#or gave too much away in the story aka the one I haven't posted yet

[thesoulspulse]

I posted 427 times in 2022

That's 82 more posts than 2021!

393 posts created (92%)

34 posts reblogged (8%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@dp-marvel94

@ecto-stone

@kennymayovo

@floralflowerpower

@krossan

I tagged 427 of my posts in 2022

#danny phantom - 413 posts

#thesoulspulse - 390 posts

#the soul's pulse - 389 posts

#the souls pulse - 389 posts

#thesoul'spulse - 388 posts

#danny phantom oc - 142 posts

#danny phantom fanfiction - 117 posts

#oc - 114 posts

#danny phantom fanart - 107 posts

#original character - 107 posts

Longest Tag: 80 characters

#but no seriously i love getting fanart from people of my precious cinnamon buns!

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Regarding The Ancients (Part 2)

I think this screenshot says it all. In the last post I talked about the Ancients in general and there are a lot of great candidates for who they were in the Danny Phantom cast. After all, villains could count among them too because all Skulker said was that “...a group of powerful ancient ghosts banded together in a last ditch effort to defeat the King” which when you think about it doesn’t necessarily mean they were all ‘good’ ghosts. They probably had no choice but to become allies to take down someone who threatened the balance of both worlds...

Part 1: https://thesoulspulse.tumblr.com/post/698786699553177600/regarding-the-ancients-part-1

Still, I like to think of most of them as the good guys so we’ll start with them.

Clockwork is obviously the most logical choice because not only is he already wearing a purple cloak that’s extremely similar to the Ancients in the flashback, but he also has statues of the Grim Reaper, aka Death, all over his tower along with lots of scythes. But it makes sense given how he’s probably old enough to have known Death personally. Bonus points if they were brothers since time and death go hand in hand.

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120 notes - Posted October 22, 2022

#4

Got another stained glass window redo! I really like how much better it looks!

P.S. Technically this is for the sequel story but I haven't decided whether to combine it with the current one or not.

Haunted Soul: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14016455/1/Haunted-Soul

123 notes - Posted March 1, 2022

#3

Danny Phantom Randomness (The Way of the Ninja)

“Infinite Realms” is a really interesting episode despite being from Season 3 since it gave us a lot of cool concepts like Blood Blossoms, Frostbite & the Far Frozen, and the Infimap. And in the most recent chapter of my fanfic “Nevermore” I wanted to come up with a way to get Danny and the gang to Salem and figured why not use the Infimap since Vlad wasn’t there to steal it in this timeline? Still, this one scene where Danny was a Ninja always stood out to me for some reason and now I think I know why...

On the surface it looks like he staged this dramatic entrance but what if there was a bit more to it than that? What if the timing was a little off and Danny, Sam, and Tucker got there a bit earlier than Vlad and Danny actually trained with someone in the Ninja ways? Say, a guardian spirit he warned about Vlad trying to take over the kingdom?

To be fair, Danny’s a fast learner so picking up sword fighting probably wouldn’t take too long. And better yet, it would explain how Danny managed to blend in so well in this scene because I’d like to think that if Vlad didn’t already KNOW it was him, Danny learned how to mask his ghost signature Ninja style.

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123 notes - Posted September 22, 2022

#2

To cease the storm… To end the fear… The sword must sheathe… In pumpkin near!

~ Danny Phantom, Season 1, Fright Night

Original:

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131 notes - Posted September 11, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Once I got started on this, I couldn’t stop. Literally all I meant to do was make some line art for later out of a title card template I found to redraw from scratch for Halloween, but I got carried away while experimenting with some recolors as you can see...

I did redo Danny’s face since there were a lot of subtle differences between the concept art and the final version. Still, I’m sure you all know how much I love the Fright Knight so here’s another preemptive drawing since October is right around the corner!

Disclaimer, this is purely a work of fanart and Ray Leong gets credit for the original line art since they used to work for Butch. I don’t want to get in trouble or anything for using it so I won’t be sharing the line art template I made for this just in case, I will share a link to the original its based on though so they get proper credit!

Lineart: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ray_leong/2314966970/in/album-72157604059837585/

Official Title Card:

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133 notes - Posted September 24, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[tethered-heartstrings]

Fanfic ask game:

D: Is there a song or a playlist to associate with A Little Gold Goes A Long Way?

F: Share a snippet from one of your favourite dialogue scenes you've written and explain why you're proud of it.

S: Any fandom tropes you can't resist?

D: The only song mentioned in the story is “Palangos jūroj", which is an old Lithuanian song. I spent a fair amount of time researching a song that was in Lithuanian with a theme that fit my story and Hannibal and Will's relationship. (I may have taken some slight creative liberties in its interpretation. Sue me.) But otherwise not really. Even though I can't listen to any goddamn album without thinking of those two idiots, somehow that doesn't translate to my fics at all.

F: Holy shit, I have too much material to read through. I also feel dialogue is not my strong suit. (P.S. sorry there are more than one I am extremely indecisive.) I'll leave which fic it comes from a mystery. I also took out some of their emotional/facial descriptions and stripped it to just the dialogue. (Edit: I forgot the second part of this prompt oops. I don’t know if I want to explain it, I think me dissecting my own work is a bad time.)

H: “Let me help you. I don’t want to hurt you, Will.” W: “You will. You will because… I need you to.” H: “I don’t understand.” W: “I remembered. I need you to remember, too. You chose to hurt me once. Do it again. Hurt me now and… remember how it feels. Remember my face. My pulse. My breath in your hands. Remember now… so you never hurt me again. I want it to haunt you. Because I need it to end.”

H: “Is something the matter?” W: “How do you treat a burn?” H: “Not much can be done for minor burns. Clean it and dress it like any other wound.” W: “This… isn’t like any other wound, Hannibal.” H: “Damaged flesh is all the same, Will. Don’t make meaning where there is none.” W: “Does it hurt?” H: “Do you need it to?” W: “Pain is lonely. Whether its internalized or left to be expressed unaccompanied makes no difference. I know it hurts.” H: “Then why did you bother to ask?” W: “I guess I hoped maybe you were done lying to me.” W: “You chose an easy target. A bird with broken wings.” H: “Broken bones can be mended.” W: “Even the best medicine can’t cure it all. What’s the quality of life for a bird that cannot fly?” H: “Domesticated birds can live their full lives with mended wings.” W: “Wild birds don’t stand a chance at surviving.” H: “Some birds are not nearly as feral as they assume.” H: “Are you jealous of Mason Verger?” W: “There is nothing about Mason even remotely desirable. I just think you deserve better than his fucking brand on your back.” H: “I cannot see my scar. My branding does not bother me. Blips in a bigger story. It bothers you, though. Did Mason ruin me for you?” W: “What?” H: “He’s marked me. Tainted me, perhaps. A part of me forever.” W: “Nobody can ruin you. Least of all Mason fucking Verger. Besides, not all my marks are from you, either. Does that make you jealous?” H: “Yes.” W: “Why?” H: “Others have marked you but have caused less lasting agony. I wish I could be among the few to… leave their mark but not a scar.” W: “If our violence had no meaning, we wouldn’t be here. Was I ruined for you?” H: “There isn’t a thing on this earth that could spoil you for me.”

S: The only fic I seem to be able to write is hurt/comfort and angst/(some)fluff. Basically, enough fluff to keep the angst from being too painful. I unapologetically love showering/bathing together non-sexually. I can't explain in words how it makes me feel. But it is so vulnerable and requires so much care and love and attention. To wash someone's hair for them, fingertips tracing across the skin? Perfection. I will never tire writing about it. I also love wound healing. Similar feelings of intimacy as bathing but with darker origins. Cleaning blood, stitching wounds, the argument over of "I don't need local anesthetic/yes you do." I guess I'm a sucker for complicated intimacy and touch.

[onewomancitadel]

Have you ever considered the possibility that maybe instead of keeping the Maiden powers Cinder gains a new power by way of semblance evolution? I've always considered it to be more powerful storytelling to gave her gain strength she seeks with her OWN ability and not Magic she stole. It's also poignant that she gets the thing she so desperately wants only by giving it up. Bonus points if she becomes just as powerful as a maiden afterward anyway. Realizing she doesn't need Magic. -Emperor Luffy

Hi EmperorLuffy! Sorry I haven't checked my FFN PM's yet.

Yeah, I had considered that a while ago, and I've debated the thematic point of the Maiden magic a few times with Best Mate but never quite openly stated my opinion on whether they're to stay around. (Because the implication here is that either Cinder dies, or the magic disappears in some way).

I think I've settled on that they are to stay around, because of their Mother/Maiden/Crone kind of legacy themes, plus healing the Salem/Ozma daughters wound, but Best Mate has made some good observations that it's a well-intentioned gift with potentially disastrous consequences. At this point, I disagree with the idea that the magic will disappear, and that the Maidens don't carry some very meaningful themes in the story (especially given that three of the four so far are team R/WBY's Jungian archetypical Shadows).

