#it's all my friend's fault I don't have netflix so I didn't even know this existed until a couple months ago

[frostmoths]

having a normal christmas this year

[imaginebeautifulworlds]

Loved By Seven | Chapter 1

Genre: Hybrid!AU, Poly!AU, Mate!AU, romance, fluff

Pairing: OT7 x Reader

Characters: Human!Reader, Peacock!Seokjin, Serpent!Yoongi, Hawk!Hoseok, White Tiger!Namjoon, Merman!Jimin, Leopard!Taehyung, Wolf!Jungkook

Summary: Hiking was just an activity to get you out of the apartment, the last thing you imagined was ending in a whole different world by touching a jewel. That not being enough you end up meeting seven hybrids, and they all claim you shared the Connection with each of them making you their partner for life.

Notes: Hi! This is my first time posting my writing, it may not be perfect but please give it a try :). Help, likes, reblogs, comments are always appreciated. English is not my first language so pardon me if anything is misspelled or grammatically incorrect. Also the main idea came from a webtoon but I can’t remember it’s name. Enjoy!

Masterlist | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Support me?

"Don't fall behind girl!" Your smile is so big and beautiful, you can't say the same about your sweaty face though. You're so excited that you decided to leave behind the path marked on the map the employees from the walking trail gave you.

"You shouldn't…go there…N/N" Jiwoo, who's out of breath and drenched in sweat, is holding the rope so tight you're concerned that by the end of this she's going to have her hands full of sores.

"Come on Jiwoo, didn't we come here to explore the unknown?" you look down where your best friend is, as you move your eyebrows and smirk at her. Jiwoo rolls her eyes and moves her hand to reach a higher spot to continue climbing, wishing she had the same physical ability you have just to punch you and shutting you up.

"We came here…because…you're always at work…or at home" at this point you're afraid Jiwoo's going to faint from the way she keeps talking between breaths. You can't blame her though, after all that statement is 100% true. It's not your fault of course, you just happen to be a very young and responsible lady who doesn't like to go outside except for work and groceries.

"You are making me sound like a workaholic, which I'm not" now you're frowning, she may be telling the truth, but is not cool making you feel a little conscious about your social habits, or lack of them "After all I'm not the one who's out of breath" You've never seen Jiwoo this sweaty and out of breath, not even in the hottest days of summer.

"Well it's not…everyday that…we choose…to climb a mountain…in the middle of nowhere" in all honesty Jiwoo thought this would be a great thing to get you out of your shared apartment, after all both of you haven't gone out in so many months she was getting tired of the couch and Netflix was feeling drier by the day.

"One, it was your plan and second, there are people waiting for us down there so we are somewhere" You know your best friend is about to punch out that smirk of yours, well that would happen if it weren't for the meters separating the two of you.

"Shut…up" She wheezes.  

Jiwoo's plan was simple: Knowing you only go to two places every work day, and spend every weekend on the couch, she thought you would be out of breath first and would be more active after this, now ridiculous to her, activity. That's why she decided to enroll both of you to an excursion to the Mountain…who cares about the name now, of course she didn't expect you to be so athletic, even with all the junk food you eat when you're in front of the tv. And that after this you would want to explore what's outside your apartment and socialize; and why not get a nice, cute boyfriend.

In your defense, you are just not a very open person and it's difficult for you to make friends. Jiwoo doesn't count she's like your sister, you two met at the orphanage and didn't separate after that. At work you are very sociable and you like to be around people but when your coworkers invite you for drinks it just makes you feel uncomfortable, so you just go home to the safety of your apartment.

Following your own path you get to the entrance of a cave, and sit down on the corner waiting for Jiwoo. After a few minutes you finally see her hand grabbing the border next to where you are, she gives you puppy eyes while making grabby hands with the other asking for your help. You can't say no to those eyes and she knows it, so you help her climb up. Jiwoo sits down and chugs down what was left of one of her waters, the bottle was half empty, surprising you by not choking like she would usually do. Looking down you two were really high up and very far away from the ground, but the view was awesome: there was green everywhere you look and if you close your eyes and concentrate enough you could hear the flow of a river nearby. It was beautiful and breathtaking.

"It's beautiful here, thanks for doing this Jiwoo" your best friend smiles at you, giving herself a pat in the back for bringing that look of admiration and big smile you're giving to the landscape.

"Come on, let's go explore" you stand up and extend your hand to her, she takes it and stands up. Cleaning your clothes from dirt, you start walking towards the cave, it's like it's calling you and you can't take your eyes away from the black inside.

"Don't go there, let's just continue, we have a long way ahead of us" Jiwoo says looking up, to the top of the mountain. "Come on, I just want to see what's inside. I feel like it's calling me" you do a dorky move pointing the cave, but seriously you can't take away your eyes from it; it's scary but you just want to explore today and then continue with your boring but comfortable, to you, life.

"I don't know N/N, I do feel like it is calling me but that just scares me and is making me wanna run" ignoring what she's saying, you take Jiwoo's hand and drag her to the entrance of the cave. Pulling your flashlight out of your backpack and turning it on, you see something glowing at, what it looks like, the end of the cave, Jiwoo gasps at this "Please tell me you're seeing this too" You just nod, hypnotized by it. Without knowing both of you start walking towards it and extending your hand you touch it, and the light starts to glow more and more until you're blinded by it.

"What the hell is going on?!" You scream and take Jiwoo's hand so hard it hurts, you're so afraid now that you want to be close to, what you consider, the only family you have. Jiwoo returns the hard grip, and before you know it the light swallows both of you.

"Okay, F/N let's get out of here before we get blind" Jiwoo lets go off your hand and goes out of the cave. You follow her after taking a look to the, now dim light, jewel. "Hey, what time is it?" she turns around to ask you. "I don't know, it looked like it was 12" you exit the cave "Wow…why does it look like it's 5pm?" you start looking around at the sunset. "I don't know…the ropes are gone too…and the mountain doesn't look the same either" Jiwoo is looking around with a worried look. Paying more attention to your surroundings, you can see that the ropes aren't where you left them and the top of the mountain isn't flat, to welcome the climbers, but is pointy instead. Now you're starting to worry even more when you look down and don't see the employees anywhere where they're supposed to be. You take out your phone to call the security number they gave you in case anything happens, but when you're dialing the call doesn't go out and then you see if you have signal but it doesn't have any bars. You turn around to ask Jiwoo if she has any signal but when you meet her face, that you're pretty sure is the same as yours, you know she had the same luck as you. "What are we going to do, if we don't have service…" she starts to panic and goes to the border to look down "Hey, hey…we have to calm down and stay here. I don't know anything about this environment but it's getting late and we should find shelter. At least here we have a roof, down there…we don't " you hesitate after thinking what can happen down there.

"Yeah you're right…but what if something comes in" Jiwoo has worried written all over her face. "I don't think so…I didn't smell anything inside, it seems like nobody…" "More like anything" "Okay anything lives here, though I think we should be careful when we eat" you're just hoping you're right and that there are no animals that can smell your food and climb. "I think we should look what's in our backpacks that can help us here" when Jiwoo swallows down her nerves she's very calm and thinks things through. "Thank God you're a mom and pack many things" you look at her offended "Hey…thanks to me being a mom and you wanting to spend the night in the woods we brought plenty of stuff" yes, you can be a mom when you go out, but right now you're really thanking both of you, Jiwoo because of this plan and you for not wanting to miss anything you might have need.

You two pour everything out on the cave floor: Two sleep bags with a blanket for each one, hopefully it would be enough and won't be too cold; two packs of 10 sanitary towels, in all honesty you prefer the cup but none of you are on your period, and you never know when these can come in handy; the lunch, that now is going to be dinner; snacks, right now you don't know when you two are going to eat properly after tonight; two pair of underwear for each, you wish you had more since you don't know long is going to take both of you to go home; swimsuits, the brochure said the lake nearby could be used to wash yourself; pajamas, at least you can sleep comfortable with them; toothbrushes; toothpaste; a comb; clothes for outdoors, two shirts, two shorts and two pair of socks; flashlights; matches; bottles of water; and sunscreen.

"We have certain commodities…though we need food…and know where the hell we are" Jiwoo's mind is running to what is going to happen tomorrow. "Do you think that jewel and the blinding light had anything to do with this Jiwoo?" you're trying to figure it out what happened, why did you two come here. "I don't know…maybe…I mean, it was weird all that blinding light and why that jewel would be in that cave and no one noticed before?" This is so bizarre, because Jiwoo's totally right you are not the first ones climbing up that mountain and for sure you weren't the first to go through that path, you saw the floor a little eroded; and a jewel like that drags attention. Before your thoughts consume all your mind, your stomach rumbles and Jiwoo looks at you with a little smile "It surprises me how, even with our current conditions, your love for food is the main thing in your life" "Well…I'm sorry!...we haven't had anything since breakfast" "And snacks!" You smile sheepishly at her, but you can't do anything, you love food. Jiwoo laughs "Let's eat our lunch", you smile like a child in Christmas morning.

While you two eat, you start to think the reasons why that jewel could have shine so much, and therefore why everything's so different outside; but the only reason that comes to your mind is ridiculous right?...that only happens in movies and sci-fi books: teleportation. What are the chances of that actually happening in the real world? Was it some kind of punishment the place has for those who don't follow the path? Karma? At this point you can't even enjoy the food you're eating thanks to these thoughts. You frown while you take the spoon to your mouth. "What are you thinking N/N?" Jiwoo startles you when she speaks, but not wanting to worry her you say with a bit of a forced smile "What makes you think I'm thinking about something?" she gives you her look of I don't believe you and decides to add "I know you since we were ten and you never frown to food, except when you don't like what you're eating, which I know you like this since you made it, or when you're thinking and your thoughts are not nice soooo tell me" Damn she knows you too well, sometimes you wish you could keep things from her "I'm just thinking reasons of why are we here and the only logical illogical thing that comes to my mind is teleportation…but we're not in a movie so it's impossible right?" She looks at you and stays silent for a few seconds before she opens her mouth "Honestly, I don't know what to think…I mean outside looks pretty different from this morning so…what you say could be a good explanation even if our brains can't comprehend it" the way she says it doesn't make you feel comfortable, it sounds as a fact and not just a crazy possibility "But this kind of things don't just happen…this is not one of my books… I mean don't get me wrong I always dreamed about going to places instantly but I never thought it was going to happen…It must be karma or a prank right? for following a different path…ugh this is all my fault, I'm so sorry Ji" you touch your face in regret while bringing your knees to your chest. "Hey hey" Jiwoo approaches you "It's not your fault okay?" she takes your hands to look at your eyes "we don't know what actually happened and we could be wrong about this theory, and we won't know for sure what happened until morning" her calm voice helps tranquilize you and you offer her a small thank you smile "Let's finish eating and then we go to sleep" you nod at her and start eating again this time sitting next to each other, as a way to comfort each other.

After finishing your meal you take out your sleeping bags, after all you two are drained from all the events that happened today. "Do you think we can sleep next to each other" you ask your best friend, she looks at you with a smile "Stop reading my mind" she laughs slightly "Yes, I would like that", you say with a tiny voice "I just thought it would be better for keeping us warm if midnight is cold". With that arrangement you put your sleeping bags at the end of the cave and next to each other, after entering in it you say to each other "Night Jiwoo" "Night N/N". Thankfully both of you were so tired and fell asleep pretty quickly without knowing the things you were going to live starting the very next morning.

The next day you wake up because you can't feel total darkness around you, instead you feel a dim light coming from the entrance of the cave. While you're stretching you can hear some of your bones cracking, sleeping bags make sleep a little bit better but they don't make cave floor softer. Being a little more awake now, you remember that you have to go down the mountain to find out what happened thus you turn around and see Jiwoo still sleeping "Aww what a pity" while saying that you start to moving her shoulder as a way to wake her up. After a few more seconds, her eyes start to open and with raspy voice she says "Why are you waking me up so early?" "Because we need to go downhill to know where we are remember?" With her eyes more open you know she is now realizing where you are "Yeah…right" she shakes her head as if that would dissipate her sleepiness. You get up and start packing the sleeping bag back to your backpack "Come on, get up Ji I'm sleepy too but we have to do this" you grab her hands and try to pull her up "I'm coming I'm coming" she finally stands up with half closed eyes and, finally, with the pace of a snail she packs her bag while you put out a few snacks thinking you don't know when you will be able to eat properly again. "Here you go Ji, I know it's not much but we have to save up until we get a proper source of food" "Wow you saving up for food, something new" she smiles a bit more awake now "Ha ha you're so funny in the morning aren't you" sarcasm drips out of your mouth. After eating, you two stand up and grab your backpacks to start walking towards the entrance "Should we take the jewel with us? If we find someone we can explain our situation and they'll probably believe us with it" You tell Jiwoo while you pass next to it "Yes, you're probably right and even it can light up again like last night" you nod at her statement.

When you're finally outside the suns blinds you "Wow yesterday the sun wasn't this bright" Jiwoo says while putting her hand in front of her face, covering her eyes. "I know" you say covering your eyes as well, looking for a way down was becoming a hard task without ropes but you two couldn't stay up there without investigating what happened and the reason you're now here, whatever here is. "Okay, look over there" She says pointing at the right side of the cave "and I'll look over here" pointing at the left side; looking at the right you don't see much except some kind of trail but is somewhat thin and any misstep could lead to a nasty fall, while you're searching for another way down you hear the unmistakable call of a hawk and looking up you see a quite large bird that because of the bright sun you can't make up their shape but by the looks of it it's really big almost impossible for it to be a normal hawk. "Hey, I couldn't find anything on my side…what are you looking at?" Jiwoo startles you and looks up to see what you're seeing "Hey…I think I saw a hawk but it was way too big to be one" you say confused "Weird…anyway did you find anything?" "Well, I found a thin trail which I think leads to the bottom…we have to be very careful though" you say looking at the bottom of the mountain "Okay, since there are no more ways to go down I say we use that trail" You nod at Jiwoo's words.

Grabbing your backpacks you both start to descend down the trail that at some points it gets thinner, at one point your foot slips but thanks to Jiwoo's quick reflexes she gets a hold of your hand and steadies you. After that quick scare you pay more attention to where you're stepping. It feels like you're sweating more going down than going up, but taking into account that you're risking your life here without ropes plus the scorching sun you can understand the sweat. After hours, and scaring life-threatening missteps, you finally get to the bottom "Finally…I thought I would never see you grass" Jiwoo says while kissing the grass "Ewww…come on Ji really? Kissing the grass?" you say looking at her with disgust on your face "We could've died coming down that thing so I'm sorry if I'm grateful for the fact that I'm alive and by the way we're never doing hiking again" "Fine by me" you say laughing at her squinted eyes.

