#where did all this characterization come from?

[directdogman]

A little nugget of Crown + Milt characterization:

I had a long talk the other night (I was putting off sending an important email. I'm very responsible) and revealed a bit about Crown + Milt's characters. It's a lil long, but figured I should put a slightly touched up version of it here for everyone to see:

Crown was born disabled and was rejected VERY harshly when he tried to join the army, even after building his own set of mechanical legs. He was used to those in power mistreating him. As such, he never felt like he really belonged in power deep down because it was an environment he was unfamiliar with, surrounded by people who reminded him of those he'd always despised.

That's how he felt around 'real' politicians. He felt like he was in a joke + was waiting for the punchline. He felt he HAD to fight to keep what he had because those in power didn't WANT him there. He didn't belong. Here, there or anywhere. A freak only around by happenstance. He didn't just disagree with the motives/actions of others in power, he despised them for what they were. People who would never understand where he came from, what he had to overcome to get there and because of all that: what was at stake if his plans failed - that a world would never exist where he could've lived a full and happy life if he'd never had the opportunity to leave his garage.

He looked at the public as well-meaning, but somewhat dim. People who only knew enough to know what affected them personally. But he didn't hold it against them. They were products of their environment, of the systems that he was trying to undo. What he wanted was a mass revolution. A highly educated, dedicated and at times aggressive population that would recognize when their rights were being trampled and do something about it. He saw himself as a wolf on the side of sheep, and he wanted to make the public more like himself, so the fight for justice would never die. Every man a protagonist!

Milt's upbringing wasn't like Crown's. He didn't suffer from disability and his true sexual orientation wasn't known, so he faced little adversity for it, outside of the odd accusatory remark, which he was able to tolerate (as taking it personally would've given him away and put him in danger.) His family were well off, unlike Crown's.

He never understood Crown's mentality, as a result. He knew they had to fight to enact change, that the powerful fight to keep things the same because they benefit from it. But, the idea of seeing those around him as different (be it other people in power or the population themselves) - Milt couldn't fully grasp that part of Crown and at times, struggled to come to terms with the fact that the partner of his revolution, that aimed to create class awareness and solidarity - saw people as different to himself.

Marla understood Crown's perspective though. Despite perhaps sharing more ethical values with Milt, growing up poor + with a disability of her own (Mingus' cane was originally hers, after all), she saw eye to eye with Crown more in this regard. She viewed those who held onto power + failed to wield it for the good of others with a deep, searing contempt, which she was felt just as intensely as he did.

Of course, Milt never had Crown's insecurity. Just different inner demons of his own from the war, which haunted him in a very different way.

Crown believed that because he was able to change his own destiny, he HAD to change the destiny of others. He couldn't waste the opportunity he had. That the stars themselves had aligned in a one of a kind freakish accident, that their journey was one way and that nobody would ever get the chance to recreate their strategy, because those in power would know what to watch for next time it was tried. Crown couldn't have it be for nothing. he couldn't let everyone down.

While Milt looked at his past with survivor's guilt. The things he had to do to survive during the war. The faces of men he'd killed haunted him in his sleep. And he never forgot that he was alive because others were not. If he made mistakes, made the world a worse place… then the deaths of those he fought alongside who didn't come back were for nothing. He'd know for sure that the voice in his head was telling the truth - that he should've taken each and every bullet that felled his comrades. If he'd been braver, done more, generations of good families would've stemmed from the men he fought with who never made it home.

Crown and Milt had so much in common and their connection was quite deep - but as much as they knew about each other, neither could fully understand this one difference in the other and it wound up being the thing that ultimately killed their relationship.

[coffeegnomee]

genuinely i think alot of kaboodle's actions on lifesteal can be explained by her scripted lore background. the world of scripted lore is fraught with the idea that "lore" is just... being miserable. it was something that made it difficult for me to get into ksmp (though i did eventually enjoy it), because it felt just so awful all the time. pointless arguments didn't tug at my heartstrings, it made me frustrated. but that's besides the point

i think maybe one of the reasons she takes everything way harder than she should and exaggerates relationships and disagreements is perhaps because she is drawing in past experience to be a good entertainer, in the way she is familiar with. which is so fair! we are formed by our backgrounds. it does unfortunately make it difficult to watch her if you're accustomed to the more ""live action"" sort of format lifesteal is usually in, where people seperate their characters from themselves a little less. but she has a good size audience that seems to fw it, so i dunno

that's just my take on the overuse of the word "betrayal" and such

agree but disagree. yes scripted is usually just being miserable but zam is just miserable all the time and his lore actually makes sense and is very entertaining to watch and he also separates himself from his character (to a degree). but when he is miserable he is consistently miserable while also doing some fun things to distract from the misery or making some impact on the server like cleaning up spawn while being miserable to chat. kab just sits around and talks and does fuck all. sorry. hating. a lot of hating below.

and it's annoying because she is miserable but then will go be fighting her inner demons of destruction, but then won't destroy because she doesn't want to be mean and she cares so much, but then she plans to destroy anyway but then she doesn't do it and doesn't have any consistency in any motivation or characterization and she's all over the place. every hour her emotional state is different and there's absolutely no effort at a throughline and everything before is just thrown out the window.

