#you can view him however you want BTW I'm not saying you can't see him this way but it's funny to me as someone who sees him differently

[transmiguelohara]

I said this on Twitter already but the amount of people who make Miguel out to be a suave lover is so funny to me because he's a man in shambles that has been shown to bungle his own relationships because of his ego and inability to be vulnerable with others.

[gasstationlady]

the start of something beautiful | a lando norris social media au

pairing: lando norris x private!reader (fc: tyla)

lando is spotted with an unknown woman, and everyone thinks she’s another fling. however, later revealed as naomi campbell’s daughter, lando's fans slowly start to love her despite her tendency to be private.

notes: btw, i’m so sorry i’ve been mia for a while! honestly, i have a ton of drafts i’ve written over the time i didn’t post, but i lowkey hate all of them lmao. anyways, hope you enjoy this fluff :)

disclaimer: swearing. photos not mine. OLD PIC OF JAZ AND ROSS (yes it’s a warning bc i’m still mourning that relationship, and ik i’m not the only one). there are a few mistakes in the tweets that i was too lazy to fix lol. also, i hope the flow doesn’t feel too rushed!

masterlist

yourusername

liked by landonorris, yourbestie and 138 others

yourusername 🌸

View all 10 comments

yourbestie 👀

��� yourusername 🙈

yourbestie framing these pics brb 😍😍

f1gossip

2,993 likes

f1gossip We received these photos of Lando and a girl today! It looks like the same girl he has been spotted with for the past 3 months, but it’s still unclear who it is. ☕️

View all 202 comments

user three months of them being pictured AND YET NONE CLEARLY CAPTURE HER FACE. that’s some bs

↳ user no deadass bc you guys had one job 🙄

user lmaoooo i know the delulu fans are crying that she’s still here

user Are we sure it's the same girl? Lmfao even if it is, he's probably going to get tired of her soon!

user god i hope people learn and treat her better than how they treated luisinha

landonorris

liked by maxverstappen1, charles_leclerc and 759,301 others

landonorris First time trying wakeboarding 🤙

View all 1,401 comments

user happy lando >>>

user Where’s your girlfriend

user not the red bull life vest lmfaoo

user lando rlly said here’s some shirtless pics to distract u

↳ user frrr but like it’s not working 😭

f1gossip

12,321 likes

f1gossip Naomi Campbell and daughter, Y/N Campbell, making an appearance at today’s GP! It's presumed that Y/N is dating Mclaren driver, Lando Norris. Our sources in the paddock mentions that the two visited the Mercedes, Ferrari, and Mclaren garages before the race. 👀

View all 188 comments

user i'm literally in love w her she's soo beautiful 😍

user this actually makes sense that they knew each other since naomi has been connected to f1 for a while now

user I would be unstoppable if I looked like her.

user she looks so kind 🥺🥺

user oh the things i would do to reincarnate as a wealthy person’s child

user i was there and got to meet her and i’d just like to say that i’d go to war for her

landoupdates

7,626 likes

landoupdates Max, Lando, and Y/N (seen in second photo, far right) with fans at an after party! We received these pictures a few minutes ago, and the fan included “Y/N mostly stood behind as Max and Lando were asked for photos but she was so so kind !! Although you can tell she likes to keep to herself, she told me she thought my dress was cute and even got Lando’s attention for me so I could ask for a picture 😭 Also, he kept holding her hand !!!”

View all 204 comments

user her face card is insane.

user now that we know she's naomi's daughter, i can't believe we didn't see it before LOL

user “he kept holding her hand” 😭😭😭😭😭

user I have never wanted someone to go off private so bad 😩

user honestly she’s my new fav wag

user it’s the way everyone loves her rn lmaoooo

user LANDO CAN YOU FIGHT

f1gossip

11,234 likes

f1gossip Lando, Ginge, and Ethan possibly alluding to Lando’s new relationship with Y/N in the recent Quadrant video 👀👀

See all 239 comments

user not them clowning him 😭

user i mean we all know by now that they’re together but this was the cherry on top

user melting over how he couldn’t stop smiling 🥹

user the fact that he kept this clip in 😩😩

user I AM ONCE AGAIN ASKING “LANDO CAN YOU FIGHT”

user I get it 😭 I also wouldn’t be able to hide that I’m dating Y/N

user perfect example of private but not a secret, in love with them 🥹🥹

landoupdates

5,389 likes

landoupdates A few photos of Lando and Y/N at the paddock today ☺️

See all 195 comments

user literally my fav couple

user when is he gonna make it officially on insta

↳ user My thoughts exactly!! 😭😭 I know not everything has to be posted, but I’m just excited to see him officially announce it.

user my girl y/n looked so fucking good today

user i just want him to post her solely because i want more y/n pics

↳ user LOL you’re so real for that

landonorris

liked by yourusername, angryginge13, georgerussell63 and 1,221,334 others

landonorris We so good ❤️

View all 4,201 comments

user THE HAND PLACEMENT

user not tagging her is criminal 😭😭

↳ user girl what’s the point when she’s on private

user When will it be my turn 😩

user LANDO??? OMFG

user TURN IT UP IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE 😁😁😁🔊🔊

user omggg i can’t, they’re goals

user Y/N IS SO CUTE

user i luv my parents

[bendyartistic]

Be Aware of alexbstudios. (Part 2) TW: uh.. slur, sui mention.

Recently I've been requested by some people to make another awareness post about Alex, and what has been going on since I made my last callout. So.. let's take a look. I'm gonna be honest I have been paying little to no attention to him at all since my post up until this point, didn't think I'd have to.

Ever since I made it, Alex has been talking about me a lot more, and it feels much more obsessive in a way. I think it's funny but also pretty weird considering some of the things he's said about me. Eugh.

Anyways let's get to the stuff from after my callout to the present. This is just a rundown of everything, and there is some stuff I skipped since I didn't feel it was worth mentioning. Once my post had been made, a lot of people went over and said stuff to him (Though I didn't encourage that behavior, I only wanted to make my post so people knew about him, I'm not covering those unless it's important in this.) Little afterwards he made this... post. Erh, are you stalking me and other people?? ALSO don't say the r slur man, like what.

I find it really creepy that he has this list, and has notes along with them about why/who they are. Also why'd he spell my partners name like that? 💀 Next a little after that he reblogged someone's art and introduction saying this. (I don't want to really @ people in this, nor get anyone involved unless they asked to be.)

I still don't understand how Alex views me, but saying this in a reblog no less is so strange. Reblogging another post, saying this with it...

You're right Alex, I didn't need you in my life, yet here we are. Unfortunately. Besides that, no, 12 year old's should NOT be on Tumblr at all, even with restrictions, said restriction should be having the app blocked from their device.

I'm just gonna.. move on from that. Alex reblogged an art post, where he proceeded to @ over 50 people, myself included, saying "surely you can see the problem". I can't fit the entire thing sadly. I don't get what the point in these posts are honestly, besides annoy everyone. He's done it before as well. He got into a small bit of beef with a handful of folk not too long ago, which I got @'ed in at some point I think, didn't really pay much attention to it. Basically the original post is someone talking about art supplies and asking what one's other people use, which I personally think was a very neat post. Alex comes around though for some reason going off on nonsense. Hello? Who invited you!? (Again, censoring names cuz I don't want to get ppl involved.)

I'm honestly kind of wondering why he even showed up. He pretty soon after made this dumb post as if it could have some effect on the situation.. uh?

I guess mark your calendars guys for this date, where we have to immediately forget everything and forgive him! /j And there's this response he gave to an anon responding to his ✨patience✨ post.

Dunno, so far it hasn't because he's still talking about it, so clearly he hasn't gotten over it enough to let it blow over.

He's giving me those like.. stupid sigma edit vibes sometimes. Y'know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Also I'm not sure what to say about this really, but it's pretty funny.

Context for this next one: You and the person on your lockscreen fight god..? That's a weird one.

Wdym racist though? 🤨 Genuinely kinda curious about that. Btw wouldn't that make you like.. 9?? On a different note, I saw him previously talk about this "friend" he has going to a mental hospital, but I know nothing about it, nor do I really want to, however reblogging on an art post saying this feels off. Think the emotes are what do it.

Don't joke about mental hospitals at all, I shouldn't have to explain why. I'm going to move on from all the short stuff now because I do wanna start talking instead of making short joking comments.

Alex made this post, and so it begins with him talking about me again, eh?

Alex, you're already doomed. I can't put it any other way but from what I've seen maybe only 1 or 2 people even like you. The rest either hate you or want to avoid you at all cost, and I don't blame them at all considering you act like a fool and make everyone uncomfortable.

For my thoughts on you? I don't like you, never did. I just have to put up with you because this is the internet, and you'll probably never truly leave me alone like I once hoped. It's a shame honestly that you cannot follow a simple request from anyone. Don't think I don't know about your planned "response post" you're making, I'm still waiting for it. I don't know what good it's gonna do you though. Personally I don't care if you make one, I'd just read it to see the stuff you make up in it lol. (Edit: He decided to stop working on it after seeing this post lol.)

Enough of my rambling, I should continue with this so I can stop talking about him sooner. Regrettably I had to actually look up what this was about, I felt.. iffy reading it.

Saying gyatt right afterwards wasn't funny. At all. I'm quite upset now. There was absolutely no reason for that.

I was gonna be reasonable and say something genuine but I don't feel like it anymore, this ruined my mood. All I have to say is as much as I dislike you, don't actually do that. Sadly moving to the next nonsensical thing, he made a poll post asking this. (It's still ongoing btw)

Are people like.. forced into giving a reason? Like if I for example chose Bendy, am I immediately supposed to state my reasons? What if I don't want to, are we being held at gunpoint? What's up with that? I'm too lazy to interact with the post, I don't really feel like it anyways even if I wasn't lazy. Which one would you choose though lol I'm going to be serious now again cause this last thing is really just.. what the fuck. Palestine related 🍉, someone asking for help came to Alex, and this was his response to it...