"Okay, coming down is checked now we should find potable water so we can fill our bottles" You say trying to listen for a source of water near you "Well if this place is anything like where we were yesterday there should be a near river" Jiwoo says, walking towards the density of the trees. After a couple of minutes of walking very slowly in case you're disturbing some animal, it's obvious there are no other people around, you hear the flow of a current of water; you look at each other and smile walking a little faster towards it. When you arrive, you two find the clearest river you have ever saw, not caring how you look you bring your hands together to cup some water and drink it "Ha ha ha" Jiwoo was laughing at you "What? I'm parched" water's dripping from your jaw because of you talking "I know but you could've wait" she's taking her empty bottles from her backpack and starts filling them, after drinking enough water with your hands you do the same with your own empty bottles. You two sit there since it was really hot and warm, and you just want to rest for a little bit before you had to start walking again, Jiwoo's very comfortable laying down on the grass with her head on top of her bag and you have your back against a nearby tree, you take out of your bag snacks and hand some to Jiwoo "Ji, where do you think we should go next? We still have no idea where we are" "Let's not worry about that now, just enjoy the sun N/N" at the same time she's saying that you hear rumbling from a bush a bit away from you, and suddenly a pack of wolves came from the bush "Ji, Ji, Ji get up, get up NOW" you say in shushed tone looking at the wolves "Wha…" she starts saying in a loud manner and you quickly cover her mouth, so she looks at where you're looking and starts to panic; luckily the wolves hadn't noticed you yet so both of you stand up and start to walk backwards but your foot snap a branch and it's that the thing that make the wolves look at you. Jiwoo and you, holding hands, start to run after the wolves get closer.

You two run, as fast as you could, for what feels like hours but probably where just a few seconds and those wolves aren't slowing down. And, in like your everyday life, your clumsiness just has to appear in the form of a rock that makes you trip tripping Jiwoo too; as the wolves are getting closer Jiwoo gets up and you try to get up but a pain in your ankle makes it impossible "Jiwoo, run…I can't get up, save yourself please" wincing you stare at her and start to crawl backwards "No, I'm not leaving you… we just need something that helps you walk or distract them" she says looking frantically everywhere "I know! A large stick can help you getting up" Jiwoo runs towards the forest leaving you with the wolves. You're practically surrounded by now, you know you're going to be eaten thus you close your eyes waiting for the inevitable; and suddenly something or rather someone lands in front of you, thinking it was Jiwoo putting herself in danger you open your eyes but what you see isn't Jiwoo it's someone? something? else, you can't tell because the sun's in your eyes. The only thing you see is that thing? a leopard? fighting with the wolves, the interesting thing is that it isn't trying to kill them, looks like is the other way around, it's trying to not wound them too badly. The wolves notice they aren't going to win this fight and run away.

Sitting against a tree you now could see the thing that saved you and to your surprise it's a damn leopard, now you know it saved so you could be its meal. Jiwoo comes running from the trees and steps in front of you with large stick not noticing the animal behind her "F/N I found a stick now you can run!" "Ji there's a leopard behind you" you whisper "What?!" turning around she looks behind her and what you see isn't a leopard but a man? You can't describe what you're seeing, it's man with normal clothes but it has two animal ears on the top of its head with a leopard pattern and from behind it has swinging tail with a leopard pattern too. Where the hell were you? Jiwoo walks backwards trying to take your hand but the man-animal growls at her making you two whimper with fear. The man-animal starts walking towards the tree, specially towards you saying something that surprise you "Mine…You're mine…I finally found you" "What're you saying?" Those words come out fearfully from your mouth "You're my partner, beautiful" he says while bending in front of you "What?...Partner? What are you?" you're talking to him but looking at Jiwoo who has her eyes wide open watching the exchange between you and the man-animal "I'm Taehyung, a leopard hybrid" he says with a beautiful boxy smile "and what's your name, not that I mind calling you Beautiful" you feel like you're in a trance just by looking at that smile that without caring you answer him "I'm F/N and that's Jiwoo" you don't know how it's possible but his smile grows "F/N" he says in a low tone like tasting your name on his lips.

The next thing you know he's carrying you bridal style "Hey hey hey…what do you think you are doing with my friend" apparently Jiwoo finally finds her voice when she sees that "I saw how she fell and her ankle is swelling" he says looking at her in a sad tone, like he's at fault for your injury "I'm so sorry you fell and I wasn't there to prevent it" he talks to you almost crying "hey hey it wasn't your fault instead I should be thanking you for saving me from those wolves" you grab his face so he could look you in the eye and knowing you're telling the truth "But from the moment I smelled you I should have come running, but I got distracted by some pretty flowers I wanted to give you in a way to court you and that's why you got chased by wolves and then fell…It's my fault" he looks so sorrowful "Wait…we smell?!" Jiwoo smells her armpits and talks at the same time, but those words made Taehyung lift his head "No…I mean yes…but you know I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about the smell that comes from the Connection" the hybrid? looks at you and Jiwoo like you're the crazy ones and not him by talking about some connection?, which appears to be something important and smelly "Is it something common from where you're from?" you ask him "What do you mean by where you're from? this is something that happens globally" he says with an eyebrow raised looking at you "Well we're from Bastion and that's not a thing" Jiwoo says to him with an eyebrow raised too "There's no Bastion as far as I know" you look at Jiwoo with a worried face "Then where are we going?" you ask him with wide eyes "Well we're going to the Capital of the World, Bangtanimal City" he says with a smile addressed to you "Well we have never heard of it either" you say, and start to see buildings in the distance wondering for how long has he been carrying you "Taehyung" "you said my name" his smile is really something else "mmm yes? Mmm you can put me down you know? I can walk with the stick Ji found" you say with a small smile "NO" he growls "I want to have you in my arms" "Okay" your voice quiver a little bit "I'm sorry I didn't mean to growl at you but I've waited for you for a long time and I don't want to let you go" "Oh hey it's the city…Great because I'm tired and hungry" Jiwoo stops for a moment massaging her feet "Uuuuu I'm hungry too" You grab your belly and Jiwoo deadpans at you "Wait until we get home, Beautiful, I'm gonna cook for you" Taehyung brings his face closer to yours caressing your cheek with his nose making you blush, in your defense this is the first time a boy is so close to you, noticing the red on your cheeks he says "I love the color red on your cheeks" finishing the sentence with that damn boxy smile.

Chapter 2 

[basicallyjaywalker]

Wanna ramble about a moment/character in ninjago you think people need to talk about more?

I don't know who you are anon, but I'm glad you asked!

I am desperate for people to character-analyze Wu. I'm desperate for a lot of character analysis including Nya but since I got a lot of my Nya feelings out with some lovely folks the other night (edit: the other night was a month ago dw about it. this took a minute) I'm going with Wu this time

Master Wu to me is such an interesting case of a character who it is so easy to ignore the bits of the show that hint at his wider issues and traumas. He is a man defined heavily by his family and by his past. A lot of criticism he gets, I think, is due in part to that.

I've mentioned before that I've been rewatching S1 with a friend of mine and intermittently pausing to infodump on them about interesting character things I notice from that season. A lot of that has been Wu-focused because despite having seen RotS dozens of times throughout my life (watching it on CN, watching it on Netflix when only it and Legacy were around, rewatching it with friends) I have only just started noticing the seeds of character written in.

I might also just be reading too much into things, but hear me out

In S1 (and by extension, the pilots), Wu is characterized as your typical old wise teacher. In the first few minutes of EP1: Rise of the Snakes, he is chewing out the Ninja for playing video games instead of training. The line he uses? "Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today."

It's a line that gets repeated throughout the series. In fact, it gets repeated that very episode when the ninja go (pun not intended) to fight the Hypnobrai and a literal pre-teen. At first, it seems to just be a piece of wisdom. Some old proverb Wu's picked up over the years, possibly one he even coined himself. However, in EP7: Tick Tock, Wu tells the story of who, possibly, first told him this.

(Source: Tick Tock/Transcript | Ninjago Wiki | Fandom, highlight added.)

It was Garmadon. Now, I'm not gonna dwell too long on Garmadon, if you spend five minutes talking to me you'll learn he was the first character whose story I obsessed over and I want this essay to be about Wu, but I think he plays a role in Wu's overall story, as does Wu's family as a whole.

Prior to this, Wu and Garmadon's relationship has been more of a sibling rivalry taken to a good vs. evil extreme. We didn't know why Garmadon was evil and we didn't know about Wu and his relationship as kids. However, this scene establishes the backstory. They were, as Wu puts it, "the best of friends." That is, until Garmadon gets bit by the Devourer going to get the katana Wu lost.

Now, I know the Devourer bite was destined to happen because of the Overlord or some shit, but Wu doesn't. As far as he's concerned, Garmadon getting bit was a direct consequence of both his mistake and his cowardice. He lost the katana. He was too scared to get it. Garmadon went over instead. Garmadon got bit.

The scene goes on to show the FSM tending to Garmadon in the aftermath. Wu is watching from behind the door, likely told to stay back, but concerned. And in his POV, we get this intense moment, where Garmadon turns, looks directly at him (his eyes turning bright red for the first time), and says "It's all Wu's fault!"

(This clip should begin at the start of Wu eavesdropping. If it doesn't, skip to 0:58. I highly recommend also paying attention to Wu's body language during this scene.)

The camerawork does a great job of showing how this probably felt for Wu. It zooms in, Garmadon's voice echoes, and the background blurs. We see in the flashback that this is a moment Wu has etched into his memory. Not to mention, he was likely a very young child when this happened. LEGO characters' ages are weird, but Wu in this scene has the Big Eyes, which always seem to be used for characters under 12. We don't know exactly how much older Garmadon is to my knowledge, but he doesn't have the Big Eyes, so he's probably closer to 12 and a few years older than Wu for sure.

Imagine that. Being in elementary school and your older siblings gets hurt. They're acting strange. They're lashing out at your father. Then, they blame it all on you. They're hurt because of you. Wouldn't you internalize that?

I could go on about Wu's relationship with Garmadon, but again, I think I've spent enough time on it and I don't want to only focus on that. It's an important part, but there are others.

Let's talk about Wu's relationship with his dad.

Now, I have not yet read the Spinjitzu Brothers series. I cannot speak to any development of Wu and the FSM's relationship in there. I have, however, read The Book of Spinjitzu and blogged some of my thoughts on it here, including some of what it says about Wu.

For those who haven't read it, first, there is a Google Drive folder floating around with all of the canon spinoff books/graphic novels in it. Here's the link if you wanna read them!

The FSM is an... intriguing figure. I mean, in the series he's basically god? He made the entire world. That's already a very high bar to live up to. Then, in Book of Spinjitzu, there's a few specific parts that, when I read them, signaled that Wu internalized a specific message when he was young.

(Source: The Book of Spinjitzu, Page 3).

Wu does not want to disappoint his father. It is up to him (and Garmadon until he turns evil) to "uphold the legacy of Spinjitzu" and, by extension, his family. He says he was "very young" when this was explained to him. Considering he seems to already be training at an elementary age, "very young" means VERY young.

(Source: The Book of Spinjitzu, Page 16).

Here, we again see Wu being very aware that he has some large burden to carry. Something else interesting here is that the thought of the Green Ninja Prophecy is already weighing on him too. His considering if he might be the Green Ninja is of extra interest because of how the Green Ninja Prophecy and the--I wouldn't call it obsession, possibly fixation?--with who it is factors into his later actions, but we'll get to that later.

(Source: The Book of Spinjitzu, Page 19).

This one in particular gets me because it comes after Wu mentions Garmadon becoming more evil. It is a statement of power. Wu knows that the legacy of Spinjitzu now rests in his hands alone. He cannot let himself fall the way Garmadon did. He cannot disappoint his father. Whether or not the FSM intended it, Wu always knew the fate of the world rested, at least in part, upon his shoulder. He knew this from the time he was a young boy and it remains in his mind to this day.

Now, these quotes are indirect, but they all point to one clear idea: As a child, Wu internalized the idea that he alone is responsible for keeping Ninjago safe. He will play a pivotal role in its history.

There's not evidence in this book that the FSM's was a bad father, per se. However, just because one doesn't set out to harm their children, doesn't mean they won't. I often say Wu has an "Atlas complex," which I have no idea if it is an actual concept but use it to refer to this idea. Wu feels as though he is responsible for holding up the world, much like Atlas. He must keep the balance, he must solve the Green Ninja prophecy, he must make his father proud.

(Source: The Book of Spinjitzu, page 61).

I'm going to get further into what this means for Wu as a teacher to the current Ninja Team, but for now let's look at Wu's first foray into teaching.

Morro. Wu's Biggest Mistake.

That might seem like an overstatement, but it's not.

(Source: Ghost Story/Transcript | Ninjago Wiki | Fandom)

Okay he says regret, not mistake, but I was paraphrasing.

Let's turn back to his quote about his destiny. Wu writes, "Is my life's mission to be the Green Ninja? Or maybe it will be to find the Green Ninja and protect him (or her)??"

From a very young age, Wu was not only aware of the Green Ninja but prophecy but also thinking about his place in it. We see this again when he takes Morro in and trains him.

(Source: Ghost Story/Transcript | Ninjago Wiki | Fandom, highlight added)

A big thing Wu is criticized for here is making Morro believe he is meant to be more. That he is the Chosen One. And Morro, being a young homeless orphan just now given some semblance of power and protection, latches onto that. And I can see it, but when you take into account the above that he was trained from (likely) a younger age than Morro and given a similar level of responsibility, it becomes more understandable. Wu is just doing what he was taught. He doesn't believe that he is harming Morro until it is too late.

This is the entire story, but I'm specifically going to be discussing 1:36 onwards here. I also wanted to add that rewatching this scene made me lay down on the floor! What the fuck! But I digress.

There's a lot going on in this scene. For one, Wu washing his hands of Morro in some ways, but not others. He turns his back on Morro when he tells him that destiny has decided, but looks at him again when Morro storms out. He goes to save Morro from the Grundal, but decides that he cannot "teach those who would not listen." Most importantly, when Morro leaves to go find the Tomb of the FSM, Wu leaves the door open. He waits for Morro to return, but never goes after him. And Morro never comes back.

