#there are so many embedded links and i just want everyone to know that i feel less insane when i explicitly add sources to speculative posts

[fairuzfan]

Hello. I just got in contact with a group in Seattle making "solidarity" art and I wanted to know what that means to you. Is acknowledging the horrors in Gaza the most effective way to make Palestinians feel seen? Or is there more value in incorporating symbols of resilience, like olive trees, watermelons, and spoons?

By acknowledging, I mean create something enraging, like depicting the drastically different living conditions on the Palestinian and Israeli sides of the border wall. Healthy people in open farmland on one side and a warzone on the other. Or is it better to include a little hope? One idea I've been mulling over is painting a Palestinian child and IDF solider in a way that suggests David and Goliath (I found out the most common charge against Palestinian youths is throwing rocks). Another is Gaza as a torn tapestry with Mother Palestine sewing over and repairing the rips with tatreez.

I guess the real question is: Do you think most Palestinians would appreciate an attempt at comfort, or is it better to simply grieve with them?

Thank you so much for sending this in. My personal take is the most inspiring imagery are symbols of resistance. For example, this poster is embedded in many Palestinians' minds (click) as a prime example of resistance. I love images of olives and flowers not because they're soft, but because they represent life to me. Something I also adore is Rafeef Ziadah's poem "We Teach Life, Sir" and Samah Fadil's "Then, A Palestinian was Born," as words that speak to me as core parts of Palestinian resistance.

I think you can definitely mix strength and grief, or comfort and grief together when talking about Palestine. Refaat said it best: "the most dangerous thing I have is an expo marker but if an Israeli soldier were to come to my house I would use that expo marker and throw it at them." To us, the idea that we have to resist is grief and the grief moves us to resist. I personally really love the david and golaith imagery because it reminds me of the poster below.

I guess this is all to say that you can mix them together, the grief of seeing people dying and the strength of resistance against the oppression. What's the most effective thing is portraying the truth: Israel kills and Palestine resists.

Here is the image. I highly encourage everyone to print out this poster and post it around town if you're able. Or even post it around social media if you can, and link back to palarchive so that people can see there's so much palestinian art and history that they can explore.

[intermundia]

idk how many of you guys are watching the bad batch, but i just wanted to write an open letter of recommendation begging people to give it a try. i admit the first time i tried to watch it, i quit after a few episodes as uninterested. i'm not a big found family adventure kid show person, i had trouble getting into the first season of rebels as well for similar reasons. however, i tried again and fuck am i glad that i did. you have to have the first season to fall in love with the characters and build the depth of the relationships, so when the breaks bad later, it really fucking matters and hurts. the scope of the show unfolds like a flower into the whole of the empire. it has just transcended itself and built up to a third season that actually rivals andor in richness and commentary to me except it's children in prison and hunted down. the animation is sublime, the huge environments and the light and smoke and grit of everything, the aliens and cities and planets, to me it is a strong argument in favor of animation being the ideal storytelling medium for star wars. the action grabs you and holds you, the combat is captivating and tense. the plot delves into the empire and the force in such a fascinating way, like we are actually getting the linking material between phantom menace's mention of midichlorians and the survival of the emperor into the future of the sequels. there are cameos from old beloved characters, but they do not distract and do not feel gratuitous, just richly embedded in the tapestry of the galaxy. the bonds of love and betrayal between the clones, brothers fighting brothers, the fate of the clones after the end of the clone wars, it's fascinating and heartbreaking. idk it's just so heartening to me as a fan to know that there is still good star wars being made, like it's everything i wanted it to be and more, and it's not done, so i'm just at the edge of my seat honestly to find out how it will end and i want everyone to know that it's good, so fucking good, im dying, come join me in hell pls

[cecilysass]

Hello! You once told me that I could always ask you for fic recs so here I am! I’ve only seen up to S2E17 so idk if you have anything that doesn’t deal too heavily after that. Minor spoilers/references are okay, just nothing major. I’m also not a smut person generally. If you can’t think of anything that fits those criteria, feel free to ignore this! I hope you have a lovely day:)

Okay, I am SO EXCITED about this question, but also nervous, because I don’t want to accidentally include something that will spoil you. I am going to throw a few recs out, and maybe others will think of more?

