#and it was my favourite team that was going to b doing the promoting

[usernyoom]

ive got thoughts abt the way this sport is going. b4 rbr, b4 the sister team, mid-season driver swaps only happened due to injury. now that its not just rbr, but williams too (dropping logan sargeant in the middle of the season with no farewell, just disrespect) i am fearful. there is a big dark cloud on the horizon. i wud not blame max for taking his leave.

[nohara-rin-dot-mp3]

Nohara Rin characterization guide part 1

Have you ever wished that Rin had a personality beyond "dead girl" so that you could write more fleshed out interactions between her and the rest of team Minato? Have you ever wished you could care about her, but struggled to figure out where to start, since there's so little there? Are you interested in creating complex characters out of the crumbs provided from canon? You're in luck! I've dedicated the past 2 years of my life to studying Rin (not as much of an exaggeration as it should be) and I've put together a "rinterpretation," so to speak, of her that I think is pretty neat, and today I'm here to explain some of that to you.

This is the first post of a two-part series; in it, I will be going over what we canonically know about Rin. In the second one, I will explain how I have connected all of that into a cohesive character, and further explore how the themes and imagery in canon reflect this character. Edit: here's a link to the second one!

To begin with, we have her two databook pages. Let's go over them one at a time.

There's not much of note on this page from the fourth databook. It tells us repeatedly that she's kind, a mednin, and a balancing force between Kakashi and Obito. It emphasizes the fact that she died, and that Obito and Kakashi are sad about this because they cared for her. We do get some interesting rinmages (images with Rin). Front and center on this page is the classic closed eye smile pose. There is significance to this to me. That's about it, though.

I don't have an English version of this page, sorry. I do have a translation, though- let's take a look!

Rin Village: Konohagakure Rank: Chuunin Ninja Registration Number: 010885 Birthday: November 15 (? years old, Scorpio) Height: ? cm Weight: ? kg Blood Type: A Personality: Gentle, intellectual, devoted Favourite food: Strawberries Least favourite food: Tsukudani (Seaweed/fish boiled down with soy) Speciality Jutsu: Medical Ninjutsu Favorite word: Friendship Interests: Collecting shells Graduated from the Ninja Academy at age 9 Promoted to chuunin at age 11 Mission Experience D-rank: ? C-rank: ? B-rank: ? A-rank: ? S-rank: ? Statistics Ninjutsu: 3.5 Taijutsu: 1.5 Genjutsu: 2.5 Intelligence: 4 Strength: 1 Speed: 2 Stamina: 2.5 Hand Seals: 4 “Heey…quit it, both of you!” Carefree smiling face – Kindness along with strength. Rin is an impressive warm, calm face. But when her injured companions are before her, she shows no weakness or tears, and executes her duty accurately. On the battlefield, this medical ability always kindly cares for her companions. As a celebration of his promotion to Jounin, she gave Kakashi a special medical pack. This was a symbol of Rin’s medical talent and her affection. She demonstrates her medical talent when her companions are injured. She is completely serious.

This is from the second databook- and there's some really interesting stuff here. Although most of the information given contributes to the image of a perfect, selfless girl who exists only to support Kakashi and Obito, there are some hints of person beyond that. She's describe as "serious" and "showing no weakness or tears." It seems that she's not all that emotional- and that's actually backed up by the manga, at least! (I wouldn't know about the anime, I haven't watched it in a while, lol.) I'll get back to that point once we start going over manga pages.

We also learn that her favorite food is strawberries, her least favorite food is tsukudani, and that she likes to collect seashells. Those are really interesting and important tidbits of information. Building off of these can help us create a more three-dimensional Rin.

The picture of her they chose to center on this page is also quite funny to me, because she kind of looks like she's about to kill someone, but maybe that's just me.

Let's move onto the manga. Rin appears, by my count, in a total of 278 panels. A significant chunk of these are just flashbacks of the same few static images of her. The sections she actually gives us something to work with are the kanabi bridge mission chapters, the chapters where she dies, and the Obito flashback sections. I'm not going to go over every single panel- I'll just focus on moments that can be used to further a good rinterpretation, and sweeping generalizations we can make.

Let's start with kanabi bridge.

The first few chapters don't really reveal much about Rin. She does seem very competent, both in healing and in strategy, but she also gets kidnapped and used as material by which to move the plot forward, yada yada yada.

Rin being serious and smart.

Things start getting interesting once Obito gets crushed by that bolder. To start with, Rin is able to transplant a fucking sharingan into Kakashi's head with seemingly no issues very, very quickly. We've been told that she's a pretty good mednin, but she's far from a prodigy. I feel like it's fairly obvious that the Uchiha wouldn't have let anyone learn anything that might let them perform an operation like this- so how did Rin learn this?

It's up to you how you answer the question. Maybe she's a better mednin than we've been led to believe. Maybe she's an implant on the team from Root, trained specifically to implant sharingans. Maybe Kishimoto just doesn't care about the logistics of surgery. There's a lot to unpack here if you choose to examine it from an in-universe perspective, though, so I'd encourage you to look at this from a Watsonian angle.

Rin also confesses to Kakashi in the next sccne. This is... an interesting decision, both in terms of writing and whatever the hell Rin is thinking. However you choose to explain it, and whether you think she was ever really crushing on Kakashi, I think it warrants some though. Time and place, Rin. Time and place.

Finally, I'd like to look at this beautiful panel:

I love the ambiguity here. We don't know what Rin is thinking- but this panel signals to us that she is experiencing some kind of emotion that we are not privy to. Every other character spells out their feelings through dialogue. This panel confirms that Rin is a person with interority- we're just not allowed to see it, or what it is. That's how I read it, anyways .

From here on out, every Rin appearance we go over will be taking place in a flashback which means that they are, to a certain degree, unreliable. Don't disregard them completely- there's some really important characterization here. Just keep the fact that Kakashi and Obito aren't completely reliable narrators in mind.

In my opinion, there's not much to be found in the Obito flashback chapters. Most of them are focused on establishing the Team Minato love triangle of Obito loving Rin, and Rin loving Kakashi. But mostly the Obito loving Rin part.

This was really dead wife coded of her.

I'm not going to go over them in depth. There's stuff you can read into if you're reaching, but I'm trying to keep this as canon and vanilla as possible, so let's move on for now.

Although the chapters in which Rin dies/is dead are mostly focused on Obito's reaction and subsequent evilness, they're also very revealing in terms of Rinformation. Why? Well, let's go over what we learn.

Rin has been turned into a bomb. She is very close with two of the world's greatest sealmasters, but she seemingly does not suggest going to them to fix the problem. We know that Madara used a genjutsu to make her unable to directly kill herself, but we also know that there's quite a bit of wiggle room in regards to how she had to follow this compulsion, seeing as she's able to outright jump in front of Kakashi's chidori, and I'd argue that jumping in front of a train is a pretty direct method of committing suicide.

So, this raises a few questions. One: why is Rin so set on dying? Two: Why does she choose to die in the way that she does? Three: Why does she kill herself on Kakashi when any of the enemy shinobi would have worked just as well, and been less traumatizing towards the guy she allegedly cares so much about?

It's up to you how you choose to answer these questions- whether it was just a result of her not thinking straight because of the situation she was in, or if the answer lies in something more deeply rooted that we never really get to see. Answering these questions is important to creating a good rinterpretation, though. Examining this moment outside of the impact it has on Kakashi and Obito helps us understand Rin a lot more.

Other interesting detail: it seems as though Rin isn't crying here. Earlier, it looks like there's tears running down her face, but then the camera moves back and we see that it's just the rain. Both Kakashi and Obito cry in this scene. Rin, though? Well. we know that she's serious, and shows no weakness or tears...

The final moments I'd like to go over are the ones where Rin appears to Obito (and Kakashi, in one panel). Fair warning: these are a even more dubious, because in my opinion, it's completely up to interpretation whether Rin is actually there or not. I'm still going to go over them, and what they'd mean for her character, but keep in mind that you don't have to rope these into your Rin characterization. They're kind of like optional seasoning you can add for flavor if you feel like it.

So: let's go over why these Rin scenes are really fucking wild.

First, we've got the classic team 7 parallels panel!

It's just... in context... she's dragging them into the path of Kaguya's chakra bullets. Can we talk about that? She's dragging them into this weird self-sacrifice. Naruto's weird about self-sacrifice, yeah- but we don't have to be. We can step back and say that if this is Rin's spirit coming down from the afterlife to tell Kakashi and Obito to fucking kill themselves then that's kind of weird, right?

There's also this moment, where Rin tells Obito that he didn't do anything wrong (???). That raises a lot of questions for me, personally. This entire sequence actually kind of reads like horror to me, but maybe I'm just too deep in the Rin sause. I'm not sure. Either way, it's a really weird moment.

One last thing before you go: Rin's eyes are kind of weird. Please take a look at some other people's eyes as compared to her's. Please consider that they were so weird and unsettling that in the anime, they changed how they looked. Like literally why the fuck did he draw he like that. This isn't like, a solid characterization moment, but just like. Think about the fact that she looks dead inside when you write her. It'll make things a lot more fun.

Glowup?!?!

That's about all for now. You can read part 2 of this or just move on, but I hope that you consider some of these moments when writing Rin. It's really easy to fall into the girlboss/mom friend trap when writing for female characters without much canon personality, but I think it's nice to strive for something beyond that! Hopefully this will help you decide where to start when building a complex rinterpretation- or, if you want to hear about how I see her, you could read part two of this post. Or just scroll through my blog for 5 seconds I'm always yelling about her lmao. Anyways thanks for reading!

[three-headed-monster]

hiiii can u give me info about worlds?!?! I’m having a difficult time understanding it on google. When does it start and end and where is it held?? Tysm!!!!

of course anon!!! always happy to inform about worlds :)))

typically my go-to for worlds information is through their official website. here, you'll usually find roster/group information, game times (local and converted to your time), as well as some exclusive video and news content. you can also find out more about individual teams through their social media platforms and the iihf instragram page has great visual content as well. i've noticed from following the past few years that some teams will have a preferred platform they post on, and that it may vary based on the team. for example, team canada usually has their updates through their twitter before their instagram (aside from some stories content), but team usa almost always has their instagram updated first and has more exclusive content there. depending on what you're looking for, i'd suggest checking out both twitter and instagram for info for individual teams!

officially, the worlds tournament starts on may 10th, and is being held in prague and ostrava, czechia this year! group a is in prague, and group b is in ostrava for the preliminaries, and then for the elimination games, everything will be held in prague.

group a consists of austria, canada, czechia, denmark, finland, great britain, norway, and switzerland. group b consists of france, germany, kazakhstan, latvia, poland, slovakia, and the usa. not every team plays every day though and i'd suggest looking at the schedule to figure out which days you should be tuning in! you can follow your team alone or a bunch at once, either way, it's always great hockey at worlds and is honestly, a LOT more fun than nhl playoff hockey sometimes. the last day of the event is on may 26th, when the gold and bronze medal games will be played

right now, in the lead up to the tournament, some teams are playing exhibition games! team canada i'm pretty sure has 3 scheduled. these do not actually take place in czechia, have no effect on standings, and are usually only promoted through the individual team channels/through on the ground reporters. obviously, it's sort of a "learn as you go" process with which reporters to follow for this info, but i find steven ellis on twitter has really good coverage and is one of my favourite reporters for worlds. he's been doing mainly u18 coverage lately but he'll be kicking up worlds coverage soon. another good, and super underrated follow, is nicktheiihffan on twitter. don't let the canadian banners fool you, he really does cover as many canadian and NON-canadian games as he can, and will give live play by play tweets about what's going on, so even if you don't have time to watch the whole thing, you can keep up.

if you want to learn about anything else in particular anon, let me know! i realized now, answering this ask, i probably should do a worlds primer....but like if anyone wants that just let me know yk (one like/ask and i will be persuaded lmao)

[lacysnail]

Looking back on 2024

1. What did you do in 2024 that you’d never done before?

Went on a ski trip, flew to visit a guy, sang karaoke on a stage, went to a pimp's birthday party, hiked in the snow, went to a baseball game, had a sneaky link, went to a lacrosse game, had sex in a pool in public, got stranded on a lake, had dinner on a train, drove for 10 hours, went to a rodeo, snuck into a concert for free, had a threesome, was a bridesmaid, stayed up for 39 hours straight, won an arcade game, had champagne on a steam train, saw the northern lights, visited Georgia, went to a CFL game, played on a football team, got promoted to manager, went tubing, hosted Christmas.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I didn’t make any resolutions and I barely hit half my goals lol but its was a funnnn year

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Nope

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Yes

5. What countries did you visit?

Canada, USA, UK

6. What would you like to have in 2025 that you lacked in 2024?

More money

7. What dates from 2024 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

26 Jan - work ski trip

10 March - pimp's bday party

5 April - all day drinking with work

24 May - Vegas with Taylor

30 June - Kelowna wineries with Patricia

6 July - Calgary stampede

18 August - Becca's wedding

31 August - ridiculous boat day with shrooms

15 Sept - Panorama ridge hike

23 Oct - Savannah with Maggie

25 Dec - hosting Christmas

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

All the trips and getting promoted

9. What was your biggest failure?

Not taking care of my health

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Had some minor drunken falls, a kidney infection and got smacked in the face with a football

11. What was the best thing you bought?

The money spent on vacations and flying home

12. Where did most of your money go?

Rent, nights out and vacations

13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Ski trip, birthday, busy season being over, Vegas, BC and Alberta road trip, going home, getting promoted, getting PR, Christmas holidays

14. What songs will always remind you of 2024?

Espresso, You're still the one, I had some help, A bar song

15. Compared to this time last year, are you: (a) happier or sadder? (b) thinner or fatter? © richer or poorer?

a) happier b) fatter c) same

16:What do you wish you’d done more of

Exercise

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Scrolling and eating out

18. How did you spend Christmas?

A few days with Taylor and her family in Vernon and then hosting dinner at ours with our international friends

