#admin monkey and I are so evil

[manifestobackshot]

guess who just wrote an entire fic based on this…

[semi-imaginary-place]

signalis notes

all i know is lesbian robots.

i feel like i am missing 50% of the info. Like everything is unwell and im not sure the scenes are happening in chronological order. Like the spaceship crash scene seems later than this whole mining facility part. Like the photo changed

Why do i have to know 3 languages to play this game. oh it's actually made by germans. GERMAN anime lesbian robots. Something about goddesses 神女？and all the german i learned from biology is coming into play i can make out like 1/2 of the words probably.

even before this whole zombie cyborg disease thing this place was pretty dystopian like you get paid in rations and people usually die in interrogation. But haha the glorious nation.

Wait there was something about facial synthetic skin coming off didn't the happen to the player character in the intro cutscene. We're totally infected.

I'm a coward so im watching a streamer and chat keeps saying east germany and yeah i'm being converted. War against "evil" empire by totalitarian nation giving real soviets vs nazis vibe. Nothing works and everything is broken or in disrepair but if only we pour more blood into it it has to work because the glorious nation has said it must work.

Uggg assuming the penrose was before the mining facility. Why does alina know elster who just arrived. And other character say elster seems familiar. Where as i thought the implication of the intro was that both arianne and elster were in cryo for a loooong time long enough for everything to degrade and paper to fall apart. It the begining of the game in the hole is someone's room which looks well established and lived in, implying significant time has passed. If then spaceship was suppose to be exploring past the solar system how did it end up back in the solar system on leng.

The one (and only?) man pushes us down an elevator shaft and hey that's a lot of bodies. I could really analyze the narrative gender dynamics... Like the empress and revolutionary and ger daughter and all the soldiers. Everyone except the admin

Ehh I'm just going to read a plot summary horror survival games really just aren't for me. good ol soviet engineering designed to fail after a few years and kill the pilot. o7 laika. I still dont know what the connection is between alina and arianne. Ok everyone in this game has the same face and it's doesn't help that all the replikas have the same color pallette. Something's up with that gate.

I'm not convinced elster and ariane actually exist. Like what if this is alina's dream warping reality. She was sent to the scifi siberian gulags where she escapism dreams about exploring the universe with her girlfriend and weird red eye/the flesh makes it real in a monkey's paw way. Elster exists because alina remembers her friend and comrade and the gestalt was used for the lstr series. That would explain LSTR-S2301 who actually exists and elster is based off of (and is maybe overwriting). What if ariane's past is actually alina's. "After two years of service, Ariane applied to the Penrose Program, but AEON, in charge of her assignments, would give Ariane notice that she was to be stationed on the S-23 Sierpinski Facility, a remote re-education facility on her homeworld of Leng. Ariane did not desire this assignment, and somehow did end up joining the Nation's Penrose Program, the same one on the posters she had seen years prior." Like what if she actually was sent to sierpinski. Someone who cares more about the game should think about this. This would explain how elster and ariane ended up on leng, they were always there inside alina's head as her self insert ship ocs i'd say power fantasy daydream but really their lives are still pretty bad. And then as dream overwrites reality ariane overwrites alina maybe. This hypothesis would explain falks too alina wants someone out there who wants her and is coming for her. This is why the photo changes between the dream shuttle and the real mining camp. Which are then both made real by reality warping whatever. This is why the red eye is in the dancing ending because it's from it's power that this is made possible. This also explains isa who's already dead but keeps showing up to die again. Alina also maybe bombed the neural vault??

"A prison which the only escape is death. Deep below, the dreamer floats in the sea of flesh. The red eye birthing a new world from their dream for eternity and each time the dreamer turns over in their sleep, the world turns over too until only flesh remains." This would make a lot of sense if this is alina dreaming of a different life along with her lost companion. What I wonder about is with the repeated red eye motif if there's significance to all the replicas having a red light in their eyes and bioresonance is also represented with red facial dots. I'm connecting dots on the corkboard.

Also just wanted to say about the whole anna huang vs lilith itou debate. Game never said 2 brains couldn't be used to make a replika's neural imprint. idk.

Also of note is that all the gestalts have western or european (particularly germanic slavic english (which arguably is just bastardized germanic)) given names but east/se asian family names particularly chinese (mandarin and cantonese), korean, and japanese, but nguyen is vietnamese.

Elster 512 could also be the template other lstr models use for neural patterning. So 2301 could be awakening 512's memories in addition to the gestalt's. If this really is ariane overwriting reality though that would be supported by the corruption which at multiple points is described as cancerous or tumors. Who knows reality doesn't exist. Given the nature of reality warping it's quite possible multiple contradicting events/truths exist at the same time. Or maybe 512's memories have overwritten 2301 just like they started to do with falke. So is the elster we play as any more elster than falkeñ

I wonder if there is any escape or end for... well the whole situation, reality warping and madness and all. The bodies imply leave and memory both loop. And elster dies in the same position in memory and promise so even if thematically it makes sense for the fulfillment of the promise (which maybe helped drive all this) ends this all, there's so confirmation. And with artifact you probably empowered red eye more than bringing reality back to normal so congrats things might have gotten worse? Don't try satanic eldritch horror summoning rituals at home kids.

the robots are autistic they need their special interests and special item or they'll lose it

I am in full on conspiracy mode. Only half the facts but connecting many dots.

[redraven393]

Catching Up wit Phil's QSMP VOD

1st JULY lets GOOOO

OKAY let's GET STARTED

no gegg??-was there anything different?-ohhh solo modification?

safety first-ohh a smart chat-

HIKE???-MINING IN CAVES??-BULLS??-ughhhh the code bastards are up to something -that's not how it works PHIL-WAKE UP CHAYANNE

YAEH HEALTH CARE-opp the Hotel is really fuqed

hah Phil you have way too many stalkers on this island -YEAHHH FUQTHE BINARYBASTARD UP PHILL

oh no the French-OH NO MUMZA-ah okay well soon mumza

yeah, ANTZA-that’s cheating Phill-???-what is he talkin about??-somthin' about world edit??

Whooo congrats Chat -omg Phil nooo-welp a little arson is okay sometimes-ahh shit its not little-yeah sure nature-admins problem now

ohh adventure yesyes-WAKE UP CHAYANNE WAKE UP-wat?-OH FUQ-loud to loud

¬lol TALLULAH STAY ASLEEP SWEETIE-YEAH CHAT DAYY

Holly chat that is a great Headcanon-the code bastards eggs lol

ughh Trauma beach-???-quackity in boxing event?

LUZU there?-HE LOST!-aww sad-no happy things for Phil I guess-

Opp what happened?-ah the server lagged-?-cactus lag?

Aww chat yu are loved-Chat pls this is his son- busy old man

Bad cactus-ohhh go down- THERE are NO SUCH THINGS AS TO MANY VENUS PHIL

Ohh deep-cave creeper? Oh he chonks-trash cave

Persimmon! I never has persimmons

Dapper the handyman!- ohhh Life guards POG-omg chat u okay?-wat is going on with the mobs-oh go where is the god apple?-omg the seagull-oh that fuker-omg they eat it-fuk the seagull

Ohh Chayanne bday??-aww- yeah show them some message

Does bull have different milk??-MONKEYS!!-infernal evil Pumpkin??-uhhh?okay?

ACASIAAA-caht don’t farm the monkey-well maybe for Tallulah-bet if Tallulah ask he will says yes-awww

Phil’s parenting 101- I do not get the reference-wat??-huh??? Wat?? How?

Ohh full diamond armour guy- dadza pls-CURSE WATER-oooh the BLIMP-uppies-not many good loot-well done-

CAPPYBARAS-wait we can't trust them-yeah from the wedding-phill you can't demand the wildlife to do work for you

Resct earn -boat time-ROAR TRIP YEAHHH-okay these guys are fun

Pretty baome-you use to be cool Capibaras shame on you-cappy on a bike-lol- ohhh good loot-oh god it head-dodododdod

YEAH FUK HIM UP-good god they are powerful-lol snot-yeah bring them more often-nooo not the FLOATING TREE

Lol-get in LOSERS- is the place dangerous?-omg there op

Omg DAD you cant just Irish left your way out of the fight- that is rude

Hi Fit

Classic Chayanne-cappy here?-NOOOO TALLULAH STAY ASLEEP

YAY for BS missions-YAY CHAYANNE SHRINE

Binary bastar the creep­-glad yu having fun chayanne- yeah Tallulah the poor dear is terrified-yeah cook your way out of trauma kiddo

RAMON-yeah touch grass

YEAHH FTC-fried the cat fish-omg- they are magic cappibaras ramon-Chayanne get down

Safety first-MONEY-omg 100 Yippe-

Are they all gone?-opp there they are-FTC

Thetictacs- new acent unlocked!- yeah cooked the Catfish!

Omg cappis nooo

Phill youcant exploit the wild life like that

The big mountain wall-yupyup tottaly legit-okay ramon is just flexing

Just because ramon just because

Ramon, he is an Anarchist

Tall mountain time-ughhh-FLOWER DUNGON-YEAHHH

FLYING CAPPI

Where are we going?-ah to the mountain-OHH a Toucan! :D-a bamboo creeper?

Wait????-is that Rigby??waitt-OH NOO RIGHBY- RAMOON NOOO-You have its TALE PHILL NOOOO

RIP

PHIL NOOOO- you don’t give ur child a dead corpse of its pet

Welp adventure must go on

The MOUNTAIN-Cappis that is cheating-YEAH TO THE TOP-dance party

Welp to the caves-so good at the video game-gator roll- how do u know??-

YEAH CHILD LABOUR-opp water cave-AHH GLOWY BOY-ohhh big cave

INFECTED DIAMOND ORE??- omg-KIDS- an absolute UNIT

CUBE SHEEP-ohh statues-RAMON DONT DIG DOWNN- RAMON NO-

YEAH, BED ROCK-YEAH MISSION DONE-PARTY-

oh hey the cat live

ugh the bulls- welcome to the FAVELAAS- this one bull against 6- bull hunting time- omg the bulls are riding the guardians-OMG THE BULLS

RAMON NO-PHILNOOO- the oldest shit house

Ohh the day care!!-awwww it looks so cute-oh fit was a teacher??-omg NO

SPINNNN-yu spin me right round baby-BELLS

BAGHERA ANTOINE HELLO

Ahh its Dapper and BBH-opp chayanne gone? Oh he’s in the basket

Yeah the attack yesterday are fuqed-Wait they taking picture of the parents too?

Yeah the Fed lied – a reminder huh?- OHH COLORFUL TOUCAN-

Yeah they just hang- funny noises- okk lets go out- lol- Antoine wat???

Scary Story!- HAM BURGULUAR- Trauma Dump

RIGBY 2.0 LETS GO

Scary retaile story

OMG- Tax Fraud???? PHIL?-lol Drugs- yeah stay an Egg Chayanne- the government IOU

Chayanne stop using others sign

Ah yess glad I still haven’t got any tax

Ah karen-oMG??-u fuqed him?- fukin Bastard- good lord Phil

A Karen Diner??-YEAH CHAYANNE KITCHEN!-FREE FOOD LETS GOO

WHOO STAY LIVING

BYEE CHAYANNE- oh wait uhhh -LOL

PHIL ONCE AGAIN AVOIDS ALL THE RP

WHOO BYE PHILLLL

[cryptometaphor]

Sarah: (complaining how her area needs a transit)

Me: Did somebody say MONORAIL?!

Sarah: Oh boy here we go lol

ACP Admin: Jim wants to be the grifter from Simpsons

Me: You're God damn right. Someone ought to be the contractor and that someone ought to be me.

ACP Admin: Private contractor? Class collaborating IS fascism Jim... Corporatism

Me: The Soviets still thought in-terms of cash. Dollars, rubels, why not pay people in scratch-offs?

ACP Admin: What? Sarah: I do wanna hear this more indepth.

Me: You speak of equity. Equal result not equal opportunity.

ACP Admin: That's Kamala's shit not mine

Me: Well whatever. My point is, if you got paid in lotto for what you do, you the value of the dollar couldn't be compromised. We know who wins and when, therefore mobsters couldn't forge the money either. It could be done digitally via crypto as well to add further...

ACP Admin: Again with crypto

Sarah: LOL but babe, how would people get paid in the now?

Me: Like... Right now?

Sarah: Like, say I work at McDonald's for a week

Me: Yeah you get your weekly allowance of scratch offs.

Sarah: No, I get that. But if I don't win shit? How will I eat or pay my bills?

Me: You don't

ACP Admin: So people just die?

Me: Maybe, hopefully...

Sarah: Or like, why are people getting paid in scratch-offs but businesses are getting paid in genuine money? Like, what's the point of them having money if individuals can only be paid in "maybe you get money later"? So if I do win a scratch off, win 200 dollars, buy groceries. Does the store's owner or employees see any of that money or does it just go back into the system?

Me: God I love how smart you are to see an idea through.

Sarah: Flattery won't save you this time. Answer the question.

Me: Yes, it's as you said. It goes back into the system so the value cannot drop. People only get paid in scratch-offs. We have ways to calculate a decent number of scratch-offs per employee.

ACP Admin: BUT WHY THOUGH

Me: Why anything?

ACP Admin: Fucking nihilist. This is just capitalism with extra steps.

Me: I mean yes... I never denied that.

Sarah: It sounds like third world exploitation but right in your backyard.

Me: You got it.

Sarah: That's horrible.

Me: It's meant to be. It's the distortion of the Protestant work-ethic. Your value is determined purely by chance. But if you work really really hard, you get more chances.