Universal Invariants by syntax6 This is so, so good. It’s a classic. A novel-length casefile, plus an AU riff on season 1 and 2 through the abduction arc, so I think you are entirely good with spoilers. The big change from canon is that Scully is still with her boyfriend, Ethan. (If you don't know Ethan, he is a character that was originally in the Pilot but cut from the actual show.) There are... other changes from canon, but you’ll see. There's some smut, but it’s not the focus. And there's a sequel to this, too, which you will definitely eventually want to read, but you're going to have to finish season 5 first.

the progression (and regression) of first names by skuls Scully works through some early identity issues in relation to Mulder. This author (skuls) is always delightful, always recommended.

Center Mass by kateyes224 This fic provides a painful, in character explanation for what might have happened between them after the Pilot that could have resulted in so much subsequent slow burn. Hot and angsty, but not really smutty.

Early On by sunflowerseedsandscience This is also an AU season 1 with Ethan, but this one is more focused on Scully slowly feeling her attention stray from Ethan as her relationship with Mulder develops. It's a series with ten (short) parts. It's very engaging. There are some smutty parts.

Eight Things That Could Have Happened In Oregon by Stephen Greenwood No spoilers here, only things that didn't happen but might sound like spoilers. This is wistful, a little sad, beautiful, odd. The First Year by mldrgrl Their first New Year's Eve, not long after the Pilot. I love the hesitant vibe here.

Still Feeling My Father Ascend - cecily_sass This is my own fic, so I am being kind of a self promoter recommending it to you. But it’s a Beyond the Sea post ep, and I know my own work pretty well lol, so I know there’s no later spoilers, or only really minor things that won’t be meaningful until later. It was written for a prompt for an early season fic exchange.

And I'm not going to recommend it exactly, but I do want to mention that one of the first works of XF fanfic was actually written in 1993 and published online in 1994, so during season one. It's called The Sound of Windchimes by Sarah Stegall. It's got some serious CW (noncon) and some pretty wild content (I've read it), but if you're brave or curious and interested in fan history, you can check it out. Here's the fanlore page, which includes links.

***

Obviously I can come up with SO MANY MORE fics as you get further along. So just let me know. I would say most XF fic is probably written about seasons 5 / 6 / 7 for whatever reason, so once you're in that range, everyone can give you tons. Anyone have any other favorite early season fic they can recommend? It's sometimes tricky because sometimes early MSR has later details embedded in it...

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

Bang

First posted: October 4, 2019

Focuses on: Jason Todd & Damian Wayne

Favorite bookmark: "No spoilers, but if OP doesnt write a sequel I will literally die."

Second favorite bookmark: "The noises that came from me when I reached the end of that countdown were, um, violent. 😭"

Tier: Middle of the pack

This is my “behind the scenes” series where I indulge myself horribly by annotating my fics. Link to the fic itself above. Thoughts below the cut.

I am so friggin' proud of this fic, I can't lie. It's such a powerful little one-shot, and I'm pleased with how I did it, and I'm pleased with the reaction it received. Gold star, me.

There was a bomb in the school. And the rec center. The Grove Street bank. The post office on Utica. The Nockaphee Building. The newly opened inner city hospital.

Once again, my dreaded foe, logistics. I knew what I wanted the crux of the story to be with Jason and Damian, so then I had to backtrack and figure out the scenario that best fit. Not one bomb but multiple, to scatter the family around (because there are so dang MANY and they're always RIGHT THERE in the city), and where a villain might be most inclined to stash them. I know where I got the names for the bank and the post office, but no idea for the Nockaphee Building. Google shrugs at me.

Bombs all over Gotham, embedded in the spines of community spaces and corporate structures like ticking tumors.

