#how many more projects does he have left with this contract?

[gay-jewish-bucky]

atp it seems like seb is completely phoning it in, he so clearly does not want to be there and won't even pretend otherwise, and yk what? good for him, get that check and get out

[moonzzip]

what we share | kwon jiyong

a/n — i tried to put as much feeling into this story as possible, i think i expressed it well (I think), i hope you like it! feel free to correct grammatical mistakes! love ya 🤍

summary: you are hired for a new commission and meet again someone you never expected to see.

pairing: jiyong x gn!photographer!reader

warnings: fluff, a lot of feeling, i think nothing more

lowercase letters, word count: 2,7k

you close your eyes, shaking your head in disbelief, covering your mouth with your fist. this is unbelievable, you think. there’s no way this is real. your heart races, your body shivers.

expensive cheese is definitely the best in the world—this is a top-tier charcuterie board.

you silently thank yourself, patting your own shoulder for accepting the request from that strange old man. well, you know him (you’ve seen him on the internet)... he’s just weird.

you don’t even remember his name properly, but he owns some music industry company—what’s it called again? your eyes were on the payment for this gig. why the hell was he paying you so much? you have no idea, but you’re not complaining either.

the party itself is quite big, but there are about three other photographers scattered around. more will arrive later, but among those already here, none seem to be appreciating the food as much as you. no one does it better than you.

you got here early, camera already hanging around your neck, snacking on cheese, olives, bits of ham, and other things—so many variations of the same items that you can't even count. the formal dinner is supposedly happening after 8:30 pm, so you have to stuff yourself now—who knows if there will be anything left by then? you had a little bread, a snack or two before coming, but the old man promised food, so you held back. you don’t know if there’s going to be a table for the photographers or if you’ll all end up eating in a tiny room full of useless junk that barely fits two people sitting down.

internally, you pray to any god listening that this is just your imagination. ah... you can smell the scent of expensive, delicious food from miles away.

finishing your cheese, you glance around. there’s even a fountain with a well-sculpted cupid spouting water from its mouth. you also spot an ice sculpture of… what the hell is that?

oh. it’s the old man.

your eyebrow furrows slightly with a confused mix of disgust and disbelief. so, he was that type... yeah, it actually fits his overall vibe.

now that you think about it, the old man gave you a contract to sign. you were going to read it until he mentioned the numbers, and then you just grabbed the pen and signed it. a spectacularly dumb move on your part, but whatever, right? he could have slipped in a clause about selling your dog, billie, and you wouldn’t even have noticed.

billie, forgive me if that actually happened.

bored of talking to yourself in your head, you get to work.

not to brag, but you’re really good at what you do. you’ve had experience with an endless variety of projects—you’ve been a camera coordinator for films, series, music videos. seriously, you’ve done it all. you’ve photographed everything.

marine life? yes.

natural phenomena? yes.

supernatural? maybe not, but you’ve caught a shadow or two.

jungle life? also yes!

you’ve spent weeks in some country, shooting and filming whatever they needed. thinking about it now, maybe you should start reading contracts more carefully before accepting a job.

your work isn’t just about holding a camera and snapping random photos. your job is to show people what you see—to capture your perspective, your way of admiring things, whether small details or grand landscapes. this is how you express yourself, sharing what you observe. and you don’t regret it, despite a few life-or-death situations along the way.

you chuckle at the thought. where’s my love for life? no idea.

scratching the corner of your mouth, you take a wide shot of the venue, checking the preview on your camera’s small screen. (did you mention how huge its lens is? no? well, it is.)

you’re the lead photographer tonight, responsible for capturing everything—from the main guests to that cursed ice statue. you shudder, squeezing your eyes shut for a second to erase the image from your mind.

oh. the first guests are starting to arrive. now the real work begins.

you move toward the entrance and start with simple shots, adjusting the focus before capturing images. so many people arrive at once, but that doesn’t discourage you. later, you’ll have to take individual portraits of the main guests anyway.

slowly, the hall fills up. the other photographers are already at work—one outside, filming the arrival of guests stepping out of their expensive leather-seated limousines; another woman recording a general overview of the venue; a third taking pictures of the “less important” people (according to the old man). meanwhile, you, speaking in a calm and polite tone, ask guests for permission to take their photos. your charm is strong, and you genuinely enjoy your job, so it’s not a problem.

you see children, animals—only dogs and cats, inside bags or on leashes—people (of course), some older, some younger. you overhear one of your fellow photographers saying that a large number of actors, actresses, many, like many idols, groups, and solo artists are here.

you don’t really follow the industry closely—not that you don’t consume the content, you just don’t dig deep into it. so, if someone asks you who some colorful-haired guy from some group is, you definitely won’t know.

you swap out your phone frequently because you have a bad habit of breaking it during photoshoots. you’ve been more careful lately, but it still feels like you get a new one every three days. that doesn’t mean you’re some clueless grandma who just discovered the internet last week—you know things, okay? you work in photography, so of course, you have to know how to use a phone. you do! it’s just that when you’re online, your mind is locked onto other types of content—games, your favorite youtubers, food videos, and other cool stuff. but so what? no one asked you.

you nod to yourself. who am i even talking to?

you refocus on your work.

you have a list to follow.

"let’s see... now... g-d... gey-dragon... g-dragon...? is that how you say it? probably," you mumble to yourself, shrugging at your own question. wait, how are you even supposed to find him??

you look at your list for more details. kwon jiyong... kwon jiyong? your eyes wander upward, hand on your chin. that name sounds familiar, but from where?

you shrug again and scan the paper.

"chanel ambassador... founder of the brand peaceminusone... peaceminusone??"

you glance at your sneakers. despite your formal black outfit (a bussiness suit—mandatory for all photographers), the only not black thing on you is the colorful logo of your nikes. you bought them recently and fell in love at first sight. you vaguely remember seeing "peaceminusone" when researching the shoes. they even had daisy designs with missing petals that you found adorable.

you get a little more excited. what kind of person is he? g-dragon... i think that’s right. would it be weird to go around asking who he is? yeah, probably. better to ask where he is instead.

scanning the room, you spot amai, another photographer. she might know. you chuckle at yourself.

approaching the shorter girl, you tap her shoulder lightly. "hey, hey, amai! how’s it going?" speaking in japanese, knowing she struggles with korean.

hearing your voice, she turns with a smile. "hello, ___! i’m good, and you? busy?"you smile at her sweetness, playfully tapping her head. "nothing i can’t handle. your senior here has everything under control, don’t worry." you continue, "i wanted to ask if you know where... g-d—g-dragon-nim is? is that how you say it?"

amai giggles at your stuttering mix of korean and japanese.

"g-dragon-san? i think i saw him going outside to the garden, but i'm not sure..." a bit of guilt appears on the shorter girl's face for not being able to help you. seeing this, you gently ruffle her hair, smiling, "thank you, amai~ that helped me a lot. good job to you~" you wave as you walk away, and she smiles, waving back.

okay, you got some information, but is it enough? you wonder. you're more lost than a fish out of water, you have no idea how to search... better go where amai said first, maybe someone saw him there.

you walk, greeting everyone with a smile and a nod, carefully avoiding bumping into anyone (your lens was way too expensive, you don’t want to risk breaking it). you reach the door leading to the garden.

you’re not sure if you have permission to enter. maybe you should wait for him to come out? but what if it’s not him? this waiting time could be spent looking for him instead. maybe he's just nearby?

you glance around but then remember you don’t even know what he looks like, so you have nothing to lose.

placing your hand on the doorknob, you twist it and pull.

oh.

it didn’t open.

you keep trying to pull.

okay.

maybe it’s locked?

you sigh.

maybe try...

you twist the knob again and push outward this time, and it opens.

oh man, is there anyone dumber than you

unlike before, you pray to any existing god that no one saw this horribly embarrassing scene. you clear your throat to cover up the shame, open the door wider, and step outside into the garden.

everything was so illuminated, not by any lamp, but by the moon itself. you look up at the sky, walking forward, stepping down the small staircase, your feet touching the grass. the garden was beautiful, with several flower arches in various colors, nothing excessive, a small bird fountain, scattered benches, and even a tiny artificial pond where you could see fish swimming inside. it was truly adorable. the garden was spectacular—definitely worth photographing.

you smile fondly and start capturing everything you see. turning to the side, one eye closed, the other on the camera, you see through your lens a man sitting on a garden bench, his back turned to you. he wears a coat with fine, shiny fur, seemingly an expensive crochet design, in shades of purplish-blue, lighter blue, with small pink and green details, the colors blending into a rich pattern. you couldn't see the pattern of his pants well due to some flowers near the bench, but his pink hair was very noticeable—not an eye-burning pink, but a very beautiful shade. he didn't seem to be looking at his phone or anything, he was just... admiring the night and the beautiful garden.

lowering your camera, you stare at his back for a few seconds until—

"ah. that must be g-dragon-nim."

you murmur to yourself and start walking towards him. to avoid startling him, you call out softly,

"excuse me, kwon jiyong-nim..?"

the man's shoulders jump slightly, but then his face turns, his slightly long hair moving along with it. the moonlight highlights his cheekbones, as well as his eyes. you stare for a moment before your own eyes widen.

"j... jiyong..?" — "___?"

you and the man in front of you speak at the same time.

he stands up so quickly you don’t even have time to blink. you almost take a step back but steady your feet. neither of you speaks, just examining each other.

you noted earlier that he was only wearing that coat and a necklace—like, nothing underneath?

apparently, he noticed your gaze and instinctively pulled the coat tighter to cover some skin, though not out of discomfort.

jiyong felt his cheeks heat slightly. the person he had been looking for all these years, and in their first reunion, they see him like this? not that he was poorly dressed, he just felt your stare was too intense.

noticing him adjusting his coat, you act as if you didn’t see anything.

"wow... it's been so long... how long, like... 5 years?—"

"16 years, ___."

your mouth falls open in shock—it had been 16 years since you last saw kwon jiyong’s pretty face.

the man overcomes his moment of awkwardness and looks at you with a serene gaze, and unconsciously, you match his expression. both of you feeling nostalgia, overwhelmed by emotions from a past that now feels too distant. 16 years is no short time—it’s impossible to ignore the palpable longing between you. in those 16 years, either of you could have been kidnapped, died in an accident, been killed, gotten involved in crime, anything. but no, here you both were, face to face, in silence.

