#also if you are getting your news from creators on TikTok you are part of the problem tbh

[bangthedoldrums]

the performative activism on TikTok actually makes my blood boil

[wcters]

𝟳 𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗨𝗧𝗘𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝗖𝗛𝗥𝗜𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗬/𝗡 𝗕𝗘𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗖𝗨𝗧𝗘 (𝗣𝗟𝗨𝗦 𝗡𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗧)

pairing: chris sturniolo x fem!reader

word count: 2.4k

summary: you find a video of a series of clips that someone found of you and chris being cute

warnings: established relationship, swearing, kissing, covid (yes, it has to be a warning because it is horrible)

Your eyebrows lifted in surprise when you saw the title 7 minutes of Chris and Y/n being cute. You had just been scrolling on YouTube while sitting on the couch of the triplets house, waiting for the boys to be back from filming. You had started on Instagram, catching up on family and friends, and liking some posts that you were tagged in. You then moved to YouTube after getting bored and there was nothing new on your feed.

You never expected to see something like this besides the five to ten second clips on TikTok when you’re caught in the back of a video or posted on someone’s Snapchat story, but you were surprised and entertained that someone had gotten a whole seven minutes. You weren’t an influencer or content creator of any kind; you worked a menial job and only posted on Instagram and TikTok, and rarely featured in the boys’ videos. You knew you would be in the public eye when you and Chris started dating, but you didn’t expect your relationship to have a following.

You ended up clicking on it, interest taking over and the amount of views reeling you in. You wanted to see why the video was so popular . . . And maybe show it to Chris when he came home. The first thing that greeted you was an intro, and then the clips started. The first one was from a recent video where Nick, Matt, and Chris travelled to Texas for a Sam and Colby collab. You tagged along, wanting to go to a couple stores and also offered to help film for the duo’s video. The clip was where Nick decided to wake up you and Chris with Lemonade. You barely remembered that happened as you were so drowsy, and are still confused why the oldest brother thought it was so funny.

Nick walked towards the bed where you and Chris were laying down. Chris was on his back with his head facing the direction of the camera. You were on your stomach, head tucked into the boys neck as your arm was sprawled across his chest. Chris opted to sleep shirtless even though it was insanely cold in Texas while you were wearing a sweater and some spandex, your leg peeking out of the comforter. When you and Chris cuddled when you slept, he always ended up burning hot and you subconsciously slip some part of your body out of the covers.

“Chris do you want a sip?” Nick’s voice was heard as he tilted the bottle of lemonade towards you both. “Y/n?” You made a ‘hm’ sound and Chris lifted his head up, delirious but still making sure not to knock your head. He put it down once he saw his brother. He shuffled a little bit, turning his head. “Do you want a sip or no? Are you thirsty?” Nick continued, tilting the bottle even more? This time you had opened your eyes, looking up at your best friend. “Nick . . . What?” You questioned, confused. “Of what Nick?” Chris’s voice came from beside you, hoarse from sleep.

“Lemonade. Do you guys want some?” The oldest triplet continued. You curled more towards Chris and tightened your arms around him as you made a sound of annoyance. “Nick, I’m tired. Please.” You begged him, shoving your face into the crook of your boyfriends neck again. “Are you fucking stupid?” Your boyfriend asked, awake enough to realize what was happening and get angry. “Leave us alone.” Nick raised his hands in defense. “Alright, alright. It’s over here if you want it,” he spoke as he placed it down. “Go away.” You murmured as you fell back asleep, Chris turning towards you.

The next clip was the boys on the podcast. They were talking with Nate about childhood memories and growing up together in Boston. The camera flipped from Matt to Chris as he was doing something on his phone. “━━ I’m sorry Matt. Chris . . . what are you doing?” Nick interrupted the boy as he faced towards Chris. Chris lifted his head in surprise. “We’re literally doing a podcast. Who are you texting?” “Probably Y/n.” Nate guessed as the whole table started to laugh except for Chris. “No, I’m not.” He denied as he covered his face with his hands. “You totally were.” Matt argued. “Okay, fine, I was. It was about something important though so let’s drop it and get back to what we were talking about.” Chris shut the conversation down and placed his phone on the counter face up.

“Alright. Matt, what were you saying?” Nick turned to Matt. The topic was dropped but every once in a while Chris would look at his phone. The group must’ve been really into the podcast as no one noticed your car pull up, or the door opening and you walking in. You had placed the cases of Pepsi and Doctor Pepper on their counter before opening the Pepsi case, grabbing one, and heading upstairs. Nate was in the middle of talking about hockey when they heard your footsteps. Everyone swivelled their heads to see you walking into the room with a can of Pepsi. “Oh. My. God. Chris.” Nick gasped as he saw you. “Hi,” you waved, “sorry to interrupt.” “It’s no problem babe.” Chris responded, grabbing your body as you got close and put you in his lap.

“Did you call her all the way over here to bring you Pepsi?” Matt asked, clearly shocked. Chris blushed out of embarrassment in response. “You think he wouldn’t?” Nate butted in making everyone laugh. “I also got Doctor Pepper,” you shrugged, “I was also getting off work.” Your boyfriend pointed to you. “Like I said, it was important.” Nate was laughing as his best friends stared at their bother in shock. “Alright, I’m going to head out. The cases are downstairs. Anyone want one?” You asked, getting up off of Chris. There was a chorus of ‘no thank you’s’ from around the table. “Thank you.” Chris smiled at you as he grabbed your hand and kissed it. “Yeah, yeah. Have fun!” You waved as you headed downstairs.

The first time you had really been “revealed” to the fan base was on a livestream . . . And it was by accident. This clip was shorter than the rest, but it was probably the most popular if you had to guess. You had been dating Chris for awhile and this live was around the time when they started to get attention and more followers on their social media. It was back in their house in Boston. Nick had started a livestream for whatever reason and Matt had joined it after a couple minutes. You and Chris were watching a movie in his room so you didn’t participate ━━ and the fact that people didn’t even know about you. You didn’t even know it was happening, the boys didn’t text and warn you guys, so when you went downstairs with Chris to get some popcorn and drinks, both of your figures were shown in the background.

Nick and Matt didn’t even notice you guys until you appeared in front of them and were in the middle of opening the fridge. They looked to the chat to see if they saw you . . . And they definitely did. Not enough to identify you because all of the comments were asking who you were, but still enough to let people know Chris had a girlfriend. The two boys looked at each other before muting the live. It stayed on for a minute or two before they had ended it with a quick ‘goodbye’. Next thing you knew, #chrissturniologirlfriend was trending on your twitter with pictures of you and Chris from the live plastered over the tweets. That’s what led to the soft launch Instagram post and your presence being known, as well as you making your Instagram private for awhile.

A certain clip had you smiling and blushing like a little kid, remembering it happening and the whole trip. It was when went to Vermont for their annual family holiday and Chris had asked you to come along, as well as Nick and Matt. You said yes, but we’re nervous. I mean, you were going on your first trip with his parents? They ended up loving having you there, but you were scared shitless. Nick was holding the camera showing Matt feeding some of the Alpacas with Chris in the back.

You could see the brunette go slightly out of frame before he comes back, you trailing behind. “Come on,” he said to you, “just try it.” You playfully rolled your eyes before he passed you some of the feed and you held it out. You let out a noise of surprise as the alpaca started to eat it. “Oh my god.” You whispered, looking at it before pulling away. You were clueless to the camera showing you and Chris whispering while you were holding each others hand. “Do you want to do it again?” Your boyfriend asked you. “I think I’m alright.” You laughed. “Here’s a couple change to get some more food though.” He kissed your cheek as you passed him some coins from your pocket. “You’re the best,” he said before quickly kissing you and going back to the machines.

You never knew how they get their hands on them, but so many clips of Chris and Matt playing lacrosse ended up on your for you page and feed on Instagram. You didn’t even know those were on the internet except for Mary-Lou’s socials. There were so many edits of that clip of Chris taking his helmet off and them posing for a picture with all three of them and their mom, but you had yet to see this one. It was practically the same, all four lined up while their picture was getting taken. Then Mary-Lou made a ‘come here’ movement with her hand and you appeared on camera next to Chris. You remembered that moment and being so proud, but not video taped.

You posed for a couple pictures with them, then just you and the triplets. They were also your best friends, you even came to the game with Nick and Mary-Lou. You three had gossiped while watching the game and taken so many videos. Then, the two brothers moved away and Mary-Lou moved into frame with her phone up. It was just you and Chris posing this time, and it caught you licking your finger to get some of the leftover face paint that was a little messed up off his face. Chris had made a weird face but let you do it anyway. You would’ve slapped his hand away if he even tried. You think you said something along the lines of “you’ll thank me later.”

You had watched Larray after you had seen some of his vines on a vine compilation while YouTube was just filled with those. You were so excited ━━ and jealous ━━ when the twins got noticed and met up with Larray for the first time. You were even more excited when you met him. You had watched him for years, through all his phases, so you recognized when one of his videos popped up.

“Where would you want your first date?” Chris had asked Larray. They talked about Larray’s choice of waffle house before Chris said “I want to go to Topgolf.” “You want to hit balls with your girl?” Arrington replied, looking at Chris. “Well, I didn’t have a chance to take Y/n on a first date in LA, and we’ve only went with Matt and Nick, so I’d want to go to TopGolf with just her,” Chris explained, “our first date back in Boston was at some mini golf place. I’d like to take her to remind her of our first one . . . And because we both like TopGolf.” “That was so cute.”Larray chimed in, covering his mouth with his hand. “It’s one of the only times.” Matt joked which earned a slap from his brother. “That’s so not true.” He argued. “Either way, it’s well deserved. She’s amazing.” Larray praised you.

You remembered watching this with Chris when it came out and literally standing up in shock, hitting him when you got up. “You got more excited over Larray complementing you than me being cute and talking about us?” Chris asked in shock. “You think I wouldn’t?” He nodded at that. “Still upset, but that is true.”

The last clip was one of you and Chris like the rest . . . But also Nick and Matt. Nick had had a cold the last time you saw him, Matt, and Chris. He didn’t think it was anything but a cold, but it turned out it was COVID. Chris let you know as soon as they figured it out, and then Matt tested positive. You felt bad because they were stuck in the house for at least a week . . . And they’re not the best at cooking food for themselves, all they did was just order in or go out if you didn’t bring over some food or cook when you’re over there.

Since you weren’t over there, you figured you would go over and drop off some pre-made food and some other drinks and necessities like medicine, toilet paper, masks, tests, etc. You had had the weekend off so you had time to go over and help them. You didn’t know they were vlogging so you were surprised when you knocked on Chris’s door with a mask and a bowl of soup and he greeted you with a camera in your face. “Y/n? What are you doing here?” He asked you, tilting the camera down a bit. “I felt bad because you guys - no offence - eat like shit and thought you would want some homemade food.” You laughed, giving him the bowl as he put the camera down.

“Thanks. I miss your cooking and you over here. It’s so fucking boring.” He told you. “I’m sure you’ll survive. On the kitchen counter there’s some medicine, masks, tests, and some other stuff that you might run out of. If you need anything else.” He nodded. “I wish I could hug and kiss you but I’m sick and don’t want to get you sick.” “How am I going to survive?” You teased, smiling at him from under the mask. “I don’t know. Well, anyway, go save Nick and Matt too. I’m sure they’ll appreciate you.” Your boyfriend smiled at you as he waved and closed the door.

It was almost the exact same situation with Matt and Nick. Door opening with a camera in your face and surprise written in theirs. You had given them your soup and the same rundown you gave Chris. They said their ‘thank you’s’ and Nick promised to give you a hug. This was all caught on camera and added into the vlog, with an edit from Nick saying “you saved our lives.”

[samandcolbyownme]

Credit to the edit creator on TikTok for the Johnnie pictures!

This one shot is going to have reader being choked with a chain necklace, PLEASE DONT READ IF YOURE UNCOMFORTABLE!

Summary: anon request - "begging anyone that will listen to make sumthing based off this necklace bc the way he pulled it is rlly doing something to me"

Warnings: SMUT18+, strong language, choking will be a big part of this, hair pulling, unprotected sex, creampie, filth

I'm also going to be writing this my own way, so if you've seen the actual video it isn't going to be accurate.

Word count: 2.5k | not edited

TikTok I'm writing for specifically

╔═══━━━─── • ───━━━═══╗

You walk up to the front door of the house, giggling drunkly to yourself as you fish for your keys inside your purse.

You're just getting home from your night out with Tara, so Johnnie expect you to come home at least, somewhat drunk.

You push the door open, seeing the empty scene as you think, he must be streaming.

He was. As you walked back the hall, you heard the faint sound of him strumming his guitar from behind the door.

The closer you get, you can hear him faintly singing. You smile as you rest your head on the door, waiting for him to finish before you gently knock and open the door.

"Uh oh. Look who it is!" He smiles at you and leans his guitar against the desk, "Guy, y/n just got home from being with Tara. Should she come say hi?"

You roll your eyes, giggling as you shake your head. He holds his hand out, "Come hither. They want to say hi."

You sigh, pushing your body off the door frame as you walk over. You lean down, waving into the camera, "Hi guys!"

"Yeah, her outfit does look phenomenal tonight." Johnnie leans back, "She always looks good, to me anyway."

You look at him and stand up, "Thank you." He lays his hands on your hips, pulling you onto his lap, "You're going to finish this stream with me."

"No." You whine lightly with a laugh, "I need a shower."

"You can get one after. Guys. I've been teaching her how to play the guitar." Johnnie smiles and you look at the screen, "No. I'm not going to embarrass myself like that." You laugh, "No way!"

Johnnie lays his hand on your leg, weaving his fingers through the openings in your fishnet stockings, "Don't worry. I'll get her to open up and play for you."

You roll your eyes, moving to snake your arm around his neck, "Maybe." You smile down at him, "I'm going to get a water, do you want anything?"

He shakes his head, letting you stand up before he places his guitar back onto his lap. You leave, quickly making your way back after going to the fridge.

You slip in, sitting on the chair off to the side and in your still, slightly drunk state, Johnnie tugging on the metal chain around his neck starts to get your mind racing with such dirty thoughts.

You bite down on the inside of your lip, adjusting how you're sitting. Johnnie glances over at you, pulling the chain to adjust it and your eyes stay fixated on it.

He smirks slightly, looking back to the screen as he leans back, sliding his hand up his arm to push his sleeve up.

He looks so good tonight.

The combination of his hair, makeup, and outfit were all the absolute perfect combination.

You were secretly hoping his stream would be done soon, you didn't know how much longer you could take without his hands on your body.

"I'll play a snippet from my new song then I think I'm going to get off for tonight."

His words caused your excitement to grow.

You couldn't wait much longer for him to finally fulfill those words.

You sat there, elbow digging into the spot above your knee as your hand rests under your chin. Your eyes stay fixated on him and he knows you're watching.

He smirks at you, pushing up his sleeves as his guitar rests in his lap. Your lip pulls between your teeth as your head slightly tilts to the side.