This inversion still tickles me.

Batman and Black Bat had bypassed evacuation to head straight to the source. Stop the bomber, stop the bomb. The rest of them were merely backup, protection in case the caped pair failed. Their job was evacuation. Get everyone out and keep them away. Every time they were given a new location, a segment of the core broke off until their forces were scattered wide across the city.

Again, friggin logistics. I duck and dodge plot as much as I can, because I don't care, there is so little actual plot to my fics. But I am as careful as I can be about seeding in realistic barriers into my story. I don't want to stop the whole story to say "Well, you see, they couldn't do XYZ because" or handwave away the most obvious solution to the problem at hand. I want it to make sense why each person is doing what they're doing (or not doing.)

Jason wasn’t normally a keep-tabs person, but explosions made him nervous.

Again, weaving plausible explanations and justifications in a way that also tells a little bit more about what relations are like between Jason and the fam right now.

The one moment of potential disaster—the bomb tucked into the belly of the rec center had malfunctioned and gone off on its own—had resulted only in property damage and no loss of life. The bomb maker hadn’t even set them all to run independently but instead had retained control via a mechanism that turned deliberate detonation into an all-or-nothing deal. All Batman had to do was incapacitate the bomb maker and turn off the controls.

Ugh, this bit of seeding was so tricky. A lot of partially started mental dead ends before I figured out these two pieces: setting up the rec center and the all-or-nothing bomb.

Jason wasn’t fluent in all of them—and had done his best to forget most of them—but he knew that a “hrnn,” unlike a “hnn” or a “mm,” was not a good sign.

This was plucked directly from the group chat. Certain members have a habit of reacting with typed out grunts like Bruce, so I've had time to appreciate the nuance.

Normally, it would be Nightwing’s job to nudge Batman into using his big boy words, but Officer Grayson had been on duty when the emergency alarm rang.

More logistical justification loaded and ready to go.

Jason leaped to the next building and ducked down, pressing his back against the low retention wall.

I don't know, I just like this. If this were a visual medium like a movie, you'd be able to see Jason deliberately blocking out the world so he can focus on whatever horrible thing is about to happen.

Okay. Okay. He was expecting worse. Jason scowled.

The double okay is a very me thing. There are two different tones involved but that's hard to invoke in writing.

Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. This was why Jason refused to be affiliated with these people. They were all idiots. “I didn’t want Batman to worry.” Yeah, because Batman wasn’t a grown adult who couldn’t handle his own crap. Obviously. So the little gremlin had lied about where he was, concealed an injury, and now was calling Hood like his own personal Uber. And Jason was going to let him, because he was also an idiot, apparently. “You’re a brat, you know that?” Jason growled as he hauled himself to his feet again. “Fine. Fine! Where are you?”

I personally l o v e this because right now Jason doesn't actually know what's going on, he just thinks he does, so you get to see his reaction to the assumed situation of "The baby of the family did something stupid and got hurt so I get to be mad about that but obviously I'm still going to help and then I'm probably going to make his life miserable for worrying me retroactively."

“The shelving units fell on me. I extricated myself, but something is blocking the doors. I can’t—I am—I made it to the supply closet.”

Damian is being amazingly patient through all this, if you think about it. But I guess he doesn't want to have to say it all out loud yet, so maybe he's just procrastinating. Once Jason understands, then it's real.

“I wanted to know if it hurt.”

That was my cornerstone line, right there. That's the whole reason I wrote the fic. I wanted someone to say this to Jason, because they needed to know. Please picture me dabbing.

This wasn’t happening. He’d just seen the kid a couple hours ago. They’d nodded while passing to their own teams. He’d left a movie about a dog on Jason’s windowsill last week.

It's such a little piece, but I wanted to hint at the utter disorientation of traumatic tragedy, how quickly the day can change and the swooping sensation a person might feel amid that change. Also, even as Jason has spent this entire fic being like "We don't talk!" I did want to seed in that they still interact. Damian trades movies he likes with Jason. He knows where Jason's safe house is. Jaosn is upset that he's about to die.