Wu gives Morro's fate a dismissive response at the end of his ghost story ("I am saddened he was banished to the Cursed Realm") but it's clear he still cares deeply about him in the finale of the season.

Wu's VA in this is phenomenal btw. That "Please Morro!" and "MORRO!" make my heart ache.

Morro believed Wu stopped caring, but he didn't. Even after all he's done, even after trying to destroy all of Ninjago--destroying what Wu had spent his life trying to protect--Wu tries to save him. He begs for Morro to come with him. Morro refuses, Wu watches him perish.

Someone else Wu is close to is gone. Wu again considers himself responsible. Everything is his fault.

And finally, we reach Wu today. A cautious, secretive man. He loves his students, this much is clear. Even as early as the pilots, he drops his wise teacher persona to joke around with them.

As with Morro, he trains them like his father did him. He even uses the same methods his father used when he trains them.

(Source: The Book of Spinjitzu, page 32)

While he is hard on the Ninja, wanting them to succeed and training them to help defend the Realm, he lets his guard down more than it seems he did with Morro. He also learned a valuable message from his experience with Morro when he hides the Green Ninja Prophecy from the Ninja, getting angry when they start to push themselves in the same way Morro did upon learning about it. It's clear he doesn't want a repeat.

Now, I can't speak for later seasons (I will eventually) but this fear of repeats, his students going down a dark path because they're tempted by power or greatness, losing someone else, likely drives Wu not telling them other important information. That is just a passing thought though.

Final notes:

I'm currently in the process of rewatching S7: Hands of Time. I actually got this ask right after finishing EP68: Scavengers, which opens with Wu having a nightmare. In it, he and Misako are walking outside of Yang's temple. While walking, Misako delivers this line in response to Wu reminiscing about the time they've spent together:

(Source: Scavengers/Transcript | Ninjago Wiki | Fandom)

This line, to me, is Wu's subconscious trying to tell him something he needs to hear. It's hinting at what might be his greatest flaw. Wu is haunted by his past, by his mistakes. He finds it difficult to tell others because of both his guilt and his desire to not put that worry upon them. In this very season, he makes the mistake of trying to face his past on his own, and he nearly dies for it.

In the same episode, you see Wu trying to make sure Lloyd doesn't make the same mistakes.

(Source: Prev)

Wu stresses the important of the team. It's as if he sees Lloyd blaming himself for what happened to Wu, sees him doing the same thing Wu has, and is trying to prevent him from doing the same thing. This is further emphasized when, after Wu falls asleep (well, fakes falling asleep), Lloyd says "Wu's mistake was going in alone. So was mine."

Master Wu is, like many characters in this show, someone who is more complex than meets the eye. He is not just a wise, old teacher. He is a man who, throughout his life, has made mistakes and carries the weight of each of them on his shoulders. He is a man who tasks himself with making up for those every day. He is a man who wants better for his students, his family.

Until the day he dies, he will guide and protect his students. And possibly? Even after death too.

[meenawrites]

So.. I finished Alchemy of Souls

Guys, the amount of tears I just shed in front of my entire family in the last episode of part 2 is crazy.

They were just sitting there like, you good? It's fiction as I'm sobbing my eyes out.

Anyway.

I have many thoughts. So many. And I lowkey want to make a separate post for each of them.

But for now I do want to leave some of my impressions about the finale: (spoilers ahead obviously)

I thought it was pretty well done. I expected to be a bit more shocked about the whole Jin Buyeon is Jin Seol-ran plotline but it honestly made sense to me and I feel like it was actually foreshadowed pretty well for the most part, even in season 1.

Also they definitely got me good with the deaths of Park Jin, Maidservant Kim, and Jin Hogyeong (if that's how you spell her name). Like that's when I started crying tbh. (I could care less about Mama Jin tbh, she sucks, but that deserves its own post). And I'm glad that them actually being alive didn't feel like a cop out to me. They established early on that Jin Seol-ran knew what would happen and used that to their advantage so it was believable and didn't feel like a Deus Ex Machina move for them to be saved. Well, maybe one of them should have died (cough–Mama Jin–cough). But it's fine.

I do feel like the last two episodes were kind of rushed though. I don't know if they had budgeting constraints or if Netflix didn't give them more than ten episodes, but I think that they should have had at least 12. Two more episodes would have allowed for more expansion on the climax and allowed them to up the drama more, which I think would have done well for the series over all, and would have been a better payoff.

I think the time could have been used well to flesh out some of the side characters arcs more. I feel like Danggu and Jin Choyeon were kind of pushed off to the side this season, and especially in the latter half, but I would have liked to see more of them and their relationships not only with each other but with Jang Uk and Naksu/Jin Buyeon.

For all intents and purposes, Naksu/Jin Buyeon lived as Jin Choyeon's sister for three years, and we can see that despite everything that happened three years prior, Choyeon did treat her as her sister even knowing the soul was Naksu's and cared about her. I think that could've and should've been expanded upon, her choosing to care about Naksu/Jin Buyeon or how that came to be. Also, after Naksu regained her memory AND found out Jin Mu had been for sure controlling her at the end of Part 1, I would have loved to see the conversation between her and Choyeon about what she did, an apology and an explanation that she would never have done that if she were sane of mind. What I said about Choyeon applies to Naksu as well because she lived three years as Choyeon's sister, and we can tell she cares about her, so I would have loved to see more of her feelings towards her, especially upon remembering all that had transpired in part 1.

When it comes to Danggu, I mean, he's one of Uk's best friends, and he was left out of the loop a lot when it came to anything Naksu-related. I would have liked him to find out or for Uk to tell him at some point and see how he makes peace with that. Because Danggu and Mudeok were friends in part 1 and he supported her (erroneously) in her supposed romance with Seo Yul. But then she killed his fiance's father and tried to attack him. I can't imagine the sense of betrayal he felt, but also finding out that it wasn't her fault and how he could come to terms with that would have been great to see. I also think his whole experience/trauma from part 1 was kind of glossed over. Like his main thing this season was his broken heart after Choyeon didn't end up marrying him, and I think that was making his feelings a bit too one-dimensional there. They do talk about how he feels slightly uncomfortable/doesn't know what to do with Jang Uk at the beginning of the show, but once Seo Yul comes back, that's kind of forgotten about and the three of them just start hanging out again no problem. I would've like to see a bit more about him struggling with becoming Leader of Songrim as well and how he adapted to that amidst his heartbreak for both his love and his friend who he doesn't even know how to act around anymore, and even towards Naksu/Mudeok who kind of ruined his future and that of his best friend but also being intuitive enough (because he is and he has one of the best hearts we've seen in the show) to realize that there's more to the story than her just going on a murder spree.

I've seen some talk about people saying they didn't like the actress for season 2 as much as season 1 (forgive me, I forgot their names), but I think both brought something good to the table.

Season 1 actress for Mudeok was really good. Her facial expressions were spot on and her chemistry with Lee Jaewook and the other cast members was really good. I think she definitely had great stage presence and made the show popular in the first place. I just don't agree that season 2 actress was worse.

I think season 2 actress definitely put in the work and embodied who Naksu/Jin Buyeon was for the majority of the series. There were times where she made expressions that perfectly resembled/echoed Naksu/Mudeok's that really got me like yes they are the same person even if she doesn't remember. She may have been cuter than we were used to with out sharp-tongued and emotion-resistant Mudeok, but I think Naksu needed that. As Mudeok and before then she didn't have the luxury to be more emotional and girly, it's only now in this body that she does, and I'm glad she had the opportunity to express that side of herself that had never seen the light of day.

We did get a glimpse of that side of her at the end of part 1 where she's playing around with makeup and what might make her look pretty, and it really spoke to all that she had missed out on and had to give up in order to survive. So yeah despite all the angst, I'm glad Naksu/Jin Buyeon had that opportunity through season 2 actress who played it really well while keeping in line with the essence of Naksu/Mudeok.

This whole thing about Naksu being the shadow to Jang Uk's light and if light exists then it needs a shadow broke my heart you guys, it was so perfect. And the fact that they were each other's light and shadow at different points but were also wholly necessary to each other in that was beautiful. I want to talk more about this in a separate post, so I'll table this metaphor for now.

Shout out to Crown Prince Go Won, a great character this whole season in terms of both comedic relief and massive character growth. So good.

Uk's arc was fantastic too but again want to save that for a full post.

Those are my out of order first thoughts about part 2, but I have SO MUCH MORE to discuss, so I will come back for sure. I just needed to scream to the world for a bit (virtually of course).

Question though for all of you more knowledgeable in the k-drama world: is there going to be a season 3?

[wen-kexing-apologist]

If y'all don't stop tagging me in "list your favorite ________" challenges, I swear.....(kidding)

You know I'm indecisive and that the second I'm asked questions like this everything I have ever known or loved just falls right out of my head :'(

ANYWAY. I was tagged by @colourme-feral to name 9 favorite TV series. Nine? Not ten? Alright, whatever. Now presenting, in no particular order

wen-kexing-apologist's Top Nine Favorite TV Series

I think, much like last time where I listed my ten favorite characters AND THEN LEFT OUT PIKE MOTHERFUCKING DEXTER LIKE A GODDAMN NOOB I can't be certain I am forgetting one that I cherish greatly.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

I'm putting this first because A:TLA was a show I watched live in my youth and I remember running the hating Zuko to loving Zuko gauntlet in real time.

But seriously, you can't give me the single greatest redemption arc written in human history and not expect me to cradle this show close to my chest for the rest of my life.

There are so many shows we grow up with that we remember fondly and that in the grand scheme of things aren't that good, protected by young minds and nostalgia AND THIS ISN'T ONE OF THEM.

Seriously my poor mother has had to listen to hours worth of rambling about the incredibly strong adult themes, three dimensional characters, and conversations around war and the portrayal of no one society as inherently evil from both of her children.

This is my boy and I will love him until the end of time, I'm sorry that I hated you when we first met. In my defense the narrative compelled me to do so.

Sense8

Queer, sex positive, beautifully crafted, orgies as a symbol of human connection, the way the world is so small and that people from all over the world have skills that are valuable, that save lives, that are needed and necessary. Humanity and complexity given to people involved in the drug trade, humanity and complexity given to drug users, humanity and complexity given to gang members, humanity and complexity given to prisoners. Love, loss, tragedy, trauma, trans joy, throuple, couple and whatever the fuck Daniella is doing, one really good weed brownie curing transphobia.

The ending wasn't perfect but that isn't the Wachowski Sister's fault, it was Netflix's fault.

I Told Sunset About You/I Promised You The Moon

This show, especially I Told Sunset About You, may be the single most emotional a show has ever made me. I think I cried four times per episode for ITSAY, the only time I didn't cry four times was Episode 3, where foolishly I made it through 98% of the episode went "this edible ain't shit I don't know why everyone is so emo about Ep 3, it's been the most mild so far" AND THEN FUCKING BAM

Teh with the steel fucking chair!

When I tell you I spent hours, numb, staring up at the ceiling?? It's not an exaggeration.

When I tell you I thought about this scene for more than three and immediately burst into tears??? It's not an exaggeration.

This show altered my brain chemistry, this show altered my DNA, this show was so fucking good and ruined me so thoroughly that I wasn't even able to make my brain come up with things to analyze.

in this show, WHERE THERE IS SO MUCH THERE TO ANALYZE. I am making a friend watch it right now so I'm hoping I will have more to contemplate and talk about as I rewatch it now that the emotional impact has softened.

Moonlight Chicken

Look no further than my Gay Meta Masterpost pinned to my page to understand why I love this show so much. It is gorgeous, it handles the subject of disability well, it's the show that got me to start posting meta and as a result it is the show that got me all the friends I have on tumblr now.

This show is perfect, the acting is spectacular, the inherent queerness that runs through the narrative, THE LIGHTING. Aof knocked it out of the motherfucking park with this one.

The Eclipse

Folks let me tell you what happens when you go from Not Me to The Eclipse...

you fall desperately in love with First Kanaphan Puitrakul and his masterful acting ability. I love this show so much. P'Golf had things to say and she was not afraid to say it. The queer characters got to be complex and messy and wrong sometimes, none of the main characters were morally superior, they all contributed to maintaining the system, they all helped harm other queer people. This show was made with pocket change and a dream and it gave me two of my favorite kisses in BL, one of my favorite stories in BL, and my sweet summer child

my beloved Baby War Criminal who is my favorite character ever in BL. Look at him. He is under so much pressure. GOD I LOVE THIS SHOW. And I love Thua too.

Our Flag Means Death

Setting aside the problematic fans, I watched this show eleven times. It was one of the only shows I'd seen where every couple was queer, I love how gradually the writing team was able to move this show from comedy to something more serious, I love the way Stede returned home only to find that he had been forever changed, I love the way Blackbeard was on his way to grieving and healing with healthy coping mechanisms, and the commentary the show gave on how exposure to toxic masculinity and internalized/externalized homophobia (in the form of Izzy) can alter that course. I love that traditional roles and expectations are subverted in this show. That Pete and Lucius are in love, that Olu gets thrown around by Jim, that the show allows for an older queer person to both realize his sexuality and experience his first queer love.

And also

it introduced me to one of the first nonbinary characters I had seen on screen. Jim Jimenez you can murder me whenever you wish, it would be my absolute honor.

What We Do in The Shadows

For one, it's hilarious

For two, Jackie Daytona exists.

For three

It gave me Guillermo de la Cruz, the sexiest motherfucker alive.

The Owl House

Queer, neurodivergent representation????? In my TV show??????? A main plot point being around the all consuming nature of white supremacy and religious zeal. Hunter? Dear sweet, awkward, traumatized Hunter? RAINE MOTHERFUCKING WHISPERS?!

Listen, I'm a simple bitch, okay? You put an enby in my television and I will be forced to stan.

I mean look at them!

Word of Honor

*points to username*

If I didn't put WoH on here I would have to give up rights to my username.

This is the show that started me on the BL spiral and having read the novel, I have to say that I have never seen a show change a character and expand upon a story as well as Word of Honor has.

The sex appeal, the swagger, and the lowkey unsettling obsession The Scorpion King has in the TV show compared to the book?

Expert execution of fundamentally and fully changing source text. The costumes are gorgeous and the way I was driven to the brink of insanity by how gay this show was despite censorship is truly unmatched. I know censorship can dampen a queer story experience, but damned if i didn't go feral and say "I can't believe they got away with that" at every given opportunity.

And

It gave me my beloved Adult War Criminal, Wen Kexing, who as we all know, has never done anything wrong in his life, ever.

