#but i have been an army on and off since like 2018

[jaca3rys]

orange haired yoongi is giving me the WORST horny brainrot,, help

[matan4il]

Update post:

Most of this will be about the unprecedented attack of the Islamist regime of Iran against Israel, but first I have to take a second to mourn a 14 year old boy, who was murdered in a Palestinian attack on Friday. At around 6 in the morning, teenager Binyamin Achimeir led his sheep herd out of the farm he lives in, but a few hours later, the sheep returned to the farm without him. At first, it was feared that he had some accident, or was dehydrated, and thousands of people voluntarily joined the search for him. On Saturday, at around noon, the IDF found his body, with signs of brutal violence on it. Based on the forensic evidence, he was murdered by several Palestinian terrorists, and he fought back. The army is still hunting down the murderers. May Binyamin's memory be a blessing.

Right, back to the Islamist regime of Iran's attack on Israel. I posted about it as soon as the news started being aired here, in case someone didn't know about it. The news broke past the normal time when people watch news on TV in Israel, I noticed it by chance right before I was about to turn in for the night. I'm physically okay, but I didn't get that much sleep, I had to wake up early to take care of some stuff, so I AM very tired, which is why I'm not going to do the usual thing I do, which is to look for English journalistic sources for everything, but I have no doubt even the stuff I won't look up can all be easily found online.

On a personal note, I can tell you that at 1:43 in the morning I heard the first explosion, but no sirens went off. A few more explosions followed, and only then did we hear the sirens. It was scary, for a moment we couldn't tell whether we're hearing explosions of missiles from neighboring areas, or whether something went wrong with the sirens, and we need to hurry into the bomb shelter. It seems like in Jerusalem specifically there was some issue with the sirens, I heard a reporter mention it. Also, the alert app didn't go off, even though it should have, at the latest when the sirens did.

This is what the Temple Mount looked like from an Iranian attack that could have easily destroyed the al-Aqsa mosque (it's not in the frame, but it's right next to where this was filmed):

Quick background: Iran is the biggest financier of anti-Israel terrorism for decades now, including funding Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, all of which have been a part of a continuous attack on Israel since Oct 7 as Iran's proxies. Iran has sent its own military seniors to help and instruct those local terrorists, in places like Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. Israel has eliminated them whenever possible, this is not something new. On Apr 1, Israel carried out such a strike, in which it targeted 7 Iranian army seniors in Damascus, Syria's capital. Iran claimed Israel targeted the Iranian consulate in this city, but diplomatic buildings are all publicly listed. Iran has an embassy in Damascus (in a separate location) and no consulates. That's why the magnitude of Iran's response to this has taken Israel by surprise, because the Israeli strike wasn't that out of the ordinary. In fact, the US assassination of Iran's military commander, Qasem Soleimani, back in 2018, was a far graver blow for the Iranian regime, and yet it did not lead to an attack as massive as the one launched against Israel last night.

It is now known that some of the attack waves against Israel were intercepted by other countries, including The US, the UK, France and Jordan. It's been said that there's at least one more Arab country that helped in intercepting Iran's attack, but it can't be publicized. Many countries denounced Iran for attacking Israel.

We don't have numbers regarding the full size of the attack. Out of all the countries who participated in curtailing this attack, we know that the US has intercepted at least 70 suicide drones and 3 cruise missiles, while Israel has intercepted at least 185 suicide drones, 36 cruise missile and 110 ballistic missiles (that last one is the missile type that causes the most damage). Israel's interceptions are said to have been 99% successful, but like I said, no defence system is perfect. A small number of ballistic missiles did land inside Israel. One hit an Israeli air Force base in the south. There's over 30 people who got injured when rushing to the bomb shelter in the middle of the night (elderly people, including Holocaust survivors, have died from such injuries), and over 30 more ended up in hospital due to severe mental health reactions. On top of that, there's a 7 years old Muslim Bedouine girl who was injured by interceptors debris. A friend of her family that I heard being interviewed said the family wanted to go to the communal bomb shelter, but before they even had a chance to make it out of the house, the girl was hit by the debris piercing into their home, and she is suffering from severe head injuries. The hospital is currently fighting for her life.

The estimate of how much it cost Israel to defend its citizens from this one attack last night is 5 BILLION shekels (which is over 1.3 BILLION US dollars). That's for one night.

Israel will respond. According to one reporter I heard, that was decided as soon as it was clear how big the attack is, so this isn't about how much damage Iran caused, it's about how it crossed several red lines. This is the first time Iran itself attacked Israel itself, it's not an attack on an extension of Israel, nor was it done by using proxy terrorists. Israel has had terrorist organizations attacking it continuously since 2001, but this is the first attack from a fellow sovereign country since Iraq (led by tyrant Saddam Hussein) in 1991, so that in itself is crossing a red line. The size of the attack is also considered an escalation on Iran's part. In 2019, Iran launched a smaller scaled suicde drone attack on Saudi Arabia, and the latter's western allies refused to launch a counter attack, which led to these countries being seen as unreliable, and some Middle Eastern countries renewed their ties with Iran. That's why how it would seen in the Middle East if Israel doesn't react to an even bigger attack, and how it might drive more moderate countries to grow closer to Iran, is another consideration in why Israel must respond. Not to mention that launching such a mass attack basically caused a paralysis of the country once the first intel became known. For example, all educational activity (schools, universities, you name it) has been canceled, Israel's air space had to be closed, every single ambulance across the country had to be manned, and so on. That is not something any country can simply shrug off. Not to mention, Israel financially can't afford this reality to become normalized.

Not to mention, Israel tried to contain Hamas, PIJ and Hezbollah's rocket attacks for decades. What we got for it was the invasion and massacre on Oct 7. The lesson for most Israelis is that containing mass attacks on our population only leads to worse ones.

That said, there's also no desire here of getting dragged into a war on another front while we're still in the middle of one in Gaza and with Iran's proxies on several more fronts. So, Israel is looking for a balanced response, one that won't let this mass attack slide, but hopefully doesn't make matters much worse.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[viathecloset]

Taehyung and jungkook's relationship is overlooked by 90% of the fandom solely because they are so controlled by the narrative of the fandom/company that they cannot quite accept that anything outside is even a remote possibility. Ive been more of a quiet observer for years now [my sister's an army since 2015] and I've seen the boys, moreover I know how marketing and kpop works. It's quite evident if u observe close enough of the pattern on how this group of seven guys who genuinely love music is marketed you would understand to what extent you're being brainwashed. Im not talking about this like a conspiracy theorist. It's quite simple and right infront of you. Yall refuse to accept it that's all.

1. There are a certain set of stories that are made to be told by them, over and over again. Even if it disturbs them or they are bored. E.g: 2018 disbandment story, vmin dumpling incident, jikook rain fight/tokyo trip, mind you there are many things that happend between people who lived together for 10+ yrs but if it cuts the flow of events you are made to believe happened you aren't gonna hear from it, ever.

2. Like stories there are dynamics that each pair is supposed to portray Taegi as annoying/annoyed duo, taejin/jikook as flirty HS boyfriends, namseok/taekook the awkward old friends and no matter how much the relationships change or evolve you won't see it cuz again, it won't FIT the narrative that has already been shown.

3. Like relationships there are characteristics that thankfully some members chose to break out of during their solo era: hoseok always being sunshine and loud ( he's quite serious and very dedicated infact ), jungkook being that muscle dude who only knows how to follow his Hyungs ( he's very independent and has a lot of targets he wants to achieve individually, he's very thoughtful and organized) and Taehyung being WEIRD and weak ( he's extremely intelligent and super strong he's strategic and disciplined)

4. This brings us to the whole Taekook narrative, the fact that they've been seen so much during solo era yet people had the audacity to still call them distant and awkward solely cuz it wasn't via company but through Taehyung's ig or jungkook mentioning him in interviews etc. I think it's needless to say they aren't comfortable being touchy and showy on camera for content, hell if they were to shoot everytime Taehyung and jungkook hangout there would he enough CONTENT till 2067. They're supportive of eo and have a very big shared friend circle, when jungkook went missing for almost 2 months we got to know Taehyung was the one he was with.

5. The thing is everyone [ including my own sister ] thinks that Taehyung is being desperate or such whenever he mentions Taehyung cuz a. Yall have actually led jokers run so fucking rampant that everytime the man mentions him actually doing something you're ready to throw him under the bus and call him a liar or such. b. Im not saying jungkook isn't close to anyone else but when he isn't working or shooting content and just wants to be himself the one you saw him most was around Taehyung and yes it matters. In the name of hating shippers yall have not only dissed the quite frankly PRIVATE bond they seem to share but went as far as dissing Taehyung himself cuz of the extreme level of manipulation yall are under.

Ik imma find armys [jikookers ]under this sooner or later calling me names but to be honest I'm sick and tired of yall dissing very real people and their very real human relationships solely based off the content yall are made to believe is 100% candid. Go touch grass, get friends, go date, don't obsess over them for a while then come back and try seeing it from a neutral perspective.

[scotianostra]

Happy 90th Birthday Scottish actor David McCallum.

Born as David Keith McCallum, Jr on this day 19933 in Maryhill, Glasgow, the second of two sons of Dorothy Dorman, a cellist, and orchestral violinist David McCallum Sr. When he was three, his family moved to London for his father to play as concertmaster in the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Early in the Second World War, he was evacuated back to Scotland, where he lived with his mother at Gartocharn by Loch Lomond.

McCallum won a scholarship to University College School, a boys' independent school in Hampstead, London, where, encouraged by his parents to prepare for a career in music, he played the oboe.In 1946 he began doing boy voices for the BBC radio repertory company. Also involved in local amateur drama, at age 17, he appeared as Oberon in an open-air production of A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Play and Pageant Union. He left school at age 18 and was conscripted, joining the 3rd Battalion the Middlesex Regiment, which was seconded to the Royal West African Frontier Force.In March 1954 he was promoted to Lieutenant. After leaving the army he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (also in London), where Joan Collins was a classmate.

David McCallum’s acting career has spanned six decades; however, these days he is best known for his starring role on the police procedural NCIS as medical examiner as Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard. I first really remember McCallum for his role in another US show, The Invisible Man which ran for 13 episodes in the 70's. McCallum by then was a veteran of many TV and Film roles, starting in the 50's including Our Mutual Friend and The Eustace Diamonds, in the 60's he was in several ITV Playhouse shows before moving across the Atlantic to take roles in The Outer Limits and his big break as Illya Kuryakin in several incantations of The Man from Uncle.

His most notable films were The Greatest Story Ever Told as

Judas Iscariot and of course Ashley-Pitt 'Dispersal' in The Great Escape.

As well as the aforementioned Invisible Man in the 70's he took time to pop back over to our shores to star in two quality series, as Flt. Lt. Simon Carter in Colditz and Alan Breck Stewart in an adaption of Robert Louis Stevenson's, Kidnapped.

The 80's saw him team up with the lovely Joanna Lumley in Sapphire & Steel and several guest roles in the likes of The A Team, Hart to Hart and Murder, She Wrote as well as a one off reprise of Illya in the TV movie The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair.

The 90's saw David in Cluedo and Trainer on our TV screens over here and American science-fiction series VR-5 in the states..

During the last 20 years or so he has been in the kids TV show, Ben 10: Omniverse as the voice of Professor Paradox and of course Donald Horatio "Ducky" Mallard in over 350 episodes of the popular NCIS.