I would go back and change all those contractions, though. And having two different he pronouns back to back without tying them to a proper noun is just bad form.

Jason couldn’t lie, not even to a little kid.

This appears to be a tiny bit of Ronan Lynch seeping into Jason. Huh. @audreycritter are you seeing this

It had hurt to the point beyond pain, like every cell, every molecule, every atom had been lit up like a Christmas tree.

That "like a Christmas tree" is from something and for the life of me I can't remember what.

Don’t say please to me. Don’t say thank you. Don’t say things that you only say because you think you’re about to die.

I write this kind of thought pattern a lot to exemplify stress and grief. I don't know how I feel about this realization.

“No.” No matter how Jason tried, it was impossible to miss the tears in the boy’s voice now. “It would kill him, having to listen. And he’ll be so angry. I cannot—I-I cannot die knowing he’s angry with me. Please don’t call Richard.”

This was where my throat started to hurt. I don't remember where exactly I started to actually cry while writing.

“You understand. You can tell them. Tell them I-I’m sorry. And that I was brave?”

It was definitely by here, though.

Jason cleared the stairwell, slowing only slightly to duck under the sagging ceiling and pick his way through the debris-strewn hallway.

Oh hey. I don't use any details here but rereading reminded me that I based the rec center on parts of a real place so that I could visualize what Jason would have to get through to get to Damian. Totally forgot.

Ten seconds. Jason lunged at the barrier, roaring as he tore aside mountains with his hands. Nine.

I think building in the countdown itself helped with the tension. It definitely helped with the writing. Generally speaking, the length of sentences should match the pacing of the action itself. For tense writing, you really want short, snappy sentences, but I am a wordy bird who loves long multi-part sentences. See: this paragraph. So hacking up the action into short sentences bracketed by a single digit countdown really helped with the vibe.

“Jason?” Damian gasped over the earpiece. “I don’t want it to hurt. I don’t want it to hurt.”

That would be me. Dying is scary, but the pain before it is scarier.

Jason threw himself into the closet and shut the door.

Sometimes a lack of closure is fun, actually.

Funny story: I didn't actually consider that readers would think I set the bomb off and killed them both. I was new, hadn't done any sad-ending fics before, and also it's comics. Even when characters die, they come back in a few months, so it doesn't really count.

So my notifications start blowing up in the middle of a football game and I had to figure out if I wanted to continue the story...

[sugarandspisces-writes]

Hair Chronicles

Pairing: Melissa Schemmenti x Black fem!reader

Summary: r is preparing to get her hair done and Melissa helps her out

Word Count: 4.4k

A/N: Hiii! I've been having major writer's block lately, but I was finally able to get something done! This was purely self-indulgent and not requested, but I hope you all enjoy!

Warning/Disclaimer: While this was written for Black readers, everyone is welcome to read!! I wrote this for representational purposes, but I also hope it can be educational! P.S. I embedded links of the hairstyles mentioned so you can have a better idea of what i'm talking about. Let me know if it was helpful!

Okay, that's all. Bye! <3

“Hey, sweetheart,” Melissa greeted you with breakfast in hand. She was helping you do you hair today, and you'd need all the energy you could get to make it through the morning.

“Hi,” you beamed in her direction. Butterflies erupted in your stomach as you laid eyes on the redhead. Hearing her call you sweetheart made you dizzy. It left you feeling like those cartoon characters with hearts spinning around their head.

You reached out to grab the food from her, and you two walked toward the kitchen. She made a pit stop in the living room to put her bag down, and you worked on setting the table up. You went to grab water from the fridge, and as you closed the door you felt arms wrap around your waist. The action was followed by her placing kisses on your neck. You set the pitcher down on the counter, scared you might drop it due to your faltering grip.

“Well, hello again,” you chuckled, turning around in the embrace. You were met with green eyes and a smile just as wide as yours. 

