#i might age restrict it as well but that. depends i guess

[yukirayu]

Slow Damage Timeline

After countless edits and reviews, I wish to share with you a project of mine: the Slow Damage timeline, which pinpoints (or approximates) how old a character is when a certain event in their life occurred.

Note: The link is in the image description (though I'll also share the direct link here, to be safe). 😉

The remarks below are also found in the spreadsheet, but I'll go ahead and share them here, just in case.

Remarks:

Some of the characters’ ages are confirmed, while others are left for us to guess. The latter half has their final ages (deceased or alive) colored red as a distinguisher, and I did the same for the latest year that the visual novel is likely to currently take place in.

The general age ranges of the characters when they'd attend school, regardless of the level of education, are merely an approximation, especially at university-level and onwards. I did some research on the education system in Japan (and China, for one case), but the answers vary from source to source, especially when I try to narrow it down to a specific course, so I'm just going with what seems most probable depending on each character's history (as well as personality).

What I've said in #2 also applies to the years in which each event is likely to have taken place. I can't guarantee that it's 100% accurate, but what I can at least say is that it's a close guess (in other words, it may have even happened 5 years earlier or later).

Try as I might, I couldn't include every single character because even as I gleaned through the VN and the artbook over and over, there's too little that we know about them. A few examples are Inada and the unnamed vampire.

As much as I wish I could, I never got around to playing Clean Dishes (the fact that it's a mobile game restricted to Japan being the primary reason). Anything I know of it is from the summaries and (currently ongoing) translations given about the story. but it is at least certain that the entire plot of the spinoff (including its epilogue and its own sequel drama CD) happen before the events of the main game, since a certain trio is still working for the Takasato Group, and Towa is still living in the clinic (as well as working there).

I have to stress that about 70% of the timeline's contents consists of educated guesses. The education aside (especially for some characters), the events in each person's timeline is confirmed to have occurred; the hard part is pinpointing the when for at least half of those events, given that the VN left only hints or even none at all.

I've updated this spreadsheet with all the information I could gather (and will still update it in the future whenever needed), but I am only one person so there still might be something that I missed. If you know anything that has yet to be here or requires some revisiting, DM me about it. Of course, please be civilized in your approach.

Extra: Also found in the spreadsheet is the status of each character per route, whether they're dead, alive, or if their fate is uncertain, especially when taking what happens in each route into account.

[denimbex1986]

'The actor and Baftas host answers your questions about facial hair, Doctor Who, Scrooge McDuck – and growing up as the son of a minister

How do you face the challenge of being this year’s Bafta host? practicalpanic I don’t currently feel particularly challenged because everything’s written down for me and I don’t have to worry about winning – or not winning – an award. If it was the first night of a play, I’d be curled up in a corner in the foetal position. But the fact that it’s not my day job certainly feels liberating. Who knows why they asked me; I must have been pretty far down the list. Expectations are pretty much zero. I don’t have anything to prove. Will I be phoning [previous Bafa hosts] Jonathan Ross and Stephen Fry for advice? I might do. But I’m travelling in blissful ignorance at the moment.

What’s your sideburn policy? They appear to be sized in direct proportion to your characters’ confidence. DrHugbine That’s a very interesting observation, which I don’t think has any truth behind it, but it’s making me wonder …

Here are some examples … Fright Night’s Peter Vincent – long and bushy, confident vampire killer. The Doctor in Doctor Who – long and pointy, charismatic and charming. Broadchurch’s DI Alec Hardy – beard, no sideburns, introverted and suspicious. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’s Barty Crouch Jr – no beard, no sideburns, complex and a traitor. Good Omens’ Anthony Crowley – ginger, no sideburns, stylish but tempted Eve in the garden of Eden as a snake so a bit of a bad egg generally. TopTramp I don’t think you’re going to write a doctoral thesis based on that evidence. It’s very thin evidence, at most. I grew sideburns for Doctor Who because, back then, I was worried I was a bit young for it and I thought they slightly aged me. Which, of course, I then had to recreate recently when I’m almost certainly too old for it. I guess increasingly I am unshaven, in which case you don’t really have to worry about sideburns because they’re part of something else. Whatever length my sideburns are on the night of the Baftas has no reflection on how I’m treating the Baftas.

As a vicar with young kids, I wondered what influence being a son of the manse has had upon your work? RevdAl It’s hard to know, because you only know the influences you had specifically from your parents because they’re your parents – it’s hard to unpick. It certainly wasn’t a childhood filled with religious dogma or any kind of restrictions. It was more a moral guidebook.

What was it like kissing Michael Sheen [in season two of Good Omens]? And who enjoyed it more? carnies18 Who enjoyed it the most? Presumably Michael was thrilled. How could he not be? But it was another day at work. The most difficult bit was other people’s awkwardness. We thought it was quite fun, so it was fine. He’d brushed his teeth.

Would you accept a knighthood just to fuel an excellent argument with Sheen in the next series of Staged? Shirls Because he sent his OBE back? That predisposes the fact that anything that’s talked about in Staged is based on real life. We are in our own houses, acting opposite people we spend our life with. But that’s pretty much the extent of the reality of Staged.

Which is best – playing a detective, a murderer or a murder victim? JonnyMorris1973 Well, one of them solves the crimes. One of them commits the crimes. And the other one has a crime done to them. It probably depends which character the writer is most fond of and therefore the most fun to play. It’s not really in the gift of the actor, so much as in the gift of the scriptwriter. I think I’ve only played one detective, haven’t I? What’s my favourite way I’ve been murdered? Oh my goodness. I was shot in The Last September. I get murdered on stage every night in Macbeth, although that’s a spoiler. I sort of died in Doctor Who when I got shot by a galvanic beam in a radiation chamber that filled my body with more radiation I could cope with.

Am I as geeky as the Doctor who fans? Yes. As a Doctor Who fan myself of old, I can very much can plug into that. I don’t think I ever got in trouble at school. That is one of those stories that’s ended up on Wikipedia. I wrote an essay on Doctor Who, which some unpleasant newspaper found and printed. But I didn’t get in trouble for it. I think I got quite a good mark for it.

Who would win in a fight between Crowley, The Doctor and Scrooge McDuck? AlistairDionysus Probably Scrooge McDuck. He seems to be able to survive just about everything. He’s far more resilient than Crowley or The Doctor, who seem to end up staring destruction in the face. Scrooge McDuck, nothing seems to trouble him.

You have a lovely singing voice! Would you like to do a musical? Beatrice_Tate, gaityr, laibarra622 and Luigii I make a nice curry, but I’m not going to open a restaurant. Would I do the Masked Singer? I love The Masked Singer. Nothing has excited my eight-year-old daughter more than when everyone thought Ricky Wilson from the Kaiser Chiefs was me, week after week. You can imagine how disappointed she was when it turned out I wasn’t.

If you were a cheese, what kind would you be? BrianBraddock I’ve got very into paneer curries. Paneer is neither hard nor soft, so I’ll say that because it makes me sound like I’ve really thought about it.

What’s the last item you snatched from a set? NataliaBCN I’m just going back through things I might have pocketed. Maybe this is the upbringing we talked of earlier. I’m very bad with nicking things. I’m plagued with guilt. The last time they released a new sonic screwdriver toy, someone gave me one but I gave it away because I’m so full of generosity, but now I slightly regret it.

Your portrayal of serial killer Dennis Nilsen [in ITV’s Des] was truly terrifying. How do you prepare for a role like that? YorkshireExPat With someone such as Dennis Nilsen, there is quite a lot of material that’s been written about him. There’s video evidence of him. So you immerse yourself as much you can, then join a line between that and the version of the character that’s in the script, because, ultimately, that’s the version you have to portray. One thing we were very careful to do on Des was to not make it from his point of view. I don’t think you can ask an audience to sympathise or understand someone like Nilsen. It’s the story of how he got away with all these things, then was caught. Hopefully the audience is left thinking: how can someone who is just another member of the human race be committing these extraordinary acts and the rest of us not notice or understand?

If you could regenerate as anyone else for the day, who would you choose? TopTramp My wife, just to see how annoying I really am so I could be properly objective and understand her pain.'

[survey--s]

517.

Are you bothered by your cosmic insignificance? Actually, I find it quite reassuring that my actions aren’t really that significant. I think I’d feel too much pressure otherwise.

Do you mourn for a place or person you’ve never known? No.

Do you really think there is somebody for everybody? No. It’s a nice idea but I don’t think the world works like that.

Do you place any value in gender roles? Well, it depends what you mean by gender roles. I don’t think we do ourselves any favours by trying to pretend that men and women aren’t biologically different in some ways.

Do you have to be related to be family? No.

Are your platonic relationships just as valuable as romantic or family ones? I don’t really have any platonic friendships, but theoretically yes, sure.

Are you in love? Do you want to be? Yes.

Do you think you can put love into categories (family, platonic, romantic, etc.) or is it just one general sensation? I don’t really understand why you’d want to categorise an emotion like that.

Would you be happy with a life without romance? Yeah, romance isn’t a huge deal to me.

Are you always going to be a little in love with somebody? How can anyone possibly answer that for certain?

Would you change your appearance if you could? Yeah, a few parts of it.

Do you have the feeling you’ve lost something you might have had in another life - whether it be a person, a place, a world, a language, etc.? No.

Do you believe in reincarnation? No. 

Would you want to be reincarnated? If I could choose what I was reincarnated as, sure.

Do you think you’re special, or just another person amongst billions? Can you be both? I think everyone is special in that they’re unique, but we’re still just very small fish in a very, very large pond.

Do theoretical ethical debates have any value? Is it important people discuss ethical dilemmas, e.g. the trolley problem? I mean, I guess they do to an extent, but they’re not for me.

Did you have imaginary friends? Do you still have them? I did as a little kid, sure. I don’t as an adult.

Are you religious? Do you think your religion is ‘correct’? No.

If you aren’t religious, do you wish you were? Why? I mean, if I wanted to join a religion, I could. I have zero interest in it though as it makes absolutely no sense to me.

Do you want a grand adventure? Not really - it sounds like a lot of effort lol.

Do you have somebody, whether it be a friend or stranger, who you think you could have loved if the circumstances were different? It’s not really something I’ve ever thought about.

Do you think you really understand your gender and sexuality? I don’t really think that there’s anything to understand.

How fluid is your concept of gender and sexuality? I mean, I don’t understand the whole idea of people thinking they can change sex. You can’t change your biology - I know that’s a hugely unpopular view these days though so I don’t tend to talk about it real life much. I mean, I have no issues with people wanting to have surgery to remove their genitals or whatever - you do you - but getting your penis removed doesn’t make you a woman - it makes you a man without a penis, lol. In terms of sexuality, people can be attracted to whoever they like as long as they’re not causing any harm.

What’s the most life-changing choice you’ve made so far? Choosing to move up to Cumbria.

Are you afraid of growing old? Old age doesn’t scare me, but getting dementia or something does.

Would you want to live forever? How about for a billion years, a million, a millennium, a century? Not forever, but a century or so would be pretty cool.

Do you believe in some form of god/s? No.

Are your choices fated or of your own free will? Hmm, I don’t believe in fate but equally I don’t think anyone has true free will as we’re all restricted by the society we live in in some ways.

Do you have a hunch about how you’re going to die? No.

Do you believe in star signs? No.

How old do you have to be to be considered an adult? Well, in the UK you become an adult at eighteen.

Was your childhood happy? My young childhood was, yes. My teenage years were a bit of a rollercoaster though.

What are you missing from your life? Money lol.

Have you ever met someone who had a very similar personality to your own? Did you get along? Yeah, generally we got along fine.

Do opposites attract? In some ways, yes.

Is your life what you expected it would be five years ago? Nope. I had absolutely no idea this is how my life would turn out but I’m really grateful that it HAS turned out like this.

Do you know what you want out of life? I just want to be happy.

What makes a person ‘good’? Are you a ‘good person’? I don’t think there’s any one definition of being a good person.

What fundamentally matters to you? Happiness, loyalty, honesty.

Is freewill an illusion? Yes, definitely. Like, we’re hugely influenced by how we’re raised and the society that we live in - plus we can’t just do whatever we want without considering the impact - so we’re restricted by money and time and other people etc.

Do you create art? How do you define art? No.

How often do you lie? Is all lying inherently bad? Are you generally truthful? I don’t really pay attention to that kind of thing but I’m not someone who thinks lying is some kind of moral failure, necessarily.

Do you want to be remembered after your death? What for? I don’t really care about how I’m remembered - I mean, I’ll be dead, I’ll have absolutely no idea what people think or say about me.

Is true world peace ever possible? No.

Do you have to suffer to truly understand the human condition? What is the human condition? How can you really experience it? Bleh.

Are you free? Will you ever be? Can anyone be truly free? I’m as free as I feel I can be within the confines of society. I run my own business so I can pick my hours and my clients. I don’t have children so I’m not restricted in that sense either.

Do you hold yourself to higher standards than you hold others? Sometimes.

What do you expect from a friend or partner? Honesty, loyalty, hard work, support.

What question could you ask to find out the most about a person? That depends on the person.

Do you justify all your beliefs or have you just inherited/absorbed some? I really don’t feel like I need to justify any of my beliefs.

Which beliefs do you have that is most likely to be wrong? If I felt like they were wrong, I wouldn’t believe them?

Can humans really understand the complete nature of the universe, space and time? I don’t really think anyone can.

Is a consciousness what makes someone a person? No. Otherwise you’re implying that someone in a coma is no longer a person?

What do you think about artificial intelligence? It’s really interesting to me, but I totally get why it freaks people out.

Do you thinks humans are obsessed with escapism (books, video games, movies, etc.)? Are you looking for an escape? Do you think that’s a bad thing? I don’t think we’re obsessed as such, but I can totally understand why people find it so interesting and fascinating. I think it only becomes a bad thing when it starts interfering with your relationships and your job, etc.

Are we eventually going to ‘run out’ of new combinations for music, art, language, etc.? Is there a limit to human creativity? No, I don’t think so, because society is always changing and we’re always discovering new things.

What do you think the next era of music will be like? Who knows.

What do you think the next era of fashion will be like? ....

Do we live in tumultuous times, or do they just seem so strange because we’re living in them? I still find it really weird that we’ve lived through global lockdowns and a pandemic - like, I remember learning about the plague at school and thinking how scary it must be, but in real life it just felt so normal, lol. Now it all feels like some kind of weird fever dream.

