#and don't voice an opinion without the actual details

[iamnmbr3]

Hi it's me!🙋‍♀️

My roman empires these days:

■ the way Harry describes Draco's clothes in yule ball is one thing but funnier thing is when Harry thinks he looks like a vicar i love it lmao(idk is it considered as good or bad, compliment or...???)

■ in GOF Ron is the first one who notices Hermione's teeth length have changed, not Harry..guess whose details Harry notices 24*7? (skin colour, mood, height, etc)

■ Harry lied to MLE for Draco(at least talked in passive voice so it wasn't obvious who did those things) so why should Draco need a trial?! I think these two are impossible together, either MLE knows nothing about Draco's deeds and there's no trial or they know everything and there is a trial for him..idk did i miss something..

1) I don't think Harry meant it as a compliment. But also, it's notable that he's looking. What's up with that Harry? Draco also has opinions on Harry's clothes too - in one of the books he makes derogatory comments about Harry's Christmas jumper. They are both really out there like 'wow i hate that guy so much. and he has a terrible fashion sense. want to hear my detailed opinions on every outfit he's ever worn?' (Their friends must be so Tired TM).

2) Lol omg yeah good catch! Ron immediately notices when a tiny detail about Hermione, the person he has complicated and growing romantic feelings for, changes. Because he's hyper aware of her and what she looks like. Similarly, Harry catalogues every detail about Draco and immediately notices tiny differences - like his skin tone changing a bit in book 6 - before anyone else does. Hm... Wonder what could be up there...

3) Post book 7 a lot more information about Draco's crimes would be available. Draco would probably be rounded up as a known Death Eater. He's got the Dark Mark and other Death Eaters who were captured would have named him (especially given how hated his family became). From an outsider POV the fact that Voldemort was using the Manor as a base and was keeping prisoners there makes it look like Draco and his family were high up, favored members of the inner circle (and the postwar wizarding world would be unlikely to be sympathetic to "no actually he mistreated us too. we didn't even want him in our house. no really"). Draco would be seen as being complicit in the kidnappings, imprisonment, torture and murders that took place in his house. And to be fair, he was, however unhappily and unwillingly, complicit in all that. He was one of the jailers holding people prisoner there (albeit a minor one and quite possibly something of a prisoner himself in his own house, possibly even without the ability to release people even if he had wanted to). Survivors of that experience would be able to name him as responsible.

If any of the other Death Eaters who were on the Astronomy Tower survived and were captured they would also be able to name him as responsible for at least some of the events that occurred there (Harry's probably out there like 'nope. they're definitely lying. You're really going to believe the Carrows over me?' lolol /hj).

He also used Unforgivables on fellow Death Eaters on Voldemort's orders - probably there were other incidents like the Rowle incident that Harry witnessed - which some of his surviving fellows could reveal. Probably most wizards would not be receptive to the "no I swear I didn't want to do it. I was forced." argument. Except of course, Harry can actually provide evidence this is true due to his mental connection to Voldemort.

Therefore, I imagine he'd be on trial for aiding and abetting the Death Eaters, an illegal paramilitary organization, multiple counts of imprisonment and kidnapping, providing aid and material comfort and support to the wanted criminal Lord Voldemort (by being complicit in letting him use his house as a base), multiple counts of the use of Unforgivables for torture, accessory to murder (all the prisoners who were killed in his house), possibly some sort of insurrection charge (because they'd probably assume he actively fought on the side of the Death Eaters at the Battle of Hogwarts), possibly a generalized count of crimes against Muggleborns due to his involvement with the Death Eaters, AND if someone spilled the beans on the Astronomy Tower incident - one count of using the Imperius curse on Madam Rosmerta, multiple counts of attempted murder, and one count of accessory to the murder of Albus Dumbledore.

So yeah. Not looking great for him. Now there's a lot of important context around these charges. A lot of this context is information ONLY Harry can provide or verify. So Harry's testimony would be critical in proving that Draco didn't do some of these things or was coerced and in proving that he had a change of heart.

In fact, given the likely postwar climate and Draco's last name and seeming heavy involvement as a diehard Death Eater loyalist who was so favored by Voldemort that he was granted the rare honor of a Dark Mark while still in school, I take the fact that Draco isn't rotting in prison postwar (and apparently didn't do any prison time at all according to supplemental material) as incontrovertible evidence that Harry spoke for him at his trial. Which delights my drarry heart.

[anantaru]

friends with benefits with alhaitham but he's so awfully blunt about it— simply put, words cannot possibly describe how deeply you're regretting your decision to ever step into this sort of relationship with him.

hey now, in all seriousness, you don't regret it.

"are you gonna come over tonight?" alhaitham hums, a little aloof, without breaking the attention of his gaze on his newly purchased book, "to have sex?" he can't be bothered to give it much more details at the moment.

this time though, it's more urgent, in any other case he wouldn't say the quiet part out loud like that.

alas, he continues, "i got the whole place to myself," as he hints before continuing to flip through the pages and pretend like he hasn't just said all of this to you.

to see your face, you were certain he would immediately get the hint, oh well, scrap that, he probably knows how it's coming across anyways.

in alhaitham's personal opinion, there was no specific, logical reasoning as to why he should sweet-talk around this subject, in fact, the both of you have agreed on having this special friendship— so making it overly complicated with insincere flattery would actually give him a migraine.

again, of all the things alhaitham could've just said, you expected this one hundred percent and over.

"don't just say it like that!" you yell and shove at his shoulder, "what if someone hears you?"

"who? there's no one here," there goes that handsome, unbothered voice again, never without an even more handsome smile— the very one making your stomach twist heavily, eyes gleam vividly and legs turn into jelly.

alhaitham knows exactly what your behavior means, or your lack of response now. he determines it by the amount of time you require to find a rebuttal to say, well or, yell back at him— alas, he'll hear you scream tonight anyways, so those few shouts now aren't going to hurt him.

©2024 anantaru do not repost, copy, translate, modify

[shiny-holographic-star]

Sirene asteroid (1009) observations

Sagittarius Sirene people appeal to others when they're fulfilling their purpose or having a clear direction in their lives. For example, my cousin has this placement, and she's able to appeal to others when she's so sure about being a dancer, believing that she was made for that, following the direction set by her heart/intuition without questioning it.

I have this placement too, and I think people come to me a lot in search for answers, to understand themselves better since Sagittarius is all about expanding ourselves.

Sirene in the 5th house is about mesmerizing people when you're in the spotlight, being confident and letting yourself shine. Also when performing, so this is a good placement for celebrities. My cousin has this, and she grabs everyone's attention when dancing, plus her personality (5H) is very charismatic.

I also have Sirene in the 5th House, and I'm not so comfortable in the spotlight which to me comes from the Capricorn degree (10°, 22°). This brings delays and challenges when it comes to you expressing or getting used to this alluring energy. You have lessons to learn before you're able to own this energy.

A Leo degree shows that you're confident to use this energy, you were born to be seen and to shine under the spotlight! Guess who has this. Yes, my cousin 💃🏻⭐️ It's worth noting though, that she has insecurities and suffers from anxiety, but she still loves the spotlight and wants to shine.

Libra Sirene attracts people when they show a chill attitude, by wanting to make everyone feel comfortable or included, by using a soft voice and having a great sense of aesthetics. My dad, for example, uses a soft voice when he wants to be polite or liked by others, and shows a super chill attitude with my sister and I's friends. A couple of my girl friends simped for him 😷

My sister has this placement too and she's the type to try and include everyone in the conversation, plus she too softens her voice when being polite or wanting to be liked? She also has a great eye for fashion. And with her friends she appears more chill than how she really is (she's crazy, your honor - in a good way).

Jungkook from BTS has Libra Sirene and his singing voice is very soft compared to what I thought it would sound like at first.

He also has Sirene in the 9th House so he might drawn in more foreign fans than korean. This placement could indicate being alluring when you're open to learn from other cultures or expand your understanding of things. Think about ambiences like college, school, foreing countries.

Scorpio Siren could be appealing when they're intense, reserved, observant, alert. Also, when they're being toxic (controlling or uninterested) or give off that aura of bad boy. For example, one of my exes has this, and he pulled me in with little to no effort, he used to take his time replying to my messages and I waited for him, thinking about what he could be doing and wishing for his attention. 🤢

A high school friend has this placement too, and he had this air or mystery when he actually was doing nothing? He has Scorpio Sun conjunct Sirene, and he wasn't easy to get close to at first. It's like he gave off an air of "I'm on my own, don't bother me", and some girls pinned after him.

Virgo Sirene people are alluring when they keep a humble attitude, lending their attention to you and recognizing they can learn something from anyone. My grandma and two friends (a guy and a girl) sometimes would ask me for advice, to explain something to them or to give them my opinion about something, and as I reply they'd look at me with the utmost attention, not wanting to miss any detail. They look at you recognizing the value of your words and that's so wholesome, it makes you feel heard and appreciated.

Sirene in the 1st House might give a great first impression considering it's the house of beginnings. They might be the person people notice or get curious about first in a group, and nobody knows why; it's unconscious. They also might atract people when they take initiative, which movilizes or motivates others. They seem like they would do good in a leadership position, people would be drawn to listening to them (especially when they're in the energy of the sign their Sirene asteroid falls under).

For example, a Virgo Sirene in the 1st House person might drawn people in by taking iniciative and assuming the role of a leader in a humble way, paying attention to everyone's input and striving to reach their ideal.

[rizsu]

graduated delusional boys shoyo, kuroo, sunarin.

-> tokrev & jjk version

it's a simple night out with the hinata family. after another successful karasuno match, shoyo's mother suggested a restaurant dinner and well some shopping.

busy on his feet, shoyo walk-runs after his sister. she's certainly a little too fast on her feet—especially if you don't hold her hand or use a leash like their mom usually does. finally reaching her, he lifts her onto his hip before ending the mini race with a little scolding.

“natsu! don't speed off like that!”

“but the candies!!”

shaking his head, shoyo shuffles his way through the sea of people until he makes it back to his mother's position.

“sho', natsu, come here!” motioning to her kids, their mother takes hold of the five year old before pushing shoyo to walk in front of her, “stay in my vision, sho'. you're still young!”

well, shoyo would've done as she said without complaints but the last sentence made him turn his head back one hundred and eighty degrees. immediately warping his face into one that expresses confusion, shoyo raises a counterargument.

“but i'm already a third year! with a girlfriend too y'know.”

nodding her head to act as if she's paying attention to his words, shoyo's mother argues back, “yes, yes, but you still live with me so—wait.”

from the tone of her voice in the last word, shoyo tries to speed up his pace but a mother's hand is always faster.

“what do you mean by girlfriend, young man.”

“whoops..?”

turning around on his heel, he raises a hand behind his neck trying to think of a way to properly explain. it doesn't take long before he starts his own sign language while giving his mother the detailed lore of your relationship—which didn't last for long because natsu had other plans.

“sho's not a loser!” she juts in her opinion, looking at her older brother with an open mouth covered by her hand.

