#reverse 1999 has a lot of terms

[sleeplesssmoll]

what even is gnosis and pneuma? those game terms got me so lost 😭💀. id be reviewing the convo logs but nothing comes to concrete understanding hsjsksk

Arcanists are race that contains a unique cell colony allowing them to perform arcane skills (magic, divination, alchemy, etc.). They do not follow reasoning like mankind and instead practice Gnosis. There are two defining features of Gnosis:

It can't be verified by an independent 3rd party.

It’s impossible to comprehend through reasoning.

Gnosis seems like a faith based, spiritual type thing that doesn't follow rationale. They think with mostly their hearts instead of their heads.

Pneuma analysis is related to psychubes and anamesis. I explained my ideas on pneuma analysis in this post about Vertin but here is a snippet:

Disclaimer: This is speculation using the in game context. New info could change it.

Psychubes are an element of an arcanist's thoughts and they grant stronger abilities/buffs on game. The more you ponder, the more you gain (in game description). Vertin can reflect/meditate in a process called pneuma analysis (resource stage) twice a day, where she acquires lesser Psychubes, Thought Elements, and Thoughts in Entirety. This is the main purpose, but we can dig deeper into the details of how it works (in theory):

Thought Elements: an element of an arcanist’s thoughts. There are so many ways to organize the mess: the furnace that burns and the blade that cuts…but I wish to keep it the way it is.

Thoughts in Entirety: an arcanist’s complete thoughts. As the disorganized has been organized, the darkened vision lightens, ideas are finally taking shape in my mind.

These are the building blocks for greater ideas, which would be higher level Psychubes. On the Psychube page in the Atlas, you will also see the phrase word anamnesis.

In Platonic philosophy, anamnesis is a process of rediscovering knowledge that the soul already possesses but has forgotten. Plato stated the soul has pre-existing knowledge that is brought back to consciousness through the process of questioning and recollection. However, in Christian and Catholic contexts, anamnesis is recollecting the “Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus”. In other words, remembering Jesus’s sacrifice and honoring his memory (this is an oversimplification for the sake of brevity). In general, we can think of anamnesis as a profound reflection or recalling of events.

To summarize, the Psychubes interlap with Vertin's emotional state and have been cultivated by her experiences. She reflects, recollects, and creates stronger “impressions” (from the Psychubes). The definition for impression: an idea, feeling, or opinion about something or someone, especially one formed without conscious thought or on the basis of little evidence. These are all emotion/intuition based. Very fitting for an arcanist.

[actualarcanist]

Norse Symbolism in Reverse: 1999

Sorry, this post has nothing to do with Erick since I still hasn't even saw her anecdote. However, I did notice that the Insight symbol is a Valknut, which has several interesting implications. The symbol of three interlocked triangles is so ancient its name and meaning are lost to history, with the term "Valknut" ("knot of the slain") being a modern creation representing its connection to the Norse god Odin, which connects it linguistically to both his Valkyries ("choosers of the slain") and his Valhalla ("hall of the slain"). Now Odin as a deity is a lot more complex than what white supremacists would have you think.

When you max out a character in the game, they reach "the bottom of insight." Why bottom of Insight instead of the peak of insight or the perfection of insight? Is it because they're all bottoms? This may allude to the story of how Odin put one of his eyes at the bottom of the Well of Mimir for a drink from the spring of wisdom; henceforth, while the eye in his head looks down upon the happenstance of the phenomenal world from the height of Asgard, his eye at the bottom of the well looks up and see the essence of all things. In the words of the Apeiron School, his lost eye sees gnosis while his good eye sees pneuma. In fact, the root word of the name "Odin" means "breath, spirit, life force", which is equivalent to the Greek word pneuma.

The well at the bottom of the world tree Yggdrasil is the dwelling of the three Norns of fate: Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld. Originally they're described as gardeners who irrigate the root of the world tree with the water from the well, but with the introduction of Greco-Roman mythologies by ways of Christian missionaries, the figures of the Norns eventually became synthesized and conflated with the Greek Moirai, who are described as seamstresses who spin, weave, and cut the threads of fate for gods and mortals alike. The combination of these mythologies conjure the image of the Norns as seamstresses who spin the loom of destiny over the water at the bottom of the well, similar to the loom suspended over a lake in Vertin's suitcase.

One of Odin's most intriguing aspect is as the wanderer, who seems to be absent from Asgard and the company of the gods most of the time as he wanders the worlds in various disguises, testing the limits to the sanctity of hospitality - a necessary survival skill in the harsh cold of the North. As the wanderer, Odin is often depicted as wearing a wide-brimmed hat that occlude his missing eye, like how Vertin's pimp hat sometimes occlude one of her eyes. Odin is not actually that concerned with the disputes between mortals or even gods; for the most part, he has only one job: preparing for Ragnarok, the war between the gods and Jotnar that will see the world being remade. Jotnar, often translated as giants, are similar to the Greek Titans: living embodiment of outsize concepts such as fate, time, or storm.

[crehador]

translation issues aside, the story of reverse 1999 is really surprisingly good for a gacha. i'm vibing with the characters and setting, and the STRUCTURE of the currently released chapters is just downright excellent

major spoilers for chapters 1 through 4 below the cut

introducing us to the world through regulus was such a good call for chapter one, it's all new to her just like it's all new to the player. we get a chance to learn through her eyes

another reason this works so well imo is it paints vertin, in regulus's eyes, as this hyper-competent character with her own agenda and agency (only to reveal bit by bit that she's in a much more difficult position than it may seem at first, and in so many ways is still just a hurt kid trying to right the wrongs she's seen in this world, desperate not to lose more people)

then we move on to chapter 2, where we see schneider's tragedy unfold and meet some major players like arcana. schneider's story even on its own is pretty damn good, but the way vertin acts and reacts in chapter 2 is full of perfect little hints to what kind of past trauma might have shaped her

THEN CHAPTER 3. THE TRAUMA. i loved schneider's story, but i think this is where we really dive into the meat of the overarching plot. and it is such a perfect dive

like after the events of chapter 2, it does more or less make sense that vertin is being treated for Something. right away chapter 3 gives off a bit of a foreboding feeling because vertin's in the hands of the foundation now, which we as a player knows she doesn't trust, and it's deliberately made ambiguous what she's being treated for and exactly when she'll be released

but at this point, to me at least, it still seemed... possible that she really was just being treated for damage from chapter 2

THEN THE HORRORS UNFOLD vertin's past is shown to us throughout this chapter, and bit by bit it dawns that the foundation is capable of much more heinous acts than we already expected. when we meet the ring and isabella, a feeling of dread sets in right away. because they're clearly important to vertin, but where are they in the present? it's not hard to figure out she lost them (which adds so much dimension to her reactions to everything with schneider)

when the escape plan is coming together, with those side looks at what constantine is scheming, the inevitable dread gets heavier and heavier. like even knowing exactly what would happen, that the kids would be deliberately funneled into the storm just so vertin would see them die and feel responsible because it was her plan that led them there... seeing it actually happen was still a major gut punch, very effective

vertin's naivete in this past is such a haunting thing to see as well, there are moments where the text even shines a light on "will they realize this is going TOO smoothly for them?" and no! no they do not!! because they are 12-year-old kids who haven't lost all hope in the world!!!

seeing these grand scenes unfold with chess (and later go) on the screen was visually very cool as well, imo. might feel a bit gimmicky but it's a gimmick i enjoyed

anyway so then we get to chapter 4, and by then the sense of dread surrounding the foundation has fully set in. so it's almost unsurprising (yet still HORRIFYING) when you realize holy shit the foundation is keeping vertin hostage in a medically induced coma!! treatment for trauma my ass!!!

i feel like chapter 4 was the perfect place to end this arc as well, it was like an extended prologue. a lot of the tension/excitement for me came from the realization that vertin doesn't yet have a place to belong, it's not like "manus bad, foundation good" and that's that

looking at it through the lense of arknights, it would be like if doctor didn't have rhodes island at the start. all these factions around vertin, with their own agendas, and she doesn't have her own "home" yet

we get there, at the end of chapter 4. but of course it's not perfect, the terms of her operating her own team are very conditional, and there are loads of unanswered questions for the future

but it's a nice little set-up for future events, for vertin building this team (family) of arcanists who have some measure of freedom. the tension is still there, the foundation is still scheming, and some new mysterious organization is getting ready to enter the chat...?

all in all just, imo, an excellently structured story so far. it's a shame the translation detracts so much from it, i do think some powerful moments suffered from that. but the actual story is really quite strong, and vertin and her circle are all quite captivating to me so far

[yourdarlingness]

　　♰　REQUEST INFO .　( long post )

　　···　Fun way to request (link)

　　┄ ┄ ┄　OFFERS

（ 01 ）　Flag coining ; gender · alderns · terms · etc

　　·　You can ask if I could do certain terms or some gender systems, like perpesque and others. Make sure it is not a TransID term!

