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nomattertheoceans · 3 years

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GIF REQUEST MEME: Favorite season from The 100 - Season four

I love season four for a lot of reasons!! I think it’s the best season of the show and it should have been their last (despite my love for most of s5 ^^) I’m gonna ramble a lot but I don’t want it to take over the gifset so I’ll put it under a cut

Season four is the time of hard, impossible choices for everybody. The bomb at Farm Station, the List, the Nightblood tests, opening the bunker, the anti-radiation medicine…. Everybody is put through the ringer during this season and honestly, this is what I’m here for.

First great point for me personally: They can’t stop the radiations. When season 3 ended with the reveal of the radiations coming, I was legit disappointed with the show, I didn’t want them to spend the season “turning off” radiations miraculously, you know. So when ep 2 of the season aired and the first thing Raven said was “there’s no magic button to stop this” I WAS SO HAPPY!! It immediately got me much more hyped for the rest of the season because I was invested in “riding out 5 years of hell” much more than “let’s find a magic button”. So the season hooked me then ^^

The season is really good at re-using previous themes and twist them in just the right way

Clarke, who was so angry at the council for killing her dad, finds herself in the council’s position, and starts to understand that making such hard decisions is never easy. Making the list for instance, is so different from what she had to do before. The genocide of Mt Weather was an act of despair in the middle of a war, but making the list is a process, she has to truly chose who is “worth” more, which is what the council did when they sent the 100 to the Ground. She choses to hide the truth from everybody despite it going against what she wanted at the start of the show. It’s a really cool change for her character.

The Arkers and Grounders take the decision to test the Nightblood against Luna, the Rock Line thief, and Emori’s will. An obvious reminder of s2 but that I appreciate. I liked the Mt Weather story because of this: the mountain men were the antagonists but they also were the same as the rest of the show, they were doing whatever they had to do to survive, whatever it took, no matter how cruel it could be. We see in this season that when faced with the same decision, our protagonists reach the same result: sacrificing other people’s bodily autonomy to survive is worth it to them. It’s a really interesting theme to bring back because it muddies the waters of who’s right and wrong, and it highlights that in the end, there is no black and white answer.

This season gives us my personal favorite version of Clarke: she’s the closest she’ll get to a true antagonist (only comparable to s5 but s5 is a little bit of a mess so I still prefer her in s4). She has one conviction: saving her people. And to get it, she is ready to lie, to cheat, to kill, whatever it takes. It is interesting because I always saw Clarke in that light. She always believes that she has the right idea and she will do what it takes to get what she thinks is best. That’s where she is interesting to me (I’m not interested in her being an innocent victim forced to take decisions, that’s not how I see her at all and I find her a little dull in that interpretation haha but that’s for another post). Clarke stealing the bunker is a cruel act, but man, it’s incredibly smart. At that moment she knows she’s condeming many people (some of whom very close to her) to death, but she believes deep inside her that it’s the right thing to do so she’s willing to do it. And i really prefer her in those ruthless moments.

Octavia’s arc this season isn’t my favorite, but she is at her best during the last few episodes for me. The creation of Wonkru is one of my favorite scenes of the entire show, even though I saw it coming a mile away lmao (1200 spaces, 12 clans, it was easy to see where they were going!). I love the scene, I love the place it comes from (Octavia channeling Lincoln’s convictions was brilliant). I might not agree with her decisions (skaikru definitely deserved more spots than the other clans), but it makes perfect sense for her character to make this decision. The scene of her talking to Skaikru and telling them they’re no different from the others, and they have to choose or they all die, is also one of my favorites. Octavia received no mercy on the Ark, she had a terribly tragic childhood because of those people who are now begging her for their lives, and she doesn’t budge. The Ark, and the Ground, forced her to be that way, and she doesn’t back away. It’s also all a brilliant introduction to what Wonkru and Octavia will become in s5 (but again, that’s for another post lmao)

I love that we get the introduction of Spacekru because I love their little found family and the scene where they reach the Ring is so good!

Murphy’s speech to Clarke makes me tear up everytime I see it (it really was one of the strongest moments of acting of the entire show, Richard Harmon is amazing in it). Emori also blows me away in the previous episode, the way she’s shown to be ruthless, and cunning, and also how well she reads people. She knew they would come to test someone, and she did everything she had to for that someone to not be her. I love her ^^

I like the plot of the second dawn bunker well enough! (although I will never change my mind that Cadogan was a dumbass for putting it where it is instead of IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FOREST WHERE THERE’S NO RISK OF BUILDINGS FALLING ON IT LIKE WHAT LITERALLY HAPPENED IN S5 OKAY anyway…..), it’s far from perfect but I like that it explains the people coming to greet Becca in s3, and I like that we expand a little on the origins of the Grounders culture (even though I wanted more about this). It’s kind of an “easy” solution, but at the same time it’s not. It was established early in the season before being abandoned, and even once it’s found, it’s not at all a perfect and easy solution. They have to fight for it, decide who lives there, it’s a pretty interesting development. What I mean is that it’s not discovered one episode before the end and it doesn’t solve everything. If anything, it creates more conflict. Which I appreciate alot.

ALSO ALSO Echo is a badass general in this season and I love it. She goes from being a spy in earlier seasons, to full-on commanding armies and being a strategic mastermind and I love it! She’s also ruthless and cunning and I lvoe that for her. It’s also such a good season for her and Bellamy!!! I lvoe all of it ^^

This season also has one of my favorite underrated quotes!!!! I’m gonna use a gif here cause I’m not at the limit yet lmao

“It’s unity day.” GODDDD it’s so good. It’s simple, but it conveys so much information and I love it:

Unity Day: the stations coming together to survive -> we’re virtually in the same situation here.

It’s a happy occasion, a day of survival and hope, just like the hope Octavia gave all the clans with her decisions

But it’s also a day of death and loss. She’s giving Kane a choice: join Wonkru with 100 members, or die in the flames.

It reminds us of the history of the Arkers, and I love when world-building does this thing where both characters are shown to have such a close cultural background that three little words are enough to convey such a strong message. It’s a detail but I love it and I wanted to ramble for a little bit ^^

Clarke’s sacrifice: This is when it gets to “meh” points for the seasons for me. Clarke deciding to stay behind to save Spacekru was a good moment. Yes, I know that if she hadn’t climbed the tower they all would have died anyway, but still. It’s a great moment for her character. She has hurt those people time and time again during this season, she was ready to let them die more than once, and I think she regrets it (although again, I like to see the extremes she’s willing to reach in this season). In that moment, she doesn’t decide that it’s too late to survive so she might as well give up. She knows she’s going to die, and she gives her last moments to save the lives of the people she hurt in the past. And I really love this. That is….. Until Clarke is revealed to not have died. I truly believe that she had reached the ending of her arc in the show, and it would have been a great ending to her character. But that’s also because I believe the show should have ended in s4 lmao. If it had ended, then maybe they could have left her death ambiguois, by showing her reaching the safety of the lab, but not showing her again afterwards. That way, we had no way of being sure she survived, but it was left ambiguous enough to make us decide her fate outselves.

The perfect ending: I didn’t choose the last gif randomly. That scene of Raven and Bellamy looking down on the Earth was in my opinion the perfect shot to end the show. At that point in time, we are left in a place that is very similar to where the show started: the Earth is destroyed by radiations, some people are waiting it out in space, some people are waiting it out on the ground. it mirrors the premise of the show (although in a much smaller scale), but this time, we’re left with hope of what might come in the future. Those two groups know (or hope) that they will reunite, especially with Octavia and Bellamy, the relationship at the core of the show, being separated. If the show ends here, we have come full circle from the pilot episode, and we can imagine how those two groups will reunite in the future. I find that ending the best possible for the show, so even though there’s so much I like about season 5, I wish the show had stopped at that moment, at that shot of Raven and Bellamy looking down on the Earth.

That got reaaaaally long, so…. sorry about that xD If you’ve reached this far, feel free to tell me what you think of this season (or the others haha) or send me asks, or request for other gifsets!!!

#the 100 #the100edit #my gifs #I will have you know that I did NOT edit this text lmao

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sevensided · 4 years

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Hello, I was wondering how likely you feel it is that Mike and Will will eventually be revealed to have mutual romantic feelings for each other? You seem very down to earth, I have read many analysis pointing out 'parallels' and deep rooted subtext but in the grand scheme of things do think it's a realistic expectation?

Thank you so much for asking this question! Also, I’m really flattered you say I’m down to earth. I think I am too, so I appreciate you mentioning that.

So. Let’s real talk.

I think there is a very strong possibility that Will will be revealed as having romantic feelings for Mike. I hold out hope that the same is said for Mike. Let me explain.

As you said, you’ve read the parallels and the subtextual analyses, so I won’t reiterate the points outlined therein. I think the case for Will being canonically gay is very strong. David Harbour has suggested that season one foreshadows a lot of key events in the story, particularly the end of ST. When we rewatch ST S1, we need to be very clear that the relationship presented between Mike and Will is - while platonic because they are children - evidently of a different and more pronounced depth than what exists between the rest of the Party (which is saying something because they are all very close). We are also presented with Mike - who, it’s noted, has never had a girlfriend, is bullied, and is evidently self-conscious of the fact [as noted when Dustin, I believe, calls him out for being overly invested in El because she’s ‘the only girl’ to ever show him attention]) - latching onto El and emulating specific normative rituals and standards (dressing her up in clothes that are girl-coded, describing certain things as ‘normal’) who quite clearly uses El as a way to retrieve his closest friend, Will, and who then becomes angry with her when she doesn’t do exactly what he wants. I’m reiterating these things because I do think they set up a particular queer subtext that subtly codes Mike as gay.

With that in mind, we need to think about the other, more practical elements of making a television show. I know the fandom likes to use the popularity of Mike and Eleven to establish that a romantic relationship between Mike and Will would be impossible. While I think that is a point, I’m not sure it’s entirely valid. For one, while we still live in a very homophobic culture, Netflix has already signed Stranger Things for a multi-season deal, and it is unlikely to be reneged on the back of a romantic subplot, even if it were queer. Second, it does add value to the Stranger Things brand to include queer characters. People have suspected that Maya Hawke’s role as Robin was a ‘testing the waters’, which I disagree with (Maya came up with Robin’s orientation by herself), but it nevertheless played well and added to the Stranger Things brand. Third, Stranger Things, while it plays heavily - and some might even say it uses it as a crutch - on 80s tropes, it is also undeniable that it subverts those tropes. I notice everyone started talking about this again when this gifset did the rounds again, but who cares? It makes an excellent and sustained point. I’ve said before that if ST was made in the 80s, Mike and Eleven would be endgame. While there is still a chance that might happen, I look at the show’s track record to inform my opinion. I know a lot of these parallels like to play Mike and Eleven off against Mike and Will. That’s blatantly feeding the ship war and contrasting two very different relationships against each other. It’s not helpful and it’s not even in the intentions (I believe) of the Duffers to portray these relationships in competition with one another.

I suspect we will have more of an idea of what the end play is by the time S4 is released... which isn’t a helpful answer now, I know, but it’s an honest one. If Mike isn’t set up as having a sexuality crisis in a similar vein to Will, I will have reservations as to the strength of canon Byler. That doesn’t invalidate fandom as it stands, and it doesn’t make Byler fans to be crazy (together... I mean, what?), it just... is. You can’t change canon. That’s why we have fan fiction.

Do I want Mike to be gay and realise his love for Will? Obviously, and absolutely. Do I think that will happen in canon? I am cautiously optimistic. As I said, S4 is going to be the confirming season, at least for me personally. They need that build-up and they need to establish Mike’s: 1) heteronormativity in the context of the Wheeler family and their normative expectations for their only son; 2) his changing feelings towards El; 3) his feelings towards other men; and 4) his feelings towards Will. These are all very complicated and will be difficult to communicate, particularly to such a varied audience (ST has fans of all ages). I feel that what we have been given, there is chance that S4 will be the most revealing season.

But I must caution everyone not to expect too much. That’s why I’ve said that I hold out hope for Mike being gay. Partly because his character is coded as such, and also because I clearly ship Byler. If they’re not canon I’ll still ship them. But I maintain there is a good amount of evidence for me to seriously think that they will go in a Byler direction. It will be hard to pull off from a writing perspective, especially all they’re committed to exploring this season.

Hard, yes. Impossible? Definitely not.

#byler #stranger things #thank you so so much for this question #i really am cautiously optimistic #but i'm not blind to the realities of writing a meaningful (key word) story #answered #Anonymous

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baodurs · 3 years

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i filled out this super cool button character profile by @extraordinarymage for sabrina! thank you for making this, it was a lot of fun to fill out <3 the bulk of it is under a cut and oh boy is it long !!!

Short, Quick Reference

Name: Sabrina Wiseman

Pronouns: She/her

Sexuality: Bisexual

Love Interest: Kent

Main personality trait: Confidence

Secondary personality trait: Morbidity

Relationship with Nick: Full of love, haunted by unaddressed guilt and frustration. But mostly full of love.

Nickname for Nick: Saint Nick (used sparingly)

Resentful or accepting?: Slightly resentful

Main strategy (interpersonal, insightful, innovative?): Insightful

Ethical or expedient?: Expedient

GENERAL

Name: Sabrina Larkspur Wiseman

Nickname(s): Sab, used by anyone; Sabby, only Nick and Sally; and, of course, Button for Nick.

Birthday: I think I made her an October Libra for the purpose of a template I did months ago, but I’m not sure! No concrete birthday yet, I’m always very slow to nail down details like this.

Age: 20

Pronouns: She/her

Sexuality: Bisexual

Hair color + style: Blonde. A little past shoulder length, sometimes wavy. Usually a middle part. For Aeon, tied back in a bun.

Eye color: Blue, entirely because of the section of Frank O’Hara’s “Meditations in an Emergency” that goes, “My eyes are vague blue, like the sky...”

Height: 5′5

Piercings: Multiple in each ear, but a couple have started to close.

Tattoos: None yet! Sab likes the idea of a tattoo but is worried about finding the perfect design, whether she’d end up hating it, that the pain might be greater than she expects and she’ll look like a baby in front of her tattoo artist. I’d like to think she eventually consults Sally and/or Glitch to come up with an idea that she falls in love with, but I haven’t come up with what that would be!

Clothing style: Mostly solid colors, not a lot of patterns. Nothing super bright, but a fairly varied mix of pastels, neutrals, dark colors, black. Partial to denim skirts and sweater tops. Ankle boots. Likes a good turtleneck. She’s bolder when it comes to formal wear, and especially loves suits. Big fan of silk and satin.

Since she has a pretty accurate face claim, I’ll link some gifsets I’ve rb’d for appearance ref if you are so inclined.

STATS

I’m always adjusting minor things and swapping scenes around, but these are from my most recent Sab run! Most scores hover somewhere around these values.

Personality:

Confidence: 53%

Humor: 5%

Morbidity: 22%

Resentful: 57% | Accepting: 43%

Strategy:

Interpersonal: 12%

Insightful: 50%

Innovative: 10%

Ethical: 43% | Expedient: 57%

KEY DECISIONS:

What is Nick’s nickname and why?: Saint Nick, used very rarely. It’s a joking reference to the time she thought Santa was an evil Ment out to ruin Christmas, and a point about Nick overdoing it with the cheer. “Saint Nick” is usually code for “I know you mean well, but please mind your own business.” Otherwise, she just calls him Nick.

What is their favorite type of cookie (and its name and why?): Salted caramel chocolate chip! No special name.

What was their initial reaction to Sally hugging them, as kids?: She just froze. That could just be me projecting adult Sabrina onto her childhood self; I don’t imagine that she was as uncomfortable around strangers or quite as cautious back then. But that’s what I’ll stick with.

How did they ace the ASE test?: The in-game option she takes is “My entire life has revolved around strategic avoidance,” but the one about being just plain smart also sounds like her. If Sab has the chance to thoroughly (over)prepare for something, she will do it. Her mind blindness also has her constantly (over)analyzing situations. So, hard work and relentless anxiety!

Did they manage to win their first assignment? How?: Yes, by having Sally block the door. I’ve headcanoned some slight differences in how it plays out, which I wrote about in-depth here. To summarize, Sab thinks of blocking the door as a desperate last resort, not a clever loophole, and she pushes back against Rosy’s praise because she wishes she could have done it the “real” way. Rosy goes from being impressed to being annoyed that she’s willfully missing the point.

What was the primary emotion Button felt during the Aeon bombing (love, gratitude, etc?): Guilt. She feels very guilty about how much Nick has given up for her in general, but I think that in the moment, it’s on a smaller scale. The fact that Nick was on the phone with her when it happened, coming to her rescue like always, becomes emblematic of their whole relationship for her, and she really fixates on that.

Who drove them home from the hospital from and why?: Glitch. Sab responds to her initial text with “Are you sure?”, and is relieved when Glitch takes that as “Yes, please.” She doesn’t relish the idea of being around someone more connected to her family or Nick at that point.

How do they feel about Nick riding around in their mind?: Worried, at first. Just because it’s so unknown and absolutely insane. After seeing Doctor Amari, she’s excited! Sab is thrilled to be a Pollard Five and intends to take full advantage of it. I am not looking forward to seeing how she reacts when that’s taken away from her.

Why did Button agree to do the undercover mission?: To prove she still deserves to be an MIV. Sabrina feels stupid and reckless for putting herself, Nick, and Aeon in this position, but she knows she’s smart, and she hasn’t worked this hard for nothing. She wants to prove what she could do with a normal Pollard Score and make herself too valuable to give up even when she’s back to Zero.

Told Glitch about your mind blindness?: Depends on the playthrough. I’m constantly going back and forth on whether Sab meets Glitch for coffee or wanders the city with Nick in her second chapter 5 slot (after trying to track down Kent). If she does meet Glitch, though, she absolutely tells her; with how touchy Sab is about privacy, she couldn’t stomach not warning Glitch that Nick could hear everything they said.

Figured out K’s secret?: Nope. She finds enough of the clues to be given the “I knew it!” option in-game, but she didn’t actually put it together. Sab is too angry and embarrassed by learning that Kent is an AMO to find any reason to interrogate it. “The random guy I met before school just happens to be a jerk” is a perfectly sound explanation to her.

Found Noh’s clues?: Not at the metro station. Sometimes she sees the Vengeance brooms in chapter 5 (again, depending on the playthrough), but that’s it.

ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP:

Love Interest: Kent

Why them?: Sab feels an immediate kinship with Kent after learning about the NPO program. It’s kind of funny how quickly he moves from the least sympathetic position in her eyes (Ment who got past me and read my mind without my knowledge) to the most sympathetic (non-powered child of a prominent family aiming a league above where he “belongs”). A lot of new respect for his competence. Her fate is sealed when she realizes that his kindness at the hospital wasn’t him trying to make up for some wrongdoing, but just him being very sweet. (She had scoffed over “You needed help.” But now she’s like, “Oh. He meant that?! Fuck.”)