"i've been looking for you. all this time."

his deep voice resonates in your ears, filled with raw emotion—so much longing, a bit of exhaustion, and relief.

your heart races. you press the back of your hand against your mouth, letting out a shy laugh, but quickly recover, smiling as you step closer to jiyong. now, you’re truly face to face. "don't say things like that, or I'll fall for you all over again."

he chuckles softly, stepping even closer. "what if that’s my goal?"

you shrug, your faces now mere inches apart. "then I'll let myself feel it."

surprised, he leans back slightly and laughs. "you’re even worse than 16 years ago, who taught you this?" he playfully judges you, and you shrug again. "you're just too charming not to flirt back, you know?"

he rolls his eyes, looking down, opening his mouth to say something but stopping when he sees your shoes.

"my nike collab sneakers? you’re more of a fan than i thought, ___."

following his gaze, you look down too and laugh. "ahh~ yes, kwon jiyong, i totally thought of you when buying these sneakers."

he looks at you, his eyes shining slightly. "wow, really?" you shrug again, laughing and shaking your head, making him roll his eyes again before giving you a gentle push.

you take your camera off your neck, placing it on the bench, and walk closer to him, looking at him with warmth.raising your arms, you step forward. he sees this and prepares to stand up too, but you pause. "i don't know if i should... won’t it, i don’t know, cause you problems?"

he doesn’t answer. instead, he grabs your wrist, pulling you into an embrace. his arms wrap around you in an instant, the cold night wind blowing around you both, yet the comfortable silence remains.

jiyong rests his head on your shoulder. at first, you’re surprised, but you hug him back, pressing your face against his neck, feeling his warmth, his familiar scent, and his arms bringing that unforgettable sensation. you both close your eyes, drowning in each other’s presence.

the cold doesn’t matter at all—not when you both warm each other with memories of the past. spending time together, doing nothing on the couch, running on the beach, night walks, having dinner, comforting each other through past rejections, confusing emotions, bad situations, tears... even your first kiss, shared between the two of you.

all of it washes over you like an ocean wave, unearthing memories of a bond only the two of you understand—one that no one else will ever have anything similar to.

no matter how many people you and jiyong met along the way, your hearts and minds only ever spoke of each other. in every moment. no matter where you were, the only thought on your minds now was making up for lost time.

you don’t need words to understand what the other is thinking. despite 16 years passing, neither of you had lost your essence. personalities change, that’s a fact, but what lies deep inside—there is no amount of time that can alter that.

"thank you for looking for me, jiyong."

you pull away from the hug, cupping his face, caressing his cheeks. he closes his eyes for a moment, leaning into your touch, placing his hand over yours.

"but in the end, it was me who found you."

a/n – sorry for not posting yesterday, I was busy and had no ideas, but today I posted! I hope you liked it, this time I wrote it listening to 'supernova love' by ive, this song makes me very melancholic... feel free to correct any grammar mistakes! thanks for reading! 🤍😞

[lichenes]

#1 dad(dy)

based on those tweets/tumblr posts: ⓪ ① ② ③ ④ ⑤ ⑥ ⑦ CW: mentions of smoking, actor au wc: 571 .  * 　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　 ˚ .  * 　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　 ˚.  * 　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　 ˚.  * 　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　 ˚.  * 　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　 ˚

The sound of clapperboard was heard as the day of filming began. “Today, due to immense demand, Gabriel Fouché, will be reading your thirst tweets!” Said the director with a bright smile. A part of the contract with the studio recording “Arcane” was to take part in a few interviews, this one was a bit- unusual for him. 

“RIP to Silco, you would’ve loved vaping ‘bandaged heart’, you would’ve been doing crazy smoke tricks on tiktok ‘R. N’.” He chuckled. “What does R, N mean?” Laughs could be heard behind the cameras. Someone answered. “Right now.” Gabriel nodded. 

“Well I did have to learn how to smoke cigars and do tricks with the smoke for the role. I do have to admit I am a habitual cigarette smoker so it was infinitely easier to master the art.” He paused for a moment. “As for the tiktok tricks - I’m a jughead when it comes to technology so unless there would be someone doing all the recording… you aren’t seeing those videos any time soon.” 

“The children yearn for the mines, and my photo underneath it.” He burst out laughing, putting his hand on his mouth. “Ahahah- okay, okay. Yeah they do.” 

“I think about this Silco moment every day, my god he’s so hot here.” Gabriel tilted his head. “Hmm… it seems most fans of Silco find him most attractive when he’s kicking the camera. I wonder why.” He put his hand on his chin in faux thought and then laughed.

“Sorry but older Silco ‘greater-than’ young Silco. I actually have to disagree on that.” He said. “Younger Silco was in one scene and he captured so many hearts, both on set and amongst the viewers, that Older Silco didn’t manage to do with all his screen time. Younger Silco is something special…” 

“Hashtag Zaundads, actually!” Gabriel got closer to the camera and put his hand to his mouth almost as to whisper a secret. “Me and Gerard actually kissed to prepare for the alternate universe episode, to really get into character, you know.” Gasps were heard in the studio. “I’m joking.” He said winking towards the camera.

“Silco’s left eye is missing eyelids so I guess he was sleeping like this every night. Exactly what happened I can attest to that.” He nodded solemnly. “Actually, SIlco just doesn’t sleep ever, that’s how he runs Zaun, he does not let his guard down even for a moment. Poor guy, he needs to relax more.” 

“P, L, S - please, I assume? - Stop posting Silco thirst he looks like my dad, and a comment left under that, is your dad single? I’d love to meet my doppelganger! Send me a message and we shall schedule it.” He said half-joking as an email popped up on the screen. 

“And the final one- okay who the hell was all over my dash two years ago thirsting over Silco, I understand you now. I want his whole wardrobe and he can read the dictionary to me until I fall asleep. I actually have a deal to voice a certain someone in a new project we’ve been working on with the cast so keep your eyes open!” He said. “And as for my wardrobe, I’ve seen some pretty talented people replicating my outfits! So it’s clearly easy to steal Silco’s wardrobe.” 

“Thank you all for watching!!” He exclaimed with his million dollar smile as the cameras stopped rolling.

.  * 　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　 ˚ .  * 　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　 ˚.  * 　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　 ˚.  * 　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　 ˚.  * 　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　 ˚

masterlist

[lokideservesahug]

Worthy

-°•°•°•°•--•°•°•°•°--°•°•°•°•--•°•°•°•°-

Pairing: Sergio "Checo" Pérez x reader

Warnings: One innuendo? Reader doesn't have a gender but Checo and reader are married!

Notes: Tried to force myself to write this (during a writer's block with no motivation...yay!!!) Also I wrote this quite a while ago but changed it sligjtly so it took place more recently But it is based on this request :)

Summary: The second Red Bull seat had been a hot topic of conversation for "Silly Season" but when Checo resigns, what do the public think? Or more importantly what does Checo think to the response?

-°•°•°•°•--•°•°•°•°--°•°•°•°•--•°•°•°•°-

You stir slightly feeling much colder than usual. How unusual. You try and nuzzle into the figure to you side only to find him in an odd position. You crack open an eye. Checo is sat next to you, features illuminated by his phone screen. You glance to the side to see the time projected on the wall. 2:34 AM. You huff I frustration. Sergio said he'd get to sleep at a usual time yet here he was, yet again, scrolling through the entered at unreasonable times.

You grumble at your husband, catching his attention. He pulls his eyes away from the screen for what looks to be, the first time in a while. "Morning mi amor." You groan, reminded of just how unreasonable the time is. You sit up slightly in order to adress him. "What are you doing this early?" You stare at him, scrutinising his response. You're fairly certain you already know the awnser but you want to see if he'll admit it to you and himself.

"I was just- uh.... Just looking at some things online." You raise an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? What kinds of things?" He gulps and his eyes flicker down to his phone once again. "You know just fantom things, I fell down a rabbit hole earlier and am now watching parrot videos." You slowly move towards him, speaking in a sickeningly sweet tone to try and put him at ease. "Oh really? How interesting!" You move ever closer, tapping the bedside lamp so it's on its lowest setting, until you are left face to face with your husband. You halt, left hovering over his hips and you remain there, drinking in his state below you (that if it was an other situation, you'd do something completely different with him).

Until you pounce, grabbing his phone our of his hands, desperate to see what exactly he was looking at. You bolt up and out of the bed, squinting your eyes at the bright screen, trying to make out what it says. You ignore the distant pained crys if your husband and scroll, looking at more tweets. You turn to him and tilt yoir head.

Now with what many would call sub-par performances by Checo recently, people were starting to become more rowdy and opinionated online. There was a sudden cacophony of disbelief that Checo's contract was resigned especially after the most recent race in Austria. The criticism of your husband's contract renewal ran rampant when I was first announced but even now, hate had tenfold. Many believing that any other driver would be better fit or better deserving for the seat. You sigh in both disbelief and worry.

"Mi vida, it isn't isn't it looks like." You nearly laugh at his obvious lie. "Is it not? Because it looks like you're going against what we agreed and surrounding yourself with all of the hate people are giving you about driving. But please, tell me what it actually is." He looks down, unable to meet your eyes. That tells you all you need to know as you delete the tab on the phone and close it with a soft click.

"Darling, I am worried for you. You'll too early let all of those words get to your head and the last thing you need or deserve is you thinking that everyone thinks poorly of you." You cup the side of Checo's face and he nuzzled into your hand. "I know. But... Just what if they are right." You scoff. "Don't you dare say that. Most of those people have never even touched a go-kart in their life, let alone been behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car. You shouldn't let them project their own insecurities onto you. I mean look, not even Max has won every race this season, people need to realise that this is a completely different season from last yer and your still on hell of a driver."

Checo smiles. But it wavers as he goes to speak. "But Christian-" You cut across him. "Christian said something that was to encourage you, not criticise you. And team principals should learn how to hold their mouth anyways. Goodness knows speaking isn't doing Williams any good. But Checo it doesn't matter what anyone says, at the end of the day, you are giving stellar performances and most people are just jealous of you. You are the driver that they decided to resign for the red bull seat. Not Daniel, not Yuki, not Carlos, You. That was for a reason. You are truly amazing as a driver and as a man."

