#personally at least!!!! i've always liked the second male leads the most!!!!!!! (pain)

[wodimewoahtime]

hey till...... don't you have just a little too much tsundere "i'm not gay" yaoi protag power???? why are you attracting these guys like a hamster to the shredder

[clairedaring]

if you're hoping for joe 2.0 to get his 'revenge' in the second half of the series...

warning: mild novel spoilers (but also not really because i'm just discussing things that have been shown in the trailer)

i really think you should either drop the series or give up the hopes of a satisfying makjang revenge storyline in my stand-in instead of setting yourself up for disappointment. because that simply isn't the story that my stand-in is trying to tell.

so what is my stand-in about really?

well, for me i think its a romance tragicomedy drama about an idiotic scum male lead losing the person he loves most because of his own arrogance and refusal to listen to his heart and the series of unfortunate events that happened consequently for our protagonist who was living a peaceful and quiet life as a stunt actor before the scum male lead entered his life.

joe 2.0 and his approach to life

i've mentioned it twice now that one of my favorite traits of joe/zhou xiang is that kindness in his strength where even if he can be choose to be mean or cruel, he simply doesn't because he has such a soft heart and he's weak to see others in pain (joe is my fellow enfp people pleaser okay) (⁠っ⁠˘̩⁠╭⁠╮⁠˘̩⁠)⁠っ which is why even in his 2.0 life, you won't get to see joe turning 180 degree and going around to hurt everyone who's ever hurt him like it's some makjang kdrama.

and while that seems like it could be fun, i think the reason why i loved professional body double (my stand-in novel) so much in the first place is because that very distinction between joe and other rebirth/second chance at life protagonists that you often see in revenge kdramas/cdramas/thai lakorns.

logically, if my stand-in was a 24-episode one31 lakorn/thai soap opera, joe would be full of hatred and burning rage after his rebirth and started his intricated revenge plot while still falling in love with ming whom he should hate the most.

and yet he isn't (or at least it seems to me so far).

if you read the lyrics 'Die For You' - the opening ost of my stand-in, i think you can have a good guess of what the second half of the story will be like.

Even running away to death can't help. If my heart had chosen to stop at you I'll have to surrender with the confusion I feel. To come back to the same old place. Even if I have to die, disappear and then be reborn But the love is still buried deep inside, even if it's been shattered into pieces Even if my life ends, I can't stop my heart from calling out to you Because this whole body, life, spirit It is yours only, for all eternity.

and even from the trailer of my stand-in, you can tell that joe 2.0 has a lot of internal conflicting feelings about whether he could trust ming again after the betrayal he faced in his 1.0 life. and i feel like essentially the journey of ming proving to joe 2.0 that he really does love joe is very much the central plot in the second half part of the story.

so i'd like to take this part to note how well the series has done to adapt the novel so far. i think a good adapted change they've made is this early realization of feelings for ming in the joe 1.0 timeline. i do think the novel made him realized his feelings a little bit later but my stand-in did well to show within ep.3 what happiness could have looked like for joe 1.0 and ming and i think it rationalizes a bit more more for why joe 2.0 would still have feelings for ming 'buried deep inside' even when he's been badly hurt the first time around. and reading the story i've always found it interesting that they took this route to focus on the re-entangled complex relationship between mingjoe rather than going for a joe-centric revenge makjang plot (i swear if this was your typical thai lakorn, joe would seduce ming while planning to take down his whole family or something).

of course, that's not to dismiss that there's a lot of character growth for joe in the second half of the story, especially in his building of self-confidence, self-worth, the ability to put himself first and the fight for his own happiness above all. but like i've mentioned above, his growth journey is not at the expense of a drastic personality change in regards to the kind hearted joe we saw in his 1.0 life. instead, we get kind hearted joe 2.0 who quickly adapts to his new life and attempts to start anew while conflicted feelings resurface for him as he is pulled back into the relationships he once had.

all in all, my stand-in is still at the heart of it, a love story. perhaps, a dark romance as my friend @dragonsandphoenix would call it, but a romance nonetheless. i think that is what also makes professional body double such a compelling read too, because the progression in the feelings and complex emotions of these characters are so tightly written that it's convincing enough for me (maybe not for others though) to believe that yan ming xiu has/will always love zhou xiang (to the point ymx would probably eliminate anyone else who dared to steal zx from him). obsessive love? yes. do they both need therapy? probably. yet i still believe in their happy ending? of course.

final note/disclaimer: then again, this is just my PERSONAL opinions based on the novel and up til 3 episodes of my stand-in (which seems to be very faithful to the novel so far), who knows maybe they can anger novel fans and adapt it completely differently later on (something i sure hope they don't but we'll seeeee) ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ

[acourtofthought]

Also let's not forget that Sara was a huge shipper of Mor/Az until she chose her character to be queer—Az as far as we know, he has always shown romantic interest for Mor and nothing else for a very long timeeeeee.

For her he would sacrifice his sanity and rationality to protect her—Az is not a soft baby, yes he's polite but let's remember this man can murder you without any second thoughts—I'll be scared as hell of him.

