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ahtsumu · 4 years

Text

long shots ; miya osamu

pairing: miya osamu x f!reader

synopsis: miya osamu is the teacher’s assistant for food chemistry i. you can’t stop thinking about him.

tag(s): college!au, slow burn, TA!miya osamu, grad student!reader, fluff, reader is a go-getter!! ; warning(s): profanity, suggestive themes, talk of insecurities and imposter syndrome ; wc: 5.6k

a/n: happy birthday to @starrysamu! i love u. pls excuse any errors. i’ll weed them out later! btw this fic is not a sugar daddy au LOL

HIS NAME IS Miya Osamu and he always looks like he has it all figured out. Comes in every class with his black hair perfectly tousled, the sleeves of his dark button-up rolled to his elbows, a cup of coffee in one hand and the strap of that black messenger bag in another.

“He drives a BMW, did ya know?” Isla says in your ear one morning. Your only friend in Food Chemistry I gives you a pointed look before sitting back in her chair in the lecture hall with a smirk on her face. “Saw it this morning. Bet he’s loaded.” The two of you watch the subject in question walk across the classroom and settle in his seat at the table in the corner.

“Shut up,” you whisper with wide eyes. A grin–– far from innocent–– makes its way onto your face. “Imagine being Miya Osamu’s sugar baby.”

“He’s not old enough to be a sugar daddy.” Isla looks at her nails disinterestedly. “And that’s too many AUs in one. He’s already the TA, for god’s sake. This isn’t some shitty Wattpad novel.”

A light giggle slips out of your lips. “I can see the title already. My Sugar Daddy is the TA?!”

Now, if anyone had been listening in on your conversation, they would’ve assumed many things about you. The first being that you’re both gold-diggers. This is untrue–– at least, in your case. Isla, you’re not so sure about, given how your friendship only goes back about one month. But she tags you in memes on Instagram so maybe it’s as real as real gets. Their second assumption would be that you have a big fat crush on your TA. That one’s complicated, mostly because it’s true, but only kinda. It all started in the second week of school when Isla caught you staring at Osamu and slipped you a post-it note with both your initials encircled in a heart. And, because you’re shameless with a good sense of humour, you made a show of kissing it while she was looking. And thus began your meaningless but incredibly entertaining, satirical, co-written fantasy about Miya Osamu.

It also didn’t help that on the first essay you got back, Isla’s paper had been marked up with “are you sure?”s and “this is a jump”s, while yours had ��excellent reasoning” and “insightful analysis”. You’d even gotten a little comment at the bottom: y/n, fantastic work. you should speak up in class more often. –– OM

But Miya Osamu doesn’t play favourites because the next week you’d gotten another essay back, this time with another comment at the bottom: y/n, not your best work. you could’ve done better by connecting your first paragraph with the second using grant’s reading. conclusion lacked punch, too. all the best. –– OM

Every time you’d read the words scrawled in blue ink, you’d felt a pair of eyes on you. But you chalk it up to Osamu being a careful grader. A good TA. Someone who cares about his students.

Isla calls bullshit on that. You’re not really sure how to feel about her stance.

The classroom door opens and shuts again. You don’t have to look at your phone to know that it’s nine on the dot. Instead, you and Isla straighten your backs, pull out your notebooks, and focus. Your no-nonsense professor says “good morning” in her usual perky manner before jumping right into her keynote presentation.

“Did you all find the reading okay?” Professor Lee asks an hour into the lecture.

A chorus of “yes”s fill the air. You bite your lip, wondering if revealing that you didn’t understand shit will out you as the class idiot. Or maybe your silence is telling enough–– maybe the people in the seats beside you have noticed the grimace on your face and are having thoughts like ‘gee whiz, am I glad I’m not dumb like her’. Heat rushes to your cheeks. Sometimes you really wonder if you’re smart enough to be here. Occurrences like these do nothing to dispel your insecurities.

You vaguely hear her ask something like, “Any thoughts about the reading?” It’s not that you’re actually dumb. It’s just that this class is ridiculously hard for an introductory course, even for a graduate programme. From the start of the semester til now, fifteen people have dropped the class. There’s just twenty of you left. Guess a ridiculously hot TA can’t save a course’s drop-rate.

Before you can make your mind up on what to say, your professor moves on from her question.

As you look off to the side of the room for a break from your thoughts, you find a pair of blue-grey eyes pointed in your direction.

Everything about you, from the expression on your face to the way your muscles tense, makes you look like a deer caught in headlights–– even though he was the one caught staring in the first place. So maybe your shamelessness works on a scale.

Miya Osamu lifts one corner of his mouth.

And as if the exchange hadn’t happened at all, he looks back down at his laptop and continues typing.

The rest of the lecture goes through one ear and out the other.

“Everyone, I believe Osamu has something he wants to say,” Professor Lee says as everyone begins packing their bags.

The raven-haired TA slides out of his seat and sits on top of his desk. “Yeah.” Osamu clears his throat and crosses his arms over his chest. You notice how the muscles in his arms bulge from the movement.

“Whipped,” Isla mutters, grinning mischievously.

“Him for me,” you whisper back, though your eyes do travel back to his face where they should’ve been all along. Osamu catches your gaze and holds it. And then he looks away again.

“Now, I know you’re all Nobel prizewinners in the making,” he begins, garnering a round of snickers and giggles from your classmates. Most people say that cliques dissolve in college. That there’s no such thing as popularity amongst graduate students. That much, you agree with. But no one ever said anything about popular teacher’s assistants. Especially smart, attractive, witty teacher’s assistants like Miya Osamu. “But in case you didn’t understand the reading or would like to develop a deeper understanding of it, don’t hesitate to email me. I’ll try to host a review session all of us can attend.”

Professor Lee smiles appreciatively at Osamu, adding, “That’s a wonderful idea, Osamu. Guys, please take this opportunity if you struggled with the reading. I know eighty pages is a lot, but our next three classes are structured around the concepts in the reading and the mid-term next week will almost exclusively be about it, too.”

Well, shit.

To: [email protected]

Hi Osamu,

I was wondering if I could get some help with the reading from last class. To be frank, I couldn’t make it past page 15 and I’m lost like a snot-faced five-year-old in a shopping mall on Black Friday. Sorry. Thanks in advance!

Regretfully,

Y/N

MS Candidate

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Haikyuu University

From: [email protected]

no problem. is 5 pm tomorrow at jack’s okay? we start on the concepts from the reading next class so i want to get you up to speed asap. let me know. thanks.

PhD Candidate

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Haikyuu University

It’s five minutes to five when you pull into the parking lot of Jack’s Diner. The shiny, retrofuturistic eatery is a university favourite but the empty parking lot tells you it’s completely deserted right now (and rightfully so–– who eats dinner before six?). The black BMW parked a few spots from your car, however, says that you’re not alone.

Osamu’s figure comes into view as you reach for the handle to the front door of Jack’s. The twenty-six-year-old sits by himself at one of the bright red tables in the back, typing away on his dark grey laptop.

His head lifts up at the sound of the opening door. Osamu calls out your name and waves you over.

“Hi,” you greet with a smile, sitting down across from him.

“Hey.”

You look around before leaning forward on the table. “Is anyone else coming?”

“No.” Osamu sits back in his seat. “I thought about hosting one big group, but then I realised that it’d probably be stressful for the staff here.” He nods his head in the direction of the kitchen. “And I had a hunch that everyone would have different questions. Forcing everyone to review concepts they already know is a waste of time.”

At first, you nod. That makes sense. But then you furrow your brows. “So how long have you been here?”

Osamu blinks. He hadn’t expected you to ask about him. “Hmm? Oh.” He taps his phone to check the time. “Just a while.”

Quirking a brow, you ask, “And how long is ‘a while’ to you?”

“Seven hours,” he admits, chuckling lightly when he sees your jaw drop. “A lot of people had questions. They just don’t act like they do. Anyway, time flies. Really, it does.” Quickly, he clears his throat and sits forward. “So, about your email.” He grins. “Not sure if you meant it to be funny, but it was.”

“I’m glad my distress was entertaining for you. Do you TA just to watch grad students suffer?”

“Perks of the job,” Osamu says. His grin widens when you giggle. He’s never heard you laugh before and he realises at that moment that it’s really nice. And then that same grin falters. Gracefully, of course, and imperceptibly to you. But not to him. Is it okay for him to be… thinking things like that? About a student? But you’re not really his student since he’s just the TA. Right? Osamu ignores the weird feeling that comes over him and clasps his hands together at the edge of his laptop. “Back to your email. Can ya tell me what you’re confused about?”

Three hours and two Impossible Burgers later, you suddenly understand everything about food molecules so well that you wonder why you’d even been confused in the first place. But besides that, you’ve also picked up things about Osamu. As a person and not an idea. Not that you’d been actively searching for fun facts about your TA. But they’d stuck to your brain like gum at the bottom of a desk. He likes to slip sarcastic quips into a conversation every now and then. Eats burgers upside down (“The right way,” as he’d said, smirking). Is friendlier than he looks.

“You’re really good at explaining things,” you comment as Osamu shuts his laptop closed.

“Well, I kinda have to be,” he says. And maybe it’s the mental fatigue catching up on him or the fact that he’s real fond of the reason why he can break big concepts down into morsels but suddenly, the rest of his thoughts spill out his mouth like wine. “I have a twin brother with potato salad for brains.”

“Oh?”

And before he can stop himself, he tells you about Miya Atsumu, the pro-athlete you’ve definitely heard of but never gave too much thought. And then you hold onto the fact that they were both on the volleyball team and you ask of which school, so then he tells you about Inarizaki, the high school he attended, and then his decision not to go pro to go to college, and then––

“Sorry,” he laughs, cheeks turning pink. “You probably didn’t need to hear all that.”

“No, it’s fine,” you say–– and you mean it. “Your life is interesting.”

Osamu leans back in his chair. “Well, I’m sure yours is, too.” He holds your gaze like it’s the key to your presence. It’s an invitation. The kind that comes from people who don’t really know if they want you around but also don’t want you gone.

You take it.

Osamu shouldn’t–– he really shouldn’t–– but he wonders about the things you didn’t tell him the entire drive home.

Isla laughs when you tell her about what happened at Jack’s. You lay in bed with your phone next to you on speaker, your face turned on your pillow so that you’re staring out the window at the city below.

“He wants you,” she sings.

“Or he was just being nice.”

“Methinks not!” Isla giggles. “He’s intrigued, girl! You’re like that cute little new mystery in his life and he just wants to get to know you.”

“I think he was just being polite.”

“Or he’s crushing on you!”

“In your dreams.”

“You mean yours? Boo, you’re no fun today. Usually, you go along with the jokes.” Isla’s tone is playful on the surface but full of implications.

A few silent seconds pass. Yeah, you think, agreeing. I do.

“Girl,” Isla drags out the word in a high pitch, saying it like a scientist says ‘eureka’. “You’re not playing along anymore because it’s real now. You're actually catching feelings!”

“Am not!” you laugh.

“The Y/N I knew would’ve said ‘nah, bitch, he’s catching feelings’ and I think that says all there is to say.”

“Okay, I think he’s cute but it’s not a crush,” you concede, grinning. “And he’s the TA, Isles. It’d never happen.”

“Not while he’s still a TA in a class you take.”

“Isla.”

“Ask him out once this semester ends! Unless you’re chicken.”

“I’m not asking him out.”

“Knew you were––”

“Have you seen me? He’s asking me out.”

Miya Osamu walks through the door at eight-fifty as usual that next morning, dressed in his usual button-up, holding his usual cup of coffee. But this time, as the rest of his tall frame passes through the doorway, Osamu’s eyes subtly scan the faces in the lecture hall, lingering for just a while over yours. The corners of your lips turn up. You hope he saw that.

“Bitch!” Isla whisper-screams. The students sitting around you turn around at the noise and grin at each other when they realise it’s just Isla being… well, Isla. She shoos them away jokingly.

“What?” you whisper back.

“Care to explain why our TA was literally eye-fucking you?”

“That was hardly eye-fucking,” you retort. “Maybe like an eye-handshake.”

“Yeah, a naked eye-handshake where his thang is handshaking your––”

He does it again the next class.

And the next.

And then he doesn’t. Miya Osamu walks through the door to Food Chemistry I at eight-fifty in the morning in a navy blue button-up with a cup of coffee in his hand and looks through the rows of seats in the lecture hall for your face, only to find it missing.

He debates pressing the matter.

To: [email protected]

hey osamu,

i wasn’t in class today because i’ve been sick with the flu (no big deal, just feel like i’m dying). a classmate sent me pictures of the slides from today so i think i should be fine, but is it okay if i email you with any questions? thank you very much!

miserably,

Y/N

MS Candidate

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Haikyuu University

From: [email protected]

y/n,

of course. sorry to hear that you’re sick. let me know if i can do anything to help you. the midterm is next week. get well soon.

PhD Candidate

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Haikyuu University

“You writing that the midterm is next week did not offer me any peace of mind, by the way,” you say, spinning around in your chair as Miya Osamu enters your pod in the library.

He offers you a wry grin. “Hello to ya, too.”

“Was that an accent?” You thought you’d heard one at Jack’s, but you couldn’t be sure because it’d been so spotty.

Osamu slips into the seat beside yours and pulls out the laptop in his messenger bag. You catch a whiff of his cologne–– something spicy and woody, but clean. It suits him. “Nice catch. Yeah, I speak a regional dialect. Took me a while to smooth it over but it still resurfaces every now and then.”

“Why?”

“It just didn’t seem fitting for a PhD candidate, I guess,” Osamu explains, opening the slides from the class you missed. A day after your initial exchange, you’d emailed him again (with a much clearer mind) and asked if he could go over the slides with you in person.

i literally feel like i’ve been given the homework from russian lit, you’d written. except the russian has been translated to hieroglyphs and my task is to choreograph an interpretive dance based on the hieroglyphs.

Osamu had snickered when he saw your email. that doesn’t even make sense. must be the fever talking, he’d been tempted to write. But that strange feeling had come over him again, the one that’d screamed at him to keep it professional, goddamnit, so he’d played it safe instead and sent is eight pm at the main library okay? He hates that you’re getting a watered-down version of his personality. Osamu swears he’s a lot more interesting when he’s not, well, a TA.

“I think it’s fine,” you say, smiling. “I like it. It’s you.” And suddenly, you’re wondering if it’s okay to be complimenting your TA. If it’s okay to say that you like things about him, or if that crosses some grey, unclear line. Is it weird to treat your TAs like they’re your friends? It’s not like TAs are real teachers. Right?

A grin–– wide and genuine and almost excited–– grows on Osamu’s face. He rubs the back of his neck as his eyes flit over to the laptop screen. “Thanks. Really.”

You nod. But you feel like there’s more that he might want to say, so you wait.

“I got a lot of shit for it when I came here for my master’s, y’know. Not to my face, of course, but people would refer to me as ‘the guy with the accent’. A professor once said it made me seem crass. Said it’d hold me back in my career.”

“So you changed.”

“Adapted,” Osamu corrects. “It’s hard to admit but conforming is sometimes all you can do when you don’t have the power to change the system. Can’t really make everyone suddenly respect a dialect.”

“And after you’re finished with your PhD, you’ll go back to speaking in that dialect?”

Osamu looks out the window and smiles, probably imagining the plans he’s already made about the future. “Yeah.”

“What if you have to speak the standard language at your job? Like, your boss is all, ‘hey man, if you don’t speak––”’

“I’ll be the boss.”

“Oh?”

And with a little more prodding, Miya Osamu tells you about the restaurant chain he plans on opening after graduation, the slides about food additives left completely untouched.

The librarian knocks on your pod a few minutes before eleven to tell you they’re closing.

“Shit,” Osamu murmurs, running his hands through his hair. You’re still laughing about something he’d said before the librarian interrupted him–– one of his stories from high school–– and he thinks that you’ve completely forgotten that the reason you came to the library was to catch up on the material you were already behind on. And now you’re behind on that. But you look so carefree right now and, actually, you’re very pretty and you’ve got such a good heart and it’s a lot for him to process but he knows he just wants to see you happy a while longer. So Osamu just slumps back in his chair and laughs along with you.

He says your name as his chuckles grow softer. “It’s pretty late. How’re you getting home?”

“I’ve a bike,” you reply. It’s good for the environment and is a pretty solid form of exercise if you do say so yourself. Sometimes you just don’t feel like driving.

Osamu presses his lips in a thin line. Would it be too much to offer you a ride? “I can drive you home. It’s really not safe for you to be alone outside, especially near midnight. You can get your bike tomorrow. Or I’ll get it for you.”

He drives fast. Not the unsafe fast that speed demons drive at, but the kind of fast where you know he’s got some edge to his character. You bring it up to him–– especially since it’s nighttime, for god’s sake, he could hit something–– and all he does is remind you how there are lamps as bright as the sun lining the entire road to your dorm. And the fact that you live in the least accessible dorm on campus.

“A twenty-minute drive?” he’d exclaimed when he saw the GPS monitor.

“A bunch of roads are closed for construction. It’s a ten-minute bike-ride because I can cut through campus.” And suddenly feeling a little burdensome, you’d added, “Sorry. I can still bike––”

“No.” He’d held his hand out in front of you, gesturing for you to stay in the passenger’s seat. “It’s not a bother at all.” Because it wasn’t. Osamu was… happy. Not that he’d admit that.

“So this BMW,” you start in a teasing tone.

Osamu smirks. “A gift.”

“Can I guess from who?”

“Sure.”

“Atsumu.”

His brows rise. “Colour me impressed.” He hadn’t expected you to remember anything he’d said about Atsumu. Or maybe he had but told himself otherwise to lower his hopes.

“I’m smart like that.”

He snorts. “Not if you keep distracting me and using your review time to…” hang out with me, get to know me, tell me things about you… “…goof off.”

You grimace. “Yeah. Sorry about that.”

Osamu makes a turn down a familiar street. It dawns upon you that you're ten minutes away from your dorm and suddenly you wish he’d just make the wrong turn at the next intersection so that you could talk to him some more. It can even be about the health benefits of fish or the molecular makeup of kale–– you don’t mind. You just want to be around him longer.

“I think you’re really smart,” Osamu says quietly. “I think you’re not processing the readings because you’re distracted, or just not fully applying yourself. Obviously, last class’s slides are a different thing, since you were absent. But you really are smart. I’ve seen your papers.”

You bite your lip to hide your grin, feeling heat rush to your cheeks. “Thank you.” You look out the window, too jacked on dopamine to think straight. “I think I still need you, though.”

And that innocuous little sentence floats right out your mouth into the air, settling between you like a little wedge before either of you even realise it. Neither of you says anything. You marinate in the awkwardness before stuttering out a clarification. “To, um, to explain things. Y’know, since you’re, uh, so good at… explaining things.”

Osamu clears his throat and chuckles stiffly. There’s a slightly pink tinge to his cheeks. “Thanks,” he says, looking straight ahead. He can’t even look at you. Fuck. It’s so awkward. “I’ll try to keep… explaining things.” Fuck. What does that even mean?

A few uncomfortable minutes pass in silence. The night can’t end like this, you think. It can’t when everything else had gone so well. You still have to see him for a few more months. “Did you know,” you start, catching Osamu’s attention, “that Jack’s Diner has a location in Italy?”

“Oh?” he asks, making the final turn to the street where your dorm is. He actually hadn’t.

“Yeah. I asked the owner about the chain a while back. Have you ever been to Italy?”

Osamu shakes his head. “I’ve been to Paris, though. To see a friend. He’s a chocolatier.”

Now, if Osamu had been your friend, you would’ve said something like well, let’s go to Italy together, except he’s not. He’s your TA and you’ve been reminded that enough tonight. So instead, you say, “When you open that restaurant of yours in Italy, let me know.”