Checi formally meets your eyes once more and you see in the small illumination of the bedside table, them grow glassy. He smiles at you and leans forward, capturing your lips in a tender kiss. He speaks quietly, bouce breaking in the middle. "Thank you mi vida, I love you so much." You just smile softly at him and bring him into a tender embrace.

And the two of you know that no matter matter happens or what people say, you have each other. And that's good enough for Checo.

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Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed!

As always, likes, reblogs and especially feedback is always welcome!

Taglist: @nikfigueiredo @mysoulispainted @leclercings @d3kstar @hiireadstuff @a-beaverhausen @nichmeddar @lozzamez3 @stinkyjax @marymustdie @littlesatanicassholebitch @mehrmonga @insanedeathwish @ems-alexandra @a-disturbing-self-reflection @cherry-piee

[wakacreations]

Raphael HC

I haven't written one for the cambion and I might as well.

Mother:

His mother was a bard in life. She was an adventurer in a band that wanted to see inside his father's archive. Made a deal with the Archdevil to release her companions but in exchange she would sing.

Mephisto saw her as a music box to tinker with and see its inner mechanisms. She would sing endlessly for him. Her lone soulful melody echoing through the ice walls.

She would write and compose works in her solitude when dismissed. Like the many relics in the Archdevil's archive she is left to be forgotten and collecting dust.

Raphael rediscovers her work and takes interest while looking to gain any and all knowledge at his disposal.

Influence:

Why study to become a bard?

Who would care to listen to a voice of a cambion? It should be guaranteed someone would listen to the son of an Archdevil but by mere association, yet no one does. How could he master his craft for those to pay attention? Studying the works of famous bards.

Why does Raphael not dress like those in the Hells?

He does not need to resort to lowly flaunt his assets for mortals to sign his contracts. He is above them and will always be. They will sign by his command through his word alone.

Why does Raphael commit deals using human disguise?

He does not need to resort to physical intimidate. Just by appearing as a devil they would sign willingly through fear. He does have semblance to his father and by that allowing his father's influence to sway his deals. There is no satisfaction to be gain from such an acquisition.

Why the perfume or mask the scent of the Hells?

Besides to blend in as a mortal, the sense of smell like the other five senses will invoke a memory in the presence of a particular familiar scent. Certain smells correlate to a mood, a feeling, a time and a place where emotions run high becoming powerful enough become a core memory. He does not need to be physically there for a mortal to be reminded of the sight of his visage, feel the heat emanating from his skin, the rich deep vibrato of his voice in an ear, but just a subtle inhale. When walking through the plane you catch the scent of cherries, musk and sulfur. Maybe you encounter only one or maybe some combination of those smells. In the back of your mind wondering it is the trick of the mind that it can't be him. One a rare occasion you smell that fragrance all together, you are left wondering if he has just passed through or has he come for you to pay your dues.

Haarlep:

Why can he deny them nothing because why would he deny himself? He is drawn this beautiful image.

Haarlep is his mirror, his reminder of all that he is and more.

He is as of a now will still be his servant.

A mere toy to be played with by a master.

Yet they are everything he strives to be one day.

A pure being that voices temptations and sin. With only a look mortals bow and eagerly await to be under their thumb.

They may take any form, be anyone and to roam wherever they desire.

The freedom of choice and desire personified whom he would become if he had the crown to rise above being a half mortal, a lowly cambion. Maybe he will ascend past this form and be something much greater.

Gortash:

He sees himself in the boy, cunning and ambitious.

What would this boy become if faced with similar conditions he, himself were raised under?

Would he surrender and beg for mercy as mortals do or will he grow to become a fox as well?

What would happen if the boy were to be properly educated and tended to, where would their ambition lay? Will he serve a devil with upmost loyalty or would it lead to betrayal in the end?

I like to imagine Gortash was seen as another projection of himself. If Raphael was raised differently would he still be the ambitious and cunning devil he is. Well he got his answer when Gortash escaped his House of Hope.

General Facts:

Raphael hates the cold but he does enjoy the winters of Faerun. The season is plentiful for contracts. He does enjoy ice skating in this realm with its beautiful scenery.

He can swim but not well and becomes paranoid swimming in deeper waters. He will drown if left alone without supervision.

Anything tentaclelike he can't stand the sight of. He will get ill and be left with vivid nightmares.

He has a fondness for childish mortal fairytales. Secretly he would read them in the privacy of his own chamber in Cania and would perform them as a child. The books were left by his mother that he never knew.

Raphael has an elaborate vocal exercise routine similar to those of opera singers. He has a specialized group of clerics on hand to heal his throat in particular.

When Raphael sends the debtors and servants away for the day, left on his own he'll play the compositions his mother wrote and if the mood strikes him sing the reprise version he wrote for her.

[lollystocks]

Therapy for the Dead and Buried, Chapter 2

Chapter one here

Masterpost here

AO3

A Danny Phantom x The Bright Sessions Crossover for @dp-crossover-angst-week-event

"Patient 17-X-2, session two. Any abilities unconfirmed, though suspected. At the end of last session, he became spooked at my questioning, and left early. His school has made him come back, and I imagine he won’t be happy about it. A gentler touch is probably required, here.”

-

They sat in the same arrangement as before. The doctor had made a note of it in her book.

"I must say James, I'm glad to see you back."

Danny couldn’t help but scoff. "That’s sort of hard to believe, Doctor Bright."

"Why is that?"

She looked pretty genuine, in a carefully neutral kinda way. Her eyebrows were raised ever-so-slightly over her dark, square glasses, her mouth was relaxed, and brown eyes were making full, unflinching contact with his own. None of the tensed shoulders and muttered asides he was used to from adults these days.

She wasn't totally at ease though, obviously. Her right hand gripped her expensive fountain pen a little too tightly, her irises had contracted. Her nostrils were slightly flared.

These were all the things he'd grown used to seeing, though he had no baseline for the doctor. Then again, he had no baseline for anyone.

The eye contact was incredibly uncomfortable, and he broke it, opting for the window behind her instead.

"No one's ever glad to see me, Doctor Bright. Not really."

She let the silence stretch out. Fucking shrink. Relying on the human instinct to fill the silence.

It was working, unfortunately.

"So I. Uh. Don't really believe you. I think that's a nice thing to say, 'I'm glad to see you', it's a nice segue into talking about me storming out last time, and like, I guess in some way you are glad to see me 'cause then you don’t lose out on a payment, and this is your job, but I think you're uncomfortable. To see me. Which is fine, I just. I wi- I’d rather that people were honest about that."

"Are people not typically honest about that with you?"

"Well they are, eventually, but only after they have some stupid thing to blame it on. Like the way I said or did something, so then they can justify not liking me. I’d rather people be honest that they got the heebie-jeebies from the moment they clapped eyes on me, but that would involve…” He trailed off. “I dunno. Something."

"Do you think this immediate prejudice you feel from people is the reason for your problems at school?"

Danny considered. "Maybe. It's hard to ‘apply yourself’ when everyone at school hates you."

And he’d been trying, he really had - he had more time than ever to work on assignments and projects, and actually read ahead in English, and he didn’t have to stay up all night finishing his homework. It all should have been so much better.

In truth, it was, marginally - better than his last year at Casper, anyhow. But that was a low, low bar.

But no matter how hard he worked, it wasn’t enough. Essays came back with low marks and no comments, his classmates refused to work with him on projects, and presentations were cut off after thirty seconds because no one could stand to listen to him talk and despite the hours of research he’d be given a D-minus and expected to be grateful for it.

And he could never argue, or call it unfair. He’d be put in detention, or even seclusion, for threatening behavior. And now, sent to outsourced therapy with an inscrutable woman who’d probably have him committed.

Her head tilted a fraction. "Before, you said 'uncomfortable' and 'heebie-jeebies', now you say 'hate'. Which is it, do you think?"

"Well, one leads to the other, right? Like, hate is just a way of directing fear? Or something like that. People are scared of me, and they hate that, so they hate me."

The doctor wrote all this down.

“Is this something you experience from everyone, James? Or does it change from person to person? Do you have many friends, at school?”

“Nope,” Danny said, popping the ‘p’. “No friends. There are people who… dislike me less, I guess. There’s this one guy who goes out of his way to be like, sweet. Asks me how I am and stuff. I think he feels sorry for the fact I’m such a visible loner with no friends.” The doctor nodded. “And have you tried pursuing a friendship with this young man?”

“Not really, I can tell that he’s super scared of me too. But he’s nice, so I try not to overstay my welcome. Plus, his friend is like, super freaked out by me. Like way more than normal.” The doctor’s eyebrows furrowed just a little, at that. “How do you know someone is scared of you, James?”

“You think I’m projecting.”

“Not at all. I didn’t mean to imply anything. I’m just wondering what it is exactly that you’re picking up on. Is it people’s behavior? Their words? Something you can see, or maybe just… feel? Innately?”

“‘Cause if it’s something I just ‘feel’ then it’s in my head, right?”

“Not at all. The human brain is very good at pattern recognition, even on a subconscious level. What we may sometimes experience as ‘just a feeling’ or a loosely defined ‘sense’ can actually be the result of our brains performing complex analyses on our surroundings, and gaining something meaningful from the smallest details. It’s a fascinating area of study.”

“And you think that’s what I’m doing?”

“It could be. What do you think?”

Danny didn’t need to ‘sense’ his effect on individual people, of course. Or intuit, or whatever else the doctor was talking about. It was just a given - one that had only gotten worse since he’d come here.

He didn’t want to sit here and tell a therapist that he had a terrifying, supernatural aura. He didn’t want to tell her he was dead. He wanted, desperately, to tell someone that his control was slipping - had slipped - and he was fighting for command over his body again, here in a world with different physics and no discernible magic.

But he couldn’t, obviously.

“I’ve learned to spot the body language,” he said. “Fast breathing, tense muscles, wide eyes and blown - or constricted - pupils, clenching, flushing and sweating, et cetera et cetera. It helps if they call me a creep, a freak, or a psycho too. That normally informs me pretty well.” “Do you study people’s body language a lot, James? Would you be able to spot other emotions as easily?”

He shrugged. “Only as well as anyone else, I guess. I don’t think I have much of a talent for it. I can just spot the fear ‘cause I cause it. Like, I googled how to spot it once, after it started happening.” “And when did it start?”

