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dorkshadows · 3 months ago

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The Writeup (Part 2!)

(From Jiaozi's Nezha doodle celebrating the 2.6 billion record on 2/2.) *In CN, it's common to say "my tendon pulled!" when you get a cramp in your limbs.

Translation:

Ao Bing: My leg cramped! [literal translation: My leg pulled (its) tendon!] Fish Demon: NEZHA PULLED OUT THE THIRD PRINCE'S TENDONS!!!!!!!!

Literally the day after I published this post, new developments cropped up in the Nezha 2 fandom :D I thought it best to wait and see if anything ELSE could happen before updating this. Thankfully, I waited because things did happen. They sure did happen! So I'm popping in out of retirement (again) for one (1) day (again) to update this before the first fandom writeup becomes completely out of date. I appreciate all the interest given to the previous writeup and I'd feel bad for leaving it outdated for everyone that supported it! So here's part 2 to catch you up on what's happening deep in Nezha 2 fandom.

4-5 weeks in, and we have already have new shipping lore, shipping stat updates, and new fuel for the Ao Guang discourse battles. And it's somehow just as long as writeup part 1 🤣

Guangying shippers have apologized to everyone they harassed, acknowledged the error of their ways, and now get along well with fans of other ships...NOT. Click below to see updates on fandom lore, Ao Guang discourse, doubling down, conspiracy theories, drama in the Nezha cosplay world, and a total lack of self reflection from guangying fans ft. more images and links than last time

Obligatory disclaimers again:

This is NOT about the people who happened to watch the movie, the people who are just interested in box office stats, the people who really enjoyed the movie, or the people who just really admire Nezha. This will be about the fandom fandom, the truly invested, the brainrot (affectionate) in its purest unfiltered form. This is a post about brainrot for those also suffering from brainrot.

This is a collection of patterns mainly from lofter, but also from douyin, weibo, bilibili, and xhs. I don't know how to warn for some of the things mentioned here, so just a blanket note of caution- if you read on, you are prepared to see anything and everything. If you are OK with all this, then- let’s go!

PART 2 HERE WE GO:

Firstly, the general fandom is as creative as ever, and everything you can think of (and more!) has been written/drawn/discussed by somebody somewhere. I've seen Shiji Niang Niang bring Shen Xiaobao back to life, I've seen Ao Bing studying for the TOEFL, I've seen a Jane Eyre AU fanfic for Ao Guang/Shen Gongbao, I've seen Taiyi go on a diet, I've seen 1979 Nezha transmigrating into the 2019/2025 world, etc. etc.

The Lu Tong meme is also not even a meme anymore- lots of people seem to genuinely believe that randomly spamming any and all content featuring Lu Tong/He Tong with paragraphs of praise will result in them granting their wishes. So that's why you'll come across lots of comments with phrases like: "Lu Tong is the manliest of all men, the most powerful of all celestials, the strongest deer... please Master Lu Tong, grant me a raise from my boss."

Also, I didn't include these extremely cursed memes last time because I felt that they might cause people to die. BUT since everyone was strong enough to survive writeup part 1, I think you've proven yourselves strong enough to see these in writeup part 2--behold! Popular FAMILY GUY NEZHA edits:

These cursed images are popular enough that multiple people have made them their profile pics. That's not even the end of it...

Not only that, the fandom has also made "fusion" edits of the characters in the vein of the Nezha/Ao Bing fusion we saw in canon (as in, a Taiyi/Nezha fusion exists). If you wondered what things would be like if 1) Nezha possessed Ao Bing instead or 2) Shen Gongbao never stole the spirit pearl, wonder no further! Here is the answer:

Next, congratulations to lubao for completing the transformation from surprise crack ship to third most popular pairing in the fandom (4 and 5 probably go to Ao Guang/Shen Gongbao [longwangbao] or lutong/hetong [luhe] depending on the platform). Coincidentally, lubao is now no. 3 trending on weibo, beating out dilong. Professional cosplayers are also doing lubao cosplays for clout (to 10K+ likes on bilibili and even 100K+ likes across douyin, etc.). They even have their own animatics now. -> Every individual (main) character and ship has plenty of animatics; if you want to see them, just add the word "手书" (hand book) after whatever subject you're searching for. EX. For oubing animatics, just search for 藕饼手书, and many many will come up.

The lubao lore has also expanded since Feb.:

In Nezha 1, Shen Gongbao told Ao Bing he can teach him how to hide his horns in public. Lu Tong, as a deer, should also have antlers (as shown by his demon/animal form), but doesn't! This clearly means that Shen Gongbao taught Lu Tong how to hide his antlers with the same method he offered for Ao Bing.

Fans noticed that Lu Tong's eyes are brown in deer form, but as a human, his eyes are green- specifically, the exact same shade of green as Shen Gongbao's. They believe it means Lu Tong purposely turned them green because he took inspiration from Shen Gongbao's appearance.

They also noticed that in the post-credits, Wuliang and He Tong didn't seem to know where the underground prison was. Lu Tong guided them over. They believe this means Lu Tong was the one who brought Shen Gongbao into the prison and tied him up in the first place.

You can make the assumption that Shen Gongbao, Ao Bing, and Lu Tong all have the same hairstyle. Why? Because Shen Gongbao combed Ao Bing's hair (with the approval of Lu Tong's #2 enemy, Ao Guang), and he previously combed Lu Tong's hair. Out of love/obsession for him, Lu Tong has kept that same style. And now this is yet another thing Ao Bing STOLE from Lu Tong!

As of 3/9, Jiaozi put out this drawing of Shen Gongbao riding a leopard while acting as captain of the demon hunting team (to celebrate Nezha breaking the 14.6 billion record at the box office):

Since Lu Tong had that exact same pose, while also riding an animal from the same species, lubao fans took this to mean Lu Tong was again trying to copy everything Shen Gongbao did because he's just that obsessed with him.

As for fanon expansion, there is now a version of He Tong who is not only aware of Lu Tong's obsession, but also supports, abets, and contributes to his actions because she too felt abandoned by their shi shu. Now Shen Gongbao can never leave them again! Theirs forever! Too bad that pesky Ao Bing keeps getting in the way and doing annoying things like "saving his master" and "having morals."

And a little round of applause for Shen gonggong too for going from cartoon villain barely anyone cared about to earning the highest honor in fandom--becoming the resident whump angst pain machine. This was unofficial in the previous writeup, but now it's safe to call it official! You know his poor meow meow status is cemented when the average SGB-centric fsyy crossover is now, "Wuliang and his disciples torture the cultivation out of Shen Gongbao, seal his powers, and give him to King Zhou to do as he pleases. The royal court proceeds to treat him as some kind of party animal, all while using and abusing whatever's left of him-" (paragraph 1 of 100)

The average pre-canon story is also, "everyone except Taiyi tortures and mistreats Shen Gongbao at Yuxu Gong-" He's an alcoholic in these too, and he hates himself, and he's depressed and (insert any form of trauma here, he has it)- Someone said that they knew Shen gongong was doomed (by the fandom) the moment he showed up like That in the easter egg scene, and I think that person had the gift of prophecy.

Now for the main event! Dilong, Aobing Zhuan, and the reaction (or lack thereof) of Guangying shippers:

Yes, that's Jim from The Office. The above is a circulating meme made by disgruntled dilong shippers.

Translation:

If you look like this

("Nezha 2" Ao Guang) Your husband doesn't look like this

("The Sons of the Dragon" Ao Guang) Your husband looks like this

*The Sons of the Dragon is a nickname (derogatory) for Ao Bing Zhuan because detractors think it focuses on all of Ao Guang's sons except Ao Bing

I'm not too familiar with Aobing Zhuan itself, so if you or your loved ones know more about the storyline or drama, please feel free to tack onto this post with your own links, writeups, and/or input!

Dilong fans finally had Enough of the nonstop harassment and put together gigantic takedown posts on why Aobing Zhuan sucks, featuring citations, side by side images, and so on.

In addition to accusing the author of using Yinglong as a self insert, they also accused Yinglong of being a genderbent version of Ao Guang (as he used to be drawn in Dilong fanart back in 2019). They pointed out that the author modeled toddler Ao Bing after her own goddaughter instead of his image in the movie. Said author has also gone on record saying Ao Bing is the "least charming" of Ao Guang's sons. Aobing Zhuan gave Ao Bing a healthy number of friends as part of the supporting cast too; when readers asked how this is possible if his first and only friend is Nezha, the author said "The friends are dead, so they don't count!"

The receipts also tell us that even though Ao Guang (and his siblings) made Ao Bing's coat in canon, Aobing Zhuan credited that to Yinglong. His martial arts also came from Yinglong, even though everyone knows it came from Shen Gongbao. And it gets deeper-- as the story goes on, Ao Bing has less and less screentime and barely any "cool" moments. The story becomes completely about his older brothers (specifically his second eldest brother, Ao Yi), while all canon characters are ignored or shafted. It also goes wild with epic wars, battles, and subplots that the movie never even mentioned.

This leads to the fandom nicknaming Aobing Zhuan "OC Zhuan" (and yes, they are using OC the English way. This is not the Tale of Aobing, this is the Tale of Original Characters not even made by Jiaozi). Another nickname is "The Tale of Ying" not because Yinglong herself has that much screentime, but because ABZ fans have spent so long harassing literally everybody else in the fandom while using her as an icon and constantly saying "look, you've made yinglong sad" "how disgusting of you to split up such a loving couple" "you're not allowed to ship anything besides the canon couple" etc. etc.. while spamming fans of literally every other Ao Guang ship with pictures of Yinglong.

Even in non-shipping content involving Ao Guang and Ao Bing, they'll constantly talk about Ao Guang's wife and Ao Bing's mother and how totally important she is to them + the story. Guangying shippers have also constantly used a mother's day screenshot (of the official Nezha account wishing Yinglong happy mother's day with an image of her and Ao Bing in ABZ) as proof that she's officially married to Ao Guang, and you are therefore NOT allowed to ship him with anyone else, including yourself. It turns out that screenshot doesn't exist- the Nezha weibo never posted it. Guangying shippers faked the image.

Someone even asked deepseek (or baidu?) who Yinglong is and it said, "Yinglong is Ao Guang's father!" (incorrect btw, but this is proof that yinglong has no mythological connection to Ao Guang anyway). Fans also noticed that Aobing Zhuan- despite having a physical publication- wasn't featured at all in Nezha 2 merchandise. Instead, there's a cute picture book featuring parts of little Ao Bing's childhood (with NONE of ABZ's events).

The book is called "Memories of the Three Realms" 《哪吒·三界往事》and contains little stories about the entire cast before the events of the movies. This book was promoted as part of Nezha 2's merchandise, so it's safe to consider it a direct tie-in with the franchise. Noticeably, Ao Bing's family in the book consists of only himself, his father, his master, his aunt, and uncles. No brothers, no mother.

So TLDR, Aobing Zhuan "fell apart" in the fandom's eyes because:

It directly defies canon ideas and events

Guangying shippers faked screenshots to make it look like the Nezha team acknowledged ABZ more than it actually did

The art style is "ugly" (imho, it's less that it's ugly and more that it's very off model when it comes to canon characters and just doesn't fit Nezha's art style)

ABZ constantly puts down Ao Bing/Ao Guang/Shen Gongbao in order to elevate its OCs

Ao Guang doesn't like Ao Bing very much in ABZ

The author doesn't care about Ao Bing and was only using his name for clout; the author exclusively only loves Ao Yi

Yinglong is the author's self insert and arguably a plagiarized version of dilong!Ao Guang. Ao Yi has also been accused of being a plagiarized design of dilong!Ao Guang. (imo, not so sure about how valid these particular accusations are because all three designs are commonplace throughout all xianxia art)

Ao Yi, Ao Jia, and Yinglong (Ao Bing's brothers and mother) are fanmade OCs and might not even have those same names if they appear or come up in the movies

ABZ attempted to make a love interest for Ao Bing, but backtracked after backlash from oubing fans

The Nezha team seems to want nothing to do with it

The takedown was brutal. The rest of the fandom, specifically the confused people who had no idea why other fans were going on and on about Ao Guang's wife (who does not appear in the films) and closet dilong shippers, went, "Hey, ABZ does suck!" Why did it take so long for them to notice it sucked? General consensus is that because the comic was not very good in the first place so nobody talked about it or noticed it. Now they notice because 1) guangying shippers shoved it in everyone's face 2) guangying shippers/ABZ fans bullied literally Everybody else in the fandom

Then overnight, the fandom turned on ABZ and all its OCs. Now it's considered #cringe to like Yinglong, Ao Yi, and Ao Jia. People regretted paying for the comics, people tried get it refunded, and people apologized to dilong fans for hating on them based on falsely believing they were "splitting" a canon couple (and not because idk, harassing strangers over cartoons is rude??).

Regardless, everyone who secretly enjoyed dilong now came out to openly enjoy it. Dilong rose to #3 trending on several platforms, and dilong shippers rejoiced for finally being vindicated after literally 5 years of harassment. I mean pretty offensive and terrible harassment (CW terminally online fandom harassment methods): mass reporting, being accused of being degenerates, being accused of being uNpAtriOtIC, being accused of TrEAson, being told they should have died in their mothers' wombs, getting doxxed and suicide baited. Multiple dilong authors and artists were bullied into deactivating. The harassment got especially bad after Nezha 2 came out, so-

The tables turning on Guangying shippers can only be divine karma at work. Now in videos of people bashing dilong shippers, you can see comments saying, "hey op you dropped your clown nose!" and "get with the times, OC Zhuan fell from grace." Unfortunately, this drama has led to collateral damage in the form of-

Drama in the cosplay world:

However, there are lots of big name cosplayers doing Yinglong and Guangying cosplays. These people spent Big Money on their costumes. Now they're being told that ABZ has "fallen apart" and Yinglong was just somebody else's OC this entire time. Yinglong cosplayers feel personally victimized and don't know what to do with their costumes now.

To add fuel to the fire, fans have been insulting Yinglong cosplayers in the comment sections of their videos. Ao Yi cosplayers are facing a similar dilemma. Which leads to-

Yinglong fans react + Dilong fan conspiracies:

You'd think this would lead to some self reflection on the part of Guangying fans or an apology to their victims or maybe some attempt to be on better behavior. But why do that when it's easier to double down and play victim!

ABZ fans and Guangying shippers now believe themselves to be the biggest victims in the fandom. They feel that the takedown was made in bad faith and several points don't even line up-- Yinglong doesn't resemble dilong!Ao Guang that much, Yinglong is not the author's literal self insert, the spinoff is still canon, Ao Guang loves his son very much in ABZ too and those calling him a cold father in ABZ are pulling panels out of context, etc. They think they shouldn't be judged just for enjoying a comic and multiple people have called on Jiaozi to step in and acknowledge the Drama. Indeed, they shouldn't be judged or harassed for liking Yinglong or ABZ.

But I'd feel more sorry for them if they didn't spend the past month bullying and lying to literally everybody in the fandom, ranging from spamming all Ao Bing content with guangying comments to threatening Ao Guang x anyone else shippers with physical violence. Even on the notes of the last writeup, we have firsthand accounts of their cyberbullying:

^This is the kind of thing guangying fans do on a regular basis. (I'm so sorry they harassed you over something so stupid! All 6 of them owe you a kowtow and apology.)

The Drama continues:

According to dilong fans, ABZ and guangying fans have gone quiet but not gone away. They've changed tactics and can now be spotted on random Ao Guang content commenting, "I wonder who Ao Guang's wife is! I'm so curious!" and on Ao Bing content saying, "Oh I bet Ao Bing misses his mother and brothers so much." This is allegedly an attempt to get new fans to ask them about Ao Guang's wife and Ao Bing's mother/brothers + an attempt to do damage control for ABZ now that it's uncool to mention it publicly. Personally, I think the dilong fans are right about this theory. Makes perfect sense to me, especially given everything else ABZ fans have done so far.

Next, tying back to the cosplay drama, dilong fans believe the people attacking Yinglong cosplayers are guangying fans masquerading as dilong fans. These guangying fans are hoping to harass enough people for something major to happen (conveniently taking the heat off of ABZ). Then the wider media will report on cosplayers being harassed by dilong fans, resulting in the wider public going "Nezha fangirls are so scary!" resulting in cancellation of Nezha ships (specifically dilong) altogther in a complete repeat of 227 (the date in which Xiao Zhan fans mass reported AO3 over a real person fic, resulting in the AO3 ban in China and the ensuing backlash that caused the absolutely most nightmarish time of poor Xiao Zhan's life). Is this there truth to this theory? I have no idea, but wilder things have happened.

