#basically i do not respect intellectual property

[klanced]

I missed your voltron posting it reminds me of why I fell in love with the show before (gestures) everything

people are always like 'katie how can you possibly still enjoy talking about voltron?' but what people don't understand is that voltron is like a ready-made meal kit for me. i don't like voltron because i think the show was good (it was Not); i like voltron because i'm too lazy to develop ocs of my own & the vld characters are juuuuuust enough like blank slates that i can commit blatant daylight robbery and steal them for my own purposes

[saintobio]

plagiarism.

trust me when i say, this is the last thing i want to write on here. but i really, really want to stress the difference between being “inspired” by an existing work, to outright copying the plotline, the characterizations, and basically just rewriting the story overall.

i myself have so many inspirations when i write my fics, and i always write into detail what they are based off of (since i do take heavy inspirations from books, movies, and a hell lot of manhwas). but scene per scene? plot per plot? i would never dare. and i don’t have the guts to take inspos from other fanfic writers, because i don’t want them to feel uncomfortable or that i am trying to take a piece of their hard work and transforming it into mine.

you know who you are. i don’t want to expose you. and i would never, ever wish to send hate your way.

the reason i’m writing this is because i saw a series that has the same exact formula and line of events as sincerely not, and that i had not been reached out to ask if it was okay to take “inspirations” from my series.

i understand that similarities can naturally happen between two fics. after all, there are so many existing fanfiction in this space that it’s not impossible to see the same ideas being executed in a story.

however, when you write a fic that follows the exact same flow, same themes, and same format as another fic, especially after saying you were inspired by “fanfic x”, then that tells a different story.

THAT IS PLAGIARISM.

arranged marriage? normal trope, sure. ceo gojo, again nothing new. but writing your first chapter the same way how sincerely not went, writing their “first night” the same way i did, writing their “bora bora” trip the same way i did, creating a character exactly like sera, even down to eula and yuuta, and gojo’s abuse from his father, is no longer just being “inspired”.

that is stealing someone else’s intellectual property, and completely rewriting it as your own.

i have spent sleepless nights writing that series, building my plot, and molding my characters, only to see someone else write their own story using my ideas and it pains me that i have to keep writing about this here, and that it’s a recurring issue that keeps happening not only to me but to other writers on this app. please, all we want is for our hard work to be respected and appreciated without being stolen. this has become such a taxing issue to deal with and i am hoping, begging, that this be the last time i ever talk about this.

so please, respect the author’s work and do not steal.

[creature-wizard]

"Paganism isn't a Burger King or a Chinese buffet, you can't just pick and choose what you want" is bad rhetoric, and here's why.

I recently got an anon message telling me that paganism isn't like a Burger King or a Chinese buffet; you can't just have things your way or pick and choose what you like, and that "everything was organized a certain way for a reason" and that you "change the system at your own risk."

I pointed out that this is an incredibly historically-uninformed take, because there's never been a time or place in history where paganism was pure and unchanging, and there were many reasons for things being the way things were, most of them just not that deep or mysterious. (For example, politics.)

Anon sent a follow-up message stating that they were talking about cultural appropriation, which... strange if true, given that I hadn't been posting anything about appropriation recently.

In fact, it seems that the post this person was responding to was a post about pop culture witchcraft, given that the OP of that post got an anon message with the words "Chinese buffet analogy" and "pop culture paganism" in the same sentence. (It seems this person doesn't understand the difference between witchcraft and paganism. Common beginner mistake, but also, oof.) Said post wasn't encouraging any kind of appropriative behavior, but go off I guess, anon.

In any case, this kind of restaurant rhetoric isn't even good for safeguarding against cultural appropriation. It doesn't actually explain why cultural appropriation is a problem, and functionally just tells people to stay with what they they've been taught and don't question it. If anything, it reminds me of conservative Christian rhetoric telling people that they can't be Christian and pro-LGBTQ+ because "you can't pick and choose which parts of the Bible to follow." (And I think we can all agree that we're better off when Christians decide to ignore this kind of sentiment.)

And speaking of conservative Christianity, people trying to get away from that kind of crap are generally not the kind of people who appreciate being stuck in shitty little boxes and being told they have to follow the rules Or Else. If you use this line on them, sooner or later they'll probably decide that this whole notion of cultural appropriation is a bunch of xenophobic, dogmatic crap, and they're not going to care anymore.

And if it does work on them? If they do internalize it? Congratulations, you've just taught them that policing people's practices for Not Being Pagan Enough is the way to go. This is how you get people harassing each other and putting each other down over total non-issues. It also means that they're less likely to think critically about their own beliefs and practices, and realize that maybe, just maybe, they're actually kinda shitty.

We should be able to explain to people that being mindful of cultural appropriation is about respecting other people's boundaries, access, and general welfare. We should be able to explain the actual harm that cultural appropriation does. Here are some examples:

The high demand for white sage among neopagans has contributed to overharvesting of white sage for commercial sale. This has resulted in ecological damage and made it more difficult for Natives to access the herb.

Ancient astronaut theorists twist and distort myths and traditions from numerous non-white cultures to make it seem as if they support a pseudohistorical narrative in which aliens supposedly built structures such as the Great Pyramids and Puma Punku. This narrative is linked with far right conspiracy theories in general. Those who speak out against the appropriation of their cultures' myths are regarded as unenlightened or agents of the conspiracy.

Commercializing aspects of marginalized culture to sell to the masses is essentially a form of exploitation; large companies benefit while they get nothing. Basically, if you wouldn't support intellectual property theft, you shouldn't support this kind of thing.

Said commercial products typically reinforce harmful stereotypes and misconceptions about said cultures.

In reality, there's no reason why people shouldn't pick and choose what they want provided they are minding boundaries. If somebody wants to worship Freya and Mercury and ignore other Norse and Roman gods, it literally hurts nobody.

There are many things that paganism is not. Paganism is not an unchanging monolith. Paganism is not decreed to us by an infallible authority. "Paganism" genuinely isn't even a very useful term to talk about Europe's rich tapestry of polytheistic beliefs with. But one thing that it is, is up to us, the living practitioners.

[ask-an-innocuous-taco]

Dear reader,

Hey there! Welcome to my Inanimate Insanity-themed blog! You're in the right place if you're a fan of the show (and don't hate Taco.) Just a heads up, though: spoilers might be ahead, especially if you're not caught up with the latest episodes.

So, a bit about me—I've been obsessed with Inanimate Insanity for a couple of years now. It's basically taken over my life, in the best possible way. And I figured, why not channel that obsession into something creative? Hence, this ask-blog.

Oh, and before I forget, I'll be answering your questions and prompts mainly through text, with some headcanons thrown in for good measure. Just keep in mind that my interpretations might not always perfectly match the characters from the show, but I'll do my best to stay true to their essence.

⋅˚₊‧ ✎ ‧₊˚ ⋅﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌₊ ⊹

BLOG'S STORYLINE:

We're picking up after Microphone's reality check on Taco and after Taco's whole ordeal with kidnapping MePad. Lonely and needing someone to talk to, Taco switches MePad back on from slumber mode. And instead of just using him as a pawn like she did before with anyone else, she's opening up a bit, showing some genuine sincerity. Maybe some honesty wouldn't hurt.

Their conversation leads to MePad introducing Taco to this thing called Tumblr, suggesting that instead of dwelling on lost connections by letters, she could try making new ones here. It's a nice little moment of growth for Taco, don't you think?

⋅˚₊‧ ✎ ‧₊˚ ⋅﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌₊ ⊹

RULES:

Be Respectful: Treat others with kindness and respect. Harassment, bullying, or any form of hate speech will not be tolerated. !!REMEMBER THAT THIS IS A REAL PERSON BEHIND THE SCREEN!!

No Spamming: Avoid spamming the ask box with repetitive questions or messages. One well-thought-out question at a time is preferred.

Be Patient: Understand that the creator behind the ask-blog may have a busy schedule. Please be patient for responses, as I may take time to answer questions.

Keep it PG-13: Ensure all questions and discussions are appropriate for a general audience. Avoid explicit content or language. (Unless it's funny haha. I won't hesitate to publicize your inquiry, all in good fun, of course).

Respect Privacy: Avoid asking overly personal questions or prying into the personal lives of the creator portrayed in the blog.

No Plagiarism: Respect original content and intellectual property. Do not steal or repost artwork, writing, or any other creations without proper permission or credit.

Use Trigger Warnings: If discussing sensitive topics or themes, provide trigger warnings to alert readers of potentially distressing content.

⋅˚₊‧ ✎ ‧₊˚ ⋅﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌₊ ⊹

SPECIAL TAGS:

Taco inquiries - Asks that have to do with Taco.

MePad asks - Asks that have to do with MePad.

Mod 👓 - Asks that are answered by the mod.

⋅˚₊‧ ✎ ‧₊˚ ⋅﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌₊ ⊹

If you want to ask anything related to Taco or maybe even MePad, feel free to shoot me a message using the tags provided below. Can't wait to hear from you all!

- Yours truly, 👓.

[jakeyt]

Covet: Chapter 2

Pairing: Jake Kiszka x f!Reader

Covet Summary:

Life was good. No, life was great. 

Was. 

Until.

Jake Kiszka crashed into the picture.

You welcomed him into your life—your home. 

Yes, he was your best friend’s twin. But, he was also the one who would end up disrupting your whole world with his attitude, his troubles, and the annoyingly natural way he lured you in. 

Jake Kiszka came with so much you really didn’t want.

At least that’s what you tried to convince yourself.

Warnings: descriptions of past toxic relationship/cheating; consumption of alcohol; anxiety; mentions of sex/sexual situations; Jake being an asshole; Reader takes an extra Melatonin (doctor's advice)

Chapter Word Count: 8.1k

Covet Masterlist

a/n: wooohooo! we have come to chapter 2! 

please forgive me for how long this took to be posted. i am a school teacher, and the end of year is the most hectic. 🫠 so, busyness combined with my need to make sure i personally feel good enough with a chapter to post it. . . it’s not a good combo. lmao although, summer is right around the corner! and i promise when it comes, covet will get much more of my attention!! 

reminder that this is a ~slow burn~ in its truest form. 

i <3 and appreciate you all!! i truly can’t say thank you enough for the support and kind words (it means so much, esp w/ this being my first gvf fic). i love hearing feedback from each and every one of you!! 

alright, i will be done w/ my rambling. i apologize on behalf of myself. lol

hope you enjoy, my loves. 

Disclaimer: this is absolutely, undoubtedly 110% a work of fiction. i do not claim to know greta van fleet. i do not claim that any of this actually occurred. again, this is a complete work of fiction. And, please, DO NOT steal this work, as it is 110% mine. plagiarism isillegal. and, as our friend google puts it, plagiarism is “illegal if it infringes an author's intellectual property rights.” and, being these words/ideas are my intellectual property rights. . .don’t take them. legal action will be taken if you take credit for any of my work.

🌼🌼🌼

Chapter 2

The first month of living with Jake went about as smoothly as one would expect. 

His first full day in the apartment, you’d woken up, ready to be nice. Really. You’d tried your hardest to forget about how he’d acted when he had made his grand entrance. 

But he wasn’t giving up on his act. 

When you’d been standing at the coffee maker in the kitchen that first morning, loading your K-Cup, he’d stopped at the counter. You didn’t know what for, but when you noticed him there, you had tried to start a conversation. Some meaningless small talk to try and break the ice he’d created. 

And his only response? A barely audible hum. 

