#pretty sure majority if not all of this was repost but i wanted the caption & also probably gonna repost that pic of Ash for Reasons so 😌 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

glazelilyy · 3 years ago

Text

redamancy

pairing - zhongli x gender neutral reader (historical au!)

word count - 8053

genre - fluff to angst

format - fic

warnings - MCD (MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH), blood, unspecified illnesses, non-canonverse

summary - you're a simple farmer who is greeted by a handsome man seeking shelter one winter's night

a/n - i've pretty much always been a big fan of vocaloid and while going through the playlist i made ages ago, i found this song! and after watching the video i just HAD to write something related for zhongli. it fits his vibe really well and i do wanna write more for my favorite archon :) (had to repost this since it wasn't showing up in the tags :<)

disclaimer - i'm basing this fic off of the PV for rin and len's song "feathers across the seasons" (make sure to turn on english captions!). the video and song itself are based off of the japanese folklore story called "tsuru nyōbō" (the crane wife). you can read more about it here under the subheading "the crane wife". i do not own the PV for "feathers across the seasons" nor am i the original writer or holder of "the crane wife", i'm merely creating something inspired by these two works. all rights are reserved to their original creators.

content under the cut!

𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲

(𝘯.) 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭; 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶

all your life, you’ve settled for simple.

a simple life, in a simple home, with the simple job of tending to your crops. simplicity was like your covering, without it you were bare; nothing.

but the man who came knocking gently thrice at your door didn’t seem simple—far from it actually. dressed in an elegant, brown, silk kimono lined with what looked like sparkling gold, his beauty rivalled that of the finest men and women you’d ever seen in your life: silky, copper hair tied back with an intricate hairpiece, a single earring that dangled from his left ear, a jawline that mimicked the sharpest of your scythes, not to mention those honeyed eyes that seemed to stare past your soul straight into you.

despite his heavenly and regal appearance, the plum colored skin that hung from underneath his eyes told a different story. his shallow breaths and flushed face painted the stage for trickles of sweat to slowly dribble down the side of his head. his limber body slumped itself pitifully against your chipped wooden door frame—no exquisite garments nor stunning hairpieces could shield one against the harsh frost of winter.

“please...excuse my appearance,” with a voice of rust and disuse, he found your eyes and silently prayed you could hear the pitifully weak hum of his heart, “i humbly seek your aid, for if i bear the cold any longer i may not live to see the morning.”

the word “no” wanted to slip past your lips—he was a stranger for god’s sake. and yet the image of his frail body amidst pure snow and misty frost tugged at the strings that surrounded your heart. call it pity, or goodwill, you knew you couldn’t turn him away. some part of you felt like you’d gazed into those same ichor-swirly eyes before. where this sudden familiarity had come from, you weren’t entirely sure. perhaps the fuzzy, soft snow that fell from the sky or the frosty chills that swept by from time to time were playing games with your mind. your simple life was but a glass pane and he’d come tumbling, crashing through the surface.

on that wintery night, you chose to cede your simple life when you took him by the arm and laid him to rest on your tattered futon.

𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫

zhongli was his name. he told you over a bowl of steaming hot rice and vegetable stew.

you hadn’t slept a wink all night since you let him step forth into your humble abode, holding the shiny blade of a small sickle close to your hammering chest in case you had let in a monster by mistake. unless monsters prepared breakfast for their prey, you had the idea to put the sickle away once you smelled the delicious aroma from the kitchen.

“mister zhongli-”

“just zhongli is fine, please save your formalities when it is i who imposes on you.” over your dilapidated wooden table, he slid a chipped ceramic bowl of rice towards you, billowing smoke still rising from the fresh food.

“alright then...zhongli, do you have somewhere to return to? i may not have much to offer in terms of goods but at the very least i’d like to escort you back to your home lest you fall ill on the way back.” you pried between bites of fluffy rice and tasty vegetables.

he shook his head no, setting his chopsticks down on the drab, fern colored rim of his empty bowl. “i’ve no place to return to, nor anywhere to call home. i am a simple wanderer.”

suspicious, you cocked up an eyebrow and sized up his garb again. “for someone dressed so finely, you certainly don’t look like a wanderer.”

layered in honey and doused with sugar, the mellifluous laugh that slipped past his lips briskly strolled through the channels of your ears and drank in the sound like sweet nectar. “it appears so, but do take my word for it. i am not trying to deceive you.” he sprinkled an amused smile on top of his reassurance.

“i-” you both opened your mouths to speak at the same time, and clamped your lips shut once the notes of your voices overlapped each other.

zhongli smiled to himself. he shuffled to the side of the table, placed his large palms on either side of his silk covered thighs, and dipped his head down towards you. “thank you, for taking me into your lovely house. i am forever in your debt,” you tried to silence his gratitude but he simply carried onwards playing deaf to your denying words, “i humbly request to be kept within your company as i have nowhere else to go. if you would be so kind as to employ me, i promise i shall make myself useful.”

you were...hesitant, on accepting such a proposal. being nothing but a mere peasant farmer, it baffled you entirely why someone who looked as refined and elegant as zhongli did would want to take up residence in your simple home where the rainwater sometimes got in and spiders found solace in the cracks and crevices you left unchecked. though suspicious, you felt a slight tinge of pain lacerate your heart upon further inspection of the man before you. a gentle smile painted itself on his features but within the deep pools of his golden eyes swirled bouts of loneliness and incomprehensible emotions that were not yours to decipher. it was almost as if he saw something within you that was blind to your eyes alone.

“i have not much to offer but a roof over your head, food on the table, sometimes, a futon to sleep in at night and...my simple company,” with a wry smile, you gently slid your fingers under his chin and lifted his head from his bowing position, “but if you so desire, it is yours if you wish to have it.”

a sugar laced smile found its way onto his face and he simply nodded in response. “that is all i ask for.”

𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠

spring had come shortly after his arrival, and with spring came time for the new planting season. you’d made an informal contract with zhongli: in exchange for residence in your house, zhongli would assist you in your agricultural endeavors.

zhongli clearly was no farmer. you’d known it since the day you first ran your fingers over the soft, fleshy skin of his pale palms that have not known a hard day’s work in their life, while yours were calloused and carved of hours of diligence and perseverance.

“i prefer more...scholarly means of work.” he explained with a handful of weeds clutched in one fist, the other holding the leafy protrusions of bright orange carrots.

you found that he was a quick learner, grasping the basics even after a single demonstration. despite the soft, pillowy texture of his palms, zhongli was able to wield any tool given to him with accurate precision and delicacy.

unfortunately for him, his attire was far from practical, despite being one of the most beautiful pieces of cloth you’d ever laid eyes upon. “it’d be a shame if something so lovely were to be ruined by dirt,” you mused while running the tips of your fingers against the brown, watery silk of his kimono, “you’re welcome to use my spare clothes.”

zhongli simply shook his head and rose from the wooden porch overlooking your quaint garden, “i shall return within the hour with a solution.” was all he said with a kind smile before languidly walking off down the dirt path. true to his word, he returned an hour later with a neatly folded kimono in one hand, and a simple, snow white lily in the other. the kimono he displayed to you was much more simpler than the one he currently donned despite boasting a similar brown color palette, but would be much more practical for kneeling in dirt than his current clothes were.

“where did you get this?” a cunning thing he was, he merely smiled and dodged the question by tucking the lily behind your ear.

“do not let that concern you,” was his reply before stepping inside, though you noticed his leather sandals were missing from his now bare and scratched feet, one of which boasted a nasty, healed over wound in the shape of a jagged star.

your hands came up to touch the soft petals of the lily and you smiled to yourself in response. the lily found a home for itself sitting in a small vase by your windowsill, only for it to wither away a week later.

despite his aptitude for basic farm work, zhongli still found himself stumbling about, not unlike a small child taking their first steps. you found it quite adorable: the way he’d often come hurrying to you with a boat full of questions swaying adrift at sea waiting for you to anchor him with grounded answers.

“you’re quite a fast learner.” you smiled over your worn down table, basking in the last rays of sunlight before the moon was to make its appearance.

“i believe i am, but you have been very patient with me and for that i must thank you.” he dabbed the edges of his lips with a tattered cloth and reached over to your side of the table for your empty dishes, but your nimble hands latched onto his before he could retract them. a frown fell upon your face as your fingers traced the fresh cuts and bruises that littered his fleshy palms and the tips of his rosied fingers from a hard day’s work in your field.

“you’re hurt.” you mumbled, looking up at him with eyes full of worry.

“it’s quite alright, they are a mark of my work here.”

“it’s not fine at all, come here.” you tutted and took the dishes away from his marred hands. with feathery touches and gentle tugs, you brought his hands onto your cloth covered lap and softly pressed a damp rag into the cracks and crevices of his skin. he hissed as the sudden sharp sting of cool water against his searing wounds, but bit the end of his tongue to silence his grimaces.

“you truly are kind.” you rose your head in the middle of wrapping the middle of his palm to be greeted by the warmest expression zhongli had ever given you, a look that flipped your insides one hundred and eighty degrees.

“it’s nothing, really.” you hurriedly said in one breath, averting your eyes from his searing gaze and finding a place staring at the contusions that danced on his fair skin.

the fabric pads of his bandaged fingers came under your chin and tilted your head upwards to meet his eyes. “you mustn’t bow your head, how would one be able to see your lovely eyes?”

it was almost as if his words were a thick reservoir of honey and all you had to do was stick your tongue out and you’d be able to taste sweet sugar on your tongue. he kept his fingers on your chin which gave you the opportunity to stare into his pools of gold. that same nagging feeling of familiarity tugged at your sides and slithered their way up to your mind. what lay within those precious eyes was something you’d seen before, though in the end you chalked it up to the tiredness of your mind and resumed cleaning and bandaging his wounds, only this time you were ever so slightly more gentle and your touch lingered on his hands for just a moment longer than necessary.

near the end of spring when the flowers of your fruit had begun to wilt and give way for the buds of sweet peaches and apples, you invited him to sit on your porch and drink tea with you—an invitation he instantaneously accepted. you’d come to know of his love for tea and sweet smelling herbs, though you insisted that this time, you’d be the one to serve him and left him sitting alone on the porch, gazing into the honeyed sun that slowly dipped below the inky horizon.

when you returned, balancing a tray holding two steaming cups of green tea, you were greeted with the low hum of the most beautiful voice you’d ever heard in your entire life. with a nectarous smile embedded on his handsome face, zhongli hummed a gentle, saccharine tune to the chubby, brown bird that sat firmly on his index finger. completely enamoured, you couldn’t stop the smile that crept onto your face as you listened to him sing a few lyrics of his ballad. several other small birds of varying colors, shapes, and sizes had gathered at his feet and looked up with bright, round eyes as he continued his sweet, mellifluous song.

“what a beautiful voice,” you murmured, stooping down next to him with sparkling eyes. his auric pupils augmented but dissolved into a kind smile.

“i am glad you like it.”

you found it easier to be around him in a friendlier setting after a while. he’d taken kindly to you from the very beginning, but of course you had your apprehensions in letting a stranger into your home. regardless, he’d proven himself worthy of your companionship and trust through his not only never ending dedication to your practice but the euphony of his baritone voice as you listened to him speak of flowers and honeybees. a kind friend, someone who brought surprising comfort in the wake of your loneliness in the fitting arrival of spring—of new beginnings.

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫

when exactly you tripped over your heels and stumbled into love, you weren’t exactly sure, perhaps it was when the branches of your fruit trees began to sag with the lumbering weight of its budding fruits. but you knew for certain what exactly it was that let your eyes linger a tad longer than what would be considered platonic, or what let the tips of your fingers brush against his more and more while taking his bowl after dinner. like the coming summer, your love had blossomed from a delicate flower into a bulbous, sweet fruit that held within it a universe of possibilities. a single look from him had you flustered and babbling incomprehensibly much like a child.

recently, he’d been teaching you to write starting off with your name. sitting against his back, his large palms would gently wrap around your fingers and help you guide the brush over the parchment paper. “your name in ink rivals that of the most beautiful of paintings,” he murmured into your ear, far too close for the comfort of just friends. perhaps it was then that your heart began to stutter and the butterflies in your stomach rose in an uproar.

with the voice you’d fallen in love with, zhongli would read passage after passage of tales of star crossed lovers or adventures in desolate lands. he’d return with novels of all kinds, brushes, ink, and parchment from the nearby town. when you asked where he procured the money to buy such goods, he simply smiled, placed a fuchsia azalea behind your ear, and told you not to look in his closet. you had gotten curious and checked, only to find that the beautiful kimono and lovely hairpiece he’d first shown up in were now gone, replaced by stacks of paper, quills, bottles of ink, and novels.

“wait-!” you exclaimed, sitting in front of him as he showed you the various types of books he’d procured on his trip to the town today.

“yes?” patient as ever, he watched you eagerly skim the painted covers of the novels on your dilapidated table.

your nimble fingers picked up a muted gold book depicting an ochre dragon, “could we read this one tonight?”

the low rumble of his laugh sent ripples of yearning through your heart. “of course, my lily.” he had first started calling you that when you brought him a freshly picked bouquet of lilies from a nearby orchard some ways away and tucked one behind his ear much like he once did to you. and you couldn’t deny that such an affectionate name made your heart thump ferociously against your chest.

you eagerly extended the novel to him with pleading, wide, round eyes, begging for him to let the tale unfold using his beautiful voice. “come,” he patted the floor in front of him, where you excitedly scooted with your back to his chest as his hands came around your body and held the book in front of you, “you’ve chosen well, this is one of my favorites.” he hummed beside your ear, his breath tickling the edge of your face.

“oh?” you breathed, voice barely above a whisper as you craned your head to look up at his eyes. zhongli breathily laughed and smoothed your head down.

“you seem to be quite fond of dragons.” he mused, flipping the book open to the first page.

“i am...they’re quite,” you paused to run your fingers over the charcoal drawing of the detailed dragon nestled within the first page of the novel,

“beautiful.”

if he hadn’t been listening intently, zhongli would have missed the wistful tint of your voice.

you loved how regal he looked among your humble fruit plants and quaint garden, almost as if he were a prince that jumped straight out of one of the many romance novels he’d read to you. the love within your heart began to burst and eventually found its way onto one of the many parchment papers he’d given to you. you’d try to write confession after confession of love in your jagged handwriting only to be short with yourself and burn the parchment that held your misspelled “love”s and “you”s, until one day: you finally managed to get it right.

illuminated by only the full moon and a haze of fireflies, zhongli’s heart nearly leapt into his throat when he returned from the village one day, a stack of books in his hand like usual, he found your hunched figure illuminated by a small lantern, sitting on your porch. in your hands, you desperately clutched one of the parchment papers he’d taught you to write on.

“have you written something for me?” he asked while placing an azalea behind your ear like he usually did whenever he returned—you weren’t sure when he had gone from placing lilies to azaleas in your hair, but regardless of the flower, whether it be a rose or a weed, the gesture never failed to fluster you to no end.

you nodded feebly, trying to hide your embarrassed reaction behind the drooping sleeve of your dusty, pale red kimono.

“may i see what you’ve written?” he bent down, peering into your flustered face with a curious smile.

with shaking hands, you trepidatiously handed him the rolled up parchment paper and watched him unfurl the ragged script while your heart threatened to escape its fleshy cavern and leap out of your chest.

zhongli’s fingers traced the wobbly scrawl you’d so carefully taken the time to write. a simple sentence, three words, eight letters, and yet he felt as though the world as a novel had been gifted to him. it was obvious that you weren’t well versed in the art of calligraphy of any kind: the y was backwards and “love” was missing an e. but zhongli didn’t care, such pleasantries weren’t ones he cared for when the sheer volume of emotion and meaning held in your writing and your dedication to write this for him far exceeded any kind of grammatical issues he could have with your message. the warmth within his chest bloomed itself into existence as a warm smile that stretched across his face.

“my lily,” voice as downy as the soft feathers of a crane, he extended his hand in front of you, “please, let me see your lovely face.”

you could hardly look him in the eye as you hesitantly placed your clammy palm in his own, rising to your feet. regret brewed in the pits of your stomach—how foolish you were to think someone so lovely could ever see you in such a romantic manner. as if reading your thoughts, zhongli placed the paper on your porch and moved his hands up towards your supple cheeks. you melted into his touch, which held your face as if you were crafted of fine porcelain or thin, watery glass.

“do you truly mean it?” lighter than air, his wispy voice danced around the closing distance between your faces. you nodded, finally meeting his eyes which held emotions you’d only ever seen when he thought you weren’t looking: bright gilded circles of molten honey, so glossed that you could see your own reflection in them.

“such beautiful handwriting, and the writer has equally beautiful hands.” zhongli raised your calloused fingers to his lips, speaking into the hands that had so lovingly taken him in, tended to his wounds, and wrote him a sentence that would satiate him for decades to come.

“s-stop teasing me…” you mumbled into his clothed shoulder, the hand you’d placed on his chest for stability desperately gripped onto the front of his attire as if he’d disappear if you were to let your grip slack for even a moment. you felt the deep bass of his laugh from within your backflipping stomach with your ear pressed so tightly against his chest.

“what is your reply…?” you ask into the cotton of his kimono, too afraid to look him in the eye.

zhongli gave you an answer with his warm hand on your cheek, nimble arm around your waist, and his soft, fluttering lips upon yours.

“should there ever come a day where you can no longer lift a quill to write words of your love, i will still love you.”

and he kissed you again while the rose pink peaches that hung from your trees sagged to the ground and tapped the earth.

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐦𝐧

zhongli was a kind man, and an even kinder lover. to him, no greater honor could be that of being yours in his eyes. he made you feel like the smooth tips of a rose at its prime, just before it would bloom. he made sure to spare no words in reciting poetic lines that lauded your beauty and wits; no man had ever made your heart soar like he did.

against a backdrop of cardinal leaves, and amber sunsets, zhongli spent each day treasuring you who had so kindly allowed him residence within both your home and your heart. what he loved most was to hold you close in his lap against his pounding heart and listen to your silky voice speak of the upcoming harvest or the pretty birds you’d seen on your way to the market that day, while perched cross legged on your wooden porch overlooking the vast sky and verdant forests.

“such a beautiful voice you have.” he whispered against your temple. shyly, you turned inwards into the large of his sleeve to hide your flustered expression.

“if one day, my voice is no longer beautiful, and i can no longer speak, would you still love me?” your voice was quiet; it belied the vigorous hammer of your heart beneath its thin cage of skin.

“of course,” his reply came swiftly, allaying any sort of doubt you may have, “my love for you is as eternal as the sun.”

and he truly meant it.

“my love,” came his voice one night while you began the preparations to harvest your goods, “i wish to take you someplace tomorrow morning, if that’s alright.”

you agreed, and the next morning you found yourself surrounded by the most marvelous sight you’d ever seen. in a small clearing, maple trees that bore leaves the color of dawn loomed high above and blessed your body with the gentle shake of autumn wind. the tawny sun peeped out from just below the horizon, and illuminated the maple leaves that descended from high above and found purchase on the top of your head.

“what do you think? i happened across this clearing on my way home the other day.” zhongli’s fingers grasped the twiny end of the crimson maple leaf that sat on top of your head and spun it between his forefinger and thumb.

“it’s magnificent…” you trailed off, the hand that held onto his squeezed to silently thank him. “can we come back next year too?” beaming up at him, he could never say no to your lovely voice.

he would be sure to bring you back the following year.

when the nights began to elongate, seeking darkness in favor of dampened sunlight, he’d pull you flush against his heated chest in a single futon to stay warm over the cooling nights. darkness spread as far as the eye could see and yet your face was clear as day to him.

“your heart has not ceased its thunderous beatings since i first kissed you on that summer’s day.” zhongli murmured against your lips ironically, placing fluttering kisses on your droopy eyelids.