And lastly, no, Fei Wo Si Cun (established web novelist that published a dilong mpreg fanfic on main, as mentioned in the previous writeup) has not acknowledged the Ao Guang discourse drama at all. Jiaozi and the rest of the Nezha team have also not said a peep despite guangying shippers' desperate attempts to reach them.

Update to add: there was ALSO some fight between solo!Nezha stans and solo!Ao Bing stans on weibo. It didn't have that big of an influence, but was certainly an Online event.

And that's the end of the ride for now. Nezha 2 is still playing in theaters. Nobody knows what will happen once it hits STREAMING :D after all, 命由我不由天!

BONUS update: Believe it or not, there's a part 3 now !?

#nezha #nezha 2025 #nezha 2 #哪吒之魔童闹海 #哪吒2 #哪吒 #I don't know if anyone will see this update but it's here for those curious LOL!#and now to ACTUALLY retire.#if there's a third update to this and I need to come out of retirement Again I'll have to change my name to Hayou Miyazaki asdfasdfasdf

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kirain · 2 months ago

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As a hardcore Emmrich enjoyer/romancer, I really need people to hear me out on Lace Harding. I've seen so many comments, especially on TikTok and YouTube, absolutely tearing into her over the "mean things" she says to Emmrich. I've seen people accuse her of deepening his insecurities. I've seen people accuse her of trying to ruin his relationship with Rook. I've seen her blamed for their argument before Tearstone Island. I've seen people insinuate that they hate each other. It's honestly endless.

First of all, at no point does Harding ever try to ruin Emmrich's relationship with Rook. This is proof, at least to me, that most players heard one or two lines, took them at face value, then stopped bringing her on missions. Her concern isn't about his age, rather the fact that she can tell he's insecure about it, moving too fast because of that insecurity, and getting distracted, which could potentially get him killed. In her fourth and final comment about his relationship, she points out that he's been "mopey" and not paying attention. She then immediately encourages him to go for it, take things slow, and enjoy himself. He thanks her!

Sylvia Feketekuty, Emmrich's writer, even stated on Bluesky that Harding isn't trying to sabotage his relationship—she's worried about him getting hurt.

Second, I genuinely don't understand why people don't keep the same hateful energy for Neve, Taash, or Davrin. If you're so bothered by a bit of friendly discourse, consider this: Neve calls Bellara "naive" and frequently snubs her at the beginning of the game. Davrin threatens to kill Lucanis and infers he not only lacks morality, but that he messed up at Weisshaupt on purpose because he's an "abomination". Taash accuses Emmrich of being a necrophiliac—something far worse and way more insulting to his craft than anything Harding ever says—to the point that he actually confronts them about it. Davrin also implies Emmrich is uppity and tries to lecture him about his relationship and how he raises Manfred, which Emmrich clearly finds irksome.

Now, don't misunderstand—I love these characters, especially Davrin. 💋 These interactions don't upset me in the slightest. I'm simply pointing out the blatant double standard. Literally all of the companions say "mean things" to each other at some point. Even my sweet, innocent Bellara makes a few offhanded comments about Davrin apparently "not caring" about their people, all because he isn't as excited about the origins of elves as she is. The companions aren't perfect. They're flawed, each with their own beliefs, opinions, and personalities.

So, I really want people to hear this: Harding is Emmrich's friend. Not just his friend, but his best friend. I compiled all the banter between companions, and aside from Harding/Taash and Lucanis/Neve (for obvious romantic reasons), Harding and Emmrich have the most banter and interactions of any companions. Their dialogue is overwhelmingly positive and downright wholesome. He acts as her de facto physician, she tweaks recipes to cook vegetarian meals specially for him, they go camping together, they challenge each other, they talk about their intimate dreams, and she's the only person (besides Rook) who he talks to about preparing for lichdom. Yes, they are very different people—Emmrich is prim and proper, while Harding is disorganised and outdoorsy—but opposites attract. They may clash occasionally, as all friends do—she finds his hobbies weird, and he finds her hobbies squalid—but they mean the world to each other. If Harding dies, Emmrich is devastated.

So, like... chill, guys. Come on.

#emmrich volkarin #lace harding #davrin #neve gallus #lucanis dellamorte #dragon age the veilguard #taash #bellara lutare #emmrook #veilguard #da: the veilguard #scout harding #lich emmrich #dragon age

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loredrinker · 16 days ago

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Could Solas Kill Inky in Place of Varric?

I saw a poll making the rounds days ago asking the age-old question: could Solas have killed the Inquisitor if they, rather than Varric, had approached him during the ritual? I voted no - and now I’m driven to explain why.

I’m not claiming any kind of authority here. Fandom discourse can be sensitive (especially around headcanons), so let’s just agree this is one interpretation among many. And no, this isn’t denial or wishful thinking (though I’m sure some will roll their eyes). I’ve tried to keep this grounded in what the games present and build a case based on narrative structure, context and character logic.

I’m also not saying Solas couldn’t ever harm the Inquisitor. Under the right conditions, it’s possible. But the question is would he have done so in that moment - at the ritual site, in Varric’s place? And for me, the answer is no. Based on where Solas is emotionally and narratively at that point, I don’t believe that outcome fits.

This post focuses on a Friend and Romanced Inquisitor - those the story frames as emotionally significant to Solas. (I’ll address the low-approval path at the end.)

For this, I want to start with the progression of Solas’ relationship with the Inquisitor as shaped by the events of the games and supporting material. (And of course, the prerequisite disclaimer: these are just my thoughts and interpretations.)

Apologies, it's a bit long.

Emotional Bonds: Solas’ Relationship with the Inquisitor

In Inquisition, Trespasser and Veilguard, we see Solas emotionally compromised by his bond with the Inquisitor - whether friend or lover - through a series of consistent narrative beats.

With a high-approval friend Inquisitor, the connection is built on deep respect. Solas says, “You show a wisdom I have not seen since… since my deepest journeys into the ancient memories of the Fade,” and adds, “It means that I respect you deeply, Inquisitor.” That word - deeply - is important. Solas doesn’t offer praise lightly, and considering what we know of his guarded nature and history, that line should be read as significant.

After Trespasser, he refers to revealing his plans as a “moment of weakness” (The Dread Wolf Take You), yet chooses to confess anyway because part of him wants the Inquisitor to know. When he meets with Charter, it's because he's learned the Inquisition is involved and knowingly risks exposure by appearing in person. And his message: "Tell the Inquisitor I’m sorry" in a faltering voice further underscores that the Inquisitor has a sort of hold on him.

He admits to Rook that during his rebellion, it took him centuries to build bonds with others - but within the Inquisition, he formed bonds within a year. This is yet another beat that tells us that what happened during the Inquisition was exceptional to Solas - it had immediacy, intimacy, and impact.

Strong evidence of the unique role of the Inquisitor comes from the romance path. Solas prepares to reveal everything but retreats in fear. Yet even after ending the relationship, the connection lingers through multiple narrative beats: dream visits, refers to never forgetting her, his letter, cherishing their time more than his victories. The Crestwood scene is most telling: “You are unique... I never expected to find someone who could draw my attention from the Fade. You have become important to me, more important than I could have imagined.” For Solas, the Fade is his sanctuary - where he finds clarity, control, and truth. That a romanced Inquisitor could pull his focus from it is the narrative explicitly telling the player they disorient him. Their emotional gravity is strong enough to draw him away from the only place he’s ever truly longed for. That’s why he runs. So when players ask whether he would have reacted the same way to a romanced Inquisitor at the ritual site as he did to Varric, I feel that dialogue reveals a lot. If they could pull his attention away from the Fade, then it stands to reason they could break his focus mid-ritual. Their appearance could have destabilized him again, just as it did before.

But perhaps what I find to be one of the most compelling pieces is what Veilguard itself tells the player: “The Dread Wolf could not foresee what it would mean to fall in love.” Note the use “the Dread Wolf” here - not Solas. The Dread Wolf is the myth, the feared manipulator. He is supposed to be above mortal emotion, detached and resolute. And yet, the Dread Wolf - not the man beneath the name - is the one undone by love. (How interesting the cut dialogue from Morrigan aligns with this: “And so the Dread Wolf is stopped by, of all things, love.”)

Solas’s Actions Toward Varric Were Not Premeditated

When Varric approaches Solas at the ritual, Solas doesn’t strike him. He disables Bianca, which Varric has pointed at him - choosing non-lethal intervention - and turns back to his ritual. He speaks to Varric, is composed, focused. There’s no bloodlust or intent to kill. It’s only after Rook topples the statue and Varric lunges at him that Solas stabs him. It’s fast, instinctive, defensive - his control breaking in the middle of a complex, high-stakes spell. And while it’s clear Solas was prepared to incapacitate Varric if necessary, I don’t believe his intention was to kill him (if he truly wanted a fatal outcome for Varric, he would have turned him to stone). I interpret his expression afterward as much: he tilts his head down, his eyes/face fall. This wasn’t premeditated or cold-blooded - it was a response to immediate, physical interference in a moment where precision and focus were everything. Unfortunately, his aim was fatal.

The Inquisitor Would Not Approach the Way Varric Did

Okay, maybe this part is more subjective, I can admit that - but do many players believe their Friend/Lover Inquisitor would have charged Solas the way Varric did? The Inquisitor is not Varric. Across the games and extended media, they’re portrayed as strategic, influential, and focused on the long game (as I write about here). Varric made an impulsive choice - physically lunging at Solas in the middle of an intense, years-in-the-making ritual. His reaction triggered a defensive response. That’s who Varric is: brave, loyal, emotional - but not really all that strategic.

By contrast, a friend/lover Inquisitor would most likely approach differently. Look at the atonement ending in Veilguard: they approach slowly, hands out, knowing exactly how dangerous the situation is, yet still choosing to reach him emotionally, rather than physically. Wouldn’t it be reasonable to assume that the same Inquisitor, placed at the ritual site, would do the same?

And really, we only have one canonical example of an Inquisitor confronting Solas directly: Trespasser. Just the two of them. And even when the Inquisitor is angry or feeling betrayed - not even a low-approval one is harmed. What that shows me is simple: when the Inquisitor is the one standing in front of him, Solas responds differently.

Solas Had Already Changed His Strategy Since Trespasser

By the time of Veilguard, Solas is no longer fully committed to the most absolute, destructive version of his plan as originally told to the Inquisitor. In The Missing, he tells Varric in a note that “what must be done, will be done cautiously, and I will limit the damage as best I can,” At the ritual site, he again tells Varric that he has taken precautions to minimize the damage, In the Fade prison, he confirms to Rook that he had a host of spirits ready to help minimize loss of life. And while some players may dismiss this as manipulation or self-delusion, it’s worth noting that Emmrich affirms the spirits still think highly of Solas and continue to support him - suggesting he hasn’t lost their trust. Taken together, these are not throwaway lines. They form a consistent pattern.

This isn’t about excusing Solas - it’s about acknowledging the material the game presents. Across multiple sources, the narrative signals that Solas’ internal direction has shifted. He’s no longer blindly pursuing a path of total destruction. Since Trespasser, he’s made a conscious decision (however flawed) to try to control the outcome - to do less harm. Whether or not he’s lying to himself is a valid question, but the story shows that he believes he’s acting with restraint. That belief defines the version of Solas we meet at the ritual site: conflicted, calculating, and trying - however imperfectly - not to repeat past catastrophes.

The Killing of Felassan Is Not a Useful Comparison

Some players point to Felassan’s death as precedent for the idea that Solas could kill the Inquisitor - but in my view, the circumstances are entirely different. At the assumed time of Felassan’s death, Solas is either still in Uthenera or has recently awakened from it into a world made tranquil by the Veil. He was still reeling from Mythal’s murder and the consequences of his own actions. His psychological and emotional state was unstable to say the least, shaped by disorientation, grief, and urgency. Felassan, by contrast, had centuries to adapt to this changed world, to mourn Mythal, and to forge new connections. Solas had not.

If we look at Solas’s perspective, Felassan didn’t just disagree - he disobeyed a direct order at a critical time, likely seen as a betrayal not only of Solas’ plan, but also of Mythal’s memory. I also don’t believe Felassan’s death was premeditated, it fits a pattern of how Solas reacts when he’s desperate and his control is slipping. (And don't take this as me agreeing with Solas, I'm simply attempting to provide context.)

I think it's worth noting that Felassan’s death may have changed Solas. One of the regrets Rook confronts in the Crossroads is The Betrayal of Felassan, suggesting the moment haunts Solas. It was a personal failure that may have contributed to the caution and restraint we see from him later.

The Flemeth/Mythal Scene

Some players also cite the end of Inquisition - when Solas absorbs Mythal’s fragment from Flemeth - as proof that he’d kill the Inquisitor, because he kills Mythal. But that reading feels overly simplistic and overlooks what the scene actually depicts, both in Inquisition and its altered version in Veilguard. And maybe this is where I’ll get the most eye rolls, but here it is: Flemeth is not Mythal - she carries only a fragment of her. And in both versions, the visual and narrative cues strongly suggest she anticipated this outcome.

Yes, it does seem cold that Solas has to kill Flemeth to gain Mythal’s power - taking the life of this powerful woman who has influenced and shaped Thedas. But that’s precisely what makes her lack of resistance so fascinating. She doesn’t fight or flee. She reaches out to Solas, touches his face, and calls him “old friend.” So I have to ask - why? If Flemeth or Mythal truly objected, would someone of Flemeth’s immense power (especially when Solas is still regaining his strength) have allowed it? The most reasonable answer is that she didn’t make this decision alone. As the vessel of Mythal’s fragment, it’s entirely plausible that Mythal’s will/memories/essence - her understanding of what must happen - guided the moment. That doesn’t make it easy, or even ethically clean, but it reframes the act as one of grim necessity, not aggression as it wasn’t positioned as theft, but a sorrowful transfer of power.

And we see this tension captured in a single line of dialogue from Mythal: “While the prison is important, it is not the only goal you seek.” She doesn’t reject Solas’ reasoning - she acknowledges the prison’s importance, and by extension, his need for power to do it. But she also makes sure to take this moment to challenge him. She allows the transfer, as she calls him out about why he wants it. Again, Flemeth’s death doesn’t serve as precedent for Solas using violence against the Inquisitor.

The Atonement Ending Reaffirms the Inquisitor’s Unique Emotional Bond

By placing the Inquisitor alongside Mythal in Solas’s path to atonement at the end of Veilguard, it felts like the writers made a deliberate narrative choice. Mythal - the immortal who shaped Solas and his ideology - and the Inquisitor - the mortal who affected his heart - stand together because both are essential to who he’s become. This pairing is symbolic in my eyes as the Inquisitor is framed as Mythal’s equal in emotional and narrative influence over Solas’s fate. They speak before and after her, effectively bookending the moment that changes everything.

A character granted that level of symbolic and emotional influence in Solas’ arc is not someone I feel Solas would plausibly kill at the ritual site.

Conclusion

All of this has been my attempt to lay the groundwork - to trace the story’s emotional and narrative architecture - behind why I believe Solas couldn’t have killed the Inquisitor at the ritual site at the beginning of Veilguard. Could he hurt them later, in a moment of desperation or collapse? Yes, there is the possibility, but I don't think intentionally, likely through an accident scenario. But in that moment at the ritual site? I don’t believe he’s in that place yet.

And there’s also this: Solas never kills Rook. Even when he manipulates them in the Fade and tries to use them to take his place, he doesn't physically harm them. At the end, he tells Rook he doesn’t want to fight them and only attacks when Rook strikes first. So to suggest he would kill a high-approval/love Inquisitor - someone he has a deeper, longer, and more emotionally complex bond with - while sparing Rook doesn’t hold up, narratively or thematically in my mind.

Call it delusional or coping - but nothing I’ve presented here is headcanon (if anyone feels it is, please point it out, happy to expand!). I’ve done my best to stay rooted in the material the games and extended lore provide. And as always, I’m open to counterpoints, things I've not considered and happy to keep the conversation going!

..........

Low Approval Inquisitor

Ok so what about a low-approval Inquisitor? The one who rarely brought Solas into the field, frequently antagonized him, or made decisions he fundamentally disagreed with? That doesn’t mean they were a bad leader necessarily. In fact, it’s entirely possible this Inquisitor maintained high approval with other companions and made principled choices. But from Solas’ perspective, that relationship never deepened into an emotional relationship. In Veilguard, he remarks that such an Inquisitor was "useful" - a cold assessment - before shifting focus to bonds that mattered to him, like his friendship with Cole.

Without shared understanding or personal rapport, this Inquisitor might register to Solas as someone capable of interfering, but not capable of reaching him. If they had approached him at the ritual in a moment of volatility - the outcome could have been very different. I can’t speak broadly, as I’ve only played a low-approval Inquisitor once, and even then it was more of an across-the-board low approval run. But I do think it’s more plausible that this Inquisitor would have been at far greater risk of sharing Varric’s fate.

