#(proper closed captions in english)

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

On this day (12th of March), 1990:

They Abandoned Their Wheelchairs and Crawled up the Capital Steps

By Stephen Kaufman, 12 March, 2015 [Story.Share.gov]

Proper closed captions. Audio described. 4 minutes, 25 seconds. 21 July, 2010

[kashuan]

hi! I just wanted to pop in and say that I recently read the Iliad + some adjacent plays and your art is feeding me nourishing me watering my plants clearing my skin 🙏🙏 I seriously love it so much,,

your house of Atreus stuff especially is sooo so good…. top tier Mene and Aga content

I also wanted to ask if there are any good Iliad adaptations or other classical texts that you'd recommend? I've read Iphigenia in Aulis & The Oresteia and I'm hoping to get to Electra soon but there's a lot and I can't really decide where to go next ;0;

Awww thanks so much! 😊 I've answered a somewhat similar question like that here (the names include links!) in terms of written adaptions of iliad/iliad adjacent stuff I like. Also, I didn't mention it there, but Euripides' Helen is one of my favorite plays, the romcom angle of it is great, peak Helen/Menelaus content and I'm sad it's never gotten a proper adaption. If you're interested in movies/miniseries at all, I always recommend this movie adaption of IoA, amazing adaption, nothing else comes close in terms of characterization or just vibes in general. This Electra movie is also very good, in particular the casting for Orestes is canon to me tbh (I love Aegisthus' too :`)). This movie about Helen's backstory but also the Iliad is good fun if goofy in parts, the Helen+Theseus relationship and Agamemnon parts are high points (I also liked how they handled the conclusion of the Menelaus+Paris conflict altho afair the Helen/Mene relationship was weak). Annnd somewhat related, this is my favorite Odyssey adaption (youtube has english captions for it if you enable them :>). Hope this helps :D

[jadenlix]

Close as strangers

Pairing: Lee Felix x AFAB!reader

Summary: your a foreigner in Korea, after studying in Seoul to become a English teacher. You develop social anxiety, no longer aspire to be a teacher, or work in any public job. A job opportunity comes to work within JYPE as a social media manager, making sure the idols post things that won’t cause scandals. But an idol you know, felix has gotten himself into a relationship scandal with fellow JYP idol Yuna. Management decided to damage control by asking you to become a fake partner of felix to take the heat from Yuna.

Genre: Angst

Warnings: strong language. No happy endings at all. Get tissues if your easily hurt by bad endings.

Word count: 7.8K

LIGHTLY edited

21st of January, 2023

Hey, the book that I write in, Today was… interesting…

“You want me to do what?”

You had always been a very secretive person, very private. Not ever interested in being in the public eye or the center of attention. Never took the lift because of people, always took the stairs. So applying for a job in the back lines for the company JYP Entertainment seemed like a good idea at the time. You’d be working more in the promotion side of things, behind the accounts for a few of the artists. Never needing to go out with the artists as staff. Just sat in the office controlling things from there.

And the first few months had been a breeze, you enjoyed your job! You had met a few of the artists around the building here and there, you were even an avid listener of a few of them.

Over the past couple of weeks, you had gotten more work focusing on the group, stray kids, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. Working in close contact with a few of the members with what photos they wanted to post and what to caption them. The guys did have most of the control when it came to it, you were there to make sure it appeared proper and kept their idol image intact.

One member in particular, whom you had worked with loads more than the others and gained a semi-good friendship with, was Bangchan. Though you called him Chris when you weren’t in professional settings. He spoke English fluently and was the friendliest idol you had come across. You had met a few other fluent speakers, but you weren’t that close with them, Chris made you feel like you didn’t have to be anyone you weren’t, and you appreciated that.

You were a foreigner, having moved to Seoul 5 years ago to study. Your ambition started as an English teacher. Though unfortunately, that fell through. Being in a new country with a language barrier made you anxious, so you started staying in more, only leaving for classes until you finished school and decided to work from home.

So you didn’t have much interaction with native speakers as much. Despite knowing a lot of the language, borderline fluent after your years of studying Korean back in England and continuing your studies in South Korea- you were not confident.

Today, the stray kids’ manager called you in to discuss the next thing for you.

In recent events, Felix, a member you also had gotten to know recently was involved in a relationship scandal with fellow Jyp idol Yuna from Itzy. You weren’t too close with Yuna, but you were close to Lia and Ryujin, so you had already heard about this scandal.

“We want you to act as a partner to Felix, you look nothing like Yuna, no one knows who you are, and you’d be perfect for this job”.

Ouch?

Sungho spoke without looking away from his laptop. You would have preferred he spoke to you directly; eye contact would have been nice.

“But I didn’t sign up for this, this wasn’t in the job description” you start, rubbing your thumb against the skin of your other hand nervously, “I don’t think this is a wise choice, can’t you just wait for the rumours to die down?”

He shakes his head “I’m sorry y/n, you are required to do this, or we will have to terminate your contract with us”.

This was beyond fair, given either the choice to be a fake partner to Felix or be fired from the one job you wanted.

You were so sure so many others would be willing to do this, and you probably would have minded doing it either, Felix was beautiful and kind-hearted, but it involved being in the public eye. Which you didn’t want.

You swallow your discomfort, looking up at Sungho again “How long would I need to do this?”

He looked up at you briefly, checking his laptop again, humming when he finds the answer on the document that solidified your new, unwanted task. “Roughly a month, maybe two,” he said once he looked back at you, “until the rumors die down, we can’t have two idol images tarnished, and you’ll be helping with that”

You take a deep breath. Were you seriously considering this?

“Yuna will be heading out with her false partner this evening also, we’re hoping this one night is enough to dial it all down, we’ll just have to see” he continues, though it wasn’t making you feel any better about the situation the company was trying to put you in.

“You get a pay rise” he finally added, and in all fairness, it did make the offer seem more tempting, but you still weren’t happy about the ultimatum you were given.

“If I say yes, when does this whole thing start?” You ask.

“If you say yes now, hair and makeup will prepare you when you leave my office, to prepare for a sighting of you and Felix later tonight”

Your eyes widened tonight?

Perhaps the quicker you say yes, the quicker it’s over and you can go back behind the scenes.

“Okay, ill do it”

 -5 hours later   -

As promised, a team of make-up and hair professionals came to your aid soon after you met with Sungho. Your hair had been washed thoroughly, probably the most it’s been washed in your life. Not because you didn’t wash your hair, of course you did. Because they used what felt like a million products in your shoulder-length hair.

Your makeup was done in what you called an idol style, accentuating certain features. You felt like an imposter of sorts. Call it imposter syndrome. The stylists had dressed you in a pretty simple white and black Celine tee, pinning the rim of the top under so it was slightly cropped, pairing it with a pair of black baggy cargos, simple yet efficient.

“look at you” that cheesy Australian accent could quite literally never hide from you.

Turning around you glare at Chris. Dressed in basketball shorts and a tank top, you were jealous he was wearing such comfy clothes.

“did you hear about my new line of work?” you ask sarcastically, adjusting your top the best you could without the staff attacking you.

“I did” he laughed, “lix wasn’t too happy about it, thinks it will cause more harm than good”

You nod, you also believed that. You didn’t quite understand how a fake relationship rumor would mute the current one. But you trusted the company. Foolishly.

“I’m surprised you accepted though y/n” Chris spoke, walking with you towards the lounge where Felix was.

“it was either this or lose my job” you sigh, you still couldn’t believe you were doing this. You could barely make it on the train without sweating, and now you had to walk around and go on a fake date with Felix, people following you to take pictures. You didn’t know how you were going to do it.

“They threatened your job?” Chris grabbed your wrist gently, stopping you before he opened the lounge door. “that’s out of order y/n, I’m so sorry” his expression softened as he looked at you.

You valued Chris as a friend. He was always good to come and talk to when you needed it, or if you were feeling especially anxious when on shift. The pair of you exchanged phone numbers around a month ago, he had asked previously but you were nervous about it, so he kindly waited until you were comfortable.

“It’s okay though, I guess it gives me a chance to get out and face my fears or whatever” you shrug, motioning to him that you were ready to go into the lounge.

He nods, stepping ahead of you to open the door for you. “Felix” he called out as the pair of you entered.

There he was, the victim of the latest stupid scandal in K-pop. His long silver/lilac hair was, of course, styled perfectly. A baggy white tee hung loosely on him and a pair of baggy black cargos, that seemed to match yours completed his outfit.

You smiled awkwardly in his direction, “Hello yongbok-ah” You greeted him formally, bowing in his direction. You weren’t nearly as close to Felix compared to Chris so, you usually greeted him like this.

He frowned lightly, waving his hand in dismissal, “god, y/n, no need to be so formal” he stood from the sofa and walked towards you. His eyes watching yours as his hand diverted towards your shoulder. You smile weakly in consent to him touching you.

Since the other members didn’t know you as well as Chris, they were always cautious around you. Chris made sure to inform them of that.

“Since we’re supposed to be together, I don’t expect you to bow or call me by that calling, Felix is just fine” he smiled, rubbing your shoulder gently before retracting his hand, and looking toward Chris.

“so, Mr. Connected-”

Chris rolled his eyes as soon as he heard Felix call him that, groaning playfully.

“-do we look like a couple?” Felix finished,  standing beside you.