The magic setting is much more interesting, and the issue with the powers is the sense of 'power-levelling' attributed to them - by audience and in-universe, which is sort of clever - and the solution is rehabilitating the use and inheritance of them (e.g. Fria's gift to Penny) as opposed to wiping them out.

That is to say, you can't take away the power from Cinder without making some sort of thematic statement about the powers overall, and my actual opinion is that Cinder's meant to be the Fall Maiden and she's meant to be a very good one. As I stated in a PM to you on FFN, I think that it's a perfect lesson to teach:

the character who thought that physical power was all she needed to protect herself - thereby the character who views the Maiden powers as nothing more than a means to a physical end - is actually the character who walks in on a quest of needing self-knowledge and spiritual enlightenment, and the question of responsibility.

There's a post here where I said that the key to Cinder is that she will never be 'truly free' in the sense of no responsibility and no vulnerability. Rather, the lesson she has to face as the Fall Maiden is that she has a responsibility, and has to open herself up to vulnerability. She can't just keep on going, hurting other people, and using the power the wrong way. Which she did actually manage to get. She has retrieved neither Spring nor Winter, but she is the Fall Maiden. She's not supposed to get the other powers; there is some sense of fate at play here.

I also think this is particularly meaningful given that Cinder is the Fall Maiden, aka the guardian of Choice. So, what she chooses to do, and how her choices are empowered (and how she could empower others) is actually very appropriate to the role she's supposed to play in the story.

As I have stated before on my blog in an ask here, I also think it is foreshadowed that Cinder will become a fully realised Maiden.

I also view it from a technical perspective.

What do you teach her punishing her by taking away the power? That she wanted for too much? I think that in terms of transformative potential of her redemption arc, it's more interesting that she learns to use the power for good. Especially because there's no reasonable female character that could meaningfully inherit the power - she would be creating ties herself through the world, to other people, through the use of the power, not by its transfer - and I think the game of musical chairs with the powers has to stop.

So, overall, I think we can learn more thematically about the responsibility and use of the Maiden powers through Cinder keeping the Fall Maiden power, and I don't think it makes thematic sense to get rid of the magic either.

Rather, it's about a redemption of the power, and it's fitting that all of the Maidens so far have, or are experiencing, redemption arcs themselves.

I don't really think a Semblance evolution makes sense for her to replace the Maiden power, because I think the Maiden power is really the big deal. I can see something happening, but the thing with her is that her Semblance is so similar to the Maiden power to the point that viewers are confused when she's using one or the other, it's probably safe to say that the two are actually congruent for her in some way.

So yeah, I think she needs Magic. I think she's meant to be the Fall Maiden and 'toil in her redemption' and be 'the key to victory', as Salem said - in a sense of ironic prophecy.

But she doesn't need Magic in the sense of raw power, she needs Magic in the sense of responsibility, vulnerability, redemption, and the potential to do protective Good.

Thanks for your ask!

[bleucolor]

Last time I tried to post a giyushino fanfic and since i navigate myself through Tumblr like a boomer, I accidentally deleted my story. I felt like a whole ass clown but I'm feeling hopeful and I'm back with another prompt using the moon. This takes place in a modern AU where both Giyuu and Shinobu are teenagers. A random drabble for Giyushino which was inspired by being quarantined at home. Hope y'all enjoy and please do send some love 🥺👉👈

Moonlight and Sunrise

Giyuu and Shinobu were friends, however this fact was quite shocking to others due to their Light and Day personas. Tomioka Giyuu was a loner, he had like maybe 2 solid friends being Sabito and Makomo and the others were at max labeled as acquaintances. Shinobu wasn't the most popular one at their highschool but she was well known. She would always be seen alongside her two best friends, Sanemi the oversized delinquent who'd actually bite your head clear off and Uzui the player; who'd get girls left and right. With attention at both sides of the bay it'd be obvious that Shinobu would be well known around their school, being head of the pharmaceutical research club and still being an avid member of the fishing club and the flower arranging club gave Kochou quite the recognition around Kimestu Academy.

Giyuu happened to be in a different class than Sabito and Makomo to his demise thus forcing him to be the lonesome sheep he is. His classmates didn't bother much about him either and nor did he. To him, Kyojurou was too loud, Sanemi was too reckless and Iguro was too emo. He once even referred to Mitsuri as a horse girl to Sabito, but he later concluded that Kanroji was just a rare hybrid of a Taki girl or a hot cheeto girl and Himejima was that one person who believed in horoscopes too seriously, sometimes he'd do tarot readings for his other classmates which Giyuu honestly found quite cool. Whereas Shinobu was someone Giyuu would've honestly never associated in the first place and truthfully speaking their duo wouldn't even exist if Shinobu hadn't approached him first. Shinobu was more of a bully to Giyuu primarily but later Giyuu had opened up to her about how he thought of her as a close friend and that softened Shinobu's heart and strengthed their bond. Although Kyojurou was the smartest kid in the class; even securing his title as class president; Ubuyashiki sensei always made sure to pair up Shinobu and Giyuu together during class projects thus leading to frequent study sessions together. Towards the end of the year, Shinobu became the third person in the entirety of Kimetsu Academy to be close to Giyuu, the 1st and 2nd being Sabito and Makomo and 4th being a special freshman called Tanjiro.

Even though his classmates were rather annoying, Giyuu never did hate any of them. In fact it was hard for Giyuu to genuinely hate anybody in the first place but then there was this one person and that person was Shinobu's oh so charming boyfriend, Douma. Giyuu saw through his pretty boy personality when she first introduced him. He ranted about it to Sabito the very night, complaining about how he's all fake and it's all just a matter of time before that facade comes of. Sabito didn't miss a beat and told Giyuu to suggest a suitable partner for Shinobu instead, to which Giyuu had no answer to. And as per said prophecy it didn't take long for Shinobu to see Douma's true intentions and she decided a queen like her deserved better than this.

It was finally summer break and Giyuu and Shinobu had finally completed 12 painstaken years of schooling along with the others of course. Shinobu decided to host a little get together and hang out with the people she cared about one last time before they drifted apart into adulthood.

Giyuu reached the mall at about 8 pm and walked straight to the food court since Shinobu informed him that's where they would be. To his horror, Shinobu had invited a great deal of people, including those who didn't like him, example being his whole class. As always his presence was ignored by his classmates but thankfully amidst the groups of people, Giyuu noticed a particular red head named Sabito, aka his best friend. Sabito and Makomo were both invited too. Giyuu and Shinobu's friendship caused Shinobu to become good friends with Sabito as well, both of them developed a special bond while they both took turns into bullying poor Tomioka. Shinobu was sitting next to Kimetsu Academy's mascot boy, Inosuke, who looked way too soft for his harsh demeanor. Shinobu had a soft spot for this freshman. She had told Tomioka of how he filled the gap of her need of a younger brother. Unlike Tomioka, Shinobu had a lot of sisters; Kanae who was the eldest, Aoi was a year younger than Shinobu and then came Kanao who was 2 years younger than Shinobu, and lastly were the triplets, Naho, Sumi and Kiyo who were just middle schoolers. Inosuke was a bratty kid who'd frequently get into trouble for having a foul mouth but he was close to Tanjiro and weirdly Kochou's little sister, Kanao's best friend. The butterfly sisters loved having brutes as best friends for some reason, it didn't make sense but somehow worked out for them.

"Inosuke, promise you'll leave that nasty reputation behind."

"I ain't making any promises till you promise you'll send me 3 boxes of foreign chocolate every month." he crossed his arm and looked the other side.

Shinobu softly smiled at him, she was definitely going to miss this kid alot. "Alright Inosuke, I'll make sure to send you the latest ps4 games as well."

Inosuke's eyes lit up as he shook hands with Shinobu to confirm the deal. A subtle smile tugged at the corner of Giyuu's lips.

Giyuu went over to the table Sabito and Makomo were seated at and took a seat opposite to Sabito. It didn't take long for Shinobu to note his presence and she went over to their table and took a seat next to Giyuu. "Aww Tomioka-san, look this is a good farewell party for you, all your friends are here right Infront of you." she snorted.

Giyuu sent her a painful expression. Must she do this even on the day when he supposedly bids her farewell? "Tanjiro's not here though."

"So Kochou, did you get your acceptance letter?" Sabito tried desperately to break the awkward silence.

"oh yes I did, luckily I got into the university I wanted to. I'll be shifting to Canada a few months from now."

"That's so cool. Congrats!" Sabito sent her a beaming smile.

Giyuu was quiet, he was silently studying Shinobu, maybe this was the last time he was going to see her. She was wearing a Yellow ruffle top that was paired up with skinny ripped jeans and her 5 pound white filas, her hair was tied into a half ponytail; she looked cute. Alot of people would've assumed Giyuu's sense of fashion was probably as bland as his personality but surprisingly the guy had drip. He wore a plain black shirt paired up with dark denim jeans and chains to accessorise. Giyuu was an eboy. His sense of fashion honestly made him look quite intimidating but it added a spice to his laid back bland persona, maybe that's why Shinobu had taken an interest to him in the first place.

