#anyway i honestly think i'd be a different person if i hadn't read the first three on the above list

[edapparently]

James Somerton Sucks For Many Reasons. But Also His Opinion On Heartstopper...

Ok so I was watching Todd in the Shadows' video on fact-checking James Somerton's vids (of course after having watched Hbomberguy's video). And a clip played of James lying (again) about straight white women complaining about a gay show. Except he mentions at the end of the sentence that these supposed people were "exposed to gay content for the first time in their lives via Heartstopper".

19:18 - https://youtu.be/A6_LW1PkmnY?t=1158

Now idk if that was supposed to be a joke or if that reflects any of his actual opinions on it (it's not like he's known for telling the truth anyway now tho)

But I'd just like to say anyway [this ties back into James I swear just bear with me]

I'm 18 years old now and I'm still dealing with issues cause by the homophobia I experienced in high school. And one of the few things that got me through it was when I got the first volume of Hearstopper when I was 16. And that actually was MY first real exposer to properly gay content. ME. Another gay boy. Not a straight woman.

And not only that, but it was the first time that I took in a piece of media and could honestly say "I see myself in this"

It was the first time I felt really seen and felt like I had my issues understood. And even as I've gotten slightly older through the two years, they've still been able to help me.

My friends will know that I've been struggling a lot with certain mental health issues that affect my physical health too. And I only realised how bad my problem really is and how much its been affecting me when I read volumes 3 and 4 and saw Charlie dealing with almost the exact same problem. I had been in such denial about it and worrying that it wasn't even real that I hadn't even considered it. But reading about him suffering from and eventually admitting to his problem and trying to get help made me think about what I had been experiencing. And gave me some perspective as to what exactly was happening in head and to my body.

The reason I'm saying all this is because I'm trying to show that these books about gay teenagers are REALLY good at portraying the experiences of gay teenagers. (At least based on my own personal life, Ik it could be very different for others and that's still valid) and they made me understand that what I had been through and am still dealing with because of that; are not isolated incidents and that I am not alone.

And James... someone who tried to give off the impression that he knows a lot about queer culture. Used it as an example of mindless romance fluff...

Which I think shows:

His lack of understanding of what it is actually like growing up as a gay boy in our current time. (Again, not trying to speak for everyone but it's very accurate to my own life)

And

2. His unwillingness/disinterest to look into what the books actually contain and how readers may respond to it.

[Also I just realised after typing all this that he could have meant the Netflix show, which imo wasn't as good but I think my point still stands?]

[theglamorousferal]

The Halfa King and His Court

So this is a fic that I started at the beginning of the pandemic that I kinda just hit a block with. I really like it as a starting point, but I’m not sure what else to do with it. I had a sort of bullet point outline but it seemed more like I was just tossing in every different DP fic plot line all together so it wasn’t going to make much sense. I was going to have there be a field trip into the GZ where the Trio judge whether the a-listers and Val have changed enough to have them join in with Team Phantom, there was going to be a reveal to his parents of him and then later on after Plasmius had been helping out then Vlad as well. It was gonna be this whole thing, but anyway. I’m not sure if I will continue this, so feel free to add your own spin on it or take it for adoption, I’m not sure how to do that exactly.

*****

“No.” Danny said, in a tone that rang with finality and a general sense of “I am so done with this whole situation.”

“Danny, I know this is hard to believe, but technically by the laws of the Ghost Zone Frostbite gave to you-” Sam started, only to get cut off by Danny's glare. She sighed. “Seriously Danny, it says right here in the text he gave you.” Sam shoved the scroll at Danny who scoffed and passed it off to Tucker.

“Oh man Danny, do you know what we could do with this? The new laws you could put in place?” Tucker laughed as he read what was written.

“The protections you could put in place for Amity and the Earth?” Sam hinted at poking Danny in the shoulder. Danny sighed.

“Guys, I get it, I could use this to my advantage, but there's so much more responsibility to go with it. I'd have to take over the general affairs from the Observants and Walker, though I guess Walker would have to do what I say wouldn't he.” Danny seemed to think about it.

“Let's say I did do this, what would I do? I don't have time to take care of the whole Ghost Zone! I'd need to pick advisers and establish some sort of method for figuring out small disputes, some way of checks and balances. Guys, you know I'm failing History and Government, and this is basically saying that I'd get complete control over the Ghost Zone and have to set-up an entirely new system!” He gripped his hair in frustration and panic. And it caused his friends to sit and think some solutions through.

“Well,” Sam began, “you could start with getting a few people you know that do know about this kind of stuff together and getting their opinion about it. Frostbite, Dora, Clockwork, Pandora, maybe Ghostwriter from what we know of his library and... maybe... Vlad?” she added the last person hesitantly. Danny shot a look at her of surprise and confusion, dropping his hands from his hair to his lap.

“Vlad? Why the hell would I ask him for anything?” He was honestly baffled as to why she would bring him up.

“Besides the fact that he has more knowledge of modern government compared to the others I listed, I think he would relish the idea of being able to mentor you at something.”She paused to consider something. “He seems to have calmed down a bit after his last scheme almost got your mom killed instead of your dad. He almost seems to realize now that your mom is completely dedicated to your dad and finds him a bit creepy. I mean, last time he was over, he actually asked Jazz some stuff right? Doesn't he usually ignore her completely?”

“Crazy-man acting less crazy?” Tucker snorted. “I'll believe it when I see it.”

Danny thought about it for a second and realized that Sam was right, he hadn't needed to fight the Fruit-loop since his last scheme put his mom in the hospital. She was fine, just had a concussion and a fractured leg, but it still had shaken him. In fact, Danny hadn't seen any sign of Vlad as either Masters or Plasmius since the incident except for when he visited when Mom first got out of the hospital.

“Yeah, maybe you're right, I should go and pay Uncle Vladdie a visit.” Danny stood and paused. “Should I bring the scroll with me to show him as proof? I doubt he'd believe me if I just told him.”

“Yeah, probably should. It's not anything that he can modify to fit his own needs anyway, just a list of laws.” Sam rolled it up and handed it to him. “Want either of us to come with?” She offered.

“Nah, I should be good to visit the cheese-head on my own. You guys mind covering for me until I get back?” They were supposed to be having a study-sleepover at Sam's.

“Sure thing, we’ll just cover our electives while you’re gone and tell my parents you went to get pizza.” Sam fished out some cash and handed it to Danny. “Actually, while you’re out can you grab some?”

“Sure, the usual?” Danny put the scroll and the money in his pocket.

“Yup, a large all veggie vegan cheese for me.”

“And a large extra meaty supreme for me!”

Danny laughed, “and a large extra cheese for me. I’ll place the order as I’m leaving Vlad’s. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” With that he transformed and took off through the ceiling.

Tucker turned to Sam. “Do you really think going to Mayor wack-job is a good idea?”

Sam sighed. “Tucker, you weren’t there that day, the look on his face when he saw Mrs. Fenton take the hit instead of Mr. Fenton…” Sam looked away thinking. “He looked devastated, and not just in the ‘the love of my life will never love me’ way but more in the ‘my actions are hurting those I love’ way. He looked like he realized that if he continued the way he was going that he might just accidentally kill either Mrs. Fenton or Danny and I think that would hurt him more than anything.”

[no-passaran]

Hi! Don't feel obligated to answer, but I've been learning catalan & I'd love to read some novels originally written in catalan, but i'm having a bit of a hard time finding ones that aren't 'classics'. Any recs? (I usually like literary stuff, like, authors irritatingly showing their skill, i eat that shit up, but anything contemporary or psychological or fantasy or anything will absolutely do :,) )

Oop sorry, I hadn't seen the message until now.

You won't have difficulty about this because Catalan literature is very lively and there's lots of great books coming out very often. Catalan literature has been praised around the world for having such vitality and quality, considering that it's a relatively small language community.

Personally the first recommendation that came to mind is Manuel de Pedrolo but idk if you're considering that a classic? He's relatively recent but many 20th century authors have become classics. His Mecanoscrit del segon origen is definitely considered a classic even though it's only from 1974, but I don't think the other ones are usually. Anyway, I really like his sci-fi short stories book Trajecte final, and my dad has spent years obsessed with his theatre play Homes i no. Talking about theatre scrips, I have a really soft spot for La cançó de les balances by Josep Maria Carandell ❤️.

I'm not usually one to read many short stories books but I also recommend Albert Sánchez Piñol's Homenatge als caiguts (stories of about 2 pages long and usually funny, very entertaining to read).

For a completely different vibe of short stories, I also thought El Cafè de la Granota by Jesús Moncada was excellent, the characterization and events feel like hearing your grandparents telling stories of when they were young. I still haven't read his most famous novel Camí de sirga though, honestly I don't know what I'm waiting for lol.

Canto jo i la muntanya balla by Irene Solà has also been very popular in the past few years and she definitely shows off her literary prose. I found it very lovely and I recommend it for when you want something more experimental. It's a book where each chapter is narrated by someone or something different (a shepherd, the rain, a witch who was killed centuries ago, a deer, a dog...) and it's very well written, it has also won some international awards.

And listen for some reason I still haven't read them myself (I plan to change that soon) but the best contemporary author is probably Jaume Cabré. I've only heard the highest praise for his Les veus del Pamano, and other of his books like Jo confesso. I'm planning to finally read Les veus del Pamano this summer and I'm very excited for it.

Another one I've heard lots of praise for and which I'm excited to read (hopefully soon) is Les històries naturals by Joan Perucho. I wasn't going to include books I haven't read besides Cabré (because, let's face it, with a question like this one must include Jaume Cabré) but since you asked for literary fantasy I think you might like it. It's about a knight/botanist who looks for one of Jaume I's knights who is a vampire.

Others that I've had recommended but haven't had time to read yet: Junil a la terra dels bàrbars by Joan Lluís-Lluís, Nicolau by Antoni Veciana, Guilleries by Ferran Garcia, and lots of people have loved Eva Baltasar's Permagel, Boulder and Mamut though it doesn't seem like my style they seem interesting.

I don't know if any of my followers wants to share some more in the comments/reblogs, but I'd be interested to hear them too 👀

[eleni-cherie]

a thief's end ✨ || bts • myg - chapter 1.1

"so eager to be in a headlock again?"

"only if it's by you."

he thought he was done with the criminal life and ready for some peace and quiet. but his plans collapsed in the form of a strange girl who was in trouble.

© 2023 | eleni_cherie

»»»

masterlist: here

— genre: thief au, gangster comedy, adventure, romcom, humour, angst, fluff, sexual tensiON, slowburn, mutual pining, strangers to lovers s2l

ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSE. CHARACTERS NOT NECESSARILY LIKE THE REAL PERSONS. ALSO VERY UNREALISTIC PLOT LOL - JUST PRETEND READING A MANGA/COMIC OR WATCHING A FILM, REALLY.

SUGGESTIVE THEMES. MENTIONS OF VIOLENCE & BLOOD (BUT NOTHING TOO GRAPHIC, IT'S STILL A COMEDY!)

»»»

"I just realised.. this is my first time in Europe."

Soyeon's random confession made Yoongi perk up from where he was leaning on. Offering her an aknowledging hum.

Both were standing against a stone fence, seperating the pavement from a slope behind them, while waiting for the other two to return with a new car. They knew everyone would be on the lookout for the silver mercedes and besides, the bullet holes in it would draw unwanted attention from locals and police as well. So a new car would be saver. 