“how could it ever be still again?” you smiled into his palm that lay on your searing cheek. his eyes seemed to glow within the decrepit darkness of your less than modest, wooden home. you moved your hands up from his chest to his tender face, and stroked the ends of his eyes with your hardened thumbs..

zhongli’s seemingly never ending pool of golden irises drew you in closer and closer to that hidden suspicion locked away behind the walls of your foggy memory. so familiar, and yet you were sure you would have remembered a man like zhongli if you had met him before.

so you brushed the feeling off and let the nipping autumn air carry it off into oblivion.

you both fell asleep to the steady beat of each other’s throbbing hearts that leaked with love that night

one thundering night, a storm swept through and rattled the old wooden shelves in your battered home. the lightning struck fear through your veins and you found yourself seeking out his warmth like a holy beacon.

“come, my lily,” he cooed, gently ushering your trembling figure closer to his body on the frayed futon, “do not be frightened, the storm cannot hurt you if i am here.”

“could you sing for me?” you gently pleaded over the thundering crack of lightning that had you buried into the chest of his nightwear.

zhongli replied with a gentle laugh, “of course, my love.”

you laid your head down on his lap, while he sat upright and stroked the top of your head with his large, fiery baked palm, humming the same soothing tune you once heard when the budding flowers had yet to bloom and he was but a mere stranger who sang to birds and placed lilies behind your ear instead of azaleas. zhongli’s gentle hums warbled over the hammering rain and coarse winds that raged on outside the comfort of the aura he’d so sweetly wrapped you in.

“should the day ever come,” his lovely voice halted, as did the comforting motions of his hand, “that my voice ceases to sing your songs, would you still love me?” the question that left his lips was one that brewed deep within his chest and had never aired its grievances.

“such a silly thing to ask,” you peered up at him through the bristles of your lashes and raised your hand to hold his cheek, “of course i would.”

so zhongli hummed. he hummed while he dressed, bathed, cooked, cleaned, and held you close like you contained the world in your hands. he hummed while he picked the peaches you couldn’t reach on your own feet, and tilled the lands that put too many strains on your back.

and he was humming on the chilly autumn day your wicker basket of fruits fell from your hands onto the frost covered ground of the impending winter.

the harvest had been scarce, but you remained optimistic even as you took longer to get out of bed, more sluggish to tug your dilapidated kimono over your shoulders, and found it harder to stomach the lovely breakfast zhongli had given you in accompaniment of his hums.

you thought you were fine, you were fine. then why was your wicker basket full of pale pink peaches, ripe and juicy for consumption, now covered in your crimson blood? one moment you had been carefully plucking away at the peaches that hung overhead, the next you were crumpled on the floor as blood spewed from deep within your body and out through your mouth.

“(y/n)!” he cried, with no thought left for pet names. the thick blood seeping past your hand that covered your mouth did not have the patience for him to address you as his lily, or his love. his feet carried him quicker than the hanging drop of red on your hand could plummet to the frosted grass below.

“i-i’m alrigh-” you tried to dismiss his worries only to be interrupted by another fit of sickly coughs, each heave tethered to fat droplets of pudgy blood.

his legs moved faster than ever before, with your sickly body hastily wrapped in the outer layer of his kimono. your blood coated the front of his clothes but all he could see was the red that stained your hands and face, all he could feel were your quivering and strangled gasps for air, all he could see was the world in his arms on the verge of death.

the village doctor took a single, fleeting glance and concluded that you could be saved, with medicine from abroad that would cost a small fortune. you had little to your name but a loving partner and your small business as a farmer.

“w-we can’t afford the medicine…” you weakly mumbled as zhongli carried you back to the house, his grip never slackening, not one bit.

the sharp edge of his jaw clenched when the true implications of your words sharply impaled his painfully throbbing heart. much to your surprise, he gently smiled down at you like always. he stooped down to pluck a withering, pale pink azalea from the ground and placed it behind your ear like he always did.

he would not let your life fall like the crimson leaves that surrounded your spilled blood.

even if it cost him everything.

𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫

the twinkles of shimmering snow from beyond the wooden door could never outshine your beauty, zhongli thought.

your frail, sickly body had taken to bed with no strength left to even raise your hand or kiss him good morning. and yet in sickness you were so beautiful to him, so ethereal that it ached his heart to even leave your side for just a few minutes. to his dismay, he was to cede his place by your bedside in order to acquire the medicine that could save your life.

the loom was now his mistress, and he lay reluctantly beside her working from the moment the sun peeped out from under a blanket of darkness, til the wee hours of the night when the moon towered above high in the sky. from dawn till dusk and dusk till dawn his once fleshy palms and rosied fingers now burned and ached from their ministrations against the thick, polished wood of the loom.

though from his injuries, he produced the finest robes you’d ever laid eyes upon. each were the same shimmering, golden color. the necklines and cuffs were lined with what looked like iridescent crystals in the shape of scales the size of your thumb. when you asked him with your sore voice where he procured the fabric and materials to make such beautiful clothes, he merely kissed your forehead and returned to the loom.

you never failed to notice how haggard he looked every time he returned with another completed golden robe decorated in shimmering ochre crystals.

the days where he’d leave your bedside to sell his goods were the days his heart ached the most.

“zhongli,” you croaked one morning, stretching your sickly hand out from under the futon to your beloved.

he looked up from the wicker basket of clothes and melted under your beckoning glance.

“yes, my lily?” he smiled and grasped your outstretched hand within his own. your palm felt so, so cold against his. colder than the snow that dripped down from outside, colder than the frozen ice from the nearby pond. it was far too cold.

“when you return, could you read that book to me again? the one about the dragon?” you quietly requested into the blazing skin of his palm.

“consider it done,” lighter than air, he leaned down and pressed his lips against the shiny sheen of sweat that covered your sickly forehead. “i shall read to you anything you desire.”

he returned that day with an empty wicker basket and a heavy heart. the money procured was hardly enough to acquire the medicine, and he could feel time’s creeping gaze menacingly inching up on him with every step he took towards the house.

zhongli searched among the frosted ground for any sign of a pink azalea, but to no avail—you wouldn’t receive your gift like normal.

despite this, you were content. beaming as bright as you could even with the ice that clogged your lungs and the blood red mucus that coated your insides, you smiled.

“i met a dragon once,” you mumbled into the soft fabric of his sleeve while he read your favorite passage to you, “it was so beautiful, it had lovely golden hair, and pretty brown scales.” delicate as a snowflake, your smile creased the sickly color of your face.

“you must take me to see it one day.” he hummed into your temple.

zhongli read the book you loved about dragons to your tired ears that night, and you dreamt of ichor eyes and burgundy scales that felt like jagged rocks under your soft palms.

zhongli however, did not dream. nor did he sleep. for his mistress, the loom, beckoned him closer.

because time was running out.

so with his bloodied hands, he sewed and sewed and sewed. through the night he strung beads of crystal scales onto hems and spun silk into golden robes. in the early hours of the morning, he scurried off to the lavish houses of lords and ladies and begged them, just for a moment to give his wares even a sparing glance.

“i beg of you, my beloved’s life is in danger.” on his hands and knees, he bowed with all the dignity he had left, but to no avail.

his clothes were sold, but the money wasn’t enough.

and he was running out of time.

your smile never faded even as your skin paled and the tips of your once healthy, lush fingers turned ice blue and shrivelled up.

“what’s this?” mangled by coagulated blood, your voice came out hoarse and ragged. through your bleary eyes, you tried to inspect the cup of amber liquid that zhongli held in front of you, but your eyes could only make out the fuzzy lines of his ichor eyes.

“it’s herbal tea darling, it’ll ease your throat.” in his honeyed voice, zhongli used his broad arms to prop you upwards and held the cup to your dry, chapped lips. you swallowed gratefully and instinctively placed your hand over his own, only to be met with damp bandages instead of his smooth hand.

“such beautiful hands,” you mused once the cup had been drawn from your lips. within both your hands you held his bloodied fingers, a result of days upon days upon days of work at the loom. zhongli’s heart battered against his ribcage, his insides felt like they were being split open by a hacksaw as you gently traced over his wounds with your ice cold fingers.

“if one day, my beautiful hands are no more, would you still love me?” his words were chokingly strung together by the gentle trickle of bitter tears that rolled down his cheeks.

a horrid cough caught the words you wanted to reply with, but you persisted, “without question, i would love you eternally.” you breathed shakily and held one of his wounded hands within both of yours over your faintly beating heart.

“don’t cry,” the cold of your palm reached up to swipe away the rivers that cascaded down his face, “i’ll be alright.”

and he held out hope. day after day after day the loom called, beckoned, screamed at him. never stop, can’t stop, won’t stop, it’s impossible for him to stop weaving and sewing and making more robes to sell for more money when you’re over in the next room coughing up sickly black blood and pleading with him to hold you close during frigid, wintery nights because your body was so, so cold.

zhongli could only take watching the life slowly seep out of your body for so long.

𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠

by now, the hinges of his finger joints were strung together only by dried, crusted blood, and the glistening sweat of dedication and hard work.

haggard and dilapidated like the house you loved, zhongli hurried about day after day, working at the loom, holding you up and cleaning the dried blood from around the perch of your frayed lips.

he could feel it now—he was beginning to fade away as he gave more and more and more of himself to a world that tried so desperately to take you away from his peony lined embrace. as the days grew longer, your breaths grew shorter. the garments he gave parts of himself to make could never afford the medicine to save your life.

“my darling,” came your scratchy voice as he left your side like he did every morning to return to the loom, “please don’t go, stop hurting yourself. just stay by my side until it’s time.”

he wanted to say no. he wanted to say he could do this. but he could never say no to you, so he sat by your side, fingers no longer fleshy and soft with rosied tips, but now calloused, bloodied, and bruised from days upon days upon days of toiling away at the loom.

through the hissing pain of his injuries, zhongli felt the almost silent hum of your heart when he scooted under the covers and placed his ear against your clothed chest. quieter than the gentle shake of azaleas in spring, softer than the gentle pitter of rain from above, your heart padded along. the sun had risen high up in the sky and plummeted downwards before either of you spoke a word.

“you will be alright.” though he spoke with conviction, the water that pooled at his eyes could never lie. spring blooms smelled sweet in the air but all he could inhale was the thick, iron scent of your blood and the taste of death upon his tongue.

and time began to slither up the small of his back and wrap itself around his neck. his arms squeezed around your waist, holding you tighter against his chest as if to shelter you from the rain that pittered on outside.

“may i tell you a story, my love?” you suddenly asked. zhongli raised a questioning eyebrow, which then melted into a honeyed smile.

“of course, darling.” he murmured against your forehead.

“a year ago when snow was still in abundance, i had gone up the mountain to find a special herb.” your hands came down to his spine and rubbed up and down in steady motions. “on my way back down, i came across a most marvelous sight.”

the winds had been less than kind to your frigid body. if you weren’t careful, one trip over a measly pebble could send you flying down the steep hill of the mountain. just as you were about to go seek shelter, a shrill wail stopped you dead in your tracks. it sounded of a cornered animal, one who was desperately trying to crawl past the doorframe of death’s door. it wailed again, this time louder and more hoarse. had it been a mere bird, or the sound of a cow, you would have passed it off as nothing.

but this wail seemed to come from the bellowing stomach of a mighty beast. loud and thunderous, it wailed ironically like a timid, gentle bird, and had you running towards the sound with the swirls of curiosity swimming around your head.

the wails grew louder as you approached a musty, damp cave dripping with melted snow and rounded icicles.

“hello?” you called out, carefully stepping inwards past sullied, pure, white snow and discarded piles of...books?

you stooped down to the neat stack of books and moved to pick one up when deep within the darkness of the cave, another howling wail echoed around the rocky walls. something large skittered around the back corner of the cave, sinking further into the dead end as you came closer with feather light steps.

“it’s okay,” you cooed with a voice of silk, “i won’t hurt you.”

whatever had been moving around the misty ground had frozen in place. you reached into the small bag you carried and pulled out a lantern and match. when the lantern had been lit, you could hardly believe your eyes.

in front of you was a majestic creature: a dragon the color of rich chocolate with crevices that glowed a muted gold and pulsed every second as if to match its heartbeat. in complete awe, you held the lantern up to get a better look at its face. the first thing you noticed were its sharp, wide, ichor eyes that seemed to glow with fever. if you examined further, drops and speckles of silver and black were embedded within its irises, but you were given no such chance as the creature shied away from your curious gaze.

“don’t be afraid.” you murmured, stretching your hand out towards it. to your surprise, it gently bumped the palm of your hand with its head, allowing you to run your fingers through the bumpy ridges and mountains of its chocolatey, sparkling scales that seemed to be bathed in stars, and its silky mane that seemed to be composed of strings of pure gold.

“so beautiful…” you mumbled as you ran your hand along its rigid scales. the lantern in your hand cast its glow onto one of the dragon’s feet, and there you saw it: a gruesome wooden spear that had most likely belonged to a hunter’s trap for game now protruded upwards through the soft, yellowy skin of the lumbering creature. your heart twisted in sympathy for the gentle beast; it was nothing more than a frightened, injured animal.

“was this why you were screaming?” your hand gently hovered above the wooden pike.

the dragon gave no reply, but from the fear that brewed behind its golden irises, you needed no response.

“this will take just a moment.” you hushed the muffled wails hidden behind its sharp teeth as your hands wrapped around the pike.

in one swift movement, the wooden pike broke free from its fleshy foot and sent you tumbling backwards with its weight. the dragon let out a horrible shriek marred in anguish and blinding hot pain; it collapsed to the floor in haggard breaths. scrambling to your feet, you produced a roll of bandages and alcohol from your bag and as gently as you could, patched the dragon’s wound.

the dragon’s cries had ceased, only left with the numbing after-pain of its injury.

“there you are, all better now.” you ran your fingers over your handiwork and sat back, pleased to see that the dragon had stopped trembling and now looked at you with wide, watery eyes. it seemed to like when you ran your palms over its head and through its luscious, golden locks.

“do you get lonely up here by yourself?” you weren’t expecting an answer, nor did you really receive one. but its eyes seemed to entertain your question in great detail. you held its large protruding snout up with both of your hands to peer directly into its golden pools of honey. “if you get lonely, you’re welcome to come with me,” your giggles had you pause midway through your offer, “though there wouldn’t be lots of room.”

“all i can offer you is my simple company.” you hummed.

you bid farewell to the dragon, whose claw had been neatly bandaged and bloody pike cast aside. it remained quiet, and watched with cautious eyes as you turned around one more time and waved.

“then, a week later,” you paused to look up at zhongli and cup his face between your hands, “you showed up at my door.” zhongli’s heart battered mercilessly against its bony confines. he dug his face into the crook of your neck and sighed.

“that dragon, it was you wasn’t it zhongli?”

he didn’t reply, but you found your answers in the mist that glossed over his ichor eyes, those same ichor eyes that had cried out for help so long ago.

“should-” choked, he felt the strangled pull of death wrap around his throat and his words coagulate in his esophagus, “should the day ever come...where i am no longer human,” as if a timid daisy yearning to be plucked, zhongli’s hesitant eyes met your glossy irises,

“would you still be able to love me?”

for such an absurd question, zhongli could only lie in shock as your palms came up and wiped away the tears that cascaded down his face.

“but of course!” came your reply bathed in sunlight and that sugary laugh he loved so much. “i could never forget the day i met such a beautiful dragon, and even now,” your trembling hands came to tuck tufts of his locks behind his red ears, “i still love him with all my heart.”

the scales he’d lost to line the hems of the robes crafted of his golden locks ached beneath the cover of his human, fleshy skin. his heart stewed in so much grief and fear that he hadn’t registered the feeling of his shaking shoulders or heard the vibrations of his muffled sobs until your frail arms squeezed him closer to your failing body with what little strength you had left. his vice grip felt as though he were clinging onto the last remnants of your life, begging and pleading for you to stay.

“i have always loved you,” dislodged from his throat were the aching cries and thorny flowers he’d so deeply hidden from you, “i would shear myself of all my scales, and all my hair if it meant you’d live.”

like the silent winds that rustled the tiny buds of the wildflowers outside, your voice came quiet and creeping, “we both know that can never be, but even so,” you gently connected your dry, chapped lips with his trembling ones, “beast, or man, i love you all the same.” you whispered against his desperate sobs.

“beast or man, you’d love him all the same”, and with those thoughts he crumpled in your arms and let loose the wiry strands of sadness that clogged his lungs.

“i want to return to that clearing with you and chase maple leaves again.”

“i want to sing more to you.”

“i want to marry you.”

like a prayer, he repeated the words “i love you” into your ear with shaking breaths and held you flush against his heaving body. he sought the blessing of any god or deity that may have been watching, pleaded with the silent air and begged for you not to be taken from his grasp, pleaded with the sky to allow him your company and your love and for him to shower you in honey lined hugs and sugar filled kisses that left him trembling hours later.

the last petals of the azalea you loved so much, fell to the rain-soaked ground that night as your lungs heaved a final breath against his lips. the last rays of his pulsating heart died with your light.

date published: july 8th, 2021

#gender neutral reader #zhongli #zhongli x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact zhongli #zhongli genshin impact #zhongli angst #genshin impact angst #zhongli x you #zhongli x gender neutral reader #genshin x reader #works—☆#tw: MCD #tw: blood #tw: illness

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kirishimaswife2819 · 4 years ago

Note

Hey hey ✨ Can I request something like Bakugou, Kirishima and Izuku with a gf (a bit taller than them) who is modelling while being a student in UA? Sorry for my weird English I am still learning 👀

Them With a Fem!S/o That’s Modeling While At U.A. || Midoriya, Bakugou, and Kirishima (Headcanons)

Masterlist 1 || Masterlist 2

↠Author’s Note: I don’t know much about modeling but I tried my best. Side note: I started majority of these headcanons with the word “he” and now I’m having flashbacks to my 2nd grade teacher telling me to not start 3 sentences in a row, with the same word. I can’t remember what I walked into the kitchen for, but I can remember that. Anyways, thanks for requesting! I hope this is fine. -Danielle <3

↠Characters: Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugou, Eijiro Kirishima x Fem!Reader

↠Summary: Izuku, Katsuki, and Eijiro with a s/o that’s modeling while attending U.A.

↠Genre: Fluff

↠Word Count: 650

↠Warnings: None

↠Notes: None

Izuku Midoriya:

He’s so proud of you, and he shows it too

He has a whole book full of all of your photos from your photo shoots and if anybody asks what you look like, he insists on showing them the whole entire book

He tries to come to majority of your photo shoots and will even do school work while he’s at one, if it means that he can be there for you

He always, and I mean ALWAYS blushes when he sees new photos of you from your photo shoot, it doesn’t even matter what you’re wearing

You could have every square inch of your body covered and he’d still blush, you’re just so pretty and it makes him flustered

He also always shows people your photos at random times, like they’ll just be sitting there, minding their own business, in the same room as Izuku, and he’ll be like “Wanna see a photo of my girlfriend?”

And they don’t want to be disrespectful or hurt his feelings, so they’re always like “Sure” and boom, they’re busy for the next hour, so they better pray that they don’t have anything planned

Sometimes he does get insecure that you’re taller than him, since typically the boyfriend is taller than his girlfriend, but just reassure him that you love him because of who he is, not because of how tall he is, and he’ll be fine

Katsuki Bakugou:

He doesn’t like to admit it but he low-key loves the fact that you model, it gives him more photos of you to look at

He does have a tendency to criticize the photos at times though, but he’s really just covering up the fact that he loves them so much, so don’t take it personally

He doesn’t come to all of your photo shoots, and if he does plan on coming to one, he doesn’t tell you, he just shows up, but normally everybody there knows him, so they’ll let him in, as long as he agrees to not cause trouble

He doesn’t have all of your photos but he does have a lot, and he will show them to somebody if needed

Whenever another girl tries to flirt with him, he just quickly pulls up a photo of you on his phone and goes, “This is my girlfriend, she’s a model. Now fuck off.”

