#i got experimental with the structure here i hope it works lol

[twobrokenwyngs]

whats in a name? aka → growth

bonus:

[rotshop]

Howdy there my fellow human, can I please have the big nail man Mag Agent Torture with a fucked up monster S/O I just love the large lad and your other fics with the fucked up reader are AWESOME. 💜

RUNS IN SIRVLES ,,,, omg ,,, tee hee ,,,,,,,,, anyway YEAS of course . sorry this isn't SUPER duper long or special i am sooo so sleepy ,,, lol ,,, also not proofread and done in one go so YYIPPEEEE !!!!!!!

[ tw for injuries , ONE mention of guts but not super graphic or violent ]

Things were finally beginning to settle in for the day.

Sure, there was always some work to be done within the agency. Shifts stretched on and fit together to assure that any given issue would be dealt with quickly by whoever was around and alert at the time. There was always someone standing guard at any given post or walking on any predetermined route for anything out of the ordinary. There was always something going on.

Night-shifts aside, it was hard not to feel like everything was turning in for the night in one way or another. Agents walked and talked with one another on their way to their respective dorms, scientists gathered their papers and filed them away into folders for the next day, and engineers walked away from their repairs and works in-progress. Maybe it was a bad idea to consider something so normal in such an odd place, but it helped in some way.

It helped normalize it all for you. It helped make it feel like it was just another day, much like the ones long before the sky had turned crimson and the agency had formed. It helped make everything feel just a bit easier to swallow. It felt a little too intimidating to drop the fantasy at this point.

You could hear footsteps thump down the hall, steadily getting louder. You didn't bother questioning who it was- already having the offender's name in mind the moment you'd picked up on the sound.

It was odd to some- the way you carried yourself with as much normality as you could. You were an experiment of sorts, a MAG with a few alterations here and there. MAGs tended to struggle with agility, something they'd hoped to curb with you. Your tail was just a bit shorter and relatively un-tapered to discourage losing balance, the structure of your legs allowed quicker mobility, and the larger claws helped with traction (as well as serving intimidation). You'd been less than happy to be analyzed and calculated-on, only really calming down when you'd come to terms with how normal that was here.

Maybe that was why you'd found a certain solace in Torture's presence. He was another experimental MAG, the nails embedded in his head making him stick out like a sore-thumb among most of the others. They'd never really been sociable, more withdrawn from others as they'd stay on their lonesome. This only really changed when you two were paired up for missions- he was the slower heavy-hitter, you were the quicker defense.

It'd been nothing but business as usual at first, with the only real interactions 'peculiar' to it being when one of you would attempt to bandage or otherwise patch-up the other on the way back to the facility. Neither of you were particularly well trained with this sort of thing, many-a-time had sheets of bandages been torn or poked-through by your or his nails. You distinctly remember the confusion of some on-site medics looking at all the holes in the wrappings around your torso after a particularly rough expedition. Partly because of the huffs of frustration and weak growls of the other when they'd been putting you back together was enough to make you laugh (much to your discomfort, laughing with a gash over your guts isn't exactly fun), partly because they'd begun checking up on you after the fact.

Those little check-ins on your recovery turned into them just checking on you whenever they got the chance to- excusing it with just curiosity or not excusing it at all, leaving you to guess. They'd steadily started hanging around you more and more, you'd appreciated it. He was quiet and sweet, something you didn't exactly see in some of the newer, rowdier half-MAGs or discontented, antisocial MAGs around you. You couldn't help but smile whenever he'd prod at some old scar or wound, asking where you'd gotten it or if you were alright. It was nice to feel cared about. You did your best to return the favor, (carefully) wiping some of the blood from around the nails and offering conversation. Sure, he couldn't talk much and even for you it could be difficult, but you made it work. You were willing to get through a sore throat if you got to see him smile.

You could hear the door to your makeshift room open, your companion shutting it behind them. You'd made some half-assed effort to hide the grin tugging at your lips behind your hand. "Took you long enough."

You'd gotten a little huff in response, the comment going largely ignored as he'd focused on tugging his coat off. Sure, he wasn't necessarily supposed to be in here for the night, he had his own quarters somewhere else in the facility. Even then, nobody had made any move to correct this. Nobody wanted to try telling the tall made-to-kill grunt what they didn't want to hear. In some of the higher-up agents eyes, as long as he got up and did his job as usual then it wasn't worth the trouble. It was selfish reasoning, but you were willing to exploit it if it meant you got to play normal for a time.

You'd shuffled back a bit, making space for them to lie down next to you. The mattress they'd given you was less than ideal, but it could just fit the both of you if you'd keep close. Obviously, neither of you minded that little detail at all. He'd eventually situated himself with his chin resting on top of your head and a hand resting on your back, one of your own copying the action with him. You couldn't help the tired chuckle bubbling up in your throat at the raspy purrs you'd received in response to tracing little shapes on the back of his shirt.

"Night, Tor."

You could just barely hear the whispered 'goodnight' in return.

[iamacolor]

fashion queen! which nct era has the best fashun in ur opinion?? and if u were a designer which neos would u pick as ur models?

I was so excited to answer this that I wrote several pages and it basically turned into a style analysis for each unit so I sure hope you have some time on your hands to read everything I’ve just written! (I did not reread so sorry for any typing mistake)

NCT is known to be experimental in their music and that’s also the case in their styling so there’s a lot for me to get into even though sometimes it’s a miss. One thing I will say though is that when it comes to the styling in mv/teasers, what’s around the clothes is super important because if you have a very specific styling concept, your set design or graphic design needs to complement that and give the audience more clues on how to read all these elements together (the cherry bomb era is a great example of that with all the added graphic elements and the predominance of the colour pink) and recently I’ve found that the creative team has not really gone further than just putting nct in an outfit in front of a basic background so it makes for a pretty underwhelming result

But let’s move on to my favourite styling eras. I’m going to do this per unit (I’ll finish with NCT U) and define an era by its teaser pictures and the mv (and not go through all the performance looks during the promotion period)

I’m putting this under a read more because it’s reaaally long (I put pictures so that it’s not just one big chunk of text)

NCT 127

Easily the most experimental unit when it comes to fashion, especially in their first years where they would wear mix of sportswear, grunge references, avant-garde fashion and a lot of layers. When it comes to their debut “Firetruck”, I think it fitted the song really well but that it didn’t fit all the members equally (especially the younger ones, for me Taeyong and Taeil pulled it off the best – it’s expected of Taeyong but I also think that Taeil always stand out when they go for edgy/unconventional look, I think it really suits him).

Anyway, just to say that they were off to a very strong start and then I’m just going to kindly ignore the Limitless styling and move on to Cherry Bomb!

One thing nicely done for CB is how when you look at a group picture they’re clearly all following the same concept but they’re not necessarily matching or giving off the same vibes if you take them individually. I love the use of the colour pink which brings a) a great visual impact (you don’t ever see that much pink at once – especially on men) and b) an harmony despite the shapes and styles of their outfits being so vastly different, you’ve got ties, tousled, shirts, little frilled collars, stripes and all-over prints, sportswear and formal wear… (ex: taeyong’s short jacket is reminiscent of something a little luxurious, even maybe historical/noble with the little added embroidery-like details, it reminds me of these boleros jackets worn by toreros that are often red/gold VS doyoung’s overalls is an outfit that has a much more recent origin as it was first worn by factories workers, it’s usually blue or grey and is meant to be practical rather than pleasing to the eye -> here it fits very well with the general setting of the mv in what looks like an empty industrial storage space)

This second look is more of a game on how to deconstruct formal wear (there are less prints and no bold colours, their hair is less messy…) but they don’t just add sportswear like the bomber jacket, you can find rock or more “modern” elements with the leather jackets or the jean jackets. All in black and white so great contrast with the previous looks, although that mix and match concept is still there. My favourite elements are the checkered ones (worn by taeyong, taeil and haechan) as it reminds me of the strategy element of the chess game which fits pretty well with all the weapons and other arms visible in the mv (a bit like a nod to the game battleship)

This one I love that they developed their own print, especially since it’s another graphic element used elsewhere (see their album cover), because it’s a great way to really introduce their identity as a group, through the different visual elements they put out in a comeback, it’s like a logo but as a print. And all the teasers and the mv did a great job at mixing 2D/3D contents so that’s another nice way to be cohesive. It’s not my fave look out of the 3 (especially because I do not approve of that belt-suspenders-bag they gave Johnny, it’s like everything you don’t want to put a dancer in and it’s ugly as well) but I still like the fact that’s it’s another nod to the battle/strategy aspect of this comeback, like they’re on a mission to hit the stage and conquer it

Then fast forward to my other favourite one, Simon Says! (No teaser pictures here because they don’t show anything or they show not enough lol)

First of all THE MASKS

Oh how I wish they could’ve been shown more (imagine teasers with the members wearing them!!! I would’ve loved individual teasers based on each of the masks concepts) Once again, a great to have group concept without making everyone wear the same thing. They’re all super different and full of details. Haechan’s is the only one from what I could who’s mask is actually a mask and not a fully covering hood. The materials and techniques used on these are either evocative of “fragile” things like glass and flowers but theses elements have their own hidden strength. Some others are covered in lace, pearls, fringes or fur…all these things are usually considered to be precious or even luxurious but it covers their faces and their identity and they throw it away in rebellion (and I think it’s also super interesting how Taeyong who takes off his mask first has the least ornamented one)

Then the outfits themselves. Simon Says in an interesting MV because unlike most others they wear one outfit for most of the MV (the second one appears quite late in the mv and is lit and staged in a way that makes it less visible). It’s a mostly grey/white set of outfits which is usually a colour combo for office wear or maybe factory workers, it’s not something that can seem very exciting or edgy. The styling in these outfits reminds me of the works of Japanese designers who came to Paris in the 80’s and kind of shook the whole high fashion system by bringing a different type of shapes, aesthetic and purpose to fashion (Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto…). These designers  went on to become super successful and inspired another wave of “avant-garde” designers nicknamed “the 6 of Anvers” (Anvers is a city in Belgium), this group includes Martin Margiella, Dries Van Noten…And to me the outfits in Simon Says really fit into this aesthetic. Unconventional fits, various layers, it’s not so much mix and match than a work on contrast between structure and fluidity (Yuta’s half skirt with un-trimed edges, Haechan’s long shirt with the long bow and the fitted jacket, Mark’s top with the various see-through layers of different lengths…).

