#so who knows i feel like it could go either way (whether we're getting unit songs or not)

[lesbiancarat]

u know I say track #5 is probably vocal unit since it's a slower song but part of me wonders if this is gonna be another all ot13 mini album

[carriehobbs]

13, 34, 35 for AlinaxNate beloveds for the couple’s questions, please! 🥰 (~agentnatesewell)

omg ty for asking mar 💕💕💕💕

13. What is their go-to for making a partner feel loved?

Whether intentional or not, I think the thing that Nate does that makes Alina feel loved is simply listening to her. He asks her about how she's feeling and actually pays attention when she answers. He remembers the things she says and considers her. It's a level of consideration that she isn't really used to and therefore doesn't expect, and so she's always pleasantly surprised and touched when he goes out of his way to be attentive and considerate.

Alina is a very tactile person, and tends to be very touchy with the people she loves. She doesn't really realize she does this, but she tends to gravitate towards Nate any time they're in the same room together. She wants to be physically close to the people she loves, whether that's leaning against them or holding hands or just sitting next to them. Compassion and sympathy, for her, are always accompanied by touch - a hug, a squeeze on the shoulder, a hand on their hand.

34. Under what circumstances would they feel protective?

I think we're all a little familiar with the circumstances that would make Nate feel protective, lol. Any situation where Alina could be in physical danger will bring out Nate's overprotectiveness (like during the trapper fight in B3, or before the auction in B3, or even after the detective tells UB about their unplanned meeting with Falk in B2).

For Alina, I think Nate being in danger does bring out protective feelings, but they aren't as extreme as Nate's seem to be. She doesn't like when he puts himself in danger and she will urge him to exercise caution, but she doesn't prevent him from doing his job, either. In the fight in the sewers in B2, for example, she knows that Nate is in danger, but trusts him to be able to handle the trappers on his own (and therefore focuses her attention on Sanja instead).

I'm not sure if it's truly protectiveness or if it's more defensiveness, but she tends to be more protective (defensive?) of Nate when she perceives someone as questioning his character. If Rebecca were to come to her and tell her that, as much as she likes Nate, she doesn't think it's a good idea for Alina to be with him (due to his obvious blood stuff/things Rebecca might know about his past/etc.), Alina would pretty much try to shut that line of conversation down immediately and make sure that Nate never knew that someone was speaking about him that way. Similarly, if someone at the Agency insinuated that Alina only got her position on UB because Nate pulled some strings to get his girlfriend posted to his unit, she would do anything up to and including physically removing Nate from the situation to keep him from having to hear someone question his character that way.

35. Would they get a pet? What kind? Who brings up the idea, and who takes a little longer to convince?

I think Alina and Nate are back and forth for quite a while on whether or not they should get a pet, oddly enough. Nate strikes me as the type to like animals (and specifically dogs - I remember Nate with the dog in the B1 bakery scene), and so I can imagine that he'd want a pet but likely doesn't have one because of the nature of his work with the agency (long hours, traveling a lot, etc.). For Alina's part, she hesitates at the possibility of getting a pet because she's never had one before and wants to be certain that she could properly care for one (which, like Nate, she doesn't feel like she can do given the current intensity of her work with the Agency). Even after the events of the books (when, hopefully, things slow down a bit for Unit Bravo), Alina still worries that they wouldn't have the time for a pet, no matter how appealing they may find the prospect of having one.

I can see them getting a dog a long time after the end of the books, once their children get to the age where kids start asking their parents if they can get a pet. Alina still hesitates, but Nate convinces her that, if they're settled enough to have multiple children, then they're probably settled enough that they can handle a dog (especially if the children are actively involved with taking care of the dog).

[butchthirteen]

what’s your pitch for good!Flux? And good!Power of the Doctor?

okay so i'm going to preface this by saying i have not rewatched flux or power of the doctor since potd aired and that is because potd dealt so much psychic damage to me that it retroactively ruined the entire chibnall era and now i can never watch it again. so this is going to be extremely vague/broad strokes because i don't remember what happened very well.

on the other hand, this means that the bar for a good version of both of these is very low.

overall, flux should be entirely about the doctor's reaction to the timeless child news and her subsequent identity crisis, and secondarily about how she is in absolutely no shape to have any kind of relationship with another person.

to make room for this, we're cutting out like half the plot lines. i liked bel and vinder but what were they doing there. we don't need the unit thing either, and i think i'd also cut the lupari, or at least, i might keep karvanista as a figure from the doctor's past but i'm not sure connecting that to a species that exists to guard humans makes literally any sense. i'm not sure we need swarm and azure either, and i would maybe replace them with a lackey for tecteun who's responsible for creating/spreading the flux. the weeping angel thing can take up more time, that was one of the cooler parts of flux, and it could also build up some suspense (ie. the angels are stalking the doctor, what do they want with her, finally she's in the 60's and this town is crawling with them, etc.) and we keep dan so yaz can have a companion.

plotwise like... i feel like the flux itself has to feel personal. like... okay, planets are disappearing, but they're planets the doctor cares about. she drags yaz to some planet or another because she thinks it might give her more clues about what division is, and the planet is just full of refugees. and something is clearly extremely extremely wrong. and they go back to earth to check on it and they realize the streets are strangely empty, i guess i'm lifting from the dimension cannon audios to say the flux got the sun. which also gives them a time limit on fixing it because pretty soon the earth is going to be uninhabitably cold. and they pick up dan somewhere in there. but as they like. go around the universe trying to figure out what's wrong it's clear that like. places that have a particular significance to the doctor are gone. you could pull a ton of different references from past seasons. and then she realizes she keeps seeing the angels.

you need to either do way less or way more thasmin, and i'm a dyke, so i would make the thasmin way more explicit, but also way more toxic/codependent. yaz knows thirteen is hiding something, knows it's massive, knows thirteen is running away from her, but can't leave because 1. she's never felt this way about anyone and she doesn't want to lose what she has and 2. she knows that whatever thirteen is hiding is clearly devastating and rooted in trauma etc which makes her 100% more likely to forgive thirteen. and thirteen for her part is like. perfectly nice until yaz tries to challenge her/ask questions and then she falls back on the "haven't i shown you amazing things!!" thing that we get like. one line of.

also like yaz having WWTDD on her hand was a clear attempt to show that she looks up to the doctor and wants to be like the doctor but it's like. extremely on-the-nose and stilted. "show don't tell" isn't universally useful advice but it would be useful advice in this specific instance. show us that yaz is becoming like the doctor!

for example. i kind of want to keep some of the stuff with the mouri, maybe the doctor goes to them to figure out whether something's wrong, realizes a couple are missing, but crucially yaz is like "wait if you get another person in there will it stop the universe from being so fucked up." and jumps in. because she thinks she can handle it. and the doctor is like. oh shit i don't want to lose yaz and jumps in too. because then you can have all the flashbacks, maybe you give yaz glimpses of a possible future for herself (without the doctor... but with the doctor's constant intrusion) (also in good!flux yaz has already quit being a cop and she's an emt in the future thing) and then that can parallel the doctor's glimpses of a possible past for herself, with the present as an intrusion (ie. she's seeing yaz instead of her actual partner or whatever).

yaz's separation from thirteen (and her watching thirteen turn into an angel) needs a lot more narrative and emotional weight, we should see her sobbing and wailing, and then we should see her stand up and figure out what needs to be done. the doctor doesn't give her a hologram (because thirteen being like "well i think we might get separated!" and planting a hologram makes NO sense) but she does have like. a silly souvenir hologram of the doctor from some amusement park or something so it's literally just the doctor grinning and going like "hi yaz!!"

and she has dan with her but i think i'll leave jericho out honestly because the main thing i remember about him is yaz taking a historical object out of a dig site type of place and going "we should return it" and jericho going "no no it's a discovery!!" and like. i think maybe i'm actually not going to have a character of color say "hey stealing this cultural item kind of sucks" and then an older white man from the 1960's who's just there to go "no it's great." i mean if i do keep him in i take out that line and i give his death way more impact. but anyway . we can keep dan as companion for yaz and also like. general emotional support guy. this also means that he gets an extremely one-sided picture of yaz's relationship with the doctor. i also think he assumes they're dating/partnered just by how desperate yaz is to get back.

but anyway without the hologram yaz doesn't have a mission from the doctor, but she does have a mission, which is to get back to the doctor, and she's spent enough time with the doctor that she knows if she looks hard enough eventually she'll find a time traveler, possibly another version of the doctor, and she can get that person to get her back to the doctor. i think also if we keep the tunnels she needs to discover them through research etc., like she needs to read somewhere about this guy in liverpool who keeps saying these tunnels are going to weird times/places, and then she needs to follow up on those rumors and seek out the guy and ask him about the tunnels and convince him to show her the tunnels and then she gets back. and dan is there to be like "hang on i know about these tunnels!!"

meanwhile!! first of all we make a much bigger deal about the angel thing, we see thirteen left there for much longer, and it's tecteun who comes and turns her back. also the conversation with tecteun starts with tecteun addressing thirteen in gallifreyan and then switching to english when thirteen absolutely refuses to engage. this is the "reveal" that yes, the flux was about the doctor, and it's all so the doctor can have a beautiful new universe to play in, etc etc etc. honestly i don't think i'd change much about this bit, it's just all the stuff around it needs to give it way more weight. i'm honestly not sure how this resolves, though. i think thirteen needs to think tecteun is right for a moment, and then she's like wait fuck this and figures out an escape. probably she figures out tecteun has an escape plan and uses that. to be honest i don't worry a lot about the technicalities of stuff like "how does she escape" because i feel like that's secondary to the actual plot. like in doctor who the technical stuff never makes any sense but you buy into it because the emotional story is good. unless the emotional story is bad.

and then like. we're back on earth with the sun gone out. it is extremely crucial that thirteen does not get trisected after the interaction with tecteun because this means that yaz is now in the right century, directly in front of the tardis, but the doctor isn't there. which means that we can use the chekov's gun of yaz knowing how to pilot the tardis (!!!) and have her get in there, get out her big binder and all her sticky notes or whatever, and figure out how to find the doctor. and honestly i think it takes most of the episode for her and the doctor to find each other. meanwhile they're both trying to figure out how to solve the problem of the flux. they find each other, have their moment, thirteen is absolutely wrecked emotionally and physically, yaz is doing a little better but like it's been a long four years. and there's a moment where thirteen is completely defeated, yaz starts throwing out solutions, like "maybe there's an antidote" "maybe there's something that works against it" "maybe we can turn back time" etc etc etc.

and here's the thing... i think maybe this is where the heart of the tardis could come in. like when it's used at the end of the first episode of flux, it's so anticlimactic. but in s1, it's established that the heart of the tardis gives you what you need. and i feel like thirteen looking into the heart of the tardis could like. do some things. for the universe. particularly i think thirteen coupled with the tardis could fuck with the timelines to reverse the progress of the flux, there's still lots of loss but she manages to save earth (and the sun) and get the flux out of the universe. honestly i'm not sure if this would actually work but again it's one of those things where the emotional storyline needs to really sell it.

