#on that note. please be aware that i am officially dropping any threads i had started or participated in before now

[bf-xml]

🎤 Look he’s pogging lol

🎤 I wonder what he’s missed...maybe the tags will give a hint or two.

(That means read the tags teehee thank you)

[fific7]

Dangerous and Divine - Part 15

Billy Russo x Reader

Summary: Billy Russo is an itch you don’t want to scratch. But he’s all over you like a rash.

A/N: This does not follow canon, it’s mainly fluff & lemon zest 🍋 The GIF is from Exposed, unreleased pilot show in case you’re wondering 😌... Billy vibes.

Warnings: 18+ NSFW due to sexual content including oral and unprotected* sex between consenting adults. Some drinking & swearing.

*Irl, please don’t go wild in the country without protection.

(My GIF)

Yeah, he’d just not mention it.

Billy was driving to the Chelsea Piers, and he wasn’t happy. He wasn’t happy about meeting Madani in the first place, and he was now second-guessing his decision not to tell his girl about it. If she found out at some later stage, she’d wonder why... maybe think he had something to hide.

He found a parking space and slid the Wraith into it, shutting down the engine and unbuckling his seat belt. Reaching into the central console, he brought out a small recording device, activated it and clipped it into his jacket’s inside pocket. There would be quite a lot of rustling on the recording but it should still be audible.

Next he checked his gun and replaced it in his shoulder holster, and he also had his concealed knife up inside his sleeve. As well as his Ka-Bar in a sheath snugly attached to the back of his belt, and a small pistol in an ankle holster. Billy was taking no chances.

He got out of the car, bleeped it locked with the remote and walked towards the Piers.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Madani grabbed her phone out of her bag and tapped out, “Marine Center” and sent the text.

She sat down on one of the benches and settled down to wait for Russo. About 10 minutes later, she spotted his tall figure walking towards her, and bristled slightly as she was still so pissed off at him about the complaint. He strolled up and remained standing in front of her, looking down at her with a neutral expression on his face, before saying, “Hi, Dinah.”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Billy stared at her, noting the angry frown on her face. This was going to be pleasant, he thought.

“Russo,” she said, tersely. She got up suddenly, leaning towards him and spat out, “What the fuck d’you think you were doing, filing a complaint against me? Was that her idea? Your little girlfriend?”

He folded his arms over his chest, looking down at her and aware that it looked defensive, but that’s how he was feeling.

“No, it wasn’t. She’d more or less decided not to do anything about it, but I encouraged her to come along with me while I was filing mine.” Her mouth opened but she said nothing for a moment, before replying, “Really? I don’t believe that - I think you’re covering for her.” He shook his head, saying forcefully, “No, I am not! I made my own decision to file a complaint because your behaviour was unacceptable!”

She took a step back, turning away from him and looking out over the water. “What if I were to file a counter-complaint?” She looked across at him, “Saying how your behaviour prior to that was unacceptable? Taking me for lunches and drinks, kissing me?”

He sighed, “You do what you think you have to, Dinah.” She swung round, facing him again, “Can you - hand on heart - swear you weren’t attracted to me? And that you wouldn’t have taken it further?”

Billy was the one who looked out over the water now, “Yeah, I did find you attractive, I won’t lie. But - and you won’t like this - I knew you had the hots for me, and I used that to keep you on side, so you wouldn’t drop us out of the loop.” Her mouth rounded into an O, and she glared at him, “So what’re you saying - that it was never real?! That it would never have gone anywhere?!”

He nodded, “Yeah - that’s what I’m sayin’. I’ll be honest with you, Dinah. I would’ve slept with you if it’d been necessary, but it would’ve been my usual one-and-done.” She gave a harsh laugh, “Well, thank you so very much for that ego-crushing statement, Russo!” He shrugged, “I’m sorry, but I’m being totally honest with you here.” Now she folded her arms across herself, “And what’s so different with your new little lady? You’re telling me that you’ve gone from complete player to lovesick Romeo in about a fortnight? Yeah - sorry, I’m not buying that.”

Billy was fed up with this now and turned to leave, saying over his shoulder, “You can believe or not believe what you want. Yeah I was a player, but I happened to meet someone who sees me for me, not just the public persona. And I’ve fallen in love with her. That’s it, plain and simple.”

He heard her voice as he walked away, “It won’t last, Russo - you just won’t be able to keep it in your pants!” He didn’t turn round but said, loud enough for her to hear, “You think?” He kept walking, and then said, “Just watch me!”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Walking away, Billy blew out a big sigh of relief. Boy, was he glad that was over. He smiled as he thought of Dinah’s little barbed comment yesterday about running to his little girlfriend. Well, that was exactly what he was gonna do.

He waited until he was out of Madani’s sight and took the bug out of his inside pocket, switching it off. It was in fact a transceiver and the entire conversation should hopefully have been wirelessly stored on a playback device in his car.

As he drove away from the Piers and headed to the café, he thought about Madani’s threat to file a counter-complaint. He knew it wouldn’t place him in the best of lights, but that’s why he’d decided to tell Madani the complete truth, banking on the fact that she wouldn’t want to admit that she’d been used.

Mentally shrugging, he came to the conclusion that his complaint more than outweighed any ‘leading on’ he might have done, and as he’d said to her, she could do what she damn well pleased.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

You were just pulling out another folder of paperwork to go through, when there was a brisk knock at your door before it opened immediately, and Billy’s smiling face appeared.

“Billy!” you said, pleasantly surprised, “...what’re you doing here?” He came over to you, fingers going to your chin and tipping it up so he could kiss you. “I was passing and....” but then he frowned.

“Actually, that’s not quite true.... but I need you to listen to something, okay? I didn’t mention it yesterday as we had such good time....” eyebrows wiggling at you, “...but now you need to hear this.”

You watched as he sat down opposite you, and took out a small black device. “You’re worrying me, Russo,” you said to him, as he fiddled with the device. He glanced up at you, “Ah don’t be, sweetheart. It’s just I don’t want you to think there was anything underhand going on.” Next, he took his phone out of his pocket and scrolled through it before handing it to you.

You looked down at the text message on the screen, and then looked up at him, a frown on your face. “Madani texted you?! Yesterday? And you never mentioned it?” He put his hand over yours, eyes gazing into yours, “No, I didn’t. Cos I didn’t want to spoil our day.” You huffed out a breath, “So that’s why you were ‘just passing’, because you’ve just met up with her?” He nodded, holding up a hand as you opened your mouth to speak. “Sweetheart, please just listen to this.”

He clicked a button on the side of the little black device, and you heard what sounded like a lot of rustling. “It was inside my jacket pocket..... just bear with me here.” Eventually you heard Billy’s voice - a bit muffled but audible - saying “Hi, Dinah.”

The recording came to an end a few short minutes later with Billy’s last comment of ‘Just watch me.’

Sitting back in your chair, you shook your head, “She’s really vindictive. Clearly she totally loves me!” Billy chuckled, “Yeah, she really does.” “Why’d you decide to record it? In case she says you tried to coerce her or something?” He shook his head, “Nah. Actually it was in case you thought there was something going on.” You stared at him, “Why would I have thought that?” He exhaled a breath, “Well, I thought about how I hadn’t told you I was meeting up with her, and how if you found out later - and I still hadn’t told you at that stage - you might think I was up to no good.”

A small laugh escaped your lips, “Uh... well yes, I think you might be right there, Billy.” He was still holding your hand in his and he stroked the back of it with his thumb. “Look, angel... I know you’ve heard from various people what my rep was, that I was a real player. So that’s why I decided to tell you about it now, and let you hear the recording. M’gonna be honest and upfront with you, angel. This between us... I really want it to last. I don’t wanna do anything to fuck it up.”

You got up and went over to him, perching yourself on his lap, arms going round his neck. Looking at those lips of his, you said, “I think you’ve just made a good decision, Russo. Fucking Up officially avoided.” Then you kissed him, hands running up his hair, and you felt him smiling against your lips. He leant back, grinning, “Oh, it’s straight for the hair, is it? I gotta go to the office, sweetheart - I’m gonna look like a goddamn scarecrow!” You kept on threading your fingers through it, and you had to admit - it was beginning to look a little bit ‘bouffant’.

But that was Billy’s problem, you thought - his hair was your territory and god help anyone who tried to come between you and it, even Billy himself. “Not my problem, Russo,” you grinned back, “you know I get to do what I want to your hair.” You got up abruptly, locking the office door and clicking the button next to the light switch which closed your blinds, returning to his lap a moment later. Billy’s eyes got wide, “What ya got planned, angel?” “Wait and see,” you said, unbuckling his belt, undoing his trouser button and unzipping him. Then you turned and sat across his lap, slid your skirt up, shimmied your panties down, all the while gazing into those dark eyes which just seemed to be getting wider by the second, and which now had a distinct glint of desire in them.

You slipped a hand underneath the waistband of his boxer briefs, and carefully took hold of the velvety length laying inside them. Billy bit his bottom lip; he was alternating between looking down at what you were doing to him and gazing up into your eyes. You began to stroke him and he tensed up, hips moving slightly with each stroke, then as you felt him stiffen entirely you freed him from his briefs. You continued giving him firm strokes and Billy started to groan softly, grabbing your hips, saying your name and telling you not to stop.

Leaning forward until your mouth was against his ear, you whispered, “Now, Russo - you’ve got to be quiet, okay?” “I...what?” he gasped, staring at you, but instead of answering him, you steadily guided that long hard cock of his inside you and sank down onto it as you straddled him. A long low moan was making its way up from Billy’s throat, which you muffled with your hand across his mouth. “Russo! What’d I tell you?....Sssshhhhh!” you smirked, while you saw Billy’s eyes crinkling at the corners as he laughed back at you.

Eventually you lifted your hand off his mouth, and Billy immediately gave a big groan, smirking at you as he did, so you smacked his shoulder and told him you’d get off him. That made him pay attention and he shook his head decisively, “No, no... don’t, I promise I’ll be quieter, okay?” So you carried on riding him, moving on him fast and rhythmically with him thrusting up into you too, until you could both feel your climaxes building. You grabbed onto Billy’s shoulders, his hands were all over your body until he pulled your hips right down onto him and he buried his face between your breasts, to stifle the big gasp he gave as he came with a few shorter thrusts up into you. Your own climax hit soon afterwards, and you bit into Billy’s shoulder so you wouldn’t make too much noise either.

The two of you rested for a moment, just holding each other, then you got up and moved off him towards the little mini kitchen area in the corner, to pick up some paper towels. You were very aware of the fact that your staff and customers were just below you, which is why you’d been so keen to make Billy be quiet. But you just couldn’t resist him, and - you admitted - there was probably a territorial element to your reasoning. He’d just met up with Madani, so you were flexing your Alpha Female muscles and taking what was yours. So while you didn’t make a habit of doing what you’d just done, anyone with a boyfriend as hot as Billy would understand exactly why you did what you did.

Billy certainly didn’t seem to have a problem with that whatsoever. As you two cleaned up, he grabbed you and kissed you hungrily, whispering, “Wasn’t expectin’ that, angel, but anytime you wanna ravish me in your office, you just have to call!”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

After Billy had left to head over to Anvil, you thought back to what had brought him to your office in the first place. You felt that your gut feeling had been correct; even though you and Billy had filed complaints, Madani still hadn’t truly given up.

Her question to him about Billy’s thoughts and feelings towards her had made that plain. You reckoned she felt entitled to him; you could actually put yourself in her shoes and think about how you’d feel if Billy had come on to you and then dropped you like a hot potato. You knew that you wouldn’t have liked it much either.

