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thebrightestwitchofherage · 8 months

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Key terms necessary for understanding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict : Part 1- Ancient Israel to the founding of modern Israel, Jewish terms

A/N: Hey! The results are in, and this is the topic my followers chose🫶 Writing this felt very much like retaking my high school history finals lol. Enjoy reading.

*These terms and definitions will be organized by topics, in chronological order. **If I have made a mistake or if you feel like I forgot something important- don’t hesitate to tell me in the comments. It is very hard to summarize thousands of years. *** Be respectful, I am human.

1. Key terms in Judaism and the connection to the land of Israel :

Israel and Judea- Were the two ancient Jewish kingdoms.

Zion ציון- Is one of the 70 biblical names for the city of Jerusalem. In fact, Jerusalem is referenced by this name in the bible over 150 times.

The word Zion is very much embedded into our culture: it is used in many prayers and Jewish texts written throughout Jewish history, songs etc.

Zion and the exile from it:

It is especially used when describing longing and the wanting of return to the land of Israel:

The most famous example that uses the word Zion is the biblical prayer from the book of Psalms, 137:

1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

תהילים פרק קלז א עַל נַהֲרוֹת, בָּבֶל--שָׁם יָשַׁבְנוּ, גַּם-בָּכִינוּ: בְּזָכְרֵנוּ, אֶת-צִיּוֹן.

This verse is an example of the longing for Israel: as it was written after the exile to Babylon.

*Yes, the funky Boney M song is based on this Psalms verse :) Coming full circle- It is also used in the official hymn of the modern state of Israel, Ha'Tikva. התקווה, written by Naftali Herz Imber. This word might sound familiar to you, as it is also the origin of the word "Zionism".

Zionism- is the notion that the Jewish people deserve to have a state of their own.

Semite- is a term for people relating to, or constituting a subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic language family:

Semite languages- are a group of ancient languages, that originated around the same time, in Africa and the Middle East- aka the neighboring countries of Israel.

The Semitic languages are: Hebrew and its other ancient dialects , Arabic, Amharic, Aramaic and more. Unfortunately , most of these are extinct and no longer spoken.

The languages that are still spoken to this very day are : Arabic, Amharic and Hebrew.

Some Hebrew Fun facts :

-While there are only estimated 8 million Hebrew speakers nowadays( most of them Israeli), Hebrew is considered a holy language in is spoken during prayer.

-Ancient Hebrew and modern Hebrew are very similar. So much so that if I were to time travel, I could have a decent conversation with my ancestors😊 (some pronunciations, grammar and words have changed, but it’s essential the same).

-Which cannot be done with Romanic languages or Celtic languages..

Antisemitism A\N: This word is getting its whole section because it simply deserves it. Nowadays, every time a Jewish person says something is antisemitic, they will usually be bombarded with mocking comments about how Jews like to call everything antisemitic. If had a nickel for every time I got those comments or an Arab person tried to troll me in the comment section by saying "I can't be antisemitic if I'm a Semite myself"... Let's make it clear (once again).

As I have explained before, the word Semite refers to a group of ethnicities. However, the word Antisemitic refers to Jewish hatred: "Antisemitism is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews.[2][3][4] This sentiment is a form of racism,[5][6] and a person who harbors it is called an antisemite. Though antisemitism is overwhelmingly perpetrated by non-Jews, it may occasionally be perpetrated by Jews in a phenomenon known as auto-antisemitism ".

TLDR: Don't be a Jerk and use antisemitic rhetoric, blood libels, and stereotypes... You don't get to choose if something is antisemitic or not, Jews do.

2. Modern Israel and its founding

The Knesset- Is the Israeli parliament consisting of 120 members, elected democratically every 4 years. Usually- there have been 5 elections in the last 5 years. It also currently has 36 ministers. Yes, that _IS_ a lot.

Kibbutz- "Kibbutz is a community where people voluntarily live and work together on a noncompetitive basis. The first kibbutzim were organized by idealistic young Zionists in the beginning of the 20th century."

As time moved on, starting in the 80s, many Kibbutzim struggled financially and closed down. Today, there are 265 Kibbutzim left, with approximately 200,000 residents. Less than 20% of them are communal.

Unfortunately today, the word Kibbutz has a different connotation:

British mandate- Yep, they colonized us too lol. After the first world war, Between 1917 and May 1948 (Israel was founded literally as soon as the mandate ended).

Fun fact- Today, there are still a few rules left from the British mandate In Israel (Most of them were updated or changed by Israeli law makers after it's founding, usually by the Knesset and the Supreme court of justice).

“Homa U’migdal” (חומה ומגדל Tower and stockade)- During the British mandate, Jewish settlements were built overnight due to a legal loophole still valid from the Ottoman rule. The loophole prevented the British from destroying the new settlement: "Homa U'Migdal is the name of an operation that the leaders of the Yishuv initiated in Palestine, during which 52 new settlements were founded. This operation was a response of the Yishuv to the 1936-1939 Arab Revolt and the restrictions the Mandatory authorities placed, both on the building of new Jewish settlements, and on the amount of Jewish immigrants allowed into Palestine. The building of each settlement began at night. First, the guard tower and the defense stockade were set up, so the operation was named “Tower and Stockade”. According to an old Ottoman law that was still valid during the Mandate period, the destroying of a building was not allowed after the roof had been erected. For this reason the British did not destroy the "Tower and Stockade" settlements which had not received building permits. "

The 2-state solution - The notion that the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be two states for two people- one for Arabs and one for Jews.

Balfour's declaration- is the famous letter sent by then-British foreign secretary Lord Balfour to Lord Rothschild in 1917. In the letter, Lord Balfour stated that the British Empire would support the forming of a Jewish Zionist state in the land of Israel.

Peel Commission- was a community created in 1936 by the British rule during their Mandate over Israel. As the name suggests, the head of the Commity was Lord Peel. A suggestion for a Two-state solution was suggested to representatives of both Jews and Arabs. Unfortunately, the Arabs have refused it.

1947 Partition Plan- A partition plan suggested by the UN, that included another draft of the two-state solution, with different borders. The Arabs have refused it once more.

Declaration of Israel's Independence from Britain:

And so, as the British mandate ended on May 14th, 1948, the people's Council (that later served as the initial government of Israel) declared the formation of the modern state of Israel.

The day following the declaration, the Arabs in Israel revolted and with the help of 5 foreign armies that invaded Israel, tried to stop the formation of Israel: Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon.

They failed and Israel was formed.

You can watch David Ben Gurion, head of the council (and Israel's future first prime minister) declare its formation/independence here.

PS- this was the flag of Palestine before the current one:

Sources:

-Semite languages pic: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Semitic-languages

-Kibbutz: * https://kibbutzulpan.org/about_kibbutz/ *https://www.hamichlol.org.il/%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%91%D7%95%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%9D_%D7%91%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%9C (Hebrew)

-Homa U'Migdal" : http://www.zionistarchives.org.il/en/Pages/TowerStockade.aspx

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becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys · 1 year

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I realise you're HE, but any thoughts on how high school level education should be run/changed/etc? I'd love to know your views!

Oh sure, plenty, but they're not particularly informed lol

Well; Wales is actually massively and fundamentally changing secondary education atm, but we won't be getting students from it until the year after next, I think, so no real comment on effectiveness yet - but it's very interesting. They're getting rid of isolated subjects in favour of broad umbrella areas, as I understand it? So there's now Science and Technology (Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Computing, and all the various DT subjects like Woodwork, Electronics, Cookery, etc), Maths and Numeracy, Humanities (History, Geography, Ethics, Religion), Languages Literacy and Communication, and Health and Wellbeing (actually maybe Cookery comes under this one now? Dunno.) And there's a sixth to do with arts but I can't remember what it's called. But it includes Art, Drama, Media Studies, etc.

And then the idea is that a class will learn about a given topic at a time (I don't know for how long, so let's say six weeks), and this will be taught in each of those six umbrellas but via their own methods. So like... I dunno, let's say the Tudors:

That's fairly straightforward for Humanities, but in addition to giving you the historical facts you'd also explore historic trade routes and natural resources of the time and how they related to the politics (geography), the religious make up of the country and how THAT related to the politics (religion), etc.

Maths and Numeracy might explore how to use statistics to analyse Tudor era population or trade data.

Science and Tech could look at disease outbreaks and virology, or technological advancements and how they worked and get students to build one, or get students to construct a Tudor-era town using computer software

Languages can study plays from the era (Shakespeare), look at linguistic development, or use historical events as talking points to practice using vocab in conversations

Health and Wellbeing can explore stressors and challenges of the average Medieval peasant and how they overcame them, or play some popular Tudor sport or game, or make food to Tudor recipes, etc

The Arts one (god I cannot remember the name) can look at art history of the period, fashions, perform plays, etc

So everyone is still teaching the skills and knowledge of their subject areas, they're just united by one big case study. It apparently allows for far more integrated teaching, too, where two previously discrete subjects can join forces on a project.

All of which seems pretty good, on the whole, but also rife with issues if everyone isn't careful, so we'll see how it shakes out over the next few years.

From my own experiences of school though. Jesus. Something definitely needed to happen, fuck me.

What I should have learned in Textiles:

How to use a sewing machine

How to sew by hand to mend a tear

How to darn a hole

How to hem, dart, take in, and let out clothes

How to sew from a pattern

What I actually learned in Textiles:

How to use a sewing machine on its most basic setting

How to phone in creating a hand puppet out of felt because gluing was easier than sewing

How to badly sew an extremely makeshift and shit bag out of scrap fabric that you in no way want to then use

How to lose all interest in Textiles because it was useless and uninteresting

Like that is a VITAL skillset-imparting subject, and they fucked it, lads, they completely fucked it. Why did they never set us the task of buying a cheap shirt from a charity shop that we then amended in class? That would have been so useful.