so that's flux. and you know what you could just have the doctor regenerate right there, considering the heart of the tardis has a track record of killing her, but let's say instead she expends it all trying to fix what the flux did and then she's just so fucking tired. and yaz is like "okay let's have a beach day. do you want to invite dan."

and then we get eotd/lotsd. i won't go into too much detail here except that these episodes need to like. foster actual conversation between thirteen and yaz. like they need to actually talk it out. thirteen needs to tell yaz what she's been hiding, yaz needs to express how it's hurt her. which sets them up for potd.

good!potd involves a few things. first of all, tegan and ace are both explicitly dykes. none of this "i have two ex-husbands" whatever. she's married to nyssa and we all know this. secondly, we need an actual bodyswap between the doctor and the master. what actually happened was way too confusing. thirdly, if you are going to open on a random child and then not use that to talk about thirteen's childhood trauma. what is the point. fourthly yaz needs to either choose to leave on her own accord (because thirteen mistreated her, because even though they're talking now it's too little too late, because her time in the past made her realize she really missed normal life) or there needs to be tragedy. like she needs to die. we also need an emotional kiss either right when she's about to leave or while she dies. honestly i don't remember what the actual plot of potd was but like. fewer plot lines more of the master and the doctor goofing around in each other's bodies, more dykery, more tragedy. and also thirteen needs to die as a direct result of the forced regeneration. honestly i only watched potd once and since then i've been trying to wipe it from my brain because i hated it so much so i have fewer thoughts on this one.

anyway i hope you enjoyed that. i gave myself real emotions thinking about thirteen's emotional journey in my own personal version of flux. if anyone has thoughts or wants to add anything let me know. i thought about adding jack to both flux and potd because according to the released shooting script for rotd he was supposed to come back at the end and deliver a cliffhanger into flux (presumably written before the bbc blacklisted john barrowman) and like if we're living in a perfect world where no one sexually harasses anyone else having jack there (particularly as someone who knows the doctor very well from a very different point in their life) would be cool so there's also that.

this is long but i'm not putting it under a read more. woe! good!flux and good!potd be upon ye!

[a-witch-in-endor]

Hiii witch of endor, I got a question on Jewish lineage. I'm half east Asian/ Jewish but the Jewish part I'm not so sure of since going through your blog. My dad comes from a long line of rabbis on both sides ( maternal and paternal) and his sister has been able to track our family's bloodline to the tribe of Issachar. My dad isn't religiously Jewish and neither am I, but I've been told all my life that we (my father and I) are Jewish. Is that correct? I'm proud of my Jewish heritage but I don't wanna go around accidently proclaiming to be someone I'm not.

Hi! Thanks for reaching out, and do feel free to un-anon and message directly.

That's cool about your rabbinic lineage - do you know anything more about that?

As to tribal lineage - it would be really impressive, and almost unheard of, if you could actually trace your tribal lineage to Issachar. The tribes that weren't lost with the destruction of the North (when Israel was the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, and the Northern Kingdom fell to the Assyrians in 722BCE) are mainly just Judah and Levi. (That's why we're now called Jews - because Judah is the main surviving tribe.) Those are still maintained, and there were some Benjaminites hanging around about 2000 years ago, but... I would double-check where that info on Issachar is coming from, because it's an extremely rare thing to be able to do. For context, I basically only spend time with Jews IRL, and I don't think I've met anyone who's not either Judah or Levi.

The other piece you're asking about is matrilineal descent. So. In biblical times, the idea of tracing being an Israelite by either matrilineal or patrilineal descent wasn't really heard of. You can write off anything before Sinai (so, the time of Moses) because it wasn't really solidified at all by then. Tribal lineage (as in, whether an Israelite belonged to the tribe of Levi or Benjamin, etc) was certainly through patrilineal descent, but questions of being an Israelite were murkier. Most likely, it came down to either parent as long as one lived in Israel, because Biblical Judaism was really all about relationship with the land itself.

By the time of rabbinic Judaism (so, Judaism in a post-biblical world), Jews were counting Jewishness by matrilineal descent. At this point, we'd lived through one short-lived exile (Babylonian Exile, or the First Exile) and multiple occupations, and were getting into the Second Exile (the one that stretches from 70CE to the modern day, arguably ending with the Third Jewish Commonwealth, i.e. the establishment of the State of Israel). At this point, questions of mixed parentage were getting a lot more traction, and rabbis, being legal nerds, were trying to sort out the implications. The law was settled on matrilineal descent. This is probably due to multiple factors: unclear paternality, where a baby goes when parents don't form a marital unit, how external law works. Either way, that's how the law fell.

There was another category for those who were born of Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers, for what it's worth: zera Yisra'el, or "seed of Israel". This would refer to someone who's of Jewish stock, but not technically a Jew.

Now, into the modern era, some areas of progressive Judaism have decided to count things a little differently. This is for multiple reasons: a lack of adherence to traditional law (the Reform Movement likes to say "the tradition gets a vote, but not a veto", which I think is very cute) mixed with living in a world with intermarriage without anyone converting, being more certain of paternality, etc. Some progressive Jewish instutitons say that as long as a child was raised Jewish and with no other religion, they count as Jews. Some have all kids go through the conversion rituals before becoming Bar/Bat Mitzvah as a way to handle unclear cases. Some just accept paternal descent.

All that is to say, according to the areas of Judaism that understand Jewish law to be binding, you're what we would call zera Yisra'el. That is to say, you're family, but not obligated under the law (which is a pretty cool spot to be in, I personally think). According to some Jews who don't ascribe to the idea that law is binding, you might be considered to be a plain ol' regular Jew.

(BTW, full disclosure, I am very much not a progressive Jew. 100% Jewish law gets a veto in my opinion, which is why pork will never be kosher. I hope I haven't misrepresented anything about progressive Judaism here, but you should know my biases!)

[messymindofmine]

I'm just going to say one thing before tonight's episode. At this point we only have clips that are literally used to create drama to go off on right now. We don't know what's going to happen but from everything that we have been told, they will be having some kind of conversation about this and they will remain united.

What I don't understand is why ppl are so quick to take sides. Carlos not wanting kids is perfectly valid for whatever reason. It actually makes sense. He spent his whole life so convinced that he would never have the life he has now. He was convinced that he'd disappointed his parents by being who he is and tried to marry a woman so that he could fit the mould he thought he had to fit into. But now he's realizing that he doesn't have to change himself or adhere to traditional heteronormative ideals to be happy. He kept his marriage to Iris a secret from the man he loves for their entire relationship but now it's out in the open. Now that marriage is over and hes embarking on a real marriage with the man he loves, it makes sense that after a lifetime of trying to so hard to fit into what tradition expected him to, he's questioning whether or not he even wants all the things he believed he did. He wants to get married but maybe he's questioning whether having children is something he truly wants or was just led to believe he did. And it's also understandable that he wants to enjoy him and TK being husbands. Again, this is something he never thought he'd have so of course he'd want to enjoy it as much as possible. It doesn't even seem as if he's saying he never wants kids. But I do agree that of you're not 100% certain that you want kids then that means you shouldn't have them.

That said, TK wanting kids is also valid. He didn't grow up in a stable household and it left it's mark on him. I can see how he'd want kids so that he can have the family he always wanted. But his assumption that Carlos thinks that he'd be a bad father shows that there are other issues at play and it's important for them to talk about this bc if he's more into the idea of having kids to fix the pain his own childhood caused him then that's not a good reason to have kids.

This isn't a situation where one person is right and the other is wrong. This is a situation of communication. Its a situation where they need to actually talk about what they see in their future and try to come to some agreement. It doesn't have to be one conversation either. They can decide to just wait a while and keep talking about it in the meantime. They have time, they don't have to have kids right away.

All that said, people are allowed to be upset. I don't like seeing any type of anger towards any of the characters but I do understand why. From what I can see some people are upset bc it feels like Carlos saying he doesn't want kids takes their fantasy of dad!Tarlos away. I don't think so. That's the beauty of fanfic. You can write whatever you want. Even if they decide to never have kids, nothing is stopping you from writing them as dad in your own fics. But just bc people are upset with Carlos right now doesn't mean that they don't want to see his character development or that they don't want to see him as anything other than TK's partner. You can love a character and appreciate their growth be upset with them at times. Carlos has been put on a pedestal for 3 seasons and even though he's the same character he's always been now, we're seeing his flaws explored more. I don't think it's unreasonable for people to be upset at certain things especially when he's behaving in less than ideal ways. He was deflecting the conversation as TK tried to talk to him and I think people are allowed to be annoyed about that. TK has been getting hate since 1x02 despite all his growth and many of us have had to put up with it for 4 seasons now. Any time there was a conflict in the prior 3 seasons, TK bore the brunt of people's anger even when Carlos was also to blame. Like with the breakup. And people are still getting mad at TK now for being unreasonable. So it's not like only people are only mad at one of them right now. We should be able to criticize a character for certain behaviors without others saying that we don't want to see them develop or we only want to see them act a certain way. Carlos has a habit of deflecting important conversations and it's not healthy in a relationship. I think people are allowed to be upset that he's doing this now. It doesn't mean that they hate him now or they don't want to see him developing. The same thing happened at the beginning of the season where people couldn't express their upset at Carlos having kept his marriage a secret without being inundated with messages dredging up every mistake TK has ever made. Carlos has flaws. We can acknowledge those flaws and appreciate his development while still being annoyed at his behavior at times. Just like we do for all the other characters.

Also for all we know, this episode could end up similar to how 4x02 did with them talking and having that beautiful moment in the end where TK opens up about his insecurities and Carlos reassures him and opens up about his own insecurities in return and they express their love for each other. And people were so upset when they released the promo clip bc it felt like TK's feelings were just going to be used as a punchline. But then everything calmed down after the couch scene. And then everyone was mad again after 4x03 bc they were either mad at Carlos for his behavior or they were trying to pin the blame onto TK. But then things calmed down again after 4x04. I actually wouldn't be surprised of that's what ends up happening

[gracie-gloom]

When Worlds Collide pt.2

Story where a new Overwatch agent (you) and Junker Queen are on a new mission together and are forced into close quarters.

Junker Queen x fem reader

Part 1:

You woke to the sound of your alarm at 8am, quietly and slowly getting up from the bed, you leave the room careful not to wake Odessa.

You stepped into the shower while hundreds of thoughts took over your mind, what the heck was she saying yes to last night? Maybe she was sleep talking but.. no, no way she would fall asleep that quick. It wasn't until you headed back to the room to see the Queen still sleeping, had you realized that you'd actually slept very soundly next to her, and though she was feared by many, the way she acted with you seemed completely opposite of things you've heard.

