreed easily, his smile sliding into place with an ease Tom was briefly envious of, “but I also had a hell of a motivator to get it done.”

“What, were you being harassed by dementors?” Ciro asked, his tone far more snide than Tom was used to. He could count on one hand the amount of times he had heard that level of life in Ciro’s voice. Certainly not in the last year had he shown that much fire.

But that knowledge felt secondary to the implication behind his words.

Dementors. A difficult spell. Surely they weren’t talking about the patronus? And Evans had supposedly mastered it before he was fourteen?

“Well, maybe not ‘harassed’, but I had a few run ins,” Evans said blandly, as if most wizards would survive one encounter with such a creature. Ciro goggled at his mentor, mirroring Tom’s own incredulousness. “The point is, I learned the patronus under a lot of pressure. I needed it to protect myself, so I pushed myself. You don’t have that driving you - and you should be bloody glad for it,” Evans added when he saw whatever expression crossed Ciro’s face.

“Then why are you trying to teach it to me?” Ciro’s voice was small. “If not everyone can master it…why bother at all?”

Evans sighed, his face creasing fondly as he ruffled the boy’s hair. “Because I know you can do it,” he said simply, as if the very idea that Ciro would not be able to produce a fucking patronus had never crossed his mind. “Kid, Nathan, you managed to produce mist on your first try. That alone is incredible. It took me weeks to get that far, and I had a far better teacher showing me the ropes. You’ll get there, but you have to be patient with yourself. I’ll be right behind you every step of the way, okay?”

Tom stood there, feeling oddly breathless as he watched the scene play out. He couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation, his ears flooded by the rush of blood.

He felt, strangely, as if something fundamental had just shifted inside him, and that was -

Exhilarating.

[hauntingofhouses]

i know I've mentioned my interpretation of mizu's gender a million times on here but i don't think i ever fully elaborated on it.

so on that note i just wanna ramble about that for a bit. basically, it's my reading of the show that mizu is nonbinary, so let me dig into that.

putting the rest under the cut because it ended up being pretty long lol. also here have a cute mizu pic of her being happy and most at ease with herself, symbolised by her letting her hair down. <3 ok let's proceed.

thus, when i refer to mizu as nonbinary, i am interpreting mizu as a woman, but not ONLY a woman. not strictly a woman. she is also a man. she is also neither of these things, she is something in between, while at the same time she is none of these at all. i've said as much many times, but i just don't want people to think that when i say nonbinary, it inherently means a "third androgynous gender" that essentially turns the gender binary into a gender trinary. not only is that going against what the term nonbinary was crafted for (to go against rigid boxes and categorisation of gender identities), but also, not all nonbinary people fall under that category or definition, and that's definitely not the way i interpret mizu.

okay before i go deeper i'd just like to address some important things. first of all, this post is an analysis of canon, and thus everything i am arguing for is about my own interpretation of the show, and not some baseless projected headcanon i am projecting onto the character. please remember there is a difference between an interpretation (subjective; interpretations will differ from viewer to viewer, but ultimately it is firmly rooted in evidence taken from the source material) VS a headcanon (unrelated and often even contrary to what is presented in canon; opinions wildly differ and they cannot be argued for because there is no canonical evidence to back it up).

ALSO please note that nonbinary is an umbrella term. this means that it applies to a vast range of gender identities. other identities that fall under the nonbinary umbrella include agender, bigender, genderfluid, and so on. however, it's my personal preference to use the term nonbinary as it is, simply because i'm not a fan of microlabels (more power to you if you do like them and find they suit you more though!).

also, before anyone fights me on this, let me clarify further that gender means something different to everyone. it's not your biological sex or physical characteristics. but at the same time, gender is not mere presentation. you can be a trans woman and still present masculine—either because you're closeted and forced to, or because you just want to—and either way, that doesn't take away from your identity as a woman. same goes for trans men. if you're a trans man but you wear skirts and don't bind or don't get top surgery, that doesn't make you any less of a man. because gender non-conformity exists, and does not only apply to cis people! some lesbians are nonbinary and prefer using he/him pronouns while dressing masculinely, but that doesn't mean they're a man, or that they're any less of a lesbian. neither does this mean that they're a cis woman.