That said, there’s a counterpoint worth considering. By the time of Veilguard, Solas has made efforts to minimize harm - he even helps to stop the Qunari invasion in Trespasser to preserve some peace in Thedas till the veil comes down. In that light, killing the Inquisitor might risk triggering unrest, something he seemed to want to avoid until his ritual. Whether that restraint would hold in the heat of the ritual is debatable - but it’s a possibility. I’d love to hear other perspectives on this as I know I'll think on this one further.

#solas #the inquisitor #friend inquisitor #romanced inquisitor #ah the question of our DA time #I hesitated posting this #had some help from some friends to make sure it made sense #and was rooted in logic not personal emotion #did my best to remain within the canon and materials of the stories #but of course this just one interpretation #dragon age inquisition #dai #dragon age veilguard #datv #dragon age trespasser #solas meta

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frodosrings · 3 months ago

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calling all my lotr/hobbit fans and writers!

i would love to start a little thing inspired by my randomized ship wheel i did a bit ago….

so i present to you all:

The Tolkien Randomized Pair Writing Event!

are you a writer looking for some inspo? are you someone who has always wanted to write a fanfic but has never had the chance to? do you want to be involved in a fun tolkien fan project? then this is for you!

rules are as follows:

- you spin the “random pair” wheel (below) and you have to write something for the pair you land on. this can be a full-fledged fic, a oneshot, a list of headcanons, a one-liner, anything! if you want to write an 100k+ word fic, yes! do it! if you only want to share one headcanon, yes! do it!

- when you write something from the pair wheel, use the hashtag “#tolkienrandompairs” so we can all have them in the same place and peruse everyone’s writing!

- it does not have to be romantic, but, it absolutely can be too if that’s what you’re feeling! it can showcase hatred, an argument, a friendship, a goofy interaction, a modern au, a deep conversation, it can be about any popular trope we love, it can be absolutely anything you want, it just HAS to be about the pair you land on!

- you can absolutely spin the wheel more than once and write about as many duos as you please!! whether you spin it once or 100 times, just have fun!

- if you write something nsfw, PLEASE mark it as mature or make it very clear that it’s nsfw, as i want everyone to be able to participate and not have to see nsfw if they don’t want to/are minors

- additionally, ofc, if there are any trigger warnings in your writing, please make them clear!

- there is no time limit for this, even if you come across this post a year later and want to be involved, definitely be involved!

- yes, you can write multiple entries for the same pair if you are really having fun with them!

- you can absolutely substitute writing for some cool fanart :)

-there is no time limit for this event!! if it takes you a few weeks or months to prepare a fic, do not fret! i'd like to think we can keep this going for a long time!

- if you have any questions or need clarification, you can dm me or send an ask to my inbox :)

here is the wheel!

have fun! let the writing commence!

some additional notes below:

- you are more than welcome to carry this idea over to other fandoms! idea credits are always appreciated but not necessary!

-there are 378 different pairs on the wheel, so your pair will most likely only be landed on once! take advantage of it!

- i have only included tolkien pairs from the hobbit and the lotr movies, as i feel it is the most inclusive for the widest audience. so, silmarillion characters and characters which were in the lotr and hobbit books but NOT the movies are not included in this

- again, any silm fans are welcome to make a wheel of randomized silm characters!

- NO ship discourse or hate! if someone writes romantically about a pair you don’t ship yourself, allow us all to have fun! this is supposed to bring us together and at the very least is supposed to be a fun writing exercise!

- if you want to post your writing on other platforms like ao3, definitely do it! if your writing is posted on ao3, i would love if you still used the hashtag so that i am able to read what you write!

- be supportive of other peoples writing! leave nice comments, share your thoughts about the pair other people had, interact! let’s have fun!

- some of these pairs don’t exist in the same timeline, pretend they do! or, maybe you want to write about one thinking about/learning about the other, either way, disregard the fact that some might not genuinely ever interact lol!

- feel free to come back and use this wheel as many times as you want, for whatever you want :)

- yes, making this wheel DID take forever! but all worth it!

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blooky8 · 11 months ago

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honestly this isn't even the most troubling part about the elven animal care imo, it's the fact that they try to rebuild the whole system while saying that "this is what the nature wants/needs". anybody heard of the food chain? plants are consumed by critters and herbivorous animals, then those are consumed by carnivorous and omnivorous animals, there are birds and fish and every living creature involved, and yet elves seem to think that animals should be vegetarians, and leaving them on their natural diet is a bad idea. they also decide to catch a pair of all kinds of animals they come across and put them into the sanctuary, where they could eat plants and live amongst the fake nature "eternally happy" i guess, because this is exactly the environment that every animal on earth enjoys the most - taken away from their natural territory of inhabitance and imprisoned. elves think that it's their duty to preserve life on earth that way, this is how they must keep the universe in balance, as it is destined to meet its demise if even a single species go extinct. do we all see this trend of "we know what's best for mother nature" within the elven race? i would think that mother nature can figure everything out on her own, as she did for all those years. ever since the first life appeared on earth, it's been this way - animals need to evolve, need to adapt, the strongest survive and the weakest die, one eats the other and feeds the soil upon death, if species go extinct that means they couldn't make it, they come and go. you can't possibly tell me that this is another one of humans' imaginations that all elves know to be false, or were they micromanaging cyanobacteria's lives 4.5 billion years ago too, in order to save the balance? the whole concept of the way of nature can't be simply brushed off with something like "silly humans know nothing about how the world really works" without offering any alternative explanation. how would elves even know that this is what nature needs? did she ask them to do that??? or, a much more logical theory, elves are actually just as self-centered as humans, think that the whole world revolves around them and their every decision is the correct one. the narrative of the books loves to present elves as the superior to humans race, while most of their genius ideas are the exact same things that people do sprinkled with the much more morally correct "for the better of the world" motive. yeah, disruption of the food chain and animal captivity is definitely an elf-exclusive thing, great job with being better than humans once again

a much more realistic and logical thing to add in a story like this - although slightly cliche - would be for elves to completely oppose the idea of interrupting the natural way of life: against sanctuaries, against captivity, all of that. sure, i'm not a fantasy book writer, but one thing i know is that if you want to break away from cliches you have to be smart about it, build a different idea based on logic, not invent a zoo 2.0 and put it up on the moral high ground.

I do understand why a lot of fans automatically say that the elves feeding animals vegetarian diets is bad, but I don't think it's reasonable to apply human standards to the elvin world in this case. Gnommish plants are very different from human plants. I think it's pretty clear that they don't have the same composition, and I don't think it's reasonable to assume that the animals can't digest gnommish plants.

#kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #yakking #sorry for the slightly longer than intended post #this is just so annoying to me #i wouldn't care as much if the narrative in any way admitted that elves most of the time suck just as much as humans do #but shannon either really believes that their way of living is superior or doesn't know how to write the difference-#-between what elves think of themselves and what the narrator is supposed to explain to the reader #also fin i get what you're saying but the domestic cat is very different from its ancestors #domestic cats are meant to eat their “brown pellets” and won't feel too good after eating anything more extreme than meat prepared by their #-owner; while for example a lion needs to devour other animals and would absolutely not be satisfied with any pellets #we would definitely know more about gnomish plants if shannon gave more than 5 seconds to the thought of a t-rex chewing on burger-flavored #-fruits before writing it down #but alas #yall better return to the keefe vs fitz discourse!!! that's what you are meant to think about; not some silly world-building

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thewinter-eden · 3 months ago

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SKZ Insecurity Texts

So after all the crossovers started coming together, I'm getting some interest in group chats and an Avengers Assemble style coming together of all the girlfriends. I'm not presently prepared to put a group chat into the pattern of my Insecurity stories BUT--

I have been thinking of doing a Insecurity // Girlfriend Texts (or whatever the hell I decide to call it) after all of the individual members are done.

Group chats, one-on-ones between Readers, all commenting on/commiserating/supporting each other/gossiping throughout the timelines of each of the Insecurity Stories. Not sure at this time if it would be a standard 4-parter or a 1-parter to just fill in some gaps.

QUESTIONS

which scenes so far do you want discourse/interaction over?

Are there any interactions between specific Readers or between specific Readers with specific members you would like to see?

I know it's a bit silly for all 8 guys to have magically similar angsty friends-to-lovers story arcs all at the same time but it's my universe - my rules :P SO was there another element of any of the angst or any of the resolution that you wanted to explore further? (In a way that might unfold in a conversation)

Feel free to leave these questions on the back burner until I finish Hyunjin's, Changbin's, and Jeongin's (and Hannie's) (or come back and add to it).

Anyway thanks for brainstorming with me :) the end is near. Love you guys <3

@amarecerasus @kumariiai @diekleinesuesse @captainchrisstan @0omillo0 @katexstay @younggwingss @darlingsoulbeautifulthoughts @feetoffthemalfoy @seungminsapuppy @stilldontknowhoiam @hanadulsetaad @idiotmaterial @micr0c0soms @luvv1anime @imeverycliche @luvv1anime @starygw3n @depressedarlling @riri53 @bangchansgirlsblog @skzstannie @sellomaybe @lailac13 @my-neurodivergent-world @4ng3l-ch1ld @ellelabelle @velvetmoonlght @whokno-ows @ravengxbss @brbwritingfanfic @dearbisky @r1nstaaa @dolphin-scream-s @beewilko @nightshadeblooming @wickedbutlovely @ebnabi @thatgirlangelb @notastraykid @ka0ila @scarlet789 @nightshadeblooming @xdbug-bob

#skz #stray kids #fake texts #skz fake texts #stray kids fake texts #smau #skz smau #stray kids smau #skz x reader #stray kids x reader #bang chan #lee know #seo changbin #hwang hyunjin #han jisung #lee felix #kim seungmin #yang jeongin

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gotta-winwin · 7 months ago

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make my dawn interview ~ 2019 special cut ᰔᩚ

cyana's masterlist

make my dawn special release interview

interview format / comments might be wonky on phone

INTERVIEWER: Hello everyone, today we're joined by Korean Boy Band SEVENTEEN! How are you guys feeling today?

S.COUPS: We're feeling great!

DK: Yes~ Very good.

INTERVIEWER: That's good. We're here today because you're releasing your sixth mini album You Make My Dawn! (claps) Congratulations!

SVT (as a whole): Yes~ Thank you!

INTERVIEWER: Please introduce the album to our viewers -

JOSHUA: (raises his hand quietly) I can do that - Our sixth mini album titled You Make My Dawn will be released in January, and it had six tracks with unit tracks as well! Please show it lots of love~

INTERVIEWER: And I noticed we have a new addition to the group since last comeback, would the new member please introduce herself?

CYANA: (flushed) Hi everyone~ My name is Cyana, I'm part of the vocal unit for SEVENTEEN. (smiles and waves)

INTERVIEWER: Having a female member is new for the industry, what are your thoughts on being the first ever female idol in a boy group?

CYANA: (pauses, looking at the others for help) Well... I'm happy to be able to break boundaries, I think it's an interesting idea that's worth pursuing. SEVENTEEN's an amazing group already and I hope to be able to add that that.

S.COUPS: Cyana's been a valuable member of our team as we prepared this upcoming album. She's earned her place here.

INTERVIEWER: And how did the rest of the group feel at the sudden change? I'm sure it was a shocking thing to adjust to.

HOSHI: We were all surprised, but excited. SEVENTEEN's known for being experimental when we need to be, and we thought this opportunity would add to our group even more.

INTERVIEWER: (nodding) And Woozi, how do you feel with Cyana's addition as the group's main producer? How has her addition changed the way you guys work?

WOOZI: (hesitating) It was an adjustment we all had to make, like any other circumstance where you work with new people. She fit well in our songs and I was happy to try out new combinations for harmonies. Her addition unlocks a whole new area of possibilities.

INTERVIEWER: I see. (flipping her script) Fans have showed much discourse over the new addition to the group, going as far as saying Cyana will bring bad publicity to SEVENTEEN. Cyana, what's your reaction to all this?

CYANA: (frowning slightly) I- um, I haven't been online much while preparing for my debut and comeback, but I suppose any negativity is expected. People are often skeptical of new things.

INTERVIEWER: And does that deter you in any way?

S.COUPS: I think we can move on to another-

CYANA: (putting a hand on his knee) It's okay. No, it doesn't deter me in any way. I'm only working harder to prove that new things can be great things as well.

DK: Ya! SEVENTEEN will be even greater with Cyana.

INTERVIEWER: That's very brave of you. Now, we'll enter into a rapid fire question segments of questions fans have left on our online forum. Dino, who would you pick - Jeonghan or Mingyu?

DINO: Jeonghan.

MINGYU: Wow, not even a moment's hesitation, huh.

INTERVIEWER: S.Coups - favourite member?

S.COUPS: Jeonghan.

INTERVIEWER: Wow, Jeonghan's quite popular. Cyana, most attractive looking member?

CYANA: (caught off-guard) Umm... Vernon? I don't know. (panics)

INTERVIEWER: Another one for Cyana - what's it like living with the boys? Any TMIs?

CYANA: It's all very normal. (lowkey judging the questions) It's like we're roommates. No TMIs.

INTERVIEWER: Another one for Cyana - who would you date out of-

S.COUPS: (cuts her off) I think that's enough for now- (pointing behind the camera at staff) They're telling us that time's up.

JOSHUA: So sorry~ (waves at the camera) We've got to do our goodbye, hyung.

S.COUPS: Say the name!

SVT (as a whole): SEVENTEEN!

S.COUPS: This has been SEVENTEEN, thank you so much for watching.

INTERVIEWER: (just a bit pissed) Yes, this has been SEVENTEEN, their new mini album You Make My Dawn comes out soon, please look forward to it!

︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶︶⊹︶︶୨︶

COMMENTS:

wonwootiddies why'd they focus more on cyana then the album?? fatherscoups they all look so uncomfy wtf dksunshine look at scoups tryna do damage control cyanagotu shouldn't they ask more questions about the album? ⭒ woowwow no fr we got nothing but sexism ⭒ milkcans everything was good until she brought up the hate comments like ik this was filmed awhile ago but caratland is basically over the hate now? svtfan123 as a fan i hate cyana but as a girl- she doesn't deserve this just ask abt the bloody album bro

author's note: short cute (not so cute ig) interview post today! at least majority of caratland is (kinda) on her side now... bigger update soon!

#seventeen ot13 #seventeen imagines #svt imagines #svt #svt fluff #seventeen #seventeen 14th member #idol oc #idolverse #female idol #seventeen blurbs #svt carat #cyanawritings

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multishipper001 · 6 months ago

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I don't see much discourse about Study Group, although it's an absolute masterpiece, so let's put some content out here!

1.) The characters

Oh my babies. Hats off to the author, because he really can make a diverse set of people! Each character has a fleshed out backstory, defined goals and ideals (that are shown to clash with others, be it enemies or allies).

They're all very-human like in some way, with just enough cliché to make it enjoyable but not predictable.

(spoiler for chapter 252-253: I didn't know what choices Gamin and especially Geonyeob would make until the very last moment. Geonyeob had two choices ahead of him, and it heavily determined his future and showed a glimpse of what kind of person he is, how far he's willing to go for revenge... It surprised me, but boy was it an interesting chapter!)

You can't help but root for each and every one of them, prepare to get emotionally attached to them all!!

2.) The plot

This part deserves its own category.

The synopsis tells the base of the story. A high school boy that forms a study group, with the goal to enter university.

Easy, right? Simple goal, one that can be achieved if you study hard, right?

THINK AGAIN

First of all, and this is not a spoiler, our mc SUCKS ASS at studying. Like I'm not the best at studying either but he's on a whole new level. He puts time into it, is dedicated, tries his hardest... And still can't.

(I read theories that he may have a disability that affects his studying, like dyslexia or something, and it's very much possible!)

He's in an environment where people don't expect him to study since he's bad anyway, and actively try and sabotage his every attempt to get better grades & enter uni.

(Sounds cliche and weird but it makes sense if you learn about the plot later)

Every new character comes into the plot because of the study group he forms —directly or not directly, but they get in contact with the study group in a way later on.

And you know what's good about it?

The main character DOESN'T CHANGE.

He's not going "I'm powerful and cool now, so I'll choose the easy way out/focus on fighting instead/aim lower/etc," NO.

He's had a goal since day 1, and he's clinging to it like a fucking LIFE LINE.

There are arcs ofc, but the main goal is set, and the characters are slowly marching forward, doing their best to reach it.

3.) Realism

One more great thing? NO CLICHÉS

I'm taking about the story here.

There's NO "the power of friendship saves the day", no "the evil villain gets defeated simply because he's the evil villain", no "mc gets what he wants easily because he's the main character".