19. Did you fall in love in 2024?

With myself

20. What was your favourite TV program?

heartbreak high, love island, love is blind

21. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Nope

22. What was your favourite film of this year?

Anyone but you

23. What one thing made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

my friends in Vancouver

24. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Quinn Hughes

25. Who did you miss?

My friends and family back home and friends that move away from Van

26. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2024

taking time to rest is good for you and you won't miss anything

[everyone-with-a-para]

okay hi hello this is the pokemon anon from the other day :] i took yesterday to finish setting up a page for my paras on the aforementioned sideblog to go with the tags so i could have that ready. url over there is ninesecretsteps...not Technically a madd blog (mostly i intended it to be for szpd) but i did say i might drop the url SO i might as well. but Anyway, i didn't come here to self-promote, i CAME here to properly elaborate on my paracosms!

the First paracosm is the one for b+w and it started up in june 2022! (its "official" birthday is june 2nd because that's when i first wrote something down about it.) and when i say "b+w" i ACTUALLY mean it's focused on The Battle Subway Specifically. this one isn't super plot-heavy+is more about little character interactions. the plot, such as it is, is basically that My Guy (believe the proper term for this would be "paraself" idk i'm still new here. my little self-insert guy) is more or less the third subway boss twin. triplet. ish. he's an adopted younger sibling+works on the trains as a junior boss; running less advanced battle lines+filling in for his brothers when necessary. unova's favourite nepotism baby (joke). this one's got some variations that mostly hinge on 1. If and 2. How pl:a happens on account of the whole spacetime. Thing. but on the whole it's mostly silly sibling interaction stuff. what if trains were real, etc

the SECOND one. this is the bighuge one. it's called nanobotsverse, after the song nanobots by they might be giants because that's the song that first made me start thinking of it+it just kind of stuck (the story itself actually contains zero robots, nano or otherwise), and its "official" birthday is january 6th, 2023 :] the basic plot is: what if bw2's team plasma accidentally imploded on itself early (ie, before the actual plot of the games can take place), and its (former) acting leader has to take his research Elsewhere. much character development ensues as the following games' plots keep attempting to happen to him while he's mostly just trying to do his job+avoid getting into any more trouble. and also my guy is there again. i was going to do a proper overview of each arc BUT i realized if i did it would be. Unfathomably long. ridiculously long, even when trying to put it shortly. for reference, i started drafting all this in a word doc+there are over 1000 words of writing+i still haven't finished+have also been at this for hours now. once this is in+you've seen it, if you're still interested in reading a bunch of long as hell asks i'll finish that+prrrobably send it in as an ask per arc (so about 4-6 asks depending on how it works out. maybe i'll bundle them+make it more like 2-3 if it doesn't feel like too much.) Thank You for reading, btw, because This ask is long as-is

Same hat!!!!!!! My pokemon paracosm focuses on the subway bosses!!!!! Mine specifically focuses on the relationships between the paras post-Ingo's return from Hisui and his and Emmet's trauma recovery

I'd love the receive the infodumps from your document it sounds really interesting

@ninesecretsteps

[waratah-moon]

Stan Behaviour

Tom and Y/n do an interview reacting to fan edits of themselves; most of which prove that Tom is the ultimate Y/n stan. masterlist / requests / another Tom fic

Pairing: Tom Holland x famous!reader

Warnings: lots of flirting

Tom and Y/n never did interviews together. Their schedules rarely lined up, and they were almost never promoting something at the same time. But they both had new projects out, and were miraculously in the same city at the same time, so when their publicists pitched the idea, Buzzfeed jumped at the chance to interview the internet’s favourite couple.

To be fair, reacting to fan edits wasn’t an inventive idea. But both their publicists and Buzzfeed figured they’d get some wholesome content out of it, and who were Tom and Y/n to argue; it sounded like fun.

They were sitting next to each other behind a small table on an incredibly nondescript set. People milled about behind the camera; both their teams off to the side and busy on their phones. Y/n’s makeup artist had just finished touching up her makeup, and Tom straightened the collar of his jumper. Y/n looked at her boyfriend beside her, twisting a strand of his hair around her finger to exaggerate his curls.

“You look good,” she said, pressing a chaste kiss to his cheek, pulling back to make sure she didn’t get any lipstick on his face.

“Says you,” he countered, his hand squeezing her thigh beneath the table.

“Roll sound, roll camera!” A voice called from the crowd of people off camera.

“So we’re going to watch videos about ourselves?” Tom looked at the director, who was holding a clipboard.

“Exactly,” the director responded with a nod. “You can start whenever you’re ready.”

“I’ll let you navigate then since you’re so much better at technology than me,” he slid the iPad across to Y/n. The iPad was open to the photos gallery; an album had been selected which had five saved videos already lined up.

“Ooh, this first one looks like you,” she clicked the first thumbnail. An Instagram reel popped up that showed clips from Tom’s Prada campaign set to some Tiktok popular sound. Y/n looked at her boyfriend, “you know what I love about this video?”

“What?”

“That one close up shot of your nipple.”

“Oh yeah,” Tom laughed as Y/n zoomed into the offending shot.

“Like I’m so sorry, it’s such a beautifully shot video and you look great in it, it’s just your nipple, man, it takes me out every time.”

Tom pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. “What’s wrong with my nipples?”

“Nothing. Babe, you know I love your nipples.”

His brows furrowed, but the tell tale sign of his reddening ears gave him away. “Can you please never say that again?”

“What, that I love your nipples?” She grinned as Tom groaned, scrunching up his nose, begging her to stop.

“This is a great start. Let’s move on,” he mumbled, the tips of his ears still bright red, swiping to the next video.

The words “Tom obsessing over Y/n for 8 minutes and 37 seconds” flashed on the screen.

“8 minutes?” Tom looked at the crew behind the camera. “You want us to watch 8 minutes of me talking about Y/n?”

“And 37 seconds,” Y/n added. “Can’t forget the 37 seconds, love.”

“We cut it done,” the director said from behind the camera.

They had cut it done, but even for a two minute video, Tom talked about his girlfriend in a lot of different interviews. Y/n paused on about the fifth clip; him talking to Seth Meyers about filming Uncharted.

“It’s kind of impressive that you manage to bring me up when you’re talking about a movie that I’m not in, let alone a movie that I didn’t even manage to visit the set of.”

“You’re just always on my mind, darling.”

Y/n laughed, but she felt her heart flutter as someone from the crew aww’ed in the background.

The next video, like the first one of Tom, was an edit of a perfume campaign Y/n had done earlier in the year. She looked gorgeous with smokey eyes and dressed in flowing fabric that flattered her body. Waves crashed against the rocky shoreline as she dramatically posed with the glass bottle.

“Geez,” Tom pretended to fan himself, pulling his collar as if he was burning up. “Look at you!”

“Stop it,” Y/n rolled her eyes, bumping her shoulder into his.

“C’mon, love. You look stunning! I mean you look hot in whatever you're wearing, but seriously. I’d buy that perfume.” He looked directly into the camera, “I actually would, the perfume does smell really nice, Y/n wears it all the time.”

Successful by Ariana Grande started playing when Y/n pressed start on the next video. A compilation of red carpet clips of the two of them, each clip overlayed with headlines that spelled out their accomplishments. Y/n couldn't stop smiling as the video played, she glanced over at Tom who seemed just as enthralled in the edit as she was.

"Those are some pretty impressive things we've done, huh? A Guinness world record, multiple billion dollar movies, TIME100. Does this make us a power couple?” Tom asked, his elbow resting on the table, his chin in the palm of his hand, gazing lovingly at his girlfriend.

Y/n laughed, “When I think power couple, I think the Obamas. What even defines a power couple?"

"I would say us both being on Forbes 30 under 30 and raising millions of dollars for charity makes us a power couple, my love."

"You looked so hot in that tuxedo, by the way,” Y/n looked at Tom, squeezing his knee below the table.

“We just watched a video that showed all these amazing achievements we've both made, and you're focused on a two second clip of me in a tux?"

"I’m sorry I can't help it!”

"Is that the one from Ballon d’Or?” He grinned when she nodded. “I think it’s somewhere in my wardrobe.”

“Oh I know exactly where it is,” she whispers under her breath. Swiping to the last video.

If anyone needed proof that Tom and Y/n were in love, they didn’t need to look further than the last video. Or the pair’s reaction to it. Clips from Y/n’s Instagram stories interspersed with red carpet videos and times that the paparazzi had caught them holding hands. Even if it was arguably an invasion of privacy, Tom couldn’t help but find it adorable to see a compilation of their public life together. If only the internet had access to the private moments they shared; Twitter would explode.

“What’s this video called?” Y/n asked the crew at large.

“Proof Y/n and Tom are secretly married, part 2.”

“That’s the title?” Y/n cocked her eyebrow. The crew member who responded to her nodded.

“So there’s a part one that we need to watch,” Tom said, making a mental note to YouTube it later.

Y/n looked into the camera lens, “just for the record, we’re not secretly married, nor are we secretly engaged.” She held up her left hand, tapping on her ring-less finger. She looked over at her boyfriend, encouraging him to add something to dispel the rumours.

“Y/n’s right. Sorry guys but we’re not married or engaged.” Tom nodded, taking Y/n’s hand and intertwining their fingers. “Yet!” Tom added, “I’m working on it, lads.”

“Unbelievable,” Y/n sighed, but she couldn’t stop the butterflies from erupting in her stomach.

The internet was about to have a field day.

-

Tagging the people who liked my famous!reader x Tom post @sweetpeterparker @originalchildwinner @multi-fandom31 @soullessbabee @anadicttoreading0 @kindaawhoreforholland @blk-silk @jhiddles03 @fangirlfree @euphoricdreamsidreamabout @bookluversposts

[libraryofloveletters]

A June Wedding

Evan Buckley x Reader 

Warnings: alcohol and the consumption of 

Category: Fluff 

Word Count: 2.8k

Author’s Note: idk what this is, I opened the doc and just started typing, so yeah // the flashbacks are set two years ago, when y/n meets Buck. The end is back to the present

---- 

From B: I was thinking about you.

From B: I miss you. 

The phone sat in your hand, you stared down at the message on the screen. It had been months, maybe longer since you met him-  2 years to be precise. 

The two of you had a weird friendship to say the least. One of those “will they, won’t they?” kind of things. Everyone seemed to notice how the two of you were in love except the two of you. 

Your story starts in a hole in the wall coffee shop two years ago, when Buck comes in after his first shift at the station. 

*Two Years Before* 

Tired and hungry was a typical look you saw among the folks who came to your shop. It was downtown LA and there were a lot of businesses around including station 118. 

Among your typical morning crowd, there were people in suits and ties, the few hippies/skater crowd and your favourite, the fire-fighters. 

They were your favourite not because they always had larger orders but they usually left big tips and were super sweet. 

It was around 9 in the evening when the bell on the door chimed as it was pushed open. You were closing up for the day but the ‘come in, we’re open’ sign still hung on the window that was ideally supposed to be taken down an hour ago. 

Pulling a tray of cookies from the oven, you were startled by the door considering that you thought you locked the door. Peering from the doorway of the kitchen, there was a man by the counter, staring up at the menu board. 

“Hi,” you smile, hesitantly stepping towards the counter from the kitchen. He glances down at you and smiles, mumbling a hello. 

“Uh, we’re actually closed right now.” you inform him. 

His brows furrow, glancing over his shoulder at the window. “But the sign-” “I forget to take it down.” 

“Oh. I’m sorry, I’ll- okay, I'm gonna go.” he looked.. disappointed. He pulls a phone out his pocket and sighs. You take that moment to study him. A grey sweatshirt and a pair of jeans, there’s a hat sitting backwards on his head and a duffle bag tossed over his shoulder. As he turns to leave, you notice the 4 letters written on his hat in bright red - LAFD. 

“Hey!” you call out, “You’re a firefighter ?” 

The blonde smiles and nods, “yeah, I started today actually. The guys at the station were talking about the coffee shop down the street. I didn’t get a chance to come during the day so I thought I'd come now- but I can come back another time, you’re closed”

Waving off his statement, you pick up a cup from the counter. “Nonsense, I'd never turn away one of the city’s finest.” you smile, he chuckles. “The city’s finest is more of a cop thing.” he tells you. 

“Is that so ?” asking, you begin looking through the fridge to see if there was any milk, he hums. 

“I think you’re pretty fine yourself” you mumble, standing straight when you realize what you’ve said. Your back was to him, a blush burning up your face. 

What you didn’t know was that Buck was blushing too, a pretty person like you calling him fine was surely going to make him blush and that it did. 

Clearing your throat, you turn to face him again. He was looking anywhere but at you for the moment. 

“What can I get you ?” 

“What do you have right now ?” 

“Just about everything, except for baked goods. I usually put those in the oven in the morning but I do have a tray of cookies if you’re interested.” 

“That sounds good,” he smiles at you. “I’ll take a cookie and uh-” glancing up at the menu, “whatever is your favourite drink” 

Humming, you turn and head to the kitchen to get two cookies for him and then begin mixing some coffee and creamer in a cup, along with ice and some caramel sauce. You ended up making two, one for him and one for you. 

The man was sitting at one of the stools by the window. He was watching the cars drive past. “Here,” you slide the plate over to him and set the cup beside it. 

He smiles, “thank you. How much do I owe you ?” he asks, reaching for what you assumed was his wallet. “Oh, don't worry about it. The register is locked and it’s your first time here, I wouldn’t have charged you anyways” 

“You don’t charge first time customers ?” 

“Only the firefighters, y’all hold a special place in my heart” you laugh, he smiles once more. 

“Are you in a hurry to leave? I can take it with me if you are.” 

“No, you're alright. The cookies are warm, I just took them out when you got here.” you sit beside him, taking a sip of your drink. He also takes a sip of his, you watch as his face twists and he smacks his tongue to try and figure out what it is. 

“I call it the y/n special” filling him in, his brows furrow. “It’s basically just caramel ice coffee” a small laugh passes your lips as you take another sip.

“I’m y/n by the way.” “I’m Buck” he smiles.

--

From that day, Buck was a regular in your shop. You made him a regular coffee before his shifts, 2 cream and 3 sugars - you've come to realize he had a bit of a sweet tooth.  After work, he’d stop by for an iced coffee and a cookie. You’d always keep some in the back for him. 

This became a routine, you asked him for his number so he could let you know when he was on his way to work that way you’d have his coffee ready if he was running late. 

Most mornings you’d just get an ‘coming’ or a little fire truck emoji letting you know he’s on his way to work. 