“Hi there.” Her pillow-soft lips tenderly pressed against yours. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too,” you said in between kisses. “Feels like I haven’t seen you in ages.”

Being away from her made you feel like something was missing. She added to your life in ways you didn’t realize until she wasn’t there. Everything seemed sweeter when she was around.

“I know. I can't believe you tried to cancel on me,” she pouted.

“I believe my words were 'postpone', not cancel,” you corrected her.

A couple nights ago you were on the phone with a dejected Melissa. You'd called to discuss the agenda for the weekend, and she was not happy with your verdict. You had a hair appointment on Sunday which meant you'd be spending all of Saturday prepping for it. Because of this, you wanted to postpone your plans with her. You would be able to have your usual Sunday dinner, but your other ventures would have to be saved for another time.

Your complaint was that you wouldn’t be able to enjoy your time with her because you’d be too focused on your hair. You explained the hours that went into doing everything and how it would be unfair to make her sit through that.

While you thought your reasoning was valid, Melissa didn’t. In her eyes, she’d be missing out on valuable time with you. Time she could be using to learn about you and take care of you. She'd said, “Who said I'd just be sitting there? I want to help.” And when you began to protest she added, “What if you need me to do your hair one day? I don’t want to be clueless. I want to know how to do it.”

You hadn't been expecting her to say that, but you should have known it was coming. Even after you told her how much effort went into managing your hair, she was still eager to assist. She was kind in that way; willing to do anything to make your life easier. You admired her adamance, and you would have been a fool to cancel your plans after that.

“I’m sorry.” You laid your forehead on her shoulder, placing kisses over the expanse of skin not covered by her shirt. “I didn’t think you wanted to be involved in the hair chronicles.”

“Why not?”

“Because you could be doing so many other things.”

“Well, I specifically cleared my weekend to be with you.” She lifted your chin up, locking eyes with you. “You know I don’t care what we do. As long as I’m with you, I’m good.”

“Who are you and what have you done with Melissa?” you joked. She was forward with her affections today – giving you loving touches and sweet words. You hadn’t seen her all week and clearly, absence made her heart grow fonder.

“Oh, stop it.” She nudged your arm. “I can be sweet sometimes.”

“You’re sweet all the time.” You kissed her lips once, then again with the intention of stopping, but somehow you found yourself making out in the middle of your kitchen.

“The food’s gonna get cold,” she murmured against your mouth but didn’t make any attempts to move away.

“I have a microwave,” you took a moment to catch your breath, “and an oven.”

She laughed and tiny sparks jolted through your heart as the melody rang throughout the space. Oh, how you missed hearing that.

“Come on, let’s eat.”

You sat down in the seat across from her and began to open your box of food. “Oh, did you want coffee?” you asked, realizing you completely forgot to make some. You knew she’d say yes, so you began to stand.

“I’ll make some in a minute.” She grabbed your hand stopping you from making any further movements.

“Are you sure? It’ll only take two seconds.”

“I'm sure,” she insisted. There was a familiar glint in her eyes and you could tell she didn’t want to be out of your company – even if you were just taking a few steps to the coffee machine. “Right now I just want to sit down and eat with you.”

You squeezed her hand before sitting back down, unable to suppress the smile that snuck onto your face – honestly, it may have never left.

“Tell me about your week,” Melissa spoke as she took her silverware out of the packaging.

You chatted about each other’s weeks and you told her about the project you were working on. You even slipped in some workplace drama for her entertainment, and you two laughed over how silly some of your coworkers were. She told you about her students and how well they were doing with presenting their book projects. As you ate, you marveled at the way her eyes lit up. You respected the adoration she had for her kids. She genuinely loved her job and it showed.

“How’s Ashley?” you asked. The last thing you heard was that she wasn’t getting along with her aide.

“Actually, I’m growing to tolerate her.” She looked at you with a pleased look.

“Really?” You tried to mask your shocked expression, but your reaction was evident in your voice.

“Don’t sound so surprised.”