You need him. Bad.

After a little bit more of listening to Johnnie sing, he finally ends the live and turns to you as he sets his guitar down.

"Get over here."

His words have you up on your feet with in a second after rolling off of his tongue. You walk over, straddling his lap and running your hands over the sides of his neck.

His hands slide over your hips and you whimper out a quiet, "Need you."

"I know." He smirks, "I could tell since you came home." He bites down on his lip ring and nods towards the door, "Come on."

You get up, taking his hand as he leads you to his room. He pulls you in front of him, hands on your waist as he guides you backwards into the room.

He reaches back, pushing the door shut before laying his hand on your neck, "You look so good." He leans in, connecting his lips to yours.

"I can say the same about you." You gently bite his lip, pulling it as you tilt your head back. A quiet gasp leaves his throat and his hand squeezes your hip, "Get these clothes off. Now."

You step back, turning to face him as he walks over to the bed. You bend down, unzipping your black boots so you can stand up and kick them off.

Your hands move to your belt, undoing it as your eyes fixate on the metal change wrapped around Johnnie's thumb, "That outfit is crazy hot."

You smile at his words, "I figured you'd like it." You throw your belt on the floor and slip your fingers into the hem of your red, lace crop bralette top.

Johnnie watches as you lift it up over your head, shaking your hair slightly as you toss it to the ground with your boots.

You lock eyes with Johnnie as you push your skirt down, leaving you in nothing but your black lace panties.

He holds his hands out, indicating he wants you to come to him, and you comply. You walk over to him, straddling his lap again. His hand slips down between your thighs and he smirks, "What's got you this turned on, sweetheart?"

"You want me to be honest?" You smirk slightly as Johnnie nods, "Always, baby."

Your hand drags up his chest, tangling the metal chain around your finger, "This. How fucking hot you looked while playing with it."

He licks his lips, "What do you want me to do with it?" He tilts his head, "Actually. Don't tell me, I'll just.." he trails off, lifting it up over his head and placing it around your neck.

His eyes scan over the chain hanging down between your boobs, "mm. I see what you mean." He smirks and grabs the chain, pulling you in to kiss him.

The kiss quickly turns heated, grinding down on him, moaning out as he bites down on your lip.

"P-please." You whimper out, desperate for his cock at this point, "Johnnie.”

He leans back, brushing hair from your face, "Hands and knees baby." You move off of him, crawling up the bed to hold your weight up with your hands pressed firmly into the bed.

You can hear Johnnie get undressed, but your mind is racing about one thing.

That chain tightening around your neck.

The bed dips down behind you and Johnnie slides your panties down, letting them drop to your knees, causing your heart rate to pick up.

It picks up drastically, when he slides a hand up your back and moves it under your hair to grab the chain.

He slowly and teasingly pulls it back, dragging it over your shoulders until it's pulled tight against your neck.

You gulp with excitement, knowing why Johnnie’s necklace was around your neck was exhilarating.

There’s just enough pressure, you can still breathe normal, but you can tell with one yank, your air supply will be cut well in half.

“Bring your ass up, baby.” Johnnie lays a hand on your hip and you drop your shoulders to the bed, the chain pulling tighter the further you move down towards the bed.

“You are so fucking sexy.” Johnnie says lowly as he admires the position you’re in. He grabs his cock, stroking it a few times before tapping the head of it against your wet slit.

You bite your lip, gripping the blanket below you as you feel him slowly push his cock into you.

You let out a moan, pushing your hips back to gain more of him.

He pulls the chain, causing it to grow tighter.

“Fuuuck.” He breathes out, fingers digging into your skin harder as he slides in more, “Shit.” You whimper at both the feeling of his cock and the chain tightening around your neck.

He wraps the chain around his hand, “Sit up a little for me.”

You rise up, holding your self up with your forearms on the bed. You tilt your head back and Johnnie leans forward to look down at you.

Your eyes lock with his, a strangled moan leaving your lips as he slowly pulls his cock out and slowly slides back in.

He bites his lip, watching your face twist with pleasure, “Does that feel good?”

You nod as best as you can, “Mm.”

“Is this what you wanted?” He asks and you open your eyes, whimpering out a small, “Y-yes.”

He smirks, leaning back, chain still wrapped around his hand, “I wanted to do this before you left, that little outfit you had on, fuck. It was so fucking sexy.”

He keeps the chain tight against your neck as he picks up his thrusts. It’s soon a punishing pace, the chain tightening more and more with each time his body connects with yours.

You try to moan, but you can’t.

Strangled noises leave your lips at random times.

Between the chain and Johnnie’s thrusts bringing you closer and closer to orgasm, your vision starts to go spotty.

You reach up, scratching at the chain and Jonnie loosens it. You take a deep breath as he leans forward, “You good?”

You nod, looking up at him weakly with a smile, “Uh huh. Keep going.”

He smirks, leaning back to resume his thrusts. He waits to tighten the chain, “I wanna hear ya.”

You let out a loud moan, pushing your hips back to meet his, “F-fuck.” You whine, “S-so close.” He lets go of the chain, gripping your hips to pull you back to him, slamming your body into his, “Shit.”

You drop your head down, moaning loudly as you clench around his cock, pulling the blankets as you finally hit that point.

“that’s it, baby.” Johnnie groans, “feels so good.”

Johnnie continues to fuck you, guiding you through your high before pulling out and rolling you over. Your eyes meet his as he leans down, grabbing the chain and wrapping it around his hand.

He pins it down beside your head, it tight against your neck.

He groans as he slips back into you, bringing your one leg up. His fingers dig into the outside of your thigh.

You whimper, eyes rolling back as his thrusts resume to being punishing. He leans down, crashing his lips onto yours.

You reach up, tangling your fingers into his hair, pulling, which earns a groan from him.

You loved hearing him, too.

“You’re so fucking good to me.” He whispers against your lips, “So fucking good.”

Your lips part as you watch him lean back, the chain loosening just enough for your moans to come out full volume.

He smirks, biting onto his lip as he closes his eyes. He tilts his head back, thrusts growing sloppy, “Fuck. Fuck.” He leans back down, tightening the chain once again as he rails into you.

The chain dulls your screamed moans as you drag your nails down his back. He groans loudly, “Fuckin hell.”

He dips his head down, lips attaching to yours as he pushes in, his cock twitching to coat your walls white.

He keeps his lips on yours, moving them in a slow rhythm with yours as he lets go of the chain. You take a deep breath as he moves to plant kisses on your cheek.

“You sure you’re okay?” He whispers as he brushes his finger over your neck. You turn your head to face him, “I’m good, baby.”

He picks your lips, sitting up to pull out and stand up.

He grabs his shirt and wipes off your thighs, “I really hope that wasn’t too hard.” He glances up at you as you sit up and you shrug, “Aw well.”

You laugh slightly which causes him to laugh, “I can’t believe you talked me into that.”

“I didn’t talk you into anything.” You stand up, “But I will talk you into going for a shower with me.”

“If I ever say no to that, use that chain and choke me out until I’m dead.” He walks over to you, wrapping an arm around your waist as he leads you to the bathroom.

The next morning, you wake up, sitting up to stretch as you look over at Johnnie, who’s still sleeping.

He was up late last night editing a video, so you decided to let him sleep in. You go out and start to make some breakfast before the curiosity of whether or not the chain left a mark gets the best of you.

You set down your mug and make your way to the bathroom. You flick on the light and as soon as your eyes meet your neck in the mirror, they grow wide and your mouth drops open.

“Oh fuck.” You cover your mouth, leaning in to drag your fingers down over the chain like bruise that circles around your neck, “Fuck.”

You laugh slightly, shaking your head. You look towards the open doorway as you hear Johnnie’s door open, “y/n.”

“Bathroom, babe.” You call out, leaning against the counter to wait for him. He walks around the corner, hand ruffling his hair, “What are ya doing?”

You bite your lip, “Um. I was just-“

“Holy fuck!” Johnnie drops his hands and move towards you, placing them on the sides of your neck.

His thumbs trace over the mark, “What the fuck.” He looks up at you and you can’t help but laugh, “I know. That’s why I came in here.”

Johnnie laughs in shock, “Jesus Christ.”

“It could be worse.” You shrug and Johnnie looks at you. You lean in, “I liked it. I promise. I’ll just cover it up with necklaces and stuff. No worries.”

“You are one freaky slut, you know that?” Johnnie slides his hands down to your hips and you pull him closer to you, “Those sound like fighting words.”

“Maybe they are.” He raises his brows and tilts his head, “what do ya say? Hmm. Wanna go a few rounds?”

.·:*¨ ✘ ¨*:·.

Thank you guys for being patient and thank you for reading! I truly appreciate and love you all so much! I hope you enjoyed this! 🖤

Likes and reblogs are greatly appreciated!

[berlynn-wohl]

okay so I was watching a video about videos and decided to write about writing (specifically, fanfic)

Typically I don't share my thoughts on fandom as a subculture and how it's changed because I don't have the stomach for the kind of things that can happen when one posts their opinions on social media. But I'm gonna give it a go today because I watched this:

You don't have to watch it, I'll tell you the thing that got me: it was about how on YouTube, people are likely to be fans of specific channels, and if you subscribe to one, you could probably, if asked, discuss what you like about that channel/creator with others. But the way TikTok's feed works (turning you into a passive consumer of an endless stream of short videos), it's more difficult to differentiate who the creators are, even when you subscribe to them. You're more likely to just say, "I'm a fan of TikTok" (...or "I'm addicted to TikTok"). This is evidenced by the fact that at a recent VidCon, TikTokers who had millions of views and hundreds of thousands of subscribers faced empty lines at the meet-and-greets, because their content was just part of a blur of content their subscribers passively put their eyeballs on every day.

And I had a thought: Has AO3 done this for fanfic? Of course AO3's content cannot be passively consumed; you have to enter search terms and use filters to find what you're looking for. But once you have entered such a search, you could well be faced with thousands of results, which you begin consuming by opening tab after tab after tab. If you were not in fandom before 2012, I cannot stress how ludicrous this amount of fanfiction is. Before AO3, unless you were in a MASSIVE fandom (like HP or LOTR), you eagerly awaited the arrival of new fics because there just weren't that many -- and even if you were in a massive fandom, if you shipped one of the less popular pairings (or preferred Gen), you still could not necessarily count on even one new fic a day that was to your tastes.

And in those days when fics were fewer and farther between, and when fandoms were more siloed, you got to know fanfic authors. You recognized their styles. When someone posted a new fic, you were excited because you knew what you could expect based on what you already enjoyed about that author's talents and inclinations. In a small fandom I was in long ago, where only about ten people wrote fic, we once sat around and brainstormed which popular music act's vibe corresponded with which each author's style! (I was The Clash.)

Compare that to now, where many readers in fandom have the opportunity to just click-read-click-read-click-read, not just as a reward at the end of a long day, but on the bus or anywhere. I don't think it's a coincidence that fics get fewer comments than they used to, and there's far less discussion of individual authors. There's no incentive to linger on something even if you enjoyed it, when the next fic is waiting in another tab.

Now perhaps it's better that the structure of fanfic culture has changed such that we have less potential for BNF drama. But it also means that whenever I see newcomers to a fandom asking for recs, most of the responses are "Have you read [the fic with the most kudos and comments on AO3]?" It's not just that this response is a bit superfluous, as the newcomer has probably already sorted the AO3 results by kudos/comments -- to me it also indicates that folks get so much fanfic from The Fanfic Website and so little community from The De Facto Fandom Platforms that it becomes difficult to remember individual fics, what you enjoyed about them, or how an individual author's style might make them a better match for a certain reader. (Yes, I am aware that AO3 has histories/bookmarks for people to refer back to, but when one accumulates 1000 bookmarks and then someone asks for a rec, most likely the bookmark holder is only going to remember, off the top of their head, That One Crazy Outlier Fic That The Entire Fandom Lost Their Shit About Seven Years Ago.)

I dunno, this is all I got in the way of thoughts. I'm not saying I want to go back to the way things were 10 or 20 years ago, but I sure do wish I could a-la-carte it a little, you know?

[fireflyinks]

ooc ep with mandy hamzah and martin then hamzah introduces u as his gf 👀👀 twitter insta tiktok etc is going crazyyyy abt it too

girlfriend reveal (hamzah edition)

hamzah x reader

a/n : not sure if i love or hate this but here it is!! sorry i haven’t been as active I SWEAR im trying to get to your requests!! this was such a good idea and lmk if you want me to write a version but with y/n being a content creator as well. much love!

contains : a little fluff, slight cursing (literally just bs), cuteness, hard launching

I rocked back and fourth on my heels, standing directly beside the camera’s view. Anticipation and nervousness swirled in my stomach.

It probably wasn’t as big of a deal as I was making it, I knew that, but my nerves were still going buck-wild.

After three months of dating, Hamzah was introducing me as his girlfriend on the podcast today. We both wanted to wait until it was the right time, and we had finally decided that it was now or never.

YouTube was a ginormous part of Hamzah’s life, so the thought of his fans not approving of me was a big fear of mine. He’d assured me that they would love me, but I knew that he couldn’t be sure of that fact.

After about three minutes of rambling on about something pointless, Hamzah finally cleared him throat.

“We also have a special guest this episode. Please welcome, my beautiful girlfriend, y/n.”

I walked into frame, sitting beside Hamzah on the already crowded couch. Mandy and Martin clapped at my entrance, and I giggled nervously. This was a weird feeling for me, since I normally wasn’t this shy.

Hamzah handed me a mic he had bought specially for this episode, since normally they only had three people on at a time and didn’t own a fourth mic. He also put an arm around me, which helped calm my nerves a small bit. Hamzah’s touch could almost always make me feel better. I guess it was a good thing then that I was basically sitting on his lap due to limited space on the yellow couch.

“Hello,” I spoke into the microphone, smiling sheepishly.

“Introduce yourself.” Hamzah encouraged. He was taken aback by my shy demeanor as well.

“I’m y/n, Hamzah’s girlfriend…” I racked my brain for other facts about myself, but nothing came to mind.

Mandy chimed in, “We finally managed to get Hamzah a girlfriend guys, this is a rare sighting.”

I laughed along with Mandy and Martin, and Hamzah just rolled his eyes.

“You did not manage anything, I got her myself.”

“Bullshit, I’m the one who introduced you two.”

It was true, Mandy and I had worked together for about a year now and she was constantly telling me about how I needed to meet Hamzah, how well we would get along. Finally, she planned a night for us all to hang out, and we just kind of clicked.

“Yeah, Mandy is actually a really good match maker.” I nodded.

Mandy shrugged, “You are both socially awkward so I thought you’d be perfect for one another. And I was right, of course.”

Some time went on, and my nerves slowly started to dissolve. After about an hour, we finished filming, and Hamzah drove me home.

“So…” he began, looking out at the road as he drove, “how’d you feel about that?”

I shrugged, “I was really nervous at first but I think it turned out okay.”