However, this would usually only take a couple of minutes, so Yoongi began wondering what was taking them so long.

Meanwhile, her eyes caught a waiter at a restaurant down the street walking in and out, greeting random people passing by, some walking their dogs some not, seemingly being acquaintances. It was such an odd but also nice sight. And it made her realise that she was in fact in a different country.

She might've been there already for days, but most time spent locked up in a room so it hadn't really sunk in that she was in fact in Europe. And that for the first time in her life.

She looked curiously around, taking in the different architecture, shining warm under the streetlights and all the noises. Mainly chatter coming from the restaurant and crickets' buzzing. 

"You've been here before?" she asked then, tilting her head to Yoongi who had been suspiciously quiet all the time.

Her words interrupted his train of thoughts and he blinked for a moment. "N-no. But we've been in Italy a couple of times over the years.."

She hummed, admiring the scenary again. "Must be nice to travel so much."

"It's nice if you got time to actually enjoy it. But it's also quite exhausting.."

"You sound like an old man!"

Her teasing made him scoff playfully. More giggles errupting from her and he smiled. He liked her like this. Carefree, without worries and fright.

"Wished I travelled as much.." she exhaled then and looked up at the dark sky past the streetlights, "If it hadn't been for this situation right now, I'd have never left Korea."

"It can be exciting. But you'll eventually miss home, sooner or later," he mumbled and glanced at his phone, wondering where the other two had been. And even though he was trying to downplay it, she could sense the heaviness of the topic in his voice.

"You ever miss home?"

He paused, a torn poster catching his attention for a moment when he realised he had never given thought to it all those years. "I.. I don't know," he answered honestly, shoving his phone back into his pockets, "Never had a close bond with my family anyway. Except my mum and.. well.."

"And your uncle?"

His lips curved into a sad smile and he nodded.

They grew silent once again.

Getting tired of standing, Soyeon pushed herself up onto the stone fence in a swift move, taking a seat on it. A breeze brushing past her cheeks from the open space of the hill behind her.

She sensed there was something different about Yoongi that night. Sure, he wasn't always the most talkative one but for some reason he felt so.. distant and aloof. As if he was miles away in his mind.

She sighed, biting her lips in a guilty manner as she suspected knowing the reason for his strange behavior. 

"I.. I think I owe you an apology," she slowly began then. Her words causing him to frown.

"Why?"

She huffed, arching an eyebrow at him. "Isn't it obvious? If I had listened to you.." Her gaze fell in shame. "I tried keeping you away from the mess but ironically only dragged you more into it.. and now you even had to come all the way here to Italy to bail me out. So I'm sorry."

Yoongi remained silent, his stoic glance laying on her for a moment more before he shook his head and glanced back at the torn poster of some italian singer. "If someone should apologise it's me.." he quietly said then. The embarrassment of having failed still lingering in his chest like a heavy rock.

Soyeon only looked at him puzzled though, a small 'huh?' leaving her lips. Waiting for him to elaborate.

He dragged a sigh when seeing he had to actually say out loud what he'd tried to suppress these past days. "They got you right in front of my eyes. Twice. Okay? And I couldn't do anything about it." Ruffling his hair in frustration, he turned around to rest his hands on the stone. Staring out at the silent city spreading in front of him when all the stifled emotions crawled back. "Fck. If I was more cautious.. I should've protected you from these guys, but I couldn't. And at the end you were the one protecting me. And that's why.. I'm sorry."

Hearing that made her swallow hard. She never expected him to feel bad or even guilty about that day. Mad and angry at her for acting so foolish? Most certainly. But not guilty.

Slowly she turned her head to the side, seeing his afflicted expression. A deep crease between his brows as he was propping himself on that stone fence. She didn't want him to feel bad about it.

After all, those past days of uncertainty and loneliness, one of the memories that kept her company besides those of her family and friends - who were probably wondering why she wasn't replying to them anymore during her 'vacation' - was the one of the weeks prior. The memory of him and the short time they had spent together.

"Don't be an idiot," she whispered, looking at him with sorrowful eyes. Her hand engulfing his which was placed next to her, "It's not your job to look after me all the time, so don't feel guilty. None of this was your fault. It was mine."

He huffed a breath, glancing at her briefly before redirecting his eyes to the scenary in front of him. Arguing would be pointless, he knew she was just as stubborn. So he dragged a sigh into the night air. "Let's just say it's both our fault then."

She laughed but eventually nodded, accepting the compromise. "Fine." Leaning in closer to him then, she placed a light kiss on his cheek. Observing his expression softening. "Thank you for coming here and helping me. Again."

He gave her a small nod, a shy smile tucking on his lips as he looked away. "Anytime." 

Taking his previous position of leaning against the stone fence, he went back to looking out for any sign of Taehyung and Jimin, who were taking way too long. Hearing Soyeon yawning into the palm of her hand then. A sudden tiredness overtaking her and she rested her heavy head on his shoulder. Making him tense for a moment before he smiled to himself. Wrapping his arm around her back, his fingers lying on her waist. Giving it a light squeeze.

"I didn't ask you earlier, but you're okay, right? They.. they didn't hurt you, right?"

She nodded when seeing him glancing down at her with concern in his eyes. And she rolled her eyes. "I'm fine. Great, actually," she ensured him with a grin. Hearing him sigh in relief when another breeze brushed by.  And she heaved her head from his shoulder, her hand reaching out to cup his cheek and forcing him to look at her dark irises. His rushing mind calming under her soft touch. And she frowned while staring at his pouty lips. Making him wonder what made her pretty face so upset.

"Why are you endangering yourself for me?" she whispered then, more to herself than to him. Finding his eyes again.

"You know the answer."

Yeah, she remembered. Back on the rooftop when sharing their first kiss. However, she was still dissatisfied with his explanation, adverting her eyes from his again. Unsure of what it was that dissatisfied her so much, finding it both, incredibly sweet and highly irrational. What was she supposed to make out of this? Or him? He kept confusing her all the time, but maybe that was his charm. What laid beyond his cool and mysterious aura, a sweet and caring side. And she felt herself falling more and more for it.

Her lips found his, startling him for a short moment before easening into her. And his fingers curled around her waist as he deepened the kiss, pressing her more against his side when suddenly the loud noise of a roaring engine echoed from down the street. Causing their lips to abrubtly part and he sighed disappointedly. Already knowing who it was.

Brushing a streak of hair off her face, he pecked her lips one more time before taking her hand to help her get off the stone.

And as they walked to the red Fiat that had come to a halt in front of them, ignoring the grins of the guys in the driver and passenger seat, Yoongi could already spot the reason for them taking so long. Three pizza boxes stacked neatly on the backseat when entering and another opened one on Taehyung's lap. The younger guy already munching on a piece of pizza when throwing them an innocent grin.

"Was hungry and thought we could all do some late-night snack."

»»»

Half an hour and four empty pizza boxes later the car parked in an alleyway behind their hide-out. An old fashioned Italian building in the north-east of the city. Having avoided any main streets where they could've come across police.

Everyone was tired and yawning when stumbling inside and climbing up the stairs. Soyeon's hands clutched around the fabric of Yoongi's blazer that he had given her due to her sneazing with the open car windows. It was way too big for her, but she didn't mind as she always preferred oversized clothes. Especially if they smelt as nice as his. And she trotted behind them, following them into the apartment.

Taehyung switching on the lights, ready to hit the couch when suddenly recognising a bunch of people in front of them. All pointing their guns at them. And he rolled his eyes. "Seriously now?"

"Hey!" Jimin pushed Taehyung aside with a huge grin plastered on his face as the other three held up their hands. "Pops! What ya doing here?"

"What I told your friend there," Seokjin grinned, motioning with his chin to Yoongi who was looking unimpressed. "If you guys get back to business, I'll come back as well."

"Really, pops," Taehyung dragged a sigh then, rubbing his eyes, "Your timing's miserable as always."

"Yeah, any other time I'd be happy to see you and your entourage.." Jimin pointed at Jungkook and Skylar who were standing at Seokjin's side, "But it's been a long day and we're dog-tired, so can this wait till tomorrow?"

"Why are you tired?" Yoongi mumbled behind him with a frown, "You literally drank two espressos back to back. You should be awake all night."

Jimin shushed him over his shoulder before grinning at Seokjin again who had ignored their little quarrel. The agent shook his head, laughing under his breath then. "Ya! Don't complain, it was you who purposely led us here after all." He glanced at his younger colleagues then, giving them a nod to which they moved, lowering their guns and instead got their handcuffs out. And Yoongi screwed his eyes shut, throwing his head back. 

This was exactly what he'd wanted to avoid. Getting his friends involved and arrested. And yet, it came as it had to come. Interpol got them again. Even if they had been prepared to sooner or later face Seokjin and his agents again, since they had indeed led them to Florence on purpose, it wasn't supposed to be this early. Catching them unprepared.

Yoongi couldn't help but give Taehyung and Jimin an apologetic look as they got handcuffed by Jungkook and Seokjin, to which they just shook their heads, assuring that it was alright while Skylar put handcuffs on him. Tucking at him lightly. 

"Wait," Seokjin told her suddenly and stepped forward. Only now noticing Soyeon who was standing there behind Yoongi. Her short hight letting her go unnoticed among the taller guys.

"And who are you?"

Soyeon blinked, feeling exposed and anxious not knowing what interpol would do with her. "J-Jeon Soyeon."

The agent carefully examined her to figure out if he'd come across her before. Having a sudden light-bulb-moment then. "Are you the one with the stolen necklace?"

The young woman froze, swallowing hard before nodding. Fearing she'd now get arrested as well. However, much to her surprise Seokjin only cocked a brow at her, seemingly puzzled himself he laughed out. "What are you doing here with these dorks?" His brows furrowing then voice lowered. "Did they make you participate in any crime?"

"N-no, no they didn't!" she stuttered, her voice becoming more determined then, "That crazy rich guy kidnapped me and these three here saved me." She gestured to them with a smile.

Seokjin narrowed his eyes at her for a moment, concluding she spoke the truth. And frankly, he wasn't the slightest surprised by them doing something like that. Another reason he had a secret soft spot for these specific thieves, although he'd never admit that for obvious reasons.

Besides, it didn't matter. It didn't change the fact they were wanted criminals.

He turned to Jungkook and Skylar then with an amused expression. "Guess we just found out the answer to our question." Facing Soyeon with a nod again. "We'll take your testimony at the station."

"She won't get in any trouble, right?" Yoongi asked worriedly, glancing at her then at Seokjin. And Soyeon smiled at him in awe. Even with an agent holding him handcuffed and arresting him, he still bothered for her.

Seokjin oy rolled his eyes at the question. Lightly pushing Jimin out of the door, causing him to stumble against Soyeon. "Told you already, she won't."

And the four got escorted out.

»»»

"I'm gonna be honest," Skylar spoke up then after a long time of silence between her and Jungkook. They were sitting in the car, following the transporter with the captives and Seokjin through the narrow streets of Florence when she felt the urge to speak up her mind. "I got mixed feelings right now."

Jungkook, who had nodded off shortly due to the late hour, thinking that Jimin maybe wasn't so wrong in proposing postponing the arrest to the morning, stirred up by her voice. Glancing at her with knitted brows. "Huh, what? Why?"