But while Madani had kinda gone into bunny boiler mode, as Karen had told Billy - you would have cut him deader than dead.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

You returned to your paperwork, struggling to focus back on the figures, and when your phone buzzed a little while later you weren’t surprised to see ‘Your Boyfriend’ flash up on FaceTime. Laughing, you thought to yourself that you really would have to change that. You answered it to find a pair of smouldering dark eyes looming large at you, Billy having moved right up close to the screen. He moved his phone further back until you could see his full face, and smirked at you before angling the phone downwards so you could see that his hand was on his zip area.

He was in his car and you guessed stuck at a red light; his fingers fumbled with his button, then he unzipped himself and pulled his trousers aside so you could see those black briefs. His hand travelled backwards and forwards over the large bulge visible to you, before he zipped back up and refastened his trousers. Your breathing had become a little uneven, “Billy Russo, are you sexting me? Or whatever you call it on FaceTime. While you’re stuck in a traffic jam?!”

You heard a low chuckle and the expresso-coloured eyes came back into view, and a husky sexy voice said, “Yes I am... and every inch is for you, angel, it’s all for you and only you.” A big kiss was blown to you, “I’ll see you after work. I’ll pick you up, okay? We can head over to my place for dinner. You can text me later and tell me what you feel like eating.” Another kiss winging its way to you on the screen.

You blew a big noisy kiss back to him, “Okay, lover, I’ll see you later.”

So... after your heart-rate slowed back down to normal, you realised that, no matter how much you possibly empathised about Billy dropping her, there was no way you were going to sit back and let Madani keep coming after your man. She’d have a fight on her hands, that you could promise her.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

@blackbirddaredevil23 @galaxyjane @omgrachwrites @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead @ourloveisforthelovely

[waywardwrestlewritingwaif]

Life of the Party

This is the fluffiest thing I’ve ever written and it still involves a swingers’ party. But seriously, other than the setting, this whole thing is just humor and boy-meets-girl cuteness. 

Pairing: Adam Cole x reader

Word count: 2,117

Content advisory: nothing beyond the setting

“Could you please stop acting so uptight?” Jeanie asks, poking you hard in the ribs. “You said you wanted to try it.”

Yes, you have to admit, you did say that you wanted to try it. Jeanie had been sharing her stories with you and Ellen about going to the swinger parties hosted by a physiotherapist who regularly attended Jeanie’s yoga classes and her husband, and a month ago, she’d finally persuaded Ellen to come along to one. Ellen had been so impressed that she’d talked about it for a week nonstop and you finally had to concede that, yes, you were curious and that you did want to come along the next time there was an opportunity. And you had wanted to come along. You wanted to get into the spirit of liberation and exploration that these nights offered. But here you were, walking into a party with a very select guest list and all you could think of to do was make wisecracks. 

Jeanie and Ellen were both insistent that you keep your mind open, to which you responded that you couldn’t keep your mind and legs open at the same time, which got a chortle but also a withering look from both of them. Your inclination was to separate from the crowd with them and to pass the night making catty comments. They, however, preferred to circulate and see who might be interested and what they might be interested in. Normally, sarcasm and irony were the weapons you used to prevent yourself from feeling vulnerable. But normally, your friends would be right beside you. Tonight, they weren’t so interested in smart remarks and were more interested in seeing what kind of adventure they could find. It was almost like disinterestedly scanning through Tinder and getting frustrated by playing eye contact games with guys in bars wasn’t enough for them anymore. 

It took exactly 38 minutes for you to completely lose your sense of ironic invincibility. You know this because you’ve been able to time it on your phone. In those first minutes, you were joking with Jeanie and Ellen, then they chose to migrate into the crowd and started chatting with a few people. Then you’d just chilled on your own and thought it was funny how everyone else seemed to be trying to hook up with someone. Then it had occurred to you that everyone else was hooking up with someone, almost as if being open about what they wanted was something that wasn’t a source of humiliation for them the way it was for you. Then you’d realized that you were standing by yourself, protected by an impenetrable wall of sarcasm, completely isolated while everyone around you was getting laid. 

You’d sure showed them. You alone had discovered the secret to not having sex at a party the point of which was to make sure that everyone had all the sex they wanted. Lucky for you that the guests were so distracted that it was easy to just steal alcohol from the refrigerator. It was like you were doing the hosts a favor, making sure that the supplies they laid in didn’t go to waste. There were little hors d’oeuvres on trays catered from a company whose treats didn’t come cheap, so you grabbed plate full of those too and retired to the back patio to feel awkward and superior and incredibly envious that there were people who could just approach other human beings and tell them they wanted to have sex with them and get it. 

This goes fine for about fifteen minutes, or two full glasses of wine and about half the plate of exquisite mini pastries and vegetable art, at which point another solitary figure slinks out onto the patio with you. There is immediately a dirigible of silence between you, swollen with mutual desire, the desire to be left alone and to have no one notice you. On the other hand, it is also fueled by the awareness that the two of you are the party’s resident weirdos and that social convention demands that you try to forge some kind of connection so that you can eventually make eye contact and fall in love or something. It’s you who gives in first. 

“Miniature sausage?”

The tumescent blimp of tension between you deflates as the man looks up with a combination of defensiveness and hostility. 

You press the still half-eaten plate towards him. “They ordered these individual mini sausages with gourmet ingredients and everything. There’s like four different kinds and they all look like they’re made by hand. I mean, I can’t imagine they found a machine that could make them this size.”

He’s still giving you a bit of a suspicious look, scanning you for any sign that you’re mocking him but gradually he drags his chair a little closer to observe the food you’re proffering. He snatches up a tiny deconstructed spanakopita-type-thing that crumbles in an avalanche of phyllo crumbs over his dark shirt when he tries to take a bite. 

“Those are a bit tricky,” you commiserate. 

“So, you’re the… official taster?” he kids, obviously trying to project a bit of cool as he brushes himself more or less clean. 

“Sure, we can go with that.” You once again extend the plate to let him try something else and, after allowing his hand to hover a moment, he takes one of the perfect little sausages. 

“Ok,” he says, nodding, “you have a point. These are pretty awesome.”

You resist the urge to say ‘I told you so’ by pushing one of the salmon-lemongrass wraps into your mouth. 

“You prefer fish?” he grins. 

“I just like to eat.”

He laughs a little and, as ridiculously clichéd as it is, you bat your eyelashes because now that you’re able to get a better look at him, you feel your thighs inadvertently press together. He is really good looking. His light brown hair is drawn back into a loose chignon, and he has that perfected, give-a-shit scruff you’ve seen in musicians and you hope to god that he’s not one of those because they’re always such cocky assholes. But what really draws you in are the bright, sparkling, mischievous blue eyes. You can’t stop staring at them and into them, imaging what they’d look like sparked with lust and… you realize it’s been an inappropriately long time since either of you has said anything. 

He takes your last oyster, the bastard, and tips the shell against his mouth, allowing the flesh to slide through his lips and over his tongue that flashes out for just a second to capture the drops of briny liquor. The change in his expression shows that he’s definitely caught you looking in a way that’s entirely appropriate to the party inside. 

“So why aren’t you enjoying the main course?” you ask, trying not to be quite so obvious and hitching your head in the direction of the house. 

“I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing here,” he sighs. “I was with my girlfriend, well, my ex-girlfriend now, for seven years. Two weeks ago I came home from a tour a day early and I run into her with her movers clearing all her stuff out of our condo. Braden’s my nutritionist and told me he and Sheryl were having this party and he thought it might be a good chance for me to shake off some of the… well, you know. Seven years with the same girl and now I’m single.”

Everything after “home from a tour” is a sort of verbal soup to you. A tour. He is a musician. Oh no. 

“What about you?” he asks. “How did you end up on Fuck Island?”

“My friend Jeanie is Sheryl’s yoga instructor,” you squeak, wishing very much to leave it at that. He gives you a pointed stare and a smile that seems to light up the entire yard and so, feeling more than a little self-conscious, you continue, “My husband left me about a year ago and I haven’t been… well, I haven’t dated anyone since then and Jeanie figured that this might be a good opportunity to get back in the saddle.”

He gives you another big smile and you think, or at least hope, that there’s a bit of a flirtatious glint in his eye. “I didn’t know they had a saddle too.”

It’s a silly joke but it does make you laugh and that makes you feel a little less awkward that you basically told a complete stranger that you got your ass dumped and hadn’t had sex since. Still, you’re eager to move on. 

“So you’re a musician?”

“What? Oh, because I was on tour. No, I’m a professional wrestler.”

And that, you think, might be worse than a musician, because it’s sort of like being a jock version of a rock star, right? All of the testosterone and none of the creativity? 

“What do you do?” he asks, pleasantly enough. 

“I’m the curator at the A.E. Backus Gallery.”

His dazzling eyes widen. “Wow…” he stammers, “Art.”

You giggle and pour yourself another glass of wine. “Wow… Wrestling.”

He leans in and takes the bottle from you, gulping directly from it as he leans back into his chair. “I’m not really arty.”

“Not at all?”

“Does videogame art count?”

“It can,” you answer, pushing a note of gentle humor into your voice. 

“Well then I guess I’m a bit of a collector. Maybe you can sell me something.” He hitches his eyebrows a little and it is endearing. 

“I didn’t know wrestling paid so well.”

“It does when you’re as good at it as I am,” he grins, taking another long swig from the wine bottle. 

His arm is slowly moving towards you and you’ve leaned forward so that you’re at once helping to close the distance between you and giving him a nice view of the tops of your breasts, something which does not appear to go unappreciated. Feeling a little cheeky, you take a big drink from your wine glass and allow a drop to fall from your lips. As you were hoping, he reaches over and brushes it away with his thumb. His eyes are definitely more intense, more curious and threaded with a hint of lust and they are every bit as thrilling as you thought they would be. 

“I’m Adam,” he whispers. 

“Eva,” you tell him, and you both laugh a little at that. 

“So I guess we really should be naked.”

“Or if we felt self-conscious, I think that one of the hors d’oeuvres has some minced grape or fig leaves.”

“Are you suggesting that I would be able to cover myself with just a tiny sausage?”

You laugh again and blush because his hand is still resting against your face, stroking your cheek ever so softly. 

His eyes flicker towards the house and he struggles for a minute to form words, his jaw twitching a little with the effort. And as much as you feel yourself growing damp at the idea of being with him, the idea of doing so in a sauna of sex mist is not working for you. 

“I cannot tell you,” he begins finally, waving a hand towards the indoors, “how uncomfortable I am with this whole thing.”

“Oh,” you exhale in sweet relief, “you don’t need to tell me because I just… This is not my scene. No judgment but this just isn’t going to work as a way of getting back out there.”

He gives you a wink. “Eva, would you like to go somewhere and not have sex with me for a bit?”

You look down at what you’re wearing, dismayed. “I’m basically wearing lingerie.”

“You look beautiful.”

“I feel naked.”

“It’s ok,” he assures you. “I know an amazing place to get drive through. You know. If that’s something art gallery girls can get into.”

“I can get into that.”

He stands and offers you his arm, the muscle flexing a little as he helps you up and sending an electric shiver through your core. Toned and firm but not the bulked-up, steroid-ridden balloon you would have imagined all pro wrestlers to possess. You bite your lip and he definitely notices, edging just a little closer to you,

“I really hope no one’s fucking in my car,” he says wistfully. 

“I’m so glad I came here in a cab.”

The two of you share a conspiratorial glance as you pick your way down the driveway and onto the street towards his hopefully unoccupied car. No sex for a bit, you tell yourself, but maybe not too long of a bit.

[famedroleplayarchive]

Firstly, I want to let everyone know that Daylight Savings begins tomorrow in the admin’s timezone, so, if you do not observe this, acceptances will be an hour earlier than you’re used to beginning tomorrow until November. Acceptances will be at 6PM EDT / 7AM KST.