David has been married twice. He married his first wife Jill Ireland in 1957. They met on the set of the movie Hell Drivers. Together, they had two sons and a daughter, Paul, Jason and Valentine, with Jason being the only one who was adopted. In 1963, David introduced Jill to his co-star on The Great Escape, Charles Bronson, and she left David and married Charles in 1968. In 1967, David married Katherine Carpenter and they have two children together, a son Peter and a daughter, Sophie. He and Katherine currently live in New York.

In NCIS since 2018, Ducky, played by McCallum, has appeared in fewer episodes. avid McCallum explained that appearing in fewer episodes will allow him to see more of his family, which includes his wife, children, six grandsons, and their cat, Nickie. According to IMDB he has chalked up an amazing 457 appearances in the show, morethan anyother character in the series.

[katnisspeetaprim]

At The Concert

Jung Hoseok/Reader

Summary: Hoseok was quite insistent that you come to this show in particular...

Warnings: Female reader, established relationship, idol!au, set around 2018 during the LY tour but not that important, fluff, crying, mentions of being anxious, marriage proposal.

Word Count: 1226  M.list

BTS were about halfway through their current tour, giving maximum effort each show they did. You always tried your best to attend as many of their shows as you could, since getting to spend time with Hoseok when he was on tour was scarce enough as it was.

For this specific show, Hobi had asked you some time ago to make sure you had time

off to attend and you weren’t sure why, maybe because it was the closest show on the tour to your home town? If that were the case though, you would have been there either way so you found it quit strange how pushy he was being about you attending.

You were currently backstage, watching the boys run around the stage from the wings. A lot of the time you just watched on the TV in the dressing room or private area in the audience, since you always felt like you were in the way just standing around backstage but, due to some particularly insistent staff members, you were side stage.

The boys performance was amazing as usual. Watching them perform never failed to brighten up your day. Once they finished their current song, it was time for them to line up and talk to the audience.

One by one they spoke lovingly to ARMY before they all fell silent and turned to face Hobi. They all watched as he stepped forward once again, all sporting wide and gummy smiles.

‘I know this is strange but I hope you ARMY will indulge me.’ The audience cheered loudly as Hoseok spoke. You looked on confused, not sure what he was up to.

‘When me and Y/N went public, we were shocked by the amount of support we got from all of you. We’d been together quite a while by then so it was important to us that we had your support.’ He continued to speak. Though you couldn’t see his face from your position you knew he was nervous but still smiling, you however were shocked. Why was he bringing you up? It was at this moment that you began to notice that some of the staff around you were throwing glances in your direction, making your nerves flare up and also feel a little self conscious. Did they know what was going on?

‘I know she’s going to hate me for this...’ He chuckled to himself, ‘Jagi come out here please.’ He turned back to face where you were standing, his arm outstretched and giving you a small smile. The audience screamed at the unusual turn.

Your mouth fell open in shock. You looked around at the staff for help, only to find smiling faces looking back at you, some of them even ushering you forwards onto the stage. Surely this wasn’t for real.

When no movement came from you, both Jungkook and Jimin ran towards you in an attempt to pull you out. They were laughing as they spoke to you.

‘Come on noona!’ Jungkook grabbed onto your right arm whilst Jimin grasped your left.

‘What’s going on!?’ You stuttered, still not willing to move.

‘Just trust us Y/N! You know we would never let anything bad happen to you!’ Jimin coaxed, trying to ease your nerves a little. You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding before you nodded. You knew what he said was true so you didn’t really have any choice but to trust them right now.

They both grinned at you again before excitedly pulling you onto the stage.

Blush crept up onto your cheeks when the crowd started to scream your name upon coming into view.

The two younger boys lead you over to Hobi, who in turn wrapped his arms around you in a tight hug. He pulled back and gave you a bright smile, you keeping your hands firmly on his arms.

‘What’s happening?’ You were smiling but couldn’t help but cringe as your voice got picked up by his microphone. Causing all the boys to let out small laughs.

Speaking of...You noticed the 6 other boys lined up behind the two of you, all either grinning ear to ear or bouncing up and down with excitement.

Hobi took a step back, taking one of your hands in his before he started to speak.

‘Y/N you are the love of my life. You’ve been with me through thick and thin and you were always there for me, back when I was still training. All your support made me the man I am today.’ Oh...Was this really happening? You could feel your emotions building up in your chest as he spoke from his heart.

‘I really lucked out, getting the most amazing person in the world to date me back then. Being together all these years has made me realise I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you....So...’

It was then that he got down on one knee, pulling out a small velvet box from his jacket pocket. You knew it was coming after his speech, but it didn’t do anything to stop the tears flowing down your face, both your hand coming up to cover your mouth as the happy tears fell. Hobi opened the box to reveal the most beautiful ring you had ever seen. He really put effort into doing the research on what kind of jewellery you liked, talking none stop with your friends and mother to make sure he got the perfect ring.

‘Will you marry me?’ He beamed up at you, crowd going even more crazy, not believing they got to witness this in person. The boys in the back all holding onto each other in anticipation, hardly able to control themselves.

Unable to speak at that moment in time you nodded vigorously, hiding your face in your hands before taking his and pulling him to a standing position. You pulled him into a kiss, hands on either side of his face, while his hands came to rest on your wrists. You were now oblivious to the crowd, deaf to their screams. Right now it was just you and Hobi.

The two of you were only pulled out of the moment when the 6 other boys ran up to you both to congratulate you. Hoseok pulled away and took your shaking hand in his once again, to slip the ring onto your finger. You admired the ring before you felt your lip start to tremble again so you pulled him in for one last hug, which he was happy to accept. Hoseok made sure to cover his mic before whispering to you. ‘We’ll all celebrate properly later ok?’ he nodded slightly before placing a final quick peck on you lips. He placed his arm around your shoulders as he lead you back to the wings, and onto a waiting chair. Good. Your legs were like jelly. He pecked your cheek before quickly running back out onto the stage.

‘Ah she said no guys. Can you believe that?’ He joked as soon as he was back out, causing his members and the audience to laugh. You lightly shook your head, smiling at his antics.

After the show that night you knew you would all be going out to celebrate like he said, and you couldn’t wait for what would come after.

[ggukkiedae]

going back

date: mid october 2018

warning/s: talks about yoonmi’s biological parents and them disowning her a few years prior

notes from c: i promise this isn’t hard angst aksjdhfng remember dialogues in italics are spoken in english

word count: 2k

yoonmi is met with an unfortunate ex-family related situation

It wasn’t getting out of hand.

No, there was no way Yoonmi would admit to that. Her members believed in her, so she didn’t want to disappoint them. She promised her teachers that she would stay on top of her work, so she would always give work of the best quality so she could graduate on time next February, and she promised Haechan she’d graduate with him. She committed herself to the different staff and companies she was working with, so she wouldn’t slack off on her responsibilities. People on the internet were coming after her again for suddenly accepting acting gigs, so she was going to prove to them her abilities and talent.

Therefore, she would not admit that she was being overworked.

She’d been eating well enough by her standards, thus deciding to skip out on taking any of her supplements. She always forgot about them anyway. Besides, the members, though more lenient now, still somehow managed her eating and sleeping well enough.

She’d be fine. She just had to focus on the task at hand, which was acting calm in the face of going back to the same place she originally grew up in. 

England. 

Given she was going to London instead of Newcastle, but she knew her biological parents had based their companies in London. They had shown up and made a mess of her life before, which thankfully led to her being accepted into a big loving family with a mom, a dad, another older brother, and two younger siblings. 

However, it took a long time for her to be relatively okay after that. If the whole situation a few months prior said anything, her thoughts and reactions had been completely affected by what her birth givers did to her.

It’s totally normal for her to be scared that they would show up, right? But, if they did show up, she had to keep it together. She shouldn’t show them any weakness.

“Hey,” Jungkook nudged her while pulling her hands from her thighs and placing his hoodie-covered arm under her hands instead. Her nails were digging into her skin, and she didn’t notice. She didn’t even notice Jungkook was awake. “We’re going to have some free time to explore, alright? Let’s get you de-stressed before the concert, then we can have fun with ARMY.”

She pursed her lips, “It’s not that….”

“I know,” he whispered to keep from the others overhearing just in case they were awake, “you’re worried about seeing them, aren’t you?”

“They turned my life to shit multiple times, they can do it again.”

Jungkook’s sigh didn’t escape her ears, especially since he moved to make her head rest on his shoulder. It was only then when she realized she was pressing her fingers quite hard into his sleeve which, despite having a thick cover, probably still hurt at least a little bit.

A quiet apology flew past her lips while she curled her arms into herself. Jungkook took it upon himself to put Iron Man 2 on for them. He plugged their earphones into the dual adaptor and placed one in her ear and the other in her hand. 

“We won’t let them,” Jungkook reassured her. “You’ve got us backing you, your siblings and new family, your friends, and the law.”

“It’s not like I have a restraining order,” she shrugged, “I just got emancipated then adopted.”

“Well, one wrong breath in your direction,” Jungkook began, “and Yoongi hyung, Yoonsung hyung, and Chan are gonna file a restraining order.”

She laughed and let herself relax into her seat. Her trio of overprotective big brothers, as Jungkook not so fondly called them, were a force not to be reckoned with if they were all angry for the same reason, and she took comfort in the fact that they had her back. 

A poke in her dimple brought her out of her thoughts, making her turn to meet eyes with a satisfied Jungkook. She laughed, knowing he took pleasure in making her forget about the people who she thought were her family so long ago. He just turned back to the screen in front of them and hoped for the best.

The concert went by smoothly until they got off the stage and finished taking their pictures for the day. Manager Sejin approached her with a serious look on his face, pulling her and Namjoon to the side.

“You’re not going to like this,” he shows them his phone with her biological mother’s sports training center website on the screen. 

It wasn’t just that. Right on the home screen, almost taking up the full phone screen, it was a picture of Yoonmi on stage just earlier. It was an impressive feat, having someone both take and edit the photo within an hour at maximum (considering it was her in the first set’s outfit), but she couldn’t find it in herself to be impressed.

What was this?

For years, she had just wanted to make her birthgiver and sperm donor proud of her, but they never approved because her methods were “not in line with the family image” or something stupid like that. The very same argument they used as the final deciding factor in disowning her seemed to not matter to them as half of them used her picture—in the profession they disapproved of—for promotional material.

Apparently that wasn’t it because, as soon as Sejin switched tabs, it was her picture on the front page of his motor-sport business’s website.

Yoonmi let out an emotionless laugh, making her leader and manager look at her in worry. “This has to be a joke.”

“Hyung,” Namjoon addressed the manager, “have you reached out to legal? We have to get these pictures down. No way are we associating with those people.”

“They’re working on filing a lawsuit as we speak. It helps that they illegally brought in a proffesional camera not permitted by the company despite the clear guidelines saying not to.”

Namjoon nodded in approval before turning to Yoonmi. She had gone silent, staring off into space as she processed what was happening. He quietly asked manager Sejin to bring the rest of the boys back to the hotel and not tell them about what was going on while he spoke to Yoonmi alone. 

“Hey,” he rested a hand on her head for a bit before letting it slide down until he could gently pat her cheek, “you okay, Yoon-ah? Legal’s working on it, don’t worry.”

“I can’t believe they’re doing this,” she muttered, looking down. “They fought so viciously to get me to quit being an idol, and now they’re using my status as one in order to promote their companies? After they disowned me?”

