#like me as an artist? Like ive apparently had followers who like what I make and who’ve like

[acerathia]

drowning in you || Rafayel | Qi Yu

Summary:

Valentinesday doesn't work out, does it?

Wordcount: 2.5k

Read on AO3

Pairing:

Qí Yù | Rafayel / Reader | MC

Tags/CW:

established relationship, dancing and kissing in the rain, flirting, bathing and washing each other, non-sexual intimacy, references(spoilers) to Mainstory and Myth, Moles as lasting kisses from the last life, implied sexual content after fic, domestic fluff

Note:

Happy Valentines!! I wrote this bc I go insane for him oops

With a little smile, you let your phone slide back into your bag. Rafayel has told you to come to the park nearby, and you wonder what he’s planning, hopefully not another trip on a boat, the simple memory makes you shiver. After that incident, you would never trust him with an oar ever again. But because you’re supposed to meet him at the entrance of the park, you assume it must be something slightly drier.

– where r u? ive been waiting for ages

omw! close to the entrance of the park –

You round the last corner, and immediately spot his figure, arms crossed, close to the park. For a moment, you take your time to look at him, the way the sun shines between his hair, giving him some sort of underwater feeling. But you can’t help but squint when you notice his attire, one you have seen before, one Rafayel usually wears when meeting for some art stuff of his. You brush it off, it’s usual for him to wear something that draws the eye, being an artist and all, he does love showing his aesthetic with his clothes.

He seems to have sensed you, because he turns in your direction, and while you smile at him and hurry your steps to get closer to him, his lips push slightly forward.

“Finally, I thought you had forgotten about me! Did you look at the time? It’s been ages, I feel like I’m about to see fish walk on land,” he mutters the moment you stop in front of him.

“Well, I think I already see one,” you grin, before cupping his cheeks carefully. “In fact, this fish is right in front of me.”

The pout doesn’t disappear entirely, but it does soften as he leans closer to your skin. “See? I was right, you’ve left me waiting for too long.”

A huff of breath hits your face softly before he straightens up, not even waiting for your answer as he takes your hand in his, entwining your fingers together. “It doesn’t matter, you’re here now. Let’s go.”

Hand in hand, you both enter the park, and follow the path for quite some time. You have no idea what Rafayel wants to show you, so you only walk by his side, simply enjoying this quality time while looking around the place in peace.

The park seems huge, as before you both even arrived at his set destination, you begin to feel something cold hitting your head. You scrunch your face and look up, only for a drop of water to hit your cheek, your eyelids. You blink in surprise as the rain falls, multiplying with each second, with each step.

A groan, and your gaze immediately flicks to Rafayel, who’s gingerly holding a hand over his head. “Great, now everything is ruined… Did the weather forecast make a mistake? I even checked it for today” He turns to you and meets your eyes. “Let’s go back, c’mon.”

He sighs, disappointment apparent in the way his shoulders slump. “I guess, we’re going to make it up another time… Let’s hurry up and escape this annoying rain.”

You squeeze his hand as you follow his brisk steps into the direction you both came from. “It’s okay, spending time with you is more than enough for me.”

Your words only seem to make him walk faster, the rain hitting your face softly, and you can’t help but slow down slightly.

Laughing, you can’t help but tease him. “But let’s slow down a bit. You’re not going to turn into a mermaid the moment water touches you, are you?”

He turns around to face you, his face scrunched up in a pout. “How ridiculous! That only happens in those TV series. And we’re both already wet, wouldn’t it be too late to consider that anyway?” He cocks his head to the side, before a smug look takes over. “Unless you want me to turn into one to ogle at me, hm? Wouldn’t you like that?” With these words, he leans closer towards you, a grin over his plush lips.

Your eyes flick towards them before returning to his eyes, his lashes clumped and longer with the dripping water. You feel a heat creeping up your neck, and now you’re the one with a small pout on your lips. For a moment, you don’t have any comebacks, so you decide to do what always works the best.

Your free hand grabs his shoulders and you stretch slightly towards him. Your lips meet his. And despite the cold water, his skin is warm against yours. Without missing a beat, his arm sneaks around your waist, pulling you closer, stealing another peck before you could fully pull away.

Once there’s some space between your faces, you can’t help but grin at the redness spreading over the tips of his ears, but you want to see that color over his cheeks. So, you put your lips against his cheeks, closer to his ears.

“Of course I want to see you naked,” you whisper at him, and he immediately pulls away, the color bleeding into the rest of his face.

He holds his hands in front of his face, shielding it from your view. “Wh-what are you talking about?” he stammers, taking a small step back.

You can’t help but think how adorable he looks this flustered, but you stop teasing him, as the rain makes you feel cold, and you imagine he starts feeling the same. Taking his hand once again, you step closer to him and let your forehead rest against his chest.

Almost immediately, despite his embarrassment, his arm winds up against you, his face hot against the skin on your neck. Your other hand comes up to stroke through the wet strands of his hair, now closer to a darker blue when soaked like this.

You don’t know who starts it, but you both begin to slightly rock, a small dance under the rain, interlocked, heart against heart, listening to a tune only you both could hear.

“Let’s go home…” you whisper against his skin, feeling the goosebumps over it.

A sigh on your own skin, and he straightens up, his gaze wandering over your face, filled with something complex, something that warms you despite the cold seeping into your clothes.

Once he nods, you both are on your way again, heading towards the closest apartment of one of you. It doesn’t take long, and you’re glad to be out of the rain, because the moment you enter your home, the rain picks up, the wind sweeping over the streets. You really don’t want to know how it feels to be there.

Soaking wet, you begin to strip yourself of your shoes and socks. “I’m going to take a shower to warm up,” you tell him, and without words he just follows you on your heels.

It’s a burdensome task to get rid of the wet clothes sticking to your skin, but you manage it nonetheless. The heat of the turned on water is already spreading through the air, and you’re almost excited to get under it. With your focus on the upcoming warmth, a squeak of surprise escapes you, when you feel his cold fingers around your waist, his lips against the back of your neck.

You turn your head slightly towards him and kiss the corner of his lips, your fingers intertwining with his, before you fully turn around, your fingers carefully helping him out of his wet clothes, scattering soft kisses here and there over his cold skin. After that, you wordlessly pull him with you to stand under the warm rain of the shower.

For a moment, you let the heat seep into you, relax your muscles, before you grab the shampoo bottle. But instead of slathering it onto your own hair, you motion for him to lean down. Once he does, you put a good portion of the shampoo into his hair, and begin to massage it in, spreading it over his scalp and hair. You watch as he closes his eyes, leaning closer to you.

After you’re thoroughly done, you let him lean his head under the water once again, rinsing the shampoo out of his hair with soft strokes, your hands taking care of each strand, massaging his scalp. Once everything is truly gone, you grab one of your conditioners to take a bit of into your hands, spreading them over your palms before you begin to rub it into the ends of his hair.

A low hum sounds from him and he shuffles a little closer, his hands finding your waist, as always, keeping them there to anchor himself.

Allowing the conditioner to set, you grab his loofa, the one he has deposited ages ago, making himself at home in your home, sharing it with you. Making sure the foam has spread properly all over it, you begin to gently scrub his skin, his shoulders, his arms. You can’t help yourself but scatter some kisses here and there, on his jaw, on his neck.

Coming up to his chest, your eyes lock onto the tiny mole there. “Did you know, some people say that moles are an indication of where our past love has kissed us, over and over again,” you whisper against his skin before kissing the mole softly. “I will love you, for all of my lifetimes, over and over again… And I want to give you something to remember this one, and every one after…”

You’re vaguely aware that you have met Rafayel in your last lifes. And even if your memory is hazy, pieces coming up to you in blurry dreams, you know that you have loved him, and you will continue to love him, for as long as time allows you to exist.

You look up to him, his eyes wide, glazy with swirling emotions. Instead of saying anything, he leans down and catches your lips with his in something sweet, filled with love, of the past, present and future. You melt into his touch, into his warmth, into his steady presence. There isn’t another place you would love to be more than at his side.

For a moment, you let your thoughts focus on him, on the way he calls your name, on the way his ears blush when flustered, on the way he teases you with so much affection.

One last peck, and you continue with your endeavor, gently scrubbing his skin, massaging the tension out of his muscles.

After you make sure that he’s relaxed and clean, you once again guide him towards the water, letting the water glide over his body, warmth seeping into him and relaxing him a bit more. You gently grab his hair and massage all the conditioner away, until all that’s left are his pretty strands of hair.

Your lips meet his forehead, before you turn to take care of your own hair. But before you could even grab the bottle, he does, a bit of the liquid on his palms to slather onto your hair.

With the amount of knowledge he has on you, on your routine and day to day life, he manages to perfectly take care of your hair, his fingers carefully moving on your scalp, caressing the tension there out of your head.

A sigh escapes your lips and this time you’re the one stretching closer towards him, arms around his waist.

Rafayel rinses your hair carefully, each strand flowing through his fingers, and you enjoy each touch of his. Especially when he swipes your hair away to reveal your neck, placing a soft kiss there.

Despite being done, you both stay like this for a moment, his face against your shoulder, your fingers drawing random symbols on his skin, intertwined, skin to skin, warmth to warmth.

Just when you notice your fingers getting prune, do you turn off the water, reaching for the towels to dry up. You pass him his own, and watch as he dabs the water away, before wrapping it around his waist. You begin to feel a little bit warmer when he reaches up to swipe his hair away from his face, running his fingers through the strands, making them stick like that.

You turn around to take care of yourself and leave the bathroom to step into the bedroom, one supposedly belonging to you, yet filled with his trinkets and clothes. You step around some paint brushes clustered on the ground and grab a shirt and other clothes.

Once you put them on, you notice how the shirt belongs to him, something he has left behind after one of his escapades from the journalists. You don’t take it off though, rather you turn towards him as he pulls his pants on, a soft piece of clothing, perfect to sleep in.

His eyes glance up to you, getting stuck on his shirt on you, and you smile as you watch the redness bleeding into his ears, into his cheeks.

He crosses his arms, looking away. “So, you’re now also stealing my clothes now?”

You raise your eyebrows at this. “Uhm, what else have I stolen from you, Rafayel?” you ask, well aware that everything scattered around your place is due to him bringing it over. You can’t say you don’t love seeing his stuff around your place, though. It makes it more livelier, happier.

At your words, he turns around and begins prancing towards you, and you take a step back, your shins hitting the edge of the bed. He leans closer to your face, his eyes running over your face, admiring every single feature of yours, almost like his eyes have landed on an artwork.

You suddenly feel shy under his gaze, so you try to lean back, but when you try to do so, you end up falling onto the bed, sitting on the edge of it.

Instead of letting up, Rafayel puts both his hands on the side of your thighs, supporting himself on the bed to follow you.

“How dare you forget. You have stolen my heart, over and over again,” he whispers against your lips, before dipping in and taking a taste of your lips once again.

A small laugh of yours is drowned by his lips, as you wrap your arms around his neck, pulling him with you onto the bed. Drops of water fall onto your face from his wet hair, yet you don’t care at all. All that matters is him, Rafayel in your arms and his lips on yours.

With a puff of air, he lands on you, and as the kiss breaks apart for a moment, you take your time to admire his face, the soft lips, his translucent eyes, almost glowing every time he catches your gaze. He doesn’t give you much time, though, before he kisses you again, and again, each kiss making your heart thump with excitement, with all those emotions he manages to awaken in you.

And you’re happy to be the one waking up by his side, spending every lifetime as the person he loves. To be the person who loves him truly in every life.

You can’t help but shudder when his lips move over your jaw to your throat, when he softly murmurs against your skin.

“Let me drown in you…”

[mostinterestingmattinthewyrd]

Oops, there I go sewing again... A follow up to last year's MetalGreymon plush, what would be more appropriate to follow up with than WereGarurumon?

This came out to be a bit taller than I wanted, measuring about a foot tall if you don't include the ears, but I am incredibly happy with how it turned out! Its a MUCH smaller project than the last one, so it took just over four weeks to complete, and could have been done faster if life hadn't got in the way. But I love how detail dense it is, especially the pants! I also experimented with a new technique of using the string itself to make some of the details, like the scars and mouth, and I'm pretty pleased with the results. Once again, this model is made entirely out of felt and was entirely hand stitched (I don't know how to use a sewing machine...). This was a lot of fun to work on and I love how both figures look standing next to each other. Guess I'm going to HAVE to make four or six more...