Other than that, I’m back with another admin post before the one planned for our anniversary. I wanted to let everyone know the results of the recent poll regarding activity and schedules, as well as ask for member opinion on some more matters. This admin post does involve another poll, so I apologize in advance for anyone who isn’t fond of those, but you’re welcome not to answer if you would prefer not to!

Poll results

As a result of the majority opinion on the polls, activity checks will now be conducted requiring two posts since the last activity check for points. At least one must be a thread starter or reply, while the other can be a thread post or a solo or headcanon of 400+ words.

One qualifying post, or multiple solos/headcanons but no thread post, since the last activity check will result in a warning.

No qualifying posts since the last activity check will result in removal. 

This system will be implemented beginning with our next activity check on March 19.

Some smaller activity tweaks will come around our fourth anniversary, but for now I’d like to give everyone two weeks to adjust to this first!

Schedules will also now be done quarterly on a trial basis, beginning in April.

Note: I would like to remind everyone to please only vote once in these polls. I make them anonymous so no one feels discouraged from participating, but there was one particular instance that seemed suspicious to me as the same person submitting multiple votes. I didn’t delete the votes since it didn’t change the end result and there’s always a chance this was a coincidence, but I do take note of that kind of thing since I want to make sure member opinion is being reflected accurately!

Soloist positions

Currently, all of our canon soloist positions are open. Recently, there hasn’t been as much interest in soloist positions as group positions, and I understand these positions also often have less in their monthly schedules and are limited in some claims. I’ve also had some people suggest removing these positions and/or sharing that they don’t find the canon soloist positions particularly appealing in the context and limitations of the universe, so I wanted to check if canon soloist positions were something people were still interested in keeping, or if it would be more beneficial to do away with them.

I’m going to keep the positions from reserves being made while I have the poll running that will be linked at the end of this post to see if they should be kept.

If kept, things will proceed as normal.

If majority votes to remove them, the spots will be removed and their music will be opened for points claims. If this happens, muses with past claims related to canon soloist positions (features / music video roles) may choose to either drop the claim all together or switch it to a new claim. (I’d be open to discussing making an exception for some of the past claims rules like past features needing to be in the same company to accommodate this since it would be inconveniencing these muns). Muses with points claims related to canon soloist positions will have the choice to reclaim their points in full or keep the claim as a feature / mv appearance for an undefined song by an outside, NPC soloist with the same achievements and history if they had specific development linked to it. Certain storylines linked to canon soloist positions would be reworked if they’re an important narrative, ex. Dimensions buying out a company in Dimensions Soloist 3′s backstory, BC doing something to distract from the legal situation with the former Lipstick member in BC Soloist 1′s backstory.

Adding to Fuse’s model discography

Fuse is one of the few groups remaining in the roleplay with only one model group in their discography. Their company has stated Red Velvet is aiming for a comeback, but since they haven’t come back in over a year as a full group and don’t have a lot of group activities in recent times for a number of reasons, I’ve been looking into adding to their discography to ensure Fuse can have a comeback this summer. I haven’t found any groups that have really completely stuck out to me on my own, though there are a few possibilities in consideration, so I wanted to throw this out to members of the roleplay to ask who might want to see added / think might fit in the poll. As usual, this is completely optional and you only have to answer if you have any suggestions.

Recent bullying allegations 

I’ve gotten a few questions in the ask box about this, so I apologize for not answering them up to this point, but I was didn’t want to prematurely make any decisions while news was/is still coming out. I’m going to touch base with a few members individually soon, but a public address on any actions taken in response to these allegations will eventually be up.

For now, actor Kim Jisoo and April members Kim Chaewon, Lee Naeun, Yang Yena, Lee Jinsol, and and ex-member Jeon Somin are going to be treated as banned in the interim before I get full member input since they’ve been linked to allegations that raise triggers beyond bullying as well and members have, in similar situations in the past, voiced discomfort with faceclaims involved in those triggering topics. I am aware that parts of these allegations have been officially denied by their companies, but due to the aspects of these allegations being severe and denial being dependent on trusting the word of the company, I wouldn’t find it appropriate to leave those case entirely unaddressed at this time.

I will also ask that anyone interested hold off on applying with other face claims wrapped up in the recent bullying allegations until I’m able to make a complete statement after seeking member opinion. Anyone using a faceclaim who has been or gets wrapped up in such allegations is welcome to contact me to request a faceclaim change out of that faceclaim, even if their waiting period isn’t up yet, though I won’t be specifically asking anyone to change at this moment in time. Model groups are something that will be addressed either personally with muns affected or at a later time if necessary after seeking member opinion as well.

In the poll that will be linked below, I ask for member input on what they would be most most comfortable with regarding the requirements for banning / not banning a faceclaim with bullying allegations against them. I left this open for freeform reply instead of multiple choice since it seemed hard to encompass all guidelines that someone might see as suitable. Note that this is entirely optional, so if you don’t have an opinion or if you’re not comfortable discussing the topic, you don’t have to reply. If you need some time to think, you don’t need to answer right away. This will not be treated exactly as a poll with the most popular answer being the final decision, but instead, as a forum for members to provide their input all in one place so that I can be aware of where members stand. As admin, I’ll use this to help inform the final decision, though not strictly control it.

The poll on all topics can be found here. It will close at the end of next Thursday, March 18.

[dragonrajafanfiction]

Dragon Dancer Chapter 6: The Walking Dead

Deep down we all know our lives can change in an instant. We all hope it will change for the better. We hope that we’ll find that dream job. That girl we’ve been searching for will show up, smile at us, and agree that she’s was searching for us too. That some prince will come and whisk us away from our problems.

We also know that things can change for the worse. In that same instant, our lives can be taken, as if by some strange magic, and everything we’ve been working for crumbles to dust. All we can do is pick up the pieces, start over again, and be grateful we survived.

When I woke up at the hospital, I couldn’t talk about what happened. Nono, at my bedside, tried to get me to say something about it, but my mind could not form the words to describe the chaos I remembered. If I focused on the memories too much, they overwhelmed me the way the strongest emotions do. They were pure sensation, coming over me faster than my intellect's ability to register them. 

There were details, focal points that my mind latched on to after the world went blurry.

The shocked look of a young man’s face when he realized he was going to die the instant before he did. The pulsating waves that were visible when blood oozed from a severed artery. The life and death struggle of a living person between my hands. Despite the clarity of these memories - or maybe because of it - their horrific nature stunned me into speechlessness.

When Nono was unable to get me to answer her questions, she said, “I think we need to get you some help.” She stood up and left me alone in the room.

I laid on my side picking at the thin threads of the soft pillow case. When the door creaked open and footsteps approached, I didn’t turn to look.

“I am Doctor Toyama.” A gentle male voice greeted me.

When he didn’t say anything more, I turned my head to see if he was still there. He had light brown eyes in a young face and a thin well manicured goatee that traced around his upper lip and chin. He wore a lab coat with a tag hanging from his pocket as an identifier. He held a notebook and pen.

That much acknowledgement of his existence was enough to make him smile. “I have a few questions for you. You don’t have to say much about this incident. The College is well aware of many details about Isaac and his… activities here. It’s unfortunate that it had to end up this way.”

He pulled up a chair and sat next to my bed. I averted my eyes from him as he continued to speak. “You’re probably blaming yourself for what happened. I’m here to tell you that it wasn’t your fault.”

He didn’t wait for me to respond. “People here all have a certain percentage of dragon DNA. The higher the percentage the stronger they are. But there is a cost.” He kept his tone soft and clear.

“If someone’s percentage of dragon DNA is too high, it begins to overwrite the human. It grows, much like a cancer and they cease to be recognizable as a human. They turn into what we call a death servitor. That is what happened to Isaac.”

“It happened to Isaac because of what I did though,” I whispered. My throat squeezed shut. My lip trembled. I could feel his eyes on me, but I couldn’t return his gaze.

“Oh? How so?”

I chewed my lip and pressed my face into the pillow.

“I’d really like to know. There are surveillance cameras in the library. As far as we can tell after watching the footage, you walked into a conference room together. The rest is hard to make out but it’s clear you disappear. You went…” He let the sentence hang.

“I wanted to see my family.” I said shakily. Tears wet the pillowcase around my eyes.

“Why? You were only here a day. You miss them already?”

I nodded.

“Hmm…” I hear his pen click. “Did you inform one of your class advisors?.”

“Yeah. He told me that… I couldn’t see my family because the rules said I had to stay on campus… I couldn’t even call them.”

“Ah… I see. You’re very close to them then?”

“Mhm…”

“You must be  if you were willing to follow a stranger into the dark on the off chance you might get to see them. Tell me, what do you plan to say to them?” There was genuine curiosity in his voice.

“Everything here is secret… right?” I peeked up from the pillow.

“That’s right.” He's writing in his notebook.

“Well, I’d … tell him that there’s a lot of boys here. And they make me nervous.”

He stroked his goatee. “Ah… I see. What else?”

“Everything is really extravagant… and I don’t think I’ll fit in. And that I failed my first exam.” Now that I’m looking at him, he offered me a tissue box. I sat up to accept it.

“Very good.” He made a few more notes  “I’ll submit this to the board members and see if they can make a bit of an exception for some forms of communication. It’s… rare we get people like you. Who actually come from loving non-hybrid homes.”

He clicked his pen and put it back into his breast pocket. “But since you still have so much to say to them, that means you didn’t go back to your home, did you? Where did you go?”

“I don’t know where it was. There were others too. They were dressed in Japanese clothes. So maybe Japan?” I blew my nose.

“Japan? Hm…” He made a note. “That’s … odd. Why do you think he would take you there?”

“Maybe that’s where his family lives?” I looked to him for confirmation of my guess.

“His family? I thought you were going to meet yours?” He raised his eyebrows.

I explained.  “He said I shouldn’t have failed my test. He said he wanted to test me… before I went home.”

“There was no way you could have known what that meant.” He told me. “You must have … fought hard to escape.” He looked at me expecting me to fill in the blank, but I fell into an abrupt silence. My eyes were downcast. My fingers kneaded at the pillow case.

“Alright…” He said quietly. “What’s one thing you can tell me. Just one.”

My continued silence stretched on.

“Just one thing? I promise, I won’t ask any more questions.”

I didn’t reply but Doctor Toyama continued to sit and wait. My mind remembered, indexed and sorted what happened into a large pile of secrets. There was one memory that I felt comfortable revealing.

“He saved my life. I would’ve died. But when he held me, my wound healed. He brought me back before he turned into that monster.”

He watched me wipe away tears, keeping his expression neutral. “I see. Thank you.” He made another note. “I’ll leave you now. Feel free to contact me any time.” He left his card on the table next to my phone.

After he was gone, I examined the card. His title was Campus Psychologist. My phone lit up, attracting my attention. It displayed an overwhelming number of notifications. I ignored them in favor of visiting my social media page.

At the top of the feed, the official administrators had pinned a message.

This page is now restricted, only those with access may view it. If you have questions about the restriction or feel you’ve been blocked in error, keep it to yourself because you haven’t been.

Below that stretched a long string of posts by other Cassell students.

“How does one kill a servitor in a single hit?”

“Well, this new student is promising. Anyone get her number?”

“Wish she’d left some of that fight to me.”

“How can I date her please.”

“DMs are blocked :(“

“Anyone have her phone number? What about email?”

“How do you even get that strong?!”

“10/10 would watch again.”

My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach. I didn’t want to talk to or meet any of these people.

In my notifications, I found a text from Nono. “Hey, hope you’re feeling better. You’ll be getting a message from the Principal soon. Don’t be nervous, just do your best. If you need me, just call me alright? Please, if you want to talk, don’t hesitate to call me. I know you miss your family, but you can’t go back to them right now. Not without talking to him.”