（ 02 ）　Name, pronouns, and titles suggestions

　　·　Will only do Character - related theme NPTs within my whitelist

（ 03 ）　NPT checks

（ 04 ）　Icons　( details ) (link)

（ 05 ）　Headers　( details ) (link)

（ 06 ）　Layouts

　　·　Tumblr — Twitter — Discord — Retrospring

　　┄ ┄ ┄　NEVER

（ 01 ）　Songic · Pairic · Namic genders

（ 02 ）　Combo or Pronouns flag ; redesigning / alternative flags ; sexuality & romantic orientation flags

（ 03 ）　Rentry Graphics ; Wallpapers ; Stimboards ; Moodboards ; ID packs ; anything I don't do in "Offers"

（ 04 ）　Any mental illnesses / disabilities / etc related flag makings (except depression, anxiety, and BPD)

　　·　those three are the only ones I feel comfortable sharing ; please don't ask for the unlisted ones.

（ 05 ）　Mspec identities, WLW & WLNB, lesbian, and sapphic genders, terms, or flags

　　·　I do not identify as either of those labels! But there are a lot of blogs out there that do those!

　　┄ ┄ ┄　WHITELIST

（ 01 ）　Games　—　Honkai Star Rail ; Reverse 1999 ; Doki Doki Literature Club ; Ace Attorney ; Our Life: Beginning & Always ; Our Life: Now & Forever ; The Arcana ; Genshin Impact

（ 02 ）　Shows　—　Death Note ; Diabolik Lovers ; The Amazing World Of Gumball ; Lego Monkie Kid ; Vanitas no Carte

　　┄ ┄ ┄　BLACKLIST

（ 01 ）　DSMP ; Country humans ; Boyfriends / Girlfriends Webtoon ; Vivziepop medias ; YBC ; South Park ; The Coffin of Andy and Leyley

（ 02 ）　Heavy gore ; Traumacore ; NSFW ; Yandere ; Lovesick ; Bugs (except butterflies) ; Spiders ; Real People or Actors

（ 03 ）　Anything that has to do with slurs and ships.

　　·　I am extremely uncomfortable with slurs

　　·　I will not do content around ships — mainly because I may not know the characters within the ship — it may be problematic to the fandom or whatever reason, and others may disagree with the ship and would probably cause dispute over it!

[roboyomo]

the pinned post

finally making one!!

anyway hai helloo people i am roboyomo :] usually go by yomo (or robo but that's a rare one). i use he/him and masculine terms despite being agender

more info about my blog below the cut :)

current interests are:

#projmoon - Mostly lobcorp and ruina!! Probably one of my biggest interests at the moment,, adam and the fascinating worldbuilding could be some of the main reasons why

#pokemon - Still fairly new to pokemon, but nonetheless i still enjoy the games :) (even though i can only watch gameplays since i don’t have a nintendo ds. cruelty to me)

#yuppie psycho - Yuppie Psycho has been here with me for a long while, but It mostly stayed like a vague memory from a few years ago. Still, I absolutely enjoy the game and everything about it!! domori and rei sintra my beloveds,,

#utaite - A REALLY BIG utaite fan. literally 99% of the songs i listen are just utaite originals or utaite covers of vocaloid songs. (and only just a bit of actual vocaloid songs)

#ocs - LISTEN this may not qualify for an interest to some people. but it does to me. i love hearing about the little critters other people have created from their mind. and i love talking about my beasts. Basically hand over your beasts. i need to hold them like a dove it is urgent and of upmost importance

#studio investigrave - i. Did Not post about these games yet but i have a lot of art ideas for these games i love all of the current 5 games released urhfuwhrhwh,,,, biggest favorite out of the 5 is elevator hitch!!!!

#reverse 1999 - i am still fairly new to the game but i have been playing for like 3 something weeks by now and i fucking adore medpoc I LOVE YOU MEDPOC R1999 THEY COULD NEVER MAKE ME HATE YOU

I also have my own tags for this blog!!

#yomoposting : General posts and such. i use this to post mostly random stuff

#yomoart : my art tag!!! all of my sketches, drawings and illustrations are under this tag :]

#yomoasks : the tag for asks i receive! pretty straightforward

#yomo and his beloveds : i don’t use this tag as much,,, but generally i use this to tag posts that are centered around my most beloved/comfort characters!!

#yomo ocs?! : THE TAG FOR OC CRITTERS!!! Everything about them goes here - ranging from lore rambles to random joke stuff with them involved

and some character-specific tags!!

#adam the greatest : the tag for my most beloved adam lobcorp!! “all hail adam christ”, as i used to say. everyday i hold him like an injured bird because he is precious to me

#carmen the beloved : the tag for carmen projmoon :] i love carmie i hold her dear to my heart. which might be a bad idea considering what she does but i’m doing it anyway

#volo my bestfriend volo : the tag for volo from pokemon!!!! i adore him i love me some cool long-haired male characters with some very clear issues. and also with some religious motifs going on

#N the greatest : the tag for N (or Natural Harmonia Gropius) from pokemon!! i still need to get through the entirety of the story for pokemon bw and b2w2 but i love him nonetheless. cool green guy :]

i am also on Artfight!! My profile is here if you want to check it out :)

some additional stuff: i am an artist for as long as i can remember, i really really really like adam lobcorp, volo, carmen, cynthia, N and medpoc and i heavily obsess over characters that are just. long haired and have some sort of plan for the world and the humanity. <- and i do not mean “oh this is a good thing to do” NO they need call it a good deed but in reality it will absolutely ruin everything instead. plus i am also really obsessed with my own ocs and their lore so please please please ask about them i will happily ramble about my little critters. also please be careful with the things you say in my direction! i am. sensitive and i WILL be sad over what you have said about me.,,

my blog is welcome to everybody :] that is unless you are an asshole and/or a creep so please leave if you are anything like that. that being said, please do not make yaoi/yuri, fujoshi/fudanshi and himejoshi/himedanshi jokes on my blog! i am not comfortable with those terms exactly so please avoid using them in the comments or reblogs. thank you for your cooperation!!!

yea this post turned out to be a bit tooo long for my standards but who cares

[thenarddogmeister]

Fight Club. Dir David Fincher. (1999)

I re-watched this film a couple of days ago and I want it to be my first review of 2024.

Firstly, I love the aesthetics and the ideologies in this film, I think they both support each other to make a very interesting film, that has a lot to say. I love how generically ordered the Narrator's apartment is to showcase his obsessive and meaningless consumerism and the juxtaposition presented to us when we see Tyler's place - a dilapidated ruin of a house. This house is dirty and disrepaired and contains no furniture, a complete reversal of the Narrator's apartment. These battling aesthetics show us the polarising lifestyles regarding consumerism - complicitly giving in to it or radically opposing it. I think Fincher wants us to see that both lifestyles have their flaws. Many people confuse Tyler to be the aspirational man but the dirty aesthetic and his destructive acts negate this idea.

I love the metaphor used through the Narrator having insomnia. "Woke" has become a popular term to refer to progressive qualities and being socially or politically aware so I think the Narrator's insomnia is a signifier for him being painfully (he is miserable due to his lack of sleep) aware. Moreover, he says a line about insomnia stating that when you're affected by it "everything is a copy of a copy." This almost resembles Baudrillard's theory, which implies we live in a post-modern world where everything (down to the products we consume) are just copies of earlier things. The Narrator's awareness of this makes him utterly miserable, which can be relatable even more so in 2024 due to the rise of social media, which thrives in incessant advertising and inevitable regurgitation.