ACP Admin: But in the end it doesn't even matter like Linkin Park.

Me: Precisely.

ACP Admin: Jim, you are not a communist.

Me: Never claimed to be.

ACP Admin: Why do you like this guy?

Sarah: Deep down Jim is a good person... Sometimes lol

Me: Maybe there's noone in your life you'd work for till you dropped dead janny. But I know one person I'd do it for. Only one person.

Sarah: See? Shit like that.

ACP Admin: That's psychotic.

Me: It's purpose in a world absent of purpose. You're gonna work anyway, you do so right now. You're judged harshly underpaid for work well above what you need to be doing.

ACP Admin: THAT'S WHY THERE'S THEORY

Me: And I'm giving you theory. Trust me. This would appeal to human nature. Just world fallacy. Those who win, will feel like they won because God decreed it or they did a big enough work load. If I worked 16 hours a day for 6 days a week for a year, won a billion dollars. I earned it. Not like just being the son of the boss and making 100k where my coworkers are normally making 30k.

ACP Admin: That's entirely why we believe in socialism so that happens less. Your answer is just monkeys paw liberalism.

Me: It is.

ACP Admin: Is it gonna feel fair someone works 4 hours for one day and wins a billion?

Me: Nope, and that's the point. It'll either drive others mad or make them work harder. I don't care either way. Get violent and collapse my system.

ACP Admin: God you're evil. (I start laughing)

Sarah: Ooooh that's his flattered laugh like you just said his dick is huge lol

ACP Admin: It wasn't a compliment

Me: I'm taking it as such

ACP Admin: Why are you so edgy? Like who hurt you seriously

Me: You could not begin to fathom the hurt of waking up every morning and every dumb twat is still alive, not beneath your feet. It's not enough they breathe, they argue, they resist, they take from you, ban you...

ACP Admin: Ok fucking Sipheroth, calm down. Like, that's what dialectical materialism is for. Not cartoon super villany.

Me: I choose cartoon super-villany. It's far more realistic

ACP Admin: No, you're just a sociopath

Me: Can a sociopath love? Can a sociopath mourn? Can a sociopath regret?

ACP Admin: Psychopath, whatever

Me: It's easy to say things, it's harder to do them. You claim you love your friends, your parents, this or that. Prove it.

ACP Admin: What? By working for literally nothing?

Me: By existing. By not giving into the desire to just end it all day in and day out.

ACP Admin: Jim you need medication. I don't mean that to insult you, I mean like you obviously have like severe depression or something. Normal people don't just open their eyes when they wakeup "WHY AM I STILL ALIVE?!"

Me: More than you think. It's a pretty common trait when your IQ is above room temperature.

Sarah: I mean he is right babe. Like everything bothers you, everything triggers this long verbose villain rant, you're in constant agony and that's not normal. I don't mean that like you have an obligation to be normal, I'm not normal either.

Me: Well it's easier for you dollface. If I looked as good as you, was as smart as you, was as charming as you...

Sarah: OH STOP if I was all those things I wouldn't be a femcel.

Me: You're not a femcel. Not anymore. That is the crux behind everything I do. Never again.

Sarah: What do you mean?

Me: We do things once and than it's over with. One task, one mistake, one chore, one regret, one life. Never again. That's how things get better.

Sarah: Would you go through it again for me?

Me: I went through it for almost 40 years to get to you, so yes. Hence the lottery system.

Sarah: How do ya both manage to make me depressed but also make me feel like a fucking princess lol

ACP Admin: Cause he's manipulative but too schizo to just be a calculated sociopath about it

Me: Stop lollygagging and go call your mama right now and tell you you love her. You talk about me. I do it. Sarah I love you.

Sarah: I love you too. I'm not your mama though lol. I mean sometimes you do feel like daddy.

ACP Admin: Ew. Well Jim, go call YOUR mom...

Me: She's dead

ACP Admin: Oh wow, I'm sorry I...

Sarah: No she isn't. I heard her just the other day

Me: She's dead TO ME

ACP Admin: You're such a fucking asshole Jesus Christ lol

[yandere-society]

Roses | M

Sypnosis: You grew up dirt poor in the shadows of society, barely managing to survive without parents or family and very little money. Somehow through multiple part-times and endless overtimes, you land a job at the most profitable company in your country: the Jeon estate. Now you work for the young head of the estate, Asia’s most powerful man, Jeon Jungkook, as an assistant. One day, as you are preparing for the Grand Valentine ball which Jungkook has formally set up for his and his fiance’s anniversary, you realize two things; Jeon Jungkook and the rich like him will always live above people like you and two, Jungkook really loves his fiance. Or…is it really her he loves?

Pairing: Jungkook x Female Reader

Word Count: 5,350

Admin: @roses-ruby​​

Valentine’s Day Event Masterlist

Warnings: yandere themes, blood, death, murder, mentions of smut, mentions of sexual harassment, evil plans, letter openers; those knife looking kinds 

You had always been jealous.

“I’ve been thinking about her a lot these days…”

The morning air wraps around your frame with frigid clarity. You had to breathe once, then twice to be able to concentrate on the intense eyes before you.

“Your fiancé, sir?”

With a sober gaze, you focus on the handsome yet stoic man sitting in front of you. His stare was vacant but captured your whole torso in a viper like grip.

“About what to get her.” He speaks in the same dull tone as before.

“…Maybe roses?”

Women like roses, right?

He tilts his head at you, as if he was signaling you about how thoroughly he was contemplating your answer. The action raised goosebumps along your upper arm until they met with the cold polyester sleeves of your dress shirt. There was such beauty even in his most simple movements, but truthfully there was nothing quite simple about the raven-haired man that eyed you with such an unreadable expression. Even though you reacted in such a way, you refused to let him see you fazed. To invite him to sink his teeth below the upper casing like he so desperately wanted.

Not yet.

With a sigh that yelled defeat, he leaned back in his chair. Mumbling to himself.

“Roses it is.”

And just like that, he dismissed you. Looking off into the distance on the left, where a large window displaying the huge metropolis laid bare. You wonder how it must feel – the raw power of staring out that window, knowing that every inch of the land could be yours within seconds. All he had to do was say the word. How would it ever be like to wake up every day wearing uncountable riches and diamonds and dynasties upon your thick skin? Either to mold or to destroy.

How does it feel to hold the fragile earth within your fist?

Perhaps you were curious because you’ve never had that luxury. Left behind to rot by that very earth itself, you’ve never had any luxuries. For you were just a simple, everyday peasant unlike the heir to the Jeon throne himself. The differences between you both were similar to that of the sun and moon. He sat on a throne you could only watch upon, forced to stand up on your impoverished legs for the rest of your life until they were to cave when you were to finally die.

Only the red are privileged to sit.

Your pace is nimble, but you manage to make it back to your desk outside his office. With a sigh, you plop down onto your rolly chair. The cushions mold into your stiffened back and your muscles relax against the plush. In the back of your mind, behind your closed eyes, you picture someone pressuring each side of your heart. Being the cause of the faint ache you felt inside your chest.

But you don’t get to rest for long, as a loud bang enters your office hallway. Startled, you sit up – and as soon as you do, the chalky screeching surrounds your ears.

“My God, some people are insufferable! I mean how hard is it to clean a dress? A monkey with a sponge could do it! Accident they say, those lazy rats. Really – and today of all days as well. This is sabotage! I will have them regret the day they tried to cross me-”

You watch with wide eyes as the lady in red hair clacks around in her maroon heels. She was seething with anger, cheeks rosy and steam coming out of her ears. But even through her fury she remained the epitome of beauty, her doll like features heightened by her puerile attitude. All you could do was gape at her as the pounding in your brain grew from her each word. With one final stomp, she stops, right in front of your desk. Her body was facing your boss’ door as she glared into the distance quietly before whirling her head at you. Eyes squinted with menace making you jump in your seat.

If looks could kill.

“What are you looking at, pig?” She snarls

Before you could answer her, the door opens. He comes out with his hands in his pocket, heartless as usual. But his eyebrows were furrowed, and you could sense the annoyance in his stance.

“What’s with all the commotion?”

“DARLING!” It was as if all her animosity had vanished in that instant. She leaped over at Jungkook, arms flailing and eyes sparkling. Your lips twitched subtly at her shrill scream.

Wrapping her long arms around him, she practically moans into his neck. Her red lip gloss smearing over his soft skin. He places his hands on her hips to hold her – and himself – steady. They look so perfect together – a sight to behold. Yet something threatens to crawl out your throat the more you watch them.

“Darling, it was awful! The Chang’s, darling – they ruined my expensive, custom made ruby iridescent Prada evening gown! They ruined it, darling!” She loudly wails into his shoulder.

Jungkook listens to her cry, before sighing. You couldn’t read him completely, it felt like he was looking at a young child throwing a tantrum. A precious child. “Why would you even use an industrial dry cleaner when you have professionals at home babe? What did they do to it?”

She backs away from him, looking into his eyes like a hurt puppy.

“T…They tore a piece from the bottom…from the wash they say… Miuccia designed it for me herself Kookie…y-you can’t let them get away with this.”

Jungkook stares into her glossy orbs for a bit, before he glances at you. His gaze makes you jerk, facing elsewhere in a heartbeat. It felt like you were interrupting them, your cheeks burn with shame. Your heart even more until you heard him huff.

“Alright, I’ll contact Min. He’ll be able to handle it.”

“Oh darling, I love you so much.” She screeches, hugging him once again.

Min. That was the family lawyer. A cut-throat man who managed to make powerful billionaires beg for their livelihood on Jungkook’s feet. One small-time laundro mat was a speck of dust compared to them. Your chest ache grew as you clenched your fists beneath the desk. The poor Chang’s had just managed to put their oldest into college, they had no savings left. They were barely handling 3 more kids and multiple elders to nurture, 9 people in total in one small apartment. Something like a lawsuit was bound to put them out on the streets. But now that they had crossed paths with Jeon’s beloved fiancé, how horrible their fate was bound to be.

There were thorns in your throat.

“Darling, I just wish tomorrow will be perfect.”

Her tone always contained a particular weight that captures your attention back to her. Jungkook was still looking at you, his stare heavy, holding down your shoulders. You felt the red explode inside your pupils as she wrapped herself around him before kissing him.

“Don’t worry, it will be. I promise.”

They start to make out, unabashed. But what shame would a rich person ever have? The cold morning air surrounds you again, as you steady your breaths, and try to get back to work. Manage to yet again contain your jealousy.

Sadly, you end up missing the intense eyes that were still on your figure, gripping tightly and never moving off once.

-

Valentine’s day. A time of small importance to you.

Is what you say as you eye the crimson curtains and scarlet carpet. The chandelier had a red tinge in its shards, lighting up the vast room in an almost bizarre way. A ballroom fit for the never early King and Queen. You stare at the monotone waitpersons cavorting about, carrying colored shots and expensive sweets in their trays. Your eyebrow perks up as your gaze lands on one of them being subtly touched by an older gentleman. His aged wrinkles in his drunk, lustful gaze versus her frightened young orbs and doe posture. It reminds you of your past. In all those cheap diners and broken eateries, being groped and disregarded all at the same time. In those days as well, Valentine’s day meant nothing to you.

Turning back to the long table before you, you pop another chocolate covered strawberry into your mouth. At that moment you hear soft laughter, making you look toward the left end of the table. There stood your coworker, Jimin, in his pink tux and blonde hair. He was talking to another coworker. You turn your eyes away once he catches your gaze.

And coincidentally, they end up meeting with the man you’ve been avoiding all night. On the other side of the table, stood Jungkook. Your breath gets caught in your throat. Jungkook in his infrared suit. A blend of garnet and carmine and sanguine. Gelled hair, bright skin, dark glare. Such marbled precision. He was staring at you then too, when Jimin came to flirt with you a while ago. As well as when Taehyung tried his luck.

And oh, if looks could kill.

Your little moment is interrupted when another man in red walks up to him, starting a conversation. His red wasn’t as strong as Jungkook’s, you noticed. Actually, you’re sure Jungkook probably held the strongest red in the world, just like her. They were born with it after all. You, on the other hand, worked your whole life through the mud pit to be able to bear pink upon your frame. A few of your coworkers wore pink too, some of their attires barely blushing, while the ones worth more wore fuscia. The waitpersons wore white and that forced you back in time the most… the time you could only wear white like it was a scar engraved into your skin.

Maybe you should make peace with the fact that a day like today wasn’t something for people like you to enjoy. That even if some people still view you as nothing but a body to fulfill their desires, you now have a face to go along with it unlike the servants around you. Maybe you should be thankful you are more blessed than the help. And the helpless. Even if you desired a lot more. It’s always been like that hasn’t it. A few speeches of wisdom draped upon the less fortunate public.

“Be grateful for what you have.”

Startled by the voice, your head whips back, where the lady in glimmering red stood. It was her, the one who had arrived with him, hand in hand, half an hour late. Yet she had instantly been the main attraction at the ball, people swarming towards her like hungry bees. Her gown was the color of a rose’s center – the strapless dress, lingering the ground like a mermaid’s legs, hugging her slender figure so delicately – it was the epitome of perfection. Your pink sun dress fell short in comparison. The impenetrable beauty was addicting, attracting even the shyest of insects into her clutches. For a second you got high on her scent alone, before the malicious tone of her words settled into your brain.

Why was she here? A minute ago, she was stuck to Jungkook’s side like she was glued together with his larger frame. Perhaps she gave him some space to breathe for once, but that still doesn’t explain why she came up to you out of all the bugs about. Seething in her perfect set of teeth, she glares a hole through you, making you unnerved. Even with ill intentions written in her eyes, she presented a beautiful, kind smile on her cherry lips.