MY GOD Alex. Did you really have to respond to that in this immature, insensitive fucking manner? Could it have not been in one of your stupid rambling posts. It should've been. I'm sorry to the person and I'm sorry I had to read it. You're pretty sick honestly. You need help.

That's it. I'm done.

In conclusion:

Alex is still the same and is still never going to change probably. He still shouldn't be here and I believe he really should get off now more than ever. If not I fear what else he might do next.

All I can really tell you folks is please, DNI with Alex, just leave him alone and block him. You're again not obligated to, but I am suggesting it if you want to be left alone by him. And hey, maybe you'll make it onto his dumb creepy list too, who knows. Alright, I'm finished, I stayed up way too late for this... I'm tired. Cya.

Reblogs are much appreciated, it helps spread the word, thanks.

[yuseirra]

Ch 160 ..let me jot down my stream of consciousness about what I feel, my reading comprehension skills can't be that bad, it'd help if I can sit down and think through a little more.

+ Okay, I'm complete! I understand things much better now!! Upon close examination, This chapter doesn't change anything so dramatically.

IT STILL DOES NOT ANSWER JUST WHAT THE DAD'S MOTIVES ARE, but... the conclusion I have after having reread it thoroughly??

It's that my interpretation of him as a mild guy still stands—it enhances it, even. He's still really kind, which is a pretty surprising conclusion compared to what I felt about it at first glance.

He's.. really kind and considerate. I'm serious. wow.

well, analysis/interpretation below!

I was spoiled about chapter way back sometime last Friday, right? and it was pretty accurate in sense, with it being just some bunch of sentences and that one really creepy panel.. it does help to see the actual art and the expressions that are associated with the dialogues.

Now that I sit down a bit, there are two different interpretations of the same story: Kamiki's testimonies on what's happened (I believe these are all truths. They perfectly match up with how I've interpreted his character all along.) and Aqua's takes on them.

I'm not reading things off the english version btw, so the dialogues may differ.

According to what Kamiki says,

-he considered Ryosuke and Nino as good people and as friends. But they approached him because they were obsessed with Ai, so he didn't know about their true colors.

-so he was able to talk about his breakup with her and talked about whether if he should visit her having children at the hospital where Gorou was. They went and killed Gorou, but Kamiki had no idea about that.

-on the day Ai died, he was still unsure about meeting her because he lacked the courage to see her face (god he's timid) so he asked Ryosuke to give her his bouquet on his behalf

I KEPT SAYING THIS GUY NEVER HAS IT IN HIM TO "SCARE AI!!!!!!!!!" HE LIED IN 154 OUT OF GUILT BECAUSE HE THOUGHT AI AND AQUA WANTED REVENGE ON HIM!!! SEE!!! I'VE BEEN!!! RIGHT!!!! I'VE BEEN!!!!!!!!!!

This was already in the leaks last Fri, I basically felt the same way about these back then

and I got every part of these right except for the part that Kamiki befriended them. I just couldn't picture the people who killed Ai or would actively go hunt their daughter down being his friend..

but seeing how.. much he seems to trust people, he used to be that way as a child, it actually all ties so nicely together.

I predicted that it was Nino and Ryosuke who went to the hospital and killed Gorou.

I predicted that Kamiki just wanted to send the bouquet to congratulate Ai but he couldn't go because he was nervous/sad from the phone call. I said that ever since I started drawing hikaai fanarts, you would have seen me going on and on about that, I drew them with this as the base!!!! The guy Ai chose wouldn't do such a thing as trying to get back at her!!! See??

I couldn't be more right!!! I am a prophet!! I should trust myself!!!! why am I so unsure of myself, really. I really, really did get everything right.

These must be all true. He's not lying about any of this. I've been analyzing this guy very very thoroughly so I know what I'm talking about.

I guess what's confused me was the latter bits, since Fri and even after I see the full images.

Kamiki smiles and says he never wanted to hurt anyone<this is really how I view him as well, this guy can't hurt people out of his own will...

However, Aqua dismisses Kamiki's statements as lies on the spot, and accuses him of having been unable to protect his own daughter. That he's been intentionally manipulated people to get what he wants. That would involve him causing people to kill each other without dirtying his hands.

Upon hearing Aqua stating "You wanted to kill your own daughter", Kamiki makes this really eerie smile (I kind of wish this is redrawn hshsh.. it looks like he's a demon spawn from hell, but this could REALLY be him being distressed yet AGAIN. this guy SMILES when he's that way. That's his coping mechanism. It's kind of hard to stare at that expression but that smile certainly ISN'T a happy one like the one we saw in 159. This is a really confusing habit he has. People are going to take him the wrong way but; sadly, it's become a habit of his...)

The scenes then shifts to visions of him manipulating nino and Ryosuke into doing what they've done with a smile. If this is really what's happened, then he IS someone pretty evil-

but now that I read it over I think that's just based on Aqua's interpretations about the guy.

Is what's being portrayed in those pages ACTUALLY how he is? Just yesterday, I theorized that Kamiki loves his children and has been doing whatever he's been doing for his children. I did have my reasons for making that claim.

We still don't know what his motives are!! Aqua doesn't state anything about why Kamiki would do such a thing if he's done so. Does he know anything about this??? Just what reason would make it.. enough to have someone kill the love of their life and their very daughter? What good would it do for Kamiki? For one thing, does he have ANY good reason to kill Ai at all? For having felt betrayed?? Then why wait out that long????? Killing their daughter? After having her live for, how long now? how old are they now? 15?? 16? Why now? Why would he??

The important thing would be just WHY he'd be doing all those things if he's really been so, so WHAT IS IT AQUA?? WHAT??

Forgot to mention this but in the beginning of the chapter, we have kamiki saying, Hm, but what did I do? Did I "stab someone?" did I "push someone off a cliff?" I never "did" "anything".

Then we have Nino going "Kamiki-san didn't do anything. He just talked about Ai. He talked about her so we(her and Ryosuke) wouldn't forget about her. That was enough to make us break."

OH come on. COME ON. HUH. I feel like he's never told them anything bad about Ai, he probably let out how much he loved and misses her, because he thought they were her fan and coworkers as a fellow member, I bet he was happy to befriend people who knew about Ai because they share a common interest together. With it being his favorite person in the world even while he was dumped.

What a stupid reason, Nino. You brought everything upon yourself. I can see that now.

I do think.. kamiki has some sort of power that causes people to grow insane or act out, that could have had some influence on ryosuke and nino in a way...

but again, why would he try to kill his lover and his daughter even if he can use it with his own accord??? Even if he's using those powers now?? Would he use it to do those respective things?

Even if he has those, that shouldn't be all there is to it. According to Kamiki, they were already obsessed with Ai when they approached him and YEAH! Makes sense?? They came to him first, probably already aware that he was Ai's lover?? He isn't responsible for them hoarding those kinds of feelings!!

Coming to think of it, I find it really strange that he still hung with nino being the complete wreck she is. Oh wait, I guess he still could. Ryosuke killed Ai and Nino doesn't seem to have played a part with that. Nino was there with Ryosuke when Gorou died but she's not the one who's pushed him off a cliff. Ryosuke's the really...horrible one. He had a pretty gf like nino JUST WHY. Then again, nino was obsessed w Ai too so they were a match. I guess Kamiki hanged with Nino thinking she's just another victim who wants Ai back or whatever. He still hangs with her when she says that are super creepy like she can't forgive Ruby if she surpasses Ai though.. Perhaps he's really bad at letting people go.. OH, YEAH. He was always pretty attached to people as a child. Okay, I got that part cleared up on my own. Stream of consciousness is like this. It can happen.

Continuing on!! Aqua says Kamiki is a "despicable, selfish liar, worse than a murderer". Even Kamiki can't smile hearing that. If he ISN'T one, then that'd hurt.

Well, he responds again, saying:

"Ah, yes. You're the same way as I am. You share those same eyes I have. The type of eyes that grant the power to persuade others into believing you. The eyes that grant you charisma, befitting that of a star." Then we see a panel with Ai, "The eyes of liars, that fool, and make others submit to you"

he must be thinking of what Ai's told him when she talked to him about having the same eyes. (CH 140)

"You've been inciting people just like I have, right? Just how many people did you fool to fulfill your goal?"

"It must have felt good to use your talents to impact the lives of others, right?"

I'm not sure if this is a taunt/mockery or just him stating the facts as a liar/a black star user himself.

If he's thinking about Ai... then it can be the latter. She approached him saying "they are the same". He could be thinking about that.

Actually, he's strangely calm. His emotions are a bit hard to read on this one, I'd say it actually feels collected compared to what he's heard.

This could actually be sympathy or empathy...

I didn't take it that way when I first encountered it, so I felt.. Kamiki could be lashing out a bit but no. That doesn't seem to be it.

Hey, he really never gets angry. He actually looks a bit sad depending on how you look at it, I think he may be feeling a sense of guilt in that particular panel where he says "Just how many people did you fool to fulfill your goal?", the one where he glances down,

just like how he talked to Aqua in 152, "It's a lie, isn't it? it's because they're important that you keep your distance from them. why would you go that far to bottle yourself up?"

This guy understands his son really well. In fact, I think he may be trying to say, "we're the same=I understand the way you are, we're on the same track" the way Ai's done for him. That's what was his salvation.

Aqua does not take this well.

He says yeah, we're both terrible beings, but Ruby is "different".