“Yeah, you kind of do”

“so what are supposed to do, just walk together?” you quickly change the subject, questioning the two of them. You weren’t exactly told what to do. Just told to be in a fake relationship. Did you have to kiss him?!

“They didn’t tell you anything?” Felix exclaimed, his eyebrows raised. He felt bad for you. Someone who had an important position in the company, which is what he viewed it as he had thought they would of at least prepared you. but in his eyes, they had set you up for failure. “they know about your social anxiety right?” he asked, grabbing two pairs of sunglasses from the corner table. Handing you a pair.

“yeah, they do” you sigh, taking the glasses from him. He was sweet, caring, and overall seemed so friendly.

His expression changed slightly into more of a sour look. He was pissed that they hadn’t helped you, or even given you some sort of direction of what to do.

“they want us to hold hands as we walk towards the convenience store, some sort of affection inside the store, and then go somewhere to sit and just look all relationship-like I guess”

Bless him, he tried his best to explain what you had to do without cringing himself, he wanted this less than you by the sounds of it. You started to wonder if this was a good idea. Would it just be easier to cancel it? You could probably find another at-home job.

“y/n” Chris started, looking in your direction “I know what your thinking, no you aren’t quitting” he smiled softly, bringing you into a gentle hug “You got this yeah? Felix will look after you”

You buried your head into Chris’s chest, sighing against him. You didn’t want to do this, you were so unbelievably uncomfortable. You felt tears beginning to sting at the rim of your eyes. Feeling Chris’s hand rubbing your back as you sniffled.

You stayed there for almost 2 minutes, in complete silence. Just Chris holding you and Felix attempting to comfort you by rubbing your shoulder again. You pluck up the courage to pull away, not wanting to ruin any of the makeup the staff had done.

“Just breathe, deep breaths yeah?” Felix cooed, making his way to the door, his smile was warm, inviting almost. You shoot a half smile back at him. At least it was Felix you were made to do this with, could have been worse right?

-

“Glasses on” Felix reminds you before exiting the car.

 You clear your throat as you follow what he said. Flicking them down as you got outside. You spotted a group of girls waiting across the road from the car, probably waiting to catch a glimpse of idols coming and going. It probably looked more obvious that at least one of you was an idol. Sunglasses and a face mask. It appeared obvious. Maybe not for someone walking down the streets, but for you two, it was.

The feeling of your heart began beating harshly against your chest. Your palms felt hot. No one was looking.  Eyes were on you, watching every step you took on the pavement. They hadn’t noticed you both yet. Every breath you took the bystanders could see the rise in your chest. Your glasses hid the way your eyes began darting around the street.

Soft skin connected to your hand, the gentleness of the touch made your heart stop for a brief second, allowing it to calm down. You look over towards Felix once you notice he’s pulling you towards a smaller alley, away from the large open road.

Felix had noticed your sudden change in demeanor. So he lead you to a, not so much enclosed area, but a smaller, more intimate alleyway.

You were so shocked by the sudden physical touch and movement, you didn’t move your hand away immediately. Though once you realized what had happened, you remove your hand from his.

“I don’t think I can do this,” you say apprehensively. Your breathing picks up again. Pushing your sunglasses to your head.

Felix copies you, also moving his glasses, “Hey, look at me” he speaks softly, looking directly into your eyes, waiting patiently for yours to meet his. “Y/N look at me”

You look up at him, his eyes kind, expression warm and caring. You were so close together, you could see the individual flecks of bronze that scattered across his face. His brows were relaxed and elegant.

“That’s it, just breathe” he whispers, holding out his hand for you, offering it now instead of taking it straight away. “Focus on my voice, it’s okay, you’re okay, we’re okay”

Your eyes stayed glued to his, but your brain was focused on your breathing. You take his hand without thinking any more about it, receiving a squeeze of encouragement from him. He was truly helping. He was good at this.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be a baby about this” you sigh, your voice was still shaky, but calmer nonetheless.

“Don’t apologize, I’ve been there before and needed help calming down” he reassured you, “and a few of my members have been there also, I’m knowledgeable when it comes to calming others when they panic” his thumb rubs your hand gently. A smile gently appeared on his face. That smile.

You take your hand back. Too much physical contact. “Thank you Felix” Using the pads of your fingers, you dab under your eyes, wiping stray tears away. Looking down the other end of the alleyway, pulling your sunglasses back down over your eyes. “Let’s just get this day over with” 

“Okay then, let’s get you some caffeine” he smiles.

The convenience store was luckily very quiet, with only one other customer inside. You stay close by to Felix at all times. Following him to the ice cup chest, he opens it up for you. You grab the green-topped one and wait patiently for Felix to get his so you could grab the pouches together.

“Did you want one of the coffee ones?” he asks, walking with you to the rack.

“Please, the vanilla one if it’s there” you smile, watching as he crouches down to grab yours, looking up to you as he hands it to you, his eyes smiling more than his lips.

“Thankyou”

He nods, grabbing himself a pouch, but you didn’t catch what it was. You’ll ask him when you get out of the store.

“Just these please”

You place your cup and pouch beside Felix’s. Digging into your bag, grabbing your purse out to hand Felix some cash for your things. His hand coming to push yours back into your bag.

“Not, I got this”

You frown, but obey what he said, putting the cash back. Looking around the store as Felix pays, noticing the other person in the store standing a little way back, their phone out and pointing directly at the both of you. You quickly look back at Felix, tapping his arm gently.

“Someone taking a photo or something” you whisper, your eyes fixated on the store clerk, almost manifesting him to move faster. You see Felix turn to look at the person out of the corner of your eye. His arm coming around you, respectfully not touching you completely. Ushering you to the other side of him. He turned to face you more, smiling and thanking the clerk, taking the bag in one hand and his other hand opening the door for you.

“But what about the”

“We’ll do it on our way,” he says, walking with you.

The pair of you ended up deciding to go to the picnic area of Olympic Park. It was close by and just easier. The day had been fairly simple, though you didn’t find yourself talking too much, just listening to Felix. You could tell he was uncomfortable with walking so much about himself and the things he liked. But you appreciated he did it to make you feel more comfortable. The overall day was a whole lot better than you had anticipated.

-

28th of January 2023

Sorry I haven’t written in a while, but I need to tell you this,

“Hey stranger” Felix greeted you with his smile. He was waiting for you in the lounge like he had last week, only this time Chan hadn’t joined the two of you.

“Hey Felix” you greet him, you were being driven to have a picnic at the cheonggyecheon stream today. Sungho called you a couple of days after your ‘date’ last week. It wasn’t enough, it didn’t attract the attention they wanted. According to him, you had to be more touchy. Which you were, for obvious reasons, not comfortable with. But after a few hours on the phone with Felix, he had reassured you enough to become comfortable. You had both agreed to hold hands and a hug now and again throughout the picnic.

“You look nice” he adds, standing up to meet with you at the door. He a nice too, granted he was just wearing a pair of jeans and a white button-up, no doubt it was designer. He looked expensive. He smelt expensive too. Why were you smelling him?

You adjust your shoulders in a way to shrug off the thoughts, “You don’t look too bad yourself” You smile but it quickly fades in a panic that your compliment wasn’t nearly enough as he was. “I mean you look good too, like I was just-”

“I know what you mean” he chuckles, shaking his head, walking past you to open the door for you once again “Shall we?”

You nod walking out with him towards the exit. The driver waiting for you outside. Just like last week, you and Felix put your sunglasses down as soon as you exit, running straight into the car. Felix made sure to open the door for you before getting in himself on the other side, And sure enough, the picnic basket was inside on the middle seat. At least we didn’t have to pack it ourselves, you think to yourself.

The sun was hot by the time you got to the stream, it wasn’t completely packed, it was empty enough for you to feel comfortable to sit there and eat, but packed enough to make you hyper-aware of people looking. But you figured that was a good thing since people kind of need to see you with Felix. Once you were both out of the car and had found a spot to sit, Felix laid a small blanket near the edge, placing the basket down before holding your hand as you sat down, letting go briefly as he got down, but taking it back once he was sat.

“Is this okay?” he asks, lifting his hands. It was sweet that he wanted to check up on whether you were comfortable. You liked that he always made sure to do so.

“Yes, it’s okay” you smile, rather bashfully. A rose tint develops on your cheeks. Feeling the heat upon your cheeks, you look away. Leaving your hand in his as you use the other to open the basket.

“Oh Onigiri!” you exclaim, removing your hand from his excitedly to take the container out of the basket to show Felix. “I hope they put tuna inside..” you open the container and offer him one. He takes it with a thank you, you take one for yourself before putting the lid back, too hungry to look at the other things. You both collectively bow your heads before taking a bite, silently saying thank you for the meal.

“Oh wow, this is good, I think it is tuna, but I’m not sure” Felix looks at you, waiting to see what you thought. You were still eating though, covering your mouth as you chew a bit faster, nodding your head as a way to respond properly.

“I’m pretty sure it’s tuna teriyaki” you finally speak, looking over at Felix as he takes another bite, watching him intently. You found yourself smiling at how his eyes closed and eyebrows raised, appearing in pleasure. You were glad he was enjoying the food, it was the least he could enjoy since he was forced here.

But he did seemingly enjoy hanging out with you, whether it was forced or not. You smile awkwardly when he turns to look at you, catching your stare. He scoffs lightly, placing his Onigiri down on his knee. “You have some sauce on your chin”

Your eyes widen, and immediately bring your hand to wipe your face. Looking over at him to see if you had got it.