He hates the fact that you’re taller than him because the Bakusquad teases it for him constantly, making jokes about how he needs a step ladder to kiss you (which isn’t true because it’s only a few inches), to which he commonly replies with, “I’LL BE BEATING YOU WITH THAT STEP LADDER IF YOU DON’T SHUT UP!”

Overall, supportive, just doesn’t like to admit it

Eijiro Kirishima:

Kirishima is your number one fan, he’s like that crazy fan that’s obsessed with you, except you actually know who he is

This man runs multiple fan pages for you on various social media, and he’ll always repost photos from photo shoots and compliment you in the caption

He does a good job at hiding that he does it, too, you didn’t realize it was him, until a solid three months into the relationship when he reposted one of your photos with the caption, “She’s so manly!”

One hundred percent has all of your photos and he remembers the dates when they were taken too

Sometimes you’ll walk into his room and he’s just staring at your photos, and you’re just standing there wondering what the fuck he’s doing and why he hasn’t moved for the past twenty minutes

Comes to all of your photo shoots. every. single. one.

What was that? He has homework due tomorrow? Too bad, he has a photo shoot of yours to go to, he’ll just have to deal with getting a zero on it

As for you being taller than him, he really doesn’t care, he actually thinks it’s pretty cool and claims that it’s manly

He’s literally perfect, I don’t get how anybody wouldn’t want Kirishima as their boyfriend

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nct-lian · 4 years ago

Text

relationships outside of sm

JENNIE + LIAN: JENLI

so iconic omg like how they do it, i have no idea

they hang out all the time and lian is literally ALWAYS on jennie’s instagram

the two of them once had an instagram story conversation over pigtails

like,, jennie posted a picture of lian’s pigtails for that one bicycle performance on her story and captioned it “pigtail baby” and then lian reposted it on her own story with a picture of jennie’s pigtails, captioning it “pigtail eomma”

speaking of eomma, jennie is genuinely her mother

jennie takes her shopping all the time

and in return, lian buys her food

the interactions these two used to have at award shows were SO CUTE

everyone remembers when jennie pretty much yelled out lian’s name and she just came running over to the members of blackpink after taeyong let her leave :(

i’m crying just thinking about it help

jennie also posted a full on instagram post for lian on her birthday and had such a sweet caption with it

it was something like “my daughter is finally 21 today! i hope she has an amazing day and i can’t wait to see her later tonight to give her a gift :) haneullie, lots of love from jennie eomma”

SPEAKING OF THE GIFT,, jennie bought her a whole ass $9000 necklace from chanel because she knew that lian was looking for more

IM IN TEARS AND SO ARE YOU ADMIT IT RN

jenli kpop bestest duo

dispatch once thought jennie was on a date with a girl but it turned out to just be her walking lian home after going shopping with her so they never posted anything about it

they were embarrassed they got something wrong so i get it

omfg when news came out that lian and jinwoo broke up mama jennie was threatening to punch the shit out of him

KEVIN + LIAN: LIMOON

what i’ve been waiting to write for so long okay here we go

so mf chaotic like there are compilations made of these two that scream “go crazy go stupid”

their time as guest mc’s for inkigayo was probably some of the best kpop content we’d gotten in a long ass time

KEVIN IS CAUTIOUS WHEN LETTING HER MEET HIS MEMBERS

cause she’s such a good friend to him and wtf why would he wanna share

“mine mine mine mine” constant dory vibes 24/7

lian thrives off of calling him by his korean name because she knows it annoys him

he’s constantly teasing her for having bagged milk in toronto so he deserves it

the one time lian and jacob talked to each other they seemed to be getting along too much for kevin’s liking so he really went:

“okay lian isn’t it time for you to go” because he WAS GETTING JEALOUSJCLSJX

their styles are pretty much complete opposites and everytime they take pictures together kevin never forgets to mention how off it all looks

“tf is that why are your clothes so boring”

“okay sNaKe pAnTs” because of that one eric moment on kpop daebak show where he said kevin had pants with snakes on them

ALSO BTW LIANS CLOTHES ARENT FUCKING BORING SHES JUST FANCY LIKE THAT

i’m getting heated let me calm down.

they normally speak in english to each other but since lian seems to be stuttering over her words when she isn’t speaking korean, he mixes in a few korean phrases every now and then to help her out

kevin is arguably the most hype every single time lian performs, like he really thinks there isn’t anything better

LIAN MAKES SURE TO UPDATE HER INSTAGRAM STORY WHENEVER TBZ HAVE A COMEBACK SO NCTZENS GO SUPPORT THEM

LIA + LIAN: LILIA

more lian x the canadian line WOOHOO

lia spent her trainee days really looking up to lian and she’s even mentioned before that she’d love for itzy to get the chance to collab with her for a song

she really has her fingers crossed for that btw

they actually met during an award show when ryujin, chaeryeong and yuna all had to leave because it was past curfew

lian decided to sit next to them and during all the intermissions between performances she, lia and yeji conversed to pass time

they ended up growing a friendship together but lian has a stronger bond with lia

she loves all the girls either way but yk

lia and lian love going to cafes together and taking adorable pictures :(

like whenever lia posts on itzy’s instagram midzeys don’t exactly know whether or not lian would be on it too :0

like lian normally posts all the scenery pictures she gets to keep her instagram pleasing whereas lia posts the pictures the two of them take together

my heart </3

lian treats lia like a whole daughter because it isn’t often she finds girls that are younger than her

*screams in the fact that majority of sm’s female artists are all from 2015 and under*

like when i say lian SPOILS her i’m not joking

she will randomly call lia up like:

“hey i’m gonna get you out of that dungeon, come get some chicken with me”

and then they’ll just hang out together

but only if lian is out of the dungeon herself because wbk she ain’t treated very well </3

EUNWOO + LIAN: WOOLI

their chemistry is fucking insane holy shit

like their acting for past to present was seriously so praised, netizens found it hard to believe it was all just for the show

dating rumours follow these two everywhere,, like everywhere

it’s one of the most popular ships inside ncity when it comes to lian and other idols

i kid you not one tweet said “chanhyeok treated jihye so well in past to present, i’m only wondering how well eunwoo would treat lian 👀”

LIKE STOP PUTTING IDEAS INTO PEOPLES HEADS YOURE KILING ME HERE ISTG

but yeah they do look really good together

and they’re an amazing pair for acting

when eunwoo started working with inyeop for true beauty, he said:

“hyung’s dating my girlfriend” because of the fact that both of them have acted with lian and BOTH of them dated her in the dramas

what a coincidence though

we all cried when we saw chanhyeok and jihye kiss for the first time DONT LIE

EUNWOO FOLLOWS HER ON INSTAGRAM

and they wished each other happy birthday on their instagram stories

there’s actually people who like to think that they dated while filming for past to present andddd they radiate big delulu vibes

like you know liskook shippers? wooli shipped are kinda the same, but not as intense (thank god)

BUT CAN WE BLAME THEM LIKE THEIR CHEMISTRY? THE WAY THEY TALKED TO EACH OTHER? PLEASE

they took a lot of cute pictures together behind the scenes (ノ﹏ヽ)

MOMO + LIAN: LIMO

DANCER DUO DANCER DUO

this ship isn’t actually as popular as we would like it to be, but nonetheless people love limo

a lot of interactions during award shows !!

like for example momo’s fancams always captured her dancing perfectly to lian’s choreo

and lian smiling in momo’s direction

i love them

when lian found out about heechul and momo’s relationship, she asked momo if she was her mom now because of how much of a father figure she considers heechul to be JDFJK

“i mean sure”

they’ve actually done a vlive together before (ᗒᗨᗕ)

it was when lian visited her at the twice dorms and they ended up getting bored so they decided to do a vlive in the living room

THEY PLAYED DARE OR DARE AND LIAN HAD TO DO THE TEARS CHALLENGE (so chan whee) ON MOMOS KARAOKE MACHINE

her throat was dry for the rest of the night

after seeing momo’s hair for the i can’t stop me era, lian actually wanted to cut it like that

but she decided against it because she loves her long hair too much

the two of them met on hit the stage where they competed against each other in a freestyle dance battle

after that they just started casually talking over the phone and became great friends

with the way momo talks about lian, you’d think they’re dating-

“oh, lian- she’s so pretty! i love her a lot!”

and the same goes for lian, she loves talking about momo’s dancing skills

JACKSON + LIAN: JACKLIAN

her dad :/

adopted her with amber liu like a year ago so now she’s just his daughter

supports each other like crazy not even joking

jackson promotes her on instagram and twitter 24/7

THEY HAVE SO MANY INTERACTIONS THANK GOD

lian was once given a ridiculously short dress while attending an award show and jackson gave her his jacket to wear over her legs because she wasn’t provided a blanket :(

(keep in mind, she went there without the members!)

lian added all his music to her playlist :)

once got drunk together and spent like three hours doing karaoke but it’s okay cause it was fun

speaking of getting drunk, jackson’s the cool dad that lets her do whatever she wants

he has his protective moments where he’s like “ma’am where are you going on that short of a dress” but he’s also like “hey wanna go get chicken and soju”

they both appeared on a radio show together as guests and they ruined the whole broadcast because they were too loud

like they kept getting out of their seats to go wave at all the fans outside the window and they were just fighting back and forth about whether or not lian’s extensions look real

according to jackson, they’re “NOT AUTHENTIC ENOUGH- LOVE YOUR HAIR FOR WHAT IT IS, LIANNA HANEUL BAE.” lian’s hair lives matter :/

PLSSS WHEN HYOSEOP AND LIAN STARTED DATING- no

jackson was so proud that his good friend was smooching his other good friend but the protective dad instincts really kicked in

“break her heart and you die no cap”

was surprisingly chill when they broke up though, he was just glad lian didn’t cry

SUNMI + LIAN: SUNLI

SUNMI IS HER MOM OHMYGOD

so many interactions

honestly took lian under wing once she debuted as a soloist

female kpop soloists gotta have each other’s backs in this industry man :(

sunmi calls lian her princess SOBS

lian always hugs sunmi at award shows, like if they’re sitting close together

or if they’re standing next to each other on stage

you bet your ass lian is gripping onto sunmi for dear life

did a photoshoot together for marie claire korea

they’re so hot bro

BUT THEY FIRST MET ON WEEKLY IDOL NOT LONG AFTER LIAN DEBUTED AS A SOLOIST

they were kinda awkward ngl uh

but by the end of it they were besties :DD

and they’ve been besties ever since

lian is the ceo of doing dance covers for sunmi’s songs

cmon lian we’re waiting for tail 👀

sunmi has actually met lian’s grandma </3

like her and lian were hanging out at the dorms while the boys were out on a schedule and her grandma just randomly showed up with homemade food so that was definitely a win

BANG CHAN + LIAN: LICHAN

they’ve been friends for a LOOONGGG time

and chain’s known her since dating back to like, smrookies era when lian was still a red velvet member

like at that time she had no idea he existed, but he was keeping up with her daily :(

chan plays her music on vlives all the time and he always knows the dance moves

like he just dances along in his chair and mumbles the lyrics

we love to see it

a lot of fans ship them together

SURPRISE SURPRSIE AH

only because chan gives off big pining energy

lian only looks at him like “:D” whereas he looks at her like “♡•♡”

kinda sad but

lian promotes him on live so often HVKSVU

“my friend chan is coming back with his group soon, you should check it out! :)”

and the way she just says “my friend chan” LIKE ITS SO OBVIOUSLY A FRIENDZONE BUT HE THINKS ITS ADORABLE

he once got a comment on a vlive to react to lian moments, obviously complying because who wouldn’t

there was this one clip of her saying “my friend chan from stay kids!” and whoever edited the compilation added in squishy noises right after while zooming in on her face

AND CHAN BLUSHED SO HARD NOO

“oh- hahaha, uhh, she’s so cute aw hahahah”

ASHLEY + LIAN: ASHLI

oh god not another lian x mom ship

ASHLEY LOVES LIAN WOAH

like she’s submitted lian’s resume to bm so many times so they could be part of the big tiddie committee together

ashley is constantly, and i mean constantly, reposting all of lian’s posts on her story with captions like “LOOK AT HER GO”

and lian has even discovered all the cool instagram filters because of ashley, and now we get the quality content from her that WE DESERVEEEEE

back when lian’s album came out, all ashley’s story really was was just screenshots of her streaming all the songs and calling them bops

when they first met in person after texting back in forth, ashley spammed her instagram story with pictures of lian that she took without her looking

these two radiate a lot of “YES GIRL WORKKK ITTT TURN THIS WAY OKAYYY POSE POSE POSE�� energy

lian’s been featured in one of ashley’s youtube videos and it was when they met for the first time :)

they exchange a lot of gifts through the mail

like lian once found a mug when shopping with doyoung and she thought that it would fit ashley’s taste so she sent it to her apartment

and ever since then they just send random little gifts to each other’s houses

it’s so cute

MATCHING BUCKET HATS THEY HAVE MATCHING BUCKET HATS !!!!!!

ashley talks about lian all the time

she always says that for someone so young, she’s accomplished a lot and she’s really proud of her

they wanna do tiktoks with each other but they never have the time </3

lian spam comments on ashley’s instagram like “WOAH” “OKAYYYY” “YESYESYES”

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infinitegalahad · 4 years ago

Text

Borhap Boys As Sugar Daddies

(reposted bc it was disappearing from the tags😭)

hey guys!! I wanna apolgoize for the disappearance, school is ✨madness✨ luv. so I've decided to try something new. But I promise I'm working on requests (and a bunch of new ideas). I love all of the borhap boys (bc they are babies🥺) so this might become a little series of head canons! no major warnings, just lots of fluff and some suggestive material. also reader is gender neutral (boy, girl, whatever you what it my dudes!) why not mix my fav trope and boys all in...one fic😳😳 anyways hope you guys enjoy!! I would love some feedback for future reference

Masterlist (requests are welcomed!)

Rami Malek-

Number one that gif of him...need I say more? 🥰

I’m sick of how ya’ll sleep on Rami!! I’m gonna give him tons of love

He would be one of the most affectionate sugar daddy’s tbh

Certainly would spoil the HECK out of you

Whether it be paying off your bills or lavish trips to Greece, Rami always has your back

You never had to pay a SINGLE PENNY when you were around him

Being with Rami, you were a changed person

Your fashion game went UPPPP

Like chanel perfume, all designer clothes, nice handbags, you NAME IT

”Rami, I’m not buying a five hundred dollar shirt from Theory.” ”What do you mean? It would look so good on you, sweetheart.”

Yes, Rami bought you the shirt

You two were at a vinyl place and you saw a limited edition queen vinyl

He buys it (and basically 10+ vinyls you love)

SO RAMI MAKES A WHOLE ASS ROOM IN HIS HOME FOR YOUR VINYLS🥺🥺

This man is omfg i loveee him❣️

Little sneak kisses to your forehead

Seeing you smile as you shop and blush at his complaints makes him so freaking happy HE LOVES YOU SO MUCH

He would take you shopping at the best stores

“I would be fine at a target, y’know” as you look around a Gucci store

Rami would snake an arm around your waist as he cooed into your ear, “My baby deserves the best, and nothing but the best

What started out as an arrangement turned into a genuine relationship

When looking for a sugarbaby, Rami was simply looking for company (and someone to spoil the heck out of)

In all truth, he was simply a lonely guy who simply wanted someone to make happy, and made himself happy in the process

Wherever you guys would go, he would always wanna hold your hand and be close to you bc he’s scared of loosing someone he’s made a connection with

And i’m totally not crying as I write this

Both of you were in dark places when you first met

Rami showed how much he truly cared about you

If you called him all upset, he would SPEED over with whatever you needed whether it be pizza or emotional support

Sitting on your couch, his arm wrapped around yours as you vented about your problems

Rami had convinced you to drop your job and come live with him because he’s a KING!!

”Angel, you’re not gonna have to worry about anymore.” ”What do you mean?”

You ended up quitting your job and moving in with him

What turned into an arrangement became an intimate relationship

The sex between you to was AMAZING

it was VERY intimate

It started off slow but would get increasingly rougher god I hate what I said

Rami would always check up and you and NEVER go past your limits

It would end with the two of you cuddling in bed

Let’s just say you never had to worry about your bills ever again😎😎

I MADE MYSELF CRY WHYYY

Gwilym Lee-

my love for this man? ENDLESS

Seriosuly gwilym lee HAVE MY CHILDERN

anyways to the pLOT

Gwilym is the sexiest and cutest man alive

The sugar daddy that will bring you EVERYWHERE HE GOES

He’s such a gentlemen

Like all relationships start, it was more of an arrangement then a relationship

Your job was to escort Gwilym at all these events as “company”

Gwilym would send a bunch of nice items and a driver to bring you to the location

”Hope you like this ❤️ xxx” “Treat yourself! 😘xxx”

Like mister I-😳😳

Gwilym is literally such a sweet person

Whenever you were spotted with him, you would get thousands of compliemnts/questions

”You’re with Gwilym! So lucky!”

”That necklace is to kill for! Did Gwilym give it to you?”

”Teach my your ways!”

Whenever you’re at these events all these people give you evil stares

Your like👁👄👁 “is Gwilym a playboy??”

Gwilym is all like “what do you mean?? 🥺Of course not! Your the only one that matters to me right now”

He’s such a king we LOVE HIM

Spontaneous trips to France and Italy

Gwilym and you grow super close

Also your dates would range from fancy galas for Gwilym’s works or peaceful book/poetry readings

He LOVES books and always takes you to bookstores and gives his best recommendations

He literally turns into an english teacher while overanalyzing books

”The greenlight in Green Gatbsy is such a crucial symbol”

”Jane Austen is one of the best feminist writers, she was so ahead of her time!”

You wanna be annoyed but can’t

i can’t I LOVE GWILYM LEE I’M NOT SORRY

The two of you would lie in bed together

You would be slouched against his body as he stroked your hair, reading to you in that accent

As much as you love your gentlemen, you get him into the wacky world of ninety day fiance

”This looks like trash...I’m going to watch every minute of it!”

You guys order chinese food and watch this obsessviely for six hours

I know this is meant to be fluffy but why not add some 🌶

Sex with you and Gwil is like ✨fireworks✨

He would make sure you wouldn’t be able to walk the next day let’s just say😉

He would have to carry you around and kiss your head, saying “You're so adorable, poppet” or “Don’t strain your legs, Cariad!”

Also ceo of AMAZING NICKNAMES

”My anwylyd” (Welsh for dearest)

Would 100% write you romantic poems (over text and in paper)

And yes he WOULD dramatically read them to you😤😤✌🏽

He would always greet you with the most over the top nicknames like “Good morning cariad!” or “Sit there and act pretty, my beloved”

hi mr lee please make me your sugar baby

Gwilym is your sugar daddy but also your sweet, book loving man

He loves seeing you happy so in return, you make him happy💓💓

Joe Mazzello-

This one is a wildcard ladies and gays!! 😌😌

Joe definitely does not strike you as a sugar daddy

He seems more like your boyfriend than anything else

The two of you were inseparable

After dinner Joe would take you to a karaoke bar or for ice cream

After the first date you started calling him Joey

Drunken duets to cheesy 80’s romance songs

The two of you would sing your hearts out before vomiting from the copious ammouts of ice cream and vodka

With Joe it’s eithier mcdonalds or Nobu in TriBeCa

Mr.Mazello has range😌✨

This dude is the ceo of cheesy nicknames

”Yes my little lover muffin!”

”What is it cutie patootie?”

”You look amazing buttercup!”

“What’s up, hot stuff?”