“You’re probably happy knowing that you’re the only secretary Jungkook hasn’t fired within a week. You’re probably thrilled to have someone like Jungkook promote someone like you to the department head. You probably get off every time he calls your filthy name.” She breathes into your face; her breath was cold and pupils sharp. “You might think you have him wrapped around your finger and I’m not sure you know who you are, but since your poor education has failed you so greatly, I’m here to remind you.”

She steps closer into your space, as a way to intimidate you. “You’re a mutt he’s taking pity on and nothing more, you understand me? A pig shouldn’t get so happy being fed the scraps of a stallion. You mean nothing to him and as soon as he’s fucked you senseless, he’ll forget about you like every other girl that has tried to take my place.”

Her smile never faltered. If anyone was watching this interaction, they’d think she was having a pleasant discussion with you. That the reason you were shying away from her was because you could not handle her radiant glow and pouring compassion. And in the same second the gears in your mind started turning, searching for a possible response, she took a step back.

“Don’t try to get too close to him. Don’t smile so much when he looks your way. Don’t let your pathetic feelings cross the line. Stay in your lane and be grateful for what you have. Because trust me, I can make everything disappear.” With a nod, she brushes past you. 

Gone, just like that. 

The spot that once held her being is forgotten, your head turning to watch her leave. A few butterflies fly up to her, each one wearing a thousand more on their figures and necks, but nothing that could be compared to her red.

It felt as if she never threatened you. As if she wasn’t the villain you just witnessed but a sweet cerise princess. You watch the girls gush about her life; about how luxurious her dress, her hair, her nails, her jewels, and the Grande Valentine ball was. About how blessed she is to have loving wealthy fiancé like Jungkook. She laughs agreeing with them while exhaling the same breath she took pretending to be humble.

Soon you were blending into the background. As usual.

Finally able to pry your eyes away, you stare at the ground, feeling the ache in your chest slowly cover your vision. It felt like the green, bitter thorns from a Rose’s stem, pressing against your heart with brutal force. You already felt like an outsider as soon as you stepped in here, but this was the final straw. The thorns grew amongst your chest, you spent hours finalizing every single thing about tonight on Jungkook’s command. All for his precious fiancé, choosing the colors out of your personal reach and decorations and the drinks and the food. And yet you feel like you just showed up uninvited to a stranger’s house. Knowing nothing here was meant for you.

Parting your lips, you begin walking towards the exit, ready to crawl back into your mouse cave where the lights weren’t so exposing.

You trudged along the exit hall, feeling the cheap heels of your shoes leaves sores against your soles. The ball was only an hour in, and you were fleeing way before midnight. It shouldn’t matter however; it was best to remember that Valentine’s day and its activities hold no meaning to you. Foggy thoughts run throughout your head as you watch the gleaming floor.

When you were almost at the door, a shadow overcasting the tiles and resembling a person makes you halt. Your head tilts up to catch the man in the elegantly fitted red suit, staring back at you with those familiar eyes.

“Leaving already?”

-

You aren’t sure how you ended up here.

All you remember was him telling you to follow along and you obeying his command silently. He led you out of the banquet hall, into his rumbling sports car and then straight inside his mansion. Jungkook never uttered a word, but his essence – his aura…it spoke for him. You walked behind him placidly, like the prey of a snake slowing moving inside the predator’s seams. When he walks into a room, the walls light up immediately at his presence. They glow of a lavish chamber leaves you jolting in place as he carelessly strides to his open bar.

How was this any different from where you just came from? If they wanted, they could have just held the ball here.

You watch as he grabs a bottle from the shelf, turning around and placing it on the counter as he picks up a glass.

“Would you like a drink?”

You immediately shake your head in decline. He shrugs, pouring himself a good amount of dark liquor. As you stand still, watching him take a sip, confusion finally settles in from the whole ordeal. Why would he bring you here? Your ignorance made you feel like scum on the back of his expensive shoes.

She probably always felt at home here.

Jealousy was a suffocating feeling and to deal with the pressure, you look away. Try to think about something else other than his ethereal face. On a small, decorative table to the left of you was a stubby golden vase, filled to the brim with roses. The vibrant flowers capture your orbs closely, like you were being lulled in by their appearance alone. You take small steps up to the table, your heart beating in your ears. When you were close enough you could see the thorns decorating the stems.

The thorns that hindered the beauty of the red.

Furrowing your eyebrows, you pick up a knife – possibly a letter opener from underneath the vase. You carefully take a stem into your hand, pinching it beneath your fingers. With a quick breath, you slice away a thorn, then two. Ridding the plants of its spikes and ugliness in animosity. Making it perfect with each removal.

Your haste movements froze when a hand grabbed yours. You look up to see Jungkook, holding onto you while staring at you with an unreadable expression.

“What are you doing? I thought you liked roses?”

That’s what you wanted to ask him, what was he doing? Why did he bring you here? But it’s not like the rich were born to be questioned. As you hold his gaze with anger, but bite your tongue from speaking, he sighs. Taking the knife out of your hands and placing it back on the table. He replaces the object with his fingers and your whole body heats up from the rush of your hands.

His scent was heavenly. Like a thousand roses laid amongst a field.

“You…at the ball…you seemed off.” He says, capturing your attention with the same incomprehensible face he always has on. “There were so many bugs flying around you there…I needed to take my chance.”

“…What?”

You watch closely as Jungkook tongues his cheek.

“You’re always so…closed off. Like there’s nothing on your mind…like you couldn’t care less about anything. I always…notice.” He huffs, looking at the floor in concentration. “I remember, it was your third day. I was passing by on my way for an early brunch with a buddy. And I saw the support manager fall onto a wet floor. The way she screamed…I and everyone around us rushed to her. Through the commotion and her cries and everyone making sure she was okay…I spotted you sitting at a desk 10 feet away. I saw you…and you didn’t do anything, even though she was in obvious pain… you just gave her a glance and then went back to work. She ended up breaking her arm and suing the company, so I got rid of her but none of that mattered.”

He looks back up at you. “What mattered was you…you caught my eye. Your lack of interest in everyone, your empty eyes. I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

It goes quiet for a moment and you now know how haunting the silence is in a big space like this. That and Jungkook’s presence made the atmosphere surreal.

“Would it have made a difference?” You question. His eyebrows raise at your response. “I mean…if I had cared…would her pain have disappeared?”

Jungkook gazes deeply into your eyes, like he was trying to read you. The hand that held you shifted slightly and you tried to not let the movements affect you. It was then that he broke out into a smirk, he seemed intrigued.

“I guess not.”

“No, it wouldn’t have. The one place there is no worth – no red – is in compassion.”

He chuckles. “I suppose with my status and what my family’s taught me…I’m inclined to disagree. But I can’t help…like this…like you.”

It was your turn to raise your eyebrows as he looks away, turning crimson. “I can’t explain why…so don’t ask me. I’ve been involved with plenty of other women…but it was always carnal pleasure. My fiancé always made sure they didn’t last long anyway but it doesn’t matter…they bore me. Yet…I don’t know what it is about you that calls to me. To keep you close to me.” He turns back to you with a determined face. “I want you and I want to get rid of anything in my way that keeps me from you.”

It felt like time stopped. The lull reverberated off the walls with intensity. There was a strange new sensation in your chest the more you stared at his sharp features. He was born with the beauty of red. When you finally felt like you could breathe again, you took your hand out of his. For a split second, you felt his whole physique embody a pout before you lightly placed your finger on his shoulder.

He froze under your touch. You continued to lightly rub at the fabric of his red coat, before placing your other hand on his other shoulder. Jungkook couldn’t look away. Especially not when you moved closer to him, not when he could feel your soft breath hit his face.

“Is this…close enough?” You whisper, watching the way his bright eyes turned dark. Within moments you felt a sudden source of heat around your waist, before you were pushed into his sturdy chest. His heartbeat matched your rhythm and your lips hovered one another as your orbs fought for balance. There was a cocoon of warmth around you, traveling up your spine as his thumb brushed your waist.

“It’s perfect.” He says before you feel his naturally red lips touch your coral ones.

It had been a while since your last kiss. That would explain why your tongue felt so sensitive and weak against his. Your hands hold onto his shoulders to keep yourself steady and at that moment, you recall how this very scene happened before you just yesterday, with his hand on her hips. You recall the jealousy. Bitter thoughts don’t ever completely vanish, do they?

As he bites your bottom lip, you fail to conceal a moan. He smiles into your kiss, before breaking away. Your lips were raw, and although you couldn’t see yourself, you knew they were swollen red. So you begin to smile as well.

“You’re so beautiful.” He says before kissing your cheek, down your jaw and into your neck. “All mine.”

You hold onto the back of his head as he nips at your neck. Gazing at the roses behind him.

“And you, mine.”

-

You woke up to the dark.

It didn’t take you long to figure out you weren’t in your house. The smell…the atmosphere…the scenery…it was all different. Not the familiar color you were used to. Your ear catches the sound of soft snoring, so you turn to see Jungkook sleeping peacefully by your side. His dark bangs covered most of his eyes and you slowly raised your fingers to move his hair out of his face. He seemed so different when he was asleep compared to his cold office demeanor. So calm and innocent – almost like a child.

In that second, your throat feels dry, so you try to sit up. Maybe you’ll have that drink he spoke of now. But a heavy arm thrown across your body stops you. You peek underneath the blanket to find Jungkook’s biceps holding onto you tightly. He was definitely the possessive type. With a quick inhale, you subtly try to remove his big arm off of you. Freezing whenever he faintly stirred. When you’ve managed to become free, you get out of bed, wincing as soon as you get up.

Even without the light, you could tell how damaged you were as you limp towards the door. He didn’t hold back in bed, wanting you to show him every expression of pleasure – of pain you were capable of. Him and only him, he said. There were bite marks on your neck and ass…he loved using his mouth. And then there was his endless fucking stamina. But truthfully you didn’t mind it one bit, it felt like he was pouring his deep rich wine upon you. You felt yourself inflaming up from the inside out, it was a feeling like no other – addicting.

Actually, you’ve always known about his interest in you. He had managed to make his face unreadable because of the position and line of work he’s in. But he’s still always slipped around you. You saw the subtle yearning and longing way before you came up with this plan. A plan that was necessary, you had never been this lucky before after all. And you wonder if she saw it too. If she knew you weren’t like Jungkook’s others. Perhaps that’s why she came up to you tonight. To try and stop you.

But mere warnings don’t work on the desperate.

As soon as you’re in the other room, the living room lights flash on. Prompting you to squint, while trying to adjust to the brightness. Once again, your attention is immediately captured by the vivid red roses in the golden vase on the small table across the room. You begin walking towards the vase mindlessly but once you were a couple feet in, you notice another shade of red to your left.

A glittering red.

You turn to face her, the princess of the kingdom, in her soon to be king’s castle. Naked and sullied in retrospect to her lavishly covered frame. But strangely, compared to you in this moment she was weak. 

It was her face. Her face as she glares at you, eyes squinted, and lips pulled back. Mascara and tears ran down all over her cheeks and her eyes were puffy swollen. She stood there, shaking in her heels as her hands clenched into fists. How could she look so pathetic dressed in red of all things? There was something funny about the sight…it almost made you burst into laughter. Instead you pursed you lips and raised a brow.

Right then she launched herself at you.

“You BITCH!” She screamed at the top of her lungs before you felt her sharp nails collide with your cheek. Your ears rung as you try to regain your balance. You didn’t have time to react as she pulled your face up using your hair and smacked you twice before pushing you down. Already frail torso crashing upon the tiles a bit too easily.

Really, you felt like laughing as you laid there while she screamed and pounded her weak fists onto you. You couldn’t feel the pain, nothing at all, not even when she banged your head against the tile. Not when she kicked you in the gut. So you laughed, and you felt her go quiet for a second. Small giggles turning into something insane. Your laugh got louder and louder as your cheek connected with the cold floor. The ringing surrounded your ears, but you still heard her curse underneath her breath, calling you crazy. You’ve always hated her voice.

“DIIIIEEEEE! DIE YOU CRAZY BITCH! HE’S MINE!” You could hear her tight dress starting to rip with every sudden jerk and twist. It was ironic. Your head felt light and your vision started to blur as she pulled at your stands frantically. Suddenly, you were being pulled up onto your legs with the world spinning around you and thrown right into the small table you couldn’t stop being called towards.

On impact, one of the legs gave out, causing you and the vase to slip onto the ground. You were completely out of it for a few seconds. After a blurry moment, you could finally feel the wet water and the broken wood and the shattered glass and the cold metal scraping against your skin as you struggled to get up. That…and the green thorns stuck inside your chest, bleeding raw.

Once you were up, you struggle to maintain your steadiness. As your slippery feet came to a halt, you stare down at your wounded chest. At the thorns in your heart, before you hear her shrill voice coming towards you again. So, you timed it in your head. Waited for the bottom ruffles of her beautiful dress to slide along the tiles and signal you. Let her red give her away.

And once she was close enough, you spun around. Extended your hand until you could tell the blade collided through something hard yet pudgy. Everything comes to a standstill. You hear her inhale loudly before her face actually appears before you. Eyes wide and mouth parted. Her hands were still in midair, they were coming for your neck. Her shaky pupils gape at you, before looking down below where the knife met her.