Namjoon brought her into a hug, rubbing her shoulder. She didn’t return the hug. She didn’t move at all.

“Neither of their companies even relate to my job, they’re being so stupid about this,” her voice was on the verge of breaking, and Namjoon could feel her tears starting to soak into his shirt, “This is so stupid.”

Knowing she defaulted to English when in distress, Namjoon spoke in the foreign tongue as well. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

There was a shake of her head.

“Do you want to be alone?”

A nod.

“Do you want me to stay with you?”

For a moment, Namjoon didn’t get a response, which worried him greatly. He made the slightest move indicating he would step out of the hug, but her hands went up to grip his shirt while she nodded. 

With a sigh of relief, he gently maneuvered her so she was tucked under his arm on his side and led her over to one of the spare green rooms. He looked at one of the staff members standing by the door while he stepped in with her.

“Could you grab us our stuff, please?” 

The staff member nodded her head. “I’ll order you kids some food, too.”

With a nod of thanks, he shut the door behind her then brought Yoonmi over to the couch. He sat against the armrest and the backboard of the couch with his legs up, letting Yoonmi settle in front of him and hide her face in his shirt. All he could do for her while she didn’t talk was be there for her. He was her guardian, her leader, and her brother. He needed to be a pillar she could depend on. 

He couldn’t let her feel the anger rising in him.

Yoonmi’s tears were silent. As much as she wanted to thrash around and throw a tantrum despite being in her late teens already, she didn’t want to give the satisfaction to her biological parents of breaking her to that degree once again.

It had been three years since they cut her off, and not once did they try to contact her. She was happy. There was no feeling of restraint anymore because her big brother and her grandmother still loved her, she had a new family to call her own, the brothers she found in her group mates had a stronger bond than ever and were set to renew their contracts in a few weeks, hell she even made friends and got a boyfriend who genuinely cared for her.

So why?

Why would they come back into her life at this moment? Why would they want to use her like that? Especially how they made it clear that being an idol was not proper? She thought she was finally free from them, but here they were. It felt like they were starting a new vicious cycle of tearing her down right when she was reaching peak happiness.

The vibrations from Namjoon’s phone distracted her from her thoughts. He must have had so many people looking for him given the fact they were headed to Amsterdam soon and he needed to approve a few final details for Waste It On Me, but he stayed there with her, not even looking at his phone. All his attention was on her and just being there for her.

Yoonmi pressed her head closer to his chest, listening to the thumps of his heart. It was steady and constant, something she needed.

“Thank you for staying with me,” she muttered, hands reaching up to wipe the tear stains off her face.

Her sudden words after a little over thirty minutes of silence jolted Namjoon. “Of course. I’m always going to be here for you, okay?”

She sat up, looking at her leader with an expression he could only describe as guilt and hurt mixed together. He fixed himself, swinging his legs over her head with a sound effect from his mouth to try and lighten her mood. A smile broke onto her face, which was a win for him.

“There’s that smile,” he placed his hand on her head, lightly rubbing her hair with her thumb before taking it back. “Do you want to talk about it now?”

“There’s nothing much I can say,” she shrugged. “I’m hurt, they’re being hypocritical, and I don’t want to be associated with them. Is the legal team…?

Namjoon nodded, “They’re handling it as we speak.”

“Good,” she nodded, relaxing a little. “By any chance, can we see if they’re using Yoonsung oppa’s company in any similar way? I mean, his company did blow up last year.”

The leader nodded once again before tapping the side of her leg. “Of course. Anything else I can do to make you feel better?”

“Just be here?”

He smiled and opened his arms for a hug, which she gladly gave, cuddling into her leader. He was never the most affectionate of her members, far from it, but he was probably the most comfortable and reassuring member to hug objectively speaking.

“Don’t worry, Princess,” Namjoon’s rare use of that specific nickname made her smile and sink further into the hug, “You’ve got me and the whole of Bangtan at your side. Those people have no idea what’s coming for them, and you’ll certainly be millions richer when this is all over.”

She actually let out a laugh at that. Namjoon stood up with a smile and held his hand out for her. 

“Let’s go grab our stuff and our food so we can stop the others from worrying.”

The faint sound of Jimin and Taehyung yelling her and Namjoon’s names reached their ears. 

They exchanged a look before Yoonmi spoke. “Too late.”

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[bangtanhoneys]

Well, the secret's out - Grace

When ARMY got the notification that Grace was going live, the app saw the biggest jump in traffic it had seen in awhile. The news was spread on Twitter, message apps, Tumblr and even TikTok. The reason for the massive buzz was this was the first time Grace would be live after the news of her and Seokjin’s relationship had become public knowledge via BigHit’s confirmation. So many many many fans were wondering if she was going to admit to anything. 

“Hello everyone,” Grace grinned as she adjusted the camera. “I’m in the studio right now as you can see. And yes, I promise I’ve been working on my solo stuff. There’s plenty of news coming soon but I just wanted to come and say hello since it’s been a while.”

The trusty mug of tea was ever present and a couple of snacks. Unbeknownst to ARMY, she had been secretly preparing for her tour as well as a special BTS tribute show that no one knew about apart from the artists that had been selected. Even the artists attending didn’t know she was coming. So many exciting things were coming for everyone to enjoy.

“Noona, how are you doing? You look a bit tired,” Grace read one of the comments. “Thanks very much. I promise I am sleeping but I’m just very busy lately. So many exciting things coming for you guys but you have to wait a bit. My time is coming.”

That sent off a spiral of suggestions with the boy's solo careers thrown in the comments as ARMY begged their Noona for a hint. “Ah sorry everyone, you won’t get any spoilers from me. That’s Namjoons job. But I promise I won’t keep you waiting too long.”

She rested her feet against the desk and pulled the screen a bit closer so she could read the comments. With a bowl of fruit in her lap with a hand holding onto the handle of the mug, she looked the perfect picture of unbothered. Completely unaware of what ARMY was asking for or very aware of what they were asking for, but letting them go for it either way. 

“News? What news?” she asked, popping a strawberry into her mouth. “Is there news?”

Noona! Stop teasing! We all know now!

Seokjin! Come and collect your girl. She’s teasing us. 

Ah she’s learning too much from Yoongi. 

A small grin tugged at the corner of her lips but it soon disappeared, replaced by a ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’ look. But it soon went away the moment a name appeared in the comments, causing ARMY and social media to explode.

‘Jagiya, give them what they want. They want all the gossip.’

Jin. 

God damn it.

“Shouldn’t you be training?” she asked, ignoring the comment for a moment to play around in her bowl of fruit as if she was trying to find something. 

‘I have a spare half an hour to come and torment you.’

“Thanks very much,” she sighed and grabbed a handful of grapes. “Okay fine. Gossip. Yes, the truth is out. Seokjin and I have been in a relationship since 2018. We didn’t know quite how to tell you all, the boys found out a lot earlier obviously, but someone leaked the information that I had gone to Seokjin’s ceremony which is for families only. So we had to come out and give the game up.”

She’s said it in such a matter-of-fact way. Like we should have known from the beginning. 

Noona! You can’t just drop that on us like that. 

How did the boys know quicker than us? How did they find out?

‘That’s for another night when we’re all drunk and you can handle the R-rated version.’

“Seokjin! You can’t say things like that! You’ll give the wrong idea!”

‘Wrong idea? I think you’ll find I’m quite correct.’

“ARMY, don’t listen to him. Training has gone to his brain,” Grace sighed as she finished off her bowl of fruit and placed it on the desk along with her mug. He was being such a menace and he could do it within the safe confines of his base without any repercussion from her or the management team. 

Jinnie we need more!

What happened? What’s going on?

OH MY GOD! R-RATED VERSION!

‘Hyung, you can’t just come in and say things like that. Noona has a reputation to protect. She’s Korea’s noona.’ Jimin.

“Listen, both of you go away. It was me and ARMY’s time. I’m here to listen to their issues and worries, not gossip about my life,” Grace groaned into her hands which then sent another spiral of comments. 

But noona, this is important for our health! We need to know more!

When was the first date?

First kiss?

‘First date was at the dorm and first kiss was at the dorm.’

AHHHHH!!!

“Well I don’t need to reveal anything, Seokjin is going to do that for us,” Grace laughed as she threw herself back into her chair as she threw up her arms. “Half an hour better come quickly.”

There was nothing more from Seokjin after that or Jimin, having decided it was better to retreat, so Grace was left alone with ARMY…finally.

“Finally. Anyway, I just wanted to say we were hesitant to reveal anything because we know what the media and everything else is like when it comes to KPop couples so it was trying to find the right time. Of course, anytime we have planned something then something else has happened like COVID, Butter then the military. But of course, we never planned to leave you guys out of it. If anything we wanted you to be included as soon as possible but we all have our insecurities and worries,” Grace explained with a small smile. “But nothing has changed. We’re still Seokjin and Grace, still members of BTS. Still here. Nothing will change.”

What are you planning, noona?

“Many, many things. But now isn’t my time. The boys have so much planned and I can’t wait to see it all. So I want you all to support them first and give everything they do a lot of love like you always do. My time is coming, you just have to be a little patient. But I will see you all, in person, very soon.”

[darkjediqueen]

Tommy's Age

So, between here and Twitter, I have seen a lot of discussions about Tommy's age. I have seen the age range from 20 years older then Buck to just seven years. The information below is based mainly on my headcanon of Tommy being in the Army for the entire 8 years.

In the context of a story, authors can make whatever changes they want to fit what they need for the story. But when discussing canon, things are a little more rigid. Or at least as rigid as the canon is itself.

The first time we see Tommy is when Chim arrives at the 118 back in 2005. We know he's not a probie, so at that point, he's had at least 1 year on the job and is out of his probationary year. So it's at least 2004 for him to have graduated from the academy.

By the time Tommy comes back as Buck's love interest, we find out that he was a helicopter pilot in the Army, which was added for the Eddie connection, but it adds in time. It's not like Tommy can now be some fresh-faced 18-year-old applying to the academy. There are years between those two now.

911 has never cared about keeping anything close to a series bible. Characters have at least two different ages if we have anything close to that for them. But we have a general range for the characters.

For Tommy, we only have a few pieces of it's enough to pin down at least a rough timeline.

He had to be 17+ to join the Army, then depending on what you do with that and how long you keep him in there, it's at least 2+ years to actually become a helicopter pilot (sometimes it's up to 3 years after boot camp). This is where the fudging comes along. He loved being a pilot well enough to want to do it after years in the LAFD, so I would assume that he has a long enough time to fall in love with it and has no real big issues with it. The military isn't going to let him go easily, so I can see him doing the full bid.

So, 17 years old at the earliest, Tommy joined the Army

8 years in the army

1 year as a probie

Then we see him in 2005 in Chim begins

So, if we go backward from there, we have

2004 for the probationary year

1996 for joining the Army (or 1995 if you put him at 18)

Then, 17 years before that, it was 1979. (or 1978 if you have him joining at 18)

Buck was born around 1991/1992, based on his being 26 in early 2018, as mentioned in Season 1. If his birthday was early in the year, he would have been born in 1992. If his birthday hadn't happened, then we have him being born in 1991 and will turn 27 sometime in 2018.

So it's a 12-13 year age gap if he served for 8 years and joined at 17.