In public he calls you “baby” or “lover” dw he saves you from public embarrassment

You know that meme of will smith and his wife? That is basically you and Joe

My love for his man is infinite

Joe is super clingy

Hand holding and lots of PDA

He wants people to know that your his sugar baby😤😤💓

he will always send texts like

”miss you baby💓💗💓💗!”

”can you grab milk from the store pls??”

”SUGAR HONEY ICED TEA WHERE ARE YOU😩😩🤯🤯🤯”

”Joe, it’s been a day.”

He has so many photos of you in his camera roll

You are his lockscreen😔💓

The ceo’s of amazing instagram photos, whether it be you wearing a burger king crown at Burger King or You guys kissing on a boat with the Italian sunset on a private boat

Captions would be could “my favorite fairytale is our love story” or “yasss queen slay it!”

It’s cringey but god Joe is so adorable

A combination of a child and gentleman ALL IN ONE

All of his friends are like “you guys HAVE to be dating!’

It’s suppose to be nothing more than an arrangement right?

I mean the two of you were living with eachother and he dropped all of this other sugar babies for you

The two of you are master chefs minus the one time Joe burned mac and cheese and set the stove on fire

Also not to get smutty but the sex between you two? Like

Straight up RAMMING to sweet pillowtalk

Anyways Joe being your sugar daddy would definitely not be a bad thing at all😘

Always exchange those “I love you’s” 💕✨

Ben Hardy-

When first seeing Ben on your sugar daddy app, you were 100% intimidated

But upon meeting him, this tough dude was a PUPPY🥺❣️

On the first date he bought you flowers and gave you a hug

“Y/n, right?”

“That’s me!”

“I just wanted to say you look stunning, love.”

You were wearing jeans and literally smiled so much

You know this date was going to go VERY WELL NOW😩✌🏽✨

Instead of a fancy restaurant, Ben took you to a stroll around London

Whatever clothes you wanted? He got it

Whatever cafe you wanted to stop at? Buy all the tea/coffee and pastries you want

Hotel? Trivago

The two of you walked around the city, hand and hand as you got to know eachother

You ended up walking around the city for five hours up until midnight

You laughed and talked about thousands of things

In confusion, you had to see Ben again

As Ben walked you back to your place, you smiled at him,

”I’d like to do that again.”

”Call me when you want, y/n.”

So your “dates” became more frequent

Ben had the best ideas for dates

Dinners at small Italian places, walking around a museum, or just sitting in his place and watching mindless television

He made sure to spoil you

With gifts, literally and figurreitly

Sex was a large piece in your arrangeemnt

But it was not the only thing in your relationship

And it was!! Amazing!!

”You’re so fucking beautiful” as he would kiss your forehead and dive straight into it 🥺😳

Not only could that man be A BEAST but an absolute sweetheart

Everyday you looked forward to not only getting paid by him, but just talking to him for hours on end

He would stay up for hours just to talk to you, whether it be about your lives or anything

and that ladies and gays is a dedicated MAN

No matter what, Ben always found a way to touch you

He always had his hand on the chair behind you or your thigh

You guys would have pillowforts and nerf fun battles together

It would always end with a cuddle session

Frankie would be skeptcial but love you!!

You guys got so close that he took you on a trip to the greek islands AND PROPOSED!! LIKE!! YES!!😌😌😌

LIKE YES POP OFF MISTER BEN HARDY

#rami malek #joe mazzello #gwilym lee #ben hardy #rami malek x reader #joe mazzello x reader #gwilym lee x reader #ben hardy x reader #my writing #queen #borhap boys #headcanons

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ectonurites · 4 years ago

Note

a very very genuine question: so its bad to repost art but no one says anything when people repost things from the source material/creator's sketches.....why?like sure everyone who likes it may recognize the style but there are plenty of fan artists i recognize immediately, new or old art, with or without. to me it just feels the same, like either dont repost art or people should be able to repost stuff, i dont see how they can work at the same time. and this isnt me saying people should be allowed to repost and all that bc i do understand the theory of why reposting hurts artists, just that the logic doesnt seem to fit once it extends to famous artists/creators. just bc its official and easily recognizable makes it okay? how does that work? again, there are plenty of fanartists who are easily recognizable and lose no money when people repost their work (bc they posted it for free) and from my own observation, it seems it just, somehow, makes them want to do art less (from what i have read from artists themselves). why do we not consider that when it comes to official creators? wouldnt they also feasibly be less motivated seeing their hard work plastered across the internet for free when thats the sole way they make their income? and its not a system where its solely sticking it to the man bc it hurts the artists income, as well. but if it makes them happy to see people enjoying and sharing their work with others, drawing interest, why isnt it the same with fan artists? people often repost art, not out of malice or intent to claim credit, but bc they enjoy it + want to share it, esp on social media where sharing isnt a feature (instagram, for example) again im not trying to justify reposting, just confused about the contradiction

First of all instagram does have a form of sharing posts- stories. Which yes they are temporary by default, but you can use the highlight feature to collect your favorite things you’ve shared from people right there on your own profile AND it links back to the original post and can permanently be on your profile as long as you keep it there. You can even label them and everything! But then moving on to answering more of your actual questions

To start: this is a very complicated thing. And I feel everyone trying to answer it might have slightly varied opinions.

I personally see a pretty clear distinction between ‘Officially published/released’ works (like comic book [as like you’ve probably seen I frequently post comic panels] or other materials that may have been released in creator guides, official video game art, promotional art for things, etc etc) as opposed to like, personal work and fanart. Because with official works:

There’s usually a source to buy it and you should if you’re referencing it a ton (while I don’t own every comic I’ve ever read I do have a lot and if I did read something first through illegal means [because some comics are just straight up hard to find due to age/being out of print] and enjoyed it I try to seek out a physical copy after if possible)

There is a level of far wider recognition (I know you personally might find fanartists’ styles recognizable but like, things that are in mainstream media.. have just such a higher profile. it’s not really comparable)

If you’re not supporting the official release you’re harming the big company that published it far more than the individual artist (like, the individual artist probably also wouldn’t appreciate it, because it can effect them for sure as well, but they’re not gonna be taking the brunt of the damage unless it was entirely self-published work, which I’d definitely categorize differently from what I’m mainly talking about here.)

Often fanartists/professional artists who aren’t that well known, in addition to wanting to just create work for the sake of it, also want to build their own platform, to have an audience that they interact with. Or like, if they’re offering commissions, a bigger platform puts you in a position where people will actually see the art and want to commission you. When you say reposts of smaller artists’ fanart doesn’t ‘loose them money’ because they didn’t charge to post it, you’re missing the fact that it makes them loose out on proper linked-back-to-them exposure. Especially like, when a repost account on insta or something says ‘ah yes credit to [username] on tumblr’ the vast majority of people who see it aren’t going to then open up a whole different website and look for the artist. Some people might! but if there’s anything i’ve learned from working professionally in arts marketing it’s that people want things that are convenient and directly in front of them. Someone who wants to see more works because they liked one is significantly more likely to click on the username of someone who posted it rather than opening up a browser or a different app and searching a separate name put in the caption.

Then honestly, I do feel weird about reposts of professional artists’ more personal works unless the artist has stated they’re fine with people reposting with credit. It should be about the comfort level of the artist. I think a lot of professional artists who aren’t in a position where they’re as worried about building a platform, because they already have one and might have professional connections/opportunities already lined up, might not really care about reposts especially on a website they don’t use. (Like tumblr. I’m coming at this mostly from a comics artist perspective here, but most professional artists I see are waaaay more active on twitter and instagram than tumblr) If it’s a website they don’t use, it’s not taking away from the platform they had been building there for themselves. And also, some artists really just don’t give a shit, which is their choice they can make with their work! But that’s not a universal thing. One artist being fine with their personal art being reposted =/= all artists being fine with it.

In my own experience as a fanartist, when I see my art reposted without credit, especially when it’s art I’ve also already posted on the same platform... it’s definitely disheartening. Even worse is when the repost gets even more attention than my original post. (something that has happened to me multiple times!) Like, it can get so upsetting! Because it lets me know that someone else was using my art to build their platform and I got exactly zero benefit out of it. Then when it’s reposted with credit it’s a little less annoying, but I still don’t... get much out of it. Especially if it’s an instagram repost and they credit my tumblr not my account on there, since insta captions don’t actually do links unless it’s to other insta accounts. Also with insta for example, I have a 'business’ account set up so I can look at and track popularity of my posts and see how they’re doing as something to keep in mind when considering posting times, etc etc. When other people repost my art there I have no control over it. That sucks a lot! Also, when I quite literally ask people not to repost my art (it is IN! MY! DESCRIPTION!) and they still do, it’s just straight up disrespectful. I asked for a boundary to be respected with my work and people have just completely ignored it. That doesn’t feel good at all.

But, conversely, I’m gonna talk about my more professional irl work for a sec. I’m a graphic designer, so I do things like posters, logos, etc, When I design a poster for a client that is meant to be advertising something, even if it’s got my own original illustration or something as part of it, I know my name isn’t necessarily going to be attached to it the same way as it is with my personal work. I get a credit line somewhere, but that’s in a fine print probably not even on the poster itself at all, but that’s like, part of what I signed up for. I already get paid separately, I am giving permission for my work to be out of my own hands in that way. Professional work for a client is often setup in some way similar to this. I don’t get mad when I walk down the street and see a poster I made up somewhere without it directly ‘linking’/referencing back to me (aside from maybe my signature if it had an illustration), in fact I go ‘OMG ITS THERE ugh wait i see one pixel is off oh noooooo” and then move on with my day. It’s just an entirely different situation because that kind of work has a different arrangement from the start, where you know it’s going to be put in a different type of circulation.

So yeah, my word isn’t god here, but I definitely see official releases as having a different set of permissions based on the fact that they are published in an entirely different situation. And I think reposts of personal art aren’t cool if the artist isn’t okay with them, no matter how big a platform they have. Other people probably approach this with a slightly different perspective, but that’s mine!

#sorry this is long #but also 🤷‍♂️#Anonymous

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shamelessbisexuality · 5 years ago

Note

since you're new to the fandom, i would suggest you delete your reposted gifs. if you didn't make them yourself, don't post them.

Every other fandom I have been in reposts gifs for new posts.

I never repost entire gif sets as is and claim them as my own. I also tend to reblog most sets I get gifs from. (Although not all, as some I find through other sites).

I don't understand this ask at all. Gifs are reposted everywhere. Like... the majority of tumblr posts that aren't gif sets include reposted gifs.

I imagine you're talking about my "bts as the office" posts, where I take photos and gifs that seem like they could be straight out of The Office and compile them. I'm sorry but I'm not deleting them. If you made a gif and didn't want it reposted I can delete it and find another version somewhere else.

Again I really don't get this. I understand not reposting gifs that are edited in some way special/are made to be a part of an artistic/aesthetically pleasing set-- but gifs that are just cut straight out of videos (albeit, captioned). Really? There's no ownership there. In fact, I'm pretty sure most of those videos are owned/copyrighted by someone else.

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theycallmebeccawrites · 6 years ago

Text

Chris & Ellie Series: Episode 7

With Tumblr holding my original writing blog @beccaheartschrisevans captive (aka flagged as explicit), I have made a secondary writing blog and may end up closing the other all together. In the meantime, I am reposting all of my stories on my new blog.

Pairing: Chris Evans x Ellie Spencer (OFC)

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: n/a

Episode Summary: This episode takes place in August 2013. Chris takes Ellie with him to a friend's wedding.

Disclaimer: This work of fiction is not to be reposted, used or translated without my permission.

The Chris and Ellie series is primarily chronological. It begins with a flash forward to 2016 and has a few other scenes in the future. However, the majority of their story is told in chronological order starting in 2013 and going through 2017. Each episode starts with a date to help you place it within the story.

The Chris & Ellie Series Masterlist | Chris & Ellie Masterlist

Episode 6

Episode 7: The Wedding

August 16, 2013

Ellie was in the kitchen cleaning up dinner when Chris came into the room with his cell phone pressed to his ear. Not wanting to eavesdrop, she tried to block out his voice, but he was talking so loudly that it was difficult.

"You promised to go with me, Scott," he said into the phone. "What the hell am I supposed to do now? I hate going to these things alone… You're right, you're right, work comes first… Ellie?"

Ellie looked up at the mention of her name and found Chris looking at her.

"Yeah, I supposed it wouldn't hurt to ask her," Chris said into the phone. "I know, Scott…. I just wish you'd given me more notice that's all… I promise I will ask her, she is actually staring at me right now…. Yes, I will let you know if you are off the hook."

Curious, Ellie waited until Chris pulled the phone from his ear and hit the 'end' button.

"So," he said, casually. "What are the chances you have this weekend off from the bookstore?"

"Depends on what you need me to do," Ellie replied, crossing her arms.

"Scott was supposed to go with me to a wedding in Palm Springs this weekend," Chris explained. "But he just called to tell me that they need him here in LA for reshoots. So I was hoping you were available to go to the wedding with me as my, uh, date."

"You were going to take your brother to a wedding as your date?" Ellie teased, unable to stop herself.

"Funny," Chris replied, rolling his eyes. "I RSVP'd with a plus one and I can't go to this thing by myself. If I do, women tend to think I am free game and won't leave me alone."

"So it's less date and more personal bodyguard?" she theorized. She wasn't sure if she was up to the task of protecting Chris from the aforementioned 'women', but she wouldn't be a friend if she made him go by himself.

"You're going to make me beg, aren't you?" he said with a sigh.

"Well, now that you mention it," she smirked, curious to see how far this would go.

"You truly are evil," Chris muttered as his phone dinged alerting him to a text message. A smile spread across his face as he read his brother's text. He shot a quick 'thanks' in reply then turned his attention back to Ellie. "Before you make me beg, the resort the wedding is at has a full service day spa. The wedding is tomorrow night and Scott had scheduled himself a massage that they won't let him cancel. It's fully paid for. If you come with me, the massage is yours."

Ellie scrunched up her face as she realized her gig was up and the cocky grin on Chris's face told her he knew it, too. "Alright, I'm in," Ellie sighed, after a moment, reaching her hand across the island to shake Chris's.

"You're the best," Chris said with a smile.

"What does one wear to a Palm Springs resort?" Ellie asked.

Chris took in her cutoff jean shorts and her hot pink racer back tank top and said, "Definitely not that."

"What? You mean you don't think this is a classy look?" Ellie asked. She did a slow turn and caught Chris's eyes bouncing from her ass to her face. "See something you like?" The words slipped from her mouth before she realized it and she felt her face heat up as she watched Chris's do the same. "Oh my God, don't answer that."

"In the sake of all honesty, you have a nice ass," Chris confessed, unable to stop himself. "I noticed it that first day we met."

"Yeah, well you have a nice cock." Ellie's eyes widened as the words registered in her head and she slapped her hand over her mouth as Chris let out a roar of laughter.

"That is the best come back I have ever heard," Chris said, wiping the tears from his eyes as he laughed.

"I'm glad you think so, meanwhile, I'm ready to go bury myself under the blankets of my bed and never leave," Ellie replied. She couldn't believe the words had left her mouth; true as they were or not.

"It's ok, honestly," Chris said, attempting to calm himself. "It's been like five months, we should be able laugh about it by now…"

"I suppose you're right," Ellie replied. "It was pretty funny when you think about it." She giggled as she remembered the paper towels. "The fact that you grabbed the -"

"Paper towels when there was a newspaper right there, yeah, yeah, yeah. My mom loves that part of the story too."

"How are we going to do this?" Ellie asked, sobering. "Like what are we telling people this weekend if they ask how we met."

"We'll keep it simple, you're my friend and you came as my date," Chris replied. "Keep it simple. We met through a mutual friend."

"There isn't going to be any paparazzi there, right? I mean, am I going to have to worry about them posting my picture somewhere with the caption 'Chris Evans dates mystery brunette with fake boobs' the next time I go to the grocery store?"

"It's not an industry wedding," Chris said with a chuckle. "So no, there shouldn't be any paparazzi. In fact, the resort we are going to is well protected so we should be fine."

"Ok, good," Ellie nodded. "I didn't want to have to defend myself to the cashier about my boobs being real."

"Should the situation present itself, I'd be happy to take a feel and confirm they're real, to defend your honor and all that," Chris said, earning him a glare from Ellie. "Too soon?"

"Too soon," Ellie said with a nod. "Now if you'll excuse me. I have some packing to do and I have to see if I can find someone to watch -"

"Scott said he'd stay here tomorrow night," Chris cut her off. "He also doesn't have to be on set until noon, so he'll check on Daisy before then."

"Perfect," Ellie replied. "I'll bring her kennel into the house in the morning. What time do I need to be ready?"

"9ish? Your massage is at noon, so leaving at 9 would give you time to get settled in your room first."

"Sounds good, I'll see you in the a.m."

With Daisy following her, Ellie went out to the guesthouse and opened her closet to pick out her most resort appropriate clothing. She selected the brand new dress she'd purchased when shopping with her sisters and then grabbed nice clothes from the back of her closet that she hadn't worn since she'd first moved to LA. She quickly tried them on and was pleasantly surprised when they still fit and actually felt a little looser than she remembered.

Not wanting to fold her nice clothes, she put them all under a dry cleaning plastic cover and then proceeded to fill her medium sized rolling suitcase with everything she thought she might need. It was nearly midnight by the time she lifted Daisy up onto the bed and climbed in after her.

When her alarm went off seven hours later, she sprung from her bed and took a quick shower. She waited until after she'd carried Daisy's kennel up to the main house before she put on her navy blue dress with striped top. She then made sure all the lights were off in the guesthouse before grabbing her purse, suitcase and the clothes that were hanging and carrying them up to the main house.

Chris came into the kitchen shortly after eight wearing a pair of khaki dress pants and a navy blue shirt that matched her outfit perfectly. He was carrying a hanging luggage bag and stopped short when he saw Ellie's stuff piled next to the table. "You do remember we are only going to be gone for one night, right?" he said, fighting back his laughter.

"Shut up," Ellie retorted, pushing her naturally curly hair out of her face. Spotting Chris's hanging luggage bag she asked, "I don't suppose you have another one of those…"

"You can just add 'em to mine," Chris replied. He unzipped it and held it open for her to add her stuff.

"Thanks," Ellie replied. "Want eggs for breakfast?"

"Sure, I'll get the coffee going," Chris offered.

An hour later, they were in Chris's car and pulling out of the driveway. They argued all the way to the freeway as to what music to play and Ellie finally convinced him to listen to one of her random car mixes.

After about thirty minutes of country songs and 90's boybands, Chris reached over and lowered the volume. "How about we just talk," he suggested.

"About what?" Ellie replied as she switched to a different playlist on her phone. She reached over to turn the volume back up, but had her hand swatted away.

"How about sports? I know you like baseball. Do you like anything?"

"I love football," she said with a grin. "I can't wait for the season to start."

"Really?" He cocked his eyebrow and glanced at her. "Who's your team?"

"Depends, are you asking college or NFL?"

"Do you have a preference?"

"I like college better, because every year you have new players and every 3 to 4 years, there is a major change over."

"Far enough. Who's your college team?"

"The Oregon Ducks, of course. Fun fact, our mascot, Puddles, is Donald Duck's alter ego."

"Uh huh, sure."

"No, I'm serious. One of our former Athletic Directors in the 1940's knew a Disney cartoonist and through him got a meeting with Walt Disney himself," Ellie stated. "There is a picture of Walt wearing an Oregon Ducks jacket. They changed the mascot costume a little, a few years ago, but all the Puddles branded stuff is Donald Duck."

"Given that that was a lot of information in like sixty seconds, I'm just going to believe you," Chris said with a chuckle. "Do you have an NFL team?"

"Of course I do. I'm a Northwest girl so it's obviously the Seahawks. I know you're a Pats fan, though."

"What gave it away?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Obviously not the Patriots shit you have all over the house," she said shaking her head. "I guess I'm just glad you don't like the Cowboys."