And it pisses me off that she does come from scripting because surely her characters on ksmp had some throughline and consistency.

and yet her inconsistency on ls does make sense bc in scripted you can plan and succeed with every plan you make when you are literally scripting the outcome.

but on lifesteal you can plan for something cool and fun and it can be taken away in an instant by the very same people you were trying to impress and that is hard and will send anyone into being tilted.

and trying to decide how to react to that is wildly difficult and i dont really envy them having to figure out what to do, but i do wish she would DO something. but that's also unfair because she is doing something, she's rebuilding. but while rebuilding she's going between wanting 4c to help her while also trying to convince him to betray his team while also trying to convince him to give her a heart without a fight while also planning to kill him while also reminding herself she has to be nice to him. so she's just using him. just say it with your full chest. you never cared about him and you just want someone else to do the work to get your own selfish self-pity plan back on the server.

you want to complain and then have someone swoop in and save you. and you dont want to make any effort to actually care about that person.

it's miserably sad and annoying to watch because lifesteal is about caring about people, and she goes on and on an on about caring *so much* but she doesn't give a shit about anyone but herself. and she lies to herself and and chat and insists that she cares.

and yes that's a rather consistent characterization to through at ls!kab but damn if it doesn't read like that at all and she went from genuinely apologizing to 4c to just using him flat out and reminding herself that she needs to use him and cant just kill him.

maybe its just that she's vilely unlikable. maybe that's the point in her scripted mind. make a hatable character. and yet her actions also speak to desperately trying to make a likable character whom youre sympathetic to, she tries desperately to guilt trip and pull at the heartstings about how shes just been betrayed so many times and life is so hard for her and shes so weak and how could you be mean to someone so pathetic and wounded.

but she's not likable at all. she doesnt care about a single other soul or what they care about. the second they put a boundary up she wants to run and leave, which, fair enough, actually a cool characterization of trauma but like also so abusive-coded. but in the end she chose to not abandon bacon as far as we can tell, but i can tell you give it two seconds and that thought will come back and she'll decide to betray him anyway. because nothing is consistent and nothing she says has any long term value. she just goes on the past five minutes to decide what she will do.

she's just so fake and that fakeness can be attributed to the character, but it only feels even more fake because she insists it's a character and not her as she turns around and does something that makes more sense for her to do as herself than the character. she is being two people existing on the same account, swapping out whenever necessary. but that's stupid. take responsibility for your actions and your emotions. stop blaming others.

and yes. it all goes back to how painfully different scripted mcrp is from unscripted.

and i know for damn sure that this will not be like this next season because she will learn from this season. or she doesn't. and that's what's so frustrating. the possibility that she never learns why lifesteal is lifesteal.

the possibility that she keeps writing asshole abusive characters that just get more abusive because of her own internal mental problems that lay unresolved and shoved under the rug like they aren't part of the character even though they are part of herself. she refuses to look at herself and acts like if just just acts hard enough they won't affect anything. they effect everything. you can't run from yourself when you are making unscripted content.

and yes. i am being really mean about someone who clearly has a lot of baggage. yes i am being mean about someone who is abusive as a defense mechanism and hates boundaries because of fear of being alone and all these things that are basically the bully being bullied at home type beat.

but she embraces none of it. doesn't even see any of it. thinks she has written a cute story with kazam, a cute ship that may be a little messed up but is at it's core cute.

it's fucking abusive and shit. it makes my skin crawl. zam is screaming to be let out of it and she thinks it's sunshine and roses. she is, to use the word literally, delusional about her actions. she thinks they are one thing when they are anything besides that.

but we do have one success story. and the trend goes that every lifestealer learns what lifesteal is by their second or third season. they all eventually get it. vi chose to do a very distinct character vs streamer in s4 and he crashed and burned to a degree unfathomable. and he learned from it. and he now says that was his favorite story he ever told. he see's how he's grown as a person because of it.

there is only hope in the future when it comes to kaboodle. lifesteal genuinely changes you and makes you grow. not because you choose to grow, but because it forces it out of you.