An other interesting details (which to me calls back to the mask and that tension in the song/concept of letting go/being free of expectations), is the way they all have thick strings tied on their feet/ankles. Not holding them back because their feet aren’t tied together but there’s still this clear restriction of the garment itself, a reminder that there are tied to something and not completely free (also an interesting choice when dressing dancers who would need to have no added weight or discomfort in their outfit to dance but visually something is holding their ankles)

Honorable mentions:

Kick It– they managed to create very memorable outfits while taking inspirations from already well known elements (both for the fighting/training outfits and the bomber jackets). The black and white outfits especially are very original as performance outfits/dancing clothes since the og garment they’re inspired by has already such a strong identity outside of the performing arts and I don’t think I’ve ever seen it be used as a stage outfit? Or concept? It’s a nice exemple of how you can take inspiration for something designed to be useful and to be efficient (in fighting) and turn it into an aesthetic.

Truthfully, martial art training outfit was already an “aesthetic” on its own but they made it a performance costume and now I do feel like it’s one of these looks that everyone will remember (like if there was a “most memorable kpop outfits” list it could easily have kick it’s black/white fits). The rest of the outfits for that concept weren’t as memorable/original to me although I feel like it showed a new approach to the styling of nct 127 as a group since they all had very similar outfits this time (especially when wearing the jackets).

Also, interestingly,  that shot of Jaehyun that had everyone go “wow” ? Well it’s impactful because it’s him and he looks like that and it’s shot in a very specific way, but it’s also even more impactful because he’s the only one who gets to wear that kind of outfit in the mv. Everyone else has 3 sets of outfits (black and white, shiny black, red jacket and black pants) but he has 4 and that suit is only used in that shot which makes for a greater impact!

And I feel like Kick It in terms of styling opened a new era for NCT 127 has it kind of broke their usual mix and match/edgy concept. This time they were clearly referencing something already well known (either martial arts, the 90s…), and the members were all matching and they kept on doing that with the military jackets in punch, the other 90s concept in nct 2020…

Touch – for the way the outfits match the sets (in all their individual sets their outfits have a detail in a matching colour), the focus on colours !!! You can see that this whole concept was designed with this colour game/colour progression between the outfits and the set in mind. It’s just very pleasing to the eyes and a great contrast to their usual stuffs (also I wrote my graduation paper on colours so I am really into creative use of colours like this)

OK now moving on to Dream!!

The interesting thing about Dream compared to NCT 127 is that from the beginning although their outfits had to match the song an the concept of the comeback it also had to match their age. Dream’s a group that had to look young when debuting (to the point where they wore outfits that made them look even younger than they were which is rarely done for boy groups) and then they had to transition into adulthood, and all of that had to be made visible. In that aspect, I really like the styling for We Young and Boom (especially when you look at them at the same time).

For We Young, the styling is meant to be reminiscent of school/boy scout uniforms but with a marine vibe. It makes for playful outfits that aren’t too childish but that also aren’t grown up. I prefer the “seaside” outfits as I don’t really like school uniforms as a concept for styling and I think it’s really a choice that suited them and the song so well, it really fitted their energy. It’s playful but it also has a vintage touch to it as these outfits with their stripes and their squared flap at the back date back to the XIXth century (I just found out that it all started with the queen Victoria dressing up her kid in an outfit inspired by the royal navy uniforms for a painting after a cruise ).

Boom on the other side is their first proper “grown-up” concept. We go up was already more grown up but still very “teenager-ish” and although they were mostly teenagers when they did Boom it was clear that this was supposed to be their first entry into “adulthood” as a group at least. And although they did wear a sportswear/casual outfits which is something that isn’t related to age (and I really like the black and white “skeleton” set which already feels more grown-up and more “stylish” than the other casual outfit) , they wore two other “grown-up” elements: suits and all-jean outfits.

And yeah teenagers, and kids wear jeans too but a full jean-on-jean outfit is more of a “grown-up” fashion choice and it makes them look like young men rather than boys. As for the suits, I just really love when stylists play with the codes of that garment (length of the jacket, tightness of the pants, the way the shirt is tucked in…).

Notice how Renjun has a really short jacket, Chenle’s pants are wide, Jeno has a tail…Once again, a really interesting aspect of Kpop is the variations of the same concept based on the members. In the mv, there is a tension between their more grown up selves (the one in suits, the one with a craft/a path) and their young selves (the one running around in the field, the one laying down in the flowers and eating a cake). And there is also in these outfits and the contrast between them this tension, this contrast…which path should they go? The jeans are the more laide back, innocent outfits, whereas the suits come with responsibilities and status (and you’ll notice that in the scene where jisung is left alone to blow his candle it’s when he’s wearing jeans not when he’s in the suits).

Now on to WayV!!

WayV are different from the two in the sense than when they debuted they couldn’t have an “age” concept or an edgy concept because 127 and dream had already taken those and I feel like for that reason they’re still looking for what makes them stand out visually from the others (and in my opinion it’s not in whatever they were wearing for turn back time!). WayV’s concept is space and time travel, it’s building a new life, a new worl, going beyond anything! In my mind, they’re either supposed to feel a bit “otherworldly” (either spectacular or literally like they’re from another world/another universe, a little bit futuristic maybe?) or to look like explorers/travellers (they have a lot of travel/transportation “gears” references in their outfits). Their MVs also have a very different production than the other nct mvs (the scale and the way it’s filmed, the sets…it’s a different approach and it’s usually much more “grand” for their title tracks). The great thing about WayvV styling is usually that they match the outfits well with the world that the mv is set in (like in Moonwalk for example you get a sense of the world they’re in and the fact that it’s not ours or at least not as we know it now through the way they dress – you can’t really say oh it’s inspired by this era or by this or that because -at least- to me it immediately gives me a vibe of something that could be worn in a sci-fi movie, almost like a costume) or that they allude to travel in their styling.

When they debuted with Regular they went for a very sleek and high fashion look which worked really well for them! Even their more “casual” looks were a bit striking and I think that’s very “wayv-like” to me.

Same goes for Take Off where they mix the individual styles (and I don’t like ten’s leopard fur sleeveless jacket at all) and the group concepts – the “flying” outfits and the “racing” outfits (that last one is my favourite! I love the silhouette it creates with the tight pants and the larger tops with an emphasis on the waist).

There’s something a bit extra to WayV - which is why some of their outfits remind me of costumes more than fashion while at the same time they’re the most “high fashion” unit– like the “flying” outfit in Take Off are recognizable as “flying gear” but you can’t really tell what they’re flying, it feels once again like something that they could wear in like star wars or a similar kind of story.

Imagine a movie about 7 men on another planet trying to come together to overcome the dark forces or whatever’s bad on their planet in a futuristic society with a mix of “traditional” and “trendy” outfits? That’s WayV. The movie the 5th Sense? That’s WayV but on steroids. They’re also the only group with actual characters in their mvs, they’re all supposed to have a backstory or an individual setting and find a way to get together in their mvs.

Anyway all that to say that it’s hard for me to pick an era for them because they’ve only had a few and they still feel like they’re looking to solidify their concept, and since moonwalk and turn back time really set the styling in different worlds than ours, you have to look at how they fit in that world rather than ours and I think Moonwalk does it best since it’s the most cohesive one visually. But then I think Regular had the best individual styling!

Okay this is super long but we’re finally getting to NCT U!!!!

Number one favourite:

The Year Party outfits!!!! I’ve already talked about this but I love when they say we’ll put them in suits and then since they have to make a different one for each of them they cut bits an dpieces of the suits here and there, play with lengths. It’s not a revolutionary concept but in terms of searching for a shape, searching for variations of an already so famous, so well-known garment (everyone has seen a suit, and so many designers have already deconstructed it and then put it back together and so on) it’s so nice, it’s almost like a full collection given how many members there are and it’s just a good tailoring work.It almost feel like an exercise of how many variations of an outfit can you think of? And it looks fun to do! It’s all about the details and the way the layers are set together.

The accessories add to the “formal attire” aspect of it. It almost has a ceremonial look to it. A bit of royalty with the futuristic vibe usually associated with WayV. The dark blue suits were pretty classic, the most interesting details (for me at least) were on the light blue ones. Especially since it’s a rare colour to find in formal wear or in ceremonial wear. In general, I feel like it’s a pretty rare colour in fashion outside of like shirts and baby clothes? I think it was a great styling choice for a content like the year party although I do wish they (either NCT or WayV who’ve touched upon this kind of outfit a bit already) would do a full comeback with this kind of styling (like the lighter version of the black and green outfits in SuperM’s One). It’s not revolutionary but it was something new for NCT and I really hope they use that elegant/futuristic concept once again.