the thing about queer identities in general is that, like i said, they mean something different to everyone, because how you identify—regardless of your biological attributes and fashion or pronouns—is an extremely personal experience. so a nonbinary person and a gnc cis woman's experiences might have plenty of overlap, but what distinguishes between the two is up to the individual. there's no set requirements to distinguish you as one or the other, but it's up to you to decide what you identify as, based on what you feel. either way, by simply identifying yourself as anything under the LGBTQ+ umbrella, you are already communicating to the world that you are not what a conservative, cisheteronormative society wants you to be.

which is why i find all this queer infighting on labels to be so ridiculous. because we're all fighting the same fight; the common enemy is a societal structure that divides us into set roles and expectations purely based on our biological parts. that's why biological essentialism in the queer community is a fucking disease. because by arguing that women are inherently weak and fragile and soft and gentle and must be protected from evil ugly men, while men are inherently strong and angry and violent and exploitative of women, these people are advocating for the same fucked up system that marginalises and abuses women as well as effeminate and/or gay men.

anyway. i'm going on a tangent. this was meant to be a blue eye samurai post. so yeah back to that— the point i'm trying to make is that there's no singular way to identify as anything, as everyone's views on gender, especially their own, is specific and personal to the individual.

so with that being said, yes you can definitely interpret mizu as a gnc cis woman and that's a totally valid reading of the text. however, interpreting her as nonbinary or transmasc also doesn't take away from her experiences with misogyny and female oppression, because nonbinary and transmasc folks also experience these things.

me, personally, i view her as nonbinary but not necessarily or not always transmasc because i still believe femininity and womanhood is a very inherent part of who mizu is. for example, from what we've seen, she does not like binding. it does not give her gender euphoria, but is instead very uncomfortable for her both physically and mentally, and represents her suppressing her true self. which is why when she "invites the whole" of herself, she stands completely bare in front of the fire, breasts unbound and hair untied. when she is on the ship heading to a new land in the ending scene, she is no longer hiding her neck and the lack of an adam's apple. we can thus infer that mizu does not have body dysmorphia. she is, in fact, comfortable in her body, and relies on it extremely, because her body is a weapon. instead, what mizu hates about herself is her face—her blue eyes. she hates herself for her hybridised racial identity, hates herself for being a racial Other. hates that she has no home in her homeland. thus it is important to note that these are not queer or feminist themes, but postcolonial ones.*

* and as a tiny aside on this subject, i really do wish more of the fandom discussion would talk about this more. it's just such an essential part to reading her character. like someone who's read homi k bhabha's location of culture and has watched this show, PLEASE talk to me so we can ramble all about how the show is all about home and alienation from community. please. okay anyway—

nevertheless, queer and feminist themes (which are not mutually exclusive by the way!) are still prevalent in her story, though they are not the main issue that she is struggling with. but she does struggle with it to some extent, and we see this especially during her marriage with mikio, where we see her struggle in women's domestic spaces.

on the other hand, though, she finds no trouble or discomfort in being a man or being around other men—even naked ones—and does not seem stifled by living as one, does not seem all that bothered or uncomfortable navigating through men's spaces. contrast this to something like disney's mulan (1998), where we do see mulan struggle in navigating through men's spaces, as she feels uncomfortable being around so many men, always feeling like she doesn't belong and that she's inherently different from them. mizu has no such experiences like this, as her very personality and approach to life is what can be categorised as typically "masculine". she is straightforward and blunt. her first meeting with mikio, she tells him straight to his face that he's old while frowning and raising a brow at him. she approaches problems with her muscles and fists (or swords), rather than with her words or mind. compare this with mulan, who, while well-trained by the end of the movie, still uses her sharp wits rather than brute strength. this is a typically "feminine" approach. it's also the approach akemi relies on throughout the show—through her intelligence and persuasive tongue, she navigates the brothel with ease. mizu, in contrast to someone like mulan and akemi, struggles with womanhood and femininity, and feels detached from it.

thus, in my opinion, mizu is not simply a man, nor is she simply a woman. she is both. man and woman. masculine and feminine. she has to accept both, rather than suppress one or the other. her name means water. fluid.