Would you want to meet a clone of yourself? Would you like them? I’d like to meet them, but I’m not sure if I’d like them.

How confident are you, really? I’m very confident on my own, but not so much around other people.

How consistent is your perception of time? I mean, consistent enough, I guess.

What age should people be allowed to vote? Should children and teenagers be allowed to vote? I think eighteen is fine.

How do you feel about the idea ‘an eye for an eye’? I don’t agree with it.

What’s the worse thing a person can be? I don’t know - probably some kind of child or animal torturer.

How do you feel about monogamy? I don’t really have an opinion - I mean, as long as everyone is happy, I don’t feel as though it’s any of my business.

Can you be in love with someone and still fall in love with someone else? Sure, I don’t see why love has to be restricted to just one person.

What’s the tragedy of your life? What a bizarre way of viewing things.

Would your life make a good play? I think it would be pretty boring lol.

Should people be prosecuted for crimes that weren’t considered crimes at the time? No. You can’t retrospectively lock people up for stuff that was legal - that’s batshittery in the extreme.

Would you fight for your country? Do you feel a sense of loyalty to your nation? No and no.

Do you believe in gender equality in every aspect? Well, it’s not possible for men and women to be truly equal - that’s just basic science.

Do we have a moral obligation to care for others? To what extent? Hmm, I think we have an obligation to be polite to people.

Do you crave approval and/or praise? I wouldn’t say I crave it, but I do enjoy it.

Is there comedy in all tragedy and tragedy in all comedy? Yeah, I suppose so.

Are you ever going to be satisfied? I am satisfied.

When you are sad, do you listen to music that conveys your emotions or music that makes you happy? It depends whether I’m in the mood to wallow or whether I need to get out of whatever funk I’m in lol.

Is your music organised by mood or sensation or do you just listen to everything at any time? It’s kind of organised by mood, I guess. Like, when I’m making playlists, I’ll pick one song then add songs that Spotify suggests and that I like.

Would you marry a friend if they needed you to (e.g. for citizenship)? Hypothetically I might do, sure.

Are you a deep person? I don’t think I’m any more/less deep than anyone else?

Given the chance to live your life on Mars, with no hope of returning to Earth but with the promise of scientific discovery and glory, would you take it? No.

Are you who people think you are? I don’t know what people think I am.

Do you think you would be happier if you had been born a different gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, nationality or religion? I have no idea. Nobody can say that for certain either way.

What’s your toxic trait? Are you trying to improve yourself and fix it? I don’t really know.

Do you anger easily? I don’t really get angry, but I am easily irritated.

Are you a jealous person? Not really.

If you lost all your memories, would you have the same personality? No.

Given the chance to reset your life (with none of the knowledge you currently have), would you take it? Nope.

Is hate as strong as love? Who do you hate? I don’t hate anyone.

Do you speak multiple languages? Which do you dream in? What language would you want to learn? I speak two, but I always dream in England. I’d love to improve my Italian.

Do you draw meaning from your dreams, or do you disregard them? No.

How would you describe yourself when you love? Do you love forcefully, unconditionally, gently, quietly, desperately? Quietly.

Is unrequited love real love? Sure.

Is your perception of yourself similar or the same to how others perceive you? I have absolutely no idea.

Are you overly analytical? I can be.

Do you ever feel that you are really a terrible person, and only act good out of societal or some other obligation? No.

Do you believe in magic? Are you superstitious? No and no.

What belief do you have that isn’t logically grounded, but you still firmly believe in? I can’t really think of anything that’s particularly illogical.

[shadowthegenderhog]

I’m tired but like imagine all the cool ways different cultures in a fantasy/D&D setting could conceptualize gender and pronouns

Like dragons might not even have a concept of gender depending on the setting, and in that case they could have different sets of pronouns based on age, with the oldest and most powerful dragons eventually stopping pronoun usage altogether, people would just call them by their name as a sign of respect.

Changelings or other cultures where gender is more malleable could base genders on their pantheon of gods rather than the way they choose to present themselves. You’d have people choosing their gender based on the deity that best aligns with their worldview or beliefs. That opens up a whole range of pronoun options even within worship of a single deity, you could have people that identify with the same deity but use different pronouns to emphasize their connection with different aspects of them (one set to emphasize an ocean god’s connection to the water, another to emphasize the same god’s connection to the marine life, etc.)

Demons that decide their gender and pronouns based on the most powerful creature they’ve killed. You’d have demons chilling in the Abyss arguing about whether a chain devil or a bone devil is stronger in the same way two kids would argue about whose dad would win in a fight and strutting around with a trophy from their latest kill prominently displayed.

And it can be kinda goofy too lol like goblins that associate their gender with a specific object, but if they don’t possess that object they have no gender *queue 10 goblins fighting over the Gender Stick*

Lowkey it also helps me like characterize characters as well on the fly, if Brongus the shopkeeper comes from a culture where gender is determined by your astrological sign then Brongus probably isn’t super happy with being pidgeonholed into an archetype based on when they were born, maybe the whole reason they’re in the same city as the party is because they got fed up with it and went somewhere else, maybe trying out new genders along the way. Suddenly I’ve got a character who’s a bit skeptical of societal roles and norms but is also curious and open to new perspectives. And if Brongus becomes more important I can expand on that, maybe they’re trying to find a place in the world where they feel like they fit in, but are struggling to find that place because their life experiences have made them skeptical of any and all societal conceptions of gender because they’re each restrictive in some capacity.

Guess it’s time for me to stay up late writing pages of *gender lore* in a massive Google doc lmao

[halt-kun]

Hunter x Hunter Chapter 182 - Three-Way Struggle (13)

Final chapter for today ! 

Just fix everything wrong is a good query, I just hope this card isn’t eugenicist maybe it depends on what the person healed considers wrong, like a tumor they don’t know about is abnormal, not ADHD for example

Well an SS card with a lot of restriction is bound to feel magical. Biscuit looks like she never saw a level of healing like that

Bara is fine, no more plastic surgery needed

Biscuit is a boomer but she also isn’t very entitled, automatically assumes she did something wrong. Wait is she a boomer, we should be in 1999 currently since HxH began in january 1998 or so and was somewhat contemporary to our period. Gi was released in 1987 and Gon was 11 in 1998 (yep he was born around the same time GI was released (Pregnancy Stone theory, also means if it’s wrong, Gon’s mom is most likely involved in GI). Biscuit is 57 in 1999 so she was born in 1942. That’s pre boomer ????? She’d be 80 in 2022. Gon and Killua are 1987 babies, they’d be 35 LMAO

Well Goreinu will WALK 

Moral dilemma time. Yep, you wouldn’t play the game advertised as, YOU CAN DIE IN IT without some mental preparation. It also doesn’t mean you are authorized to kill people

I could agree with Goreinu 

I’m tearing up, yep it’s not because you hate people you shouldn’t treat them as humans or leave them to die. And of course there is a difference between actually being in a situation where violence is expected to defend yourself than when you can think and have other options. It’s too bad a lot of people willing to inflict violence on others they don’t like do so by justifying that they felt threatened, when they never were threatened or even in danger 

I want to hug them, I’m crying

Sub is a good bottom, already fine 

I like that they also were fine with Goreinu’s choice and just went : “well I guess we need to collect spell cards now”

I love them

Goreinu, we need more of you

Goreinu is a nice guy, also 1 billion is enough to do a lot of things, especially for a few months on a job. It’s wild Killua and Gon were at 800 million at the beginning of Yorknew

GON, you did do much, Biscuit is breaking character calling Goreinu a young man. He’s so confused, maybe you should just give him your actual age Biscuit. In french she jus said he wasn’t her time, she’s really speaking her mind here

Let’s GOOOOO, they could have spent a bit more time on GI too, I’d be fine with it. I’m fine with wholesome ending too 

The MAID, some people think Ging has this card and used it to help take care of Gon. It would work with the pregnancy stone theory because Gon’s mom might have never wanted to take care of him or did a denial of pregnancy. I mean Ging taking care of Gon alone as soon as right after his birth is weird. He took care of him for 5 years before Mito took him in too. 

YEP let’s go for the quizz 

You have a good chance of winning this quizz indeed

They’re fast

5 teams, for tomorrow

[sellingjust]

Musicality of a movie

It turned out I have the A50 + (missed the + behind it at the beginning) and assume it has the same ST Micro STA326 IC base, so that doesn't change. It is impossible for me to take any research or opinions related to it as an offense. Then giving a good review and topping it with kind of a really negative bulletpoint that is not really appealing (who wants a non-musical amp?) seems to insure that how well the commentary may be, readers should keep in mind that only the circle of higher priced brands they review offer real musicality. It is also marketing as in that it is meant to be one of those 'to be discovered' brands and with less costs of marketing prices may drop. Products become more compact and progress in technique allows to squeeze more good stuff in a smaller footprint.Ī company like Arylic is offering dead cheap products that are not performing dead cheap and doesn't invest much in pleasing reviewers and magazines in general. Now in the age of youtube in which reviewers depend more on their income from viewers, the approach might have changef slightly. Products from within the circle of sponsors and lobbying will always recieve milder criticism than products outside of that circle. It may be useful to a wide audience.Ĭlick to expand.I once read a book from an ex- car reviewer who mentioned that independent reviews were rare to none. If not, I wonder if it could be considered. I do not know if there is a 'standardised' set of terms and definitions that hi fi enthusiasts and journalists alike may refer to and which is also available to those of us who are less experienced - or whether this is something that can be published and adopted for all users. However I would guess that regular feature writers may explain that this is not always possible because restrictions on article length and word count prior to publication need to be prioritised. Is this a reason to call for plain English to be used in reviews etc., ? Maybe. Indeed, somebody once reacted to my use of the term, 'Natural' when I was referring to the sound I prefer, suggesting that it was an incorrect term, As a novice, all I was trying to portray is that I like a sound from my kit that is as close to the original sound being played, but at least one reader appeared to take exception to my use of this term, so it is clearly an easy trap to fall into too! Maybe in some cases, this is deliberate, in other may be not, but It is not helpful. This tends to mark out the people who are (or consider themselves to be more experienced and/or expert, from those who are novice hi-fi enthusiasts. Like many terms used by reviewers and commenters alike, it appears to be 'jargon'. It is certainly a term that is very much open to interpretation in my opinion.

[multimetaverse]

HSMTMTS 2x08 Review

Most Likely To was the best ep of S2 so far and ended one ship while launching another. Let’s dig in!

Gaston was super fun, a very nice showcase for both Larry and Matt. This is the kind of energy that early S2 was lacking. Also feels like the first ep where East High might actually have a shot at beating North High. Covid restrictions played a role but we really needed to see more rehearsal scenes and scenes of the wildcats just being theatre kids. This also may be one of the last times we see EJ perform as a student in the musical so I’m glad we got this.  

EJ has been criminally underused for most of S2, he’s marketed as part of the big 4 along with Nini, Ricky, and Gina and Matt Cornett’s name is listed 3rd in the credits but in the early eps of S2 you’d think he was guest star. Lately he’s started to become more important and tonight was an excellent showcase of why he’s such an interesting character. I’m not gonna check but this feels like it’s the most EJ screen time in a single ep that we’ve gotten all season long. 

Of course, the main reason for EJ’s increased screen time is because of Portwell. I’ve been neutral on them but tonight they really won me over’ their scenes were so sweet that they warmed even my cold black heart. Matt and Sofia are good friends irl and that shines through in their easy rapport and great chemistry. Gina snorting at EJ’s joke was cute and I loved the shot of Gina accidentally walking into the shot for EJ’s confessional. As an aside, they’ve been doing some fun stuff with the confessionals lately which helps add a bit of the metaness that helped make S1 so great.

The real big Portwell scene tonight was EJ and Gina talking on the couch at Ashlyn’s. Lot’s to love there. Gina’s speech to EJ about what she sees when she thinks of him was sweet and her saying that EJ tried to do the right thing and often failed but kept trying echoes what she said of herself during her confession to Ricky. Also when EJ asked Gina if she understood the feeling of having her life mapped out she replied, ‘’not really’’ which is almost certainly the inspiration for Gina asking a question to EJ and him responding ‘’not really’’ in their pre S2 face time call on the hsmtmts instagram. 

EJ is still wracked with guilt for the guy he used to be but Gina reminds him that he’s grown and is a good guy which leads to her slip up about her seeing him that way vs the rest of the gang hinting that she’s beginning to catch feelings for EJ. Which leads to EJ complimenting her and them having a moment that could well have led to a kiss if Ashlyn hadn’t come home. And they cap it off with Gina falling asleep and EJ covering her with his Duke sweater. 

It’s been nice not seeing Gina upset over Ricky these past two eps and it’s a damning indictment of the poor writing and pacing of S2 that her story in the first 6 eps can be summed up as Gina being upset over something Ricky said or did. Not only has Portwell allowed EJ to rise in prominence but also it’s allowed Gina to escape the rut her character was stuck in pining for Ricky. 

I hope after S2 is over that we get an interview where Tim explains how the Portwell plot came to be. The S1 finale set up some possible interest between them as did the pre S2 face time call but nothing came of it during the first 4 eps, they stood next to each other a lot but barely interacted otherwise. Notably in 2x01, which Tim himself wrote, EJ tries to grow a beard and tells Ashlyn that he says her as so young which is extremely jarring now that we know that EJ is crushing on Gina who is Ashlyn’s age. 

Was Tim not set on doing Portwell until he realized he needed to give Gina something else to do other than hopelessly pine for Ricky? Narratively, it made sense after Rini got together in S1 to put the other two Big 4 characters together in S2 but did Tim not want it to seem so obvious to the audience so he deliberately kept Portwell apart until 2x05 where EJ’s feelings make for a nice plot twist? Was he just reluctant to plug EJ back into the love square due to how much more complicated it would make things but later felt he had no other options? Or was it just plain old bad pacing and writing?