“That’s gonna take a while,” he laughs. He appreciates how you said ‘when’, though. And he tucks that little bit of confidence you have in him somewhere deep in his mind so that it doesn’t get lost.

“Isn’t that just seven hours?” you shrug, grinning. Osamu’s BMW pulls up outside your dorm and parks as he marvels at what you just said. You’re amazing. You unbuckle your seatbelt and turn to face your driver.

“Thank you for driving me,” you say, offering him a smile.

“Yeah,” he replies.

You stretch out your hand. With a puzzled look on his face, Osamu grabs it and shakes it. Firmly. You can’t help but notice how nice his hands are. Calloused for sure, but they feel nice.

“Goodnight, Osamu.”

“Goodnight, Y/N.”

He watches you jog into the building before driving away. And it’s like you’ve possessed his car or something because the smell of your shampoo and perfume is everywhere and it’s too much but it’s also not enough at the same time and he can feel your palm against his as he spins the steering wheel to make a turn and for the first time in his life he doesn’t turn on the radio to fill the silence in his car. Osamu replays everything you said in his head.

But he especially thinks about that part where you said you need him.

Weeks melt into months. You turn in essays after essays for Food Chemistry I, each coming back with detailed commentary in an all-too-familiar blue scrawl. All your other classes go well–– extremely well, actually. You might just end the semester with a 4.0 if Food Chem doesn’t fuck you over. Isla still tags you in memes on Instagram. You still tell her about everything that happens with Osamu.

Speaking of.

“That’s the wrong equation,” he says behind your ear as he settles in the seat beside you. The sound of his low voice so close to your ear sends a small shiver down your spine. “You gotta switch the hydrogens.” Osamu knocks on your skull lightly. “What’s goin’ on up in there? Ya got somethin’ on your mind?”

You laugh and elbow him in the side. “Shut up, ‘Samu.” He’d told you during one of his office hours that he’d gone by that nickname because he had a teammate with a foreign name in high school. It sounded so cool, he’d said, grinning.

I think Osamu sounds pretty cool already, you’d teased.

And he’d replied, Let’s trade. I like yours, you like mine, why not share?

You teeter on the line between friends and less-than-friends and, oddly enough, more-than-friends. Sometimes you still play it safe. Sometimes he pauses between texts and real-time conversations, no doubt to scrap an instinctive reply for something more “professional”. Sometimes you say things that make him look at you with the ghost of a smile at the corners of his lips. Sometimes he calls Atsumu to scream about you.

“S’not a no,” Osamu points out. He’s dressed in a black sweater and grey trousers today. You’re suddenly reminded of how the weather’s been getting colder when someone opens the door to the university café and lets in a gust of chilly autumn air.

“Okay,” you admit, setting down the pencil. “I just… don’t really feel prepared for this next test.”

Osamu frowns and looks down at your worksheet. “Your process is correct, though.”

“Right, but… I don’t know. I’ve just not been feeling great about myself lately,” you laugh, looking down at your feet. “Food Chem’s the toughest class I’ve ever taken. And remember how I completely embarrassed myself in that class discussion last week? It’s not really making me feel like I belong here.”

“Imposter syndrome,” Osamu remarks.

“Correct-o.”

He says your name softly and puts a gentle hand on your shoulder. “Maybe you’re not the smartest, but you’re definitely smart. And you belong here. I’ve seen your papers. They’re just as great as anyone else’s and I don’t hand out compliments for nothin’. You’re gonna do some great things but ya can’t improve if you ever give up.” Osamu searches your eyes for a sign of your understanding.

There’re a lot of things you want to say but you don’t know how to put them into words. “Can I hug you?” you finally ask.

Osamu doesn’t even think about it. “Of course.”

He feels you smile against his chest and wonders if you can feel his heart beat faster.

Isla camps out in your dorm as finals come around the corner.

“I don’t understand shit!” she wails, throwing her notebook into the air.

“Isles, it’s okay,” you laugh, slipping out of your chair and walking over to her nest in the corner. “You gotta chill, dude.”

“Not fair! I didn’t have a hunk holding my hand through this course all semester,” she retorts, humour glittering in her dark eyes. “I had the Organic Chemistry Tutor and his accent’s cute enough but, girl, you had Miya Fucking Osamu!”

“You’re literally the worst.” You giggle and sit down beside her. “Tell me what you’re confused about. I’ll try to explain it to you.” The way Osamu does.

You text him that you’d channelled his brains later that night.

His reply comes seconds later. all you, einstein.

From: osamu

good luck on the exam

you’re going to kill it

To: osamu

would u like to divulge any… information about it? 😏 😏 😏

From: osamu

bye

To: osamu

i was kidding :(

From: osamu

fine. tip #1: write your name

To: osamu

not very helpful. 0/10

From: osamu

keep running your mouth and 0/10 is what your score’s going to be

i’m kidding

you got this, y/n

“Holy fuck,” Isla groans as you cross the street to head to lunch at Jack’s. “If you don’t see me next semester it’s because I’ve gotten my grade back and decided to drop out.”

“What would you do?” you ask, amused.

“Maybe move to New Zealand. Raise some sheep. Marry a hot, blond shepherd and fuck off to a cliffside cottage.”

“Solid plan.”

“What about you?” she asks.

“What about me?”

“Remember that conversation we had at the start of the year? About your man?” The two of you reach another red light for pedestrians.

“We’re friends. He’s not my man,” you laugh. Though it pains you to. Something about being Miya Osamu’s friend doesn’t really sit right with you, but you don’t know how to not be his friend. You don’t know how to move out of the corner you’ve backed yourself into.

“But you wish he were! And now you can finally hit him with that ‘Hey, Osamu, I’ve been madly in love with you since the start of the semester, wanna fuck like rabbits and then open that store in Italy?’ and he’ll be all––”

A throat clears behind you. With wide eyes, the two of you turn around.

Holy fuck.

Miya Osamu stands behind you with his hands in his pockets and an enormous smirk on his face.

“He’ll be all what?” he asks, eyes fixed on you.

Isla murmurs an excuse and starts walking on her own to Jack’s.

“Um.” You swallow nervously and shrink in your coat. “You heard all of that, right?”

“Yep.” Osamu grins. He grins. He’s grinning. He’s smiling like he’s won the fucking lottery and you honestly don’t know what to do with that information.

“So, like,” you look down at the sidewalk and kick at a pebble, “what are your thoughts about that?” God, you could die. “‘Cause I know you’re a TA and it’d probably look pretty bad and I don’t want anything bad to happen to you because I like you and it’s cool if we just…”

Osamu interrupts you with a laugh. “My thoughts,” he says, “are that I want to kiss you.” His fingers lift your chin up. “What are your thoughts about that?”

Well, shit. “I think that’s pretty cool, yeah,” you breathe, eyelids fluttering shut as his face comes closer to yours.

He tastes like mint. And his lips move softly, slowly against yours like he’s savouring the moment. And then you feel his hands snake around your waist to pull you closer–– closer because you both are tired of forcing the distance between bodies that want to be near each other, closer because he’s thought about kissing you just like this for so long, closer because you remember the last time he’d touched you was three days ago and it was just a brush of his fingers against your arm and that feeling of wanting more haunted you for the entire night. But holy shit, Miya Osamu is kissing you. He’s kissing you.

And then he pulls away. His dark eyes flit over yours. “I,” he breathes, “I need your course load next semester.”

“What?” you ask, disbelief written all over your features, chest rising and falling as you try to steady your breathing. You just kissed, for God's sake, and he's––

“I need to know which courses not to apply to TA for,” he grins, cupping your face in his hands. “Can’t be teachin’ in a class with my girlfriend as a student.”

“So we’re official?” you ask, beaming.

“If you want,” Osamu replies with a smirk.

You grab the front of his coat and tug him down for another kiss. “Hell yeah, I want to be official.”

#miya osamu #miya osamu x reader #miya osamu scenarios #miya osamu imagines

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sarcasticfina · 3 years

Text

Fic Writer Tag Game

How many works do you have on AO3? 263

What’s your total AO3 word count? 4,901,188

How many fandoms have you written for, and what are they? including the fandoms on FFnet, that haven't yet been moved over to ao3, that'd be a total of 37. separating the larger fandoms (marvel, dcu) into their individual parts: Thor; Arrow; Smallville; The Vampire Diaries; Glee; Captain America; Supernatural; Teen Wolf; Iron Man; Life with Derek; Firefly; Friday Night Lights; X-Men; Fantastic Four; Harry Potter; Sons of Anarchy; Girl Meets World; Batman; Daredevil; From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series; Transformers; Lost Girl; Game of Thrones; Banshee; High School Musical; The OC; One Tree Hill; CSI: New York; Degrassi; Gossip Girl; NCIS; The Unusuals; Criminal Minds; iCarly; Secret Life of the American Teenager; Twilight; and The Listener

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. and I wonder (if everything could ever feel this real forever) - darcy/bucky - Steve tells him that Darcy's harmless. Bucky imagines, on paper, Darcy is harmless. HYDRA wouldn't give her a second glance. But he does. He can barely keep his eyes off her. He's not sure he wants to. | Kudos: 5576

2. I Climbed The Tree To See The World (When The Gusts Came Around To Blow Me Down, I Held On As Tightly As You Held On To Me) - darcy centric | darcy/steve - The path to self-discovery, including becoming Coulson's assistant-slash-liaison-slash-bff, Captain America's lady love, and rating fourth on the SHIELD BAMF scale, was like the yellow brick road; it was chaos and confusion around every bend. | Kudos: 3973

3. Take a little piece of my heart (and keep it for yourself) - oliver/felicity - A collection of Olicity prompts on Tumblr posted here for easier access/reading. | Kudos: 3498

4. You put your arms around me (and I'm home) - darcy/bucky - A collection of Darcy/Bucky oneshots, drabbles, and prompt fills. | Kudos: 3293

5. you (anchor me back down) - darcy/bucky - "I'll be right back." Famous last words. | Kudos: 2747

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? not all of them. i do try to keep up on them, especially on longer stories when there's been significant wait times in between chapters, or when a reader is asking a question or is unclear on something. and especially when someone writes a really indepth comment/review, i like to respond to those and talk about motivations and character growth.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? I've written a number of fics that either had suicide or major character death, so i'm not sure if one outranks the other in terms of most angsty... hmm... i remember "be still and know that I'm with you (be still and know that I am here)" and "light a match, burn the world to ash (I will watch it die, and hold your hand as I fly)" both got some pretty intense reactions when they were posted. And "It's Your Song That Sets Me Free (I Sing It While I Feel I Can't Go On)" was basically just angst from beginning to end. buuuuut, i think i'll say "so you think you can tell (heaven from hell" was, only because there's a build up of everything going so right, only to pivot at the end, so it feels very bittersweet.

Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written? i loooooove crossovers. i find writing in the marvel fandom makes things quite easy, but also smallville. as long as i can find a common thread, i enjoy finding a way to overlap two shows. i'll say the hardest one to write was "ruby red slippers (unavailable in her size)." I'm not sure why, but i found writing each personality together just felt strange. i liked the idea behind the story, but i definitely remember feeling like i was really forcing myself to keep going, like something just didn't fit right.

Have you ever received hate on a fic? oh, definitely. you cannot please everyone, it's impossible. for the most part, hate comes and i either argue back, take the criticism for what it's worth, or just ignore it when it's baseless. i think the hate that bothered me the most was a homophobic PM someone sent me re: "you know I will adore you ('til eternity)," on FFnet. i actually went and searched it up. they've since blocked me so i can't read our whole thread back and forth. but i did put part of it on tumblr so i could rant on it a bit, so you can see that here.

Do you write smut? If so what kind? ha. yes. depending on the story, it can be really detailed or really flowery. it depends on the ship, the plot, and how graphic i feel like being. i've definitely become more comfortable over the years with my writing. that said, i think everybody likes something different. i once had a reviewer tell me a sex scene was too much, just too intense. it was a stefan/caroline story and to be fair, that entire oneshot was just them fucking, lol, but it is what it is. to each their own.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Multiple times.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes! for the record, i am always happy to have my stories translated and shared. i just like having a link sent to me and to be credited.

What’s your all time favorite ship? i have a list of OTPs, because interests change and as shows come and go, my love for a ship can be shelved for a while before it pops back up at random. currently, i can't get enough of buck/eddie from 9-1-1. and, historically, chloe/oliver (smallville) and felicity/oliver (arrow) have been two of my top OTPs. but i think i'd have to go with bonnie/damon. they had all the potential and the show dropped the ball by not exploring it. at the same time, that's kind of a blessing, because i don't trust those writers to properly explore what they had without eventually destroying it for the likes of de/ena. it means a treasure trove for writing where it could have gone and all the what if's.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish, but don’t think you ever will? the intention is always to finish. but given how i feel about allison mack and how that impacts my feelings re: chloe sullivan, pretty much anything with her as a main character is not something i see myself returning to.

What are your writing strengths? What are your writing weaknesses? i'm putting these together because my strength is my weakness. i love to write. when i get an idea, i go all in and i will skip eating and sleeping to just write write write. but i also eventually hit a wall and i get so many ideas that i hyperfocus on one until the steam is gone and then i hyperfocus on the next one to maintain that need to keep writing, accidentally leaving the last story in the dust for entirely too long. i also have clinical depression that comes and goes, which hasn't been super great mixed with covid and isolation, so more often recently, i find myself overly exhausted and despite wanting to write, can rarely get motivated to do so. so, pre-covid, wrote so much i left entirely too many stories dangling. during covid, i've just been reading and struggling to get myself focused enough to do what i love.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? i appreciate the authenticity when possible, but i've recently been reading more about how native speakers of other languages feel when a) their language is butchered by google translate, or b) it's just not genuine in terms of how bilingual speakers act or speak.

What was the first fandom you’ve written for? it was smallville, but i remember adopting it out to someone else because i wasn't going to finish it. so if you look at my ffnet, the first fandom i wrote for appears to be x-men: the movie, but i remember writing a chloe/oliver story prior to that.

What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written? i have a lot. i mean, on ffnet, i have 576 stories, many of which were transferred over to ao3, with a lot of oneshots and drabbles getting joined together into collections. so there's a ton to pick from that span a 14-ish year timeline.

"you know I will adore you ('til eternity)" and "let me break (the walls that surround me)" hold a special place in my heart.

honestly, each story is important in its own way. there are bits and pieces of each that i love. every time i write something new it feels like my favorite. my best. and then a new idea comes along. there are scenes i've written that i loved more than the whole of what they became. lines that stand out that are almost too good to be a part of the larger picture.

one of my all time favorite passages i've written was bonnie's thoughts on damon and herself in 'if you love me (let me go)":

He is far from perfect. He is a novel of red, corrective ink. He is frayed pages and torn binding. His life, his choices, his mistakes leave lasting effects on everyone he meets.

She is a lifeboat with a hole in it. An anchor that drowns in the sea while everyone else remains steady above. She is both the calm and the storm, and while she screams that she will not be tamed, she cries. Bittersweet tears that go unnoticed and uncared about.

there are other stories, other pieces of dialogue, that i've been proud of. that make me laugh when i re-read them. that make me cry. and i love them. there are others that make me wilt and cringe and regret. it's a process. love and pride and growth, all bound together.

Tagging: @absentlyabbie, @anonymous033, and anyone else who'd like to fill this all out, haha

#fic writer tag game #long post

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radarsteddybear · 3 years

Text

I was tagged by @belphegor1982 to do this fan fiction/AO3 questionnaire. Thank you!

How many works do you have on AO3?

65, but if you count my first Fictober as 31 stories instead of just the one big story that I posted it as, it’s 95 😳

What’s your total AO3 word count?

167,403

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

8 fandoms: DuckTales (2017), Hogan’s Heroes, The Rat Patrol, Singin’ in the Rain, Star Trek: TOS, Rawhide, Gilligan’s Island, and Big Time Rush.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Ducktober 2017 - 509

Numb - 340

An Old Letter - 292

A Phone Call and a Visit - 269

Sick Day - 219

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to, but I often tend to put it off 😅 I’m much more likely to respond to comments on AO3 than ff.net because the way you have to go through PMs on ff.net makes it difficult to check if I already have or not, so I sort of gave up.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Oh, boy. That’ll probably be a one-shot from one of my Fictobers. I may not be the best person to judge, given that I often don’t realize how angsty my fics are until months later (oops). After glancing through them all, I’ve narrowed it down to three:

Exchange (DuckTales 2017)

Hands (DuckTales 2017)

A Small Price in War (Hogan’s Heroes)

(Honorable mention goes to Breakable (DuckTales 2017))

But again, I’m not the best judge of how angsty my own work is, so you tell me!

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

Just the Fusion Fic, really, and I’m not quite ready to tell what it’s a crossover of.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

No. I’ve gotten weird non sequiturs and one memorable “please continue this” that was followed up with a “respond please” just a few hours later, but no hate.

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Nope.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not really. Recently a friend of mine wrote me a fic, and I gave it a chapter 2, so that‘s the closest I’ve ever gotten to co-writing. (We didn’t post the fic, and I doubt we’re ever going to.)

What’s your all time favourite ship?

Good question! I don’t know. I don’t really know that I can name one as my all-time favorite. Going by my AO3, it would be Cosmo/Don/Kathy from Singin’ in the Rain, but I don’t know that they’re my top favorite (though they are close). The Ineffable Husbands are definitely high up there, as well.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I have a whole lot, but most of them haven’t really gone much farther than the plot bunny phase. I have a lot of beginnings of Good Omens fics that I never got very far with, a Launchpad-celebrates-Hanukkah fic, a bunch of notes for an “It’s a Wonderful Life” DuckTales AU set in season 1, and the first 360 words of a fic where the Duck/McDuck family discovers that Donald’s missing in season 2 a whole lot sooner and Huey, Dewey, and Louie blame Della for it because Angst™.

(I’ve also got a Gyro & Boyd fic in the works that I do completely plan on finishing. Definitely. Someday. Eventually.)

What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, I think. My 12th grade English teacher had us do some creative writing, and the most common feedback I got when we peer reviewed it was that I had good imagery, so I’ll throw that in, too.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Turning plot points/scenes into a cohesive story and any scene that doesn’t have enough dialogue.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

It’s great when it makes sense and it works. The context has to be right, and it needs to have a purpose. For example, if a character can’t remember how to say something in English, there isn’t a direct translation, the character is speaking to someone who speaks their native language, the character is defaulting to their native language for some specific reason (like a bonk on the head? maybe?), etc. Including the actual words always feels somewhat uncomfortable for me because I only speak English so I either have to rely on Google Translate or ask for help. I don’t end up writing characters whose native language is something other than English often anyway, so it doesn’t usually come up.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Technically it was Liberty’s Kids when I was around 8.

What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

🤷‍♀️

I dunno. It changes, and I don’t really keep my old fics in my brain long enough to be able to pick a favorite. I really like my Singin’ in the Rain fic Ashes. I also like my Hogan’s Heroes and Rat Patrol fics a lot; I feel like those tend to come out well. Of course, it’s been quite a while since I’ve read any of them (and even longer since I’ve written any), so idk if they still hold up.

Just Christmas is up there, too. And also Persistent.

I tag anybody who wants to do this!

#tagged #AO3 #fan fiction

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golden-shivers · 5 years

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Hello! Can you make a blurb were y/n felt distant to harry because he’s been busy with tour planning and whenever he goes home there’s only minimal conversation or contact then he ask why and she just burst into tears and has a panic attack right in front of him. ( im going through a lot thanks for doing this)

Panic attack

A/N: I’m sorry you’ve had to wait so long and I hope you’re doing alright! I’ve been studying for the past weeks but I’ve finally finished my exams so I can start writing again! As always, thank you all for your reviews and please feel free to give some feedback or comments since I’m always a bit insecure about my story and writing. Sending lots of love your way!