You did give him credit for glancing up to at least acknowledge your presence. Although, that’s the bare minimum of basic human decency. So, you didn’t give him much credit. 

But, that had been it. And then, he’d left for the day. 

It had instantly caused you to be pissed at everything. Including the coffee maker’s little unnecessary spurts as it poured coffee into your mug. 

Every day since then had gone about the same, sometimes with even less interaction than that. And to you, the lack of desire to even try to associate with you was offensive. 

After all, you were the person who had literally given him a place to live.

To make things worse, he was that kind of asshole that you couldn’t seem to get out of your head. It really just confirmed how truly repulsive he was.

You had gotten an idea midway through that first month to begin compiling a list of apartment rules. 

Initially, it had seemed pointless. Then, you reminded yourself that you were worth better treatment. You knew you deserved for Jake to show at least a sliver of respect towards you in your home.

🌼🌼🌼

You decided to tell Josh of the rules you’d crafted. 

“I will be very honest, I really don’t know how well those will go over, Y/N.”

He was giving you a look that instantly made you go into defense mode. 

“Joshua. It’s been a month,” you matched his look with one of your own. You wanted your point to be known. You were going to make damn sure that Josh understood why you wanted to do this. “Josh, he still barely even looks at me. I think rules would give us some sort of common ground. And it would force him to show the place—and me—some respect.”

“Jake has never been one to want to follow the rules — do what he’s told,” he scratched the buzzed side of his head, right above his ear. 

You stood with a hand on your waist, right under your thrifted crop top. You eyed him, making sure he knew he needed to elaborate. 

You didn’t know much at all about your roommate. 

You’d been waiting for Josh to share more, but he didn’t share much. He claimed that it wasn’t his place. You were desperate though. All you knew about Jake was that he was your best friend’s twin, what his record choices were, that he had been in an apparently crappy relationship, and the fact that he was an ungrateful asshole. 

Josh relented slightly. “I’ll tell you this story because it involves me as well. And we were so young,” he leaned with his back against the checkout counter, facing away from customers. “When we were in our freshman year of high school, he played soccer while I participated in theatre. He enjoyed it and he was actually quite good at it, you know,” Josh smiled, obviously replaying memories. “But, high school classes grew increasingly harder. We both struggled, honestly. We love to learn more. . . I mean, you know this about me. He’s the same way. But we really only enjoy doing it most when it concerns the subjects for which we’re passionate. 

So, high school work being less than interesting to us both, our grades dropped. Big time,” his eyes widened, once again reliving it all. At this point, he was staring into space to tell the story. “Our parents and teachers came down on us hard. They told us we would be kicked out of our extracurricular activities if we didn’t raise our grades.”

You shook your head, looking around the store. A couple of regulars were perusing. You knew them well enough to know it would be awhile until they were done. “I know exactly where this is going.”

You both made eye contact then, and as he looked your way, he gave a little closed-mouth grin that made his eyes crinkle. “Yeah? Guess.”

You smirked at your friend. “You, being you, were determined to show that you had what it took to make the grade. You cared enough about theatre to continue it,” he nodded at your words. “And, in the time I’ve known you, you’ve never been one to say no to a challenge. It’s why we are friends. I love a good challenge.”

He made a noise of agreeance. Then, his eyebrows raised and his lips turned down. The look he gave you told you he was impressed. “You know me well,” he continued. “Now, how well do you know your roommate?” 

You scoffed. “As you know, not fucking well. But I know he couldn’t give two shits about what others think of him,” you pointed to yourself. “I’m a shining example. So, —.”

“Essentially, he said ‘fuck it’ and just decided to continue on with what he had been doing in his classes, which was jack shit,” Josh had finished for you, wanting to complete the story he’d begun.

“How did he even pass high school?”

He gave you a deadpan stare and raised his  eyebrows. You rolled your eyes. At the same time, you both said:

“Girls.”

You rolled your eyes even harder this time. “Good God.”

Josh nodded, lips turned down, his eyes still held a little glint. “Yup. Get my point now?”

“Yeah, but like I just said, I’m not one to turn down a challenge. Just like you, Josh,” you smiled at a customer who was finally walking up to the counter, a few records in hand. “And your brother. . .I’ve learned he is nothing if not a challenge.” 

He nodded, he knew you were right. And he’d known you long enough to know that you did indeed enjoy overcoming any problem life may hand you.

In this instance, you hoped he understood your current challenge/problem was Jake.

And you needed to know how to fix it. Josh was your only source. You just had to get him to break for more information. 

Again, you really liked a good challenge. 

🌼🌼🌼

The shift rolled on. The two of you had been working the closing shift that day. 

So, as the day shifted to evening, and with about an hour before the store closed up, you started nightly duties. Josh went about straightening vinyls, fixed the ‘Featured’ wall (his favorite), and re-folded the shirts the store carried with the Black and Gold’s logo. 

Meanwhile, you swept and dusted the store. 

You hated to admit it. You really did. But you couldn’t help how the conversation from earlier had piqued your interest even more than before. 

You were now hooked. You wanted to learn more about your mysterious roommate. 

You debated how you were going to ask Josh for more information. What was a way you could ask that would convince him to tell you more about his twin? 

Ever since Jake had moved in, you’d tried so desperately to get information out of Josh. 

And he just refused to budge.

You were putting the broom away when you’d settled on how to ask him. 

You were going to be a jackass and use manipulation. 

You sucked, you knew this. You were just dying to know more about this person with whom you shared your home. And, to reiterate, it had been a damn month of knowing next to nothing about him. 

So, when you joined Josh behind the counter as he balanced the register, you were ready to play your hand. 

“Alright, so, Elsie still isn’t sure if she wants to be in your movie.” There it was. A complete lie using your sister— the one he was completely smitten with. In truth, Elsie had agreed on the spot. 

But, again, desperation had led you to this. 

You didn’t look up from your task of watering the plants that sat at the window. Just keep talking. “I have a proposition for you. You tell me more about Jake and I will convince her with everything I have to star in your film.”

You still didn’t look over to him. You were afraid of rejection. Then, you heard what seemed to be a sigh of defeat out of your best friend. You looked up to him, his eyes still reading uncertainty.

“Y/N,” he sighed. You knew he was about to say the same thing he had said for the past month. 

“I know, Josh. It’s not your story,” you moved forward to be standing right next to him. You balanced your elbow on the counter, you needed to say your piece—needed him to understand. You locked eyes with him, pleading. “Come on, Josh. I am desperate. He won’t offer anything up. He is silent. It’s been a month. He refuses to acknowledge my presence, hence me forcing him to notice me with the rules,” you paused, suddenly looking to the ground. You needed Josh to bend to your vulnerability. “But, I just need something else. You told me that one story earlier,” you urged. “Just something else small that might help me know him a bit better than I do now.”

You looked up. You were anticipating another rejection from him after you’d finished babbling. Though, his eyes seemed to open more at your apparent state of helplessness. 

He knew that it wasn’t fair what Jake was putting you through. He had to acknowledge that. You knew he felt most things with you. And you knew he was someone who had enough integrity to want to help you out. He knew this situation had been less than ideal.

He just had to loosen up on his stance of not wanting to tell his brother’s stories.

He released one more sigh. “Fine,” he looked you in the eyes. “And please try your hardest to get your sister convinced to star in my film. The role was created for her.”

You nodded. You looked to the ground once more at that last part. You felt guilty for using that little white lie. “You’ve got it.”

“Y/N.”

You looked up to him after he’d spoken your name in a tone that was much more serious than his usual. 

His brown irises were intent as he spoke. “You have to know I’m breaking a big rule of mine,” he continued. “I don’t like speaking to stories that belong to other people. Our experiences are unique to us. They deserve to be told by those to whom they happened.” 

You nodded. You understood his point. You totally knew why he felt the way he did. 

“Josh, you can just tell me childhood stories that involve both of you,” you grabbed his arm. You needed him to know you were being genuine. “I don’t want to make you betray your principles.”

He patted the hand you’d placed on his arm. “I appreciate that, Y/N,” he cleared his throat. “I just think you need to know some of the—,” he spread his hands out to emphasize, then clapped them back together. “The bigger pieces of him. At the moment, he won’t let himself show you who he is. He really isn’t a bad person. He’s just been through a hell of a lot recently.” 

All you could do was nod your head once. There wasn’t much left for you to say. You would let the curly headed man begin when he was ready. 

He eyed the clock. You looked with him. Only thirty minutes to eight o’clock. 

You looked down to your palms, wiping them on your jeans. They were suddenly getting clammy at the prospect of what information could be hitting you within the next 30 minutes. 

“I’m going to begin by saying that as his five-minutes-older brother, I’m glad that Jake gets to finally live life for himself without having to worry about being hung up on a girl,” he looked to the two folded chairs that always sat behind the counter. “Let’s sit.” 

You followed him to the chairs. And as he sat in the right chair, you sat in the left. He looked into space, contemplating what to say next. 

“Jake is seriously going through something he has never experienced before. I mean, your significant other being unfaithful to you sucks anyhow. But she’s been all he’s known for so long. . . This is a complete life upheaval for him, of sorts,” he pauses. “He and this girl — they truly were together for a long time. What are he and I . . . 24 now?” 

You nodded.

“Well, they got together when we were juniors in high school. That would make this relationship about seven years old,” he sighed. “Long time to be together—and it began when they were really only kids.”

You nodded again, coaxing him on. 

“So, since they were together that long. . . there was a lot that happened between them in high school alone, but then you have post-high school when he set his life plan on the back burner for her. We had these plans — big ones. A dream we’d shared. All of us. Sammy and Danny included.”

You were wondering what the dream could have been. “What was the dream?”

Josh shook his head. “It was Jake’s first. We all followed along behind him,” he looked down, rubbing the back of his neck. “It wouldn’t be right for me to share.” 

You were left wondering at that, but you did understand why Josh didn’t want to share. There was honor in that. And he wouldn’t be Josh if he didn’t show his honor, especially by showing loyalty to those he loved. 

“So, his dream. . .,” you exaggerated the word by using your hands as jazz hands. “It went down the tubes?”

Josh gave you a look. It was a look that told you to take a step back and try to understand. 

You relented. 

You knew it was only right to put your grumpiness with Jake aside for this story. Josh was showing vulnerability on his brother’s behalf. Plus, you’d been the one to force Josh out of his moral values to divulge Jake things. It wasn’t right to act anything but respectful to these tellings of Jake. For Josh’s sake alone.

And you’d be lying if you said you weren’t dying to hear more. Learning of Jake’s past was like satisfying this raging itch.

“I’m sorry,” your voice was quiet. 

The edges of Josh’s eyes wrinkled as he gave you a reassuring grin. “It’s okay,” he patted your knee and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “I know why you’re blunt about him. I know the man’s entire range of emotions. He acts like a child when he— when his emotions are so big and bad.”

“And right now,” you started. Your heart was growing slightly soft. “He is feeling the most emotions.”

Josh shook his head to agree. “Though, this girl was always a pill,” he rolled his eyes. “I liked her a lot at first, truly. But she started flirting with me an awful lot to be dating my brother,” his body shook as if to shake the memory. “It’s honestly not a shock to me that their relationship ended the way it did.”

Though, as soon as the last words had left his mouth, he looked down to consider them. He was weighed down by an emotion he didn’t need to speak out loud for you to know. Guilt.

It was your turn to reach a hand over to touch his knee. You just sat your hand there and told him. “You cannot blame yourself for any of this.”