As they spend more time together, Sab realizes how weirdly similar they are in other ways, too. And she starts to feel safe/secure around him in a way that she’s extremely not used to. Growing up surrounded by Ments, Sab has a lot of issues about being too much, too difficult, needing to “be worthy” of love. So someone like Kent who is not a Ment, who has no “obligation” to care about her, and whose judgement she trusts implicitly? Being around him and being loved by him mean a lot, and I think will go a long way towards helping her reflect on her other relationships!

What are their first impressions of each other?: Okay, there are like 3 first impressions with Kent. First: he’s tall and handsome and secretly adorable, and they have similar career goals, so she’s drafting a five-month plan to woo him and get his number. Second: he’s a lying, self-obsessed loser who owes her many explanations. Third: oh no, the first impression was true! And he’s been continually, selflessly kind to her in spite of her overt hostility. Scratch the five-month plan, because the crush was only fun when it was entirely superficial; now she really, really likes him and that just sucks.

We know that Button makes a good impression on K by stopping for their dogs, but apart from that... I mean, the “we confused each other” from chapter 7 is very apt. Sab has lots of shifting personas, and Kent sees pretty much every one within 24 hours. The prevailing impression before everything gets cleared up is probably just that she cares a lot? About everything? Her stopping for the dogs, how seriously she takes the first assignment, the way she seems so deeply affected by something he said or did that morning. It’s a rare side of her to meet first because she usually pretends to be above everything.

What feature does your Button find most attractive in their RO (ex. appearance, personality, etc.)?: Probably his composure. And his... steadfastness? The way he seems unruffled by anything, his soothing presence. She really admires that about him and finds the calm contagious.

What do they do to spend time together?: Going on drives together! Kent driving while Sab plays songs she thinks he’ll like, talking or not talking. Cuddling on the couch while reading their own separate books. Museum dates. Walking the dogs together.

Do they argue? How do they handle arguments and disagreements? How do they make up?: I imagine that the first month or so of their relationship would be difficult, just because they’re both bad at expressing themselves and not used to relying on other people. Kent kind of negates a lot of Sab’s impulses to get defensive or hostile, so instead of arguments, I think there are more likely to be awkward periods where she’s just stewing in something without addressing it. Most of their fights would be, like, one of them becoming really distant for a concerning number of days until the other tries to awkwardly check in on them.

What does their future look like?: Uhh some random lore: I think eventually they do get married, despite neither of them caring that much about it. Sabrina would be excited to have something to plan, and she knows it would make the people around her happy. They have a long engagement; there’s never really an “official” proposal, just an acknowledgement that yeah, they’ll get married one day, and then eventually they get rings. The engagement is almost Sab’s favorite part, honestly. She likes planning and showing off her ring and calling Kent her fiancé, a lot of fanfare on her part for a wedding that ends up being very modest and chill.

OTHER RELATIONSHIPS (Feel free to go in depth!)

Relationship with Nick: When I first started developing Sab, I thought that with as difficult/prickly as she can be, her relationship with Nick would be worse than it is. Never bad, but certainly strained, with more jealousy/resentment on her side. However, she rejected this. She is resentful, but never towards Nick—she internalizes the negative parts of their relationship so they manifest as guilt instead. And that’s the problem, not resentment. Sab thinks he’s overprotective, but that doesn’t make her angry; it just makes her sad. She wishes things were different and he didn’t feel so responsible for her, but she also doesn’t know how she could manage without him taking on so many of her burdens. So, guilt! So much love, but always looming guilt.

Having Nick in her head has helped. It’s added a new kind of guilt (“I’m a horrible person for being so giddy that people can’t hear my thoughts even though that requires my brother to be in a coma”), but getting inside Nick’s head for once and really feeling his love for her changes things. Makes her feel way more secure, I guess? It’s easier to see her brother as human person, a friend who loves her, rather than a perfect selfless paragon who sacrificed everything to raise her, which is an important shift.

There are also Things happening with self-presentation in the fact that they’re both models, and flirts, and pretend to be shallow. And the ways that they’ve responded to vastly different expectations. And selflessness versus selfishness. But I have no idea how to talk about that yet.

Relationship with Father: Strained and distant. Sabrina doesn’t necessarily blame him for leaving, but she hates how he’s handled it. She’s incredibly frustrated that John insists on keeping them in this miserable limbo of uncomfortable visits, even though moving away was (to her) a tacit acknowledgement that she and her parents are better off without each other. He’s trying to force a relationship that Sab thinks is ultimately harmful for everyone involved. For Nick’s sake, she’s willing to grin and bear the visits, but it never works because John can obviously tell it’s an act. He pushes her, she gets defensive, and so on to infinity.

Relationship with Mother: Like with John, Sab doesn’t resent Hope for the incident itself, or for leaving afterward. It was terrifying, and the idea of being around Hope makes her panic—but she thinks of that as just another irrational anxiety symptom, and she’s trying to work through it. What she does resent Hope for is letting it get to that point at all. Sab is incredibly bitter that Hope will suffer silently to the point of almost killing her (during the incident) and potentially herself (with the BRS), while Sab has no choice but to be completely open. Especially because they’re so similar in that way—she’s almost jealous. “Oh, so your silence is allowed to almost kill me and it’s ‘nobody’s fault’ but I can’t pretend to enjoy a single lunch with Dad without him calling me out for lying?”

And even though she doesn’t hold the incident itself against her, Sab is very hung up on “Why are you never quiet? Why are you always there?” She knows, on some level, that this was not a Personal Judgement against her. But because Hope keeps so much quiet, this is the only honest expression of her mother’s feelings that she can remember! It would take a lot for Sab to believe that Hope was really, genuinely interested in reconnecting with her, rather than just pretending to love her "enough” this time because to do otherwise would reflect poorly on Hope as a mother.

Relationship with Sally: Besties <3 Sally is the only member of the Wiseman inner circle that Sab doesn’t have complicated feelings about. They both have hidden morbid streaks that they bring out in each other, and can laugh about. They both have competitive streaks that work well together because they’re always on the same team. And their wants/needs from the relationship complement each other well, I think. Sally has always felt valued because she’s useful and not because she’s loved, while Sab has always felt smothered by love/care without feeling like she genuinely adds value to other people’s lives. So it means a lot to both of them that they’re able to help each other practically, while also genuinely loving and supporting each other outside of that.

Relationship with Gray: Full of trust and genuine care, but predicated on distance. Sab loves him a lot for being so careful not to cross any boundaries, physical or emotional, with her. She’s grateful that he’s there for Nick in a way that she doesn’t feel she can be. But "I like Gray because he doesn’t push me and is good to Nick” means that any hand he extend makes her defensive, because she’ll either view him as an emissary of Nick or start to panic because their normal routine is being disrupted (she doesn’t tell him about Hope in ch 3, for example).

They get along very well in a friend-of-a-friend sort of way, and bond over being cautious counterparts to Nick. Also, Sab never had a crush on Gray, but she is not immune to tall superhero and thinks it’s fun to fake flirt with him. (You know Isabela’s “You have pretty eyes” routine from DA2? Sab does that to Gray when conversations steer towards things she’d rather not talk about.)

Relationship with Glitch: I’m really excited about these two! They click from the start, and Sabrina feels immediately comfortable around Glitch, which makes her feel distinctly uncomfortable whenever she catches herself. Externally, they have pretty different personalities, but they’re both perceptive and... socially manipulative? aware of their self-presentation?... in ways that they both pick up on right away. So it’s a lot of conversational maneuvering and trying to figure out what the other’s game is, while also genuinely enjoying each other’s company.

Relationship with Kent/Kenna: I could go truly insane here. See the romance section above instead.

Relationship with Kim: Sab wants him to like her sooooo bad. He’s one of the only people to ever really get through to her, re: my headcanon conversation after the first assignment. Authority figures tend to treat her as special, whether that’s negatively because of her mind blindness or positively because she’s such an overachiever. She had no idea how to respond to that not being the case (and didn’t handle it well at first), but chapter 6 solidifies her respect for him.

It also turns Rosy’s opinion of Sab around; he was impressed by her in class but left his office thinking she was self-absorbed and naive. But the bombing is a reality check, and her response is very measured and practical in a way that surprises him.

Relationship with Lev: She doesn’t mind the comparisons to Nick or the “maybe one day they’ll fix you” comments as much as you might think. They aren’t her favorite, but she prefers that sort of thing to the inspirational platitudes belied by coddling that she got from her family growing up. Sab has fond memories of Lev and is grateful that he’s always been kind to her, but doesn’t have any particular feelings apart from that.

Relationship with Clarence: Holds a grudge against him for causing a scene, making her late, and generally being a jerk. But she can’t fault him for being right, after what happened! Mostly she just wants to avoid him, but she’ll be thrilled to lord her success over him if/when she proves herself.

Relationship with Dean Branham: Like Rosy, another authority figure that Sab desperately wants to impress. But without the personal investment she has in Rosy’s validation, more “Oh, this person is in charge, so I should make her like me!” Despite Nick’s and Rosy’s reservations, Sabrina doesn’t really have a problem with being “strongarmed” or manipulated into cooperating; for now, she figures Branham was just doing her job and respects her tactics.

Relationship/attitude towards Ments in general: Mostly just uncomfortable and wary around them. Sab doesn’t want her mind read, and she figures that no Ment wants to be forced to read it either. So she has a pretty strict “no Ments” rule for close personal relationships (excluding Nick, Sally, and Gray, of course. But only Nick really counts because he’s the only one who can hear her thoughts whenever she’s nearby). Not out of hatred or resentment, just because she knows it will be easier for everyone in the long run.

Do they have any other important relationships, past or present? (Relatives, friends, etc.?): Not many, but yes! Sab dated around a lot in the 2 years before Aeon (more like year and a half, because she completely shut it down once she was more focused on preparing for the MIV program), but there are 2 relationships that were formative/important for her. A high school sweetheart, and someone Sab met through modeling. She doesn’t keep up with her high school ex, but the model is her best friend outside of Sally and Nick, and they still keep in touch! I’m still developing them/the relationships, and I’ll probably post more about them someday. They’re fun!

PERSONAL BIO

Describe their personality: Confusing and contradictory. She has two main modes that confuse people who meet both (e.g., Kent). She’s either cold, stuck-up, and sometimes hostile, OR she’s charming, frivolous, and sometimes flirty. Mode 1 is tense but stoic and inexpressive; mode 2 is seemingly relaxed but very posed and insincere. Mode 1 is for when she feels uncertain or has no agenda apart from “get to point B”; mode 2 is for when she’s more comfortable or trying to manipulate someone. Her actual personality is a bit closer to the second, but she doesn’t pretend not take things seriously or hide when she’s annoyed.

Strengths: Analytical, methodical, detail-oriented. Very driven and hardworking. May not always act like it, but does have social skills/charisma; a great liar, if you can’t read her mind. Unfailingly loyal and loving to her favorite people, so so so warm and affectionate and supportive if she really loves you. Very perceptive.

Weaknesses: Way too proud. Can be petty and vindictive. Self-absorbed (she doesn’t mean anything by it, but it’s hard for her to see past herself sometimes). Stubborn, hates being wrong. And... emotional isn’t the word, but strong negative emotions can really cloud her judgement. It ties into her being proud, petty, and stubborn; if she’s really upset about something, she can cling to that emotion instead of re-evaluating it or moving forward.

Phobias: From this ask about the phobias that are planned to show up in-game, there are a few that I could see fitting Sab, but I want to wait to see how they’re implemented before I fully commit. Which is very metagame-y, I know (and I am very metagame-y about IF), but “fear of X” is so broad that it really does depend on when/how it manifests in the text.

That being said, agoraphobia is almost a lock; crowds do make Sab very anxious if she can’t keep track of everyone within a certain distance, and if she can’t leave when she starts feeling antsy. Claustrophobia is a maybe. The choice that triggers it (in chapter 4, about hating MRI machines) suits Sab, but I’m not sure if she hates MRI machines because she hates tight spaces, or if it’s more related to her general anxiety about hospitals, medical tests, etc. Which she definitely has!

What activities/club did they do in school?: She avoided anything group-oriented as far as possible. She took piano (maybe violin?) lessons and did recitals, but wasn’t in orchestra. The one exception was maybe National Honor Society or some equivalent, which she would have joined for her resume’s sake. And I think she would have tutored!

Where do they escape to when they need space?: A little used library corner, where she can people watch without being seen/heard.

How do they feel about/cope with their mind blindness?: Sab hates it but tries not to dwell on it. She knows that it’s no one’s fault, and she mainly just tries to... minimize it? Drown out her thoughts, limit her contact with Ments. And, least healthily, very rigidly managing herself. Because there’s so much of her that exists outside of herself, without her control, she tries to either filter or completely suppress everything else. Part of why she got into modeling, she can perform and be perfect and have total control over the final product of her body in the photographs for whatever campaign. Some Day This Will Be Better. But definitely not where she is in current canon.

How has your Button changed since the Incident with Hope?: Developed many new anxieties and disorders and syndromes :) She also became way more self-conscious, as in literally conscious of and way more tightly monitoring herself, what she’s thinking, what she’s expressing, how she’s sitting, etc. Less emotive face, more rigid posture.

If they weren’t an Aeon student, what would they be doing?: Sab would have beaten herself up forever if she “proved everyone right” by avoiding Unity/Ments entirely, so she’d want to stay in the family business somehow. She probably would have ended up doing scientific research on mental agility. Maybe even working for Mirrortech or some other biotech company, which I imagine would have been an interesting conversation to have with the family.

RANDOM FACTS:

Zodiac sign: Like I said, I assigned her Libra months ago for the sake of a template. But I don’t know enough about astrology to commit. Libra or Leo, probably.

Hobbies: Music, reading poetry, “cooking” (i.e., sitting on the counter and not helping while Nick makes dinner)

Likes: Watching other people (Nick) play video games, dressing up, taking long showers/baths, dark chocolate with caramel, back hugs

Dislikes: Being patronized, hot weather, going to the doctor, driving, doing anything she is not good at

Type of bedsheets: Bamboo.

Drink of choice: Cucumber mint lemonade! For hot drinks, some kind of caramel coffee. For alcohol, she refuses to get drunk because she’s terrified of having even less control of her mental broadcast, but at home/around people she trusts she’ll have a glass or two of wine. Doesn’t know enough to be picky, but doesn’t like it too sweet.

Favorite food: Probably some pasta dish Nick makes with asparagus and tomatoes and a lot of garlic.

Favorite color: Like a light turquoise!

Favorite music: Music to her was another mind-shielding tactic before anything else, so she tends to like upbeat-ish electronic/pop stuff. Catchy and repetitive, and/or with lots of personality to drown out her own thoughts. On the other end of the spectrum, she does have a soft spot for crackly, lo-fi, old or old-sounding slow songs—something about fuzzy recordings simulating a weak telepathic signal.

Favorite season: Hmm, spring and autumn are both good. She likes either side of winter.

Anything else you’d like to share: My heart and a long, fulfilling marriage, with anyone who reads all this 💍

#wow this is so long. insanity luv lit ral insanity #this was super helpful for articulating certain things about sab's character so it's already done its job #pls do not feel pressured to read Thousands of words about sabrina my beloved. but if you read all or even some of this <333 a kiss for you #why am i embarrassed to overshare about my own ocs on my own blog. i live here #oc: sabrina wiseman #also this was very much a stream of consciousness deal but i tried to go back and make it comprehensible. good luck all ye who enter here

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sifeng · 4 years

Text

Love and Redemption: Some Thoughts and a Comparison with Ashes of Love

So, I’ve been watching Love and Redemption (琉璃) and while there are some visible faults, I also quite like some plot points and characters. So here are some of my thoughts and also, if your an Ashes of Love fan I totally recommend you check this drama out! The themes are similar, the character setups are similar, the worlds are similar too.

I’ve just finished the 35th episode, and I’ve gotten to a point where a flower creature of sorts has been forced to become Ling Long 2.0. I actually really like this idea because it shows that a lot of people become evil because of the people they are around, not because they are naturally evil, their personality is naturally cruel or anything else of the sort. Ling Long grew up around “orthodox” people that, while also imperfect, weren’t sadistic like Wu Tong. Because of that she became a person that liked to fight for peace and removal of evil from the world. However, when her exact same personality was placed in a different atmosphere without previous memories she became just as sadistic and cruel as the people around her. I think that actually fits super well with the overall theme of this drama, which is that good and bad aren’t black and white. Even a person who is “good” in the subjective sense of that term can just as easily be “evil” if placed in a different growth environment. Honestly I find it so interesting that Ling Long went from A Zhu to A Zi (Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils reference) in like one episode.

A Comparison

When I first started liking cdramas, one of my first favorites was Ashes of Love (香蜜沉沉烬如霜), but I actually like this drama more. First of all, I think the pacing is better. The beginning of AoL was a little draggy now that I think about it, and Jin Mi only began to really show her feelings for Xu Feng around episode 30 (and it wasn’t even Jin Mi liking Xu Feng it was Saintess liking the King). In comparison, in Love and Redemption, we see from the very start that Xuanji likes Sifeng in a different manner then she likes, for example, Minyan, thus not only making it easier to ship them, but also being able to get to the tragic elements of the story faster. The CGI in Love and Redemption is simply amazing, beats 99% of cdramas honestly. I wish the cinematography was a little better because with this level of CGI, it truly deserves better camerawork.

Also, I dislike when people call Xuanji stupid, because while in the beginning she is a little dumb, she really isn’t as bad as some other characters out there. She’s like what 20? And she’s never left home or her training place in her life. Why would anyone expect her not to make trouble? Or get in trouble? That’s like teaching how to memorize all the math formulas in the world, but not teaching you how to use them and then blaming you for not being able to apply them. I haven’t gotten to the really tragic part where Xuanji and Sifeng get separated, but so far I like her more than Jin Mi honestly. Xuanji might not be the smartest person, but I love how trustworthy she is of her friends and how high she holds her friendships. Unlike so many of the adults in this series, she actually uses logic to try to understand problems not just problematic and contradictory pieces evidence. Like when Minyan is accused of being betraying their sect, she doesn’t just go “oh there’s ‘evidence’? Then he must be guilty”, she actually thinks about his character and personality and how illogical it would be if he actually betrayed them.

I also like Sifeng more than Xu Feng. When he was being accused of being a demon, he managed to bring up inarguable pieces of evidence that clearly proved he was not a demon, or at least not a problematic one instead of just going like “you should believe me because I’m so great!” (not that Xu Feng did that, but he did use ethos instead of logos, though, both apparently don’t work if you’re a male lead in a tragic xianxia). The tragedy of his character is done so well honestly. He died for Xuanji in 9 lifetimes. NINE. Please give him a happy ending. (Okay but I really dislike his second hairstyle with the two strings of hair hanging out and also Teng She’s hairstyle. Why can’t they just tuck that piece of hair in? It makes me feel so annoyed for some reason.)