He didn’t hesitate the way he should have. He didn’t check himself or hold his tongue. So he simply said, “Second semester of freshman year, when I was fourteen.”

Which entirely went against his plan of 'keep it vague, dumbass.’

“-I mean, uh, I think it was around then. I guess.” If the doctor was suspicious, she didn’t show it - she just jotted it down in her book. And underlined it.

“So you’ve had this discernible effect on people for three years now, more or less, and your experiences and research have provided the tools to spot it, if not understand it, correct?”

Incorrect. He understood it perfectly.

“Correct,” he said.

“Was this a problem at your old school?”

“Sure.”

“To the same degree?”

No.

“Sure,” he said instead.

“How have you found the transition to your new school? For obvious reasons a lot of your file is sealed, but I can see that you have no official guardian and are living independently. That must be tough, at seventeen.” “Mm-hm.” The doctor sat back, waiting for her first question to be answered.

There was a tree outside the window, its branches bare and dead. A crow hopped around the naked boughs, minding its business.

There was very little else of interest in Danny’s sightline.

“I can see that this is a topic you’d rather not discuss, James. We can talk about anything else you’d like to.”

Kudos, Doc.

He shrugged. “What do people normally talk about in therapy?”

“Anything and everything, I find,” she said, with the slightest smile on her lips. “We’re still very early on, so I’d like to get to know you a bit more. I’d love to know more about your hobbies, your interests - where do you go, mentally, to feel assurance, or peace?”

“Space, I guess.” She did smile now. “Poetic. Tell me more.”

So he did. He started with the Mars rovers, their names and their aims. And eventually Martian geology. Then deep space probes, then the Hubble telescope, then stellar spectroscopy, then the MoonBase updates-

“I apologize. Moonbase? I was unaware of any ongoing lunar occupation-”

“No, yeah, you’re right, um. I meant. The plans. There might be plans for one. For growing ecto-fungi. Nothing happening yet. No one here lives on the moon. You know I think I just heard it on a documentary, actually. Maybe it was bullshit. I mean bullcrap. I mean. Nonsense.”

“Of course. There’s no need to panic James, I’m not here to judge you for making mistakes. Though I’m curious - what was that word you said? Ecto-fungi?”

“Hm? Don’t know. I just said ‘regular fungi.’”

“Of course. My apologies.” She re-crossed her legs and stretched her spine a little. Her eyes were a bit more relaxed around the edges, and her grip on her pen looser. “I must say James, your passion is encouraging. For the last…” she checked her watch. “Forty-five minutes, you’ve been a very different young man. Do you find talking about your passions comforting?”

Yeah. They made him complacent.

“Sure.”

“If you like, James, going forward, we could start our sessions with a quick chat about anything along these lines. It might help you feel more at ease. Would you like that?”

No. It was a dumb idea and was likely to make him slip up about inter-dimensional differences.

“Yes,” he said. “I’d like that a lot.”

--

Chapter 3

[georgiapeach30513]

Now Jen…I LOVE your blog and your posts but I respectfully disagree about your Steve comments. Again, I use the word respectfully, because I don’t want you or your other followers to take it too seriously. But I think it needs to be said.

First of all, Bucky fans love to make virtually everything about him, especially when it comes to Steve. Please do not at me, Bucky fans never want to admit this but some of you even bleed onto the actors and like to make things about SS when it’s about CE. Think about it. Why do these two people always get compared?? Maybe because it’s a bunch of Steve Bucky fans who can’t get over it and don’t want to. And then it becomes competition and Bucky/SS fans need to make it a sticking point into virtually everything and I’m TIRED. CE fans tend to get upset because they keep having to defend Chris doing random movies instead of doing or following what Sebastian is doing and I think some of them are tired too. Or maybe I’m just projecting.

Steve in the movies did everything for this guy and he also does everything for everyone else. But the moment he does something for himself WW3 happens. I’ll agree that the ending for his arc should have been different because the endgame storyline left too many questions and as a Steve fan I find it extremely annoying. But Why is it his duty to be his friend’s butt buddy forever and always? How come Bucky fans can’t ever seem to let go? And they’re fine when Steve world revolves around him but when they have to deal with Steve being his own person and thinking about his own life for once it’s verboten. I don’t think Bucky is perfect in the slightest and mostly he annoyed me 10 fold in the falcon show. But I will allow it since he has been through a lot, he’s allowed to be grumpy. I don’t expect him to live his life for Steve and tbh I also think he should have gone back in time and relive his own life differently. But that’s a different story and clearly about whose marvel contract is still active and whose is expired.

But Steve needs to be a ray of sunshine that doesn’t do anything except exist for his friend 24/7? Also…why are we getting this “he left him for a person who aided in bucky’s demise?” How did Peggy do that? Why, once again, is it not about Steve and Peggy, but about Bucky and dumping it on Steve and Peggy???

Even now salty bucky fans make their dislike about endgame and MCU about Steve not being around for Bucky, even though the storyline literally was just writing Chris out of it. If it was in reverse and Bucky went back in time I’d 1000% bet none of you would be crying about it. You would say, good for him he deserves to lives his life over. But Steve deserves just as much if not more, he has had no life of his own and was barely existing even in his own movies, as…oh yeah, even marvel was making his story about other people, so no I don’t agree with this constant needing to be mad at Steve over Bucky, when you could just admit that you want it to be about Bucky always and Steve second.

That being said…that is just my opinion. Your opinion is valid as it is your blog. You are my favorite blogger on here but this is one thing I can’t stay silent on.

I love conversations like this, so NEVER apologize. I think the beauty with cinematic universes are we get to know the characters a bit more. And every character is going to resonate with different people in a different way. So let’s get into this, and of course I respect your take, but let me explain a bit more where I’m coming from.

I am aware that we Bucky fans love to make him the main event. As do Steve fans do that, and Loki fans do that. And I do think that there are some people who go bleed the lines of reality with fiction. Obviously when I joke around about Sebastian and Chris I do not think that they are romantic at all. I do think that Chris and Seb equally are aware that the other is attractive. And everyone knows that I am a big hater of people comparing Chris to Seb. I don’t like it. These are two different actors who have both carved out their careers very differently, and for them. Sebastian has always shown that he wanted awards, and is looking at acting as an art form, while I think Chris enjoys what he does, but maybe doesn’t center his whole life around it. As far as the random movie, Seb has done random shitty movies as well. I am not going to dive into why Chris has chosen the movies he does, because I’m not Chris.

There is a big reason why I hate time traveling movies, and honestly, this is a prime example of one of them. I’m also aware that Chris’ contract was up, so they thought they would be clever with his ending. I actually think it was a cop out, personally. It’s not just for the Bucky aspect but for the Sam aspect. Maybe Steve being a white man didn’t understand the weight he put on Sam’s shoulders. I don’t think Steve understood Sam’s position as a black man, and I think that reigns true with most white folk, including myself. I will never understand the injustices that POCs feel, I can be empathetic, but I am aware of the privilege the color of my skin has. Again, Steve’s ending left so much to be desired. And then if you think about it, Steve knew that Peggy died having a full life, and he still selfishly went back. Furthermore, he went back, and stopped the life Peggy would have had. So therefore it alters the future/present. Again, I hate time traveling movies for this reason. I think at the end of the day it was the finality of the decision, but also I feel so many people weren’t given closure with it. That includes fans, Steve, Bucky, Sam, and all the other Avengers.

I personally do not think that Steve needs to live his life for his friends. But this was the life he was given, he should have moved forward, instead of going backwards, but again, Chris’ contract ended, I get it. It was lazy writing. As far as Peggy aiding in Bucky’s demise, who was the one who allowed Zola to live? Who allowed Zola to not just live but work for SHIELD? Peggy Carter AND Howard Stark. What did Zola do? He rebuilt Hydra. What did Hydra do? They tortured Bucky. Remember when Steve learned all of this? Learned what Zola did, and who allowed Zola to live? How he built Hydra to be more powerful than ever? They created the ultimate weapon, The Winter Soldier. Bucky was no longer human to them.

I can’t speak for everyone else, but had the roles been reversed, I would still be irritated. Again, lazy writing. In my ending, Steve had his dance with Peggy, but he returned. I actually wish that Steve made a bargain with Red Skull, a soul for a soul, and he retrieved Natasha. He got his dance, and he said his goodbye, but he came back to the time he was supposed to be in. Take Bucky and Sam out of the equation. Steve still should have stayed in the present even if those two characters died. He rewrote Peggy’s history, and therefore the present. Don’t get me started on Marvel making his story about others, Civil War still irritates me. That was just a lower scale Avengers movie, and we deserved better. I enjoy the movie, just not as a Cap movie.

Now as to the last comment, I jokingly say I can’t ever look at Steve the same. I actually choose to believe my ending for him over what happened. I don’t want him to constantly live to serve Bucky. I want Steve to have his time to grow into Steve. Oddly enough, Steve is also my number 8 Chris character. I don’t think I resonated with him as much as Bucky, and I can admit that this is why I put Bucky on a pedestal. It’s funny that the two best friends had very similar and yet very different lives. I wish that Marvel would have dove into that more. I would love to see a piece where it explores both Steve and Bucky’s mental health. We got a bit of that with TFATWS, but not enough, and without Steve. I guess I love the Cap trio so much, including Sam, I selfishly want more and more of all three.

Again, I love these conversations. And I think all your statements are valid.

