#ill probably write a conclusion to this!!!

[relicsongmel]

Ok enough vague loredumping in tags it's time to properly introduce y'all to my wacky and wonderful crowd of non self-insert OCs (intro to my self-inserts and the basics of my OC canon can be found here).

So let's start with the Anderson sisters, aka Sylvia and Denise's moms!

(reference images made using Picrew and Love Nikki)

Martha Goldwood

Gender: female (she/her)

Orientation: pansexual

Birthday: June 25th

Height: 5'7

Hair color: light blonde

Eye color: green

Color scheme: wide variety but purples, greens, and blues are most common

Ethnicity: Unovan

Interests: Pokemon battling, traveling, skiing, photography, baking, gardening/botany, swimming*, boating

Fashion sense is similar to her daughters'—romantic and feminine but not overly elaborate or impractical. Almost always wears at least 1 clothing garment/accessory that has flowers or floral patterns

Born in Icirrus City to parents Rosemary and Henry Anderson; lived there until leaving to become a Pokemon Trainer in her late teens due to dissatisfaction with her quiet life at home

Met her husband Roger Goldwood (a musician and aspiring composer) while visiting Driftveil City and convinces him to take a journey of his own. The two travel to many regions together and grow quite close as a result

Married Roger at age 26 and moved with him to Nuvema Town; their daughter Sylvia was born when she was 27

When they were both 28 her husband passes away due to drowning in the Abyssal Ruins in search of clues pertaining to the Mythical Pokemon Meloetta. His partner Samurott swims back home from Undella Bay to bring his body to Martha, then passes away from grief a few days after. Martha is quite grief-stricken herself and traumatized to the point that she can no longer bring herself to swim in the sea anymore, but she doesn't want her daughter to grow up fearing the ocean he loved. She continues to take Sylvia to Nuvema's shoreline to swim and go on boating trips as he once dreamed of doing with her, but she keeps Roger's true cause of death hidden from her to shield her daughter from experiencing trauma where her father wanted her to experience joy. Sylvia spends two decades believing her father died when she was very young of a "mysterious illness."

Becomes a florist after her husband's passing after receiving many sympathy flowers from friends/neighbors and gaining an appreciation for how floral arrangements can convey emotion and meaning

Noticed Sylvia's interest in music at an early age and fostered it by signing her up for music lessons, initially piano and singing but this eventually expanded to multiple other instruments. She encouraged her musical development after she noticed how performing onstage helped her daughter become less shy and more confident, and was overjoyed that Roger's "little songbird" inherited his gift.

As Sylvia started to develop burnout from music Martha suggested she take a Pokemon journey for a change of pace, as she once did when she was her age, but not before much deliberation as raising Sylvia was one of her biggest solaces after losing her husband. Even though she expected it, she has to fight to suppress the rising wave of grief when her daughter chooses Oshawott as her first Pokemon.

Personality: introverted as a child/adolescent but grew up to be more ambiverted as an adult, nurturing, secretive, loyal to loved ones to the point of self-detriment

Notable Pokemon: Serperior, Florges

Jennifer Anderson-Hitoki

Gender: female (she/her)

Orientation: bisexual

Birthday: August 9th

Height: 5'5

Hair color: blonde

Eye color: green

Color scheme: mostly pinks, whites, and yellows with occasional oranges and reds

Ethnicity: Unovan

Interests: Pokemon nutrition and hygiene, traveling, hiking, biking, skiing, baking, mythology, teaching

Fashion is practical and upbeat, professional but with a bit of a sporty touch. Shares her daughter's distaste for unneeded flourish unless it's for a deliberate purpose

Born 4 years after Martha and raised in Icirrus City along with her; spent a lot of time at the local Pokemon Fan Club where she fell in love with the art of raising Pokemon. Left home at age 10 to become a professional Pokemon Breeder

Despite some setbacks she was quite successful and traveled the world competing in various events for Pokemon Breeders at the regional, national, and even worldwide level. Her biggest rival was Ryuji Hitoki from Goldenrod City, who outcompeted her every time they met until she finally triumphed over him in a competition known as the Pokemon Breeders' World Cup

Despite their rivalry Jen has a lot of respect for Ryu and vice versa; they fell in love slowly but surely and moved to Ecruteak City after their engagement. Jen was 23 on her wedding day and 25 when her daughter Denise was born

Retained influence in the Pokemon Breeder scene even after leaving the world stage—she opened a store to sell her original blend of Pokemon food and other care products, and does occasional traveling to give seminars to aspiring Trainers/Breeders

Her marriage grew unstable throughout Denise's childhood, initially due to differing opinions on how to raise her/her future (particularly whether she would follow in her parents' footsteps), but the arguments escalated and started to extend to other things as well. Eventually Ryuji had enough and left on another journey without a word, effectively abandoning his wife and daughter. 35 year-old Jen is heartbroken, confused and angry but tries to keep up a cheerful facade for her daughter's sake (and because she blames her temperamental side for driving her husband away). Unfortunately this only serves to infuriate Denise, then 10 years old, because she perceives it as her mother lying to her/denying reality, is biased toward Ryu because he was her primary caregiver and thus she won't blame him (well. not yet at least) and is also too young and hurt to blame herself. Jen spends the next 3 years struggling to navigate a strained relationship with her daughter and the new challenges of single motherhood while desperately trying to manage her own grief.

After giving up hope for Ryu's return she decides to move to Aspertia City to start a new life without him and to be a little closer to her older sister and niece, taking her daughter with her. Denise is once again furious because she sprung this on her without warning and views it as her mother taking her away from her friends/home for her own selfish reasons. Jen initially tries to rectify things but due to repeatedly trying and failing to effectively communicate with her daughter, she instead decides it's best to give Denise the space she needs to adjust and hope she eventually comes around (even if it means she spends 5 years barely leaving her room and basically only leaving the house to go to the library). They only interact when necessary, and when they do it usually ends with Denise getting angry and Jen feeling guilty and doubting her capabilities as a parent. This pattern continues up until Denise leaves on her own journey after turning 18.

After moving to Aspertia City she gets a job teaching at the city's Pokemon Trainers' School. Teaching the young students about Pokemon and helping them grow was a large source of comfort for her in the wake of her rather bleak family situation.

Personality: charmingly extroverted, tenacious, impatient, very blunt about her likes and dislikes

Notable Pokemon: Ninetales, Zebstrika

Random fun facts/lore

Due to Icirrus' City's close proximity to Dragonspiral Tower, a place of great importance in Unovan myth, Martha and Jennifer grew up listening to their parents retelling stories of the legendary Reshiram and Zekrom and the twin heroes that wielded their power; whenever they return to their hometown for holidays/festivals their daughters hear the same tales. As such all four have at least a mild interest in mythology; Jen loved Ecruteak because its reverence for its legendary Pokemon felt familiar to her and the myths surrounding them piqued her interest.

I shorten Jennifer to "Jen" a lot because it's convenient it's the name she asks most people call her; however, Martha and Martha alone has the privilege of calling her little sister "Jenny." Jen calls her older sister "Marthie."

Cedric Juniper was neighbors with Rosemary and Henry, and he was the one who gave the Anderson sisters their starter Pokemon. His daughter Aurea was also very good friends with the girls; Martha and Roger moved to Nuvema partly because it was just after she had established her laboratory there as Unova's new Pokemon Professor (the other reason was that Roger wanted to move somewhere near the ocean so he could have easy access to his father's old boat). Aurea was also the one who suggested to Jen that Denise go on a Pokemon journey to ease her depression and get to know Unova a little better.

Martha met her Florges—then a Flabébé—a few weeks after she started working at Nuvema's flower shop, where she walked to work one day to find a Pokemon she had never seen before admiring the store's outdoor floral displays. The Pokemon came back to visit multiple times before Martha eventually befriended and caught her; she's now her partner who keeps all her flowers vibrant and healthy. Flabébé took a shine to baby Sylvia and grew up alongside her, and it was through their relationship that Martha taught Sylvia how to look after Pokemon. Little Sylvia also loved to visit them at work and often bombarded her mom with questions about plants, which Martha always thought was adorable (though a little distracting).

Sylvia believing Roger died of a "mysterious illness" is actually a holdover from before I had figured out his true cause of death lmao. I wasn't nearly as meticulous with details about the girls' parents as I am now (they're a lot more interesting to me now that I'm older), but I knew I wanted him out of the picture for the Drama™ so I just made up an easy explanation and called it a day haha

Ninetales is Jennifer’s most prized and recognizable Pokemon, and the one that led her to victory in the Pokemon Breeders’ World Cup. She’s known Denise since she was born and has always been very close with her; Denise often stims by running her fingers through Ninetales’ fur. During Denise’s depressive period, Ninetales keeps her company up in her room and comforts her after she has fights with her mom. Jen's design and character is also loosely inspired by Ninetales with the pigtails and her "fiery" temperament.