When she’s distracted, you take out the letter opener from her stomach before slamming it back into her once again, a little left. It made a soft, stubby sound and she gasped faintly. Your hands shook dimly with the blade still inside her, blood staining your fingers. The ringing had vanished now, and you were facing the silence of the mansion. Now that you had gotten the gist of it, as quick as you could, you stabbed her a third time. It was your final attack because as soon as you took the edge out, she fell backwards with a loud thud. You didn’t have time to process everything, just cringed at the way her head collided with the floor.

For a while, you just stood there. Weapon in hand, watching the way the blood slowly oozed out of her sides. Her eyes were wide open in shock, lips parted, and jaw unhinged. Bringing the blade up to your face, you closely examine the loose blood along the edges as the knife gleamed underneath the lights. Red was truly a magnificent color. If you were to split her open, would she bleed it all out before you? Let you have all her secrets and riches? You take the blade and carefully wipe both sides of the blood onto your chest, over your heart. Making a perfect x and letting yourself become red.

Like you’ve always wanted.

Once you were done with that, you look back at her. At her lifeless face and sunken eyes.

“What are you looking at, pig?”

Just then a hand grabs yours from behind. You dropped the letter opener in surprise, and it crashes onto the floor with everything else. The object is replaced by long fingers. Your head whips back to meet a bare Jungkook standing right behind you, as handsome as ever, staring at you with a smile. There was a little insanity in his eyes, the same one you saw every morning in the mirror.

“I was wondering how to get rid of her myself.” He says, before wrapping his arms around your shivering torso and placing his mouth on your neck.

It had only been a few hours after Valentine’s day, and here you stood. Being gently rocked by your boss, with his beautiful fiancé bleeding out on the floor in front of him. Even in death…she was the epitome of beauty. And you had always been jealous.

Not of who she was to Jungkook.

But because of the vibrant, glowing, bleeding red rose she always resembled.

What you were jealous of was the rose she embodied.

The rose you wanted to be.

[daily-dose-of-imagines]

HITMEN AU! | HEAD CANONS | 19+ [HAIKYUU!!]

𝕱𝖚𝖐𝖚𝖗𝖔𝖉𝖆𝖓𝖎 [PART i] [PART ii] 

Alright~!! I’m back with another squad~! Finally made it to Fukurodani~! ;; so excITED! I hope you guys enjoy this one like the rest~!! Again thank you all for the support~!

» » Admin Ko

»»————-　♔　————-««

Despite not being quite well known in their precinct, they are one of the more highly sought after group of hitmen in the Tokyo area. 

Only really well known for their unstable and psychotic boss, but really they don’t mind because it helps bring them more clients.

An unspoken fun little rivalry with Nekoma, and actually ends up collaborating with them the most if their missions happen to co-align.

T̷a̷t̷s̷u̷k̷i̷ ̷W̷a̷s̷h̷i̷o̷

The advisor of the group.

Is the strong silent type, but definitely the one that the group relies on in terms of advice and a new perspective if they can’t seem to track a target down or are having trouble with capturing the target.

He’s seen as one of the main analysts that the team can rely on if Akaashi is too busy. 

In addition to being one of the advisors, he’s also the main medic that all of them go to in any case of injury or require extra...knowledge in techniques. 

He’s skilled with practically any weapon given to him, but mainly dapples with blades and needle work to carry out his missions. 

He may not seem like it initially, but he honestly loves to do interrogation via torture. He’s quite skilled with needles and won’t hesitate to use any means necessary to get the information they need. 

A heavy sigh came from the tall male as he peered down at the individual laying out before him. Stripped bare naked and a tight bit gag between the victim’s lips the calm male in question couldn’t help but do another once over the file given to him.

“So...because you failed to cooperate in our kind methods in interrogation you’ve ended up here.” 

A wicked smirk then formed on his features as the male couldn’t help but drop the file onto the steel cart beside him before picking up a syringe. A slight tap and shake to the item before he turned to look fully at the now terrified male.

“This will only hurt a lot.”

A whole giant of a man. Very well built with lots of mass.

Despite how big he is, he has one of the steadiest hands from the entire group.

Only has one tattoo on his body.

With his S/O he’s not as affectionate as most would be. If anything, he’s super chill and hopes that his s/o understands that he’s super busy (practically all the time)

it’s basically like dating anyone who’s in the medical field who lives at the hospital because of the demand.

Y̴a̴m̴a̴t̴o̴ ̴S̴a̴r̴u̴k̴u̴i̴

One of the many assassins of the group

He’s kind and playful--- almost more mischievous when it comes to being at the base and out on the field.

Though he isn’t as bad as most coy men throughout this universe, he is one of the mood setters within the group. Though in reality his time is spent more on making sure their main close combat assassin isn’t going through another emotional bout.

His specialty lies in poisons and venom

He’s an interactive  assassin. Whereas most will either kill from a far or within one moment, he’s similar to that of a decoy where he leads the target into a false sense of security before turning on them after getting the information the group desires.

A forced smile graced his features. One that wouldn’t have been noticed as he worked through the nooks and crannies of the enemy’s ranks. It wasn’t terribly hard gaining their trust, but it was a tedious process. If anything it only brought him more joy when he gets to see the organization crumble at his fingertips. 

“Oh! Sarukui~.” 

The kind voice brought him out of his thoughts as he focused his attention on the target. The easy going smile still on his face as he responded with ease. “Yes? Was there something you needed?”

“Ah yes, it looks like we’re going to need your extra help with our electronic files. We’re trying to move them as quickly as we can before the deadline, but we’re short on people.”

The statement brought a sense of closure as he couldn’t help but mentally grin. His mission was finally going to come to a close.

“Of course I can~. Just lead the way~!”

Isn’t as tall as most of the members, but is within the average height for the group. 

He doesn’t have any piercings or tattoos, but has a good collection of scars and bruises.

Is always seen smiling similarly to a monkey, thus gaining him the nickname Saru

He tries hard to be honest with his S/O, but honestly it’s difficult because of the nature of his job

He’ll do special little things for them just so that they know that he always has them in his heart and mind.

K̷o̷t̷a̷r̷o̷ ̷B̷o̷k̷u̷t̷o̷

Best chaotic, loud, close combat boy and the chaotic boss

HEY, HEY, HEY~! Consistently.

Is told by Akaashi to please stop yelling during their rare moments of quiet time. 

He’s definitely more of the one unstable assassins in the business. 

Actually works alongside with Kuroo quite well! Though the victim doesn’t enjoy that at all.

Is literally one of the top 5 assassin’s within the country, with a large skill set ranging from long distance to close. Though he prefers close combat over all.

Enjoys the feeling of warm blood on his fists when he brings ‘justice’ down on a victim. 

More of a vigilante type than a hit man, but still does what is needed from the team.

A wicked grin formed on the male’s lips as he swung his arm back before delivering another sickening blow to the victim’s face. The rush of blood splattered on his knuckles as the tearing of flesh sang to his bruised fists.

The anguished cries of the man before him sent another wave of bliss through him as he relished in the sound of the evil he had vanquished. After reading the file he was given, the male couldn’t help but be absolutely blinded by rage at the corruption and disgust the target had done, thus leading to the situation at hand.

“Hey, hey, hey! No need to cry so much~! This is only just a sliver of the punishment you’re going to receive from me~! But don’t worry, we’ll bring you to a better place to give you a proper punishment. Right, Akaashi~?”

His golden honey eyes strike so much fear into those who happen to stare too long into them. 

Is often compared to a wild owl when he’s in predatory mode

Definitely one of the most fit members within the team. 

Has a couple of tattoos and a good chunk of battle scars.

He is completely and utterly loyal to his S/O

will literally do anything for them

Kill, maim, torture, etc if anyone tries to hurt or threaten his s/o 

Despite being psychotic, he’s very gentle and loving to his s/o (gives his teammates whiplash ngl)

A̴k̴i̴n̴o̴r̴i̴ ̴K̴o̴n̴o̴h̴a̴

Another one of the advisors / strategists within the team

Honestly, he didn’t feel as though he was significant to the team. Though is told by Komi, that his efforts and skills are not only recognized, but needed to help the team function.

Besides being the advisor, he’s also one of the main strategists of the team. 

Definitely is the one who’ll provide strategies and plans for the others if they need the extra help for their missions.

An irritated sigh came from behind a screen as the figure skimmed over the multitude of orders coming in. He was thankful that he had Akaashi as a partner to help him get through the onslaught of orders, but of course as luck would have it he was out helping Bokuto with a mission.

With another headache on it’s way, the young male couldn’t help but lean back into his seat as he briefly closed his eyes. It wouldn’t be long, just a simple break is all. Though that was quickly shut down as a rather familiar ‘Hey, Hey, Hey!!!’

Though it brought another onslaught of rowdiness, he couldn’t necessarily be mad as that meant his extra help had also returned. With baited breath, the male waited before the familiar sound of a coffee mug was placed down onto the table as he looked to see the younger male. 

“I apologize for being late. Bokuto-san had a...rather adventurous time.”

“That’s fine, as long as you’re back to help me get through all of this nonsense.”

The third shortest within the team

Unlike most, he’s not very fit. More so lean in comparison to the other members. 

Is usually dragged by Komi to spar and to frequent the gym more.

He’s actually one of the more stable members to be in a relationship.

Has the most ‘normal’ relationship out of the others

H̷a̷r̷u̷k̷i̷ ̷K̷o̷m̷i̷

An energetic fluff ball who honestly takes after Bokuto in almost every sense.

Aspires to be just as good of a hit man as Bokuto and in that sense, trains practically every day to get to that point.

If possible he takes as many lessons as he can from the other male.

Despite having a relatively large skill set range, his skills lie mainly in long range shots. 

Like most, he’s more of a sniper rather than a close combatant like Bokuto.

One thing for sure is that he definitely carries the same sort of psychotic tone Bokuto has in the sense of justice and being the one to deliver it to the evil that plagues the planet.

“I may not be as good as someone else when it comes to delivering justice in one swoop, but I can confidently say that you’ll be wishing that you were dealt a one shot blow to the head~!”

The cheerful tone that carried through the statement did anything but settle the victim’s heart as they looked up at the young grinning male. A sense or urgency coming from their gut as they desperately tried to escape the claws that had captured him. 

Though no matter what words they said or pleaded with, they’d of course knew that they were doomed to the onslaught of torture the young male was ready to provide.

The smallest member within the team

Similar to Bokuto, he has a rather strong build and is considered the 3rd most fit member within the group. 

Unlike Bokuto though, he prefers to not have any tattoos. He prefers to let his scars tell the stories he wants.

super loving to his s/o but can definitely be overbearing at times

he likes to try to call them as much as he can, but with his goals in mind it’s rather difficult to do. 

[nissanmaxima]

Reiner, Bertholdt, Eren, Jean, Armin and the rest of their crew sailed their ship, Titans Wrench, into the deep dark areas of the island, Pelegosto. Once they reached a river, they unloaded on to a small boat and rowed their way into a dark, damp tunnel. The lights on the side of the tunnel were dim, but bright enough for them to see that these said lights were carried by people. Women, men and children with darker skin stared into their souls, but the crew kept pushing forward.

They reached a shack at the center of the mouth of the river. Hopping out Reiner had nothing to fear,

"No worries lads! (Y/N) go way back! Thick as thieves we were! Nigh inseparable we are!"

He corrected himself,

"Were..."

Again,

"Have been..."

And again,

"Before..."

Bertholdt placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll watch your back, cap'n."

"It's me front I'm worried about. Mind the boat."

Bertholdt nodded and looked back at Jean, sending the message, who then sent it to Eren, who then sent it to Connie, who then sent it to Ymir, who then sent it to Sasha. Ignoring them, she went back to eating whatever was in her hand.

Approaching the door of the shack, Reiner peaked through the window and saw all the trinkets hanging in jars coming from the ceiling, a snake lying on a branch and lit candles were placed anywhere they could. Reiner slowly pushed the door open. Said door creaked loudly, catching (Y/N)'s attention. A smirk grew on to her face,

"Reiner Braun!"

"(Y/N)!"

"I always knew the wind was going to blow you back to me one day!"

Her smile faded once she saw Eren however,

"You..."

She completely ignored Reiner and walked past him. Eren, who was looking at her trinkets, turned his attention towards her as she continued,

"You have a touch of... Destiny about you... Eren Jaeger..."

"You know me?"

Reiner scowled as (Y/N) leaned in closer,

"You want to know me...?"

Reiner quickly ran in between the two of them before anything could happen,

"They'll be no knowing here, we've come for help and we're not leaving without it!"

Taking her away, Reiner spoke low,

"I thought I knew you..."

"Not so well as I had hoped. Come!"

Leading everyone to her work desk, she ushered them to either sit or stand, depending on where they were. She ran her fingers along Eren's face and asked,

"What service may do you...?"

Her coy smile immediately dropped and looked at Reiner,

"You know I demand payment!"

"I brought payment!"

He whistled at his crew and Connie brought forward a cage with a covering on it. Reiner smirked and removed the covering to reveal a monkey! He pulled out his gun and exclaimed,

"Look!"

He shot at it and the monkey screamed, clinging to the wall of the cage,

"An undead monkey! Top that!"

Placing the cage down, (Y/N) opened the cage and let the monkey free,

"N-no!"

The monkey ran to a back room where only the boots of another person could be seen. Bertholdt sighed,

"You've no idea how long it took us to catch that..."

"The payment is fair,"

Eren pulled out a drawing of a key. This wasn't a normal key, no. It had 2 parts and the 2 bottoms of it stuck in the opposite direction of one another,

"We're looking for this-"

(Y/N) stared down the intricate drawing of the key,

"-and what it goes to..."