Do you want to pair this type of man to the sweetest girl in the planet? And yes I know the appeal of the bad boy and good girl-they look good aestethycally but nothing else, maybe if Elain was shown to have at least..a bolder side(not sexually but the personality) a dark side maybe I could give them a try but I like femenine and gentle characters☺

Come on you prefer Az over Lucien—the sexiest man in the world, a gentle man, HE HAS FIRE IN HIS BLOOD(THE AUTHOR IS FORESHADOWING😏🤭) and he's a bad boy in a sense( this man is a flirt, he's sassy and A GENTLEMAN, his loyalty has no bounds) that would never ask Elain to change for him, maybe she would become more confident by his side and El can make him feel relaxed because this boy hasn't known peace for A VERY LONG TIME.

Honestly they are my OTP😆😆😆..they are so unique and original..of Nessian, Feysand and El/riel 's dynamics I've read so many that I've got BOREDDDDD.

Everyone says all three sisters ending up with their Mates is cliche but what is more cliche is all three sisters developing ocassionally dark, vengeful personalities to make them a match for their dark, brutal warrior Illyrian males. You're so right, E/riel would be more of the same and it would be redundant coming from yet another Archeron sister. Nesta can be dark when it comes to her enemies and Cassian isn't even the darkest of the Bat Boys, Azriel is. So if Elain were to end up with him, would it make sense that she's almost the complete opposite of Nesta? How does that work? Az's spy sessions do lead to torture sessions and people truly think Elain is going to be right there beside him for that? Staying in a court as a member of the IC where Feyre has already stated she only looks at Elain as a "pleasant companion" even after they'd grown closer? Lucien and Elain don't need to change anything about who they are to be a match for one another. Sure they'll grow, they'll learn to stand up for themselves as individuals. But they are naturally suited to one another and there's no mental twister going on to make them fit together. Not to mention the diversity they bring to the series, where not every single main character is about training and being a warrior and getting revenge against all those who have wronged them through the most painful of ways possible. And they both deserve to find their people, the ones who look at them as the most important part of their lives rather than an afterthought.

[the-walk-of-weary-souls]

Hello as of recently while watching game theory I've begun to create my own hypothesis in reguards to some of the details and blank spaces from their theories. In particular I began noticing stuff that seemed to fit together in their 'This changes everything' theory and the last part of the 'Not what we thought' theory so PLEASE GO WATCH THOSE FIRST IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY, this won't make sense otherwise.

First of all I believe Michael Afton is in fact the big brother's real name aswell as the name that the little brother (crying kid) is known as in the games. I say this because I think that the little brother has taken up the big brother's identity (I will from this point on refer to The older brother as Michael and crying kid as Mike as to avoid confusion). I came to this conclusion after Matpat theorized that the immortal and the restless where the immortal always starts the show off with 'The baby isn't mine' is refrencing the relationship Between William and Mike which made me start wondering if it was not referencing their relationship but Williams relationship with his other son Michael the elder brother instead in which case he would have a bad relationship with him but have a good relationship with the younger who he thinks is his son.

This would lead the elder to possibly getting Jealous enough to start bullying his younger brother only worsening the relationship Between William and himself and ultimately completely destroying it when he by accidentally killed Mike. At this point William promises to put Mike back together again and manages to do it but there's one small tiny problem, a dead kid can't suddenly come back to life again so he needs to get Mike a new identity. Luckily there is an easy solution to his problem in which he can get his youngest son back into the family and get rid of a son that he never thought was his own and probably hates for killing his youngest son. To put it simply I think he murdered his eldest son Michael Afton and gave his identity to his recently revived and amnesiac younger son.

This is why I personally think that Mike is using his brothers name instead of his own which we know he does not remember thanks to golden Freddy. Talking about golden Freddy and Mike, when Matpat theorized that there was in fact two souls possessing Golden Freddy; A female spirit named Cassidy and the vengeful spirit from UCN, a male possibly called Kelsey, a lot of pieces began fitting in place for me. For example remember how in UCN the voice lines kept referring to ' the one you should not have killed' golden Freddy as a he when we were sure that the spirit was a she up until the latest reveal where it makes sense again because it is referring to the male spirit in golden Freddy not Cassidy the female spirit.

I think that Mike had a close relationship with Kelsey both when he was still alive and after he dies and posses golden Freddy. I say this first of all because of how golden Freddy writes to Mike in the survival logbook as if trying desperately to jog his memory by referencing memories from his childhood (E.g. 'Was your favourite toy a purple telephone?' and 'Does he still talk to you?' And even at one point tries to be more direct by saying that 'the party was for you', you are the younger brother not Michael the elder brother)and directly asking him if he remembers anything including asking if he remembers his name. I also believe that phsycic friend fredbear was not the mind switching robots(which I actually think inspired by phsycic friend fredbear after William saw his sons interactions with the fredbear plush and realizing an actual soul inhabited it) Matpat theorized it was in a previous video but Kelsey extending his control outwards from golden Freddy onto the plush that his friend carries everywhere so that he can monitor his friend despite being stuck in the fredbear suit in the back room where we see a tuft of his hair coming out of the suit. It's also important to note that the only place that phsycic friend fredbear doesn't appear is inside the restaurant but is clearly still there because of his voice speaking to Mike which would make sense if he doesn't need the plush to see Mike there because it's where his body is stored anyway.