Out of all the girls' parents Martha in her prime was the strongest Trainer, though Ryuji eventually reaches her level while being a deadbeat training to gain the strength to seek out Legendary Pokemon. She's strong enough to hold her own even against her daughter and niece and would be a strong contender for a Gym Leader if she battled more consistently, but she doesn't have much interest in doing so.

Jen is incredibly lucky that Team Plasma wasn't as prominent when she was a child because she would have been VERY susceptible to their propaganda—she loved Pokemon but used to hate Pokemon battles, as she couldn't stand seeing Pokemon in pain and with their fur all dirty from being repeatedly hit by moves. Even after she had Pokemon of her own, it took her quite a long time to accept that battling can be a source of joy and enrichment for them, and it's her responsibility as a Breeder to engage them with the activities they enjoy in order to raise them to be happy and healthy. She does come around eventually though, and she especially loves seeing a Pokemon's happy smile after winning a match.

Denise was in a very precarious position mental health-wise after her confrontation with Team Plasma (re: almost being frozen to death twice and developing PTSD after the Opelucid City attack), and she spent a few months back home to stabilize a little before resuming her travels. Jen put in a lot of effort to help her get back on her feet; she did lots of searching to help her daughter find a therapist she liked, particularly one who could help her repair her relationship with her Glaceon (who evolved in Opelucid City due to the freezing energy of the indestructible ice and Dena couldn't even look at her without suffering painful flashbacks). Their mother-daughter relationship was starting to heal by this point but Jen called Martha for backup just in case. She visited Aspertia City for a few weeks to help look after her niece while her sister was at work, and was someone Denise could talk to about things she didn't feel comfortable telling her mom yet. They had many conversations about grief, depression, and feeling overshadowed by family members (Jen was more spoiled than her older sister and grew up to be quite successful, while Sylvia was a musical prodigy who became Unova's hero and Denise has mixed feelings on being compared to her so often; she adores Syl but wants to be recognized as her own person rather than "Sylvia's cousin" or someone who reminds people of "that Trainer from two years ago"). Denise was very grateful for Martha's guidance/support and gave her a Shiny Stone as thanks, which is how she was able to evolve her Floette into Florges.

The scenario for how Ryu re-enters Jen and Denise's life keeps getting reworked because his character has evolved a lot over the years and I am an indecisive bitch so idk exactly how he returns, but I can say that Jennifer is rightfully furious with him for how his leaving nearly drove a permanent wedge between her and her daughter, and how much he hurt both of them (especially Denise). Jen wouldn't cut him off completely because Denise, despite her own anger (which is a whole other can of worms but that's another post for another day), just wants to heal her broken family for the sake of the little girl who wanted her dad back, but she would make it quite clear that she wants to file for divorce because she can't love him the same way after what he's done. She'd likely also change her last name back to just "Anderson."

Speaking of things that are a work in progress, sometime post-BW2 arc Martha gets remarried to a woman named Laurel Gropius, who's N's long-lost mother and a new-ish OC of mine (she's also briefly mentioned in what is currently the only fic on my AO3 which can be found here). The funny thing though is that since N is also Sylvia's love interest in my canon, Laurel is technically both her stepmom AND mother in law but don't worry about it (this family tree is far from the weirdest in fiction but it has some pretty funny quirks to it. Like Ghetsis being N's Actual Biological Father due to an incredibly Specific and Convoluted and Altogether Fucked Up Series Of Events but again. Another post)

Currently Jen does not have any other romantic partners after divorcing Ryu in the canon timeline, but in my Paldea AU she has a bit of a Situationship with Raifort. I really really want it to end wholesomely because the idea of Raifort as Denise's stepmom brings me SO much joy but I'm also addicted to the Toxic Yuri of it all soooo. Inconclusive but I do have a little ramble about them here for those interested.

And that's all for now! If you made it this far thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed reading about The Moms Ever <3333

[quitedisastrous]

i wish i could just do nothing for a few days straight. maybe even just sleep for a few days straight. sooo excited for constant misery over the next 20 days

ranting in the tags. i would just scroll past if i were you

[newtness532]

im actually enjoying this part i just wish i was quicker

[pixiegrl]

x

[tritoch]

i have seen people be like "if you think what the dawntrail protagonists do in zone six is valid you have to conceded emet's approach/perspective was valid, what you do is basically what he does" and it's like...nah. it's obviously intentionally very similar ("it's like poetry, it rhymes") but there's some key differences:

emet is disgusted by sundered life, which he sees as inhuman, and longs to return to the unrecoverable past. so he does seven(ish) planet-wide genocides. the endless aren't new life, their ability to grow and learn is specifically in question (at the very least they are fundamentally incapable of taking in new sensory experience of certain forms), they're shades from the unrecoverable past, and you are destroying them in favor of those still alive.

also, we aren't disgusted by them nor do we think anything is fundamentally justified if done to them (everyone pretty much no-sells cahciua "we aren't alive so it doesn't matter if you kill us :)," in fact). we don't have like 12,000 years and the most advanced magic known to anyone alive. we are forced by serious exigency to destroy them due to a political impasse with their leadership's policy re: resource extraction. this tonal difference is in fact extremely important.

the endless themselves seem pretty ambivalent about the whole deal. they're bored or they're wary of the way their world keeps shrinking, and it's very explicitly neither a functioning society by any recognizable human terms nor a paradise.

related to the above, basically every named endless turns to the person most relevant to them (cahciua to erenville, krile's parents to her, namikka to wuk lamat, otis to you) and is like, huh, i really appreciate having this moment of grace at the end of my journey to see that it was all worthwhile and to resolve my lasting regrets, but i understand what you're here to do and yeah, it's probably time for us to go. (does the writing put a finger on the scale by doing this? sure, but the writers also designed and built the scales and everything they're weighing on them, so i find it hard to discredit any one aspect for being the writers' invention.)

finally uh no one in the party has kids with the endless or lives a full human lifetime as one of them lol.

it's important to remember that emet was definitely at least somewhat lying about not seeing the sundered as real people. the fact that he has "lived a thousand thousand of your lives . . . broken bread with you, fought with you, grown ill, grown old, sired children and yes, welcomed death’s sweet embrace" makes everything he did soooooo much crazier than what you do. if i managed to convince an endless to fall in love with me and i had a kid with them and i loved that kid so much that their death threw me into a permanent grief spiral then like. yeah i guess i would have to be like "well hats off to emet, folks." but luckily the game doesn't make you do that.

even if you insist everyone in living memory was a full living person that we killed, you're still weighing like a city of people versus 7+ planet-wide mass murders. you do not under any circumstances got to hand it to him.

living memory absolutely is evocative of everything that happens in shadowbringers. but rather than placing us in emet's shoes, it forces us to relive what we already did, to really fully face up to what we have done by promising to remember emet's culture after destroying any chance of its return. after two games going hard on the hope part of the game's central theme of hope arising from grief, now we're doing grief. we are forced to see the past of our memories not as a cold, ghostly art deco cubus-plagued socratic method hellscape but as the most beautiful technicolor theme park where everyone's happy and no one's sad and there's parades every day and your parents are alive and they love you so much. and then the game's conclusion is, yeah, you were still right to let go. in fact, you were and are morally obliged to let go. the living were and are worth more than the dead. our grief in letting go of them may be immense and turns our world to bleak nothingness for a time, and that is important to recognize, but at the end of the day our most pressing duty is to those we can yet save, not those we have lost.

[tcoaal]

a fundamental key aspect of examining literature is the author's intention, and everything we do with that intent: be it accepting it or rejecting it. it is among the most important tasks of the reader: when you do a critical analysis, especially so.

i am a very, very, very firm believer the "Word of God" is secondary to what is presented in the actual text. it is most important to examine what has been said or done in the text and it's implications directly, that is my personal belief as a reader. however, i believe that the author's intent is not something that should be ignored.

Nemlei is very clear, for example, that the idea of the siblings acting the way they are due to a neurodivergence or mental illness is not the right way to think. this is observable in the text.

Andrew and Ashley didn't become murderous incestious cannibals because they were born the right way or crazy or some stupid shit like that. they are the products of a society and world that has completely and absolutely failed them at every opportunity.

the coffin does not exist because they were naturally destined for it.

i've always thought, from the moment i played it, this is it. this is the moment Ashley Graves became a Tar Soul. i think it was the last chance Renee had to say "Holy shit, I'm a fucking terrible mother." and try to help her. and when Andrew, a child himself, fell asleep (not something he should blamed for) as Ashley tried to share her pain. the moment a Tar Soul hatched.

so that leads into the second half. about accepting or rejecting the author's intent.

the final room in Shots and Such is haunting. there's so much you can easily miss. the bathroom, Ashley's last safe space, being destroyed in a rampage by Andrew. the fucking table. the one time they had sex Andrew in his right mind enjoyed, Ashley only able to enjoy it as she was so drunk she could not be "herself" and breaking down afterwards. even small things like Andrew not taking out the garbage and Ashley preferring to let it affect their living space than help him out. everything in that small apartment from hell: everything must be viewed together as the whole, as the sum of all it's parts.

there is a clear intention of the author in those so easily missable scenes. the mutual love and hatred between them, with hatred greater than love. the dysfunction and normalization of violence into just another day.

