#nothing and i mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING can convince me that this is a coincidence | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

personasintro · 1 year

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ITS ME AGAIN.

2/2

I would like to express my genuine and serious opinion about MH and the relationship between Y/N and JK. Let's start with the fact that this book needs to be reread few times, to understand better the dynamics between the main protagonists. I'm convinced that reading it one time it's NOT enough to understand what's actually happening. MANY and MANY people comment on it about JK seeing Y/N as a fuck buddy at this point, and nothing more. That he will never see her as a potential girlfriend. The first time I have read it, I got really annoyed and frustrated about this slow burn, like many others who write you these annoying asks. I thought that after so many chapters, basically nothing really happened, that he wants her for sex only. HOWEVER, when I started ready it for the second and third time then + read MH JUNGKOOK'S POV, my jaw dropped, because I began seeing and understanding things I never noticed before. My perspective of the situation COMPLETELY CHANGED . Now, I don't know if you study psychology/are interested in it, or if all of this is just a coincidence made up me and my analysing everything habit, but rereading it carefully, we can notice how well, subtle but clear you're trying to portrait the feelings of both of them towards each other. Let me explain it better.

(THIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS) Correct me if I'm wrong, but now that my perspective changed, I see MH JK as a guy who basically craves for reciprocated love, cuddles, attention and mostly important, who can't stay single or alone for too long. Not because he's desperate, but because he's a hopeless romantic who likes to give and receive love. The thing is, if in the very beginning I found very annoying his obsession with Kiko, now I think I understand what actually happened. He is attached to her for the good, old memories she brought him. He wants to bring the nice feelings he had back. In which he truly felt loved and understood by someone. But this doesn't mean he needs specifically Kiko. He loves her, is attached to her, but it's not the same as before. Sometimes we want our ex back because we want the good memories with them back and not specifically them now. More specifically, we want their old selves with us because we romanticise the memories a lot, but in reality we don't want to be with the person they are now. Does it make sense?

Why am I so convinced about this? Because of the fuck buddies deal thing. If he truly still loves Kiko and wants nobody else, in his mind NEVER EVER would have blown up the idea of having sex, and more over, REALLY ENJOYING it with his best friend. If someone is THE ONE for you and you're 100% serious about them, you don't act like a freaking husband with your bff. You made very clear his feelings by his actions. His actions and words speak for himself. He's attracted to Y/N right now, mentally and physically. He doesn't have romanticised old memories with her, so this means he's living the moment NOW and the feelings towards her are new. I can't say he's in love yet, because again, if you're in love you don't go to your ex. However, I'm truly convinced that in the last chapters we can absolutely tell he likes her now. Seriously likes her, but still denies it to himself, because he deeply knows that Y/N is his dearest best friend. It would be messy to date her, because this implies ruining the friendship in case something goes wrong and also she is in his main group of friends. Can you imagine breaking up with her and seeing her in your homies circle? And not having her as your beloved best friend anymore ? Hell no. And mostly important, she NEVER explicitly said to him anything about even the slightest possibility to want him a boyfriend. The dude basically automatically suppresses the thoughts about dating her, because unconsciously he knows it's not worthy and that he still receives the love he craves for from Kiko. She's basically the "comfort zone". Why risking to lose it to try dating someone who doesn't guarantee you anything (for now at least) . But objectively speaking, his words and body already behave like they are almost in love. I'm 100% sure that if Y/N confesses now, he would accept right away to date her. He's too whipped for her. Can't say the same about Y/N, who is the less considerate about her own feelings. No, SHE IS, because she overthinks it A LOT, more than him, but she's worse than him in suppressing the feelings for the same reasons. She tries to gaslight herself even when she perfectly knows it , and she literally goes to tue swimming pool.

that's it for now. I have more things, but let's stop here.

-July

HI you again!

This will be nothing new for some readers, especially to those who have been here from the beginning and has read my responses for quite sometime now (you guys can skip this response because you probably know it all by now hehe) ; you're right. I think too that for some people, it might take more reads to understand the little things that are not so obvious. Again, I'm gonna repeat myself but MH is a story where you should read between the lines. Not everything is clear and obvious. There are little easter eggs throughout the story. It causes people trying to get answers directly from me, since they haven't gotten it in the story. But I do not want to spoil anything, I prefer readers knowing the real stuff from the story. Until the story is not finished, I'll keep my mouth shut and enjoy the chaos 😁

I actually did study psychology, had it as a subject in my school and it was my favorite one. I think my writing mirrors me. I do tend to get very deep and analyze certain situations and people. I think that's what's happening in this story as well (and in my other ones too). That's a very good guess you made here!

It is a very interesting take that you have of him and the situations in the story! I cannot confirm nor deny. All I can say is that Jk really did love Kiko. I've seen in my life people that started hooking up with someone else after their break-up. That's how some people cope with it. Or even if they're fine after break-up, mostly men, think of sex a lot. It's a part most of them do not let go. So in this case, I wouldn't exactly say he didn't love her because he came up with the idea of them hooking up. We all know it was way deeper and complicated than this. It's also fine to enjoy the sex with someone that isn't your partner + when you're still heartbroken and love with someone else. He was surprised himself that he truly enjoyed it. But then again, he didn't exactly tell her to have sex. It's something that happened naturally and overtime. It showed off the beginning of their chemistry.

You've made some good points! I truly liked this analyzation (it's one of the best things about writing, to receive long messages/ask with analyzation!!) and I enjoyed reading it very much! I do have to stay neutral though and I hope you understand that 😁 Thank you again for this message/feedback. It was truly fun to read (I did read it the first time when I was on a walk with my dog and I tried not to trip 🫠). I had some cool responses prepared but I forgot them lolol but I think I covered everything I wanted!

Thank you, sending you lots of love and a huge hug, July! 🩵🫶

#ask #ask: mutual help

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eemcintyre · 7 months

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I am getting real tired of the modern, technology-driven notion that everyone has to be constantly available to everyone in their life.

Like, if it's an emergency I will be there for you 100%, but I have now had multiple friendships/relation-ish-ships end (all with men btw- coincidence...?) because I didn't text them back right away, every day, multiple times a day.

Am I the only one who thinks that this is, at best, ridiculously needy, and at worst, ridiculously entitled behavior?? This level of clinginess and insecurity (that somehow is my responsibility to reassure???) is a huge turn-off.

Not only do I think it's important and healthy for everyone to be comfortable spending some amount of time alone with their own thoughts, but I *especially* have always needed a lot of solitude and independence (idk maybe it comes from how controlled I was as a child and how few friends I had, but that's a whole other tangent right there). I require room to do my own thing, and while I love my friends and they are important to me, I'm not totally dependent on them and every ounce of my happiness and self-worth doesn't hinge on them. Honestly, the more someone tries to cling to me and rein me in, the more I feel compelled to distance myself. I need to know that I am free.

Anyway, this seems to intimidate a lot of people who are immature and not secure in themselves and are still suffering from unresolved past trauma that they are projecting onto me. They find it intimidating that even though I can want someone in my life and like or love them, I don't need them in it to survive because I am ultimately comfortable with myself and know my value enough now to not compromise who I am just to keep them in my life. They find it scary and foreign that I don't need constant reassurance and don't have the energy or will to provide it; that I can be content doing my own thing. Aka me having my own separate life in addition to our relationship and enjoying alone time = I don't care about them at all.

I need someone with the maturity, emotional intelligence, and self-esteem to realize that not everything is about them- I have more than one person in my life, I have a job, I have hobbies, etc., and even just because I am not busy at a point in time doesn't mean that time is *free* time. That is recharge and contemplation time.

I have even, against my better judgment, tried compromising my own boundaries to accommodate these people's insecurities and needs, and it didn't work. It's never enough. Also why does it always have to be me who compromises and makes the changes, and not them? Why don't they have to try and work on themselves to become less dependent on others and more secure? Why is it me who always has to drain all of my energy with forced, ingenuine conversation and interaction and trying to heal the past issues of other grown adults that they are projecting onto me?

I'm sick of my boundaries being disrespected. You are valid if it mentally drains you to be in constant contact with other people, and you are no less of a kind, caring person and good friend or partner for being that way. Like, it has nothing to do with you; I just recharge from spending time alone where I can think and exist without being observed or obligated to entertain others; being able to do exactly what I feel like, analyze my thoughts, or enjoy the quiet. Honestly, most people who require more contact (to a reasonable and non-codependent degree) are valid too; I just think both groups need to either compromise equally in relationships or seek out people who are more like-minded rather than existing in constant strife trying to change and/or make each other understood.

I know that I am a good, kind, friendly, and generous lady who brings a lot to the table, and I am sick of trying to convince people of it. If they want to leave because they can't handle physical and mental personal space, then no hard feelings at the end of the day but they are absolutely welcome to. I'm tired of letting people guilt and disparage and try to change me when I'm not doing anything wrong.

#to clarify that last line #obviously I can do wrong but I am only speaking on the post topic #alone time #solitude #independence #independent woman #introvert #introversion #infj #infp #entitlement issues #boundaries #setting boundaries

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melliae · 2 months

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Refraction Railway Line #4 Abnormalities (Analysis)

Everyone knows what a “masquerade” is, no? A dance hall filled to the brim with people in glamorous, pompous dresses and clothes, with masks hiding their identities. They were quite popular some centuries ago, especially in Venice, and… I really don’t know much about them. Wikipedia really helped here xD

Anyway, it’s obvious how the masquerades' elements of masks, costumes and such are tied to the presence of the Peccatulum Invidiae, who don the appearance and skills of the Sinners to hide their nature and goal: to entertain their “king” with everything they have. They will dance, fight, kill and die in order to soothe its boredom.

“I’m sure there’s something that those fakes can’t copy from us. Something they lack. We’re real, and they’re not. There’s gotta be a way to beat those annoying Peccatula.” - Rodya, Peccatulum Invidiae’s Observation Log #2.

“An egoless incarnation of ‘Identities’ manifested may hold a certain resemblance to the way they appear before us. Defeating one of them merely makes a vacancy for another to fill, for they number the same as we do.” - Yi Sang, The King in Binds’ Observation Log #2.

But no matter how hard they try, those Peccatula will never amount to anything, being just pieces to be discarded and used at their master’s convenience. They are empty shells that act only as pale, rotten shadows of what they yearn for—husks with nothing behind.

Nonetheless, their nature as mere “masks” already points out the nature of the Railway, made even more obvious with elaborated platform in the introductory cutscene and the final rolling of the carpet: this is a charade, an invitation to partake in a violent, wondrous banquet in which every guest is an actor that must play its part to their best for the host’s—the King’s—sake.

Thus, with such mockery of an invitation it gave us, there’s only one way the reception can be.

Good Ol’ Days

“Sad, sad things happened here. Many sad things. I still carry with me my master's portrait because no one remembers them anymore. How is it? Can you see it well?”- Abnormality Encounter.

This is how the chief butler of the manor receives us: with words about a tragic past, and the few to none memories that persist about it. In fact, such longing and nostalgia are the entire basis of the Abnormality itself, with its main palette fittingly being that of worn-out sepia, and its EGO being called “Bygone Days”.

But even with its sorrowful solemnity and loyalty to its late master, there’s something insidious growing in the Abnormality that only makes itself clear when you answer that “you can’t see it well” to the question above and pass the check:

“'I see.' 'If my master is gone from the painting, the memories… what shall I do?' 'What if… one day… I start doubting that I ever had a master…'”

To say such a thing to it is nothing short of cruelty, for you are showing that its memory will one day fade, just like the colors and the figure of the resulting headless portrait that once were there, branding all that it has lived—all that suffering and love of yore—as worthless. It isn’t a coincidence that the Sin advantages of that option are Envy, the yearning to bring down the other along with oneself, and Pride, a total devaluation of the other, stating one’s own view as absolute.

However, just because the Abnormality can forget its master, it doesn’t mean it will simply accept it, as it makes everyone sit in front of the portrait until the missing countenance of its master can be elucidated if the words weren’t convincing, no matter how long that takes. An extreme method indeed, but effective, considering it’s the core essence of one of the two Sin advantages behind the “say that you can see it well” option: a passive Sloth that leads to painstakingly analyze the pictureless painting, without any other intention beyond fulfilling the Abnormality’s “request”. It makes the Butler’s celebration when you pass the check all the more depressing, saying that it can see “the face of its master reflected in your eyes”.

That sadness is pitifully cranked up when we move to the second Sin advantage, Envy, since the Abnormality doesn’t celebrate your well-hidden disinterest on the only thing that matters to it this time; it celebrates you directly lying to its face, about seeing things where there’s no to “save face” (or something along those lines). It makes clear that the Butler only cares about the portrait only to the extent it reflects its “memories” and endeavors, and thus is joyful about any (convincing) confirmation of their validity. After all, if someone declares with total certainty that the portrait—its past—amounts to nothing, what remains for it?

“'If you really can see my master's countenance… that's not the face you'd be making.' 'And those unimpressed, lifeless eyes aren't the look one would wear upon seeing my master's face.' We were quickly deemed unwelcome, and were chased out of the mansion.” - Abnormality Encounter.

And naturally, if it doesn’t like your shallow evaluation (or lie) about all of it has done for the mansion and its late master, the Butler takes offense and chases you off.

