#that unfortunately still needs editing but

[dixonsbugaboo]

𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘦.

ꜱᴀᴊᴀ ʙᴏʏꜱ🎵

𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 2 - 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭

Fem!Reader x Saja Boys

Summary: Reincarnated in the body of a demon from the last film you saw before you died, you have decided to change the script of the story in your favour. But you didn't count on your presence in the story changing everything.

Warnings: slow burn, swearing, Abby being touchy, ooc (probably), cringe (probably), no proofread (oops)

Word count: 3000

A/N: OMG THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT! I actually started this on a whip, I just needed to let it out but I couldn't even imagine how many of you would read it!! I'm sorry if the quality isn't the best, it's been a long time since the last time I wrote, and I'm not used to do it fully in English. Also, this is my first time writing for this fandom, I hope to do it well enough for your criteria (/へ＼*) this chapter is kinda messy (the whole story is, actually) but I hope you like it!

Ch. 1

︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿

The Saja Boys in their human form were even more breathtaking than you remembered. I mean, you'd seen the movie a bunch of times, you'd seen edits, but this… wow. Another level.

When you helped them get ready to look a little more like how you remembered them appearing in the human world in the movie (because it turns out Abby's hair was blonde, not magenta, and Romance had extremely long hair), they still had pointed ears, large fangs, and even horns, just like you. But once they took their human form, the one they used to have before Gwi-ma took his cut… holy cow. Jinu didn't change much, but the others… Why didn't they go around like that in the underworld? Didn't Gwi-ma allow it? Was the king of hell completely blind or did he just have the worst taste in the world?

On the first day after their human transformation, it was hard not to stare at them. But what could you do? When something so appealing is put in front of you, it's impossible to ignore it completely, right? Even though you knew they weren't for you. Jinu would end up falling in love with Rumi, clearly, and your main idea was to be cupid with the others to satisfy Zoey's fantasies about Mystery (or Baby, who knows) and prove to Mira that pink-haired boys could feel things.

Jinu was aware of how hard it was for you to look away from the others sometimes, and also that little by little you were snapping at them less and talking to them more, with less fear and less embarrassment. He was aware of how you were getting closer to them, how you were starting to laugh at their jokes… And that, for some reason, made him feel a little itchy.

He found it hard to understand you. You were cheerful and at the same time the grumpiest, foul-mouthed person he had ever met. He noticed that when you told them things, you never said everything and always kept bits of information, secrets, to yourself. You were bossy, but at the same time you were attentive and loving. And, although he found it hard to admit, unfortunately you were intelligent. And as much as he wanted to deny it, he loved how proud you could be: you never let anyone walk all over you, you turned red with anger if you weren't listened to, and you were always (always) right, even if deep down you weren't. Plus, for some strange reason, even though you were rude, bossy, and grumpy, when you sensed that the boys weren't in the mood, you were kind. You didn't ask for anything in return; that's just how you were. When the boys got frustrated because the choreography Abby came up with was too complicated, you encouraged them to keep trying, and you reasoned with Abby so that everyone would be happy with the result. You helped Baby write his parts, always gave Mystery his space, and were extremely patient with Romance. Clearly, you didn't behave like a demon, and that caught his attention. You had horns, you had patterns, you were there with them... but at the same time, it seemed like you were somewhere else.

You used to hum when you were concentrating and thought no one could hear you, you bit your nails when you were nervous, you tilted your head when you didn't understand something, you narrowed your eyes when you were angry... these were details he learned to see in you over time. Familiarity breeds affection, I suppose. But he would never, ever admit that he liked your company, that he liked the way you were. He'd rather suck Abby's toe.

Time passed, and the moment to negotiate with Gwi-ma was approaching. Soda Pop was almost ready, thanks in part to the fact that you knew the lyrics by heart from listening to the film's soundtrack too many times. You had given the boys some freedom with certain things because you were starting to trust that, despite the chaos they caused and the moments when they weren't bothering you, they were more or less normal boys (they were demons) who had made bad decisions. And also, what if some little details changed from the original plot? That was kind of your idea since the beginning, right?

Since one of your ideas was to free them, after all, you had to try to understand them and show them that they could get their souls back, right? And live happily in the human world, with a second chance. You just had to get them to want it themselves and believe they could do it.

"From the beginning, guys," Abby announced, bringing your thoughts back to reality, "One, two, three… leg, shoulder, shoulder, leg, and turn… No! Byeol, not like that! It's shoulder, leg, and turn, not shoulder, turn, and leg." He put his hands on his head and pulled at his hair in frustration.

"We've been rehearsing for HOURS, it's normal that I get confused when I can't even FEEL MY LEGS," Byeol shouted back.

But then… you noticed that right in front of you was a scene straight out of a fantasy drama, seeing them exhausted from rehearsing. Why did they have to be so alluring?

You couldn't help but run your tongue over your lips as you watched Sang's T-shirt cling to his torso, clearly revealing his defined muscles, and as a drop of sweat trickled down Dasom's neck to a place that was dangerous to imagine. Byeol panted and brushed his mint-coloured hair away from his beautiful face in a way that was too exquisite for your mental health, and Mystery was crouching down, pulling on the neck of his tank top and revealing his sharp collarbones. Jinu… you quickly looked away. That was dangerous. His face was tilted upwards, his neck tense and sweat dripping down it, panting. Your heart skipped a beat.

Oh holy molly.

They were going to be the best boy band in the entire human world.

As a former music producer in the genre, you had no doubt: the fans were going to be absolutely crazy about them. You knew by herat. You watched the movie.

When you let out an evil laugh while staring at the floor (looking at them in that state was dangerous for your plan and your heart), the boys decided that the best thing to do was… to leave you alone. Who knows what crazy or stupid idea had crossed your mind. They didn't want to be part of it.

And at the same time, how cute you were when you laughed like a villain.

¸.*☆*.¸.*☆*.¸.*☆*.¸.*☆*.¸

Finally, after a lot of hard work, they were ready. The song, the choreography, the concept, the costumes…

It had been quite a journey.

From Sang and Byeol fighting over the choreography, to Minjun being unable to make the finger heart that is so typical of idols, Dasom planning scandals with the hunters to ruin their career (clever but cruel, you wouldn't let him do it), to Jinu refusing to wear anything pink. The fact is, you had to yell at each and every one of them at least three times during the process. You were exhausted, but it was finally time for them to negotiate with Gwi-ma, and since you intended to hide while they did, you took the opportunity to relax… and, since you already knew he would accept the deal, you also took some time for yourself.

It was time to abandon your demonic form (borrowed through possession, so to speak) and get to know your human form.

Goodbye horns and see you never outstanding frog eyes.

You missed being able to scratch your face without risking poking your eye out.

But you didn't expect Sang to come back so soon to find you and share the good news.

You had your back to him, putting a pastel pink bow in your hair and helping yourself with an old, broken, chipped mirror. You had put on a little make-up and dressed like a normal human (which is what you were, after all), so you could travel to the human world as soon as possible with the boys without attracting too much attention. A light breeze smelling of sulphur (the most characteristic smell of hell, actually) ruffled your hair. You were surprised by your human appearance, which you assumed would be that of the demon whose body you had taken over. You liked what you saw.

And so did Abby.

He swallowed hard, afraid to make a sound and disturb you. You looked so… different. So… human. You seemed smaller, more fragile… although it was clear that your bad temper was still there, beneath that good-girl image. You had caught his attention from the start, though. He thought you were an interesting and fun demon, and you never minded when he asked you to stroke his head because he was feeling particularly down about Gwi-ma's mental torture.