The phone sang its jaunty ringtone. The caller ID was just ‘EVA’. “Hello?”

Her voice was cheerful but her words were to the point. “You passed your E3 exam with a high level of resonance with a draconic cipher. This along with your unique dragon ancestry puts you at Rank S.”

“What do you mean I passed? I didn’t write anything?”

“Most record their ciphers. In your case, this was not the correct medium. Determining your ability will take further research. Therefore, we are admitting you. Welcome to Cassell College. I’m EVA, the school AI butler. Let me know if you need help or have questions."

“AI…? A computer…?” I stammered but couldn’t form a complete sentence so she continued.

“Your meeting with Principal Anjou is in half an hour. I’ve sent Mingfei Lu to guide you there. Your uniform is there in your room. Please dress and get ready to meet him. Don’t worry. He’s very nice.”

“Wait! Who is…?”

The phone beeped to tell me there was no longer anyone on the other end. I returned it to the nightstand and slid my legs over the edge of the bed to get up. I found my purple and black uniform on a hanger in the open closet across the hospital room.

When I put the uniform on, I examined myself in the room’s bathroom mirror.  The open collar displayed my pendant over my collarbones. I turned my back to see if there was any sign of where that man had knifed me. There wasn’t.  My heart began to pound as I remembered the spear of light impaling my attacker, how his jaw dropped open in shock. I started to wonder how much of that really happened, hoping some of it was a dream.

A knock on the hospital room door frightened me so badly I stumbled backwards into the wall. Trembling, I peeked outside the bathroom to see a gangly young man with brown doe-like eyes and a mop of messy brown hair.  He gives me a cheerful wave. “You must be the newbie!”

He slowly lowered his hand when I didn’t echo his enthusiasm.  “Don’t be shy! I don’t bite! I promise!” He gave a little nervous laugh. “I’m not good at this…” He mumbled.

“Good at what?” I asked him.

His eyes snapped back to mine. “Huh? What? D...did I say that outloud?” He looked at me for confirmation so I nodded. “Sorry. Um. So, You can just call me Lu. I’ve been here for a little less than a year.”

His shoulders sagged at my silence, “So…” He steeled himself, forcibly perking himself up. “My roommate happens to run the gossip column at school. He told me what happened. It was pretty incredible. Where’d you learn to do that?”

I closed the door again, wondering if he was one of the people who posted on my feed. I leaned against it, glaring at the ground. “I wouldn’t say it was ‘incredible’.”

His voice sounded from the other side. “I know it's hard but I can help you. I… I know what it’s like okay? Just bear with it. You’ll do fine!”

I took a deep breath and cracked the door open. “Sorry…” I whispered.

“You’re fine okay?” He said, peering through the small space, his voice trembling with nervous laughter. “We just need to get you to the principal’s office. You don’t have to do anything. Oh and don’t forget to grab your coat. It’s pretty windy out there.”

As we walked down the campus paths, Lu kept glancing down at me like he wanted to say something but didn’t know how to start. “So… what’s your name?”

I felt a chill run down my spine, recalling the results of using my childhood name. “I don’t like my name.”

“Oh… then… what do you prefer to be called? I feel bad just calling you, newbie.” More nervous laughter.

“Newbie is fine.” I told him. “But if there’s a name you like, just call me that.”

His nervousness turned to surprised dismay. “What? I can’t just call you whatever I want! What if someone else calls you something different?”

The corners of my mouth turned down. “You’re Mingfei Lu, right? You said, just call me Lu. Does everyone call you Lu?”

“Ah… good point.” He rubs his chin in thought. “But… What if I call you something you don’t like?”

I chuckled. “Then I’ll tell you. Like I said I didn’t mind, ‘newbie’.”

He rubbed the back of his neck but didn’t continue to object.

The administration building grew larger into view, fronted by a stone staircase. People hurried up and down, anxious to get out of the cold.

Once inside, Lu led me to the main office. We paused at the wooden door carved with the word ‘Principal’. Lu knocked before going in. Like most things at Cassell, the principal's office was larger than it needed to be. It was fancy, with black mirror tiles and a sleek glossy desk. Behind it sat Anjou who greeted me with a sympathetic grin. I couldn’t bring myself to smile back. That man fooled me into coming here and denied me access to my family. This was all his fault.

Johann and Caesar stood in front of the desk. Johann crosses his arms at my dour expression.

Caesar was bemused at my silent snarling. “It’s good to see you up and healthy. We are all grateful you made out alive.”

“Yeah. Thanks.” I mumbled, my shoulders rising to my ears.

Johann's soft voice echoed in the roomy interior. “That’s Mingfei, he’s our other S-ranked student.”

“You’re S-ranked too?” I turned to him in shock.

Mingfei Lu held up his hands in self-defense.“ Don’t look at me like that! I’m just ranked as S! I don’t actually have any abilities at all.”

Anjou stood up from behind his desk, as tall as I remembered, smoking a cigar. He paced, massaging his beard as he began. “Now that we’re all here. We can start the mission briefing.”

My eyes lifted at the word ‘mission’, glancing at the others.

“Our intelligence is reporting the signal of a dragon embryo off the coast of Japan. This signal may be what we have been dreading. Analysis indicates that it is the signal of a first generation dragon lord. So we’re sending you as a team to meet with the Cassell College Japan division.”  

He took a drag of the cigar and let it out slowly. “This mission is Grade SS. We will need all of you."

My hand tentatively rose but he ignored me and continued.

“Our Japan branch is very secretive. This situation calls for the utmost discretion and sensitivity. However, I have maintained contact with Masamune Tachibana. He welcomes our assistance. Please, view this as a stepping stone for bringing our branches into closer cooperation.”

Filling with dread, I recalled Isaac’s Japanese companions and wondered if there was some connection to what I had done.

“Caesar, you’ll be the one leading on this mission.” Anjou nodded to him.

Caesar opened his mouth to speak but Johann responded. “Of course, that’s for the best.”

Caesar scowled at him. “Don’t steal my lines!” He cleared his throat. “We’ll complete the mission in no time at all, Principal Anjou! With time to do some souvenir shopping!” The blue-eyed hybrid waved a hand at me and flashed a smile, “In fact, I’d like to outfit you in the finest silk kimonos…”

“If that’s what you want to do.” I replied, reluctantly smiling back.

His eyebrows rose to his hairline. “This is your first mission as part of our team! That’s surely something to celebrate.”

“Wait… I'm going?" My smile turned to confusion. Somehow, I’d passed my E3 without writing anything. I killed my fellow students the night before. Now, he assigned me to work with top students and sent me to Japan.

While I struggled to grasp my new reality, silent seconds ticked by. Johann cleared his throat. Caesar glared at him. “You have something to say?”

Johann returned his gaze with a calm expression. “Nothing at all.”

“If you have something to say, you should say it!”. Caesar turned to fully face him.

Johann looked at me instead. “I promised you I would show you a frozen dragon specimen. But now you’ll be seeing the real thing.”

“When was this?” Caesar demanded of him. "Don't ignore me, Johann Chu!"

I looked between them both, baffled at Caesar’s sudden aggression. Lu hid his face behind his hand in embarrassment.

Anjou puffed on his cigar chuckling. “I have to interrupt.” He addressed me next. “My dear, your performance in the library tells me that you qualify for this dangerous mission.”

I frowned at his use of the word performance. “But I…” I couldn’t finish the sentence, my voice trailing off.

He turned to the others. “I’d like to have a private word with our new student.”

As they walked out, Caesar continued to menace an unflappable Johann. “Keep in mind that it was Nono and I there at her arrival here…”

Lu followed them, glancing over his shoulder at me in worry before he was forced to jog after them to catch up.

Anjou sat down and gestured to a chair for me.

“You know,” he said. “Of all the recruits, you have outstanding resilience. You come to my office after everything you’ve been through.  After you hear that I’m sending you on a dangerous mission after this incident, you don’t immediately object.”

“Do I actually have a choice in any of this? You’re just throwing things at me and I’m trying to just survive here!” My voice shook. “You’re not going to let me leave, are you?”

He settled his cigar down on a silver ashtray. “Your talent is a Class S… the strongest kind. But it is extremely unstable. The injection Johann gave you is a temporary experimental measure. I’m hoping that the Japan Division might be hiding research that can aid us in preventing you from turning into a monster like Isaac.”

“What are you talking about?” My voice lowered to a whimper.

His uncharacteristic seriousness lent weight to his words. “What happened to Isaac could just as easily happen to you. I am committed to preventing that. You’re here to today because of that effort. Had you turned servitor after the injection, we would have had no choice but to eliminate you. You did not. So there is still hope.” He said this frankly, looking into my eyes. His expression turned grim. “I cannot keep you here against your will. I can only tell you the truth. Your chances of survival are slim outside of Cassell College.”

My self-protective sense of humor faltered and I found my desire to contact Robbie lessened. If this was to be my fate, then it would be better that he never saw me again. “And if there’s no cure?” I asked quietly.

“Let’s take courage and hope. We’re working on it.” His positivity returned.  “You remind me so much of my friend Manecke. When I look at you…” He took another puff.  “I see brilliance. Something will come up.”

My throat started to close and my eyes burned.  “Can I go?”

He nodded. I stood up and rushed out of the office.

Lu was waiting for me, but I pushed by him before he could say a word.

I managed to make it back to my apartment before I gave in to the shattering grief inside. My shadow twin appeared, kneeling next to me. She tried to catch my tears but they fell through her hand to the carpet. I wished I had never accepted the offer to come to Cassell. But if I hadn’t accepted, who knew what might have happened? Had I blissfully gone through life, I might have suddenly turned into a beast. I imagined myself as a ballerina, graceful and elegant, only to morph into a horrible monster a few years into my career. Maybe even on stage. It would have been awful.

My emotions began to subside and I picked myself up off the floor. Packing for the trip wasn’t difficult. Most of my things were still in my suitcase. As I went through my belongings, I wondered what I wanted to wear on my last few days on Earth. ‘Whatever felt comfortable on a plane’ won out.

I wrote in my school notebook what I wanted people to find after I was gone. I confessed that I hadn’t just killed Isaac, but possibly six or seven other people. I was a waste of everyone’s time and effort, especially Robbie and Mom’s.

My phone buzzed. Nono was trying to talk to me but I didn’t want to anymore. It was better if she forgot I ever existed. I turned the phone off.

My heart beat fast all the rest of the day and into the night.  I spent most of that night pacing around my apartment. The racing pulse made it impossible to sleep and robbed me of my appetite in the morning.

The next morning while I was turning out the lights and getting ready to meet the others to go to the airport, someone knocked on my door.

I opened to Nono, her crimson eyes narrowed. “You know, I don’t take it lightly when someone ignores my messages. Especially someone I’ve tried to be nice to.”

My shoulders lowered and I sighed. “Nono, I…”

She cut me off. “No, you need to listen to me. I know what happened was hard. Maybe even harder than most. But you have got to pull yourself together.”

“Life as a hybrid will never be fair or easy. Not one of us has had an easy and happy life. You’re one of us now. So buck up and do what needs to be done!”

I shrunk under her stare, swallowing hard.

“You’re going on a dangerous mission with Caesar and the others. And I can’t have you getting into a funk, slipping up and then someone else dies because of it.”

When I stood silently she took a step forward, her voice rising. “Do you understand? Do what you have to do to stop moping. If something happens to Caesar, I won’t forgive you.”

“Yes ma’am.” I whispered.

She turned, her heels clicking against the tile as she departed.

Previous Chapter

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Go back to the Beginning

[voxyldy]

SPEECHES MAMA 2020

Mnet Asian Music Awards 2020

The 2020 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) was held online on 6 December. BTS won eight awards at the event, as well as being recognised as one of the ten . Translations of their award speeches are below. Videos will be added to this page as they begin to be uploaded by the official channel. The award names are linked to the relevant tweet thread.