“NAT-SU,” feeling shocked, betrayed and offended, shoyo goes to press his palm over her hand to seal her mouth shut. as the color red diffuses to all of his ear, he feigns a limp as he takes baby steps away from his family.

kuroo is not kuroo if he doesn't bother kenma after twelve a.m during the weekend sleepover. if there's a sleeping kenma, there's a wide awake kuroo waiting for the right moment to strike.

“psst, kenma, wake up.”

“please shut up.”

“KENMA!”

“NO.”

covering both ears with his pillow, kenma turns around to block off kuroo and whatever he's got going on at 1:43 AM according to his watch. but oh no, don't get it twisted. kuroo is not one to forfeit that easily—persistent may as well be his middle name!

“i was going to show you my girl but i guess not!” changing his tone to a teasing one, kuroo backs off kenma's bed and goes to his futon.

as if it was an auto-response, kenma sits up straight, sharply turning his neck to kuroo, “pause.”

and with that, kuroo adds one point to himself on his imaginary scoreboard. snickering to himself, he turns his back to kenma, waving him off by repeating what he previously said, “you told me shut up.”

“wait i'm sorry,” kenma says. slouching off his bed, he uses his right foot to nudge at kuroo's “sleeping” figure. it takes about five nudges before he speaks again, “you know i love knowing people's business. please, kuroo.”

adding another point to himself on the scoreboard, kuroo turns on his back with a grin and a phone to his face. raising the phone to kenma's height, kuroo shows him a picture of a girl and kenma thinks kuroo's gone delusional. maybe he's just tired.

“whose daughter did you find on pinterest?”

“okay fuck you.”

snatching his phone back, kuroo actually feels quite offended. is kenma implying he's not attractive enough to pull a pretty girl!?

“I WAS NOT FINISHED LOOKING.”

“privileges REVOKED.”

shoving a middle finger in the air, kuroo pulls his blanket over his head to quietly sob in peace (this is an exaggeration).

kenma, tired of kuroo's antics, steals kuroo's phone to look at your picture and find proper evidence that you guys are indeed together.

“don't go through our chats by the way.”

“ew.”

three adults, three cushions and one bottle. in osamu's living room sits him, his brother and rintaro. how'd they get here? boredom. extreme boredom. when they were no longer entertained by the alcohol, atsumu brought up the idea of truth-or-dare with using a bottle.

spinning the bottle, osamu watches it land on rintaro and immediately asked him a question he's been dying to know, “rin, is it true you're seeing someone?”

throwing his head back, rintaro groans. he knew it'd come sooner or later but he still wants to be mysterious.

“nosy much?” and to that, both twins responded, “SAYS YOU!?”

dragging his palm over his face, rintaro laughs before confirming osamu's question. he's twenty-six with nothing to lose and he thinks he's sexy—so obviously he'd not be single..!

osamu's jaw drops. although he was the one who asked, he's still shocked. to his defense, rintaro's always seemed like the type to stay in the talking zone.

“oh, that poor woman. save her now before it's too late.” using a napkin, atsumu wipes his crocodile tears only to be kicked by no one other than suna rintaro. cackling at rintaro's reaction, atsumu defends himself, “'m just messing with ya!”

rintaro rolls his eyes. turning around to grab his phone, he proudly shows off his lockscreen that's a picture of you from your anniversary date, “isn't she pretty?” with a small smile on his face, he feels his pride emotion being activated.

“i dunno...i've seen better,” atsumu states his (unwanted) opinion. tapping a finger on his chin, he squints at the phone.

and as for rintaro? his heart dropped. looking directly at atsumu this time, he questions him, “such as..?”

“like myself duh.”

one.

two.

three.

and cue the fight scene with rintaro and atsumu while osamu tries to catch his breath from laughing.

“I AM SICK OF YOU.” stifling atsumu with his cushion, rintaro makes sure to smother his face with the fabric. he, atsumu, must feel the pain.

“hey—HEY. GO EASY ON THE HAIR.”

[dailyadventureprompts]

DM Tip: Creating a Campaign Skeleton

Learning to be a better dungeonmaster was a protracted process. A younger me was often so stressed out by the desire to be a better artist that I'd have legitimately mauled a person if it would've revealed to me the wisdom I sought (with my hands or even an actual maul given the chance).

One of my biggest hurdles was the idea of a universal framework for d&d adventures, a guideline that would tell me if the things I was creating were on the right track. It was sorely needed, I loved the process of being creative but without an understanding of how my creative energy was best used I ended up sinking days, weeks, or even months worth of energy into projects that went nowhere. Worse yet, when I DID get a chance to put my ideas into practice at the table they'd frequently spiral out of control and crash, resulting in even more stress.

Over time I learned from these mistakes, I got better, and then I got good. I moved from conscious incompetence to competence, and I ended up having a run of absolutely stellar campaigns that were everything my younger self could have dreamed of: stable, enjoyable, meaningful, and most importantly an absolute delight to my players. Routinely I'd have people, including folks that'd only played with me a few times, mention that getting together to roll dice and listen to me babel on in silly voices was a highlight of their week.

It was as one of these campaigns began to wind down (three years! a satisfying conclusion on the horizon!) and I started looking for a followup scenario that I decided to study all my really successful campaigns and figure out what connected them. The end result was something I'd been looking for for nearly a decade, a reliable format that I could build campaigns around.

I want to preface this section with the understanding that while this information is laid out in a vaguely chronological fashion there's no guarantee that these ideas will occur to you in any particular order. Inspiration is a funny thing, and each idea flows into the others to make a cohesive whole. Due to foreshadowing and setup reasons you're also going to need a pretty solid idea about all of these when starting a campaign, though exact details will likely change/ can be vague up until the moment they're needed.

The Reason: Who are we and what are we doing?

Gives your players a solid background to build their characters around and give them a reason to travel together, rather than having to ad lib one on the spot. Likewise sets expectations of what the campaign is "about" that you can build on or subvert in time. The reason doesn't need to hold true for the entire game, just long enough to serve as a framing device. EG: The Witcher starts out as a "monster of the week" setup and then uses that framework to pivot into politics and prophecy once we've seen the premise play out.

The Pilot/Crashtest Adventure: What's first?

I’ve already written about these, but the general concept is to give your party a mostly contained first outing that doesn’t have any larger bearing on the plot so they can focus on learning how their characters play/building the party dynamic.  By the time the party's finished this first adventure they'll have already started putting down roots in the world: they'll have in jokes, npcs they've started to care about, an understanding of what's on the horizon, and an idea of where they want to go next.

The Central Gameplay Pillar: How does this all work?

It's important to have an idea what your campaign is going to be about in a mechanical sense in addition to its plot and themes. There is a difference between an adventure that has the party delve a dungeon, and a dungeoncrawling focused campaign. I like to lead with these outright during the campaign pitch so that players can know what they're getting into. Your playgroup will likely have strong opinions about what they like and dislike, even if they don't have the words to describe it, so you might need to explain the ideas for them.

The Hub: Where are we?

I think every good campaign has a hub, some kind of settlement that the party returns to between adventures to offload loot, pick up supplies, and sift through the latest gossip to look for the next questhook. Letting the party return to the same place lets them build up a relationship with it, clarifying the picture in their mind as new details are added and they grow more and more attached. It's possible to have multiple hubs over the course of a campaign, but I'd advise really only having one per arc to best concentrate your efforts. Fill up your hub with distractions and side adventures, shorter stories that the party can get tangled up in while the larger adventure slowly reveals itself. Returning to the same hub also means returning to a familiar and expanding cast of NPCs, which helps your party become more and more invested in the setting

The Main Event: What's going to happen?

Here we get to the meat of the issue, the big story you want to be telling using this campaign. To pull off the sick narrative kickflip you wish to perform, you're going to need to lay a lot of groundwork, seeding in details left and right as well as giving the party a chance to stumble across evidence of your schemes without ever realizing the whole thing. To do this, you're going to work in the building blocks of your big reveal/twist/pending disaster into the setting along with those side adventures from the hub. This will give your party an idea that something is going on, but with more pressing matters to take care of they're going to be distracted up until the moment you decide to pull the trigger.

The Setting: What's over there?

While things like genre and tone are definitely things you should have a handle on from the outset, I personally feel like the details of a setting are best constructed on an ad hoc basis, either in a direct response to something required by part of the narrative (be it side story or main event), or pencilled in at the margins as the party explores the world.. That said, creation of the hub and setting often go hand in hand because it's important to match the settlement to the environment and then shape the environment to the quests inside the settlement. As for what's beyond your hub, I happen to have just written something about building out settings.

Now, this next option is one that I recommend you start thinking about only once your campaign is fully underway, so it doesn't clog up your creative process by focusing on something that you might not even get to

The Change: What the fuck?

A little while after the main event has kicked off and your party is off on the quest that will turn them from mere adventurers into heroes, they start to hear rumours of strange happenings. It's certainly not related to the present scenario, it may even be an unexpected windfall, but it's not something they have time to look into. Time ticks on, the land is saved, and the party is able to enjoy their victory lap as well as some dearly needed time off. Before they can get comfortable however they're slammed by some strange occurrence that they could have never predicted that changes the state of the world. A neighbouring kingdom invades, an important ally is murdered and they're blamed for it, a dragon starts rampaging through the realm. Its important that this event is outside the party's skillset, not necessarily diametrically opposed, but counter to what they were planning

artsource

[junnieverse]

— JAY AS YOUR BOYFRIEND ! 💭

➙ boyfriend jay thoughts

pairing: park jongseong x gn!reader

genre: fluff

request: " Hii <3 Can I request Jay as your boyfriend? "

warnings: lowercase intended, not proofread, mentions of food, this was kinda long, I'm sorry I just kept going

a/n: even if he isn't your bias, I'm sure we can all agree we want jay as our boyfriend. hope you liked your request anon ^_^

everyone's dream man

the boyfriend you introduce to your parents and they would love him too

jay is THE most husband material man to ever husband material

and seriously he would be the perfect boyfriend in every sense

I see jay as the sort of boyfriend to take care of his s/o with their day to day life stuff such as cooking or helping them clean (very domestic) but also financially

he would love spoiling his partner (and as he should)

be it with small things to things you couldn't even dream of seeing or getting

to jay, you deserve it all, he would even buy you the moon and stars (his words, not mine)

flowers, flowers and oh wait, more flowers

seriously, he always gets you flowers (unless you're either allergic or just don't like the smell of them like me)

very romantic, probably one of the most romantic in enha

very class and sophisticated sort of romantic

giving very much fancy candlelit dinner with the view of the Eiffel tower in Paris

but sometimes instead of splurging to take you out, he prefers a home cooked meal that you could either make together or he makes for you

just like the rest of the group, jay has a way of making you laugh even without trying

your laughter is his favourite sound (no I'm not crying, you are)

shopping together is a big yes!