Fun Fact: Apparently there are two designs of WereGarurumon. One with a tail and one without. I always assumed that art Ive seen of it with a tail was just an artistic choice or mistake, because the anime never gave it one, nor does the figure I used for reference. BUT the original artwork for it does have a tail, even if 99% of it is covered up. Anyway, I didn't realize this until the 11th hour, made one, and decided it looked better without one. I'm just obsessed with the fact that it took me about twenty years to figure that out...

Fun Fact 2: A lot of the comments on the MetalGreymon plush were asking how I'm able to make this sorts of things when I don't use any sorts of patterns, and I never really had an answer. I just understand how to material works, and that comes with experience. HOWEVER, I learned from my aunt, my Mom's sister, that she is able to do something similar and can recreate a pocketbook from just seeing it. And she told me that her grandmother, my great-grandmother, who immigrated from Cuba close to a century ago, and who died long before I was born, was also able to do this with dresses. So combine that talent with an ADHD fueled ability to sit and do a simple task for hours and hours, and you get an ability to make things (tm). Anyway, just a cool story about where my talents might come from that makes me feel connected to parts of my family that I never got to know.

[jqmalikhsgib]

stars

seven

hiding a baby bump isn’t as easy as it seems, especially when you’re in the spotlight! yn has done everything to hide her belly away from the world. she wore baggy clothes, big sweaters, heavy jackets, literally anything.

it was pretty obvious she’s hiding something. most people are just speculating she got bigger, others are saying she got surgery, and very few have guessed she’s pregnant. aaron had told her time and time he’s okay with her telling the world.

yn just wasn’t ready to share this precious moment with the world. this is her first pregnancy and she deserves to keep somethings to herself! it’s only fair she gets a little bit of privacy away from the constant prying eyes that has been following her for years.

she loves what she does. loves making music, touring, traveling around the world, going to big events, she loves it all! but she deserves to have a private life just as much as the rest of the world.

unfortunately, not most people think she deserves that! it’s why she’s in complete tears when she sees someone had invaded her privacy when she was out grocery shopping this morning. if someone looked close enough they’d see a very small bump forming.

“do you think rihanna’s pregnant?”

“looks like a bump to me, kate! but it could just be my eyes deceiving me.”

“i can assure you, that is a baby bump! i know one when i see it. ive been pregnant too many times to count. rihanna definitely is pregnant, tim!”

“you heard it here first, folks! looks like our beloved rnb—pop star is expecting one of her own! the question is, who’s the baby’s father?”

“i thought she’d been dating an fbi agent, tim?”

“sources told me she’s exploring her options. apparently things aren’t too serious with mister fbi agent. rihanna just doesn’t see herself being with someone who doesn’t understand her lifestyle. i heard she’s been seeing rapper drake and a few other artists out there. this could be anyone from rapper drake’s baby to actor leonardo dicaprio to mystery man. the options are endless!”

“well, let’s just hope she knows who baby daddy is. we’ll be back with more hollywood scandals!”

yn immediately called her manager. she wanted to get to the bottom of who did this to her. after she got off the phone she called aaron next. she knew he was most likely busy with paperwork, knowing he would have called her immediately if he had a case somewhere.

when aaron answered his guard went up quickly when he heard his wife whimpering. “darling, what’s wrong? is jack okay? is the baby okay?! tell me?”

“aaron, they—they—”

“breath, darling. take a deep breath for me. that’s right, slowly. now, tell me what’s wrong?”

yn explained the situation and aaron is livid. he hated that her privacy was invaded like that. he hated it even more they’re painting his wife to be screwing everyone with a pulse. it’s sickening!

aaron let’s her know he’s coming home immediately! he doesn’t care about work at this moment. she’s more important to him than anything. yn waits patiently for her husband to arrive home.

in the meantime she cuddles up to her boy while watching cartoons. she’s trying to get her mind off of everything. when aaron arrives yn runs to his and hugs him tightly.

“it’s gonna be okay, sweetheart. we’ll sue! they have no business airing out your story before you’re ready!”

yn just wants her boys to. nothing else mattered in that moment.

“mamma, you okay?”

yn turns and gives her boy a small smile. “yeah, baby. your baby brother or sister just making mamma emotional. come on, i want cuddles from my boys!”

aaron smiles as the small family cuddle on the couch. yn will just deal with everything else tomorrow!

[jennilah]

i woke up and chose violence today

rant below!! an actual soapbox rant about some shit that annoys tf out of me

but still under a cut and unrebloggable bc im still a coward just an annoyed coward

"_ fandom is dead"

"the tumblr/twitter fandom is dead"

"any variation of a fandom being dead"

Im about to be under your bed

Is it really dead?

well considering im still following some moots of over 10+ years that still regularly reblog new art and fics for fandoms Ive seen called "dead" many times in the past, fandoms that havent had new content in years, it's probably not

also, the older the fandom, consider how much more ridiculous your claim is. if the media is from fucking 20 years ago and still getting art and fic in any capacity, I dont wanna hear shit about shit being "dead" because there was a slow month of content on tumblr.com

What is really happening?

well if its for an ongoing fandom and there's a noticeable slow period, ask yourself... are we in-between episodes? in-between movies? in-between games? the fandom is not dead, sheesh. everything naturally slows down a while after canon content stops being made. doesn't mean it's dead.

what is happening is that artists and fic writers and other fandom enjoyers that are still out here making plenty of "content" for you (to absorb in 2 seconds and then demand more like they're machines, btw) see your dumb little comment and look around like ???

like ok what am I, chopped liver? I'm still out here making plenty of content, am i dead to you?

what are you doing to keep the active community alive and motivated? are you actually liking and sharing their art? reading their fics and leaving nice comments?

orrrrrrrr do you only care when its your favorite artists making content?

its like. very obvious when its the biggest artists who arent making art anymore cause they moved to a new fandom or whatever and suddenly here come the "the fandom is dead" posts

i know from experience that it just makes everyone else feel like they dont "count." theyre just the backup "favorite" artists when the real "favorite" artists are away, because you don't have a choice anymore.

it feels so god damn disrespectful and dismissive. like thank god i will draw whatever tf i want whether it gets 1 like or 3000 but whenever i see that kind of comment I cant help but go "well the fandom is dead apparently so I guess I'll just throw my ideas and wips away huh???"

and most people are kind. i dont think those big artists would be very happy to hear you're dismissing an entire fandom's worth of creativity just because they havent drawn for it in a while

i keep saying artist but this goes for anyone who contributes to fandom in any way. even just posting headcanons and stuff is participation. and those fics need people to read them, after all.

ive yet to see any fandom actually die. but you will kill your creators' motivation if you keep saying its dead

[twilightknight17]

Today on P3R, we’re technically covering three play sessions, because I didn’t have time to make a post before Katsucon. But a lot of that was Tartarus, so it’s not actually too much. ^_^

(Katsu pictures are coming at some point.)

Anyway, we’re off to Tartarus to train some and play with the new special attacks we got last time we were here! And get a little higher while we’re at it, so, let’s g--

Oh god oh fuck not you

It’s not the boss version, so it’s fine, but I didn’t think things showed up as enemies until after they were bosses???

The other reason we were in Tartarus was to get black quartz to trade to the guy in Escapade for a discount on fashion glasses. (Is there somewhere that will buy my gemstones? The police station won’t, and I get why, but like… I just have these.)

She looks very nice in those, actually.

Back at school, we’re still having a time. Odagiri of the student council has moved on to accusing the vice president over this one cigarette. And is not being diplomatic about it.

I’m gonna mess up his social link just because I keep not agreeing with him on these things. X’’’D

I’ve also met Keisuke Hiraga of the art club, who is a very good artist, but his dad is a doctor, so he’s also… Very Fussy. XDDDD

I can now hang out with my friends in the dorm, and I still think it’s weird that it calls them social links when I can’t start any of the girls’ links yet, and I can’t actually link with Junpei and Akihiko. I had tea with Mitsuru, though, and watched DVDs with Yukari, read manga with Junpei, and cooked with Akihiko. It’s nice! And some of them do give me stat boosts and items, so that’s cool.

I’m smooth now~

...well, shit. Here we go.

Minato’s theurgy skills are apparently the fusion spells, which you’re allowed to use even when you don’t have the actual personas with you, which is nice. The two I have so far are Orpheus and Apsaras’ Cadenza, and the Jack Bros doing a standup routine, which is cute.

I also got my first introduction to the Reaper. None of these floors really seem large enough to worry about it, so I think this appearance was scripted. Easy enough to get away from, though.

Nice.

Wait, what??? Can it do that??????

Once we found the missing girl, we escorted her back to the entrance, and I kept going til I found the next barrier floor. We’re done for now, so it’s time to go work on some more requests. Liz has a good one here. :D

I love that all the Velvet attendants have a soft spot for Jack Frost.

We also get our first intro to Koromaru!

Apparently he walks himself each day, since his owner at the shrine passed away. He stops for pets, but then carries on with his routine all on his own. He’s such a good dog. T_T

Ikutsuki drags us away from fussing over Koromaru to have a proper SEES meeting. He’s concluded that the Full Moon Shadows we’ve seen so far follow the Arcana from I to IV, and that there should theoretically be eight more, spanning from the Magician to Strength. And if we destroy them all, it will get rid of Tartarus and the Dark Hour, and we will have saved Iwatodai from Apathy Syndrome!

...they are us. There’s not much more we can say, Ikutsuki.

Yeah, let’s go to the mall after that seriousness. We can check out a new social link!

...oh yeah because this won’t go wrong.

School is still kicking my ass because this school is insane. But Junpei gets it, at least.

I can’t spend time with Fuuka unless my courage is badass-level, because apparently her food is just that scary. She wants me to be a badass, Mitsuru wants me to be a genius… Is Yukari gonna want a casanova or something? X’D

And even though Mitsuru wants me to be a genius, she called the police because she thought Junpei’s messy room meant someone had broken in.

And, as my last act before leaving for Katsu, these guys have made their first appearance, executing people in the Dark Hour based on requests on a revenge website. I don’t know how they wake people up from the coffins, but Tattoo Man over here is blasting people with a real gun, so that’s gonna be a problem~

.

[KATSU INTERMISSION]

.

I return from my convention, happy and optimistic, and school is immediately still full of bullshit. XD

You know, Keisuke, if you dad doesn’t want you to be an artist, and wants you to take over the hospital, why does he have fancy paintbrushes?

Anyway, Keisuke is about to win an art contest and gain the opportunity to study art abroad. And his dad is actually encouraging him to study abroad, so now he doesn’t know if he wants to do it because he doesn’t want to do what his dad wants. It’s kind of ridiculous, but the Fortune Arcana is all about choices, so… I guess.

We’re also off to fashion club to hang out with Bebe, who is actually surprisingly lovely despite being French. I appreciate his utter weeaboo enthusiasm. But… his aunt passed away unexpectedly, and he doesn’t know if his uncle will support letting him continue to study abroad. So not only is he upset that his aunt is gone, he also might have to leave the country he loves.

Neither were you, dude! It’s okay!

This is not quite NieR Automata levels of “everything is bad”, but things are pretty bad. I mean… people are just leaving the Lost laying on the sidewalks. :/

The Lost are the ones with Apathy Syndrome, but everyone else seems pretty apathetic, too.

I took Elizabeth to Iwatodai Station, and we had a lovely time.

The takoyaki lady can see her, which, don’t worry, ma’am. Just showing my weird cousin around. She won’t tell me what’s in the takoyaki instead of octopus, though, because apparently the knowledge would be detrimental. Which… okay, Liz. Thanks. That’s not worrisome at all.

When last I saw Maiko, she was planning to ask her parents why they were getting a divorce, in the hopes of being able to fix it. Which, not a great plan, but I couldn’t actually stop her. She wants to talk now, though, so we’ll see how that wen--

WHERE IS HE

Maybe we can throw them into Tartarus. Fucking hell. Maiko wants to run away from home so that her parents are forced to work together to find her, and I am NOT allowed to beg Mitsuru to let her stay at the dorm. This sucks so much. She wants me to keep her plan a secret, but good lord. This is going to go so badly.

I go home to stew on my thoughts and play computer games for babies to up my courage.

However that works. X’D

Lastly, I’ve reached my first choice that could potentially reverse a social link, I think?

We commit scandalous hand-holding, and it’s nice. Chihiro clearly has a crush on me, but I don’t know who I want to date, yet. OBVIOUSLY, I have my preference, but since my preference isn’t available, I dunno. Fuuka is nice. Mitsuru is… great, but also SO far out of my league. XDDD

Pharos came back for my one-week full moon reminder, so I guess that’s up next. They keep implying it’s gonna be the Lovers shadow, since couples are passing out and someone mentioned Shirakawa Boulevard, but I thought Hierophant was next.