And almost too soon the party had came to an end as the clock struck 11 PM. Shinobu was probably tired of getting squeezed everytime she got hugged goodbye. One by one, everyone started to leave and before they knew it, a very ominous pair was left behind, and that pair being Giyuu and Shinobu.

"Sabito-kun is a very nice lad. You have great friends Tomioka-san." Shinobu complimented.

"He's nice because he walked Makomo home at 11pm?"

"Well yes, that's rather a very gentlemanly behavior. Don't you think so?"

"You know I've been doing that to you in every single one of our study dates right?" Giyuu raised an eyebrow, right now he seemed like a puppy wagging his tail to receive pats from its master.

Shinobu's cheeks flushed a pale shade of pink when Giyuu had referred to their study session as study dates mistakenly. It was just a slip of a tongue that's all. "My Tomioka-san, are you waiting for me to compliment you?"

"It's nice to hear you say something good about me once in a while Kochou." he pouted like a child.

"If that's what you want...then alright. Walk me home one last time Tomioka san."

"No." he blurted almost too bluntly causing Shinobu to frown almost too evidently. "I'll take you home on my bike instead, this time."

Shinobu was quite taken aback to his sudden kind gesture. Her stomach swelled up with a weird feeling. A mix of happiness with sadness that this was the first and last time she'd get to ride behind his bike.

Giyuu had disappeared for a split second into the parking lot leaving a timid Shinobu pondering. He did mention he really liked bikes. Weirdly as a highschooler, Shinobu always wanted to cruise behind a boy's motorcycle at least once during her high school years and well this was her chance. In 3 minutes Giyuu showed up in a Ducati xdiavel Infront of Shinobu. He patted on the seat next to him gesturing her to come take a seat behind him and so she did after admiring Giyuu and his totally hot ride. Not gonna lie his attire went really well with his bike, she almost felt like she was starring in some music video as they cruised into the dark streets.

Shinobu shrieked almost losing her grip as Giyuu hit a speed bump.

"Kochou." he called out to her, getting her attention.

"Hm?"

"Hold onto me, or you'll fall." his words left Shinobu all flustered and hot but she was quick to oblige, she didn't want any broken bones right before her flight. She also silently thanked the gods that it was too dark for Giyuu to make out her flushed red cheeks.

"Tomioka-san? When did you get this sweet thing?"

"It was a gift from my dad."

"But what if you have to move away for uni? What will happen to it then?"

"I'll take it with me, I haven't gotten a number plate for it yet so I'll just ship it using a ferry or something."

Shinobu wrapped her arms around his waist tightly. She wondered if she was the first girl to sit on his bike. She also wondered about the other girls who would eventually later sit on his bike.

"Kochou, are you in a hurry to go home?" Giyuu suddenly asked.

"Not really, mom and dad are staying at my grandparents' place in the country side and Nee-san just wants me to spend my last few days as free spirited teenager."

"Spend this night with me." he suddenly blurted.

"What?" she choked on her words. Giyuu had become way to daring these days, saying whatever he wanted and bruising poor Shinobu's heart with his choice of words.

"Come on, I wanna show you something." he reassured her in a soothing tone.

"Alright Tomioka-san, as long as you don't get us into trouble I'm good."

He soon parked into a quiet neighborhood. Jesus, this placed seemed abandoned for God's sake, what did he have to show her here? the grudge or babadook?

"Tomioka-san are you sure about this place." Shinobu sent him a nervous look as she tugged at the hem of his shirt.

Giyuu looked into her eyes as he held his hand out to her,"Trust me Kochou." and so she did. They now walked into this dark neighborhood, her tiny hand still enclasped with his large ones. Giyuu knew Shinobu wasn't a big fan of places like these. Places that screamed paranormal activity but the fact the she obliged quite quickly did make him realize how much she trusted him and deep down it made Tomioka Giyuu happy.

"isn't this place restricted or anything? Are we allowed to come here?" Shinobu asked almost too loudly.

Giyuu quickly covered her mouth with his large hands and pulled her into a dark alleyway. Shinobu was quite confused at his sudden antics. She sent him a raised eyebrow as he pinned her against a stone wall, his hand still covering her mouth and almost immediately a Patrol guard walked right past them on the streets. He quickly let go of her and pressed his index finger against his lips gesturing her to stay quiet. "it's alright as long as you don't get caught." he whispered to which she rolled her eyes. He held her hand once again and walked to the biggest house in the area, the house was 4 stories high and Giyuu seemed to have a weird tactic of slipping by the backdoor without getting noticed every time.

"So Tomioka-san, you wanted to show me an abandoned house. Very funny."

"They're not abandoned, they're on sale." He replied walking towards the kitchen.

Shinobu followed him precautiously, "And you're treating it like you own it."

"Only for a while." he replied as he took out 2 bottles of flavored milk. He handed Shinobu the strawberry flavored one knowing that was her favorite and kept the melon flavored one for himself.

"Tomioka-san what's the meaning of this?" she asked one last time, quite getting tired of his shit, really.

Giyuu didn't reply but held her hand as walked upstairs, practically forcing her to follow behind him. They soon reached the attic.

Shinobu was a little taken aback seeing all the clutter of furnite up there. Giyuu pulled up the glass window revealing a beautiful full moon night, how come Shinobu didn't notice that before? And then Tomioka started doing something stupid, which was climbing out of the attic window. Shinobu quickly grabbed his arm as a result of an involuntary reflex, "Are you stupid, do you want to die?"

Giyu was now standing on the roof of a 4 story house with a nerve wrecked Shinobu holding his arm. "Trust me Kochou." he spoke holding out his hand to her.

She shifted her gaze from his moonlit eyes to his hand. Did she trust him with her life? Yes, yes she did. She placed her hand on his and he carefully helped her outside. "Tomioka-san I don't see any point in all of thi-" Shinobu was cut off with the picturesque view of the moon and its bright stars right Infront of her.

Giyuu took a seat next to her, observing the view alongside her. He slowly sipped his melon drink while Shinobu quietly enjoyed her strawberry drink. His gaze shifted from the scenic beauty Infront of him to the other scenic beauty next to him (im a little gay for Shinobu sorry) and there she was Kochou Shinobu, the stars reflected in her eyes as she absent-mindedly stared into the sky being lost in her own void and Giyuu just watched her, she looked even cuter now.

It didn't take long for Shinobu to catch him staring which almost made him choke his drink.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"Yeah." he replied after his coughing fits died down. He decided to lay down and enjoy the beauty the night had to offer and Shinobu copied him, laying down next to him. Giyuu had quickly slid his arm towards Shinobu, allowing her to rest her huge head on his arm.

"Tomioka-san." she called out to him making his gaze lock with hers.

"Hm?"

"Thank you. I needed this."

He sent her a soft smile as he tucked behind a strand of her hair behind her ear, "You're welcome."

"You know Tomioka-san, since you've been craving compliments I guess I'll finally give you one." Giyuu softly observed her, wondering what she'd say. "If i were to describe you to a person Tomioka-san. This scenery would suffice."

"Hm?" he raised an eyebrow, "How so?"

"It kinda matches with your personality you know, It's as quiet and mysterious as the night but nevertheless if you observe closely it has all this beauty to offer." she smiled at him, and this time it hurt him. It made him feel weird. It didn't take long for Giyuu's cheeks to be flushed red under the silver moonlight. Giyuu couldn't reply to this, heck he couldn't even force any words through his mouth. Shinobu smiled and gazed back at the stars once again. She was hit a wave of familiarity, this was her and Giyuu's relationship, it was a bit complicated but it was a bit too beautiful to lose. She started to feel her stomach coil in sadness realising this was the last possible memory she'd spend with Giyuu or maybe they could meet up during the holiday seasons and have remakes of adventurous nights like these.

"Tomioka-san, did you get your acceptance letter?"

"Yeah I did."

"Where are you going?" she wasn't facing him, she didn't want him to see her sad expression.

"Same place you are." Giyuu tried his best not to smile while he said that.

Shinobu quickly turned to him in surprise, "That's a horrible joke, Tomioka-san."

"I'm not." he said, pulling out his phone from his pocket and scrolling through his email to show her his proof. And to Shinobu's surprise there it was, and it was legit. Shinobu was quiet, this was what she wanted but in was a bit too much for her to take in all at once.

"Thank God, now I don't have to worry about you not having friends and getting left alone." she snapped back almost too quickly,

"Shut up."

The air was light and heavy at the same time, Shinobu was a bit too happy to be falling asleep but it didn't take her long to doze off in Giyuu's arms, or on Giyuu's arms. Ouch.

He mentally cursed himself for suddenly exhibiting simp behavior, but today was Shinobu's day and he just had to oblige even though he had to sacrifice his arm.

It didn't take long for Giyuu to doze off alongside Shinobu. Falling asleep under a star-filled sky did have a romantic touch to it.

Giyuu was the first to wake up as the sun slowly started to rise amongst the clouds, creating a magnificent hue of purple and orange. Thankfully Shinobu had shifted from laying on his arm to laying on his chest instead which was definitely more comfortable, but surely Shinobu wouldn't be able to sleep long against his chest with his heart pounding like that.