Also in these outfits, the jewelry is super important and adds to the “grand” aspect of these outfits. The concept is that these aren’t ordinary outfits for ordinary men, we’re witnessing something “special” and so they aren’t wearing their usual jewels either (of course the big chains are still there but differently look at that necklace jaehyun is wearing)

Honorable mention:

Boss & Baby Don’t Stop (they’re different but they go together in my mind lol). Look at them in their uniforms! And also they had doyoung wearing these sunglasses

Ok I think I’m done, if you’ve made it this far thank you so much and I hope it was a nice read!!

As for who would I chose as my models…it really depends on what I’d make them wear tbh for menswear the things I’d like to design would either be something like formal wear or knitwear – I’d pick Lucas, Taeyong and Doyoung (I think they’re the most model-like members and could pull off pretty much anything even my non-edgy concept because I can’t do that lol and they pose very well) and then depending on the concept I’d pick between Winwin, Jaehyun, Kun, Jungwoo, Taeil, Haechan and Shotaro (the way I struggled to remember all the members at once…there are too many really)

[reneejuliet]

idk if I sent the ask about save me and moonchild or not but would love to hear about them ans also all night long, danger , bliss ..if you don't mind :D

Hi yes hello! I got both of them, but I’m gonna just answer them all on this one!

As far as moonchild and danger go, I answered that here. I unfortunately don’t have too much going for either, so I can’t really give much more info or samples of those.

Save Me is my crappy attempt at a hybrid fic, focusing on the maknae line. I’m entirely unfamiliar with writing hybrids, only read a few myself, but I’ve been trying to challenge myself more by branching out of my comfort zones. It’s like a main focus of Jimin x reader, but obviously also features Taehyung and Jungkook. Undecided if the other members make an appearance or not. Here’s a very little bit:

You were almost in your car, butt nestled just on the edge of the seat, when you heard it. A clang of metal, a low hiss. Something akin to a growl. Your skin bristled, sent a shiver down your spine. But you weren’t afraid. Not yet, anyway.

Still half in your car, you waited, straining your ears. All you could hear was the grumbling of your car, the angry gurgles of the river. An occasional howl of wind as it wound through the windows of empty buildings. Nothing that should be out of the ordinary.

A gasp was torn from your lips as another breeze blew by, rippling your coat and chilling your skin. You felt the tell-tale drops of rain on your cheeks. Whatever it was you thought you heard, it was obvious you couldn’t wait around to figure it out. The weather was only going to get worse, and you had to return to the restaurant before you could go home. So you shifted your weight completely into your seat, closing the door behind you. The car groaned as you shifted gears, lights flickering for a moment before you pressed forward.

But it was only a couple feet before debris suddenly fell from above, clashing on the hood of your car before you slammed to a stop. Your eyes shot up, anger surging through your veins in preparation –

Only to be met with eyes, perched two stories above you. Three sets, all staring widely at you in shock and fear. As you stared back, you noticed the slight gleam in the nearest set. The way they seemed to refract light even in the dark. Your breath hitched in your throat.

Hybrids.

All Night Long is kind of a shitpost in my WIPs, lol. It didn’t have much focus when I was just dumping out the trash from my brain, but it ended up becoming something for Jungkook. Kinda self-indulgent, and actually the first bit of smut I ever actually wrote out, without choosing wording that just hinted at what was happening. Not sure this will turn into anything, but just in case, I’ll dump this bit here:

He'd fully intended to walk away after correcting you, but once you were in his grasp, responding eagerly to his touch - his mind went blank. He found himself beginning to guide you through the entire choreography, hovering close to you at every possible moment. And when you went into the body roll followed by the hip thrust, his eyes darkened at just how well you performed them now. Without warning, his feet stumbled him toward you until you were pinned beneath him against the mirror, chests pressed together, tension thick in the air around you as your breaths mingled in what little space still existed between the two of you.

"Don't sleep with Hoseok," he whispered under his breath, voice rough and ragged with his desire for you. He was desperate by now, shaking with the inability to control himself any longer.

His words didn't register at first through the haze surrounding you, every inch of your body focused on just breathing with him this close to you. He was intoxicating, though, especially so near that you could smell his cologne and sweat. The heat radiating from his body, so close you could feel each breath he took, could have melted you where you stood. Until the words finally did register, and a sudden awareness sparked in your eyes.

"What?" you asked, voice a whisper, but sharp. Your eyes narrowed at the younger man before you, breaths quickening in his ensuing silence. "What did you just say?"

His mistake landed with a heavy clarity on his shoulders at the way you glared at him now, his heart rising to his throat and choking off anything he could have said. He swallowed with difficulty, unable to move away from you just yet.

He didn't have to, though, as you suddenly put your hands between you and shoved him off of you. You side-stepped him to put more distance between your body and his, allowing the stuffy air of the practice room to fill your lungs and clear out the smell of him. When you spun back on your heel, accusatory look on your face, you were met with his wide-eyes, gaping mouth as he tried to find something to say. The heady look was still lingering on his face, and it panged something in your stomach, but you ignored it.

"How do you even know about that?" you hissed, hands lifting to tangle in your loose hair. "That - that was a private conversation!"

"I'm sorry," he finally muttered, the words breaking on his tongue. "I'm sorry, I - I didn't mean to overhear, I just... did, and..." His eyes turned pleading again, though they were softer this time, less desperate. "Please, though. Noona... don't sleep with Hobi."

You threw a hand out in his direction, unsure what you were even doing with it except interrupting him. "I didn't - Wh - That is none of your business, Jungkook!"

His head bowed for a moment, fully aware of how accurate your statement was. It wasn't any of his business, yet here he was anyway. "I know," he breathed, squeezing his eyes shut before turning to face you. "I know, I just-"

Bliss is, if anyone hasn’t guessed, my WIP for the second half of Ignorance is Bliss. It’s mostly outlines and research I did on brain activity, synapses, amino acids, etc., as well as main points I want to make sure I hit. Everything I’ve tried to write out yet has ended up scrapped because I haven’t liked it, but I do have this:

Bliss patches induce a certain emotion into users by releasing a chemical agent into the bloodstream that targets the synapses of the brain. The synapses then release the chemically fabricated neurotransmitters to stimulate the specific area of the hypothalamus pertaining to that emotion. Such emotions can include happiness, joy, anger, upset, or calm. Other affects, such as sleep and focus, are replicated within the brain by targeting and stimulating other areas of the hypothalamus. The affects of the pills/patches are harmless and wear off after a few hours.

Until a mutagen is introduced into the chemical makeup of Bliss patches that targets and distorts the amino acid tryptophan. The mutagen infuses into the tryptophan and corrupts its structure, causing it to deteriorate from within the body at a rapid rate. Without tryptophan, the body cannot survive. Thus a dependency upon the Bliss patches is formed, distorting the neurotransmitters within the brain and turning the user into a “junkie”.

Genetic mutation becomes further explored by developing a chemical compound that can be introduced into the bloodstream of a mother and absorbed into the nutrients passed on to her unborn child. This compound infuses with the genetic coding still forming within the child, altering the DNA to allow for sensory stimuli to be increased within the developing lobes of the brain. The mutation is experimental, thus the first few cases are both varying and unpredictable. The different lobes in the brain contract and expand at varying intervals, allowing for a concentrated amount of skill to be stimulated from within the lobes at any one time. These skills are activated by the increased focus of the neurotransmitters to the particular cells in use as the others have contracted, therefore require less communication. The mutation has been known to not remain limited to the brain, often including an accelerated rate of mending among the cells and tissues of the rest of the body, promoting a super human ability to heal. Though highly valuable among the test subjects, this mutation is very unstable and can often create an imbalance within the body.

^^Whether the science holds up or not (science is far from my forte lol), this is a more comprehensive breakdown of how Bliss works in that world, and why it’s such a slippery slope.

Hope that fed you well! 

[echoeternally]

orasforlife said: I would love to hear MGR’s dev process, since it’s almost twice as long at this point and Pokémon…gave you less source material than Mario and you would’ve had to come up with more from scratch.

...

Oh gosh, this one’s hilarious, because it was a story that I had barely planned, but probably more than ENY for an initial concept following the first idea. And this will need to go over both MGR and BAF, the prequel.

So, I looked at fan art of the then-new Gen 6 Pokémon, and there were a few pieces for Chesnaught/Greninja, so I was like, “Oh, these are so cute, I love them!” I tried reaching out to several artists, only one ever responded.

Originally, I only planned out one chapter, because I was all, “They’re classical RPG hero types, let’s put them in that type of setting,” and it was just BAF’s Chapter 9 (and part of 10), where Greninja confesses his love, and Chesnaught returns it. There was never room for humans, so I just assumed prefacing it with “it’s like a Mystery Dungeon world” would suffice. Plus, I’m not a fan of the human trainers in Pokémon, which is a surprising minority (outside of Japan), but here we are.

(Much more resides below.)

But after I typed it up, I thought, “Huh, this is its own world, how do they get here, anyway?” And that’s when I came up with the first chapter, the arrival of the ninjas to the kingdom. It was there that I decided to reflect how ENY had been developing, and made Chesnaught the main character alongside Greninja, since it was going in a lengthier direction.

And because it was romance, I decided to have multiple couples at once, because that seemed like fun. Nidoking/Rhydon was one of my fastest pairings, as I liked the idea of older guys that found love after not being there for a while, and I wanted to challenge the tired status quo of Nidoking/Nidoqueen.