The first time you met, you seemed weak to him. Jinu had explained the plan to him and insisted that even though you looked like an average demon, you would be useful to them. Abby knew that the boy band idea, ridiculous as it was, could work and benefit him, so he decided to join (besides, Jinu was his friend and he knew that his memories were torturing him), but he didn't understand how a low-ranking demon with so little presence could be useful… until he tried to mess with you, saying sweet nothings to get you to benefit him in particular, delicately grabbing your chin to bring his face closer to yours… and you bit his hand. Hard. From then on, he learned that those tricks didn't work on you, and that you had sharp fangs.

Little by little, he opened up to you and became more himself. He liked your company, he liked how you pinched his elbow when he did something that annoyed you, and he loved how you smiled, showing your fangs and squinting your eyes.

But now, seeing you like this… something warm spread through his chest.

It was just you and him. Alone. For the first time ever.

He swallowed again.

His hands were itching; he needed to touch you. He wanted to rest his arm on your shoulder, caress your waist, touch your hair, try to take your chin in his hand again, this time without the biting. He wanted to know if your skin was as soft as it seemed, and if you would mind him hugging you from behind.

What were those stings he felt in his chest? It wasn't tickling.

Then you turned around and saw him. And you screamed. Really loud. And you threw the nearest thing you found at his head: the broken mirror.

How dare he show up like that, in complete silence? Was he trying to scare you? Did he want to pinch your hips to make you jump, like he had done so many times before?

Luckily, you had bad aim and he had good reflexes, because if you had hit the target (his handsome face), it would have been a problem for his debut.

"Abby!" you shouted, blushing from the outburst you'd just had. "You almost gave me a heart attack! Make some noise if you're going to appear like that, say something, I don't know. My heart is beating like a Chihuahua's." You put your hand on your chest to corroborate your comment.

Abby, who was still processing what he was feeling and thinking and to whom you had just thrown a mirror, decided that giving it too much thought would only give him a headache, and that surely everything that had just happened (especially the fact that you ALMOST destroyed his face) was due to nerves about whether Gwi-ma would approve of the plan or not.

‘I'm sorry,’ he said, flashing a half-smile that made your heart skip a beat. It bothered you so much that he was so good-looking and sweet at the same time, when he often pretended to be tough. Alert: attractive boy. Block K-drama music and sparkles behind his figure. Mayday, mayday.

You turned your back on him again and swallowed hard.

Did you just try to attack him…? Well, it was clearly self-defence.

Abby decided that thinking was indeed a waste of time, so he simply approached you (this time making it clear that he was moving so you wouldn't get alarmed and try to knock his teeth out with your fists), rested his chin on the top of your head, and wrapped his arms around your shoulders.

"Don't be mad at me," she said with a pout. "I just wanted to tell you the good news. Gwi-ma thinks it's a great idea."

"And why are you standing there in silence? Are you a ghost now?" you asked, frowning.

Abby found that expression adorable when you made it in your human form. You were much less intimidating that way. You squirmed a little until you turned around in his arms, and he moved back a little to give you space. He lowered his arms to your hips and his chin so he could look you in the eyes.

You had beautiful eyes.

Both as a human and as a demon.

"It's just that…" he tried to explain. For some reason, he felt embarrassed. His ears and the back of his neck grew hot, and he didn't know what to say to justify his actions.

Why hadn't he said something, or jumped on you to shake you off your shoulders or pinch your hips? Why had he preferred to watch you from afar, imagining what it would be like to hold you tight against his chest?

"HEY! THE FIRST RULE, ABBY! NO FLIRTING!" someone shouted.

Abby and you, startled, turned to find yourselves face to face with the other four members of the group. Romance was in front, pointing accusingly at Abby.

"Manager! Bite his head off like you did to me last time! Yank his hair and pull his ears hard!"

At that precise moment, you became fully aware of how close you were to Abby, your hands resting on his chest while he absentmindedly caressed your hip with his thumb.

You had been living with them for some time, and you had never allowed them to get so close to you without resorting to violence (always in self-defence) or without initiating it yourself (after all, Abby liked physical contact too much, and denying him that would make you a bad person). They really enjoyed teasing you to make you blush, which is why you had imposed the no-flirting rule. But since you had thrown the mirror at him, you had let your guard down… hadn't you?

You pushed away the thought of how good Abby's chest felt in your palms and decided to forget the look he had given you as he apologised. There was no need to read between the lines. He was just trying to annoy you. You took a step back and he didn't resist, letting his arms fall to his sides.

"For the last time, Romance. I'm not your manager. I'm your music producer. I just help you guys out a little bit with your stuff beyond writing your songs because you're a little inexperienced."

"Then why aren't you beating Abby up for…?"

"We were just talking, Romance."

With your hands? That close to each other?

Romance wasn't entirely comfortable with this. He understood that Abby liked physical contact, but when he had tried to caress your cheek affectionately, you had reacted by trying to bite his nose.

"(Y/N), you look very pretty," said Baby, who was looking at you with a gentle smile.

Wow. That had caught you off guard.

Mystery nodded slowly, agreeing with him.

"Pink suits you."

You tried to think of horrible things to keep the colour from rising to your cheeks. You weren't going to let them win.

Silly you, you couldn't understand that they meant it.

"Gwi-ma has given us the green light. It's time to settle into the human world and finish the last details before launching Soda Pop," said Jinu, who had been completely silent until then, staring at some point on the floor.

… Why were there bits of glass everywhere?

"Perfect," you said, clapping your hands. "It's time to conquer the human world and steal those fans from the hunters."

Everyone nodded.

Then Jinu looked up and saw you. He really saw you, for the first time since you appeared there. Human, you were… different. He noticed how small your hands looked without claws, and how soft your hair seemed.

………. not cute at all.

Abby had decided he wanted to touch you just because he simply wanted to touch you, period.

He liked how you hugged him and stroked his hair when he asked you to or when you realised without him saying anything that it was what he needed. It was because you were nice to him, and that was it, nothing else.

Besides, you had thrown a mirror at him.

Why had he apologised…?

Why did he think your smile without fangs was as beautiful as with them?

Why hadn't he realised before that he had always thought you were pretty, ever since the first time he saw you?

Surely it wasn't anything important.

And he was sure you would get angry with him if he told you.

Would you bite his hand if he took your chin again?

Would you push him away like you just did?

Why had his heart been in his throat when he hugged you just before the others arrived, if it wasn't the first time he'd done it?

And why couldn't he see that little by little he was feeling more and more like a planet orbiting around you, rather than a mere partner in a plan to destroy humanity?

︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿

A/N: SO! Finally it's here! The next chapter! Woohoo! Sorry if it's bad, I'm not completely happy with the result. But well, some Abby time! And... Abby shimping... ish... hahah... My plan is to give them all the oportunity to steal yout heart... but onlye one of them is going to keep it. When the time comes, I'll let you chosse the endgame! But for now, let them just be confused hehe.

ALSO I probbaly won't be able to post as soon as I did with these last chapters, but I'll try to do it as soon as posible!

Please let me know if you like it! Commenting and rebloguing helps me write faster (at least it gives me the motivation to) (・ω<)

See you soon!

Nun🐇​

Taglist: @just-set-things-on-fire @nightmarewasteland @ph1lo-s0ph1a @gremlinartstudio @strayharmony943 @smoophie @valeriele3 @confusedparticle @queenskippy @enerofairy

(this is my first taglist ever, I hope it works!!)

[foxtrology]

PLEASEEE PROMPT 23 for Harry and Adella!!!

We love a sweet dad trying his best 🥲

dad! harry castillo

prompt 23: adella wants bangs. harry tries to cut them. the results are... unfortunate. reader scolds him.

prompt list

⸻

It started innocently enough.

A quiet Saturday morning, all three of them still in pajamas. Harry was in his reading chair by the window, glasses low on his nose, flipping through a print edition of the Financial Times. His wife was barefoot in the kitchen, humming under her breath as she prepped strawberries for Adella’s breakfast. And Adella—six years old and full of ideas—sat on the floor with her art kit, legs crossed, drawing her version of a princess-veterinarian-astronaut with neon pink bangs.