Giyuu took a moment to appreciate a sleepy Shinobu alongside the beautiful sunrise. Her sun-kissed face was just art in its own form. If Giyuu was anywhere as skilled as Sabito in art, he'd use this masterpiece lying beside him as a prompt and then that's when it hit him. Shinobu basked in the golden rays of sunlight, Shinobu was the golden sunrise in early mornings and if Giyuu were to describe her to someone he'd say something along the lines of; "Shinobu you're the morning sunrise. You're annoying but your presence brings warmth." he whispered softly patting her head. And as most cliché scenes this was no different, much to Giyuu's ill fate, Shinobu was seemingly awake the whole time, and she heard every bit of that.

"That's quite harsh Tomioka-san, but I'll take it." she replied causing a frantic Giyuu's heart rate to sky rocket.

With the sun out, Giyuu and Shinobu realised they better be getting home now since they both had guardians to explain their whereabouts to. It didn't take long for them to pack up and reach Shinobu's house. They shared a small hug on Shinobu's front porch along with Shinobu thanking him for giving her an unforgettable journey. This was a nice end to her highschool life. With a wide grin plastered over her face Shinobu walked into her house to 5 very amused and interested sisters.

[bangtancentricsblog]

vampire MC x human Yoongi (aka the one where Mc and Yoongi are mates)

mentions of blood loss, killing of infants, parent death, vampires are cunts, also heavily unedited as all works are when I post

others

It'd been almost three months since you'd fed from Yoongi. His heart ached at your silent treatment of him. He'd smashed his phone after a month of you ignoring his calls and messages. He was a mess, blonde hair now showing the roots, eyes adorned with deep heavy purple bags from lack of sleep. The worst was that he'd wracked his brain for possible ideas on what he'd done wrong. He always came up with the same idea; you hadn't really loved him. Sure you'd begun dating under the rule that it was only so you could feed from him. But something had changed in you, some odd weeks later you'd taken less of his blood. Only feeding from him every Sunday, you still came around though often times just to hang out, go out, and sleep.

It was no wonder he'd grown accustomed to your presence in his apartment. It was during a feeding you'd taking a bit too much, so much so he'd weakly had to push you away as he pressed the silver ring on his finger into your arm. His barely coherent mind caught the sizzle from the silver making contact with your skin before you pulled away. Lips stained red, eyes wide once a beautiful shade of brown now glowing carmine. It faded in seconds your eyes quickly darting over his somewhat unconscious form lips trembling as your tongue wrapped around the abundant apologies fleeing your being. Your tongue felt heavy in your mouth as you realized what you'd done. You'd fled after sealing the wound and that was the last he'd seen of you.

Yoongi after so much time had made up his mind, he'd go to your house and get you to speak to him. He deserved an explanation, that was the least you could do. So he pulled on a jacket and headed out. His mind was so busy he'd made it there faster than he anticipated; and now stood before the door to the giant Victorian. A heaviness he hadn't felt before suddenly sat atop his shoulders with feet cemented to the ground. His game plan had been simple, show up, get an explanation, make up and then leave. Simple right? Except now it didn't seem like it. His heart hammered in his chest reminding him that he was in front of a house filled with vampires and he was very much human. So human in fact it took him promptly five minutes to finally notice that Jimin had been sitting just outside the front door. A small hesitant smile lining his lips that could turn any hetero man in an instant.

"Jimin, how long have you been there?"

"Long enough besides I knew you would come around sooner or later."

"Did you foresee this moment?"

"No, I'm just good at guessing games; and you forget I'm a half-blood. We don't get fancy powers like the pure bloods."

"Then how could you possibly know I was going to be over today? I'm here to talk to _____."

"I didn't. I assumed you would but I don't think it wise for you to be here."

"Why?"

"You do remember that you're human right? I mean how can one not realize their own mortality."

"Of course I know I'm human what does that have to do with _____? Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Hyung would kill me if he knew what I was doing. Lets take a little walk and while we're at it how about we have some story time."

"I'm not up for your crap right now. As your hyung I want to know where _____ is."

"In human years of course but I'm way older than you. Born in the 1400's, so that would make me a hyung by default no?" Yoongi sighed heavily watching as the young vampire stood, dusting off his jeans and casually walking down the steps.

"Your not allowed to see _____."

"Why not."

"She's gone on a rampage. So Hoseok had to lock her up to keep her safe."

"What do you mean by rampage?"

"You see pure bloods and half bloods differ only slightly. Half bloods are always from a vampire mother and human father. Pure bloods have both vampire parents except all vampire females are half bloods and all if not most males are pure bloods. Thus creating a pure blooded vampire such as Hoseok, and Jin. Namjoon and I are half blooded born from vampire mothers and human fathers. We're born with no special power, our fangs are shorter and appetite can be quenched with both human food and blood."

“So then what is _____?"

"She's a rare type of vampire. One of the few female pure blooded vampires in all existence."

"I don't understand just how many pure blooded female vampires are there?"

"In Korea, just two including _____. On the world, about 40 give or take."

"That number seems surprisingly low."

"Oh it is. The Vampire court usually keeps count of how many vampires consummate and spawn children. Those vampires belong to a smaller group called a coven and even smaller more family oriented clans. Our clan has tried our very best to keep _____ away from the watchful eyes of the Vampire Court."

"But why?"

"Pure blooded females are stronger in every manner. They'd easily outnumber vampire males 7 to 1 just like human females. Except instead of oppressing them like you humans do the vampire court eliminates them the day after their birth." Yoongi visibly recoils at the thought of killing babies, babies whom haven't done a single bad thing in their lives.

"It seems extreme to most and many clans are trying to fix this issue but we're not a democracy. Our entire existence is thanks to the monarchy, but just because they are stronger doesn't mean that they come without faults. _____ was born during a time where most were afraid to find out that their child was a female. We'd had some incidents where pure blooded females rampaged destroying entire towns and cities; so the court declared all female pure blooded babies be eliminated thereafter."

"So then how is _____ alive." Yoongi asked as he followed Jimin around the house and towards the forested area out back.

"_____ and I are distant relatives, hence the surname Park. Her mother was actually related to mine by some way or form. When her parents conceived they felt her automatically. Strange thing at that to be able to feel your child when she's so little just barely forming; but her mother did. So she reached out, and Hoseok came to stay with _____’s original clan keeping Namjoon and I updated. ____’s mother feared her daughters well being that she couldn't even see a doctor. So Hoseok had one brought in, one he knew could be trusted. That's when we met Jin. He'd stayed until _____ was born, unfortunately her mother died during childbirth. Her father had already agreed that Hoseok would take her and raise her as his own just like he'd done for Namjoon and I. Except he made Hoseok promise to fulfill his final wish."

"I don't even want to ask what that was."

"He asked Hoseok to burn down her estate. The rest of the clan was fine dying in the fire if it meant that _____would live. Hoseok gave us all a choice, die with the rest of _____ clan, keep this secret and stay in his clan or run with the fear that he'd find us and kill us if we ever mentioned her true heritage. It was a simple answer for all three of us; we'd been so enamored with her that we couldn't leave."

"Still doesn't answer how she went on a rampage." Yoongi pointed out.

"Your a fool to think that your special, but more a fool am I to not understand just how special you are to her. She's had human lovers before, and is the reason why we've chosen to only feed off animals. I've seen her slaughter entire towns because of her hunger for human blood. We keep her off it for her own safety; and she's been pretty good about it for a long time now. It isn't until she met you that she's begun to degenerate."

"Why's that?"

"Because you are her mate. The universe put you out in the world to be with her or be the end of her. All beings have a mate, human senses just aren't as fine tuned as the supernaturals. The day you met she knew, Hoseok made it so that she never went unescorted anywhere. We knew she snuck out just not where to, or who to. We knew she was feeding off something just not what exactly. She was always freshly cleansed smelling of fruits. Yet recently there was a stench that clung to her. Something foul and so pungent it would linger festering until the day she came home. Blood staining her clothes, tears clinging to her lashes and that crazed look in her eyes we'd all recognized."

"And that's why you locked her up."

"No, she asked us to. She begged us to do it, clung to Hoseok until he agreed. She's been here ever since."

"She chose this?"

"She did this for you, you are her mate just as she is yours. She'd do anything to keep you safe even from herself."

"Can I see her, I mean is it okay for me to see her?"

[arisamsara]

The change of relationship: breaking point of Yoo Jung

Cheese in the Trap Season 4, Ep. 30

WARNING: This post contains several spoilers of the story released up to this particular chapter. The selected plot points are needed for explanation of the chosen topic. If you haven't but plan to read Cheese in the Trap (much reccomended), please avoid this post or read at your own risk.

Cheese in the Trap (치즈인더트랩) is a Korean manhwa (aka comic) series created by Soonkki (story and artwork). It was published on online platform Naver Webtoon in 2010-2017. Later the story was published in print, translated into English on Webtoon app, made into a TV series and live action film. The English translation is in its last 4th season and still has around one year worth of material yet to be translated.