Games and PE! Fucking hell! Here's what I should have learned:

How to stretch my body safely to target specific muscle groups, and in particular, how to cultivate a daily stretching routine I enjoyed and wanted to do

How to find a physical activity active enough to get me out of breath that I genuinely enjoyed, so that I wanted to continue it, e.g. salsa dancing or rope climbing or ice skating or hill climbing or assault courses or fucking anything at all

How to build my body up to doing particular activities safely and sustainably

How to find a physical activity to do on wet, cold, rainy days that would still be fun and I would still enjoy

Here's what I actually learned:

Physical activity is always uncomfortable and miserable and sometimes even painful

If you aren't enjoying running around in the wind and rain instead of the indoor gym The Problem Is You. Start Enjoying It.

Wanting to stay warm and dry and comfortable is a punishable choice.

You are only permitted to do physical activity in clothes that make you feel profoundly exposed and uncomfortable (a gym skirt and gym knickers in my school. Cycling shorts got you detention. Don't get me started on jogging bottoms.) Again, if you do not enjoy this, The Problem Is You. Start Enjoying It.

There are only three activity options. If you don't enjoy any of them, physical activity is not for you.

You should be able to Just Do physical exercise, without any training to build you up to it. If you can't and it hurts, this is because you're Bad At PE.

You will only be shown Once

Physical activity is only ever a team sport that you aren't good enough to be willingly picked for

LIKE WHAT THE FUCK

And you know what, LET'S round off with Food Technology/Cookery. Because I remember the things I was asked to make in FT. As a little baby Year 7, I still vividly remember two of the things we made.

Angel Delight. Easy, you might say! A simple treat, you might think! Easing the children into food prep, I hear you cry! But no, because the theme of the year was healthy eating, and so we were to add fruit to our Angel Delight. Any flavour Angel Delight, any fruit. Off you go. I don't know if any of you have encountered fruit, Tumblrs, but it famously has faintly acidic juice. This will prevent the Angel Delight from setting within the one hour lesson, no matter how well you mixed the pudding, or how quickly you got it into the fridge. It will result in soggy gross lumps of oxidising fruit in sloppy liquid pudding. Lesson learned: fruit makes food worse.

Cake. Easyish, you might say! A little harder than the Angel Delight but good training, you might think! A fairly straightforward process with a child-friendly food at the end, I hear you cry! But no, because the theme of the year was still healthy eating, so the teachers made it into an experiment; make four small cakes. One with sugar, one with sweetener, one with apple, and one with carrot. Then taste them and rank them in order. Off you go. I don't know if any of you have ever tried eating sugarless carrot cake, Tumblrs, but I have, and I can tell you categorically that it really puts the "Did you know" into the phrase "Did you know that fructose and sucrose are not actually equivalents of each other in a culinary setting?" It was rancid. It was disgusting. It was vile. It made me hate carrot cake for the next 12 years, in case my mouth had to go through that ordeal again. I'm still highly suspicious of the stuff even now. To (I assume) the surprise of fuck-damned no one, we unanimously put them in the order of sugar, sweetener, apple, carrot. Lesson learned: FRUIT MAKES FOOD WORSE AND CARROTS ARE ACTIVELY DISGUSTING

What possessed them?! No idea. Fucking hell.

Anyway this is getting long and I am still ill-informed. Peace out.

#asks #education

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azsazz · 8 months

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Little off topic but which sjm character do you think is best in bed?

Hm, this is a great question but also a very difficult one because i think that each character can be so different...

apparently i've decided to make a comprehensive list of all of their sex lives so enjoy lol. it's long as fuck. I tried to put them in order of personally who i think would be the best to the "worst" (this is just my opinion its cool if your roster differs):

i'm getting the vibes that rowan might be the most well rounded in a bedroom scenario. he can definitely be dominating if you've had a busy day and just need to be fucked. he can manhandle you into any position he wants, whisper filthy things in your ear while he fucks you deep. you're a sopping wet mess for him, cunt clenching and back arched when he commands you to cum. like i can't picture, say, dorian or chaol doing this kind of thing...personally. but i also think he's so sweet that he would be the aftercare king. there's also instances where i can see him being so kind and gentle, or if you're wanting to give him a ride or try something new, he's the best person for that.

az is also high up on the list because obviously. i think he can both be dominating and gentle, adventurous and soft. he knows exactly what you need when you need it, not because he's so attuned to your bond, but also because of his shadows. you're having a bad day? let him fuck it out of you. you're angry? he'll let you tear his skin with your nails, bite him, ride him to expel all of that negative energy on his cock. then you'll be all pliant and soft again while he cradles you to his chest. feel like you're two seconds from bursting into tears? he'll go nice and slow, wiping the tears that escape your eyes while you're overwhelmed with emotions and stuffed full with his cock.he knows your limits and he might tease that line sometimes, but he wouldn't ever cross it because your safety comes first.

let's see...sex with cassian is always a good time. he's so confident that it makes you squirm. and he's not afraid to try new places. you won't even make it to your room at the end of the date, cassian's pressing you up against the foyer wall and lifting your skirt to shove his cock into you because you've been teasing him all night with that fucking dress. i think he's so confident that he'll let you do anything, try anything. you want to peg him? he's already on his knees for you. you want to add a third? he's already calling out to azriel or nesta or anyone who has your attention. you're not afraid to tell him anything, ask him anything in regards to the bedroom because he's that caring.

rhysand, well, we all know what he's all about. they don't call him high lord for nothing. and those fuckin mind powers can drive you nuts, though, i know rhysand doesn't like to use them all of the time, because he's worried if he does it too much it will skew your reality and memories, and fuck, he needs you to remember the way he's fucking into you the way you're screaming for him. he often allows you into his own head, to share what he's feeling. it's almost like you know what it feels like to be dipping your hot cock into your own cunt, and down that open a realm of possibilities in the bedroom. also, that silver tongue we know so well does an excellent job against your clit, whispering encouraging words as you reach your crest. rhys has moves that no other character has and that puts him pretty high on the list.

eris i think can be a really soft lover that can fucking go for days. he's addicted to you in every meaning of the word. he could eat you out all night, fuck you until you're a weeping mess for him. but he hates seeing you cry, yet that raw feeling deep down in his chest has him torn, because he never wants to stop. he's soft because no one has ever been soft on him, except you. on the other hand, eris has a temper. we know this. when he's in a mood, he will not hesitate to go rough on you, bending you over his desk, the war plans covered by your body as he fucks you and fucks you hard. had a run in with his father that put him in a shit mood? he's taking it out on your pussy. had to go meet with the night court and cassain made a snarky comment that hit a little too close to home? he's fucking you so hard you don't have the breath to question why he's in such a mood.

lorcan my hate-fucking king. he's grumpy as fuck, knows what he wants. gives me major ghost vibes (iykyk). he'll take what he wants from you whenever he wants but he won't leave you without a few orgasms yourself. he's not as vocal, grunting and using his large hands to move you how he likes, guide your hips while you're riding his cock, a palm flat across your back that he presses into to make you arch for him more. gods, the way he fucking manhandles you because who can compare to this mans sheer size? he's hung as fuck, and he spends a lot of time stretching your cunt for him. it's not often that he forgets, but if he does it feels like you're being split in fucking half on his cock. you may have suffered some internal bleeding somewhere down the line because he went a little too hard with a little less prep than you were used to.

ruhn is another confident male who knows exactly what he's doing in bed. he's a player, cocky, arrogant, thinks he has you wrapped around his little finger but it's quite the opposite. he's the one that's had to chase you, and oh wow, was that fun. when you finally reach the point where he can show you what he's got, there's no going back. he's all over you from that point on. you're walking across town? he's right next to you. you're at one of his parties and didn't tell him you were coming? well, you little tease, he's just going to have to punish you for that, pulling you into a closet or bathroom for a quickie even though his bedroom is literally right upstairs. he's always got his hands on you, ready to spread your legs and feat or dunk his cock into you like some horny teenager whenever he wants. he's always hard for you.

lucien is hard for me to figure out, and i'm not really sure where he'd fall on the list because i don't think i have his personality down. i love that he would be so sarcastic and snarky, making little quips to both annoy you and turn you on. he's knows what he's doing, letting those long fingers brush across your exposed skin. he's teasing you the entire way through it; a brush of a knuckle against your swollen clit, a tease of his tongue in the same manner. just the head of his cock resting at the very opening of your cunt, hot and needy for you. it's torture for him too, but to see you squirming like this, gods, he'll hold off his own orgasm for ages to see you like this.

aedion i bet would be killer in bed. he gives me lucien vibes a bit, with the sexy comments that brush across your skin like his skilled tongue. i feel like he's really open with his sex life, not in the sense where he's telling everyone what noises you make in bed or how when he lifts your leg at a certain angle, you scream so much louder for him, but he makes it clear when he's hungry for you. at dinner, he openly looks at you through lowered, lazy lids. the lust oozes from him and everyone at the table knows that he's going to be taking you back to his bed as soon as that last bite leaves your plate.

hunt is just a good man. kinda makes me want to cry a little bit. he's definitely a giver, isn't worried at all about himself until he's thoroughly taken care of you. uses his wings to his advantage, letting the soft feathers brush across your hard nipples. his hands are strong, calloused from wars, but the way that they're gentle, scraping across your skin has you in a frenzy. i know hunt has the best thighs (besides cassian), and his ass is amazing too.

fenrys. my mans. he loves anything wild and free, so i have the feeling that sex with him would be much the same. i think that he's been through some horrible things, torturous things, so he'd never tease you to the point of tears, because that's just not him. sex with fen is fun, easygoing. you don't have to think hard about anything because it's naturally good.

dorian i gotta say is not super high on my list either. for the phantom hands alone he'd be a great lay. it might be a little overwhelming, but they definitely come in handy (haha). i can see him being a little arrogant, though he sees it as confidence. he's a prince, gets what he wants when he wants and that's no different with you. oh, how he loves how obedient you are for him, those pretty lips wrapped around his cock while he lies back, watching you with those sapphire eyes. but when you're really in a mood not to listen, gods, it makes him harder than a rock. when you're being a little bratty, he loves fucking that out of you until you're clinging to him again, begging him to let you cum.

tharion im not too sure about either. i like how funny he seems to be, and he also seems really open about his sexual prowess. i think he knows his way around a pussy and a cock, he's open to trying anything. he also seems like a giver...like i can picture you down by the marina hiding between boats, your ass perched precariously on the edge of the dock while he eats you out from the water. anyone can see, but tharion is just that convincing, needing to taste you right then or there, not caring that he could easily drag you down into the waters below. he likes the thought of someone finding you like this, all whiny and messy from his tongue.

chaol's probably further down the list. he is a man of order, he follows the rules to a t. you know what you're getting when you take him to bed, but that doesn't mean it isn't good sex. that's why you've chosen him. he knows what he's doing, and although he might not be as adventurous as some of the other characters, he knows his way around your body so that you're never dissatisfied.

ithan...i'm sorry, i just really can't picture him that well. i know that i wrote a breeding kink for him but the entire time i was like "this isn't him this isn't him." i can't help but to think of ithan as like a 19 year old lol (ik, he's 22). i don't think it would be awkward sex, but i do think that he has the potential to be a soft lover. he gives me the vibes of cocky college students but sweet on his girl.