“Mommy?”

“Hm?”

“I think I want bangs.”

Her mother smiled as she sliced. “We’ll talk about it later, baby.”

Adella pouted. “But I need them.”

Harry’s voice floated in from the living room. “Nobody needs bangs, sweetheart.”

“I do,” she said with conviction, marching over to him with her drawing in hand. “See? I drew it. So I know.”

He peered down at the sketch—an endearing, chaotic creature in a tutu, holding a kitten in space, with aggressively jagged pink fringe. He chuckled, folding his paper.

“Bangs are a commitment.”

“I am committed.”

That made him arch an eyebrow. He looked over the top of his glasses toward the kitchen. His wife was already watching. He knew that look. The one that said do not get involved with the scissors. He smiled at her like he’d been asked to dismantle a bomb and decided to do it blindfolded.

“Let’s ask Mommy—” Adella started.

“I can do it,” Harry interrupted. “It’s just bangs.”

She dropped the strawberry in her hand. “Harry.”

“I used to cut my own hair in college.”

“Exactly.”

But it was too late.

Adella lit up like Christmas morning, already sprinting to the bathroom for the little round stool and her pink detangling brush. Harry rose, stretching like this was another task on his to-do list, adjusting the waistband of his pajama pants like a man ready to enter battle.

His wife followed, towel in hand.

“Harry—”

“I got this,” he said, already rolling up his sleeves.

“No, you don’t—”

“I used to trim my hair all the time.”

“Trimming is not the same as sculpting the identity of a six-year-old girl’s forehead!”

But Adella was bouncing in the bathroom now, climbing onto the stool, grinning in the mirror like she’d already seen her new self.

He combed through her curls, separating the front.

“Just the fringe,” he murmured to himself. “Nice and even.”

She gave him her hair-cutting scissors. She trusted him.

He trusted himself.

Which was the first mistake.

Twenty minutes later, the silence in the bathroom was deafening.

Harry stood very still.

Adella blinked at her reflection.

His wife stood in the doorway with her arms crossed, towel slung over one shoulder.

There was a chunk. A whole uneven, slanted chunk right above her brows. It looked less like a haircut and more like Harry had been trying to find the middle of her soul with a pair of dull kitchen shears.

“I—” Harry began.

Adella tilted her head. “It’s… different.”

“It’s bold,” he tried.

“It’s bad,” his wife finished, stepping in.

He backed away from the mirror like it might explode.

“I can fix it.”

“No. You’ve done enough.”

Adella ran her fingers through her shortened fringe. “Daddy, why is it going up in the middle?”

He bent, kissed the top of her head, and sighed. “Because Daddy loves you too much to say no.”

His wife was already reaching for a comb.

“Go get me her barrette box.”

He scurried.

By noon, Adella had a makeshift side part, glittery clips keeping the worst of the evidence out of sight, and a plate of pancakes in front of her.

She wasn’t upset. Not really.

The trauma was softened by maple syrup and the promise of a real haircut next week. She even told him she looked “edgy,” which made him puff with pride until his wife muttered something and made him help with dishes.

Later, when Adella was watching a movie in the living room with Frances curled next to her and a crown of sparkly clips barely containing her dignity, Harry found his wife in the bedroom folding laundry.

He slipped behind her, arms wrapping around her waist. She didn’t stop folding, but she leaned back into his chest.

“You’re not mad, are you?”

“I’m devastated,” she said flatly. “Our daughter looks like she lost a fight with a weed whacker.”

He pressed a kiss to the back of her neck.

“She still smiled at me.”

“She’d smile at you if you painted her green and sent her to school.”

“She’s going to forget this.”

“I won’t.”

He nuzzled her ear. “I panicked. She looked so excited.”

“You could’ve said no.”

“I can’t say no to her.”

She turned, finally facing him, her palm resting flat on his chest.

“You know, you’re terrifying in a boardroom. You say no to billion-dollar deals with a single look.”

“She’s not a billion-dollar deal,” he murmured. “She’s… everything.”

Her expression softened.

“I just want her to feel beautiful,” he added quietly.

“She already does,” she whispered. “Because you see her that way.”

His throat tightened.

“She’s gonna grow up fast, isn’t she?”

Her hand slid up to his cheek. “Too fast.”

He bent down and kissed her—slow and sure. The kind of kiss that reminded her that this man, this sharp and weathered and once-fearsome man, would always soften for them. For her. For the tiny girl down the hall who trusted him with scissors and secrets.

“She forgave you,” she said against his lips.

He sighed. “I didn’t forgive me.”

“Good,” she said, pulling away. “Maybe next time you’ll ask me first.”

He followed her back into the living room where Adella looked up, her bangs now strategically flattened under a headband.

“Daddy?”

“Yes, baby?”

“Next time I want bangs…you’re not allowed.”

“Understood.”

Frances blinked at him from the floor like even she knew he’d messed up.

But when Adella crawled into his lap ten minutes later and kissed his cheek, whispering, “I still love you more than anyone,” he figured he was off the hook.

Mostly.

Maybe.

[forsaken-headcanons]

I actually have this whole system on how GUIs work in Roblox, along with a whole mythology because I'm so normal about this stupid murder game.

There are people known as the Greater Admins. People like Telemon, who was kinda the first? I haven't figured out other Greater Admins yet. And eventually Builderman, who's the first addition to their pantheon in about 3000 years ish, added in 2008 when he managed to befriend Telemon and give him a mortal life as Shedletsky. Yes people say "Greater Admins" instead of God, and yes Shedletsky and Builderman give the bombastic side eye when the survivors and killers do that. (Builderman, even before he was a Greater Admin, still gave that bombastic side eye to passerbys who said their names in vain)

But I do know that eventually, one Greater Admin had enough of being an outcast to the Pantheon. So, he asked a mortal to make him something out of his own blood, code, and flesh, a weapon of world editing. And so, the first GUI was created. And holy crap the chaos it caused in the Pantheon.

First little things while this Greater Admin was testing things out. A building moved a few studs, maybe a few livestock swapped out for others livestock. Mostly confusion, but the Pantheon still had no clue who or what caused this.

Then, more major things. Telemon's swords were swapped for some mortals, and other things were swapped with mortals as well. This caused mass panic in the Pantheon, but was sorted out in about a day or two, but started to raise suspicion.

Finally, mass destruction. Chaos incarnate turned into physical malice. Mortals were deleted from existence, entire buildings replaced with things or nothing at all. The clouds rained acid as the sky turned into a crimson red and a face revealing who it was. The damn Greater Admin nobody cares for, nobody worshiped, and nobody really knew who it was except for a few elders.

Telemon was pissed. Not only did he and the rest of the Pantheon have to fix this, but they had to figure out how to handle the chaos gremlin that has already destroyed three civilizations, created a mountain range, swapped entire biomes around for the hell of it, AND still is a Greater Admin who suddenly got a cult following.

Well, not a Greater Admin for long. Telemon, after fighting this Greater Admin for about 10 days (Which the mortals call 'The Ten Day Apocalypse') finally managed to make this guy mortal and threw him at the guy who made the GUI for it.

Unfortunately for Telemon, this fallen admin managed to gift 6 of his greatest followers a piece of his GUI, and blessed them to forever pass it down through their blood. These folks became known as the Exploiters, and the fallen admin became known as the Great Hacker.

Fast forward to today. One of these GUIs has gone extinct. Another is on the verge of extinction, and the last few that have it have agreed to never pass it on.

But 4 still wreaks havoc among the nations. The Pr3ttyGUI, the one prettyprincess has. The dUd3GUI, BluDude had this one. The R@vengeGUI, the one that's most like the Great Hacker's GUI. And finally, the c00lGUI, the most notorious of them all, with not only the 00 (007n7's family, as in mother, grandmother, father, grandfather, not just him and c00lkid) family having this one, but also c00lkid somehow managing to not only get his hands on one, but adapting to it so well after bringing down the pizza place as a sacrifice, people who worship the Great Hacker had said the kid could be the Great Hacker reincarnated.