but in this moment im just constantly a ball of rage and constantly sent into sadness every time i watch. and she keeps interacting with my mains so im not going to just miss the story, and the progression is already happening, the kablantis shock is a genuinely lifesteal trauma moment for kab and is already changing her in good ways. this is the story, this is part of watching lifesteal. the meta conflict is what makes this server painfully unique. this difficult encounter with players that piss you off. because people in life are like this. people can suck and hurt each other and don't look at their internal mental state, they shove things under the rug and think they're fine and cause sorrow and pain when life gets difficult. that's life. encountering it as story really helps understand the people around you. to be more compassionate, be able to see when theyre hurting and chose to be kind anyway. to learn how to feel the negative emotions and process them and not run from them yourself. or learn how to stick up for yourself and put up your own boundaries and learn that you can. to figure out who you are. it's the best. and the worst. and leaves me hating until i realize it is interesting even though i hate it.

[sylvan-librarian]

RE: Nissa’s Retcon

* * *

About once a month, I get a comment on one of my posts saying something along these lines

“Uhhh, you left out the part where Nissa was a fascist!”

“Nissa was more interesting as an elf-supremacist, imo.”

To be perfectly frank, I think both of these points are stupid and not worth my time, but just to give these posters the benefit of the doubt, I’ll assume they mean well and respond to them, once and for all, this way:

To address the first point, you’re right: in my posts celebrating Nissa and the journeys she has taken, I do tend to leave out material that was retconned. This isn’t entirely true, however, as I wrote an entire essay about this on my Tumblr page, which I doubt people slipping into my comments to post “gotcha!” have bothered to read. But anyway, to assume the best of these posters, let’s take a brief look at this retcon. Outside of a few brief blurbs in the “Duels of the Planeswalkers” video game and her 2009-era character description on Magic’s website, the “racist Nissa” characterization comes entirely from the In the Teeth of Akoum novel from 2010. And yes! In this book, Nissa is a hilariously stupid racist (frighteningly like real racists, imo). However, many aspects of this book were retconned in Nissa’s Magic Origins reboot. To note, in the 2010 novel, Nissa has no idea what the fuck Akoum even is and lets herself get led there by Sorin and Anowon. In the reboot, we learn that, among many other changes, she went to Akoum previously in her life, as that journey is what led to her sparking. Either way, post-Origins, many aspects of Teeth are questionably accurate at best. It’s quite safe to assume that with how horrified Nissa is when she sees Lorwyn elves hunting goblin children for sport that that particular aspect of Nissa’s personality (white supremacy) is no longer a part of her characterization.

For the second point, this one is just crazy, man. I don’t know y’all come up with this stuff. I don’t even know how to address this politely. Keep in mind that I am not by any stretch saying that Nissa is now a perfect cinnamon roll that never did anything wrong ever. Nissa is at fault for not trusting Sorin and setting the Eldrazi free. This is a decision that forever will, and should, haunt her. In the newer lore, she still distrusts vampires and outsiders in her youth because of how she was raised, and this is wrong of her. But Nissa does not distrust them because she thinks she is somehow morally superior to them by nature of birth. Nissa was raised as a member of the Joraga nation. The Joraga, as even the most basic of searches into the Magic wiki tells us, “eschewed outsiders and held even the other elves of Zendikar in disdain.” Nissa carries this distrust of outsiders with her into her adult life and doesn’t really learn to let go of this until she meets the Gatewatch and learns to expand her horizons. And again, Nissa was wrong for this xenophobia. But don’t get it twisted: there is still a big difference between fear and distrust of outsiders and fascist, ‘hierarchy of races’ bullshit. Both are rooted in fear, but for all her many shortcomings, the retconned Nissa of the new lore would never advocate for elves ruling the multiverse at the top of a racial hierarchy like the older Nissa would (and did). This is hammered home in her Origin story where she is horrified by watching Dwynen lead other Lorwyn elves as they slaughter entire tribes because they think it's funny. Furthermore, on the subject of Lorwyn elves, I would argue that old Nissa is fairly boring as a villain, as “racist elves” as a concept was already explored in depth in the Lorwyn stories. An entire planeswalker with that as her bit would get boring very quickly.

Lastly, and I suppose this is subjective, but isn’t a nuanced character, deeply flawed but trying her best to shed the xenophobia ingrained in her more interesting that an unrepentant, racist dumbass learning that “goblins are people actually!” only after she condemned an entire world to death? The latter might be (darkly) funnier, I’ll give you that, but the former makes for a much more interesting and emotionally satisfying narrative arc.