While impossible to say for sure, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to assume that check failure will bridge the MD encounter with the future fight in case the new (potential) option doesn’t do anything, which leads me to the meat of the Abnormality: the fight

To begin, there are two elements in the Butler’s kit that must be highlighted in order to understand it: all of its skills inflict Sinking, and that none of them are Wrath-based. That’s to say, it isn’t a hateful Abnormality at all, but a pitiful one; its sadness is expressed with every swing of its arms and body, drowning others in the deep sadness caused for what was lost. In a related note, its resistance to Wrath is simply derived from the fact that it’s dealing with “interlopers” and not with anyone “special”, thus any sort of enmity is bound to be meaningless before its eyes.

Moving now to the first skills it uses, the most interesting one is “Leave This Place” due to its Lust affinity. In my previous posts, I commented that Lust is “desire for desire’s sake” which, while being useful for the parade of obsession that RR3 was, doesn’t really fit with what I’ve written here. Thankfully, we have the Divine Comedy to help us this time:

“Love, that on gentle heart doth swiftly seize, Seized this man for the person beautiful That was ta’en from me, and still the mode offends me. Love, that exempts no one beloved from loving, Seized me with pleasure of this man so strongly, That, as thou seest, it doth not yet desert me;” - Francesca da Rimini, Canto V, Inferno.

In short, Lust is the result of the rational mind being overtaken by the passions of the heart—by love itself. This is depicted in-game mostly through characters and Abnormalities that are addicted to “carnal” things or pleasure in general, as shown with Pink Shoes, Kromer, Skin Prophet, and many others. But there are some special cases, like Basilisoup or Sign of Roses, where Lust acquires more “spiritual” undertones, showing its true underlying nature as the extremes to which the lover(s) can be guided by their love, to the detriment of everyone involved.

Thus, Lust is the Sin of love itself: love for love’s sake, desire for desire’s sake, and all the atrocities that one does or allows to happen as consequence. And without doubt, Portrait of a Certain Day has that kind of love for the mansion, trying to protect it from the “sorrow” brought by outsiders.

The other skill is “Don’t Make That Face”, which is Sloth-based. Returning to the check failure of “say that you can see it well”, it seems to be an extension of the Butler’s reaction, and the meaning should be self-evident: everything should remain as spotless and perfect as it was before, when its master was “alive”; anything else is an insult, a reminder that the present moment is nothing more than a fragile charade only keep up by the deep-seated nostalgia of the Abnormality—its refusal to move on.

Those two skills are the only ones that Portrait of a Certain Day uses until the mid-combat Event is triggered, when the Abnormality reaches a certain HP threshold. This is a relatively easy one to understand, with the Abnormality testing you after being so stubborn, asking you to guess which of the numerous Portraits it suddenly summons is its master’s. The second Log is about this Event, and the combat mechanic about destroying the correct one is just a “gameplayification” of it.

The Event itself is quite straightforward, with the only interesting thing being its Gloom advantage, implying that the “only way” (or intended way, maybe?) to correctly guess which one is Master’s Portrait is through understanding the deep sadness imprinted onto the painting—how well the Portraits embody its master’s life. This is represented in the gameplay (and the Logs) through the fake Portraits’ cackles and mirth when using their Evasion skill, whereas the real one simply takes the damage. Though it’s important to note the fake Portraits can still mess you with your mind, with the Event’s check failure showing it:

“[Sinner] suddenly feels the burning gaze of every single portrait in the room focus on them. Each and every single of them holds... resentment.”

This seems to be a translation of the Portraits’ only passive, “Peering Gaze”, which inflict Sinking every turn, coinciding with the result of losing 30 SP when failing. This gaze is referenced by Gregor in the Logs too, when he chose the wrong Portrait.

At any rate, neither failing nor succeeding in the check causes Portrait of a Certain Day to grow overly wrathful, just annoyed/desperate or glad respectively. But the gameplay version is a lot more complicated, since this Event is the source of its main gimmick, the “Interloper” status, with all its passives and the rests of its skills playing around it.

Once the Portraits are summoned, the Abnormality will attach 1 skill to each, either “My Master” or “My Tragic Master”, both of them being Envy-based. The logic behind that affinity is hinted at by the Logs again:

“Oh, yeah. Lemme get off-topic for a moment and talk about the old times. The higher-ups used to make me march in the streets with portraits or pictures of the dead in my hands. It was kinda… no, very sickening. Parading portraits, pictures, or even mementos of the dead like that is… how should I put this? Yeah, it's like we're taking advantage of their deaths, isn't it?” - Gregor, Abnormality’s Observation Log #1.

There’s no doubt the Abnormality loves its late master. But in the City, love, like all other emotions, can be twisted into something unrecognizable and self-serving, used to alleviate the bitterness within. In the Butler’s case, what else can it be besides a tool to prop itself up as the one that protects its master’s legacy, believing it’s the only thing it truly is and can be? Maybe that’s why it’s resistant to Envy too, because who can really feel envy for a sad being that needs the dead to have a “place”?

Anyway, once this phase begins, there are two possibilities: you destroy the Master’s Portrait within 3 turns, or you fail to do so. This latter case is what causes the activation of “Throwing Out The Interloper” passive. In essence, you took too much time and failed the test, with the Interloper inflicted in the earliest deployed Sinner possibly being a representation of it focusing on the Sinner sent during the Event, or how bad of a memory the Butler has, to the point it can only remember the most “recent” Sinner.

In case the correct Portrait is destroyed before 3 turns, the Logs explains us what happens:

“But after that… … the Abnormality grew really hostile and went on a full offensive. It started fuming, like it was somehow pissed off. It seemed to obsessively focus its attacks against the person who got the last hit in. Well, that focus eventually spread out to all of us. I guess all that rage didn't help 'em keep a cool head.” - Gregor, Abnormality’s Observation Log #3.

This is expressed in gameplay through the “Ooh, Dear Master” and “You Must Be the Interloper’s Family?” passives, and the implications are quite obvious. However, the first one is the more interesting, showing how the memories of the past, even when they are no different from a faded portrait, are a stupidly high morale boost for the Abnormality, and their destruction a near psychological breakdown.

With all of that said, it’s very tempting to say Portrait of a Certain Day represents Nelly thanks to her speech near the end of Canto VI:

“Miss Catherine was... difficult from time to time, but I do not wish to deny even the times we've spent together. I even miss the late Mister Earnshaw Senior from time to time. No... I never lived a life full of hate, animosity. I am just struggling desperately to change my destiny.” - Chapter 45: Life, Stolen.

But that’s where everything ends. While Nelly may have wanted to return to that past, it would likely have been only to avoid her destiny, the destruction of her life thanks to the relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine, as her Gluttony and Wrath skills show. This is in contrast to the remaining Gloom- (“Interloper, Are You?” and “Leave, Interloper”) or Sloth-based (“Who Might You Be?”) skills of the Abnormality, expressions of its deep sadness and tiredness over all the tragedies it has witnessed and will keep on witnessing, all thanks to its refusal to move on out of love.

Other good fits are Josephine and her entourage, so obsessed with the ghost—the memories—of their dead mistress that I’d say they are the best example of the Abnormality by far, forever bound to a dead past they love and wish to protect with everything they have. Fuck, even Josephine’s color palette is almost the same that the Abnormality’s!

I think it’s also possible to say Portrait of a Certain Day represents the concept of butlers and their inherited contracts. But I think that hampers and reduces the underlying experience of the Abnormality, which I’m pretty sure everyone must have felt: the bitter wish to return to those simple days of yore, wishing to safekeep them from all harm despite the impending “sunset”. Maybe that’s why Portrait of a Certain Day is weak to Lust, to love itself, and, above all, to both Sloth and Pride—the inertia that lets days pass without care, and the “arrogant” exclamation that oneself is more than their past.

It’s natural to love one’s past and endeavors, what one has done for others and themselves, but identifying oneself with it is too dangerous. After all, it’s through thinking and believing that such illusions become real, and with them every new day becomes a tragedy, every new person an “interloper” that brings only misery.

The past, despite its importance, is not everything you are. There’s no need to despair once it vanishes.

Dreams of Freedom

“Maybe it's enjoying a gentle dream, free from the painful strikes of lightning. Maybe it's suffering a dark nightmare because we’ve taken its spark… Well, there’s no way for us to know now, but… I wonder if lightning actually hurts this Abnormality. Or… maybe having its electricity taken away hurt more.” - Sinclair, Abnormality’s Observation Log #3.

After a (brainless) fight against the chief butler and its entourage, the dogs, knights and other personnel dedicated to protecting the manor, we find ourselves confronting… a sheep? And it doesn’t seem to be a normal animal, but an electrical one, as its name very clearly demonstrates.

There’s no need to be a genius to know that Dreaming Electric Sheep is a reference to the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, which deals with themes of faith, empathy, and connection in a sci-fi world. Naturally, those topics permeate the Abnormality throughout, with special focus to the questions presented by Sinclair above: what does the Sheep truly want and is that the correct thing?

To answer them, we need first to understand what exactly the electricity in question is. For that, we need to analyze its surprisingly evocative battle.

“But I noticed something new with every strike of lightning, with every flash… It was almost like a dream. A four-legged cloud, illuminated in the flares of violet… Oh, and… there was something that stood out as odd from that dreamlike sight, though. There was a machine in there, with its cables and plugs strewn all over the place. … Maybe it was like a power generator, or something?” - Sinclair, Abnormality’s Observation Log #3.

And for beginners, as a curiosity, this fragment here along with the Abnormality Encounter in the MDs imply the generators and wires are already present in the arena; they aren’t summoned, unlike the fight. This means the passive associated with that latter mechanic, “Generator”, is essentially just a mechanic especially made to avoid… breaking the fight, I guess.

There are some other cases of “story and gameplay segregation”, like the Sheep begins the fight with an unclashable attacks that isn’t mentioned anywhere in the Logs, or that it naturally attracts storms and electricity, independent of the generators. But since they don’t matter that much, let’s ignore them and begin with the actual analysis.

The main focus of the fight is trying to get the “Anti-Ovine Grounding Plug” status on the Sinners, acquired by winning against the Generators’s “Overcharge Release” skill—overcoming the electricity released by the generators to grab a cable. Not exactly revolutionary, but it gets the work done, since the name of the status and the fact that the Sinner that has it must win a clash against the Sheep’s sole Pride skill, “Grounding Refusal”, to inflict “Plugged In” on it are quite telling: the Abnormality doesn’t want to be “grounded” and have its electricity stolen.

The Abnormality’s refusal to “touch earth” is also seen in the fight’s background, placed in the sky and high above whatever city is below, filled to the brim with lightning and stormy clouds. Sinclair described such surroundings as dream-like, and rightfully so; how can one say that such a place, disconnected almost wholly from earth, is anything but a fantasy? In a way, it’s really, really juvenile…

Regarding the “Plugged In” status, the name is everything you really need to understand it, and thankfully you need only 3 Plugged In on the Abnormality to stagger and make it lose all the Charge (i.e., electricity) it has built up, effectively putting it to “sleep”. The related passive, “A Familiar Connector”, implies that the Sheep is conscious and knows what you are doing, and it’s trying to fight against it, as the special Event (when it has 2 Plugged In) and the Logs show:

“At the end of each cable strewn about the floor is a plug. Perhaps the sheep knows what it implies. It lets out a sorrowful cry.” - Mid-Combat Event. “… The sheep began attacking me as soon as I grabbed the cable from the generator. It would burst with lightning… or try to ram me with its body.” - Sinclair, Abnormality’s Observation Log #2.

Naturally, beyond the prideful refusal to be grounded, thinking of itself as deserving much more than to be slaved as mere battery, the Abnormality becomes wrathful at the sight of someone using the cables too, as represented by its “Ram Charge” skill. But this incessant fight to reject its duty make its weakness to Wrath and Gloom all the more ironic: despite its big egoism, befitting its resistance to Pride, Dreaming Electric Sheep is susceptible to others’ suffering and hatred, as if they make it doubt its egoistic stubbornness.

Returning now to the fight as such, the Abnormality doesn’t always use “Grounding Refusal”, since it’s tied to the other main status of the fight: Gathering Lightning Cloud. As it name implies, it’s a representation of how the Sheep is able to gather lightning and electricity in the first place, being what ultimately dictates what skills it uses:

“Horned Charge”: A Lust-based skill used when there’s 4, 3 or 1 Gathering Lightning Cloud. It essentially represents the love and addiction Dreaming Electric Sheep has for electricity—for “dreaming” above and beyond the earth.

“Lamb’s Cry” and “Electricity Manipulation”: Gloom-based skills, used when there’s 3 or less and 1 Gathering Lightning Cloud respectively. They are a stand-in for the Abnormality’s despair caused by losing the source of its electricity and “dreams”.

An entity that’s in love with dreaming and being unbounded, fighting and despairing upon the prospect of losing its “spark” and tied down to something—to duty. Thus, it isn’t a surprise Sloth is antithetical to its existence, a drive that destroys its (sort of) rebellion and pride by making it rot as nothing but a commodity, a tool born and raised to feed the city below.

“The electric sheep bleats and screams. As its distressed screech shakes the air, flashes of light hit the eyes. The buildings are lit brighter than ever. Soon, the light from the creature’s cloud dimmed. Could it be dreaming? The sheep appeared to have closed its eyes after it fell silent.” - Abnormality Encounter.

A “poison” that… puts it to sleep? That part isn’t clear, and Yi Sang’s comment in the third Log doesn’t help that much either. We know the Abnormality is already dreaming at some level, quite literally being “in the clouds” and having to be “grounded”, so maybe it collapsing is the result of finally being “tamed” and “binded”, drained of everything it has as the weight of the things it has done—the tiredness of living freely—catches up. It's the somnolence that willingly sacrifices all (external) ambitions, so the world can remain in order and “awake”.

