#that's how you know that personal bias wasn't involved because if it was we would have a 3k-word Bellara post on our hands but here we are

[flowersforthemachines]

Some facts about Taash (and also the Lords of Fortune, the Qunari, Dragons and other related things) gathered from the banters

Featuring Shathaan's stories about the Crows!

I went through all companion banters on DanaDuchy's channel after playing the game to write down all facts about companions/the world that I haven't seen brought up anywhere in the game as a writing reference (and for funsies).

Note: This list may not be exhaustive. I might have missed some something or didn't write it down because I considered it common knowledge. If you have anything to add, please DM me or send an ask! (do specify what banter the information is coming from, though)

Note 2: Posts from this series (mostly) don't include information from banters specific to quests or between companions and faction members. I plan to do another playthrough to capture more of those and will add any relevant info to the character posts.

Other characters' posts: Bellara, Davrin, Harding, Lucanis, Emmrich, Neve. I'm also planning a post about just the Lighthouse some time later

About Taash

General: 

Taash gets grumpy if they stay inside for too long

Taash may polish their treasure hoard or clean the dishes (even somebody else's) to get out of their head

When Taash is feeling sad, they ask somebody else about how they are doing, so they can focus on somebody else instead of themselves

Taash doesn’t like talking about their feelings because it makes them sad (Lucanis can relate)

Taash doesn't read books before bed because they have a tendency to stay up past their bedtime to finish the exciting parts

Taash seems to care quite a lot about fibre and digestive health (they are so real for that). For example, they enjoy the smell of coffee but don’t drink it because it’s bad for their guts

Taash drinks alcohol 

Taash once requested Bellara/Lucanis to cook them a demon (the suggestion was disregarded) 

Taash liked Lucanis’s deep-fried peppers 

Taash liked Bellara’s stir-fry 

(If Rook is in romance with Taash) A spirit of devotion appears next to Taash after they enter a relationship

Taash doesn’t want to look for more dragonfire tablets because “they are just more orders”, and they already have enough  

Taash doesn’t kill in cold blood and needs to get angry in order to kill someone

Taash has good taste in gemstones, knowing which colours match which (based on the banters where they recommend gemstones for Emmrich’s lich helmet). They say it’s a Lord of Fortune thing, they have to know how to make gems look good 

Taash isn’t afraid of the Fade, because the spirits there mind their own business and don’t try to possess anyone (or anything) 

Taash thinks that even if the Nevarrans almost brought their dragons to extinction, they will still come back eventually

Taash is extremely excited to hear that Morrigan can (potentially) turn into a dragon and wants to ask her about it next time they meet 

Taash doesn’t mind finding no loot when hunting dragons because as long as you survived an encounter with a dragon, you have a new story to tell 

Taash doesn't think of dragons as monsters since they are a natural part of the world and have been around longer than anyone else

On fire-breathing: 

Taash started breathing fire when they were a toddler

Taash needs to eat greens after breathing fire, or they get headaches 

According to healers, fire breathing hurts Taash’s lungs

Taash accidentally set their first female partner’s hair on fire during their first sex

Taash once tried to cook with their dragon breath and accidentally melted a pot and set the kitchen on fire 

On Taash’s sense of smell:  

Taash got their heightened sense of smell after they got sick and couldn't breathe through the nose for a couple of months. After they recovered they could suddenly smell everything

Tassh can smell when someone is ovulating. They can also smell who had been in the room before them, and who is hungover 

Taash could also tell Neve got together with Rook or Lucanis from the smell even before anybody told them

To Taash, Minrathous smells rainy and ‘like rich people hurting poor people’

Early life and the relationship with Shathann: 

Taash learnt to swim before they learnt to walk

Shathann sometimes wouldn't let Taash play/go swimming until they finished their studies (like being able to tell the difference between some pottery shards)

Shathann gifted Taash axes during one of the gift-giving holidays when they were younger. They were simple kindling choppers, but Shathann helped decorate them to make them look like Qunari weapons. During a conversation with Bellara, Taash realises that may be the reason they are still using axes to this day

Axes are also good at lodging between dragon scales and allows them to climb up

Taash grew up poor, though they didn’t realise it because Shathann always made sure they had enough food, even at her expense (like pretending she didn’t want to eat because “Rivaini food is too rich for her”)

Taash spent the money they made from their first job as Lord of Fortune on buying Shathaan a dress. Shathann didn’t appreciate it, instead urging Taash to buy themselves boots or some other useful things 

Shathann hated apples because their skin would get stuck in her teeth (“Evataash, that fruit is stupid!”)

If Taash chooses to pursue Rivaini culture and wear Shathann’s horn as jewellery, they have a blacksmith do runes in the old Qunari language along the edges and get a Seer to bless it

Shathann stopped telling stories about the Crows after Taash once climbed on the roof to play as a Crow

The things Shathann taught Taash about the Crows:

Antivan Crows make themselves invisible to dragons by imitating the dragon's shadow

Antivan Crows coat the beaks of actual crows with poison so that the crows can kill people by pecking

Antivan Crows can slow down their breathing until they become invisible

Antivan Crows come through houses at night and kill children who aren’t in bed

Antivan Crows can do a special move that stops their enemy's heart

Antivan Crows can strangle a Qunari with their own dar-saam (but only if it’s tied incorrectly)

Relationships with companions: 

Bellara gives Taash advice on cooking dinner for their mother

Davrin teaches Taash to use buckets filled with water and sand for lifting

Taash has never flown a kite before and asks Harding to teach them

Harding's mother sends Taash a letter with homemade candies after Shathann’s death, calling it “a hug from afar” (Taash appreciated the gesture and liked the candy) 

(If Rook is in romance with Taash) Taash asks Lucanis about what Rook likes to eat, and Lucanis offers to teach them how to make coffee/tea/chiocolata calda 

Taash isn’t scared of Spite, and even convinces (or more like intimidates) him not to talk about how other people smell without their permission

Lucanis agrees to teach Taash how to kill targets with flair (with varying degrees of success when it comes to cool one-liners) and then plans to ask Teia to make a Crow cape just for them (Taash is very excited about it, as they love crow capes)

Taash insists Neve should get some trophy from Aelia (a ring, or an amulet with her name) to show everyone she beat her, and doesn’t understand why Neve isn’t interested in something like that 

Taash offers their blood to Neve for blood magic purposes (Neve doesn’t take up the offer)

Taash thinks Neve’s ‘dresses’ are pretty

Taash thinks nobody can go toe-to-toe in magic with Neve

Taash offers to hook Neve up with their jeweller to get her a discount (in case she wants a new leg) because “Neve deserves nice things”

Lords of Fortune:

Lords of Fortune have a drunk game where they throw a goblet made from fool’s gold into the water for others to find. Whoever finds it gets free drinks for the rest of the night. The game has only one rule: no punching in the junk

There is also another drunk game where drunk Lords jump off a giant cliff. The only rule is not to hit the water face-first

Even if those are “drunk games”, you can participate in them sober, as long as you are willing to be as stupid as the drunk people

The Lords of Fortune pick new jobs by Isabela throwing daggers at a map or racing nugs (the winner picks the job - could be its owner, or the nug itself)

The lords used to blindfold Mateo (the faction merchant) and spin him around in circles until he tripped on something like a map. They stopped doing that because a Seer told them to quit (the whole thing gave Mateo headaches) 

After Shathann is gone, Taash is in charge of appraising Qunari artifacts for the Lords until they find a better expert

The Lords of Fortune work with a Dalish clan keeper Shivanas (Taash calls them ‘Shiv’) who appraises artefacts for them (tells them what’s okay to sell and not to sell etc.) 

After losing his hand, a Lord named Bernst got a lock-pick hand prosthetic decorated with gems

About Dragons:

Different breeds of dragons can mate and produce offspring. That’s how ice- and lightning-breathing dragons came about

The muscles of dragon wings’ are vulnerable behind. Another weakness is the underbelly

Fighting Dragons is all about making them come to you, either by having them see you as a threat (so they come down to assert dominance) or prey (so they come down to eat you) 

There is a dragon called Wildervale Spitter, which can breathe fire or poison gas. The “fire breath” is actually just poison that burns when the dragon breathes. Most dragons always ignite their breath. The Spitter's special for being able to choose whether to light it up.

Dragons have an extra eyelid that they shut while breathing fire in order to protect their eyes

About Qunari etc.:

Eb-ketarra means something like “growing memories.” When you graft someone’s horn onto yours, you also add their strength to yourself

Qunari food uses a lot of oil for frying

Qunari have a much better sense of smell than humans

Qunari can bury their dead with large jars inlaid with a flame pattern. It’s called ‘issalatar’ and is empty inside, representing that the deceased’s body is also empty now that their spirit is gone

The Rivaini armada can hold its own against the Antaam fleet, but only in good weather. They can’t match the Antaam in firepower, but they can outsail them

Isabela is apparently still a captain of the Siren’s Call 

[jesncin]

Chimera Constantine breakdown, refs & nods mega-post

Welcome to the master post of behind the scenes for the Chimera Constantine comics. In the style of the Sons of Mars ones I made, this post archives our research and process. So here we go! This will be a mix of showing references and personal anecdotes for how we cobbled this project together.

I'll be repeating some things I've mentioned across blog posts because I like having all this info in one place.

So! There's a lot of ways to go about re-interpretation and re-imagining a story, and one of my techniques is to not get overly attached to research. While it's good to be informed about a character, sometimes knowing every little thing about them can make one hesitant to innovate and try something different with them. So I'm purposely mindful about how much material I research.

But how does something like that work when the character in question has only 2-3 total appearances, one arc, and a quick revisit several years later? We play twin telephone.

For this project, Cin read the Hellblazer Golden Boy arc and vaguely retold it to Jes, who would then write a story based on assumptions and half-remembered memories of the story. Letting personal experience, influences and bias fill the blanks. We're inspired by how Naoki Urusawa wrote Pluto based on his mis-remembered memories of reading Astro Boy. Also when I was a kid I used to look at book covers and summaries and make up a story based on the limited information I was given. It's fun for me. Part of why I love obscure characters so much is that the lack of content about them lets the reader fill in the blanks about their lives and try telling new stories about them that aren't constrained by a saturated canon.

The original Golden Boy arc written by Jamie Delano (#39-40) is about John Constantine coming to the realization that he strangled his twin in the womb. After taking some 'shrooms, John...manifests into another reality, it's very surreal. There, John meets his twin from a universe where John had died, and his brother gets to live. The twin (taking on the name John Constantine, we'll call him Golden Mage to keep it simple) is John's opposite in every better way. They decide to merge their souls to restore...the universe. You kind of had to be there.

John's twin returns many issues later (#249) to wrap up a different arc, there he and the story are written by Andy Diggle.

The first panel of our full comic references the tarot cards John gets from his reading with Zed.