I think this is entirely possible as Kelsey is clearly able to appear outside of the golden Freddy suit in a completely different form to the actual golden Freddy as seen in 1:35 am's 'The New Kid' where he takes on the form of a kid and lures several children from nearby schools into old Freddy places where he then kills them with the golden Freddy suit so it is entirely possible he could be the plush Mike carried everywhere. His relationship with Mike could also explain his motivation for killing all of those kids by luring them to the golden Freddy suit, he was probably extremely angry when he lost his best friend despite his best efforts to keep him safe in the bite of 83 and thus takes it out on kids like the bullies in Fnaf 4. He does this by basically testing the kids to see if they'll try to put him into a springlock suit like the bullies did to Mike and if they do he kills them and moves on to the next victim.

To summarise it up Kelsey was probably Mike's best friend who at some point got killed by William and stuffed into a suit but due to pure determination his spirit stayed so that he could stay by his best friends side(unlike the other animatronics who stay because of Agony as confirmed in Game theories 'Your pain fuels us'which may explain his many extra abilities as they would be necessary to be by his friends side), this determination then turned to anger when he was unable to save his friends life or put his soul into something else like he was probably planning to do when William cut his dialogue off in the final cutscene of Fnaf 4 with 'I will put you back together' in a slightly different shade of yellow. So he starts killing kids like the bullies to try and get Vengance just like the other animatronics kill nightgaurds to try and get their Vengance. Eventually he realises that somehow miraculously Mike is alive and he figures out why which leads to him possessing the survival logbook to try and communicate with him and bring back his memories which he successfully does to at least a small extent. He probably sees this as a second chance for Mike at life but can only watch as instead Mike throws his life away in pursuit of his father and then completely gives up his life in the blaze that stops his father and frees the other spirits. Once again frustrated and beyond angry that he had to watch as his friend died again he blames his friends father William this time and so makes sure that he suffers for it by becoming his personal tormentor in hell instead of moving on like everyone else did.

This would explain several odd details such as why golden Freddy's phrase is it's me as he was probably trying to tell Mike that it's me Kelsey as well as why Golden Freddy will still attack you after entering your office instead of attacking as the spirit who is in control of (or has the most control of) Golden Freddy at that moment is Cassidy who wants to kill the nightgaurd and not Kelsey no wants to protect Mike. It also explains why Kelsey would go after kids instead of nightgaurds and why Golden Freddy is so interlinked with Mike.I also believe that like Matpat suggested Mike knew some of the other missing kids and by association so did Kelsey, but he may have had a more distant relationship with them only really hanging out with them because his best friend Mike or the crying kid as he is also known did.

Thanks for reading this, it is not really a theory as is lacks evidence but as a writer who has to clarify things I write in a logical way, this is how I filled in the gaps for Matpat's theories in a similar way to how I do when writing stories. I may come back to this later with a more fresh mind but it's really late now so goodnight.

[shall-we-imagine]

Loosen up. (Bodyguard!Klaus Goldstein x Reader)

Requested: 66. "I like you. You're different." + 73. "You couldn't handle me even if I came with instructions." From the promt list.

Genre: Fluff/idk if this also counts as suggestive? Only if you're very innocent I guess? And if you're on tumblr then you probably aren't so nvm 😂

A/N: sorry for being so inactive lately I've been busy with studying and such so I generally couldn't find it in me to write so yeah :/ (I have a trial tomorrow so like idk pray for me 😂) but here I am! ヽ(゜～゜o)ノ Also yes I'm aware this isn't how Vincent acts and he's not filthy rich but for now we're gonna let it slide okay? Cool. 😂

(Second Person Point of View)

"That's when I decided it was time to buy my fifth car; I mean who attends their first day of college with the same old cars, right?" The man laughs. You suspected that if he stopped boasting for longer than 2 seconds, he'd suffocate and die. You kind of hoped to witness that.

It'd been 2 hours already, yet you weren't allowed to leave the party until your dad says you could. You'd even tried to convince your bodyguard to let you leave without your father knowing anything of the incident, but Klaus was far too strict and responsible; he'd never do such a reckless thing.

Yeah, sure, it's good for your dad to have found such a trustworthy employee, but when you've been stuck talking to these blatantly boring and arrogant people that only viewed you as a good deal to obtain more wealth, well, let's just say: it makes you sort of wish Klaus cared less.

However, that was not the case. In fact, while all bodyguards waited outside, Klaus remained inside -only a few feet away from you at any given time. He also seemed to always be giving you a look that could only be describe as the look a mother gives when you have people over, and she's daring you to mess anything up.

Now, you weren't the stereotypical bratty child that refuses to take over their parents' company. You knew your responsibility and always hoped to make them proud; you just weren't a big fan of the world surrounding all the important people in business. Therefore, it made you yearn for messing around from time to time.

Today was one of those days. You so desperately hoped Klaus would get off your back for even just a few moments, so you could escape the exhausting setting. But he continued with the angry-mother-glare; it almost seemed like he'd gotten the expression tattooed on his face after the endless times he had to get you out of trouble.

There was definitely a bright side to that extra attention, though. You suspected Klaus had a thing for you. After all, he was known to be very good at his job; he could easily quit and get a job less demanding with an equal pay or even a bigger pay if he wanted, but he didn't. He decides to stay with a teenage girl that enjoys pushing his buttons. He was professional, so he wouldn't say anything or let it show, but you had this feeling in your guts that he at least felt intrigued by you.

And, surely, you were ready to use this to your advantage.

