#it begins ho ho

[seaquestions]

ancient forms of ho-oh and lugia, perhaps.

[ID: image 1: a drawing of the pokemon ho-oh, redesigned. its wing feathers are rounder, its chest is fluffier, it has wispy feathers on its hind, and it now has four long tail feathers each with a different accent colour (green, blue, pink, purple) and white at the tip. its face design also has more accents to it. text reads "the rainbow pokemon, fire/fairy". image 2: a drawing of lugia redesigned. its body is generally more aquatic, with big front flippers folded like wings and rear flippers instead of legs. most of its face is covered by something like a mask or blindfold, its got four pairs of plates on its back and a spikes on its tail. text reads "the diving pokemon, water/dragon" End ID]

[whumpetywhump]

Begins ≠ Youth (2024)

Kim Joo An

01:

- Face cut and bruised after being beaten (he has some form of bruise or cut in most episodes, allegedly due to his father’s abuse)

02:

- Applying pain patches to his arms and back after overworking

04:

- Smacked to the ground by his father

- Hit in the head with a football, knocked to the ground, writhing in pain, temporarily unable to hear, panicking, examined in hospital, revealed to have lost hearing in his left ear due to his father’s abuse

- Emotional breakdown, lashing out at his friends, restrained, screaming, sobbing, comforted

09:

- Flashback: Cuts his hand on broken glass

- Bruised face, admits his father threw a photo frame at him

10:

- Flashback: Bloody scrapes on his knuckles

- Confronts his abusive father, crying, screaming

12:

- Shoved by his father, hits his head on a cabinet, ringing ears, temporarily deafened, stabs his father to save his mother and sister, in a state of shock, sobbing

Park Ha Ru

03:

- Suffering auditory hallucinations linked to PTSD, attending regular therapy sessions, flinching when touched

- Suffering flashbacks and hallucinations, sobbing, guilt-stricken, collapses to his knees, rocking back and forth, comforted

04:

- Still experiencing auditory hallucinations, clutching his head, rocking back and forth

- Admitted to a psych ward, still hallucinating

05:

- Still in the psych ward, tormented by another patient, traumatic flashbacks

06:

- Nightmare, rocking back and forth, flinching and yelping when touched

- Emotional breakdown, scratching at his own chest, tries to drown himself in the bath

07:

- Revealed to have scars and scratch marks on his arms and chest

- Hallucinating, declining in mental health

08:

- Still hallucinating

09:

- Finds out he was hallucinating his best friend, struggling to tell if his real friends are also hallucinations

- Traumatic flashback, panic attack, falls while trying to run, hallucinating

- Rushed to hospital after slitting his wrists, bleeding

10:

- Unconscious in hospital with his wrists bandaged after last episode, readmitted to the psych ward

- Flashback: Found unconscious in the bath, bleeding from the wrists

11:

- Still in the psych ward

- Thrown in the sea, shivering, accidentally reveals scars on his arms and shoulders

12:

- Locked back up in the psych ward, head bandaged after an attempt to self-harm

Kim Do Geon

01:

- Elbowed in the face trying to break up a fight, nosebleed

02:

- Applying pain patches to his arms and back after overworking

07:

- Feeling unwell, coughing

08:

- Still coughing from last episode, feverish, given medication, taken care of, collapses, wakes up in hospital, diagnosed with influenza, quarantined, discharges himself AMA, still sick, nosebleed

09:

- Still pale and sickly, emotional breakdown, sobbing, screaming

10:

- Hand bandaged and face scraped after a fall

12:

- Pain patches and cupping bruises on his back from overworking

- Motorcycle crash, lying in the road, emotional breakdown, sobbing on his knees

Jung Ho Su

01:

- Narcoleptic episode, collapses and passes out

02:

- Flashback: Found sitting outside in the snow, shivering, memory loss

- Wakes up in hospital after last episode, head bandaged from the fall

- Applying pain patches to his arms and back after overworking

06:

- Outed for not taking his narcolepsy medication

07:

- Recovering in the nurse’s office with his head bandaged after falling down the stairs during a narcoleptic episode

- Bandaging the blisters on his fingers

08:

- Admits to faking his narcolepsy out of desperation for affection, sobbing, comforted

09:

- Self-medicating, gagging, vomiting

10:

- In a state of shock, narcoleptic episode, collapses and passes out

12:

- Beaten up, face badly cut and bruised

- Overdoses, unconscious on the floor

Min Sae In

02:

- Flashback: Threatened with a knife, “I’m not afraid of dying”, almost collapses from shock afterwards

- Hallucinating his dead mother, crying

06:

- Discloses his past trauma, fighting tears

08:

- Provoked, loses control and attacks someone, fighting tears, collapses to his knees

09:

- Accidentally injures his friend, in a state of shock, guilt-stricken, sobbing

11:

- Revealed to have committed suicide

12:

- Flashback: Hand bandaged after breaking a window

- Flashback: Shuts himself in a burning building, dead body removed on a stretcher

Kim Hwan

01:

- Kicked in the chest, knocked to the ground, pinned down and punched repeatedly in the ribs

03:

- Pressured into drinking by his father, vomiting, dizzy, blurred vision, collapses and passes out

05:

- Smacked in the face by his father, bruised cheek, fighting tears

10:

- Almost hit by a car, falls, bloody scrapes on his hands, limping and clutching his leg

- Knocked to the ground in an explosion, cuts his face, tries to enter the fire, restrained, sobbing

11:

- Drunk, momentarily passes out, struggling to stay awake

- Grieving, crying

TW: Contains themes of child abuse, suicide and self-harm

[platoapproved]

[u3pxx]

screams in PAIN

[childotkw]

hi Jordan!

Just wondering if you have any snippets about izuna causing chaos in HP universe with regulus?????

The sound of shattering had Sirius flinching. Regulus, on the other hand, merely sighed and closed his eyes.

A guilty kind of silence stretched out from the hallway, and as Sirius watched, his brother leaned back in his chair and glanced over at the doorway where his strange friend had disappeared through.

“What was that?” he called, a biting kind of exasperation colouring his tone.

Between one blink and the next, Regulus’ friend was framed in the doorway. Sirius startled at the sudden reappearance. He hadn’t even heard the man walking towards them.

“Some kind of vase,” Izuna answered, his teeth nibbling at his bottom lip. He looked young, younger than Regulus even, and Sirius had to wonder if this kid would even be old enough to be out of Hogwarts if he were one of them. “It was blue and patterned with a scene of trees and mountains.”

Regulus put his face in his hands, and even Sirius winced.

Izuna glanced at them, just a quick flick of his dark eyes, before settling his attention on Regulus. “I take that it was important?”

“It was an heirloom,” Regulus said, his voice muffled by his palm, “and cursed to never break - what the fuck did you do to it?”

Normally, hearing his prim and proper little brother swear would be hilarious, but Sirius was more freaked out over how this random young man Regulus had pulled out of a dumpster somewhere was able to break their great-aunt’s unbreakable fucking vase.

Izuna hummed, sounding genuinely interested at the revelation. “It had dark chakra around it,” he said, as if that made any sense - chakra? was that what he called magic? - but clearly only Sirius was out of the loop because Regulus looked up with a spark of understanding.

“Chakra - you’re sure?” he asked.

Izuna nodded. “Definitely. Which makes me wonder how your family came into possession of a chakra-infused vase when your world doesn’t have chakra.”

“You think…” Regulus began.

“Worth a try,” Izuna agreed.

The two of them stared at each other for a long moment, Sirius darting looks between them, before they both suddenly shot off down the hallway. Sirius remained where he was, watching as his little brother left him behind - again - to talk a mile a minute with his new best friend.

Something dark and bitter bubbled in his chest.

[wontaemins]

begins ≠ youth ep. 1

[luxurysystems]

Me, to the kidnappers holding me for ransom: If you really think about it, Irwin R Schyster is such an iconic character. From his debut to his sporadic appearances in the mid-00s, he--

[queen-mabs-revenge]

i'm gonna see this headline with my own two eyes i swear to fuck

[cashmere-caveman]

My Country: The New Age, first and last episodes & Hanif Abdurraqib, For The Dogs Who Barked At Me On The Sidewalks in Connecticut (text/audio) image descriptions in alt

[moonlightsapphic]

Y'all, I find the reception of XO, Kitty so dissapointing.