I imagine as his s/o you would both have similar tastes in style consisting of things that are classy but can also be chic and cute

sometimes he even shops for you if he knows what you like or what you've been wanting

"Remember that blazer you really liked from the last fashion week from Prada, I got it for you so I hope you like it."

doesn't take no for an answer and even if you do try refusing a gift he gives you, he gives you this certain look and then you end up accepting the gift

also carries your shopping bags after shopping so all you have to do is walk beside him looking as beautiful as ever

nap dates are a thing with you and jay

you would both simply cuddle in bed and just sleep together for hours like that and it is definitely his second favourite thing after kissing you

and when he does go on tour and can't cuddle with you, he makes sure to call you every night no matter how exhausted he is because it helps him sleep better after hearing your voice

I'm talking private guitar shows

be it he's just playing random acoustics on his guitar or he's actually working on something new, he will have you listen to it

"Jay you know I'm not good at this stuff, you always sound amazing anyway." you tell him feeling embarrassed at your lack of musical inclination

"Even so, you know you're someone who's opinion matters the most to me angel." he would tell you before kissing your forehead reassuringly

has an incredible memory so he remembers so many small details about you and you find it so heartwarming

you will be clinging to jay because we all know how good he smells and he doesn't mind either

usually isn't the physical affection sort of guy but he secretly loves it whenever you hug or cuddle

the healing era boyfriend for all my heartbroken readers

jay is the perfect boyfriend to help you get back into the dating game as you heal and learn to love and trust yourself and others

oh I cannot forget about the singing

he is definitely going to be singing to you

ask him and he will be your human aux, sings whatever songs you would like

he all in all just loves feeling needed by and taking care of you

your happiness is his happiness in the end

[daarka]

For those late to the party who want to know what the hell is going on with #OpenDnD, #StoptheSub, #DnDBegone etc, and why everyone is cancelling DnDBeyond subscriptions, I tried to do a crash course as succinctly as possible. OpenDnD.Games is a great resource for more in-depth details, and if you wish to do so, you can cancel your DnDBeyond subscription through this direct link (as there have been many reporting trouble in locating where to do so). Edit: Tweaked the very first detail below, as someone reminded me it was not a wholly accurate statement as I had initially written it. Apologies to everyone who already reblogged the first version of this :')

Hasbro acquired Wizards of the Coast (WotC) some time ago, but recently they got new leadership who said in an interview that they see D&D as "under-monetized". Hasbro is on the decline with finances, and WotC is its biggest cash cow. Why milk that cash cow through producing more content when you can instead revoke a legally irrevocable license that makes it impossible for 3rd party content creators to exist?

America loves a good monopoly. The old license that permitted the community to grow to what it is today was OGL1.0a, and without it, D&D would not be what it is right now, nor even close. They tried to shift to OGL1.1, a new license that is, in a word, PREDATORY. Horrific, nasty shit.

OGL1.1 was quietly sent to large creators to sign. It then got leaked. The community erupted. The backlash was loud and unanimous. WotC was radio silent for like two weeks. They finally gave a single-sentence "we'll explain soon" tweet on DnDBeyond's account. Then more silence.

A WotC employee reached out to large creators to blow the whistle on WotC. The source was verified, and they shared that WotC sees the community as an obstacle between them and their money, all they care about is bottom line, and they're delaying in hopes we forget and move on.

And also that they are mainly looking at DnDBeyond subscription cancelations to gauge the financial impact; they don't care about our sentiments, only our money. So everyone erupted into signal boosting for others to unsubscribe as the single and best way to make ourselves heard. Cue the mass unsubscribing.

Today (January 13th 2023), a shitty PR piece was posted on DnDBeyond full of blatant lies and, in my opinion, barely-contained saltiness. Right before that, though, OGL2.0 leaks came out; the tweaks they'd begrudgingly made following the backlash. 2.0 is basically just as bad as 1.1; they just spoke of it as being more changed than it was.

In other words, they keep bold-faced lying to a community of rules-lawyers who recreationally read fine print :)

Meanwhile, Paizo (creators of Pathfinder) has come to the rescue, vowing to release a truly open license that will allow everyone to continue pursuing the livelihoods they're passionate about; this is the Open RPG Creative License, or "ORC".

Canceling subscriptions immediately sends a potent message, even if you may have to resubscribe later for functionality in your games. You'll still have the remainder of your billing cycle to enjoy paid perks.

Everything's a little on fire, but I think we'll be okay ♥️

OGL1.0a was never meant to be revocable, as loudly stated in the past couple days by the very people who authored it. It is very likely that WotC is actually just bluffing and bullying, and is actually powerless to revoke it--something many lawyers more knowledgeable than myself seem to be suggesting. In which case, it is my greatest hope in all of this that 3rd party creators are able to continue doing what they love, with no further interruptions.

Remember: the majority of WotC and DnDBeyond employees feel the exact same way we do, but they don't have a choice. Hasbro is the enemy here. Be kind to each other, and know where blame should and should not be placed. If you want to stay up to speed, the account of @.DnD_Shorts seems to be a very active and informed voice, largely responsible for sharing the first leak. If Twitter makes you want to puke, I completely understand; DnD_Shorts also has a YouTube channel with frequent updates on the situation posted in video format.

It's cathartic to me to try to signal boost this stuff, and provide summaries that might help others stay informed. It helps me feel like I'm somehow able to affect these nasty things that are otherwise just inflicted onto lil guys in the community like myself.

However, this has been beyond exhausting and stressful. I'm going to start untangling myself and stepping back from posting about this issue so I can hopefully restore some of my own sanity.

It's been really crazy--in a good way--to see the power this community has when rallied together under a common threat. It makes me proud to be in that community.

At the end of the day, all TTRPGs are really just exercises in creativity and fun. The golden rule has always been and should always be that there is no right or wrong way to play, other than what suits you and those you play with. Likewise, no one should ever feel guilty or judged by others for playing one system over another. It's okay to like D&D5e despite all this. No matter how much they've tried, Wizards of the Coast cannot claim jurisdiction over the invaluable memories you've made, and what has become a creative outlet for countless people. Myself included.

Boycotting is a great way to be heard, since they only care about money. But continuing to use the content you have to play D&D5e is your prerogative, and hurts no one. Furthermore, it's also okay if you can't cancel your DnDBeyond subscription because you rely on it too heavily for your games. That doesn't make you a traitor. That doesn't estrange you from the community. DnDBeyond, at its core, is a great tool that is popular for a reason; it's the new leadership that is forcing it to become something it wasn't meant to be. One day, I hope to be able to resubscribe in good conscious, and I hope that day is soon.

To reiterate, if anyone's even read down this far... be kind to one another. Keep in mind that big enemies win when the party is divided. You can love or hate anything you want in the TTRPG sphere, but how you feel about it does not invalidate someone else feeling the opposite.

Be kind. Be patient. Be empathetic. We're already coming out on top.

[bonesxbows]

Colors of the Underdark (Astarion x Reader)

My Masterlist

A trip to the Underdark goes south and you're left with no light source. Your human eyes become useless and you start to panic. You're terrified of the dark and there's nothing but darkness around you down here. Astarion can tell and can actually see you start to panic. He tries his best to comfort you.

(WARNINGS) - Descriptions of the dark - Descriptions of fear - Anxious feelings - Descriptions of a panic attack

I'm still trying to get a sense of writing his character, this is my first attempt so pls be nice if it's bad. This was also written over the course of a couple of days so sorry if it's a bit choppy. The idea came from the fact that humans are like one of the few species that don't have dark vision. I'm also afraid of the dark so it's a tad self-indulgent lol. Hopefully, you still enjoy it, reblogs are much appreciated :)

-

A sudden gust of wind blew your burning torch to mere embers, encasing you and your party in pure and utter darkness. The only source of light anywhere around was the few glowing mushrooms miles away, but the only thing they did was remind you of the cavern system that surrounded you, threatening to suffocate you at a moment's notice.

“Fuck…fuck!” You screamed, your heart immediately beginning to sputter and race.

“Relax darling, it's just a little darkness, nothing to worry over.” His voice was relaxed, calm, collected, and in control. Every emotion opposite of what you were feeling.

“Relax?! Are you insane? We need to get out of here, now!” Your voice was laced with panic and you were beginning to hyperventilate.

“Are they okay?” You could hear Gale ask, although the answer he was looking for was very much apparent. Astarion was starting to worry, though he didn’t let the others see. He didn't answer Gale and instead barked an order.

“Set up camp, we’ll stay here for the time being.” He told him.

“But-”

“It's not up for debate and I didn't ask for your opinion nor your advice. Go.”

Gale scoffed but did as he was told and Shadowheart followed him without any comment. You were now on your knees scratching the head of your torch on the rocky ground, desperately trying to spark it alight again. As soon as Gale and Shadowheart were out of earshot Astarion kneeled next to you and his confident exterior fell away to sadness. The sight of you being so scared and desperate broke his heart. Of course, he could see every detail around him easily, even the crease of your brow as you concentrated on your futile task. He couldn’t imagine what your perspective as a human was like; was it pure pitch black? Could you still see the outlines of your surroundings? Did you even sense him near you? Trying to put himself in your shoes reminded him of his punishment of being locked inside that mausoleum so many years ago and he hated that feeling. Most of all he hated the idea of you experiencing that same amount of fear.

“Darling? Can you look at me?” He asked you in a soft voice. You didn't reply and he could now see tears start to flood your face. His frown deepened and so he reached forward and grabbed the torch out of your hands before you started to scrape the tips of your fingers raw. Your fingernails were already suffering from the constant friction. You practically jumped out of your skin from his unexpected interference. “I'm sorry my sweet but you're starting to hurt yourself. This torch is beyond dead anyway, beating it against the ground won't do you any good.” He tossed it aside and both of you could hear the wood bounce against the stone ground with a hollow clunk. You stared right at him, whether you realized you were doing so or not, and your face tore a new hole in his undead heart; you were seriously frightened, tears stained your face, and your eyes took no hesitation in replacing them with fresh ones. You were visibly shaking and you were constantly blinking, no doubt trying to find any sense of purchase of your surroundings.

“Astarion…”

“Yes?”

“I can't see you.”

“I know darling.”

“I'm afraid of the dark.”

You spoke in whispers, he almost didn't hear your confession. For once he was glad you couldn't see him, his first reaction was shock and it showed on his face. You were so fearless in battle, nothing scared you then, and you were always so confident in your actions, nothing like the person in front of him now. How could someone like you be so afraid of something so non-threatening? You continued to stare at him, tears still streaming down your face. He could hear your heartbeat start to speed up even faster.

“Astarion…? Are you…are you still there?” Your voice was scratchy from fear. His eyes widened as he realized what he had inadvertently done; his delay in response had given you the impression that he had gotten up and left you all alone. He quickly remedied his mistake by reaching out and grasping your hands in his, again making you jump out of your skin from the sudden unexpected contact. He silently cursed himself for scaring you again, he'd get better at this one day he promised himself, but immediately your heart began to calm down slightly from his cool touch.