You glance towards the blond at the corner of the room, ensuring he was still staring (threateningly, but still staring nevertheless). His eyebrow arches slightly, sensing you were about to do something dumb. You could almost hear him think God, what is it this time?!

You focus your attention back on the man whose name you'd forgotten about 2 seconds after he introduced himself.

"So, I heard you're staying at the hotel here for the entire duration of the event." You smile sweetly.

"Yeah, I am." He takes a sip out of his drink.

You begin flirtatiously twirling a strand of your hair. "Well, how about you take me to have a look upstairs?"

Startled by the unexpected implications of your request, he chokes on his drink and starts coughing. You try your best not to appear disgusted, giving him a smile when he's done with his coughing session.

Sure enough, he agrees and links your arms together, leading you towards the exit of the section the party was held in.

"Miss (Y/N)," Klaus speaks through gritted teeth. He wore a smile and kept his voice quiet, but there was no denying he was ready to scold you. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Upstairs." You smile, playing dumb.

"What do you mean up-" after losing his calm for a second, Klaus cuts himself off to take a deep breath and let it out before proceeding. "Would you please excuse us, Mr. Knight?" Klaus bows lightly before dragging you to an empty corner.

"You think just because you're leaving with a guest, I'll allow you to go?" Klaus whispers in annoyance.

"What? Are you jealous?" You wiggle an eyebrow at him, knowing well enough that wasn't the reason (well, not the main one, at least).

Lips pulled into a pained smile, Klaus glares. "Are you asking for an insult? I think you're abusing that service I provide for you a hundred times per minute."

"Come on, Klausie; loosen up." You poke his chest with your index finger. You knew the redhead -or Mr. Knight- was probably still waiting for you, but you couldn't care less. You wanted to stretch out the process of bugging Klaus as long as possible, since it was the only way to spend time with him. It was also fun watching his nose scrunch and his eyebrows furrow in such anger. He would try to mask his frustration, but it was obvious he had a short temper when it came to you. To put it nicely, he was done with your shit.

"Don't, under any circumstances, call me Klausie." He threatens. "And I don't need to loosen up; you need to stop being so careless!"

"Sure." Rolling your eyes, you step away from him.

Before you could take two full steps, Klaus had already grabbed your arm. "Going somewhere?"

You pull your hand away. "The bathroom. Am I not allowed to answer the call of nature either?" You raise an eyebrow questioningly.

"Touché." He raises his hands in defeat, but once you begin walking away, he follows.

"Where are you going?"

"Just ensuring you don't get any funny ideas." He shrugs.

Huffing, you decide to ignore him. Thankfully, he was only planning to stand near the door; it didn't seem too strange imagining Klaus walking in for "safety measures": the guy was crazy when it came to his job.

"Man, another pretty dress gone to waste." You sigh, looking into the mirror. The sparkling violet fabric clung onto your body till your waist then flowed freely, reaching to merely graze the floor. It was one of the dresses you really liked; you loved the way it showed your shoulder blades and only a portion of your back; it was sexy yet classy. The glittery purple was certainly your colour too! Alas, your dad would scold you for rewearing a dress more than he would scold you if you were to kill a person (as long as you've hidden the evidence well, that is). Murder can be covered up, but 'horrible fashion choices' cannot be hidden, according to your father. Sometimes you went against that, but most of the time, you just complied, even though it's an absolute waste of money.

"You're taking too long, you know that?" Klaus calls from outside, impatience clear in his voice.

You bite back a response when you realize there's something much better you could do. Quietly checking the stalls, you ensure you're 100% alone inside.

"Could there be a valid reason you're not responding to me?!"

Ignoring his question, you just scream in response. "Klaus! Klaus, help me!" You screech frantically.

The door bursts open, and Klaus steps inside aggressively. Before he could realize what's happening, you push him back against the door, slamming it behind him.

Smug about catching him off guard, you smirk at the taller male, whose body was closely pressed against yours. "Were you worried?" You tease.

"About losing my job? Yeah." He scoffs, turning his head away from you but not bothering to push you away.

"Why is it always about the job?" You tilt your head to meet his eyes again.

"Because I'm at work?" He states with a raised eyebrow, as if it sounded stupid for you to even ask that.

You run your hands gently over his chest; even through layers of clothing, you could still feel the firm muscles concealed by the black suit. "Well, maybe it's time for a break." You grin innocently.

"You do know you can't fool me, right?" He takes one of your hands away from him but doesn't let go of it.

Rolling your eyes, you move away from him. "I'm not fooling you; I want us to have fun! Neither one of us is enjoying this anyway." You cross your arms.

An unexpected response sparks excitement within you. "Well, what do you suggest we do?" You knew he was only being sarcastic, but it gave you a pathway for more methods to push his buttons and witness his reactions.

Closing the distance between both of you once more, you stand on the tip of your toes as you wrap your arms around the back of his neck. "Oh, I have a lot of suggestions." You whisper in his ear, feeling him flinch lightly at your suggestive remark. You could tell he was trying to hide it and pretend he wasn't phased, but you'd already noticed it, and he knew it.

"You're gonna get me fired." Cheeks slightly red, he turns his head away and gently parts your bodies from each other. "God, why is it so hard to handle you? It's like dealing with a troublemaking child."

"You couldn't handle me even if I came with instructions." You stick your tongue out at him. "Plus, father won't know anything if neither one of us told him." You point out what seemed to have escaped Klaus's perception of the situation.