Ah, well.

[silver-queen]

v off topic but what is up with project moon lately ive been vaguely aware of workplace stuff happened but dunno much

id ask u if ur ok w/ explaining it to me but if u cant dw bout it

hope u have a nice day btw

I don't mind but be aware I'm not fluent In korean nor abut the social climate there 😔 and thank you!

I'm gonna recall what I know so it's going to be long, but long story short, Kim Jihoon (Project Moon's CEO) fired the CG artist vellmori immediately after some guys from korea's equivalent of 4chan (DCInside) accused her of being a feminist.

This isn't the first time something like this happened in the korean gaming industry, but this particular event kind of uncovered a whole lot of issues in other things, from Project Moon's shortcomings to as far as the korean gaming industry itself.

I don't know where to start, but the whole thing happened because a beach mini-event featured one of the female character in a full wetsuit and not in a bikini, nevermind that Project Moon is known for rarely, if ever feature fanservice. A group of people from DCInside directed their outrage to the main art director and artist of said character's skin, but once they found out that the artist is a man, they pivoted to the CG artist, despite the fact she's not responsible any character design in the game.

DCInside started to give Limbus Company a negative review on all platforms it was on for it's "feminist agenda" demanding for vellmori to be fired, and when PM took too long with complying with their demand, ten people took it to themselves and stormed Project Moon's office. The situation seemed dire, we tried supporting Project Moon because we thought they weren't the type of company who would side with people like them.

PM responded by posting an announcement (only in korean at the time to try to keep the international fanbase in the dark) that vellmori was to be dismissed from her position for "causing controversy"

Said controversy is that DCinside dug a deleted post vellmori retweeted when she was a teen speaking out against a spycam epidemic in women's bathroom. That was five years ago and long deleted, but apparently it was still a valid reason to dismiss her from the company.

Vellmori mentioned in a korean newspaper that Kim Jihoon fired her over the phone at midnight when he was still in Japan in preparation for a game expo. This was before Project Moon released any follow-up statement after the first one.

Project Moon then released another statement that vellmori was merely dismissed, but not fired, and that they aren't disclosing anything more to protect her. They also threatened to sue everyone who spread misinformation, which is hard to define since PM wasn't clearing up anything.

During this many former employees came forward about the poor management they experienced and the lack of employee protection in PM. The visual artist of Leviathan, the prologue comic/novel for Limbus Company mentioned that she was forced within a tight schedule (a chapter every week) without room to make buffer pages in her schedule. When she tried to negotiate for a scheduling change, Kim Jihoon instead cut her contract short.

The english translator for both Limbus Company and it's twitter announcements, in a separate incident, was harassed and cyberstalked on social media, yet Project Moon did nothing to defend him. Kim Jihoon has proven before that he could stand up for his employees, like he did with PM's cafe when customers harassed the staffs. Granted, the translator said that he doesn't want anyone to criticize Project Moon for not defending him, but his letter is still depressing to read, especially when he revealed he had to work on chapter 3.5 overnight while his family member was diagnosed with cancer.

MIMI, the artist for Lobotomy Corporation's spinoff comic Wonderlab, shortly took down the comic due to dissatisfaction with the company.

A youth union was created in response to the controversy, demanding a clear announcement over vellmori's employment status and to compensate her.

PM responded that yes, vellmori has been fired, and claims that she wishes her privacy to be protected to avoid revealing anything further about her dismissal, even though she had already talked to a newspaper about it.

And until this day Project Moon went on a crusade against everyone who directly speak against their decision, from suing peaceful truck protestors and unions, and yet they barely addressed the incels from DCInside who started this all in the first place. The infamy of this incident also brought attention to the rampant misogyny in South Korea, especially in the gaming industry.

Honestly this isn't the first time they folded from the slightest bit of pressure, but the first time it was because a review bomb on Library of Ruina because some blokes didn't like the original ending. I don't know. I feel like they're going to foster a fanbase that thinks they can get whatever they want if they cause a big enough ruckus when things don't go their way. I don't want to be part of that so I've been steering away from the fanbase even if I'm still fond of PM's stories.

Sorry this got long and I don't have complete sources, most of this is what I recall from witnessing it firsthand and I really don't feel like looking for Xitter posts 😭 this post is more complete if you'd like to read more.

[ezzy-artzz]

Twitter followers, read here please

Hello everyone who supports me on twitter,

So update :  There is none, simply twitter has not yet responded to my perma suspension appeal. I have no idea why I was suspended, don't know if someone had it out for me, or if it was a bot on twitter's end but after some extensive research I've figured out that the likelihood of them responding anytime soon is pretty small. With that I've decided just to wait and hope to god it's months and not a year or so, because they're apparently known for that if you aren't a celebrity or some big shot. But anyway this has killed me a bit since most of my following was on twitter and now it feels like I'm back to base 1, it's a bit underwhelming, won't lie it's kind of depressed me a bit the past week but with that I've spent more time with my family and such and also been making strides in fixing my home and myself. I don't know what to really do, I have my tumblr, mastadon, and DA though... not that anyone ever responds to commission or ych posts though on da much because they butchered it, so this is a huge problem. If you can throw suggestions of popular places I can get commission work easier since twitter is being an ass, I would be so grateful. This will NOT hold me back from working on art and progressing as a creator, we've come to far to let this ruin what I've spent quite a bit to build, even if my following wasn't as big as some artist. Anyway hope you're all doing well and are staying safe and being as happy as possible IRL, Ill be posting art soon, just had to take my dog to the vet to be spayed I get her back tomorrow and again repairing stuff in my home, so ive just been heckin busy.

[shamelessrabbithole]

i didn’t know cameron was featured in a photoshoot/book like that, i must search a bit for it but that’s exactly what i mean! another thing is that we know cameron in the sense that we’re fans and we know a bit of the behind the scenes of his personality and hobbies but others who follow him don’t!

i’m sure there are lots that are there for star wars or shameless still that don’t really go deep into his personal life, imagine following an actor because you like him and want to have updates but you just keep seeing those pictures instead. it feels like you’re belong flashed lol (it’s a strong word but how do i say, i didn’t sign up for that it’s uncalled for)

maybe if he had another account to share pictures then it would be okay cause it’s another thing that i decide if i want to see especially if he has a sort of portfolio where i can see what he pictures (aka some sort porn kinky shots)

i understand that being an artist, actor or whatever— being in the industry might make nudity and sexuality less of a taboo or something ‘private’, but i still find it so wrong of him to do that. i read that one of the girl he pictured has a OF and apparently she’s the one he messed around that was 19 at the time? ( and was 4/5 years older? )

let’s say he’s a reminder that men will be men, everything we know from him just keeps piling up and it’s not exactly a great look for him. i’m thinking of when he posted the post-work out pictures, where he posted him laying on his gf (at the time) and making out, the photoshoot with payton in the bath, the pictures he took of madison being naked in front of him… it keeps making me think, why? why do you need to do that so badly. it’s like he wants to direct a r18 movie but since being a pornographer is a bad look he hides behind being ‘artistic’

i do not mind nudity in art but the way he does it looks ‘dirty’ and not as a celebration of the human body. even with the recent shoot where he’s directing his friend, a room full of women, just women and he’s there taking pics of the girl in her underwear and the first thing you see are her open legs (and so her private part thankfully covered) .

((random thought but ive always found it interesting how the closest friend he has from the shameless cast still is a woman, cause once again he surrenders himself with girls all the time, despite that actress being around for less than the others he basically grew up with. this is surely me nitpicking but with everything im noticing it’s just weird))

does he even have a PR team cause someone needs to sit with him and talk it out!

I agree with some of your assessments, like you’re keeping up with him for work updates, not nudity and borderline fetish content belonging to his friends. It can be jarring and unnecessarily in-your-face.

I happen to not be easily shaken by the stuff he posts. I’m more perplexed by it than put off by it, and if given the choice of complete privacy and social isolation versus the stuff we do get from him, then I choose what we get.

There are 2.8 million eyes on his instagram page, but realistically, how many people really take that deep an interest in this sort of thing. A few thousand? I don’t think a publicist needs to intervene and set him straight. He’s so far posted nothing x-rated or so controversial that it would get him canceled, so to me, it’s really all pretty innocent in the grand scheme of things.

[argent-sz]

hiii hii omg hii im gonna go on one of me late night delirious rambles! read at your own discretion or not, whatever fuck ! you(endearinggly and maybe some sort of innuendo idk im tired im not in tune with my emotions as for every night im emotionally vulnerable after 7:30pm to the poitn where i could be head over heels for any sort of confident flirt or tease directly pointed wat me but you shouldnt worry about knowing that)

:readmore:

some days i wish i could.. disassociate from certain people by publicly saying it, like, "heyy this guy isnt my friend anymore bc we dont talk ever its not drama i just dont have any middle ground to even talk about of something we clearly do not have in common" and well its not like im dropping hints either, .

somedays i just... want to shed my entire online prescense to be vborn again but keep the relationships with friends intact, like changing names, which im not gonna do.

it doesnt helps that i had struggles with my online being, and the ideas of "starting over" or burning social bridges were ever present back then as they are todday, its not good, but i'd like to be able to really deattach from the notion that im friends with everyone, its hard to maintiain that status even if i didnt rightfully attributed it, i dont wanna start over, but i also dont want people to egg me about me cutting off someone who i only talked to exactly ONCE.. ONCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

for as far as i remember i dont have a personality of my own, i have my own interest and tyoping quirks, but all ive heard about me being spoken about is mostly, the same, and somehow my "reputation" precedes me, there are random furries that know me, the kind that have like a billion followers, and we dont have anything in common, i know why and whats the source but i dont. i shouldnt, do the thing im thinking about, it wouldnt be nice for Anyone , but popufurs???? know about me??? not exactly scary but unnerving to some degree, these are the kind of people that get into those weekly "furry dramas" and ugh its a matter of time that im forced to pikc a side AGAIN, for like, the 5th time.

and i just think of the "what could've been" with people i used to talk about often, before we were forced to pick a side or end on the opposite's callout post, good thing ive never been featured in one, and idgaf if someone blocked me bc of me being a follower of random furry artist #128732187812973 but cmon , iim just tired, im tired of being noticed by people that i cant even look in the eyes, bc were simply so many levels apart!!! its not undair, but its. undeserved for them to speak my name, any of my names, any of my gamer tags, any semblance of Me.

someday, i want to create petty furry drama (bc its easily manufactured apparently) where i make something that resonates with a Lot of furries, and a popufur reblogs it and i just comment on it "oops popufur reblog" and delete the original post, w who was it that reblogged it??? idk, did i even knoe them? no and i dont wanna, they got like more than idk 2k followers, they can get to know one of them 2k followers, theres probably a guy with a monochromatic fcanine fursona with long haur in there, i can guarantee it, fuck you!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you dont know me!! i you cant control me!!!! ic cant even controll my seklf!!!! YEAOW

also if someone says to me irl "i like your shoelaces" im gonna say kill yourslef!! jk tho, you dont know me you don t know me you dont know me you dont wknow me you dont know me you dont know me your jkndont know me you do NOT know me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression Ep 1 - Haruna Fuuka files lawsuit against internet slanderers

*with Kaoru (K), Joe (J), Tasai (T) , who is a journalist writing for the newspaper Tokyo Sports, and Kami/god.*

Kaoru: Hi, this is Dir en grey's Kaoru. Have you heard of 'The Freedom of Expression' somewhere before?

Joe, Tasai : *noding*

K: I've a feeling we've done this before...

J: Thats right, yes...Its not a feeling, we actually did.

K: We are reviving the show we did on the radio station InterFM from 2015-16, on youtube this time.

J: Awesome

*applause*

J: I was really happy when I was first told about the revival.

K: I was also surprised *laughs*

J: Its not that you were made to revive the show though, right Kaoru?

K: The suggestion just came at me.

J: Oh really, like 'How about it?'

K: Like, 'Wanna tryy?' 1*

J: Ah, in a Kansai accent?

K:Yes yes

J: Like, 'Lets tryyy'..kind of thing...it started like that *laughs*

K: Yep

J: We did quite a lot (on InterFM). We even did a special edition

K, T : Yes, we did

J: We even made stickers

K: Brazil!

J:Yes

T: Ah, the live broadcast..at the Olympics

J: It was Dobashi san...Bishbash Dobashi san.

T: It would be good if we could do another live broadcast at this year's Tokyo Olympics.

J: On this You tube channel?

