#that will be a complaint that goes into the feedback form at the end of this semester i guess

[gossippool]

so bored in class i've written 500 more words of my fic. hashtag girlboss

[deliciousangelfestival]

hi!! i jst wanted to say i loved ur bucky n steve as babies and was wondering if u could do another version where bucky/steve (seperate) where they’re (well one of them, either both or jst one is fine) are dating Y/N and theyre jst clinging onto her and cries/whines/throws a tantrum evertime she tries to leave, u can completely ignore this if u want

Thank you so much. I'm so happy you like the short story. Even though there's a lot mistakes. 😅

Here it goes. I hope you like it, @leiluvs . 😘

Check out Main Masterlist 👈

Drawing of baby Steve and Rogers : Drawing 1, Drawing 2, Drawing 3

Tiny Soldier

STEVE ROGERS

Captain America turned into a baby when he helped Dr. Strange.

The team was shocked, including Y/N. Steve's girlfriend. She was used to seeing Steve come with bruises. But she's not prepared when she sees Tony carrying her boyfriend.

Strange told Y/N the magic cast on Steve would last for a week, and then he would turn to normal.

That made Y/N relieved a bit. Then, her days with baby Steve started.

Baby Steve is gentle. He never makes a fuss. He only cries when he's hungry.

When she bathe and wash his hair, he is soft, fragrant, and very comfortable to hug. Everyone wants to hold him, but he only lets Y/N carry him.

Even though he's a baby, his eyes are only for Y/N. Whenever she goes, his eyes always follow her movement.

On the second day, he calls her "Y/N~." His child's voice makes him more cute since adult Steve always has his Captain voice when he talks but not towards Y/N.

Everyone was jealous. Tony and Natasha tried to persuade Steve to call their name. But baby Steve doesn't want to. He looks away, pretending not to hear them. Tony and Natasha felt annoyed a bit. They knew Steve could speak. But he only talks to Y/N.

When Y/N gave Steve milk, he handed half of his drink to her. "Y/N drink~." His small gesture made Y/N feel warm. Even though Steve became a baby, he wanted to share what he had.

Baby Steve will glare at anyone who stands closer to Y/N. He would slap an object near him or stomp his short leg.

Y/N thinks it's cute. But she misses her boyfriend in adult form.

When Steve turned back to adult, he felt dizzy. The first thing he did was hug Y/N. He felt safe and warm in her arms.

BUCKY BARNES

Poor Bucky was at the wrong time and location when Dr. Strange cast a magic spell. In a second, he became a baby.

Baby Bucky doesn't make a fuss, but he's active. He always sings, following the kid's channel. It was Tony's mistake who played the video.

Baby Bucky always hugs Y/N whenever he wants.

When someone tries to talk to Y/N, baby Bucky will immediately stand in front of her and open both of his arms. Like a barrier. With a frown face, he said, "My Y/N."

Baby Bucky is more possessive towards Y/N rather than adult Bucky.

When Bucky turns back into an adult, his first thought is to build a family with Y/N.

-end-

Author Note: Steve and Bucky readers must send a complaint letter to Dr. Strange. 🤣🤣🤣

Likes and Reblogs are appreciated. It helps me to get motivated. And if you can, could you leave a comment? I want to know what you think, and any feedback is welcome.💖

Check out Main Masterlist 👈

Drawing of baby Steve and Rogers : Drawing 1, Drawing 2, Drawing 3

[sweetshelluvaau]

Like promised in my Lucifer and Lilith post: here's my redesign and character changes for Charlie

Like always, notes under the cut. Drawn in Clip Studio Paint and with Photoshop CS6 for final touches. Okay to reblog, Feedback is encourage.

Charlie's character in the Pilot/canon:

Honestly, I really don't have any complaints about Charlie's design in the pilot. I think it's cute. I can't say the same for for the show itself though. Her hair is fine, but I don't like the outfit at all. Too much red and within a show that already has too much red, it all blends together and honestly isn't pleasant on the eyes. Honestly, I can't imagine what it'd be like for color blinded people heesh.

However, her design is the least of the problems I have with Show!Charlie. My major grip with Charlie in the show is how she's written.

There's a lot of things you can say about Charlie in the Pilot but what you can't say about her that she was unrealistic. She had good intentions and while she did come across as naïve, she wasn't stupid. She knew that her idea for the Happy Hotel could end up in disaster and maybe was dead in the water from day one; but she liked to believe that there's good in everyone and people deserve a second chance, or at least a chance to change for the better.

She also didn't come across as sheltered or a pushover like she did in the show neither. Charlie knew why people are sent to Hell and some are truly horrible people; some that she may have found out aren't worthy of redemption, let alone want to be redeemed. Also she knew when to put her foot down and not take shit unlike in the show where she just doesn't want to use her power as Princess of Hell because 'that's too mean' like giiiiiirl...

A part of me likes to believe that Pliot!Charlie would have no problem standing up to Valentino and get Angel Dusk out of his clutches if it meant not just for a chance Angel becoming a better person, but because he is her friend and believes no one should be abused like Val does to Angel.

(She also wouldn't call Angel Dusk a loser for being SA'd and R*ped like the show did with Husk. I know what Loser Baby was trying to do with it's message but it comes across as tone death being you can't really compare Husk's problems to what Angel is going though but I digest. There's better people to speak about this topic than me, honestly. I highly recommend Limus' video in regard to how Angel Dusk is written if you want to hear from an SA survivor's PoV)

About the redesign and character changes:

Honestly? I didn't change much from her pilot design because there really wasn't much to change in my book. Why fix perfection after all? If anything I just added onto what was already established plus added features from her redesigned parents. I gave them more golden hair with red hues along with Lilith's little horns that also grow when angry or in full demon form. I've seen a lot of people drawing Charlie with goat like features and couldn't help but not find that adorable so I ended up going down that route as well. (my Lilith also had animal ears but my Lucifer has more goat features in his demon form) They do still have there red suit jacket which they likely wears most of the time but I just really like her suspenders I want to show them off. Look I just think they're neat.

Her personality is closer to the pilot than it is the show, with her world view slowly changing as the story goes on. They also grow closer to the tenants of the hotel so that she can help them better suppose to doing day camp activities and thinking that's enough to get someone redeemed. I mean there are a few things from the show like trust excuses that I can see her putting the cast in being trust can be a virtue, but otherwise her methods become slowly just...talking and listening and finding the root of why they are the way they are with some of them perhaps tried to do good when still alive but always gotten dragged back into whatever sin or horrible thing they got themselves for what ever reason it may be. The only expectation of this is Alastor who doesn't really change much outside of growing fond of Charlie and some of their better qualities possibility rubbing off on him but considering he was a serial killer and cannibal when alive, I don't think there's anyway he's getting anywhere close to Heaven. XD

Her and Vaggie (who I will be renaming to Agatha, or Aggie for short in my AU) aren't a couple. At least at the very beginning of the story as I plan on going a more slow burn approach with their relationship suppose to them being a couple from the get go. I like the idea of Chaggie but found their relationship in the show was kinda wasted potential and (that seems to be the underlining theme of Hellaverse at this point) boring honestly. They had some chemistry and cute moments but I feel like the writers had really little interest in their relationship to begin with outside of wanting a wlw romance and from my understanding the reason why Chaggie is a thing is because a few people on Viv's team shipped it while none of the writers really cared much idk? It being slow burn in this case is more of a personal preference than it is to fix the problems with the pairing as a whole. Honestly for a show who claims to be 'female focused' it sure doesn't seem like it cares about it's woman characters at all? It's like the showrunners wanted to pull an excuse out of their ass to avoid taking accountability for poor writing in Helluva Boss' female leads...

They're non binary and go by she/them pronouns. Why? Well, Why not?

Honestly I don't have much more to say about Charlie being I'm basically taking what was given in the pilot and working with that as a base. Maybe I'll talk more in depth about her relationship with the tenants later but as of now I think I may have said everything I needed.

Next on my design agenda will be Archangel Michael (replaces Adam), following redesigns for Kesha!Bee and Stolas. I also need to finish up my second part of my Pride Ring post. It's about done but I need to clean it up a bit...

[hrodvitnon]

So, I heard Castlevania Nocturne season 2 is in the works. Big excite! That being said!

I'm overall fine with Nocturne as is if only because I know that Castlevania is no stranger to negative fan feedback whether it's legitimate grievances or petty complaints (and Nocturne is flawed, I won't argue that) – just look at the series history. Simon's Quest being a different sequel like Adventure of Link, 64 being called the worst Castlevania game for years (go watch Ragnarrox's video on it), Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin having an anime art style despite Rondo being just as anime if not more so, Symphony being too easy, Ecclesia being too hard, the very existence of Judgment and its take on the characters, Shadowvania being fine or a God of War ripoff. There will ALWAYS be Castlevania fans who dislike something, whether it's retconning Sonya Belmont or Netflixvania simply existing.

I've also played very few games in the entire series (GBA trilogy, SotN, Order of Ecclesia, Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate, bit of Dracula X) so the changes in Nocturne don't bother me that much if at all, and my general sense of being fine with Nocturne set in the French Revolution boils down to "Rondo was set during that period and France is one of the stages in Bloodlines". It also helps that I don't have as much energy for vitriol in my old by tumblr standards age, and I know adaptations will change things for better or worse... and Nocturne could have been worse. Imagine if Uwe Boll directed Nocturne.

So far Season 1 presents a fast and loose adaptation of Rondo of Blood with elements from Bloodlines and a dash of Aria of Sorrow (the eclipse) and a smidge of Harmony of Dissonance, just as the previous series adapted Dracula's Curse with bits from Curse of Darkness (Hector and Isaac) and Symphony of the Night (character designs and Lisa's death). Nocturne needs to adapt Rondo in order to properly introduce Richter and Maria and set things up for Symphony, obviously. Assuming it goes that far in future seasons, which it might.

But depending on how things go, once Nocturne is finished with Rondo and if it moves on to Symphony, there's a key element of SotN's story that falls apart when you remember that Dracula and Lisa were resurrected at the end of Castlevania Season 4; SotN happens because Richter is possessed and brings back both the Castle and Dracula, but you can't resurrect someone who's still alive, assuming Dracula hasn't died in the interim between Season 4 and Nocturne, and a whole village was being built around the still standing Castle last time we saw it. So what happens then?

An important thing to note is that Lament of Innocence, chronologically the first game in the timeline, happened in Netflixvania; Trevor mentions Leon Belmont, the game's protagonist. Lament is also where we see Dracula's origins not as a Wallachian prince turned vampire, but as Leon's friend Mathias Cronqvist – a fellow crusader who after the death of his wife Elizabetha, became Dracula by taking the soul of the vampire Walter Bernhard into a vampiric treasure called the Crimson Stone, which is basically if a Philosopher's Stone gave you vampirism because that's a kind of immortality. (There's also the Ebony Stone which is a vampire treasure like the Crimson Stone, the colors are important because there's some alchemy in Lament.)

In SotN Alucard describes the Castle as "a creature of chaos. It may take many incarnations." Apparently in the game Dracula's Curse, Dracula made a pact with the Evil God – who may or may not be Satan, somebody at Konami please clarify – to gain the power of Chaos (and also a monster horde), which would neatly explain why Netflix Drac needed a year to prep his assault after Lisa was burned at the stake. In Aria of Sorrow (in which Dracula dies for good in 1999 and is reincarnated as Soma Cruz), the final boss is literally Chaos, and its second form takes the appearance of (among other things) a black stone that flashes red – Castlevania is a creature of Chaos and the center of it is the Crimson Stone, the origin of Dracula's power.

In Dawn of Sorrow, the cult under Celia Fortner created a "perfect replica" of the Castle and wants to make a whole new Dracula; it isn't outright stated iirc, been a while since I played it, but I'm guessing the implication is that Celia created another Crimson Stone to be a new Chaos for the Castle. Plus, with two candidates being groomed for the Dark Lord position (and Soma himself being Dracula reborn and getting involved), someone would have to be sacrificed like Walter was so someone can become Dracula 2.0.

However, I don't recall seeing a Crimson Stone in Netflixvania, which is interesting considering the focus on alchemy once Saint Germain gets involved. Considering how spotty Trevor's knowledge of the Belmont family's history is, he probably didn't know how Dracula became Dracula. Maybe Leon took that knowledge to the grave, or maybe Sypha uncovered the identity of the man who became Dracula years later while she and Trevor raised their child Simon. If Nocturne will one day adapt Symphony, it needs to address the lack of a Dracula to resurrect. Maybe it can take a leaf out of Dawn of Sorrow's book and have a cult just try to make a new Dracula to replace the old one, and the party meets up with the Vlad Tepes Formerly Known as Dracula in order for him to explain how he became what he is and what the cult is doing, not to mention the whole possessed Richter part... or, perhaps the cult mind controls Richter into going through the motions so he can be forced to sacrifice someone, perhaps one of vampiric blood like Alucard, to take on the Dark Lord's mantle. It certainly wouldn't be the first time a Belmont became a Dracula!

[skillzme]

Enhancing Customer Communication in the Creative Industry

In the contemporary business landscape, establishing robust relationships and forging meaningful connections with the target audience is imperative for any enterprise to secure a substantial market share.

This process goes beyond inundating leads and customers with generic promotional content; instead, it revolves around cultivating a thoughtful rapport on an individual level through personalized and consistent customer communication. Continue reading for a comprehensive overview of effective customer communication strategies, encompassing the utilization of various technologies and tools, including incorporating a meticulously curated newsletter.   Understanding Customer Communication: Customer communication encompasses the transmission of information or ideas by businesses to their target audience through various communication channels at different stages of the customer journey.

“Setting customer expectations at a level that is aligned with consistently deliverable levels of customer service requires that your whole staff, from product development to marketing, works in harmony with your brand image.” – Richard Branson

Effective customer communication is a continuous, two-way process to nurture meaningful relationships and sustain customer enthusiasm for a business's offerings. This involves promotional interactions and transactional and conversational connections, delivering thoughtfully crafted content to the appropriate audiences.   Various forms of customer communication encompass: - Promotional Outreach: - Special offers - New product launches - Company news and announcements - Transactional Notifications: - Order and payment confirmations - Shipping notifications - Delivery updates - Two-factor authentication (2FA) PIN codes - Appointment confirmations - Event or meeting reminders - Emergency alerts - Conversational Interactions: - Customer Inquiries - Support conversations - Customer feedback or complaints Essential Customer Journey Framework for Exceptional CX: Before delving into specifics, understanding the fundamental customer journey is crucial. Optimizing customer interactions requires a clear grasp of the steps they take. The customer journey framework plays a pivotal role in shaping a remarkable customer experience. Each stage offers opportunities for refinement, ensuring a seamless progression without bottlenecks and yielding excellent outcomes. This involves scrutinizing vital touchpoints in the typical customer's end-to-end journey with your brand, including: - Initial Research Phase: - Assessing the ease of finding brand information online - Evaluating the user-friendliness of your website - Purchase Phase: - Ensuring a smooth and seamless ordering or transaction process - Product Experience Phase: - Gauging the intuitiveness of your product or service - Measuring customer satisfaction levels - Support Phase: - Evaluating the responsiveness and empathy of your customer service Optimizing each touchpoint cultivates positive associations and Builds rapport throughout the customer lifecycle. This guide will explore strategies for achieving this optimization, emphasizing that the journey is as significant as the destination.Customer Communication with successCrafting an Effective Customer Communication Strategy: Elements and Advantages   Establishing effective customer communication results in satisfied customers and drives repeat purchases, word-of-mouth referrals, heightened sales, and increased revenue. To achieve these outcomes, a well-defined strategy is essential. Below are key components that contribute to enhancing customer communication:   Establishing Transparent Communication Objectives: Clear communication goals are pivotal for businesses, offering a precise direction for achieving desired outcomes. These goals not only provide focus but also guide operational strategies. By aligning communication efforts with set goals, businesses can proactively plan activities, incorporating contingency plans to address any deviations in performance. This proactive approach enables effective performance monitoring, ensuring businesses can track and measure progress toward their objectives.   Customized Messaging for Effective Outcomes: With a well-structured plan and defined goals, businesses can craft personalized communications that effectively resonate with their audience. These communications can be tailored explicitly for distinct audience segments, such as leads, first-time customers, or loyal patrons, considering demographics, behaviors, or interests. To maximize effectiveness, meticulous planning for each interaction is crucial, focusing on the intended outcome – guiding the audience towards the desired actions.   Products or Services as the Core: Elevating Customer Experience: Visualize products or services as the centerpiece of a cake—the fundamental element with which customers engage. A well-crafted product is pivotal, as the entire experience hinges on it. Products serve as the backbone of the customer experience. If customers fail to perceive value, the battle is already lost. Embracing premium quality and excellence becomes the foundation for customer experience success. By consistently delivering high standards, businesses delight customers and surpass their expectations, laying the groundwork for a positive and memorable experience.   Outstanding Service: Adding the Finishing Touch Service is the delectable icing that transforms a basic cake into something extraordinary. It encompasses every human touchpoint throughout the customer's interaction with your business. Exceptional service involves comprehending individual customer needs and addressing them promptly and empathetically. Personalization and proactive communication are the finishing touches, akin to sprinkles and cherries on top, contributing to a standout experience.  

Maintaining a Cohesive Brand Voice and Image:

An effective customer communication strategy, developed through input and collaboration, generates cohesive messaging emanating from your brand. This process enables the establishment of a brand identity, especially if your business still needs one. It involves crafting a consistent communication style that customers can readily recognize and trust over time.  

Uniformity: Adhering to the Recipe

Have you ever imagined a cake burnt on one side and undercooked on the other? The thought alone may not be appetizing! A more relatable scenario could be well-cooked meat or fish on the outside but raw and untouched on the inside. This analogy underscores the significance of consistency. In customer experience, consistency across products, services, messaging, and more is paramount. Fluctuations in execution yield mixed results, leaving customers perplexed and dissatisfied. Diligently follow your "recipe" to ensure consistent excellence, fostering a positive customer experience and customer satisfaction.  

Enhanced Customer Accessibility:

Effective customer communication entails promptly and satisfactorily addressing inquiries, issues, or complaints. Customers dislike waiting for businesses to respond and quickly shift loyalty if their experience could be more favorable. Companies can ensure faster and more efficient responses by embracing a dedicated customer communication strategy and establishing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for response times within the customer service team. This meets customer expectations and helps retain their loyalty amid a competitive landscape.  