Oh, and the rest.. what's stood out to me is the panel where Aqua goes,

"sending love to the one who desires for love" as he describes what Ruby is doing. Kamiki shows up in that panel.. This is what Ai wanted to do for him.

and there's a panel that comes up that shows Ai with the twins that follows right after saying:

"it's the eyes of the one who desires to love someone"

This is really sad. I think that page actually indicates Ai desired to love him while he desired to be loved from Ai. That happened both ways. It was a nice page.

Yeah, and Aqua points his knife to his dad like a toy gun saying

"You must disappear right here and now, for Ruby's sake."

I don't think Aqua's actually up to stabbing him, actually? If he's pointing the knife at him like that, I think it's more like he's warning him to stay out of their way forever, scram, or just go die off on his own.

Both of his eyes are white, he's not going to kill him with his own hands, rather, he's going to make him go away.

So I don't think next chapter would start on a fierce note? Kamiki does not seem like a guy that gets agitated so easily. He STILL never once got angry in this chapter as well. He's still pretty sweet to his son. I'm not being biased on this, the way he talks has always been really soft. If this were to be an anime, you'd hear how he'd talk and see whether if he has thorns in them but I don't think it's that way at least, I think he's trying to be understanding??

This guy is soft. He will not put up a fight. I don't know, he may jump off that bridge and try to die maybe. If that's what his son wants? Move out of the way? He doesn't seem.. angry about it all. He's not even protesting.

In the end, the only thing that got proven in this chapter was that Kamiki DID NOT DO ANYTHING IN A PHYSICAL SENSE, AND HE DIDN'T TRY TO SCARE AI.

the fact about him manipulating people and lying to get his way, I think there's low chance of it being applied for Ruby and Ai's case.

I think he really didn't have a clue Nino would attack Ruby? If he's considered her as a friend?

what are the basis of Aqua picturing him that way? He must really hate his dad. There is no way he could have seen such things happen. Unless Tsukuyomi told him about it?? there is no proof that it's what's actually been taken place. Kamiki could have incited people, or influenced others, yeah, but I don't think he did anything to Ai or his daughter. Again, I think he loves his family. Why wouldn't he??

Until things get cleared up more, I???? I ACTUALLY?? think Kamiki's taking it in a really calm manner despite all the things he's being accused of??

This is very long, but that is all for now!!

Oh, this was worth revisiting and analyzing. There's a lot more I see when I scrutinize it like this!!

[freyito]

I'm in that 'damn I'm too feminine guess I'll die' phase right now, pretty sure it happens monthly, so, I was wondering if I could ask for Liu Kang with a ftm reader who's normally happy just crashing down one day, specifically because they think they're too feminine for people to perceive them as a guy?

Thank you for writing such amazing stuff btw!! :D

anon, you saved me. you SAVED ME. ive been in such a mood and ive been wanting to write something comforting!!! but i havent been able to think of a prompt and i didnt really have the energy for anything in my inbox. and then you BLESSED me with this absolute banger of a request oh em gee.

and don't worry, you're not alone either anon, im also lowkey goin thru it. twinsies!!!! letting you know, from a very feminine (androgynous, but apparently i seem fem aligned) trans man, its okay to feel this. there really is no definition to masculinity and you are a man regardless of what people say!

added some bonus characters for myyyy self indulgence if you don't mind

cw: male reader, ftm, just fluff, implied romantic relationships w/ all, proofread

ʟɪᴜ ᴋᴀɴɢ (ᴀɴᴅ ʙᴏɴᴜꜱᴇꜱ) + ɪɴꜱᴇᴄᴜʀᴇ ꜰᴛᴍ ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

-Liu Kang...

is almost disheartened at the sudden change of behavior. Just the other day you had been so vibrant, bringing color, a certain tone to the world. Something even he didn't think was possible. When he had met you, he was smitten. With your positivity, your optimism, and above all else, you.

To find you, quiet, sullen, hiding from him, it was heartbreaking. The absence of your voice and your light was something that very clearly rubbed off on him.

Finding out you've broken because you do not feel yourself, because you cannot look in the mirror without seeing the man you aren't, it fills him with sorrow. Because, he sees you as a man, regardless. He always will, and it will never change.

To be honest, he's quite unsure how to comfort you. He's by your side, reassuring you that you are masculine, that he and many, many others see you as a man. And he wants to make sure you see that. The best he can be is sympathetic, it hurts that he can't necessarily understand you on a deeper level.

However, that does not change how he sees you. Nothing defines masculinity, nor what makes a man in his eyes. Even as a god, he believes there really is no definition to anything, aside from what you make it.

He lets you know exactly that. There is nothing in the world that could change his mind, no insecurity- no matter how big- you find will ever change his view of you.

-Kuai Liang...

originally thinks you are playing a game with him. So suddenly, you disappear. He looks for his sunshine around every corner, every closet, any possible hiding place he can think of. You are the light of his life, your shining brilliance cannot be matched.

So when he finds you sulking in your room, hiding, back turned from him and the world, suddenly concern eclipses his light. The pit in his stomach forms, ever expanding with worry.

Hiding because you do not see yourself as... yourself. You can almost hear his heart shatter. You are afraid other people see this, too. That you are not a man in anyone's eyes.

At first, he believes someone had put this through your head. Someone had told you this, had made you feel this way. And the fire burned within him, something telling him to find whoever had said this to you. Yet, when he finds out it is simply you perceiving everyone else's looks towards you like this, his mind slows down.

Kuai insists you are wrong. His usually calm temper replaced by him adamantly denying that you are seen as anything else. You are a man, regardless. He has never seen you as anything else but one.

Knowing you put yourself down this this claws at him, he partially feels guilty. But he puts in the effort to make you feel exactly like who you are, to bring your radiant light back into his life again.

-Johnny Cage...

can't stand loosing your positivity, your light is an ever-burning warmth that keeps him rather grounded, despite his wit and charm.

He's plunged into sudden darkness when he wakes up to you with your back turned to him, pushed as far away as possible at the edge of the bed. In an instant, it feels like his whole world is ripped away from him.

But, he's determined to make sure it isn't, and he begins with the questioning almost immediately. This was the quickest you've ever seen him wake up. And to find the reason you've pushed yourself away from him is because you don't see yourself how he sees you, and that you are ashamed- no, no. He can't have that.

Johnny cuts you off immediately, showering you and pampering you with affirmations. He does not allow you any room to let your mind twist your identity. He makes it known that you are a man, he sees you as a man, everyone sees you as a man.

He's serious, too. All traces of the signature Cage tone are wiped out, his voice soft, yet heavy. He doesn't let you, not even for a second, get back into your dysphoric mind-space. He tries, real hard, anyways.

Johnny only lets up when he finally sees even a potential smile on your face. And once he's so sure he's affirmed your gender,- and you've affirmed yourself- he's back to his over-the-top persona, bathed in wit and perhaps even a little bit of pride.

© freyito, 2023 | masterlist | queue | kofi DO NOT REPOST AS YOUR OWN OR USE FOR AI/AI CHATBOTS.

[thecoolerliauditore]

pearl needs to run away from Scott. let him GO!!! I promise Pearl, i promise, he doesn't love you. he loves the idea of you. he loves who he thinks you should be. not the real you, not the one with flaws, not the one he traumatized and broke into a million little pieces and had to learn to pick herself back up again, with the help of the very few people who would help her bandaged hands sort through those glass shards. he wouldn't help you then!! he doesnt deserve you now!!!! please girl, LEAVE HIM!!!!

and look. I know she's loyal. I know she'll probably never leave, because she loves the idea of him too, not the person he really is. she loves the memory of her best friend from a past life, not the man who would hurt her and pretends its all her fault. but. BUT hear me OUT.

gems right there. gem, who she wanted to ally with so bad last season. gem who was excited to see her, who welcomed that broken piece of her with open arms and wasn't scared when she met the scarlet pearl. gem, that killed pearl twice, that pearl was still willing to fight a final time, in what would have likely been a third death for pearl. she can go to her. she can GET OUT!!! she can get help, she just has to take that first step. she has to leave herself, but there's someone there she wanted to be friends with last season so bad, she can take that step now!

the only thing holding her back is her own loyalty. she's a dog on a leash of loyalty and now Scott and cleo have the other end. it's just a matter of if she can chew through it to run away or if it'll strangle her first

HELLO anon this is the anon ask that made me lay face up in my bed staring at the ceiling listening to when she loved she from toy story 2 on repeat fyi (it slowly morphed into nonsense speaker the rachie cover specifically over time. always been a pearl song to me but it was a bit melodramatic before this point. if it gets worse i might have to. i might)

It sucks so much it literally it literally sucks. What you said about them both loving ideas of eachother is so on point, they're both chasing something within the other that is innately self-contradictory.

Pearl wants to forgive him, but her version of "forgive" is to forgo her own feelings of spite and not challenge his view on things, which means she can never get the closure she needs to truly forgive him or get back the Scott she knew in LL.

Scott also wants Pearl back, the authentic one he knew in LL, but he also needs to whittle her down (cough) to something acceptable to him (in this case, shamed for her actions during DL) so his narrative doesn't get challenged. But that's not quite the Pearl he knew either! He can't have both a genuine connection with Pearl and have her exist solely as the concept of her he's created in his head, but he needs both and I really can't wait to see how that pans out. This paragraph is insane copium btw I do know I think you're a lot more correct than I am when you say he never actually loved her but I'm delusional. Logical side of me definitely thinks he's comfortable like this and if anyone's going to challenge this dynamic it's gonna be Pearl not Scott but what if man. What if.

Anyway I've seen so many people begging Gem to take Pearl in and I do get it I do. I personally have like one million fantasies about something like that as well. However I am calling on my Martyn Inthelittlewood clause and saying that I also do want to see Pearl deal with the consequences.

