#the fact that you can replicate someone else's style like that. like you HAD to take their stuff for that.

[selarina]

And I'm Asking You to Hold Me Just Like the Morning Paper

-> older brother’s best friend!Gojo Satoru

Gojo Satoru grew up lonely. He’s not only the freak whose mere existence altered the balance of the world, but he’s also the only one of his kind. There’s no more after or before him. There may be one, born hundreds of years from now, who will understand him, but for now, for today, he stands all alone.

But then Getou comes along, and he starts to feel like he can stand beside someone. Getou will never understand what it means to be him, but he understands him in most ways no one else does, and it thaws his heart just a little. But then he meets you, and you—you’re just the worst parts of Getou.

You understand Getou like no one does, despite your differences in looks and techniques. You have the same blood flowing through your veins, so you get him in so many ways he could never.

That’s when he starts craving for what you and Getou have, while also hating you all the same. Your mere presence has managed to single-handedly make him feel even more alone. Of course, he hates you.

He wouldn’t ever say it out loud; you're Getou’s sister, and Getou loves you more than the world itself, so he would never. But it shows—sometimes he just so forgets to pull out a seat for you.

Some days, he forgets to invite you out with the group.

Some years, he even forgets your birthday. But Getou never believes him, even if you do. Gojo remembers the day you were born so vividly; he was there alongside Getou, after all. He saw your father's hands tremble as he held you. He later saw Getou's hands do the same. It was the strangest thing.

He also got to hold you when you were born, and it was the first newborn he had held, the most insane experience he had at the age of three. So, of course, he remembers.

So one day, you grow tired of it because you grew up idolizing this man. He’s an idiot, and he’s always embarrassing himself in ways you didn’t think were possible, but he’s just so—well, he’s Gojo Satoru, right? There’s something about him.

There are so many things about him—he’s pretty good-looking for starters. Sometimes when he stands under the sun, you think he’s no short of an angel. And he has these eyes; you see them so rarely now, but when you were a child, you thought you could see the ocean in his eyes.

One time you told Getou, and he told Gojo, who wouldn’t—no, doesn’t shut up about it.

And it’s not just his looks really—one time, you saw him save not only you but 53 other people from a building that was making its way to crush you all. You could’ve moved and saved yourself, but you didn’t see the point, not when that meant living with the fact that you couldn’t save those 53 people, but things like that came easy to a man of his capabilities.

You could go on and on about how you came to form a crush on Gojo Satoru, but the fact of the matter is—your pride matters more, and you decided that after 16 years of pining after him, the least you could start doing is pick up your pride and find other options.

Your heart may not find them instantly, still slightly transfixed on the man who bleeds gold, but eventually, you think you’ll move on.

So when the popular guy from your class asks you out—you think, “Why the hell not?”

And so, you find yourself on a date with a man who’s really into furniture and protein shakes apparently. It’s all you’ve gotten out of the conversation you’ve had with him. And frankly, he doesn’t compare.

But you tell yourself over and over again, as you begin to zone out—that this is to be expected. No one compares to Gojo Satoru, a man who’s entirely too unique to supersede or replicate, so it’s only natural. It’ll take time.

So you try, the fake laughter and soft brush of your fingers. You focus on the little things and you try to beat the sleep dawning on you.

That’s when Gojo sees you. You’re wearing a blue dress that hangs just above your bruised knees. Your hair is down but slightly styled and pulled up halfway by a clip, and beside you, there’s a guy.

The guy you’re with, his hand slips around your back, ushering you into the elevator, and Gojo thinks he’s never felt something so sinister boil in his gut before. He clenches down hard on his jaw. He doesn’t understand.

Are you with this guy? No, there’s no way. Is this a random guy bothering you? If he was—he’d be on the floor, pleading for his life. So no—it can’t be.

He doesn’t think at all, really, but he rushes towards the elevator before it closes. Only when it starts to close after he gets in does he notice his date—and then he snaps out of his daze to hold the door open.

She looks surprised but joins him by his side, and now you and your date stare at him in surprise.

“Are you Gojo Satoru?” your date speaks up.

“Yeah,” he grins as he pulls his glasses down. “That’s me.”

“Can I have a picture with you? My mother practically worships you,” he continues.

And Gojo turns his attention to you, and your eyes have grown stone cold, and he immediately turns his attention back to the guy, not wanting to be subject to you staring daggers at him.

“Of course, I always have time for fans,” he maintains his grin.

“Who even are you?” he hears his date murmur, and frankly, there’s more to this story. His date wasn’t entirely a fan of his at the moment. He was late to the date, and he got caramel chocolates which she mentioned she hates. He disappeared on a bathroom break but really, he was halfway across town fighting off a curse that could’ve been taken care of by an amateur, and on his way back, he started wondering if he was really needed there or if he just wanted to leave the date.

So, yeah, when the elevator dings and the doors open up to the ground floor, he’s not entirely surprised that she’s saying goodbye, but he is surprised by this.

“Not to sound like a bitch—” she starts. “—but you need to learn how to be a better date. I understand that boys your age are slow in the brain, but it doesn’t take a genius to send a text if you’re running late.”

Just when he thinks she’s done, she’s talking again, as though she only stopped to take a breath in— “And I know that wasn’t a bathroom break, who even is gone for that long and comes back smelling like he bathed in perfume when he didn’t a moment ago. And for God’s sake, don’t go out on a date if you’re in love with your best friend's sister,” she says.

“God’s sake, what is wrong with you?” is the last thing he hears from her as she makes her way out.

“So,” your date begins. “About that photo?”

“Chimin,” you bat his shoulder. “Not now.”

“But he—”

“It’s fine, give me your phone,” Gojo says, and he’s less chipper now, although he does a good job of maintaining the facade.

He poses with a peace sign, and he pats your date on the back.

“Uh, thank you, sir,” your date says before he turns to you, his arm reaching your waist. “Shall we go? I was thinking there’s a park—”

“It’s cold out,” Gojo’s voice comes out abruptly, leaving your date’s mouth agape.

“I mean, I should probably take you home,” he says, situating himself right next to you now. “You can expect a text about that second date. What was it you said? Oh yeah, a park date. Heh,” he scoffs. “Sure.”

“So sorry,” you start. “I’ll text you. It is pretty cold, and I’d rather get home now. Thank you for the date; you were lovely,” you say with a smile before you lean in for a hug as he kissed you on the cheek.

“It’s alright. Text me when you’re home safe,” he says mirroring your smile, only his feels a little more real than yours. “I’ll wait for the text.”

So as you make your walk back home with Gojo, you pull his coat tighter around yourself. Gojo doesn't say anything as he walks beside you, and for a moment, the silence between you two is almost soothing.

You steal a glance at him, and his lips remain unreadable, his expression hidden behind those ever-present sunglasses.

"So," he finally breaks the silence, his tone light but something else lingers beneath the surface. "You're dating now, huh?"

You merely nod, trying to keep your composure. "Yeah, kinda."

Gojo smirks, and you can feel his gaze on you, "Interesting choice. He did seem more into me than he was into you if I'm being honest."

"Haha, it's a pity. I pegged him for a man with good taste, what with the Toyota Crown he promised to take me on a ride on and whatnot."

"Do we really want to go there?" he turns to you, bending down, as he smiles all in your face. "You don't want to go there."

Your heart quickens just a bit, caught between a fine line of annoyance and amusement. You tilt your head, looking back at him through narrowed eyes. "And where exactly is 'there,' Satoru?"

He chuckles. It's a low, throaty sound. " 'There' is a dangerous place, sweetheart. A place where your date, no matter how charming, can't compete with me, Gojo Satoru."

You roll your eyes at his arrogance. "Ever the egotistical maniac. You're insufferable, you know that?"

"I am?" he replies, with playful obliviousness.

As soon you approach your home, you stop in front of the door, turning as you awkwardly wave at him. "Well, um, bye."

"Bye," he replied back. He doesn't motion for you to return his jacket back, but honestly, you're disappointed in yourself. You should've asked him about what his date meant. You should've said something.

"Actually—" you start. "Do you want some tea? It's cold."

He doesn't get cold easily, he wants to say, but he'd play weaker if he could spend a millennium cooped up in your house. "Sure," he says.

He walks in, and there's silence. "No one's home?" he asks.

"Yeah," you say. "They should be back soon though."

He hums in response, through muscle memory alone, as though dragged by strings he removes and places his shoes in the rack. The same place he's been placing them for years. And then, he blindly follows you down to the kitchen.

The kitchen is dimly lit, the only source of light coming from the small hanging lamp above the kitchen slab. You set the kettle on the stove, the sound of its soft whistle filling the room as it begins to heat up. Gojo takes a seat at the table, his fingers tapping absentmindedly on its surface.

You busy yourself with preparing the tea, the gentle rustle of tea bags as you move them. There's a muted grassy smell that's emanating from the tea, but it's not strong enough to overwrite all the tension in the air, a lingering curiosity that just won't leave you alone.

"So," Gojo begins, breaking the silence. "That guy, you really going to go on a second date with him?"

You glance over your shoulder, meeting his gaze. "I don't know. Maybe. He's nice."

He smirks, leaning back in the chair. "That's nice."

"What about you? How did your date go? You know apart from terrible," you grin.

"Well, it was also 'horrible'," he says, mirroring your grin.

"Date with Gojo and horrible. Seems about right," you say.

"Oh, come on. It was an off-day. I can be a very good date," he says.

"Why was she so mad then?" you ask. "Your date."

"Well, I'm sure you heard most of it," he starts, truly wanting to know if you did, but your expression remains muted. He can't tell, but it seems obvious. It's why he's here and not halfway back home, after all. "But I, uh, I got her caramel chocolates."

You wait.

"She hates caramel," he adds with a small pout.

"Ah, smooth. I've changed my mind about you, Gojo Satoru, you would make the best date ever."

He grins. "Thank you, kindly."

Your tea seems about done, so you reach up, opening the cabinet, but the classes are placed too far back for your height. And generally, you'd pull a chair and get the cups, but before you could, Gojo's right behind you, reaching for it before you could move back. He pulls out two cups, one plain pink one with hearts and another white mug with a bear on it. His and yours.

It reaches the slab with a soft clink, but before Gojo can move away, you speak up, "So, what did she mean?"

"What are you talking about?" He asks, plainly.

"You know," you say, stressing, as you turn to face him. You're so close to him now, but he doesn't move back. For once, he doesn't move back. You gulp, "You know what, Satoru."

"I don't," he says. His grin is gone, and his lips are in a line. You've never truly seen him this way.

"Bullshit, what did she mean by 'you like your friend's sister'?" you almost half-yell.

"Ignore her. She was just talking nonsense because she was mad at me."

"Was she, though?" you press, studying his expression more closely now.

He resigns with a sigh, as he begins to move. "Yes. Now, drop it."

"No," you say, as your hand comes up to hold his own. "So, she was just making it up?" you ask, incredulously.

"Yes," he says.

"And you don't like me?" you ask. This time, you move closer to him, his lips practically a few centimeters away from yours.

"Look, it doesn't matter what she said. I was just trying to save your date, be a good friend to your brother, and all that."

You scoff, trying to mask the lingering disappointment. "Save my date? By ruining it completely?"

"How did I ruin it?" he asks.

"Oh? I don't know, the same way you always ruin things for me. Just by showing u—"

And that's all it took, really. For his lips to meet yours. His hands find themselves on your hips as yours rest on your shoulder and his chest. Your lips move roughly against his. It's not like any of those soft first kisses you see on TV. This one feels like yearning. You feel it in your heart and in the way your arms tug his body into your own.

When he pulls off, you feel strangely disappointed.

"I'm serious. If you didn't show up, that could've gone somewhere," you say. A little proud of yourself for not giving in so easily.

"Gone where exactly? The park? You know you deserve more than the fucking park."