TLDR: people are born with GUIs, or somehow are gifted via a sacrifice. There's even mythology to come with it. You're welcome for the world building but also the head canon. I may be back with more about the mythology so I'll have a tag.

-🐰

(Gods I needed to get this out of my system)

THIS IS SO FREAKING GOOD OH MY GOD SORYR worldbuilding worldbuilding worldbuilding hrhjejkgjher. we were thinking the original gui would be called the 4DM1Npanel_ !! other than that this is absolutely peakalicious like holy shit.

[fandomflotilla]

K Pop Demon Hunters X RWBY crossover General Notes

Rumi, Mira, Zoey, Bobby are a star huntsman team/pop group in Mistral.

Rumi, Mira, and Zoey were the pop group before joining the huntsman academies, Bobby was their manager and was added to the team since they needed 4 people.

Technically, their huntsman team name is “RRMZ” (“Razzmatazz”), but everyone calls them “Huntrix” (or we come up with last names for them that make “HTRX” since the movie doesn’t actually give them last names) (edit: HTRX is just easier to write so I’ll say that’s their team name and backfill with surnames later)

Part of their appeal was that they were fighting Grimm while also being a pop group before joining a huntsman academy, but certain groups begged them to get into formal huntsmen training to better encourage recruitment for Haven. (Ironically this was not the Mistral government, Mistral was quite happy to just rake in economic benefits to HTRX’s songs without distracting them with combat training (see: when BTS was conscripted into SK’s army and it tangibly affected the economy))

Bobby was not originally in a combat role, they just needed a fourth body to round out their Huntsmen team and he was there as their manager and already coordinating all of their shit anyway. He does literally the same thing he does in canon, just with a sword to bonk any Grimm or paparazzi that gets too close.

Bobby gets along REALLY well with Jaune. Weiss, Ruby, and Pyrrha consequently hate him because now Jaune thinks that if he sucks at combat enough he can just be a team manager, with no combat role, while the actual heroes do their own thing. They’ve had to work extra hard to convince him that he’s a valued member of the team and not just a glorified stage manager.

Mira

Honestly Mira is more or less the same as KPDH

In the interests of RWBY-ifying her, her glaive does have a shotgun in it tho.

If you want to suggest ideas for her I’d love that because I don’t have much to say here

Also she’s bi, leaning heavily towards women (which is why the mirabby stuff took her by surprise, because not only is she hot for a guy, shes hot for TWO GUYS????)

Low key has a crush on Rumi

Zoey

Child of divorce

Her mother lived in Mistral but her father was Atlesian (specifically from Atlas, not from Mantle, btw)

Uses a hard light construct generator similar to Velvet

Allows her to have functionally unlimited numbers of throwing knives

But when she’s in particularly rough situations, she can use more complex hard light constructs…like guns. It uses up more dust, but it allows her to pull out some serious firepower when necessary.

(Look, Zoey is American, and a rapper, she is allowed to pull a Glock on fools. As a treat.)

Zoey is also Bi, but heavily leans towards men. (As such, she is significantly less surprised that she is into two of the Saja boys.)

Also low key has a crush on Rumi

Rumi

Born and raised in Mistral

Mother died fighting Grimm when she was very young

Celine adopted her and became her mother figure

Celine was her mother’s combat partner

Rumi’s family still pop star royalty

But doesn’t have beef with the Demons like the movie

In the crossover, they have longstanding beef with the Mistral branch of the White Fang

Rumi’s mom died because of a white fang attack on their concert, which led to a Grimm incursion

Consequently Celine has been open, vocally, and consistently anti-White Fang

HTRX hasn’t been *anti* Faunus in their messaging, but they have been consistently anti-White Fang (because duh), and don’t publicly have a Faunus member of the team

The White Fang blew up multiple HTRX concerts as retaliation for Celine’s comments, which has further radicalized HTRX

Which is very VERY unfortunate for Rumi, because she’s a Faunus

Specifically, she’s a Large Pacific Striped Octopus Faunus (father’s side, obviously) (no I did not intentionally pick the sassiest picture of an octopus on the internet but I am pleased by it)

Her stripes are…complicated. Technically, Rumi’s stripes go over her entire body. As such, if she desires, she can have multicolored stripes over most of her entire body when she wants (not including hair). As an octopus, she can even do minor body modification, like extending her hands/arms to be more inhumanly long, and is hyper flexible, so she can bend her arms at angles that are a little too far for most baseline, non-contortionist humans. Nothing as insane as an actual octopus, but enough to freak people out.

Note: she’s distinguished from a chameleon Faunus because she can’t change her hair color or the color of her entire body. She can only change the color of her stripes. And while the stripes go over most of her body, they technically don’t cover all of her skin. So while she can use them as camouflage (if she ever bothered to learn how to do so) like a tiger using its stripes to make itself harder to see, she can’t go borderline invisible like Ilia.

Also, Rumi doesn’t actually know all of this about herself. She’s actually very limited in what colors she can turn, since she’s focused to an extreme on just making herself seem “normal”. She spent a LOT of time in the bathroom trying to get her stripes as close to her baseline skin tone as possible.

Making that harder is the fact that while she can control her stripe colors, her stripe colors are a gradient. Like, if she makes her stripes on her face close to her baseline skin tone, the stripes on her chest are also going to be skin tone shaded, but a bit darker/more purple. Hence why like in canon, she has to wear bulky long sleeved clothes. Shes actually gotten really good at matching her skin tone to her stripes, it’s specifically that gradient that ensures she can never truly pass as human.

Between her years of practice “suppressing” her stripes, and hiding her hyperflexibility + body modification abilities, Rumi actually passes really well as a baseline human

But naturally, her Faunus side is very susceptible to stress. If she gets too stressed, her stripes become incredibly obvious, and her physical features deform into a “combat mode”….which just so happens to bear a passing resemblance to Grimm…because she’s internalized that Grimm are the one thing everyone is afraid of, thus looking like Grimm will scare off any threat. Like how octopuses will try and look like lionfish or more dangerous animals to ward off predators

Also, as a Faunus, she has advanced night vision, and her eyes glow when you shine a light over them, which is partially why she wears sunglasses so often and doesn’t like going out at night

Rumi has hidden her Faunus side for literally her entire career (at Celine’s request)

So her feelings about Faunus Rights are…complicated…to say the least

She and her friends don’t hate Faunus per se. It’s just…after the fourth assassination attempt they’re all a little wary of the white fang.

Celine is also under the rather firm impression that if Rumi was revealed to be a Faunus, especially in her “combat mode” (that looks like a Grimm), the resulting negativity from their fans would tear Mistral a new asshole and cause a Grimm incursion (she is unfortunately correct)

Also, Rumi has a sword that also uses multiple types of dust. Similar to Myrtenaster, but with less control, since she doesn’t have glyphs to help channel the dust. (Might change this later, doesn’t have quite the pizazz that Zoey and Mira’s weapons do)

At some point I want her to take Jinu’s weapon and dual wield a regular sword and massive fuckoff sword. (Yes I know they’re the same sword, just evolved, but don’t tell me Rumi wouldn’t look like a goddamn badass dual wielding)

Side bar: apparently tumblr has image filters????? And they’re cool as fuck??!!

Rumi is Pansexual and is not particularly surprised she is hot for Jinu, but she is disappointed in herself a little bit.

Also, reminder that Zoey and Mira both have crushes on Rumi and want to fucking rail her.

She is completely unaware of this.