"Because.. I don't know," the blonde sighed, stopping at a traffic light. "We had put them behind us, didn't we? I, at least, had accepted that with them settling in Taiwan, we wouldn't cross paths ever again. Even inspector Kim had accepted it and went to the research unit. And I was kinda glad we wouldn't have to deal with them anymore..?"

Jungkook hummed, stretching his arms. "Yeah, I get it. I also thought that chapter was closed." A yawn left his lips then. "I mean, what's the point in arresting them if they simply escape again anyway."

"Exactly.."

"But see, it's our job. We wouldn't do it right if we just let them slide."

Skylar's glance fell on the steering wheel. Not able to deny his words and yet, a tiredness overcame her. "You're right, I guess.."

"Hey, Sky, look at me," he said softly and her eyes slowly wandered to him. Seeing him grin boyishly. "You're the team leader now, don't forget that. Even if they escape again, it's up to you to make it as hard as possible for them to do so."

And the younger agent couldn't help but smile at this.

He always found a way to encourage and assure her whenever she doubted herself or the job. And she loved that about him, his never-ending enthusiasm.

She leaned over towards him then, placing a quick kiss on his cheek before the light turned back green. Quickly sitting back, she drove off. Ignoring Jungkook's astonished expression that was soon replaced by a mischievious smirk.

"During work? Thought that was frowned upon," he said, stifling a chuckle.

Skylar simply shrugged, smirking. "There's no one here to see us though."

The older guy sighed and leaned back with a chuckle. "Sky, Sky, Sky, since when are you so loosey-goosey? Did I finally get through to you?"

Peeking at him, a fond smile tucked on her lips as she turned into the street of the interpol branch office. "Maybe you did rub off on me a little bit over the years."

They arrived at the station. Assisting Seokjin in leading the thieves inside.

The loud noise of a phone ringing suddenly being heard. Making everyone look around when Jimin glanced at Soyeon over his shoulder, winking. "You should maybe pick up that call," he said with a lopsided smirk, before getting nudged further down the corridor.

Soyeon's eyes widened and she looked down. Realising the ringing was indeed coming from her. She patted over the blazer until coming across a cellphone in the pocket. Wondering if it had been there all along. "H-hello?"

"Jimin, whe- Who are you?" An upset sounding female voice answered on the other line. Soyeon blinked confused and lowered the phone to actually read the caller ID. 'Bella-baby'.

Her brows rose. This was Jimin's phone. When did he-?

She quickly turned away, continuing in a more hushed tone. "He's in a situation right now.. I'm Soyeon."

"Oh.. let me guess, they got arrested again?"

"Y-yeah."

"By pops?"

She was about to ask who Arabella meant, when she remembered them calling agent Kim like that. "Y-yeah, by him."

"Oh!" the older girl exclaimed excitedly, "Were Kookie and Skylar also there?"

Soyeok blinked, taken-aback. Not having expected such enthusiasm when talking about the people who arrested her boyfriend and his friends. "Ehm, yeah. Agent Jeon and Blake were also there."

"Aw, just like back in the days!"

Jimin watched her quickly excusing herself and rushing to the restrooms, fearing of any agents eavesdropping. And he smiled to himself, knowing exactly who the caller was when they were led through an office room with several desks. Spotting another two agents at a corner. The gang immediately recognising them from a few years ago.

"Ayy," Jimin laughed out with a wide smile, "I know you guys! Thanks for taking care of those idiots back then." 

Hoseok and Namjoon exchanged a glance when seeing the three thieves being brought into the back cells.

"Should I say 'you're welcome'?" Hoseok whispered irritated to Namjoon, to which his colleague only shook his head with a dismissive look.

"It was our job, we didn't do him a favour."

Hoseok nodded in relief, seeing Seokjin coming their way then. "So, apparently our mutual friend Felipe is now also involved in kidnapping," he laughed dryly, shaking his head as he pulled out a chair to take a seat.

Namjoon huffed at this new information, folding his strong arms in front of his chest. "That's quite the progress from mere art smuggling."

"And enough to hold something against him in exchange for info," Hoseok mumbled, "At least I hope so. He's currently our only potential source to getting closer to his business partners."

While the art smuggling part of Felipe Rossi's business fell under Seokjin, Skylar and Jungkook's department, the organised crime part fell under Hoseok's. And some specific parts of his business partners' crimes fell under Namjoon's special victims department. Resulting in the two partnering up with the robbery department again just like a few years ago.

"You think he'll sing though?" Seokjin wasn't fully convinced, doubting the plan would work out this easily. "According to the rumours that Morita isn't to be trifled with. Perhaps he'll prefer going to prison than snitching on him."

"Perhaps, but it's worth a try."

»»»

next chapter: 1.2 here

Don't forget to like, reblog & leave feedback!♡

It motivates me to keep writing :)

[lurkingteapot]

bad buddy fandom getting-to-know-you meme!

tagged by @mahuhumaling and @galauvant, meme created by @fiercynn

note: i consider "fanworks" to pretty much everything people create related to a fandom, including but not limited to meta/analysis/discussion, gifs, fanvids/edits/fancams, filk, fanart, fanfic, fan food, fan crafts, etc. please include this note with the meme unless you have a different definition!

name and whatever you want to share about yourself I'm tpt! 30s, queer, brainweird, language nerd, been reading BL and slash and other queer lit since before the turn of the millennium and probably (hopefully) never gonna stop.

when did you watch bad buddy/join the fandom? I watched the first episode the day after it aired. Went in knowing nothing about it except the English title, which I thought was thoroughly unappealing, and the promo image. Came out of ep 1 convinced Paa was the only person with any sense on the entire show, but sufficiently intrigued (ointment sharing! Line ID shenanigans!) to keep watching. So I watched as it aired from ep 2, and when the bus stop scene rolled around, I blocked the airing time slot out in my calendar so I could watch live (which didn't work out for ALL eps, but … close enough). I did find a regular group to squee with after ep 5, but didn't really interact with fandom beyond that little bit of squeeing with friends and looking at fan art until after ep 9, I think. This was the first Thai BL show I watched week to week, and that also made it special to me.

favorite ship(s) Pat/Pran.

favorite character(s) Used to be Pran no contest, but Pat worked his way into my heart in the later episodes. couldn't choose now. they're all favourites.

favorite episode(s) I really love episodes 3-5 and 10/11. but honestly I love the show as a whole, and the episodes in the context they exist in. Except for the gun subplot.

favorite scene(s)  the opening sequence of ep 2! also episode 3 bus stop scene (and Pat's way of accomodating Pran in it), ep 4 sleepover scene, ep 5 Pat's realisation/the fight, ep 6 gate convo scene, ep 8 fight/apology scene, ep 9 hand-holding scene, ep 10 Our Song teaser scene and confrontation scenes, ep 11 affirmation/we got to go back scene and wishful thinking sequence, ep 12 bar scene.

one thing you would change about the show if you could I'd adjust the pacing of ep 12 so the fake-out is a smaller part of the whole thing proportionally.

what are your some of your favorite fanworks made by other people? It's really hard to pick. I love SO MANY. Even just the authors whose fic I list here have written more than one of my faves each. but let's see:

fic (missing scene): keeps me warm by unsungyellowraincoat (@isaksbestpillow). direct ep 8 aftermath exploration that made me ache.

fic (canon divergence): fight or flight (worth the wait) by jabber_moose (@galauvant). Ep 2 canon divergence wherein Pran is discovered under Pat's bed.

fic (AU): Pinocchio by aworkingprinter (@miscellar). In which Pran has an obvious, unsuppressable tell when he lies.

fan animation: international love song by @architectxengineer

fan art: this pic by @ thatgothsamurai was one of the first things I saw in this fandom in the way of art and it's stuck with me

(if you create fanworks) what are your favorite fanworks that you’ve made?

fic: the only truth that sticks (<5k, G) is my take on Pran's mother's backstory, told as vignettes from her school years. There's a lot I'd do differently if I wrote it now – not give her a nickname, for one – but it's nevertheless my baby; when I started it, I hadn't finished and posted any fic in over 20 years.

I had a collection of random language- and storytelling related observations about the show on twitter that I should probably copy over somewhere else at some point for preservation purposes.

there's an epic canon divergence that lives only in my friend's and my DMs and a back-up doc that I'm starting to think will never take full shape, but I love it anyway. There's also an escalating intimacy thing set vaguely pre-canon plus ep 7 to time skip that I've not added to in a year and probably won't finish, either, but again: love what I've got there.

a song that makes you think of bbs (the ones in the show don’t count lol) If it's a bittersweet love song I'm PatPraning it. But specifically: Tilly Birds' เพื่อนเล่น ไม่เล่นเพื่อน (Just Being Friendly) and pretty much the entire tracklist from the ON Thailand fanmeet, especially แดงกับเขียว (Red and Green) by TaitosmitH, แน่ใจไหม (Are You Sure) by Nont Tanont, อย่าใกล้กันเลย (We shouldn't be close) in Aof Pongsak's version, and ดวงเดือน (Moon) by Joey Phuwasit.

idk anything else you want us to know? I love this show. I love the hopeful ending. I love all the recurring characters (yes, that includes Wai and the parents), with all their flaws. I love how gently P'Aof tells this story – the way he approaches entrenched BL clichés, picks them up, examines them, and puts them back down: does it have to go this way? not for us, not for this story, let's look at how else this could go. He said he wanted to make a typical, an ordinary BL, and he did, and he didn't.

I love that I met so many nice people through our mutual love of this show. I love that we're still on the rooftop nearly two years later.

I love that there's so many sides of this fandom – analytical, transformative, curative, and everything in between.

I have completely lost track of who has and hasn't done this yet, but IF you see this and think, hey, this seems fun! and decide to do it, please tag?

[inimitablereel]

the star paths: an At the Feet of the Sun festivid

commentary below the cut

So this was my first time making a vid for a book, and I've got a lot to say about the process...

Around the time of the festivids submission deadline I got persistently mildly sick and was coping by rereading a lot of Victoria Goddard books (actually not At the Feet of the Sun, I hadn't gotten there yet) and also trying to think of vid ideas while I was lying in bed coughing. Exactly one person (Tafadhali) requested Nine Worlds for festivids and more specifically requested the Lays of the Hearthfire subseries, so I knew I was trying to focus on those specific books.

A brief digression on my general conception of book vids: The two book vids I'd seen before this year's festivids that stuck in my mind were absternr's Nona the Ninth vid and Rhea's Machineries of Empires vid, both of which are great and I'd highly recommend watching if you've read the corresponding books. They both throw in a lot of different concepts from their worlds in ways that I assume aren't necessarily tied to a specific moment in canon (like a pile of skulls for nona the ninth or troop dynamics for machineries of empires), to put together the overall sense of that really complicated worldbuilding. So you have a vid that conceptually starts from specific characters or beats and then spirals outwards to have a full picture of what the vidder thinks the book is about. (To be clear, this is my reading, not a conversation I've had with the vidders, though I did talk to absternr about Barbie World in the very beginning idea generating phase.) So to make a book vid, I had this sense that I needed a really specific concept and to do a fair amount of storyboarding for what was my main idea and what other things about the book I wanted to pull in. I'm calling this discussion of book vids a digression because that's... not quite what I did here. A lot of the key concepts of Hands of the Emperor are not terribly visual (though if you have an idea of how to vid Kip achieves universal basic income, I'd love to see it). When I started trying to think of a key concept/emotional center of either the worldbuilding or Cliopher as a character that was easier to make visual, I came up with the corn sorting in At the Feet of the Sun. From there I thought, well, why not just do the whole section where Kip travels to the Sky Ocean? It's a really visual part of the book and also just going with here are the things that happened in this part of the book in order is a storyboard already built perfectly for me, without any planning required.