as a side note, while i do believe mizu is nonbinary, i also primarily use she/her pronouns for her, but this is a personal preference. i find it's easier to use in fanfic (singular they is confusing to write stories with, but again, that's just my feelings on it, and this is coming from someone who uses they/they pronouns). i also lean towards she/her because it's what the creators and all the official promotional copywriting of the show uses. and even though i am a "death to the author" enjoyer, i feel that when interpreting things that are left open-ended, it does help to look at the creators' take on things. also because, in general, being nonbinary simply doesn't necessitate the use of they/them pronouns. nonbinary is not just a third gender. it's about breaking the binary, in any which way, and that's exactly what mizu does, constantly.

also, i'd also like to mention that one of show's head of story even referred to her with the term "nonbinary", rather than simply "androgynous" (see pic below). and it's possible this could be a slip up on his part, in which he believes the terms are interchangeable (they're not btw), but regardless i find it a very interesting word choice, and one that supports my argument.

so anyway yeah that's my incredibly long rambling post.

TL;DR nonbinary mizu rights 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 congrats if you reached the end of this btw. also ily. unless you're a TERF in which case fuck off. ok i'm done.

[the-s1lly-corner]

hey, may i request hcs of laughing jack + slenderman x nonbinary, afab!reader who gets misgendered/bullied a lot but is too scared to correct/stand up to ppl? happens to me a lot :[

laughing jack and slenderman x afab!nonbinary!reader

im so so sorry you keep getting treated like dookie- as a fellow afab nb i totally get your pain with the misgendering, people just need to hush up

notes: reader is afab and nonbinary, established relationships, both canon characters have limited knowledge of lgbt topics but thats mostly because they hardly interact with people or media

cws: transphobia, canon typical violence, mentions of stalking

laughing jack

doesnt get to interact with many people much, so hes a little limited on his knowledge- and given that he originally started existing in the Victorian era? hoo boy- hes not transphobic or otherwise lgbtphobic but there is some ignorance

can see himself as using some labels once he gets more educated on it, though! always headcanoned laughing jack to be gnc!

tries to help you appear more androgynous or masculine if thats what you want! he doesnt mind playing dress up with you, and hes definitely going to take it as a moment to turn it into a game and try to cheer you up!

openly mocks the people who bully you, as well as outright saying that theyre just a bunch of jerks who... dont deserve nice things to head their way.. to keep the description vague

similar to slenderman, hes going to go out and get some vengeance if things get ugly enough

he doesnt like going out without you, hes a bit clingy.. but the sight of you being so distraught really makes his insides coil like snakes.. does not like it at all

even tries to push for you to carry him around in his box so he can just jump and slash anyone who says anything- though thats not a very good idea... would give him away quickly

slenderman

he doesnt understand much about gender, and honestly? i can easily see him being agender, or maybe gender apathetic simply due to him not showing interest in his own identity. he rarely wants to be perceived anyway

despite not knowing much about it and not caring how others see him, he can understand just a little bit on why it matters to you- especially when youre seen as something youre not and harassed for it

rest assured that if he ever finds out someone is harassing you, he will silent them quickly. out right offing them or stalking them over a period of time, the result will end in you having one less person on your back... then two.. then three.. and so on

actually the fact that people seem to either go missing or skip town not long after messing with you makes many keep their mouths shut- and before you even think that might prompt someone to harm you under the guise that its YOU doing it, slenderman isnt going to let that happen

he listens to you if you need to talk about your feelings on it, hes unsure of how to verbally help you affirm your gender identity but if you outright ask him how he views you; he tells you that you pass in his eyes regardless of if you present more femininely, masculine, or androgynously.. though that may be because of his aforementioned limited knowledge on the topic... hes supportive nonetheless!

[expression-of-doubt]

oddities.mp4

She stood there, the pitter-patter of the rain beating against the ugly, purple nylon of her umbrella; paramedics, journalists and disinterested cops circling all around her, arranging the scene to be picture-perfect for this afternoon’s and ostensibly the whole month’s worth of breaking news reports.

After all, what could be more compelling to a general audience than a disfigured corpse, of what was presumably a man, with his skull so caved in, it had painted a spiked halo of dark red blood where there once used to be a head and a face. If only he could have died whilst holding up a “V for victory”, so that the iconography of it would single-handedly provoke a stencilled mural be drawn in its place in two week’s time. The words “gruesome scene” basically wrote themselves on the collective phone screen of every journalist from the seventeen rival TV stations present on the scene, all trying to spin some different angle for what was just simple, cold, bloody murder.