Conclusion:

Concluding our comprehensive exploration of customer experience, it's crucial to underscore critical takeaways: Foremost, a dedication to customer experience demands a company-wide commitment. It's not a singular project but an integral part that should be woven into your company's identity. Whether it's leaders exemplifying customer empathy or frontline teams providing exceptional service, each individual within the organization has a distinct role in contributing to the overarching customer experience narrative. This holistic approach ensures that customer-centricity becomes ingrained in your company's DNA. Moreover, incorporating tools like a curated newsletter can further enhance communication strategies, facilitating ongoing engagement and connection with your audience.Amber Roy is a versatile guest post writer who effortlessly explores various niches including health, business, digital, and technology. Her expertise in simplifying complex topics ensures readers stay both informed and engaged. Beyond her writing pursuits, she finds joy in the companionship of her beloved pet, Luna. Read the full article

[digitalpole1]

How to Turn Satisfied Customers into Vocal Advocates: Encouraging Google Reviews for Your Business

In today's digital landscape, your online reputation is everything. And when it comes to building trust and attracting new customers, Google Reviews reign supreme. Those star ratings and heartfelt testimonials hold immense power, swaying potential patrons and influencing purchasing decisions. So, how do you get your happy customers to sing your praises through Google Reviews? Here are some effective strategies to keep those positive vibes flowing:

1. Make the Ask (Politely!): Don't be shy! Simply asking your customers to share their experience on Google goes a long way. Train your staff to casually mention review requests at opportune moments, like after completing a successful transaction or resolving a customer's issue. Remember, keep it polite and non-pressuring – a genuine "We'd love to hear your feedback on Google" can work wonders.

2. Timing is Everything: Strike while the iron is hot! Send automated review requests shortly after a positive interaction, when the experience is still fresh in their minds. Consider triggering emails upon purchase completions, successful service appointments, or even after resolving a complaint (showing you value feedback even for less-than-stellar moments).

3. Simplify the Process: Eliminate friction by making leaving a review easy as pie. Include direct Google Review links in your email or text message campaigns. Display QR codes on receipts or in visible locations around your store. Embed Review buttons on your website or social media pages, leading them straight to the review form. The simpler the path, the higher the review-completion rate.

4. Personalization Goes a Long Way: Generic requests lack impact. Take the time to personalize your appeal. Address customers by name, mention their specific purchase or service, and remind them of the positive aspect of their experience. This shows you appreciate their business and genuinely value their feedback.

5. Sweeten the Deal (Without Bribery): While offering direct incentives for reviews is against Google's policy, you can still show your appreciation through subtle gestures. Run a "Featured Review of the Month" contest with small prizes. Offer exclusive discounts or early access to new products for those who leave detailed reviews. Remember, it's about showing gratitude, not buying reviews.

6. Make Reviews a Conversation: Don't let the interaction end with the review submission. Respond to each review, thanking the customer for their feedback and addressing any concerns. This not only showcases your dedication to customer service but also encourages others to engage in the conversation, boosting your review visibility.

7. Champion Your Reviews: Positive reviews deserve to be showcased! Feature snippets on your website and social media pages. Include review quotes in marketing materials. Create video testimonials highlighting your amazing customers. Let the good vibes permeate every customer touchpoint.

8. Be Open to Feedback (Even the Not-So-Good): Remember, negative reviews can be just as valuable as positive ones. They offer insights into areas you can improve. Respond professionally and promptly, demonstrating your commitment to addressing concerns and improving your services. This transparency can actually turn a negative experience into a positive one, showcasing your commitment to customer satisfaction.

9. Celebrate Success, and Keep Going: Building a strong review base takes time and effort. Track your progress, celebrate milestones, and acknowledge your team's efforts. But don't become complacent. Continuously refine your review-encouraging strategies and adapt to changing customer behavior. Remember, a culture of feedback and appreciation is key to fostering loyal customers and thriving in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

By implementing these strategies, you can transform your satisfied customers into vocal advocates, amplifying your business's online presence and attracting new customers through the power of genuine Google Reviews. So, start asking, simplifying, and showing appreciation, and watch your online reputation reach new heights!

[professionalvalkyrietrainer]

Assignment 3 Postmortem

At last, welcome to my final Tumblr blog for IGB 220. I can't believe I have written around 15 blogs for the span of this semester. I know sometimes they are not on time but hey at least its an average 1.15 blog per week for the semester so no complaints.

Lets start off with a recap from my last blog, in which I talked about my team and my experience of hosting playtest for Crab-splosion. We had a total of 3 playtest sessions and gotten a total of 9 play testers and their respective feedbacks. I was also responsible for hosting my first few play testing session which went alright. After all the playtesting sessions, the team then took the response from the questionnaire and survey that were filled up by play testers and have the data sorted and compiled. Credits to Evan for compiling the data into easy to read tables. Evan also compiled the questionnaire to create a demographic analysis to allow the team to have a better understanding of what type of user is testing our game.

Play Tester Feedback

Now unto the meat of the blog, we will now have a look at the feedback we had for our game and goes in depth at every single one. Different from usual postmortem sessions, we had a table of compiled data that shows every major feedback we instead of just playtesting notes I wrote down. This session will also be divided into 3 session corresponding to the 3 playtesting session we had.

Playtest 1

Tutorial Missing

The first big feedback we had for this playtesting session would be the lack of a tutorial stage. By this time, we still have not added a tutorial stage to the beginning of level 1 which explains the feedback. Other than that, our game is a bit complex due to the amount of systems we had so having a tutorial to explain everything beforehand would make it less confusing for players trying to pick up our game. I would say this is a valid feedback and is something that we managed to add in eventually.

No Checkpoints

This feedback is something that each of the play tester has brought up. I believe this is due to two points: 1) Our game is a little challenging if you are not that experienced in platformers. 2) Each level takes a pretty long length of time to complete. Both has caused play testers to suggest add in a checkpoint which makes death in-game less punishing and tedious. In the end, we did add in checkpoints through out the levels.

Player Aiming Direction Not Clear

Onto the next feedback, there're also several play testers that are not sure where the crab is currently facing because no matter which direction it is facing, the model will only show the crab facing towards the right. In order to sort out this matter, we decided to add in a sprite that show the crab is facing left.

No Enemy damaged indication/Feedback

During playtest, some of them said that there isn't a clear indication of whether the player's attack is having effect on the enemy, basically the play tester is looking for visual cues while they aren't receiving any. I believe this can be easily fixed by adding some form of visual impact that let the player know that their shots are indeed something. Originally we opted for make the enemy flash when it takes damage but that requires too much work since new animations need to be added to each enemy so instead we used an easier solution which is to add a hit sprite on where the shot connected with the enemy. This was seem effective as no similar feedback was received in future playtesting.

Orb physics messing with enemies

This feedback was given by one of our testers in which an enemy can push the orbs dropped by defeated enemies. This caused a phenomenon where players can just kill the enemy in front and had the enemy at the back push the orb towards to the player. This is something that the team didn't intend to happen but had a great laugh out off. This was fixed in the final demo of our game.

Playtest 2

Tutorial STILL Missing

Player Aiming Direction STILL Not Clear

During playtest 2, because not much development on Crab-splosion was done in between this playtest and the previous one, we are still receiving these feedbacks during playtest 2. However, as mentioned these were fixed before playtest 3.

Unclear UI Elements

There were also feedbacks from players regarding how the UI for Crab-splosion is very unclear of what they are trying to represent. The team decided that it can be tweaked by making the health bar easier to notice as well as add more visual cue to the weapon gauge to better represent the weapon being unusable for the time being as well as an icon to represent each weapon so player know which gauge represent each weapons.

Scatter Shot/Shotgun Alteration

One of the play testers actually commented on how our current scatter shot bubbles is not scientifically correct of it being red colored. As a suggestion, he think that the bubbles can be blue colored to better represent its damage or purpose. However, the team restrained from doing that because we believe that making the bubble blue color would make the bubble blend into the background instead.

Enemy AI

One major feedback we got from this session is definite regarding the lack on an AI within the enemy. Most play tester felt that the current enemy is too easy to avoid as they only move from right to left without considering player movement. A play tester suggested that a pathfinding can be implemented so that the enemy would be moving towards the enemy. There's another feedback that suggested the enemies to move back and forth as well. In the end, the team decided to go with the back and forth idea but as unable to implement it due to time constraints.

Bad Controls

Another major feedback that we have gotten is related to Crab-splosion's current control scheme where the play tester found it to be confusing and unfamiliar. The play tester stated that he prefer using WASD keys for movement when playing platformers instead of arrow keys, which is what we are currently using. We also used WASD for weapon controls which made it even more confusing to the play tester. The team have discussed about this and planned to research for commonly used control schemes to create a more publicly appealing control schemes.

Playtest 3

Game Unbalanced

Some of the play tester also found that the game is too unbalanced as well as too hard navigate. This is mainly due to the addition of level 2 that has too much path to go on as well as having too much enemies. The team suggest that more health can be given to the player, having more checkpoints and warning indicators will also help.

Lack of Death Screen

The lack of a death screen is also a feedback that we have received from multiple play testers. When playing Crab-splosion, if the crab ran out of HP, the crab will just be instantly teleported back to the previous checkpoint. Many play tester felt that having a game over or death screen would make it more visually clear that the player has lost and need to replay from the last checkpoint. This is definitely something the dev team would add in the future.

Second Level Tweaks

Many play testers have given feedback regarding level 2 of Crab-splosion being inconsistent with the overall level design of the first and final level. Some also believed that its not following the principle of going from left to right that was present in the first level. Hence, the team have decided that the second level will need to be redesign in the future to better suit the system of the games.

Portal Unclear

There are play testers who also responded that they were unclear what does the portal do. This is probably due to the fact that no proper introduction was given to the portal which made players confused when they approach one. I would suggest that we add a tutorial for the portal so that players can learn about what the portal does.

Bullet Travel Indefinitely

One more flaw with the game that the team realized during play testing which is also picked up by some of the play tester would be the fact that the bullet shot out of the crab will travel indefinitely. This meant that enemies can be killed off screen if the player constantly blind fire shots into the right. This I believe can be fixed by simply fixed by just adding a time limit for how far the bullet can travel before it de-spawns.

Personal Notes and Future Additions

Finally I would like to add some things that I would definitely implement into Crab-splosion if I were to keep working on it in the future:

Add in the upgrade/leveling system that we didn't add in for this demo

Add Enemy AI

Improve UI Visuals

Better Crab Animations

Add a better narrative/story to it

At last, I have completed all the blogs. I want to thank everyone for sticking with me throughout all the codes. I am not sure if I will continue writing blogs for my future subject but I would try to as it is in my opinion one of the best way I can keep track of all my development and growth as a game developer.

Signing Off,

S.

[bollywood143114]

Anupamaa 26 May Episode: Anuj-Anupama distance due to Guru Ma, shows Leela or Maya her condition

Anupama 26th May Episode: The ongoing family drama in Anupama serial is not ending. Every day there are new twists in serials. In the same Shah and Kapadia house, the commotion continues to grow. While Samar and Dimpi's wedding ceremony is going on in the show, Anuj hides from everyone's eyes and looks for an opportunity to talk to Anupama. In today's episode, Anuj will also succeed in finding this opportunity. Then the words of Anupama-Anuj will remain incomplete He goes to Anupama and says – I don't know if I will get this chance again… I want to tell the truth. I know you haven't asked me anything, but I want answers to all the questions in your eyes. That day when I was coming, I was on my way… He was about to say something more when Guru Ma's phone rang. He tells Anupama on the phone - I am coming, I am leaving. In such a situation, again Anuj and Anupama's talk remains incomplete because of Guru Maa. Guruma will raise questions about Anupama-Anuj's relationship Along with this, you will also see Guru Ma scolding all her students for their attire. So Guru Ma says to Anupama, I told you earlier that if you want to work in Gurukul, you have to tie your ankles. I don't want chain of responsibility. In response, Anupama says - I remember but how do I forget. Anupama doesn't stop there but after that she tells Guru Ma in clear terms – I can give up some responsibilities, but not the complete marriage of the son… Guru Ma is shocked to hear this. After this Guru Maa asked Anubhav a very strange question. She sees Anuj's mehndi on Anupama's hand and says does she still remember you… to which Anupama says – body loses breath, but mind doesn't get disconnected…. Hearing this, Guru Ma says, you can fly very high, but don't let Anuj's love stop your journey. The journey ahead is long and hard… these relationships will make your journey even harder. Anupama's presence annoys Nakul Nakul, present there, will be scared to hear the conversation between Anupama and Guru Maa. In fact, Nakul worries that Guru Maa forgets her hard work and dedication and forms a new relationship with Anupama and hands over the responsibility of Gurukul to her. Leela Baa will show Maya her worth On the other hand, Anupama gets angry before she can't attend Samar's wedding ceremony, but when everyone speaks up for Anupama, Leelaba takes out her anger on Dimpy. After this Leela Baa will also be seen getting angry on Maya saying that she is worried about you… how will she marry the one who will break the marriage. Maya then asks Anuj to go home, but Anuj avoids it. On the other hand, Barkha is also showing a strong attitude towards Ankush. Amidst all this, Kavya has decided not to tell Banraj about her pregnancy and he seems to be sticking to her decision. What happens after Anupam? Hustle from Gurukul to Samar's wedding, what will be the new turn, will Anuj and Anupama talk before the wedding ends...? Will Maya and Barkha's secret be revealed in front of everyone...? And will Banraj find out that he is going to be a father again...? To know all this you have to watch the latest episode of Anupama. DISCLAIMER Thanks For Visit Our Site www.bollywoodofindia.com . We’ve taken all measures to insure that the information handed in this composition and on our social media platform is believable, vindicated and sourced from other Big media Houses. For any feedback or complaint, reach out to us at bollywoodofindiaa@gmail.com Read the full article

[cherrygukki]

the waves | birthday special (m)

➸ pairing: surfing instructor!jungkook x f. reader ➸ word count: 7.2k (oops) ➸ genres: s2fwb-ish au, pwp, smut, a bit of humor at the start, fluff at the end if you squint hard enough ➸ rating: M — Minors do not interact! ➸ summary: After your best friend forcefully dragged you to take surfing lessons during your vacation, things suddenly took the wrong turn when a thick cloud of sexual tension spurs you and your surfing instructor. Or was it really a wrong turn? ➸ warnings: it goes from 0 to 100 FAST, jimin makes a quick appearance in the beginning, reader almost drowns, dom kook, big dick kook, unprotected sex (wrap it before you tap it!), public sex (they literally did it at the beach lmao), exhibitionism, cowgirl and reverse cowgirl, dry humping, multiple orgasms, slight overstim., sir kink, praise kink, humiliation, dumbification, dirty talk, degradation kink, name calling (uses of slut, whore, bitch, etc.), water sports squirting, fingering, oral (m. receiving), slight boob play, brief mention of anal, kissing, rough sex, IT'S JUST BASICALLY AN INTENSE ROUND OF FUCKING GOODBYE ➸ author's note: hello! new account here and this is the first fic i've ever posted in celebration for koo's birthday :)) got this idea from a real-life experience a few months ago. apologies in advance for any grammatical errors or spelling mistakes i didn't notice (lmk if i missed any warnings/tags too!) feedback/comments will be highly appreciated! happy reading <33

"I don't even know how to fucking swim!"

Like a toddler, you loudly wailed in protest at the man in front of you. He merely chuckled at your futile complaint before giving three reassuring pats on your shoulder.

"Who said you're going to swim? All you do is basically stand up on a board and ride the waves!" To his disappointment, his light-hearted consolation was brushed off as you heaved out a scoff stuffed with irony.

"Yeah, right. You talk as if I won't fuck shit up."

"Because you won't! You slay in everything. You know that."

"For fuck's sake, Jimin, you don't even know what surfing is like yourself!"

"Hey, you're gonna thank me if you suddenly become the real-life Merliah from Barbie In A Mermaid Tale once you become an expert at this!"

"You're already dead meat to me before that bullshit even happe—"

"Ms. Y/N?"

Both you and your best friend froze the moment you heard the strange, yet quite charming voice of a man. The both of you simultaneously turned around only to be greeted by... a Greek God?

You squinted your eyes. Once — no twice, maybe thrice? You didn't know. The only fact you were aware of at that moment was that he appeared too heavenly to be an underpaid surfing instructor by the lazy beach side.

Jimin nudged you by the shoulder a bit too eagerly. You knew that signal, and from there on, he gave you that look.

The look that you'd found treasure buried underneath the sand.

Your mouth went dry, your throat suddenly growing tight, and your voice disappearing like faint dust. You were in denial at that moment. His looks were enough to make him a qualified model for Vogue! There's no way you deserve to be instructed by someone as hot as hi—

"You're Y/N, aren't you? I'll be your surfing instructor for today." Maybe the staring erupted some awkward tension between the two of you. Shit, did he notice the way your eyes shamelessly ogled his figure? Or the way your throat visibly formed large lumps? You desperately hoped not. You gave a quick glance to your best friend before busting out a grin and laughing nervously to fill in the quiet space between the two of you.

You squeaked in utter embarrassment, "Yes."

"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Jungkook, by the way." He smiled gently before lending out his hand for a brief handshake. The gesture itself was already enough to have your insides melting for him. He's already too perfect.

You abruptly felt Jimin leaning in to whisper quietly in your ear. "The room is all yours later. Just call me when you're done with him."

Before you could fully react to his statement, he was already walking backwards while waving at you with the shittiest smile plastered on that cunning face of his.

"Have fun!" He yelled, radiating his support despite being a far distance away from you.

"...Lastly, this little guy underneath the board is the fin. Some boards have three fins on them, but since you're only a beginner, you're going to be good enough with one," Jungkook explained the last part featured on the large surfboard standing in front of you as if he was explaining human anatomy. Nodding quietly, you nibbled with the lower part of your lip as you acknowledged his words, focusing on your primary task at hand that was to not get distracted with the instructor's muscles bulging through the sleeves of his dark swimsuit.

God, if you were already getting a visual preview of the divine sculpture hidden beneath the layers of spandex, you wonder whether there was more to the eye than the almost inappropriate thoughts circling around the beauty in front of you.

Oh — and would you look at that! You caught a glimpse of the intricate designs of ink delicately wrapped around his calloused fingers, and a brief portion of the full sleeve tattoo that you presumed he had. It all made your mind daze itself in a messy whirlpool, head clouded within a frenzy of thoughts as you zoned out for a moment. You had to breathe, and this man standing still within your vicinity was only making things worse.

"Ms. Y/N?" You heard your instructor call you. Your heart fluttered, but you were determined to ignore the feelings of admiration you had for this man if you wanted to let this lesson go smoothly. "You were staring blankly ahead for a few seconds," Jungkook chuckled at your zoned out expression before motioning you towards the surfboard that was now laid out against the sand. "I need to know which side you're used to facing when you start surfing later," he stated.

With that, you stepped on the board as your instincts guide you to face at your right side. It was settled, then. Jungkook was fast in getting back to demonstration as he taught you how your position ought to be by the time you're within the waters for real.

"Now, try getting up," Jungkook instructed.

Hence, you did exactly what you have learned from the past five minutes. You're laying on your chest with the starting position Jungkook had taught you, now steadily pushing your upper body away from the board as you bring your left foot upfront, finally getting into the final position before you hear Jungkook clapping from behind.

He marveled, "That's great! You're definitely ready to be out there." You couldn't help but smile at his praise, feeling validated that you weren't looking like an incompetent fool in front of him. He suddenly squatted down by your right foot, taking the leash that was attached to the board and tied it right above your ankle. The foreign sensation of his touch just barely grazing over your skin was enough to have you flinching. It was warm, subtle, yet you could still feel the rough patches on his fingers. Shivers were running down your spine with goosebumps prickling on the surface — God, you were extremely sensitive or him.