Hamzah placed his hand on my thigh, “I promise, you have nothing to worry about. Everyone will love you.”

—

Hamzah posted the video the next day, and I couldn’t get myself to read the comments or open any social media until I got home from work, five hours later.

I sighed, sitting down on my couch and fumbling with my phone, opening YouTube and pressing on the new episode, entitled “Girlfriend Reveal (Hamzah Edition)”, which happened to the first video on my feed. The intro music began to play.

There were already 500 comments.

awww they’re literally perfect for eachother ❤️

where is the Hamzah to my Y/n

the way hamzah looks at her…

I couldn’t help but smile to myself as I read the kind comments.

I commented a quick heart on the video before moving on to TikTok. My feed was already mostly slushy noobz clips, so I wasn’t surprised when I was the first thing I saw after opening the app.

It was the clip of Hamzah introducing me as I tried to fit next to them on the small couch, with “Margeret” by Lana Del Rey playing in the background softly. The comments were just as positive as the ones on YouTube.

OMG?

wait she’s like genuinely so pretty

they’re so socially awkward together, it’s perfect

Last but not least was Twitter, which scared me the most. I knew that if anyone would have a problem with me, they would most likely express it on Twitter.

I opened the app, and went to search, to be met with “Hamzah’s New Girlfriend” trending. This was either a very good thing or an extremely bad thing.

I clicked on it, and began reading some of the tweets under the hashtag.

hamzah’s new girlfriend is literally so gorgeous, im actually obsessed with the two of them together

hamzah’s new girlfriend genuinely seems so sweet, my heartttt 🥹🥹🥹

“thank you mandy”, we say in unison, hamzah and his new gf are literally PERFECT

Suddenly, there was a quick knock at the door. I got up to answer, wondering who it was. Hamzah was filming a video with Martin and Mandy had told me earlier that she was getting her nails done after our shift.

I opened the door, being met with a bouquet full of colorful assorted flowers. My heart felt as if it could burst. I picked them up, grabbing the paper tag on them to read it.

I knew they would love you - Hamzah

⁺˚⋆｡°✩₊✩°｡⋆˚⁺

[kilibaggins]

WAYS TO HELP PALESTINE. FREE PALESTINE. DO WHAT YOU CAN.

I apologize for not being active to speak up this week during the strike like I've tried to be in the past. I'm not as active on Tumblr as I am on Twitter so it slipped my mind to be posting here about things since I usually don't post here in general.

I decided I'd make a post sharing different ways that you can help the people of Gaza, including ways to do so without donating to the families in need directly. This list includes options that are possible without money along with things that you can give money to to help. Even if you can't give money, you CAN spread the word for all of these things for free and while helping. Your voice matters.

ARAB.ORG

The first way that you (yes. you!) can help is by following the link below to be able to do a daily click that is able to help the people of Palestine. There will also be a link to their information on how it works if you're interested in that. Not only can you click to help Palestine, you can also click to help other causes which helps in general as well.

CLICK TO HELP

HOW IT WORKS

HIND'S HALL BY MACKLEMORE

"If the west was pretending that you didn't exist, you'd want the word to stand up, and the Students finally did."

You may have heard of Macklemore's new song HIND'S HALL, written about the current atrocities happening to the people in Gaza and in support of the students protesting, but did you know that the money that comes from streaming the song is going to UNRWA? You can stream this song for free and all the proceeds will be going to UNRWA (which, by the way, you can donate to directly: HERE).

I've heard from many comments and posts that the streams only count on Spotify if 1.) It is not completely muted, and 2.) There's a song (or two) played in between. This way Spotify will count each stream as a stream towards the song and allow for Macklemore to donate the proceeds.

HIND'S HALL - MACKLEMORE [Spotify] (Also on Youtube, Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Others)

CREATORS FOR PALESTINE!

There's also the Creators for Palestine Fundraiser! A ton of different creators, including some of my favorites, are getting together to raise money for the PCRF (and more!).

"Creators for Palestine is raising money for Palestine Children's Relief Fund, a registered 501 non-governmental organization established in 1992."

"With the current state Gaza is in, we are looking to urgently raise $1M to address humanitarian needs and immediate relief, including providing essential medical treatment/supplies, food, clean water, and other necessities for families affected by the genocide."

While you may not be able to donate to them, amplifying their voices, amplifying posts about this fundraiser, etc. Can help spread the word enough that more people CAN donate.

CHADCHAD'S TWEET

JARVIS JOHNSON'S TWEET

FUNDRAISER LINK

WATCH VIDEOS

Speaking of creators, creators on TikTok have made it their goal to donate funds made by you watching their videos, listening to their sounds, etc. Search on TikTok to find these videos, these creators, these sounds, and interact as much as possible. You can do this by especially going through the Pass The Hat Hashtag and helping those who are speaking up about specific families in need.

#PASSTHEHAT on TikTok

Now, onto places, organizations, and people you can donate to.

PASS THE HAT

Speaking of Pass The Hat, I will link to a video by a creator on TikTok named Erin who has started this wonderful initiative. Basically, this initiative is being used to have TikTok and Instagram creators 'adopt a family' in Gaza so that they can speak up for that family and get as many donations as possible. While you may not be able to donate, going through the videos made by people that are a part of this initiative and watching them, interacting with them, and focusing on them, will allow their videos to be pushed to people who may be able to help more than you can. And that alone is life changing.

ERIN HATTAMER on TikTok

PROJECT PASS THE HAT VIDEO

OPERATION OLIVE BRANCH

While Erin is amazing for doing what she's done here, she has also made sure to amplify the voices of Operation Olive Branch and made sure to tell everyone that Operation Olive Branch, a Grassroots movement to organize & promote the safety and wellbeing of families in Palestine, was the operation to truly kickstart all of this. Operation Olive Branch has a TikTok account, which I will be linking, along with a cohesive google spreadsheet of families that are in need.

The spreadsheet has hundreds of families that are in need and includes links to their fundraisers, their goals, the names and ages of the family, and social media links. Each family is put into their own category such as Medical/Disabled, Mutual Aid, Gazan Heroes, etc. Along with a Master list of all of them. The main navigation page has many different recourses and links as well.

OPERATION OLIVE BRANCH on TikTok

FAQ VIDEO on TikTok

LINKTREE

THE SPREADSHEET

Here are some more specific sources and then I'll add different threads of GoFundMe's.

CARE FOR GAZA

Care for Gaza is, in their own words, a Non-Governmental, Non-Profit charity in aid of helping the needy families of Palestine. You can find all of the links I can find for them below including their GoFundMe, PayPal, and their Twitter account. Care For Gaza is a non-profit helping the people in Gaza survive day by day by supplying food, hygiene products, etc. to the people in Gaza with little to nothing. All over their Twitter they continue to post pictures of the products they have and videos of the people they are able to help continuously due to the donations they receive.

CARE FOR GAZA on Twitter

GOFUNDME [€849,343 of €1,000,000]

PAYPAL

ESIMS FOR GAZA

ESims For Gaza is another effort, which is being run by Mirna El Helbawi. She has been accepting eSims donations and distributing them to journalists and other people in need of them and there have been over 1 thousand eSims distributed. Even the smallest amount helps those in need and you can help people in Gaza continue to get in contact with their families.

MIRNA EL HELBAWI on Twitter

ESIMS FOR GAZA WEBSITE

NOMAD

HOLAFLY

SIMLY

AIRALO

Now, onto the GoFundMe's.

GOFUNDME'S

There are many Twitter Threads going through and listing so many different GoFundMe's for the people in need of escaping Rafah. Some of them may repeat some GoFundMe's but I still believe these threads will be helpful to allow you to find some families in desperate need. Here are a few threads (let it be known I do not know the people who I'm sharing threads from!):

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

There is also this GOOGLE DOCUMENT that has a list of different GoFundMe's and other donation sites.

Listen, I know this was a lot. But that's why I felt it important for it all to be in one place. There are hundreds of posts on Twitter, Tumblr, everywhere, that collects information for you like this. You just have to take the time to share it, to read it, to understand that you are not powerless in all of this. This post does not have everything, but I thought it could be a good start.

These people need our help. They need anything that we can give them and the least you can do is share around information and resources so those that can help know where to go. So that people know what is going on right now in the world.

Free Palestine.

[thecapybara526]

Series : The Mazer Runner

Pairing : Newt x reader

Note: I've had this idea in my head for a bit and when I saw a maze runner tiktok with this song, I had to incorporate it someone how. I think it explains the core three so well. please enjoy! Also please listen to “Solider, Poet, King” by Reno Loves you! I’ll tell you when!

Summary: The creators send a box with a greanie every month but this month a box with a guitar and music sheets come in. Y/n somehow knows how to play and read music. A special bonfire will be held after Newt hears Y/n sing and play. At the bonfire Newt gets super jealous when one of the boys decides to dance with you especially since he’s been pinning over you since you arrived. Lots of Minho meddling to get you two together.

Themes: angst, Jealousy, fluff, pinning,

You were running down the last straight away of the maze with Minho. You smiled to see some of your fellow gladers waiting for you to arrive. Particularly one…but you knew he'd be there, I mean he always is.

Your lungs burned and your legs ached, running the maze was tough but there was something about being out there that felt right to you. Especially with one of your closest friends Minho, you knew nothing would happen to you and you wouldn't let anything happen to him.

“Why does It have to be so hot today” Minho moaned as the two arrived at the doors of the maze that were starting to close.

“Minho baby, it’s always hot.” You laughed starting to slow down.

“Yea..well today more than usual.” He winked at you and you shoved him. You and Minho always flirted but it was never serious. After countless hours in the maze together you had both shared your most inner thoughts and more importantly your feelings for a certain second in command.

You had never outright said it but Minho figured it out. The way you got a bit nervous when he was around, how you unconsciously looked around for him when he wasn't around. Not only that but when you weren't running the maze with Minho you were with him.

Newt was there at the maze doors, he always is. He always just brushes it off that as second in command he should make sure the runners come back and conveniently everytime he makes his rounds of the glade is when the runners come back.

Newt knew the real reason he was there though, you. Since the moment you came up in the box and looked at him with those y/e/c eyes, he was a goner. He knew he'd protect you, and be whatever you needed, even if he wanted to be more than friends. He couldn't risk it though, he couldn't risk losing you or making things awkward.

You were his best mate, together you had formed an unbreakable bond. You could tell each other everything, well minus your feelings for each other. You were the person he wanted to see when he was sad, when he needed comfort, and just all the time in general. When you were together you made him feel as if he could stay in the maze forever as long as he had you by his side.

Minho’s comment made Newt’s stomach turn, he watched as you shoved Minho, and he couldn't help but feel a pinch of jealousy. You never flirted with him, then again he wasn’t sure if he did. Although the first time he called you love it was an accident and after he realized it had made you blush he kept saying it.

“How was the maze today love” he said trying to drag your attention away from Minho.

You looked up to see Newt looking at you, you smiled softly, love, you loved when he said that to you.

“Uh, you know the usual. Ran around, gathered some info.” you placed your hands on your hips still catching your breath.

“Fantastic, well I’m going to continue my rou-”

Newt was cut off by the sound of the box coming up. You all looked at each other and started to walk over. A new grennie was coming up.

You had been in the glade for over a year now, at first it was frightening. Waking up, breathing hard having no idea where you were. The sun blinding you and it was so hot your skin was already slick with sweat. The scariest part wasn't that you couldn't remember anything but the amount of boys staring down at you.

You had shoved yourself into one of the corners, when one of the boys had jumped in.

“It’s okay, I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe” the boy’s voice was smooth with an accent, somehow it felt like your heart rate slowed down a little. That was until your looked up at all the boys again.

“Where am I? Why can't I-” you started to freak out again.

He reached out a hand, “just take my hand and I'll explain everything, okay?” he smiled. Slowly and hesitantly you took his hand but from looking into the sincerity of those brown eyes you knew you'd be alright.

Now it was someone else’s turn to feel everything you had once felt, you couldn't say you were jealous. The poor kid was shaking like a leaf, not only that but Gally wasn’t too kind either.

“Alright, let's unload this box and get moving people” Gally yelled out to everyone, collective groans echoed through the air.

“Well come on, love.” Newt reached a hand up to you from inside the box helping you down.

“Thank you” you turned away from him heading towards a box so he couldn't see that his gesture made you blush.

As you helped hand boxes to gladers above, you noticed a smaller box, one you hadn't seen before. You grabbed it and handed it to Minho.

“Hey, keep that one aside for me please” you said

“Why do you get to keep it?” Minho shook the box, “what if I want it” he smirked

“Minho, if Y/n wants the box, she gets it.” Newt shot Minho a look. Minho smirked again but this time in amusement. He loved to play this game, a game called make his second in command want to kill him.

“Careful Newt…You're making it sound like Y/n gets special treatment. I wish you were as sweet to me as you are to her..” he watched carefully as Newt’s face became red. You wanted to kill Minho, he always says the dumbest things, Newt was just being nice.

Before you Newt could open his mouth, you spoke. “Yea? Well maybe if you helped out in the gardens a little Newt would be nicer.” you climbed out of the box.

“Y-Yes, Y/n’s right” Newt was still flustered, he snuck a glance at you. You didn't seem fazed at all, you grabbed your box and walked away.

“What the bloody hell was that” Newt glared at Minho.

“Hey, I'm just trying to help you” Minho threw his hands up innocently. “Put yourself out of this misery and just confess already.”

“There is nothing to confess. Y/n and I are best mates. That is all.” Newt huffed out a breath, “sneaking” a glance at you walking away. Minho rolled his eyes, hopeless. You two were hopeless.

…

Once you found an area in shade, you sat down and opened the box. A guitar was in it, at least from your vague memory that's what you think it was. It had to be. You continued pulling things out and a sheet of music caught your eye. As your eyes skimmed it you realized you could read it. As you flipped the page you found more but with words.

“Soldier, Poet, King” you whispered to yourself, a song? (play first 30 seconds of song)

You propped the music up against the tree and settled the guitar in your lap. You strummed the strings following the sheet, it took you some time but you felt a tune starting to come together.

You took a deep breath and decided to try to put it all together. You began to softly sing the lyrics, you were so focused on making sure it was right you didn’t hear a certain blonde boy sneaking up on you.

Newt was in awe, he was confused when he saw your h/c ponytail facing the tree with something in your lap, he had come to find you hoping to walk to dinner together. When he came to investigate he wasn't expecting to hear the soft strumming and what had to be the sweetest voice he had ever heard, memories or not.

He listened as you sang but the sound of a twig breaking called him out. You turned around startled but you smiled when you saw him.

“Newt, you startled me”

“I’m sorry about that, please don’t stop. It sounded lovely.” he smiled down at you.

You blushed and turned away, you didn't think he'd heard you singing. When you turned up to look at him again you made sure you weren't blushing anymore.

“Ah, thank you. It’s not very good but-”

“No, no. It's good, you're good..at that” Newt wanted to slam his head into the tree. With you looking up at him, he couldn't focus, you were just too pretty.