Best Dance Performance

JM: ARMYYY! RM: Whoo hoo! JM: We’ve been able to meet in this way once again. First, we thank ARMY greatly for giving us such an award. And to Teacher Son Deuk, Byungwoonie hyung, Sungwoon-nim, Gawon-nim, the performance team, thank you to all of you. And honestly, our bodies need to be in good shape to be able to perform well, so we thank the hyungs of our conditioning team. Honestly, the reason we pursue great performances is to showcase a good stage, and the reason we pursue a good stage is so that we can allow the fans who cheer us on to delight their eyes and ears, so today too, with many of these artists having prepared such great stages, the reality of being unable to face you is honestly a bit of a shame. But despite this, for cheering us on, we thank you. We hope that a time where we can see each other face to face comes quickly. We thank you always for cheering us on, and we’ll be a BTS that continues to work hard. RM: SUGA hyung, get better soon! J: You have to come for us to be able to showcase a true performance!

Album of the Year

JH: Papa Mochi! RM, V: Hey, Corden! JM: Woo ow! Everyone, ARMYs, thank you so much! Some of you may not be aware, but SUGA hyung is currently recuperating, and because you gave us such a great award, he’s briefly dropped by. (holds up phone) Hello? SG: (laughs) Hello? Can you hear me? Can you hear me JM: We can hear you! SG: I’m currently also watching it through live broadcast. I want to convey my thanks to the ARMYs who gave us this Album Award, and to be able to receive it once again after last year – this is the most beloved album of the year, right? We worked hard preparing for it in America before bringing it back here, and many people loved it so we were thankful. And especially to hear that it’s ‘Album of the Year’ – I’m seeing it now too, and it really does good. Ah (laughs). I want to stand on stage, and I’m working hard at rehabilitation, so don’t worry too much, everyone. People around me are contacting me to say they’re enjoying MAMA right now, but they were saying that even though I’m not there (laughs) So, though it’s a little embarrassing, my heart is with you, everyone, so I want to say that I’m thankful. ARMY, I love you! BTS: Whoo! SG: Ah, ah. This was BTS. 2, 3 – BTS: (bows) Thank you, ARMY! RM: Thank you for the first ever untact speech, SUGA hyung!

Worldwide Fans‘ Choice

JH: Wow, worldwide! V: Worldwide~ (brings Jin closer) JK: I will first begin the award speech by conveying our thanks to those more precious than any other, our ARMYs. Thank you so much, everyone. (bows) There was a period of time when we only had passion, spirit, and resentment, but then we met you, and through you, we were able to learn of sincerity, hearts filled with a variety of emotions, and love, and awaken such feelings within us. And that was delivered – delivered to us – and by being able to learn of this, I believe we were able to deliver our sincerity to a greater number of people. And I believe it is through the repetition of this, and the great synergy this achieved, that ARMYs all over the world were able to recognise us. So we thank you so much, and for spending your precious moments with us, thank you so so much. ARMY, please make sure to be happy, and it’d be good if we could continue to make a lot of good memories together. I love you. (ENG) Thank you! BTS: Thank you ARMY!

Best Music Video

JH: Whoo! Music video! J: Yeah~ V: Yes, hello, ARMY. We received the Music Video award! Woohoo! J: Wow! V: Thanks to our ARMY, many people watched our music video. And to the directors who shot this great music video – Director Lumpens-nim, Director Hyunwoo-nim, the directors, lighting directors, etc – all the directors who worked hard for our video, as well as our staff and Big Hit family, thank you so much. And our new Director Jungkook-nim shot ‘Life Goes On’ so well, I want to convey my thanks to Director Jungkook-nim too. (JK salutes from the side) V: We finished this year with ‘Life Goes On’, and next year we plan to come bearing an incredible music video, so please await it eagerly and in the future, we will be a BTS that only delivers love to you. Thank you. (bows) BTS: Thank you! JH: (ENG) Congrats, Lumpens! J: (ENG) Lumpens, thank you! RM: Lumpens!

Worldwide Icon of the Year (Daesang) (Note: RM gave this speech in English.)

Best Male Group

J: Yes, hello, we’re BTS. I believe it’s thanks to ARMY that we’ve been able to receive ‘Best Male Group’. Honestly, because of COVID-19 this year, many of our plans fell to pieces, and we too felt melancholy and hollow, but thanks to the cheers of ARMY, ‘Life Goes On’ and ‘Dynamite’ was able to be released. I want to convey our thankfulness to ARMY, for being our motivation and our driving force so that we’re able to continue, and since it is a ‘Best Group’ award, I want to thank my members for doing so well without any problems, and to SUGA, who is watching this over tv broadcast, you’re our member too, so I want to congratulate you too. ARMY, thank you! BTS: Thank you ARMY!

Song of the Year

RM: Thank you so much. There are so many things I want to say, and they’re not well organised in my head, but I’ll still try to speak each and every word calmly. MAMA was actually the only award ceremony we were not invited to at our debut, and so we had really wanted to come, and it was the award ceremony we envied, but with time passing, we’ve been able to receive such big awards for consecutive years, so it’s deeply moving.

To tell you the truth, ‘Dynamite’ is a song that came to us like the first snow in these tragic circumstances when we were having to take steps back. It’s a song for which we too did not expect to receive this much love.

Honestly, in a period that is so difficult for everyone, our hearts felt heavy and uncomfortable at times for it could feel as though we were the only ones to bring good news. However, honestly – (laughs) I really hope that my clumsy sincerity can reach you – we, at times, worry whether it is possible for us to encourage others to tread well, as the places we tread are through song and dance, with [tracks] like ‘Dynamite’ and ‘Life Goes On’ – and yet, even then – for we believe there are many people who wouldn’t be able to undertake what they usually do, and therefore wonder whether it’s right for us to say such things – and yet, even then – because we are people who sing and dance, please tolerate us as we say things like “let’s still love a tomorrow that comes searching”.

We’re sorry, and we’re thankful. And so, saying these words is saddening, joyful, and difficult, but still, time goes on, tomorrow comes, and the morning finds us, so it’d be good if, with a resolute heart and a smile, you could see it in front of us. Just like the explosiveness of ‘Dynamite’ or the confidence of the guitar melody of ‘Life Goes On’, we will tread here with our two feet, and as BTS, will work hard to live out our lives, making music and performing. Your great love is more than we deserve, and we are so thankful. It’s an honour. Thank you. (bows)

Artist of the Year

JH: Now … First, ARMY!

J: ARMY!

JH: Are you watching? I want to express how thankful I am to our ARMYs who have watched this [award ceremony] until such a late time, and really, (lifts award) through the weight of this award and the time that it is, I’m realising that it’s this time of year again and that we’re at MAMA once again.

Honestly, coming to award ceremonies every year and being able to show ourselves to you and receive so many great awards is such an honour. Well, lots has changed, but I believe that our hearts, hearts recognising this to be an honour, have not changed.

Honestly, every time we grow to reach another level, the words we hear most often are about how incredible our fans are. I want to take this moment to confirm once again that all we do on this stage, such as sharing acceptance speeches and performing, is all thanks to ARMY.

And, honestly, though it’s a little embarrassing to say in daily life, I want to take this moment to repeat – as Jin hyung did earlier – to our members, the protagonists of this ‘Artist of the Year’ award, that, this year, due to these friends, due to this team, it was possible for me to not be sick, lonely, or melancholic. I want to say once again that you worked really hard this year, and that I love you.

And, I’m not sure if he’ll be watching right now, but our SUGA hyung, it’d be good if you could make a complete recovery soon and be together with us on stage. You need to be here for this ‘Artist of the Year’ award to shine more brightly.

RM: That’s right.   JH: I’m so so thankful and I love you all. Thank you. JK: Yoongi hyung has received an award!

JM: And to our staff, our Big Hit family – we need to be so thankful to so many people – our family, our friends, our fans. As Hobi hyung stated, this year has somehow, in some fashion, gone by. It feels as though we’ve pushed through this year, working hard; it feels like it’s flown past to the point I can barely remember any of it, but also like it’s crawled by. I don’t know what to make of it. It’s been complicated; I’ve been happy, sad, angry, felt as though things are or are not remaining.

But despite this, we survived and protected the things important to us, and I want to say to you that just like we lived through this year, we will press forward in the same way with you next year. I’m always thankful, and I love you. (bows)

V: What I want to say once more is our protocol team, our manager hyungnims: for waking us up, for cheering us on, for feeding us, and when we’re done, for saying that we’ve worked hard – the managers and staff who are the nearest to us, we’re thankful, and thankful again.

RM: Thank you, we love you! JM: ARMY, thank you! JH:  Thank you! JM, JK: I love you! JH: Let’s finish off our year well~ J: Shihyukie hyung, thanks!

Bonus.

Best Collaboration: IU’s ‘eight’ ft. SUGA Best Executive Producer of the Year: Bang Shi Hyuk Best Producer of the Year: Pdogg Best Video Director of the Year: Lumpens Best Art Director of the Year: MU:E

These translations are also from WISHA from her Wordpress account @doyoubangtan She does many translations for everything BTS. 

[insignem]

RNM 1x12

More thoughts about RNM 1x12 because why not:

We better get more answers from Noah because I’m DESPERATELY curious, and the three deserve to know where they came from.

-       How was he able to hide from them? If Michael can feel the presence of the aliens at the prison… why couldn’t they tell Noah was one of them? Also what was the point of him leaving Isobel in episode five – just to maintain cover as her normal, worried husband? Also when the fuck did he go to law school??!! And was there something special about Rosa that made become so obsessed with her?  

-       the saboteur on the ship??

-       Was Grant Green being paid to flood the airwaves by Noah, or by the govt?

-       If there was an alien on the reservation mentioned in 1x09, there may be others who survived and got away. Presumably we’ll meet them in future seasons. Is she the one who moved the trio’s pods to safety, or was that someone else?

-       They are dropping these tantalizing hints with the idea that our Roswell three were special in some way, and the alien on the res saying “He has come..”

-       I just can’t believe that all the aliens are gone. I need them to know more about their heritage!! Give me all the worldbuilding.

If Project Shepherd was shut down and Manes was just running a little operation on his own, what’s the deal with the prison? There weren’t many people there, but it was more than just Flint. Is it officially part of the US govt, or is it still part of the renegade Project Shepherd run by Manes’ family funds?! How is that possible; if the govt had decided to cut funding to the project wouldn’t they have done something about all the aliens in captivity? Or is Project Shepherd something different?  

-       interesting to note: Flint is US Army. I’d assumed all the Manes brothers were Air Force

-       Flint hinted that a lot of major technological developments (like the SR-71) have been made due to what they learned from the aliens, which is super interesting for the world this show is in

-       I assume Flint’s smart bomb is going to come back up; maybe in future seasons? I laughed when he ran out of there with a handful of binders… meanwhile Alex goes for the hard drives.

ALEX destroyed me in this episode. It really hit home that he doesn’t much of a family either, other than the family he chooses: Michael. He was so brave and strong and competent and wise and GOOD. I loved what he said to Kyle at the end about war and cognitive dissonance.

-       I NEED to know more about his mother and his relationship with her. How did she leave her son with a father like that? But he’s still in touch with her?

-       She’s Native; could she have a connection to the reservation alien?

Michael equally destroyed me, but even more so the actress who played his elderly mom just shattered my heart with her facial expressions. I’m so glad he was able to have that moment of pure love and acceptance, but GOD how is he ever going to get over this. I sorta understand why they had to blow the facility from a narrative standpoint (they’re not about to transform the show into let’s somehow rehab dozens of elderly, abused aliens), but god did that hurt. I just want them to heal and have love and help. And Michael’s going to blame himself and I just wish he’d had more time with his mom to feel loved and learn more about his past and his people.