The story revolves around Hong Seol, a hardwoking and little overthinking 3rd year university student majoring business management who is suddenly approached by her same major sunbae, very rich, handsome and popular 4th year student Yoo Jung. It would seem Seol hit a jackpot, attracting attention of such a guy as Jung; however, there is no promise of typical romance in sight. Why?

Maybe because Seol knows that Jung is not as nice as he pretends to be in public?

Or maybe because the previous year Seol's university life was turned into hell and the main puppetmaster behind all those evil schemes seems to be... Yoo Jung?

Relationship that began shrouded in misunderstanding, antipathy and suspicion. Can it ever be turned into romance? Or is it just another Jung's masterplan to get back at Seol?

THE ANALYSIS

In this post I will:

1) do a quick recap of "Jung's attitude towards Seol" evolution (in approximate data graph form in interval -10 to 10 because they're business majors, duh);

2) explain what happened in this episode, what was mistranslated in Jung's monologue and what character details are hidden here;

3) clear the mistranslation of Jung's repeated "Seol" in this episode.

Important parts are highlighted with colour (setting/situation) or bolded (particular events). The words in "..." are actual quotations. The words in '...' are rephrased sentences. Lets begin!

[1st Part] RECAP

How Jung's attitude towards Seol changed since the beginning of previous year aka flashback year? Jung returned from military service to the 3rd year, Seol returned to the 2nd year; they first met during comeback drink party. Seol got wasted (she can't drink much), picked up thrown ciggarettes from the ground outside (for Bora) and kept side-eyeing Jung all evening (how he spilled drink on clingy girls). Jung's first impression of Seol was bad, around 0 to -1 (she's "pathetic"). Then Seol kept saying hello and smiling to him (he was sunbae and popular/respected as well) but Jung flat out ignored her (thought she's another leecher).

During Jaewoo's study group Seol was the only girl there (they thought she outsmarted other girls and came alone to be closer to Jung); Jung caught her laughing at him (he thought she was mocking him and saw through his "nice sunbae" mask; she was just laughing at her imagination of Jung as aloof prince) and his impression dropped to -5 as he really disliked her now. Seol tripped on waxed floor and Jung caught her saying "Be careful" (not about tripping but about her behaviour towards him).

Seol then badmouthed Jung in public (said he was distanced, chose with whom to mingle, acted a bit fake); he found out about it and started to hate Seol (drop to -8). Seol tripped again and dropped papers, Jung kicked them and said "You keep making mistakes. I told you to be careful" (again not about tripping but about making him seem WEIRD to others in public). So he began to act nice with Seol to make Juyeon (black-haired girl who crushed on Jung) jealous and ruin Seol's life (in study related matters)

Then Younggon badmouthed Jung during basketball game (something like 'Jung pities you clingy people', which was true). When everyone turned their backs on Younggon, who went to talk to him, comfort him with snacks? Seol. Jung saw that and likely thought 'So these Jung haters team up now, huh? They deserve each other'. Jung's hatred for Seol got even bigger (drop to -10). When Younggon came to Jung asking for forgiveness, Jung was tired of his sh*t and wanted to go home already (he sighed and ruffled his hair). Juyeon told Younggon he and Seol would be a great couple; they asked for Jung's opinion and he was like 'Yeah whatever you would look good' with a fake smile to be left alone and not involved in unnecessary rumours and drama. He also didn't stop Inha from taking his phone and writing Younggon (pretending to be Jung and advising to send Seol gifts etc.), because, well, he disliked Seol and couldn't be bothered thinking about her. However, Jung had no idea how far Younggon would go during summer break (stalking, threatening and assaulting Seol).

When Seol came straight to Jung and asked if he really told Younggon Seol liked him (and Jung found out how obsessed Younggon was) Jung was shocked and felt bad. Yes, he hated Seol but didn't wish her to be hurt/threatened. Then Juyeon sent homeless woman to the library where Seol was and Seol got cut with a glass. It was Jung (if I remember correctly) who secretly called security guard to save Seol (yet Seol thought Jung was there knowing what happened and did nothing). Jung was really mad with Juyeon for this.

More things have happened that I forgot a bit, but essentially Jung kept noticing he and Seol are somewhat similar. He overheard her phone call with her parents and learned she was also lonely and not fully appreciated by her family. They both were diligent and hardworking in studying (both often were the ones who were used in team projects and ended up doing most of the work, or even did all work alone so their grade would not be affected by other people's laziness). They disliked petty drama. And found it difficult to speak their worries to others (Seol was too self-conscious and afraid to burden her friends, Jung had no one to speak to at all). So Jung's hatred for Seol started to decrease and he occasionally found himself thinking about her and even smiling when doing that (which made him frustrated and confused).

Jung looked for opportunities to speak with Seol but she always ran away, avoided to be left with him alone. During festival Jung made her a part of his preparation group, assigned her an easy job (sort out boxes) so she wouldn't overwork herself as she usually does and so that they could have time to talk alone. Jung didn't know silverware arrived earlier than planned and those boxes were heavy instead of light (Seol thought Jung gave her that job on purpose, to get back at her and just make her more miserable). While working they kept glancing at each other (Seol saw Jung wipe his sweaty face and cough - he caught a cold and felt really sick, but kept working). As others ran home early avoiding work, finding ridiculous excuses, Jung said Seol will help him clean up, but when everyone left, he told her to go just home (no one will appreciate her sacrifice and hard work, he knew that from experience). Seol wanted to leave, but seeing how Jung was sick, she went into rain to place directions towards their bar space. As she got back to take her bag, she saw Jung cleaned the place and lied back on the sofa, mumbling with fever. She couldn't just leave him there, bought him medicine, placed a wet towel on his head and fell asleep on the other couch. Jung woke up feeling better and was surprised to see Seol who was also sick and grabbed his hand in her feverish sleep (Seol's habit). The way they both tended to each other as both were sick (such caring gesture) made them closer but still confused about each other.

Jung left umbrella to Seol (she didn't take one and got wet while placing directions outside) and next day didn't take it back immediately between lectures so they could speak in person when she returns it, but that plan failed (Seol was too sick to keep running after Jung; she didn't want to be alone with him; the students' pissed her off saying 'Poor Jung, got sick working all alone'). In episode 29 sick Seol mistook Jung as Euntaek and asked him for money (initially 10$, then changed her mind and said 2$ was enough). Jung was happy to help her (he knew Seol wasn't like other students who hanged out with Jung only because of his money; also she approached him first and he hoped now they could talk) and offered 40$ (possibly all the cash he had on him, as Jung seemed to favour his card for paying). However, Seol recognized him and ran away again thinking Jung was showing off his money and pity, humiliating her. He followed her and saw her crouched (she vomited), tried to approach her but couldn't (street between them was drawn as an abyss); during next break Jung bought a health drink for Seol but she collapsed and was carried to the infirmary.

Then this episode happened (explained in detail in 2nd part). After that, Jung found out Seol was taking a study break. He was desperate to keep her at university so he could finally get close to her (it was going to be Jung's last year, so if she took a break, they would likely never meet again). Having no other idea how to do that, Jung blackmailed Assistant Seo to make his research paper dissapear (Assistand Seo had stolen and used Jung's credit card, so Jung gave him a chance to be forgiven; once research paper was gone, Jung's grade would drop, Seol would become first in business department, get the scholarship instead of Jung and stay for another year). Then the first chapter of CITT happens when Jung approaches Seol all smiles and offers to buy her dinner (bomb food and triangle rice). So during this 'realization' period which started after Younggon's assault, Jung's like/dislike bar towards Seol jumped from -10 to a decent 8.

[2nd Part] EPISODE EXPLANATION + JUNG'S MONOLOGUE MISTRANSLATION + CHARACTER DETAILS

This whole chapter is from Jung's POV, so it's a rare opportunity not only to see him behave but also hear what he's thinking. Infirmary part is the breaking point is Seol-Jung relationship: it's Jung's last effort to stop being bothered and confused by his feelings towards Seol; and his utter defeat as his opinion of Seol changed completely. Jung was getting worried of her and her health before, but here we see the extent of it. Jung is super diligent when it comes to studying (a bit later, during their first movie date at the cinema Jung was hangover and asked Seol to wake him up if he falls asleep; but it was Jung who stayed up watching boring historical film without breaking attention because it was homework; while Seol quickly fell asleep). It is absolutely outrageous to see Jung deliberately skip important lecture (which has attendance marks) in the middle of it just to go and see Seol. It shows how much he worried about her without even realizing.