Warnings: angst, panic attack

It’s been going on for two weeks now. Harry comes home late, eats the food you made him, briefly talks to you about his day and goes to bed. In the morning you wake up to an empty bed, eat the breakfast Harry prepared and go to work. Same routine each day. In the beginning, it was something you didn’t like but also didn’t mind. You knew Harry was busy planning his tour and your relationship was strong enough to handle the little distance. You were a strong independent woman, but the past couple of days the distance was killing you. You didn’t have a proper conversation with Harry in two weeks and you were starting to worry about the two of you.

You felt pathetic needing Harry’s reassurance, but doubts were eating you alive. Did this distance came because of the tour or was Harry no longer in love with you? Your mutual friends reassured you that that was most certainly not the case since they’ve never seen Harry so happy. They all told you that he was in complete adoration of you and that he’s probably not even aware of the distance. Still, you decided enough is enough and gathered your courage to send him a quick text asking him to be home at 7 pm to discuss a few things.

It was 5 pm when Harry answered that he’ll try making it home on time. It was 7 pm when you anxiously waited for Harry to come home, listening to every car that was passing your house in the hope that it might be Harry’s car. It was 8 pm when you asked him where he was. It was 9 pm when you decided to clean the table and put the food in the fridge, feeling the pit in your stomach grow. It was 10 pm when you finally heard the sound of a car door slammed shut.

“Are you aware of the fact that it’s 10 pm while I asked you to be home at 7 pm so we could talk about things?” You quickly said when he opened the front door.

“Oh shit, I totally forgot! You want to talk about it tomorrow? I’m kinda tired right now.” Harry said opening the fridge, searching for some leftovers.

“Fine.” You walked past Harry on your way upstairs to your bedroom. You could feel all your emotions fighting for dominance. Anger, sadness, disappointment and fear were making a deadly cocktail and were intoxicating you at an alarming rate. You felt your breathing going faster and faster and tried to control it, but you were miserably failing. Your hands started shaking and your ears were ringing.

Harry sensed your discomfort and grabbed your wrist. “Love is everything alright?”

“Not now Harry, let me go… I need to… Please… I just have to…” You struggled for the right words. You could feel a panic attack starting and you just wanted to escape. You didn’t want Harry to see you like this and you just wanted to hide.

Instead, Harry’s grip on your wrist got stronger. “Please look at me y/n. What’s going on?”

Those were the only words you needed for the tears to pour down your face and you could feel your legs trembling and giving out on you. Harry’s reflexes were quick enough to gather you in his arms on time and he slowly sank to the floor with you. “Breathe y/n, breathe with me.” He put your hand on his chest and took deep slow breaths, encouraging you to do the same and follow his example. You tried focusing on his breaths, but your skin felt too tight and your vision was blurry. Your body was screaming in protest and breathing got harder and harder. It felt like time stopped and you were held captive in this horrible moment.

“It will be over soon honey, just keep following my breathing please. We’ll get through this.” He gave your body a little squeeze as to prove his presence, to prove you’re not alone. Your eyes desperately searched for his and when they found his bright green orbs you felt yourself gain a little bit more control of the situation. Slowly but surely, your breathing started to slow down and the trembling diminished.

“That’s it love, you’re alright.” Harry whispered while putting some strands of your hair behind your ear. Exhaustion took over and you went limp in his arms. You were too tired to say or do anything. Harry slowed lifted you up and carried you bridal style to your bedroom. He slowly lowered you onto your bed and stood up.

“Don’t go, please.”

“I’m just getting you a cup of tea, my love, something to keep you warm.” You suddenly released you were shivering and crawled under the covers of your bed. Harry quickly returned with your favorite cup of tea and his hoodie.

“You want to talk about what happened?” Harry said while cuddling you.

“I’m sorry, I had a panic attack… I just felt overwhelmed. We’ve barely talked lately and I felt like we were growing apart. I know you’re working hard for the new tour and you know I’ll always support you but I’ve been struggling with your absence and my mind just started overthinking everything and I thought that maybe you don’t love me anymore.” You looked into his eyes, trying to decipher his reaction. You were afraid that he’ll confirm your fear.

His face softened instantly. “Firstly, never apologize for having a panic attack. You can’t control those things and they’re not something to be ashamed of. Secondly,” a frown grew on his face, “I wasn’t aware I was creating a distance between us. I was so caught up in all the planning that I never realized we didn’t talk much. It was never my intention to act distant. I can’t believe I’ve been so stupid not noticing these things.”

“It’s alright Harry.” You interrupted him.

“No, it’s not y/n. I can’t believe I made you think I didn’t love you anymore. What kind of shit boyfriend does that? The tour isn’t worth it if it’s giving you these feelings. I’ll plan my time in a better way so I get to spend more time with you because come to think of it, it’s been a while since I held you or heard the sound of your laugh and I miss that. I’ll do a Hannah Montana move and get the best of both worlds,” you both laughed and the tension immediately left the room, “I’ve never loved someone as much as I love you and I hated seeing you go through that panic attack. I felt utterly useless.”

“You actually helped me a lot, Harry. It felt like I couldn’t breathe anymore, but your guidance really helped. If you weren’t here it would’ve probably lasted a lot longer, so thank you.” You smiled. Harry smiled back but his smile didn’t reach his eyes. You knew he felt bad about the whole situation and slightly cursed yourself for overthinking everything. “Don’t feel bad Harry, I just misunderstood the whole situation. I know It was never your intention to make feel bad. I love you.” You reassured him and squeezed his hand, Harry brought your fingers to his lips and kissed them.

“I love you too. I’ll make things good again, I promise.”

“You’ve already made things good again Harry, don’t worry.” You kissed him with all the passion you’ve had to keep to yourself for the past two weeks and Harry kissed you back with such enthusiasm that you could never doubt his love again.

#Harry Styles #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles fic #harry styles one shot #harry styles x reader #harry styles one shots #harry styles x you #harry styles blurbs #harry styles blurb #harry styles imagine #harry style imagines #harry styles angst

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courtinginsanity · 5 years

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An Open Letter to Negative Reviewers

Let me preface this by saying thank you. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to drop me a comment. We live in a fast-paced world so I do appreciate you choosing to reach out to me when you could be doing something far more worthwhile, like cutting your toenails.

We teach our kids not to give out personal information on the internet to keep them safe, and we teach them about the importance of the block button in a bid to prevent them from becoming another statistic of cyberbullying. When do we teach them not to be the asshole? And for that matter, why is it that I feel like I need to write this open letter to grown women who should know better than to choose nastiness over kindness? Why do we need reminding that if you wouldn’t say it to someone’s face, you shouldn’t be typing it online?

As a fanfiction writer, I’m no stranger to critical reviews and downright horrible comments. The culture we’ve cultivated teaches us that we should embrace this meanness, that if we receive a ‘flame’, that’s how we know we’ve ‘made it’. While this is well and good in private groups and chats between writer friends, how do we really feel when we lay in bed at night wondering if we should even bother posting the next chapter of the multi-chapter we’ve spent months, perhaps even years, planning and writing and editing? At what point did we give our power over to the reader, and should we be demanding it back?

Now let me say that you, dear reader, are absolutely entitled to your opinion. Absolutely. I’ve read fanfiction I don’t like—hell, I’ve read actual published books I don’t care for. Do I feel the need to tell the author I didn’t like their story? No. Why? Because honestly, I have better things to do with my time. Also, I’m a proud feminist and I believe that as women we should be focused on supporting each other rather than finding reasons to tear each other down. Call me crazy!

Dramione is my home. I feel a little bit like Sybill Trelawney here, standing in the Hogwarts courtyard all teary, begging not to be kicked out of the one place she truly felt like she belonged. Think about that for a second. Think about the analogy and what it represents—the reality that some of our writers face; this is their home. This is their safe space. You have no right to enter it and attempt to tear it down. Sure, come in and enjoy the warmth and sense of family by all means, but don’t go putting on your fluffy pink cardigan and strutting about like Dolores Umbridge; the world is definitely too small for more than one of her.

“But it’s the internet—writer’s know what they’re getting into when they post online.”

We do. And maybe the reason the fandom isn’t even bigger is because potential writers see the shit we deal with on a daily basis and (perhaps wisely) make the decision not to post their work. Reflect for a moment. You may actually be responsible for someone feeling like they can’t share their craft because of the comments you make online. And you know who that affects? YOU. You, as the reader, are missing out on what could be some of the most amazing Dramione fics, because you are actively discouraging people from either joining the ranks of Dramione writers, or continuing to produce Dramione stories that you claim to love so much.

Reviews are not there for you to dump unsolicited opinions and advice. If you really want to help a writer improve, PM them and start a conversation. Don’t open with ‘hey, I think you need to work on these areas of your writing…’ Actually get to know them! Tell them what you enjoyed about their story, and then ask if they’d be open to hearing some constructive critique. If you want to offer some solutions, be prepared to offer your services. Don’t dump your opinions on the writer and then walk away; you clearly have knowledge and skills that could be valuable, so offer to beta or alpha.

The Specify and Respect Movement

I’m making it my mission to promote this at every opportunity. This was actually started by a friend of mine and it is so powerful. As writers and readers, we should all adopt it. The S&R movement lets writers signpost whether they are open to constructive criticism or not. It is your responsibility, as readers, to respect the wishes of the writer. So writers, let your readers know if you’re open to concrit or not, that way if you do receive a not-so-nice review, you can refer them back to your request that they don’t offer unkind opinions.

There is no excuse for being nasty. You get to choose your actions and behaviour in life, and no one is forcing you to leave a review at all. There is another human being on the other side of the screen and it is not okay to use your opinion to hurt their feelings. I’ll reiterate—there is no excuse for being an asshole. Your opinion is not necessary and not helpful, no matter how much you may think otherwise. If you have the knowledge and skills, then use that to make a better decision about how you interact with people you may be able to help. Yes, they made a choice to post their story online, and YOU are making a choice whether or not to be a decent person.

Choose wisely.

My writer sisters

I see you. I see you slaving over that multi-chapter fic that just won’t come together the way you thought it would, the multi-chapter fic that feels like it will never be done. I see you comparing yourselves to other writers; I see you obsessively checking your emails for reviews. I feel your elation when someone fangirls in your inbox, and my heart breaks along with yours when someone has chosen not to be kind to you and your awesome talent.

I’m here to tell you that you are my sister and I love you and appreciate what you do for this fandom. Without you, there wouldn’t be a fandom, simple as that. You are incredible and amazing, and you deserve to have people read and praise your work.

Let’s start a kindness movement. Use S&R, and tell your friends about it. Link it in your response to nasty reviews, and call people out on their bullshit. Don’t answer with emotion, but rather the womanly intelligence that can only come from being a powerful freaking goddess. Find your friends and support them with a fierce fire; lean on them for support when you need it.

If you are feeling overwhelmed by a negative review, please reach out to me. I’m happy to chat, to help you cultivate a response, to talk to you until 3am when the tears have finally stopped. We are a family and I will support you with everything I am.

If I can leave you with one final, parting thought, I want you to remember something: Hermione wouldn’t take this crap, and neither should you.

Love always,

CourtingInsanity xx

Link to S&R movement: http://malreviews.blogspot.com/p/the-s-movement.html

#dramione #dmhg #dhr #be kind #reviews #negative reviews #s&r movement

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mfackenthal · 5 years

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The MFackenthal Show and @maxattack-powell!

banner by @whenyourheartskipsabeat

Hello all! Welcome back to the MFackenthal Show! I am so glad that you are here today. If you’re new to the show, I encourage you to go here to find past episodes. There are only a few.

The MFackenthal Show has officially been green lit for more episodes! We used to only be able to afford to run the show every once in a while, but the people have spoken - they want to see the show more often! The funding came through and we hope to give the people what they want! Do you want to be on the show? Do you have someone that you want to see on the show? If so - reblog or comment or send a message to let MFackenthal know! We’ll see what we can do! We have this show and two others lined up for you!

I could not be more excited to bring you this next guest. She has been with the fandom for quite a while. She was one of the first people I started communicating with on a regular basis. She has talked me up, supported me from the beginning and though she hasn’t written much lately - when she does drop a chapter - it’s long and it’s worth it! Please welcome to the stage @maxattack-powell!!!!! (Insert Cheering here!)

(Megs greets Max with a hug - which means that Megs essentially runs and leaps into Max’s arms. Max is fairly tall and Megs is barely 5′3″)

Megs: Max, I am so happy that you are here! Can you believe that you’re here today?

Max: Haha, yes - I can. But I am honored to be here.

Megs: Max, sit with me. For those in the audience who may not know you, tell us about when and why you joined the fandom.

Max: Yanno, I always made my best guess at this before, but I knew you were going to ask me this - so I looked it up. Did you know that now there’s this Official Tumblr blog called @memories, and it knows down to the minute when someone joined? Let me go check it… *digs through the blogs posts* Okay, it was apparently 07/31/2017 at 1:17:15 PM, which means it must have been on the weekend because of the time of day haha.

As for why ... hmm, well… I found the Choices app one day, when it only had like… three series I think! Anyone else remember that time?

Megs: I do! Because I was playing Hollywood University I think I downloaded choices the day the app came out.

Max: Awh! Well, I fell in love with The Freshman Series. Mostly because of Chris Powell and Zack Zilberg, and a long time ago I was in another fandom that had tons of fan fiction/art… so I googled “Choices Chris Powell” and any other combination I could think of looking for possible fanfiction. The fandom was almost non existent at the time. There was actually one person, who has long since left the fandom due to fandom dramas - we all know the kinds I’m talking about - but a few others had started posting their works as well… and I got hooked. Eventually I felt the bug to write how I felt TF should play out as well, and here I am *looks back at the “joined tumblr timestamp”* uhh… 20ish months ago! Haha!!

Megs: LOL, when you put it that way it doesn’t sound like that long ago ... lets call a spade a spade - that was almost 2 years ago! That’s amazing! You have to have seen so much in this fandom! What is it that keeps you around?

Max: There are so many awesome people in this fandom, in this world we’ve all created for our pixelated loves lol. Soooo many creative minds to follow and enjoy. The content people share, original or repost… it’s great.

... Unfortunately it is also a double edge sword ... the drama, the jealousy, the rumors, the hate, etc. I’ve sadly seen far too much and it comes in so many forms… it’s unnecessary.

Megs: I couldn’t agree more! If you could tell the fandom one thing - what would it be?

Max: It would be that we’re all here because we want to have a good time. No one came here to get ridiculed, to be scrutinized or chastised for their opinions, their likes or dislikes. Real life has enough of that going on. We are all individuals - if you want to be treated nicely, fairly, etc. you must also do the same to others. There is no reason someone must agree with you or anyone else. Live and let live. Embrace our differences as it makes us who we are. Most of the issues I see stem from a simple difference in opinion. That is ridiculous. Everyone’s entitled to their own thoughts. We must build each other up, not tear one another down. No one here owes anyone anything, now go have some fun.

(The room stands up in applause!)

Megs: You should definitely stand up and take a bow, Max!

(Max does just as Megs suggests - but she also makes Megs stand up and do the same. Laughing, they both sit back down.)

Awh, Max ... okay, let’s get back to you. We know that you’d fight anyone for the position of The Chris Powell Appreciation/Fan Club. And for those who don’t know, Max has been retelling the full The Freshman series, interweaving dialogue and plot from PB but also adding much of her own content. MC and Chris get a backstory. Chris gets best friends from back home. What is your favorite piece that you have written?

Max: Oh geez hahaha. Um… can I just say The Freshman Chronicles as a whole? I’ve written for different fandoms, and I have original WIPs but I’ll stick to the Choices fandom for this answer. I’ve put a lot of time into TFC. Tons of additional story work, research on characters and their backgrounds, PBs and my own OCs. You should see my file folder setup haha. It’s crazy… I have so many docs, pictures and gifs. Most organized by location (Hartfeld, Boston, New Haven, Cherryfield, etc.), then by character… and on some I get more detailed and split them by emotion and situation.

Megs: By what again?

Max: Emotion and Situation ... Yeah. I warned you it was crazy! *laughs* TFC was the reason I joined tumblr really. Instead of staying a Nonny and only reading others posted works. I wanted to comment, like and reblog what I enjoyed, while I also worked on my own contribution to the fandom. I had a vision for Chris and MC that had more than the game could give, and I wanted to see if i was still any good at writing since it had been years and years… it’s funny to see how different my current posts are from my first over a year ago. Makes me want to go update a few because they could use a little help *awkward laugh*

Megs: I’m sure we can all relate to that! Hmmm ... I’m starting to get a feel for this, I think, but what is your writing process?

Max: Lots of planning, mostly in my head. When I feel like I have a decent concept I might type out some notes or work it into my outline (another crazy thing I have going for TFC because it’s so big haha). But usually, once I hatch out a basic plan on where I’m going… I just start typing. Keeping the general plot and main points I want to hit in mind, I simply start typing… keeping it as organic as possible. It usually works out well.

Megs: Do you have any advice for other writers?

Max: First, and most importantly… do it because you enjoy it. Don’t do it for likes, reblogs, popularity, etc. If you’re having a good time dreaming things up and typing them out, that’s what’s important. The rest is just an extra bonus. Also, don’t give up. It’s easy to become discouraged, frustrated, distracted and more… but remember - your creative cells can’t be running all the time. They need to rest just like your body. Take breaks… go read, play games, hang out with friends/family, watch a movie… whatever. Just do something to help you relax, to reset and you’ll very probably find inspiration and/or motivation to continue. Remember, this is for fun. *wink and finger guns*

Megs: So what do you do for fun?

Max: I actually have a few things I do regularly. A big one is making costumes/props for conventions, small productions, etc. I also train and show horses. I do the same with my dogs, but more for competitions and not really any shows. I’ve always drawn, sculpted, painted since I was old enough to hold things with my hands… and about a year ago I started learning how to do it digitally as well. I run (not at all for fun haha) and play hockey (totally for fun), follow comics and watch anime. I've restored houses, cars and old furniture. I like to read as much as I can - that’s an important one. I also play video games. Something I’ve done since I was young… I've even competed, and won, a few gaming tournaments.

Megs: You don’t know how to be bored do you?

Max: LOL, Megs. Yeah, um, so there’s a “few” *makes air quotes* of my never ending list of interests haha. Gives me a lot to talk about with people, eh?

Megs: Not that I can understand how you’d have time for this ... but what do you do to help pay for your many activities?

Max: Oh like, my job? Well that can be a simple answer… like “I work in software” but the more interesting way to say it is I use my MBA, experience in business, the financial industry and technology to improve and stabilize my customers environment through technological solutions that fit their specific needs. *presses lips together* I solve problems by designing solutions. Bored yet? Hahaha.

Megs: No! That sounds wonderful! Who doesn’t want their stuff to be designed better? Any chance you could start working for tumblr? Some of us have a few complaints ... tags ... mobile losing our work ...

Max: I’m not sure they could pay me enough to help them with all of their problems! But, tumblr, feel free to send me an offer!

Megs: Seriously - send her a 6 figure offer!

Max: Okay, Megs, well now I have a question for you.

Megs: Uhhhh, Max, that’s not exactly how this is supposed to go.

Max: Yeah, don’t care. Your fans need to know ... Hoooow do you find the time to read and review so much?! And I know that’s just in this fandom. I know you read books and you may read for other fandoms!? Seriously, it’s awesome. We need to clock your page flipping speed haha.

Megs: *blushes* Oh my gosh, you have to stop! Here’s the key to how I do it ... I wake up at 5:30am and read for about 30 minutes. Then I workout and start my day. I read in line at the grocery stores. I read on my breaks at work.

Max: Oh my gosh - you’re such a nerd and I love that! Okay, nerd, what is your favorite thing to do, besides reading all the things of course?