She looked peaceful laying with her arms behind her head, and you could see just how toned her arms were. You quickly focused yourself again, grabbing some paperwork and heading over to the common area to get some research done. At around noon Odessa finally came around, though your work wasn't done yet, you looked up to give her a smile.

"You're quite the early bird aren't ya?" Odessa asked teasingly.

"I just want to be prepared for tomorrow, I'm not exactly going to be the one doing the heavy lifting, so I have to make sure all my data is up to date so everything goes smoothly" you responded shyly. Continuing with your work, the Queen had taken a seat across from you and was catching up on the news, glancing past you to the TV.

So many seats but she chooses to sit there? Maybe she's just trying to be friendly, you thought to yourself. You sneaked a glance at Odessa's face, taking in her features and realizing how beautiful she really was, as well as how much she really suited all that muscle.

"Hey-"

You quickly looked away when she began speaking, not wanting her to catch you staring.

"you did all your training here right? Why don't you show me around a little, I hardly ever get time away from Junker town!" Show you around? You weren't sure if Odessa was referring to the training areas or around the city you two were stationed in. Because if it was around the city, well.. she's not trying to ask me on a date is she?

"Maybe sometime after the mission" you said with a smile.

"That's a promise then alright?" Odessa responded with a wink, then left the table to get a look around elsewhere.

Thank god she left so she didn't see me blushing.. gosh what was that? You didn't need more distractions right now, but maybe, just maybe, you thought Junker Queen could be an exception.

Junker Queen POV:

Without all the usual chaos it felt nice to wake up a bit later knowing you wouldn't be dealing with Junkers trying to break the law or what not.

Crap, it's already noon? Maybe I slept a little too good.. glancing around to see (y/n) had already gone downstairs, you headed down to grab something to eat, curious to see where (y/n) was, finding her sat at an empty table alone. Debating whether or not to sit down with her.

Well we're gonna be working together, and it isn't like there's anyone around, who says I can't show my soft side just cause I'm Queen?

Taking a seat across from (y/n), observing the TV before striking up some more small conversation. Thinking (y/n) would make for a great tour guide, but in all honestly the Queen didn't care much for what the city had to offer. It was a rich area, nothing like she had seen before, and nothing she wanted to be a part of either. But she had to get (y/n's) attention somehow.

"That's a promise then alright?" after giving a wink and cheeky smile, Odessa left. Feeling giddy inside and a little shocked at how bold she had been.

Tomorrow would come sooner than later, and the Queen wanted to put on her best show for you.

Honestly I was writing this for myself since I have so many ideas I can't keep track of, so thankyou for the notes on part one, Junker Queen simps unite :') I personally like longer stories so sorry in advanced if that isn't quite your style and you'd prefer something shorter :D but yeah (: there will be more when I get to it

Part 3

[qqueenofhades]

Hello! Anon with the history professor who refuses to take a stance on anything here. It's time for our semester final paper. Thankfully it's not on why communism is bad because he still absolutely won't talk about that but it's on the equally frustrating topic of US involvement with the war in Ukraine. And on one hand, it feels like it should be a fairly easy thing to write about given how much the war has been in the news for the past year, right, but at the same time, I feel like I'm writing basically from what I've learned from reading the news only. Don't get me wrong, my history professor does absolutely know what he's talking about. I don't exactly know how to explain it- he clearly knows his stuff but is not good at conveying it to the class? And it leaves me scrambling because yes, this is a topic that I can write a paper on but at the same time I just don't feel as though we've spent enough time talking about it and learning about it.

That is to say, we've spent plenty of time learning ABOUT the war in Ukraine, right, but the paper topic is basically "should the US get involved in Ukraine and if so, to what extent, why or why not" (I can look up the exact phrasing if you want) but while we've talked about the war, we haven't discussed things so much as what the US is currently doing exactly, nor what benefits and/or consequences would be the result because remember, he's not here to influence us one way or another and that's our opinion to form and that's why he's assigning us this essay but can't talk about whether he thinks US involvement is a good or a bad thing so I have very little to work with from the actual class. And I get it, I do, we're supposed to be able to do our own research and not just have the facts from either side spoon fed to us so that we can crap out an essay but it feels like I'm working with nothing here.

If it helps at all, it's a Russian history class I'm taking that counts as a gen-ed history credit through my university's honors college. All of first semester was basically all pre-WW1 history and we've covered everything from there up until present day in the last couple months, then the rest of the school year will be learning about the modern political, social, and economic situation there. It's definitely a fun class even if it can't go super in depth into any one specific thing there (because there's so many units in this class that could be an entire class all on their own) but I still enjoy it even if it's not taught in the best way possible. I'm a freshman this year, yes, but it also feels like after almost an entire school year I should have a better idea about how to deal with this sort of thing and I don't and it sucks. I'm definitely enjoying the class and everything that I'm learning there, I just feel as though it could be taught so much better, and I'm just reaching out for help and advice now if you have any. I'm not asking for help with the paper itself, to be clear- I'm asking more about how do deal with this situation and the class and the professor's style of teaching that I feel like I'm struggling more and more to deal with just because he can't take a goddamned stance on fucking anything. Ahem. Rant over. Sorry.

Okay but yet again, this remains utterly bamboozling for me. Not least because the paper topic is one where you HAVE to take a side, but how the heck is he going to mark it? Just correct your grammar/spelling/style and say nothing about the content and whether you have successfully made an argument, because that might be Expressing An Opinion? Not least because you will need to draw material from the class (which he won't really teach you about for fear of expressing said opinion), and you will have to demonstrate how it all works together and the actual moral and physical consequences of the system, which he seems to have avoided giving you any intellectual tools to do??? I just. Yeah.

Likewise, if he just treats it as an abstract exercise where "either point of view is valid" and he somehow grades without making it clear which side of the argument he supports, you're going to end up with some weird theoretical exercise where you could end up entirely justifying the war in Ukraine from Russia's perspective, which is... not what a history class on the USSR/post-Soviet Russia should have taught you. Like, you could literally write this paper using nothing but Russian propaganda sources, and you technically would have made a successful argument that US involvement in Ukraine is bad and this war is all NATO's fault and Ukraine should have just surrendered and Russian war crimes are justified and etc. etc., but if your professor won't take a side, how would he actually be able to discredit that or call it into question? After all, that might be expressing an opinion! In other words, he's teaching you, intentionally or otherwise, that you can make arguments that sound coherent and faithfully represent talking points offered up, but you have absolutely no ability to separate propaganda vs. actual empirical information, you have automatically given up the right to make any critical distinction between that information for your audience, and that's not... that's not what a historian DOES!

Anyway, this man's pedagogical style remains completely mystifying to me, especially in a field that is so distorted by ideology/misinformation as Soviet/Russian history. Like... you can't study Russian history without studying the historiographical and narrative systems that Russia has used to tell particular stories about itself, and you have to be able to critically differentiate between the reality and the narrative! The Russian word dezinformatsiya, imported into English as "disinformation," literally came from the Soviet-era KGB in terms of their political strategy to just make stuff up about dissidents and anyone else who threatened the Soviet regime, and since we are all talking about "disinformation" and "fake news" these days, it's kind of important to know how to deal with that! Plus, Putin has presently weaponized it to an absurd global degree with Western election interference campaigns and internet troll-farms, so like again. How can you say anything useful or valuable on this subject if you're essentially acting like "both sides are valid," when they are NOT??!

I realize that I have answered your rant with one of my own (oops) and I'm unsure how much help this is, but I still don't get this professor's teaching choices at all. I'm glad you're still getting something out of the course, but yeah. Mystifying.

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 26th May

Some songs are so huge that literally everybody is going to know them, whether or not they know the name. This is one of those songs, which has graced the UK charts in many, many guises over the decades - this is the first, but perhaps not the best known? Either way, I'm excited!

Unchained Melody - Al Hibbler (peaked at Number 2)

I have to confess, I kind of assumed the first time this hit the charts, it would be the original. I knew that Unchained Melody was from a film - in fact, it's not that the melody has been "unchained", it's that the melody is from the film Unchained, which is apparently a prison flick about a prisoner torn between serving his sentence and seeing his family for sure, or risking an escape. The song has overshadowed any real memory of this film, in the public eye, I suspect, but still, people know it's from a film.

Unfortunately, it turns out the film version is actually a completely different version, by a guy called Todd Duncan. Which, you will notice, is not this version! Al Hibbler recorded his version the same year, though, so this is still one of the earliest versions of the song.

We start with some unexpected orchestral frills, but pretty quickly get into the iconic opening lyrics, as Al sings Oh, my love, my darling / I've hungered for your touch / A long, lonely time. It's the sort of lyric that fits the idea of a prisoner perfectly, but is vague enough that it could be about anybody who's away from their love for whatever reason. So it's pretty relatable stuff, all longing and pining and insecurity about if the singer's love is still theirs.

It's interesting, because the rhythms of this version aren't what I was expecting. I think I know the Righteous Brothers' version, which hangs on some notes a lot longer. There are long, drawn-out notes, still, but especially the speed on the bit about how Lonely rivers flow / To the sea, to the sea takes you aback a little. It's funny how you internalise things like that, and how weird it feels to hear this proto-typical version of the song.

It's still very good. It's not quite a soul delivery, but it's soulful, and there are loads of notes that Al hits perfectly, with such a good mix of emotion and restraint. It doesn't feel overdone, but it does feel desperate, with some stellar choices made. In particular, I appreciated the I need your love line has a little voice croak on it, and the swoop downwards on God speed your love / To me right at the end.

I also really like the Lonely rivers flow / To the sea, to the sea metaphor, with the singer's love juxtaposed with the natural course of a river. It's a metaphor that's effective in loads of different ways. There's a sense of inevitability, of it being only natural, of patience, and of a sort of power that finds a way, over time, as well as the image of waters rushing and joining together and lovers being united as one. The change in pace and new melodic material only underscores the power of the metaphor. So good!

Yeah, I can see why this has become a staple. It's one of those songs you can't really make a bad version of - mediocre, sure, but it would take a lot to make this song actively bad.

This version is maybe a little fussier than I'm used to, at least with the strings and flutes in the instrumentation, and as I've said, some rhythms are a bit off from what I expected. They're pretty small things, though. Mostly, this song seems to have sprung fully formed into the world as a pop classic - and we're about to see at least three other versions of it, so clearly the good people of 1955 agreed. And well they might!

Sometimes I see a song with loads of covers and I dread it. What will I find to say? Will I grow to hate it? Will I just have nothing to add to previous entries? That's not really a concern, here, at least not yet. I guess we'll see what the next few entries throw at me, but tentatively I'm looking forward to hearing more versions of this. Which is probably the mark of a great song, right?