It merely took seconds for Jungkook to secure the strap on you, heaving a sigh before getting back on his feet. "It's not too tight, is it?" He asked. "We don't want the board drifting away from you." You shook your head, unbothered with being attached to a heavy weighing board at the moment. Soon enough, Jungkook was already carrying the long board with one grip as the both of you began dragging yourselves to the depths of the sea. It was difficult to control your movements, for the waves were being rebellious against your motions — not to mention the salty seawater splashing on your face the deeper you and Jungkook went.

He finally came to a halt, making sure the water was still shallow for your height as he was fully aware that beginners like you will take time adjusting to an intense sport like this. He patted the board, signalling you to get on before any waves approach you.

"Move backwards," he instructed, and you obeyed, scooting closer to the tail of the board. However, your feet were still far from the end of the board, so Jungkook ultimately had no choice but to firmly grab your legs and drag you further towards the edge. You yelped in surprise, which was thankfully left unnoticed by Jungkook who was now pushing the board deeper. It didn't take long for him to find the perfect spot for you, finally turning the board around so you can face the shore ahead of you. You gulped, abruptly feeling the surge of anxiety pumping through your veins, wondering whether you'd even be able to stand up on the board for more than three seconds or not, especially with the notable amount of people with you, it was harder to get your mind out of the gutter.

It wasn't until Jungkook had interrupted your thoughts, that it made you forget how to breathe for a nanosecond. "Do you remember what I taught you?" You nodded hastily. "Yeah."

"When I say ready, get in your ready position, and once you hear me say go, stand up as fast as you can. Get it?" Jungkook reminded, and all you could do was gesture a nod once again. After all, there was a large lump clogging your throat, and you didn't really have the enthusiasm in you to reply to him.

A few seconds had passed, and Jungkook saw your first wave coming. "Ready," he remarked. You recall what he demonstrated to you, imitating the vivid image playing in your head while you held your breath.

He was already pushing the board away along with the wave's force. "Go!" He yelled, and there you were clumsily pushing yourself up. You managed to stand up on the board, about to smile to yourself for your memorable success until it didn't take another second for you to gain impact with the salty water.

You were grateful you were prepared for the fall, at least, but it didn't stop the embarrassment from rushing to your face. Jungkook swam to where you were, checking whether you had possibly inhaled any of the water. To his relief, though, you were fine.

"You okay?" He couldn't help but ask, and you gave him a firm nod, lending the board to him so he can push it back to your initial position.

Patting the board, he instructed once again, "Get on." You did as he told you, making your body parallel with the surface as you made yourself comfortable. "Move backwards." That familiar command finds its way to your ears once again, and this time, you scoot yourself over the right place this time, earning an unexpected praise from your instructor.

"Good girl."

You could've sworn to the heavens above you that you almost let out a choked cough if it hadn't been for the way you immediately swallowed upon hearing his words. Choosing to ignore it, you simply laid the side of your head against the board instead as Jungkook quietly pushed you to deeper lengths, noticing the wave that's merely beginning to form beyond the distance.

"Are you ready for another round?"

"Yeah."

"You're impressive," he stated, "Not everyone gets it on their second try, you know?"

"Was that why so many people were cheering earlier?" You couldn't help but chuckle, your pride overflowing with joy when you finally cracked a toothy grin towards Jungkook. "I guess you could say so," he replied.

At first glance, Jungkook knew you were merely another one of the women he's taught before just with the way your eyes have turned smitten the moment they landed on him. It was a reaction he became all too familiar with. He couldn't help it — even Jungkook himself knew how much he stood out among his co-workers, and he had to eventually face the consequences for it one way or another.

However, he thought you were cute.

He couldn't refrain himself from eavesdropping on earlier's squabble between you and Jimin, his interest being piqued the first time his eyes landed on your petty face. You gave off the impression of a bold woman, and Jungkook fantasized of nothing more but to ruin that same face of yours after noticing the sudden shift in your attitude.

Jungkook liked you, and his brain was thinking of multiple ways on how to rip an orgasm from you.

"Do you know how to swim?" He asked, albeit already aware of the answer you're about to say just for the sake of initiating a conversation between you two.

"No," you sighed, muscles relaxing as you patiently waited for the next wave. "You should, it's better to follow safety precautions," he suggested. "I can teach you if you want."

"I'll think about it," you jokingly said before abruptly bursting out a giggle, causing Jungkook to unknowingly smile at himself, finding ease in your presence.

"We still have more than 45 minutes ahead of us. I'll teach you how to ride the waves better than anyone else."

Sunset had long ended, what was once the lively and noisy seashore turned into a quiet and serene coastline with nothing but the sound of crashing waves accompanying you and Jungkook. Your supposed one-hour session also ended, but it was apparent that the both of you had lost track of time. It was too late to care, though. Over the past hours with Jungkook, you had quickly grown accustomed to the wonders of surfing as if you've been somewhat drugged. Along with that, you showed a ridiculously fast pace of improvement, which astonished you and Jungkook. You just couldn't stop — the feeling was akin to ecstasy. You felt like you were on top of the world whenever you stood up on the board as you heard Jungkook scream from behind with nothing but sweet praises that fueled your ego. The more moments went by, the more you grew comfortable with the charming man accompanying you.

The feeling was mutual to Jungkook. Every time he saw that endearing grin of yours after falling off, he couldn't simply let your last wave come yet. Whether you were going to pay him for the extra hours or not, he didn't mind as long as you were having the best time of your life. The money meant a lot to him, but nothing weighed more than the passion you held for a mere sport. Your attitude was definitely attractive to him.

Besides, Jimin never came back for you, so why cut your time with the fine man dedicating himself to make you an expert surfer? He was great company after all.

Unfortunately, it wasn't until Jungkook had to say something that heedlessly gave you a sense of disappointment.

"Okay, this will be your last wave for real."

He's been saying the same statement since the past two hours, insisting to let you go for "one more" since he couldn't deny that small pout you subconsciously do every single time. However, you thought he was being serious this time since the waves were bigger compared to before now that the moon was right in the sky. Jungkook only knew much about your capabilities, and because you were a beginner, he was certain that you wouldn't handle the upcoming waves from now on. He had no choice this time.

"Ready." Albeit you got into position before Jungkook had the chance to say it, the word spilled out of his mouth like it did on its own. He wanted to see how much you improved merely from one lesson, thus he pushed you along the waves. You definitely stood up quicker, and your balance was on-point, but what caught you off-guard was the fact that you were definitely riding something bigger. Your senses altogether suddenly became overwhelmed as you momentarily forgot what you were doing. You slipped, and it was just like the first time when you fell into the seawater.

Jungkook wasn't concerned at first, for he knew you would swim back up after your past failed attempts. However, he couldn't see any sign of you floating anywhere, and that was when he began to frantically swim towards the direction you headed in desperate search for you.

"Y/N?" Jungkook called out your name as his panic only increased for each second you were gone. He was about to dive in although his eyes will definitely melt in pain due to the high levels of salt in the sea. There was no other way — he inhaled deeply before it was followed by your abrupt gasp and your loud coughing. Your body was weak, and your entire body felt as if it was suffering a whole shutdown from a malfunctioning error. Your nose in particular was giving you the worst struggle at the moment. If it hadn't been for your small slip-up, then you were more than certain that you wouldn't have had to breathe in too much water in your lungs.

You're practically wheezing at this point while Jungkook didn't waste a second to swim towards you, giving you strong pats on your back.

"Get on." He quickly retrieved the board that was thankfully still attached to your ankle up until now. You got up hastily as he carefully assisted you, his touch was tender and delicate, being overly cautious as he was aware of your painful condition. He dragged you to shore with ease until you were both winded up by the contact of sand grazing your skin. Jungkook huffed loudly before plopping himself flat against the surface. The water washed over your soaked bodies every few seconds or so — it was a nice contrast to the rough texture you were laying on.

None of you spoke a word to each other as you both took your time taking a breather after the long and intense bout that occurred.

"Are you feeling okay now?" Jungkook asked after a few minutes. You nodded. "A little bit, yeah."

"Oh, okay. Thank Go—"

You abruptly coughed loudly — and maybe aggressively too, which in fact, took Jungkook off guard as his first reaction was to immediately panic, scurrying closer to your choking body before resorting to perform CPR on you.

He looked worried — scared even, and that look on his face was enough to have you cracking up in laughter.

"Got you."

"What?" He scoffed in disbelief, quickly prying his hands off your chest while giving you a face that showed a mixed stir of his emotions.

On the other hand, you were still wheezing your ass out to the point where no sound was coming out from you anymore. You uncontrollably smacked the ground over and over again the more you looked at Jungkook. It was a worthy look on him that you had successfully earned.

"That wasn't funny." You noticed his lips form a slight pout before he could even straighten his face. You merely giggled at the sight before responding, "You should've seen yourself, then."

He scoffed sarcastically, "I bet I'd look even funnier if you actually died, then."

"Oh, come on! That was practically a dumb excuse so you can lay your hands on me!"

"Jesus Christ, I didn't know overdosing on sea water makes you horny." He forced out a cough, trying to ease out the abrupt sexual tension that has suddenly arose without any notice. You whined, though, as it was definitely not the reaction you were anticipating from Jungkook. Perhaps you were overthinking his subtle actions earlier? Or that specific way he grazed your skin whenever you were in the incorrect position? Maybe Jungkook was right about you in his last statement. Were the salty water in your lungs really the cause behind the cloudy lust in your eyes?

Or maybe because it's been so long since the last time you had your needs met that you expect the mere stranger of a man in front of you to just do you right and give you the satisfaction of your life.

You didn't know anything except for one — you were definitely horny at the moment from all the touching, nicknames, and the treatment Jungkook had given you. You could've sworn that he also stared at you with eyes that of a predator. You were undoubtedly having eye sex with the man just a few hours ago, and now he's becoming the perplexing one here?

Oh how the tables turn, you thought, now sitting up on your elbows so you can properly face Jungkook who's now staring blankly at you. On the other hand, your face shows that you were indeed dead serious.

"I think you're really hot and this is either now or never whether I get to be railed by a hunk like you."

Oh.

So, that's how you wanted to play..? Honestly, Jungkook wasn't difficult to converse with. He understood your message right from the start, and now that he saw that other side of you he'd been yearning for so long, he didn't need any other reason to hold back anymore.

He needed your assurance, thus he didn't hesitate when he let out an almost animalistic growl before squeezing your throat around his inked fingers.

"Shit, baby, you just met with a stranger a few hours ago and all you wanna do is get fucked? Do you have any idea what you're saying right now?" His voice wasn't the usual saccharine and mellow one that you'd heard over and over again — no, this was completely different. It was as if you triggered a switch in his brain that caused him to be so rough with you. You could only choke on your breath while biting your bottom lip, and before you knew it, the throbbing in your core was already summoning the heat between your legs as you rubbed your thighs in search of some much needed friction.

Jungkook didn't fail to notice, hence he brought his other hand down to your inner thigh where he spread you apart, rubbing small circles with the pad of his thumb before cooing at you.

"You sure you want my cock inside you, huh? I won't go easy on you, sweetheart, you know that." You nodded, affirmative of your decision before he took you back by landing a gentle slap on your cheek with his palm. "Words, baby," he commanded.

"Yes." You winced as you looked up at the heavenly man above you with nothing but adoration in your eyes. Big and glossy — that's how Jungkook liked the way your eyes looked right now. He hummed in approval before abruptly attacking your lips in the messiest way possible. You moaned, wrapping your arms around his neck until the kiss turned sloppy in mere seconds.

Jungkook pulled away after noticing you being immediately short on breath. "I think you're pretty too," he panted, sliding a hand down to cup your clad heat. "My pretty slut."

A gasp escaped your lips, and he didn't take another second before crashing down again to let his tongue through the wet crevices of your cavern. No more words were exchanged, for you were both immersed in making out like horny teenagers in the middle of the beach. You could care less, though. All that mattered at the moment was the fact that you were being suffocated by the cushion-like texture of his lips.

Jungkook moaned in your mouth as he felt the tent growing within the confinements of his trousers, sending a rack of chills down your spine that had your goosebumps standing up for sure. It was a make-out session so good that you barely even registered him intruding your underwear, harshly pinching your clit that had you yelping out loud. However, the warm radiance of his fingers was merely an ephemeral moment, for he was already pulling them away from your throbbing heat. You whined in protest, the action only making you crave his touch more. It wasn't until he gripped the hem of your swimsuit, though, impatiently sliding it off your torso with ease before staring at your barely exposed chest with eyes full of desire.

It was a breathtaking view that only seemed to increase the hunger in his eyes. He shakily exhaled before burying his face within the crook of your neck to press small kisses around it.

"Fuck—you're gorgeous," he moaned. "Take yours off too," you insisted, hands within the expanse of his back as you took time to appreciate how broad he felt above you. He listened without much thought, for the only goal in his mind at the moment was to get rid of any piece of fabric on the two of you, wanting nothing more than to remove the physical barrier preventing you from fully connecting with each other.

You, on the other hand, were salivating at the chiseled structure of Jungkook's chest, silently worshipping him with your gaze alone. Every bump, every inch, every detail of his well-sculpted body had you already moaning wantonly. His muscles felt hard under your touch. You could barely believe the man above you was real.

Perhaps you got so carried away from ogling Jungkook's body that your brain didn't even get to acknowledge him plunging two slender fingers in and out of your sopping cunt. Hell, you didn't even realize that your leggings were already flung a few meters away from you, making you almost stark naked underneath Jungkook if it weren't for your bra that was still clasped around your torso. Groaning at the unexpected intrusion in your pussy, you arched your back until your chest eventually pressed itself against his. "You stare too much, sweetheart. Fucking me with your eyes isn't gonna get my dick inside you." He let out an airy chuckle as he relentlessly pounded his fingers in and out. The friction already had your eyes rolling to the back of your head, mouth agape as you were being toyed with like the cheap whore you were. His crude words merely added up to your arousal, the thickness of your essence drenched your inner thighs, the remainder of it leaking until it eventually reached down your ass.

Everything was so lewd to you. Each time he pushed his fingers inside, the louder your cunt squelched, a rush of embarrassment shading your cheeks in red, causing you to drape an arm over your face to hide your overly pathetic state. "Nuh-uh," Jungkook tutted, removing your arm to pin it against the sand. "Show me how much you enjoy my fingers fucking into your slutty cunt."

You squirmed at the harsh grip he had on you, already anticipating to see a bruising mark on your wrist the next day. It wasn't until things couldn't get any better worse when Jungkook set a brutal pace that had you screaming shamelessly. Your body shook uncontrollably, and your legs were at the precipice of giving up on you any second.

If the way he was fingering you was already considered inhumane enough, you could only shiver at the thought of him breaking your body by the time he's fully sheathed inside you.

However, when you felt the rough pad of his thumb gain contact with your throbbing clit, that became the end for you. He definitely showed no mercy, pressing harshly on your poor bundle of nerves that had your breathing all ragged as drool  began to dribble down from the corners of your mouth. You squeezed your thighs shut from the intense stimulation, only to have Jungkook prying them open again which only added on to your exposure.

With that, he growled at you, pressing harder on your clit. "Don't you dare fucking hide away from me. Gonna cum all over my fingers, yeah? Be a good whore for me and make a mess. Wanna see you fall apart so fucking bad."

His words only egged you on to your incoming release. Each time his fingers would brush against that spongy spot had the knot in your abdomen grow tighter and tighter, feeling as if it was about to burst at any given moment.

"Oh, God— yes, fuck yes, Jungkook— don't stop, I'm so fucking close," you mewled loudly. The obscene noises you were making traveled straight to Jungkook's cock, wanting nothing more than to bury himself deep inside your wetness right this instant. He was patient, though, having full control of his full-on raging boner despite the extreme struggle. Well, not until he was about to reach his limit.

So, with two more thrusts of his digits on your g-spot, your vision fades into black as stars clouded your hazy eyes. Your mouth falls wide open, eyes rolling over to the back of your skull as you think about nothing but the rush of your intense orgasm. Any concerns of being seen in the vulgar position you were currently in were void of existence now. On the other hand, Jungkook shuddered at the sensation of his cock twitching violently at the sight of your mere fucked out state.

"Holy shit, babygirl, you fucking squirted all over me," he moaned, eyes blown out at your glistening folds. He slowly pumped his fingers, helping you ride out your high until you were whimpering at the overstimulation. You forcefully pushed his arm away, breathing heavily as your chest raised every few seconds.

"Tired?" Jungkook couldn't help but laugh at how drained you appeared. You chose to ignore him, though, turning your head away from him in humiliation now that your consciousness was beginning to dawn on you.

"Uh, uh, uh," he tsked, hovering over your quivering finger before gripping your face with his entire hand. Maneuvering your head to look at him, Jungkook leaned in closer to your face, sensually licking at the soft shell of your ear while humming blissfully. It hadn't even been a minute since your post-orgasm, and the mere action Jungkook did had more of your arousal gushing out of your still-throbbing cunt. "That was only the bare minimum, baby. I have more things I wanna do with you," he hoarsely whispered. Before your mind could even properly comprehend his words, he was already flipping both of your figures so you could be the one to be on top this time. He laid comfortably underneath the board as he placed his hands on your hips.

There you finally felt the prominent outline of his cock for the first time. You quietly gasped at his size, eliciting a groan from Jungkook.

He pushed your shoulders away, making you sit up on him as your pussy was now directly above his crotch. If it weren't for the trousers he was still wearing, you would had gotten his dick wet by now from the amount of your juices you were pouring out.

With that, he placed one hand on your hip, whereas the other slid itself up to cup your bra-clad tit. "Grind on it, sweetheart," he demanded.

You were already moaning before you could even move, only turning louder when you were finally relieving the much needed friction you were desperately looking for within the past three minutes. You shamelessly gyrated your hips against his cock, placing your hands on his broad shoulders to balance yourself. God, were you too fucked out on his dick that you didn't even realize that Jungkook already unclasped your bra in a haste, swiftly attacking one of your nipples with his mouth as he kneaded the other. You threw your head back in utter pleasure as you hung your mouth wide.

"Look at you, so fucked out on my dick. Such a good whore for me, aren't you?" He teased as he continued to pinch one of your nipples, the other hand cupping the warmth of your cheek before smashing your lips together once more.

Pulling away, you moaned against his mouth, "Wan' you inside me, please."

Surprisingly, Jungkook immediately complied without exchanging words with you. Slightly raising his hips up, he swiftly tugged his trousers off, kicking them away with no care whatsoever on where it had landed. His mind was set on one thing — tearing you apart on his cock.

He didn't think twice to manhandle your poor body, turning you around so that your back was facing him whereas you faced the scattered huts in the distance where someone could literally be witnessing the pornographic state you and Jungkook were in — naked, with nothing left to cover any of your dignity.

"Jungkook—" you whined, "someone might see us."

"And?" He quirked a brow at your statement as he aligned your dripping cunt over the angry tip of his cock. "You really have the audacity to say you're ashamed now?"

"Oh—oh fuck..!"

Without any warning at all, he forced you down on his dick, stretching your walls out in the most delicious, yet painful manner. You arched your back until his dick was finally buried to the hilt, your creamy essence oozing out until it eventually coats his balls. You could feel him sitting up behind you, wrapping his muscular arms around your waist before he hauled your back flush against his chest. Your walls fluttered sporadically around his cock, sending a powerful shudder at Jungkook's end. He exhaled deeply before propping his chin on your shoulder.