Felix looked at you, smiling with amusement. That damn smile.

He thought you looked so helpless, “may I?” he asked, lifting his hand to your face, showing he wanted to get it for you. You did not get it. You nod your head, allowing him to go ahead with it. Watching as his face got closer to yours, his thumb gently rubbing against your skin. Your breath hitched. You never in a million years thought you’d be this close to him, even with the current agreement going on. They never said you had to be this close. You would assume that was obvious though. Pretending to be together was one thing, but kissing was another. Why on earth were you thinking about kissing him? His face was pretty close to you, surely it was a default thought.

“All gone” he whispered, not moving his face away from yours. You watched as Felix brought his thumb to his mouth “We don't want to waste any.”

You pull away from him slightly, not sure what to make of the situation. But something in your stomach made you feel some sort of way, you just didn’t know how to explain it. You bite your bottom lip. Unsure of how to process everything. That one decision he had just made sparked a feeling inside of you that you never felt before.

You must have appeared confused, because Felix was looking at you, amused by your reaction. “Someone flustered” he laughed, leaning back to his original position. “I guess I could have just fed it to you right?”

You blink in shock, the sudden change in the way he was speaking to you, caused your stomach to do flips. “I, uh, what?”

He laughed again, you found yourself laughing with him. His laugh was contagious, it was beautiful too. He was beautiful.

“You’re so delightful” he reached for his Onigiri once more, taking a bite leaving you once again, flustered.

You decide to lie down, enjoying the sun as your mind races. Thinking about the last 5 minutes with Felix. The pit in your stomach still felt weak, weak for him. You hated the feeling. You felt safe with him and safely made you vulnerable.

After a few moments had passed, Felix spoke again “Open your mouth” he asked gently.

You begin to fight every urge in your body to not open your eyes and to just trust him. Take a deep breath, turn your face towards him, and open your mouth.

He pushes a strawberry in between your lips, holding it there, smiling to himself as he watches your lips fold around the strawberry. Pulling it away once your mouth closed around the bite you took. His heart began racing slightly, he wasn’t certain as to why. Perhaps it was just a normal feeling of pride that you trusted him.

You hum in the pleasure of the taste. Strawberries. Your favorite.

“Thank you” you whisper once you have finished your mouthful. Smiling up at him. His hair looked as though it was sparkling with the sun against it. Despite looking as though he flourished in the sunlight, his eyes looked tired. You felt sorry for him. He had been so busy over the past few days since the recent comeback. You wished you could help him relax more. But you didn’t have the slightest idea of how to do that.

You sit up, moving slightly closer to him, reaching for a strawberry. You were so glad the staff had packed strawberries, you eat them forever.

“Can you open your mouth for me?” you whisper. Leaning slightly closer to him.

His eyes widened now, clearly not expecting you to say anything like that at all, even if it was just a whisper. Nevertheless, he opened his mouth for you, keeping his eyes on yours, watching you, so intently, so passionately.

When he takes a bite of the strawberry, his eyes finally close, humming in pleasure just as you did “Beautiful aren’t they” he says once he finishes. Sighing to himself, as if he was contemplating what he was going to do or say next.

“You know, I think I could love you” That explains the sigh.

“What?” You reply, shocked at the words Felix had just spoken, you didn’t expect to hear anything like to fall from his lips, especially if they were meant for you.

“ y/n, I think I could” his voice was soft now, looking over at you from across the table, a small smile lingering. Your heart fluttered.

“You promise?” The only words you could mutter, a week ago you would have never seen it coming. You still don’t. Even if that didn’t make sense. You still couldn’t imagine him loving you. He was Felix, you were you.

“I promise”

-

1st of February 2023

I like him you know…

You jumped at the sound of your text tone. You rarely got messages, when you did, it was late at night when your parents would text to you help them set up their Skype so you could tell them about your very unseasoned week.

So a text at 11 am was not something you were expecting, barely out of the shower, still sitting on your bed, wrapped in your towel where you had been for the past 10 minutes, pondering over what you wanted to do today.

You grab at your phone, checking the text message.

“Dammit Chris” you groan, flopping into your back, scrunching your nose up at the feeling of your wet hair getting caught up in the towel. Shuffling around slightly to comfortable, before replying.

You didn’t know how to respond, he missed your face? You should have taken that as a compliment, maybe get a bit giddy over it, but it made you confused, unsure as to why he missed your face. You didn’t take photos often, you did not need to. You didn’t use social media much. But you were willing to send Felix a picture of you.

You turn onto your stomach, burying your chin slightly into the duvet cover, the waves of the sheets covered just over the tip of your nose. Taking a deep breath, you take the picture, sending it immediately before you could overthink it.

“What?!” you jump up from your bed, staring at your phone. Why the hell did he want to call you? But before you could even have a chance at thinking it through, Felix was calling you. Well, you had hoped so anyway. It still said unknown, you probably should have changed it.

You press to answer and put it on speaker before speaking “Hello?” you whisper, though no need to whisper, you lived alone.

“y/n hello, I’m sorry, I couldn’t wait for an answer, I missed you too much”

You take a deep breath, walking over to your dresser, placing your phone down on top.

“Well, I was going to say yes, but ideally I was going to get dressed beforehand” you sigh, getting some underwear, sweatpants, and a tank top.

“Why would you need to get dressed?” Felix questioned, causing you to frown.

“Just, well, I don’t know, so I’m not talking to you in my towel?”

“It’s not like I can see you”

“Yes I know that”

“Do you though?”

You pause, halfway pulling your sweats on, “Felix?”

“Yes, y/n”

“Have you put a camera in my apartment?”

That caused him to let out the most tasteful laugh, the kind of laugh where you could imagine the smile. His smile.

“I promise, I haven’t”

“Mhm,” you tease back, taking your phone with you, as you left the bedroom, and heading into the kitchen. “No schedule today?” you ask, placing your phone down on the counter.

“Nope, just rehearsal” he replied, “did you like the photo I sent you earlier?” he asked, you could hear tapping in the background, probably something to do with his keys or the lube, or whatever.

“Yeah, you looked good,” you tell him, a smile lingering on your lips as you think about the photo in question. He always looked good, but you usually saw him with makeup on, so a bare face was a rare occasion. “Did you like mine?”

“You looked beautiful, always do”

You pause as you reach for the knife in the drawer, smiling to yourself, he made you feel so… comfortable, you were less anxious when you were talking to him, or around him. “Now I feel like my compliment for you wasn’t enough” you pout, continuing with getting the knife out to cut your bread. Perhaps you could invite him over.

“Hey, Felix?” You question, placing the knife down and gripping the side of the counter, preparing yourself to ask him the next question.

“Yes Y/N?”

You take a deep breath, “Did you want to come over?”

“Does someone miss me as much as I miss them?” He teases, you liked it when he teased. “Sure, give me your address, I’ll come on over after I sort out these keys”

You smile to yourself excitedly, putting the bread and knife back, you could order food when Felix gets here. You tell him your address you hear the pen scratch against the paper as he writes it down. You both say your goodbyes. Sighing when you hang up.

You begin doing something you’d never thought you’d do, dancing from excitement. You were so incredibly excited about seeing him in your place. It was your safe place, and he had become a second safe place.

“Hey you,” you say as you answer the door, Felix beaming down to you as he walks inside. Opening his arms for you once you shut the door.

“Hey,” he finally says as you enclose yourself in his arms, embracing him and all he was. You hum softly against his chest, taking in the smell of his aftershave, it smelt amazing. He always smelt amazing.

“I thought we could order in some food” he smiles, pulling away to show you the bag he was carrying “-and maybe bake some brownies for desert”

“Felix I had stuff here we could have used for baking” you sigh, motioning him to follow you to the kitchen. “But that sounds good, maybe a movie?”

He nods as you show him where to place the item he brought over. You watch him intently, the veins in his hands protruding ever so slightly as he lifts the rather large bag of flour into the cabinet.

“What are you looking at?” He looked over at you, a small smirk playing on his full lips, his hair sticking to his forehead slightly from the light sweat from being out in the heat.

You gulp, shaking your head, “Oh nothing, I was just watching you”

He hummed, walking over to you slowly, Cornering you against the kitchen surface. His hands were on either side of you, but he was careful not to touch you. You looked up at him, his breath hot against your face. “Just watching me?”

“Yeah?” You whisper, your heart pounding faster as the interaction goes on. You desperately wanted something to happen, anything. Perhaps his hands would wrap around your waist, his fingers could trace faint and delicate shapes along your stomach.

 Your chest began to rise and fall heavily as his face inched closer to yours, his fingers tilting up your chin as he-

“Hey, Earth to Y/N” Felix waved his hand in front of your face.

You Internally scold yourself for even thinking such things. How could you think this way about anyone, let alone Felix, you were friends, he did see you as a friend right?

You had fantasies of being touched by him, kissed by him. Daydreams of the way his hands could caress your fragile body, how they would brush across your soft skin, and how they would relieve the shivering feeling you felt deep inside. You were soon taken away as vivid thoughts flooded your head.

“Sorry I was just, away”

“Away with the fairies?” Felix questioned, raising his eyebrow at you as the pair of you made your way to the lounge area of your apartment. “Now that you're back with me, shall we order some food?” He flops down into your couch, patting the spot beside him, “what do you fancy?”