No one likes Hao Chen, and I’m glad. He hates people manipulating Xuanji, but he manipulates her all the time. I do agree that if Xuanji is happy without her six senses, she shouldn’t be forced to search for them, but she isn’t happy and she wants to search for them. So why should anyone who actually likes her try to prevent that? But I actually think his character is written relatively well. As the ruler (or second in command?) of the heavenly realm, he has to put matters in front of romance, though that doesn’t mean he has to manipulate her. I understand why he does what he does and I don’t think his character is as illogical as Wu Tong, but yeah, I definitely don’t agree with what he does. In comparison, Run Yu is truly quite likable. He does try to keep Jin Mi to himself instead of letting her be happy, but overall his story is written really well and evokes our sympathy.

Oh and when it comes to friendships I also prefer the ones in Love and Redemption. First of all, it’s not just Xuanji and Sifeng who are cute together, I like that Sifeng is friends with Ling Long and Minyan as well, and they also become friends with Yanran (or Xiao Yinhua) and Ruoyu as well (though they could’ve avoided some tragedy if they hadn’t befriended him). I don’t know why, but I’m really excited to see what tragedy our OTP goes through later on, because I’ve seen the gifsets on Tumblr and boy am I excited for some tragedy!

But one thing that is better about AoL is definitely the acting. I think Cheng Yi and Yuan Bingyan did pretty good here, especially Cheng Yi, but Yang Zi, Deng Lun and Luo Yunxi (especially Yang Zi and Luo Yunxi) are more experienced and thus obviously better, especially when it comes to really emotional scenes.

FInal Thoughts

One problem I have with Love and Redemption, at least so far, is that the evil demons have no motivations to be as evil as they are. I’m pretty sure I’ll get a reason, but so far I have to say that they aren’t really well done characters in that sense. Especially Wu Tong. Like this guy has no backstory whatsoever, but is extremely cruel and sadistic from the first second we meet him. Maybe he’s like really just insane or something, but his whole “sympathy story” for why he joined the demons makes zero sense. He wanted to murder someone because him cheating gets revealed and then gets mad that the father of the person he tried to kill wants to get revenge. His story also contains two (as of so far) unexplained plot holes: 1. why every single sect decided to chase after him and 2. why he managed to escape death despite a bunch of skilled martial artists running after him for like a really long time.

Lastly, I like the fact that the orthodox people aren’t exactly “evil” but their goodness is what makes them annoying. They don’t mean harm when they tried to test if Sifeng was a demon or if Minyan is a betrayer, they truly are thinking for the overall good, but their constant paranoia and need to do “what is right” and not “what makes sense” is truly what makes them unbearable. They sometimes throw away all logic for love, or sacrifice their own daughter in order to “do what’s right” instead of actually thinking of a method to not only save the daughter and keep the world at peace. It’s because of their goodness that they are able to be manipulated into idiocracy by Li Ze Palace.

Oh and one last thought. I don’t know if it’s on purpose, but the lack of people in the heavenly realm is really interesting. Like, maybe the producers didn’t have enough money, or shots of the heavenly realm with more than like ten people (not in war) don’t exist in the book either, but it creates the image that the realm is super empty. The human realm, despite all its faults and cruelties, feels so much more alive and full of life in comparison to the boring and cold looking heavenly realm.

#cdrama #cdrama recommendations #love and redemption #琉璃 #ashes of love #香蜜沉沉烬如霜

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thisweekingundamwing · 4 years

Text

This Week in Gundam Wing July 26 - 01 August 2020

Here’s this week’s roundup!

Remember to give your content creators some love! And join in on the events at the bottom!

~Mod Hel

Fanfiction/Snippets/AU Ideas:

@bobo-is-tha-bomb

Unraveled https://archiveofourown.org/works/25379161

F/M, Trowa Barton/Reader

Trowa Barton, Reader

Romance, Fluff, Reader-Insert, Bathing/Washing, ritual bathing

His little witch, he mused with a slight tilt of lips. Even after years of being with you, he still couldn’t get enough of watching you.

Tonight, he vowed, he would keep you company while you bathed.

Lazy Day https://archiveofourown.org/works/25379695

F/M, Heero Yuy/Reader

Heero Yuy, Reader

Romance, Lemon, Lime, Reader-Insert

You would enjoy this day. Every minute of it. And, you vowed, you would have a repeat of it in New York.

Twenty Kisses (Ch. 6 & 7) https://archiveofourown.org/works/24038704/chapters/61620076

F/M, Heero Yuy/Reader

Heero Yuy, Reader

Romance, Kissing, Drabble Collection, Reader-Insert

Kissing Heero is something special.

Deadly Intent https://archiveofourown.org/works/25576657/chapters/62069890

Mature

F/M, Heero/Reader, ???/Reader

Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Wufei Chang, Lady Une, Relena Peacecraft, Reader

Reader Insert, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Drama, Angst, Romance, Violence, Lime

Eleven years is a long time for a ghost to come back and haunt him. But Heero Yuy finds himself unable to dodge or outrun it. It’s the start of a dangerous cat and mouse game between one of the most powerful organizations in the world and a loner who has every intention of dragging him down with her. After all, she has come with deadly intent.

@coffeetailor

Emergence (Ch. 12) https://archiveofourown.org/works/13322880/chapters/62023231

Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy

Duo Maxwell, Heero Yuy, Quatre Raberba Winner, Trowa Barton, Chang Wufei, Sally Po

Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, borrowers fusion but don't call them borrowers, disturbing themes like people trafficking from the bad guys, Size Difference, Will probably be a series, alternate canon events, Macro/Micro

Series: Part 1 of Emergence Series

When the war ended, things went a little strange. First, Duo vanished after never having let them see him in person. Then, years later, a tiny race of people are discovered. And that's just the start of things.

@lifeaftermeteor

LAM!Verse https://lifeaftermeteor.tumblr.com/post/625293600094355456/private-island-location-redacted-fiji-south

Private Island [location redacted]

Fiji, South Pacific

14 August 211

Une and Sally arrived on-island to blue skies, a functioning jeep, and a personal escort by Lucrezia Noin.

perryvic & Zaganthi (Caffiends)

All Go Unto Once Place https://archiveofourown.org/works/25520368

M/M, Chang Wufei/Treize Khushrenada

Treize Khushrenada, Quatre Raberba Winner, Change Wufei

Cameos, Anxiety, Mental Health Issues, Aftermath of Torture, ZERO System (Gundam Wing), Alternate Universe - Stargate Atlantis Fusion

He chose the study because it was formal and the least used room in the house, and brought in coffee and water because he needed something to do with his hands. "I'm sorry to request the house call. I haven't been in a reliable enough state to leave the house."

"I quite understand," Bedelia murmured. "Is this the place you feel most comfortable talking?"

He took the coffee and sat in one of the low overstuffed reading chairs rather than at the desk. "Yes. I, what we discussed a couple of weeks ago, you know. Surprising only to me, apparently, it went terribly." He cradled the coffee, watching her select where to sit, posture and movement impeccable as ever.

@simulacraryn

Higurashi https://archiveofourown.org/works/25592344#main

Heero Yuy

Higurashi = Mundane life, living hand-to-mouth. This is a VERY old fic of my (from 2008...), about what life might have been like for Heero after the war.

The Manwell

The Silencer and the Sicarian (Ch. 1 & 2) https://archiveofourown.org/works/25478938/chapters/61805053

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Relationships: Trowa Barton/Duo Maxwell, Chang Wufei/Solo

Characters: Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Chang Wufei, Solo (Gundam Wing), Hilde Schbeiker, Catherine Bloom, Kyouju H | Instructor H

Additional Tags: Wufei POV, Duo POV, Trowa POV, Solo POV

Series: Part 4 of The Brothers Maxwell

It was just one vow. A simple but necessary promise to respect life -- both human and fey -- but can Duo hold to it when his resolve is put to the ultimate test?

@tziganecaffiends & Zaganthi (Caffiends)

Dust to Dust https://archiveofourown.org/works/25519633/chapters/61915789

M/M, Chang Wufei/Treize Khushrenada

Treize Khushrenada, Chang Wufei, Mariemaia Khushrenada, Duo Maxwell

Domestic Fluff, Bondage, bottom Treize, Mental Instability, Mental Health Issues, Aftermath of Violence, Aftermath of Torture, Rape Aftermath, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Kidnapping, Subspace, Subdrop, Diplomacy, Alternate Universe - Stargate Atlantis Fusion, ZERO System (Gundam Wing), Graphic Dipictions of Violence

It was unbearable, it was too much, and his heart was trying its best to jump out of his chest. Treize managed to get his knees pulled up, and pressed his forehead against them, struggling to breathe as the anxiety crawled up from his gut and clenched around his heart. Not there, anywhere but there, and he'd been fine seeing it in ZERO, not fine, but okay, livable, but being there, smelling the familiar antiseptic hell and must of the place, took his legs out from under him.

He could play forward on all of the other scenarios he hadn't wanted to explore, and he knew when that door opened it wasn't going to be Wufei. It was never going to be what he'd wanted, no matter hard he'd played at it back home with Wufei.

Fanart/Crafts/Photo Manips:

@2pcbiscuit

https://2pcb.tumblr.com/post/625195682010120192/am-i-a-furry-artist-now-quatre-is-supposed-to-be

Raccoon!Trowa, and other cute surprises.

@antarespromise

https://antarespromise.tumblr.com/post/625175674322305024

WuFei Chang

https://antarespromise.tumblr.com/post/625274951362117632

Duo Maxwell

@bobo-is-tha-bomb

https://bobo-is-tha-bomb.tumblr.com/post/625096842616717312/having-waaaay-too-much-fun-rediscovering-art

Trowa Barton

@grey-sentry

https://grey-sentry.tumblr.com/post/624917334680829952/next-batch-of-artwork-for-the-gw-art-discord

Heero & Doktor S

https://grey-sentry.tumblr.com/post/624917124777951232/art-made-for-the-gw-art-discord-i-tried-to-follow

Relena & Catherine

@gundayum

https://gundayum.tumblr.com/post/625232214658056192/i-relish-in-being-a-terrible-human-being

Relena & Heero

@oekakimemo

https://oekakimemo.tumblr.com/post/625242524130361345/20200728-digital

Relena Darlian/Peacecraft

@tatakaumono

https://tatakaumono.tumblr.com/post/625240776436252672/its-evens-propaganda-month-dont-tag-as

Quatre/Duo

Photosets/Gifsets/Screenshots/Manga Pages:

@bobo-is-tha-bomb

https://bobo-is-tha-bomb.tumblr.com/post/625161359751036928/im-so-lucky-to-have-awesome-friends-thank-you

GW T-shirts

@cynthiaandsamus

https://cynthiaandsamus.tumblr.com/post/625268346914586624/like-everyone-in-gundam-wing-is-a-ridiculously

Zechs Merquise

@janaverse

https://janaverse.tumblr.com/post/625277358889451521/aannnnndddd-theyre-done-3-the-process-was-a

Heero & Duo silhouettes

https://janaverse.tumblr.com/post/625280260361093120/for-scale-btw-they-are-perfectly-framed-from

For scale - Heero & Duo silhouettes

Head Canons:

@disturbed02girl

https://disturbed02girl.tumblr.com/post/625254324341194752/gw-fashion-mix-day-off

GW Fashion Mix - Day Off : Duo, Heero, Trowa, WuFei, Quatre

Fandom Discourse:

@lifeaftermeteor

https://lifeaftermeteor.tumblr.com/post/625289823670927360/whats-all-this-then-although-the-gw-discord

Discord Meet-up! 0900 EST on both Saturday (August 29) and Sunday (August 30)

Quotes:

@incorrectgundamwingquotes

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/625002948624318464/iria-father-quatre-youre-family-you-shouldnt

Iria & Rashid

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/625184158043570177/duo-to-trowa-are-you-trying-to-hurt-my-feelings

Duo at Trowa

Calendar Events:

@gwcocktailfriday

Cocktail Fridays!

Post responses on Friday, during Happy Hour between 3 & 5 pm in your own timezone.

Here’s the prompt for Friday, August 7th! https://gwcocktailfriday.tumblr.com/post/625255859848642560/cocktail-friday-post-responses-on-friday-august

In need of SUMMER & FALL/AUTUMN prompts!

@gwoc-october

GW OC October 2020!

Help pick out prompts! https://gwoc-october.tumblr.com/post/621130082429337600/hello-gundam-wing-folks-thats-right-gw-oc

@seasons-of-gundamwing

Summer of Hilde!

Check the page today! The full prompt list was set to post at 10AM!

We also have an AO3 collection now! Come check it out. https://seasons-of-gundamwing.tumblr.com/post/624191236146855936/seasons-of-gundam-wing-archive

@thisweekingundamevents

Events Calendar

https://thisweekingundamevents.tumblr.com/post/624053314842230784/event-calendar-update

If you are hosting an event currently, or are planning on one, hit us up with links and dates! We’ll add them to the Calendar and reblog your notices to get the word out!

#Gundam Wing #This Week in Gundam Wing #Weekly Roundup #July 26 - 01 August 2020

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gerbiloftriumph · 5 years

Text

So you wanna be a king (pt4)

orrrr mayyyybe juuust cosplay one since that’s way less responsibilities

(incidentally, the fabbo shirt’s from redbubble, https://www.redbubble.com/people/midorilied/works/29739636-do-it-for-him-white-text, if @midorilied doesn’t mind me showing it off)

If you’ve followed along thus far then you should have a cloak, jerkin, pants and boots. A fully wearable Graham perfect for romping around the countryside. But it feels incomplete without the accessories, so let’s give those a try.

Part 4: Pouches n Bracers

(Again, these are all just suggestions and a How I Did It from a very novice cosplayer. Disregard all points, or take the ones you like. improvise adapt overcome)

Perhaps the best part about adventure games is the stuff. The bottomless inventory, a random assortment of strange things that all Do A Thing. Graham carries everything from money to badgers to literal humans in his pockets (presumably his mother is a seamstress trained by the gods).

This...won’t be you. Sorry.

Now, to be fair, I saw a Graham cosplay on tumblr (I’m so sorry, I don’t remember who--does anyone know?) who sewed pockets into their cloak, which is delightful and a very sweet idea!

However, I prefer the swoosh and snap of my cloak, and heavy things like cell phones in your cloak will alter the weight. Something to keep in mind as you decide how to manage your outfit.

(forgive the blur--I haven’t been able to get a still of what it looks like when swooshing. Perhaps now I’ve got real boots I’ll do another gifset of it)

Thus, all my phone, money, keys, and backup freckles (e.g., liquid eyeliner) must live in Graham’s belt pouches instead of cloak pockets. Lord knows what Graham actually keeps in his pouches, game-wise. Squirrel snacks, maybe, to avoid repeating the fiasco from Tourney Day?

This time I followed a pattern. I know, weird, right?

I wanted functionality, but I wanted them to be slim and simple, too. I found a guy on YouTube, and he comes with a .pdf template pattern in his video description! It’s super detailed, easy to follow, and better than me rambling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPhQlaI_UX4

Three years later, they’re starting to look a touch tired. I used a plain dark brown fabric (was it broadcloth?). Half a yard is plenty. If it’s semi-close in color your your belt, ideal. I made two sizes, two large for phone and makeup for touchups, and one small for keys and money. The large ones are 3″ wide and 5.5″ tall, and the small one is 2.5″ by 4.5″, but size them to whatever important things must be on your body at all time.

I added snap clasps to keep them shut (never know when you’ll be pounced by goblins, or trip over a crack in the sidewalk), and I found some plain silver buttons to sew over where the snaps sit--added bonus, hides my sloppy stitchwork. I took some of the leftover suede rope from the jerkin for the front--my ugliest secret is that it’s really horrible looking super glue dribbled everywhere. Hasn’t moved in 3 years, tho. /victory fist bump

I turned the corners of the front flaps so I wouldn’t have square tops. I didn’t trim off the excess fabric since I thought keeping extra weight in the corners would help keep the flaps down. You could always sew in another layer of something sturdier if you didn’t want the flaps to curl over time--it’s probably worth it. It does make a difference.

So, in doing this half-tutorial, I’ve just realized that Graham’s actual model has three pouches of various sizes on his left side only which means I’ve been wearing and drawing him wrong since day one. So. That’s cool. themoreyouknow.gif

(still not changing anything tho; I like keeping my phone on my right side)

Bracers!

Graham’s an archer. So, he’s got bracers on his forearms to protect himself. (presumably his rippling muscles are protection enough since he stops wearing them between his 30s and 70s.)

We have the same problem here as with the jerkin: the bracers seem practically sewn onto his arm. And that’s maybe doable, but I’m mortal, not digital, and I want this to be comfortable and also easy to remove. Now, unfortunately, my method loses the black bands he has on his bracer underbellies--they don’t seem to fit. If you have a nice solution, let me know.

Get yourself a ruler, paper, a scrap of elastic band, a sheet or two of stiff felt (probably like this stuff: https://www.amazon.com/Darice-Stiff-inches-5-Pack-FLT-0331/dp/B00KNAKJH6), and all the leftovers from your jerkin.

Measure around your wrist--mine’s 6″, so we’ll use that. Draw a 6″ line on a piece of paper, find the center of the line, mark it. Measure how long down your arm you want the bracer to go. I like 8 and a quarter inches myself (make it as long as you can without the bracer edge rubbing your inner elbow because that gets real old real fast). From the center mark of your wrist line, make a straight line down (a grid is helpful here to keep it straight). At the point where your bracer stops, measure around your arm: I got 9″. Find the halfway mark of your base arm line, add that to the paper. Connect the corners. It should look approximately something like this:

Cut out and test your design to make sure it’s comfortable (you want to forget you’re wearing these. keep them away from your elbow. f’reals). Cut the shape out of your stiff felt, and cut out your brown fabric leftover from your jerkin, with a margin all around so you can fold it over and sew (I did an inch I think, because I’m a coward). For the hand guard, I did half my wrist (3″), then measured my hand to see how high it had to be to just scrape the knuckle. For my hand, that’s about 3″, give or take. Curve it, test it, cut it out of felt and brown alike, and cut out some extra brown to cover the inside of the hand guard too, as you don’t want to see any white against your hand.

Fold the loose edges over the felt and sew it down along the marked places:

Make little snips in the hem of the hand guard hem as you go to achieve that tight curve.

I was nervous about combining the two pieces as I needed easy wrist flexibility. The two lines that aren’t hemmed I left “raw” and sewed the brown edges together as was, so that there’s no stiff felt against the wrist at all.

Another secret: my bracer grommets aren’t the same as my jerkin grommets--they’re much smaller, like 7mm, because I’d planned on making my jerkin with this smaller size earlier to replicate Graham’s tighter lacing but it didn’t work out--the larger ones from your jerkin work fine.

It’s the same process as the jerkin, too. Every inch from the wrist to the elbow gets a grommet, plus its corresponding partner. A-likea so:

The next part might be optional. I cut another piece of brown about the same size as the bracer body again, and sewed the edges along the inside, just past the grommets, so that when you wear the bracer, you don’t see the shirt beneath your laces. It also gives you a place to hide the loose ends of your suede rope once it’s tied into place. Probably optional.