"Likewise."

From football their conversation moved to sports they played as kids then to childhood memories and everything in between while music played quietly in the background. It made the two and a half hour drive pass quickly; especially when traffic slowed to a crawl in certain places.

"Holy shit," Ellie gasped as she caught sight of the mission style resort. "This place is gorgeous."

"It belongs to the bride's family," Chris said. "The groom was one of my first roommates here in California."

Pulling up to the entrance, Chris and Ellie's doors were opened for them by resort staff. Chris was given a ticket for the valet service while Ellie supervised the other staff member pulling their luggage out of the trunk.

They made their way into the lobby and were greeted by a third staff member. "Good morning," she said, greeting them. "Can I get you two something to drink before I check you in?"

"No, I think we're good, thanks though," Chris replied.

"Follow me please." She led them over to the check in desk and asked Chris his name. "Ah, yes, I see your reservation here. It's an excellent room overlooking the golf course."

"One room?" Ellie asked in surprise.

"There must be a mistake," Chris told the lady. "There should be two rooms."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Evans, but there is only one room with a king size bed reserved under your name," the woman replied.

"But you have other rooms available, right?" Ellie asked her.

"No, Miss, I apologize, but we are fully booked this weekend," the lady replied.

"Can you give us a minute to talk?" Chris asked her.

"Of course," the woman replied, her smile not quite reaching her eyes.

"Now what?" Ellie asked as she and Chris moved away from the check-in desk. "There's nothing else out this way."

"I know," Chris replied. "We just shared a bed two weeks ago, are you opposed to doing it again?"

"I don't think we have any other options," Ellie sighed.

Walking back to the counter, Chris finished the checking in process and then he and Ellie were led to their second floor room by a bellhop.

The room was of modest size with a large king bed taking up most of it. The attached bathroom had a full glass shower, a separate tub and two sinks. The best feature, however, was the wall of windows that separated the small balcony from the rest of the room and looked out over the beautiful green golf course.

"I don't feel like we're in southern California anymore," Ellie muttered after the bellhop had left. "It's so green."

"You're not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy," Chris teased as he opened the patio door and they stepped out into the warm air. "Gah, heat like this makes me miss Boston."

"All this green makes me miss Oregon," Ellie agreed. "This heat is atrocious. I feel my hair getting bigger already."

Chris snickered and stole a look at her before nodding his head. "It's definitely doing something…"

"Fuck, I may have to squeeze in a hair appointment today, too," Ellie grumbled. "You got any more of that Grant money I saw you hand the bellhop? You know, in case they don't take pity on me in the spa by the mere appearance of my hair?"

"Since you're helping me out this weekend, yes, I can give you some money," Chris replied with a shake of his head. "Can we go back inside now?"

Thirty minutes later, Ellie left the room with her room key, a small bag of supplies and extra money in her purse. The spa was easy to find and the receptionist took one look at her hair, asked if she was here for the wedding and quickly ushered her into a stylist's chair.

The stylist applied a product to Ellie's hair then wrapped her hair up before she was escorted to one of the private changing rooms. She took off her clothes and put on a thick terry cotton robe then grabbed the key to the changing room before being led to the massage table.

By the time she returned to her and Chris's room, two hours later, she was completely relaxed from her massage and the hot shower that had followed. The stylist had whipped her hair into submission and, for the first time in her life, she actually had bouncy curls! She'd even had her makeup and her nails done. She'd felt like she was floating during the entire walk back to the room.

"Wow," Chris said when he looked from when where he was laying on the bed. "You look nice."

"Thanks," Ellie replied. Catching sight of herself in the large mirror on the way, she swung her hair and giggled.

"Either you've already started drinking or the spa is experimenting with personality transplants," Chris laughed.

"I may have had a mimosa or two," Ellie smiled as she walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. "But look, Chris, look at my hair. It's never looked this good before! Gus, the hair stylist, is a God. There is no other way to describe him."

"It looks good," Chris agreed. Truthfully, he liked her hair in its wild natural form or pulled back in a ponytail. He liked her down to earth spunkiness. "But I'm guessing that this means you don't want to spend the next two hours down at the pool."

"Gus said to stay away from water," Ellie replied. "So that's a definite no."

With a couple hours to kill, they channel surfed until they found a preseason NFL game featuring two teams neither of them cared about, but they watched since it was football.

When they were down to the final thirty minutes, Chris went into the bathroom to take a quick shower while Ellie stayed in the main part of the room to get dressed. By the time Chris left the bathroom dressed and ready to go, all Ellie needed was for him to zip up the back of her dress.

"What are you doing?" she demanded as she saw Chris reaching for his plain black baseball cap. "You're not wearing that."

"Ellie, come on, I'm trying to be incognito, remember?"

"Wearing a baseball hat with a suit is not the way to remain incognito at a formal wedding," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "Just wear your sunglasses and keep your head down."

"You're the boss," Chris replied, holding up his hands defensively.

"And don't you forget it," Ellie smirked. She watched as he grabbed his sunglasses and slipped them on. "Perfect! Let's go."

They made their way down to the outdoor ceremony and took two seats in the very last row that had been reserved for them.

"How many people are here?" Ellie whispered.

"500?" Chris guessed as he looked out over the crowd. Half of them were seated on an upper patio while the rest were in a grassy area.

"Do you know anyone other than the bride and the groom?" Ellie asked.

"The groom, Ray, and I were two of five roommates," Chris replied. "So I suspect our other roommates are here. As for Kady's guests, I don't know anyone."

They stopped talking as Ray and the officiant walked to the front of the audience and took their positions. Fourteen pairs of bridesmaids and groomsmen made their way down the aisle before the bride appeared with her father.

After the ceremony ended, the wedding party was escorted away for photos while the guests were excused to the cocktail hour. Servers made their way through the crowd with appetizers and custom drinks created by the bride and groom for the wedding.

Chris and Ellie found a quiet table along the edge of the party and relaxed as they people watched. Spotting a group of six walking towards them, Ellie nudged Chris and pointed.

A smile spread across Chris's face as he recognized his three other roommates and their beautiful wives. One by one he gave them each a hug and then introduced them to Ellie. "This is Ellie," he told them. "Ellie, this is Chucky and Tanya Kelley, Bryant and Gloria Gomez and Brock and Tessa Alexander."

"Hi," Ellie said with an awkward wave to the six strangers in front of her.

"So how did this one convince you to come to this festive event?" Chucky asked as he put Chris in a pretend headlock. "Just blink twice if you're not here by your own choosing."

"Shut the fuck up, Chuck," Chris said, elbowing his friend in the gut. "Ellie is just a friend doing me a favor because Scott had a conflict."

"Alright, friend Ellie, how did you meet this guy?" Chucky asked as he gave Chris a playful push.

"Mutual friends," Ellie replied, giving her best poker face as she tried to come up with a better answer. "We both love Red Sox baseball and football and they thought we'd get along great."

"Of course, C.E. would find a girl, sorry, a friend, that loves football," Brock chuckled. "Has he told you about his annual NFL kickoff party? It's a blast."

"No," Ellie said, looking at Chris with raised eyebrows. "He hadn't mentioned anything about a party…"

"We'll have something to talk about on the way home," Chris said with a forced chuckle.

A voice came over the speaker system inviting everyone to make their way to the dinner area.

"Saved by the bell," Bryant teased Chris.

"A kickoff party?" Ellie hissed to Chris as they followed the other three couples.

"It's usually a potluck style," Chris replied. "I usually supply the drinks and chips."

"Still," Ellie said, forcing a smile on her lips as she realized they were sitting at a table with his friends.

As they reached the table, Chris pulled her chair out for her and then pushed it back in once she was seated.

"So," Ellie said, leaning in. "You guys have known this one for a while. I'm sure you have lots of hilarious stories to share." She tossed Chris a grin.

"We're in public," Chris said, shaking his head. "Keep in clean."

Chris's friends shared stories as they ate the delicious five course meal. By the time they'd finished eating, they were all a little tipsy from their drinks and their faces hurt from laughing. Even Chris had joined in on the storytelling, dragging his friends down with him.

They all quieted down as the bride and groom shared their first dance as husband and wife. That dance was followed by the other traditional dances, but soon the lead singer of the live band invited everyone out on top the dance floor to work off their dinner.

Ellie had assumed she and Chris would sit out on the dancing, but his friends wouldn't allow it. She quickly found herself being pulled out onto the dancefloor with her hand clutched in Chris's. The first few dances were lively and upbeat, but then it switched to a slow song.

Before she and Chris had a chance to escape the dance floor, they were pushed together. After moving their hands from the awkward spots they had landed, they repositioned themselves so they were in a basic slow dance hold, with her hands resting on his shoulders and his hands on her waist.

As soon as the song was done, Chris grabbed her hand and made a beeline off the dance floor. Ellie laughed as he pulled her over to the bar and it was as they were leaving with drinks that they ran into the bride and groom. Chris introduced Ellie to them and, in the few minutes they spent with them, Ellie could tell that they were as genuine and sweet as Chris's other friends.

An hour or so later, their group sat at their table listening to the speeches being made by the wedding party and various other people. The toasts were immediately followed by the bride and groom cutting the cake and then the servers delivered small, personal-sized cakes to everyone.

By the time they'd finished eating their dessert, it was nearly midnight and the long day was starting to catch up to Chris and Ellie. They said their goodbyes to Chris's friends and then took one of the golf cart shuttles back to the main building where they were staying.

After Chris helped Ellie unzip the back of her dress, she went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. When she exited fifteen minutes later, she was wearing one of the hotel's fluffy white robes over her matching camisole and short pajamas.

While Chris was in the bathroom, Ellie admired her hair in the mirror, amazed that it still looked fantastic after so many hours. She was beginning to think that Gus the hairstylist was a magician.

Not ready to climb into the bed yet, Ellie grabbed her phone and sat down on the end of the chaise lounge. She laid back against the soft fabric and wondered if she shouldn't just sleep there with her hair cascading over the side.

When Chris came out of the bathroom, he shook his head and asked, "Are you coming to bed soon?"

"I think I'm going to sleep right here," Ellie replied, moving her head slightly so the still bouncy curls swayed over the edge of the arm. "Keep my hair from getting messed up."

"You are not sleeping on that thing," Chris said firmly. "You'll hurt your neck."

"But my hair looks so good, Chris!" Ellie pouted.

"Ellie -" He stopped when he realized he didn't know her middle name. "What's your middle name?"

"Elaine," she replied with a yawn.

"You're name is Ellie Elaine?" he asked, confused.

"No, Ellie is short for Elaine. My first name is Sarah," she explained.

"So why don't you go by Sarah?" he inquired.

"Because that was my grandma's name and she went by Sarah."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense," Chris replied. "What were we talking about again?"

"I believe you were getting ready to threaten me," Ellie stated.

"Oh right," Chris nodded. He cleared his throat and then in a stern voice said, "Sarah Elaine, you're not sleeping on that thing. I will carry you to the bed if I have to and I will lay on top of you to make you stay."

Ellie sat up and stared at Chris in shock. "You do realize you would crush me if you laid on top of me, right?" she asked.

"Oh, right," Chris said. "Well, I'd find some way to restrain you to the bed."

"Fine," Ellie sighed as she forced herself up. "Have it your way."

While she got into the bed, Chris adjusted the air conditioning of the room, turning it to a lower temperature. He then grabbed an extra blanket from the closet and tossed it to Ellie. He knew she liked to sleep in a cold room, like he did, but he'd learned that she was a bit of a blanket hog.

Climbing into the bed, Chris turned off the lights and pulled the blankets up to his chin. He heard Ellie rustling around next to him and waited for her to get settled before his closed his eyes.

Hours later, he awoke to her long hair fanned out across his face. Brushing it away, he looked over and saw that she was lying on her side facing him. Sometime during the night they had moved from their respective edges to the middle of the bed where a mere foot or so separated them from each other.

Unable to fall back to sleep, he watched her. He loved that her hair had returned to its natural form sometime during the night and it surround her like a lion's mane.

"Stop staring at me, you creeper," she mumbled.

Chris couldn't help but laugh.

Episode 7.25

Want to find me off tumblr? I’m @beccatheycallme on twitter. I also post my stories on AO3.

My tag list is always open, just let me know if you’d like to be added!

#chris evans #theycallmebecca #beccaheartschrisevans #theycallmebeccawrites #chris evans fanfic #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans fan fiction #chris and ellie series #chris and ellie #chris evans x ofc #chris evans x original female character

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simplyserens · 6 years ago

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yeethaw and howdy once again partners, it’s me your extremely annoying friend sierra, back at it again bringing her usual garbage characters. anyways if you’ve been here for a bit you’ll remember saturn, my infamous gossip spreader, she’s back! but with a new fc and a new name, so buckle in. new york just got a whole lot messier.

╰☆╮SCARLETT LEITHOLD ─ SEREN KLINE identifies as DEMI-FEMALE and uses SHE/HER & THEY/THEM pronouns. they’re a GOSSIP COLUMNIST/SINGER, and they’re only TWENTY-TWO! they’re said to be SOCIABLE, but also MANIPULATIVE. i guess that’s why they’re known as THE GOSSIP in the tabloids. ( sierra, she/her, cst, 18+ ) ( marina )

the polymath & the contingent — aka her early years [ 0 to 12. musings: 01. 02. 03. 04. ]

seren arian kline was born to two parents, who were running away from their past, and who had no idea what they were going to do with a child at their age, both of them being 20 & 21, respectively.

fun fact! seren’s name translates roughly to ‘silver star’ in english

her mother amelia was a daycare assistant, and her father found wok in the tech industry, together their small little family of three tried the very best to handle whatever life threw at them together

they gave seren the best life that could possibly afford, not having much but the roof over their heads, and barely making enough to say that they were living paycheck to paycheck

at an early age seren proved to be exceptionally smart, not smart enough to be some crazy child genius or anything like that, but she was smart enough that her parents knew they needed to get her the proper education that she deserved, if only they could afford it

seren spent most of her adolescent being the kid that was teased on the playground for reading a book instead of playing soccer, but instead of telling her parents, she’d repress it deep down inside

seren’s bullying eventually lead to her insatiable need to be liked by everyone, no matter who it was, a teacher, a principal, a fellow student, she craved the validation, nay she needed the validation that came with being liked by other people

her parents began busying themselves with work and lost the special connection they once held with their daughter, their schedules never crossed paths, and soon seren would end up feeling more alone than before

at the young age of 12 seren kline tried to take her own life in her childhood bedroom, thankfully her parents quickly rushed to her aide, and she was being treated in a hospital before she knew it

after spending time with the therapist that seren never knew that she needed she was diagnosed with severe depression, quickly put on medication, and told not to try to throw herself back into her school work, except that’s exactly what she did, throwing herself back into her work like she’d never done before

she thought that this endless cycle would go on for the rest of her life, until one day her father came home with news that would change seren’s life forever

the opulent & the sovereign — aka her teen years [ 13 to 18. musings: 01. 02. 03. 04. ]

her father had landed a new job far away from Wales, and they’d be moving to America, Pennsylvania to be exact

seren was more than ecstatic to get this news, not only did a higher pay increase for her dad mean a nicer lifestyle, it also meant a higher status for her & her family

seren’s mom quickly took the opportunity to find a new job in teaching, and managed to get seren into a very prestigious private school in pennsylvania

it impressed seren’s mother because their mission statement involved churning out well-rounded pupils and a focus on college readiness, it excited seren because she knew she’d finally be with the in crowd

the minute that her bran new louboutin stilettos crossed the pavement she became the new queen b, much to everyone’s dismay

she immediately developed a superiority complex over her peers, showing off her riches whenever she got the chance, constantly reminding them she was better, and despite her behavior she had herd of girls that wanted to be like her, and even more guys that wanted to date her

but despite leading multiple guys on, and then proceeding to do the same thing in secret to some of female peers, she was never fixated on a relationship, all she ever wanted was success

though her life was about change for a second time on the days leading up to her seventeenth birthday, her parents announced to her that they were getting a divorce, that there relationship wasn’t working out anymore, for trauma's sake seren moved in with her mom, and her father was given visitation rights

her mother ans seren moved to new york, she was no dating some bigshot music producer that she’d met during one of her dad’s many business events

seren was a singer, but mainly kept it hidden from her parents, so the day, aka her seventeenth birthday, she accidentally slipped up and sang in front of her mom’s new boyfriend, he signed her to a music contract, or more her mother signed for her

tthe vindictive & the gossip — aka her current years [ 19 to now. musings: 01. 02. 03. 04. ]

her parents became overbearing in trying to control her image and the music that she wrote, so she became very good at lying, and so most of seren’s freetime was spent with her dad in pennsylvania

to try and escape her parents overbearing nature seren applied to nyu university, and to everyone’s surprise, including her one, she was accepted on a full ride scholarship for journalism

in hopes that she finally was beginning to focus on her studies, seren’s parents allowed her to take an extended hiatus from her music career that was just beginning to flourish

seren didn’t do the best in college, like she wasn’t the worst, but she was definitely called into the guidance counselor's office more time than she can count

seren usually used manipulation tactics to get what she wanted during college, heck at one point she even had her roommate wrapped around her finger, and for a majority of her college life she had everyone believe in things she wasn’t even sure were true, but rumors from a pretty face are a powerful thing

seren ended up sleeping with her journalism professor, which basically gave her free reign to do whatever she wanted during class, and soon enough despite everything she thought would happen, she graduated with a degree in journalism

immediately seren was thrown back into her music, and she released her second album at nineteen

though perhaps the more debatable thing that really kickstarted her career is a thirst trap picture that was reposted on chance’s instagram with the caption ‘who is this’, she gained followers overnight

though seren knew that she wanted more to life than just music, and instagram clout, so she began a gossip blog, she goes under the pen name saturn, but lately it’s been harder to keep the secret from everyone

her gossip blog is the one place where she’s truly herself, spreading rumors being vindictive, and just overall ruining things for people she’s supposedly cares about

though reading her articles and meeting her in person is two completely different things, she will quite literally smile in your face as she twists a knife in your back, and you’ll never suspect a thing

#intro #i don't think there's any tw warnings?#literally nothing traumatic happened to seren she's just a bitch #but stay safe kids & let me know if i missed anything #aLSO this is long but what else is new

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scottsflow · 7 years ago

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Do you think it's possible these 2 crazy kids just haven't figured it out yet for themselves? They're each others biggest fans, care for each other deeply etc. but they've (best)friendzoned each other for so long they don't realize what they have is more? Or they figured out from all their therapy sessions that they just aren't attracted/wouldn't work as a couple. Do you think both are on same page re relationship? Or one wanting more than other?Regardless they are happy together & that's great.

Anon asked: I like the term emotionally married, too. I'd love to know what happened post comeback (other than focusing on a common goal) that generated a new level of togetherness & intimacy for them after so many years. I think they are more in sync emotionally & fit better than ever but is that enough to make the jump from platonic to romantic for them, I don't know. I want to believe they are open to that but Scott's denial to podcast friend also sounded genuine to me. Your thoughts?

---------------------

Combined these two asks since the answers are going to be similar but yes, I do think that they are together. The denials are out there but we have like what? Three actual sentences where they say they aren’t together but every single one of those is followed by a huge rambling statement about how much they do love and support each other.

(Putting the rest under the cut because this got too long omg)

To me, that reads more as them trying to protect their privacy as well as maintaining the focus on their skating careers. All throughout the Olympics they were just trying to deflect the question, they never actually gave a denial. I truly do think they never would have answered the question one way or the other but the intense focus on it during and after the fact shocked them. It was only after they started doing media post Olympics that we saw the denials come out and I think that’s very intentional. They had to deny it just to keep the media off of their backs and it worked. After the Ellen thing, people chilled out a lot more and stopped asking them and that’s exactly what they wanted. Celebrities lie to the media all the time about their relationships in order to keep their privacy and that feels exactly like what they are doing here.