I'm so happy you said that she needs to leave herself because goddamn yes she does!! If Gem just kidnaps her that's just taking away her growth! If she does fuck off and join Joel/Gem btw this will be like. an absolutely hilarious parallel to Last Life. Fairy Fort welcome back none of us missed you. Would be fitting for this season.

The collar/leash imagery is so messed up man thanks. Reminds me of this Scott/Cleo fanart I wanted to draw at one point where they're cosplaying as Denji/Makima but in that halloween costume way where they don't know the characters or the implications. Sorry just had to throw that in there.

[ananke-xiii]

(this post doesn't really have a point, just fyi lol)

i've never been a science fiction fan until recently so i'll probably say some stuff and people will be "she's so ignorant" and perhaps they'll be right but i've gotta say it:

time travels in fiction are both super-interesting and extremely boring in the sense that ultimately they all seem to agree on the principle that the past cannot be changed while the future can be re-written and i'm like: meh. what if it's the future that cannot be changed while the past can be? or, better, what if it's the future that controls the narrative of the past? and what about time travellers? all these characters travelling through time and that doesn't change them. like, they're not exactly affected by it. they're still the same.

i remember once i was in middle school and my class went to a conference about i don't remember what and one person at the conference told us a story about an astronaut coming back home from space and the wife was terrified because it was him but it wasn't him at the same time. he was transformed.

it was an amazing horror story. i don't know if it's from a book or a real fact or what but this little story has stuck with me ever since.

so for instance the spn episode "as time goes by" is kinda cool because it takes a different view on the grandfather paradox since it's the grandafather travelling through time to the future rather than his nephews to the past.

however, novikov self-consistency principle is still respected precisely because the grandfather cannot go back in time and change it, aka grandpa must die.

now, if you consider that ultimately spn takes the god is author route you kinda have to make the assumption that it's not the past that matters but the future. as in: god has a planned future that he can never really write and this is what influences the narrative (the past). the story keeps changing and modifying itself because it doesn't want that telos, that future and in this light apocalypse would never happen in spn because the narrative rejects what is supposed to be written but it's never written because they keep changing the script.

this means that henry winchester going back in time would not change the narrative since the telos is already in god's mind and chuck would bend multiple rules and change worlds just to see his future really happening.

so dean and sam preventing henry from going back to john really means that they are the ones who have condemned their father to be fatherless with no real reason because they would be born no matter what (as per god's planned story that he couldn't really write but that he kept editing).

also, all stories seem to tend to a telos, to that ending that's so difficult to write so if you want to feel edgy you use a cycle-structure and you go back to square one but is this fair? (i ask myself while writing something having the cycle-structure in mind, btw i keep writing this cause i don't know the english word for it but i mean a story that has the shape of a cycle lol). this seems to convey the following message: we can't change the past AND we can't write the future we want THEREFORE we will just repeat the past but we will use different ingredients. Or, we will write an unsatisfying ending where everybody is unrealistically happy or conveniently dead.

it seems to me that the past can't be changed because we think it can can't be changed and so the stories are always the same and we keep re-telling them because we're not getting what they want to tell us. i think they're telling us that we can change them, they are actually there to be changed. like, the past wants to be changed.

the grandpa wants to go back in time and be with his son, let him go!!!

(woah. this is a convoluted post. if you're still here i think we can be friends)

[timelyrmdoodle]

Perusing your Royal Margarine playlist because of course I am (rm enjoyer) and I'm REALLY invested in the musical vibes..... Could you talk about what made you put some of these songs in the playlist? You don't have to explain the decision-making process for the inclusion of Every song on there, just the ones you'd like to discuss :)

Also saw Cannibal Queen by Miniature Tigers on there and 1) YAYYY I LOVE THAT SONG AND BAND 2) I enjoy it for RM 😊 if you were willing to listen to another Miniature Tigers song (especially for RM), I would recommend Bullfighter Jacket

YESYES YES GGGGRGEHRGRGRHRG MY PLAYLIST IS SO IMPORTANT TO ME, HALF OF MY DISEASE COMES FROM THERE, IM SICK, IM SICK, OOOUUUGHH THIS MAN, IVE DEDICATED HOURS OF MY LIFE TO HIM

ahem

Most of the songs I have on there can fall into a few categories, there's a lot of stuff so let's see if I can list them out, uhhh...

Songs that reflect his mental state and the way the acts, why he does things, what he's actually thinking underneath, things like that. (Some examples of those I'd say are like, My ugly, Puppet loosely strung, Noel's lament, The view from halfway down, One big beautiful sound, and many others that I can't list or else we'll be here all day.) Most of those songs end up being from musicals, because musical songs are really meant for showing character and that works great for my purposes. Also they're quite jazzy and swing-y for lack of a better term, which I think it fits him pretty well!

Pining and breakup songs, because holy shit look at him. You cannot tell me this man hasn't had like, so many people that he pines for or had a crush on at some point. *Slaps trunk of car* this bad boy can fit so many unrequited crushes in him. RM to me is the kind of guy that gets crushes very easily and very fast, and the worst thing is they're pretty genuine! He's just, terrible at commitment and honestly uses romance to not have to think about the parts of his life that he doesn't want, so he puts all his self worth into romance specifically. I'm going to squish him.

Songs that just generally fit his vibes to me tbh? I have at least a few instrumentals in there, and they give me him thoughts so I put them in. It's fun to imagine him being stupid and goofy and dancing tango (I still wanna animate that someday)

Sad ass songs because yeah. These fit in the first category, but they also deserve their own category because there's just, too many of them. HE DOESN'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT HIS EMOTIONS, BUT HE HAS SO MANY OF THEM. God please let him actually be genuine and open up God please.

Thirst trap songs I stole from some edits online. Next.

Sometimes shitpost songs that I think are funny and yet they still fit him, like blonde boyz and red flags. It's funny idk what to tell you. I don't have too many of those on there but I am accepting more because they make my day.

Songs that make me think of animatics and scenes!! These also go for a lot of musical songs, but also JHARIAH WHEN I CATCH YOU JHARIAH. Usually these make me sad!

Usually, a song will definitely fit these categories, but it's also very VERY common that I will just, grab a song and streeeecth it meaning wise so it can fit in his playlist because I already liked that song before and I like my blorbo being associated with one of my favorite songs. There are so many of those in there.

And I think that's it? I might've missed some category, but that's fine. I can also definitely go into specific detail about each and every song on that playlist if asked but I will not do that on this post because that would be SO MANY WORDS. Indulge me someday perhaps however, if you dare.

(And btw, I listened to that song!! I like it a lot!! It is in his playlist now :) stoopid pining man <3)

[zoeykallus]

Hi! If you’re taking requests I would wonder, how would TBB + Rex react to reader being unfaithful, hooking up with someone else? Maybe their relationship was never verbally made officially so reader thought it was okay, idk. Can make NSFW, fluff, sad, angry, smut, however you want! I love your work btw :)

Oh dear...

Aloha! Okay, my first impulse is to ask why would you do such a thing, if you could have a batcher 😂 I surely wouldn't, either way 😁 To each their own. But I'm curious how the guys would react to that. Let's see...

The Bad Batch x Fem!Reader HCs - Unfaithful

Warnings: Suggestive In Parts/Strong Language/Hurt/Angst/There Might Be Some Fluff too

___________________

What's Going On:

From time to time you've been intimate, but your batcher, and you haven't set any hard and fast rules, neither you nor he titles you as a couple yet, at least you haven't verbally. So when you go out with a cute guy after a party and get intimate with that very guy, you don't really think much of it. The only problem is that the guy in question likes to make a name for himself with his bedtime stories and brags about them. Your batcher gets wind of it.

___________________

Ko-Fi (If you feel like giving me some coffee)

Hunter

At first, he's flabbergasted when one of the other bar patrons, who he knows quite well by now, tells him how some guy bragged about having slept with you and would also reveal wild details about it. "I thought because you two are kind of close that maybe you should know," the acquaintance from the bar ends his explanation. Hunter blinks, he nods slowly and mumbles, "Thanks." He just sits there for a moment, then from one second to the next his pulse races, adrenaline is produced in his body. It takes him a second or two to realize he's pissed off. Hunter points to the guy in the booth at the other end of Cid's Bar and asks, "That one over there?" His buddy nods. "You sure?" Another nod. Hunter stands up, walking purposefully toward the booth and stands next to it, practically directly in the field of view of your one-night stand. Hunter approaches him about it, and the guy completely misinterprets Hunter's interest. He starts bragging again and is already getting into some details. Hunter is not even sure if the guy is just lying completely, or if there's at least some truth to it.

He is so angry, he wants to break the guy's nose. His whole posture is tense, his look so gloomy that even a Sith would hide under the bed. Everyone in the bar knows that he is about to beat someone up, except this one. He is not an aggressive person, he doesn't want to be. But right now he's holding back with absolute effort. Hunter turns around and wants to leave again, wants to try to vent his frustration in another way. But he is barely two steps away from the table as he snaps. "Fuck it..." He turns back around, goes back to the booth, and takes one quick, solid punch. The nose bone breaks, clearly audible, despite the music in the bar. The guy is almost unconscious, he's bleeding, his eyes are watering, and he looks at Hunter, confused and uncomprehending. "Don't you ever touch her again, and don't you dare tell anyone this story again, or I'll come back and break the rest"

He avoids you for the next few days, but sooner or later he brings it up. Hunter is disappointed in you, he was sure that you knew how much the thing between you two meant to him, even though you didn't call it by its name until now. You have an adult, enlightening conversation, finally saying honestly what you think and feel. However, Hunter is now bruised in some ways. He will have a hard time really opening up to you again and trusting you. The possibility exists, but this requires a lot of patience on your part.