Best song of the absolutely iconic bunch: Unchained Melody

[shirogane-oushirou]

🦎, 🎀 and ♟️ for the OC f/o ask game? :)

hello hi hi hi~ thank you so much for the ask!!! love having an excuse to talk endlessly about my beautiful boy <333 i'm just gonna stream of consciousness ramble about all three rens and hope it all makes sense in the end skdjfkjn ;; 💗

🦎 - does your oc f/o have any pets? if not, what pet(s) would they want? is there a reason why they don't have them?

not directly! ren never had pets growing up (strict family), and both doc! and v!ren are so busy, out of the apartment all of the time, that he knows it wouldn't be responsible to keep a pet, no matter how much he'd like one :( once i'm in the picture, though, and start living with him... i mean. i spend most of the day at home in bed KJNASKFJN so time for kibby~~ on one of his off-days we go to some cat cafes to see what we're both interested in cat-wise and how both of our energies play off of them. that way, once we decide to get one, we have SOME idea of the kind cat that would enjoy BOTH of our companies!! r!ren doesn't have pets of his own, but he DOES live with his sister who owns a small coop with a couple of hens! when he wants a quiet moment to think, he'll sit in the backyard and hold a hen and scritch around her wings while he listens to music. one of his niece's chores is to take care of the hens (as much as she can, at least), and he'll sometimes help her out with some of the more difficult things, like cleaning out and replacing the bedding.

🎀 - what aesthetic(s) do you associate with your oc f/o? bonus point if you make an aesthetic board for them!

may have gone... a little overboard with this one... KAJNSDKJN. to my credit, i decided it would be a good opportunity to make some "album covers" for my multiple in-the-works ren playlists teehee (so THANK YOU for choosing this q sjdkjnk i needed the kick in the butt). there's overlap in their aesthetics (especially doc! and v!ren) so i tried to divvy them up as best i could. i'll post these on their own over the next few days, but for now: [cw food, blood, trypophobia, open water, fungi, iv bags] 1: RenRo 2: General Ren 3: Retail!Ren 4: Doctor!Ren 5: Villain!Ren

♟️- how smart is your oc f/o? is it academic smarts, emotional smarts, etc? where does your oc f/o thrive and where do they lack?

(this is so long. i apologize in advance. o7 ) ough. they're all very smart book-wise. trained from an early age and all that, plus doc! and v!ren went to med school and now work in a specialty unit at a university hospital, performing both as a clinical mycologist and doing research when not tending to patients. r!ren went no-contact with his parents before he went to college and went straight into the work force. he's just as intelligent, he just hasn't gone through several years of med school on top of what he already knew. (i am debating the possibility of community college for him, though. need to do some research and cost comparisons... so that's still up in the air!! ;;) emotionally... hmmmmmm. it's complicated. he's VERY observant and people-pleasing, but to a degree that can be off-putting. for doc! and v!ren, this manifests as insecurities due to past failed relationships, which either due to the partner not being Great OR ren over- or under-pleasing them. tl;dr he puts so much pressure on himself to Mask Perfectly to be the Perfect Partner so as to avoid past mistakes... that he'll end up doing things like over-analyzing small details about whether my facial expression indicates that i liked his silly joke instead of recognizing that like. i might like him back and just enjoy his company? KAJSNdKJn. so i think he has the POTENTIAL for good emotional intelligence, but he focuses too much on his own behavior in response to other peoples' feelings instead of properly processing what he observes. if that makes sense. r!ren's a little more realistic about all of this, so his observational skills are more refined, and we start dating MUCH faster because of that lol. he does still have that matching-other-peoples'-energy thing but. yknow. i can make him better LMAO. street smarts-wise, all three are baseline okay. ren grew up in small-town maine and wasn't really allowed a rich social life, so he wasn't very street smart when he first moved away. doc! and v!ren have lived in a big city for several years since then, and he spends a decent number of free evenings walking around the city, so he can take care of himself. r!ren's jumped around to different locations before settling with living with his sister and niece in a rural area, so i guess he has a more shallow but wider breadth of different kinds of street smarts. he's spent a decent amount of time out here, so he's probably more rural street smart. again, still bad about picking fights, though. so i've gotta dock points for that. so uhhhhhhhhhhh in summary doc! and v!ren have higher book smarts, lower emotional smarts. r!ren has higher emotional smarts, lower street smarts.

(ask game)

[hugheshugs]

the right words | q. hughes

inspired by "i would" by one direction

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summary: quinn has an innocent crush on a sweet girl with a not-so-sweet boyfriend. all he wants to do is help her, and their professor gives him the chance to do so when he pairs them together for an assignment.

pairing: nerd!quinn x reader

word count: 1.7k

warning: slightly controlling boyfriend

note: this is probably going to be a multi-part series. i love this idea sm

it hadn't taken long for quinn to recognize the way he treated you. your boyfriend, that is. at first it was love, it was lust— everything that came with a healthy relationship. but then it got dark. he'd treat you coldly and controllingly, used you as he wanted without you having any say.

quinn knew he could treat you better than that jerk but he was just a nerd amongst a crowd, so what voice did he have?

you lived on campus, as did most of your friends, so much of your time was spent at school. quinn only saw you in class or in the library occasionally — until mason, the jerk, pulled you away. quinn never really talked to you either, but you were a known sweetheart and that alone was enough to capture his attention.

your voice was like silk, soft to his ears. he only ever heard it when it was close enough, but it always managed to make his heart skip a beat. he was intrigued by you, infatuated with you, all he wanted was to be your knight in shining armour. save you from the evil you so bitterly called your partner.

you came into class with a sweet laugh and his head perked up. he held back a smile as you made your way to your usual seat with your boyfriend, the look on your face making him turn red. he was always so easily flustered, but you were just so beautiful. he couldn't help it.

"alright class, we're going to be doing something new this week," the professor's voice projected through the room.

"as you all know, our unit on free will is coming to an end. for your final project you'll be put into groups —partners, specifically— and you'll be writing an essay on whether you and your partner believe or don't believe we have free will."

a couple boos and sighs were let out but quinn remained neutral, his focus remaining on the way your leg bounced unnaturally quickly.

"you will not be able to choose your partners."

your leg went still.

"i've already chosen them for you."

you let out a breath you didn't know you were holding, the grip on your thigh growing tighter. quinn's jaw clenched at the sight.

he hadn't even realized the prof had already concluded the lesson and started reading the pairs to the class until he heard his own name. he'd been in his head the whole time.

"quintin and daisy."

daisy meuler. she was an odd one, he wouldn't lie. he went to highschool with her and he remembered the time she tried snorting gummy worms. he could try to work around it.

"sorry, i misread that last one, quintin and y/n," he corrected.

quinn tried to remain calm as your gaze met his, and he realized he'd been caught staring. you simply gave him a small smile and turned back to your boyfriend who seemed to be looking at him teasingly.

his heart sunk to his stomach. after months of this silent, innocent crush he had on you, he'd finally get the chance to talk to you. he didn't want it. he much rather enjoyed letting you be, watching you from afar although he wished some nights to hold you in his arms. it was a contrasting feeling — he didn't want to mess anything up.

everyone began making their way towards their partners before heading out of class. he pushed his glasses up with his finger before gathering his things and making his way toward you, only before realizing you were already in front of him with your 6'4 guard dog standing behind you.

"hi, quintin, i don't think we've met before. my name's y/n," you introduced politely. "oh, and this is mason."

he never thought he'd hear his name so melodiously slip off your tongue.

"p-please, call me quinn. it's nice to.. to meet you," he replied shakily, resulting in a light chuckle from mason. his heart was beating faster than the time his mom caught him sneaking out to play video games with elias.

"i was just wondering when we could meet to work on our project. maybe i could get your phone number?"

"or you could just decide right now, you don't need this kid's number," mason gave an unwanted suggestion. you looked up at him and made a face, causing him to shrug and look around aimlessly.

"sorry about him," you apologized quietly. you both knew he could still hear but you still felt the need to say it. quinn desperately wanted to tell you not to apologize for another man's words yet refrained from doing so.

within an instant, your phone was being held out towards him. he hurriedly dug through his back pocket and handed you his own, hoping it wasn't warm.

y/n :) is what you saved your name as. he just put in quinn.

"thanks quinn. we can talk more about this tonight?" you asked as you began turning to make your way out.

"y-yeah, tonight," he nodded, adjusting the strap of his backpack.

you shot him a grin and that was the last of his first encounter with the girl he loved.

--

"when are you guys meeting up?" elias asked as they walked through the halls.

"literally right now— bye," quinn replied before making a beeline for the library.

elias chuckled, following closely behind before taking a seat far away from the two of you but still in sight. quinn slowly walked to where you sat, trying not to let his nervousness show as he wiped the sweat off his brow.

you were typing on your laptop when you saw him taking the seat in front of you. "oh, hey quinn."

his head turned to the side as he eyed you but you didn't think anything of it. something's wrong, he thought to himself. your smile lacked it's normal spark and your eyes looked tired. red, almost.

"hey, y/n. how are you?" he greeted, setting his bag on the chair beside him.

"i'm alright," you replied quietly. "and you?"

"excited t-to get started."

your eyes crinkled. "that's cute."

he swore he felt his heart stop. cute? him? he resisted the urge to say something along the lines of you're cute.

"how's your day been?" he asked curiously as he placed his things on the table. he saw the way you hesitated to answer.

"it's been good.. could have been better if i'm being honest but oh well," you shrugged. "so, wanna get started? since you're so excited."

he smiled at your teasing. if it was anyone else he would have taken it to heart, but you had no ill intentions. most people do. however, he felt as though you both shouldn't go on if you weren't in the best mood. he just wanted you to be okay, and you weren't.

"why don't we just take it easy today? we— we can always schedule another day to work on this. there's still a lot of time left until it's due," he suggested, not wanting to work you too hard. he'd hate it if working on this project made you feel worse.

"no, no, it's okay. i wouldn't want to waste your time like that," you shook your head, although you knew it would be a good idea.

"i insist. besides, it would.. it would be nice to get to know my p-partner before we got started."

he didn't know where his boldness came from, but the soft look in your eyes made it all worth it. as you let out a small sigh of defeat, he cheered internally, patting himself on the back.

"alright.. tell me about yourself."

"what?" the question flew out of his mouth before he had a moment to think. his face turned red as he resisted the urge to clamp a hand over his mouth.

you giggled. "don't shy away from me now, quinn. tell me about yourself. what do you do for fun? got any siblings? favourite colour?"

his mind went fuzzy. you were sweet like candy, but never once had he thought you'd want to know the simple things about him. he found himself struggling to breathe yet pushed through, not wanting to leave you hanging.

no stuttering, quinn. she's just a girl— she isn't just some girl— shut up, he thought.

"well i um, i like playing video games and watching movies. i have two younger brothers and.. my favourite colour is sage green."

you eyed him with a gleam and he almost felt like he'd said something weird. it wasn't until you finally opened your mouth that he let out a shakey breath of relief.

"your favourite colour is sage green?"

he nodded, almost timidly. your tone wasn't condescending, he was simply still in too much shock to speak.