(I think you could also definitely make a more conceptual Kip character study vid starting from that corn sorting scene and his journey into the cave of his heart and spiraling out into scenes from his different lives. I hadn't really considered this option when I was coming up with vid ideas... I think you'd probably want to do a Kip faceclaim (and possibly also one for the emperor), which I was avoiding because I didn't want to go find actors. Unless you count a small child, an old man, and a beaver as a faceclaim?)

Once I'd gotten the idea to do a Sky Ocean themed vid, I didn't really think it would work? I'm a little afraid of book vids (stil honestly, I don't know if I'll make another one, though I had fun with this one), and I wasn't sure it'd be interesting to watch or long enough to be a full vid. This was a festivids treat, so I didn't have a length requirement, even though I ended up hitting over a minute anyways, but I just wasn't sure I had enough content to be interesting. From memory 8 months after having read the book, I was only coming up with like 3 scenes from the Sky Ocean trip from memory 8 months after having read the book (the corn sorting, the stair climbing, and I already knew I wanted to end with the new island, even though it's not quite in the sky ocean section). So I went through and reread the section of the book and highlighted every visual description of a moment, sort of color coded by how important I thought it was to include things. I ended up with 28 things highlighted, but as I kept going I highlighted less and less once I realized there were definitely going to be enough moments to include. (Also the reread portion of the vidding process was happening while I was still feeling pretty bad, atfots is a good thing to read while sick but that doesn't necessarily facilitate obsessive highlighting.)

28 highlighted passages turned into a list of 10 visuals I definitely wanted to find and 15 things I might or might not include (which in the end I included half of). This list was basically 20ish tiny research projects for me. Almost everything I'd written down from the star paths had a corresponding real world thing, but not everything was easy to find a video instead of still images, which would be harder to make into a nice vid. (The things I couldn't find a real version of were Kip's coral firepot - firepots are super real, but traditional ones are earthen not coral, and mostly I was finding lots of videos of modern things for grilling parties - and the kinds of birds at the sea witch's island, boobies with white feathers and black feet - they're kind of close to juvenile masked boobies? But I assume they were intentionally chosen to be a nonexistent bird since they're definitely magic.) I wanted to get the right specific types of animals, but those were all pretty easy to find. The HoTE support group discord was (unknowingly) helpful in my attempts to find the right kind of boat - I went searching through chat history and ended up on this New Zealand museum page, which has great images but I wanted videos (and I knew I needed boat building) so I started searching for types of boats and ended up at https://www.vaka.org, which had multiple whole documentaries that were super useful (and a major part of the footage for this project). In general I was trying to deep dive enough to get something that was Right but not really looking for any particular images for anything or to spend too too long on any of these mini research projects. The harder to find videos were actually the ones I started with because they're so specific to the book and fairytale-esque - e.g. there's lots and lots of videos of corn, but not a lot of sorting it by color into baskets. (You can find videos of corn piles, apparently a way people store corn is just kind of leaving it in a big pile, but it wasn't really visually appealing or something that said sorting to me.) I couldn't find anything close to what I really wanted for carrying Kip carrying the basket of mud up the stairs, so I split it out into three separate ideas: basket backpacks (which I didn't end up including), carrying mud (which gets you videos of beavers, I guess no one else wants mud), and climbing stairs (weirdly hard to find for such a common activity, I kept getting how to install stair lights which is not quite the right visual, before I started looking up stair climbing races, which was better).

My vidsong was also a little research project. Since I had such a strong narrative outline (by stealing it from the book), I didn't feel like I needed the song to be saying anything specific, so I wanted it to be some kind of Polynesian music, preferably something sort of thematically about journeys. While I was still trying to decide whether to do the vid, I asked on the discord if there was a real world equivalent of the Lays, and Victoria Goddard answered and pointed me at the band I ended up using, Te Vaka. I also listened to a bunch of smithsonian folkways and someone's Poly Jams🌺 spotify playlist before deciding that literally the first song I had found from Te Vaka on youtube was such a bop that I couldn't not use it. And it's about dancing and community, which is perfect for Kip!

This wasn't a project where I did any particularly complicated video editing. I think I went from having a zillion youtube videos downloaded (and one hour long documentary) to having a full vid in a day? Mostly I just put things in the order they happened in the book trying to beat match the music more or less and breaking things up with shots of sailing the vaha. My one still image editing thing is I did put in some clamshells on the island at the end, but I did that in davinci resolve, which is the video editing software I use, without breaking out photoshop or anything. (The first draft of my vid had somewhat more and more obvious clamshells, but my beta said it was a little awkward, so it's hopefully more subtle now.) I had originally thought about doing some color editing to make things look more magical, but honestly coming from the northern hemisphere all these shots of sunshine over oceans are pretty magical looking as is in January (and I didn't want to do the extra work :p)

This description of process would be incomplete without saying that rattyjol responded to my discord message asking for someone to look at a slightly secret visual fanwork and reassured me that it was obvious to someone other than me what was even happening in this vid.

[can-of-pringles]

I've finally finished re-reading Daughters of the Moon. It took a while but I did it. I just wanted to briefly share my thoughts on the last book, and then the series as a whole.

Now that I've re-read it all, I don't think the last book was that bad. I don't think it's the strongest in the series, but it's not nearly as bad as I remember it being when I first read it as a kid. I personally would've changed a few things, like allowing Vanessa to keep her memories of being a goddess because I feel like she earned it after defeating the Atrox. (Keep her memories but lose the powers to clarify)

I also think Catty's sacrifice was written pretty well, I don't think it felt like killing her off for the sake of killing her off. It's tragic and painful but didn't really feel completely unnecessary. I honestly don't know how I'd react if I hadn't known it was coming, maybe I would feel differently.

I'm also glad Serena and Stanton get a happy ending. The only thing that really bothered me is how Serena didn't think of her brother at all. No mention of him. It feels like his character was literally forgotten about. Like you're never going to see your brother again and he doesn't even know it. If I rewrote it I'd either somehow fit in a big goodbye scene between them or I'd make it so Serena and Stanton can leave Nefandus every so often like for a day or something idk. Those three things are my biggest complaints but they're just minor little nitpicks.

Also I just realized this as I'm typing but where was Tianna? She's not mentioned either and it felt like Vanessa slightly took her place as being forced to be with the Atrox bit. Anyway yeah I can admit this last book felt very rushed. I think it said something in the beginning about how Lynne Ewing wasn't planning on writing an ending originally?

As for the series as a whole, it's definitely so much better to read now being 20, vs when the first time I read it being 10. I can really appreciate more of the story and writing and little things I missed. I think overall this series is an underrated gem. It's sad not many people know about it. It really influenced my own writing growing up with it.

I'm not going to keep posting book quotes from it since I've already read through every single book and picked the quotes I wanted to write down. But I'll probably still post about the series from time to time.

I'm also honestly not interested in reading the side/spin-off series.

Ideally I want to finish collecting books so I have the full set.

Anyway, that's just a bit of my rambling about a old relatively unknown book series. If you're interested in reading a young adult Greek goddess fantasy book series focused on girl friendships and add in some slightly outdated early 2000s references then I'd recommend it. There's thirteen books but each one has about 26ish chapters or so. Read it in a day kind of book.

[writingforfishes]

(this is woodworks lmao idk why it's not giving me the option to ask under that blog name 💔)

anyways AHHHH YOU WATCHED H//ZBIN!!!!! thoughts?????? i've had another scenario pop into my head in addition to what i've already posted but haven't had time to finalize and write out the idea yet asdfghjkl

i don't have any reqs/suggestions for that show currently but figured i'd ask this if i do later or someone else does: any further specifications/boundaries for that show and its characters if you do write anything? like the cast is all adults but ik some ppl have personal guidelines for creating fan content in terms of character pairing (e.g. nothing that goes against canon ships etc) and, for this show specifically, putting the Canon Ace™ character into situations of *gestures at the concept of kink content* this nature, so just thought it'd be good to put out there how...err...broad(?) of a range you're comfy with writing for those characters lastly (sorry for the length and terrible coherency ehe) concepts to explore that i just thought of that would probably be interesting for lore and character mechanics stuff: atticus' first realizing of their k/nk and any sort of role swapping in which atticus has a case (unless they're the type to just never get any, if so disregard the rest of this paragraph), such as atti and otto both having them at the same time, atti getting them before having told otto about the k/nk and idk trying to hide it or somethin, or after having told otto and getting teased, etc 🤷

and also can i just compliment how frickin creative and skilled you are honestly?? i wish i had a fraction of the time and energy you must be putting into all of these posts /lh

Hello, @hic-etc-kink-blog! (Hope it's okay if I tagged your blog to make up for the odd technical glitch.)

I really, really look forward to reading what your next fic is going to be! I enjoyed the last one a lot. It was so sweet and now that I know the characters I can appreciate it more.

I'll be using pseudonyms that are synonymous to the fandom and characters so I don't have to keep trying to filter them out. (Also, it's just more fun)

I really enjoyed the Redemption Inn cartoon once I got past the first episode. For some reason, the first episode just didn't grab me. But as I had very little else to do (as I was recovering from an injury at the time) I gave it another shot.

I was really surprised how much I loved the Heckin' Manager show, too! The Tragic Jester Cyborg character and his pairing with the Sexy Chicken God is by far my favorite. But Devil Agent Bad Ass Girl and Devil Agent Smart Boy are a close second.

The most popular ship and relationship with Devil Manager and Royal Feathered Sad Boy is interesting, but not something I want to explore more than to watch.

But back to the Redemption Inn!

Obviously I'm partial to Jumping Spider Dancer and Feline Wing Bartender. I would love to write anything with them! (And when I do I'll use their real names and filter them appropriately.)

The cannon sapphic relationship is adorable, of course.

At any rate, long summary short, I've been really enjoying watching the shows and the music on them! Love a musical cartoon!

any further specifications/boundaries for that show and its characters if you do write anything? like the cast is all adults but ik some ppl have personal guidelines for creating fan content in terms of character pairing (e.g. nothing that goes against canon ships etc) and, for this show specifically, putting the Canon Ace™ character into situations of *gestures at the concept of kink content* this nature, so just thought it'd be good to put out there how...err...broad(?) of a range you're comfy with writing for those characters

Ooh. Valid question that I hadn't considered!

So, Atticus is Ace, but does experience intimacy, arousal, and self-pleasure. I wanted to start with that because I think every asexual (me included) experiences asexuality differently. So, translating a cannon asexual character can be tricky. I also understand that Murderous Hart Boy has been a topic of controversy in how others represent him in fiction. So, I understand where that part of the question comes from. Instead of answering that specifically I'll just make a blanket statement of boundaries.

Character preference ships for Redemption Inn are:

Jumping Spider Dancer/Cat Wing Bartender (Have an idea for these losers.)