#ask azsazz #azsazz #acotar #tog #cc #sjm men

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roo-bastmoon · 1 year

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IMPORTANT INFO: issues around Jimin’s album

I have an ARMY friend (who shall remain safely anonymous) who works in film production for the music and entertainment industry here in the US. They offered me some valuable insights today into production limitations and possible issues related to Jimin’s solo album.

Below the cut is a transcript of their messages to me. I share this in the hopes it better informs our discussions around fair treatment of BTS members’ releases. It is by no means a definitive account of Jimin’s situation—simply an insider’s ideas on what likely happened around a few things.

I understand there are very big feelings about this topic, especially with the apparent differences around JK’s single, and I appreciate everyone’s viewpoints. However, if you choose to interact with this post, you will be respectful to others (including members) or you will be blocked. You are always welcome to DM me privately if you need to vent—we are all human and we all need a bit of grace, so you’ll always have that with me.

Sending you guys so much love, Roo

Anonymous Insider

Some “light reading” while you’re resting up and recovering, lol. This is all just based on what I’ve been watching and seen. Of course, I don’t have access to their production budget sheet and Korea works very differently than the US when it comes to production, but this what I’ve been seeing when it comes to their videos and particularly the promotions for FACE.

(I’m sending in sections, lol)

Alrighty - I’m still like deep in edit-land (still am two days later 😭) but I started typing this on the train between meetings, ha ha. (And am still on the train doing this, lol.) Also this rambles a bit I’m sorry! So the first thing I did was go back to the interview where Jimin talked about the music videos — it was a Japanese TV show and he’s talking with a host in Korean.

He’s talking about “wanting to do it all,” laughs and says, “I wanted all the music videos” and that “they” (the company assuming) said “무리다” which has its roots in the word 무리 which means a herd, a party, a group — basically “it’s too much,” “it’s unreasonable,” and “it’s impossible” are decent translations as it refers to something or an idea being “too much” — then the host and Jimin burst out laughing and the host goes “서리와 무리다” which I read as “sorry (in konglish) but we can’t” and they continue to laugh. So based on that —it sounds very understandable.

We can imagine Jimin sitting down with his team and planning out SMFP2 and LC videos, with the 30 dancers and all the party scene extras, and then Jimin saying he wants to do the music shows with 6 different sets in rented locations so they could have total control. And if Jimin in that process went “what if we made official music videos for all of them?” the team would understandably go “that’s just not reasonable!” 1) because it would give Jimin a budget no other member had gotten and 2) there aren’t that many production houses in Korea. It’s a very small scene — it may just logistically not been possible. There aren’t enough DPs and crew and editors. Sometimes, as a producer, you have to tell your creative talent “I’m sorry, but no.” — I say it every week!

So what about the music videos? Well, here’s what I know from meticulously watching all the behind the scenes for BTS videos over the years. They work with a small team. They likely own a good deal of the gear — they shoot mainly on RED cameras and heavy expensive Cooke lenses (which you can’t get this stuff easily in Korea. I lost a lens cap for a Canon CINÉ Lens in Seoul and it was like this whole big deal because getting gear there is an import challenge but anyways) they use MOVI and Ronin gimbal stabilizers and Jimmy Rigs a lot.

Recently they’ve been using technocranes but I wonder how many technocranes there are in Seoul. As I said, they likely own a lot of this gear which can help with costs. But we’ve also been told — and I’ve heard through my industry friends — that Hybe PAYS. And in Korea there’s no unions in the entertainment world, and often the rates are shit (hence Netflix investing so much there - blerg) their standard work week is also already 12 hours longer than the US. It’s a whole thing. and they spend so much money on sets. It’s incredible.

They rent these huge spaces outside Seoul and BUILD — I mean the build out for SMFP2 was astounding. They easily dropped 1million on that video. The rigging, the build-out, the custom set and the custom camera rigs to achieve the 360 shots - the drone shots. They’re astounding videos. No US label is spending that money on videos these day. Absolutely none of them are — my friend recently produced a video for John Legend. They were trying to pull the whole thing off for $100K which is ridiculous. It’s really almost impossible.

But on the Big videos they spend a lot of money, but they also produce a lot of other stuff too (and these are often looked at as Performance Videos vs all-caps MUSIC VIDEOS) -— like RM’s video shoot at DIA Beacon… that was a much smaller, fairly single camera shoot — all shot on drones or a MOVI handheld rig. No set, they also didn’t like pay for the set because DIA: Beacon is an art museum — and similar a little bit to Letter for Jimin, which was much smaller set and easy in-house gear.

(And it was also released on Bangtan TV channel vs Hybe Labels Channel, which is a good indicator of how they categorize these shoots.) But the big videos, they go for broke. I mean they spend so much money and again they may own a lot of the equipment but there’s still so much people-power and labor involved. Take the dancers’ rehearsals. You have to pay people for all that — you have to pay them for the weeks of rehearsal, you have to pay them to be in a video. It is so expensive — like, I would not be able to budget that video for under 1 million, that’s how much it costs.

So then Jimin wanted to do music shows —- and so because he’s Jimin and it’s BTS, Hybe rented larger venues and locations for all of the shoots. None of them use the actual Broadcast spaces or were provided by the broadcast studios. The smaller companies do though — remember when BTS first started out they went to SBS to film on the day? — but they don’t do that anymore. They rent huge facilities so that they could be a mini concerts for ARMYs to visit with Jimin and see him.

They also have to do this kind of outside of the city and they built huge sets because they’re going to want to show off if they’re gonna be on TV but that is so expensive. (I don’t think you were an ARMY then, but when ON was released, at the time it was the “biggest broadcast performance ever” and they keep upping that ante for sure!) It’s possible the broadcast companies spend some money but what BTS is doing is so outside the usual budget and given the tension with the broadcasters and HYBE — they (Hybe) wants control of their products, and so I think they pay for that control.

I can’t imagine they got out of any of those days for under $500K; I mean, there were two different sets, all the crew; they’re paying for all of it. We add it up and they probably spent close to $3-5 million between Jimin’s music videos and his music show performances, and I would be understandably like: “That’s it!” Like, that’s the budget for an EP, you know.

I don’t think Jimin could have it all because that wasn’t the case for the other members. RM got to lead videos and J Hope had pyrotechnics, which definitely costs money and safety and insurance. You know he had visual effects his first video (a lotta visual effects) and again a lot of challenging technocrane work, but I haven’t really seen them build something on the scale of what they built for SMFP2 in a very long time (or ever?).

We heard from the Art Dept that Jimin did not want to shoot on blue screen, so they built the set for him. This cannot be the same label that is shafting him — that allows him to spend that amount of money just because the artist said “I want to shoot in a real space!” because I’m gonna be completely honest— he could’ve done that on a blue screen — I’m glad they built a real world because BTS almost always shoots on Blue/Green Screen. They build him a huge set like that. It’s absolutely incredible.

I was also reminded this morning that people are talking about radio for Like Crazy and not supporting the song — and I just keep thinking that they did exact rollout for Butter, Dynamite, and Permission to Dance. They released Like Crazy. It had both a Korean version and English version. (Obviously that wasn’t the case for the English BTS songs.) They released two additional remixes. Then they kept releasing, like, alternate cover versions — alternate covers of the main remix, alternate cover the other remix. They were trying to maximize the direct-to-consumer store and exact same way they had tried to maximize it with Dynamite and Butter and Permission to Dance.

The way you were buying Like Crazy was the same process I took on Dynamite. They did the exact same playbook. So the fact that they were unable to get the kind of radio play they wanted or maybe they weren’t prioritizing radio because they knew that they were gonna have a better chance at direct to consumer sales... Maybe they didn’t want to fight radio. Maybe Geffen was like “We don’t have the right ‘Ins’ yet!” — I’m not sure, but the fact that they got completely screwed over by Billboard doesn’t mean that they weren’t actually rolling it out in that way, because as soon as they started doing the whole alternate cover thing, I was like: “Well, they clearly want us to try to go for number one!” You know, “They clearly think that they are going to be able to get number one on the hot 100 and we’re gonna use these sales to do that!” And clearly that’s all changed now.

They keep changing the rules on us, so — with JK, they’re obviously trying to, you know, use whatever tools they have available to them at this point.

Finally, when it comes to restocking the digital single CD. There are still albums available in the store. So why would they manufacture and ship more (likely thrown away) plastic that’s just for one song, when those CD singles only serve to raise sales for the charts? All of the other member’s CD singles are out of stock except The Astronaut, which they treated more like a proper album a bit (kinda like the Butter CD releases). Because they still have both versions of his full albums in stock, so if I were Hybe, I’d be like “No,you need to buy the album, we still have albums, we’re not going to sell you a single song when you can buy the album!” That makes more sense to me. The albums cost more.