You.

“I’d kill for a burger” you respond properly, sitting beside him, crossing your legs up on the couch to get comfortable.

The pair of you browse Felix’s phone, hunting down the right combination of food that you’d be satisfied with. And after several minutes of looking, the food had been ordered and it was quiet once more.

“So, y/n, are you enjoying your new job?”

You look up to Felix, scoffing playfully, “Oh yeah, though my Co-worker is a bit of work, he’s pretty annoying”

He seemed to enjoy the teasing. He loved that you were having fun, whether it be at his expense or not, he just enjoyed seeing you smile. He lifted his hand to push back his hair before looking at you with the sweetest eyes. “Hey, you should probably tell someone then, you don’t want the bad relationship to ruin your love for the job”

You roll your eyes, shoving his shoulder playfully, causing him to retort with a playful expression, his hand on his shoulder acting in pain, “damn, you pack a punch!”

“Was that a cod reference?”

“You know cod?”

You raise your eyebrow, “You’re kidding right? It was one of the best games for years, it’s my guilty pleasure” you tell him, leaning forward to grab a grape from the coffee table, popping it into your mouth.

Felix’s tongue pokes into his cheek as he watched you his phone letting off a text ping, “I think you are my soulmate”

“Oh shut up you”  you laugh, taking the chance to move closer to him when he looks down at his phone. Peering over his shoulder to peek at his phone, seeing messages from Chris.

“Chris should've come over too” you whisper, making it known you had seen the texts. Causing him to turn his face to look at you, making the gap between your faces, a couple inches now at most.

“No,” he says, his eyes taking in your facial features, falling to become stuck on your lips. “I wanted you to myself” he adds, looking back up to your eyes, smiling softly at your gulping reaction. He thought it was adorable, he thought you were adorable.

So adorable that he felt his

                                              words

                                                       Could

                                                                fall

                                                                     off

                                                                           his

                                                                              tongue.

“You're so beautiful,” he says softly, his hand coming up to cup your cheek, his thumb tracing delicate circles as he hummed.

You felt frozen in place right now, your heart pounding, was this about to happen? His face closed in on yours, both of your eyes falling to close as your lips began to-

Knock knock.

You pull back, staring at Felix for a moment before taking a deep breath, seconds ago you were so close to kissing him and now you were pushing yourself up from the couch.

“Saved by the Bell”

-

12th of February 2023

Hey,

“Y/N!! Your back!” Chris greeted you, opening his arms up for you.

Your smile, engulfed yourself in Chris’ hug, smiling as you felt him rub your back comfortingly.

You had taken the last week off from work, you requested an emergency holiday and luckily they rewarded it. You needed time to think. After the sudden lunch date with Felix at your apartment, you needed time to figure shit out. You had almost kissed, did that mean there were mutual feelings? Possibly? Who knows. But you knew that you needed to think. The Saturday after, Felix messaged you asking where you were, you didn’t reply, and you hadn’t replied to any of his messages. You needed time to think, and anything remotely Felix flavored, caused you to not think.

“Come, we’re having dance practice right now, but I’m sure the others will be glad to see you” Chris suggested, directing you towards the studio.

“Felix…what about Felix” you speak quietly, you didn’t know if you were completely ready to see him. Or if he wanted to see you.

“Oh, he’s missed you more than the 7 of us combined!” He turns to look at you before opening the door. You could hear the stomping of feet through the closed door. Knowing one of those belonged to Felix had brought everything back. “Come on y/n, I’m with you” Chris reassured you, opening the door without giving you another chance to protest.

“Look who’s back!” Chris exclaimed,

The guys greeted you one by one, with six hello’s and a nod. The nod belongs to Felix. At least the awkwardness waited until the rest of them said hello.

“Felix” you start softly, walking up towards him, “I, I’m sorry-”

“Woah woah, okay how about we all go get some more water?” You hear Chris suggest, the others nod or grunt, and soon you and Felix were alone.

“You're sorry?” Felix asks once he was in the clear, raising his brow at you before walking closer. “I messaged you multiple times a day without fail since the last time I had seen you”

He was upset.

“We almost kissed, I poured my heart out to you in those texts as soon as I left your apartment, and you read every single one, and ghosted me” his voice cracked.

“Felix…please” your eyes began to sting, the lump in your throat threatening to come out. You didn’t realize how much this had affected him.

“I wrote a fucking song for you Y/N” His voice raised now, he was upset, but he was more importantly angry. And you understood why. “A fucking song, I was going to. I was going to sing it to you, to tell you how I felt, but you left, you, the person who’s scared of their reflection in a window, left the city” he turned away from you, his hands messed with his hair,  “I wanted to tell you I loved you!”

You look up at him, his sad eyes penetrating your very soul, “loved?” You whisper, “Felix I was scared!”

“Then you fucking tell me!” He snapped, “You don’t fucking run off, you don’t run away from me, you talk to me!” In the time you’d known him, he had never been this angry in front of you. You had heard of his outbursts from Chris, but having that outburst be caused because of you, was a whole different experience.

“You’re scaring me, Felix”

Those four words stopped his world, he felt as though his heart had been torn from his chest. He stopped and just looked at you, his eyes saddened, his bottom lip quivering ever so slightly. “I didn’t, I didn’t mean to”

He inches closer to you, pulling you desperately into his arms, where the both of you, immediately broke down on impact. Both of your cries filled the room. He loved you, and you loved him, it wasn’t going to be an easygoing relationship, it wasn’t the most convenient and it certainly wasn’t going to be practical. But you loved each other. Unfortunately, it took you both hurting each other to admit it.

“I love you too” you whisper against his chest.

He pulled away gently, looking down at you with such sad but loving eyes. You look right back at him, sniffling slightly as you take in his gaze, he was perfect, truly, utterly beautiful. Over the last few seconds, your faces had gotten so close together. You could practically feel the atoms of his lips tickling your own.

“Felix..” you whisper,

Just as quickly as your hands laced with his, he kissed you. You responded with such enthusiasm that he was taken aback at first, but regained his composure and reminded himself of what was happening; he was kissing you, you were kissing him, and everything around you was now meaningless.

Nothing could have possibly meant more than them, nothing could have more beauty than this moment: your small hands pressed into his, the way your eyes fluttered to a close. You fit into him like a glove, her kiss like the beating of a butterfly’s wings, soft until it became addictive.

And you were falling fast, craving his scent and the feeling of him so close to you, unsure where he ended and you began. You had never been more grateful to have life until now. You would have rather walked into hell again and again than lose this: his entrancing eyes, his captivating smile against your lips, his laugh,

But your stupid, stupid lungs had to find air, and you were forced to separate from him with the feeling of gravity being torn out of your core. Somehow, you had been moved up onto a ledge, sitting high above him and disconnecting your hands from his (with another pitiful drop in his stomach) so you could run them through his disheveled hair, and he closed his eyes at your touch.

You looked up at him with such an inviting warmth that you wanted to kiss him again, but it would have come off as obsessive. When he was non-respondent, you pulled away. He took a step back, heat rising to his face. “Sorry — Shouldn’t have done that.”

“What are you talking about?” You said softly, watching him. “That was... it was fine.”

“F- fine?” His voice was hoarse. He cleared his throat, laughing a little before you made the move to kiss him again: he had become addicted, and you knew it, but this was short and sweet now.

God, he had forgotten how much he loved you.

“What the hell is going on in here?”

Felix jumps away from you, you jump down from the ledge of the countertop. Gulping hard when your eyes connect with the manager standing in the doorway.

“Y/N, my office, now,” he says calmly before exiting the room.

You would have preferred him to shout.

-

You had been fired. Effective immediately. The conditions of your termination? No contact with the members of the stray kids, especially Felix. Ideally, the company would like you to leave the country, but they didn’t hold that jurisdiction.

You look around your office sadly, licking your lip gently, still tasting Felix on your tongue. Placing the last photo frame from your desk into your box, you pick it up and head to the door.

You wanted to desperately see Felix before you left, but you signed the waiver. You could be fined. Thousands. You didn’t have that kind of money to risk it. As you walk down the elevator, you couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed with sadness. Not knowing what to do at all.

When the doors open you step into the elevator, choking back tears as the door started to close.

“Wait!!”

A hand blocked the door as it almost closed, the door opening once again, standing in front of you with a relieved expression, was Felix. He gets in and hurriedly presses the button to close the doors.

“They fired me” you finally say, refusing to look him in the eyes, “I can’t talk to you”

“We’re in an elevator together, what are they going to do?”

“Felix, I’m sorry”

“No” he warned, “don't you dare apologize” he took the box from your hands and placed it down on the floor, taking your hands in his, his eyes sad “They can’t stop us loving each other y/n”

“They can.. they have” you sob, trying your absolute hardest to not look him in his eyes, but you couldn’t tear yours away from his.

He sighed, “Then I can’t love you right now” his soft hand comes into contact with your cheek like it had done very few times before. But this time it felt different. Even though he said it was the wrong time, this made it clear it was definitive. This would be the last time you’d feel his hand cupping your cheek, the last time you’d stare into his perfect eyes, the last time you’d see his smile in person.

“I will promise to continue to love you, and when it’s our time, I will love you unconditionally” His face leans down, his lips pressing against yours with such love, attention, and warmth. A tear escapes down your cheek as you kiss him back without hesitation.