Happy Child of Evil/Unhappy Soldier of Good

But, also! Characters hiccuping with no relationship or sexual/arousal content are fine! Any character simply hiccuping is fine! Murderous Hart Boy can get the hiccups and it's just a hurt/comfort fiction instead of a sexy kinky one.

Only real boundary is that I will not write Abusive Moth with ANYONE. Great character design, great voice actor, but I do not wish to be in that demon's head.

I don't see any other ships to be problematic, I don't think. While I'll be up for writing arousal and self-pleasuring scenes, outright sex scenes that don't fade to black won't be something I'll do. (Likes, yes I've been pretty saucy with my Otto and Atticus fics, but sex is just not something I'm interested in writing. Cuddling and hugging and watching and helping, yes. But not sex. I dunno. I'm confused, too!)

(Though I do think the only thing that excites/arouses Murderous Hart Boy is murder and power.)

Heckin' Manager:

I think sky's the limit on this show. Though I do have a preference for current cannon ships.

Um...:scrolls up:

atticus' first realizing of their k/nk and any sort of role swapping in which atticus has a case (unless they're the type to just never get any, if so disregard the rest of this paragraph), such as atti and otto both having them at the same time, atti getting them before having told otto about the k/nk and idk trying to hide it or somethin, or after having told otto and getting teased, etc 🤷

As Atticus is extremely based on me (to an embarrassing degree), my frustrating inability to induce has been passed on to them. It is not for a lack of trying. So, if I ever DO get the hiccups successfully, I will reflect that onto Atticus and there WILL be a story about it!

I think it would be very in character if Atticus had gotten them before sharing their kink with Otto to either get rid of them quickly or try to hide them. We're both on the same page with that characterization. And I really love the thought of both of them getting them at the same time! It's so cute!

If Atticus were to get them in the most recent timeline Otto would find their hiccups adorable and coo at how cute they were. He would most definitely compare them and how they differ to his own. He would be very sensitive to Atticus' possible embarrassment and if Atty had been trying to get them up until that point, he would be supportive to being present to help them explore having the hiccups.

I also think Otto would be surprised to find himself getting just a little aroused at Atticus' hiccups. Something about the role reversal would move and excite him in some kind of way, no doubt (even if not sexually).

He would probably tease them a little bit. "Now you know how I feel!" But not too much.

and also can i just compliment how frickin creative and skilled you are honestly?? i wish i had a fraction of the time and energy you must be putting into all of these posts /lh

You're so sweet. I really appreciate you saying that. I wish I could give this much to non-kink related hobbies. That being said, I never assumed anything what I created would be marketable, necessarily, regardless of the inspiration.

The fact is, writing these silly fictions is helping me. I accept the fact that I am, for the most part, writing into a void. It takes me around 3 days - a week to get out most of these stories. This includes doing sloppy editing to make sure there are no glaring errors. I'm very fortunate to live alone and have space and time to explore my fantasies outside of work and other commitments. I don't take that for granted.

From one overly wordy person to another, I think we've created a novel in this entry. I appreciate you reaching out and sharing your feedback with me. I really do quite enjoy touching base with others who experience this odd hiccup kink phenomenon. Humanizing and connecting beyond the carnal nature of it all is always refreshing.

[desolateice]

personal headcanon of mine with Johnny Lawrence(especially after reading your fic). I kinda see him as Demisexual Bi. Honestly with the movie and the cobra kai I think Johnny has sex because that was what he was taught from Kreese what being a man is suppose to be like and he never really let go of that habit. The only people he's ever been really sexually attracted to is Allie and Daniel. Because he has a deep emotional bonds with them. Even if they're not all 100% postive. Probably why the whole thing with Allie and Daniel in the karate kid so confusing. Would love to know what you think of my headcanon. But that's kinda how I see the whole mess.

Tumblr is not letting me answer this so I'm just testing something. I'll put it under the read more if it works.

I get that. I mean we don't really see Johnny moving on in the first film. There's no one on his arm except cobras and his focus seems to be Daniel. Arguably the only reason he kisses Ali is because he sees Daniel. So at that point I'd argue he kinda gave up on the trying to get her back as a girlfriend, and definitely lost any chance when he did that. Who knows what his life was like after the all-valley. Because, arguably, Cobra Kai is extended fanfiction. And there's all sorts of different scripts where Johnny was supposed to appear in the third movie, and maybe our views of who he was and everything would've changed. I mean in one version, I'm pretty sure he and Daniel became like friends much to Dutch's like fury, if I remember that old scripts summary correctly. And while I feel like I remember someone saying that they had girls around them, I don't remember anyone saying "Johnny dates __" in this script. (To be fair most of the conversation around it wasn't focused on that point.)

But when we see him in Cobra Kai and what he sort of talks about the only past love he's hung up on is Ali. He says he partied but I don't remember if he slept around or with how he sort of bolsters himself up whether that's truly believable. He got with Shannon when they both seemed to be a mess and he just became more of one after his mother died and I kinda doubt there was anyone he actually dated afterwards. In a serious way anyway.

He likes Carmen, the show tries to make that very clear, but sometimes I think they'd be better off as friends. Mostly because while I like Carmen I feel like she often gets sort of stuck in a "Johnny's girlfriend role". Which is a bummer in my opinion because I was honestly so excited when they hadn't put a label on it. Like how often does that happen? And I think she's a great influence on him because he listens and seems to respect her. But I don't like that she's like a reward to him and the creators (and who knows if it was pressure from Netflix and how they rushed that last season) wanted to tie up loose ends by what was convenient.

Sure a person can fall in love with their neighbor. Sure a person can fall in love with a single parent of their student. But it's just…too easy. Especially for a character whose last long term relationship exploded so badly and the only other person he's canonically loved is his high school sweetheart.

Which sometimes I wonder is just an extension of missing that before everything went to shit moment. Like how much of his "I only ever loved Ali" is "Damn high school was the only time I felt good about myself"?

And there's something about that though that throws me a little and that's the cobras. If the time he felt best about himself was high school, then what happened? Sure friends drift away, it happens, but I would like more clarification from the show whether or not that's actually happened. Because they kinda introduce their reunion at Tommy's side as the first time they've seen each other in a long time which is heart breaking. And I also call bull on it. Because, sure they were kids when Kreese tried to kill Johnny, but I can't believe the cobras wouldn't just drop by or check in on Johnny whenever they could. That they wouldn't have a relationship with Robby or try and steer him back onto dry land.

I think at the very least Johnny is so traumatized and depressed that he hasn't had romantic love, not really since Ali. And with Daniel I think Daniel is in a special place because he's like the one person from Johnny's past when things were good, or almost good before things went to shit, but also knows.

They both stubbornly (or at least the writers chose this) not to talk about all their past issues. Johnny and Kreese, Johnny vs Silver, Daniel and Silver. And I think to an extent, when they both calm down get each other. Understand. They've both lost important people. They both are grieving. They both had rough times. But Daniel had people to lean on and a good support system, whereas Johnny's seems to have cracked out from under him or he pushed his away.

Until he falls into Mr. Miyagi's footsteps. Until Miguel gets some life to spark again. And then because there's people listening to him and talking to him he's opening up and maybe realizing the shit he's gone through wasn't right. Because part of me thinks that Johnny's never like realized all of that was fucked up. Like on some level he knows but he probably also hasn't talked about a lot of it until he's had students and watches it all backfire that he realizes well shit, this isn't right. And I think those students of his are such a key development point for him.

And such a great starting point. Because who knows maybe Johnny doesn't know what bi means. Maybe he doesn't know it's an option because he's not online and he doesn't meet people really. His job after all was work alone in peoples houses, go home alone, go to the local convenience store for his beer and that's like it. He's super solitary. I doubt he even watches the news. He probably watches old movie channels or just those same vhs's over and over again and he's like a hermit almost whose unaware that life has passed him by and out of touch with all the fads because that requires effort and human interaction which he has like no energy for.

But those kids of his bring life to him. Bring people and language and new things into his world. For a cliche, color to his grayscale. So maybe he realizes all his action flicks and love for specific action heros and their abs for days might not be just a normal appreciation of the male physique but that if he stops to think about it attractions and one of those labels might fit. But I also kinda like the idea that he knows. And that it's just not anyone's business, or it hasn't come up. Or maybe he's just so used to an era where people didn't talk about it or didn't feel safe so it's a shock if he does bring it up because no one thought he was that self aware. Because he did party, he did dance, he modeled (arguably) once upon a time which if you're close enough to the arts I feel like back then you'd be somewhat aware.

I mean he may have tried it. Right time, right place. But it's not, love. Romantic love and what not. And his self worth seems to have not come back for decades until cobra kai again. So while I don't doubt he's got platonic and familial love all frayed like a worn blanket he's lugged around for decades, I don't think he had any good role models for love. I don't think he knows how to express it well. I think what he had with Shannon was a mess. But I don't doubt that he cares for Robby. That he loves Robby even if he's a sucky parent. I think he doesn't know how to be a parent. And Miguel gets to play safe test child because that's not Johnny's kid, it's his student and he's got a real parent to guide him through life and course correct and do all the hard stuff.

But I don't think he viewed Sid and Laura's relationship as like something to go for. I mean when Shannon tells him that Silver's been creeping around with his money in Robby's life, I think that's a case of something both Johnny and her had agreed on, which was that a relationship with a rich person was probably manipulative and required more hoops and clauses then they expected. And it's said in an offhand way but also in a way like they both know. And I kinda wonder if that was their starting point, their common ground. Both kids from messed up houses where the balance was off because their step parents was a rich asshole.

Daniel meanwhile has an outpouring of love role models to draw upon. His parents. Mr. Miyagi. I'm sure his extended family. And his own life. So he knows what love is. While I think Johnny doesn't have the best idea. So I think Johnny finds Daniel to be this interesting person who clearly knows what love is, who knows him, who knows arguably what happened to him, though I'm not sure if they ever actually talk about it, or just hint about it. Because we, the audience know Daniel saw Johnny choked, but we don't know if Johnny knows Daniel saw or if he just assumes Mr. Miyagi told him or if he assumes Daniel is talking about something else whenever he talks about Kreese.

And I think they both have all this history they didn't get a chance to talk about, partially because of that abrupt jump in the films. Opens on after the all valley and Johnny nearly dying and then huge mood change to Mr. Miyagi's after prom. But I like to think Johnny on a level respects Daniel but is still trying to figure it out. They both are. Daniel who has never seemed to have male friends in his life, and Johnny whose never really had an lot of love and who really has maybe had 3 partners canonically max. Ali, Shannon, and Carmen. And yet he spends more time thinking about Daniel then actually able to get together with Carmen. (To the point I will continue to cry foul on how on earth the baby happened but that's a different point and I blame Netflix rushing things on that)

So yeah I think Johnny probably says he's more of a sexual person then he actually is due to what he perceives he's supposed to be and a large part of that is probably Kreese. I think maybe he has had other partners but it's definitely not been long term and who knows if it's actually what he wanted or if he just felt like it was what he was supposed to do and I do think at the very least he's attracted to guys. And what he's actually attracted to I don't know what I officially would categorize him as, bi because of Ali, or gay and stuck in a closet because he didn't think he could be gay or if he refuses to do any self discovery because he dated Ali.