Brad Pitt's character is a symbol for chaos and pure destruction - what would happen if we opposed the system too radically. We see this pure destruction in his action but also in the way he breaks normal rules surrounding films. He breaks the 4th wall by appearing in ironic flashes during frames (a reference to what he does working as a projectionist), he also breaks the 4th wall in lines of dialogue such as "flashback humour" which makes us aware that, yes, the joke is funny because it uses a flashback. This destruction of traditional film immersion also alludes to his over-awareness and "wokeness" as even as a character in the film, he is extra aware of what is happening. After all, he's the one that confirms the Narrator was Tyler all along. Brad Pitt's character represents the opposite side of the capitalistic spectrum and whilst he is used as a useful mouth piece to share valid criticisms of capitalism and consumerism, his level of demolition is obviously not aspiration as it's depicted as grimy, upsetting (Bob's unnecessary death) and chaotic.

And obviously, I absolutely love that last shot where the Pixies begin to play and the bombs (the most iconic symbol of destruction there is) begin to blow. The window separates him from Martha and he is trapped and alone - perhaps ultimate destruction is just as imprisoning as capitalism. He's just one man, who has caused all this wreckage, and was it worth it? I don't think so but I guess it's up to the audience.

[bettercostume]

Mars, I need help. Thoughts on kunessi dynamics 🎤

Meb i thought about this on the train to work and the train home from work and iiiiii have so many thoughts.

Literally Kun is his second wife. Or first wife, actually, since I think he's know Leo since Leo was the quiet kid who barely spoke and sat at the same table with him at the under 19s training, and who from that moment forward was his best boy, his right hand, his soulmate, his---i'm drawing a blank at romantic couples of history here but you get the idea.

Basically Kun is the mouth. He's never uncomfortable, and even though i get the sense he takes everything in deeply, he can rally like an inflatable punching clown. He does the practical jokes. He's the HE ASKED FOR NO PICKLES, but delivered with a backslap and a blinding grin. You feel compelled to like the guy. He's a rascal. He's also astonishingly good at football, and it takes a guy like Messi to make him look like an also ran. He is leo's number one fan forever, amen. He is fuck it we ride, ready to fight, but also there to pick him up and take him to the airport at 2 am with the radio on low and hot water already in a thermos on the console. It's nothing, pa, you know I love speeding through toll roads at night.

I think Leo really gravitates towards people who are the opposite of his persona, and his seemingly internal focus and observational participation in social stuff as a kid. As a fully formed adult, both he and Kun have become both more of their caricatures and less at the same time, mellowing out into people who can reverse card each other with expectations, but have a rock-solid bond. I think it would take like, kun murdering leo's kids in front of him for them to have a fallout.

There's the apocryphal story (that kun loves to tell. he loves building the kunessi lore) where they're at that lunch table i mentioned and kun is like hey who are you anyway? and leo is like, leo. everyone else twigs to who he is, the wunderkid shipped back from barca, but kun is like oh word? but like what's your last name? and it takes like three more repetitions for kun to be like OHHHH, WORD??? Which sums up their dynamic pretty well, I think. But after this I think really Leo has the opportunity to hurt Kun more: he's less overtly affectionate, imho, and he doesn't verbalize the love he feels. Sorry to self plagiarize but in the fic i wrote i basically say that leo is like it should be obvious i love you even if i don't call or text, because why would i stop? and kun, who wants to be needed and coveted, is like, ok but i wouldn't mind the princess treatment SOME of the time. and leo is like your wish is my command, i moved your suite to mine and you're living with me now happy world cup btw we will have adjoining mansions in miami when we retire.

I think the fact that Kun isn't afraid to look like an idiot, turns the party, and also has kind of a bitchy edge that resonates with what i believe to be the nougaty, spoiled princess interior of leo--i think all these things endeared him to the other and that leo was like. ok. kun is my friend forever IMMEDIATELY. I also know with that trust and affection they practiced kissing each other and whipped it out to compare length, width, and accuracy. KNOW AND TRUST THEY HAVE EXPLORED EACH OTHERS BODIES. The love is real and long-term but I think also they would absolutely be bucknasty filthy, still. IMHO they have a kind of macho old boys club thing where they don't talk about the physical sex as much, its so obvious, but then also are like yeah you love that tight little hole you homo you sissy etc during and it makes them so insanely hot when they're with their wives that even if months intervene they still freak like it's 1999. That's one read, the other is that they make love with lots of eye contact and kun cries the entire time. POR QUE NO LOS DOS. Sorry I sounded like the weeknd in his bad tv show there for a moment but you get the vibe.

ANYWAY. I HOPE THIS IS WHAT U WANTED.

[gacha99]

Can't believe a Gacha game that released 2 days ago has already spoiled me this much in terms of just how good the content is. And I also haven't run into a lot of game breaking bugs though I'm sure there's SOME bugs here and there, i just haven't run into any.

Like other devs had me believing it'd be unthinkable to have a game with varying accents, or a 2D artstyle that changes during certain levels, or full Live2D cutscenes that flow effortlessly with the main story content, etc. I think now with Reverse: 1999 being released that people will wake up and realize just how much we've been cheated out of good experiences with these games due to just sheer laziness on big companies part.

[randomvarious]

Today’s compilation:

Now That's What I Call Music! 3 1999 Adult Contemporary / R&B / Pop / Teen Pop / Pop-Rock / Alternative Rock / Boy Bands

Went for another dip back into 1999 with the most ubiquitous various artist compilation series that the US has ever known: Now That's What I Call Music! And this third installment, just like its pair of predecessors, proved to be a commercial smash, peaking at #4 on Billboard's 200 album chart and achieving double-platinum status as well.

So, let's get into that nostalgic mood with a commercial for it, shall we?

Now, I've gone into this before, but I feel like it bears a little repeating here: while Now is something of a de facto authoritative resource on the contemporary hits of the day, it does have its limits, because, while it may seem like a pure representation of the broad pop music landscape from a specific set of a few months, each volume from its main US series is actually just a collection of songs that were put out by a conglomerate of labels. Basically, Universal and EMI and both of their many subsidiaries reached a pact to repackage hits from their own catalogues and then divvy up all the profits. So, really, it was just a genius mechanism to cash in on songs that they'd already cashed in on 🤑.

And that still means that there was a lot of different music at their disposal to choose from when they put these albums together, but it's definitely not everything. And that's why Now had a competitor like the Totally Hits series in the US, who were made up of BMG and Warner Music Group and both of their many subsidiaries.

But I only say all of this because the fact that Now is just a sprawling conglomerate of labels actually becomes pretty apparent with this release. This one, while it's still repackaging some major hits of the day, is letting its mask slip a little by recycling a whole bunch of the same acts that are featured on Volume 2, which I got into yesterday. On both of those sets, you'll find Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Fatboy Slim, Garbage, R. Kelly, and 98°. And when you see Now recycling artists like that, when there's so many other hit-makers out there in addition to the ones that these two albums share, you start to realize why that's the case. So, you might be wondering, “where are NSYNC? Where's Christina Aguilera?” Well, they were on RCA at the time, which fell under the BMG umbrella, so you could find their chart-busting tracks over on Totally Hits instead!

Another thing I'll say about this album is that there are some songs that I feel like I'm being reverse-Mandela Effected with here; It's not that I remember the songs sounding differently, but that I don't remember them *at all*. I'm someone who listened to a whole fuck-ton of contemporary hit radio in 1999, and, 🎶for the life of me, I cannot remember🎶 (😅) ever once hearing Ideal's "Get Gone" (a song so unremembered that it doesn't even have its own stub article on Wikipedia), Chanté Moore's "Chanté's Got a Man," or Case's "Happily Ever After." And those songs went to #s 13, 10, and 15 on Billboard's Hot 100, respectively. Often, I post about tunes that deserved better treatment by the charts based on how ubiquitous they seemed, but these three songs are the opposite: they were apparently pretty big hits and I'm almost certain that I've never actually heard a trace of them before. And, given the fact that all three of these songs are R&B, I wonder if my top 40 stations in my neck of the woods were really as all-encompassing as I thought they were. Anyone else remember hearing any one of these three songs on commercial hit radio before? If you do, I'd be interested to know what region you were in, because I really don't think they got much rotation in mine; definitely not enough to make me comprehend their chart placements, at least.

Live look at me looking up these three songs and seeing where they peaked on the Hot 100:

Hey, there's an idea for a big, long-term project, though! Wading through the archives of a bunch of radio trade magazines (some of them are free to view online) and finding the variations in what the different top-40 stations across the country were playing at around the same time. There's probably a certain level of universality among them all, but given the success of those three R&B singles, I guess there's just some songs that don't make it to wherever you're at and you're then left completely unaware of their very existence. Makes me wonder if there were any other big hits that were excluded from my area 🤔.