And it was the last time you’d feel his lips on yours.

-

A/N

Please don’t be afraid to tell me what you think!! Tysm for reading! Have an awesome day!

Tags; @hyunjinskxfelix @drhsthl @stockholmstyles @dutchesskarma

[beasiannow]

K-pop music, Korean dramas, Korean barbecue, you know you love it!

Now you can really get to know all that far better!

Know what all the lyrics of the songs mean, AND be able to sing along.

Never have to depend on English closed captions again. Don't read the stories; dive into them and get all the true deeper meaning.

Finally, understand kimchi for the wonder it is.

How?

Forget about those amateurs out there with their salons and their tiny, tiny little robots and long convoluted processes.

Come to 한국 그래! (Korea Yes!) and we will turn your appreciation and understanding of all things Korean up 10, 25, 75 percent more, and all in less than an hour. (So fast that two-thirds of the 54 minutes it takes is recovery time from the shock to the system of how quick it all is.)

You'll talk in Korean, You'll think Korean, You'll understand Korean.

How about an example?

Here we have Miriam Hilda O'Rourke, a senior at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, totally hating her look for the 2022 homecoming festivities.

“I just can’t get things together like I want them.” she said, “and my hair seems to have a mind of its own and won’t cooperate!”

And Here’s Ms. O’Rourke in the 한국 그래! (Hangug Geulae! - Korea Yes!) Subatomic Quantum Differential Para-Aether Recombinator (it would take a scientist to explain it.) Having her innate “Koreanese” brought from. .0034% to 23.55%

And here she is, what an improvement and not a hair out of place! And quite the impression she made too. (and only the very slightest and charming Korean accent.)

Mind you she also made a more than slight impression when she got home and her mother reacted to her new look.

A very dominating woman is the elder Mrs. O’Rourke.

Would she brow beat Miriam into undoing all the changes we had gifted her with? (no refunds!)

We had a better idea, put Miriam back in the SquDPAR and upped her to 55% Korean while at the same time making her a no-nonsense 56-year-old Korean domineering boss lady.

She ended her mother’s demands and complaints (while doing nothing for Mrs. O’Rourke’s, or for that matter, Miriam’s confusion, as officially she was now four years older than her mother.)

Coming back to Hangug Geulae, we fixed that in quick order.

Mind you, as there is no going back from a raised percentage, we sit her in the booth, dialed her back to 22 years old and then up to 105% Korean, and everything was good.

The new Ms. Ryuk Mi-Hie could not have been more surprised.

This naturally made Mi-Hie worried owing to the fact that she now found speaking Korean far more comfortable than her now, second language of English. “What will my mother say now?” she worried. “Don’t worry.” we told her “Hangug Geulae thinks of everything.”

When the former Miriam O'Rourke got home, she found this to be true as we had sent one of our Mobile Pods there before she arrived, and her mother, Diane O'Rourke, was now Ryuk Da-Eun. (the change was so successful When we took her from Diane to Da-Eun we even got her to stop asking "Where in China is Korea?")

Hug your Umma like a proper Korean girl Mi-Hie!

As for what would happen when Mister O’Rourke, who we were told was off in the middle of a two month long business trip in Europe we don’t know, and as our contract with the Ryuk’s is over, don’t care.

We hope he likes bibimbap, kimchi, and red rice cakes.

[frostycatblr-fandom-files]

Star Wars Visions (Season 1)

Since these eps are all roughly under 20 minutes I'm just lumping my thoughts under the cut for all of the episodes.

THE DUEL

Easily my favorite episode. Art style goes insanely hard. Monochrome palette with the only hints of color being the lights and blades of the lightsabers? Loved it, no complaints. I want more of Ronin's story. Why was he helping people? Why was he collecting the red kyber crystals like Thanos? How would the crystal ward off evil?

TATOOINE RHAPSODY

Least favorite episode by a longshot, honestly. Only redeemer for me was the Boba Fett cameo and the voice work done by Temuera Morrison. Song was awful lol.

THE TWINS

Subtitles did not match the audio/dialogue, so it loses points for that. (From an accessibility standpoint: If you're going to provide proper sub-captioning services it should match up with exactly with what the people are saying; not close words, but the exact words.)

Neat art style with good old ridiculous sci-fi: Karre should not be able to survive in space like that without a suit (or the Force) but we'll ignore it. War of Stars and Shit's Whack Anyways.

THE VILLAGE BRIDE

Loved the clothing and environment designs in this episode. Had a bit of a Ghibli vibe to it. Liked the yellow blade reveal. Just wish we had her name.

THE NINTH JEDI

Absolutely hilarious that when Kara picks up one of the lightsabers there's just. No color. Ghost saber. DLC-looking lightsaber later turns green in a grand fight in the Aerial Temple (which looks kinda like a lightsaber itself). Interesting ep overall I suppose.

T0-B1

All the cute droids you could want in a sometimes-fuzzy art style. Don't mess around on strange spaceships, kids.

THE ELDER

Hoping the awkwardness of the dialogue was just a matter of translation into English. Sounded a little unnatural at times (in my opinion).

That death-blow was incredible though.

LOP AND OCHŌ

Really vibing with the aesthetic for this episode, too.

"Inheritance has nothing to do with blood." coming from the guy who was most reluctant about taking in Lop was great character growth and maturity. You're no less family when you're adopted. Something Ochō's blind quest for power Toa's advancement by siding with the Empire seemed to make her forget...

Ironically symbolic given she's the one who leaves with both her eyes intact, unlike her father who loses his other eye, before the episode ends.

AKAKIRI

Japanese for "red haze", the title really would have been a giveaway for what happened in this episode if I'd looked it up before, and not after. I could still see where it was going with Tsubaki's story even if I didn't with the increasing clarity of the Force visions.

[ascendandt]

immediately getting distrcted from the task at hand but ive been thinking about this one post i saw a while ago that made the argument that because proper english (phrase used was formal code but like. whatever) was not being taught in schools and regional dialects/variations were the only things being taught people were speaking "sloppy" english and that was why more non HoH/deaf people use captions in videos becuase nobody understands each other anymore. and then compared it to like. not teaching cursive.

and like. it keeps grinding my gears cuz what in gods name are you talking about. calling non "standard" english should not be conflated with sloppiness in any way and also who needs a formal code its classist nonsense (to be fair op said it was barring entry to higher class situations but still. why are you blaming the plebs not being taught the formal code and not... it existing in the first place). AND ALSO i think we are vastly vastly overestimating the variance in dialect and pronounciation in general that creates mutual unintelligibility. so many dialects of english in the world so many ways to say words already and phrase/speed our sentences and we are still understnading each other. americans on the internet speaking quickly is not even remotely close to an issue here. also also some people use captions to help maintain their attention or because they have auditory processing issues or loudness in the area of watching like be so for real with me

[xoxomarijo]

Where do we draw the line between imitation as a form of flattery, and imitation as a form of stealing?

Part I - Instagram

I’ve been away from Tumblr for a heck of time but only one crazy discovery got me back ranting in here. The reason? Someone stealing my content. There is no problem taking bits of inspiration from everywhere but this one’s a whole new level of pro. Let’s start from the very beginning and I’ll leave the judgement to you.

PS. I’m censoring some details out of pity for this person. 

It’s funny how Instagram would sometimes lead you to the most unexpected suggested people. I stumbled upon a suspicious suggested account (I use the word suspicious because I was instantly drawn to how familiar it looks), and behold, it’s very much patterned to my IG poetry page and I knew for sure it belongs to this person.

I’ve been writing since 2006. I usually kept a handwritten journal for everything but you really don’t get the time for it anymore as an adult. So my iPhone Notes became my go-to until all my thoughts were consuming too much of my phone memory already. I started transferring some of my writing on Tumblr during 2018, and around June 2022 I decided to put up an Instagram account for some selected content. Creating each layout for @poetrybymarii had also became a much-needed break from my day job as well.

Upon discovering this suggested account and distinguishing the theme that had been copied from me, I immediately scrolled back to its earliest post to determine how old the account was—the account was created August 2022, exactly two months after I’ve created @poetrybymarii. I messaged this person to confirm if the account belongs to her (which, even if she denied was obviously hers). In the beginning she admitted ownership, not knowing what’s next to come.

You see, I was already aware how this person was stealing bits of captions and whatnots. I was ready to let it slip away again until one of her posts truly alarmed me—it was one of the proses I wrote and posted here on my Tumblr dated September 10, 2018. It was copied and minorly tweaked! You can see how the whole context, sentence per sentence are still the same. Words were just jumbled or replaced with synonyms but the whole chronological order of it all remains.

I confronted her again and this was the start of her denying it all. Let’s debunk her alibi here:

Alibi: “It was not mine, I just saw it somewhere and copied it because I found it nice. Someone must have reposted and that’s where I found it. But I did not copied it from you.”

Point 1 — The moment she confirmed the poetry account was hers, she was clear about how it was just an outlet account for her thoughts. Meaning she claims ownership for all the content written and posted. Not one post had a proper credit in it. Also judging the awkward English composition and grammar, it was a no-brainer that the write-up there was all her work.

Point 2 — My original prose was posted on my Tumblr account with a very few following. It did not receive any notes (likes and re-shares) so the chances of it going viral being passed around to make it into her screen apart from my very page was impossible.