-       I’m generally wary of Carina’s tweeting, but I’m glad she said that she wanted Michael’s mother to see how loved he was in that scene with Alex, and give them the unspoken approval they’ve never had from a parent.

I don’t totally buy what Noah (and Manes, etc) say about aliens being killers at heart, but I am intrigued by this idea that it makes them stronger and that Max is clearly tempted towards some sort of darkness. It would be an interesting arc for him (and his relationship with Liz) if he had to get through his darkness and figure out what it means to be good, and I hope they explore that further. He really sucks sometimes (but not all the time!) and I hope it’s an intentional writing choice and not just poor characterization.

-       I wasn’t totally clear on what Noah was saying: that their powers would be stronger if they killed, or just if they practiced? I thought it was the practicing and that he needed to kill to support his body because of the whole defective pod situation

-       But Flint also claimed they get stronger through killing

-       Max’s powers are opposed: killing and healing. The turmoil and darkness he was feeling after healing Liz could support the idea that healing is unnatural to their kind

-       But I refuse to believe that all the aliens are evil; Michael’s mother seemed heartbreakingly kind and possessed of pure goodness, and our three are good people.

I LOVED everything with Isobel and the support Liz gave her this episode, acknowledging and facing her trauma. I would love to see the two of them develop into a close and supportive friendship – Iz needs more friends outside her idiot brothers.

Kyle/Michael/Alex team-up was predictably entertaining; I absolutely LOVED the Star Wars bit because of course Alex would be scandalized by that, and Tyler’s delivery of “Oh my god” just killed me.

-       I’m curious to see where Kyle goes from here… I love him and don’t want him to go on a dark spiral; I want more of the beautiful, mature, supportive relationship he has with Liz (and for him to step in, perhaps, while Max goes on his dark spiral…)

-       Please for the love of god tell Liz that Rosa is your sister!!!!! That better be a scene in the finale.

I haven’t really even touched on Malex because I feel like that���s been covered by so many people, but god. The way “I never/don’t look away” is their code for “I love you” and they are both definitely aware of it is gorgeous. I can’t wait for them to start communicating for real. There’s so much love there and they mean so much to each other, but there’s so much for them to work through. I’m glad Alex was there for Michael through those moments, and I can’t believe how brave he was to fight for Michael and not walk away when it really mattered. I really wish they could have had a quiet moment or conversation after the events of this episode, but I get why that couldn’t happen yet and I hope that something will happen in the final episode.

        - My sinking prediction is that Alex will give Michael the ship piece and they’re going to close the season on a note of like mutual acknowledgement  that they love each other but need some time to figure their own selves out. So it’s not all neatly tied up in a bow going into next season. But I don’t understand how Michael could possibly be with Maria after everything he’s gone through with Alex and I’m wary about how they’re going to resolve that – I don’t think Michael being with her would have any narrative integrity; it would just be a plot device to keep Alex and Michael apart because Alex knowing what he knows is “too much” or something. And it wouldn’t be fair to any of the characters. I hope Michael tells her he cares about her but Alex is it for him – even if the two of them aren’t quite ready to be together just yet.

Couple last notes:

-       GIVE ME MORE MATCHBOX TWENTY

-       “Can’t Love Me” fit seamlessly and was so, so gorgeous

-       There’s a LOT going on with the parents’ generation that could not possibly be resolved in the next episode. I hope that thread gets picked up in further seasons. Is Mimi’s illness related to aliens? What exactly went down with Jesse Manes and Jim Valenti? What’s the deal with Liz’s mom, and Alex’s?  I need to know more!

[snicketstrange]

The Beatrice Letters theory

This is part 10 of the Strange Interpretation of Jean Lúcio from Brazil

To understand this text, it is necessary to read some my previous texts.

Text Part 9

Part 8

Part 7 

Part 6

Part 5

Part 4

Part 3

Part 2

Part 1

I think it's time to start explaining my interpretation of The Beatrice Letters. I really love TBL. There is no official Portuguese translation of TBL, but there are translations made by volunteers. The first team to translate was called "Unfortunately Society" in 2009, whom I really thank. The other translation was made by volunteer Isadora in 2013. Volunteer Isadora Bortoluzzi Massa did an annotated translation of TBL in her Course Conclusion Work from the Faculty of Portuguese-English Literature, at the Federal University of Paraná, Brazil. I wanted to highlight these facts to show how much Brazilian fans take ASOUE seriously.

To understand TBL, I believe you should start by reading the last letter.

Please note carefully the following excerpts from Lemony's letter to the editor on TBL.

“{…} Once inside the warehouse, one can only hope that is has been organized sensibly -- otherwise it may take all night just find the room in which documents from long-ago library exhibitions are stored, and all morning to find the proper file…

Finally, it occurred to me to look under the name of the poet… Because I love her so much, for instance, it never occurred to me that there could be more than one Beatrice Baudelaire. IT WAS QUITE SOME TIME BEFORE I RECEIVED THE FIRST OF BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE’S LETTERS THAT I REALIZED THAT ALL OF BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE’S LETTERS COULD BE FOUND NOT JUST IN THE FIRST BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE BUT IN THE SECOND BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE AND THAT PERHAPS IF I GATHERED THE REMAINING LETTERS OF FIRST BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE WITH THE FIRST LETTERS OF THE REMAINING BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE, THEN THE BEATRICE LETTERS COULD EXPLAIN THE BEATRICE LETTERS AND EVEN THE LETTERS OF BEATRICE, NO MATTER WHICH LETTERS THEY ARE, AND NO MATTER WHAT ORDER THE LETTERS ARE IN. I IMMEDIATELY BEGAN WORK ON THE FILE.

And now, after all this time,  have found the same scrap of paper  had once examined in a glass case – and, years before that, examined in a hallway of the library, with the scrap of paper in the glass case. Sadly, this missing sonnet is like a missing sock – it had been lost for so long that everything else has completely unraveled in its absence. For many years I thought if I collected all these letters and their accompanying ephemera – a phrase witch here means “documents and items which I feared had vanished, and may soon vanish again” – I could put all of them in the proper order, as if solving an anagram by putting all of letters in the right order… The arrangement of letters could spell more than one thing…

This file is finished – just when I thought it might finish me… THE SECRETS CONTAINED HERE ARE LIKE ALL SECRETS – DANGEROUS TO THOSE WHO DISCOVER THEM AND HARMLESS TO THOSE WHO FAIL TO NOTICE THEM. For this reason, I recommend that you either destroy this file or make as many copies as possible… I DO NOT KNOW WHEN I WILL WRITE YOU AGAIN.”

Please, remember one of the premises of the Strange Interpretation of Jean Lúcio From Brazil. While the 13 books of ASOUE are directed by the Great Public of the universe of Lemony, the TBL is a file that contains personal letters. While there may be deliberate lies in the 13 books of ASOUE, there are no deliberate lies in TBL. However, there are indications of caution on the part of the authors of the letters in TBL. The letter senders are aware that the letter could be read by others than the recipient of the letter. So one of the letters contains a Sebald code. Thus, in a few letters, the sender does not want to deceive the recipient, but wants to deceive or confuse any other person who happens to have access to the letter. For example, in one of the letters the sender starts each paragraph as if writing a business letter. In addition, recipients of the letters know that it is possible for someone to try to cheat by letters. The recipients of the letters know that a person can send a letter pretending to be someone else. See this excerpt from BB to LS # 1,

“Perhaps you will also think I am someone else, and will make a suspicious note in the margin, accusing me of being some villainess or other.”

In this letter, the recipient (Lemony) made a note, indicating that at the time he read the letter for the first time, he believed that the true sender could be "E" (probably Esmé).

Now that you know all this, turn your attention back to the letter to the editor. From my point of view, in this letter Lemony states clearly that in the file that we call TBL, there are letters coming from both Beatrices. At the same time, Lemony makes it clear that by the time he was writing this letter to the editor, only one of the Beatrices was alive. He referred to Kit's daughter as "THE REMAINING BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE". This indicates that the "FIRST BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE" was dead when this letter was written. I need to believe that. My whole theory is based on the premise that Lemony would not lie in a personal letter. However, that does not mean that "FIRST BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE" had been died since fire of her house. Quite the opposite. Accepting as a fact that there are letters coming from the two Beatrices in the archive, and accepting the fact that Beatrice survived the fire at her house based on the evidence I've already presented, TBL makes a lot of sense.

(Obs,:  Lemony wrote to his editor:

"IF I GATHERED THE REMAINING LETTERS OF FIRST BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE WITH THE FIRST LETTERS OF THE REMAINING BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE ... I IMMEDIATELY BEGAN WORK ON THE FILE"

"gather" means: to bring together; collect

"LETTERS OF SOME PERSON" means letters FROM someone, right?

look "of" definition: www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/of

"used as a function word to indicate origin or derivation" )

What would be the method of distinguishing whether the letter comes from the mother of the Baudelaire siblings or Kit's daughter? Would comparing signatures be an appropriate method? No. As I explained on the Thread about the R letter, in Lemony's universe, signatures can be faked. Lemony did not believe that R's letter was even R's because there was her letter at the end of the letter. In addition, Lemony suspected that the letter From BB to LS # 1 could be from someone else, even seeing the signature of the letter. What could help distinguish from which Beatrice comes from each of the letters is just the content of the letters.

Now turn your attention to the letter BB to LS # 2. Here are some things that this letter has, and some things that this letter does not have.

The letter's sender wrote:

"I am leaving this city, only hours after finally seeing it for the first time, to follow your path of yarn and pins ... Without Violet, Klaus and Sunny, I am an orphan - an orphan who is leaving this letter here. .. PS This is a very handsome paperweight, by the way, although I can not tell if it is a snake, a worm, or an electric eel. "

This person is evidently Kit's daughter. She says she's never been on the City. She states that Baudelaire siblings are her parents. She states that she does not know what paperweight is, and anyone who has known Ike knows that paperweight is a leech. Now, what does this letter not have that is very common in several other letters from Beatrice to Lemony? This letter does not contain the anagrams "Baticeer" or "My Silence Knot".

Now let's look at the letter From BB to LS # 3.

See what this letter has and what this letter does not have. Note the sections below:

[...] the eldest shepherd said, ringing his cowbell to call to his flock, and looking me very carefully in the eye. I traded them a ring on my finger, emblazoned with the initial of someone I believe you once knew, for a yak ride to see the cave for myself. I don't know what i will have to trade in order to have this letter sent.  Your cave is a miserable place - drafty, bat infested, and decorated with hideous wallpaper… This has been a hard years journey. And now... all  have learned is what you said when you left this cave... "I'm in the mood for a root beer float", you said, and so am I. I will return to the city, where I've been told the best root beer floats can be found at certain shop, although I've forgotten the shop's name, location, and price list.”

The sender of this letter apparently does not know the Sebald code. The older pastor apparently tried to send him a message in Sebald's code, but she did not notice. Also, the sender of this letter does not know how to control bats. She saw several bats in the cave, and yet she had no idea of using one of them to send the letter to Lemony's office. In addition, Lemony evidently left a message that would be easily understood by the mother of the Baudelaire siblings. He said, "I'm in the mood for a root beer float." The first place the mother of the Baudelaire siblings would think about going would be at a specific cafe, where Lemony and Beatrice had their first meeting, the same place where they kept meeting for many years. In the letter From LS to BB # 3, Lemony makes a date with Beatrice in this cafe. He wrote:

"As you take your bow, drop one of your hatpins off the stage. That's your signal to me that it is safe to meet at the usual place for our midnight root beer floats."