“I’m not. I just–,” you paused. “I don’t know. You just always complain about her.”

“Yeah,” she looked up at the sky as if she was reminiscing, “Jacob helped me get through to her. I just needed to see things from her point of view.”

“See, didn’t I tell you?” You’d also told Melissa that she just needed to be patient with Ashley and think about the young woman’s feelings too. Teaching a class was hard work, and it could be even harder if you didn’t have the support of your peers.

“I know, I know.” She held her hands up in defense. “You were right.”

“You should listen to me more,” you smiled.

She rolled her eyes, “I already said you were right. What more do you want?” 

“I’m just saying,” you shrugged. “I’m glad you worked it out though.”

“You done bragging?” Melissa asked, giving you side-eye.

“No, not yet,” you smirked, “but I am done eating.”

“I’m never telling you you’re right ever again.” She stood and gathered your trash.

Your jaw dropped as you walked to the counter to make her coffee. “Whatever. The satisfaction of knowing I’m right will do.”

She came to stand in front of you as the aroma of espresso filled the air. She placed her hand on your hip and pulled you toward her, closing the gap. “I told you I’d make that.” 

“You know I’m hard-headed,” you whispered, your proximity causing you to lower your voice.

“Oh, I know.” She brought her hand up to the hem of your shirt, fingers moving under the fabric and coming in contact with your bare skin. Her digits trailed up your torso until they were brushing against your ribs.

“Stop.” You tried to be stern, but the words came out softer than you intended.

“I’m not doing anything.” She leaned into your neck, her lips skimming the surface. She placed a kiss over the hollow space in the center, and your eyes fluttered at the sensation.

“Melissa.” You gently pushed her away. “I invited you here to help me do my hair, not to kiss my neck.”

“I don’t see the harm in doing both.” She draped her arms around your waist, feigning a look of hurt.

“Yeah, that’s the problem.” You laughed before shrugging her off. “Your coffee’s done. You know where everything is, help yourself.”

“Thank you.” Her eyes were fixed on yours, and you could barely hold the intense gaze.

“You’re welcome,” you smiled. “Meet me on the couch when you’re done.”

“Will do.” She finally moved to grab her mug.

“And stop looking at me like that. You’re gonna kill me.” You added before walking out of the kitchen.

✦ ✦ ✦

Once Melissa was done, she joined you in the living room. She was met with the sight of you sitting in front of it the couch. Your back was resting against the cushions and you had a collection of hair tools and products sitting before you. Sound from the TV filled the area as you searched for a movie on Netflix.

“What do you wanna watch?”

She sipped her drink before answering, “Something funny.”

“Okay, you pick. I’m tired of looking.” You passed the remote to her before slumping against the couch.

“You’ve been looking for like 30 seconds.” She took a seat behind you, pulling her legs up to rest next to her.

“Yeah, 30 seconds too long,” you sighed as you sorted through the items in front of you.

“What’s wrong?” Melissa could sense the sudden change in your attitude. 

“I don’t feel like doing this,” you whined, tilting your head back and laying it against her thigh.

She paused her search for the movie to look down at you. “I thought you were excited?”

“I’m excited to get my hair done, but I’m not excited to do all the prep.”

“What all do you have to do?” she asked, settling on playing The Hangover.

You released a deep sigh as you let Melissa in on the plan. “First, I have to take these braids out. Then I’m gonna detangle my hair, wash it, and deep condition it. After all of that, I have to blow dry it.”

‘Okay,” she murmured into her coffee, preparing to take a sip, “just take it one step at a time.”

“Ugh! Melissa, you don’t understand.” You dragged your hands across your face in misery. “It’s gonna take me so long.”

“How long?” She moved her free hand down to yours, pulling them away so she could properly look at you.

“Like four hours. Maybe five depending on how lazy I get.”

“Five hours?” She raised her eyebrows in shock. Even though you'd told her about the process, she wasn’t aware of exactly how long it took. “Shit, babe.”