[the-sun-and-the-sea]

if Suzanne Collins wrote a Finnick book

Everyone's always asking me "mia how would you feel if there was a new Finnick book" so I thought I'd share my thoughts on that (just kidding the only person asking me that is myself)

Anyway I have seen people express interest for a book about Finnick's Games, although it's usually on other platforms and not on Tumblr. I can see where this interest comes from, but personally I would rather not have that book. First of all, a lot of us are drawn to Finnick and Annie's story because it's so open, and we can do so much with it. It's fun to explore the possibilities, because there's so little we actually know about them.

If there was a new Finnick book coming out, I would read it. I would definitely feel apprehensive though. Here's what I think the main question running through my head would be: what if the book comes out and I learn that I've been doing everything wrong for the past five years? Wouldn't that be terrible?

And, honestly, the answer is...not really? Say the book comes out and it's great. Okay, awesome, we have compelling new material to work with. Say the book comes out and we all think it desecrates Finnick's character. Does that mean all the work we've done until that point is ruined? No. We've been working with limited material for 15+ years and creating rich, vibrant backstories, missing moments, OCs, and more. There's no reason any of that has to stop.

If I enjoyed certain aspects of this hypothetical book, I would probably explore those aspects in more depth. And anything I didn't like I would just not use to build my characterization of Finnick. It's hard to be canon divergent with Odesta because canon leaves it up to us, but I'm fine with ignoring canon if I don't like it.

I guess my main point is that I'd rather we didn't get a Finnick book, but if we did, I'd read it. And if my interpretation of Finnick, Annie, or district 4 was challenged through the new book, I wouldn't let that shake me too much. Fandom is supposed to be fun. I'm having a great time fleshing out these characters and their world in a way that compels me and feels organic. I'm not going to stop doing that even if it eventually contradicts canon.

[littlelambscandyland]

Hide 'n Seek

Yandere!Cg!Tenth Doctor x Little!Reader, Yandere!Cg!Eleventh Doctor x Little!Reader

Notes- I just started watching Doctor Who and writing for it so please let me know how I did on their characterization.

Warnings- Implied Forced Regression that Turned into Actual Regression, Brief Mentioned Past Punishments, Anxiety, The Doctors Feel a bit of Regret

"Where in the world is that little creature?" You heard the Eleventh Doctor ask with a light and airy voice.

"Perhaps under... Here!" You hear the Tenth Doctor shout not too far from your hiding spot, voice also light and filled with excitement.

You can't help but giggle out loud before clasping your hand over your mouth. Why did you do that? This is a horrifying situation why would you laugh at this? Stupid, stupid. They're going to be so mad you hid.

"Oh! Did you hear that." Ten asks the other Doctor. "It sounds like our little love is over here..." He trailed off as his voice got closer.

You could hear your heart hammering in your chest. A metronome of your own anxiety. You didn't originally plan on hiding from them, but you heard Eleven call for you, and maybe you were reading into it but you swore he sounded angry. You didn't know what you did wrong, but you've been on the receiving end of their disappointment, anger, and discipline one too many times for you to just let it happen again.

"Little Star, where, oh where, are you?" You hear Eleven singsong.

The shelf bends under a newfound weight. You look up to find a grinning Ten. You shout and gasp before trying to crawl deeper under the shelves. Despite the panic in your chest you giggle a bit when the Doctor pulls you back out.

"Look what I found!" Ten shouts holding you out to Eleven.

You wriggle in his grip. Knowing better than to try and fight his grip you attempt, instead, to turn in his hold, latch your legs around his waist, and your arms around his neck. He allows your personal reprieve and sits you on his hip.

"Now, why was our Star hiding?" Eleven asks walking towards the two of you.

Instead of answering you bury your head in Tens side. A pitiful attempt at hiding again. While Ten laughs at your action Eleven only steps closer. This version of the Doctor acting more as the strict one than the ladder did.

"Well? Come on now, you can tell your papa's, can't you?" Eleven urges, sweetly.

You whisper and mumble into the other Doctors side hoping they would pretend to hear you and let it be

Ten looks at you with a dramatized confusion. "What was that, little love?"

You sigh shakily. "Sounded angry..."

A pout crosses your lips and the slight playful air both men had slowly dies.

"Who sounded angry?" Ten asks with worry.

"Papa!" The whine comes out louder than you meant it to.

"Starshine, neither of us were angry. What do you mean?" Eleven continues to question.

"You yelled..." You say with tears in your eyes.

"Oh, Darling!" Ten squeezes you. "We were just wondering where you were." He laughs nuzzling his nose into the side of your head.