Over the next year and a half, the two of you became close. All the guys that came in from the station always teased you about your “boyfriend Buck” although he wasn’t your boyfriend. 

The two of you were close, you hung out all the time - when Buck had days off, he’d still stop by the shop for coffee or just to see you even though he lived in the opposite direction. He would also pick you up after work when you could walk home because you lived down the street. 

You often stopped by the station when you knew they were on a 24 hour shift. Buck would text you hourly with whatever he was thinking about, especially during the nights when most of his team was asleep and he couldn’t. During those 24 hour shifts, the last few hours kicked their asses, everyone was tired and too lazy to move to do anything about it- those were the days that you headed into the shop early to get some stuff together to take over for them. 

Over time, the affection between the two of you became clear to everyone but the two of you. 

You only really noticed you liked him after his unfortunate run in with the fire truck and his promotion which you decide to celebrate with him. 

There you were, a bottle of champagne in one hand and a bag of Thai takeout in the other - the perfect thing to celebrate his new- temporary as he kept reminding you- position. 

He had invited you over to watch a movie but life was short as was recently reiterated after Buck’s “getting stuck under municipal equipment” phase as the two of you joke. 

“Hey!” he smiles at you when he opens the door, immediately noticing the bottle of champagne in your hand. 

“The nice stuff,” he hummed, stepping aside so you could come in. You set the bag on the counter with the bottle before venturing further into the kitchen to find glasses. 

“What are we celebrating ?” he watches as you tumble through the cupboards. 

“Y/n?” “What ?” 

“What are we celebrating ?” he asks once more. 

“Do you not own any champagne glasses ? All I can find are solo cups and those ugly ass mugs you have.” sighing, you grab the solo cups knowing his answer already. 

“Y/n/n, I'm a 20-something year old guy living by himself-” “What makes you think I have such things?” finishing off the sentence for him which makes him laugh. 

Setting the cups down on the counter, you push the bottle over to him. “Would you be so kind as to do the honours?” you hop onto the counter. Buck peels the casing from around the top and then shakes the bottle. 

Your brows furrow, “that’s going to make a mess-” before you finish your sentence, the bottle pops. 

The cork ends up somewhere in the apartment whilst the very expensive champagne is sprayed everywhere. Buck just so innocently titled the bottle your way, soaking you in the liquid. 

Laughing, you pull the bottle away from him. He's standing in front of you when you grab his chin, pulling him towards you. Your left hand is cradling his jaw and leaning his head back to pour some of the champagne in his mouth. You over poured and split it on his shirt. 

The two of you were a laughing, sticky mess and the bottle was already half way empty. He held the cups out for you, letting you pour some into each cup before handing you one. 

“Okay, now will you tell me what prompted the champagne showers ?” he smiles, leaning against the counter next to you. 

“Well, life is short. You’re a fire Marshall now so, I’m here to celebrate.” 

Buck smiles at you, he wasn’t the biggest fan of his new job to be honest. Sure he liked it, but he’d do anything to be back out in the field. 

Your arm stretched out, “So to you Mr. Evan Buckley, wait should I say Fire Marshall Buckley ? Anyways congratulations my love, you deserve the job but if the power goes to your head, I'm putting you in your place.” laughing, you bump your cup to his. 

“To a speedy recovery and hoping for your return to the field soon because you’re driving everyone mad. Cheers!” 

Both taking a sip before Buck hops up onto the counter beside you. He shifted slightly, making a gap between the two of you and pulling the bag of takeout to the spot. Dinner was had on the counter, eating straight out of the containers.

“Bobby would be so upset if he saw us right now.” Buck mumbles, his mouth full. 

“Mhm but he’s not here. He doesn’t have to know.” 

A few moments later, his phone began ringing. He pulls it out and his eyes widen. There’s a confused look on your face, waiting for him to give you some context or tell you who’s calling. Finally he shows you his phone. 

Bobby is calling. 

“You summoned him!” Buck shouted. You resisted the urge to laugh. 

“Answer the phone!” 

You watch as Buck answers the phone, holding back his laughter at the conversation moments ago. He looked happy, you loved seeing him like that. The way his eyes glimmered when he smiled that million dollar smile of his, how his curls showed when his hair was wet or if he hadn’t cut his hair in a while. 

It was the little things that made you fall in love with him. 

He was still on the phone when you decided you’d find something to change into. 

He watched as you made your way to the bathroom, coming back out shirtless with a towel in your hand, drying off. He noticed the way you took a step every two steps like he does. He could hear you humming from upstairs, the way you went up in pitch when you saw something you liked or how you’d stop in-between to start whistling. He smiles to himself as he ends the call. 

He too had fallen love with you somewhere along the line. 

----

You watched as the little bubbles popped up on the screen on and off for the next few minutes. 

Today was your wedding day. 

You hadn’t spoken to him all day, things had been hectic. You promised to see him before you got married but truthfully, you had been so consumed with planning and making sure everything was ready that you didn’t get a chance to. 

Your friend comes in, sticking their head in and smiling at you. “You ready ?” they ask, you hum before taking one more look at the phone. 

“As ready as I'll ever be.” 

It was a hot summer day in June, you and your fiancé had decided on an outdoor wedding considering you had always wanted a June wedding. 

Standing at the end of the aisle, each side of the yard was filled with people you loved and cared about but your love was smiling at you on the verge of tears at the altar. 

Resisting the urge to laugh at him, you smile as the music begins playing - your cue to make your way down the aisle. Making it to the end without tripping, you smile at him. 

“Hey,” you smile, reaching for his hand.

“You look beautiful” he smiles, he leans forward to give you a kiss when a hand against his chest stops him. 

Bobby gives him a disapproving look, “I’ll be fast but you gotta wait to the end to kiss them, Buck.” The statement earned him a laugh from the crowd. 

The heat was getting to everyone including the two of you so Bobby skipped over the unnecessary parts, letting the two of you say your vows. 

You started, your hand giving his a squeeze. “The day you walked into the shop, I thought ‘damn, I'm gonna die. Why do I always forget to lock the door?’ but little did I know, it was going to be the love of my life walking in. From the moment we sat down and started talking was the moment I knew you were the one- you made me smile, laugh, gave me butterflies but you also made me feel safe, like I could tell you anything and you’d always be there for me. I watched you walk out with the promise of coming back in the morning and I knew then, we were gonna have a June wedding.” you laughed. 

“You taught me what love was, how to be happy, to never give up no matter what life throws my way because for the last 2 years, that’s what I've watched you do and I'm so incredibly proud to be marrying you. There’s no one else for me. It’ll always be you.” you smile, blinking back the tears. 

“How am I supposed to compete with that ?” he hums, giving you a grin. 

“Everything about you is.. perfectly imperfect, in every single sense of the term. You strive for perfection, but you come up with a slightly different version every time and I love that about you- like when you run out of breath while singing you start whistling so you don’t lose the melody, it’s the little things that make me love you. You hold the stars and the moon, you’re my whole world y/n, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. You make me a better man and I could never thank you enough for that.” Both of you are about to cry, looking at each other with the most love and adoration in your eyes. 

Bobby cuts to the end, both of you now impatient and waiting for him to announce that you were officially a couple and the moment he does, Buck pulls you towards him, kissing you like it was the last time he was ever going to. 

The sound of clapping and cheering filled your ears, making you both smile as your made you way back down the aisle officially as the Buckleys. 

---- 

taglist: @advicefromnixxxx @dralexreid @keenmarvellover @beth-winchester21 @fernandaweasley2 @yikesyikesyikes95 @hotchsdarling @duhbar1975 @hailsstormthings @averyhotchner @captainxholmes @venusrosepetal @luke-alvez @looney-literature @caitsymichelle13​ @artemishunter18 @multibuckley 

[theres-a-bea]

Um. Well thirteen year old dry aged BEEF and the one about someone slipping into a sugar baby? Daddy? Phase???? I want to know more and its gonna bite me in the ass but oh whelll :)

Cheers!

EVAN !!!! HELLO !!!

Yeah uhm idk how to tell you this but thirteen year old dry aged BEEF is my working title for Forgo The Parable before I decided on the very poetic Bon Iver lyric... Because essentially the idea was pretty much the origin story of that age old beef that they seemed to have going on in his first birthday card 👩🏻‍🦯

The Bullet Train fandom really seeing this and going: 😒 "bitch wk ur not gonna publish" It's about the same dude as the "i LOVE dilfs" ask that lukepearcing sent, and uhm it's pretty much a rough draft after a pretty long discussion with my friend bleuet (i'm not gonna tag cos it might b annoying), where he's bribed to protect a high ranking member of the mafia while working as a hospital security guard ?

basically just some love and happiness for my favourite dude on that film (because there are like five fics about him and none where he's happy and as much as I like seeing men struggle this one has suffered enough after i wrote one real sad and jailworthy piece about him) (also andrew koji is so pretty and nobody's thirsting over him in bullet train cos the marketing team is weird and didn't promote the two dudes who were actually japanese on that goddamn train ? so I'm fucking Doing It Myself)

[potteresque-ire]

Hello. I just turned to be a turtle recently after being a solo fan mostly because of toxic atmosphere of solo fans. May I ask, were relationships between XZ and YB solos always so intense and also bad attitude to BJYX even during the promotion “the untamed”? Or did this conflict start after the events of 2020? Thank you in advance.

Hello, and Happy 2021! I’m a super new fan of the fandom, and so these aren’t questions I’m qualified to answer at all. I’m more comfortable providing some wider sociopolitical contexts to fandom-related events because I’ve been reading about Chinese news for a loooong time. My “investigative interest” (oh dear, that sounds so pretentious) is also more on understanding the CP culture in general, how it ties with the country’s state of affairs rather than focusing specifically on Gg and Dd. While I’ve read back on some history re: gg and dd’s fandoms, Tumblr is the only site where I’ve interacted directly with fellow fans.

But I’ve written up what I’ve understand about solo and CP fans for c-dramas so far, mostly for my own benefit (I have a ridiculously poor memory!). Maybe it can offer some insight? This is very new information to me as well; so, if anyone spots something wrong or wants to supplement, please jump right in!

Wars between the fans of the leads of a CP (“ship” in English; stands for “couple”) aren’t new. Conflicts between solo and CP fans also aren’t new.

Competition is the most obvious cause of wars between the fans of the leads of a CP. Especially in the case of M/M pairings, the person “bound” to each idol by their CP is also, by default, about the most “direct” competitor one can have. They’re likely to be of the same age group, share similar fan demographics. Popularity of young male idols (often called “Little Fresh Meat” 小鮮肉, a nickname I’ve abhorred for the decade or so it’s come to existence) also isn’t expected to last, so the two CP leads must make the most of their newfound fame within the same time frame. The competition is more than fighting for similar roles; in China, another major arena is endorsements, in which an idol’s popularity is by measured by 1) the number they hold and 2) the units they sell. Here in the US, stars choose their endorsements based on how well they fit their image; there, stars take as many as they can as long as the negotiated terms are satisfactory. Hence, dd is the spokesperson of 25 products / services in 2020 (including an insurance company (!!)).

I’ve also read about this norm in the industry, which I have yet to verify: in China, if two stars compete for the endorsement of the same brand product, the one who loses will not get endorsements of same products from different brands — at least, not in the short term — because any brand who uses the star who lost would be seen as inferior. Hence, to lose the competition on one endorsement deal can mean losing the endorsement deals for an entire category of products.

(Someone on Weibo has pointed this out: while Gg and Dd have often endorsed competing brands of the same product: Budweiser (gg) and Yenching beer (dd), for example; they have never fought for the endorsement of same brand product. Again, I haven’t verified this.)

This part is easy to understand.

The next question is: why are solo fans against CP fans? “Girlfriend fans” — solo fans who can’t bear to seeing their idol paired up with anyone other than themselves — only make up a fraction of the fandom. How are CP fans generally perceived? 

My key findings so far: CP fans are *perceived* to be more likely to express negative views about their idol paired up with other actors / actresses, which will affect viewership and ratings, restrict the kind of roles their idol will be invited to play. More importantly, CP fans are *perceived* as fickle — more likely to walk away after their favourite CP drama has ended, because as CP lovers, they’re thought to be equally in love with the romantic gestures as with the stars who perform them on/off stage. ie, When another drama comes along featuring the same romantic gestures, the CP fans are expected to jump ship.

I highlight the word “perceive”, because while it doesn’t matter how solo fans see CP fans, it does matter how the business side of c-ent view CP fans and it appears to share this view. The c-YiZhan fandoms have been unhappy with the publicity of the upcoming adapted BL dramas for this reason — aside from their allegations that it’s copying The Untamed’s BTS, the thing that has offended them the most, perhaps, is the very idea that the marketing departments thought a few “leaked” photos of the leads acting intimately close are enough to woo them away from YiZhan, from Gg and Dd.

Given this, perhaps, prevalent view of CP fans, CP fandoms have been viewed as something disposable, almost, to be made, used and discarded quickly. 

Before and during the airing of the drama, the marketing / publicity teams fuel and encourage CP fandoms, reap the benefits in viewership from the ensuing discussions and hot searches. Solo fans usually aren’t threatened by CP fandoms in this nascent phase—CP fandoms have been far smaller in size and only grow during the broadcast.

More importantly, the norms have been that CP fandoms do not last.

CP fandoms do have a tendency to “self-combust” over time: fans * within * the fandom accusing each other of being partial to one of the leads — spending more money on A’s endorsements, for example, or buying more copies of B’s music. However, this isn’t how many CP fandoms die. Instead, once the show is over, the process of “Breaking the CP” begins. I’m not sure who gets this process going, but my guess is the leads’ management companies, with consent (willing or unwilling) from the actors. Breaking the CP means having the CP leads avoid each other as soon as the drama is done airing, and for as long as it takes for the CP fandoms to dissipate. It means no more appearing in the same drama and shows; no more sharing a stage; and if they happen to be at the same event, they are to communicate as little as possible. This “loosening the bind” between the leads is designed to free the actors up for the next CPs, and its way of execution can be very abrupt, very … cruel for the CP fans. For one of 2020 summer dramas (Love and Redemption 琉璃), for example, a popular character (het) CP pairing was broken up in the last fan meet, 10 days after the final episode had aired. The fan meet was marketed as a CP event (there was even merch for the CP); CPs fans bought the tickets, perfectly aware of the unsaid “CPs are made to be broken” rule and it’d likely be the last time they’d see their CP together. But the organisers denied them even this last chance; the leads of the CP had no interactions, not even eye contact during the entire event. The actor didn’t acknowledge the actress in his farewell speech. The fans understandably got upset; even outsiders sympathised, stating that the CP-breaking could be handled with a little more consideration. Word on the street was that because the male lead already had other dramas lined up, the CP had to be broken up as quickly as possible.