Echo

He sits at the bar counter and can't believe it. He stares at the glass in front of him as if he can find any answers in it. It was so hard for him to open up to you intimately, after all he had been through in the past. Echo felt safe with you, understood, loved. Now he has a stomach ache and somehow his chest is getting tighter. That he has to hear from a stranger, how you sleep with other men feels like he has been beaten up properly, several times. He knows that some couples do that, but he never thought that you would want that. He doesn't know whether to be angry or disappointed. Echo is just not sure if this is somehow his fault. Maybe he should have told you very clearly how he felt, what he hoped for from things between you. He just hadn't dared yet, didn't want to impose. Echo is ashamed. A little bit he feels like you not only betrayed his trust and broke his heart, he feels exposed, embarrassed. Just a few hours ago, he was harping to his brothers about how insanely great you are and how happy you make him. Shortly after, they all heard the dirty little story.

When you come into the bar and see him sitting there, you already suspect that something is wrong. When you speak to him, he can barely look at you, his gaze alternating between pain and stony. He officially ends things between you, he also explains why. You are welcome to explain yourself, but it doesn't matter, shit hit the fan already. It's very likely that Echo won't come out of his shell too soon, at least not for you.

Wrecker

What he hears worries him. Wrecker's first impulse is to seek you out immediately, which he does. When you meet, you immediately notice that something is wrong. He seems unsettled and not at all like you have come to know him. "What's wrong, big guy?" you ask him gently. He sits down with you and sighs heavily. "Just heard a story in the bar that made me feel insecure," he says directly. You frown questioningly. "What kind of story?" Wrecker tells you about how this guy brags about having been in bed with you and throws around details from that night. Naturally, you're startled and also angry. Angry that this guy has so little decency, but you push this anger into the background for now. You're much more concerned with the fact that Wrecker is so affected by this. "Apart from the fact that this asshole has no right to spread this around. What exactly upsets you about it?" you ask cautiously. Wrecker wears his heart on his sleeve, actually, always, including now. "I thought something serious was developing between us. Do you see it differently?" he asks directly.

At first, you're a little speechless, but then you tell him, "Well, I thought there was a possibility, but we never talked about it, so I wasn't sure. The guy was just a one-time slip, I don't usually get involved with idiots like that." Wrecker sighs again and says, "I don't have much experience with relationships and how to get them rolling. When the Republic still existed, I wasn't allowed to do anything like that, so everything always happened without ties, without promises and such. Maybe that's why I didn't say the right words, didn't do the right things to make you feel like I only wanted you and hoped it would be the other way around". You look at him with a soft little smile and say, "I'm very happy to hear that Wrecker. Believe me, I really didn't mean to hurt you. I just wasn't sure where I stood." Wrecker says softly, "I'd really like you and me to be together, you know, exclusively." Wrecker knows that everything isn't always black and white, and he's looking forward to exploring with you what exactly you want from a relationship together. He won't give up that quickly.

Tech

He is completely flabbergasted at the first moment. Then he's very angry, disappointed, scared and insecure. Tech is annoyed with the guy, but also with you. He wants to hurt this guy, but instead of seeking confrontation, he wants to talk to you first, see what's up with this. When you confirm the veracity of the story, Tech is blindsided. "You can't be serious," he says quietly. "I... yes, I am, unfortunately." Tech falls silent for a very long, uncomfortable moment. You say carefully, "Somehow, I didn't get the feeling you wanted to be serious. In front of other people, you always treated me like a buddy, not a loved one." Suddenly breaking the silence, he sounds half upset, half sad. "Because I'm... shy and think that such things are private. I thought we both had something special. We've shared intimate closeness, several times. Something I couldn't imagine at all before. I've opened up to you, made myself vulnerable." You blink and at first you don't know what to say, of course you're sorry for upsetting him like that.

Quietly, disappointedly, he adds, "I feel like you've trampled on my trust and danced all over it." "A very flowery metaphor," you say softly. He glares at you angrily. Tech will back off, tell you to stay away from him from now on, he won't listen to any reasonable words. But it won't be two days before he's trailing after you again, talking about a second chance. If you go for it, get ready for Tech to be very controlling and jealous from now on. This will eventually subside to some degree, but it will take a long time. Tech feels deeply, so he is also very sensitive, but also passionate. With a little effort and patience, you'll smooth it out.

Crosshair

After breaking the nose and fingers of the guy who just told him about a hot night with you ("These hands will never touch my girl again, is that clear?!"), he makes his way to you. Crosshair growls your name as he walks into the room, and a chill immediately runs down your spine. You know even before you turn around and look at him that he's pissed. You slowly turn and look at him out of wide eyes. His gaze literally cuts into yours. "I guess I'm not enough for you", he growls. You blink. "What?" "Fucking around?" Your mouth drops open, and you stare at him, stunned. "Excuse me?" Crosshair murmurs, "The night after the party you went to last weekend." A light slowly dawns on you. "Oh."

For one thing, you didn't really expect him to find out about it, and besides, you weren't even thinking about the guy anymore. "That's all you have to say, just an oh?" You cross your arms in front of your chest and say, "Since when are we exclusive?" He pushes you up against the table behind you and growls, "Since the first damn day! Did you want a contract, maybe? Or a written invitation to a relationship?" You shrug, but at the same time your thighs part almost automatically, leaving him between them as he presses closer to you. "You could have just said you wanted a relationship," you say meekly. "Kitten," Crosshair says seriously, "We've been intimate several times, we've dated, I didn't think I needed to explain." You snort and at the same moment his hand grabs your chin. "I want you to be mine and mine alone". You can barely avoid his intense gaze. Crosshair, kisses your neck, up to your ear and whispers to you, "How many times do you want me to fuck you to satisfy your hunger?" He will be more vigilant from now on, but he will not control you. However, if you ever become intimate with someone else again, he will clearly break up with you, and no amount of begging will ever soften him. The first time, it was still a case of giving the defendant the benefit of the doubt, he won't let it slip a second time, at all.

@rintheemolion

@andyoufollowyourheart @clone-whore-99

@brynhildrmimi @kaliel2310

@misogirl828 @tech-deck

@meshla-madalene

@chxpsi

@thebahdbitch

@nahoney22 @ladykatakuri

@darkangel4121

@ttzamara

@arctrooper69

@padawancat97

@agenteliix

@allsystemsblue

@palliateclaw

@either-madness-or-brilliance

@ortizshinkaroff

@andy-solo1

@hunterssecretrecipe

@heyitsaloy

@greaser-wolf

@extrahotpixels

@hated-by-me

@hunterxcrosshair

@malicemercy

@bebopsworld

@echos-girlfriend

@cpnt616

@dangraccoon

@jediknightjana

@pb-jellybeans

@antishadow2021

@sleepycreativewriter

@projectdreamwalker

@1vlouds

@starwarsnerd111

[mastersoftheair]

So just to clear the air (and I guess my massive confusion) Harry never slept with Sandra, correct? I gotta say I need to read his memoir at this point as he is so intriguing to me, as well as masters of the air book, but like you said it’s a “blink and miss it” thing. I didn’t interpret it as anything more than having a few friendly conversations. It was more about emotional infidelity to me than physical, but given the circumstances and that exact heartbreaking point in time for Harry I can’t find it in me to blame either of them.

for me, ig i'm coming at my position from a place of bias. i'd read crosby's "a wing and a prayer" sometime in either 2021 or 2022 (those years blend together tbh), so i've had a lot of time to think about those 2 and their relationship and i lean towards "yeah, it likely happened" (this is a long response btw bc i'm quoting from the memoir):

crosby introduces his new friend, alexandra "landra" wingate (aka sandra westgate), in the chapter "learning about americans from the british" (this chapter was basically what we see in episode 6). moving on from this tho–

in the chapter "with landra in london", he expands on their growing relationship and the reader learns more about landra (she is genuinely Such an interesting person, and probably a spy). crosby writes about her with such admiration, regularly bringing up how smart she is. also, she's a captain!

this chapter's pretty important in how i formed my opinion on the matter. i understand the argument that the closeness of their relationship was intentionally left vague, but this chapter reads in a way that makes it feel Heavily implied despite not saying a lot (especially alongside crosby's emphasis on his wife jean being "four thousand miles away", as well as his own loneliness and despair wrt to all the missing and dead). there are some standout lines here:

-"I had Jean at home and Landra in England." (not a red flag, but it's a flag) -"I started seeing Landra every time I could." (cool) -"All I knew was that [Landra] was making my life much more endurable." (also cool) -"I did not tell Jean about Landra." (the last sentence of the chapter. it gave me pause and almost instantly reshaped the way i viewed that whole chapter)

the next chapter, "r&r with jean", crosby recalls how much the war took a toll on both him and his relationships. for a time, jean wrote more letters to croby than the other way around ("I began to skip writing to her."). i assume crosby must've been radiating Exceptionally negative energy bc he gets told this: "Croz, we can't stand to have you around. We want you back, but we want you to go home for a while." (i found the phrasing here really funny tbh. your vibes Suck! just Get Out of here!!)

so, crosby contemplates seeing jean again, wondering how both of them may have changed. he also brings up landra, for Some Reason: "What would I think of her? Protected in the States as she was, how would she compare to Landra? Now that I had grown so much, had such experiences, how would Jean and I fit together?"

the rest of the chapter Is about meeting and catching up with jean, however, and you can tell that he loves her a Ton. it's very sweetly written (he also basically ends the chapter saying "btw, we conceived our first child ;) ")

the final chapter about landra is "london junket" which begins with "When I returned from the United States and my idyll with Jean, I knew I had to do something about Landra." i think that sentence alone is pretty damning. if landra was just a friend, why would you be anxious about calling a friendship off? is it a guilt thing?