"What? Sure, I wouldn't end up married to this guy, but does it matter? I was moving on," you say with a shrug.

"Moving on from what exactly?" he asks.

"From you, obviously stupid."

Gojo's expression shifts, a mixture of surprise and something else, something you can't quite read. Your grip on his hand tightens just a bit, and for a moment, neither of you says anything.

"Moving on from me?" he finally repeats, his voice softer than before.

"Yeah, Satoru, from you." You pull your hand away, breaking the contact.  "It's about time, isn't it?"

The kettle on the stove whistles, signaling that the water is ready for the tea, but neither of you moves to attend to it.

"Look," he starts, his tone serious, "I didn't mean to mess up your date. I was just trying to have some fun and play the hero for a bit. I didn't think you'd actually be interested in that guy."

"Well, you thought wrong," you reply, crossing your arms. "I was giving it a shot, trying to move on. But you can't resist bringing everything back to you, can you?"

"I'm sorry, okay? I didn't think it through." His shoulders slump a bit, and he runs a hand through his hair as his head falls onto your shoulder. "I just... I couldn't stand seeing you with someone else."

"So, your date wasn't wrong then?" you say.

"Yeah," he says, and you feel the breath of his words on your neck. "I guess, she wasn't."

The kettle continues to whistle, now completely forgotten in the background.

"I don't believe you," you say.

"What?" he looks up now, his eyes looking at your face. "I just told—"

"You can tell me whatever you want," you say, frustrated. "But you don't even remember my birthday. How could you like me if—"

"I remember," he says. "I remember your birthday."

"But you—"

"I know, I know, baby." His hands come up to hold your cheek. "It's stupid, but I guess I was scared. It's stupid and not an excuse. But of course, I remember your birthday. I could never forget."

"Scared?" you repeat. "Scared of what, Satoru?"

"It's not that simple. You're Getou's sister. I can't just..."

"Can't just what?" you challenge, even if his thumb moving against the supple of your cheek thaws your heart red. "You can't just admit that maybe, just maybe, I'm worthy of being liked by you?"

"It's not that," he sighs, frustration evident in his expression. "It's complicated, okay? I didn't want to complicate things between us. I didn't want to risk our— whatever it is that we have between us."

"I get it," you say, a few moments later to his surprise and your own.

"You do?"

"Yeah," you say, reaching up to leave a soft kiss on his lips. Soft. Delicate. Like your touch could break him. "I do. I really do, and we'll figure it out, okay?"

His ears perk up as he turns, and the soft purring of the car engine comes to a halt. He can't believe he didn't notice your parents pulling in with your brother.

Your hands reach out to hold his own, and he realizes that they're trembling, just a little. And he gets it now. To love is to be afraid.

[accio-victuuri]

Tencent All Star Night CPNs. 💛

you know what it is. if there is an event, we take it as an opportunity to clown. i’m mildly salty that this wasn’t a joint event like we all hoped it would be. but we will get it when the time is right. i’m posting this a bit earlier than my usual end of show schedule but that’s too late and i want more people to enjoy the sweets!

the bjyx taxi in macau invites you in…..

This isn’t actually a CPN but more of a nostalgic thing for cpfs cause WYB was wearing Celine and it’s a brand that he often wore during CQL promotions. Celine never misses when it comes to him & I really wish he becomes their ambassador, if that’s even allowed, since he’s also working with Chanel. and the fact that this comes after GQ MOTY where he wore the hat that reminded us of CQL fan meet too. 🥹

some cpfs are likening these two shoots and how it was done at night and in the streets. it was pre filmed the night before the event. tho i would imagine that other can do this too, i personally love to see how certain photoshoots of theirs match. in this way, it’s better to edit them together.

also wyb’s hair!!!!!! <3

he probably loved his look in bazaar and the cap truly made it more street. i feel like wyb loves to blend casual/street style with formal wear. their hair! ahhhhh!!!!! i’m so happy! even if wyb’s is a wig.

speaking of his cap, no one has identified it yet. and i guess that’s because there is no logo to go by. however it looks suspiciously like the same style of what a certain someone wore earlier this month 🤨 don’t mind me.. i just like seeing that they still gravitate towards the same things when it comes to certain personal pieces.

can we also talk about the matching deep V? these two are honestly making us suffer ( in a good way ) with their fashion choices lately. i hope the bold choices continues on and as long as they could. 🖤

and oh, WYB’s clothes are from Maison Margiela 👀

&&& their choice of BGM for their respective videos are from the same album. Lol.

THIS ONE THO. How an amazing rendition of Wuji was placed at the start of Tencent Video All Star Night. I don’t know what other stuff they played but you would think, they will choose something more recent or from this year. They have had a number of dramas since 2019 that they could have given a spotlight but they chose that. granted, CQL was super popular and something like that is special and hard to replicate. too bad wyb was backstage. Imagine if the 2 of them were in attendance!

and how it was labeled, original singers : xz, wyb. a clip was also flashed.

😭😭😭😭😭

It even went on HS, the topic is about the opening itself however all the conversation was about is that Wuji was played. They did other songs but it’s so clear based on the hot search which one made an impact. It’s so funny, cause a common gripe against turtles is why can’t we move on from a drama that is years ago. oh well.. the platform couldn’t either lol. and why would we? when it’s so good? when it’s a literal cultural reset. hahahahahahaha!!!!!

it’s nice cause we started the day being nostalgic with wyb’s celine suit and then freakin tencent plays this 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

-END.

P.S: if something else comes up i will just post separately ✌🏼

[blumin-onion]

For those of us too impatient for Paint to get layers...

MS Paint Krita

The cats speak for themselves:

Default MS Paint brush Dupe in Krita :)

If you're anything like me, doodling in MS Paint is a huge hit of nostalgia, and the fact that it's such a barebones program I find I'm able to sketch more freely.

I had been trying to find a brush that can mimic the style of the basic MS Paint brush in Krita (a free drawing program), and I finally found it.

There are some slight differences between the brushes, but this is the closest I could find, and thought someone else might be looking for something similar!

In image text reads;

Canvas- For canvas size I would recommend anywhere from 800px to as low as 500px. Of course feel free to make your canvas as large as you like, just keep in mind that it may make it difficult to make out details when zoomed out to view the entire canvas, or when you export your work.

Pen Size- The brush can be found under the digital or pixel tag. It lacking pressure and opacity sensitivity makes it very similar to MS Paint. The_Pixel_Art_Fill is a pressure sensitive alternative. Both brushes are a tad bit jagged.

Brush- I recommend using sizes 1-5, if the brush is too big it loses its pixelated appearance.

End image text.

I may continue to try and better replicate the brush in the future, but I am struggling lol

[zombolouge]

What was your favorite part of writing Indefensible? (Or any other story you want to talk about)

I can't remember if I answered your last one yesterday or the day before...so if I'm doing two days in a row, APOLOGIES.

Anyways, the answer: sharing it. It's always, always sharing it.

Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of the writing process. Most of it, in fact. I like thinking about characters in the back of my head all day every day. I love psychological analysis of every blorbo's trauma. I love the feeling of being struck with a plot idea and rushing to write it down before I forget. I love editing the same sentence 5 times until it has the right rhythm and tone to say what I need it to say. I love studying (or establishing) character speech patterns so that I can replicate them in their POV scenes.

For Indefensible specifically, I loved layering it. Every scene in that fic is doing 2 or more things. Be it character progression, mystery clues, connection to the past, introduction of a concept that'll come back later, nothing was single-purpose, and I had a fucking blast piling on the different layers. It was also REALLY fun to come up with mysteries and how to lay them out so that people could theoretically solve them before we'd get to the reveal, but also still had a fair chance of surprising them. :) Learning to juggle a billion different characters and character arcs was also a delight (even if this was maybe the hard mode for getting used to that).

But honestly my fave part of every story is sharing it. I think part of what gets me writing vs. just kind of enjoying a media regular-style is because I feel filled with an idea that's just too big for me. I feel compelled to get it out on a page so that I can show it to someone else and they can experience it with me. Which is very hippy-dippy, bleeding-heart nonsense, but it's very true (and let's be real, I am a hippy-dippy, bleeding-heart kind of fool). I *can* write something I'm not fully committed to, but I don't usually push myself to do that with a lot of my work because 1. I'm not being paid to do that and 2. It's easier to produce my best work when I've been swallowed whole by an idea.

I feel this way for both fic and original fiction (I really don't handle those two genres very differently from one another, other than one of them is owned IP and one of them isn't. My creative approach is about the same, though).

The best part of writing anything, to me, is always when I'm satisfied that I conveyed what I wanted to convey and I can then share it with somebody else. I am never guaranteed that anyone else will join me, but to those that do: thanks for being the best part of writing.

[sonic-love-island-official]

Shadow (Bio/Character design ramble)

Behold, my sweet baby. Boy, do I have a lot to say about him. And some things I want to say about him can't really be incorporated fully into the fic, so what better place to infodump than here ?

Info under the cut x

Shadow is a 28 year old ex-G.U.N. agent. He was 'born' within the ARK, but moved to Westopolis later in life to rediscover his (then lost) identity. He joins Rouge on the Island with the intention of being her moral support.

Being a more reserved character, Shadow arrives full of scepticism, but with an indescribable, intricate set of standards. Shadow is the kind of man who knows exactly what he wants from a partner and a life going forward. He is stubborn to deviate from his plan of settling down and hoping to raise a family with someone who doesn't make him feel uncomfortable in his own skin. Normally on edge or awkward, Shadow typically struggles to interact with new people, but once he becomes comfortable with someone, he lets his true colours shine (both to his benefit and detriment). He can be gentle, deeply caring, passionate, even. However, he can also be sly, sharp-witted and harsh at times. Regardless of how anyone perceives him, Shadow's strong sense of identity drives him to pursue what he wants to have in his future. But having something entails having something to lose…

External design choices !! (visual appearance - incl. formation of base sim, references taken, makeup choices, fashion style… etc.)

You will never know how much time I spent trying to perfect this man 😭 Again, I immediately took inspiration from his Sonic Adventure 2 character design because he is both so striking in appearance but also has this soft cuteness (which initially did not make it into his sim version, until later modding the game). Along with Rouge, for Shadow I had a distinctive creative vision and although I can never make a sim exactly how I imagine them in my head, Shadow's design came close enough that I can't complain too much.

The real tough thing with Shadow came down to translation. Shadow has incredibly sharp/angular features that replicating it accurately in the sims would destroy any realistic appeal for his character in a more human form. So, my compromise was to do the best I could, while still keeping Shadow's features relatively human enough so he wouldn't look like he crawled out of a nightmare. Of course, I chose to keep the angle of his eyes and brows, but softened the degree to something still recognisable and so it didn't warp any of his other facial features. I kept the red colour of his eyes too. I could have went down a more realistic route, but I just thought it was so iconic of his character that without them, he'd just look weird. Same can be said for his makeup, actually. I gave him a simple black liner that runs from the top lash line, into the bottom and through his waterline, pairing that with a subtle red eyeshadow that mimics the red, triangular accent in the outer corners of his eyes (looking at sim Shadow without either of those is jarring, believe me). His nose I made a little pointed, characteristic of all the male hedgehogs. As for everything else ? It was purely up to my interpretation and working within the limitations of the game.