If you have his bid ending early or him going into the reserves, you can lessen that a little bit, but no more than taking six years off and Tommy getting injured out and not staying just after he gets his pilot's stuff with the Army, which would be a little strange as anything that would keep him out of the Army after getting that and them not keeping him after he gets better with 6 years left on his bid, it's going to be a long road to get back and possibly not be able to join the LAFD.

Adding in, since I've seen the discussion about Tommy and Abby being close in age. Abby in episode 1, in early 2018, said she was 42. Again, it's pretty early in the year, so if she had already turned 42 in that first month of the year, she would have been born in 1976. If she had turned 43 later that year, she would have been born in 1975. So yes there is a close gap in age between Tommy and Abby.

But as I said, if you are writing fic, do what the fuck you want. It's your world, and you can do what you want, but if you want to discuss canon, one has to take it all in perspective.

(If I missed something, please let me know.)

[ollieofthebeholder]

to find promise of peace (and the solace of rest): a TMA fanfic

Read from the beginning on Tumblr || AO3 || My Website

Chapter 100: February 2018

“…Statement ends.” Martin let the last page fall into his lap and sighed. It wasn’t exactly satisfaction or delight, but he felt…full, in a way he hadn’t in a while. Weak as the thing that had once been half of a whole and was now the sole remnant of a near conquering army was, it was still old and it hadn’t survived that long not being powerful. He’d be able to live off this one for a bit.

“It’s probably a bad sign that I’ve started thinking of these statements in terms of flavor,” he mused into the recorder, which buzzed comfortingly in his hand. “It’s definitely a bad sign that statements from other avatars and servitors—Jude Perry, Breekon, my fucking mother—the people and things that cause fear more than anything—literally seem to leave a bad or bitter taste in my mouth, but ones from actual victims are…almost sweet. The written ones we’ve got out in the Archives don’t really have much flavor to them, but they satiate the hunger, even if I do have to, uh, consume more of them to do that. Still, I think I’m going to stick with that for a while. That’s not something I want to start getting a taste for, especially after this statement. And I can really do without any more nightmares.” He paused, thinking it over. “I wonder if Breekon dreams.”

A few feet away, Melanie shifted on the cot and groaned softly. That wasn’t all that unusual; she’d been doing it off and on since Martin had come in, and he’d mostly tuned it out while he was recording. This time, however, she came awake with a gasp. “Oh, fu—”

“Melanie?” Martin straightened up and set the recorder on the top of the file cabinet as he scooted closer. “Hey, hey, it’s okay, you’re safe.”

“Ma—Mar’in?” Melanie blinked at him, looking disorientated and lost. “Why’s m’ leg hur’?”

Martin had really hoped that wouldn’t be the first question she asked when she came round, but of course Melanie couldn’t go for the clichéed Where am I query. He tried to speak as gently as possible. “There was a bullet in your leg. We had to take it out.”

“I got shot? ‘Gain?” Melanie frowned and patted vaguely at her leg. “Why ‘m I…pants?”

“Hang on.” Martin picked up the cup of tea Jon had made him and pressed it gently into Melanie’s hands. On second thought, he cupped his own hands under hers and guided it to her mouth. “Here. Take a drink, okay? You’re probably dehydrated.” He was stalling, and he knew it, but he also knew that if he explained it to her while she was still groggy and couldn’t process properly just so she would accept without argument, things would be way worse later on. Anyway, she was probably dehydrated.

Melanie took several slow, careful sips. After about the third one, a funny look crossed her face; it took two more before she looked at Martin, her eyebrows knitting together but her eyes looking a bit clearer—emphasis on a bit. “Why did you put milk in my tea?”

“I didn’t. Jon put milk in my tea, but that was all I had on hand.” Martin reached out for the mug, and Melanie let him have it. “How are you feeling?”

Melanie considered the question seriously from all angles. “Like shit.”

Martin couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s…probably fair.”

He took a sip of the tea—cold, but it still tasted just fine—and watched Melanie for a moment as she studied herself. Sasha hadn’t thrown a blanket over her when she laid her down, so her legs were fully on display. She touched the bare skin exposed by the torn pant leg lightly. “Did something…get me?”

There was a temptation, a very, very small temptation, to let her believe that, but even the possibility of lying about something like this sent a sticky swirl of guilt through Martin’s chest, and he knew he’d never be able to do it. He’d never been anything but honest with Melanie and he definitely wasn’t going to start with something like what he’d done. “I told you, we had to take a bullet out of your leg.”

“Right. Right.” Melanie took a deep breath and looked up at him suspiciously. “How’d it get there?”

“India. Or so we assume. The whole damn thing was soaked in the Slaughter, and it was…infecting you.” Martin swallowed hard, well aware that the slowly spreading striations of red spreading from that spot on her thigh like a glowing map of the London Underground was going to haunt his every waking moment for a while yet—there wasn’t room for it in his nightmares anymore. “We—I got it all, but…Jesus, Neens, I’m sorry. I should have…I should have Looked sooner.”

“I wouldn’t have let you,” Melanie admitted candidly. She ran her fingers around the butterflies. “You did this?”

Martin hummed in the affirmative. “Might have to get you down to the clinic in a bit to get proper stitches in there and make sure I didn’t, you know, cause a regular infection. But I did what I could with what I had.”

“Mmm.” Melanie scraped her tongue against her teeth. “What’d you knock me out with? Feels like that time I tried to be helpful and clean the bathroom.”

“That’s…not a bad comparison, actually. It was chloroform.”

“Chloroform?” Weak as she was, a flare of anger rose in Melanie’s eyes, and she sat up straighter. “Where the fuck did you get chloroform?”

Martin held up both his hands. The temptation to let her believe that was even stronger, but he knew nobody would forgive him if he did. “I didn’t. Sasha had it. She wouldn’t tell me why, just said not to ask questions I didn’t want to know the answers to, but…”

“But you asked anyway?”

“I didn’t. Swear on Dad’s crypt. I’m guessing it wasn’t for you, but I haven’t asked, o-or tried Looking. I had other things to worry about.” Martin risked reaching for one of Melanie’s hands. “Like getting that bullet out of your leg before it took you over completely. Or reassuring Jon I wasn’t going to bleed to death.”

“You weren’t going to bleed to death?” Melanie said incredulously.

Martin winced. “Um. Well. You sort of…stabbed me?”

“I what?” Melanie shrieked, at a decibel level that definitely tested the room’s soundproofing. What little color there was in her face drained out of it. She lurched forward and started to swing her legs towards the edge of the cot.

“Easy, easy, Neenie, I’m okay!” Martin blocked her shoulder as gently as he could with one hand to forestall her. With the other, he tugged at the tear he’d made in his shirt, widening it so she could see the knitted pink ridge of flesh on his chest. “See? I’m okay. Bleeding stopped easily enough.”

He hoped she would assume it hadn’t been a deep cut. She didn’t. “That’s not any better, Martin! Jesus, I—I remember now. I was so angry with everything—Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday, and Basira being gone and Jon being so upset about the anniversary of Leitner’s murder, and the Chinese New Year is t-tomorrow and that’s the same day it was the year Mama died—and then you told me you were going to Look for me—fucking hell, you didn’t even actually do it! And I just got so mad and—and then I—what is that, ten Marks you’ve got now?”

Martin hesitated. “Twelve, I think. But it’s—honestly, Melanie, it’s okay. Just one more scar for the collection, I guess.” He tried for a laugh. “Not the end of the world, you know?”

Melanie didn’t seem particularly convinced of that; at the very least, she looked as though it might be the end of the world for her. “But I gave it to you.”

“And I forgive you for that.” Martin tried to go in for a hug, but Melanie leaned away and he sat back, willing to not push things. Instead, he tapped the side of his head. He’d discovered, the first time he actually looked in a mirror after getting home from America, that the lock of hair there had turned white as snow. “Papa gave me this one. I don’t blame him for it. Half the other Marks I have are from protecting people I love—”

“But they aren’t scars.”

“I was trying to protect Jon from the worms when I got, well…” Martin gestured at the faint scars still dotting his face. “Trevor only stabbed me because I wouldn’t tell him where to find Gerry.”

“That’s different and you know it. So is your father kissing you, that’s not—” Melanie reached out like she wanted to touch the stab wound, but drew back. “Jesus, I could have killed you. I—I tried to kill you.”

“Maybe,” Martin conceded. “But you didn’t kill me.” He took her hand and placed it over the scar—placed it, too, over his heart, so she could feel that it was still beating strongly in his chest. “More important, you didn’t want to kill me. I’m okay, Neens. I promise. It’s going to be okay.”

“I hate you,” Melanie grumbled, but she pressed her hand a bit closer to his chest before sliding it away. “And I’m still angry.”

Martin shrugged. “I didn’t cut all of the Slaughter out of you, just the bullet. You were still Marked by it before that.”

“I still don’t get how just watching Sarah Baldwin talk to…whatever it was was enough to Mark me,” Melanie mumbled. “I was fascinated by it, but I wasn’t afraid of it like I was of Sarah.”

Another lance of horrible, almost crippling guilt pierced Martin through the heart. God, how had he not thought of that himself, way back when he first Looked to see their Marks? “You…I think you were Marked way earlier than that, Neenie. Talking of when your mother died—do, do you remember the lion dance?”

“I mean, there’s always a…” Melanie trailed off, frowning as she obviously tried to remember. Suddenly her eyes widened. “Oh. Oh, my God. It—there was a lion I didn’t recognize and it was chasing the musicians—it killed one and—Lau Pei, one of the real lions, the regular ones, he asked me for help and…oh, God, I’d forgotten about that. I thought I dreamed it.” Her gaze suddenly sharpened, and she turned a scowl on Martin. “Get out of my head.”

“I didn’t look in your head,” Martin insisted. “Tim told me. Apparently Gerry had a flashback about it—a flashback where he was you, like the one he had before Christmas where he was Mum. Tim didn’t have a lot of details, but Gerry’s on his way, in theory, so you can ask him about it.”

Melanie swung her good leg off the cot. “Well. Let’s go do that, then.”

She swung the second leg off to meet the first and winced as it—evidently—pulled at the cut, but she swatted away Martin’s concerned hand. She did, at least, accept his assistance in standing up, and leaned heavily on his arm as they limped out the door and into the Archives.

Tim and Sasha were apparently mid-argument; they stopped when they heard Martin and Melanie coming towards them and turned. Sasha smiled, a bit tentatively, but her eyes were still worried. “Melanie—how are you feeling?”

“Sore, but I’ll live.” Melanie’s tone of voice implied she wasn’t altogether sure if that was a good thing or not, and possibly that she intended to make that Sasha’s problem. “Martin told me what happened. Where’s Gerry, and why did you have chloroform?”

“Gerry’s on his way,” Tim said, in a gentle voice that was probably meant to be soothing and that even a few hours ago would probably have had Melanie throwing things. “He had an appointment with someone about a book, probably not a Leitner, but he said he’d be here as soon as he could.”

Melanie turned back to Sasha, but before either of them could say anything, the exterior door to the Archives opened, followed by hurrying footsteps. A second later, Gerry appeared, looking out of breath and worried. Whoever he’d been meeting with had obviously been important; far from his usual band shirts and baggy jeans, he was dressed in a cream-colored turtleneck and pressed trousers, an old and faded green corduroy jacket with leather patches at the elbows, and brown loafers. He’d even tied his hair back in a low ponytail, so he looked more like a professor or an academic than a goth painter. The thing that startled Martin most about his appearance was the white streak on the side of his head, despite the rest of his hair being freshly dyed a shiny, even black that would, given past evidence, start fading in random streaks and patches in a day or two.