TL:DR, haha — so I feel like this narrative around Jimin’s release has been ramped up because, from my professional opinion, he’s had the most expensive release so far (by far) and if we want to compare him to, say, Beyoncé — well she owns her own production company (Parkwood Entertainment), so she can funnel her own money into a Visual Album, I don’t know if Jimin has considered that at this point in his career, but in the future, he might!

((Not including costs for Suga’s tour because that’s a whole other thing, and the tour probably made money I would expect to balance out the cost of the tour itself))

Anonymous Insider

This isn’t to say that the other things, the part where he didn’t get the cake celebration, or the posts, the issues with the linking and this general feeling that Jimin was short-changed in these things isn’t valid and understandable. I think Hybe relied too much on D2C sales and I don’t think they leveraged their might as much as could have for JM. They could have risked more for him.

{This is an end of Anonymous Insider’s messages to me. They noted that they are an intermediate non-native Korean speaker so please excuse any translation errors. They translated things themselves using Naver tools that aligned with the video subtitles.}

So, listen, I still don’t think Like Crazy was sent/promoted to radio (which was a mistake and still is a mistake) and I am furious at the shady articles and lack of celebration for Jimin…

But after reading the way the members approach their work in the Beyond the Story book and now hearing from someone who produces these works for a living, I have to wonder if the company was doing everything they knew how to do for Jimin, but the second it didn’t work out because of the western music industry culling streams and sales, they pulled back all their resources and pivoted for Yoongi and JK. (I also wonder if leadership shut up about it all due to liability issues, or not to cause bad blood with the music industry for future releases.)

Again, I’ll never forgive the lack of celebration and the split streams (not without a great explanation), but at least now I think there’s a good chance no one was actively trying to sabotage Jimin on purpose. They seemed to have wanted that #1 and then it all went to shit because Billboard and radio want to get paid. Maybe leadership decided not to put any more resources into Face but instead pivot for all the future music coming out (including PJM2.)

Perhaps I'm a cockeyed optimist. I’m just hoping like hell they never engage in payola. I want all our boys to win, but I want us to win fairly. And even if everyone cannot have the same investment every time on every project, I hope when they come back together in 2025 that everyone feels good about their solo works and each other. This is my prayer. Love, Roo

#jimin #jungkook #jikook #bts #face by jimin #set me free pt 2 #like crazy by jimin

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rauberrauber · 2 years

Photo

line up baby

wanted to make a sort of ref for everyone so i can keep track of everyone's designs, heights, etc

side hcs below cuz i wanna ramble lol

fyi any links are just for pictures to help visualize what im trying to say

also add to these with ur own i love reading hcs :]

general:

the sides work with a kind of cartoon logic (kinda like who framed Roger rabbit) which is what their shape shifting and such is, they can survive pretty much everything, dont bend to reality type thing

i also dig playing around with the idea that they just arent human, they dont need to eat, sleep, even breathe or blink if they dont wanna. They just play more human around thomas so they dont freak him out (everyone but remus at least, dude doesnt give a fuck lol) they all have their priorities regarding that kinda stuff. like logan doesnt eat or sleep almost at all (there r exceptions tho obvi (crofters)) while patton rly likes to cook and bake so why not eat the stuff you make? meanwhile remus eats literally anything he can find

they can also float if they wanna, same thing where they just dont around thomas. this came about me just imagining remus consistently floating around in the mindscape instead of walking for whatever reason? so yeah they can do that

theres a core mindscape and a ‘dark’ mindscape, that sorta works like the upside down from stranger things (as in the dark mindscape is like literally upside down and mirrors everything, like this)

everyones also got their own unique doors to their rooms. logans is very sleek and modern, pattons in more childlike and almost vintage, romans resemble castle doors while remus’ is more like a dungeons, virgils is typically angsty teenager with tons of posters and ‘keep out’ signs, and janus has tons of locks on his

design wise the core sides have straight teeth and fluffier hair while the dark sides have sharp teeth and rougher(?) hair (since changing, virgil has vampire-esque fangs)

logan:

square rimmed glasses

loves the rain

unintentionally fidgets with his clothes, always adjusting his glasses or rolling his sleeves up and down or messing with the buttons or his tie

playing more into the whole ‘sides dont have to eat thing’ he finds food kinda nasty lol, again only rly eats stuff thats very good to him (ultimate picky eater basically) patton has tried and failed many times to get logan to try and like new foods

roman was the one who got him to try crofters

watches those long ass video essays about random topics on youtube for background noise

patton:

round glasses and heart eyes

has roller blades/skates! specifically these ones that retract the wheels. good way of getting energy out (even if hes super clumsy with them)

tallest + dad bod

tons of bandages, kinda playing around with the phrase ‘broken heart’

him and janus play video games together (both of them are terrible lol)

definitely listens to dad rock/dad music

roman:

starry eyes!

crown can float on its own (same w/ remus’)

has one of these couches in his room to dramatically faint onto

him and remus dont share a room, but they have a sort of portal to each others rooms if that makes sense. a big mirror but instead of reflecting, its showing into the other room and only the twins can go thru

wants to be his own side after the split

roman and remus pierced each others ears when they were younger

virgil:

decently tall but slouches a lot which hides it (slouching hes shorter than the twins but still taller than janus) also rarely stands or sits straight at all so it kinda shocked the core sides when he showed them how tall he rly was (queue roman being mad cuz hes actually the shortest of the main four lol)

has stereotypical emo hair and still has some purple dye in it

hot topic skeleton fingerless gloves and muddy sneakers (idk why it just feels right)

tons of random bruises

draws his nails black with sharpie

listens to metal music to calm down. remus got him into a lot of numetal, screamo kinda music when virgil was still one of the others, it was one of the few times theyd hang out and virgil wasnt 100% freaked out by remus

definitely experimented with scene fashion when thomas was a teenager

drinks tons of energy drinks

janus:

shortest ha

yellow eyes

bow wrapped on his hat

long flowy cape and heeled shoes with spats (thats what theyre called right?)

uses the staff from pof as a walking cane

speaks fluent pig latin, remus and logan are the only ones who can somewhat understand what he says (remus cuz hes been around janus so long, and logan wanting to research and understand whatever the hell janus is saying) it also has always drove virgil up the wall cuz hes never been able to get it, janus will start speaking it just to annoy him

only rly relaxes when by himself, always kinda putting on a mask with the others and thomas, regardless of how trustworthy he considers them

constantly coming up with proper plans and schemes, typically wouldnt let remus near them with a 10 foot pole (affectionately)

knows how to lockpick

scared of the ocean

remus:

broken crown

eyes can go all crazy, pupils can be different sizes and such (there was a cartoon that did this where the eyes would go red and have a ton of rings around the pupils like spirals kinda? i cant find a pic of what im rly visualizing rip i hope that makes sense)

ton of rings (one of em is an eyeball ring)

is like half an inch taller than roman and will never let him live it down

enjoys all the ‘bad’ disney/pixar movies. (cars, home on the range, etc) and like unironically enjoys them. prolly started ironically to mess with roman but he genuinely find those ones the best and cant fathom why theyre disliked (totally not self-indulgent cuz some of those movies are my favorites)

comes up with random weird plans and ropes janus into them whenever possible, janus plays along best he can

somewhat wants to fuse back with roman (even if hes unsure why)

remus and virge used to make fun of roman together all the time

remus is the one who gave virge his septum and gages

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cosmossystem · 4 months

Note

What’s a rad queer?

please excuse any spelling errors (we had wisdom teeth taken out and im a bit loopy, lol)

so this is a bit difficult for me to explain but if i had to put it simply, essentially radqueers are pro-mogai and radical inclusionists to the point of believing every aspect of identity can be a queer one. on paper, this sounds great! i love queer identities! but in practice, its a slippery slope, and results in... well, let me give some examples.

radqueers, by definition, also believe in a thing called "transx" or "transid", with the suffix "x" being replaced by... pretty much anything. the base idea, i believe, obviously takes from the trans experience-- whereas one might identify as cisgender or transgender, transid extends this to other aspects of the identity, such as being "cisautistic" (aka "born autistic") and "transautistic" (aka "transitioning into autism.")

this includes, but is not limited to (using their own terms) transage, transplural, transabused / transabuser, transharmful, transcharacter, transrace / trace, translanguage, and so on.

while some of these could make sense or encompass other experiences that arent necessarily harmful (such as transplural being, essentially, another word for created systems; or something like transage, where one 'identifies' as an age different from their body, which could theoretically account for a neurodivergent person's mental age discrepancy, such as being a minor alter in an adult body)... the vast majority of radqueer identities do not stop there, creating labels that arent helpful or actively encourage/foster harm -- such as "transabused" for instance, where one believes they should be, or wishes to be, abused in some way.

someone identifying as one of these labels, in our example "transabused", is often encouraged by the transx/radqueer community to "transition". this could look a number of ways, but in our example of "transabused" this could be something like looking for an abusive relationship on purpose or purposefully inducing trauma on onesself, or even lying to others that they were abused/exaggerating experiences in attempts to "transition" into being a victim.

it should be noted that certain transid labels have been "reclaimed" (i strongly dislike that word and its connotations, but its the best way i can describe it) and renamed by others, such as the transage label i mentioned previously also being known as "chronosian".

radqueers also encompass other things such as including paraphilias in the definition of "queer," which we believe to be not so much a queer identity as much as it is either a mental illness or a sexual deviance, in the most literal definition of "deviant" being "differing from the norm." this is a widely debated topic and its not our area of expertise, so i wont try to claim one thing or another--but regardless, while paraphilias can certainly influence a queer identity and they deserve spaces to express their experiences, it does not make one queer and they would be better suited for mental-illness-focused spaces.