(Weibo Night from almost a year ago was seen as a “Break the CP” event for Gg and Dd. Some turtles still cry at the memory of it.)

There’s a term related to the breaking of CPs: 提純 (“increasing the purity”). It describes the ultimate goal of breaking CPs: increasing the proportion of solo (”pure”) fans by breaking up the CP and having the solo fandoms of each lead absorb the CP fans. Because solo fans are *perceived* to be more loyal (won’t jump ship the next romantic drama comes along), less likely to draw criticisms (especially if the CP is M/M and/or affect the RL lives of their stars), and have more purchasing power (as CP fans have to divide their resources between the two leads and equally).

How does this affect how solo fans see CP fans? Another way to say the above is: one CP fan is one fan the two solo fandoms fail to capture. One more CP fan is one less solo fan. “CP fan” should be a temporary identity. CP fandoms sequester resources from the solo fandoms until they’re broken up.

This sets the stage for conflicts if the CP fandoms refuse to fade, if the CP fans refuse to turn solo.

The conflict between solo and CP fandoms is, of course, even more heated for real-person CP’s, which can, indeed, pose a significant threat to the leads’ life and career. An easy example of the former is if one of the CP leads are in a RL relationship, and/or if the lead is straight but the CP is queer (this is the case for The Guardian (2018), the first popular adapted BL “dangai” drama). Another major issue with real-person CPs (queer or not) is that the media will make frequent comparisons of the leads’ follow-up career. If the CP “bind” remains, the lead perceived as less popular may be viewed as using the more popular one to sustain their popularity. Fans of the more popular lead do not take that well. The management company of the less popular lead takes that even less well, and its PR team will work even harder to eliminate the CP from public discussion.

Overall, the “breaking the CP” strategy works as intended. As long as the CP leads stop interacting, no more new candies are generated for the CP fandoms, and even the best candies have an expiration date. The CP fans move on, often to other CP pairings—the CP breaking process often leave them hurt and disappointed at the leads—and further propagating the perception that they are fickle souls who prefer candies over actors.

With this background, it doesn’t surprise me that the relationship between the fans of Gg, Dd, and Yizhan has been so intense since the airing of the Untamed… it would actually surprise me (much) more if it isn’t.

First and foremost, if I take away my YiZhan-tinted lens (as much as I can anyway!), the competition between Gg and Dd automatically becomes The Battlefield in c-ent. Gg and Dd are among the most popular idols right now, and there’s a strong urgency in this competition as idol popularity is perceived to have a limited shelf life. Now, 18 months after The Untamed, Gg and Dd are not only vying for survival in the same industry—which may encourage cooperation between the two solo fandoms—they’re vying for the throne.

Things are already extra tense that way. Here’s an analogy I can think of—it’s easier to accept losing a lottery by getting every number wrong than getting a single number wrong, and by one count. It’s harder for solo fans to accept being number 2, when number 1 was a co-star, the other half of their idol’s CP.

Now, into this unresolved tension, throw in a huge curveball known as the YiZhan fandoms. A curveball that isn’t even supposed to exist — CP fandoms are all supposed to fizzle out quickly after the show is over. Instead, the BJYX supertopic on Weibo (by far the biggest of the three Yizhan CPs) had 1.5 million members in January 2020. It now has 2.8 million (January 2021).

(For reference, dd’s supertopic has 5.4 million members and gg’s, 7.7 million.)

These YiZhan fandoms aren’t merely living on their last breath, their stale candies. They’re thriving. Self-combustion hasn’t happened. CP fans of Gg and Dd keep finding fresh candies, keep having new things to rejoice and scream about.

If I put myself in the shoes of a solo fan, what does this continued growth of the YiZhan fandoms mean? It means the “binding” between My Idol and That-Other-Idol-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, each a contender of the c-ent throne, is strengthening instead of loosening. It means more and more fans of My Idol are exhibiting signs of wavering loyalty, by becoming fans of both My Idol and That-Other-Idol. Fan culture in China is highly organized, requiring strategy, cooperation and obedience when it comes to generating the best numbers for their idol (sells, ratings, viewership etc). Having to rely on the fickle CP fans to generate these numbers means uncertainty and anxiety.

People behave differently when they’re nervous. Some chew on their fingernails. Some attack.

2020, of course, make the solo fandoms even more nervous about each other. Gg, post-227, isn’t a safe person to be “bound to”, and also to have one’s career compared against—given the bad publicity that has circulated around him, given the fact that he has managed to stay on top in spite of it. Dd, meanwhile, has grown in popularity while Gg goes into hiding—while I personally do not, for a moment, believe Dd has anything to do with 227, it is within human nature to ask: if one loses—and in a manner so publicised, so catastrophic that even the Western media reported on it—who has the most to gain? Work culture in almost every industry in China is extremely cut-throat, and securing victory by not-so-clean methods isn’t uncommon with the immense pressure to perform. Fans are bringing in their experiences from RL in how they view their idol’s competition—with suspicion, with defensiveness. With swords sharpened and ready for counterattacks.

The ultimate cherry-on-top when it comes to causing conflicts between Gg’s, Dd’s and YiZhan fandoms is, of course, the fact that YiZhan is no garden-variety, heterosexual, character CP. It’s a M/M real person CP, in a society where homosexuality, while legal, is still considered “non-mainstream values” and explicitly censored from TV; where personal freedoms have overall been tightening and laws can change overnight. It’s one thing if their idol is truly in a queer relationship and chooses to announce it themselves; it’s a whole different story if it’s some fans of another idol who “out” them—who publicise their queerness that, in the eyes of these solo fans, may very well be fictional. 227 has already confirmed that in c-ent, idols pay the price of their fan’s wrongdoings and in this case, all it takes is for the YiZhan fandoms to make a single mistake—to celebrate one candy too loudly, for example (“to dance outside the circle”), and catch the attention of the wrong government official — to not only cost their idols their popularity, but their whole career. To the solo fans, therefore, the mere existence of the YiZhan fandoms pose a huge risk to their idol that should’ve been avoidable in the first place. And when they check out the new candies, what do they see? They see Gg leaving hints suggestive of Dd; they see Dd doing inexplicable things that can be linked to Gg. c-Turtles joke sometimes that solo fans are even better than they are at spotting the connections between Gg and Dd. But while turtles see these connections as evidences of a romantic relationship, what solo fans see is the other idol latching onto their own, whose fame makes it a reasonable act; they see it as the other solo fandom carelessly jeopardizing their own idol’s career for the sake of more noise and popularity.

The solo fandoms end up fighting. They have few reasons NOT to do so without the YiZhan-tinted lens.

That said though, I’m not sure if the wars between Gg’s, Dd’s and YiZhan fandoms are truly getting worse. As I write this, my thought is: perhaps it’s not that the fans are disliking each other more, but rather, more and more people are getting involved, and the stakes, the risks are becoming higher and higher. Gg and Dd both had fans during the filming of The Untamed, but they were a small fraction, quantity wise, to what it is now. Even if, at the time, 100% of Gg and Dd fans hated each other, they still wouldn’t have generated the noise than, say, if 0.01% of Gg’s fans are arguing with 0.01% of Dd’s fans now. The arguments then, however ugly they could be, would’ve stayed off hot searches, and largely within the two fandoms. These days, however, when even Gg shaking a pen can make it into hot search (as he did during the Tencent Awards), every heated exchange is amplified by passer-bys, by antis, by done-for-money re-bloggers. Quarrels snowball exponentially to the number of mouths pitching in; so does the antagonistic sentiments behind the hurtful words purposefully or accidentally spilled. Meanwhile, the c-YiZhan fandoms have reached the size that as much as they’ve tried to keep everything away from the public eye, it’s not really possible anymore. Search BJYX online, and videos after videos pop up for any outsider who wish to get a primer—and there’s no control over that content. Gg and Dd’s commercials hint at it. The Tencent Awards show host cued it. Before, the YiZhan fandoms may still be able to get away with a mistake or two. Now, they can make half a mistake and all the info already floating around will make sure that half a mistake will round to one.

If I were a solo fan, perhaps I’d scream my lung out too. Think of how terrible this all is, if Dd(Gg) is actually Gg(Dd)’s most fierce competition, as his being the other half of the CP is meant to be. Think of all the damages these fantastical speculations can do, if My Idol isn’t queer and tomorrow, the government comes down with a decree that outlaws queerness. Maybe My Idol will be spared if he isn’t at the top. But My Idol is at the top. Everyone will point to him. The hot searches will show his name, make sure the powers-that-be see it. He … his downfall… can be made an example …

Okay, okay, I’ll stop playacting here. Phew. That was scary * pats turtle shell to confirm its presence * :) . But can you see how deep that fear can go, for a fan who really, really loves and is therefore protective of their idol? How this fear, which stems from love, can turn into hate and generally loud, angry yelling across the internet? 

[newtonsheffield]

First off it has to be said that I truly adore Bridgerton and Sons. I didn’t expect this AU to change my world, but I’m addicted. I’ve literally reread multiple works within the series an insane amount of times and then to come on here and find even more content??? My heart actually cannot deal.

You literally put so much love and effort into this world- the fact that you are really out here working hard during the day as well as writing chapters and then you provide us with even more content on here- you are a superhero and it’s so so soooo appreciated, and the love and adoration that you get is so well deserved.

One of my favourite elements of your AU is Gregory and Kate’s relationship, I think it’s just beautiful and I love it soooooo much! So it made me wonder, what’s the dynamic between Anthony and Lucy/ the dynamic when all four of them are together?

Thank you soooo much once again for everything that you do- B&S has such a special place in my heart and does brighten up my day in this dreary timeline that we’re in x

Hi!

Y’all are sending me the most heartfelt messages at the moment (always but particularly in the last few days!) and honestly, I’m just a little overwhelmed by everyone’s love for this series. I feel like I say all the time that when I started this series I never could have imagined that it would have turned into this. I was so excited when Insufferable got 100 reads and now it’s just about to top 5000!!!!!!! Which is truly... insane. And Honestly, at this point it’s much more down to all of you than it is me. I cannot express how it makes me feel that people have really taken this series on board truly just... I love and appreciate every single one of you and I hope you know that, I’m just too awkward to express it. I will just finish my little drone by saying that I have a stressfulish job and so I use writing his universe as a bit of harmless escapism. Some people do drugs, I do this. It is what it is 🤷🏻‍♀️ But ii’m very glad that it does the same for you!

Okay! Now! Anthony + Lucy! Let’s take a look!

Anthony Bridgerton first met Lucy Abernathy when she was hired as the receptionist at Bridgerton and Sons. She greeted him every morning and he returned it smiling politely but they never interacted beyond that. About a year into her employment Harold, his assistant, had come in and explained that they were scheduling appointments in a slightly different way so their may be a few kinks to work out in the coming days. Irritation flared in his chest when he said And who decided on this? Harold had brightly said Well Lucy thought that it would be- But Anthony was barely paying attention as he strode purposefully from the room, Lucy was very well liked and good at her job but what right did she have to decide how his appointments were scheduled?! Miss Abernathy who gave you the authority to-? He started, and Lucy, to her credit, looked barely ruffled at his sharp tone as she smiled and said Let me explain why this was a good idea. By the end of their little chat Anthony was feeling very embarrassed as he said Errr Lucy, I’m sorry about the way I spoke to you, it was uncalled for. We have a new associate starting in a few weeks, I think it’s about time for a promotion. Lucy’s answering smile was blinding.

Of course, after he’d promoted Lucy Abernathy to be Kate Sheffield’s assistant he deeply regretted it. Kate Sheffield may be an absolutely infuriating woman, but her schedule thanks to Lucy was flawless. Kate glided in and out of meetings Lucy behind her rattling off lists of questions handling things seamlessly. He may not like Kate, but he had to admit, she made one hell of a team with Lucy Abernathy. Their relationship was good, easy chemistry as Kate breezed into the office weekly with cake and sweets, and Lucy brought coffee and they giggled and laughed, and Anthony couldn’t help feel a little jealous. Of Lucy’s filing system of course, not the way Kate smiled at her. And so when Harold left Anthony saw his chance. He called Lucy into his office and said Lucy, how would you feel about leaving Kate’s service? Lucy looked positively stunned. Her mouth falling open a little as Anthony continued. I think you’re a bright girl with a bright future and we could work together. Lucy’s brow had furrowed slightly as she fixed him with a stern look. Mr Bridgerton, I’m awfully flattered, but I’m very happy working with Kate. And I hope this won’t affect our working relationship moving forward. And then, with nothing further she stood, and left his office and Anthony was left to marvel over this ridiculously competent young woman.

Lucy would be lying if she wasn’t a little nervous when she first started dating Gregory. Yes, she knew that she and Anthony got along in a professional environment, put appreciate someone’s work ethic was a far cry from wanting someone to be in a relationship with your youngest brother. Even when She caught Anthony smiling softly at Gregory and her huddled together in the break room at lunch a little caught in one another. She was still a little hesitant. And so when Gregory said, smiling his adorable little grin that wrinkled his eyes and made her heart flutter, I’m going to dinner at Kate and Anthony’s tonight. You should come! And Lucy had said a little hesitantly Greg I wasn’t invited I don’t- and Gregory had stood from his desk, threw his brother’s door open and said Can Lucy come tonight? And Anthony called out Loud enough for Lucy to hear I thought she already was! And Lucy had to bite back the smile. And their dinner’s became a weekly occurrence.

[ohnobjyx]

To the snowy summit side by side

红尘中毁誉得失如何去量?

Part 7: And now... what?

This is a post long overdue. I must admit, this is the most difficult one, so I was putting it off, reading again and again what I had already written and browsing through the internet to try and get the most complete picture.

Disclaimer: in this case, almost all of the post is my personal opinion (I tried to keep the previous post objective). I’m biased because of the XZ friendly content I’m usually exposed to and by my own views of their situation. Open to discussion, but please make sure you’ve enough information to do so.