“Is everyone okay?” he asked breathlessly. “What happened?”

Tim, Sasha, and—surprisingly—Melanie all turned to look at Martin, who sighed. “We’re fine. Mostly. Melanie still had a bullet in her leg from when she got shot in India and it was infecting her with the Slaughter—”

“What?” Gerry’s face turned, if anything, even paler than usual. “Jesus, Melanie, I’m so sorry, I should have—”

“Should have what? You don’t have freaky Eye powers,” Melanie snapped, then added grudgingly, “And I wouldn’t have let Martin Look if he’d asked, so it’s not anyone’s fault but mine. I stabbed Martin over it.” Before Gerry could react to that, she turned to Sasha and added, “And you didn’t answer my question. Why did you have chloroform?”

“I think Gertrude had some, but I’m pretty sure she used it all,” Gerry said, a bit uncertainly. “Wait, you knocked her out with chloroform?”

“I…yes,” Sasha admitted. “Just a little, though. I mean, it was just enough for her body weight to knock her out, and not so much that it would do permanent damage—”

“And why did you have it, Sasha?” Melanie demanded.

“Melanie,” Martin murmured. He was burning with curiosity, too, but if Sasha had said he didn’t want to know, he probably didn’t want to know.

“No, fuck that, that’s not something you just have. Let alone know how much to use.” Melanie folded her arms over her chest and glared at Sasha. “How long have you been planning to knock me out?”

“I haven’t, I swear,” Sasha insisted. She glanced up at Martin, a bit guiltily, then sighed and said in a low voice, “It was for you. Just—you know, just in case.”

“WHAT?” Melanie’s yell rattled the shelves around them.

“Melanie, stop.” Martin grabbed her by the shoulder and gave her a warning squeeze. “I’ve been demonstrating more and more dangerous powers. Why wouldn’t she have some way to take me out if they got out of hand? I’m not entirely sure chloroform’s the best choice, though. I mean, under the best of circumstances, it takes too long to kick in and I’m taller and heavier than you are, I’d probably be able to fight you off. And in an…avatar state, I guess, I’d likely be way too drunk on my own power to respond well to that. You probably need something closer to a tranquilizer dart.”

“Jesus.” Tim pinched the bridge of his nose briefly. “Don’t let Jon hear you saying things like that.”

Martin looked around, his anxiety suddenly spiking for no real reason he could think of. “Where is Jon?”

“Running an errand. He’ll be back,” Sasha answered. She turned to Gerry. “Tim said you’ve been having flashbacks where you’re other people?”

“Not often, but yeah,” Gerry said slowly. “Did we…not tell you about that? It’s how I knew to tell Martin to call Aunt Lily before Christmas, I’d had a flashback where I was her.”

“And you had one where you were Melanie? What did you—”

“No, wait,” Melanie interrupted, letting go of Martin’s arm and leaning on the desk in front of her. Her eyes were fixed, not on Gerry, but on Sasha. “What’s Jon up to? What kind of errand could he be running? He wouldn’t have gone off without telling Martin, unless he was just going to the break room to get tea—and if he was doing that, you’d have said so from the off. What’s he doing?”

“It’s fine,” Sasha said. “He won’t be long, I’m sure.”

“You’re not answering the question,” Melanie said suspiciously.

Martin could feel the static building on his tongue and behind his eyes—the urge to compel Sasha to tell him exactly where Jon had gone and what he was doing—which meant it was something she, or Jon, or both, didn’t want him to know. It could be that it was a nice surprise for Valentine’s Day, which they didn’t celebrate, but no way was his luck that good. And the fact that his anxiety was coalescing into pure fear told him that was probably not what it was anyway.

He swallowed hard to force the Eye back and said, softly and with a great effort to keep it neutral, “Sasha?”

“I told you this was a bad idea,” Tim hissed.

“Well, it’s not going to do any good otherwise,” Sasha hissed back.

And that was it. Martin knew, deep in his bones, without the Eye providing him any additional help. He knew where Jon had gone, what he’d done, what he was risking, what was going to happen to him.

“No,” he whispered, turning towards the door to the Archivist’s office.

“Look, if he hadn’t, someone else would have,” Sasha said desperately. “Eventually. You wouldn’t have been able to leave it alone and Melanie would have been trying to atone or, or whatever, and Gerry would have been trying to protect all of us, and he made the argument that he had the best chance of finding her and getting out safely…”

“I’m sorry, what are we talking about?” Melanie demanded.

“The coffin is in there,” Tim blurted out. “The one that Breekon and Hope were toting around, only there’s only one of them left. It delivered it not long before I got here, and it’s in Martin’s office. Daisy is in there and Jon says she’s still alive. He went in to try and get her out.”

“What?” Gerry and Melanie cried in unison.

“No, no, no.” Martin would not panic, damn it all, that wouldn’t help. He had to be calm and rational and—and screw that, the man he loved more than life itself, the man he loved so much it hurt, had climbed into a box that led directly to the Buried. He had every reason to panic. Clutching the recorder he’d forgotten he still held, he started for the office.

“Whoa!” Tim grabbed his arm.

“Let go of me, Tim.” Martin yanked his arm free, making Tim stumble back a step.

“No, don’t!” Melanie cried out, lunging towards him and managing to grab his sleeve, at least.

Gerry rushed around the desks and stood between him and the door, arms outspread. “Martin, you can’t, you’ve already been Marked, it—it won’t let you go.”

“I’m not leaving Jon down there alone!” Martin wasn’t crying, but it was taking a lot of effort not to, and also not to call on the Beholding and Know where Jon was, compel the others to leave him alone, force them to let him in…even if that wasn’t really in his purview. “Someone has to go in after him, and it might as well be me!”

“No.” Gerry’s voice echoed with the strange, resonant quality it had taken on in the warehouse when he Reaped the waxwork that had turned out to be Danny, at Rosewood Forest when he’d proclaimed Liliana Blackwood’s death. The air in the Archives seemed to drop several degrees, and Gerry’s eyes lost all their color—pupils, iris, even the blood vessels turning white, like a pencil sketch. His hair, too, suddenly turned white, coming loose from its tie to stand on end in a flowing, undulating halo around his head like he’d just received a jolt of static electricity.

“Shit.” Tim pushed himself straight and lunged forward. He ran around behind Gerry and wrapped his arms around his torso from behind. “Got you. I’m here. I’m here.”

Martin had never, in his entire life, been afraid of his brother, but he was afraid now. The recorder clattered to the desk, miraculously not breaking or popping open, as he grabbed Melanie and Sasha on instinct to try and protect them. “What’s going on?”

Tim’s face was ashen. “Just wait. You’ll see.”

Gerry lifted his head, seeming to stare at a point somewhere over Martin’s shoulder, but also seeming to stare at something that wasn’t there…or at the very least wasn’t then. The temperature continued to drop…and drop…and drop…until Martin, clasping Sasha and Melanie as close to himself as he could, swore he could hear ice crystals forming in the air. He found himself instinctively gathering the static, gearing himself up to compel Gerry to stop…if he could even compel him in this state. If it was even Gerry to be compelled and not the End itself.

And then…Gerry began to speak.

[eldritchqueerture]

Okay I thought of something to ramble about and it’s the utterly bizarre and confusing relationship the CW show Riverdale has to chronological time. Apologies in advance for how long this rant will be.

Disclaimer: it’s been several years since I’ve watched Riverdale, and I never actually finished the show. This is all based on my memories. Also, I’m pretty sure the seasons I never got around to get EVEN weirder with their timelines.

So, season 1 makes the setting of Riverdale anachronistic as an obviously deliberate stylistic choice. The characters all have computers and cell phones, but they’ve also got rotary landlines, and the cars all look like they’re from the 50s, and the costumes tend to be vaguely vintage-inspired. Honestly I always found this element kind of fun - it’s a unique-ish style, and it pays visual homage to the era the original comics were set. (Side ramble: season 1 is both the most normal the show ever was and also the closest it ever got to being “good” in a traditional sense. Season 1 was a reasonably competent teen drama/murder mystery with an interesting aesthetic - it wasn’t anything groundbreaking, but it wasn’t terrible. And then it almost immediately went off the rails in ways that are wildly entertaining but a lot harder to take seriously. Post-season-1 Riverdale is, imo, the peak of “makes no damn sense, compels me though” tv)

And then in season 2(?), there’s an awkward cross-promotional thing where a bunch of characters go to the movies to see the 2018 film Love, Simon, and talk about how great Love, Simon is, and shuts generally urge the viewers to please go see Love, Simon - now in theaters. And it’s like. Oh. So it is set in the modern day, then? This is just a modern day town where everyone drives cars from the 50s?

And from then on it’s kind of hard to tell if the writers are trying to set it in a nebulous anachronistic dreamscape like in season one, or if it’s concretely set in the modern day - they kind of go back and forth.

And then. There’s the time skip. I can’t remember what season it is, but eventually, the writers announce that after the characters graduate from high school, there’s going to be a seven-year time skip, and the rest of the season will pick back up with the characters as adults. This seems like an idea that will accomplish a lot: it will allow the show to stop pretending that these clearly-in-their-20s-and-30s actors are fresh out of high school, it will allow the characters to take different paths after high school and then just pick up the story when they’re all back in Riverdale, and also, it will explain away why none of these characters are wearing masks or social distancing or at all acknowledging the global pandemic that is currently happening. Win-win. Makes sense. But then.

The characters are all about to graduate, and Archie is trying to decide what he wants to do after high school - does he want to go to college, or does he want to join the army? And right before graduation, he’s in the high school, and he sees a photo of a previous graduating class of Riverdale High posing in their uniforms before they go off to fight in what is very clearly WWII. And Archie hallucinates some soldiers in WWII uniforms during graduation, and that makes him decide to join the army. So WWII happened in the past. Makes sense so far.

And then the time skip picks up with Archie getting out of the army, and in all the flashbacks, it is very clear that he just fought in WWI. There’s trenches, and WWI-style uniforms, and Archie has shell shock (which obviously can and does happen in any war, but the way it’s framed in this feels very WWI-coded. I don’t know how to explain it, but it is.) So WWI is the present now?

And Betty’s post-time skip storyline is *just* Silence of the Lambs. Like she’s training to be an FBI agent and hunting down a serial killer and there’s a lot of VERY on the nose references. So the costuming and set design of her storyline is super 1970s, but then she meets up with Archie the WWI vet?

And THEN, in Veronica’s storyline there’s a scene where she’s arguing with her dad about his sexism and she says something like, “It’s 2021, dad, women aren’t property anymore,” and it’s like. ??? You just skipped seven years into the future?? Shouldn’t it be 2028? Was the show secretly a period piece set, very specifically, seven years in the past the whole time?? If it’s 2021 why aren’t any of the characters acknowledging covid? Was Love, Simon released seven years earlier in this universe?

And then Jughead gets kidnapped by Mothman.

sometimes i will learn things about riverdale and its just. more unhinged than i ever expected

[emperorsfoot]

I'm so tired. Almost my entire blog all week has been posts about antisemitism. Tumblr used to be my fandom website. It used to be where I would go to escape the real world and relax.