This panel is a direct reference to this scene where John sees his own shadow on a curtain after his reading with Zed. I like the imagery of this arc, even when the dialogue describing twins is really cringe. We changed it to a mirror to reinforce the mirror imagery throughout the comic. Speaking of which...!

Through Jes' reworking of the story, mirrors were streamlined to be the main way alternate universes were portrayed in the story. They'd be the main motif that paralleled the twins too. In issue #249 of Hellblazer, John uses the mirror to confront his twin who resides within himself after their soul-merge years ago.

The line "He's so beautiful, he frightens me." is spoken by a doctor witnessing the Golden Boy's birth in his universe. We repurposed it to be John's dialogue for when he's describing the man he sees in the mirror.

John's twin uses a sacrifice involving these candles to summon his sickly twin. Jes repurposed the use of candles to a magic salt circle that contains spirits like the Golden Boy (he's nicknamed "Goldie" in our take).

The Golden Boy! Even though he died in the womb, he's portrayed as a boy. Probably because a floating fetus wasn't what they were going for. We wanted to give him a distinct look that foreshadows how much he would grow his hair out. I like that his mouth isn't visible! We use the shape of his eyes and posing to get across how he's feeling. It gives him a vacant-toddler-stare I find really endearing.

We made some minor adjustments to the Golden Mage's design. Initially, we followed his canonical pulled back long hair. But since he was a challenging character to emote when we had one less arm to work with, we decided to part his hair so that it could carry how he's feeling. I like when I can get it to cover a part of his face for intense moments! If it was animated, it would 100% be expressive Ghibli hair.

Our main goal for Golden Mage's characterization is to make him feel like his own person. In the original arc, he's less of a sibling and more of an au of John Constantine himself. He doesn't get his own name. Despite gloating about having a better and more fulfilling love life than John, he also shared the exact same love interests John does. Being a twin is less about a family story and more a vehicle to talk about self hatred and potential here. Which isn't fair to the individuality of the characters!

(note, this is not how the panels look in the og comic, I've rearranged them so that they display on this post better)

So we characterized the Golden Mage to still have his canon charisma (albeit with the dialogue toned way down from his original appearance), but to have a thinly veiled temper under all that bravado to foil his con-man trickster brother. The Golden Mage was vaguely described as not being particularly attached to the love he receives. Golden Mage is also dismissive of his womb twin's death, saying it's something he shouldn't grieve since he never really knew him. We reinterpreted these lines as him being in denial over his brother's death, thinking himself as above his own feelings of grief.

Also as a tiny note, we kept the Golden Mage's name ambiguous to keep with the vibe of the original comic, but in my mind I headcanon his full name to be Marigold "Goldie" Constantine. The yellow flower is culturally associated with prosperity, but also grief and jealousy. It's perfect for him! So we made references to the flower in the cover and first panels of the comic. I also headcanon that as a kid he called John Constantine's ghost "Johnny".

My influences for how this whole beginning meeting scene is staged and played out is E.M Carroll's When I Arrived At The Castle. The "animated" panels of Golden Mage looking back at John and breaking through the mirror is a direct call back to the keyhole sequence in that comic! The premise of daydreaming about how your life could have been and not realizing that you're staring at an alternate universe is loosely inspired by Junji Ito's Hellstar Remina. I really like the concept of staring into the unknown and then something sentient staring back from that. "What if our day dreams are just other realities we're dreaming of" kind of deal. I don't see that sort of thing in the saturation of multiverse stories these days.

Next reference is the Dead Boy's Heart! While I like that this story's its own thing, I was surprised it wasn't linked to John's dead brother in any way. It felt thematically relevant, so we brought it over as a device to trap Goldie while the brothers merge souls.

Twins can be positioned in a bunch of ways in the womb. I think canonically, John and Golden Mage were positioned like they are in the cover for Hellblazer #39, ideal for strangling I guess! We changed it to echo the motion of yin and yang. I do think the inclusion of yin and yang is a little cringey in the original comic even though I get what it's going for (balance and all that, it's just kind of simplistic to the philosophy). But I do like it as a way to echo card imagery we established in this comic. We combined the imagery of the tarot cards featured in the Golden Boy arc and King/Queen/Joker playing cards. So it felt right to bring back that whole upside down twins in the womb thing. Special fact, this is how my twin and I were vibing in the womb.

The scene where the twins hit Ctrl + E to merge layers! It's a pretty iconic pose! I like how their heads peaked out of the panels so I brought it back for our comic too. In our version, the twins fail to merge their souls entirely. In the revisit to the Golden Boy character in the comics in issue #249, it's revealed that the merging "failed" in some way, trapping the Golden Mage within John's soul.

For John's ghost counterpart from Golden Mage's universe we took Dave McKean's portrayal of him very literally haha. I know he doesn't literally have one eye, but we thought it gave him a really distinct look for us to stylize. We decided to keep the ghost kids consistent with no mouth and vacant pupil-less stares. We gave ghost kid!John a sort of bedsheet ghost form to contrast against Goldie.

Speaking of one eye! That's another motif we decided to emphasize throughout the comic. It's not in the source material at all, but we liked it as a way to both hint at chimerism and visualize how the two brothers serve as incomplete halves of each other. Special fact! Heterochromia can show up in chimera twins. Of course in the case of identical twins like the Constantines, their chimerism isn't as detectable since they have identical sets of DNA. But! It's still fun to stylize in a supernatural way. For our take we show the glowing golden eye as the soul of the Golden Boy manifesting in his brother. I like to think that John takes advantage of how undetectable his chimerism is to have an upper hand in any soul-related deals he makes.

This stylized heterochromia is inspired by @ratblazer 's Constantine design! I made a subtle nod to it with young punk John's make up echoing the scar in her design too.

For John's dynamic with Goldie the Golden Boy, we built the conflict of the story around making him doubt his attachment to his dead brother. There's a line of dialogue in the revisited Golden Boy arc about John needing to "let go", so we repurposed it into the Golden Mage assuring him that his attachments make him weak.

Even though the Golden Boy doesn't show up nearly as much as I think he should in canon, John has been shown to be really sentimental about him. John wants to be the Golden Boy's friend because he's so beautiful John mistook him for Jesus as a kid. Canonically, the Golden Boy ghost rejects John's friendship, likely still not over the whole strangulation in the womb thing. It still breaks John's heart though, he's a sobbing mess about being owned by a dead kid.

We changed this whole dynamic! The twin murder in the womb felt very X-men Xavier vs Cassandra Nova, and it's hard to get behind babies having that much motivation before they're even born. In our version, Goldie is a vanishing twin absorbed by John, the sickly twin. Infants being accidentally strangled by umbilical cords does occur in reality. However, we changed their origin to being that of Vanishing Twin syndrome because it was more specific for the ideas we were going for.

I feel this crucial change is more in tune with the overall themes of Hellblazer. John always cheats death at a cost. People are constantly sacrificed for John's continued survival. But the Golden Boy's case would be special, because he sacrificed himself out of love before he even knew what it means to love. Unlike the other ghosts that haunt John Constantine, Goldie isn't resentful of John. I think it makes more sense for the Golden Boy to be attached to John because he's all the Golden Boy's ever known. As a chimera twin, John is like a horcrux holding his brother's soul in his body. This reaffirms survivor's guilt to be something John experiences since his birth.

Canonically, although the Golden Mage initially feels sorry for the ghost of John that haunts him, he rejects John as well. John's ghost in canon is like a nuisance that keeps bothering Golden Mage. There's an instance mentioned of Golden Mage trying to recreate his murder in the womb? It's cryptically written. But Golden Mage does keep using the phrase "banished" to describe his brother.

We took this and made it so that he performed an exorcism on himself to remove his supernatural chimera-bond to John's ghost. The Golden Boy arc is pretty unique when compared with how saturated multiverse stories are nowadays since it doesn't share the science fiction sensibilities. Grief comes up a lot in multiverse stuff, in these stories characters use parallel universes to save a loved one as they're bargaining with their loss. For our take, we wanted a character to use the alternate universes to hurt and lash out at the loved one they're grieving. I pulled influence from Everything Everywhere All At Once's concept of a self destructive character on a search for the one familial connection who could understand what they're feeling.

References! The first panel is a nod to issue #36 where John is sleeping with Marj. We changed her to Kit. The second panel is a direct callback to issue #67, an iconic visual for his break up angst era.

Trivia; this page was added at the last minute! I needed something to bridge the birthday cupcake page and the final panel of Golden Mage's breakdown, so I linked them through candles! In this weird case, I reference my own work! This is a callback to Birthdays, a short comic we made for John Constantine's canonical birthday. It sets the premise for his relationship with Goldie based on the habits and experiences of survivor twins. The pages referencing this comic are meant to re-establish that John shares meals with his twin.

I wanted this page to feel like John's lighting an incense for his dead brother, and to contrast it with the snuffed out candles from Golden Mage's flashback. The candle has a yellow and blue intertwined spiral pattern that calls back to the color of John and Golden mage's dialogue boxes and speech bubbles, along with how twisted they look when they merged. Implying that in this universe, they're together in some way. I really wish I did this intentionally but it was by complete coincidence of making the cupcake pink and balancing it out with pastel primaries. But I sure can acknowledge how cool it looks symbolically okay???

The dialogue here is a nod to John's monologue in issue #19 where John is comforting Simon Hughes. It's re-contextualized a bit to be about sharing grief together in our comic.

This is a really goofy one but- since Golden Mage is supposed to be the fully realized potential of John, we thought that he would have a successful career as a musician and singer where John didn't. I don't think Golden Mage would be a punk singer though, he probably does something he'd consider more elevated.

BUT-! In the 30th Anniversary edition of Hellblazer, Sting (the guy John's appearance is based on) wrote an introduction for the edition while roleplaying as the Golden Boy. Which is nuts. The Anniversary edition basically canonized Sting as being a Constantine variant in our universe with the soul of Golden Boy. Sting, as Golden Boy, describes himself as a musician and singer too. Absolutely bonkers for Sting to throw me a bone this late in the game since no one's touched this character in ages.

Another E.M Carroll influenced panel sequence. This is from the digital comic Out of Skin.

So that brings us to the end of the comic! We've had the ideas for this comic cooking for some time, and it's people's continued interest in our takes on these characters that gave us the chance to finally bring the story together.

I'm very fascinated by the Golden Boy story, not because it's particularly strong compared to other stories in Hellblazer's run, but because its intriguing premise is bogged down by its surreal take on typical Evil Twin tropes. og Hellblazer's strength was always in its raw humanity. John Constantine's character countered the sensational spectacle of his superhero contemporaries. He may be able to outwit a vampire but he's can't fight back against being brutalized by the police. In one of his most iconic arcs, he finds out he has cancer- not because of any supernatural shenanigans, but because he literally smokes too much. In another arc, John's long time girlfriend breaks up with him, and he lashes out by saying the cruelest things to her. When he hears that his abusive dad is murdered, John still cries about it.