Thankfully for the Sheep, and pitifully for those below, such a state is not permanent, at least in gameplay. This all due to its only Envy skill, “Electric Screaming”, which has two versions: an unclashable one used solely during the first turn, and a clashable version used whenever there’s only 1 Gathering Lightning Cloud on the Abnormality. While the former is difficult to elucidate since it doesn’t have any effect in practice (beyond the 10 Protections it grants), it coincides with a small part of the Logs:

“Do you think we have to plug those cables into the sheep? Ah, I see… What if that sheep is screaming so much because of the lightning in its body…? - Sinclair, Abnormality’s Observation Log #1.

It is screaming (duh), and feeling a profound envy for something/someone in that moment. The clashable version further clarifies it through its effect of expiring all the built up Charge, along with disconnecting itself from the generator likely due to the absurd release of electricity—its precious electricity.

While it would be normal to assume the Abnormality is envious for people that don’t have to experience the pain of being electrocuted, I disagree with that. The Logs are ambiguous at the hour of answering what’s more painful to the Sheep, but the EGO Awakening/Corrosion lines and the “cut the cables” option in its Encounter heavily imply what the Sheep values above all.

“The buildings blacked out in an instant. The electric sheep dashed off into the distance, propelling a thunderous cry. In the unlit town, weeps of the lightless fill the air. A tiny object rests where the electric sheep once was.” - Abnormality Encounter.

So terrified of being “robbed” that, without realizing, it leaves a fragment of its being and electricity behind.

Everything indicates that Dreaming Electric Sheep is envious not out of “physical” pain, but of those that don’t have to sacrifice their dreams and are free. Unlike them, it has to fight with everything it has and abandon all in order to escape its “confinement”, with its last important passive, “Wants To Be Free”, being the most obvious proof of that drive and violent opposition.

All in all, the theme of the Abnormality is obvious: in contrast to Portrait of a Certain Day and its blind loyalty to its duty and past, Dreaming Electric Sheep represents fighting back and rebelling against them—the “presetted” social role that was given to it. However, no matter how much it wants to be free, the Sheep will have to return to the ground one day by either its own volition or dragged down by others, and when that happens its dreams will only consist of the days of yore.

“The ability to recollect may become the Abnormalities’ bridge from the waking world into the land of dreams. Yet, we know not whether what it reminisces is its past, or merely its figments.” - Yi Sang, Abnormality’s Observation Log #3.

Thus, its entire relationship with Envy makes sense (beyond “Envy = Electricity/Charge”, of course), including its resistance and why do Identities without Envy have their mental state deteriorated when plugging in the Sheep in the Encounter; it is one of the purest manifestations of the Sin. But then, one has to wonder what the Abnormality represents in this royal masquerade, and thankfully, an user in reddit gave a more than appropriate answer:

“I think Sheep represents the King. A more imature version of the king that didnt want the responsiblity of the throne, just to run freely. I also want to add even the stage placement supports my theory, both section 3 and 4 follow the same structure of peccatula followed by abnormality. I think Sheep is the Prince, a Little Prince.” - u/tr_berk1971.

And with that, we return to the first question: without the prince, the kingdom doesn’t have a future, so what should you do in this case? Respect its decision or bring it down?

The King in Binds

“There is an entity bound to an extravagantly ornamented chair. It appears as though the entity is shooting a stern glare this way. It tries to say something... but its mouth is bound. The King on the throne twists and thrashes, trying to approach... but the things that bind drags him away. The beautiful yet cruel crimson strips of fabric. They pull mercilessly. They are…” - Abnormality Encounter.

If Abnormalities like Skin Prophet and Drifting Fox are difficult to explain, then The King in Binds is the complete opposite. So instead of explaining the Abnormality’s meaning, I’m going to analyze its mechanics and tie it to… well, a certain theory I have.

At any rate, after gruesome fights with every single inhabitant of the manor, including the goddamn prince, we arrive against the ruler, the one who set up this very own Railway as a masquerade to alleviate its boredom. Fittingly, before even dreaming of fighting the King, we have to go through its (adamantine) inner circle: its closest and oldest butlers, its royal guard, its counselors, and for some reason two homeless men… Well, anything for the King, right?

“Now that I have spent some time in observation of their operations, I have noticed a conspicuously considerable collection of similitudes between us. I can presume that their number is most likely equivalent to our own; their techniques in parallel to ours. Yet what those Peccatula lack is the will to make decisions of their own. Like cards to be played with and discarded at the king’s whim.” - Yi Sang, Abnormality’s Observation Log #2.

Especially when you are an extension of the King’s many “binds” that empower and limit it at the same time, giving it shape and thus an existence—they are as much as part of the King as the King is of them, as seen with the “Bandage of the King in Binds”. But this reciprocity becomes heavily nightmarish when you consider how the King is the source of all the Peccatulum Invidiae we see in the Railway, meaning only one thing: there’s no difference between the Sovereign and its people.

“A commonwealth is said to be instituted when a multitude of men do agree, and covenant, every one with every one, that to whatsoever man, or assembly of men, shall be given by the major part the right to present the person of them all, that is to say, to be their representative; every one, as well he that voted for it as he that voted against it, shall authorize all the actions and judgements of that man, or assembly of men, in the same manner as if they were his own, to the end to live peaceably amongst themselves, and be protected against other men.” - Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes.

The King in Binds doesn’t control every single one of its retainers; they are one and the same, with their wills being its will. It’s the living manifestation of the manor and the kingdom, with its “bandages” and thus control extending through every corner. Its power is absolute, its rules unquestionable… Yet, such a position is lonely beyond any comparison, not having any equal and no challenge that can’t be easily solved with 1 order. No wonder why its EGO and a great part of its skills are both Pride and Gloom, or that it’s resistant to Lust, Gluttony and Envy—a solitary responsibility that kills all desire, yet too powerful and important to simply wish upon another, explaining also its Sloth skill.

“To be in command of others, to reign over another, is a declaration that one shall endure the responsibilities and the suffering that come with power. I would like to take this opportunity to extend my deepest gratitude to our Executive Manager, who leads us with a firm but fair, excellent hand.” - Outis, Abnormality’s Observation Log #3.

And I don’t think I’ve to explain the relationship it has with Dante and the Sinners, because it’s obvious their contract doesn’t only affect the latter’s “time”. By all means, the Sinners have become (metaphysical) extensions of Dante, who is no other than the pitiful, solitary and all too prideful Leviathan.

“‘Mine eyes,’ I said, ‘will yet be here ta’en from me, But for short space; for small is the offence Committed by their being turned with envy. Far greater is the fear, wherein suspended My soul is, of the torment underneath, For even now the load down there weighs on me.’” - Dante, Canto XIII, Purgatorio, Divine Comedy.

A King that under no circumstances allows disrespect towards its presence. But there’s no need to worry, because it won’t direct its resentment and hatred against its retainers, to those he has “bonded” with as shown with “Present Thyself Before the King”; everything will be directed to its “enemies” and “offenders”, either conquering or destroying them. Its theme isn’t named “Vovete Miseries”, latin for “(All of) You Shall Vow Miseries”, for nothing.

At the end, Dante, like the King, will remain alone at the top. The binds and duty, once chains (chains… why do they sound familiar?) that dragged them to the “throne” over and over again, now bandages that cover the shameful injuries and are the only thing that hold it together. They may struggle as much as they want to get free now, but they are in that situation because they have already resigned themselves to the bitterness of such a role—they “gladly” welcomed both Sloth and Gloom in their lives, without resisting them.

“Let this battle bring a fleeting moment of joy for the lone-king who shall reign eternal, reign unaccompanied.” - Choosing to “wear the mask of joy”, Introductory Event.

“Let this battle bring a fleeting moment of solace for the lone-king who shall reign eternal, reign unaccompanied.” - Choosing to “wear the mask of sorrow”, Introductory Event.

“Let this battle spark the flames of battle-joy for the lone king who shall reign eternal, reign unaccompanied.” - Choosing to “wear the mask of wrath”, Introductory Event.

Though you can at the very least soothe that melancholy by playing along with this selfish desire of it, to take one of the many offered masks to fulfill this play whose ending allows the King to pretend to be free. How you do it is entirely up to you, of course, but please, do not forget the pain the King experiences with every movement and breath; that’s the despair and duty we all share.

Post-Commentary

Beyond the usual disclaim that every Abnormality is open to discussion, I really want to focus in the last section, about The King in Binds, due to theory I presented: in the same way Spiral of Contempt can represent Dante's past self, KiB obviously represents something of them; it may be their past again, yes, but also their future, and that's the interpretation I chose. It can also be understood as a parallel with Heathcliff in particular, who (whom?) already had comparisons made with the Devil himself.

Outside of that, if Protrait of a Certain Day's section looks longer than the others... Yes, it's. That's because I wrote it as some sort of "reception" as well, beginning with the first thing we knew about the Abnorality before the fight. It's also the thing that took more time than any other; the Envy affinity really messed up with my brain... And that's not speaking about how similar Portrait is to Steam Machine.

And finally, it's obvious the overall theme within this Railway: while RR2 represents unending cycles and RR3 (self-)destructive obssessions, RR4 stands for the tragedy and power that come with duty, from the immature stages in which we try to run from it, to the last days during which we take comfort in what we have done - childhood/teenagehood, adulthood, and finally elderliness in a world that demands things that we may not neccesaily like, but we must fullfill. Life in society is truly like a masquerade, isn't it?

#limbus company #refraction railway 4 #abnormalities #Portrait of a Certain Day #Dreaming Electric Sheep #The King in Binds

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inchidentally · 5 months

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god I wish xkit still had the inbox features - but I'm gonna screencap all the stuff under tricky asks and save them for later so I can see the fun asks and not have them get buried <3

gonna do a few of the more recent ones now and then from there bundle them every couple weeks!

I've mostly just fallen out of interest w the ship apart from the way I enjoy it (which isn't popular lol) for a few reasons but mostly the misogyny toward real life gfs. I still enjoy it for myself and I'm even writing it rn but I'm just not motivated to go crazy over it anymore <3

oh babe I'm a massive complainer about McLaren's new media approach meaning we don't get the fun, regular teammate content that we used to but truly there's no motive for actually keeping them apart! the carlando challenge was F1TV and I actually can't tell who pushed for the Oscar/Esteban RC car challenge but it makes sense bc they've chatted a fair amount during down time since Bahrain. I think there's a casual friendliness there.

but also this kind of cross-team content isn't unusual at all and tbh it's a coincidence that feels annoying mainly bc it coincides with McLaren sm deciding to go all slick edits rather than spontaneous and fun content.

and first anon if anything it felt like Oscar put himself in time out for well, actually slightly stalking Lando in the preseason and Bahrain kasgfkaflsagfslja I'm... mostly joking

oh listen, Carlos and Lando absolutely are friends - and I don't wanna jump down your throat if you're not saying they aren't - but don't get me wrong, I enjoy carlando for what it actually is and not the 'secretly in love/fucking/relationship/actually gay for each other' version. ironically the reality is a lot sweeter and more real than desperately ignoring everything about Carlos to pretend he's gay or to pretend that Lando and Carlos rank even in the top 100 of people closest to them. sorry but to me the reality of baby Lando latching onto Carlos for support in F1 and Carlos quite liking this funny little dude fluttering around him even when they have nothing but driving, golf and beautiful women in common - like, that's sweet to me!! sorry ?? it's the whole imprinted on each other but we wouldn't normally be friends thing that happens in these little brother/big brother scenarios.

the fact is tho that carlando is indeed a major popularity and engagement spinner for everyone from F1 official to sponsors to Lando and Carlos themselves, and they both know that hanging out and documenting it can serve two purposes at once. the Australia stuff was all probably a bit too cynical but they wouldn't do any of it if they didn't actually enjoy spending time together! plenty of these sports bromances do similar things it's just that of the F1 bromances, carlando caught on with the 1D rpf conspiracy theorist pipeline by ticking every box. you'd think they'd catch on that it's all the ones they're convinced are RealTM that end up flopping butttt

but yea I remember the ask linking to ppl saying that landoscar and charlos are PR and to this day it's like did they just want to face a deluge of constantly being proven wrong or ??? esp the fact that Charles and Carlos get absolutely zilch out of their dynamic this season (and forever after that) - especially Carlos who could easily decide to just be blandly polite to Charles and focus on buddying up to a hopeful new teammate if charlos was purely PR. even when they play it up, it's not cynical and they make it clear. but the way they've chosen to deal with this whole circus in a joint way is like damn. they're not besties or anything but they respect the fuck out of each other and talk a lot about how to deal with being friends and also teammates.

and landoscar literally has no bromance content, no fake gay, not even excessive touching or physical proximity, Oscar isn't remotely interested in being camera friendly, they don't document any of their time together when it's not official media, and they don't remotely play up to the cameras together. the ship literally exists bc two guys like to watch each other with sweet dopey smiles, they are on a freakishly similar wavelength, have immense respect for each other, Oscar has observed and learned Lando to almost worrying degrees, and Lando has no filter so when he keeps having horny verbal burps about Oscar's body that make the people around them uncomfortable or awkward - and that Oscar just blushes and giggles through. it's absolutely not planned or strategic bc what a horrible strategy to try and convince fans to ship them like carlando and dando askflgsajlgflaf.

like, everything about Lando and Oscar's real life dynamic and friendship is one of the few cases where they're categorically known to not cynically try to promote it for fans and they don't play up to the cameras for engagement. literally they like each other and get on well and it's just. like that !!