You smiled and stood up packing up the guitar and music sheets. Newt lifted the box for you as the two of you walked.

“You should play at the bonfire.” he glanced to his side.

Immediately you wanted to say no. You didn't want everyone looking at you, what if they thought it was bad or if you mess up. You only just started to learn.

Newt noticed your hesitance, “you don't have to of course but I would really like to hear the full thing.”

And just like that you knew you were going to have to play at the bonfire. If you Newt wanted to hear it, how could you say no?

“Okay. I will. For you.” you smiled at him, then started to panic realizing the “for you” part was said out loud and not just in your head. Newt’s heart started to beat faster. For him?

“Y- You did help me secure the box from Minho! Yes, the least I could do is play it for you.” you tried to cover up your slip-up. Let's just say it worked because Newt’s heart started to slow down again and maybe it cracked a little.

“Fantastic” he gave you a tight-lipped smile and opened the door for you to enter the cookhouse. Newt watches as you walk in thanking him, he took a deep breath shaking his head and walked in after you.

…

You had been practicing all of last night after dinner and throughout the day today after coming back from the maze. The bonfire was tonight and you were nervous. Nervous about messing up the cords or lyrics but most importantly scared to mess up in front of Newt. You knew even if you did he would probably pretend like it didn't happen because he was sweet like that but still.

“You think if you sing to the walls maybe they will let us out?” you heard Minho’s voice behind you. You groan.

“Minho! You just ruined an almost perfect rehearsal.” you put the guitar down and turned to the dark haired boy.

“How was I supposed to know it was almost perfect.” Mingo sat down next to you.

“You just are, this needs to be perfect.” you huffed running your hands through your hair.

“Perfect for everyone, or just perfect for Newt?” he grinned at you, picking up a sheet of music.

“Perfect for everyone.” you snatched the sheet out of his hand and put it back.

“You know he likes you right? Newt is one of my best friends and I'm not trying to out him but you guys need to stop torturing each other.” Minho was getting fed up with this dance you two were playing. He was tired of seeing his two best friends tear themselves apart over each other when they literally feel the same way.

Especially Newt, Minho notices the way he looks at you. His gaze was always so soft, it kinda made Minho’s heart ache. You could break the rules or murder someone and Newt would still think you were perfect.

“And you need to stop saying that and getting my hopes up. Listen Minho, I've accepted that all we will ever be is friends.”

“But Y/n-”

“What was that?” you slapped a hand on his mouth, “sorry can't hear you” you chuckled

From the corner of his eye, Minho could see Newt watching the two of you. If telling the both of you won’t do anything maybe it was time to be more aggressive he thought. Minho quickly removed the guitar from your lap and jumped on.

“Min-!” you erupted into giggles, “what are you do-” he then started to tickle you

“Sorry? I can't hear you, what was that?” he continued his attack until one hard knee to his stomach knocked over. You both laid on the grass laughing, Minho picked up his head and glanced over at Newt. The expression on that boys face that pricless.

Newt watched when Minho jumped on you, he first took a step forward dropping his tool ready to arrive at your defense but the sound of you laughing stopped him. He took a deep breath and picked up the tool again squeezing his fist around it.

He tried to fight the jealousy eating at his chest but he couldn't. He wished it was him rolling around with you in the grass and then he blushed imagining it. He looked up again to see you leaning over Minho, eyes firey playfully yelling at him. The feeling threatened to overtake him again but he was being silly. It was just Minho, he knew how Newt felt about you, it was fine. Newt shook his head and continued his work.

The glade was buzzing because of the bonfire. It was the best time, everyone got to relax and drink some of Gally’s awful but effective drink. After Minho left you were able to practice more and focused on the parts you struggled with. The sun was dropping and the darker it got the more nervous you became

...

The bonfire was in full effect. Everyone was yelling, wrestling, and overall just having a good time. About half way through the night you finally came out from hiding and walked toward Minho and Newt.

“Finally ready?” Minho laughed and started to raise his glass.

You snatched his full glass out of his hand and before he could protest you chugged it. With a hiss, you handed Minho back his drink. Newt and Minho’s jaws dropped, you weren't opposed to drinking and there were nights Newt had to carry you back to your hammock. But you chugging? That meant you really must be nervous and getting very drunk tonight, which was the plan.

“Y/n-” before Newt could finish his sentence you finished his almost empty drink.

“Okay. Now I'm ready.” you grinned and grabbed your guitar and music sheets. You walked over to Alby and whispered to him.

“Everyone! Tonight Y/n has a special surprise for us!”

Everyone cheered, already drunk but also excited to see what you were up to. Newt clapped and felt a wave of nerves pass through him. He wasn't even performing but he just wanted you to do well.

“This came up in the box the other day…and I realized I knew how to play. So I hope you guys enjoy!” you yelled, the liquor definitely playing a part in your confidence. (start the song)

You started the strum the guitar and you looked up when Minho started to clap on beat like you practiced. Everyone started to clap and your adrenaline soared. You started to sing, at first, it was quiet just the clapping, you looked up, did you sound bad? Your eyes caught Newts.

He had this look in his eyes you couldn't decipher but he nodded at you and gave you a small smile, encouraging you to keep going.

Finally it seemed like the boys broke out of the trance and starting cheering loudly. You started moving around singing to boys in front of you and the longer you sang the more passionate you got. Even making them sing the chorus, “oh lei, oh lai, oh lord” echoed throughout the glade.

Minho laughed clenching his stomach, “oh god, the liquor is hitting her hard.” and he was right Newt looked back at you and were jumping around now hair everywhere.

You had finally made your way toward Minho and Newt. Singing at Minho and dancing around him, when the Poet part came up you stood right in front of Newt looking him straight in the eye. Nest held your gaze completely mesmerized by you. Hair everywhere, a light sheen of sweat on your chest, and the fire dancing across your skin. When you grinned at him Newt felt his heart stop. He felt like every fiber of his body was awake, in that moment he wanted nothing more than to pull you in and kiss you until you were breathless.

You were pulled away by Frypan as he picked you up to put you on his shoulder. You yelled in delight and with another swig of your drink, you played the song again from the top. Cheers of delight filled the air and the clapping to keep the beat continued.

Nest smiled and also took a sip of his drink. You looked so happy, so he was happy. He couldn't take his eyes off you, you looked so beautiful. It made his heart ache, he just wanted to hold you, he wanted you to see him as more. He took a bigger swig of his drink this time.

“She’s great” Minho turned to Newt

“Are we surprised?” Nest chucked and tore his gaze off you.

“How do you feel about your special serenade” Minho’s eyebrows raised, curious to see how Newt would deny this.

“She sang to everyone it wasn't just me..” he fiddled with his drink, focused on the amber liquid.

“Mhmm, but not the Poet part… just you.” this made Newt’s eyes snap to Minho. He was right, it was just him, he shook his head. No no no.

“We're just friends Minho, she doesn't care for me like and I-” from the corner of his eye Newt could see the new greenie taking your hand. Minho smirked this has gotten interesting.

“What is he doing,” Nest spoke flatly drink clenched in his hands.

“Mm, don't know maybe dancing. Either way, you're right, you're just friends. Maybe Y/n and the Greenie are a good match” Newt's eyes flared to Minho. Minho couldn't contain his laugh.

Maybe it was the liquor or maybe it was seeing the greenie with his hands on your hips but something in Newt snapped.

After Fry put you down you placed your guitar down, and you looked to see Minho and Newt talking. He wasn't even looking at you, your drunk thoughts were getting the best of you. Maybe Minho was wrong, Newt only saw you as a friend. The greenie came up to you and you locked arms with him spinning around laughing. It was innocent, until you started to get too dizzy and needed to stop. He placed his hands on your hips.

“Are you okay?” you could feel if thumb stroking your side. Before you could respond, someone pulled his hands off.

Newt didn't know what came over him but by the time he realized what he was doing he had pushed you behind him and was holding one of the greenie’s wrists.

“Let’s try to keep our hands to ourselves greenie.”

The greenie’s eyes widened, he shook his head and scrambled away from his second in command. You were in shock, what had gotten into Newt.

“W-what was that?” you furrowed your brows, he turned to look at you, he looked mad. Did you make Newt upset?

“D-did I upset you? I'm sor-” you stammered

“No love, it's- come on” he grabbed your wrist and started to gently but firmly pull you away from the crowd. Leaving the gladers who were too drunk to realize their lead singer was being swept away.

After he felt like you were far enough Newt dropped your wrist and ran a hand threw his hair. What was he doing? How was he going to explain this, he let his jealousy get the best of him. He couldn't stand the way the greenie looked at you, he had every right to look at you that way. You were gorgeous and Newt had no real claim over you. But you were still his.

After a couple seconds of silence your patience was running thin, the liquor not helping.

“Newt? Hellooo” you sighed waiting for answers

He spun around to face you, you were standing there looking up at him, hair pulled to one side.

“I- uh.. Listen love-” you cut him off

“Newt. I'm so confused and I swear it's not just Gally’s drink. What the hell was that, one minute I’m dancing and the next you're hauling me over here?”

“Y/n I know it's o—” you cut him off again. Rambling.

“No. No this is not okay. You can't just sweep me off without an explanation”

You were upset now, upset at how handsome he was and how badly you wanted to be with him. You just wanted this ache to go away. Not only that but the mix singles were driving you crazy. Sometimes you felt like there could be more and other times it felt like it was set in stone that you’d only ever be friends.

“I can't do this anymore Newt.”

This made Newt’s blood run cold. What did you mean by that? Do this? He started to breath a little harder, did he really just mess up this bad. You two hadn't even begun a romantic relationship and he already screwed up. He grabbed your biceps that were at your sides.

“Y/n I’m sorry I didn't mean to upset you”

“Well guess what I am. I-” tears filled your eyes, you didn't want to cry but everything was feeling like too much.

Newt's heart was breaking, as soon your eyes filled with tears he swore he heard a crack in his heart. You tried to scramble out of his grasp but he held you tight. His hands moved to your face steadying you.

“Y/n I love you.”

This made you go completely still. Anger disappearing and relief flooding you. He loved you.

“I’m sorry it took this long for me to say it and that it had to come out this way but I love you. I’ve loved you since the moment you came up from that box.”

His eyes desperately searched your face looking for any sign. A sign that maybe just maybe you loved him too.

You sagged against him, your head landing on his chest, your face still cradled in his hands. He held you, confused, holding his breath waiting for an answer. Finally, what had felt like years you pulled away and looked up at him. Your hands balled up against his chest.

“Newt, I love you too.”

He felt a tear slip down onto his hand, you were crying but smiling. He looked down at your lips and then back at your eyes. You nodded your head slightly giving him permission.

Softy, he pressed his lips against yours. He pulled away smiling, you grabbed a fist full of his shirt and pulled him in again wrapping the other hand around his neck. His hands left your face and slipped down to your waist pull you closer.

“Love, you have no idea how many times I've dreamed of this,” he whispered against your mouth a small smile creeping on his lips.

You grinned as he pulled you back in for another deep kiss. You made a sound that only made him pull you closer. He couldn’t believe it, the girl he was pinning over was finally in his arms.

You felt like your head was spinning, being in Newt’s arms just felt so right. Hell you didn’t know where he learned to kiss like this but you were breathless.

“Love?” Newt spoke softy like if he spoke too loudly the trance you we’re both in might break.

“Newt” you whispered

“As much as I’m enjoying this, you’re drunk, I’m a bit drunk” he pressed his forehead against yours.

He was right. You were drunk but there wasn’t anything about this that you didn’t want. Your cheeks burned, looking around and seeing that although the two of you were alone, the bonfire wasn’t too far away. You kissed his nose, then both his cheeks.

“You’re too sweet, you know that?” You ran both your hands through his hair your forearms against his shoulders

“Only for you remember?” He winked

“Does this mean I get special treatment?” You raised an eyebrow. He grabbed your forearms and pulled you in close.

“Don’t tell Minho but you’ve always gotten special treatment.”

You laughed and pushed off him, reaching out a hand. He grabbed it and the two of you walked back to the bonfire. Immediately Minho noticed you two especially you two holding hands. He decided to keep it to himself though, pretending to not notice. Tonight was about you two.

When everyone noticed you were back they begged to play the song again. Who were you to deny them? You began to play again, looking to Newt when you sang about the Poet. It was for him. He clapped along never taking his eyes off you. How could he?

Right before the last chorus Minho grabbed the guitar from you.

“Go dance.” He pushed you toward Newt and practically jumped into his arms.

He picked you up by your waist and spun you around. Everyone kept clapping keeping the beat as Newt placed you back down and danced with you. You spun around then dipped you, you couldn’t believe when he kissed you in front of everyone. Cheers erupted.

“Newt you shank!” Galley yelled

“Sorry lads” Newt smirked

When he brought you back up you collapsed against his chest. From exhaustion, liquor and laughing, when you saw Minho looking at the two of you, you grinned at him. He shook us head and shrugged as if saying “I told you so”

…

That night you and Newt walked back to your hammocks holding your hand, creeping around drunken asleep boys.

“Goodnight Y/n” he pressed a kiss to lips gently

“Goodnight Newt.” You laid down and he laid down in his hammock next to yours. You tried to fight sleep but the night caught up to you.

Newt watched as you slept, he couldn’t believe it. The ache in his chest was still there but it was different. Instead of being empty it was full so full that it ached. He knew as he watched you sleep before his eyes shut that he would always be by your side. No matter what.

…

The end :)

I hope you guys enjoyed, it’s lowkey long and I haven’t revised it. If you see any errors please let me know and make sure you comment for more!

[tnsophiaonly]

"I am your Creator, your Grace."

A divine spoke from above, causing everyone to gasp all towards Teyvat.

The prophecy has been fulfilled. The creator is descending to Teyvat, visiting or rather coming.

With the way the creatures are more hostile and the way they increase more is a sign. It means the creator's blood has been shed on the way, who could have done such an atrocity? They must be tortured and

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

TW: Detailed death and gore. SAGAU. Manipulation. OOC. Yandere. Manipulator Reader.

You were just an average Genshin player, farming for new characters or unbuilt characters, artifacts, things, bosses, monsters, and primogems.

"Ah; I can't wait for Fontaine... The characters, the new nation! Ah...~!" You spoke excitedly, cannot wait for the 4.0 update.

After the 4.0 live you went back to Genshin to at least try your luck with a last ten pull before sleeping, not really caring which banner, you press the *10x wish* button.

The fate turns gold and you grin in excitement. You got all the five/four stars you didn't have, which is more than a ten pull that's for sure, you blinked your eyes, rubbed it and lastly pinched yourself to see if you were dreaming.

But you weren't. Oh, now what? You just clicked the exit button and looked through your characters, they were all here! You had only a bit of 5 star C6 characters because you were broke.. but you couldn't believe it you got everything! Even the weapons! Whohoo! But wait.. what if you get banned?