"Bet that slutty little cunt loves to get caught being fucked, doesn't it? — Oh fuck, I can feel you squeezing my dick, sweetheart," he chuckled in your ear, keeping you stuck on his cock. The ecstatic warmth of your hole wrapped around him gave him an all-new addiction he wanted to stay with the entire night.

"I can say you're good at riding the waves, baby, but are you just as good when it comes to riding my cock?" He purred, giving you yet another challenge that sparked up a flame inside your heat. "I don't think you can, sweetheart. You can't even think about anything when you were getting fucked by my fingers," he continued, "All you think about is wanting to get fucked by this dick, don't you?"

However, you wanted to prove him wrong. The humiliation he was planting inside you only seemed to fuel your longing to milk his cock dry, so you raise your hips, whimpering at the process from the delicious drag of his cock against your sensitive folds. "N-no," you breathed out. "I can d-do it—I can ride sir's cock g-good too."

Hearing your protest aroused him, but the new nickname you unconsciously gave him made his cock, if that was even possible, harder inside you. You moaned when he throbbed inside you, your pussy squelching louder the moment you slammed back down on his cock, swallowing him whole as you left no inch outside your warm hole.

"Yeah, you're gonna take sir's cock like the good whore you are?" He spurred you on, his words sending your mind into a frenzy as the rasp in his voice brought a pleasant thrill that traveled down your heat. "Prove it, then. Show me that you aren't such a dumb cockslut, babygirl."

"Ouh— fuck," you cried when you impaled yourself on his cock, gradually setting a pace while you bounced erratically on him.

Every vein, every ridge, and every inch drove you madly insane. Not to mention the way his cock curved inside you, giving you justttt the perfect kiss you needed to feel him right up your cervix. Everything was downright lewd and obscene, but it only sparked up your arousal to greater heights. The mere thought of having someone's eyes possibly laid out on you and Jungkook's current state already had your eyes rolling back as your mouth fell round, a mantra of moans and curses tumbling out as if you became a broken toy.

Your hands were running all over every part of your body. God, you only had him inside you for three minutes and you already felt like completely tearing apart on top of him. You were getting more overwhelmed the more you desperately bounced yourself on his dick like the bitch he exactly expected you to be, and you loved it. You gladly took everything Jungkook offered you, converting it into the most pleasurable moment of your lives as he sat there, watching you oh-so quietly. He nibbled on his lower lip every time his eyes landed on your ass that jiggled every time it clashed with his lap, but what had him throbbing once again was definitely the ring of wetness that formed around the base of his cock. You moaned rather loudly when you abruptly felt Jungkook's callused hands grip your frail wrists, bringing both of them behind your back with one hand as the other found itself harshly spanking your ass.

"Fuck, Jungkook!" You groaned in mixed bliss and pain. "That's it, you're doing so well for me, baby. Taking sir's cock like the good slut you are," he growled, landing another spank on your ass again to urge you on. You could only whimper at his roughness before complying, anyway. You rode him faster, harder, raising your hips up until just the tip remains inside you only to sink back in allll the way. You were going so fast that more of your essence trickled down, making everything a mess within your wetness. It was just the way you liked it. Your pace remained consistent for a few more minutes, until your muscles were beginning to feel the effects of soreness as your body was slowly succumbing to exhaustion. Your breathing became erratic, chest violently heaving up and down until you reached to the point where your last resort was to pathetically grind on his lap like an animal in heat. You heard him scoff behind you, finally freeing your wrists from his tight grasp as his hands were now focusing on your waist. He planted his feet on the ground, and from there on, you already knew what he was plotting in mind.

When he thrusted up, your legs shook and your breath knocked itself out of your lungs. If it wasn't for the tight hold he had on your waist, you would have fallen down by now.

"And I thought you were good at riding cock," he chuckled humorlessly, practically rearranging your intestines with the brutal pace he set on you. "I guess you're only made to take it after all," he continued, "you gonna be a good girl for sir and take his dick?" You cried when one of his hands snaked itself to your neglected bud, "Yes! Oh, fuck— yes, wan' you to fuck me."

He laughed darkly upon hearing your words, cooing at you, "Aw, did my baby get so fucked out on my cock that she turned stupid? Such a dumb slut I have right here."

With that, he abruptly pulled out of your hole without notice. You screamed in frustration as you tried to get him inside again, but he stopped you before you even could. "Jesus fucking Christ, you're also a greedy one, aren't you? I was only going to turn you around, sweetheart." He chortled.

You quietly whimpered when he was manhandling you again, heart pounding hastily in your chest as you felt him line the tip against your folds, teasing you for a few seconds before plunging inside you. You mewled wantonly, welcoming that same warmth you were craving for. However, the calm moment only lasted for a second when he was fucking into you again. Your mouth fell apart again as you could barely hold your eyes open. You frantically placed your hands on top of his shoulders for leverage until your head eventually gave in too. You laid on top of Jungkook's chest as you were forced to take his cock inside you.

He held both sides of your head so he could look at you, and doing so only made the lust in his eyes grow darker. Your hair was disheveled, your lips became swollen from all the kissing and biting, and your face definitely screamed "I Just Received the Best Fuck of My Life" vibes. It only fueled his determination to make you reach your breaking point.

Oddly enough, Jungkook had developed an obsession in witnessing you fall apart because of him. Were either of you complaining, though? Definitely not.

"Look at you, did my cock fuck you up so bad?" He giggled before swiping a lone strand of hair away from your face to get a better view. You looked heavenly like this — the sight of you all weak and vulnerable gave Jungkook the urge to just take care of you then and there.

And by taking care of you, he meant brutally fucking you then treating like you a princess afterward — that was what he had in mind for tonight.

He didn't realize that he was mindlessly thrusting into you until he felt your walls grow tighter and warmer. Your moans turned into screams and you were starting to shake violently on top of him.

"'M gonna cum..!" You whined when he began fucking you inhumanly fast as if he was the one in heat in the first place. You dragged out a long moan as more words came out of your mouth on instinct. The knot in your abdomen grew tighter until a few more thrusts and a hoarse whisper had you completely done for.

"Go on, baby, make a mess all over my cock. You did so well for me."

Thus, your orgasm destructively crashed into you, rattling all five of your senses as the impact hit you stronger than the waves could. Your vision momentarily faded into darkness, but you could definitely still feel him punctuating his hips inside you to help you ride out your high.

"Shit— that was so fucking hot, sweetheart. You feel so goo— fuck, I'm gonna cum," he groaned at the last sentence, pace faltering as he eventually fucked you with sloppy and inconsistent thrusts. You moaned at the overstimulation, humming at the sweet buzz you felt inside your body.

"Wan' you to cum inside my mouth."

That single statement drove Jungkook wild that he pulled out almost too excitedly. You laid on all fours as you patiently waited to suck him off with your mouth open and ready for him. He groaned at the way you innocently batted your eyelashes at him, wasting no time to plunge himself inside your mouth to aid his impending orgasm. You choked the moment his tip kissed the back of your throat, drool already dribbling down the corners of your lips as he gave no mind to it. He absolutely cherished the sight of you struggling to take his cock no matter which hole he fucked himself into.

Maybe he'll even aim for your ass, but that would be for another time.

"Oh, fuck. I'm close..." he mewled loudly before grabbing a bunch of your hair to form a makeshift ponytail. He kept you still there, using you as his personal fleshlight to his own delight until spurts of his cum were finally painting the insides of your mouth. You hummed around his cock, making him curse loudly. He shuddered one more time, milking out the last of his release before pulling out. You stuck your tongue out, evidence that you indeed swallowed everything. He immediately wrapped your body around his arms to cover your intimate parts, the shame and humiliation finally dawning upon the both of you.

Thankfully enough, the beach remained empty around these hours, giving you the very needed privacy at the moment.

Jungkook carefully looked at your face once again before frowning.

"Did I go too rough on you?"

You laughed, shaking your head to his relief. "No, I liked it." You blushed.

Without any warning, he kissed you again. It was soft and gentle, unlike the previous ones you shared earlier. You sighed at the serene moment before Jungkook spoke up.

"So, uh, do you have any plans on going back here?"

"For you, definitely."

You hugged him close, the warm radiance of his skin providing you comfort as you basked in the scent of him. "Don't wanna leave you yet."

He chuckled, "Me neither."

Yup, there was definitely going to be a next time between the two of you. Just when he expected to have another shitty day, you suddenly crashed into his life harder than the waves did.

[planetdream]

— PAY ATTENTION !

this post contains; smut [unprotected sex. pussy & ass eating. fingering. impact play & pussy slapping. cum & spit play. dom/sub-elements. a lil manhandling. dirty talk. daddy kink], reader referred to as a ‘good girl’

pairing: seo changbin x (fem) reader | words: 1,934

💌 this is purely a product of the talks we’ve had about changbin in the last week. i tried to give this a plot but 🤡🤡anyways besties, thank you for 1K <3 here is my gift to you :) this is the longest smut I've written in a very long time so pls pls lmk any feedback/thoughts you have on this bc it's v helpful and i was a bit nervous to post this ngl !!

“Baby pay attention to me,” this is the nth whine to come from Changbin’s mouth. Though, if you were actually paying attention to him you wouldn’t hear the complaints so often.

He had been attempting to get your attention, but you’d been so occupied by your phone for the past few hours. And Changbin requires your full attention, not half or partial. So he thought, maybe if he nagged you enough you’d give into him.

“After this round, Bin.”

“But you said that last time. come on,” This would prove to be a never-ending back and forth, and neither party—well, mostly Changbin—was happy about it. He exits the room, going off to occupy himself while he thought of his next course of action. This was OPERATION: GET Y/N’S ATTENTION.

He’s back in the room in no time, smiling down at you. You look so cute and comfortable—laid out on the bed that Changbin has fucked you in more times than he can count on his two hands. A tiny throw blanket hanging around your shoulders while you’re cuddled up on your phone. You catch him out the corner of your eye but decide not to say anything until he makes his move.

He sits onto the bed, carefully calculating his next steps. There’s got to be some way he can work his way in between your legs without raising some sort of suspicion. But instead of trying to be sneaky, he peels the blanket off of you, ignoring the look you give him.

“What are you doing?” You ask. You’d been left to peace and quiet for a few minutes before he came back. Not thinking too much of it, just assuming he was playfully upset at your lack of attention towards him. Seemingly nothing that you couldn’t patch up later.

“Just touching you. Go back to your stupid game,” He’s now laying on his stomach, inching your shorts off of you. He’s a man on a mission right now and the only thing you can do is roll your eyes and spread your legs wider for him.

Now that he’s got your shorts off and you’re spread out for him, he waits a moment. A finger running along from your clit to your slit, daring to push into you. He doesn’t, choosing instead to place his thumb up to your clit, massaging tiny circles onto the bud.

“Bin,” The nickname flew out of your mouth in the form of a moan. The exact opposite of the warning and threatening tone you were attempting to put out. Only he ignores you, giving you the exact same energy he received. If you wanted to play games, he knows a few that the two of you could play.

His thumb presses down onto your clit, halting his movements. Leaning closer to your cunt, you could feel his breath tickle against you and that alone was enough to make you squirm. He puckers his lips a bit, spitting down onto your cunt. His thumb working between your folds and over your clit, dragging his spit all over your pussy.

“Such a pretty pussy,” He bites his lip. Your cunt had an almost sparkly glint in the light from your wetness and Changbin’s excess spit—further enticing Changbin to dip his head between your thighs and devour you.

Changbin places his hands onto your thighs to spread you open and hold you down, diving into your cunt. It was at this point that the game you'd spent a few hours playing was long forgotten.

His tongue laps up your wetness, licking and sucking onto your clit. Your hand instinctively goes up to his hair to tug on it but he swats it away, taking your wrists and pinning them down at your sides. Changbin ate you as if he was starved, refusing to come back up for air until he licked every inch of your cunt—eventually moving to press light pecks all over your cunt.

His head dipping down once more, this time to lick around your asshole. Spitting onto the hole before circling his tongue around it. But every time you squirm around or buck your hips into him, he pulls away from you. As much as he loves the taste of you, his need to be a tease is slightly stronger.

"Binnie, don't tease me," You pout, attempting to move free from his hold. “I need you.”

“Begging for me to fuck you when you paid me no mind earlier?” So that's what this is about. A laugh erupts from deep in his belly as he sits up. “Didn't know you were a comedian. Now count for me,”

You’re left with no time to think before the palm of his hand comes down, striking your cunt. You jolt, the first number coming from your mouth in a yelp. The sting of pain is immediate and is further prolonged by three more slaps to your lower half. Changbin’s hand comes down on your cunt for a fifth time before he changes his attack, slapping at your inner thighs.

“Good fucking girl,” He moves his palm along your inner thigh to soothe the pain, purposely ignoring the place you want him to touch you most. “Now give me a kiss.”

His hand comes to your jaw, gripping your face and pulling you to him. During the kiss, his free hand slips down your abdomen and directly over your cunt. Two fingers slip into you, being coated in your arousal. He slides his fingers in and out of you, curling them up every so often until he feels you clench around his fingers, pulling them away from you and giving your cunt one extra slap for good measure.

He breaks the kiss to get up from the bed. He unbuckles his belt and the thought to wrap his belt around your wrists crosses his mind for a split second. But honestly, Changbin is way too needy for that, shaking the thought from his mind. All the while still making a mental note to do it, soon. His pants and underwear are off in no time, cock being freed from its prison; the tip red and dripping with pre-cum. Changbin couldn't deny how much he wanted to fuck you if he wanted to, the way his cock was hard proved that point.

His cock is just so pretty too. The mere sight of it is enough to make your mouth water. It's thick with a slight curve, perfect for stretching you out and fucking you. Your eyes flicker from his dick to his pretty brown eyes. An all too familiar sparkle in his eyes as he looks down at your half-naked body. He's hungry for you and although he wants to toy around with you, the thought of sinking his cock deep inside you is way too compelling.

Changbin flips you over to position you on your stomach, leaving two pillows beneath you—slightly arching you up. His left hand grabs your wrists, holding your arms behind your back. And before you know it he’s sliding his cock into you and the hand that was once free is now around your neck, holding you up.

The stretch of his cock is so familiar and comforting. Just the right amount of pain that becomes blissful, especially as he fucks into you. His thrusts are painfully slow, not wanting to give you too much too soon. Eventually, he picks up the pace, rocking his hips into yours.

He gets closer to your ear, licking at your lobe before whispering to you. “You’re gonna take it like my good girl, right baby?”

You clench around him at the nickname. His cock twitches just slightly and he feels like he’s about to lose his mind at how your pussy grips around his cock; daring him to cum and he’s only been inside of you for a few seconds.

"Just wanted my baby's fucking attention. Could've been getting fucked like this all day." He drives his cock deep in your cunt, the tip gracefully nudging at your spot.

“So fucking good,” Is all he can say as he fucks you. Unable to form any sentences that don’t include any obscenities as he uses you as a means to get himself off. His eyes roll to the back of his head. You're so warm and wet, the only thing Changbin wants to do for the rest of his life is split you open with his dick.

“Please, make me cum.” He marvels at the way your voice cracks through moans. But he’d be a fool if he let you cum, and if he does: you’re going to have to work for it. He removes his hands from you completely, his thrusts slowing down by the second.

“I don’t know if you deserve to cum,” Bringing his hand up and swatting down at your ass. He ponders the request, making up his mind. “If you want to cum, do it yourself.”

Halting all movements, Changbin stills inside of you, smacking your ass once more. “Fuck yourself on my dick,”

His voice was deep and his tone harsh, leaving you no other choice but to obey his orders. Gripping onto the sheets as you look back at him and throw your ass back on his cock. He’s oddly quiet, save for his grunts, too concentrated on the way you’re fucking yourself on his cock.

“Come on, I know you can do better than that babe.”

He pushes you back down onto the bed and his hands are back on you immediately—one pressing your head into the pillow and the other pressed on your lower back. At this point, he’s fucking into you faster and you’re being pushed into the bed with each thrust.

His cock repeatedly hits your spot head-on. Squeezing around his cock as the feeling begins to become too much for you. Unable to run or pull away from it since Changbin has you pinned down. "Fucking take it,"

A choked-out plea escapes your lips, begging for him to let you cum You can feel his cock twitching inside of you, just knowing that he wouldn't last long inside of you. All it takes is one more squeeze around his cock, one more moan, and one more plea for Changbin to let you cum.

"I'm gonna fucking cum daddy."

“Cum all over this dick,” He holds you down as his thrusts get faster and deeper, slightly sloppy in an attempt to hold out on his own release to fuck you through yours.

The feeling of Changbin's cock inside of you, fucking you through your orgasm was a bit much. Air seemingly trapped in your lungs as you tried to moan out for him. A thick haze clouds over your mind as you continue to cum around him, a layer of your cum coating his cock.

He soon pulls out, flipping you onto your back. Pumping his cock in his hand, deep and heavy groans exit his mouth as he paints his cum all over your cunt, slapping his cock over your clit. "Look at that. So fucking pretty painted in my cum."

Changin plants a kiss on your lips, moaning into it. When your break the kiss, his eyes leave yours to look down at the mess he made of your cunt.

"So... What did you need my attention for so badly?" You ask, breaking the brief silence.

"Don't remember, honestly." Now he's playing shy as if he wasn't rearranging your guts one minute ago. "But now that I have your attention, round two?"

"Whatever,"

"Come onnnn."

© PLANETDREAM 2021

[dramarising-replacement]

. i’m a long-time (6+ years) player thats always kinda layed low, but in all of the hours i’ve squandered dicking around on the internet, i have never- and i quite honestly mean NEVER- encountered a fanbase as petty, whiny, entitled, and quite honestly childish as FR’s. and honestly? its the devs’ own fault. fuck them for not only enabling, but encouraging such a loud crowd of crybabies & i hope they have fun lying in this shitditch of a fanbase-bed they’ve dug themselves.

I’d want to start this off with “oh things were so much better before X happened or X year” but tbh? flight rising has ALWAYS had an insufferable culture of complaining and entitlement, and one that goes a lot further than every other pet sim i’ve played, let alone real games. if it isn’t brainjerking in the suggestion forums it’s calling for kickstarted items to be rereleased, policing how other people use the block function, or bitching en-mass that the festival item isn’t the right colour (#endplagueoppression D:).

it’s gotten to the point where, whether you consciously know it or not, the culture of the playerbase actively rewards the state of whining, so if there isn’t any active drama of the hour, it’s a race to the bottom to turn the most menial things into #problems as well. Bawww the [fantasy] not-roosters have spurs? Animal abuse!! Bawwww writing [fantasy] asian-inspired settings (despite… wind flight?) and [fantasy] war criminal characters is #problematic!! Bawwww this one user who was friends with a person who was friends with a person last active 5 years ago who was proship commented on my page! This dev used to be a cop! This horsewoman throwing a spear is CLEARLY doing a salute!

and the list just goes on and on and on. and without fail, the mods and devs will always be too cowardly to stand their ground and end up bending backwards to all of these ridiculous complaints and are only complaints in the first place because of this psuedo-moral sink.

i, shockingly, am not a villain in a show made for children and obviously have nothing against disliking features. you, the player, do in fact have the miraculous ability to form your own opinions if you put your mind to it. but it’s up to you to curate your internet experience to suit YOU. the devs shouldn’t be chased up for infinitesimally small issues that, chances are, don’t even bother you and that you’re only complaining about because of the positive feedback loop of military-grade crybullying on an industrial scale. this shouldn’t be too hard to understand, considering the unfortunate majority of people engaging in these behaviours are adults. the devs may be kissing your asses, but the world doesn't revolve around your narcissistic asses. 

itd be cool if everyone matured up overnight and got their shit together, but personally im forecasting this culture to get 200% worse. minimum.