I couldn't get anything that was similar to Shadow's upturned quills, so I went for a hairstyle with a little bit of volume, just so there was enough resemblance. The hair I used was from the Supernatural pack (which is notorious for ugly CAS items, in my opinion) and surprisingly I don't hate it as much as when I first picked it. The red streaks are in his hair, but a little muted in comparison to the reference pictures, due to the fact it looked ridiculously bad when I tried the accurate, bright red streaks. I also wanted Shadow's sharp features to carry through into the base structure of his face, hence why he has a more squared jawline than what is seen on some of the other characters. He used to have more prominent cheekbones, but that that feature was softened out significantly after the modding (again, another 'for the best' situation). Overall, Shadow version 1 (pre-mod) wasn't all that attractive but once we got that visual overhaul for all the characters, he looks quite Pretty (I call him 'babygirl Shadow' due to his softer features). His skin tone evened out heaps better than before and looks quite lovely in-game (4th screenshot) but looks off when taking model photos in Stylist for the gallery </3

Over time, I've come to really appreciate Shadow's sim version !! He portrays everything I wanted him to be. Displaying a lot of his iconic features, while also representing my further, more abstract intentions for his character. Occasionally he makes expressions that do make him look a little older than the other characters and depending on who he's with, he can look the total opposite and look sweet, gentle and youthful. Other times he looks straight up creepy and all of these things blend so well for his character to an extent where it's both joyful and comical to witness. Nevertheless, I adore him, could you tell ;-;

*I forgot to mention here that although Shadow's sim does not have many tattoos (again, the selection we're given in TS3 is horrific and impossible to work with), he does in the AU. The red triangle designs on his forearms and calves are carried over (except they're not solid, rather more detailed with fluid lines and coils), his/the symbol of the Black Arms adorns his chest and creeps up to his neck and he has a small flower tattoo in memory of Maria <3

Shadow's fashion falls under three categories:

Stereotypical 'bad boy' outfits (leather jackets, boots, torn up jeans etc.)

Outfits typical of the show (plain t-shirts, baggy pants, chains, sneakers)

Outfits I personally think Shadow would pick and feel/seem comfortable wearing (tidy button-ups, dress pants/straight leg jeans)

They're pretty interchangeable throughout the series but the idea is that Shadow morphs to the expectation of being a Love Island contestant and wears things to fit that, but over the course of the series, gradually drops the act and becomes more himself. In any case, it gives a lot of variety and opportunity to try different clothing styles on Shadow and that in itself is fun to play with. Sometimes we even surprise ourselves seeing what items actually suit Shadow and which don't.

Internal design choices !! (personality, characteristics, psychology)

I am such a nit-pick when it comes to how Shadow is characterised in both official Sonic media and in fanworks. The two things that annoy me most is:

He's stuck in this constant loop of reliving his trauma, finding a sense of closure and learning/moving on from it. Repeatedly. He learns these beautiful, relatable life lessons and then. Forgets it. And has to do it all over again. For no real reason. (06 made that annoyance seem not as bad, seeing as Shadow had moved forward in his life but still kept to his ideals… but of course, they had to go and ruin that for him, didn't they 😒 Leading into my next point-)

He's reduced down to Edgy and Has No Friends

I am so so sick of seeing both of these things ?? So, I'm mostly just serving myself by helping Shadow along in this AU to be neither of these things because it doesn't at all fit the premise of the series. Most of the characters are a wild blend of their portrayals throughout Sonic media, so shitty Shadow pops up on occasion (for justifiable reasons, though) but primarily I've cherry-picked his better portrayals to represent him in the series, like the more introverted, soft-spoken Shadow from SA2 and Heroes, as well as the more level-headed, matured Shadow seen in 06. Of course, I don't write all of Shadow's moments in the series, as this fic is co-written alongside my sister, but my best efforts go towards representing Shadow in a way that makes him seem like Just A Guy.

Shadow enters the fic in a completely different stage in life. He's put his past behind him and is looking towards a brighter future. Naturally, he hasn't let his past go entirely and more so made a sense of peace with it. Here and there, there are a few blips where that is not the case and shows some of his old wounds haven't fully healed, but that's to add the ✨realism✨. The idea for Shadow is that he was once in a far worse state than when he entered the Island, but he isn't perfect. He has his own arc to go through, but for once it's fairly disjointed from his canon-typical baggage.

Simply enough, I want to allow Shadow the opportunity to develop connections — to make new friends (Rouge is his one pre-established friend), to express love. He has so much potential to be soft and kind and selfless and loving, without being locked behind bars of Edge and past horrors. As an introvert, he expresses things in his own subtle way that isn't easily understood by everyone, but he's constantly making the effort to show he cares for the people important to him.

Fun facts / trivia :

Shadow is older than Sonic by three years in this AU purely due to the fact that Shadow's character is more lore-heavy than Sonic's. Additionally, they're both at different stages in life, shown by their behaviour and actions and that, I feel, should also be realistically represented in the ages given to them. There is so much discourse surrounding Shadow's 'age' (now retconned) and it's exhaustingg.

Shadow's time in the Villa reveals some interesting themes around social relationships, such as making/maintaining friendships as an adult (a topic I find incredibly real and unique to this project)

I couldn't fit this anywhere else, and it might be a little self-serving but I allude to the fact that Shadow is on the aro/ace spectrum, which is a wild contradiction from the expectations of the show. We've also kept the genders of his previous partners vague-ish. Firstly due to the Twitter Takeovers, where Shadow has never expressed a gender preference (I think that's correct ?) and that's a detail I wanted to remain loyal to. Secondly, I didn't want to tie him down to any specific gender preference ?? I thought it banging just to leave it as is, because it does give some moments within the series an extra impact. Nevertheless, Shadow specifically doesn't experience sexual attraction and rarely/infrequently experiences romantic attraction. Alas, there seems to be this mutual consensus that Shadow's a bit of a horn monster and… funnily enough, I agree with that too- So AU Shadow's sexuality is incredibly layered and somehow it all still makes logical sense :)

There is a lot of Shadow's lore that transferred to the AU in a creative/slightly more realistic way, but I can't talk about it here, else this post will be longer than what it already is

[whiskeyswifty]

How influential do you think Taylor is in the fashion industry

hmmmmm interesting question and i think i struggled with answering directly or succinctly because it depends on what you mean by the fashion industry.

If you mean the from the top down, fashion designers and editorial stylists and the like, i think she has little to no impact on their creative process. By that I mean i doubt that she is any designers' muse (maybe Stella? but muse might be too strong of a word and stella has had her distinct style wayyy before meeting taylor), nor does she incorporate what you'd probably call "high fashion" into her visuals in any way that is groundbreaking or creatively stimulating. She's also not someone who engages with high fashion on the red carpet either, very rarely wearing something that pushes the boundaries or shows she has any sort of distinct style of her own that sets her apart from others. First current musicians that come to mind when I think of that are Lady Gaga, Harry Styles, Rihanna, Beyonce, Dua Lipa, Lizzo, and Billie Eilish. The way they engage with high fashion in their work and appearances is definitely more of the boundary pushing, conversation starting variety and exciting if you're interested in fashion. Whether you think it's "good" or "bad" is almost irrelevant because it's interesting, and that's the most important thing for fashion to be, above all else. They use fashion to create these larger than life personas and characters and worlds, which is how musicians who've engaged with fashion have always employed it. I personally would guess that taylor is not interested in making a larger than life persona, considering her brand is "i'm just like you" relatable content. So outside of the occasional tour costume or awards show outfit, she and her team are probably wary of making her one of those extra terrestrial kind of pop stars. It's important that despite her near-billionaire wealth status and fame, that she dresses as accessible and imitable as often as possible. Her personal style does seem to be very accessible already, or at least offers cheaper imitation versions for purchase at H&M and Asos and such. (You can see the difference between now and the 1989 era when she almost exclusively wore a wardrobe bought and styled by her stylist, which is extremely common for famous people in general to do). And also, personally, i'd assume that since taylor already has talked about how she has a surfeit of insecurity around her physical appearance, dating back to her childhood, she is likely not interested in offering herself up to the fashion jury like that, to have her physical appearance discussed with scrutiny and judged as "good" or "bad." so i fully understand the reserved (in comparison to other pop stars) nature of her style and her choice to stay at a distance from a world that might exacerbate any branding or personal issues.

however i think if you mean if she's influential in regards to trends and style, absolutely 1000000000% yes. She's in fact one of the most influential musicians in the world for the white, 13-24, middle-upper class, female demographic at least. as far back as Red, I'd say, her personal styles have never been unique to her or originated by her, but her adoption of them on the public stage has fast tracked their popularity, almost every time without fail. The most recent iteration of it would be the folklore style of thick, chunky cardigans and long wool coats. You can see how popular the titular cardigan was in how often it's been replicated in fast fashion stores, and even the Evermore coat I saw replicated at Madewell two weeks ago, same plaid color scheme and all. Again, I don't think nobody was wearing wool long coats before her, but she took what was a style trend in its nascent stages, in more urban/style conscious adult circles, and popularized it for the suburbanites and high school kids and the fashion illiterate. I think she might not be a muse to any designer, but she surely is a muse and style bible for a lot of everyday girls/women who often incorporate elements of her casual style into their own. Myself included! and i'd say that's of equal importance and influence as having influence over fashion designers at the higher levels because at the end of the day, clothing is a business and the only real marker of success is what customers actually spend their money on. and if for all the gucci suits harry wears and the jaquemus dresses dua wears, the thing that gets customers to swipe their credit card ends up being a chunky wool cardigan? I'd say that says it all.

[ohkate]

Weekly Tag Wednesday

Thanks to @energievie and @metalheadmickey for the tag love.

---

which character from any media would you like to have as a father? Gomez Addams. Totally loyal and loves his family. Devoted to his wife. Rich. Doesn't mind me being a weirdo. In fact, encourages it.

if money, laws, time, and effort were no object, what animal would you want to have?

This little jerk right here. I mean look at how he's all wrapped up in his mom.

what is your Chinese takeout order? Well, potstickers always. If I could *be* a food, it would be a potsticker. But also, I live in southcoast MA where Chinese food is completely different from everywhere else- and superior I will fight you on that hill- and so this is more complex to answer. Chow mein here is made with what's called 'Fall River' noodles. They are made entirely for this area and are amazing. It's my favorite dish. I've lived all over the country and Chinese food elsewhere is just so shitty.

what's your favourite emoji? I still can't make emojis. : p That's as good as it's getting.

would you rather have a library, greenhouse, or home theater in your house? Home theater. I should lie and say library.

what childhood tv show do you think of the most fondly? I Dream of Jeannie. Not really a kids show but I was obsessed with it as a kid. I also liked Punky Brewster.

what was your tumblr like when you first joined? So gifs had to be under 1MB. You kids are spoiled with your 5MB lavishness. So there were a lot of shitty gifs. Tumblr was just better in general. There used to be so many great gay porn gifs. It was awesome. Then the morality police came in and made it less fun for everyone. My tumblr was basically just a history of my fav gay pairings that I brought over from LiveJournal. Don't get me started on LiveJournal.

what clothing style do you love but don't feel compelled to replicate yourself? Bohemian cool girl. She just wakes up like that. I could never pull it off. This dumpster fire takes some work.

if you were plopped into a fictional world, which one would you know the layout of the best? I barely know how to drive around my block without using GPS.

what is your favourite piece of art? My favorite artist is Flavio Zarck and my favorite piece is THIS. He makes creepy looking sculptures out of scrap metal. He also did a series on drawings made by by people suffering from severe mental health issues like paranoid schizophrenia that was really interesting.

do you have a water bottle? what does it look like? It looks like a can of Coca Cola. I should drink more water. If only to surprise my kidneys every once in a while.

what fanfic trope is a quiet fave? Ugh where do I start. I unapologetically love the Cinderella story where someone saves the other, or you find out later one is rich or a prince or whatever. I love hurt/comfort....like serious abuse where the other person helps the other recover and they fall in love. I love the 'pretending to be together for x reason but end up falling in love' trope. I also love the ABO 'oh no i've gone into heat! And my low key soulmate just happens to be here. Whatever will I do?!" trope.

do you carry a daily bag? what does it look like? what's the weirdest thing in it? Workbag with laptop. Probably just some errant tampons that somehow have come unwrapped.

if you had to ship Mickey with another Gallagher, who would it be? Lip for sure. I think Mickey would just wreck Lip. I love the episode where they go to shoot up the gentrified store together and Lip seems intimidated by Mickey. And Mickey was taking out all his anger for Ian on Lip. Mickey looked so hot. There was a slight sexual tension in that scene.

what is a fanfic trope you didn't expect to like and then very much did? Like @energievie said, Gallavich taught me the joys of AUs. I love so many of them. Also ABO. I got into ABO by accident with the Hannibal fandom, and those fuckers can seriously write. I found myself obsessed and now not a lot of sex scenes in regular fanfic can hold a candle to ABO most of the time. Regular fanfic was like weed and ABO was like heroin and now I'm addicted. I can't believe I'm into this but...it's hot.