(and no "every girl falls for mc and he builds a harem around himself bc he's the mc". There's barely any romance in it, and it's not forced or unrealistic)

There are forces in front of the main character which affect his story, yet he cannot fight them because he's still a child, or a student, or a part of a system that is made to oppress him. Corruption, manipulation, crimes... It's realistic in the best way, with no easy way out.

There are highs and lows for our characters, and for a few moments, after a cool fight where they won, you might fall into the mistake of thinking about this story like any other : "oh, they're going to win after all! They're the main characters, they'll make it! "

... Just for the issues of the plot to slap the naive thought out of your head not even a chapter later.

Corruption is rooted deep, and this story portrays it beautifully : how getting rid of one, two or several causes won't make it all disappear.

To what extent people can be controlled by money and power.

How the powerful uses the weak, how the wealthy use those below them for their own benefit.

How adults would rather destroy children's futures and lives just to squeeze a few penny out of them and get rich from their misery.

The main character is idealistic in a corrupted world, refusing to give up on what he thinks is right —where most people around him choose the easy way out and give up their beliefs, their present and future for quick cash, for promises of wealth and power.

He is their mirror, their proof that you can stay true to yourself and fight through your misery, even if it's hard, even if it seems absolutely hopeless.

There are many arcs, and each show different approaches to this, but this is the core essence of the story. That you can choose the easy road, but you don't have to. You can fight for your goals even if everyone says you'll fail.

And so many people can't see past the fight scenes and the "action manhwa" tag, thinking that if the story doesn't show them some peak badass mc-gets-what-he-wants-through-fighting moment, the whole thing is trash.

Yes, this is an action manhwa, with fights. But it isn't about fighting.

And lastly, honorable mentions to this gem:

4.) Portrayal of stereotypes

Best parts coming up!!

As usual, every story has stereotypes portrayed in them.

How men are stronger than women, how gangsters act or rich kids behave. How bullies and nerds interact.

They don't gloss over these stereotypes.

Women are physically smaller and weaker. Rich kids are assholes, bullies are cruel and victims are weak.

They don't make them magically gain courage, change their behaviour overnight OR make these things seem cool.

They make changes.

Step by step, they are influenced by each other (not just the mc, but other characters as well: they exist even when the mc isn't present). They're weak, and powerless, but they learn to be brave. They find a way to fight : maybe they don't become martial artists overnight, but each one of them develops their own method to survive in their fucked up life.

If they need to study better, they ask their friends and teacher for help. If they need to fight, they do so for the sake of protecting themselves and what is important to them : family, friends, a cause.

None of them are made as a gear to move the plot forward, they're their own characters. And they have clichés. They have stereotypical behaviours, and maybe even look stereotypical. But even so, they're not making it their only personality trait : they're complex, and flawed, and make mistakes.

And it's beautiful.

Oh god I love this story dearly.

#study group #Manhwa #Gamin Yoon #influencing #Please read this gem #You won't regret it

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colectingstrz · 1 year ago

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INCOMPATIBLE HARMONY

⤿ a beautiful passion of hatred driving a narrow pathway for foreign emotions and surging familiar ones.

𐙚 g: enimes to lovers, university au, fluff here and there, angst. wc: 10.6k w: one kiss and mentions of a parent passing p: Jay x f reader

𐙚 - like 70% proof read it’s so long I tried 😪

౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹ ౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹ ౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹ ౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹ ౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹ ౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹ ౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹ ౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹ ౨ৎ

Your mother always said, “Either kill or be killed,” and you regrettably learned the hard way. Life is not easy, and it never will be. You must work for your goals and eliminate any potential distractions, even if they are those you care about. Everything that matters is success. Yet with more independence and freedom of choice u start to crack a little straying further and further away from the motto showing weakness and vulnerability. Success no longer being your priority as you found your focus on a particular someone.

you certainly would not mind eliminating a specific individual , a pest.. a loud, foul mouthed, vile, obnoxious, beastly, filthy inconvenience such as park.

It's not surprising to hear Jay harbours the same feelings as you; it's almost romantic when you think about it. Two people with a passionate desire hatred for one another.

౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹

Unfortunately, your Monday became more dreary when you met him waiting outside your professor's door, whom you had intended to meet.

“What are you doing here” Jay ignored you and continued typing stuff on his phone. The sound of his fingers aggressively tapping on his screen bothered you. “Hello? You know it's rude to ignore somebody while they're addressing you.”

Finally, he raises his deep, dismal eyes to meet yours. “I'm so sorry your majesty I didn't like your tone” he said with a grin “what's wrong with my tone? this is how I always talk why are your..so dramatic” You crossed your arms, your tolerance dwindling as you endured this discourse.

“No... today your tone seems more boooorish” you raised an eyebrow at his strange choice of words; you had no understanding what he had just said, which irritated you even more. You despised the way he used sophisticated vocabulary as if he were from 1985. “Do you want to purposefully mislead me? What do you think because you use fancy phrases, you're better than me, you antiquated freak”

Jay grinned. You despised it when he smiled because it felt like he was mocking you, it made you feel little, and you despised every moment of it. “Intentionally yes I'm glad to see it's working it brings me joy to see u distressed-and confused when I mess with ur little narrow minded brain maybe if u spent ur time reading rather than selling ur self out at party's every weekend you would actually know what im saying half the time”

You close your eyes sighing loudly as you try to compose your anger. He was wrong so wrong

Jay smirked as he recognised he had won. Picking up his bag, he approaches you and gently pats over your shoulder, “What's wrong? Can't bite back? Better luck next time, love.” Before you could respond, he walks away, descending down the corridor, leaving you to throw an internal fit as you accept your defeat.

౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹

“Are you coming to Jake's party tonight? It's at his beach mansion” you shrug as you begin to gather your belongings from your desk. “I'm not sure... with this approaching test, I need time to study.” Yujin rolls her eyes, grasping your arm in a plea “Pleaaaaaaaaaaseeee I don't wanna go by myself it's just one party it's not going to ruin your perfect 4.0 GDA!” you lightly break free from her grasp, “correction it's GPA.. and stop clinging onto me like a leech I know damm well u have plenty of other friends if I don't come it's not the end of the world” She groans.

“What if it is the end of the world! your my best freind I want to go with you w..what if I pass out ?? What if I.. uh.. get lost” she blurs out nonsense and you watch in disbelief shaking your head, preparing to turn and leave.

“Park Sunghoon is comming by the way”

You come to a halt in your tracks, slowly turning around. “Really?..Are you saying that only to get me to co- “yes! Really, he's back from France now; there's no way he'll miss Jake's party.” You sigh deeply, pondering whether a single male who is cute is more essential than your future. “I'll think about it.” Yujin smiles, grabbing you in an embrace and showering you with thank yous as if you answered yes (deep down you know it was a yes as well), before she swiftly leaves for her next class.

What you felt for Sunghoon was like a disease, slowly devouring you from the inside out. You've been pinning for him since your first year of university, and you thought it was just a crush until it wasn't. Now, a year later, your feelings have grown stronger. You would do anything to be in the same space as him-not to talk just to admire from afar You were a woman of many words, but in this instance, Sunghoon was different. It's as if you lost the basic mechanics of communication when talking to him; it's too embarrassing to go through again, so you avoid it at all costs and prefer to admire his features . Even in group setting with your friends you keep your conversations to a minimum.

And, of course, evil forces decided to flirt with and entice you once more by bringing not just Sunghoon but also his pest of a friend Jay into your presence as you make your way down the hall to your next class.

“Oh hey y/n it's been a while” Sunghoon smiles as he embraces you cheerfully. “Oh..h..hi umm how was France and the skating Ice- um, I mean ice skating,” you mentally leaped in front of a bus and ran yourself over 76 times because of the idiotic mistake you just made in front of him. “The ice skating competition was good I should hear back in about a week if I've qualified for the semi finals how have you been?” He looks at you intently and quietly, waiting for your response, while Jay silently notes every element of your expression. Both of their stares made you feel little uneasy, as if you were a vase on display in a museum, attracting a lot of attention. You felt your palms start to sweat.

“That's great to hear! Um.. I've been alright just p..preparing for exams right now.” You give him a constant smile, attempting to distract him from your inability to pronounce a simple basic ass word. “Yikes, midterms.. Hope you do well-Oh! Are you going to Jake's party? Or are you going to study? Parties weren't always your thing” Just as you open your mouth to speak, a rat joins in on the conversation despite the fact that he was not invited.

“Sunghoon it seems you've been gone a while she loves parties I see her at them all with that yujin girl I'm sure she won't miss this one will you y/n?” You glare at Jay, directing your focus to him, and imagine all the horrible ways you would torture him for ruining a moment with your crush. “I'm sure she can speak for herself, and trust me, Jay y/n is not a party girl... well, I have a class to go to, so maybe I'll see you at the party,” he smiles one final time before walking away, leaving you and Jay in solitude.

“Do you lack basic manners? Why are you entering into a conversation that has nothing to do with you? He was talking to meeee the last time I checked, and your not y/n.”He shrugged, “My manners are perfect, thank you very much, and I'm open to adding my two cents wherever I want to; all I did was state the facts.” You roll your eyes and reposition your back to hang over your shoulder.

“Facts? Stop acting like you know me Jay, you don't. You're not my friend, you're not my anything. Stay out of my business and my life.” You leave him as quickly as you spoke, bumping your shoulder against his as you storm down the hall.

Something you said right then must have touched a chord, since Jay's mood plummeted for the rest of the day.

౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹

Parties are just mobs of people, the perfect place for germs to hibernate and circulate like wildfire, with loud music that bursts your eardrums, piles of sweaty bodies, and excessive amounts of alcohol. You don't see what Yujin sees in this type of activity, but the show must go on, and it's too late to back out now.

Deeper within the mashion are Jay, Jake Sunghoon, and Jungwon, who are playing pool round after round. “Sunghoon, did you find any hot French girls or what?”Jake asks, peeking over to see Sunghoon as he effortlessly knocks down two of his targets into the hole. “Ice skating pre occupied me.. plus I still like her”

Now that Jay has disconnected from his talk with Jungwon, his ears immediately peek up at the sound of Sunghoon's crush, and he listens in curiously. He rarely discusses such topics, especially after his heartache with his ex Chaewon.

“Her? Omg bro it’s been monthhhhs” sunghoon sighs “I know.. but she’s just really pretty and kind I really want to get to know her more this year” Jake laughs placing a hand on his chest “ get to know her? Last year you barely held a conversation with the girl u need to work on your game if u wanna bag a girl like y/n”

Jay lifts his brow in disbelief and confusion. Sunghoon liked you. Considering the millions of girls he could have picked. Jay was completely baffled. Great distress surged over him. He became so outraged that he could no longer bear to listen to the discourse. Jay turns to the pool table, leaving a perplexed Jungwon in the middle of his sentence.

“Do you like y/n? Really, dude? Raise your standards.” Jake's mouth drops agape at his comment, and Sunghoon crosses his arms. “Yeah, I like her, and what about it? I think She's a great girl, what's it to you?” Sunghoon now turns to Jay, looking him down. The mood in the room shifts, and Jungwon, who is watching from a distance, becomes anxious about what is going on.

“It's nothing to do with me I'm just looking out for you as a freind she's not a good person” Sunghoon doesn't say anything for a time and simply stares at Jay. “Maybe u haven't had a good experience with her.. that's your opinion but I've had good with her and I'll stick to my opinion thanks for the concern bro” Sunghoon turns, grabs his drink, and leaves the room.

Jay gulped, grabbing the edge of the pool table firmly in rage. How could Sunghoon not realise what an awful person you were? All he wanted was to look out for him. Again, everything is always your fault. Jay groans as he steps outdoors, leaving the manshion.

He walks outdoors on the sidewalk, trailing his feet. He stares ahead to the shore, watching the clam ripples of water. He groans and walks on, but he comes to a halt when he notices you coaching against the wall with your head down.

He immediately becomes enraged again; it was your fault he was out here, and it was your reason he got into a fight with Sunghoon. He comes up to you talking this opportunity to throw a dig “so much for not being a party girl look at you here all drunk and wasted outside on the floor no self composure what so ever”

He waits, but your witty retort never arrives. He lifts his brow lightly, bending down to shove you, but is met once more with the presence of stillness. Jay feels an awful discomfort in his gut. He bends down to get a closer look, only to find your eyes closed and your hand grasping your chest while you breathe extensively.

“Y/n?… Hey y/n” he holds your shoulder trying to urge a response. “t..to many..” he moves his head closer angling his ear towards you “repeat that for me” you muster all the strength in your body to speak “c..claustrophobic..I’m..clau..” Jay hums in realisation.

He thinks quickly on his feet sitting down on the concrete, reaching for your hand and replacing the one on your chest with his own. “Listen to me right now. I need you to breathe in and out slowly, with 3 seconds in between, okay? Can u do that for me” you weakly nod, obeying his directions.

Each time you did, he would lightly sweeze your hand in encouragement, giving you reassuring “well done’s”and “your getting there's” the whole affair felt strange to you. He was really pleasant, calm, patient, and caring towards you. It was rare for Jay this came out of nowhere, but you didn't question it and accepted it with open arms because you needed it.

Shortly after you find your self calm. But the lingering feeling of jays eyes on you as the two of you sit in silence was uncomfortable. You find your self subconsciously looking down to your feet playing with your fingers. “So.. your claustrophobic I never knew that” you shrug still looking down “well yeah.. it’s not a big deal anyways” he hummus “seems like a pretty big deal if it weren’t for me you would have passed out”

You roll your eyes “no I would have been fine this isn’t the first time I topically do this alone no assistance needed park” Jay humms again his hand reaching to cup your chin forcing you to raise your head and look at him. You were shocked at the sudden contact and the way his hand felt so warm againt your cold skin. “Well..um are you okay now looking at your face you seem it” he then used his hand to turn your head slightly as he analyses your face. “I’m..I’m fine thank you”

A tingly feeling perks within him but he shuts it down nodding removing his hand from your skin. The absence of warmth had you feeling cold again but you brushed it off. Jay suddenly stands up dusting dirt off his back and reaches out his hand to you “come I’ll drive you home I’m assuming you woukd rather not go back in there” he raises a brow you nod hesitantly accepting his hand as he wraps it around your firmly.

“My car is about a 10 min walk are u fine with that? Well doesn’t matter if ur not we still have to walk regardless just letting you know anyway” you laugh a little feeling the sense of familiarity again this was more like jay. More like the jay you knew more like the jay you were used too. Yet that feeling in your stomach didn’t leave.

“Don’t do this again” you raise a brow “pardon?” Jay turns to you “going out in the dark at night in some alley by yourself something easily could have happened to you and no one would be there to save you” you roll your eyes “I know u don’t actually care about what happens to me stop acting like you do plus.. I was close to the beach house I would have been fine” jay sighs shaking his head “belive it all not im not a horrible human being your a girl and that make sure automatically vulnerable alone at night im just warning you love”

You humm “just save me next time then” you finnaly turn to look at him awaiting his reaction as he silently looks at you not saying a word. You quickly look away now feeling awkward regretting your exsistnce.

“Pay me I’m not playing superman for free”

Now at the car it’s mostly silent but a comfortable silence never in your life would you think you would be in jays car having him drive you to your dorm but life is full of surprises isn’t it. Soon you arrive home giving him a Short and firm bye before heading to your door.

Little to your knowledge even once you have entered your dorm Jay remains in his car watching you until he sees the lights shine in ur room confirming you have settled.

౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹

Studying was supposed to be peaceful and quiet, but all of that was disrupted the moment you invited Jake to join you.

You wouldn't call him a nuisance, but he was more distracting than anything else. Every 4 minutes, he'd start chatting about strange stuff, and when he wasn't talking, he'd be toying with your hair or poking your check unless he was performing some random asmr with his pen. Sometimes you wish you could just duct wrap his mouth so he would stop talking.

“Jake... please I'm really trying to focus here you know I have an exam soon” he looks down as if you had just rejected or something it made you feel a little bad “Fine.. if you want me gone just say that!” He crosses his arms and looks away, and you sigh, rubbing his shoulder, “It's not that it’s just you talk too much, I need quiet... on second thought yeah, leave, we can hang out later.” You sigh and Jake's mouth opens wide at your unexpected change of direction, huffing silently as he turns to go.

Peace and quiet has made a comeback

You smile to yourself as you study, but as usual, your tranquilly is short-lived when you hear the loud smack of a book beside you. Looking up, there's no one but jay. You raise a curious eyebrow; hardly one visits this section of the library unless a friend tags along, and you've never seen Jay here.