I do also think that the therapy probably did a great deal in bringing them together. Scott grew up A LOT post Sochi and he talks about it a great deal in that podcast and about how working with mental prep couches and their counselors really helped in that process. It’s clear that this progress has brought them much closer during the comeback and I’m pretty sure it’s what cleared the way for them to be together. They’ve always talked about how intense their relationship is and you can clearly see that. Who else has spent the majority of their life living side by side and working together from the time they were little kids. They grew up together, went through puberty together, and entered adulthood together all while trying to be the rock for the other person and that leaves its marks. Putting a romantic twist on that relationship would make it even more intense and could end it swiftly if things went south and I think they were both terrified of that for a long time.

However, I think that the separation they felt during the post Sochi years woke them up a great deal. Scott has stated that he came back to skating to be close to Tessa and that they missed being together and skating together during that time. While skating has always been the cornerstone in their relationship, I think at the same time they were realizing this, they were also realizing that they wanted to be together romantically as well.

There’s a point in at the start of every relationship where you have to make that leap into the unknown and see where it takes you and I think they decided to do that either before or early on into their come back. I think they finally realized that they were it for each other and that they could make being together and skating together work. It’s very telling that they talk about their coaches, a pair of skating partners who are also married, as people who they look up to because I think they’re also talking about how they have made their relationship work with their skating and that’s what they wanted to do.

And from where I’m sitting, it’s worked out fantastically. All of their programs post comeback have just been above and beyond what they did before and of course they went and won both the team and individual events at the Olympics just to really top it off. They just seems so incredibly happy and content these days and it shows in everything they do. Tessa is legit glowing in like every photo I see of her and I think a lot of it is due to the security she feels in their relationship.

Finally, I think you just have to look at the way they treat each other, Tessa’s social media posts, and the way they have treated all the jokes about them being together during the tour to really see how clear it is that they are together but hiding it to preserve their overall privacy. They act like a married couple. Every day I see a new post about someone who has never seen them watching a gif or seeing a picture and commenting on how in love they look. They stare at each other like they’ve hung the moon and touch each other with a level of intimacy that doesn’t exist in just friends and wasn’t there pre come back. And Tessa has been pretty obtuse lately in her posts. From the famous smile credit, to the post the day before her birthday that was clearly a double date with a married couple with a caption naming Scott as one of her favorite people, to all of the fan edits she gets straight from shipper accounts and reposts on her insta, I mean if I was trying to discredit the idea that I was dating my best friend, I would not post that kind of stuff.

The same goes for the fake proposal and the twizzels counting. They know what the world thinks and they know how these actions will be taken. But they keep doing them because they are together and it doesn’t matter if the fans think they are together because they are. If they truly wanted to put these rumors to rest, they could. They could have a much stronger denial, they could put distance between them physically ie not holding hands or touching each other every second during a show and on social media through Tessa not posting about him in the way she does and taking a more hardline stance on them just being friends but they don’t.

They don’t act like they are going to go their separate ways one day and get married to other people instead they act like they’ve finally found their forever in each other. I’m pretty sure we’ll get a confirmation sooner rather than later, possibly after the tour ends and things really settle a bit more but until then, I’m not worried. Everything I see just reenforces that they are together and I think you only have to look at what they are giving us every day to realize it.

#ANON FUN TIMES #luka answers questions

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topweeklyupdate · 6 years ago

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TØP Weekly(/Monthly) Update #52: I’m Gonna Jumpsuit Out a Window (6/30/18)

When all the cryptic weirdness surrounding dmaorg.info sprung up nearly two months ago, everyone was extremely hyped. So much content! So many theories! It really felt like hiatus was over.

There was just one problem: there were no new songs licensed or registered under the band’s name, which meant nothing was coming out. Rabid music fans have known for years that there is truly no such thing as a “surprise” music release: for legal reasons, almost all song titles show up on online registries several days, if not weeks, before they are made available to the public. And, indeed, after the initial wave of teases wrapped up, the Clique returned to a quasi-hiatus state, punctuated only by the occasional addition to the Dema lore.

This Thursday, June 28, that all changed. Let’s talk about it.

This Week’s TØPics:

Finally, Some Good F*cking Food: Two New Song Titles Registered

Dema Recap: Cheetahs and Trenches and Cryptic Nonsense, Oh My!

One Year Later: What Do We Really Know About This Hiatus?

Editorial: When the Discourse Gets Too Much (and When It’s Just What We Need)

Major News and Announcements:

In the biggest piece of real news that we’ve received since the hiatus, two new song titles have been registered on the PPL music licensing database: “Nico and the Niners” and “Jumpsuit”. This is a highly reputable source, and not even truly a “leak” as so many have called it. The pages are managed directly by labels’ legal teams to ensure that anyone who wishes to play music in their media, advertisements, or establishments knows what songs are licensed to which artists and what steps to take to legally license them. “Heathens” was first spotted here over two years ago, not to mention countless other songs from various other artists. The two songs were just removed from the day after they were found listing, but Reddit detectives have already discovered untitled tracks with the same registration codes listed under an unknown Warner artist (ya’ll ain’t slick).

The fact that this posting was accompanied by further activity from the band only confirms that there’s some real nonsense going on. Not only did we get new Dema content (which we’ll get to) but, perhaps even more wild, Tyler Robert Joseph liked something on Instagram. Dude’s alive.

In all seriousness, Tyler Joseph’s social media habits do little to help us understand just what the hell “Nico and the Niners” is. The bigger story (and the one I’ve been slacking on reporting the last two months, my bad) is the sporadic updates to dmaorg.info. Back in early May, we got our first bit of content after the initial reveal in the form of a new letter from Clancy. The letter itself is a pretty well-written YA protagonist internal monologue, with Clancy yearning to find a place that truly feels like home outside the walls of Dema. But, Tyler being Tyler, there’s more to it than that: the date attached to the paragraph matches that of the band’s last social media post, and missing letters from throughout the note together spell out the coded message “You are still sleeping.”

The second update, posted in late May, is this lovely gif of a cheetah running under letters moving in a quick sequence. After slowing it down, the letters spell out the message “U still don’t know his real name do u?” Again, there’s much more to the post when you take the time to dig in. The listed date matches Josh’s appearance at the APMAs, the first mention of Dema. The file name for the gif is “3lurr” meaning the “he” in the question may in fact be Blurryface. Most significantly, the spaces between this message’s words were filled with letters that, when taken out separately and placed in sequence, repeatedly spell out “Nico,” perhaps answering the gif’s own rhetorical question.

So who is Nico? Well, it matches the names of one of the nine bishops in the “Compass” picture from April, which would seem to make him one of the ‘niners” who rule Dema. It’s increasingly looking like this album is really going to double down on covering a weird and fleshed out concept rife with metaphors, and I. Am. Here for it (as long as the music’s, ya know, good).

The final (for now) Dema post was released just yesterday in the wake of all of the sudden new activity. It is the first photo that seems to be wholly original, with no one as yet having tracked down where it’s from. It’s a pretty badass image, with twenty-one (goddammit) figures standing at the edge of some cliff or pit. Some have speculated that this could be album artwork, and it would certainly make for a very good cover. But that’s just the surface.

The image’s jpg name is an assortment of letters that, when deciphered using a basic alphabet sequence code, translates into “Trench”- possibly another new song? BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE! Typing that jpg number sequence or “trench” into the “violation code” section of the dmaorg.info url reveals a heavily-distorted audio clip. Sound engineers on Twitter and Reddit have tried reversing and pitch correcting the snippet, but have not truly succeeded in deriving anything from it beyond that it seems to be Tyler singing “So did they obey/bury you?” But what he’s saying honestly doesn’t matter to me half as much as this fact: after over a year, we finally got to hear Tyler Joseph’s voice. That’s got me on Cloud Nine, baby.

Pictured: The Clique (I know I used this joke last time, sue me)

So what does all of this cryptic nonsense and Reddit deciphering ultimately tell us? Frankly, it’ll be hard to say until we actually have our hands and ears on new music. The Clique has compiled so many different theories about what these little snippets of photos and garbled words mean that there’s no way they can all be true. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that there was an actual plan for this roll-out stretching back at least a year and that Tyler is not (as some salty fans have suggested) just throwing out a bunch of “fake deep trash.” Each piece of the Dema content has matched up in some way with the lyrics from the shutting eyes last year:

“You’ll have to come and find me.” -> The original discovery of the website.

“My pretty sleeper.” -> The “You are still sleeping” hidden message.

“Wouldn’t it be great if we could just lay down...” -> “...and wake up in Slowtown” (and slow down the cheetah gif).

“I will fear the night again...” -> “[I hope I’m] not my only friend.” (the caption for the cliff picture)

Beyond all of that, the revelation of “Nico and the Niners” being part of the actual album should be taken as a real source of validation for all of those Reddit warriors out there: At least some of this stuff means something. (Now wtf is “Jumpsuit” about...)

Other Shenanigans:

Potential leaks from radio stations and some common sense theories have pegged a single release for the band as coming in the next two weeks, either July 6th or 13th. With all that in mind, I thought we’d look back on the weird conspiracy chart I’ve been keeping in my closet and recap what exactly we know about the band’s activities over the last year.

The short answer is: not much. After Josh’s performance at the APMAs, there have been no interviews, no public appearances, no social media posts. Josh has certainly been much more active than Tyler, which just makes sense for his much-less introverted personality. He contributed drums to Lights’ last album (though those recordings were done well before the hiatus). He apparently hopped into the studio with Drake Bell, (though I have no idea if any of that music has seen the light of day). He’s been fine taking group photos with Fueled by Ramen colleagues, other friends from the music industry, and, of course, Debby, who he almost definitely is back with. As for Tyler... well, beyond a few Jenna photos from a few months back and the odd fan encounter, there’s been nothing, which is why that eight second audio clip hit me like a Mack truck.

There are a few other things the truly obsessed have been able to find that I don’t necessarily want to reward by reposting here- I really want to try to keep it about the art. But we can pretty safely guess from Jenna and Jordan’s social media that the duo have been in Columbus, LA, and New York together a few times the last few months, likely for studio sessions and label meetings. Perhaps we’ll find out more about what transpired during the “hiatus” in the weeks and months to come, perhaps not. One thing’s for sure: it’s finally, finally (almost) over.

Editorial:

The last note I wanted to leave everyone on is something a little different for this blog, but still something I still think is worth talking about. Anyone who has been visiting the Twenty One Pilots tags on any site over the last several months can tell that the fanbase has not been taking the band’s absence well. And I’m not just talking the usual overblown crying for new music or young kids worshiping their idols a little too much. That’s always been there. This is different.

A whole host of the old crowd- the update accounts, the podcast hosts, the quasi-groupies who got barricade every night- have turned pretty hard from the band, particularly from Tyler. Some just have no interest in the music of Twenty One Pilots in the year 2018 AD; they’ve discovered other topics, other genres, other artists that speak more personally to where they are in life, and have just moved on. Others have expressed deeply personal distaste for the band itself for a whole host of political and social reasons that I’m not going to get into here- that’s a debate for another time, and probably for another account.

The point is, digging through social media to try to find updates and memes has been difficult when the most dependable sources also pepper in jab at whether Tyler’s learned to carry burdens yet every few posts. And while those folks are certainly more than entitled to their opinions and feelings (I even agree with many of them), it’s hard to deny that there are large swathes of the Twenty One Pilots’ fandom that just aren’t much fun to be in right now, just like there’s large swathes of the world in general where it feels like we’re not permitted to assume the best in people and just be happy with the things that used to make us happy. For a few weeks, I’ve honestly been wondering if I wanted to keep running this account in the next era. I just wanted to go back to the time before I had to share Twenty One Pilots with the world, when this was just my band, the one that made me feel understood and valid and worthy at a time where nothing else really did

Sasha Geffen’s insightful and deeply personal piece on the band’s music for AV Club, which focuses on how Tyler Joseph depicts and discusses suicidal depression, helped bring me back to that time. Music journalists have frequently gotten everything wrong about Tyler Joseph’s songwriting, to the point where I have often felt like they were listening to different music than me. But Geffen gets it. She sees that Tyler does not talk down to his audience about the problems they’re dealing with; he’s always been right there with us, and always offering concrete and practical ways of getting through depression one day at a time. He’s an insightful and compassionate dude, way more than people give him credit for, and it shows in his art. I had almost forgotten that. I needed that reminder right now, before everything ramps up again. I hope that article offers some comfort for any of you who also want to remember why this band is still so special, all these years later.

See you all (hopefully) next week. Power to the local dreamer.

|-/

#twenty one pilots #tyler joseph #josh dun #dema #top weekly update #fueled by ramen #music #av club #bands

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yellow--ish · 7 years ago

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gentle psa

I don’t care if it fits your “aesthetic”, posting a picture that you didn’t take or one you don’t have permission to post is not only unethical but also sometimes illegal. It hurts the photographer because that is their work and you just saved it to your camera roll, posted it on tumblr or instagram or whatever, now it’s on your profile getting thousands of likes and reblogs from people who believe it is your photo and not the original photographer’s. You can totally use pictures from the public domain and to an extent using other peoples photos can be legal but it is for sure 100% unethical to post and not give credit because it completely disregards the photographer/original owner.

If you are going to post a photo that is not yours, please please please for the love of all that is good and holy, give credit to the owner of the photo! It takes two seconds to write their instagram username in the caption, or link a url. Most photographers would love to see their images being shared but not without credit! I know most aesthetic accounts don’t try claim credit for their photos, but posting it without giving credit still hurts the owner.

Putting “not all pics are mine” in your bio is not enough, if someone sees that pretty photo on your profile and wants to see more like it, they wont be able to because you neglected to give credit to the owner and now they are losing out on exposure because you didn’t take two seconds to put their name in the description.

Reblogging or reposting posts from an account that obviously stole the photo doesn’t help the problem either! It takes two seconds for you to check out their profile and see if it seems like they took that picture or not and if they didn’t or if you’re not sure, then don’t reblog it. Even though you are not the person who stole the photo, you are still hurting the photographer because you are exposing the image to more people (your followers) without credit where it is due.

THIS ALL APPLIES TO ART ALSO! STEALING AN ARTIST’S ARTWORK IS ABSOLUTELY WRONG! THEY DID NOT SPEND COUNTLESS HOURS MAKING THAT BEAUTIFUL ARTWORK SO YOU COULD POST IT ON YOUR ART HOE BLOG WITHOUT GIVING THEM CREDIT! (also deleting captions from the original artist’s post and reblogging it can be harmful but thats a different debate).

Thank you for reading all of this, I’m sorry for the cheesy digital citizenship lesson but both tumblr and instagram are major offenders and if this saves one photographer then its worth it. (also this gets messy when we talk about pics and gifs of celebrities so don’t attack me w that bc i don’t know thaaaat much about it)

#also it gets messy when we’re talking about photography of celebrities and stuff but #yes lmao i am an aesthetic blog but i try my bestest to give credit where it is due #I also try my bestest to not reblog posts that are obviously stolen by the poster #ok rant over #there are a bunch of yellow aesthetic blogs that do this #idk other aesthetics but still you know what i mean #copyright laws #creative commons #aesthetic blog #art hoe blogs #stealing artwork and photography is wrong #discourse #aes

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raximoweek · 7 years ago

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An insight into Cristina’s life by C. Bonadincel

You wake up to 45 text messages from your son Máximo waiting to be answered on your phone. Check your facebook/twitter/Instagram and you have 450 likes on the selfie you took of yourself with a caption making fun of our current President. You want more attention though, so you take a shower, put on a shirt that whoops! accidentally lets the side of your bra show, put on 4 whole pencil’s worth of eyeliner to go from a 9.5/10 to a 10/10, and snap a quick selfie of yourself that you quickly upload to your social media accounts with some sarcastic emojis. Maybe this one will get you 4500 likes.

Your driver takes you to the Senate in a car that cost 365,283 whole Argentinian pesos. Before you get out you make a quick video complaining about all the injustices done to you by Federal Justice Claudio Bonadio : ( Got to keep the public talking about you! you laugh to yourself. As you walk into the Congress building, you pass several Federal Justices on the street. They all stare at you as you pass. Most of them are actually concerned with bringing justice to the nation of Argentina and punishing its most heinous white-collar criminals. Gross! You ignore them. These losers spend their whole adult life jerking off to persecuting their political opponents, and they still only earn one million pesos per year—legally.

You stop to get your usual morning diet fruit salad on the way. Have to maintain all 140 pounds of you! The good-looking boy serves you and tries chatting you up again, but he’s too good looking, nothing like your crude, hulking son Máximo or the rotting corpse of your dead husband who it’s time to get over. You know he’s going to ask you out one day, but you’ll end up rejecting him because you only fuck people with the last name of Kirchner. You don’t mind the attention though.

Several men stare at your cleavage and the bruises on your leg that conveniently show through your tights as you resume your walk. It’s so hard to be such a radiant goddess. You enter your 106,000 pesos per year Senate job which you had to get by manipulating the voters due to being a mentally ill degenerate with no competence or leadership skills who’s thirsty for power. You notice many of your male political opponents are there. The Senate is sexist. Typical. You greet all of your coworkers: Máximo’s handsome young friend from La Cámpora, Axel Kicillof your young, brilliant Chad former minister of economy, Máximo’s other handsome young friend from La Cámpora, Hot Blonde Female Senator who you’re probably fucking, and nemesis from the opposing party Vice President Gabriela Michetti (in a wheelchair, so she can’t even sit on the special throne!) Of course the “less corrupt” political party is currently in office. They get all the good jobs now! But that would change. We’re fighting to get me—I mean, us--back into power! You remember how Kim Il-Sung of North Korea is still considered the leader of the nation even after his death. Good on him, you think to yourself.

You ask the Vice President to shut up and let you speak and she immediately does so. You cut a grape from your fruit salad in half because grapes have such a high caloric content and demand that a bottle of low-sodium mineral water be brought to your desk. Máximo’s young Chad friends have to come over to flirt with you, so you make the entire Senate wait for you to begin your egocentric ramblings. Then you take the floor and talk for 45 minutes about how you’re being persecuted for your beliefs and then answer another 45 texts from Máximo. Then leader of the majority Miguel Pichetto asks to speak. He can be so conceited sometimes thinking anyone cares what he has to say! But at least this gives you time to go to the bathroom. You stand up and make sure to announce how unfair it is that the bathroom is so far away while you pretend to be leaving the room quietly and respectfully. Before you know it, it’s lunchtime and you hide in your office and stuff your face with your favorite fried pig intestines so no one sees you eating anything other than fruit salad and grilled chicken.

Around 2pm another senator from your party comes and jokingly asks if you’re doing any work. You laugh and tell him you don’t need to work to make money and smile sexily at him (because you’re talking about all your laundered money). You spend the rest of your time in the Senate ranting on Facebook about how Federal Justice Claudio Bonadio has accused you of colluding with Iran. What an ugly, fat son of a bitch he is! Your post from this morning now has 450,000 likes. You have several text messages from Máximo letting you know he wants to get dinner tonight. So far, he’s asked for dinner 3 times and for pre-dinner drinks 4 times. You check Página|12, the one news site in the country that understands how oppressed you and other Kirchnerite policians are (but especially you). You see an article about how Federal Justice Claudio Bonadio should be removed from the Iran case because he holds a grudge against you and is very corrupt besides. You share the article and say how hard it is for you that this competent, experienced judge is persecuting you and your family. You get 45 likes and 45 comments agreeing with you and saying that this innocent and ruggedly handsome enforcer of the law of the land should go to hell.