(Y/N) took her attention back to Reiner,

"The compass you bartered from me, it cannot lead you to this?"

"Maybe... Why?"

(Y/N) smiled

"I hear you... Reiner Braun does not know what he wants..."

Everyone looked to their captain as she continues,

"Or... Do you know? But a loath to claim it as your own."

She sat back in her chair,

"Your key go to a chest-"

She got comfortable,

"And it is what lay inside the chest you seek... Don't it?"

Bertholdt perked up,

"What is inside?"

Connie grew curious as well,

"Gold? Jewels? Unclaimed properties of a valuable nature?"

Admin looked to the side to see a jar of eyeballs,

"Nothing... Bad I hope..."

(Y/N) leaned forward,

"You know of Davy Jones? Yes?"

They all nodded,

"A man of the sea... A great sailor... Until, he run afoul of that which vex all men..."

Eren smiled and got closer,

"What vexes all men?"

(Y/N) smiled and placed her hand on top of his,

"What indeed?"

Bertholdt, thinking he got it, spoke aloud,

"The sea?"

Then Connie,

"Sums!"

And finally Armin,

"The Dichotomy of Good and Evil..."

The other 2 men looked at Armin with confusion before Reiner rolled his eyes,

"A woman!"

(Y/N) smiled a spoke again,

"A woman! He fell in love,"

Bertholdt countered her statement,

"No, no, no I heard it was the sea he fell in love with,"

She glared at Bertholdt,

"Same story, difficult versions and all are true! See it was a woman, as changing and harsh, and untamable as the sea-"

She giggled,

"Him never stop loving her... But the pain it caused him was too much to live with... But not enough to cause him to die,"

Eren, more uncomfortable than before, asked a simple but very important question,

"What exactly did he put into the chest?"

An innocent look was on the voodoo priestess' face before she placed both hands on her chest and smiled,

"Him heart!"

Armin grew nervous,

"Literally or figuratively?"

Jean fussed at Armin,

"He couldn't literally put his heart in a chest!"

His anger soon turned into curiosity as he looked at the brown skinned woman,

"Could he...?"

She turned to the 3 men and threw her hands back, acting as if there wasn't a care in the world,

"It was not worth feeling what, small fleeting  joy life brings-"

All of the pirates eyes widened as she continued,

"-and so... Him carve out him heart... Lock it away in a chest... And hide the chest from the world,"

She gestured back to the drawing of the key,

"The key? He keep with him at ALL times..."

Eren stood up and glared at Reiner,

"You knew this!"

"I did not, I didn't know where the key was. But now we do, so all that's left is to climb aboard the Flying Dutchman, grab the key, you go back to Port Royal and save your Bonnie Lass hey!"

Reiner and his crew were about to leave before (Y/N) stood up, holding her hand out,

"Let me see your hand,"

Reiner, looking around, gave her his right hand. An intimidating look grew on her face before Reiner gave in and gave her his other hand. She gently unwrapped the dirty bandage on the captain's hand. Finally removing said bandage, Bertholdt gasped at the sight of the bubonic plague-like lesion growing on the palm of a Reiner's hand.

"The Black Spot!"

Bertholdt his shirt pockets five times, spun around one time counterclockwise on the spot and spat on the ground. His movements were quickly copied by Armin, Connie and Jean before Reiner grew annoyed,

"My eyesight is good as ever just so you know..."

(Y/N) walked into the back of her little home and the sound of items clashing, breaking and tumbling could be heard from the front. The men looked as close as they could, but they could only see the monkey whining at the feet protruding from the back room. Soon, she came back with a jar,

"Davy Jones cannot make port. Cannot step on land but once every 10 years."

Reiner's eyebrows furrowed together before getting a good look at the jar as she continues,

"Land is where you are safe, Reiner Braun, and so you will carry land with you,"

Carefully taking the jar, he examined further before talking again,

"Dirt."

He paused before continuing,

"This a jar of dirt,"

She nodded,

"Yes?"

Reiner smiled, as if questioning her sanity,

"Is the... Jar of dirt going to help?"

"If you don't want it, give it back."

Reiner hugged the jar,

"No!"

(Y/N) smiled,

"Then it helps!"

Eren, spoke up,

"It seems... We have a need to find the Flying Dutchman..."

The priestess smirked before slowly sitting and gathering what looked like junk from her desk and shook it in her hands before exclaiming,

"A touch... Of Destiny!"

———————————————————

Somehow, Eren had found himself kidnapped by Davy Jones' crewmen and held with the rest of a shipwreck crew. A hard blow to the head knocked him out, leaving dry blood to stick to his forehead. He sighed before hearing hard footsteps. Looking to his left, he had to take a second look to understand who, or what rather, he was looking at,

A man with a distinct form, his' head was replaced with something resembling an Octopus, a "beard" of forty-six tentacles hanging from his mottled, green-skinned face, a prominent sac bulged from the back of his head, which was nestled underneath a hat covered with barnacles. A siphon was seen on the left side of his face, making up for his lack of a human nose, he had a crustacean-style claw for his left arm and a long tentacle-like index finger on his right hand. His right leg resembled that of a crab, which in turn resembled a peg leg, which gave him an awkward gait, or walk.

He watched the abomination walk up to another aquatic humanoid

"Five men still alive, the rest have moved on,"

Jones' kept walking until he saw a sailor bloodied and bruised, shaking and in pain. He leaned down, putting a tobacco pipe in his mouth and lighting it with one of his tentacles. Inhaling the toxic gas, he blew the smoke in the sailor's face as he spoke,

"Do you fear death?"

The sailor nodded vigorously,

"Do you fear that dark abyss? All your deeds lay bare? All your sins punished? I can offer you... An escape..."

Another sailor interrupted him,

"Don't listen to him!"

Looking to find the voice, he noticed the necklace he was holding, with the centerpiece being the cross. He shook as well, making the cross bounce with him. Jones' stood up and walked over to the sailor. He grabbed him by the throat with his crab like hand,

"Do you not... Fear death?"

The sailor stumbled on his words before inhaling and exhaling,

"I'll take my chances, sir,"

Jones let go and looked at one of his crewmen standing behind the sailor,

"To the depths,"

The crewman nodded and lifted the sailors head. Placing the barnacle stained knife on the sailors neck, he slashed through it, letting the blood splatter out before him and another crewman tossed him overboard. Jones' walked over to the sailor from before. Another sailor spoke up through gritted teeth,

"Cruel blaggard!"

Jones turned around,

"Life is cruel-"

He knocked the pipe onto his hard crab like hand, emptying it of its dirt and grime,

"-why should the afterlife be any different?"

He looked back to the bloody sailor,

"I offer you a choice! Join my crew, and postpone the judgment! 100 years before the mast... Will ye serve?"

The sailor stuttered,

"I-I will serve!"

"T-T-There!"

Eren internally rolled his eyes. What had Reiner gotten him into this time?

———————————————————-

Foot Note: TOTALLY DIFFERENT TIME

Sitting in the brig of the dirty ship, a lullaby played from the locket she had in her hand. She sang with it,

"Cruel and cold like winds and the sea

Will you ever return to me?

Hear my voice, sing with the tide

My love will never die"

(Y/N) closed the locket and ceased her singing, clutching the locket to her chest, she sighed. All was quiet until she heard another locket from the outside of the brig, it played the same tune but differently. She stood up and walked to the bars and clutched them. She immediately knew who it was,

"My sweet..."

Footsteps walked in her direction,

"You come for me!"

The footsteps belonged to a male,

"You were expecting me?"

"It has been torture... Trapped in this... Single form! Cut off from the sea... From all that I love... From you..."

The male voice grew stronger and more aggressive,

"10 years I devoted to the duty you charged to me-"

Her smile dropped,

"10 years I looked after those who died at sea-"

She looked down, turning her attention to the floor of the ship,

"And finally, when we could be together again, you weren't there,"

He shut the locket with force as he spoke to her with gritted teeth,

"Why. Weren't. You. There?"

(Y/N) looked up at him and a small smile formed on her face before shaking her head,

"It's my nature,"

He flinched before letting her continue,

"Would you love me, if I was anything but what I am?"

The man snarled before walking away from her, still close to the bars of the cell,

"I do not... Love you,"

She slowly followed behind him before speaking cautiously,

"Many thing you were Davy Jones, but never cruel, you have corrupted your purpose..."

She looked him up and down before continuing,

"And so yourself... And you did hide away, what should always have been mine-"

She snuck her hand through the bars and placed them on his stomach. He gasped as his appearance went back to his true and former self. He had black hair, blueish grey eyes, bags underneath them. He had pale skin and regular hands, his feet were back to normal, no peg leg, just boots, his sword was clean, no barnacles, no slime, no dirt and grime. His eyebrows furrowed as tears filled his eyes, but wouldn't dare let them spill over. He breathed out her true name as he touched her cheek through the bars,

"Calypso..."

She leaned into his touch and smiled before returning back to a serious look,

"I will be free. And when I am, I will give you my heart. And we would be together always..."

But, she took her hand away from his face and his appearance went back to his cursed horrendous form from before,

"If only you had a heart to give..."

His expression turned to anger as his crab like hand was stuck on her side of the gate. He reach out and wrapped the claw around her throat. She gasped and asked him with a shaky voice,

"Why did you come?"

He thought about it. Why did he come? Did he come to free her? No. She'd then know who really betrayed her. Had he come to tell her what he truly felt? No. He's never let that side of him show, she forced it out of him. He stared at her before truly remembering why he came to see her. To kill her. To get rid of her once and for all and never hold the guilt from betraying her ever again.

Coming back to reality, he let go of her neck and tried to pull his claw like hand from her side of the bars. Seeming impossible, he sighed. She looked at him before remembering what he could really do. She watched as he walked through the prison bars and looked down at her,

"And what fate have you planned, for your captors?"

"The brethren court?!"

She walked past him and to the front of the prison, gripping the bars with force,

"The last thing they will learn in this life, is how CRUEL I can be,"

He sighed once she finished. Before he could vanish, she asked him something,

"And what of your fate?"

She paused,

"Levi Ackerman?"

He looked back at her,

"My heart will always belong to you..."

She watched him disappear into the ship. She turned around and hugged the bars with a smile on her face...

——-

Hi yeah it’s been a while I’m sorry I’ve been super stressed out but I’m back with a crossover I’ve been dying to do

[aprofessionalwithoutstandards]

I got my own gears turning and you're all gonna hafta deal with that for a bit sorry. Little breakdown of how morals and ethics and villainy and all that are treated in the tf2 expanded universe, presented as tiers of ascending villainy:

All of the mercs are amoral, murderous, "bad people", because they are video game characters. The standard real-world ethics that could be ascribed to people who kill people for money cannot apply to the tf2 guys, because it inherently removes tf2 from its original context as a comedy shooter video game. Some characters like Heavy and Sniper are mentioned as killing "bad men", but not every character is given this depth. Scout just kills people, and Scout is not treated as "evil" by the text. Killing someone, in the tf2 universe, does not make someone "bad". All the mercs plus Pauling are shown killing people, and they're still understood to be "good" (the comic Mostly shows them killing robots, a common action media cop-out to avoid having your characters kill real people, but they do kill tfc team members, who are human, and also you're meant to understand that they were still mercs before the robots, regardless of how little logical sense that makes in a non-video game format).

Even among the mercs, Medic is considered particularly "evil", more violent, and more sadistic (even though I think they're all sadists, but you know). Medic is "evil", but yknow, in a fun way! He's off-putting but not morally reprehensible. This is Somewhat because of his team allegiance, he's someone who you want to have on your side, but even when he's briefly with the tfc team in the main comic he's never treated as an actual antagonist, someone to be defeated and overcome. That's just how he looks when he smiles! Smug and evil!

I'd put both Admin and Hale in this tier between Good Guy(tm) and Bad Guy(tm). Admin is described in multiple official capacities as "evil", she's clearly "villainous" in her design and diction, but she's not an antagonist in a storytelling sense. She's an evil boss of a mysterious company and she loves war, but the tf2 mercs Also all love war so it's not really that big a deal for them. Hale is also shown to be pretty shitty - he makes intentionally bad products that break, he makes the mercs pay for their own weapons even though he's employing them, he almost quite literally kicks puppies except replace "kicks" with "punches" and "puppies" with "panthers" - like I said, he's like a cross between a dumb jock and a money-grubbing capitalist. Neither of these characters are really antagonists that need to be defeated or overcome. They're shitty, they're evil, they get in the way, they're mean to Miss Pauling, they blew up a monkey and then sold commemorative plates about it, but I wouldn't consider either of them "the villains of the Team Fortress series" or anything like that. I would probably put Redmond and Blutarch in a tier slightly below this one, but I don't have much to say about them.