I thought I had picked strong straight pairings to go alongside these, with Gardevoir/Gallade and Escavalier/Accelgor. Gosh, did I overestimate fans for those. For the first story, I was able to include other notion challenges, such as “Delphox is always a girl,” “Mr. Mime is a goof,” and “tough Pokémon aren’t cute,” speckling each of those in. Other things were either used to develop the kingdom, or cut because they would take too much time to explain, mainly the overarching “4 kingdoms” plots and several couples that didn’t get roles.

Still, I made up the story going along the idea of two dudes trying to fall in love and having virtually no idea the other was totally into them, the pining romance classic. Mostly worked out, slipped in ideas of bandits attacking, training knights, and enjoyed flexing with flower language, which I decided to make a larger theme when I increased Chesnaught’s role.

Wrapping that story up, I tossed out the idea that I could follow-up on this story, since at the time, I was on a roll and juggled 4 ongoing stories at once. (Massively underestimated how growing up works, lol.) People agreed, I had the ideas that I wanted to work in, and decided to go for it.

This was where I got to really delve into expanding the series as I wanted to. Hints at Legendary Pokémon influencing society became stories of legends and gods that roamed the earth. A brewing war between several factions meant I could give reason to expanding the world and including more Pokémon, as well as (finally) expand Nidoqueen’s story, which I’ll also get to give more depth in the third fanfic. Not to mention that by expanding the story, shifting the cast, and changing the setting, I was able to delve deeper into lore and include more pairs that I wanted to experiment with.

The thing with the first story was that I just wanted to establish a medieval backdrop while enjoying the main couple falling in love. The second story allows some depth for them, but really flourishes the world around them.

Less of Pokémon itself was tying the story back, because the original was such a departure. Some elements I try to tie back in, but there’s a good amount of original content that I’m exploring with the Pokémon fanfics. I’m hoping it includes stuff that readers won’t really anticipate, but get engaged with looking into and researching, since those play a big part in stories and world-building.

Also, getting away from Pokémon’s usual tropes allowed for some more mature aspects to get woven in, like romantic entanglements and relationship issues, some suggestive undertones, war and violence that finally justified some of the universe, exploring death as writing devices and character studies, and hefty character driven drama.

What’s hard with MGR is that there’s a lot going on, which will help serve to expand a lot of what happens later, and it ended up growing a lot more than I ever meant it to. There were originally supposed to be 20 chapters, it wasn’t supposed to take like 5 years to write, certain characters became more plot critical that I realized that they would, I put all of the gay guy pairings into one place, etc. A lot developed in the course of story development.

All the while, the rest of the story is still meant to be coming up, and it’s meant to be a delicate balancing act between present and future. To make the world matter, it must be expanded, and events must unfold. However, to justify their use and make the characters matter, time must be invested into them. Audience immersion is key for investment, but it’s tricky to rope people in, especially when you’re aiming at a narrow group with broad interests and trying to get them to enjoy the offerings you can give.

There are a lot more devices to go over based on MGR than I realized, and I keep cutting stuff that I’m writing about, because I end up going too far off track with it. Honestly, I didn’t realize just how much experimenting that I’ve put into these stories, but I guess it was a lot.

Maybe this one is under less control than I recognize, and I think that’s because, unlike ENY, it’s got more to develop and restructure. Originally, I had a very specific idea of where I wanted to go with the sequel, and that’s what MGR was supposed to lead up to, the reason it’s as much of a set-up story as it is its own narrative. That’s changed, however, as I’ve grown, learned/discovered more, and as the franchise itself has expanded too.

While expansion was always the point of this story, and while the ultimate ending is still in tact, there’s a lot of experimentation and realignment that’s come up for these fanfics, and it’s given me a lot to reconsider with direction. I wish I could seamlessly describe everything that goes into this story, but it’s so much, and because there’s a lot unsettled, I must admit that I probably don’t have as much control over this than I do with ENY, that’s fact. Still, I’ve got my direction and where I’m ultimately building to has yet to be taken apart, so I’m pretty sure that it’s still a safe way forward.

Not going to lie, I didn’t think that I had so much to go over with the Pokémon fanfics, and I feel like I might not have properly addressed your interests. If there’s something you’d like me to focus on with the development, please let me know, because I feel I’ve gone off too much here.

Long story short: BAF was meant to be a cute romance in a medieval land, MGR developed that land into a full world and the flagship pairing gets a lot more involved with that world. 

Another realization is:

ENY = Structured story through development BAF/MGR = Organized chaos that’s brewing

Anyway, I hope that addressed some of your interests regardless. And again, thank you for expressing curiosity in these stories.

[ladyofpurple]

GIRL ITS BEEN MONTHS SINCE YOU UPDATED TPOY!! please tell me you haven’t given up on it )-:

I KNOW IM REALLY SORRY OMG

This took a bit longer to answer than it should have because I was trying to figure out how to reply, I guess?? The short answer is basically that writing bits of fic during my exams when I didn’t actually have the time to was super productive, mainly because I Didn’t Want To Do The Thing but my entire future hinged on Doing The Thing and anxiety-driven avoidance is excellent creative fuel, apparently. The problem is, of course, that once I finished and started getting my results back and actually had time to breathe again my brain kinda fizzled out and I never wanted to look at a Word document ever again in my life. Writing is really hard right now, for some reason. And not just TPoy — everything I try to write either gives me a headache, makes every idea I’ve ever had go flying out the window like magic, or looks like absolute garbage to me. (I’ve been trying, though, I promise!!!) There is more TPoY, though!! I swear to God!! It’s just coming along a little slower than anticipated.

The long answer is... a little more complicated and probably more than you’re interested in, and the main reason is the short one anyway. But I’ll put a long answer under a cut just in case (aka the entire history of TPoY lol), since I’ve lowkey wanted to post about it for a while now but didn’t quite know how to? May get a little very personal, I suppose.

Basically, TPoY is and always has been a garbage fic. I don’t say that to disparage my own writing or attempt to elicit praise from anyone: I have always considered it a glorious dumpster fire of experimentation, a ridiculous Frankenstein’s monster of all my favorite ML tropes as a practice run, since it had been so long since attempting to write anything at all. I’m thrilled that people like it, of course! Whenever people send me asks about it my answers always involve a lot of exclamation points and variations on “I AM CURRENTLY SOBBING ON THE FLOOR IN GRATITUDE” because I honestly have no idea how to express how genuinely teary-eyed I get when someone tells me how much they like it, or post a comment. That being said, it was always intended for my own amusement and/or therapy, and that it’s gotten so many bookmarks and kudos and comments is incredibly surreal, even after a whole year.

When I started writing it, I was working through a lot of stuff. My first boyfriend had broken up with me, and as we lived together in his hometown I was stuck there on my own for another year before I could move back home. 2016 was filled with a lot of horrifying shit that kept happening one after the other and I eventually almost had to drop out of school because I couldn’t handle it all. The relationship was pretty toxic but all I knew at the time was that I was scared and alone and heartbroken. 

When I started writing, it was after 8 months of the worst bout of depression I’ve ever experienced, and I still wasn’t well, but I functioned passably enough to start hyperfocusing on things. I had an idea about a fic I suddenly wanted to write, and it would have a happy ending and all, but I could work through my feelings in a way I hadn’t tried to since before my ex and I got together. I pulled a lot of the start of the fic (the rejection, the miscommunication, the avoidance) from my recent breakup, yes, but also from my first rejection, aka the only other boy I’d liked enough to confess my feelings to. We were 17, and he admitted that he knew, and then suddenly we weren’t friends anymore. A year and a half later, I got together with my ex, and suddenly after three years of dedicating my life to “us” on his whims he was ghosting me without explanation.

I see a lot of myself in Marinette at that age. The awkwardness, the enthusiasm, the incredibly obvious lovesick obsession with a cute boy who’s nice to you. I wondered if maybe she would react the same, if put into similar circumstances as I had been. Focus on the self-doubt that would follow, based on insecurities she’s already shown in the show — coupled with your standard teenage hormone-fest —and you’d have a fabulous starter for angstfic and a free therapy session all in one.

The problem with that is nobody knows this backstory but me. People focusing on Marinette’s insecurities is nothing new. Other people are annoyed it’s such a popular trope. And the fact that I’ve chosen to focus on certain aspects of the main characters’ identities for the purposes of a story I started on a whim has been making me insecure for a long time because people in the fandom are tired of those characterizations. I’ve never gotten hate comments —I don’t even remember ever getting constructive criticism on TPoY. But I’m well aware that the plot is far from original and definitely lacking in certain places, and as the comments roll in and the hits go up my anxiety mounts because oh my God I’m that guy in the fandom.

I always intended on focusing on different aspects of their characterizations in different fics to suit the plot, y’know? Not ignoring parts of their personalities, but just... emphasizing other parts. But TPoY is the one most people have read. I have a couple one-shots where I tried to do something like that, with different aspects of their characters, but short one-shots can’t really compare to a 100,000+ word WIP, even if they even slightly compared in popularity (they don’t). So my only notable contribution to the fandom is TPoY. And that makes me anxious.