Of course, I wish that there wasn’t such a large age gap between Sofia and Matt but there are no Gina ships that avoid that problem, there’s also an age gap between Sofia and Joshua, just as there was between Olivia and Joshua and Matt in S1. Depending on when they film S3 there’s a good chance that most of it will be finished before Sofia even turns 18 which is deeply unfortunate. There’s a broader issue of teen girls being cast in mostly age appropriate roles while their male love interests are older adults and in particular it often affects female characters of colour. Netflix has a really bad track record with those kind of age gaps but Disney has problems too as we’ve seen on HSMTMTS and on GMW where by the end of S3 they had 18 year old Peyton Meyer as the boyfriend of 14 year old Rowan Blanchard’s character (not to mention canon Joshaya which didn’t have such a bad age gap between the actors but was problematic regarding the ages of the characters themselves).

A knock I’ve seen on Portwell is that EJ is just gonna leave for university next year but that was never gonna happen, Matt’s under the same 4 season contract as all the other mains and he’ll be sticking around in some capacity much like Sharpay ended up doing in the movies. It is true that EJ will probably have to move on at the end of S4 while Gina still has her senior year left but that will also happen with her and Ricky since he’ll be graduating at the end of S4. It was a big mistake to make EJ a senior but it also may end up being a big mistake to make Gina a sophomore. It would have been too messy to retcon EJ to be a junior but Tim probably should have taken the chance to retcon Gina into being a junior in S2.

That Rini breakup was so sad (missed opportunity for gotta go my own way). They managed to get in a Troyella reference with the treehouse. This was inevitable they just have not been communicating well though now that we know that Ricky thought Nini left YAC for him some of his desperation to spend as much time together as possible makes more sense. I think Rini is endgame if the series has 4 seasons but it wouldn't shock me if we never seem them dating again and they only get back together in the series finale. It also wouldn’t surprise me if Nini never dates anyone else for the remainder of the series or at least not seriously. 

We’re not even halfway through the series so it’s way too early to permanently slam the door on Rini though this time apart will probably help Joshua and Olivia move on from their own bitter break up before it bleeds too much into their performances. I do wonder if Tim really has a clue what he's gonna do with them for the remaining 24-28 eps of the series, assuming S3 and S4 have 10-12 eps each. 

Roman Banks killed If I Can’t Love Her and the montage of all the couples or ex couples was great.

It was nice to finally meets some parents other than the Bowen’s and Salazar-Roberts’. Kourtney’s mom was played by Dara’s actual mother and their dynamic was great as expected. It seems from their conversation that Kourtney's father is dead which I don’t believe has been mentioned before. Cash Caswell.... well it gets what the character is about across. He really looks and sounds like a rich Utah republican, I bet he knows Mitt Romney personally. I liked EJ going to tell his father that he’s not going to Duke and recognizing that he wants to build his own life on his own merits. 

We saw a bit of that S1 Miss Jenn energy tonight which was fun though I didn't like how curt she was with Seb nor did I like how rude Carlos was to Seb although we know that blows up in 2x10. 

Jazzara rising! I really liked how Jazzara and Portwell are sort of mirroring each other and since Mazzara knows about EJ’s feelings for Gina it wouldn’t shock me if helping EJ out is part of him showing a softer side in 2x12.

Of course Ashlyn is VP of the Nostradamus society. It's clear her family has some kooky new age beliefs (her parents are probably members of some naturopathic medicine group on Facebook that doubles as a gateway into Qanon)

It was nice to see Big Red being such a good friend to Ricky and the return of Ricky’s infamous pillow hugs. Lmao at Ashlyn just chilling while Big Red is comforting Ricky

Also Miss Jenn saying sexy and Big Red referring to pillow talk, the writers are adding a bit of spice when cooking up these scripts.

Looking Ahead: 

Looks like Gina may be wearing EJ's duke sweater next ep according to some posts I saw. Jack presumably is there to somehow help Gina decide what she wants with Ricky and EJ though him having wanderlust might also feed into Gina’s thoughts on settling down in SLC or moving with her mom around the country.

Let's see what mom of the year, Lynne Bowen, has up her sleeves. Ricky’s bedroom at her place in Chicago looks much nicer than the apartment Mike Bowen has so perhaps she makes a lot more money than he does. 

Not looking forward to the Zoom portions of the ep but I guess it was inevitable. 

There’s only two paths for Gina’s story to go in the remainder of this season; either she decides to move on from Ricky and give EJ a chance or she decides that Ricky is worth trying again and squelches her budding feelings for EJ. The former looks much more likely after tonight’s ep but either way it needs to be handled with care. Inevitably Gina and Ricky need to talk about what happened between them but if Tim really wants Ricky to continue being a viable love interest or even a good friend to Gina then he needs to really have Ricky apologize and show a thoughtful, kinder side of him that’s largely been missing this season. 

What I think Tim is doing is setting up Portwell getting together in 2x12 but Ricky pining over Gina until Portwell break up late S3 and Rina get together in the S3 finale before they break up later in S4 and Ricky gets back with Nini near the end of the series. If I had Tim’s ear I would tell him that he should pick which ship he wants to do, Rina or Portwell, but don’t do both. He wants canon Rina? Great then end Portwell before it starts and have Rina happen in S3 and introduce other obstacles to them getting together rather than having to damage EJ’s character and make him lose another girl he likes to Ricky. He wants canon Portwell? Great then have Gina and Ricky’s conversation be closure for the both of them and have Gina and EJ get together and break them up without Ricky being a cause of it or waiting in the wings to get with Gina soon afterwards. Doing both will be a disaster and I truly hope that Tim Federle carefully thinks over his mistakes in S2 and really plans out the remaining 2 seasons of the series while there’s still time to prevent things from going really off the rails like GMW and AM did thanks to the bad decisions of Michael Jacobs and Terri Minsky. 

Until next week wildcats. 

[seafoamsong]

How to write interpersonal relationships through communication

Hello! I'm a Communication Arts student so I guess I should be good at writing dialogue, right? I'm not sure but I will try to share some theories that might give you a better understanding of how interpersonal communication works in order to help you write your characters a bit more realistically or the way you envision them to be!

1. Comfort in communication

Typically, when strangers talk to each other, they'll only tackle shallow topics no matter how friendly they may seem. They won't immediately reveal their deepest darkest secrets to each other even if they say they're an open book or someone who trusts people too easily.

This is because there are stages to communication that ties in directly with the relationship status of people or your characters.

The first stage is the orientation stage where you get to know somebody on a superficial level like their name, their age, where they live, what they study, etc.

The second stage is the exploratory stage where you start telling people about your political beliefs, opinions on religion, thoughts about books, etc. Deeply personal information is still withheld at this point and most friends and acquaintances stay at this level.

The third stage is the affective stage where you begin to reveal personal and private matters. Only people you truly trust get to hear these. Aside from that, unconventional language is used, making it more casual (think inside jokes and the like). The people within this stage are also comfortable enough with each other to criticize each other without fear. This is the stage where you can lose relationships.

The fourth stage is the stable stage where both parties are open to each other about mostly anything or everything. They can even predict how the other will react.

The fifth stage can actually happen after any of the four stages above as it is the depenetration stage. It's basically the withdrawal from self-disclosure and ending the relationship.

All these stages may be achieved in less than a week for some but for others, it might take years. It depends on the characters you're writing and sometimes, one person might be in the fourth stage already but the other person might just be in the second stage which could cause conflict to occur.

2. The ability to communicate

Talking might be easy for people who can. You might think of something to say or you don't then you speak. But talking and communicating aren't the same. To communicate effectively means to get the message across correctly.

To put it in better terms a character wants to tell somebody that they want time alone because they're overwhelmed. But due to various circumstances like the mood of the character, the setting, the proximity of other characters, they might lash out instead of explaining they need to be left alone for a while.

That's a cliche example though. A more subtle example might be character a asks character b if they want chocolate cake. Character b hates chocolate cake but they're too polite to say no. Character b then says "Uh, sure chocolate cake is okay, I guess." Instead of directly saying they don't want chocolate cake, they're giving cues to character a they don't really like chocolate cake by saying "I guess" and by not actually confirming that they want chocolate cake. It's up to character a to decipher the message of character b and it could either go well, or not depending on how character a sees it.

Remember, aside from semantic noise (like in the example above, jargon, mispronunciation, euphemism) there's also physical noise, psychological noise (worries, biases), and physiological noise (hunger, illness, temperature), cultural noise (eye contact, proximity, gestures) that might cause miscommunication.

3. Cultural barriers

It's also important to remember culture when it comes to communication.

In some cultures being straight to the point is the norm but for others, being indirect is more polite.

It doesn't even have to be a country's culture but how a person was raised. If character a was raised in a loud environment, chances are, they'll be loud too. If character b was raised to be quiet and reserved, they'll most likely be quiet and reserved. Character a and character b meeting could cause confusion from both parties which means they'd need to learn how the other works in order to communicate effectively.

4. Copying your friend's speech patterns

Notice that you're talking a lot more like your friends? That's you accommodating to them so you can fit in better with them.

If your character spends a lot of time and is friends with somebody or a group of people, it's most likely they'll pick something up from them be it their speech patterns, the way they stand, the way they dress up, their exclamations, the pose the use when taking pictures, etc.

This works in a negative manner too. Using restrictive languages can keep people apart, thus alienating their own members from other people or vice versa.

That's all the things I know about communication that I think could help with dialogue and relationships! I might make a post about online communication because it's a bit different from meeting someone in real life. However, it should be more or less the same.

I hope this helps you with whatever you're writing!

[mimicmew]

Updated list and info of the species in the Monster AU!

Since some people seemed interested.. here we go!

If you’d like to add your OC or make a new character for this au, use these as a basis! Feel free to ask me any questions if you’re curious or unsure. ALSO IT’S VERY LONG

Humans

CANON CHARACTERS: none lol

- Humans are the basic species of this world.

- They can rarely learn magic and become mages, but most cannot.

- Most humans fear and hate monsters, hunting them down and killing them.

- The Pale Kingdom, regarded as the most hateful kingdom, is currently under attack from a dangerous dragon and it’s siren ‘companion.’ They have managed to cool this by sending regular sacrifices to the ocean.

Sirens

CANON CHARACTERS; Mono, Thin Man

- Sirens are very uncommon, as many of them are hunted down by other species when young, as they are very dangerous.

- Sirens live in pods consisting of 3-15 members. These pods usually exist of siblings from the same hatching, and rarely separate pods fuse to make larger groups. This is uncommon as Sirens are often quite territorial.

- Babies are called pups.

- Sirens never cut their hair, unless they lose a battle. A siren with long hair is to be feared, as they are undefeated in combat.

- For design, Sirens have normal skin colours until their waist, where it fuses into scales. These scales are usually cool colours such as blue, green or purple, and fade into a darker or lighter shade down their tails. They have fins on the sides of their faces that open and close as they emote. They have bright spots across their tail, face and hands. The spots are usually warm colours such as red, yellow or orange. These spots are different shapes depending on where the Siren is from. The only canon ones right now are the eye-shaped spots that both Mono and Thin Man have, so go wild with the shapes! They’ll usually wear shirts as a way of mimicking humans.

- Their magic can be very varied, but is always tied to their voices. A siren without a voice is a dead siren.

- Siren’s grow for their entire life! They grow to about 8 ft by 18, and then they grow roughly half a metre a year, so as you could guess, Thin Man is very long.

Centaurs

CANON CHARACTERS; The Hunter, The Toddler

- Centaurs live in large herds, ranging anywhere from 20 to over 100.

- They live in both forests and open plains.

- They are very naturalist and believe in not taking any more then they need.

 - They have a belief that the face (Particularly the eyes) is the most vulnerable place for spirits to enter, so at a certain age, (around 5 years old) they begin to wear masks. This can range anywhere from beautifully hand-carved wooden masks to just… a sack.

- Centaurs have long hair that runs down their back like a mane. It’s not uncommon for centaurs of any age, no matter the gender, to grow out beards or chest hair. 

Gorgons

CANON CHARACTERS; The Lady, The Lady’s unnamed mother

- Gorgons come from a long line of cursed humans, which have split off to its own species. They are very rare and usually exist in powerful families.

- Gorgons are almost only female, and can reproduce with the same sex.

- Gorgons have rock-hard scales that are always muted colours. Their underbellies are a lighter colour. The snakes that make up their ‘hair’ can be any colour.

- Gorgon’s eyes can turn people into stone through their eyes, so most cover their eyes.

Harpies

CANON CHARACTERS; Raincoat Girl

- Harpies are tall, with their human arms replaced by large bird-like wings. Their legs are much like that of a bird of prey’s. The can have feathers on any place of their bodies.

- They often resemble an existing species of bird, from a bright scarlet macaw to a pitch-black crow.

- Some harpies live in large flocks, while others live alone.

- they usually wear long singlets that do not cover their shoulders, as to avoid restricting their wings.

- They often gather odd trinkets and items.

Fauns

CANON CHARACTERS; Runaway Kid

- Fauns are the deer-like cousins of centaurs

- They usually live alone in dense forests, but can sometimes be seen travelling with centaur herds.

- They have horns that can be any shape, and long, floppy ears.

Gargoyles

CURREN CHARACTERS; The Janitor, The Wax Bellman

- Not much to say, usually just enchanted statues. Aren’t always made of stone, and can be made of most materials.

- Can really look like anything.

- Usually made to serve a master.

- Don’t need to eat, sleep or drink. 

Changelings

CANON CHARACTERS; The Pretender

- Changelings are creatures that, after having a hatchling, will sneak into a human’s house, usually kill or dispose of the human’s child and replace it with their own. Because of this, many changelings grow up unaware of the fact that they are changelings until they grow older.

- They have two forms, a regular human one, and a more monstrous one, often resembling some kind of insect or reptile.

Cyclops

CANON CHARACTERS; The Twin Chefs, The Lollipop boy

- uhh just big Cyclops honestly not much in terms of lore or design.

- Usually very tall and large.

Zombies

CANON CHARACTERS; The Viewers, Some of the Guests, The Doctor

- Zombies can be made in many ways. However, the ones in this area are specifically made by the haunting songs of the Siren.

- They are killed by the first song, then slowly revived by the second, usually over a timespan of about 5 months.

- These zombies are mostly unfortunate humans who got too close, or sacrifices. They can be of any species, however.

Werebeasts

CANON CHARACTERS: Six (werewolf)

- Werebeasts are a collection of species. Some of the most well known are the Werewolves, but many more exist, such are wereboars, werebears and werecats.

- They usually resemble humans, but after some time will shift into a monstrous half-humna, half-animal form. Some will change back, while others will remain like that forever.