"You want me to lie to your father." He laughs in disbelief.

"Mmhm, not quite. More like not telling him the full truth."

"That's exactly what lying is."

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is."

"No."

"Yes."

"Okay, stop! Fine, lie! I don't know!" You fling your arms in the air out of frustration. A novel sound catches your attention, immediately flushing away the frustration. Klaus was laughing. Not sarcastically. No, a genuine laugh was echoing across the bathroom.

"I suppose it wouldn't be the worst thing if we talk a walk for some fresh air and come back." He smiles. "Just this time though!"

An uncontrollable grin spreads across your face, and you immediately throw your arms around Klaus. "Thank you!"

"You gotta stop..doing..this.." He awkwardly pats your back, careful not to touch your bare skin.

"No promises!" You shrug, before grabbing his hand and rushing outside, making your way to the exit.

"Miss (Y/N)?" You freeze in your spot. "Where are you going?"

"Oh, um.." you stutter, not expecting to have to explain yourself to your companion from earlier.

"We got an emergency call; we'll be right back." Klaus, in his usual composed state, 'explains' to Mr. Knight.

"Ah, I see." Red head may be an idiot, but he wasn't stupid. He could tell something wasn't right, but he either chose to let it slide or he just didn't care. Regardless, you were thankful. "I'll be waiting for your return then." With a smile and a bow, he left and disappeared into the crowd.

"You'll catch a cold." Klaus states, watching you twirl and run around in the chilly October weather.

You weren't cold, or maybe you didn't dislike being cold. It wasn't the type of cold to make you unable to take a few proper steps and force you to do an awkward penguin walk; rather, it was the type of cold to merely caress your skin, decorating it with goosebumps. "Don't worry; I'm alright."

"Just take my jacket. Your back and shoulders are exposed; you must be cold." He spoke with such certainty that it almost made you rethink for a few moments about whether you actually felt cold or not.

"Are you worried or are you just intimidated by how sexy I look?" You strike a pose far from seducing.

Klaus, who had his jacket held out for you, resumed walking as he put his jacket back on. "You know, on second thought, it might be a good thing if you catch a cold and stay at home for a week or so." He passes by you, leaving you and your sexy pose alone.

"Hey! That was mean!" You catch up to him.

"Nothing new, then." He shrugs, a slight smirk forcing itself onto his pink lips.

You speed up a little then turn around to face him once you're slightly ahead of him; you remain walking, but backwards this time, allowing yourself to look at him during the conversation. "How could you be mean to such a beautiful lady?" You pout.

"What beautiful lady?" He looks around, pretending to search for something.

You let out a dramatic gasp. "How could y-" Your sentence was inconveniently cut off by your stumble; or perhaps, it was a slightly convenient situation when you think about it from a different perspective: Klaus, as sharp as usual, was able to grasp your arm, preventing you from falling.

"Uh, thanks." You breathe out, nodding slightly. Once you begin to straighten yourself up, Klaus lets go of your arm, only to watch you fall to the ground immediately after. "I think my heel broke.." you frown, staring at your left shoe, now with its heel lying a few inches away.

"You think?" Klaus earns a glare, urging him to put aside the sarcasm and help you up.

"Those were such a cute pair.." you sigh, placing your arm around Klaus's shoulder for support. Your arms were already hurting due to the height difference; it was like hanging from a cliff but not quite.

Klaus places an arm around your waist. "Well, I can buy you another one. You need another pair to get back to the party anyway."

"What if I don't?"

"Don't what? Get back to the party? That's not what we agreed on! Your father-"

You cut off his rant, "We'll get back there, and I'll call dad and inform him that my heel broke; he'd immediately allow me to leave. It's already late anyway."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

######

"Yes, Klaus, I'm sure he'd let me go home if I tell him my heel broke! Of course, Klaus, there's no way he would have some other plans for me!" Your bodyguard mimicks your voice and tone (terribly), as you sit in the back of the car your dad sent with a brand new pair of shoes.

"How would I have known he would do this?!" You complain, tightening the straps of the new shoes around your ankle.

"Well, hurry up, knight dude is probably waiting for you." Arms crossed, he taps his foot impatiently. You merely groan in response.

"I can't believe he didn't even tell me he booked a room for me at the hotel! And that I have to attend the same event tomorrow too! I didn't even bring any change!"

"Um, Miss (Y/N), your father asked me to hand you this too.." the driver quietly places a small suitcase on the back seat next to you.

"There you go; he packed stuff for you." You weren't sure if Klaus was trying to tease you or comfort you, but either way, you just let out a sigh.

After a long, mentally and physically exhausting night, you were finally allowed to leave. And boy, were you delighted to recieve the news.

"This one." You pause in front of the room that had the same number on the keycard. Klaus had already placed your bag inside earlier, but it was your first time viewing the room. "At least the room is pretty." You shrug.

"Didn't think you'd admit it." Klaus chuckles. "Well, I have to go; so, good night, Miss (Y/N); I'll be back here tomorrow." He bows.

"Wait!" You stop him before he steps outside the room.

As I have reached the 100 block limit, I'll complete this in Part 2...which I'll literally post now and it'll be shorter than this cuz it's just the ending 😂

[agnesgoesadventuring-blog]

(1) I've been avoiding sending this cause I'm afraid it'll stir up shit but I really want to address it. A lot, even most of the people I know who ship widomauk are neurodivergent, mentally ill, and/or queer men. I know several who can check all those boxes and many more who can check at least a few (I can). And I find for a lot of us, the stuff others complain about being "romanticizing, fetishizing, etc" are us indulging our own fantasies about these issues.