___

Bonus Round:

aka shows that I haven't or that haven't finished yet so I am contractually obligated not to put them on a list.

180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us

I have two episodes left, it is absolutely killer, and if it continues to be as strong as it is this will be a 10/10 show for me and join the ranks of my favorites. This show is driving me mad with both hands and barriers and I need everyone to know that.

La Pluie

There are three episodes left for this to go wrong which is the only reason why I haven't put it on the list. But similarly to 180 Degrees, if it continues the way it is going now this will be a 10/10 show for me and join the ranks of my favorites. I LOVE what they are doing to subvert the soulmate trope. It is a masterpiece so far and I need more people to be watching this.

Tagging:

@solitaryandwandering, @ranchthoughts, @wanderlust-in-my-soul, @so-much-yet-to-learn, and @neuroticbookworm

Your choice whether to participate or not and apologies if you have already been tagged.

[bonbonchocolates]

Tinder

Yandere Taehyung x Reader

Part 1 Part 2

Summary: When your best friend creates an account on Tinder account for you....

Warnings: yandere Taehyung, stalking, obsessive behaviour, horror themes, major character death, minor character death, tae is kinda creepy here

A/N: Again originally from my Wattpad account. I hope you like it and if you do please leave a like.

____________________________________________

You saw that man coming closer to you. You were terrified and started to move backwards. Now in the light of your apartment his face was clearly visible and it was Taehyung.

"T..tae-hyung"

You shuttered in fear. You have no idea what he is going to do to you. He kept coming closer and closer. You kept moving backwards but to your bad luck the back of your knee hit with the couch.

"Yes babe"

Now he was really close to you and you were trapped between the couch and him. You tried to run away but he was quick to grab hold of you. He pulled you closer and his breath hit your face.

"I love you so much babe"

"Tae-"

Suddenly you started to feel dizzy and then you lost your consciousness. Last thing you saw was Taehyung holding you and had a creepy smile on his face.

___________________________________________

You woke up at the sound of the alarm clock. You observed your surroundings and found that you were in your bedroom. You checked yourself and you were wearing your night dress.

Was it all a dream?

You got up from the bed and picked up the baseball bat kept in the corner of your bedroom. You slowly opened the door and went into your living room.

You carefully searched everywhere and you couldn't find anyone. You saw your balcony door was locked from inside and even your main door was locked from inside. Nothing was out of the place.

Then you remembered something and quickly started to search for your phone. It was the only option to confirm if all that happened yesterday was a dream or not. You couldn't find your phone anywhere in the living room so you went back to your bedroom and found it in the bedside table.

You opened it and saw the notification. You received a message from Taehyung. You quickly opened it.

_________________________________________

VANTAE: Good Morning.

____________________________________________

You checked the previous messages. The last message was when you said him about the outing with your friend and there was no conversation between you both after that. The next message he sent was the 'good morning' message today.

That means it was all a dream.

You were so happy to know that. You sighed in relief. You thanked God that was a dream but it felt so real. Just then your date with Namjoon came to your mind. You found you received a message from Namjoon during midnight, probably when you were sleeping.

____________________________________________

NAMJOON: Sorry bae, I could not pick you up for the date that I promised. Actually the boss held me late. Hope you don't mind.

____________________________________________

You didn't reply him and thought of talking to him in person at your office. You realised that you were getting late for your work.

____________________________________________

Time Skip:

Office hours were boring for you today as Namjoon was not there. You received a lot of messages from Taehyung but you ignored him. After that dream you don't feel comfortable with him.

Later that evening you invited Rose to watch Netflix with you. You told her everything even about the dream. She scolded you for ignoring Taehyung. You realised that it was just a dream and not his fault. She told you you couldn't lose a potential friend just because of a bad dream.

About Namjoon not coming to work today she suggested that maybe he was tired as he had to work late night yesterday. You hoped it was true. Truth to be said she is an amazing friend. She always with you since childhood. You are happy to have her.

___________________________________________

A few months pass and no clue of Namjoon. He didn't come to work for almost a week and then you come to know from your boss that he resigned. His sudden resignation seemed suspicious to you so you text him but he didn't reply. You tried calling him but it was of no use.

You even visited his apartment where he used to live. There you got to know that he emptied his apartment a week ago. You asked his neighbour and a good friend of his that he once introduced to you, where he could go? His friend was clueless and told that Namjoon left without saying anything. You were now worried about him.

Today you decided to visit his brother, Seokjin's restaurant. You are sure that he may know where is Namjoon as he is his brother. You saw the signboard reading 'Eatjin' you entered and asked the counter lady about Seokjin. Just then you heard the beaming voice of a man.

"You are Y/N right?"

He seemed a few years older than you. You don't know how he knows you and were about to question him.

"I'm Seokjin, Namjoon's brother."

He introduced and let his hand for a handshake. You gladly accepted it.

"So how's Namjoon?"

Why is he asking to you? How are you supposed to know about him?

"What do you mean?"

"Stop joking Y/N. A few months ago I got a text from Namjoon in that he told me that he is moving out with you as you are pregnant and asked me not to search for him. I was angry at him first but then I understood him, he did it for the best. So how's my little nephew or niece?"

"What are you talking about? I don't know where Namjoon is? That is the reason why I came here to ask you."

"If you don't know where he is and I don't know where he is, where is Namjoon? Come let's sit and talk."

He took you to a corner table and asked you about everything and you explained it to him. He suggested that you should report it to the police. The police assured you that they will start searching for him and let you know if they find any clue about him. Seokjin told you to inform him if Namjoon contacts you.

____________________________________________

A week pass with no sign of Namjoon. The police were still not able to find him. You were so worried for him but Rose helped you calm down saying everything will be alright.

You even told everything to Taehyung, he assured you that you will soon find your friend. That was indeed true the police finally found him. The police discovered his death body from the warehouse in the middle of the jungle.

You were broken after hearing the news. Rose tried her best to calm you down. Namjoon's funeral was delayed as his body was sent to posterm.

Almost after a week you attended his funeral with Rose. You couldn't help but cry. After the funeral Seokjin took you to his house. He tried to comfort you.

"Y/Naah don't cry, everything will be fine. Think about me I lost two of my brothers. I hope whoever killed Namjoon gets caught soon."

You quickly wiped your tears and checked your watch and you realised were getting late for work. You needed to go to your work or your boss might fire you. You didn't went work for almost two weeks. You took leave from Seokjin and he told you to take care of yourself and promised to remain in contact.

You were about to leave when a picture of someone unexpected caught your eyes. It was Taehyung's picture but what is it doing in Seokjin's house?

"Oppa who is this?"

His gaze followed to where you pointed.

"This is Taehyung my youngest brother. He passed away from a road accident almost three years ago."

You were shocked after getting the information. You hurriedly left from there.

____________________________________________

It was already evening time and now you are at the terrace of your office building. You could see the whole city from there. You could not even focus on your work today and got scolding from your boss. You didn't mind it as you were already not okay.

You were so confused and couldn't figure two things out. Firstly, what happened to Namjoon? Who killed him and why? Secondly, who is Taehyung? If he is dead who is the one texting you? These questions were eating your head and you had no answer to it.

You were so busy in your thoughts that you didn't notice that you are at the edge of the terrace currently. Just then you heard the sound of footsteps coming from behind you. Before you could turn back and take a look at the person, someone pushed you. You slipped from the terrace and fell. Last thing you saw was people surrounding you before you closed your eyes forever.

___________________________________________

Unknown POV:

I sneakily came from behind and pushed Y/N from the edge of the terrace. I watched her falling down slowly. I felt a pang in my heart. I didn't wanted to do this but I had to. I can't let anyone else have my love.

If I do let her live, I would have to kill another brother of mine and I didn't want to risk it.

"Now you are mine forever babe."

____________________________________________

[hutaozs]

Hii! I was wondering if I could get a fluffy fem!reader x Mira in which the woman comforts reader after a difficult and overall emotionally-draining hearts game?🫣

# 一 IT'S A CRUEL WORLD

ft. mira kanō x gn!reader

a/n: i used the king of hearts game in the netflix (with some info from the wiki) for this! mira and the reader are both players here. hope this is alright ヽ(>∀<☆)ノ

"they just died, mira! just like that! and there was nothing i could do to save them.."

you paced back and forth, biting your fingers in a futile attempt to calm down. hot tears were still making tracks down your face, a reminder of the recent king of hearts game. a swirl of emotions occupied your every thought, leaving you unable to think about anything other than the game. you'd cleared it safely, but the same couldn't be said for the players with you. the 13 visa days you'd been granted certainly didn't feel worth it.

in contrast, the woman opposite you was unexplainably calm. but to be perfectly honest, you'd never seen mira lose her cool, not even when you two were in more difficult and distressing games together. it was...comforting, you thought. seeing her calm in situations where the other players were panicking and making desperate attempts to save themselves.

but at the same time, it was chillingly scary how unfazed your girlfriend was. you'd witnessed first hand, many times, how she was undisturbed by the deaths of fellow players in the borderlands. sometimes, you wondered whether she would have a similar reaction to your death, if that moment ever came.

but in moments like this, you think that no, she wouldn't. because mira is your girlfriend after all. and she does care about you as both a fellow player and her partner. as she gently puts her arms around you, facial expression remaining ever so calm, you clung to her desperately. you hadn't realized how starved you were for some comfort, how much hope and mental energy the game had sucked out of you.

"i know how kind you are. how you want to save everyone. but it wasn't your fault that they died in the most difficult hearts game." she spoke into your shoulder softly, reaching to take your hand.

"i could've done something though! it feels wrong that i'm the only one who survived.."

your tone had changed from angry to horribly, sadly upset. now, the full force of what had happened hit you.

"don't cry. you'll get through this, my love. there's no use in sobbing over events that you have no way of changing." mira moved back to face you, your hand gripping onto hers desperately. it was comforting, the gentle tone in which she spoke. and your tears were slowly dissipating, lowering in intensity.

obviously, your heart still ached with the pain of witnessing those you'd become friends with die. and the ones who were strangers to you, too. but for now, you could be a little happier with the presence of mira, who eased you through the suffering in an endlessly calm and loving way.

[welldonebeca]

The TV Show (1)

Summary: When they finally find a moment together, Jon invites Sansa to watch a TV show. They just keep getting distracted. Aka: Netflix and chill. They fuck in front of a TV. WC: 1.7k words Warnings: A little bit of Meta. Teasing. Sansa rants about House of the Dragon's costume design. Seduction. Degrading kink. Possessive Jon.

Masterlist

Jon invited Sansa to watch a TV show with him.

Robb and Theon were out, sleeping somewhere else, they were home alone, and after the fingering... situation, they needed a moment.

To talk.

And more.

The thing was... they didn't really know how to talk with one another.

It wasn't like they were friends or knew much about each other.

"Do you want popcorn?" Jon offered as she sat on the couch. "Any snack?"

"Those sweets would be nice," she asked, instead.

She was doing her classic cold shoulder, not too obvious but in her ladylike way of ignoring someone, only answering questions.

But she was always in her frilly nightie, with silk shorts and no underwear.

Just to make things easy if they came to it.

He came back with a bag of marshmallows and a bag of sweets, along with a can of her favourite soda, sitting by her side with his own chips and beer, and Sansa eyed her from her spot on the couch.

Jon hadn't tried to talk to her after leaving her room, not more than usual.

He didn't expect her to embrace him like they were the best of friends, right?

She eyed him up and down, reaching her hand to get the sweets when he sat down, but Jon held her out of his grip.

"Jon!"

"Not my fault you're seating across the couch," he shrugged, setting them between his thigh and the couch.

She pouted.

What a teasing jerk!

Jon patted the space by his side and she scooted a little closer, but she still couldn't reach for the sweets and her soda.

She would have to literally throw herself over his lap to get her soda.

Sansa tried to reach for it, and Jon suddenly decided to be even more of a jerk and hold it at a distance away, and she smacked him on the side of his head.

"Fine," she decided, and seated back on her seat, crossing her arms. "I don't want it anymore."

He laughed.

"Gods, you're so easy to tease," he scoffed, picking up her soda and giving it to her, and then the sweets. "There, princess."

She scowled, but opened the bag, picking up a marshmallow and eating it as he picked the remote.

"What do you want to watch?" he asked.

She frowned a little.

"Well, you invited me," she reminded him.

He shook his head.

"You don't like the stuff I watch," Jon pointed out.

She gasped.

"Yes, I do! As long as it is not too crude or violent, I'm alright with it."

He shook his head, and she waited as he roamed through HBO Max.

"Well," he sighed. "There's this show..."

Sansa raised her eyebrows, waiting for an answer. What, did Jon think she wouldn't like a nice TV show?

"It's about the age of dragons," he told her. "And my family."

She perked up.

His family?!

Jon was a Targaryen, at least on his father's side. As far as she knew, he didn't have a lot of contact with him, but his family was loaded. Probably the oldest money in existence in Westeros and Essos.

They were kings and queens once, dominating the world before the other continents were discovered, and had dragons.

The coolest thing her family had ever had in the past were direwolves.

The Targaryens were loaded these days.

She was surprised a TV show about them was even allowed to exist.

"Did your family produce it?" she asked.

They had to, right? It was their history, after all.

Jon chuckled, looking a little unsure.

"I don't think I'm even allowed to talk about that TV show," he confessed.

Sansa looked at him, confused.

"What do you mean?"

He sighed.

"Well, my uncle emailed me," he told her. "And we are not supposed to give out any statements about the show."

She stared for a moment.

The age of the dragons was half a thousand years ago. Who would even care to link it to the current Targaryens?

"Statements?" she asked, anyway.

"No tweeting, no live-streaming, no comments... no words, at all," he told her. "Not even to our friends."

Oh.

He scowled a little.

"Don't think about it. My dad's family is just... yeah, they are... yeah."

Yeah, she got it.

"But I heard the show is good," he said simply. "And no one said I couldn't watch it and pretend I do not descend from those weirdos."

Sansa giggled.

"Well, you could be a prince, technically," she pointed out. "I'm sure that's not bad."

He rolled his eyes a bit.

"I've only seen my father on television and in magazines, Sansa," he told her. "The only reason I even know he is my father is that they did a DNA test when I was a kid, right after my mother died. All he did was pay child support to my godfather and give me a college fund, and that was it. I doubt that is very princely."

She deflated.

Oh.

She knew Jon's mother - her aunt Lyanna - had died when he was young, and he didn't have contact with his father, but that was far harsher than what she thought their relationship was like.

"I'm sorry," she apologised. "I didn't know."