- They act very similar to their animals. Some are more human, while others are almost entirely beast.

Ghosts

CANON CHARACTERS; The Sheet Kid, The Glitching Remains

- Just funky little ghosts! usually only of people who died tragic deaths :( 

- Usually have stains on their face resembling tears, and can seem like they are fading away, missing parts of their bodies.

Dragons

CURRENT CHARACTERS; The Eye, The ‘Hunger’, The North Wind

- Ancient and powerful beasts, dragons are the most dangerous species to roam this world.

- If you’re going to make a dragon, try to use it for very powerful entities. Double check with me if you’re unsure.

- They can really look like anything, as there are many subspecies, such as wyverns, wyrms, hydras and more. However, they are unfortunately dying out at a rapid rate.

- They cannot die of old age, only of illness or injury.

- They usually have very strong magical abilities.

- While not always evil, most dragons will horde things. These can be jewels, people, plants or anything really.

ALSO:

Here are some species that might exist, but I dont have any proper lore on yet

- Shapeshifters

- Vampires

- elementals (living elements)

- half-borns (people who are half-animal, half-human)

- Fae

- Selkie

And these are just the ‘sentient’ species! Many mythical animals exist too, such as Phoenix or Unicorn, but are only. animals

[thoughts-on-bangtan]

I m just having these random thoughts. Like tae has always been very clingy and affectionate with other members like jhope or rm or jin or even jk. Whereas wgen it comes to vmin its mostly jimin being clingy. Like u can see even when vmin sit together its mostly jimin touching him or clinging to him whereas when they sit with others while jimin is equally touchy tae becomes clingier. Its so wierd and i dont know what to think.

Looking at the history of vmin from beginning until now (here’s an amazing timeline post by romanticdrift you should check out), in the first couple of years both of them were clingy and affectionate with each other, but also rough and lacking the experience that came with age of how to properly communicate with each other about their feelings and thoughts and in general. So, while in the beginning they just had fun with it, some of it being for show to entertain ARMY, some not, it’s true that things have evolved over the years and nowadays they are very different from how they used to be in like 2013, for example. That isn’t a bad thing though. It’s a natural progressing even.

Besides, Jimin and Hoseok are the two most physically affectionate members, that’s true, but just because that’s their love language (at least in primary free content, yet in paid content like ITS or BV, have you noticed how suddenly even they are way less physically affectionate, how the members don’t feel the need to constantly cling to each other, hug and touch each other, and rather just spend time together doing something or being in the same room doing their own things while enjoying each other company), we can’t expect everyone to have the same one. For instance, Yoongi is more about showing acts of service toward his members as a way of showing them how much he cares about them and loves them, it’s his love language. Does that make his affection for them any less valuable than when Jimin is clingy with another member?

If you look at how Tae’s behavior has fluctuated across 2020 due to obvious reasons in the first half while settling down and turning happier in the second half, you’ll notice that he’s in general “calmed down” with how affectionate in a physical way he is with the other members. He’s still silly and making jokes with them when he’s in a good mood, he still touches and shows physical affection toward Jimin, like in the RUN episode with Chef Baek and the rice cooker moment, yet there are also times when he simply doesn’t want to do that. It’s not a bad thing, and it also doesn’t have to say anything at all about the state that vmin’s bond is at. It runs so much deeper than some physical touch caught on camera during a 35-minute RUN episode, or lack thereof in some other content.

Jimin and Taehyung worked so hard and over a long period of time for the bond they have now, especially since they did it not as BTS Jimin and BTS V, but as Kim Taehyung and Park Jimin, the real-life people. They put in a lot, and I mean a LOT, of emotional and physical labor into creating and strengthening this bond they’ve always had (in some form or another) because they saw something in each other, saw that they’d found their person in each other and wanted to make it work despite their differences, despite hard times making not only their lives hard but also putting their bond to a grueling test, and at the end here we are today where their bond is literally one of the closest and strongest bonds I’ve ever seen.

More below the cut:

Now, imagine you put that much into a relationship (and for this argument the only viable reason for why they behave this way and guard this so fiercely is because there’s something romantic here since why else would they be so protective about their bond and “hide” it so much?) would you really want to showcase it so obviously to people, strangers who only wait for reasons (even if there aren’t any actual ones) to be vicious and nasty toward you? Just to see people drag your bond through the mud, to insult it, belittle it, and write it off as “fanservice” (even more than they already do) even though it’s something so precious to you, even though this person is your person, your soulmate, your special someone you want to keep at your side until you’re grandpas?

I highly doubt it.

And that’s where the difference lies. Yes, all the bonds in BTS are strong and special in their own rights, but what Jimin and Taehyung have, that is something so rare, so precious, so once in a lifetime, yet also something they worked so hard and long for and on, who would want to “sell” it to the public? Wouldn’t you, too, want to keep it safe and close to your heart? Think of Taehyung’s lyrics from the song he posted and then deleted off of twitter, of him wanting to protect his love from those with evil tongues, to save his love and save himself with an umbrella, think of the drawing from the Snow Flower cover of the boy protecting the flower with an umbrella from the snow. Wouldn’t you, too, want to protect someone who is this special to you, with whom you share such a special bond, from the horrendous opinions and words of others?

It’s easy to be affectionate with people who are your best friends, your found family, your brothers, and showing that to people, but showing the same with someone so important to you, with whom you share a different level and kind of connection, it’s a completely different story.

Besides, we still get glimpses of it from time to time, we see their affection for each other, and yes, it’s different, it might come across as weird to some, but that doesn’t make it any less meaningful and their bond any less real and deep than any other bond within BTS. Does the closeness of two members truly only depend on their on-camera affection, yet the moment it’s something we only hear about yet not see, therefore is something off camera and not for us to view, somehow not exist and not matter?

At the end of the day, we know so little about their private lives, and much of what you see and hear about from some is just speculations, some of which are f*cked up to say the least in regard to some other pairings within BTS, and yet the things we do hear about their private lives come from their own mouths, especially in connection to vmin, are immediately dismissed and ignored because…because some loud part of the fandom just decides that that’s how it is and everyone else is meant to just follow their opinion, I guess?

That’s not right, we know that and, in a way, I’m sure they do as well, but they follow their own agenda, one we don’t have to follow or agree with. What they do is their thing, but as vminnies, we know what we know, we see what we see, so instead of looking what everyone else is doing, why don’t we do as they do and stick to our opinions, our feelings, everything we know about Jimin and Taehyung, as individuals and as pair, and feel happy for them but also happy for ourselves because we got to witness them grow into the people they are today, in general but also with each other. Isn’t that much more valuable than some short touch of a thigh or a teasing joke?

I know it’s easy to fall into the pattern of comparing, especially when it comes to the amount of content you get etc, but just because others want to impose their bad shipper habits on us and take how supposedly real a pairing is solely based on “”moments”” and turn it into something akin to a di*k measuring contest, who’s to say we have to participate? Besides, regardless of which shipper camp wins, it has no effect on the actual idols, says nothing about their actual real-life bonds. They are the only ones who know the true nature of their bonds and their depths, so looking at everything we know about vmin, things they’ve shared with us through visuals and words, do we really have any reason to feel insecure about our opinions? What reason do we have to think of how much or how little affection and clinginess they show toward each other in on-camera moments as the be all, end all evidence and standard of their bond? When we know how much they’ve worked for this, how much they matter to each other, enough so to cry and laugh together, to sing a song about it co-written and co-produced by Jimin, for Tae to write 4 O’Clock and many more, and for them to decide to want to stay together forever? In the face of all that, is it really that imperative for us to see them share affection on camera, for them to be clingy?

Isn’t everything else we have, these more than eight years’ worth of friendship and more, isn’t that enough for us to see and know their worth to each other?

And sure, there are moments where they are clingy, where they are affectionate with each other, so isn’t that enough? Do we really need more, or some kind of elaborate explanation for why it is that way or not a different one? Besides, they aren’t eighteen-year-old boys and rookies anymore, they are grown men who want to be seen and treated as musicians, Grammy nominated ones at that, who have learned how to communicate their love for each other in a way they are most comfortable and happy with, so do they really need to cling to each other on camera? No. They don’t owe us visual proof of their bond, don’t owe us visual reminders of their bond either.

The fact that we still get glimpses of their bond is a wonderful thing and I’m grateful for it. Generally, the fact that we get to see and witness so much of the members lives is something we should treat as special and not as a requirement, like a quota they need to fulfill. They could only ever show up during comebacks and promotions, but instead we get so much, just yesterday we had Jimin spend time on weverse replying to so many posts and even coming back a second time a little while later into the night, also replying twice to posts about Tae.

From anon: I think that, especially Taehyung, has succumbed to restrictions and fan service and the falsification of everything. This is the problem with the entire Makne lineage. Maybe they are all very real with each other in their personal lives, but in front of the camera they all seem very scripted. Because of that, I think Vmin does not present himself in front of the camera and does not want any fan service. What do you two think about it? Thanks for great posts!

This is another ask we got a while ago that I think fits thematically. Even more so when you consider that many consider anything vmin do together just fanservice, thus belittling and cheapening their bond in such a blatant and awful way despite having no right to do so. I’m sure vmin know about all of this, have seen the comments since they are everywhere, so it can’t possibly be fun or pleasant at all. You could argue that they could just not care about what people say, could just not care about how their interactions are viewed as fanservice, but that is way easier said than done when there is practically no escaping those comments at this point.

There’s a shipping rule, so to speak, especially when it comes to real people ships, that you are to keep your shipping away from them and keep it somewhere where they don’t see it. That rule has long been broken, burned and turned into micro particles that can never be put together again. And we know that’s a fact because we literally had Tae tell a shipper off on Weverse, something that usually never happens. But it did. Not that it changed anything or had any kind of effect, but it’s more about the gesture itself.

As for the scripted part, of course much is scripted but not because they are fake, their personas are fake, and the whole BTS are family thing is fake, but because their words have weight. Their actions have weight. Everything they say and do is put on a scale, measured and accounted for, analyzed, theorized and twisted one way or another. While they could be wild during rookie years, now that they’ve reached this unprecedented level of fame for Korean artists, that’s not possible anymore. They have to be careful, have to be on guard during certain content, have to put their very best foot forward at all times. It’s hard. Incredibly hard. We’ve seen them struggle with it, but that’s how it is. And when you struggle, it’s easier to have a script, even just a loose one, you can follow to make it easier, to make you less unsure or keep yourself from overthinking everything you say or do.

One thing that is incredibly important to remember is that when they are on camera, they are at work, they are BTS Jimin and BTS V, BTS RM and BTS JIN, and while parts of their real personalities are also part of their BTS personas, it’s still work, not free time. Especially during interviews or performances, while backstage getting ready to go on stage, or while going from schedule to schedule. Think about it this way, vmin are affectionate and clingy and loud about their bond in places where we see them, so now think about how loud they must be in places where we don’t see them, in their private lives? 

Enough so for none of the members to laugh or react or comment on how casually Tae spoke about wanting Jimin to come sleep next to him. And enough so that Hoseok said that the person Jimin shows aegyo toward the most is Tae (though I’ve seen at least three different translations for this moment, the one I mentioned, another one that translates it as Jimin being spoiled the most by Tae, and yet another as Jimin treating Tae as big baby) in one of the Japanese interviews (NTV Buzz Rhythm) in July 2020, Yoongi nodding in agreement, the mention of that making Tae flustered (?) and want to downplay it a little by acting ‘surprised’ and asking “(To) me?”. This, too, is something we don’t see that often (anymore) yet it obviously must be there if Hoseok mentioned it and the others agreed with him. And at the end of the day, the members truly do know them, far better than any of us ever will. Or that time at the airport where Jimin waited for Tae and they only started to hold hands when they must’ve thought no one would be able to see it. Do things like this not sufficiently show that there are simply things they don’t want to show us? And thus, shouldn’t we simply respect their choices?

And even if they are calmer now, less clingy, less ‘showy’, we still got a bed selca they took while hidden behind their legs and blankets creating as though a wall so the ITS cameras didn’t see them, with a caption that…well, opens up some interesting implications (positive ones, of course).

Let me end this post on this: if vmin were just friends, or even if they weren’t friends anymore like some so vehemently insist is the case, surely there would be no issue for them to show their just friendship the way they show it with the other members, be clingy and affectionate in physical ways, possibly even just play a role of bestest buddies like some idols supposedly do, and yet they don’t do that. So, since they don’t do it, the only plausible reason I can see for it is that they simply have something between them that they want to hide and that it’s valuable enough to them that they want to guard and protect it, that makes their bond different from the bonds they have with the other members.

[differenceonlyyoucanmake]

Since it's mermay, how do you think Nori, Merliah, Lumina, and Isla would get along?

This is an interesting request!

Nori/Merliah/Lumina/Isla Friendship Headcanons

I'm not going to try to figure out how they would meet. That would involve figuring out timelines it would take a lot of mental stretching to connect, so let's just take that part for granted for now.

I think Merliah and Nori would click the easiest right away. They seem to be around the same age, They're both competitive and somewhat sarcastic, and I can imagine their banter.

Although initial appearances might lead one to characterize Isla as naive, her distrust of humans gives me the impression she's jaded due to her past. Nori can relate to that, though maybe not for the same reason.

Lumina and Merliah could bond over their shared experiences being long lost princesses.

Isla and Merliah would spend time together in the outdoors. Isla’s endurance in Dolphin Magic was impressive, and I like to headcanon her as rather muscular/ having an athletic build.

Isla and Nori wouldn’t find many things they had in common at first. They are both slow to trust and open up to people. Maybe they could both talk about the optimistic blondes in their lives who pulled them into adventures that changed them.

They would all find comparing cultures interesting. The pearl magic connected to the royal family of Seagundia could be similar to/ a variant of Merillia magic.

Isla and Lumina could bond over having complicated feelings about people involved in their adventures.