[queerwolf79]

Tips from a Creative Writing grad student: Concrit on Fanworks.

So you want to leave critical feedback on that fanwork? You're under the impression that because it is posted for free on the Internet, that gives you the right to throw your opinion out there?

Alright, say I buy that. Say we look at Archive of our Own as a big ol' open workshop. Something writers use, by the way, as they're writing/editing their manuscript (the workshop not AO3 lol). For fan authors, this usually comes in the form of the fierce, powerful beta.

Here's some tips on how to give constructive criticism from someone who is literally a term away from having their Master of Fine Arts in creative writing.

First: authors who are wanting/needing feedback will seek it out, usually by participating in workshops or enlisting others to read and give said feedback.

None of which happens in already posted fanfic world unless the author otherwise specifies in their notes. But like I said, let's pretend it's a big open workshop and it is your job to help your fellow writer improve.

So now it's time to leave that feedback! So, in every single one of my classes in which we had to provide and receive feedback on original flash fiction, or pieces of our thesis, the number one rule? Be kind!

Yes, you are absolutely allowed to voice your opinions on parts that rubbed you wrong! But there are ways to frame it without insulting the author or the work. And if you have an issue with a line, or a scene, or a character, what that criticism MUST be accompanied by is constructive actionable feedback.

That means, if you're going to tell the author what is wrong with their work, you must absolutely recommend ways to fix it. You don't get to just say, "this doesn't make sense." Nope. You have to delve deeper, why is it confusing? And what could the writer do to clarify things? A little more descriptive narrative? Changing the dialogue? What?

If it bothers you enough to voice it, then clearly you know a better way to convey it and must share that information, otherwise you're literally just filing a formal complaint.

Most concritters would get an F in my classes.

Next: for every negative comment, there must be a positive one. "I didn't like X, but I loved Y." Most of the time, the unwelcome concritters will claim to have liked the work, but rarely do you see any commentary on the bits they did like.

Anyway, my personal rule of thumb is the Oreo method, two compliments for every critique.

At the end of the day though, if the author isn't asking for said constructive criticism, it is not your job to provide it. Trust me when I say, every piece of fiction goes through some sort of workshopping process, whether asking a friend/partner/family member to look it over, or dutiful betas. The fact of the matter is, through the writing and editing process, everything is looked at under a microscope and do things get missed? Absolutely! But by the time the piece is published, or in this case, posted to AO3, it is done. Finished.

Now any commentary given is either a good or a bad review. So if you have nothing nice to say about that fanfiction you just read, you aren't providing concrit or feedback, you're leaving a bad review.

Because the thing is, the story is finished. You aren't capable of providing constructive feedback because it's no longer in the editing or writing phase. It is done. I mean, Neil Gaiman isn't rewriting Coraline because someone who read the published book had issue with buttons for eyes: "How do you see?!! Explain the biology here!"

And that fanfiction author you accosted is not going to rewrite what they just put love, sweat, and free time into.

But just for fun, let's give you an idea of how much time writing and posting fanfiction can take:

I wrote a 1900 word short fix it fic for OFMD the other day. Less than 2k, and you know how long it took me? Writing it took 3 hours, editing it took an additional 30 minutes, double checking lines by rewatching certain scenes took another 30 or so minutes, and then setting it up to post on AO3 and share on SM took another 40 or so minutes. Almost 5 hours for a less than 2k fic. Imagine how much longer it takes for a fic that is 40k? 60k? 100k+??

So, what's my advice, if you're just dying to leave concrit on someone's fanwork?

Don't. Got nothing nice to say? Then move along. Your commentary doesn't make an author better, writing does. And we are much less inclined to write if all we get is negativity and "constructive" criticism.

[peonyneko]

Didn’t Mean It | Bakugou Katsuki x Reader

Request:  hello! I was wondering if you could do a Bakugou x Reader (if requests are open ofc❤️). Maybe Bakugou said something he didn’t mean to the Reader, and she like leaves the middle of class to go to the bathroom to cry- and like some of the girls go to comfort her/ask if she’s doing fine. But that doesn’t help- so Bakugou ditches class and goes to comfort her in the girls bathroom, and the other girls are like “cUtE”. Sorry if this made no sense but I thought it would be cute 😳. love your writing!

-----------

@blveteaaa I’m really sorry for taking so long. Please do let me know if this is what you had in mind. I also appreciate any feedback. 

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Noise. The class was filled with noise, per usual. Mr. Aizawa was sleeping in the corner. Hm... Seems like he didn’t sleep well again. I wonder what night trouble popped up this time. Mina, Momo, and Uraraka were chatting away near me. The next class should start in about 30 minutes. Until then, Mr. Aizawa told us to complete the assignment and place it on his desk. Getting up from my seat, I head towards Katsuki, Eijiro, and Denki. To avoid disturbing them, I decided to wait behind them until they finished talking. 

“Yeah, I don’t get why that’s irritating,” Eijiro was facing Katsuki. His back was, currently, facing me, The other two immediately acknowledge my presence. Their eye widen and their shoulders tense up.

“Of course you don’t. She’s not with you,” he began. Was it about me?

“It’s especially when she wants to tag along on days I go out. It would’ve been better if she just stayed home. Damn it. It’s so irritating.”

Oh.. Huh. I felt my heart tighten at his words. The room got a little quieter. The light even seemed dimmer. After noticing the change in my demeanor, Denki coughs. Before the duo can say anything, I lift my finger to my lips. 

“Don’t look at me like that! You both act like you’re the ones dealing with it,” Katsuki’s ignorance of my presence did not help. With a heavy heart, I turn back around and walk back to my desk.

We were all occupied with our assignment. For this class, we were completing an in-class group assignment. Currently, I am sitting in front of Katsuki, with Mina and Tsuyu sitting on the side. I can already feel his irritation. He probably did not enjoy being forced into a group, especially with me. Normally, I’d feel chipper about it. However, after knowing how he feels, I felt that me presence was annoying. I decided to talk less to avoid agitating him. While the group talks, I write down their ideas for the work and jot down my own, as well. 

“You know this is a group effort, right?” I look up to see Katsuki’s eyes locked on me. I nodded. 

“Really? I haven’t heard any input from you for it, Becoming lazy, are we?” he words stung. MY face warmed from embarrassment. 

“Well, I... I was, uh, writing my ideas down with the groups in here,” I hesitantly lift my notebook. The room’s mood began to tense up. Slowly, the quiet room become quieter. 

“____... This is a group effort. Do you not know what that means? Share you damn ideas. God, he rolls his eyes, not noticing his voice made the class focus on our group. I could feel their eyes centering me. I attempted to tell my ideas but they went all over the place in my mind.

“Yeah, nevermind. You’re not helping with shit,” he interrupted. The warmth of my face was traveling down to my neck. My throat constricts a bit. I can feel inklings of anxiousness rising.

“That’s not nice to say,” Mina told him. He simply rolled his eye at her comment. Mina signals for Denki to come to our table. They both whisper between themselves. They eye Katsuki a bit so I assumed it was about him and I. Tsuyu looks at my nervous state and reassures that she’s there if I need to talk.

“Kaminari, since you’re here, why don’t you and _____ switch? Some braincells is better than none,” he chuckles. My mood worsens at his joke. Little tears were forming but they were unnoticeable. There class was still focused on us. Clearing up my throat, I get up from my seat. I slowly walk up to the front.

“Is it alright for me to go to the restroom?” my voice cracks when asking Cementoss. He nods in return, noticing the waviness in my voice.

As soon as I got permission, I run out the classroom. I hear a faint “ ___! You can’t run in the hallway,” which sounded like Iida. I don’t stop until the ladies restroom in in front of me. With heavy breaths I open the door and rush to one of the stalls. My eyes burned and tears began slipping down my cheeks. I tried to hold myself together but his words were playing on a loop.

Does he really think I’m irritating? What do I do that annoys him? Gosh, I need to stop it.

After a couple of minutes, I hear footsteps echo throughout the bathroom. Someone knocks on my stall’s door. Calming myself down, I open the stall to face all the girls in front of me. 

‘I swear boys can be really meaning without even trying,” Kyoka looked at me with soft eyes. Right when Ochaco step forward to hold my hand, the sting in my eyes return. I try to blind the tears away but it could not limit the amount that wanted to escape. My rigged breathing returns, which only worsens my embarrassment.

“I really...I really don’t mean to be... a bother for him,” I choked out in-between my heavy breaths. To give me space, they all gently pull me outside of the stall. Their eyebrows were slightly furrowed yet their eyes were soft.

“No. No. You are not at fault here,” Momo replies as she helps me sit down on the bench to the side.

“But I heard him say it. Gosh, I do sound irritating. I should stop tagging along too much. No wonder he returns angry.”

“You do not follow him anywhere. It isn’t all the time, either. You mostly go with him when you know you did not get to spend time together,” Tsuyu attempts to help me look at it from another perspective. Sadly, my mind overrides them to Katsuki’s complaints.

“W...What if he’s tired of me? What if he wants to break up?”

My heart hurt at the mere thought of our separation. Our relationship is relatively fresh. We started dating a year ago, yet I fell for him. Hard. I could not fathom to be with another guy.

“If I hadn’t been so dense about his irritations over my actions, I would been a much better girlfriend. I couldn’t even do that,” I was vomitting my mind out.

My breathing was still irregular, and I couldn’t see past the tears that blur my eyes. I wiped my cheeks and eyes to get a better view. The girls were trying their best to comfort me. Toru patted my back. Mina stroked my arm. Momo tried to plan out a mini recovery session from today. Tsuyu and Ochaco tried to convince me that he loves me enough to confront me about the situation. Kyoka even tried to make me revert my self-deprecating comments and thoughts. However, nothing helped. I really appreciated their kind attempts yet his words stayed printed at the front of my mind.

“I would love to battle Bakugou, right now. He needs to be held accountable for his horrible comments,” Momo exclaimed, standing tall with her right hand on her hip. 

“He does. He made a huge deal out of the group assignment. You were clearly stressed when you tried to share your ideas,” Kyoka looked disappointed when remember the incident in the classroom.

“But he doesn’t like having me around too much. I should stop. I don’t want him to be constantly annoyed,” I sniffled as I wiped my eyes. 

“I’m going to stop,” I whisper. I hear small mutters and grumbles throughout he bathroom.

“I won’t dicated you becuase it is your relationship. I do want to say that it is a part of who you are. You like spending time with him. You don’t need to stop that. I think you and him should talk about it,” Ochaco looks at me with his big, comforting eyes. The others nod in agreement. 

“I don’t know. I don’t want any more complications rising because of me. If he’s annoyed by me, I should try to fix it. I’ll need to sort this out myself,” I quietly announced.

Who gave you that right?” his rough voice echoes through the walls. All of you heads turn to the left. Katsuki, Eijiro, and Denki were standing next to each other near the entrance of the bathroom. 

“I didn’t think you overheard my conversation with those,” his points his rough finger at the duo behind him. 

I looked at him, unsure of what to say. Noticing my tense behavior, he talked as gently as he can, “ I did not mean to make you think horribly about yourself.”

“Yeah, you have traits and habits that are weird to me,” he started. A jolt spiked throughout my body. I don’t think I’m ready to hear the end of it.

 “But I like that about you,” he struggled to get the words out in public. My face flushes at the sudden confession. He looks directly at me.

“Never take issues, like this, on your own. I know how hard it can be but it’ll help us,” noticing that our conversation was getting private, the others began to hed back to class. It was almost the end of the school day, as well. Everyone waving and blurted a quick “bye” before heading out of the bathroom. 

Katsuki turns around to shut the door. He locks it to make sure no one walks in on our conversation.

“Come. Let’s sit there,” he tilts his head to the bench I sat at earlier. 

As soon as we sit, Katsuki exhales a loud sigh. Alarms went off in my mind. He’s irritated. I immediately began panicking.

“H..Hey, Katsuki. I really don’t mind leaving you on your own when you need it,” I started. I turn to face him but was suddenly embraced my his arms. He sets his chin on my neck and gently tightens his hug.

“Don’t... Don’t stop doing what you do,” he whispers near my ear. Warmth engulfed me. I felt safe in his embrace. His voice held no anger or irritation.

“But it’s irritating, isn’t it?” my hands wrap around his back, as well.

“No no no. It’s not. At least not the way you think. I complained to Kirishima and Kaminari about the perverts and jerks who stare at your and bother you when you come with me. That’s why I felt irritated,” he reveals. Then, it clicked. He must’ve noticed all the times I felt uncomfortable because of comments from boys and their stares. I never complained but... He noticed.

“I would rather have you stay back instead of dealing with those situations. I know you’re strong enough to take care of yourself. It’s still annoying when they don’t know their limits. I can’t even fight them properly,” he pulls back to look at me. I avoided his eyes but he lifted my chin up with his hand.

“Don’t stop doing what you do. Don’t stop being yourself. Having you with me makes my day better. I know I can be gnarly and cruel with my comments. Just don’t hesitate to tell me I’m hurting you. It’s not my intention to make you doubt yourself,” he rambles on.

“Even the cruel jokes I made back there are not meant from a serious place,” he reassures me as much as he can. His breathes were rigid and fast. His eyes were dilated, as well.

“Just... let me know, alright? I want you to feel safe and loved not hurt,” he whispered. With every sentence, my previous worries were fading away.

“Talk to me about anything that bothers you. Talk to me about any issues that come up.”

I couldn’t stop my heart from melting. He really is the best, huh?

“I know...I’ll try. You know me. It can be hard to confront people with anything I think is wrong,” I replied while taking his hand into mine. 

“Mhm. Let’s work on that then,” he firmly stated. It shocked me for a bit.

“If I say anything that hurts you, hold me accountable. Tell me right away,” he looks at me for an answer.

“Okay, ____?” I nodded in return. I noticed his stance was relaxed. He seemed less tense about the situation. It must’ve been a huge baggage to get off his back.

“I will. I’m sorry for worrying-” he cut me off before I could end my apology.

“Hey! Don’t feel sorry for it. You’re not at fault for feeling the way you did after the classroom incident. I was an absolute asshole for that. There may have been a small misunderstanding but I still shouldn’t have embarrassed you with my comments,” his hands cup my cheeks.

“I’m really... I’m really sorry,” my throat tightened. Why does he have to be this... great?

“I understand. Thank you for apologizing,” I smile at him. My emotions were all over the place today. It went from neutral to extremely low to extremely relieved. Still, I am glad he and I were able to sort this out before it got worse.

“Don’t go crying on me now. I don’t want to see anymore tears today. Come on let’s head back,” he spoke softly. 

Right after, stood up and held out his hand. His face held his usual daily expression, except there was a glow to it. I gladly laced my hands with his and we carefully exited the girls bathroom.

“Wouldn’t want to get you in trouble,” he said looking around to make sure no one saw our actions.

Today, Katsuki and I were able to have dinner together. It’s been a while since it was just the two of us eating dinner. Upon returning to the dorm, the atmosphere felt normal. The ones who were worried earlier looked glad when Katsuki and I entered the dorm happily. Mr. Aizawa did ask us about the situation. We informed him that everything was sorted so he let it go. Cementoss must’ve told him about the the classroom occurrence. 

While I made my way to my room, I noticed all of the girls in front of my room. Their eyes held excitement and the look of ‘hurry up’.

“You don’t need to tell us everything,” Mina grabbed me so I can quickly open my room. 

“Okay okay let me just,” after I heard the click, they all ran inside of my room. 

They all chose the spot they felt most comfortable in. I climbs into my bed and chuckled with embarrassment.

“Do I have to tell you what he said? Because...” 

“Well...” Momo began.

“I may or may not have bee made to create a device the let us hear what was going on,” my eyes widen at her confession.

“Don’t worry we promised to turn it off if anything... else... happened. We wanted to make sure he didn’t say anything horrible,” Kyoka spoke. The others nodded in agreement.

“His comforting action were too cute,” Mina chuckled.

“Exactly! I was shocked. Did you hear what he said?! ‘ Having you with me makes my day better.’ Aaahh! That- Just wow,” Uraraka gushed while quoting Katsuki. All of the girls flailed around or squished the pillow in their lap.

“Wait! Remember the...What was it? Right! ‘I want you to feel safe and loved not hurt’ That was so adorable, too, ” Momo immediately brought up another. Once again, the girls let out ‘awe’s and small chuckles. They did tease me about his words. However, they still appreciated that he was able to relive me of my doubts.

“I’m glad Bakugou cleared things up. That was very mature of him. You two are cute together. I really did not want the incident to separate you,” Tsuyu looked happy at my recovered state. 

“Me too,” Hagakure agreed. Next to her, I noticed Mina had a tiny bit of mischeif in her eyes. 

“How about we listen to the audio again?!” she suggested. A series of ‘yes’ echoed throughout the room.

“W-what?” my eyes widened.

“Come on! It’ll be fun!” Mina continued.

“I have the a player for it, if we want to,” Kyoka held up the device to play the audio.

“And you can have it after we analyze and listen to it,” Momo added while exaggerating ‘analyze’ with air quotes. 

“Gosh... alright. I hope I don’t sound weird,” I agreed to their request.

As soon as Katsuki said, “Don’t... Don’t stop doing what you do,” Uraraka paused it.

“You can’t tell me he does not want to marry her,” she commented. Immediately afterward, the others made their own comments and agreements.

This process continued throughout the playing of the audio. With every pause, the were analyses and comments. Amongst all the chat about Katsuki’s soft side, I had the urge to check my phone. What I read immediately made the night better than it already was.

Katsuki: Let’s go out tomorrow. Wear whatever you feel comfortable in. 

Katsuki: Don’t worry about people staring. I’ll take care of it.

Katsuki: Unless you want to, of course.

Katsuki: The girls are making you tell them about what happened in the bathroom, aren’t they?

Katsuki: Anyways, make sure you get proper rest 

Katsuki: Goodnight

My hands quickly responded so I am able to reply before he sleeps. All those messages made me my stomach bubble with excitement. 

Me: I’m glad we’re going to hang out. See you in the morning

Me: Goodnight

Me: I love you

...

Katsuki: I love you too

The heat on my cheeks that gradually grew with every text grew tenfold. My heart fluttered intensely as I gazed at those four words. I can hear the girls speaking about the audiotape of Katsuki in the background, but my phone had my attention. Katsuki always proved to be a great boyfriend. He never did it for show. Ever since the start of our relationship he’s been honest about how he felt. Both of us expected stumbles, but we made sure to work it out. Today was one of those day.

I’m just glad he never let go of me. I know him well enough to know that he will always listen to me. He will always want to fix things so we don’t end.