He was so negative, though. He was still his son, right? And the son of a prince or king was also a prince.

She imagined him as a prince, though. Wearing nice clothes, not his old black t-shirt - the one he always wore and said it was clean but never seemed to be. Maybe he would wear his curls back, and she would be able to see his face and not just his hair.

Jon pressed play, and she sat back, falling into a comfortable silence as a blond woman flew in her dragon.

Oh, it was a huge dragon.

She always imagined how big they would be. History books mentioned sizes but they were always so different, and never gave her a perspective.

"Cool," she whispered under her breath.

The girl really did look the young Rhaenyra she saw in the books - a painting of her when she was declared heir of the Iron Throne. Before shit went down.

A Dragon Princess, filled with elegance and beauty.

How she envied that vision.

... but what the fuck was the costume department doing?

"Is she wearing a bra?" she asked, unable to keep that to herself.

Jon turned to her, confused.

"Sorry, what?"

She moved over to him, taking the remote from his hand and rewinding.

"I mean, probably?" he asked, confused. "What are you doing?"

"Well, she is not supposed to," she glared at him.

Jon squinted.

"It's just a show, Sansa."

She moved closer to him.

"That's a show about the age of the dragons, Jon," she reminded him. "It's not just a show."

He looked so confused.

"Okay, so," she sat up straighter, pausing the show. "During the age of dragons, there were rules for clothes!"

Jon shook his head.

"I'm pretty sure it is not even supposed to be historically accurate!"

"Doesn't it bother you?" she exclaimed.

It was a show about his family! His ancestors!

"Sansa, please," he sighed, laughing.

She pouted, and he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Well, what is wrong, then?" he asked, crossing his arms. "I don't see anything wrong with her dress."

"The dress is alright," she argued. "It's her underwear a have a problem with."

Jon simply watched and she sighed, standing up.

"Look at me," she requested, moving and turning on the light.

He followed her with his eyes, and Sansa stood in front of him.

"You know corsets, right?" she asked. "The whole body thing."

Jon nodded.

"Well, the stays came before them," she explained. "They are made to cover the whole torso, like a vest. It keeps your posture straight, and it's like a rigid shirt."

She moved her hand over her torso, showing it to him.

"They don't squeeze, but they give you a shape," she told him. "And she-"

Sansa walked to the TV, and pointed at Rhaenyra.

"She doesn't have a shape."

Jon blinked a little, not looking at her face, and Sansa looked down.

Her nightie had slipped off. Her tit was hanging out.

Sansa’s face burned red and she fixed her clothes quickly.

"I-" she tried to speak.

"Well, it's nothing I haven't seen before," he joked. "And a much nicer view than my ancestors."

She flushed, and he crooked his finger, calling her closer.

Sansa stood between his legs, looking down at him, and Jon put his hand on her hips.

"You wrapped yourself all in silk for me," he caressed her skin under her clothes.

She adjusted herself, trying not to look affected.

"I like this nightie," she said simply.

He smirked.

"So it wasn't for me?" he tugged on her nightie, making it slide down again.

He raised a hand to her chest and pinched her nipple, and Sansa squirmed.

"Are you sure?" he insisted, nearly mocking her.

Her cheeks burned more and Sansa almost stepped back, but he held her in place.

"I like how you look when you are that passionate," he told her. "My little costume designer."

His?

Jon moved his hand down, caressing her thigh.

"Were you this passionate about learning to rub your pretty clit?" he pushed his fingers up her shorts, and Sansa couldn't even clench her thighs together before he was right on the edge of her apex.

She didn't quite want to, you know?

"About how to please your sweet cunt?" he moved his thumb to her mound, and stopped.

She wasn't wearing underwear, and now he knew it.

He pulled her to his lap quickly, kissing her lips hungrily as he pushed his fingers into her hair, tugging on it, making her head fall to the side as he moved his lips down her skin.

"Silly little girl," he mocked, pushing her shorts to the side.

Sansa gasped when she felt his caressing her folds.

She was already wet, for some reason.

"You're so easy to turn on," he chuckled. "Just a little teasing and that pussy is already leaking."

Sansa whimpered and tried to follow his fingers, but he pinched her clit.

No, this wasn't how it was supposed to go!

"Jon," she whined. "Wait."

He pulled back quickly, looking surprised but taking his hands away anyway.

"I learned something," she whispered, embarrassed.

Jon sat up straighter, and she pulled his hands back to her legs.

Sansa had been reading.

She liked reading, a lot.

And watching things.

Jon squinted.

"What did you learn?"

. . .

"The TV Show" was posted on my Patreon on March! To read it before anyone else - and the sequel "Screamer", subscribe to my page! It's just $2 a month.

. . .

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[chaosthatsmellsgreen]

Netflix's Avatar The Last Airbender thoughts, part 3/5

about Team Avatar and side characters

Missing adventures: oh yeah, about that. so we had references to The Waterbending Scroll, The Great Divide and The Fortuneteller. basically these episodes are canonical in NATLA, although whatever run-in they had with the pirates was clearly not about a waterbending scroll since Katara already has it. (more on that later) and i'm not saying these are top tier episodes (i'm partial to The Fortuneteller because Sokka is fucking hilarious and also because kataang), but what's important to understand about ATLA is that even their little side adventures are important because they build character and relationships. that's not filler, it's very much the backbone of the original show. in NATLA, there is very little distraction for our heroes, and therefore we get to see less of their everyday lives and their bond

Team Avatar: i think this is an issue between Aang and Sokka as well, but their moments with each other are much better executed, and so it's less noticable, and then of course Katara and Sokka are family in a literal sense, but also get a lot of time to bond and work on their connection. the overall effect of all this is that Team Avatar (which they also call themselves waaaaaay too early for my liking, but eh, i'd look past it) doesn't feel as close and as bonded as the show is saying they are.

KOH. FUCKIN'... KOH. okay so you know how spirits are very neutral and self-serving in ATLA? they don't really give two shits about humans and their problems and just focus on their own goals? yeah so apparently Koh is just Evil (TM). this is the same issue as LoK had with the spirit world was having to make it more black and white than it was in ATLA. Koh... honestly, he wasn't really evil in the OG. he steals faces because that's what he does, that's his place in the universe. (if you read the comics, it's mommy issues, basically, but still that's not evil, that's sad, and clearly this Koh has the same origin story as the comics, because statue.) he's completely fair to Aang, even very, very helpful, as long as Aang plays by his rules. now, obviously we don't know what ATLA Koh would do if Aang's friends followed him to the spirit world, probably the same as he did in NATLA. he was just so much more intriguing in the original show where he was more than "creepy centipede spirit monster"'

Katara: Katara is so... timid. LET MY GIRL YELL!! she's a hothead, and a very passionate person. to be clear, i don't think this is Kiawentiio's fault, i think it's writing and maybe direction. she barely even gets to get mad during the water tribe episodes, a place in the story where in the original she was BIG mad. it's the closest Katara gets to original Katara, but even there she's very reserved and nowhere near as passionate as she should be. like her duel with Pakku was an on the spot, hot headed, unplanned decision, in this, she lets Pakku insult her, walk away, and then she goes off to contemplate whether she should fight him. i also like that she got quite far as a waterbender by herself, but i wish they gave her some time to train with a master and actually earn the title of master, not just be bestowed it after showing basic combat prowess. she was a very talented bender, but her having discipline and being a diligent, hard-working student is just as important a part of her character, and i don't love the "i'm a girlboss so i don't need anyone to teach me" arc. she's also very much idk, i call it perfect-washed in my head? all her flaws are removed (she doesn't steal the water bending scroll, she doesn't lash out at her friends and family when she's frustrated with her waterbending progress, and the whole thing about her not being nearly as angry or loud, too) and all that's left is this perfect, talented, flawless girl. which is, you know, i wanted to see the Katara i knew, and she didn't feel like the same person. if i try to ignore what i wanted to see, and focus on the character they were building, she does seem relatively consistent, i just find her boring because she ends up being pretty much a Mary Sue.

Sokka: i think Sokka is really well done. he's funny, he has depth, despite removing his sexism, he still has some of his rough edges, and so he doesn't suffer from this perfectisation. i'm glad they acknowledge both his humour and his intelligence, i think a lot of what they chose to build NATLA Sokka around is good insight into who Sokka is and why he was an important part of the Gaang. i find it weird that they are eluding to him not actually wanting to be a warrior, that it's something he's pushed to be - but, well, if that's a direction they want to take his story, i don't think it's necessarily bad. the one thing i hate about it is....

Hakoda: i'm so. fucking. bored. of everyone having to have a shitty relationship with their fathers. Sokka always wanted to live up to Hakoda, but Hakoda clearly didn't care if his children were like him. all he ever expected of them was to be good people, and all he ever did was love them. you're trying to tell me that a dad who was characterized as telling his daughter that he missed her and her brother by saying "I missed you so much it would ache" is going to publicly shit-talk his son because he didn't properly pass his coming-of-age ritual at <13 years old? (let's ignore that actually Sokka never even did the ice dodging because he was too young to, before his father left, another reminder that he was still a child when he was left as the oldest man of their whole tribe, and even though NATLA is putting a lot of emphasis on that, they somehow miss the point that Sokka wasn't even of age when this responsibility fell on his shoulders). it just doesn't follow. and yes, this is actually a bit of the story and Sokka's motivations that is technically done just fine, i'm just soooo bored of it. Sokka himself did want to prove himself to Hakoda, but Hakoda never actually needed any proof that Sokka was... idk "worthy"? of being his son. so yeah, i hated all of that, even though it was fine and consistent in execution

Bumi: is literally the same issue. i prefer ATLA Bumi, even though NATLA is probably more realistic in what 100 years of war and constant, impossible decisions would do to a person. i just... i always loved that there is someone, anyone that Aang used to know, one person who's still alive, still there, who knows who Aang is and what the world used to be like in his time. seeing Bumi be so... honestly, downright cruel to him, it just made me really sad. and in fairness, i think it was supposed to make me sad, so it did what it aimed to do. like i said, same issue as Hakoda, this was done alright, it's just too different from the OG for me to enjoy

Oma and Shu: i loved the animation style for the tale of two lovers, i think it was wonderfully done. as for them being F/F, i can take it or leave it, i don't really care. it's one of those Netflix-style token representation things, it makes no difference to me either way. i'm glad it's made a lot of people happy though

Yue: so the fox thing was a little weird? jury is still out on whether i liked that one or not, it might take me a rewatch to decide. other than that, i enjoyed how they fleshed her character out. the whole thing with Hahn was a little strange, but eh, i'm fine with that change. i liked the forbidden romance thing she and Sokka had going, but i think them just having a normal romance is completely fine. i thought their connection was done well, i was overall very happy with her and her relationship with Sokka

PART 3/5

START // NEXT // PREVIOUS

[strugglingyetvibing]

logging back on for the first time since dts season 6 dropped, how we feelin' f1blr?

i avoided socials like crazy because i didn't want any spoilers, but i just finished the season so i'm officially back, and i'm pretty miffed

putting an extender thingy here bc this is getting long and i don't wanna jam up your dashes too much haha

tl;dr - danica patrick sucks and the season was mid.

first of all, get danica patrick off my fucking screen. she, of all the women reporters they could have picked for this role, was the worst possible pick. give me rachel brookes! give me natalie pinkham! bernie collins (could you imagine??)! any of those fantastic women (or the others i didn't list) would be better than danica fucking patrick.

beyond that, the season was honestly kind of meh. they missed a lot of big plot points (hardly any mention of max's objectively historic run?? love him or hate him, it was something for the record books) for a lot of smaller plot points that really either could have been covered in just a chunk of an episode or were really just made up (e.g. they tried to make us think that liam and yuki weren't friends even though they literally are, and have been since before 2023). like, i get the fanfare of daniel coming back, but they also just did what f1 did and just stopped mentioning nyck ever again, which was so frustrating. it was so abrupt! i was shocked when the credits rolled.

they also just didn't mention qatar at all, which was wild. they could have used 'the shot' of lewis walking in the gravel with george's car going in the background! they could have talked about oscar winning something before lando! they could have talked about max winning the championship and how historic his run was! they could have talked about how fucking hard that race was for everyone on the grid and actually mention logan sargeant for once and show how williams and james vowles took care of him! there were a lot of missed opportunities there. as much as i don't like that race (due to the overwhelming strain it put on the drivers), it was an important one that probably should have been mentioned.

at first, i thought bringing claire williams in was a weird move, but i kind of appreciated her insight as an ex-team principle, similarly to how i appreciate bernie collins' insight during broadcasts. that was a good touch from the netflix team.

two episodes for alpine was too much. i get that there was a lot to go through for them, but they could have sped up the drama and made a super interesting single episode encapsulating both pierre and esteban's animosity (and them making it better) and otmar's departure. if put together, they could have made an engaging plot-twisty episode that would have been super fun to watch.

i also think it was really interesting how they didn't follow aston martin through their midseason fall. they propped them up in the first episode as a team poised to fight at the top, and then we never hear from them until abu dhabi. they mention that they had 'some struggles' throughout the season, but if you spend a whole episode hyping me up for a team, check in with the team at least once throughout the season. that was kind of disappointing that we didn't hear from them again until the end.

i honestly forgot that there were talks of lewis to ferrari in the middle of the season, so that episode was really interesting, especially knowing what we know now. the fact that the team told lewis to his face that he was wrong after a literal decade working together is absolutely bonkers, and i'm starting to understand more as to why he left. i just wish they had included the "hello lewis" moment at the monaco driver conference. they included another bit from the monaco conference, so i'm sad they missed that bit. would've helped with my bingo card tbh.

seeing the ferrari episode (it's like episode 8 or something) just makes me more mad that they dropped carlos. this isn't dts' fault, the episode was actually pretty good (aside from the pitting of charles against carlos, but that kind of comes with the show at this point lol), but seeing everything that carlos did for ferrari just for them to not renew his contract is insanely heartbreaking. back to back poles and a win (the only non-red bull win of the season!), as well as consistently performing incredibly well, bringing in consistent good points for himself and the team. i realize lewis is a seven-time world champion, and this isn't any sort of lewis hate (i actually love that man), but the decision to drop carlos and the manner in which ferrari did it is very infuriating. again, not dts' fault, but seeing the behind the scenes in that episode was so bittersweet.

i really didn't mean for this to get so long, jeez! i just have a lot of frustrations with the season (and honestly kind of the show as a whole, but i'll save this already long-ass rant from that lol). it's an enjoyable watch, but it's weird to think that this is the impression people who don't know f1 will get of the sport and the people inside of it when a lot of it is just plain wrong.

and again, fuck danica patrick. she should not be on that show at all, and i hope she doesn't return for season seven (i'm delusional, she probably will). she also should not be on the sky sports broadcast team, but again, i'm delusional, and she'll probably be around for much longer than jenson or i would like.