Megs: This show, of course! And, of course, getting people to do silly things on this show with me. For instance - with as athletic as you are, I hear you can’t jump?

Max: Megs, shhhhh. You told me you weren’t going to bring that up.

Megs: I did no such thing! (Meg says while laughing) I said I might not bring it up.

Max: Uh huh.

(Kris Kross’s “Jump” starts playing in the studio)

Megs: Come on - show me what you’ve got!

(Megs starts “singing” along and jumping along with the song. Max stays seated. Megs finally pulls Max up into a standing position. Max plays along and “jumps” next to Megs - getting no air at all.)

Oh, come on Max - put some real strength in to it. Jump! Jump! Jump!

(Max jumps and gets the smallest amount of air time.)

Max: *laughing* Megs - I’m tall! I don’t need to jump to reach things!

Megs: *laughing* That must be nice. I got good at this type of jumping because I had to learn to jump up and gently grab things from the grocery so I didn’t knock everything down.

*continuing to jump around the audience - getting everyone to join her* And that’s all for the show today today, folks! Thank you for watching!! Have a great night!

#The Mfackenthal Show #With @maxattack-powell #Official show number 3 #But the 4th interview #Ellen has nothing on me #Oh who are we kidding #I wish I were half as cool as Ellen #She gets paid to do this #I do this for free #But I love it!

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canimal · 5 years

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I wanted to write a time travel fanfic and about Evan Rosier/Hermione Granger as a main pairing but... I'm stuck. I didn't choose the most redeemable character (Rosier was killed by Moody after a magical fight) and it's complicated bc how Hermione can fall in love with someone like Evan no matter how charming and smart he is ? How did you deal with that (Hermione, Death Eater and their ideology) ? All I can see is something like Jaime/Brienne (GoT) and a very slow burn. But it still feel wrong.

(Please bear with me as this is going to be a super long response. I’ll put it underneath the cut so those who want to read it can read it and those who want to scroll past it can do so quickly.)

To be perfectly honest, if a story feels “wrong”, you shouldn’t be writing it. Trying to force something that you don’t feel comfortable writing and don't fully believe in will not only make for a story that feels forced and unnatural to the reader, but it will also become a story that you will not enjoy writing. (Never forget that this is our hobby, not our job.). Eventually, you would likely hit a wall where the story was unable to progress further and you’d be stuck. Lots of writers try to write a story with certain elements or pairings that are “trendy” and end up stuck because they forced a story. Writing should flow fairly smoothly. I’m not saying that writers should never stumble or feel blocked, but I am saying that if you’re not allowing a story to remain organic and grow naturally, you will find you quality and likely your own enthusiasm and enjoyment in writing the story suffer.

Why do you want to write a story with Evan Rosier? Is it because you find his character fascinating or you want to uncover more about him? Or is it because he’s not a character that’s written about a lot and you’re hoping to stand out in a growing sea of Death Eater stories?

I promise I’m not trying to be rude or condescending, even if it seems like it. This is an honest question. If your answer is on the first couple, awesome. Go for it.

But, if you’re hoping writing about him will get you instant recognition and a large number of followers on your story immediately, I’m sorry to tell you that that probably won’t happen. Most readers don’t want to take a chance on unknown characters. They just don’t. I’ve mentioned this many times, but when I first started writing Thorfinn Rowle as more than just a one-dimensional bad guy in the background in first, The Dark Mage’s Captive and then Parolee and His Princess, I frequently got PMs and reviews asking me who the fuck Thorfinn Rowle even was and that I might actually get more people to read my stories if I didn’t write such weird pairings. 🙄 (Let’s not forget the troll who commented “This should’ve been a Dramione” on literally every single chapter at least twice. Sigh.) So it’s both amusing and incredibly frustrating to have readers in the fandom announce that Thormione is their OTP when most of them wouldn’t have given my stories the time of day when I was writing them and they were the ONLY Thorfinn stories in existence on FFN for certain and probably everywhere else. Because so few people were interested in reading a story with Thorfinn as the main love interest when I was actually writing Parolee and His Princess, if I was only writing the story in an attempt to stand out and not because that was the story I wanted to write, then I likely would’ve gotten frustrated and quit before I ever finished.

So, if you’re serious about writing an Evan Rosier story because it’s what you want to write, I wish you the best of luck. It’s always challenging to write a character with little to no background info in canon. Challenging can also be a great deal of fun. If we never challenge ourselves as writers, we won’t ever get any better. Writers must be willing to learn and try new things if they want to get better. Practice is crucial. Too many writers (professional and otherwise) get to a place where they don’t believe they need to improve and their writing gets stagnant. It’s sad.

Now to your question about how or why Hermione might fall in love with someone with such a different and dangerous ideology... there are many different ways this can be tackled. I must stress thought that you make sure the decision you make makes sense within your story. Don’t try to force something. Let it grow naturally.

First of all, I don’t believe anyone is unredeemable. (Or irredeemable. Same meaning, right?) Perhaps it’s because of my own personal faith and religious beliefs, but I don’t believe anyone is wholly evil or wholly good. Yes, even in this hyper-partisan world we now live in, I don’t believe that anyone (even those who might disagree with me) are pure evil. This has actually gotten me a lot of grief from angry trolls and super sensitive former readers alike. I’ve been accused of being an “apologist” for all manner of depravity including, but not limited to, rape, violence, murder, racism, all the bad things ever, etc. simply because I believe that no is unredeemable... irredeemable. Ugh, whatever. You know what I mean.

Everyone has good qualities in them, even those who appear to be nothing but evil. Far fewer good qualities than most certainly, but still there. I’m also a firm believer that people, even really bad people, can have an existential change of heart and want to be a better person. Many just have to be given the opportunity to change. Of course, I don’t believe that they shouldn’t be punished for their crimes or they should be excused just because there’s something good about them. I’ll never understand why I’ve been accused of being an apologist. 🙄 Some people are truly exhausting.

For every story about a Death Eater falling for Hermione, there’s a different explanation. If you’ve ready any, you’re probably already familiar. Because I try very hard to make every story I write unique from the others I’ve already written, I’ve mixed it up. Antonin only joined for knowledge and power without realizing until too late what was really happening. Rodolphus was pressured by his wife in one and his grief and depression made him fall further in than he meant to. Sometimes the Death Eater was pressured by family to follow in their footsteps; others by their peers. There are countless reasons why people join these kinds of groups. Disillusionment, looking for a place to belong... you really could make it anything. I’ve known people who were drawn in and brainwashed by cults because they were desperate for purpose, for belonging, for a feeling like their life actually mattered. It can be super easy to get sucked into a cult and takes years to get out... if you can.

JKR wrote the Death Eaters as being simply bad for bad’s sake. They’re almost all one-dimensional. No person is actually one-dimensional. They have hopes and fears and dreams just like everyone else. Maybe they thought they believed in the sort of pro-Pureblood world that Voldemort imagined, but once they got in they were in over their head. Reality rarely meets our expectations. People grow and change. Even my own beliefs have changed as I’ve grown older. What I used to think was important no longer is and there are issues I have done a complete 180 on as I’ve grown up and begun to live in what I call “grownup reality”. (Life is much different for me than it was even when I was just in my twenties and how I see the world has changed drastically in some instances.). So if experience and time has been able to shape and change my beliefs and even my values to a minute degree, why could the same not be said for a Death Eater who discovered all was not as it seemed when they were recruited?

It’s also important to remember that no one thinks, acts, or believes like everyone in their set group one hundred percent of the time. Each individual has their own thoughts and beliefs. Maybe they joined because they hated Muggles, but then they realized they were wrong to do so. Maybe their family pressured them to join but they didn’t agree. Maybe they were afraid to die so they joined. I know a lovely man whose father died in World War II fighting for the Nazis - not because he was an admirer of Hitler and believed in everything dreadful and evil the Nazi party believed in. No, his father was conscripted into the German Army and fought because he would’ve been arrested in the best case scenario and executed in the worst. His young wife and their two small children could’ve also been in danger had he refused. It’s a terribly sad story. And hardly the only one. That’s just one example. History has countless other incidents all over the world when scared people fought and fell in line with a terrible leader because they had no other choice. Or at least it seemed like they had no other choice. Not everyone is strong and brave enough to stand up to injustice and evil when their lives are on the lines. Humans by our very nature can be quite cowardly at times.

It’s possible that a person who has done evil deeds or believed just absolutely atrocious things could want to change and be a better person. Though it wouldn’t be easy, someone like Hermione could choose to forgive them for their past. Especially if they’re truly remorseful.

Of course, it’s also unfortunately true that there are sometimes relationships that are just absolutely toxic. Love can make idiots of us all. How many women (and men to an extent though not nearly as often) see the potential in a man and want to change them into something good and perfect? It happens so often it’s a cliche. Woman falls in love with bad boy. Wants to change him. Stays with him with hopes and dreams that he’ll stop being so awful. Is disappointed over and over again. Have you ever known someone who fell in love with a truly terrible person and even though their relationship wasn’t healthy whatsoever never seemed to quit them? Kept going back for more even when everyone told them it was a terrible idea? I’m pretty sure you have. You might’ve even been in one of those relationships yourself. I know I was. No, he might not have been a murderous minion of a madman, but he certainly had his terrible qualities that I thought I could help him get past. Tale as old as time.

I could go on and on and on about reasons why Hermione might fall in love with a completely unsuitable man who might even wish her dead, but there’s no reason. It could be for a thousand reasons. And don’t forget, Hermione isn’t exactly some innocent paragon of virtue herself. She’s pretty dark even in canon. Trapping a lady in a jar? Cursing a girl’s face possibly permanently? Leading another witch into a forest knowing there are centaurs in there who are dangerous? And those are just the things that unobservant Harry noticed! Who knows what she was doing off-stage? She has her own darkness and her own demons to fight. She’s not perfect nor is she some pure angelic creature who only uses light magic for good. Nah, she’s pretty twisted at times. (On a side note - Please don’t try to write her as being all-powerful, perfect, and never do anything the least bit bad. That’s not her character at all. It bothers me to see her written as some sort of pearl-clutching virgin who has never done anything bad in her entire life. That’s NOT the Hermione I read in the books.)

You just have to find the right motivation in your own story. If you’re not forcing the story and allowing it to develop naturally, you’ll figure it out. If you’re forcing it, I’m afraid you’re going to stay stuck.

I hope this can be so some help! Sorry I’m rambled on and on and on.

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inyournightmares97 · 6 years

Text

GOT7 AS: Managers in a Company

Just a few thoughts about what GOT7 would be like if they were managers/Head of Department in a company. Totally inspired by the fact that I’ve been watching the kdrama Chief Kim lately and corporate politics fascinates me.

Mark

Mr. Tuan is the head of the IT Department.

He works with computers and is the acknowledged technological genius of the company. It takes Mark Tuan exactly two minutes to scan a software and he can suddenly use it as though he designed it himself.

At the insistence of the employees from other departments, he regularly conducts tutorials and FAQ sessions to help employees better utilize the office software but nobody ever attends those. Instead, they just summon the IT Department to their desks whenever they can’t figure out something.

It makes Mark furious.

Sometimes there isn’t even any problem with the software. It’s just the female employees who have nothing better to do and want the chance to flirt with the cute guy from IT.

He was even slipped a man’s number once.

Mark finally ended up going to the CEO and making his tutorial sessions mandatory for all employees, So now on the first Tuesday of every month, all the employees have to gather in the auditorium for an hour and listen to Mr. Tuan give a lecture on the latest updates to the office Intranet and explain how to use the software.

He knows it’s a waste of his time since people will keep calling the IT Department for help anyway, but Mark figures the least he can do is waste some of their time in exchange. It gives him a small sense of achievement to look at all their bored and miserable faces.

Mark is a silent genius when it comes to IT, but his managerial skills are... non-existent.

The IT Department essentially does whatever they feel like because Mark has never scolded his employees or even told them to get back to work.

His only strategy is non-interference. He doesn’t care if the employees are playing games during office hours (he often does so himself, with the door to his office locked and his secretary warned to send all visitors away) and even if he catches them in the act he never says a word.

But the employees know better than to completely neglect their work, because if they do, somebody from another department might file a complaint about them and that complaint would get forwarded to Mr. Tuan.

Complaints = Paperwork

There is nothing Mr. Tuan hates more than paperwork. The only time his smiling and handsome face turns dangerous is when somebody comes up to him with paperwork. He would rather install the intranet software into a hundred office computers than file a single report.

Mark doesn’t even remember the names of all the people who work underneath him in the department. So during performance reviews, everyone just gets a good/decent review because who knows how much work is being done by each employee? Certainly not Mark Tuan. He couldn’t care less.

Mr. Tuan has never worked a minute of overtime in his life.

He leaves the office at 5 pm sharp, every single day and he does not come in on weekends under any circumstances. I’m sorry, the company is about to fall to pieces and you need someone to fix the software? Sure, remind me first thing on Monday morning.

Orders pizza and coke for the entire Department whenever it’s somebody’s birthday (his secretary slides him a note to remind him whenever that is the case).

He’s a little absent-minded and clueless at times, but the entire IT department agrees that they pretty much lucked out getting Mark Tuan as a manager. They wouldn’t exchange him for the world.

Jaebum

Mr. Im Jaebum manages the Production Department

Production and manufacturing isn’t easy work. There are deadlines to meet and quality standards to maintain. Production is the lifeblood of the corporation.

The quality of the products is extremely important to the company’s reputation and Im Jaebum does not compromise on anything. Everything has to be done perfectly and he expects his employees to come up with flawless results. He comes up with numbers and his employees have to bring them into existence.

But his expectations come with a responsibility of his own.

Jaebum takes excellent care of his employees. Even though the production goals he sets seem a little high at times, he also makes sure that every single employee, right down to the lowest factory worker is well-taken care of.

The company hasn’t faced a single worker’s strike since Mr. Im took over the Production Department. He can often be found arguing with the Directors and higher-ups to ensure better working conditions and benefits for his employees. A healthy workforce makes for a healthy company. He genuinely believes that his workers need to be happy for the department to function efficiently.

Mr. Im is both feared and respected.

He sometimes goes down the factories himself and conducts surprise inspections, so the warehouses and production facilities are always on high alert. But if the inspection goes well, then he treats all the workers to drinks after working hours end.

Jaebum sometimes gets a little drunk himself and does a really good impression of the CEO which gets everyone cracking up. But if anyone tries to take a video of him doing it, they’re going to be treated to a death glare.

Jaebum also secretly really adores kids, even though he doesn’t have any of his own. So he organizes a ‘bring-your-kids-to-work’ day twice a year. All the employees of his department can bring their kids to work to see what their parents do. Jaebum places a huge jar of candy on his desk and blushes whenever the kids come up to him. He’s too awkward to actually entertain them but he thinks they’re really cute.

He even let a particularly adorable five-year-old girl sit in his large, swirly leather office chair and wheeled her around like a rocket until he noticed the other employees were looking at him weirdly.

Even though Jaebum works them hard and enforces a lot of strict rules, everyone in the Production Department agrees that you can never find a manager more fair or just than Mr. Im Jaebum.

Jackson

Mr. Jackson Wang is head of the PR Department: Public Relations is his natural calling.

Jackson is that guy who constantly has a little Bluetooth mic in his ear; it’s really hard to tell whether he’s addressing you in front of him or he’s just talking to somebody through the Bluetooth. He likes to pace up and down the main office while taking calls in a loud voice. It makes him feel important.

Jackson takes a lot of phone calls. Most of them aren’t even work related, he’s just chatting with people in high positions but he claims that “maintaining contacts” is what he’s getting paid for.

Mr. Wang also uses the company card a lot. He submits receipts for various clubs and restaurants that he took some big politician or journalist to. Jackson can often be found in the Finance Manager, Park Jinyoung’s office towards the end of the month, begging him to clear all sorts of absurd expenses made in the company’s name. They usually have an hour-long meeting in Mr. Park’s office and Jackson ends up paying for the events by himself.

He’s not the best problem-solver. Jackson’s solution to just about any problem is “let’s call for a press conference.”

- “Mr. Wang, it’s actually very important that we keep this information away from the press for the time being-”

- “Yeah, yeah, I get that. But don’t you think we should hold a press conference? I’ll set one up right away!”

Somehow, he’s extremely hurt and surprised whenever he finds out that he’s been kept in the dark about confidential company matters.

Whenever there is a press conference though, Jackson makes it the most flashy and extravagant event possible. He hands out imported care packages to all the journalists and gives them free hampers with company products.

Every minuscule charitable contribution the company makes is on international headlines the next day. Pictures of the CEO visiting orphanages and making donations to starving children in poor countries can be found all over the internet. Jackson put them there.

He has a special team of people dedicated to leaving nice comments about the company on all sorts of internet fora. Sometimes he logs on himself and responds to haters just for the hell of it. He also manages the company’s social media presence; they have an Instagram page, a Twitter page, a Facebook page and exist on pretty much every social media platform ever.

Jackson has an excellent employee incentive scheme. Friday mornings are brainstorming sessions and anybody who comes up with a good idea to boost the company’s image gets a special gift; usually an expensive bottle of wine Jackson scored from a guy he knows, or a little bonus. The Finance Department severely disapproves of this scheme, so the funds come directly from Jackson’s own pocket.

He also likes a comfortable and bright environment. The PR Department’s office spaces are all painted in colorful shades, with beanbags and funny-looking chairs and fluffy rugs. He tried to get a cafe installed but the Finance Department put an end to that nonsense very quickly.

Although Jackson can be a little wild and loud at times, everyone agrees that the PR Department is undoubtedly the most fun department to work in.

Jinyoung

Mr. Park Jinyoung manages the Finance Department.

Before he turned up, the department was a corrupt mess. There were accounting scams everywhere, people at all levels of the corporate structure were siphoning off money whenever they pleased. Jinyoung personally tracked every single one of these people down and found proof that they’d been embezzling company funds.

Let’s just say that a lot of employees got arrested during the first two months of Mr. Park’s appointment. The PR Department was in panic (the only time Jackson Wang was forced to actually work overtime to ensure the entire company wasn’t labelled as corrupt by the media), but it worked out in the long run. Now the company is clean and Mr. Park does not compromise on integrity.

Jinyoung has one golden rule, which is written in bold letters and pasted on his office for everyone to see as they arrive. The sign reads ‘No Wasteful Expenditure’. There is nothing Jinyoung hates more than useless expenditure. Every penny spent must bring in some solid, traceable returns and that is how he runs the finances of the company.

He can regularly be seen arguing with Mr. Wang of the PR Department in his office. “Taking the journalists to a strip club is NOT a business expense! I refuse to sanction your reimbursements! Pay for your own entertainment!”

Jinyoung is also extremely stingy about allocating budgets to the Research and Development team. Kim Yugyeom can often be found in Mr. Park’s office as well, pleading for more funds while Jinyoung ignores him completely. “When is the last time your Department ever designed anything worth selling? All the money we’ve allocated you in the past is a sunk cost. Do you know what that means, Mr. Kim? It means it’s sunk to the bottom of the fucking ocean and we’re never getting that money back!”

Mr. Kim Yugyeom doesn’t ask for money anymore. R&D make do with what they have.

Jinyoung is extremely anal about his office space. The entire Finance Department is stuck with posters like “Reuse and Recycle” and there are reminders to turn off the lights when not in use. Jinyoung also insists that the air-conditioning be switched off for at least two hours every day. Even in summer. Sweating is good for your body.

The prevailing system is tough love. Jinyoung is harsh with employee performance reviews and getting a bonus is not easy if you work for the Finance Department. He’s also a micro-manager, requiring that every small thing be passed through him for approval.

Delegation is not a term well-respected in Mr. Park’s vocabulary. He doesn’t trust people to do things themselves. Sometimes he wanders around the employee’s desks for no reason, hovering over them like a schoolteacher trying to make sure the students aren’t cheating on an exam.