So, to break up all the overwhelming IRL concerns,

New Followers of Jumblr, tell me about your fandoms!

Let's all share our interests with each other!

I'll start.

The fandom that brought me to Tumblr was Star Wars. I have been a fan of Star Wars since the 90s. I'm old enough to have felt the pre-queled ruined the franchise before the sequels could (after what Disney's done that opinion has changed). Around 2011-2012ish when the Disney buyout was still new, my friends and I started a podcast to educate new fans about the old Expanded Universe (Legends) that existed before Disney bought the franchise. I started this blog to advertise that podcast.

My username Emperor's Foot is inspired by my favorite character, Mara Jade. She used to be an Imperial agent before the death of Emperor Palpatine at Endor. She is Force sensitive and could hear the Emperor's voice from anywhere in the Galaxy, when the died she felt is and he sent her his last instruction, "KILL LUKE SKYWALKER!" But when she finally crosses paths with Luke organically, she needs him to help her survive, so she can't kill him. Then she needs him to save her new boss, so she still can't kill him. Then she's a prisoner of New Republic and needs to help Luke defeat an evil Dark Jedi in exchange for a pardon, so she still can't kill him! Then she kills his clone and the voices go away. Mara realizes that she and Luke actually work well together and is willing to work together in the future. Luke gives her his father's lightsaber (they pulled it off the clone's dead body, that was how they cloned Luke, they went looking for the hand on Bespin and there just happened to be a lightsaber attached to it.

More stuff happens, but you'll have to read the Expanded Universe (Legends) books to find out.

I'm not competent enough to be the Emperor's Hand, but I could be the Emperor's Foot.

After Star Wars, my new big fandom on Tumblr was Ben 10. I was a very active fan and it was also my first sideblog. But the Ben 10 fandom back in 2014-2017 was really toxic and I ended up leaving. It's had a reboot, the fandom might be different now. I donno. Overall it wasn't a positive experience and I don't wanna go back.

I flit in and out of Sky High every now and again. But I have not contributed anyone of note to the fandom. We're also a very small fandom so there's also not very much to reblog.

My last major fandom fixation was Masters of the Universe, which I got into through She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018), and MotU became my second sideblog.

MotU has a long history. Its similar to DC comics in the sense that there've been so many reboots and reimaginings, and changed form so many times that there's no "one true canon". It really leaves a lot of room for the fans to be creative. An executive at Mattel even says that because they're action figures meant to be played with, that all interpretations and imaginings are canon, even the stories kids make up while playing. So there's a lot of freedom for fans to make their own fan fiction and fan art.

My favorite character is Prince Keldor, the guy who eventually becomes Skeletor. He's gone through a lot of reimaginings over the years. The core detail that remains the same is that Keldor is Randor's brother and Adam's (He-Man's) uncle. When he was first introduced in 1987, we never see him, so we don't know what Keldor looked like before he became Skeletor. Randor explains that Keldor was a sorcerer but had some kind of magical accident and was lost in dimensions.

When the franchise was Rebooted in 2002, Keldor's backstory was changed and his appearance designed. Keldor is Randor's half-brother, they are both the children of Miro (in the 80s he was the previous king, in 2002 he was a "Captain" of a religious army team of Defenders that serve the immortal Council of Elders). Keldor is half-human half/Gar (blue space elf) the homeland of the Gar was destroyed for reasons that are only vaguely explained in the Show Bible and Keldor's mother raises him to blame and hate the Captain Miro (and by extension the Council of Elders) and he grows up studying and training to take "revenge". By the time Keldor's ready to stoke, Miro is gone and Randor is Captain. Keldor attacks the Council of Elders and during the battle his face is melted with acid. Evil-Lyn, his 2nd in command, takes him to the Temple of Hordak to save his life and the price for his life is that he becomes Skeletor.

DC Comics was also given permission to do a run of comics, they crossover with the main DC universe. He-Man fights Superman. The run is not great. The best segment is the end arc, Eternity War when they're back on Eternia after that wild ride on Earth. 2/10, do not recommend. In the DC run, Keldor is still Gar and still Randor's half-brother. Miro's back to being a king in this canon and both Randor and Keldor grew up as princes. Keldor is the older brother, but he's a bastard and so is denied the crown in favor of the legitimate son, Randor. Keldor becomes the scheming royal advisor trope and plans a coup, during which his face is melted and he refuses to die (no, literally, he bashes Death's skull against a rock and walks away, this bitch beat up Death!), and becomes Skeletor.

Around the same time as the DC run was another run of comics published by Dark Horde and came packaged with the toys, the Classics-Line. The Classics-Line is my favorite canon. Keldor is once again the first born son and after Miro is banished to another dimension, Keldor was going to be crowned king, he even had Randor's support! But there were also a lot of bad things that happened all at once. The people of Eternia are apparently super racist and hate the Gar, there's a public outcry over having a Gar king. While Randor is trying to reason with a crowd of screaming citizens protesting a blue king, Randor's mother goes to get Keldor so he can address the people. But she dies suddenly and abruptly from very suspicious circumstances and Keldor is implicated in her death. While her body is still bleeding on the floor, no investigation, so trial, Keldor is sentenced to be banished. Keldor resents this treatment and travels Eternia meeting other people who were outcast and resentful (most of which were other non-humans, while most of the Masters are human; just sayin'), and Keldor builds a rebellion. During their attack on the capital, Keldor's face is splashed with acid and he becomes Skeletor.

In 2021 we got 2 new reboots. One aimed at adults who grew up with MotU in the 80s, and one for children just discovering the franchise now. I like both, and Keldor appears in both. The one aimed at adults has the better Keldor of the two, but the one for children has better story telling. I recommend both. In the one aimed at children, Keldor is completely human and is just a jealous asshole, they really stripped his character of any depth or complicated nuance and gave him a morning character design on top of it. But what it lacks in Keldor, it makes up for in story telling and the Kronis/Evelyn ship.

My current fandom is Tim/Kon. I'd like to say DC Superheroes, but that would be a lie. I only care about making these two men kiss. Tim Drake (Robin, Red Robin, Drake, Gun-Batman), and Kon-El | Conner Kent (Superboy). I have written so much fan fiction about them! I enjoy almost any interpretation of them. DC characters are kind of like "modern mythologies" for me. Like Hercules or Snow White is constantly reigned and transformed, so can you do with DC characters. No depiction of them is "incorrect" I love them all-! ...so long as Tim Drake and Kon-El fall in love.

My current Tim/Kon projects are 2 long A/B/O fic series. One I started in October of of last year, but I kinda lost the thread in what needs to happen in the story. I was kinda just writing out of emotion without any plan, the whole thing's a mess. I've also returned to working on a fic series I started in 2017. Tim and Kon are grown up, married, and raising their children when Tim discovers Terry McGinnis (of Batman Beyond) and assigns his eldest son to follow Terry. The fic mostly focusses on the son, my fan-kid OC. I also just started writing a completely escapist fic taking place in the same universe as the Batman Beyond one, but much farther along the timeline when their youngest child is an adult. Its a self-insert oc/ oc fic which both OCs are my self insert. I might not post that one, I'm still debating. I'm afraid of getting negative comments.

[light-the-aconite]

A week off...

This has been sitting in my folder since the 30th of May 2018 and I think it's time it sees the light of day. Some of the information in regard to Jasper may be incorrect as I only watched up to a certain season of SU, so I apologize in advance for that. (Also mistakes....you may find plenty of those (ᇂ_ᇂ |||) ) I imagined a scene in which Y/N has to leave for a week to visit her parents. She would invite Jasper to come, but she can't for many reasons. Some being that they don’t know each other that well, another is that Jasper is too busy building her army, etc. Anyways, one day when Jasper is out, Y/N takes her leave, but before doing so she leaves Jasper many notes around the house, giving her instructions on certain things. One could include feeding the fishes twice a day, another telling her to not stay out for too long, or one telling her where certain garments are at. Also, Y/N leaves her a longer note on the door telling her where and how long she was going to be out for. Before I continue, I should point out that they have been living together for about a month, and the two are on 'okay' terms with each other. In example they can talk for a little but aren't that close in where they tell each other's secret. It's been 4 days since Y/N has left, but to Jasper it felt like FOREVER.

Bored out of her mind, Jasper found herself resting on the roof of the little cabin she shared with a human. She closed her eyes as the twinkling light of the stars reminded her of the fact that she was stuck on this tiny planet. Though if she was more honest with herself, the few months she's spent by the human's side...weren't all that bad.

Turning to her side as a gentle breeze caressed her skin, a soft voice called out to her. In an instant she sat up as she recognized who it belonged to, but as her eyes scanned the area, there was no being to pin it to.

She brushed her hand over her face in annoyance as it wasn't the first time it had happened. Over the past few days, Jasper had also seen shapes out of the corner of her eye that resembled the human. It was maddening to think she'd be having such thoughts, especially when Y/N was nothing special. Just a human.

"Hurry.." she uttered to no one in particular before jumping off the roof and heading inside.

After a week Y/N arrives home just as the sun is setting, and sees Jasper's heels by the edge of the roof. She smiles to herself and takes the luggage inside, setting it by the front door. But before she unpacks, she picks up a blanket from the couch and heads outside to cover Jasper up....

After this, I wasn't sure how to continue because two different scenarios came to mind. One: She places the blanket over her and suddenly she is tackled by Jasper, assuming it was a stranger. But the glare Jasper gives her softens up as Jasper sees that it's only Y/N. Y/N could crack a joke or awkwardly say 'hi'. Jasper would stay quiet for a bit after her response and just stare at Y/N, before making a cold remark and leave to cool off. Two: Y/N places the blanket over her, careful to not wake her up, leaving Jasper there to sleep. A couple minutes later, Jasper could wake up and look down noticing the woolen fabric, her heart racing, as she knows that Y/N is probably back. To prove to the small voice in the back of her head that she's not hallucinating this time, she heads down inside. Once inside she sees Y/N feeding the fish, but she doesn't say much, she keeps her eyes on her. Y/N looks back a few seconds later, giving her a small soft smile and wave asking her how her week was. Jasper looks away the moment she makes eye contact and goes to sit on the couch. Jasper could rudely reply to her, but in reality, she just doesn't know how to really converse without sounding rough.

Honestly, I wasn't sure how to continue this, so I just ended up creating the point of when they first meet. But just like this one, that work is also incomplete (ʃ⌣́ ,⌣́ ƪ) If anyone wants to continue this or change it up, please be my guest! I'd be more than thrilled to know that this inspired someone ♡.

[lubotomies]

So you know the grimdark fic you were talking about where Tord gets tortured by the "black army..."