Andrew having raped Ashley and probably not even processing it was rape is just another dime in the dozen incident in that little hellhole. hell, maybe that was the night he knocked up Ashley.

we can interpret this scene in different ways, even though i think the author's intention is pretty clear. Ashley could not consent. she lost all control, they had sex, and Andrew can't piece together what went wrong. the one night they actually "made love" which is clearly an opinion he and only he has.

... and you know, we have to accept author's might not have the same morality as us. the same opinions.

"If two people get super drunk, and have sex, who's at fault?" and some people might not have answers we like. an author might even write an opinion we vehemently disagree with from the bottom of our heart.

and it is our duty as readers to discern and interpret their works. i truly, sincerely believe this. i believe from the bottom of my heart the author's intention has become clear in shots and such.

"No one asks when she kicks you out for the night, or which stairs she fell down this time. It's all business as usual."

the normalization of both abuse and despair.

to the point even this becomes just another tidbit of that hell.

hate the idea that an abuse victim can become an abuser all you want. i think it is clear what it is Nemlei has tried to convey. hate it, reject it, love it, accept it, or ignore it. disagree or agree with me. i personally have read this and have arrived at my conclusion based on the text given to me, and analysis of the dialogue in this scene as well.

Nemlei is not writing for us. she makes that clear.

and it is up to us if we want to accept or reject that.

[ruruvxz]

“Where is my friend, smiley?”

Idol!Huh Yunjin x Idol!Reader

↳ synopsis: It was infuriating watching everyone ship you and your label-mate, you didn’t even know how anyone came to that conclusion, you didn’t even interact with her in the public! (Or from public knowledge you didn’t) So why would anyone know about your embarrassing relationship with her?

↳ cw: kinda mean reader, use of language, established relationship, reader is in a fake group, reader was in Produce 48, lovesick yunjin, hidden relationship, tooth rotting fluff (kinda a yapfest abt how much you love her…)

↳word count: 2.5k

a/n: literally my first time writing after awhile, usually my stories are old renditions/proofreads of stories i wrote back in 2023. so this is something im actually really proud of! also this story kinda was inspired by “tingin” by cup of joe more than it was inspired by “where is smiley” by serani poji… LOL

౨ৎ It was odd, and everyone agreed, that the partnership with Huh Yunjin from Le Sserafim and Y/N from Serendipity was perplexing. The only thing connecting both of the girls was the industry they happened to be in, other than that they had nothing in common. Of course, the argument could be made that you and her both participated in the hit reality competition "Produce 48", but everyone knew that was quite a flawed counterpoint.

This was because you were practically thrown out after a few episodes before getting scouted by HYBE to debut months later. And you made it apparent that you didn't want to interact with anyone associated with the production of that show. So with Le Sserafim's debut years after yours, you found it baffling that your company wanted you to "hang out" with the rookie groups, it was infuriating. You worked so hard just to be put with a bunch of girls who couldn't care any less about how much you tried. Despite that, you found mountains and mountains of carefully orchestrated videos of “so-called" proof about you and Yunjin being the "best" of friends.

Whatever it was connecting the both of you was a mystery the fans must solve, and being honest with yourself, you found the whole circumstance mildly infuriating.

So at every turn you tried avoiding that mischievous redhead wherever you went, even when it came to recording meaningless video collaborations, you always mustered up a half-assed excuse. It came to the point where you went out of your way to hide in uncomfortable places just to avoid her friendly banter. Though no matter how hard you tried you could always hear her voice linger longer than it should have in the back of your head. Or maybe it was just how awfully loud her voice was, to the point that it left a ringing sensation in your ear.

It came as no surprise when you heard her voice calling out to your other members inquiring about your whereabouts. This was usually your cue to hide away from prudish questions, last time she had asked you "Do you come here often? You look like you do" unprovoked! Admittedly you knew she didn't mean any harm, but it still struck a cord within you, and knew she was probably going to run towards you asking all sorts of questions. You picked yourself up from whatever task was put on you and quickly ran away from her voice.

Of course, you knew what you were doing was more than ill-mannered, but god forbid she quizzes you one more time about trivial interests. But that was better than confronting her, confrontation was your worst enemy, and so was Yunjin's mannerisms. She was the physical embodiment of what a "dog personality" was, always eager to learn more and help everyone out. it kinda freaked you out to some jealous extent.

So trying your best not to start any conflict with this poor redhead, you decided to best course of action was to camp out around the building's designated lounge. Hoping today would not be the day she decided to check this certain deserted area. All you could do now was fish out your phone from your back pocket to read some forums about your performance and pray that no one would notice you here.

On the other hand, Yunjin was getting more and more hopeless trying to find you around the shared building. Feeling a little lost as she mindlessly drifted across section to section of the HYBE building. Though it hadn't taken poor Yunjin a while before spotting you from the corner of her eye. Her eyes lit up when she saw you mindlessly scrolling on your phone, the energy filling her up with excitement as she inched closer. As she came closer you couldn't help but notice her come closer and closer, realizing your interaction was inevitable.

Jerking your head up to meet her gaze, Yunjin waved her hand as she came within reach of you, letting out a fake smile before putting your phone down. You glanced at her and back to the empty seat resting in front of you, she beamed a bright smile before quickly and "casually" sitting down. Yunjin opened her mouth to speak before you cut her off with a hum.

"Remember, we're the only ones here so make sure to be a little quiet, alright?" You hushed, while she gave you an approving nod, she spoke up this time making it apparent that she was trying her best not to draw attention to the both of you, not like last time.

"Of course, I just wanted to see you it's been so long since I've seen your face..." Yunjin pouts as she looks around making sure the coast is clear from the nosy "enthusiast" who was always oh so curious about you and Yunjin's relationship. Your spine chilling at the thought of people making up such absurd theories about your closeness. The way they could put together such in-depth statements about the both of you always stumped you, how did they manage to procure all this information?

Even Yunjin claimed time and time again that she knew nothing about these fan-made theories, or how her fans managed to get old screen captures of both of you. In actual reality, Yunjin most definitely knew more than he should have! Mainly because it was practically her fault that images of the both of you were wafting around on the internet. See, she wasn't exactly the silent type when it came to friendships/relationships, she loved airing out her own business, which usually came back to bite her in the ass. So needless to say when her old Spotify account was coincidently launched into mainstream media people quickly connected the dots.

For someone who was adamant about avoiding her Juniors, you happened to be insinuated in every one of her, oddly, romantic, playlists. Either that be by a photo of the back of your head being the cover of a playlist titled "The Perfect Pair", or by the fact that all the descriptions were... Unusually corny... even by Yunjin's standards. Each careful string of words all connected with an underlying message about adoration for a certain someone. This didn't help her case since she always spoke about you in high regard whenever she was in a lonesome interview.

And the evidence staked against her was just the tip of the iceberg, it was in fact, much deeper than she'd originally like to admit. If someone with a genuine interest in your relationship with Yunjin researched just a little more about the both of you, they'd probably discover your relationship cut deep. And yes— as much as you tried to avoid how embarrassing your elimination was during Produce 48, you came across one of the greatest person you’d ever meet.

The way she laughed so carefreely, and how her eyes crinkled whenever she smiled, while her gaze brightly met yours. Everything about her made your heart stop, it made you freeze up whenever she looked at you during practice, and it made you such a fool. You knew it was for the better to avoid her, if you didn't, you'd probably be so whipped so hard that you couldn't focus on your own career. But it was so hard, especially whenever she'd run towards you after every practice and performance telling you how well you did. (No one actually noticed anything because you never really got any screen time sadly...) Even if you left fairly early on, Yunjin slipped you her number so you could both keep in contact.

After that day, the one thing you swore not to do, was instantly thrown out the window, as every waking moment you'd secretly visit her to give her your luck. And when things didn't go her way, and she was eventually eliminated, you comforted her in your arms. Before you debuted, you would actively seek your smiling friend, laughing under the neatly shaded picnic table outside the PLEDIS building. It wasn't much nor was it very significant, but being by her side was more than enough for you.

Even after you debuted, you never broke contact with your dear friend, words couldn’t describe how much she meant to you. She congratulated you every step of the way, and you backed her up twice fold, no matter how turbulent her career was becoming you’d stick by her side no matter what. Because to see her smiling face was more than enough for you and you wouldn’t let anything or anyone damage that. So when she finally told you how much you meant to her, you couldn’t help but reciprocate the feeling.