Do you think s11 Mickey can still carry s11 Ian? Probably. He's pretty strong. It's just awkward because Ian is so tall. He'd find a way.

who got custody of the killing bat when they sold the house? Sandy took it when no one was looking.

[innerbeast]

17 and 41 !

WEIRDLY SPECIFIC BUT HELPFUL CHARACTER BUILDING QUESTIONS

What do they notice first in the mirror versus what most people first notice looking at them?

his eyes always get his attention first. though he's come to accept and love every part of him, dar had a period of his life of hating the teal-colored eye of his. it wasn't a matching gold like his mother has and is instead a mix of her and the father he never got to/doesn't care to know. out of habit he's always left staring at those first, proud of himself for coming to terms with the fact they are uniquely his.

most others that look at him will either notice his miqo'te features first or his style of dress above all else. depending on what he's wearing, sometimes the amount of scars he's decorated in catches their attention first.

What phrases, pronunciations, or mannerisms did they pick up from someone / somewhere else?

when he first took up being a marauder/warrior he spent a lot of time in limsa lominsa -- even securing himself a house in their mist ward. with the amount of time he's spent living there his manner of speech has come to messily replicate a lot of what he's heard.

dar'khol has always had a slightly sharp, lax way of speaking but it's only become more so with the influence of limsa residence; specifically the more sea-oriented sort. fishers and pirates, mainly.

there are moments where you can hear him slip back to his roots, but more often than not he keeps up the carefree, semi-shortened way of speaking.

[blorbology]

The other day I was thinking about the fact that I've been told my longer fics are written in a fairly unique way. While I view this observation as neither negative nor positive (it is what it is), I thought it might be interesting to dig into that particular topic more.

I feel like writing style works similarly to artistic style: you tend to come into your own eventually after enough practice and work at your craft. I couldn't actually cite a specific writer as inspiration for my writing style (or "voice" I suppose), but I also tend to not want to mimic prose styles—not even the ones I like the most. Because of this, even my earliest "writing voice" would probably feel somewhat familiar to anyone used to my work.

It feels weird to say I've always had a stable writing voice, but that's more or less the truth for me. I've bettered it over the years (versus finding it the way some do), but I think I've always felt secure in what I had. It probably helped that the old days of FFN gave me hundreds of reviews on 'fics and a lot of encouragement.

A long time ago, I saw a piece of fanart I really liked, and sought to redraw it in real life. This was the early 2000s, maybe 2002 or 2003. It was an MLP fanart of...I want to say Glory and Baby Glory (from the 80s), and I redid it on a huge piece of paper I'd taken from my school's art room. I busted ass to replicate the piece. It was a great replica, actually, and I posted it online, eager to share my hard work. I'm sure you can imagine what happened! The community recognized the source immediately and was annoyed with me. They scolded me for copying an artist, explained why that wasn't a good idea, and I never did it again. (I felt stupid but I realized that day that nobody cared how well I could replicate someone else's hard work; people wanted to see my spin on the idea.)

After that, I always had my own very recognizable style of art and I didn't seek to recreate the work of others, even if I liked it a lot. I just started drawing what I wanted how I wanted to do it—in my own style.

While I found many things to like about the prose of friends and published authors, I never tried to mimic someone else's prose wholesale. I've never even been tempted by it; writing like someone else feels so incredibly unnatural; I'd sooner give up writing entirely than tell my stories the way someone else would.

That said, this post isn't really about writing "voice" so much as the specific way I tend to tell stories, though I do think actual writing style factors in here, and I'll get to that in a second.

My favorite genre of fiction for a good number of years was historical "inspirational" fiction. You may laugh if you wish, but I grew up in a very strict Christian household, and...frankly there wasn't much literature to choose from. My mom loved doing "daily devotions" and at some point, on the recommendation of someone else, she started reading us "Love Comes Softly" by Janette Oke. All four of us kids really loved it. We memed the hell out of it and to this day we have at least one in-joke based on it. It was part of a long book series, and eventually I read them all. This book tackled a surprising amount of issues, including domestic violence, and had a great trope that I still adore: a marriage of convenience.

I was obsessed with Janette Oke's books after that. Roses for Mama, The Bluebird and the Sparrow, A Bride for Donnigan, the four-book seasons series, and They Called Her Mrs. Doc. There were plenty more, but those were some of the most iconic to me.

If you didn't know, the very specific subgenre of Historical Inspirational Romance Fiction (can I call it HIRF?) tends to read similarly across the genre. Some novels play up the romance a little more, some the relationships between the characters, some the faith aspect, but generally speaking these books tend to have predictable elements. The male lead usually has a bestie he's emotionally vulnerable and open to. The female lead's friends, siblings, and/or other family members are important to her and play a role in the story. These stories tend to feature or utilize animals. There is almost always a focus on relationships overall, in every story. In Roses for Mama a family of four is orphaned and the oldest two siblings raise the youngest two and run the farm. The primary relationships are between the four siblings and their friend group(s). The challenges of "parenting" siblings are here. Kids tend to act like kids in these books too. There are huge varieties in the ages of characters and some young women have best friends who are decades older than they are. Some of these writers are very serious too about being accurate regarding the places they're writing about (coal towns full of immigrants who are mistreated by the coal companies for example).

The first book I loved was I'll Always Love You by Hans Wilhelm. The Velveteen Rabbit also holds a place in my heart.

Relationships are ALWAYS at the core of everything I write these days. I love exploring how people affect the world around them. I like to write about the complexities of sibling relationships and friendships over the years. I love history and how "the times" impacted the way relationships worked. HIRF was foundational to me as a reader and a lot of those elements are things I have chosen to carry with me. Everything I write is about a character journey more than it's about anything else.

Yes, I want to write about the blorbos in situations, but these situations are a means to an end. I want the situation to happen but I want to explore every facet of how it affects the blorbos.

Dumping a baby on Raine in Break Open the Sky was a way to explore a character trying to do the right thing but feeling completely overwhelmed by it. It was about breaking cycles and doing better for the next generation. It was about choices, about how difficult they can be to make even when they're selfish. And it was about learning to trust and love while finally having a place and the safety to begin healing from trauma. The baby was the means to that end—a plot vehicle, yes, but hopefully she didn't feel that way because she had her own needs and impacted the story right to the very end.

I think my particular writing style, my "voice" if you will, lends itself well to this particular type of slow-burn character-study-esque storytelling. I try to hit a middle ground with descriptions and write a lot of engaging dialogue. I try to write people being people without being too sparse or detailed. Both sparse and detailed writing have their places and genres they do really well in, but in the very weird subgenre of writing I've nestled into I do think my voice tells the story to satisfaction.

As to what subgenre I'm writing in... I honestly don't know what to call it. It's like HIRF in spirit, but I tend to substitute more "adult" themes for the romance and have less or no focus on religious faith (though it depends on the characters). I don't actually think there's a name for it, though of course if someone has a name for it, I'd be happy to learn what it is. In the meantime I'll just consider what I write to be HIRF-adjacent.

[nalascat]

🎀 💌 🧿 🎈💝 For the fic writer ask?

🎀give yourself a compliment about your own writing

it's good!. I am happy with how I can write and my style is something I am happy with, however much I do improve, what I most currently write is usually my best!

💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

any and all of my rockers fics. I want to finish them and I love the rockers and and and

The final chapter of sketched names and forgotten letters is still on its way!!! It's my favorite of the bunch so far (sorry mike) and I really hope to finish it soon. Charlie needs his chapter and we all need to know how it ENDS 😭😭😭 - it's got a lot of time for Mrs Bucket and will have Wonka content as well!!!

🧿what steps do you take to not take things personally if a fic doesn't do well, or if your writing/posting/sharing experience isn't going how you'd like it to?

i kind of just ignore the fact that I've posted it and move on, write something better! that or i find something else to do for a while, play a game, draw something, talk to someone!

a reply to my writing is ALWAYS super nice, but it's not required and won't always happen. i try to gear myself for little to no response, as some fandoms I post for are dead or have maybe a max of one or two people, haha.

🎈describe your style as a writer; is it fixed? does it change?

it changes a LOT. I'm always improving somehow, but you can tell when something I have written is rushed or was a little harder for me to get out.

My writing in present tense always has a COMPLETELY different vibe than my past tense stuff, which is helpful when I want to collect a certain tone or mood, but unhelpful when I write in the wrong tense 😔

💝what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

an empty apartment got so much more of a response than I expected. I had just seen no way home, and the fic was waiting in my drafts so I pulled it together and got it ready to post!

the lack of raimi fics and the bonus of nwh I think gave it a HUGE leap in reads and it was amazing to have people there at every update. it was a feeling that I could probably never replicate, but one that I adore.

[nobalg]

Rant of a Frog

Bruh, Yo Java Guys, why you faking it bruh.

Why you trying to be someone else and failing so hard on it.

May be change is the only way we can be better than yesterday

But your base was so so rigid bruh, its making things difficult for the older community and the newer community is unable to connect with their Grand uncles bruh.

Its obviously clear that at last you accepted the fact that JavaScript's functional way and callbacks were legit from the start. You trying so hard to make Java geeks believe that reactivity is something which will change the world, but I want you to intimate your audience that node js was doing it from so long, concepts like event loop were lying around there from so long. Its just that you were may be late to the party, or have to follow the trend to make the developer's stick to you. May be you want to attract Js developers with your functional styles and lambdas introduction, but this seduction is far from what you planned for.

You only can boost the utilization of multithreaded programs, and utilizing the multicores of a system. But let me tell you this, they will eat you up in this aspect as well.

Why the default was introduced man, in interfaces? Why you had to break your own principles?

Introduce a new concept bruh, but don't alter the story mate, why create such a story, you have created holes in your happy story, while trying to replicate what JS (even though single threaded and have a reputation of having browser language only) have done from long ago.

Functional Programming , ehh, what's wrong with your OOPS man, you used to boost of. Han?

Even though if somebody tries to start from fresh on this path, other then Josh long or Venkat, no legit resources, no community, no answers on Stack overflow for legit questions. Just Blackbox.

So you want to make some threads free ehh, thats why reactivity, ehh,

onErrorContinue ehh, you yourself say the biggest anomaly ehh.

Please comeback when you are consolidated bruh, We devs dont know how to estimate around you with such open things, We don't know how to handle Exceptions efficiently, Venkat said, if you can't handle or sometimes feels like imperative is better , Go for it.

He said if you want only happy path, then functional will be good.

But ehh, you know right, nothing is happy about programming, there are exceptions , errors , which are meant to be handled.

Bruh, either grow exponentially, or die, as We devs are not able to justify, why you are actually good, but what it will cost to get married with you and your unstability may be.

Angry

[oo0-will-of-the-wisp-0oo]

On ai- I think one of the main distinctions between editing something and having ai produce it is one requires. Effort, and actual time/thought behind it. Spending a minute feeding a database prompts until you get something you want is nothing compared to the countless hours put into a piece, be it writing/art/etc

You could argue that by virtue of posting something online, people sort of sign away on what people do with their art, but even in such cases you cannot deny that ai companies went about collecting data in malicious and deceptive ways- often without any time to genuinely revoke consent.