No one really wanted to be there, mostly because it was tough work in even rougher conditions, or maybe because it was just work. Terrible weather, and the only coffee nearby came out of an ancient vending machine, which was barely pretending to hold off on the sugar, when you’d press the button for none. It was enough of a mess that it would handily occupy them for the rest of the day, which most seemed to take in stride, as well as anyone could a free paycheque, anyway. No moving parts or reasonable doubt to be had either – just “We’re currently investigating.” and “You’ll be the first to know, when we know.” License to make shit up, and hope that further developments would end up proving you right, and the guys over at CTV wrong. It was the kind of gamble, where no one would end up being the loser, since most stations would end up reposting each other’s work by the end of the first week, with their readers and viewers becoming about as half as interested by week two. Though, most of these young urban professionals were morbidly hoping that there’d be some other gruesome scene to write about by that point.

Everyone would race to be the first to publish, but in this day and age it wouldn’t amount to nothing more than forcing your colleagues into the choke-hold of having to cite you as the guys that pressed “Publish” seventeen milliseconds earlier, because the intern had a momentary tremor. The average consumer of said news couldn’t give any less of a shit who broke it first, since those articles would be sandwiched in between a photo of a scantly clad girl, advertising her private page, and this week’s hottest meme of a chipmunk struggling to swallow an overly large nut.

Ivy wasn’t really in the head-space to have much of a reaction to anything, since anyone who’d spend any time living in The Capital would know this is just about par for the course in this town. All she could think about is how the rain would scare off all the clientele, and there’d be nothing to do but shuffle boxes from lower to higher shelves all day. No reason to take the headphones in her ears out either. Another day wasted before it had even started.

She’d stand there, eavesdropping on the conversations the people unrolling police tape would bark at each other for several minutes at a time before looking back down at her feet and thinking to herself when someone would notice the tooth sitting on the ground right in front of her – some kind of molar. A dentist would probably know, she’d think to herself, as if affirming to anyone listening in on her thoughts, that she didn’t really need to know. Several police officers would almost step on it, which would surely reveal its existence or instantly destroy it, but no such luck. She’d smirk to herself one last time, before stepping away from it and through the door behind her, into a store-front labelled “Oddities” – her place of work.

…

There are only two things really worth mentioning about that place:

One was immediately apparent – it sold antiques. Old, musty, and as far as anyone could tell without going in – probably expensive. While partially true, the real nature of it was something closer to a boutique, which had at some point over the years failed, and then forcibly diversified in various—if not too many—directions, in a desperate attempt to keep the lights on.

The second was its proprietor – a man, known to his acquaintances, and unknown to just about everyone else. A rather unpleasant to be around—by anyone’s guess—sixty-something year old man, who had, so far, blissfully coasted through life, in a state of perpetual melancholia. It was the kind of thing you’d immediately sense radiating off of him, if you ever got to meet him in-person. It’s what ultimately must have earned him the nickname “Eyes”. The only thing that really betrayed that caricature was the way he’d loom over people in stature, broad shoulders and all. That and you couldn’t shake the feeling that, despite it all, he was never really unhappy. There’d be this air of dignity about him, which no one ever seemed to really question or deny about him. Maybe it was the way he’d handle himself, or maybe it was just his age, finally growing to suit him. At least, that’s what Ivy would say, whenever someone asked.

Gonna be another slow day, huh Ivy? How was your date?

The asshole never showed up. Stood me up like some dumb bitch, that doesn’t know better.

That’s a shame. . . I’m guessing you have him an earful?

He’s been ghosting me ever since. He should probably keep at it, if he knows what’s good for him!

‘Attagirl. You deserve better. You just let me know if you need anything, alright?

He’d run Oddities with an iron fist – a fact that would become apparent the second any unseasoned clientele managed to somehow find his shop, and naively think to enter it without proper defensive countermeasures.

The ideal customer was one who would enter, give a polite, yet short greeting, and would then proceed to browse through the shelves and the displays in complete and utter, deeply contemplative silence, for at least ten to fifteen minutes. Only after, would they be capable of asking, or be offered, any help. This “help” would usually consist of a couple of leading questions, with which he would internally gauge the client’s level of familiarity. If the client “had a pulse”, as he liked to put it, the conversation would be brief, and it would result in a guaranteed purchase within the next minute. If no such vital signs were found, and he was able to diagnose the cause of brain death sufficiently quickly, there was about a fifty-fifty chance they’d walk away with something, which he’d deem sufficiently expensive and profitable enough to justify having gotten up from his chair. Whether or not they had come in with the intention of leaving with said thing was seen as irrelevant, and/or their mistake.