Let’s go back to anon’s original ask:

Hello could you give us an update on xz's situation? I know we*bo and his studio has taken some steps recently but how has this affected public opinion on xz? Has it improved/ are more people favoring him or has it gotten worse?

I think I have been answering your first question in the past posts. However, about the next two:

When I was compiling information and writing the previous posts, a song kept coming back again and again to my head, specifically, this part of the lyrics:

红尘中毁誉得失如何去量?

In the mortal world, how can praise or condemnation, success and failure be measured?

(Yes, it’s from WuJi-无羁)

Innocence

What happened to XZ was a combination of incredibly bad luck, strenuous social circumstances (the pandemic), high stress in the public and a set of underlying issues that had been festering for a long time.

From being a celebrity on the way up, he suddenly became a scapegoat for a conflict he hadn’t caused and the receiver of a lot of senseless hate. He didn’t do anything from start to finish in the 2/27, but ended up the most affected from it, as the consequences reverberated all the way from March to July.

Because XZ didn’t ask the author to write such a fanfic. He didn’t request for it to be taken down. He didn’t ask his fans to report anything. And he didn’t have anything to do with ao3 being banned in the country as a response. From start to finish, he didn’t participate in any of it.

Many of the analysis I’ve watched/read determine that the cause of the problem  were his fans. One of the bloggers even said that “his fans are the ones that have hindered his career the most”.

But, from my point of view, the saying of “two people can’t have an argument if one of them doesn’t want to” also applies here. From start to finish, the issue was filled with overreactions and exaggerated responses from both XZ’s fans and the rest of the people that engaged in this ridiculous fan war with them.

However, let’s keep in mind that “XZ’s fans” is also a huge generalization. Most of the people don’t have the necessary time, resources and mental energy to engage in ridiculous crusades in the name of their favoured celebrity.

Part of the reasoning of the anti-XZ faction is that he should have taken measures and steps to make sure that his fans didn’t cross the line. However, even if the people leading all of this are only a small % of his fans, they are still a lot of people. Being the receiver of their fans’ love and admiration doesn’t make him and his team able to discern who is a reasonable, sensible fan, and who is a crazed troublemaker. And being famous and admired shouldn’t make him the responsible of all of his fans actions (in my opinion). I think this is also how Western society would view the situation.

I was surprised to discover that c-society did expect him to “guide” his fans, because he has a huge influence on them and he’s supposed to guide them towards more civilized behaviour. It’s not of course what everyone thinks, but the stance his studio has taken also points in recognizing that they should have done that (there are more reasons to their stance, of course, explained in the part 5+6).

However, people did realize (I think) that most of the people that follows him gives him support silently. There are of course ardent and fervent people who jump to defend him, but even that kind of behaviour is discouraged by XZ’s studio (applying that ignoring the antis is the greatest way to defeat them).

So here it came the lyrics from WuJi. It’s true that a fraction of his fans have caused him a lot of trouble. But this kind of fans (there is a fine line between very invested and obsessed) are also the ones who push forward a lot of events, who create things like “XZ’s fans Association” and who promote his works the most. His studio did call them out in the end, and said that everyone should relax in their support, but it’s also true that this fans also had a great hand in pushing him to the top of the charts. There’s a very fine line between gain and loss here, so how can one measure the value?

(But the antis who disguise as his fans and create trouble just for the sake of ruining his reputation are a whole other issue. No excuses for them).

Finally, the answers

To answer (I know we*bo and his studio has taken some steps recently but how has this affected public opinion on xz? Has it improved/ are more people favoring him or has it gotten worse?) more exactly:

When we are talking about public opinion, it can actually be divided into 3 factions: his fans, the antis, and the actual general public who is neutral by default.

1. His fans stayed the same, supporting him through the storm. The opinion of the fans isn’t so easily swayed (though he has lost some in this process, he has also gained new followers), and the main feeling they have towards him now can be summarized in 心疼 (”xin teng”, a feeling that, in this case, can be described as “I’m really sorry that all of this has happened to you because I know that you were innocent in this”). I’ll explain a little bit more about his fans support in the last part of the post.

2. The antis can also be divided into 2 groups: “regular” antis and “professional” antis. The 2/27 Great Union community still exists, but it’s a closed off community and to enter it, the new member has to be approved by a moderator. I’ve seen public comments with the 2/27 Great Union tag, that after his interviews have morphed into “I’m a commoner and I hate XZ”, but they are a lot less active these days. Even if they still have hate after everything that happened, the average anti has gone back to their usual life after quarantine was lifted, so it’s less active.

Some of the “regular” antis will stay active, but that’s to be expected. For example, some of WYB’s solo fans were all exploding over the new vlog XZ’s Studio updated three days ago. While it’s ridiculous for the rest of us, these people will continue their “XZ is using WYB to further his own fame” campaign.

However, it’s different with the “professional” anti. As we said in previous posts, people like “B” has a lot of time, energy and resources to invest in a smear campaign against XZ. Where does all of that come from? I don’t know. What I do know is that once XZ’s topic cools down enough and another scandal of another idol, no matter how small, appears, they’ll shift to hate content about the other idol. What matters to them is to produce content that people will engage with, so they get more views and followers, and profit with it.

3. And now, the “neutral-by-default general public”. There is a problem in how we, as netizens, manage the information. In the previous post, I talked about a hater who had written an assessment because “XZ’s fans” had insulted her parents. While the main objective of the document wasn’t to see how the general public views him, I took the data she had extracted.

The general public isn’t so neutral anymore. While it’s true that XZ keeps gaining fans (he’s still riding on CQL’s success train), what general public, the average passerby, has heard from him is:

A XZ fan has stolen a deceased person’s account to keep promoting him

“XZ’s fans” attack a user’s parents on Father’s Day.

A primary school teacher promotes her favourite idol in her class.

These are bound to create a bad image and reputation in people’s mind. We know (I explained all of those incidents in previous posts) that only the teacher incident was truly caused by a XZ fan. There’s no proof that the person who insulted that user’s parents was a XZ fan, and w/ibo has proved that the “stolen” account incident was a scheme from start to finish.

However, the headache in all of those incidents is that the initial issue (“a XZ fan stole a deceased person account to continue to promote him!”) is announced widely and loudly, attracting people’s attention to it. However, people won’t dig up more information. Less than half will actually read the article or investigate more about it. W/ibo actually investigating it and discovering that it was all a plot to frame XZ isn’t given importance, nor does it go on the hot search chart. People only know what happened at first, but don’t know how the story ended. And this is a huge problem for him, because people accuse him but don’t care to know if he was actually the culprit.

(Wow, just like WWX in CQL).

So I found this to describe it.

There are still neutral people: those who couldn’t care less about the tabloids, and that never read gossip sites. These are still a great part of the general public. Anon was asking about the public opinion: the fact is that previously neutral people have only heared bad things about him for half a year, so that’s bound to affect their image of someone they’re not invested in.

If XZ were defeated, and retired, I’m sure a lot of articles like “framing the innocent” would appear. We people just like to have something to talk about.

His fans’ support

XZ ended 2019 with his followers on w/ibo numbering on 21,690,000. The exact number of his w/ibo followers right now is 26,458,877 (26,459,350 two hours later, by the time I’m editing this to post it). He continues to be liked by more people, and antis may try to reduce his popularity, but it’s a fact that his talent and effort are appreciated by people with no hidden agenda. 

XZ is also slowly coming back to work and to his endorsements, which are very good news. We saw him recently in the R/SEONLY add for Chinese Qixi, in the event for Cao Yu’s anniversary, the vlog the studio updated.

Less directly, Kai Xiao Zao, one of the brands that didn’t stop working with him even after 2/27 (they are a smaller brand, and they must have invested a lot in their endorser, so they can’t just put him aside like other bigger brands did), recently put up little stands in malls all over China to promote their new product. In every stand there was a wall for customers to write and a couple of XZ cardboard cutouts.

In his interview in Yunnan, XZ had been seen wearing his red cord bracelet, to ward off bad luck. So fans started to add their own amulets to ward off bad luck and offerings to the cutouts.

They started off like this...

Fans came...

And they ended up like this. The funny fact it’s that people started to add plush toys, hats and even food to the cutouts, so based on what “XZ” is wearing one can guess where was the photo taken.

This was a widespread phenomenon in all of KXZ stands. So to say that XZ has lost support from his fans would be certainly false.

His dramas are also expected to be aired soon and have been confirmed to. His patience is paying off little by little, and he’s coming back to work.

The moral of the story

I hope we can all learn something from this. If anything, it has changed my own attitude on the Internet. I used to be very quick to answer with extreme words if I felt strongly about a topic. Now I try to tone down my responses. I’m not saying that you’d all do the same, but it’s a lesson I extract from other people’s experiences. History should serve to avoid mistakes others have committed as much as possible.

In the technology and communications based world we live in, to believe that what we do on Internet doesn’t affect real people’s everyday lives is a huge lie. So, now that we can see that XZ is slowly coming back, let’s all remember that this once happened: let’s all be kind on the internet and avoid engaging with people who dedicate themselves to spread hate.

It has been hard on him. But he’s going to top the snowy summit. Let’s do our best to support him rationally.

Prev: Part 5 and 6: A snowy summit

[iamacolor]

fashion queen! which nct era has the best fashun in ur opinion?? and if u were a designer which neos would u pick as ur models?

I was so excited to answer this that I wrote several pages and it basically turned into a style analysis for each unit so I sure hope you have some time on your hands to read everything I’ve just written! (I did not reread so sorry for any typing mistake)

NCT is known to be experimental in their music and that’s also the case in their styling so there’s a lot for me to get into even though sometimes it’s a miss. One thing I will say though is that when it comes to the styling in mv/teasers, what’s around the clothes is super important because if you have a very specific styling concept, your set design or graphic design needs to complement that and give the audience more clues on how to read all these elements together (the cherry bomb era is a great example of that with all the added graphic elements and the predominance of the colour pink) and recently I’ve found that the creative team has not really gone further than just putting nct in an outfit in front of a basic background so it makes for a pretty underwhelming result

But let’s move on to my favourite styling eras. I’m going to do this per unit (I’ll finish with NCT U) and define an era by its teaser pictures and the mv (and not go through all the performance looks during the promotion period)

I’m putting this under a read more because it’s reaaally long (I put pictures so that it’s not just one big chunk of text)

NCT 127

Easily the most experimental unit when it comes to fashion, especially in their first years where they would wear mix of sportswear, grunge references, avant-garde fashion and a lot of layers. When it comes to their debut “Firetruck”, I think it fitted the song really well but that it didn’t fit all the members equally (especially the younger ones, for me Taeyong and Taeil pulled it off the best – it’s expected of Taeyong but I also think that Taeil always stand out when they go for edgy/unconventional look, I think it really suits him).

Anyway, just to say that they were off to a very strong start and then I’m just going to kindly ignore the Limitless styling and move on to Cherry Bomb!

One thing nicely done for CB is how when you look at a group picture they’re clearly all following the same concept but they’re not necessarily matching or giving off the same vibes if you take them individually. I love the use of the colour pink which brings a) a great visual impact (you don’t ever see that much pink at once – especially on men) and b) an harmony despite the shapes and styles of their outfits being so vastly different, you’ve got ties, tousled, shirts, little frilled collars, stripes and all-over prints, sportswear and formal wear… (ex: taeyong’s short jacket is reminiscent of something a little luxurious, even maybe historical/noble with the little added embroidery-like details, it reminds me of these boleros jackets worn by toreros that are often red/gold VS doyoung’s overalls is an outfit that has a much more recent origin as it was first worn by factories workers, it’s usually blue or grey and is meant to be practical rather than pleasing to the eye -> here it fits very well with the general setting of the mv in what looks like an empty industrial storage space)

This second look is more of a game on how to deconstruct formal wear (there are less prints and no bold colours, their hair is less messy…) but they don’t just add sportswear like the bomber jacket, you can find rock or more “modern” elements with the leather jackets or the jean jackets. All in black and white so great contrast with the previous looks, although that mix and match concept is still there. My favourite elements are the checkered ones (worn by taeyong, taeil and haechan) as it reminds me of the strategy element of the chess game which fits pretty well with all the weapons and other arms visible in the mv (a bit like a nod to the game battleship)

This one I love that they developed their own print, especially since it’s another graphic element used elsewhere (see their album cover), because it’s a great way to really introduce their identity as a group, through the different visual elements they put out in a comeback, it’s like a logo but as a print. And all the teasers and the mv did a great job at mixing 2D/3D contents so that’s another nice way to be cohesive. It’s not my fave look out of the 3 (especially because I do not approve of that belt-suspenders-bag they gave Johnny, it’s like everything you don’t want to put a dancer in and it’s ugly as well) but I still like the fact that’s it’s another nod to the battle/strategy aspect of this comeback, like they’re on a mission to hit the stage and conquer it

Then fast forward to my other favourite one, Simon Says! (No teaser pictures here because they don’t show anything or they show not enough lol)

First of all THE MASKS

Oh how I wish they could’ve been shown more (imagine teasers with the members wearing them!!! I would’ve loved individual teasers based on each of the masks concepts) Once again, a great to have group concept without making everyone wear the same thing. They’re all super different and full of details. Haechan’s is the only one from what I could who’s mask is actually a mask and not a fully covering hood. The materials and techniques used on these are either evocative of “fragile” things like glass and flowers but theses elements have their own hidden strength. Some others are covered in lace, pearls, fringes or fur…all these things are usually considered to be precious or even luxurious but it covers their faces and their identity and they throw it away in rebellion (and I think it’s also super interesting how Taeyong who takes off his mask first has the least ornamented one)

Then the outfits themselves. Simon Says in an interesting MV because unlike most others they wear one outfit for most of the MV (the second one appears quite late in the mv and is lit and staged in a way that makes it less visible). It’s a mostly grey/white set of outfits which is usually a colour combo for office wear or maybe factory workers, it’s not something that can seem very exciting or edgy. The styling in these outfits reminds me of the works of Japanese designers who came to Paris in the 80’s and kind of shook the whole high fashion system by bringing a different type of shapes, aesthetic and purpose to fashion (Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto…). These designers  went on to become super successful and inspired another wave of “avant-garde” designers nicknamed “the 6 of Anvers” (Anvers is a city in Belgium), this group includes Martin Margiella, Dries Van Noten…And to me the outfits in Simon Says really fit into this aesthetic. Unconventional fits, various layers, it’s not so much mix and match than a work on contrast between structure and fluidity (Yuta’s half skirt with un-trimed edges, Haechan’s long shirt with the long bow and the fitted jacket, Mark’s top with the various see-through layers of different lengths…).