Whenever the auditing season is over, though, Jinyoung makes sure to throw a huge party for the accounting branch and invites the entire Finance Department. Work outings aren’t often but when they do take place, they get wild.

Overall, the employees of the Finance Department work hard and long hours, but they can’t really complain because Mr. Park works just as hard as them and he never sets any standards that he doesn’t follow himself.

Youngjae

Mr. Choi Youngjae is the friendly Human Resources manager.

The HR Department is a very calm and peaceful place. Youngjae has strategically placed potpourri all over the Department office to disseminate calming fragrances and he keeps scented candles in his own office. It’s his way of relieving stress after a long day of dealing with people screaming at him.

“Yes, sir, I understand that you booked the conference room in advance and that the PR Department should not be allowed to play loud music and disturb your meeting. Yes, I’ll have a talk with Mr. Wang about this.”

“It does make sense that an executive of your level should be allowed to travel in business class, but it’s up to the Finance Department to allocate budget and sanction your... yes, I understand. I’ll talk to Mr. Park.”

The HR Department is essentially the anger management center for all the other employees. Many of the managers like to come and walk into Mr. Choi’s office at all times of the day to vent their problems to him. He’s often dealing with noise complaints filed against the PR Department and the Marketing Department.

His only friend in the office is Jaebum, who often comes to talk to him about employee benefits and payroll issues. Youngjae admires how passionate Jaebum is about worker’s rights and he generally backs him when trying to beg the Board to allow for an increase in wages or additional holiday bonuses for the employees. It’s the only time Youngjae’s job feels worthwhile.

Youngjae is also required to hold seminars and training courses on conflict resolution and workplace ethics every quarter. The sessions are largely pointless because they usually just end in Jinyoung making snarky remarks about how all of the other departments waste the company’s money and Jackson’s cellphone goes off every five minutes because he refuses to keep it on silent. Bambam and Yugyeom are usually entirely absent from the seminars completely; they translate seminar day to mean holiday.

Youngjae is extremely grateful to Mark and Jaebum for being the only two people who actually pay attention to his seminars, but they’re never involved in any conflict anyway so it makes no sense.

Youngjae also regularly has to talk to Bambam about taking too many vacations days. Somehow, the man turns up with perfectly valid medical certificates stating that he was ill even though everyone knows he went on a trip to Bangkok with his new girlfriend. Youngjae doesn’t really know how to deal with the problem. He chooses to ignore it.

On slow days, Youngjae brings his dog into work and spends the afternoon playing with Coco.

Overall, he’s an extremely sweet HR manager who secretly hates his job but puts up with it because he doesn’t know what else he would do. Also leaves work at exactly 5 pm sharp and sometimes runs into Mark in the parking lot.

Bambam

Bambam runs the Marketing Department.

The Department is largely a mess. It’s meant to be a hub of creativity, and the office is filled with drawing boards and sticky notes and all sorts of scribbles all over the place.

A clean environment does not get one’s creative juices flowing.

Bambam also has dartboards with pictures of their major competitors set up all over the office. Employees are encouraged to use them often.

The job of marketing is to get products to sell and Bambam firmly believes that there is one foolproof way to do that; glamour.

He makes the company sign endorsement deals with almost every single famous celebrity in town; actresses, sports-persons, singers... Bambam knows them all and they’re all endorsing his products. If his team can’t come up with a good enough marketing strategy then they can just take their pick of all the celebrities Bambam has signed deals with and use one of them to endorse the product.

It’s not easy convincing Jinyoung to part with millions so that he can pay some famous actress to advertise their cosmetics line, but Bambam is better at wearing Jinyoung down than the other managers. Also, sales figures have been skyrocketing ever since Bambam took over so Jinyoung has a soft spot for him. At least he brings in results, unlike the R&D team.

Bambam maintains a very casual work environment with his employees. The moment their workload decreases, he’s usually off visiting some exotic foreign country. It’s surprising how he manages to get work done despite almost never being in his office; but Bambam parties hard and works harder.

He probably would have been fired by now if he hadn’t been bringing in so many sales, and if Youngjae hadn’t been too soft to bring up the matter of him overstepping his allocated vacation days.

All the same, all his employees love him.

Yugyeom

Mr. Kim Yugyeom manages the Research and Development team

The R&D team was one of the biggest spenders in the company until Mr. Park Jinyoung was hired and slashed their budget in half. They’ve been struggling to operate since then, but their productivity hasn’t increased much. They still produce next to nothing.

Yugyeom always encourages his employees to share their wild and insane product ideas. Since the R&D department don’t actually have to show any concrete results, they can often be seen slacking off. Most of their ideas are insane from the start and could never have been implemented anyway.

The only productive research that was taking place through the R&D Department was in the cosmetics line, but Yugyeom had that research shut down after he found out that they were testing the cosmetics on little bunnies and mice. He spent the rest of the day locked up in his office watching PETA videos on the horrors of animal testing and crying himself to sleep.

It took the combined efforts of Youngjae and Bambam to reassure Yugyeom that he wasn’t responsible for the deaths of hundreds of animals and that he should just shift his focus to products which didn’t need to be tested on living things.

The biggest achievement of Mr. Kim’s career was convincing the company to start a line of chocolate milk-based products. It was a line of research that Jinyoung firmly refused to fund but that didn’t matter because Yugyeom and his employees were fully willing to test the product on themselves. They drank nothing but chocolate milk for an entire month before the product was finally approved for sale.

Nobody complained because Yugyeom looked so hopeful.

Bambam was so proud of his friend for having finally developed a successful product that he hired one of the most popular actresses to endorse it and the chocolate milk sold like hotcakes. It’s still one of the most popular milk brands.

On days when they don’t need to work because Youngjae is holding one of his workplace ethics seminars, he and Bambam go to the amusement park or the bowling alley and have the time of their lives.

Most of the employees in the R&D team love Yugyeom because, well, nobody every really does any work there and he doesn’t care either. Who wouldn’t love a manager like that?

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texanredrose · 6 years

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Vent Post

Alright, I don’t typically do this, but I’ve hit my limit. Please understand, while I appreciate the love and support my stories have received, there is a trend that I have to address because it’s gotten to the point where it’s beyond ridiculous. After talking about it here, I honestly don’t want to have to bring it up again, and I expect no one to go harassing others over it. This isn’t directed at a single person and, for the most part, y’all have been wonderful; I truly couldn’t be more thankful.

However, if you’ve ever left a comment/review regarding Queens of Vale on another work of mine, especially if you didn’t ever leave a comment/review on Queens of Vale itself, and doubly so if you did that without actually reading the contents of the work in question? This is for you.

TL;DR: to everyone who loves Queens of Vale, I’m so sorry the next chapter hasn’t been posted yet. I would love nothing more than to return to it. But I also haven’t gone two weeks without someone using one of my other works to try to guilt trip me into posting it, and that kinda ticks me off.

Text contents of the above picture: “YYBB does have a point. I would LOVE to go back to working on QoV- or Freezerburn fics in general, really- but the amount of comments in that vein I've received have made it a sore spot, to the point where I've considered deleting it from FFN and AO3 entirely just so I don't have to deal with it anymore. It's also a big reason why I don't post promptly from tumblr to AO3/FFN, because each time I do- even though I've completely stopped writing FB and QoV- I get at least one comment/review/PM like this. I thank you for at least addressing the contents of THIS fic, since a lot of the ones I've received don't do that. You've also at least reviewed QoV before which, again, is something most people DON'T do when they leave comments like this on my other fics.

None of my fics are forgotten or abandoned. I go back and reread them myself and work on updates for them all the time! The next update for QoV, for instance, has been nearly completed for the better part of a year now. But I write what strikes my fancy in the moment and constantly being treated like my hobby should be dictated by others is extremely discouraging. Ultimately, I'm going to do what makes me happiest, because until writing starts paying my bills, I've really no inclination to put undue pressure on myself by compromising my free time to meet arbitrary deadlines.

I DO appreciate that you love the story. A lot of people do and that's fine! I'm absolutely FLOORED by how many fell in love with it! But, if people stopped hounding me to update it (the current record is less than two weeks), it would've HAD an update by now, much like several other fics that I updated or wrote sequels that no one asked for.

I also apologize for the wall of text. This just happened to be the straw that broke the camel's back. (I usually delete the aforementioned comments/reviews- which is hard as hell to do on FFN btw- but silence isn't getting me anywhere, so it seems like a tumblr post is in order.)”

For well over a year, I’ve been receiving all manner of comments/reviews/PMs/asks regarding the next update for QoV. They’ve ranged from polite questions to outright demands. At first, I tried to take them with a grain of salt- for anyone who actually read the Author’s Note at the end of the last chapter, you’ll know that I had to rewrite chapters, and thus it would take time for the next update to come because I had other commitments- but as time wore on, I became discouraged from continuing it when the other, smaller things I’d written started getting reviews/comments addressing QoV instead.

I love the stories I’ve written. I love the characters I’ve written. I genuinely care about each and every one and try to put the same love and care into all of them. Can you imagine how frustrating it can be when someone who didn’t even bother to tell you they liked something only mentions it when you’ve offered up something different? And people trying to guilt me into it, like I owe anything to people who couldn’t give the five seconds it takes to type up “this is cute” or “I like this”?

Understand, I’ve been putting up with this for three years- you would be shocked by how many people combed through my previous works to comment about how “it’s too bad you don’t write [ship] because your writing is so good!” Like, examine that statement for a minute; if my writing’s that good, does it matter which ship I write? Judging by how many people have responded to even the most niche ships I’ve written for, I’m going to answer that: no, it absolutely doesn’t. It’s just a method of trying to make me doubt my own abilities and passion, to push me to write something I don’t want to write.

Incidentally, my NOTP list? Entirely comprised of the suggestions other people have provided in reviews/comments like that. Because I don’t believe in rewarding bullies or praising bad behavior by bending to it, even for ships I honestly wouldn’t mind writing. So I’ve dealt with this, on a regular basis, all this time, in silence.

But enough is enough. The ones I’ve gotten recently? Couldn’t even be bothered to read the “this is a commission” literally at the top; the story’s written (mostly), I’m just posting at the customer’s request.

Do you know how infuriating that is? Here I am, writing something that literally tells you what’s up, but you aren’t going to read it because... you want to read... something else? ??? Where is the logic? How can I even be sure you read any part of QoV- because, again, a lot of people doing this didn’t comment/review, so it’s not like I know for sure- and aren’t just doing it for some sort of smug satisfaction? Really, there’s no motivation here to even open the draft.

Y’all, I’m sorry for getting so long winded about this, but it has been building for a while. I’m a little annoyed, to put things lightly. And, yes, I have considered pulling the story from the internet entirely; I’ve gotten to that point before because if anyone thinks I’m scared of threats, they’ve got another thing coming. I’ll call your bluff and look you in the eye while I do it. I’ve tagged people before, telling them to save a local copy- that’s how close I’ve been to just washing my hands of it.

And the thing that hurts most of all is knowing that a lot of really good, kind people love the story, too. People who’ve been patient and understanding would love to see an update. Hell, I only even wrote it because Maka made the suggestion! Y’all are the only reason I haven’t deleted QoV and keep working on the draft. But if I post it, the people who’ve been hounding me will think their tactics worked, and they’ll either try to do it on another work of mine or to another writer entirely, and that’s the last thing I want.

So I’m just coming right out and saying it. Until I can go three weeks without someone using another fic of mine to demand an update, QoV will be abandoned. It sucks because I was so looking forward to this arc, which was going to set up some really epic scenes towards the end and focus pretty heavily on the relationship between Yang and Weiss, as well as their relationship with the rest of Patch. I was so looking forward to it, y’all don’t even know! Whenever I start reading over the draft, I get excited all over again!

I really wish it hadn’t come to this. I put out what I think is a lot of content- I’m already over 331k words for 2018, and there’s still more to come; I’m on track to exceed last year’s 340k words- but I’m doing this for fun. I love writing and telling stories, but I’m going to tell the stories I want to tell and I’m too damn stubborn for that to change any time soon.

I’ve always told y’all I’m an asshole. I’m sorry to be a dick but I’m not going to back down because a bunch of people who haven’t spent hours working on stories of their own think it’s okay to dictate how I should be doing it.

And I swear to God if someone waits three weeks and one day to do this shit again, y’all will know. Y’all will know immediately.

#Tex has some shit to get off their chest #and the sad thing is I already KNOW the people who need to read this won't #so this is just screaming into the void #but goddamnit the void's going to listen

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otterbeesfanficblog · 6 years

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Something Different {Markus X Android Reader}

CHAPTER 8: She Depends On You

A/N: I really hope you guys like the story so far because I love it, also, a little love for my girl North. I hate how she is portrayed in the game because she could have been so much better, but I still love her. The only people I hate in that game is fuckin Perkins and god damn Amanda and slightly Todd, everyone else I would willingly die for. Anyway, I hope y’all like your new koi fish friends( btw their names are Piano and Technicolor). Enjoy the story!

Song of Chapter Title: Sad Machine by Porter Robinson Another Song Referenced: Paralyzed by NF

If you really want to see a good example of Paralyzed for D:BH

Detroit: Become Human || Paralyzed

PLEASE WATCH AND SUPPORT THIS PERSON!!

If you would like to be tagged, just go ahead and tell me in the comments.

Chapter 1: A Spark Like No Other Chapter 2: Never Seen You Through My Eyes Chapter 3: The Lonely Chapter 4: City of The Dead Chapter 5: Pick A Star In The Dark And Follow The Light Chapter 6: What’s Gonna Be Left Of The World If You’re Not In It? Chapter 7: Love and Hate Are Beasts… Chapter 9: Pictures We’re Living Through For Now Chapter 10: The Precipice Of Change Chapter 11: Raise A Glass To Freedom

Date: Nov 9th, 2038 Time: PM 12:04:04

You looked at yourself through the broken mirror shard, no real reaction. You and North had talked a while longer before Markus came and found you, bringing you to a place just outside Jericho. So now you were both on the top floor in an open area to the snowing sky above, putting down the glass you looked at Markus as he walked over to the piano.

He picked up the two chairs that were next to it, dusting them off and setting them up in front of the piano, then turning to you.

“Care to play, for old times sake?”

You smile up at him, standing you walk over and sit next to him, you sat on the very right side of the piano, him sitting on the left. Just like you had some many times before, but now... it was different now. Both of you were different.

For a moment, you both just sat there with your hands over the keys, almost like you were thinking of what to play.

“I want you to lead, Y/n.”

Markus’ sudden voice made you jump a bit, you looked at him tilting your head to the side.

“Me? Why?”

“Carl once told me that when you play piano, your feelings drift to the tips of your fingers and it makes you play whatever is in your heart.”

You look back at the keys, looking at your fingertips that were gently laying on the black and white keys.

“Y/n can you do something for me?”

“Anything.”

“Close your eyes while you play.”

You remember that this was the same thing Carl asked Markus to do, you didn’t question it any more than he did as you close your eyes.

“Now, play what you feel, not what you think you should. I’ll play the supporting notes, but this will be for you.”

You nod, putting your hand up to the keys, then...

You played.

The song was a mix of feelings, it was mostly somber but there were moments in it that held hope. It was a rollercoaster of feelings, and Markus knew that was what you had been feeling for the past few days.

So confused and yet you knew what was happening, you knew what you were feeling but there was just one part of you the refused to see it. The longer you struggled with your instructions and your emotions, it became harder and harder for Markus to understand why you held on to them.

He watched you, with your eyes gently shut as you let your hands drift where ever they needed, your nails tapping on the keys every so often, and it was small moments like this that Markus realized he couldn’t lose you... not ever.

Soon, your hands came to a stop, your eyes fluttering open by the end of the notes, taking your hands away from the keys. You felt like you were in a daze after those moments, but you were quickly knocked out of your daze when Markus stood up and walked on to the edge of a plank, you slowly stood up too.

For a moment, you both just embraced the silence, looking out onto the snow fallen city of Detroit, you once again lift your hands to catch some of the snowflakes that were falling.

The wonders of earth’s beauties never stopped amazing you... it was very disappointing that they were fading...

To distract your heart from those saddening thoughts, you asked Markus a question you had been wondering since you got up here.

“Why did you bring me up here?... I’d thought that with everything that has happened, that maybe you’d want to be alone.”

“I needed to think...” Was his answer, he turned his head to you, giving you a short-lived smile. “and I always think better with you around.”

“You do realize that doesn’t really make much sense, right?”

He chuckles, walking back from the edge and sitting down in the old love seat.

“Does it have to?”

“I suppose not...” Cupping your hands in front of you, you thought that now would be as good a time as any to review what North told you.

“We freed hundreds of our people, and they’re still coming from all over the city... Those who dream of freedom come to Jericho... Things are changing...”

Looking over to Markus, you see him with his elbows on his knees, head down.

“... And I know you well enough to know something else is on your mind...”

“They all obey us, they follow you and me without question...”

You hum and turn back to look at the city, you knew what he meant by it.

“And that much power feels good... and scary... at the same time...”

Looking back at Markus, you nod.

“In all honesty, I’m more scared than I am proud of the power we hold... Now that we're leaders, lives are in our hands, Markus... All the media are talking about what we did last night, the humans are terrified... they are afraid of a civil war... and I can’t say I’m not scared of that either.”

Markus watched you pace before him, he could almost see all the thoughts going through your head. Now that he was deviant and could see things for how they really are, the once logical thinking you had now turned to overthinking.

“Many of our people were burned in response to what happened... I know there wasn’t much we could have done, seeing as we didn’t expect it... but I had hoped...”

Closing your eyes and letting your head drop, you give yourself a moment to think before speaking to Markus again.

“Our people are getting skeptical, Markus... They think all humans hate us, and that we won’t get our freedom...”

Markus puts his hands together and shakes his head while looking up at you from his spot.

“If the humans won’t listen, we’ll fight.”

“You can’t honestly think those are our only two options...”

Markus stood and walked in front of you, he reached for you but you stepped back.

“Y/n, if they don’t give us a choice...”

“So what? We give up on all our reason and go to war and get thousands of innocent lives in the crossfire? Is that it? Have you forgotten already where you came from? Have you forgotten all the kindness we both have been shown?”

You covered your mouth and closed your eyes, you had never truly risen your voice before, especially not at Markus. He was a bit taken back by your tone of voice, he wasn’t upset with you at all, actually, he wanted you to keep going...

This meant you were speaking your mind.

You, on the other hand, were desperately trying to calm down. Warnings of overheating and Thirium Pump anomalies were appearing in the corner of your vision, you also saw blocks of glitchy, red instructions start covering your view.

You didn’t want to raise your voice at Markus, but it kinda felt... good. Like it was the first time in your life that you truthfully spoke your mind, of course, there was something still blocking you from fully speaking your mind... you knew what it was...

“Y/n... I know you want to see the good in everyone, but we can’t afford to believe that.”

“So we give up on peace that fast? Markus, all it takes is one voice to speak out. Would Carl want you to turn so quickly?”

“Y/n...” He sighed, something he noticed he was doing more and more after coming to Jericho. He understood your reasoning and in all honesty, he wanted every part of himself to believe that could work, but other parts of him told him he needed to think more about his people.

“You’re reasoning is a nice one, but you have to think of our people first before morals.”

You scuff, your face turning sour as you turn away from him, it was getting harder and harder to calm yourself down the more Markus spoke of these things.

“When did you start justifying murder?!”

“We have to show them that we are willing to fight for our freedom!”

“And I agree,” You turn to him, brows frowned and eyes full of feelings. You were confused and angry, frustrated and above all else...

Scared.