“What brings you here you don't come here this is my space” Jay ignores you, bringing out his laptop, iPad, and any extra papers. “I've come here to study obviously your not the only one who has exams here and last time I checked your name isn't plastered anywhere here so this is everyone's space,” he smiles and returns to getting his stuff.

You groan, your gaze returning to your laptop to drown him out and remain focused. However, that was difficult to do given how fiercely he was looking at you.

“Um, is there a reason why you keep looking at me like that? It makes me uncomfortable.” Jay's eyes stay hanging on yours. “Looking at you? what is it a crime to look at another human being? Arrest me.” He rolls his eyes. You shake your head, closing your laptop and giving him your entire attention.

“Your looking at me like ur going to eat me alive I don't like it please direct your eyes Literally anywhere else” Jay chuckles, moving his head closer to the point your noses would almost just almost connect . “Maybe I should eat you so I don't have to hear your nagging every day. I'll devour you whole nice and slow..how does that sound?”

Unbeknownst to you, a flush rushed across your ears, to which Jay saw with a wide grin. “That's!..that's really inappropriate, Jay. You can't just say things like that to a woman.” He tilts his head, leaning closer. His hot breath stimulating your exposed skin.

“I didn't mean it in that way get your head out of the gutter you.. naughty girl tsk” he paused for a second before starting again “plus I don't really see you as a woman” you raise a brow in disbelief and offence.

“So you’re gay?”

He then abruptly moved back. “Gay? Don't make such a misleading statement; I'm really attracted to women.” You smile slightly, seeing this as an opportunity to twist him even further. “But if you do not view me as a woman, you must see me as a man? And you want to devour this man whole, don't you? Nice and slow Don't worry, your secret is safe with me,” you giggle, covering your mouth from laughing so hard as you watched the dread drown out his face, which turned pale.

“Shut up you’re always so loud and wrong you really think I like men?” You nod “this conversation is proof right here of the Jay is gay statement” Jay places his fingers gently squeezing his temple in vexation. He didn’t appreciate being accused of liking men when he clearly is straight and didn’t like that it was you out of all people.

But

Suddenly he felt the need-the urge to prove it to you he wanted to show you just how wrong you were he wanted to put you in your place and shut you up. So he did just that

Jay leans over in a matter of seconds, one hand behind your neck, the other yanking on your lanyard, forcing tight proximity as he slams his lips against yours. If someone walked in right now, they wouldn't believe their eyes. You didn’t belive it yourself.

His lips brushed against yours, softly and carefully, like you were fragile and he was scared to shatter or harm you. His lips graced yours like butterfly wings, just long enough for him to inhale your breath, feeling the warmth of your skin in his palm as he pulled you in deeper, and the flavour of your strawberry lipgloss lingered in his head, driving him insane.

As soon as it started it quickly ended as you somehow snapped back into reality and roughly pushed him for you. Not wanting to meet his gaze you turn hastily packing your things and leaving as quickly as possible. Leaving a stunned and confused Jay alone in the library.

You slide your back down the wall of an empty corridor, like a dramatic main lead In a teenage drama attempting to regain your calm and gain a grasp of what happened just a few seconds earlier. Were you crazy--or was he crazy? Why did he kiss you, and why was it so long? Most importantly, why did you like it? You loved it You smacked yourself to recover your focus. Choosing to disregard this portion of the day as if it never occurred so that you can sleep soundly tonight.

౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹

After ten minutes of overthinking your life choices in the lounge area, the bell rings for lunch. You grab your phone and text Yunjin to come meet you as soon as possible. She soon appears and sits next to you. You had intentions of telling her but you couldn’t bring yourself too

“What's so urgent that you nee- you having a bad makeup day?” You lift your eyebrow “What?” “My makeup is fine, what do you mean?" she shakes her head, pointing to your lips. “Not your entire makeup, just your lip makeup, it's all smudged.” Flickers of the kiss swarm in your thoughts, making you nauseous.

You quickly get out your mirror attempting to fix it.

“Jay can I ask you something?” Jay nods as he takes a bite out of his sandwich “you smell unusual today” Jay raises an eyebrow, causing Jungwon and Sunghoon to focus on Jake's words: “Yeah, I noticed you smelled kinda fruity today, like... starberries” Jungwon continues, causing Jake to nod in agreement, “I don't smell like that; you're probably smelling something else.”

Unknowingly, while Jay continued to eat, seemingly a little concerned by the claims, Sunghoon discreetly watched Jay, his gaze fixed on the faint hint of lipgloss on his lips.

“Oh my gosh... look at his lips, there's lipgloss. You must have had some action before lunchtime,” Jake wriggles his brows, elbowing Jay. He gulps uneasily, caressing his lip and instantly recalling what he had done; he closes his eyes in regret. “Unless…ur gay? Or something I don’t discriminate ” Jake patted his shoulder

“I knew it I knew u were gay” jay now shoots his head up at that voice your voice as you and yunjin approach his table. You and yunjin were freinds with the rest of jays freinds and sometimes would eat with them though yunjin would limit interactions with jay as by her words “any enemy of my friends is an enemy of mine”

“Jay is gay?” Sunghoon laughs and finally joins the conversation, “Jay and gay, that rhymes!” Jake yelled earning some looks directed at your table Jay simply scowls, “Shut up, both of you.” Jay stands up and grabs his bag and sandwich before leaving. You sighed with relief as he went; sitting directly opposite him seemed wired after what had happened.

It appears that both of you failed to sleep well that night, so you spent it studying to pass the time, while Jay spent it twisting and turning in his bed, extremely upset and ashamed by his irresponsible behaviour. He wishes he could go back in time and prevent it from ever happening.

However, the burning sensation in his chest could not be ignored, and the taste of your strawberry lipgloss lingered on his tongue. He closed his eyes, remembering the taste and feel of your soft lips on his.

The next day was difficult, primarily because you had a council meeting, and of course the vice president had to be Jay, and you the head sadly had a private meeting every 15th, which left you two sitting in an office in silence

“Sooooo..” You spoke but no other words left your lips “should we reschedule this meeting at this rate we will make no progress if you can't even look me in the eye” you grimace a little

“Maybe if a certain somone didn’t just pull up and force themselves onto me I could look them in the eye” you whisper slightly folding your arms turning away. “Force? I didn’t force myself onto you it was mutual” you raise a brow “was it how?”

“You kissed me back and even added your tongue a little; you were clearly into it and wanted it- “shut up please” you placed your fingers on his lips, shushing him before he could humiliate you any further. “Can we change the subject I’m begging” Jay wanted to say more, but judging by your tone and look, he held back.

“Sorry” now, for the first time since this meeting began, you choose to look him in the eye “it was wrong of my to just kiss you out of nowhere I didn't respect your boundaries and I apologise” stunned, you remained silent for a moment before answering “thank you Jay” you smile a little for a split second before it fades away, not wanting to smile for too long because it's Jay after all.

He nods “can we like.. forget this ever happened” you don’t know what it is that you felt then but it was unsettling. You gulped it down agreeing with jays words. “Then let’s start this meeting then”

After a long 30-minute meeting, you and Jay split ways. You go to the library again because you have some free time and run into Sunghoon along the way. You consider many options for running. It's too late; he's already noticed you and invited you to come over.

“hi Sunghoon,” he smiles, waving, “hi y/n, so... do you have any free time right now?” You said, with a nod, “wanna come watch me practise at the rink?” You nodded again, but this time with too much enthusiasm, like a dog. You were embarrassed, but it was difficult to contain your excitement.

౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹

It was chilly. Fortunately, Sunghoon, being the gentleman he is, offered you his puffer, and even though you declined it 15 times, he insisted on forcing you to put it on and zipping you up. The attention in this situation felt good.

You stared in admiration as he skated; he was truly in his element, doing what he does best. You were captivated by how beautifully he swirled and twirled. You hoped you could watch him every day if your schedule wasn't so busy. Interrupting your little display, Yujin texted you.

Yapper: me and the guys are comming over the the rink to ice skate do you wanna come with?

Me: I’m already there? I’m watching Sunghoon practice :)))

Yapper : ARE U LOT ON A ICEY SKATEY DATE? ARE WE INTERRUPTING

Me: NO. He just asked since I also had a free you guys can still come it would be fun I’ll let Sunghoon know

Yapper: if you say so 👀 and btw your bestie is comming

Me: shut up you know dam well he’s not my “bestie” call him that again and I’ll block you

Calling out to Sunghoon, you step down and stand at the edge so he can hear you. “The others are coming down to skate by the way." Sunghoon nods. “Is Jay coming?” You're confused as this was such an unusual and precise inquiry to ask; he should just assume he's coming. You wanted to question further.

“Why are you asking? Is there a reason he shouldn't come?" Sunghoon hastily shakes his head, “I was only wondering—“why? Did something happen?” Sunghoon shakes his head again, “no, I just want to know that's all,” you humm, not believing a word he says. It's times like these that your psychology major comes in handy it was obvious he was lying to you. “Jay is coming”

Soon after they arrived, as you had previously briefed Sunghoon, he prepared and distributed everyone's skates. Jake eagerly put on his skates, excited and ready to go and followed Sunghoon towards the rink. Even when Jungwon and Yujin joined, you still struggled to put on your left shoe.

You attempted to fit your foot in again but failed. You were ready to give up and just watch instead.

“Are you gonna cry over an ice skate?” He teased triggering your frown “No!..this is just really hard” you turn back and try to put it back on for the fifth time. Jay rises up and crouches down in front of you, keeping the shoe in place.

“What are you—“helping I'm helping you, dumbass I'm holding the shoe in place so you can put your foot in, go on.” You comply, pushing your foot in with ease. Before you could reach down to tie the lace, Jay beats you to it, tapping your foot lightly once he's finished. “Thanks” Jay hummed as he turned to leave. Realisation came over you immediately, and you grabbed the hem of his jeans. “Wait, I don't think I can walk on my own. Just help me to the entrance” Jay grumbled, carrying your body up with ease.

“I'll just hold your hand the whole way and bring you to Yujin alright” you agreed, and he now held your hand in his, and you felt the warmth again, just like that night. You didn’t want to let go. Though from afar a pair of flaming eyes watched the scene unfold

“Come on Sunghoon I'm showing you my spin!” Jake yelled as he dragged Sunghoon's arm, diverting his attention. Despite this, Sunghoon cast glances at you and Jay as you entered the rink hand in hand, like some corny couple, and clinched his teeth in anger.

“This is so scary!” Jay glances at you, “You haven't done this before?” You shake your head. “No... this is all new to me, which is why I couldn't do my other shoe properly.” Jay now turns to you, putting your other hand in his. “Do you want me to show you something? I won't let go; don't worry, I'm not the evil creature you see me to be” his comment makes you chuckle “you sooo are if there wasn't any witness I'm so confident you would let go and leave me to fall” Jay rolls his eyes and begins to skate backwards slowly. “w..woah there What are you doing!? What if you bumb into someone! And then boom I fall have an accident and crack my head open and blee-“shh..clam down love im a pro.. I know exactly what im doing now watch and learn newbie”

Jay effortlessly glides backwards, occasionally whirling the two of you in a circle, abruptly changing from fast to slow and slow to fast. It made you a little disoriented, but it was entertaining. Soon, your freinds took notice.

“ I never thought I would see jay and y/n that close to eacother with out any violence involved” jungwon said with a smile “same.. when i look at them now it's kinda cute don't you think ?” Yujin seems complexly clueless of Sunghoon's crush on you: “uh.. nahh, I don't see it”Jake rushes in and shuts off that particular issue, mindful of Sunghoon's facial expression. Jake quickly skates towards the two of you and splits you up.

“Hey guysss y/n I wanna show u somthing come” Jake takes your hands, replacing Jay's warm ones with his chilly ones and yanking you away from him. You felt empty again, and you weren't sure why.

After approximately an hour of ceaseless skating, the others left for ice cream, but you, Jay, and Sunghoon decided to go to study. It felt odd walking back to campus; you could sense the tension, as if you knew something had happened and wanted to know more.

Before u had the chance to bring it up Sunghoon departed calming “something came up” leaving you and Jay alone. It was silent but a comfortable silence you kept talking glances at Jay really only because he kept talking glances at you he seemed he wanted to say somthimg so you gave him the green light

“I know u have something to say don’t be a pussy” Jay chocked on air at the sudden directness “well.. if you say so then please just here here me out when I say this but I really need something form you it’s kinda last minute but your the only option I have” You nodd urging him to talk “my mom is hosting one of her business events but during it she wants to set me up with a daughter of one of her brand partners but shes..she’s I can’t stand her really and..I was wondering-hoping actually if you can step in just for tonight as my temporary date so my mom doesn’t set me with her…??” Jay closes his eyes expecting the worst yet you say nothing he opens your eyes to observe you

Your countenance gradually changes, and you burst out laughing, “Jay, I never took you for the funny type, oh my..” Jay doesn't find any of this funny and frowns “I'm being serious y/n” you glance at him and your face slowly lowers as you realise he is genuinely serious “ well first of all, I don't wanna be dragged into y'all's rich people drama before they assassinate me in my sleep or some shit” Jay throws his hands in the air “no!..no this is real life not some tv show bs your overthinking this nothing bad is going to happen its just one night stop being dramatic!”

“I am not finished. Second, you don't really like me, and I don't really like you, so it makes no sense that we act like a couple. Third, I'm sure someone else would be better for this... you're not all that dumb, so no way I'm a contender.” Jay sighs, recognising that convincing you will be more difficult than he expected. He lays his hands on both shoulders and shoots you with an expression of great desperation.

“I can't ask anyone else; it's this night, and I'm running out of time. You're the only person I think can handle or tolerate my mother. I really need this, please. I'll do everything, give you anything, just do me this one favour.” You place your finger on your chin and tap it, trying to prolong this moment enjoying every second of jays expression. You glance into his yearning stare. “Hmm, I don't know..” Jay holds your shoulder more tightly than previously. “Please y/n you owe me I've helped you 2 times now this is the least you can do for me” you let out a sigh giving in “sure give me 50k” Jay opens his mouth in surprise at the outrageous quantity.

“Oh that’s not..” you sigh “you said anything this classifies as anything your rich aren’t you? You’re basically a walking bank! this should be nothinggg” Jay sighs “fine..but only after you have gone I’ll send it to you understood” you nod “if this is what its like to have a sugar daddy..then I’ll gladly come to every event can you imagine? 50k per event I might as well drop out of uni and start travelling the world” Jay chuckles at your imagination he found you amusing.

“I think I'm a bit young to be a sugar daddy plus I would never willingly wanna spoil a brat like you someone like you needs discipline” your smile dimes kissing your teeth you pinch his arm earning a groan

“What makes you think I want you to be my sugar daddy!? I'm not a brat, and I don't deserve to be disciplined at all, especially by someone like you. Take your own advice.” Jay hums, “You want to discipline me? Didn’t know you were into that” He smirked, leading you to glance away. “Why are you saying it that way!..You're so weird Jay, this is why you don't get any girls because you're a fucking creep.” He laughs, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye.

“yet your going to a fancy event with this creep tonight aren’t you?”

౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹

Another thing you didn't expect was Jay to be in your dorm room, just you and him. Jay had bursted in pushing some bags into your chest.

“What's this?” He rolls his eyes. “Are you blind?” It's obviously shopping bags full of clothes and shoes. Use your common sense...anyway, I chose this outfit out for you, so go and wear it; the party is in an hour.” You grumble in irritation, going to the bathroom to change.

You would have preferred that instead of parting ways after the conversation, he had informed you of the timing so you could have begun working on your hair and makeup instead of turning up to close to the time where you were in your lounge wear

After getting ready, you come out and present yourself to Jay. It was a long wine-colored green dress shoulder less showing your collarbone. The sleeves ended at your wrist, slightly flared. It embraced your curves, trailing down to the floor and encompassing your body--in a wonderful manner. Jay matched it with gold earrings that flowed down, a simple necklace with a diamond in the centre, and low heels. Jay hummed in fulfilment, looking down at you from top to bottom.

“How do I look?” Jay nods, “You look good, so good I'll turn straight for you.” You smile and laugh at his comment. It seemed he did have a sense of humour. You excuse yourself shortly rushing to do your hair and makeup while Jay is getting ready in your room. Shortly after, you emerge, stunned to discover his finished look.

He was dressed in an all-black suit with a black turtleneck, which wonderfully highlighted his features, particularly his jawline. You didn't want to acknowledge it, but he looked great. You subconsciously ogled at him, and Jay smiled proudly. “You like what you see love?” You shake your head, “Meh, it's fine I guess.” Jay grins to himself at how quickly you denied, as if your mouth didn't water at the sight of him. “Well then let's get going wouldn't want to be late now would we”

Soon you arrive. Jay comes out and opens your door, assisting you out of the vehicle and locking it behind him. He rests his hand on your waist, but he soon removes it. You turn to him “Can I put my hands there? Are you okay with that?” You nod gently, reassuring him. He places his hand back there, confirming to you the warmth you didn't realise you were missing. It made you feel at ease.