TL; DR: The underlying homophobia/biphobia/lesbophobia/misoginy towards Yuri as potential and viable endgame which I don't think would have happened if she were yet another hot guy.

The straight-baiting marketing of this show was absolutely genius and I loved that Jenny Han, who writes the straightest central romances to ever romance (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, The Summer I Turned Pretty), actually initiated a series with such visibly queer storylines and then literally jumped into this sort-of-interracial, sapphic romance centered around a bi+ character. I could see Han trying to be more inclusive in her past on-screen works, but this was incredible.

No you don't understand. There was this point midway through the show where I thought I was in a fever dream and watching wishful fanmade content because I couldn't believe an IRL Netflix show could actually give us this. My mind was blown.

So you'll understand that I was fully bamboozled to see that social media is swamped with Min-ho fangirls pretending like Yuri doesn't even exist. I love Min-ho too, but am I the only one who also saw so many signs that point to a future Yuri x Kitty?

First, for the narrative satisfaction of their moms being best friends in the past!

... and to complete Kitty's coming of age! Kitty, growing up in the cisheteronormative Song-Covey household, made the oversight of initially operating under the assumption that she exclusively likes boys and that she has mastered the art of relationships. That's already been debunked partway by her breakup with her first boyfriend who was supposed to be endgame, and is only going to be sealed further if she ends up with a girl in a long-term relationship. (And no, of course she doesn't have to "end up" with a girl for her queer identity to be valid, but I think it just makes the most narrative sense to have that unfold in the story as her worldview alters.)

Here I present to you: my pet peeves in the XO, Kitty fandom

hyping up parallels between Peter x LJ and Minho x Kitty scenes claiming that this means Minho x Kitty may be endgame. They literally have to reach and dig for those because the most parallels are between Peter x LJ and Yuri x Kitty, right from the scene that they bumped into each other! Kitty has also shown zero romantic interest in Minho so far, as opposed to her very keen interest in Yuri.

People finally addressing the elephant in the room like "Ugh, Yuri is probably going to be endgame. 🙄 I want Minho instead!!" like it's such a disappointing or borderline gross outcome. Yuri is a much more intense enemies-to-lovers character than Minho. She is beautiful, kind, and fun with a little bit of bite, everything that Minho is plus Kitty is falling for her hard.

Being real here—If you think Yuri is a boring love interest or kind of a b*tch while Minho is simply a fun old enemies-to-lovers character, I am begging you to check your biases. You, a straight woman, may only see hostile fictional women as competitiion and hostile fictional men as ... well, kinda hot. However, Kitty is bi+ and she could see them both as viable romantic interests, equally. Yes, Yuri has done more malicious things than Minho, but then again she has had a harder time this academic year than Minho. You are obviously still allowed to like Minho better, as long as you're not dismissing the struggles of and flattening a strong female character. Misoginy and homophobia make an ugly combo, y'all. Trust me, you don't want any part in that.

(Additional unpopular opinion: I'm going to get crucified for this but I genuinely think Kitty is too boring for Minho in the same way that Dae was too boring for Kitty. He seems to be into her only from the Halo Effect. Minho is my child and I squeal whenever he's on screen and I hope to see him finding someone actually fun!)

Saying that Kitty’s crush on Yuri was just a token plot point with no real basis or depth. While there is some unrealistic family drama in the show, it's all still credible. Fiction is supposed to bring in imaginative elements and try to keep things grounded. Regardless, I'm never going to be the person who says that a wild and shocking bi- or gay-awakening is unrealistic. As a queer person, let me tell you that it is just as wild and confusinh for us IRL.

Besides, many cishet people actually do not care if (or is hateful when) the MC is bi, that I doubt how much it “helps” with marketing. (That's why queerbaiting exists, folks.) Also, have you seen Kitty in TATBILB? That's a bi preteen right there if I've ever seen one.