I'd consider the "villains" of the series to be Gray Mann, the tfc team in the comic, and Merasmus sometimes but this isn't about her. The tfc team are antagonists really only in that they get in the way of the protagonists. As established, being a mercenary and killing people does not make someone a "bad person" in the tf2 universe, so it can't be that they kill people, but that they kill the tf2 mercs specifically. I think this is a fine moral code for a comedy video game comic where a guy gives birth to a baboon to have. It doesn't hold up to a lot of scrutiny, but that's fine. Gray Mann is similarly an antagonist in that he disrupts the status quo and like. is a cool excuse to have there be robots because Valve wanted a non-pvp mode for tf2. Again, although this kind of morality doesn't hold a lot of water in an even remotely serious context (is wanting eternal life good or bad? Is only Admin allowed to have and/or want it? Why?), I think it's fine for the funny hat game

All this villain talk does of course bring up the question of the hour, which is "isn't Admin the main antagonist of tf2?" and it's like... well, is she? I think Admin is definitely considered "evil" by the text, probably even moreso than a character like Medic who is also treated as "evil" by the text in a way that the other mercs are not, but whether or not she's actively an "antagonist" or a "villain" is debatable. We really don't see enough of her to be able to make any claims like that, but from what we do see in the mainline comic I think she's in a sort of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" role, much like Hale (who in previous update comics and even installations of the main comic is not characterized as a hero but as a combination of a big dumb jock and a profit-driven businessman who sells bad products on purpose because he wants money), rather than a straight "villain" role. Pauling's continued allegiance to Admin is not villified in the same way Medic's temporary allegiance to the tfc team and ostensibly Gray Mann is, because Admin is not a villain in the same way that the tfc team and ostensibly Gray and the robots are. There are other storylines where Admin is decidedly the antagonist, of course, most notably the WAR! update and that comic, where she deliberately drove that wedge between Demo and Soldier, but the mainline comic doesn't treat her as an antagonist, because she doesn't get in the way of anyone's goals, because most of the tf2 characters as presented in the comics do not have large-scale goals besides "fight robot"

I think an important caveat to add in this kind of lore analysis is that the tf2 comic is supplemental bonus material for tf2 the video game, which is reliant on these characters continuously shooting each other in a gravel pit for the rest of time. It's tf2's status as a video game that makes "Admin being in charge and the human mercs being used to fight the gravel war forever" the desired outcome of the tf2 comic. This isn't to say that this kind of analysis is useless, I think it's a lot of fun actually, but I do think this is an important footnote to add before anyone gets too tangled up trying to think out the logistics here

[staytheb]

dragon bride [xiaxue and sicheng]

Word Count: 1,289 Summary:  how the two react and behave around the other and the likes.

dragon bride masterlist.

tbh, i based this on a few things like Once Upon A Time starring Yang Yang and Liu Yifei. another one with Aaron Yan’s mv song for That’s Not Me and some other things when i went researching. gosh, so much dynasties to go through and read about to make sure it fit somewhere with what the original author had set it in. i honestly don’t remember and can’t access as the story itself has disappeared, Admin Lia~

IMMORTAL/MORTAL NAME : 蚩吻; Chīwěn / 思成; Sīchéng TRUE FORM : fish and dragon hybrid Sīchéng is the third born son of the Dragon King and is known as the Ridge-Swallowing Beast as he likes to swallow things, but also because his figures are placed on ridgepoles of roofs to swallow all evil influences. He is also in charge of rainfall and so his dragon design has the purpose of safeguarding palaces from fire.

NICKNAME(S) FOR HIM : Xiàxuě hardly called Sīchéng by his mortal name and would always address him with his immortal name if he wanted to be named at the start of their relationship. Because for her it felt weird to Xiàxuě to call him by just his name as it's mainly due to his very high status and that she was brought up to be respectful. Of course this irked Sīchéng despite telling Xiàxuě otherwise. Over time it's gotten better though, but every now and then Xiàxuě would call him Chīwěn without thinking.

▸ Zhǔ (主) : Lord ▸ Géxià (阁下) : Excellency ▸ Fūjūn (夫君) : Husband (when he doesn't like the other two) ▸ Xiānshēng (先生) : Man of the House (husband per se) ▸ Lǎogōng (老公) : Yue dialect of saying husband ▸ ChéngChéng (成成) : just the second part of his name doubled (when they've become closer and she's able to call him this without hesitating to do so)

NICKNAME(S) FOR HER : because of the names that Xiàxuě would call him by Sīchéng calls her by the same other names out of pettiness as well despite it being out of character for him too since she insists on using the other names than his own. Later on though it does get better.

▸ Xiàyǔ (下雨) : Raining (similar to her real name meaning Snowing, but clearly wrong and on purpose) ▸ Fūrén (夫人) : "Wife" (refers her to this when she calls him Fūjūn) ▸ Tàitài (太太) : Lady of the House (wife per se) ▸ Lǎopó (老婆) : Yue dialect of saying wife ▸ XuěXuě (雪雪) : just the second part of her name doubled (when they've become closer and when she starts calling him ChéngChéng) ▸ YǔYǔ (雨雨) : just like above and the second part of her supposed name doubled (it later becomes more of an endearment and is something that refreshes him to which she doesn’t mind over time)

PERSONALITY : Being the third son and one of the oldest of nine brothers, Sīchéng is able to handled things quite well. Especially, when things go wrong or when problems arises or suffering occurs without being anxious or annoyed by them and accepts it as it comes. This makes Sīchéng appear to have a modest nature and that he isn't any better than another despite his own status. Due to this, Sīchéng is able to keep a watchful eye out for any potential danger or difficulties that may occur when he's out and about. As Sīchéng takes precaution in the safety of others and is quite a capable person. His unchanging attitude and action holds firmly over time and hardly ever deviates.

Which could explain why Sīchéng isn't as expressive as one may think and tends to have a blank expression upon his face. He isn't shy or anything, but he does have a gaze that is hard to connect with. Then again, it's just how he is and Sīchéng rarely cracks a smile in the presence of others unless with those that know him very well.  Because to outsiders and those that do not know him very well find Sīchéng to be mysterious and difficult to interpret. As much as others, especially from his brothers, would like for Sīchéng to be more verbal or expressive he prefers to let the actions speak for themselves. Truth be told in all honesty, Sīchéng does have a curiously quaint side to him that's slightly mischievous when the moment for it to occur happens without much thought on his end. Again, a rare sight.

Despite Sīchéng's modest nature and still being seen as approachable, Sīchéng's not that forthcoming and often tends to keep to himself in a formal, cool, and distant manner from others. Which causes confusion for others that do interact with Sīchéng when they get the chance to as his actions and how he goes about doing things in a consistent manner, but the meaning behind them is unclear and indefinite. Also factoring in that he hardly talks unless he feels the needs to. Even if others or his brothers persuade Sīchéng to change his ways or attitude of going about it different, he won't as he holds his own ground on his own stance. If others continue to insist and become persistent when Sīchéng's has stated otherwise, his temper will get the best of him. He would like to avoid this at all cost because he's not sure how he will behave and the aftermath is indescribably iffy.

CHARACTER RELATIONSHIP :

▸ Sīchéng honestly really couldn't care any less for what his Dragon Bride may look like or of the background that she may come from. Sīchéng has his own needs and hopes that his Dragon Bride will be able to follow through with what she has agreed to. As for Xiàxuě she isn't sure what to think of except for the stories of the Dragon King being merciful and hopes that his son will be similar. Xiàxuě just hopes it's a life she'll be able to get used to. ▸ Sīchéng isn't disappointed with Xiàxuě at all honestly. He's quite happy to know that she isn't that talkative either and keeps to herself like himself. It's her appearance to someone of his past that shocks him the most, but he never mentions it. As for Xiàxuě she's intimidated by Sīchéng's strong aura and that he's very handsome. Honestly speaking, Xiàxuě was imagining him with scales all over his body along with a fish tail and dragon whiskers. Something like how the Monkey King looks like.

CHARACTER INTERACTIONS :

▸ Sīchéng isn't really sure of what to do with Xiàxuě despite the obvious reason. Although Sīchéng knows that he holds Xiàxuě's fate in his hand, but he doesn't want to force it. It's not in his nature to do so. Sīchéng actually gives Xiàxuě space and time to adjust to her new life. Xiàxuě doesn't see Sīchéng for several days. At first she thinks he's avoiding her, but learns that he only wants her to grow accustom to her new living arrangements. They really don't interact directly, but indirectly through their servants. Sīchéng and Xiàxuě hardly see one another at the start of it all. ▸ It's actually quite slow really as time goes by. Sīchéng has all of these centuries of wisdom and knowledge, but none of which to interact or deal with a mortal woman. While Xiàxuě only has the years of what she lived so far and a majority of her life she only had her father as a prominent male figure and of course her neighbor,  Yú Gāo , which she doesn't find is relevant at all. Other than that Xiàxuě becomes bored,  curious, and with nothing to do like what she does back at home so Xiàxuě explores Sīchéng's house. Xiàxuě happens to chance upon his library as well as a music room. One of which isn't frequent as often as the other and she spends a majority of her time in the music room. Sīchéng discovers Xiàxuě there one day and hearing the music flow within his home seems to stir the air and fill it up. Everything goes into motion after that day and the two interact more often. Sīchéng expects to hear something being played when he comes home and Xiàxuě doesn't disappoint as she feels like she is now at home.

[hellyeahheroes]

Well it was only a matter of time before Marvel does throwbacks to Acts of Vengeance, assuming that’s what it is. I’m also not sure HOW they plan to do a throwback to Acts of Vengeance when nowadays all but X-Men villains and sometimes Spider-Man ones seem to be free to grab for anyone and most heroes no longer have strict rogues galleries. And with current Marvel being what it is I dread to think how they’re gonna do this because I fear it will just be another unnecessary slaughter of good characters so that boring A-Listers can feel sad.

And of course, there is the fact this happens the same year we have a huge ass horrible event by Jason Aaron, upcoming huge ass horrible event by Donny Cates and few other events only makes me even less excited even if I wanted AoV II. Monkey’s paw wish, again.

Still, if this is the next Acts of Vengeance, let’s try to be positive. What hero vs villain match-ups you want to see?

- Admin

[drferox]

How do you feel about the way Greencross is seemingly trying to build a monopoly of vet practices in Australia? Concerning, or not as alarming as people think it is?

Mate, I have many potent, insider opinions about GreenX and the rise of corporate medicine. I have been considering writing on this topic for a while, but now seems as good a time as any.

But first, full disclosure of where I stand within the veterinary industry. I am an associate veterinarian, which means I work in a practice but don’t own it, and I work two jobs. My full time job is in private practice owned by a single vet who actually works there. My casual job is at an emergency center, owned by GreenX. I have also done relief work at a GreenX clinic.

And frankly, the more I work for GreenX, the more it makes me cheer on worker-owned co-ops.

GreenX is just one of the multi-practice corporate vet chains which are popping up not just in Australia, but overseas. GreenX is just the largest and is actually on the stock exchange. You can buy shares in GreenX. That means GreenX is accountable to its shareholders and expected to make a healthy profit.

GreenX owns large numbers of vet practices across Australia, but also owns all the Animal Emergency Centers, all the Petbarn brand pet stores, an external veterinary diagnostic laboratory, at least one crematorium, a number of specialist hospitals and runs the admin side for at least one university teaching hospital.

It also currently operates a ‘Healthy Pets Plus’ program, where for just $450 a year you can get free consults, and is working on bringing out its own pet insurance line.

How are you feeling about this? A little uneasy?

I have concerns about a monopoly, because in my neck of the woods GreenX owns the 4 closest 24 hour emergency vet clinics, in addition to all the others around the city, so I don’t really have much of a choice where to send my patients. They also own quite a lot of the general practices in my local region, so that’s hard to compete with.

For a few years there, they also sent a letter to my boss every year offering to buy his practice. Just a form letter, which I assume they sent out to lots of practices in a similar way.

They pay for all their vet employees to be Australian Veterinary Association members, which grants us all a voice and vote in relevant matters, but not to receive the Australian Veterinary Journal. I don’t know whether GreenX gets corporate discounts for signing up so many members. This makes me uneasy because Banfield in the USA, which is owned by Mars, financially rewards its employees for taking up leadership positions with the various representative organizations over there. Which means if it ever comes up, corporation is paying for a lot of people to be there if an important vote ever comes up…

I mean, I’m not a conspiracy nut, but I’m not exactly happy.

But that is the corporation side, the people on the ground are not the corporation. They are by and large decent vets and nurses hamstrung by the corporate rules they’re obliged to follow. For some this works out fine, particularly in their early years. They have a structured training plan and can see where to advance in the corporation. It provides a willing buyer for a practice owner who might otherwise have been unable to receive the price they were seeking (another issue for another day). It has removed some of the management stress from vets in many clinics and dispersed it, allowing a pool of locums to be drawn from to fill in absences.

Doing so has added a lot of middle management and a lot of red tape. They are frequently recruiting at industry events, and promoting their chain at events like the Dog Lovers Show.

Working on the ground as one of their casual emergency vets I am profoundly dissatisfied. Considering we are supposed to be a top of the line intensive care clinic some of my complaints and concerns have included:

The introduction of Healthy Pets Plus robbing the clinic of its emergency consult fee ($165) and crediting only $10 to our ‘income’ for that month.

Then having the gall to turn around and say that because we are not making as much money this quarter as we used to, our budget is reduced.

Not offering staff a worthwhile wage to do night shift, so unable to retain them very long.

Not paying emergency nurses anything above the award wage (minimum wage for the industry), even if they have been employed at that practice multiple years.

Nowhere to advance unless you pursue a position in management.

Not granting even a cost of living pay rise (in line with inflation) despite meeting expected profit targets for three years.

Telling employees they are not allowed to discuss their wages with each other, which I’m pretty damn sure is illegal and is definitely shady.

Not paying superannuation properly.

Not paying vets and nurses in management positions their backpay in a timely manner.

Making it ridiculously difficult to access your payslips to see if you were paid properly.

Needing to get approval months in advance to order extra stock for busy times of year

Watching the sheer stress of being a manager at these clinics wear good people down to the bone or brink of madness.

Once GreenX has bought into a practice, it’s nearly impossible to get rid of them.