HTRX (collective)

Rumi, Mira, and Zoey have the same semblance, a once in a generation semblance called “Harmonize”

Tldr: They can sense and influence the amount of negativity in the people listening to their music

Individually, they can render entire towns invisible to the Grimm

Together, they can stop Grimm incursions for an entire kingdom

This takes on a new urgency after the fall of beacon

Every kingdom was in a state of panic by the loss of Beacon. Both the CCT tower and the huntsman academy

Rumi pushes them to do more and more concerts/albums to make up for it (which, to her credit, do work in keeping Mistral’s Grimm incursions down)

But it also stresses her the fuck out

And makes HTRX a top priority for Salem and the Mistral branch of the white fang

It’s hard to take down an entire Kingdom’s military, but assassinating one team of Huntsman in training is (comparatively) easy

Not that they succeed, but they do try.

The White Fang then try a different approach. If they can’t kill HTRX, then they can just try to get people to stop listening to them

Again, the Harmonize semblance is incredibly rare (and only really understood/sensed by Celine/HTRX/Salem). Other songs/groups can sing, and make people feel good but HTRX can tangibly pull negativity from people. So just getting a different bop for people to listen to would weaken Mistral’s defenses.

Enter…the Saja Boys

Okay, that’s all I had for now. Might expand on the Saja Boys later, but this has already gotten incredibly long for what was supposed to be a quick jotting down of notes. Feel free to add ideas in the comments/reblogs!

[tragic-ships-tournament]

Tragic Ships Tournament, Loser's Edition: Round 1

Propaganda under the cut!

Pearlrose:

"Pearl was made for Rose, made to serve her She was her life's entire purpose, her whole world She was all she knew, and all that mattered

Pearl shows Rose the earth, and gives her first true moment of freedom, unknowingly being the drop that spilled the glass for Rose's ego restructuring, she was an essential part on why she changed, Steven and Sapphire say so themselves "You swept her off her feet, you took her on a whirlwind tour on earth and then she wanted to live here with you forever"

They start leading a revolution together, and then… they fuse! The most intimate state between gems Rose is quite literally starry eyed The official artbook's timeline says "Pearl and Rose start fusing. A lot." Rebecca said herself "Rose calls Pearl 'my Pearl', but that's not something people in homeworld do, they only say 'my' to their superiors (my diamond)" so it's clear how much she cares about her

War starts They see their allies dying around them Pearl needs to pretend to kill Rose, actually putting her sword through her chest It only makes things worse Pearl has to keep this secret forever, on top if Rose's identity But it's ok, because Rose is still there

Rose dates a lot of humans, but it's ok, because it's never serious… until it is Greg shows Rose the beauty of change and love to it's full extent, and she decides to give up her life to create a human, a being so intrinsically tied to change In the blink of an eye, Pearl would lose the love of her life, her reason to live, her whole world Centuries of devotion in which she could not give Rose what she truly needed and wanted, because of her programming and the way homeworld worked She also needs to take care of Rose's child, something she doesn't understand

The most tragic part about it is, even if they loved eachother, for all those things, it could never work Pearl was too obsessed with the idea of Rose, and as long as Rose was there, Pearl could never truly understand what made Rose love humanity, and therefore could never truly understand Rose, unless she was gone

Your honor, they're interesting BECAUSE they are tragic and doomed and, despite Pearl being made for Rose, they were never made for eachother"

Oakworthy:

"I don't think I can explain them very well. Hermie's whole character is lying about who he is. Mostly through Batman villains. After half his face is burned off in a molten cheese incident, he picks up two-face's coin flip gimmick to decide if he's going to tell the truth or lie. Normal is a perky pepper chipper cheery mascot kid who's REALLY struggling to stay positive through all this shit. Normal has been crushing on Hermie this whole time, even though he stole the school mascot uniform once and also is a complete bitch. Normal really likes him!! Unfortunately there's this really big fight and Normal is in death saves and Hermie isn't because he's an NPC and Hermie's last words are "I like you too" which may or may not be true and then he fucking dies. but Normal is unconscious so he can't hear this… and that's the end of the episode. Next episode starts with the gang stabilising Normal who wakes up, sees his crush is dead, and desperately tries to bring him back, but it's too late. Normal buries Hermie in his own family's elven village. because Hermie's parents are the embodiment of scams and the king of hell."

[oretskov]

i don't know what to ask but i NEED a yap on your influencer dr and your dr comic dr . . por favor 🙏

AND YAP IS WHAT I'LL DO! ty anna for asking this. those two drs are very dear to me (i could say this for like 80% of my drs but it's true!!)

INFLUENCER DR ⠀♡⠀ ⁞⠀ ⠀ ariah thomas, or better known as 'ati' online, a twenty-one-year-old indian student with quite a large following — despite claiming she isn't an 'influencer'. she currently lives in l.a. with her best friends and boyfriend, the sturniolo triplets, studying marketing with a cinematic art minor in university of southern california. but where did it all begin? ariah grew up in somerville with her single mother and two older brothers, literal next door neighbours to the sturniolos. born in late 2003, she obviously got along better with the triplets, while her brothers hung out with their older brother, justin. throughout their childhood together, they'd record silly videos, sparking the eventual creation of the official youtube channel by seventeen. she'd be featured in many videos, but she always preferred to work behind the scenes. and while she was always closest to nick, there were many nights where ariah would sneak into matt's room, talking endlessly for hours about sweet nothings. they only grew the guts to begin dating by july 2021, hints of their relationship being presented in an universal studios video. ati and matt have been going strong ever since — in contrast to what some annoying fans speculated during the 'mattitude' era (no, she was not dating hamzahthefantastic).

this is my oldest dr that i'm still actively interested in! it's also the only reality where i'm in an established relationship in. 99% of my other drs are me shifting to have a best friends to lovers arc (the most goated trope). but that's already happened with matt and i here. i scripted for this dr back in 2022 when i first got into the sturniolos! hence why matt and this reality as a whole is soso precious to me. i have no real desire to be a content creator so i'm just the girl who helps out and edits their videos on the side (yet a lot of ppl follow me on tiktok because obviously, i'm closely associated to the triplets). also my best friend is lola freaking tung !! i miss her

DC COMICS DR ⠀♡⠀ ⁞⠀ ⠀ vampira, bloodlust, pey — all names the media likes to refer her to as. magic users, such as trigon and the church of blood, call her 'the scarlet child'. but where did this being of blood powers come from? she was born under indian royalty, to the varma's in 1865. a sickly child with unknown blood conditions, she was grown in the confines of the palace with her mothers. not everyone approved of her mothers' love — so they'd move to the outskirts of gotham in the united states of america. they'd live with her uncle, an artist known for his gothic works. almost seven years later, a plague would break out, and unfortunately, everyone in the castle contracted it — she was only thirteen. the varmas' dying wishes were to be buried in the castle itself. but the young one was not dead — no, just miraculously in a coma for 153 years. prophecies foretold the tale of a bloody baby. the church of blood had been on a quest to find this vessel for several years. and to their luck, they stumbled upon an abandoned gothic castle. the ritual they performed on her tomb not only awakened her consciousness, but the hemokinetic set of abilities as well. she was alive again, and the church was ready to use her as their messiah, for she could convey their message to the world. but the titans and batman would not let them. after disabling their operation, bruce told himself it was him responsibility to take her in. he had just lost jason, and seeing a child so shaken and barely functional had done a number on him. she'd stay in the wayne manor, learning how to be human again with her new abilities in the setting of a modern world. she was lucky to have the new robin, tim drake, around — he was more than happy to introduce his favourite pieces of media to her. he'd taught her how to be a modern teenager so easily. it was no surprise that they'd be the best friends they currently are. these days, you can find the eighteen year old vigilante kicking ass alongside red robin, batgirl or black bat — she's even part of the young justice !

i go by vampira because it's kind of an irony — you know, with me being a dead girl walking, having blood related powers and dressing like a bat. i CAME OUT OF A COFFIN. i don't think i've mentioned this but i do have a small romance with barbara gordon scripted — i <3 redheads. no, bruce does NOT adopt me. please i love my mothers dearly, dead or alive, i am their child. i just live in the manor and fight with the bats, that's all.