(2) I’m not saying those with complaints are wrong. Things that are healing for some can be toxic to others and vice versa. I just don’t want the issue to be reduced to “cishet neurotypical women fetishizing a mentally ill queer male character” when sometimes it’s a case of people who relate to Caleb and his issues using his character to indulge their own fantasies of finding love and having all their problems go away. It’s unrealistic, but most fantasies are, it’s in their nature.

I took my time answering this because the line between presenting what I know as a psychology student and what I’m saying approaching the line of diagnosing or attempting to treat the person I’m talking to can be very tricky and blurry. I’m going to be pretty clinical in my language and presentation for a lot of this as a means of simply presenting facts.

There are two things I’m going to note here.

The first is that not all means of coping and catharsis are actually healthy in the long run. In fact, a lot of ways that people end up coping with things and seeking catharsis are incredibly unhealthy and harmful not just to themselves but to others.

In general, fantasy coping mechanisms aren’t particularly healthy. It’s classified as a Level II Immature Defense, based on avoiding the reality of the situation in a way that can provide short term relief but more harm in long term healthy coping, especially if it’s a continual behavior.

Coping mechanisms are separated into different categories. The two broad categories are “mature” and “immature”, with mature defenses being healthy means of coping that don’t lead to long term harmful outcomes and that allow people to engage in healthy behaviors in the present, such as humor, altruism, and sublimation. Immature defenses are things like projection and fantasy. Those broad categories are then broken down into four more specific categories.

Level I Psychotic/Pathological Defenses are coping mechanisms that are common in children and people suffering from mental illnesses involving psychosis. These defenses are about basically restructuring external experiences to create a reality where coping with these problems is unneeded. These are behaviors that will generally look “crazy” to outside observers. The two major defenses in this category are delusional projection and distortion, which are all about changing reality into what they want it to be in order for them to not have to deal with the issues they’re trying to cop with.

Level II Immature Defenses are present in both children and adults. They’re about the temporary relief of distress and anxiety presented by an uncomfortable reality (trauma, mental illness, grief, etc.). These are common defenses for things like depression and various personality disorders. Their use as a means of any form of continued coping is unhealthy as they’re about separating oneself from their issues. Passive aggressive behavior, projection, and fantasy are among the more common immature defenses.

Level III Neurotic Defenses are most common in adults, and are strongly based in denying and ignoring issues and pain. As such, they also have short term benefits, but lead to long term problems in many different facets of life. Neurotic defenses include displacement, dissociation, and repression.

Level IV Mature Defenses are healthy coping mechanisms that foster successful ways of dealing with issues and pain, and allow for the development of strong relationships and behaviors. They include altruism, anticipation, emotional self regulation, respect, mindfulness, and sublimation.

The process of coping and healing is messy, and it’s rare that you’re going to find someone who’s capable of utilizing Level IV defenses at the earliest stages. But the healthiest use of the defenses in other levels is the recognition of their long term unhealthiness with the goal of ceasing those behaviors and developing into healthier ones.

To put it all far more simply, just because someone says it’s a means of coping doesn’t mean it’s good or healthy.

Which brings us into the second point, which is that when something we’re using as a coping or defense mechanism is hurtful and harmful to other people, that usually means it’s time to start seeking different means of coping. Usually if our coping mechanisms and behaviors are harmful and hurtful to other people, that’s a pretty good sign that it’s not a healthy coping mechanism.

Recognizing that and seeking means of coping that don’t hurt others can, in and of itself, be something that does a lot of good in the coping process. Not just because it makes us seek out behaviors that are healthier, but because it appeals to our empathy and allows us to think of others, which is always an important part of coping and recovery. One of the most vital things to remember when we’re suffering is that our desire to feel better does not outweigh other people’s health and safety, and that if what we’re doing to feel better is putting other people’s health and safety at risk, then we need to find different ways to make ourself feel better. Both because it’s just not okay to throw people under the bus for our own needs, but also because any means of coping that hurts others is ultimately not going to be effective in the long term, as the fact that we’ve caused harm to people is yet another thing we’re going to have to learn to deal with and confront.

There are a lot of ways of coping, and unfortunately not all of them are healthy. Unfortunately, a lot of them can do harm to both ourselves and others. So when the topic of discussion is something that is hurting other people and/or contributing to societal and cultural mindsets that harm people, “this is how I cope” isn’t something that excuses it, because not only does it still hurt other people, it might be something that’s hurting you, too.

[elvenferretots]

I have a ferret ask!! I've wanted a ferret for a very long time and your blog has only made that worse, but everyone I bring it up to says the classic "but they stink/smell so bad!!" is that just a stereotype? are there ways to avoid it? thank you in advance!!

Hey, Nonny! Bear with me, because this is going to be a long answer.