"No one was angry, most certainly not with you." Eleven reassures, coming over and placing his hand on your cheek.

You push your head into his hand. "Not mad." You nod in understanding.

"No, not mad at all." Eleven claims.

"And here we thought you just wanted to play hide and seek." Ten says softly with a hint of sorrow in his voice.

"We play hide 'n seek?" You asked slipping a bit further than you had been when you first hid.

A smile lights on both the Doctors faces.

"Of course, dear!" Eleven agrees.

"Here we are." Ten says as he puts you down on the floor. "You hide first, yes?" He asks bending down to your eye level.

You nod happily at the man, bouncing slightly on your feet.

"Well then off you go, you have 60 seconds!" Eleven tells you with a big smile.

A giggle leaves your mouth as you bolt out the door and down the hall.

"Perhaps we should lay back on all those punishments." Ten mentions without his eyes leaving the door.

"Most certainly." Eleven agrees with hard eyes.

[mizxeclipze]

While you were gone

Broken floorboards chapter one

dbf!gi-hun x f!reader.

dividers by @ saradika-graphics

main masterlist | broken floorboards masterlist

summary: The past always finds a way to return, leaving Gi-hun's plans of isolation and minimal contact to fall in on itself when he sees you. 1.8k words.

warnings: 18+ MDNI, age gap (reader is 25 gi-hun is 51), pov swapping !!!!, inaccurate timeline, mentions of death, light dialogue?, gi-hun being traumatized, mentions of guns if that bothers you please don't read, uhh idk what else if i missed anything lmk please !!!!

a/n: so uhhh hiii... i'm back once more with yet another series because the squid game brain rot is so horrible but i'm very excited for this one frrfrr because the concept i have planned it wonderful (trust me okay) i wanted this to have a big serious tone to it because i mean he's a traumatized man like come on??? if he's at all miss characterized or idk depicted wrong i apologize i usually try to pride myself on not miss characterizing characters i love but once more this is fiction and everyone has their own views on a character in their mind. but anyways i hope you all enjoy reading as i did writing it !!!!

He feels like he never left that public bathroom that day, like it was only yesterday he was naked, shivering from the cold air and covered in his own blood. Sometimes he can still feel the sting of the cold knife as he sliced into the skin behind his ear where the tracker they’d placed once sat.

But then again the games never left him either, the faces of the people closest to him forever haunting him even in his sleep, gradually over time he’d begun to sleep less and less lucky if he could fit more than a few hours in at a time.

Gi-hun lifts his arm above his head, reading the hands of his watch that sat at 2:30am, with an exhausted sigh he sits up from his lying position. Gi-hun examines his living space, his eyes falling on the gun lying on the table next to him, he’d hesitated buying it having never truly killed anyone before, but he was a different man now, a man set on doing whatever it took to put an end to those games.

The air bites at his skin, the wind rustling through his hair as he walks along the mostly empty sidewalk, no one is up at this hour, only the few stray drunks stumbling their way home. Gi-hun prefers it though, it’s quiet, not many people around for him to interact with, not that he’s sure he knows how to do that anymore spending everyday for a year hold up in a motel building.

The only real contact he had was that of the people helping him find the salesman, even then he never replied to the messages, just sat in his car at a spot that allowed him to get to any of the locations with ease. But so far nothing had turned up, a year's worth of searching and still he had yet to track down the salesman, it almost felt like they knew he was looking for them and they were just laughing in his face.

Gi-hun pushes the glass door open, the bell ringing above him, his mind racing as he wanders to the back of the store grabbing up a few packs of instant ramen. Gi-hun’s stomach twists with guilt, his heart heavy as the money in his pocket all but burns a hole through his pants the closer he gets to the register, if he didn’t need to take care of himself to ensure he stayed alive he wouldn’t use the money, it was blood money anyways none of it belonged to him.

He looks up, being snapped from his thoughts, registering something was said to him. “Huh?”

“Will that be all?” You say, looking over at him, your eyes widen when you’re met with his face even past the hat you recognize him. “Gi-hun? Is that really you?”

His eyes flit up faster than you’ve ever seen someone eyes move, almost like he hadn’t expected someone to say his name or maybe he was expecting someone else based on his reaction. Gi-hun’s eyes soften, his body relaxing a bit as he realizes it’s just you. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I started working here, it’s my first day.” You scan his items carefully, placing them in the bag.

“This late?” Gi-hun’s eyebrows furrow at the thought of you being out this late, especially here by yourself. Briefly he wonders what your dad would think about this, to which he voices before he can stop himself. “Does your dad know you’re working this late by yourself?”