He continued looking down. “I should have talked to him about how she would make advances. . . To warn him. Maybe he would have never gone and he could have—.”

He placed a palm to his forehead, eyes closing. He was going to get lost in this thought if you didn’t stop him. 

“Josh, she was a terrible person all along,” you placed a hand on his back, rubbing his right shoulder blade. “Jake isn’t a stupid person. He can’t be. You aren’t. And he’s your twin brother. He could have noticed the signs if he wanted to. It was his responsibility to drop her when he had the chance,” you gave his shoulder a squeeze. “Before any of this happened. Apparently he just loved her too much to fully acknowledge what he needed to do.”

You gave him a couple of minutes to really think about that. Then, finally, he lifted his head. “He wouldn’t have listened to me anyways,” He had a gleam in his eye. “My brother is a stubborn asshole,” he chuckled a little. “If you haven’t noticed.”

You gave him a look that said ‘No? Really?’ That turned a few more giggles loose from his chest. 

He continued, letting his tone become serious again. “So, our senior year, Jake really started getting serious about his dream. We all made these real plans, but they were ruined,” he paused, his mouth becoming a straight line. He was remembering a moment that caused a particular annoyance. “That was until she brought up how she wanted him to move with her if she got accepted to this prestigious school in Illinois,” he cleared his throat. “It makes me angry that she asked, but I also get wanting to ask your serious significant other to move with you. It was different—more than that, though. 

Her selfishness was so prominent so often; I think that’s why her asking rubbed me so wrong then, and still does now. She knew if she asked, he’d go. He’d leave his own aspirations in the dust for her. She knew what he wanted—what he’d always wanted. But still, she deemed her choices, her career, more important.”

You nodded, completely seeing eye-to-eye with your best friend. “I think there’s this sense of justice in you for your brother that he hasn’t always seemed to have for himself.”

“Yes!” Josh’s expression was one of relief that you understood. “And the thing with Jake is

. . . He’s always—girls have—,” he paused, gathering his thoughts. “As soon as his hormones kicked in when we were younger, he started noticing girls. He indulged himself in all of that,” Josh lifted his eyebrows. “He really has a strong appreciation for women, I’ll say that.” 

You rolled your eyes, nodding and then crossing your arms, sitting back. Your stomach leaped in a way you chose to ignore at the mention of his appreciation for women. To you, it was ludicrous that he couldn’t appreciate you in some capacity. If he needed sex in order to appreciate a woman, you were not the one.

“A big piece of him changed when girls started becoming involved. He lost a piece of himself. It’s almost as though he didn’t see himself as worthy without one. And now—.”

“And that’s why it’s so hard for him right now,” you finished the statement, bringing yourself back. “He’s lost a sense of his identity. . .

having to find out who he is without a woman.” 

Josh clicked his tongue, a smirk showing with a dimple in his cheek. “Precisely. It’s been a while for him,” a little spark caught in his eye. “On the drive moving him here, I told him that he needs to take a fucking break from women until he starts understanding what it means to think of what he wants first,” he rubbed at his forehead. “I know it seems like a terrible thing for me to say, but I think it’s important for him to put himself first for once in his goddamned life. He deserves to know who he is without a woman claiming him as her own.”

“Because he is worth knowing himself for who he is,” you concluded.

“Aw, Y/N. . . You growing a soft spot for Jakey?” Josh smiled smugly at you.

You held eye contact with him for a few seconds and then laughed outright at his statement. “You’re funny,” you looked to the clock, realizing you were only a couple of minutes from closing. You got up from the foldable chair and went to grab your purse from a hook behind the desk.

Josh followed your lead, but stopped to look for his phone. He tapped at all of his pockets.  Then, coming up short, he looked around the register and the checkout counter. 

You helped him look. But, the sound of Gloria Gaynor belting that “she will survive” helped you locate it easier. You saw it light up, sitting atop a box of new records at the back of the shop. 

You groaned, already walking to get it for him.

“Josh, you have got to be better about keeping track of your phone.”

Josh tsked at you, “And you have got to be better about not bossing me around,” he turned off the lights around the register. “I refuse to be a slave to such a tiny device that doesn’t serve any purpose to my spiritual healing.” 

You rolled your eyes at him, though you knew he was right. As you approached his phone, you got one final glimpse at the caller ID picture. It had been a picture of Jake. 

Even though you had just taken a deep dive into Jake’s past and grown a tiny fraction of sympathy and understanding for him. . .his picture still made you want to punch things. 

As much as his recent past had sucked, he  treated you with such blatant disrespect for someone who had offered their home to him. 

When you traipsed back over to Josh, he was waiting for you at the door, hand already on the doorknob to leave. “Jake called you.”

Josh turned around. His back was facing you and a thumb pointed behind him. “Pocket,” he said.

You snickered a little bit and did as he told you. Josh was choosing you over his prick of a brother and, quite frankly, you were bursting at the seams. 

🌼🌼🌼

You were not ready to go home to more awkwardness and Josh could tell as much, so he invited you to get a quick drink after work with him. 

He filled you in on everything else he deemed necessary as you drank a couple of margaritas on the rocks, him settling on just one Salty Dog.

Josh told a few finishing details about how much it had sucked to be separated from his womb mate for so many years.

“It honestly felt like I was cut off from him.”

Your heart hurt for him. “I’m glad he is nearer to you now,” you paused, curious. “Did he miss you that much too?”

Josh set a look on you, “Who was the first person he called after it happened? He was ready to be with me again,” he put a hand over his heart. “Came back to his understanding, sensitive twin . . . every moon needs its sun.”

You gave a conceding nod and shrug. “Fair,” you smiled. “You're obviously the sun.”

“Obviously,” he flashed a smile your way. “He might not admit it right now, but he was not at his happiest with her,” he stated. “As ironic or untrue it may seem with his moodiness, I think if he isn’t already, Jake is on his way to feeling the most free he has in a long time. I’m glad to have him back with me. Being away from each other wasn’t good for either of us.”

Your heart swelled for the tenderhearted man next to you. You watched as he looked off into space with what could only be described as a soft sort of pensiveness. You were happy for your friend, despite how Jake was acting or made you feel.

You felt your head get slightly light from the alcohol on an almost empty stomach from being at work nearly all day. You were still so curious, you wanted to know more.

“So, how did it happen?”

“Well, all I know is she was getting quite distant for a while, but Jacob thought she was only distracted by her job. Gave her the benefit of the doubt, let her do her thing and just followed along,” he gave you a look. “He did that much too often. My brother isn’t a puppy dog, but he followed her around like one,” Josh’s jaw clenched and he scratched at his bare chin. “One would say that he loved her. But as his twin, if my telepathic brain is worth anything, I believe that more than love, Jake shared so much with her when they were young that he felt obligated to follow her lead. . .no matter what.”

“And that makes you angry.”

“Oh, quite,” he continued, eyebrows bunched together. “The way he put it when he told me of the situation was that it was as though she was,” he held up air quotes. “‘Shooting the shit.’”

“Just told him like it was no big deal?” You shook your head. “That’s harsh.” 

“More than that, told him in a way that made it seem like she was already done. Essentially, his reaction meant nothing to her. She just needed to tell him in order to end things,” he continued. “She told him it had been going on for quite some time and that she didn’t think they could make it work after it all.”

“What did she do after she told him? What happened after?”

Alcohol was interacting with your senses. Otherwise, you wouldn’t show open curiosity like this. You were sure of it. 

“Well, she left,” He chewed his lip lightly. “Left Jake to deal with the aftermath — the knowledge of it all — by himself. She went to stay with a friend and he had exactly a week to get his shit together and move out. So, being the decent and thoughtful person he is,” you made a sound. Josh gave you a look. “He respected her wishes and got the hell out.”

You really had no words for the situation. It was horrid for Jake, you had to admit. You felt bad for him. You really did. Even though he pissed you off beyond belief, you still knew he was deserving of better than any of what she had put him through. 

You just wished he wouldn’t react in a way that made him become an utter jerk. Due to his attitude, you couldn’t claim that you knew the person who seemed so selfless and loving in Josh’s stories. 

The person you knew was the opposite of the one told in Josh’s tales. 

You only knew a self-centered jerk who held absolutely no respect for you in any way. 

You hated to admit to yourself just how much you wished to know the person Josh had told you about this evening. 

🌼🌼🌼

As Josh dropped you off at the stoop to your apartment that night, he shared with you an idea that had come to him. 

“This weekend. We need to do something this weekend.”

You quickly agreed, “Yes! I’d love to have a weekend that’s just us. . .like old times.”

“Actually,” he scuffed the bottom of his white sneaker against the stair step he stood on. He eyed you. “How about we involve Sammy and Danny?”

You could be okay with that. Then suddenly, your stomach flipped. “What about Jake?”

He met your eyes. “He would join. All of us. Game night.”

“Josh,” his name came out like a child’s whine. “Why?” 

He put a reassuring hand on your shoulder. “It will be good for both of you. He’ll get to be around you with others and you’ll get to be around him while he’s with people he already knows and feels most comfortable with,” he squeezed lightly at your shoulder. “It will be great. He’ll come out of his shell, and surely he’ll act a little more like himself if he’s around myself and the other two.”

Your stomach rolled at the idea of actually spending any sort of time with Jake. 

Establishing rules? Sure, you could do that. It might take 10 minutes max. But an extended amount of time actually hanging out? 

You agreed to it before Josh left you that night, even though you had your hesitations. 

You wanted to bring some joy to the man that had been there for you through so much. You were also desperate to look like the bigger person in this situation. And, surely agreeing to this would make Josh see that you were trying when Jake wasn’t. 

You needed Josh to see the trueness of your heart in all of this, no matter how much bitterness his brother had caused you.

When you’d entered your home that evening, the lights had all been off. Jake’s door was closed. He was asleep. Thank God.

As you stood at the bathroom mirror taking off your makeup, you convinced yourself it would be fine. You could find positives. You’d hung out with the other three before. You all got along very well in a group setting and honestly always had a great time. That part would be all right.

You just had to convince yourself that Jake wouldn’t ruin it by simply being there with his persistent little dark cloud of distemper. 

By the time you tucked yourself under your covers, you decided no matter what, you would have a fun time. If only for the benefit of the other boys and yourself.

You were also determined to show the best parts of yourself to Jake. A darker part of you wanted him to feel slightly (very) guilty for how he’d been treating his simply incredible roommate. 

But before game night, you had to talk to him about your rules. You weren’t looking forward to him blowing you off. You had a terrible idea that would be the response you’d get to you speaking to him. 

But you still had to try.

🌼🌼🌼

You thought through the best time to go over the rules with him, and decided the day before your night with the guys was the best option.

Your mind had settled on Jake taking two possible routes with the conversation. You figured going over them on that Friday before would work for both of these possibilities. 

One possibility was that he would sulk and pout and react like an asshole, and doing it on Friday would give him an entire day to do so. The second option was that he could very possibly just straight up ignore you like he usually did. And, you thought it best to do it a day before he would be forced to associate with you. 

It also seemed fitting to do so on the day that marked almost an entire month of him living with you. You were only one day away from it having been a whole month of him sharing your home. What a perfect time to actually acknowledge and officially, really talk to you. 

Time for him to realize all you were was a super kind person. A person who offered him shelter when there was virtually nowhere else for him to go. 

He needed to respect you and your hospitality.

You had gotten used to him usually arriving home by six every night. So, you loomed in the living room until he got home around six that evening. 