You both walk in while Jay greets all these people you don't recognise. To say you felt out of place is an understatement; you were dressed appropriately, but you didn't feel the part. Soon, a woman appeared, and from her appearance, you could tell she was Jay's "scary" mother, his words not yours.

“Hello, my lovely boy. Oh! And who could this be? Jay smiles and pulls you closer, “This is my date y/n.. and y/n this is my mother.” You bow and smile at her. “hello it's lovely to meet you Mrs park” His mother looks you over, looking for flaws to criticise you for. She stiffly smiles, but you know it's not genuine. “Hello there dear.. it's a pleasure to meet you. What do your parents do hmm?” You gulp.

Clearly, you and Jay did not think this through; you had not prepared anything, so you simply stated the truth. “My father was a senior clinical psychologist and my mother is a paralegal” she hums as she takes a sip of her drink. “So your parents aren't doing so well,” “ah.. what a same” you wrinkle a brow, “pardon? What do you mean by that, Mrs. Park,” she shrugs.

“A psychologist? Might as well have been a doctor, far more money, and a paralegal, was it not enough to not just be a lawyer, maybe she failed law school? I guess.. everyone has to find a means to get by."

Your rage must have been obvious. Jay gently squeezed your waist, rubbing it slightly. You couldn't tell if it was to calm you down or a warning not to overreact, but you moved on impulse. No one would speak about your parents, especially your father, who had passed away.

“Listen here..Mrs Park. I do not appreciate your comments regarding my parents' employment. As you seem to be unaware about, a psychologist is a very wonderful vocation. My father was the head of his own business and owned it; he worked in private health care. He earned a lot of money, more than enough to fucking survive…” you took a deep breath to gain composure “Oh! and for your information, I'm also studying psychology so that when I'm older, I can be as successful as my father-and just because my mother isn't in the spotlight of a law profession doesn't mean her work is any less important; she does all of the behind-the-scenes paperwork without the help of others like her , lawyers would have nothing to present in court. I’m sure you didn’t know that since your mindset is clearly limited”

Mrs park gasps and opens her mouth to inject but you cut her off “My mother makes a lot of money; she's not a billionaire, but she lives nicely and has raised me and my brothers comfortably, so do your research before you start talking down on jobs.” You handed Jay your drink and turned away to leave.

Jay's mother was taken aback because no one had ever spoken to her like that before. She was silent; you chewed and spat her out. As yunijin would say “you ate that girl” Jay was fairly pleased of how you stood up for yourself in the face of disagreements. One thing he liked about you was that no matter who it were, you held firm for what you believed in and never gave in to anyone else. “That insolent, arrogant brat! How could she!?” Jay turned to his mother. “She may be a brat at times, but she is not arrogant in general please stop from talking about my date in any unfavourable way, mother…” Jay quickly turned to walk after you.

You sigh as you step out onto a random balcony, embracing the chill. You lean on the edge, looking over the neighbourhood and gazing at the stars.

“The sky is beautiful isn't it?” You humm your eyes, not leaving what is in front of you. “Are you trying to flirt with me right now?” He rolls his eyes “maybe.. is it working love?” you smirk “if anything im turned off repulsed even disgusted it- “alright no need to over do it like I'm some creature who lacks in every ability to charm a woman” you look him in the eye “maybe you are? But one things for sure you certainly did not charm ms back there park. Neither your mother but that’s not the focus”

Jay's smile shrivels under the implications of your words, and he moves closer to you. “Listen.. my mother, like I said, she's scary, and it's hard to voice my opinions against her.” You cross your arms. “I get that, but she basically humiliated and billeted my parents. I know we're not close, but even if you said something or tried to stop her, I'd have appreciated feeling like im not on my own back there...you know? But I think I anticipated too much from you.”

Jay sighed. “What do you mean by that, and what are you trying to say? Trust me, I wanted to say something but couldn't bring myself to…” “ I'm sorry, I really wish I said something. I didn't like how she talked to you either, and I want to take accountability for that because she's my mother. I feel partly responsible, especially since I brought you here; it's my fault. I'm so sorry, y/n, and I completely understand if you just want to leave, you can I won't force you to stay.”

You turn and move approach him. You had no idea what possessed you to do such a thing, but before you realised it, you had placed a palm on his cheek, cupping it. “Honestly, everything is fine. I get where you're coming from. I don't know about your relationship with your mother, but if it's as difficult as you claim, I'll go with it. It's fine; I handled everything on my own rather well, didn't I?” You smile to yourself with pride. “I’m an independent woman after all”

Jay returned the same look, and if it hadn't been so dark, you would have noticed how bright his cheeks were at the contact of your cold hands “I like my women independent” he winked at you, causing you to quickly retreat your hand back using it to hit his chest “s..stop it” Jay smiles “would you believe me if I told you I stayed silent because I knew you were going to jump in so there was no need..haha” you flick him in the arm, making him yelp “don't make me change my mind park” jay quickly shook his head “just a jokey joke..” You smile as you move towards the door, “No worries then let's continue what we started”

The rest of the night went nicely; Jay's mother scowled at you the entire time, but never said anything, which you appreciated, and the meal was as good as you expected. “So this is what you affluent people do when you're bored?” he shrugs. “I suppose so.. I have these all the time” “How do you have time to prepare for midterms? Especially if it's 11 p.m. and no one appears ready to go home” you raise a brow awaiting his reaction “well... I make it work and quit interviewing me” you frown

“I am not interviewing you. I am only asking some inquiries. Can't a girl be curious?” he rolled his eyes, “you seem too curious for someone who doesn't like me”

“Well maybe I don't like you a little less than before” Jay raises an eyebrow, querying how you worded your sentence “Clearly, you visit the library, but not enough. Your sentence is grammatically incorrect nevertheless, I know how to decode the drivel you spew, therefore I understand you.” As usual, Jay had to find a way to irritate you. “If you understand me, you could have just said thank you and called it a night.” Jay laughs, looking at his watch.

“Like you said it's getting late we have class tommrow come on let's go I'll drive you home” you nod “loving the jays girlfriend experience it's a shame you have such as attitude for that I'll rate it a 7/10” Jay stands up with his hand against your back, guiding you through the crowd. “A 7/10? Come on, I treated you well tonight; I even gave you this lovely outfit and shoes, and I- “woah, woah, cool down, I was just kidding.. you've been so sweet to me today I’ve basically fallen in love with you at this point” you smile.

“Your in love with me?” You hum “I said basically doesn’t mean I actually am don’t get my words twisted I know how badly you want me and all..” you wait for his response yet all he does is stare at you with a look. A particular look you recognise, the look he gave you before he kissed you that day. Was he going to do it again? You secretly hoped he would.

“Y/n actually I- Jay! Is that you my favourite nephew I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

Dispite the interruption Jay isn't sure what hit him, but he wanted to make you smile like that again and again, and he yearned for another time when he could be alone with you and do whatever he wanted.

౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹

From that day onwards You and Jay were near each other more from the start. You studied together, spent your spare time together, and even greeted each other in the hallway. While you still had some arguments and words flung back and forth, they were less frequent and less sour and bitter.

“Jay Jay Jay jaayyyyyyy” he hummed as you poked his cheek. He felt the sharp agony of your acrylics scraping his cheque, but not wanting to upset you, he took the pain silently, allowing you to do whatever you pleased. “I've been thinking we should go out,” he shoots his head up. “G..go out really ?” You agree, “Yeah, there's this cool bowling place that opened about 15 minutes away from campus; we should go together.” Jays smile dropped as glad as he was to go with you, he was hoping it was to “go out with you,” if you catch the drift

But Jay was happy that you were happy and that’s what matters now. Your closeness to eacother was somthing Your friends soon all picked up on yet no one questioned it too much because they were relieved that everyone in the group was now on good terms.

But was that really the case?

What was supposed to be a relaxed atmosphere transformed into an uneasy, uncomfortable quiet. Jay Jake Sunghoon and Jungwon are present, but despite the normal cheerful environment, today no one speaks.

“So.. what's up guys..” Jake sought to break the silence but received no response. He sighs and sinks into the chair, succumbing to defeat. “Actually Jake..” Sunghoon answers “I wanna know what's up too” he speaks addressing Jake, but his eyes are straight on Jays, and Jay understands precisely what he is talking about.

“If you have somthing to say just be straight with me Sunghoon” he clicks his tongue againt his check growing agitated “what I can’t seem to understand.. is how you wanted me to stay away from her so bad because she’s a “bad person” yet all of a sudden your associating yourself with you even hanging out with her privately which you never did before..”

“Honestly I wish I could give you a straight answer for that.. but I can't really explain how I feel and I'm sorry for how I acted back then towards you about it I shoukd have just been true with my intentions” he said “then what are your intentions” Jay gulped, little nervous beneath his gaze, “I like her too, Sunghoon, and I think I always have..maybe ”

The room fell silent as Sunghoon's eyes ramined on Jay's eyes, twitching fingernails digging into his skin as his skin redness became sore. “I feel like such a fool.. my best friend has been lying to me all this time I knew it that day with the smell it was y/n's I smelled the same when I invited her to ice skate with me.. you've been lying under my nose this whole time kissing her doing god knows what with he for all I know! when I expressed my fucking interest in her!” Jay felt terribly awful for how it all played out. He wished things had been different, he wished he had never liked you or that sunghoon had never liked you in the first place, but it was too late.

“Sunghoon, I-“save it” he stood up, grabbing his bag departing. Jay gazed down with regret. Jake sighed and hurriedly stood up to follow, while Jungwon remained behind to check on Jay.

Straight after class you proceed to the lounge and in the corner you find Jay and Jungown. You approach them ready to say high until you catch on to the vibes. As you gaze at their looks bewildered, you pry

“Guys? Is everything alright?” They both glance at you silently. Jay says nothing at first but mutters a brief “I'll talk to you later” as he collects his things and leaves. Jungwon tags along, giving you an apologetic look as he departs, leaving you perplexed and alone to ponder your feelings.

Jay has distanced himself since that day. Perhaps you would have preferred not to see his face back then, but the you now dreaded it. He became part of your routine, something you looked forward to, and now it's as if it never happened. You waved at him in the canteen one day, he looked away, (ouch) the next you asked him a question, he got up and left, the other at the store he made eye contact with you and went into another section , you called, he declined, you texted, he was online but left you on delivered.

It's almost pathetic how badly you wanted to talk to him despite the fact that he ignored you every time, but you didn't want to give up; you had some hope that he'd ultimately talk to you, but he didn't.

Yujin was becoming concerned about your state; you stopped hanging out with the others at lunch, you didn't respond to the group chat despite being the most active, you stayed in your dorm most of the time and stopped going out with everyone, and when you did, you looked tired and drained this wasn't like you at all.

“What could I have done wrong yujin.. I don’t understand we were so fine like 2 weeks ago then boom ghosted” yujin sighed as she pattered your back in attempts to comfort you she truely didn’t understand either “I really don’t know.. it seems you guys were fine from what I saw maybe it’s a him issue”

౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹

Now it's the 15th, the day you dreaded. You had no idea how you would deal with Jay, or if he would even show up, because he now appears to despise you. You felt your stomach churn, which was a restless sensation. Taking the deepest breath your body could bear, you opened the door to see Jay sitting with some papers and reading them. You silently step in, locking the door behind you and sitting a few seats away while bringing out your paperwork.

Silence. As you expected

But impulsively it felt like the one chance you had to receive answers and closure because there were no excuses for him to run away and ignore you. “Jay” he hummed, not looking up, “why are you ignoring me? Have I done something wrong?” Jay doesn't say anything for a moment but eventually says “no”

“Why am I getting silent treatment then? And look at me when I'm talking to you.” Jay sighs softly, looking up to meet your gaze, and immediately lowers in sorrow as he sees your expression. “I've been wondering for weeks what I must have done to irritate you.. but I can't put my finger on it. We were getting there, Jay and we were getting along..then you just cut me off out of nowhere. What was the point if you were just going to do this? You might as well have just let me live my life, but no you made things complicated.”

“I..I'm sorry” you scoff in incredulity. He's not sorry; if he was, he wouldn't have done this to you in the first place if he cared enough. “ If you were sorry, you would not treat me this way, or... is this the goal to make me like you so you can then mess with my emotions!? and make me feel like shit since you despise me so much? If so well done actor of the fucking year.. you fooled me for sure.” You shake your head standing up, Jay replicates your movement, reaching out quickly seizing your wrist.

“Hey... no, no, it's not like that at all! Please hear me out. I didn't want to handle things this way” you sharply, remove your hands from his grip. The warmth he once gave you feeling disgusting It's as if a switch went off in your head, erasing any developing feelings and replaced them with what you once knew.

“What? Want to mislead me again with your lies and restart the cycle? Cut it out, Jay, you've won! Are you pleased with your achievements? Are you satisfied? And to think I thought we could someday... well, it doesn't matter anymore, does it? I don't want anything to do with you, Jay.” Jay was frustrated and scared, and he didn't know what to do. He attempted to convince you, but you refused to listen.

You turn to leave, ignoring his pleads. “Jay, if you know what's good for you, stay away from me right now. You've been doing so well lately, I'm sure it won't be a problem for you. Keep up the good work goodbye Jay,” you turn away, slamming the door behind you, leaving Jay to linger in remorse.

In frustration, he smashed his fists against the table, turning red. He was extremely angry. Angry at himself for being so dumb and small-minded; if he had just been honest with you, maybe things would have been different. Jay wasn't sure what to call it, but it felt like heartbreak more than anything. A wave of anguish overtook him, robbing him of appetite. He felt intense pain in his midsection, like if a shard had sliced through his gut. It felt like death, like despair, choking his body's breath and shutting down his brain effecting his ability to think.

With each passing day, you take another step away from him leaving him in the dark as he once did to you , roles now reversed he feels the same pain you did. despite his constant request and pleas that you show some signs. Your eyes show him distrust, and an averted stare.

“She's leaving today she didn't even say goodbye” Jake frowns and looks down as Jay strides into the room, reading a brow. “Who's leaving?” Jake and Yujin froze. “Uh.. no body jay it's nothing” he crosses his arms “tell me” Yujin keeps her mouth shut to keep her world safe, whereas Jake blabbers your secret under even the slightest pressure.

“Y/n! She is travelling for Canada today- her flight is at 8:45” Jake hurriedly covers his lips while Yunjin slaps him harshly on the shoulder “your so... useless,” she sighs in annoyance now looks at Jay "if your thinking of going don't bother there is no way you will make it in an hour she will be gone and wants nothing to do with..”

Yunjin halts in her sentence in shock as Jay speeds out his room you could practically feel the gust of wind from the speed at which Jay ran to his car. This was his last chance he had to at least try maybe now maybe now you would be willing to talk to him and sourt things out he needed and has been yurning to be in your Presence for so long

You sighed as you waited in queue to board your flight. Was this a hasty decision? Perhaps would it would improve your mental health 100%, especially since it was only for the rest of the academic year you needed this time for yourself. As you go through your playlist, you select a song and discreetly hum along to it, closing your eyes and immersing yourself in the music.

“Y/n!”

You were so engrossed in your music that you missed Jay desperately calling out your name as you made your way to the front, scanning your passport and pulling your bags closer to the jet. Jay worried and tried to get closer to you, but the airport was packed with people "y/n!" He called for you again.

But it was too late your figure was gone.

You wonder occasionally if you and Jay were actually incompatible , and how two wrongs may function together so strangely. Was your perfect harmony a lie?. Was it only temporary, or was it even there at all?-Or simply a thought you deluded yourself into thinking since you craving his attention so much.

You guess you will never know and neither will he.

౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹ ౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹ ౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹ ౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹ ౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹ ౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹ ౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹ ౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹ ౨ৎ

ᝰ.ᐟ - note : after being gone for moths I’ve finnaly had the motivation to writeeee. This has taken me days hopefully you enjoyed and thank you for reading ૮₍ ˶•⤙•˶ ₎ა

@SOOTREEPEAR

#sootreepear #enhablr #en web #jay x y/n #jay enha #jay x you #park jongseong #jongseong x reader #jongseong angst #enhypen jongseong #jay fanfic #enhypen jay #jay enhypen #enhypen x reader #jay x reader #enhypen #enhypen fic #enhypen fanfiction #enha

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dorkshadows · 12 days ago

Text

The Write-Up PART THREE!???????