I think I may have written that back when I was an edgy 17-18 year old who was WAY too into Eddsworld angst. I saw your description and it's so familiar that I instantly started panicking sdkfjfhs

Anyway yeah I absolutely do NOT stand by that writing and I'm so sorry you and anyone else had to witness it. I'm too ashamed to come off anon and face the world. I hope to God if anyone finds out it was me who wrote it that they'll listen to me when I say I've grown so much as a person and writer since then. That shit was absolute trash and I wish I never put it out there.

this is like a church confessional. trust that its completely fine to have made weird shit in your youth especially with the state of the community At That Time. with the asks and discussions on this blog right now i think its clear to people that the community was a rancid place at that point in time and it was easy to get sucked into bad or unhealthy behaviour. i mean, moho was one of the most popular artists within the community with hundreds of people backing her up when she'd get criticised and we already went over the shit shes guilty of, so it should go without saying that the community was very much enabling and encouraging young people into doing things that are in the long run bad for their psyches and regressive coping mechanisms.

it ought to be some consolation that the reason i mentioned the black army one is because it was TAME in comparison to the far, far, far worse shit id seen, which i suppose i can just reveal were things like sex trafficking and holocaust aus. the black army fic for sure is grimdark but grimdark in the same way that cupcakes was for mlp. needlessly violent, sure, but in comparison to the literal fanfic about the eddsworld guys in auschwitz? Um. yeah youre fine dude.

im absolutely proud of you for taking accountability for something that, tbh, you shouldnt even feel obligated to take accountability for. writing overly angsty whump fic is far from being the greatest sin on earth, and being able to admit and regret making content like that is a huge sign of growth even on anon. ive made lesser mistakes that ive still not been willing to admit to STILL TO THIS DAY as a grown ass 20 year old, so you ought to be proud of yourself and the growth youve made as a person. some people get stuck in their ways and never grow out of that 2018 angst obsessed phase.

and again, with the eddsworld community being so... unhealthy, for young developing minds and vulnerable people, you seriously should not feel ashamed for making mistakes as benign as making an edgy fanfic on fanfiction.net. for real the only thing happening right now is sharing stuff that was happening around that time because the state of the fandom was ghoulish and showcasing things that were considered acceptable and wholly encouraged by the community that the modern fandom can easily recognise as being what they are, inappropriate, harmful, unhealthy, etc. youre totally fine dude!

[chanstopher]

like they simplified the hell out of their performance for kbs. skz do get breaks, more than most other idols really do. jyp has implemented so many health and wellness things into their company since 2018 to really take care of the idols. yeah chris is open that lately his condition hasn’t been it’s best, but if he needed to take time off or to not do choreo like felix during maniac that’s what would happen. these are grown men, and skz have a lot of pull, especially chris, in that company. you guys see someone online say he’s in bad such terrible shape he’s being forced to perform and instead of using any kind of critical thinking that maybe the people around him and chris himself might just know more about how he’s doing you spread that info. if he needs a break he will get a break. i know chris says he’ll perform no matter what but the company’s not gonna risk the entire future of a group that makes them money on chris being stubborn. kpop is above anything else is a business and it’s bad business to let the most important member of a group destroy himself especially one that makes you money. like between this and all the petitions to fire felix’s makeup and hair ppl because they put too much hair spray and cover his freckles this is getting army levels of insane.

[insinirate]

Yeah I’m also Jewish and what the initial anon is missing first off is that dogwhistles are intentional. They are intentionally put into things to subtly imply nazi ideals. Second thing is that like. I do not consider something to be nazi imagery unless it is referencing nazis. We know what nazi symbols are. Something CAN be too similar and then should be changed, absolutely, but while nazis did in fact wear military uniforms because they were…. In an army, they are not the only people that wore military uniforms. It’s just a uniform. If you had put other symbols on it that accidentally skated too close while not intended to be similar, sure, that’d be worth updating. Sometimes a symbol can look really similar because those bastards have so many fucking things they’ve co-opted. But a uniform in and of itself is not nazi related. Anyway yeah nazi punks fuck off, gay rights, I hate fascists. Also since other Jewish anon said so, I’ve been following you since like 2018. DONT know when exactly but before BMC got off-broadway revival.

im loving this trend of anons chiming in with incredibly insightful things that i was a little too worried to think about critically at the time and then just subsequently punching me in the nuts by reminding me that people actually perceived the embarrassing shit i did as a teenager

[halfseoulco]

"3D", KPOP in the West, & Artist Obligations

Published Wednesday, October 18th, 2023 — As global superstars BTS take further steps into what they've dubbed the Chapter 2 of their careers, it's been both interesting and rewarding to see each member put so much of themselves into their respective solo releases—especially since the vocal line, aside from OSTs, covers, and singles, had not yet released their own official solo projects (or mixtapes, as they had been called, since RM [2015], mono. [2018], Hope World [2018], Agust D [2015], and D-2 [2020] were released for free). j-hope's Jack in the Box (2022) came as a significant surprise after the bright, colorful experience that was Hope World, but otherwise, each member's solo album has turned out to be what was expected of them based on what is known in regards to their personalities, preferred musical styles, and personal tastes in music.

But what might arguably be considered the most anticipated solo debut was Jungkook's, as ARMYs were eager to see who the youngest of the seven-member group is without the rest of his bandmates. Of the seven, Jungkook has perhaps gone through the most obvious changes—the famous lip piercing (although the eyebrow piercing is sorely missed), the various tattoos, and other mostly physical changes to his image. His promotions with Calvin Klein broke the Internet and his debut solo single, "Seven (feat. Latto)", showed off a new, more mature side of the Golden Maknae that elicited mixed reactions from ARMYs and also laid the groundwork for his next single, "3D", which features Jack Harlow.

Shedding the "Baby" Persona & "Seven"

I think in some ways that being Jeon Jungkook must feel like being a Disney Channel star or any other artist who became big for something that they spend the rest of their life trying to get away from (e.g. Daniel Radcliffe and his desire to be known for something other than being Harry Potter). Combined with the tendency for Western society to infantilize Asian people and the Korean cultural norms for the youngest of any group to be doted upon and always seen as the baby, the most shocking part about Jungkook's solo releases so far is that it really shouldn't be shocking at all.

Having just turned 26 in September, Jungkook has probably been ready for quite some time to leave the image of BTS's maknae behind him. The man certainly doesn't look like a baby and even if he does look young for his age, the fact of the matter is that he is a grown adult. The nature of the KPOP industry makes it difficult for idols to talk about dating or sex—let alone actually date or have sex, at least in a public capacity—and because of the artist-fan relationship, it has been in idols' best interests to act like those things don't exist for them. "Seven" was the beginning of Jungkook not pretending that he's not thinking about or doesn't want those things—because it's not inherently bad or shameful to want them. Regardless of his maknae status in his group, he's still a fully grown man with his own agency, so if Jeon Jungkook wants to make music about having sex seven days a week, he can do that.

Unreasonable fans aside, if the basis for the counterargument is that there is already so much hypersexualization in Western music and media that we don't want to see it in KPOP, I think that's valid. The draw for many KPOP fans is that overall, KPOP presents such a stark contrast to Western music with its variety of concepts and differences in cultural norms. However, I don't even necessarily think that "Seven" is as raunchy as some people have made it out to be. Latto's feature is a little nasty (nasty in the good way, not nasty in the bad way) and Jungkook does say "fucking" in the explicit version of the song, but I think that compared to some of the songs that come out of the Western music industry, it's not even really what anyone could consider inappropriate. It's not demeaning, it's not aggressive, and he's not singing about women in a misogynistic way. In fact, I would go so far as to say that "Seven" is kind of cute; and if Jungkook wants to say "fuck"—or even if he wants to actually fuck—then he can.

This is something I will talk about more later on in this piece but as an additional point, we already know that BTS has become bigger than the KPOP industry and they've already crossed into the Western market with "Dynamite" (2020), "Butter" (2021), and "Permission to Dance" (2021). Whether you like it or not—and personally, I don't really care for this particular move as a business tactic but I really like "Permission to Dance"—the groundwork has already been laid for them to continue to grow their presence in the U.S. especially. If Jungkook and Big Hit Music want to put out a little something something for the locals, that's their prerogative.

"3D (feat. Jack Harlow)"

Strictly speaking, I don't listen to the radio anymore, not unless I'm in the car with someone who listens to the radio. I have little awareness as to what's going on in Western music in terms of new releases unless I hear it on social media—but one of the things about living in the age of the Internet is that you still hear things even if you're not actively searching for that information.

I have definitely heard some things about Jack Harlow. I've never listened to his music but I know that he has a certain reputation. When Big Hit Music announced the release of "3D", I tried not to have any expectations about his feature; and when the song came out, I didn't listen to it right away because my group chat had nothing good to say about his lines. Honestly, I was a little terrified.

I ended up listening to both the original and the alternate version the next day and I think you only need one guess as to which version made it onto my main playlist.

Whenever BTS collaborates with Western artists, there are ARMYs who always say that we're here to support BTS first, so even if we don't like the feature that much, we should still purchase and stream as much as we can to support BTS. I agree to a certain extent; I don't like Charlie Puth (or Charles, as my friends and I like to call him), but I like "Left And Right" (2022) well enough and I like Jungkook, so I tried my best to support it when it came out. Based on streaming rules and all that, I believe only purchases and streams of the original song featuring Jack Harlow count for charting, which is unfortunate but that's just how the game works.

I offer up all my apologies to Jungkook but there is nothing anyone can do to make me listen to anything other than the alternate version of "3D" from here on out.

Having watched the music video for "3D" a few times now via my favorite reaction channel on YouTube, my disgust from my initial listen-through of the song has only continued to compound. Considering that Namjoon had admitted in an interview with Nightline in 2021 that as part of their efforts to promote gender equality in their music he had a women's studies professor review his lyrics following criticism regarding misogyny in BTS's earlier years, I'm extremely shocked that Big Hit Music gave Jack Harlow's feature the green light. Regardless of the quality of the lyricism or how it played with the flow of the music, the actual content leaves much to be desired and is offensive on multiple fronts. I want to emphasize that this is not because of the song's sexuality, which, as I expressed earlier in the section about "Seven", is within Jungkook's right to express as an artist and as an adult. But knowing how much BTS has worked towards promoting equality for people of all genders, races, and orientations, the blatant misogyny and racism (via the "ABG" stereotype) has no place in the kind of music they've worked so hard to put out.

When I expressed my opinions regarding Jack Harlow's participation in "3D" to a friend who doesn't listen to KPOP, their response was, "Well, yeah, it's Jack Harlow", which not only made me feel justified in my response to the song but also confirmed for me that his lyrics in "3D" are not unusual for him; and while I looked into his background a little bit and saw that he is known for making donations to various charitable organizations and worthy causes and speaking up about his white privilege and how he approaches his music with that in mind, there is nothing that can convince me that someone who took all those actions publicly can also write the lyrics that are in "3D" in good conscience.

I don't want anyone to take this as me placing the blame on Jungkook for his collaboration with Jack Harlow but this particular conversation is a little tricky. On the one hand, I don't think that Big Hit Music has complete control over every little thing its artists do (and note that I say Big Hit Music and not HYBE, since the former operates independently), but at the same time, I think that the more likely situation is that the artists have some say but not all the say. If it wasn't Jungkook's choice to work with Jack Harlow in the first place, then we could say that this was a bad move on the company's part and that someone should have taken the time to go over his proposed lyrics before they recorded and released the song. Another possibility is that Big Hit Music knew exactly what they were doing and knew that there would be backlash so they released the alternate version without Jack Harlow's feature—because, as you know, there is no version of "Seven" without Latto. If that's the case, well, color me disappointed but not surprised.

KPOP in the Western Market

Personally, as a Korean American, I am and have been over the KPOP industry's need for validation from the Western music industry. While I am here to support my favorite artists' endeavors to make it onto Billboard charts and win Grammys, I wish that they would free themselves of the idea that they need to achieve certain things in the Western market in order to be considered successful and stop caring about them because that is just colonization in its modern form. The Western music industry will never truly see KPOP as a valid form of music or artform—hence the various awards that they make up specifically for KPOP groups instead of placing them in the same category as other mainstream artists—so why play a game that's been set up for their failure from the start? Plus, these awards shows know that KPOP, while still not being considered mainstream, is a popular niche genre; and they're not above using these industry leaders for views even though they have no intention of giving them an award—as seen at the 2022 Grammy awards when they placed BTS at the end of the show so that ARMYs would watch the whole show and increase their viewership and then didn't give them anything.