Acquiring a practice and promising ‘nothing will change’, that all the things we like will stay the same. Only to change those things, slowly, over the following 3-5 years to match the other clinics in the chain.

Mandatory tea break.

I have also listened to management-types of GreenX make arguments for having unpaid internships in general practice for newly graduated veterinarians, for 12 weeks.

And just about lost my banana over it.

Unpaid. For Twelve weeks. Straight after graduation where they’ve qualified as veterinarians.

Oh hell no.

Interns typically get paid less anyway, and a new grad vet wage isn’t all that much. But they wanted to pay nothing for the first 3 months.

Why? Because new graduate vets are not profitable at the start, they typically cost the practice money as they get themselves established. Everyone knows this, it’s part of the deal when you take on a new grad.

Having to work 3 months straight out of uni for zero pay is insane, it’s almost murderous, and it’s simply evil. This plan was ripe for abuse.

It was also vocally shouted down at the PANPAC conference where it was suggested, thankfully, but these are non-vet, corporate types of people trying to run a series of vet practices for profit.

I just want to be the friendly neighborhood vet on the corner, you know? Just local, quality service where I can get to know the pets over time, and schoolkids aren’t afraid to bring in an injured bird if they find one in the playground. To be part of that community.

And this is what most vet practices have been. You own your job, you don’t need to make a massive profit, just enough to keep doing what you want to do.

But now GreenX has shareholders. The business owners are not on the ground with the rest of us. I have concerns and I don’t like it.

That is not to be negative to those working for Greencross, the boots on the ground that are probably not being treated as well as they should, but need a job to keep the lights on. For some the structure suits them. For some it’s just a job. It is the team on the ground that is the only reason I started working for them in the first place, and stayed.

But do I wish it was something other than GreenX? Yes.

UPDATE: I’d like to contribute in this discussion some ‘advice’ that was shared on Facebook. Members of this particular group are warned to be careful what they post as it’s not a private group and anybody can take a screenshot, so I think that’s fair game.

I do not like this. I do not like this at all. I can’t even tell if it’s satire or trolling, because it’s too close to the truth.

Not only does it make it look like it’s now all about the money (which it is, for the shareholders) it reduces veterinary medicine to a numbers game. By this metric, a ‘good vet’ is one that earns $300 per consult, and twice as much of their billing comes from lab fees as consult fees. They also admit almost a third of their consults.

Doesn’t matter if clients like them, if they solve cases or achieve good medical outcomes. All the qualitative stuff is gone, just the dollar values.

(Oh, and if you meet those metrics, you’re in no way guaranteed to get a pay rise. From experience).

Now it is entirely possible to meet those metrics just by working your cases appropriately and seeing a lot of them, but thinking like this pushes vets, especially young vets who want a pay rise so they can afford their own car, home, etc, to be thinking of the dollars and not the animal or client as they practice.

Maybe I am old fashioned or a dying breed during the rise of corporate veterinary medicine, but I am profoundly uncomfortable with this. Worse, it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, and a strong feeling of this is not my veterinary medicine.

I am heartened to see most of the comments on that thread from angry, like-minded vets insulted at being reduced to ‘trained monkeys’ and focusing on these metrics instead of patient outcomes and client satisfaction, but as GreenX picks up more and more young vets, training them to fit its mold, I am afraid of more of them being modeled into what GreenX wants, or becoming disillusioned and leaving the profession early.

[ciaossu-imagines]

Admin prompt 13 and w, m, k, j?

Of course, anon dear! Thank you for your interest in boring old me and I hope my answers entertain you!

W - 5 favorite characters from 5 different fandoms

John Steinbeck from Bungou Stray Dogs

Other than the fact that I love the author he’s based off of, I really can’t come up with any reason that I like him as much as I do...I just do. I can’t explain but he’s just a really interesting character and I’m always excited to see him in the chapters!

Garou from One Punch Man

He’s one of the few examples of sympathetic villain done extremely well. You can’t help but feel for him and the fact that he really, even while targeting the Hero Association, wasn’t evil makes you root for him. He’s just such an angry boy, a confused boy and I love him.

Raimon ‘Monta’ Tarou from Eyeshield 21

If I started listing reasons for this one, I’d write an essay. I love him; he’s my little monkey king and if I could marry a fictional character, this would be the one.

Tamaki Amajiki from Boku no Hero Academia

I actually suffer from anxiety as well and it’s really nice to see an anxious character appear in a show or manga I really love, especially when they’re showcased as positively as Tamaki is!

Dr. Theo from Gangsta.

He’s just really badass.

M - Your favorite fanart or fanartist

@hyphen1582, @8bitribbit, @variavollerei, @reinarius, @chenkariart

All these are into various fandoms I enjoy but they’re all insanely talented!

K - How do you feel about the other people in your current fandom

I love them and wish there was more of them! Honestly, if I wasn’t so shy, I’d want to talk to and befriend all of them!

J - Name a fandom you didn’t care/think about until you saw it all over tumblr

This is initially the only reason I started reading Boku no Hero Academia and the only reason I ever watched Voltron!

[haiky-u-lously]

Red is writing again part 2!

Here we go again. Another new fic from Admin Red despite her lack of being able to get on here. To repeat, any comments will be sent her way and I will reply with her answers. Thanks for understanding.

--Green

Workout-Terushima Yuji

“Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!” You laughed, tugging your reluctant boyfriend away from the car and towards a starting point on the track. “It’s not that bad, I promise!”

He eyed you untrustingly.

“Pretty please?” You dropped the edging and excited girlfriend act and played the pouting puppy.

Your catch of partner smiled graciously at you, as if his only desire was to make you happy.

“Of course, anything my (Y/N) wants for their birthday, they get.” He huffed out, waving his hand dismissively.

Smiling in triumph, you clapped, “Awesome!”

Thirty minutes later found both you and your boyfriend huffing in exhaustion.

“Love, while I realize what I said earlier is still going to be held over my head, is there any way I could convince you to just want to play on that playground right there?”

You glanced towards the monkey bars, and memories of excitedly climbing around them as a child crept through your train of thought. Disrupting the breathing you were trying to master and sending you into a coughing fit.

“Yea, no that’s it. This just running thing wasn’t meant for us.” Terushima smiled at you, “Guess you’ll have to work out like normal today.”

Laughing you pulled your phone close to check your counter, “But Yuji! I still have 4.5km to go for my goals for the day.”

“Well can’t we play and do that at the same time? And, who said it had to be running, love? Huh? Because I would love to teach them a lesson in how to avoid that god forsaken act.”

The smile he presented was so contagious it had you pedaling to hold your senses.

“Besides, don’t you have that Pokémon game that tracks your ‘walking’? Can’t you have that pulled up while we have fun? Then you can catch your beloved virtual creatures, get your work out and enjoy yourself all at the same time.” His eyes squinting above the large grin overtaking his features had you sold.

Nodding with your smile mirroring his, you let your childlike boyfriend lead you towards the playground.

_______

“Look (Y/N). It’s that flaming horse you like!” Yuji expressed, looking over your shoulder and pointing at the screen in your hands.

Nodding, you tapped on the Ponyta, and jumped into a flip to hang upside down on the upper bar. Grinning as the thrown pokeball caught its mark and starred* in success. Giving your phone to your boyfriend holding your feet with one arm, you began your attempt at upside-down crunches.

Terushima had done this so easily, you figured you at least had a shot at attempting it, but after four sit ups, you felt like your stomach was crushing you and you had to twist off the bar to stand back up right.

Before you even realized it, you boyfriend was hanging your phone just out of arms reach, teasing that you couldn’t match him if your life depended on it.

Sneering behind your keen grin, you dared him to try saying it again.

“You couldn’t—”

At your lunge he ran off cackling, your phone still clearly in his hand.

“Oh, come on birthday kid. What your old age pulls out all the fun out of you already?”

Shaking your head out, the evil smile that came across your features was enough to tell him he hooked you once more.

You chased him around the playground for what felt like forever, finally catching him off guard by jumping from the jungle gym, to giving you an impromptu piggy back ride.

His concern in keeping you both upright, giving you just enough time to steal your phone, plant a very sloppy kiss along his cheek and run away before he caught what hit him.

You kept this back and forth going for quite some time, and before you knew it you phone was buzzing with all the notifications you’d set to remind you when you needed to start heading home.

Calming your breath alongside him, Terushima pulled you in for a tight side embrace. Showing both how he wanted you close and respected the need for cool air on both your bodies.

“Yuji! Look! All that equated to over 10km of running compared to this stupid app!”

He smiled down at you, “Told ya we’d have to teach that guy a thing or two about how to workout for distances.”

Reaching the car and jacking up the air conditioning had you succumbing to the cool artificial air. “God this feels good.”

“Bet, I could make you feel better,” His wink told you he was still looking to be playful.

Hiding the blush behind your own tease, you playfully hit his shoulder. “As if. I’d have you in a puddle of goo before you’d get to half this level.”

He leaned over and pressed an excited kiss along your lips. “Happy birthday, love.”

Smiling back at him, you pushed him back into his seat.

Giving your boyfriend a quick peck before sitting straight and putting the car in motion to get you home to test both of your theories.

________________________________________________

[master-tonberry]

Since the weekend is upon us, you probably won't hear from me as it's booked (as usual wah wah), so I'll try and make this ask good.

As soon as I read Alias Grace, I immediately reread it. Margaret Atwood, without exaggeration, changed my life. Now I will definitely try out Sheri S. Tepper!

Yes!!! Goonies never say diiiiiiiiiiiiiiie! I went to Astoria just to visit the filming locations and even got to touch the ORV (and the bullet holes haha). Your taste is immaculate, mbbdarling! The LOTR movies are my all-time favorites.

You don't have to say your age specifically, but are you also a child of the 80s or maybe the 90s?

You have really lived a lot! So super cool. My uncle was also a pilot, though he was always US-based. I have been to Germany a couple of times, too. We have family there, and I also majored in German in college. It holds the most special place in my heart.

I suspected you were a fantasy-lover, so maybe I was being rather sneaky there as all four of those genres are my faves. I couldn't lose! //evil laughter//

SORCHA. IS. LIFE. As we rewatched it this past weekend, it hit me--she's probably the reason why I'm obsessed with and drawn to curly redheads.

Speaking of hair, are you a long or short hair person? You have a fave hair color? (I've dyed my hair red for the last 20 years, and I'll probably dye it until I go gray--I also love all-gray hair.)

I can't talk about Lee Scoresby... </3 I am also a profound lover of Iorek Byrnison, though I revile that damn golden monkey. //clenches fist//

You like video games like my bestie does! I am not a gamer--I love watching others play--with two exceptions: Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. The only two video games I ever loved. :)

Those are SOLID tropes. I love those, too! Found family goes hand-in-hand with quests, which you already know I love. Nothing beats a good ensemble of characters.

I'd probably end up being the leader, I guess, so I'm coming to you, my consigliere, for all the plans and schematics. I will trust in your fastidious nature to lead us safely to the dragon's hoard!

Okay, more nosy questions time.

If you were an animal, what would you be:

Dream job:

House, apartment, cabin, or treehouse:

And back to MX--

Favorite MX photoshoot/aesthetic:

Favorite Hyungwon hairstyle:

Favorite Jooheon hairstyle:

(Examples are always appreciated *wink wink*)

Have the best weekend, mbbdarling! Take good care of yourself and smile lots!

NO. WAY. Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross are my all time favorite games 😂 I'm starting to think we're the same person!! I almost cried when I found out that they had finally re-released Chrono Cross for the PS4, I'm just about to start getting relics from the dragons.

I was a short hair person all through high school and most of my early 20s but I have been a long hair person for years now. I had it down to my butt at one point but I recently gave myself a long wolfcut just before my partner and I went to see Ateez. I've had it so many colors (I was a punk back in the day, so I've always liked dying it) but it is currently fire engine red and I think I'll keep it that way for a while. I also recently did a blue to purple ombre, half neon green and half black, half pink and half blue (that was for Seventeen!), and all black.

Okay questions time!

What Animal Would You Be: Definitely some kind of corvid. I identify too strongly with bluejays, but crows are also excellent.

Dream Job: I actually love the job I have right now (which I won't be specific about for privacy reasons, but its an admin position) but I secretly always wanted to have a self-sufficient farm and a little shop where I could sell handmade candles and soaps and handspun and dyed yarn lol

House, Apartment, Cabin, or Treehouse: Okay it's not practical at all but I would absolutely love to live in a treehouse like the ones that they have in Hook. But since that would never ever happen in a million years, a cabin in the woods is the ideal.

Favorite MX Aesthetic: Okay look. I really really love the Shootout jumpsuits. Jooheon especially looks super hot in them.

Favorite Hyungwon Hair: THE GRAY HAIR AKDKKSKAKZKSKAK LOOK AT HIM

Favorite Jooheon Hair: I mean, he invented having blond hair soooooo...

Look at this man, he's so gorgeous???? How???

I hope you have a great weekend!! 💗

[clictadigital]

21 Questions To Ask A Prospective SEO Agency (End)

11. How do you store passwords? Good Answer:  “You can give us admin access to anything - that way we don’t need your passwords. For any passwords we do store, we use LastPass”

Bad Answer: “I just use them once and let the browser remember”

Working with an SEO company invariably means that you’ll end up sharing some confidential data with them. Asking how they plan to protect that data ensures you have an understanding of how much they care about the details.

The correct answer to the storing passwords question is something like LastPass or another secure online program.

The wrong answer is on a spreadsheet or password protected hard drive, because spreadsheets can get hacked and hard drives can get stolen.