Though when she debuted and years later light babble started to circulate around the corners of the internet, you so desperately wanted to stay away from her, not to damage her career. It was difficult but her happiness, and that smile you treasured so much was on the line, and you wouldn’t—couldn’t let her lose that.

(Of course, she knew what you were doing, she wasn’t an idiot, but it just made her love you even more, the way you cared so much made her heart swoon deeper for you. Yunjin didn’t want to sway your plans because she didn’t want to ruin your career as well, so she too, went with it. But that didn’t mean she ever kept you a secret. You belonged by her side and she didn’t want anyone to forget that. So yes, she was subtly hinting towards her loving fans that her heart fell in the palms of someone else’s.)

So that was what led the both of you to the circumstances you were entangled in right now. Having to camp out in secluded places, where only your faint laughter could fill her ears, and hers only. You reminisced on your past with her, how carefree you both used to be during your youth, but you wouldn’t trade what you had right now for anything. Despite how secretive the both of you were, you were content with having her hands interlocking with your fingers. It was small, honestly not even comparable to how she used to intertwine your lips during rush hour on the bustling streets of New York, but both made your heart race nevertheless.

As she talked about how practice went, your eyes drifted to how she’d scrunch her eyes whenever she laughed about what happened with Eunchae. Despite all the hardships she’s dealt with over the years, she was still the carefree girl you fell in love with. It was honestly surprising how your eyes never faltered off of her even after years of dating. You tried to take the advice from your family and peers that this was some teenage infatuation, but even through crowds of people, you’d pick her gummy smile before anyone else’s.

Your mind drifted to how you’d give her the moon and back, even if no one was watching, you’d give her everything you had. Your eyes, your heart, your mind, anything you could give her, you would. Yunjin couldn’t help but notice your gaze falling from hers and to her cheeks, she curiously stopped her story to call out to you.

“Ah Y/N, are you okay? Are you tired, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have talked your ears off—“ You cut her off by raising your hands to her face, she looked confused as she cupped her face. Yunjin looked even more shocked when you started to pinch her soft cheeks. Squishing them like marshmallows before laughing to yourself silently.

She (very pathetically) tried to swat your hands away before finally giving in with a giggle, placing her hands on top of yours. “You have such an adorable smile, have I ever told you that?” You speak, pulling her cheeks up to force a smile, not realizing she was smiling from your comment. Caressing your hands with her thumb she spoke up once more.

“Yes actually, you always tell me that my love.” She responded, her cheeks flushing red as you continued to play with her face. The way her eyes squinted like a crescent moon made you adore her even more than before.

“Your smile is just so adorable, I’m afraid I might hide it away from everyone.” You joked as you continued, she looked at you even more lovingly than imaginable, if you weren’t in public, you’d probably be kissing her face all over instead of playing with it. You were so distracted by how charming she looked that you didn’t notice a meddlesome paparazzi sneaking in and taking a very sneaky photo of the both of you. (And even if you did notice, you didn’t have the power to stop them, they’d probably run off with the photos before you could even stand up. Though they would probably release the photos later on in the day, and it would rightfully annoy you. You couldn’t deny the fact you were a little grateful that the people knew, the Huh Yunjin was, Y/N L/N’s)

“There you go again— Hey! You know, that was the first thing you told me when we met.”

“Was it really?”

“Yeah, you told me how beautiful my smile was, I was kinda surprised since you approached me in such a huge crowd of people.”

As Yunjin recited the moment you met, you remembered in detail about the interaction, because that’s what changed the trajectory of your life. (The backstage was crowded with everyone getting ready in their bright pink and white uniform, the cameras weren’t rolling so it was awfully loud. Your broken Korean wasn’t helping your cause as you tried your best to converse with your fellow trainees. The sea of faces was difficult to remember, there were 96 contestants after all. Despite how deafeningly loud everything was, and how overwhelming everything felt, your eyes wonder towards a light-brown bob. Her face caught you off guard, she was stunning, and the way she smiled made the world go silent for a few moments. And you needed to talk to her, or this moment would slip through your tender fingers, so you pushed through the crowd just to have one conversation with her.)

“How embarrassing… I hope no one finds out about that.” You sheepishly admit as you move your hands away from her face and intertwine your fingers back to hers.

“I’m sure they’ll find away, but before they do, my smile will always belong to you, Y/N.” She lifted one of your hands back to her face and cupped it to one of her cheeks before smiling softly. Making the already silent lounge even more quiet, as your mind only focused on her delicate smile. The same one you’d turn tides to protect. Your smiley.

opm and ppop lovers rise tf up!!!!!

[drdemonprince]

ive been thinking alot about agency, morality, and age a lot recently just because of where im at in my own life and trying to understand/process/adapt to my own shit (cptsd/did stuff basically) so the recent discussions on this blog and your substack writing have been very compelling to me. i feel often that i am procrastinating "getting my shit together" or "being an adult" and its a definitely a guilty/shameful feeling like im doing something wrong because im not living my life in an organised sustainable way atm and i feel like i "should" be doing that "by now" as i approach 30 (which i mean isnt really that old taking a step back, but still holds some cultural weight in my mind as a threshold). but yea aside from shame not really being a great motivator, it also loops into that like assumed passivity or like a denial of agency as in i tend to automatically frame things as obligations, like things that i have to do rather than things that i choose to do, and frankly its bullshit lol. often ill think about it as like, im not yet acting as "an adult" because im not making choices and being responsible but literally everyone regardless of age makes choices and is responsible for their actions thats kind of the human condition. i think i have this phobia of my own agency, or my own desire maybe, and this moral obligation framework is a defense against that, which idk i could relate this to being an ex catholic personally but i think its a part of the whole western christian hegemony in general. its this fake, poison comfort where i cant do/be wrong because i didnt "decide" what to do im just doing what im supposed to (which isnt even actually what im doing because im having a mental health crisis instead but yea). its scarier to accept the reality of being a subject than to deny it, especially when that denial (and personally, dissociation) has been your defense mechanism against stress/trauma/suicidality etc. like occasionally im worried if i really let go of this idea of a moral obligation to act a certain way or to fulfil some vague ideal role of "responsible adult" and i own up to my own emotional reality and my own wants and needs and agency then i dont know what ill choose to do with the suicidal ideation tbqh and i mean personally i feel like that should be up to me like theoretically i agree with what (i think) youve said before? that it cant really be up to anyone else what to do with my body and my life, and it shouldn't be. i mean when im in a good headspace, i think id choose to live anyway, and maybe (probably) allowing myself to fully exist as a person and be a little more honestly self serving will improve my qol a lot, but right now that idea of a moral obligation to live (and live a certain way) is my wall against that feeling that id really rather not so its terrifying to try and question that. but on the other hand the resentment toward myself, others, and life in general that builds up over time when treating life itself is an obligation is unsurprisingly fucking awful lol. but yeah anyway i dont think theres any conclusion to this other than that eventually we all have to face up to our own reality or end up trapped in some inevitably toxic framework that denies whatever aspect of being a sapient animal is hardest for each of us to accept. also unrelated (mostly) your taste in porn is peak

thank you so much for sharing this unpacking, anon. This is some real how to overcome white woman fragility brain type stuff! Even if it feels open and formless right now. and like a huge well could open up beneath you into which anything could happen and there is no reason to live. keep reflecting. more writing about this kinda thing coming on Monday

[glitter-stained]

So much could be said about the depiction of mental illness (and chronic psychophobia and ableism in dc) but here are the sparknotes:

ACCORDING TO DC!!!:

> Some people (not all!) are born with a genetic factor which we will call gene X. Gene X has two possible variants: evil potential and hero potential. The X gene is dormant, and will only activate when environmental factors brutally shake the neural system, aka in highly traumatic situations. A person with the hero variant, upon being traumatized, may trigger a biopsychosocial chain reaction that will lead to them dressing up in unusual costumes and fighting crime, while a person with the villain variant, in the same situation, may go from a normal person to a crazy mass murderer in the laps of a day.

> The presence of the evil factor has been shown to be correlated with poverty, ethnicity (higher prevalence in non-caucasian populations), queer identity/sexuality, amongst other factors (which could mean nothing). Please note that this is not a causation, as traumatized people with these characters can still be bearers of the hero factor.

> Some researchers have theorised that the nature of trauma may play a role (though results are not yet conclusive across all data). Specifically, being upset/not able to get over trauma that hurt us specifically is associated with an increased risk of becoming a crazy evil mass murderer, while trauma associated with grief/watching other people get hurt is associated with heroism. This is probably because of the inherent weakness of getting hurt and selfishness of being upset about it, VS the inherent nobility of being upset about other people, especially your loved ones, getting hurt. Furthermore, amidst people who have trauma happen directly to their person, the evil and hero variants allow us to distinguish between two cohorts: the hero variants, who will either not complain about their trauma nor mention it or get over it in a manner that doesn't upset the established system too much, and the bad victims, who challenge the system that allowed them to get hurt instead of understanding that it was their fault, actually; these people also happen to be crazy murderers, so it's fine.