I think the Golden Boy arc and the retcon that followed his brief return actively undermines what makes Hellblazer special. Suddenly John's having X-Men-level evil twin escapades in the womb. Suddenly, merging with his twin will help save the universe. Suddenly, it's not smoking that caused John to have cancer! It was actually because he merged with his twin and his twin became the cancer from inside him! Suddenly it wasn't a moment of lashing out that caused John to say all those cruel things to his ex upon their break up, that was actually the Golden Boy controlling him from within, so you see it's not really his fault! Also what followed the break up was extra devastating because of the Golden Boy, somehow.

Often I hear in fandom that when you change a character too much from their canon counterpart it's basically "just an oc" at that point, but in the case of characters who get to be re-imagined and passed through many creative teams, I think that kind of mindset is deeply limiting for transformative work. The line I draw between "just an oc" and an interpretation is if the changes involved engage with their source material in any way or if they're just superficial. Big changes and 180 flips can work because they still respond to the history of said character. It's why we see that kind of thing in canon a lot. These characters are inherently built to be passed through many hands in meaningful ways to varying degrees of success. So I hope that by showing all this process that goes behind big changes to a canon character, people better understand what can go into transformative creativity.

Our thesis for this re-imagining is to take what makes Hellblazer special and re-examine the arc that we felt undermined that. Despite the grief John has for many characters in his cast, mourning isn't brought up at all in the Golden Boy arc. It's dismissed by the characters in narration, and the Golden Mage himself isn't even recognized as a sibling by the narrative, no matter how many times John calls him "bro".

Survivor twin grief over dead womb twins especially is a real thing that's often dismissed because in the words of canon Golden Mage himself "I couldn't mourn for those I'd never known". This is not true to the experience of twins. They play with and remember each other from spending 9 months growing in a tight space together. So when one of them doesn't make it out with the other, that survivor feels a grief they can't comprehend. It can manifest in unresolved trauma, commitment issues, and survivor's guilt. All things that feel so relevant to the themes of John Constantine's character. I think that by integrating the real lived experiences of survivor twins, the Golden Boy arc could've been one the most human and personal parts of the original Hellblazer run. It's could've been a story that helped a community of people so rarely validated in their grief feel seen.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Putting aside all of the jokes and technicalities and such…do you think Marinette is a stalker?

Buckle up folks, this is gonna be a long one.

Personal Bias

When I was 14-years-old, a "friend" of mine got a crush on me and I made it clear that I wasn't interested. He then proceeded to follow me around school, often blocking my path so I couldn't go anywhere without talking to him. He knew I was uncomfortable with this, but refused to stop until I got school authorities involved. By the time it was all over, he basically had a school-imposed restraining order where he wasn't allowed to go near me unless he wanted detention.

When I was 16, another "friend" was so upset that I was dating someone who wasn't him that he figured out how to get into my school email and, through that, one of my socials. He proceeded to try to break me and my boyfriend up. He almost succeeded.

When a male friend of mine was around 16, he turned down a girl who had a crush on him. She and her friends proceeded to harass him on a consistent basis because she knew his schedule and used it to trap him in certain spots like when he was waiting for the bus. They wouldn't stop no matter what he did or said. It only stopped when school officials got involved.

When my cousin was in high school, a boy started following her home every day. It got so bad that the cops were called, but they refused to do anything because he wasn't "threatening enough." Her family had to move and switch what school she went to in order to get away from him.

As you may know, I have seen Miraculous. So has my male friend. So has my cousin. We were all some level of fan at one point or another and have talked about the show critically together. Guess who didn't phase any of us?

Marinette.

Stalking 101

Definition One

Stalking is pattern of behavior directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for the person’s safety or the safety of others; or suffer substantial emotional distress. (Source)

Definition Two

“Stalking is a pattern of repeated and unwanted attention, harassment, contact, or any other course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear,” according to the Department of Justice. Similar to crimes of sexual violence, stalking is about power and control.

Stalking laws and definitions differ from state to state. Stalking behavior can take many forms including:

Making threats against someone, or that person's family or friends

Non-consensual communication, such as repeated phone calls, emails, text messages, and unwanted gifts

Repeated physical or visual closeness, like waiting for someone to arrive at certain locations, following someone, or watching someone from a distance

Any other behavior used to contact, harass, track, or threaten someone

(Source)

Marinette Overview

When I say that Marinette isn't a stalker, this isn't me blindly defending my favorite character*. It's me considering her against the real-life stalkers I have actually dealt with as well as professional discussion on what stalking is and why it happens. When I look at those and then look at Marinette, she just doesn't fit the label.

"Stalker" is not a synonym for "creep." It's a term for specific patterns and types of behavior. When people use the term "stalker" for her, it never seems to come from some deep nuanced argument about her overall behavior. It comes from a handful of scenes where the writers absolutely take her too far. Those scenes understandably creep some viewers out. If those viewers just called her "creepy," then I wouldn't argue against them. Instead, they slap the "stalker" label on Marinette and call it a day without a second thought. I find that incredibly annoying in an analytical context and incredibly unappealing in a writing context for reasons we'll get to at the end.

That doesn't mean that I agree with Marinette's every action. The writers have made her do some extremely questionable things and I'm happy to criticize those moments! But, while I will happily agree that individual episodes take her too far, the overall picture doesn't fit a stalker even if you take things at face value and pretend that nothing is a joke/ignore that Miraculous is a comedy which is not how good analysis works. Ignoring the fact that Miraculous is a comedy shows poor media literacy and is another reason I can't take the stalker claims seriously.

If Marinette is a stalker, then every adult who showed up at Adrien's house in Party Crasher needs to be arrested because wtf were they doing showing up to a party thrown by unchaperoned 14-year-olds? If we take that episode seriously, then it's super creepy! But it's clearly not meant to be taken seriously because this is a comedy. The adults showing up was just done to make Adrien's party seem insane, not concerning like it would be in the real world. If you can wrap your head around that, but you're also trying to argue that Marinette's behavior in this episode was "problematic," then I just can't take you seriously. Pick a lane. Either all of the jokes are serious character beats or none of them are.

Marinette Analysis

To really dig into this, let's quickly look at a few of Marinette's worst behaviors and talk about why they don't set off my alarm bells for her character being a stalker. As we go over these, I want you to keep two things in mind:

stalking is about patterns of behavior not one-off bad choices

stalkers use stalking as a way to control and own their victims

Following Adrien Around

If Marinette were written as a stalker, she'd be doing this on the daily. She'd follow Adrien home every time we see him go home. She'd be at every one of his outdoor photo shoots. She'd transform into Ladybug and use binoculars to watch him in his room. But she doesn't. Most of the time, Marinette is happily living her life while Adrien lives his. She's more likely to watch his commercials than watch him which is not how stalkers work. That is how you write a fan, not a stalker.

There are a few episodes that do have Marinette follow him around, but it's always done as a way to start the plot and never as a fun little character beat like Marinette making Tikki hats. Even then, I think the Shanghai special is the only time when Marinette just randomly follows him somewhere to be with him (it's her most stalkerish moment, imo, but it's quite notably a one-time thing). Most of the time, there's an inciting incident that leads her to follow him for some reason other than just watching Adrien.

For example, Oni-Chan has Lila being creepy and lying her way into Adrien's home, leading Marinette to follow to see what's going on. That's not stalker behavior. That's comedically exaggerated concerned friend behavior. I could see Alya or Nino doing the same thing if they were allowed to be smart when Lila was around.

Sneaking into Adrien's Home

Once again, this doesn't happen in most episodes. I can only think of four out of 125: Chat Blanc, Party Crasher, Oni-Chan, and Gabriel Agreste. In each of these episodes, Marinette sneaks into the mansion - or tries to sneak into the mansion - because of some sort of mission or special circumstances and not as part of her normal behavior. For example, Chat Blanc is arguably the most questionable of these, but it starts because Marinette's girlfriends challenge her to give Adrien a present and not because Marinette just decided to go to the mansion:

Rose: That's it, Marinette! No more picnics, sleepovers, or going to the movies with us until you give him that gift! You made that hat for Saint Athanasius Day, which is today! How is Adrien's supposed to know you're thinking of him on his fifth name's day if you don't give him your gift? Alya: She's right. Today is the day! All the girls except Marinette: Go, go, go, go, go, go!

But when Marinette gets there, Nathalie won't let her in or allow her to wait. Nathalie doesn't even offer to take the gift, so Marinette sneaks in to leave the present behind. Good behavior? No, but not Marinette going to the mansion of her own volition to creep on Adrien. While this leads to the totally creepy pillow sniff moment, that's pretty much all Marinette does outside of leaving the gift. She doesn't go snooping in Adrien's room like Lila does in Oni-Chan because the point of this episode wasn't to make Marinette look like a villain or a creep. It was about punishing Marinette for using her powers to give Adrien a gift with her name on it as that's too selfish, I guess.

In fact, none of these episodes were trying to make Marinette look like a villain or a creep. Each one made her do something questionable, but only so that the plot would work. No present, no Chat Blanc. No party crashing or fake butler disguise and Marinette isn't there for the akuma. When there's no plot-necessary reason for Marinette to be at the mansion, she isn't. That's not how you write a stalker. For her to be a stalker, she needs a lot more Chat Blanc moments where she just sneaks in to leave him things or sniff his pillow. We need a pattern, not a one-off moment.

Having Adrien's Schedule

I know I'd said I'd take things more seriously than a comedy calls for in this discussion, but it's impossible to take this one even remotely seriously. How would Marinette even have Adrien's schedule for the next three years? Where did she get it? How is she keeping it up to date when things absolutely change on a weekly basis? How is anyone missing that this is a joke, especially when you consider how the show writes Marinette outside of this episode (Gigantitan)?

While Marinette is sometimes shown to know about things like Adrien's fencing schedule, most episodes present Marinette as if she's reacting to things that she just learned about. For example, in Backwarder, she freaks out about Adrien going to England with Kagami for a wedding that would have been on Adrien's schedule for months if not years.

Why would Marinette do that if she has his schedule? If she's a stalker, then as soon as she heard about the wedding, she'd be on a mission to find out if Adrien has a date and if there are any threats in attendance. She'd probably even find a way to stop Kagami from going like messing with her food. But Marinette doesn't do any of that. Instead, she's written as if she just found out about the wedding and is making up a plan on the fly:

Marinette: Girls! We have a very serious situation! (The girls are cuddled up in the couch, all of them except Rose looking extremely tired)Adrien and his father have been invited to the Royal Wedding in England this weekend. Alya: (annoyed and exhausted) That's the “emergency’’ you called us over here for on a Saturday morning? (frowns) Marinette: You don't get it! Kagami and her mother are going too! (paces around the room doing dramatic hand gestures) Which means that Adrien and Kagami will be spending an entire weekend together!