Anyway, this is *mostly* a fine trip down memory lane, but I wish it had a different variety of artists than Volume 2, and those three R&B songs from Ideal, Chanté Moore, and Case really threw me for a total loop.

Also, do not, *under any circumstances,* expect me to post about Volume 4 tomorrow ✌.

Highlights:

Smash Mouth - "All Star" Lenny Kravitz - "American Woman" blink-182 - "What's My Age Again?" Enrique Iglesias - "Bailamos" Britney Spears - "Sometimes" Backstreet Boys - "All I Have to Give" K-Ci & JoJo - "Tell Me It's Real" Fatboy Slim - "The Rockafeller Skank" Limp Bizkit - "Nookie" Garbage - "Special" R. Kelly - "If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time" Blessid Union of Souls - "Hey Leonardo (She Likes Me for Me)" 98° - "The Hardest Thing" Fastball - "Out of My Head"

[evilisk]

Oh right, I haven't updated in... three months. I'm not gonna lie, I'm starting to spend time on other (better) gacha games. Reverse 1999 is what I'm really into at the moment.

New units since the last post:

I randomly picked up TH6 Cirno.

I got TH6 themed Sakuya, Patchouli and Koakuma while pulling for TH6 Meiling. Long story short, I needed Meiling footage for a LW video I'm editing.

TH14 Shinmyoumaru was just good RNG. The dailies in LW require you to pull at least once a day, I was using my daily pulls on the Shinmyoumaru banner and it just happened.

Same deal with Shion. It's worth noting that Shion is my first Epic rarity unit.

PCB Demo Sakuya seemed like a good idea at the time since I already had PCB Demo Reimu and Marisa. But I wouldn't have pulled if I knew they were gonna rerun "Flandre and Kokoro as Okina's Dancers" the week afterwards.

Vtuber Lyrica was another lucky pull.

Kaiju Keine was from the Forever Prayer.

Other Stuff:

It might just be me, but LostWord feels like it's slowing down. The Global version has been staggering events more and more this year (we're getting more 3-week events in 2024). There's also that whole new unit type that, at best, seems like a desperate attempt to make a lot of short term money. Nothing's confirmed but no gacha lasts forever, though if the end IS coming for Lost Word, it's coming sooner than I expected. Would have given it another year and a half, after they used up the PC-98 and Touhou 19 characters. I don't think the game can sustain itself without any new characters. No way can they just sell Sakuya / Alice / Scarlet sisters / Komeiji sisters recolors forever.

[peachtreehillsvet]

February is National Pet Dental Health Month

As a profession we spend the 28 days of February heavily focused on our pet’s dental health, which is great, but unfortunately not enough. It has been shown that periodontal disease is the number one health problem affecting small animal patients.1,2 It is even so significant that by 2 years of age, 80% of dogs and 70% of cats have some form of periodontal disease.3

As pet owners, we likely don’t focus lots of time and thought on our pet’s mouths, but we should! In humans, there are systemic consequences of poor dental health including impacts on our kidneys, liver, heart, and lungs. It is reported that human patients with periodontal disease are four times more likely to have multiple (3 or more) systemic maladies than those in good periodontal health.5

It may seem like a big ask to brush your dog and cat’s teeth daily, which can be true, but the benefits can be exponential. Even after a dental cleaning under anesthesia, plaque can form on the teeth within 24 hours.3,4 That plaque can cause localized inflammation at the gingival margin and lead to bleeding, redness, and discomfort. This term called GINGIVITIS is the early stages of gum disease and can be reversed with appropriate cleaning and therapy. Once the inflammation has progressed to the point where there are changes including bone loss, pocketing, and gum recession, among others, we have a diagnosis called PERIODONTAL DISEASE, which is not reversible.

So, you ask, what can we do as pet owners? I believe our big takeaways from dental health discussions are to figure out a plan that works for your family and your pet. Not every pup or everyone’s schedule is going to allow you to brush daily. Not every pet is going to chew on veterinary approved dental chews as recommended by the Veterinary Oral Health Council (VOHC). But there are multiple opportunities available to us daily that can improve the oral health of our patients.

It is also important to remember that even if we are performing bi-annual examinations on your pet, we can never fully examine every aspect of the oral cavity. This means appropriately timed Comprehensive Oral Health Assessment and Treatments (COHAT) under anesthesia are necessary to examine each tooth, measure periodontal pocketing, look for growths, perform radiographs, etc.

At Peachtree Hills Animal Hospital, we are committed to the highest quality care for your pet and want to do it in an inclusive environment that takes you the pet owner, and the pet into account. We want to ease worries, help create solutions, and give you the best curtailed advice that provides the best for your family. Keep in mind, if we are able to create a plan that reduces plaque, tartar, gingivitis, and periodontal disease, smaller dogs and cats live 15–20% longer if they receive dental care as needed throughout their life and larger dogs live 10–15% longer. Isn’t that amazing!?!

Please reach out if you have any questions.

Take Care, Mark Belyeu, DVM

References:

1. University of Minnesota Center for Companion Animal Health. National Companion Animal Study, 1996, p 3. 2. Lund EM, Armstrong PJ, Kirk CA, et al. Health status and population characteristics of dogs and cats examined at private veterinary practices in the United States. JAVMA 1999; 214:1336-1341. 3. Wiggs RB, Lobprise HB. Periodontology. Veterinary Dentistry, Principals and Practice. Philadelphia: Lippincott – Raven, 1997, pp 186-231. 4. Quirynen M, Teughels W, Kinder Haake S, Newman MG. Microbiology of periodontal diseases. Carranza’s Clinical Periodontology. St. Louis: WB Saunders, 2006, pp 134-169. 5. Al-emadi a, Bissada n, Farah C, et al. systemic diseases among patients with and without alveolar bone loss. Quintessence Int 2006; 37(10):761-765.

Dental COHAT on canine patient under anesthesia PRIOR to cleaning and evaluation.

Dental COHAT on canine patient under anesthesia AFTER cleaning and evaluation.

References:

1. University of Minnesota Center for Companion Animal Health. National Companion Animal Study, 1996, p 3. 2. Lund EM, Armstrong PJ, Kirk CA, et al. Health status and population characteristics of dogs and cats examined at private veterinary practices in the United States. JAVMA 1999; 214:1336-1341. 3. Wiggs RB, Lobprise HB. Periodontology. Veterinary Dentistry, Principals and Practice. Philadelphia: Lippincott – Raven, 1997, pp 186-231. 4. Quirynen M, Teughels W, Kinder Haake S, Newman MG. Microbiology of periodontal diseases. Carranza’s Clinical Periodontology. St. Louis: WB Saunders, 2006, pp 134-169. 5. Al-emadi a, Bissada n, Farah C, et al. systemic diseases among patients with and without alveolar bone loss. Quintessence Int 2006; 37(10):761-765.

Originally published here: https://peachtreehillsvet.com/february-is-national-pet-dental-health-month/

[sleeplesssmoll]

Reverse 1999 Theory: What is "Perception" and how does it work in arcanists?

Vertin canonically has uncanny perception and a deep understanding for arcanum even amongst arcanists, despite her lack of skill. Arcanists are very sensitive, or rather, vulnerable to emotions. There is another arcanist known for her perception we can look at for more clues.

Mesmer Jr. also has a "acute perception", much like Vertin.

In Reverse 1999, Perception functions like a 6th sense in arcanists. But how does it work? I looked up to see if there is a connection between magnetic fields and emotions. Turns out there is A LOT. Specifically the magnetic field radiated by the heart.

Biomagnetic Communication Between People (source).

We have found there is a direct relationship between the heart-rhythm patterns and the spectral information encoded in the frequency spectra of the magnetic field radiated by the heart. Thus, information about a person’s emotional state is encoded in the heart’s magnetic field and is communicated throughout the body and into the external environment.

There is so much cool information in this article I'd love to gush about, but we're here for lore. Remember my psychube post that I never shut up about? It's actually missing very important information that I didn't add at the time because I could not figure out how it worked.