Then Jung quietly stared at Seol for a long time with a serious, cynical face as if criticizing, evaluating. Although Jung has dated many girls before (they asked him out and he said ok), he has never had any romantic feelings for them and had no experience with love. So here Jung tried to rationalize whatever newly experienced softness he was feeling towards Seol, remembering past incidents (how she fell several times and got her hand cut). But his concentration broke as soon as Seol moved and Jung was controlled by the unconscious desire to touch her HAND. Seol woke up (delirious) so Jung put his HAND over her eyes to make her sleep (it mirrors how Seol put her HAND over Jung's eyes to calm his rage after Sangcheol pushed them and Jung hurt his HAND). Seol grabbed Jung's HAND half asleep, thanked he was still there and told him to go already. Since she spoke in banmal (informal language), she must have mistaken Jung for Euntaek again, as she never spoke informally with Jung before. Obviously a HAND motif is extremely important in the story. Seol keeps grabbing people's hands (usually Jung's after they became close, ex. when he asked her to become his girlfriend, during volunteering etc.) because she pushed away grandmother's hand; Seol had her hand cut by homeless woman; Inho got his hand hurt during assault; Jung's habit to tap his fingers when he's thinking. I can say this hand grabbing was one of the deciding elements that defeated Jung and last effort of resistance, but why exactly this gesture has such an impact on him is revealed only at the end of the story.

The part time job paper he found in her pocket softened him more. Jung's monologue is MISTRANSLATED in English version on Webtoon app; in essence Jung said he was frustrated about his feelings towards Seol but now feels better (weird), it means he changed (that's weirder). Seol caused a chaos of emotions inside him and she was the only one who could contain that chaos and bring back peace to his heart. He had no proof they could get along as their relationship was dissapointing so far but he wanted to try once more and make sure of it. He admitted he had never regretted his actions so much as he did now (things he did to Seol). Jung realized he couldn't run away from Seol, was fascinated by her, worried (her call with parents), touched by her kindness (she cared for him at festival), apologetic (she crouched after asking for 2$). Suddenly realization hit Jung like a lightning -  he lost the battle and got taken over by affection and crush towards Seol. Jung fell in love for the first time. And here started his obsession with food and having dinner with Seol.

[3rd Part] MISTRANSLATION OF "SEOL"

Why Jung kept repeating "Seol" like crazy? The way it's translated in English on Webtoon app, there is no difference between Jung addressing Seol as he first got into the infirmary and at the end of the chapter. In original Korean version there is a huge difference. For ex. Seol never adressed Jung as Jung; he was Yoo Jung or Sunbae (the latter even after they started dating). Titles of hierarchy or full names are used between people who are not very close and are in official respectful relationship, mostly professional. Family members, close friends and lovers use banmal (informal speech) and address each other using each other's name (there are exceptions; also Bora and Euntaek also often called Seol as Hong/Hong Seol but it may have been a tease). So people who are very close would usually add ending -ah to other person's name as a form of endearment.

When Jung first entered the infirmary, he adressed Seol formally as "Hong Seol" (a fellow student and hoohae of the same major). But after Jung realized he fell in love with Seol, he smiled and called her name softly as "Seol-ah", suggesting she became a close person to him, a dear friend and a possible future lover. Being first time in love, Jung was fascinated by how lovely it sounds and kept happily repeating it.

AFTERTHOUGHTS

CITT emphasizes the importance of subjectivity of one's point of view. This post was written explaining Jung's point of view, how he saw Seol and judged her behaviour. However the story is written mainly from Seol's point of view, so the reader identifies with her and can clearly understand only her actions and thoughts. Most of the time Jung looks weird, unreadable and suspicious to the reader because Seol sees him like that, affected by her past experiences which were caused by misunderstanding between them (and also because Jung is a complex person in general who on top of that is inexperienced in expressing himself clearly).

Nothing like that would have happened if Jung and Seol had sat down and talked everything out in the beginning. But these two do not openly speak about things. Instead they observe, overthink and internalize, judging people by subjective patterns of their own experience. Seol and Jung are similar in this appproach, only their patterns differ.

Seol grew up nice, diligent, disliked troubles and drama, smiled at sunbaes and was often underappreciated. And Jung was always at the center of attention. Seol thoght it was unfair, but she didn't know that people hanged out with Jung only for his status, money and connections, looking for personal gain. When Seol tried to be nice to Jung because she was just raised like that, Jung thought she was another leecher as he only knew such people.

Money was a touchy issue in Seol's family and she had to work several part time jobs to earn for tuition. Jung never thought about money at all or give it much importance. He was collecting expensive watches because he hd nothing better to do (habit came from the childhood as he was lonely and wanted to have a hobby). His issue was not using money for other people (paying for team dinners; Jung is generous) but for people using him only for money. So when Seol paid for her dinner (like she was raised to do) she thought Jung considered her a fool. Actually, he was impressed and surprised (sge's a first who did that) and even felt a little mocked. So he had no issue to give her more cash than she asked - 'I have money, you need it as you're sick, take it all'. She felt humiliated as if Jung was showing off.

Jung made her part of his festival preparation group only to have a chance to speak with her. She thought he did it to make her life hard. Whatever nice Jung did later, he was misunderstood by Seol as having evil intentions. Even when he "lost his paper" and gave up his scholarship so that she would stay at University, he avoided telling her the truth as Seol could (and eventually did) misunderstand and judge him resorting to blackmail (Seol is very righteous). But she would not open to him or ask him for help otherwise, so Jung had to repeatedly help her from behind the scenes and later get scolded.

Also, I wanted to clarify Jung's line "I'm all you got" from episode 27 that generated a lot of discussions about his 'inappropriate, sketchy and manipulative' behaviour. The sentence does sound creepy, but it was partly the fault of translation. Actually this sentence does not mean Seol has no family or friends and has to rely solely on Jung. It is a mistake to take this one sentence out of context, as the sentence was a continuation of Jung's train of thought about unconditional love and trust; about putting someone always first.

Read the colour coded dialogue below:

Jung Seol

"Next time tell me anything. Even if it's just a suspicion. Didn't we agree to share everything? That night, at my house... We talked about it."

"Yes we did, that conversation. Well, I was suspicious of him (Sangcheol) for being a thief so I had to be cautious."

"Seol, when you get suspicious, you had a good reason to be. You can tell me."

"What? How can you be so sure? Aren't you trusting me a little too much?"

"Of course. Who else would believe you and take your side if not me? See? I'm all you got."

Jung never experienced unconditional love and trust; his father never put Jung, his son, first above everything else. Jung was told to give beloved picture frame (mom's treasure) to a boy who simply liked it. Father told Jung to stop whining and be nice - apparently how other people saw Jung was more important than what Jung wanted. Jung's father considered him weird and the lack of trust was expressed by making Baek twins spy on Jung and report back (twins were manipulated too). Father even seemed to like twins' company better than Jung's as father was always smiling and laughing around them, but giving Jung a cold shoulder and scorned face. In Jung's mind, he was never first to Inho too although they were best friends. Jung went to see Inho's favourite musician and get autograph in Inho's name. And Inho kept reporting to Jung's father about Jung, laughed about father liking him more than Jung and caused a scandal about being a second son in the family. People at work and University also don't care about Jung as a person, only about his status in society.

Seol's life is different, she has family and friends yet she can relate to Jung a lot too. In episode 29 Seol said: "No matter how hard I try, there is someone else who's on a whole different level from the beginning. Do I really need to feel this way even at school?" and a picture of Seol's brother Joon appeared. Seol was never put first too - her brother as the only son in the family was the most important. Grandma used to favour Joon and bring him more snacks. Parents sent him to USA to study (Seol also wanted that) and sent him money frequently but Joon stopped his studies and went home. Meanwhile, Seol took a break and had several jobs to earn money for her tuition. No one at home asked how she felt, what she wanted; no one noticed how sick she was (father said no one around the house was useful). Seol had Bora and Euntaek but they had their own problems at home and Seol couldn't find strength to tell them everything thst bothered her. This lead Seol to keep stuff to herself and just brace through it alone.

For Jung, Seol is his girlfriend, the girl he loves and by far the closest person he has. Despite rocky start she eventually tried to know him behind the façade. She bought him a watch (he collects them) with her scarce savings when her time, interest and honesty were more than enough for him. After arguing she would still come and try to work it out and understand him (the night they talked at Jung's house). She often worried about him to the point where she thought she would trouble him with her "small" problems. So that's what Jung talked about - he wanted Seol to share even the smallest worries with him, not bottle everything inside. When friends can be very close, they both are a couple. For Jung couple means people who are ultimate, the most important for each other. "I'm all you got" means "the ultimate/the last one/ the only one to remain with you when everyone turns their backs on you and leaves". It means that as her boyfriend, Jung is the only one who ALWAYS puts Seol first above others, supports her and is on her side no matter what, even if she is wrong or mistaken. That is unconditional love and trust they haven't experienced from their family and friends, so have to give to each other instead.

END

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

[annes-andromeda]

You haven't really talked much on the Lannister's in your AU (aside from Cersei a little). What are your plans for them? Is there a Lannibowl coming? Are you going to copy over Tyrion's Hand story with Daenerys (but hopefully better)?

Unfortunately, since this AU is only just beginning and not even halfway done yet, I can’t reveal too much. But don’t worry! I definitely have something planned for the Lannisters! I’ll go over some major points that I’ll detail more in the story.