And her plan ends up being to give Adrien a note and hope for the best. Not exactly the obsessive, controlling behavior you'd go for if you were writing a stalker.

This also implies that, at most, she probably knows his weekly routine which isn't weird since that's something he'd talk about to his friends. Like all of Marinette's worst behavior, the "knows his schedule for the next three years thing" was a one-off gag. Please stop obsessing over it. This isn't how characterization works.

(Note from my male friend who I discussed this post with: the line about the schedule did put him on edge because of his experiences, but that quickly passed as Marinette's behavior didn't back up the line from a stalking POV.)

Stealing Adrien's Stuff

I'm pretty sure the only time Marinette steals something from Adrien when she takes his phone in Copy Cat. "I left an embarrassing message and have to delete it" is an established comedic plot that has been done by dozens of shows and not something uniquely chosen for Marinette, but let's ignore that for a moment and pretend that it's a serious character beat and not a comedy doing something silly because it's a comedy and that's how they work.

Even if we remove all that context, Marinette still isn't acting like a stalker. When my stalker hacked into my email, he was doing it in an effort to control me, not to delete an embarrassing message. He read everything he could find and used that to mess with me. It's actually how I discovered he'd done it. He knew too much. Marinette doesn't do anything like that. She deletes her message and then puts the phone back because stealing the phone wasn't about stalking Adrien. It was about fixing her mistake. A stalker would go through the phone to learn everything about her obsession.

Conclution

None of this is meant to say that everything Marinette does is totally fine and I think people are overreacting if her worst moments upset them. I hate many of the choices they've made for her character and think they were total missteps. If a real person was doing the things Marinette does, then I'd be getting psychiatric services involved because this isn't healthy. I could even see it devolving into actual stalking as the early warning signs are there.

However, Marinette's behavior isn't meant to be realistic and taken at face value. She's the fictional star of a comedy where the writers decided to make her failed confessions a running gag so they had to keep coming up with ridiculous situations to put her in based around her crush. That context matters when evaluating her character and deciding if her actions are meant to be as serious as Chat Blanc ending the world or silly as adults at a teenager's party in Party Crasher. For the majority of seasons one to five, it's very clearly Party-Crasher silly. That doesn't mean you need to like the jokes - I certainly don't - it just means that you do need own that they're jokes if you're trying to do any sort of serious analysis of Marinette's character.

I went through several elements of her behavior not to say that she's totally pure and fine, but to show you that people are taking a handful of really bad moments and acting like it's her standard behavior which isn't how large-scale character analysis works. I was also highlighting the difference between a character who is purposely written as a stalker and a character being the victim of a bunch of adult men making massive missteps while trying write a comedy about a teenage girl with a monster crush. If you want to take her behavior seriously in the context of what jokes are appropriate and what ones go too far, then be my guest! But that's not character analysis even if the analysis is focused on Marinette's character. It's a comedy or writing analysis. Any quality analysis of Marinette's character as a whole and how we're supposed to read her has to take the context of her actions into account.

To write Marinette as a real stalker, you have to go a lot further than the writers did. You have to make her worst behavior constant and not just occasional bad calls. You have to make her feel dangerous and change the tone from comedy to horror. You need to have her friends react with concern instead of egging Marinette on or pushing her into situations as if Marinette's behavior is fine. You need to have Tikki being deeply concerned and not just mildly exasperated. Canon doesn't do any of that because the writers don't intend Marinette's behavior to be read as concerning. When you look at the full context of canon, it's glaringly obvious that the problem is that the writers sometimes make poor calls when exaggerating her crush to tell jokes and not intentional elements of Marinette's character that you should take at face value.

Bonus Salt Fic Discussion

I said at the top that I find the stalker Marinette takes "incredibly unappealing in a writing context" and so I'll end with that as that is more nuanced than bad analysis.

Did canon give us a handful of moments that you can really lean on to back a read that Marinette is an unhinged stalker? Yes, it did. I can't say that people are making that shit up. The Shanghai special and Derision are especially solid "proof." Is fanfic often about obsessing over single moments and little details to an absurd degree no matter how insignificant those details are? Yep, I can't deny that either. That's not unique salter behavior.** Does Miraculous have wildly inconsistent characterization for basically every character with more the one appearance, making it so that you have to pick and choose what you're going to embrace as "canon" for you version if you want to be even remotely coherent with your own characterizations? 100%

All of that is why I'm on the record as saying that I get where the Marinette salt is coming from just like I get the Adrien salt and the class salt and so on. It's standard fandom behavior to bash characters you don't like and the salt takes aren't even doing that thing where people make shit up. It's all based on canon because canon keeps making terrible choice after terrible choice! I just don't find it fun because salt fics are all about embracing the worst writing in the show and expanding upon it, which is the exact opposite of what I want to see when I'm reading fic. I read fic to see better versions of canon! I don't want to be reminded of canon's very real problems. Problems I only expect to get worse as time goes on.

I have no doubt that season six will bring with it a bunch of new moments where Marinette and others act terribly. I wouldn't even be shocked if we reach a point where I agree that Marinette's standard behavior makes her feel dangerous because season five's ending certainly set things up to go there. However, for now, the worst label I'd put on her is "creepy" and that's only in the context of specific episodes. Generally speaking, she's fine.

*Btw, Marinette isn't actually my favorite character. My favorites are Alya, Plagg, and Adrien

**As an example of fandom obsessing over a more neutral detail and elevating it beyond anything canon ever dreamed of, I'll draw your attention to the fandom's obsession with Adrien saying that Marinette is "just a friend." I have come across multiple fics that would have you think that's his catch phrase. A pattern which was deeply confusing because I could only recall him saying it once or twice. After some digging, as best I can tell, he says those words four times and it's never even to Marinette's face, which is wild when you think about how many fics have her parroting the line as if he says it to her all the time. I've even had people tell me that he says that line all the time when that's very clearly not the case. I'd say it's weird, but it's probably just a variation of the fact that eye-witness accounts of crimes are notoriously inaccurate. People just don't remember things accurately.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for asking someone out as a joke?

😥🙊

Normally I would never ask someone out as a joke but I thought it would be funny this time because of the situation!

So we are all in high school. I'm the youngest. I'm 16m, and everyone else involved are seniors. There is a girl in our friend group who I was pretty sure didn't like me. "Em".

We don't really get along, but Em's not too mean or anything. Sometimes, she disagrees with me just to disagree with me. An example is one time I was talking about how one of my classes was hard and she said "I don't think it's difficult" I'm in an AP class and she isn't, so she has no idea how challenging or unchallenging my classes are. Another time when she found out I liked dogs, she made fun of me for being 'one of those men who hates cats because I don't understand consent' I don't really know what that means. I like Jack Russell terriers. I wasn't aware that was indictive of some sort or personality trait or lack of boundaries. I also don't dislike cats so I'm not sure where it came from. She also shoots down every suggestion I make on principle. Once I suggested we go bowling, and she gagged, but then got excited about it when someone else in the friend group agreed with me and acted like it was the other friends idea. She's also made negative comments about my body, namely that I don't have a girlfriend because I don't work out and my arms are small. I'm the only one in the group she acts like this with.

I just always got the impression that she just did not like me in any way at all.

Em dumped her boyfriend 3 months before Prom because he was "boring" (her words) and wasn't sure what she was going to do. I jokingly suggested she take me to prom, with the joke being. "You don't like me, imagine being stuck with me at prom." Because we have never once had a normal conversation and I genuinely thought she disliked.

She agreed, and I thought she was matching my energy and I was like "ok hahaha"

One of our other friends came to talk to me about prom and I said I wasn't going, I'm too young. They said they thought I was going with Em. I replied "that was a joke because she kind of hates me?" And I was told she thought we were actually going to prom together.

The next time we were together I apologized and told her I thought we were joking about prom because she obviously doesn't like me.

She started crying and it was super awkward. She now isn't speaking to me at all. She says I embarrassed her and was needlessly cruel.

Our friends are divided but ultimately decided it's between us.

Some of our friends think it was just a miscommunication and not a big deal because they also thought Em disliked me and got the joke when I made it. Others think I was being a bit cruel to her but ultimately decided it was none of their business. There were secret third options as well but they still agreed that they didn't want to be involved in the drama.

She also left our friend group because the others chose not to get involved instead of backing her up. She sits with different people at lunch now (or so my older friends say).

There are two people who might see this from my friend group so I'm going to just here ask them: hey if you see this please don't not weigh in because you have a bias, thanks!

I also won't get defensive if I'm voted the asshole.

aita?

[autistic-ben-tennyson]

A rant about Jedi Stans from an ex-Jedi fangirl

After some time I've had to reflect on my own behavior as well as my time in the pro Jedi fandom, I decided it's time to call this shit out. Some people take it really personal if someone criticized your favorite characters or their beliefs. Ironically, you all act more like the Sith than the Jedi with how obsessive you can be and insisting any criticism is equal to wanting genocide.

I'm going to start by saying I was in the pro jedi fandom for a few months. Truth be told, I was using it as an outlet for some of my anger issues with my hate towards Anakin, seeing him as similar to a lot of people I've had to deal with. Some of it was wanting more followers and fear of being disliked by the majority. I would pick fights with Anakin fans and was a bit of an asshole and I apologize for that. I still don't like him but no longer HATE him. Seeing how fandoms treat abuse victims who aren't perfect angels like Shinji Ikari or Lapis Lazuli has caused me to loosen up a bit. Many Jedi stans would probably hate those characters for not being “perfect” victims. In retrospect, this wasn't a good community for me. It was very puritanical and I often felt like I was wrong for enjoying media that went against the beliefs Jedi Stans put on a pedestal. Three of my favorite ships (Madohomu, Reishin and Hodaka x Hina) involve "burning the world for one person" and I felt like I couldn't talk about them without being a hypocrite. That and me agreeing less and less with Luca's beliefs pushed me to leave.

It's fine to enjoy a fictional character and defend them if you feel that they're being unfairly criticized. I've done it myself and have written essays defending my faves. The problem is that Jedi stans don't know when to stop. So many are quick to compare the Jedi to minority religions or marginalized groups as a shield against criticism, not recognizing how insulting that can be. Jewish, asian and aroace people are the ones normally used due to the Jedi beliefs being based off Eastern religions as well as Judaism as well as some aroace people identifying with the Jedi.

One thing I noticed about Jedi stans is their similarities to Jumblr which is full of religious chauvinism reworded to sound progressive. Many of them talk about how the Jedi shouldn't have to change their traditions with the times or to accommodate a few individuals like Anakin or Ahsoka. This can be similar to how a lot of people are quick to defend minority religions from outside criticism based on how they were treated by Christian colonists or missionaries. The problem is that this can veer right into ableist or queerphobic territory. You know who else believe that their religion shouldn't have to change with the times to accommodate people? Conservative Christians who hate being told to be affirming of LGBTQ people. Also, schools and parents/guardians do have a responsibility to accommodate kids with disabilities, mental health issues or trauma, even if it may be inconvenient or force you to bend the rules. Claiming they need to just suck it up is honestly disgusting.