that is where the "definition" aspect of this answer ends, so heres some personal anecdotes:

for us, we dont actually take issues with many "radqueer" identities (there is a time and place for things such as "transage" aka chronosian, or even "transplural" which is a stupid redundant word for created systems -- importantly, i do not believe these things are radqueer-exclusive) but its the reasons i mentioned above that we, and many others, do not agree with or support them. for instance lets look back at the "transabused" i mentioned before:

on the one hand, i wouldnt be against a kink relationship of this nature--if someone wants a cnc relationship, i wish them the best with that. on this blog, i believe we have spoken about being fully pro-bodily autonomy, even when it means the act of hurting onesself, such as self-harm or suicide. so that isnt necessarily what i find to be the core issue here.

i would, however, be against the labelling of it as "trans"-anything and claiming that a "trans" identity can go beyond the cultural definition of queerness. i would be against the idea that a "transabused" person should be allowed a voice when talking about issues affecting victims of violence, unless they had non-consensually experienced such violence. i would be against the idea that someone who is "transracial" (using the radqueer definition of "transitioning to a different race", because surprise, theyve stolen this term from adoptees of color) should be encouraged to transition to a different race they are not a part of, because race is a cultural identity and social construct with a loaded history, and not something that you can "transition" into having.

i support created systems, i support people using the split-attraction model, i support recovering paraphiles, i support mentally ill people and neurodivergent people and disabled people. i do not support the idea that something you can be born with or developed early in life, such as autism or ocd, can be purposefully transitioned into. i do not support co-opting mentally ill people's experiences for your own selfish gain, only to then turn around and call those same people "cis"-mentally ill.

i have a lot more to say about them than that, but ill try to keep this part brief. a while ago, our host was doing a write-up on the various pitfalls of transx identities, namely that most of them either arent queer identities inherently and are likely something else (i.e. transharmed, transracial) or if its a renaming of another experience that already exists (i.e. transplural, transage, translanguage). seemingly most radqueer identities are coopted from something else in a covert attempt to "tarnish" the validity of the original label, transracial and transage primarily being affected by that. but i wont go too deep into it.

anyway, were it not for all that, i would find this a really interesting conversation to have.

im highly intrigued by the people who have atypical dysphoria experiences, such as system members with different racial identities to their body's, or system members with differing mental illnesses, or how neurodivergent people feel as though their "true" age doesnt align with that of their body's, or therians and alterhumans discussing their experiences. i would even LOVE to use the term transplural if it werent for the connotations.

but like i said, its a slippery slope, and radqueers are more interested in harboring a harmful, "accepting" community than they are with actually deconstructing what it means to be queer or trans or plural or neurodiverse, etc. im sure scrolling through their tags for any number of seconds will show that, if youre curious, but i dont recommend it if you want to keep your sanity.

lastly, since i voiced my opinion here, i do want to also mention: i believe the way some antis talk about radqueers is reminiscent of the way they speak about other identities, such as endogenic and created systems or self-dx folks. the whole "you are hurting REAL queer people!!!" song-and-dance is so overplayed at this point. people like to point fingers with buzzwords instead of getting to the meat and potatoes, because that would be too complicated apparently.

you always hear "you cant be transautistic because youre a faker and hurting real autistic people!!" and almost never "you cant be transautistic because 'autism' is just a word for a group of symptoms that you do not truly display, and if you think you 'should be' autistic, you need to reexamine why that is," which is what i think would be more apt.

choosing to reiterate the same five sentences about being Wrong and Hurtful and Invalid over and over doesnt really explain anything and only continues infighting. also, it doesnt discourage radqueers from what theyre doing or from getting help and seeking a positive community, and instead it only helps to strengthen their cult-like ideas that anti-radqueers are bigots. (read more about that "cult" thing here. i dont fully agree with everything op says, but it was still enlightening to read from someone who survived an actual cult.)

i know its long, but i hope that helps somewhat. feel free to send more asks about this. like i said, i find it fascinating despite its problems.

💿 red

#💿 red #anti rq #asks #endo safe

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bluepandastarfish · 1 month

Text

Payment is expected.

Warnings: mention of injury, Berons abuse, pretend comfort, weird mention of you looking slightly like lady of autumn (I'm sorry), brothel work, kinda angst ig

A/N: I wrote this in 10 minutes cuz I was feeling Eris so don't take this to seriously cuz I'm pretty sure the dialogue sucks lol

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

Here he was again. Head on your stomach and hands wrapped gently around your waist as you raked your hand through his fiery hair. He was not too badly injured today, only a burn on his cheek where the high Lord had reprimanded him which was definitely an improvement from the last times.

He shifted to bury his face in your stomach now, hissing slightly when the burn rubbed against your gown uncomfortably. You hum sympathetically and use your hand to tilt his gaze up to look at you. “Be careful, my prince-ling. I do not wish to see you harmed any more.” He huffed at that, amused somehow.

You took to thumbing around the burn slightly as he adjusted his arms to lay under his chin on your stomach and simply looked at you in silence before telling you quietly. “There's nothing that could truly harm me in your presence” And honestly he looked like a lovestruck boy about to recite some poem of love for you when he saw you smile widely down at him.

“you ought not to put so much faith in me, Eris” that was true, no matter how much faith he did have in you he could not afford to trust anyone the way he did you. You lick your bottom lip nervously and gently put pressure on the part of the burn closest to his ear, when he doesn't hiss you smile wider. “its healing quicker then normal”

He raises a hand to hold your own, stroking the back of it and holding it firmly to his cheek as he leaned into your touch. “It will do, my dear, it's not nearly as bad as you're used to with me.” He sighed then and turned a bit to kiss your palm before sitting back and straddling your knees. “I had thought of giving you a gift tonight, but I fear I ruined the mood with all my dramatics.”

You scowl at his use of the word- hardly thinking that his crying earlier had been dramatic considering the circumstances. You sit up and place both your hands on his cheeks to keep his attention as you speak firmly “Do not belittle yourself like that. I will not allow it.” before becoming gentler and kissing the tip of his nose slightly.

He leaned his forehead against yours and looked deeply into your eyes “belittle? My dear, a man does not belittle himself when he knows he is far to brilliant for such belittlement”

You roll your eyes at his words that were clearly meant to divert you from the topic of his previous words. “Clearly Eris Vanserra is no man nor fae if he thinks himself worthy of such blatant belittlement” you narrow your eyes at him and he takes a deep breath.

“Let's not talk to each other this way… I wanted only happiness tonight” he whispers, leaning into your lips.

You indulge him because you know he deserves this moment of happiness tonight- but not because you forgive his self hating comments and you'd be sure to revisit the topic at a later date.

When he pulls away he simply leans against your forehead again and closes his eyes as if breathing you in. It gives you time again to consider his injury up close and your expression quickly turns into a frown when you survey the pink ridges where skin has been burnt away.

He opens his eyes and sighed dramatically- just like that the scene is broken. He leans back and looks displeased with you “would you stop looking at me like that? I was just getting in the mood again.” and once again your find yourself rolling your eyes.

“apologise, my lord. I was under the impression you wanted comfort tonight. You should be clearer next time.” With those words he rubs his face with both hands and jumps up off the bed.

“We will have to try again tomorrow night, girl. Try not to be so… soft” he sneers as if just saying the word makes him so. You bow your head at him and yelp when he throws the small sack of coin for you to catch. “warning next time?” you sneer up at him.

He laughs arrogantly and starts putting on his coat. “I'd be careful, whore. You're talking to the next high Lord of autumn. Lucky I even paid you with that performance” he heads for the door after that, probably not going to come back for another few days.

You flop backwards onto the bed when the door slams shut and begin fiddling with the coin bag in your hands. The Prince must feel for you- why else would he continue to come back to you alone when there are other whores in this brothel who are likely better actors than you. You suspect that because you look a little like the lady of autumn he's grown attached to you- which feels weird to think about when you remember all the times you've both been intimate.

You swallow harshly as a new client walks through the door and wastes no time removing his clothes. For the rest of your night you do your best not to think about how amazing it felt to hold him in your arms- or how angry you were when you saw his injuries. It was all an act, right?

#eris vanserra #eris x reader #eris acotar #eris vanserra x oc #eris vanserra x reader #acotar x reader

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klauw22 · 2 months

Note

Venture, Widowmaker, Lifeweaver, Moira for headcanons :3

YEAHHHH!!!

These are pretty general, about any topic, some might be gender-centered. AUs are not included in this one.

Theres probably more but these are the ones i can think of right now.

VENTURE

Definitely has ADHD

Dont give them any caffeine or they will yap your ear off, then crash five minutes later.

Doesnt drink. Prefers non-alcoholic alternatives or straight up juice lol

Loves spicy food!

Hasnt had top surgery and doesnt plan on it either. In my eyes Venture is very comfortable with their body. They might wear a binder if they feel like it, if their outfit calls for it or if its just a binder type of day.

Venture isnt very skilled with makeup but they do like to wear eyeliner sometimes that they later dont remove properly out of laziness or because they forgot to, so it ends up being smudged and smokey the next day

Their hair is thick. VERY thick, i can see them having an undercut and still have it look like they got a full head of hair.

WIDOW

Even though i like to think of Widow as a high femme queen i feel like she doesnt that much makeup. Maybe lip gloss and some mascara on occasion?

I feel like she is lowkey goth, just without the makeup.

NIRAN

100% has ADHD. Its canon to me idc idc

Shops both at the mens and womens section and has great fashion sense, probably bonded over it with Satya.

Great cook!! Amazing actually!! But leaves the kitchen looking a mess every time...

I feel like he is a sneaky tease, not in a malicious sense, he just likes toying with people a bit for his own entertainment.

He cheats at board games, or any type of game. Anywhere theres any sense of competition he will cheat in non harmful ways. Not because he wants to win but because he finds it funny to be a little bastard lol

MOIRA

I feel like she doesnt smoke but she does drink, a lot. Whenever shes stressed or whenever work becomes a bit overwhelming, which can be often. She will quickly turn to booze but also has a high alcohol tolerance.

Genderwise, Moira can be anything to me and it depends on my mood how i like to headcanon her but she strikes me as a genderfluid/nonbinary lesbian. But i can also see her being pansexual with an attraction towards feminine people!