[dracosaurusrex]

Bookworms (Part 2) | Draco x Reader

Summary: The feelings that Y/N and Draco have for one another continues to increase as their relationship begins to bloom.

Word count: 3.3k

Genre: Fluff; enemies-to-friends-to-lovers

TW: Slight bullying, but not too bad.

A/N: Hi! Thank you so much for all the support @.@ Here’s another chapter! It’s might not be much, but I think I like it hehe. Love is in the small things, I suppose. There’s not much dialogue in the beginning, but that’s compensated towards the end :) I hope you enjoy! Feedback is very much appreciated :D

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You wake up to the feeling of warmth. Warmth in your fingers, in your arms, and in your face. It covers the expanse of your body as your surroundings come into view. As your eyes and consciousness adjust to your environment, you immediately go red. Looking down, you see that your fingers are interlocked with someone else’s, the owner’s right arm is draped over your waist, and your legs are entangled with his. You were in someone’s embrace. Before you could identify who this person is, small breaths of air brush your forehead, alerting your attention upward. You gasp silently at the sight of Draco’s peaceful face while your heart speeds up to a rate that is comparable to that of a seeker attempting a 50 m dive for the snitch--it was very fast.

You don’t dare to move your fingers from his grasp. Rather, you begin to analyze all of his features. It is then that you notice the way his eyelids are shut peacefully, and how his lashes feather his cheeks. The scowl that usually graces his face is absent, relieving the tension that is often settled in between his eyebrows. His lips are opened slightly--his bottom one pouting more outward than its upper counterpart. His platinum locks flutter slightly over his eyes, making him look more angelic in contrast to his typical gittish appearance. Your focus travels down to where your fingers interlace into his. His hands are comparable to yours in size and in texture. While you had long fingers and soft hands, his was slightly bigger, longer, and much more rough in characteristic. And yet, they caress yours so well. You take the opportunity to completely intertwine your fingers with his, giving his hand a squeeze with hopes that he wouldn’t stir from his slumber. With full consciousness now, you press your ear against him, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart. 

A couple minutes pass by, filled with the soothing sounds of his lingering beats. You begin to gently untangle yourself from his limbs, lifting each with care and placing them delicately on the bed. As soon as you slid off, you began to loosen the sheets from underneath him, trying your hardest to be as discrete as possible. Taking them with a firm grasp, you lift it over Draco’s body, stopping just below his shoulders. A smile appears as you stand and stare at his peaceful face. With much care, you sweep stray platinum strands away from his eyes. Your fingers gently stroke his porcelain skin. He was a beautiful boy.

Stepping away from the sight, you walk towards your belongings and rummage through them before pulling out a quill and paper. You then take a seat at his desk, settling yourself comfortably, while looking at the items left astray on the surface. Books and parchment littered the space. An ink bottle was left open, and a quill was perched on a stand. Lined up against the wall was a small collection of books. Ones that contrasted greatly from the vibrant cover of the memory police. Each of them were written on subjects that weren’t taught at school. You suspected that he probably studied them due to the demands of his parents. 

Tearing your attention away, you gently dip your quill in the inkwell, totally focusing in on your task at hand. On the piece of parchment before you, you lay down a pattern of dots, connecting them with lines to form a familiar constellation. It was Draco. Recalling a few facts you knew from the astronomy books you’ve read, you write one with much care followed by a small message. It causes your mind to drift to the boy behind you, knowing that he’s much more than the image he portrays to the world. A sense of fondness overcomes you and you smile at the thought of him. You begin to fold the paper as soon as you place the quill down. Its creases and folds form into a crane. Satisfied with your work, you reach for the Happy Prince, and tuck the crane within the middle of the pages. 

Sounds of shuffling interrupt your train of thought. When you look to your side, you see the boy stirring from his sleep, opening his eyes shortly. His eyelashes batter innocently before realizing that you were gone from his grasp. He jolts upward in response, looking for any signs of your presence. Once he sees you, the frantic look that was fixed on his expression dissipates.

“You could’ve woke me up.” He states. You throw him a soft smile.

“You looked so peaceful. I didn’t want to disturb you.” Draco’s heart flutters before he recomposes himself. He shifts his body, so that he’s sitting at the edge of his bed.

“What are you up to now?” He asks with yawn.

“Something for you.” You hand the object to him. As he takes it, he begins to scan the cover with adoration.

“I suppose this is for you as well.” He picks up the book from his nightstand and passes it to you. As you grab it, you begin to trace its edges before flipping it to look at the back for the summary.

“Did you enjoy it?” You ask.

“Very much. I hate to admit it, but muggles are quite the storytellers.” His statement shocks you.

“Oh shove off, Y/N. Don’t give me that look.” He scowls at you. In response you raise your hands up in defense and his eyes soften.

“You have a good point. I’m compelled to read it now. Thank you.” You say simply. Within the silence, the faint sound of the bell erupts, indicating the time. 

“I should get going. I still have studying to do.” You announce as you stand up from the bed. As you gather your belongings, you turn back to look at him.

“Thank you for spending time with me again.” The sweet smile that you give elicits a matching one from Draco’s lips. He raises himself to lead you to the door. As you step into the hallway, you turn around to give him your farewell.

“Do you think we can do this again? Saturday’s at Avenoir and Sunday’s in the dorm?” He asks while he scratches the back of his neck. You nod happily.

“It’s settled then.” There was an undeniable gleam in your eyes. One that makes his heart flutter for the umpteenth time that day. After you depart from his room, the boy walks to his bed, picking up The Happy Prince. As he flips through the pages, the paper crane falls out. He gingerly picks it up and delicately unfolds it. What he finds inside creates an explosion of warmth in his chest. Depicted is his constellation, and below it, “The guardian of the star that never moves.” He moves his fingers to trace the lines that were etched into the page and smiles as his eyes scan over your message: “Hope you’re ready for another adventure :)” It’s so characteristic of you. He folds the crane back up and inserts it within the pockets of his book bag. 

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The week goes by as it usually does, with the exception of an eventful Wednesday night. While you normally study in your dorm alone, Draco studies in the common room surrounded by the company of his friends. To his dismay, however, his companions tend to engage in conversations that are irrelevant to the assignments given. On most days, he is able to tune the noise out and concentrate on his work, but on this particular day the mentioning of your name piques his attention.

The assignment given out for potions that day was particularly difficult, resulting in complaints being made by those around him. As they do so, he initially keeps his focus on the information given in his textbook.

“Snape is really out to get us now, huh? This assignment is a killer.” Pansy is the first to speak. Daphne agrees.

“Agreed. What’s the point of writing an essay on the properties of Moonstone when you can just read the book like a normal person?” She exclaims.

“I bet that Y/L/N is breezing through this, huh? Why is she even in Slytherin? She might as well be in Ravenclaw with all those books she buries herself in.” Theo took a turn to speak. Draco stops his writing at the sound of his statement, but keeps his head facing down as he tunes into the conversation.

“Tell me about it, the sorting hat must’ve been sick when she was sorted.” The group starts laughing. When Draco looks up, he sees that Blaise had also kept his head down, eyes staring hard at the parchment in front of him. He looks up at him and gives an exasperated expression. A tinge of annoyance kindles in the blonde’s heart, yet he makes no sound.

“Y/L/N should really know her place. Did you see her when I spoke to Draco this past Sunday? She really had the nerve to mock me. She ought to keep her nose stuck in those books if she knows what’s good for her.” Astoria finally spoke out. Astoria, who was two years younger than her sister, Daphne, had a massive crush on the boy. She ensured that everyone knew of it also--even Draco himself. Unlike Y/N, she was proud. Proud of her family name, proud of her looks, proud of her blood status. She would be the perfect fit for him within the eyes of his parents’ standards. However, she wasn’t anything like you. Furthermore, it angered him knowing that these people spoke so lowly of you. You were much more than anything and everything that they had to say. 

As the boy immersed himself in anger, he catches sight of you as you enter the common room from the dorms. His eyes linger on you as you swiftly make your way to the entrance of the dungeons. Without any hesitance, he collects his stuff and places it into his bag, preparing to follow you.

“Draco, where are you going?” Daphne asks.

“Somewhere else to write this bloody essay. You all are damn noisy.” He says with a cold tone embedded in voice. The group looks at him in shock. He’s normally very tolerant of the insults that are thrown amongst them. As he steps away from them, he looks back with vile-looking eyes.

“You idiots know nothing of Y/N. Leave her alone.” The ordeal attracts the attention of every student in the common room. They look at the boy with astonishment as he exits the Slytherin confines. It was the first time he defended anyone other than his family, and he had done so with just as much passion. He doesn’t care much about the shocked eyes, however. Instead, he’s more concerned about your whereabouts, envisioning the smile that gives him peace of mind. As he walks out, his mind remains occupied with anger. He mentally throws insults to the sorry excuse of a group, without giving much attention to where he was going. As a result, he bumps into something hard. It was you.

“Hey! Watch where you’re go- Draco! Are you on your way to the library too?” The genuine look in your eyes automatically relieves him of the bitterness that lingers in his mind.

“Yes, I am actually. I couldn’t concentrate in the common room.” He says truthfully. You nod your head in understanding.

“It can get rather loud in there. I don’t blame you.” His mind drifts back to the conversation his friends had just a few minutes ago. He then drifts to you. Beneath your quiet and focused demeanor was a vibrant and genuine personality. One that was so intelligent, witty, and resourceful, yet caring and empathic to a select few. He can’t help but to get angry for you.

You both enter the library and quickly find a seat. As you do so, you pull out your materials before exploring the sections for books on Moonstone. The boy sets down his belongings to follow you. When he finds you, you’re seen with an arm outstretched, struggling to reach a book from the top shelf. Draco gets behind you and reaches for the book with ease. He chuckles at your stunned face.

“You seem to have forgotten my height in comparison to yours.” You roll your eyes, trying to get the book from his grasp. 

“Give it here you git. I found it first.” You spew out as you jump to retrieve it. Instead he snickers at you, and raises it higher.

“Draco!” You whisper harshly before jumping again. This time you grip his shoulders and push off, successfully retrieving the book from his hand before landing. However, your feet don’t touch the ground quite properly, resulting in you stumbling over. With quick reflexes, Draco wraps his around the small of your back, and holds your body against his in attempts to steady you. The action makes you both freeze in shock. You felt his warmth before, but you were sleeping then. Now that you were fully awake and conscious, the feel of his body against yours becomes so real, and there’s a flush of red that covers both your faces. After realizing the amount of time that has passed, the boy loosens his grip on you, and you step back.

“Let’s go back?” You ask him nervously.

“Uh yea.” His response holds the same kind of energy as you turn to walk towards the table. You get through your work with racing hearts. It was the first time you two had sat together with a purpose other than reading. You would’ve expected that it’d be easier to concentrate on your work in comparison to reading when he was around. With the whole scene playing in your mind, however, that is proven to be less likely. Nevertheless, you make an attempt to progress, flipping through pages and taking notes. Your efforts in focusing are fruitful as you continue to wrap your mind around the subject at hand. However, it is only when you feel someone’s gaze that you stop. 

You catch the conflicted look on Draco’s face, making you stop yourself from writing.

“Are you alright?” The question catches him off guard, and his face contorts when he thinks of the conversation yet again.

“Draco, is there something bothering you?” You ask again with a little more concern. He lets out a sigh.

“Y/N, in a hypothetical scenario, how would you deal with people talking behind your back?” You sit there without reacting for a moment, recollecting an appropriate response. 

“It hurts to find out, but I guess reading or being in my own world helps to tune out the irrelevant stress.” It’s a truthful response, that much Draco knows. It’s you after all.

“Have you ever wanted revenge?” The boy props his head on the palm of his hand, his elbow on the surface of the table. He looks at you with pure curiosity.

“It’s pointless, don’t you think? To stoop on the level of those who already showed they’re beneath you? Regardless of what they said, if I didn’t do anything wrong, the only problem lies with them. Not me. I would appreciate it, though, if someone told me if I ever did something wrong or offensive. Besides that, revenge is a waste of energy. To be frank, it’s more satisfying to see the karma go back to them. Sorry for sounding harsh.” He shakes his head in objection to your apology.

“But why?” He asks as he begins to question himself. 

“It’s a waste of energy, it gets in the way of my business, and I don’t need anyone to throw me off.” The way you respond conveys a fire in your eyes. No one can stop you from achieving the things you want, and your awareness of that excites him. At the same time, however, his knowledge of your independence and sense of responsibility enforces the feeling of worry within him.

“Y/N?” 

“Yes, Draco?” The boy sits up and shuffles slightly in his seat. The words that he wants to say next are not things others would typically hear him say.

“Slytherin’s code.” He says simply. When you don’t understand what he was referring to, you quirk a brow upward.

“Come again?” He sighs. You can see him fidgeting with his fingers.

“You’ve seen me at my worst and took care of me. I’ll look after you too..if you let me that is.” You look at him stunned. It wasn’t like him to express his feelings so openly. As a few minutes pass, he begins to grow weary of your lack of response. Before you could say anything, he beats you to it.

“I understand if you don’t want it. I-” Your eyes widen.

“No! I do!” You raised your voice mindlessly. After remembering where you were, you repeat yourself slowly with a softer tone.

“I do, truly. I enjoy your presence, Draco. I treasure you.” Your genuine words come out stumbling, and the flush that you tried to suppress finds you again. You look down at your lap, starting to play with the edges of your skirt. Silence fills the air for a moment until you cautiously look up at him. A satisfied smile graces his lips and his eyes are filled with something you can’t exactly comprehend. It makes your heart race, nevertheless.

“D-don’t look at me like that.” You glance back down before looking up again. He still has the same expression on his face. You push his shoulder slightly.

“Stop.” You say again as you try to suppress your smile. You fail miserably. Draco on the other hand is filled with joy and relief at the sound of your words. His focus is fixated on you with much adoration. There were plenty of things people could say about you, yet your response has always been so eloquent, elegant, graceful, and wise. You were resilient. Today, your hair was up in a ponytail, but in Draco’s eyes, your beauty surpassed that of physical appearance--one that Astoria could never top. You were amazing, you made him better, and he was aware of all of that.

“I for you and you for me?” He asks earnestly. The sincerity in his voice prompts you to come to terms with the seriousness of the matter. As you meet his gaze, you see that he has a pinky extended upward and outward over the table.

“Blaise told me it’s a muggle thing to make promises with pinkies. I think it’s stupid, but in this case I suppose it’s...fitting.” You chuckled as the hint of his familiar arrogant tone emerges when he tries to defend himself. You wrapped your pinky delicately around his, and pressed the pad of his thumb with yours to seal it.

“I for you and you for me.” You say softly, yet so contently. Neither of you break from the position. Instead, you simply resume your work--you write and cross reference with your right hand, while Draco reads, using his left to flip pages from his textbook. You’d glance at the view occasionally, heart skipping beats at the sight of his finger wrapped around yours. After working for a while, you take a break and stare at his focused expression. If your past self saw you, she’d be raging, but now his presence represented new beginnings. For once, you didn’t feel alone within the school grounds. For once, there was someone who was willing to care for you as much as you for him. For once, you felt safe right where you were--pinkies tangled together and all. Draco being there encompassed all those things, and you couldn’t be more content.

You tightened your grip around his finger. Without looking up at you, he does the same.

A/N: I want to thank you again if you make it this far! Let me know what you think :D Other than that, I hope you have a good day!

A few tags! C:

@fadesbrina @redheaded-hobbit @ccabian @rottenhexrt

[itsclydebitches]

Hello, everyone! Can you believe this is the third time I've started the recap for this chapter? Between a dying computer and a mass edit during my monthly state of, "Oh my god get rid of everything we can't let people know that we wRITE!" this project is cursed. This is the version though, I can feel it. Be positive!

Now, where were we? It's been some months (RIP) since I last posted, so I wouldn't be surprised if everyone's forgotten what's going on in this insane novel. A quick recap before the recap then: new teams have formed, no one is happy about it, Sun and Velvet went off to a shady club run by The Crown and — shock shock, surprise surprise — got themselves into a heap of trouble. That's the long and the short of it. We have to wait a while to find out what happens to them though because this chapter is focused on Coco.

We learn that Professor Rumpole has sent Coco and her new team — Team ROSC — out into the desert to take care of the grimm around the city's borders. To say that Coco is disappointed in this assignment is an understatement. We learn that they've been at this for a week straight and have gone without showering or a change of clothes that entire time (no one packed a bag?), so for a second I was hugely sympathetic. You know this vine? 

I feel this vine in my soul. Give me hot water and hot coco or give me death. Besides, work is work and dangerous, physical work without a break or basic comforts is incredibly taxing. Toss in the extreme heat of a desert and I'd be pissed at everything too, no matter how important my work was. That's human.

Yet instead of humanizing Coco like this, it turns out she doesn't care at all about the hardship involved. It's fighting grimm that she's annoyed by. She thinks that "Searching for the person or persons kidnapping innocent people for some unknown but dark purpose was way more useful than fighting Grimm far from the city" and I'm just like, Coco, honey...

Do you know what your career path is?

IT'S TO KILL GRIMM.

Okay, there's admittedly a justification here, but it's a stupid one. Coco goes on to say that "This area was called the Wastelands for a reason." She's snarky about it, saying that it wastes “her time, her talent, and her patience," but the real takeaway is that it's, you know, a wasteland. Deserted of grimm and of people. What's the point of defending an area that doesn't need defending? A huntress' job might normally be to fight grimm, but when those grimm aren't around and kidnappers are, that's a whole new set of priorities.

The problem with all this is that the Wastelands is definitely not deserted and it's definitely not as far from the city as Coco would like to imply. In just a few paragraphs an alarm is going to trip and Coco will find six grimm roaming in a pack. Then she finds a person. Then that person says she needs to get back to see someone in the city within half an hour. So there are grimm, there are people about, and this area is apparently close enough to the border that you can get back to the city proper, on foot, and then get wherever it is you’re going in a bustling metropolis... all within half an hour. By that logic these grimm aren't out in the boonies, they're right outside everyone's door.

Yet Coco isn't convinced, saying that "Post Beacon [killing grimm] had been for a noble cause, but this just felt like … busywork." I cannot possibly emphasize enough that this is the job she signed up for. Not to be a detective specializing in missing people, not a war hero always on the front lines of a battle, but one of many huntsmen who perform the daily, routine, very necessary task of protecting the people from grimm. With "protecting" covering both immediate threats and preparatory work that ensures more threats don't come about — like taking care of grimm outside before they become a larger threat. You know what would have happened if Beacon had a daily chore of students killing grimm within a few miles radius of the school? There would have been far less grimm charging a mass of unprotected students when negativity unexpectedly skyrocketed.

And, as always, I am aware that Rumpole is the likely villain here. From a writing perspective, this is very much presented as her getting Coco out of the way so that she can go about her nefarious deeds in peace... but that doesn't erase the fact that the task itself is a sound one. Rumpole's motivations don't matter here, only Coco's annoyance that she... has to do her job?