Point 3 — My prose needed to become viral first to close the possibility of someone firstly related to me have it find somewhere. But had it been viral, I would have still known. Social Media is part of my job. There is no tricking me in this one.

Part II – Tumblr

The entirety of my conversation with this person was pointless as she tries to divert away from the very point of her stealing my prose. Overwhelmingly, she was ready with all her alibies and screenshots, and suddenly admitted that not all the content posted on her poetry IG was hers. She tried to justify her way out from her own lies and sent me a screenshot of her Tumblr banner (one mistake she made). And this was the second part of my crazy discovery as I began to delve into her blog. Guessing her Tumblr URL and tracking it was a piece of cake even if she changed it upon my confrontation.

If there’s one thing I can proudly claim on the internet it’s that I was a part of the Tumblr O.G. back in 2007. This very account is already 8 years old (est.2015) and my third account since then. “Ask me anything” feature was only added sometime around mid-2010’s, and it took me a flooding of Anonymous asks before I came into addressing them as “Anons”. This person’s Tumblr account was created only October 2020*. She reiterated how she has no ill intention with any of her accounts which have no followers in it, to which I pointed out—if she has literally no followers, where did all the “ask me anything” came from? Were these lovely compliments and questions all fabricated by her too just to make it look like her page is gaining foot traffic in it? But then again it was all part of her gaslighting, diverting away from the main point which was her plagiarizing my prose. 

At this point all I was able to say was FOR FUCKS SAKE. I was beyond speechless to discover how even some of our photos were the same. She also had some selfies in there that were the same replica pose of my past selfies.* She denied everything once again and stated how I was not the only person who knew apps. But Pins was an unknown app. Pins is not something that would pop-out on the app store as you type in search “collage maker.” It was something I discovered hands-on as I braved and tinkered through links and links of mandarin characters I do not understand. I think I may have shared some discovered Japanese and Chinese apps in this Tumblr account as well if you scroll all the way back. Anyhow as soon as I saw her photos using the exact frame from Pins, I immediately tried to recall where I may have shared the app away. I remember sharing it through a comment on Instagram when a friend complimented my post. I have not shared it anywhere else.

Alibi: “You’re not the only one who knows apps.”

True. But adding to all the prior things I mentioned above about the app, WHY the fucking fuck does she need to use the very same two frame collages I used, out of all the hundreds of frames found in Pins?

It does not end in here. There was a heck ton of other odd similarities—from her selfies posted there that are too sensitive to share away already, to specific favorite songs posted and captioned.

Part III — Conclusion

Once a cheater, always a cheater, as cliché as it is—they would never own up their mistakes. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Luna’s viral #F👁️👁️D eyes photo it’s that you gotta screenshot everything the second you find out about someone stealing your content, and you gotta fight for proper credits and rights. How this person tried to gaslight me when she said “I didn’t knew you were this shallow, why is this a big deal?” was something only a manipulative narcissistic person would say. Artists and creatives are so prone to having their content stolen in this modern era, and people like her who think things like this are no big deal are actually the first cause of this problem.

PS. Her Instagram was taken down. Too bad I already got the SSs.

*References on file

[filthforfriends]

You're one of the reasons why I hate trying to talk english. I sound like Thomas because my accent is 'thick' and every time someone says stuff as you're too complicated to understand or you know other people can't understand you and you 'need subtitles' I want to cry. You only did it in real. As a not native english speaker I would like you to over think your attitude about it, it's not the first time you're doing something like this. It doesn't help, it makes 5hings worse for a lot of us.

I’ll do my best to avoid language like “good” or “bad” when describing how someone speaks. What I’m really describing is how close is the way they speak English to the way I speak English. That has a direct relationship to my ability to understand them. Good/bad implies value judgments, but I don’t think that a person is worse for speaking in a way I don’t understand. I don’t think a person is worse for being non-verbal or minimally communicative. I think everyone is doing the best they can with the tools life has given them. There is no doubt that I’ve spoken with privilege that contradicts this. I can definitely be more mindful.

It sounds like you’ve been subjected to a lot of judgments for the way you speak English and I’m sorry for that. I believe people are under an ethical obligation to make the world around them reasonably more accessible to the people they meet. You deserved patience.

I understand that the language I used made you feel othered. The othering did more emotional damage than providing captions could ever outweigh for you. I’d love to know better words to use that wouldn’t make you feel judged or othered as those are sentiments I absolutely don’t intend to convey.

I supply captions because I want to make videos more accessible. Yes, it could be the instance you mention: viewers who speak English as a first language struggling to understand Thomas because he speaks it as a second. People who are deaf or hard of hearing will also benefit. People with auditory processing differences will benefit. People who want the audio off for whatever reason will benefit. Others who don’t speak English as a first language may need subtitles to understand Thomas’ roman accent.

I put captions not to target people with prominent accents, but so more fans can understand what Thomas is saying. When I joined the Måneskin fandom I relied on captioned videos. I’m going to keep creating them, but I’ll try to make my language reflect that there is no one proper/right way to speak English.

[productsreviewings]

ChatGPT often is the sizzling subject in the meanwhile, however Google has been engaged on constructing AI fashions for years now. One in all these initiatives is an AI language mannequin able to supporting greater than 1,000 completely different languages. And, in keeping with a New replace (opens in new tab), Google has taken an "vital first step" in constructing it. In the meanwhile the mannequin helps greater than 100 completely different languages; Solely 10% of what Google needs to do for you.Google has introduced its plans (opens in new tab) to develop the language mannequin, dubbed the "Common Speech Mannequin" (USM) in November. Apparently, USM is a "state-of-the-art household of speech fashions" with 2 billion parameters and skilled on 12 million hours of speech and 28 billion sentences from over 300 languages. Capabilities will embody computerized speech recognition, particularly for languages ​​that usually do not get the identical sources as extensively spoken languages ​​like English or Mandarin. It's already getting used on YouTube to create closed captions and subtitles for movies Nonetheless, solely 73 of USM's present 100 languages ​​above are presently supported on the location.These of you curious about the extremely technical particulars of USM's coaching system can test them out once more Google weblog submit. (opens in new tab)Google is not the one firm within the AI ​​translation enterprise proper now, however the prospect of making use of machine studying to translation is an thrilling one. Having simply returned from MWC in Barcelona, ​​I can let you know that the Spanish I discovered in highschool is lower than scratch. Google Translate was useful, however not significantly handy once you're in the course of a dialog.(Picture credit score: Shutterstock)It is not solely clear what Google plans to do with USM, however the prospects are seemingly limitless. If the system may obtain and translate speech in actual time, whether or not expressed as textual content or artificial speech, it may show invaluable. Extra so if it is ready to translate textual content shortly and effectively.Extra so if now we have augmented actuality glasses that may acknowledge and translate for us with out essentially prompting first. So long as AI can acknowledge with out having to translate. The very last thing we want is background conversations consistently being translated and pumped into our ears.However USM nonetheless has an extended approach to go earlier than reaching Google's lofty purpose of 1,000 languages. 100 languages ​​is a superb begin, however many extra exist around the globe. So we'll simply have to attend and see what occurs. Google I/O 2023 is not too far-off, and with 20 AI merchandise rumored within the pipeline we would hear extra about them and USM in the course of the keynote.Extra from Tom's InformationAt the moment's greatest Google Pixel 7 Professional offers (opens in new tab)There isn't any contractLimitless minutesLimitlessthe textual content4 GBDataname: Contains calls to MX and CATextual content: MX and CA embody messagingData: (gradual to 128kbps) (opens in new tab)There isn't any contractLimitless minutesLimitlessthe textual content4 GBDataname: Contains calls to MX and CATextual content: MX and CA embody messagingData: (gradual to 128kbps)without spending a dime (opens in new tab) in entrance (opens in new tab)There isn't any contractLimitless minutesLimitlessthe textual content10GBDataname: Contains calls to MX and CATextual content: MX and CA embody messagingData: (gradual to 128kbps) (opens in new tab)There isn't any contractLimitless minutesLimitlessthe textual content10GBDataname: Contains calls to MX and CATextual content: MX and CA embody messagingData: (gradual to 128kbps)without spending a dime (opens in new tab) in entrance (opens in new tab)There isn't any contractLimitless minutesLimitlessthe textual content15GBDataname:

Contains calls to MX and CATextual content: MX and CA embody messagingData: (gradual to 128kbps) (opens in new tab)There isn't any contractLimitless minutesLimitlessthe textual content15GBDataname: Contains calls to MX and CATextual content: MX and CA embody messagingData: (gradual to 128kbps)without spending a dime (opens in new tab) in entrance

[vanancaptionings-blog]

Closed Captioning Services Improve Your Video Content

PThis article provides information on how closed captioning services are beneficial for people to easily access different language contents through it.

Closed Captions

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In today's digital age, videos are highly viewed by users over social media channels. Many customers prefer watching videos by keeping sound off, so videos consisting of closed captions are a great option for them. When you add closed captions to all your marketing videos, customers can easily understand your message.

Adding Closed Captions in Videos Provides

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Furthermore, it will help in extending your global reach as well as revenue. Having closed-captioned videos helps customers with hearing disabilities learn about your brand and understand your offerings. They can easily access your business videos and know about your products and services perfectly. In addition to that, when you produce a video with closed captions, it helps in a proper SEO indexing of your pages.