Listens to alt music, scene, techno, loud stuff most people would find "obnoxious".

#headcanons #venture #widowmaker #lifeweaver #moira #ask

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sunniedesi · 27 days

Text

In Defense of Future Diary...

TW: lots of yapping.

Making a small essay for Future Diary is something I’ve been meaning to do for a while. Since my entire blog is dedicated to the series, it only feels right to put something like this out into the ether. However, I’m never sure of the topics that I want to discuss the most. Do I write a defense for the show? My reasons for loving it so much? Its relevance and importance for anime culture? An analysis of Yuno’s character? There’s so much I feel you could say, but I never find the right words to express my feelings coherently. Today, I’ll make the attempt, though. I’ll go over all of the aforementioned questions here, mostly focusing on my personal opinions and feelings regarding the show. I don’t have much experience writing essays or analyses of media, so sorry in advance if my yapping is all over the place.

To begin, I should probably address the elephant in the room: Future Diary, despite its popularity and almost cult-classic status, has turned into a show people love to hate. You see it everywhere, when it comes to reviews, comments, opinion pieces, you name it, if it has Future Diary on the title, people will let you know all the gripes they have with the show. And while I tend to feel defensive or even saddened when I see so much hatred directed at my favorite show… I don’t necessarily blame anyone for feeling that way. I don’t want to be one of those people who pretends to hold the intellectual high-ground, acting as if everyone else is media-illiterate and I’m the one who truly gets the meaning of the series. At the end of the day, it’s just an anime, it’s not that deep. Everyone’s gonna like what they like; we all have different tastes and interests, so it’s only natural we all hold such different opinions about the show, especially given its campy, gory and almost edgy nature. Future Diary is definitely a product of early 2000’s trends, which some people (me lol) appreciate, and others certainly don’t.

That being said, while I respect people disliking the show for personal reasons, there are certain criticisms I see thrown its way that are not necessarily warranted. These issues can be boiled down to the following categories: “plot-holes,” a weak protagonist and toxic pairings. I’ll delve into all of these in a second, but I must say, the amount of times I’ve seen these specific points parroted over and over again makes me believe that many of the people making these arguments are piggybacking off of one another. It’s almost like they’re following a trend, repeating how the protagonist “sucks ass” and that the plot makes zero sense, without showing any examples as to how.

It’s really common to find shallow arguments like those in comments sections and forums, but since I don’t want to feel like I’m barking up a tree in writing this essay, I decided to look for a source that encapsulated all of the common criticisms, while also backing them up with examples. Now, there are many good video essays out there on Future Diary, my personal favorite is by The Hot Box. But as far as critical pieces go, the one I found that goes the most in-depth is by the creator NezumiVA, titled: Mirai Nikki is Garbage, and Here’s Why. I’ll be referencing the video as I go along, but please note that while I disagree with many of this creator’s arguments, I don’t intend this to be a personal attack. As I said earlier, we’re all entitled to our different tastes and opinions, I can respect them disliking the series while having my own criticisms to give regarding the video. Just a little disclaimer so my intentions aren’t misconstrued here.

With that out of the way, let’s take a deeper look into the main three arguments I mentioned before:

“The plot-holes eat up the show”

If you’ve been in the fandom for a while, you know that this is probably one of the most common criticisms levied towards Future Diary, and perhaps the one that holds the most weight. Or at least it would be, if it weren’t for the fact that “plot-holes” aren’t exactly the issue people are pointing at here. To explain, I believe people who dish out this claim all have different understandings of the definition of “plot-hole,” so to clarify: a plot-hole is an inconsistency, a contradiction in the narrative. For example, Yuno’s diary is all about Yukki, if she were to have diary entries not about him, that could be considered a plot-hole, as it contradicts the original narrative. A smaller detail being unexplained or overlooked for the sake of pacing is not a plot-hole. A flaw, yes, but as long as it doesn’t contradict what’s already been established in the story, it’s not a plot-hole.

On one hand, it is true that there are certain Deus Ex Machina moments that aren’t properly explained in the show (heck, the god of this universe is called that for a reason), such as: how does 5th acquire all of his booby traps? Or where did 9th pull that motorcycle from? Why are characters so quick to forgive/forget certain events? These are smaller details that aren’t properly justified on-screen for the sake of pacing and making the show more interesting. You could possibly count this more as a case of poor characterization, particularly with 5th’s character having a lot of knowledge despite his age or Hinata quickly accepting the coin toss challenge despite having an advantage. Given the show only has 26 episodes, it’s only natural that detailed explanations for smaller details are omitted to make the show flow quicker and be more entertaining. While this may bother some people, I don’t find it to be such a big deal, or at least not a reason to dogpile on the show, when many other animes with shorter runtime fall victim to poor characterization as well.

Many deem the plot nonsensical for missing these smaller explanations, but again, I find that exaggerated as they’re much, much trivial details that the majority of people don’t think of or focus on when watching the show. The video I referenced touches on the plot being illogical several times, not necessarily mentioning plot-holes per se, but complaining that many of the justifications behind certain plot points are unrealistic or contrived, though let’s be real here… since when is anime realistic? Future Diary, I would argue, does a good job of balancing very unrealistic scenarios with some realistic characters (like Yukki, but we’ll get into that later), which is what makes it interesting to watch. After all, what’s the fun in watching a fantasy show if it’s completely grounded in reality? Not to mention that many of the points brought up in the video aren’t contrived, especially if you were paying attention to the show. For example, the scene of Yuno meditating to figure out Reisuke’s plan. This wasn’t a Deus Ex Machina moment, it was foreshadowing of the fact she has her first-world memories locked away, and the meditation was her trying to access those memories. Same thing with Bacchus having an overpowered diary, it isn’t for the sake of it, he literally designed it to be that way, because he was the one who presented the idea of the diaries to Deus in the first place.

I’m getting a little side-tracked here, but you get the point. Ultimately, the worst sin a show can commit is being boring, and while Future Diary has its flaws in pacing and characterization, it contributes in keeping the viewers hooked to the action, packing its small run of 26 episodes with quite a bit of entertainment. Moreover, a lot of people overreact to these so-called “plot-holes”, yet they also fail to pay attention as to why things happen as they do in the show. Many of these criticisms can be summed up as either: trivial details that are omitted since they have little relevance to the plot and/or people not paying attention to what’s going on.

Moving on, let’s tackle another very, very popular argument:

“Yukiteru is a total pushover (to put it nicely).”

This is, without a doubt, the most common criticism I’ve seen people have of the show. I’m not sure if this is because people are used to the upbeat, overpowered protagonist trope in anime, but people don’t realize that Yukki being frustrating, awkward and terrified is an important part of the show’s storytelling, not to mention relatively unique. Very rarely do we see a realistic portrayal of a teenage protagonist in anime, and it is important for the show since it serves as a contrast to the other characters, all dark, callous and obsessed with the goal of becoming a God. Yukki is the only character not interested in any of this at the beginning. All he wanted was to escape reality with his phone and imaginary friends, and he's now thrusted into this terrible and hopeless situation. How exactly is a young boy expected to react under these circumstances?

Teenagers are naive, dumb, selfish, all characteristics portrayed in Yukiteru, and these characteristics are put under scrutiny by every one of the diary owners, constantly telling him to grow a pair and stop using Yuno. This is easier said than done when you’re used to avoiding every little bit of responsibility in your life, and a girl who’s self-reportedly “crazy good at killing people” suddenly thrusts into your life ready to do all the work for you. Yukki is indeed a very flawed character, but that isn’t an accident, it is an intentional addition. It’s what makes him interesting; it pushes conflict into the show, and most importantly, drives home one of the main lessons of the show with Yukki’s development: fear doesn’t mean you’re not brave, it’s having that fear and pushing forward that makes you brave. A little corny, I know, but a valuable lesson for the Survival Game.

Every character has an incentive for becoming God, and they’re utterly consumed by it to the point of insanity. Even a character like 4th, who was originally concerned with the goal of bringing order and justice rather than more carnage to the game gets carried away when a proper incentive for God’s seat comes into play: saving his son. In a Survival Game where we're surrounded by the most cunning and twisted of characters, killers, terrorists, people in corrupt positions of power, Yukki stands out like a sore thumb for retaining his humanity throughout it all, unwilling to get his hands dirty, rather willing to see hope in everyone else. It comes across as naive and all-too trusting. This is especially true for his father, but considering how little people he has to rely on, plus his childish hopes of seeing his family back together, his forgiveness towards him makes sense. And the same can be said for Yuno, the one constant he’s got all throughout the game. Despite the abuse and manipulation, she’s ultimately got his best interests at heart, but I’m getting ahead of myself with this point.

Eventually, the circumstances that Yukki goes through (namely his parents’ death) put that humanity, kindness and mercy, the staples of his personality, to test. It’s a testament to how desperate situations can corrupt even the most innocent of individuals. Yukiteru goes from a hopeful individual to a callous killer, no different from Yuno and equally as selfish. Similarly enough, we know thanks to her third-world-self that Yuno was originally a normal, happy girl with the hopes of finally having a loving family taking care of her. All of this, to then be tortured by the people who were supposed to bring that peaceful family life to her.

Yukki being a weakling may be frustrating to some, it is certainly brought up many times during the video essay, but it’s an important factor that drives the plot and many of Future Diary’s lessons about growth and accountability. Besides, the anime certainly wouldn’t be as interesting to watch if every character was just an OP know-it-all like Akise. Which no hate to him, but the show wouldn’t be the same if every character were like him.

And speaking of Akise, I’ll take the opportunity to mention a point in the video essay that bothered me a bit. The creator says the show is “queerbaiting” with his character, because Akise’s attraction towards Yukki is forced, but I don’t see exactly how this is queerbaiting. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t queerbaiting when a character is insinuated to be gay, yet it’s kept ambiguous enough to never address it? The show straight-up explains the reason behind Akise’s attraction to Yukki. His love is forced because it was created by Deus to further his investigation about Yukki and Yuno. Akise himself is a fabrication of Deus. It is literally explained in episode 23. You can’t bait the audience into believing a character is gay if you explicitly tell the audience the character is gay lol.