So I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that this letter comes from Kit's daughter.

Now think: What does the letter From BB to LS # 3 not have that most of Beatrice's letters to Lemony have? Again, this letter does not contain the anagrams "Baticeer" or "My Silence Knot".

What is the origin of these anagrams? Who invented them, and what use did this person give to these anagrams? The answer to these questions is in the letter From LS to BB # 2

Lemony wrote:

"It's easy to write letters during Code Class ... The only other student I know in this class is O. who is nothing but annoyance. As I write this he is filling his notebook with anagrams of obscene words ... After the incident with the bottle of ink and the root beer float, I think it's better to spend my time inside "My Silence Knot" ... My sister has told me that there are bats to be found there, and I would love to spend some time with a certain "baticeer".

These anagrams were created by Lemony in a class that explained codes. Apparently it was a class that explained about the use of anagrams, because Olaf was writing anagrams in his notebook. Lemony went on to use anagrams in his letter to Beatrice. He used anagrams of his own name and the name of Beatrice. Beatrice understood that this was an excellent method for identifying herself in a letter. Whenever Beatrice sends a letter to the person she loves, Lemony, she writes the anagram of his name or her name or both. For this it is necessary to create an opportunity within the text of the letter to use the anagrams, even if this leaves the text with low naturalness. People who did not know the use of anagrams would never realize this method of identification. In addition, if Lemony found a letter without the anagrams My Silence Knot or Baticeer, Lemony would be certain that this letter would not come from the mother of the Baudelaire siblings. After all, why would someone use "My Silence Knot" in a letter? It is not a very common expression in English. What about the word "Baticeer"? This word does not even exist in English dictionaries.

Based on this, I can say that the letters From BB to LS # 1, # 4, # 5 and even # 6, come from the mother of the Baudelaire siblings.

Some of these passages make more sense when you come to that conclusion.

For example in BB to LS # 1:

"All I hope is the best, but hoping for the best, like hoping to obey your orders, almost always leads to disappointement ... There are many people, to affect all, with the same initials as you, just as THERE IS AT LEAST ONE OTHER PERSON WITH THE SAME INITIALS AS ME ... For years I kept quiet, feeling all my words twisting and tangling inside me like skeins of yarn, as I searched desperately for someone who could be of assistance. Now I must untie "My Silence Knot" and to a man I have ever seen ... I am hoping you wil tell me a story that began many years ago, in what I WAS TOLD IS A SORT OF CLASSROOM ... My name is Beatrice Baudelaire. I am searching for my family - Violet Baudelaire, Klaus Baudelaire, and Sunny Baudelaire ...”

From this letter I can say that the letter comes from the mother of the Baudelaire siblings. However, Beatrice chooses her words so that any reader other than Lemony and I, believe the letter comes from Kit's daughter. Beatrice is master in disguises. She is on a much higher level than Count Olaf. Beatrice's true interest is linked to Lemony's past. Her interest is in the passion they had together, and they could never live fully. Even the letter From BB to LS # 6, is from the mother of the Baudelaire siblings. She chose to use a phraseology very similar to that of Lemony's first letter. She apologized for embarrassing Lemony in front of his friends. When did this happen? She had ever embarrassed Lemony when she canceled the marriage. Read the letter below:

"Beatrice Baudelaire, Baticeer extraordinaire (The Rhetorical Building 14th Floor): I am sorry you embarrassed me in front of your friends. I just wanted to talk to you. The waiter agreed to bring this card with your drink. If you do not want to meet me, rip it in hald when you are done with your root beer float, and I will leave and snow try to contact you again. But if you want to meet me, I'm the ten-year-old girl at the cornner table. B."

Of course Beatrice was not 10 years old when she wrote this letter ... I believe the following two options: 1) Beatrice was disguised as a 10-year-old girl, and 2) Beatrice wanted to make Lemony remember the old days, when they were children and Lemony wrote her the first letter.

Now see the excerpts from the BB to LS # 5 letter:

"If you are in your office - and I hope you are, I can hear you below me pacing across your creaky wooden floor - you cold simply walk out the door, head down the corridor toward the east staircase, walk up one flight of stairs, head down to corridor, and knock on the door of the office directly above yours, you would find me here, sitting at my typewriter. But you will not. For one thing, you have a lousy sense of direction, and you might not know witch way is east. For another, you clearly do not talk to me. "

(Note: How would Kit's daughter know that Lemony has a bad sense of direction? She had never met her uncle before ... On the other hand, the mother of the Baudelaire siblings knew Lemony well. Lemony tried to draw a map for the cafe where they were supposed to meet, and he wrote that the West Gate was the East Gate.  The dashed lines on Lemony's map indicate the path he would take with Beatrice to the cafe. In Lemony's mind he would meet Beatrice outside the east gate. So Lemony drew the dashed line on the left side of the solid line. He thought the outside of the east gate would be even farther east. But he confused east with west. Lemony has a bad sense of direction, and Beatrice knew it from childhood.)

"Violet told me once that I saved her life, and Klaus claimed that I had not died in despair not long ago the destruction of the Denoument Hotel. Even Sunny said she could not have survived without me. "

I know most fans interpret that young Beatrice would be here talking about the fact that she was born at an appropriate time, and so she saved the Baudelaire siblings.

But for me, due to the facts cited, I think this passage is referring to the fact that Beatrice and Bertrand created the hybrid apple that literally saved the life of the Baudelaire siblings after the destruction of the Hotel Denoument. This happen on the Island. Even if Kit's daughter had not been born, I'm sure the Baudelaire siblings would have survived on the island.

In addition, BB to LS # 4 may be better understood:

" I am writing to inquire further on the matter we discussed earlier this year. I'm Business Letter Writing Class, which is taught by a flat-footed man so sad an aunaware that I am certain he will give me an A on this assignement without reading anithing but the first setence of each paragrafph. I could say anithing here at all. For instance: A "baticeer" is a person who trains bats. I learned that in a poem I watched you read. ... The theree Baudelaires may be long gone, but there is a fourth Baudelaire here, waiting for tou to untie "My silence not" and help me find the end of a story that began with you -- in the very room where I sit now, about to hand this letter to my business letter writing instructor so he will grade it and mail it."

I know most fans believe that the young Beatrice watched Lemony, saw him reading a poem and then learned the name "Baticeer". But because of the evidence I have already presented, I believe that is not the case. I believe that the name Baticeer and the expression "My Silence Knot" was written here only as a code of recognition. It is interesting that "My Silence Knot" was written so the first letters of each word capitalized and between quotation marks. This gives a special emphasis to this expression.

There is another important detail. In the TBL file, there are letters from Lemony to Beatrice. How did Lemony get those letters back? I know there are theories that claim that Lemony made copies of the letters. However, it was apparently the letters themselves, in the original paper that was sent to the publisher. For example, in one of the letters, a note written by R. is written. This infers that the letter that was sent to the editor was the letter that was sent to Beatrice, not a copy. Another theory indicates that Lemony recovered the cards in the destroyed house of Beatrice. That is possible, but I think it is unlikely, because fires in general burn paper.

So my theory is that Violet's mother, Klaus and Sunny gave Lemony the letters she had kept with great affection. After meeting in the cafe, she handed him the letters to show Lemony that he was always thinking of him.

What do you think of this theory? When I reread The Beatrice Letters under this new look I got some interesting things.

[theinvinciblenoob]

Netflix is testing video promos that play in between episodes of shows a viewer is streaming, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. The promos are full-screen videos, personalized to the user, featuring content Netflix would have otherwise suggested elsewhere in its user interface – like on a row of recommendations, for example. The promos also displace the preview information for the next episode being binged, like the title, description, and thumbnail that previously appeared on the right side of the screen.

The test was first spotted by Cord Cutters News, following a Reddit thread filled with complaints. A number of Twitter users are angrily tweeting about the change, too. (See below examples.)

We understand the introduction of promos in between the episodes is not a feature Netflix is rolling out to its subscribers at this time.

Instead, it’s one of the hundreds of tests Netflix runs every year, many of which are focused on how to better promote Netflix’s original programming to its customers.

This test is currently live for a small percentage of Netflix’s global audience.

And unlike some prior tests, the promos may feature any content in Netflix’s catalog – not just its original programming.

There is some misinformation about the way the test works out there because of what may be user error on the part of the original Reddit user, or an undocumented bug.

Image credit: Reddit user WhyAllTheTrains via this post

The original Reddit post said these new video promos are “unskippable,” noting there’s a Continue button with a countdown timer on it that looks similar to the one you’d see on a YouTube ad.

But we understand that the test in question does allow users to push that Continue button at any time to move forward to the next episode.

The promos, in other words, are interruptive, but they are not unskippable.

Needless to say, consumer reaction to these promos – which consumers perceive as advertisements – has been fairly critical so far. Netflix is a paid subscription service, not an ad-supported one like Hulu with Limited Commercials. That means customers expect on-demand viewing with no ads. And they think of anything that disrupts their viewing as an advertisement, as a result.

But Netflix is always trying to figure out how to better showcase its content for subscribers, in order to help them discover new shows and keep them engaged.

It has run many experiments like this over the years, not all of which pan out. For example, last year it toyed with pre-roll video previews, and more recently it began a test that promotes its shows on the background of the login screen.

Only when Netflix sees data that proves a test increases user engagement or another metric it cares about will it roll out the feature to all subscribers. That’s been the case with those auto-playing trailers, for instance. While not necessarily beloved, they seem to be doing the job.

The company’s longer-term goal is to make its user interface more video-rich and personalized, so it’s not surprising that it’s finding new ways to insert video into that experience.

Netflix, reached for comment about the new test, offering the following statement:

At Netflix, we conduct hundreds of tests every year so we can better understand what helps members more easily find something great to watch. A couple of years ago, we introduced video previews to the TV experience, because we saw that it significantly cut the time members spend browsing and helped them find something they would enjoy watching even faster. Since then, we have been experimenting even more with video based on personalized recommendations for shows and movies on the service or coming shortly, and continue to learn from our members.

In this particular case, we are testing whether surfacing recommendations between episodes helps members discover stories they will enjoy faster. It is important to note that a member is able to skip a video preview at anytime if they are not interested.

Tweets from testers:

@netflix REALLY just played an ad between episodes of Grey’s Anatomy. Netflix officially ain’t shit. Ads AND they don’t have One Tree Hill? Bye Felicia. That’s it. I’ve had both for a while but @hulu has now taken over my household.

— Sierra C. Johnson (@si8erra) August 17, 2018

@netflix for the record, this new ad setup that you have between episodes is stupid. It does not make me want to watch more shows, it just irritates me that I can’t read the preview for the next episode. Get rid of this shit!

— Starfox51315 (@Starfox51315) August 17, 2018

.@netflix make it stop! Make the ads after a show I watch stop!!!

— Frank Remley (@FrankRemley) August 17, 2018

Hey @netflix I can tolerate the ads at the top of my list of shows but between every episode I watch is getting stupid

— Lee (@dogmeat707) August 17, 2018

Wow. @netflix added ads for their shows inbetween episodes. #really

— Rowena Slytherin (@SaucySlytherin) August 16, 2018

@netflix did you seriously just hit me with an ad for your trash anime what the fuck

— Intergalactic Tham (@Tham1700) August 17, 2018

@netflix, I don't need ads in between episodes.

— Stacey (@stascream) August 17, 2018

@netflix I don’t like these ads you’ve started sliding in between my episodes of The Office! I’m well aware of what originals are on Netflix – don’t interrupt my binge watching to shove them down my throat!

— Googie (@MaximumGoogie) August 17, 2018

@netflix if you bring ads to your programming, I will have no reason to continue. I pay for your programming to avoid commercials. Just a customers input.