the context here is that crosby feels Far less lonely and depressed. he's met up with jean, life in london is finally "a delight". i found that important bc it gives me the impression that crosby desperately wanted companionship (possibly of two kinds), and he found that in landra– a friend and a maybe a [REDACTED]. now that he's having a great time with his friends in the 100th And he's met up with his wife, that itch's been scratched (that's just my opinion tho). bc of that, he decides to say goodbye to landra. they have this exchange:

"When a month passed after you were to return, and you did not phone me," she said, "I suspected that it was over. You found things good with Jean?" I told her about R&R in the U.S. I told her more about Jean. I told her about Stephen Patrick, Jeffrey Allen, or Evalyn. "When I realized you were gone," she said, "I no longer said no to a nice American at my office. I have been with him several times. I like him." (interesting) "I’m glad." (also interesting) "He is not married, He is not so dashing as you, but we have good times together." Me "dashing"? That was not my self-image. So much for Landra."

all put together (and with over 2 years to think about it), i Really kinda saw That Scene coming. but, like i said, i had that bias. and since i'd had a good amount of time to think about them, i came out the other end still excited to see them on screen. i found (and still find) landra a fascinating woman who must've had an exciting life (crosby's okay too ig lol). i also see them as a couple of imperfect, even selfish, 20somethings (speaking as an imperfect and selfish 20something). not to be corny, but "it takes 2 to tango". landra is Very intelligent, and crosby recounts how that aspect of hers left him in awe. she'd've 100% known the guy was married. and if signs point to her having had sex with the man, then she either made peace with it or simply didn't care (a lot of women are like that). plus, they're real people and real people contain multitudes idk. maybe some wife somewhere across the atlantic is hard to care about if you've never met her and never will. maybe it's hard to consider your wife's feelings in the midst of your own misery. a female character doesn't have to be wholesome and pure to be considered well-written. that certainly doesn't apply to most male characters. like you said, no one is perfect!

maybe, crosby left it vague out of respect to his wife. maybe it's vague bc nothing happened anyway (funny way to write it tho). maybe the wingate family wanted to avoid association with MotA bc it Literally didn't happen. or maybe they know it happened, but want to keep her name clean out of respect (who wants one brief relationship that happened 80 yrs ago to define you/your loved one decades later? that's 100% understandable). whichever the case, even crosby's kids are in a 50/50 split. i still lean towards "it happened", but it doesn't make me dislike either of them. they're flawed and i can respect that more than the show portraying either as picture perfect.

NONE of this is to say that i'm cool with cheating (or giving a "world war cheating pass", so to speak). while i find it realistic, it still wouldn't have been fair to jean, whether she knew about it or not (being a woman in the 1940s wasn't easy by any stretch). this Also isn't to dismiss anyone else's opinion on the matter, bc cheating on your partner is still a shitty thing to do. this whole spiel of mine is bc i like to share my opinions and i'm allergic to being concise. i write like i talk and on all levels except physical, anon, i'm giving you a long-winded rant over coffee and croissants lol

thanks for the ask!

[hatredmadeofgold]

I'm a terrible person with words, but here I go. (using a translator, my English is a little shit when it comes to writing and a little bit when it comes to pronunciation, ha!)

I would like to say with ALL my heart that I love your work and the writing in "Sing to Me", my heartbeat even accelerates when I remember the existence of this work of art and how wonderful the sensation was, the euphoric feeling of read each chapter and see all the care and dedication put into it. I have immense affection for Raiden, Sam (and Monsoon :)). Seeing how complex they are in the story brings me immense satisfaction, and I just wish all the positive recognition for you, it's impeccable.

(There's a lot I'd like to express, like my hyperfocus- but hey, I'm a terrible person at showing appreciation and affection, I hope you got the message anyway :))

hugs and kisses from a Brazilian! 🇧🇷❤

Oi, não se preocupa! Não sou falante nativo, mas entendi muito bem. Da próxima vez, você pode me escrever em pt-br (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)

Thank you so much!! I am really happy to know that you enjoy my work 💕 Honestly, every time someone tells me that they enjoy Sing to Me so much, I am getting really happy. This fic means a lot to me and gives me lots of strength and stability, although on the outside it might look that I am not doing much for it for the past year (I do, it's just background work that I can't show T_T massive spoilers and so on). But I mean, I kept saying that each time somebody came to my inbox about it for the last months.

And I am so glad to know that you're feeling like this for each chapter you've read so far! This fic in itself is really complex and long, I could give you a rough estimate of around ~100 Chapters for the main story (Those would be just arc 1-3, the series, however, has 6 arcs in total excluding the 2 AUs). Sooo... let me say, you've got a lot to look forward to, I suppose :3

Also I hope that you'll be curious about the revisions too. Chapter 5 and 6 will have a darker tone than their current version that is on AO3 at the moment, but also will be much better in quality. Chapter 6 will have major changes I think, especially the second halve of it. I am all giddy and excited myself whenever I think about all the plans I have for this story. The drama, the comedy, the (bitter-) sweetness, but also the chaos, the pain and the darker parts of this fic. I wish I could go on a ramble but it's so many spoilers lmao And I don't want to take that away from my readers. If anything, I might drop a few essays about Raiden and Sam that I've got on my to-do list at some point, that in some cases will directly tie to Sing to Me as well.

The series also goes in great detail about Sam's past and who he is as a person because I was a bit dissatisfied with how most fics for this pairing at least that I've read didn't come up with much for his past (but I still liked all of them regardless), hence I went a little bit insane about him. To the point that Sam is technically my OC now (according to my beta reader) lmao

Jsyk, this is my current graph view of my Obsidian vault for Sing to Me and all the dots that connect to him:

My vault is an absolute mess still tbh because the program is a bit overwhelming when you don't know where to start, so this is far from how complex this fic actually even is.

What I can tell you pretty much spoiler free is that the series is complex because timeline wise, it starts in the year of 2001 and ends (technically) in the year of 2026. I say technically because ARC3.5: The War in Heaven goes a bit crazy with science fiction elements and time is... let's say, "relative". The main fic spans from 2019 until 2023 btw.

The prequel (ARC0: I Come with Knives) is entirely about Sam's past, from his POV entirely, and a collaboration with @thatthereneverwas since he originally requested me to write it. Basically adding more Sam lore that we definitely need :3

Please don't hesitate to come to my inbox or DMs if you want to chat about Sing to Me, samuraiden or just Sam or Raiden with me! I don't bite :] Monsoon is also my favourite from the Winds of Destruction aside from Sam, so I get you! I've been thinking of maybe including him in the fic as well, but it's uncertain how so yet, and if it will just be a flashback of some sort 🤔 But I take notes as I go, we'll see :3

Beijos pra você também 💞

[mysticalgardensandwich]

FEM ALIGNED DNI!

This is going to be price x male reader I case you didn't look at tags😋💪

Warnings: death, loss of a loved one, kidnapping, blood, and much more

M/n (you) and price are married btw!

It's had been a few days sense you had texted price but that would happen sometimes because you get busy sometimes and same with price

Price was calm and only mentioned it once when Soap had asked how you were

When on break for the holidays Price, Soap, Gaz, and Ghost would come over and stay a night

Ghost normally stayed the whole time (family stuff yk yk) but you and price didn't care and actually enjoyed the fact he stayed

When Ghost's mental health would take a massive toll randomly he would try and hide it but you would notice

So you started to help ghost find things that can help him, you had your own fare share of mental problems so ghost didn't feel alone

It got to the point with ghost he called you his dad once (he told you do never mention that to anyone... You told price) and even felt comfortable taking off his mask

So nobody expected a call on ghosts phone during training

Ghost awnsered and was confused

It was your neighbor telling him how you had been gone and that he didn't see you so he grabbed the mail and there was a letter for price and if he wanted it dropped off to the base or if he just wanted price to hear it now

Price decided to have the neighbor read it to him

He didn't expect a letter giving a location saying that they have you and if you don't give them information or he didn't come with information that they would kill you

Ghost and Price wanted to leave to that location as soon as possible but Lawell wouldn't let them

When they looked up the location barely anything came up, like, not even a picture of the place

It had been about a week and during dinner Ghost got another call so he awnsered it

Ghost: hello who is this?

?? : this is Ghost correct?

Ghost: yes? Why must you know

?? : should we show them him?

??? : he's out cold right now dumbass

Ghost: what the fuck are you guys talking about!?

?? : are you on speaker?

Ghost: yes??

?? : M/n price ring a bell?

Price: WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM!

?? : want to see?

The camera was then turned on and faced towards a h/c male who's head was down but you could tell he was in really bad condition, "we didn't cut out his tongue don't worry, he can still talk" everyone that was by Ghosts phone was frozen in shock. Price made all the recruits and other people leave and they all listened going to their respective rooms "wake him up" suddenly another male came into view and walked up to m/n knife in hand, he then dug it into an already open wound making it even worse, right as he started to move the knife the male woke up and started to scream in pain. The camera got close and the person behind it pushed the male that was digging the knife in the wound away "get a stool, we will be nice and let him talk to you, not like he knows where the fuck he is right now" the phone was then set on a stool still facing the h/c male and then the two men left.

Price: M/n?! M/n are you awake??

M/n: I'm awake love don't worry

Soap: we told Laswell about the current situation she's going to send people out for you. She won't let us go through so please be-

M/n: don't send anyone out, it's a trap, please,

Ghost: m/n we need to find you so we can make sure you are ok

M/n: It's ok Si. Even if the team does get here I think you all know what they would find

Price: don't say that m/n please

M/n: Don't cry guys

Ghost: we will find you m/n.....i don't care how but we will get you and you will be-

M/n: Hey Gaz..