But that’s one of the smaller issues I had with the video’s criticisms. My biggest gripes were actually the following: at the beginning of the essay, this creator talks about how many of the plot points in the show are contrived and illogical, but at the same time, they dislike the characters having tragic backstories that explain how they went on to become twisted individuals. Isn’t it a little contradictory that you complain about a character acting unnatural, yet when the explanation for their behavior comes up, you completely disregard it? They go as far as to say Esuno hates women and is misogynistic for his portrayal of female psychosis, and the use of SA as a tragic backstory being distasteful. Because, according to this creator, people who have been victimized never go on to become terrible people themselves, and that this is a “problematic stereotype.”

To say that this worldview is incredibly simplistic and naive is putting it mildly. Being a victim doesn’t exempt you from the capability of hurting others, and in fact, the opposite is often true. Hurt people hurt people, that is another main theme in Future Diary, and one of the things I love about it so much. It doesn’t make its characters victims of terrible situations for the sake of pitying them, but to portray their natural descent into madness from being corrupted by a cruel and unrelenting world. Yuno, Yukki, Minene, Tsubaki, these characters all started out as normal until life turned them into the nihilistic monsters they became. They’re morally gray, an example of what you can become when your ethics and moral worldview is tested by society so many times, it ultimately turns you into a societal outcast. Which only makes it funnier that one of the questions asked in the video is “are we supposed to like these characters?” Yes and no, that’s the fun of writing morally gray characters.

I often see these takes with people who fail to understand that the portrayal of something in media ≠ endorsement. It’s the crux of people who lack media literacy, the failure to understand morally gray or just straight up evil characters as protagonists. The media itself isn’t telling you to repeat their actions, it is an exploration of how these actions manifest in the first place, a cautionary tale, if you will. I know that having evil or twisted protagonists isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but to accuse the story or the author of malicious intent would be completely missing the point of the story’s purpose. Not to mention, that it is important for stories like this to exist, to put us in the shoes of those who enact harm, to understand why they do it and keep us from becoming like them.

The show doesn’t justify any of their actions, in fact, it often shows them for what they are: twisted and morally corrupt; it is on the characters themselves to bear the burdens of these actions. A clear example of this is the confrontation that Yukki has with his friends nearing the end of episode 22. It is probably one of my favorite scenes in the entire show: Yukki being forced to face all of his demons at once, realizing just how much damage he has caused, damage that he later has to mend in his final confrontation with Yuno to finally put an end to everyone’s suffering. It is dense, crude, and it is certainly necessary for both him and Yuno.

Funnily enough, this youtuber goes on to say the following about Yuno’s background: “I really don’t care what her (back)story pans out to look like… her actions are still not excusable.” Which is true, just because someone was abused doesn’t justify them perpetuating the same abuse later. However, they then crush their own point by claiming that Yuno’s obsessions started all because of “a passing conversation.” I guess they weren’t lying when they said that they didn’t care about Yuno’s backstory… because chalking up her obsession as solely a result of that scene is completely disregarding her background. That conversation in the classroom did start Yuno’s fixation towards Yukki, but it is not the root of her obsessive tendencies. Yuno herself believes it to be, but this is an idea that is squandered by Yukki in his final confrontations with her. Moreover, if you paid attention to her backstory, you would understand it is all due to her childhood neglect. And similarly, Yukki’s attraction towards Yuno stems from this as well.

This brings me to the final criticism:

“Yuno and Yukki’s relationship is problematic, toxic and makes no sense.”

There is no denying that Yuno and Yukki start out as an incredibly toxic and troublesome pairing, using each other for their own selfish wants instead of working with each other. This is the Achilles heel in their dynamic, and it is often the cause of their troubles. Yuno acts impulsive, unstable and manipulative towards Yukki due to her insecurities and debilitating obsession, while Yukki pushes all responsibility to Yuno due to his own lack of a spine. They hurt each time and time again, yet they can’t help but be with each other. And this is because, in a twisted way, they compliment each other.

On one hand, we have a social outcast, ignored by everyone including his family, visibly alone and afraid of being hurt by others, but still seeing the best in people. Then on the other hand, we have a popular girl from a prominent family, visibly perfect, but in reality just as alone due to abuse she experiences at home, making her view people as fundamentally cruel. On the outside they’re opposites, but deep down, they’re both lonely, and terrified of said loneliness. It is only when they meet, when Yukki shows her the kindness she was missing for years and when Yuno gives him the support he had always craved, that they fulfill each other’s needs. By becoming acquainted with Yuno and the Survival Game, Yukki becomes increasingly darker, eventually maturing at the end of the show, while Yukki awakens Yuno’s empathy and pulls her back from the darkness, as we see when she falters to hurt third-world Yuno and her parents.

Their complementary personalities are even referenced by their diaries, which only work seamlessly if paired. They balance each other out perfectly, bringing out the best of each other, but only after learning to push back on their worst characteristics, which is also true for real-life relationships. In truth, just like these two, people are flawed, traumatized and generally toxic to one another. There’s no such thing as people or relationships that start out perfect from the get-go, they need to learn to grow together.

In that sense, this is what makes the ending of the show so powerful to me. Yukki isn’t set on killing Yuno or becoming God anymore. He’s finally taking responsibility, coming to terms with the awful deeds he’s done, and the fact that he can’t undo them. Instead, he wants to help Yuno come to terms with her own demons, finally giving back to her what she needs and not something for his own benefit. Similarly, Yuno realizes just how off the deep-end she’s gone when she meets her past self, acknowledging that she’s lost her original goal, and that repeating the cycle of hurt won’t fix her already broken spirit. That world isn’t for her, and so she finally ends the hurt, giving her and Yukki the peace they need.

Many people don’t like Redial because they see it as an undeserved Happy Ending for two awful individuals, but the way I like to see it is as a form of redemption. Both characters, in the end, do what they have to do to restore order in the world. Yukki pays for his sins in the void, finally a God but at the cost of mourning what could’ve been. First-World Yuno ends the suffering she’s putting herself through so her new self can thrive, almost akin to breaking free from her past traumas to finally heal. The new self regains those memories, not to sulk, but to build from them, going back with Yukki to start a new world that isn’t characterized by their original hurt. In a way, it's a story about how the most downtrodden of individuals can find solace in love, break from their past and learn to heal together. For me, it’s cathartic and fulfilling to watch.

To finish this lengthy post, I feel it’s appropriate to mention the importance of Future Diary’s characters, and more specifically, Yuno. The video describes her writing as shallow and contrived, but I’ve already addressed that in the previous paragraphs. Many people love chalking her up to “cRaZy YaNdErE gUrL™ 🤪,” but she’s so, so much more than that. Her character actually has a lot of depth if you pay attention to her story: she’s a girl, an orphan who went on to be neglected by her foster father and abused by her foster mother, resulting in complex trauma, insecurities and fear of abandonment that she tries to hide and overcompensate for in her overly aggressive tendencies. Her obsession in avoiding the loss of the only person she has becomes her demise, as she lives in a loop of torment all for the sake of not being alone again, a cycle of hurt only she has the power of breaking if she finds the strength to do it. Whether it was intentional or not, Yuno portrays a lot of the issues people with mental illness, such as BPD, struggle with.

Now, claiming that Yuno is a perfect, one-to-one representation of BPD would be reducing this disorder to a caricature, there’s obviously so much more to BPD than what you see in this portrayal. But, I feel like out of the huge list of characters that fall under the “yandere” or crazy girl trope, she’s probably one of the best written ones in anime. I know she’s often dubbed the “yandere queen,” but seriously, it’s rare to see media committing to this trope and properly characterizing it. I would go as far as to say she’s the best character I’ve seen written in this genre, only sharing that spot with another character from a certain game (but given that the mere mention of its name is enough to ensue controversy, I’ll abstain from talking about it here 🙄). A big portion of characters within this trope are quite two-dimensional, without clear motives for their obsessions, or having their issues played up for laughs (I’m looking at you, Anna Nishikinomiya). Heck, many of the characters associated with the trope aren’t actual yanderes, like is the case for Shion Sonozaki or Lucy from Elfen Lied.

Yuno’s character is rich and interesting to watch, she isn’t just some “crazy girl” for the sake of it. She’s a product of tragedy, only motivated by the hope of finally having Yukki alleviate all of her insecurities and sorrows. I’ve always found the “yandere” trope interesting since it delves into the lengths people are capable of going over an obsession, and how these form to begin with. Given how complex, sensitive and even personal this topic can be, it’s important to have characters like this be properly written, and I’m glad that Yuno set a standard for this back in her day, even if many people don’t take her character seriously.

I think it’s important to close up this post repeating the sentiment I had at the beginning. My purpose in writing this defense isn’t so much to force people into liking the show, and even opinions I disagree with like the ones in NezumiVA’s video are valid in their own right, as everyone has different perspectives in interpreting media. This is simply my take as someone who’s been a fan of the show for a really long time, since I don’t see many in-depth essays for Future Diary out there. It is a show that has stuck with me for its lessons on learning to be brave, healing from the past and selfless love. As silly as it may sound talking about an anime, it’s something that I can always look back to and smile, laugh or cry along with. Despite people’s conflicting views and endless criticisms, it will never fail to have a special place in my heart. Given how much time I’ve dedicated to this series, it’s only fair I dedicated a little bit of that time explaining my love for it too. And if you made it this far down the post, I would also like to thank you for dedicating a little bit of your time to my shower thoughts as well!

#future diary #mirai nikki #the future diary #anime #yuno gasai #yandere #sakae esuno #essay #anime essay #long post

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melodic-haze · 6 months

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☆ — DEMO TRACK: Lisa (GI) X parent!Reader

☆ — TYPE: Fluff, SFW

☆ — CONTENT WARNINGS: Reader has a kid (who knows ab the origin yk what)

Asked a friend about what one of my first posts should be thank you for this cute ahh thought but like. Imagine Lisa finding out that you have a child. Maybe you had them from like a past connection or you adopted them a while back

Children are always a heavy topic to discuss, especially already existing children while you're getting back into the dating scene. Quite a few people unfortunately don't really like it, opting to move on to the next person instead 😞😞 but luckily the librarian isn't one of them!! In fact, she's actually happy to meet them and more!!!!