With ai art, people can replicate someone's style, which can then threaten their own personal brand/livelihood. This becomes more apparent when you know that a major part of the actors strike was specifically against ai owning the rights to people's image/voice indefinitely. An actors entire workplace existence hinges upon the fact that they will be paid to be somewhere and say and do something- this gives them the security of an income, but it also gives them the right to turn down any works they don't agree with/don't want to be a part of. By removing the actual *actor* from acting, the company can get away with not having to actually pay someone, let alone pay someone a living wage

I think the biggest reason I, and many others, are against ai, is for the same exact reason people would be against reposting art instead of reblogging, or the reason we used to get all the warnings against online piracy: it will directly hurt the creators that spent countless hours working on something. The difference between piracy and ai, however, is ai hurts creators that are just like you, and your community, and it will continue to do so if left unchecked

It is a very big win that ai generated works cannot be copywrited, bc it means that people will not be able to profit off of something they did not truly make. It would be unreasonable for someone to launch a TV show where the premise was ai, or the script itself, or the actors, and then try to claim ownership over it, and insist that they make a profit off of it, that no one else can use it, when in truth they had no part in the actual creating of the show

This is kinda a mess, and im open to more discussion/providing links to stuff mentioned later, but hopefully this is kind of an insight into why ai isn't. The best

Yes! Thanks for the discussion!

I think you’re responding to my previous post: https://www.tumblr.com/oo0-will-of-the-wisp-0oo/748487000957550592/any-of-my-people-interested-in-discussing-ai

If I were to use AI, I would be 100% honest about. Also I would charge less in most cases.

The reason being is it feels to me like it is providing me with images/information, and therefore helps me save time. I prefer to use it as a tool, though rather than use it as a means to an end. At least with the few AI I’ve experimented with, I’ve noticed that the program/algorithm kind of does a half-ass job on it’s own and the final piece would need to be edited to my satisfaction - especially text prompts. Using only text-prompts produces pretty substandard results. I find whatever the AI spits out usually needs to be edited, sometimes rather extensively, or else it’s unusable. And it takes up more time than I like for the program to process. I don’t just want to text-prompt and keep whatever gets developed.

There are some AI that you can use a photo or drawing of your own as reference. AI Arta is one of these. I’m playing around with Bing and Picsart, too. And of course EVERY app seems to be providing its users with its own AI (although usually using original products such as Dall-E or Midjourney, is what I find)…

Also, my original link on my blog said AI can’t be copyrighted… However I’ve found at least Dall-E allows you to make a profit: “Subject to the Content Policy and Terms, you own the images you create with DALL·E, including the right to reprint, sell, and merchandise — regardless of whether an image was generated through a free or paid credit. Oct 29, 2023” - although perhaps this still doesn’t mean it’s under your own copyright… I’m not sure about that.

I’ll just finish this reply to you saying I think everyone should keep discussing AI. Thanks again for your own input. I figure the more it’s talked about, the more we’ll figure out how to use it. I don’t want to snub people who are completely for or against it. I WANT to hear what people think about it. If I learn something I didn’t know before because of keeping an open mind, that’s a good thing.

Hope what I’m writing is comprehensible, it’s after 5am. I should get to sleep! lol

Here’s a website where the opinion is that AI won’t “take over” people’s jobs/artistry, but it will make their jobs more efficient for them.

[bleuberrygliscor]

i just spent way too long reading into shit that shouldnt even be happening and finding out the collective thats facilitating it has washed their hands of responsibility actually.

[likealittleheartbeat]

I deeply appreciate how ATLA depicts all the main characters responses to trauma. Aang’s, for me, however, stands out for its rareness in media. And we are not hammered over the head with the idea that Aang (or any other characters) repeatedly act certain ways because of a single traumatic event. Sure, there are key moments in our lives when a certain event comes to the forefront, but no one experiences the world as constant flashbacks. Rather, we see only in retrospect the way our sarcastic sense of humor or our heightened friendliness were protective responses to a deep emotional injury. Being able to understand Aang’s approach to loss is essential for the show. The structure of the series is founded on his arc (despite an incredible foil provided by Zuko). Our little air nomad initially confronts the loss of his people with a full-on meltdown in the episode “The Southern Air Temple,” where Katara’s offering of familial belonging soothes him. But this kind of outburst is not Aang’s primary response (and actually the literally out-of-character apocalyptic tantrums align with Aang’s overall process of grieving). Instead of constantly brooding (hey Zuko!), Aang leans heavily toward the monk’s pacifist teachings and toward his assumed destiny “to save the world.” He becomes overtly accommodating and joyful, constantly trying to see “the good” in everything with a perfectionist’s zeal. This is not to ascribe his bubbliness only to his trauma. Rather, he comes to emphasize this part of his personality for reasons related to the negative emotions he struggles to face.  Book 1: Water

In the first season, Aang is simply rediscovering his place in the world. “Water is the element of change. The people of the water tribe are capable of adapting to many things. They have a sense of community and love that holds them together.” This is vital to Aang as he initially faces his experience. He won’t get through this if he is not prepared for his life to change. Even if he hadn’t been frozen for 100 years, his world would never be the same. This fact involves eventually finding new people that he feels safe with. After such a massive loss, he’s learning who to trust, and also often making mistakes; not only does he find Sokka and Katara (and I’d argue he’s actually slow to truly open up to them), this is the season where he helps save a fire nation citizen who betrays him to soldiers, befriends the rebel extremist Jet, and attempts to befriend an actively belligerent Zuko (his moral complexity had only JUST! been revealed to the kid!). He’s constantly offering trust to others and seeking their approval in opposition to the deep well of shame and guilt he carries as a survivor of violence. This is also the season where Aang swears off firebending after burning Katara in an overeager attempt to master the element (one will note how fire throughout the series is aligned with, above all else, assertiveness and yang). Aang is so eager to be seen as morally good to others that he refuses to risk any possible harm to them.  And asserting himself carries a danger, in one sense, that he might make a mistake and lose someone’s positive regard, and, in another sense, that he is replicating the anger and violence he’s witnessed. He has no relationship to his anger at this stage of his grief, so it comes out uncontrollably, both in firebending and the Avatar State. It’s through the patience of his new family that he can begin to feel unashamed about his past and about the ways his shame is finding (sometimes violent) expression in the present. Book 2: Earth In the second season he begins to trust himself and stand his ground. Earth, after all, is the element of substance, persistence, and endurance. The “Bitter Work” episode encapsulates how Aang must come to a more sturdy sense of his values. First, there is the transition of pedagogical style. While Katara emphasized support and kindness, Toph insists on blunt and threatening instruction, not for a lack of care towards Aang. Instead, it’s so Aang learns how to stop placing the desires of others above his own--to stop accommodating everyone else above his own needs. Toph taunts Aang by stealing one of the few keepsakes from the monastery that he holds onto. This attachment to the lost airbending culture is echoed in the larger arc with Appa. And, by the end of this episode, it is Aang’s attachment to Sokka that allows him to stand firm. This foreshadows the capital T Tragic downfall in the “Crossroads of Destiny.” Aang gives up his attachment to the other member of his new found family, Katara, despite his moral qualms. Although he has access to all the power of the Avatar state, his sacrifice is not rewarded. Season 2 illustrates Aang coming to terms with his values. He is learning about what he stands for, what holds meaning to him. Understanding himself also includes integrating his grief, and there’s a lonely and dangerous aspect to that exploration. We see Aang’s anger and hopelessness over longer stretches rather than outbursts in this season. It’s hard to watch and hard to root for him. That depressive state leads to actions that counter his previous sense of morality, as he decisively kills an animal, treats his friends unkindly, and blames others for his loss. Letting these harsher feelings emerge is an experiment, and most people discover their boundaries by crossing them. Finding ways to hold compassion for himself, even the harm he causes others, is the other side of this process. Our past and our challenging emotions are a part of us, but they are only a part. Since Aang now has a strong sense of community and is learning to be himself rather than simply seeking validation, we also see him having more healthy boundaries with new people. He’s no longer befriending villains in the second season! He’s respectful and trusting enough, but he’s not putting himself in vulnerable situations nor blindly trusting everyone. Instead, he’s more likely to listen to his friends’ opinions or think about how the monks might’ve been critical towards something (they’re complaints about Ba Sing Se, for example). By knowing what he cares for, he can know himself, the powerful, loving, grief-struck monk. And he can trust that, though he might not be everyone’s favorite person, he does not need to feel ashamed or guilty for who he is or what he’s been through. Book 3: Fire However, despite a sense of self and a sense of belonging, Aang and the group still find themselves constantly asking for permission throughout their time in Ba Sing Se. It’s in the third season, Fire, that initiative and assertiveness become the focus. And who better to provide guidance in this than the official prince of “you never think these things through,” Zuko. It’s no longer a time for avoidance or sturdy defensiveness. It is the season of action. Fire is the element of power, desire, and will, all of which require us to impact others.  We see the motif of initiative throughout the season: the rebels attempt to storm the Firelord on the Day of the Black Sun; Aang attempts to share his feelings and kiss Katara; Katara bends Hama and a couple of fire nation soldiers to her will. In each of these examples, the initiators face disgrace. Positive intent does not bring forth success, by any means, only more consequences to be dealt with. This is perhaps Aang’s biggest challenge. He is afraid that his actions will fail, or worse, they will succeed but he will be wrong in what he has chosen. The sequencing in the series, here, is important. We have already seen how Aang has worked to care for (and appreciate) the well-being of others and how he has learned to care for his own needs. With this in mind, he should be able to trust that his actions will derive from these wells of compassion. But easier said than done. Compassion can also trap him into indecision, hearkening back to his avoidant mistake in the storm, in which the whole mess began. Aang’s internal conflict, here, becomes more pronounced as the finale draws nearer. I think it’s especially significant that we witness Aang disagreeing with his mentors and friends. He must act in a way that will contradict and even threaten his sources of support if he is to trust his own desires. Even the fandom disagrees about the choice Aang makes, which further highlights the fact that making a decisive choice is contentious. There is no point in believing it will grant you love or admiration or success. For someone who began (and spent much of) the series regularly sacrificing himself just to bring others peace, Aang’s decision to prioritize his own interests despite the very explicit possibility of failure is the ultimate growth his character can have and the ultimate representation of him processing his trauma. (This arc was echoed and made even more explicit in many ways with Adora in the She-ra finale.) The last significant time Aang followed his desire, in his mind, was when he escaped the Air Temple in the storm. To want something, to trust his desire and act on it, is an act of incredible courage for him, and whether it succeeded or failed, whether anyone agrees or disagrees with it, it offered Aang a sense of peace and resolution. Now I appreciate and love Zuko’s iconic redemption arc, but Aang’s subtler arc, which subverts the “chosen one” narrative and broke ground to represent a prevalent emotional experience, stands out to me as the foundation for the show I love so much.

[potteresque-ire]

Commentary ~ Little Red Little Green Episode 18, “Fruits & Found Family”

Link to original post in Chinese, posted 2021/05/23. Link to official English translation.

(Disclaimer / Notes + Commentary under the cut!) (TW: possible eating disorder)

Disclaimer / Notes:

While the posts by Little Red Little Green (LRLG) are among my most favourite candies, I’d like to remind everyone that they are fake rumours, and should be read and enjoyed as such. ie, all CPN below!