“I'm here my sweet, I won't leave you.” You breathed a sigh of relief and you let go of one of his hands, fumbling it around to find his shoulder. He stayed still, letting you find him through touch and letting you get a sense of your surroundings by comparing your location to his. He wanted to laugh, your hand movements were adorable, like a puppy using its nose to find food, but he held his tongue. He didn't want to make this moment any more uncomfortable for you than it already was. It took you a minute but eventually, you grasped his shoulder.

“Can I…can I come closer?” You asked. He couldn't help but smile at your timid question. You were still shaking with fear but yet you still remembered to ask before touching him in any intimate way.

“Oh, my love…how could I say no to you? Come here, I’ll help you.” As you began to scoot closer to him he moved his hands to your upper arms to guide you, pulling you in the right direction towards him. You fumbled a bit but he helped you settle in his lap, nestled in between his legs with his arms wrapped around you. You were facing away from him, but you didn't mind this time, you couldn't see his face anyway regardless in the darkness. You could sense his arms around your waist and you could feel his cold hands on your stomach even through your armor. Your surroundings were still nothing but pitch black from your perspective, but the feeling of his body pressed up against yours helped start to calm your frazzled nerves. You couldn't see him, you couldn't see anything, but you knew you were safe with him. He was being your eyes and he would protect you when you couldn't protect yourself. You leaned back into him and he tightened his arms around you, giving you a reassuring squeeze.

“You're safe with me darling. The darkness can’t hurt you.” He whispered into your ear. The trust you had built with each other was enough for you to let yourself believe him. Your body had started to return to normal, your breathing was becoming even and your heart rate was turning into a steady rhythm.

“Where are the others?” you asked. You had no sense if they were even still around, you still couldn't see anything and you couldn't hear them either, but you assumed Astarion could.

“Don't worry your sweet little head about them, they're alright.” As soon as he finished his sentence a faint orange glow lit up the nearby area. You had stayed as still as possible so far but your head whipped in the direction of the new source of light as soon as it appeared. Your hair brushed against Astarion’s face aggressively when you turned, but he was too relieved to mind. He could feel the tension melt from your body. He watched as you forcefully blinked, adjusting your eyes from the pitch darkness to the now faint light. The rest of the party had finally sparked the campfire and they were now preoccupied with trying to roast something over it. You turned back to Astarion and caught the slightest hint of a smile on his face.

“Are you alright? Better now with the light?” he asked, moving one of his hands to push a strand of your hair out of your face and tucking it behind your ear. You nodded, grateful he had stayed with you.

“Can I…um…” your words were failing you again but you glanced down at his lips and he understood. His smile grew a little wider.

“Of course my love.”

You were quick. He barely had time to react before the force of you sent you both tumbling backward. Your lips crashed into his and your hands grasped his shoulders, holding on to him like a lifeforce. Once he had balanced the two of you again he gently grabbed your face, deepening the kiss and teasingly nicking your bottom lip with his fangs. You retreated after he did so, but you were smiling. You placed your forehead against his and stared into those ruby eyes you loved. He returned the same look of admiration and love.

“Thank you,” you told him. He pecked your lips again.

“You don't always need me to protect you, but I most certainly will whenever I can. Nothing will harm you while I'm around. Not here in the Underdark, nor anywhere else. I love you too much to let anything happen to you.”

[himbofan]

sakunosuke oda is the type of boyfriend to….

heyyyyy y'all sorry for being MIA for months... but don't worry you can't get rid of me that easily >:)

ODASAKU!!! i just love this man so much.... we have been married for 20 years and i wanted to share some of the things oda would do as ur boyfriend cuz he's perfect boyfriend material <33333

i have a lot of bsd ideas and things i wanna write too so never be afraid to slide in my inbox and tell me what u wanna see :3 i love to yap about 2D men :333 anywayzzzz hope u enjoy!! likes and reblogs always appreciated <3333 🫶 (this is like my fourth time posting this, pls show up in the tags this time 😭😭)

wc: 300+

characters: sakunosuke oda

cw: gn!reader, tooth rotting fluff

sakunosuke oda is the type of boyfriend to….

…remember tiny things about you, from your favorite coffee order to which side of the bed you like to sleep on. even the most minute and menial details are etched into his mind. don’t like tomatoes on your sandwich? don’t worry, you’ll never have to ask him to change it again, he’ll always make sure you never have tomatoes.

sakunosuke oda is the type of boyfriend to….

…watch every video you send him beginning to end without skipping, anything from a 10 second funny cat tiktok or a 2 minute youtube video explanation about the life cycle of shrimp. he’ll respond with a “👍” or “Lol.” every time.

sakunosuke oda is the type of boyfriend to….

…always agree to matching halloween costumes with you, even if they’re silly. he doesn’t really have a strong opinion about what he wears, he just likes to see you excited. last year y’all went as barbenheimer but he was barbie and you were oppenheimer. (he had a blast)

sakunosuke oda is the type of boyfriend to….

…listen every time you rant about annoying coworkers or classmates. even though he looks uninterested, he’s actually listening carefully, even if he doesn’t know who you’re talking about he just likes to hear how you feel and think. he's an excellent listener and loves to hear you talk because he likes the sound of your voice :)

sakunosuke oda is the type of boyfriend to….

…attract animals for seemingly no reason. whenever you’re out and about in the city, he never fails to have a stray cat appear and rub up against his legs, or a squirrel cautiously approach him begging for food. his aura is so comforting and secure, he’s basically an urban disney princess.

sakunosuke oda is the type of boyfriend to….

…let you pluck his eyebrows and have self care nights with clay masks and fuzzy hair bands. he doesn’t really know what’s going on but he lets you pamper him with products because he loves to spend time with you and see you smile. :)

sakunosuke oda is the type of boyfriend to….

…slow dance with you in the living room, kitchen, hallway, or anywhere the mood strikes you. he loves seeing the beauty in the mundane domestic moments, it reminds him that your shared love is unconditional.

sakunosuke oda is the type of boyfriend to….

…stare at your face while you’re sleeping. he wants to memorize every feature and shape, silently admiring how the rays of light dance off of your skin in the early morning. even if you’re snoring or drooling, he’ll always think it’s adorable because you’re the most beautiful thing in his life.

[coryothesub]

Zoom Call

nsfw / mdni / sub!coryo / dom!reader

“Yes, I can arrange that,” you replied to your boss, waiting for your zoom call to end before being given even more new tasks.

The bathroom door opened and Coryo appeared wearing nothing but a white towel around his waist. He looked so good, hair still wet, tiny droplets of water glistening on his soft, pale skin.

You were already distracted and almost missed your boss asking you another question.

Coryo walked over to the kitchen counter, strutting like a little slut, a clear signal he was about to be bratty and annoying. 

He poured himself a cup of coffee and stood behind your desk, where your co-workers couldn't see him but you certainly had the best view at his slender torso and gorgeous face.

It was nearly impossible to keep focus as the familiar warm pressure started building in your lower abdomen. 

How can a girl pay her bills while having a needy brat like him in her house?

Coryo sipped his coffee with a shit eating grin on his pretty little face, clearly amused by your struggles. 

The boy wasn't an idiot, he was fully aware of the punishment that would await him. But there was one tiny detail. He enjoyed imagining what kind of torture you’d have in store for him. In fact, he got hard at the thought.

“Coryo, stop!” you warned him using the short moment when one of your colleagues provided her weekly report.

“What?” he batted his eyes innocently. “I'm not even doing anything.”

Such a brat.

Coryo moved slightly to the side so that your laptop screen wouldn't abstract your view below his waistline and you noticed the outline of his fully erect dick under the towel. 

He was gonna pay for this. Or maybe…

You raised your hand making sure it was outside the camera range and motioned your pointer finger signaling him to come closer.

Coryo's eyes widened in surprise. Had you decided to punish him right away? He obeyed and stood next to you, masterfully avoiding the camera range.

You switched on the mic to answer another question, praying for this meeting to end soon.

Without any warning Coryo unfolded the towel and let his hardened cock spring free, the tip hitting his toned lower abs and bouncing off a few times.

You marveled at his impressive length, biting your lip without realizing the camera was still on.

“Is everything alright?” you heard your boss’s voice through the speaker.

“Perfect!” you replied and switched off the mic along with the camera.

“You filthy little whore, you don't even deserve this,” you cursed, then leaned forward and licked a slick line from the base of his cock upwards to the tip, swirling your tongue around it a couple times, while pumping him at the base.

“Ohh,” Coryo moaned. He couldn't believe you were actually doing this.

He watched you with sheer desire as you took him in your mouth, pushing yourself further on his dick with each movement, establishing a steady pace. Your fingers wandered away from the base of his cock and started to massage his balls making his dick twitch in your mouth.

“We’re gonna need your opinion on this,” you heard through the speaker and pulled away from Coryo who frowned and the loss of the sweet sensation.

“I’m sorry, it seems like there's something wrong with my internet connection,” you spoke into the camera, trying to stabilize your shaky breath.

Your colleagues seemed to be buying your bullshit and you switched everything off again, eager to suck the marvelous cock exposed right before your eyes.

You took him back in your mouth, restoring your pace, moving your head back and forth, flattening your tongue to increase the sensation.

Coryo looked at your face, his baby blue eyes taking in the beautiful sight. You looked so hot, your eyes fluttered, cheeks hollowed, working so hard on his dick on your paid work time, only a click away from getting caught by your whole unit. Only the thought of that brought him closer to the climax.

“Fuck, you look gorgeous”, he moaned as your mouth swallowed his whole length the tip of your nose meeting his blonde pubes. You tried to swallow around his member which made you gag, tears forming along your waterline.

“Are you sure everything is alright?” you heard your boss's voice through your blissful daze and rushed to switch on the camera thinking of a quick way to explain your teary eyes and swollen lips.

“Yeah, everything’s good. I just crawled under the table to check the cables and some dust got in my eyes. You don't have to worry, go on.”

“Well, if your little problem hadn't occurred,” your boss cocked her eyebrow. “Then you would know that we're already finishing.”

They were finishing. Well, they surely weren’t aware who else was about to finish.

“Oh great, see you next week!” you left the meeting and slammed your laptop shut before anyone had managed to say goodbye. 

Coryo had been jerking himself off, careful not to make a sound and now he finally let out a sweet moan that turned into a desperate groan as soon as you got back to your unfinished business.

“You're gonna pay for this later, Coriolanus!” you hissed at him before grabbing his thighs and pulling him close, shoving his shaft down your needy throat. You let your brain shut down in a blissful stupor, fucking your throat on his cock with a salacious gobbling sound, gagging and salivating around him. Tears were streaming from your reddened eyes, but you felt nothing but sweet dizziness and your throbbing cunt getting insanely wet from sucking his cock alone.

“Fuck, this feels so good. So fucking good, mommy, I'm gonna cum,” Coryo rolled back his eyes as he exploded in your mouth thick ropes of cum spurting down your throat. You held him in place, fingers digging into the pale skin, swallowing around him repeatedly and making sure you were getting every last drop of his seed. 

Filled with his warmth, you let his cock out of your mouth with a small pop, and took a few moments to catch your breath.