[iraprince]

Hello! long time silent fan here 💝

i came across an older post referring to you leaving the Guns Blazing project... i did back that kickstarter, and now im kinda worried about just who i gave my money to :/

are you able to share any details about why you left, or if theres anything i should know about the creators? it's too late for me to not give them money, but id like to know before i recommend the game to anyone

the main issue shared in the post you reference is pretty much it: a prominent ttrpg award was given to an active duty military strategist. a lot of people in the community, myself included, were obviously horrified by this and many spoke up about what kind of grotesque and deeply unjust message this sends about what we're allowing (more than allowing, CELEBRATING????) in the space; bafflingly, a bunch of other people in the community all crowded around to congratulate and asspat and defend and gas up this grinning servant of the imperial american death machine. it was horrifying to see that the dev of guns blazing, which the entire time it was funding had constantly and loudly advertised itself as a "decolonial" and "anti-imperialist" game, was one of the people celebrating his win.

when i confronted the dev one-on-one about this, i was told "the man's a personal friend who's helped me out in the past and helped out other marginalized people in the space." that is not a sufficient excuse for me when the issue is what this man was doing to marginalized people, FOR MONEY, FOR HIS CAREER, outside of the space. (it's murder. what a military strategist does is facilitate murder as needed by the state.) u cannot buy back lives you've destroyed globally by getting other poc jobs in roleplaying games or whatever the fuck.

i couldn't handle this. i'm not going to judge other artists who stayed in — i don't know if everyone even saw, the turmoil over the award was something that from what i saw was mostly contained to twitter and the dev kept his head down about it aside from his initial congratulations. there was a moment before i confronted the dev where honestly i thought to myself "maybe i can just pretend i didn't see it," but i knew in my heart that wasn't true and i wouldn't be able to be proud of myself if i did that. so that's why i pulled out.

my tone is heated here bc obviously this is a really appalling subject — it's the reason my commerical work contracts have a fucking ethics clause in them now, lmao — but at the same time i'm honestly not interested in like, "calling out" the dev over this. he let me leave the project immediately and without any issues, and i haven't kept up with anything he's doing since this incident. maybe he's changed his mind or like, one would hope all of the absolute horror we're constantly submerged in from witnessing the us government's eager support of the genocide in palestine has opened his eyes to No, Agents Of The Military Are Not Our Fucking Friends, Actually. i don't know. i don't care to go looking to find out. my interest is not in saying "i think this dev is a bad person and everyone should be wary of them!!!!", it's just to say "this dev did something that was so shocking to me and so misaligned from my own morals that i had to distance myself immediately." i don't know how far that reflects on anything else he believes or does, i just know it was a dealbreaker for me personally. the story ends there for me, and other people will have to make their own judgements based on what they observe now.

[scalpel-mom-mori]

You're not asking the important question.

Hey, Yo, why is some modern day dude is summoned as a Heroic Spirit in a Mage Battle Royale?

Well because the motherfucker technically bought a skin to get into Fortnite. He is a Counter Guardian. From the future. Which made him a Heroic Spirit by default. And all Heroic Spirits, regardless of time, exist on the Throne of Heroes. Which means you can summon any hero with the right tools.

But how the fuck did Shirou Emiya for summoned? He is right there. And dead.

Well, yeah, Shirou gets himself killed like 3 seconds into the Fourth Holy Grail War. He gets stabbed by Lancer and his GAE BOLG. I know! The spear the rewrited causality! Meaning, the spear will pierce your heart first, and then it will explain at what angle and speed. And since Rin was the mags to save his dumbass life, he kinda got tied to her both because she left a jewel as evidence and because well, her mana kinda tied with him now.

ANYWAY. The best part is that Shirou died AFTER Rin summoned Archer. So we already have like 2 paradoxes, at least. And like because Heroic Spirits really lack Archers (I mean how many legendary archers can you name at the top of your head), he just got showed into that class. Despite being a swordsman, which is a lie, he dual-wields. A BAD swordsman when it comes to wielding them, but a decent swordsman when it comes to crafting them. That's why his Reality Marble is called Unlimited Blade Works. OH YEAH. Every Heroic Spirit has a Noble Phantasm. It's basically their ultimate move. And they usually have to do with their legendary weapons but not necessarily.

Cu Cuhlainn - Gae Bolg. Which is funny, cause Archer likes to use CALADBOLG. Fergus' weapon. Whom Cu knew during his lifetime. So it's really Greta when Archer uses CALADBOLG (servants HAVE to name their ultimates if they wanna use them, that's how Astoria wins against Gilgamesh, it's faster to scream EXCALIBAAAA than ENUMA EILISH).

Medea has Rule-Breaker. It does exactly what it says. Sasaki Kojirou - Tsubame Gaeshi, a technique rather than weapon. And since Emiya isn't a proper Heroic Spirit and has no heroic legend about him, he has no cool weapon to be his Noble Phantasm. But he has trauma and an "origin" which is a sword. So... UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS. That allows him to craft almost any weapon he understands except Divine Weapons. So he can forge a mediocre CALADBOLG and RHO AIES but will never be even able to imagine EXCALIBUR. But it's not a NP. It's Reality Marble. Which is essentially saying the man is so mentally unwell be manifests and projects his state of mind into reality.

The only other legitimate proper servant at the top of my head who has Reality Marble is Alexander The Great. We won't go there.

Anyway. How did Shirou Emiya become a Counter Guardian since he apparently sucks? By making a contract with Alaya. Araya. Named after Araya-Shiki whose concept is really more important to the Garden of Sinners. ANYWAY. Alaya is humanity's collective unconscious and desire to survive. So at his death's door, Alaya is like Make a contract with me, you'll be a hero :) And the idiot does! Because Kiritsugu is his adoptive father so Shirou doesn't get the smartass genes.

Anyway, after making a contract with humanity's collective unconscious, Shirou can now be teleported at any point in time and space to do "her" will. Usually "her" will includes killing A LOT of people.

So, after Alaya only knows how long of servitude to humanity, Counter Guardian Emiya gets summoned into the Fourth Holy Grail War that he knows he was a part of as a teenager... And decides to literally kill his teenage stupid ass to prevent his fate. Does he know that he already exists outside the boundaries of time and space and thus killing Shirou Emiya will achieve nothing? Yes. Is it gonna change his mind? No. He may not prevent his contract with Alaya but killing himself will make it feel better for a little while.

surely this will not be too crunchy. surely I will not have to split this into multiple screenshots

[freedelusionshere]

Cicero always puts money first.

All his conversations revolve around money and being successful. Sports metaphors and how botching a win is because of that one guy. It probably deserves a very long and detailed post about how many times he does this? (Someone may already have one, hit me up if you do.) How many times he tells people the audience loves that he loves them, but then is looking out for his finances first and foremost and how it’s understood that others can lose, but his team must not and cannot.

He talks to Carmy in Apologies about how dreams costs money to make them happen (in America is the subtext) and then compares it to this talk he attended at Chicago U praising how all these really great ideas, “innovations”, “started right here in Chicago” (btw, the Uni loves the show mentioned them LOL and talked about it on FB), but…he’s talking about the Manhattan Project, isn’t he? Innovation. Not the aftermath.

He keeps apologizing and wishing he’d “done more” for the kids, but the vibes to me are he’s roped Donna and her kids into The Beef to chase his dreams. (This is also another role cast with someone who often plays likeable characters who are not menacing, just like Jaime Lee Curtis has to this point.)

Some of the subliminal stuff in The Bear is leaning heavily into Hitchcock films directly, but I keep thinking about David Lynch on rewatch, and how his Twin Peaks efforts have a lot of similar themes of death and addiction and the dark side of American culture that lies just under the surface of it all? Mikey is the Laura Palmer of The Bear, the cool guy who died with all the secrets. Or am I wrong here?

Even bringing Scorsese in, narrating about illusions when Scorsese rose to fame by depicting Italians as mafia culture, and now he’s making stuff like Killers of the Flower Moon, which is about how American “progress” was too expensive a cost and talks about the specific ways indigenous women were exploited through marriage contracts to extract their wealth. Cicero trying to get Syd to sign that agreement?

Got a lot on my mind! @whenmemorydies @yannayartside @gingergofastboatsmojito @currymanganese any thoughts on this? (Sorry if I left anyone out, I'm still learning the landscape).

[krahka]

5, 6, 13, and 15 for the VTM ask game? 😁🦇

5. Who is their sire?

Mathias Lumare was a wealthy, notoriously reclusive and ambiguously European commodities trader. More than that, he was a Magister of House Tremere looking out for new talent to bring into the Chicago Chantry. He had a few occult bookshop owners keep tabs on people who showed signs that they knew what they were doing, and especially to look out for newly awakened mages who hadn’t yet figured out what they were doing. Mages make good Tremere, after all, that’s who founded the clan in the first place, but get them too powerful and aware and they’d die on the spot, kill themselves or go catatonic.

A modern minded architect checking out books on arcane geometry was exactly the kind of person that caught his interest. According to his contacts, he’d responded to their probes exactly as you’d expect from someone who had seen the cracks in reality but didn’t know what he was looking at, and especially as someone he wouldn’t have to compete with any of the traditions to acquire.

Lumare almost never talked about who he was in life. Gerard gathered that he was somewhere around 500 years old, 9th generation, from France but left before the Revolution. A hardliner against heretics and traitors to the Pyramid. Uninterested in advancing much higher, since he wanted to pursue his research and educate the generations beneath him. Held his apprentice to exacting standards. Had numerous enemies, who eventually caught up with him and killed him.

—

6. What was their relationship to their sire? Were they close in any way or mere strangers?

Lumare contracted Gerard personally to design a house for him. This was a little strange, since while he had a few major projects under his belt, he worked almost exclusively on commercial buildings, and always within a firm. Still, money is money, and the ideas he offered were… very similar to ones Gerard already had been working on. Enough conversations working out the vision for the project and he found out why. Lumare knew more about the occult than anyone Gerard ever met, and had an extensive library he was willing to give him access to. All it would take was a ritual where he’d drink some of his blood. A strange request, but it was worth putting up with for texts he’d never get access to otherwise. After a while it felt like the most natural thing in the world.

By the time he was embraced, Gerard was fully lost in the ghoul sauce. Lumare was knowledge and power and the rush of mastery of the unknown. He was his muse, the one who opened the door to so many impossible things. He was immortal, of course he was, and was generous enough to share it with the worthy. And he deemed him worthy! How could anyone do anything but adore him?

They had to carefully wean him off the bond to administer the Transubstantiation of Seven, which he took to way too well. (Bondslave flaw woooooo!) But even if the obsession cooled, he never stopped feeling a deep sense of loyalty to his sire.

—

13. Was their embrace painful? (Either emotionally or physically)

The thing is, when a mage is embraced, the enlightened part of their soul that allows them to see the world as it truly is dies forever. Sometimes this outright kills the mage. Usually it results in them losing their mind. Always they lose the ability to use true magic. Gerard wasn’t aware of what he was. All he knows is that something in himself died in agony that night, and that he’s grateful for how quickly it was replaced.