#inchreplies #wank adjacent

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mediamixs · 1 year

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Horrible near-death experiences: the infernal side no one talks about

Near-death experiences (NDEs) are triggered during singular life-threatening episodes when the body is injured by blunt trauma, a heart attack, asphyxia, shock, and so on. Thousands of survivors of these harrowing touch-and-go situations tell of leaving their damaged bodies behind and encountering a realm beyond everyday existence, unconstrained by the usual boundaries of space and time. Researchers have identified the common elements that define NDEs, including impressions of being outside one's physical body, visions of deceased relatives and religious figures, and transcendence of egotic and spatiotemporal boundaries. However, some NDEs can be distressing, such as the void experience, which is an ontological encounter with a perceived vast emptiness, often a devastating scenario of aloneness, isolation, sometimes annihilation.

Some who were about to die claim to have seen the dark side of the afterlife, a tenebrous place populated by creatures of the satanic imaginary: demons, harpies and similar monsters. In 1975, Raymond Moody's Life After Life was published, the first book to compile stories of people whose hearts stopped beating for a few seconds and came back to life.

Those who lived the negative experience claim to have been trapped in the void, in a dark space of absolute calm, sometimes full of geometric figures, overwhelmed by the sensation that everything is absurd, that nothing makes sense. In the third case, the person finds himself in real hell, surrounded by flames and demons, locked in a sordid space with no possibility of escape.

Between 4 and 5 percent of people who experience an NDE perceive it as a negative experience. The figure could be even higher, due to the difficulty for some people to recall such a painful experience. Explaining it means going through the trauma all over again. Also, many people are convinced that this negative experience is a kind of punishment for their bad behavior throughout their lives.

A possible negative experience

Just as life has a dramatic, hard side, so does death and in the arduous journey of discernment it should not frighten, rather it should be a wake-up call to live committed to life and its infinite potential. Choosing at each vital crossroads according to the best values of the human spirit, keeping in mind that a life may not end happily in a tunnel of light, it is a bitter tension with which one must coexist all our earthly lives, only then can freedom be exercised.

Kevin, a 40-year-old American Airlines airline pilot, had a negative near-death experience: I had an accident driving my van on a road and was severely injured between the twisted irons of the van, I feel myself begin to float above my mangled body when I was sucked into a dark void where an evil, terrifying presence was waiting for me, it was evil itself, I understood that given the life I had lived that would be my eternity, I begged for a second chance and after a time that seemed eternal I woke up in my physical body and on my way to an emergency room.

The descriptions of hell in the infernal NDEs do not usually coincide with the contemporary idea of hell in the West, which is that which arose from the ideas of St. Augustine and the terrifying imagination of Dante Alighieri, rather they describe dark voids, suffocating places, deformed beings, total absence of spiritual light. In the New Testament the term used for the place of post mortem punishment is Gehenna, which refers to the valley of Gehenna, scene of human sacrifices to the god Moloch and therefore a cursed place for the Jews of the first century, it was a garbage dump at that time and so in the Gospels hell is a garbage dump rather than a place of torture, very similar to the descriptions of the infernal NDE.

For those who have had an experience on the threshold of hellish death, it can even arise from a glorious NDE but interpreted negatively, it is important to integrate it into life and consider it as an evolutionary event rather than as a future condemnation. The idea is to learn and evolve, to start again as many times as necessary.

#horror #beyond evil

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jodilin65 · 4 months

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The spammers are out on LJ, so only friends can comment on entries there. At least I was able to remove the comment, report them, and block them with one click.

I've said it a million times before, and I'll no doubt say it a million times in the future: something is absolutely hell-bent on disrupting my sleep. I swear that not only does something up there not want me to have a normal thyroid, but it also doesn't want me to sleep well. With traffic now out of the picture, it's quite a coincidence that all these other things are now waking me up. I swear I've got to get a mouthguard if only to stop snoring myself awake. However, I don't always snore while on my back because the first bang woke me up when I was on my back and I wasn't snoring. My first thought was a surprise thunderstorm. It was just one big bang, but when I got up to pee, I saw the sun was shining. So, my next thought was that Tom dropped something in the kitchen, even though the sound seemed to come from the opposite direction. I went out to him, but he swore there were no bangs.

Trying to convince myself I just dreamed it up, I went back to bed even though it took me an hour to fall back asleep. A few hours later, the same thing happened. I questioned whether or not something fell in the laundry room which is right behind the bedroom, so he went out and looked. A few minutes later, he came back into the house and said I was right, a large plastic tote fell down. But it could have only happened once because that was the only thing that fell! The laundry room is small, and there isn't much space between the washer and dryer and the shelves. So, it would have slipped off the shelf and crashed down onto the washer before hitting the floor, which makes sense after the sound I heard.

But what was that first bang? Unless it was a 400-pound tiger, there's no way a cat could have leaped onto the roof and made such a loud bang. There's nothing else that could have come from the back or Ray's place that I know of, and Toni's place is too far away. Besides, he was sitting by her place, so he would have heard it if it had come from there. His room and the living room are on the Toni side, and my room and the kitchen are on the Ray side.

Since I doubt the tote would have thrown itself down, picked itself back up, and placed itself back on the shelf before throwing itself back down a few hours later, I am completely mystified as to what it could have been. But it was something. And the fact that there is almost always something is what makes me think it can't be a coincidence and something really is trying to sabotage my sleep. The question is what and why? I have a very strong feeling that even if I could suddenly sleep at night every night, it would still find a way to fuck with my sleep.

He said the only thing he could think of is maybe the wind went through the rafters at just the right angle and strength to knock the tote off. I suppose it's possible, but it doesn't seem likely to me because I don't think the gap between the ceiling and wall is that big.

So now that my sleep has been disrupted more than twice, I am totally exhausted. Can't let my schedule jump too fast, though, in order to make my appointment on the 13th.

Went through the first three chapters of my story last night. I made a few edits, but nothing major.

I don't know if this means anything and it's pretty mild so far, but I've noticed more tingling lately in my legs (paresthesia). I've had it in my right thigh, but lately, I'm feeling it in various places in both legs from my butt to my feet. I first thought it was connected to my weight, but now I'm wondering if it's a sciatica, thyroid, or prediabetes thing. All these things and other things can cause it.

I'm more worried about my thyroid and all this fatigue. It's a miracle that the decades of poor sleep and what happened with the medication in Cali haven't messed up my heart, but it can't be doing my health any good either. Sooner or later, all these sleep disturbances are going to catch up to me.

My mother would be 92 years old today if she was still alive, a year younger than Tom’s mom was when she died in 2015.

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charlesherbertlightoller · 7 months

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An Update + Farewell

Mutuals, if you've been wondering where I've been for these past few days and what's going on, here's the situation:

My blog was banned on February 22nd. Just completely out of nowhere with absolutely no warning whatsoever. The reason for my ban? According to the email I received back, I had been "flagged by automated security controls". However, I had committed no violations of the terms myself, and I still strongly believe that it's no coincidence that I was slapped with a ban after I had reblogged content pertaining to…certain subjects which might make a certain person angry.

I did send another email explaining that I believed I was wrongfully terminated, and eventually my account was restored about 24 hours afterwards.

Unfortunately, the damage has already been done, and therefore, after recovering my account, backing it up and establishing some new profiles elsewhere, I feel like I've been left with no choice:

I am leaving Tumblr indefinitely

I won't stand for another day of hostile climate being created on this site, and while I initially thought I would be able to weather out the worst of it, my account being terminated for a reblog I made was the FINAL FUCKING STRAW for me. Even though I have since deleted the reblogs as a precaution, I'm not confident that this post itself won't incur the same penalties, and I cannot in good conscience stay silent on the matter when it pertains to ongoing real-life political hostility.

I don't know if I'll ever come back, but for the time being, it's doubtful. Not until I personally see some significant change in site experience and an apology to the people affected by this blatantly bigoted and Orwellian banning spree. My blog on here was my only consistent presence on any kind of social media, and without it, I feel like I've lost something. I have been on Tumblr since 2012 and on this account specifically since 2017, and now I must throw everything away and abandon ship. But nothing could convince me that it's worth staying now.

In the meantime, can only assure you, my mutuals, that I'm alive and well and have much to look forward to in my real life. Any further posts you see from me will be from emptying out the queue, not actual activity.

If my blog is still here tomorrow, I'll be deleting this post and compiling a list of means to contact me if you want to stay in touch. It won't be a very long list, but hopefully it'll be enough to know that I don't plan on letting them win.

Farewell.

– Alex

#outro #talks

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alexwatchesshows · 9 months

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Black Sails V (S1E5) review

Spoilers for up to and including E5.

The plot is really picking up now.

Flint is starting to really show why he's a captain. I mean, sure, we've seen his big speeches and all that, but he's also quite good at the day-to-day stuff. He can see that Billy doesn't trust him and knows exactly how to get his support (or at least enough of his support to get them through the next few days). It's also interesting to note that he describes Mrs. Barlow as "a nice puritan woman who shares his love of books" given that a) I'm not exactly sure that she's even puritan and b) there's definitely more to it than that, but I guess that also goes into what will make Billy happy, even if it doesn't give a huge amount of insight into their relationship. We also see that Flint really knows his shit when it comes to the technical side of running a boat. He's willing to (literally) take the wheel and can hold his own against De Groot when arguing about what the ship is capable of doing (and he's right). At this point it also becomes clear that Flint has won Billy's trust (at least for the time being) as he sides with him over De Groot on the whole t'gallants thing (don't ask me what any of this stuff actually means). Also, as an unrelated sidenote, it was cool to see what "knots" actually means in terms of boat speed.

This episode also gives some interesting insight into different styles of leadership. Flint, although he keeps himself apart from the crew, is absolutely willing to get involved in the nitty gritty of managing the ship. This is especially pronounced in comparison to the other captain (Bryson?) who is more concerned about the china than anything else, and won't even see to that himself. Then we have Billy, who's very hands-on. To be fair, the difference between Billy and Flint is possibly also due to the difference in the roles of captain and quartermaster, but still, Billy is absolutely there for the crew (more so than Gates even), he's on their level, giving that very helpful explanation of tactics with the brushes (which also gave me a fighting chance of understanding what the hell was going on), he's there with them. Then there's Vane, who's aloof in a different way. He's going through his own shit (more on that later), but even without that, the fact that he responds to the loss of his crew by just leaving Jack to deal with it is a different thing altogether. Then there's the shitshow that is the Guthries. I wish I knew what Richard Guthrie was thinking because, even when I factor self-preservation in, I can't fully see the logic behind his decision. Eleanor, on the other hand, really shows her full potential as a leader in this episode. She clearly knows the various crews/captains very well and comes up with an effective solution very quickly.

Billy is starting to realise the responsibility that he holds as quartermaster. There's the discussion with Flint, where he acknowledges that although Flint has command over him, his main responsibility is to the crew, which I think more or less sums up Billy as a character so far. He's dedicated to nothing more than his crew. Then there's also the Dufresne plotline. I'm going to put myself out there and say that I actually like Dufresne. I know a lot of people feel either neutral or negative towards him at this point but honestly I think more brutal pirate shows just need the one nerd who's also there because he's good with numbers. I respect him for that. But also Billy's perspective of needing every man he can get is true and he's evidently really good at reassuring Dufresne. We see him try multiple approaches to convince him and he does ultimately succeed (maybe a little too well), and Dusfresne thanks him for it. This does mark something that's not yet a theme but still a little more than coincidence for Billy. He's lied about the note, keeping Flint in power and, in doing so, put the crew on the hunt for the Urca. Now, it was his words that got Dusfresne to fight, putting him in the position where he went (for lack of a better word) completely feral. Billy's good at determining the course of events, but maybe he's a little too good.

Meanwhile, Jack has somehow managed to just about save his, Vane's and Anne's situations by obtaining a brothel. His ability to bullshit is impressive, but Mrs Mapleton clearly couldn't care less. All within the group is not well, though: the rest of their crew are leaving them, there's tension between Jack and Anne, and Vane's going through god only knows what. Max is still a topic of conflict between them and I think, for the first time in the show, Anne's gender is becoming a point of internal conflict for her. She's the only female pirate that we've seen in the show, and one of very few women who holds any kind of position outside the brothel. Jack expects this to be all that matters and for her to share his priorities (keeping as much of the crew as possible, Max paying of her "debt", etc.) but evidently her experience in this world as a woman is making her much more aware of Max's suffering than Jack or Vane are. Vane is also going through some shit (probably linked to that man he kept seeing) and ends up disappearing off into the night without telling anyone anything in a way that's quite reminiscent of Sophie in the opening scene of Mamma Mia.

I do like that we got much more of Anne as a person in this episode. We've absolutely established her as a skilled fighter and recognised-- if not respected-- pirate, but we've seen very little of her internal world. Following her argument with Jack, she evidently goes to get Mapleton, but still stands over them like a guard, and stands up for Max when Mrs Mapleton is being too harsh on her. She's then very gentle with Max as she uses what I can only assume is some strange yet moderatley affective (otherwise they wouldn't be using it) form of 18th century contraception. We get a brief conversation between them, in which we see the clear difference between their views of the world-- Anne can't see why Max wouldn't just leave while she could, whilst Max (once again) asserts her own moral code in which she owes the crew something because she was partially responsible for the loss of the pearls. There's also Anne's comment of "I only thought they'd kill you" in response to Max pointing out that she helped capture Max, which I think shows both what she'd do and a sense that, while she has experience sexual harassment before (as she tells the story about cutting a guy's balls off), she hasn't in a while and hadn't considered that the people she lived around were capable of the levels of violence that they showed, but also shows to us as an audience that Anne wasn't being as callous as we may have assumed in handing Max over.