Coryo still didn't quite believe what had just happened. You gave him a harsh look and shook your head in disapproval.

“What did I tell you about distracting me from work, Coriolanus?”

“I’m sorry,” Coryo's voice sounded shaky with pleasure and fear. He thought he was about to get the worst punishment.

“It's not my fault you look so beautiful when you're all serious and focused. Are you gonna punish me now?”

“No,” you couldn't help laughing at his confused look. It almost seemed like you’d managed to shut off his brain entirely.

“Turns out this is a very lucky day for pretty little sluts like you. You're in for another undeserved prize.”

You pulled down your pants baring your impossibly wet cunt and made yourself more comfortable in your office chair lifting your legs over the arms, causing him to bite his lip at the sight.

“Now get to work before I change my mind!”

[tossawary]

Part of the problem with discussing how racism manifests in fandom and in fan organizations is that to present a nuanced and thorough take on a complicated problem, which actually consists of a number of different complex issues with lots of different potential solutions each, you have write really, REALLY long posts about it.

And people don't read long posts.

Or they read the first part and get stuck on one point they don't agree with or can't 100% agree with. So they get caught up in proving one point wrong instead of at least expressing sympathy or sharing the parts they do actually agree with.

(Or people make fun of you for caring about "people being mean in fanfiction communities" as an issue. Because caring is cringe, apparently. Racism in hobbies like book clubs and local knitting groups and kid sports leagues is also important, even if it's "not that big of a deal" in the grand scheme of things in your opinion.)

Which can have (unintentional or intentional) vibes of telling fans of color to shut up about racism. Which is rude and understandably upsetting to people who have experienced this kind of harassment. Saying "go make your own archive" implies that the affected fans of color have not been a part of building the OTW or in running AO3 and don't belong there as writers or readers, which is untrue and unkind.

Now, I know that people have a kneejerk defensive reaction to any form of "We Need To Ban The Bad Fic That I Don't Like". I have that too. And I won't deny that this is a conversation partly about content moderation. And I won't deny that within this broad conversation between lots of different people who want to do something about fandom racism, there are probably some people who are calling to ban everything they find even a little problematic. They're always popping up. I don't agree with those people.

I didn't reblog End OTW Racism's Call to Action post the first time that I saw it because my brain wanted to chew on the thoughts it inspired. I thought a lot about how exactly to write detailed policy that could explicitly ban the worst examples of fanfiction used as intentional hate speech provably for the purpose of targeted harassment, while still ensuring the protection of the queer content, the problematic darkfic, and the explicit kinky fiction that the archive was created to host (which EOTWR also cares about). I do want fans to be able to explore some disturbing and distasteful topics, even if they don't always write it well, without being censored. And yet I also thought a lot about the "Paradox of Tolerance" as a social contract and what it meant to be "Fair to Unfair Voices".

I also thought a lot about how AO3 volunteers can never review every single thing posted to the website (which was not being suggested). And about how this issue intersects heavily with the structural issues that leave some AO3 volunteers overworked and underappreciated. And the structural issues that leave some AO3 volunteers feeling isolated, neglected, ignored, or mistreated. And also how AO3 is shockingly enormous now for being the result of volunteer work on a budget that's small compared to other non-profit organizations.

And honestly, I was fucking exhausted from my job that day and I cynically thought to myself, "I'll read through the links later, but I don't really see how changing the names on a bunch of fics is going to inspire great change within an organization."

(And the people behind this online protest are pretty open about the fact that they didn't expect their awareness campaign - and that's what it is: it's just an awareness campaign - to do anything on the front of "Solving Institutional Racism Immediately".)

But then I thought to myself, "Okay, but I do believe in antiracist action. And even if I don't think some of these suggestions are workable with the current state of things, or that the OTW will ever agree to some things here, there has got to be something here that could be done right now to make things a little better."

I kind of like the idea of expanding the required archive warnings so that more well-meaning people will opt-in to tagging triggering material, which is a form of content moderation. Like the way that the "Graphic Depictions of Violence" tag works already. Major Archive Warnings are left up to the author's best judgement unless reported. And even if people repeatedly refuse to use any relevant warning tags when writing blatantly racist stories, when they get reported for not even using "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", then we'll be pretty sure that they're doing it to be a jerk, and AO3 volunteers can suspend or ban them for it.

I like the idea of expanding the abuse policy and clearly defining its terms so that Policy and Abuse volunteers can still retain some freedom of best judgement, but also be more consistent about recognizing when someone is being a racist jerk in the comment section or being racist by gifting violently racist fic to fans of color or otherwise behaving badly. And I like the idea of improving the reporting system while keeping potential misuse in mind. And giving PAC volunteers better admin tools and other resources.

Even if you believe that AO3 is largely run by well-meaning queer women, I personally don't 100% trust that every single volunteer will be great at recognizing the many varied forms of racism, or antisemitism, or transphobia, or prejudice against bisexual or asexual or polyamorous people, or against mentally ill or physically disabled people. And part of this discussion is about when individual members of the PAC team have failed to address malicious behavior that is already explicitly covered by AO3's existing anti-bullying policy. Or that can't be solved by just blocking and muting someone.

Like, this discussion is about racism, and it's worth caring about solely for how it affects fans of color, but optimizing the abuse policy and protocols against harassment would better protect everyone. (And also, please do not assume that fans of color are not also older fans and/or queer fans who care about censorship.)

Some of End OTW Racism's offered solutions are suggestions originally made by AO3 itself back in 2020. A huge part of this discussion is just some fans (they're only, like, 5 people) trying to make some noise so that the OTW will give all users a thorough update on their progress. They are trying to raise awareness to keep the conversation about fandom bigotry going and recruit people to show up to OTW Board meetings to ask what obstacles need to be tackled. They want volunteers trying to change things internally to feel supported and for some more transparency on this subject to externally hold people accountable to their promises.

And I also thought, "Fuck it. This post is worth reblogging if only to remind people that AO3 needs work, to educate new fans on the history and present of fandom racism in general, and to maybe make one person out there feel less alone and connect them with some new friends. Fans of color don't have to be perfect to be heard."

I believe that AO3 has gotten bigger than ever anticipated and management of the OTW has only gotten harder. And I think hiring a diversity consultant, as per AO3's own suggestion back in 2020, sounds like a good idea to curb harassment of all kinds and improve the working conditions of volunteers. Outside contractors have been hired before and these professionals have no effect on OTW's non-profit status. A temporary consultant's job would be to identify where the organization is getting stuck and give suggestions on how to fight bigotry, and the OTW Board can just pick the solutions they think will work in practice with their mission statements.

Honestly, I kind of think it might be a good idea to also hire a security consultant of some kind after some of the harassment of AO3 volunteers in recent years. And if hiring some programming contractors would help the coding volunteers build better admin tools and make tag blacklisting happen sooner, then I support that as well. But that's all up to the OTW Board. And I want the OTW volunteers to know that I support their original suggestion to hire some outside professional help, so that fandom can begin to address some of these ongoing problems beyond just acknowledging that they exist, even if it simply starts with AO3 explicitly calling for more volunteers to get the planned work done.

Saying that there's nothing to be done is defeatist. Saying that the affected fans of color and their allies sound too angry or too serious or too ungrateful, or that everyone involved just doesn't understand how hard these things are, is pretty rude. I don't expect perfect solutions on the first try. I don't expect them immediately. I expect some of these things to take the OTW... years, honestly. I don't always feel very optimistic. I find this entire discussion discomforting and depressing. I'm not ungrateful to the OTW and AO3 when the community has been an undeniably good experience for me personally over the past 10 years. I want people to be able to escape into fandom at the end of a shitty day.

End OTW Racism's awareness campaign is one small part of a much broader discussion and you don't have to agree 100% with everything that they say. Or with what other people talking about fandom racism say (and some people, including academics and journalists and media critics and video essayists, have been talking about fandom racism for a long time). And you definitely don't have to 100% agree with what I've said here.

You don't have immediately volunteer all of your time to the OTW to fix these problems to be a good person. We all have other shit going on in our lives. Just... keep some of the points being made in mind moving forward, yeah? If you have a moment, maybe listen to some of the frustrations with an open mind, and maybe show a little extra love to your fellow fans who are going through it.

And if you have the energy to tear down what you think just one of EOTWR's suggestions is as bad - and they are NOT calling for every single fic on AO3 to be reviewed for problematic tropes or racial slurs before posting, that would be ridiculous, and it's disingenuous to misinterpret them that way - are you also separately talking about and supporting any of the antiracist actions and other harm reduction policies that you think are genuinely viable?

[alessiamalfoyzabini]

Dark Moon | Chapter Three

Pairing | yandere!Jimin x Reader

Word Count | 2,6k

Warnings | +18, Coarse and explicit language, sexual insinuations, humiliation, prostitution, angst, smut noncon, non-consensual touch, forced blowjob (Jimin is not the one forcing her), Jimin is driven by hatred, this is not for minors!

This fanfiction is yandere, if you don't like the genre, don't read and if you are not of age, don't read.

I don't want to hear any complaints in the comments, thank you.

This does not reflect my way of thinking or living at all, it is just a work of fiction, it is like watching a horror movie, many of us love horror movies, but we would never dream of what we see in those movies happening in reality as well.

Simply put, this story was written for entertainment purposes, it should not be seen as a reflection of my values, opinions or morals. I absolutely do not condone such acts.

⤷ Summary | She just wanted to escape her past, take charge of her life and break out of her steel cage, praying in God for a miracle that could change her life for good.

And her prayers were heard, but it was not the Divine that answered her.

That was certainly the devil in the guise of an angel, she thought as those corrupted and empty eyes searched her soul with extreme voracity.

He turned a sweet, false smile on her, before pushing her into the abyss.

➢ Author's Note | The third chapter of Dark Moon has arrived! There will be more and more explicit details in the story that are not suitable for minors, remember this is a yandere story!

Taglist: @katherine-kookie, @dragons-flare, @m00njinnie, @seokjins-luigi, @pjmsneverland, @jimincrystal , @ajkwww, @ungodlyjoon, @hecateslittlewitchling

Taglist is open!

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That day the girl finished arranging her new clothes in the closet, she thought back to Ester, now she understood that such an asshole attitude, even if she still did not share it. She had recently arrived and had in no way tried to attract that bastard's attention, if that woman had lost her place as "favorite" it was certainly not her fault. And if she had to be honest, she found Ester to have horrible taste in men, how could anyone want to belong to that beast? She recalled Jimin's mocking eyes with disgust and thought back to his fingers mercilessly rummaging through her intimacy, a shiver shook her. No, that guy would never even lay a finger on her again, she would rather fight to the death.