He doesn’t think about it anymore. He doesn’t know that he would’ve lived a happier life as a Virtual Adept or even in the Technocracy, and that what he practices now is a pale imitation of his former potential. Sure, he’s met mages and whenever possible, used them for his clan’s ends. Yes, he’s recognized glimmers of what he used to be in them, but what does any of it matter? The Tremere are the only mages who have managed true immortality. Nothing else compares.

—

15. Are they presumed to be dead or are they still acting as though they are alive to the general public?

By the time of his embrace, Gerard had already ruined his relationships with his wife, family, community, coworkers and other clients by getting real weird about his regnant. There was no life for him to go back to, even if he wanted it anymore. Shortly after getting embraced, he faked his death in a boating accident. If the body goes missing in the lake, no one thinks it’s strange, and it’s easy to survive drowning when you no longer need to breathe.

He has a mask, since it can be useful to be alive as a legal fiction, to uphold the Masquerade. But that’s all it is. It’s fine to deceive mortals, but foolish to deceive yourself.

[redhoodinternaldialectical]

Introducing my jaytim fanfiction series Chained!

This is the largest writing project I have ever attempted! Currently (March 29th, 2024) it sits at a length of 153,000 words published and some back of the napkin math puts the final product in the ballpark of War and Peace’s 500,000+ words. halp lmao! This post is designed to serve as an introduction to what the story is about, what my Tim and Jason are gonna be like, and what parts of canon I’m sticking to

"So, what’s the premise ya dorkus malorkus?”

Jason is set in front of a contract that will grant near omnipotence over every facet of reality. The catch is that it requires the person who actually gains the power to be permanently bound into the service of someone else. Afraid of what this could do in the wrong hands, Jason asks Tim to be his new Master.

(a picture of Jason with the halo and armor the contract grants him that I drew :3 also, have a link to the fics!)

After many hours of intense negotiations (the entire first fic in the series), they produce a subcontract designed to maintain Jason's basic rights as a person while still granting them enough power to overcome whatever whatever caused the contract to be written in the first place. Now all that's left is to destroy the evidence, win the fight, and start remaking the world in their image...

Expect to read about: extensive theological discussions complete with readings of the Bhagavad Gita, shape shifting, hijinks, Harley Quinn being a menace to society really good therapist, redonkulous amounts of time travel and time loops, murders most foul, webs of lies and deceit as Oracle works to uncover their secrets, angst, fluff, hurt, comfort, and I’m gonna stop there before I overpromise myself, turn into a puddle, and never manage to finish the damn thing, lol

The draw of the premise for me is exploring the constant renegotiation of boundaries between Jason and Tim as they navigate a truly terrible idea of a romance. This is slow burn in that it takes them a really long time to get together properly due to the aforementioned terrible idea part, but they know they’re in love very early on.

“Lay out the dynamics there hoss”

I reserve the right to fuss with these, but my intention is:

Jason/Tim = the genius fragile human made of pure spite and determination and their sentient bodyguard/servant monster who they like lowkey have a thing with. Think Integra Hellsing and Alucard.

Barbara Gorden versus Tim Drake = genius versus genius 5D chess headgames war. Think L and Light with Jason as Ryuuk. But like if Light was into Ryuuk.

Tim/Jason versus [MAIN VILLAIN SPOILERS] = warring Gods. The source of a new mythology.

Honestly, just mark down Hellsing Ultimate and Death Note animes as major influences.

“What’s a folk gotta do ta get some headcanons and characterization in this joint?”

For Tim I’m going mainly with him in his Red Robin run where he finds Bruce, blows up the League of assassins and shit like that. I love how absolutely arrogant this man is, and I find the way he struggles with the ethics of the job really neat. This version of Tim seems perfect to act as the commander: always tempted to do more, tempted to go further into the dark with power, but also having a lot of self control and dedication to doing right.

In terms of personal headcannons I am making him trans (cause I can), ADHD/Autistic (because it makes sense), and a dabbler in mild, lowkey amphetamine abuse (The coffee chugger who never sleeps of fanon intrigues me, but also caffeine kinda doesn’t do that, whereas adderall definitely does. He’ll use both stimulants as available and needed. I like a man who knows he badly overworks himself but who can’t realistically say he shouldn’t be overworking himself.)

Jason is a much harder cat to herd because writers have long been playing tug of war with his characterization, dragging him over the line to unhinged villain then back to just another bat over and over. I always like Jason, but I think he’s at his weakest at both extremes of the spectrum. He’s a good villain/antagonist in general, but a phenomenal one when he has real goals and morals. He’s a good anti-hero/tenuous ally in general, but a phenomenal one when he and the family have serious disagreements and Jason is still a killer.

I’m keeping this fic as canon compliant as possible, but there is a bare minimum amount of rearrangement necessary to make Jason consistently morally grey rather than an ethical checkers board that looks grey when you turn it sideways and squint.

Headcanons for Jason include chronic pain (I just think being blown up should screw with a guy’s nerves), trans (cause I can), and having schizophrenia (cause I see some possible canon evidence and he’s had a LOT of ableist stuff thrown his way and I don’t really like ‘well I’m not actually mentally ill’ as a resolution point to that. I am leaving it ambiguous if this has anything to do with the Lazarus Pit, but I intend it to be very unambiguous that it has nothing to do with why he has beef with the rest of the bats. His grievances are not delusions. His moral positions are not delusions. He will hallucinate and I may have him develop delusions, but he’ll also take medication for that and employ coping mechanisms like real life people with schizophrenia do. The mental illnesses are something he deals with, not something that controls him into being evil, no matter their source.)

Oh and it should go without saying that everyone has so much PTSD!

“Cut ta the chase already jabrony, give us da timeline”

Crisis on Infinite Earths, Final Crisis, Infinite Crisis, Flashpoint, Convergence, and the Rebirth changes happened in this fic's canon. We are dealing with multiple multiverses. If you’re familiar with the concept of ‘Hypertime’ used to facilitate the Elseworlds series and elaborated on during the Dark Knights: Metal stuff, I’m building off of that. If you’re not, don’t worry about it, there will be a far better explanation in the fic as the characters discover this shit for themselves.

This takes place during the "Rebirth" era of DC comics canon in a fanfic universe I made up within that canon multiverse called Earth 69. Earth 69 is my idea of what the pre-flashpoint timeline might have looked like if flashpoint never happened. Essentially I'm taking the post crisis stuff and extending it by acting as though that timeline just kept going, with plot points from New 52 and Rebirth canon welded onto the end of it. Keep in mind though, Earth 69 only coincidentally mirrors pre-flashpoint events; that canonical pre-flashpoint multiverse still exists!

Now lets go through just Earth 69′s timeline, focusing on Tim and Jason

Based on the letter Jason sends to Kid Devil, I put the year of his death as 1985. Ten years have passed since then at the start of this fic, making Tim 23 and Jason 25. The influence of alien tech and supergeniouses accelerated cultural and scientific growth such that while the fic takes place in 1995, every bit of tech and culture from 1980 to 2024 is fair game to show up. I find it fun to play around with laser turret drones and microfiche spy tactics all in the same story, so our heroes listened to My Chemical Romance on their smartphones while watching the fall of the Berlin Wall on live TV.

Batman (1940) issues #419 - #429 aka Jason’s post-crisis Robin years happen almost identically to the comics, except that Jason is a trans man and it was the Penguin that got Willis Todd locked up for life and then killed instead of Two Face. Bruce eventually finds out he’s trans and is supportive if understandably clueless. He raises Jason as his son. It’s important to me that Jason’s beef with Batman not leave either side objectively correct. Their relationship and hurts are a lot more compelling to me if Bruce isn’t transphobic.

A Place of Lonely Dying and the Robin (1993) series happen with very few deviations, with the understanding that I've read less of this than would be ideal and might get some things mixed up as I go along. Those deviations include Tim also being a trans man. Because he was looking into transition care for Jason, Bruce already knows about puberty blockers and HRT and supplies them to him. That becomes a big part of why Tim’s Dad is so freaked out by Tim being Robin. In this timeline, one of the major reasons Tim is so attached to the role of Robin is that it’s the first role in his life where he gets to be himself.

Lost Days happens as it did in comics except for two changes. Firstly when Talia sleeps with him, it's not sex, it's fully clothed cuddling and actual sleeping. I think this compromise preserves the important emotional conflict that I identified in this reading of her motivations, while sidestepping some of the problems the sex caused. The second change is that Jason won't have ended Lost Days by going to talk to Hush...

Because I HATE Thomas Elliot as a character. I hate how he was implemented. I hate that he kept showing up. I hate that they killed off Harold. I hate Hush. So it never happened on Earth 69! Instead I'll be emphasizing Tim and Jason's later fights, which have some similar emotional beats.

Now, whether or not Jason held a knife to Tim’s throat is kinda fucking important to how their relationship is interpreted! Most people, understandably, make this a serious event between the two. However, in all the comics I’ve been reading, I have seen zero characters ever acknowledge that Jason was involved. Tim hasn’t thought or said anything about it, even when it really seemed relevant. Jason technically tells Batman he did it in UtRH, but it's never brought up again and at this point it feels almost like Judd Winick tricked DC into publishing a headcanon that applies nowhere else lmao. Therefore I feel fine with just ditching this and putting more emphasis on their later fights which have similar emotional beats.

Under the Red Hood happens, with one modification. He knows about Stephanie's death and treats it with the gravity she deserves. He is targeting Black Mask because of Steph's death, and something very similar to the excellent fanfic 'hangman is coming down from the gallows' by nex_et_nox happens.

Young Justice (1998) happens, except for some of the mythological encounters. They did watch Santa get blown up, but I will be taking liberties with how the Greek Pantheon operates, and holy fucking shit, no they did not meet the goddess Kali like that, what the fuck, did no one even try to do a basic level of cultural sensitivity research?!? Anyways.

Jason does fight Batman, Green Arrow, and Mia as told in Green Arrow (2001) #69 - #72. Roy does hear about this, but he hears about it the way that Mia herself tells it when asked about it in the comic, i.e. “He didn’t hurt me. We just talked.” So he's not exactly all that freaked out about it.

Roy Harper and Jason first meet in Outsiders (2003) #44 - #46 where he helps Roy and Dick exonerate Black Lightning with no ulterior motives, as in the comics.