[hauntingofhouses]

Very interesting to me that a certain subset of the BES fandom's favourite iterations of Mizu and Akemi are seemingly rooted in the facades they have projected towards the world, and are not accurate representations of their true selves.

And I see this is especially the case with Mizu, where fanon likes to paint her as this dominant, hyper-masculine, smirking Cool GuyTM who's going to give you her strap. And this idea of Mizu is often based on the image of her wearing her glasses, and optionally, with her cloak and big, wide-brimmed kasa.

And what's interesting about this, to me, is that fanon is seemingly falling for her deliberate disguise. Because the glasses (with the optional combination of cloak and hat) represent Mizu's suppression of her true self. She is playing a role.

Take this scene of Mizu in the brothel in Episode 4 for example. Here, not only is Mizu wearing her glasses to symbolise the mask she is wearing, but she is purposely acting like some suave and cocky gentleman, intimidating, calm, in control. Her voice is even deeper than usual, like what we hear in her first scene while facing off with Hachiman the Flesh-Trader in Episode 1.

This act that Mizu puts on is an embodiment of masculine showboating, which is highly effective against weak and insecure men like Hachi, but also against women like those who tried to seduce her at the Shindo House.

And that brings me to how Mizu's mask is actually a direct parallel to Akemi's mask in this very same scene.

Here, Akemi is also putting up an act, playing up her naivety and demure girlishness, using her high-pitched lilted voice, complimenting Mizu and trying to make small talk, all so she can seduce and lure Mizu in to drink the drugged cup of sake.

So what I find so interesting and funny about this scene, characters within it, and the subsequent fandom interpretations of both, is that everyone seems to literally be falling for the mask that Mizu and Akemi are putting up to conceal their identities, guard themselves from the world, and get what they want.

It's also a little frustrating because the fanon seems to twist what actually makes Mizu and Akemi's dynamic so interesting by flattening it completely. Because both here and throughout the story, Mizu and Akemi's entire relationship and treatment of each other is solely built off of masks, assumptions, and misconceptions.

Akemi believes Mizu is a selfish, cocky male samurai who destroyed her ex-fiance's career and life, and who abandoned her to let her get dragged away by her father's guards and forcibly married off to a man she didn't know. on the other hand, Mizu believes Akemi is bratty, naive princess who constantly needs saving and who can't make her own decisions.

These misconceptions are even evident in the framing of their first impressions of each other, both of which unfold in these slow-motion POV shots.

Mizu's first impression of Akemi is that of a beautiful, untouchable princess in a cage. Swirling string music in the background.

Akemi's first impression of Mizu is of a mysterious, stoic "demon" samurai who stole her fiance's scarf. Tense music and the sound of ocean waves in the background.

And then, going back to that scene of them together in Episode 4, both Mizu and Akemi continue to fool each other and hold these assumptions of each other, and they both feed into it, as both are purposely acting within the suppressive roles society binds them to in order to achieve their goals within the means they are allowed (Akemi playing the part of a subservient woman; Mizu playing the part of a dominant man).

But then, for once in both their lives, neither of their usual tactics work.

Akemi is trying to use flattery and seduction on Mizu, but Mizu sees right through it, knowing that Akemi is just trying to manipulate and harm her. Rather than give in to Akemi's tactics, Mizu plays with Akemi's emotions by alluding to Taigen's death, before pinning her down, and then when she starts crying, Mizu just rolls her eyes and tells her to shut up.

On the opposite end, when Mizu tries to use brute force and intimidation, Akemi also sees right through it, not falling for it, and instead says this:

"Under your mask, you're not the killer you pretend to be."

Nonetheless, despite the fact that they see a little bit through each other's masks, they both still hold their presumptions of each other until the very end of the season, with Akemi seeing Mizu as an obnoxious samurai swooping in to save the day, and Mizu seeing Akemi as a damsel in distress.

And what I find a bit irksome is that the fandom also resorts to flattening them to these tropes as well.

Because Mizu is not some cool, smooth-talking samurai with a big dick sword as Akemi (and the fandom) might believe. All of that is the facade she puts up and nothing more. In reality, Mizu is an angry, confused and lonely child, and a masterful artist, who is struggling against her own self-hatred. Master Eiji, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

And Akemi, on the other hand, is not some girly, sweet, vain and spoiled princess as Mizu might believe. Instead she has never cared for frivolous things like fashion, love or looks, instead favouring poetry and strategy games instead, and has always only cared about her own independence. Seki, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

But neither is she some authoritative dominatrix, though this is part of her new persona that she is trying to project to get what she wants. Because while Akemi is willful, outspoken, intelligent and authoritative, she can still be naive! She is still often unsure and needs to have her hand held through things, as she is still learning and growing into her full potential. Her new parental/guardian figure, Madame Kaji, knows this as well.

So with all that being said, now that we know that Mizu and Akemi are essentially wearing masks and putting up fronts throughout the show, what would a representation of Mizu's and Akemi's true selves actually look like? Easy. It's in their hair.

This shot on the left is the only time we see Mizu with her hair completely down. In this scene, she's being berated by Mama, and her guard is completely down, she has no weapon, and is no longer wearing any mask, as this is after she showed Mikio "all of herself" and tried to take off the mask of a subservient housewife. Thus, here, she is sad, vulnerable, and feeling small (emphasised further by the framing of the scene). This is a perfect encapsulation of what Mizu is on the inside, underneath all the layers of revenge-obsession and the walls she's put around herself.

In contrast, the only time we Akemi with her hair fully down, she is completely alone in the bath, and this scene takes place after being scorned by her father and left weeping at his feet. But despite all that, Akemi is headstrong, determined, taking the reigns of her life as she makes the choice to run away, but even that choice is reflective of her youthful naivety. She even gets scolded by Seki shortly after this in the next scene, because though she wants to be independent, she still hasn't completely learned to be. Not yet. Regardless, her decisiveness and moment of self-empowerment is emphasised by the framing of the scene, where her face takes up the majority of the shot, and she stares seriously into the middle distance.

To conclude, I wish popular fanon would stop mischaracterising these two, and flattening them into tropes and stereotypes (ie. masculine badass swordsman Mizu and feminine alluring queen but also girly swooning damsel Akemi), all of which just seems... reductive. It also irks me when Akemi is merely upheld as a love interest and romantic device for Mizu and nothing more, when she is literally Mizu's narrative foil (takes far more narrative precedence over romantic interest) and the deuteragonist of this show. She is her own person. That is literally the theme of her entire character and arc.

[theferal-possum]

sorry to bring up klance in the big year 2025 but i found a w.i.p. i had with like. 4 scenes and a handful of paragraphs but why is this some of the most beautiful writing ive ever made

His mind pauses on the memory, a few years ago now, when this had all started. They had finally started getting along, just a bit after Sendak's attempt to take over the castle. After Lance had said they were a good team then forgotten about it.

..Asshole.

They were on the observation deck after running into eachother in the middle of the night. Neither wanting to admit the reason they were still awake.

(They both knew it was nightmares, nights after particularly gruesome battles were never easy.)

"Man, I can't wait to go back to Earth once this is all over."

He tilted his head at Lance, confused.

"Really? You want to go back?"

"Yeah? I mean I want to go home, don't you?"

Home?

Keith thought about it for a moment, trying to recall any place that's truly felt like home. He's been in many houses before, constantly filtering through different foster families that'd always trade him off the moment they could. And sure, he had a rundown shack in the middle of the desert that was barely safe enough to be considered a house.

But no, he's never had a home before.

----

And now here he stands, in knee length waves and the sun shining in just a way that makes his sun tanned skin look as if it was dusted with pure gold.

And for a moment, Keith thinks that Lance is the most beautiful person in the world.

No amount of war and scars and blood stained battles could ever take that away from him.