And almost right at 6 o’clock, you heard his keys jingle in the lock. 

As soon as he walked in and saw you leaning against the couch, he stopped to stare at you. It was an awkward-ass stare that made you want to slap him right across the smooth skin of his tanned cheek. 

He was just infuriating. 

“Hey,” you started, trying to sound easygoing. You didn’t know why you were nervous, but you were. 

“Hi,” his response was spoken as a question. 

You knew that you standing there probably seemed extremely odd to the man.

You didn’t care if it made him feel uncomfortable. He deserved it after making you feel edgy for the last month in your own home.

He started to move on from you, already deciding to disregard you. 

“So,” you started, sticking to the assignment. And, surprisingly when you spoke, he stopped in his tracks. “I think I’ve decided it might be a good idea to make some apartment rules.”

With his back facing you, you saw him shake his head. His wavy locks caught the streams of the evening sun’s yellow glow, making the head shake that much more offensive. 

When he still didn’t turn around, you continued. “You can go change your clothes if you want,” you folded your arms tighter to your chest. “I’ll wait out here.”

He then turned, crossed back to the kitchen counter and dropped his keys in the key bowl you’d had since Elsie lived at the apartment. Then finally, he faced you. 

Your stomach did a little flip. Why were you nervous to establish these rules for your apartment? You just needed to get it over with. 

He raised his eyebrows and gave you a look that said ‘so?’ 

His face showed that he was already irritated. It was like the mere act of standing across from you was too much. Being forced to interact with you was a hassle. 

And instantly, you were irked. Could he be any more ridiculous? 

Admittedly, you were also already done with this talk. Screw him. You heatedly whipped your phone out of the back pocket of your jean shorts. You clicked through to your notes, where you’d started the rule list. 

You started with the most agreeable rules.

“The first rule: don’t go in each other’s rooms. I think that’s common sense, but just in case it needs to be stated,” you moved on. “Number two: if we buy food or drinks, they belong to us and only us. I was thinking we could even make two separate sides of the fridge. One side for yours and one for mine.”

You looked up when you heard him take a breath. You looked at him just in time to see him breathe out a tight-lipped sigh, a mocking smirk on his face as he bugged his eyes. 

You chose to ignore him, blatantly rolling your eyes and looked back to your phone. 

“Rule number three: do your own dishes and do your best to keep the sink empty. Rule number four: keep our common spaces clean. You know, kitchen, dining room, living room, bathroom. . .clean up after yourself,” you glanced at him, seeing that he was looking into space, eyes still huge. His arms were crossed across his chest as yours had been. “Rule five: do your own laundry. And I think switching off every other day for whose laundry day it is would be a good idea. I get Monday, you get Tuesday, I get Wednesday. . .and so on.”

You paused, giving him room for notes if he had any. His face held a look you couldn’t quite read. 

“Any thoughts?” You questioned. 

He gave a little chuckle that seemed to mock the same air you’d just spoken the rules to. It was insulting. Still, you wanted to hear from him. So you waited. 

And after a solid two minutes of just standing there, he loudly exhaled. His hand combed through the front of his hair, pushing it back. His eyes blinked a couple of times afterwards. “You seem to have it all nailed down, roomie.”

“Well, thanks,” you hesitantly responded. You were pleased that he was okay with what you’d shared so far. But his mention of the nickname seemed more snarky than anything.

“No, I mean,” he cleared his throat, rubbing at his chin. “You’ve got it nailed down. Like, you left no room for any ‘notes.’”

You scoffed at the air quotes he gave the word. “I’ve hardly ‘nailed it down’,” you gave your own air quotes for his words. “These are just an outline of ideas I have.”

“Just keep going,” he sighed as though he was completely exasperated and tucked both hands in the pockets of his jeans. “I have a date in like an hour.”

“A date?” 

“And it’s your business how?”

“You just told me,” you argued. “That’s how.”

“Didn’t mean you could ask questions about it,” he bit back. “I was just telling you so you would know I don’t have time to just stand here and listen to you drag on about these ‘rules’.”

You shook your head, shocked at how rude a person could be. Completely in awe of the man, you decided you would continue. You were ready to be rid of him. 

“Fine,” you angrily pressed your phone back on. “Speaking of dates. . .Rule six: when you have a date over, please keep them out of the common areas and remember the walls are thin. . . In general, no especially loud music, no loud. . .,” you cleared your throat and your skin prickled with embarrassment. “. . .  anything else.”

“Oh,” he seemed interested. Figured. If it had to do with a woman, his interest was suddenly piqued. “That also applies to you and Josh, I assume?”

“What?!” You were suddenly very disturbed at that statement. “Josh and me? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

He tilted his head down, his eyes sticking onto yours, hair falling to swing next to his face. “Seriously? You apparently know the walls are thin as shit. And our rooms are right next door, so I can hear the two of you stay up all hours of the night talking,” he looked to the side, his eyebrows raising. “Who knows what the hell else you both do after I fall asleep. You are both touchy as fuck with one another, so I’ll just let my mind wander with what happens behind closed doors.”

You started laughing hysterically at the whole statement Jake had just made. You couldn’t even gather your thoughts. Shocked was an understatement for how Jake’s assumptions left you feeling. 

“Are you kidding me?” You stepped towards him, pointing a finger in his direction. “Of course you would assume a friendship is more than what it actually is. Hopeless fuckin’ roma—.”

You stopped yourself. You had almost called him a hopeless romantic. How would you even begin to explain that you knew enough about him to call him that?

He took a step forward, his jaw clenched. He crossed his arms across his chest again. His chest seemed to continue to rise with his irritation. His fingers were digging into his biceps, clad in his light blue button-up.

“No, finish. Please.” 

Your blood pressure was rising, you felt your skin prickling with embarrassment and guilt. Your heart was racing. You shouldn’t have exploded and almost exposed what Josh had told you. You couldn’t betray Josh’s trust like that. You were being errant. You knew an anxiety attack was on the horizon if you didn’t stop soon. Betraying someone you love was known to bring you to tears quicker than almost anything else. 

You also couldn’t deny how bad you felt for referring to something that was probably still a sensitive topic to your roommate. As much as you despised him, you didn’t have to be so overtly uncool towards him in a hard time.

“Let’s just keep on with the rules,” you tried to calm yourself down. You didn’t need to have an anxiety attack in front of him. That was the last thing you needed. “Please?”

He seemed to catch on to your nerves. And luck seemed to be on your side with how he relented so quickly. He still seemed a little irked, but his eyes were softer than they were before.

“Go on.”

You breathed in and out once, then situated your nerves the best you could to finish. 

“I, um, I thought it would be cool to add a little something that would help keep us accountable for getting to know each other,” you didn’t want to meet his eyes, so you kept yours glued to the screen of your phone. “We both love music, so I was thinking. . .Rule seven: we switch off every other night and play a record on the record player. One of our own choosing. It would give us a good idea of who we’re living with.”

“Because the music we love really says so much about who we are,” he agreed honestly. 

You looked up after he’d spoken, and the look on his face as he looked down said he hadn’t meant to speak it out loud. His eyebrows knitted together like he had conflict within himself. He didn’t want you to know he thought similarly to you, you were sure of it. He’d let his precious little guard down the slightest, smallest bit. 

You couldn’t help it when a teeny-tiny grin landed on your lips. You shook it away before he could possibly see.

“Yep. Totally,” you said very quietly in response. But you knew he heard you when he blinked a couple times and then ran a hand through his hair, bringing his head back up in the process. 

He was making you feel very antsy, and his date would be here soon. So, you tried to finish quickly. 

“And finally, rule eight: we keep a work schedule posted to the fridge so we’re aware of when the other one will be at home. It will be helpful to know if the other one is at work; just in case of an emergency or anything, I thought it’d be helpful.”

You looked up as you finished, he was now leaning back against the kitchen counter. His amber-brown eyes stayed locked on yours earnestly for a bit. You felt your cheeks heat. Then he asked, “And you’re sure there’s not anything else?” 

You shook your head ‘no’.

His previously haughty tone was coming back when he spoke next. “How do you expect me to remember all of these things? And we'll post our schedules on the fridge?”

You couldn’t help it as your heart leapt the slightest bit. He still wasn’t completely rejecting any of the rules. In fact, unless he was somehow being sarcastic, he even wanted a way to remember them. 

“I—I’ll print it all out at work and put everything on the fridge,” you shoved your phone into your back pocket. “I’ll even include a place for our phone numbers, just in case we ever need those.” You added, "And we can just post our schedules when we get them every week."

He nodded once. He looked up at the ceiling then, obviously done with the conversation. You didn’t blame him. You really were too. 

You were suddenly longing for him to ignore you again. His presence was making you tense. You didn’t know how to act around him. You hadn’t had that problem with anyone for a long time. 

The last time was probably middle school when no one knew how to act around each other. 

But now as an adult woman? You hated that someone made you feel like this. 

And in your own home, no less.

He pushed off the counter and started to his room. Then, only steps from his room, he turned on his boot to face you, he held a look of blatant vexation. 

Ugh, what now? You thought.

“Do we really have to have our own sections for our food and drinks in the fridge? Why don’t we just put our initials on things that belong to us?” He reasoned. “I’ll even buy the damned Sharpie.”

You couldn’t find a way to dispute his suggestion in the moment. You could agree with that. “Yeah, sounds good. Good idea.”

He gave an almost-smile (couldn’t show too much cordiality), “I have a few of those every once in a while.” 

He then got a smug grin on his face, “Oh, and you might want to get some earplugs for tonight. . .paper thin walls and all that.”

“Jake,” you were stunned at the audacity. Your shoulders tightened up. “Seriously?”

He set his head back, raising his eyebrows up. A smirk raised his lips, “Nowhere on that rules list did you say I’m not allowed to bring women over. And I really can’t control whether or not I make them scream,” he set you with a stare, raising a brow. “And I’ve gotta say, that’s always been a pretty normal occurrence,” he paused. “And I most likely wouldn’t have been too keen on following a ‘no women’ rule anyway, so.”

“Asshole,” You scoffed, your thighs quivered. The disdain he caused you floated through your whole body. “A little full of yourself?”

“Alright then, don’t plug your ears,” his smirk only grew. “You’ll hear for yourself tonight. Post-breakup recovery fuck, y’know? Gotta get some of this lingering tension out of my system,” he shook his shoulders and arms out to emphasize his words.

Your skin grew angry goosebumps at the thought of everything he’d just said to you. You were amazed by him. Truly. 

Not in a good way. Not amazed in the sense he’d wanted you to be.

He turned on his heel to continue the walk to his room, and you just stood in your spot. Your bare toes dug into the carpet, waiting to hear his door click. 

Once finally alone, you let out a breath you’d apparently been holding. You shook your head at his repulsive words. You were utterly shocked that he would say any of that to you. What the heck? 

This interaction had shown you that it was obviously too much for him to be a pleasant human for an extended period of time.

And he had no issue making you feel completely on edge. 

Distasteful son of a bitch.

You wanted to go hide in your bedroom for the night. You didn’t want to chance running into him again.

You stomped to your room. You had had enough of Jake Kiszka for one night. 

🌼🌼🌼

You downed the recommended 2-pill dose of melatonin that evening, but snuck in one extra with a giant swig of water. 

Jake had left about an hour prior and you’d be damned if he woke you up with any sex-related noises. 

You were ready to get some sleep anyway, completely tired after the stress you’d dealt with. Your doctor had suggested melatonin to induce necessary rest after any anxious episodes. 