Gaz: Yeah

M/n: take care of the others for me, please

Ghost : M/n don't say that, you can leave me, you can't leave us, please m/n stay alive however you-

M/n: Calm down Si. Remember our breathing exercises, stay calm, don't panic, count your surroundings

Price: do whatever you need for these people to set you free, anything I don't care just don't die please

M/n: Just remember guys. Remember who your are becasue you shouldn't be afraid of losing someone, you should be afraid of losing yourself

Right as that was said there was a sound of a door being opened and then the phone was picked up and the camera was turned off "any last words to these people. Unless you do have information" "I love you guys, I love you Simon, I love you price, see you soon" then the call ended.

(Mini time skip)

The people Laswell sent out had just driven to the base and got out the car with guilt and sad faces, then two of them went into the back of the car and grabbed three people "these are the people..." Everyone was relieved to have the kidnappers but they also questioned where you were "what about m/n?" The team shared a look then they looked down "when we got to the location he... Wasn't there.....only thing left was tons and tons of blood" immediately the three people, two men and one woman were taken into questioning

Nobody fessed up on what they had done to you or if you were alive, this was until price had enough and walked into a room where Gaz was with an about 5'7, brown hair, average looking male and started to scare the absolute hell out of the guy. Price was taller than him, stronger than him, and could easily rip the man in half if he wanted, this made the guy fess up saying they had ended up ripping your tongue out and after they made sure you had died they left you in a trash can behind the house. To call Price furious was an understatement. He's had to be forced out the room so he wouldn't beat the life out of the guy, finally the three people had been taken fully away and were going to be taken to court and then Gaz, Soap, Price, Ghost, Laswell, and others showed up to the house to find you.

They called the police and investigaters were on their way, when they found your body and they all saw what you looked like price couldn't help but let out a scream while crying. You were his husband. His lover. The person who took care of him all the time. Now he was looking at your lifeless and beaten up body, barely able to realize what was old and what had been done recently.

(Time skip. The team are all now retired and no longer in the military)

Ghost officially moved in with Price and they both helped comfort each other along with Gaz and Soap helping and when they need comfort the others would be there waiting with open arms. It was the anniversary of the first time you had met the team so they were all over at Price's place, this time Soap deicided to bring over a few nieces and nephews because they had wanted to meet the others.

Price was sitting on the couch watching the younger kids look around when a young boy pointed to a picture of you in a library with a drink in hand "Uncle Johnny who's this? He's very pretty!" Price got up and went over to the picture grabbing it the same time Soap, Gaz, and Ghost had walked in but because they were behind them Price didn't notice. "This is my husband, his name is m/n. He is very beautiful isn't he? He knows your uncle" the way Price was talking about you made the three males heart melt, the amount of love and admiration in his voice was unimaginable "I wanna meet him! Where is he? is he in the military like you guys were?" Price looked back down at the picture and brushed his finger over your face "he's no longer alive buddy, I'm sorry, I wish you could meet him, he was so sweet and caring, he would spoil you guys rotten. He always had a love for children." The young boy hugged price as much as he could and as tight as he could "it's ok! He's always going to be with you. It's like something I heard once " don't be scared of losing someone, be afraid of losing yourself" meaning that you should always remember who you are and don't forget that" price couldn't help but hug the smaller boy while tears welled up in his eyes.

"Why don't we visit him? You might not be able to talk to him but you can visit his grave" Ghost walked in slowly making sure not to scare them to badly "I have stuff you can leave at his grave if you want" price and the younger boy let go and he nodded happily "let me go get my siblings then we can all visit pretty person!" And like that the young boy was running to get his siblings.

They drove to your grave and all of soaps nieces and nephews Introduced themselves then placed down your favorite snack and a flower of their choosing "let's give Price so space alright kiddos?" They all nodded and watched and price took a picture of you and placed it down along with your favorite flower "I miss you m/n. Sorry I didn't visit last week. I love you so much. I wish you could be here to see how much the others and I have grown. I don't know where you are now but just know you got justice and the three people who hurt you are gone. I'll see you again next week darling" price kissed the headstone that had your name, and date of birth on it and the date of death on it then stood up turning to the others "who wants to go get some food?" Everyone nodded and started walking back to the car Ghost and Price walking next to each other the look of a thousand years of guilt but also happiness on there faces

"𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨𝐨"

THIS ACTUALLY MADE ME CRY💀. ALSO THIS GOT DELETED LIKE THREE TIMES SO I'VE HAD TO REWRITE IT SO MUCH IT'S UNREAL. I didn't expect this to be so long but 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ anyways bye bye

[vacantgodling]

❤️❤️❤️❤️ ramble ACTIVATE

RAMBLE TIME ACTIVATED! i'm gonna do the same thing that you did and do multiple wips :D sooo wheel randomizer here we come lol

(1) atreyus and the black knight (aka the worthless war universe)

so i don't know if i mentioned it to anyone yet, however worthless war is kind of getting a league of other short stories centered around the entire situation and concept of worthless war. these stories are going to stick in specific tenses/POVs to communicate a specific aspect of the story and what it says about them and how they view the world.

so atreyus's pov is always second person (and is the pov character from worthless war proper)--his narrative pronoun will always be "you" because for him, the trauma of the war is an out of body experience; the person on the battlefield doesn't feel like him and he has a hard time connecting to his life after the war, so he uses "you" to create distance between himself and his memories.

the black knight (who will never get a name beyond this btw) is always going to have an "i" narrative pronoun because he is DEEPLY entrenched in his trauma. the ptsd is strong with this one. so every time he thinks about the war and what happened its like he's reliving everything. you can see that in this poem which is apart of the universe: knights on a dangerous quest

lucasta (atreyus's childhood sweetheart/wife) will have one or two short narratives in this as well, and she will always have a third person narrative; and following with the theme its because she didn't experience the war directly, so she has no personal attachment to it. she only sees how it affects atreyus.

(2) broken clouds

welp i was gonna try and find the old art that i had of green just for the sake of having something to put here, but tbh i searched through all my sketchbooks and whilst i know it is there somewhere i can't find where and that is annoying LMAO. ig the only thing i have to ramble about is i still am not sure if i want to add dulce to this wip or not; like i love dulce and he's such a fun character to draw and i do miss drawing him (since broken clouds is less of a wip and more of a bunch of unrelated doodles) but at the same time idk if he'd fit in with the crew. i also feel like i should redesign gator--i've had their design for years, but i just hate drawing their hair LMAO.

(3) the virgin of mt heredosa (aka the star child)

so, the star child and the universe of the virgin of mt heredosa, are something my partner and i recently combined into one universe so its kind of a cowritten endeavor. y'all saw my art of naseer, my ANGEL BOY i would kill for him, but he's the second kind of most important mc here--the main character of the first half of the star child is named hassan and tl;dr he's a demigod--his father is a god of war (who is actually verin from mt heredosa's eldest brother and the only one who did not shift the blame of their father's death onto him. he was unable to overrule the rest of their siblings so after verin was banished he left of his own accord and ended up becoming the main deity of the land that the star child takes place in) and his mother was a human, but became a goddess after she gave birth to him. tl;dr hassan had to be half human bc #prophecy shit.

the biggest issue with the land of the star child is that most of the ethnic groups and tribes are p much under forced occupation and slavery via a tyrant king and hassan basically is a chosen one not really but kinda is that overthrows said tyrant king and ends up becoming the new ruler of the place. he has a band of friends who help him out, as well his eventual wife and future queen, tisana who is actually a lovely trans lady :) they end up being chosen bc they were successful to raise the Actual prophecy tm child naseer because naseer is literally a young god birthed from the stars tm. hence the title, the star child :DD

i love these characters and this story a lot and i get to do So Much worldbuilding for it so i'm real excited about it :DD

(4) gothica

something about gothica is tbh idk if i'm ever gonna change the title the shit is just stuck now 😭😭 i originally gave it that (well, technically gofficka) as a temporary title because i was taking inspiration from kinda... shit written dark romance ya novels and my immortal LMAO and i remember when i read my immortal in one of the chapters she spelled gothic as "goffick" or something like that, so i named it that to be cheeky and then i started spelling it gothica and now idk what else to name it. like i could give it a more usual style title but i think it harks back to the campy roots of this mess so i'm kind of inclined to keep it. idk man LOL.

[these-emo-thoughts]

Maybe I'm reaching but like, hear me out (if you want).

So I originally thought that the Last Twilight novel (the book inside the show) was representing Day and the acceptance of his situation. The blurb is very telling of that and it makes sense from a creative point of view, as it is synonymous with the premise of the show.

Hello. My name is Mee. I'm about to fade away. According to the myth, only sunshine can break the curse Or perhaps I'm just having a nightmare Who knows? Tonight, when I close my eyes, all of this will vanish.

While we don't know what is going to happen at the end, we can gather that this applies to Day. He's going blind, it's obviously a hard thing for him to accept because it's totally changed his life - he can't play badminton anymore, he's terrified of being pitied by his friends, he doesn't feel comfortable going outside, etc. He's also not sure if he'll get the cornea replacement (he always says "when", btw, whenever he talks about this; I'm not as hopeful as I always say "if"). The book was also recommended to him by Aon, who knows what he's going through, therefore of course, it's meant to be a parallel about Day's situation.

But, I'm stuck on one line: "Only sunshine can break the curse."

I think that this line also applies to Mhok, and really goes to show just how similar the two of them are in their individual battles. While Mhok is not the character going blind, his life has been a shitshow. Parents dead, sister gone, unable to pay for uni, sent to prison for 6 months, drowning in debt, down-on-his-luck, no job, bad reputation... his life is "cursed", until he gets to work for Day. So, if that is his curse, then sunshine can break it.