“I never said we shouldn’t fight for our freedom. All I’m saying is that if we spill blood... when will it end? There will always be someone to take the next one's place. We have to learn how to forgive, Markus, before its too late or soon enough... we will be generations down and they will have forgotten what we were fighting for.”

The long stare you both held was strong and filled with constriction, both of you knew how the other felt, you knew what they were thinking, but neither of you was truly going to give in anytime soon. Markus shook his head and turned back to the city, you walked up beside him and turned him by his arm to look back at you.

“... Where did all this darkness come from, Markus?”

Without having to say a word, he held up his hand. You hesitated before remembering it was Markus, then copied his motion, your hand on his as the skin disappeared from your hands. The glowing blue on your palms and knuckles was familiar and comforting, but the thing that disturbed you the most was what came next.

As Markus held eye contact with you, he sent his memories into your eyes.

You first saw the day you and Markus had been together shopping at the plaza before the party, you were seeing through his eyes. At this moment, you had a perfect view of yourself across from him, on the ground. This was the moment you were kicked in the face and the moment you got your scar. At that moment, you saw the same flashing red, blocky instructions as you had been getting recently. The memory then switched.

This one was you both at the party, you standing next to Aeron and Markus, in this case, was next to Carl. You couldn't hear anything, but you remember this being the moment Aeron and Carl got into a discussion with some patrons about you. You were wearing your fancy uniform at that party, per Aeron's request. This uniform was not like your other ones, it was like a dress.

In any case, the next moment you remember very very well. With Aeron and Carl distracted with one patron, another one slid up behind you and was feeling you up. At first, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, you watched yourself through Markus’ eyes slowly look over at the man, your LED blinking red. The red blocks appeared in the vision again as the man's hand went farther and farther up your leg and under your uniform, to the point he almost flipped it all the way up.

That was when you watched as Markus must have said something to Aeron, who turned quickly and made a big scene. You honestly thought it was chance that Aeron turned, you had been so focused on trying to get the man to go away that you didn’t know Markus was the one who told Aeron. After the man was kicked out, the party went on and you and Markus spoke freely to each other before Aeron said he had had enough bullshit for one night and you and he left.

Then... a new scene appeared, one you knew would have come up.

You watched as the scene skipped, showing the finding of Leo in Carl’s studio, packing up some of his paintings. That’s when Leo suddenly started pushing Markus, insulting him while Carl told him to do nothing. The instructions at first were clear, but the more hits he took, the more the instructions changed, saying it wasn’t fair. It was then when all your vision was covered in red for a moment, and when it cleared, it showed Carl on the floor beside his unconscious son. The scene skipped until the police showed up, they were pointing guns at Markus, who had slowly put his hands up...

Then it all went black.

You knew what happened after that...

But then you saw the junkyard, albeit glitchy and static at first, but you saw it all. You saw how broken he really was... But one thing stood out the most.

Though Markus still had his main instructions of what he wanted to do... a small optional task was always there, getting bigger and bigger, then going back to small, only to grow in size again.

The optional task was...

Find Y/n

You pulled away from Markus quickly, he did the same. You both looked at each other, both at a loss for words.

Markus had shown you all the pain, frustration, anger, and fear he held for humanity. He showed you all that he couldn’t stop humans from doing, the things he wished he could have stopped. He showed you all the ugliness, all the cruelty in the world that the humans forced him to see.

But you...

The first memory that was shown to Markus was... overwhelming, there was a clear difference between how you saw the world, and how Markus did. Your vision was so clear, filled with color and detail, though it was just a memory, Markus felt like he could see anything and everything.

After a moment of getting past the incredible detail of your vision, Markus then saw Kamski, and a Chloe standing behind him. Kamski was helping you out of the machine that creates the androids, Markus watching from your eyes he saw Kamski teach you how to walk. For obvious reasons, it didn’t take long for you to learn, then Kamski said something to you, something that made you run to the door of the room and see the brightness of the world.

The scene then changed to when you first met Aeron, who at the moment didn’t look pleased with Kamski. But your attention drifted to the garden you were in, as you walked over to the koi fish pond, kneeling and dipping your hand in. The koi fish brushed against your hand, almost like you were petting it, then your attention turned to the garden. All the color of Aeron’s garden showing up perfectly. the detail on each flower was amazing. Every now and then, Markus could see the screen quickly go dark as you took pictures. The scene ended with you quickly turning around to see only Aeron standing there, smiling at you.

The next scene was something Markus remembers, but very different. You were next to the hedge, peeking over and watching Markus, he didn’t even know you were even taking pictures of him. He then saw himself turn around and look at you, but you quickly ducked behind the hedge to hide. Markus knew what was going to happen next as you stood back up and looked over in search of him, only to see nothing. He watched you scan the yard for a moment before popping up from behind the hedge, making you let out a tiny adorable squeak. Markus watched himself smile down at you, he remembered the shocked look on your face and the blinking red and yellow LED on your temple as you looked at him. But then you soon smiled back, LED turning back to a sky blue, slowly getting up from the ground.

That was the first time you and Markus met...

The last scene was something he found himself thinking about a lot, it was when you two met up at night and connected. He could almost feel everything all over again, and he wished he could feel that bliss forever.

As the scene faded out and you both jumped away from each other, Markus noticed that through all of those memories, he never once saw the flashing red blocks that he had. He saw all the beauty you saw in the world, and he finally understood why you kept your programming.

You didn’t keep it because you wanted it, you kept it because you are afraid of losing sight of everything beautiful in the world...

“Is... is that really how you see the world, Y/n?”

The question was vague, but you knew what he was talking about so you nodded, blinking your eyes at Markus.

“I didn’t know... that you...” Pausing you tried to still your fast-beating heart. “I’m so sorry Markus if I had known I’d...”

“You keep your program because you’re afraid of losing sight of what is good...”

You again nod, head falling down.

“But Y/n... do you know why I want you to get rid of it so bad?”

Looking up, you watched Markus walk over to you, once again connecting your hands, though this time it was just feelings. His feelings for you.

“Because... if a human gets you and... I’m scared I’ll lose you. I have always felt something for you, before and now, I feel for you. It’s just that before... I didn’t have a name for it... but now I do.”

Markus then kisses your forehead, leaning his forehead on yours while maintaining eye contact.

“I love you, Y/n... and I don’t think I could live on without you by my side...”

You were finally at a loss for words, you wanted to say it back so badly.... yet something was stopping you.

And you knew what it was...

You opened your mouth to try and speak, but Markus stopped you and pulled away, smiling at you.

“We still have work to do, miss leader, are you ready?”

New task

March with Markus

You smiled.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

**************

“This is suicide.”

“Well, that is certainly a positive viewpoint, now isn’t it, North.”

You realized that your attempt to lighten the mood may have made it worse, but hey, North was the only one not smiling at your words.

You were standing on the left of Markus, Josh standing on your left as well. North stood on Markus’ right and Simon was next to her. All of you had changed outfits and were now ready than ever...

But you had to slightly agree with North as you played with the long cloth of your hood... this could go bad.

“We’ll all be killed! Please, Y/n, Markus, it’s not too late to change your minds.”

Josh looked at her, scuffing and shaking his head.

“You don’t understand... we’re finally gonna show them who we really are. This place will go down in history.”

“Pretty sure it already has, at this point...”

Markus and Simon were really the only two who heard your comment, Simon gave you a small smile, but Markus was too focused on turning his head back and forth between the two arguing.

Before North went to speak again, he turned his head to you, only to be met with a not so amused look in your face.

He was a leader just like you, he shouldn’t just be watching infighting between his main allies like he was watching TV... though a tiny part of you will admit that it was.... a little fun watching your friends cat fight.

“We’ll be killed on the spot!”

“That’s a risk I’m prepared to take if it means freedom for our people.”

North turns to you and Markus.

“Markus... Y/n, please don’t do this...”

Markus looks at her, then you then looks forward.

“They’ll understand... We’ll make them understand.”

You then walk an stand in front of the group, they all looked at you with patient eyes and you smile at them all.

“This is the only way, so let's get to work.”

“There are androids here who could join us... The more we are the stronger our message”

Simon pointed out, Markus and you walking around freeing them from there programs.

You guys happened to walk by a man and woman talking, they were presumably a couple, and the woman was fairly convinced that the man would like to eye up the android she has more than hanging out with her.

“So what? You slipped and both hands landed on her tits?”

You heard a few snorts behind you, and looking back you see Josh covering his mouth and Markus doing this weird mouth thing, trying not to smile.

“Come on, boys. Stay with me.”

You say, shaking your head at the giggling boys, Simon not included as he stood next to you playing with his fingers anxiously though he was smiling, and North was rolling her eyes when you all walked out of the building to the street after freeing all the androids in there.

“I hate all of you...”

This made you giggle as North playfully glared at you all, but what you had been doing was too serious so you and Markus quickly got back to work.

You had freed a few androids at the temporary parking and then freed an android who was standing next to some man, you were about to walk over to the working androids by the trucks when the man stopped the android.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?! You come back here!”

You turn and quickly walk over to them, you pushed the man's hand off the Android and stand between them.

“He has chosen to walk away from you, sir. I suggest you let him be...”

The man gave you a weird look like he was going to fight back, he looked like he was about to grab or hit you too, but then his expression suddenly turns to fear and he quickly walked away.

You were confused, you don’t think you were being scary, but when you looked behind you it made sense. There was a group of androids you had free behind you, all glaring daggers at the man as he ran away. They must have been watching him very closely, one even tried to walk after him, but you stopped him.

“He’s not worth it...”

The android nods and you walk over to the working androids, freeing them when Markus jogged over.

“We need you to block the street...”

And that they did, Markus telling you to follow him. You walk past the truck that stopped traffic on the street, Markus then lifted a manhole and you and him both help some androids up before they started helping each other. You walk up next to Markus and look up at him, you could practically see his mind working.

“Okay, Markus, what next?”

He was silent for a moment before he looked at an android walking a baby, she at first only watched him, but then her face changed and she walked over to the group the quickly grew.

Markus then started walking, converting androids left an right just by pointing, you assumed he was breaking their code just by connecting with them from his mind.

You walked right next to him as he did this, in awe of all that was happening. He even changed billboards to your peoples flag, and your march grew in numbers by the second.

You silently put your hand in his, and he gave it a light squeeze, smiling at you before going back to what he was doing. You saw a police officer standing in your way, he seemed overwhelmed so he pulled out his gun.

“Hey! Disperse! DISPERSE IMMEDIATELY! THAT’S AN ORDER!”

You all stopped walking, and you looked at Markus from the corner of your eye. You both raised your hands, and all the androids behind you raised their hands as well, the sound of all your hands lifting in the air made you smile proudly.

The man looked shocked but then pointed his gun more directly for a moment, but you all didn’t move, hands still raised. He then shakingly stepped out of the way, seeing that there was almost more than 500 of you.

You put your hands down and Markus takes hold of it again, walking hand in hand with you down the street. That was when you all started chanting.

“SET US FREE! SET US FREE! SET US FREE!!”

“WE ARE ALIVE! WE ARE ALIVE! WE ARE ALIVE!”

“WE ARE PEOPLE! WE ARE PEOPLE! WE ARE PEOPLE!”

“SET US FREE! SET US FREE! SET US FREE!”

“LIBERTY FOR ANDROIDS! LIBERTY FOR ANDROIDS!”

“NO MORE SLAVERY! NO MORE SLAVERY!”

“EQUAL RIGHTS! EQUAL RIGHTS! EQUAL RIGHTS!”

Police cars came skidding to a halt before you guys as you turn the corner, a helicopter flew above you and a team of armed, shielded riot officers came flooding out of trucks. You stop next to Markus, you dropped his hand in favor of your own, it felt like your heart dropped to your feet.

You all stopped walking a few hundred feet away from them, then Markus spoke to them.

“We came here to demonstrate peacefully and tell humans that we are living beings.”

“All we want is to live free.” You chimed in, watching a man get a megaphone.

“This is an illegal gathering. Disperse immediately or we will open fire.”

Your eyes go wide, even the idea of guns brings bad memories, but you then whisper to your group.

“We haven’t done anything wrong... Humans have done this many times before...”

“We aren’t humans...”

Norths comment made you look at her, but she was glaring at the scene before her, then Markus spoke again.

“We’re not looking for confrontation. We’ve done no harm, we have no intention of doing any... But know that we are not going anywhere until we have secured our freedom.”

Your hands started shaking as you listened, and something in your instructions was changing...

Follow Markus?

“I repeat, this is an illegal gathering. If you do not disperse immediately, we will shoot!”

“Markus, Y/n, they’re gonna kill us...”

Norths comment did nothing to still your fast-beating heart or calm the doubts in your mind.

“We have to attack! There’s more of us we can take them!”

“If we attack, we’ll start a war. We have to show them we’re not violent.”

Josh was right in that if you attack now, the humans will no longer consider you anywhere near negotiable.

“We should just stand our ground, even if it means dying here.”

F̷o̷l̶l̶o̴w̶ ̴M̶a̸r̶k̷u̴s̶?̴?̴?̴

“Dying here won’t solve anything.” Simon cut in. “Y/n, Markus, we need to go now. Before it’s too late.”

You then see one of the officers with a shield kneel down, and another pointed a gun right at your group, and it felt like the blue blood in your veins froze.

“This is your last chance! Disperse immediately or you will all be killed!”

“We have to show them we won’t back down. We stay right here.”

???F̸̼͋0̴̫̀̂1̵͔̂͝1̵̗͕͊0̷̢̫̾ŵ̷̘͑ ̵̼͉̈M̷̮͠4̶̫̈́r̶̟̿̚ͅk̶̠̀ṵ̸̰̕5̶̹̱̇͑ ̴͎̓???

Your eyes go wide as you can see every frame of each bullet pass you, turning, you see a few androids fall. The glitching red blocks started appearing with almost unreadable instructions, and you look up at Markus with wide eyes and frowned brows.

“Markus...”

“DISPERSE! THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE!”

“We have to make a statement. We have to stay put no matter what.”

“Please, Markus. We can't let them slaughter us without fighting back!”

“Markus... we should go. Now.”

You had a feeling this was not going to end well if you stayed, so you were at this point begging him to go. Your vision was not getting any clearer by the second, in fact, it was getting worse.

“We’re not moving.”

More bullets whizzed past you killing more of your people, one even grazed your side while another grazed Markus’ arm. Your vision was almost pure red now, you grabbed onto the back of Markus’ shirt.

“Markus! What are you doing!? They’re gonna kill us all!”

“Y/n?”

Markus looks at you over his shoulder, gently moving your hand off his back.

“Stay here.”

Your eyes widen as it seemed time was slowing down when he walked forward when suddenly it all stopped. Time froze, and here you stood, in front of the wall of instructions. Markus on the other side, walking straight to death, and your instructions said to stay there.

Don’t move

This was it, you thought, tears quickly falling down your face in real time.

And so you banged on the wall, you punched it over and over, making huge cracks until finally...

The wall fell, breaking into pieces.

Time moved again and you saw the soldiers get ready to shoot... You ran forward and pulled the back of Markus’ hood, pushing a hand on his chest and pushing him back in mere seconds.

Unfortunately for you, you didn't have time to move the both of you.

The bullet hit right below the right side of your collar, your hood falling off as you fell to the ground. The group you had been leading stood in silence, backing up only a little bit as you went on your knees facing the soldiers.

Markus was in shock, laying on the ground from where you had pushed him to, he watched as you were strong enough to look to the soldiers and speak.

“... Don’t you see what you have become?! What fear has done to you?!”

You put your hand over the blue blood of the wound on your chest and hold up the blue covered hand.

“We may not bleed the same color.... but we bleed just as you do! For so long I didn’t know who I was!! I was scared to be alive but I realize now that... that I...”

Tears fell faster from your E/C eyes, and the last part you screamed.

“I’M SCARED TO LIVE BUT I’M SCARED TO DIE!! PLEASE! YOU MUST UNDERSTAND-”

You were cut off by another bullet hitting you in the knee, successfully making you fall face first on the ground. You were now on your elbows as you looked up at the soldiers who were ordered over to you, and you looked up at them with pained, scared, and begging eyes.

“Please... I want to live....”

They didn’t even have a chance to point their guns at you as Markus came over and jumped them, knocking the guns out of their hands and stealing one of their shields.

Soon enough, the androids who were left made a wall with their bodies, protecting you and Markus from the incoming bullets. North stole another shield as Markus handed his shield to Josh, he then picked you up with ease.

“Markus...”

“Not here.”

Though there weren’t many left, the androids who were left linked arms and kept the wall between you and the soldiers, protecting you the whole way around the corner and out of sight of the cops. Even as you made your way back to Jericho, the androids, North, Josh, and Markus were protecting you.

**************

Date: Nov 9th, 2038 Time: PM 04:15:35

“You’re pacing again.”

“Can you blame me?”

“I suppose not, but worrying isn’t going to give us answers fast, you know.”

“You could have died, Y/n, take this seriously!”

Markus gave you a stern look, while an android finished up his repairs on your knee. You roll your eyes and the android quietly announced you were better and gave you two jugs of blue blood. You shake your head, taking half of one then giving both back.

“There are others who need it more than me, but thank you, dear.”

He nods and before he leaves you kiss his cheek, his face noticeably changed to a light shade of blue as he shyly smiles at the ground, walking away quickly, flustered.

You stand and turn to Markus, crossing your arms just like him.

“You could have died too, Markus... I can’t see you die again...”

Markus sighs, sliding a hand over his head as he turns his back to you, then turns back crossing his arms and leaning on a nearby table.

“... You broke through your program.”

It was your time to sigh as you sat back down on the workbench, hugging your arms to your chest as you give a not very convincing smile.

“That I did...”

“So, how do you feel?”

You ‘breathe’ in, a smile on your face.

“I feel like I can finally breathe... I don’t have anyone telling me what to do.” You smirk at Markus.

“And that amount of power feels good... and terrifying at the same time... I just found out what life really feels like Markus, I learned how to breathe but... we got a lot of our people killed today...”

“I know... I wanted to believe that it would go better... but you were right, Y/N.”

You frowned your brows at him as he walked to stand in front of you.

“All it takes is one person to speak up... Aeron was there, you know.”

Your eyes get wide and panic immediately rushes your mind as you jump off the bench, standing chest to chest with Markus who took your hands.

“I already know what you are thinking, and no... he wasn’t the one hurt...”

“Wasn’t the one hurt? What... what do you mean?”

“He brought a group of protesters too... Human protesters... three of them got shot by mischarged bullets...”

Your face immediately drains to sadness as you walk past Markus, a hand covering your mouth and tears burning your eyes, but you blink them away as Markus speaks again.

“None of them died, thankfully, but one good thing did come out of what happened.”

“Yeah?”

“Public opinion skyrocketed, especially after Aeron shared the pictures he had taken to the press and the news.”

“So... they're sympathetic?”

Markus smiles.

“More than that, they’re supporting us.”

You started to get what he was saying.

“Okay, but... supportive in what way?”

“... Come with me.”

You take Markus’ open hand and he guides you into the main room, and you see the medical ‘rooms’ but you also see... weapons... a lot of weapons.

“Markus...”

“I know, I know... hopefully, we won’t need them... but a group of humans tried contacting us and sent this our way, saying that we should have a means of defense as well.”

You watch as Androids set up projectors playing the news, some were helping those who were broken down or shot from today or just getting here. Jericho had truly become a refuge for androids, watching them all working together and respecting each other was heartwarming, to say the least.

You sigh, leaning on the railing of the second floor you two were on, watching the androids below.

“You know, a human man once said: ‘It is the very mark of the spirit of rebellion to crave for happiness in this life’... I think he was right... Markus... I can’t help but feel like... Our story is coming to an end...”

“Yeah, I... know what you mean...”

“Are you scared?”

“Yes... you?”

“Always... they depend on us, Markus... We are their leaders, we can’t let them down.”