Is ferret stink a myth? Yes, and no. All ferrets have a musky body odor due to scent glands, especially behind their ears and under the tail (the latter often removed in “descented” Marshall ferrets. Descented ferrets still have body odor. The surgery itself is generally a gimmick to sell more ferrets; I could go on about Marshall Farms, but I digress); they communicate with these, and you’ll notice a happy ferret will smell slightly earthy versus the mildly pungent smell of a scared or angry ferret, and an undescented ferret can “spray” when a situation gets dire. On the other hand, their body odor does not have to be overwhelming, and the smell from expressed scent glands won’t stick or linger like skunk spray. Usually a ferret who smells overwhelmingly–well…smelly– is indicative of a care problem.

This leads into your second question, are there ways to avoid it? Again, yes and no. A ferret will always have an odor, but a well-kept ferret should smell no more than some large hairy dogs do in their own way. We’re often just not used to their unique ferret odor, so we notice it more at first.

The first way to control odor is not to overbathe or underbathe. Ever met a ferret that smells like skunk? That’s the result of overbathing. If you use a harsh shampoo or bathe more than every two weeks, it will dry out your ferret’s skin, and their scent glands will overproduce to compensate. It’s stressful on the ferret’s skin and  makes the smell worse than it was to begin with. A baby, puppy, or (best yet) ferret shampoo works well, especially paired with natural moisturizing conditioner; adult human or dog shampoos are too harsh. Many owners, especially in the “holistic” movement, try to prevent this by never bathing. Ferrets with yellow coats you might see that smell something awful like pee are those never bathed. Like many things, balance is what you want to go for. Every two weeks to once a month will be plenty, as long as you wash bedding weekly/biweekly and clean litter boxes daily. I’m guilty of letting Hobbes’s big litter box go two days and his bedding go several weeks once in a while, and that’s the only time my room ever smells noticeably of ferret when you walk in.

The second thing is diet. Ferrets are obligate carnivores, and need at least 35% animal protein and 20% fat in their diet (I can make a whole nother post on nutrition, but I digress). If they aren’t getting proper nutrition, being fed foods with lots of grains or sugars, they’ll smell more. Also, for the sake of your nose, don’t feed them a fish-based food. They love it, and it’s good for them, but there are other equally healthy meats that won’t make your ferret smell like the fish market with flatulence! Many of the horribly smelly ferrets people met in the 80′s and 90′s before big-brand ferret kibble were on fish-based kitten kibbles.

The third way to cut down scent is numbers. There’s a catchphrase among ferret people called “ferret math”. In other words, owners tend to get more and more and more! Part of this is because once someone knows you’re a “ferret person”, they will try to pawn off every homeless or ill-kept ferret on you. People have a hard time saying no, and many shelters just don’t take ferrets. But the biggest culprit of “ferret math” is that they tend to attract hoarder-types. Hoader-types often leave their ferrets unsupervised in a room to poop wherever they please, and have too many ferrets to individually keep up with potty-training. Plus, no matter how well someone keeps their twelve ferrets, their house is going to smell like a zoo. There’s just so many animals in the space. That’s why zoos smell like zoos! I recommend one or two ferrets unless you are breeding or hunting with them. Maybe three or four if some of them belong to another member of the household. Put a solid cap on how many ferrets you have. Mine is two, but I strongly prefer one. There’s a ”lonely single ferret” myth that you need multiple, but if you have enough time to bond with a ferret (that’s why you’re getting a high-maintenance companion animal, right?), you’ll have enough time for a single one. If you’re really worried about it, there are plenty of bonded pairs in rescue.

Finally, healthcare. Ferrets need to go in to the vet for annual shots and checkups like a dog. Many people just don’t bother, and don’t catch the diseases that are causing their ferrets to stink. Many cancers (notoriously adrenal disease) cause hormonal imbalances that will make your gib (neutered male ferret) have accidents and stink up a room like he’s in rut. Also, as mentioned before, stress will cause your ferret to smell unpleasant. Most people brush off their stressed sick ferret as just a stinky animal, never realizing it’s in pain. Have a rainy-day fund of $400 or so set aside for ferret medical care at all times, and if anything is abnormal, even your ferret being far stinkier than normal, call your trusted exotic vet. I’ve called in two false alarms over the years compared to dozens of real problems that could have been fatal if I had waited for more symptoms.

Overall, if you love ferrets and are ready for the amount of commitment and work they take, the smell doesn’t need to be a deterrent. If you can tolerate cuddling the ill-kept ones at the pet store or a friend’s house (assuming you don’t have access to a well-kept one), you can easily handle one of your own that you put the work into keeping clean and healthy. The big thing is to keep up with it. Soon, you get used to the smell and barely notice it, but that doesn’t mean your guests won’t be able to!

[stileshale]

What are your thoughts on teen wolf? especially writing wise? I have stopped watching regularly around 3b and I wasn't too convinced by what I've seen here on tumblr about the rest of the episodes, in particular 6x10...

i will always have a special place in my heart for the characters i love that the show gave me. i still blog about teen wolf, i write fic, and i enjoyed s1-3a. saying that, i don’t particular enjoy what the show became, or look back on the experience i had as a fan with much nostalgia (i think we were v much used and abused as a fandom online, for sure). i love my part of fandom, though.