>A correlation has been shown between bearers of the X gene and a higher occurrence of trauma. In bearers of the evil variant, this is known as the "doomed from the start" effect, or "natural born killers".

>In extreme situations, there exists a risk of contamination from the evil variant: specifically, if someone with the X gene kills a particularly intense and virulant evil crazy mass murderer, this crazy murderer may release spores that will contaminate the killer's cells and turn their hero variant into an evil variant and activate it.

In conclusion: please talk to actual therapists and trauma specialists before writing about trauma and psychological disorders before your world building begins to look like that. And no, reading Freud does not count. (You should have stayed in school, Scotty.)

[thecharacterchronicler]

Friends With Benefits… And A Baby (Part 2 ) || Sebastian Sallow x Reader || Smut

Outline: You and Sebastian decide to be “friends with benefits” during your pregnancy.

Word count: 2’500

Warnings: explicit smut, (accidental) pregnancy, characters aged up (20s) and probably a few mistakes here and there because English isn’t my first language.

Author’s note: This is the second part of Exams, poltergeists and supply closets, hope you’ll all enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing this little series.

(( Part 1 - Exams, poltergeists and supply closets )) - (( Part 3 - Mandrakes, dusty books & an apology )) - (( Masterlist ))

“What’s wrong with you ?” Ominis asked, as you sat down at the dinner table, after rushing out of the Great Hall when a very smelly dish of fried fish appeared in front of you, the smell instantly making you nauseous.

“I gave her some Bertie Bott’s beans before dinner, guess she ate one that tasted like boogers.” Sebastian shrugged, in an attempt to cover for you but all it did was give you the urge to throw up again.

“I felt ill for a moment but I’m okay now.” You assured your friend, not so convinced by your words yourself. You placed a boiled potato on your plate, the only thing among the various other dishes on the table that seemed edible to you in your almost constant state of morning sickness.

“Maybe we should walk you to the infirmary after dinner.” Ominis suggested, obviously still very worried. “You haven’t eaten much these past few days, it might be more serious than you think.”

“How would you know ?” Sebastian asked, before you could come up with an excuse to refuse paying a visit to the school nurse. Surely, she’d know what’s going with you at first glance and then you wouldn’t be able to hide it from anyone much longer.

“I have ears, Sebastian. You eat loudly like an animal next to me every day and yet I can still hear that her fork and knife are barely touching her plate lately.”

“I’m fine.” You stated, as confidently as you could fake it. Yet, a wave of nausea came to prove you wrong, making you gasp and cover your mouth. You couldn’t decide between swallowing it down and staying at the table or running off to the bathroom once more.

“See ? There’s only so many days she can go on without eating, it could be dangerous.” Ominis pleaded, and Sebastian’s gaze landed on the small potato in your plate, that you were pretty sure you wouldn’t eat anyway. Then, he looked up at you, his expression now as worried as your friend’s.

“Maybe he’s right. Maybe we should get you checked up, just to be safe.”

“I’m fine.” You repeated, once more. The only thing stronger than your all day sickness was the irritation you felt towards your friends at this very moment. You were determined to finish your last year at Hogwarts normally, passing your exams as brilliantly as you could and graduating with pride. The baby that Sebastian put in your belly will have no choice but to go along with your plan.

“The Gaunts are important contributors to the Saint Mungo hospital, if I send an owl I might be able to get a doctor to visit you here if it makes you more comfortable.” Ominis suggested, which brought you to the conclusion that there was no point in keeping it a secret from him any longer. Would he still be insufferably worried about you if he knew the truth ? Probably. But at least he would stop pestering you about seeking medical attention, if only temporarily.

“I’m fine, Ominis.” You stated again, for the third time at this dinner table. He opened his mouth to protest but you leaned closer, lowering your voice. “I’m pregnant, that is all.”

“Pregnant ? That is all ?!” Ominis exclaimed, repeating your words in disbelief before both you and Sebastian urged him to keep it down. You were sitting at the very end of the dining table but students nearby might still catch a glimpse of your conversation. “What were you two thinking ?! Do you have any idea of the gravity of such a situation ? What it means for your future ? By Merlin, what on earth went through your head to let you think that you two absolutely reckless lunatics could be capable of raising a child ?”

“H-How do you know it is mine ?” Sebastian asked him, surprised.

“Oh please, you both can’t shut up about each other when you’re not together.” Ominis retorted, as if it was the stupidest question his friend had ever asked him.

You exchanged a look with Sebastian, both of your faces blushing.

“What were you thinking ?” Ominis asked once more, shaking his head much like you imagined your disappointed parents will when they’ll find out.

“To be fair, not much went through my head the moment it happened.” Sebastian said, smugly.

“You should have controlled yourself, Sebastian !” Ominis scolded him, as you desperately tried to hush him up again.

“Easy for you to say, you weren’t there. If you heard the way she moans when she likes it and felt how wet…”

“Alright, that’s enough.” You interrupted before he got too carried away with very private details. “There’s no point having this conversation, it happened and now we have to deal with it.”

“At least this child will have one reasonable parent.” Ominis hissed, shaking his head at Sebastian, still way too cocky about it all next to him.

You were sitting down on the cold bathroom tiles, your back pressed against the wall, trying to focus on your homework. You barely noticed the door opening until you realized someone was standing in front of you, a concerned expression on his freckled face.

“This is the girls’ bathroom.” You informed him, which simply made him shrug.

“Imelda told me you were here.” He said, approaching and crouching down to your level, taking in the open books on the tiles with an amused smile. “I’m not sure we’ll be able to keep our secret if you move in into the bathrooms.”

“It’s just so I don’t have to run across the castle every time I need to throw up.” You explained. “Nobody will notice, when I told Imelda I had a stomach bug she just told me to stay away from her because she’s planning on winning the Quidditch cup this year.”

“You have friends that are more caring than Imelda Reyes.” He said, making a point. “And you know, I did some research in the library last night and found out that the best way to beat morning sickness is to actually eat.”

“But I’m not hungry.”

“Not at all ? Isn’t there something you’d be happy to eat ? Whatever it is, I’ll go get it for you.”

You smiled at him, grateful to have such a caring friend. Because that’s what he was to you, right ? Just a friend. A friend that happened to be your future baby’s daddy… But still, just a friend.

His traits softened as he smiled back at you, moving to sit on the floor by your side. His shoulder pressed against yours and you found relief in his familiar scent of old dusty books and faint remains of smoke, your nausea easing up a bit for the first time in days.

“Do you need help with…” He reached out to check the cover of the book on your lap. “One thousand magical herbs and fungi ?”

“I do but not yours if I want a chance to get a good grade in Herbology.” You replied playfully, which made him laugh.

“Fair enough.” He shrugged, his hand absently finding yours, letting it rest on your thigh as your fingers intertwined together. “We’ll figure it out, you know.”

“I know.” You nodded, knowing that he wasn’t talking about school anymore.

“And if we look at the positive aspect of it all, it means we can hook up as much as we want to for the next eight months without having to worry about getting you pregnant.”

“Right.” You rolled your eyes at his words, your giggle resounding against the bathroom tiles.

“And there’s no better way to find your appetite back than a bit of exercising.” He insisted, jokingly but you knew he definitely was trying his luck under the guise of making you laugh.

“Do you really think that would be reasonable ? I don’t think that’s something friends do.”

“We can be friends with benefits… And a baby.” He shrugged, unaware of how tempting the idea was to you. His presence next to you was the only thing that had managed to ease your symptoms and, if you were being totally honest, Sebastian Sallow had never looked more handsome than right now, with his sleeves rolled up and his tie slightly loosened, his hair tousled and that odd pride you saw in his smile every time he talked about hooking up with you - and getting you pregnant - that definitely made up for the slight panic you still sometimes noticed in his gaze.

“Okay.” You nodded, breaking the silence that had taken place between the two of you.

“Okay ?” He repeated, his brown eyes widening in surprise. “You… You want to do it ?”

“Yes, why not ? It’s not like I’d be comfortable hooking up with Garreth in the boat house anymore, anyway.” You replied, adding that last part to mess with him, not expecting the instant jealousy that took over his features.

“Garreth Weasley ?! This walking fire hazard…” Sebastian groaned, his hand tightening its grip on yours possessively. You smiled, flattered that your friend cared so much about you.

He was still mumbling to himself some colorful words about Garreth when you leaned in and pressed your lips against his to silence him. At first, you felt his surprise but soon, he kissed you back, his body irresistibly gravitating closer.

“What if someone walks in ?” He asked, when you moved to reach for his pants, taken aback by your boldness. The first time you had crossed the line of friendship with him, you had sounded so shy and cautious that he couldn’t quite believe you were the one with your hand inside his pants this time, fishing for his rapidly growing erection.