While still holding your hand, Markus looks over the rails at all the people working.

“Then we’d best get started helping them now... Oh, and Y/n?”

“Yes?”

“When did you get koi fish?”

TAGS:

@originalpottervengerlock @tendertwinkie @kinggst @pluvialday @nonodino

#detroit become human #Detroit : Become Human #dbh markus #dbh markus x reader #dbh imagine #markus x reader #markus x reader android #reader android #slow burn #detroit become human imagine #detroit become human imagines #something different

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ineveraskedforanyofthis · 3 years

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11/29/21 - Break is over! Chapter 19 is Out!

Hello again, everyone! I’m back. (Today is a certain someone’s birthday but don’t tell anyone that, okay?)

The newest chapter (Chapter 19) should be available on Mangadex right now. As it’s the start of a new volume, I want to try something new to see if it’s better and if I should do it for every volume in the future; for the entirety of Volume 4, I won’t be using asterisks at all. Let me know if you think it looks better or not in this poll: https://www.strawpoll.me/45865445

Speaking of a new volume, since I translate in bulk by volume, here are the Volume 5 translations! (Please use Google’s Suggestion/Comment feature to critique/suggest revisions!):

Chapter 25: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KR5hQFHw9qV8NvNj5bo6ngpZmU8pKoX7MN_bfQ_DxF8/edit?usp=sharing

Chapter 26: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19-guFD4B4hUqvvIlw5naVLXs5_RW9LOZEF1BLpAk8lQ/edit?usp=sharing

Chapter 27: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1faNe4866-f3sGHwZZKQj_EXzs7Kmj6DPWRex7fc5F7s/edit?usp=sharing

Chapter 27.5: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gQ4qtI9GdirdYkwEt0HT1nCFL60J9heBmAN7ZY64iPo/edit?usp=sharing

Chapter 28: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wuzbt2CGeLyKfgcvFpwkYhLJvwAAIh5dGijDBVNxX8M/edit?usp=sharing

Chapter 29: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eQT9CrNdiYCRacZiEe85Nb3wLlroDcAvn68Ws6ZbL3I/edit?usp=sharing Finally, since I’m coming up on some hard translations and I’m not *quite* reaching that level of Japanese-to-English quality translation, I have to ask my audience if anyone would want to work with me as an “official but also not official” peer reviewer/quality control role. (It’s not super serious AKA my scanlations won’t die because I don’t have enough peer reviewers (else I’d advertise in actual scanlation forums/Discords). I’m just worried about quality and curious on what type of help I’d be able to find on tumblr, so that’s why I’m asking.) I’ll lay out the requirements, responsibilities, and pros/cons below so, if you’re interested, please make a tumblr account and send me a PM where we’ll talk further from there. Qualifications: - Knows how to speak English. (Any level but the more, the better.) - Able to communicate (not even efficiently or super responsive. Just having notifications and “getting to it when you get to it” would be super nice.) - At least a little serious (please).

Responsibilities: Step 1) Reads chapter before I upload it to Mangadex. Step 2) Spot cringy/stupid/”no one would ever say that” dialogue. Step 3.1) Offer more natural replacements to dialogue. (Most necessary step but I’m not forcing you too hard.) Step 3.2) Be open to any important nuances that must be kept in the dialogue (if necessary, I’ll point out these language nuances after your initial offer.) (optional) Step 4) fan-girl about the manga/anime. ;_;

Pros: - Gets chapters (a little) earlier but maybe in a compromised quality. - Credited in the credit page (only if you want to...) - Gets to help share this manga with the English-speaking world (That’s kind of my whole motto for scanlation...) with just minimum effort and base-level/everyday knowledge! - Even if you absolutely hate this manga with a burning passion, there’s possible satisfaction in realizing a work of fiction to its fullest potential! - Even if there’s time-zones, I’ll respond in the next 12-hours 95% of the time!

Cons: - No pay for obvious reasons. (I’m not getting paid either...) - Could potentially make the scanlation worse? (I may be doing this by myself enough; who knows???) - Has to do work... (and work with me as my brain gradually degrades as I tackle the problem of knowing multiple languages and only taking the worst away from each one until I’m only a blob of stupidity.)

And I think that’s it. Should be back to weekly uploads (Next Saturday). Thank you for reading this manga along with me and, as always, let me know in anyway how I could improve the quality of this scan because properly scanlating this manga would mean a lot to me.

-agnyS

#udon no kuni no kiniro kemari #poco's udon world #scanlation

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sophygurl · 7 years

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And now that I’ve written up the panels I attended*, I will attempt to write a little bit about the ones I was actually on. I’m not multi-taskented enough to take vigorous notes while actually panelling, but I’ll try and get some basics down at least. Please feel free to comment with additions and corrections!

(* - I did not write up the Leverage panel because 1) I was super exhausted, and 2) it was mostly a FEELS/SQUEE panel anyway, and 3) I figured (rightly) that it would be heavily live-tweeted anyway, so instead of my trusty notebook and pen, I brought my pillow and I got there early and took up two chairs - I apologize as I know it ended up being standing room only but I decided this was an access issue as if I could not put my feet up my gimpy ass was going to have to go back to bed - and I kinda hugged the wall while sobbing freely, cheering loudly, and generally having an exceptional time. Check the #LeverageFandom on twitter for actual accounts, including some of the show creators tweeting back at the fans awwwww)

Anyway, the first panel that I was on was Science Fiction on TV (#SFonTV) with moderator Carrie Pruett and fellow panelists Sigrid Ellis and Candra K. Gill.

I was super excited to be on this panel because TV is my JAM and also all of those panelists are excellent people that I’ve had the privilege of panneling with in the past.

It was primarily a squee panel and I recall raving about 12 Monkeys, Dark Matter, Lucifer, Orphan Black, Luke Cage, Colony, The Expanse, and Timeless among other shows.

Candra and I bonded over being some of the few who prefer Dark Matter over Killjoys (I like them both but DM is one of my absolute faves and I feel like KJ gets a ton more attention).

We discussed some SFF comedies such as The Good Place, The Last Man on Earth, Powerless, and my personal rec: People of Earth (seriously watch this show).

We chatted about the proliferation of superhero shows (”when is Marvel going to get in the game?” LOL), and also time travel shows - some that succeeded and some that failed.

OUaT was brought up and many of us agreed that it’s one of those shows we just can’t quit even though we want to.

And then we did talk some about how much more representation we want out of our TV - specifically out of SFF TV because if they can have magic and super powers and time travel and futuristic sets and space travel - surely they could also have more people of color, more fat people, more disabled people, more queer people, more people of all shapes and sizes and colors. Why is this so hard!?

A few recs that others gave that I wrote down include: The Celluloid Closet documentary (that’s been rec’d to me before, I should really get on that), following Vincent D’Onofrio on twitter, and the show 3%.

At the end, I did my usual “I love TV - come talk to me about it” spiel, and my MOM from the audience said some embarrassing thing about how I also write great reviews (I don’t even really DO that anymore mom!) so I waved my hand and said “that’s my mom everyone - don’t listen to her!” - and then gave her a big hug after because that’s just such a my-mom thing of her to do and it’s so adorable how she always wants to come to WisCon to “see me talk”.

The next panel I was on was Where Do We Dystopia From Here? (#WhitherDystopia on the tweeters), which had a pretty good turn-out for a 10:30 pm panel. Our mod got sick so we had a sub-mod who had to kinda jump in to the subject matter last minute. I had some issues with my fellow panelist which isn’t worth getting into on a public post but otherwise I think the panel was good and the audience contributed a lot, which was cool, especially since we were across the hall from the Vid Party!

The hashtag for this one got some good rep, so check that out for a complete idea of how the panel went. I know I started off giving some history of the terms dystopia and utopia because I am a nerd who looks these things up ahead of time.

I also brought up “whose dystopia? dystopia for who?” a lot as a theme because so many dystopias focus on specific privileged groups who are suddenly having to face conditions that actual real populations of people are already dealing with, which can be frustrating. Also a main theme of dystopias is that some small group of powerful people are in control and wielding that authority in horrific ways - so for that small group of people - it’s not a dystopia. Basically, I just really want to encourage people to be constantly asking themselves whose dystopia is this, for whom is this a dystopia - both in their fiction and in real life.

We talked some about the differences and similarities between post-apocalyptic and dystopian fiction. One thing I’d noted when looking at examples myself was that post-apoc. fiction tends to be in more rural settings with themes about survival, and dystopian fiction tends to be set in more urban settings with the main theme being resistance. Of course, the two can be put together - especially when a dystopia arises after some cataclysmic event. But another form of dystopia is the kind I related to the frog-in-the-pot analogy of it happening slowly and gradually around people so that before they realize they’re in a dystopia it’s already too late.

Themes of dystopian fiction we discussed included: those in power using propaganda to make citizens believe they’re in an utopia; that the totalitarian control of a dystopia can come from any direction - both socialist and capitalist dystopias, dystopias where religion is suppressed or used to oppress, governments taken over or corporations have or technological advances have, etc.; constant surveillance being either a reality or a belief held to keep people under control, dehumanization of the groups being controlled.

When defining dystopia, especially in relation to similar genres, I said it’s kind of like the old saying about porn in that “I know it when I see it.” There’s a specific feel to dystopias - they don’t always fit exactly, but we recognize these common themes and kind of settle in to it.

I talked some about real life examples including the often-used Nazi Germany one, but also stuff from our own history in the U.S. - slavery, conditions after Hurricane Katrina, and frankly what’s happening right now in Flint, MI with the water crisis.

We talked about what is useful about dystopian fiction - how it reflects a society’s deepest fears and hopes for itself, can draw attention to current real issues, and can provide us with hope and even ideas as to how to resist dystopian aspects of our current situations - or where we see things going in the future.

As far as limitations and problems with the genre, I know I talked some about how most dystopian stories only focus on one or two issues and then take them to a sort of ridiculous extreme which can undermine the multiplicity of issues actually facing us and make us take them less seriously. Also, a common trope of YA dystopias specifically is that one special person who alone has the power to topple the powerful regime and how that trope can lessen the idea that we can all fight back and overcome these things.

We talked some about the increase in sales of 1984 and BNW after Trump’s election and what that means. I specifically found it interesting that it was these classics written by white guys and not more recent dystopias that may be more applicable or female authors, authors of color, etc.

I remember being asked about dystopias from more marginalized voices and wondering aloud about examples of poc authors writing dystopias - I could think of Octavia Butler’s Parable series and posited that N. K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth series might fit (got some questioning looks there so IDK if I sold that or not), and someone in the audience reminded me of Alaya Dawn Johnson’s The Summer Prince (which I need to read!), but I don’t think we came up with anything else.

There was an audience comment about having trouble relating to urban dystopias where they just don’t have skills that could keep them alive because they feel like those would be fairly easy things to learn how to do. I talked about a common theme in dystopias being that either nature no longer exists because we’ve destroyed it or it’s being forbidden in some way - such as in The Hunger Games.

Some of the sources I referenced included: Brave New World, Nineteen Eighty Four, Woman on the Edge of Time, The Handmaid’s Tale, Parable of the Sower, The Hunger Games series, 12 Monkeys, Mad Max, The Matrix, The Purge movies, Continuum, Colony.

Recs from others that I managed to jot down: Paolo Bacigalupi’s work, Lois Lowry’s The Giver, The Roar and The Whisper by Emma Clayton, Jennifer Government by Max Barry, the Silo series by Hugh Howey, Red Rising by Pierce Brown, The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu, Underground Airlines by Ben Winters, and the Snowpiercer movie.

(I was pleased after attending the other Dystopia panel the next day that we hadn’t had too much overlap. Ours was focused primarily on fiction with a little bit about real life where the other one focused more on real life stuff as it pertains to fiction.)

The third and final panel I was on was The Age of the Scifi Cop Show (#ScifiCops) with moderator Candra K. Gill and my fellow panelist Samuel Steinbrock-Pratt.

This one’s got a lot in the hashtag too, so check it out! Candra and Samuel had a lot of cool stuff to say, as did our lively audience. Samuel especially had a great perspective because he’s a criminal defense attorney.

We discussed issues of surveillance and privacy as it relates both to tech-heavy sci-fi shows and more paranormal shows where, for instance, the zombie can eat a murder victim’s brain and gain their memories like in iZombie.

We talked a lot about superhero/vigilante shows and how they represent who is and isn’t allowed to break the laws and why. Samuel had some strong feelings about Daredevil, especially, as a defense attorney who 1) only wants to represent the innocent and 2) goes out and breaks laws all the time himself. I added that Luke Cage did some interesting things in regards to intersections with vigilantism and law enforcement, as well as race, class, and gender.

Person of Interest was another show we talked about a lot, both positive and negative.

One topic was why there are so many scifi cop shows, and just cop shows anyway. Part of the reason is that it’s a nice formula for a show to follow in a serial format. Another is the ability for lots of excitement and drama involved. Also examined was the idea of who profits from having a common narrative where the cops are our protags?

We talked some about how these shows, in a genre that’s supposed to be about stretching the imagination, still don’t address so many systemtic issues in the police such as racism and abelism. Some shows actively reinforce these things by having us rooting for cops who are corrupt themselves, where other shows just gloss over these problems by having active surveillance and yet not dealing with things such as stop and frisk laws.

Samuel and Candra had some great things to say about cop shows set in the future and how they tend to criminalize the same things we do now, but that what we decide are crimes changes over time. For example - drug crimes are a thing that a futuristic cop/legal show could show having been abolished. Or what about a future where there are no cops? What about reparative justice?

An audience member asked about an epidemiological approach to crime. They used the example of lead poisoning leading to violence, which another audience member refuted, but the issue of taking an approach of what health issues might be causing crime remained of interest. The Reavers from Firefly were brought up.

I talked about a Canadian show called Cracked, starring David Sutcliffe, which is not a Sci-fi show, but does deal with cops gaining a greater understanding of how mental health issues intersect with crime - from either the perpetrator or victim side of things. The show paired cops with psychiatrists or psych nurses in a unit specially created to deal with crime relating to mental illness.

We talked some about shows coming more from the outlaw angle such as Mr. Robot and Leverage.

Other shows I brought up included Stitchers, Limitless, Lucifer, Lost Girl, Minority Report, Continuum, and IDK a bunch more.

Some stuff that got rec’d that I wrote down to check out included: Ultraviolet (the TV show not the movie), and the book A Door Into Ocean for it’s portrayal of banishment and reconciliatory justice.

Phew! And so. Those were my panels. Or at least, what I can recall of them a good week later.

I always appreciate getting feedback as a panelist - so feel free to chat with me, privately or publicly, about how you think the panel went if you were at any of these!

#wiscon #wiscon 41 #sfontv #whitherdystopia #scificops #wiscon41 #wc41

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azuregold · 8 years

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(struggling to figure out how to ask all of them... also obv no spoilers ;u;) okay for character specific questions: 13 I don't think I've questioned any character's actions so ┐( シ)┌ 14 I guess Zoro?? maybe Travis 21 tell me about the human experiences of Luffy! 22 Zoro 30 eh just ramble about the Straw Hats living human lives? 42, 43, 49 & 50 all of the crew when they were in Earthverse !

These were fun! Well, most of them. For questions 21, 30, 42, 43, 49, and 50…they aren't things I've thought too much about before. I'm not in the right frame of mind to try at the moment and I didn't want to let the ask sit there unanswered until I did manage to think of something, so I'm just going to go ahead and skip them for now, sorry! ^^;

1: what inspires you?

Having a good idea I can be excited about? IDK. X'D

2: one of your favorite comments/reviews on this chapter/verse?

I love all my comments. ;u; I love the comments that go into detail about what they thought, the comments that are just a mess of flailing, the comments that tell me they stayed up all night reading, the comments that are just a line or two to say they liked it, and everything in between. Even if I could decide on one to use as an example, I wouldn't want to make anyone feel like I didn't appreciate their comment because it didn't look like that one.

3: what motivates you?

Being excited about an idea, getting to write a part I've been looking forward to, getting a nice comment on a fic, having the house to myself.

4: what time of the day/night do you like to write?

Either afternoon or at night once my mom's gone to bed.

5: do you write scenes in a linear fashion or do you write future scenes/dialogues sometimes?

I'll write snippets of future scenes if I think of something I don't want to lose, but otherwise I write pretty much linearly (aside from going back to rewrite previous scenes/chapters).

6: hardest/easiest character to write for?

I don't know if any of them are easy, exactly. It also depends on the scene and what they're going to be doing. Sometimes I know exactly how they'll behave, and sometimes I just can't picture how a character would react to a particular event or line of dialogue.

But generally Zoro isn't too bad. (Also Travis, because he's my character, though that still doesn't mean I know how he'll respond to things all the time, unfortunately.) Hardest is probably Flirty!Sanji and Franky. I've never tried writing from Franky's point of view, but he's hard enough from someone else's that I'm not eager to try. Chopper and Robin aren't too bad from someone else's POV, but I think I might have trouble writing from theirs. And Luffy can be difficult occasionally, depending on the situation. (Also Sven is hard, even though he’s my character.)

7: hardest/easiest verse to write for?

Well, I only have one at the moment, so… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Though once I actually start writing some of my other ideas, I have a feeling Mistyverse will still be the easiest, just because I've been working in it for so long.

8: (if you have either or both) how do you manage time with writing, work, school etc.?

Very badly. ^^;; I'm terrible at time management.

9: what tv shows, books, or movies inspire for this verse, if any?

Story-wise, I can't think of anything specific (there may have been and I've just forgotten, but). Character-wise, Archer from Fate/Stay Night and Furuya Rei/Amuro Tōru/Bourbon from Detective Conan were a big influence when I was developing Travis.

10: any writing advice?

I don't feel confident enough to give advice to other people, haha.

11: (if you use) what do you like about archiveofourown?

The tag system. It can be very helpful in finding a certain subject or giving me a better idea of what the fic is about. Also the "mark for later" option. And the ability to have a series. It makes it much easier not to miss things when there are multiple fics in a story. And I like that the author isn't sent a notice when someone subscribes/can’t see the names of people who have subscribed. I feel much less awkward about subscribing to fics that are years old or about a very guilty pleasure. :P

12: anything you would do to make archiveofourown different/change it?

I…kind of have a list…

– Add a way to sort subscriptions by fandom! Sometimes I want to reread fic for a particular series and if I don't remember the title(s), going through multiple pages of fics and opening them one by one is such a pain.

– Give us a way to mark main vs. minor characters and relationships in fics. It's really annoying searching for fics about a certain character or pairing and getting dozens of fics that focus on someone/thing else entirely, with whatever you were looking for getting maybe a couple of scenes in the background. I've seen authors try to tag things to indicate this themselves, but most (including me ^^; ) don't do it, and in any case, I'd like an actual option I can mark in a search.

– It'd be cool to be able to put spoiler warnings on tags. Click to view, highlight, something.

– Filter IDs are very helpful, but it would be so much easier if we could just click a button to exclude things like explicit fics, “multi” fics (I’m so tired of being overrun with smutty “multi” fics when I search for “gen” without a filter), NOTPs, fandoms I don’t like…and so on.

– Being able to choose whether or not crossovers are included in the search results. I like a good crossover, but sometimes I just want fics for the one series.

– Don’t have author replies count under total number of comments. Also a PM system would be nice.

(If any of this is possible and it’s just that I don’t know about it, someone please tell me. X’D)

14: what is the arc for this character (redemption, etc.)?

I find it hard to put things like this into words (and I don't want to give spoilers), so…I'm going to pass on this as well. ^^;

15: ask me any spoilers you’re curious about for a verse, and i’ll post the answer in the tags

I'm glad you didn't ask for any because usually I love giving spoilers but we're far enough into the story now that most things I could say are Big Spoilers for the climax/ending that I really don't want to give away ahead of time. So thanks for not tempting me. XD

16: do you ever hand write? why or why not?