An other interesting details (which to me calls back to the mask and that tension in the song/concept of letting go/being free of expectations), is the way they all have thick strings tied on their feet/ankles. Not holding them back because their feet aren’t tied together but there’s still this clear restriction of the garment itself, a reminder that there are tied to something and not completely free (also an interesting choice when dressing dancers who would need to have no added weight or discomfort in their outfit to dance but visually something is holding their ankles)

Honorable mentions:

Kick It– they managed to create very memorable outfits while taking inspirations from already well known elements (both for the fighting/training outfits and the bomber jackets). The black and white outfits especially are very original as performance outfits/dancing clothes since the og garment they’re inspired by has already such a strong identity outside of the performing arts and I don’t think I’ve ever seen it be used as a stage outfit? Or concept? It’s a nice exemple of how you can take inspiration for something designed to be useful and to be efficient (in fighting) and turn it into an aesthetic.

Truthfully, martial art training outfit was already an “aesthetic” on its own but they made it a performance costume and now I do feel like it’s one of these looks that everyone will remember (like if there was a “most memorable kpop outfits” list it could easily have kick it’s black/white fits). The rest of the outfits for that concept weren’t as memorable/original to me although I feel like it showed a new approach to the styling of nct 127 as a group since they all had very similar outfits this time (especially when wearing the jackets).

Also, interestingly,  that shot of Jaehyun that had everyone go “wow” ? Well it’s impactful because it’s him and he looks like that and it’s shot in a very specific way, but it’s also even more impactful because he’s the only one who gets to wear that kind of outfit in the mv. Everyone else has 3 sets of outfits (black and white, shiny black, red jacket and black pants) but he has 4 and that suit is only used in that shot which makes for a greater impact!

And I feel like Kick It in terms of styling opened a new era for NCT 127 has it kind of broke their usual mix and match/edgy concept. This time they were clearly referencing something already well known (either martial arts, the 90s…), and the members were all matching and they kept on doing that with the military jackets in punch, the other 90s concept in nct 2020…

Touch – for the way the outfits match the sets (in all their individual sets their outfits have a detail in a matching colour), the focus on colours !!! You can see that this whole concept was designed with this colour game/colour progression between the outfits and the set in mind. It’s just very pleasing to the eyes and a great contrast to their usual stuffs (also I wrote my graduation paper on colours so I am really into creative use of colours like this)

OK now moving on to Dream!!

The interesting thing about Dream compared to NCT 127 is that from the beginning although their outfits had to match the song an the concept of the comeback it also had to match their age. Dream’s a group that had to look young when debuting (to the point where they wore outfits that made them look even younger than they were which is rarely done for boy groups) and then they had to transition into adulthood, and all of that had to be made visible. In that aspect, I really like the styling for We Young and Boom (especially when you look at them at the same time).

For We Young, the styling is meant to be reminiscent of school/boy scout uniforms but with a marine vibe. It makes for playful outfits that aren’t too childish but that also aren’t grown up. I prefer the “seaside” outfits as I don’t really like school uniforms as a concept for styling and I think it’s really a choice that suited them and the song so well, it really fitted their energy. It’s playful but it also has a vintage touch to it as these outfits with their stripes and their squared flap at the back date back to the XIXth century (I just found out that it all started with the queen Victoria dressing up her kid in an outfit inspired by the royal navy uniforms for a painting after a cruise ).

Boom on the other side is their first proper “grown-up” concept. We go up was already more grown up but still very “teenager-ish” and although they were mostly teenagers when they did Boom it was clear that this was supposed to be their first entry into “adulthood” as a group at least. And although they did wear a sportswear/casual outfits which is something that isn’t related to age (and I really like the black and white “skeleton” set which already feels more grown-up and more “stylish” than the other casual outfit) , they wore two other “grown-up” elements: suits and all-jean outfits.

And yeah teenagers, and kids wear jeans too but a full jean-on-jean outfit is more of a “grown-up” fashion choice and it makes them look like young men rather than boys. As for the suits, I just really love when stylists play with the codes of that garment (length of the jacket, tightness of the pants, the way the shirt is tucked in…).

Notice how Renjun has a really short jacket, Chenle’s pants are wide, Jeno has a tail…Once again, a really interesting aspect of Kpop is the variations of the same concept based on the members. In the mv, there is a tension between their more grown up selves (the one in suits, the one with a craft/a path) and their young selves (the one running around in the field, the one laying down in the flowers and eating a cake). And there is also in these outfits and the contrast between them this tension, this contrast…which path should they go? The jeans are the more laide back, innocent outfits, whereas the suits come with responsibilities and status (and you’ll notice that in the scene where jisung is left alone to blow his candle it’s when he’s wearing jeans not when he’s in the suits).

Now on to WayV!!

WayV are different from the two in the sense than when they debuted they couldn’t have an “age” concept or an edgy concept because 127 and dream had already taken those and I feel like for that reason they’re still looking for what makes them stand out visually from the others (and in my opinion it’s not in whatever they were wearing for turn back time!). WayV’s concept is space and time travel, it’s building a new life, a new worl, going beyond anything! In my mind, they’re either supposed to feel a bit “otherworldly” (either spectacular or literally like they’re from another world/another universe, a little bit futuristic maybe?) or to look like explorers/travellers (they have a lot of travel/transportation “gears” references in their outfits). Their MVs also have a very different production than the other nct mvs (the scale and the way it’s filmed, the sets…it’s a different approach and it’s usually much more “grand” for their title tracks). The great thing about WayvV styling is usually that they match the outfits well with the world that the mv is set in (like in Moonwalk for example you get a sense of the world they’re in and the fact that it’s not ours or at least not as we know it now through the way they dress – you can’t really say oh it’s inspired by this era or by this or that because -at least- to me it immediately gives me a vibe of something that could be worn in a sci-fi movie, almost like a costume) or that they allude to travel in their styling.

When they debuted with Regular they went for a very sleek and high fashion look which worked really well for them! Even their more “casual” looks were a bit striking and I think that’s very “wayv-like” to me.

Same goes for Take Off where they mix the individual styles (and I don’t like ten’s leopard fur sleeveless jacket at all) and the group concepts – the “flying” outfits and the “racing” outfits (that last one is my favourite! I love the silhouette it creates with the tight pants and the larger tops with an emphasis on the waist).

There’s something a bit extra to WayV - which is why some of their outfits remind me of costumes more than fashion while at the same time they’re the most “high fashion” unit– like the “flying” outfit in Take Off are recognizable as “flying gear” but you can’t really tell what they’re flying, it feels once again like something that they could wear in like star wars or a similar kind of story.

Imagine a movie about 7 men on another planet trying to come together to overcome the dark forces or whatever’s bad on their planet in a futuristic society with a mix of “traditional” and “trendy” outfits? That’s WayV. The movie the 5th Sense? That’s WayV but on steroids. They’re also the only group with actual characters in their mvs, they’re all supposed to have a backstory or an individual setting and find a way to get together in their mvs.

Anyway all that to say that it’s hard for me to pick an era for them because they’ve only had a few and they still feel like they’re looking to solidify their concept, and since moonwalk and turn back time really set the styling in different worlds than ours, you have to look at how they fit in that world rather than ours and I think Moonwalk does it best since it’s the most cohesive one visually. But then I think Regular had the best individual styling!

Okay this is super long but we’re finally getting to NCT U!!!!

Number one favourite:

The Year Party outfits!!!! I’ve already talked about this but I love when they say we’ll put them in suits and then since they have to make a different one for each of them they cut bits an dpieces of the suits here and there, play with lengths. It’s not a revolutionary concept but in terms of searching for a shape, searching for variations of an already so famous, so well-known garment (everyone has seen a suit, and so many designers have already deconstructed it and then put it back together and so on) it’s so nice, it’s almost like a full collection given how many members there are and it’s just a good tailoring work.It almost feel like an exercise of how many variations of an outfit can you think of? And it looks fun to do! It’s all about the details and the way the layers are set together.

The accessories add to the “formal attire” aspect of it. It almost has a ceremonial look to it. A bit of royalty with the futuristic vibe usually associated with WayV. The dark blue suits were pretty classic, the most interesting details (for me at least) were on the light blue ones. Especially since it’s a rare colour to find in formal wear or in ceremonial wear. In general, I feel like it’s a pretty rare colour in fashion outside of like shirts and baby clothes? I think it was a great styling choice for a content like the year party although I do wish they (either NCT or WayV who’ve touched upon this kind of outfit a bit already) would do a full comeback with this kind of styling (like the lighter version of the black and green outfits in SuperM’s One). It’s not revolutionary but it was something new for NCT and I really hope they use that elegant/futuristic concept once again.

Also in these outfits, the jewelry is super important and adds to the “grand” aspect of these outfits. The concept is that these aren’t ordinary outfits for ordinary men, we’re witnessing something “special” and so they aren’t wearing their usual jewels either (of course the big chains are still there but differently look at that necklace jaehyun is wearing)

Honorable mention:

Boss & Baby Don’t Stop (they’re different but they go together in my mind lol). Look at them in their uniforms! And also they had doyoung wearing these sunglasses

Ok I think I’m done, if you’ve made it this far thank you so much and I hope it was a nice read!!

As for who would I chose as my models…it really depends on what I’d make them wear tbh for menswear the things I’d like to design would either be something like formal wear or knitwear – I’d pick Lucas, Taeyong and Doyoung (I think they’re the most model-like members and could pull off pretty much anything even my non-edgy concept because I can’t do that lol and they pose very well) and then depending on the concept I’d pick between Winwin, Jaehyun, Kun, Jungwoo, Taeil, Haechan and Shotaro (the way I struggled to remember all the members at once…there are too many really)

[clarste]

Sorry if you've been asked this explicitly before, but what are your thoughts on Penguin Logistics, specifically in comparison to the other organisations/factions in Arknights? I recently started and managed to grab everyone within a few pulls, except Sora (and I guess Mostima, unfortunately.) and I think they're easily my favourites. Would love to hear your thoughts. Cheers.

No one's ever asked me that, but they probably should have since I've gone all-in on Penguin Logistics ever since I pulled Exusiai and Croissant early on. I then proceeded to never pull any of the others, forcing me to buy Texas and Sora in the shop and much later dump all of my accumulated gacha currency getting Mostima. Anyway, my goal in life is to use the entire team and also max them all out. PL4life!

Anyway, my initial impression of them was that they were the cast of a 90s anime like Cowboy Bebop or Bubblegum Crisis (...Tokyo 2040). Like, they're an eclectic band of hyper-competent misfits working for a small company operating at the edge of the law. “Penguin Logistics” itself sounds like a euphemism for being, like, smugglers or something. "We'll get your package where it needs to go, no questions asked." Then Code of Brawl came out and I was totally right except they are also very dumb in a funny way. Like, they accidentally got into a turf war with the mafia, but apparently that's just business as usual.

Anyway I want to talk about each of them individually now so apologies if this starts rambling.

Texas is pretty clearly the main character of Penguin Logistics, and you can tell because she's the hub of their whole relationship wheel on the in-game chart.

She's also kinda Spike from Cowboy Bebop, although less laid-back I guess. She's a former mafia assassin on the run from her past, but her past won't leave her alone. Incidentally, "mafia" in this case refers to the various wolf families from the fantasy Italy equivalent in this setting, although they make some interesting comparisons to wolf packs in the profiles. However, Texas's family is dead, which should make her a "lone wolf" that will supposedly never have another place to belong. Except PL itself is proof that that's wrong.

Theoretically she’s just the team’s driver, but because PL is always getting into ridiculous anime fights she’s also good at that part too, using dozens of little... lightsabers(?) that she throws around willy nilly. It would probably look super-cool to see in action, except this is not that kind of game so we’ll just have to wait for the anime or whatever. It’s noted in her profile that her fighting style shows that she unconsciously sees as the only purpose of a weapon as being to kill, and heck, she’s right.

She's cool-headed, adaptable, and the serious one you can always count on, but she's not above getting into friendly(?) brawls just to take out her frustrations out.

Her name comes from the extinct subspecies of Texas Wolf.

Next up is Exusiai, the angel who loves nothing more than guns, god, rock and roll, and apple pie. In that order. In other words, a stereotypical American. Even though she's from the fantasy-Vatican. Basically she's a cheerful, friendly, laid-back person who never really fit in back home where people are expected to be more serious and orderly. Not enough to be, like, shunned or anything but she's always been a weirdo. All angels have guns though, that’s like standard issue. She wishes she could have more though.

She's also super religious, but interestingly never brings it upon her own. I feel like she probably realizes how uncomfortable it can make people who don't share that religion to suddenly bring up Jesus all the time in casual conversation. Like, she's not ashamed of it or anything, but she won't shove it in your face either. Personally, I find that a pretty cool characterization for a fictional religious person.

Which is also sort of a hint that beneath her goofy exterior she's a thoughtful, deliberate person who doesn’t let anyone in by accident. Texas notes that they're exact opposites in this respect. She also has an extremely interesting relationship with the next person.

Her name comes from the Greek word for the order of angels in Christianity often translated as "Powers."

Mostima... where to start...? I guess first of all she’s a fallen angel, apparently because she pointed her gun at her own kind under MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES. Probably related to the whole war in Kazdel thing, where many of the other MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES in this game took place. Long story short, stuff happened in the war, she pointed her gun at another angel, Exusiai’s sister is dead under mysterious circumstances, and Mostima gave up her gun and now wanders the world delivering long-distance packages for PL. But that’s mostly an excuse for to be alone as much as humanly possible. She can also use time magic because I dunno why not. MYSTERIOUS.