The English translation linked above is the only one authorised by the Fake Rumour House; therefore, please treat all content below as a very casual, very *unofficial* convo between fellow turtle friends! ❤️💛💚

With Chinese being a highly region-specific language, my reactions to it is necessarily filtered through my background, which is, admittedly, somewhat removed from Gg’s, Dd’s and LRLG’s. However, it is not uncommon for even c-turtles (and several times, LRLG themselves) to be lost with what they read / heard due to regional differences ~ which reflects the reality of communicating in the Sinosphere. In fact, the regionality of the dialects used by different “characters” in LRLG’s dialogues is among the most critical elements that make these posts so authentic-sounding, and so difficult to replicate. A fun activity of following LRLG is to watch c-turtles patch their regional knowledge together, from local slangs to food choices, to make sense of what’s going on. 

Okay, with that all said *phew* ... onto the commentary! “p. X” refers to the panel number in the official English translation (there are 7 total in the Twitter post). 

p1. “Fairy”

Likely referring to the similarity between Gg’s current role for 玉骨遥 (The Longest Promise) and LWJ. Dd was praising Gg for being “fairy-like”; Chinese “fairies” (仙) have a certain style especially in visual media, similar to ... LWJ’s ~ otherworldly, white robes that billow in the wind, peaceful to the point of distant, scholarly, delicate. In between the lines, Gg likely said he was simply playing LWJ (hence, the ”act another me” in the translation), which Dd protested... and said Gg was simply playing himself. Whether that means DD IS NOT LWJ!!!!! 😡😡😡 or something else, we’ll know what we get to watch the show!

p1-p2. “Heat”

Yes about the Chang’e 嫦娥 reference!! Despite Houyi 后羿 shooting down 9/10 suns and saving the day, his wife is, indeed, more famous (and therefore the star, the more powerful one), because she’s frequently featured in Mid-Autumn festival art, along with her pet rabbit 玉兔 (”Jade Rabbit”),:

(Chang’e with her bunny, traditional Chinese painting. Source.)

Below is Gg’s rendition of Chang’e / Jade Bunny pair ~ Chang’e being the superman in the drawing while Jade Bunny is crouching on the planet!! 

Guess of the missing convo from Gg’s side: Gg had wanted to bring something to Hengdian (where the filming of The Longest Promise was taking place) to cool himself down, and Dd had said it wasn’t necessarily. Hence Dd’s “My bad my bad” and the promise to send that something to Gg.

The loveliest line in this segment for me—and for many c-turtles— is the one about white hair. Turning grey a common, but very old-fashioned way of expressing worry and poor Dd, who hasn’t even turned 24, is claiming he was turning white because he got so worried every time Gg complained about the heat (Aww). 

Turning grey with worry isn’t limited to romantic situations — it may happen to doting parents with wayward children, for example, or to ancient patriots over their crumbling kingdom. However, it’s also one of the more (very!) dramatic ways to communicate tragic love in Chinese fiction before Western influence allows “love”, as a term / word / character, to be used explicitly in writing romance. 

Here’s a little example, a little diversion that may be of interest. Those who are familiar with the Wuxia classic Return of the Condor Heroes 神雕俠侶 by Jin Yong 金庸, whether it’s the book or its numerous visual adaptations, may remember how the hero, Yang Guo 楊過, went white at his temples overnight after his Shifu and lover, Xiao Long Nv (小龍女), didn’t show up at the cliff at the end of his 16-year wait for her.  

Set photo from a TV adaption of Return of the Condor Heroes, 1995. Turtles may find the actress playing the perenially white-wearing, calm-to-the point-of-aloof Xiao Long Nv, Carmen Li 李若彤, familiar ~ she also played Lan Yi in The Untamed. 

The 16-year wait, the invitation to Carmen to play Lan Zhan’s ancestor (when the two shared similarities in aesthetics and personality), were two of the three references from Return of the Condor Heroes I picked up from The Untamed (the last one was more specific—WWX mentioned Yang Guo’s master 獨孤求敗). This tribute is unconfirmed, but MXTX did say before that Jin Yong’s works were her inspiration. I also read a (small) discussion on whether LWJ’s hair carried a few pieces of white in the final episode, or if the lighter strands in it were a trick of the sunlight. (Here’s a screenshot of the approximate place to look!!) 

While I lean towards the latter (the sunlight), turning white with worry, with love, is a tradition in Chinese storytelling. Here’s a little something I’ve noticed too, on this note ~ both in the actual interviews and in these fake rumours, Dd’s word choices, the way he conveys emotions are sometimes surprisingly traditional. It can be because of his background (which would require a study of how Luo Yang people and Koreans talk); it can be because the traditional way of talking allows for fewer words to be said, fewer things to have to be explicitly explained (example: LWJ), but the effect is that Dd has supplied the most romantic lines in LRLG’s posts because of that ~ romantic because it harks back to the rhythm, the themes of old poetry, of ancient stories that, as were true everywhere in the world, were about love. 

Okay, back to the rumour (and hoping Dd won’t look like Bad Wig Yang Guo in a few more summers!) ....

The line after the one about white hair ... the way I understand the original Chinese sentence is “Heat is The Reason”: ie, anything Dd wants Gg to do and Gg disagrees, Gg would use heat as The Reason (R) to not do it. This anything may be eating, for example, which also has a strong possibility as conventional Chinese wisdom says that heat causes people to lose appetite. Dd’s worry would therefore be: Gg refusing to eat because he claims it’s too hot to do so.

“Corny joke” ~ the Chinese for this is, literally, “cold 冷 joke 笑話”, which becomes a pun as the gzry (team members)’s joke was about the (cold) winter and black hair. So... Dd threw a corny joke to combat a corny joke :D .

p3. “Apple”

The first half I also had to rely on c-turtles to help me interpret what it meant! Regional dialects aside, LRLG has captured dls’s very quick wit, the way his ideas freely hop from one concept to the next and this hopping carries traditional + popular cultural references that I know only a fraction of, not being a local after all. 

I’ve read an additional interpretation of this segment: “big fruit” 大果兒 (as in dls: “Those are all big fruits, all big fruits”) is a Northern Chinese, traditional slang for women—dls might have connected that with the previous line in the convo about being Guowang, as explained in the translation, and “big and juicy” + “touch to feel” being suggestive phrases. Then, given the rare usage of the big fruit = women slang, dls expressed surprise that Dd understood what he meant, went on to say he expected Gg to know it (implying Gg could’ve taught Dd the meaning) ... 

Which led to the entertaining part of this segment. Dd was like “You guys (= Gg + dls) talked?” Dls appeared to have thought of the scenario customarily inviting this question (scenario: someone on the verge of catching their spouse cheating) and began playacting that scenario, started to stammer ... as if he had just been got caught trying to chat up someone’s spouse  ~  ”I-I-I....how to say it ...”. Dd caught on dls’s playacting and went along, continued with the “accusation”: “You’re stammering”. Dls then noted that Dd’s accusation was scary and Dd smiled, ending the playact ~ so, ah, readers, never mess with Dd’s spouse!! Dd gets scary!! 

(BTW: ”nijia na kouzi” 你家那口子 was explained in the translation for a reason ~ It’s a warm, friendly term for a dear friend’s spouse. 😊)

p4. Lychees

Lychees. Has everyone tried them? It’s important not to over-eat them though...

In which the “Feeding Gg” saga continues! This segment is one of those that are wonderful for fic writers who wish to capture Gg and Dd in words. Gg, like many brought up in traditional families, has trouble saying “no” outright, which is often considered rude. As such, he resorted to delay tactics, something he had also done with the fried noodles in The Makeup Room BTS. 

In the BTS, his delay tactics had been to argue that Dd hadn’t eaten his box of noodles and therefore, he couldn’t start (~2:35 mark)—as proper manners indeed dictated. In this dialogue, his delay tactics was to say he’d eat the lychees later, that the lychees would make him too full for the proper meal (rice). 

A cute thing about this convo is that rather than pouting and grumbling his only being LWJ’s replacement (as he had hilariously done in the BTS), Dd had, apparently over the last three years, become an expert on countering such delay tactics. He peeled the lychees, which not only removed a major obstacle for eating, but also set a timer as peeled lychees get dry quickly (and Gg, despite being a picky eater, didn’t seem to like to waste food). He said the fruit could make appetiser. He got the help of their team members, who assured Gg that two lychees would be all right.

Gg’s response to the assurance... takes a little time to explain. 

The original Chinese line for “Great, great, you’re so awesome” was 絕了絕了你們絕了。 “絕了”, a popular phrase used by Chinese netizens, was repeated three times.

絕, literally, means the extreme, the absolute, the end. 絕了 means pretty much the same ~ a thing that is 絕了 is standing en pointe at the edge of the cliff that is The Absolute End of a spectrum. It is the Ultimate. It can't be surpassed. It’s unbeatable. 

絕了 is usually used in a positive sense, as in the English translation, with the positive being implied. If I say the LWJ photo above is 絕了, for example, I don’t need to specify that the extreme in 絕 stands on the good end. It’s understood given the audience of this post are mostly turtles (HELLO *waves*). We’re all heart-eyes here. We agree, without saying, that this photo is The Top, The Pinnacle; it can’t be better. 絕了 is higher praise than Excellent; it’s so good that there are no adjectives for it. Its own presence defines How Good It Is. 

But 絕了 doesn’t have to be positive. If my audience is Su She ... he’s likely to take the same “This LWJ photo is 絕了” to mean the Mariana Trench kind of Absolute—the bottom of the bottom, the Unbeatable, Adjective-Defying Worst. 

絕了 allows for that understanding too.

In this scenario, I interpret Gg’s 絕了 as taking the meaning of both extremes (which make it a fantastic phrase choice!): that Gg thought Dd and the team members were being both the Absolute Best (for thinking of Gg, caring for him) AND the Absolute Worst (for going against his wish to not eat!) Gg’s 絕了 also signals defeat; if Dd and his team members were The Absolute ... Whatever, then poor Gg had no choice but to yield to their wishes. I can already imagine his “I can’t believe I lose this way” Look (see: every rock-paper-scissors he lost, which was ... pretty much all of them), mixed with, perhaps, a healthy amount of bunny tooth warning (how dare Dd et al banded up against him)...

Those bunny teeth had to be taken care of, right? And so Dd went on to say lychees being good omen that ensure things would go smoothly for the eater... targeting Gg’s being a, as c-turtles call it, 小迷信 (literally, “Little Superstitious”, a young + adorable + superstitious person). Dd said that to help Gg justify the choice to eat, to make Gg feel better about his defeat. 

(Of note: I had actually never heard of lychees being associated with good luck before, and a quick search online also didn’t yield any result. This could be a relatively rare association Google failed to catch ... or something Dd made up on the fly to make Gg happy.) 

(Lychees have, however, been associated with romance. If Emperor’s Smile 天子笑 was The Love Drink in The Untamed, then what is Concubine’s Smile 妃子笑? Answer: it’s the RL name of a type of lychees, lychees being the fruit very much adored by Yang Yuhuan 楊玉環, the consort of the Emperor Xuanzong (685-762 BCE) of the Tang Dynasty and one of the four most beautiful woman in Chinese history. Since lychees had only been grown in southern China, the emperor had had the fruit couriered, in express mode involving many horses, to the palace up north to please his favourite wife. Lychees had become a symbol of love from that historical tale.)

Did Gg get Dd’s message then, the love and care packaged in those peeled, sweet fruit awaiting his bite? Yes, but not without a little more fight! “Eat eat eat, (I’ll eat) until you go bankrupt” is a literal translation of his final line. Tonally, I can see the following as being an alternative translation: 

“Fine fine fine. I’ll eat, it’s not like I can bankrupt you by eating anyway!”

If it sounded a little sulky, that’s because it did ... a little sulky AND fiery. As expected from our favourite Chongqing Big Pepper 😂😂😂 (Poor Gg).

Dd smiled at that, needless to say. He won!!! He got Gg to eat!! The world shall rejoice!! 

p5. “Showtime”

There’s a show coming up for Dd (the YH concert maybe?), and Gg offered suggestions. 