You knew you were breaking school rules by doing this. Again. And you promised yourself that next time, you’ll make sure to abide by the regulations and find another location, out of Hogwarts, to have your fun with Sebastian... But right now, your need for him was too urgent to be ignored. The images of that night in the supply closet were haunting you every night, to the point you sometimes could feel his kiss on your lips and his warm touch on your body in the darkness and loneliness of your dorm room. But you knew nothing could compare to the real thing, and having the opportunity to actually see him while giving in to your desires was something you didn’t have the strength to refuse.

“Then they’ll think that we hook up in bathrooms and won’t question why I’m in here that often anymore.” You told him to ease his concern, the heat of his cock in your hand making you wonder if he had a sudden rush of fever. You pulled it out of his pants, shamelessly looking down at it. He gulped and blushed in front of your fascination, your thumb carefully caressing his pink tip, collecting the clear and sticky precum that was already coating it. His cock was still growing, getting longer and harder in your palm, the veins under his flesh becoming more and more apparent. Then, it was your turn to gulp down and blush as you took in the size of it, wondering how you had even managed to take it all in without any pain the first time.

You lifted your eyes and met Sebastian’s gaze, staring at you with still a slight pink blush coloring his freckled cheeks. You had been so bold that he was waiting on you to take the lead and be in charge, this new side of you not helping him control himself and his urge to tear your school uniform off of your body and show you how wild he could get when it came to fucking you.

“Can I see you too ?” He asked, managing to act like a gentleman, although he truly wasn’t one, judging by the amount of filthy thoughts he had about you and what he wanted to do to you on a daily basis.

“Alright…” you agreed, your voice trembling slightly. You could understand his curiosity, after all, he hadn’t seen anything of you in that dark closet a month ago, only felt your body against his but your self confidence wasn’t at its best after being sick for almost an entire month, with your hormones acting up to make it worse.

He carefully reached out, popping open the buttons of your shirt one by one until you were left with nothing but your bra on. He looked at you questioningly, and you nodded, giving him a silent permission to remove it too.

His eyes instantly widened when your bra dropped on the tiles, your bare chest exposed to him.

“I didn’t think they would grow so much in so little time.” He stated, clearly dumbstruck by the view.

Your hand returned to the hard buldge between his legs, perking up at your touch as you closed your hand around it and pumped it up and down a few times, pulling him out of his daze and making him gasp in reaction. You didn’t think it possible but the movements made his cock grow even bigger and larger.

A groan dropped from his lips as he momentarily closed his eyes, as if he was struggling to keep control over himself.

“Sit.” He told you, his voice so low it sent shivers down your spine. His hands flew to your waist, already maneuvering you to get you in a sitting position over his lap.

You held your skirt up, your legs pressed on the cold tiles on either side of his thighs. His hand slipped underneath your clothes so swiftly you didn’t notice at first, until you felt his fingers pulling your panties aside, baring your very wet pussy.

With his other hand still on your waist, he guided you down until you were low enough for his erection to push past your entrance, stretching your walls as you sank lower and lower until his full size rested inside you.

You gasped at the sensation, your hands on his broad shoulders to help you support yourself and he grinned, the hand between your legs moving all the way up to your hair, gripping on a piece and pulling them back so that you’d bare your neck to him, allowing him to plant a few wet kisses all the way down to your collarbones as you still adjusted to his size inside you.

You slowly moved your hips in wide circles, exploring the pleasant sensations it sent throughout your entire body. He seemed to enjoy it too, his breathing instantly becoming ragged and desperate.

When you pushed on your knees, pulling yourself up before sitting back down and impaling yourself on his hard cock once again, you heard him curse under his breath. One of his hands held your skirt scrunched up in his fist while the other found your hip, guiding you in a faster rythym as you rocked up and down onto him many more times.

He pulled you closer to feel your swollen boobs on his face, appreciating the way they moved in synch with your hips, wanting to bury his face between them until he suffocated. Your moans and whimpers were causing his mind to go blank once again, unable to think about anything other than the pleasure you were apparently having while bouncing on his cock.

You dug your nails in his shoulders, the bliss bubbling up in your core becoming so intense it was almost unbearable. You would have slowed down, afraid of the strength of your own imminent orgasm, but Sebastian kept guiding you at an unrelenting pace, his tip hitting so deep inside your core each time that you barely managed to not let out a scream that could have echoed through the castle’s hallways, your body violently shaking and tensing with the pleasure that spilled into every fiber of your being.

Sebastian had been holding himself back from the very moment you pulled his cock out of his pants. In all honesty, he could have cummed in your hand right then and there but he had fought it long enough to make sure that you’d enjoy it too. He wanted to make you feel good as it felt like the only thing he could do to help you out right now, and now that your body had collapsed over him, effectively suffocating him with your plump chest, crying out his name in a way he would never forget, he allowed himself to come too, shooting his full load inside your still pulsating pussy.

“Are you okay ?” Your voice asked him, after a moment, your chest moving away from his face and leaving him cold.

“Of course.” He answered, panting and smiling. “What about you ?”

“I’m fine.” You told him which, for the first time in days, wasn’t a lie. You moved to sit next to him, his spent cock gliding out of you easily, drops of his white release lightly staining his pants and your skirt in the process. “You know, I think I’m kind of hungry now.”

“Ah! I told you it would work !” He exclaimed, excitedly. “What do you want to eat ?”

“A waffle with chocolate.” You told him, without hesitation.

“Alright, a chocolate covered waffle coming right up !” He nodded, immediately jumping to his feet, adjusting his clothes and walking away, determined to bring you exactly what you had requested. Surely, he’d be able to bribe a house elf for a waffle. And if not, he would sneak into the kitchen and cook one for you himself, how hard could it be ?

♡ - (( Tip Jar )) - ♡

[lightningant]

Aurelius Dumbledore (AKA Credence Barebone) & Voldemort Conspiracy Theory

I'm full of compressed energy so I have to write to you my thoughts on this topic, of which I have many.

So in my fanon I write Aurelius as Tom's doomed child therapist because I find Tom's fraught relationship with the concept of parentage irresistible and I simply have to kick him again, but I actually have legitimate non-fanfic-toy-playing reasons to believe the Fantastic Beasts movies are the way they are with the character focus they have because Aurelius/Credence is supposed to have significant meaning to Tom.

Consider:

Newt Scamander exists to know about obscurials and to be an outside POV to this insane drama. It was just impossible to notice this because the movies are terrible. These films are primarily about the incredibly super special Credence Barebone being the most specialist boy. Remember this!

Voldemort's flight ability is something no one has invented before and completely unheard of, by transforming his body. He turns it into primarily smoke. By reproducing an obscurus transformation, he has achieved flight. Which he then teaches Snape.

Gellert Grindelwald posits an enemy of his would be killed by an obscurial, kickstarting his obsession with them. He knows what an obscurial looks like because he saw Ariana transform. We know for a fact Dumbledore was not killed by an obscurial; he was killed by Snape. Who then turned into a smoke blot and flew away.

Can we get a pic of how Grindelwald styles Aurelius after he gets his hands on him. Yeah that's excellent thank you

Voldemort specifically seeks out Nagini, Aurelius' first girlfriend. They broke up when he joined Grindelwald; this is a connection to Aurelius more than anyone else.

We can presume - because she likely exists in the text as an excuse for Dumbledore to know passable parseltongue - Aurelius probably knows parseltongue too. Because she's his snake girlfriend. Obviously he wants to be able to communicate with snake GF, especially with a concrete threat of her losing her humanity.

We know Tom pined for his secret super special pureblood daddy before he found out about the Gaunts. At the time, he assumed Tom Riddle Sr. was a wizard. He assumed that Merope died because she must not have had magic to save her. He must have found out very quickly there is no Tom Riddle in the wizarding registrar; he must be American, or European, surely...?

Voldemort is a self-soother and a magical thinker. If he was afraid of Dumbledore he'd treat him with similar obsession to how he treats the brother wands. I posit he is simply loathe to interact with Dumbledore and goes out of his way to avoid direct contact. And why...?

Possible conclusions:

When Tom was making conspiracy theories about who daddy was, he was sure it must be Aurelius - an unfathomably powerful ally of Grindelwald who could speak to snakes and went into hiding -because this idea was mind-numbingly cool to his beautiful 15-year-old brain. Tom's name is only plain and ordinary because it's an alias! This is actually the most likely thing, and the funniest, and the saddest. I don't think he was capable of looking into where he "went into hiding", because he wouldn't be able to digest Aurelius retired at twenty in the countryside to treat his if-not-terminal-then-at-least-chronic illness and preferred it that way.

But even so, Tom frequents the Hog's Head! It was possible for him to meet a surviving Aurelius, and had the above delusion of grandeur; an expectation that Aurelius had abandoned a doomed and ill-advised dark lord campaign, and Tom's campaign would be neither doomed or ill-advised. I like to think he promptly dies, giving Tom the rare double-mommy-daddy-issue whammy. If your epic mary sue momdad dies because of his magic, then what now...?