Eleanor is not having a great time. After RG's dealings with the pastor and whatever the hell kind of change of heart he's had, he gives a long, very misguided speech essentially just screwing everything up and leaving. It's very clear that he doesn't know or care about his daughter very much, especially giving the subtly misogynistic language he uses when talking to her later (claiming she was "seduced" by Flint, talking with Bryson "like men", etc.). He hasn't played a very active role in Nassau in years and hasn't been around to see how much work Eleanor has put into it and how much she cares about it. I think there's also a level of ignorance on his part, as a man, in that he doesn't understand that maybe the reason E cares so much about Nassau is because it's one of the few places in the world where she can hold authority and autonomy, and that maybe she likes being in this kind of position of power. After RG fully fucks off we also see that E's actually a pretty talented leader. Hornigold does sort of help whilst being pretty condescending about it, but it's E who comes up with an effective (and clever) solution. She also proves that she can hold her own in a room full of older men, despite her father's utilisation of her youth and gender to belittle her. Her "strong and stable" thing was giving me Theresa May flashbacks but I must remember that this season was released in a blissfully pre-Brexit world. We also see other people's views on Eleanor's power, and her father seems to be the only one underestimating her, showing just how out of touch he is (I mean, seriously, when fucking Hornigold knows more about your daughter than you do you know you've failed as a parent). Admittedly "tyrant in a petticoat" isn't a glowing endorsement of how she's been running things, but at least he recognises the power (however abused) she holds. Vane probably comes the closest with his idea of "power that just is", power that he seems to be aiming for on his voyage of self-discovery, and Jack is also right in his cautious statement of "to assume we've seen the last of Eleanor Guthrie is not to know her". She, Silver and Jack are currently vying for the prize of Scrappiest Nassau Inhabitant and it's a close battle. We also see that Mr Scott still believed in Eleanor and actually allowed himself to be captured into slavery rather than betray her. There's a father.

Then, to make matters worse for Eleanor, she has fucking John Silver tied to her sofa. He's trying to make the best of a bad situation by giving random unsolicited advice and, admittedly, does actually have some success, but still can't fully get past the barrier of Eleanor blaming him for Max's situation. It seems like Eleanor just can't figure out what she feels about the whole thing-- she blames Silver, she blames herself, she's mad with Max for not accepting her safety, she thinks she made the right decision-- it's all a bit of a mess, and John Silver isn't the guy to help her figure it out.

Then we end with more plot twists. Dufresne being in complete shock, still covered in blood, turning to accounting to calm himself down is honestly why I love S1 Dufresne. Unfortunately, his organisation is going to raise some questions for Flint. Everyone's covered in blood and things are only getting worse.

#my posts #tv shows #spoiler #tv #tv show review #black sails #black sails spoilers #black sails review #tv reviews #episode review

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mirageofadesert · 2 years

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Shipping as an online conspiracy theory – a short analysis on Taekook shipping narratives

For some time now, I have been following the hypothesis that Taekook is a conspiracy theory. It was my research on QAnon that gave me the idea. By Taekook, I don't mean the unit of Taehyung and Jungkook, but the fictional couple that delusional shippers construct. It has almost nothing to do with the real people. No one knows whether they are really dating, and in fact it is absolutely irrelevant, because the narratives we are going to look at are made up by fans.

So instead, I want to look at why these Taekook shippers are so firmly convinced that their ship is real, where these ideas come from, how they are spread as a narrative, why the negative portrayal of Taehyung, Jungkook and Jimin take up so much space and why people are so emotionally attached to this fiction.

What is a conspiracy theory?

Conspiracy theories are defined as explanations and narratives in which a person’s/groups perceived as powerful influence things in the world to deliberately harm others, while keeping them in the dark about their real goals. In that sense conspiracy theories are heterodox constructions of reality. These theories are not theories in a scientific sense, because they lack falsifiability and verifiability. Still, participants feel the need to “proof” their theories by assembling hidden connection between publicly known information. Those connections are often based on the exclusion of coincidence as a factor, while only making sense if the initial hypothesis already is, that they are right. People who believe in this conspiracy theories get a feeling of empowerment, because they are part of an elusive elite, that knows the truth. Especially in times of (personal) crisis, conspiracy theories offer simplified explanation for complex matters and help people with the feeling of hopelessness and lack of control about their life. In all cases, there is a distinction between Good and Evil, where the conspiracy theorists are actually the good guys standing up against the evil. That’s part of the reasons, why some conspiracy theories escalate into violence.

Why Taekook?

But what does shipping have to do with conspiracy theory? More than you would think, but I will come to that later. Most ships are just that: romantic ships between to people. Most shippers don’t actually believe them to be reality and they don’t involve other parties and elaborate narratives. But this is wheresomeTaekookers are different. While we find similarities or similar individual shippers in other ships, no other BTS (or kpop) ship has an overarching narrative that involves toxic elements in its center, which is believed by a massive part of these shippers.

The fictional narrative I’m talking about is that Taekook are in fact be real and have been dating in secret for many years. They can’t show their relationships in public, but fans can see the truth, when they look at their body language or secret messages in e.g. songs. The biggest clues are a variety of fascial expressions that fans think are jealousy, whenever one of them interacts with other members, mainly Jimin. This apparent jealousy is not only seen as proof for a romantic relationship, but also that they are unhappy with their current situation, in which they are forced to hide. So in these shipping theories, there is not just two people secretly in love, like in most ships, but multiple 3rd parties, that keep them from each other. Taekook theories have two clear enemies, whose existent is not only a problem, but in it selves the biggest proof for their ship. One is Jimin, the other on is Bighit (aka person’s/groups perceived as powerful influence things in the world to deliberately harm Taekook and Taekookers).

They believe Bighit is keeping them apart against their will. They also believe that they manipulation the video footage, to hide “Taekook moments”. While the lack of actually Taekook moments should disprove their theories, they in fact twist it around to make the absence of proof the proof itself. Here is also where Jimin comes in again: The existing moments Jimin shares with members, that would fit their own criteria of a secret romantic relationship, must to be excluded and explained differently. Hence why Jikook is a narrative “pushed” by Bighit to promote them and hide the real gay couple behind a fake one. Some parties see the reason for Jimin popularity solely in him “doing fanservices” (and not in is talent, personality or charisma), while other paint Jungkook as an “player”, who hurts a depressed and sensitive Taehyung.

We see here, that they paint completely fictional characterization, based on one-dimensional trope for their three protagonists: Jungkook as the insensible player, that tries to make Tae jealous on purpose. Tae as the weak and depressed member, that gets betrayed by his fake best friend and alleged boyfriend. Jimin as the homewrecker, that mistreats his best friend for personal gain. These characterizations have spread even beyond fanfictions or shipping culture. They are enwoven with views based on misogyny, homophobia and toxic masculinity.

Compared to ships like Vmin, Jikook and Taekook are more popular, which on the first glance is surprising, since Vmin have been more vocal about their love for each other, but at the same time they clarified the nature of their relationship more. Jikook and Taekook have been done this as well to lesser degree, but these takes get either ignored or twisted into a different meaning. Some example is the purposely mistranslation of “common ground” into “save space” or the dismissal of Tae calling out a shipper on Weverse.

Another reason ships like Jikook and Taekook are more popular is, and that’s one main point of this essay, the entertainment factor, that the theorizing brings. This is especially true for Taekook. While Jikook shippers have the highest engagement with moments that only involve Jimin and Jungkook, Taekookers in contrast have higher engagement, if there are 3rd parties involved in the moment. For example, the taekook subunit for the new year’s clips barely launched any engagement, while a ot7 vlive, had numerous posts on Twitter, Tiktok and long analysis videos on youtube, that centered around Taekooks interaction with Jimin. This is where the biggest problems with Taekook as a ship lies and where they differ from any other BTS ships.

Taekook shipping as a conspiracy theory

But why has this kind of fanmade content has such a high engagement? Why is involving Jimin or BH so central for Taekook shippers? The answer might lay in the conspiracy nature of the shipping culture.

Walter Kirns writes, that the audience for internet narratives doesn’t want to read, it wants to write. It doesn’t want answers provided, it wants to search for them. Zuckerman uses this to explain the appeal of conspiracy theories like QAnon, calling it decentralized storytelling, “like thousands of different fanfic threads going on at once with very little to chew on at the center.” (Zuckermann, 2019)

Fancition are therefore the prime example of the participatory nature of the contemporary internet, when it comes to wiring narratives. Online based conspiracies are structural similar.

While there are actual Taekook fanfics on dedicated platforms, I argue, that theTaekook shipping that include analysis of moments are in itself fanfiction narratives. The difference is that participations are often not aware that they are creating fictional narratives. A good example for this are the comment sections on analysis videos. While the actual video presence the theories, and try to proof by manipulating footage or translations, the comment section is full of people contributing to the story. They explain their own theories and observations, paint further characterization of their protagonist and show their agreement to those ideas via further communication on the comments. The fictional Taekook shipping narratives are in this way a crowed sourced conspiracy. I will include some examples here, that I took from an older post on the topic.

Youtuber and big shipping fan accounts are central to these dynamics. They are the main source of content and entertainment, especially because most shippers don’t consume the original, unedited content directly. They have their own networks and a following of their own. We often can see, that shippers don’t only established para-social relationships with the BTS members involved, but also with these networks of content creators. These makes it more unlikely, that they will question them. This creates a sense of belong to a community, that can have positive effects on fans personal identity – that’s also why they can get immensely defensive or even aggressive when criticized or questioned.

These fanbases gain something from this beyond social and psychological gratification, namely attention, subscribers and even money. They have an interest to increase their following while also bind them more strongly. They do so, by creating additional content, when there are no real Taekook moments to talk about. There are actually numerous analysis videos on Taekook, that do not involve any actual interacting between Taehyung and Jungkook. The content creators are quite aware of the manipulation of the footage and their followers. I will add some examples after this:

a) Manipulation footage and misinterpretation actions as romantic, b) using fake edits, d) looking for secret hints in BTS lyrics or MVs, e) making their own translations and subtitles, f) inventing private confessions or dates, that are hard to disprove, g) manipulation footage, while giving own interpretations that fit a ficitional story line.

I will end this here for now. I hope I could show, why Taekook shipping resembles conspiracy theories, how shippers gain gratification, empowerment and community through their participation and why Taekook differs from any other BTS ship.

Lastly, I would like to emphasis, that this is not about the real people Taehyung, Jungkook or Jimin. Furthermore, I would guess that most Taekook shippers don’t fall into the category, I described here. It’s only those who believe in the central narratives I have mentioned, that also engage with content that is centered around it.

Notes:

The fictional ship Taekook might be similar to QAnon in some aspects, but it’s also quite in different! Taekookers also not a new religious movement (“cult”), even though religious elements like divination are present.

I have no idea, about the Larry ship, but I would expect them to be similar. There might be also other kpop ships, that would fit the description, that I’m not aware of.

Personally, I don’t mind shipping, as long as it does not intervene with the image or life of real people. It also has nothing to do with assuming idol's sexuality, because I think this is a different topic. Just because some common Taekook narratives are fake, does not mean Taehyung and Jungkook are straight or gay. If you reply here, I would ask you not speculate on this topic at all!

#bts ships #bts

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wenellyb · 3 years

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Is Sambucky Canon or Not?

TL;DR: Yes, it is

I've seen some people saying that they only see friendship between Sam and Bucky, and I can understand that. Because depending on your education, the environment you grew up and the kind of media you’re usually exposed to, you will have a different interpretation of different situations, in real life or in TV. Just let me insert a short story before I dive into the Sambucky topic:

My best friend's uncle is in his fifties and has been living with his roommate (a man) for more than 10 years. They lived together, went on holidays together but officially were just roommates. My best friend wondered if they were a couple, but never talked about it to her parents because it wasn't her business. Two years ago, they decided to come out and get married. My best friend's parents and his parents were genuinely surprised, they were not expecting that, at all, not even a little bit. Let me tell you that it didn’t even cross their mind that it was a possibility, at all. For them, it had always just been two men who had decided to live together because they were single. And preferred to have a roommate rather than living alone.

What I want to say with this story is that people will see what they want to see, or what they're used to see, or what they were raised to see. It’s human.

What I mean is that you will have different perception of a same event, depending on your own circumstances. And I think the writers of TFATWS were counting on that a little bit when it came to Sam and Bucky’s relationship. They obviously didn't want to make some big announcement or big love declaration.

And yes, of course, I have my own circumstances as well, influencing the way I see things. I have shipped SamBucky since Civil War, when they were supposedly enemies. I never expected anything to happen between them on screen. But then they got a show together and I was so so happy about it but I didn't expect anything other than friendship between them.

I was perfectly fine with that because a show was already more than enough: my man Sam Wilson was becoming Captain America, the show was great, the characters were great, their interactions were great, and this wasn't a love story anyway but a superhero show. I thought that here was no way the showrunners would ever go there. I changed my mind after episode 5. I tried to stay objective, but it was clear to me that the writers were hinting at a relationship that went beyond friendship between Sam and Bucky. In some of my previous posts, I explained that there are some scenes and writing choices that make absolutely no sense if you read them as a scene between two friends. I can link them if anyone’s interested.

Side note: I would like to know if one person on this website can tell me what was up with Bucky's behavior with Torres (in episode 5)? What other explanation is there, if not jealousy? It's a scene they chose to keep, so it was probably written this way, there must be a reason. Please I’m begging someone explain it to me. I'm genuinely asking, because otherwise that scene alone is canon Sambucky.