"i would never have guessed," you said before you pushed your lips outward in thought. "and you're the oldest of three.. i'm an only child. do you love your brothers? what's it like?"

"i— it's fun. they tease me, most of the time," he replied, rubbing the back of his ear. "but i'd be nothing without them. everything i do is for them, at least that's what i like to think."

you processed his words for a moment. "movies and video games. tell me your favourites."

"marvel movies, all of them are my favourites. and video games.. i'd say valorant," he replied, blinking back the feeling in his heart.

"i've heard of valorant, i think mason plays it with his friends."

forgot about him, oops.

"favourite marvel character? i feel like that says a lot about a person," you asked, propping your arm up and resting your chin in your palm.

"and if i say the wrong one?" he asked uncertainly.

"i don't think you could ever say anything wrong, quinn. you have the sweetest soul," you paused for a moment. "watch you say something like black widow."

he chuckled along with you. "i like spiderman."

"no way," you gasped lightly. "smart boy likes the other smart boy? i should have guessed as much."

you saw the way his face slowly fell and your heart clenched. "hey, i didn't mean that in a bad way. i think it's pretty cute, and if it makes you feel better he's my favourite too."

cute? again?

"he is?" quinn perked up.

"mhm! i love bucky too," you nodded with a big, closed-mouthed smile. "i wonder what that says about me."

he gave you a small smile, adjusting his glasses. "i think it means you're really cool."

"thanks, peter. i think you're really cool too."

"peter?"

"it's fitting, am i wrong?"

"i don't think you could ever say anything wrong, y/n."

--

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[parchmentedpetrichor]

➳it's good to see you again ♡ ☾

in which y/n l/n comes home from a 2 year long mission to subdue the rest of the escaped death eaters and meets her best friend, fred weasley, yet again.

fred weasley x fem!reader

word count: ±1.5k

tw: mentions of scars, nightmares, mentions of the war

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ft. angelina and george

it's been a long day without you, my friend

and i'll tell you all about it when i see you again

it's good to see you again

y/n was sitting comfortably in the backseat of george's fancy car, earphones plugged in and listening to a song to drown out the sound of angelina and george talking about something they had seen on the news. her head was leaning against the window, her eyes drinking in the familiar view of london in nostalgia. it hurt her that she wasn't the only person who would see the beautiful city she'd known from the very beginning. and she missed it. angelina and george had picked her up from the quarantine centre after she had made a trip to albania for a couple of years with the rest of her auror unit to imprison the remaining death eaters. albania had recently acquired many cases of dragonpox, and so all the unit members had to isolate in a little hotel by the edge of italy. it had been a few weeks since the start of the quarantine and now she was zooming along a british highway, ever so keen to see her friends and family again. and fred. fred was her best friend. they had been since 5th year. perhaps she was harbouring feelings for him, perhaps she wasn't. and here she sat, curled up and watching the views, trying to decipher whether or not he'd be different. he had survived the war just barely. it would be acceptable for him to change. did he still have the millions of freckles dotted along his face? her face flushed just thinking about it. bringing her hands up to her cheeks she shook her head. chile, y/n, he probably has a girlfriend. it's been two years, and he didn't like you two years ago, he won't like you now. the thought alone made her frown. "what's got you blushing and frowning like mad?" angelina looked at her through the mirror in the front of the car. george whispered something in her ear and she giggled. "y/n, is this possibly about a certain fred weasley?" her eyes widened. "nope, not at all." "really? so you were definitely not thinking about the amount of freckles my twin has on his face? hmm?" "no! george, seriously?" she stuck my tongue out at him. "or his ginger hair?" angelina added. "no! you guys are idiots!" she folded her arms. "and she's blushing again," angelina sniggered. "stop!" "it's okay, he blushes about you way more," george laughed, eyes on the road. "stop, stop, stop!!!!!" "it is true." "no it isn't, okay? erm, i don't like him, he doesn't like me. we're best friends. you guys are gross." she resumed looking out the window, shaking her head. they had reached a pretty big house with two levels, with large windows that y/n would absolutely die to have and cute little bricks sticking out. "what? i thought we were going back to my parent's house?" "you wish." "who are we visiting?" "oh just a person i know from work," angelina said with a twinkle in her eyes. "okay. did we bring anything?" "just you," she replied, "me and george are heading back to our place. your stuffs at your parents." george nodded. y/n frowned, "okay." she bounded up to the door and knocked a couple of times. the door opened and she immediately began babbling off a greeting and an introduction without looking at the person. "i'm y/n l/n, and i understand you're from angie's work! it's nice to meet yo-" her eyes were met by chocolate brown ones, framed by so many freckles. fred lived in this place? "it's good to see you again, miss y/n l/n," he grinned and oh my oh my, y/n felt her heart skipping beats all over again. fred was worried when there was silence, but he was pleasantly surprised when he felt arms wrap as much as they could around his waist. true to his nature, his cheeks turned as red as his hair. he breathed in the smell of her hair, the smell of her and oh he had missed her so much. "i missed you a lot," he mumbled, tightening his grip around her, "so so so so so much." "me too, freddie," there that nickname was, and it made him possibly weak at how pretty she was and how pretty her voice was. when she let go, he almost felt empty, and so he snaked an arm around her waist. "your place is so beautiful, freddie!" his secret was that he had bought it hoping that she would

live with him. he knew she loved beautiful windows and bay windows and balconies. "not as beautiful as you, lovely." and his eyes were graced by her flustered expression, her cheeks tinted the most delightful shade of pink. "but the windows! gosh they're pretty." "wanna live with me?" he dropped the question ever so casually. "are you sure? i've got an apartment set up and all so it's no big deal-" "no. i want you to live with me." "then your wish is my command, i guess. i don't have much stuff though." "that's fine! i knew you would say yes so i got a bedroom ready for you." she hesitated. fred looked at her. "is everything okay?" "i-i don't want you to think that i'm best friends with you because you're rich or whatever and i feel like i'm taking advantage of your richness and it's not right?" "you're not, okay?" she nodded, still hesitating a little bit. "if you really feel bad you can come visit me and george in the shop and do some type of customer service. you'll be paid." "am i paying rent if i live here?" she asked. "no, y/n, i own this place." "don't you pay land tax?" "yeah, but it's not that much." "nope, i'm paying rent or you're not paying me for the shifts i do. or both. take your pick." "i won't pay you for the shifts. is this really a big deal?" "yes it is! it's money and morals. that's a very big deal." "okay, fair." "gimme a list of all my shifts please." "nah, you pop in whenever you can." "okay, when's rush hour?" "hogsmeade weekends and thursdays." ☆ it was night. y/n couldn't sleep at all. she was lying in the insanely boujee king sized bed and the insanely comfortable sheets, and she still couldn't fathom why she couldn't sleep. maybe it was because she always slept with one eye open in albania. habit. so she was just sitting in her bed, looking around the room. she was tired, but she couldn't be untired. and it would be selfish to disturb fred. but he had said his door was always open. so she crept out and made her way through the corridors, finally stopping at a door which she hoped was fred's bedroom. it was half ajar, so she peeked her head around it. he was asleep, a very thin blanket draped carelessly around his body, his ginger hair messy and his chest rising with every peaceful breath he took. his room was big and simple, cluttered in the most fred way. she approached him, tapping him on the shoulder lightly. "freddie??" he opened his eyes drowsily, "mmm?" "i can't sleep." "'ave you tried countin' broomst'cks?" "i can't sleep." "'kay," he pulled her into his bed, wrapping his arms around y/n and tucking most of the gryffindor red blanket under her chin. it smelled like him, "this 'kay?" fred was shirtless. y/n was blushing. "yeah." "mm, have a good night, okay? i'm here, you're safe." y/n nodded, feeling the most comfortable she had in two whole years, cuddling up to his chest as she fell into sleep. sleep. she hadn't properly slept in two whole years. every night would be spent either patrolling or anxiously preparing for the next day. when she did get some shut-eye, it was broken and restless. but her dreams were stopped with visions of terrifying death eaters casting sectumsempra onto the auror unit. she felt the pain she had endured through a long time ago. it left a scar on her back and imprints in her mind. it was impossible to forget. she remembered yelling as she saw another auror drop dead. running, running out of the hellhole of the death eater's base. "y/n, y/n," fred was shaking her awake. she was shaking, tears were running down her face. she fervently apologised to him. "don't say sorry, lovely," he wiped the tears off of her face, "what was your dream about?" "t-the mission, the death eaters w-were cutting people up and they got me." "oh darling, why didn't you tell me this before?" he asked gently, cradling her head to his chest. "it, it comes out at the worst times." "well you're not in albania anymore, okay, love? you're here, in london, and you're safe. you're okay, you're fine." she nodded, "sorry." "don't you dare,

it isn't your fault. sleep, okay? i'll wait for you to go to sleep before i do, yeah?" she nodded. her head fell onto his chest and fred traced gentle patterns on her back, whispering small nothings in her ear. for the first time, it seemed like fred could watch her without repercussions. even with her tear-stained cheeks and wild hair, she was beautiful. and when he had stayed up for hours into the night and morning for this girl, this was when he realised. he would do anything for her. he loved her.

[scythe-of-house-aurkus]

Starting to think about who the main cast might be chilling out with us in Cantha! We know it will be likely be some characters we're familiar with, some new Canthans, and that they have some more freedom with the core cast:

Gonna throw this under a cut. It got long. I ramble, sorry.

So let's start with our most frequent compatriots, Dragon's Watch:

Taimi - Whether it be in-person or through comms, I feel like this is a gimme. She's our resident dragon magic expert, so ofc she's got to tag along in some capacity as we somehow tackle the dragon problem for the last time. Plus it's about time to make good on the S4 revelations with her illness no longer being in remission. (Also I think we'll see Gorrik, but he'll be with Taimi. Though there are beetles in Cantha too!)

Kasmeer - Likely, but I'm also a little torn on this one. We definitely need more Kas and Jory time (and not just as a unit). Anet didn't really get the chance to make good on their plans for the two in IBS, but Kasmeer was also with us in PoF. Will they double up on expansion exposure time? I think she will make an appearance but may spend a good chunk of that time doing her own thing. (I will say this: if we get a status update on the Kasjory situation as they like to do, it better be invitations to the wedding. Let them be happy ffs)

Marjory - This is a given, and not just bc Marjory's of Canthan descent. Ofc she needs more screentime and a dedicated character arc. We gotta deliver on the whole "my dead sister is inhabiting my sword" thing . And if there's weird stuff going down in Cantha? We're gonna want our detective friend with us. She's also got some potential family stuff that can be brought up with it being mentioned in S2 that her mother isn't very trusting of strangers. Why is that?

Rytlock - More a maybe, venturing into unlikely. His story reached its head in IBS, and it ended in a natural stepping off point. He's literally had more screen time than any other member of Dragon's Watch, bar maybe Taimi if you count comm chatter. I think it's likely he'll be spending more time in the Homelands instead of traipsing around with us. BUT he's also basically the game's mascot, and he was with us in both HoT and PoF in significant capacities. Will EoD follow that trend?