Isla: Barbie and I are on good terms now, but it really hurt when she didn’t help me free my dolphin friends at first. She provided me with food and shelter and kept my secret for the most part, but I lost trust in her for a while. :(

Lumina: I know what you mean! My aunt Scylla- well I guess she isn’t really my aunt- she kidnapped me when I was a baby! But it’s okay because she was supposed to kill me, which would have been worse! She kept the secret of my true identity for 17 years, which I spent isolated with a seahorse as my only friend. I’m like super socially stunted now lol. Anyway, she then sort of agreed to poison my father?? But I know it’s because otherwise my uncle would tell everyone she killed me. And on the bright side, I got to go to the castle because of my journey to give her her invitation to the ball at which she was supposed to deliver said poison. I always wanted to go to the castle! I would have lived there my entire life if not for the plot she was involved in, but it’s whatever. Then some stuff happened at the ball, and I found out my true identity! I wasn’t mad; she had been through a lot that day. So I invited her to live with me and the parents she helped separate me from! :D

Isla: That’s... how... do you need a hug?

Although we don’t see much of how Isla lives, her lifestyle seems fairly simplistic and isolated. Compared to the other mers with complex societies, royal hierarchies, etc. she seems like she’s rugged (and perhaps uncivilized, though I doubt any of the others would make that assumption).

Lumina and Nori could also relate to one another feeling out of place among their royal loved ones. Nori definitely angsted around Nalu’s court, while Lumina felt more generally out of place. Nori could cover up her perceived inadequacies with snark, but Lumina struggled socially, depending more on being an eternally kind people-pleaser. That was really the only way she knew how to handle social situations, but being a princess meant she would often face situations requiring more complex responses.

I can imagine them discussing their monarchies:

Isla: I have no idea if we have a queen or anything actually. I just do my own thing.

Merliah: I’ve learned to balance my royal duties with my human responsibilities, but royal life is restrictive and frustrating sometimes.

Lumina: I agree with that, except the human part of course. I never knew being a princess involved so many rules!

Merliah: What about in Mermaidia, Nori? Does being a prince stress Nalu out?

Nori: I’m not exactly sure how much weight that title holds. He disappeared to help Elina on her first adventure, and they didn’t send out a search party or anything when he was kidnapped. He’s more like... a celebrity famous for doing nothing, but not famous enough for the public to actually protect him. Some people did look down upon our relationship because I don’t hold any special status.

Merliah: So he’s basically an influencer.

Nori, Isla, and Lumina: What?

Merliah: What?

[chemicalpink]

Hey, I hope you are doing good this was a thing that was wondering me so there are lot of bts future spouse /soulmate/twinflame videos being made on youtube and honestly everyone is being psychic like it has become a shitshow and what was previously just for curiosity fun and entertainment are becoming extremely emotionally invested in the topic especially for maknae line soulmate it would be interesting if the can do a tarot reading or your spiritual experience why is the future spouse saga turning ugly and does universe what us to know something through it !? Because it's becoming pretty crazy right now

Okay so I believe that yes, the spiritual part has a lot to do behind this occurrence, but I also think its roots lay on psicosocial matters and honestly I could go on for days about this but I’ll try to restrict it to a few points that you’ve mentioned

Why all of a sudden everyone seems to be tarot readers/astrologers/psychic?

The capitalism behind celebrities and how does that play a part in what is going on?

Are these people accurate at all?

How does energy shifting play a part in this?

Is the soulmate journey even something a third person would be able to note?

But first a Disclaimer: this opinion/rant is based on my experience with spirituality, I am obviously a mere mortal, so I do not hold the absolute truth. Spirituality is a constant learning process and it is open to discussion and interpretation of each person. I am also now a proud sociologist graduate that specialises in a lot of the stuff that has to do with what anon is asking, I’m a social behaviouralist applied to the entertainment industry as well but I’ll also provide my resources in the end.

A/N: Some of you might not yet be ready to read all of this, if I see ANY of you trying to start beef with me, even after the disclaimer, I'm gonna block you. If you want to talk more about it or want to discuss it further, DO SO OFF ANON. ISTG you’ve been warned, I’ve been working on this for the longest time, it even has resources to back all of it up! I’m so glad anon asked, I’m done being diplomatic on this topic (I know people that usually ask stuff are so respectful and i love you guys for it, this note is for those people that regularly jump on my asks to stir things up)

You guys are in for a whole academic article if you decide to read this

SO FUN AND EXCITINGGGG Let us start with behavioural economics as our base to understand the whole phenomenon, it's such a broad and kinda complex concept (especially since I’m trying to extrapolate it to this particular scenario) so let me do my best. It has a lot to do with trend following, although at least to me, it's unclear how exactly this content came to be (soulmate readings, channeling messages, etc) I am guessing it had something to do with an intersectionality between the general spirituality boom that we’ve met with during the pandemic and some person that just as any other marketable opportunity, saw a bridge between fandom life and this spiritual life (both prominent trends in the last two years or so) and honestly, it worked perfectly, whatever their initial intentions were, they threw out a new “product” and it kind of sold itself, two different trends coming together… turned into a behavioural game theory where if you played the part that allows your content to be consumed, you’ll get rewarded for it. In more simple words, tarot meets fandoms (alternatively, tarot meets BTS) is great as it is! but the fan behaviour (which we’ll talk about in a bit) positions the most private parts of the celebrities’ lives to be much more interesting than things that we are already able to see (personal experience, love readings do so much better than idk career readings and it all comes down to behavioural trends of perceiving ‘love’ as something very intimate)

Now, this is where we’ll begin to talk about capitalism as a whole, even in non-monetary systems like social media, where it takes more of a rewarding system via likes, views, reblogs, etc. The whole principle of us living in such a system is being aspirational, we see others profiting off of something, we might want to reach out and do the same so we can profit ourselves, which honestly, I think is what happened with the whole BTS soulmate readings boom, they get a lot of attention, and as a basic market law, as demand goes up and a few people that initially did these readings are no longer capable to satisfy the need of the people wanting to know all the tea, there are market opportunities for other people to do the same thing and increase the offer, although since this whole theory is behavioural, it is very context-dependant, which ends up not following the principle of the consumers being rational about how much and what content they consume, they just sort of consume all of it, regardless of whether the content creator is qualified to offer such content or not, which ultimately only adds onto a never ending cycle of more people claiming they are tarot readers/astrologers/psychics and fear nothing because this is the internet, you don't really have to enter any qualifications to be able to create content, whether someone is reliable in internet terms is basically all about how many likes they’ve got (which is why I always tell you guys to please consume content responsible).

When it comes to accuracy- I guess that’s the hardest part of all, we can’t just have pointers that would automatically tells us if someone’s craft is valid or not, since everyone’s craft is different all craft is valid to a certain extent (you can easily find scammers of course but that’s another story) what we can have are personal standards and deciding what content to consume or whose content to consume, but that’s entirely a personal decision and since so many people are invested in it- it seems really hard that these “market tendencies” might change any time soon. On that same note of accuracy, I really feel the need to talk about a major occurrence I’ve come across in this whole soulmate scene, minors. Now, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a minor and approaching spirituality (I was very much a minor when I started) but there’s a huge difference between just playing around and deciding to create content for the whole world to have access to. Of course I’m aware not all tarot readers in the BTS fandom are minors, and ARMY is very diverse and even if they were only minors it would be wrong to invalidate them, but we can’t ignore the statistics of it when touching this particular topic, according to 2020 data, 50,31% of ARMY are below 18 years old, and 42,59% are between 18-29 but why is this important? because the exact historical and economic moment we are living in mainly impacts these two age groups, thus making all 92,90% of ARMY a potential target to consuming or falling in a behavioural game theory of creating this content without them necessarily being qualified for it. But hey, why do you keep talking about the importance of being qualified? Glad you asked, creating spiritual content all comes down to one amazing term: accountability.

And this will explore two main phases of it, one applicable for that 50,31% that could potentially be drawn to create spiritual content and other for the 42,59% that could potentially be dragged to creating that content without much spiritual knowledge. For the first one, it has a lot to do with cognitive aspects, young people tend to do stuff without much further thought about how their actions impact other people, which, as they should, they are kids, they shouldn’t have to worry too much about emotional responsibility as us adults do, furthermore, they are in life stages where they can’t really comprehend many abstract concepts that we later learn in life, and spirituality is one of those concepts, so they tend to just have fun with it with no regards on how their content might impact other minors (this is where the whole feeding a false scenario that is potentially delusional in exchange of more views, likes comes into play) on a more spiritual level, they also aren’t able to comprehend the boundaries of the celebrities they’re reading for, us readers have to always be careful about the information we give out since it is not ours to give. As for the second group, some of this is still applicable since theorists consider a full cognitive maturity until 23 years of age, but since it is very intersectional itself, i would found it more to a spiritual responsibility, since they are young adults, and if they haven’t been spiritually guided as kids, they’re most probably eager to learn and just awakening yet to some of them the drive to this spirituality is content creation instead of inner work, so they get their hands on a tarot deck, might kind of read a few things, call it a day and start reading for BTS (note: not all of them, I’m aware)

As for the maknae line being the most sought out people with this content, I guess it kinda makes sense now that I’ve said all of the information above, maknae line is closest to the age group of 92,90% of ARMY, so they instantly become more marketable to this content creation and the whole Game Theory that we are seeing. With all that being said, and just adding a note coming from my own spiritual experience, soulmates in any form are a difficult topic for a third person to prode, which is why I, personally, tend to not touch that topic, love is one hell of a concept, especially since we all have different conceptions of love and interpersonal relationships. I do know for a fact that there’s only so far we can go in terms of fated connections, like with astrology, but even then, we would have to know their birth times exactly (so we can check for any indicator or a soulmate connection), and/or compare BTS with the rest of the world’s population in order to accurately tell if someone has a soulmate synastry/overlay/composite with them. Also, soulmate journeys are intimate and we are all just fans, what right do we even have to look for things that do not and will never belong to us?

This is why I’m always telling you guys to PLEASE consume content responsibly! Really! Us content consumers also have our part to play that can help us get more accurate, more drama-free content

REFERENCES (what? you thought I was joking? they’re in alphabetical order)

ARMYCENSUS 2020

Loewenstein, G., O’Donoghue, T., & Rabin, M. (2003). Projection bias in predicting future utility. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(4), 1209-1248.

March, J. G. (1978). Bounded rationality, ambiguity, and the engineering of choice. The Bell Journal of Economics, 9(2), 587-608.

Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion and motivation Psychological Review, 98, 224-253.

Mazar, N., Amir, O., & Ariely, D. (2008). The dishonesty of honest people: A theory of self-concept maintenance. Journal of Marketing Research, 45(6), 633-644.

Murphy, S. T., & Zajonc, R. B. (1993). Affect, cognition, and awareness: Affective priming with optimal and suboptimal stimulus exposures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 723-729.

Samson, A., & Voyer, B. (2014). Emergency purchasing situations: Implications for consumer decision-making. Journal of Economic Psychology, 44, 21-33.

Schwartz, B. (2004). The paradox of choice: Why more is less. New York: Ecco.

Shah, A. K., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2008). Heuristics made easy: an effort-reduction framework. Psychological Bulletin, 134(2), 207-222.

Thaler, R. H. (2015). Misbehaving: The making of behavioral economics. Allen Lane.

Thaler, R. H. (2008). Mental accounting and consumer choice. Marketing Science, 27, 15-25.

Wood, W., & Neal, D. T. (2009). The habitual consumer. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 19, 579-592.

[coollyinterferes]

Character Interview || Repost, don't Reblog

NAME  :   Robert Edward Orville Speedwagon

NICKNAME  :  Boss, aniki, “bastard!”/"that son of a bitch!” (usually from rival gang members, so the insult varies sometimes lol), Rob (used by a few friends), derivatives of his last name −Speebs, Speeds, Speeb, Speedy, etc− but these he will only accept them from certain people, otherwise he will do his best not to cringe on the spot or will do it inwardly. Uncle Speedy and etc later on (as in once George and the rest of the children come into his life, more specifically~).

AGE  :   25 in the main verse (may vary depending on the verse)

SPECIES  :  Human/Stand user in the main/time-travel verse | Vampire in the vamp!verse | Werefox in the monster!verse

—— Personal! ♡

MORALITY  :      lawful   /   chaotic /   good   /   neutral   /   evil  /   true .

RELIGION  :   Non-practising catholic (was raised as Catholic, like most other Victorians, believes in God, but that’s pretty much about it)

SINS   :     greed   /   gluttony   /   sloth   /   lust   /   pride  /   envy   /   wrath  .

VIRTUES :     chastity   /   charity   /   diligence   /   humility   /   kindness   /  patience  / justice.

KNOWN LANGUAGES :   English is his first language. Conversational Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, German and some more. Some conversational Mandarin Chinese as well (this one thanks to Li −canonly known as Kenpo, his Ogre Street friend−) and bits of Irish (this one thanks to Tattoo, his other Ogre Street friend). He can read and understand some Japanese (kana and some okurigana/kanji) but can’t really speak or write it. Same case for some other languages that he can also recognize and more or less understand bits of them but can’t really speak them. As you probably guessed, he’s learned most of these through his many journeys around the world.

SECRETS  :  All of the stuff in regards to the stone mask and all the events and incidents that came out from that (it was stated that the only ones who know everything about it from start to end are Jonathan and Speedwagon, the others who might know a great deal of it would be Straizo and Master Tonpety). He also tries to keep a low profile in regards to his homosexuality whenever he’s out of the slums to save himself some trouble due to the stigma at the time and the potential legal consequences, going only for the gay codes of the time (long hair, cleanly shaven face, colorful accessories, etc) so I guess that could count? Other than that, and in the verses that it applies, his stand mayhaps?? That’s what allows him to leap through timelines in the time travel verses (it possesses other abilities and skills but, since Robert doesn’t even know about his stand’s existence yet, he hasn’t trained with it and thus he doesn’t know about any of it’s abilities, not even about the time travel oof).

—— Physical! ♡

BUILD :     scrawny   /   bony   /   slender   /   fit   /   athletic   /   curvy   /   herculean   /  pudgy  /   average   .

HEIGHT  :   5’11”, close to the 6’ mark (181 cms)

SCARS   /   BIRTHMARKS  :    The most recognizable one is the scar marring the left side of his face (going from the top of his nose to his jaw), but he has plenty more scattered all over his body, some more visible than others, some larger than others. Most of them come from fights and his general criminal lifestyle, some of them even come from some of the torture sessions he’s endured as part of that (so it isn’t surprising that they were either caused by knives, gunshots, burns, shards of glass and etc). Most of his scars are located on his chest and arms, some more on his hands/wrists and fingers (hands/wrists and fingers mainly from when he was learning to use his buzzsaw hat), though he has a few more on his legs/thighs, lower abdomen, and a couple more on his back. In the main verse (usually set in the late stages of PB), he will have a few more from the events in PB −burn scars on his hands from the fire at the Joestar mansion, one on his shoulder from the attack he received from Jack the Ripper, an ice burn across his abdomen from thawing Zeppeli’s arm, and a couple more and not so visible ones on his arms from minor injuries (cuts) he got while fighting and fending off zombies−. Most of the “PB scars” aren’t too visible thanks to Jonathan (he used his hamon to heal Speedwagon’s injuries shortly after).