Graham’s bracers have definition near the elbow, and I was annoyed that I couldn’t find a way to fit in the large black bands without messing up the simplicity of my pull on/pull off system, so to reference it I found thin black trim and sewed it along the bottom hem, just below the last grommet.

Okay, lace it with the suede rope and try it for fit. You may notice the hand guard is a bit unwilling to stay attached. Get the super glue, and--

no wait please don’t do that

let’s just make an elastic ring instead

My elastic was white: I colored it with a brown marker so it wasn’t as jarring if anyone caught sight of it. Sew it into your existing hemline, wherever it feels natural to wear it as a ring on your middle finger. A strip of fabric or trim might work as well, but the elastic makes it easy to pull on.

I desperately need to update my gray wristbands with real rope. This is trim, and I do not like it. But it was free, at the bottom of my cosplay bin, and I’m so tired of spending money on this costume.........anyway, loop the rope of choice three times around your wrist, sew it into a closed loop to avoid dealing with knots and bows, and tug the whole thing on and off over your hand. pls do not make it too tight.

And that’s looking like a proper cosplay. Just a few more accessories and also the hat. I assume everyone just wants the adventuring hat, but if there’s any interest in the crown, I could toss that in too, maaaayyyybbeeee?

#kings quest #King Graham #King's Quest #cosplay #midorilied #hey midorilied if you don't want your shirt in here lemme know i'll swap for a different picture #just two more to go~!#tutorial

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morethanaprincess-a · 4 years

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@monsieur-de-paris said: 1, 3, 38

The Be Honest Meme (Still accepting! Already answering 1, 3, 31, and 38)

1. What would prevent you from following someone?

I answered this already here. :)

3. What current rp trend do you hate?

Ooh, I have a few. In no particular order:

- Blogs where the rules, muse info, and mun info are not easily accessible. If I have to click around various moving icons to find what I think a rules page should be, I’m less inclined to want to engage. I prefer rules on pages (and linked in a pinned post) to a google doc but I can use either. I just hate when the blog layout is so stylized that this information is not easily found.

- Replies with gifs. I’m not terribly picky about icons (especially for canon characters. And for OCs that don’t use a canon FC, I understand that it can be difficult to have enough icons with their expressions), but I dislike gifs in replies just because it causes my feed to load slowly.

- Writing styles that are just difficult to read. Double small text, multiple spaces between words, etc. I prefer third person past tense for my own writing but I won’t hold anyone to that, but I need to be able to read posts and replies.

- Self-deprecating attitudes when it comes to writing. It’s hard to be confident all day, every day, in your skills and portrayal but I see more and more blogs insisting they’re terrible to the degree of “I don’t know why people stick around for my trash writing but thank you!” It’s your muse and your interpretation. Own that shit! Because no one will be a bigger cheerleader for your muse and your writing than you.

- Shyness in being afraid to reach out. Approaching new people is not easy, but the more you don’t even try to send memes, reach out in messages or discord, or find some other way to interact, the less likely you’ll get interactions. It’s flattering to be approached, for sure, but the trend of being so shy and afraid of others to reach out needs to stop. We’re all nerds writing about fictional characters we love.

- Sending anon hate. I don’t think any more needs to be said about this.

- Unless the muse is a Danganronpa canon character, automatic friendship and knowledge about my muse without plotting first. I know there’s the various memes that go around to the likes of “We don’t need to write our characters meeting for the first time!” or “Let me know straight up if our characters can ship!” I like growing those bonds throughout threads, especially if I’m writing with a canon character from a different fandom. Everyone portrays their muses differently and my muse may not react the same way to one portrayal of a muse versus another. Of course, chatting OOC and plotting can help streamline this process along but it’s more of an annoyance when it comes out of nowhere, because first meeting interactions aren’t terribly popular.

- When muns tag long IC posts with a trigger warning (specifically because it’s a long post). For me, my favorite type of long post to see on my dash are long IC posts, in contrast to images, gifsets, memes, etc. I get it if long posts just make the feed more difficult to load, but why should writing length be a trigger?

38. What advice would you give to someone new to rp?

This could go two ways, being new to RP in general or being new to Tumblr RP. So I’ll try to go over both!

- If you’re interested in playing a canon muse, know that muse and their fandom very, very well. Play their games, read their books, watch their shows. If it’s a popular fandom, you will likely be interacting with other muses from that fandom who will expect it from you. If not, you might just sell other muns on checking out your fandom by your portrayal!

- Unless you’re confident you can handle it, do not take on too many muses at once. Doubly so if you’re in a popular fandom(s). Keeping up with threads, sending asks/memes, doing promotion, queueing content...that all takes a significant amount of time, not to mention writing for several different characters and voices. Start with one and see how it goes, maybe try a test muse here and there (maybe with a meme prompt?). If you’re able to keep up with it all, then make a second blog or add more muses. It’s easy to get overwhelmed fast when you’re just excited to RP for the first time and want to try everything all at once.

- Lurk. Lurk where you want to be roleplaying. If that’s tumblr, go through the applicable RP tags for your intended blog (Are you indie or wanting to join a group? What about fandom? If you’re writing an OC, which sorts of fandoms or mediums do you want to write them in?). Get a feel of not only what muses are out there, but some of the more accepted conventions of tumblr roleplaying: see how others set up their about pages, their rules, their verses, etc. Find out how people are interacting (plotted starters? memes? spontaneous asks?). It’s easy to sign up for an account but I’d recommend spending some time researching how different platforms approach roleplay. When I started on tumblr for both indie and group RP, accounts like @rpedia were very helpful.

- Decide, at least to start, what your rules, limits, and interests are. Maybe you’re underage or just not interested in smut, make sure that’s in your rules. Maybe there’s a fandom you don’t want to interact with, make sure to list it. Are you only interested in one-liner responses or do you want to write multiple paragraphs (or both!)? How quickly do you want to respond to threads? And if you want to participate in shipping, that’s a whole different set of things to consider. Before jumping into the tags, threads, and reaching out to people, having at least the beginnings of your rules, your muse info, your mun info (age and mun name/pronouns as the bare minimum), and possibly your verses should be available for potential partners to peruse.

- But still be flexible. Your rules can change and your interests can change. This happened to me with my shipping preferences and I’ve updated my rules over time to reflect that. I’d also add ‘Be open-minded’ to this as well: interact with muses from other fandoms and OCs. Try new friendships and possibly romantic relationships you might not have considered for your muse when you decided to write them. I’ve found that being open to all sorts of interactions brings some fantastic muses, writers, and often friends into your life.

- Do not be discouraged when you’re first starting out and don’t have too many interactions. Especially if you’re writing an OC, a canon character in an unpopular fandom, or you’re just plain new to the RP scene (in general or on any platform). It takes awhile to appear in the tags and to grow your network. Post drabbles, post headcanons, follow accounts you want to write with, and don’t be afraid to reach out to potential muns. For the most part, many of us are very easygoing because we know what it’s like to start in this hobby!

- If someone says they do not want to write and/or ship with you, do not take it personally. They may not care for your muse, your fandom, your writing style, your portrayal, your content, or just the ship in general. You, the mun, are writing your muse the way you want to and there’s nothing wrong or bad about it, but it might just not work for the other person. There are always plenty more people to write and ship with. But there’s no use getting angry, begging for them to change their mind, or worse, slander them on your writing platform (or off it). Just take it in stride.

- And most importantly, read (and watch and play, but especially read) and write. It is very easy to get writer’s block or just feel like you cannot match someone’s length. But I suggest writing something you want to read, and how to do that is to read something you want to read and practice, practice, practice. I find movies, TV shows, and most games can give great plot ideas, but when it comes to putting those ideas into words? Nothing beats the written or audio word. You don’t have to immerse yourself in anything particularly highbrow that’s found in a lit class, either. Just indulge in writing styles, plots, and characters that inspire you and your muse, and then just write. Drabbles, headcanons, replies, starters, writing frequently keeps you in good practice. That might be every day, that might be every week, but the more you keep doing it the more it’ll improve. And then it’ll feel less like a chore.

- But that being said, take a break when RP is more of a chore than it is fun. You might be burnt out on a variety of things, but don’t forget to tell your partners!

#more-than-a-princess answered #more-than-a-princess musings #(The Be Honest Meme)#monsieur-de-paris #(Thanks for the ask!)#(These questions tend to bring out long answers)

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ctl-yuejie · 5 years

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the grandmaster of demonic interior design or mound squatting & a smitten renovator

⇨ for @howdydowdy who wisely suggested a home renovation tv series au based on my crack gifset

Ia . IIa . IIIa . Ib . IIb . IIIb. Ic . IIc . IIIc . Id . IId . IIId . Ie . IIe ⭐︎ . IIIe ⭐︎⭐︎ . extra

Id.

He hadn’t expected to see Lan Wangji again. Meeting him on top of Burial Mound was even more of a peculiar twist of fate. During their school days he’d never been sure whether Lan Wangji liked him or was just too well-mannered to tell him to get lost. Well, he had been told to get lost at one point, but that had been after a rather crude practical joke so maybe it doesn’t quite count.

However, being a nuisance on purpose had let to the great discovery that beneath his cold demeanour Lan Wangji’s way of thinking was quite alike to his and he had gotten to enjoy detention, Lan Wangji proving to be a worthy opponent in an argument when riled up enough. There had been a lot of detention. He’d just correctly assumed that their relationship wasn’t to be long lived after they graduated and went different ways. The family heads sometimes met at conferences but Wei Wuxian was never interested in attending those. Lan Wangji must have sat there every single year, looking attentive while possibly being bored out of his mind. How couldn’t he have been without him there.

He hadn’t realized that he had actually missed the level stare he often was the recipient of.

People who follow the old customs talk about Lan Wangji with the greatest respect. Nevertheless, most accounts of meeting him don’t miss a pitying comment on his icy stare and aloofness. These people are just not able to see what he does. The warmth that radiates off his good deeds, just a vague taste of how compassionate Lan Wangji truly is, and the way his face pulls into a tiny smile when he’s truly happy.

Wei Wuxian tries to remember Lan Wangji’s smile.

It’s way past midnight, and while he long has gotten used to the eerie silence on Burial Mound he’s still rolling around in his sleeping bag, not able to stop the thoughts running in his head. The stone plateau he’s sleeping on doesn’t help in the frontline of comfort either. How soft Lan Wangji’s hotel bed must be.

He could bet that Lan Wangji doesn’t even appreciate it properly. No jump test, no pillow fights. Lan Wangji would just lie down, perfectly still on his back, hands folded over his chest and fall asleep immediately. As if hotel beds could be exchanged with just any bed. Whenever he and his siblings had shared a room at hotels or traditional inns, they had pushed their beds or futons together to create one giant cushy paradise to roll around in. He’d always wake to Jiang Cheng laughing at his weird sleeping position, mocking his hair that always looked terrible in the morning before smacking a pillow back at him in retaliation.

Lan Wangji would look pristine in the morning, no puffy cheeks and no grit in the eyes. Very boring. Maybe if they’d share a room some time he’d be able to see it. Have Lan Wangji’s immaculate face turn to him to take in his disheveled state. Would he have to smile? Would he scold him? At five in the morning he’d probably have to deal with a very grumpy version of himself. He might lie down in Lan Wangji’s bed and pull him down with him just to get him to sleep some more.

Now he regrets not pestering Lan Wangji about sharing a room during his stay at the Cloud Recesses. If Lan Qiren would have ever found out he’d crawled into his nephew’s bed he would have burst with anger. But down at the hotel they could’ve just slept in, take their breakfast in bed and Lan Wangji would’ve definitely fixed the strands of Wei Wuxian’s hair that were in danger of falling into his coffee. Would his fingers feel soft against his cheek? Or calloused from his Guqin practice? Wei Wuxian falls asleep to the thoughts of Lan Wangjis fingers carding through his hair.

The shooting starts early in the morning with Wei Wuxian guiding an unusually meek Nie Huaisang through the outer area of the compound. His excited voice easily carries over the soft footsteps of the elderly who tend to the fields.

The air is still cold and crisp, morning dew lazily gliding to the centre of lotus leaves, waiting to get scooped up by the tiny hands of Ah-Yuan.

It’s the first time that Nie Huaisang is commenting on something other than the lack of Wei Wuxian’s sense for interior design. He looks genuinely amazed, voicing his confusion at how Wei Wuxian had managed to build a lotus pond in this hostile environment. He is rather proud of the pond and even though the seeds are inedible it is a piece of home in this wasteland.

Around noon Wei Wuxian finds himself rambling on about the importance of the cause, his inventions, what farming has taught him, the community in shared values, and really just how brilliant his inventions are. Sometimes the producers have to intervene because he gets too caught up in his stories, and name dropping the Wen family as one of the instigators of the astronomical rents doesn’t help either.

Throughout shooting, Lan Wangji doesn’t say much. He’s mostly tagging along, having quickly gotten used to putting in minimal effort to fulfil his sole role as eye candy. After all, most people aren’t that well-versed in cultivation anymore and it might be for the better not to dig too deep into the demonic kind.

Even so, despite not saying much and the cameras definitely not being able to catch it, his silence is contemplative. It looks like Lan Wangji is actually listening to him. Listening very attentively. Just really listening. And that hasn’t happened before.

Wen Ning just enjoys the company in general and spending time with Ah-Yuan. Wen Qing is brilliant but also can’t be arsed to put any ounce of her energy into humouring him. Shiejie is supportive as always, but he knows that she doesn’t fully get it. Jiang Cheng, well, he listens and somehow understands totally different things. The other squatters are mostly just fondly exasperated. He doesn’t blame them. For them the cause is much more important. This project means their survival in the city.

But it is nice to show someone how he views the world, to share his interests and light eyes meeting his in understanding. He shoots a cheeky but appreciative wink back but Lan Wangji simply looks away. Well, that’s not fun then.

Nie Huaisang is filming a solo-portion on appropriate colour schemes. While the remodelling itself is unnecessary in Wei Wuxian’s mind, some of the ideas on how certain colours can improve moods actually don’t sound half-bad. He has to admit that he has underestimated Nie Huaisang and his dedication to deliver not only a perfect house remodelling but genuinely try to improve the lives of the inhabitants as well. Nie Huaisang is obviously stumped by how little he has to work with in terms of traditional architecture but he makes a commendable effort, even venturing into the historical significance of the statue guarding the cave.

Lan Wangji steps a little bit closer, robes flattering in the afternoon wind. “Isn’t this illegal?” His whisper tickles Wei Wuxian’s ear. “Lan Zhan-ah, Lan Zhan-ah, of course it is. That’s why it’s called squatting.” He can’t believe that now is the time for Lan Wangji to question the legality of this project. “Wei Ying. You could get in trouble.” He sounds forceful. “That – is the point?” Lan Wangji looks like he has trouble finding the right words. “Wei Ying could just leave, you have a home!” Something squeezes him on the inside and his arm shakes when he points to the collective around them. “You know I can’t leave them behind.” Lan Wangji doesn’t relent. “You could take class-action. My family’s firm could help. If you are willing.” His voice goes soft at the end. “What the Wen’s do isn’t against the law, they are just using the system to their benefit. Much as I hate them, they’re not that innovative...and Lan Zhan, you are great–“ Lan Wangji’s face softens in surprise– “but I know your dad.” Lan Wangji’s eyebrows ever so slightly draw together. “He does pro bono work.” Wei Wuxian laughs in delight at this. The confusion on Lan Wangji’s face that’s just visible to him is hilarious. “Money isn’t the issue. Would he really want to have his firm’s name associated with going against the Wen clan?” The associated with me part is left unsaid. Lan Qiren is wise and righteous, but had never been fond of seeing Wei Wuxian pestering his nephew.

It seems like Lan Wangji has many things he wants to say. Maybe berate him like he used to. Wei Wuxian is amazed that even though they haven’t seen each other in a long time, he has gotten better at reading Lan Wangji. Standing this close he not only sees the inner fight Lan Wangji’s seems to be having for the second time today, but how despite the diffused light his eyes are gleaming, how his long hair softly falls against his cheeks, how long his eye lashes are.

The cultivator world calling him the second most eligible bachelor really is a deserved title. Zewu-Jun might be attractive to other people, but compared to Lan Wangji he appears to be rather boring.

No mask to crack with playful banter, no smile to coax out with a teasing remark, nothing Wei Wuxian could do that would make Zewu-Jun wear the same expression of soft surprise, to have that something in his eyes that almost seems to shine through when he is looking at Wei Wuxian and that Wei Wuxian can’t seem to pin point even after 13 years.

Even after getting better at reading him.

“It’s against the law.” Lan Wangji’s voice interrupts his musings. “Well, the law is bullshit,“ he retorts pointedly. Wei Wuxian knows that what he’s doing is the right thing. They stand in silence.

The last scene of the day features the last chamber of the cave. Wen Ning is delighted at Wei Wuxian’s invitation to join them. The crew has already set everything up for filming and Wei Wuxian, Nie Huaisang and Lan Wangji are politely ushered inside.

Lan Wangji halts in his tracks immediately after entering the chamber. Wei Wuxian is very much delighted at surprising him successfully. “I tried to go for a hyggelig vibe,” he says cheerily as if nothing was amiss. It is very hard to not just laugh out loud at how everything about Lan Wangji screams ‘incredulousness’.

“Wei Ying – there is a demonic blood pool – in your cave!” Wei Wuxian is very adamant on finding out how much it takes to break adult Lan Wangji, so he just hums in affirmation. “Wei Ying, too much blood,” Lan Wangji says with stronger conviction. “It does go great with Wen Nings goth attire!” That is a good enough reason to have a spring spew blood into a big pool in your home in Wei Wuxian’s books. Wen Ning pats down his black, heavy robes in satisfaction.

There is a tiny smile tugging at the corners of Lan Wangji’s mouth.

“Beautiful.”Is the only thing Wei Wuxian manages to think.

IId

#the untamed fanfiic #mdzs fanfic #the untamed #lan wangji #wei wuxian #wangxian #the grandmaster of demonic interior design #now proofread #sorry for the mistakes in the earlier version :D i was more tired than i realized

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five-wow · 5 years

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10.01 thoughts (or basically a rambly recap, very spoilery, with a lot of caps lock abuse) under the cut!!! :D

JERRY’S BEEN SHOT. that’s not actually a surprise at this point in any way, but oh gosh, poor guy. “it hurts more than i thought it would.” oh no. :c

i’m confused though - grover’s there calling an ambulance, jerry is bleeding, steve is keeping pressure on the wound, but where’s danny? clutching his heart out of frame? OH WAIT he could be arresting ezra hassan, i suppose?

on screen: 2 weeks later. jfdkfjdk they resolved that cliffhanger in like, under thirty seconds.

love jerry’s longer curly hair! REALLY LOVE that jerry and junior are playing battleship, omg.

jerry thought about HIS DND BUDDIES WHEN HE GOT SHOT. i love him. (i’m also both worried about his mental health and glad they’re showing him actually feeling some repercussions from getting shot, aside from the flesh wound.)

tani and junior!!! are going to the opera!!! wonderful, i’m into it.