Am I the problem? No. It's the muggles who are wrong.

This implies he had passionate fantasies about Nagini being mommy. Really puts the Erm.... in Snake Venom Homunculus Baby

The reason he is so loathe to be near Albus is because Albus is unafraid to hammer home that love was what kept Aurelius alive, that power is what killed Aurelius, and it was cringe and fail of Tom to assume he was destined to be his secret illegitimate son on the metric of that power.

Albus "Secret Keeper" Dumbledore of course does not at any point explain the context of where Aurelius went after he stopped being an elite dark lord assassin, so Tom just feels like Dumbledore is being an asshole to him and accusing him of being incapable of love for no reason. Sitcom-esque!

I'm never wrong and my visions are beautiful. Thank you.

[uglygreenjacket]

Do I think Ochako and Izuku will end up together as we end the manga? Probably.

Does it change a single thing for me as a BKDK shipper? Absolutely not.

I’m not deluded enough to think bkdk will become canon. This is a classic Shonen manga. Japan isn’t that progressive. But I’m sorry, you can’t tell me Horikoshi didn’t know what he was doing with the volume 37 cover. You can’t tell me Horikoshi didn’t know what he was doing with that Jump GIGA cover.

Does he ship them? I don’t know. Sometimes it feels like it. A lot of times it feels like it. Katsuki getting stabbed to save Izuku. Izuku losing control of blackwhip whenever someone speaks ill of Katsuki. Katsuki nearly killing himself to get to Izuku when he can barely move (MULTIPLE times). Shigaraki going after Katsuki because he’s the most important person to Izuku. Katsuki CRYING over Izuku’s lost quirk in the hospital. The list goes on and on.

And with that being said, honestly, it’s no wonder so many ship them. Their relationship is so much more fleshed out than the Izuku x Ochako relationship could ever hope to be at this point. Even if the entirety of the epilogue is IzuOcha confessing, it still doesn’t erase the entirety of what’s happened between Katsuki and Izuku. Horikoshi isn’t great at writing well-rounded female characters, at least in this story, and I think this also contributes to the sheer number of BKDK shippers. It’s so much easier to ship two fleshed out characters. Add in a rivals/enemy dynamic and you have the the makings of many of the most popular M/M Shonen ships.

And I understand people’s issues with the BKDK, though past a lot of homophobia and a refusal to acknowledge people (especially teenagers) have a great capacity for change, I’m not sure where the intense hatred of it comes from.

I loves these characters. I love this ship for so many reasons. And if IzuOcha becomes canon that won’t change. If anything, my resolve that BKDK should be canon will only be strengthened.

I’m not under the illusion that I’m adding anything new to this discourse. The shipping wars will continue no matter how the story ends. But I don’t think BKDKs should be blamed for coming to a conclusion the story has, up until this point, so clearly led us to.

[sillyandquiteawkward]

Do you have any tips/advice for someone doing comics? Like, shorter ones, not necessarily longer form stuff? How to plan a lil scene, set up panels, etc? Anyway, I like your comics a lot, your art is really cool and I hope you have a nice day <3

i feel like i do what you arent supposed to do, but i write a lot of my short comics from the seat of my pants. i have a general idea of what i what to accomplish, sometimes i have some dialogue and stage direction written in my notes app, and i just. draw a rectangle and start going. that tends to be why a lot of my mspaint comics tend to be talking head type deals, haha. ill try to give some proper advice, but im also just a hobbist whos taken a some classes about communication through design and comics years ago.

most comics do well if you establish a scene with a larger set piece, then you can narrow down to characters or actions. show us where we are in space, and the audience can take that knowledge and move along the other panels with a stronger suspension of disbelief. (bc comics are all about giving toys to your reader and hoping they play with you) heres the first page of my anya n swansea comic illustrating this. big location panel, then narrowing down to character moments.

you notice as i focus more on dialogue, that my scenery gets left out. this is bc theres only so much space in a panel, so i need to choose what gets shown. of course this depends on what medium you work with, but the gist is the same amongst all types. dont give your reader TOO much to play with or they might get confused, or will start skimming. not what we want!

for shorter comics, id suggest something eye catching right at the beginning to catch readers attention. if you have multiple "pages" or breaks in the comic, make sure the last panel before the next page is enticing. be it a punchline or cliff hanger, something to keep the reader interested. jingle those keys. in general most short comics need to end on a punchline or satisfaction or deep thought. something for the reader to chew on after their done reading, or to inspire rereading. makes for a satisfying read!

but it also depends on how you want to structure a comic page. this comic of anya and curly i did is very different than the previous one i showed, and i think its one of my fav recent comics. it starts with a weird piece of dialogue that makes you ask "what does that mean" which gets answered by the next panels. theres visual and spoken repetition, theres very little said, and its short and sweet. very easy to read and reread, so its easy to take in, and its easy for the reader to sit with it longer and ponder it more. and be able to draw their own conclusions. play touys with meeee

i think when it comes to planning scenes, it depends on what you want the reader to get out of it. when i was planning this comic page, i really wanted to mention that curlys tear ducts probably dont work, and anyas been wearing the same contact lenses for months! i wanted to showcase their similarities and how they mirror each other narratively and i had the idea to use the onomatopoeia of drip to stand in for the drip of saline. but i didnt have any solid ideas past that. but i do like showcasing mundane sort of events, so i thought maybe just a simple exchange of using saline to wet curlys eye, and then her eyes. initially the idea to literally copy and paste the action of applying the saline was out of ease so i didnt have to draw it again, but i found that it worked for the narrative, so i leaned into that. i flipped anya around to better convey them as on either side of the mirror, and had anya repeat her dialogue.

something else to debate about in layout, is making sure the comic isnt too unbalanced (unless thats a theme/motif youre wanting to work with) in this comic page, anya always remains on the left side, except the first panel where she is on the right. i Could have swapped her and her dialogue in the first panel, so she stays on the left and better mirrors curly in panel 3, but if i did that, the comic would be very left heavy. anyas hair and her clothes are a heavy, dark color, it takes up a lot of visual attention. i thought the comic would look more pleasant for anya to be on the right in the first panel to balance it out, as i didnt find much narrative use for her to be on the left side always. the reader would still read the comic left to right and follow the typical reading pattern regardless. to make up for this, in panel 3, curly mirrors the angle she's at in panel 1, its not an exact mirror, but its enough that i was satisfied with it.

in other comics, it might be easier to play with how the eye would move across the page. regardless, its something important to keep in mind. you have to assume how the reader will read your comic, and if youre going to be breaking the rules, you need to put in lots of safeguards to make sure the reader can understand what youre doing. too much dialogue in confusing places? work with the speech bubbles to create hierarchy and flow so the reader knows how to read everything in order. number one rule of design we were taught was people are stupid, so you have to play at their level, or baby proof your level DX designers and artists know all the rules, but readers dont have a grasp on the rules themselves, just the vibes of the rules.

the most important thing with comics is legibility. if the reader cant understand or follow the comic, it might as well be like them not reading it at all. and the worst thing that could happen is they think what youre doing is pointless. so you have to juggle what you want to accomplish, what the reader can understand, what the medium limits you to, and what rules you think you can get away with breaking.

hope this is some sort of satisfying answer! i feel like im always hit or miss with advice XD;;

[mirellapryce]

In every fandom I enter my brain has to concoct a Spy AU, so here is my Spy/Argyle Dead Boy Detectives AU. Please note I never actually saw Argyle I just watched review videos so take this with a hefty handful of creative interpretation.

Edwin as author of queer spy/detective/whodunit novels, his most famous of which is “Agent Paine”. His career really took off in the last year, but now he’s stuck and his agent is telling him to get some country air and write another Agent Paine novel. 

Saved on a train by TCK who tells him all his novels are either things that have happened or things that come true. He’s a spy himself and he finds E.P. Rowland’s works just so fascinating. Anyway, now he’s here to protect Edwin and take him in to the spy agency. 

Along the way they meet Monty. (Anyone else?) 

Eventually they meet the real Agent Paine. Hi Charles. 

The man is handsome and charming, witty and has a winning smile. Oh no, he’s just Edwin’s type.  After the most confusing hug and subsequent interrogation about who he is, where he’s been for the last year, and what he knows about their spy agency, Agent Paine goes to yell at Agent King in the other room. The only part Edwin catches clearly is when he stomps back in the room saying, “This place will be safe as long as I want it to be safe. No one’s getting to him.”  

“So you’re him? You’re the Agent Paine all my stories are apparently about?” 

“Probably not, but I’m not actually much of a reader, so I don’t know for sure.” 

-choke and sputter and indignation- 

“My partner used to do the same thing. He’s the real Agent Payne. Spelled with a Y by the way. Why don’t you tell me what it’s about?” 

Talking, reading passages and gesticulating when he looks at Charles and realises. “Are you?...Sorry, why are you crying?” 