Polarization:

The different frequencies are triggered by different kinds of emotions and we can see the heart being affected by the electromagnetic fields. My theory is that this is the key to arcanist perception. This is how they "sense" emotions. They are picking up on these frequencies. For a real life example from the same article, look at these graphs showing how the influence of emotions:

Most people tend to think of communication solely in terms of overt signals expressed through facial movements, voice qualities, gestures and body movements. However, evidence now supports the perspective that a subtle yet influential electromagnetic or "energetic" communication system operates just below our conscious level of awareness. The following section will discuss data that suggests this energetic system contributes to the "magnetic" attractions or repulsions that occur between individuals.

Arcanists sense these waves and it can cause distress in them. Mesmer Jr. is a prime example of this. Other people's emotions get to her.

Now how does this tie into our beloved Timekeeper?

What if the reason Vertin has to stay "stoic" is because her emotions can influence the others around her and because she is extra susceptible to other people's incoming emotions. She needs to stay calm even in mental distress. Mesmer Jr. is also like this. She may come off as abrasive and snappy at times but she is described as a "an indifferent and refined machine" (Chapter 3: An Opened Sandwich). These two share a lot in common. They are both victims of trauma yet must operate in many emotionally taxing positions.

They even say "engraved in the heart" (although this could simply be word choice it really fits)!

Both Vertin and Mesmer Jr. struggle everyday to keep the their feelings at bay. Neither of them is "used" to this life but they have to keep up the facade for their sake and possibly for those around them.

The main story doesn't give us as much insight into Vertin's head but the traces do. She is always holding back, just like Mesmer.

Side note, do you remember the heartbeat we heard as Schneider was reversed? It raced. Interesting how later Schneider shows up in one of her dreams during Artificial Somnambulism. This could be an example of HF Polarization which generates strong and temporary mental images with very powerful emotions.

This also adds an extra layer to Vertin's interactions with others. She tried to get through to Druvis and Schneider, but as for Forget-me-not and Arcana, she didn't bother. Maybe their feelings of revenge and hatred are so tangible she knew it was lost cause. However, Druvis was laden with grief and loss. She was not a malicious person. Schneider was desperate and motivated by love for her family. Vertin even mentions she knew Madam Z was not part of Constantine's game by the "look in her eyes" and never blamed her for the loss of her friends.

If anything seems wrong or if I missed something, please let me know! I'd be happy if I could refine it further.

[theparanormalperiodical]

Top 10 Controversial Horror Films That Are Famous For All The Wrong Reasons *gags* *cries*

At the beating heart of horror is offence.

From that undeniable sense of something not being quite right, to the CGI-blood-spurtin’-adrenaline-fuelled scenes that leave us shaking in our boots, horror pivots on the knife edge of controversy.

It’s used to drive plots. It’s used to drive hype. And at the end of the month, it drives studio executives to the bank.

Horror films can be traumatic enough. But there are some films that bear the cross of controversy more than others. There are some films that have been branded as so damaging to their potential viewers that merely circulating copies of the film is illegal.

And yet their infamy has forged cult viewership. What was once shielded from us has now become ‘must see’.

Today we are going to be counting down horror’s most controversial films and what made them quite so topical.

*I’m going to star the ones that you can actually watch without getting traumatised. Some are controversial not because of their content but because some religious or political groups disagreed with them*

#10 - The Blair Witch Project (1999)*

Let’s ease in with a classic - a classic you can watch without sleeping with the light on.

In this found-footage flick we see a team of film students as they explore a local urban legend. But what they find leads them to unknown and ungodly territory.

The problem with this film is that it was marketed as a true story. No, not based on a true story, a true story. Yep, they claimed what we were seeing was real, found footage of some teens going mad as they forage deeper into mysterious woods.

IMBd went so far as to report that the actors were dead. Then, the movie studio super-charged their efforts to confirm to the public that not only was this film 100% real, the three main actors were still missing. The parents of the actors then started receiving sympathy cards.

There’s even a mocked up website that perpetuates these claims. 

#9 - Night Of The Living Dead (1968)*

Time for another not-too-disturbing film.

This is the original zombie apocalypse film saw a group of Americans attempt to survive an incoming attack of the undead while trapped in a rural farmhouse.

But the Motion Picture Association of America wasn’t too happy about it. The film rating system was yet to be in place, allowing children to also show up for an afternoon screening and be greeted by a 97 minute montage of extreme violence.

“The kids in the audience were stunned. There was almost complete silence. The movie had stopped being delightfully scary about halfway through, and had become unexpectedly terrifying. There was a little girl across the aisle from me, maybe nine years old, who was sitting very still in her seat and crying”

#8 - Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)

In this psychological film, we watch a random crime spree take place at the hands of a couple serial killers. Loosely based on real murderers Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole, its controversial reputation was founded on the gore ‘n’ guts screened in the movie.

Whilst it didn’t receive much attention from the public, various classification boards across the world ensured new versions edited with certain scenes - often involving sexual assault and necrophilia - removed for viewers.

In 2003, the BBFC (the UK classification board) finally allowed the uncut version to be released and Australia followed suit in 2005.

#7 - I Spit On Your Grave (1978)

It’s the original rape-revenge flick. And it managed to piss everyone off.

Originally titled Day of the Woman, it tells the story of a fiction writer who exacts revenge on a group of four men who gang rape her.

Despite its pro-women claim-to-fame, the 30 minute rape scene begs to differ. Furious debate surrounds its feminist label as a film that forces the audience to endure rape from a female perspective and long-winded violence against men (something which is often reserved for women in horror). Regardless, the graphic violence earned it a steady ban in Ireland, Norway, Iceland, and West Germany.

#6 - Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)*

You don’t get many controversial Christmas films. They typically stick to a cookie-cutter plot ‘n’ purpose every holiday season. But there are no strong women who need to rediscover the meaning of Christmas here.

Instead, we see a child traumatised by seeing his parents murdered on Christmas Eve go on a seasonal rampage as an adult.

A week after its release in the early 80s, it was pulled from theatres due to backlash. Marketing was focused on a Santa Claus killer with adverts often airing during family-friendly TV programmes and meant numerous children developed a phobia of Father Christmas. Large crowds protested cinemas with one notable protest involving angry families singing carols at the Interboro Quad Theater in The Bronx.

It was only in 2009 - 25 years after its original release - that a DVD of the film was first made available for purchase in the UK.

#5 - Psycho (1960)*

This legendary film follows the disappearance of a young woman after her encounter with a strange man called Norman Bates, one of horror’s most iconic figures. The controversy that would engulf this fim lay not in the violent attack on an innocent woman or even the disturbing content of the film.

Oh, no. It was because of what the leading lady was wearing.

In the opening scene of the film, we see Janet Leigh wearing nothing but a bra.

*gasp*

This racy attire was emblazoned across promotional material, meeting Hitchcock’s high standards of creating controversy around the movie. There was a no late admission policy for movie theaters, and the posters told viewers “Do not reveal the surprises!” to maintain a mysterious aura around the plot twist.

#4 - The Human Centipede (2009) (all of ‘em)

I’ve watched a lot of horror films, in case you couldn’t tell.

I’m used to watching a scary movie, shaking off the anxiety, and moving on with my life. But there are some that stayed with me. I only watched the trailer for the first movie, and it legitimately traumatised me. It gave me quite a severe, sudden bout of a depression for a solid month when I was 13.

Throughout horror’s goriest franchise, we see an evil doctor and amateur mad scientist attempt to sow several people together into a centipede-like chain from mouth to anus.

*retches*

At the heart of promoting the franchise was controversy. Tom Six, the director, forced a narrative that claimed from the first film that this was "100% medically accurate". He even alleged a Dutch doctor helped inspire the film, confirming that with an IV drip, this was entirely possible.

Although it didn’t receive furore that amounted to serious censorship or long-term banning, it was infamous for having its viewers vomiting in the cinema aisles.

The second film, however, was subject to much more severe controversy and could not legally be supplied in the UK until 2011 due to its heavy focus on sexual abuse, more graphic violence than the original film, and it’s pretty vile depiction of a murderer that was intellectually disabled.

Audiences were used to the graphic nature of the franchise by the third and final release. As the least-controversial and least-enjoyable film according to critics, it barely made a dent in the horror community.

Good riddance, I guess?

#3 - Faces Of Death (1978)

I’m not sure I’d recommend this one per se - but I will give it credit for being an interesting project.

This documentary-style film is a montage of footage of people dying in different ways. As a result of its very graphic and very real content, it was banned and censored in many countries. Only in 2003 was it released on DVD in the UK after a scene was cut featuring dogs fighting and a monkey being beaten to death.