"Stop trying to invalidate other people's ships!" I will say this once: I don't care if you ship Kitty with Min-ho, or Dae, or anyone else that's not Yuri. I DON'T CARE! Frankly, good for you because straight ships have better luck out there anyway, ya know? I am simply begging you to not reduce a queer person's nuanced concerns about dismissal of sapphic fictional characters to petty fandom arguments. Read the room, guys. Please.

This is such a crucial show to many of us. I just want y'all to understand that this is just a little bigger than your celebrity crush on a hot guy whose character you're rooting for. We never, ever get contemporary slice-of-life romcom sapphic rep (and Netflix is notorious for cancelling sapphic shows, too). Please don't be dismissive of a perfectly good possible ending! We want to give Netflix every reason to renew this show, and give Han every reason to allow Kitty to flourish just the way she plans to! (This is me begging y'all to not influence the writers into swerving last-minute towards a sloppy Minho endgame, though I do trust her better than that.)

I hope that Netflix renews the show, even if it's through the excitement of straight people in denial LMAO. And then I hope it treats us with a glorious sapphic ending.*

*(Aaaand I can already imagine the cishet women in the audience complaining online about what a terrible person Kitty is for leading Min-ho on and then dumping him, and how she and Yuri are both awful and totally deserve each other. Music to my ears.)

[lacomandante]

That behind the scenes pic of Sean in the tattered nightgown from Mission altered my brain chemistry so much that after I saw it I immediately worked on my smut fic and changed Sharpe to be wearing a nightgown bc how could I not

[ben-the-hyena]

I think I've taken the one picture in my life that's gone the hardest so far

Honorable mentions

[whumpetywhump]

Begins ≠ Youth - Ep. 3

[dykedvonte]

Discussing the NCR (Fallouts NV's Military Industrial Complex)

Fallout regularly discusses the idea of the military, its faults, its strengths, and most importantly, the psycho-social aspects of it regarding those who are members. We have seen a direct critique of the military generalized through the Enclave's overt nationalism, the hoarding of resources and indoctrination through the Brotherhood of Steel, and an almost eerily modern critique of the whole military-industrial complex through the NCR in New Vegas. In these series of posts, I will be focusing primarily if not exclusively on the last one.

The NCR we see in the game is strictly the military side of things and the depiction of active occupation during a time of eminent war, conflicting factions, and resource scarcity. It is in this we are missing a major factor that negatively affects the view of the NCR in the game and out: Civilian life along with citizen opinion on the military. While we do get Mojave civilian opinion on the military (often neutral or negative) we do not get those who are New California Republic citizens, not those who actually discuss the military more so not understanding the importance of the occupation and the President's choices.

We do not see how life is regularly lived by the average citizen as we have not seen New California in New Vegas, though, we get words and glimpses that the people are relatively content in the growing country minus the fact many people are not happy with the choice of encroaching on the Mojave. This most similarly reflects it's real-world application that many civilian citizens reject acquisition and war due to the economic effects it has on the country and the general violence/loss associated.

In this, we come to an issue of losing a perspective that is unique to the NCR as a military representative. The Brotherhood is notably a place where its active members are intertwined with its efforts, the young are raised to be scribes, paladins, etc... To where even if one is not fighting for The Brotherhood, they are still intertwined, it's propaganda is the life. The Enclave is even more cut n' dry in that it is mostly made up of government representatives. It is a group even smaller than the former, even more selective and intertwined that their propaganda IS a form of Eugenics. The NCR is unique in that there is a clear distinction between what is the military force, the civilian population, and the choice if one wants to be a part of the former.

There is a distinct difference in the cultures of the factions you are born into and those you must enlist or join (forcibly for some). While this is a long-winded way to get into the actual discussion I want to facilitate throughout these posts I wanted an initial background post to understand the aspects I am and am not exploring and explaining along with a hub post to link everything I intend to discuss in the coming days and weeks, starting with:

Why Do People Join the NCR?

...which will be discussed and linked back here like everything else regarding to this topic.

Links: TBA

[fluffypotatey]

“die in the blood where you bathe”

what if i do just pass away

[marymekpop]

I like you. I tried denying it and I tried to rationalize it, but nothing worked. It’s true. I like you.