Braham - Also a maybe. I flip-flop constantly with this. His arc also reached its close in IBS. He had a lot of dedicated growth in S4 even before that. But there are things that make me think we may see him in EoD or at least in post-EoD story plans: a) being distinctly not dead after the IBS finale and b) the story potential there. Now that he's free from his mother's legacy and the choking reins of prophecy, there's room to explore what he does now with that freedom. Where does he go next? (On a side note, in the Sunqua Peak fractal there's that 'very tall and strong' character Hyo-Sonn introduced that is speculated to be a norn. Could be our in!)

Rox - Highly unlikely at this point I fear. However it was executed, her arc was clearly done in S4. She appeared for one DRM, but if we ever hear from her again, I'm pretty sure it will just be another cameo.

Now onto core characters that would either be new, or in one case, very recently introduced to us:

Jumping off the Braham bullet point, I think we're going to be dealing with some kind of isolated Norn community from the teases in Sunqua Peak! Norn are naturally loners that wander, so it kind of makes sense to me that a group might have found their way to Cantha at some point in history. Did they go so far north they wrapped around the pole and circumnavigated the globe to Cantha? Does that mysterious hole in the Far Shiverpeaks lead to Cantha? Dredge tunnels?? Regardless of how they got there, we'll probably have a representative from them with us in some capacity. They've just got to be careful to make it feel not too much like an Olmakhan situation.

Canthan character(s). Duh, this is a gimme. We're going to need some local friends. We know this lady from the concept art shown so far will be a character. Going off of art alone, I'm speculating she has some sort of ties to the Jade Wind and/or Sea. We shall find out! Beyond that, I don't want to speculate too much since so much of Canthan culture has likely changed since GW1.

And then the one we just met, Kalidris Sparrowhawk - Oh you know, the Tengu have beef with Cantha. If they're reopening their borders in any capacity, something's going to happen there. Kalidris stood out too much to be a one-off character in a DRM, and it sounded like she'd earned a bit of prestige for her actions there. Maybe she gets sent with us as a Tengu envoy of sorts? Either way, I feel like we're definitely getting the peppy birb.

Bonus round: cameos! Characters who I think will not be part of the core cast but may show up in some extremely minor way:

Faren - It's tradition at this point. If he doesn't show up out of left field doing something you would expect Faren to be doing, well, that'd just be sad. He'll probably appoint himself Kryta's ambassador to Cantha or something.

Canach - Another out of left field one. He's done adventuring with us, but I don't think he's gotten over that gambling problem. We'll probably find him in some shady betting ring in the dank depths of Kaineng City. And once EoD wraps up, he'll take his winnings and buy up all of Tyria. The reign of Canach begins.

Bangar - Hear me out. He's another case of "oh, he's not dead? interesting." Which means we have the melted snowcone available for comedic relief over comms. What do you think it should be? Snargle Goldclaw reading his latest novel out loud to an unwilling captive audience? It's what he deserves.

EDIT: smh I forgot to add a potential returning character, and it's a big one - Mai Trinn. It's a mystery where she went at the end of S1. There are Aetherblade teases in the trailer. She will probably factor in.

[slimepuparibaba]

ChiLumi | Hidden Meaning

Okay, so, basically, this takes place in between the Archon missions and before Golden House.

I'm gonna leave bullet points just cuz it's easier that way and I'm so bad at writing. I might make a fic of it later though if enough people want me to XD

There might be some additional parts to this too cuz I wanna put in detail how the Golden House fight went down, how Childe's story mission worked, and every other ChiLumi headcanon after that so yeah.

They may be a bit OOC but this is how I imagine it playing out

So we're clear, Childe has used his charms to woo over many to gain information for the Fatui. He sees Lumine slightly falling for him so he decides to use this to his advantage no one tell the boy he is in love yet, he refuses to believe it

Childe invites Lumine out to run some errands around Liyue. His excuse? The group is running out of food and needs to cook up some more stuff for their future adventures.

His conditions? Everyone else must stay behind, including Paimon. Paimon says no to this, obviously, since she hasn't left Lumine's side.

Lumine, however, says yes.

Most of the team is heavily against this outing, but Kaeya, Barbara, Chongyun, and Xiangling seem to be on Lumine's side, letting her go and convince the rest to let Childe and Lumine do as they please. (Side note: Kaeya and Barbara are huge playing factors in this entire ChiLumi saga)

Childe and Lumine start wandering around Liyue and stop by the beach, where Lumine starts picking up some starconches behind Childe's back

She hands it over and says it's a gift for him. When he asks why, she says she wants to try and convince Childe to join them on their adventure.

Lumine isn't dumb; she knew Childe did this to try and squeeze info out of her, hence why she accepted. However, she decided that she wants to try and convince Childe to leave the Fatui and switch sides.

Childe isn't convinced, obviously, and says that he is her enemy--she can't expect him to switch sides that easily, could she? Especially not when he's made it clear that he, Tartaglia, the 11th Harbinger, wants to conquer the world!

Lumine, however, begs to differ

"How about we make a deal?" She asks. "I'll take you sightseeing around Liyue Harbor while we run errands. I want you to take a good look this time and see the people of Liyue not as people you collect debt from, not as people you need to defeat, nor as people you need to conquer. I want you to see the as people with families and lives, living their days out peacefully... as your average human being, like you or me. If you can do that, at least consider leaving the Fatui, okay?"

Childe scoffs, saying that he'll only take the deal because he knows it won't work. Lumine shoves the starconch into his hands and pulls him along, smiling sweetly. His heart slightly flutters but this stupid idiot thinks the world is black and white and he can't be in love with the enemy so he ignores it.

Lumine starts heading to some stalls and buying some food, sharing it with Childe. He states that he's already done this before, but she wants him to experience it from a different point of view. She leads him to Wanmin Restaraunt and the two feast.

Childe doesn't know why, but for some reason, the food tastes a bit better than when he tasted it the first time he came to Liyue. He looks to Lumine, who's enjoying every bite, and softly smiles.

After paying, she continues dragging him everywhere. To drink tea, to hear stories, or to even watch kids fly kites (and even convince him to fly a kite with her)

Then, they get to the middle of Yujing Terrace

Childe was having a great time so far and was almost forgetting that he was supposed to be dragging out information from her, but when they got to the scene where the Exuvia was supposed to be, where the crime scene had taken place days earlier, he remembered that he was a Fatui. What was he doing, having fun without getting his job done? He needed to get that Gnosis, after all, from Rex Lapis' corpse.

Lumine leads him to one of the altars and says that even if the Rite of Decension is no more, she still wants to make a wish with him. Childe is amused that she would do such a thing and agrees.

She lights the incense stick and lights the altar, making her wish. Childe starts to question her.

"Y'know... I would like to know what you wished for, Oujo-chan. Convince me that the Tsaritsa is wrong about this whole thing... that the world shouldn't be our enemy and that there's still hope."

Childe was expecting Lumine to turn him down, but she answered with her wish.

"...I want to be reunited with someone special to me. We were always attached to the hip whenever we traveled together, and even if we parted ways, I knew where to meet him. I knew where to go. But I lost him... and I'm so scared. I wake up in the middle of the night because I keep seeing nightmares where he walks away from me and I can never reach him."

She has a sad look in her eyes as she keeps continuing.

"If anything, I just want to see him again and know he's safe... and, along the way, maybe gather up more friends. I want to have the people of Teyvat united and happy together... if I can gather more people together, I'd like that... we can go hunt for treasure, solve puzzles, discover ruins, fight ruins... all while trying to find our own goals, we can come together, as a family."

Childe smiled at her answer, and when Lumine asked what he wished for, he hesitantly answered. He began to murmur, searching for the right words, but all he could come up with was the answer he knew all around him expected from him.

"...to become stronger and... conquer the world...?"

He sounded unsure, because he was. Lumine didn't pick up on that and just laughed, saying that sounded so like him. But, truth was, he was conflicted on his wish.

In truth, he wanted a resolve like Lumine.

He wished someone would tell him that he doesn't need to constantly fight and bring chaos.

He wished someone would treat him as a friend, or even as family, unlike the Fatui, who either despised him with their entire being or feared him, whether out of respect or their sheer will to survive in the Fatui.

He wished someone would tell him it's okay to feel vulnerable--that the world was okay, and that he can live as a person. Not as a Harbinger, not as a Fatui...

He wished someone would tell him that he can protect those he loves without constantly destroying others who are loved by their own families.

He looked to Lumine, who started gazing at the stars above and realized one thing and one thing only:

He wished that Lumine would tell him that he isn't alone anymore.

The next day, when Lumine woke up, Childe handed her a bouquet of Windwheel Asters.

When Lumine asked why, Childe brushed it off as telling her to get stronger for their upcoming battle.

Deep inside, though, those weren't Childe's true intentions. In fact, what he meant to say was this:

"When that fateful day comes, beat me... make me change sides. Become so strong that I have no choice but to listen to you."

"Prove to me that I'm a monster worth saving."

my heart aches for these two, because childe in this entire storyline is literally trying to convince himself that he can't switch sides and he's already gone too far deep to be saved

honey plz lumine is trying to show u that you're just like anyone else. you don't need to conquer the world to protect those you love oh my gOD

[kawaiikatchi]

My Thoughts on Case 4 for Great Pretender (Part 1 of 2)

SPOILERS FOR CASE 4(EPISODES 15-23) PLEASE GO WATCH BEFORE READING

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

For some reason, I have a very complicated relationship with Case 4. Whenever I think about it, it feels like two parts of myself are having a debate with one another, and I can't decide who is winning because they're both right.

Let's just start from the beginning. Keep in mind that I've only watched this chunk of episodes once, so this will be my honest first impressions of how I think the show concluded (does anyone know if we're getting a season 2???).

THE GREAT

To start off with a lot of the positives for this case, I LOVED the heart to heart moment that Edamura and Laurent had at the beginning. It felt very necessary, considering that it was rare that these two would sit down and talk about something serious. It was nice, even if you're not looking at it through a shipping lense like I am (yes, I ship Laurent and Edamame, and no I will not feel ashamed) that Laurent could give him advice considering that they both fell into becoming con artists because they had no real path in life. As we learn more about Laurent's backstory through this arc, it becomes a lot more obvious that Laurent sees a bit of his younger self in Edamura, but his comment about doing what Edamura thinks is right shows that Laurent, at least on some level, recognizes the fact that Edamura isn't Laurent, and he has the freedom to be whatever person he wants to be despite what the blonde confidence man may want for him.