Then there’s the Frankenstein-like obsession with adding every trope I’ve ever wanted to write in a fic like this. I’ve mentioned before that the original plan for this was, like, 10-15 chapters at most. But every chapter I write I’m like, “But what if I did this???” Like I said, I never intended it to be even remotely popular. The only other fandoms I’ve written for are microscopic in comparison. I had no frame of reference for a pairing this big — all my previous experience was from Fanfiction.net, for Christ’s sake. I assumed I wouldn’t finish it, and even getting to chapter 6 was a surprise. But that hyperfocus somehow held on for dear life and I was banging out chapters like nobody’s business. And people were responding to it. And I think that kind of went to my head a little? Not like in an “I deserve all this attention” kind of way, but more like a “People like?? This thing I’m doing??? I cannot squander this opportunity, I must give them m o r e” kind of way. It was the best I’d felt since the breakup and I didn’t really think I deserved it, so I kind of wanted to... prove I did, I guess, by writing everything I’d ever wanted in a lovesquare fic in hopes that people would keep liking it and me and I’d keep feeling nice. (I mean, I’d planned to add in a ridiculous amount of tropes anyway, I just ended up adding a lot more than I’d planned.)

On the one hand, people go nuts for that shit. On the other, it’s getting harder and harder to justify cramming all this shit into the same fic. This compulsion keeps fucking me over by giving me spur-of-the-moment ideas for sub-plots I never wanted and certainly didn’t properly think through before posting the foreshadowing or setup for — yet at the same time they’re usually thought of and integrated several chapters in advance so I can’t just... leave them out? And part of me kind of doesn’t want to?? And I’m trying with every fiber in my being not to rewrite just the first 3 chapters, let alone the entire fic. A side-effect of my FF.net history at 13 was Never Edit Anything. Yeah, I’ll do some spell-check. Maybe some rewording here and there. Sometimes I’ll post a chapter and come back sporadically over the next few days to change out some punctuation or whatever. But if I don’t like a section after writing for a while? Throw the Whole Ass Chapter out. After it’s posted? This Is Your Life Now.

let’s not talk about how everything after chapter 27 was supposed to go very differently

Never mind that, after writing a hundred thousand goddamn words in a year, one’s writing skill tends to evolve and increase over time. Not just in regards to vocabulary, but with consistency and pacing and structure. This means, of course, that I can’t ever reread my own writing without the Evil Writing Goblin in my brain telling me to start the whole thing over from scratch. It’s fine.

I suppose I could get a beta, but I’m very bad at taking critique and as I’m even worse at talking to people than I am at posting on time I don’t think that would work out very well.

The point of this goddamn novel is that TPoY means a lot to me, probably a lot more than people realize. It’s kinda dumb and very cheesy and absurdly long, but it was the first real thing I did for myself after my whole life fell apart. I will finish it!!

But it’s hard to write it right now. I’m trying— I’m writing four chapters at the same time right now (a bit less than 10,000 words combined at current count). I don’t want to try to rewrite the whole fic or keep “mischaracterizing” the characters or lose the suspense I’ve tried to build (or, God forbid, try to keep interest so hard it hurts the rest of the fic) and risk alienating readers. I can’t stress enough how much these supportive comments mean to me, even on something as silly as a fanfic. But I also don’t want to force myself to write it or write something just because other people might or might not like it and risk alienating me. So I’m stuck at a kind of anxiety-induced impasse with myself that’s just made worse by the fact that I’m having trouble writing anything at all at the moment.

Jesus Christ this was longer than I meant it to be. Please don’t take this as a pity-party or anything. I don’t want sympathy or, I don’t know, reassurance or anything, I just wanted everything to be Out There because it really is the most in-depth response I could give and y’all deserve an honest answer. Some of you guys have been reading since the beginning and I can’t express how much that means to me. I feel really bad when I haven’t updated in a long time, because I know my fic makes some people really happy!

And PLEASE don’t take this as a “STOP ASKING ME ABOUT TPOY GODDAMMIT” because this is the opposite of that. I FUCKING LOVE IT WHEN PEOPLE ASK ME ABOUT TPOY. I L I V E FOR IT. But it sucks when the only answer I have is “I don’t know when it’ll be up, sorry :( ”

I mean, that’ll probably still be the answer I give, unless I by some miraculous (heh) stroke of luck) start hyperfocusing on writing again.

But at least y’all kinda know why now.

[firefield]

David Bowie - Look At The Moon

Live Phoenix Festival ‘97

Opening with a fantastic take on Quicksand that starts with DB and his 12-string building until the entire band joins on the chorus. I saw this tour in Los Angeles and it felt surprising and powerful. From there is that excellent modern arrangement of TMWSTW, and into Driftin’ Blues that becomes Jean Genie - one of the many times Bowie explores blues figures before launch.

It’s at this moment, hearing the two detailed guitars and DB’s crisp, present vocal, that I’m struck with the incredible quality of this recording. I almost took it for granted, but this is beautifully engineered. Further impressed by Gail’s growling bass clarity on I’m Afraid Of Americans and especially Battle For Britain. What a joy to hear BFB whipped up live like this.

Onto a pretty unusual arrangement of Fashion. Gail’s bass is very upfront with some distortion dialed in, squeegee keyboards powerslide around the stereo field and Gabrels and Garson both play with adding tension and release as Zach just marches like a giant metronome.

Ahh... damn. I love that first vocalless chorus in Seven Years In Tibet. Reeves Gabrels is just fantastic here. He has a whole potpourri of guitar tones he juggles beautifully, and he makes it all sound so effortless. Really nice early Pink Floydian carnival keyboards in the bridge... in fact, the keys and synths in this show sound fantastic. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Garson quite so electrified and synthy.

Oh slam. FAME. Another unusual arrangement and I like it. Harpsichord sound and piano? Ambient tones hovering? Penny-whistle? “Bring on the little guys!” Ha! Wow. That was incredible.

Looking For Satellites. JFC, this recording is so great. “Direct From Mixing Desk” it says on the back of the LP. Well, I am super impressed. Everything is perfectly balanced and muscular. And what a nice transition into Under Pressure - although Gail’s bass is very close to clipping - speaking of balance. How great is Gail here? Good Lord. Her bass part played with absolute precision while delivering a vocal like *that*?

Side 4 up next and one I’m excited to hear: a suite of Heart’s Filthy Lesson/Scary Monsters/Hallo Spaceboy... all kindred spirits. Damn, listen to Zach’s snare sound on HFL. Whew. Sometimes I marvel at how songs like this hold together. There is this skeleton of Zach and Gail, but Garson and Gabrels are all torn ligaments and tendons and can seem to move and play in any direction they want, flailing and falling like those tube-man air inflatables advertising a new car wash. I can’t totally grasp how the song’s chord structure and tonal center is held down. Hell, maybe it isn’t and my mind fills in much of the blanks. I don’t know, but I like it, and it’s that sense in DB’s music of this period that holds experimental and on-edge appeal. He will soon completely jettison this with Hours and flesh out a full body with all its fleshy sensitivity and raw nerve just below the surface.

Scary Monsters is perfect here at this point in the show and is dominated by Reeves’ filthy creativity and another crazy Zach snare sound that announces and pounds on the door like an angry poltergeist. Hallo Spaceboy’s chaos is killing it. Some very unusual arrangement choices if you listen close, especially in the back third of the song. All thunder and murk. This song always feels much darker and menacing when performed live.

Little Wonder feels positively sing-songy and nursery rhyme-ish after that madness. “All aboard the night train?” “Hot-diggity?” LOL. Bowie simply cannot keep his inner goofball contained, and how cool is that? Stuff like that makes me miss him. Oh wow - some more really cool arrangement variations in the bridge of LW. What an amazing band this is.

Love this performance of Dead Man Walking. Once again, the engineers have Gail’s bass on the very needle slamming edge of clipping. I don’t think I’ve ever heard her and Zach play so confidently, but these two are incredible.

Hmm... Alrighty, I would not have foreseen White Light/White Heat as part of this set list, and I’m not convinced it totally works. It could be my own history with this song in particular, but it feels a bit throwback and momentum-draining at this point. O Superman... yes, yes, yes. So nice to have this here officially and sounding amazing. Lyrically wonderful and sits perfectly in the Outside/Earthling universe - although I think it may have worked better in the center section of the show. David and Gail’s voices together like this is rare and so wonderful.

A very modern Stay closes out this excellent triple-LP set. It’s got a thick and messy middle over a propulsive bass, and that vocal effect on the chorus you will either love or not, and the “stay why don’t you?” extended coda.

Overall, a beautiful release and totally surpassed my expectations sound-wise. I hope everyone who wants to hear this is able to. It’s killer.

[vanaera]

Aera, hi! first of all let me tell you that looking forward to My time. and like, How are you? i read that uni is giving u a hard time, is everything good? i hope so. You asked me about what i think of HHA MBTI and let me tell you what happened hehe. I already had an idea and usually i take a guess based on the vibe lol. But, i really wanted to give a legit answer. So I spent the past few days restudying the theory intensely and rereading HHA which is funny because at the end what happened..1

was that i complicated things cuz I wanted to get the most accurate answer, until i convinced myself to just say what i think of lol. So, I haven't done this before and i hope to improve my analysis skills in the future but i wish my analysis will at least entertain you :D lets start with y/n since she came "clearer" to me. Initially, I thought that she gives a ESTJ/ENTJ vibes. What I'm so sure of is that she definitely has the (Te) function either as a dominant or auxiliary function...2 

Which gave me 4 choices, ESTJ, ISTJ, ENTJ, INTJ. In short, what made me think y/n have Te function aka extroverted thinking, is that it's about conveying thoughts using reason and logic while being unmoved by emotional appeals. Te loves to organize and structure and achieving goals oriented. Extroverted thinkers are assertive, direct, objective, have well researched arguments and would like to convince others of their thoughts. we can see all of that in y/n right? I would've loved to explain..3 

Let me tell you first that i decided that y/n is probably an ENTJ. I would've love to tell (in details, why) but knowing myself it's gonna be so long and messy. So, I'm just gonna explain (Why) lol. let me tell u one of the reasons why I eliminated ESTJ. This type generally when making decisions, they'll make it considering what's important at the moment while ENTJ will consider what's important in the long run. I don't know but y/n strikes me as a big picture person...4 

ESTJs have (Si introverted sensing) as their second function which is a one that's concerned with long term memory, organizing, duty, traditions, routine and learning through past experiences (not experimental). Honestly, this one caused me a lot of confusion of weather y/n is estj or entj. because, for entj, because of the absent of Si in their function set they tend to forget who they were in the past and because they're so focused on the future. while i view y/n as the big picture person...5 

I don't view her as the one to be disconnected from her past self. BUT, i don't know if she is Si user, she doesn't strike me as person that values traditions and routine so much. (I'd like to ask you more about this) what made me also think she's ENTJ is because of the other functions in the set (Te, Ni, Se, Fi) we talked about Te, Ni users (introverted intuition) often described as people with vision of what they want to bring to life. Se-extroverted sensing-is about learning through senses..6 

Se function is about learning through senses so people with this function in their dominant will be eager to experience all kind of stuff in life. In ENTJ case however, this function comes third indicating it's underdeveloped, but it's there, so it'll appear more later in life while entj is still growing up and experiencing more. my clue to find this function in y/n was the Bar scene:D. I think i'm gonna stop here with y/n cuz we still have Yoongi. but i wanna say that i spent one more day.. 