Ao Bing: I'm 3 years old Nezha: I'm 3 years old too Shen Xiaobao: I'm 300 years old (From Jiaozi’s Nezha doodle celebrating the 14.3 billion record back in March)

Hi, it's me again. Nezhaheads, I truly was not expecting there to be a part 3 to the Nezha fandom shenanigan chronicles. Nezha 2 extended its theatrical run through June, so it'll be a while before it hits streaming and even longer before Nezha 3 comes out. But don't worry- there's plenty of action here to keep everyone busy until Jiaozi finishes the script for Nezha 3! Perhaps too much action.

Part 1 and Part 2 of these Writeups for those interested.

I thought things finally calmed down in the Nezha fandom since the Ao Guang ship wars fizzled out. Everyone went back to vibing and everything was peaceful... or so we thought!

All the previous write-ups will feel like a fin in the water compared to what this post is about. I'll do my best to explain it in ways normal humans can understand, because I'm still struggling to wrap my head around it myself. A lively portion of fans have invented a brand new form of discourse never seen before, and oubing got caught in the crossfire. This is like witnessing the conferred war of the gods, except everyone involved is terminally online.

I stared straight into the sun to obtain the info for the parts 1 and 2. For part 3, I flew a rocket straight to the sun, got cooked in a trigram furnace, and now I have Sun Wukong's fiery eyes!!

Will the following information improve your life in any way? No. Will it teach you anything of value? Also no. But will it be very funny? Perhaps!

Disclaimer: The majority of the fandom is not like this, as far as I know. Most fans ship everything they see and enjoy their own content in peace, but as we all know, 1% of 10,000 people being assholes still means there's 1000 assholes scrambling around. And in a fandom as huge as Nezha 2019/2025, that 1% can feel like a wildfire that won't go out.

And again, blanket note of caution- if you read on, you are prepared to see anything and everything. If you are OK with all this, then- let’s go!

Most of the drama takes place across pockets of weibo and xhs, less so on lofter but if the drama is big enough, you'll catch whiffs of it. People who don't want to be part of it just close their eyes and pretend not to see it, which is a very good strategy. But other people are jumping into the drama with their eyes wide open and making it everyone else's problem.

To prepare you for the absolute nuclear takes below, I'll first mention some light drama that nobody cares about. This is what I call, "people squabbling in a corner" because these takes have enough people saying them to warrant a mention, but not enough people participating to deserve more of our attention. And again, these are a very small minority among the fandom, because as I said, the majority are just vibing. I won't mention oubing here because that's for the main event. And we're not going to name any ships besides the top 7 for simplicity's sake, but if you're interested, someone on lofter ranked the popularity of each ship here.

Top 7:

Oubing

Bingzha

Dilong

Lubao

Longwangbao (Ao Guang/Shen Gongbao)

Luhe (Lutong/Hetong)

Runhe (Ao Run/Hetong)

(I'm leaving you to figure out everything else on the list at your own risk fyi)

Anyway, you know how astronauts have to go into those spinning things to do anti-gravitational training before heading to space? That's what this is. I'm preparing your tolerance for insanity before launching you into its very depths.

Ready? here we go! 命由我不由天!

The Trinity of things people take turns complaining about:

Emasculated Ao Guang ("What kind of freaks think a 280cm beefcake is a bottom??")

Trophy Wife Ao Bing ("The fujos ruined Ao Bing!")

Punching Bag Shen Gongbao ("Why do you people always have to make him the most miserable person on Earth??")

People Squabbling in a Corner:

Wuliang Xianweng apologism exists for some reason. Not only are there people who believe Wuliang is not a villain, they also think he is the REAL hero of the story! Because everything he did was on behalf of the human race! They are passionate about it too.

Some sickos think a live action adaptation of the movies would be a good idea.

Every once in a blue moon, someone complains about all the Shen Gongbao whump content and calls it "immoral." No, this did not deter anyone. They're still throwing Shen Gonggong into the meat grinder every day. Lots of Things happen to Ao Guang and Ao Bing too in this fandom, but it's particularly excessive and brutal when it comes to SGB, so his is the only one that's prevalent enough to have people complaining about it. That's why "Yuxu Gong abuses cats" is a thing now.

Fanboys are still arguing over who deserved to be the 12th Golden Immortal more, Taiyi or Shen Gongbao

Oubing/Dilong/Lubao shippers are sometimes victims of drama and sometimes instigators. People are not normal about ships they don't like and characters they don't like. Usually not for anything the characters actually did or the actual dynamics of the ship, but instead because the other character/ship gets in the way of another ship or isn't attractive to op.

I originally listed a bunch of bad takes from individuals but deleted them all because it was singling haters out and turning into me going, "get a load of this asshole, guys!" because quite a number were coming from the same people. That's not fair to all the other haters out there! Every time you think someone's come up with the dumbest post, another person comes along to dethrone the last person. It's only fair they all get mentioned at the same time! So instead, see my example of the average weibo vaguepost when you put every terrible vaguepost (yes... these are real takes, and not even all of them asdfasdf) from every hater for every ship and every character out there side by side with each other. No paragraph breaks for true immersion (CW: fandom idiocy):

"Hope you enjoy dilong when Tiandi comes out as an ugly old man! Get your ugly old man away from lutong and go fuck yourselves, lubaos. he belongs to [whoever else I ship lutong with]. Stop mooching off of shen gongbao's popularity and get your abusive deer away from our leopard. also go fuck yourselves lubaos, he belongs to [whoever else I ship sgb with]. nobody likes lutong, fuck that guy. if you think jinzha is a bottom, kill yourself. fans of the ship I don't like all hate my fav even though my fav is 1/2 of the ship, stop making my fav top, stop making my fav bottom, tall people shouldn't bottom, ugly people shouldn't bottom, feminine people shouldn't top, nonexistent characters shouldn't even be here, no Li should ever bottom. Shen Gongbao fans go fuck a bike because you like faces that look like bicycle seats so much. Hope Tiandi enjoys the smell of Ao Guang's giant foot, loser dilongs. Luhe shippers go to hell. Self-shippers, jump off a cliff. Kill the switch fan, kill the switch fan right now!! RunHe shippers fuck off. Dilong shippers invented lubao to fuck with longwangbao. Bingzha shippers are sick in the head. all shippers die. all solo fans kill yourselves. Only X fans ship XY, only Y fans ship XY, YX fans die. Anyone who doesn't ship my ship should burn in hell. My ship will be canon and theirs will burn! I need to vague this loser's idiotic headcanon, unlike my headcanon, which is totally canon. Only a guangying shipper would like longwangbao. Of course an Ao Bing stan would say that, wow die bottom Nezha fan. Oubing fans are delulu because Ao Guang's true love is clearly [redacted for your sakes]-"

Are you following any of that? No? Good, neither can I. The scariest part is that you'd think most people saying those things are minors. No, the worst of them are adults with real jobs.

Thankfully, all that pointless squabbling never led to anything except more vagueing. Any attempts at harassment lacked the manpower of the dilong/guanying drama. So it usually boils down to a couple people beefing it with each other while their friends show emotional support by leaving likes and going "Yeah! That's right, fuck [whichever ship or character's being bashed]."

And yes, the SGB fans being vagued, vagued the "ugly, old man" accusations back by saying "we know he's old and ugly, that's why we're into him <3 we love riding bikes <3" Ironically, I think both the SGB fuckers and the SGB haters are unaware that "bicycle" has a very specific connotation in English fandoms LOL!

Citing a fanlore article I just googled:

Little Black Dress (LBD) refers to a character who, like a little black dress, "goes with anything." These are characters who are easily paired with almost any other character, including crossover characters from other fandoms. Also known as the Fandom Bicycle ("everyone gets a ride"), the Launcher of a Thousand Ships (a reference to Helen of Troy), or the Cargo Container (gets shipped everywhere).

In addition to actually wearing that black dress, SGB is indeed the one character with the most ships now (they're not necessarily hyper popular ships, but they exist), including with characters that aren't even in the movie (Hello Jiang Ziya and King Zhou). It's easier to count who he hasn't been shipped with at this point. He's not just a bicycle anymore, he's the fandom bicycle.

And yes, the dilongs are doing their best to manifest a hot Hao Tian to prove the haters wrong.

But don't take that as a picture of the fandom at large. I've noticed that most people ship oubing/dilong/lubao (and other assorted ships) at the same time without drama. Or just don't talk about things they don't like, which is a very hard task for some fans! Truly the one challenge that keeps all fandoms connected regardless of race, nation, or creed.

Meme Updates:

This time, I have no fanon lore updates for everyone. Nothing's really changed since last time. But there are some more meme variations of Sun Wukong meeting Shen Gongbao. Some examples-

SGB: "The prejudice in people's hearts is like a mountain. No matter how hard you try to move it, it remains immobile." SWK: "So true, they wouldn't even let me be the Jade Emperor!" SGB: "Wait-"

SGB: "The prejudice in people's hearts is like a mountain. No matter how hard you try to move it, it remains immobile." SWK: "Skill issue." *invades heaven*

SGB: "The prejudice in people's hearts is like a mountain. No matter how hard you try to move it, it remains immobile." SWK: "That's a YOU problem. I'm different.*invades heaven* SGB: "I was the only demon disciple under Tianzun. SWK: "Oh cool. Were you your Master's favorite too? SGB: :) :) :) :) :)

EDIT to add: also some random trivia since it's a joke that gets lost in the subs. "Gonggong" is a way to address eunuchs. In court, they're referred to as "[surname] gong gong" so in the first film, Shen Gongbao wasn't just offended that Nezha was mispronouncing his name, Nezha was calling him a eunuch.

A Breather before the next load of insanity:

I don't know if the algorithm's the same now, but a while ago on douyin, the search box would lead to a rabbit hole of search words when I plugged in #dilong or #lubao. As in, enough individuals were searching for these terms that it autofilled asdfasdf:

"Ao Bing gets tied up, Ao Bing gets crucified, Ao Guang gets crucified, Ao Guang gets crucified and tortured, Ao Guang gets bullied by Tiandi, Shen Gongbao gets tied up by Lutong, Lutong tortures Shen Gongbao, Shen Gongbao almost dies, Shen Gongbao coughs up blood, Shen Gongbao gets tied up and tortured, Shen Gongbao gets beat up, Shen Gongbao and his dad get beat up."

No, none of those yielded any results though you're welcome to try LOL. Wait, no actually one of those did yield something- it was someone's dilong fic about Hao Tian beating the shit out of Shen Gongbao and refusing to stop unless Ao Guang agrees to marry him, and then when Ao Guang does, Hao Tian gets really mad that he cares about another man. Average Tiandi behavior. Average day in Shen Gongbao's life.

And Jiaozi and co. work hard, but you know who works harder? Lubao shippers. They finally found a frame of their ship together in the same shot and angled in a position that allows face to face eye contact, and a with a lighting scheme that validates all of their headcanons to boot!

Now, THE MAIN EVENT. It's a wild one, so please strap on your seatbelts!

Solo Nezha fans vs Solo Ao Bing fans vs Oubing shippers vs Bingzha shippers vs Jiaozi vs Everyone Else

If I'm wrong about any of this, please feel free to jump in and correct me. Because I am NOT looking at any of this again. All that weibo-vaguing was hard enough for me to look at, but this next section took away at least 100 years of cultivation from me. But that's how much I love you all, Nezhaheads!

"The human capacity for drama is like a mountain. No matter how much you try, it can never be moved!" - me as I climbed up the mountain with what remained of my brain cells.

This drama, battle, whatever it is, was actually briefly mentioned in my first writeup. Everyone ignored it because it was just some unhinged people going at it with each other, and it never left weibo. Until it did. Then this drama that's been festering since as far back as February has finally reached its fever pitch.

To start us off with the seeds of this drama, you need to understand that there is a minor but extremely loud group of Nezha fans that really hates Jiaozi. To them, Jiaozi is like, Satan. These people are self-proclaimed fans of the "real" Nezha- the deity, the character from fsyy, the character from the 1979 movie, Black Myth Wukong, jttw, and so on. Basically, they stan classic!Nezha.

They hate the Jiaozi movies so much that they have entire tags dedicated to hating on him and his films and his characters and their fans. Mile-long essays, extremely angry rants, etc. They hate the movie, and they especially hate all the attention Nezha 2 got because it's a totally distorted picture of the Nezha myth and an offense to Nezha's character! They also spend like, everyday, writing frame-by-frame analyses of the films with citations and stuff, even though they despise it so much.

(Actual depiction of the Jiaozi haters)

As you can imagine, they HATE Ao Bing, who, according to them, is just an evil throwaway villain that did not deserve this much of a place in Nezha's story. This adaptation is distorting facts by making Ao Bing sympathetic! Tricking children into thinking Nezha is friends with that monster! How dare Jiaozi!? They claim Jiaozi is constantly bashing Nezha to elevate his precious Ao Bing and his precious dragon OCs. And bashing heaven/the Chan Sect to make the yaoguai look better. The spirit pearl/demon orb plotline especially offends them because Ao Bing RUINED Nezha's life by doing that! Poor Nezha suffered so much in his own movies, all because of Ao Bing! And Ao Bing rubbed salt in the wound by calling Nezha ugly! What an asshole, pull out his spine right now!

These stans/haters also spend a LOT of time insulting Ao Bing, unironically calling him "ugly," calling him unpopular ("see? he's not even as popular as shen gongbao! pathetic!"), weak, shameless, "girly," and every other insult under the sun.

By association with Ao Bing, they also despise Ao Guang and Shen Gongbao and Jiaozi's attempts to make us sympathize with them. But they can't decide which one of those two bastard men has more responsibility for the pearl switch-up- it changes depending on their mood. What matters is that Jiaozi is Satan, Ao Bing is the original sin, and Ao Guang/Shen Gongbao are the devil's minions, and they just want to see these two horrible men punished for their crimes. Coincidentally, Ao Bing, Ao Guang, and Shen Gongbao have all been accused of being Jiaozi's self-insert.

(imo, if they were paying attention, they would know that nobody punishes Ao Guang and Shen Gongbao more than their own fans. Every day Ao Guang fans wake up and think to themselves, "what else can we do to Ao Guang?" Every day, Shen Gongbao fans wake up and think to themselves, "what haven't we done to Shen Gongbao?")

Their hatred of Ao Bing extends to Oubing/Bingzha shippers, who they constantly bash, vague, and harass (when they get the chance). Because Ao Bing is just mooching off of Nezha's popularity ("Nezha is the main and most popular character! Nobody cares about Ao Bing aside from shippers!") and anyone who ships him with Nezha only cares about Ao Bing clearly. Nezha is just being used as an ooc plot device for them to further victimize and elevate Ao Bing.

These classic Nezha stans then start overlapping with the Nezha stans from the Jiaozi movies. As in, fans of Nezha the character from the 2019/2025 films, who like him exclusively and believe Ao Bing/Oubing fans are just using him as a prop for their loser fav. They believe Oubing is the worst thing to ever happen because Nezha is always a side character for Ao Bing, an ooc bully towards Ao Bing, a walking yaoi dick with no characterization, etc. They say Ao Bing would have 0 fans if it wasn't for Oubing. Unlike Nezha, who would still be the most popular character and the lead of China's greatest box office success, even without Oubing. In fact, Oubing shippers are just a small minority of losers, and the REAL people responsible for the box office numbers are solo Nezha stans.

If they hate 19/25 oubing, they despise Shangmei/1979 oubing for twisting Nezha into an unrecognizable pervert and Ao Bing into a helpless victim, when Nezha was clearly a pure hero in the original and Ao Bing was a dastardly evil monster! Whose fault is it? Oubing shippers. You guys know why the sun sets at night? Oubing shippers. Oubing shippers are all that is wrong with the world.

[For the context/lore behind Shangmei oubing, see this writeup by the lovely yunsound]

But is it only the Nezha stans running amok? LMAO of course not, this is the war of the (terminally online) gods here! Enter Ao Bing stans, who are, you guessed it, exclusive Ao Bing fans who don't care at all about Nezha. Now take all the arguments those Nezha solo stans made, and flip it around- that's what Ao Bing solo stans sound like.

They believe Ao Bing was cheated out of a good storyline in favor of being reduced to fanservice for the fujoshi. He's clearly the best character and so much cooler than that loser Nezha! And everyone else would see that too if Jiaozi and co. weren't so biased against Ao Bing.

Nezha glowed up, but Ao Bing got downgraded in the sequel! This movie has not one, but TWO protagonists, and the filmmakers were horrible for not seeing that! He was reduced to a plot device to elevate Nezha, and all Oubing shippers ever do is make things worse by turning Ao Bing into Nezha's punching bag, feminizing him into an ooc mess, making him weak in order to show how cool Nezha is, etc. Clearly ALL Oubing shippers are just Nezha fans who don't give a shit about Ao Bing.