This was all a big reason for why I left this garbage pit of a fandom. While there are some who hate the Jedi because they stan the empire or think people need 50s nuclear families to live fulfilling lives, not everyone does that. Believe it or not, some people have faced abuse and bigotry under Judaism and Buddhism. People can also criticize how Lucas presented their beliefs as some Buddhists think he didn't do a good job. Libsoftiktok is a vile transphobe, an Orthodox Jew and her beliefs are said to be fairly common in her community. Many people of color identify with the clones and dislike how even the nicer Jedi treated them. When Obi Wan told Anakin, "It's okay to have romantic feelings, but you must let them pass," that hits different for queer people who have been told similar things from "polite" homophobes. Some queer people do choose celibacy like Side B christians which is fine as long as they don't treat it as a moral failure to want a relationship. There are many neurodivergent people who don't like the Jedi beliefs as they hit close to home. Lucas may have not intended to come off as ableist but the Jedi did with their beliefs about negative emotions. To some people, platitudes like "just let go" aren't helpful and treating it as bad for not living up to those principles is gross.

I deleted the post, but a while back I made a post asking a popular pro jedi blogger their views on adoption since they claimed Anakin not viewing the Jedi as his "found family" was a moral failure. I found their response to be tone deaf and insulting. I responded in a decent way of course, but felt a bit judged and unhappy for wanting to know my birth mother. Adoptees are another set of people this fandom is insensitive and gross to. The Kenobi series I find insulting for that reason too, having Leia be a foil for Anakin and Obi Wan romanticize his recruitment as a child.

Jedi fans are also shitty to those with religious trauma and who faced abuse. Accusing anyone who criticizes the Jedi of projecting their issues with Christianity while simultaneously talking like conservatives as shown above. Tumblr in general has a weird habit of treating religion as if it’s either conservative evangelicalism, liberal reform Judaism and some vague pagan or eastern spirituality with little nuance. Some Jedi stans really come from a place of privilege. Claiming "they can just leave" is insulting to real religious abuse survivors who were raised with harmful beliefs like creationism or homophobia. I'm no antitheist but treating non christian religion as inherently progressive dismisses a lot of people's experiences.

Let's be real, the writing in this franchise was always a bit sloppy. Lucas's issue was wanting to simultaneously create both a black-and-white morality tale for kids based on the fairy tales and serials he grew up and a deep socio-political commentary about the Vietnam and Iraq wars which required some morally grey themes. Thus, along with his terrible dialogue that made the characters seem unlikable, is why the fandom is so divided over whether he intended people to agree with the prequel Jedi.

To wrap this up, I found the pro jedi fandom to be a terrible experience. It was a mix of faux progressivism mixed with fear of judgement for disagreeing. I ended up editing a post I made, and eventually deleted, comparing Yoda with Garnet from SU because I included a tiny bit of criticism and didn't want to get backlash. As long as it’s not gross or bigoted criticism of your favorite characters isn't the end of the world. People don't have to like George Lucas or his beliefs and put them on a pedestal. I feel like the fandom's worship of George comes in response to OT purists who claimed he "raped their childhoods" but there's fair criticism to be made. Just like how not everyone who criticizes Disney SW or any Disney media in general is an "anti woke" grifter. To the pro jedi fans reading this, here's a suggestion. Just block and ignore people, write an essay if you feel it's important, but don't act like an entitled bully if a blog or even a SW writer disagrees with the Jedi, interprets the story differently or criticizes your favorite characters.

[blacclotusss]

Don't Be Afraid, Just Start the Tape

Starting off strong, I want to discuss the argument between Louis and Armand. This, in my opinion, is where everything fell apart. It's just them going back and forth hitting each other in the jugular and it made me want to rip my hair out just hearing it. I, personally, have always hated when things like that get thrown up in arguments so that's my own personal bias. Just hearing Louis throw back the CSA in Armand's face and Armand throwing Paul's suicide, Grace leaving him, and his history with Lestat back up brought me to tears almost. It really sucks that these two felt that they had to resort to these things, but that's the tragedy of it all.

But, for some reason, I think Armand was more hurt that Louis called him dull and boring. My belief is that it hit harder because being boring and dull to Louis means he goes out to look for more exciting things and people, leaving Armand home all night. He doesn't want to lose Louis and the first ounce of real love that he's experienced, so he was taken aback by that. Louis walking out into the sun wasn't much of a surprise to me, but I think him doing it at that moment was. I would have expected a suicide attempt back in Paris, or even in Dubai, but not in San Francisco. I do understand now that the story has unfolded. 

I think Louis has just had enough of it all, talking about it with Daniel who kind of brushed it off in his intoxicated state and his argument with Armand only fuels that. He wants to be with Claudia, she's the one that he says is calling him, and if dying is how he's going to get to meet her again, then so be it. Now, the whole situation with Armand leaving Louis on that bed to suffer while he begs for relief definitely rubbed me the wrong way. Louis no longer has Claudia to nurse him back to health, as she did when he was dropped, so he has no choice but to rely on Armand and that sucks. Armand is in here torturing Daniel while he leaves Louis to holler and yell for him, that's so messed up. Even going as far as to contact Lestat and relay messages from him to Louis, and omitting some things. The psychological abuse at play here is crazy to think about.

I also want to talk about the power balance that has been discussed as well. Yes, Louis is able to express himself a bit more and in a different way in his relationship with Armand. They have an understanding of each other and what the other needs and their roles and positions switch based on what one needs at that moment. The whole Arun/Maitre thing is really working in Armand's favor more, in my personal opinion. He knows just how to push enough to get Louis to fall in line with that. You can see that towards the end when Armand calls Louis maitre after all he said. He's all of a sudden asking Louis to lead after everything that has happened, after Louis had to beg, and Louis will happily oblige in order to keep the peace between them. I wonder in what other instances has this happened before. We see Louis trying to keep Armand from falling off of the deep end while he, himself, is the one sitting in the coffin burned and charred begging for blood. So curious as to how this will all unfold in the coming episodes, I know Dubai will be a madhouse just as much as Paris. 

Aside from the analysis of relationships and arguments, this episode was amazing. The styling choices in both the filming and wardrobe were superb. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that this was Jacob and Assad's first episode they shot. It had to be funny to go from this to all the sweet lovey dovey stuff in the earlier episodes. I want to hear them talk about this more. Also, the SFX makeup was amazing! Much love to everyone involved with that! And it was nice to finally see Luke! He played that part so well. This and episode two are my absolute favorites so far. I wonder what's to come next in Dubai... 

[disfrutalakia]

Translation of the talk between Bagi and Mayor Jota (Talk happens at around 6:28:28 at the Arkanis - as máscaras irão cair vod)

Bagi - In a call you had with a… person over the phone, they said they could destroy your life, why?

Jota - What?

Bagi - You know who I'm talking about, mayor. You were at the other side of the call.

Jota - Why… How did you got this information?

Bagi - Doens't matter how, mayor, you called me to do my job and I do it very well

Bagi - Now I need to know why are you learning the same language that Bia Raux knew how to use

Jota - Ah, I'm so mad, I… I don't know, there is a mix of emotions. Why are you so smart? This makes me mad

Bagi - C'mon mayor, show your real face

Jota - Look, I'm going to explain something to you

Jota - Bia, it was her on the phone. Long ago I had a talk with her that we weren't exaclty friends but we were friendly, but she wanted to convince me of things that were extremely ridiculous, and this divergence between us started to get so so big, that she started… Ah shit… She began to develop a ver complex hatred for me. She wouldn't agree with anything that I said and of course I'm a person like any other and began to get mad as well, I began to disagree with the things she said, but this conflict grew and for Bia, attacking me wasn't enough, she wanted to attack the entirety of Valigma. She won't agree with anything, Bia doesn't agree with anything, if you don't do things the way she wants she will put your house on fire, lock up your cats, maybe put a spell (here he said encantar, that could be either spell or charming but I went with spell cause in context makes more sense) on your dog, poison your chocolate.

Bagi - Was she the one who killed your family mayor Jota?

Jota - Wait, what?

Jota - From where did you learn this? Look, I hate Bia, I hate Bia and I won't deny that, but there in nothing, nothing that connect Bia witht the death of my parents

Bagi - A fire without ashes, with no bodies

Jota - Come here… This, obiously is not a natural thing, but if you think Bia is the only person who could be involved with this, then maybe that's the problem.

Bagi - I don't think she is the only one, mayor, specially because you're also learning how to use that, how many more people can be learning to use it?

Jota - But… I'm not learning how to use that

Bagi - You already know?

Jota - I don't know

Bagi - You don't have to lie to me, you are learning the same language

Jota - I'm not lying

Bagi - Mayor

Jota - No, I love languages, I specially like korean, I really like german, english and a bit of spanish

Bagi - And what about those you were learning on your books? It was none of those

Jota - You know tha, one of those languages was aramaic right?

Bagi - Aramaic is the right one?

Jota - Yeah, and I was learning it by coincidence and I let those scriptures around. But I'm not learning it anymore

Jota - I'm not learning it anymore

Jota - This thing about languages, this thing about Bia, trust me, I told you the truth I promise and I'm not hiding anything

Jota - But if you want me to say it, want to hear it from my mouth, that even though I hate her she was the one who killed my parents that I cannot say. I trust the Valigma police, I fully trust the Valigma police and there is nothing that connects Bia to my parents' death.

Jota - But I'm going to confess another thing to you, I feel like you're going too deep into all this

Bagi - Obviously! It's my job

Jota - And you coming to me with this information, why don't you go investigate and find things out? I don't know how you would do it, but if you find out that Bia killed my parents, I'm going to kill her with my own hands

Bagi - Mayor I'm only trying to do my job

Bagi - From now on I need you to be more truthful with me

Bagi - What you're going to do witht eh info that I get you, well I don't really care, but I do my job and I do it very well

Jota - Alright, I'm going to ask you something, I know that you share a lot because you ask a lot, I promise to help you with everything, I won't hide anything anymore as long as this conversation stays between us.

Jota - You're the only specialist who is very, very capable of getting information like this one

Jota - You were the only specialist who could solve some things in this city and I know you have a long way ahead of you, but I need you to be discrete

Bagi - Well mayor

Jota - Only you and I can talk about my family

Bagi - No problem, your family can stay between us, but you need to give me the info that I need to find out who was responsible

Jota - Alright, I will…

Bagi - Wait, a very important question to organize the factors.

Bagi - Did your family die before or after your first term?