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Consequently, it helps potential viewers to stay focused for a longer time. Apart from social media videos, closed captions proved to grab attention of employees during training sessions. Thus, opting for rofessional closed captioning services can help in reducing distraction during training, making your employees stay engaged.   

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If your business needs to provide regular webinars to a global audience to let them learn about your products and services, then hiring Best closed captioning services helps to meet all your business requirements. The English language is not used as the first language in many countries, so many of your attendees may not understand your exact information. 

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Closed Captioning Services

[sailorstarr-chan4]

Idgaf about Funimation as a company or whatever drama people bitch about, literally ALL I want from this merger with Crunchyroll is what the Funimation site offered: CLOSED 👏 CAPTIONS 👏 ON 👏 DUBBED 👏 VIDEOS!!!!! 👏👏👏

[purplehanfu]

The Only Girl You Haven't Seen: Episode 1

notes: Spoilers! Thanks to @heymeowmao for uncovering this hidden gem. Master list of all recaps

Sometimes love breaks your heart. And sometimes it stabs you right in the gut, throws you in a lake and just walks away. But don't worry, that lungful of brackish water will all be worth it when you wake up with a new body, a new husband, an intimate knowledge of poisons and a burning desire to rain chaos down on all those who have wronged both the former and current you.

new face

new man

Meet A Qi, the daughter of the prime minister. She is in love with Helian Chen, a scheming prince who tricks her into running his shadowy errands and then repays her by stabbing her and dumping her body in a lake. Purely by coincidence, Leng Li, the daughter of a famous general, is at the same moment running away from an arranged marriage with the unfavored fifth prince Helian Xuan. She jumps in the same lake as A Qi. As tends to happen in these situations, A Qi's consciousness transmigrates into Leng Li's body. 

Upon waking up post-rescue, the newly upgraded Leng Li takes stock of her situation and decides to throw in her lot with Helian Xuan, thinking she can easily manipulate his reputedly childish nature.

But Helian Xuan also has secrets. He's only acting the fool to stay out of the fight for the throne. Inexplicably, he also has an alter ego who looks like final form Wen Kexing, right down to the fan. 

He's a man with his own plots and schemes in motion, and he doesn't feel the need to explain himself to the audience in any way (seriously though, what is going on?).

"My character is not a narrative that needs to make sense to anyone...”

But Is It Good?

I'm not gonna lie- by pretty much every metric, this drama is terrible. It is ultra cheap, with all the mix-n-match costumes, palaces devoid of servants, imperial armies of 10 guys etc. you'd expect. It's so cheap they can't even afford wire tricks or proper sound effects. The story careens wildly from one ridiculous contrived situation to the next.

And Yet...

Somehow it works- overwhelmingly because of the efforts of the lead actors, who are each talented and have great chemistry. Wen Moyan makes Leng Li hot-tempered and confrontational, but also smart and likeable.

Wen Zuyi flips between all of Helian Xuan’s alter egos convincingly:

sweet, innocent baby

murder baby

And you actually believe these characters are falling for each other. In this clip, you can simultaneously see the best and worst of this drama (YouTube; turn on closed captions for English subs). We start with a brief “fight” scene- have swords ever been that loud when cutting air? But then we see a confrontation that is just *chef's kiss*.  Leng Li knows that Helian Xuan has been lying about his identity and confronts him:

We see Helian Xuan cycle through all of his personas in a matter of seconds, trying to land on the one that will make his wife forgive him. No dice. 

High key arguing ensues, along with one of the worst jumping into a body of water sequences ever put to film. 

We then see a soaked and bedraggled Helian Xuan roam the streets looking for Leng Li (she's probably back in the lake, bro). 

He doesn't find her, but we do get a nice montage of all their sweetest moments.

So In Conclusion:

It's always entertaining to see good acting held hostage by a bad script and low production values. 18 episodes at 11 minutes per is a low investment of your time. And there is a season 2 already completed.  

Bonus Round

Sect Leader Yao from The Untamed has achieved the ultimate upgrade to emperor! 

Imperial majesty hasn't changed our boy Yao though- he's still the same supercilious blowhard we all know and love.

[jjheejz]

This is an ongoing update about the case from start to development. List of all related posts can be found on this blog's pinned post (link provided at bottom of each post as well).

Updates: Minor details

Originally posted on 17 August 2021

Debunking the Hand

Details everything so it's lengthy. TLDR, skip to starting paragraph first word that's in blue. Still, reading everything gives a broader picture.

Background

In 2019, ZZH went on an acting competition show called: Stand By Me《演员请就位》(link)The competition involves having actors to play certain roles in a short movie (about 30mins) directed by the panel judges cum esteemed Directors.

ZZH was chosen by Director Zhao Wei and he starred in the short movie: Brother《哥》(link) The genre (as provided in link) is tagged: Sibling, relationship, mental illness, brothers

1. [Left image] Look at the timeline the variety show was aired, and then the date the short movie was released, 7 December 2019, is the aired date of the Movie.

2. [Right image] The other main role of the movie: Wilson Wang/王森

The Original Gesture’s Meaning 

(Direct links to watch the movie at end of post)

1. Hand raise meaning

Timestamp (from top to bottom, left to right) - 2:11, 01:37

2. “我等你呢” (I waited/wait for you)

Timestamp - 24:31

Original post of the image

The image originally used to refer the pose gesture was this, the part boxed in orange is Zhe Jiang Memorial Hall of Revolutionary Martyrs:

The original post where the image was from on weibo, both left and right are same pictures, different focus points:

Left image focus: Date of post, caption of post, comment on post, and each post picture given a number

Right image focus: The collage pattern

[Left image] Firstly, the date the movie aired was on 7 December 2019, ZZH posted the image 5 days later, on 15 December 2019.

[Left image] Secondly, the caption says "I waited/wait for you". (There is technically no past tense/present tense in Chinese) For international fans, you may compare the movie screenshot above, with the caption boxed in red, and the Chinese words ZZH posted + bottom part of the image: Wilson (王森), the actor who played the older brother in this movie. "我等你呢"

[Left image] Thirdly, the hand raise itself, is in reference to the movie, his older brother. Referencing from above, his older brother (in the movie), raises almost a straight vertical 180 - pic 9, while ZZH's circulated image is lower. Because he was, and could be metaphorically reaching for his brother's hand (see picture above).

[Left image - reference below] I just realised this myself. Lastly, Pattern A: look at the spread of the image in the post. There's a distinct pattern: 3 selfies in the middle (pics 4-6), pics 1 & 3 with his buddy + corresponding inverted triangle pic 8 (no duplicated background or pattern), pics 2, 7, 9 are half body shots, of which 2 out 3 was where the Memorial Hall was.

(duplicated image below for easier reference)

[Right image] Pattern B: The whole image itself looks like ZZH is sitting on the stairs, under a shelter. The center image is like the close up version of the 8th picture.

5-6 different locations, with the right lineage, to create a post with a bigger picture, no coincidence works this way.

Remember that ZZH is a very detailed actor, there is a reason why Ah-Xu was so well liked. That's why from this, it can further amplify he's very detail-oriented, see below for his line of thought in curation:

In that case, if it's planned, why the location then? (Please open up and zoom in to both right and left to see clearly)

Look at pic 2 again, the railings is horizontal, a perfect sense of link for 1 and 3, through his hand. Look at pic 7, there's also the railings, but he stands in the middle, creating a leeway for a 90°, look at pic 9, the angle is taken from a left to right perspective = he needs railings because it is flexible to take straight lines, with a person.

Being on weibo long, and having followed his account over the past 5 months, his curation of photo pattern is prevalent, it usually always has a message (which is why LLD have sweets each time they posted sth, both GJ and ZZH's spreads can create meanings).

What he needed was just the railings, but it happened to coincide with the Memorial Hall, so this could just be an unlucky coincidence that the photo was taken with resemblance of the Nazi hand, and with the Memorial Hall in the background.

Remember, also his Brother reference.

If there are still some, not convinced, allowing room for doubt of purpose, then let the Immoral Media/ Internet Water Army(link) prove to you:

Immoral Media/Internet Water Army's circulation

What the Immoral Media was spreading (just a collage of 6 top few posts that came out from the search results):

Note that none of it had the full spread like the above, no proper context at all.

This was what was in circulation, it was straight up just that one picture compared side by side to the Nazi gesture (ignore the Chinese). See how they conveniently narrowed the scope of issue and cause a fuss?

Conlusion

We have the Internet Water Army/immoral Media (link above) to thank for, for increasing the debunk percentage.

Bonus (not really, just the movie link)

(A warning/PG18: The opening of the scene is on a bed, ZZH is a part of it. But nevertheless it is a very heart-warming short movie, if you need to cry more - it can actually ironically help alleviate, give this a try, it also shows the spectrum of character ZZH can do and his acting skills)

For those who understands Chinese, Youku still has it here.

For those who do not understand Chinese, I’ve english subbed it here. (Please inform me if you have problems accessing it).

*Cultural language note: In English, Sis/Bro is a reference to both older and younger (depending the person), In Chinese, Ge Ge (Guh-Guh) is older brother, Di Di (younger brother), Jie Jie (older sister), Mei Mei (younger sister). 