Teen Titans (2003) #29 (The Titans Tower fight) happens as it did in comics. i.e. It was a fair one on one fight in which both participants understood that the other was not trying to kill them and both combatants walked away with nothing more than superficial injuries. Tim came away from that with a black eye and a grudge; Jason came away from it thinking Tim was pretty alright in his book. The writing on the wall was either Jason’s own blood, or red paint, because there is simply no earthly way that was Tim’s blood.

Teen Titans (2003) in general happens to Tim, though there’s a lot that connects to Countdown to Final Crisis (which can only have happened in the canonical pre-flashpoint multiverse) that may or may not need to be edited and removed.

The combination of events from Countdown to Final Crisis and Teen Titans (2003) #47 also happens, in which Jason attempts to save Duela Dent from murder, fails, connects with Donna at her funeral, and then is interrogated by Tim and Dick who suspect Jason murdered her. Oh and also it's where Tim kicks him in the pants lol. Obviously the reason Duela died and who murdered her has to be different, but all that should be details that don't matter for the fic's purposes.

I've already mentioned that Robin (1993) was being considered canon to Earth 69′s timeline, but make special note here of issue #177, in which Tim sends Jason to jail (his first prison stint, yay :D). One modification here: Jason's plan is to manipulate the established mob families into fighting the cops, leaving the local communities to govern themselves, not to use "kid gangs" to soften up the cops and the mob like happens in the comic. Because like... the on panel plan makes no sense, either logistically or for his character, and idk why but the way the author uses the concept of “kid gangs” leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Nightwing (1996) #118 - #122 aka Brothers in Blood aka the one where Jason becomes a tentacle vore monster happens exactly as depicted in comics. Exactly. As. Depicted. Well okay not exactly, I need him to not have threatened to bomb a building full of innocent people, that is a bridge too far, but everything else stays!

The Red Robin series happens as depicted, except for how Tim got the costume. The Red Robin costume that Tim wears in the pre-flashpoint multiverse was from that multiverse’s Earth 51. On Earth 69 the Red Robin costume was what Bruce made for Jason in anticipation of him wanting to outgrow the Robin mantel one day, like Nightwing did (tho uhhh great job reframing why the Nightwing mantel exists there Bruce lmao). When Dick gave the Robin role to Damian, Tim took the Red Robin outfit for himself from it’s pedestal next to The Memorial Case. There was a considerable amount of spite towards multiple people involved in that decision.

Battle for the Cowl is where it gets trickier. I am going to gut most of the plot of BftC and combine a few plot elements from it with the Batman and Robin (2009) series in order to create a much longer lasting conflict that preserves Jason as an anti-hero and his partnership with Scarlet/Sasha as a competing vigilante force to Dick and Damian.

After Bruce’s “death” Dick super does not ever want to be Batman. No one does really. Jason hears Bruce's post-death message and is understandably fucking devastated. He decides to say fuck that noise, Bruce is gone now, and I'm gonna be Batman since no one else seems willing to do it, and I'm gonna do it my way! Another Batman running around shooting people dead forces Dick’s hand and he takes up the Batman mantel to fight him. Batman and Robin (2009) #3 - #6 happen roughly as depicted, but with Jason still claiming to be Batman, and he doesn’t have red hair. (I’m so sorry white suit + pill helmet costume, but I must leave you behind for the sake of continuity). Jason's stint in Arkham and then Blackgate happens. Batman and Robin (2009) #23 - #25 happen as depicted, minus the part where Jason rigged the entire fucking civilian tram line to explode. After Jason and Scarlet fly off into the sunset together, they come back to Gotham and keep fighting.

Sometime after he's free again he does Roy a favor. I haven't decided what exactly, but it's big. I’ve toyed with the idea that he broke him out of prison because he doesn’t want to see Liam grow up without a dad in a move very similar to the Outsiders thing and roughly analogous to how he meets Roy in Red Hood and the Outlaws (2011), but that seems a lil repetitive and why would Roy even be in jail, so idk.

By this point the events of Red Robin are over and Tim has joined Dick and Damian in fighting Jason. Sometime before the climactic battle, Scarlet leaves for [FANFIC SPOILERS] reasons, so it becomes just Jason again. He goes through with something like the plan from Battle for the Cowl, luring Tim to his Batcave and offering him a place as his Robin. As in comics, Tim's answer is to pick up a crowbar and wack Jason across the face with it! Jason wins the fight and stabs Tim in the chest, knowing it's not gonna kill him, but fine with it leaving one hell of a scar! Dick's fight with Jason afterwards, and Jason jumping from the train into the harbor, happens as it did in BftC #3 with the exception of Dick wearing the Batsuit instead of Tim.

Starfire contacts Roy for help with a lengthy, off planet mission - one that absolutely needs a Bat on board. Every single Bat is up to their eyeballs in fires to put out and projects to run... except for Jason. Roy knows a lot of other Heroes with very good reasons to hate him, but in his personal experience, Jason’s always been a reliable if shady and asshole-ish guy working for the greater good. Ya’know. A Bat. It helps that they both think Bruce treats Dick like garbage sometimes and thus are inclined to be sympathetic towards Jason's beef with him. Roy vouches for him and brings him on board. They work well together, they save the days in outer space, and after a particularly dangerous mission they have a "thank fuck we're not dead" threesome together. This replaces the New 52 version of Red Hood and the Outlaws.

During the trip back to Earth, Jason confides in them about his woes and they encourage him to sort his shit out and get his life back together. Jason agrees and after considering it for a while he asks Roy and Starfire to help negotiate a truce between him and the rest of the Bats. They agree and thus begins two years of ceasefire and getting more friendly with the other Bats.

During those two years, the events of Dark Knights: Metal occur. The Source Wall is broken, and all the peoples of all the earths are plunged into a nightmare world. No one really remembers what happened, it’s all very vague and drifty, like remembering a dream, unsurprisingly. People have been referring to this event as The Nightmares.

This two year period also contains my version of Rebirth Red Hood and the Outlaws. Jason attempts to infiltrate Black Mask’s gang because the real Black Mask should be super dead and super unwilling to work with him. He’s a LOT more competent about it than in comics tho.

The biggest change is what goes down with Cobblepot. Jason’s original intention was to fake the penguin’s death and take all his power and assets from him, as he did in comics. However, he loses Artemis and Bizzaro before he goes through with that plan instead of after. At the last minute he switches the blanks out for lead. The Penguin is super dead.

He fights back when Bruce confronts him, but it's still a brutal fight and ultimately Roy has to separate them. Then Jason follows his father’s trail to the experimentation prison thing like in comics. Roy doesn’t die along the way, we don’t have the scene with Bruce at the diner, but in the end it turns out that his father is actually dead. No one survived that place. He only found boxes of dusty, decaying files, a grave out back, and Dr. Fate. Once he was convinced there was nothing more to find, Dr. Fate took him to John Constantine and The Contract, and that’s just about where our story begins!

Have another link, and I hope some of y’all enjoy what I’ve got so far!

[gunsatthaphan]

2024 continues to be wildddd. im mostly surprised about prem bc i had the vibes maybe he was planning to pull back from acting a bit in general but im happy to be proven wrong haha. im assuming they got a pretty penny for this too (good for them!) which makes me hope we'll maybe already see a tease of sth for them at part 2?? i can dream.

with this announcement I think I am going to have to rework my whole gmmtvpart2 bingo card

gmmtv already dont give works to so many talented ppl they have in the basement imagine now with 6 more byee, og fans are worried that bp are having the same manager

------------------------------------------------------

same here anons... this hit me out of nowhere lol, I was a little sus when they were spotted at the gmm building a few times but yeah little did I know they were visiting to sign contracts lmao.

a lot of ppl on Twitter are concerned (as is anon3) that they won't get fair treatment as they feel that many artists are being neglected as it is by not being given enough roles as well as being treated with bad writing and while they're not wrong, I'm still hopeful. They have good writers, they just have to lure them out of their caves and and give the bad ones a timeout lmao. Also this whole "not enough roles" tantrum that's happening every few weeks on Twitter is so stupid to me like there are so many factors that play into these things, 1 role a year does not equal unfair treatment?? But I'm digressing. Also considering how many artists left the company at the end of 2023, this restock is not surprising lol.

But anyway I'm expecting to see them in part 2, especially since the Vampire Project is now under gmmtv. So I think this is a good step for them. However if they end up only appearing in New shows from now on, I will take everything back lmao rip.

xxx

[fettesans]

Top, page from Raymond Buckland, Solitary Seance: How You Can Talk with Spirits on Your Own, 2011. Via. Bottom, photograph via NASA, Toroid inflatable station concept during testing, 1961. Via. More.

Using the pendulum is known as radiesthesia—also rhabdomancy, or cleidomancy. One of the best-known uses of the pendulum is in dowsing, in finding where to drill for water. But it is also used for many other things, not least of all for communicating with spirit.

Unlike many other early space station concepts, this design actually made it out of the concept phase and into production, though no models were ever flown. This particular station was 30-feet and expandable. It was designed to be taken to outer space in a small package and then inflate in orbit. The station could, in theory, have been big enough for 1 to 2 people to use for a long period of time. A similar 24 foot station was built by the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation for NASA test use. The concept of space inflatables was revived in the 1990s. Via Wikipedia.

--

‘If an artist who conceived a work says that it is unfinished and should not be exhibited, it isn’t – and shouldn’t be.’ The court felt differently: ‘When an artist makes a decision to begin work on a piece of art and handles the process of creation long-distance via e-mail, using someone else’s property, someone else’s materials, someone else’s money, someone else’s staff, and, to a significant extent, someone else’s suggestions regarding the details of fabrication – with no enforceable written or oral contract defining the parties’ relationship – and that artist becomes unhappy part-way through the project and abandons it,’ wrote the presiding judge, Michael Ponsor, ‘then nothing in the Visual Artists Rights Act or elsewhere in the Copyright Act gives that artist the right to dictate what that “someone else” does with what he has left behind, so long as the remnant is not explicitly labeled as the artist’s work.’ (...)