T: Yes *laughs*

J: A live broadcast might be a bit difficult legally, as for the Olymipcs *T laughs*

K: Um, thats *shhh*

J: Oh, its a secret!' *K laughing*  Maybe if were are asked by Tokyo Sports..?

K: Yes yes...So, as to the freedom of expression... 

Kami/god: Wait, wait, wait..I've come down too.

J: Oh, Kami?

K: He's saying it from himself *laughs*..I thought he would come if we beckoned him though.

J: Thats what usually happened. He was the kind of god that would come down after we called him, but now a god that comes down on his own accord.

K: Wasn't he like that before too? Should we keep him in reseve a bit more?

J: He'll want to appear, we can't help it?

Kami: You were forgetting about me!

K: We are not forgetting you!

Kami: You musn't forget your god!

*laughing*

T: We are not forgetting you!

Kami: Its not good!

J: You are always in our hearts.

T: Yes, he is.

Kami: Yes, thats it..you have to think like that.

J: But, you are not in the studio today, kami?

Kami: Oh..um, im just getting off a night shift..

J: A night shift?!

K: Ah, but it was like that before..

Kami: Right.

J: You are doing night shift work again? *Tasai laughs*

Kami: yes, thats right.

K: That was a while ago wasn't it, how many years ago?

J: Oh, is this the night shift season?

Kami: No, its..

T: You worked for ￥1000 per hour right?

Kami: Yes, yes...my hourly rate has risen a bit though. They were telling me 'Take a rest, take a rest', so my income dropped.

J: Ahh, its what they called a 'reformed working style', right?

Kami: Right

J: Its tough for you too, Kami.

Kami: *laughs* Yes it is.

K: He's the same as ever...  so lets get started.

J, T: Please

K: Ah, by the way, Tasai san, as well as Bishbashi Dohashi san, wasn't there another person before (at InterFM)?

T: Yes..a beastly guy *K laughs* An old aquaintance of the listeners', a guy called Monster Hiranabe.

J: Its a strange story, but once when a certain celebrity died, Hiranabe-san called me up, and asked me if I had known the deceased guy...as soon as I said that I hadn't known him very well, he hung up on me straight away!

T: Thats awful!

J: He is awful

T: This very guy, Hiranabe, even got a promotion from the manager.

J: Eh? Promoted to what?!

T: To Director

J:Eh?! Really?

K: Is that okay??

J: No, it'll be terrible!

K: Right, lets move onto the main news...I'd like to get deeper into the concept of 'The Freedom of Expression'.

J: Right, so Haruna Fuuka has filed a lawsuit againts those who engage in 'internet slander'.

A tweet stated 'Both her parents created a failure'.

On Jan 14th, 18 year old Haruna and her mother filed a lawsuit at Yokohama district court demanding ￥2,654,000 in damages from a person engaged in spreading falsehoods which have damaged her dignity.

On the acknowledgement that these tweets went beyond what was deemed acceptable by society at large, on Nov 1st the internet provider was ordered to make public the persons name and address etc.

Haruna has been tweeting since the age of 9, giving her opinion at random about society's problems, and creating a stir. She now has over 200,000 followers and is fighting 10 years of slander. Kaoru, what do you think about this?

K: Well..I mean, naturally, you'd feel like that..

J: Hmm, but I don't know the details but..the name of the defendant has been withheld...well, its a common problem that as a person speaking in the public eye, you are going to get criticism along with praise...like a 'fame tax'.  That said, how far do you go before honour is damaged? On SNS, you are of course free to express yourself, you can write what you want, but the issue is what constitutes damage to honour. This might be a very difficult area in which to draw a legal line, but on the other hand, if you don't draw a legal line, things may escalate out of control...Kaoru, what do you think?

K: Well for example, if banter between friends is written down...controlling that...Its best not to look at whats written in the first place.

J: Ah, the person in question right? By the way Kaoru, its a strange question, but do you search for yourself online?

K: No, not really. I hear things, the office staff will tell me.

J: Oh, if anything is being said?

T: In the world of fame its quite true, that even if 98 or 99 opinions out of 100 are good, the one negative thing will stand out.

K: Well, yes, its the bad things that..

J: On the other hand, from the writers'  perspective at Tokyo Sports, how far are you willing to slander someone? You could write an article in a good or bad way..

T: Of course balance is important, but of course, if the courts want to complain to us, they can call us, and start an exchange, but in the case of slanders on the internet, its like, who do you complain to? So, if you ask celebrities, they will say Tokyo Sports slander is better than anonymous online slander because at least they can complain to our face.

J: Mm, absolutely. Just how far do we protect these tweets, these freedoms of expression? Its difficult.

K: Are these really 'expressions'?

J: Well, esentially, yes. When you say 'tweets' you think of nonsense, but really its media expressing things, or artists expressing things..

K: Yes, yes, you can get a sense of individual expression.

J: And this especially has the power to influence...

K: Yes, and people get swept up in it.

J: I think this is universal, but at the moment I think Japan is bit like a geyser, people will rush towards any incident and some will start complaining, I mean, I think its important to say what you feel, but its complaining without trying to solve anything, only satisfying yourself.

K: Thats it

J: Its sounds strange to say, but it ends like masturbation. If it turns into something towards a soloution its ok, but just creating thoughtless slander to satisfy yourself is questionable.

K: So its often said, if you continue the conversation only looking at the bad things, it can't be helped. There are also good people out there..you know, put more importance on those people. How to put it...its like we said before, if you focus too much on that one out of a hundred, its kind of rude to the other 99.

J: I see. Still this person has over 200,000 followers and its said she has been fighting slander for ten years.

T: She's always been a bit of a talking point online. I'll just search for her.

J: I also have Instagram, I do stuff to do with societal problems on The Dave Fromm show's youtube channel, and whenever I upload about it (on IG), my followers decrease!  *everyone laughs* Outrageously decrease! Im serious, despite getting so far, that channel updates every week, and with every update my followers decrease. Maybe people hate reading about societal problems..*to Tasai* What did you find?

T: So for example there was that thing recently about regulating gamers to 60mins per session, she had quite a few things to say about that, playing vs learning etc.

J: I see..Young people do complain, well you can't really tell here, but on the other hand, young people these days, i know they would hate us old guys talking about this, but young people apparently have three main taboos. The first is talking about sex, they dont follow this, the second is politics, they don't follow this either, and the other one is, they don't like being made to talk about the kind of things that they really need to be talking about...there seems to be this kind of trend. So i think in this way...theres a chance Haruna is getting right to the point of this. But certainly, applying the law in a way that recognises infringement/damage to honour by way of personal utterances has the potential to lead to restrictions on the freedom of expression. Its a difficult play off, isnt it?

T: Yes, it really is

J: Obviously, when it comes to race, or racial discrimination, there has come to be rules concerning hate speech and so on, but how far can you regulate one-to-one slandering, or..how far can you protect the person being attacked? Should the country or the judiciary decide this? Its difficult.

K: Kami, what do you think? Are you there?

Kami: Well, I hear slanders towards me all the time *everyone laughs* Like, god tells lies, god is useless, or even that there is no such thing as god!

J: Ahh, i see. They deny you!

Kami: Yes, thats it. If I care about those things, I lose!

J: Do you search for yourself online?

Kami: I do. *everyone laughs* ..and whenever I do its only ever those things that come up.

J: Ah of course...Kami, you have an exceptionally good handle on social media  dont you?

T: He's great

Kami: Ive got a good handle on it.

J: Do you use an iphone?

Kami: I have two.

J: God has two iphones! Thats brilliant.

Kami: Yep, I have two...im not allowed to use them while im working.

T: Does he have a contract? With his address and such?

J: I can't tell whether he's great, or whether he's not so great...

Kami: If i care, I lose...I prefer them to hate me, rather than to be indifferent to me.

K: Kami, what do you think about playing computer games for one hour?

Kami: If the kid is good at it, they should keep doing it.

T: I see, i see.

J: Ohh not sure about that. That seems a bit out.

Kami: No, i really think so. Skilled kids can carry on playing.

K: Should unskilled ones give up?

Kami: Yes, they shouldn't do it...When they play all day, and they just can't clear the level..that kind of kid.

K: Its a waste of time right?

Kami: Exactly, its a waste.

J: They should do something else?

Kami: Yes

K: You should quit if you have no talent for it?

Kami: Yes, yes, its talent.

J: Well, just getting off a nightshift must be tiring.

K: For us too, you know, we should try not to say 'stop it' too quickly...we have to keep it interesting.

Kami: It was interesting though, I was listening.

T: Oh thank you.

Kami: But don't tell lies about me.

T: If you thought it was interesting, you should write about it on your social media.

Kami: Yeh, everyone pretends on social media anyway, they won't know its me.

K: Well, that was the first episode of 'The Freedom of Expression' but, should I ask how it was..? *laughs*

J: But, being together again after a while was refreshing..

K,T: Yes, thats right

T: Im happy.

J: So am I.

K: Well, so we started in this vein....Tune in next time to see how it goes.  So this time, only this camera, theres nothing here *gestures behind*, but if lots of people watch, we could go different places, increase our cameras. I still don't know about your fee, Joe.

J: Eh?! What do you mean? It says here my fee will stay the same!

K: I might have to lower it *laughs*

J: *coughs* You're only lowering mine?...But everyone please subscribe.

K: Yes please. Please look forward to next time. Thank you very much.

1* They are saying 'How about this?' in a Kansai accent, how to translate that??

[theredleopardposts]

Servitors Chapter Two

Chapter Two: Lay of the land

By HMK07

Beatrice Montes sniffed the afternoon air as her leathery wings glided her pitch black white veined demon form through the air at speeds comparable to a jet. "Ah Freedom, how ive missed it! I could eat all up." Beatrice mused as she twisted her body in the air ripping through the Detroit Michigan skyline. She then spied a dark haired, brown coated figure with blue transparent wings ahead of her about half a mile, The Unifying King. Both the murderer of her father warlock Michio Montes and her liberator The Unifying King alias Ardor Joncour sparked a mixture of emotions within Beatrice but for now she had no choice but to trust him. The Unifying King slowed his pace "You needn't worry Beatrice Montes, my home isn't much further".

Beatrice frowned trying to sound polite as possible "Just great your majesty. Im sure grateful for your offer as are my friends". Beatrice turned her head back and noticed her companian's the fire and ice demons, Paul and Frank flitting through the air. The two demons had served her and her father Michio Montes before her they were the closest thing she had to family allowing her to boss them around even though they were both older and stronger than her. Paul sped up towards Beatrice flanking her right side as Frank flanked her left as they followed the Unifying Kings pace. Paul smirked at Beatrice "Just look at him, youd think he was born into royalty or something! So B are we gonna get the drop on him and take his home from him? I mean killing the king would earn us alot of cred and allow us to establish ourselves in this new era".

Beatrice had considered the option of betraying the Unifying King but if half the stories she, Paul and Frank had heard from other paranormals about his majesty had been true then backstabbing him was not an option. Beatrice shook her blonde head of messy hair "No, boys we will wait until the time is right after weve regained our strength. Understood?" Paul nodded in agreement "Gotcha B". Frank nodded his agreement as well "Yes Beatrice".  "Ahem, were here" the Unifying King spoke interrupting the trio's plotting as a massive three story mansion began to come into view. "What the hell, he actually owns a friggin castle?" Beatrice marveled at the size of the building, it was made up of three stories of greying dusty bricks with a red brick roof, dirt stained windows, a tower on both side of structure. Beatrice also noticed healthy green vines stretched across its outer walls giving the mansion an eerie feel to it. The Unifying King then lowered himself from the air to the ground landing no softer than a feather degenerating his light construct wings and motioned for Beatrice, Paul and Frank to join him.

Beatrice then tentatively landed her demonic form from the air clawed feet first with her companian's following suit onto the mansions grounds shifting back into human form. Beatrice stretched her inhuman senses towered the mansions structure and heard no other heart beats save two coming from inside the two towers of the mansions and though she couldn't tell there origin she knew they weren't human. Beatrice grimaced "He lives here all by himself? How can he stand it?" she then walked up towards the massive wood front doors of the mansion her sense of touch let her know that something was moving underneath her feet below grass itself. Beatrice hastened her pace followed by Paul and Frank respectively practically racing towards the massive doors. The Unifying King had a look of amusement on his handsome face at his three guest bowing his head as he opened the massive doors with as shove of his hands.