Germany, Australia, and New Zealand followed suit, reversing their bans and releasing edited versions.

However, 7 years after its release, the media revamped its interest in the film after a maths teacher showed it to his class at a Californian high school. Two of his students claimed they were so traumatised they received a costly settlement to reimburse their emotional distress. Things took a darker turn a year later, when a 14 year old bludgeoned a classmate to death with a baseball bat; he claimed he wanted to see what it would be like to actually kill someone after watching Faces of Death.

#2 - Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

This Italian film’s title alone hints towards two frightening things: flesh-eating humans and genocide. In this found-footage movie we see an anthropologist lead a rescue team into the Amazon rainforest to find a group of filmmakers that went missing.

The rampant graphic content including sexual assault and animal cruelty showcased in the film (7 animals were killed during filming in some pretty horrific ways) led to it being banned in 50 countries.

Some also alleged that a handful of deaths seen in the film were real, as were the missing film crew. In fact, the actors portraying the documentarians signed contracts that stopped them appearing in motion pictures for an entire year to maintain the illusion of reality.

And only 10 days after its premiere, the director was charged with obscenity and the film confiscated. All copies were to be turned over to the authorities. There are currently a range of versions that have been edited to varying degrees and are allowed for circulation.

#1 - A Serbian Film (2010)

No.

Nope.

Don’t do it. Don’t watch this film.

A Serbian Film follows a retired porn star who agrees to feature in an “art film” for some cash. Little does he know this film will include rape, incest, pedophilia, necrophilia…

Just don’t watch it.

It is still banned in South Korea, New Zealand, Australia. It is supposedly a parody of politically correct films made in Serbia that are funded by foreign groups and allegedly speaks openly about post-war society and the struggle for survival.

*shakes head*

Off to have a 3 hour shower, brb.

If you, uhhh, liked this post please like and reblog.

And if you want to hear more about horror and the supernatural every week hit follow!

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Into the breach

US law enforcement has literal centuries of shameful history of infiltrating and spying on politically disfavored activist groups, from trade unionists to suffragists to abolitionists to civil rights advocates to antiwar advocates.

Long before Cointelpro, federal agencies were intercepting communications and embedding as provocateurs in radical political movements, often with the help of mercenary "contractors" like the Pinkertons. The digital age only ramped up this public-private surveillance.

The Dakota Access Pipeline protests were infiltrated and surveilled by beltway bandits who billed the US taxpayer handsomely for the service.

https://theintercept.com/2018/12/30/tigerswan-infiltrator-dakota-access-pipeline-standing-rock/

2020's BLM uprising was subjected to the full array of military and national intelligence surveillance: drones, IMSI catchers, mass interception, infiltrators, wiretaps, "reverse warrants" to recover location data from Big Tech monopolists and more.

https://theconversation.com/police-surveillance-of-black-lives-matter-shows-the-danger-technology-poses-to-democracy-142194

And yet, federal and local agencies were seemingly totally unprepared for a mob of thousands of armed terrorists who stormed the capitol, disrupted the transition of presidential power, and threatened the lives of US legislators as well as the integrity of state documents.

The thing is, the plans were in plain sight. For weeks, I've been seeing screengrabs from far-right forums that leaked onto public social media in which violent psychopaths laid out detailed plans to commit murder and overthrow the government.

I wasn't even looking for this stuff. I was on vacation and only cursorily checking the internet. But it was obvious. How obvious? Well, the President was the keynote speaker at the riot and he openly called for violent insurrection. That might have tipped the cops off.

Since 1999's Battle of Seattle, cops have acted like pants-wetting cowards at the first whiff of protest.

2017's plan for dozens of paralyzed, wheelchair-using Medicare For All activists to peacefully occupy the capitol begat violent police panic.

https://twitter.com/MarkAgee/status/1346904850886397954

But when armed terrorists followed through on their widely proclaimed plan to invade the capitol building yesterday, law enforcement foundered. They weren't just unprepared to stop terrorists for breaking in, they were also unprepared to deal with them after the break-in.

To get a visceral sense of the shitshow, listen to Ryan Grim's interview with Matt Fuller, recorded while Fuller was hiding in a secret bunker with other Congressional reporters, Members of Congress and their staffers.

https://theintercept.com/2021/01/07/deconstructed-capitol-inside-the-insurrection/

There's a lot of fingerpointing today between the agencies, with a starring role for the US Capitol Police, who get $460m/yr (10% of Congress's total budget) and have demanded a stonking increase for 2021.

https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2021/0107/Lawmakers-vow-a-probe-into-Capitol-Police-for-breach-by-mob

They definitely have some serious questions to answer (including why their officers posed for selfies and seem to have opened the gates to permit terrorists to storm the building).

https://twitter.com/jason_kint/status/1347054783333625857

But as Neal Stephenson pointed out in his 1994 comic technothriller masterpiece INTERFACE, DC is a "cop zoo" with literally hundreds of different law enforcement agencies operating in its city limits.

https://memex.craphound.com/2007/12/10/interface-neal-stephensons-underappreciated-masterpiece/

Did none of these agencies see the terrorist plan that had been scrawled in 100' tall flaming letters across the internet? How could they be caught this flatfooted?

From: Propublica: "a thin line of U.S. Capitol Police, with only a few riot shields between them...struggled with a flimsy set of barricades as a mob in helmets and bulletproof vests pushed its way toward the Capitol entrance."

https://www.propublica.org/article/capitol-rioters-planned-for-weeks-in-plain-sight-the-police-werent-ready

In her excellent Naked Capitalism roundup of yesterday's failures, Yves Smith examines the logical conclusion that the police were on the terrorists' side. After all, police unions and officers rallied for and endorsed Trump. Would they support a coup to keep him in power?

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2021/01/maga-cosplayers-seize-capitol-while-cops-flounder.html

Biden is no defund-the-police radical. He pledged to *increase* cop funding by 10%.

But Trump doesn't just promise money for cops: his offer is total impunity. Remember when he told police they should deliberately brutalize people during arrests?

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-police-nice-suspects/story?id=48914504

US policing has its origin in "slave patrols" that abetted enslavers by kidnapping Black people and forcing them into slavery. Slave patrols' legacy lives on in modern policing, with US police forces riddled with white nationalist terror supporters:

https://theintercept.com/2017/01/31/the-fbi-has-quietly-investigated-white-supremacist-infiltration-of-law-enforcement/

Trump himself is a white nationalist. A significant proportion of US police might be tempted to abet a coup to perpetuate the rule of a despot who promises them a free hand to torture and brutalize, and who backs white supremacy.

The failure of US law enforcement to prevent yesterday's botched coup will have long-term, ongoing consequences. While most of the terrorists were Qanon-addled fools, it's impossible to rule out some of them being sophisticated enough to attack the Capitol's IT systems.

Resecuring the Capitol's IT infrastructure should probably involve shredding every device, cable and thumb-drive, tearing open every light-socket and power-outlet, and even then, it will be hard to fully trust the building and its systems.

My 2020 novel ATTACK SURFACE has a B-plot that closely tracks yesterday's attacks; complicity between far-right insurrectionists and palace guards, and massive breaches of official covert IT systems after the government falls.

http://attacksurface.com

I'm not the only one who fictionalizes attacks like this. Within hours of the attacks, right wing conspiratorialists were calling it a false flag and describing their colleagues in the videos as secret antifa infiltrators.

The narrative aftermath of this is gonna be *wild*.

Take the War of 1812. Many commentators have invoked that war - in which enemy forces burned down the White House - in discussing yesterday's assault. But what most Americans don't know is that they are told a highly parochial version of that war-story.

Americans think the War of 1812 was fought with the British, and that the US won. Meanwhile, Canadians believe that the War of 1812 was fought between the US and *Canada*, and that *Canada* won.

Indeed, we have delightful comic folksongs that celebrate the burning of the White House by victorious Canadian troops:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7jlFZhprU4

And the White House burned, burned, burned And we're the one's that did it! It burned, burned, burned While the president ran and cried It burned, burned, burned And things were very historical And the Americans ran and cried like a bunch of little babies Waa waa waah!

Can you imagine the story the descendants of Qanon believers will be telling themselves of yesterday's attack in a century or two?

[lunarliza]

Dirty Little Secret | Chapter One: Blankets

fuckbuddy!JJ x Kook!Reader 

You and JJ are fuck buddies- strictly physical. But what happens when you find yourself falling more and more for everyone’s favorite golden boy even though all he can see you as is a spoiled rich girl? 