The sweet point of this segment is about half-way down the conversation, in the piece of paper 📄 Gg gave to Dd (after “This is for you.”). Dd took the paper, noted the many words on it, and started saying 我把我整個靈魂, translated as “I bring my entire soul”.

c-Turtles have, based on these words, hypothesised that Dd was about to read out a quote that Gg had written on the paper, with the list of items Gg thought Dd should take, before Gg stopped him with a call of his name (“WYB”). The quote was included on the translation (”I give you my entire soul...only, a little good, love you.”) I have also talked about the same quote, in more detail, here.

I’m equally stumped on the final line of this segment. (Sorry!!)

p6. “Found Family”

It’s a heartwarming segment. While LRLG had previously noted that the TTXS bros had communicated with Gg, this segment made clear that they care for him like they do for Dd ~ as family.

* dls mailed Gg a lot of fruit for sharing with the film crew. “Family member needs to be impressive” is a rough translation, but this line does defy simple translation because 排面 a highly cultural concept that has much to do with the equally complex, Chinese concept of face (which this article explains... somewhat adequately). The message to take home is that dls cared enough about Gg that he wanted to make sure Gg wouldn’t lose face in front of the film crew; that, by having enough gifts (fruits) for everyone, Gg wouldn’t be viewed as cheap or inadequate or stingy, or whatever adjective that wouldn’t befit his top idol status. Because dls saw Gg as a member of his family. 

* The prescription from hg had been mentioned in a previous LRLG rumour. 方子 is a Chinese medicine prescription, which, unlike Western formulations, is individualised both to the discomfort / ailment and to the “body constitution” of the person who'll take it, the latter deciding the kind of ailments the person is susceptible to, and which ingredients are expected to be more effective. Chinese medicine also places a strong emphasises on long-term conditioning, whether it’s for recovery from a certain condition or for general good health. A good 方子 is therefore a far more complex and personal thing than, say, a scribble of “paracetamol” / “acetaminophen” on a piece of paper. :D

* fg’s gift for Gg (xx) is something for the waist. A brace support, maybe? For example?

My favourite line in this segment is when hg asked what will Gg and Dd do when they reach hg’s age. Given that the last two items (the prescription and xx) were health-related, I interpreted it as hg worrying about Gg and Dd’s health when they grow old... with all the health problems they already have. It’s the kind of thing a worried parent say to their children ~ my mom has said the same thing to me as well. 😢

p6. “The Cat Paw”

Not quite sure what’s happening here ... not sure what the cat paw is. (Sorry!!) But that é in the translation is Dd’s signature laugh (collection here), which is written as 鵝 (”Goose”) in Chinese 😂.

p7. “The Cat Toy”

Dd appeared to be shopping for a cat’s toy (something that can “hook the cat” in the translation, such that the cat can entertain itself and not rely on human companionship as much). Gg had already bought the toy though and sounded quite proud of it, told Dd to return the toy. The implied cat was, of course, Nut (堅果 Jianguo)... which had been repeatedly referred to in LRLG’s posts as Gg’s daughter.

p7. “Cool vs Cute”

Gg is often viewed as cute, and Dd as cool. Did Dd dislike Gg taking cute pictures for public consumption? Were they scheming an exchange of image? :D

And that’s it for this issue! Ooh, this took unexpectedly long ... I apologise for the ridiculous delay between the original post and this commentary! 

(I wrote half of it, then RL struck and I forgot about it.) (I’m hopeless.) (I need a 方子 for poor memory!!)

[fantastic-bby]

SKZ vs. their crush

Pairing: Gender neutral Reader x Member

Word count: 3.9k

Genre: Fluff

Summary: It’s just them crushing on you 

Warnings: -

Masterlist

A/n: I tried a different format this time and used bullet points rather than just making it like a full story since my brain was going crazy when I wrote this. Let me know which format you prefer and maybe I might incorporate both bullet points and the essay ones since I actually quite enjoy writing using both.

Chan

You guys only met because you knew Jeongin 

The tiny babie brought you to meet his friends 

Chan was smitten when he first met you 

He thought you were so pretty when he saw you following behind Jeongin 

“Innie,” 

“Yeah?”

“Who is that?” 

He wants Jeongin to introduce you two

Sensing the vibes, the maknae is more than happy to introduce you two 

if he was being honest, he already knew Chan would pretty much fall in love with you immediately

Chan’s flustered when he introduces himself to you 

He’s almost blubbering all over the place 

You find it kinda cute but he’s scared you found him really weird 

He tries to steal little moments to be with you 

Like ‘accidentally’ bumping into you in the hallway 

Or how he just so happens to walk into Jeongin’s room when you’re on a call with him

Or how he just so happens to be lingering around the flea market nearby your college campus 

Chan takes care of you without even realising it 

If you bump into each other he asks whether you’ve eaten or how your day is 

He loves the way you seem to parent his friends like he does 

“Jisung, put the knife down. You’re going to hurt somebody” 

“Hehe, make me” 

“PUT IT DOWN 〴⋋_⋌〵” 

Chan’s surprised he listens to you

He loves how everyone only seems to listen if you’re the one talking too

If you’re hanging out with them at the dorms and Chan can’t seem to control everyone, you just step in 

“Guys, please”

And suddenly the chaos has calmed down 

Chan finds it amazing 

Everyone just… stops when you ask them to

You find it amusing 

It’s like watching a single dad trying to control his seven wild sons

He chases after Felix around the dorm a lot because he’s usually done something weird with Minho and Jisung

He manages to get your number using an excuse of needing you to calm down the boys 

“Please… they don’t listen sometimes” 

Jeongin finds reasons to push you two together 

“Yay! You guys made—oH nO I ComPleTeLy foRgoT!!”

Leaves the two of you alone 

He honestly just thinks you two should get together and so does the rest of the group

So they find excuses to get you two alone together 

But your relationship takes f o r e v e r  

Only because Chan wants to be absolutely certain that he likes you

He doesn’t want to commit to someone he’s worried he’s not sure of yet

Slowly but surely, he starts to ease into the relationship

He sends you music he thinks you’ll like 

Eventually he’ll start sending you his own music 

He only confesses when he’s absolutely sure he’s pretty much falling in love with you 

The way he does it just wins your heart immediately if you weren’t already as whipped for him as he was 

He writes a song for you (´༎ຶ ͜ʖ ༎ຶ `)♡ 

Minho

Bumped into you at a dance studio he goes to often

He thinks your dancing is amazing 

At first he doesn’t want to bother you 

But then he’s all like “heyyyy I’m Minho” 

And you’re pretty much taken away by how gorgeous the man is 

Minho wouldn’t be too flustered 

He would keep his cool around you 

Doesn’t mean he wouldn’t try to impress you with his sexy dance moves 

Tries to win your heart the romantic way which doesn’t work because half the time you’re too busy dancing to actually realise he’s trying to flirt with you

“Hey, baby ;)” 

“Huh?”

“Nothing”

Wonders whether he should just make a dedicated advance towards you 

He likes your humour 

It’s similar to his 

You both just laugh at really weird stuff together 

When you share your numbers, he sends you weird videos that he thinks you’ll like 

Minho’s not much of a texter, but when you do get a message from him, it’s either something he’s really excited about or something really weird 

Only realises he’s actually crushing on you when Changbin points it out 

“Why are you so nice to them” 

“Who?” 

“(Y/n)” 

Then Minho realises that he really likes you

Starts slowly working harder to win your heart 

Helps you with your dancing

“Your body looks a bit stiff” 

Buys you lunch 

“I got you the lunch box from 7 11”

It’s always something you end up liking if you hadn’t tried it before

Buys you drinks from the vending machine 

“What is this???” 

It looks like a double shot coffee 

“Energy?”

Minho doesn’t know either but you both drink it anyway 

And end up being at the studio until 3 a.m. because you’re both so hyped with caffeine

Offers to walk you home if it’s getting late

“It’s not safe on your own”

“Minho, I’ll be fineeeee” 

Doesn’t take no for an answer and forces you to let him

His advances work

You’re pretty much whipped for him by the time he confesses 

Which Minho does by buying you flowers and bringing it to the studio 

Changbin

You work at the music shop that he goes to often 

When he’s browsing the CD’s and the vinyls, he spots you at the counter 

His heart almost explodes when he sees you 

The first thing that caught his eye was the way you were dressed 

:0 

Fits Changbin’s style 

He’s nervous to approach you with the vinyl in his hand 

Why was he so nervous? 

Oh right, he was pretty much completely smitten by you 

“Hi!” 

 He loves your voice even more

“H-Hey,”

Changbin’s so nervous 

He likes your bracelets too 

He thinks they’re really cool 

He ends up coming back a lot and you wonder why this man needs so many CD’s and vinyls 

Eventually, he builds up the courage to talk to you

Changbin comes by every once in a while just to say hi 

Sometimes he just comes in to talk to you during your break

You tell him you’ve always wanted to try making music

He tells you he makes music 

You’re all :0 

Changbin tells you about it 

And you get really interested in his music 

He starts coming after your shift or during your break to play you his songs 

He gets all uwu when he sees the way your eyes shine 

You have him wrapped around your finger without even knowing it 

Doesn’t admit that he’s pretty much whipped 

Even though he visits you almost every other day 

And how he buys you your favourite snacks 

Or how he stays way longer than he expected to just bcs he’s talking to you 

You’re just as whipped tbh 

You love talking to Changbin 

You like his music taste and he’s fun to be around 

Confesses to you by taking you out on a date 

He brings you to his studio 

Shows you how he makes music 

He finds it adorable how you’re so amazed by his equipment

So he teaches you whatever he can in the time you’re together 

You both spend the evening just messing around 

You make a short track that you’re sure sounds really off

Changbin reassures you that it’s nice 

He teaches you how to layer the different tracks 

And eventually teaches you how to edit them despite the few hours you have 

You’re so excited 

He smiles every time he looks at you 

Bcs you’re so adorable he feels like he might burst 

Confesses at the end of the night 

“I like you a lot” 

He blurts it out and it catches you slightly off guard 

But you like him back so it’s fine 

Ends up offering to take you to the studio anytime you’re both free

Hyunjin 

Met you through Felix 

Felix invited you to play a game with him and his friends 

Hyunjin hears your voice the first time and he’s already curious 

He thinks you’re really chill and he likes your vibe 

You end up playing more games with them 

He ends up wanting to get to know you more 

The thing that honestly gets to him the most is the way you take every loss so lightheartedly 

“There’s always another game” 

You don’t rage or stress out over it 

Over time, he starts spending one-on-one time with you 

Until you’re both just doing literally anything else but gaming together 

He denies them as dates whenever his friends ask, claiming that it’s just friend time

Until one night you’re both awake at four a.m. and talking about everything and anything 

He likes the way you think

“Hyunjin, did you know that sometimes in movies, they use trash cans to replicate tiger roars” 

“What???”

He likes how you’re joking talking about starting a revolution 

He knows you won’t

“So, yeah, fuck capitalism!” 

“Yeah!” 

He loves the fact that you’re so open about what you think even if it’s something small or weird

“Mercy’s ass is so thick… for what reason…” 

“She’s a video game character??” 

“Felix, her ass is so thick, she could kill someone with it” 

Hyunjin loves hearing you rant about your day 

“And?? It’s so stupid!!”

“Calm down, (Y/n)”

“Don’t tell me to calm down, you egg!” 

Hyunjin thinks you’re adorable when you’re all riled up

He finds it amusing because he likes hearing you talk 

“You live there too?” 

He didn’t expect to be so close to you

“Yeah, that’s how I met Felix” 

He never realised you and Felix knew each other in real life

You spend more time together 

Talking about whatever comes to mind until the dead of night 

Sometimes you watch movies together 

You stay away from horror movies because he doesn’t like it that much 

But you’re always talking about something with him

The two of you are always the last to leave the call because you end up talking after games 

Hyunjin asks you out without even realising it sounds like a date

“Is that a date??” 