Moment you bring your child up for the first time, you see her eyes practically glow in the sort of quiet joy only ever exclusive for you, her and now your little one :3. While she isn't rushing to talk about your kid or completely buzzing about it since it's not in her nature to do so, she's asking you for little bits of information about them as she organises it in her mind palace

You see your purple-clad lover take a small sip of her tea (earl gray, one of her most favoured blends due to its soothing properties) as her eyes briefly darted over to the many books that lined the library aisles. This was practically her home, something of a personal safe space for the witch-like woman within Mondstadt's walls.

Her gaze moves back to focus on you with that softly inquiring shade of green, genuine interest and the curiosity of a scholar that hasn't dulled in all the years she had spent out of practice mixing together, "Does your child like to read? They seem quite intelligent, so such a trait wouldn't be so strange. Perhaps I could create some sort of list for recommendations later."

Or so she says, but you know that she has already started to format it in her mind.. despite the lack of an answer from you, haha. You let her mind wander for a bit in comfortable silence—for a woman that claims to be lazy, quite a few things do seem to go on in her head.

When she meets them, she doesn't immediately go to rush at them or anything. She's a soft and patient woman (when you don't piss her off LOL) so she'll take time with getting to know your kid personally WHILE using the info she got from you to have them warm up to her even more. If the kid seems amicable to getting to know her then she's beyond happy!!! But if they seem resistant then that's fine with her too; this woman will take her time in coaxing your kid out of their shell. If you ever usher the child to be less guarded around her, she'll tell you not to do that bc she wants them to open up in their own time

She's so attentive 😭😭😭 she's the type to leave little sticky notes here and there for both you and your kid and recommend things according to their likes and dislikes (even if neither of you have said anything about it)

Naps with your child would definitely be a thing too :((( you just see them cuddled up somewhere and you KNOW Lisa's definitely slacking off as per usual but you can't find it in yourself to wake them up :(

You notice the soft glow of the afternoon light passing through the windows highlighting the slumbering pair and you just can't help the quiet chuckle that passes through your lips. It would be quite rude to interrupt their time together, nevermind the fact that it'd be a waste to mess up the seemingly comfortable positions they were in—your lover had her arms wrapped around your child, the latter's mouth slightly agape from their deep sleep.

You make a move to leave the room before you hear a small groan, to which you turn to and find that Lisa's eyes had opened the slightest bit to stare at you.

She slowly lifts a hand in a low-effort attempt to reach out at you, "Join us, dear... We have more than enough space for three people."

Really, why would you say no to such a nice offer?

All in all, she's not an overwhelming soccer mom who would post everywhere about your child. Rather, she's the type to watch them with a proud smile before offering to celebrate privately with whatever they'd like, just the three of you :3

Oh, and don't mind her trying to get your kid into tea HAHA that's definitely somehing that'll happen, with Lisa often joking about how by the time they become an adult they'll want to be a tea connoisseur

God I love her so bad :(

#hazy demos!#surprise haze!#genshin lisa #lisa x reader #genshin imagines #genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #genshin women #gn reader #genshin women x reader

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evelhak · 1 month

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I’m curious about a few: Propinquity, Anem and Bitchberg (a great name, lol)

Well, you've already read about Bitchberg by now from the previous ask. :D

Lol, I actually winced a little when I saw you asked about "Propinquity" since it's the current working title of my Akashi centric fic, and I know you don't find him that interesting. It's still just a bunch of "notes" (=bits of monologue and dialogue that come to me and I have to write down so I won't forget). I haven't actively started this fic yet, since I can't really write multiple projects at the same time. I will probably have to finish another shorter fic after The Luminous Things, before I get to this one.

I know the opening lines, though:

Winning is like breathing. Sometimes I wake up, gasping for air, but my lungs seem to have fallen into a partial state of paralysis.

Or something fairly close to that. The idea has been in my head for a long time, because I really enjoy digging up ignored dimensions that kind of naturally follow from whatever is going on in canon.

There is of course one thing in this fic that could interest you: The main love interest is an OC. :) You know some things about Azumi already. Here's a snippet that will probably serve as her introduction in the fic:

I absolutely pretended to be the empress of this micro-utopia, growing up. Not because it was mine to conquer, or control. Because it was mine to know. To pick apart. Explore, taste, and merge with. A little pocket of wonder in this huge city, a bubble with its own rules. That's what I came to realise pretty soon, anyway. About the world. How different, how illogical and ultimately unsatisfying it was, compared to my shrine, my home, my own ecosystem, my island of undisturbed ground. It frustrates me that the rest of the world doesn't know how to do it. Live and let live. Give and take. Circle of life. A system that works. Because I was born into it. An heir to it. Happiness.

Micro-utopias are a huge element in my whole fic series as it progresses, and there are several kinds of them, Azumi's home life being its own example. Utopia is generally something I'm really interested to write about, especially because a lot of people claim you can't write interesting utopia without making it dystopia in the end, and I very much disagree with that, as people are always imperfect, so you don't need to add any intentionally awful circumstances for a story to have conflict, if you're writing believable people. For me, the key to what makes the most out of utopia is to centre it around whose utopia it is and why. This got slightly off topic, these are just themes I really like exploring and since my fics are my playground, I definitely use them for exploration of things I might want to write later in a more polished form in my original fiction.

The working title "Propinquity" came while I was writing a chapter in The Luminous Things where Kagami ends up lost in Kyoto (it's complicated) and spends the night in Azumi's place, where he has many enlightening conversations with Akashi. (Azumi and Akashi are already together in my main fic timeline, their own fic will cover how they got together, among other things.)

Here's a snippet from the chapter also titled "Propinquity", which I haven't yet posted anywhere, so things might still change a little, but for now, Akashi muses something like this in it:

"[Propinquity] is the central theme of this shrine. Things develop, and change, and prosper in propinquity. It rings true, doesn’t it? Right things, wrong things… so it really matters what you surround yourself with. It’s not enough to know and think. You have to see, and taste, and touch… A plant wouldn’t grow from the understanding that it needs water, if it never got it. It would still die from poison, no matter how informed it was. Azumi knew all of this, so bone deep. That’s why she was disappointed with the world. That’s why she retreated back to her paradise. I think that’s what caught my attention at first. How she had a physical place to go to when she needed to get away."

I probably would not have developed any need to write a story about Akashi's love life on my own. (Well, it's not all there is to it, but it is a how-they-get-together type of story). It was the influence of my ex, who's a big Akashi fan, and as I have probably said before, Azumi was originally her OC that we worked on together a lot. Eventually I grew attached to Akashi and Azumi together, and now I have my own version of the story.

I don't think I actually read any Akashi x OC fics myself, but my ex read them and complained about them, usually, and I picked up on two pretty common patterns, which I didn't want to do: I didn't want the OC to be 1) poor, or 2) have a similar family dynamic and childhood trauma as Akashi. This is because I wasn't interested in dealing with the power imbalance that tends to come with very different socioeconomic standing, and I also didn't want to write a relationship where people get stuck in validating each other's trauma, and it takes them a long time to grow beyond that phase because their relationship is centred around how similar their experiences are. I wanted to hit that sweet spot which I like the most, a relationship that centres around growth, having enough common ground, and being inspired by things about the other that you've never experienced before, or even believed really exists in the world. The kind of relationship that makes you feel that you want to fill your own gaps, and a key factor in that is the proximity, or, propinquity to a person you can rely on, because they don't have the same weaknesses as you. I just really love writing about people who are good influences to each other.

A lot of this fic will also be about dissociation and trauma. Yay.

Anem, then, is another original novel I've started multiple times without being completely satisfied. The premise is pretty classic religious cult + good girl/bad girl dynamic, or at least would seem like that in the beginning.

Here's how I seem to have described it on my website at some point:

Dina is a good girl. She picks up flowers every morning, to put on the altar of her family’s home. She’s chaste, she’s beautiful. She fears God. Semira is a “Wild One”, she rarely goes to church, she speaks out of turn. She could be beautiful, if her hair wasn’t so short. Dina doesn’t think it’s her job to save Semira. After all, if the Fathers don’t know how to help the girl, how could she? But Dina keeps ending up spending time with Semira anyway, and the more she does, the stronger the big black swirling something grows in her stomach. There’s clearly something very wrong about Semira. And there’s something wrong about the woods surrounding their isolated village. Dina knows she’s supposed to stay away, but Semira keeps going into the woods.

It has a lot bigger world and anything but clear-cut themes and dynamics, even though it may seem like that in the beginning... and it's one of those early projects that are sort of everything, because you're not good at narrowing it down yet. It's like a dystopian supernatural medieval fantasy horror philosophical cult story I wrote just to barf out everything I was thinking in my early years of studying theology. It's certainly a cult story, but is the cult the big bad or the world around it? It's certainly a queer story, but is it a love story or a hate story? It's certainly trying to say something, but what? No one knows, not even me. It's a big mess.

I'm also starting to feel like I'm dealing with every element and theme I have in this story, in some other story too, and coincidentally someone from my writing group actually just got a book published this year that has a strikingly similar setting and themes, (we both wrote them without knowing about each other) and even though it shouldn't, it does kind of add to my confusion to what to do with this story. I do still want to write it at some point, but it's a big question mark that sort of just pops up from below the surface every time I'm not actively thinking or writing about another project.

Some angsty pictures of Dina, also drawn in my early university years (Oh Lord how obvious my Arina Tanemura influences still were in the way I draw):

Yeah... at least they are accurately dramatic to the story.

Thanks for the ask. I hope there was something entertaining. <3

For anyone curious, here's the WIP list.

#wip game #propinquity #anem

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