I don't doubt he loved Ali, but whether or not he felt pressured to have a relationship with her and her being the only woman he's ever really loved, well, like before I don't know if that's him truly loving her romantically and sexually or if it's missing his youth and rose tinted glasses. And I don't think he's been in love much and that he's still figuring it out. But I do think he is attracted to guys and is still figuring that out too. Which is fine because it can all be fluid and it can all change, and he just might not know or realize that or who knows he might. He might be like hmm as a teen I liked Ali so I was straight and now I kinda like Daniel so maybe I'm gay, or maybe I'm bi. Or he could be just like shoving it down into a box in his head and not dealing with it. All of which are fun to explore in fics. So I feel like it depends and yes. This is a long way to go about saying essentially yeah.🤣

[grabyourpillow]

Wrong number

___

Steddie - Written for the Discord Server "Fanfic Lounge"'s Weekly Prompt". This is pt.1

___

[Unknown number]

Hi 

Wanna get a coffee?

Or ice cream

Or talk

Idk. 

Whatever u like.

Ik this is stupid. I jsut wanted to try at least

U know I see u every day. U don't look at me though. 

I admire u n it hurts because u're urself and so bright and I'm just

A dumbass.

it feels like if I try and reach out it will burn yk? 

And I wish I could just forget about u but u're sitting right in front of me, n all I can do is look at that beautiful brown hair of urs

Sometimes i. An when I see ur face n just. U have the prettiest eyes.

But just sometimes, u look tired. i don't think. I don't think you're happy. Ppl can be jerks. 

I mean I would know. Hope I'm not as much one now. 

Anyway ppl are jerks and so they make u believe u don't deserve to be but 

And Ik it hurts but u seem so wild n strong and but I wish u didn't have to all the time and also 

u deserve to.

be happy I mean.

I'd like it if u talked to me. 

Just once

Eddie blinks at his phone screen for 2 seconds. 

The fuck.

He had just pulled his phone out from under his pillow to see who the fuck was awake at 3:54 in the morning — well, he was, but that was normal — and kept texting him. 

Cause no one fucking texted Eddie.

The number of his buddies amounted to a grand total of two, and Gareth and Jeff preferred WhatsApp, and the only other person whom it could have been, namely his uncle, was loudly snoring in the bedroom next to him.

His original thought had been that it might be one of the DnD kids but then it had better be a fucking emergency.

He hadn't been expecting... whatever this is.

Eddie taps in the space to reply and waits as his keyboard takes bloody ages to open.

At least he can look at his Metallica lockscreen, while in his messaging app, the only problem his phone had that was actually useful. 

This phone had been past its prime for a while now, but it's not like he could afford to change it.

When the keyboard finally pops up, he types in

Wrong number dude

and goes the fuck to sleep. 

__

The messages pop back into his head 3 days later. 

He's playing his guitar harder than he has ever done before, the vibrancy of the saturated sound drowning out the noise of his mind in which his thoughts, as always, were racing carts on seventy-two roller-coasters, going in different directions. And the carts were on fire. 

Black Sabbath lyrics always managed to convey things he didn't know how to express. 

As he sets the guitar down, the sentence "You deserve to be happy." rings in his mind.

Maybe he did, but he sure as hell didn't see how.

__

His DnD campaign-preparing and Song- listening evening gets interrupted, as Spotify cuts — how dares it — the song he is listening to because technology has decided there is nothing more important than for him to be aware he has an incoming message.

[Unknown number]

Omg

The notification reads.

The music resumes and Eddie doesn't pay it any more attention. 

Then his phone starts to vibrate, the red "INCOMING CALL button" smeared across the screen.

Eddie groans.

God knows what possesses him to pick up. He stays silent at first.

"Hello?" Comes from the other end of the phone.

A guy. Roughly his age, Eddie would think. 

"Hi." 

"I'm. I didn't think you'd pick up."

I didn't think so either.

"Oh god I'm so sorry. You must think I'm such a creep."

The voice, oddly enough, seems distantly familiar. 

"Hey don't sweat it man," Eddie lightly drums on the heater next to him with his free hand. "We've all had our silly I-wish-you-would-talk-to-me crushes," he says, remembering the messages.

"Right, yeah." The guy chuckles. "Honestly, I'm not planning to... I don't know. Murder them? or something." He pauses. "That... sounded creepier, didn't it?"

Involuntarily, the corners of Eddie's mouth pull upwards. "Yup." Eddie already likes the guy. 

They both fall into a short silence.

"If I may, uh–"

"Steve."

Huh. 

"–Right, Steve." Eddie likes most people who bother to talk to him. It's just, those people did not usually include guys named Steve. "Just talk to them. Life is too fucking short."

Steve seems to consider it.

"I'll... I guess I'll try. Thanks."

"You're welcome." 

Eddie hangs up.

___

Eddie scrolls through the messages. He's bored.

"I wish I could forget about you."

"You deserve to be happy." 

Something about the lines hits him in a way that tugs right on a taught string in his heart. 

Didn't help that he himself had brown hair. A wavy/curly brown mess of a hair, that was now past his shoulders – still the best decision of his life – but brown hair nonetheless. 

Steve seemed like a good dude. Eddie wishes him luck.

___

"Do you ever feel like you're losing your mind?" Chrissy asks him, as they walk home from uni together. 

Eddie chuckles. Humorlessly. "Like, every day."

___

[Unknown number]

https://open.spotify.com/track/0GjEhVFGZW8afUYGChu3Rr?si=VlTksqrCTRaLT3uGRIxuGg&utm_source=copy-link

.... Thanks?

ABBA is great

They sure are.

ur turn.

? 

Helloo

Hang on

___

Eddie sticks his hands into the deep pockets of his jeans jacket, only half listening to what Dustin is saying as they're walking to the DnD club room. 

"I wish Max would come. You know Max? Red hair? Wheelchair? She is the absolute coolest."

The kid is jumping up and down excitedly, as always. "Oop—" he trips, and Eddie narrowly manages to haul him back from the road so that he doesn't die.

"Jesus Christ kid, eyes in front of you alright?"

Dustin nods but mutters something under his breath. "Sometimes you sound just like Steve."

___

Eddie's eyes pop open in the middle of the night.

Wait a minute. 

He grabs his phone, scrolls past the few messages —and occasional cat photos— Steve has been texting him.

Eddie answers sometimes. 

More often than not it does bring a smile on Eddie's face. More often than not, Eddie tries not to think about how it's one of the highlights of his day.

But today it's Eddie who messages Steve before  he can think twice about it.

[Steve guy]

Do you know a kid named Dustin? Brown curly hair?

The reply is immediate. 

 nosey, baseball cap n thinks he's sooo clever? 

That's the one

haha yes I know him

What a coincidence. Did that mean that Steve, a guy his age, not an asshole, might actually live nearby? That they might even have crossed paths?

His phone rings.

"Hi Steve," Eddie answers.

"Hi. I uh."

Steve clears his throat. "Offer for a coffee still stands."

You deserve to be happy. 

Anyone writing stuff like that deserved to be known a little more. And really, it had been a long ass fucking time since Eddie had met anyone interesting. Maybe Steve needed someone to talk to about his crush.

Why the heck not. 

"Sure."

"I'll text you the address?"

"If it's a remote location in the woods," Eddie pauses,"for murder, I ain't coming."

"I would neeeever." Steve retorts, mock wounded.

They both pause. 

"See you there then."

"See ya."

___

>Pt.2

[transfigurationofelle]

He makes everything so easy...

My life has taken an amazing turn over the past years but I haven't really had an outlet to share mainly due to privacy concerns (and no friends lolololol). But today it got me thinking about all the diary blogs I used to read as a teen that inspired me and were outlets for the writers themselves... Blogs like that have mostly died out these days though because of the Googlfication of the internet. These days no small blogs or forums appear in search and it sucks soooo much. But anyway, I remembered tumblr was still around so here's me trying it out. I'm actually nervous. Now, to get to the main point of this post (lol). I've been seeing this new guy (going on dates, nothing more) since November 2023 and it's been so amazing. We first met on the first week of November and on the day I wanted to cancel because I wasn't feeling good (personal life challenges). In the end I decided to go and I can't express enough how glad I am I did because ever since then this guy has been making such an effort to make life easier for me. It's interesting because even the other guys I'm currently dating or have dated before have tried to do that in some way for me too but this one just does it on a different level. It's the way he does things and the things that he does, without hesitation.

On the night of our date I ended up getting really tired and was yawning a lot. Tell me why the next day he just sent me $1000? with the message "take yourself to the spa and get some waffles". The waffle part really got me because I'd only mentioned briefly that I hadn't eaten waffles in a long time. It was such a minor detail in our conversation the night before. It might not sound like a big deal but it really made me feel cared for especially with everything that's been going on in my personal life. I've also never had someone be so expressive after the first date but I love it and want more of it lol!! For our next date we had dinner at a French restaurant. The food sucked but I love how intimate the restaurant was, I liked the feeling of being "alone" with him. We were there for hours until they closed and then he found a little bar for us to go to and they had a rooftop which was empty!! At this point things started to get really heated. I don't usually kiss my dates until like the third or fourth date (or never) but I honestly wanted to kiss him the moment I saw him (help me). So when he went in for the kiss I didn't hold back lol. Of course I made sure to go home before anything went too far but then I didn't see him for weeks and it was so gruesome haha.

So I didn't get to see him for a while because I was dealing with a lot of personal things and then ended up having a bit of a financial challenge. I wasn't going to say anything but he told me I can't keep postponing on him and if I don't like him I should just tell him. Uh OMG NO, if only he knew how into him I am... But because of this I just sort of let him know what was going on and he responded so quickly asking how much I needed??? Not only that but then he sent double 😩 This is the life I was born for I swear hahaha. Naturally I let him see me that week and we played tennis then had lunch but I cut it short because I had to go fix my life. Things are much better in my personal life now and I haven't gotten to see him yet this year. He went to visit his family for the holidays and is away on business this week but he said when he gets back it's go time!!! I seriously can't wait to see what we get up to

[insectsinsects]

December is always really vivid to me. I hadn't had a memorable July till this year but winter months seem to carry everything and more about a year. Maybe to it's detriment? It's overwhelmed with thoughts and greetings and travel and metamorphosis? I wonder if those guys who don't use the Gregorian calendar are forced to feel it too. Just the majority of people worrying and smiling and maybe it's a regular Tuesday for them?

Anyway 6 Decembers ago was my first Christmas away from home. I'd spent the summer carelessly and I was tired from boarding school. I think I've always been reckless and volatile, though I feel I am perceived as a stable element. Careless summer was spent driving around my hometown with a funny girl who I knew from choir and we were twitter mutuals. The brutal semester was spent with a person who'd patiently sit down with me and share the ways in which they loved physics. And of course, my parents came down and I hadn't been 4 months separated from them but I was used to their presence after 16 years so it was actually nice.

5 Decembers ago I was unknowingly allied with a future friend's enemy O_O She'd sit on my couch in my dorm and played the role of a wise confidant, as an upperclassman. I hope nothing was ever malicious but oomf did come to hate her next semester for fine reasons so? 😭 Her birthday is tomorrow, and I've always remembered that Saggitarian... And honestly by sometime that year I had begun avoiding physics person (on brand..) and I wrote a time capsule email about it (to myself in 5 year's time!) because I didn't have a blog and because I wanted to see if I could possibly get over it (I did!!!) I was a bit afraid of spotty wifi in the Philippines, so I submitted college apps 3 weeks early LMAO Victoria was waiting on a job offer from her boss who we'd come to learn was a little terribe, but that same night she was confirmed and moved to DC a week after we came back from that trip to the motherland.