“Sure” 

He didn’t even realise he asked you out until after he’s left the call

?!?!?!?!

Goes into panic mode 

He just asked you out!!!! 

Starts asking Felix about you

He laughs at Hyunjin but helps him anyway

Shows him what you look like on your Instagram 

Hyunjin thinks you’re so pretty on your posts

When he sees you in person for the first time 

He’s so taken away 

You’re gorgeous

Whatever feeling he didn’t realise he had for you comes rushing in 

Hyunjin loves your laugh 

You spend the whole day together just walking around town

It’s nice to hear his voice when it isn’t coming out of your headphones

By the time the date’s over, Hyunjin wants more of you 

So he tells you he wants to take you out again while he’s walking you home 

You accept 

He turns to you with a c: before asking if he can kiss you

Jisung 

You’re a barista at the cafe nearby the JYPe building 

Jisung was designated as the drink buyer that time by the rest of his group 

If he was having trouble remembering all their orders before 

He has even bigger trouble now when he sees you 

YOU LOOK SO CUTE IN YOUR APRON 

He freezes the moment he sees you at the cashier 

“Hi! What would you like?” 

Jisung’s eyes go ◑.◑

“Uhm… sir?” 

“Sorry!” 

He struggles to get his order out properly

But you’re patient with him and even though he barely knows you 

He likes that you are 

Jisung’s watching you the entire time you make his order 

He can’t take his eyes off of you 

You do notice it, but you find him adorable so you don’t say anything 

He seems to be easily flustered

When you hand him his order, he’s still a blubbering mess 

“T-Thank you…” 

Your name tag says (Y/n) 

So he thanks you using your name which you smile 

“Have a great day!” 

Jisung comes back the next day 

He doesn’t even need any drinks, he just wants to see you again 

When he does, he feels all fluttery on the inside 

“Welcome back” 

He orders a dark chocolate smoothie and an iced mocha for Minho

Minho would kill him if he found out Jisung went to the cafe without him 

Jisung sits at an empty table and watches you again 

The next day, the cycle repeats 

And the day after that 

And the day after that 

Minho follows him at some point, wondering why Jisung seems to obsessed with the place 

“Why do you like this place so much?” 

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT”

Something’s definitely up with him 

Minho only finds out when he sees the way Jisung’s face seems to light up when he sees you 

“You like the barista, don’t you” 

“WHAT BARISTA ಠoಠ” 

That’s all he needs to confirm it 

Minho lets Jisung order, seeing just how excited and giddy he is when he’s talking to you 

Jisung’s practically bouncing up and down while you talk to him 

When they leave, Minho’s all up in it 

“You really like them, huh” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about >:c” 

Knowing Jisung, he wouldn’t do anything about it 

So Minho takes it into his own hands to bring you two together 

The group is having a mini event and they need someone to serve drinks 

Who else to ask other than you? 

Jisung’s eyes almost bulge out of his skull when he sees you because 

What are you doing here???? 

He’s so nervous 

Minho practically shoves him your way 

Again, you find him so cute that you don’t even realise he’s practically dying to know you more 

“Hi Jisung!” 

You learned his name over the course of him constantly coming back and Jisung just loves hearing it from you 

“Hi (Y/n)” 

“I can’t make anything ice blended, but I can trade if for an iced dark chocolate” 

“Okay!” 

As long as you make it, he’ll take it 

The event comes to an end but Jisung’s pretty much spent more time with you rather than his group mates 

Even they’re amused by how into you he obviously is 

“Hey Jisung” 

You stop him before you leave and he’s immediately at your side 

“Since you keep coming over, here’s my number” 

◑.◑

“Give me a call before you come in so that I can have your drink ready for you to pick up” 

He’s so happy :D

He sends you pictures of cute animals and random snippets of his music 

Felix 

Met you through League of Legends

You have good synergy so you became friends through that 

At first, he only managed to play with you occasionally 

When he’s able to, he notices how you always sound so bright 

“Hi Felix!” 

He likes playing with you 

You’re laid-back 

You don’t stress over losses too much 

“Ah, what to do?” 

But when you’re irritated, Felix finds it funny

“Fucking asshole!” 

“You were in the way, (Y/n)”

“Shut the fuck up!” 

You’re so funny to him 

“Felix, don’t go into bush” 

“I can bait them” 

“DON’T”

His character dies

“Oops ( ͡° ͜V ͡°)”

“-`��´-” 

You’re easy to game with and that’s what he admires the most right off the bat 

You always seem to be up for games 

Even when he’s not able to play, whenever he logs into Discord he sees you’re online 

Wonders whether you sleep at all 

“I don’t need sleep. I am gamerrrr. Gamers don’t sleep” 

“Please sleep” 

“Lix, sleep is for the weak and I’m not weak” 

“You passed out last night in call” 

Honestly slightly concerned for you 

Overtime he realises that he really looks forward to games with you

Before Felix would just go to sleep after practice or shows 

But he’ll start waiting to see if you’re up for even one game 

Which you always are 

Slowly starts spending time with you just talking 

Eventually it leads to the both of you staying up until 5 a.m. laughing at really stupid memes 

During the day when Felix can’t join call 

He sends you funny tiktoks and memes 

You appreciate it because you like him 

But you don’t admit it because you’ve never met him in person before

Until you both find out that you live only a few hours away from him 

Invites you down to Seoul to spend time with him 

You’re nervous

Felix is nervous

He knows what you look like

You exchanged Snapchats and started streaking a while before 

He sends you funny pictures of his members 

You send him selfies with random filters

But nothing could prepare him for when you appear from around the corner 

He sees you appear and he’s all (゜ロ゜)

Your photos don’t do your natural beauty any justice

Is a bit of a mess when you’re walking around together 

Eventually loosens up around you 

Compliments you a lot and it makes you blush 

You spend the day just wandering around the place 

Felix takes you to his favourite places and favourite cafes 

He wants to share his favourite things with you 

You find it endearing 

Tries to make you laugh a lot because he’s just grown to really like the sound of your voice 

Since you’ve spent most of your time talking over call

Felix just loves hearing your voice 

When the day’s over 

He asks for more nights that aren’t just filled with games because owo he wants to do more with you 

Seungmin

Bumped into you at JYPe because you were visiting a friend 

Hears you singing with Yeji and he immediately falls in love with your voice 

He peeks into the dance studio to see the two of you just sitting on the floor together 

There’s no music 

It’s just the two of you singing together 

Your voice makes him :D 

Seungmin leaves the two of you bcs he doesn’t want to intrude 

But he ends up seeing you more often 

Turns out you’re in Seoul for a while so you’re spending quite some time with Yeji 

He sees you in the hallways a lot

When you walk past each other, it’s always just a polite bow 

You don’t really think much of Seungmin other than the fact that you think he’s pretty handsome 

Yeji teases you for that 

When you’re walking through the building to look for her 

You hear someone singing in one of the rooms 

You peek through the glass 

It’s Seungmin! 

ಠoಠ

And he’s so good

You listen from outside the door 

You knew he was good since he was an idol

But you didn’t think that he was that good

You don’t even realise he’s done when the door swings open and you’re standing there 

When Seungmin sees you, he realises you were most likely listening 

Now you’re just staring at each other like 

(ﾟωﾟ;)

Because now he knows you were listening 

And now you know he knows 

“Uhm…” 

You’re embarrassed 

You’re lucky Yeji pops from around the corner and your eyes plead for her to drag you away 

Which she doesn’t 

“Sunbaenim!”

“Hi Yeji” 

“Have you met (Y/n) before?” 

You actually want to tear her apart

“Not properly, no” 

“Well... “ 

“WELL WOULD YOU LOOK AT THE TIME” 

You drag her away before she can say anything else 

The next time you see Seungmin 

You pass by him in the hallway once again while you’re looking for Yeji

“(Y/n)” 

ಠ_ಠ

“We keep passing each other but we’ve yet to actually meet each other properly” 

“Haha…” 

“I know you were listening the other day” 

“Haaahhhhhhaaaa…”

“I don’t mind that you did.”

“Huh” 

You’re actually bit surprised that he doesn’t mind

“I overheard you and Yeji singing the other day in the dance room” 

༼ : ౦ ‸ ౦ : ༽

“You sing really beautifully, (Y/n)” 

There’s an awkward wall that takes a while before you two actually break it down 

But when you do 

It’s almost like you visit the building to see Seungmin rather than Yeji 

She doesn’t mind since she saw it coming 

Doesn’t mean she can’t tease you about it 

Seungmin looks forward to having lunch with you in the cafeteria 

At this point, the staff don’t even question your now daily appearance 

You end up falling for Seungmin way faster than you thought possible 

The feeling’s mutual 

He just likes everything about you 

You’re so sweet 

You’re also really caring 

He notices that when you follow him to the practice room where Stray Kids are 

Changbin trips over Hyunjin’s legs 

You’re rushing over to help without any of them really realising it 

He loves how nice your voice is too 

“Can you sing for me?”

You’re shook 

You wonder why he wants to hear your voice specifically

“Your voice is just really nice 

He realises he really likes you when you briefly disturb their practice to give Seungmin lunch 

He briefly mentioned that he forgot his wallet and his lunch 

Since you aren’t an idol or staff

You had to use your own money in the cafeteria 

Seungmin’s heart flips at the realisation 

Ends up asking you out so that you don’t have to spend so much time inside the JYPe building all the time 

Jeongin 

Meets you through Changbin 

You went to the same high school as him and you kinda just stuck around

Changbin brings you to the dorm bcs he borrowed a hoodie 

The entire dorm greets you really brightly 

Jeongin’s the only one just watching in awe 

He’s so shy when you wave at him 

Seungmin notices and raises a brow 

“I-I’m Jeongin” 

“Hi Jeongin! Changbin talks about you guys a lot” 

He’s so nervous 

He wants to know you more, but he also doesn’t want to make it obvious that he’s taking interest in you 

The others don’t really notice because they’re too excited by the new person 

Seungmin, on the other hand, tells Changbin about it 

Changbin now makes it his mission to bring you two together 

He brings you over to the dorm more often 

Especially if Jeongin’s the only one home 

“(Y/n), you’ve met Innie before right?”

You nod

Jeongin’s adorable 

Changbin ends up bringing you over for movie nights 

Now you’re just an honorary member of the group 

Everyone else loves you 

Jeongin always tries to sit next to you during movie nights 

Especially if it’s a horror movie 

When you get scared, you hug his arm and he likes that 

Makes him feel like he’s able to protect you like a big strong man ᕙ(`▽´)ᕗ

You kinda like him too

So you test the waters around him 

You start talking to him more since Changbin told you he’s really shy 

Jeongin slowly eases into your company 

It takes a bit of time, but he’s started getting more confident around you 

You visit the dorm thinking Changbin’s there because he stole your favourite belt 

When Jeongin opens the door he’s all :D but when you ask where his hyung is he goes D: 

Tells you he’s not home but lets you in anyway 

No one else is home except for Jeongin and Chan 

So you sit in the living room with Innie 

You start talking about random things 

You end up talking about almost everything because it turns out that Changbin’s gone way longer than both of you thought 

Chan eventually emerges from his bedroom and waves at you 

He orders fried chicken for you guys 

You and Jeongin continue talking while eating 

Chan finds it super cute

Jeongin’s playful around you 

But he doesn’t want to make himself appear immature 

But you like when he’s being playful so you slowly ease him into being more comfortable 

He still just wants to impress you so you like him back 

Wait, when did he start liking you??? 

He realised it when you were over for a regular movie night 

You fell asleep in his lap 

Jeongin thought you were so cute 

When you wake up he asks you out 

You accept 

He cuddles you for the rest of the night and asks you to spend the night at the dorm