----

"There was this one time. On Naxzela." He breathes out. This was a over a year ago now, so why does he feel so anxious?

"I knew you guys had to get out, so. I was going to break through the barrier myself."

"That fighter.. Keith, that was you?" Lance sits up, staring down at where Keith laid uhhhword descipyor, sometjinggg.

"I had to get everyone home. Get you home." His voice barely above a whisper now. "I closed my eyes, a few seconds before I would've impacted. I didn't want to know how close I was."

He closes his eyes, and when they open again Lance can see the stars reflected in them. He can see the resignation, the acceptance, the odd calmness about the situation that makes Lance uneasy.

"Why would you- Keith, the ship would've exploded- you would've died. Why would you do that?"

"..You mentioned before your home, back here on Earth. Everyone did. Everyone had families to go home to. I thought, if I could do this one thing, nothing else would matter." He pauses, hand carding through the sand. "No amount of battles lost, no amount of painful injuries or days spent in pods, not even losing my life. None of it would matter if you got that. If I could give you that."

"Promise me you won't-" His voice breaks, a hiccup interrupting. "Won't do something like that, again."

"You know I can't do that.."

"Keith." He grips onto Keith's shirt, lip trembling from where he was biting it.

"..I promise."

He promised, because Lance asked. Only Lance could make him promise to not be reckless, something that was in his nature.

Only Lance.

----

(no idea what leads up to this.. will brainstorm)

The truth?

The truth was, that as much as any man could, Keith loved Lance McClain.

So much so that no words could ever describe it. Not a hundred, not a thousand, hell not even a million.

And so he kissed him.

Because if he couldn't say it, he was going to show him.

should i continue working on this??? its a post s8 technically canon compliant(/divergent???) and i already have a name for it, apparently

at the end of calamity (lies a home waiting for you)

[itissadbutitsmy-artblog]

obsessed with pep's unlocking crowbar. where did he get that

^ this was in the wizard city level

[humlase]

Here's this fuckass animation project I didn't do then had to cram in 2 days.

If it looks bad I KNOW. Once again, crammed 10 weeks worth of work into 2 days. I did not sleep.

Thank you to my wonderful partner @agaric25 and super cool friend for doing the voicelines for me. It would be actual ass if I had to do those myself.

additional credits: https://freesound.org/people/M-Murray/sounds/723857/ for the background music.

[angelsdean]

I need people to understand how S&P (standards and practices) works in television and how much influence they have over what gets to stay IN an episode of a show and how the big time network execs are the ones holding the purse strings and making final decisions on a show's content, not the writers / showrunners / creatives involved.

So many creators have shared S&P notes over the years of the wild and nonsensical things networks wanted them to omit / change / forbid. Most famously on tumblr, I've seen it so many times, is the notes from Gravity Falls. But here's a post compiling a bunch of particularly bad ones from various networks too. Do you see the things they're asking to be changed / cut ?

Now imagine, anything you want to get into your show and actually air has to get through S&P and the network execs. A lot of creators have had to resort to underhanded methods. A lot of creators have had to relegate things to subtext and innuendo and scenes that are "open to interpretation" instead of explicit in meaning. Things have had to be coded and symbolized. And they're relying on their audience to be good readers, good at media literacy, to notice and get it. This stuff isn't the ramblings of conspiracy theorists, it's the true practices creatives have had to use to be able to tell diverse stories for ages. The Hays Code is pretty well known, it exists because of censorship. It was a way to symbolize certain things and get past censors.

Queercoding, in particular, has been used for ages in both visual media and literature do signal to queer audiences that yes, this character is one of us, but no, we can't be explicit about it because TPTB won't allow it. It's a wink-wink, nudge-nudge to those in the know. It's the deliberate use of certain queer imagery / clothing / mannerisms / phrases / references to other queer media / subtle glances and lingering touches. Things that offer plausible deniability and can be explained away or go unnoticed by straight audiences to get past those network censors. But that queer viewers WILL (hopefully) pick up on.

Because, unfortunately, still to this day, a lot of antiquated network execs don't think queer narratives are profitable. They don't think they'll appeal to general audiences, because that's what matters, whatever appeals to most of the audience demographic so they can keep watching and keep making the network more money. The networks don't care about telling good stories! Most of them are old white cishet business men, not creatives. They don't care about character arcs and what will make fans happy. They don't care about storytelling. What they care about is profit and they're basing their ideas of what's profitable on what they believe is the predominate target demographic, usually white cis heterosexual audiences.

So, imagine a show that started airing in the early 2000s. Imagine a show where the two main characters are based on two characters from a famous Beat Generation novel, where one of the characters is queer! based on a real like bisexual man! The creator is aware of this, most definitely. And sure, it's 2005, there's no way they were thinking of making that explicit about Dean in the text because it just wouldn't fly back then to have a main character be queer. But! it's made subtext. And there are nods to that queerness placed in the text. Things that are open to interpretation. Things that are drenched in metaphor (looking at you 1x06 Skin "I know I'm a freak" "maybe this thing was born human but was different...hated. Until he learned to become someone else.") Things that are blink-and-you-miss-it and left to plausible deniability (things like seemingly spending an hour in the men's bathroom, or always reacting a little vulnerable and awkward when you're clocked instead of laughing it off and making a homophobic joke abt it)

And then, years later there's a ship! It's popular and at first the writers aren't really seriously thinking about it but they'll throw the fans a bone here and there. Then, some writers do get on the destiel train and start actively writing scenes for them that are suggestive. And only a fraction of what they write actually makes it into the text. So many lines left on the cutting room floor: i love past you. i forgive you i love you. i lost cas and it damn near broke me. spread cas's ashes alone. of course i wanted you to stay. if cas were here. -- etc. Everything cut was not cut by the writers! Why would a writer write something to then sabotage their own story and cut it? No, these are things that didn't make it past the network. Somewhere a note was made maybe "too gay" or "don't feed the shippers" or simply "no destiel."

So, "no destiel." That's pretty clearly the message we got from the CW for years. "No destiel. Destiel will alienate our general audience. Two of our main characters being queer? And in a relationship? No way." So what can the pro-destiel creatives involved do, if the network is saying no? What can the writers do if most of their explicit destiel (or queer dean) lines / moments are getting cut? Relegate things to subtext. Make jokes that straight people can wave off but queer people can read into. Make costuming and set design choices that the hardcore fans who are already looking will notice while the general audience and the out-of-touch network execs won't blink and eye at (I'm looking at you Jerry and your lamps and disappearing second nightstands and your gay flamingo bar!)

And then, when the audience asks, "is destiel real? is this proof of destiel?" what can the creatives do but deny? Yes, it hurts, to be told "No no I don't know what you're talking about. There's no destiel in supernatural" a la "there is no war in Ba Sing Se" but! if the network said "no destiel!" and you and your creative team have been working to keep putting destiel in the subtext of the narrative in a way that will get past censors, you can't just go "Yes, actually, all that subtext and symbolism you're picking up, yea it's because destiel is actually in the narrative."

But, there's a BIG difference between actively putting queer themes and subtext into the narrative and then saying it's not there (but it is! and the audience sees it!) versus NOT putting any queer content into the text but SAYING it is there to entice queer fans to continue watching. The latter, is textbook queerbaiting. The former? Is not. The former is the tactics so many creatives have had to use for years, decades, centuries, to get past censorship and signal to those in the know that yea, characters like you are here, they exist in this story.

Were the spn writers perfect? No, absolutely not. And I don't think every instance of queer content was a secret signal. Some stuff, depending on the writer, might've been a period-typical gay joke. These writers are flawed. But it's no secret that there were pro-destiel writers in the writing room throughout the years, and that efforts were made to make it explicitly canon (the market research!)

So no, the writers weren't ever perfect or a homogeneous entity. But they definitely were fighting an uphill battle constantly for 15 yrs against S&P and network execs with antiquated ideas of what's profitable / appealing.