You hand him his things finishing up the transaction before handing him his receipt. “Eh, he wasn’t too happy about it at first but I’m an adult who can handle myself.” You glance back up at him finally able to get a proper look at him, there’s something different about him, you’d known him most your life from him and your father being best friends so you’d seen Gi-hun almost all the time.

But he’d been MIA for a year, his appearance didn’t change much aside from his eyes having dark circles and his clothes being darker in shade, but still there was something you couldn’t place. “Your hair’s shorter.”

Gi-hun freezes for a second, his body tensing, you don’t miss the way his hand twitches up as if to reach up for his hair. He lets out a breath, his arms falling to his sides. “When are you off? I’ll walk you home.”

Your eyes glance to the clock before falling back on Gi-hun. “Five minutes.”

The bell chimes again, you both turn your attention to the person who walked in, Gi-hun peers back at you he wasn’t sure whether to leave or stay but your comment from earlier rings through his mind so ultimately he steps outside. Gi-hun stands outside the door, he pulls a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket, his hand grazing the handgun stuffed between the waistband of his pants.

Gi-hun watches you through the door, smoak filling the air as the end of his cigarette burns, he knew the chances of running into you or your dad weren’t impossible but he’d hoped it wouldn’t have happened at all.

His plans of keeping the people closest to him out of his life and living in seclusion have all but turned upside down. He knows your dad well enough, having been friends for the last ten years, one thing about him was that he was persistent and stubborn. Gi-hun saw those things in you as well.

Eventually the man stumbles out the door no doubt drunk, he spares a glance at Gi-hun before finally setting off down the empty street. You follow soon after, zipping up your coat before locking the doors to the store, when you turn to Gi-hun he’s stubbing out the cigarette he was previously smoking.

“You’re still smoking?” You ask falling into step with him along the sidewalk, he doesn’t look at you, only keeps his head down scanning the area around you at every turn. Your mind races with questions you aren’t sure you should ask yet.

“Old habits die hard I guess.” Gi-hun shrugs, finally turning his gaze onto you.

You both spend the rest of the walk asking questions, Gi-hun avoids most of them with short responses of all but avoiding the question in general. Instead he seems content just listening to you talk, you aren’t sure what happened to Gi-hun in the last year but something has changed, he’s not the same man you knew when you were a teenager. “So what have you been doing all this time?” You inquire, peering over at him.

Gi-hun’s breath stalls for a moment, he had a feeling you’d ask that, why wouldn’t you? Someone disappears for a year without a word and then randomly shows up out of the blue? He’d have questions too.

It takes him a moment to come up with a feasible lie, he can’t exactly tell you the truth that he was made to play a deadly game of children’s games to win money and that he’s spent the last year looking for a man with ddakji in a briefcase so he can put an end to it. You wouldn’t believe him, and he’d rather you not know about it for your safety.

So he shoots for the middle, a half truth half lie. “I own a motel, the pink motel? Not sure if you’ve heard of it.”

You let out an obtuse gasp that brings a small grin to Gi-hun’s face as you turn to him in disbelief. “Shut up! No you don’t.”

Gi-hun makes a sound of mock offense, finally turning his gaze onto you. “I’m serious, I've been having it renovated for the last year.”

The lie falls off his tongue with ease, it’s not like he’s never lied before having previously gambled and promised to return the money he borrowed. But never like this, sure owning the motel wasn’t a lie entirely but there was no renovating happening it was a cover for his operations on stopping the games and the less who knew about it the better.

“A year?” You say in disbelief. “Must be some big renovations.”

Gi-hun hums, turning his attention back to in front of him. He can see your house from here. The only light on was the living room, no doubt your dad still being up waiting for you to get home.

Gi-hun takes tentative steps, careful not to get too close on the chance your dad decides to come out, it’s not like he wouldn’t be pleased to see he was doing alright but after their fall out over over Gi-hun gambling he hasn’t spoken to your dad in awhile, and he doubts the time he’s been gone has made matters any better.

You turn to him, being already halfway up the path to the front door, he’s standing off towards the street with his hands stuffed in his pockets. “Why don’t you come in? I’m sure my dad would be happy to see you.”

Gi-hun could almost laugh at that, the thought of your dad being happy to see him is almost hilarious. But he can’t blame you for asking, you probably don’t even know about that argument so he just shakes his head, politely turning you down. “No it’s alright, it’s late enough you should get some rest.” He pauses for a moment, turning it over in his head before speaking again. “Give me your phone.”

You watch as he types something out on your phone before giving it back to you. “You have my number now, if you’re ever at work late let me know and I’ll take you home, yeah?”