AH. here we have steve on his date, omfg. it all looks so pretty - the background, the restaurant, the date, steve. REALLY AWKWARD conversation though, fjdkfd. steve’s been hanging with danny too much - as soon as someone asks “what are you thinking” he just opens up his heart.

“it’s just crazy, you know. things that happen at work.” FDJKFDJF i’m glad he’s seeing that AFTER NINE YEARS.

DANNY CALLS. i’ve seen the clips that were drifting around tumblr, so i knew it was going to happen, but still. DANNY CALLS. IN THE MIDDLE OF STEVE’S DATE.

“i think it’s best,” steve says, about taking a phone call from danny while he’s in the middle of a first date with a really pretty woman who seems very kind about his total awkwardness, oh BOY

the WAY danny says “hi” just already has me in stitches. i die. and then steve’s “dude! i don’t know.” he sounds so frustrated! poor guy.

“words are kinda just, they’re falling out of my mouth, i don’t know why.” OH STEVE. also: that’s 80% of all fic in which steve finally confesses his feelings to danny ever. thank you, canon, for giving us a steve who is canonically prone to this.

“do you have any game at all?” danny asks, of steve, WHO HE IS CALLING IN THE MIDDLE OF A DATE. the co-dependency here is HIGH and it’s probably unhealthy but i’m enjoying it a lot, truly.

okay so, steve says “you’ve called twice, we haven’t even ordered!” and then DANNY SAYS “if you answered my texts, i wouldn’t have to call” and that’s just ALL SO BAD. they are TERRIBLE together and that woman should probably run far away.

danny! way to build up steve’s confidence on this date by telling him his thing is awkward and messing things up, holy shit.

I’M SCREAMING. “that was danny. who i love. very much.” I AM YELLING. YES. GOOD. PREMIUM CONTENT.

just. i love “i love you”s, okay. i love them. we got one (1) in s9 at the end of 9.01, but we’re off to a good start now in 10.01, with steve telling his frigging date that he loves danny, oh my.

IT GOT WORSE. i paused like, in the middle of steve’s sentence, and then as soon as i hit play the date said “sounds like my ex” and steve says “you know, it’s funny that you say that, because it’s kind of like a marriage” and uh, hello steve, i made a gifset about that the day before yesterday, thank you for giving me an update, but also just. wtf. wtf holy shit

i. i just. this is supposedly steve on a date with a woman being all heterosexual, but it’s really an extremely mcdanno scene, like ten times more than i was prepared for, wow.

real talk though, i’m almost certain this relationship isn’t going anywhere, but this woman seems really cool!!! i love her so far.

tani is actually enjoying the opera and junior seems to be paying more attention to her than the stage and i have no idea if this is actually an officially official date between them or if they’re still “just friends”, but it’s all so cute. and then, of course, some anonymous guy shows up with a sketchy briefcase that’s inevitably going to contain weapons, but oh well, it was nice for how long it lasted.

a slightly updated intro!!! katrina law is already in it (which i like) and the new group shot is kind of crowded but really nice, but fjdkfdjkdf they chose a really awkward moment where adam is supposedly typing something on the tech table but he’s REALLY OBVIOUSLY just randomly tapping his fingers on it. that’s going to haunt me. oh dear show runners, why.

danny... says steve was blowing his date, as they arrive on the crime scene that junior and tani found, and steve says he has a second date and danny goes “you got a second date?” incredulously and almost dismayed and that just really sounds like he WANTED steve to blow it. what is this, danny, setting steve up with a pretty woman from steve’s school to test him? see if he’ll say no and fall in your arms instead, and when he doesn’t, you’re disappointed?

even the lighting in this random stairwell gun fight chase scene is kind of pretty! the blue and red? i like it.

oh NO, steve, you’re not even ten minutes into a new season and you’re chasing some suicidally parcouring bad guy across roof tops and into a jump that’s REALLY going to give danny a heart attack, jesus.

fdjkfd danny telling steve that ten years ago he would’ve made that jump? telling him he’s forty? i’m not sure if that’s kind of mean or really good, but it might be both.

plot stuff happens, but i keep getting distracted by all the grey in steve’s beard and his new, longer hair. it’s good.

i like quinn’s introduction!!! i really do, more than i’d expected. and honestly, that déjà vu thing lenkov was talking about is very faint to me, to the point where it’s mostly just there because danny says it out loud in the text and then forcibly makes it so. they’re not in steve’s garage, it’s the wrong car they’re standing next to, there are three people instead of two and there’s no “one, two, three” and showing badges, but steve yeets his badge over the windshield of the car in quinn’s direction. the similarity isn’t that strong.

danny going “i gotta follow him” about steve and “i don’t know [shrugs]” about where they’re going is beautiful.

i’m about halfway through the episode now and steve and danny have spent SO MUCH time together and it’s really good but also has me slightly worried that they’re pushing all the steve&danny content for the entire season in one episode, omg. it’s good, though. i’m happy for now.

adam is still doing yakuza stuff. i get it, because it’s the one big thing they’ve given his character, but i do get kind of tired of it. he’s supposedly out, but every time they need it for plot reasons, he still has connections somewhere that are willing to help him for whatever reason.

and then quinn shows up and pulls a gun on adam, fjdkfd. listen, i know i said i was getting tired of him doing the yakuza thing over and over, but shooting him would be a little drastic.

danny: “this is good, we’re chasing a monster truck. that’s totally normal, right?” how is it that NOW they’re both suddenly realizing their lives are kind of crazy? they weren’t crazy before, guys? guys??

HAH, the guy in the truck drives over a dozen cars. that’s ridiculous, but a lot of fun, omg.

danny, when he finds tani and quinn in the same room at hq: “oh good, you two have met.” YES. MY SENTIMENTS. except i’m perhaps a little more exuberant about it. TWO MAIN FEMALE CHARACTERS IN ONE SCENE YES GOOD I LIKE THIS. we haven’t had this since... season 4, maybe? when catherine was briefly part of the team?

oh SHIT. danny: “are you sure you’re not related to steve in any way?” okay SO. we’re all assuming quinn is steve’s new love interest, but quinn being steve’s secret half sister somehow? also nonsense, but nonsense i’d like. and i mean, they need to keep the mcgarrett family drama alive somehow, so this could be fun.

quinn: “can’t this thing go any faster? [steve looks at her weird] what?” steve: “nothing. just never had that complaint before.” that is a LIE. i know for a fact that that’s a lie, because i have a stupid amount of knowledge of h50 of the top of my head and one of the things i know is that in 8.01 tani pops up between steve and danny while she’s in the backseat of the camaro and ALSO asks if it doesn’t go any faster. i know what they’re going for here, setting quinn and steve up as equals, and i like what they’re trying to tell us about quinn as a character in theory but come on, if you’re trying to convince us steve is all impressed by this woman that you might be setting him up with romantically, at least do some continuity fact checking on your own show, guys.

anyway! i do like that it’s canon that all women in five-0 think the camaro isn’t fast enough. get wrecked, steve and danny, HA.

when steve said to the bad guy “my friend lou here is going to put some handcuffs on you” i thought at first that he said “liu”, as in quinn’s last name, and oh man, first they had tani and junior’s last names as rey and reigns, which was close enough, but now they have lou and liu, gosh.

!!! this talk between steve and quinn in front of kamekona’s?? i LIKE IT. A LOT. we get to know a little more about quinn and steve genuinely does treat her as an equal and a capable colleague and there’s nothing especially romantic about this, which is good this early on even if they’re doing that later because i do feel like it could possibly work but right now it would just be really weird and very forced and i’m just really relieved that’s the dynamic they’re going for. this, this is good.

OH BOY. “we’re breaking up with you, danny” steve says. i... wow.

FAIR THOUGH. it’s probably a REALLY GOOD idea of steve to maybe involve danny a little less in his dating life if he wants to, well, actually have one that’s viable for life, but oh GOSH. danny going “you can’t cut me out” when steve tells him this? danny is just. so interested in steve’s romantic life, damn.

tani: “mom and dad are fighting again.” fdjkfdjk YES. this time it’s not even junior saying this to eddie behind steve and danny’s back, it’s just tani saying it out loud to the entire group and nobody says anything about it so uhhh that’s accepted fact then, within the team. GOOD.

ohhhh jerry is leaving. also not a real surprise and it’s probably kind of good that the team doesn’t endlessly keep growing if quinn joins this season, but ahh, i’m sad, anyway.

GROUP HUG. i love EVERY SINGLE THING ABOUT THIS.

oh gooood, somebody put a bomb in the champ box in steve’s garage. that’s harsh.

final thoughts: i LIKED THIS. very much!!! i’m relieved about that, tbh, because at least i’m happy about the start of the season, which seems like a good sign, haha. i love quinn so far, there was REALLY GREAT mcdanno stuff in this, i love that steve is dating again, tani and junior seem to be dating, jerry is fairly healthy and happy - all around lots of good stuff.

i do kind of think that cliffhanger from last season got extremely little attention (we didn’t even see ezra hassan get arrested, and what happened to her kid? where was danny? idk it was weirdly short and quick), but it’s still possible they’re coming back to that in a later episode, idk.

#h50 #10.01 #h50 spoilers #episode rambles

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eldritchsurveys · 5 years

Text

680.

Do you or have you ever owned a cup with your name on it? >> Actually, I have two. One time there was this dude in Meijer who was doing a promotion for Guinness, and the promo was apparently... giving out custom-engraved pint glasses???? You told him your name and he had this machine that put it on the glass for you. It was weird, especially since it was free... The font that your name is in is a bit wack, though. The other thing I have is a wine glass painted with a nighttime-y scene with skeletal trees and ravens on it. It has my name painted on the stand part, along with the date of my wedding. Sparrow has one too, with her name on it. I’m not even sure where they came from, tbh, but they’re pretty.

What’s the most expensive crafts tool that you own? >> I don’t think I own any expensive crafts tools. The only things I have are, like, pencils, a sketchbook, knitting needles, and yarn.

Have you ever woven baskets of any kind (wicker, paper, cardboard etc.)? >> Maybe as a child.

How do you like Great Balls of Fire by Jerry Lee Lewis? >> It’s all right.

Speaking of Jerry Lee Lewis, have you seen the biopic about him? >> I don’t think so.

How about the biopic about Tina Turner? >> Yeah, I saw that one.

Do you like the TV-show Frasier? >> I do, it’s actually funnier to me now than when I was younger. Back then I thought it was boring but it kills me now.

What’s something you know by heart? >> A lot of song lyrics? Also, the Litany Against Fear.

What is something you’re greedy about? >> I don’t think I’m particularly greedy about anything.

How valuable does a coin have to be for you to bother to pick it up? >> I’d pick up a quarter, maybe. I’m just no longer in the financial position where picking up coins substantially enhances my available funds.

What would be something you would wait in line to get for free? >> It depends on how long the line is, what kind of mood I’m in, and where I am... not just on what the item is. If I’m in a good mood and the line seems manageable, I’d wait in it even if the item is just some random trinket that I have no real use for. If I’m not in a good mood and the line is insane, I wouldn’t wait in it even if it was for an expensive thing I’ve been wanting for ages.

Has there ever been a leak anywhere in your house? >> No.

Have you ever slipped in the shower? >> Not to the point of falling.

Have you ever made any decorative crafts? If so, are they displayed? >> Not in recent memory.

Is it very humid where you are right now? >> Nah.

What is the most suggestive thing someone has said to you? >> *shrug*

Do you have friends who you playfully flirt with? >> No.

Doesn’t the Z in the Bzoink logo look like an L to you, too? >> I mean, not really, but I see where you’re coming from.

Did you ever take that 5000 question survey that was circulating Tumblr? >> Yeah, I took it a long time ago. Once the novelty wore off, I realised that most of the questions were just terrible IMO, which is bound to happen once you endeavour to write a survey with quite that many questions.

Have you ever had to change a zipper in your favourite article of clothing? >> No.

Do you prefer buttons or zippers in general? >> Zippers.

Did you grandma have a box full of pretty buttons? >> ---

What’s the most exotic spice in your spice rack? >> Hmm... garam masala, maybe? We have a wide variety.

Do buttons tempt you to press them? >> Not usually, but sometimes.

Do you have a favourite television host? >> No.

What’s your opinion on celebrity chefs? >> I think some of them are cool and fun to watch. Alton Brown is probably my fave.

Back when it first started, did you watch ANTM? >> I think I’ve seen a season or two. I knew someone who got on it, too (Isis King).

Did you know, that there was even a Finnish version of ANTM? Miss Jay made an appearance in the first season, too. >> No, I didn’t know that, but it makes sense. There are a bunch of those shows modeled after American Idol, too, for different countries.

Are you accident prone? >> No.

Have you ever broken something really valuable? >> I accidentally broke a laptop screen once, and that was pretty damn valuable to me.

What do you see as timeless? >> ---

What is something that you own, that has sentimental value? >> Most of these plushies.

Have you ever had your own website? >> Yeah, I’ve taken stabs at it.

What’s your favourite board game? >> ---

How about your favourite card game? >> ---

What’s something that you finished recently? >> I finished watching Sparrow play through Death Stranding, lol. I’m glad it was her and not me, because I’m pretty sure that game would have made me ragequit within the first few hours, and that would have been a shame.

What’s the smallest town you recall visiting? >> I have no idea.

What’s the longest distance you’ve had to go to work or school? >> ---

Would you learn a new language, if you didn’t share one with your lover? >> Oh, like in Love Actually? I mean, I can’t imagine myself in that situation, but I thought it was cute.

Do you have friends who are constantly tagging you in challenges on FB? >> No. People who have me on facebook should know I prefer to do my actual fun socialising on here or Discord.

When it comes to chocolate, do you prefer nougat, jelly or caramel filling? >> ---

Are you more concerned about winning than just participating? >> No.

Has somebody you know taken their own life? >> No.

What is a number that has some significance to you? Why is that? >> 9. Well, there’s a lot of synchronicity.

Do you prefer onions, leeks or chives? >> I don’t think I have a preference, I’ll take all three. Onions may be the most versatile, though, so maybe those.

What’s the most adult thing you have to do every day? >> I don’t think I have to do any adult thing every day. Maybe feeding myself is an adult thing? Although teenagers and even kids do that too.

What’s the most immature thing you like to do every day? >> ---

Have you seen the movie, Clue? If so, isn’t it fab? >> No, but I’ve seen some funny gifsets that make me think it’d probably be a good time. I might give it a shot if I run into it on a streaming service one day.

Do your cheeks get flushed easily? Do you blush easily in general? >> No, I’ve never felt that feeling.

Are there any social cues you miss entirely? >> Oh, definitely.

When someone doesn’t smile back at you, what’s your first thought? >> They probably didn’t want to, and that’s okay. I don’t always want to smile at everyone who smiles at me, either, and it shouldn’t be a mark against my character just because I don’t smile at a stranger. But, you know, whatever. Any stranger that takes that much offense at me not smiling at them probably wouldn’t get along with me for very long anyway, so it’s a useful social litmus test in the end.

Is there a person who melts your heart just by looking at you? >> No. Well, maybe Can Calah sometimes.

Have you ever had tom kha kai? It’s a Thai coconut soup, and it’s amazing. We serve it at work. >> No, but I’d definitely try it.

Have you, or anyone you know ever been rude to a server? >> I’ve never had the experience of having to watch someone I’m with be rude to a server and I am so glad for that.

What’s something you’re opinionated and very vocal about? When’s the last time you had to verbally defend your stance? >> I don’t know. I don’t really defend any stance of mine, I just put it out there sometimes if I feel like rambling about it and then leave it alone. Arguing with people about shit that ultimately really don’t matter is a waste of my valuable energy.

Have you ever played BitLife? I sort of got hooked on it, it’s like sims but in text form. >> No. I quite like the graphical form of The Sims, so I’ll stick to that.

What’s something you regularly order online? >> CBD.

When’s the last time you made a penpal? >> I’ve never had one.

Do you often make friends online? >> I make a lot of acquaintances online. Friends are far fewer.

Do people ever try to get something from somebody through you? As in, they ask you to ask the person they should be asking in the first place. If that makes sense. >> No. Which is good, because I wouldn’t do it.

What do you think when you see a couple holding hands? >> Nothing???

Is there anything you’re forced to share with someone else? >> No.

What’s something stripy that you own? >> I have a black-and-royal-blue striped robe with the Ravenclaw logo on the back.

How about something polka dotted? >> Nothing.

What is something you find absolutely appalling? >> Some people’s utterly disrespectful behaviour on this website.

Do you like elevators? >> I mean, they’re fine. I don’t dislike them.

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when I say “midnight madness”? >> Like... premieres? Or book releases? Or something like that. I have a vague association but I can’t remember exactly where it comes from.

What is a country you would never want to visit? >> ---

When you’re angry, does it ever get physical? >> Well, yeah, but not necessarily towards someone else.

What do you do, when you’re immensely happy? >> It depends on how I feel like expressing it at the time? Sometimes I don’t express it much at all, and sometimes I literally jump around the room.

What made you scream out loud the last time you screamed? >> ---

Can you hear your neighbours through the wall? >> Sometimes.

What is something that frustrates you to no end? >> Noise.

Do you wear shoes indoors? >> Absolutely not.

Who is your favourite stand-up comedian? >> Bo Burnham, Dylan Moran, and in general I’m fond of how Tiffany Haddish presents as a person and performer.

What’s the weirdest video youtube has suggested to you? >> It doesn’t usually suggest me anything weird.

What’s the funniest infomercial you’ve seen? >> ---

Is there a drink that just goes right through you? >> I don’t feel that way about any drink, no.

Is there a food item you can’t eat because it doesn’t agree with you? >> Not that I’ve encountered.

Do you playfully compete with someone about something? >> No.

Would you rather swim or run? >> I can’t swim, so my options are a little limited here.

Do you like the smell of tar? >> Sometimes, yeah.

Have you ever been to a sauna? >> No. I couldn’t last two minutes in a sauna.

Does your doorbell ring unexpectedly often? >> Not often, but sometimes people will ring multiple apartments trying to get into the building, which is fucking irritating.

Is your favourite fictional character a human, an animal or something else? >> I am my favourite fictional character. /facetious

Have you ever helped a stranger? If so, what did you do? >> I mean, sure. Just simple stuff, like picking up something they’ve dropped or letting them know they’ve left their key in the apartment door or dropping their mail off when it gets mistakenly put into my box.

Do you share hobbies with any of your friends? What do you do together? >> ---

Do you have any flags on display? If so, what flag(s)? >> I don’t. Sparrow has a rainbow flag with a peace sign in the middle on her wall.

#surveys #survey #random survey

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incarnateirony · 6 years

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The Problem with DreamHunter...

Is that there is no problem with DreamHunter.