ABILITIES   /   POWERS  :  He’s able to tell an evil person from a good one by their smell alone. He’s a resilient man and quite a strong one, too (stronger than the average guy, as he was shown killing zombies using his brute force only and a sledgehammer). He's good at hand to hand combat, he’s also good at using knives and guns, and at wrecking shit with a sledgehammer. I also hc that he's capable of creating veeeeeery small amounts of hamon (this as a result of Zepp's "accidental" slip) if he really puts his mind into it. Due to his current limitations with it, his hamon can’t be used for fighting, but it does enhance his healing process, making it slightly faster than that of an average human (with some proper training, chances are he might be able to do more with it, tho). His stand, in the verses where he has it, can perform time travel, which happens at random at first (he gradually gains control on his stand once he learns about it and starts training with it). Due to stands being a reflection of sorts of their user and their fighting spirit, and as an extension of Robert’s own hamon healing abilities, his stand also possesses healing abilities that can be used both on himself and on others, though this requires some training prior, as the healing relies entirely on Speedwagon’s own life force and can be fatal for him if used carelessly at first (once properly trained, it won’t represent a real danger for him to use). Much like Robert himself, his stand is also capable of packing some punches and causing serious damage on it’s opponent despite his stand being more of a “support” stand rather than a fully combat based one.

RESTRICTIONS  :  He's mostly a regular human in the main verse, so he’s at a great disadvantage against stronger supernatural beings such as vampires and pillarmen, for example. As stated above, the amounts of hamon he can currently create are small and, thus are difficult −almost impossible− to use for combat (again, this can change if he gets some proper training). His lack of knowledge on his stand’s existence can also count as a restriction for the time being, as he doesn’t know about it or it’s abilities and, thus, can’t use it at his will for now (it operates mostly in an “unconscious” level at first, usually after getting triggered). He also tends to wear his heart in his sleeve when it comes to the few people he truly holds dear and considers special to him, so that can be used against him if he’s not careful enough.

—— Likes / Scents! ♡

FOOD  :    He isn’t really picky with food since he grew up in absolute poverty and sometimes went for days without a single bite of food or eating stale (sometimes even moldy) food so like… he’s cool with pretty much anything nowadays. He’s also an adventurous man, so he’s always open to trying new and even “exotic” stuff. Other than that, pastries are one of his top fave things ever (creamy ones mainly but not exclusively).

DRINK  :   Tea −citrusy/fresh types mainly like lemongrass, same with berry teas−. He doesn’t mind sweeter teas but, since he usually has them with the pastries, he prefers something more “sour” to balance things out. He also likes coffee, liking it strong, kind of sweet, and hot (just how he likes his men lol). As for alcoholic drinks, he’s all for beer and gin. He also enjoys some of the sweeter ‘posh’ wines Jonathan normally has at his home.

PIZZA TOPPING  :  As far as I know, pizza toppings weren’t as creative and “crazy” in the 19th century as they have been over the last few decades, so he’s only used to more ‘traditional’ stuff like variants of Pizza Margherita, for example. However, in the time travel verses/modern!AUs he will definitely try all kinds of pizza toppings (yes, this includes pineapple pizza as well as entirely sweet pizza toppings and so on) and actually likes some of them.

COLOUR  :    Purple (shades like those of his waistcoats i.e.), pink, greeeeeeenvert, black.

MUSIC GENRE  :    More than a genre itself, he enjoys and appreciates music that can make him feel something. Toss some pub songs there for obvious reasons lol.

BOOK GENRE  :     General fiction mostly. He also enjoys reading some romance novels every now and then whenever he gets the chance to get his hands on a gay romance one, either featuring two males or two females (he doesn’t find the appeal in “traditional” ones for a variety of reasons).

MOVIE GENRE  :    Non-applicable in the main verse. Time travel verses −if he even gets the chance to watch a movie− and even in a modern!AU, his go to genres would probs be similar to his book genres, lol, just add some comedy there but like, not the ‘cheapest’ and cringey kind of comedy.

SEASON  :     Autumn and Winter (harsh winters are a pain in the ass in Ogre Street, but he can handle them fairly well overall)

CURSE WORD :   Fuck / Shit / Bloody and variants of it (like Bloody Hell) / Arsehole / Wanker / Damnit / Bollocks, Ballocks and all of it’s variants / Bastard / Motherfucker / Zounderkite (victorian for “idiot” but with even harsher and ruder connotations than just using “idiot” lol) / Beardsplitter (one of the victorian words for “penis” xd). There are plenty, plenty, more but those are the ones I can think of rn. He comes from the darkest pits of the slums after all, so yeah... Lots of cussing can be expected.

SCENT ( S )  :    Sweet and masculine musky scent, mainly, with an occasional subtle note of gunpowder and/or tobacco depending on whatever tf he’s been doing. Maybe a vague note of blood if he just got out of a fight. Some vague vanilla too but that one only around the time when he lands a temporary job in a bakery in London.

—— Fun Facts! ♡

BOTTOM OR TOP  :   Top leaning verse. He only bottoms occasionally for serious/long term boyfriends that he genuinely trusts, partly due to how being a bottom was (wrongly) perceived as being submissive by most people, and how dangerous being seen as such can be in a place like Ogre Street if the word gets out (not to mention that there’s been people there who have given him shit just for being gay), and partly because he also prefers to top and likes it better, lol.

SINGS IN THE SHOWER  :   Yeah. He started doing it as a child as a way to keep his mind distracted from how cold as fuck the water he’d wash himself with was (he usually bathed in rivers or washed himself with buckets of water some maid forgot outside of a household and that he managed to steal). He’s become a lot more used to cold baths over the years so a distraction is not necessary anymore, however, he still sings or hums sometimes whenever he has a song stuck in his head or if he’s particularly happy about something (this continues later on in life as well,even after cold baths are no longer part of his life, so it’s a habit that he never actually leaves).

LIKES PUNS  :    He loves them! Lame ones, good ones, cheesy ones, silly ones, witty ones, dirty/vulgar ones, etc. Heck, even dad jokes can be found in his repertoire! Chances are that, if you come to him with a pun or joke, he will give you one or two (maybe even more) in return.

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

Tagged by: @le-princesse-chevalier​​ (( thank you so much for the tag!!! ♡♡ ))

Tagging: @historias-multorum @jojoingjoseph @gazelessmenagerie @usfv @featherchan @kindersturm @iiguess @storiedocs @quirofiliac @rotrioted @breatheflcra @emcraldsxchcrrics @arrhythmiiia @mechahero @voltagecrow @promiseled @joesrparchive (tagged your main but the tag applies to any and all of your muses that you might want to fill this for >:D) @rzrbite​ @mistymiddiana (if you’re up for it) & also tagging anyone and everyone who wants to give this a shot! Just take it and say i tagged you~ Multis and peeps with 2+ muses, feel free to do this for as many of your muses as you wish!

[anon-e-miss]

Broken Vows 6

It was difficult to remain angry with Jazz. His kindness, his generosity in so many ways made up for his failings. Prowl would speak to him regarding what he had told Smokescreen, but not in anger. Jazz was open about his emotions, honest in a way Prowl did not know how to be. Generally this was a more positive trait that Prowl’s own stoicism, but Smokescreen was so young, and so overburden for one his age. He needed to be better protected from the turmoil of those grown mechanisms around him. Prowl would ask that Jazz be more careful, and Prowl would be more careful too. Let Smokescreen just be a mechling again. Let him be mischievious. Let him be wild. Let him be free.

Prowl leaned into Jazz’s servo. One lapse was not enough to push him away. It was not so much a sin as to deserve to be barred from Smokescreen’s presence. They had clicked, progenitor and creation, instantly. There was a bond already forming that was deep and true. This was everything Prowl had ever wished for Smokescreen. He could not help but fear the suffering that would come if Jazz suffered the same fragmentation as he had before. Not only his, but Smokescreen’s. But also Jazz’s. There was no question that Jazz had suffered. Prowl loathed nothing more than to be measured by nothing but his glitch, and he would not measure Jazz simply by his illness. Instead, he willed himself to measure Jazz by his strength in overcoming that fragmentation. It could not have been a small feat of mental and emotional strength.

“There’s somethin’ else... a few somethings...” Jazz murmured. They both glanced to Smokescreen who   at curled up at Prowl’s side, that plushie in his arms as he immersed himself in his story.

“You have given us enough,” Prowl replied. He did not want Jazz bankrupting himself out of guilt. That was the very last think he would want. “You have given him a piece of his life back.”

“I ran into the owner o’ Just a Jillion Things. The designation’s accurate, they got a lot o’ everythin’. There’s more... Anyway, he gave me a deal... and he gave you this.”

Jazz placed a dataslug in Prowl’s good servo.

“When y’re settin’ up yer habsuite, he wants ya to come ‘n pick what ya need.”

“Do I want to know how much is on this?” Prowl felt his voice crack. Smokescreen glanced up at him, and Prowl brushed his servo over his creation’s helm.

“My guess? No limit. He was real insistent that ya deserved it. We haggled for three breams before I could convince him to let me pay for anythin’.”

“How could he know anything about me?”

“Yer story went viral. A medtech sold out to the tabloids. Y’re identities are safe but a Miracle from Primus is all over the data-net.”

“Oh,” Prowl cringed as he sucked in a harsh intake. “I suppose it was not realistic to hope we could just integrate into Iacon.”

“Why are you scared, Origin?” Smokescreen asked.

“I want you and Bluestreak to have normal lives. I do not want Xeon to have any claim to you from the grave.”

“Well, he called you Pantera, and he called Blue Silverstreak. Everyone’s called you Prowl here already, and Blue Bluestreak.”

“Clever, Smokey. He’s right Prowl. No reason anyone’s gotta know ya ain’t just normal Praxians. Xeon ain’t around to claim ya.”

“He is not... Some must know.”

“Those in the know here are already in a world o’ trouble. Y’re on record as Autobot Prowl, ‘n Smokey as yer dependent. I can edit the record, put Blue in. No one’s gotta know the difference.”

“How do I explain Bluestreak’s parentage? I do not want to hide that Smokescreen is yours.”

“We just put me down as the progenitor. Simple.”

“Simple,” Prowl echoed.

“You’re gonna adopt Blue?” Smokescreen asked. He sounded so jubilant at the prospect that Prowl was taken aback.

“More or less. If y’re origin’s cool wit the plan.”

“No one would believe it.” Prowl’s argument was laced with regret.

“‘M Spec Ops, Prowl. Hidin’ a lover’s the exact sort o’ thing one o’ me ‘n mine would do.”

“Have any of your subordinate’s done such a thing” Prowl asked.

“If they have, they haven’t told me. Which is exactly what I’d hope. Secrets are worth more than shanix, ‘n they go much farther if ya don’t go spreadin’ them around.”

Why was he hesitating? Prowl could not imagine wanting anything more, but still he shied. Why was Smokescreen thrilled at the prospect? Could that question have been what was holding Prowl back? It had never been a secret that Smokescreen had detested Xeon at first sight. When Prowl had asked what had inspired such an ardent hate, Smokescreen had only replied that Xeon felt slimy. When asked to clarify if Xeon had ever laid a digit on him Smokescreen had said no. Xeon felt slimy, the sense of he mech, not his touch, or even his glyphs. The mech had kept his glyph to Prowl, he had provided the tutors Prowl had wanted for Smokescreen and he had never said a cruel glyph to Prowl’s beloved creation. He might have become a surrogate progenitor, if only for PR’s sake, but Smokescreen had made it his mission to avoid the Conjunx Endura of his originator whenever possible. Prowl had learned he servants’ passages well, but Smokescreen had known every nook, and every possible escape and he had made good use of this knowledge. Even when Prowl had commanded his presence, Smokescreen had simply been unwilling to suffer Xeon’s presence.

Prowl had wondered if Smokescreen simply did not want to share him with anyone, but he had embraced Bluestreak without hesitation and he seemed to embrace Jazz’s presence without any of his traditional wariness. He had spent the entirety of Smokescreen’s carrying mourning Jazz and he had spent the entirety of Bluestreak’s carrying wishing he was Jazz’s. Letting Jazz claim Bluestreak would not change his newling parentage. Xeon would haunt Prowl forever through him, but Prowl did not need to let it cripple him. Jazz wanted to claim him. If Prowl refused, he believed that Jazz would still dote on him as much as Prowl allowed, ensuring the mechling had no reason to be jealous of his brother. But he would hear Smokescreen call Jazz genitor. And he would ask about his own. Prowl did not want Bluestreak to ever know Xeon’s designation.

“If you want to be his progenitor, Jazz,” Prowl said. “I would welcome the claim.”

“Thank ya,” Jazz said. “I’ll take care o’ it.”

“Are we going to go home with you?” Smokescreen asked. Prowl took another sharp intake.

“My place ain’t big ‘nough,” Jazz replied. Smokescreen dropped his helm against Prowl’s side and his originator knew without looking that he was pouting. Jazz smiled at him. He looked so adoring and Prowl’s spark quivered. Prowl had known, had been certain, that Jazz would adore Smokescreen but seeing Jazz look at their creation with so much love brought tears to Prowl’s optics. It was what he had wished for most for so long. “But I won’t be far. I’ll see ya as often as ya want.”

“Every mega-cycle?” Smokescreen asked.

“If that’s what ya want,” Jazz promised.

It was what Prowl wanted. He wanted it from Smokescreen and he wanted it for himself. Prowl loved and that love terrified him. Would he be strong enough to endure if Jazz suffered another case of fragmentation? No, Prowl had learned he was not especially strong, but at if it occurred again, Prowl would at least know what was happening. There was a better chance he could actually see that Jazz was helped. Of course, Jazz had friends now who were better situated to see Jazz through out. Smokescreen nuzzled his helm against Prowl’s side and Jazz watched him, searched his face, always too perceptive.