4 Decembers ago?! I had met the newest crop of friends I was going to make. New York was so fun. Everything endless and memorable. Flying back used to be tough! They only introduced nonstop flights to Oklahoma like last year😑 But I flew out early and away from my beloved suitemates, my terrible roommate, my friends on other floors, classmate-turned-oomf, and so much more.

3 Decembers ago I'd been attending a different university since NYU was being stingy😭 OU actually treated me so well omg and my classes were fun. I guess by December I was wrapping up but I took a class on film music and I would joyously write an essay about some movie music each week and my professor just littered it with happy comments. I think she was glad I read the textbook and was enthused to learn. Also two weeks later, I got my whole head bleached and my hair was pretty long (not really, but Rapunzel-like to ME and probably if you've only ever known me with a bob/wolfbob). Also (2) I was in the Gensh*n pits (I don't want it in the tags...)

2 Decembers ago! My sister and her now husband were engaged and the three of us went on a mini-roadtrip to Dallas 😭 I like Garrett, he's like if a father figure was considerate... and Kathryn's got 17 years of light parentification on her belt ☠️ Garrett and I got XL Blizzards from DQ and almost died finishing them. Oh they also saw me get my roots done :O Barber cut it way too short but maybe it was cute. Junior year was so funny and cute💖 I worked hard and I was back home pretty late due to a stats final (Bombed)

Last December I spent my last week with my last set of randomized roommates and my friends! This was a funny time of year. I did a crazy amount that last week and in many ways it was a bender (Avatar in 4D cocktail☠️) but I do know oomf (yes you!) was the last person I saw. We played Minecraft on your Xbox after I obtained a second controller over Thanksgiving. We drank tall boys? I checked into my flight easily and I went home anxiously. I wonder if I could've seriously applied to school back then (Because it was lowkey not that serious lol) [actually I should be forced to reckon with my tantrums and the many times per week I was like IT'S OVER..] but I hadn't applied to school! And I was nervous to tell my parents that though I was a big investment, I was a failure. I cut my bangs too short on December 18 and hid it under a hat for a week till it grew a little more. I felt weird having red hair in Oklahoma, though it was cool to my contemporaries? My mom was sad knowing how much grief the thoughts were causing me. She told me I should rely on her more and talk to her. It's taken me all of the ensuing year to really be good about that advice. It's just easier to fail myself. I had tunnel vision— the potential for shame was only accompanied by a sense of pity and contempt. I genuinely couldn't believe my family would continue loving me. I drank with my dad so we wouldn't talk about anything real, and I painted with my mother to divert from the chaos.

[jiminthestreets-bonesinthesheets]

Fic tag game!

Finally getting a chance to sit down and fill this out! I've been so excited to, so thanks to @virahaus for the tag <3

How many works do you have on ao3?

I have 39 works (many of them wips... lol) and I also have two fics in the @topwan-obikin fest which I am very excited about! And posting has officially started so everyone should go and check out all the amazing fics that are coming out of it!

What's your ao3 word count?

442,495..... wow! I hadn't realized I'd written that much :O

What fandoms do you write for?

*cracks knuckles* a lot lol right now I am really into writting for Obikin (top Obi and bottom Ani), but I also write for a very large variety of other fandoms, some being Star Trek (Mckirk), Merlin (merthur), 911 (Buddie), Avengers (Stucky), Stranger Things (Steve/Eddie), Supernatural which i have a lot of fics for (Destiel), Teen Wolf (Sterek), I also write some pairings for various Kpop groups, not that I ship them outside of the group. I know that probably doesnt make sense lol, but I kind of see them inside the group as characters in a way, but then outside of the groups I am always so happy for my boys no matter what they do :D

What are your top five fics by kudos?

I'm also going to post the links here XD

Family Christmas - (Evan Buckley/Eddie Diaz, 9-1-1, word count 1911, kudos 540) Summary: Bucks been working with the 118 for over a year now, but they still don’t know anything about him, including who drew the beautiful pictures that now have a special place of honour in Buck’s locker.

Unwrap Me - (Evan Buckley/Eddie Diaz, 9-1-1, word count 3742, kudos 426) Summary: It’s the day after Christmas and Eddie’s alone in the house and bored out of his mind, so he decides to go to Buck’s apartment. What he finds there is not exactly what he was expecting, but he’s definitely not complaining.

All I Want For Christmas is You - (Evan Buckley/Eddie Diaz, 9-1-1, word count 7905, kudos 402) Summary: Eddie’s mom and ex-wife are up to no good at his Abuela’s Christmas Eve party, good thing Buck proposed he go to the party as Eddie fake date to keep them at bay.

A Magic Kingdom Love - (Dean Winchester/Castiel, Supernatural, word count 15,300, kudos 283) Summary: Dean and Cas are both working for Disney and have been cast as the very first gay princes. And at first they hate each other but it’s hard to pretend you’re in love all day for sweet, shy kids, and then not makeout under the bridge of the magic kingdom castle.

The Will of the Force - (Anakin Skywalker/Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars, word count 93,820, Kudos 249) This fic is almost complete, I think it will have one more chapter! Summary: What if Obi-wan hadn't been granted permission to train Anakin in the ways of the Force? What if Qui-Gon hadn't perished during the battle with Darth Maul? How differently would things have turned out?

Do you respond to comments?

I always do! I love reading comments, they inspire me and keep me going, and I love responding back to let the readers know how much I appreciate them <3

What's the fic you write with the happiest ending?

Honestly all of my fics have a happy ending. In my original novels I'm a bit more open to having an ending thats not so happy, so when I write for fandoms I usually write happy endings. But I would say The Will of the Force will have a very happy ending, and Lost in Translation which is a Star Trek Mckirk fic will also have a happy ending even though the plot is a bit angsty.

Do you get hate on fics?

Oh, story time. So when I first started writing for fandoms, one of the first fics I wrote and posted for was Supernatural, and I was writing this very long Destiel series that involved an original character named Sara. And I was really nervous about posting, but forced myself to do it anyways, and for some reason this person decided to read the first few chapters of the first fic in the series and she destroyed it. She had deemed herself the "official fanfic.net critique" and in her bio had even gone as far as to put that it should be considered an honour to have her pick apart your fanfics. So she decided that she did not like the inclusion of my OC Sara and told me that it was completely unessesary for her to be in the story, started to demand that I re-write the fic and remove the OC, then repost it again for her to re-evaluate, and then proceeded to destroy the ret of my fic and the writing, to the point where I became very discouraged and didn't write for like two years after that. Long story short, I am now at the point where I don't care what anyone thinks of my writing. If you like it, great! Come along on the journey with me and we can enjoy it together, and if you don't like what I'm writing then that's perfectly fine too. Not every piece of writing is for everyone, but if you don't have anything nice to say then please keep it to yourself and find something you do like to read.

Anyway, rant over. lol

Do you write smut? What kind?

Yes, I definitly do lol. Most of my fics have at least one scene.

Do you write cross-overs?

Yes! I love crossovers. In my AO3 right now I have one crossover called Running with the Wolves which is a Maze runner and Teen Wolf crossover with Sterek being the main pairing.

Aside from that I have a few crossovers in my WIP's folder

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No, and I hope to never experience it.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No.

Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

No, but maybe one day, I am open to the idea. I'm just so busy right now, I would hate to hold someone up who's a faster writer then me.

What's your all time favourite ship?

It changes regularly lol, but right now my favourite ship is back and forth between Obikin and Woosan.

What's your WIP you like to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I have a lot of WIP's, and I hate to think that I wouldn't finish one because I have the intention to finish them all. But I guess I would say the one thats at the bottom of my list right now are probably my Avengers fics.

What are your writing strengths?

I have no idea lol But I do usually get compliments on my smut scenes and I'm oretty good at writing angst.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I always struggle with description between narratives. I have no trouble with the dialogue, but the actions that the characters are doing between the narrative is what always gets me.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I have written a few small sentences here and there in other languages. Mostly Korean, and then I have also written a bit in Elvish, Not sure if that counts but I've done it.

First fandom you wrote for?

I want to say Merlin/Merthur was the first fandom I wrote for, and Supernatural/Destiel was the first fandom I posted for... I think lol

Favourite fic you've ever written?

Oh, that's a hard one... I'm pretty fond of The Will of the Force, and I would say that outside of the Star Wars fandom I also really love Lost in Translation for the Star Trek fandom.

But I do have a few WIP's that I'm really excited for that will hopefully be coming soon. Both of them are Pirate AU's, and one of them is for Star Wars (Obikin) and the other is for Woosan (Ateez, Wooyoung/San).

This was so fun! Thanks again for the tag <3

Not sure who to tag, but anyway don't feel obligated to do it if you'd rather not!

@goingknowherewastaken @henderdads @jhoomwrites @urban-trek-thru-middle-earth

[young-anxiety]

so this is a personal post about some unrequited emotions and spiritual stuff the I've been struggling with for a while now I'm mostly venting but if you want to read and think you could help me out I'd be really really grateful

ok so a couple of things 1st I'm empathic to a degree I know there's a stigma around people who say they're empaths but I don't really know how else to explain myself I don't think I'm all knowing and I don't really talk about it with anyone and I honestly wish I just wasn't like this or could control it a bit more 2nd I'm also borderline and have adhd so that is definitely not helping at all and I have a really hard time telling the difference between reality and emotions

all that said there's this guy I've had a thing for for a while now maybe a year or so and like it's not and wasn't a little crush I care about him so much even though he hurt me profoundly and fucked with my job it was a 'love' at first sight kinda deal for me and these feeling became directly linked to my spirituality I'll try to explain the best I can but for context me and my family are all spiritual people my great (great?) grandmother was the village bruja and our beliefs are that of our hispanic culture though watered down quiet a bit

so the deal with this guy (we'll just call him z) and my spiritual views is that I asked spirit for something very specific and z was a very specific answer like he was exactly what I wished for and was trying to manifest for a long time and I believed that he felt the same for me there was a connection there no matter what happened it was obvious not only to me but to those around us me and z met through work and he eventually became my boss but that's not the point the point is that I was asking my spirit guides/ancestors about him and whether he felt the same and I was always told yes and to just wait because he's scared of his feelings for you so give him time which I did but I asked him once if I could kiss him while we were alone and he said no so I assumed that he didn't feel the same and that I was just wrong but spirit kept telling yes he does just wait just wait and we were still fairly close friends during all of this until we had a falling out and he ended up stabbing me in the back and forced me to leave a job I loved which is a story for another time

the falling out caused me to question whether spirit or the universe or guides or ghost or any of it was real because of how linked Z was/is to my beliefs I didn't really trust the advice guides would give me or what they'd say or anything like that up until I met Z because he was just such a concrete answer to all my questions and I came to just fully trust in spirit and believed that the universe was on my side, that it cared about me and loved me and was working behind the scenes to help me so when we had our falling out it completely shattered my entire world view and made me question something I had felt and believed in my entire life. it wasn't just about the boy it was about my world view and I went to a very dark place after that that I hadn't been to in a long time

so the thing is that I still care about him and I still love him and I still feel like he loves me and will come back to me no matter what. I stepped away from spirituality for a while after all that but came back to it anyway. I tried to make myself believe that life is it and that if there are spirits and things they don't care about us and that the here and now is it but it never really worked so I went back to it and I didn't ask about Z at all I didn't try to get advice or input or anything I just tried to focus on using spirituality as a tool for self improvement. I didn't let myself believe there was actual magic to it or anything and that it was all just my subconscious yada yada yada but Z kept coming back up in all of it and the message was never let go and move on it was wait a little longer he's coming back now that you've had some separation Z realized his mistake and wants you back in his life. I was really really angry about this because consciously I knew it wasn't realistic, he has or had a girlfriend and he was tho one who pushed me away and he had made no attempt to contact me or anything. In my final two weeks at the job we both worked at he only talked to me or looked at me if he absolutely had to otherwise he completely ignored me and I did the same back but I tried a couple of times to make things alittle better, not to fix it but make it so we didn't leave on such bad terms but that didn't happen and yet, I still felt/feel like he loves me the way I love him and that he's coming back to me

fast forward to today I've been hearing from. spirit that its all gonna happen very soon just you wait but I saw him tonight for the first time in a long time and I spoke to him just a casual hey and first off I'm pretty sure he's still got a girlfriend and he at no point after our hellos tried to talk to me at all and I'm just getting very tired of it all.