Spn even called out the networks before, on the show, using a silly example of complaints abt the lighting of the show and how dark the early seasons were. Brightening the later seasons wasn't a creative choice, but a network choice. And if the networks can complain abt and change something as trivial as the lighting of a show, they definitely are having a hand in influencing the content of the show, especially queer content.

Even in s15, (seasons fifteen!!!) Misha has said he worried Castiel's confession would not air. In 2020!!! And Jensen recorded that scene on his personal phone! Why? Sure, for the memories. But also, I do not doubt for a second that part of it was for insurance, should the scene mysteriously disappear completely. We've seen the finale script. We've seen the omitted omitted omitted scenes. We all saw how they hacked the confession scene to bits. The weird cuts and close-ups. That's not the writers doing. That's likely not even the editors (willingly). That's orders from on high. All of the fuckery we saw in s15 reeks of network interference. Writers are not trying to sabotage their own stories, believe me.

Anyways, TLDR: Networks have a lot more power than many think and they get final say in what makes it to air. And for years creative teams have had to find ways to get past network censorship if they want "banned" or "unapproved" "unprofitable" "unwanted" content to make it into the show. That means relying on techniques like symbolism, subtext, and queercoding, and then shutting up about it. Denying its there, saying it's all "open to interpretation" all while they continue to put that open to interpretation content into the show. And that's not queerbaiting, as frustrating as it might be for queer audiences to be told that what they're seeing isn't there, it's still not queerbaiting. Queerbaiting is a marketing technique to draw in queer fans by baiting them with the promise of queer content and then having no queer content in said media. But if you are picking up on queer themes / subtext / symbolism / coding that is in front of your face IN the text, that's not queerbaiting. It's there, covertly, for you, because someone higher up didn't want it to be there explicitly or at all.

[sea-me-now]

WAKING UP TO CRAZY SPLATOON NEWS ON A RANDOM TUESDAY ONCE AGAIN

ACHK WHA HUH

anyway so clearly they did have new stuff to announce for the anniversary but just didn’t until a few weeks later for whatever reason

splatoon 3 content extension *and* a new spinoff game…what more could we have dreamed for truly

[batsplat]

I know need to know what the fuck was the honda three rider team about. Bc that sounds made up as fuck

historical silly season: 2010 edition!

in early 2010, casey had very much had enough of ducati

rumours are that he'd already been looking to break his contract for the 2010 season after how ducati had handled the whole mystery illness 2009 saga... releasing inaccurate statements about his condition to the press without his consent, implying his diet was to blame - as well as offering jorge a shit ton of money to come ride for them. crucially more than they were paying casey

this was from mid 2009 and the vibes were already BAD back then... it's hard to know how seriously to take retirement rumours from the time given casey just wasn't. really... talking to the press, so a lot of the times the media was relying on other sources from inside his camp or just wildly speculating

anyway, casey did see out the 2010 season with ducati, but at the start of the year he essentially gave them an ultimatum - he wanted them to rip up his proposed contract and have them show him how much he was worth to them. they did not do so

according to casey, he already signed a contract at the second round of the season in jerez, which gives you a sense of how done he was with all things ducati - but it was only announced after the seventh round in july. the move was made smoother by casey's existing close relationship with livio suppo, who had himself recently made the switch from ducati to honda

very much the right time to make the move for sure. at the time, there was speculation that casey's poor results in the first half of the season was due to decreased motivation, which of course he strongly denied. really, it was the fault of the bike and team - and casey would show as much the following year at honda

one little problem. honda already had two factory contracted riders for 2011: dani and dovi. now, dani had been honda's wunderkind since forever, and after their last world champ nicky hayden - who was not on particularly warm terms with dani's camp, it has to be said - departed the team, dovi had been the chosen replacement. dovi was a long time honda loyalist, even when he was riding their underpowered bikes to championship runner up positions against jorge in 250cc, and he'd also had a highly impressive rookie season

2009 had not been a particularly great year for either factory honda rider, partly due to bike performance partly due to injuries partly due to... rider performance. it was a rough year for dovi in particular, despite his win in tricky conditions at donington (all four aliens deliver quite funny performances at that race in different ways. not exactly the finest of hours for any of them)

when casey's signing was announced, honda initially went 'okay three factory blokes but maybe we'll have two in the real team and then one in a fake team'

the problem, right, is that it costs a lot of money to field a three man team - this is why honda was so keen on the red bull option, because then they could pay for the seat

honda confirmed its intention to have four factory honda riders in 2011, those three and sic, in mid-september. but they still needed to figure out where to put them. they didn't manage to get the funds to put casey in a separate team, and then they tried to put dovi on the satellite squad:

now, dovi was on a 2+1 contract, with 2009-10 guaranteed and an option to extend for another year. the contract included a performance clause - and dovi was having a more successful 2010 season, so hrc was having some trouble forcing dovi to accept the move:

so yeah, obviously not exactly great behaviour to sign a third rider when your team is already essentially full... and then immediately spend the next few months trying to get rid of one of your existing riders who is still entitled to that seat

some more details:

for a while, dovi looked like he might be leaning towards accepting it, and was certainly keen to stress that he wasn't rejecting gresini due to his interpersonal issues with some of the team's personnel. this from september:

eventually, repsol agreed to fund the whole thing so that honda could honour their commitments to all three riders:

so, one team for all of them, if still a wee bit of healthy internal separation

and by november the whole thing was sorted

honda did have some internal precedent for this! in 1997, they fielded three factory riders: doohan, criville and okada

also back in the day they did just create shell teams organised around one rider, which is of course where valentino spent his first two years in the premier class

and here's the updated version from 2011!

anyway, it was only something honda was willing to do for one year, and in the end dovi decided to jump ship to yamaha rather than accept internal demotion. the fight for p3 in the championship went right down to the final race in valencia - and it must have been incredibly satisfying for dovi to snatch it from dani there

after this... look, basically they changed the rules to make it two entries at most per team, then they changed it back for like? two years? so that four riders were technically allowed. and then they changed their mind again. now it's just two - obviously teams are allowed wildcards, but they couldn't do this three man team thing anymore nowadays

teams generally wouldn't even want to do this because it's a lot of hassle and, most importantly, money. so yeah, unlikely to make a comeback. very much a quirky curio that won't be replicated... could be funny though. if they want to change the rules again

[sundial-bee-scribbles]

i thought their voices made for a pretty interesting combination, so i made a little test thing to show it off

ust by Zoë (@/half-a-head)

[bookshelf-in-progress]

To prove that I am trying to write a retelling, here's a failed opening paragraph to a "King Thrushbeard" retelling that I'm never going to write.

Our first year of marriage, my husband and I lived in a hovel. It was a tiny, damp, dim little room, with a dirt floor, a straw roof, and a chimney that always smoked. It sat a mile from the nearest village, abandoned by a farmer who had failed. It sat on the banks of a tiny creek, and at sunrise I would leave the dim confines of the house to wade in the shallows and watch the water ripple over stones, watch the sun flash on the water, watch the birds dive for bugs and sing their praises to the living God who'd given them another day. Sometimes I dream of returning there—the creek would be the same, I think, even so many years later. Of course, at the time, I was miserable.

[kowwpow]

I’m gonna be out most of the day bc I’ll be helping my dad with a big shopping trip plus being out after, so I’m going to be super duper exhausted

I don’t do well in crowded or loud places in the slightest, I get woozy and tired and I feel miserable or like I’m gonna pass out, and if the shopping isn’t gonna make me wanna cry, the outing after will bc it’s gonna be packed with lots of noise and people

I don’t say this because I want to complain, I just wanna give a super quick warning that I might not be active tomorrow as well as today bc when I get exhausted, my mental health tends to decline as well ;-;

so- a bit of a warning that I may poof a bit (sorry! 😣)