I mean yeah, everyone complains about their job to one extent or another, but can you imagine if you stumbled across a firefighter complaining about all the kitchen fires they've had to put out lately? "It's so boring! There are much better things I could be spending my time and talent on. I mean, that inferno that took out a city block last year? Putting that out was noble. But routine fires? House fires? Giving lectures on how to prevent fires in the future? Ugh, I can't believe the department expects me to do this grunt work." Meanwhile, you're sneaking off, hoping that this firefighter is never called to your house, nursing mild worries about how much they're romanticizing the recent tragedy that took so many lives...

Complaints about the job turn into complaints about the teams, which makes far more sense for Coco's character. Anyone's, really. Despite my insistence that it's a good thing they're learning to fight with people other than their three besties, that was absolutely a sudden and rather traumatizing change, just given how attached the teams already are. I'm not at all surprised that Coco is struggling to cope.

She says she misses her friends, obviously, but also "surprisingly, Coco missed being in charge."

...That's supposed to be surprising? Coco, you love being in charge! How is this in any way a revelation?

Apparently it is though, stemming from how bad Reese is as their leader. As with so many things in RWBY, I find myself disagreeing with a perspective that's presented as a fact: "She liked to lead by group vote, which wasn’t leading at all." Yes... it is? We could go down a rabbit hole of literal definitions — to lead is to direct, to direct is to regulate, to regulate is to direct again — but ultimately our understanding of a word does not adhere to the dictionary alone. It's a knowledge built on experience and I would hope that everyone's experience with the term "leader" includes that person considering multiple perspectives before making a decision. A leader doesn't impose their view on a group without due consideration of their preferences and needs — that's a dictator — a leader guides the group based on feedback and their personal knowledge. If that feedback and knowledge results in a standstill, or if their knowledge outweighs preferences, they are the deciding vote because the people have previously said, "We trust your decisions" through the act of making them leader in the first place. 

Asking for a group vote isn't avoiding leadership, it's an act of leadership. Reese decided that these situations warranted a majority rule. She further decided that whatever they settled on was indeed an appropriate course of action. Leadership skills are required to assess a situation and determine whether it's appropriate to vote on in the first place. If I announce to a group that we're voting on whether we go to the movies or the museum, I've done the work to determine that both of these choices are of roughly equal value and roughly equal availability. I haven't hit on any snags like, "The only movies playing are mindless blockbusters and I want this to be an educational outing" or "The museum is too far away. We'll never make it to dinner on time." Figuring out that a group can vote is its own kind of work. This avenue is particularly useful when the group is of roughly equal standing. With a few exceptions (like Ruby and Jaune) huntsmen classmates are all the same age, underwent the same training, and have had the same combat experiences. This isn't a case of one elite huntsmen lending their knowledge to an otherwise green party, it's a school randomly pointing at a somewhat outgoing individual during orientation and saying, "You. You're leader material, I guess, even though you've done little differently than the person standing beside you." Someone has to lead and Vacuo's switcheroo proves that anyone can be the leader if they're just put in that position. Coco claims a group vote is just "passing the responsibility off to your team" and yes! You want to share the responsibility because you are a team. They are a group of four equals working together with one person to guide them, they are not a boss with three subordinates. Why wouldn't Reese utilize the skills and ideas of those teammates? When making a decision, why wouldn't she see if everyone believes it's a good idea to do Thing A as opposed to Thing B? Unless Reese is outright ignoring her own ideas, beliefs, or gut feelings to cater to the others — which there's no reference of — this is good leadership. She's assisting her team in making decisions as a whole, rather than arbitrarily imposing her view on three others of similar skill and experience.

Yet Coco acts like because Reese doesn't go, "We're doing Thing A! End of discussion!" it's not leadership. Which, frankly, says a lot about how the RWBY-verse sees leadership as a whole.

I realize I'm rambling a great deal, so let me quickly provide a different media example. I'm currently immersed in Star Trek: Voyager and in season two, episode 14 "Alliances," Captain Janeway is faced with a difficult choice: align herself with a violent and so far untrustworthy species, or risk traveling through this quadrant of space without any allies. At first she's entirely against the idea of an alliance, going so far as to say that this isn't a democracy. She's the captain, dammit, she makes the decisions! But her first officer begs her to reconsider. Then the crew express disappointment — even disgust — that she won't consider this alternative. Then her chief of security, being a Vulcan, provides a persuasively logical argument for why an alliance is worth the risk... Long story short, Janeway finds herself in the minority and changes her decision accordingly. She attempts to garner an alliance and the fact that she was right — the species wasn't trustworthy and the alliance fails — is entirely beside the point. She realized that the majority voice matters. As far as we know, Reese is already practicing what Janeway learned.

ANYWAY the point is none of it matters because these characterizations are a mess. Coco also throws out that Reese "dressed like she was a twelve-year-old hanging out at the mall" and supposedly acts like one too. We're not given any examples of what that behavior looks like and, sorry, but I'm not personally inclined to judge someone based on their fashion sense. It would be great if this story actually engaged with some of the flaws the characters demonstrated, rather than just throwing them out to exist in this unacknowledged void.

Not that Coco's fashion-focused personality is really that important. Truly, the best thing about all this is how contradictory Coco's own thoughts are. She also listens to her teammates... except when she doesn't. She know when to go with their ideas and when to dismiss them for her own... except when she gets it totally wrong. As with so much in RWBY, this doesn't feel like the author giving Coco deliberate flaws that the story will grapple with down the line, it just comes across as a nonsense philosophy about leadership we're not meant to examine too closely. Coco gets to make references to the fact that her own, supposedly superior leadership is filled with holes, but heaven forbid she engage with that. 

She ends all this with the thought that no matter what she might decide, she trusted her team to "do what she demanded of them” and is now extending that courtesy to Reese. This I'm inclined to praise Coco for. No matter what she might be thinking, it doesn't appear as if she's tried to undermine Reese (well, not yet. More on that at the chapter’s end), and she doesn’t appear to be refusing to listen to that leadership, even if she doesn't like how it comes about. As we're about to see, Coco has her team's best interests at heart, no matter the challenges they're facing.

Her thoughts turn back to her old team and we get... this.

Velvet was with a team that didn’t recognize her awesome capabilities. Fox was withdrawing, having lost his family for the second time. Yatsuhashi was going mad with worry about Velvet and his teammates, knowing that he couldn’t be there to protect them, and worrying he would accidentally hurt someone on his new team.

This is so unnecessarily dramatic. First, how does Coco even know any of this? Because it's been heavily implied that the old teams are barely in contact with one another. See: Velvet refusing to loop anyone in about the club and Coco stuck in the desert for a week. Second, why aren't they in contact, at least those who aren't on away missions? The entire group is acting as if changing teams means they're no longer allowed to be friends — family, as Coco puts it — when the relationship between Team RWBY and Team JNPR creates the opposite expectation right at the start of the series. Clearly, people from different teams can be close. Yatsu's worry that he might stumble using his semblance with new people is the only conflict that holds up here. Everything else has fairly straightforward solutions. Velvet needs to prove herself to new people. Yatsu needs to text Velvet if he's that worried about her. And Fox "having lost his family for a second time" is a pretty ridiculous exaggeration. You're attending the same school! Your family is still living down the hall if Vacuo has dorms like Beacon! In what world are these students unable to interact largely as they did before? They're acting as if the school has outright barred them from hanging out, rather than doing what will no doubt occur the moment they graduate: force them to work with different people. Just catch up with Fox over dinner! 

Honestly, this chapter is pretty short, I'm just continually bewildered by this story.

To get back to the actual plot, something trips a sensor the group has set up and Coco responds to the situation in what I think is both a smart and empathetic manner. Previous experience has taught her that it's likely just a lizard, so she doesn't want to wake up her team for no reason. Disagreements aside, she cares enough to let them rest — "They’d probably appreciate the extra sleep." However, if it's a "rare case of something she couldn’t handle alone" she'd immediately call for help. Great plan! It's not often in this novel that I feel like I enjoy the characters, but this little moment actually had me liking Coco. Which, yes, I realize is a complicated claim. Characters should test the reader to a certain degree, mirroring all the personalities we see in real life, including biased, mean, or contradictory people. It's often a good thing to write a character that your reader is frustrated with. That can be the point! The problem with Myers' writing is that it isn't the point. Coco, as the former leader of our heroes in this tale, should be someone we enjoy spending time with and her flaws should be the basis for growth, or an acknowledgement that she is an imperfect, but well-rounded person. As it stands, flaws in this novel just sort of... exist? They bop around in the RWBY universe with almost no acknowledgement from the narrative or other characters, leaving the reader with little to nothing to take away from the text. Is Coco correct in her judgement? Is this a bias she needs to work on? Is she putting on a facade and her natural instinct to care for her team is the real Coco hidden underneath? Who knows! She’s just frustrating to read about most of the time and nothing comes of that. 

Regardless, she heads out into the desert, using the night vision glasses Velvet made her. 

Now see, this would have been the perfect thing to introduce before Velvet was fixing relay towers after the expert was injured. Remember how I said the novel didn't do enough to establish Velvet's own expertise? Not that a pair of goggles is really comparable to fixing a communications issue, but it still would have gone some way towards convincing me that Velvet is this super impressive tech gal, capable of handling any and all situations that might come her way.

But no, we get this impressive display of skill after Velvet's knowledge was needed in a pinch. 

The glasses help Coco navigate the terrain, allowing her to both see in the dark and zoom in on things in the distance. This allows her to spot the six jackalopes that tripped the sensor, as well as the woman currently fighting them: Carmine, a villain from After the Fall that I know nothing about. Ah well. Note though what I said at the start, that Coco's dismissal of this assignment is based entirely in its supposed uselessness. Yet now here we have a pack of dangerous grimm and an enemy to content with.

Also, this is where Coco moves from kindly teammate to overconfident fool. She said she'd call for backup if she needed it... and she clearly needs it! From what I can gather, all of Team CFVY lost to Carmine last time they met up. But now she wants to risk fighting Carmine alone? Go get the others!

She doesn't, of course. Carmine doesn't notice Coco at first. She's talking about how she has to get back into the city. "He’s going to kill me if I’m not back to the Mirage in thirty."

As said, this also implies that Coco isn't nearly as far out as she initially suggested. If Carmine can feasibly finish this fight, cross the desert, navigate who knows how much of the city, and meet up with the mysterious "he" all in under half an hour, then Coco is patrolling pretty much right at the walls. AKA, the area that absolutely needs to be grimm free.

Luckily for those of us who are reading the books out of order, Myers gives a quick recap of Carmine's significance. Last book she had kidnapped Gus and "held off the combined might of Team CFVY in the desert” (oh hey, I was right), presumably escaping afterwards. Now here she is again, likely up to some new, nefarious deed. 

Our of curiosity, I googled to see what she looks like and... 

WHAT IS THAT OUTFIT? 

Coco watches as she works to keep on top of the six grimm, debating whether she should help or walk away, but when Carmine is taken unawares, Coco acts without thinking, throwing herself into the fray.

Sometimes decisions were like that—your body already knew what to do while your brain was still processing the situation. Only in this case, Coco’s body wasn’t necessarily the clearest judge of character. Her brain would have said that Carmine didn’t deserve her help.

Now see, this is a scene I can get behind. The entire RWBY-verse is based around a type of superheroism: people with unnatural abilities, fantasy weapons, and extensive training devote themselves to protecting the people from various threats. Yet too often RWBY fails to convince me that these people are actually heroic, taking the standard flaws of a character and unknowingly exacerbating them to the point where I think, "Is this meant to be a commentary on the anti-hero? Or a critical look at these fantasy formulas? Because we've got the elements of that here, but no indication that the authors realize they're writing something other than that standard story." But this? This works for me. Coco, as a huntress, is so conditioned to help others that her body responds instinctively to someone being in danger, regardless of who that someone is. She outright admits that if she'd had the chance to think about it she would have decided against helping Carmine. The fact that she recognizes this and move anyway says a lot of good about her. Well done, Coco!

We see later that Carmine probably didn't need the help, but between the two of them the grimm really don't stand a chance. What's interesting though is how chummy the two are while defending themselves. Coco comments on Carmine's tendency to talk to grimm (like she does) and Carmine freely offers information about her movements, the fact that she lost her other sword, and that her partner, Bertilak, needs to "recharge a little" before getting back in the game. Carmine asks Coco if she'd like to team up with her instead (she does not) and the two have a number of flirty exchanges to top things off:

“I’ve been dreaming of a rematch with you,” Coco said.

“You’ve been dreaming about me? I’m flattered.” Carmine winked.

***

“Hot date with the Crown?” Coco asked.

“Don’t be jealous, darling.”

I bring all this up not as a criticism of the buddy-enemy dynamic (it's a favorite of mine), but simply because of something that happens next. Before we get to that though, I admit that I am on the fence about the flirting. Given that I haven't read After the Fall (assuming this characterization exists there), I know that Coco is a lesbian mostly via RWBY cultural osmosis, rather than through the text. This is one of the few (the only?) times that I've gotten a hint at her sexuality, yet it's associated with predatory behavior. Carmine, her enemy, is the one who turns an angry dream into a flattering one, the hot date with the bad guy into something to be jealous of. I'm honestly struggling to remember what, if anything, Coco has had to say about women in this book — this is what comes of such slow recapping and I acknowledge that this is entirely my fault — but I'm nevertheless discomforted by knowing Coco's canonical status, knowing RWBY's struggles with queer rep, and then reading a scene where the most overt representation thus far is the bad guy twisting Coco's words into something sexual.

I'm no purist. Give me a good enemies-to-lovers fic any day of the week, but that doesn't mean that kind of dynamic is the best to pull from in a franchise already facing heavy criticism for its queer rep.

Especially since the moment the grimm are gone Carmine turns her sai on Coco.

This is the "something that happens next" that I referenced above. It's weird to have them attacking one another after a whole scene of pretty genuine companionship. Coco doesn't help Carmine as a consequence of defending herself, she willingly gets involved. They tease one another. Carmine appears to answer her questions honestly. There's both implied and overt references to how well they work as a team. Then, suddenly, Carmine is outright trying to kill Coco, not just with her sai but by burying her alive. It's not the sort of banter that Ruby and Roman used to engage in, trading fake compliments and, in Roman's case before his death, legitimate feelings while attacking one another. Nor is Coco prepared for an attack the moment the grimm are gone, and she's not surprised by it. It’s just this sudden change that feels rather jarring. 

Though it's far from the first time BTD has failed to convey the emotion of a scene. Here's another example rnow. As said, Carmine is attempting to bury Coco alive by moving the sand with her semblance. That's horrifying enough on its own, but remember that Coco is claustrophobic. Yet none of that panic shines through here. She comes across as indifferent throughout the attack, thinking back to summers when her brother tried to bury her while she sunbathed, amazed that she could ever consider this fun. You know who Coco sounds like in this scene?

At no point during this attack did I get the sense that Coco believes she’s in serious danger, let alone that she's struggling against a long-term phobia. The only time I even remembered that claustrophobia is meant to be a challenge for her is when she throws out the oh-so casual line, "One of her worst nightmares was being buried alive." Oh really? Because it doesn't seem like it! Coco is calm enough to remember that she used to be able to hold her breath for exactly three minutes and forty-two seconds. That doesn't feel like a character fighting against her worst nightmare.

So this scene isn't exactly compelling. Which is too bad because, as said, Coco as some other nice moments in this chapter.

However, during all this we do learn a little more about Carmine. Prior to getting trapped in the sand, Coco comments on how shockingly strong she is. "Carmine should have been at least a little bit worn down from fighting Grimm," but she's not, "She seemed nearly unstoppable now." Coco hits her full in the face, but she doesn't seem fazed. Earlier in the chapter there was that comment about how she previously took on Team CFVY alone and at the end of the battle Coco observes that Carmine "still seemed as fresh as she had at the beginning of the fight. How was she even doing that?" My basic reading comprehension skills tell me that this is setup for something, likely some change enacted by the Crown. Surely the text wouldn't put so much emphasis on Carmine's strength — have Coco questioning it to this extent, framing it as unnatural — unless we were going to get an answer, right?

But this is RWBY, so I'm not inclined to count my chickens before they hatch.

The rest of Coco's team arrives and it's then that she decides to pull the super dangerous stunt to free herself. Yeah, yeah, I get that she's suffocating and needs to do something now, can't wait to be dug out I suppose, but the timing is pretty ridiculous. The cavalry has arrived, yay! Time to blow myself up.

Seriously. She blows herself up. Using her own semblance, Coco focuses on one of her gravity dust bullets and detonates it, causing all the others in her arsenal to detonate too. It gets her out of the hole and "knocked her Aura down to a dangerously low level."

So... let’s see. Coco can literally detonate a bunch of explosives on her person, after suffocating under stand, after fighting Carmine, after fighting grimm, after a week long mission, and her aura doesn't break... but Yang's does from a single Neo slash?

Okay, RWBY.

Reese and Olive try to attack Carmine together, but end up eliminating one another's attacks. I like that a team actually has some realistic difficulties for once. Coco, however, is internally an asshole, calling them "idiots" and saying that they need to learn to coordinate their attacks. Thing is, she apparently hasn't done anything over the last week to help with that. She's been too busy complaining about Reese's clothes.

Carmine runs off as more grimm show up, drawn by Coco's non-existent panic. To her credit she does thank the others for saving her... but then immediately tries to downplay that. “It wasn’t a fair fight,” Coco spat when Reese (correctly) points out that she's the one who was ambushed. She also starts giving orders and when Reese (again, correctly!) goes to point out that she's the leader, Coco talks over her, saying they can't waste any more time out here because she has reason to believe that Shade has been compromised. She needs them only because she's out of bullets and low on aura, but they definitely need her because "let’s face it, I’m the best strategist around for miles."

Coco's a strategist?

And why does she sound like a villain trying to convince the heroes to work with her? She’s already part of the team!

Putting all that aside for the moment, we're back to this prideful characterization. I liked the well-rounded Coco from a few pages ago who balanced caring for her team with the likelihood of needing backup. Now she's flinching from the idea that she'd ever need help (hello, Sun characterization too) and snatching Reese's role the moment she's given the chance. So much for respecting her position. If the book wants me to believe that Reese is unfit to be leader and this is a golden opportunity for Coco to right a wrong... how about we actually show Reese being a bad leader?

Regardless, yay working together? The chapter ends with them presumably taking out the grimm before heading back to Shade, along with an important revelation. Prior to leaving, Carmine asked Coco why Yatsuhashi and Fox weren't rushing to her aid. It's only now that Coco realizes she didn't mention Velvet. Why? Perhaps because Carmine already knows where Velvet is, which obviously doesn't imply anything good.

And that's the end of Chapter Ten! Can you tell I never know how to finish these recaps? Describing cliffhangers doesn't have quite the same punch as, you know, actual cliffhangers. You all just have to suffer through my mediocre endings with me.

But would you look at that! Turns out the third attempt at writing this was the charm! :D

See you for Chapter Eleven! 💜

[nightswithkookmin]

JIKOOK BE CONCEPT- EXTENDED ANALYSIS

ANON: Hey Goldy, so I want to ask, what makes you look at one moment and decide the tension in there is nothing but then in another moment you claim Jikook are having issues? I ask because of the conclusions you drew on the photoshoot video when you said they were fighting but in two other instances where we can all clearly see that the mood between Jikook is tense like Jimin's mood in the Be Concept Clip and the other interview you have said it's nothing. I don't mean this in a disrespectful way, I just want to understand your thought process if you can walk me through it. It's ok if you don't respond. I love your posts regardless. Keep it up.