[eyedelater]

junji ito post

this is a diary post of my thoughts while reading various works by junji ito.

i found the beautiful hardcover edition of GYO at my local library, so i borrowed that on a whim. i read that. then i thought i would watch the movie version because i wanted to see how they would tackle, you know… all aspects of the work. the movie was so lousy i quit watching less than halfway through. maybe i'll pick it up again sometime. but i'm a stickler for honoring the source material, and they inserted so much weird and dumb fanservice, it was intolerable. then i wondered what other anime adaptations existed of junji ito works. so i watched the 2022 netflix series JUNJI ITO MANIAC. i thought it was, on the whole, somewhat weak, but i did watch every episode. then i got more junji ito books from my local library, including TOMIE, UZUMAKI, DESERTER, LOVESICKNESS, REMINA, and VENUS IN THE BLIND SPOT. i also watched the series JUNJI ITO COLLECTION and read more stories online. i wanted this post to encompass all of ito-sensei's works, but after reading most of them, i decided to read the rest some other time. you can scroll to near the end of this post for an incomplete list of ito-sensei's works that i find to be worth reading. this post contains some spoilers, but i think spoilers don't matter too much for horror manga, as it's the visuals that really count.

i should preface everything by saying that i have known of junji ito for many years. when i was in high school… well, a short summary would be that in 9th grade, i saw a traumatizing gory video that messed me up and made me afraid of the dark despite being 14 years old, and i was especially afraid of dark spaces like the cracks between things. i slept on a mattress pressed into the corner of a room, and i was still afraid of the gap between the mattress and the wall. i wouldn't face my back to it all night. the cabinet door under the bathroom sink didn't shut all the way, and i would watch that dark gap through the clear shower curtain for 100% of my time in the shower to make sure nothing came out. (i made my dad get a clear shower curtain for that reason.) i was mentally ill, you see. did you know that sometimes, knowing a fear is irrational does nothing to make you not afraid? (i'm better now.) so there's the baseline, and then, due to the whims of my internet friend group, i felt compelled to read junji ito's THE ENIGMA OF AMIGARA FAULT. it struck the worst possible chord with me: now i knew that what could be lurking in the dark cracks between things is a stretched and disfigured human body being blissfully, eternally compelled through its own personal tunnel. THAT is what's in between my mattress and the wall. THAT is what could slip through the crack in the bathroom cabinet door. can i put into words how awful it was to think about? but of course, being rational at the same time, i acknowledged even then that the manga itself was kinda good. to come up with such an unpleasant idea is worthy of praise in itself. so i came to respect junji ito. but i haven't read that story again, and i won't. (they had the nerve to stick it in as a bonus story at the end of the GYO hardcover. i didn't even flip through. i will not read that story again.) several years later, i read UZUMAKI and thought it was good. and i think i read one or two TOMIE stories and then lost interest. (oh and i read the cat diary with yon and mu with no hesitation because i knew it wouldn't actually be scary. it was fun.)

so i had the impression that junji ito was very powerful and worthy of my respect. that's why i picked up GYO at my local library. i was pretty sure it was going to be good, and there was also a distant element of facing my fears.

GYO was pretty good. the way humans became disfigured after infection reminded me of Mermaid Swamp, an RPGmaker game i played a while ago and lost sleep over. i can't say i recommend it, but i do like RPGmaker horror games… anyway, GYO was well-composed and certainly Extensive in Scope. you know, it just keeps piling on and on. but it all came together… kind of. but when we got the circus part, i had to be like, "seriously?"

then i watched JUNJI ITO MANIAC. i find that netflix-produced animes have a certain flavor, a tinge that says, "netflix execs really really really really want to make money from this!!!" so to the extent that there is production value, it feels like it has been expended for the sake of making it Look like the anime is good, and not for actually making the anime good, if that makes sense. i feel that there is some heart missing… some loving devotion to the source material. at least some of the time. after watching the whole series, i came across many of the source stories in the short story collections i read. the anime adaptations were generally faithful to the short stories, and i appreciate that. but there is a difference between "turning a manga into an anime" and "turning a manga into a good anime." it is the difference between "this manga scene is now happening in motion" and "the tension and emotion of the original scene has been successfully translated into motion." and actually, it kind of felt like… for some of these… we didn't need to animate them? the thing about horror manga is that your own feelings of horror set the pace. maybe you are pulled quickly forward by suspense, but your eye lingers on the most hideous pages against your will. if the scariest part flashes up too briefly when translated into anime, it won't have as much of an effect. so it felt as though the timing for the scariest parts was weirdly rushed in some of the anime episodes. even watching without knowing the source material, i got the distinct impression that the manga had to be much better than this. [note added in later: sometimes, they actually weren't much better.] they got some of the faces wrong, too. you know how junji ito has his distinctive style where sunken eyes are expertly depicted with many small lines? it's a striking look. it looks great. classic. the way they showed those sunken eyes in the anime was unbelievably lame. it was an airbrushed look. i know they couldn't have animated it with many small lines, but shading it with a harder edge would have looked a thousand times better. or cel shading. come up with a creative solution to capture the effect. also, some of the voices were really annoying. i mean, i guess souichi's voice being annoying is appropriate. (what is souichi's deal? isn't he just really annoying? i haven't read any of his short stories yet.) anyway probably the best story in this series was the hanging balloons. i haven't read that story yet either. i have a feeling the manga is much scarier. but the anime has the advantage of showing the movement of the balloons. the way it will loop around your neck and fling you away in a second was well done.

(revelation) i see… so basically… the JUNJI ITO MANIAC series was the second junji ito series netflix made. so these are all the second-tier stories that they didn't care to animate in the first series? is that right? that makes sense. i'll have to watch the other series soon. [note added in later: wrong. JUNJI ITO COLLECTION was about the same.]

some of ito-sensei's stories are bizarrely anticlimactic. because it is horror manga, i set aside my usual expectation of a happy ending; i am expecting an ending that is either disastrous or faintly hopeful despite everything. but i was expecting an ending, and some of these short stories don't have much of one. like "the bully" (ijimekko). i thought it wasn't very good. i thought it was a miss. i think maybe that one didn't need to be animated, for that reason. but after reading several, i have come to accept that an anticlimactic ending is standard for his short stories. i got used to it. i guess his intention is to end a scary story without much denouement, before the terror fades away, so as to leave a stronger impact. [note added in later: it turns out that in an interview, he said pretty much exactly that.] but i think it wasn't executed successfully every time.

i read the LOVESICKNESS collection of short stories. the story of the beautiful boy at the crossroads was pretty good. i find it kind of strange how romantic love is a strong and frequently recurring theme in ito-sensei's work, and not just in this particular collection. well, the whole way he depicts women has a certain flavor, doesn't it.

i read REMINA. i don't have very strong feelings about this one except that remina the girl sure doesn't have very much agency as a character. all she does is get pursued and picked up and pulled around by everyone on earth. i thought that as a climax, there might actually be some fun and exciting link between her and remina the planet, since at first that it seemed to attack the most when she was being crucified or whatever, but there was no such thing. remina the planet just made a beeline for earth and then started taking its time on the devouring part for no reason.

i spent my whole saturday reading TOMIE from cover to cover. it was pretty good. i think it's really funny how tomie herself evolves (in terms of character development) to be such a needy brat. and i think it's funny how all the tomies want to kill each other. i like how a tomie regenerating under certain circumstances takes on some characteristics of her surroundings, like the ashes tomies and the sake tomies and the carpet tomie. i also think it's really funny how tomie really doesn't want to split into more than one but she's sooo prone to it and she haaates it. overall, i was more amused than really scared by TOMIE. important note: there's probably quite a lot to be said if you read these stories through an explicitly feminist lens, but i don't care to do that right now.

i'm looking at wikipedia now and realizing there is a nearly endless supply of junji ito short stories. my local library does not have all of these. they have six or seven volumes, which is a ton given the extent of their manga collection, and i kinda thought that was all, but it's not. i'll have to read some of these online. however, there is a dilemma. given my history of getting afraid of the dark and its debilitating effects on my life, i want to avoid giving myself that feeling again (and i know it is possible), so i never read or watch anything scary at night. but i don't read manga online unless it is on my laptop or ipad. and i don't have my laptop or ipad with me in the daytime, only in the evenings… maybe i'll bring my ipad to work…? [note added in later: i made it work by reading in the early evening. this is the kind of thing i really worry about.]

i guess i've had a complicated relationship with horror media in that i like it, and most of the time it doesn't Hit in a bad way, but i need to make sure to take precautions when i consume it or else i could seriously lose a lot of sleep. even just typing out that paragraph about my ordeal in high school left me with a terribly nervous feeling because i wrote it at night and relived unpleasant memories. but i can still turn a lightswitch off and then walk out of a dark room without pressing my back against a wall. so i'm miles ahead of where i was back then. that's a relief.

i will note that this whole time, i kiiinda thought junji ito's "ito" miiight just be ito 糸 (thread). i mean, i knew his name (romanized) long before i ever learned that "ito" means "thread." it's only natural that in my ignorance, i might form some association between them. but it's totally not thread. who would be named that? (there's probably somebody.) it's actually itou 伊藤. junji itou. itou junji. but no one romanizes it like that. it's the same itou as the itou in delicious ITO EN jasmine tea, which goes really well with unfrosted blueberry pop tarts. if you're planning to try it with frosted pop tarts, don't even bother. oi ocha is good too.

while watching MANIAC, i was like, what is souichi's deal…? now i'm watching the first episode of JUNJI ITO COLLECTION and i've realized that souichi could be an enjoyably ridiculous character but they gave him a completely insufferable voice actor and thus made him insufferable. i wonder if they had the perfectly reasonable thought, "we can't make his voice nice or else he could become sexy to teen girls, and that idea is apprehensible," and then they overcorrected. perhaps they could've made it less awful and safely unsexy by giving him a realistic teenage boy voice. they could even make it appropriately obnoxious without going too far. i have to read the souichi series and then i'll be able to love him. i can't love him with this shitty voice <3 [note added in later: it turns out souichi is in 6th grade and 11 years old. he's not even a teen. that means my sexy voice hypothesis, by all rights, ought to be moot. i still think they made the wrong voice actor choice. i mean, not that the actor didn't give it his all. but he sounds like an annoying man or teen, not an annoying kid. souichi needed a kid voice.]

JUNJI ITO COLLECTION failed to successfully adapt the story of the beautiful boy at the crossroads. as a multi-chapter story with a relatively strong narrative, it should have been given at least a whole episode or an OVA-length animation to tell the whole story at once, but instead, they abbreviated it and never followed up with the rest. that being said, the main problem was that they didn't make the narrative as clear as in the manga. well, whatever. i'm going to watch through COLLECTION even though it's lousy.

i read the compilation book entitled VENUS IN THE BLIND SPOT. apart from noticing that they had the audacity to include the enigma of amigara fault again, none of the stories especially stuck with me except the cute love letter manga to kazuo umezz. i'll have to read some of his stuff next. speaking of other horror manga, i bought and read the english translation of "inuki kanako no daikyoufu" (Be Very Afraid of Kanako Inuki!) by inuki kanako because i wanted to support my local comic book shop. i kinda picked it at random based on the cover and paid full cover price. i kinda didn't like it. i don't have much to say about it except that her perfectly neckless art style is fun. maybe i'll read her tatari series sometime.

i'm remembering that when i read UZUMAKI for the first time, despite having watched many horror movies, i failed to consider the narrative expectations for works in the horror genre; that is, i had not resigned myself to a bad ending, which i now understand is very much to be expected. so i was really rooting for kirie and shuichi the whole time, and at the end, when they fail to escape the spiral, i was like "ok fuck me then i guess." i was pissed. but what i'm saying is that i was wrong to be pissed because my expectations were unreasonable. in retrospect, it was an appropriate ending.

there's that one tumblr post making fun of kirie and her fucked up boyfriend. it has a couple of panels where shuichi's looking deadened and she puts her head on his shoulder. i think that post is mean. i'm on shuichi's side! be nice to him! you saw what happened to his dad! have a heart!