After episode 5, I was convinced they would make Sambucky canon, one way or the other and I started speculating about the ways they could do it. What I said was that if they did make Sambucky canon, they would do it in a very subtle way, in order not to make it too obvious because that’s generally how Marvel movies deal with love stories. And also because they wouldn’t want to scare away their homophobic audience ( I guess Disney needs their money...who knows)

So here are the scenes of how I imagined SamBucky becoming canon and the comparison with reality:

- What I thought we could get : AJ and Cass calling Bucky "Uncle Bucky" - What we got: AJ and Cass running up to Bucky and playing with him. This point is interesting because it’s also related to the point I made about how the environment you grew up in influences your perception of things. I grew up in a big family and I know that, at least in my family, kids don't run up to an adult like that just because it's their uncle’s friend or just because he's nice... There's a real bond there. They haven't seen Bucky just that one time when he slept on the couch. They're obviously close. But some people might just see this as kids being kids. Also, if you watch at how the kids were fake punching him, they were really coordinated with Bucky. They have done this plenty of times. 2.

What I thought we could see: A non-explicit scene where we were supposed to draw our own conclusions. I thought they could show us Bucky staying over for the night, and the last scene would be an empty couch, meaning we would have to understand that Bucky slept in Sam's room this time.

-What we got: Bucky arriving in Sam's car ( A few people on Tumblr pointed out that it was the car Sam was driving in episode 1) So here again we have a scene that a lot of people will not notice. But they still chose to put it there. 3.

What I thought could happen: Sam asking Bucky to stay in Delacroix

What we got: Bucky wrapping things up in New York, as if he was leaving the city for good and coming to Sam's party as if he already knew everyone there. You can read my take on this here. 4. What I thought could happen: The scene in the trailer where we see them looking in the same direction and then we get a shot from very far away where they're holding hands but it’s not so obvious because they are being filmed from a disctance. -What we got: The scene in trailer and then a blurry shot of Sam holding Bucky and then fondling with his neck to find the best spot to rest his hand on. So none of the scenes I was imagining happened exactly like I had imagined, but it felt like all of them happened but in a different versions, which is still crazy to me. If it had been only one scene. I could probably understand the people who see them as just friends. Actually, I still do understand the people who see them as just friends, because everyone has their own interpretation. What I am saying is that they are NOT being portrayed as just friends. There are TOO many scenes in the 6 episodes for it to be a coincidence. One or 2 would be ok but friendship doesn’t explain everything:

The therapy scene (not the therapy scene itself since it was improvised) but the therapist saying she had heard a lot about Sam and wanting them to do a couples’ therapy

Bucky following Sam no matter what

Sam saying ok as soon as Bucky says "do it for me"

Sam asking "what about Bucky?"

Bucky starting to touch Sam whenever he has the chance

Bucky being the one to bringing the suit for Sam

The boat repairing montage

Bucky wanting to stay at Sam's place, when a hotel room would have been more comfortable than a couch

The second day of boat repair in closed quarters with an intense staring scene.

And there are so many other scenes, soft touches, looks,...

These writing choices are not a coincidence, it’s not involuntary, and it’s not fan service ( Fan service is the roll in the flower field scene, or the therapy session). This is them telling a story.

Let’s not even talk about the scenes in Endgame:

Sam comforting bucky at Tony’s funeral

Sam looking up to Bucky for approval before accepting the shield from Steve.

So yes, Sam and Bucky are canon in the sense that Peter and Gamora were canon in the first movie, or Wanda and Vision were canon in Captain Civil War. Meaning that there was no big moment, kiss or anything, but the show is consistently throwing elements clearly showing Sam and Bucky as a romantic item and hinting at a lot more than friendship between them.

It is normal that some people have a different opinion. Because it is extremely rare, in big productions like this to have two male leads with romantic feelings towards each other, so not a lot people who see it will interpret it as such (I don't think it ever happened). You’ll see what you’re used to seeing.

I guess it also depends on what you expect from a love story. For me, the storyline between the characters, their scenes, their chemistry, the way their feelings towards each other are described, are the most important. The kiss scene is just there as a bonus, but I don't need it when the love story is told perfectly. If you’re used to seeing love stories with many kissing scenes, that’s what you will be expecting to see in most love stories.

If you're only used to seeing male friendships in superhero or action movies. The 1000th time you see men interacting in that type of movie or show, you are more likely to assume it is a friendship and nothing more, no matter how many codes and tropes usually associated with romantic movies, the writers and show makers are using.

Add to that the conviction that Disney would never approve Sambucky in a million years, and there you go, I can understand the people who see only friendship.

But, just think about it, if we had the same show, same scenes, same dialogues, but minus the action scenes and the project was being marketed as an Indie movie, would you think they were just friends or a blossoming couple?

If you read Sambucky’s relationship like a friendship: some scenes don't make sense. If you read it like a developing romantic relationship: it all makes sense. "When you hear hoofs, think horse, not zebra" If a writer or a film director chooses a last scene with a romantic setting and the two leads are staring at a sunset, smiling repeatedly at each other and then walking away together with one of them touching the other's neck, with a love song in the background, maybe friendship isn't the first thought they had in mind.

Some people may say “I see them as just friends” and other people may say “ I see them as lovers” and both are fine, because people have different perceptions, and that’s ok.

What I am saying is this post is that the show and the writers are portraying them as more than just friends, they’re portraying them as two characters who are romantically involved.

Perceive what you want but that’s how they are being presented in the show.

Bucky’s therapist said that the exercise she gave them was for couples who want to figure out what kind of life they want to build together. Then, the show ends with Sam and Bucky, staring at a sunset together, looking in the same direction.

“Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction. “ - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

What else do you need???

This show had more romance than half of the Marvel projects out there. Not every love story needs a kiss (for now...)

We'll see in their next projects which direction the writers want to go with this. But since it was said that the writer on the movie is the same as the writer from episode 5, there's no doubt in my mind that we'll keep seeing this dynamic. I don't think they would have made the same choices if this had been a movie. But I won't complain that we got this. I hope they keep this going even if it stays subtle like in the show. Just hope they will add one explicit scene where one of the characters acknowledges their relationship. But even if we only ever get this show, it’s already a great love story. Let me know what you guys think and sorry for the typos and grammar mistakes, I was tired when I wrote the last part. I hope it still makes sense!

If you think they're only being portrayed as friends let me know why! I would also like to know about the way you see this!

#sambucky #sam wilson #bucky barnes #tfatws #the falcon and the winter soldier #tfatws spoilers #Please feel free to comment on this and tell me what you think #I'm genuinely interested in having other POVs

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shingia · 3 years

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hopefullyy this inspires u to write,,, can i request hc's of the boys getting jealous seeing their s/o work well with another person on a team/club? like good chemistry with a dance partner for example! (u can choose who u write but can it include iwa!!) <33

✗ HQ BOYS GETTING JEALOUS SEEING YOU WORK WELL WITH ANOTHER PERSON ✗

a/n : kdjfkdjdkdj i love this request omg ty ! i did half hc/half scenarios bc i thought the request fitted this format <3

-> iwaizumi, osamu, kuroo, suna, tsukishima

-> warnings : kuroo’s a bit suggestive (tbh i don’t know about the rest. it’s just... kinda hot? (tsukki’s only fluff tho<3))

-> reblogs are >>>>

— IWAIZUMI

• iwa’s jealousy was practically non existent until he actually saw you interact with your partner

• don’t get me wrong, he absolutely loves your smile - but he especially loves to be the one who caused it

• he tends to get physically very protective of you, so expect his arm to stay wrapped around your shoulders most of the time. because to him it’s the easiest way to show the world (but especially your partner) that you’re his

• he also not-so-subtly offers you to wear his clothes on days when you have practice. and he secretly hopes that someone will ask you who they belong to...

« it’s cold outside. you should wear this ». iwa’s low and unannounced voice makes you turn around in surprise. leaned against the bathroom’s doorframe, he’s holding your favorite jacket in his hand - the one with his name written on the back, and you suspect that this might not be a coincidence... with a chuckle, you agree to put it on, noticing the proud spark in his eyes. « you know, i’m pretty sure everyone already knows i’m dating you » you tease him with a wink, all while also admiring the way his name takes up the whole width of your back. « oh yeah ? » he asks, a smirk tugging at his lips as he leans forward to rest his hands on the sink behind you. trapped between his outstretched arms, you watch his smirk grow just a little bit bigger as he lets out, very quietly, « well this is just a reminder... it better be the last ». his green eyes locked with yours could almost make you forget about his arm snaking around your waist at a painfully slow pace. almost.

— OSAMU

• look, he’s very happy for you. no doubt about it. but he’s so used to see people fawn over his brother that he can’t help but get a little protective from time to time

• since gifts are his #1 love language, he might buy you a workout-friendly piece of jewelry that you can wear during your practice

• he also insists on dropping you off and picking you up as often as his busy schedule allows it. especially since he learned that your partner was willing to give you a ride home...

• it’s not that he doesn’t trust you, obviously. he just doesn’t trust them yet

• and that’s why his kisses - and pda in general - are a bit more « intense » than usual

leg bouncing up and down, osamu is (very) anxiously for your conversation with your teammate to end. because after watching the entirety of your practice, he needs a little reminder that you two also have incredible chemistry together... a better one, even. so as soon as he sees you wave your teammate goodbye, he stands up straight, arms open just wide enough to welcome you against his chest. but instead of the chaste kiss you expected to get, you’re actually greeted by his left hand grabbing your sides while his right meets your lower back. disconcerted, you don’t even have time to say a word that his mouth crashes onto yours so eagerly that you have to lean back a few inches. « wh-what was that for ? » you pant as soon as his warm lips have left yours. « nothing. i love ya, that’s all » he smiles innocently, glad that you didn’t notice the cocky look he just gave your teammate who witnessed everything from afar... exactly as planned.

— KUROO

• passive agressive™️

• he would insist on properly meeting your partner but oh god they better brace themselves,,,

• because kuroo’s the kind of boyfriend that will shake their hand hard enough to make them yelp, all while having an angelic smile plastered on his face

• oh and you can forget being called by your name : he’s going to demonstrate the entire variety of nicknames he has for you. he might even come up with new ones just because he’s feeling « inspired »

• every single thing he says to your partner has to be a reminder that you two are dating. like « oh yeah they told me about this yesterday.. during our date ». just to make sure that there’s no misunderstanding.

« well... speak of the devil », kuroo hears you chuckle, your voice almost drowned out by his heavy breathing. he’s obviously planing on apologizing for being late... but not now. there’s something he wants to do first. still very aware of your partner’s presence right in front of you, he decides to securely yet eagerly wrap his arms around your waist before spinning you around proudly. « so... you guys were talking about me ? » he asks, glad to know that he’s the reason behind your giggles. « we were, actually » you answer a bit more seriously as he finally puts you down, still keeping both his hands on your waist. « well, i am your boyfriend after all... » he starts, interrupting himself to place a loud peck on your jawline. the only thing you can think is about is how awful this situation must be for your partner... kuroo, on the other hand, doesn’t seem bothered at all, as shown by the way one of his hands discreetly makes its way under the fabric of your t-shirt to rest directly on your skin. « hands off, kuroo » you order him with a slap on the back of his hand. an offended gasp leaves his lips, yet he complies reluctantly, thinking that your partner probably already knows everything that needs to be known about him.

— SUNA

• he doesn’t really mind it... as long as you’re willing to cuddle once you get back from practice. if you’re not, then he’s gonna start to worry

• because cuddling is probably his favorite ‘boyfriend privilege’ and he doesn’t want it to be taken away from him

• his schedule is pretty tight so he might not be able to attend any of your practices, but he asks you to record it as much as you possibly can so that he can watch the videos with you afterwards

• and seeing how smoothly you and your partner move together definitely doesn’t help with his worrying

it’s been thirty minutes now, and suna’s still not done watching the videos you took today. he loves to share these moments with you, snuggled up against each other the bed ; but most importantly, he has someone to keep his eye on... « babe- are you 100% sure that this was part of the choreography? » he suddenly speaks up, his eyes leaving the screen for the first time. you quirk a curious eyebrow, more surprised by his unusually suspicious tone rather than by the question itself. « oh, the hand on my waist ? yes, rin. it was ». at your words, his lips press into a thin line, he’s obviously far from being convinced. but you know your boyfriend well and you’re quick to reassure him : « you know, his hand might have been on my waist but you’re the one laying in my bed right now ». the frown on his face disappears almost immediately - much faster than you would’ve thought, replaced by a much more confident expression as his hands start to gently stroke your sides up and down. « mmh, i guess you’re right.... i mean, at the end of the day, only i get to have ‘all of this’ for myself » he smirks, playfully eyeing you up and down until he can’t resist the temptation of your slightly parted lips anymore.

— TSUKISHIMA

• tsukki’s not jealous, he’s just... well.. cautious. or at least that’s what he tells you

• but, deep down, he knows that simple cautiousness wouldn’t make spend his days and nights stressing about this new partner of yours...

• so, after a few weeks, his impassible facade starts to crumble a little bit. nothing too extreme, but just enough to let your partner know that you’re taken.