Far more different thoughts crossed Jimin's mind. He had not thought twice about dumping her in his personal room at the Dark Moon, sending Ester away unceremoniously. He had found the hatred in Y/N's eyes delightful when he had played with her a bit and Ester on the other hand was now an old toy for him. "Is the newcomer already to your liking?" Jimin turned to Jin, they were all gathered at the big table of a high-class restaurant and one hundred percent sure, no one would ever know about their dinner there, the manager was a close friend of Seokjin's. "Actually, I haven't tried it yet," he stretched lazily, crossing his legs, "But it looks interesting." "What about Ester?" asked Taehyung, intrigued, at which Jimin rolled his eyes. "It's not for me anymore, you know how I am, I get tired easily," he replied with a grimace, his friend laughed. "So you won't be offended if I have a ride with her," said a voice ahead, Yoongi was grinning felinely, Jimin raised an eyebrow.

"You've always had a chance to take a ride, even more than one, I remind you that she kept opening her legs for many other men as well," he said sarcastically, Yoongi moved his hand as if to chase away an annoying insect. "You are my friend, I could never touch your stuff without permission." "But last time I found you with your cock in Mirin's throat, or am I mistaken?" asked Taehyung with annoyance, a roar of laughter erupted, Yoongi did not deny it. "Man, it's not my fault that your favorite is among the horniest in the Dark Moon." Taehyung's face at first irritated, relaxed into a wry smile, "Indeed, I chose her for that." Hoseok briefly spat the wine he was sipping onto the table, even Namjoon shook his head with amusement. Seokjin, unlike them, did not take his eyes off Jimin. "And will you allow me to take a ride on your new prey as well?" Jin's question left him unprepared for a few moments, was he okay with it? He wondered, and a strange discomfort in his chest intensified as he reflected on those words. Everyone stared at him waiting for an answer, but the boy was unimpressed, his firm expression unchanged. "She's still one of your girls, Jin," he smiled, "Who am I to forbid you?" The chatter at the table resumed, everyone went back to his own business, and Jimin's smile faded little by little as he continued to think about those words over and over again.

Hanon entered her room without bothering to knock, found her in front of the mirror ready for that night. Y/N had been forced to wear an evening gown with a light fabric, the deep blue color would have suited her, if the dress itself had not had a neckline so deep that it reached her navel. She felt naked, dirty, and the falling straps on her arms did not help the discomfort the girl was feeling. "Oh! You're ready, I thought I'd have a harder time convincing you," she said cheerfully, Y/N lowered her gaze mortified, she still cared too much about her life to risk a deadly ride in the Han River and this demolished her more, another woman with more pride and self-love would have gotten herself killed, she was just a coward. "But..." Hanon squared her with a critical eye, "Something is missing." She joined her in front of the mirror and retrieved from the bag of expensive makeup she had been provided with a lipstick, and not just any lipstick, it was red as sin. "You have to put this on" Hanon chirped not giving her time to retort, she took care of it herself to pass it over lips of the younger girl, "Well, you know...clients like it when you make a mess" Y/N immediately flinched, what little she had managed to swallow at lunch was coming back down her throat.

"How can you talk so easily about such a thing?" she hissed, disgusted by the older woman who seemed more than willing to make her irresistible to those pigs. It was as if she was more than willingly selling her out; she could not bear it. Hanon huffed, closing her lipstick quietly; after all, she had managed to put it on anyway. "I'm sorry, sometimes I forget you're new, I've opened my legs so many times - and not just those - that I consider this to be normal," she pointed around the room, most likely referring to the Dark Moon in general. "I don't want this to become normal for me," Y/N shook her head nervously, but Hanon was unimpressed. "If you want it to become bearable, you're going to have to make it normal, and I don't want to come across as the bitch who has no heart and doesn't understand you, but believe me... I'm the only one right now who wants what's good for you, the others can't stand newbies, and you're not Ester's favorite person right now, maybe you never will be for obvious reasons, so just accept it," she explained harshly, before giving her a key, "Room 508, you will wait there for your first customer and smile, asking him what he wants to start with or if he would like to relax with some soju first."

Y/N sent down a knot in her throat, nodding. "What are the clients like?" she asked, unable to imagine what kind of men she would have to serve with her body. "They are ... clients, there are many kinds with very different positions, the most dangerous ones however are left to us mature, you don't really have to worry about that." After that Hanon escorted her to the room, letting her open it because, as she had said, she had to learn how to best juggle in there without the presence of the older woman. The room in question was average, so it did not have to be a high-ranking client, just wealthy enough, Hanon left her alone and she took to inspecting the room, ran a palm over the soft blankets and with a shuddering sigh lay down on top of them, she had been told that she had to make herself ready on the bed because clients preferred it that way. She waited for the man to arrive, trying to relax the muscles in her face and body; it was true, she was no longer a virgin. But it had always happened in one bleak way, she petrified and afraid, until she had made the decision to take her sister with her and run away, even changing her last name. He wanted to give his sister a better future, and now she had ended up like her older sister, if not worse. She gritted her teeth in guilt, she would never forgive herself and it was only fair, she did not deserve peace.

Jimin arrived at the lobby at that moment, let a girl take off his coat without so much as a glance at her, adjusted his shirt collar, and headed for the elevator. There he met Namjoon, who was going in his exact direction. The man inside the Dark Moon dealt with more boring matters, such as taking customer reservations or arranging meetings with associates, plus he himself took care of the girls' most urgent needs. In a sense, he could be seen as a kind of janitor in there. "Hey, Jimin," he greeted him, Jimin reciprocated with a gesture of his head, "Have you seen your beauty? It's been three days and you haven't told me anything, should I be worried?" he joked, the dark-haired boy raised an eyebrow. "No, I haven't seen her, Seokjin sent me elsewhere," it was true, Jin had filled him full of commitments, but only because he himself had asked him to make him do something, he didn't want to see the girl, there was something that made him stay away from her, a feeling... something that told him that if he saw her one more time, the unthinkable would happen and that scared him, "Why should you worry, anyway?" Namjoon lifted his shoulders, "She has her first client tonight, I wouldn't want to have someone on my hands who doesn't know her business."

That news blocked Jimin from saying anything else, his jaw stiffened and his breathing quickened due to the constantly racing pulse. "Who would this client be?" he asked instead, feigned detachment. Namjoon thought hard about what to say to him, but opted for the truth; he could not lie to him. "Choi Minho, he was looking for entertainment with something new and I proposed her to him, it's just business, Jimin." Namjoon saw Jimin snort through his nose, amused. He didn't like that reaction; when Jimin found something funny - and there was absolutely nothing to laugh at - it meant he was up to something. "Jimin..." he said in a serious tone. "The room number, Namjoon." "Seokjin needs him, he got engaged to a minister's daughter, such a connection is not to be missed, and the waters are calming down." The tension inside the elevator was palpable. Jimin hated Minho. Didn't he wear all those piercings for pure aesthetics, every single piece of metal covered micro scars that still stung the boy, that piece of shit had gone unpunished and now he wanted to fuck with his prey? "Namjoon, look at me," he hissed, "I will not let him or another member of his family find pleasure in here, in my territory, among my comrades, he is polluting my air and I will not tolerate him," he said harshly. The silver-haired boy let a sigh escape, "Seokjin will not be pleased."

"I will talk to Seokjin, I have a few things to say to him on the subject." "... The room is 508, don't make me regret telling you." When the elevator doors opened with a gentle ding, Jimin darted out, moving confidently through the corridors of the brothel, leaving Namjoon to scowl to himself, realizing with a few seconds delay that he had screwed up big time. "Shit." On the other hand, several girls immediately distanced themselves from the young man; Jimin did not enjoy much popularity. If his appearance was that of an angel, his practices had been invented by the devil himself. He looked up counting the room numbers with manic attention, he didn't know what he would do once he got there either, he just knew he didn't want Minho in that place, in that room. With her. 510, 509... 508. Reaching in front of the door he tried to open it, finding it obviously locked. He mentally imprecated, this was not going to take. He would have to get tough sooner than expected, then. He gave the door a mighty kick, followed by a second and then a third, the latter breaking the lock with a dull bang that allowed him to enter. He could have simply asked for a copy of the key, but he did not want to waste further time.

He thus found Minho with the zipper of his pants open, but with his clothes still on, was towering over Y/N, the girl was lying on the bed and staring at him with a blank expression, as if she had surrendered to what was to come. The now-open dress gave a wide view of her naked breasts, as well as showcasing the obvious and fresh bite marks that were now purplish, a motion of disgust invaded Jimin's stomach. "What the fuck do you want, Park Jimin?" asked visibly irritated Minho, who until a few seconds earlier had the clear intention of playing a little with the girl's still untouched mouth. Minho had to admit, Namjoon had given him the gift of a nice treat, but Jimin's presence had never been required. "I don't want anything from you at all," he emphasized, pointing to Y/N who, like an automaton, was watching the pierced man in front of the door almost as if she had not seen him.

When Minho had entered the room she had as if immobilized, she had simply done his bidding, he had told her to open the neckline of her dress and she had done so, he had bitten and sucked her skin and she had not said a single word, she was a sad little doll, little doll who would have even sucked his cock if Jimin had not come in by smashing the door with unheard of tranquility.

"Forget it, I paid to spend an evening with her, wait your turn," growled Minho, who could already feel his cock drooping in his pants because of that bastard.

"We also do refunds, you know?" he asked, clearly ironic, before changing his expression altogether, "Get out of here, Choi. You're contaminating my territory, sullying what belongs to me." "And you get out of my way, Park. I will not leave without finishing." The two hurled lightning bolts and thunderbolts from their eyes, then something shone in Jimin's, something the girl could not quite define, standing there motionless and nervously awaiting orders, she gazed fearfully at Jimin's sharp smile, who shifted his eyes to hers. "Did you hear that, cupcake? Get to work, Mr. Choi wants to start with the mouth?" he addressed the last question to the person concerned, who was unimpressed. "I have no problem getting it out in front of you," he hissed, before finally lowering his pants along with his boxers, Y/N felt dead, she would eventually do it. For a moment she had hoped, she had hoped that this monster would save her from such humiliation, but no, if possible he had only made that situation worse, because he would watch her being used as a soulless sleeve. She refused to look toward that pig's loose erection, her eyes were still on Jimin, who in return did not take his gaze off her.

The tense jaw testified to Jimin's true discontent, who felt his blood boil with rage when Minho forcefully grabbed the young woman's hair, forcing her with a stern, violent move to take her full length, Y/N widened her eyes horrified, gasping for air. "Keep still, you little slut! Show your boss how you make me come." Minho used the girl's mouth with unprecedented force, heedless of her shrill cries, his only thought at that moment was to fuck her, proving to Jimin that he could do nothing against him, even on his own turf. Jimin felt the bestial urge to kill the bastard, but another idea took shape. Minho was about to come when he heard the sound of a trigger ringing in the room. The barrel of Jimin's glock was pointed at his side, just waiting for a slight pressure on the trigger to release the lead that would surely take him down.

[got-ticket-to-ride]

Wanted to know your thoughts on this, but for what I've reading on John it really looks to me he really got worse post Paul and post Beatles, like his saddest songs match the moment he started to have issues with Paul, he wasn't really having much contact with anyone outside Yoko, he wasn't doing much music, he wasn't being that funny either, he even died without being able to fully overcome his heroine addiction (addiction that started in the Beatles fall out right?), and idk i believe his involvement in the whole peace/art movement looked more like an escape (like some people do with religion) than actual interest.