Oh no. Oh nonononononononono. You reassure yourself, no one knows so who will ban you? No one! You just closed off Genshin.

Okay you went back to see if it was just a glitch, when you were brought to the entrance screen you pressed enter and it flashes so bright! You didn't remember it being this bright!

Your eyes hurt from the brightness and you close your eyes, you feel yourself shifting realities.. was TikTok really true when it brought up switching realities? You wish you could have checked cause it hurts!

You felt as if you were getting torn into pieces by pieces. You let out a scream of pain as you felt your head getting torn out.

—e—m—o—c—l—e—w—

Waking up with a pained scream and fearful expression. You look around your body to see it still intact.

Sighing in relief from the sudden shift in realities, you came back to reality (get it?) when you heard a rather loud thunder strike.

You look around and see yourself in an unfamiliar surroundings. 'What the hell? Where am I?' Your thoughts were cut off by a thunder strike.

You tumble when standing up, after all you were worried your legs were cut off from the reality shift. Finally finding out it was a hut made with wood with a hay like roof. Surprisingly it was comfy, and it didn't leak!

And you see that it had; a bag —leather back pack—, clothes —japanese like? Wait...—, food —in a plate, and it looked really familiar—, water —in a kettle—, mini med kit —which seemed 19's like—, and..

Is that mora?! As in genshin currency?! Holy moly nutsy cats! You must be in genshin! Woah...

You admire the Teyvat currency. It really was the real deal. You took steal all the things you see in the hut, even the pillow and blanket!! Literally everything you could take!!! And the leather back pack? Fits it all.

It also has a game like screen, like the inventory? Yeah.

You wear Japanese like clothing, you wouldn't want to unfit in Teyvat, would you? Anyways stop calling it Japanese like clothing it's Inazuman now.

I mean Inazuma is inspired by Japan right?

The only thing that bothered you is that, what was the mask for? The mask was split in half So what's it for? Hiding your identity? Pfft-

(pick one)

You took it just in case.

You walked out of the hut, oof! You almost got hit by lightning! Why are there so many lightning? You looked around and you couldn't really see anyone or anything.

Huh last time you know you already finished the quest in Seirai Island so why are there so many lightning?

You shook your head. Your eyes perk up at a statue. Ah, it's a Statue of Seven. It's a bit broken because you didn't really level up Inazuma statues... Laziness..

You wonder, would you get elemental powers if you touch it? I mean it did say something about people from other worlds getting powers.. but... You shifted realities, does that count?

Oh well, you proceeded to touch the statue either way and it got fixed like if you max level statues, in fact it looks cleaner than before. You even felt as if the statue's element- or electro was happy to see you.

Did you bless the statue? Or did it bless you? You didn't really care.

You checked to see if you had powers or not, you didn't really feel anything. Maybe it didn't work? You sighed in disappointment.

You look around your surroundings. Just as expected, it really is Seirai and you are in Inazuma or Teyvat. You walk around and spot a tree, ooh lavender melons!

You reach up to pick up the first lavender melon and take out the kettle from your backpack or bag and wash the lavender melon, safety first!

And you took a bite, oh it was really ripe and juicy! What a surprise! It tastes just like a watermelon but with a more lavender-ish taste? I don't really know.

You took more of the lavender melons, because in person, one tree has 16 melons. Unfair, cause in the game it only has 3!

You put it in your magic bag, you walk away from your "spawn point". Eager to explore the dangerous island more. You were about to walk straight when you saw Fatui.

Haha, no.

You turn back and take a left (cause no one treated you right), and went right (cause everyone left). You see a teleport waypoint. Oh wow. Omg. It's the same size as you..

Feeling amazed and anxious at the same time, you wonder, are you able to use this? You hesitantly touch it and instead of blue, it turns into color gold. Mesmerized and shocked and also scared.

You look at your magic bag and see a map in it, you take the map and it has the teleport waypoints! It was all locked but you could go and explore more to get more— no what are you thinking it's dangerous! You put the idea of exploring in the back of your mind (you died, and I didn't even cry-).

You see one of the wave rider summoner. (Was it called that?) You touch it and it becomes color gold too. Wow! The boat is amazing!! It's way better than the game! Man you could live here for all you care, but the thunder..

You were still wondering where the thunder came from. You look around first before riding the wave rider. Just to see if you would have a clue where the thunder is coming from.

While in the way you see a sweet flower, you were about to pick it when you remember Whopperflowers. The ones that disguise themselves and can take on the appearance of other plants like Sweet Flower, Small Lamp Grass, and even a Mint. You felt really scared

You were about to walk past it when it came out from the ground. Making you scream and tumble. Almost making you fall.

The whopperflower had a face that presents fear and also admiration. It doesn't attack you.

You stare at it in fear and shock. Confusion looms over you. 'Why isn't it attacking?' you thought.

"Uh- hello.." you spoke awkwardly, hoping that it wouldn't deam you as an enemy, you smile nervously. The whopperflower looks mesmerized now.

Oh? It understands you? You reach out a hand to pet it unconsciously and it leans to your touch. It gifts you a sweet nectar and gives you a sweet flower and goes back to the ground. And just as if it felt like someone was coming, you also felt it, someone came.

It was an adventurer, you recognize that solid green and red uniform anywhere. It seems as if it was running away. And it spots you. The adventurer pushes you out of its way and was getting chased by a hilichurl. Seriously? It was a group of 3.

Wow. When you tumble back from the push the adventure did, causing your ankle straining from the force. The cryo whopperflower jumped out of the ground and started attacking the adventurer and your eyes widened.

It starts sending out cryo spikes which stab the adventurer's legs and knees —earning a scream of pain from them—, then it sends another spikes that's higher which stabs the adventurer's abdomen. Spitting a heavy amount of blood from the spikes. They glance at you with pain, but it soon washes away when they saw your face. Oh it was their holy creator, so you actually exist? It wasn't a lie? "HELP YOUR GRACE! I DIDN'T MEAN TO GRAZE SUCH A DIVINE! FORGIVE ME FROM MY GRAVE SIN!" The adventurer screams out with brimming hope and grimming despair, and takes out a hand at you, but you are frozen in fear; 'Grace? What.. what..?' your thoughts ascending to worry, confusion, guilt, anger, pain... The adventurer... the adventurer was heavily injured which caused the spikes and the ground splattered with red blood. The whopperflower was charging up and the adventurer bleeding on the spikes with life fading slowly. The whopperflower finishes the charge up and starts shooting out deadly cryo balls at the adventurer, beating it up. But that wasn't enough to kill it, as its uniform was blocking the attack from a critical spot and only destroyed the bloody greenish uniform. So the whopperflower sends another cryo spike which ultimately ends its life in a brutal way. Which ends up splattering more red blood than it should.

You could only stare in horror and shock from what happened, your slippers with white socks or rather shoes getting stained with blood.

"Grace..? Wha.. what..?" You whimpered in utter horror, the cry whopperflower then proceeds to take the adventurer's head and heart and present it Infront of you, with an expression of admiration, as if it didn't just kill another being brutally in front of you! In fact they want you to praise them.

You held out your hand to form a stop sign but it took it as a praise and lent to the touch and the whopperflower went back to the ground with you still frozen.

You saw, watched, played a lot of horror like, or something that concerns dead bodies but you never expected seeing them personally, or was it really your first time? Your eyes dilate at the sight of the dead decapitated frozen body and its stabbed heart which beats slowly fading away.

Tears start to build up from your eyes, the emotion you're feeling, empathy was it? Or was it something else?

You just put on a pray-like pose and you walk away with a heavy heart.

—t—a—v—y—e—T— —o—t—

How long has it been ever since you've witnessed a brutal sight? For your sake? Hmm about at least almost an hour, you got lost. You couldn't find the wave rider. I mean you could use the map and teleport but hell, how do you teleport? You were walking around, avoiding any danger as much as possible in Seirai Island.

You finally saw a wave rider, and look there's a waypoint nearby! But then you see a familiar purple head. Shit, it was Ei. You had to cross paths just so you could get to the wave rider! You didn't know what to do and was panicking when you remembered your mask. You took it out from your magical bag and inspected it. It only covers 1/4 of your face, why bother... Eh, a mask is a mask at the end of the day. You wore it.

You were thinking of a plan when, "It feels like the creator is nearby.., who's there?" The Electro Archon said with an unfazed voice but irritated too. You walk out from your hiding place and put your hands up.

"Ah forgive me for hiding, but I assure you I mean no harm." You spoke gently, the shogun tensed up and looked at you directly, she looked so pretty personally...

"Is that.. who are you?" She spoke with a rather forced calm voice. You were skeptical about her behavior, so you plan to use an alias. "My name Akeldama Kagema. I really apologize for the sudden appearance, The Shogun." You keep a facade with a calm, elegant personality.

"Akeldama Kagema.. what is your purpose here? Seirai Island is dangerous for inazuman citizens." Ei spoke with a rather skeptical tone when she pronounced your name.

"Ah, I am an adventurer and I was given a commission on this specific island. I was about to leave with the wave rider there." You lied smoothly, lying has become a part of your nature which you can't live with lying.

"And the commission was?" She was being pushy, she seems really suspicious of you. You kept up your facade despite being irritated, "Taking care of a hilichurl camp." You lied again.

She hums, and let's you be. But before letting you be, she held your hand, her eyes widened but she soon let go. You were about to touch the wave rider when an uneasy feeling looms over you, as if Ei was watching your every move.

When the wave rider turns yellow, you made a mistake. Shit, wonderful, now Ei is really suspicious of you now. How the hell did you make a wave rider gold when you're not the creator?

She runs over you at light speed and refrained you from moving further. "Ah, What is this for.." you spoke with a forced smile, trying to keep up the facade of calm and elegant.

"Tell me your real name." Well fuck. You grumble, "My name is (Y/N).." so much for aliases.

She unrestrains your movement and looked in worry. "Are you alright your grace?!" She asked with a worry laced tone. Your eyes widened with her question and tone, the sudden switch up?

"I'm fine.." you muttered loud enough for her to feel, and you swore you felt her sigh in relief. She held your hands softly.

"So the prophecy was correct..." She spoke gently, then her grip on you became harsh and painful "Except if you're also a fake like (Same Name or S/M) who gets mistaken as the creator for having the same face, body. ." She said harshly, "I will end you." She threatens with a venom laced voice.

You muttered an 'Ow' and hissed from the godlike grip on your hands. "yes yes..." She lets go, of your hands and your hands have a mark on them, one of your fingers bled tho and when it dropped on the floor, you saw flowers growing and the way the grass became cleaner from just a drop of blood. And Ei's eyes widen.

"You really are the creator!" She said with so much happiness, "I apologize deeply for hurting you, I'll treat your wound now please do come with me.." She said.

"Ah.. and how am i- are we supposed to do that?" You asked confusingly. "Ah, staying from another world and descending here must have caused an impact to your memories.. Your grace, you can teleport to places you wish to be at!" The Electro Archon spoke excitedly. Happy that her nation was the first the creator has come.

You're seriously not their creator right? But then it doesn't really explain what's going on unless you're the creator... I mean it was Hoyo who created them! What are they on about?!

You breathe carefully. You put on an apologetic expression. "Ei, as much as I would really wish to be treated by you, I do not like to be a center of attention..." You declined respectfully

"Your grace, you are deemed to be given all the attention and riches as much as you are the only reason we live..!"

"Ei, I am not a fan of attention, not at all. How about this, I want to act like a messenger who gives out the creator or me- messages. Like an oracle? But I'm not really like that, just a messenger. But you can still know who I am, but refrain from letting anyone know." You lied reasoned out

Ei understood, "Your grace.. so humble..." She muttered in a hazy state, you hold her hand gently "I truly wish that, you would try your best to hide my identity... Ei can you do that? Don't tell anyone? Not even Yae?"

She nods, "Prove it." You demanded. The Electro Archon, injures herself as proof, an unnoticed indigo blood dripping but soon turning red. "wonderful. Put your life on the line for me would you, my strongest acolyte? Or do you wish for me to abandon you.." you threatened with a low voice.

Ei shakes her head. You give her a peck on the forehead. And told her of your plan.

You plan to be an oracle like or just a messenger sent by the creator. So you could 'observe' the present Teyvat.

An obvious lie. You have no plan on meeting any characters and pass on your messages to crazed devotees.

Ei only goes with your plan, great now you have a powerful ally. As much as she is very out of character, I mean who wouldn't? After all;

I'm their creator.

Ei left Seirai hesitantly. You could only smirk in victory.

Then you went to the wave rider. You went inside, and put your hand in the modern screen and told it to lead you to Kannazuka.

It did as you told.

—e—c—a—r—G— —r—u—o—y—

But there's something bothering you, how did you communicate with Ei when you were speaking in your world language rather Teyvatian language?

Is it because of a certain connection between Divine beings and The Creator? But the way you communicated with Raiden is rather too out of character. If what you guessed was right that this was some kind of SAGAU cult AU and possibly impostor AU, shouldn't she attack me?

You're rather worried than grateful that Raiden spared you. What lies ahead of this so-called Teyvat? A fantasy open world with open battles using elemental magic turning into a crazed cult who worships their so-called creator who doesn't even own Genshin but just a player, wouldn't the title of creator go with everybody else? As in like other Genshin players or the people who went to your world...? Oh wait.

Would communicating with others be considered hard? Considering the others might not have the same connection as the creator does with the divine beings.

You just shook your head in frustration, your mask jingling at the process.

–s–e–i–r–o–m–e–m– –n–e–d–d–u–S–

You see yourself in Kannazuka.

What was your purpose here? Why did you go here...?

Oh yeah, to get a mask that'll actually cover your face rather than 1/4 of it. You don't want to be seen as the creator, no not at all, you might will get hunted! You might will die painfully.

But is Kannazuka a good place...

Item Naku Weed.png Naku Weed

I don't think so. Narukami might be a better place to fetch mask.

Perhaps you came here to explore?

Maybe.

Okay maybe you did come here for...

Dendrobium

Crystal Marrow

Onikabuto

Sea Ganoderma

Out of curiosity. I promise!!

Oh. Crap.

I keep on forgetting that there are still characters who can get here.

It's Kujou Sara. And who is that? She looks a lot like me.... Is that the (S/M) Ei said of? A fake that gets compared with The Creator?

OMG I'M FINALLY DONE... yes SAGAU cause yes. This monstrous chapter... I need to train myself to write longer chapters.

Anyways have a nice read, it's cringe I know and it sucked but this is my actual first time writing SAGAU. Especially Raiden Ei. I don't know much about her but I js know she has gno-sis. Jk I did study her a bit for this, ending up to be ooc.

When you don't give a shit about the lore but you have to so you don't make mistakes...

heavily inspired by @whispereons (pls support them)

Anyways. VOTING IS CLOSED

[prythianpages]

The Sun & the Moon | Rhysand x Reader

summary: Rhysand wants to write you the perfect poem for Valentine's Day and calls up Cassian and Azriel for help.

warnings: fluff and some implied smut/mainly suggestive tones.