Thanks for your question.

I think I try my best as much as possible to share my thought process on why I reach certain conclusions and in instances where I do not have much time to delve deeper into a conversation I state an NB indicating I would be talking further about that particular topic later on?

I think the first thing I can point out to you right off the bat in regards to your question is that we may most likely be having different understandings of tension as pertains to shipping simply because we ship Jikook in different ways.

Again, I do not mean to say my perspective is superior or that someone else's is inferior. I'm just saying we may be having different views on the topic based on the differences in our shipping styles.

To me tension is not just a sense or feeling or mood. It is one of the metrics I employ in assessing whether or not a ship is real- stay with me.

In my experience, while people may be good at hiding a relationship, they can never hide the intimacy of the relationship or the stress of keeping that relationship a secret. Secrets are stressful to keep and they leave stress trails in their wake. It's as simple as that. If any ship is real in BTS you will see its stress marks.

It's not easy standing there, watching your man's nipples being played with, or having another man grope your intimate partner for entertainment purposes while you stand there smiling for the cameras- you can smile, but it's going to be fake.

It's not easy hearing how your man sneaks into another man's shower to watch him bathe and compliment the size of his dick.

It's not easy hearing how you can't stand next to your man in a line up while another person takes that position even if it's just for work.

It's not easy pretending not to love your man, while watching everyone else love on him. It's not easy being told what you can do and not do with your partner much less by your own peers.

It's not easy hiding your love and affection for the person you love, holding yourself back from kissing them, or hugging them or doing any of the intimate stuff you are so used to doing with them- not when you have to be around them all the time.

It's not easy having cameras shoved in your face during your alone, private time with your man, when you are watching them on giant screens and they are right there next to you but you can't hold them- please listen to JK's demo Delcacomania which he released on his birthday last year and you will understand why he cried when JM flew from Paris to see him on his birthday. I cried too.

My point is, it's really not easy keeping a relationship a secret within the same work space as your partner. It's not as easy as other shippers make it seem. That shit is stressful and stress begets tensions and tensions begets conflicts- especially if there are other people attached to the parties in the relationship.

A secret gets heavy before it gets easy but you can never erase the stress that comes with hiding that secret especially not in a group as diverse in personalities as BTS. There are bound to be clashes, there are bound to be slip ups- moments where the fourth wall is breached and many others.

Stress is usually one of the first indicators of people keeping anything a secret. I've been called toxic for this, but I pay a lot of attention to conflicts and tensions within the group dynamics regardless of the degree of that tension because that conflict to me is a sign of stress.

I can tell you for a fact, any ship that is kumbaya in BTS is not real. Any ship whose existence doesn't stress out the group dynamics is a ship made in Disney heading for Never-land. Conflict and tension is a sign of stress and stress is a sign of keeping secrets.

That's not to say every single tension within the group, between Jikook or any other ship is as a result of them keeping that ship a secret. I think we can rule out all forms of contrived tensions at this point- you know which ones I'm talking about. Ain't no damn person up in there tryna steal nobody's man in BTS. The fuck?! Lmho.

Then there are those tensions that are as a result of mood swings, bad hair days, a call being delayed, a missed period- what? some of them have girlfriends, cough cough. Yea, Don't mind me.

Tension could be caused by anything really and so I think it's not enough to point out tensions but you have to try and ascertain the cause and effect of that tension to see if that tension is as a result of the stress that comes with keeping Jikook a secret or whether it is rather causing stress or going to cause a stress in their relationship dynamics-

C'mon, now y'all know if Jimin should thirst over another man that that is going cause a lot of stress not just for JK but the group as well because Jikook's mood affects them too.

Jimlous and Jeonlous are also signs of the stress that comes with keeping Jikook's relationship a secret. Let's be honest, if they were out all of those wouldn't be happening. People wouldn't cross their boundaries as much as they do.

From my perspective, both of Jikook are constantly reacting, poorly might I add, to their relationship being a secret. It seems to me they both hate what they have to do to keep eachother a secret within the group.

Jimin keeps JK a secret by acting as if he is available and JK keeps Jimin a secret by acting as if he doesn't want him- cold, nonchalant, and the way I see them I think it drives them both crazy. Lol.

Jimin doesn't want to come out but he doesn't want to be kept a secret either. He just wants to be in that glass closet whereas JK seems to want to be out or completely hidden- he is not about that middle ground life, I feel. But that doesn't mean he doesn't make compromises especially where Jm is concerned.

Jimin is very conscious and highly judgmental of himself and I think he projects a bit of that into their relationship dynamics. As such he is constantly worrying about feedback, about how their relationship is affecting the group's dynamics.

You see this in the way he runs to JK upon the least complaints by any member about JK. Like when Jin complained about JK not choosing his bag over JM's, or when RM complained about JK buying a birthday present for only JM and not the others.

Or when RM complained about JK showing a song he had written to JM first before showing it to him in a VLive- now they didn't mention who they were talking about exactly but I knew from the moment JM started reciting Jikook's go to response for whenever they are called out for constantly being together, the whole 'we just so happened to be together in that moment,' that they were talking about JK. I don't know, I could be wrong.

JM is constantly trying to mitigate Jungkook's tendencies for exclusivity in their relationship especially where it conflicts with the groups interest even though that exclusivity and preferential treatment feeds directly into his love language.

It's that kumbaya in him I keep talking about. He would sacrifice their happiness for the groups. In my opinion.

But JK aint about that life. His entire philosophy is to pursue personal happiness first. So often, you would see him weaponizing their relationship secret against JM- trying to out him and shit. which in turn, ends up causing their relationship a ton of stress.

The best illustration I can give for this is when JK posted Ending Scene in early parts of 2019 and people started speculating Jikook had broken up because it was a break up song. JM immediately responded to that post with two posts, one about the Calico cat or something and the other pointing out how that song was just a cover. Jimin hates it when JK does something to create the impression that they are not together especially when they are together.

But at the same time, he would take a step back from their relationship, ask for space to try and nurture his other relationships with friends and family when he feels JK coming on too strong on him- like Jimin what do you actually want! You drive me nuts!

What I'm trying to say is that when you point out that JM looks tensed, you should be able to explain why you think he looks tensed.

And if you think his tension goes to the root of their relationship, then you should be able to predict the consequences of that tension too. Lol.

For me, I filter their tensions through their established patterns of behavior, their personalities and the actions that arise from their personalities- listen, the Maknae line can be very melancholic for no reason sometimes. Not sure what goes on but boy can they brood!

You have to consider all these things.

Tensions are obvious, obviously. Or maybe not. Most of them are quite easy to spot. Some not so much. They do go undetected if you are not hyper focused on them in certain moments when they happen or aren't aware of the context or subtext behind such moments.

Perspective is everything. We all don't have the same perspective. But no one holds the truth when it comes to Jikook. We can only speculate in a way that holds meaning to us.

Take for example Jimin and Jin's call during Jimin's VLive in March this year. There are a fraction of shippers who do not believe that that call was intercepted by JK at all simply because they do not see the subtext of that moment. Why would JK do that and not just reveal his identity, they ask. A valid point.

Then there are those who see JK interrupting that call as plausible because they believe they can differentiate between JK and Jin's call voice. Equally valid point.

Then there's me, who think yes that was JK's voice but goes further to try and anwer the questions raised by the first group as that, JK was pushing the boundaries both with JM and Bighit for barring him from doing a live with JM.

As such, I believe that call was an act of rebellion on his part to be allowed to Jikook with his man on the VApp. All that protest would then lead to a pivotal moment of him and JM having their VLive but under heavy surveillance. Lol.

Actions have consequences whether good or bad. Whether positive or negative. It's the cause and effect principle. Every effect has a predictable cause and every action has a specific and predictable effect.

If a moment of tension is created between them that is substantial, it is going to produce a subsequent substantial reaction. Law of Newton- I can't make this shit up. Lmho.

Another moment of this nature for me would be the VMin's unit interview filmed in February/March and released in June during Festa.

Now, if you were following the tensions between V and JK around that period, the context and subtext of that Interview would be easily apparent to you- V was just shading JK left right left. Bless him.

All that random flirting with Jimin- JM lost his Mochi cheeks, his pinky has grown were just code for JM is a grown ass man now so stop being possessive over him.

I have said Jikook have been asserting themselves against eachother this year following the lows of late 2019 and especially around that time period.

For Jimin, that self assertion takes the form of checking JK's over possessiveness over him as that is a huge cause of tensions within the group throughout the years and something that I feel really bothered JM in the later half of 2019 and early half of 2020.

Why does it bother him when he used to be the one enabling that shit in JK? The members, keep up. Lol but not just the members. Remember I said earlier how, Jikook had come under heavy scrutiny with May 2019 to June this year. JM I feel wanted to keep things really on the low but JK- sigh.

Believe it or not, JK dumb whipped ass exposes Jikook more than JM does in their relationship. In the very least his possessiveness and chest puffing when anyone breathes near JM is one of the biggest tells.

We all know Tae is one of the members that have openly pointed out his displeasure with JK keeping JM to himself, cutting him off from his friends and all. Now we all know also that Jimin's pinky is a huge deal to JK. The moment he saw VMin comparing pinkies that's when he began screwing with us for real! Lmho.

JK made a big deal about JM's pinky and also seemed to have a thing for JM's Mochi cheeks too, calling him his Mochi and shit right in front of Tae's salad. Listen, TAE KNOWS. He knows!

So I found it interesting, how those parts of JM were specifically the things that V felt had changed about Jimin- I mean go back and look at Tae's facial expressions and smirk when he started talking about that. Lmho.

Then Jimin clapped back with that whole pinky line from their song Friends, pointing out how contradictory Tae was being. Lol.

To me that has always been one aspect of Tae and JK's ship dynamics that I enjoy so much. Tae is constantly teasing and shading JK and it's so subtle yet passive aggressive sometimes. you might miss it if you don't understand the context of him saying certain things in certain moments.

He don't spare JM sometimes either. Chileee. You never know with this man. Lol.

I mean did y'all catch his jab at JK during Festa when JK brought up the rain fight and he said, yea but that was a long time ago though- give it a rest. When I tell you, this man knew JK was trying to one up him over the whole dumpling fight thingy he had with JM. Lmho.

Then in that dynamite MV reaction VLive when JK and JM tried to eye fuck through the viewfinder? Let's not look into the camera he says so eloquently then side eyes JK- I LOVE THIS MAN!!! Please stay on their necks for me. They play too much! Lmho.

JK's possessiveness over JM is one of the causes of tension within the group I feel and JK have said his hyungs try to teach him not to be so possessive. Tae, RM and Suga to me are those hyungs who keep him in check the most, most times.

All that being said, just because there is tension present between them in a given moment doesn't necessarily mean it's as a result of a conflict between them as I have explained in past posts.

The inverse of this is similarly true. Truth is we can never know these things for sure. We can only speculate.

And personally, as I keep pointing out I have my own metrics for assessing these kinds of things. I get it wrong sometimes and when I do, I simply adjust my metrics and keep it pushing.

It's my own customized metrics, the lens through which I filter their interactions and make sense of their moments and It works for me. Isn't that what having an opinion is about?

I find, some of their interactions or moments follow an established pattern of behavior from their past moments and so it's much easier to call those.

For instance, you don't need a six foot page analysis to identify Jimlous or Jeonlous when you see it. You don't need a crystal ball to tell you when JK nibbles on Jimin's ear that Jimin is nervous. They did that in 2018, they did that in 2019, they've done that in 2020- to me that's become a pattern and when I see JK anywhere near Jimin's ear depending on the setting I will conclude JM is nervous and JK is trying to comfort him.

All that would be left for me to determine then is why Jimin is nervous at all in that moment and if I find he has no reason to be nervous in that instant my next assumption then would be that Jeon Jungkook is horny. I'm not kidding. Jk scares me. Lol.

Don't mind me.

He could be horny or he could be touchy, or he could be just expressing his affections through skinship. All of that is valid so I would employ an elimination approach?

I would rule out Jikook sexual foreplay in instances like that based on whether or not JK's gesture was a mission given to him by the staff based on Jimin's reaction to that gesture- He seemed pretty disappointed when he learned that JK bopping his nose was just a mission.

At times too I test out theories.

Yes, Jimin is an extrovert but does he freeze out JK when he is being an extrovert? He doesn't. We have seen him grabbing the Jeon titties in behind the scenes photoshoot, we have seen JK shove his butt in JM's dick face, we have seen 50 shades of JK grab JM's neck and dip his hand down his neck into his chest region to warm himself up. We have seen Jikook at behind the scenes photo shoots countless times. They gravitate towards eachother.

So if he is being his extrovert self with every body but JK, and JK is orbiting him but not interacting with him as they have done in the past then honestly I don't need my crystal ball to assume something is up between them. Why? Because Jikook's interactions behind the scenes aren't susceptible to false conditionings as compared to the intentional, exaggerated versions of their interactions on camera which sometimes can be laced with fanservice.

Jikook is not fanservice. Most of their behind cameras are moments of them breaching the forth wall. Like JM walking into JK's room without noticing there were cameras in the room. Their mood in there was not a performance and wasn't intended for the cameras and yet they were still close. Them taking a picture at the back of the track was equally that- unintended for the cameras.

What I'm saying is, we have seen Jikook when they are working on camera and when they are not working on camera and that mood in that behind the scenes photoshoot video doesn't fit either description of Jikook in those settings to me regardless of whether I know them personally or not.

What that moment fits into for me is a pattern of behavior that has been consistent with Jikook over the years. And I know people box JM into this whole extrovert personality but as I've said I don't believe anyone is completely extroverted or introverted.

JM to me has a certain degree of introvertedness in him and I've talked about this. He seems to have a bit of an avoidant personality too where he recoils into himself or shut people out in certain moments like how he says he drinks alone and becomes much quieter when he feels stressed out.

He doesn't open up as much about his problems it seems, he bottles it all up untill it eats him up- I'm glad he says when gets like that JK notices his mood and often comes around to do something that makes him laugh. Jimin does same for JK when he is feeling anxious- Please, Jikook is real ok?

So stop telling lies. Lol.

I think this avoidant personality becomes more prominent in moments when he fights or argues with people.

In Manila it was that moment where he noticed JK staring at him and so be moved his seat back to avoid JK's gaze. In VMin dumpling fight, it was him going out to drink with Suga after the fight- classic avoidant behavior. In Yoonmin it was him asking Suga not to touch him when Suga put his hand on his back even though Suga was sat right next to him.

In 2017- was it the behind scenes photoshoot for the billiard pool games? We saw JM literally running away from JK. Lol. He literally side-eyed the fuck out of JK, yeeted himself away from JK the moment he finished posing for the cameras. In that OT7 footage where V was playing with JK's hair, again, he yeeted himself out of there real quick at the end of filming- dude literally said deuces bitches. Lol.

And in the Jin birthday VLive 2019, he pulled away instinctively when JK's knee touched his. In all these instances, JM was keeping up the facade. Smiling and interacting like his normal slytherin/ honorary hufflepuff self but his instinctual reactions is what gave him away. In my opinion.

To me that is a pattern of behavior on JM's part. When he is angry or mad st someone- he avoids them. And it's harder if he has to be within the same space with such person.... I'll circle back to this.

All the times since 2015 when he's been 'mad' at JK he's done just that- Akekeking with everyone else, amplifying his extrovertedness, latching on to his 'clutches' within the group, all the while keeping JK at bay while stealing glances at him to see his reaction at the same time.

And when he notices how that's affecting JK- he literally smirks in satisfaction. Meet evil chim everyone- And I say this with love, he is vindictive as fuck. I mean this is the same person who didnt hesitate to kill Army in a game just for disobeying him- allegedly. Same person who said he would whoop his bandmates except of course for JK and force them to bow at his feet if he was ruler. Did y'all see Tae turning to check JM's reaction when JK made fun of his singing in run? Did you see his passive aggressive reaction to JK after that clowning?

Listen, we all should be scared of Park Jimin. He is sweet and all but fuck with him... I dare you. PJMs are gonna revoke my PJM membership are they not? Oh God! Lol

JK is similar to JM in this regard. He avoids when he is angry or edgy. Try touching him in that state and he is pulling away. He did it with Tae in the Dynamite MV behind scenes where Tae tried to touch him and he pulled away and the whole not wanting to hold hands with Tae at the KBS interview thingy- it actually broke my heart watching that bit. JK. Sigh. Will post and delete the Taekook video I am talking about as soon as I post this- out of respect for their shippers.

JK does the same to JM too sometimes when JM irritates him. Manila and also around On promo when they had that Alex Almanto whatever unit shoot- they were all having fun, there's a cut and suddenly he is pulling away when JM holds him, does the lip thingy, and glares at JM. He turns away to look at Hobi, which I just think he was trying to hide his expression from the camera lol- JM almost burst out into laughter and I nearly peed myself watching that bit- JK can be very petty sometimes. Lmho

He did the same in this controversial photoshoot. He was mad at both JM and Namjoon which explains the part he was dragging his feet when he was walking away from JM. It wasn't because he was waiting for Jimin. He was avoiding Namjoon who was walking ahead of him. In my opinion. And the part he stood with Jin and RM- JM did something hilarious JK giggled a little but turned immediately to Namjoon and when he noticed RM laughing too he stopped laughing. Then he did that thing were he put the fear of God in RM when RM stood close to JM. JK was so angry he forgot his manners when he bumped into Jin in that moment and again, like always. He looked away to avoid the scenery.

Now I don't know what had gone on there but I'm still trying to reconstruct that moment to figure it out. All I know is something went on involving those three and may be Tae too as I have pointed out in previous posts.

JM was mad at JK, JK was mildly mad at JM but heavily mad at RM.

All these things I've mentioned are patterns of behavior that have repeated over the years from my delusional point of view of Jikook's interactions and of their interactions as against the group dynamics.

Circling back to the Be concept clip and JM's mood in there, I gotta ask. Do you think Jimin's mood was as a result of the stress of keeping their relationship a secret in that moment?

It wasn't to me. Even after looking away from JK he went back to looking at JK again. When their eyes met he smiled a little. Whatever was going on with him had nothing to do with JK or their relationship. If it did, he would have been much more hostile than that and frankly JK wouldn't be sat there cheesing the way he was doing in that instance. His butt would have been on fire.

JM seemed- serene and peaceful to me. I actually enjoy him most in his moments of quiet like these.

RM's reaction to that Jikook moment however is an indication of stress to me. He seemed excited, probably wanted to play with his Jiminie but when he noticed JM had looked away his instincts was to check JK's reaction. Not anybody else, JK.

When he noticed JK was smiling at JM he dropped his hands and seemed a bit deflated. That deflation right there is one of the signs of the stress I'm talking about.

RM isn't just the leader he is their friend. Like V his bond with JM suffers from time to time due to our elephant in the room. I am often fascinated by RM and JM's friendship dynamics and would definitely love to have conversation about their dynamics.

I hope this answers your question?

Please keep supporting Jikook. Jikool is real.

Signed,

GOLDY