“Perhaps we might be able to find a habsuite in the same block as Jazz,” Prowl suggested. Jazz smiled at him, the warmth of it soothed Prowl a little.

“I don’t live on base,” Jazz said. “But if ya’d prefer it, I mean... I could move. I could work it out.”

“You never liked living under prying optics,” Prowl remembered.

“Neither did ya,” Jazz replied.

“I am accustom to it at this point,” Prowl replied.

Living as Consort, Prowl had become used to his every movement being noted. This was why he had memorized the schedule of the palace’s servants as well the layout of the servants’ passages as well so that he could go about his clandestine activities unseen. Regardless where Prowl lived now, he would be watched and his movements would be restricted. Base housing would be the logical choice, it would the most security, in theory, but only in theory. The Autobots were not to blame for his choices, Prowl could blame no one but himself for his decision to bond to Xeon. Still, the only bright point of his service in Iacon had been Jazz. Their fellow Autobots had been everything but his friends or allies.

“I wonder if there is something I could rent near Mirror’s,” Prowl wondered out loud. “I liked that district.”

“I’ll look for ya,” Jazz said.

“How far is it from your habsuite?” Prowl asked. “It would make more sense if we focused the search in your district.”

“It’s close enough,” Jazz replied. “Anyways, I liked that district too. They still have that pretty park we used to walk in.”

“I missed that park,” Prowl whispered. The manicured paths of the Helix Garden and the Royal Estate had been poor substitutes.

“I’ll take ya, soon as Ratchet says yer fit,” Jazz promised. “Then we can walk down to Mirror’s ‘n introduce the mechlings to her.”

“I would like that.”

These had been his favourite kind of dates. Prowl did not enjoy pageantry. Quiet walks and cozy evenings in, those where his favourite dates. There was a quick rap on the door and Prowl stiffened. He understood they were safe, especially with Jazz so close. Though he was sore and tired, Prowl did not want Ratchet to send Jazz away. His processor was no where close to settled. Without being drugged to oblivion, Prowl would not be able to recharge and Smokescreen was nowhere close to needing a nap. If he argued that, perhaps the medic would leave them be. Maybe, he could convince him to let Jazz stay. Jazz turned away, towards the door, paused and waited.

“It’s Prime,” Jazz explained. “He’d like to speak wit ya if yer up to it.”

“Is he so much different from Sentinel or Zeta?” Prowl asked.

“As different as dark-cycle from light,” Jazz replied.

The way Jazz looked at him, Prowl guessed he had questions. Prowl had called himself a member of the intellectual class and that was the truth. His adoptive procreators, the procreators of his originator, had been minor members. They had refused to be tied to Zeta and his primacy. It was one of the few of their lessons Prowl was happy to adhere to. Seeing Prowl’s glitch as evidence of the weakness of Zeta’s character, they had been strict, loveless guardians. It had not even occurred to Prowl to tell Jazz of their deaths when they had died during his tenure in Iacon. He had not mourned them. Had they been alive when Prowl had returned to Praxus, they would have told him he was reaping what he had sowed by laying with a casteless thug. Despite the fact that they had not lived long enough to fill his audios with their vitriol, Prowl still heard it, in his helm and in his spark and he loathed himself for it. Jazz was not a thug.

“I’ll send ‘m off,” Jazz said. Prowl shook his helm.

“No, I am fine,” he said. “I will see him. You will stay?”

“As long as ya want me, Prowler,” Jazz promised.

[madeyed]

(   *  💀  /  aria shahghasemi, cis man, he / him  )  —  is that alastor moody i just saw rushing down the corridor ? i hear they’re a twenty-one year old hufflepuff, returning for their seventh school year, but their friends would tell you that they are protective & astute as well as paranoid & disagreeable. if you want to know more about them, i guess i could tell you that they’re pureblood, and from what i hear, they’re currently allying with the order. when our divination professor looks into their crystal ball, they see: a well-worn journal, locked & spelled shut; empty firewhisky bottles lined up along the windowsill; dark circles beneath suspicious eyes; the fading shadow of youthful bravado; a supple leather coat that still smells like home.  —  ( kit, she / they, 23, cet. )

tw — parental death ( murder ), assault & violence, mourning, alcohol mentions, allusions to mental health issues & addiction, hospital mentions. 

basics ,

full name.  alastor jawed moody. known as.  alastor, moody, al only to select friends. age / date of birth.  twenty-one / september 19th, 1958. year.  seventh year. blood status.  pureblood. house.  hufflepuff. alliance.  the order. gender / pronouns.  cis man, he / him. orientation.  bisexual. extracurriculars.  beater for the hufflepuff quidditch team; member of the charms and toothill duelling clubs.  additional stats.  click here. pinterest.  click here.

early life ,

alastor moody is born at home, in a small brick house by the seaside that has been in the family for generations; the yard is quaint, if somewhat overgrown, the wooden window frames spiderwebbed and peeling white paint, the chimney billowing smoke in the winters. although he often longs for a sibling, he remains an only child all his life. at the time of his birth, his parents are early in their careers as aurors, and thoughful, foresightful people above all; with their demanding schedules they think no more than one child is best. it’s not a terrible decision, by any means, and there is enough love in the household to go around.

he is raised with strong values, and a strong sense of duty, family, and respect; he is made aware of the weight of the world at a young age. or, his parents try to impress this upon him, making the world appear darker and heavier than it seems to the young boy. he loves and respects his parents, but he tends to disregard their warnings, to play more recklessly than they might like. 

although his parents always make time for the shabbat, for birthdays and holidays, their job is by necessity demanding, and alastor learns independence at a young age. an only child, he longs for meaningful friendships, but struggles to make friends with muggle children in the village; instead, though he does his best, he spends much of his time alone or with children of his parents’ friends. 

he thinks almost all his life that he is ready for death. it was a simple and honest truth in the moody household that their work, though important and necessary, was dangerous. he sees narrow brushes with danger all his young life, accompanying his parents to too many funerals to count; he learns protection charms before he learns to tie his shoes. and so he thinks of death as a family friend, a familiar acquaintance, and foolishly pats himself on the back for being so well-adjusted, for accepting reality instead of fearing it.

hogwarts ,

when he first arrives at hogwarts, he is calm, unassuming; he doesn’t arrive, like so many purebloods do, with the weight of countless expectations upon his shoulders. nor does he feel like he is escaping some restriction, and finally free; if anything, he is less independent here, under the watchful eyes of prefects and professors, and he grates a little against rules he thinks are foolish or unnecessary.

when it’s his turn to be sorted, the sorting hat only hesitates for a moment between gryffindor and hufflepuff; he is brave, yes, fearless to the point of recklessness, but when the hat poses the question, all alastor can do is shrug. his mother was a slytherin, his father a hufflepuff, and so he doesn’t really mind either way; he knows who he is, regardless of what house colors he wears, and that is enough for the sorting hat to know where he belongs.

he fits in well in hufflepuff, but doesn’t restrict himself to just that; he’s never felt particularly inclined to draw harsh lines in the sand, and makes friends across houses and even years. it helps that his name commands some respect — not from some purebloods, who sneer and consider him and his family all blood traitors, but from the rest, who read the headlines about aurors apprehending dark wizards and are pleased. 

in his second year, though, the headlines change. he is called out of history of magic class — something he had almost enjoyed, at the time, and still hates himself for — and brought to the headmaster’s office, where he’s made to wait until his mother arrives. he’s sixteen when he hears of his father’s death, and it feels like the unshakeable world comes crashing in. he thinks he can prepare for death, steel himself against the pain and struggle through mourning with a straight spine and dry eyes, but he’s a fool, and just a boy at that. 

he’s outgrown his childhood funeral suit, so he wears his father’s mourning robes to the funeral; they’re well-worn, mended at the hems, and alastor finds two knuts and a sickle in the pockets. he leans on his mother, and she leans on him, and she seems both stronger and more vulnerable than he’s ever seen her. they sit shiva together, the two of them in their little seaside home. alastor’s always felt distant from the muggle locals and neighbors, friendly but unable to connect, but they show up all the same. in twos and threes they arrive with their food, condolences, well-wishes, their offers to weed the yard or pick up groceries for the mourning family; it’s their good will that helps the moodys through their grief, more than the ministry’s stiff condolences and posthumous honours.

he returns to hogwarts changed; more anxious, more wary. his heart leaps in his throat every time he receives a letter, fearful it will be news of his mother’s death. he grows harder, less tolerant of snide anti-muggle comments even when they’re almost innocuous. he’s always been a relatively serious boy, but now he hardly laughs at all, and when he does, there’s a bite to it. he excels in school, working doubly hard, already certain he must become an auror and insistent upon achieving it, but there’s no pride in it, no competition; he just knows what needs to be done.

but as months turn to years the passing time lulls him into a false sense of security; at some point, the pain of loss turns from a sharp agony to an ever-present but dull ache. alastor joins the quidditch team, the duelling club ( where he quickly gains a formidable reputation ), has his first of many hogsmeades dates, and feels, foolishly, that life might simply carry on, without too much effort on his behalf. even as war brews on the horizon he assures himself it will be an easy victory, that strength and righteousness will always win out. he prepares, but with a youthful foolishness; he thinks this might be the chance to avenge his father, to protect the weak, to prove himself a warrior. 

the summer between his sixth and seventh year, his mother is so busy she’s barely in the house; when she is, it’s never long before she’s called to yet another meeting, yet another raid. he visits her office often, tea and sandwiches in tow, memorizing the names and faces that are pinned up around the auror office, the most wanted, the suspected conspirators, the known associates. the writing is on the wall: danger approaches. the house is reinforced, protection charms everywhere, locks re-spelled, alarms at all entrances, but at the same time, life goes on.

it’s a rare evening when the two of them are home together, barbecuing kebab in the yard in the late summer sun, a moment of peace among all the concern. they share a bottle of firewhiskey, reminiscing, and laughing together, and making plans to weed the front yard, paint the window frames, and mend the fence — helpful little things alastor can do over the summer while his mother is so very busy at work.

he crawls into bed drunk and at peace, thinking about paint swatches, warm breeze through the open window, the cat curled up at the foot of his bed — and startles awake hours later, still half-drunk to the sound of crashing, glass shattering, the very foundations of the house trembling. the smell of something burning rises from the stairs, and despite his fear he jumps up instantly. there are death eaters in the house ( alastor counts four but thinks there may have been more ), in their black robes and silver masks, and by the time he’s halfway down the stairs his mother is already dead. he fights back as well as he can, but he’s alone, unprepared, and is hit with a curse before he can do much of anything. 

they leave him there, unconscious in the slow-smoking ruins of the sitting room. something about not unnecessarily spilling pure blood, and he’s only a boy, and clearly no threat. he is awakened as other aurors arrive, his parents’ colleagues and friends, and he’s so out of sorts he must be petrified and sedated before he can be taken to st. mungos. this time, he is drunk at the funeral, hiding red eyes behind sunglasses, and he sits his shiva alone, permitting no visitors. he takes what he needs from home: clothes, books, heirlooms, the sneakoscope and foe glass and his father’s old coat, and leaves, renting a room at the leaky cauldron for the rest of the summer.

he returns to hogwarts changed once more; furious, pained, burning the candle at both ends trying to find a way to win a war that hasn’t even truly started yet. 

personality , hcs , etc. ,

alastor has always been confident, wavering between self-assured and simply cocky, depending on who you ask. he was raised to respect and value everyone, and that includes himself, but he has always also thought of himself as a little more clued in, a little more worldly, than most others. this is in part because his parents confronted him with the reality of the world at quite a young age, and in part because of the horrors he has himself witnessed. although he isn’t usually a dick about it, he does tend to think he’s the most aware, clued in person in the room, or the only one who really knows how the world works.

he’s also quite concerned with projecting the image of strength, not because he’s really that concerned with what other people think, but more because he believes pretty strongly in the whole ‘fake it till ya make it’ idea, and feels like showing weakness means you are weak. plus it makes you a target.

has a fat orange cat named fried egg, or just fry for short; she’s four years old, and the grandchild of the same cat his father had when he was at hogwarts. she’s a hellish little demon cat who does her best to catch rats, frogs, small owls, bowtruckles, bag charms, and pretty much anything else she can get her little paws on. can and will claim a whole couch in the common room by stretching out right in the middle. if there’s a small dead creature in the hufflepuff common room or dorms you know who to blame. 

alastor enjoys quidditch, but isn’t particularly competitive; he likes playing beater as it’s a pretty good release for aggression. he plays an aggressive match especially against slytherins, and will more use quidditch as an outlet for his personal vendettas, rather than that it informs them. absolutely fearless on the pitch, and has broken multiple bones, including his nose. don’t play chicken with him, he can and will run straight into you just to prove a point.

although he’s something of a duelling prodigy ( or rather, he’s been well trained since a young age ) and excels at defense against the dark arts and transfiguration, alastor’s top favorite class is care of magical creatures. he just thinks they’re neat. is he a bit of a dragon fanboy ? maybe so.

deeply paranoid, suspicious, and untrusting, especially now. he keeps a notebook of notes, newspaper clippings, observations and overheard conversations, helpful spells and countercurses, and a running list of which classmates and families he suspects of being death eaters, and of which students he fears might become targets. it’s well-spelled to keep out prying eyes, but you can often find him scribbling in it when he should be taking notes in class. 

more to be added ! 

plots ,

just wanted to say first of all that i love plotting, hc’ing, brainstorming, etc. so please hit me up ! if nothing here works i’m super happy to think of something else. also, every single one of these is open to all genders unless specified ! i also especially love plotting based on other connections ( i.e. muse a and muse b are friends, muse b and muse c are exes, therefore muse a and muse c do not get along, or smth ) idk i just have a lot of ideas !

best friends.  any house, but preferably for seventh years ? should be either order aligned or neutral but sympathetic to the order. these would be the very few people in the world alastor is still somewhat vulnerable around, and the few who can still get him to smile these days. also the only people he will take any shit from. the people he considers family, now that he has none of his own left. 

other order members. the options here are so many ! people who fully share his convictions and with whom he can share his theories, who problem-solve and discuss together. people ( particularly muggleborns or younger students ) whom alastor feels very protective of and worried about. can be annoying and overbearing or he’s just keeping an eye on them from a distance, or maybe helping them train. or people who are in the order but whom alastor doesn’t trust; pretty much any pureblood / slytherin / anyone with death eater family would fall under this. lots of options ! 