So what you think, was John at his worst after he got out the band and cut his relationship with Paul or was it was always like that?

Hello @lord-pain

thank you for this ask! I hope I'll make sense. I think the White Album was definitely the start of John's "sad songs". Happiness is a Warm Gun, Yer Blues. Subsequently, Dig a Pony sounded so desperate to me and Because which is yeah, post India, post breakup?

There's so many different accounts during that period. Some narrators might be unreliable because you never know who these "historians/journalist/"acquaintances" have their allegiance to.

During the 70s it was said that John was miserable, became a violent drunk (who believed in astrology). He was quite unhappy with how things turned out in his life due to his choices but he was too proud to admit it.

About drugs, Fred Seaman said John stopped with heroin in the last half of the 70s in this video.

Due to differing accounts that are out there, I just concentrate on John, what he wrote lyrically and how clearheaded he was during his last interview. He was trying to be better. I think that is the most important detail despite everything that went down. Also the part where he was going to work with Ringo and had booked a studio with Paul for January 1981.

His activism was partly a distraction for him. Beatle John dabbled in it, but he became very aggressive about politics after the break up. He was anti-religion when he released Imagine (1971). But went back to believing in god when he wrote "Grow Old With Me" (1979?), which I have so much thoughts about but I haven't even had the courage to voice out.

While there are glimpses of John's mental anxiety visible in his song "Help!" (1965)

"Help me if you can, I'm feeling down, and I do appreciate you being 'round",

he was trying to be positive about it as seen in "Strawberry Fields Forever" (1966):

"It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out, It doesn't matter much to me".

And was still holding on during the conception of "Across the Universe" (in February 1968) with his mantra:

"Nothing's gonna change my world",

which I think might've been a result of Paul's engagement in December 1967 to Jane.

Across the Universe (February 1968) > believer God (1970) > anti-religion Imagine (1971) > anti-religion (he made a satire song which I did not include here) Grow Old With Me (1979) > believer

During his alleged break from music from 1975, he was still making home demos and was writing Skywriting by Word of Mouth.

I think John and Paul being apart was just not good for them. The general opinion was that Paul left John and had moved on. (I don't believe that's true). It was John who made the decision to leave, it was this push and pull thing, and Paul continued to reach out to him (and we don't know what happened during all those times they've met up). Some accounts say that John was practically begging for a reunion but then again Paul never stopped reaching out to John (see 1976) so I personally think, regardless of all these details that are out in the open, there is still a missing piece we have not considered yet and that can only be told by Paul himself.

To summarize it, John probably had depression (since his teenage years) but Paul was a constant positive thing in his life that he needed and that had helped him through it, "the girl who came to stay" until something happened...

John Lennon was definitely at his worst without his buddies by his side in the 70s.

[milgram-tournament]

MILGRAM Best Song Tournament, Round 2, Match 4 TEAR DROP vs. BACKDRAFT

Propaganda for both options under the cut!

Propaganda for TEAR DROP:

"yuno kashiki enthusiast here anyways tear drop propaganda WE BALL

let's start off with the lyrics! holy fuck, i'm so glad yuno finally got to say what she's wanted to say!!

and she fully shows the fact that she does compensated dating through the lyrics ("the wanted wanting the wanted")

and even if it sounds like she's scolding the audience for the song, she's also scolding her clients! they only perceive her as a certain type of character and deciding that's all she is. She's upset that we decided based on how "naïve" she looked instead of her actual crime (to be honest, I could write a whole analysis into why her murder is perfect for her character anywa) and she doesn't care what will happen to her, she needs her opinions heard

also kinda rap section?? banger fr

THE VISUALS!! GOOD LORD THE VISUALS!!! THEY ARE SO BANGER!!! they're really pretty and gosh i literally don't know what to say, the scene where vampire is in the background and it transitions to yuno sitting on her bed... the pink tinted glasses (YES FUCK I LOVE THAT MAN!!!!) THE COAT!! THOSE INBETWREN SCENES i'm obbing

AND THE INSTRUMENTAL!! PLEASE IM BEGGING YOU ALL LISTEN TO THE INSTRUMRNTAL OF HER SONG THERES SO MANY SMALL DETAILS!! SIRENS, TEAR DROPS RAHHH THE CLAPS/CLICKING TJE TECHNO PIANO GUITAR??? THE INSTRIMENTS I CANT NAME I THINK THEY ALL HAVE SOME READON OF BEING IN THE SONG AND I WILL FIND OUT IN AN ANAKYSIS POST I JUDT LOVE IT AUEUEU

literally tear drop is the banger ever i listen to this shit religiously thank you for listening to my tear drop propaganda"

---

-Yuno’s voice. Enough said. -The imagery in the MV is brilliantly used, and doesn’t shy away from the horrors of Yuno’s line of work. -Vampire cameo!!! -Almost Lo-Fi vibes to the instrumental?? I can’t really explain it but it’s a vibe and I’m 100% here for it,

---

"For teardrop: The pink aesthetic in the MV as a whole makes it super nice to look at :D"

Propaganda for BACKDRAFT:

"Backdraft may be a minute shorter than Bring It On, but it’s still over three minutes long, and it makes up for the lost minute with a complex form. The “Pressure! Pressure!” might be the only part that truly repeats.

At the beginning, Fuuta is showing off, acting cool. Then the music slows down as he ponders his verdict. Then the music picks up the pace again and gets more and more frantic as the consequences of his actions catch up to him.

See that structure in the three distinct verses that sound nothing like anything else in the song: cool, contemplative, and “oh no, what have I done”.

The “chorus” (burn burn!) never stays the same. You’ve got the “cool” first chorus. Then you have the muted second chorus as it sinks in that Fuuta’s victim was a middle-school girl, which leads into the tense final chorus (which is twice as long as the first) as the victim and Fuuta both burn.

The instrumental and the spoken-word from the beginning combine in the end, changing the mood of the stanza from confident and showy to panicked and desperate.

And the words… You can hear the wordplay in the last stanza, even if you don’t understand it.

Appreciate this chaotic masterpiece of a song."

---

- Fuuta being very cocky at first before realizing how fucked he is (it is kinda funny) - The use of spray cans and overall graffiti symbolism, it’s so good - The multiple eyes and people off camera showing how paranoid Fuuta has become, it’s really well done without being obvious - The name backdraft meaning when a fire deprived of oxygen gets a sudden influx of it. A kind of metaphor for what Fuuta did. Then it being shown through a spray can explosion, aaaa it’s really cool! - Fuuta’s overall look changing, being more realistic on how he actually looks contrasting Bring It On’s idealistic version of himself - Es at the end!! The only time Es shows up in a prisoner’s MV!!! And they looks so damn cool - Also the entire eye thing referencing the audience, he perceives us lmfao

---

"Back draft is incredible because it not only has great visual symbolism with the use of the spray cans but its visual symbolism shows a progression from ‘Bring it on’. In ‘Bring it on’ the channelling is glorious , fuuta is surrounded by people and fuuta idealised himself (taller , better teeth , better posture ect) , the people he cancelled were portrayed as these powerful rpg monsters but now in back now the channelling is portrayed as vandalism a crime as destructive , the ally is empty we only ever see others as hands or his victim fuuta is alone and fuuta is no longer idealising his appearance and his mind is now portraying his victim as a harmless cutesy drawing. This shows a change in how fuuta views his crime between T1 and T2. It wasn’t glorious, it wasn't justified , he was at fault. The fire being recontextsied as something out of control , all consuming and out of control which is the opposite of how it was portrayed in ‘Bring it on’ we really see how the vote has changed fuuta."

"There are so many things in the song that show a progression "

-“ deliciously scorched till your mouth waters” > “I don’t want any more”

-fuuta spray paints the camera hen as the end es spray paints him/the camera

-the pressure graffiti changing

"There’s so many interesting details like the applause towards the start of the song , the personality in the subtitles like them going from “Burn , burn!” To “burn , burn?” But the pressure’s punctuation mark stayed the same:   “pressure , pressure!” , the way FIRE is the only word in full caps till LIES. The thumbs down fuuta does during “the fights up here! Come up to the ring and face me!” Part which is like his T1 art , the way the lighting changes from green towards the start and becomes red by the end (stop go colours) , The way fuuta is constantly interacting with the camera , spray painting it twice and kicking it."

"Backdraft actually makes amazing use of the camera , things are often shown from the (camera)audience’s perspective rather than us seeing the events removed. We are there like we are the ones doing it/looking through the eyes of the person doing it. When fuuta/the others spray paint the graffiti of his victim and the ice gorilla it's from the audience’s perspective , we don’t see them do it, we see it like we are doing it. When the spraypaint can explodes it's like it’s exploding in our face and then when es spray paints fuuta at the end they are spray painting the camera(audience). "

"Backdraft makes the most references to the voting system and uses it well to make the audience re-examine if they really are any different. Aren’t we using little information and inferences to hold people accountable for crimes we have no stake in? Aren’t we causing unintended harm? Aren’t we judging them from the safety of our screens? "

"And on a more silly level"

-ARTHUR CONANT GOES SO HARD IN THE VOCALS!!!! COME ON LISTEN TO BURN BURN AND TELL ME THIS MAN ISN’T GIVING IT HIS ALL!

-cat mouth fuuta :3 how can you not love cat mouth fuuta?

-lowpolydog designed amazing graffiti 

[thegirlwhorideslikeasamurai]

I believe that episode 5 is totally underrated for how much Yuuri and Viktor learn from each other during their first competition as a coach & student team.

Let's start with Viktor.

Viktor has been training Yuuri throughout the summer, but when it comes to competitions, he still has zero coaching experience so relies on what is familiar to him:

dressing up:

Note his matter-of-fact explanation. This is not the demeanour of a vain person. Viktor knows that clothes make the man and thus dresses appropriately for the occasion. It's just a detail, but Viktor is that serious about being Yuuri's coach!

2. being cute:

Viktor tends to act cute around men to get their attention. His attempts to calm Yuuri down before the SP, however, fail gloriously because Yuuri is already on edge. Viktor's silly cuteness only results in Yuuri being anxious AND annoyed. Please also note. The contrast to Minami's coach who tries the same by yelling and flipping her fingers in front of Minami couldn't be greater! And while both coaches fail to calm their athletes, Viktor deserves credit for being respectful.

3. flirting:

As Yuuri doesn't react to cuteness as hoped for, Viktor eventually resorts to flirting and manages to calm his nervous katsudon enough to skate Eros. Whereas Yuuri isn't comfortable with being hugged without warning, Viktor's bedroom voice and his words work their magic.

4. praising Yuuri:

Viktor underestimates how much shame Yuuri still feels about last year's Jnats and how anxious he is as this is his first competition, especially since Yuuri faces a skater who beat him. Talking in euphemisms is not uncommon for interviews in sports His answer to Morooka falls into this category, while still being his honest (and overexcited) opinion. Nothing to criticise, one might think. But for someone with anxiety and low self-confidence... very bad idea. All that Viktor achieves is increasing the pressure. Luckily, Yuuri doesn't stand for it and Viktor is more sensible in the next interview.