She’s friendly enough, talkative even, and has a hobby of visiting new places and trying out the local food, etc, but her real defining trait is that she just doesn’t need other people. She’s explicitly aromantic, saying she has no interest in love, but she also has no need for friends or family or apparently coworkers either. Because of the way the world is, she spends most of her time driving through the endless wastelands between cities, with nothing but a truck, some packages, and her thoughts. There’s something... romantic about that (in the other sense of the word), but even she admits that the romance of watching the sun set in a desert with no one else around for hundreds of kilometers gets old after a while.

I feel like I should note that she has a very “best friend of her big sister” relationship with Exusiai, by which I mean she’s known Exusiai since Exusiai was a kid and to her Exusiai will always be that kid. Also Exusiai only joined PL in the first place to hunt her down and get answers about her sister’s death, but Mostima just laughs it off and leaves town for another year or five. 

Her name is probably a corruption of Mastema, a rather infamous fallen angel in mythology.

Croissant is... well, to be honest everyone past this point is more of a minor character. Which is actually a weird thing to say since none of these people are actually major characters in Arknights, but I guess these are less important people even within the group?

Croissant’s gimmick is that she’s always trying to make money by selling stuff. I guess she’s a merchant? But not, like, a formal one who runs a shop, she just gets her hands on stuff through her connections and sells it. But in like, a friendly down-to-earth way, it’s even said that she lives paycheck to paycheck. She’s a girl trying to get by with a second job, I guess is what I’m saying.

Team-wise, she’s the muscle of the group, being a minotaur and all. She lifts the heavy packages and also smashes things with her MAGNETIC HAMMER which I don’t know why I find that name so amusing. Gameplay-wise her special move can knock all the enemies around her halfway across the map and I smile every time she does it.

Her profile notes that she’s really just living her best life as a normal-ish person, and that helps make everyone around her feel normal, and that’s important in a setting where half the people around you are dying of magical cancer (no one in PL is Infected though).

Her name comes from the French word for Crescent and also a type of Pastry. Leaning more towards Pastries in my opinion.

Sora is an idol singer. Because, to be perfectly honest, what ragtag band of misfits is complete without an idol singer? She can’t really fight, but I guess Texas must have saved her life at some point or something because she bullied both her agency and PL into letting her work there part time. And also she is obsessed with Texas. I guess saying it like that makes her sound kind of annoying, but she really isn’t, she’s just an earnest girl chasing her dreams.

There’s also this interesting thing where a lot of her basic information is censored by her agency in order to protect her privacy (”do not dox the idol”). Even including her race. She presents as a wolf, but her promoted E2 art has her as a rabbit, which raises some interesting questions that don’t really get answered.

Her name comes from the Japanese word for Sky.

Lappland is not really part of PL, but she’s PL-adjacent enough to be worth mentioning here. Basically she’s an old acquaintance of Texas from back in their mafia days, and she’s obsessed with hunting her down and... fighting her? Killing her? But in, like, a sexual way? She’s kind of a crazy psychopathic killer. Maybe. She can also be very calm and polite when she wants to be, although with a taste for gallows humor. That just makes her scarier because you don’t know when/if she’ll snap.

There are two kind-of explanations for her being like that: A) her family is dead and she has no “pack”. As a wolf, the stress of living without a pack is supposed to be maddening. B) She’s infected with Oripathy (magic cancer) and there are crystals growing in her nervous system. Which... can’t be good. The answer is probably a combination of both.

But the most important thing about Lappland is her base skill and how it interacts with Texas. Basically, in your base there are various jobs you can assign people to and different characters get different bonuses for them. Most people in Penguin Logistics get bonuses for working the Trading Depot, for obvious reasons. Lappland gets a “bonus” where if she’s in the depot at the same time as Texas, she loses morale slower but doesn’t actually get any bonus to productivity. Meanwhile, Texas gets a bonus to productivity when Lappland is around, but loses morale way faster. In other words, Lappland is slacking off and making Texas so uncomfortable that she works twice as hard just to get the job over with so she can leave. This is their relationship as defined by game mechanics.

Texas also has another bonus where she loses morale slower if Exusiai is there, which completely cancels out the penalty she gets from Lappland. In other worlds, Exusiai being there too calms her nerves enough that she doesn’t feel the need to immediately escape.

Oh yeah, I forgot to talk about Emperor, who’s the owner of Penguin Logistics. He’s a world-famous rapper wearing a Tupac shirt and also literally immortal.

[evabellasworld]

Storm of the Republic

Chapter 10

AO3 Link | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

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Summary:  When Tup murdered General Tiplar during a battle, Anakin Skywalker and Captain Rex dispatched Ahsoka, Fives, and Yara to solve the mystery that was plaguing the Clone Army. Meanwhile, Senator Padme Amidala contacted Commander Fox, Commander Tori, Riyo Chuchi, and Dipper to help her continue investigating the death of Palpatine, suspecting that Dooku was behind the evil plot. But when Dooku send an ISB agent to stop them, the team had to race against time to search for the truth, which could alter the course of the galaxy.

————————————————————————————

Stepping towards the surface, Odd Eye and Mina breathed a sigh of relief as they landed on an empty part of the island, hearing gunshots and explosions from afar. As part of their mission briefed earlier, Team B will storm the capital city of Mendes to topple the Imperial government.

The planet was part of the Galactic Republic, but had fallen in the hands of the Galactic Empire recently. Hocura harvested crystals that were worth millions of Galactic Credits, and they were instructed to take it back from Imperial hands.

Rubbing her belly, Odd Eye turned around and counted all her troops from the 666th Battalion, from ARC Trooper Tarot, Ouija, Yeri, and others that survived for the past six months. “All members of the 666th are accounted for, General,” she reported to Erina.

“Excellent, Commander,” Erina praised her.

“What about you, Mina?” Raul asked. “Is everyone present?”

“We’re all here, General,” she responded, looking at Bouncy, Nygma, and another Mina.

After the death of Commander Gowon, the ARC Trooper was promoted to a higher position, something many of her peers could only dream of. She was pleased with her new position as a commander, but a bigger role means bigger responsibility for her, and she found it challenging for the past 6 months.

Mina looked up to Odd Eye for guidance, and while the latter has been helpful, the former wished that she had more time to learn about leadership. She may have received training from Alpha-17, but Mina was used to being in the shadows alongside her late commander. I wish Commander Gowon is still here. Why does she have to go too soon? I have a lot to learn about responsibility.

“Alright, we’re heading to the jungle,” Erina instructed them. “So make sure you all stick together and keep your eyes sharp. You never know what you have to encounter down there.”

“Yes, sir,” Odd Eye bobbed her head in acknowledgment. “Come on guys, we have a city to take back.”

”Understood, commander,” Tarot said, as he gestured to his siblings to keep moving.

As the 666th and 197th Battalion marched together, Raul frantically searched through his backpack for something important, making Erina cross her arms. “Let me guess, you forgot your bug spray again?”

Raul gave a nod, smiling sheepishly. “You know me well, Eri.”

“Next time, please remember it,” she advised, passing him the bug spray. “You always forget every time we’re heading to another planet.”

“Alright then,” he resigned. “Also, did you remember to pack your prayer mat? You always forget to bring that whenever we’re on duty.”

Her smile faded as she paused in her tracks, slapping her forehead in shame. “Shit, why do I always forget to bring my prayer mat? That’s like the most important thing on my list. Now I have to pray five times a day with my blanket, again.”

“Don’t worry about it, Eri. At least you don’t have to worry about forgetting your binder like me.”

She raised her eyebrows at the dark-skinned man. “But you don’t need to bring your binders anymore. You already had chest surgery a long time ago.”

“Well, that was way before my chest surgery,” Raul told her. “Remember, I had to work at the diner all day long?”

“How could I forget that, Raul? You wouldn’t even dare to take a day off just to go out with me. Your boss was pretty strict with you.”

“Hey, at least I took you out on a date after the surgery.”

Erina let out a chuckle. “Of course we went out. You came out as a trans man and I wanted to celebrate at your favourite ice-cream shop. That was an important milestone in your life, you know.”

“Yeah, it was the best day of my life.”

As they continued with their conversation, Odd Eye could not help but smile underneath her helmet. Their conversation reminded her of Erhan, back when he was still alive and cheerful. They always have a deep conversation with each other that lasts the entire night, before they would fall asleep in each other’s arms when the sun rose from the horizon.

Her last memory of her lover was before they left an island planet. I can’t wait to start a family with you, Odd Eye recalled his words towards her, before watching him die in front of her. All it took was a tank shooting him from behind. As much as she told Tori that she moved on, she wished he was with her right now.

“Aren’t they cute?” Mina spoke, bringing her back to the present. “They’re both holding hands right now.”

“Yeah, they are,” she agreed, focusing on Erina and Raul. “Who do you think will propose first, though?”

“I think it would be General Gomez,” ARC Trooper Tarot speculated. “He’s quite the romantic one in the relationship.”

“Really?” Mina raised her eyebrows. “I always assumed it would be General Almarez-Guttierez. She’s pretty confident in everything she does.”

“My money goes to General Gomez as well,” ARC Trooper Bouncy joined in the fun. “He’s always sweet towards his partner. I mean, he even carried General Almarez-Guttierez to safety more than once.”

“Okay, guys, let’s just relax with this gossip, alright? We should let their relationship go with the flow.”

“Yes, commander,” Tarot groaned. “Though my readings tell me that there might be a union, eventually.”

Odd Eye rolled her eyes. Of course Tarot would say something like that. That’s how he got his name. He’s obsessed with tarot cards. She wondered why Erhan had to get him those cards in the first place, though some of his readings were accurate most of the time.

One time, he pulled out The Tower card, and the next thing she knows, the 666th Battalion lost half their men in the Battle of Zamerth. It was the most devastating loss she had experienced, and it wasn’t the last time the Grand Army of the Republic had to fold against the Separatists.

“Speaking of readings, what is the card of the day?” the pregnant commander asked, hoping today will be filled with good fortunes and luck.

“This morning, I got the Temperance card. From what I can tell, it means that you’ll have to keep your cool, even when things aren’t going your way.”

“I’m trying my best, Tarot. You know how hard it is to carry a baby while fighting a war?”

“I’m aware of that, commander. That’s why the Temperance card appeared in my reading today.”

It’s an accurate reading, she acknowledged with pure intention. She had to give credit to that. It’s difficult to predict the future with tarot cards, especially if you’re not familiar with it.

The purple jungle looked like something that was from a fairy tale, and the symphony of crickets in the background felt tranquil for her. The rain from the clouds made it better, as she could concentrate on her current surroundings.

If Odd Eye was given a chance to live somewhere, Hocura is her number one choice. She would never get bored with the scenery from her treehouse. Her son would love it here too. He could sleep to the sound of raindrops while Odd Eye would just sit beside him, reading her favourite book. It’s the life she always wanted after the war ended.

“So, how long till we reach Mendes?” Mina questioned Raul. “We’ve been walking for hours and my legs are killing me.”

Raul opened his map from his device and showed their current location to his commander. “Mendes is 20 kilometres from here. If we meet up halfway through the jungle with the 212th and the Coruscant Guard, we will get there in two days.”

“So are the 212th and the Corrie Guards still fighting on the other side?” Mina bit her lips. “It must be a pretty intense battle. I hope they’re okay.”

“Two days is pretty long and I’m not sure whether they can survive that long,” Odd Eye commented, tapping her feet on the ground. “Is it alright if we rest for at least 10 minutes? My feet also hurt and I might need a bathroom break right now.”

Erina exchanged a brief glance with her partner for a moment before approving both their requests. “Alright then, you all can have a 20 minutes break for yourselves. Then we’ll continue through the jungle.”

“Thank you, sir,” Tarot sighed in relief. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“It’s not a big deal,” Raul winked. “Rest is good for your health and you all need it.”

[nalufever]

do you have any more nalu fic recs?

Sorry, not sorry - you’ve unleashed more than you could’ve guessed. ^^ Always happy to Recommend a List of Fics ~ And thank you for asking! Admittedly there’s a few Recs that aren’t Nalu - I got excited to share my favs. ;)

A Girl Worth Fighting For: Natsu navigates unspeakable horrors to win Lucy’s love or Natsu goes shopping, looking for the perfect white day gift. 

A Lesson: Natsu and Lucy can’t keep themselves from expressing their passions - and the results are bed breaking. Short but smutty - smexy in fact. ;P 

A Solidly Constructed Kiss: Erza strong-arms Lucy and Natsu into working the Kissing Booth to raise funds for a school trip. Lucy’s never been kissed and Natsu acts like he’s never entertained even the idea of kissing another person. Things naturally come to a head when Lucy and Natsu are given the task to build the actual booth; will they fight over construction or build themselves some kind of relationship? 

Fairy Tail Week: A collection of drabbles from tumblr prompts to celebrate Fairy Tail. Fairy, Ladies, Lads, Magic, Guild, Ultimate Team, Stronger, Mashima, Tail. Only rated teen to err on the side of caution, family friendly content featuring most of the Fairy Tail Guild! 

Feathers and Scales: Angel/Demon AU. Devils are more than they seem and Angels no less. Pitted against each other in a never-ending battle for souls, a single Angel and Devil trade mercies and fall in love. Warning: major character death(s). 

Full Moon Secret: Natsu had wanted to tell Lucy his secrets, to share his family history with the fey…it had just never been the right time. Tonight the truth was going to be revealed, one way or another. 

Okay, I could just keep hyping all of my own fics individually - but I won’t - other than to just put in a link to ALL OF THEM. ;) Fair warning, I have a few other fandoms works in all the Fairy Tail stories - from Brooklyn 99 to The Flash, Snow White with the Red Hair, RWBY, Blue Exorcist, Teen Titans and some Hakuouki. Yes, I’m a shameless self-promoter. Speaking of that - one more I need to rec!  Natsu’s Stars in Lucy’s Sky. I swear Imma finish this. 

I also have more than a few favourite authors who write for Fairy Tail (and other fandoms) ~ some have not contributed lately to Fairy Tail or chosen to concentrate on other fandoms - but I like them and their excellent writing. 

ObsessedwithNalu: One of my first fandom friends and pretty much any of her FT stories is gold. <3 I’ve included a link for you to search all her works and a few of the ones that stand out for me. <3 She may still have her tumblr but how active she is here, I dunno. :( @obsessedwithnalu  

Christmas Treats: Admittedly a gift to me and very cherished for that fact - and - it’s frigging awesome. Lucy does a little holiday baking at home before Fairy Tail’s Christmas party. Natsu, as always, is there. One thing leads to another… 

Thanks, Krov: When Krov decided to relax at his favorite bar after work, he never imagined that he’d be seeing some of his old guild members, especially since he thought they had died long ago. Nalu fluff. 