• and he knows he doesn’t need to do much : one of his signature scornful looks is more than enough. especially when he’s staring at your partner dead in the eyes while you’re greeting him with a hug and a kiss after your practice

« tsukishima kei, i’m waiting for an explanation ». with a sigh, your boyfriend drops his book on the table, turning his chair around to face you. « i don’t have one, i already told you. you told me to introduce myself, and i did. end of story ». you both know that tsukki did not just ‘introduce himself’ like any other human being would have done. and that’s precisely what you’re trying to make him admit - because your partner looked genuinely scared during practice today. « wha- no, i didn’t look down on him. it’s not my fault he’s so short... » he mumbles under his breath, trying his best to avoid any eye contact with you. but you know that only a slight tilt of his chin upwards is enough to make his eyes lock with yours - and that this is enough to have him admit anything. « you’re jealous, kei. and it’s painfully obvious by the way... » you smirk - but this smirk disappears in a split second as he slowly gets up from his chair, towering over you like he usually does. « ok, maybe i am. but i just wanted to make sure that he knew his place. and especially mine » he finally admits, his lips spreading in a scornful smirk that would be terrifying if his eyes weren’t filled with the infinite tenderness he has always felt for you.

✔️taglist : @toworuu @catwithangerissues @miyumiya @livy384 @k0u-minamo2 @fullsundear @hsjvwq @mochi-marie @hiraeth-z @velvetvirgos @kirishimas-manly-eyeliner @47meow @japanesevenom @geektastic84 @noir-blanches-blog @idontlikeyourjob @seiri-ami @atiny-grl-with-luv @admiringlove @nachotrash @kellesvt @aintyourholy @Moonlaeli @catchmewiddershins @duhsies @devilgirlcrybabiey @crystal-lilac

#i only have 2 requests left besties :o #so uh- ask away ig <3 #(reading the rules before would be : 😻😻 ngl)#haikyuu!!#haikyuu!! x reader #iwaizumi hajime x reader #miya osamu x reader #kuroo tetsurou x reader #suna rintarou x reader #tsukishima kei x reader #haikyuu headcanons #haikyuu scenarios #haikyuu fluff

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boomerangguy · 3 years

Note

You’ve proposed a headcanon that Korra is the granddaughter of Sokka and Suki. It’s an attractive idea, but it falls apart under scrutiny. If she was really **that** closely related to Sokka and Katara, the White Lotus would have investigated her sooner, considering her birthday coincides with Aang’s death. Katara of all people would have said something. She’d know the day, at least, and if necessary they would have thoroughly investigated to narrow down the time of day, just to focus their search parameters and make the new Avatar easier to find. Hell, she would’ve called Katara “aunt” at least once.

Korra must have been between two and four when they finally met her in the pilot, and it never would have taken that long if she were Sokka’s granddaughter. Being unrelated, she could easily be lost in obscurity among all the children born that day. You can blame bad writing or poor pacing if you want, it’s a fair claim, but even with that the available information just doesn’t support your theory. It’s not a headcanon, it’s an AU, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

On the other hand, if Korra has any familial connection to a character from the first series, then considering her father Tonraq and his brother Unalaq are essentially Northern Water Tribe royalty, it’s much more likely that she is distantly related to Princess Yue. This theory has more credence in the context of the series, and could feasibly be called a headcanon.

First off, I’d like to preface this response by saying: a) headcanons are headcanons—Senna being Sukka’s daughter is canon in my head, not in real life—and anyone else is free to accept this headcanon (as many have done long before I even joined the fandom), but obviously no one is obligated to do so, including yourself; b) a lot of things in popular media don’t hold up under scrutiny, including rather large plot points in ATLA (*cough* Aang’s chakra arc *cough*). Regardless, this is something that actually does hold up, and thus does not require an AU.

To be clear, this conversation is a continuation from the reply section of this post, but I’m going to rehash things I said there anyway. So here we go!

Korra as Sokka and Suki’s Granddaughter: A Legitimate Possibility in Canon

It seems to me that your issue with Senna being Sukka’s daughter can be divided into two points: (1) the near-instantaneous reincarnation of the Avatar Spirit would provide nigh-irrefutable evidence that Korra is the next Avatar, and (2) Aang’s death and Korra’s birth on the same day are too significant of an occurrence within one family to not be investigated further. So I’ll be refuting these points in order to reject your overall claim—that it’s impossible in the canon Avatar universe for Senna to be Sokka and Suki’s daughter and Korra their granddaughter.

(1) In order for the simultaneous death/birth of Aang/Korra (respectively) to be used to identify Korra as the new Avatar, it has to be knowable to the characters—it’s not enough that it just happened. So what would be required for the characters to determine this earlier? They (the White Lotus, Katara, Sokka, Suki, Senna, whoever else) would need the capacity and prior intent to measure the time of death/birth. Firstly, in terms of capacity, this means that there had to be someone present to record Korra’s exact time of birth. Considering Korra was likely born at home in the rural SWT (delivered by a local midwife or healer), it cannot be assumed that an exact time of birth was recorded as it might have been in a Republic City hospital. Can we be absolutely certain that Tonraq was checking the clock while his wife was in labor? Can we be certain that there was even a clock present at all? No, we cannot—simply because canon doesn’t show us any reason to believe so and it requires a great bit of imagination to say otherwise. Things become even less convincing with Aang’s death. Was his death sudden? In his sleep? In a place where no clocks or watches were at the ready? Again, we know nothing to indicate that the time of Aang’s death was properly recorded by (or passed on to) the White Lotus. But more importantly—to address prior intent—it’s clear that the White Lotus never aimed at using time of death/birth to pinpoint the new Avatar in the first place. If they had, why wouldn’t we have heard of it in TLOK? Korra’s heritage is completely unconnected to the WL’s plans and actions, and to assume that this strategy would have been used if she was Sukka’s granddaughter is to assume that it would have been used if she was not Sukka’s granddaughter. Yet, there is absolutely no evidence that the WL was concerned with this Avatar-identification method in TLOK. Therefore, we can safely say that Korra’s time of birth would not (and likely could not) have been used to identify her as the new Avatar.

(2) In your ask, you used the word ‘investigated’ more than once but provided no means by which an infant could be verified as the Avatar, even if the time of death/birth was known. If Sokka, Katara, or Senna were to inform the White Lotus that Aang/Korra’s death/birth occurred on the same day, what exactly can any of them do to ‘investigate’ this? The only methods of Avatar-verification shown in ATLA and TLOK are observing a young Avatar’s toy preference (Aang) and multiple-element bending (Korra). The former would not work since an infant cannot play with toys, nor would the latter since an infant can’t bend. Even if they waited a few months until Korra could play with past Avatars’ toys, what toys would they use? The ones at the Southern Air Temple that were no doubt destroyed when Sozin’s armies attacked 153 years earlier? There simply isn’t a way for the White Lotus to verify a wild coincidence that Aang’s grand-niece is the new Avatar (which is actually just as probable as it being any other baby). Korra seems to exhibit that she is the Avatar at a very young age already, and it is entirely unreasonable to assume that the WL or anyone else could determine this any earlier. And although I have not read the Kyoshi novels myself, I’ve heard that Avatar misidentification is something that happened when Kyoshi was young—someone other than the true Avatar was believed to be in possession of the Avatar Spirit and capable of bending all four elements. If that’s possible, then there really is no hard science behind verifying an individual as the Avatar before they show the ability to bend more than one element. No knowledge of death/birth-related coincidences can change that, either.

I was tempted to continue this response by considering the thoughts/feelings/motivations of Sokka, Katara, and Senna upon learning that Korra was born the same day Aang died, but this has already been long-winded enough—and it’s ultimately pointless since they’d have no way of determining that baby Korra is the Avatar. Maybe I’ll save that for another post, because it opens up some interesting side-discussions.

Any further asks about this headcanon—or any other Sukka-related topics—are always welcome!

#thanks for the ask!#unless you’re a troll #I hope you’re not #but I’m still glad I got to explain this #sokka #suki #senna #korra #sukka #tonraq #white lotus #avatar #atla #avatar the last airbender #the legend of korra #tlok #senna is a sukka baby #senna is sukka’s daughter

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absolutepokemontrash · 3 years

Text

MC is Half-Demon and They Look Awfully Familiar Part 2!

Part 1 Lessons 1-5 Lessons 5-6 Group Retreat Lessons 10-12 Lessons 13-15 Part 3 Part 4

Okay, They’re Your Cousins but You’re Not Sure How They’re Related to You...

(Barbatos, Simeon, Solomon, and Luke)

(It’s mostly Luke)

Barbs likes smol Lucifer. Smol Lucifer likes Barbs. They bake together with Luke. MC nearly set the kitchen on fire. MC needed to learn to cook.

MC is forever delegated to mixing duty because they refuse to admit that they don’t know how to work the oven.

Simeon is the one telling MC embarrassing stories about Lucifer and the rest of the Student Council from when they were all angels. Lucifer never hated Simeon more than when he found out that Simeon told MC about how hard Lucifer cried when he got to hold baby Mammon for the first time. MC was sworn to secrecy.

Well... sworn to secrecy, but if Uncle Mammon just happened to find out through a series of coincidences it wouldn’t be MC’s fault, right?

Simeon also tried to help teach MC to fly... but he kept distracting them with stories about Lucifer and Michael learning to fly.

“So my father was even WORSE than he told me he was?!”

“Yes, he actually challenged Michael and Raphael to a race at one point. Lucifer ended up slamming directly into a wall because he didn’t know how to stop.”

“SIMEON!”

Solomon was absolutely fascinated with MC. How did their half demon half human nature affect their reaction to certain spells and potions? Do half demons have more or less magical strength than normal demons? Can half demons make pacts with humans? Wait- Lucifer why are you taking MC away they were talking- Lucifer!

Immortal troll needs to troll. MC is the unwitting victim of many of Solomon’s shenanigans.

“Why must I speak in rhymes?! This is the end of times!”

“MC, just stop talking.”

“Father, I don’t mean to be a bother but-”

“So the rhyming spell works the same on half demons... interesting...”

“Solomon...”

“I’m leaving, Lucifer. I’m leaving!”

Aw! Two kids in the Devildom! They were fast friends. Sure, Luke was a little annoying and MC was a bit of a dick, but their mutual smallness and desire to impress their parental figures brought them together.

“Michael’s just so cool and amazing! The way he flies, the way he commands everyone... I want to be just like him someday!”

“Is that why you’re making a cake?”

“Michael has a sweet tooth, and I want to impress him.”

“I wonder if Lucifer likes sweets...”

“Why would you want to give HIM sweets?”

MC just gave Luke a toothy grin and started making the dough for the cake.

Remember back in Lucifer’s section where I said MC would keep their lineage a secret to freak people out? Yeah... they kept it from Luke. At first it was a joke! They were going to tell him! They just uh... it got really awkward. They planned on revealing it to Luke right after they learned how to properly fly so they could swoop in, pick their angel buddy up and zip the two of them to school. It’d freak Luke out at first, but it was meant to be funny! MC would have even sung the song from Aladdin! It um... didn’t turn out that way.

“Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” MC growled at the lesser demons that were crowding Luke.

“O-oh... uh... nuh-nothing...” a few of the demons backed off, mumbling a few harried apologies to MC as they scurried away. The remaining demons seemed a tad more... hmm... they say there’s a fine line between bravery and stupidity.

“M-MC! You can’t fight demons! I’m an angel I-I c-can...” Luke sniffled, but tried his best to step in front of MC.

“Oh please, the little half-breed and the lowest ranked angel are going to put up a fight?” One of the demons jeered, a few of the remaining demons joined in.

MC’s eyes narrowed, their glare as cold as the worst winter storm. “I’m going to tell you once, and once only,”

Their wings sprouted from their back, horns now fully grown and on display, teeth sharper and glistening in the light. Hm, it seemed half demons could make their eyes glow too, how delightful.

MC gave the other demons a sweet smile, it would have been comforting if it weren’t for the amount of teeth they were showing off. They lazily placed their hand on Luke’s head and lightly moved him out of the way.

“Leave, or I will make you regret ever crossing us exchange students.” MC’s carefree smile couldn’t mask the malice that coated every single word that left their lips. “Run along now, you’re not needed here.”

The demon that had started the taunts stiffened, he looked from MC, to Luke, to the other demons, before scoffing and shaking his head. “Whatever, the two of them aren’t worth it anyway...”

When the offending demons weren’t leaving fast enough for MC’s liking, they snapped their fingers and shot a fireball right behind the fleeing demons’ feet. They cleared out pretty quickly after that.

“Luke?” MC turned to look at their friend. “Are you...”

Luke was backing away. That look in his eyes, he was... scared. Scared of MC...

“Y-you’re a d-demon?” He whimpered, taking another step back.

“Half demon, actually.” MC let their demonic elements disappear. “I meant to tell you, I really did! It just was never the right time-”

“You lied to me! You said you were human! But you’re a demon like the rest of them!” Luke shouted, he wiped at his eye with his sleeve and sniffled. “I tried to help you, but you just..! I thought you were my friend!”

“Luke- hang on!” MC took a few steps forward, but Luke was already running away. MC felt something twist in their gut, something awful. That ball of innate pride twisted and practically screamed, filling MC’s head.

“He’s not worth it!”

“You’re above him anyway...”

“If he can’t understand how perfect you are, he doesn’t deserve your kindness.”

“Don’t grovel for his forgiveness. He’s beneath you.”

“Your help was rejected. Let him hate you. You’re the child of one of the most powerful demons in the Devildom, who is he to make you upset?”

The thoughts filled MC’s head as they desperately tried to shut them up. They were their father’s child, their pride wouldn’t be easily combated.

“Just be quiet!” MC clawed at their head.

“You’re better than this. You’re better than this. You’re better than this-”

“Luke!” MC called out again. “I’m sorry!”