You're probably like "wait, what?" So let me clarify: This is absolutely not a Dreamhunter!Critical post. In fact, I have a lot of accolades for DreamHunter. I'll address a few complaints I've read from a surly, never-happy swath of stan twitter, but this post isn't actually about that - it's about a pervasive cultural issue involving coded phobia and how Bobo Fucking Berens showed his level of quantum literary and social brainfunction to do everything from canonize an LGBT ship to run a far deeper and more exposing social experiment on the fandom at large.

We've all seen the gif sets. I can't find the video in my vat of poorly maintained blog, but I'm sure someone else could, wherein Bobo on Twitch was talking about being ecstatic over us seeing what he wanted us to see. To the fandom that keeps their ears open, none of DreamHunter's premise is new to us. The only new thing was a certain confirmation, "First love strikes quick."

First, to the part that is NOT the point of the post, but I feel needs addressed before people start yelling at me:

Now, this has opened up a floodgate of hard-end-stan-twitter complaining like "Oh so they didn't just kill a WOC but a queer WOC and then after-texted it?" Well, no, fam. They were setting up a queer romance of the century with her dream half and potential return to the self while facing the darkest parts of challenging the self and deleting our weaknesses, and maybe even going so far as to make a statement of self imposed biases. Wayward just wasn't picked up so they've had to funnel and condense the concept in other ways. Dark Kaia wanting to target Claire after seeing what she meant to Kaia isn't an arbitrary and random sentiment. But arguing literary romantic value with stan twitter is like arguing algebra with an ill-behaved goose, so that's as far as I'm going to take that explanation beyond "y'all are often our biggest enemies on content."

Now then... to the actual point of the post:

I've mentioned it before, but it really deserves its own rebloggable master post not attached to some overlong thread, and able to be brought into fuller scope. The problem with DreamHunter is almost nonexistent. In fact, the simple fact is: with a line that simple, it was universally accepted as a truth, whether people are screaming about tropes they want to read in the worst light before the romantic element ever got a chance to get its feet under it. Nobody's out there saying it doesn't exist. Nobody's out there downtalking that line.

THAT is the problem with DreamHunter - that there is no problem with DreamHunter. And by that, I don't mean to say we should have a problem with DreamHunter. It's that DreamHunter reveals a hugely systemic coded bias in our culture.

And honestly, I think Berens did that on purpose.

There’s a certain level of coy battle in acceptance going on. First of all, people naturally seem to accept F/F before M/M due to a bunch of cultural reasons. Mostly because F/F has been convenient to publicly fetishize while M/M freaks out dudebros that are really uncertain about themselves, so for a longer time, GA has been exposed to and accepting F/F. And I think of anyone out there, My Big Gay Author King Berens is going to understand that.

WLW still has its own stigmas, I'm not saying it doesn't, but acting like resistance to it is on any cultural coding level parallel to the stigma against MLM is a weird display of intersectional privilege and lack of awareness.

Acting like it’s coincidence that they monkey-stomp packed as many identical lines and scene arrangements into all of one episode as possible, then dropped a bomb like that episode two, is silly. We know exactly what he’s after – hell, he said he was ecstatic we saw what he wanted us to see. So the real question is, why is it that “first love strikes quick” is taken without argument from the GA but a thousand up-nods for the M/M pairing with the same content – and TBH, far far far more that could never be packed into a single episode – has people take lines like “attached at the everything” and immediately have a portion of the audience start laughing, despite the surrounding substance around it?

Destiel fandom read into yet-again heaven and hell believing DeanCas are an item; antis decided it was an insult to “annoy” them. Even the angel in the past threatening to gouge Cas’ genitals over it. Because that’s what I do when I don’t believe it but am a religious zealot. Threaten to cut dicks off to annoy people. But somehow, it’s far easier to negotiate, to these people, that the male queer coded content is a punchline, rather than either a genuine or perceived truth. Antis choose to interpret MLM as a punchline. It’s that simple. No amount of surrounding content or story thematics can convince them otherwise.

The same substance they monkey stomped, condensed, and largely stripped down for time limitations, into DreamHunter?

I’ll give a hint: it’s the same cultural stigma that – which late night show was it, where they started playing well-edited slash videos and the audience started laughing despite it being well timed and edited? It’s that. It’s the same thing that made Ateo unable to play queer roles in the industry as being “not believably gay” despite being a gay man himself, until the Hunter Husbands. It’s a horrific stigma that the audience has been coded to bite and gnash back against M/M content unfairly to the queer male audience and it’s gross, but it’s just there, sort of in the collective mind.

I absolutely don’t think Berens, of all fucking people, is unaware of this. And I see what he did as a really, really fucking coy set of actions beneath already masterful writing.

Berens knows exactly what he’s fucking doing and has basically coded a social experiment into the show that betrays people’s biases against M/M queer pairings while allowing the saturation (largely by fetishization) of F/F pairings to do the heavy lifting for him. Nobody out here yelling that Jody could be wrong about it or that “we didn’t see a kiss so it didn’t happen LOL they’re just in a sismance” – it is what it is. And here we are.

So on a social level I am fucking fascinated to see where he takes this next.

Berens has come out swinging for the queer male community whether anybody wants to accept it or not. Which is, modernly, by our demographics, at least an equal if not the greatest portion of our primary male demographic of viewers for the show. And I'm not just talking about the fandom census. I'm talking about Nielsen's demographics shift on gender since season 10, and general Kinsey-scale-esque testing of the true target demo at large in the US. Our ads count 18-49. CW targets 18-34.

Following the work of Berens within Supernatural will give you a very blatant papertrail. It started in deeply layered subtext; his first episode Carver directed Misha to play Cas as a Jilted Lover; after that, he took Robbie's work on Cain and manifest the Colette parallel coded into our story; he chose to take Dabb's Dean-speech from 12.1 and turn it into our coffee-Mixtape-Win spree that other authors shed from their pen in his wake, just like later in season 10 people continued his Colette grind. Berens has been an internal motion for the legitimization of truly structured and admittedly intentful elements of Destiel in the show. And people can scream that they don't like or see it all they want, but it's right there -- and with DreamHunter, it was What He Wanted Us To See.

It's grossly disingenuous activism to try to accuse SPN's first overtly queer author of queerbait while internally shifting the motions of our author room mechanics towards genuinely structured and intentful romance-skewed storytelling, whether it remains subtextual or not. Especially as that author continues to throw wrench upon wrench upon wrench into the no homo gears in ways the GA is perpetually exposed to and spun into having to think about. An eternal negotiation of poignantly delivered lines that catches even the most resistant ears and at least plants a seed in their mind about something else. A true normalization of it as a potential element to the story.

The same sort of normalization hyper-condensed into DreamHunter, but as per the above discussion, far more readily accepted. I have literally heard, from people who argued the "bromance, I'm not entirely convinced" on Destiel, that DreamHunter had been "obvious" to them and the "first love strikes quick" wasn't even necessary, because everybody knew. Cue me sending simple gifsets and script line side by sides and blowing their brains because suddenly their entire world scope just got bent sideways in -- why do I accept the one while I negotiate away the other?

Well, I covered why, above.

The problem with DreamHunter, I repeat, is that there is no problem with DreamHunter. People accept and see that it exists, without argument, even going so far as to label it "obvious" from a single episode, of a highly condensed version of only a fraction of the moments of another queer-coded duo in the show, but simply with culturally differing gender dynamics.

The concern troll of "bromance" or "why not let men be close" dies here. The idea of a bromance is letting two men have a friendship with the form of openness platonic female friends can have. That's fine, that's great. Dean-Benny would be a great example of this, and even then we once again had the offset of Dean-Cas to show different operations. I might even say Dean-Sam as an idea of that, but I don't think "bromance" is necessarily needed since brothers natively have a different sort of dynamic from growing up together. But once you are going out of your way to dismiss elements that we accept in hetero pairings with a laissez-faire “duh”, or even WLW scenarios as “it’s so obvious”, because it's MLM, we have left the area of "bromance" and "why not just let men be close without making it gay" and into “I am negotiating this away due to some sort of coded unwillingness to accept it, perhaps subconsciously, even if I consciously consider myself an ally.”

And that's the true masterpiece of this social experiment Bobo planted in the Supernatural universe with DreamHunter.

The world is grossly unfair and tilted in remaining cultural stigmas about queer males after ages of repressing them to limited niche capacities and stereotypes so strong that masculine gay men couldn’t even get cast in roles as gay men, where the world reads queer men as a punch line rather than a “duh” or “it’s so obvious” or “it’s just right there”, and DreamHunter is a walking fucking social experiment putzing around in Supernatural universe that gives no choice but to pick a side of the fence once you’re aware of these things.

Whether or not it’s physically consummated does not make it not-romantic. Being queer isn’t just about sex. It’s about feelings. And yes, we want our feelings to lead somewhere, and they deserve to lead somewhere, but is Jody acknowledging Claire’s “first love” now what suddenly makes it romantic, or is it the motions, the stories, and the feelings that preceded those lines, even though they never kissed and all hand-holding could be negotiated away the same way we can negotiate away our canon touches for two very emotionally involved men? “She was just leading her through the gate because she was scared,” “she was just consoling her as she died.” See how easy that is? But we won’t do that. And now, frankly anybody that does looks like a jackass.

So why, oh why, is this treated with ambiguity? This is a canon statement of “this relationship is being in love.” It was young love - it struck quick, in only an episode - but it was love. But name an element DreamHunter has to define that love that Destiel doesn’t? If you bend over backwards and try for the handholding, I can raise you hundreds of moments of intimate style contact. Try again.

Canon just confirmed what we already knew -- that Destiel is romantic. That there is love there. And not the kind of love we dismiss as Bros. Bobo just did that. Because every element of their relationship exists in Destiel, and a hundred times more. But it was first love. Dreamhunter was young love that came quickly, and not a single soul argued. Destiel is the same showcase of love, older, more matured, grown over years with dozens more moments of contact and display -- but in the very least, those moments -- those ones lived through DreamHunter in parallel -- that’s love. Canon literally just painted those sparse, compacted down elements, these behaviors we’ve seen, these moments, as coded romantic and in love. If you take nothing else from that -- take that. The elements that build Destiel are canonically romantic, when within DreamHunter and the question is -- without any physical affirmations or DreamHunter on screen, why is it romantic to them and not to Destiel? Why do we even humor this as a discussion, though we expect it, and what does this say of the coded phobias in fandom that we even have to expect it?

Dean and Cas haven’t kissed or dual-confessed to it in public, but you know... neither did DreamHunter. Unless of course we don’t talk down the timely placement of Need Yous and Love Yous and Big Wins and whatever else like people insist on doing with the MLM arrangement. Nobody’s talking down Jody’s third person “first love,” because we know better, and there’s not a mix of MLM and ship warring in play with DreamHunter. Bromance ends at the same line platonic female friendships end. Everyone accepts that DreamHunter is not platonic. Even without ceasing previous negotiations around poignant DeanCas lines, DreamHunter has established the romantic and loving engagements in retrograde. Canon has literally confirmed -- this relationship is romantic and in love.

And until this post, not a single person has tried to argue it down as Just Young Sis Love. Because we all know. Just like, deep down, everybody knows it about the mothership, some just don’t want to accept it. For whatever reason, subconscious or otherwise. I’ll laugh if the same antis that just tried to blind parallel it to W*ncest as a proof of love, while disconnected from the very origins and confirmations of DreamHunter, suddenly start rambling that doesn’t make DreamHunter canon either once this post gets around.

Berens is a fucking master ISTG.

I mean, I guess you’re free to celebrate any network level blockades going on right now while Bobo does Big Queer Fatal Combat from within, but allow me to celebrate DreamHunter whether or not we get consummation for Destiel, an MLM-scenario ship that has to deal with entirely other stigmas on a network primarily run by a bunch of old dudes. This is there. This will never be taken away. And cheering any blockades being run against MLM content with blatant intent does not make you the gr8 person here, m8.

This post is probably gonna have a low level of spread because it’s also something that forces even Destiel fandom to negotiate with themselves too -- how many lines and moments and whatever-else have we negotiated down, talked around, and chosen to interpret in the most left field way as if arguing ourselves from the position of an anti, only to get crack slapped across the jaw in this? How many have yelled queerbait without really observing what Bobo has been doing from within, how many have to face-or-deny the unfair queerbait shouting? How many hold-outs are we putting up, ourselves, because it isn’t the type or level of confirmation we want; we’re sitting here waiting for a bigger more dramatic reveal than a third person statement like that, or what-have-you, but when it’s not “our ship” that we are eternally defending from antis, and not a ship being targeted due to a mix of ship warring and MLM social issues, this is fine? And why is it okay when it’s not The Mothership and we totes accept it for DreamHunter canonization but we’re still talking circles around DeanCas like we’re our own antis? Why do we let anti-dom spin everyone’s head up in such knots that the majority expect Dabberens to live in stan twitter, abandon narrative properties and quality, and have Sam walk in on something while they profess their love and walk away with pictures as hard sealed photographic evidence when that isn’t expected of literally anybody else?

Can anybody tell me why Bobo Bookends Berens, who penned Cain -- Dean’s kindred spirit and fated path parallel -- calling out -- as confirmed -- that Castiel was his Colette, his wife, the love of his life that knew who he was, and what he was, that loved him unconditionally, forgave him, and only asked for him to stop -- a third person perspective -- has a third person, offscreen confirmation of the same sort, with far less plot weaving, taken universally as canon without the play of shifting goalposts via MLM social stigmas and/or ship warring stan twitter getting up in everybody’s heads?

Cuz it’s the same dude, guys. Same pen. A moment nobody even dismissed or TRIED to heckle out. If we just want to go third person while dropping punchline perception, we have everything from The Angel In The Dirty Trenchcoat Who’s In Love With You to Attached At The Everything. Y’all really think Bobo Berens is out here using his own sexuality as a tool and a punchline to be laughed at though? Bobo, “I protest human trafficing and ICE engagements front line in the body walls while people are being arrested” Berens? That guy?

You’re gonna go out of his way that hard to miss the point just because you have phobic asshats on twitter, and/or asshole haters with “opposite ships” on twitter, or it’s just not the kind YOU wanted to see for Destiel, even if it’s enough for you to take it as canon in DreamHunter, when you already Been Had It for Destiel?

Meh. So many problems with DreamHunter, in there not being any problems with DreamHunter.

All Dabberens. Every Dreamhunter moment was a Dabb or Berens written previous Destiel moment. The meaningful third party line from Jody was Berens. Just like the meaningful third party line in Executioner’s song, also by Berens. Not just a random jab - someone who knew them inside and out. And that - people will take that as canon, again, when there’s no rival ships or MLM phobias in play. Every inch of Dreamhunter (and far, far more) existed in Destiel, by the same authors, porting the same concepts across, piece by piece, and like magic, nobody protested.

And if you’re protesting, or worse if you hilariously ship Dreamhunter but reject Destiel, despite -- I dunno -- Bobo’s own book reviews on issues like queerphobia and intersectional issues -- you may want to introspect on the real reason you’re denying it.

Because that, my friends, is a strictly personal problem.

#supernatural #lgbt #destiel #dreamhunter #bobo berens #mine

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siiinfvl · 5 years

Text

ooc. mic test. hello. anybody home ?? is this working ??

HI !!! i know, i know. some of you are either going, ‘ who tf is this potato ?? ’ or ‘ huh. didn’t know she was still alive. ’ or don’t care at all. but surprise !!! i am actually still alive.

i’m aware that it’s been about half a year, or maybe more, since the last time i have properly been here. and considering that i didn’t really post a hiatus notice, it just seems like i dropped off the face of the earth and would never be coming back. but to those who are wondering, bless your souls, you wonderful, caring people. i am still here. i do still lurk around, like some stuff, check out what’s been going on while i was gone.

basically, like always, i’ve just been very busy with work. nothing new, i know. but recently, in the past two months, i have been missing writing here. don’t get me wrong, i’ve never stopped writing and never really disconnected with my muse. i’ve mostly been on discord, mainly writing with @shewassoferal. and even sometimes opening a word document to write some back stories or simple paragraphs from prompts, all for grant ward.

but, like i said, i have been missing writing here. or even just being here in general. that being said, i am on the verge of a decision. this blog, as of today, is officially being REVAMPED. now, what happens after the revamp, what you will see after the revamp, i still have not decided yet. and if anyone would put their two cents in, i’d really, really, really appreciate it very much as it would help me make my decision.

there are three ways this could go, and here they are:

OPTION 001. i can revamp the page. remodel the theme, revisit my tags, update all the character pages, such as the verses, the biography page and whatnot, all to have a fresh feel to the blog in order to help this restart take off.

post-revamp will then include rechecking all the memes on my inbox and working on them. i am well aware i have maybe half a hundred various items in my inbox raging from random starters or memes sent by you guys that i owe you. basically, what happens after revamp is that i’ll have to drop the ongoing threads as just thinking about them is already pressuring me a lot. for those who have a running thread with me and would like to continue, please let me know and we can maybe start a new thread along that same timeline and plot line, so we can keep interacting. now all those open starters and memes that i have yet to respond to, i will write those. since i have not posted those before, they still have a pretty solid fresh feel to me, even though they’ve been there for about half a year. again, my apologies on that, you guys. you know i love you and i really appreciate the stuff you write for me. life has just been hard recently.

bottomline is that option one means i’ll do a sweep of old stuff, keep working on what feels new, and go back to what this blog was half a year ago, before my unannounced hiatus.

OPTION 002. this one entails that the blog will become a database blog. what does that mean ?? it means i’d revamp the whole page, complete all character pages that give information about the muse. update the verses, rules, bio, tag pages.

and with that completed, my roleplaying will be moved to discord. i’m not sure if you guys still write there, but i do. and if anyone wants to write with me there, we can. does that mean this blog will be dead ?? no. i would still be posting here. back stories, metas, gifsets and photosets will still be posted here. i will still be posting memes as well, and if we haven’t plotted or interacted before, you’re free to send a meme, so we can check the dynamic between our muses, and we can plot based off of that. and once it’s all fleshed out, i’d probably ask if we could move it over to discord. of course, you can say no. if it’s more advisable for you to be here, i can be here.

basically, this option just means that there will be less activity here than option one as most activity will be on discord.