JUNJI ITO COLLECTION episode 7 was probably the best so far, just because they did a pretty good job with the used record one. if the singer hadn't done a good job, it would have flopped. the song adds so much that is impossible to portray in the form of manga. it spooked me enough that i'm not going to watch any more episodes tonight, which did not happen with any other episodes of COLLECTION or MANIAC.

i was right. manga souichi is much more lovable than anime souichi, because though their faces are equally obnoxious, manga souichi has no obnoxious voice. the souichi stories are kind of refreshing because we get to see junji ito's strange sense of humor without anything too scary happening. my first souichi exposure was the 4 walled room episode in MANIAC, meaning i missed his introduction that appears in COLLECTION, so i was like "who the fuck is this? our protagonist, kouichi, is going to die in the gap between these walls. what? nothing in particular happened at the end. (souichi appears in another episode) this guy's in more than one??" but in the end, i kind of like how he's in 6th grade and his main powers are supercharged annoying personality and also being able to administer real curses. and despite the horrible voice, most of the souichi segments seem to have been adapted with incredible accuracy. souichi's recurring associated sound effect in the manga is "gachu gachu," the slightly clankety sound of him sucking on nails. one scanlator translated it as "munch munch;' another as "nom nom." i've never seen "gachu gachu" before.

ito-sensei's art peculiarities: he is the master of the "lovely face looking concerned." great skill with sunken eyes looking upset and exhausted. in the profile view, everyone has that distinctive frown. poses are sometimes a little awkward as if drawn from a clumsily posed posable model. chins sometimes don't make sense if the perspective isn't straight on or in profile. occasionally, his unique sense of humor shines through in the facial expressions. he's very good at drawing cutely styled hair and plain, elegant clothes. he also draws scary things.

the short story "fashion model" features fuchi, the fashion model. she debuted in the souichi story "rumors." i love fuchi. i'm on her side. when she's riding in the car with everyone much shorter than her and politely excited to go to the deep woods, that's cute. i like when she hitches up her long dress to run quickly in the woods. in "fashion model: cursed frame," fuchi appears in a magazine shot with two other models smiling happily, and that's cute. i want more fuchi content. (also, fuchi is pronounced the same as huci, the ainu word for grandmother. irrelevant.)

junji ito short stories are really hit-or-miss, i've decided. UZUMAKI, GYO, and TOMIE are essentially hit, and that's why he's popular, but a lot of these one-shots, they do not hit.

many of the strange evils in ito-sensei's works seem to be town-restricted. it seems that in most cases, if you get out of town, everything's fine. town where bodies turn into tombstones. town where everyone needs maps to navigate. town where it's foggy and everyone does fortune-telling. town contaminated by spirals. let's all exit towns.

i think ito-sensei can tell when an idea is good and when an idea is bad. generally, the better ideas are longer stories, and the worse ideas are shorter stories. i guess an exception would be hell doll funeral. that one was short but good. another exception is the bully. that one was bad but long.

i think ito-sensei's stories would be better if he applied his skill at drawing unique face shapes to drawing main characters instead of using unique face shapes only for the sake of showing "ugliness" in comparison to the uniformly beautiful main characters. as if ugliness is horror.

most of the characters in his stories are very shallow, but that's okay; they are only here in service of the narrative, to react to whatever hideous sights are laid before them... or to take part in them.

he is really a master of rictus...

it's funny, i just read a ton of ito-sensei's works from the 90s and very early 2000s, and then i accidentally jumped to one from the past few years because the entries on his wikipedia page aren't in chronological order (someone fix that), and now youtubers are appearing and twitter is a plot point. also, the quality of the work is quite visually different, as he switched to digital. it feels very, very polished now. i wonder why they don't have these at my local library.

here are the junji ito works that are worth reading, in my view (not in any order) :

the hanging balloons - this vision is truly inspired. you can also read "return of the hanging balloons," but it's hardly anything.

souichi's series, including: fun summer vacation, fun winter vacation, souichi's diary of delights, souichi's home tutor, mannequin teacher [probably the best], souichi's birthday, souichi's selfish curse, the room with four walls, coffin, rumors, souichi's beloved pet, secret of the haunted house, and the souichi front [also known as secret of the haunted house: souichi's version]. - not every single one of these is fantastic, but some of them are quite good. if you only want a little taste, read "souichi's home tutor" and then "mannequin teacher," as they distinctly go together. you can also read "souichi possessed," but it's hardly anything.

splatter film [also called smashed] - another truly inspired vision. if you don't get it, the joke is mosquitoes.

used record [also called secondhand record] - read it and then watch episode 7 of junji ito collection.

fashion model - get to know my girl fuchi. you can also read "fashion model: cursed frame," but it's not much.

village of the siren - this one has a unique feeling, i think.

gyo, tomie, and uzumaki are all about as worthwhile as each other.

lovesickness is slightly less good than the three listed in the previous bullet point, but still pretty good

the chill [also known as coldness] - if you want to experience trypophobia hell. don't take that warning lightly.

groaning drain pipes - just because the perfectly anticlimactic ending cracks me up

blood bubble bushes - uhh something also similar to trypophobia in this one, but it's striking

oshikiri's series, including hallucinations, bog of the living dead, pen pal, intruder, further tales of oshikiri, and further tales of oshikiri: walls - some of these are pretty good.

house of puppets - it's a house of puppets.

the town without streets - goes in an unexpectedly atmospheric direction. interestingly a mishmash of many different ideas, unlike his usual one-note short stories.

gravetown - another inspired idea.

the story of the mysterious tunnel - can't decide how much to like this one.

frankenstein (adaptation) - very well done. there's a scene where victor and the monster make eye contact and then the monster immediately turns around and scales a sheer cliff face. you made his body really strong, victor. he can scale a sheer cliff face. i should note i only read around the first half of frankenstein the novel. i know, it's a failing on my part. so i can't judge the accuracy. i don't know if the monster scales a sheer cliff face in the novel. anyway someone should cosplay as reanimated justine. you just need to really build up your limbs onto some stilts and stuff.

hell doll funeral - it's a hell doll funeral

fixed face - ending cracked me up

weeping woman way - i like this one. it's so wet.

madonna [also called the witch] - i enjoy a story that offends the church.

spirit flow of aokigahara - this one is really good. i love their bodily transformation.

sensor - the first chapter makes you envision getting hairs in your mouth so you go "pfuh! pfuh!" and the rest is like, oh, so god really does exist. i really appreciate how much he wrung out of the creepy natural phenomenon of volcanic hair, which i didn't know about before this.

i wanted this to be a comprehensive list, but i'm sick of reading these for now. maybe i'll read the rest of his works some other time.

in conclusion, despite the inexplicably strong urge i felt to read as much of junji ito's body of work as possible, i'm not in love with his stuff. i certainly don't care enough to compare any translations. however, i do really respect his art skills and horrific ideas, and i enjoy his inscrutable sense of humor.

(i am really looking forward to the black and white uzumaki anime if it ever comes out.)

[natsspammityspamspamham]

I'm actually writing this post specifically for @deepwoodenheart because they followed my main and were not a porn blog. Thanks! They've recently expressed an interest in Yuichiro Umehara (a voice actor), and @msyuksanh is his number one fan who is the one who actually introduced me to this specific voice actor. Since I watch a ton of anime (an unhealthy amount), I will be running through some of the stuff I have watched (and some stuff I haven't). Some of these are just to make fun of these anime, but I don't fault any seiyuu for taking a bad role because you do what you need to to make that bread 🍞

His list of roles is big but not as big as some other voice actors, so I was able to go through which ones I had watched or heard of quite quickly. He has made some random appearances in other anime that I've watched where I went "Huh, definitely know this guy from somewhere" like Fire Force, Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun, and Kaguya-sama.

Note: I haven't watched Jojo Part 6 yet or that parody magic anime with the wombat. The anime will go in no specific order, but it generally goes from "good" to "mediocre" to "these anime can go suck cheese" with anything below the "keep reading" being literal trash-tier anime. There's also some missing stuff, especially in terms of idol anime because I haven't watched those and don't plan on it for now. From looking at the cast list, I think his major idol roles are in Magic Kyun, Tsukipro, Ensemble Stars, and Idolmaster SideM (regular Idolmaster is for female idols).

Akagami no Shirayuki-hime

I was talking to a friend of mine recently when we went Christmas shopping, and when he saw this manga he went, "I didn't like that one." I personally did like this one. His complaint was that too much time was given to the secondary love interest. Umehara plays a supporting (but recurring) character.

((This scene still makes me laugh to this day. Kaori Nazuka was really funny here.))

Fruits Basket (remake)

Okay, Umehara admittedly barely shows up in this one, but people should watch Fruits Basket no matter who they are. It's good for the soul. That is all.

((It took me so long to find a fricking gif of this bir-- guy.))

Romantic Killer

Anyone who reads this or anyone who has Netflix should go watch this.

((Kabe-down))

Tenchi Souzou Design-bu

This anime is surprisingly not directly creationism, but it sure comes close! As a biology major, this anime was pretty neat, but some of it made me go, "What am I watching anyway?" I'm not an ecology specialist though, so maybe this makes more sense to others. His character is a supporting character, but he has some funny bits.

((He also gets to rap in this role, so that was kind of funny. My other favourite lines are "Wow, Mercury is dead!" and "WOO! SAIKOU NI COOL!!!"))

SSSS.Dynazenon

This one was not nearly as good as Gridman which was already divisive in the mecha community (that I'm not a part of). I heard from others that it was enjoyable, but I personally thought it was a bit of a bore. Props to the casting director for getting Chika Anzai and her cousin Junya Enoki. There are some subbed radio segments that are funny too.

((Also, this is the first anime I watched where he was cast as an ugly adult. Ain't nobody falling for kinoko hair over here. He has also played a piece of sperm, but I digress.))

Dame x Prince

This anime was built for cringe, and it succeeds at cringe. But because it embraces the cringe, it unironically becomes one of the better anime adaptations of an otome game which is like saying you're the tallest dwarf of the seven dwarfs. It also gave a long-running radio with Kaito Ishikawa and Soma Saito.

Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul

I genuinely remember so little about this anime that I went to go watch clips to refresh my memory, and this anime wasn't even bad. It was mediocre, but for something based off a card game, they did really well. I actually watched this for Sumire Morohoshi and her bubbly character Nina. This is technically a sequel, so you'd need to watch the previous one to fully understand it. Oddly enough, I didn't know the first season was a romance until some characters kissed.

Gakuen Babysitters

This one was essentially built to be a comfort watch. It works at what it wants to do, but I don't like kids. The ending theme is cute, but Nishiyama looked way more into it (Umehara was there to get paid).

Shinchou Yuusha

I personally thought this anime was gonna be a Konosuba, and it kind of was, but it was far more palatable for me (I was not able to make it through Konosuba and will try again at a later date). Aki Toyosaki carries 99% of the comedy in this anime.

((That slime never did anything to youuuuuuu)

Orenchi no Furo Jijou

Fun fact: I watched this before knowing what a shounen ai was! I saw the shounen part and went "Oh, so my demographic" watched it, came out, and went "What. Was. That?!" I don't remember a whole ton about it, but I don't remember it being horrendous. It's just some mermaid in a bathtub. I think this was his debut role, and he does play a main character.

Juuni Taisen

This is probably in a similar boat as Tenkuu Shinpan (later in the list). It's just a bloodbath of an anime, but I will give it credit that it has fanservice for both sides (they sexualize men and women). Anyways, it has a stacked seiyuu cast for something that is so incredibly mediocre.

Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai

He had to be replaced partway through due to his acute immune disease. However, I think he recorded it in post-production. Either way, it's a supporting character in an anime that I think wasn't worth the watch besides the banger of an opening. Masayoshi Ohishi has a knack for writing openings for romcoms (he likes romcoms himself).

((He's the glasses guy))

Tenkuu Shinpan

I kinda want to watch this one just to turn off my brain and watch some Battle Royale-style gore.

((That character looks sick.))

Darling in the Franxx

Apparently, you're supposed to watch the first 12 episodes then dip, but come on, when the mechas are built like that, I'm not touching that thing. Even though it has Haruka Tomatsu and one of her most famous characters, I'm not watching it.

((It took me over 100 gifs to find one with Gorou in them despite typing in "Gorou Darling in the Franxx", and he is part of the main cast.))

Goblin Slayer

You know, for such an edgy first episode, this series is so mid at the genre it tries to take on after. Umehara said himself, "He doesn't really say much of importance." This anime has sexual violence (and it's explicit), and it's not even good.

Plunderer

I haven't watched this one, but he does star alongside his bandmate Yoshiki Nakajima. Both of them have been in better anime that is certainly not this one. I even read a chapter or two of the manga when it first started airing and went, "They're really making that, huh?"

((He forgot one streak of hair when dyeing it haha))

Kabuki-bu!

I couldn't make it through three episodes, but maybe I'll try again-- actually, no I won't.

Uchitama

Hmm... I haven't watched this one. It's not hard to see why, but basically, I have not reached that level of degeneracy, and if I do, someone should put me out of my misery.

Senjuushi

Fun fact: This anime is so bad that it has a rating similar to Boku no P-- I'm not finishing that title. I obviously didn't watch this one.

Makura no Danshi

I didn't watch this one, but I saw a video on it and was near tears from laughter and despair because there's no fricking way someone made an anime about this concept AND got Masayoshi Ohishi to write an OP for it. This is the stupidest thing I've seen in a while, and just being close to it made me even more embarrassed that I watch anime. I also listened to Masayoshi's version of the OP before I knew what it was connected to or how to understand some words in Japanese. After learning its association, I was legally obligated to take that song off my playlist.

[shunshuntaiga]

Okay so, thoughts on Half Bad: the Bastard son and the Devil Himself as a book fan.

Mind you, it's been years since I read the books so the details are a little foggy through my goldfish memory. This will contain spoilers.

Overall, enjoyable. It's so different from the source material that it's hard to compare the two properly, because even the characters are different from how they are in the books. I hope they continue into a season 2 because I'd like to see where they take the book two story of Nathan learning to control his powers (please please please, give me the shared trance sequence with Gabriel god yes please)

Nathan:

In the books his mental health is a very important part of the story, he's depressed, he's been abused his whole life, and it affected how he interacted with the world as a whole. In the show he's still the Nathan from the books, but as if he'd grown up happy with no mental health problems.

They really toned down this aspect of the show. Giving him a loving grandmother, and friends, and a life outside of being a blood witch.

It made his relationship with Annalise in the books more dependent on her, because he'd never *had* someone who cared.

BTW Annalise? HATED HER. In the books at least, they really did a 180 on her personality in the show. They made her defend him which I appreciated, because in the books she never once fought for him (at least that I can remember) and he still adored her even when she was actively letting her brother(s) abuse him.

I don't believe her gift was Undoing as well. I think is was akin to mind control of some kind? (As I said, foggy on details. But I noticed they changed A LOT of people's powers for the sake of excitement)

She also didn't join him after his escape in the books. That was all Nathan and Gabriel for the longest time, and she only reappeared when her family wanted her to go manipulate him.

Gabriel:

A difficult one. His personality is so different from the books he's basically a different character all together. I still like him, but I miss my soft spoken boy who was more than willing to sit with Nathan's volatile moods.

I do like how Annalise and Gabriel start out hating each other (they hate each other in the books, Gabriel with good reason to) but the fact that they become friends, united in their love for Nathan is really nice.

Also I don't know how they managed to make a show that feels like I'm being queer baited SO HARD with their relationship, seeing as Nathan distinctly chooses Gabriel in the books, but hats off netflix you've done it.

SPOILER

As much as I like an Ot3, I'm not sure how I feel about the Nathan/Annalise/Gabriel thrupple deal they've got working. It feels like they're going to ignore Annalise's emotional manipulation and betrayal of Nathan because they afraid to make the main character "fully gay" (I know he's bi, but he does fall out of love with Annalise and in love with Gabriel and I'm sentimental about that because it was the first queer MAIN character I had ever seen.)

BIG POTENTIAL SPOILER

I have hope for the show NOT killing Gabriel because in the finale *they did his death sequence*. In the book he gets shot while trying to escape hunters with Nathan, and it's slightly Nathan's fault (due to gifts that I don't remember exactly) and Nathan becomes so depressed by his death that nothing matters to him, even after they win the war, that he becomes a hermit in the wild and eventually, using the transformation powers he inherets from his father, turns into a tree, which is irreversible.

He can't lice without his lover and it's the saddest thing.