After work you head back to your apartment and do 30 minutes of running on the treadmill with smoke pouring out of your ears while watching the news anchors on TV talk about your criminal behavior. You notice your personal trainer Luciana staring at you from the weights section. She’s pretty hot, but topping you is a privilege that she has to repeatedly earn, so you put your headphones in to listen to the Gladiator soundtrack. You wouldn’t dare take a selfie when you’re done with the treadmill, because you don’t want the public seeing what you look like with most of your eye makeup sweated off. You head off to the water cooler to drink another glass of low-sodium mineral water. Luciana tries to make conversation with you. She’s hot and attractively younger than you, but her last name isn’t Kirchner, so you politely make it clear that you’re not interested (today).

You already have several more likes on your reposted article about angel of justice Bonadio and more comments about how heartless he is to persecute the best president the country has ever had. Máximo has now asked you to go out for dinner with him 6 times. You text him 4 times and organize the night and make sure to use lots of heart emojis. You get home and say hi to your poodle Lolita and ignore your daughter Florencia. She’s 27 and still a vegan. She’s always cared about the environment, stood up for the rights of dairy cows and shit like that. Now her baby daddy dumped her because of how obsessed with soy milk and social justice she is. Maybe if she showed some ambition like you did. You got into politics relatively early on because the electorate noticed how charming, sexy, and honest you are. She was always Dad’s favorite though, and never appreciated you enough before he died. She could be such a selfish bitch sometimes.

You call your 89 year-old mom and tell her that you want to buy a new Birkin bag but don’t want to use any of the funds you’ve thoughtfully embezzled from public works projects. She gives you 6,088,350 pesos that she earned from scamming the Post Office. You say thank you, even though you know you don’t really need it because you recently had a net worth of 80 million USD. You deserve it for simply being Cristina Kirchner.

You decide it’s time to meet up with Máximo. You need protection out on the street though in case the people who have seen through your grating charisma and realize what a sexy piece of shit you really are decide to throw eggs at you again. You text some of Máximo’s buff, Chad friends from La Cámpora to come walk with you. You take fifty selfies and a dozen videos for your YouTube channel while you’re walking down the street. Some men who also happen to work as federal judges and prosecutors call out to you about how immoral you are, and you and your Chad posse laugh hilariously. All these guys aren’t getting laid, right? Like, why do they even bother?

As soon as you get to the restaurant Máximo comes to greet you and plies you with expensive wine. You don’t really plan on staying though because you want to have a private night with your good for nothing Chad son who’s never had a job interview in his life. You make sure to keep his handsome male friends from La Cámpora there so they can protect Máximo’s blubbery body and lack of a law degree too.

After 4 men come to talk to you and tell you they definitely don’t believe that you allegedly ordered the murder of a prosecutor who was about to accuse you of collusion with Iran, which gets them kisses on the cheek from you, you abandon the restaurant and head off down the street with Máximo. People greet him with respect even though he has no degrees from institutions of higher learning and owns 45 SUVs purchased with stolen money. Your Chad bodyguards get in between you and Máximo and the innocent Argentinian citizens who you proclaim to love so much who are demanding you answer for your disgraceful crimes and complete lack of disrespect for our justice system, especially learnèd and powerful Federal Justice Claudio Bonadio. Máximo takes a video of you two walking down the street while ignoring the demands of your countrymen. You can’t stop laughing at how empowered it makes you feel to ignore this persecution. This is great!

At home you and Máximo sit close together on your expensive imported couch and talk because literally no one matters to you other than the degenerates in your family. Máximo tells you how he’s broken up with his latest girlfriend, just another one in a series of girls who look like a broke-ass version of you. You tell him how you approve of this because she was a distraction—Kirchners need to stick together. That’s why you refuse to testify in your court appearance and won’t meet Federal Justice Claudio Bonadio’s eyes when he greets you. Some guys can be so pathetic. Your lawyer Gregorio is texting you. He is a pretty hot Chad and you’ve considered ****ing him to see if that will get you free legal representation and perhaps inspire him to bribe the jury (with his own money, not yours). Your degenerate son Máximo gets jealous so you stop replying. The only thing you love more than defrauding and deceiving an entire country while dressing like an oversexed mom is your son who always seems to get girlfriends even though he has accomplished nothing in life (certainly nothing like going to law school and becoming a Federal Justice, anyway). You make plans to have Máximo spend the night. You ask him which of your apartment’s 5 bedrooms he’d like to sleep in and he says he wants to sleep in yours. Gregorio is still texting you but you have long since stopped replying. Even your Chad lawyer is kind of acting like a loser right now. You tell Máximo that of course he can sleep in your bed with you because he’s such a big strong boy who spends Mommy’s laundered money so well. He is a literally perfect Kirchner. You remember Florencia telling you that it’s weird that Máximo still likes to sleep in your bed at age 40, yet she’s the one sleeping alone tonight. You laugh to yourself. She must be doing something wrong. She’s obviously not worthy of the kind of love you and Máximo share.

After a night as deviant as you are, you wake up to Luciana asking if you’ll have hot girl-on-girl sex with her today, your mom sending you her fraudulent money for your new Birkin bag, and 450 comments on a leaked photo someone took of you on the treadmill saying you look good even with your 45 pounds of mascara smeared all over your face. It’s only 9am. Máximo brings you cake in bed and you post another article trashing the blameless silver fox Federal Justice Claudio Bonadio on all your social media profiles. Today is going to be a good day!

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chariot313 · 5 years ago

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Western social media has no respect for Japanese online artists - and it’s killing online art

The visual arts have evolved to suit the most popular medium of each era. In nowadays’ case, the internet is the go-to method of sharing the fruits of one’s labour). However, as stated in that tweet thread of mine you can see if you scroll down a bit (assuming you’re viewing this post on chariot313.tumblr.com) different cultures have different attitudes towards how their customers react to their products. This include you know what fuck the formalities, I’ll just say it: The exclusively western concept of someone seeing something they like online and hitting the share button to stimulate the “Haha, upvotes go ‘brrr’!” dopamine in their smooth-ass lizard brain will be the death of online Japanese artists. Or rather, it has been already, and you would know that if you’ve ever seen an artist’s Twitter bio be in mostly Japanese save for one sentence in English; “Reprint is prohibited.”.

If you want to hear me rationalize the absurd claim I just made, feel free to click the “Keep reading” button. Otherwise, turn back now and save yourself from me possibly wasting your time.

Alright, you’ve chosen to stick with me. Just remember, you asked for this.

Introduction

Social media as a whole is based around sharing (posting, uploading, submitting, tweeting, blogging, streaming etc.) and other’s reactions to what one has shared (views, likes, subscribers, favorites, followers, upvotes, retweets, reblogs, crossposts, etc.).

However, miscommunication and culture shock due to language barriers and cultural differences is one of the many factors that can negatively affect one’s experience on social media. For example, the Japanese artist community, active on sites such as Twitter, Pixiv, NicoNico Seiga, FC2 blogs, etc.. Twitter is mostly inhabited by English-speaking users. Here in the west, our main motive for sharing something on social media (such as art) is for fame and recognition. However, over in the East, most online artists only upload their works to the internet for personal use. I’m not saying one cultural attitude towards sharing art is better than one another, but when these two worldviews collide, the culture shock can negatively affect the careers of artists who are unaware of the other culture’s differing views on sharing art.

So, I’ve listed numerous social media platforms below and I’m going to elaborate on how each of them contributes to the alienation and discouragement of Japanese artists.

DO NOT WITCH-HUNT OR HARASS THE CULPRITS I’VE LISTED AS EXAMPLES; THEY ONLY SERVE TO BACK UP MY ARGUMENT

Twitter

Go into the twitter search bar and type in the name of an anime character (usually female). What do you find? Most likely an account named after said character that does nothing but post unsourced fan art of said character with cheesy “in-character” captions on them.

Exhibit A [NSFW]

Exhibit B [NSFW]

Exhibit C [very NSFW]

Aside from that, Twitter isn’t that bad in this regard, as a lot of the art that gets stolen is originally uploaded to Twitter anyway. But I’m just getting started.

Wattpad

Ah yes, Wattpad. One of the “trinity” of fan fiction communities (the others being fanfiction.net and AO³), featuring many different stories with varying degrees of readability. The problem is the option to add a picture to adorn your fanfiction, at which point most of the authors google “<fanfic subject> fan art” and use something from there without considering the repercussions. This causes Wattpad to be one of the top results when reverse image searching to find the source of some fan art, aside from another site I’ll mention later on...

There’s a subreddit I often browse called r/ChurchOfJirou, a community for sharing anything relating to the character Kyouka from My Hero Academia (I mean come on, she’s like the cutest thing ever). A lot of the posts on that sub are sharing fan art of the aforementioned character. One of the rules in the sidebar is “always include the source in the title or the comments”. And most of the submissions make good on that rule. However, a lot of the posts are from Japanese artists on Twitter or Pixiv, and following the source link leads you to find the artist’s bio, which usually has something along the lines of “don’t repost my work”. And what’s more, the biggest offenders (of submitting art to the sub without OP’s permission) were the moderators of the subreddit. You know, the ones who are supposed to be enforcing the rules? I even got so fed up that I called it out, to which one of the mods replied,

“It doesn’t really make a difference, does it?”

Luckily, not all subreddits are like this. For example, other MHA-related subs like r/BokuNoShipAcademia or r/ChurchOfMinaAshido have moderators that are more considerate of artists’ wishes. Overall, Reddit is usually a hit-or-miss when it comes to this kind of thing. At best, you’ve got subs like the two I just mentioned which make sure to respect artists, and at worst you’ve got people trying (and failing) to edit out watermarks. Also, not to self-promote, but this tweet of mine represents this situation pretty well:

Imgur

Imgur isn’t that bad compared to the rest of these, but it’s a common one that people link to when asked for the source of whatever they’ve shared on Twitter or Reddit or whatever.

Amino Apps

Amino Apps is a strange case. I don’t know much about it since I’ve never used it, but from what I do know it seems similar to Reddit in that there are numerous communities for different niches. That said, judging from the way it clogs up Google image search results, I doubt OC art is posted there often.

YouTube

Now, you may be thinking, “How does a video site rip off others’ art?”. The answer is uploads of soundtracks. Look for any OST from a video game or anime on YouTube and the picture used for the video will likely be some fan art by a Japanese Pixiv artist, usually one that forbids reposts of their work. Not only that, but if the uploader did bother to add the source in the description, it’s usually not even a link to the actual source, more likely a link to Zerochan or Pinterest or something. Now take into account that some of these videos get millions of views. Imagine working hard on something, and some numbnuts takes it, slaps some music onto it, uploads it to YouTube, and gets millions of views while you get next to nothing in comparison.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B (re-upload; original had nearly 40 million views before it was copyright claimed)

Exhibit C

and many many others

Alright, this is the big one. When Pinterest isn’t giving recipes or wardrobe ideas to suburban white moms, it’s clogging up Google reverse image search, punishing anyone who just wanted to find the source of some cute fan art. I feel like this meme by ZebitasMartinexSi on Facebook sums it up:

For example, this piece of Legend of Zelda art by Twitter artist @_nomeri_ (I’ll just link to it, since it would be hypocritical of me to embed the image even though @_nomeri_’s bio warns people not to repost their art). Good art, right? Well, if you right-click and hit “Search Google for image”...

...yeah. Pinterest is a plague. It thrives on theft. Even worse is when someone will post fan art on Twitter/Tumblr/Reddit/etc. and have the nerve to say “IDK the source I found it on Pinterest ^_^”. Or worse yet, they link to Pinterest saying it’s the source.

Instagram

While many other sites rag on Instagram for its reposting of memes, it’s no better when it comes to reposting fan art, especially from Pixiv. I’ve seen lots of stolen pieces with fan fictions written in the description. Personally, if I were an artist, I’d rethink my career choice if I saw my art reposted on Instagram with a half-assed fanfic under it, so I don’t blame Japanese artists who close their Pixiv accounts after seeing that. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to prevent it from happening in the first place.

DeviantArt

DeviantArt is more “renowned” across the web for its niche circles of bizarre fetish art, but in its defence, there are some legitimately good pieces on there. If you do find a good one though, try checking to see if all of the uploader’s pieces have a similar overall art style, because if not, that’s a sure sign of someone passing off some Pixiv user’s art as their own, which is unfortunately fairly common on DeviantArt.

9Gag

Not a whole lot to say about 9Gag. I mean, it does contribute to reposting of art, but nothing really separates it from the others on this list, aside from its watermarks. At least the watermark gives away the fact that something was reposted.

Know Your Meme

You know that Zelda pic by @_nomeri_ I was talking about earlier? Well, to add insult to injury, it became an object-labelling meme.

Imagine putting hours into something and politely asking others not to repost it, only to find that some nincompoops on r/DankMemes made it into an object-labelling meme.

But this isn’t KYM’s fault, per se. Know Your Meme only documents memes; they do not create them. However, as someone who regularly browses the Know Your Meme image galleries, I can say that the image gallery has essentially become Know Your Fan Art (unlawfully reposted fan art, that is).

Redbubble

There’s an NSFW artist I follow on Twitter by the name of Nico-Mo. A while ago, his Pixiv account was suspended, and there were numerous pictures on there that he had not uploaded to his Twitter or DeviantArt, so I found a mirror of one of those pieces on Gelbooru and reverse-image searched in hopes of finding it on his Twitter. No such luck. What came up instead was a .png of the piece made into a sticker being sold on Redbubble. In fact, that’s one of the major reasons why artists disapprove of their art being reposted, as it may find its way onto a sticker or a T-shirt being sold as merch without the original artist giving consent nor the artist receiving so much as a single nickel.

Facebook

Surprisingly, I think Facebook is one of the least offending sites on this list. Still worth mentioning, though.

Funnyjunk

Like Imgur, Funnyjunk isn’t that bad compared to some of the rest of these, but this exchange in the comments of a repost of an MHA artist that deleted their account (not hard to see why considering people straight-up ignored the big-ass watermark at the bottom) is proof enough of western social media’s flippant attitude towards ruining online artists’ careers.

Aggregator imageboards such as Yande.re, Konachan, Danbooru, Gelbooru, Rule34, SankakuComplex, Zerochan, etc.

I don’t think I need to explain these. But like Imgur, these are what most people link to when asked for source instead of bothering to find the original post.

We Heart It

I don’t know much about “We Heart It”, but it seems to be a “Pinterest Lite” considering it clogs up image search almost as much as Pinterest does.

iFunny

Basically the same as 9Gag, in the sense that its watermarks are a dead giveaway.

4chan

I’m not sure if 4chan really “counts” among these, as it’s a chat board where nearly everything is impermanent anyway. However, I was once on an NSFW subreddit where one submitter used a 4chan thread to get Patreon-exclusive material from an artist to upload to the sub (even though one of the rules of the sub was “no paywall content”), so that alone earns 4chan its spot on this list.

Tumblr

Yes, not even Tumblr is innocent. Although I’m sure you knew that. Similar to what I said about Twitter, look up any blog named after a fictional character and it’ll likely be chock-full of unsourced fan art.

“Why is this even important?”

Because if an artist sees that their work is being reposted, depending on the artist, they may delete the original post when they wouldn’t have to if people had just respected their wishes. Now, if an artist wants their works gone from the internet for other personal reasons, that’s up to them and we should respect them for it. But artists taking down their works due to mass reposting is 100% preventable, which is why it’s sad. If you don’t respect an artist, they won’t create art. Simple as that.

“Why do you care so much?”

Eh, I’m just weird like that. It just ticks me off when anything online, whether it be art, or a video, or whatever, is lost. In my opinion, nothing hurts more than clicking a Pixiv link on an imageboard and being greeted with “The work was deleted or the ID does not exist.”.

“But lots of western artists forbid reposting of their art too!”

Indeed, that is correct. But while many artists of every nationality and culture frown upon reproduction of their work, it seems only western social media is responsible for reposting art in the first place. I mean, why else do you think Japanese artists are saying “Reprint is prohibited” in English when the rest of their bio is in Japanese? Because English-speakers are the ones reposting.

“But exposure can help an artist!”

Yeah, that’s true...

...but “exposure” doesn’t mean much if those “exposed” to one’s work don’t know or care who it came from.

And if you need even more reasons, look no further than these posts about the same topic by other blogs:

https://cranberrywitch.tumblr.com/post/143456002228/stop-reposting-art-from-japanese-artists

https://thegospelofnagisa.tumblr.com/post/143308182398

https://edendaphne.tumblr.com/post/163117317030/ive-been-wanting-to-make-this-educational-cheat

https://marklightgreatsword.tumblr.com/post/190056977650/discourage-art-theft-in-fandom-in-2020-dont

https://letusrespectpixivartistconsent.tumblr.com/post/92189994896/why-is-this-important

also, not to self-promote but I made a thread on Twitter on this topic about a month ago that you can check out here.

That’s all.

posted Jun 14; last edit Jun 21

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merydenrr · 8 years ago

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A Deanee Marriage Timeline

October 2016: Dean and Renee file to get married in a county they don’t live in. Plausible as Dean had a houseshow in Reno that day, except….

A while ago, someone leaked the deeds to the Vegas house, listing the legal owner as a ‘Jonathan L. Good.’ The name on the marriage application says 'Jonathan D. Good.’ Now I’m no lawyer but I’m pretty sure you don’t get to pick and choose which middle names you want to present to own property or legally file to get hitched.

Conclusion: one document is real and the other isn’t/involves an unrelated party. So Dean did file to marry Renee but has been lying about living in Vegas. Or, he does live in Vegas and the Jon and Renee on the application are two different people. Stranger shit has happened.

January 2017: This month is important because according to Nevada law, they should have married for it to be recognized as a legal union. If that’s them that filed in October, then the timeline has obviously lapsed and they’re only 'married’ in the 'married in Vegas’ sense, I.e easily dissolved and not legally binding. If they waited until Sunday to get married, they’d have to apply for a new license. So why didn’t they?

April 6th - April 9th 2017: The romantical Zion holiday. The only fan who puts them near that location is a guy who, for some reason, refused to share the story of how his mother met them at the restaurant she works until Monday.

[Things to also take into account: his social media is new (first tweet was less than five days before he uploaded that picture) and his YouTube channel isn’t a month old yet. And as at time of writing, despite the fact that he’s supposed to review Raw and Smackdown episodes, he hasn’t uploaded anything since retelling his mother’s encounter. Interesting.]

During his retelling, his timeline switches from 'They came Thursday and left on Monday to 'They came Friday and left Saturday’. Dean and Renee could have been there from just one day to staying for the whole weekend. Not helping to sort out this jumbled timeline is Renee’s IG posts. She posted two pictures of the trip: one on Saturday with the caption 'That was nice’ (which a Utah native commented by saying the scenery didn’t look anything like Zion), and the other on Monday where she says 'goodbye and now off to Smackdown.’ In between those two pics, she reposted a video of herself watching Blue watch TV on Sunday.

Conclusion: no fucking clue. Them getting married on Sunday only makes sense if they truly left Zion on Saturday. Her pictures conflict with the timeline that’s being presented by WWE. But even if they did leave on Saturday, Dean travels the day before each televised appearance. Sunday would have been a travel day for him, while she remained at home/Zion.

April 10th 2017: Dean gets drafted to Raw. Fans spot a rubber/silicone band on his ring and start freaking the fuck out online.

April 11th 2017: Renee adds fuel to the fire by posting a picture on Snapchat showcasing a huge cheap ring. More fans freak out. In Talking Smack, she wears the rings but gets passive aggressive when KO and Ziggler start 'congratulating’ her.

In between Renee’s Snapchat and Talking Smack, SWMNBN suddenly appears on both anti blogs with information on the marriage application that’s been available since October, but she only chooses that day and time to share. She then leaks the information on Twitter, leading to people blaming us and 'Dean fangirls.’