You stare at him blankly for a moment before nodding, bowing as you thank him. He only shakes his hands in front of him before shooing you inside.

Your dad is standing in the hallway when you enter the house, he looks exhausted but none of that seems to matter as he immediately grills into you. “Who was that outside?” His tone is firm, his arms crossed over his chest for emphasis.

Your eyes roll at his tone, taking your shoes off at the door as you enter the house. “Gi-hun, he walked me home to make sure I was safe. Now I’m headed to bed, goodnight dad!” You call back from the stairs missing the way your dad’s shoulders tense at the name.

You all but fall onto your bed, your phone in hand as you stare at the contact. You’d always thought Gi-hun was attractive, having had a crush on him as a teenager, you used to think it was a silly crush that would go away but as you got older it never went away. And now you had a direct way to talk to him and you weren’t going to let it go to waste.

[ch33sequakes]

I've been trying to sum up my feelings for so long and this is how I feel!! Thank you sm for putting it into words. I feel like pv is a strong character, but he's also a person who's story relies too much on others (ex: white lilly). There's very few people in real life who are completely selfless like that for no gain (even if the "gain" is something like feeling good from doing good things.) To me it's not a sustainable life style, you need to prioritize yourself sometimes too. That's why I feel like pv has a more complex character than just being the nice or gentle guy, and that's where smc comes in. Smc forces him into a position where he has to examine himself, and make better choices than smc did. It really tests his character and his moral code and I love it. The fact that he corrupts and then awakens is proof of that character growth. Also I love how you said that the beasts were doomed to corrupt from the beginning. They remind me a bit of gifted kid burn out where they grow up being treated like they're amazing and then suddenly it's all taken away. The ancients were made for a specific purpose, and then stripped of that purpose. I would crash out too (of course that doesn't mean it's ok for them to terrorize everyone else. I think it would really be cool if the beasts also learned from the ancients). But yeah I like the brand of pv and smc where pv isn't being abused but instead overcomes what smc throws at him and in the process also forces smc into redemption 👍 (also I've only gotten back into crk after a year break so sorry if Any characterization is wrong)

I will fight to the death for PureShadow because they (and the other Beasts/Ancients) can be such a powerful narrative about how they are the same, but also different, and therefore can help each other. A lot of people dislike the pairing due to its violent nature but still, I think many people also say that because they view PV as helpless or 'too gentle,' and therefore not capable of being in complex dynamics. PureShadow is not meant to be perfect, nor is it---at least to me---supposed to be a toxic pairing meant to simply be traumaporn, but I do think it could develop into something that becomes an interesting exploration for both characters' stories. I think within the right environment, it could be a very fascinating narrative about how the Beasts weren't ready for the power given to them, and therefore were doomed to be corrupted from the beginning, and the ancients were procured inheritors who had already proven themselves to be strong enough. I find that people also dwindle SM down to a one-dimensional "evil to be evil" villain, but we've been given various breadcrumbs that say much otherwise. But then again, maybe I'm getting too analytical about talking gingerbread cookies.

[two-entire-bits]

I have a confession. I do not care for the soc boys. I'm sure they have very interesting character traits and lore the actors and fandom have come up with and that is so fun and great and I know none of it and I am perfectly content with that. Shout out to all my mutuals who love the soc boys I hope you are having fun with your Ken dolls but I will not be joining you. keep slaying.

[mamawasatesttube]

action comics #677

gonna be real mae just really frustrates me sometimes. like. there are some times when i just want to reach into a story and shake a character like GET OVER YOURSELFFFF and unfortunately this happens just about every single time mae is on page. clark (and lois) are so sympathetic to her in this issue but they are both so much nicer than me bc i just wanna smack her. like getting super offended that someone might ask "hey are you clear on how extremely important keeping this secret is" and then going "well its YOUR fault that that guy died!!!!!" is so out of pocket. girl you are so righteous im so tired of you and i Know this never ends

[sieglinde-freud]

i miss claude so badly im already planning my golden deer maddening run while still in the middle of black eagles. i just want my guy. my favorite guy. unfortunately i just love the black eagles as a group/cast but i am mourning my man (i never kill him btw)

[jerichogender]

thinking about the time they actually gave joey dialogue in the new teen titans: games…

“He could be role-playing with us. Art represents civilization. Maybe he’s showing us his end game?”

this says sooo much about him: his deductive reasoning skills, his appreciation for art, his understanding of other people’s psychology. i need more stories where joey gets to play detective, especially in an art or music history context, and i NEED him to have proper dialogue

[volfoss]

my #analysis or whatever but its really interesting with how much they cut out of the Jon at the banquet 1x01 scene compared to (at least the leaked version online) the original pilot and book. like not to be like yeah grrm put this much detail in there for a reason but a lot of the detail that they removed really hurts jon as a character and its so jarring to see how much they cut to take the chapter down to about 3 minutes of the episode.