Edo-Nalu love fest: Submissions for the Nalu love fest week of 2014. But instead of regular Nalu, these ones feature Edo-Nalu. Smut-tastic and delightfully mature. 

ImpracticalDemon: Another early fandom friend who’s still writing this, that and the other thing - and she’s just GREAT. Again, a link to all her works and a few that are special to me follow. XOXOX @impracticaldemon  

May the Best Man Survive: “Gray would never have in a million years thought he’d host Natsu’s bachelor party (Nalu pairing). Why is it his job to herd the bunch of rowdy mages from bar to bar, ending up at the guild where the real surprise party is? Oh yeah, the idiot had asked him to be the best man at his wedding. Hijinks, chaos and hilarity ensue.” ^^ A prompt supplied by me and I’m smirking so wide because the fic Imp came up with delivered more awesomeness than I could have hoped for! 

A Star At His Side: “Accidentally Fall Asleep Together” for Endragoneel on tumblr. Natsu and Lucy spend the day together at a festival in Magnolia. Natsu ends up watching more than just the stars when the festival is over… 

Christmas Gifts: When Erza walks Wendy home from the Guild’s Christmas Party, Wendy realizes how alone her friend and mentor is feeling. She sets out to recruit Lucy, Natsu and the rest to break Jellal out of prison for just one night, as a Christmas gift for Erza. Meanwhile, Natsu has accidentally burned some of Lucy’s writing. Will she forgive him? 

Dark Shining Light: One of the best and most welcoming writers I have ever interacted with! I’m still gobsmacked she’s a friend! She’s a legend and I don’t know what else I could add to any discourse about her writing - but the classics are classic for a reason, yeah? Here’s a few of my personal favourites of her works and just know there’s too many to list them all! AKA @ff-darkshininglight 

Mischievous Cat: Let’s just say there have been a few incidents where Happy has come in at a bad time. 

What Belongs to a Demon: Everyone knew she belonged to the great demon lord and she would prove that she deserved to stand by his side. 

The Truth Revealing Cards: Lucy should have known if there was a card that would reveal her secrets, Natsu would want it. 

Eliz1369: Got introduced to her for her Hakuoki fics but she’d dipped her toes into FT as well ~ and this is a great fic. ^^ @eliz1369 

The Light of Fairy Tail: The members of Fairy Tail may be their own brand of crazy, but their hearts are always in the right place. 

rougescribe: Shame on me for not reading more of this author’s works! @rougescribe  

Fire Sprite No 5: For him, Heaven wasn’t a place or a single moment in time. It was a feeling built on memories upon memories, past and present and a hope for future ones all tied down together. All sharing one common denominator: Her. Nalu. Tumblr Valentine’s Event. 

Fallen Ark Angel: Admittedly I only have interacted from afar with this writer. I mainly read Nalu fics but I love her take on Mira and Laxus and her next gen offspring characters. She’s got a lot to offer and it’s all superb. @fallen029

Loving Satan: Loving Satan is never easy. But when she loves you back, its twice as bad. 

Madartiste: Another one-sided love affair with someone else’s writing. And her stories are all wonderful and prolly appear on hundreds of Fic Rec Lists - but here’s one of my Favs! @madartiste  

Hoarding: Getting interrupted gets old fast. 

UranoMetria: I added her to my stable of fav authors 05-03-2014. Wow. Eons ago and even if I’m not sure she’s still active in the fandom, I salute her. Kudos. 

The Goddess Gate: With six years of partnership, Natsu and Lucy are torn apart by a mysterious visit from a secret magic council. Lucy is kidnapped and her memories suppressed. She fights her way back home to regain her life - with a startling secret revealed as she begins to remember. The lives of all Earthland hang in the balance. **Okay, this is a wicked old fic - but amazingly written and fuelled my own desires for writing. Last updated in 2018 but who knows? Some current attention may slay any demons on her back in regards to writing - and even if not - the hours of enjoyment reading this is worth giving a comment just to say, ‘thank you for writing.‘ 

Wild Rhov: Do I even need to say anything about this author? Famous, famous, famous. Excellent. Writes a lot of pairings and fleshes every relationship into something REAL. I Can’t Even. @wildrhov  

Beastly Possession: Something is murdering people in Magnolia. When Lucy is attacked, Natsu goes on a rampage to find the culprit, and everyone in Fairy Tail wants revenge. But could this bloodthirsty attacker be someone they know? Warning: High octane nightmare fuel! Do not read while eating, and beware of red eyes in the dark! 

Shell1331: Introduced via Imp. This writer is in a few fandoms and is worth reading. @shell-senji  

Juicy: Impulsivity and poorly chosen words get Natsu into more trouble than he’d expected, which is saying something for him. 

AbsentAngel: Everyone should know this writer. Been stalking her since 2014 so that says something. Tho, it’s prolly just that I’m creepy. ;) My suggested fic here is being re-written/has been? into something original and worth being purchased when it becomes available and re-read over and over. No, I am not being paid to shill but I am open to having senpai notice me. @absent-angel  

To the Flame: She stares, transfixed, as the blood runs down his fingers and begins to pool in his palm. He holds his hand up to her lips in offering, and she tears her eyes away from the blood to study his face. He is smiling softly. “Go on Luce, I didn’t cut them for nothing.” [Vamp AU] 

HawkofNavarre: Loved for awesome and delightful Gruvia content. Looks like there’s a tumblr but I can’t manage to link it. :(

You Stole the Rain: He just wanted to be friends; fine, she just needed to change his mind. Gray x Juvia 

Ricardian Scholar Clark-Weasley: Not sure I spelled that right even after checking three times! I usually short hand that to RS-CW in my head. And she’s prolific - has a tonne of fandoms and is a tower of talent. Is anyone reading all my fangirl gushing? 'Cause she follows one of my fics and comments (sorry I haven’t updated that fic in a while) and it’s a source of happiness that someone who writes so well happens to enjoy some of my content. Okay, bragging over - back to the Recs! 

Tales of Fairies: A collection of oneshots exploring different friendships, ideas, sad themes, comical scenarios, and lots and lots of pairings…but mainly Nalu. 

snogfairy: Another giant in the FT fandom. Impressive talent. @lineffability  

naughty nalus: smutty nalu oneshots B) ***Mature content!*** 

Rivendell101: Another giant in FT and other fandoms. This author would be considered required reading if I ran a fandom course in a University setting. Just sayin’ @rivendell101  

Crave: /krāv/ Verb. To feel a powerful desire for (something). They crave each other. And satiation doesn’t come easily. He growls against her again. “Beg for it,” he demands, lips ghosting against her. 

Lakerae aka @hidetheremote : Did you think I’d forgotten you? Ha! Gotcha good! You’re an inspiration to me because you’re working so hard to publish your children’s books. Kudos to you li'l sis! You’re busy but still make it a point to talk to me and I love you for that and everything. <3 This fic rec is Gajevy and needs more love! 

The Gift of the Magi: A Gajevy Twist: A retelling of the classic Christmas story “The Gift of the Magi,” with your favorite Fairy Tail couple Gajeel and Levy! It’s Christmas time and Gajeel and Levy exchange gifts. They both are surprised what they receive and learn a lesson of the true meaning of Christmas. 

I could add more and more as I search my saved favs on FF.net ~ and I’m sorry to not include all of them - but this is crazy long as it is. If you read and like any of the recommended fics, please be sure to let the author know. To the authors of these and all fanfics, Thanks for everything.

[chaos-and-recover]

Let’s all hug it out and not stress about  getting tickets tomorrow

Hi! I know we’re all hype as hell about My Chem being back and also anxious as fuck about the North American tour going on sale tomorrow, but let me tell you a few things, based on two decades of buying concert tickets and 14 years of selling them, including 4 at one of the arenas they’re playing on this tour.

1. There are no presales*, and that’s great for us.

Most tours these days have at least a fanclub presale, some have fanclub and LiveNation and Facebook and credit card restricted (think Amex Front-Of-The-Line or Citi card) like 4 different radio station presales. Each of these presales has an allotment of tickets, which takes away from what’s actually available by the public onsale. They also create more stress for us, and usually aren’t even all that exclusive if you know ANYTHING about the band (the passwords are so, so often just the name of the latest album or the name of their biggest song, try it for your favourite band next time, you’ll be surprised how often it works). But there aren’t any* for MCR! And that’s excellent! We’re looking at full capacities (minus various contractual holds) being available starting tomorrow.

*Not including PSL offers for certain season seat holders for whichever NHL or NBA team plays in that venue. Mine offers some premium season seat owners to purchase their seats for concerts ahead of the general public, but only premium seats, and only some, based on their season ticket contract and whether that’s grandfathered into it. 

2. It won’t sell out immediately. They’ll tell you it will. Don’t believe it.

Tomorrow, once you’re in Ticketmaster and have gone through the queue, you  might get a page that tells you there are no tickets available. Do not exit Ticketmaster. Refresh the page! Once you’re through the queue, you will actually have a certain number of re-directs you’re allowed before you’re kicked back into the line. No tickets available do not mean they’ve all sold, it means a) there’s a problem with the site (lol) or b) they’re all in other people’s carts. Not all of those people will complete their sales. Cards get rejected. People forget passwords (for the love of GOD log into your TM account before you do ANYTHING. Make sure your card info is up to date and that you have enough money on it. Save yourself the disappointment). Carts timeout and systems crash. Sucks for those people! Now their tickets are back out there for you.

The radio and news and social media is all gonna say “Sold out in 3 minutes!” This is a bold-faced lie. I recently bought tickets during a presale after spending about 5 minutes in the queue, completing my sale 10 minutes after the presale opened, and then hearing for DAYS about how the presale sold out in 90 seconds. Obviously the fuck it didn’t.

Speaking of the queue, I can only imagine you’re gonna get stuck in one tomorrow. If you don’t buy a lot of tickets or haven’t bought a ticket to a high-traffic show in a minute, you might not know what the queue is. It’s a virtual system for managing traffic to the Ticketmaster site so their servers aren’t overloaded. If you click Buy Tickets before noon, you’ll get sent to a virtual waiting room. At noon, the queue will open and you’ll be randomly assigned a place in line -- it literally doesn’t matter when you join the waiting room. You could get there at 11:59 and end up closer to the front of the line than someone who went on as soon as the waiting room opened (usually 1/2-1hr before on-sale). Don’t stress about it.

3. Don’t panic and fuck up your purchase

If you get tickets you want, you have like 10 minutes to complete your purchase. Doesn’t sound like a lot but, honestly, it is. Just go slow. Make sure you fill everything out properly. Better yet, if you have credit card information saved on your TM account, it’s even faster. Keep an eye on that lil clock in the corner, but take your time.

And don’t waste your money protecting your purchase, it’s almost impossible to get a refund through that if you can’t go, don’t bother. Just sell your tickets.

4. On that note, don’t buy third party

It’s possible that I’m wrong and it’ll sell out (or appear to sell out) in a matter of minutes. Don’t go running to Stubhub or Seatgeek or Viagogo or wherever else the kids are buying tickets these days. Your seats are not guaranteed. They aren’t ‘yours.’ You might get turned away at the venue because someone else came with the same tickets and already went inside, or the owner transferred them to someone else after you bought them and now yours aren’t valid. Usually, when you buy a concert ticket on a third party site, what you’re getting is a PDF that the original owner downloaded and then posted. They still have full control over the ticket and they can do that as many times as they want, or transfer it out of their account. Whoever’s name is on the account in the primary ticketing system is who owns that ticket. It won’t matter to the venue staff how much you spent or where you got it. If your name isn’t on the account they can see, they can’t help you.

You’re also gonna be paying exorbitant markups, and I very much do not recommend that. Every few years someone tries to find a way to keep scalpers from getting tickets, and it never works. The only way to stop ticket brokers and resellers is if people just stop fuckin buying from them. So don’t do it.

But if you must go third-party, insist that the seller transfers the ticket to you through Ticketmaster (or LiveNation). Do not buy from some rando on Facebook or whatever who won’t transfer it. On that note, be skeptical of randos on social media selling tickets because they “can’t go.” Check event pages for other dates, or other events in your area. I guarantee you’ll find the same names offering tickets for sale because they can’t go. Don’t buy from them.

Buy Verified Resale through Ticketmaster if you have to, but because then the ticket is transferred to you and you’re protected (you can still get turned away if the original account was flagged for fraud, but you’ll get your money back). You’ll still be paying absurd markups plus higher-than-normal Ticketmaster fees. Don’t let ‘em get you twice.

5. Be patient. “Sold out” never means sold out.

Here’s a tip that’ll come in handy for every show you go to for the rest of your life: We, as box office staff, can almost never use the phrase “sold out.” We’ll tell you there are no tickets available, but not that it’s sold out. Because it isn’t. So if you can’t get tickets tomorrow, or even just can’t get seats you’re happy with, don’t run to the third parties. Just relax, be patient, be happy for your friends who did get tickets, and then bide your time.

Tickets, sometimes entire sections worth of them, are held back from sale all the time. Some of those are for guest list, radio contests, promotions, and whatever else. If they’re not used, they’ll go up for sale, because why not get the butts in the seats? There are also production kills that are held back until the tour actually goes into production, sometimes right up until load-in when the roadies start building the set and then the promoter realizes, oh shit, that section right on the side there? It’s not actually blocked! It’s got a killer view! Let’s sell those seats! 

I’ve scored some of the best seats I’ve ever had at big shows the day before.

They’re always really conservative about what gets put up for sale because it’s easier to sell them later than to find relocations for seats you sold and then realized they’re obstructed (ask me about the nightmare that was Maroon 5′s last tour some time (:)

Artist tickets probably won’t get released until, like, an hour before gates open, and I’d be surprised if many shows had any left since everyone and their uncle will come crawling out of the woodwork asking for tickets, but you never know. 

tl;dr, don’t get too worked up over the on-sale tomorrow. Be patient. Be  calm. We’ll get through this together, and we’ll all be able to see My Chem without lining the pockets of rich-ass ticket brokers.