short answer about the writing... it was terrible because

1) there was a complete lack of planning and follow through

2) we love this idea/actor/theme for 30 seconds but oops now we don’t

3) they completely misused their social media as a way to a) explain away/correct plot holes in their own writing and b) encourage viewers to watch a show they implied to be many things that it turned out to... not be any of

long answer

as a disclaimer here, i watch a lot of tv, i watch stuff on cbs, abc, fox, cw, bbc, tbs, p much something from every network, and i’ve seen the highs and lows of writing through comedy, drama, medical, supernatural, and everything inbetween. i’m not a professional writer, i am only a consumer. i have, however, over the nearly 20 years of watching shows as a fangirl (where i’ve been into something i follow religiously, and then later became involved in online forums) honed my tastes and opinions. on average i watch 15 shows a week, last year it would have been 21 around february time, but i’ve cut six shows including 3 i started this fall and dropped because of writing issues similar to that of teen wolf, or it just got terrible, either way). i have totally tried to rationalise what teen wolf did and i just... can’t. 

to elongate

1. the whole “let’s throw everything at the wall and see what sticks�� approach is terrible. the best thing about breaking bad was that everything was planned to the very minute details. lost only picked up again when they were given an end date and suddenly had to come up with a plausible endgame. every season teen wolf has started off with a new plan, a new theme, and then it’s fallen apart because they’ve quite clearly changed their minds about something and either dropped it completely (they’re especially bad about dropping characters and never speaking of them again, or even acknowledging they were there in the first place), or made up new stuff to fit their new plan (scott is the true alpha so he can move mountain ash, kate is a werejaguar

not to mention they’ve joked about not being able to keep up with their own timelines, unsure how old any of the characters are, forgetting the characters have school/work/should be in prison, introducing siblings, changing history, forgetting actual canon...

2. kinda leads on from 1. where they would introduce an idea or a character and then totally lose interest and instead of trying hard to give them depth or something to do or going somewhere with the concept, they’d just drop it? see, parrish as a hellhound, kira as a kitsune, even way back when with stiles as a spark, a cool idea for thirty seconds to fit in with the plot and then... whoops it never happened, what are you talking about there was never a whole season about japanese culture, that season was about stiles conquering his internal battle with his own psyche telling him he’s never going to be good enough because we always make his dad out to be a total dick to him (surprise, his dad’s called noah, which we know you’ll hate because we dragged it out like some sort of magical plot twist, and also HIS dad is a dick so it’s okay he’s always told stiles he’d rather have had scott as a son) WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT FOXES FOR? THERE WAS NO FOX. THERE WAS NO TREE TRUNK. BANSHEES? THE FUCK? LYDIA JUST SCREAMS EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE AND SOMETIMES HAS MAGIC POWERS. but then doesn’t. pfft it doesn’t actually matter.

 or worse conveniently fix it/disappear it. it was tiring to watch and be confused and wonder why they were treating you like an idiot as a viewer. like the show is on mtv sure, but at least awkward stuck to a clear timeline. awkward covered where characters vanished to. we never actually even got clarification on basics like... why did deaton never want to help derek in season one... even though he was the hale emissary? what did emissaries have to do with anything by the next episode as nothing ever happened with that whole theme... why did stiles have a magic spark... where did cora go... how did she come back and how did the alphas find her before derek... why did the alphas originally start a war with derek, kill off his pack but then decide they didn’t want derek and just wanted scott... why did scott let deucalion walk off into the sunset? WHY IS PETER STILL NOT IN PRISON FOR THE MURDER OF HIS NIECE? these questions are all like three seasons old but that’s all i have and they still bug me. i can’t believe the show has never covered any of these huge issues. it’s lazy. everyone likes consistency, nobody likes writing leaving this big wink like “you don’t really care about this do you???”

again, with the big deaths, the characters they did kill off all had opportunities not to die, they could have had different endings, but each time their death was used to create man pain, probably one of the many reasons i’m not as big on male characters (they always need something to prop them up and make them more heroic and tragic in the long run), and that writing? erica, boyd, allison, was cruel and unnecessary. it did nothing for the show, and it lessened the writing. it actually made it worse when they tried to defend it, because they’d been going on about it for so long before hand as if it was a new and exciting toothpaste they’d all just gotten “now even whiter than before/now with even more death!!!”

the fact they hadn’t planned out a season without stiles (despite knowing dylan was out) and so instead of giving all of the other characters a chance to grow and learn and develop they literally wrote a whole season about stiles (after all of 3b, and from what i can tell most of s4 and s5 was about stiles). every character seemed to be focused on this missing person. the whole season was based around a character that wasn’t even on screen. and all because std fans were promised a big beautiful season of std??? gutted.

3. leading to point three! teasing your internet fanbase with ~thrilling and huge deaths to look forward to all season! using tumblr to answer questions about the plot holes/characters/encourage you to watch for the return of characters and not actually ever going through with it on screen. the teasing. the baiting. the flat out refusal to learn from your own viewership (when more than happy to use their gifs, use their images, their fanfics and their ideas) and then act as if the fanbase are the ungrateful ones. to try and join in with memes and tbt and a bunch of other infuriating actions that made even the actors uncomfortable. the tweets, the writers creating more drama even now, six seasons in, jeff saying “oh yeah if hoechlin had stayed on we’d have tortured derek some more with a fake julia (????? dick) haha i hope the internet doesn’t kill me for that one” as if we’re a bunch of deranged lunatics instead of just fans of a character that deserved better? like he knows what’s up. he’s a grown man. he knows they fucked up, in so many areas, and yet he’s just not willing to learn from it, or acknowledge it, he’s just always said “well if they don’t like it, they shouldn’t watch”... 

i guess we didn’t.