Jota - Look, my family died a long time ago, i was young I hadn't even gone to study overseas, I was in mourning for a very long time

Bagi - And your comflicts with Bia, did they come before you became mayor or when you were still young?

Jota - My god

Jota - Bia… This place is not safe

Jota - I prefer to wait until the city hall is finished so we cant talk about this delicate topic, but I will tell you something and please don't tell anyone

Jota - I'm very afraid of what people, one of our specialists, who looks like they hate me to the point that they want to kill me

Bagi - Osh

Jota - And I'm afraid of that

Jota - You hadn't heard? Well, now you know, I'm in danger at every moment, the people hate me and I did nothing!

Jota - And one of you wants to kill me, so I prefere to wait until the city hall is done so we can talk about this very delicate topic

Jota - But I will speak in very low volume, come close I don't want anyone to hear

Jota - I have known Bia for a very long time and no, she was never like that but she turned into the worst person I know

Bagi - But, mayor, I'm not going to ask you to answer this now, but try to remember why she can destroy you, this got me worried

Jota - Alright, we will tak more soon ok?

Bagi - Ok mayor

Jota - For now, I only ask that you find out who is trying to kill me and to ask that person to not kill me, please

Bagi - Alright, alright and the topic of your family will stay confidetial don't worry, but I don't know if someone is really going to kill you

Jota - I don't know if they are rumors but, but I have received information that there are people who want to kill me

Bagi - I got mad at you once or twice but never but never to that point, sometimes it's someone with temperament problems

Jota - Alright Bagi, for now it's all I have to say, but look only your know about those private things, don't tell anyone this is very private.

[victoriahyphen]

Thoughts on building better community

I think we've generally come to realize that the supposedly wholesome stories are actually dystopian capitalism where the system has failed and highlight more of a need for systemic action (Coworkers "donating" their vacation time so their coworker can go through chemo, that sort of thing), but I feel a related part of this is that if you are building a community based on ideas of mutual care, you have to think systematically and build systems.

This means that you need to actually develop a systems for mutual aid, rather than just passing a hat. I was part of a community that prided itself on being super supportive of its members and yet the support was always tied to the generosity of everyone in the group which led to:

Popularity being the number one determinant of who got support when they were in a time of need. If someone is more well-liked, people are more willing to help. Sometimes it isn't as direct as people thinking I like Alice more than Betsy, but because Alice and Charlie are close, Charlie is able to communicate when Alice has a crisis and thus the group doesn't have to reach out, but Betsy doesn't have a Charlie and when Betsy is the hospital, there is a less clear line of communication, and will us reaching out be welcome or will we add more to someone's plate when they're going through a hard time? This can also lead to instances where providing support is actually more biased toward people who already have a network in place, because people within their network can reach out, the people who organize helping out are more comfortable reaching out to a partner, etc to ask what they can do than reaching out to a person who is experiencing a crisis directly.

The unfortunate timing of things--If Alice is in the hospital and we do a fundraiser to send meals once she gets home and Betsy winds up in the hospital the following week, people who donated to help Alice might not be able to donate to help Betsy because of how close together these things are, even if they want to help Betsy. This isn't just a money thing--it could also center around effort, too, essentially, support has been made a finite resource.

People get cast in roles and that can lead the community to not realize when their perennial helpers need help themselves. Like, when I was in this community, I was frequently the person people reached out to for coordinating support, and I spent the night in the hospital virtually alone because no one thought to do the work I had been doing for me.

Everything is at the whim of the person who decides to take on organizing the support. This sort of connects with number 1, but it also means there is no standard way of making sure the community provides support. Like, for instance, one time someone sent out a request to help a member of the community with groceries because they had just lost someone close to them. It was sent with the message "Absolute minimum $20, strongly recommended donation $50-100 or more." This was with their Venmo info, so it wasn't like they were using a platform that had a minimum. I didn't donate, because I could not afford to donate $20. At the time, I probably couldn't afford to donate $10, but I would have made it work to help someone, but knowing that the $10 would come with judgment for not donating enough, I didn't donate.

Social desirability bias--people are much more likely to want to help someone who just had a baby vs someone who just had major surgery.

If instead, we had collectively worked to build a sort of emergency fund, and used that to support these requests, having a system in place makes it less likely that when people encounter crisis they are competing for support, which would have been much more beneficial for all involved.

[boyfhee]

10 QUESTIONS FOR U - enhablrinas edition get it bc tumblrina + enhablr

favorite color of themes?

moot with best theme?

you can send a love letter to anyone. fictional/idols/celebs. who?

which moot is most active? which moot do you barely ever run into but LOVE?

most rizzful mutual? do you flirt with ur moots?

favorite petnames/nicknames? giving or recieving?

have you ever had an online crush? (or on a moot GASP)

ever been involved in drama?

do u keep up with tumblr drama?

be honest. how many times have u swapped biases? no judgement here :D

were u here for the insaneness that was lockdown enhablr?

MIA moot u want to comeback?

ur fave fic or smau that gagged u when u read it? seungstarss BET was the end of the fucking world for me I WAS DISTRAUGHT oddeonu too grrrr the ptsd fuckkkk too there was someone m1ngh8o or smtg idk w this jungwon smau and it KILLLED MEEE he was yns roommate and always so fucking rude and his gf was legit cheating on him but he didn't leave her. gf made moves on his bff jake too who liked reader. slowburns where the main lead is an ass rlly annoy me but i also will them the shit up bc i luv angst and toxicity :DDD

are you close w ur moots? do u have any on socials?

what is ur biggest ick to see on tumblr?

words u find urself repeating too much? words u love using?

any enhablr inside jokes ur part of?

ever been featured in a moots fic?

have u ever dreamt of enhypen?

ur favorite enha pc u want rlly badly?

DRINK WATER + YOU ARE LOVED <3 loveeeeeee ur rich boyhoon

tumblrina + enhablr so real that's so cute >< also i love these games, tysm for sending me one yayaya :D hope u have a good day, stay hydrated ^^ and ty for reading my works ><

𝟎𝟏. i love my recent theme colour a lot ! pink and green never goes wrong, but also blue, white— or any pastel shade, actually, works. i've been liking yellow too after my rina theme :O

𝟎𝟐. @okwonyo, @okwons, @tyunni, @atrirose, @isoobie, @yenqa @fleurre— they have the best themes on this app. some new additions would be @dioll and @hoonored since i love their current themes.

𝟎𝟑. JAY !!!!! it doesn't even have to be a love letter bruh i just want to tell him that his smile is the prettiest thing in the entire world ◞⌓◟ and karina from aespa i'm in love with her actually

𝟎𝟒. most active . . . i see @junislqve and @okwonyo a lot on my dash, especially jiah ! i've been seeing @weoris a lot too recently but we never talk TT on the other hand, it's a historical event to catch @isoobie, @okwons and @fleurre on the dash, but we talk a lot ! and i love them, of course ><

𝟎𝟓. freak club rizz ( me, ri, vi, and ji ) is so powerful that whenever someone says i love you, moonstruck plays ( happened three times yesterday ) and yes i flirt a lot with my moots :D

𝟎𝟔. mangocat by jiah stays on top ! bc i love mangoes and i love cats too :3 vi and ri once called me 'meri jaan' so that's a close second, and ri usually calls me 'mi amor' >< i love her sm

𝟎𝟕. i have had an online crush but it was so silly >< i don't even like talking about it, it wasn't even that serious either

𝟎𝟖. i was on animeblr before so i've been involved in a drama once there ! on enhablr, i wouldn't i was involved directly but i did have some part, although not publicly. it's safe to say i've learnt from it and am on good terms with my friends

𝟎𝟗. i do keep up with drama i'm nosey :/ most of the time, i ignore if it doesn't involved a person i / my moots know. although, keeping up is not the most appropriate term because sometimes i'd be going thru a blog and come across a controversial or expose post TT

𝟏𝟎. twice ! i got into enha because of sunghoon so he was my bias for a few weeks, since he was the only member i knew and he's mad fine. but then i became heeseung biased when i got to know the group more. now, i'm a jay girlie through and through :D

𝟏𝟏. oh lord YES enhablr during lockdown was something. . .it was so fun, apart from a discourses that happened every single day TT i made a lot of friends during that time, really close ones. we were all just going crazy together TT

𝟏𝟐. @maiverie & @seungstarss my wives mai and sei please come back i miss u :( we were really close but i lost contact with both of them. i have their socials but they're in active, it makes me super had :< they made locklown bearable i love them sm

𝟏𝟑. BRO anything by @hoonvrs gags me because i love saint's smaus ( i'm planning to read cigarettes trust ) like it's literally just pure comedy and crack but i love it and i love having a good laugh ^_^ another would be @jaeminvore's smaus ESPECIALLY demon roomie .. still not over it. nics has crazy smaus like i've read all her enha smaus and all of them belong to the hall of fame. ALSO, we can't forget @jayflrt >< her smaus give me life idk i've read sugar daddy like ten times alr and reread stoner hee one a few days ago. and yfi786 is definitely the gag of the year i feel it. what r u even doing on enhablr if u haven't read alice's smaus :/

AND i agree, sei's smaus were so so good ! i've read her jungwon one and it left me shook it was so good. i started bet but halfway through and the characters were pissing me off so i gave up TT definitely lives up to the type i can assure !!!! oddeonu uhh i'm sure i've read a few but unforch, i don't remember the names

𝟏𝟒. i'm close to lot of my moots ^_^ i have them on insta, disc and twitter. i have rose's number even though i don't text her there ... i need to and i WILL. @atrirose watch out

𝟏𝟓. i don't have anything specific but not using the read more option is one of them. another would be people who are constantly involved in dramas ... ? like it has nothing to do with them but they involve themselves :/ although, these are not very serious and i've just learnt to ignore. ignorance is bliss godbless 🙏

𝟏𝟔. i repeat a lot of words, especially as / while TT i love using 'intoxicating' and 'vinous,' a lot but those are also my most repeated words, especially the former .. i need to work on this

𝟏𝟕. no, i don't think so TT and if i am then i don't remember lol

𝟏𝟖. OH YES many many times. especially in @ctrlemis and @svnclaired smaus when kira was in his jungwonize era. was a member of a gg twice 😼

𝟏𝟗. oh brother i've had so many enhypen dreams .. none good. jay pushed me off the couch in one, heeseung sacrificing me to demons, aenha supernova concert dream, sunghoon leaving me in a dark alley, enha exorcist version, jay dupe cousin dream ... the freakiest yet

𝟐𝟎. PCS FROM R:U PLEASEEEE I need wonki ones especially ... riki glasses pleaseee idk how i will get my hands on that one but i Will. sunjay pcs from darkblood .. i think the jay one will cure whatever's wrong with me.