"Welcome to my home, or should I say our home as long as you'll have it" The Unifying King stated as his voice echoed along the mansions first floor which was had several tables made from fine wood, statues carved from marble, paintings by various artist and fancy furniture along with a hundred doors and a stair case that led up to the subsequent floors. The massive scope of mansion seemed to engulf the four occupants. The Unifying King began the tour "I built this place for...myself quite some time ago". The Unifying King paused as if remembering something "There are a hundred rooms on each floor, below us is the basement, and garage". The Unifying King looked at Beatrice Paul and Frank to make sure he hadn't lost their attention "The towers on the mansions sides house two dragons, one per tower". Beatrice was flabbergasted "You own dragons? Seriously?" she asked half shocked. It was true that every sense paranormals came out that dragons were revealed aswell but for someone to own one was almost unheard of, just what had she gotten herself and the boys into?  

The Unifying King began heading towards the stair case "The first floor contains the kitchen, living room, library, game room and throne room among others." The Unifying Kings foot steps appeared to become more weary as the group made it up the stairs as if something weighed on him. "A throne room, really"? Beatrice mused inwardly "just who the hell does this guy think he is....oh wait" She continued walking. Upon reaching the second floor the Unifying King motioned his right hand towards the various rooms "Here on the second and third floor are the bedrooms and observatory! After ive given you the tour you can choose whichever room you'd like to stay in, they all come with baths and clean clothes within the closets. "My own bathroom, thank god for that" Beatrice mused. At the facility she couldn't get a decent bath due to the showers being coed. Having all those eyes on her naked body was not a good feeling and all the more awkward was having Paul and Frank starring at her and eachother. The Unifying King headed back down stairs leading the small group with him guiding himself down the silver stair case back to the first floor and quickly led them behind the back of the stair case. Once at the back of the stair case the Unifying King pressed his hand against its base causing a door to open revealing stone steps leading down a shadowed hall way. "Down here is the basement and garage" The Unifying King led the way down as Beatrice, Paul and Frank followed. "Down here is were I keep my armory of weapons and my vehicles" The Unifying sated as the group reached the base of the stairs through suffocating stone stair case. The basement was just massive as the floor above with various medieval weapons adorning its walls swords, axes, bows. Just about every weapon linked to knighthood was on display like a museum.

The floor of the basement was a different kind of museum, cars galore decorated the stone floor from Detroit muscle cars to european sports cars as well. Paul was impressed "Hmph, his majesty apparently has taste" Paul grinned as he drank in the sight of all classic, new cars and the weapons. The moment of awe was interrupted as the sound of rolling thunder was heard through the basement. The Unifying King smirked "Ah its time to feed the dragons, follow me" he urged the three. Beatrice instantly steeled herself even with Paul and Frank by her this was still a frightening moment this was the first time shed seen a real dragon up close. The Unifying King spoke as if reading Beatrice's thought's "There's no need to be afraid you three, my dragons are tamed, I assure you" he stated as he led the three up the winding towers stairs to the towers metal chamber door. "That's what Im afraid of" Beatrice thought herself silently reeling herself for whatever terror laid behind the towers thin metal chamber door. The Unifying King dug through his pocket looking for something and produced a gold key pressing it into the doors lock. The opened door revealed something only spoke of in legends, before her eyes was a massive long tailed brown scaled reptilian creature with green slit eyes. The creature spread massive leathery wings similar to her own when she'd shifted into her demon form. "Effing huge" Beatrice whispered as the creature took notice of her and released a low growl towards her and the two demons with her. Beatrice was instantly on her guard with Paul and Frank in front of her with a blink. "ENOUGH HANK" the Unifying King roared to the dragon causing it to seat itself on its hind claws and pure out a mixture of a chuckle and growl. The Unifying King then walked over to the left side of the dragons chamber and produced a massive slab of raw meat too large of one man to carry from a large freezer.

The Unifying King laid the slab of meet down with ease of a bag of rice "Here you go boy. Eat up!" The dragon sniffed the meat growling a low grown through its fangs and bellowed forth a large a blast of flames onto the meat charring it and proceeded to eat it up breaking whatever bones it contained down its throat. The Unifying King then looked distantly distracted for a moment "There's no need to check up on Drew, my other dragon he's asleep best too let him stay that way". The Unifying King then led the trio out of the Dragon's chamber and back down the stairs into the basement. "So what do guys think of the place so far?" The Unifying King asked quizzically of trio. Beatrice speaking for three cleared her throat "Its a lovely home, but we don't have any way of paying you for letting us stay here" she shrugged. The Unifying King narrowed his eyes as if considering something "Why don't you three work for me for now on? Ill allow you to live here and Ill even pay you!" The Unifying King offered. "Why would you do that? After everything you've done to us and vice versa" Frank questioned the arrangement. The Unifying King smiled "Because Frank its a new world and I could've killed you three on the way here, particularly when you were plotting to kill me" The Unifying Kings gaze penetrated the three of them.

Paul shifted on the balls of his feet uncomfortably somewhat regretting what he proposed to Beatrice on the way to the mansion. "Anyway, Ive business to attend to Ill leave you three to decide the duties you'll take on, feel free to explore the rest of the house, Ill expect as answer by morning" The Unifying King then disappeared back up the basement stairs with a blur of motion no human could've have tracked with there eyes. Beatrice, Paul and Frank stood in the vast basement mulling over the choice before them and the dragon chambers between them. Frank spoke up first "Ok Beatrice what's the play?" The Ice demon looked down onto the young half breed woman before him. "What ever choice you make ill stand beside you as I always have." Paul nodded in silent agreement with Frank. Beatrice looked between the two demons, they'd been with her through the death of her father, the owning of her club, imprisonment and now this. "Ok boys lets go to the game room" Beatrice commanded as she led them up the stairs like a general with her troops. Beatrice at a normal pace despite her inhuman stamina she was exhausted mentally at least and she just needed a moment after all she just went participated in prison break and had been offered a home and job by a the half angel warlock that killed her father. Beatrice, Paul and Frank had made their way up the stone stairs and closed the basement entrance behind them making their way towards the game room opening the wooden door that guarded it. The game was big enough to host a party in a bejeweled chandelier eliminated the room, its selves packed with board games and video game consuls alike. In the corner a television caked with dust the smell ruffled their sensitive noses. 

"For someone with the title "King" he really doesn't take care of this place does he?" Beatrice questioned aloud. "Yeah" Paul and Frank agreed breathlessly. On a table the laid a deck of cards "Ok boys how about a game of old maid, who ever wins get to pick our jobs! Sound fair?" Beatrice asked with a sly grin. "Well I guess but I have to warn you Im not gonna go easy on you little lady" Paul said a devilish grin on his face. Frank chuckled as he pooled up a chair "I think you two better get used to working under me for now on." Beatrice rolled her eyes pulling up a chair sitting in it and began cutting the cards using her paranormal speed to blur the motion of her hands and the cards. Her father Michio Montes had taught her how to cut cards when he raised her and she'd often when against Paul and Frank while imprisoned so this was merely a formality if anything their jobs had already been decided. After cutting the cards Beatrice dealed the cards to the other two players with a stone walled look on her face. The object was simple each player had to pick a card out of the other persons hand eliminating their cards careful not to pick the joker. Whoever was left with joker card lost the round. "Ok boys Ill start" Beatrice said with a sing-sing voice. Beatrice quickly reached over to Paul's hand picked out a card "Ace of spades, how about that?" Paul eyes betrayed a sense of worry "Oh bullshit on this, I quit...fold whatever just pick the jobs already." Paul had played enough card games with Beatrice to know what she was up too. Beatrice looked over at Frank who still held his cards fast "Then that means you get to be the...Butler Paul" Beatrice ordered her friend. "Oh goodie, boss" said Paul with and obvious air annoyance. Beatrice looked over at Frank like a shark trolling for prawn "OK Frankie boy its just you and me". Frank reached over towards Beatrice's deck with a air of caution and pulled a card Frank looked it over revealing it to be the Joker card and frowned. "Well I guess that you the chef Frank and me...the caretaker" Beatrice said with a smirk liking the title. Paul frowned "Well funny how that works out for you B" Paul said tensing a bit and getting up and making his way to his second floor room. "Im gonna get myself familiarized with the kitchen I guess" Frank grumbled feeling awkward about his new position.

"Don't worry Frank you'll do fine, Ill see you in the morning for breakfast" Beatrice teased as she ushered Frank out of the game room and back onto the first floor of mansion. "Ill see you two in the morning" Beatrice called to both Paul and Frank as she sprinted up stairs to the third floor at a normal human pace. Beatrice wondered the vast third floor and flitted from room to room noticing they all bore same design: A king sized bed against the wall, with the a window on the side and wardrobe with at the foot of the bed along with a bathroom in the corner. All the rooms were the same except for one, The Unifying Kings room. For starters it had twin wooden doors that seemed to peer at a person. Beatrice hesitated. "After all this was his room" Beatrice thought "Oh what the hell, why not? After all come the morning He'll be our employer anyway" Beatrice mused to herself as she pushed the double doors wide open to reveal a messy king sized bed with a telescope and window at its foot looking out onto the night sky. A wardrobe to side housed the Unifying Kings clothes and belongings and a bathroom at at the corner. Beatrice noticed the head of the bed had a sword rack on it presumably for the rapier sword he kept around. Beatrice Quickly held out her had sending a pulse of magic energy through the room only for it to slam right back into her sending her to the floor with slap to the chest. "No wonder he wasn't worried about us trying to kill him, he's enchanted his house. Just how powerful is this guy?" Beatrice thought as she picked herself up off the rugged floor of the Unifying Kings room and headed towards the one she picked out for herself.

When Beatrice reached her room she looked at the marsh mellow sheets on her new bed admiring them. No longer would she have to sleep on musty mattress of the facility she was in hearing the boys snore up close. She smiled and fell over onto the bed letting her mind drift onto sleep, before blacking out however she could have sworn a blue transparent winged figure had put covers over her resting body.

[ducavalentinos]

Hello ! Could you tell me facts about the life of Cesare Borgia? Thaanks.