Anyone that acted outside of the “mandatory browsing period”, was booted out kicking and screaming.

As you might imagine, this didn’t really fall under what some would consider conventional business savvy, but to him that never was the point to begin with. To him, this mercantile venture was an exercise in providing a service to the public. A service that no one was explicitly begging for, but was provided nonetheless.

I’ll be alright. I just don’t know why you even bothered opening up today. They’re not going to be done with that mess outside anytime soon.

Who knows, one of those journos might make a mistake and take a picture of the wrong wall. Have to look our best.

The one without the corpse with the blown off head?

They don’t know that. Their bosses probably just told them to go to this address and take pictures. I don’t think most of them can even perceive the corpse as something out of the ordinary. Besides, there’s a tooth rolling around out there they still haven’t noticed.

Oddities was Eyes’ personal crusade against the tides of mindless consumerism, brought on by nearly thirty years of attempts to establish a democracy, modelled after other capitalist countries. This was only his excuse to try and shape the unwilling masses; to turn them from a horde of grossly disinterested individuals, preoccupied with the turmoil of daily and/or biological life, to more full-bodied and well-rounded people, with at least one niche interest. It wasn’t so much an antiques shop, as it was a re-education centre. Ivy also liked to add that it was a place that forced upon people an intense kind of concentration, to make a really blunt kind of point.

She had worked there ever since she was almost done with high-school. The pay couldn’t have been particularly good, but as the sole employee of the establishment, she had a certain kind of irreplaceable autonomy. Though, everything seemed to indicate that she’d still stick around, even if that wasn’t the case. Something about all those carefree workdays, where there wouldn’t be a single person setting foot through those doors. She didn’t really see it as a job, as much as it was a place to hang out for a couple of hours and still earn a paycheque at the end of the month. Enough to cover a small one-room apartment, food, decent internet, and her tuition, anyway.

Though, the idea of giving money to that front of an institution they’d call a university seemed to irk her a bit. She had gotten roped into doing it, after her relatives had twisted her arm into getting a higher education. For her future, they’d say. Obviously they meant something like pursuing law, medicine, or architecture, but she thought the humanities would have to suffice. She’d never really talk about it, but made sure anyone concerned about the topic could rest assure, that whatever she’d come out the other end with would result in no prospects whatsoever.

Saw that too, eh? That’s next week’s shocking revelation, I bet. Also what… are you telling me none of those piggies wanna come in and look for some new curtains? No questions?

Yeah pretty much every single one of them came in, asking the same questions – efficient communication, they call it. I’m pretty sure half of them went out with the conclusion that I was the one who did it.

Well. . . you might’ve. There’s enough antique weapons in this building to arm a small army. Who’s to say you haven’t grown restless at your age and started lashing out?

Most days, she’d lounge around the shop on one of the many beaten-up sofas, which to her seemed to have been on display and available for purchase for at least the last thirty years. Clearly no takers.

Every once in a while, she’d get up and turn on one of several import high-end Hi-fi systems, on which she would play one of the many records Eyes had stashed away for discerning clientele.

Eyes would be over in the corner by the entrance, where he had set up his workbench all those aeons ago, when Oddities first opened. He’d say it was the best lit part of the shop, which would highlight the fact that he is, in fact, the most important article enclosed in these here four walls. He’d usually smirk to himself while saying that. In reality, his eyesight was getting worse, and the corner window gave him just enough light to not have to turn on a desk lamp all the time. He’d usually spend his days digging around the guts of some old, broken radio. Never seemed to know how to get it to work, though.

You’d feel very lucky then, wouldn’t ya? The beheading – sure; but that’s a high velocity impact splatter repainting that wall. Curious thing is, that there’s not even a single sign of gunfire anywhere around that body. Whoever hit that guy turned him into mist, and didn’t even use a gun. It’s sure to stump forensics for a while, if it ever reaches them, that is.

Definitely not going to burn this week’s guess on you being a gardener. I dunno. It just looks like some dead rich kid to me. Mummy and daddy’s silver spoon couldn’t bail him out of this mess, I guess.