Essentially a horrific readymade, Barca Nostra sunk in April 2015 between Libya and Lampedusa with an estimated 1,000 migrants onboard, of whom 28 survived. The Italian government recovered the wreck in 2016 and moved it to a base in Sicily before it was placed under the care of the Augusta municipality, a landing site for Operation Mare Nostrum, Italy’s response to the Mediterranean migrant crisis. Mare Nostrum, or ‘Our Sea’, cost the Italian government a reported £7 million per month, and ensured safe passage for over 100,000 people within a year of its launch in October 2013. But after Italy appealed for assistance, EU states criticised the operation for encouraging people to risk the sea crossing, so EU agency Frontex replaced Mare Nostrum with Operation Triton in 2014, with a slashed budget and focus on border security.

Effectively a policy of nonassistance, as Forensic Oceanography concluded in their 2016 report Death by Rescue: The Lethal Effects of Non-Assistance at Sea, Triton created a situation where commercial ships were increasingly called into rescue missions they weren’t suited to conduct – such was the case with the sinking of Barca Nostra in 2015, they found. That year, European Parliament president Martin Schulz called for ‘burden sharing’ based on the fact that five out of 28 EU member states were taking in 50 percent of refugees to Europe at the time. Yet no effective cooperation manifested. Neither in creating humanitarian responses to a global crisis, nor in mediating the ultraright sentiments and movements that rose as a result – as demonstrated in 2018, when Italy’s far-right interior minister, Matteo Salvini, launched a campaign to block search-and-rescue vessels from docking in Italian ports, and drafted a hardline anti-migrant bill adopted by the Italian government.

It was within this desperate context that Barca Nostra was brought to the Venice Biennale – in cooperation with Augusta’s municipal council and Comitato 18 Aprile, which lobbied against government plans to scrap the ship – with Büchel covering transportation costs. Presented with little information – not for the lulz, it seems, but out of contempt for a wilful ignorance – the vessel’s arrival was lambasted as ‘tasteless’ by those at the vernissage, seemingly more concerned with the insult of its presence – and those taking selfies with it, like a Martha Rosler collage come to life – than discussing the exclusionary policies that brought it into being. (Granted, as curator Alexandra Stock wrote in a scathing takedown, ‘The optics [were] bad because Büchel set it up that way’.) While the stunt drew international attention – including responses from Salvini himself, countering the idea that the Venice Biennale is an ineffective stage for protest – it also revealed the limits of internationalism, whether in the artworld or the world at large.

Stephanie Bailey, from Christoph Büchel: Fear and Loathing in Venice, for Art Review, April 14, 2024.

[aphrodite1288]

Since EXO-L Japan has said that Kyungsoo’s contract with SM has ended but he will continue to participate with EXO, wouldn’t that mean his participation with EXO is by “honor code” or more like SNSD’s situation and not an actual “group contract” situation like SuJu? 🤔

Before it was told by SM that he will be doing Group projects under SM with the members tied by group contract as he himself confirmed he will be still active as an Exo member. This is usually what SM does with their artists who want to leave but still want to remain active in their band. Because you CAN'T still work in a company you resigned from with no legal contract to protect you and for you to get your profits. But apparently they've done an exception with ksoo , it's not the case with other SM artists who left and still promoting in their band. I'm reading now Koreans are saying Ksoo didn't sign a group contract like the one the members signed, but he may have signed an exclusive Group Contract to promote with Exo in Exo group activities but SM won't be controlling him, he's not obliged like the other members!! Because entering a company let alone working in it in massive group projects, is not possible unless you have a certain type of Contract tied up with them, just like how idols from different companies collaborate and work together, they sign special contracts , so there must be some special exclusive contract SM needs to sign with His company SOOSOO for him to still take part in Exo's schedules and comebacks, but what's the status and title and conditions of this contract? still yet to be confirmed.

There are many people blabbering left and right now, I don't wanna spread baseless rumors I will share with you the exact details about his situation when I get the correct Legitimate info.

So just like I said before, don't expect him to be in EVERY schedule of Exo, it would be optional for him.

Anyway Freedom for Ksoo Yeeehaaaaw!! 🎉🥳🎊💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻

[killiancormac]

I picked and chose some of my favorite questions from that ask game for a few days ago to do for E-25 :] my scrungly

bound: Has your OC ever been imprisoned or captured? What happened? How did they get out? Did the experience leave any scars?

WELL you could consider his entire life up until unbound as imprisonment. he doesn't legally exist, he’s an experiment. he’s never been free. he and ethan’s mother signed a contract that let sinclair take her sons from birth to raise them in their facility – ethan got out as a young child with the help of his surrogate father, henry, one of sinclair’s scientists, but 25 had to be left behind. he was raised from birth and trained – and abused – by the scientists into becoming the perfect superweapon. while the original project was abandoned, they had put so much work into 25’s training experimentation that when alistair took over the business, he had him assigned to be his own personal assassin.

he does get out, eventually. after ethan kills alistair, there’s nothing keeping 25 in the facility. for the first time in his life, of his own volition, he just walks out. he kills henry to get revenge against ethan and they have a giant NASTY fight, but in the end, ethan refuses to kill the last remaining family member he has left, and takes him in. 

he has a number of scars from his time as sinclair’s guinea pig. only a few combat scars from assassination work, his targets usually didn’t get the chance to fight back. the majority of his scars are surgical scars. a line down his back, on his chest, ancient track marks on the inside of his arm. 

he and ethan beat the shit out of each other pretty badly, i can definitely see him having a scar from that, but i’ll have to think on it :) 

hide: What does your OC hide? Why do they hide it?

He hides a lot of his emotions. it may be more accurate to say he struggles with expressing them, although he conceals them as a result of that. he wasn’t allowed to express himself in the facility, and even though he is now, and encouraged to, he struggles with it. he doesn’t know what's too much and what’s too little, doesn’t know what his reaction to a lot of things should even be. 

he trained himself to have a straight face and not react to so many things, that at this point he’s not sure how to react to anything.

a part of him is also scared of being judged. of being pitied. or looked down on. he’s had more than enough of that thank you

ghost: Who or what haunts your OC? What happened? How do they live with their ghosts?

sinclair….. for sure. he spent years upon years trying to be perfect for him, trying to gain his approval, or his affection, if he were particularly lucky. he was always trying to top his expectations, always trying to get his praise. after he was gone, it took 25 a long time to break out of that way of thinking. it took him a long time to realise he hated him, and it took him even longer to accept that. even now, although it’s rare, sometimes he’ll still try to do things or act in a way that would have gotten him sinclair’s endorsement. 

monster: Is your OC monstrous in any way? Is there something that makes them monstrous? Are they aware of their own monstrosity? Do they accept it or reject it? 

by a lot of other people's standards. he was sinclair’s dog for YEARS, and was somewhat of an open secret in black market operations. piss sinclair off enough, you get E-25 sent after you. no one could ever prove anything, though, and those who ever had any crumb of substantial evidence against him were too scared to come out with it. 25’s face isn’t well known, but to the people who do know it, they know to keep their mouth shut. they’ve heard the rumors. a broken arm, bent entirely the wrong way. partial blindness. chronic migraines. things that will never heal all the way. and that’s if they’re lucky. 

he’s not proud of what he’s done for sinclair. it weighs on him much more than he wants it to. he doesn’t enjoy people being scared of him – maybe he did, at one point, but not anymore. not for a long time.

nightmare: What does your OC have nightmares about? How do they deal with their nightmares? Do they tell people, or keep it to themself?

he has nightmares about the facility a lot. never anything else. in his nightmares. he’ll wake up, and his entire freedom has been the result of a fever dream, brought on by a new experiment. he always has to take a few minutes when he wakes up from them to reaffirm they aren’t real.

wound: How does your OC handle being wounded? Are their wounds mostly physical? Mental? Emotional? What's the worst wound your OC has ever experienced?

he ignores it LOL one of the many things he’s forced himself to block out is pain. focus on his mission, above all else. pain can be dealt with later, after he’s gotten back to homebase and received treatment. if nothing else, pain helps keep him grounded. forces him to focus on being careful, which is a reminder he needs. 

+ the questions @ruvviks sent me the other day :) for archival sake

alone: How does your OC deal with loneliness? Have they ever been completely alone before? How do they act when there's no one around to see them?

He's very, very used to it. he and ethan aren't sinclair's only trained assassins; they're part of a group of 31 people who were raised from birth to be super soldiers, or at least the testing grounds for the means to MAKE them. the project was abandoned by sinclair's father, but the subjects remained, and since they legally do not exist, they were all just absorbed into the facilities work force, with the exception of 25, who received the brunt of the experiments (and abuse) from the scientists. he was purposely kept isolated from the other 31 subjects, made to train in isolation, subjected to repeated and harsh experiments to make him the perfect assassin.

he's been alone all of his life, and when he was younger, it was incredibly hard for him. he's forced himself to be used to loneliness, he had to be to survive, but it DID fuck him up. he lives off sinclair's validation and praise, and after ethan kills him and 25 is left alone (and free, but he's not thinking about that rn) he doesn't really know what to DO with himself. 

post unbound, ethan takes him in. and that's Fine. <- its not. for a while, 25 really wants to kill him, but with no purpose, master, or home, he's just kind of. lost. so he lives with ethan, and tries not to wring his neck everytime he sees him. but for a good while, he's still used to solitude. living with someone else is weird, being in someone else's company 24/7 is uncomfortable and the complete opposite of everything he's ever known. he spends a lot of time in his room, or going on walks (when he's feeling strong enough to leave the apartment), and just going wherever he can be alone. 

his own company is comforting to him... sometimes. other people are unpredictable and loud and they always want to talk to him, and sometimes he just wants to be by himself. but then there's the question of does he actually want that? or does he just think he does, because that's how he's been trained? he struggles with loneliness, post unbound, because at this point in his life he's trained himself to ignore it so much that when he DOES experience it, he doesn't know how to deal with it. he's gotten a lot better at just being around people by the time unbound 2 rolls around, but he still only prefers being around his brother and friends.

fear: What is your OC's greatest fear? What do they do when confronted with it? Are they open with their fear, or do they hide it away?

his world being taken away from under him. it's happened to him once already, when ethan killed sinclair, but at least he had people who cared about him that he could (eventually and with difficulty lmfao) fall back on. if it were to happen again, if something were to happen to ethan or diana or vaughn, he wouldn't know what to DO with himself. they've done so much for him, they've helped him so much. he wouldn't be nearly the man he is today without them. 

It's really T_T because he went from being an assassin to a protector. attack dog to guard dog... augh