i keep jumping from wanting him and wanting to believe he'll come back to just wanting it all to be over and done with and I've gotten to that point a couple times but my feelings for him are still very strong I still care about him a lot and I still want him so so much. I love him, I'm in love with him and have been since we met. I know a lot of it if not all of it is probably me just convincing myself he wants me because I want him. I've done that all my life in one way or another, I let myself live in a fantasy and feel like spirit is part of it. I'm trying really hard to separate from that and see reality but its very difficult. I just want to be able to know for sure how he feels and by his actions I don't think he even cares but also he's just kind of a closes off person so idk. I kind of want to try and talk to him about it but because of how our friendship ended me reaching out via text or something seems like a bad idea and I don't think he'd even respond and what would I even say? our falling out actually has a lot to do with it too

quick run down I asked flat out "do you want to be my friend because I try very hard to be you're friend and you don't" and he responded with we're not real friends we're just work friends" and I was very professional about it. I pulled away from him and became distant because I was hurt! but I was never mean or unprofessional I just started treating him like my boss rather than my friend. I tried to remain very kind and polite to him but I was hurt and I'm sure at times I was a bit snippy but I had no ill will and His response was to get petty, to stop scheduling me all together and not even responding when I asked if I still had a job, my picture was removed from a white board with all other employees pics (including people who didn't work there anymore) other people seemed wary of me I was left out of import work group chats and just lots of subtle things. now I'll say it wasn't just Z one of my other bosses had a major hand in it all but the two were very close and just so many other details I don't want to get into but you get the point. I didn't do anything to deserve That kind of treatment. Was I maybe cold and a little bit he with those two specific people probably but no one else ever had the same kind of co.plaints Z and my other boss had including another boss of mine who I spent the most time with when working. but all that to say I feel you could understand why I don't want to be the one to reach out and if he did want me back in his life he would have to be the one to approach me anyway ya dig.? all that said I'm just really confused and frustrated. I don't know how to talk about this with friends because how do you explain "I feel we are spiritually connected and that he is in love with me the way I'm in love with him" without sounding like a completely deluded idiot? I just could really use some advice and possibly be able to talk with someone else who has experience with this kind of situation or just knows more about spirituality and magic and stuff than I do. either way I'm just so so tired of it and if he's not coming back anytime soon or ever I want to just be able to move the fuck on! why can't I just move on?

[novelmonger]

I just finished Trigun Stampede, and it's left me feeling so disappointed, because it could have been...so much more.

To be fair, I have to acknowledge that the storyline is distinctly different from both the first anime and the manga, and while it retains certain similarities to both storylines, it's kind of its own story--and not a bad story, either; it was engaging and interesting in its own right. I especially liked how it handled Vash and Knives's history, what it did with Wolfwood's backstory, and how it wrapped things up at the end.

But the point is that my disappointment with Trigun Stampede has nothing to do with which anime is a closer adaptation of the manga. (I'm due a reread of that anyway; there are a lot of details of the Trigun Maximum portion that I don't remember very well.) When I compare the two animes, I just...enjoy the first one so much more.

It's all very subjective, of course, but here are some of my thoughts:

Where's my girl Milly? :( Why'd they take her out? Did they really think Roberto was a good substitute for silly Milly, the giant girl with the huge gun and the innocent voice, who comes across as an airhead but is actually really sharp? I'm sorry, I'd much rather have her in the party than a jaded, world-weary alcoholic who honestly feels like a less-interesting Wolfwood most of the time. Also, having Milly around meant that Meryl could take the role of the straight man most of the time, whereas the Roberto-Meryl duo is like...two straight men. Just doesn't have the same spark as Meryl and Milly :/

Vash is so much less goofy in this one, he's practically a different person. I mean, yes, his heart is the same, and in a lot of ways the goofiness is a mask and something Vash uses to keep himself from despair (better to laugh than to cry and all that). But it's still a huge part of his personality, and a huge part of what I love so much about Trigun in the first place. I love how the first anime will switch back and forth between being utterly hilarious and dead serious. Trigun Stampede, on the other hand, is almost entirely serious. As a result, the serious moments don't have the same impact as they would have if they came at the tail end of a string of ridiculous hijinks. I probably wouldn't think of that if I hadn't seen the first anime and knew how the story would feel with that kind of tone, but there you are.

There's so much less time to get to know the characters. You can really tell that Trigun Stampede's primary target audience is people who are already fans of the story, because they don't let the story breathe in the beginning. I really got the sense that we're supposed to already know who these people are and why we love them, rather than getting introduced to lovable characters for the first time. I have to wonder whether I would care about any of them if I didn't have tons of episodes where I'd gotten used to them and their quirks and had the time to really learn what they're all about.

WHERE IS BRILLIANT DYNAMITES NEON?! HOW CAN YOU BRING IN THE BAD LADS GANG WITHOUT THEIR FABULOUS LEADER?!?!?

Okay, I'm going to say it: I hate the animation. Sometimes it looked really good (particularly everything with the plants), but other times--especially when it came to character animation, particularly facial animation--it was so...sluggish? It was like the mouth movements couldn't keep up with the voicework, and every movement a character would make would take twice as long as it should, like they were moving through water or something. I'm certainly not against CG animation in anime, but I've seen it done so much better than this. I didn't know such a stylized art style could veer into the uncanny valley, but that was the feeling I got over and over again while watching this anime. It was so distracting that sometimes I found myself staring at their faces without reading the subtitles, and had to back up.

Oh, that reminds me: I'm sure there's a whole host of reasons behind them changing Vash's voice actor, but...I'm sorry, Masaya Onosaka is Vash the Stampede to me. He did such a good job with both the serious and the goofy sides of the character. Yoshitsugu Matsuoka did a great job; I have no complaints with his performance. But...he's just not Masaya Onosaka. It's probably a good thing that this iteration of Vash wasn't as ridiculous and all over the place, because I'm not convinced Yoshitsugu Matsuoka could have pulled it off.

The new character designs were okay for the most part. Not my favorite, but generally not a problem (though I'm not a fan of Meryl's outfit; it makes her look like a kid somehow). The only real problem I have is that Vash's floppier, softer hairstyle makes Wolfwood's nickname "needle noggin" just...not work very well. It was clear why he would give him such a nickname when Vash's hair was sticking straight up like a shock of wheat, but this way? Doesn't look like needles at all. His hair isn't noticeably spikier than anyone else's.

There weren't really any surprises or suspense in the story, because everything was shown in a fairly straightforward way. Not necessarily a problem, I suppose, and it makes sense that they have to cut to the chase more quickly when they've only got 12 episodes to work with. But I missed the way the first anime would just drop hints, show a little bit of a flashback, then move on for another episode or two. Particularly when it came to the nature of what, exactly, Vash is. They basically tell you right away in the first episode what's going on, rather than letting you wonder and slowly piece it together over time. I don't like that.

All in all, Trigun Stampede just doesn't hold a candle to the first anime. Now I'm off to rewatch that one, and then probably reread the manga.

[dracothedeatheatingcupcake-ao3]

This is for the end of year writer fanfic thing! Sorry I do have a few of them, but 10, 16, 24, 35 if you wouldn’t mind awnsering them :)

Oooh, thanks!! And no worries about having a few, I love answering these things, ha. ^-^

I'll put the answers in a read-more since I always write way too much in response to these, ha.

Fanfic Writer End of Year Ask Game

10. What character did you fall in love with this year?

Hmmm... It's hard to say, since most of the media I've consumed this year are continuations of previous series I already loved, so I've not really "fallen" in love with any character I don't think. However! I did gain a much deeper appreciation of Bowser as a character thanks to the movie. I had never thought of him much before, but now I think he's a cool character, ha. I also fell back in love with Loki. I always had a soft spot for Loki, especially after Dark World (which, ironically, was my first Thor movie. I'd seen Avengers before it so I knew the characters, but I'd refused to see Thor with my brother and dad when it came out when I was... 13 I think?), but it wanes whenever Loki media dries up. But season 2 of Loki reignited my love of the character and I hope that he comes back again in a later film. <3

16. What ship stole your heart this year?

Hmmm I also had a few here... Bowuigi is one. BlackBonnet (Blackbeard/Edward Teach and Stede Bonnet from Our Flag Means Death) is another big one. I forget the ship name, but Geralt and Jaskier from The Witcher, to a lesser degree. Currently it's Loki and Mobius from Loki, since they are just so cute together in season 2, it's honestly adorable.

24. Is there a fic you wish you hadn't posted?

Hmm... no, I don't think so! I have a love for all of my fics, even the ones that make me cringe in retrospect. It's why I still keep my old FF . net account around and don't delete my old fics (though I will never link anyone to it!! The writing on the older fics is definitely a product of my age at the time). Part of me wonders if I shouldn't have posted my Bowuigi fic, Luigi and the Beast, since I don't think I'll ever finish it, but I don't regret posting it. Even if I never finish, a lot of people liked it, so it has value for that alone.

35. What words of advice do you have for yourself and other writers?

Honestly? Just write. Write how YOU want to write, not how you think other people want you to write. I always compare my writing to other people's and it is draining to see my writing style after comparing it to others, since mine is very different to what I usually see. I add a lot of introspection and emotion into my fics, since that's what personally interests me, and I always get concerned that people won't like it, or it's not mainstream enough, or whatever. Especially since I write like I think, which includes lots of pauses and emphasis on certain words, which comes across as a lot of... ellipses... and an overabundance of italics that I can't help but notice. Plus, I reuse words and phrases a lot. But honestly? People still like my writing despite it. Hell, some might like it because of it. I've gotten a lot of people who compliment my writing style and say I'm a really good writer, and while I struggle to see myself in that way, it does show that people will like what you do even if you sometimes don't. As long as you are enjoying the writing process and you want to write it, write it. I've tried to censor myself with writing, not using as many ellipses and italics, and you know what? I hated it. It didn't feel authentically me and it made writing a drag sometimes. Once I let go and did whatever, writing was a lot more fun and engaging to me. Is the writing perfect? Hell no. Is the writing uniquely mine and something I wanted to write? Hell yes.

Anyway, thanks for the ask!! I always love answering these things, so thanks for sending some in. :-D