You knew you were to blame for a part of the stress, sticking your foot in your mouth the way you had. But Jake was the main culprit of the stress.

And you were done with him ruling your emotions for the evening. 

🌼🌼🌼

And of course, the next morning, Jake was stuck in your head. 

You hated it. It wasn’t because you wanted him there. It was thanks to a ridiculous dream that had plagued you during the night.

Your sleep had graced you with a reminder of the moment you’d almost outed your knowledge of his past. But in the vision, you weren’t feeling the onslaught of nerves you’d originally felt in the moment anymore.

No, in this version of it, all you could focus on was the vision of his chest, how it had been heaving in the midst of his irritation.

And it wasn’t even a covered chest that haunted your dream. No, it was his chest that seemed to be persistently bare. The bronzed, silky-smooth chest you’d seen one too many times in the month he’d lived with you. 

You couldn’t understand how he was 24 years old and still didn’t know how to button his shirts past two buttons. It maddened you that he didn’t know how to button his entire shirt. His toned light brown, sun-kissed chest was distracting in a way you wished it wasn’t.

All you wanted was to escape your roommate. And now he was literally haunting your dreams. 

You had chosen to deny how you’d woken up with sweat on your forehead, hair stuck to your equally sweaty face. You weren’t going to let him have that control over you. Not even in your dreams.

And now, you were completely dreading spending the evening with him in any capacity. 

You just hoped Josh came armed with damn good booze for game night. You desperately needed to get out of your head.

🌼🌼🌼

a/n: next chapter is game night! we’ll finally get introduced to sammy and danny <3

there is sooo much to come. i can’t wait to share more with you all. like i’ve previously mentioned, their story is quite the rollercoaster. our beloved roomies are both very stubborn . . . it’ll make for a grand ‘ol time! lmao

i hope you enjoyed!! plz message me & let me know what you thought! hearing from you guys is just so wonderful! let me know if you'd like to be tagged for future chapters!! <3

taglist:

@joshym, @gretavanfleetposts, @alyson814, @jaketlover, @writingcold, @jessicafg03, @gretavangroove, @gvfpal, @twinszka, @reesetrippingthelight, @lallisonl, @laurenlovesgretavanfleet, @Fretaganvleet, @222headedcalf, @dreamssingold, @carbondancingthroughtime, @raviolilegs, @whollyfreeamongstthestars, @llightmyllovee, @sacredjake (even if it seemed to refuse to tag, i still tried - ugh! i apologize for any weirdness of the tagging. if i missed you, please let me know! i think i included everyone, but it's def possible i accidentally left someone out.)

[randomthefox]

I really wish sega would be like "don't do that with our property" more often

Especially back in the 90s

SEGA doesn't care as long as they're getting money and not losing any money. That's why they were so hands off with Archie. They saw Archie as just a free running commercial for their games which, unlike their regular marketing department, THEY got paid for instead of needing to pay for. It was a no brainer to just let Archie run in the background, collect the licensing fee, and occasionally tell them to make a game tie in issue or two to advertise the hot new release. The fact Archie and its creators didn't realize this was their relationship with SEGA was the cause of all the friction with the licensing partnership.

Every time someone references that interview with Ken Penders where he talks about how SEGA asked them to make a tie in storyline for Sonic Adventure but didn't give them an advanced copy of the game or game script, in all his Ian Flynn-ian "ugh big bad Sega amirite" tone, I just shout internally "WHY THE FUCK WOULD THEY GIVE YOU A COPY OF THE SCRIPT ALL YOU NEEDED TO DO WAS MAKE A FUCKING 20 PAGE COMMERCIAL FOR THE GAME WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"

Every single fucking time Archie fuckers complain about how SEGA would occasionally force them to make issues that tie into a new game release because it interrupted the storyline they were in the middle of, all I can respond with is WELL THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN DOING THAT! WHY THE FUCK WERE THEY MAKING ORIGINAL STORYLINES? THE PURPOSE OF THE COMICS WAS TO SERVE THE GAMES, IF THEY WERE TRYING TO DO THEIR OWN THING THEN THAT WAS A MISTAKE AND YOU HAVE NO ONE TO BLAME FOR THAT BEING DISRUPTED BUT YOURSELVES!

Anyway! SEGA eventually only started actually caring about Archie because Archie started costing them money. The lawsuit drama when Ken Penders was smart enough to retain the intellectual rights to the characters he created (I actually deeply respect him for this, good on him. Walt Disney had to learn that lesson the hard way) caused SEGA to actually start paying attention because they had to start asking the question of "why is our legal department setting up board room meetings over this fucking comic book?" Suddenly the comic was not just a source of free licensing fee income, but now it was a possible source of losing money to legal drama. So while they were happy to keep accepting the licensing fee payouts, NOW they actually had to monitor this shit and make sure nothing that would cause them to lose money happened again in the future by applying actual scrutiny to the comic.

So basically SEGA finally needing to put their foot down and say "don't do that with Sonic" was an example of "this is why we can't have nice things" because Penders and Archie and Bioware had a bumblefuck that caused the lawyers to start getting involved. So now in the interest of ensuring they maximize making money and minimize losing money, SEGA actually will devote time and resources to monitoring the comic and making sure it doesn't fuck up their brand.

They're more lenient with the movies because the movies are a different medium, they were an unproven market so they were more swayable to studio insistence on changes needing to be made, plus the revenue from movie sales is so much higher than the comic sales that it'll make your head spin AND due to the difference in the contract between IDWs licensing fee and their arrangement with the movie studio SEGA actually likely makes a percentage of the box office gross and DVD sales for the movies whereas they don't make a single dime off of IDWs comic sales. So it's just a different can of worms there.

[amethystwrytes]

About Me/M. List

💜Amethyst is the name. (She/Her)

💜Playing it cool since 1989

💜I love about a billion different kinds of music, but this blog honestly is just a KPop worship station for me. You’ll see a lot of BTS, like A LOT, but also plenty more groups mixed in the stew.

💜I don’t like interacting with minors. I can’t stop them from finding and consuming my content, it’s the internet and it is what it is BUT I really don’t need nor do I want to know that they’re all up in my biz. So all I ask is that if you’re under 18, please don’t interact ✌🏼🫶🏼

💜I don’t plagiarize material and am very much not a fan. Every story listed below is mine, from my silly little brain, and I need you to respect that. Intellectual property is a thing, so please do not copy, repost, or translate my stories (as if you’d want to tbh🤭) as your own or without explicit permission. And honestly just don’t do it to anyone, because eventually someone will realize and then the internet will just tear your ass up and nobody wants that. Ick.

💜Despite those last two bullet points I’m actually really chill. I love to chat about pretty much anything but I am pretty introverted until I feel comfortable with someone, then it’s hard to shut me up 😂. So if we’re moots and you’re wondering why I’ve never reached out - it’s probably because I’m scared of you and think I’ll annoy you to no end. Maybe I’m not that chill actually 🤔😂😂😂

💜Requests? You can send them to me at any time, but I can’t promise I’ll write it. Still, it’s fun to read and create scenarios with one another so feel free to hash it out in my ask box or through DMs!!

💜Need a Beta Reader? Hi🙋🏻‍♀️ I’d be more than happy to read through and try and help you. Not to toot my own horn but I do have a dusty lil English Degree in a box somewhere and I used to work in the uni library and help edit term papers 💅 DM me anytime for help.

💜When I write random things that are on my mind, personal, non KPop or dessert related I use the tag “amethoughts” - if you have no interest in those thoughts then you can block that tag if you’d like to.

Masterlist

1. “If I Had Asked” — Jungkook x Gender Neutral Reader. Summary: Jungkook wants to catch up at a mutual friends birthday party. Genre: Romantic. Hurt. Comfort. Fluff. Exes to lovers. Oneshot. Rating: E for everyone babe. There’s some alcohol and marijuana but I mean, nothing weird or crazy happens.

2. “Hard to Handle” — Jungkook x Female Reader. Summary: You’re starting to want a little more from your FWB buddy. Genre: Romance. Smut. F2L. Oneshot. Rating: 18+.

3. “Imaginary Games” — Taehyung x Female Reader. Summary: The only thing that could make a destination wedding - in which you're the maid of honor, who has to give a speech in front of a crowd, who has to wear a dress that cost you a pretty penny that you'll never wear again - worse is the fact that your cheating ex is the best man. Genre: Romantic, Smut, Exes to Lovers, Smidge of Hurt. Oneshot. Rating 18+.

1. “Of Course, Professor” — Minho x Female Reader. Summary: The law professor everyone is scared of generously offers to help you with your school work. Genre: Smut. Romantic-ish. Basically just porn with a hint of plot tossed in. Oneshot. Rating 18+. [Bonus Drabble. Also 18+.]

[bigmouthlass]

Title:  The Three'o'Clock Slump

Series: Vices and Indulgences

Author:  BJ

Fandom:  The Boys

Rating:  Explicit

Pairing:  Solider Boy/Original Female Character,

Synopsis: A new member of the Vought America leadership team gets a surprise at her first semiannual board meeting.

Tags:  Solider Boy, Original Female Character, Early 80s Period Piece, Dubious Consent,

AN:  All your porns are belong to us. All recognizable intellectual properties are owned by their respective creators and holders of any trademarks or copyrights. This is a not-for-profit work of fan art and is protected by Fair Use.

---

Context in life is basically everything, Prof. Andrews would say over and over when he'd give his lectures on symbolism and figurative language. To understand a thing's purpose, one must place it within the correct context.

Which is why my brain's flapping around like a car with a blown tire right now. The correct context for the man sitting next to me is . . . not here. His proper context is out in the big scary world being bigger and stronger than everything, making the problems he solves seem both too big to handle and too trivial to bother with, saving the world through sheer American . . . American-ness. He doesn't belong here. In the same room as me. Next to me. Close enough to feel his heat and smell his cologne. It's got me all flustered and twitterpated and all that jazz.

Doing my absolute best to ignore the superhero sitting next to me, I face front. Mr. DeSousa's launching into his presentation on Vought South America's aggressive property acquisition push in Brazil. It's got nothing to do with my end of the business, and in no time I'm so bored I'm rigored. The buzzing from the lights is giving me a headache and I skipped lunch so I wouldn't have to use the bathroom at an awkward moment. I'm sweating under my second best suit and the stale air's making me feel smothered and claustrophobic. In the back of my mind I can feel the cost of my presence here mounting in terms of jobs back home that aren't getting done. Ever since Vought's Western division split I've been pulling eighty hour workweeks getting the new Seattle offices off the ground. Like the wise man said, war is hell but expansion is worse.

Oh and did I mention that Soldier Boy is sitting right here beside me? Bumping my left elbow as I try to catch up on this month's budgets? Who is currently wearing a nice but unremarkable double-breasted suit, a watch chain gleaming gold at his waist. Nothing to hint that he's outside his proper context except no way would anybody with eyes think he belongs in this crowd. He's a leopard in a den of hyenas.

God's night jars he even brought a briefcase, dark green leather with brass clasps.

"Psst!" I start so hard I almost drop my pen. It takes everything I got to not squeal like a five-year-old. I've met Supes before. They're a good-slash-service that we sell. Close to, they're human like the rest of us. But with Solider Boy, the illusion's not collapsing. It's just getting new dimensions. For instance, did you know he has freckles? Itty-bitty ones, scattered across the bridge of his nose. "Have you got a light, miss?”