So, I really wanted to make this a short list with basic facts, but somehow it ended up becoming a longer, detailed list with my favorites facts alongside facts that aren’t very well known or mentioned, here it goes: - Cesare received an outstanding, carefully planned education. He was brought up at Rome by private tutors until the age of twelve, in 1489 he left Rome to attend La Sapienza of Perugia, where he studied the foundations of law and the humanities, being placed under the charge of the preceptor Giovanni Vera of Archilla, to whom btw, he remained warmly attached until Vera’s death in 1503. In 1491 he continued his studies in Civil and Canon law at the University of Pisa, attending the lectures of Filippo Decio, one of most rated lecturer on canon law of his day. There he also became more acquainted with the Medici family, through Lorenzo de’ Medici sons: Giovanni de’ Medici and his brother Piero. - Paolo Pompilio, a Spanish scholar, dedicated his treatise on verse-writing, the Syllabica, to Cesare, where he praised him as ‘Borgiae familiae spes et decus’  (the hope and ornament of the House of Borgia).     - His father, as Cardinal and Vice-Chancellor, invested a long list of benefices upon him, to name only a few: when he was seven years old, pope Sixtus IV conferred upon him a prebend of the cathedral’s chapter of Valencia. In 1483 he received the title of rector of Gandia and archdeacon of Játiva. Later on, with pope Innocent VIII he was granted the position of treasurer of Mallorca’s cathedral, following that of canon of Lérida, Archdeacon of Tarragona and then treasurer of Cartagena’s cathedral. By 1491, Innocent at last granted him the bishopric of Pamplona. - He learned the art of bullfighting from the Spanish members of his father’s court and it became one of his life passions. Whether in Rome or in the Romagna, at any celebration, there was almost always a bullfight and he was almost always participating himself. - He also loved hunting, so he was always looking for good hunting dogs and falcons. On May 28th, 1497 he even sent one of his men, Enrico, to Germany to request from the Archbishop of Mainz some “well-trained and sagacious hunting dogs; their quality to be more important than their number.” - He was the first person in the history of the Church to resign the cardinalate, eventually becoming commander of the Papal armies. - He was briefly hostage of the Colonna during the conflicts of the French Invasion in 1494, and later on hostage of the king of France, Charles VIII. Although that time, he escaped their camp at Velletri, with the help of a man named Francesco del Sacco, officer of the Podestà of Velletri, who was waiting for him with a horse. Cesare sped back to Rome going to the house of one Antonio Flores, where he stayed for a night and informed his father of his presence. The next day, he withdrew to the city of Spoleto, and remained there until matters cooled off. - In 1497, a sword was forged for Cesare, known as “the queen of swords”, for his visit to Naples as papal legate, to crown the new king, Frederick of Naples. Its design was attributed to many artists including Michaelangelo, but it is more likely that the artist was Pinturicchio. And the blacksmith/sword engraver was Salomone da Sesso (c. 1465- c.1504–21) who after his conversion to Christianity assumed the name of Ercole dei Fedeli. (more details about the sword here x) - Cesare appeared wearing a horned mask in the guise of a unicorn during a theatrical performance, in one of the many festivities held in honor of his sister Lucrezia’s second wedding. Unicorn are known symbols of female chastity, possibly a reference to Lucrezia and her wedding night, but it also shows off Cesare’s own sense of humour, since it was well known to all present that he was anything but a chaste man lol. And the unicorn horn, according to a Greek physician had the ability of protecting people from sickness and neutralizing poison, which could have been another humourous remark from Cesare in reference to his family’s reputation of using poison to dispose of their enemies. - His best known mistress was Fiammetta Michaelis, she was a cultured courtesan from Florence, but who lived in Rome since 1473 most likely. Her relationship with Cesare was such that even after his death in 1507, she continued to sign herself as Fiammetta Ducis Valentini (of the duke Valentino). And her will in the city archives was headed ‘The Testament of La Fiammetta of Il Valentino.” - On May 10, 1499, he married Charlotte d’Albret, and before his departure from France he appointed her governor and administrator of all his lands and lorships in France and Dauphiny. He also made her heiress to all his moveable possessions in the event of his death (a little more about that here x). On December 1501, he personally selected precious gifts to be sent to her acquired from Venice. It included moulded wax, white sweetmeats, fine sugars, syrups, nine barrels of Malvoisie, oriental spices, oranges and lemons and all kinds of cloths. - Under his patronage, the first printing press of any importance was established in Italy. It was set up at Fano by Girolamo Sancino in 1501. One of the earliest works was the printing of the Statutes of Fano for the first time in January 1502. - About his administration staff, also in the year of 1501, we know he had a beautiful young woman from Bologna named Jovanna, working for him in his chancery. She’s described as a “degnissma scriptora”, she wrote letters and maybe did other secretarial duties as well for 14 ducats. - Whether it was treachery or a legit, reasonable move against Guidobaldo's own plans of treachery against him, the fact is that Cesare acquired Urbino without bloodshed in any of the towns, in a brilliant coup that amazed the whole of Italy (and terrified the nobility lol). While leaving a military contingent at Camerino, Cesare road north through the Apennines, between Nocera and Urbino he covered more or less sixty miles in forty-eight hours with a mixed force of 2.000 men. Before anyone else knew, he had already took Cagli, inside the Duchy of Urbino. Simultaneously, two other points were taken too, Montevecchio and San Lorenzo. Di Naldo, one of Cesare’s captains came from the east. These three armies converged towards the capital of Urbino then, where they met with the castilian and the garrison was rendered by him. A few hours later Cesare himself entered the city without any resistence. - The famous Sleeping Cupid by Michelangelo that Cesare gifted it to Isabella d’Este when he took Urbino in 1502 had a history together. He had previously been the owner of this piece. Cardinal Riario Sforza bought in 1496, but apparently when he found out that the piece was a modern piece and not an antique, he didn’t wanted it anymore, so it was displayed across the street of Cesare’s palace and he bought before the end of the year and later on send it as a gift to Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino. -  A popular canzona of the time, Donna contra la mia Voglia by Filippo de Lurano  (c.1470-c.1520) was Cesare’s favorite song. (There is an excellent version of it too by conductor and composer Jordi Savall). - As another step to secure the unity of the Romagna, Cesare did a reform in legal administration of great importance, he established a supreme Court of Appeal, named the Rota, influenced by the famous Court of the Vatican with the same name. He appointed as The First President, a newly created office, to Antonio di Monte Sansovino, a distinguished jurist with high integrity, and who was universally beloved. This Appeal Court sat in the seven main cities of the Romagna: Fano, Pesaro, Rimini, Cesena, Faenza, Forlì and Imola. If it was necessary, this Court would sit for as much as two months. All expenses were met by a payment from each of these judicial circuits of 200 ducats per annum. - In October 1500 Pinturicchio wrote to Cesare asking for the grant of a well to be put in one of the lands pope Alexander VI had bestow on him and his descendents at Chiusi, a city in the province of Siena, but near Perugia. Pinturicchio went himself to see Cesare at Diruta to request for all the necessary permission. Cesare issued a letter to Alfano Alfani, vice-treasurer of Perugia, making the request and saying that: “he had again taken to his service Bernardino Pinturicchio of Perosa, whom he always loved because his talent and gifts; and he desires that in all things he should be considered as ‘one of ours.” This initial request wasn’t honored so Cesare wrote again to this Alfani reinforcing his wish to be granted within that year. In 1501, Pinturicchio was given an annual payment as Cesare’s personal painter as well. - Cesare hired Leonardo da Vinci as a military architect and engineer in the spring of 1501, he entrusted him with all sorts of projects, in Cesena for example he asked that Da Vinci planned a new quarter of the city with wilder streets, sidewalks, parks, and a functioning sewage system and many other improvements. He also issued papers from the city’s headquarters for the construction in Cesena of a new university building, a palace to house the Rota. - Cesare also commissioned Da Vinci to work on an alterpiece, that is now lost unfortunately, at the Santuario della Beata Vergine del Piratello, outside of Imola. Some scholars agree that Da Vinci at the very least begun this painting, but it was not finished by him. There are some sketches he made that are called: Three views of a bearded man and it’s generally accepted to be Cesare, in what might have become a portrait of him in this alterpiece. - Right after he conquered a city, it was Cesare’s policy to issue a stem proclamation against plunder, guaranteed the property of the citizens. At Forlì he took measures to safeguard the convents, listening to all complaints of ill-treatment or robbery at the hands of the soldiery. On December 7, 1500, he hanged from the windows of his headquarters, two of his own men, a Piedmontese and a Gascon soldier, who had disobeyed his orders against plunder in the town. On the 13th of the same month, other offenders followed the same fate as the first two, which showed his zeal and the level of his commitment for the interests of his Forlivesi subjects. - At Cesena, as in other places in the Romagna, that same policy was applied, the usual disorder was put to an end, and civic automony was fully restored, along with the suppresion of aristocratic feuds, which resulted on econonical security and internal peace. - During the conquest of Faenza, the only city where Cesare met a true resistance, he retired to Cesena through the winter months while the siege kept going there. One night, he was walking around the city when he found a baby girl abandoned in the street, he commanded the baby to be nursed, and settled an ample dowry on the baby’s mother until she was of marriageable age. Afterwards, when the father refused to acknowledge the girl as his own, Cesare himself acknowledged the girl and she was baptized that day. - On March 29, 1501, when he was informed of Beatrice of Naples arrival at Cesenatico, twice Queen of Hungary and of Bohemia, and sister of Frederick of Naples, he send off his staff to greet her and to present her with a 'royal gift'. He ordered his lieutenants to honor her in every city in the Romagna and the Marche region, where she made her way back to Naples. - On 1502, Cesare and his father, Rodrigo went on a boat trip to Piombino and the island of Elba so that Rodrigo could officially take possession of these territories Cesare had recently conquered. Everything went smoothly, and they were on their way back when a violent storm began, hitting them hard. During 5 days they wandered aimlessly. Everyone, but Rodrigo, were quite anxious and scared. At the second day, the crew saw an English ship, and Cesare proposed to go to this boat to request for help, but Rodrigo refused, not wanting to request help from strangers. Eventually they made it back ashore, but it was a close call there for them for awhile.     - After the masterstroke at Senigallia, where he successfully arrested his conspiring condottiere, the city was in total confusion, and a part of Cesare’s infantry were starting to sack the city, so Cesare in full armour and on horseback gave orders for his men to stop the sacking immediately, he then gathered some of his captains and went about the city streets putting a stop to the abuses that were starting to happen, some soldiers however, refused to obey his orders, and they were promptly executed there for their disobedience. - On 25 October, 1506 he managed to escape the Castle of La Mota, in Spain, a fortress that at that time worked as State prison, of maximum security, and where he was imprisoned. With the collaboration of his chaplain, and a servant of the governor's, named Garcia, along with the outside help from Count of Benavente, a powerful lord from the neighbourhood, who visited him regularly, he managed to climb down the 40 meter high tower with a rope, and if memory doesn't fail me, he was the only prisoner to have ever managed to escape this prison lool.

[khiphop-stories]

Getting Off The Wrong Foot

[Christian Yu | Chapter IX ]

Previous Chapters:

Chapter I | Chapter II | Chapter III | Chapter IV | Chapter V | Chapter VI | Chapter VII | Chapter VIII

Of course it was only a matter of time Kiseok would seek you out. It wasn’t like him to stay quiet and act like he didn’t know you. No, he had to make sure you knew he was there as well.

“Minho called me yesterday. Apparently you haven’t told your family that we broke up. I wonder why.”

No ‘hello’, no unnecessary small talk, no - Kiseok aimed straight for humiliation.

Minho was your younger brother. He always got along well with Kiseok who would treat him like his own little brother. Kiseok would take him backstage and let him meet his favorite rappers. He admired Kiseok a lot and always looked up to him. At one point he even wanted to be a rapper just like him. But you asked Kiseok to talk it out of him. You knew the industry too well and you didn’t want your baby brother to be any part of it. Luckily it worked and he went to go to college instead.

“What would he think when he finds out his big sister is sleeping around?“

“Leave him out of it“ you hissed at him with a warning glare. Kiseok knew better than to mess with your family, especially your brother. He didn’t have it easy growing up. He was bullied a lot in middle and high school and you had failed to protect him. Living on a different continent you didn’t know what was happening, you only found out after he had graduated. You never really forgave yourself for that. Kiseok knew, he knew all of it, yet he chose to make him a subject of this conversation.

“You’re the one lying to him, not me,“ he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

“What. Do. You. Want?“ You sharply demanded him to get to the point emphasizing every word. You weren’t in the mood to argue, especially not here in front of everyone.

“Is he bigger than me?“ Kiseok taunted you with a smug smirk planted on his face. He had changed the topic out of nowhere, catching you off guard.

“Excuse me?“ Your eyes widened at him in disbelief, daring him to repeat the question he had just asked you. Of course he would behave like this. Letting you move on in peace was just not an option for him. You didn’t expect anything else from him, but as a public figure he should know the time and place to start fights. This was not it. You were in the middle of the newly opened store, surrounded by dozens of people.

“Is the sex better with him?  Because I seriously doubt that. Nobody knows you like I do,“ he whispered into your ear.

“Grow up, Kiseok,“ you rolled your eyes at him and let out a brief chortle. You pushed him away from you and took a step back to increase the distance. No, not this time. You wouldn’t let him get to you this time. You weren’t going to play this stupid game of his. You turned away from him, intending to walk away from this conversation, but the thing he said next felt like he had pierced a knife right through your chest.

“I knew you were insecure. I didn’t know you had that little self respect.“

“Hurting me once wasn’t enough, huh? Now you have to insult me in public too?“ You raised your voice at him as the anger boiled up inside of you.

“Just saying you could do better.“ “Jealous that I moved on?“

“Oh please, we both know he’s just a rebound. He just using you for sex and you think he actually cares about you.“

“Well, at least now I don’t have to fake it,“ you retorted callously, knowing this would hurt his ego and make him feel insignificant. It was stupid and childish, but you wanted to win this fight that he had started.

“You’re lying to yourself if you actually think he could replace me.“

“I’m not trying to replace you, Kiseok. I’m so glad you’re out of my life. That’s the best thing that ever happened to me,“ you told him followed by a dry chuckle. You had dated him for long enough to know that he was only trying to provoke a reaction from of you, because he wanted to talk to you and the only way you would talk to him was for him to behave like a huge dick. You knew he probably didn’t mean what he was saying. But you were tired of it. Tired of having to consider his feelings, when he stepped on yours time and time again. No, you wanted your words to hurt the same way he had hurt you.

“People used to respect you when you were with me, now you’re just Christian’s hoe.“

“Fuck you, Kiseok. Seriously fuck you!“ You cursed at him, unconsciously raising your voice which had attracted the eyes of some spectators around you. But in that moment, you didn’t care that you were in a room full of people. You were just sick of it all, sick of having to endure this pain and sick of having to stand here while he was disrespecting you. “Ok, guys stop it now. People are already staring,“ Ju Kyung quickly got in between you and Kiseok, before you could hurt him physically which you certainly would have done. You were just seconds away from slapping him across the face. Ju Kyung held Kiseok by his shoulders, pushing him back while Jay stood in front of you, blocking both your way and your view. If people weren’t gawking at you earlier, they definitely were now. The four of you were probably the centre of attention right now. Jay stretched out his arm, gently wrapping it around you as he tried to push you a few steps back.