You stared at the ticking clock among the sea of giggling preppy girls. Time had to be running in reverse. There was no way you still had an hour left. 

“Alright ladies, let’s now form a single-file line and practice our curtsies,” the cotillion instructor, Linda, ordered. The over-privileged girls hurried to the end of the ballroom, one carelessly stepping over your foot. “Ouch!” 

You glared at their backs and non-existent asses as they scurried, being the last one to sulk to your place behind a tall girl named Caroline. The leggy blonde snickered and leaned back slightly once everyone got into formation. 

“You look like a beat up mule,” she joked. 

You snorted and got on your tip-toes, muttering into her ear. “If I hear the words ‘prim and proper’ one more time, I might actually vomit on the spot.” 

You both peered over to Linda who was busy adjusting some of the girls in the front with her annoying pointer stick. It was only a matter of time before she would eventually get to you and criticize, well, everything. Your posture, clothes, hair, attitude. 

“If you do,” Caroline added, “make sure to get it all on Delilah in the front left. She totally swiped me for runner-up Miss Teen North Carolina last year.” 

You chuckled and shook your head. 

Caroline was probably the only thing getting you through these treacherous debutante lessons. She was your typical tall, thin socialite with a Benz and Prada collection to match. Ironically, you guys had more in common than one would think- hating just about every single girl in the room. It may be for different reasons, but the principle was there. Caroline was as competitive as they come and always had to be the center of attention, not that it was hard given her model height. 

You, on the other hand, couldn’t care less about becoming a high woman in society- evident in your ability to show up 20 minutes late to each lesson and royally screw up the dance number each chance you got. Caroline admired your talent of not giving a fuck and took a liking to you after you posed non-threatening to her spotlight. 

You faked yawned and checked the clock once more. 

“Alright I’ve had enough.” You held out your hand to Linda, causing the pageant girl in front of you to wrinkle her perfectly threaded brows. “Linda, I need to use the restroom,” you announced nonchalantly as everyone’s beetle eyes punctured you. 

“Very well y/n,” the monotonous instructor answered with her thin-framed glasses hanging on her beak nose.  

“See ya next week,” you sneakily whispered to Caroline. You proceeded to hop out of line, snatch your canvas bag at the entrance, and whisk out the door and into the busy street before anyone could see.

It was 3 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon. Your ferry left in an hour, and til then, you were ready to wander around the streets of Chapel Hill. 

                                           -----------------------------

“How were lessons today?” your mother asked, taking a sip of her 1999 Vineyard Merlot before setting the glass on the black marble table.

“Fine,” you answered, picking at the halibut on your plate. 

Her glasses were perched at the bridge of her nose as she scrolled through items on an iPad. You silently glanced over to your little sister, Macy, who slid her green beans onto your plate and threw you a thankful grin. 

“What did you go over?” your stepdad, Ted, asked half-heartedly as he scrolled through his phone. 

“Uh, we did some curtsies and practiced the dance,” was all you cared to mention as you munched on your sister’s veggies. 

“That’s funny,” your mother lifted her eyes from the screen, “because Linda called and said you went to the restroom and mysteriously disappeared. And you were late.” Her tone was much more adamant at the second part, but your face stayed cool as you took another bite of the awful fish. 

“There was backup when I left the ferry,” you lied and your mother rolled her eyes, tossing the iPad onto the table. 

“Y/n, you need to take this seriously. Ted spent weeks trying to get you into those debutante lessons and we’re paying a fortune for Linda alone!” 

“It’s not my fault she has a stick up her ass just like everyone else there,” you countered. Your mom was seconds away from fuming, so you decided to add a little extra fuel. “Also someone stepped on my foot with their heel so I had to rest it or else I wouldn’t be able to properly do the dance.” 

“Enough of this, y/n,” your mother snapped at your terrible sarcasm. Macy and Ted stopped eating and watched you both with hints of concern. You didn’t understand why it was so startling to them. It was just any other Thursday evening with your mom if you were being honest. 

“If I get another call from Linda, we’re taking away your keys.” 

“Take them,” you said, stepping up from your chair and towards the kitchen. You tossed the half-eaten food into the trash and stuffed the plate into the dishwasher. “Not like I have anywhere better to be on this God-awful island.” 

You rushed to your room upstairs and kicked the door shut behind you. You sank into your bed, face first, and let out the longest, dreadful groan into the comforter. 

This was your life now. After almost a year, you would think that you’d adjust to this pretentious Kook life, but it only made you feel more stranded than ever. It started when your real parents announced their divorce a few years back. Both yours and Macy’s hearts shattered at the news. Your family lived perfectly in a tiny home until you turned thirteen. Your dad- the one who taught you how to ride a bike, swim, fish, and play poker- got a new job where he would go overseas for months on end. You hated not being able to see him and your mom hated it even more- enough to leave him. Your mom ended up taking full custody of you and Macy. Soon after, she met money-bags Ted, and, before you knew it, your bags were sealed packed as you sailed away to a fancy new home along Figure Eight complete with housekeepers, a pool, and etiquette lessons. It was supposed to be this “better lifestyle” your mother tried to paint into your head- but you saw right through it. No matter how green the grass or white the fence, you still felt like you were being locked up on an island you had no interest in exploring. 

Making new friends was also a hassle- first coming in as a high school sophomore, and then not knowing how to engage in Kook-speak with the others. It’s not your fault you weren’t well-versed in luxury cars and handbags. You had one or two friends, but spent most of your days alone. It was well past midnight when you caught yourself drowning in your own self-loathing thoughts. A sudden tap on your window startled you as you turned to find a familiar blonde boy struggling to lift the glass. You watched, unimpressed, as he finally got it open enough to slide his lean body in and land straight onto your window seat. 

“You’re late again, JJ,” you said, getting up to lock your door. 

“Phone died and there’s a guard on duty, so I had to come in through the long way,” JJ stated, plopping himself comfortably on your bed. 

He wore his usual fit- dark cargo shorts and a navy button-up with hardly anything buttoned. He reeked of weed and seawater, wearing a sleazy grin on his face. You wanted to swipe it off. Cocky bastard. 

“For the last time,” you retorted, kicking his feet off your white blankets, “no shoes on my fucking bed.” 

“I love when you talk dirty to me,” JJ snarkily replied as he slipped off his boots.   

This was JJ: your fuck buddy. You couldn’t pinpoint exactly why you were involved with this delinquent of a boy, but he was enough piss off your mom and Ted- not that you would ever tell them. You didn’t know what it was about him, but causally sleeping with JJ made you feel more in control of your life. So, once or twice a week, you two would meet up, do the deed, and go your separate ways without a word. No strings, no feelings, hell, not even a friendship. And not a single soul knew. You both understood the terms of your agreement and will stand by it until the day you both die. “Are you just gonna stand there and stare or are we gonna get to clapping cheeks? I don’t have all night dude,” JJ nagged, interrupting you from your thoughts. 

You flipped him off. “If someone showed up during their regularly scheduled time, I would have had a lot more energy.” You peeled off your cropped tee to reveal a lacy black bralette and climbed into his lap. His hands cupped the globes of your ass before sliding them into your shorts, mouth connecting with your neck. 

“Let’s make this quick,” he added between short breaths, “I have to meet some friends in an hour.” 

-----------------------------

chapter two

[onf-headcanons]

ONF MEMBERS AS YOUR SIBLING (MK & U version)

n 

OMG I AM VERY VERY LOOKING FORWARD TO WRITE THIS PART!!!!!

Either you are related from Yuto or Minkyun side and either one of them later joined the family. Confusing? OK example you are Yuto’s sibling by blood and then later Minkyun joined. Or in reversed, Yuto joined later.

1. You are the youngest sibling (could be in terms age when the family comes together or you being born later OR stand in of Yuto’s youngest sister)

2. You are the middle sibling, being either Yuto’s elder blood sibling or Minkyun’s younger sibling but is older than Yuto.

3. Or you are the eldest (Good luck if you do lol there will be a lot of face palming), and alot of  “Yuto, I thought you are on my side????”

Any scenario that is suitable to your own imagination. Also there will be some repeated ideas from first universe because i would like to keep characterization consistency.

Btw this pair of sibling would be one of the noisiest.