Thinking weather y/n is an ENTJ or INTJ.. I had clues in the story for both and since I'm not skilled/knowledgeable enough my head got messed up lol. So i decided to go with my gut feeling and the first choice that occurred to me which is ENTJ =) So, yeah. That's it -kinda- for our dear y/n. and now, for our yoongi, honestly i was a bit lost lol. He has a vibe, correct, but to several types based on my understanding of them lol So here's how it went....I forgot the number i stopped on*face palm*

perceiving functions (Sensing, intuition) tells you how do you perceive reality, while Judging functions (Feeling/ thinking) is how do you interact with the world and take action based on what you learned. So, if you're a judging type with J in the last it means that the "first extroverted" function in your set is either F/T 

Thinking or feeling. it is "the first extroverted function" because that either can be the dominant function or the second one and it's "extroverted" because that's what the others see from you. Okay I'm getting sidetracked here. what i want to say is that if someone is a P type, it means that his/her first extroverted function that orients them in the world is either Ne/Se which aren't about taking action, but gathering information. That's why P people appear as laid back while J people as.. more of an action takers. Okay, yoongi strikes me as a p type. So, the 8 types that ends with J are eliminated. what remains are ENFP, INFP, ESTP, ISTP, ENTP, INTP, ESFP, ISFP. right off the bat esfp, estp, entp, enfp are eliminated. I have a decent understanding of these types and i can tell yoongi isn't one of them. at least based on what i know. also, when i look at the functions, he's neither intp nor istp, so what remains are ISFP & INFP and i believe he's an ISFP... Also, i'd like to say that my elimination of the previous types was also based on what i read in HHT. Anyway, ISFP have (Fi, Se, Ni, Te) while INFP (Fi, Ne, Si, Te) quite close right?.. what made me decide immediately he's an isfp in the beginning is because of the "Se". the scene in particular that led me to it is when he was describing the prom. he seemed to take things through his senses. and somewhere in the story he said "I like learning the actual stuff in real time" which seems to me Se. Fi, introverted feeling is concerned with values, individualism, seeks inner harmony and strong sense of self, it is "what's important". yoongi appears to me to be all that. Also, for hi, being an isfp, in the general description of ISFP type, it quite describes yoongi. They're quite mysterious, can be difficult to get to know on the deep level. listeners, emotional individuals, sensitive, warm. What sets infp from isfp for me, is that infp appears to be more concerned with world problems.. may be more developed especially yoongi since i view him as pretty much matured and more in tune with himself. and yeah i studied the persona theory. psychology is pretty much an interesting field, and i love the way i see its impact in your stories. one of the reason why your stories are special to me. and of course i would notice what i noticed. there's more and i feel like i could talk to you about it all day lol. This ask box is too small :p.. anyway, stay safe and healthy! and good luck! 3>

Oh my god, Aseel, you did a very in-depth MBTI analysis of The Heart Holiday!Yoongi and OC! This freaking shook me up 🤯😲. I don't know much about doing MBTI analysis. I just effing answer quizzes bc I love answering personality quizzes asdfghjkl. So thank you for this quick crash course about this! I love it and omygod I learned so much from you!! 😆😍😚 I had to google more about the MBTI functions bc of this! (sorry I'm not that much of a smart bean yet)

First off, your analysis of THH!OC and Yoongi are so good! You hit Yoongi on point being an ISFP! He's laidback, a good listener, and has a strong sense of his self! He can be mistaken as an extrovert bc of how well he does with people, too. You're also right about THH!OC having NTJ as her dominant functions! However, I think she's more of an introvert than an extrovert! Hinted by the fact her only friend in the office before the whole arrangement with Yoongz was Mina and that OC is very awkward in dealing with other people (the scene with Yoona, Jeff, and Seojoon while she waits for Yoongi to finish work and the lunch scene with the 3 goofballs). And to answer your q, THH!OC values traditions! With the way she's appalled by Yoongi's "makeup" date with her at a streetfood stand, to the fact Y/N is a hell of a conformist (she's The valedictorian of their HS and A cum laude in uni **me lowkey be like "Y/N, teach me your ways"**). But anyway, you still manage to get INTJ for this baby and omg you're so good!!!

I've never really put much thought in my character's MBTI types bc I just practically sprinkle a bit of my characteristics, desires, fears, and insecurities among them. I'm an INFJ, myself, and I couldn't believe some parts of myself could make ISFP and INTJ characters! What I only do know as when I was writing THH, I was inspired to make a story of two fumbling introverts. I usually come across romance stories with characters who are polar opposites of each other. Although there's nothing wrong with that (and omg I have a vERY weak, WEAK spot for this dynamic), I wondered what would it be like if I wrote about two introverts with so much similarities yet also a lot of differences with each other? So boom trulala, The Heart Holiday was born. Jk, there's actually more factors that led me into writing THH than just that, I think I'll go over them next time bc that is gonna be another massive text post.

Anyway, to have my stories be special to you...is an HONOR, ma'am 🥺. When I started writing here, I didn't expect anyone will actually read the things I write, much less let them occupy some place in their hearts. So having you impressed, much less touched, by my stories is a dream come true, hon 🥺. You're right, this ask box is too small bc I want to give you a massive thank you message much grander than this and I don't think tumblr's ask box can hold it (and also bc I wanna hug you, but bc we're kinda timezones apart, here's a virtual hug instead 🤗💗). Thank you for all the love and support, Aseel. Even if I don't think I deserve them, your words help me believe that I can 💕💞

[nightincider]

A Somewhat Skewed Guide to Listening to Taylor Swift

I wrote this for a friend a year ago who was interested in getting into Taylor Swift and had no idea where to start - this is by no means a formal review, but a casual personal overview on Taylor Swift that I thought would be amusing to post here. 

Warning: unfiltered, unedited rambling :’D 

Disclaimer: I confess I’m not familiar with 100% of her discography (I usually don’t listen to the bonus tracks/know all of her standalones)

Note: I will be going in chronological order of her discography even though that’s not how my journey through her stuff went

Taylor Swift (2006)

don’t listen to this if you actually hate country music bc this is defs more on the country side of her country-pop crossover (mandolins, banjos, thankfully no annoying vocal twang)

this album is a great insight to her roots as a songwriter but it’s best enjoyed if you already like her, it’s like peeking into the old diary of someone you admire

Picture to Burn - hilarious breakup song trash talking an ex about how his pickup truck is stupid (you think I’m kidding but I’m not), video is awesome and shows her band trashing his house. I once sang this at karaoke and my friend fucking died and she didn’t believe the lyrics were actually a T Swift song

Mary’s Song (Oh My My My) - a really pretty, sappy gem about a long term love

everything else I could take or leave tbh

Fearless (2008)

tbh I still don’t “get” this album bc it’s a bit immature for my tastes but I’m sure young teen me would have loved it if it came out then. But overall I feel like this album only disappoints me bc her later work is so much better. Otherwise it’s actually pretty great

Fearless - the title song for good reason, appropriate way to begin the album and starts off with the attitude of facing love with a, you guessed it, fearless outlook

Love Story - ok the Romeo & Juliet ref and the sappy lyrics are kinda cringeworthy but overlooking that it is probably one of her most well-written pop songs to date in terms of the melody, arrangement, catchiness etc and I will always have a soft spot in my heart for this

Breathe (feat. Colbie Caillat) - understated soft, sad pretty track

Forever and Always - I really love the melody in this one and the mentions of rain. This feels like the precursor to Mine (off Speak Now), except the relationship in the song didn’t actually work out

Change - notably NOT about relationships but about looking forward to positive changes and winning in life whatnot. It’s uplifting and I see it as the prequel to Long Live (from Speak Now)

everything else is not bad but doesn’t quite make my favs like this list. shoot me but I find Fifteen and You Belong With Me way overrated

 Speak Now (2010)

supposedly before writing this album Swift wanted to go with the concept “Enchanted” (which is one of the songs as well) but her label told her she needed to show she was maturing and not make an album that was basically Fearless 2.0 so she opted for the idea of “Speak Now”, which is total (sometimes brutal) honesty

This album does indeed speak her mind, in the sad, happy, and even embarrassing ways (coughs the title track is about her fantasizing about crashing her ex’s wedding and stealing him away and makes comments about how the bride’s gown looks like a pastry)

Before Red, Swift released a lot of singles w/ multiple versions, usually a US (read: more country) and international (read: more pop/rock) one.