family friends.  alastor’s parents were very well-respected in the wizarding community, upstanding citizens, well-known and talented aurors, and all around good people; they could have gone to hogwarts with your muse’s parents or otherwise gotten to know them from work or through pretty much any other avenue ! this could go a few different ways, either they can be good long-term childhood friends, or perhaps they never got along but had to suck it up because their parents were friends, etc. 

enemies.  listen, i’m sure alastor has a ton of these ! gimme all the baby death eaters, slytherins, and pureblood supremacists. or even just characters who are just neutral but tangentially related to anyone who might be a death eater. alastor doesn’t discriminate between hatefulness and cowardice, it’s all the same to him: two sides of the same self-serving coin that gets other people killed. he can and will cause problems for them on purpose. absolutely will not hesitate to cause physical injury, or curse someone if they are out of line; you use the word mudblood in his presence and he can and will hex your tongue in a knot or, idk, turn you into a ferret. 

people involved in his family’s deaths.  ok this would definitely be quite a heavy plot and would need to be discussed quite a bit, but i think it could be neat ? alastor’s father died in the line of duty and may or may not have been targeted, but his mother was explicitly killed by death eaters because of the threat she posed. that could have been your muse’s death eater parents, or the hit could have been part of your character’s death eater initiation ( and maybe even the reason why al was allowed to live ? idk man just gimme the drama ) but either way ! alastor is investigating, angry, suspicious, and there will be hell to pay if he figures it out. think it could b a cute terrible dramatic plot.

exes.  gimme a handful of these, with a bit of variety, please, i love them. something short-lived and intense over the course of one semester, that ends when one or both of them gets a little too far into their feelings ! something sweet and quaint in their early years, with first little hogsmeade dates and hand-holding ! a former fwb thing with bad communication that falls apart and leaves them both with some hard feelings ! good friends that think they have feelings for each other, date for two weeks, and then give it up and go back to just being pals ! honestly especially when he was slightly younger and less paranoid, depressed, etc. alastor was definitely weak as fuck for a pretty face. 

the one bad ex-ish.  listen i just very specifically love the idea of alastor having some insanely intense chemistry with a death eater aligned character, that enemies to lovers ( who are still definitely enemies ) vibe. every time they hook up they both regret it intensely, and are to embarrassed to ever tell their friends. they both kinda think they hate the other person, and know they’re on different sides of a brewing war, but also. brain empty very sexy.

crushes / unrequited / un-acted-upon feelings.  ok listen, correct me if i’m wrong, call me out, etc. but alastor’s a whole 6′2″ of broad shoulders, gorgeous hair, green eyes, he’s all tall dark and handsome and also tortured, also a quidditch player, intimidating, etc. and i love the idea of people having crushes on him bc he’d be either annoyed or oblivious and that amuses me greatly. what a man tbh. also love the idea of him having feelings for someone, perhaps even over a longer period of time, but absolutely not wanting to tell them bc he has a bit of a martyr complex, is afraid of losing the people he loves, and also thinks he’s no good and gonna get them killed ! also could just be someone he had a crush on earlier and no longer does, but still thinks they’re just incredibly cool and admires them. could go lots of ways tbh.

study buddy.  so, honestly, alastor’s not concerned that much with school beyond needing the qualifications to become an auror. this would probably be someone with similar aspirations/goals; someone who wants to get the grade but spends more time researching obscure defensive spells and countercurses and hex reversals which will never be on the test, because those are ultimately more important. they both just help support each other academically to make sure they get where they need to be, and practice and work on more advanced combat magic together as well.

neighbors.  kind of, not really ? after his mother’s death alastor’s been living in a rented room in diagon alley, avoiding his family home at all costs. this could be someone who either lives there or in london more generally who he keeps running into over that summer. he’s probably deeply unpleasant particularly at that time so forgive him in advance pls.

drinking buddies.  does alastor have a drinking problem ? maybe. but he also has much, much bigger problems he has to solve first, hence the drinking. he’ll manage just fine on his own too, but that doesn’t mean it’s not nice to sit in relative silence next to someone. he prefers the quiet and general Bad Vibes at the hog’s head over the three broomsticks, but isn’t that picky. 

duelling rival.  a member of the duelling club who alastor absolutely hates, and who hates him. they absolutely drive each other to perform better and push each other hard, but that’s not because they’re trying to help the other improve; it’s because when they duel they are actually straight up trying to kill each other, while making it seem like an accident.

[hopetofantasy]

Culture, parallels & meta - S3 E1

Previous season Prologue: Vlogs (1) - Vlogs (2)

°

Zaterdag 21:43

The time lapse already showing us a string of places that will be important later, like the dark alley, the Meir with Noor’s workplace, the university neighborhood, the Scheldt river where the boys hang out, ...

Perfect parallel: 

The second season starts Zoë’s POV with a (washing machine) door, whilst the third opens with a door to a party that Robbe attends.

Robbe glances back at Noor passing through the shot this episode, an action he repeats when he spots Sander in the second episode. - A very subtle hint to where his love life may lead.

The first one starts with two unknown LGBT+ girls kissing at a party, the last episode shows two known LGBT+ boys (Sobbe) kissing at their own party.

The aerial shot through the floor to introduce us to Robbe’s POV here and the aerial shot through the roof to say goodbye to him in the last episode.

Moyo saying “No one would do you” to Aaron in this episode, Aaron realizing “No one here wants to do me!” in the last.

Where’s Wally? Noor greeting Marie, accompanied by Jana and Britt. Max dancing with Keisha in the crowd.

How ‘meta’ of you: Newsflash, yes you are!

Nod to the OG: 

The deliberate messy POV: following everyone that we know already and then slowly settling on the Isak version in a tub.

Robbe saying Noor looks like ‘Natalie Portman’, which is what people said to the OG Emma when they flirted with her. Everyone, except Isak, that is.

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: Moyo keeps pressuring Robbe into explaining what type of girl he likes. The boys laugh it off when he answers that ‘he doesn’t have a type’.

Lost in translation: Moyo mocks Noor’s Dutch accent, making his ‘g’ and ‘st’ sound harsher, while also adding ‘hoor’ at the end - a typical word used by the Dutch to emphasize a point.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Jens is playing with the weed bag. Keisha is one of the girls that Moyo mentions as Jens’ ex-girlfriend or ex-fling. Not only did Noor nót flush the toilet, but she didn’t used any toilet paper either!

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Zaterdag 22:44

C is for culture: 

Noor rescuing Robbe on her scooter - In Belgium, you’re allowed to drive a moped or scooter once you’ve reached the age of 16. Nothing is needed if the vehicle doesn’t go above 25 km/h. If it stays between the range of 25-45 km/h and max. 50 cc, you need to pass a theoretical exam, 4 hours of driver’s ed and a practical exam to get the license. Anything other than that, has a whole new set of restrictions, types of driver’s licenses and minimum ages.  Noor and Robbe are, however, still breaking the law. As long as you’re not 18, you’re not allowed to have an extra passenger with you. Especially if they’re not wearing a helmet. (Plus they ignored a red light. Those rebels!)

“You do know that you always have to have it with you?” - The Belgian law states that everyone above age twelve, has to get an ID to identify themselves. Some might have had a Kids-ID already - for travel purposes - but that’s not mandatory. However, once you're fifteen years old, you’re obligated to carry your ID with you at all times.

Perfect parallel:

Luca being all jealous whilst staring at Noor and Robbe making out in S3, her glaring at Maud and Robbe every chance she got in the last season.

Robbe and Noor having fun on the scooter while screaming and Robbe filming their adventure in this episode. Robbe and Sander doing a similar thing, but on their bikes in a later episode.

Wink to other remakes: Robbe sporting a brown jacket. (Eliott, anyone?)

Surprise bitch, guess who: It’s Willem Chanterie, the on-set costume designer and social media production assistant!

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Noor has a ‘Fuck Trump’ sticker on her helmet. Robbe says “Hey, it’s red” in a very clear Antwerp accent. 

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Zaterdag 23:11

Hello from the outside: The garbage truck they sprayed, still drove around the city regularly. The art piece itself is named ‘#Genoeg mama' (= ‘#Enough mommy’). It blames the consumer society as toxic, making young people its victim.

Oopsie: Inside the graffiti den, Noor suddenly sports a tote bag with supplies, even though we never saw her wearing that in the previous shots.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Noor has black combat boots. The photographer is obviously Sander, in case you have missed that subtle clue.

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Zondag 13:41

Lost in translation/Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: 

“Check die pekie’s”. The word ‘pekie’ is actually Amsterdam slang for ‘beautiful girl, girlfriend’. In recent years, more and more Dutch slang are making their way into the Flemish dialect, because of the Dutch rap songs gaining popularity with the youngsters.

“Vamos, flikkers”. The word ‘flikkers’ can mean ‘wussie’ as well as a derogatory term for ‘homosexual’. Again establishing the fact that the boys use a lot of homophobic or toxic words for each other.

Robbe’s clumsiness meter: +1, him tossing the bag behind Jens instead of into his hands.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: There is a football right next to the skateboards.

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Maandag 16:04

C is for culture: “The whole art school was talking about it” - 

Secondary school is divided in four sections: general, technical, art and vocational. Which section you choose can have effect on further education. In one of these sections, you pick what you want to study from your first to last year (‘directions’). That means that you have some courses purely focused on the direction and others that are obligated for everyone, regardless.

Art high schoolers can choose to go to work or study a specialization afterwards. Their coursework isn’t solely art based, there are general required courses too. That’s why some foreigners - including the Dutch - come to Belgium, since they’ll get a more rounded and higher level of art education than in their countries. ‘de!KUNSTHUMANIORA’ is the high school in Antwerp Noor goes to and is known for having students with unique styles.

Perfect parallel: 

Noor waiting outside the school for Robbe and him reacting somewhat confused here, Sander doing the same and having an instantly happy Robbe in a later episode.

Robbe having no problem kissing a girl ‘as a straight guy’ in front of the gates in this episode and scared for what might happen if he kissed a boy ‘as a gay guy’ later on. 

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The insta caption underneath the art work says ‘An inspirational message on a Sunday! Just discovered this in Antwerp city today. Artist unknown... Can you remember when you last called on your mother?’ (That last sentence, oooofff, the symbolism!)

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Dinsdag 14:57

C is for culture: 

“Yes, mini enterprises are so chill.” - Mini enterprises are often used as a tool for Economics in the fifth/sixth year. The goal of these is to ‘learn whilst doing it’. Like the name specifies, mini enterprises are actual miniature companies set up by a group of students. During the school year, they’ll try to work together on commercializing a product. All aspects of entrepreneurship are at play here: writing a business plan, holding meetings, doing bookkeeping, marketing the product, produce and sell it, ... If the enterprise idea is good or well executed, it might even win a national prize by the company making this education formula.

“What if he contacts child protection services” - Actually, those services doesn’t really exist in Belgium. There are, however, other youth organizations for these types of things, like JAC - Youth Advice Centre, CLB - Centre for Student Guidance and the Centre for Mental Healthcare.

Perfect parallel: The boys hyping Aaron up to walk over to Amber and talk to her - yet he fails in this episode, them doing the same and he succeeds (after some fails) in the last episode. 

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: Jens saying “Damn, seems like someone is on his fucking period”, after Robbe snaps at him due to the difficult telephone call with his dad.

Lost in translation: Jens saying “Mijn kop staat er niet naar” (= “My head’s not standing there”) can actually mean different things: I’m not in the mood, it’s not the right time, I don't want to do it, my head’s all over the place, ... It depends on the context, on which interpretation would suit the situation the best. 

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The girls are all fawning all over Britt’s cellphone, so there is a good chance that they’re discussing (pictures of) her boyfriend, Sander. Also, Jana’s braces are gone! 

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Donderdag 17:13

Perfect parallel: Robbe stating that he can’t talk to his dad or he’ll fight and Zoë getting that, as she said a similar thing to an understanding Senne about her parents in S2. 

How ‘meta’ of you: Ah, yes, fandom ship names in SKAM. We applaud!

Oopsie: If you look really hard, you see that the body type and hair of Robbe’s dad, doesn’t correspond with the version waiting at the restaurant later on.

Wink to other remakes: This shot reminding you of a certain S3 trailer?  👀

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The numerous references to Zoënne’s relationship in their room (relationship pics, Senne’s guitar). The paper Milan gifts to Robbe is the written permission by his parent to live with them, as is obligated by law.

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Vrijdag 20:04

Perfect parallel: 

Senne pulling Zoë up after a kiss here, just like with their first kiss in S2.

Robbe pushing Milan away after thinking he wanted to kiss him at the party in S2, them hugging it out in after talking about it in S3.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Zoë and Milan making some healthy party snacks like cauliflower and cocktail sauce, cheese with tomatoes and salami squares. She pulls back the bottle of gin that Milan wants to steal. Senne also bought paprika and tortilla chips from Colruyt (a discount store).

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Vrijdag 20:54

C is for culture: “Noor, Robbe’s girlfriend” - (Teen) dating culture is different in Belgium. Usually, if you have kissed, hung out, texted or just said/did something to show your mutual interest, you’d pretty much consider yourself in a relationship. It can go from 0 to 100 very quick. Unless there is, of course, an agreement that what you’re doing is no such thing. Also, nobody really ask you to be their gf/bf. It just implied or stated to their family or friends. 

Perfect parallel: 

A reluctant Robbe pushing himself to do stuff to Noor (playful dancing, kissing, riling her up) as far as putting his hands on her bra here. A totally different, excited Robbe not even thinking twice about doing these things to Sander, even licking his nipple during their reunion.

Noor pushing Robbe on the bed and climbing over him, whilst Robbe looks all sad in this episode. Him pushing Sander on the bed and being happy as Sander crawls over him during their reunion.

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: Robbe tries to convince himself into liking heterosexual sex with Noor and fake laughs with his friends about having it.

Where’s Wally? Keisha laughing with Amber and later dancing with Marie.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Jens is talking to Senne. The decorations behind Milan saying ‘Welkom Robbe’ (= ‘Welcome Robbe’). Noor has a beautiful tattoo of a pin-up girl covered with butterflies on her lower arm.