Sunshine = Day.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

Day is in a dark place; however, little by little, with Mhok's support, he's slowly breaking out of it. By episode 3, Day is eating out of his room and walking around the house to get his own sauce for his food, and he's facing his fears by going outside to the university he was scared of returning to and to a busy marketplace while taking public transport. Sure it doesn't go smoothly, but he's trying. And, with Mhok's help, he's succeeding. What Day doesn't know, is that Mhok is in his own dark place because of his past experiences. And every tiny step to success that Day makes isn't just breaking him out of his "blindness" curse; it's breaking Mhok out of his "darkness" curse. He's learning so much from Day, whether it be purely from a standpoint to help support him further or from a standpoint of slowly falling in love. It's in the way he looks at him, smiles at him, protects him, looks out for him. Day is giving Mhok hope, just as Mhok is doing the same for him; they're breaking each other out of the physical and metaphorical darkness, so that they can see the light in their situations and overcome their obstacles.

The other lines in that blurb can also apply to Mhok too:

About to fade away: The hopelessness he felt after being released from gaol, with nobody wanting to commit to offering him a job because of his past.

I'm just having a nightmare: See above, about his curse.

Who knows?: Very telling of his attitude. Mhok is very "go-with-the-flow", nonchalant. He doesn't have solid, well-thought plans. Whatever the future holds, who knows?

So while the Last Twilight novel is a commentary in the show about Day, I think that it applies to Mhok as well.

Thank you for reading to the end, if you did. This might be incoherent rambling, but it's been on my mind since my 2nd rewatch of Episode 3. (2nd rewatch of lord knows how many by now. I just love this show so damn much).

[not-goldy]

Btw . Just maturity or age of followers aren't everything. Where they based at matters too. Not every country is market for luxury brands.

And if majority followers fall outside of a brand's target market, they aren't going for that idol no matter how many "young fans" they might have. They aren't going to invest in that idol to "nurture his young followers" and wait years for them to grow up and never convert to a sale because they live in an economy where luxury brands can't have a market, yet.

What you're saying works for non luxury brands. Affordable, easily available, basic necessity and young fans across all countries can buy them.

Young fans are helpful when it comes to engagement through likes/views etc. That's good short term benefit.

But bts are music artists mainly, not social media influencers. They need people to engage in their art, buy and listen to their music and especially need fans in big music markets such as US/Europe etc, to stay relevant in the music industry. Bts' association with certain famous people can only take their career so far. It's their own art that'll take them as far as they can go. Otherwise with large followers who care less about their musuc, they'll become just another Kardashian and eventually fade from the music industry. And young fans might see another pretty face, hot body and move on.

Well I can only speak about metrics I know of and I don't know which country majority of their fanbase reside. Do share with the class if you know.🙂

I can only make wild guesses whom among BTS has a large western fanbase.

It's easy to say that is Jungkook or Jimin however I think in latter years they have been making music to appeal to their audience and for Tae to be hammering in on English songs long before Kook we can assume he has a lot of English speaking fans too🙂

An audience based in the US would of course be of more value to a marketer than an audience emanating from a 3rd country. That's a giving.

But for a kpop idol a large Korean fanbase is what's relevant to them and their career. Their western audience is just another metric they can leverage in brand deals. Not only do they meet the local market target they get eyeballs on your product from all over the world- but if the brand doesn't supply internationally that's equally irrelevant to the brand🙂

Brands are interested in building brand reputation social proof popularity just as much as revenue and profit. They have long term short term goals and may rely on different idols for their different needs at different times.

"Large following who care less about their music"

BTS are in a unique position. They brought their "large" audience to IG not the other way round unlike most of these influencers whose growth were precipitated by the platforms. So whatever large following Tae has you can assume he brought them with him.

And not all of his followers follow him because he is a musician. Lmao. Some are here because HE IS AN ACTOR. OTHERS FOLLOW HIM COS HE IS A MODEL AND A FASHION ICON. That does not in anyway take away from his power of influence.

Some members have majority of their fans cultivated solely from their music activities. SO OF COURSE, WHEN IT COMES TO MUSIC MOST OF THEIR FANS WILL ENGAGE THAT CONTENT.

But some members LIKE TAE HAVE DIVERSIFIED AUDIENCE WHO WANT TO ENGAGE THE DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF HIS CAREER.

Summary

All I've been saying thus far is BTS brought their audience to the platform and having that large numbers only means for Tae he will find more success EASILY on the platform based on how algorithms work. He has the most diversified audience out of BTS not all that follow him follows him because he sings.

You can't compare Tae and a Kardashian I'm sorry. That would be disingenuous of you.

[theinfinitedivides]

totally obsessed with king the land and i need to rant about it somewhere and i figured this would be a fun place because i love your takes and can i start off by saying i've haven't seen someone as down bad as gu won in a really long while. to think he realized his feelings because he took a quiz a few weeks back and look at where he is now, confessing his love on a rooftop to the woman he falls in love with more and more every second.

ep 10 was honestly one of the most fulfilling romantic escape episodes i've ever seen in a show, like the locations were stunning, the chemistry was chemistrying like crazy and god the way won looks at sarang? the way he smiles so wholeheartedly? it's like she helped him rediscover what happiness and love feels like.

one thing i really loved from the earlier eps is how won always gives in and tries new things with sarang and realizes how much he enjoys it. also, the way sarang's grandma is such an important figure to both sarang and won now makes me so happy. i love how won takes all of her advice to heart and actually works on his communication.

i also absolutely loved how this week's eps focused on them just being in love and enjoying their dating era, the quality time and the constant need to touch each other and express their affection is something so precious. can't wait to see what's in store for them in the weeks to come. 🥹

i cannot tell you how honored i am to be the recipient of this little love letter to KTL bc you!!!! you get it anon!!!! i'm going to be addressing some of your points but i should warn you that it will be all over the place so i hope that doesn't confuse you once you get around to reading this sksksksk

first off, i think Won automatically gravitates towards Sa Rang's halmeoni bc in some ways she is that mother figure for him. we still haven't been told exactly what happened to his mother btw, but considering the age gap between him and his half-sister Hwa Ran you would think that after eomma "disappeared" (using that term for now) Hwa Ran would have stepped in. their relationship is so, so f*cked up, however, that she's never actually treated him as her actual sibling (as seen by her dangling the pocketwatch his mother gave him out the window/breaking it by letting it go. he still carries it around, even after all of that.) and so there is no love lost between the two of them. she has always viewed him as a competitor, someone to be wary against in her struggle for their father's company, and even though Halmeoni acts as if he is also one (for Sa Rang's hand) the way they interact says differently. (there's so much to unpack about why that is, namely the way that Gu Il Hoon treats his children and the lessons he's instilled in them, but that's not the point rn and i don't have energy to write that essay today)

so when Hwa Ran tells him not to try anything in terms of the company bc he won't be able to do anything substantial anyway, he listens, bc that fear has been bred into him. he's learned early not to expect anything akin to affection from her, learned that the only reason he's allowed to come so close is bc she knows his weaknesses (ep 3 publicity interview/panic attack anyone?) and uses them to keep him on a leash so he doesn't get in her way and he's tired. he says as much when he tells her '나 싸우고 싶지 않았어' — 'i didn't want to fight' during their convo in the lounge in ep 8 (have some slightly unrelated commentary on that scene here, although in the more recent eps after meeting Sa Rang he has begun to buck against her incessant emotional abuse). but when Halmeoni tells him to do something, he listens, bc he knows, instinctively, that whatever she's telling him is not going to sabotage his relationship with Sa Rang. she's not out to get him, and she does not loathe his entire existence—she is treating him like the grandson she does not have, and she in turn is the mother that he has been deprived of for so long.

(frankly i think the best way to describe Hwa Ran and Won's dynamic with the influence of their father coming into play is uh. 'but business is business! / and business runs in the family' from Amanda Palmer's Runs In the Family. fair warning the video is a bit all over the place and the lyrics may be triggering but i highly recommend listening to the song if you haven't already)

building off of that, i think Sa Rang is also another outlet of love for him that is making up for what he has lacked. the way she and her circle of friends, much like her halmeoni, treat him when he is around (even after a bit of a false start in the first episodes) is in contrast to his sister as well—it's implied, albeit not explicitly, that he has the tendency to attach himself to people other than her once they show him any kind of care (standing up for Sang Sik taking him with him from the internship after Sang Sik tried to help him adjust in case he got in trouble, for instance). he trusts them even if he doesn't say it, since he does not trust her, and in some ways the kind of fear he has around Hwa Ran has been rechanneled into the need to keep his eyes on Sa Rang, bc he is afraid he might lose her. and he does not want to lose her, bc he has loved someone, for once, almost as much as he has loved his mother. and so once he realizes that that is what it is he tries to tell her as much, every chance that he gets, and we get to see that in the touches and glances and the small things that he does, an opening up to her as best he knows how. i spoke more about that here, but one of the best comparisons to their relationship that i can think of (other than Mitski's Come Into the Water and KK's Aankhon Mein Teri that i have already made a post about) is this line from Lee Hae Ri's gorgeous song Maybe that she sang for the OST of Her Private Life ('어쩌면 그게 사랑 일지도 몰라 / 반복되는 일상 / 그 속에 나를 보듬어 준 네가 / 조용히 떨리는 심장이 말해 / 너를 보고 싶다고 말하래' — 'maybe it [this feeling] is love / you who've cared for me in my repetitive everyday life / my quietly trembling heart tells me to say that i miss you'), bc that is just Won telling Sa Rang in the pool in the gloriousness that is ep 10 that he missed seeing her face in so many words and God. God them!!!!! laying face down on the ground and sobbing they're too much for me

despite all of this i know something has to give in the upcoming episodes, though, and while i am not asking for heavy angst (no devastating messy breakup arc i am on my knees begging at this point) i do hope we get to explore more of that kind of dynamic between Sa Rang and Won and get a cathartic moment for him while we're at it. (if you're not going to send him to therapy to address his childhood trauma [possible panic attack trigger i see you in the ep 11 preview] then let the man cry ffs) looking forward to whatever they do as much as you are, anon <333