[thegreatimpersonator]

I think they think it's a dig to Joe, because of the whole pain and trauma bit as in he didn't wanna marry her, she was dying inside because of it and the relationship not going well so rumours of them being married caused her all that pain. It's not new information by any means but it just makes swifties enraged because he didn't wanna marry her and who wouldn't etc etc. Not gonna lie to you, seeing everything that happened since April and how Taylor herself has been handling it herself I would have doubts myself and if anything I don't think he regrets his decision at all. Imagine how much of a nightmare it would be if kids were involved? Would we have a Joe Jonas and Sophie media war kind of thing?

It's sad for me to say this but Taylor and her friends are in mid thirties right now and it's expected you have grown out of some high school like behaviours. Liking tiktoks and posts and trying to shade your ex is like...at this point one would know better to do the shit talk in private. There's also a big power inbalance here, Taylor and her friends are not regular people, they are celebrities so all these things don't have an audience of 10 people. Even if Joe said something, he has even less power in the public eye than Calvin so everyone would destroy him. He knows that for certain, Taylor knows too and is so incredibly shitty she's putting him in that position. It sucks that he hurt you, but he's also a human being with family and friends who hurt for him. His family also just suffered a family member's death last month so I think they are also not 100% mentally ok right now. You're putting him in a worse position than the one you once were in. Is that like some kind of joke to re-enact reputation but this time she's the one starting a hate wave towards the person she credited so much for helping her ride hers?

you know what's also interesting? Travis ex implied he was with her and strung her along with the marriage thing too. But swifties response is/was that he wasn't sure because she wasn't the one for him like Taylor is. And sure that could be true, but makes you think he did the same thing or similar to what they think Joe did or didn't do and in this case because it's Taylor and they don't think he can get anyone better than her you don't see anyone saying well maybe he didn't wanna marry her, because he was also not sure she was the one

the fact that they do not see taylor as a human and admit that she might have flaws that dont make her a perfect partner and joe committed the cardinal sin of not forcing himself into a marriage is insane to me, and its also insane that literally anyone cares about this. like move on. but sadly it's almost impossible to move on because taylor keeps reminding us lol. and she knows he cant say anything, she knows shes got an army of millions who are so brainwashed they cant even think for themselves at this point.

and their extreme bias toward travis is insane. they turn a blind eye to everything he does because they think hes a god or something now. if it was discovered joe was excited to meet trump, made fatphobic tweets, called women breeders, played for a racist team that vocally supported Israel, etc..... i have a weird feeling it wouldnt get brushed over like it is for travis.

[lullabyalikpoptarot]

That enhypen reading is crazy 🤯 whoosh. I think it is to be expected for hybe and most K-pop companies to do spiritual work for their idols but it still sounds crazy sjsjsjs it's somehow fitting for Jay and heeseung, the two oldest, to be so aware of that, I really hope is really nothing too bad and it's mostly done to protect their energy. For Jake, I read a birth chart analysis here on Tumblr of him, and it seems he has a lot of good luck in this life, like crazy so maybe that's why he can be so unbothered and happy. I wouldn't be surprised if the betrayals are about opportunities taken away from him and given to other members or even to other groups, bc, I think we all know hybe is messy like that.

For sunghoon, ig it has to do with the way he started to train for bighit, like I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't exactly his decision but more like his family or mom like you are seeing, doesn't mean he has to dislike being an idol now. Same with her mom being so involved, we have seen it before with other idols, if parents want they can be as involved or even help their kids. I have an example, loona's chuu parents used to drive her around for her schedules when the company was giving her zero support, they supported her when she left the company and studied to help her case and even now, are super involved in her career, all in her own words. I don't think it has to be something necessarily bad. Now if maybe he's getting some preferential treatment or opportunities bc of his family that would be unfair, but I don't mind it personally bc he works hard, like go nepotism jsjdjs

Jungwon and ni-ki don't surprise me, because that's the exact vibe they give. This might just be gossip but it was known, thanks to the mhj-hybe scandal(?) that hybe used room salons to attract investors, basically brothels, and no, it doesn't involve the idols or trainees as far as I heard but it still a very disgusting tactic. Maybe if that's true, Jungwon has heard of that.

I wouldn't be surprised if ni-ki and sunoo leave the company after their contracts end. Like I love enhypen and I know they also love aspects of their jobs, like ni-ki lit cried after performing at Tokyo dome,, but the other 5 members seem to have ties or preferential treatment, but, like your reading showed, it's really obvious they don't know what to do with ni-ki and sunoo, specially sunoo.

That's why I really want to use this long comment to please request a career reading for sunoo please please 🥺 he's my bias and I'm so frustrated all the time. For me, he's someone who could do a lot of things well while also giving it his own individuality and charm, like hosting a show, releasing solo music or even acting. But belift does nothing with him it's so frustrating and it's sad to know he realizes that too.

I understand your frustration with Sunoo, I felt frustration with his energy and it is, he has so much talent, but they do nothing with him, and yeah, I have gotten a feeling for a long time that I don't see him lasting long with the group, not as much with Ni-Ki, but I can see that too with his energy, but there is a goal he wants to achieve first, so not sure how long that will take. I don't really think Jay gets great treatment either, he is usually frustrated and disappointed when I read about his career. For Sunghoon, I feel he is a cash cow for his family, yes, Korean parents can be like that, but they are a bit more extreme on it, but that is my perspective on it. No one knows the truth. I will eventually get to Sunoo, not the first week I start my in-depth career reading, but probably after that, so be patient with that, but I will get to him. I do have a perspective reading planned for him next weekend, so that can give you some insight.

[jongbross]

oh my goshh the minseok talk, you and anon's analysis are so interesting. it got me thinking about my bias baekhyun... i don't know that much about horoscope but i know taurus can be super jealous and possessive right? baekhyun has always seemed like he would be quite mature (even though he has funny and playful side too, i think it's more subdued in his personal life, especially in romantic relationship) and manly in private to me, and exo members said before that he's the most manly too, so with his taurus sign i feel like he is possessive o_o but even though i think he is jealous and possessive, it's hard for me to imagine how that looks for him because to us fans he mostly shows his friend-like sides of course! i think maybe part of it would involve him trying to hide those feelings with smugness or faked smiles or something, but he thinks he's a better actor than he really is and it's actually really obvious that he's pissed off/jealous 😂 idk, what do y'all think??

i don't think baekhyun is THAT possessive, but he's jealous of course lol not only he's a taurus, but he's used to always getting a lot of attention, so the moment his s/o gives attention to someone else (and this someone else flirts with his s/o???), he's gone.

however ☝️ baekhyun is a tease. it's written in his dna already, he was born to tease, so expect him to play the same game - he's getting jealous, you're getting jealous. you tease him, he teases you back.

one thing is for sure though, baekhyun is REALLY protective. he isn't scared to tell someone off when they need to be put in place, so he won't hesitate to get into a fight because of someone he loves. remember how he defended us with junmyeon at the whole mama 2017 thing? yeah. do not mess with the ones he loves, do not try to fool them, to belittle them. we're all scared of kyungsoo, but we should also be scared of baekhyun.

the way he behaved with the whole sm lawsuit thing, how he was the one putting his name out there even more than xiuchen were - it wasn't just because he's a respected idol in the industry and knew he would be heard, but also because he tends to protect who he loves, no matter what.

i love baekhyun. he's really loyal, i love him so much.

[beautifulpersonpeach]

BPP, hi

I choose to ask you this because you’re one of the most sane voices here. I got into BTS and KPop very recently (2022 Dec) and was consuming all kinds of available content (Run BTS, fancams, concert videos, shipper narratives) and fell in love with Jungkook and Jimin. You can say I am double bias.

From what I saw in the content I consumed, both JK and JM are very popular but JM was more popular (Idols bible, face of Kpop being some titles given to him). But then, I started seeing him diminish around dynamite era? And I have lurked on few blogs here who think the same. They think that the company forced Jimin to step back.

After what I’ve seen happen to Jimin during and post Face release, I am inclined to believe that the company actually never wanted him but only retained him because they also could see his power. Now that BTS are the best boy band in the world, Jimin doesn’t really matter and it breaks my heart so much to see that. I am Happy for Jungkook getting all these opportunities but it leaves such a sour taste in the mouth because everything evil that was hurled at Jimin is kind of what could apply to JK (I’m really not saying he should be targeted, I love Jungkook. but his fans literally collaborated with pinks to hate on Jimin).

Sorry, this is turning into a long ask/vent post. I have no hope that Jimins second album will get any kind of support and he will still get as much hate and it makes me wish he wasn’t a part of BTS, a group I got to love.

***

Sigh Anon,

You say you're a new fan so I'll skip most of what I want to say and be extra brief. I'll ask you three questions.

Did you know that until very recently, many people in the fandom, solos and not, were absolutely convinced PDogg had it out for Jimin? Yeah, P - "Park Jimin will end k-pop in 2023" - Dogg. They somehow reached the conclusion that BTS's main producer secretly hated Jimin and sabotaged him with hard-to-sing lines or hatefully prevented Jimin from singing at all. You'd often see them cite PDogg refusing Yoongi's offer of gifting People to Jimin for him to sing as a solo track. I've lost count of how many PJMs hated PDogg's guts based on those theories who are now singing PDogg's praises (though a faction still hate him for the autotune use, because we know Jimin had absolutely no say in the creative process and it certainly wasn't his idea, based on his interviews /s). I wonder what you think about that fan theory now and if that tells you anything about how fan theories are made.

With the little you've seen and know of Jimin so far, do you think he would sign up (a second time) for a work situation and relationship which is hostile to his growth as an artist and as a person? You say you've been following the FACE promotions so I wonder if you've watched all Jimin's interviews where he talks about the process and how the company/producers got involved.

Are you old enough to work in a corporate setting? Because even watching BTS's official content might not be enough for some people to get the full picture if they have little understanding of what healthy team dynamics look like in a work relationship to begin with. I think it's unlikely you're in this bracket of people Anon, but I'm asking just in case because most of the questions, theories, or concerns about mistreatment and favouritism in BTS can be dismissed just on the knowledge of how teams work. This ask I responded to on the 2022 Festa Dinner shows as much.

Feeling discontent with Jimin’s roll-out is totally valid. But it’s also possible you’ve found your way into the fandom spaces that traffic in mistreatment theories for the members you bias, typically solo stan and manti spaces, that new fans tend to fall into. I suggest you spend more time listening to Jimin, not his stans and not me. (But if you have follow-up questions I’ll try to answer.)

Goodluck.

[witchangelnekora]

An open letter to the ASSHOLES that kicked me from the Stray Kids (Stayville) Discord server without any real information AND I DON'T CARE IF THEY FIND THIS:

I entered this really cool SKZ Discord server to enjoy being a STAY, try to get into Ateez cause some people were Atiny, enjoy some NSFW stuff and write SKZ (Ot8 x FemReader) smut that I'll post here a little at a time, honestly... Cause this place is more Fanfiction friendly.