“Don’t butt into this,“ you gritted through your teeth, giving Jay a death glare.

“I’m not doing this for him. I’m doing this for you,“ Jay made you look at him, his voice remained calm and gentle. “Don’t give them something to gossip about.”

Your eyes wandered around the room as you swallowed down hard. The people in the room were already whispering to each other and you could feel their scrutinising gazes piercing right through you. Jay was right. You couldn’t lose it now, not here where everybody was waiting for something to happen so they  had something interesting to talk about.

“Fine,“ you let out a breath in defeat, trying to calm yourself down, to suppress the emotions that were gaining the upper hand of your actions. Without another word you turned your heels around and walked towards the backstage area where only selected staff members and artists had access to. Jay followed closely behind, as though he was too afraid to leave you out of sight. He quickly turned his head to Ju Kyung who was still attempting to get Kiseok under control and motioned him to take his label-mate home.

“Do you want something to drink?“ Jay asked you in a concerned tone when you had disappeared from the prying eyes. He didn’t know what else to say in this situation. You were a seething volcano on the brink of exploding. He couldn’t risking saying something to set you off. “Do they have vodka?“ You replied sarcastically, gaining a low chuckle from Jay.

“Are you ok?“ He then asked you in a serious tone, his eyes laying gently on you.

“I knew this wasn’t gonna be easy. But I really thought he would at least have that much respect for what we had that he wouldn’t cause a scene in public.”

“You know he didn’t mean it. He’s just hurt.“ “Stop defending him, Jay,“ you shook your head at him in disbelief. You just couldn’t fathom why everybody was treating Kiseok with kid gloves as though he was on the verge of shattering when he was the reason things turned out the way they had in the first place.

“In what world is his behaviour acceptable? He’s hurt? Well, he should be! He threw away everything we had! Why do I always have to be considerate towards his feelings? What about my feelings? He fucked someone else while he was with me and lied to me every single day.”

“I know you’re angry and hurt, Min. You have every right to be. I’m just saying that he’s made mistakes, but he’s not a bad person.” “And I am? For choosing myself over him for the first time? For standing up for myself?“ Fires of fury and hatred were smouldering in your small narrowed eyes as you shouted at him. “I didn’t say that,” he immediately denied. “That’s practically what you’re saying, Jay. You’re always shielding him and making me feel like my emotions are unjustified. That what I’m feeling is wrong.“

“That’s not what I mean, Minhee. Kiseok’s just been miserable since you’ve broken up with him.“ “Then stop. Stop excusing his behaviour. I’m angry too. I’ve been miserable too. I’m hurt too. I never loved someone like I loved him and he broke my heart. But I don’t go around insulting and embarrassing him in front everyone!“ “You slept with Christian,” he pointed out as though you sleeping with someone else was even comparable to the things that Kiseok had done to you. “Wow, now you’re slut shaming me too?“ You scoffed at him in disbelief, your eyes widening at him.

“No, Minhee, I’m not judging you or your decisions. It’s just…you knew how much this would hurt him. And you chose Christian out of every guy there is. You did it to get back at him.“

“What’s wrong about Christian?“ You raised your brows at him. “He doesn’t have the best reputation…Kiseok had already felt insecure when you worked with him for the first time a year ago. And you also know what he did to Ashley.“ “Oh okay, that’s what this it about,” you nodded your head, finally understanding. “This isn’t about Kiseok, but your feelings. You’re mad at me because I’m screwing someone who slept with Ashely? Then fucking say it, Jay. Don’t hide behind Kiseok, don’t use him as an excuse. If you have a problem with that, just say it.“

Jay remained silent, his gaze immediately dropping down on the floor. “It’s not like that,” he muttered under his breath.”

“Jay, you know I care about you. I don’t care if Kiseok has a problem with Christian and if I hurt his feelings by sleeping with him. But if I hurt yours…that’s a different story. No sex is that good, that I would risk our friendship.“

“It’s really not like that,” he shook his head again.

“Then what is it?”

“I’m just scared that you might get hurt again. He’s hurt someone I love once, I don’t want him to do it again.”

~*~

It certainly wasn’t the smartest decision to go outside dressed in only pants, a t-shirt and a thin blazer in the beginning of March and to sit down on the icy stone steps. But you needed to get away from the people, the turmoil and the noise. You needed space where you could be alone with your thoughts so you could sort things out. Suddenly you felt a soft fabric hugging your shoulders. You turned around and were greeted by the warmest smile.

“I heard you had a bitch fight with Kiseok,” Christian joked to ease your tension. You chuckled at him softly, before looking away embarrassed. You tugged your arms inside the sleeves of his jacket before you crossed them in front of your chest, trying to keep your body heat.

“Are you okay?“ His voice, just like the expression on his face changed. He sat down on the stairs next to you.

“Let’s end it,” you said out of the blue, completely disregarding his question. “End what?“ He cocked up his brows at you with a rather confused look on his face. “Whatever we have.“ “Friendship?“

You turned your head to the side, staring at him flabbergasted. You were surprised by his answer. Usually you were the person who opened up too quickly, got friendly too quickly, liked people too quickly. You were used to being the one who always gave but never received anything in return. Your friendship was only treasured when your help was needed, but the moment you were in need of something, they would turn the other way. It was a nice feeling for a change, to be appreciated. It was nice to know that he considered you as much a friend as you considered him.

“I meant sex.“

“So, friends without benefits then? I’m fine with that,” he nodded his head in agreement. “If you take sex away we don’t really have much in common, do we?. It’s not like we’re the best of friends.”

“I could name a few things. You’re passionate about your work. You’re a dog person. Lori loves you. We both have weird families…and we’re both attractive people,” he started off serious but quickly threw in a couple jokes which earned him another laugh from you.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.“ “Because of Kiseok?” He took a guess, his brows furrowed as his mouth turned grim. You shook your head and corrected him, “Jay." “I figured he didn’t like me that much,” Christian chuckled lightly. “He has been giving me death glares.”

You laughed again, giving him a gentle punch. You were trying to have a serious conversation with him, but he kept trying to mix a bit of humour into it.

“You’re always gonna live your life pleasing everybody else?“ “I’ve known him since forever. He’s someone I care about,” you tried to explain to him though you didn’t really expect him to understand. He didn’t seem to be the type of person who easily got attached to people like you did. “If he truly cared about you, he wouldn’t ask something like that of you.“ “He didn’t,” you clarified. “But I can see he’s hurt and it’s straining our friendship. I can’t lose any more people in my life.”

“He’s hurt because you’re living your life and trying to move one?” He asked, he didn’t even attempt to hide his mocking and sarcastic tone.

“Jay doesn’t like you and I get why. I mean, if we switched the roles and I was in Jay’s place, I wouldn’t want him to be friends with Kiseok’s side chick either.”

“I don’t understand,” Christian shook his head in confusion. He didn’t get what you were trying to say. “Me being friendly with you is about the same as him being friendly with Kiseok’s side chick. You did sleep with the person Jay loved most after all.”

“Are you talking about Ashley?” He tried to figure out the connection you were alluding at.

“You actually remember her name?“ There was a hint of surprise in your tone. “I like having sex, I’m not a brainless monster,” he replied, his tone was harsh. He almost seemed to be angry and offended by your remark. “Why did you sleep with her? I mean everybody knew they were dating. You must have known too. Making Jay Park your enemy isn’t the smartest decision.“ “Let’s be honest, they didn’t have the most stable relationship and it’s not like I forced her to do something she didn’t want.“

“I don’t understand,” your brows knitted in a frown as you inspected his face through narrowed eyes. “I mean you could have wooed any girl, but you purposely chose Jay’s girl. It doesn’t make sense.“

“They were broken up,” he pointed out which was probably true. Jay and Ashely were constantly on and off, it was hard to keep track. Even so everyone knew she was Jay’s girl, even if they weren’t seeing each other in that moment. Everyone knew the break up wouldn’t last long and eventually they would get back together. “For how long though?“ “Listen, not everything is what is seems.” “What is that supposed to mean?“ “You don’t know everything that goes on in a relationship, unless you’re actually part of of it. You know only what Jay had told you. Because he’s your friend and I don’t blame you for that. But that’s just one side of the story.“ “You’re saying he is lying?” You deduced. “No,” he shook his head at you gently. “I’m saying that we’re both not in the position to judge someone else or their relationship, no matter how much we think we know about them.“ “I’m not judging Ashley for sleeping with you.“ You snapped back. You were the last person who would judge a woman’s decision to have sex with someone. “You’re judging me, Minhee.“ “No, I’m not,” you denied right away shaking your head vigorously. “You are. You have been the moment we met. I thought you would stop once you get to know me. But you still want me to be that bad person so badly.“

“That’s not true...“ Your voice was a mere whisper at end of the sentence because you lost confidence in what you were saying. “I don’t blame you for that. I know what reputation I have and I get why you would have trust issues. I just thought that maybe I could prove you wrong and you would start seeing me with your own eyes, not through the eyes of others. Perhaps it was naive to think I could change your mind.“ “Why do you even wanna change my mind? Is it a game to you?“ You threw another accusation at him. Christian let out a bitter chuckle as he slowly shook his head at you again. “I am not Kiseok. You need to stop projecting the fears you had with him onto me. Because I am not him,” he emphasised each and every word.

“I know, but I’m just trying to understand the motivation behind your actions.“ “You don’t. If you really want to understand you would ask different questions. But your interrogation is based on the very fact that you think I’m a bad person who enjoys playing with other people’s heart.“ “I don’t think you’re a bad person. I wouldn’t spend time with you, if that were true,” you tried to prove him wrong, but who were you kidding? The rumors you had heard about him did prejudice you against him even if you didn’t want to admit it.

“Then why are you asking me why I did it? Why are you not asking me if I did it?“

“Are you saying you didn’t sleep with her?“ You were utterly puzzled now. The more he said the more confused you got. “I’m saying you already have a picture of me inside your head. You don’t want to know the truth. You want to know the truth that fits your narrative.“

In a silence that followed, Christian pushed himself back on his feet. “I’m leaving. Keep the jacket, I don’t want you to get sick.”

“Christian, wait!” Your hand had reached out for him and grabbed onto his wrist before you realized what you were doing. You felt him flinch a bit under your touch, probably because your hands were icy cold. Your grip was loose, he could have easily shaken you off if he wanted to, yet he didn’t. Instead he stopped in his track and lowered his gaze, anchoring his attention on you again. He expected you to say something, but you didn’t. You didn’t know what to say. You didn’t even know why you held onto him in the first place. You were trying so hard to think of something to say, there was probably smoke coming out of your head -  that’s how hard your brain was working. Christian scanned your face for a reaction. One second, two seconds, three seconds had passed in utter silence.

“What?” He finally asked, prompting you to say something.

“Nothing,” you released him from your grip and pulled your hand back. Although there was nothing holding him back anymore, at least not physically, he stayed. He stood rooted to the spot as though he wanted to give you another chance to say something. But you never did. Eventually he let out a chuckle - a flat, one-syllable chuckle - before he shook his head disappointed and headed back inside the building.

Soooo what do you guys think will happen between Christian and Minhee? Let me know! I’m looking forward to reading your thoughts! Btw sorry for all the Simon D fans, I kinda had to make him a dick here, but maybe he will redeem himself?

[rebel-without-cause-x]

The Secret

Part 12

Jax Teller x OC

Series Masterlist // Masterlist for Jax

2 months had now passed, the tattoo studio hit the ground running, it got so busy you had to hire another artist just to keep up with the demand, especially because you only worked 3 days a week so you could still spend time with Amber and Jax.

Speaking of you and Jax, things was going great, Jax had definitely changed but it was a good change. He was more affectionate than when you was first together and kept to his word about you was the only girl for him.

Leaning against the bar in the club house you smiled taking in the sounds of laughter.

That was until you had the need to puke, pulling your fist to your mouth you legged it to the bathroom making it just in time. Collapsing on the floor resting your head on the toilet seat as you calmed your breathing.

"Baby you okay?" Gemma's voice echoed.

"Yeah I'm fine" you said wiping your mouth before flushing the toilet and walking out to her "must have ate something dodgy"

"Harleigh that's the 4th time you've thrown up this morning, not counting the last couple of days" she said placing her hand on your shoulder "how far along are you?"

"What" you said looking puzzled.

"Baby you are pregnant" she whispered taking in your expression of shock "you've not done a test have you?"

"No because I thought it was just a bug" you shrugged.

"Tell you want I will run to the store and get some tests" she smiled kissing your head leaving you stood in the bathroom alone.