5. imitating Yakov: the famous lecture after the performance

As has been pointed out in many a meta post, Viktor adopts Yakov's habit to lecture his students after their skate. Yakov was his mentor for many years--naturally, Viktor resorts to his observations of his former coach. Of course, Yuuri doesn't like this at all, and he's not the only one. As Yuuri wastes many points in his FS when he ignores his instructions, Viktor contemplates another lecture but changes his mind when he grows aware of how everyone is cheering and finally understands that a lecture right now isn't how he should treat Yuuri. In addition to this, Viktor learns that once he steps on the ice, Yuuri does what he thinks is right, and learns to love this about him.

Now on to Yuuri:

Yuuri's anxiety and his shame about his result at Jnats are the reason why he ignores the other skaters. Plus, he either never learned proper PR skills or couldn't put them to use due to his lack of confidence. Just because you understood something in theory doesn't mean you can pull it off, especially when your anxiety gets in the way. Ignoring the other skaters is like pretending they don't exist, which is supposed to make it easier for Yuuri to compete against them. For Yuuri, this makes perfect sense. But by ignoring them, he creates a larger threat in his mind than these skaters actually are.

Throughout the episode, we often see Yuuri with his shoulders pulled up, a crease between his brows and avoiding Viktor's gaze. This is pure anxiety behaviour.

However, the best way to beat your demons is to look them in the eye. But when one is caught up in anxiety, this often seems impossible even if one knows that this would do the trick. Anxiety trumps reason. It's that powerful.

Yuuri wants to win the Regionals. If he delivers a clean skate, one quad would be enough as of the four skaters he has the greatest experience and the most superb skating skills. Plus, after the SP, he leads by almost a 30 points margin. Viktor is right that Yuuri doesn't need three quads, in fact, there are many sensible reasons for lowering the difficulty of a programme in one particular competition. Why take unnecessary risks when one quad would suffice to win?

When Yuuri overhears the other skaters talking about attempting a quad in the FS, his anxiety convinces him that he must jump all three quads. Again, it's not logical, but by returning to the initial layout, he makes sure that the base score of his programme exceeds the base score of his rivals' programmes far enough that he can see a chance for a gold medal. He needs this to reassure himself.

Anxious or not, Yuuri knows that he can jump three quads and this isn't the first time he shows displeasure because Viktor underestimates him. He doesn't want to be coddled. He doesn't even need to be coddled, and, frankly, this would make it harder for him to overcome his mental issues. So, in the middle of his own personal battles, Yuuri teaches Viktor another lesson.

Now back to Yuuri ignoring poor Minami--and there are several aspects that aren't that obvious at first glance:

Viktor who likely never suffered from anxiety in competition (or forgot how it feels after being unbeaten for so many seasons), doesn't understand how Yuuri's anxiety works. Seeing Yuuri treat a skater, who looks up to him, so poorly angers him. Viktor doesn't care whether another skater is a rival or skates several leagues below him--he's always nice to his fans and treats skaters with respect.

In the end, Viktor's harsh reaction cuts through Yuuri's anxiety and brings him back to reason (he will do this again two episodes later in a way more dramatic manner). Plus, there's this

and this

Yuuri finally realises that Minami's admiration mirrors his own admiration of Viktor. And through this, he can empathise with Minami.

And when Yuuri cheers Minami on and watches his performance, Minami finally loses his terror as an adversary, and Yuuri starts to take him seriously. This entire part of Yuuri reacting towards the other skaters--it's a typical reaction of a person with anxiety and low self-confidence who tries to protect themselves without realising that their method is faulty because it's dictated by anxiety. Viktor slamming the guards onto the barrier and telling Yuuri how disappointed he is might seem rude but is necessary to get Yuuri out of his anxiety loop.

And Viktor is pleased as, be it by accident or design, his lesson was successful.

And last but not least, in this episode, Yuuri learns that he loves Viktor. He has not been able to name this feeling before, but the events in this episode preceded by the months he has spent with Viktor so far, seem to lead up to this realisation. This is speculation, but I believe that this happens during his free skating and causes him to jump into the barrier. Skaters pay attention to where they take off, and Yuuri is too experienced to allow for such mistakes. But he canonically flubs his jumps when something is on his mind, he must have been super distracted at this moment. Also, note how Viktor's expression changes when Yuuri dances through the step sequence only moments before this jump. He knows something is going on.

Episode 5 seems to centre on Yuuri's growth as we experience it through his unreliable narrator's eyes, but in fact, both he and Viktor undergo a learning curve while they stumble through each challenge by trial and error. Throughout the entire episode, Viktor gets to know Yuuri better and learns how to handle him in competition and thus become a better coach. His growth is directed towards Yuuri and their relationship. Yuuri, on the other hand, can handle Viktor already pretty well as shown by how he doesn't put up with Viktor's bullshit. His growth is directed inwards with a focus on his insecurity and anxiety.

This show is done with so much attention to detail, I could swoon over it for ages!

Bonus: Viktor being canonically savage

Viktor learning his first lecture on looking after an athlete during a competition doesn't mean that all the bottled-up annoyance evaporates--no, he vents it through backhanded compliments!

Viktor has yet to learn to trust Yuuri's decisions and be a more sensible coach overall, but it's the first competition of the season and Yuuri is a good teacher in this regard. There's still plenty of time for him and Yuuri to grow as a team and as individuals, but in this episode both take important steps in their journey together.

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[birdmitosis]

alright kit one voice of the paranoid pretty please with cherry on top 🥺

[ask game here]

(Thank you for re-sending this ask, IDK why Tumblr hated my last attempt so much-- 🥺💕)

HELL YEAH MY #1 BLORBINA!!!!!

First impression

Haha, okay, that vocal delivery is great and I love that paranoia of the "what if He hears us?" followed by "shit!" Paranoid characters can be really hit-or-miss, though, and this particular shtick could get old really fast; I hope it doesn't.

Impression now

My favorite darling who I love and adore, my most beloved of current blorbos, the reason my STP hyperfixation is so so strong, bird of my heart 💖

Favorite moment

This is such a hard call! I'm especially torn between two moments: Of course the initial "Heart. Lungs. Liver. Nerves." is amazing and holds a special place in my heart because it's the moment I knew I absolutely adored her. But also, despite loving absolutely everything about both the Wraith and the Moment of Clarity and the transitions into both of them… "Oh right, yeah, fuck this guy. Don't trust Him." all by itself makes me love freeing the Nightmare in her Chapter II just as much. (Not that there aren't other great lines in that path, like the delivery of "I thought you needed me to run the autonomic nervous system?" which is just hysterical to me! But that line… It just won me over even more.)

As an honorable mention, let me pour one out for the cut Paranoid moment in Apotheosis:

I carry this moment, and Paranoid's thoughts about listening to others' lies having value, in my heart forever. It's just such an interesting touch and I'm incredibly sad it's gone!

Idea for a story

I have so many unbaked, half-formed idea snippets and NO details to go with them:

Paranoid running into trouble when her overpreening habits leave her without the ability to fly in a key situation, when she'd been able to (with increasing difficulty) up to that point since getting out of the Construct.

The world outside the Construct being some post- or mid-apocalypse survival horror situation and somehow Paranoid's body winds up warping in ways that remind her unpleasantly of Nightmare, primarily a bunch of eyes beginning to open up all over her body, especially her wings.

Either post-Construct or a mundane AU, bird-people or human or just human-looking, where Paranoid figures out she's trans (and slowly gains in confidence) due to drag.

Something that explores the idea of the beta voices actually turning into some of the current voices (Doubting becoming Skeptic, Flinching becoming Cheated, Meek becoming Paranoid, and Obsessed becoming either Stubborn or both Hunted and Stubborn -- and Smitten splitting off from the beta's Hero too actually!). I actually do really like the idea of the beta voices being their own individual people out there somewhere, but Paranoid reverting to Meek for a while under some circumstance could be fun to play with! And only Hero, Broken, Cold, and Contrarian would even possibly remember Meek…

Unpopular opinion

Paranoid really is not helpless and I think some people forget that sometimes! She's also got wonky morals. I'd argue that the voices you can get in other voices' Chapter IIIs often says something about them; while getting Paranoid in Apotheosis is more her going "That's Enough" and getting Skeptic in both Eye of the Needle and Den is kind of the same, the way Cold and Opportunist both show up in Wraith-from-Nightmare feels more… simpatico with how Paranoid operates? Paranoid can be fucking ruthless and also seize any opportunity she spots, especially if she doesn't trust a person (and the only people she trusts are the Long Quiet and the other voices).

She is also totally willing to abandon or murder a woman and the only one she seems to feel at all bad about at any point to any degree is the Wounded Wild. She's also also super dedicated to coming out unharmed and surviving, but she will do things like advise slitting our own throat when she thinks it's a good idea, and she is prone to panic but also remarkably self-aware about it and knows her own paranoid tendencies aren't always good, and both of those things can be easy to forget but I love them!

Finally, I want to note that people sometimes seem to forget that she doesn't actually get along as badly with Opportunist as you'd think she might! Maybe it's because when you get Opportunist in Wraith, it's specifically via doing exactly what Paranoid is advising (or would advise) you to do in that situation. Cheated and even Hero are more snippy with and disparaging of Opportunist -- even Smitten is to some degree -- and Paranoid is more snippy with Hero and Broken, and Skeptic is the one who seems most disparaging of her. The dynamics being different from what you might think fascinates me, really, and I'm curious about how both new and old dynamics might end up looking in the Pristine Cut.

Favorite relationship

I MEAN…

Much like last time, romantically speaking I love her dynamic with Cold. But platonically, I'm fascinated by her dynamics with Broken, Opportunist, and the Narrator, love her dynamic with Hero, and would be interested to see more (or any) of her dynamic with Hunted, Skeptic, and/or Smitten in the Pristine Cut.

Among the vessels, I also think she'd have interesting dynamics with Damsel, Prisoner, Spectre, Stranger, and Thorn, and would actually love to see more of her dynamic with Nightmare, Wild, and Wraith. (Looking forward to those new Chapter IIIs, too, and I'm very curious about the expanded Apotheosis chapter!)

Favorite headcanon

Well, hands down my favorite headcanon is transfem Paranoid!

But I am also super attached to her having major difficulties with getting her own body: She overpreens to the point of not being able to fly, she has all sorts of trouble sleeping (nightmares, night terrors, insomnia, even sleepwalking), and worst of all she has a harder time trusting the others to the same extent that she used to, at least at first. They're still parsing as us but they're also parsing as other and it fucks with her a bit. She also can panic due to not being able to protect the others or sense the pain/injury/illness/etc. of the others the way she'd have been able to if they still shared a body...

Like, overall she does like having her own body, it's quieter and she has more control over herself, but there's a lot that's difficult about it for her too.