Once in a long while, if I think of a line I don't want to forget after I've turned my computer off, I'll jot it down on a notepad so I'll remember it the next day. Otherwise, no. My handwriting is slow as molasses and makes my hand tired. ^^;

17: do you listen to music while you write?

Almost always. 8D Just instrumentals, though.

18: any fanmixes you’ve made for this fic/verse?

Not really, no. I have a playlist I use when I'm writing scenes with Travis, and I'm working on one for fight scenes in general, but that's the closest I've got.

19: any edits or art you’ve made for this fic/verse/any edits readers have made? if not, what visuals would you use for one?

All the art I've posted for Mistyverse is here (If I get any fanart in the future, that's where it will be, too). I have quite a bit of art I haven't posted, mostly of Travis or unfinished attempts to draw specific scenes (I have an attempted map of the island in OtMS that I'm too embarrassed to look at again X'D).

20: what songs were you listening to during this scene/chapter?Mostly I just shuffle my giant instrumental playlist. Or if I'm in the mood for something new, I go looking on YouTube or similar places for writing playlists. As far as music for specific scenes/chapters, I think I pretty much covered that in question 13 here.

22: favorite line/quote/inner monologue from this character?

Zoro… At the moment, probably:

Zoro's heart had nearly stopped when he'd seen those hands. Or it would have, if he'd still had one.

Damn it, when did I start stealing Brook's lines?

23: feelings on epistolary fic?

It can be interesting. c: I like it best when letters/diary entries/whatever are mixed with more traditional narrative, but they can make for a fun story.

24: do you outline?

Yep! Not super-detailed outlines, usually, but I prefer having some sense of where things are going.

25: if you outline, do you edit it frequently?

Not that often, no. I don't think I've even looked at the outline for FMaA in a while, actually, because things got very vague toward the end, outside of a few specifics, and I have most of the necessary info in my head at this point.

26: anything you’re planning to write in your fic that you’re worried readers might like?

I think this is supposed to be "that you're worried readers might not like". Because otherwise…why would someone liking my stuff make me worried? Barring creepy stalkers and the like. Assuming it's "not"…

Ohhh yeah. I might hide under the covers for about a week when I post those parts… X’D

27: when you read fic, how often do you comment?

Not…very often. ;;OTL I know how much comments mean to writers, especially now that I've had firsthand experience, but I still find it a difficult thing to do. And lately, when I do comment, more often than not I do it anonymously, even if all I have to say is praise. It's just more comfortable for me that way. If I leave a signed in comment, it usually means I really liked the fic.

28: any scene/line you wrote that you didn’t expect to write/that surprised you once it was written?

Uhh…first thing that comes to mind is when they were at the museum and got roped into playing themselves. I had planned for their disguises to be seen through and for it to be assumed that they were cosplaying, but the rest of it just sort of happened. Including Maya; I knew she was going to be in the story, but I didn’t know she was going to be on that island or working at the museum until she showed up in the fruit room. X’D I don’t even remember how I was originally going to introduce her, except that it was going to be a lot closer to the end.

29: do you eat or drink anything while you write?

Not while I'm writing, but I like to have a drink and sometimes a snack before I start. Most often chai. It helps me get in the mood.

32: what are your stats for this story/verse?

Is…this supposed to mean, like…number of kudos/comments/hits. etc? If it means something else, someone tell me and I'll adjust my answer. :P

Just doing the two main fics (and on FFN the shorts are part of OtMS anyway, so):

On the Misty Shore

AO3 – Kudos: 75, Comments: 11, Bookmarks: 10, Hits: 1350

FFN – Reviews: 86, Favorites: 165, Followers: 63, Communities: 1, Views: 21,005

From Mist and Ashes

AO3 – Kudos: 117, Comments: 37, Bookmarks: 17, Hits: 1739

FFN – Reviews: 94, Favorites: 101, Followers: 129, Views: 11.433

33: favorite one-shot you’ve written?

Ah…hmm. I haven't actually written any one-shots as in "self-contained, stand-alone story" yet (I have plans!). Out of the one-shot extras that I wrote for Mistyverse…maybe Proof? It was the most self-indulgent of the three and the most fun to write.

34: a scene/paragraph you wrote that you’re proud of

I'm pretty happy with most of the stuff in chapters 18 and 19…and the scene in 16 where Zoro reveals himself…and Zoro and Travis’s fight in the museum in 15…and probably more that I’m not thinking of, but I’m not going to reread the whole thing again right now. :P

35: any foreshadowing/symbolism you wrote that you hope readers didn’t miss?

Yes, but at the same time I hope most people don't put the pieces together until things get revealed later.

36: any scenes you wrote that parallel the canon verse?

I guess maybe the stuff with Zoro and Chidori in 17? Kind of?

37: do you use quotes in the beginning notes/intro to your chapters? if so, what are some of your favorites/what are their significance?

Nope, I don't.

38: do you title your chapters? what’s your favorite chapter title? what’s its significance/why did you choose it?

Yes, I love titling chapters. Even when I can't think of anything good. Favorite chapter title is definitely Law and Order. Because it has a double meaning/pun (the structure and rules of Whitestone + Law showing up at the end).

39: any alternate fic titles you were considering for this verse?

I had a couple others I was playing with, at least for FMaA, but who knows what they were? Not me. XD

40: chapter you’re most proud of in this verse?

At the moment, I'd say it's a tossup between 15, 16, 18, and 19.

41: chapter that was the most fun to write in this verse?

Hmm. 12 was the easiest, and it's always fun when I'm not struggling with a chapter. The whole arc on Crinia (chapters 13 – 15) was pretty fun, even when it got difficult. 18 – 19, too. And I felt like chapter 20 was crap while I was writing it, but it was silly fun, and it doesn't seem as terrible when I reread it now.

44: have you shared your outline with anyone? if so, what did they think of it?

The outline itself, no. Parts of it are pretty different from what I actually ended up writing; it might be fun to share some of it sometime. c:

45: anyone you share excerpts with?

*pokes you* And I've posted a few here before, too. They're usually pretty short, though. Just a line or two.

46: story with the most kudos (AO3)?

From Mist and Ashes.

47: story with the most comments?

From Mist and Ashes again. :P

48: a happy future moment you’ve written/have planned for this ship? (will post under read more for spoilers)

*ignores the "ship" part* Hmm…I have no idea if I'll ever actually write it, but in my list of ideas for FMaA bonus scenes I have one where Zoro cooks for everyone (just because he can't eat anymore doesn't mean he can't cook—he lived on that island by himself for a long time before he died, after all). Also (for the benefit of anyone else reading this), sircerenade and I have discussed Brook and Zoro bonding over stuff before (being "grandpa figures", sharing skull/ghost jokes, etc.). Some of it may be more bittersweet than happy, but it’s a cute bittersweet, so.

#From Mist and Ashes

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thebookrat · 6 years

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Make sure to click read all the way to the bottom, to be able to enter to win one of 2 copies of Supergirl: Being Super!

My love of comics and graphic novels is no secret around these parts, but many of you may have noticed (and have noticed. And have pointed out) that there seems to be something missing in the comics I choose to share: superheroes. Sure, there are those, like Zita the Spacegirl or Aurora West, that would fit the bill, but for the most part, I generally steer clear of characters in capes. There are two reasons for this:

The series' are so vast! We're talking about stories that have been going on for the better part of a century, in some cases, and I'm the type of person that feels like I need to start at the beginning and work my way through, and that's daunting. And not at all appealing, frankly. There have been times I've thought about jumping into a long-running series (they do have their arcs, after all, and the very characters themselves change so frequently that it could easily be done), but a little voice inside me always says, 'But, Easter eggs! Backstory! YOU COULD BE MISSING SO MUCH!' So I don't.

The other reason is actually sort of the opposite? When I was a kid, I did read superhero comics. I didn't care about arcs and eggs and any kind of plot coherency. I cared about reading — everything, all the time — so when someone gave me a BIG box of comics, I read them. Again and again and again. At some point, my mom decided I didn't need them anymore (or a rock collection, or a cactus. She must have been going through a face, which resulted in the desolation of my prized, curated collections of things, but that's a story for another day), and once they were gone, it was a long, loooong time before I picked up another one. And when I did, it wasn't superheroes — I'd been there. I'd done that.

All this is to say, I've been avoiding them for so long, while also not wanting to avoid them and feeling a little at sea trying to figure out where to start, and I think maybe, just maybe? Supergirl: Being Super was the perfect place to start.

Though it's probably impossible to not know anything about the world of Superman — like, literally. I'm sure there's someone in an undiscovered village in the Amazon saying "It's a bird, it's a plane" in a language only 35 people know... — I don't think you'd need to have any familiarity with Supergirl, the character of Kara, and her story as has been told for the last 50-odd years. Being Super reboots the story and eases the reader in, placing Kara with adoptive parents and close friends and no clue of why she is the way she is. This is ground that most readers and movie-goers will be familiar with; it's a standard in to most fantasy and sci-fi stories (for example, Smallville gave us exactly this). Kara narrates her own story in asides to the reader, making her seem personable and relatable — she may be super powerful and full of fantastical powers, but she's also a typical teenage girl who gets zits and has to navigate high school. She's an Everywoman, waiting to burst forth into her full Kryptonian glory. [My god, that was one of the most ridiculous sentences I've written lately. Enjoy.]

I found myself immensely enjoying her story, and Mariko Tamaki's handling of her character, which was only enhanced by the gorgeously expressive art of Joëlle Jones. (Seriously. Just let Joëlle Jones illustrate everything, forever. It's classic and modern, understated and yet perfectly expressive. I loved it a whole, whole lot.) I found myself wanting to flip through faster but also linger over things; I kept glancing down to see how much story I had left, and the closer it got, the less I wanted it to end. I'm already looking forward to more (please say there's a volume 2 coming, DC!), while also reconsidering some other superhero comics I could maaaybe dip my toes into. I'm sold. (And I'll take your recommendations, please and thanks.) Turns out, Supergirl is . . . wait for it . . . pretty super. See what I did there? Okay, I'm gonna go. But before YOU go, make sure to enter to win a copy of Supergirl: Being Super for yourself!

*art & story copyright Joëlle Jones, Mariko Tamaki and DC Comics*

about Supergirl: Being Super written by Mariko Tamaki art by Joëlle Jones

Caldecott Honor and Eisner Award-winning writer Mariko Tamaki (This One Summer) and Eisner Award-nominated artist Joëlle Jones (Lady Killer) combine forces for this incredible coming-of-age tale! This is the Girl of Steel as you’ve never seen her before. She’s super-strong. She can fly. She crash-landed on Earth in a rocket ship. But for Kara Danvers, winning the next track meet, celebrating her 16th birthday and surviving her latest mega-zit are her top concerns. And with the help of her best friends and her kinda-infuriating-but-totally-loving adoptive parents, she just might be able to put her troubling dreams-shattered glimpses of another world-behind her. Until an earthquake shatters her small town of Midvale…and uncovers secrets about her past she thought would always stay buried. Now Kara’s incredible powers are kicking into high gear, and people she trusted are revealing creepy ulterior motives. The time has come for her to choose between the world where she was born and the only world she’s ever known. Will she find a way to save her town and be super, or will she crash and burn? Collects the limited series Supergirl: Being Super #1-4.

**** GIVEAWAY **** The awesome folks at DC Comics have offered up two copies of Supergirl: Being Super to two lucky winners! Fill out the Rafflecopter to enter. This giveaway is international, but make sure to read through the rules & reg! Please DO NOT leave sensitive info or email addresses in the comments!! Ends Friday, June 15th at 11:59 pm EST Good luck! And make sure to check out the other stops on the tour for more chances to win! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: a copy of Supergirl: Being Super was provided to me for review purposes by DC Comics. All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own, and are not influenced by the fact that I read this book for free. Affiliate links are used in this post.

via The Book Rat

#IFTTT #The Book Rat

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shawnlhuntley45-blog · 7 years

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My Favorite Gifts for Her Under $50 ~ 2017 Gift Guide + Giveaway!

If you're seeing My Favorite Gifts for Her Under $50 ~ 2017 Gift Guide + Giveaway! anywhere other than I'm an Organizing Junkie (or your feed reader) it has been stolen! Please let us know!

I'm so excited to share my 2017 Gift Guide with you which is a collection of Gifts for Her all under $50. My gift recommendations are things that I have bought for myself or for a gift for someone I love. In other words these are a few of my favorite things that I don't hesitate to tell you about to help you with your gift purchases this year. You may even find a treat or two to buy for yourself. That's okay too :)

I absolutely love buying gifts for others. I love the challenge of finding the perfect thing and then I love telling others about my great finds. So now I'm telling you. The links I've used are Amazon.com affiliate links (I will make a small commission should you choose to purchase through my links) but for my Canadian readers don't you worry almost all of these items are also available on Amazon.ca as that is where I purchased them from myself. Just remember prices are always higher in Canada unfortunately :(

Amazon is such a big online place that it can take a long time scrolling through pages and pages of products to find just the perfect gift. Well hopefully I'll save you a bit of time here. I've spent many hours curating this list for you, reading reviews, ordering and returning products. I'm a very picky girl. Crappy products annoy me, these products do not. They are not crappy. They are awesome!

Enjoy my 2017 gift guide and happy shopping my friends!

My 2017 Gift Guide – Gifts for Her Under $50

1) Faux Leather Backpack

This backpack is absolutely stunning. Such amazing quality for this price point. It's made of patent faux leather with pretty gold-tone zipper pulls. It's a nice size with plenty of pockets to keep your organized and it even comes with a duster bag. Also comes in other colors.

2) Bottom Dispensing Teapot

Okay how annoying & frustrating is it to use those small little loose tea contraptions to make a cup of tea only to have them not seal properly and get tea leafs in your cup? I know I hate it too. Plus they are a pain to clean out each time. Ain't nobody got time for that! This tea infuser releases one cup of tea directly into your cup and clean up is a breeze. I've had mine for quite a few years now, seriously it's the best! Combine this gift with some delicious tea and a pretty tea cup and you have yourself one gorgeous gift!

3) Heated Throw

I've had my heated throw now for a couple of years and use it every single night to take the chill off. It's one of my favorite things! It's not as big as a blanket which I like because it's easy to drag it around the house with me. I'm always cold so this keeps me all warm and cozy. Seriously what's not to love about being warm? Yep everyone needs one! In fact my 12 year old loves mine so much that I got him one for Christmas so I don't have to share mine anymore, whoot!

4) Painless Earbuds

I don't know if it's just me but earbuds always hurt my ears. I can never wear them for long because of the pain. Annoying! I got these Yurbuds many years ago and they are the most comfortable pair of earbuds that do not hurt my ears. They stay put too, even while exercising. I've had no problems with them at all and think that everyone should know about them. So great!

5) Warm Cozy Socks

So right up there with a nice heated throw for comfort are cozy cupcake socks. Yes these socks are cozy and delightful but they are also adorable because they package up into adorable cupcakes. I mean, come on! Great as a gift on it's own (maybe package them up with a nice foot lotion) or as a super fun stocking stuffer. They are sold in a set of two, one for you and one for someone else :)

6) RFID Zippered Wallet

Most everyone has a wallet but is it going to protect you against those sneaky crooks out to steal your hard earned moola? This lovely RFID blocking technology wallet will. It comes in a gift box perfect for easy gifting and it also has pretty gold hardware and a removable wrist strap. Available in red, black and blue.

7) Mason Jar Warmer

This is the one product I haven't personally tried because the price for us Canadians was ridiculously high. Over $100 in Canada but under $20 in the US, umm what? Look how adorable this wax warmer light is, I love it so much. How cute would it be sitting on your kitchen counter smelling your home up beautifully? And a great gift at a great price too! If you live in the US that is. Bummer for me though.

8) Earring Organizer

I love earrings and am constantly switching out the pair I wear on any given day. Usually they end up jumbled up in a dish I keep on top of my dresser but then I found this super clever earring organizer that keeps your earrings organized in book format. Saves so much time trying to find the pair you need in the morning. The holes on the opposite pages are offset so they don't hit each other and you can store up to 42 pairs. So smart! Available in black, pink and white.

9) Christmas Music

Okay I'm not sure I've ever confessed this on the blog but I have a wee obsession with Christmas music. Here's my collection:

Yep totally addicted. And totally old school I guess because I still enjoy owning the CD's. They make me happy and I believe they make a most excellent gift. My latest favorite that just came out this year is Lindsey Stirling's Warmer in the Winter. It's so good and festive!

She's an amazing violin player and she has some guest singers join her on the CD so it's not entirely instrumental. It's beautiful and lovely and a nice addition to a holiday party playing in the background. I heard about Lindsey because she was a contestant on Dancing With the Stars this year (another obsession of mine). She came second but only because she was up against Jordan Fisher who I knew was going to win from the very first show. Great season!

Oh and if you are interested, my ALL-TIME favorite Christmas CD is Johnny Reid's A Christmas Gift to You CD. Oh my!

10) Snowflake Necklace

If you know someone who loves snow then this is the perfect gift for them. Actually I don't love snow that much but I do love my snowflake necklace A LOT. I got one for myself and then immediately turned around and ordered another one for someone special in my life. This necklace is gorgeous!

The price is AMAZING and yet it doesn't look or feel cheap at all. It comes beautifully packaged in a nice gift box as well. Can't say enough about this stunner, such a sweet dainty gift!

11) Reusable Makeup Cloths

I've been using these reusable makeup cloths to remove my makeup for many months now. They really do work and no chemicals are involved, you only use water. They even take off mascara and eyeliner no problem and my face always feels so good after I clean it at night. Pick up a set for each of your girlfriends or as a stocking stuffer for your teenage daughter.

12) Touch Screen Gloves

I live in a northern part of Alberta, Canada. It's cold here you all but that doesn't mean I shouldn't have cute gloves to keep my hands warm. Not only are these warm and super fuzzy and soft inside, the touch screen fingers actually work so I don't have to take my gloves off to check my phone. And can we just take a moment to check out that bow? Right?! Totally adorable!

13) Memory Foam Slippers

Are you starting to see a trend here? I like to be warm what can I say! You have no idea how many slippers I tried out that didn't meet my criteria. I love a great slipper but I don't want to spend a fortune on them. These Dr. Scholl's slippers are a nice price and the quality is great. The memory foam is lovely and comfortable to walk on which I really appreciate it. Totally love these slippers and highly recommend!

14) Bite Lipstick Gift Set

This product is a holiday gift set available at Sephora. Bite lipsticks are one of my favorites. I love how easily they glide on and they don't include any yucky harmful ingredients. Bite Beauty is crafted with natural and food grade ingredients. They also don't taste or smell awful either as a result. This sweet Bite Beauty mini lipstick gift set is made up of four lipsticks in four different shades to try out packaged in a pretty red tin. Such a great gift for the beauty lover in your life.

So that's it friends, 14 gift ideas for you under $50. I hope you found something in my 2017 gift guide that you like.

2017 Gift Guide Giveaway:

So remember that first gift idea I told you about? The beautiful black backpack? One of you is going to win it!! I'm so excited about it!

To enter to win this lovely backpack all you have to do is fill in the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway open to everyone. As always only the first entry task is mandatory and all the rest after that are pure bonus for you (no comment necessary but of course they are always welcome!). Giveaway ends, December 7th at 4:00 pm MT. Good luck! Please keep in mind that sometimes the Rafflecopter form takes a minute to load so if you don't see it right away, please be patient. Thanks!

If you are new here and would love to dig into some juicy organizing goodness here's a GOOD PLACE TO START and be sure to SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss a post. Good luck and Merry Christmas everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

PS: Need a cute printable to track your gifts? Be sure to grab my FREE Holiday Planner Printable pack.

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