You couldn't believe this, yes things were going well with Jax but throwing another child into the mix, you had no idea how he'd react. Did he even want another kid?

Shaking the thoughts you joined the others back in the club. You hadn't even took 5 steps when you felt Jax place his hands on your hips pulling you into his body.

"You okay darlin', mom said you aren't feeling too great" he asked, his voice full of concern.

"Yeah I'm okay, just got a stomach bug or something" you whispered leaning your head back against his chest. "I will be fine don't worry"

"I can run you home if you want" he whispered into your hair.

"Baby I'm fine" you laughed spinning round wrapping your arms around his neck "I'm okay now"

"If you feel worse I'm taking you home" he said kissing your head.

"Stop worrying" you laughed wiggling out of his arms and sitting back at the bar "Chucky pass us a bottle of water please"

Jax had wandered off somewhere leaving you with Chibs, Tig and Opie.

"It's good to see you smiling again" Tig grinned pulling me into a hug.

"We knew you two would end up back together, the pull between you is insane" Chibs nodded.

"Sounding like a broken record chibby" you laughed sipping your water.

Out of the corner of your eye you saw Gemma walked back in.

"Sorry boys I need to steal her" she smiled placing her hand on your shoulder. "Come on baby let's go"

Grabbing your keys you followed her outside.

"Meet you back at yours or mine?" You asked putting your helmet on.

"Come back to mine" she nodded.

The ride back to Gemma's was quiet, your thoughts all over the place. Pulling up on her drive you cut the engine and flicked the kickstand down before pulling a smoke out.

"Really baby" she half laughed raising her eyebrow.

"Just gimme this one okay because i am pregnant this will be my last one for a while" you nodded taking a long drag of the cigarette.

"Meet me inside when you have finished" she smiled before disappearing.

After finishing your smoke you wandered into the house.

"Right let's do this" you sighed

"You not happy about potentially being pregnant again" Gemma asked.

"I don't know, me and Jax have only been together for 2 months, I don't even know if he wants another child" you whispered.

"You know Jax will be so excited about you being pregnant again" she grinned and there was that pang of guilt again.

"Yeah he would because he missed out on that with Amber" you said chewing the inside of your mouth.

"Hey, Jax doesn't blame you for that, none of us do so stop thinking like that. That boy worships the ground you walk on and it's only gonna be a matter of time before you become his old lady" Gemma smiled pulling you into a hug "now go piss on this"

Taking the tests you wandered into the bathroom, leaning against the sink your stared at yourself in the mirror composing yourself before you did the tests.

Walking back out of the bathroom you saw clay leaning against the kitchen side, pulling the tests up into your sleeve you smiled at him.

"Where's gem?" You asked

"I'm here baby" she smiled placing her hand on your shoulder "come on I need your help in here a sec"

She knew clay hated you, apparently you always clouded Jax's brain. But he was the only one to think that.

"I can't look" you whispered passing the tests to Gemma. "What do they say?"

"Baby you are pregnant, about 6 weeks" she grinned pulling you into a tight hug.

"Let's hope Jax takes the news as well as you" you half laughed "fuck I need a smoke"

"I know how scared you are so one last one okay Leigh, if I see you smoking after this I will slap you" she whispered passing you her pack of smokes.

"Copy that" you nodded as you held the cig between your lips as she lit it.

"Now how we telling Jackson?" She asked sparking up herself.

"Thinking at dinner tomorrow, with the shop opening ive not had time to get him a present" you said "I'm sorting ambers present out in the morning, she wants to drop Winston from her name"

"What" Gemma gasped.

"Yeah her words was momma I want to just be a Teller" you laughed shaking your head.

"And you aren't pissed?"

"Nah she's nearly 7 now and if she wants to change her last name just to Teller who am I to stop her" you smiled.

"Don't worry baby you will be a Teller soon" she winked.

[dhampirbf]

just finished off my first issue of the new killjoys series, national anthem, here are my thoughts

‼️ spoiler warning lol‼️

instantly dragged me head-fucking-first back into my mcr phase from three years ago. i am ruined. there is SO MUCH i immediately love about this series, from the incredible, poem-esce beginning to the incredible retro art style. the characters are just perfect - on the same wavelength as the others we know and love from previous iterations of kayjay media. mike milligram is edgier than i expected, which is just perfect, because i always felt poison and the gang were a bit too cheery for being stuck in a post-apocalyptic hellscape after surviving a massive war.

as for the plot? amazing. the writing is just as stunning as it was for TTLOTFK and national anthem immediately leaps into the story without delay. the dialogue fits the aesthetic of what we know about the kayjay universe perfectly and the story gives us more insight to what came before the analog wars and what life was like right after. maybe it’s just my interpretation (and of course this is just the first issue), but id love more about what the wars were ACTUALLY like, what it was like to fight in them. i still can’t figure out who exactly the enemy was because BLI and the weird, unseen but ever-present, unnamed oppressor are still in existence after the wars. might just be me, so if anyone knows where to find more on that, hmu. but honestly while reading it, i don’t care about the pieces im missing. it’s THAT good on its own.

the first issue opens with mike bleeding out, which deeply upset me because i do not like to see my favorite characters die, but it was done in such a beautiful way. we get to see how useless he feels - how he’s literally been tossed aside like the garbage he thinks he is - and then our story begins.

we meet the rest of the original fabulous killjoys (i imagine this is a prequel to party poison and the other comic, in my mind poison and val are “generations” following mike) and BOY, they’re incredible. the codes, red and blue, are (i assume) beta versions of the red and blue we see in TTLOTFK. kyle 100%, whose name we don’t learn in the first issue, is pretty reminiscent of kobra but maybe it’s just cuz he’s blond and rollin’ with mike. his design is very new and i totally dig it. animax is probably my favorite of this crew, though. he’s very much new and his design ROCKS. a color changing suit?? for real??? amazing. animax strikes me as the dad friend of the group (he tries to calm down blue and mike at the playground scene with the a.k.as)

SPEAKING of the a.k.as.... holy fuck. adore them. all of them are SO COOL and offer totally new insight to what it might have been like to crawl around in the zones right after the analog wars. so many new faces! new concepts! new headcanons! once again, im in love with their designs and concepts (god bless shaun simon and gerard) and it’s times like these that i wish i was a more talented artist.

another thing i really enjoyed is that the identity of some of the killjoys is more revealed and accessible. blue is called maria right before her (sobbing) death in mike’s arms and we see about halfway through that mike was a grocery store clerk. i’ve seen that red’s name is sophia in some official character design sheets, but we haven’t heard her name in the book yet. but to know that these were normal, real people in the world we live in gives the story a different, heavier context. these characters had their lives uprooted and torn to bits by a war they had to fight in. no wonder mike is so miserable and “screwed up”.

national anthem also immediately touches on trauma more than once and, in my interpretation of the underlying message, points out how trauma is an important tool in shaping who we are as individuals. the pretty subtle thing about the pill marketed to treat the affects of trauma is something that really fascinated me. how the antagonist of this series markets a pill that treats trauma but the side effects essentially make a person lose themselves, navigating life like a zombie.

i also loved the subtle callbacks to the original kayjay universe we know and love, with an appearance of tommy chow mein and a reference to the phoenix witch. however, ive got some criticisms.

first, was not a fan of the romance subplot between blue and mike. blue (and red, for that matter) are characters we know to be lesbians and i really don’t think that should be muddled with. even if blue is bisexual, even polyamorus, and has romantic connections to both mike and red, id personally rather have her stay with red exclusively. maybe it’s just my heterophobia /j but im not a fan. apparently she was even pregnant with mike’s child before she died? ehh.

second, and this is probably just because it’s the first issue, but i feel like there are a lot of questions unanswered. is this an AU or the same universe as TTLOTFK? if it’s the same, what is the timeline for mike milligram and party poison? do they exist at the same time or is party poison inspired by mike, who came before him? or do they exist completely separate? i hope i get these questions answered.

honestly, i may write up something of a review for each issue i read (i have three). it helps me remember what i read, anyway. kinda like an english essay. but overall, i really love this series and this universe. i kinda fell out of kayjays for a few reasons, but a lack of content was definitely one of them. i never thought i’d see killjoys media again and then gerard goes and presents us with this amazing series with new characters and a new story to delve into and it ROCKS.

[sesamie]

loolin sent me down a rabbit hole so here are some thoughts from my escapades tonight:

---first blog entry i read---

i started here which took me here which took me here 

‘ whiteboy rap ‘

‘ like the barenaked ladies meets mid-era beatles, yet it didn't sound imitated at all ‘

guster did come on, and they were fine [though, in my opinion, tally hall severely outshone them] << OHHH SHIT 

the four of us gathered around the 'hot sexy one' and took pictures (this is one of the pictures theyre talking about:  

anyone remember ‘appeal sex’ ??

‘i went off to find the yellow tie, rob. he was my favorite from when i first saw him on stage. whereas joe was dark and handsome with long tossled hair, rob had glasses and a bland haircut. i felt an affinity with him.’ SFHSLFKJSD ME TOO MAN

apparently the tie colors initially matched their instruments!! although, ive heard like. six different sotries of how they chose the ties and most of them are just ‘we chose whatever was avalible at the time’ so i have a feeling they came up with a few different elaborate backsotries

----okay second blog post reading time---

i started here which took me here (aka the one right before the one before this its confusing but thats alright)

if only adobe flash player still worked then i’d be able to watch this person’s filming of a be born performance that was apparently so close to her that rob sat on her foot!!! at least we still get this picture of it though:

incredible.

“I especially liked Ross' face as he drummed: he looked so happy and his hair was flying everywhere. “ ya this lady gets it

quote rob,  "Yeah! I remember you guys! That was a great picture, Let's do it again!" this time because their friend stephan couldnt make it to the picture, rob improvised:

this time with zubin!

and then they did it again at yet another concert:

this time with ross !!

“ Ten reasons I like Tally Hall so much?

1-Clean, creative music: My mom even likes them!

2-Musicianship: they are incredibly musically talented--amazingly tight harmonies--which sounds silly considering they're a band, but it's shocking how many artists are out there these days with not a lick of real talent.

3-Variety: with some of their songs, if you were to randomly listen to two or three different parts of the song, chances are you might just think it's a couple different songs. Then they have totally crazy songs, then super chill songs.

4-Uniform: they don't need retro sequin jackets or skinny pants to be cool. They have their own style, and it has become their trademark.

5-They share: Their shows aren't monopolized by just one band member. They all have little spotlights and recognize everyone as a part of the whole (or, the Hall).

6-The guys: SO personable. I love just talking to them--they are so chill, and don't stick themselves up on a pedestal. They are just normal guys who happen to travel everywhere and do what they love, and do it well.

7-Bongos, xylophones, and other various percussion instruments (the names of which still elude me)

8-Their frequent use of a megaphone.

9-Whiteboy rap? Heck yes. And whistling solos.

10-They like to kick it at the university, but all work and no play makes them crazy, so...they jump in the bumpin SUV. “ 

okay theres a part on the side of this blog that says it cannot be used or reproduced without consent except i think the person who wrote it is like. an adult now. and also,,,, who am i expecting this post to reach? however, kristin, if you’re reading this somehow and want me to take it down i’ll be happy to do so. because (to paraphrase a tally hall legend) you, yes you, are the bon-diggety.

-----third post time---

i started here which took me here

“ there was even a small "shrine" to the band itself in the back corner of the room. “ <sound familiar, anyone???????

“tally hall would play at your school if your principal was cool with the idea.“ I LIVE 2 DREAM ANOTHER DAY HUH

oh okay so that was just a . precursor to the production of the actual elementary show i see i seeeee..

in that case, then

---fourth post time, aka the one i was originally reading but i have following-every-link- syndrome so here we are---

i started here , theres 4 parts to this article

“ (+20 ‘awesome’ points if you read both links…if you comment that you did, maybe i’ll draw you a picture!) “ <..can i get a picture slfjsd

okay this is just a HITS article so im not gonna liveblog it cause u can read it urself!! everything i would have copy/pasted here is readily avalible there so . ya

omygosh they went on stage at first with fake mustaches on..so the kids couldnt tell who they were....

okay well this was a lot less that i probably originally meant to write, but i saved a lot of cool photos and have come 2 the realization that i got some serious organization to do in regards to my....extensive.... collection of tally hall photos mostly because a great deal of them have no context and that means i cant prove i didn’t just screenshot them from somebody else! (that is, yes. that is what i did.)

anyways hope this was enjoyable somehow. i sure had a good time !! thanks loolin !!!!!