Happy Valentine's Day! ♡

a/n: So I got a little ahead of myself because this can be read as a stand alone (all you have to know is that reader is a healer from Dawn Court.) But it is a part of my Wanna Be Yours series. All because I saw this tiktok sound of this poem and found it so beautiful. I did not write this poem, all credit goes to this creator. I also wanted to write a scene of Rhys struggling to write a poem (I had some saved on pinterest) in part two but had to scrap the scene out for other ones. Now, it's a win-win situation. Don't worry, there are not really spoilers in here for what I have planned. Just know this takes place after their happy ending (:

Valentine’s Day is approaching and Rhysand finds himself facing an unprecedented dilemma. Getting you a gift. A gift as special and perfect as you.

The pressure is high, and the responsibility lies squarely on his shoulders, particularly given the mating gift he presented to you. An expansive estate, where everything–the architecture, the decor, and furniture seamlessly marries the celestial essence of the sun and moon. The grand house paints an exquisite portrait of dawn, reflecting the enchanting blend of your old court and now new one.

So naturally, given his stress, he calls upon his brothers for help.

“You called us here because you don’t know what to get y/n for Valentine’s? y/n, your mate?” Cassian asked, carrying a mix of amusement and disbelief.

“I thought this was important,” came from Azriel.

Rhysand shoots Azriel a pointed look. “This is important.”

Azriel raises an eyebrow while Cassian grins. The two exchange a knowing glance that hinted at a shared understanding. Just as Rhysand prepared to delve into their minds to unravel their thoughts, they turned their attention back to him, nodding in unison.

"Alright, Rhys," Cassian began, clearing his throat dramatically, "How about flowers?”

Rhysand slumps into his desk chair, a heavy sigh escaping his lips. “I get her flowers every week.”

Cassian mirrors Rhysand, seating himself on one of the chairs across from him. He throws his hands up in the air. “Then, I don’t know.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“How about you gift her something a little more sentimental?” Azriel offers. He crosses his arms deep in thought, resting his chin on one hand. “Something small but meaningful.”

Rhysand’s violet eyes light up, the silver specs in his irises glimmering like stars. “Like a poem! Y/n loves poetry."

The library in your home is stocked with a vast amount of poetry. Mainly romantic ones and then, the initial enthusiasm gives way to a fading spark.

Expressing the depth of his feelings verbally comes naturally to Rhysand. His silver-tongued declarations never fail to effortlessly convey how much you mean to him. He is the master of tone and inflection when it comes to expressing his feelings for you and when those are not enough, he loves to show you. Often. With that silver-tongue of his.

However, the transition to writing felt like a different art form altogether. It was challenging because how could he successfully capture the nuances of his love for you in writing? When he'd rather show you...

Rhysand runs a hand through his already disheveled hair, a frown creasing his face. He wants to do this for you but--

“I’ve never written a poem before.”

He looks up to Azriel for help, who in return merely shrugs with a smirk. “I don’t resort to poetry.”

“Oh! I got it!” Cassian, on the other hand, leans forward in his seat with nothing but pure mischief reflected in his gaze. “How about this? Roses are red, violets are blue. y/n, my love, I’m obsessed with you.”

The silence was loud. And then Azriel’s deep laughter fills the air. He finally takes a seat next to Cassian’s, sensing this is going to take awhile. “That is terrible.”

“Absolutely,” Rhysand agrees, his expression defeated. It doesn’t stop him from summoning a quill, ink and paper right in front of Cassian. “But jot that down...just in case.”

As the trio delved deeper into their poetic endeavors, Rhysand's frustration grew. Cassian's attempts became increasingly cheesy. Meanwhile, Azriel just sat back and watched, his shadows peeking curiously over Cassian’s and Rhysand’s papers. He would give his input when necessary, more inclined towards laughter than actually helping.

Nearly two hours later and drowning in parchment full of scribbled attempts at poetry, Rhysand lets out an exasperated sigh, finally excusing Cassian and Azriel. They leave all too quickly, slipping away before Rhysand could retract the words of dismissal that had escaped him.

There’s still a frown in his brow as his eyes graze over all the poems him and Cassian wrote together.  He couldn't bear the thought of presenting any of these creations to you. The inked words on paper seemed to mock the depth of his feelings, failing to capture his love for you.

His eyes flutter shut as he allows his thoughts to drift toward you. The clock's hands have nudged past noon, and the familiarity of your daily rhythm dances in his mind. He knows your schedule as you know his. It’s right after your lunch so he knows you’re at your desk. 

A mental portrait forms, capturing you leaning forward at your desk. Maybe a touch hunched over as you read over a patient's reports with that adorable furrow in your brow. There’s a window right behind you and given the sun is currently at its peak, he can imagine how it glows upon you like a radiant spotlight. 

And when your eyes grow tired from reading, he can already picture the way you’d lean back in your chair, spinning around to face the sun. Your eyes would be fluttering shut like his at this moment. The sun would now be shining on you, its golden hues cascading upon you in an ethereal glow where every beloved feature is highlighted. A living embodiment of warmth and brilliance.

You're his sun but you’re also his moon.

His eyes snap open, his grip on the quill tightening. Before he knows it, words are spilling effortlessly onto the blank parchment in front of him as he lets his emotions flow. He feels a tug down the bond, as if you could sense his thoughts, and with a smile, he echoes the sentiment. He couldn’t wait for you to read it.

Valentine’s day dawns a week later, and Rhysand’s excitement for you to read his poem is palpable. It took all his restraint not to give it to you as soon as he finished it.

Unfortunately, you weren’t able to take the day off. It didn’t matter as your plans for tonight were simple–just a lovely dinner together, made by Rhysand, in the privacy of your home. All that mattered is that you had tomorrow off. 

Rhysand waits for you right outside the steps of the clinic, not wanting to distract you from your last reports. He could feel your presence grow nearer and nearer through the bond. He tugs on it, a silent urge to pull you to him faster. The door opens and you’re rushing down the steps to meet him.

Throwing your arms around his neck, you bury your head into his chest, inhaling softly. He feels his heart flutter and he tightens his arms around you, holding you close in his embrace. “Hi, love,” you murmur.

He pulls away, cradling your face in his hands. He smiles and then kisses you, pouring all his love and devotion to you. A promise of what’s to come later. “Hey, beautiful. You ready to go home?”

“Always. As long as it’s with you,” you tell him,  voice still breathless as your hand effortlessly entwines with his.

Rhysand’s lips twitch and he finds himself melting at your words. Instinctively, he averts his gaze, warmth flooding his cheeks as he bites his lip. He intended to walk you home as Velaris had decorated the streets with hearts, flowers and pink garland. He gives your hand a squeeze and winnows you both directly to the comfort of your home instead.

He reluctantly lets you go so that you can wash up and change.

When you join him in the dining room, the glamor he had placed earlier lifts, revealing an exquisite dinner that has your stomach growling. Cute hearts, flowers and confetti adorn the table and walls around you, filling your heart with a cozy glow.

As his gaze lifts from the table, his eyes widen, pupils flaring.

“Come here, you,” he breathes, pushing his chair back just enough for you to have space to settle onto his lap. 

“I’m hungry,” you say, a small warning delivered with a touch of mirth. His eyes sparkle at you with an unmistakable gleam as he drags a finger up the fabric of your red dress. But your body betrays your words, leaning in to his teasing touch.

“Me too," Rhysand replies with a smirk and it's evident he's not referring to the food plated in front of you.

Your stomach growls and he chuckles, resting his hand on your waist instead. “Let’s eat then.”

The two of you dive into the dinner Rhysand made, feeding each other and catching up with one another. You’re nearly in a food coma, collapsing into Rhysand’s chest when you're done. He rests his head on your shoulder, his strong arms securing their place around your waist.

“I got you something,” he whispers against your neck, lifting his head only to speak his next words. “Well, I wrote you something.”

“You wrote something for me?”

He takes delight in the surprise and excitement in your voice. Raising a hand, he retrieves his valentine card from the pocket realm. The only place he deemed fit to hide his poem for you. He’s too busy pressing his lips against your neck, to hide the giddiness he feels inside, to notice his mistake.

“Roses are red. Violet’s are–”

“Not that one!” Rhysand exclaims, body tensing behind you as he rips it from your hands. “I did not write that one!"

You can’t help but laugh. “Then who did?”

“Cas.”

“Cassian wrote a poem for me?” You reply, eyes widening slightly as you shift in his lap to face him. You're thankful the dress you chose has a loose skirt as it allows you to move freely and settle a thigh on either side of him.

“Gods, no,” Rhysand groans, cursing himself for not discarding that poem once he had written his. He leans forward, burying his head into your chest for a moment to hide his embarrassment.

“I asked Cas and Az for help. I didn’t know what to get you because–well, you’re perfect to me and nothing could ever amount to the love I feel for you. Az suggested I give you something small but meaningful and I know how much you love poems but I’ve never written one so then–”

You interrupt Rhysand with a soft and sweet kiss. When you pull away, Rhysand chases after you but you stop him, pressing your fingers his lips. He plants a kiss on your fingers, holding your gaze.

“Let me read it. The poem you actually wrote.”

“Okay,” Rhysand breathes as he summons another red envelope from the pocket realm. He holds it out to you. “But don’t laugh.”

“Never,” you reassure him as you take the envelope, fingers eagerly tearing it open.

He watches with bated breath, a cascade of emotions swirling within him, as your eyes gracefully traverse from left to right, absorbing every emotion he poured out to you. It's endearing—the tender way your expression, while immersed in his poem, mirrors the very sentiment he wore on his face while crafting it for you. Your lips curve into a radiant smile, and the spark in your eyes begins to glisten with heartfelt tears. In that moment, he can feel the ripples through your shared bond, overwhelming and flooding with an abundance of pure, unbridled love.

“I love it,” you manage to say as you lift your gaze to meet his again. Holding the poem to your chest, you store into the safety of your pocket realm. “I’m going to frame it.”

“I love you,” Rhysand says and then kisses you. “So, so much.”

“I love you, too,” you whisper against his lips and then wrapping your arms around his neck, you pull him even closer to you. “Now, it’s my turn to give you your gift.”

this is the poem:

"If the sun and moon had a baby, it would be you.

Cause you are so beautiful.

You radiate light like the sun.

And you bring me calmness like the moon.

You balance me out like the earth and that’s just the beginning of everything you do.

I think that you’re so gorgeous and sometimes it brings tears to my eyes.

Because how could I get so lucky to have someone so beautiful like you in my life.”

a/n: I thought this poem was really cute, especially given the sun/moon theme of this series. It's 11:58pm where I live so technically, I made it before Valentine's Day was over lol. I apologize if there are any typos. I tend to make them a lot and switch words out (like I caught myself writing lips instead of lap) when I'm tired. This is exactly the type of vibe i'm going for, for Rhys in this series. It's a scene from a kdrama, where the male fell hard first for the female and he's totally endeared by her. Anyway, hope you enjoyed!

tagging: @minnieoo , @phoenixgurl030 (I know this isn't part two but I tagged y'all just in case, y'all were interested ♡)

[no-where-new-hero]

omg I need your thoughts on the terminally o line author culture bc ngl it makes my eye TWITCH, there are authors I deliberately avoid even tho I've heard their stuff is good bc they're like that 🙈

HHHHH oh good lord, okay, from how I see it, there are two angles on this, both aggravating and sad: the official decree one and the spontaneous ecosystem one.

The officious one is that the nature of publishing nowadays demands an author have an online presence. You need Twitter/X. You need to let every potential reader know your book is coming out. You need engagement through reviews and pre-orders incentives (if you buy now you’ll get a special keychain!!) and word of mouth assurances from your peers that yes your book is as cool as you say it is. You need a newsletter with links (more buying! more voting on lists that are simply popularity contests!) and promises you’re still working on the next thing, don’t forget about me in the morass of everyone else doing the same thing. You need an Instagram and TikTok now to post pretty pictures and videos because one or two authors made it big off this kind of promotion and now everyone thinks it’s the ticket to the bestseller list (sadly, it seems to be working). You need an OnlyFans (a joke but I do recall a twt spat that was a joke/not joke about how rupi kaur will always be more beautiful than her critics and people who took issue with the conflation of beauty with talent). At the end of all this, you’re basically an influencer, a content creator creating content for the content you should be focusing on creating, the finished novel. And the novel itself seems to be disappearing behind the masks used to promote it (fanfic-style tropes, moodboards, playlists, memes) until I now no longer trust the book that I’ll pick up to have any resemblance to the enticements that brought me here. I’ve seen an author or two complain about the stress all this self-promotion generates, but it’s become such an entrenched part of the industry, I think people just accept it. And thus spend too much time online hoping that if they tweet just a little more, produce just one more reel, maybe that’ll be the difference between a sale and no sale.

The other side of this, distinct but obviously connected, is the ecosystem created by this panic of being perpetually visible coupled with the fact that so many of the new authors came of age during the rise of internet fandom culture. That opinionated community mindset that blurs the line between anonymity and friendship is the lens they bring to their own work. I mean, it makes sense I suppose—if you love yelling about characters and words, why wouldn’t you do that once you start to produce your own? This really came home to me hearing about that reviewbombgate “scandal” and how people involved were in reylo circles and that was used to provide receipts. You’re interacting with your readers and peers about your intimate work but they are also all strangers. They will not always give you the benefit of the doubt, and now—as opposed to the past when maybe the worst that could happen was a handful of bad reviews in newspapers—you will either be tagged in hate reviews, sub-tweeted, explicitly called out, demanded to atone for your sins. It’s no longer the morality of consumption but the morality of production. Of course, the easy answer is just log-off, touch some grass. But that can work only when you and everyone else are separated by anonymous accounts or when you have no platform to maintain. As an author trying to make your livelihood from this, suddenly it’s do or die. We’re in a strange moment of authorship bringing the Internet’s echo-chamber and claustrophobic into the real world (this is a lie: publishing now is no longer the real world. But it looks like it) and thus you can kind of no longer escape things.

Will the average reader who isn’t aware of all these machinations care about reviewbombgate? Would a reader browsing at Target think about the controversies around Lightlark? Very likely not. But the impression I’m getting more and more is that the average reader isn’t the one buying all the books. Or shall we say—a bestseller’s status relies on bookstore stock. Bookstore stock is only huge when they know a book will be a good investment. They’ll only know a book is a good investment if it and its author has street cred based on booktokkers, bookstagram, bloggers and reviewers (have you noticed how many books out these last maybe 1-3 years have these kinds of accounts thanked in the acknowledgments? Yeah), and THESE are also chronically online people who will Know. And decide the cast of fate.

Honestly, @batrachised, I see why you avoid these kinds of writers, though I wonder how long it’ll be before the disease becomes epidemic.