OPTION 003. now, this one is a bit heavier. i do understand that it’s been a long time since i have been here. a lot of the people i used to interact with might have even left already. the muse hasn’t been on the show for three seasons now, and just fyi, i am no longer watching the show. apart from that, i know that there are, at least, a couple of other grant ward blogs that have remained active while i was gone. beautifully-written, beautifully-shaped grant ward muses that i hearteye every time i see on my dash. this means that my heart is at ease in the fact that the character is still getting the love and the understanding he deserves that, sadly enough, the show did not give him. i am at ease in the fact that there are still amazing writers out there that are lending voice to this character that we did not get to hear the real voice of in the show.

with that said, option three entails that this blog will no longer participate in roleplaying. does this mean this blog will die or be deleted ?? hell, no. i still love the muse and the character and the actor too much to do that. so what’s gonna happen is that there will be no roleplaying, but any metas, gifsets, photosets will still be posted here. considering that i also still have a lot of ideas in mind that i’d like to write in order to expand on grant’s PHOENIX verse ( which is his main verse, where he put up his fake hydra to destroy it from the inside and made it his own organization once hydra has been fully destroyed --------- all in the name of his definition of closure. for kara, and himself ) and depending on how things go, i might even put up a separate blog for PHOENIX. you guys have no idea how big that world has become in my head despite not getting to post about it much here. @shewassoferal can, once again, attest to that. you might see some fanfics being posted as well.

so, all in all, while i might say goodbye to the world of roleplaying on this blog, you still will not be saying goodbye to me permanently. awwww. i will still be around, and if you wanna write something together, maybe collab on something, i’m just here, you can let me know, and we’ll work it out.

that’s the dilemma i’m on right now. i have not decided which track this blog is going to take. mainly because while i want to go one way, i’m not sure if it’s even possible because, like i said, i do understand that i have been absent for a long time and people might not even want to write with me anymore. so i need your help in deciding. i need to know where this blog stands, and i need your assistance.

in case i don’t receive any response, the default will be the third option. but if you still want to write with me, and one of the first two options appeal to you, then you can let me know, and i’ll work on it right away.

each and every one of your opinions matter to me. so if there’s even just one person that chose either one of the first two options, the third one is already out of the running, which means i’ll be back. the decision between options 1 and 2 will then be decided based on how many people are willing to do it with me.

thank you very much if you’ve reached this part. i appreciate you reading all of it. you are a rockstar !!!

#* * / / offline ( ooc )#( and now i sit here #unsure if it's the right hour to be posting this #if people are even still awake #but eh #at least i'm getting this out of the way #i have been procrastinating for so long #no matter the outcome #at least i have a decision #the ever indecisive me #will have a decision #that's such an accomplishment u guys #u don't even know #but anyway #***kisses*** )

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softjeon · 6 years

Text

Cinnamon and fairy dust | Pt. 3

• Pairing: elf!Jungkook x Taehyung • Genre: Fluff (with a little bit of angst) | elf!AU ( → Gifset Trailer) • Words: 7,5k | Co-Writer: Cat @cassiavioletblue ↳ (AO3) • Disclaimer: mentioning of violence / smut

↳ There are no things such as fairy tales, magical reindeers that could fly, fairies and Christmas elves - at least Taehyung believed so. But everything was about to change, when Jungkook offered him shelter from a snowstorm and a sweet, hot cocoa, wondering about the boy who hated Christmas so much. Nothing that a bit of fairy dust couldn’t fix, right?

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Taehyung groaned, feeling somehow hovering over him as he opened his eyes. His vision was blurry, the memory of what had happened coming back to him just slowly. Reaching out for the person in front of him, he grabbed Jungkook by his shirt, accidentally pulling him a little closer.

Jungkook made a surprised little squealing sound, placing his palms right and left from Tae on the floor to keep himself from being pulled down completely. Tae still seemed pretty out of it and Jungkook simply stared at him, with his impossibly wide does-like eyes, hoping that Taehyung would come back to his senses soon - and that Yoongi’s fairy dust had been activated later so that Tae wouldn’t remember anything now except that he had invited Jungkook to the Christmas market.

Tae looked up at Jungkook, groaning when he felt the piercing pain in the back of his head again. “Did…did I faint…again?” Taehyung mumbled, still not letting go of Jungkook, “What…what happened?” Gazing into Jungkook’s eyes, he was still holding onto the younger’s shirt. They were so close to each other and suddenly Taehyung’s heart was beating fast and he avoided Jungkook’s gaze.

Trying to look somewhere else, Taehyung was recollecting and suddenly his eyes grew wide. He had seen Jungkook’s friend turn from a little fairy into a human…with wings. Right in front of him. And he had thrown fairy dust at him. He still couldn’t figure out why and for what reason, but just as he wanted to ask Jungkook about it, Taehyung noticed something.

“Yeah, you kind of fainted again. You were probably still dizzy…and …ha…hallucinating...” Jungkook was sweating. Yoongi had told him to fix this so that’s what he would do. He tried to steal himself internally and lie or be persuasive and manipulative - or whatever else he needed to be. The only downside was that Taehyung didn't even seem to listen to him, instead he was staring somewhere below his temple…

Tae had never been so close to the younger, his long, curly hair, always hiding his ears but now Taehyung could see them perfectly. Taehyung held his breath, slowly reaching out for the younger. Jungkook swallowed hard, completely blank of what to do now.

“Jungkook,” He breathed out, “This…you…” His eyes were flickering back and forth between his eyes and the pointy ears as he cupped Jungkook’s cheek softly. Carefully, Taehyung let his hand wander up to the ear. It was absolutely breathtaking, and Taehyung was marveling at the beauty, “Are you…”

Jungkook’s eyes grew wide in shock when he realized what Tae was about to do and what he was reaching for. He was unable to react, body trembling helplessly as Tae’s fingers inched closer to his ear. “N…no, please...don't.”

Taehyung stopped what he was doing right away, looking at Jungkook worriedly. His heart was beating fast against his chest and he still felt a little dizzy, as he let his hand fall down Jungkook’s neck and further away from his ears. Nonetheless he had seen them. “Jungkook…are you a…fairy, too?” He asked a little too breathless.

Jungkook mind went into overdrive immediately. Tae wasn't carefully asking or doubting his own eyes as he should as a human, instead he seemed pretty damn sure of what he had seen which meant that there was no way for Jungkook to make him believe what he had seen was just a side effect of his dizziness. But he couldn't just give up, their lives, their existences were at stake here, he had to at least try! ”Wha... what are you talking about? I’m not a fairy Fairies don’t...they don't exist!”

Taehyung sat up a little more, reaching out for Jungkook’s arm to steady himself. He was gazing deep into Jungkook’s eyes with furrowed brows, biting his lip anxiously.

“But…your friend…I’ve seen it…,” Taehyung said and shook his head, “I’m not going crazy Jungkook. You have seen the wings! And your ears…they are…” Wanting to reach out, Taehyung cupped the younger’s cheek again to keep him close to him. Slowly and very carefully, he pushed a few strands of hair behind Jungkook’s ear, brushing it lightly, “It’s true…what they say…there were fairies with you in the forest, too. The forest…” Taehyung looked at Jungkook with wide eyes, when the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. All of the stories were true. Maybe not the scary and bloody parts but the one’s about magical creatures.

“No! No, that was just... your medication...the meds...the side effects of your pain medication. There were no wings, no dust, nothing magical at all! “ His voice died out into a pathetic whimper when Taehyung brushed the tip of his ear. “It’s...it’s just an ugly deformation, it’s nothing inhuman, it doesn’t mean anything! I’m not... I can’t…” He shuddered again, too aware of the fact that he was alone with Tae right now, Yoongi needed to warn the other fairies right away about someone knowing so they were prepared if someone came for them, he totally understood that, but still…he was alone…all alone...and Tae knew! He tried to inch away from Tae, fear evident in his eyes. “Please don’t hurt me!” His voice was barely a whisper but still full of horror.

“It’s not…ugly,” Taehyung shook his head, not really understanding why Jungkook was so afraid. The younger was practically shaking and he wasn’t sure how to make him feel better. “I won’t…I don’t want to hurt you…,” He took his hand away from Jungkook, realizing that he was the one scaring him. The second he had let go, Jungkook jumped away from him, looking at him in panic and fear.

Taehyung wasn't threatening him at all but Jungkook still started crying. He had been supposed to make it better, not worse. He had more or less told Tae that his suspicion were true with how he had reacted to him. Yoongi would be so disappointed in him.

“He…hey,” Taehyung said in a calm voice, “I...I don’t want to hurt you. Jungkook…please, what’s going on here? What happened in the forest? Are there more of you?” He took a step closer towards Jungkook, his hands still where the other could see them.

Jungkook just shook his head, promising to himself to not tell a single word about the fairies to not risk them further. It could all be a trick. Or maybe the curiosity would need a little while to develop in Tae. But when he realized how much money and fame he could get if he capture even a single one of them he might just react how most people did; with greed and cruelty.

“Jungkook…,” Taehyung was saying his name so softly, wanting to reach for him but he wasn’t sure if the younger would let him. He seemed awfully lost in his own mind, tears falling down his cheeks. “I didn’t want to make you cry…or scared. I’m sorry,” Taehyung apologized, trying to make Jungkook look at him. “Please, tell me what’s going on…maybe I can…I don’t know,” He was getting frustrated and his head was pounding, while Jungkook looked like he was ready to bolt out on him. “Maybe I can help you,” Taehyung finished lamely, before looking at Jungkook with sad eyes, taking another step closer to him.

That one step was a step too much.

The second Tae came closer Jungkook's tension just snapped and he turned, pushing the door open recklessly and running out into the night. He left everything behind, his stuff, the bakery, everything he owned. But this way it was safer. He would get Yoongi and the fairies and even though Yoongi would be sad because he had loved his home here it was better being lost and homeless than dead or dissected or being some kind of scientific lab rat.

All the stories about humans and their cruelty pushed to the surface of his mind while he ran, about kids ripping out fairy wings for fun, about women expecting the fairies to fulfill their wishes, keeping them in a jar and getting angry when they couldn't work the magic they wanted, letting them suffocate in there, about men seeing their beauty and wanting to either own or destroy them...he pressed a hand against his ear, feeling the phantom pain of a cut. When he finally reached Yoongi he was completely out of it.

Taehyung had called after Jungkook, watching him run away from him…again. At first Taehyung thought about running after him, but then he discarded his thought. Jungkook had feared him. Immensely. Though he didn’t understand why, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to run after him right now. Instead Taehyung sighed deeply and closed the door of the bakery behind him, testing if it was really closed. What a night it had been.

When Jungkook finally stopped in front of Yoongi he was both relieved and utterly ashamed. He longed for the safety of Yoongi's embrace but feared the disappointment in his eyes.

Yoongi soared down, right in front of Jungkook’s face, the second the younger was in the forest again.

“I hope you took care of the human?” Yoongi asked with his arms crossed in front of his chest, “Because I am telling you one thing right now. We’re not leaving this forest. No! You want to be old enough? An adult? Then fix this!” When Yoongi saw the tears on Jungkook’s cheeks though, he quickly turned himself into human-size again, pulling the boy closer into his embrace, despite his anger.

“I’m… I’m sorry, I couldn't… I swear I tried, I really… he knows. Everything! He said he wouldn't hurt me or…but what if he’ll come after me? He knows where you all live! I’m sorry Yoongi, I’m so very sorry!” Yoongi caressed over Jungkook’s hair, soothing the younger. “C’mon, let’s get somewhere more…excluded so…the others don’t hear,” Yoongi said and pulled Jungkook off him a little, dragging him along by his hand, “I don’t want them to panic.”

The fairy pushed Jungkook down to sit on a tree stump, not caring if the snow was wetting Jungkook’s clothes. Wiping over his cheeks, Yoongi smiled faintly, “Well…either way, you…or we have to fix this. I don’t know what to do…” He sighed deeply, raking his hand through his hair as he walked up and down to get rid of the tension. “Why didn’t my magic work? It always works?” He asked Jungkook, stopping in front of the younger again.

Jungkook swallowed down his tears, trying to be rational and not the emotional mess he was right now. It only worked partly.

“Maybe he’s immune to it? Humans can have the strangest allergies - and also immunities. Maybe that’s his? Immunity to fairy dust?” What a completely messy case of bad luck that would be! Jungkook leaned his head against Yoongi’s shoulder trying to soak up the comfort like a sponge. He was so glad that Yoongi hadn’t yelled at him. He had no idea where the fairy got his optimism from, but he was willing to do whatever was necessary so that the fairies could stay in their tree.

Yoongi turned a little, cupping Jungkook’s cheeks to make the younger look at him. His expression gotten a lot more serious. “He doesn’t live here, right? He must go home sooner or later…so we just have to stay calm. I’ll stay in the forest and you…just keep to yourself…just like you did before,” Yoongi said, before his voice got more serious. The fairy took a deep breath, asking Jungkook carefully, “Tell me in all honesty…and please, listen to your instincts here…do you think, really think that Taehyung will hurt any of us?”

Jungkook just looked at him, the inner conflict obviously raging behind his eyes. “I... I don't know! I… My heart says no but I always see the good in people and that had proved to be the wrong approach before. However, if he had wanted to hurt me he could have just overpowered me in the kitchen, right on that floor and then do whatever to me. Instead he was… nice. Gentle. Do you… do you think we can trust him?”

The fairy shrugged his shoulder. “All I know is, that it doesn’t make sense to me,” He ruffled through Jungkook’s hair lovingly, pulling the younger closer, “He could have said something in the forest already…and he didn’t. He was more concerned about me being your boyfriend than anything else.” Yoongi rolled his eyes in annoyance at the thought. “Anyways, I think it’s best if you just keep to yourself for a while…just until he’s gone. If…if something happens before…then I’ll be there, okay?” He caressed over Jungkook’s arm sweetly.

“Yeah, okay.” Jungkook looked up at Yoongi, completely trusting. Yoongi was something like an older brother to him, someone strong and protective but also warm and loving. Without him he would be pretty much lost. The thought of running into Taehyung was both terrifying and exciting because he didn’t know how the other would react or how he would cope with this - but never seeing Tae again seemed like a horrible dull and lonely life.

On the other side of town, Taehyung was biting his lip deep in thought, his hands wrapped around a warm cup of coffee while he mindlessly watched his mother walk around the kitchen before she retreated to her bedroom. She had wondered where he had been and why he had a bruise on his head. He quickly had to come up with a lie, as telling her that he might have seen a fairy and that’s why he had fainted twice tonight wasn’t really a good excuse.

No matter what he did, though, Taehyung couldn’t stop thinking about Jungkook. He was worried about the younger. Why did he run away from him? Was he scared that Taehyung could hurt him? Or tell anyone what he was? But Taehyung didn’t even know himself. It made absolutely no sense to him. The pointy ears. The fairy that Jungkook called his friend.

The headache was only getting worse and Taehyung set his mind on confronting the young baker the next day. He owed him at least a few explanations, right?

Unluckily for Taehyung though, Jungkook didn’t open the bakery the next day. And even when he went around the shop, knocking on the window and peeking inside he couldn’t see the younger anywhere. He called out for the younger, thinking that if he was hiding, that maybe he could hear him and come out.

“Jungkook, please talk to me!” He said and knocked again, “I’m so sorry for what happened last night. I really am. I didn’t want to scare you and…and if you don’t want to see me again…” His heart was aching out of a sudden and Taehyung feared that Jungkook wanted exactly that. What if Jungkook was gone? For good? And he would never see him again? Cursing under his breath, he kicked against the sidewalk almost slipping on the snow. Why was he so invested in the other? How could one boy turn his world upside down so fast? Taehyung groaned in frustration, promising to come back the next day again…and if he had to, he would come by every day. Just when he turned again, his gaze low, he noticed something in the corner of his eyes.

Jungkook had slept in the forest that night, just to be sure and because he knew he wouldn't have slept a single second inside the bakery with knowing there could be people coming for him at any given second. Although sooner or later he would have to go back and face the situation but as he was still nervous about this whole thing he had procrastinated so long that it was almost mid-morning before he managed to get back. He didn't get very far though. Before he could open the shop, he saw Tae standing there, right at the back-door!

“Jungkook!” Taehyung said with a smile, fighting the urge to run up to the other when he saw the boy a few meters away from him, “Hey…”

Taehyung’s heart was beating fast, as he rubbed his neck awkwardly. He had thought about this situation a million times last night, but now he wasn’t so sure how to approach the situation. If Jungkook really was a fairy...or any other magical creature...then...Taehyung shook his head. He still wasn’t sure what had happened last night. He needed an explanation and he needed to talk to Jungkook.

“Are…are you okay?” Taehyung spoke up again, taking a few steps closer to the young boy, “I am sorry…again, for what happened last night. I didn’t want to scare you.”

Jungkook opened his mouth to talk to him and tell him that he was fine and that everything was a mistake - but he couldn’t he simply couldn’t. He was torn between telling Taehyung lies as he was supposed to, between just letting everything out and trusting his gut and going against his instinct of survival through hiding, there we just so many ways he could react and how this could turn out and he felt horribly overwhelmed. He could feel his resolve crumbling and his will to talk this out and be strong was broken to pieces within minutes. He was scared to fuck this up, terrified of the possible consequences, he was hoping for Tae to be as nice as he had thought him to be but the little voice telling him to not risk it and just get the fuck out of this situation was stronger.

Again.

Jungkook shook his head when his went backwards, on, two stumbling steps before he got stable. “I...I’m... so sorry Tae but... I can’t... I can’t do this right now. I’m sorry, I’m really... I’m sorry...” He turned and ran, giving in to the urge to get away from this as fast and far as possible.

But Taehyung reacted faster this time. So, when Jungkook started running, he was right on his foot, trying to reach out for him. He was stumbling behind after Jungkook calling out for the younger.

“Shit,” He cursed when he almost slipped again, but he kept his speed up, “Jungkook! Please! Stop running! I won’t…hurt you! Please listen to me...” The younger was really fast but he underestimated Taehyung’s determination in this. He needed to talk to the other, to make this right. Jungkook was inhumanly fast and the older had a hard time keeping up with him, nonetheless he jumped over stones and around trees just like Jungkook did. “God damn it, Jungkook! Let me...let me talk to you,” He called out for him again, hoping the younger would give in.

He knew that Tae was following him because he had left him twice in just a few hours and Tae certainly wanted answers, but he couldn’t do it, he couldn’t face this! He was too scared that everything would go to hell and the fairies would be homeless, he too, but the worst part would be his heart being broken. How should he be able to take it if Tae turned out to be just like all the other human’s? He would never be able to trust anyone again. But...Tae was different , this time it would be fine right? He wouldn’t... but what if he did? And what if... Jungkook closed his eyes, shaking his head to get the thoughts out of his head but it didn’t work, it only slowed him down and made him stumble over some roots. He gasped when he heard Taehyung coming closer. The other was almost catching up to him! He couldn’t... he needed to get away!

Just…away.

Yoongi saw Jungkook running towards him from far away already and he was starting to panic immediately, when he saw Taehyung chasing the elf. He put two fingers between his lips and whistled loudly, calling for all the magical creatures around to make sure the human wouldn’t make it far.

Hearing Yoongi’s whistling code, a universal call for help, Jungkook automatically slowed down, his fear simmering down to something more bearable. He wouldn’t be alone in this. His friends would be there to help.

The first one’s that were attacking Taehyung were little fairies flying towards him. They were poking him, biting him, tearing at his clothes to keep him from running faster and throwing fairy dust at him to make him stumble. He was rubbing his eyes, blinking furiously to see in front of him.