Words in language using vocabulary I was taught at some point-- my brain seizes up solid.

"Light?"

"Oh! Uh . . ." I hand him my little black Ronson and he lights a cigarette, patrician lips clutching the filter end and mouth working around the smoke.

"Much obliged," he looks at the lighter barrel, "Ace?"

Alice Corina Espersen, that's me.

"So if someone would please get the lights--"

"Let me." DeSousa turns pale as Solider Boy uncoils himself from his chair and reaches to flip the switch. The light from the slide projector and the odd glow of a cigarette ember are the only illumination as we're treated to click after click of tropical-looking wildernesses and charts showing developmental timetables.

Click and Solider Boy's handing me my lighter back, trailing his fingers over my hand in a light incidental caress that makes every hair on my body stand on end.

Click and he's slouched to the side, pressing his arm firmly against my shoulder. Thick as a tree branch; if he pumped his bicep his sleeve would pop open.

Click and he's leaning close to speak softly in my ear, asking me what the ACE stands for, making a small pleased noise when I introduce myself.

Click and he's inhaling softly, smelling my hair and my perfume. I blush so red my head hurts when I realize he can also smell my sweat.

Click and I feel a touch on my leg under the table. Just a light little pet on the top of my thigh, warm through my stocking.

Click and his hand’s fitted just above the cap of my knee, big and hard.

Click and his thumb’s rubbing a funnybone.

Click and he’s pushing up the hem of my skirt, one torturous fraction of an inch at a time.

Click and he’s touching the meaty inside of my leg.

Click. Click. Click.

The lights come back on and Soldier Boy’s sitting with his hands folded on the table in front of him, face as open and innocent as an angel. Mr. DeSousa calls a break, making some lame seventh-inning-stretch joke I barely hear. "Thank you for your attention. Reconvene in thirty."

Forgetful of my dignity, I make my quick way to the ladies’ room. God I’m a sight, flushed tomato red and my makeup caked up by sweat. From being pawed by . . . by . . .

Bonk context, I got up in the mirror universe this morning. One where the greatest hero to ever live just spent over an hour feeling me up and one where I’d trade my immortal soul if only he'd do it some more. I stuff my emergency rock candy in my mouth and lean over the sink to splash water on my face. The cool wetness is blessed relief.

I straighten up and in the mirror-- the shriek of surprise gets shoved back down my throat as a big hand covers my mouth. “Shh,” Solider Boy says. “Easy Ace.” His free hand covers my ribs and pulls me into his body. I’m decked out in every authority symbol I can manage to compensate for the tiny body the good Lord done gave me; dark framed glasses, black suit, understated makeup. Against Soldier Boy, none of it works. He's just so big, powerful, there's so much of him. His body eclipses mine, his presence extinguishes me. I melt back into the heat of his embrace. “The door’s locked, and we only have twenty minutes.”

I defy any red-blooded American female to look into those eyes and say no thank you sir I’d rather not get fucked in the bathroom like some back-alley floozy. Solider Boy shoves my skirt up and grunts in approval when he feels the snaps of my garter belt and the lacy tops of my stockings. My underwear vanishes with a snap of failed elastic. Thanks to his work from earlier, I’m all humid down there. He makes quick work of the buttons on my blouse, sighing in appreciation as he eyes my bra. The pads of his fingers brush my button, soft and gentle.

"Shh," Solider Boy whispers as I try and suck back my whimpers. "Don’t want anyone to guess what we’re up to, hmm?" I shut my eyes, torn right down the middle between mounting horror and mounting lust. Some seconds pass in silence, then a hard voice in my ear orders, "Open your eyes Alice. I want you to see this."

This can't be me, this slut looking back at me with her skirt up and her bosoms hanging out, Soldier Boy's face hanging over my shoulder and his fingers coaxing something clawed and merciless out of my center. He takes off my glasses, studies them a moment, and flings them into a corner. My hair falls down everywhere as he pulls out the pin. "There we go. It’s always you professional girls who pop like firecrackers."

Professional. That’s me, no room in my life for anything like what he’s making me feel. To be taken seriously in a man’s world a woman’s gotta be ten times the man of everyone around her-- in control but never dominant, supportive but never motherly, attractive but never sexual. Soldier Boy’s yanking me out of my context and making me feel grateful for it right alongside the shame.

“Oh, good girl,” he tells me in a voice of pure intoxication as I reach up and link my hands behind his neck. My chest rises as my body stretches, lifting my bosoms and exposing my throat. Soldier Boy’s fingertips keep pressing, caressing, his touch light and sure and turning my whole body into a building thundercloud. His free hand covers my mouth and I sob out a strangled wheezing moan as I seize up in the hardest brightest climax I’ve ever had in my life.

I stumble forward and catch myself by my hands on the sink counter, panting and shaking. My hair hangs down in strings over my eyes. Chuckling to himself, Solider Boy steps back. I hear the clack of a lock. "Better hurry. You've only got five minutes."

Trembling like a newborn fawn, I readjust my clothes, do what I can for my hair and powder my nose. I look . . . like a hooker halfway through a long hard night on the streets but it's going to have to do. My bare crotch feels slimy and disgusting and without underwear I just have to hope my slip and skirt lining can hold the line against a wet spot bleeding through.

"Dammit Ben--" I hear someone say as I hurry out of the restroom. I'm the last one in as Security locks the doors. The VP of talent management's taken my seat and I'm stuck having to excuse myself to the only empty chair. I can hear the end of my career in the stony silence, see it in everyone's disgusted glare. Dear Lord strike me dead. Hell can't be much worse than this.

And yet, I can feel the weight of Solider Boy's stare on the back of my neck. My sex burns and throbs, weeping a tiny trickle of nectar and making my slip stick to me. God help me but if he wanted to throw me on the floor down in front of everyone, I'd let him. Hell, I'd thank him.

Finally, mercifully, it's over. I've got a redeye back to Seattle and a long weekend of head-clearing drudgery ahead of me in the privacy of my own home. Doing my best to ignore the lecherous smirks, I make a show of packing up my attaché case as the room clears. I'll feel better after a nice big room service supper, a hot shower, and a few hours of sleep.

As I'm following the pack towards the bank of elevators, a long arm snatches me into a hallway I didn't notice before and before I can say Jack Robinson I'm being whisked into an empty elevator. Strong arms lift me out of my shoes and guide my legs in a monkey wrap. My head goes light and swimmy as lips clamp over mine and a broad tongue licks its way into my mouth. I'm weightless, underwater, drowning. My body doesn't belong to me any more. It belongs to him.

"Sweet like candy," Solider Boy mumbles between kisses.

"I've got to catch a plane--" I squeak.

"No. You don't." The elevator door beeps open and Solider Boy carries me to my fate. --- AN2: Soldier Boy strikes me as the type of sexual predator who lives in that dubcon twilight zone of But They Really Wanted To and refuses to entertain the idea that consent under duress is invalid.

[downstarr]

Fanfic and the Right to Be Forgotten

You know that thing that’s been happening where people are binding fic that they didn’t write and selling it for a lot of money? And some people are even selling merch based off of fic without permission?

That speaks to new and/or young people in fandom not realizing how tenuous the existence of fic is and how easily it can and has been taken away. But what’s also contributing to this is the idea that fic exists in some kind of creative common just because it’s fic.

To be clear, you can’t make money off someone else’s intellectual property without permission/paying a licensing fee, full stop. People selling fanart are basically riding off the goodwill of the IP holders not to serve them with a cease and desist. Usually the studios don’t do that because they realize persecuting their biggest fans for making a small amount of money is not a good look. They tend to take a harder line with fic for various legal reasons I won’t get into here. But basically, you cannot in any way, shape or form, make money off fanfic. It is only allowed to exist because the writers are not making money. Even that right was hard-fought and kept in large part because of the work of the nonprofit Organization for Transformative Works who run Ao3. 

Just because an author can’t make money off their fic doesn’t mean that fic belongs to fandom, though. It still belongs to the person who wrote it. It is not free for others to use unless the author explicitly gives permission. 

That means that the author of the fic is allowed to remove it and it should stay removed. The author has the right for their work to be forgotten and to disappear. It doesn’t matter if it’s beloved in the fandom, or if it meant something to people. That doesn't change the fact that it doesn’t belong to fandom. The idea that it does is what leads people to think it’s okay to bind and sell fic they didn’t write. 

Now, if I personally decided to delete a fic, I’d probably give people a head’s up and a chance to download their own copy for personal use. I also wouldn’t mind if they passed a copy off to a friend who wanted to read it. But under no circumstance should you put it up again or put it on a server for others to download to “save” it. Frankly, it isn’t yours to save and fandom should respect the wishes of the author who wrote it and then chose to delete it. 

Why would an author delete a fic? Well, it doesn’t really matter. It’s the author’s work and their choice. But maybe they were getting hate in the comments. Maybe they don’t think the writing was very good. Maybe they aren’t part of that fandom anymore and don’t want to interact with readers. Yes, they could orphan the work but they definitely aren’t obligated to. 

The biggest reason though, is that a lot of fic contains TONS of original elements. Some fic only holds a tangential relationship to canon through archetypes and basic personalities. Those original ideas belong to the writer. This means they have the option to delete the fic version and file the serial numbers off the work and turn it into a wholly original, saleable IP of their own if they want to. Many many published works started off as fic, the most famous of which is, of course, Fifty Shades of Gray which started as Twilight fic. 

If you circumvent an author’s wishes and repost or share their deleted fic widely, you undermine their ability to profit off their original ideas and writing. I get that it’s sad to lose a fic you loved, but it’s very easy to download copies of fic if you want to make sure you can reread it in the future. We also shouldn't guilt authors who choose to delete their fic, especially if they want to remake that work into something original.

Regardless of whether an author can make money off of their writing, it’s still theirs to control. Or at least, it should be. The idea that fanwork belongs to a collective also leads to authors and fanartists being taken for granted, as well as giving people the mistaken idea that they can remix it and sell it. 

This work doesn’t come out of the aether. It comes from talented folks who create transformative works for free. The least we can do is respect their right for that work to be forgotten if they decide to delete it.