It could cause seriously bad damage to your business’s reputation if your SEO company inadvertently let your confidential data out into the world through lax security procedures.

12. Do you manage PPC (Pay Per Click)? Good Answer:  “Sometimes - getting the balance right between the budget for SEO and PPC can be a difficulty”

Bad Answer: “Yes! Google just bought us all jet-skis… but don’t worry, it won’t cloud our judgement”

Taking money for paid clicks while being paid for activity which improves a clients’ organic search rankings is a tough balance. We’ve never been able to make it sit comfortably, so Noisy Little Monkey avoids the problem altogether and partners with one of the country's most respected PPC agencies. Keeps us all focused!

However, If your new SEO agency does manage PPC, you need to know how they will wean you off spending on Google AdWords as your organic traffic grows.

Let’s say you spend £3,000 a month on AdWords - you’ll see huge results. But because it’s an auction (you bid on the price you’re willing to pay per click) - bidding will inevitably go up and eventually you’ll have to spend more money to get the same amount of website visitors. You might initially get thousands of visitors, but that will dwindle away to nothing unless you start spending even more on PPC.

With SEO it’s the other way round. You might not see many results organically to begin with, but they should continue to rise once they get started.

It’s very tempting to not invest in this foundational period of SEO because the results aren’t as good as PPC to begin with, but if you want that long-term return on investment you’ve got to do it. Get it right and in a year or so, you won’t pay Google as much and for very little money you’ll get loads of  “free” traffic from organic search results.

13. How do you choose the keywords? Good Answer:  “First we think about your potential customer …”

Bad Answer: “Google AdWords Keyword Planner and Keyword Shitter 2”

Primarily the answers you want to hear should include the word ‘people’ and your ‘buyer personas’, rather than them talking solely about keyword planning tools. As good as those tools are (and to be honest, Keyword Shitter 2 is a bit of a loose cannon), they’re only tools.

A good SEO thinks about who your potential customers are and what they’re typing into Google. Then, once they’ve thought about those phrases, a great SEO looks for the “search terms” (keywords strung together which become phrases typed into Google) where your website can beat the competition and get some decent visibility on Google.

A poor SEO using just keyword suggestion tools and little or no imagination will likely recommend building content clusters around search terms that have no real involvement in your user’s buying process.

Typically, if your SEO doesn’t talk about buyer personas or potential customers, they’re not going to be very commercially aware.

14. How do you do link building? Good Answer:  “We don’t do link building. Link building is bad.”

Bad Answer: “We’ve got this amazing system that keeps us one step ahead of Google”

The best answer is that your SEO company will work with you to create amazing content and then outreach to relevant people in the sector to get them to read it. If the content is wonderful, it will naturally acquire links because people love to share useful, unique resources.

If your SEO agency tells you that for £500 they can get you 500 links then run for the hills! Spammy link building is a terrible strategy and your website will almost certainly suffer a penalty from Google at some point. You will lose face and possibly your ability to pay the mortgage,

15. How much involvement would you want in the CRO (Conversion Rate Optimisation)? Good Answer:  “If we can, we’d love to be involved - sometimes the results for the client are quicker and better than simply driving more web visitors”

Bad Answer: “We’re all about the traffic, baby.”

Let’s say you’re getting 100 visitors a day to your website right now, and you get one order per day - that’s a 1% conversion rate.

It might cost you £1,000 of SEO to get 200 visitors to your website, but before you spend your budget it might be worth checking if there’s anything you can to do improve the user journey on your website.

Sometimes a task as simple as moving and simplifying a form can double a conversion rate. Which in our example is now a conversion rate of 2%. That’s 2 orders per day.

Which means that for every 100 visitors you now get two orders and it didn’t cost you a penny on SEO.

Before you dive in and spend loads on growing traffic, the best SEOs should suggest ways in which you can improve conversion rates with the traffic you already receive.

16. Assuming there is an ongoing relationship, how often will we meet? Good Answer:  “It would be good to meet once a quarter… speak on the phone weekly”

Bad Answer: “We don’t need to meet - this is the internet!”

Meeting with a geeky SEO bod every week is a bit too much for most of us and your SEO won’t enjoy it too much either.

A quick catch up call every week, a conference call for an hour every month to discuss how things are going, and then a quarterly strategy meeting is about where you want to be.

17. WHAT ABOUT BING?? Good Answer:  “Well, it gets about 20% of search traffic so we don’t ignore it but we primarily make your website work on Google”

Bad Answer: “Bing, Yahoo, Dogpile, Altavista, Hotbot - we do all the SEOs”

In truth, sometimes it’s better to focus on Bing - but it’s quite rare.

18. What is your experience in multi-lingual SEO? Good Answer:  “We have offices in <cities where you also have offices>”

Bad Answer: “Why bother? The international language of trade is English”

When you’re engaging a company to help with multi-lingual SEO you should be looking for an agency with offices in the territories where you wish to target because they’re much more likely to understand the cultural differences, in addition to the linguistic ones. “Mother tongue nationals”, as they’re called in translation circles, also know what idioms work in their native language and which will end up as confusing word mangles.

Also - anyone who believes that because the international language of trade is English they have the right to be so impolite as to not bother to learn the language of their potential customer probably voted UKIP in the last election. As such they are the personification of evil and should be avoided at all costs.

19. What conferences do you attend? Good Answer:  “BrightonSEO and Digital Gaggle and we host a local meet up for marketers”

Bad Answer: “We don’t bother - we never learn anything new”

You want to hear names like Digital Gaggle, BrightonSEO, SearchLove, SMX London and maybe Inbound or MozCon if they fly to the USA occasionally. These kinds of events are about improving knowledge. You want a partner in SEO that won’t be resting on their laurels about something that worked yesterday - they should challenge themselves and their team to discover what might work tomorrow.  

Cartoon character having a book of knowledge pushed into his brain

20. What websites do you use for inspiration? Good Answer:  “Loads! Pretty much daily I check Search Engine Land, weekly I’m looking at the wonderful Noisy Little Monkey blog… I’ll send you a list.”

Bad Answer: “We don’t have time, and anyway - we rarely learn anything new”

Positive answers would be sites like the Noisy Little Monkey blog, HubSpot, Kissmetrics, Moz, Search Engine Land, Search Engine Watch, and Bill Slawski’s excellent SEO By The Sea. These kinds of websites give great SEO advice and are forward thinking.

If your SEO is looking at things which are a bit more ‘beginner’, or they start talking about closed groups or forums that they’re in to discuss black-hat SEO techniques that only the cool kids know, you should avoid at all costs..

21. How often do you get it wrong and how do you deal with that? Good Answer:  “Rarely but it’s not something we shy away from - we grasp the nettle and put things right.”

Bad Answer: “Uh, we never get it wrong. Why all these questions? Who even are you?”

This is a good test of their honesty because if they say that they never get it wrong then they’re either angels or they’re lying. Check for wings at this point.

By asking them how they deal with it, you’ll learn a lot about their business culture. If they stammer and say something like “oh, we, uh, gave them 3 months of free stuff” it probably means they didn’t actually deal with it like that.

This answer should be about conversations because SEO isn’t even a science, let alone an an exact one and occasionally things go wrong. Sometimes as SEOs we need to have hard conversations with clients.

Any SEO agency should be able to address that question without getting scared, angry or defensive. If they’re defensive at just the question, imagine what they’d be like when something things don’t go exactly as planned.

How to ask these questions Finally, remember to try keeping these questions to ask seo agency open. How, why, where, what, when, who… questions that can’t be answered with a yes / no answer. It keeps it conversational and you’ll learn a lot more about the SEO companies you’re interviewing.

Partnering with the right agency is so important, not just for you but for the agency themselves. Something like SEO is rarely going to be cheap or fast, so getting on with your agency and having mutual respect for each other’s work is vital to ensure your long term partnership is one that delivers a win/win.

[tenaciousdecapitator]

I actually thought up potential She-Ra cast teams a few weeks ago, complete with reimagining the Princesses as Gym Leaders and the Horde as an Evil Team. Somewhat similar choices as yours, the general team comp includes:

Adora: Lucario, Samurott, Braviary, Rapidash, Aegislash. Heroism, swords, horses, and dangerous overconfidence masking a self-sacrifice mindset.

Catra: Torracat, Liepard, Seviper, Espeon, Luxray. Cats, trickery, fragile agility, and Espeon and Luxray are meant to represent Melog. Bow: Clauncher, Audino, Swoobat, Blissey, Decidueye. Ranged attacks and supportive energy.  Next up, the Princesses/Gym Leaders! Perfuma (Grass): Roselia, Servine, Tangrowth. First two seem easy enough, delicate little mini-mon. Then Tangrowth comes out. Good luck! Mermista (Water): Goldeen, Wartortle, Poliwrath. Regal, defensive, and strong. Briefly considered giving her a Grimer or Muk due to her affinity with sewers. Sea Hawk (Fire): Pansear, Pyroar,  Infernape.  Briefly considered making him a Fighting type gym, but the arson cannot be denied. What’s a sailor without a few monkeys?  Frosta (Ice): Vanillish, Abomasnow, Beartic, Crabominable. Despite initial impressions, this Trainer can and will punch you in the face. Or hammer, or spear, or whatever else she feels like. Netossa & Spinerella (Bug & Flying): Heracross, Altaria, Galvantula, Xatu. These two are a Double Battle fight like the Psychic Twins, because of course. Spiderwebs are close enough to nets, right? Entrapta (Electric & Steel): Bronzor, Rotom, Magnezone, Klinklang. She couldn’t decide on Electric or Steel, so she’s both. Metagross is also an option to represent Emily instead of Magnezone. Glimmer (Psychic): Medicham, Grumpig, Meowstic, Gardevoir. Medicham as the first ‘Mon out because punching is always an option. Is Meowstic a Glimtra nod? Purrhaps. Elite Four! Keep in mind these team comps are subject to change.

Castaspella (Ghost): Mismagius, Dragapult, Chandelure, Gourgeist, Golurk

Micah (Dark): Shiftry, Gimmsnarl, Absol, Bisharp, Korviknight

Lance (Rock): Relicanth, Rampardos, Stonjourner, Bastiodon, Tyrantrum

George (Dragon): Garchomp, Dragonite, Drakloak, Hydregion, Haxorus

Champion Angella:  Florges, Kangaskan, Milotic, Ninetales, Vespiquen, Nidoqueen. Regal energy and Mom energy all in one.  Team Horde!

Horde Grunt Kyle: Magikarp, Tyrouge, Trubbish

Horde Grunt Rogelio: Ferrothorn, Rhypherior,Tyranitar

Horde Grunt Lonnie: Weavile, Granbull, Toxicroak

Horde Force Captain Scorpia: Drapion, Bewear, Scizor

Horde Force Captain Octavia: Octillery, Malamar, Grapploct

Horde Admin Shadow Weaver: Sableye, Cofagrigous, Gengar, Spiritomb, Mandibuzz

Horde Leader Hordak: Crobat, Metagross, Steelix, Noivern, Duraludon, Beheeyem

and lastly, the various other characters. Professor Razz: Oranguru, Claydol, Celebi Double Trouble: Zoroark, Kecleon, Ditto, Inteleon Huntara: Primeape, Hippowdon, Sandaconda, Excadrill, Krookodile, Emboar Wrong Hordak: Silvally, Shuckle, Wobbuffet, Heatmor, Alchremie Horde Prime: Elektross, Empoleon, Reuniclus, Jellicent, Volcarona, Zygarde

what pokemon teams would catra, entrapta and adora have?

@sunshowerr asked this too!

So, here are a thoughts on what pokemon each character might have.... It's not fully fleshed, there are so many pokemon that my brain isn't ready to tax through them all.....

Catra: Litten. She is the personification of the Litten family line. I also think she would be drawn to dark types, like Houndoom, or even ghost types like Mimikyu. She could make a VERY good friend out of a Mimikyu. And part of me thinks she would have a Luxray! I LOVE Luxray so I think I'll give her one if I ever draw her as a trainer.

Adora: Rockruff. Strong and loyal Lycanroc. This was the pokemon I spent the most time Shiny-hunting... followed by Eevee! Adora would have an eevee, something cute and friendly but oozing with potential and expectations. Riolu, too, is very Adora.

Between them they already have most of my favourite Pokemon....

Entrapta: I lowkey want to put her on the Luxray agenda, but she's more of a Steel-type trainer (though a self-exploding Pichu would be VERY fitting). She would have a Magnezone - Emily - that her sprite sits on, but she doesn't send into battle! She could have a Golurk and other half-ghost types! I think she would cherish Skitty and other cute mons.

....Entrapta would be the one to get a Cosmog and evolve it to Solgaleo or Lunala.... then Adora catches it... 

Scorpia: High friendship, high claw factor! Scorpia would have those tough yet goodhearted pokemon, like Cubone, and Crabrawler. I think she'd love the more affectionate monsters that other people don't appreciate, like Woobat, which evolves with high friendship!

Hordak: All I want to say is that Hordak would have a Crobat named "Imp".

Glimmer: Another girl for the Skitty agenda. Other cute-yet-deadly pokemon like Vulpix, Clefairy, Sylveon, the list goes on. Maybe tougher pokemon like Mawile!!! Maybe she could also have a Riolu, keying into her determination and more psychic-style sorcery.

Bow: What we agreed on with Bow is that he is the walking gijinka of a Decidueye. He definitely has one. I don't have other ideas for him, but he would probably get stuck with a Mr Mime that he works with on his projects.

Shadow Weaver: Gengar and Zoroark come to me as pokemon she would have.

Give me more suggestions in the comments!