They even made callout posts (like with screenshots, timestamps, and everything asdfasdf these are legit endlessly long callouts) of all the horrible things Nezha did to Ao Bing... in fanfiction. This stuff was used as proof of what those nasty Oubing shippers are like and how those nasty Nezha stans are always bullying Ao Bing.

Instead of @ ing Jiaozi like you'd expect, fans cut out the middle man and went straight to Nezha temples to pray for more Ao Bing screentime in the third movie. This riled up the Nezha stans because how dare Ao Bing stans bring their bullshit fantasies into their temple!? Ao Bing stans also kicked up a storm over this one official poster where Ao Bing was standing on the side, while Nezha was in the center with Ao Guang and Shen Gongbao (maybe Nezha is bonding with his in-laws?? ever thought of that, Ao Bing stans? checkmate!). Because they saw that as a sign of neglect and bias from the official team!

Ao Bing stans and Nezha stans then kept going back and forth with each other, while taking turns harassing various popular Oubing artists and accusing them of just being fans of Nezha or fans of Ao Bing and using the other character in the ship as a tool for their sick fantasies. I even saw one artist come out and apologize because?? she was friends with a lubao shipper, who *checks notes* reblogged solo Ao Bing art???????? That's how wild it's gotten. Some of these stans also attempted to harass Ao Bing's VA at some point or something, it was just a mess all around.

And coming into the ring, we have Oubing stans hating on Nezha stans and Ao Bing stans as well. They say that if not for oubing, neither Nezha or Ao Bing would be half as popular as they are today. And the WORST stans are the ones who enjoy all the art/fics/etc. made by Oubing/Bingzha creators, only to turn around and show how much they exclusively love 1 character while not caring about the other. Some of them even dared to view ship art as platonic, or worse, solo art! Depending on which character the Oubing stans favor, they'll either only call Nezha stans the scum of the Earth or only call Ao Bing stans braindead losers.

We also have the combo of Nezha stan + Oubing stan or Ao Bing stan + Oubing stan, who do everything the solo stans accuse Oubing shippers of doing!

In case you're wondering, this is how everyone else in and out of the fandom is reacting to the Nezha/Aobing/Oubing battles:

This behavior is "normal" in real person actor/idol fandoms, but seeing it play out with animated characters was truly a first for many, many people LMAO

And then when the stan wars reached new heights, the 31st ComiCup (CP31) came along. That's the biggest fan convention in China. It primarily focuses on Chinese media (donghua especially), but also includes animanga, hollywood shows/movies, novels, etc. I don't think creators, actors, etc. ever attend it- it's a completely fan-based convention for fanartists and writers to sell merchandise for their blorbos, ships, and favorite media. This year, it happened in Shanghai.

From what I can gather, anyone can set up a booth for their ship, character, etc. but to have an entire "street" (a whole lane/aisle of booths) officially dedicated to your fav character or ship is the highest honor. It gets put on the map guide for con-goers. And it means there's 1) enough creators for your blorbo/ship to host a whole street of different booths 2) enough people interested in your blorbo/ship to pack the whole street. While with the booths, you're just one of several numbered areas in the wider fandom lane.

Anyway, both Oubing and Bingzha had official streets. Every ship mentioned in this writeup (and not mentioned too!) had booths too. Dilong had its own street as well, and they're hoping Jiaozi will notice.

But there were no solo streets for Nezha or Ao Bing, or anyone else in the movie... except one character. It's Shen Gongbao. The only character from the entire cast to have a whole street dedicated to his content. And it's Shen Gongbao. Even his haters had to look at that and begrudgingly respect the dedication of leopard stans. Nobody would believe you if you told them this would happen in 2019, but here we are. So I guess you could say that at the end of all this, Shen Gonggong won the conferred god war?? greatest plot twist of 2025.

Me, explaining this in American terms: "This is like witnessing the popular kids fighting over who will be prom queen for an entire year, and then on prom night, the cranky old teacher from down the hall gets voted queen in front of the whole school"

Oubing/Bingzha stans were ecstatic either way, because this proves that the solo stans were delusional from the start and that the world belongs to the Nezha x Ao Bing shippers (and Shen Gongbao fuckers too, apparently). They're still mocking the solo Nezha and solo Ao Bing stans as we speak. I don't know if there's any way of this drama ending unless Nezha himself descends to Earth and tells everyone to shut up, but I think it'll be like the ABZ drama- something major happens or it just fizzles out on its own.

There's another big con coming up in Chengdu, and this time, in order to avoid being owned by the Shen Gongbao fuckers again, the Nezha stans were quick to establish their street! In order to participate in the Nezha street, you have to obey the following rules: "No Ao Bing content, No Oubing content, No content for the 2019/2025 Demon Child movies)"

But also once again, Oubing/Bingzha and Shen Gongbao have their streets set up.

Lastly, for some better news after ALL THAT!

Pop star Silence Wang, changed the lyrics to his song 梦幻诛仙 to make it Oubing-coded during a recent concert.

The one ship that's had zero drama arise from it is Yishen (Taiyi Zhenren x Shen Gongbao). Why? Because Taiyi is the ultimate Chad.

Hetong canonly reads transmigration novels

Jiaozi is now "unsure" how dragons procreate and says he's toying with the idea of it happening without the need for a partner. Ao Guang m-preg confirmed? Either way, congratulations m-preg Ao Guang fans

There's so much Shen Gongbao whump they were able to play a whump bingo for him LOL! He suffers in canon-era content, he suffers in post-canon content, he suffers in pre-canon content, he suffers in modern AUs. He even suffers in his own self-ship fics. There has to be some kind of lifetime achievement award we can give him for this because in a mere 4 months, there's been so much whump angst content for him that he can give *checks notes* MCU Loki a run for his money. At first, I thought maybe it was just coincidence that every time I clicked on his content, things like this popped up. Then I realized that no, it was because there truly was that much of it. Something about Shen Gonggong compels his own fandom to see him horribly injured in every way possible, good for them.

I made a English ver. bingo here just so the SGBheads can see all the common things he Goes Through in cn fandom. I was not exaggerating about it in any of the writeups. And this is just some of it! There's a lot more going on in that part of the fandom (like- Shen Zhengdao dies in front of him, King Zhou & Daji are actually super nice to him but die violently in front of him, all manner of public humiliation, starvation, brainwashing, a complete lack of self-worth, and so on) :

Maybe because of all the angst now associated with him, half the fandom's legit convinced he'll heroically sacrifice himself for everyone else in the 3rd movie, bringing his "redemption arc" full circle. Are they right? Only time will tell.

And that's a wrap! Will there be a writeup part 4 to dethrone part 3? Only fate can tell! We can't even predict what storms of drama will emerge from the popularity boost of a streaming copy + high profile English dub. If there's ever any drama as ballistic as this in the English fandom, someone please do a writeup and tag me!

#nezha #nezha 2025 #nezha 2 #哪吒之魔童闹海 #哪吒2 #哪吒 #keeping all the original tags to stay consistent with the other writeeups for the sake of the 20 people interested!#this one is a RIDE a real roller coaster ride #in absolute shock that I came back to these writeups a 3rd time asdfasdfzdf #retiring FOR REAL now!!!

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sebadztian · 11 months ago

Note

I have a bit of a random question? Why is green witch arc considered the s*bac*el arc? I don't mind the arc, but I'm just afraid non-manga reading fans are going to heavily ship Ciel & Sieglinde due to their ages. If anything I think it will cause a bigger rift amongst the ship/fandom. I personally found something like the Book of the Atlantic to be more SC coded, so I was just curious if there was something crucial I wasn't understanding?

Hello, anon!

So sorry it took me ages to answer your ask.

Essay below...

Right, I can see why people might see GWA as Cielinde and if they see it that way, that's totally valid. Will it create more discourse in the fandom? I don't know.

However, for me personally, when I first read this arc (that was BEFORE I got into Sebaciel), I actually ended up shipping Sieglinde/Wolf 😔🙃

But why I see GWA as Sebaciel coded is because this is where their relationship takes a big leap forward. I talked about it in this post and this one too.

I can see why you see BoA as more Sebaciel coded, and no, you're not missing anything. And I agree with you. Both arcs are Sebaciel coded (almost the entire manga is SC coded if you want to see it that way), but they're different.

In Book of Atlantic, we see their past, how they learned to be an earl and his butler from a spare and a demon, as shown in Sebas' cinematic record.

In the 'Tango on the Campania' (the musical) Sebastian made it even more clear that at the beginning of their contract, Ciel was just 'any other child' and Seb himself was 'just a demon'.

At the end of his record, we see how Sebas chose to serve Ciel because he's fascinated by his beauty and his foolishness.

In GWA, it was Ciel's turn to choose Sebastian as shown in these panels.

Add those to the posts that I've linked above, I think we can say that this arc plays a very significant role in the development of SC relationship.

The way I see it, BoA is the basic foundation of their relationship, mostly in relation to their past. It was also the first time that Sebas realized that he could lose Ciel.

GWA builds on that and it solidifies their relationship. This is necessary, and even important, to prepare them for the future (The Boyband arc, the Zombie Brother arc, and the rest of the manga).

If what happened in GWA hadn't happened the way they did, Sebas wouldn't have realized how much he cared about Ciel.

In GWA, he almost lost Ciel (again) and this time, it was worse because this time round, he had to depend on others (Sieg & Finny) to save & take care of his master. For once, he was powerless, and more importantly, Ciel has rejected him. Without those events, he wouldn't have realized just how important Ciel is to him and it also takes him down a peg or two and I'm always down for that.

On Ciel's part, without GWA, he wouldn't have been able to face his zombie brother like he did. It was during his... inner turnoil that he realized why he's doing this and it was then that he has chosen Sebas, above his own family, above his trauma, his guilt, and even his brother.

This is an important turning point and a big leap for the both of them, both individually and as a unit. They went through their own individual character development in relation to each other, unlike in BoA where they both developed together as a team.

So, yes, both Book of Atlantic and GWA are Sebaciel coded, but in different ways.

Also, the result of GWA? My most favourite panels in the entire manga...

My point is, there is no right or wrong answer/way in looking at each arc. What I share with you here is just my own way of looking at this arc through Sbcl lens. Some people might look at it differently and they might not even see the significance of GWA in relation to Sebaciel, and that's completely okay.

Thabk you for the ask!

#sebaciel #green witch arc #book of atlantic #sebastian michaelis #ciel phantomhive #kuroshitsuji #black butler #q&a #manga panels

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therealbeachfox · 7 days ago

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CW: Needlessly Kinking Up Batman

Reading 'What is and is not a Butler' discourse and realizing that "Alfred Pennyworth, self-proclaimed butler who doesn't have any staff under him and just does everything including the cooking" works best if Alfred was originally Martha and Thomas' 24/7 Domestic Sub.

It would've just been real awkward to explain all of that to eight-year-old Bruce, who was too young to have questions like "Why is the butler the only one staying on staff?" or "Why did my parents' Will leave me in the care of their 'Butler' in the first place? And why is everyone official okay with it after Alfred talks with them somewhere private?", so he never did.

And he just keeps never explaining it because at this point if Bruce really wanted to know, he would've worked it out himself.

And Alfred really does derive a soul-deep satisfaction in just... Being Helpful. Keeping everything together. Doing the cooking and the cleaning and the mending and the driving and just soaking up the excess energy of all these people leading their fantastic lives without having to actually get involved in any of it himself.

So yes. Batman has a Butler. And no other staff. And the Butler cooks. And calls a grown ass man "Master Bruce" like Bruce was still eight years old. And if you want to question it, be prepared for a very in-depth explanation of 1970s D/s culture from Alfred complete with slides and copies of his original Service Contracts.

I mean, this isn't going to be my new personal canon, I'm just saying it fits all of the available evidence better than most other explanations (aside from: American comic book writers don't know what a butler actually does)

#Batman #DCU #DC #CW: Domination/Submission #If you want to have the mental image of Alfred in a little french maid skirt doing a light dusting while getting playfully harassed #by Thomas and Martha #You may do so on your own time

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justinspoliticalcorner · 8 months ago

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Gabe Fleisher at Wake Up To Politics:

A few weeks ago, after CNN published its bombshell report about North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, I was texting with a friend. Rumors had been flying around the political world all day about what the report would bring. Now that it had arrived, my friend told me he was unimpressed; it wasn’t as earth-shattering as he’d been expecting. “One day, when your grandchildren ask you what American politics was like in 2024,” I responded, “you can tell them that we learned a gubernatorial candidate called himself a Nazi on a porn website, and your initial response was to shrug.” [...]

The U.S. is currently grappling with two major hurricanes at once — trying to prepare for one while still recovering from the damage of the other. The latter, Hurricane Helene, was the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. since Katrina in 2005. More than 200 people have been killed, mostly in North Carolina, but also in Georgia and South Carolina as well. Entire towns in western North Carolina were leveled; some residents have now gone more than a week without running water.

The former, Hurricane Milton, is expected to make landfall in Florida tonight. Forecasters suggest that it could hit Tampa Bay, which was also impacted by the devastation of Helene but has not been in the direct path of a hurricane since 1921. The city is considered uniquely vulnerable to natural disaster; analysts are already predicting damage upwards of $50 billion. Local, state, and federal officials have been pleading with anyone in Milton’s path to evacuate immediately. “I can say this without any dramatization whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said on CNN earlier this week.

“Several years ago I asked [the National Hurricane Center] to show me what the worst case storm hitting Florida would look like,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) posted on X. “What they showed me back then is almost identical to the #Milton forecast now.” With both storms hitting the U.S. only weeks before a heated presidential election, it is not shocking that they has quickly been sucked into the political discourse. America has a long history of election-year disasters becoming talking points on the campaign trail, from Hurricane Andrew hurting George H.W. Bush in 1992 to Hurricane Sandy boosting Barack Obama in 2012. But the responses to Helene and Milton have been marked by something new: an unprecedented flood of misinformation and conspiracy theories. Don’t take it from me. Take it from FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, who told reporters on a Tuesday conference call that the misinformation surrounding these two hurricanes has been “absolutely the worst I have ever seen.”

Many of the false claims have come directly from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has claimed that: the Biden administration is “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas” (GOP governors have said otherwise); that “Kamala spent all her FEMA money, billions of dollars, on housing for illegal migrants” (FEMA’s congressionally-appropriated program to help local governments house migrants is completely separate from FEMA’s disaster relief funds); and that “we give foreign countries hundreds of billions of dollars and we’re handing North Carolina $750” (that is merely the amount of aid made available to hurricane victims immediately; over the long run, victims can receive up to tens of thousands of dollars in support). A slew of Trump allies, including X owner Elon Musk, have amplified several other conspiracy theories online. But the prize for Biggest Whopper goes to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who posted — on her official congressional account — this week: “Yes they can control the weather.” The supposed “they” was not immediately identified, although Greene previously suggested in 2018 that California wildfires that year were caused by space lasers linked to the Rothschilds, a prominent Jewish family that has long been the subject of antisemitic conspiracy theories. (Greene posted again about “lasers controlling the weather” this week.) In recent weeks, Hurricanes Helene and Milton have sparked a flurry of antisemitic attacks against Jewish officials involved in the response, including claims that they created the disasters.

In her initial post, Greene attached a video of former CIA Director John Brennan discussing geoengineering, an umbrella term for scientific research into manipulating climate systems in order to mitigate the effects of climate change. Geoengineering remains largely theoretical; it is not possible to geoengineer a hurricane, and the technology has no connection to anything that happened with either Helene or Milton. “Climate change is the new Covid,” Greene asserted in another message. “Ask your government if the weather is manipulated or controlled. Did you ever give permission to them to do it? Are you paying for it? Of course you are.”

Other right-wing influencers advanced the argument. “The weather can and is being manipulated,” Georgia Republican Party official Kandiss Taylor posted to her nearly 60,000 X followers, adding: “[Georgia] voting has been compromised and don’t know if we will be able to get all our early voting days in. Now, a hurricane is coming straight for Florida. These two states are necessary for a Trump victory! No coincidence.” Taylor’s message has received more than 3 million views on X. The theories became popular enough in right-wing circles that Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC), who represents Asheville and most of western North Carolina (the area hit hardest by Helene), issued a press release on Tuesday to reassure his constituents of the falsity of various claims. Near the top of the list? “Nobody can control the weather,” he wrote. The statement, in its entirety, is a fascinating historical document — showing the types of claims that a Republican congressman felt he needed to fact-check in 2024, partially due to misinformation spread by his own colleagues and his party’s presidential candidate.

This piece in Wake Up To Politics by Gabe Fleisher is a must-read on the misinformation/disinformation crisis regarding Hurricanes Helene and Milton, thanks to Donald Trump and MAGA-aligned figures (especially in the right-wing media apparatus).