April 12th 2017: Renee seemingly confirms the marriage news and spends time liking tweets from people offering congratulations and blaming fans for invading her privacy. TMZ comments and says it’s all 'according to Renee.’ WWE comments, tellingly using their wrestling/Divas names and says 'More to come’ before announcing they got married on Sunday, discussed above. I should also mention that I find it unlikely that WWE didn’t know, considering Creative drafts the script for Talking Smack days/hours before Smackdown even airs.

Also Divas aired last night. A show that hasn’t gotten one million viewers since its fifth season and is being actively ignored by E! Network, who are more interested in Total Bellas. Also tellingly, last night’s episode was the last Deanee-centric one for this season.

Conclusion: A poorly timed, convoluted publicity stunt to drum up viewers for a failing reality tv show that’s hated/ignored by the vast majority of wrestling fans. The timing of the leak and the pictures and the episode is too precise for it to be anything but.

Other things to note-

Renee reusing the HOF pic (where she lied about sitting with him and would have shown up to see Dean had put two people between him and her), and justifying it by saying she’s using a new phone and doesn’t have her other pictures. Except that she already replaced it as at two-three weeks ago and Apple will transfer all your shit for you when you upgrade. It should also be noted that until now, Renee has never EVER called attention to the fact that she only reposts pictures of her and Dean at work or on-location shoots, nor has she ever felt the need to justify it.

Conclusion: An excuse for why she’s not posting couple pics or pictures from the Vegas wedding that may or may not have taken place. Also a change from her saying that Dean won’t let her post their couple pictures online. So has he changed his mind now that everyone knows they’re hitched?

People saying they got married because they knew they’d split up from the draft.

Conclusion: Codependency and insecurity, not love. How does getting married help them cope with the draft? If they need to enter something serious like marriage to reassure/reconfirm their feelings at getting separated, why should I buy that their love is so strong and pure?

Ultimate conclusion: It’s a mess. A steaming mess of bullshit. There’s no clear definite answer here. There’s too many coincidences and bullshit and precise timing involved to 100% say they got married at the time they said for the reasons you’d expect a healthy couple to marry. As always when it comes to these two, everything falls apart once you take the timeline and other things into account. My gut is telling me this is purely a PR move for Divas. This whole presentation is drowned in bullshit, and I’m not buying it until proven otherwise.

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filipeteimuraz · 6 years ago

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The Best Blogging Platforms and Blog Sites of 2019

When it comes to creating your own blog, you have two options. There are pre-built platforms like Medium, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, etc. These can be considered blogging platforms, and with them you can get started right away. There are obviously cons to these, but one pro is that these platforms come with built-in audiences. I’ll also refer to these as blog sites.

Then there is blog software, like WordPress.org. I’d also group website builders like Wix here as well. Again, there are pros and cons to these: you’ll need to do a little more work at the outset and you’ll build your own audience from scratch, but you’ll own and control your site completely. With a blog platform, you’ll be beholden to the platform’s choices, settings, changes, and algorithms.

A quick summary of my recommendation: If you plan to make money from your blog, build your own site with WordPress.org. A good second option is Wix. If you’re not trying to make money from your site, then you should use a blogging platform (Medium, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook) and make content where your audience is already consuming that type of content.

In this guide, I’ll break down both ways to set up your blog in this post and help you pick which blog site, software, or platform is best for you. Let’s get to it.

Best Blogging Platform for Your Own Website

Best Overall — WordPress.org I’d recommend going this route to anyone serious about building a blog that makes money. You’ll build and own your own site with complete control. (If you’re a beginner, this is still very doable for you.)

Website Builder — Wix If you want to have to your own site, but don’t want to build it, then I’d recommend you go with a website builder. It’s a drag-and-drop editor that’ll get you up and running quickly, and you’ll still be building your blog on your own website, not on someone else’s platform.

Best Blog Sites (If You Don’t Want to Build a Website)

Traditional Blogging Platform — Medium If you’re not creating your own site and your blog is a classic blog — long form posts about a topic that’s meaningful to you — I like Medium. It has a built-in audience that’s interested in reading and an interface that’s seamless.

Best Blog for Business — LinkedIn Blogging about business or hoping to be a thought-leader in a certain industry? You could go with Medium, but a more rabid and useful audience might be waiting for you on LinkedIn. I know, it might not seem like a blogging platform, but LinkedIn users are really engaged and content hungry.

Best for a Creative Blog — Instagram If you’re doing anything with images, art, creativity, or lifestyle, you’ll probably find your audience on Instagram. There are already so many people there and it’s easy for new followers to discover you through hashtags, comments, and the other people you and they are following.

Largest Audience — Facebook Lastly, the biggest audience is on Facebook. There are millions of people there, and though organic reach on the platform isn’t what it once was, it’s still a massive platform. It’s also a great spot for building a community page element to your blog.

Which blogging platform or blog site should you choose?

The first question I have for you is: Do you want to make money with your blog?

If your answer is yes, you want to build your own site. No question.

If you don’t want to make money, skip ahead to the blog sites — your choice will be based on the type of content you’ll write and the audience you’re after.

If you want to make money with your blog, go with WordPress.org.

There’s no better option than building your own blog on WordPress. You’ll own your blog and website and you’ll have true flexibility. There is no argument here. It’s the default content option and runs 30% of the internet for a reason.

You don’t have to be an expert — we have step-by-step guides on How to Start a Blog and How to Make Money Blogging.

You can also build your blog using Wix. It’s an all-in-one drag-and-drop website builder. It’s an easy option if you’re looking to have your blog on your own site, rather than on a blog platform or service like Medium or another form of social media. The downside is you’ll be paying a subscription fee and you’ll be locked into Wix’s themes and tools. So, you’ll trade some convenience for some flexibility.

If you’re not trying to make money, then definitely consider the free blog sites.

They are great if you aren’t trying to create an income: They have built-in audiences and you won’t have to pay anything. My recommendation of which one to choose is based on the outcome that you’re trying to achieve — what is your blog like and who do you hope will read it?

Medium is the best all-around traditional blogging platform. It’s where the majority of readers who’re looking to read classic blog-style posts are right now.

Deciding to blog on WordPress vs Medium isn’t an either-or choice. You can also publish your site and re-publish some posts on Medium to take advantage of its benefits, just like you would any syndication deal. You can thoughtfully approach this, but there are some technical how-tos we’ll get into below. You’ll need to import your posts to Medium properly and set the canonical tag, so you’re not penalized by Google (at worst) or simply out-ranked by the Medium version of the post (at best). Overall, though, I prefer to see each channel as a separate channel and create and publish unique content for that channel.

If you’re blogging about business, or something related, like management, then I’d say to build your blog on LinkedIn. There’s a pre-existing community of people there talking about those topics and ready to read your posts too. You’ll be able to build business followers, which is different than a “connection.”

The audience on LinkedIn is premium: 45% of LinkedIn article readers are in upper-level positions: managers, VPs, Directors, and C-level. If you’re building thought leadership, brand value, or community, rather than trying to make money, I recommend going to where your audience is rather than trying to woo them over to where you are. Build content for them where they already are and they’ll love you for it.

If you’re a creative — especially in a visual field, then your blog should really be an Instagram account. You can post images of your work and use the caption field for your written post. If you’re not used to this idea, it might seem kind of zany: That’s not a real blog. But it is. People read Instagram captions of the accounts they follow like they’d read a blog — and your visual work will be well highlighted in your feed and the general feed.

And, of course, Facebook is the juggernaut in the room. It has the largest audience of any of these platforms. Creating a Facebook page might be all you need to build a blog — post on Facebook like you would on your blog and build your audience right there on your page. The comments and interaction on Facebook are even better than a traditional blog. You can really focus on building true fans on Facebook.

There’s another warning due here. If you build your blog on a single platform that you do not own, well, then you’ve built your blog on a single platform you do not own. That means you’re beholden to another person’s business and their algorithm for your business. What’s good for their business and algorithm may not be what’s good for yours. That’s why I say if you’re here to make money, you should own your site. You’ll have more control.

Best Blogging Platform For Your Own Website

Best Overall Platform for Blogging — WordPress.org

WordPress is the hands-down king of websites with content. It’s the default choice here. If you’re building a blog on your own site, that means you’re building with WordPress. (Quick Sprout is on WordPress.)

To build your own site, you’ll need to buy a domain name, get web hosting, and set up your WordPress account. It’s all pretty simple. There’s more information on our post The Best Web Hosting for Small Business and on The Best Web Hosting for WordPress, which is about selecting a managed host that’s designed for WordPress. It’s more expensive but also super premium. If you have the coin, go for it. If you’re budget minded, you can skip it.

You’ll pick a theme, apply it, and honestly you’ll be just about done. We have some recommendations on SEO WordPress plugins you’ll want to add. The backend of WordPress is pretty intuitive, and if you get lost there are so many tutorials out there to help.

Like I said before, the choice between WordPress and Medium isn’t either/or. You can build your own blog and then use Medium selectively as a syndication tool. It’s worth thinking about if you want to grow your audience, but ultimately build your own site.

Ready to build your own site with WordPress? We walk you through how in our posts How to Start a Blog and How to Make Money Blogging.

How to repost your blog on Medium

Make sure your content has a long enough life on your own blog so it is solidified as the primary source in Google’s eyes. Two weeks is enough time.

Use Medium’s Import tool to publish the content. It’s as simple as plugging in your original URL, updating any wonky formatting, and clicking publish. The import tool will automatically set the canonical URL to your original post on your website. It’s very important to have the canonical in there. This applies to any type of syndication: you want to have a canonical in place so Google knows where the original article is located. Otherwise, at worst, you could get penalized; at best, the bigger site will outrank you.

Pro Tips

I wouldn’t auto-post all of your content to Medium. It’s weird. Why have a duplicate of your site living on their site? It doesn’t make sense for your readers, or you long term.

You should thoughtfully approach each channel. Content on that channel is its own form. What someone wants to read on each platform depends a lot on the platform itself — What is the UX like? Why are they there? What types of interactions does the platform encourage?

Best Website Builder for Blogging — Wix

I like Wix for blogging because it’s one-and-done. If you want to go the easy route for owning your own blog, this is it. The templates are great looking and you can customize them with a drag-and-drop editor. The blog manager is simple and intuitive, and you’ll get analytics and SEO built right in. It’s simple to add the basic features you might want on your blog: social tools, likes, comments, hashtags, categories, and a subscriber forms. All of the SEO features you need are easy to access too: alt tags for your images, internal links, SEO titles and descriptions (that are different from you post title), and nofollow tags for external links. Wix blogs have an automatic email subscribe feature and a social media bar beneath each article for sharing on Facebook, Twitter, and more.

To build a blog on Wix, you’ll sign into your account and pick a template. There’s a Blog template category, which is a great place to start.

Once you have your template selected, I suggest updating the font, colors, and logo to personalize your template and help it stand out from the rest.

Writing a post is as simple as clicking Create a Post, writing and adding images. You can save drafts, or even give other contributors writing privileges for you site. This is all just as easy from a mobile device as from a desktop — no app required.

Make sure that you update your SEO settings for every post: this is what’s presented in the search results page and is critical for ranking in organic search.

The resulting post will have an automatic read-time count, like a Medium post right next to the author’s name, which I also like a lot. I also like the ability to live-chat with your readers in the Wix app. If you build a real community in your blog or are open to answering reader questions in real time — say about an online course you’re offering or a webinar that’s coming up — then it’s a cool feature.

Best Blog Sites (That’s Not Your Own Site)

Traditional Blogging Platform — Medium

It’s hard to pin down how many users Medium has — they focus on sharing how much time is spent on the platform reading instead. I dig it. The platform, was founded by Twitter co-founder and former CEO Evan Williams as a response to the hyper-short limits of Twitter, hence the name Medium. At one point, there was some distinction between even longer blog platforms, but that’s dissipated by now.

In 2017, Medium had 60 million unique visitors. From personal experience, I know that when I read on Medium, I read with curiosity and intent. I’m ready to put in some time reading, and the read times on each article get me to commit to sticking it out for the whole thing.

Posting with Medium is super simple. There’s a clean, very white WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor. Basically, as you type, you see what the post will look like when it’s published. There are a lot of tips and tricks to format your post that are a little hidden in the simplicity of the interface.

Publishing on Medium is so effortless. Formatting content and uploading images takes basically zero time. It’s really the best web-based publishing experience I’ve had to date.

— Josh Pigford of Baremetrics

Don’t stop at this point though. Instead of just a profile, I recommend creating a Medium Publication. This gives you the option to add other writers and editors to your blog. More importantly, it gives you a lot more options for controlling what is essentially your blog homepage. Take a look at the difference between Patagonia’s basic profile and REI’s publication.

One is a simple chronological feed and the other is a designed page with useful menu options. When you create a publication like REI has you also unlock the ability to send a newsletter to all of your followers.

Pro Tips

If you are syndicating your actual blog, use the Import feature. This is essential for SEO.

To start a bulleted list, simply type an asterisk or a dash.

There are two types of quotes. Use a block quote by clicking the quote icon once. Click it again for a pull quote.

Drop caps add a little editorial weight. To make the first letter of your paragraph larger, and give it that designed look, highlight the letter. The option will appear.

Use TK to leave yourself notes. This is an old journalism trick — there are no words with TK in them in the English language. If you’re writing something that needs a placeholder, use TK and Medium will alert you if you try to publish with one still in place.

Best Blog Site for Business — LinkedIn

There are 590 million LinkedIn users, 154 million of them in the US. And a lot of them are active: 44% are monthly active users. LinkedIn used to be basically a resume hosting platform. In a lot of ways it was like a job-hunting dating app: you’d go on if you were looking to hire or looking to get hired but not much else. In the last few years that has changed dramatically.

If you’re building a business blog, the audience on LinkedIn is premium: 45% of LinkedIn article readers are in upper-level positions (managers, VPs, Directors, C-level).

Hardcore LinkedIn users know that there’s a certain warm professionalism that underlies many exchanges on the platform. In short, LinkedIn offers a kind of stability, civility and real value that’s sorely needed on some social platforms.

— Ryan Holmes, “Is LinkedIn Poised To Be The Next Big Social Network … For Brands?” for Forbes.com

Publishing doesn’t make you a LinkedIn Influencer, unfortunately. That’s a hand-selected group of people that rotates throughout the year “to include only the most engaged, prolific, and thoughtful contributors and to ensure that their expertise matches our members’ interests,” according to LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a social network. Your influence grows in proportion to the size of your network. The more posts you publish, the more connection requests and followers you’ll attract. Writing consistently not only expands your network, it also reinforces the message about the depth and breadth of your knowledge of the subjects that you write about.

— Glenn Leibowitz, “10 Tips for Writing LinkedIn Blog Posts That Expand Your Influence” for Inc.

An article isn’t a post and vice versa. A post is a smaller update you’d share with your feed and connections. Think quick anecdote or pro tip. They’re limited to 1,300 characters, which is about 5 lines. Articles are longer and more in-depth. They’re something that the broader LinkedIn audience would be interested in reading. A person who reads your article can also follow you from there, so they’ll be alerted when you publish your next article. Any articles you publish will appear in the Articles section of your LinkedIn profile.

Want to improve? Check out LinkedIn’s own course on getting better at blogging on the platform, Writing to be Heard on LinkedIn. Because when they own the platform, what’s good for them is successful content that people want to read and engage with!

Pro Tips

Be clear about who you are and what you’ll be talking about it. Stick to that topic and don’t stray. And post regularly. Even posting once or twice a month — consistently over time — will add up. Twice a month is 48 times a year. In five years, you’ll have nearly 250 posts. That’s huge.

You can share a draft with a colleague or friend for feedback.

Use the stats related to your posts as a tool: create more of what’s working, less of what’s not.

Best Site for Creative Bloggers — Instagram

Instagram is primarily visual — the feed is all the images or videos, and very little of the captions. You can use the caption field for your text, and users like a long caption. You’ll be capped at 2,200 characters or about 300 words.

Instagram is perfect if what you’re sharing is visual: a lifestyle, art, dance. Or if there’s some way to share it visually like in a how to mini-video.

In fact, in a lot of ways, Instagram has killed the entire genre of lifestyle blogging.

It’s become a lot harder for upstart “bloggers” in the crowded yet lucrative fashion, beauty, wellness, and lifestyle spaces to build a following centered around their own blog. At the same time, social media platforms have given influencers more and more tools—including e-commerce, groups, and direct messaging—to keep them (and their followers) from going elsewhere online.

— Rosie Spinks, “Instagram Has Killed the Art of Lifestyle Blogging” on Quartzy

Instagram is so good now that it’s hard to want to go anywhere else. The downside is definitely that you’re beholden to the algorithm and the feed, and the changes the platform makes. On the flip side, you also don’t have to be the product manager, hire a developer, or build an audience from scratch. You’ll have to weigh the pros and cons yourself!

You can also host vlogs on Instagram Live — simply tap the camera icon (top left of the screen, or by swiping right from the Feed) and tap Live at the bottom. When you’re ready to actually go live, it’s as simple as tapping Go Live. You’ll be able to see the number of viewers you have at the top of the screen and comments will pop in at the bottom. When you’re done, tap End. From here, I recommend tapping Save to save it to your camera roll, and tapping Share to add it to your story. It’ll live there for 24 hours to be replayed by anyone who wasn’t around when it was actually live.

You can only have one link in your profile, but with something like Linktree, you can add more links. I don’t think it’s a great idea to build a blog somewhere hoping to get your readers or followers to move from there to somewhere else on the regular. It’s feasible to get your Instagram followers to also subscribe to your newsletter, but it’s not really logical to hope they’ll leave Instagram after ever post and go read your blog. They’re scrolling through Instagram, not trying to read your website.

Think about your own behavior here — how much momentum does it take to get you to follow a link that leads away from the platform you’re in? For me, it takes a lot of work. There has to be something I really want to buy, or really, really want to read.

It’s more likely that I’ll follow someone on Instagram for a while and then one day I’ll buy something from that person, or follow them somewhere else. Instagram, and all blogging really, is about creating a relationship with the people who’re reading your posts. Once that relationship is strong enough, then people will be interested in going wherever you’re taking them. Until then, you’ll need to deliver on that relationship within the platform itself.

Pro Tips

Pick a good name that’s catchy and easy to type — your name should make it clear what your whole feed is about.

Stick to a niche.

Have a visual point-of-view.

Don’t stray. If you’re an artist, don’t post pictures of your salad for lunch. If you’re a food blogger, think twice before you post photos of your doodles.

Post regularly! And engage.

Biggest Blog Audience — Facebook

I mean, what’s 1.49 billion daily active users to you? It’s a huge number, and one that’s worth noting. How many of those active users will make it to your page or your post, now that’s another question.

Organic reach on Facebook was once not such a wild aspiration, but in 2016 there was a huge decrease in organic reach. SocialFlow found that brands saw a 42% decline in organic reach over Q1 and Q2 2016.

The easiest way to build a blog on Facebook is to create a group or a page for your business or brand. From there, your posts will literally be Facebook posts.

To make it easier to post and handle all your interactions in one spot, I recommend using the Facebook Creator Studio. It’s an all-in-one dashboard for publishing and analyzing your content. If you’re new to Facebook and are really using it as a classic blog platform, you’ll want to create Notes. These are the closest things to blogs: a header image, a title, and text down the middle.

From here you can also go live, post videos, gifs, polls, recommendations — any type of Facebook post you’ve seen you can create from this dashboard. You can even save, schedule, and backdate posts.

Recap of the Best Blog Sites and Blog Platforms for 2019

Do you plan to make money on the page?

If so, go with WordPress or Wix.

If not, then think about your niche:

If you’re in business blog on LinkedIn.

If you’re creative, start your “blog” on Instagram.

The best classic blogging site is Medium, which can also serve as a syndication platform.

The biggest audience, of course, still lives on Facebook.

http://www.quicksprout.com/best-blogging-platforms/ Read more here - http://review-and-bonuss.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-best-blogging-platforms-and-blog.html

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