Behind Eyes, would be a large modular bookshelf, which only housed books in the compartments that were physically out of his reach. Over the years, he had replaced anything within arms length for some kind of junk, he found essential to the upkeep of the shop – wire strippers, 12 gauge wire, planks of wood, cast iron pans, scrap electronics, technical manuals, coffee cups, depleted uranium rods – you name it. This was a man, who self-admittedly refused to understand the concepts of organisation and cleanliness, as he thrived in “the kind of chaos only he could make”. This was also part of the philosophy, which resulted in the glorified intimidation tactic that was hanging a quick-release sixteenth-century executioner’s sword off of chains from the ceiling, right above where he’d be sitting all day. Essential, he’d call it.

Ivy simply didn’t believe that it would have much of an effect on anyone, especially if someone were to be so inclined as to break in and try to steal, what was, to her, an assortment of mostly dust and worthless junk, no one saw value in, anyway.

What added to the intimidation factor were the dried flecks of blood, which covered part of the lower edge. The usual story would bluntly imply they were from the last client who misbehaved, or maybe the last intruder who thought they were going to get out alive, but Ivy knew that there was an equally funny story of someone getting up too quick from their desk one too many times.

Regardless, Eyes was unshakable in his convictions, and it seemed to fit in with his rather morbid sense of humour.

Who knows! That kid is going to end up having one hell of a swan song.

What do you mean?

Well… someone already took the money out of his pocket, so he’s at least gonna buy someone a good evening out. Suit is going to get ripped off him, cleaned up, and appear in someone’s wedding photo two weeks from now. Probably lived somewhere too, which means that there’s a free condo to crash in. . . at least until rent is due. And whatever ID he might have had on him is now someone’s blank slate to get out of this shithole, carte blanche. At the end of the day, this guy has done more for the citizens of this town than most. What’s left of him was committed to the city, regardless if he ever was.

You been thinking that one up the whole day, haven’t you? That’s a real fucked up way of looking at it, Eyes.

Ivy would grimace at the thought, but she knew that it probably wasn’t too far off from the truth. All it took was one look out through the window. The tooth – still just laying there on the wet concrete. Another footstep passing by it for yet another near miss.

Whatever he was running away from just caught up to him. Probably never even noticed. He got what was coming to him.

Eyes would look up from his little project and give the scene outside another once-over.

Everyone does. . . eventually.

The rain would patter against the glass, slightly eroding away the old, faded lettering on them. Another uneventful day in The Capital.

Next issue: October 23rd, 2024

[theshoegirldiaries]

Curiouser and curiouser. L'Amour Rose Saint Tropez (centre) is one of my favourite fragrances and probably my favourite Anna Sui scent, but there's something about the bottle that's always bothered me. Nowhere on it does it say "Saint Tropez" and the look of the bottle is very similar to the original L'Amour Rose, so how can you tell the difference? Well, a couple of months ago I bought the original LR EDP and the Versailles version, which strangely enough does have Versailles written on it, which just added to my confusion. Why doesn't Saint Tropez? Do I even own Saint Tropez or is it L'Amour Rose in the wrong box?

Let's go back to the beginning. I ordered LRST from Superdrug, a reputable retailer here in the UK (so I knew the item was genuine). There was very little information regarding this particular flanker at the time. The description of the notes was different to any other LR fragrances I could find on Fragrantica ("A rich sensual heart wrapped by flirtatious, feminine notes and a bright floral freshness. With the addition of salty beach notes and the scent of warm dry sand, this fragrance will take you on a luxurious vacation to Saint-Tropez"). The colouring of the bottle looked similar to L'Amour Rose, but didn't look frosted in the promotional image. The only information I could find back then, was a social media post by Anna Sui about their new Saint Tropez fragrance with notes matching Superdrug's description. So I figured it was new-ish and not many people had heard of it yet.

When it arrived, the box clearly states the size (75ml), Eau de Parfum and that it's the ST version, but the bottle inside was frosted (unlike the stock photo, though I've had this issue with other Anna Sui bottles before) and there's no mention of ST on the bottle itself. So fast-forward to a few months ago and I decided to take a chance and order a tester bottle of the LR EDP along with the LR Versailles EDP. V is obviously different to the others. The juice is more orange, the ribbon is orange velvet and it states on the front of the bottle exactly which version it is. The LR EDP however, looks identical to LRST EDP. Same black grosgrain ribbon (the EDT version in promotional pictures at least has a pale pink ribbon, so it looks different) and similar coloured juice . I put off testing this perfume as I was worried it would just be another bottle of LRST (worried I'd have two open bottles on the go at once, rather than worried about buying this scent twice). When I did eventually get round to it, I could immediately confirm they were very different scents.