[anemoiashifts]

how tiktok failed the shifting community

& how shiftok keeps you stuck idk what to call this. 🫶🏻

to make this clear, i do not hate tiktok. i dont hate people on tiktok who want to shift. i dont have a problem with people on tiktok talking about shifting.

this post is not about anyone specific. ive sold a shifting journal on amazon. which may seem hypocritical though ive never made a promise that it will make you shift & its not supposed to.

!! this post isn’t an excuse to push all the communities problems on shiftok. much like the animal crossing community pre-new horizons, as communities grow bigger, its expected to bring some toxicity with it. problems exist in all corners of the internet & in certain groups.

however, there is a specific issue within the shifting community that involves tiktok & that is the integration of money & profit being made off of people’s desperation.

shifting was / can be presented as this alternative “safe place” & escape for people with serious mental illness that consist of not wanting to be living this life anymore. & that’s fine on its own. everything we do is a form of escapism like readings or watching tv. as long as it’s healthy, it’s harmless. ive touched on permashifting & sv!c!d4l ideation before but id like to piggyback off of that point.

to clarify for everyone new: i am not against perma-shifting. i am against some of the langue that is used around it. you don’t need to k!ll yourself to shift. this is what im speaking about.

when you have an audience that is deteriorating & only going through the motions of life, when your only desire is to get out of the situation you are in, is it extremely easy to profit off of vulnerable people. this fact paired with tiktok — where you get paid & your income is dependent on engagement — it becomes overwhelmingly clear why pushing out content that keeps their audience within arms reach of actually shifting. it’s more profitable if you have an audience of people who can’t shift & want to as opposed to an audience of people who can shift & don’t need validation from exterior sources. it becomes easy to ignore people’s struggles if that’s what you’re making money off of. there is a lack of a healthy viewpoint & balance within some parts of the community.

calling back to 2020 when shiftok was in its infancy, there was a lot of “pov” & storytime style content. there is nothing wrong with wanting to share your experiences but making “entertainment” is arguably much, much easier & profitable. keeping that in mind, why i believe the practice of shifting is so seemingly popular amongst a younger demographic is because it brings fandom spaces together. it’s one thing to watch a show & obsess over fictional characters & read fan fiction but to live alongside your favorite character & be equal with those you idolize, it can sound very appealing. keeping shifting as entertainment style content, it makes it no different then fanfiction & oc’s. again !! i have no problem with people speaking about their experiences / wants for when they shift but the issue is when people only focus on that & it becomes a numbers game.

i hold no issue with people selling their labor in any community but when you sell something with the promise to “make you shift” is when it becomes problematic. when you sell false promises & empty hope, you are also banking that your audience is desperate enough to cling to anything that reminds them of what they want. it speaks to how the creator views their audience to an extent & id argue is aware of the dozens of (mostly) children expressing their negative worldview that displays an unhealthy mentality.

this is why i don’t do general readings as frequently & personal readings at all anymore. quite honestly, it’s easy engagement. while not my intention, people often change their perspective & “make” things fit their situation. i hate hate hate to say this but in desperation, you can make a sign out of anything. this is not me trying to take away the feeling of internal knowing. to give this thought weight, i remember a while ago i posted a reading that was & has been channeled from a person in my desired reality. the comments were flooded by “i know who this is from” & “this is from this person in my dr”. i clarified in the video — the very first slide — that this was from a specific person & everyone completely ignored that fact to fit their beliefs. if you find meaning in something that’s great but when something is explicitly stated as one thing don’t manipulate it to fit yourself if it’s not truly meant for you. not every reading is supposed to resonate. by forcing it to it removes the intimate aspects of what is truly just for you. if everything has meaning, nothing has meaning.

circling back to my idea before, readings & “this message was meant for you content” does open the floodgates to tell their audience what they want to hear for the sake of growth, profit, engagement. yes, there are some readings that don’t pander to a specific group of views but those “stop scrolling this was meant for you, he’s thinking about you, if you see this letter or number it’s a sign & you should be expecting a phone call or someone to reach out to you soon” readings that come up on your fyp are eight times out of ten for engagement purposes & to tell you what you want to hear by using generic langue to make profit. no, not all readings are set up this way and not everyone thinks like this. there are plenty of people who don’t do it for money or attention. even if people did it for money, some people hold issue with that while others don’t. the like it or not, just make sure you’re doing it in a way that’s not making peoples mental situation worse & giving others false hope.

while not reading based, this sounds familiar when we acknowledge “shifting symptoms”. early on, people seemed to take them as being close to shifting & literally feeling the process of you becoming apart of your desired reality. now we know, all those tingles & twitched are only your body checking to see if you’re asleep. the name becomes very mis-leading when you take into that content.

the tldr of this post was when you intertwine spirituality & profit in spaces where people are desperate for something that feels larger then them, people’s actions can put bad tastes in people’s mouths. looking at tiktok, views = money. when numbers are given to people who have shifted & deemed influencers (because that’s how tiktok was pretty much designed) it becomes easy to see why some idolize to be like these people’s — “they shifted & i didn’t, they seem to have everything figured out, they must be better at it then i am, they must be special & not like the rest of us.” it creates a cycle of self doubt, unfortunately, while keeping you in the same “i can’t shift” mindset while these same people are selling a piece of them that you seemingly “lack”.

[cowboys-tshot]

A Beginner's Guide to Epic: The Musical

Are you new to Epic: The Musical and overwhelmed by four years worth of content to go through? This is for you! (Note that this is a work in progress post that will be added to in the future as new information and Sagas are released).

LAST UPDATED: 09/01/24

*There will be some spoilers in this! The Odyssey is thousands of years old, but Epic: The Musical is an adaptation, meaning things are different. I recommend listening to all the songs in Epic before reading this, as this guide is intended to clear up misunderstandings/confusing moments and provide context.

**All of the underlined bits are links to whatever it is I'm referring to, just in case I'm making no sense. I will try to include sources for everything, or at least indicate where I got certain information from if there's no link available.

General Info:

*This is basic information about Epic: The Musical as a whole. This includes where to find new information and content, BTS things, etc.

• First of all, here's a quick rundown by the creator himself. There'll be some overlap in terms of what I cover here.

• Epic: The Musical is created by Jorge Rivera-Herrans, often referred to as "Jay" or "Mr. Jalapeño" by his fans. This is who writes the songs, casts the characters, and voices Odysseus himself!

• Epic: The Musical was originally (pre-Ocean Saga) produced under Blair Russell Productions, but Jay has never been paid the royalties from the songs released under them (and they have yet to give back control of the Epic social media accounts), so Epic is now produced under Jay's own company, Winion Entertainment LLC. (source)

• Jay is most active on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. All videos that he posts to these platforms are generally the same, so don't worry if you can't follow him on all of them. He talks about several Epic-related things, including release dates, BTS, animatics, details about the music/story, snippets of released and unreleased songs, and also plenty of funny videos. He is very active within the fanbase, and you're likely to find him (and other cast members) leaving comments on posts by fans!

• Here are Jay's other links, including the Epic: The Musical Discord server. In my experience, the Discord server and Tiktok are the best places to get information as quickly as possible.

• Epic is still in progress. As of the latest update to this guide (09/01/24), the Wisdom Saga has just been released last week, leaving only two more sagas before the end. The songs are all part of a concept album, and there is currently no stage adaptation.

• Jay takes many creative liberties with The Odyssey for the sake of this adaptation of the story. He made a video recently explicitly saying to NOT use Epic as a basis for your knowledge of The Odyssey, at least when it comes to academic settings. Many of the things that occur in Epic DO NOT occur in the original story, and some parts of the original story have been cut out. Here is a video where Jay explains the purpose of Epic as an adaption. (I won't be including a list of differences in this post, but I might make a separate one if anyone's interested.)

• Although Epic takes a lot of these creative liberties, there are several little easter eggs sprinkled in among the actual plot points from The Odyssey. (I'll go into these later.)

• Jay will usually do a recap video before each new saga, going over all the events of the previous sagas for any newcomers.

• When a new saga is released, Jay will hold a LIVE listen-through. I highly recommend being there for these events, because they include lots of cool and important things such as:

official animations, animatics, and artwork, all of which provide insights into character design and events within the songs

Jay's live reactions (his facial expressions and little dances/lip-syncs are delightful)

details about the events within the songs that aren't made clear within the music itself (like what a character is doing, what is happening around them, etc)

Jay's comments in the LIVE chat, which includes details/easter eggs, BTS stuff, jokes, headcanons, and LOTS of love and praise for the actors and fans!

• Seeing as there is no stage adaptation for Epic, a lot of the visual elements come from artists and animatics/animations. Jay actually works with several of these artists for official trailers, artwork, and animatics/animations! Some of these artists include: Ainhoa Velasco, @wolfythewitch, @gigizetz, @_mircsy_, @drawing_angie, @anniflamma, Scilla_nimation, el_crafts, samantha_artt, and Giulia Toneatto. These people are all incredibly talented and deserve all the love from the Epic fanbase!

Info About the Music:

*I am not musically adept at all, and this post is already very long, so I am not going to list much specific information—just general common themes and some examples of them. Most of this information has been confirmed by Jay, in videos that I've linked below.

• If you're having trouble understanding the lyrics and/or the meaning behind the lyrics, Genius lyrics has the entire album and is full of helpful notes about the context within the musical. A lot of lyrics get misheard, so even if you think you understand what's being sung, I'd recommend checking just in case lol.

• The Troy Saga and The Cyclops Saga have been rereleased under Winion Entertainment LLC! This includes new vocals, altered music, etc. These were released alongside The Thunder Saga, along with new cover art. It's preferred that you listen to these versions of the songs, and NOT the originals, because Jay only gets royalties from the current ones.

• Many characters have their own musical motif, or even multiple motifs. There are also other motifs that are more general, like the "Danger is Nearby" motif.

• Many important characters have their own instrument that plays an integral part to the songs they're in. You can typically tell which instrument accompanies each character by listening to what is most prominent in a song that focuses on that character. (ex. Hermes with harps and the lyre, Athena with the piano)

• If you hear a character's musical motif or associated instrument in a song they don't play an integral part in, that can mean a few things (listed below). With the more general motifs, they have their own separate meanings outside of the characters.

That character is present, even if they're not singing. (ex. Hermes in "Puppeteer," signifying that he's listening to Odysseus' speech, which is brought up at the beginning of "Wouldn't You Like")

That character is related to whatever event/conversation is occurring. (ex. the same musical motif in "Ruthlessness" and "Storm," signifying that Poseidon is the one that sent the crazy storm)

The kind of instrument being played can indicate the emotion or tone of a scene. This is scene primarily with Odysseus, where the use of a nylon or acoustic guitar indicates that he is not being ruthless (source).

• When background vocals are accompanying a mortal, there is always a physical, in-universe source for those voices (ex. Odysseus' crew as background vocals in most of his songs). When background vocals are accompanying a god or other powerful being, there does not have to be a physical source for those voices—gods can basically summon a choir of voices at will (ex. "Ruthlessness"). (video explanation)

• Background chanting specifically is a common element in Epic songs. Typically, this chanting consists of the names of characters present/focused on in the song (as seen [heard?] in "Survive," "Ruthlessness," and "King").

Unclear/Vague Moments Explained:

*Some of the plot points, characters, etc. in Epic can be confusing on the first or second listen. So, I'll clear up some of the common things people (including myself) didn't notice or understand at first.

• The deep voice at the end of "The Horse and the Infant" is Zeus, voiced by Luke Holt. Zeus shows Odysseus a vision of Astyanax, the infant son of Hector, and tells him to kill the child.

• Odysseus drops Astyanax from the walls of Troy at the end of "Just a Man." Many people didn't catch this until the callback in "Monster" at the end of Act 2.

• "Warrior of the Mind" is quite confusing to those that don't have context. It is a flashback to a younger Odysseus, when he first met Athena and took her as a mentor.

• Athena has an ability called "Quick-Thought," which lets her have telepathic conversations with someone within milliseconds by pulling their mind into another dimension.

• Polites dies at the end of "Survive." He is the voice saying "Captain...". (I didn't realize this for a good while when I first started listening to Epic.)

• The voice telling Odysseus to wake up in "Keep Your Friends Close" is Penelope, not Aeolus.

• The lil' guys in "Keep Your Friends Close" are called winions (they're also the Lotus Eaters in "Open Arms"). Jay describes them as "little wind creatures that dance when they get excited and then float away uncontrollably." They don't actually exist in The Odyssey, but they're pretty cute!

• At the end of "Ruthlessness," the line "remember me" is said by Poseidon, who's basically sending his voice through the ocean fog (since Odysseus is very, very far away from him now).

• In "Done For," the yelling you are hearing in the background is essentially a Pokemon/Yu-Gi-Oh battle between Circe's chimera and the monster Odysseus summons using the moly plant given to him by Hermes. There is an animatic by mircsy to serve as a visual aide, which I find very helpful!

• In "There Are Other Ways," Circe was holding a knife and planning to stab Odysseus as she tried to seduce him. When he pulls away and rejects her, she quickly hides the knife.

• In "The Underworld," shades (souls) are in a constant loop, repeating whatever they were thinking when they died. Tiresias is an exception to this rule, seemingly because of him being such a powerful prophet. (confirmed in "The Underworld Saga" LIVE listen-through)

• I feel like this is fairly clear, but for those that aren't familiar with The Odyssey, I'll say it anyways. (Spoilers? I guess?) The prophecy in "No Longer You" is SUPER heavy on the foreshadowing. I won't go into it here, since many people already have, but let's just say the Greeks were big on self-fulfilling prophecies.

• As mentioned previously, background chanting is a big thing in Epic. In "No Longer You," the background chanting also serves as a prophecy detailing the future events of Odysseus's journey. Currently, only part of these lyrics have been confirmed by Jay: "SIREN SONG - SCYLLA THROAT - MUTINY - LIGHTNING BOLT." This leaves two lines that are not confirmed.

• In "Mutiny," after Odysseus is stabbed, he is tied up and knocked out before the crew sails to the nearest island. Right before he says to get to the boat and row away, he manages to untie himself.

Fun Facts/Easter Eggs:

• Circe is voiced by Jay's girlfriend, Talya Sindel.

• When Poseidon kills off most of Odysseus' crew in "Ruthlessness," he says that there are only 43 men left. But in "The Underworld," the souls of his crew say that 558 men died under his command. Considering Odysseus started off with 600 men ("Full Speed Ahead"), this math doesn't add up. This is because in The Odyssey, when Odysseus and his men party with Circe for a year, a man in his crew named Elpenor woke up drunk on Circe's roof and proceeded to walk off the roof and die from the fall. He actually has a cut song.

• Jay messed up the amount of years in "There Are Other Ways." It had not been 12 years, but 10. This little screw-up is referenced in "Different Beast."

• Odysseus' mother is voiced by Jay's actual mother.

• If you see people commenting "rawr rawr rawr" or "🦖" on Jay's videos, they're referencing his April Fool's prank this year. He made a video saying he'd completely changed the Act 2 closing song, "Monster," and proceeded to play a happy-go-lucky sounding song going "I am the monster, rawr rawr rawr."