My recommendation, you are the middle sibling. But you can totally imagine that your are younger ones. I will try to elaborate both, I hope i won’t confuse you guys🙈

Also age recommendations, Minkyun born in 1995 while Yuto is 1999, so if you are the middle sibling, your birth year is at between.  I would prefer as 1997 or 1998. Preferable that 1997 born if you are Yuto’s sibling, while 1998 born if you are Minkyun’s. 

 If you are the youngest, either you are same age as Yuto but later birthdate or the 3rd child that born after your parents marriage, in this case, 2 years younger than Yuto and 6 years younger than Minkyun.

Heads up I mentioned in the Hyojin & E-tion household, 3 households in this universe are very close to each other.So, apologies in advance and by all means there is not explicit favoritism (I did wrote about household interacting for previous universes). It just convenient and i felt we can use it this way.  Also, Minseok is Yuto’s classmate.

General headcanons

Yuto family moved to Korea when he is still a toddler. So he speaks Korean outside and Japanese back home. Because his family speaks in Kansai dialect, Yuto picks up that dialect automatically

Of course it could be Yuto’s family moved to Korea when he is at middle school age as well, it can be flexible.

Minkyun struggling to learn Japanese but then give up. But it never stops him to randomly drops in weird Japanese when he is hyper, and then leaving Yuto （and you）facepalming because Minkyun used it wrongly

Actually even though mature but super sensitive brothers. Well in very different ways. But should you live with them long enough, you pick up that intuitively 

I dont think this family will have alot of fight because both are sensitive in nature and deeply scare to hurt each other. So this family is all about giving out mental security to family members as well.

(its very different from MInseok Yuto household, because them 2 are in same age, so there is less factor to consider, while Yuto would have to put in Minkyun being a hyung when he started to get used to Minkyun’s existence. And Minkyun will sometimes, not in a bad way, being to passionately and freeminded hoping the younger one to open up more)

I mean, Yuto is defo the tsundere one while Minkyun radiates big puppy energy for this pair chemistry.

Loud

Bonus, Yuto never knew Minkyun can be that clingy lol XD

Minkyun never knew Yuto can be such a fan towards his weird antics XD He thought Yuto wont get his joke due to cultural differences, but turns out Yuto loves it (well cause mostly is body gag/ mom gaegu, like you see what Minkyun did during his birthday’s mini game heaven in 2020, that suddenly motor engine starting? Ya that is total epic lol )

Its super harmonious? like this family combi does not shy away on expressing hey i need help and family members super volunteer to help out if needed. (not that i mean other family does not help out each other, but this one is particularly doing it with super high tendency)

Due to Japanese background, Yuto might try to settle things on his own, but Minkyun will break that mindset stereotype and helps him out (like why you think it is a hassle for me? Ask for help if needed that is what family is here for.)

Minkyun playing guitar while singing and that is how your family know if he is at home or not.

Yeap in this universe Minkyun is a songwriter while Yuto is a dance coach and dancer (later when they all grow up, BTW i am thinking that Yuto and Minseok runs a dance academy later on.)

Minkyun is also part time sponsor/volunteer at pet shelter. In the end you and Yuto also are familiar faces at the spot. 

Also, hanging out being little part timers at Baskin Robbins lol

OH IF WANNA TRULY LINK EVERYTHING FOR UNIVERSE 3, BASKIN ROBBINS being the main meetup/setup point.  Jaeyoung is Minkyun’s friend so he would always drop by to have ice cream. While Changyoon could be doing a part time job there before and while occasionally drop by when he is nearby. 

welp they all live in the neighbourhood/same city in this universe so they all coincidentally bump at each other very often.

Either Yuto joining a school dance club or a dance academy  so there is where he met Minseok. (Who is a really curious kid who also look up to Yuto and Yuto also look up to him, cos dance talents)

(for this part I wont be talking about how Minkyun snuggling cat snacks cos its repeating what I wrote.)

 Scenario 1

If you are related with Yuto and Minkyun is the new join

Could you be are extroverted and you kind off help Yuto to get close to Minkyun

You and Yuto would find this new brother fascinating. He looks quiet at the beginning but later he will prove you both wrong

But when Minkyun is his serious mode, you will feel strange towards that too, because how can he has such large gap

i thinking its super cute and funny that if you and Yuto both gets intimidated at Minkyun’s height lol

It will be fun if Yuto has a denial stage aka hard time opening up to accept it because he is cautious, but you just bluntly accept it and joins Minkyun. It shows difference between personality of related blood siblings lol

IF actually you and your blood brother are introvertedly fun, Minkyun’s existence will be the key to spark both of your dork traits. It is a assuring factor for your parents that you 3 hang out very well.

its not like your family never heard Yuto laughed, but ever since Yuto and Minkyun opened up and gets close, Yuto is laughing alot.

you and Yuto both asking MInkyun for help when you two could understand some Koreans. But since Minkyun fools around 50:50, you two ends up googling or just straight up asking your friends

But if it is homework/grammar wise, Minkyun will really really explain it to you.

Minkyun also get close towards Yuto’s classmate, Minseok. I think a few times, you did not join, but the boys went out to roam the streets to feed stray cats/animals.

Bonus if in this hc, and you are younger than Yuto, and you have a crush on Minseok. Minkyun picks it up and would wanna help out but you told him to keep still XD

you three gonna be game buddies for sure lol

Scenario 2

If you are related with Minkyun and Yuto is the new joined / OR my preference, Yuto being the home stay student, and your family ends up unofficially adopts a Japanese sibling since Yuto continues his homestay contract with your family.

You and Minkyun thought Yuto is a bit distant in the beginning, and you three overwork your brains on trying too hard not to do something impolite towards each other culture.

But you and Minkyun would be surprise at how Yuto is so adapted to Korean culture later on.

Could be you are similarly shy like Yuto and need time to open up. This time Minkyun will be the one to open up first and slowly helps you.

Minkyun would suggest 3 of you to hang out at pet shelter. It does help.s

hould it is the homestay hc, I do see your family and Yuto’s family going along very well. Occasionally showing up to greet Yuto’s family during Skype session.

As Minkyun is the one who gave up, you are the one who would pick Japanese up later on. It gave Minkyun a shock when you and Yuto casually switching Japanese and Korean (with you amateur Japanese, but its already enough to give Minkyun a fright)

He might pout a bit, thinking/semi blaming himself a bit for not putting more effort to try to manifest the tool get close with Yuto. But then will throw the worry aside because its not really that important. Because he understands that its not like he and Yuto could not communicate anyways.

if it is the student hc, This could be when you and Minkyun are still high shcool-ers/ middle school-ers. And your school opens for foreigns students.

Minkyun being a bit worried because of he is 95er and Yuto a 99er. But when one day he sees Minseok come to visit, he goes: “ OMG thank goodness, I was so worried that he could not get along with classmate.”

Yuto just sidelining his hyung lol like chill dude, I interacts just fine ok. Don’t worry. 

(maybe Minseok comes to pass homework for Yuto because Yuto was sick and Minseok know the address.)

Similar to above, should you are Minkyun’s younger sibling, he can picks up that you have a crush on Minseok too.

Scenario 3

If you are the child that born later from your parents marriage

Them both flustered when they first meet the baby you.

Idk why for this hcs, I felt that age gap will be wider, as Yuto and Minkyun’s parents come together when them both are more older than other hcs. My age range idea is Yuto is about 10 or 13 while Minkyun is 14 or 17.

So, also I do think them both had a fight with parents, especially the mom because of her decision to get pregnant at older age. But quickly reconciled, they are just worried, no bad intentions. 

Because they are more grown compared to other hcs for this scenario, they help out on babysitting even more and even practical.

Minkyun basically is just like a young flustered dad while Yuto is the calmer one. But sometimes when the baby you throws a tantrum because you specifically wanted mommy, cues in both  Minkyun and Yuto flustered.

Also, Minkyun being funny but you are unbothered, 3 seconds later, it was Yuto who could not hold in and burst out laughter. 

You might be the one who pick up the language. And because you master both language, maybe later on your career pick would be interpreter

Rather than Yuto gets confused with language, you are the one who gets confused with language  in the beginning lol

It only got better when Yuto decided that you should speak Japanese with him and Korean with Minkyun in the household.

Minkyun is gonna let his baby young sibling ride him, and he will do his iconic either elephant or horse voice imitations.

(super funny bonus, if you are scared of that when you are a baby, but it got better later on.)

A/N I will stop here because I dont wanna write repetitive stuffs