I also enjoyed this case when it explored Edamura's charcter (even though it kinda came at the expense of Laurent's character, but we'll get there). He definitely has been through the most highs and lows (actually mostly lows) of the series, making his decent to the darkside all the more interesting. I wasn't all that worried that he would betray the team or die when it was time to put the last phases of their plan into motion, (heck, we had two boat scenes where four people in total seemingly "died" yet they all turned out to be alright) but I was definitely worried as to how all this was going to affect Edamura's mental state. Throughout the series he has repeatedly gotten the short end of the stick, attempting to make his own life decisions only to find out Laurent was one step ahead of him. Then in one of the most crucial moments of the show, Edamura's good deed unintentionally gets two of his closest allies killed, making him go into a murderous rage and killing his own father. At least, that's what it looked like on the surface. Until he finds out that that too was a part of Laurent's plan, and once again it seems as if nothing Edamura does will ever be of his own free will. There is one line in particular that kinda hits different after now finishing the show, and it's what Edamura says to his father after finding out the truth of what's been going on behind the scenes.

"Everything Laurent had me do until now was a practice run for this, wasn't it?....I'll do it...Just like I'm told." (Episode 21)

At this point in the story, Edamura has completely given up control of his own life. He tried at one point to write his own destiny, but it got people hurt in the process. Even hearing the fact that the deaths were staged just reaffirmed the idea in his mind that nothing he ever does will truly mean anything. It's all just a game where someone else will always be the one pulling the strings. I think this is also one of the main reasons he stayed so close to Akemi Suzaku. He knew that all he could do is play the part they told him to play, because he had no more fight left to go against it. That and they'd probably kill him if he tried to leave again, and he may or may not have viewed her as a mother figure after his mother passed away. In the case of switching sides and betraying Suzaku Akemi, his life wouldn't really be that much different than what it already was. Sure he wouldn't be helping with illegal trafficking anymore, but he'd still be following someone else's plan for his life. It would just be a matter of which plan he's going to follow, Laurent's or Akemi's. Either way, he loses.

This is when I think the advice that Laurent gave Edamura at the beginning is the most applicable (funny how Laurent was giving him the solution to the problem that he started without even realizing it). The advice from earlier is also emphasized to a higher degree by Abby when she says:

"You're no longer trapped by gravity. Malice, envy...You can be free from everything. That's what you said. Who you decieve or betray is totally up to you. Do what you like. Just...forgive yourself. That's what saved me." (Episode 23)

This speech that Abby gives to Edamura is perfect in every sense of the word. Instead of saying something like "hey you better not betray us", she communicates to Edamura very eloquently that the problem isn't whether or not he'll betray Akemi, Laurent, Abby or Cynthia, but rather if he will choose to keep betraying himself. Will he keep giving up what he wants for the sake of others? He needs to decide that on his own, and once he finds his answer he needs to forgive himself.

At first glance, I thought "well Makoto ends up contributing to the success of Laurent's scheme, so what's the difference this time?" The difference: Makoto is in the perfect position to betray Laurent, plus he has every reason to do so, but he doesn't. Because that's not who he is. He's not Laurent. He's not his father. He's not Akemi. He's Makoto Edamura. For probably the first time in the series, Edamura is able to make Laurent follow his plan instead of the other way around, outsmarting him and showing everyone that he is the only one in charge of his destiny. He's not helping with the con for his allies, Akemi or Ozaki. He's doing it for himself.

Changing subjects completely to another thing that I liked about episodes 15-23, is that I did enjoy what we did get of Laurent's development. Despite the fact that later in my review, I'm gonna kinda complain about Laurent's story (more of just from a story structure perspective), Great Pretender KNOWS how to make a charcter's backstory engaging. They also seem well equipped to write romances, as I thought that Laurent and Dorothy had some definitive cute moments together. It was intriguing to see how the ever confident Laurent got his start as well, and how he grew to become who he is today. In addition to that, I loved how the show was able to bring us back to the first episode by showing the important events that led up to it (especially how Laurent met Abby and Cynthia). For some reason, I'm a sucker for when shows try to pull the "remember when it all began" nostalgia card for their own show. Very well executed.

Finally, the last great thing that I'll mention about the Great Pretender finale, was the ending. I wasn't sure how I felt about it upon first viewing, but after some deliberation, it just makes sense. The group ends up going their separate ways while still staying somewhat connected. Abby looks like she's become a bit of a traveler, while Edamura is journeying to taste a bunch of different coffee (fitting). Cynthia is taking care of a kid named Kawin, who looks like he might be considering becoming an artist (Cynthia will always be surrounded by artistic people, she has no choice lol), and Laurent is working for the president of the United States I guess???? All of these life decisions are just believable enough for me to buy it, so I won't complain. I guess I just have a bit of bittersweet emotions towards the ending, since the characters seem so content with where they are now, but I was kinda hoping for a another season of their shenanigans. I really need to stop getting attached to shows right before they are about to end. However, if this was truly the end of the Great Pretender series, I'm glad it ended in the way that it did. I feel conned.

Next time: the not so good, but still decent things about Great Pretender Case 4.

(Continued in Part 2 of 2 (Coming Soon))

[onebangtanstan]

Power Style - Chapter Eleven : The revenge

A/N : Ok this is shorter than the previous chapters but DYNAMITE CAME OUT so that's what I've been doing. GO STREAM! 💜

He notices me staring him down. He scoffs before coming my way. We lock eyes and start an unspoken staring contest, just like the other day. As he's getting closer to me, I feel the muscles in my body tense up. His presence is enough to piss me off.

"You're late Namjoon." He's now standing right in front of me, forcing me to look up.

"It's M.Kim to you." His eyes are shooting bullets at mine, and so are mine, but neither of us looks away. We're both way too proud to do so.

"I don't have time for this." I turn away from him, starting to feel dizzy from keeping my head up to look at him. "Go get your make up and fitting done, we're all waiting for you Namjoon." I refuse to give into his twisted game, we're here to get a job done, whether we like it or not.

He executes himself, but I sense he's not happy with that. We can all see that he's stalling, and trying to annoy us. Thank God my team knows what they're doing and isn't giving into him either. 

We can finally start the shoot an hour and a half after the original time. He stands in front of the camera, and I don't recognize the man posing right now. He turns into this extremely professional guy. The harsh lines he usually wears on his face have completely disappeared, making him look even better than usually.

Even though he annoys the shit out of me, I have to admit that he is a beautiful man. He's the stereotype of the ideal guy : tall, well-built, perfect amount of muscle, a jawline that could cut you. Even when he's the biggest asshole, his clenched jaw and frown make him look good.

To my surprise, we actually finish the shoot quite quickly. The team packs up and starts heading back to the office. I'm about to do the same when I'm turned around by a firm hand on my arm. I am facing Namjoon once again. I mean, I am being towered by him once again.

"Listen to me" He spits, talking only a few centimeters from my mouth. "It's the last time you talk to me like that, do you understand me?"

I set myself free from his grip by throwing my arm down. "No, you listen to me." I feel the fury raising in my body. "We have to work together, and I couldn't care less if you don't like me. The thing is, I am in charge of this campaign so you're on my turf now. You listen to me and do what I say. Am I making myself clear enough for your tiny brain?" 

It looks like he wasn't expecting this reaction from me. He's about to answer but I immediately turn around and start storming out of the room.

I walk back to the office, feeling the need to clear my mind. I can't have him disturbing my schedule, and I most definitely can't go into the meeting with the mindset he put me in.

By the time I get back to work, the whole team is already sitting in the conference room, working on the editing. We do that all afternoon and plan the group shooting for the next day. We're going to have to take unit pictures, group pictures and shoot the commercial. We will be there all day, so I let everyone go early to get enough rest for tomorrow.

I decide to chill at home for the evening. I still have a bit of a bad mood because of today, so I put on yet another cheesy rom-com.

Just as I sit down with a bowl of popcorn, I receive a text from Jin. For once, I don't have that tightening in my stomach. I open it :

J : Hey, how are you doing? We haven't talked lately..

G : Hi! I'm good, how about  you? I know, I'm sorry, I had a lot going on..

J : No worries, I've just been thinking a lot about you..

We end up texting the whole evening, catching each other up on our lives, and it feels really good. We eventually start talking about deeper stuff. Jin tells me that he really likes me and can't stop thinking about me, making me blush. Thank God he can't see me right now. I start typing and send a text without thinking too much about it. I have to give him something.

"Jin I need to tell you something. One of the reasons I have been distant with you is because I have issues with relationships. I'll explain it to you eventually but not by text. I hope you understand that it has nothing to do with you, and that I appreciate the time we spend together."

A few minutes -that feel like an hour- pass before he answers, making my heart pound. 

"That's okay Gina, I understand. I'll go at your pace." I smile at his text.

We say our goodnights and I end up falling asleep with a warm feeling inside of me.

I wake up in a good mood, but the group shot pops into my mind, bringing my mindset down just a bit. I feel very pressured and anxious about it. Everything has to go perfectly, because we won’t have time to redo it.

I do the usual, get ready and head to the set. I stop on my way to get a cup of coffee and also get a big bag of french pastries for everyone. We'll be needing a bit of sugar before the day starts.

The boys haven't arrived yet, but we are already going through the schedule for the day. I talk with each person to make sure they know what they're supposed to do. Of course they do, I'm just doing that to calm my nerves.

Tae and Kook are the first to arrive. They're very clingy towards each other which makes me smile at them.

"Hey guys" I say as I hug each of them. "How are you guys doing?"

"We're very good." Tae tells me, making Jungkook blush. My heart could burst, they're so cute. I haven't gotten to a point where I can talk to them about whatever is going on between them, but I feel like that will be coming up sooner than later.

"Perfect. I need you all in a good mindset today."

"Well, we'll see about that." Jungkook starts, making me raise an eyebrow. "Yoongi is riding with Hobi and Jin, he spent the night there. And to be honest, we never know what to expect from those sleepovers, especially about where their minds are set."

Tae elbows Jungkook in the arm, making him realize he spilled something he shouldn't have. He opens his eyes wide.

"Shit" He says, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

"It's ok, I had figured something was going on there. I won't pry, don't worry." I wink at them. 

I notice relief on their faces. I offer them to get something to eat before getting their makeup done, making Jungkook run towards the bags of pastries. 

While they're picking out what to eat, I hear the door open. Jimin enters the room and boy, does he make head turns. He has that je ne sais quoi about him that makes his presence noticed. He barely looks at anyone, heading straight for Tae and Kook. I see him take a pastry, only eating a few bites, and leaving towards the toilet straight after. "JIMIN" Tae starts running after him.

I quickly look away, feeling that I shouldn’t be witnessing whatever is going on, and notice the door open. Yoongi, Jin and Hobi enter. Jin is first, and comes straight to me, giving me a warm hug. It feels good to be circled by his big arms. He breaks the hug with a peck on my forehead. There must be an army of butterflies in my stomach at this point.

Hobi comes in for a hug next, being his usual charming self, but something is off. The spark in his eye is not there. It almost looks as if he's cried? I hold on tight to him, sending some love through my arms. I feel him sigh. 

"Fancy a drink tonight?" I ask him. He needs someone, I can feel it.