The Lions of Lannister

As you know, I’ve given the Lannisters pet lions, which is parallel to how the Starks have their direwolves. And just like the direwolves, the lions are extensions of their owners souls/personalities:

Everan (the black lion) is Cersei’s. He’s ambitious and ferocious like his master, and is the oldest of the three (once again, like Cersei). Everan is considered almost like a first child to Cersei, aka the one thing in her life that made her genuinely happy (not even Jaime or Joffrey gave her that much satisfaction). The lion pretty much represents her childhood innocence that she never had, and ultimately the one thing that brings out the ‘motherly love’ in her.

Rohar (the white lion) belongs to Jaime. The lion is loyal and protective like his owner. His name is a play on the Rhoynar, since Jaime did have dreams of being a knight. Similar to Jon (who Jaime has a lot of parallels with), Jaime owns an albino. Fun fact: Rohar is actually a Hrakkar, a white lion found across the Narrow Sea. Just like Everan, who represents the inner motherly (almost nonexistent) love of Cersei, Rohar represents Jaime’s dreams of honor and glory (that eventually get shot down the drain)

Finally, there’s Cira (the cream lion), who belongs to non-other than Tyrion Lannister himself. Ironically, Cira is actually the largest of the three lions, despite being the youngest and female. Just like Tyrion, Cira can be witty and even playful. And also like her master, she has a scar across her face that left her blind on one eye. If you’re wondering what Cira represents, well she represents what Tyrion wishes to be seen as: tall, mighty, and overall loved and respected (since you don’t fuck with lions)

These three lions ultimately make the pride of Casterly Rock: a pack that can almost rival the Lannister guards. They’re a force to be reckoned with, and god help anyone who hurts their masters.

The Lannister Children

Now, for the three disasters that are the Lannister children. Definitely an interesting bunch, who all deserved more that what they got in the show (just like every other character):

Cersei/: Now Cersei is definitely an interesting character when looked at a certain angle. Book!Cersei is absolutely unredeemable, but Show!Cersei managed to be slightly empathetic (just slightly, though). Since she is the oldest Lannister next to Jaime, Cersei holds The Dusk, Virtue of Dark and Shadow. We already know that Cersei is ambitious and ruthless (and stupid). She will do anything in the road to achieve power (just like a certain dragon Queen), which means going to the extreme (again, like a certain silver haired lady). My Cersei is pretty much a mix of book and show version, like the AU in general. She’s overall irredeemable, but you can feel some sort of empathy for her. Especially when it comes to Everan, and little of her children. All I can say for now, is that while Cersei won’t be the final villain in the AU, she’s definitely not going down without a fight. And if she’s going down, she’s taking everyone with her.

Jaime/: Oh boy, this man. He’s certainly had an arc, hasn’t he? In the books, he’s finally getting his head out of Cersei’s ass, while in the show... let’s not talk about it. Jaime’s story seems to be debatable for me: most fans claim his story to be a redemption arc. However, after reading a post here on Tumblr, I’ve come to the conclusion that Jaime’s story is not a redemption arc, but an identity arc. Basically, trying to find out who he is outside of Cersei and the Lannister name. Like Cersei, Jaime holds the Dusk, a power that adds to his hidden PTSD. One thing that seems to bother me, is how barely anyone seems to acknowledge the abuse and trauma Jaime went through. Just cause he was the poster child, doesn’t mean he got a free pass from Tywin. When it comes to that time, I want to explore Jaime’s inner conflict: to show how his time with Aerys and childhood with Tywin has forced his mind to become a prison. How he’s locked away all his emotions and made himself want to be unloved. Another that hasn’t been explored is Jaime’s time with his children. In the AU, Jaime is still distant from Tommen and especially Joffrey, but has a close bond with Myrcella. She’s practically the one thing in his life that truly gave him joy.

Tyrion/: Tyrion is definitely a debatable character in the GOT/ASOIAF fandom. Some fans love him, others hate him. For me, it’s a 50/50. I honestly wouldn’t mind if in the books he went dark (I just want an ending that makes sense). The show definitely did him a disservice by diminishing his intelligence. One thing that pisses me off, is how the minute that Tyrion met Daenerys, he became a secondary character. His dreams, ambitions, and thoughts? Gone. His whole character revolved around Daenerys and her pursuit of the Iron Throne. In the AU, he does meet Dany, but he’s considerably changed a bit. After killing Shae and Tywin, Tyrion is understandably in a dark mental state. And yes, he does learn of Tysha from Jaime like in the books. That moment is definitely a turning point for Tyrion, so I wanted to include it. Tyrion is rightfully pissed at his family, and wishes to get revenge on them. And after learning of Daenerys and her infamous cruelty towards the masters and of her dragons, Tyrion decides to join her council. Not because he believes she can make the world a better place, but because she has the means to destroy the people who have wronged him. Mainly, Cersei. So, I gave him a more complex and personal reason to join her. Tyrion doesn’t really believe in her ‘breaking the wheel’ propaganda, but he does ultimately underestimate her violent tendencies. Unlike the show, Tyrion does not revolve his life around Dany and has his own story outside of her. But unfortunately, I can’t reveal much right now.

Will there be a Lannibowl?

Short answer: Yes

Long answer: It’s complicated. Since the last two seasons were oddly short, it gives me more free range to add storylines to certain characters. And the Lannisters are no exception. After Jaime leaves King’s Landing, Cersei wishes to get revenge on him, which means going to the extremes. Jaime joins the Starks in Winterfell to fight against the NK’s (another character I’ve made more complex) army. However like I’ve stated before, he’s trying to figure out who he is outside of Cersei. That he’s more that just a “Kingslayer” and a “Man Without Honor”. His story is also about finally facing his trauma and shattering the prison within his mind and opening himself up to people. And as for Tyrion, he’s finally figuring how much of a danger Daenerys poses to Westeros, and pretty much making a name for himself aside from “Dwarf” or “Imp”. Pretty much both of the Lannister brothers have somewhat of similar story arcs in the AU version of S8.

That’s it for now! Sorry, this became more of a meta, but hopefully this answers your questions! Thanks for the ask!👋

[damnthatnoise]

Darko The Super | Of Dogs & Devils | An Interview

Hip Hop has long been about bravado, skill, and how your personality can capture and pull the listener in even further than just your skillset. There have been many an MC who’s personality sometimes outshined the lyrical prowess for better or worse, but when I sit back and think of some of my favorite MC’s growing up (Redman, Slick Rick, Kool Keith, E-40, and Del to name a few) the personality often was near cartoonish with no real effort from the MC to make it appear that way. Enter MC Darko The Super who since first coming across his music via Already Dead Tapes has oozed oddball personality, and ever evolving skills as an MC. Darko is no joke rapper though, instead he is adept at delivering some stark reality raps littered with glints of humor we often use to cope with the pain of existence. 

Fresh off delivering one of my personal favorites last year in the form of Card Tricks For Dogs, he returns with his friend Steel Tipped Dove to give us The Devil Defeated, and makes a claim as one of the indie hiphop scenes freshest, most colorful, and promising voices making music. 

You can order the digital, cassette and SUPER vinyl copies of The Devil Defeated here, as well as all Darko The Super Items. 

The Devil Defeated by Darko The Super & steel tipped dove

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Damn That Noise: Darko The Super. What’s the origin of that name and what’s it come to mean to you now? 

Darko: I think Darko The Super was my gamertag on Xbox Live before it was my official artist alias. I did two albums as Evan Darko after I seen Donnie Darko in high school. It had a big impact on adolescent me. The Super comes from another big influence on me at the time, MF Doom. My favorite song my senior year was "Dead Bent". I thought the ending of Operation Doomsday was really cool. The way it let you decide between hero or villain. I was big into vigilante justice at the time. I wanted to be like my favorite superheroes. So that's where the name came from. Nowadays it's just a name. More people know me as Darko than my real name these days, so it'd be silly to change it. Name's don't define you. It doesn't matter much to me. Though I like it. 

DTN: You’ve had a pretty prolific young career given that you’ve dropped 10+ projects since 2011, but when we were taking recently you said you’ve just now started to feel like you now know your voice. What’s changed in the last couple of years to get you to that place? 

Darko: Since 2011 I may have done nearly 100 albums. Most haven't lasted. I've deleted and erased most of my material pre 2014 from the face of the internet. (If anyone has a Loser CD, please destroy it.) I put out 10 albums in 2018 alone. All better than the previous. "Watered Down Demon Fuzz" from 2017 is the album I truly found my voice on. I listened back to "Oh, No! It's Darko" for nostalgic purposes and it seems more like a comedy album than anything, and not that good of a comedy album either. I was 18 when I made the first album I put on cd and gave to everyone at shows when I was starting to go out and perform. It was called Loser, inspired by Beck. Next cd I made was a compilation, also terrible, but somehow it's going for $75 on Discogs. I personally don't like anything prior to 2016. "Carve a Happy Face  on my Tombstone" had a few good songs. Those were transformative years. My perspective on life has changed severely. It's hard to be happy with things you create when you're not even happy with who you are. I think in finding myself, I found my voice too. Life will always be a mystery. But at least I'm more comfortable in my own skin at the moment. Therefore more comfortable in my art. 