[atiny-for-life]

Ateez's Full Storyline Explained - Part 16

Masterlist

Halazia (Unnamed World)

I'd first like to say that all the information I’m referencing here comes from the MV, Prologue and Epilogue, Hongjoong’s Q&A shorts and the MV reaction video

In short: I'm just theorizing here but let's get going

First: the name "Halazia" - it's just a combination of "Hala" from Hala Hala (which can be translated from Sanskrit to 'black mass' or 'time puzzle') and "zia" which refers to the sun -> "Be the light, oh Halazia"

looking it up, you'll find some information about the Pueblo of Zia where a very specific symbol has been used for hundreds of years among the indigenous people to represent the sun that looks like this:

You'll now also find this symbol on the flag of New Mexico but the actual natives whose ancestors created and passed it down didn't consent to this and now there's a lot of (very justified) debate regarding intellectual property - this part has nothing to do with the Ateez lore, I just thought it was interesting and important to share in case anyone was thinking of getting this symbol tattooed or sth

Theory no 1 (basically confirmed by Hongjoong in his short lore Q&A vid): we're dealing with neither Ateez, nor the Black Pirates here

The main indicator to me was the lack of Mingi's "Fix on" and Hongjoongs lil giggles before their respective rap parts (which had previously been a constant, regardless of whether they were acting as Ateez or the Black Pirates)

But aside from that, it also seems like Yunho is the leader of this group with Hongjoong being his right-hand man as opposed to the other way around (and we get to see Yeosang’s birthmark which was previously always covered)

We do still see Hongjoong wearing an armband with the Cromer logo on it - so maybe it's more like Yunho's the public-facing head of the group while Hongjoong's in charge behind the scenes

Alternate reality-wise, we're in one very close to the Z-World where the Revolution has already ended but not quite so successfully, as we can see by the city up in smoke and rubble in the background

Since we've got Yunho sitting inside a ginormous, shattered Cromer, we can assume either (A) these guys themselves have already traveled through time and alternate realities to get here (which would align with what we see in the iconic Mnet livestage with the red and black outfits) and are now stuck until they found another one to take them back home - wherever that home may be or (B) this entire room is the remainder of the Black Pirates' hideout and the Cromer was destroyed by one of them before they were captured so it wouldn't fall into the hands of the government (which could mean one of them escaped to another reality)

Side-note: We've seen such a gravitational anomaly before during Diary Film after Hongjoong first received the Cromer in the A-World and was alone in the Ateez hideout

Side-note 2: You can find my theory on why a Cromer may be intentionall shattered by someone who understands its powers here)

Going by the lyrics, they've already been here long before the Revolution and used to live as regular citizens in Strictland before they had their microchips removed by the Black Pirates - I'm largely basing that on the iconic "No more, keep control" and "No more, keep your soul" -> they want to be in charge of their own lives, to feel and have free thought as opposed to the mindless drones the chips had forced them to be

Another thing worthy of noting is that, as the bell rings, we can see Seonghwa glitch which could have several meanings: they've got hologram technology which helps them make public appearances in the daytime more safely OR (given the ominous vibes of the sound and the association with the bell) they're either not fully human (which would also explain the post-production added CGI glint we see in Jongho's eye at two separate points in the MV) or otherwise existing in this world on borrowed time.

Alternatively, the bell could also indicate that our protaganists are more powerful at certain points in time and this is a visualization of that power. As the moon phases affect the Cromer, they may also affect them.

Regarding the Black Pirate outfits we're seeing throughout the video: our protagonists here were freed by them, alongside all the other people we get to see in the plaza and abandoned mall, but without Ateez's help, they didn't manage to stay undetected so the government either captured or straight-up murdered them

Left behind and without guidance while everyone is praying for the Black Pirates return (see: the Prologue), our protagonists have now stepped up and are rebuilding the movement - though whether they're burning the Black Pirates' outfits as a funeral ritual, out of frustration and anger due to feeling abandoned... or because the tattered clothes were strung up that way by the government to scare off further acts of rebellion Vlad-the-Impaler style which would make this a symbol of defiance, is unclear

Regardless, many of the other citizens who were freed seem willing to join their cause and their current mission seems to be to take down this anti-gravity orb

I can only make a rather baseless guess as to what the purpose of these things is but since it's actively rising here, it seems to be something newly installed that's meant to rise above city-level

The central government presumably built and installed it so maybe it can send out some kind of pulse or signal to regain control over the population - after all, the chips seem to have only had the link cut but weren't removed so re-establishing the link could be possible as long as the hardware wasn't fully fried (which would've probably needed harsher, more painful for the skin interference but what the heck do I know about this world's technological advances)

Either way, to me, that would explain both the fear in the lyrics about returning to their prior state of being pre-awakening, as well as why San was so ready to risk it all to break this thing

Either way, we've got Yeosang bringing in the chains to tie this thing up

Based on the skyline compared to the one from the prologue, it seems like the thick smoke pillars might be originating from the crash sites of the other orbs which would mean they already brought down all the other ones successfully and have now reached their last stop

They wrap the chains around the orb, tie it up all nice and neatly (which must've been a pain in the ass to do since that thing is floating in mid air, makes lightweight shit in its vicinity float and is well, the shape of a super smooth ball) and all start pulling together up until everyone seemingly leaves San to finish the job by himself

To me, there could be multiple reasons for this: (1) it was always part of the plan (highly unlikely imo), (2) everyone but San lost hope this was gonna work out since they're already exhausted af from doing this several times before and don't seem to have made all that much progress and maybe they think they've already done enough since this is seemingly the last orb left, (3) San convinced everyone to leave as they were working/everyone but him got too scared to continue because Android Guardians or another government entity were underway and would've killed or captured them if they were caught

Either way, it all ends with the orb evaporating the moment it collides with San as if his existence somehow canceled out the orb's. While this is very likely to be a creative decision since no one wants to see this human embodiment of sunshine get crushed to death, it could also mean San is still alive if he possesses abilities that go beyond a regular human's or if the orb isn't made up of regular matter/material.

Moving on to the Prologue and Epilogue:

Aside from what I already covered, there are also quite a few other things I want to bring up regarding what we get to see in these two bonus videos, starting with the numbers behind Hongjoong in the Prologue here (which were also pointed out by him in the Making Of video)

You can put these numbers (22152984) and decode them with A1Z26 in which case you'd get this (yes, I still use the Gravity Falls: Break the Code website for this kinda stuff - I refuse to be judged for it):

While this is rather nonsensical, it is quite close to "Bluebird" which would fit the lyrics but it's still just a lil bit unsatisfying since, properly encoded, it should have been "2-12-21-5-2-9-18-4", meaning they forgot a "1" twice.

Regardless, I couldn't find anything better - it can't be coordinates, there's no cypher like this for Hangul that I could find, and using Base64 only gets you "my8" which doesn't make too much sense but Ateez are 8 members so that's nice, I guess.

The first thing that pops up in my search results when I look up the numbers is "Buy 22152984 from Oxygen Electronics" by the way - shout out to life support machine parts you can order online (no affiliation, though I do hope they're an ethical company)

Regarding the numbers, I'll leave it at that for now but if I ever find something that makes more sense, I'll update this!

Ah yes, the mysterious blonde person that pops up toward the end of the Prologue and disappears in the blink of an eye as someone walks past

Seonghwa is the only one who takes note of them and, based on his neutral expression, it doesn't seem to be the first time he's seen them

Are they the Witness? I do think so but we'll come back to it in a moment.

Skipping ahead to the Prologue uploaded yesterday, we're opening with a shot of the bluebird we've already gotten to see in the Prologue and which has also been referenced in the lyrics - it's a symbol of reclaiming freedom, of escaping your shackles, of finding your voice and using it. They've now made it. They've chosen freedom. They've chosen to fight.

The bird's path now guides Seonghwa through the abandoned mall where the orb was brought down and San was sacrificed. It whistles a lil tune and disappears near a lone white-clad figure we've seen before.

Last seen among a small group on the rooftop at the end of the MV, our blondie stands by themselves again, though the others aren't far as we'll soon see

Since the mission is now over, Seonghwa let's his curiosity win and follows the figure up a dark staircase, letting his flashlight guide him

He finds the group of four from the rooftop standing in a dark room against the backdrop of the smoking skyline behind the large windows - they were waiting for him

A white flash, rolling thunder and they're gone. Just like after Yeosang broke the Cromer, we also got to witness the Cromer's powers here. This marks the third Cromer, meaning these four are from yet another reality and they've now become Witnesses of our protagonists' achievements.

They also left behind a departing gift: a silver bracelet engraved with the words "Be Free"

Like A-World's Seonghwa, it seems the blonde Witness has also gotten inspired by their world's version of the dancing girl (whom I theorize to be Left Eye's daughter) and they've now left behind this bracelet, hoping it'll inspire this world's Seonghwa the way it inspired them

[lethendralis-paints]

Art Commissions (January 2023 update)

Hello there! I'm open to commissions again and will gladly do illustrations, fan art, character design, portraits etc.

essequamvideri88@gmail.com for any inquiries

(Detailed price list and general guidelines under the cut. )

Basic Guidelines:

Long-time Patreon supporters (over 3 months) have a 10% discount (TIers 1-3) or 15% (tiers 4 & 5) from the base price.

Will draw: human/fantasy/sci-fi characters, animals and environments, realistic or stylised. Subtle NSFW content or moderate gore is up for discussion.

Won’t draw: excessive gore or heavily sexual content. I retain the right to refuse cooperation without explanation if the theme just doesn’t work for me.

Painterly portraits: If you’d like to order a highly detailed portrait like that (the examples are at the end of this long post), let me know! The price for such a piece will be between 300-500$ depending on the complexity (as it’s really time and energy consuming), but the result will be worth it!

I am asking tons of questions and provide consistent communication and updates while working on a commission, so be sure to stay in touch with me throughout the work process and prepare all the needed references and notes beforehand. Keep them brief, as I won’t be able to read pages of text just to find the needed references for the visuals.

PayPal is now available in Ukraine, so I can accept payments through it, as well as Patreon pledges.

I will post the resulting artwork on my social media with a thanks to my client if not asked otherwise.

After confirming all the details of the starting sketch you should proceed with the full payment. After that you’ll receive your commission in high-res within a week. Don’t hesitate to ask for a print-ready TIFF, PSD original file or cropped images for posting online, if you need them!

Additional notes:

Drastic changes to the ongoing work are only allowed while I work on the rough sketch. After moving on to clean line art and colouring if you happen to change your mind about certain aspects of the commission, you can request changes for an additional fee.

! I do not permit using my artwork for commercial purposes, to train AI datasets or selling them as NFTs!

! If it’s an original illustrative work, then as a client you may also use the image for promotion of your writing material on the internet and on printed promotional materials.

The artist is the creator and copyright holder according to the Intellectual property laws of respective countries.

More examples of B&W, flat colour, full colour and painterly portrait works:

Will be extremely grateful if you could reblog this post!

Thank you for your attention! Stay safe!

Much love, Дякую за увагу

Lethendralis

P.S.: if you'd like to see my daily updates, join my Patreon server or follow me on Twitter! (Lots of war updates and political discussions there, fighting disinfo about Ukraine as much as I can amidst the shitposting).

[wordstome]

For the character ask game! ❤️

2. and 3. (Favourite and least favourite canon thing about König)

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

9. Could you be roommates with this character 🤪?

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

25. What was your frst impression of this character? How about now?

2. My favorite canon thing about König His enormous co— Considering there's so little canon content of him, every little detail about him has become an integral part of his characterization, so it's hard to pick a favorite. But if I had to, it's probably his sheer anonymity: the other operators, even the fully masked ones, have a full name. König is just the German word for king. Girl...who the fuck is this guy??? Combined with the sparsity of his bio, his whole vibe is incredibly mysterious. You could launch a thousand headcanons on him and they check out. He's just a fun character to come up with ideas for.

3. Least favorite canon thing about König His voice actor...look, I want to make it very clear I respect Jim Boeven's work. He's great at his job and his work as König is both well done and provided a lot of sorely needed insight into his personality. I don't even dislike his voice itself: a lot of people on tiktok (children) don't like his voice because they think the accent is goofy or they're disappointed it's not Corpse Husband-deep. I think his voice is really sexy and has so much personality. But man...I wish his voice actor was a better person. Or at least stayed off the internet. (This doesn't bother me as much as it bothers other people, though. I just forget Boeven exists most of the time)

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in? Oooooh, delicious idea. I've actually played with the idea of putting him in different aus/intellectual properties, everything from Star Trek to ACOTAR-style high fantasy. But the answer is very obviously A Song Of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones). I mean.........come on. Come on. He's like if the Mountain oozed sex appeal (Sorry to Gregor Clegane fuckers) and was slightly less awful (at least König works to take down human trafficking cells). There's this scene in the first book at Daenerys's wedding to Khal Drogo where part of the celebration is that there are dancers and Khal Drogo's men just grab them and fuck them right then and there. It's clearly meant to be shocking and not a turn-on, but the way it was described was literally all I could think about while reading Fatum. Good God.