“Fuck, please, stop ahh,” Taehyung whined in distress, waving his arms around a little but he didn’t want to hurt the creatures, not one bit, so endured it. He just wanted to talk to Jungkook. “Please, just let me...I don’t want to hurt you guys, please,” Being so distracted by the creatures buzzing around him and pulling at him, he didn’t see, when a wood fairy made the root from a tree poke out of the snow, so Taehyung was falling head first, stumbling into the snow and dirt.

“Jungk- ahgrh,” He choked on his words, as he could feel the burn, the scratches on his hand and face, all while he was shivering from the cold and wetness. Taehyung got up fast again, orientating himself quickly. “Please, just let me talk to him,” He mumbled, screaming out when a fairy bit into shoulder, but Taehyung caught it by his waist fast, in between two fingers and pulled it off him – quietly apologizing to the small creature, who was throwing it’s little fists at the human.

Jungkook had been sure that Tae would turn around and get back the second he came in contact with the fairies, scared of the unknown like everyone else of the human race. Instead Tae only got more insistent, still trying to talk to him but this time it sounded like he wouldn’t let Jungkook get away. He was starting to get slower, body exhausted from the inner turmoil and all the running. So, Tae must be exhausted too, way more than him actually. Still the human kept fighting to get closer to him.

Tae kept on running. Faster. Panting heavily. It felt like the trees were closing in on him, the branches ripping his clothes and it felt like the whole forest was against him. There was an owl flying closely over his head, it’s claws way too close and Taehyung had to duck. Nonetheless he didn’t keep Jungkook out of focus, though the other was pretty fast and far ahead. By now there were various of animals chasing him and each time Taehyung turned around, he wasn’t sure who was the one chasing who now. The fairies were still flying around his head, making it harder for him to see where he was going.

As the forest was sensing Jungkook’s rising panic and confusion it attacked Tae just like that - random, harsh, lashing out with something akin to desperation. Acting like a mirror of Jungkook’s feelings.

“Jungkook! Listen to me, please,” He called out for him again, when suddenly something jumped out of the woods, right in front of him. A deer!

It’s hoofs were stomping into the snow and slowly walking towards Taehyung who came to a halt right away. He brought his hands up in defense, taking a few steps back.

“Please...I’m not sure if you understand me...but I don’t want to hurt Jungkook,” He said calmly, his voice sounding breathless, “I like him…I really do. I just want to understand...:” Taehyung’s gaze was fixated on the antler of the deer, which was mighty and making him gulp heavily against the lump in his throat. He really didn’t want to end up getting impaled tonight.

Taehyung sounded desperate too - and despite better judgement Jungkook stopped as soon as he saw that the deer had fixated Tae and practically immobile. He should run now, while it was impossible for Tae to follow him - but then he still wouldn’t know how to continue further. He would be right where he started: Afraid and completely without any clue what to do, which path to choose and what consequences to fear (instead of just getting insane from suppressing and avoiding any confrontation with Tae and therefore staying in the dark of what he was going to do about Jungkook being not human).

When Taehyung called for Jungkook once more, the deer was stomping onto the ground, making him back up slowly, just until he could feel a tree against his back and before he could do anything else, there were fairies all around him again. They were throwing dust at him, making Taehyung cough and choke up on the glittery stuff.

When he was blinking his eyes open again the deer was so close to him that there was no way he could run away, before the antler would pierce right through him. “Ju-,” He choked on some fairy dust again, “Jungkook, please...talk to me.” Taehyung was freezing, his sweatshirt was completely ripped, and he could see the scratches from the fairies and whatever else that had attacked him and had tried to keep him from running further, on his chest. He hadn’t stopped them, way too scared he could hurt one of the small creatures. They were Jungkook’s friends and Taehyung knew, they only wanted to protect the young boy.

The elf stood completely still, watching, observing, grateful for the forest and its habit helping to keep him safe. But... something didn’t sit right with him. It wasn’t the forest’s fault, it had definitely done its best and Jungkook wanted to thank every little (furry) friend and creature for that - but Tae was hurting. And he wasn’t supposed to hurt. Ever. Especially not because of him.

Taehyung defeatedly let his hands fall, lowering his gaze. He could feel the wet, shiny snout of the deer poking him, the antler way too close to his face while it was staring him down. “I’m sorry,” Taehyung said, looking at one of the fairies. He had lost Jungkook out of sight and the magical creatures were far more and probably could overpower him easily (even though the fairy dust seemingly had no effect on him - so much did he understood by now).

“That I scared you guys, I mean…,” Taehyung said, wanting to take another step back but he was already closed in completely. Taehyung’s hands were shaking as he looked around, seeing all the animals and magical creatures hissing at him, staring him down. He felt like a deranged version of a trapped Snow White in the forest right now. Taehyung would have laughed if he wasn’t so god damn anxious right now. He had lost Jungkook. There was no way they would let him through. Taehyung was trapped.

Hiding behind a tree so Taehyung couldn’t see him Jungkook considered just waiting and doing nothing, letting the animals scare Tae away and the roots of the trees keep him from ever entering the forest ever again. But he knew that this would be a permanent decision if he decided on that order. Trees were excellent at remembering. They weaved knowledge into their barks and they would always react to Tae with wariness if Jungkook would ask them to chase the human away like a criminal. Maybe he could just... stop here and Tae would go back home and…and maybe Jungkook could try to talk tomorrow again?

Taehyung’s chest was heaving heavily with every breath he took. Leaning his head back, he groaned desperately. He wasn’t sure what to do now? It didn’t seem like they would let him go further into the forest, instead he was completely locked in. “Please, guys, I really didn’t mean to scare you,” Taehyung pulled at his ripped shirt to cover his chest a little more, “I am sorry. If…if you see Jungkook…can you tell him that? That I am sorry…and that I didn’t mean to hurt him ever…and if he…he never wants to see me again then…” Taehyung wasn’t so sure if what he was saying was making sense, but he couldn’t bare the silence.

Taehyung sounded as sad as Jungkook had felt when he had thought about how he might never see Tae again. Even though he wanted to. To see him and be seen. Though he could never fully let Tae in before, always invested in hiding his true nature. He would never find peace and get rid of all the what ifs if he continued to run. And was heartbreak really worse than this constant insecurity and chaos inside his mind?

Jungkook swallowed drily before slowly, carefully getting out of his hiding spot. He kept his distance safely, a good five meters away from Tae with all his little helpers in between them. But he let Taehyung see him. For what he was. He had lost the cap somewhere on the run. So, his ears were plain visible in the soft morning light of the forest.

“You…you don’t have to send me messages. I can hear you,” He said, trying to be controlled and intimidating but failing horrendously at it.

“Jungkook,” Taehyung gasped his name when he saw the younger, standing there in the middle of the creatures, that were surrounding him making him almost look like a fairy prince, or elf prince or wood fairy prince or whatever he was. Taehyung still didn’t know.

His expression turned softer, the second Jungkook was talking to him and he instantly wanted to take a step closer to him if it wasn’t for the deer stopping him right away. “Okay, okay, got it…no coming closer,” He mumbled holding his hands up in defense. Both Jungkook and the deer had reacted the very second Taehyung moved but they calmed immediately when Tae got the hint and stayed put.

“Jungkook…what’s all of this?” He asked carefully, “Why do you keep on running away from me? Am I…am I on some weird magical Christmas land? What…what are you?” Taehyung’s heart was beating anxiously. He really wanted to know, but he also didn’t want Jungkook to bolt again. “I promise I won’t hurt you,” His voice was soft, and he was speaking honestly. How could he ever hurt something as soft and pure as Jungkook?

There was no point in lying now that he had shown himself to Tae. Besides that’s what he wanted to find out, right? How Tae would react to the truth. If he would call him names and see him as something inferior or study worthy or if he’d still be his friend. However, deciding something rationally and making your heart follow where two different things. So Jungkook had to bite his lip, hard, before he found the courage to speak. “I’m... I’m an elf. And this has nothing to do with Christmas. Or... not really. I can work some Christmas magic. But I... I’m like this all year. Magic, I mean. Not... not human.” Only now did he manage to look up into Tae’s face. “W...what should we do now?”

Taehyung looked at Jungkook with wide eyes, which were flickering between his ears and his eyes. “So…the stories…that people tell around here are partly true?” He asked curiously, “They keep you safe…so people don’t come here at night.” Nodding, Taehyung was thinking about the fact that the boy in front of him was an elf. A real elf. He couldn’t believe it, but still – he had seen it with his own eyes. He had seen the fairies and Jungkook’s ears. Magic was real.

He chuckled lightly, before smiling up at Jungkook, “I don’t know…but…” He paused, not really sure how to word the next sentence, but Taehyung felt like this was a make it or break it moment anyways. “I kind of like you…,” Taehyung spoke, his voice shaking from his anxiousness, “Like don’t get me wrong…you’re weird, but wonderfully weird. I wouldn’t have cared if you were an elf or not…when you said that your ears were a deformation…that they are ugly… I don’t think so.” A faint smile placed itself on Taehyung’s lips, before he was speaking right from his heart, “I think you’re the most beautiful…boy …I’ve ever seen.”

Jungkook listened to Tae with wide eyes, so much tension in his body that he was practically trembling from it. “You… you don‘t mind? You really would still want to be my... friend? Even though you have no idea about what I might be capable off?“ When Tae still didn‘t showed any signs of worry or disgust Jungkook dared to come closer, so close that he could reach out and touch Taehyung if he wanted. And he really wanted to...quickly he let his hands fall by his sides before he would get himself into trouble. “Oh,” Taehyung rubbed his neck awkwardly. He hadn’t thought about the things Jungkook could do to him. Like…if he had magical powers, Jungkook could use them against him. Taehyung shrugged his shoulders nonetheless, “I didn’t think about what you’re capable off that much…actually. I was more scared that you didn’t want to talk to me, or see me again, I guess – but I trust you.”

“Don’t worry. I actually tried magic on you the very first day we met. I always use a little Christmas magic in my cookies. But apparently not even magic can make you like Christmas.” He chuckled a little, trying to ignore the part of him that freaked out about the fact that he was telling someone his secrets so casually. But if he wanted to trust Tae then he needed to start open up, no matter how scared he was about consequences.

“I‘m sorry I kept running from you. I just... I was pretty damn scared. Although you can believe me when I say that if you‘re like me, then you should be. Because one little mistake or trusting the wrong person for even one single time could lead to a lifetime full of pure torture or death. Depending to whom you‘re going to be sold to; the press, a private collector, science...” The list could go on endlessly. Magical secrets in the form of beautiful creatures practically had no limit on price or potential buyers... He blushed a little when Taehyung called him beautiful but tried not to let it affect him too much. It didn’t have to mean anything.

Taehyung dared to take a little step closer, his body shivering, though he wasn’t sure if it was from the cold or from the nervousness. He reached out his hand for Jungkook to take if he wanted to. “Don’t you want to introduce me to your friends…properly?” He said, biting his lip to keep from smiling. Taehyung really needed to get a hold on his feelings, or else he would lose himself completely in this and in Jungkook’s eyes.

Taehyung’s simple statement warmed his heart. It was as if the human really didn’t have any ulterior motives behind the kindness he showed. And if that was true - then Jungkook was more than willing to show Tae every part of his life.

Jungkook kneeled down at the deer’s side and kissed his head, thankful for the protection. “You can let him go now. I think he won’t hurt me. Thank you so much for coming.” He rubbed the deer’s flank the way he knew it enjoyed it most and then went on to thank the others as well. The deer took its time to stalk a little closer to Tae and sniff at him carefully. When Tae didn’t move and didn’t seem that dangerous it even dared to inspect Tae’s face, giving him a wet deer kiss by accident. Jungkook tried his best to hide his smile at Tae’s face. “I don’t think there’s much introduction necessary as you seem to make friends pretty quickly yourself.” He was a bit afraid to really take Tae’s hand yet but he didn’t want to ignore Tae completely, so he just stood there a bit awkwardly, trying not to show how insecure he still was.

“If those people, creatures or fairies aren’t chasing me,” Taehyung chuckled, thankful for the deer that let him finally take a step closer to Jungkook. He noticed the hesitation from Jungkook, so he took the initiative while still being gingerly. The human let his fingers brush over the elf’s lightly, looking up at him with a smile.

Jungkook held his breath when their fingers brushed but as Tae didn’t push further or acted suspicious in any other way the elf finally let go of his last remnants of reluctance that he still had. Their fingers intertwined, and it felt absolutely right. Jungkook sighed as the gentle intimacy soothed his heart. He hadn’t had this for ages. Yoongi was the only one who cared for him, but he couldn’t let anyone else get to close. Till now.

“Can I... would it be okay if I hugged you?” He sounded as shy and small as he felt right now. A little gasp fell from the woods, then giggles were audible. Taehyung looked up seeing the fairies that were still around, watching their friend closely. He couldn’t help but smile fondly, before turning back to Jungkook.

“Of course,” He whispered, only letting go of Jungkook’s hand, so he could hug him. Taking a step closer to the younger, he let Jungkook wrap his arms shyly around his body, while Taehyung closed his around him. Safe and sound. Taehyung closed his eyes, loving the warmth that Jungkook was providing (he had forgotten how cold he felt right now). His heart was beating faster with Jungkook being so close right now and if the younger laid his head on his chest, it probably would jump out at him. He was just so happy right now.

All the tension that he’s hold in so long drained out of his body when Jungkook felt Tae’s arms closing around him; tightly but not suffocating, strong but protecting rather than intimidating. He felt safe. When he put his head on Tae’s shoulder his ear brushed Tae’s bare skin and he shuddered a second, relaxing immediately when nothing happened. He could feel himself tearing up from too many emotions overwhelming him but instead of letting go he only held on tighter. He didn’t mind all the curious fairies flying around their heads, trying to get a closer look, giggling and whispering, their laugh like wind chimes and little bells. This wasn’t just about him, if Tae proofed to be their companion rather than an enemy it meant the world to them too.

Taehyung soothed over Jungkook’s back, letting the younger take his time and…maybe…he liked this a little too much. “Thank you,” Tae whispered just for Jungkook to hear. He would keep the younger and the fairies safe. Why wouldn’t he? He liked the other way too much already. It was confusing him a lot, but it felt too good not to.

Jungkook felt like he was the one who should thank Tae instead. The human’s had his whole world in his hands and the power to destroy it. But instead of going for that he chose to ignore fame and fortune. For the sake of Jungkook and the fairies well beings. Before he could voice his thoughts however something was poking and prodding at his chest and he jerked back.

A sudden loud squeak, coming from somewhere close to Jungkook’s chest, made Taehyung open his eyes again. Furrowing his brows, he looked down, seeing something move in Jungkook shirt pocket and Tae quickly pulled the elf away a little.

“Oh, be careful,” He said, letting one arm fall down his shoulders and to Jungkook’s hand again casually while he reached for the pocket to open it a bit more. An overdramatic gasp fell from Yoongi’s lips, when he peeked out of the pocket, letting himself hang over the fabric, coughing and gasping for air.

“Yoongi! How... why would you...”

Yoongi was cursing and clamoring like a reed sparrow, noisy little things, just like the fairy who was brushing off his wings and fidgeting in Jungkook's pocket as if he had been...Oh!

Jungkook realized that he definitely crushed the older a little while hugging Tae. But if he had known the fairy was there he could have been more careful, so it wasn’t really his fault. With an amused expression he picked Yoongi up and sat him down on the palm of his hand. “Why didn’t you tell me you were in there?”

Yoongi looked at him reproachfully. “Because I knew someone had to keep you from making mistakes! Like this one!” He pointed right at Tae’s face, almost poking him in the eye. “Are you out of your mind, Kook, you can’t just...”

Jungkook’s ears turned red as he felt embarrassed for Tae having to listen to it, so he turned around, trying to hide their conversation from Tae. Still with being so close the human could hear every whisper.

“Yoongi, stop, please... can we discuss this somewhen else please? I’ve made my decision. And it's not like you can do anything about it anyway. Your fairy dust doesn’t work on him and... he hasn’t hurt me now so why should he do it later?” Yoongi stopped in his rant, his expression suddenly softening. “Oh Kookie...” He broke off, seeing how happy the younger was, how hopeful, how being accepted made his eyes shine and his heart open like a flower. Yoongi ached for him, for his vulnerability, for his poor, soft, tender heart.

“Yeah, you’re right. Let’s ... not talk about this right now.” How should he tell him that humans could lie so easily? That Tae could just as well be toying with him for the fun of it? Or use him until he got bored to just sell him out later? It would break Jungkook's heart - and ruin his happiness right now for sure. So apparently it was on him again to take care of the elf, to make sure that in the end he wouldn’t have to see him broken and bleeding again.

Taehyung had turned around a little, to not eavesdrop too much, talking to a little fairy who was begging him to bring him sugar cubes or any other kind of sugary sweets. Apparently, this was the way to the fairies heart, so Taehyung promised to bring some, earning a hug on the nose from the little creature.

It was as if the other fairies had just waited for a sign that it was safe to get closer to Tae. As soon as he got that nose hug lots of other fairies where flying towards him immediately, like moths to a flame or rather magnets being pulled together. Because they didn't stop in front of him, they all landed on him like they were bees and Tae their new hive. When Jungkook heard Tae’s shocked little sounds he turned - and broke into laughter right away.

Tae was flailing around, fairy dust flying everywhere while the fairies thought of it like a game, holding onto his arms to ride the air, laughing and stirring up fairy dust everywhere whenever they bumped into Tae again.

“Stop moving, Tae, they’re not attacking you. They’re playing with you. And healing their bites from before. They can be prickly little beasts if they want to, hu?” He ignored Yoongi pinching his palm and placed the fairy onto his shoulder, so he could help Tae brush of a little fairy dust. It was absolutely no use though because the other looked as if he had just lost a fight including glitter bombs. Jungkook couldn't contain his smirk, “It suits you. You should wear glitter more often.”

“If you want me to,” Taehyung winked playfully at Jungkook, thankful for his help and guidance in this. He looked down at his ripped shirt, letting his fingers trail over his skin where they had been scratches and little bites all over, but now they were gone. Just like that. His chest was still exposed, but Taehyung was sure he could manage this ripped look.

“I'm sure the fairies would happy to help anytime.” He chuckled at the thought of them pouring glitter over Tae again. Maybe they should come here more often, let the fairies have two people to play with instead of just him.

“Thank you!” Taehyung exclaimed happily towards the fairies, before he took Jungkook’s hand again, without thinking about it twice. “What do you think about some hot cocoa and cookies?” Taehyung asked Jungkook with a little shy smile, “I’m a bit cold and I could use some warmth…”

Jungkook playfully swung Tae’s hand back and forth, too overwhelmingly happy to contain it. “Yeah, that sounds perfect. I have cupcakes too though they aren’t that fresh, I made them yesterday evening...” Right before their exposure honestly, “Let’s see if we can get you into Christmas mood after all.”

A/N: Ahwwwww, aren’t they the cutest? AHgrhrgrhmhfreodahshoa I love the fairies honestly. And I really hope you liked this chapter, too! Leave us a comment or a message. We love reading your thoughts about the story! Next update will be out on monday!

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