— JennyB (@itsgonnabfine) August 17, 2018

@netflix Please don't start forcing me to look at ads in-between episodes. It's bad enough I'm forced to watch a clip of some original show every time I open Netflix. I don't want to watch Orange is the New Black or Insatiable or The Package.

— Carol Ann (@hiicatc) August 17, 2018

https://t.co/KmtwCphVMu Exactly my reaction Please don't @netflix #netflix #ads via @comicbook https://t.co/d8TenOdOp4

— Chris Giddings (@cgidz89) August 17, 2018

This is new and I don't like it one bit. @netflix you have put drops/ads for content you've produced between episodes of whatever I'm watching. Don't I already pay for your service and see your content first when I load your app?

— Matt Postma (@TD_Postie) August 17, 2018

Hey @netflix putting ads for your other shows between episode of something I am watching ruins what makes Netflix good. It makes me want to switch to other services. Please stop.

— Adam Cullen (@Fictonia) August 17, 2018

via TechCrunch

[ofdragondrumsmobile]

Rules

HEAD’S UP:

To all of my “loyal followers”: I know you may feel familiar with my rules, but please skim them on every blog you follow. In particular, you will need to scroll down and read everything below the “Guilt-Free Icons” section as they change for each blog. Everything else, yes, will stay the same. Thank you for your time and thank you for following so many of my blogs!

To those of you who are new, thank you for taking the time for stopping by. I know--I know these rules are long, but I've had them tested by many friends to ensure that they are all necessary. There is no password, so please take your time and I'll see you on the other side!

LAST RULE UPDATE: December 09, 2018

Mun

General

My name is Kymani, but most people call me “Kaichu”, “Kai”, or “Ky”. Go with whichever you like! Please note, however, that I will only sign my blogs and asks with "Ky" or the occasional "Kaichu" so as not to be confused with the many 'Kai' users in the world. So if you ever see someone claim to be me while using that spelling... they a lie, fam.

I use she/her pronouns and am a cis female so feel free to correct me if I make any -phobic booboos.

Mun is over 25. I’m happy to share my real age, but not so much to update this with every birthday.

My discord is (not very) selectively available to mutuals. If you choose not to exchange this with me, this is more than fine; please just be aware that I blog hop very inconsistently so I may be hard to reach.

Mun faceclaims are Raichu, Marina (Splatoon 2), Iridessa, and occasionally Kagome Higurashi or Jerry Mouse.

You can find links to all of my other active characters on my mun page.

Health

I have several physical and mental disabilities. These include, but are not limited to, Sickle Cell Anemia, Asthma, Depression, Anxiety, and moderate OCD.

Note that there are some things that will trigger my OCD and therefore I will often choose not to follow you for or unfollow for. They include but are not limited to: uncut posts; icons that aren’t circles or squares (circles/squares with excessive decoration are FINE); using full-sized reaction images; and/or a general lack of organization on the blog. Most of these can be addressed, but I will never pressure a mun to change their style or format for me.

I will generally make or have someone make update posts informing you of my hospitalizations. Sometimes I forget, though. In any case, if I’ve made it clear that I am feeling unwell, do NOT hassle me for replies or an explanation of my situation. I will block people for this.

Be aware: I am a chronically ill person with many, many characters whose writing schedule is dictated by both her health and muse. I will forget things and disappear/reappear for weeks to even a month at a time from my blogs. As well, I may be very obviously selective/biased, so if this will upset you, my blogs are not for you.

Also note: it is not uncommon for me to unfollow and refollow people but this is not intentional. As I manage tens of blogs, it is easy to forget which blog people will follow me on. If you notice me doing this, feel free to message me and/or block that account.

Also, it is incredibly important to understand that due to the fact that I have been on opioids since I was a child, I have impaired memory. I can and will forget things we’ve discussed/written and I just ask for your patience and understanding on this.

I am open to answering questions regarding my health, but I expect you to both know the basics about the diseases and have read THIS PAGE before you approach me.

Last on this point but HUGELY important: please do not approach me with questions or jokes about how many muses I write. It's officially at the point where it's only okay or funny if I do it. Cause the thing is I know you mean it as a complement. I know you do. But the answer, for the record, to that question is this: "The cold hard fact is that I'm no longer healthy enough to attend school or work. So I am at home all day every day with the time (if I am well) to run as many muses as I please and it may be the only thing keeping me sane." So please, just don't make the joke. I'll joke along with you, I'll try not to make you as sad as you just made me, but it makes me really sad to think about and I have to stop pretending it doesn't.

Personals

Do:

Go ahead and follow! I don’t mind as long as you follow the rules. (Breaking them consistently enough to notice will lead to a block though.)

Like RPs if you like them. (But try to make sure my partner’s okay with that, too!)

Send in memes and questions; just don’t expect them to turn into a thread or anything.

Tell me if you’re following on behalf of a side RP blog cause I won’t check/know otherwise! (Only matters if you follow first.)

Don’t:

Reblog my promos.

Reblog my OOC posts.

Reblog my roleplays.

Following

This is a selective and private blog. This means I don’t follow everyone and I only RP with mutuals.

Please do not message me asking for an RP if we are not mutuals. I understand that you’re just reaching out, but it really makes me anxious and I will feel extremely guilty. Therefore, all messages of this kind will be deleted. Repeated attempts will lead to a block.

I will not follow blogs without a rules page. Very rare exceptions are made for blogs that I know for fact are mobile-only. I am slightly more lenient when it comes to about pages, but only if there is significant writing on the blog for me to read through instead.

I am OC and selectively crossover friendly.

I’m cool with multimuse blogs as long as your muses each have an about page for me to read over. I won’t be making exceptions here (unless i already know the writer) simply because I find it impractical to go through the blog and look for writing for each specific muse I want to interact with.

I may several weeks to follow back. This may be due to illness or just not noticing because of how many blogs I run.

I eventually unfollow mutual-only blogs who have not followed me back. This is simply because I like to know I can RP with those on my dash and nothing more.

I do not follow blogs that exclusively use real-life faceclaims (rlfcs). I will also not RP with rlfcs, so if you have a verse that only uses a rlfc, I won’t RP with it. Please note that this applies to people roleplaying live-action characters, as well. Thanks for understanding.

Interaction & Replies

I am EXTREMELY selective about roleplaying with muns under the age of eighteen. Trying to deceive me about your age will lead to a BLOCK.

I am open to using messaging for OOC interaction at all times. IC interactions must be agreed upon beforehand.

All of my open starters and starter calls are for mutuals only unless otherwise stated. Repeated offenses for non-mutuals liking my starter calls will lead to a block.

I go through my thread tracker periodically and try to keep my total thread count (across all accounts) under 11O. I will try to message my partners about threads I drop but understand that I may not always have the energy to do so. You are always welcome to ask about the status of our threads so long as you remain polite and tactful.

Shipping

My blogs will always be multiship.

With that said, I’m on some occasions a ship-exclusive kind of girl. That means I’ll ship with one version of each character. I will always announce if this is going to be the case.

I like my ships to develop naturally, so even if it seems like I prioritize friends, know that you can always shoot me an ask and as long as it’s not a notp I’m always open to tossing the characters at each other and giving it a shot.

Tags & Triggers

My blogs are never spoiler-free. For TV-show based blogs, the most recent episode aired in its native language will be tagged as a spoiler until the next episode airs. For games, I tag and try to readmore spoilers for a few months. Threads themselves may or may not be tagged if the line is sort of blurry. Always, therefore, read with caution.

I am blocking the tag #Ky Don’t Look/#Ky Dont Look for phobias related to penises, water, and a few other things. It is imperative that you read over my BLOCKED TAGS AND TRIGGERS for full details.

These triggers are often related to trauma and can give me panic attacks and/or depressive episodes. I will gently remind you a few times, but if it becomes a repeated issue, I will unfollow.

If you need anything special tagged or I’ve forgotten something, please let me know! I won’t bite.

NSFW & Smut

Many of my blogs will contain nsfw themes including but not limited to: themes of depression, violence, bullying, etc. These are rarely (if ever) tagged but can be by request.

Blogs that are considered to be “trigger-heavy” will always have their own disclaimer.

I will only be writing sexual nsfw on discord with 18+ muns that I am comfortable with.

Regarding smut: sometimes it’s difficult for me, sometimes it’s not. I can be extremely squeamish regarding the topic, so I’m very fickle when it comes to these threads. I ask, very simply, that partners who engage in these types of threads with me understand that it is common for me not to finish these threads and I ask that they do not push for replies on these. (Like, ever.) It will make me more self-conscious and, if I’m already panicking about a reply, it will only make it worse.

With that said, I would appreciate it if you didn’t baby me by disallowing me to write these threads. If it makes you personally uncomfortable to write them with me, that’s fine. But it has been deemed a safe and valuable practice by my counselor for me to continue to explore this subject so that, hopefully, I will become more and more comfortable with it. (And, you'll be comforted to know that I am already seeing progress!) So when I’m interested in writing sexual nsfw, please don’t feel as though you need to shy away from me!

Aside from all of that, general rules apply: I won’t write sexual nsfw with anyone under the age of eighteen. (Although with that said, given my age, I tend to prefer my smut partners to be twenty-one and older. This is a soft rule, though, as my comfort with the partner outweighs a numerical value.) I also will not write any other kind of nsfw with anyone under the age of sixteen.

Activism & “Drama”

In this house, discussion about x-isms, x-phobias, and injustices as it relates to the roleplay community and/or the fandom is NOT considered drama and therefore it will NOT be tagged as such. HOWEVER:

While most of my blogs will NOT have a tag for it at all, should it come up, I will create an #activism tag for the blog. So yes, you will have a tag to block if you are genuinely discomforted by the conversation, but no, I will not conflate it with “drama”.

If you’re reading this on writtenbykaichu or a blog that features a dark-skinned person of color, please be aware that issues such as these are much more likely to be discussed.

Guilt-Free Icons

Yes, I am a mod at guiltfreeicons–Jerry Mod, to be exact.

I will, on very rare occasions, make posts regarding taking requests. Those posts are considered active for 48 hours after the ORIGINAL post was made.

If you need to ask a question about GFI, first read the rules. Then, try contacting us here. If that doesn’t work, contact us here. Most importantly:

Never ever I mean NEVER message me or any of the other mods regarding guiltfreeicons (or making icons for you on the side) on any of our personal or roleplay blogs. We WILL auto-block over this.

Miscellaneous

When it comes to battles, I write with a mix of Anime & Game canon. For that reason, I expect to have full communication with my partners throughout the battle.

I’m always open to writing Gym/Championship Battles, but I’ll only write one or two at a time.

Underestimating my character will just generally lead to a bad time.

Note that there will likely continue to be a lot of Iris and Pokeani related salt on this blog. It’s always tagged, but you have been warned.

Always always always plot out fight threads with me. We don’t have to come up with things step-by-step ahead of time, but I expect to stay in contact with you throughout so that we can be on the same terms with where we’re going and who’s doing what.

Credits

This theme was designed and coded by Kas.

The bulk of my Iris icons are credited to myself and my partners at guiltfreeicons. The rest can be found at: animexiconxdump, aureajuniper, bramblepaw, marshmallows-pokemon-icons, pokecafehouse, pokemoniconhunts, and senbeiedits. 

Credits for Kagome Higurashi icons can be found here. All edits were made by me and are for my own personal use.

Most of my Raichu icons were gifted to me by thunderstonereject. If you would like access to these icons, you will need to ask them for their permission. Any public-use icons I have can be found at guiltfreeicons. All edits were made by me and are for my own personal use.

All Jerry icons were cropped and edited by me for my own personal use.

Verse image credits here.

The artwork on this theme was commissioned by me from nerdinsandals and is for my personal use.

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