9. Could you be roommates with this character 🤪? Yes and we would have the nastiest se— Look, I'll be honest with you. In real life, I would stay a million miles away from this man. I would never even have the chance to cross paths with him. But if we just happened to become roommates? ...yeah, actually. As a military man he probably keeps his spaces tidy as a habit, and he'd be gone most of the time on deployment while still paying his share of the rent. He also likely keeps to himself and wouldn't be bringing around friends to disturb me (my poor guy). I'm not conceited enough to think that I'm so gorgeous and sexy that he would be too intimidated to talk to me, but I do think he would avoid interacting with me in general, which ideal in a roommate for me. In exchange, I pretend not to notice my underwear going missing or that I don't hear him say my name while he jerks off! Win-win.

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character. I need to go find these posts and add them to the Königcore bible, but there's this one post with accompanying art that's basically like "kpop boy airport fashion Horangi x dad on a fishing trip König" with a picture of König in these waders and it's so cute. Also that one post about several COD characters' fashion senses, where König's mostly consists of jackets and sweatpants. I love both of those aesthetics! My favorite outfit to imagine him in, of course, is a black compression shirt and gray sweatpants with no boxers...

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now? First impression: the hood is both creepy and corny as hell Now: *slams down an essay-length diatribe on him as a character* how much time do you have to hear about my insane boyfriend

[northwest-cryptid]

I feel like I want to prefix all of this with saying I have nothing against those who go by the books and sell out and forego their own identity to make streaming as a career a reality for them.

But I also want to say that I will always support those who try to make it without doing all that. Listen I get it, it's hard; and that's exactly why I respect them for it.

I've been trying to find the middle ground, people tell me just play Genshin it's popular; but are you kidding me? Do you know who I am? Do you think I'd stoop so low as to play a game that glorifies the mass murder of my people? No thanks man.

I legitimately felt emotional seeing the support I was given by the Mabinogi community because I'm actually pulling numbers on par with my peers; the very same peers who did very much decide to just sort of sell out to whatever got them the most viewers and interaction.

I'm not looking down on them, if anything I was always a little irked by it because it was a constant reminder that I should do the same.

Yet here I am actually slowly amassing a small community with higher viewer averages, more engagement on my streams; and it seems like I can actually deliver a fun experience to those who stop by.

Streaming as a full time career is something that will take a lot of work; it's going to take a fair bit of effort, I need to dedicate myself to it and it's not easy. I'm planning to sign on with a proper studio later down the line; or at least audition with a few. Even if it means having to give up some form of identity to adopt another they want me to use.

However as it currently stands I don't have a lot of options, if I'm being honest that's not why I outright seek streaming though.

Sure I'm physically disabled, sure it's difficult for me to do any form of physical labor; and yea I know I can't hold a "real job" like people would love for me to.

Truth is, I've always wanted to be some form of an entertainer; I've always wanted to help people the way entertainers helped me. When I was young I focused so heavily on being a game developer, I wanted to create a world for people to feel like they belonged. I felt that way because Mabinogi gave me that when I was an outcast in school. The older I got the more I realized that being a game dev wasn't actually a job I could just pick up and do. It was a lot more challenging than that; I worked with a few smaller indie groups and every time I got burnt.

I had my intellectual property stolen, I was basically let go when they realized they didn't want to pay me for my services since they "didn't need to" considering they held all the legal rights to my work.

I realized that streaming was something I could just sort of, do. I grabbed a webcam, a decent mic; and OBS. I just sorta started streaming whatever; tried to stick with things I actually want to show other people; tried my best to create some kind of space for a community to feel welcome in.

I see the way people feel towards streamers, and while I understand the need to keep a distance (believe me, I really do) I also want to be a big enough streamer to properly house myself, keep food on the table, support my loved ones; and also be there for an audience.

I want to be a streamer who can genuinely put my audience first when it comes to what sort of things I bring to the screen, obviously caring a lot about my own interests and such as well; but I want to be someone who can brighten peoples days you know.

When I was young I remember telling my family that my life goal wasn't so lofty as to accomplish world peace or anything like that; but that rather I wanted to try my best to make someone's day a little better every day. It didn't matter who, it didn't matter how big of a deal it was. If I could make someone's day just even a little better than it was, then I was doing something good for the world as a whole.

So yea, I guess if I'm being honest; whenever I think about what I want to do for a living, there's nothing that comes to mind; but streaming? Streaming is fun, it allows me a sort of outreach; to talk to people, to help people.

I get to be there for others, I can entertain them; help make their days a little brighter and I also get to be an entertainer. I get to put on a show, play up a silly character and have some fun with it.

I don't want to have to sell out and be someone I'm not, I don't want to have to endorse games I don't support. I want to be me; and I want to be there for my community.

This is the first time in a long time I've felt like maybe I can do that; even if being me mean I get to play the role of a silly eldritch demon here to claim dominion over the realm in the name of my great elder god lol.

[xedgehog]

Thrawn 230923

When I heard Lars Mikkelsen was to replay his voice acting role as a live action Grand Admiral Thrawn in the Ahsoka, it intrigued me. I wanted to see what he might look like.  To do so I found a basic photo of Mikkelsen, and comped and tweaked it.

Granted, I didn't do the forehead or the Lt. Commander Data haircut, but I don't think I was off the mark by too much.

Text and image(s) (unless otherwise specified) ©Copyright 2023 Rob Bryan.  "No copyright/intellectual property infringement intended." (Fair use is claimed.  Original photo, art or character rights are reserved, & belong to their respective owners.) Credit is given where possible.  Sharing permitted with credit line. Documented permission is required for commercial use.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

The Main Event

We’ll get there under the cut, you can probably guess what it is if you’ve read the chapter, but today is a big one my lovelies. First though, I do want to take a moment to highlight our finale with Garp & Koby & SWORD. We’ve already talked about the subtle ways Koby & Hibari echo what we saw out of Kiku in Wano, particularly the quiet parts. This is just beating you over the head with it. Big moment for Garp and Koby and those are awesome...but Garp just went down a lot like Oden and this parable we start with is sooo blatant. Complete with Koby learning the difference between a noble and senseless sacrifice, not to mention this age and potential of youth element. How high can your ceiling go? But...this is important. It’s an inversion; Garp here is arguing against total equality and for let’s say at least discretion if not discrimination. 

And the other shoe still hasn’t dropped on Drake’s report. All to say, we’ve been escalating through this cutaway to a hell of a lead-in as we finally...

Leeeet’s get ready to...respect Michael Buffer’s intellectual property because he is a litigious, litigious man. No guarantee we’re coming back fully to the main story next chapter true, but we’re seeing Egghead again. Don’t see how Marco could outdo Garp’s lead-in anyways. Just like the previous chapter, we see the narration get a little funky. Listing the headlines for tomorrow’s newspaper. Which does have me wondering if a hunch is paying off. Are these ships arriving the next morning? Meaning we have skipped over a night in the lab? That’s what the structure implies. 

I care because of what it opens up the potential for. We cut away around the time Sentomaru & Stussy are coordinating evacuation efforts. We frame it as the events of the day before. There was already a morning paper leading into Egghead and we see Morgans reacting to early leads but wanting to spin the story. This whole incident seems predicated on Luffy stumbling into a tense situation that has nothing to do with him and last we left off the Straw Hats were in pretty dire straits. So if things turned around overnight...how? This is the basic type of structure I’ve been keen on, well before we really got we were doing it in the intermission. Think Zou, if we start going forwards/backwards on what comes next that opens up a lot. There’s one other aspect here too: 

The Blackbeard Pirates are floating around the main story as well. Process of elimination suggests Lafitte & Catarina, a pair that suggests stealth. This is a huge wildcard if the timeline is that they slipped in while the scramble on Egghead was spiraling out of control. Also note the direction of the Frontier Dome; if LaTarina were arriving at the same time as the Navy you’d theoretically be able to see them on either side of this panel. So I’m excited at the prospect of cutting back to Egghead on the next day. If they’ve already evacuated the rank-and-file, that’d make the Night in the Lab a mystery like God Valley or Onigashima. No one is quite sure what happened.

Let’s call it getting the first number right on a lottery draw. Could be wrong, could go any number of ways. But the “Subverted Sabaody” is very possible from this situation. The Straw Hats stand tall in an incident of historic proportions because something shifted overnight. They’re in control of the situation enough to handle the heavy hitters and the Grand Fleet smashes the siege. Of course, y’all know my other wrinkle here. A sociable quartermaster stepping out onto the scene after we cut away actually threads the needle here stupidly well. Even beyond the Grand Fleet. That could solve a lot of problems.

Think of it this way. We’ve seen it before several times. The Straw Hats drift in, get entangled in the island’s plot, usually take some kind of loss. Then what? What happens after the point we cut away here? They get together, we piece out the puzzle, and launch the counterattack. I’m saying the shell game is we missed that part looking elsewhere. So then, why would you tell a story like that? 

[izder456]

Let’s discuss the anthropologic and sociologic aspects of transness

(an opinion piece)

there are burial sites in Mesopotamia of transfem and transmascs that got traditionally buried like their gender identity and with the respect a priest or priestess would have gotten.

trans people always have existed- and it seems to be that they were also revered with a lot of respect in their communities. so much so- they were considered spiritual people/beings.

okay- so this is interesting because the history of “transness” seems to go back many millennia. while i cannot recall any specific instances of this occurring between then and now, i find this fascinating. if all of those trans folk are long deceased, and effectively erased, why do trans people still exist and don’t carry the same reverence that they once did historically? so much so- that trans folk are historically more susceptible to discrimination and violence.

“transness” is about as new as left handedness.

the phenomena always existed- just societal pressures make the expression of those who are trans less obvious to non-trans folk.

before someone makes the “it’s basic biology” argument, remember that biological factors do not affect social relationships at all.

If you see people reduced to their genitalia, you are part of the problem- but i can’t seriously think anyone actually does this.

It’s funny cos the “It’s never been a thing when I was a kid” argument is inherently ignorant and blind.

the people saying this have probably not been exposed in their personal childhood- but it would be silly to conclude that the phenomenon does not exist.

if this is a recurrent pattern in sociological human history- thats not worth dismissing as a “trend”.

It’s worth studying. The recurring pattern of transness is enough of a reason to learn more about the social conditions that both lead to, and preserve trans human’s existence in society.

Its especially interesting because trans circles stay alive- despite human-on-human killing making every effort for trans folk especially difficult, but trans communities persist.

perhaps a darwinian fitness explanation could help tackle that.

here’s a more “modern” metaphor:

color televisions are a fairly recent technology all things considered. there are still people alive where “it’s never been a thing when they were a kid”.

you wouldn’t argue color televisions don’t exist simply because some people didn’t have them or experience them as a kid, right?

the fundamental physical and chemical properties needed to produce color television existed before the invention took place.

it is not magical- It’s a manipulation of things that already existed.

the technology behind color television is definitely possible.

however- this is not a perfect analogy.

unlike an invention- trans people have never been “invented”, just societally oppressed outside the ignorant’s worldview. and thus, these subjects of intellectual study have been smothered from significant research.

(ik this isn’t formatted very well. its more of a flow of consciousness for me.)