• In every single saga, Odysseus says "what." in an absolutely bamboozled manner (or "huh" in The Troy Saga, and he does it twice in The Ocean Saga). It happens in "Open Arms," "Polyphemus," "Keep Your Friends Close," "Puppeteer," and "No Longer You." Occasionally, this "what" will be said by a different character (Poseidon in "Ruthlessness," the siren in "Different Beast")

• Perimedes (another man in Odysseus' crew, who lives all the way until "Thunder Bringer") and Elpenor were best friends.

[blumineck]

How long do videos usually take, when it comes to filming and editing? Say, if you put out a 1 min tutorial on something, what would be the (gods I hate to use corporate language) turnaround time for it?

Also, what sort of hardware do you use for filming, and software for editing? I'm always curious about the backstage stuff of content creators.

Always love to watch your videos, you're definitely a bard :3

This is a great question! It varies a lot depending on the video, but in general for one of my 'fantasy tropes' videos, the breakdown is something like this:

- filming: ~2 hours (including setup, warmup, multiple takes, fluffing lines, waiting for the neighbour's dog to stop barking, etc.)

- editing: ~1-2 hours (at the end of filming I usually have around 25-30min footage. The first run of editing cuts the outtakes and fluff and takes it to around 5 minutes. Then there's another run or two to cut that down to around 2 minutes.)

I usually make 3 edits:

one clean without captions that I upload to tiktok so that I can use in-app captions, but I also keep a copy of this in case I need it later

one with built-in captions and text that I upload to instagram and here, so you get the captions without a tiktok watermark (unless I want to use sound from tiktok)

One for youtube because their shorts are max 1 minute so I have to cut a load of content and re-edit the captions. (I could post long form but their long stuff is landscape so I'd have to film everything twice!)

- Finally posting: ~30 minutes (titles, formatting, tags, thumbnails, keeping the app open until the upload finishes before starting the next one, etc.)

So in general it's about 4-5 hours for a final video that's around 2 minutes long. Sillier/ meme-ier stuff is more like 2 hours

- but the biggest variable is research/ training. For some videos I already have the information and skill and I just need to check some things, but for some I need to spend time looking up facts, and digging into history, and for others I then need to go away and practice a new skill, which is all hobby stuff that I love doing, but it's still time spent out of a limited budget!

(Which is why I'm starting to look at some more commercial options, patreon, agencies, etc. Because I'm trying to fit this on top of a day job, part time pole teaching, and family commitments, and some weeks it's... not easy)

I do almost all my filming on my phone (iphone... 11? Pro?- quite recent, bought sdcond hand), with one of those grippy arm tripod things, and a bluetooth microphone. Editing is done in an app called capcut, and finished off in various in-app editors for the social media apps.

Anyway, hope that's useful! Glad you like all this stuff! 😁

[genericpuff]

I don't know the term for creators who became popular outside the traditional steps to "make it" in their profession; then when people started taking their work seriously and giving them criticism, these creators saw it as an attack because they are not used to mentors and studies.

Smythe's professional training is vague at best, being a folklorist. Then there's the creator of the popular hell cartoon that became her own executive producer and director in her 20s (I'm not going to say her name since it tends to attract her rabid fans) and becomes reactive to any kind of criticism on Twitter. Then there's that TikToker Devon Rodriguez, who became popular for sketching people on subways, and when an art critic gave a mild review to his art gallery, Devon unleashed his fans on him.

Like am I seeing a pattern here for artists? And I guess, what do you think we can learn from it.

Ah, so this is a very interesting (and broad) topic that we've touched on in discussions in ULO and other webtoon-related communities. So buckle up, it's time for an ✨essay✨

I think the best way I can sum up my thoughts on this issue is: the vast majority of people who become paid content creators don't seek out a job as content creators, a job in content creation is just something that happens to them.

I say "content creation" because this is something that applies to a lot of other platforms and online mediums as well, such as the examples you included (TikTok, Youtube, Twitch, etc.). And don't get me wrong, it's not like every successful content creator out there didn't work their asses off to get to where they are, but for many... it still involves an element of luck. People don't go to school for it, people don't "apply" to become influencers, and much of it relies entirely on just making stuff until it gets seen and propelled into success.

I think a lot of these issues arise with the creators themselves and how they view their own work. The reality is that many of us artists have been treated as the "rejects" of society, we constantly feel like we're misunderstood and have some deep inner pain that we express through our art, and instead of going to therapy, we come up with OC's. It's a lot more fun and it's a lot cheaper LOL Webcomics naturally wind up being the perfect lightning rod for people who feel that way, where we can pour ourselves into the characters, the world, the narrative, in a way that perfectly mixes our talents for art and our need to express our innermost thoughts and feelings about ourselves and the world around us. So when our art gets criticized or rejected ... it can be hard for a lot of artists to not feel like it's a criticism of the self, a rejection of our identities, an attack on our feelings and experiences, because we've tied so much of ourselves to our work. And this can make that transition very difficult for people who are trying to go pro, because being professional demands separating yourself from your work, at least enough that you can view it objectively, recognize its flaws, seek out pathways to improvement, and not take every bump in the road personally.

A lot of successful creators are people who just never made that transition. It's led to an abundance of professional creators who know how to film themselves or react to content or, in the case of webcomic artists, write stories about their OC's, but don't know how to actually navigate the industry at a professional level. They don't know how to read and negotiate contracts, they don't know what deals are actually good for them and which ones are better left on the table, they don't know how to manage teams of people, they don't know how to react to the attention, praise, and criticism of their audience - they're just doing what they've always done, but now they're making money doing it.

None of this is to speak ill in any way of the creators who've found success and are still just doing what they've always done for money. None of this is meant to be a slight on the creators who are using webcomics and art as an expression of their deeper selves (I do it myself, it's very cathartic!) because ultimately that's what makes your work your work, the fact that you made it, with all your good parts and bad. Many of these creators are capable of running their platform without any issues because they've learned how to play the game, or because their platform is made up of people just like them so their audience is more like just a social circle.

But many of them still also can't operate on a professional level and those are the ones we often see getting called out and held accountable when they do shit like, I dunno, scamming their audiences for money or making alt accounts to manipulate user reviews or plagiarizing from other people's work or just being really REALLY shitty to their own audience.

Often times these are people who are just doing what they'd normally do as a hobby, became well known for it, and managed to turn it into a living. But they never actually learned how to turn their hobby into a job, and themselves into professionals.

And artists especially are prone to this because, let's face it, a lot of us are just weebs having fun drawing our blorbos, so of course if we get a chance to monetize that, we're gonna! We should! We should want to be paid for our work and time and efforts!

But we also have to remember that it's a different ballgame, especially if you're turning your audience into customers. "I'm just a baby creator doing this for fun" doesn't and shouldn't apply anymore once you start signing contracts, selling your art as products, taking people's money to fund your projects, etc. because now it's not just your art, it's what you're expecting people to pay for so you can eat and pay your bills and live.

As much as our art is often personal and should be cherished as such, you can't expect people to want to pay for it if you're not setting a bar and meeting it, or if you're not treating your audience with any amount of dignity or respect.

I'm not saying you're not entitled to having feelings or still wanting to treat your art as art, but the line between art and products is there for a reason, it's to set people's expectations and ensure that both sides are having those expectations met. Webtoon creators suffer from the same thing that a lot of Youtube creators and other types of content creators suffer from in this transition, and I feel like HBomberGuy summed it up best:

"In current discourse, Youtubers simultaneously present as the forefront of a new medium, creative voices that need to be taken seriously as part of the 'next generation of media' - and also uwu smol beans little babies who shouldn't be taken seriously when they rip someone off and make tens of thousands of dollars doing it."

It's not gatekeeping a medium, it's not telling people they aren't allowed to have feelings or to want to still have that personal connection to their work in spite of the professional level it's achieved, it's simply just expecting people to actually live up to the label of 'professional' that they're using to make money.

And this especially goes for someone like Rachel, who claims to be a 'folklorist' despite all the contrary evidence that says otherwise. This is the same person who copy pasted the first result on Google as her source on a simple word definition:

There's a second part to that HBomberGuy quote that also actually applies to Rachel really well in this discussion, concerning how she labels herself a "folklorist" and how that's affected and influenced the greater discussion surrounding Greek myth:

"But on the opposite end, Youtubers who act like serious documentarians gain a shroud of professionalism which then masks the deeply unprofessional things they do. We just saw that with James. I think [James] partially got away with what he's doing for so long because he acts so professional about it, so people assume, 'there's no way he could just be stealing shit!' so they don't check. And on top of that, a lot of James' videos contain obvious mistakes and made-up facts... but because they're often presented next to well-researched stuff he stole, no one questions it. I've seen James repeat a lie in his videos, and then other people claim it's true, and link his video as the proof. He has helped to solidify misinformation by seeming like he's doing his diligence."

There's always going to be discourse over what's legitimate and what isn't when it comes to Greek myth, there are loads of things we still don't know simply due to the knowledge being lost to time. But there's something to be said about a white New Zealand woman using her self-insert romance comic and platform to build a veneer of professionalism and legitimacy around herself, as if she's the authority on the subject, while simultaneously relying on first result Google searches and citing works that have no real foothold in the way of scholarly or "folklorist" discussion.

All that's to say, you're right, her professional training is vague at best. She's never completed a longform comic prior to LO, she's not doing her due diligence in actually engaging with the media she's trying to "retell" and exposing herself to the voices of those from the culture that's tied to it, and she's not holding herself to any sort of standards when it comes not only to being a professional, but a professional who's been held on a pedestal for all these years. She's still operating the same way she was 5 years ago - drawing and writing whatever pops into her head and sending it to her editor for uploading, with next to no intervention or guidance. Except now it doesn't have the benefit of being new and having "potential", it's getting noticed and called out more now than ever because it's been 5 years of this shit and it's been getting worse on account of her clearly being burnt out (or just giving up/not caring) and the readers can't be sold on "potential" anymore.

And that's all I have to say on that.

[yaskie]

This video is also uploaded on TIKTOK Ko-fi Website: Click Here

A continuous battle and I am scared(URGENT) - you can click on the image to direct you to the Ko-Fi Site.

Dear Friends, Right now I feel despair, and hopelessness. And I feel so tired. I deeply apologize for tagging you all again, please don't get mad. I just really needed help.😢😢 I just got my life back, and recently recovered from my debts from my previous battle in between 2021 and mid 2023. I really felt so ashamed in writing this, because I am avoiding as much as I can to ask help financially again. 

You were there for me during my darkest hours, and for that, I will be eternally grateful. But now, I find myself in a situation more dire than ever before, and I am trembling with fear as I implore you to lend me your aid once again.

The video you see attached to this post is a painful reminder of the recent loss I've endured. Uncle Dindo joined our creator last March 24, 2024, after battling Stage 4 Lung Cancer for a month. His passing has left a void in our souls, and also drowned us in debts too. I am helping with expenses as much as I can, that it also drowned me. My Father died of the same illness as well. I made a post more than a month ago with the Title: FIGHTING AGAINST CANCER sadly we still have zero donation and sales from our Emotes and Digital Stickers sale. 

I do not know how to approach all of you again, but I am so scared right now. The reason I made this new post is I've been doing my best to make ends meet, trying to loan to a bank to be able for me to start my Treatment again(but mostly got rejected). I am already back to work eversince the fourth quarter of 2023, but the income is not enough as I earn only $12-$15/day with 12 hours plus of work.  I am really really scared right now as I am writing this. First, I need to settle my rent within 12-24 hours which cost $500(water & electricity is unstable). My landlord is threatening me that he will lock the house, kicking me out and leaving my pets behind. My cats and my dog are my life. Update(05/02/2024): I asked helped from a local council here to help me talk to my landlord. We have an agreement and I am given enough time until Saturday of this week - May 4, 2024. To settle the rent and for me and my pets to leave the apartment, we found a new one but we need a 2 month deposit. And payment for a rental truck. I need to pay my landlord too - so, I can be able to transfer to another home, and he will let me leave peacefully. Which will have another cost, as I need to rent a small truck because I have my pets with me. I have written this on my previous blogs before that I have been sexually harassed(this SCARES me so much too), and stalked by a former friend. He was jailed, but he is back again(already reported it to police). But for safety transferring home is needed. My trauma is still not yet recovered. We still need to prioritize as well my Aunt's treatment, as her health is rapidly deteriorating too(Stage 3 breast Cancer is advancing, her right breast has already been removed). And I need to start mine again, it spread in other parts of my body(I am holding on). I'm really scared right now. If you can spare anything—money, support, anything at all—it would mean the world to me. I hate asking, but I don't know what else to do. Any amount is appreciated, or you can purchase from my Small Shop as well. Thank you so much. Please take Care. Love, Jasky P.S. Sorry if my writing sounds scattered. I don't have proper sleep at the moment.

Sorry for tagging again, please do not get mad at me. I really help so badly. Reposting, or if you have any at least $5 or buy stickers it will really mean a lot to us, to me.

@boost-the-signal @measurelessdreamer @c1a1r3r3df1e1d @samblerambles @nearlybitches

[ainxis]

DC Comic Book Guide!

Do you want to get into reading DC comics but it all seems very overwhelming and you have no idea where to start? Or maybe you've already been reading comics for a while but you've been avoiding exploring new characters because you just cannot find a good reading list for them.

If so you've come to a good place!!!

Along with @seratheminx on TikTok (go follow her! she makes really fun edits and other DC related videos, and this whole thing was her idea!) we've been working on a little project that assembles reading lists for different DC characters and teams for easy access! It also contains explanations for newer readers on basic terms and timelines. And gives our recommendations on where to start reading!

So far we have assembled lists for 230+ characters!

And there's a wheel you can spin to randomly choose a character from the list ✨😎.

Anyway here's the link to the docs:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1toKeMJJQRUBVBZmDL4KTTfVEtsVrxm63BYmBUJCjc-M/edit

Unfortunately I don't have a large following and most of my mutuals are already into comics so I would appreciate some help with rebloging so it can reach a wider audience!

If you have any questions or suggestions (we're in no way experts on a whole DC comics universe just two fans doing our best so if you find any mistakes please let us know) there's a suggestion forms at the end or you can send me an ask/dm.

Enjoy ❤️

DISCLAIMER 📢

The lists featured on the docs were not made by us! We just wanted to put them in one place for easier access as sometimes they are way harder to find than just a quick google search (which I did not realise before I started this project 💀). All the credit for those goes to their original creators! Lists are added in the form of links so you can clearly see who the og creators are, please give them some love if you found their hard work helpful!!! Seriously those guides are amazing and so well thought out! But that also means that not every list is up to date, as some were made a few years ago or didn't include certain eras for other reasons. I tried to include disclaimers if I thought that the missing years are important to the character so you can look for the rest on your own but obviously there are 230+ characters and I'm not an expert on every single one of them so 😅. The rest: definitions, recommendations and such were written by me and Sera. I just wanted to make that part clear.