This addressing can be used for non-blood related but close people eg. an older but same position colleague, buddies. Sometimes surname is added, eg. surname of Zhou, “Zhou-Ge” (Older brother Zhou)

Usual usage is usually a single word eg. “Ge!” (older brother), “Di!” (younger brother), when saying in double eg. “Ge Ge”, it usually has a cute annotation

Related posts 🛏️:

[danteinthedevildom]

Ok so the Obey Me Meet and Greet is over now and y’all it was so good

The translation was a lil bit off/behind but it was super close, so we got most of what they were saying, which was honestly just really basic stuff like who they’d want to cosplay (Mammon was the most popular choice, except Sumi-san who chose Asmo and Ayme-san who chose Satan) and why they became voice actors (mostly it just seemed to be “I just kinda did” ft. Sumi-san’s “I don’t know”). 

They did their intros in English, which was so fuckin cool to hear (they’re all really heckin good at it, and except for a couple embarrassed stumbles sounded basically fluent), and at the end ONE of them said “I love you” (I think Kyohei-san?) which made the chat fuckin explode. 

OH. Also.

Onishi-san’d take ice cream with him to the Devildom (and also said it’s what he’d eat to relax after work), Kyohei-san said he’d take his mom’s first apple pie to the Devildom (which Kada-san pointed out was a throwback to the last season of Otaku FM) and Yama-san said his favourite thing to drink after work is BEER.

Ayme-san also couldn’t sit still so made a game out of sitting in funny positions and changing position ONLY when the camera was focused on someone else. He ended up on the floor at one point because he sunk so low in his chair he just kind of slid off. 

Onishi-san was also kinda squatting on his chair with his shoes off.

At one point Sumi-san said he loved Asmo and that’s why he’d want to cosplay as him, I think. He might’ve just said he loved Ayme-san, tho, bc Kada-san kept refering to them by their character names. 

OH. And when they were asked what they’d do if they hung out with their characters:

Onishi-san said he’d have a sleepover with Belphie bc he sleeps all day anyway

Koba-san said he’d steal Lucifer’s credit card and go to a casino with Mammon

Yama-san said he didn’t see Lucifer as the “hang out” kind of demon so he’d help him with his work instead

It was hella cute. I kinda hope they add full subtitles and add it to YouTube, but I’m not sure if they will (captions were a lil fucky when they were talkin abt that, so I’m not too sure what they’re doing there). 

Beyond the Meet and Greet, we did get some anime info!

Anime’s out on the 16th, but apparently VIP members get it on the 9th - so in five days. Each episode should work like that if you’ve got VIP apparently? We also got told the episode title but I kinda forgot to write it down. 

All of them seem excited to do smthn like the Meet and Greet again, and said they all hoped next time it’d be in person! Maybe next year, even. So if they get their way sounds like we’ll be gettin a proper Meet and Greet at cons in the future. 

[wish-i-wasnt-a-coward]

Everything and Nothing

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4

Pairings: Eventual LAMP, Demus

Warnings: Food mention, spacing out, loss of ability to read, mild negative self talk, guilt, mentions of a bully, mentions of intentional misgendering, cursing

Word Count: 1,214

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Logan was trying to read. He really was, usually, he was very good at reading and chose to do it recreationally. He could focus on the words and tune out the clutter that was the rest of the world. The book would take him to a place where his parents were proud of him, where he could sit still for longer than a minute, where Virgil was comfortable and Patton talked about his feelings. But not today. 

He was stuck. The sentence just didn’t make sense, there was no way to explain it without sounding like a complete lunatic, but Logan had temporarily lost the ability to read. ‘Not the best thing to happen in the middle of AP English’ Logan thought with a sigh, bouncing his leg at a ridiculously fast pace.

With nothing better to do Logan looked around the classroom. The week's homework was up on the whiteboard. Frankenstein’s monster, the book they were reading, was written in lovely cursive (which Logan also couldn’t read) at the top. Closer to Logan, Patton sat reading. They had worked so hard to get into this class, and Logan was very proud of them. 

School didn’t come easily to Patton, the way it did to Logan. But they were one of the smartest people Logan knew. They were invariably there for their friends, they knew what to say when Virgil was having an anxiety attack and knew what to do when Logan was overstimulated or having a meltdown. They understood emotions like Logan understood math. Logan would be lying if he said he wasn't a bit jealous. 

Logan was so zoned out he didn’t even realize that Mr. Flores had moved to stand next to his desk until the teacher spoke. 

“Hey, Logan'' the man whispered with a smile, “are you alright?” Logan looked up at him, “um, I’m having a bit of trouble reading right now, it's ok though I can just read this chapter for homework as well.” he replied with an awkward smile. “Oh don’t worry kid, I know what that's like, give me a second '' after a moment Mr. Flores returned with a small box and headphones. “Here, you can listen to the book and do the assignment at the same time instead of reading” Logan took it with wide eyes, “You know how to work these things?” Mr. Flores asked, “Uh yeah, thank you!” the young boy said, quickly sliding on the headphones. 

Patton looked back at him and smiled their angelic smile. Logan involuntarily smiled back and began working on the assignment. 

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By the time the class was over Logan’s head had cleared considerably. Patton, of course, had checked on him as soon as they had a moment. Logan was quick to reassure them that he was fine. Both of them thanked any god that may be up there for Mr. Flores. Knowing that without proper action Logan’s light zoning out could quickly turn into a dissociation episode. 

Patton was kicking themselves for not noticing sooner. And Logan was feeling like a burden. Neither enjoyed their next two classes. 

When lunch period rolled around the glasses gays were hoping that the day may improve for them. Roman had been joining the group during lunch break, and though she and Virgil weren’t yet quite as friendly as the others were, it was always nice to see him. 

Logan walked through the crowded lunchroom. He let muscle memory take over as he sidestepped the popular cliques, slipping into a chair at their usual table next to Virgil.  Bumping knees with the boy to alert him of Logan’s presence without scaring him. 

Virgil didn’t even look up, handing Logan an earbud for the BuzzFeed Unsolved video he was watching. Logan happily accepted scooting closer to the angsty teen. 

They were quite the pair. Most of the school was used to the odd friend group. But in many situations, it is not common to see a boy with purple emo bangs, baggy clothes, and heavy black makeup sitting shoulder to shoulder with an uptight nerd who wore ties to school. 

But it gets even odder, as the fluffy, happy, sunshine child slides next to the emo reaching over to turn on the close captions. Along with them, one of the two new kids, the one who wore a red trench coat to school, watched over their shoulders. 

Despite their oddness, they were important parts of the school’s hierarchy. Patton was the head of the cheer-leading squad and had turned the naturally misogynistic club into a safe space of sorts. Logan was the head of the debate team, this was a very popular club to watch after school. Because he would become very passionate about even the smallest subjects, and when the subjects weren’t small he was known to become violent. Which was entertaining, to say the least. Virgil was less involved than the other two, opting for running the small art program. He volunteered during his study hall and after school some days, helping the art teacher. 

The new kid had very quickly established herself as an immense theater nerd and had won the heart of the chemistry teacher who ran the theater program, Mr. Sanders. The cast and crew had also quickly accepted Roman as a part of the team. 

But despite the friends that the four had outside of their group, they opted for each other. If you asked Patton, they would say that it was because they were “bestest friends”, Logan would go on a rant about how they balanced each other out well, Roman would say that it was destiny that brought them together, and Virgil would mumble something about how queers always found each other. 

Of course, not everyone liked this, and there were people that even Patton would punch in the face if given the chance. 

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The video came to a dramatic end and Virgil let his head fall against Logan’s shoulder. Roman and Patton were teasing each other about something while eating their lunches. He could tell from the look in Logan and Pat’s eyes that it had been a tiring morning for the two of them. It had been a rough morning for him as well. 

The bitchiest bitch of them all, Greg had been in both his Math and history class this year. How he got into AP math, Virgil will never know. He was a bigoted fuck and as dumb as a rock. Those two things, unsurprisingly, often went hand in hand.

He had a lovely habit of misgendering Patton and Virgil. It was difficult for Virgil to see his best friend bullied like that and was tempted to tell someone. But for the most part, he just physically and verbally harassed Virgil. Hopefully drawing attention from the others. 

If L and Ro ever found out about Greg there would, without a doubt be bloodshed. The two of them could get in trouble, or hurt, or killed, and it would be all Virgil's fault. So he kept quiet about it. He had to. 

Logan gently wrapped an arm around Virgil pulling him back down to earth. “Are you alright Verge?” he muttered. Virgil just nodded burying his face further into Logan’s chest. He felt Lo hum in response, continuing his lunch one-handed. 

[traumacatholic]

Virga iesse floruit, medieval chant of the Gradual of Eleanor of Brittany

This is an intriguing record, illustrating some aspects of the musical life of a community of Benedictine nuns in the great French double monastery of Fontevrault, an early medieval royal foundation. In 1304, Eleanor of Brittany became its sixteenth Abbess, having been trained as a nun in the English daughter house of Amesbury. The Gradual that bears her arms contains, in addition to the normal chant repertoire, a special repertoire of its own (not, as mistranslated in the notes, ''a repertory of the Proper'' which, in any case, was already there). It is this collection of miscellaneous pieces that throw a special light on the musical life of these nuns. Some items were undoubtedly intended to embellish parts of the liturgy itself on high feast days; others are more likely to have been used as pious entertainment during moments of recreation—then as now, in monastic communities.

Turn on Closed Captions (CC) for translations available in different languages