You'd think the mystery would end there and I'd just consider myself lucky that I bought two different sizes and could therefore tell them apart that way. However, I decided to photograph the bottom labelling (my eyesight needs it magnified) and things just got stranger. Versailles is marked a 50ml Eau De Parfum (all correct), L'Amour Rose, a 50ml with no reference to strength (despite it coming in EDT and EDP). Saint Tropez says 75ml, Eau de Toilette. EDT? It's supposed to be an EDP! LRST has great longevity and is quite powerful, so I don't believe it's an EDT. I even dug out the box (above), to double check and it definitely says EDP.

I'm always lambasting companies that don't have enough differentiation between different flankers. We shouldn't need to keep the boxes or read the small (and always difficult to read) labels on the bottom to know which version we're using. Yet in this case, the label, bottle and box are all saying different things! It's all just so strange. It's like it never existed, it's still not listed on Fragrantica (but I saw someone else commenting on there regarding it) and I've had this in my collection for over a year now. All I know is, it's my favourite of the three LR scents I own, it's truly beautiful (the other two are too fizzy/sharp for my liking), it would just be nice for it to be acknowledged and for some confirmation that what I'm smelling is the scent and strength I'm thinking it is.

[johannestevans]

how do you find a solid sense of self when society constantly demands you trade parts of yourself to live peacefully in it. I'm not confidant i can start working towards more self-discovery without running into road-blocks that say "Back in your box or perish". Ive changed the way i interact and think about the world so much that i cant come up with a solid answer who i am outside the few labels Ive picked out for myself. other than that i feel like a blank slate, EXCITING but what can i even do

It can strike people as trite, but I think the biggest and most important thing you can do with regards to your identity is define it on things you love, and work outward from there.

What values do you hold most dearly? What hobbies or activities do you care most about? Big or small, what are the things that bring you the most joy, happiness, and satisfaction?

But apart from that, there's also like... What parts of yourself do you think are or have suffered most? What aspects of your identity have been most neglected or mistreated by those around you? What aspects of yourself do you think are the most tender, the aspects of yourself that deserve or need to be nurtured and cherished most?

There are things that can be in conflict, obviously, like things that can bring us joy whilst also making us feel trapped or hemmed in, as you say, and it's difficult to work from that. Especially when you've spent much of your life being told that what you do and how you exist has to be comprehensible and acceptable to passers-by and onlookers - messaging that queer and disabled people receive a lot, not to mention the same racialised messaging for people who are Black or brown etc, or straight-up just people who have come from a mixed cultural background - because our mere existence makes other people uncomfortable - it can be hard to shake off those expectations and the trauma that those expectations come with.

The most important thing to do and the thing that genuinely is the most liberating is to ensure you find community with like-minded people - not just people who love the same things you do or do the same activities, but people who share the same values as you, and care about them on the same level as you. People you can exist with and relax, without worrying about them judging some aspect of you, as much as possible.

What that means for every individual, what those communities look like, is ultimately a really personal thing, but the basis of pretty much anybody's self-confidence, I think, comes from being able to trust that those closest to them, those with whom they are most vulnerable or intimate, with their whole selves.

When you find those people and you are able to take your armour off, when you are able to just exist in the presence of that love without being fully armoured, you can then begin to see what you look like under it yourself, you know?

Not just because you're seeing it through other people's eyes, but also because you're seeing them unarmoured too, and you're doing that self-discovery not only through reflection and introspection, but through connection with others.

With queer people, I would say find other queer people - there's a reason that I always say it's important for trans MLM to seek out other MLM spaces, specifically because of the way attraction to men and men in general are celebrated in those rather than in broader spaces where there's often a bit of an "ew, men are icky, being attracted to men is icky" sentiment. There's a reason I also say that for disabled people, being around other disabled people fucking rocks.

Good luck with it, Anon! It's hard, but it's so rewarding once you do start to find people you click with, even if it's online or it's only now and then IRL, etc.