DTN: Why erase the evidence of growth though? If anything that could show folks the rapid progression of Darko? 

Darko: I'd prefer to leave a better first impression. Maybe I'm too insecure to show people my progression. It's also just a matter of that not being the way I feel anymore as far as the way I wrote back then. 

DTN: Your style is a bit unorthodox in that you kind of dance all over the pocket of the beats, and your inflections seem to change at the drop of a hat. I know E-40 and DOOM are a couple favorites of yours but who else’s impressed a young Darko and helped give us the man we have now? Who made you say “I think this is something I want to do!!”?

Darko: Murdoc and MyGrane McNastee from Orlando, Florida were a couple of the first independent rappers I got into from watching the Wake Up Show freestyles on Youtube. They were big influences on me. From there I got into MF Doom, Madlib, and J Dilla. During the datpiff era, I got really into Charles Hamilton's mixtapes. I was a big fan of a web series around that time called Internet Celebrities. Through them I found out about Das Racist. I remember listening to them for the first time on MySpace. I saw Big Baby Gandhi in a video with them. Later on his Debut would become one of my favorite albums. I was really into going on hip hop blogs. I remember watching Open Mike Eagle rap "Qualifiers" in a laundromat and having my mind blown. He told me Serengeti was his favorite rapper which had me watching every Kenny Dennis video I could find. Dennehy became my favorite album. I got into Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire from seeing the Last Huzzah video with Das Racist, El-P, Despot, and Danny Brown. That's still my favorite posse cut. From checking out rap battles I got into Soul Khan who I remember posting about Homeboy Sandman's album The Good Sun. Blogs also got me listening to every Blu song. Her Favorite Color was something special to me. All those artists were huge in developing my approach. Nowadays my favorite rappers of all time are E-40, Serengeti, and Kool Keith

DTN: Card Tricks for Dogs feels like your most fully formed artistic statement yet and The Devil Defeated feels like the exclamation point showing folks you’re a real force. What helped bring those two records to life?

Darko: Both albums took a long time to come together, which usually isn't the case for me. I remember writing some of those Card Tricks for Dogs tracks while on vacation with my girlfriend and her family. I had tons of beats from my good friend and longtime collaborator Phil Ford aka BLKrKRT (Blacker Karat) loaded on my phone for those trips. I started it shortly after meeting Steel Tipped Dove for the first time. I released an album of his on my label and he offered to mix and master some tracks for me. So this was the first solo album of mine I let someone else do all the mixing for. I took my time with it and let it come together naturally. I believe everything happens at it's own time. As for The Devil Defeated, that album started out as a project called Contemplating Lonely Stuff, inspired by a Serengeti lyric. It was for the most part produced by Height Keech and Steel Tipped Dove. Eventually I decided to do albums with each of them separately. The album with Dove was pretty far along in the process and originally I wanted to call it "Playing Skee-Ball With Zev Love X" but we both agreed that was kinda corny and not many people would get what we were referencing. Then I heard the news of Daniel Johnston passing away, who is a hero of mine. I listened to nothing but Daniel for a few days straight and a few lyrics in particular stuck out to me. The one that landed was "The Devil Defeated" another possibility was My Yolk is Heavy. Me and Dove made over 20 songs for this album and eventually narrowed it down to the most cohesive project we could. We'll be doing a follow up of course. That's in the works now. I'm very proud of this album. My favorite track is a story I wrote based on a song called "Suzy's Face" by my favorite punk band, The Spits. I had to convince Dove on that one. There's another track I tried to convince him about too, but that will never see the light of day since I ended up agreeing with him. 

DTN: You’ve has a chance to work with a lot of interesting and well loved folks. How the hell did the tracks with Lil’B, Charles Hamilton, Denmark Vessey and others come about? 

Darko: I did an album called “Thank You BasedGod” dedicated to Lil B. I produced a track for him way back in 2014. He reached out to me after TYBG and offered to do a track together. So I sent him a couple  Steel Tipped Dove beats and he chose the one that ended up on the album. Later I saw Charles Hamilton posting about doing features. I sent him the Lil B track since that’s a dream collaboration of mine. Lil B is a big Charles Hamilton fan, and they’re both internet gurus of their eras. Charles conquered the blog era by releasing tons of free albums on his own blog, landing on all the mixtape sites. Lil B mastered social media and became a marketing genius, even transpiring music. I’m proud to say the first time they worked together was with me. As for getting Denmark Vessey on the album, he had already worked with Dove and toured with my good friends, The Difference Machine. I was the one who showed them his album Buy Muy Drugs while I was out in Atlanta for a week. That album’s my favorite of the decade. He had posted about doing features so I sent him an email and made it happen. 

DTN: You’ve released a lot of projects via Already Dead Tapes as well as starting UDDTBA. What is the connection with ADT and why start your own label? What have you learned from ADT and how has the played into how you run your label?

Darko: Already Dead Tapes taught me everything I need to know about running a record label. I met them in 2014 when I sent over my latest at the time “Oh, No! It’s Darko.” They were nice enough to release that on cassette. Soon after they invited me to play their weekend long festival in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I brought along ialive and we booked our first tour. Staying in Kalamazoo at the Knights Inn we recorded an album together and formed the now infamous duo The Hell Hole Store. From there we’ve played the Already Dead fest every year and I’ve released quite a few albums on Already Dead Tapes. U Don’t Deserve This Beautiful Art was grown out of wanting to support my friends and artists I admire. I brought on my best buds Steel Tipped Dove and Harvey Cliff to help me run things. Now the sky’s the limit. 

DTN: “Suzy” is life a very interesting record as is “lo-fi princess” off of The Devil Defeated. You mentioned the influence for “Suzy” came from another artists song...how’d this end up on your record and why? Also what’s the idea behind “Lo-Fi..”? 

Darko: During my commute one day I listened to The Spits first self titled album. I hadn’t played it in a while and instantly remembered why they’re the best. One song in particular stuck with me throughout that ride, “Suzy’s Face”. I decided to write a song building off of their track. Almost like taking a short story and creating a movie. I tried to describe in detail about why someone would shoot Suzy in the face at a high school dance. So that’s what I came up with. Lo-fi princess 2 is a sequel to the original from “Watered Down Demon Fuzz” both love songs to my girlfriend, Alora. I liked the phrase cos it reminded me of “Bow-tie Daddy” by Frank Zappa. Now that I think of it, an actual Lo-fi princess would be an anime babe trapped in the track art of a SoundCloud beat. We’d have to defeat the chill hop brigade to save her. 

DTN: You and iAlive have a really dope chemistry and have two very different styles but similar energies that work so well off of each other. What makes that partnership work and why’d you guys want to keep it going after the one hotel infused brainstorming session?

Card Tricks For Dogs by Darko The Super & BLKrKRT

Darko: We kept it going cos there were more hotel sessions to be had. On tour you’re on the highway with a lot of time on your hands. That’s where most of our songs and ideas come from. We set up shop where ever we’re staying and start to bring these ideas to life. The people seem to like us and we enjoy performing together. That’s what keeps the hell hole going. We survive off friendship and fun times. 

DTN: Okay sir Darko. You can only eat at two fast food places for the next year because you lost a bet. Where you going??

Darko: Obviously Taco Bell is numero uno, I’m a big Taco Bell enthusiast. Next would be Wendy’s, best fast food burgers by me, and they got those spicy nuggets. Plus I heard their salads are good too, which I would need a salad every now and then. I don’t think this is too far off from my normal diet. Worst thing that could happen is I have a heart attack. But I’m on that path anyway. Maybe I’ll start exercising. Maybe. 

DTN: What are you picking if you only have Thor and Spider-Man as costumes for Halloween?!

Darko: Spider-Man of course. I could pull off a husky Spider-Man. Family Guy made it look good. I’d need the fake muscles for Thor. Fake muscles never look good. I don’t have the luxurious hair either. 

DTN: What’s the writing process like for you?! Do you let the beat decide the direction? Do you have an idea or some lyrics written and you locate a beat that fits?

Darko: Either or. Writing always comes to me. It’s second nature. If it doesn’t come to me, I don’t write. That’s all there is to it. I only write when I’m inspired. That’s an easy way to go about it. My number one thing is creativity, I don’t wanna be complex or even an intellectual. I want my lyrics to be universally understood. 

DTN: So what’s next on the horizon for Darko The Super?

Darko: Next up I’m working on an album with skits from a comedian friend of mine. He does tons of great characters and videos as Hot Talent Buffet. I think he’s a comedic genius. I’m also working on an album sampling nothing but my favorite band 10cc, titled “Strawberry Studios Jam ‘72” and another album sampling one of my favorite songwriters, Dean Friedman. The Dean and I have a 7” record on the way with my remix of his classic “McDonald’s Girl” on the B side with the original on the A side. I have a couple other collaborative albums coming along. The artist they’re with wants me to hold off announcing it until they’re ready, but I will say it’s a dream collaboration and I’m very excited for it. 

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