SLEEPING OUTSIDE:

Okay, so slightly disappointed they changed this bit, but in the books blood witches are categorized by their fear of being trapped indoors at night time. So they sleep outside in the open air.

I understand they changed this because it would have been more difficult to film and it's unimportant. But CELIA DIDNT JUST PUT HIM OUTSIDE IN A CAGE TO BE NEEDLESSLY CRUEL. Yes. The cage is cruel, they glossed over many details of his actual time in her care because it was honestly awful, but being outside was for his own safety because blood witches trapped indoors at night loose their minds.

I also kind of wish they spent less time focusing on his sister and built up the relationship between Celia and Nathan. Because they had a special, weird bond in the books.

I did enjoy the show as a whole, and if they make more, I will watch more. But yeah, I have a lot of thoughts because I really loved these books when I read them.

[daehee]

Chapter 9

I L-O-V-E Y-O-U

Refresher: Her and Ricky are abt to kiss after the sexy sticker stalker game

"C'mere baby." He whispered lowly, yanking me by my waist into him. My breath hitched at his rough behavior.... holy fuck this is hot. Instead of kissing my lips, Ricky started out at my neck first. Leaving light kisses on my hot skin. His lips felt too good, I think I'm falling. His lips finally reached mine, and I melted. The butterflies erupted in my stomach feeling more like a stampede. His hands were tangled in my hair and his tongue was against mine. I wasn't even holding myself up anymore, he was completely holding me up. His tongue caressed mine, completely taking away my rationality. He slowly traced his hands down my sides, grabbing my ass and pulling me up and into him even more. It took all the will power I had not to moan right then and there. We finally pulled apart, panting heavily at the heated makeout session. Everyone was clapping for us except for Keita. I smirked knowing inside his mind he was probably going crazy. I know how overprotective and possessive he is. I just sat back down next to Ricky, cuddling into him. He put his arm around me, pulling me into his side.

"You like me don't you?" I whispered to him.

"You just now noticed."

"Yeah sorta, I'm sorry. If it makes it better... I like you too."

"I kinda figured after the kiss."

"Can I stay here tonight since its the weekend?"

"Yeah most people were probably planning on that but I'll kick them out, I want to be alone with you."

"O-oh... ok."

"I didn't mean it like that silly, calm down."

"I mean... I wouldn't mind if you did It just kinda took me by surprise."

"What? That I'd want my way with the hottest girl in this school?" He whispered, his breath tickling my neck.

"I-... uh... well damn." Ricky chuckled at my stuttering. Lightly pressing his lips to my temple.

"Wanna go hang out in the kitchen and just talk?" He asked.

"Sure." He grabbed my hand and led me to the kitchen.

"Hey, I know I said I'd kick everyone out... but what about just letting Eric, Seungho, Haruto, Yunjin, Jiwoo, and Keita stay. We're all in the same friend group so it's like a friends sleepover."

"Ok that sounds nice. Just know that me and Keita aren't really talking so things are kind of tense between us."

"Yeah I heard... what happened y'all were super close."

"He just said some really stupid hurtful things then accused me of lying and blamed all our problems on me."

"Oh... I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Ricky took a few steps closer, hugging me tightly to his chest. Gosh he's so sweet and caring, what's not to love about this man.

"What time is it?" I mumbled into his chest.

"2:43 a.m., why?"

"I'm tired. Ok, I'll go wrap the party up."

"You don't have to."

"I'm tired too. I'll go tell everyone to get their asses outta here." I snorted, completely unattractively at his words.

"Alright everybody, parties over, your host is tired, no spending the night sorry. Go home motherfuckers."

Everybody began to stand up, taking their trash and dropping it in the big trash can on the way out. Ricky went to the three couples, telling them they all could stay. They all plopped back down on the couch, getting comfortable. Since it was a small crowd who knew to clean up after themselves, we didn't have any work to do.

"Wanna watch a movie guys? Or makeout, we know some of y'all wont see a damn thing." Ricky said, specifically eyeing Eric, Seungho, Haruto, and Yunjin. Everyone just laughed and Ricky grabbed the remote to put on some Netflix movie.

"Everybody here speaks English yeah? I'm gonna put on 'The Kissing Booth' everyone ok with that?"

"Sounds good since apparently none of us are going to see it anyway." Eric joked, rolling his eyes.

The movie started and I curled into Ricky's side. The rest of the couples had done the same. Seungho and Eric were already making out, taking to heart what Ricky had teased them about earlier. Haruto and Yunjin followed soon after, more interested in each other than the movie. Next to join into the lip locking was Keita and Jiwoo, now only me and Ricky paid attention to the movie. I knew he wouldn't force me, because he wasn't like that... but I wanted it myself and I knew he would comply.

I turned Ricky's head to face me and he smiled down at me. I just kissed his lips, hoping to convey my feelings and desires through the simple action. He understood the message and he turned to face me more. His hands found their way to my hips, just staying their comfortingly. My hands were feeling through his soft wavy locks. I threaded my fingers through his hair enjoying the feeling. He softly bit my lip, silently pleading for me to allow his tongue into my mouth. I complied, slightly tilting my head back to deepen the kiss. We made out for the whole rest of the movie... literally not seeing a thing. When the movie ended, we all pulled apart, finally breathing.

"I'm going to bed." Ricky announced. "Y'all know there are plenty of rooms here. Pick one and have fun. Goodnight." Ricky pulled my hand, leading me down a hallway opposite of the one everyone else went to. They had all been here before and knew the layout of the house and probably which bedrooms they wanted.

"I should have asked you first, but you're ok with sleeping with me right?"

"Oh yeah sure."

"I have an extra toothbrush you can use, and if you want you can wear one of my shirts to sleep in."

"Ok!" I chirped happily. I was ecstatic that I was going to get to cuddle with him all night. After brushing our teeth, he handed me one of his t-shirts. I turned around, pulling my shirt off, my skirt following. I pulled his oversized shirt over my head. It fell to my mid thighs because of height difference.

"Holy shit." Ricky breathed. I didn't think he was watching me, figuring he would be getting dressed himself, but he was struggling to keep his composure after what he just witnessed.

"Are you okay?" I asked, chuckling at the evidence of the effect I had on him.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Let's just sleep now."

"Ok." 

We crawled into bed, pulling the duvet over us. I turned to him, immediately cuddling up to him. For some reason I had failed to notice he wasn't wearing a shirt, so when I touched his bare chest I yelped and jumped away from him.

"What happened? Are you ok?" He immediately asked, sitting upright to make sure I was ok. I didn't respond... too busy looking at the outline of his abs in the moonlight.

"Hey... Hana, are you ok?"

"Huh? Yeah I'm fine. I just didn't expect you to be... shirtless."

"Oh pfft."

We laid back down and I cuddled back into Ricky, he wrapped his arms around me tightly.

"Hey." He whispered.

"Yes?"

"Do you want to be my girl friend?"

"Yes."

"Ok, good night."

"Good night."

"Love you."

"Love you too." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The intro post for this story has all the chapters listed.

[beforethepoison]

Like she could’ve spoken up for Amber and been like I believe her but then his rabid fans would’ve attacked her but it’d be worth the risk, and The Idol is worse than you can imagine it reminds me of Blonde

I didn't see Blonde as well but they say its shite. (You must be wondering...GIRL YOU DONT HAVE HBO, NETFLIX AMAZON IN YOUR HOUSE???????lol) but its fine. Yeah, there is a chance that these fuckers johnny d*PP stans would attack her. But I think it needs to be someone like her to face him. To point his wrongs. And I believe she has stans as well, she has a group of fans of girls who wants to be her as well, who see her as a role model...

If people could see that HIS DAUGHTER is defending Amber Heard and if she could state about the abuses, and how this is important even if its someone of your family....Then I would think people may start to believe in her.

I will confess something to you anon: I was a HUGE depp fan. Huge. I would stay up to see his movies, even the bad ones just so I could say "I watch them all", I would buy tickets on the first say to see his movies in theaters, I used to have a Pirates poster from the video store on the wall. I used to think he was the MOST beautiful man ever. If you see my archive, you will see some jd posts that I used to post.

But you know, there is a time in your life you must question: What's really important to you? Does the facts , the injustices that occur around the world affect you? Do you feel empathy? Have you been in a similar situation? That's when I started to worry about politics, and feminism, and study about black feminism and the community of LGBTQIAP+.... Those topics for me are more important than a passion for a hollywood star for me. Because it's part of me, its part of my personality, of who I am. And to be honest, these topics are very important to me to a point that I cut contacts from friends that were having chauvinist, racists thoughts during the 2018 political year in my country.

But some people, even grown ups, they have a big trouble to accept the awful truth that sometimes we don't wanna see because they feel that comfort with those people and they don't wanna lose that. It can be a comfort of a ego, or maybe a crush, a passion, or affection. So yep, when I finally came to realize that Amber was being wrongly unfairly attacked, it did hurt because I thought : Wow, this guy who I thought was the most beautiful man is not who I thought he was. And I could be in denial but sometimes the truth screams at your face. And when you live something alike with people close to you, you know what is the pattern.

Of course I would have like to be a Johnny depp fan for my whole life time. But you know, I can't stand by the side of the opressor. This is not part of my values, of my personality. I recognize: he is wrong.

So, that' why I feel pity for those JD stans. Because they are in this struggle to face the reality. And not only JD reality. Maybe something deeper than that. The reality of their lives, the sadness of their lives. Sometimes people we adore they actually are monsters. And its not our fault to recognize and turn our backs. Saying to someone that we love "You are wrong!" sometimes can be an act of love.

Did I get too deep anon? You must be like: Wow, i should just shut my mouth so I dont have to read this book. lol

Sorry anon

Thanks again <3

[bigbullj]

Vol.3

Vic left in a hurry, leaving behind an aura of awkwardness and anxiousness. Miss Deepika let out a sigh of relief and asked for our opinions about the whole situation. We expressed our concerns, and for the most part, we felt the same way she did. We finished up and left soon after.

Outside, we met Vic. Though we tried to understand him, we still felt uneasy talking to him. However, he seemed remorseful when he apologized.

But that wasn't the case at all. He started calling Miss Deepika all kinds of names, showing no empathy or remorse whatsoever. He was not sorry for what he did; he only felt sorry that he got caught and that his scapegoats had exposed him.

To be honest, I didn't engage much in his conversations. I just made sounds to respond to his nonsense. I didn't pay much attention to him until the exams began.

When we went our separate ways and the time seemed good, I went to my phone and listened to a few tracks, reflecting on things and the circumstances that led to my situation. Above all, one particular friendship consumed my thoughts. Even though it wasn't my fault, I felt like a fool for caring. I cared about my friends, even though nobody seemed to feel the same way. It became the only thought in my mind.

I met Adya in high school. We both had Computer class together, and even though I don't remember how we met, it felt like we were close. We had a science project together, but we didn't have many common interests. However, her open and outgoing nature, coupled with her witty discourse and love for hip hop, made her stand out. We were good friends, although I wondered if I was as great a friend as I hoped to be. We bonded over music, and she loved discussing Netflix shows, especially her favorite at the time, Riverdale. Although the three of us—Adya, Ila, and myself—were not a trio, I always enjoyed spending time with them, talking about relationships and mundane aspects of the world. Even though I didn't involve myself in the high school drama, I predicted it would eventually affect me and shape my personality.

I should have taken my dad's advice: "It's better to be alone than be in the company of bad people." His words haunted me daily, and they continue to do so. But back to the story. It was the freshers' welcome for the new junior students, and it felt surreal to be in their presence. I wanted to do something nice for them since we had gotten to know them in the short time they spent with us. As seniors, we wanted to put on a performance for them. It was after the Sessional tests, and a sense of relief washed over us. However, that changed on a certain Monday when I came into class, enjoying my morning as usual. One of my friends, Alex, from the Arts stream came to me, and I jokingly said, "Don't beat me up." We both laughed, although his laughter seemed restrained.

He then hesitantly told me that there were rumors going around the school about Adya having a crush on him, along with another friend of hers. He wondered if I had told anyone about it. I answered truthfully that I hadn't and that I knew about the crush but had kept it to myself. I asked why he was asking this specific question, and he explained that a certain rumor was circulating, suggesting that I had been spreading the news about Adya's flirtatious behavior with multiple boys. I adamantly denied it, stating that Adya was my friend. I asked if she knew about the rumors and wondered how she was feeling. Unfortunately, the bell rang before I could get an answer, and I had to wait. Those first three classes felt like the longest of my life. I pondered whether I had really gone around telling people and questioned my naivety in engaging in such conversations. Had I always been that kind of person? I doubted myself, and my self-doubt fueled my insecurities. I felt like I wanted to disappear and hoped to see Adya as soon as possible.

Finally, it was time to meet her. I rushed to her and immediately told her it wasn't me. However, she didn't seem convinced and kept asking repeatedly if I had actually done it. I tried to talk and reason with her, but the teacher entered the classroom, interrupting us. For a brief moment, I saw the way she looked at me, and it became clear that she didn't believe me and couldn't trust me anymore. After the class, I couldn't even remember what we talked about. I just felt a deep sense of shame enveloping me. I knew I hadn't done anything wrong, but it felt like attending a funeral.

I tried asking people for their opinions, including my good friend Kit, who was somewhat like an uncle to me through family connections. He was always a larger-than-life figure, and everyone adored him. I asked him what he thought about the situation and whether he believed I had spread the rumors. I don't know why I asked, but I wanted an answer.

Since he was classmates with Adya, he explained that the rumor seemed to have originated from a group of girls in Adya's class. They wanted to add drama to her life, and I was the perfect scapegoat for their game. He continued, saying that those girls had started the rumors because Adya was pretty and outgoing, and they wanted to ruin her reputation and humiliate her. I felt horrible, like a dead fish. I couldn't do anything to help the situation, and I couldn't even say anything to Adya because I still believed it was my fault and my gullibility that had caused this. I distanced myself from her, sat further away in class, kept my head down when we sat close, and rushed to finish practicals so I could escape to the teachers' lounge. This went on for months. Eventually, the rumors subsided, and everything appeared normal again. However, I could never have that friendship with Adya again. I valued that friendship a lot, and I didn't speak to her for a long time. I did have some conversations with her during the science fair, but I was angry at her for reasons I couldn't explain. I couldn't handle talking to her or even looking at her. It weighed heavily on my heart, and I could only hide behind a smile. I couldn't even express how I truly felt, and I wondered if she would ever know. Part of me hoped she never would, as I couldn't turn back time. All I could do was look back at it with bittersweet memories