It truly was a shame that their friend didn’t understand how much an apology from MC really meant.

They guessed Luke was right, wasn’t he? Demons were nasty awful liars. MC was no different...

That hurt.

Lucifer noticed his kid was moping around, not even Detective Toe Beans could cheer them up. Mammon even came home covered in mud from a failed money-making scheme and it didn’t even make MC crack a smile! He needed to get to the bottom of this.

Upon hearing the reason for his child’s woes, he was fully ready to break down the door of Purgatory Hall and throttle the little chihuahua, but Lucifer came to his senses and realized that MC probably didn’t want that.

He teamed up with Simeon and Solomon the things he did for MC... And managed to get both Luke and MC to the Demon Lord’s Castle to hang out with Barbatos.

It didn’t take a genius to realize that Luke missed his friend too. Sure they called him a chihuahua sometimes, but they were still the bestest friend he had made during his time in the exchange program... maybe ever...

Maybe... just maybe... he overreacted. MC did protect him after all, and they never tried to hurt him...

Barbatos was fully ready to fulfill his role as Luke’s second dad and help his angel-son make up with his friend.

It may have been awkward at first, but the two had to join forces to stop Solomon from getting within a hundred metres of the kitchen. Nothing brings two people back together more than fear for your tastebuds.

Mission success. Lucifer could relax knowing that his kid and the chihuahua were back to being friends. Maybe MC could convince Luke to quiet his infernal yapping... Lucifer was trying to work here!

For some extra fluff, after many days of asking and asking, Lucifer and Simeon agree to take Luke and MC up to the human world for Halloween. They got to go trick or treating, and everyone complimented MC and Luke on their ‘costumes’.

*insert sitcom laugh track here*

Sure, it may have been a little immoral for MC to use their powers to manipulate the humans into giving Luke and MC more candy but... candy...

Oh shit would you look at the time- they had to get back to the Devildom for Diavolo’s birthday party- MC STOP WITH THE CHOCOLATE! THE SIGN SAYS TAKE ONE! DON’T BE LIKE MAMMON.

The exchange year had been a success. Well... sort of. MC wasn’t exactly the average Joe human the Student Council expected, which is why after a lengthy break where MC went back to the human world to visit their other parent and human friends, the seven rulers of Hell (+MC) were sitting and waiting for the new exchange students to arrive.

Unlike the previous year, the entire student council was present. That included Levi who they had to physically drag there, Belphie who was carried there and had to be placed in his seat because he was completely passed out, and finally Mammon, he just had to be threatened.

“Father,” MC pouted from their seat next to Lucifer. “Why isn’t my chair as big as yours?”

Lucifer sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Because you’re much shorter than me. You can have a bigger chair when you grow a few more inches.”

“Mmm...” MC murmured, crossing their arms. “Are the students going to get here, or what?”

“Can you be patient?” Lucifer asked. “They’ll be here any moment now. I can trust that you’ll behave, right?”

MC looked scandalized, placing a hand over their heart and gasping. “Father! Of course! I’ll be the most polite person these humans have ever met!”

Not so deep down, Lucifer severely doubted that.

“Come now, Lucifer and MC!” Diavolo said from his elevated seat. “It’s almost eight am!”

Right on schedule the portal opened, two sets of screams followed.

“The next big priority should be making the trip more comfortable.” MC huffed. “It’s demeaning getting dropped straight down like that and just slamming into the floor.”

“Hm.” Lucifer rolled his eyes. “Perhaps instead we can just teleport them up to the Celestial Realm, start a war, and have them crash through not one, not two, but all three barriers between the realms with no portal.”

“Father...” MC matched Lucifer’s eye roll. “That has the same energy as ‘when I was your age I walked to school 100 miles through a blizzard!’ The polite thing to do for the exchange students is to not let them hit the floor at 100 mph and possibly give them a concussion.”

And slam straight onto the floor the two other exchange students did. Well, one of them slammed right into the marble, the other had tried in vain to use their wings to slow their decent or fly back up.

Wait...

WINGS?!

WAIT THE OTHER HAD HORNS?!

THEY BOTH HAD-

Oh and would you look at that... one looked like... and the other looked like-

Shitballs.

Lucifer had to keep himself from actually shouting in frustration. One normal day... one day of no exchange student issues was all he asked for...

“Out of over ten million candidates out of over eight billion humans...” Lucifer grumbled. “How in my father’s name did this happen again?”

(OOOOOOOOOO SEQUEL BAIT!)

#Obey me #I’m not good at writing angst... I’m so sorry #Obey me!#obey me shall we date #I’m a crack and fluff writer...#obey me! shall we date?#Obey me Headcanons #Obey me! Headcanons #Obey me Lucifer #Obey me MC #Obey me Luke #Obey me Simeon #Obey me Solomon #obey me barbatos #Lucifer’s Kid

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giorno-plays-piano · 3 years

Text

Vicious

Part IV

Pairing: Steve x reader, Bucky x reader, Thor x reader, Loki x reader, Peter x reader

Warnings: yandere, obsession, stalking, possessiveness, theft, all characters are adults.

Words: 1880.

Summary: Transferring to Stark Academy that has only allowed to take in female students last semester, you realize you are just one of three young women among hundreds of students. Your things are constantly being stolen, and soon you begin fearing for your safety.

Part I

Part II

Part III

_________

After you came back to your room, you got a message from Steve about changing the locks on both you door and your locker. You were so taken aback by today's conversation in the student council room that you had completely forgotten about it. Apparently, Steve had already requested the change of locks on your behalf through email, and you were really grateful to him for that: you dreaded coming back to the room that had been forced open. Of course, tonight you would have to move your dresser to the door so that nobody could enter when you'd be sleeping.

Shit. It was absolutely crazy.

"I'm not sure about all this, Steve." You texted him while laying on your bed and staring at your phone in the darkness of the room. "It doesn't seem right."

Naturally, you meant the fake dating thing. It felt horrible thinking of what others would think after seeing you with five different guys. Would they be calling you a whore in the open? Make some nasty jokes behind your back? Report you to the school administration for immoral behavior? Remembering those bigots from the student office, you cringed at the thought.

Besides, it still didn't make sense to you why you had to date all five. Sure, if they were around you at all times like your friends, these unhinged bastards who stole your things wouldn't do anything funny again, but it wasn't like that. What could one guy do against a group of other students?

"Listen, I didn't want to talk about it in class, but I'm worried it won't end with a stolen lingerie."

You didn't like his message.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. They might attempt something much worse than a theft."

Oh no. Was he talking about rape? Seriously? Did he anticipate others were so crazy they would do something like that?

But then again, girls were being raped in colleges even if it weren't the all-boys schools. A shiver ran down your spine.

"But if several people attack me, just one of you won't be enough." You typed with your shaky fingers, trembling beneath your blanket.

"It's not about the pure force. Each of us has a certain reputation, and others wouldn't want to cross us over because of it."

Wait, this was interesting. What on Earth did he mean? What kind of reputation was that to prevent people from messing with them?

"Thor is a good athlete and a great leader, his basketball team is ready to beat people to death for him."

"Loki's father is one of academy’s main sponsors, and he can have this school turned upside down if he wants to."

"Bucky is a threat by himself, but he also have a company of loyal friends."

"I don't think Peter is serious enough to scare anyone, but with his computer skills he could easily blackmail others, I’ve already seen him doing it. Students would be wary to cross him over just like any of us."

Steve was writing you a bunch of messages with a terrifying speed, and you could barely read the first when he was already sending you the second. It felt absolutely insane. Did he choose every guy because the more powerful admirers you have, the less others would intervene? Well, at least in case of Bucky and Thor who could beat people to near death, it was wise. You preferred not to think of Peter - you had no idea someone as sweet and caring as him did something as disgusting as a blackmail.

“But what others will think? 5 boyfriends? Others will think you are dating-” you paused, chewing your lips to bit, “- a whore. Nobody gonna stood up for me.”

"Imagine if each of us tells our friends that other four guys were just asked to watch over you, but you date only one.”

Oh. Yes, this was slightly better. Then you wouldn’t have to do something as bold as kissing every guy in public, instead maintaining the mystery who you were really dating.

Damn, how Steve even came up with this plan? Why was everything so complicated?

“It’s getting late. Good night.” Your phone vibrated again, and you huffed with irritation. You hoped you could ask him a bit more - about what you were going to do with the thieves Steve found, for example - but he was probably getting tired with all your questions. It was better to ask him tomorrow.

___________________

The next morning you were restless: since you were starting to going out with guys, you felt like you needed to look better than you usually were, so you spent your morning working on your hair and makeup. It was like fake dating, right? You had to pretend you wanted to look pretty for them.

What else did you have to do? Cook something sweet for them? Yeah, probably, but not at the start of your relationship. Going to cafe together? Helping each other study? Loki also mentioned the cinema...

You felt dumb. Of course, you dated guys before, but now you realized you had no idea how to act not to cause any suspicion. Oh boy, it was going to be a tough day.

Thor nocked at you door thirty minutes before your first session, but you woke up so early you were more than ready to go. As you opened the door, first moving the dresser back to its place, the guy looked at you with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Hey, what was that?"

"The dresser. I can't leave the door just like that until the lock is changed."

He blinked at you, watching the door and then probably remembering somebody forced the lock open to steal your underwear.

"These guys are batshit crazy." He mumbled and nodded you to go with him, putting his hand on your shoulder. "Don't worry, they won't do it again."

You wanted to argue they definitely would, but, seeing his warm smile, you thought Thor simply wanted to cheer you up and smiled at him in return. In the end, he was here only to make you feel safer: you didn't doubt he was very popular with the girls every time he went out to the city.

"You look great today!" He said sheepishly, walking in the dorm's corridor while other students were staring at him silently, obviously surprised to see you two together. "I mean, not that you looked bad yesterday, I just..."

Watching his face suddenly getting crimson red, you couldn't help but giggle at his expression. You could never think Thor was actually bashful around girls. Yeah, at your old place he'd definitely be one of the most popular guys around.

It was lunch time when you two could actually talk, sitting together at the same table and being watched by everyone around. Strangely, with Thor constantly talking and often rubbing your hand with his, it didn't feel suffocating, and you held your head high: regardless whether those pricks were looking at you, you weren't going to run away to your room and cry there like a little girl. Loki was right: you weren't a silly little sheep, scared of your own shadow. You wouldn't let anyone spoil your time in the academy you dreamt studying in.

Funny enough, Thor turned out to be a talkative type when he was speaking about basketball and his team in particular. He loved sports: while you were more into hockey, the way he talked was so enthusiastic it made you listen to him with a genuine interest. Thor's love for basketball was infectious.

He seemed a simple man, this giant bag of muscles who was laughing so loud people around him flinched; Thor wasn't the exact type of a guy you would encounter on your own, but he seemed nice, sincere, and surprisingly softhearted. You felt at ease talking to him, and soon you too acted like you'd known each other for long.

It was a pity you'd only met under this circumstances. It felt like you two could became friends.

But then when Thor absent-mindedly put his arm around your shoulders, you remembered Loki's warning: they would try to gain your favors. Was it the reason Thor was so nice to someone he just met? Wasn't it suspicious of him? You couldn't let your guard down after just one lunch together. In fact, you knew nothing of the man sitting in front of you.

"I knew something like would happen." Some guy to your left sighed loudly, catching your attention. "They were fucking crazy."

"I'm not surprised either. I just wanna know who they got in a fight with to be beaten like that. Have you heard they broke Gray's both legs?"

"Woah, both? That's brutal, man."

You shivered, trying not to listen to them.

"It'd happen sooner or later anyway. They were completely wild."

A word caught your attention right away: that was what Steve called those students who were stealing your things. Could it be a coincidence? Surely, in an all-boys school the students were fighting each other constantly.

But to the point of breaking both legs of someone? Really?

As you sent Thor a nervous look, he gently patted your shoulder, lowering his voice so no one would hear him, "I'm sure it's nothing to do with you. These things happen here from time to time because the guys have no idea what to do with all that testosterone."

You hoped he was right.

The rest of the day went as usual aside from Thor walking the corridors with you and chatting about sports: he managed to convince you to come see the game next month when they would be having a tournament. You were grateful to him for helping to ease your mind because the news of guys being sent to the ambulance made you shook. Steve also mentioned something about his and other's friends ready to beat anyone to death, right?

By the middle of your last class you couldn't think of it any longer and quickly typed a message to Loki. Of all people, right now he seemed the most sincere to you.

"Hi. Are the guys who were beaten last night are the ones who stole my things?"

Waiting was a special torture when you held the phone in your arms beneath your desk, hoping to see your screen lighting up with a message. In five minutes you got your reply.

"Yes." The message said simply, but it was enough for you to stare at your phone with horror, wishing you didn't ask Loki anything.

Oh shit. It wasn't a coincidence, right? It's impossible. Somebody did it on purpose. But who of the five?

"Do you know who did it?"

Next time he answered pretty fast, "No."

A part of you felt relieved. Maybe it wasn't related, finally. Maybe they got beaten by somebody who was fed up with their attitude because they were crazy as the guys in the cafeteria said.

But what if it weren't true?

"Who's the most brutal among you five?"

Biting your lips, you started rocking in your chair a little, making the guy on your left to roll his eyes in irritation.

The phone's screen flashed again.

"Barnes."

Part V

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#steve rogers x reader #bucky barnes x reader #thor x reader #loki x reader #peter parker x reader #dark steve rogers #dark bucky barnes #dark thor #dark loki #dark peter parker #yandere

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