IMO, the singles on Speak Now (Mine, Back to December, Story of Us) sound way, way better on the international edition. So please try to find those versions!

Mine - please check out the international version it’s miles better than the US version (more driving rhythm/urgency, better guitar riff, the US version is too laid back IMO)

Sparks Fly - a song about undeniable chemistry, the chorus is one of my favs

Back to December - slow, sad, and beautiful.  I almost cried over this. I prefer this to Dear John bc it’s not as brutal and more accessible (Dear John is great too but really hard to listen to that often). Again international version is better bc the mandolin part in the US version is annoying.

Mean - kind of childish but that’s why I love it, it’s the pop song equivalent of a kid sticking their tongue out at their bullies on the playground

The Story of Us - not as emotionally wrenching as a lot of the other breakup songs but probably the catchiest and I love the beat

Enchanted - love at first sight type song. I really like the song structure (especially how it builds up) and instrumentation, and the bridge stanza is my favorite

Better Than Revenge - T Swift doing Paramore 

Innocent - T Swift doing Evanescence, also I think that song was a jab back at Kanye West lmfao

Long Live - song about taking on the world, proving ppl wrong, having great adventures, I wish I could someday feel worthy of singing this song

the one dud IMO is Never Grow Up (it’s kinda boring plus I think she was too young to write well from the perspective of a parent).

Red (2012)

This was THE album that converted me to the cult of Swift and I hope it converts you too

I confess I only really noticed the beauty of Speak Now bc I went back and listened to it properly after I got tired of spinning Red during my commute

Fun fact: I only bothered to give this album a try after my white hipster bestie (whom I had a huge gross crush on at the time) rec’d it and I was like wtf at first but he was like no really give it a shot, so I did.

Red is every bit as honest as Speak Now but it’s not as bitter or playful it’s more sad and resigned and more nostalgic, wistful, you get it...

It’s painful for me to rec my favs from it bc I’d say the ENTIRE FUCKING ALBUM but I’ll. try. /grits teeth

State of Grace - those drums! that guitar! that whole “we’re on a journey and it’s beginning” feel…  this is her strongest album opening track to date (1989 totally bombed in that aspect, fuck Welcome to New York)

Red - I don’t know how a song has literally 2 unique melody lines but still manages to be so amazing. Unfair.

Treacherous - the whole excitement of falling in love with someone that you probably shouldn’t but presented in an unexpectedly tender way

All Too Well - by this point Swift has a trend of making song #5 the sad slow ballad (it’s a thing her fans have noticed). This song hits me hard on a personal level bc it reminds me of my 2.5 year relationship that ended and it’s incredibly well-written, from the lyrics reminiscing on the past to taking you back into that moment during the choruses, also the bridge just breaks me. This is probably the pinnacle of sad breakup songs and you cannot convince me otherwise

I Almost Do - All Too Well’s more timid but no less heartbreaking cousin

Holy Ground - this is kind of the banner song of the album despite not being the title track. While Red is meant to set the backdrop for this album’s themes, this song embodies the core of the album best IMO. And it has a danceable beat to boot.

Sad Beautiful Tragic - I used to skip this a lot after Holy Ground bc it’s a bit of a downer but it has an understated beauty

Starlight - want to see Swift write fanfiction? well here’s your chance. This song is about Ethel and Bobby Kennedy as teenagers. also embarrassing confession: I want to sing this at my own wedding if I ever get married someday. Best part is the piano line that evokes twinkling stars

I’m rather indifferent to the big pop singles in this album (I Knew You Were Trouble, 22, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. They’re good but, ultimately the best stuff is the album tracks)

1989 (2014)

the album that converted a lot of pop lovers to the cult of Swift

shows a lot of growth and experimentation since Red, but Red is still personally my favorite, this one’s a close second tho

Swift has said in interviews that Red was a devastating album to write but 1989 is more about moving on from that and focusing on herself and it’s overall both more optimistic (regarding life in general) and calculated and cynical (regarding romance)

1989 is the year Swift was born, btw. Coincidentally the album has 13 tracks not counting the bonus ones and 13 is Swift’s favorite number (she was also born on Dec 13)

I have this whole conspiracy theory level of analysis going on about how this is a sequel to Red and how those two albums are linked in a way that the others aren’t

let’s get it out of the way, Welcome to New York is the obvious dud. sorry to our mutual friends who love NY but the song kind of sucks in itself oops. Like it’s very uninspired and generic

for an actual good song about NY check out Vienna Teng’s Goodnight New York

Blank Space - overplayed but I love the idea of Swift parodying what her critics think of her

Out of the Woods - it’s a song about uncertainty in a relationship and the ending is left up to interpretation and I love the repetitive chorus bc it illustrates the feeling of being trapped in the woods and seeing trees flash by you. The bridge has a personal anecdote (the brakes/stitches mentioned are from a minor snowmobile accident).

All You Had to Do Was Stay - about a dream Swift had where all she could do is say “stay” in a high pitched voice to an ex and it embarrassed her lol. Typical pining song but something about those “stays” sound way more painful than comical in practice.

Shake It Off - a good pick-me-up for the slow days and the only big single of hers I haven’t gotten utterly sick of

I Wish You Would - reminds me a lot of HAIM, and it’s oddly one song that I almost never skip when it comes up on my commute shuffle despite having heard every song on this album too many times. understated but solid.

Wildest Dreams - Swift doing Lana Del Rey better than Lana Del Rey

How You Get the Girl - cute but all I can think of is her cat in the Diet Coke commercial that used this song

This Love - I feel like this is the song tying the album together, it’s the most vulnerable track and the one flame of hope amidst all the jadedness that pervades the album regarding romance. It’s kind of meta in some way like it describes not only T Swift the character in the album but also possibly T Swift the person? This song is very important to me.

I Know Places - kind of a darker sound (for her)

Clean - a song about moving on from a relationship, I’m already biased towards this bc Imogen Heap worked on it but it’s really beautiful, and I love when Heap’s harmonies come in.

New Romantics - the freakin song of our generation, the lyrics are so fucking real I can’t even

misc/standalones

Safe and Sound (feat. the Civil Wars) - from the Hunger Games OST, it’s pure folk goodness

Sweeter than Fiction - the happy ending we all want. has a bit of a beach-rock vibe to it with a very 80s production

Ronan - written for a child who died from cancer, it’s beautiful and sad

Thank you for reading if you’ve even made it this far and I hope I didn’t overwhelm you, happy listening! :D

[kinetic-elaboration]

March 24: Thoughts on 4x07 Gimme Shelter

Okay, I finally watched 4x07... It’s hard to gather my thoughts on it, though. I feel like I have a lot and they’re all sort of jumbled up.

In general, I did like it. I thought it was way better than the last two episodes, both of which I kind of hated tbh, especially 4x05. There were some weak points and some things I didn’t quite get or would quibble over but my overall feeling is a positive one. I liked the two main story lines, I thought there were several really good moments, and I was impressed with the episode’s ability to actually have a coherent and clear theme.

The Arkadia/Bellamy Story:

One of my big complaints this season has been that story line after story line after story line lacks tension because the general structure of the episode and the season make the outcome of the alleged conundrum predictable. This time, for once, I actually felt the sort of tension I felt when watching season 2 (well, okay, a slightly weaker version of it)--I actually didn’t know what was going to happen. Maybe that’s weak of me and I should have known that Bellamy wouldn’t be able to save Mark and Peter but I was still hoping for a last minute solution (unlike previous story lines, saving the Coltons wouldn’t have made overall survival any more or less likely, so it wasn’t completely insane to think that Bellamy could have been successful). The last scene before he loses contact with them, stuck in the Rover, was like... honestly a nightmare scenario for me, I mean this literally, I have had nightmares on exactly this theme, searching for some solution to some problem and finding none, so I was definitely emotionally compromised by it.

I was also very pleased that--even though Bellamy’s obsession with the Coltons was obviously from start to finish a surrogate for his worry about Octavia--we finally got to hear someone mention a member of the 100. I really thought I’d have to give up on anyone caring about that particular affiliation ever again. Literally everyone other than the named members of the 100 (by my count...8 people?) has completely disappeared into the ether so I was really beyond excited to hear someone talk about someone else as “one of the 100″ again.

You know how before S3 there was this talk about Bellamy being acknowledged as a hero finally and then instead his character was totally assassinated? LOL I feel like that statement should have been prefaced with “IN SEASON 4″ so at least I could have known how long I’d have to wait for heroic Bellamy to come back from war. I’m not saying this is the first time we’ve seen him since season 2 because it’s obviously not, but still, I loved it, I loved seeing him intense and devoted and trying so very hard.

I also really liked the Bellamy and Kane conversation toward the end, over the Rover radio. This is probably bad of me, but I laughed when Bellamy said “You floated my mom” not because it’s funny but just how sudden it was, like, ‘I hear you trying to be my dad and you’re not my dad!!!’ Also because I like when characters’ pasts are things that like actually still exist since that’s pretty hit and miss with this show. Also because I personally head canon Kane as a prosecutor figure on the Ark and this semi-confirms this view (or we’re just supposed to read the line as being like ‘you, a council member, were generally responsible for my mom’s death’ which is also possible).

I still maintain that Harper has negligible personality but I did like her little mini theme-reinforcing story line here.