I don't think that KPOP groups necessarily need to break into the Western market in order to be successful. KPOP fans are already on the lookout for content and potential tours in their home states or cities; and I think that KPOP groups benefit the most from targeting their existing fans rather than trying to entice the locals because even those locals are more likely to get into KPOP based on the recommendation of their friends than through songs that are only in English. And of course I'm not in any way trying to discount any fans who discovered their favorite group after seeing them perform Korean songs on Jimmy Fallon or other U.S. based shows, but those people are probably already more open-minded to begin with. There is so much xenophobia in the U.S. and other Western countries that even though they notice the popularity of KPOP, aside from using them for views and/or financial gain, you will never really be able to convince the general public that you can indeed appreciate music that's sung in a language you don't speak.

There is still a very large U.S. presence in South Korea today that has a certain amount of influence on how Koreans in general may feel about needing to adhere to specific standards that are distinctly American or Western in nature, which is something I discussed in my think piece regarding BTS's enlistment and the history of Korean conscription. There is some pressure to play nice, as the U.S. "helped" prevent the North Koreans and Communist China from taking over the entire country, but as South Korea starts to come into their own, there may come a time in the future when they realize that they don't want or need the U.S. within their borders any longer—and maybe then KPOP artists will stop caring about Billboard charts and fake awards.

Until that day, the reality is that any Korean entertainment company—yes, even our dear, beloved HYBE—is a business, and their biggest concern is making money. There is, of course, discourse as to which companies are "good" and which ones are "bad" but at the end of the day, they're all running a business to make money using artists as their capital. The Western market, particularly in the U.S., is huge. You can fit five South Koreas in California alone, physically, and the potential for increased sales and streams is alluring. KPOP agencies have been making partnerships with American record labels left and right over the past few years, giving birth to both iconic collaborations and some that leave something to be desired. Because the push is to make music that will become popular on social media and start TikTok challenges that people can easily participate in, this catering to the general public runs the risk of alienating fans who have been loyal for years; and the influx of remixes featuring Western artists that are released on single CDs and heavily promoted have taken away some of the enjoyment of being a KPOP fan. That's not to say that some of these collabs are not good—some of them are great. But are they ever my favorite songs on the album? No, not really. I appreciate the range of artists, though.

At the risk of sounding like I'm enabling a certain "pick me" attitude that some people have about being KPOP fans (in the sense that they think of themselves as better than other people because they listen to music in Korean, which is a kind of fetishization that people don't like to acknowledge), as I mentioned earlier, the draw of KPOP isn't that it sounds like Western pop music. The appeal comes from how different it is; and if KPOP keeps trying to make itself palatable for the Western ear, then it's going to lose that appeal—and that's speaking purely from a practical, business perspective. I also want to emphasize that I am not necessarily lumping in groups' English tracks in this statement. I'm not the biggest fan of them but I don't think that a group is lesser than for releasing them. It takes a lot of courage to put out music in a language you don't speak fluently, and many groups' English tracks have brought fans a lot of happiness.

On that note, however, the other trend that I personally find problematic is the idea of "global" KPOP groups. Please note that this is not about gatekeeping KPOP, because KPOP is free to be enjoyed by anyone regardless of who they are. However, as I mentioned previously, South Korea is currently still occupied by the U.S., and while it has been skillfully covered up by mainstream media, South Koreans would actually very much like for the U.S. to be out of their country. It's true that U.S. presence has introduced many genres that are popular in Western music to South Korea (including genres that were created by black musicians), which allowed KPOP to build an industry that is known for blending genres and creating new sounds, but at its core, KPOP is something so distinctly and uniquely Korean; and most Koreans are very proud of the impact that Korean pop culture has had on the rest of the world because of KPOP. Talent can be sourced from many places but the practice of bringing non-Korean or non-Asian artists into a KPOP group reeks of colonization. If you think about it, colonization has happened more or less the same way in every instance: a larger world power takes notice of a smaller, less developed country with resources from which they can profit and then they take over to exploit those resources for their own benefit. In the same way, everyone wants a piece of the KPOP pie and when Korean or even Asian members are the minority in the group, it's no longer a KPOP group and more of a group that's doing KPOP. There are some people who would argue that what makes it KPOP is that it's sung in Korean but that's not exactly true. KPOP is a wholly comprehensive experience that includes the music, the choreography, the styling, the concepts, and the storytelling, as well as other elements that are inherently specific to Korean culture. There are some things that non-Koreans will never be able to fully grasp, no matter how much they study the language or the culture or how much time they spend living in Korea.

Additionally, KPOP is so lucrative that instead of becoming artists in their own countries, many people come to Korea hoping to get accepted as trainees so that they can debut in a KPOP group and maybe one day find success. Not only does this then take away from the Koreanness of the art form but it also takes away talented artists from the entertainment industries in other countries that could benefit from having that star power. Survival shows like JYP Entertainment's A2K and HYBE x Geffen's Dream Academy mean well, I'm sure, and those girls are all very talented and deserving of a bright future in music and entertainment—but being a non-Korean or non-Asian in a KPOP group is not like being a person of a non-Caucasian race or ethnicity in the Western music industry where the mainstream music is predominantly sung in English because Korean is not a universally spoken language. While the inclusivity and diversity is well-intentioned, you have to take into consideration what diversity looks like for each population. South Korea has been largely homogeneous for almost its entire life as a nation, and regardless of their close ties with the U.S., the makeup of the population is nothing close to the melting pot that exists in America. And no matter what anyone tells you about how much global groups will receive a lot of support because of all the different countries represented, a majority of the KPOP audience does not want to see foreigners in KPOP groups. I personally would much rather see a wider acceptance of idols from throughout the Korean diaspora and mixed Koreans as a show of the diversity that could be possible in popular Korean media than willingly allow the rest of the world to invade Korea again in a more nuanced way. What would be diverse for South Korea would be to see more black Koreans, more Hispanic/Latinx Koreans, and other non-Caucasian Koreans in KPOP in order for them to acknowledge the growing population of mixed Koreans while still maintaining its status as a Korean artform.

If there is such a demand for global groups, then the better route to take would be to follow in XG's footsteps: create a group of Asian (in their case, Japanese) artists who were trained in the KPOP system, release music exclusively in English, and promote all over the world. (I will say that their continued attendance at Korean music shows is a little baffling, considering that none of their music is in Korean. I know they're all learning how to speak Korean, though, so I'm hoping that they start releasing music in Korean—and in Japanese—so that they can really show that they are a global group.)

Are Artists Obligated to "Use Their Platform for Good"?

Plenty of celebrities have received the criticism that they should be "using their platform" to raise awareness about specific issues and topics and are often attacked for remaining silent. While it is true that they have so much social capital and public influence that it would be nice to see them use it to do something good for others, is it really fair to expect people to be constantly championing causes when they are also burdened with other responsibilities that we may be unaware of and/or unable to understand?

A lot of parents like to say that some celebrities need to carry themselves better and think about what they say and do because they have a lot of children and young people who look up to them. Again, this is true, but are we as everyday adults thinking about whether or not we're conducting ourselves in a way that would be appropriate for any children who may be observing us? Unlikely, unless you have your own children or other children in your family. Celebrities have very different lives and they have privileges that most of us will never know, but at the end of the day, they're also people and it must be exhausting to have to be "on" anytime you could be seen by someone, let alone for children that are, for them, only existing in the abstract and not in reality. Many celebrities don't become celebrities in order to have so much sway over such a large population of people—they simply pursued something they were passionate about and became wealthy and famous in the process. They're sometimes seen as these "other-worldly" figures but they're really no different from the rest of us when it comes to bare bones.

So are artists responsible for how the content they put out into the world affects others? Yes and no. For example, I don't think BTS should be held accountable for how the rest of the world views KPOP or Koreans just because they're one of the most popular figures in Korean entertainment. Should they be mindful about the kind of music they make given the diversity of their audience? Absolutely—but they don't have to. They can make whatever kind of music they want and how the fans receive it will send a message to them. They can choose to listen or not, and that is their right. It just so happens that they have chosen time and time again to put the fans first and that has played a huge part in their success.

Should Jungkook be responsible for protecting the ears of innocent children from the sexually explicit lyrics in his music? No, of course not, their parents should be keeping that music out of their rotation. But should Big Hit Music be responsible for vetting collaborations before releasing music that is racist and misogynistic? I'd really like to say yes, because that's something that would happen at the company level and not the artist level. If they really cared about Jungkook's image outside of the sexual themes of his solo music, then Jack Harlow would've never gotten the go ahead. Something like this is disappointing because prior to the creation of HYBE, Big Hit Entertainment had set the standard for being a company that valued their artists. It was really hard to not be a "company stan" at the beginning, but at the end of the day, companies will always value profits over people and even Big Hit Music is no exception.

Conclusion

There are some things that we as KPOP fans should consider. One, KPOP has the potential to become even bigger or crumble, depending on the actions that Korean entertainment companies take in the upcoming years. KPOP is really what put South Korea on the map and though they would benefit more from staying true to what has made the genre so beloved by many fans around the world, the shift in direction towards trying to appeal to Western tastes has been continuing; and this move has the potential to lose the interest of long-time KPOP fans who will see it as no longer being different from other genres and therefore no longer appealing.

Two, allowing access to the idol system for everyone isn't the solution people want to believe it is. Even with the backing of large companies, so-called global groups have a bigger chance of being snubbed by lifelong KPOP fans; and people shouldn't be trying to take something away from a population for whom their economy, society, and lives in general have been shaped by that one thing. Modern colonization exists and this is it.

Three, KPOP artists, while they don't grow in the same way as everyday people, do still grow; and they should be allowed the space to grow, whether that means being free to express their sexuality or their personality changing. Especially if you've been a KPOP fan for a long time, we are literally growing up with these artists. I myself am the same age as many third generation KPOP idols, and knowing how much my style has changed, how much my personality has changed, I don't expect that those things will never change for an idol. People who expected TWICE to do the cute, girly thing forever actually want them to look and act like little girls forever, and they are grown women. They're allowed to change because they are changing. People are not free for consumption in any way we want, and we need to get past this idea of demanding that idols need to stay the same.

Which brings us to four, artists and celebrities are people. Making art for a living is tricky, as it often is when you're doing what you love and being paid for it. While most people would say that that's the dream, it can also be a burden; and public figures can never truly be themselves because someone is always watching. And though we should never excuse someone's poor behavior, it's important to have some compassion for other people's situations. In a world where corporations hold most of the power and even the most famous artists are still chained to certain responsibilities and expectations, we should recognize that we cannot impose our own values and morals on others. If your favorite artist disappoints you, it can be very devastating, but it is also a testament to how much we place certain people on pedestals when we should all be treated equally as human beings.

Maybe this is all a huge overreaction to "3D" and maybe it's not. It's a very long-winded way of saying that I don't like the song but like most things, it's connected to other things and it's important to understand the context of all those things. Anyway, please pre-order GOLDEN by Jungkook if you can and I'll see you all on November 3rd!