But get this. One day, the owner asked if we could talk, she and the admins kicked me out, saying i made people uncomfortable! HOW?! I'd just be myself there in the server, being nice towards others, giving a tiny bit of advice, keeping an eye on others by asking if they were okay, fixing my own mistakes if i made one, sharing links to Tiktoks like everyone else would do, posting photos to the proper rooms, censoring/adding Trigger warnings to my posts if I'm angry or talking about my mental health....

But get this.

I was having a REALLY bad day one day and i was feeling suicidal. I wanted to vent to my "friends", so i went into a rant room, censored my post with a TW, and vented about my emotions. Same day, i wrote a poem on poetry.com (a really good place for poems you've written) and wanted to show them to show i was alright.

Next day, they kicked me out without telling me WHO i was making uncomfortable. Was it because i was wanting to fit in with others through the damn favoritism?! When everyone was talking about going to California or the UK, i just wanted someone to come visit me here in Kentucky...or bring me along on a road trip. Was it because i didn't feel comfortable posting my smut on Wattpad? Or the fact i was showing off my SKZ themed Magical Hero cosplay?

I'm REALLY GLAD they kicked me out, honestly.

The place, along with the owner's other server i was on? BULLSHIT. Absolute,goddess damned bullshit. The owner was SO OBSESSED with Hyunjin, she'd constantly write OC x Hyunjin fanfiction (which is okay, but hers had barely any normal plot) with herself being a succubus. She'd openly say how she'd like him to do her in the NSFW rooms, which yes, that's what it's for, but it's like...it was explicit to the point it made me uncomfortable. I felt like i couldn't enjoy anything involving that sweet dumpling boy there cause i was afraid she'd turn into one of "those" kinda STAY (The kind that's like "They're mine!") if i ever mentioned he was being sexy/looking handsome (I'm 35, before you ask, i don't like making anyone uncomfortable or anything like that).

One of her server rules is that only ADMINS could have their biases in their display name. Like, uh... The titles you gave your mods+moderator color wasn't enough?! I'm an ot8 STAY, but i wanted to add Changbin, Felix and I.N to my display name in Emojis (🐖 🐇 🐥 🍞) , instead i just said "Changbin/I.N".

Bomb drop later, "Only admins can have bias in display name"

.... So i can't show i love these guys, but an admin can have "Mrs.Bang" or "Lee Know" ? Couldn't they just not make the admin color a name color choice?

The admins treated everyone with respect... except me. Why? Cause I'm autistic, Nonbinary, plus ,size, a Wiccan/witch?!

Two admins there are bigger than me in body size and they showed off their swimsuits....i showed mine, only one person liked it, the only person that treated me like a friend.

I say I'm a She/They Nonbinary, they KEPT calling me a girl! I'm AFAB, but i don't identify as female! Never called me by my name, either. I mentioned I wanted to rent Detective Pikachu for a movie night, one of the admins took my idea. So, i instead wanted to show Yugioh the Movie in a different room, and that somehow ruined everything.

I don't take compliments well, it's a side effect of C-PTSD due to bullying. So, I'd try and accept the compliment, but then feel weird afterwards cause i didn't feel pretty,or i didn't know if they were genuine. Plus, social cues confuse me sometimes. (thanks, autism)

If i made them uncomfortable because of how i acted, then I'd have apologized. But they never told me what the absolute hell I did wrong. They just said "some people came forward". Never explained what i did wrong,or gave me a suspension, just... Said i gotta go. So... Before i end this, lemme say what i really feel.

To the admins: fuck you. You and your favoritism towards those with Wattpad accounts (hey, it's cool if you've got one, but it's not my thing), claiming Lee Know and Bang Chan are yours, not letting me get a damn word in inch wise while y'all spammed photos in the NSFW section, getting away with shit that would've gotten me in trouble (like being in horny jail), not even being one iota of nice towards me even when i was being nice and making cute jokes and puns.

To the ones that claim you were my friends: You're not. You never came to check on me on either server the day i almost ended it all, asking if i was ok. You can just drop off my friend's list. Already Unfollowed you on Tiktok.

And finally: To the owner. FUCK YOU IN PARTICULAR. You're always posting about your damn fanfiction on Instagram and Tiktok, it's ridiculous! You made a shirt that says "Hyunjin's Cinderella" on it, in hopes he'd kiss you. He wouldn't kiss you even if you were dressed as an eggplant! And he hates eggplant! (Even though he was cool towards those that did dress as one during magic school). You look like a damn spinster with a plain Jane face and remind me of an old librarian with how you act with those glasses you wear. I NEVER wanted to hear you make a comment about his "dangerous when wet" shirt, and if anything, you NEVER MADE ME FEEL COMFORTABLE IN EITHER SERVER. Safe space my ass, that place was a huge red flag and a half. Not to mention, you treated your admins with more respect...i was trying to earn your respect, which is what people do. But i guess I'm not people. Not to you. I'm glad you Unfollowed me everywhere, cause if i ever see you online, I'm blocking you on sight. PS, When someone gives you advice, either take it,or politely decline it.

I'm done. Just... Done.

(But now I'm free to enjoy ot8 again without issues~💜)

[oh-my-damn]

Hello Mandy, it's nice to meet you!

Thank you for your extensive answer. And I must admit you will make a great lawyer one day because you failed to answer my questions completely. I'll do it more structured this time

1 how do you see a realistic resolution for the current conflict in Gaza? One where both gazans and jews can live safely? I honestly don't see one without getting rid of Hamas.

2 as you explained the bar for genocide is very low, even 1 person. So I never said it wasn't genocide, I was just wondering how it was relevant to mention. Especially because by that definition Palestinians aka arabs have been committing genocide on jews since before Israel was founded. Also the international court of justice only ruled it was plausible that Isreal was committing genocide, it wasn't definitive.. And you know in law these details matter a lot.. but you must now better then them since you took a course on it, glad to ha e your ruling.

As a side note, I do love your reference to Hitler and how he even tried to hide his genocide.. didn't the grand mufti of Jerusalem actually go to Hitler to get the nazis to help the with fighting the jews in palestine.. The same man who was in the council that rejected the 2 state solution and one fo the first Palestinian leaders? Wonder what his intent was..

Feel free to dismiss my post all together by saying I haven't educated myself enough, or to go on about something that doesn't answer my questions.

Thanks for your time ❤️

Oh hi!

Yes, well, since you missed the majority of my post (you didn't read it. I can tell.)

Let me quote it directly for you in response to your questions 🥰

2 as you explained the bar for genocide is very low, even 1 person. So I never said it wasn't genocide

This is actually not true. The wording you used very much did question the happening of a genocide. Let me remind you that you said this:

Also I don't get the constant reference to genocide, the number of casualties is quite low so far compared to other wars. So by that reasoning almost any war involves genocide. It's especially puzzling because the side openly calling for genocide is the one you support.

Obviously literature isn't for everyone but even when putting on my "strictly law-glasses 🧐" I see this question for what it is.

Fun fact! A lot of people think that lawyers are these dry ass humanoids but in reality, what lawyers do most of the time, is interpret text and writing. So my personal writing skills actually come very in-handy because a lot of the time, we have to interpret and adapt laws to fit the specific situation.

Anyway, in this particular situation, lets just pretend I was the prosecutor on your case! You know, just for fun!

And in that case, I would absolutely argue that you mentioning "genocide" several times while drawing opinions and conclusions within the same sentence paints a picture of belief towards genocide. What I can derive from your sentence speficially is this:

I don't get the constant reference to genocide

the number of casualties is quite low so far compared to other wars

almost any war involves genocide

Which proves a clear bias against Palestinians and a bias towards Israel and the genocide they are committing.

And, if you recall, I replied to this specific question in your original post because I'm nice like that! Even though, in case you didn't know, I did not have to respond to your question AT ALL.

But, since you want to be an asshole, due to you sending this:

I must admit you will make a great lawyer one day because you failed to answer my questions completely.

I will respond to you like the terrible lawyer I am (I am also a cunty asshole, beware)

GET READY BABE 😜

1 how do you see a realistic resolution for the current conflict in Gaza? One where both gazans and jews can live safely? I honestly don't see one without getting rid of Hamas.

Omg the answer is so easy girl! Can't believe you didn't realize before. Must be the same reason why the rest of the world hasn't, either!

I DONT FUCKING KNOW. Personally, I think Israel should give back the land they stole but that didn't work in America so why should it now?????

2 as you explained the bar for genocide is very low, even 1 person. So I never said it wasn't genocide, I was just wondering how it was relevant to mention. Especially because by that definition Palestinians aka arabs have been committing genocide on jews since before Israel was founded.

Also the international court of justice only ruled it was plausible that Isreal was committing genocide, it wasn't definitive.. And you know in law these details matter a lot.. but you must now better then them since you took a course on it, glad to ha e your ruling.

We've gone over the first part because you did in fact say that, but lets move on.

Especially because by that definition Palestinians aka arabs have been committing genocide on jews since before Israel was founded.

I would very much like not only an explanation on this, because HUH??? But also sources. Ones that are NOT from fox news. Thanks babe xxxx

Also the international court of justice only ruled it was plausible that Isreal was committing genocide, it wasn't definitive.. And you know in law these details matter a lot.. but you must now better then them since you took a course on it, glad to ha e your ruling.

Oooooh, interesting..................... Actually, what I said was exactly what the court said - which is why I cited my sources. Let me do it again:

Now, what's REALLY funny is what YOU said is entirely uncited?! you have NO PROOF of what you're saying, yet you're trying to make ME sound like a liar when I am ACTIVELY CITING MY SOURCES?

GO TO SCHOOL. DO YOUR FUCKING RESEARCH. AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT, LEARN TO FUCKING READ. ALL OF THIS WAS IN THE FUCKING LINKS I SENT YOU.

[wedreamedlove]

thinking abt how lu chen would've been so much happier if he wasn't born in blood clan ;_; like ofc he wouldn't be the person we know but it reminded me of xu mo and his character book where the question was "what if xu mo didn have evol?" and dev said he would've led a happier life then TAT

(writing this also made me realise that this might be one of the reasons why they're my bias jfc)

I THINK ABOUT THIS ALL THE TIME TOO, including Xu Mo's character book. i remember there was a truth and dare, and other related questions, where when asked what he would like to do at the end of the world and things Evan replies that he'd just like to spend an ordinary day with his loved one. this man almost seems like he has zero ambition, if it weren't for the way fate pushes him into this position where he needs to be a chess master just to keep his own life (you can see it in all his au counterparts too).

like, it's complicated, because i think all the light and night men are compassionate at their core and that's why Evan always gets involved in these struggles, because he sees how the faction he belongs to is mistreating the people. but if this wasn't the case, then i think he really would just like to have an ordinary life...