Oh also today’s story reinforces what I’ve thought this whole season, which was that Jasper’s little trick about committing suicide by standing out in the “black rain” was not as reprehensible as people think, in fact not reprehensible at all, because if it were black rain he would have felt it right away so like he was obviously not in danger--it’s not his fault that other people are dumb and fell for such fakery lol.

The Island Story Line

This one is more complicated for me. I liked a lot of things about it but I also had some...uncertainties about it and it’s hard to separate the two.

First, the moral issue of the day... Okay, yes, as an initial matter, I still have enough of a soul to be disgusted by the idea of forcibly experimenting on people, like I’m not a completely heartless bitch (even though I think a lot of my episode reactions make me seem that way). But because I have no idea who this Grounder fellow is, and because he really fortuitously just fell into their laps--more on my thoughts on this later--it’s hard for me to feel what I think the full impact of the moral conundrum is. Just as I didn’t really, viscerally, emotionally care about the 4x02 slaves because I didn’t know who they are, I don’t really care about Baylis or whoever he is because he’s pretty much the definition of a rando. I would much, much, much rather a character I didn’t even know existed 24 hours ago die and all my faves live than my faves take the moral high road and give themselves up to death to save some dude I know literally nothing about.

So what I’m trying to say is that I’m stuck between ‘this is really gross’ and ‘this isn’t gross enough.’ The arrival of Baylis is such an obvious narrative out, a having cake and eating it too scenario: you’ll see our heroes doing something bad, but not, like, REALLY bad, don’t worry. But can I really be upset about that? My revulsion is going to limited anyway because disgust at medical experiments is sort of a theme we’ve already traveled on this show so I’ve built up a tolerance and also... if Abby et. al. were really the new Mt. Weather and I felt the same way about them as I felt about,, say Dr. Tsing in S2, I couldn’t still continue to identify with them as the protagonists of the story. So the narrative is necessarily somewhat constrained in that way.

Speaking of Mt. Weather...have the Sky People learned nothing from their own past experiences?? Yes, today’s moral conundrum was about whether to do the experiment to see if bone marrow works as a treatment, but if it DOES, then the next moral conundrum seems incredibly obvious to me and I’m just wondering why no one has brought it up? Like Abby was literally tortured by the last people who thought using others’ bone marrow was a good idea? You’d think she’d remember that. Maybe I’m just missing something, in which case I’m going to feel very dumb, but it’s sort of hard not to associate bone marrow with Mt. Weather in the context of this show. From S2 I learned that one person’s bone marrow can supply something like 8 people with radiation inoculation--if you’re willing to kill the “donor.” So unless Luna’s bone marrow is going to be used in a very different way, for example as like the basis for a synthetic bone marrow style substance, which maybe is where they’re going but it wasn’t very clear to me at least on an initial watch, they can save 8 people if they’re willing to kill her which seems...not great. (Really, thinking about this, their plan HAS to be using something IN her marrow to make a magic solution substance, right? Like there’s no way that’s not the plot.)

That being said at least we’re not going into fucking space I mean WOW THAT WAS SO DUMB I’M STILL NOT OVER HOW DUMB IT WAS. Still a waste of like 2 episodes but I’ll forgive them as long as I never hear “let’s just fly away into space like nbd” ever again.

As I was saying about Baylis. I’m all over the place on my thoughts on this. In general, I do feel like his appearance is super convenient, as I said above, especially since prior to this we’ve literally never heard of anyone else being on the island, of “scavengers,” or of particular Bad People in Emori’s past (besides, you know, her whole family who kicked her out--but that’s fairly obviously not who Baylis allegedly is). We heard some talk about ‘worse things than drones’ on the island but nothing as specific as what we got in this episode. And if random Grounders really are the ‘worse things’ we were forewarned about, by the way, what a disappointment. I was waiting for genetically engineered monsters. Yet again, The 100 meta writers >> The 100′s actual writers. My problem with contrived narratives like this is that they take me out of the story. All I can think is ‘I see you writers, pulling the strings, constructing this narrative.’ That’s a fine thing to think AFTER watching or maybe on a second or third rewatch but a well constructed story shouldn’t feel like a narrative on the first viewing, imo. You should be feeling it too deeply to be analyzing it on the level of construction.

So I thought it was heavy-handed. And I also was sitting there wondering “when is someone FINALLY going to bring up that Baylis would be a great experimental subject???” Because I had come to that conclusion during his fight with Emori--back to the ‘this season is predictable’ theme I guess. I didn’t think the Dramatic Moment of Clarke suggesting experimenting on him was earned because, like, duh, why else was he even written into the show except to be a test subject? However, I will give this point a little bit of slack because of that final scene: finding out that Emori was acting the entire time--that, within the universe of the show, SHE was pulling the strings--made a lot of the earlier obviously-contrived-ness forgivable. Like, okay, it feels fake, but that’s because it IS.

And about Emori... Unpopular opinion time. I liked her, was intrigued by her, when she was introduced in S2. But I found her very lackluster (in terms of writing/conception, not in terms of performance) in S3. I didn’t think the writers really developed her in any way. I realize this could be disputed with textual evidence, for example, how she goes from trusting no one but her brother, to trusting and relying on Murphy, or how she learns to accept her deformity. But I’m talking more, I don’t know, emotionally, I just couldn’t see what difference she made to the story, I just couldn’t connect with her. I feel like she is largely a female Grounder version of Murphy, but less compelling because I know her less and see less of her. Her constant sole motivating factor is her own survival, which makes her very predictable and one-note. Similarly, her relationship with Murphy bores me because we never saw it develop, all of the getting together stuff happened off screen, and then once they were together they basically became like the same character twice over, interacting with itself.

BUT I really did like Emori in this episode. And I finally saw something in her that was compelling to me: how incredibly, incredibly sharp she is. Like that con she played, it wasn’t just on Clarke or on Murphy, it was on ME. I guess in a way I’m saying she earned my respect.

Also Luisa D’Oliviera’s voice is gorgeous, like why have I not noticed that before? When she and Clarke were walking in the woods in particular, ugh, beautiful.

I’m still not really on the Murphy/Emori ship but I will admit they were hella cute in this episode.

I don’t know how Murphy learned how to cook but I like that he does. I also like this “Murphy flirts with everyone” trait they’ve decided to give him these last couple of seasons. I definitely saw him as more ‘awkward boy trying to be cool’ in early Season 1 but I guess all of his experiences have just thrown him into the ‘I don’t give a fuck’ attitude, which frees him up to flirt with everyone for fun and without worry.

But...what the fuck is a randzi?

One (more?) complaint about this story line though: The impact of the Baylis story was lessened considerably as it was told, imo, in that I could never quite get a purchase on WHAT he had (allegedly) done to Emori--maybe this is just my prurient interest, but I thought they cut a lot of corners in just painting him as a generically abusive bad guy. Sometimes I was tempted to read him as an abusive ex-boyfriend...but he also abused her brother and then there’s that ‘scared little girl’ line. Was he one of the people who cast her out? She talks about that event but also says it happened when she was an infant, so this must be someone she met later...I suppose someone who took advantage of her and her brother’s vulnerability while they were on their own. I eventually settled on a non-literal Bad Uncle type. I’m not saying I need a play-by-play on the abuse, but it just...I was constantly trying to figure out exactly what they were talking about and it started to feel a little contrived (again), how generically he was painted as A Bad Person Just Trust Me He’s Bad. But then that last scene makes me think...was it contrived on purpose? Maybe. Still, Emori’s abuser is, apparently, a real person: Murphy’s line toward the end is “He’s not the guy?” not “The story was fake?” So if the story was real, Emori could have used real details if she’d wanted--the details weren’t hidden from the viewer because she was bullshitting the whole thing but because, I can only assume, the writers were too lazy to write them in, and that, I don’t respect.

Oh, also, that line about saving themselves first and then restoring their humanity, that Kane says, is another one of those faux-deep The 100 lines that I always have to roll my eyes at (like “I bear it so they don’t have to” when Clarke says it, or “No one is innocent” when divorced from its original context, or my personal favorite “You don’t ease pain you overcome it” or whatever that 3x16 nonsense was). Again, did Mt. Weather teach you nothing? Once you’ve done something SO BAD that it erases your humanity itself, it’s gone; you don’t get it back. Maybe if someone actually listened to Dante we wouldn’t still be having these problems lol.

Also also: I’m still on the fence about these Ultra Modern Aesthetics like in Becca’s lab and house, but it was nice seeing Clarke shower, look clean, and rest. And I liked the almost horror-movie scene where she first sees there’s been an intruder in the house. But...was there blood on the pillow of that bed or am I just totally imagining things??

Octavia and Ilian

Two hotties I don’t care about, basically.

I honestly cannot conceive of anything Ilian could do or say that would make me care about him ever so.

I get why Octavia is Annoyingly Dramatic: she’s sixteen. She’s sixteen with an added dose of stunted emotional growth from literally knowing only 2 human beings for most of her life. But that doesn’t make her dead inside emo child bit any less obnoxious to me. (I realize I am a semi-hypocrite about this given some things I DO like and even worse some things I’ve actually written myself but shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.)

I know everyone saw I/O coming from a million miles away and so did I but that doesn’t make it any less nonsense. That said...I wouldn’t mind seeing Octavia become a sheep herder. I mean I’m so tired of her current state of being that anything would be a nice change of pace but like a real 180 about-face might be kind of refreshing. It might be nonsense...but when was the last time O wasn’t nonsense? Like at least it would be relaxing nonsense.

And on the trailer: Yes Jasper. Yes Miller is finally back from his extended spa vacation or whatever he was doing.