"I would love that." He speaks in a low, appreciative voice. I can see his eyes twitch for a second.

"Your coat is amazing!" I quickly change the subject, sensing he's about to breakdown. He smiles back at me and goes to say hi to the boys.

Yoongi, who was already with them, came towards me as Hobi arrived. Shit, there's going to be tension today.

"Hi Gina" Yoongi is near me now, and he looks.. Well, he looks like himself. Nothing is being let through by his face, nor his eyes.

"Hey! How are you?" I ask, trying to hide the fact that I know something is wrong.

"Okay, I guess.." 

We both turn our heads as we hear Jimin's voice coming from the other side of the room.

"V, I said let it go!" 

Tae walks behind him, arms hanging on each side of his body, a powerless look on his face. All the boys turn around to him with an empathetic smile, almost as if they were telling him « it’s okay, you did your best ». They seem know the struggle he’s just gone through. The whole crew is looking at them too, which is exactly what Jimin wanted. He knew that by coming in here, the conversation would stop.

"The only one that could talk to him right now is Joon" Yoongi tells me. I scoff, having trouble seeing Namjoon comforting someone. Yoongi turns to me "He's actually lovely to the people he cares about. He helped me through a lot."

"Yeah, well he made it clear that he doesn't care about me or even about making my life easier."

Yoongi is about to answer, but a loud bang resonates. It's the front door.

Namjoon appears with his leg still in the air. Everyone has stopped what they were doing to stare him down for kicking the door open.

But I couldn't care less about that. I've noticed something else. Something that could fuck up the entire shoot. 

Seeing it sends me in a state of rage so intense that I clench my fists, feeling my nails press into my palms. He stands tall in the doorway, his hands in his pockets. He's proud of himself, and he's now looking at me with a defying smile.

HE IS FUCKING SMILING AT ME. I am dumbfounded by the nerve this man has.

It might not seem like a big deal for everyone else, but I know that he did this on purpose to delay the shoot as payback for what I said yesterday.

He dyed his hair white.

A/N : White-hair Namjoon is back. Hands down his best era, no argument on that (second best, now that we have Blue Namjoon)

I mean LOOK AT HIM.

[vfdbaudelairefile13]

Misery Loves Company part 2:

This is Sunny Baudelaire:

Don't you dare underestimate her due to her age and size. She will take your foolish underestimation and make you regret it. She may be the smallest and youngest on the Baudelaire team but she is definitely a force to be feared. Sunny is armed with a strong ambition, clever wit, sarcastic tongue, and her four very sharp teeth. She is the child who walks through a storm with a smile on her face.

When Sunny meets her older half-sister, Violet, she accepts Violet with open arms. Shes excited to have a sister and shes relieved that Klaus has an older sibling who will take care of him as he has taken care of her. Sunny is determined to survive and defeat Olaf and his goons. Sunny is the peacemaker of the three children and she uses her compassion to help her older siblings see eye to eye. Sunny will see dangers and evils that no one her age should ever have to deal with but she is going to do her best to stay strong for her siblings. Sunnys the girl that finds trouble even when shes not looking for it, so Olaf better be careful. This baby girl bites back with rage and fury. Especially when you're threatening her loved ones.

《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》

"If they open the trunk..." Violet whispered. "Klaus. You take Sunny and *run*, I'll kick them with both of my feet to buy you guys some time."

"The fuck?" Sunny whispered shaking her head.

"Sunny's right, Vi," klaus whispered. "That's not happening. We are not ...we are not splitting up again. Either all three of us survive or none of us,"

"But...Snickets take care of their own..." she whimpered.

"Ohana," Sunny whispered to Violet, shifting her head to look at Vi. "Just us," she said holding up three fingers. "You, Klaus, Me," she said as she pointing at each finger.

"You're not just a Snicket, Vi. You're a Baudelaire..." klaus reassured her. "And we Baudelaires take care of our own, too,"

Violet smiled at both of them but shook her head. "I'm the eldest...its my job to..."

"Stand down, little soldier," Klaus whispered. Using the exact phrase that violet had used when she told him that she was gonna do everything in her power to defeat Olaf. "Little brother and sister are here,"

"Not alone," Sunny agreed.

Violet looked from Klaus to Sunny and gave them both a small smile. She knew that they meant what they said...they had just saved her from being Olafs captive but she couldnt help but hear Olafs cruel words replaying in her mind. The orphans heard Olaf and his gang get out of the car. They heard a sharp noise poking at Olafs trunk. They believed it was the hook handed man. Sunny bared her teeth ready to attack, although she was scared. She didnt know *exactly* what Esme and Olaf wanted from her older siblings but she knows she didnt want them to get what they wanted. Klaus started breathing rapidly, worried that they were going to open the trunk. He put one hand on Sunny and the other one Vi, closing his eyes. Violet noticed Klaus was breathing heavily through his mouth and she was scared that he was making too much noise. So she quietly slid a hand over his mouth to muffle the noise, making sure to not cover his nose so he could still breathe.

They froze as they could hear the mans hook rattling around the trunk handle.

"What are you doing?" Olaf asked. Klaus started shaking because his eyes were closed and he believed Olaf was talking to him and his sisters.

"Getting the trunk wine for Esme..." the hook handed man explained.

"Forget the trunk wine!" Olaf replied. "We have to find those brats!" He said punching the trunk of the car. Violet hoped that if Olaf continued to hit the trunk, that he wouldnt hit it hard enough to make it open. 

"But the wine..." Esme whined

"Madame Lulu will provide us all with beverages. My sweet. Let's go. We dont have a minute to lose," olaf said walking ahead and everyone in his troop followed him. Esme growled under her breath but followed along.

The children laid in Olaf's trunk for several silent minutes pondering whether or not the coast was clear. "We are doomed," Klaus whispered.

"Honestly, we're lucky hes such an asshole and assumes that someone will provide beverages for him," violet whispered.

"Out?" sunny whispered which meant, "do you think the coast is clear and we can get out of here?"

"If we're being honest, we shouldnt have gotten into this trunk in the first place," klaus whispered as Violet rolled her eyes.

"This is what happens when you listen to my loopy ass," she joked as she began reaching around for the emergency handle to open the trunk.

"*listen?* you think I had a choice?" Klaus hissed back annoyed at Violet's joke. "Your loopy ass picked up my sister and put her in this fucker's trunk! What was I supposed to do? Wave goodbye?"

Violet frowned but didnt respond. While Sunny gave Klaus a mean glare. "*Our*," she reminded Klaus.

"Sorry," he muttered feeling bad because he was still adjusting to the fact that he wasnt Sunny's only sibling anymore. "I'm trying, Vi."

"Uh-huh. No...its fine... you're still adjusting," Violet said only half believing that he was sorry as Olaf's words kept replaying in her mind. She sighed. "Sunny? Do me a favor, hun. Since you can move around better than we can. Find a red hand that says emergency. Pull it and the trunk should open." Violet explained.

"Copy that," Sunny replied as she shuffled herself off of her two siblings. Violet and Klaus laid there as Sunny slowly crawled around. "No luck," Sunny replied after a minute.

This sent Klaus into a frenzy. He began to shake and tears formed in his eyes. "We are sitting ducks," he said. "Hes gonna come back and need something from his trunk and we are either going to die from hunger, dehydration, or by his hands."

Violet rolled her eyes. "Stop overreacting. I can figure this out. I just need to..." she said as she realized that she was in a hospital gown. Which had no pockets. Which means she didnt have any of her ribbons. "He has my ribbons..." she said sorrowfully.

"Yep. We should never have gotten into this fuxking trunk." Klaus muttered angrily.

"Are you a broken record player? Got some new complaints?" Violet asked.

"Actually...yeah, first off..." Klaus began.

"Stop," Sunny interrupted sternly. She hated when they argued. She just wanted her tiny family unit to stay united. She looked sternly at both siblings as she traced her fingers in her blonde hair, pulling out her yellow ribbon. "Spare?" She asked Violet as she handed her the ribbon.

"Thanks, Sunny. Its smaller than mine but it should work. I'll give it back to you."

Sunny shook her head. "Keep," she said smiling. "My gift,"

"You're seriously the sweetest thing ever, Sunshine." Violet said as she struggled to tie her hair while laying down.

The entire time Klaus was shaking and imagining the worst outcome which was obviously Olaf finding them in his trunk like a pack of sardines in a can.

 Sunny watched her brother and crawled to him. "Never hurt again," she said slowly putting a gentle hand on his chest. Klaus looked at Sunny who smiled back at him. "Protect," she whimpered pointing from herself and Violet to Klaus.

Klaus opened his mouth to ask Sunny something but was interrupted by Violet saying. "I got it,"

Both younger orphans looked at her as she gave Olafs trunk a good kick. Klaus' eyes got wide. "Are you *trying* to get us killed?" He asked terrified.

"No...just trust me."

"I have trusted you and look where it's got me," Klaus muttered

"Stop," Sunny replied.

Violet huffed at Klaus' response as she gave Olafs trunk another good kick. "Sunny. I need your teeth," she said.

"Hell yeah!" Sunny cheered.

"Can you two please keep it down?" Klaus begged.

His sisters ignored him as Violet instructed Sunny to use her teeth as a lockpick to unlock the trunk. After a few minutes of Sunny twisting and turning her head. The siblings each gave a sigh of relief when they heard a faint *click* as the trunk popped open slightly. Sunny take a quick glance outside to make sure the villains werent around. "Clear," she called as Klaus pushed the trunk open entirely. Sunny moved out of his way so he could get out of the trunk first. He grabbed Sunny and set her to the ground and held out a hand for Violet to help her out incase she was still effected by the anesthesia. Violet grabbed his hand and once Violet was put of the trunk. She lowered the trunk but didnt completely shut it. The children huddled together behind Olafs car. Violet shivered in the cold air and Klaus took off his suit jacket and handed it to her.

"Here...you need this more than I do..." he said.

"Thanks, bro."

"Plan?" Sunny asked as her eyes noticed the VFD insignia. "V.F.D." she muttered as she pointed in the direction of one of the carnival tents.

Violet and Klaus looked to where she was pointing and then at one another. Violet scoffed and rolled her eyes as Klaus smiled.

"A carnival? Really? Does this cult control the whole planet?" Violet asked  jn annoyed tone.

"What are you talking about? That's VFD. That's a good sign," Klaus argued

"Or a very bad one. Like *very* *very* bad sign, Klaus." Violet pointed out.

"How? Theyll know where the survivor is hiding," he explained.

"Olaf," Sunny noted.

"Sunny's right. Klaus. If this is VFD and *Olaf and Esme* are welcomed here...this might be the wrong side of VFD...well the *worst* side," Violet scoffed annoyed.

"Fuck..." Klaus whispered.

The children sat on the ground, all three trying to figure out what would be their best next move. All three scared for their lives. All three worried about surviving long enough to be reunited with whichever parent survived the fire.