[elftwink]

been reading fanfiction at the front counter at work as of late because our fiction selection that's available to read online is sparse, there's only so much academic non-fiction a man can read especially when he's just blindly in the catalogue looking up random keywords in the hope of finding something even mildly interesting, and i haven't been able to get out to my local library to fix my library card that doesn't let me log in and possibly has no associated email to access their ebook collections. and i can't do anything at the front desk that doesn't look work-related so i've been downloading pdfs of fics and emailing them to myself to pass the yawning void of hours between the 3 whole patrons who are there during the semester break.

anyway im telling you all this because i sent a few to myself and all but one (1) fic i was like oh my GOD he Would Not Fucking Say That. but i had nothing else to do not even work related tasks so i read them anyway. woe is me. i will learn nothing from this and do the exact same thing tomorrow probably

[marzipanandminutiae]

prev had questions about the dressmaker thing which I agree this bio glossed over. so I looked it up, and holy crap

at the age of 18 this woman walked 250 miles (400 km) into Paris to take up a position as a dressmaker (Wiki is vague on this- I'm guessing apprenticeship?). her chaperone assaulted her and ran off with her travel documents, and the delay took so long that the job was given away to someone else. insult to injury, and how

so she became an assistant seamstress- pretty low on the dressmaking ladder -and worked her way up to, it sounds like, becoming a dressmaker proper in her own right. and yes, she made Princess Caroline's wedding gown in 1816

I can't swear this image is contemporary and the dress doesn't seem to have survived, but multiple paintings and etchings of the event show gowns similar in at least the general composition- white dress, purple or blue sleeveless overgown with gold fleurs-de-lys, etc. -so I'm inclined to at least sort of trust it

whether she continued any sort of fashion design or dressmaking alongside her marine biology career, I can't seem to find.

I can find a lot of people saying that she started as a dressmaker but "rose" to become a marine biologist, which. argh. one is not lesser than the other, people! she designed and probably fitted a princess' wedding dress (as a higher-ranking dressmaker, she likely would have had seamstresses working under her to do the actual stitching). she was already a prominent, successful woman; she just switched fields like a polymath boss!

there's also some debate over whether that's actually a photo of her- it dates from 1861, when she would have been 67 years old. some people age very slowly, hair dye existed, and it's a low-res photo, but...I'm still skeptical, personally

Jeanne Villepreux-Power went from being a dressmaker’s assistant to inventing the world's first aquarium and becoming one of the most groundbreaking marine biologists of her day -- yet few people know her name today.

Born in France in 1794, she first gained prominence after she made the wedding gown for Princess Caroline. This also led her to meeting English merchant James Power, who she married in 1818 in Sicily. They lived on the island for over twenty years and it was there that Villepreux-Power undertook a rigorous self-taught study of its flora and fauna with a particular interest in the marine ecology.

In 1832, she began to study the paper nautilus or Argonauta argo, pictured here. The prominent opinion at the time was that the nautilus took its shell from another organism. In order to test whether this was true, Villepreux-Power invented the first glass aquarium, which allowed her to study nautilus in a controlled environment. As a result, she discovered that the nautilus created its own shell. As she continued her research, Villepreux-Power also designed two aquarium variants, a glass apparatus within a cage, used for shallow-water studies, and another cage-like aquarium which scientists could raise and lower to different depths as needed.

In 1839, Villepreux-Power published “Physical Observations and Experiments on Several Marine and Terrestrial Animals”, her major work discussing the nautilus and other sea creatures she had studied. Increasingly renowned for her pioneering research, Villepreux-Power became the first female member of the Catania Accademia, as well as a member of over a dozen other scientific academies. In recent years, this trailblazing scientist and inventor was further recognized -- a major crater on Venus discovered by the Magellan probe was named in her honor in 1997.

[cluescorner]

There's no feeling stranger than knowing that something is bad but liking it anyways. Not in a 'it's so bad it's good' way. Because that implies that it has become good. I'm talking like this thing is just kinda bad in the normal ways things are bad, but i like it anyways.

[dangoulains-devotion]

every time I have to wade through inane ship wars where people are willfully ignorant to the depth and facets of cloud strife's character, circumstance, and story just so I can find some cool screenshots or fanart my 'cloud is ace' agenda simply grows more potent out of spite