Wiping tears. “Sorry mate. It’s just, my husband’s been missing for a year. It’s been rough. Don’t worry about me. What happens next?” 

(Darn. Of course a man that handsome is already taken) 

“So, E.P. Rowland?” 

“Yes? That is my name after all.” 

Laughing. “Oh yeah? What’s the P for then?”

Pause. Uncertainty. Eventually settles on it being a flourish, but he’s unsettled. He should know what the P stands for or he should remember putting it there in the first place. 

Charles goes through the plots and tells Edwin what did happen, and what hasn’t yet, but that the plots he came up with make sense. He looks sentimental when he tells Edwin that he has the mind of a strategist. They come to the conclusion that the books Edwin writes are probably actually about his missing partner/husband. Edwin is excited to suggest that maybe therein lies the key to finding the other Agent Payne (tho admittedly a part of him is jealous and doesn’t want his time with this handsome spy to end), but for some reason Charles doesn’t seem all that eager. When pressed he admits that he called for backup when he sent King away, and that he’s more focused on getting Edwin to a more secure location. 

Crystal is backup and despite Charles warning her ahead of time she’s also ill-prepared for E.P. Rowland. They immediately start squabbling. Something about the banter feels comforting which is ridiculous. He also doesn’t like how cozy she seems to be with Charles. Doesn’t she know he’s married even if his husband is MIA? Doesn’t Charles? 

Spy and fight things happen. They get to HQ where he meets a lovely lady named Niko who is similarly teary like Charles had been. But unlike Charles she’s read all his books and is eager to discuss them with him. Especially the romance parts. Edwin hadn’t said anything to Charles, but after they concluded that Agent Paine was actually Charles’ partner/husband, Edwin could see all the hints that Charles was the rogueish, impetuous love interest in his novels. Now he feels a way about some of the steamier things he’s written, knowing these are real people. He didn’t tell Charles about that. He can tell from her grin that Niko already knows. 

Something-something action happens, then reveal that Edwin is THE Agent Paine/Payne. He lost his memories in an operation gone wrong with Monty where Monty betrayed them at the orders of Esther Finch. Or Edwin found out Monty was a mole and Monty somehow wiped his memories (I’m leaning more towards spy tech than blunt force injury). Technically Monty should have killed him, but Edwin and Monty are friends (/Monty has a crush on him) so he just removed him and made up a story that Edwin was missing.  

Pieces are coming back to Edwin now. He should be focusing on the betrayal and what he knows about Monty and Esther’s plans, but his brain keeps picking memories of Charles instead. How they were best friends long before they were lovers and then husbands. How for the last year it’s felt like he’s missing a limb, always looking over his shoulder to tell someone something, missing a comforting touch even though he hates other people touching him. 

Anyway, it turns out that when they got married, Charles took Edwin’s name because of bad association with his dad. Edwin kept his name but secretly thought of himself as Edwin Payne-Rowland because he only associates the name Rowland with the best person he knows. 

[creatingblackcharacters]

a while back I sent an ill-worded question about words used to describe skin complexion, so first of all I want to apologise for how my question came across for you, the anger it caused and how careless my phrasing was in that regard. it wasn't meant that way, but of course that doesn't negate the damage done.

I've been debating what to say and how to say it, or whether I should just silently take the L on this miscommunication and leave it, because ultimately that's what it was. I never meant "how does that read to you?" as in "do you understand the words I'm saying?", frankly it didn't even cross my mind that questioning your understanding could be a genuine meaning of my words. that's just not how it makes sense to me.

I meant "how does that read to you?" as in "how does the very use of those words rooted in whiteness come across to Black readers when applied to Black characters by white writers?" (could I have been this clear? sure, if it had occurred to me that my question without explaining my full entire thought process could be terribly misconstrued, but it obviously did not occur to me, so here we are. all I can do is try to do better and I am trying).

though I have to say, in its own way the reply you gave me sheds light on that question. the descriptors all carry an implication, regardless of whether we have begrudging understanding that we all know what they are supposed to convey because we've learned the words and their meanings and we can use our brains to decipher context. though it brings me back to my question - how does the use of descriptors like paling/blanching/deathly pallor/etc. come across for Black readers? does it show the intent and care this blog is advocating for? is that something that takes people out of the story, especially when they know the author is white? and in that sense, are physiological descriptions preferred then?

ideally writers would make the effort to actually figure out how to describe Black complexion, it seems like the natural conclusion here, but for me it also begs the question what the equivalent to "to pale" for dark skin is, and I suspect the answer is there is none. (or maybe I just haven't encountered it?)

ultimately, I want to use my words in a good way, in a way that makes my Black readers feel seen, but language is hard and I don't always get it right. (as we have seen). and I'm thinking a step towards writing better descriptions is actually knowing what Black readers take away from them, and the impressions they leave behind. sure, there are probably some potentially obvious answers to this, but I think there is merit in making sure that we're all on the same page with things like this. after all we can't look into each other's heads.

I hope I was able to word my thoughts better this time around.

If this is about the ask that I think it is, I appreciate your apology. I wasn't actually mad at you, and i apologize if my response seemed to be at you directly. I was moreso upset at the ease of the use of your language and the concept itself. It's incredibly dehumanizing to realize just how many people don't seem to think that Black people function as human beings, or that we are somehow so innately different from white bodies that extrapolations cannot be made, or that it's not even something that y'all have to consider at all. Like, the idea that Black people change skin colors as if we're chameleons in pain or sickness is far too common and comfortable an idea with the implication that is "I dont think you are human like me". It makes me sad.

I'll let others answer your question, this time, though, so you can get that feedback!

[child-of-helios]

hello. I've a rather stupid question. I've only read the books once, as a kid, and I don't understand why people hate calpyso x leo. whys it so bad? why does everyone seems to hate it on here?

xxx,

eurydice

First of all, this is my first ever ask, I've made it mother :D Secondly, I'd gladly explain! Though please note that it really has been a good while since I've read the books too, so my memory is kinda foggy :] Warnings for: Slight mentions (but not too much) of rape, pedophilia and mental illness (oh boy this is a tough one)

So, I have made a post abt this before, but it was written in a fit of rage so not my proudest moment (but my most popular post, oops). Anyways, I feel that the hate towards Calypso x Leo is because of a few reasons. 1. It simply didn't get enough development to feel worth it imo. Similar to Jason x Piper, I felt like there wasn't enough there to warrant a canon ship. There is also the fact that personally, I thought that their dynamic was more of a familial or that of siblings, which made me uncomfortable. I would've much rather have them be friends. 2. The uncomfortable age gap. It feels very weird because while yes, Calypso was depicted as a teenager, she is thousands upon thousands of years old. The fact that she fell in love with a literal child is incredibly weird. It was weird enough with Percy, but at least they didn't end up dating. With Leo though, she did end up dating him and the age gap feels very odd. Its even weirder knowing she had a relationship with Odysseus, who by that point was a pretty old dude so she was probably very mature and an adult (though she doesn't act like it). 3. Calypso is kinda a rapist. In the Odyssey myth, she forces Odysseus (a married man) to sleep with her. I'm sorry, but I can't support any relationship involving a rapist unless its rapist x prison cell. It makes me uncomfortable because she could very well take advantage of Leo, a mentally ill teenager with self-esteem issues. 4. Her toxic treatment of Leo. Calypso was very pissed when Leo arrived on her island, rightfully so after what she had gone through, but even then her treatment of his was outright cruel, especially compared to that of Percy and Odysseus. She made him sleep outside, exposing him to the elements after he got flung through the air and ended up on her island, which must've caused some damage. Then after they started dating, I still felt uncomfortable reading about the two, because their dynamic just didn't work, and I don't recall her apologizing to him for her treatment of him. 5. Leo's arc was thrown away. I think the worst of all, is how this impacted Leo's character. He should've had an arc where he learnt to love himself, but because of Calypso he didn't. I think the moral was supposed to be: 'even if you're mentally ill or have problems, you still deserve love!' but it came over more as: 'ignore your issues and get all your love from someone else.' Isn't it more important for kids to learn about self-love? And as an extra: what could've been. I think that Leo shouldn't have gone back for Calypso, that that ship shouldn't have happened. I prefer him going back to Echo and them learning about self-love together as buddies (and maybe evolving into more than that). Echo was stuck in an abusive relationship with the Narcissist, so I think it would a good arc for them both. I also think that if you really wanted a romance, Jason x Leo would've been much better. We know that Rick can write good gay romances, we know that Piper turns out to be a lesbian, so why not make Jason and Leo gay? I think it would add much more to the tragedy of Jason's death, but that's for another post (and this one is getting too long already oops). In conclusion, I think Caleo is bad for many reasons, but especially because it didn't have enough time to develop and the dynamic was simply too creepy for me to get invested in. Sorry for the super long post- Have a lovely day :D