“Last time it took me longer,” you informed her. “But I also did everything across the span of a few days. I like doing it that way, but unfortunately, I don’t have time.” Your hair appointment was tomorrow and you hadn’t even begun, so you were on a bit of a time crunch.

“Relax, hon. You know I’m gonna help you.” She tried to encourage you, knowing that you got overwhelmed easy.

“It’s still gonna take so. damn. long.” You punctuated each sentence with a tap of your head against her thigh.

“The faster we start the sooner it’ll be over.” She brought her hand to back up to your face, laying her palm against your cheek. “What do you need me to do?”

“If you could help me take these braids out I would really appreciate it.” 

She set her coffee mug down, then scooted toward the edge of the couch so she could reach you better. “Of course. Just tell me what to do.”

“It’s pretty self-explanatory.” You repositioned yourself so she could see you properly.

She looked at you, ready to take in your instructions.

“You’re gonna cut the end of the braid,” you took your scissors and demonstrated, “then you’re just gonna loosen it.” Melissa watched as you removed the extensions from your hair. “You think you can handle that?”

“Yeah, seems simple enough,” she nodded.

You passed her a pair of scissors and said, “The only thing I ask is that you don’t cut my hair off.”

“Oh, God.” She took the object from your hand. “Thanks for putting pressure on me.”

“If you’re not sure where my hair ends just overestimate, but it stops about right here.” You showed her an approximation on another braid. “No biggie if you cut a little bit off.”

“You say that, but I feel like you’re lying.” She held the scissors in her dominant hand, hesitant to make a move.

“I do it all the time believe it or not,” you assured her.

“Okay, but if you do it to yourself that’s different.” She picked up her chosen braid and squinted hoping that would help her to see where your hair ended. “Go in my purse and get my glasses, please.”

You burst out in laughter at that. “Really, Lissa. It’s not that deep.”

“Uh, it is that deep,” she mocked your words. “I’m serious. You know my eyes are bad.”

“You need a purse organizer.” You rifled through the bag in search of her glasses. “Actually, you need to clean your purse out. There’s so much stuff in here,” you said, pulling out a wrapper from a snack she must have eaten recently. 

“You’re talking a lot of shit for someone who’s entrusting me with a pair of scissors.” She joked.

“You're not funny.” You gave her a stony look. “But you really do have a lot of stuff.” 

You finally pulled out her glasses and passed them to her. She placed them over her eyes and motioned for you to come back to her, but you sat there for a second just admiring her.

“Stop being weird and come here. We’ve got business to tend to.” You watched her lip twitch as she fought the smile that was tugging at her lips.

You couldn’t help but stare, she was just so pretty. “So it’s only okay when you do it?”

“I’m not as obvious as you.” She justified as you took your place in front of her.

You gasped in shock, “You’re worse than me!”

She didn’t respond, instead choosing to grab one of your braids. You couldn’t see her, but you knew she was inspecting it carefully.

“Can you see it any better?”

“Yes, actually, I can.” She took the scissors and snipped the excess off of the braid.

Her actions were delicate as she moved her fingers through your hair. It was much different from the way you handled it. You weren’t afraid to yank at the strands, but Melissa seemed to be – almost like she was scared of hurting you.

Noticing that she was moving a lot slower than you, you decided to share a tip with her. “If you take the two outside pieces and tug on them a little, the braid will unravel faster.”

“Oh, am I going too slow for you?” she teased, stilling her hands.

“No,” you laughed. “I’m just trying to save you some frustration. I know it can be tedious.”

“It’s not so bad. Plus, we’re already halfway done.”

“Since you’re enjoying it so much, I’m gonna call you when it’s time to take out my next set of braids.”

She laughed at that, taking a moment to finish the last few sips of her coffee.

“This is only going by so fast because I have like 12 braids. If these were box braids we'd be struggling.” you explained

“Aren't these cornrows?” she asked.

“Yeah,” you nodded. “Well, they’re called feed-ins. They're similar to cornrows, but a different technique is used to create the braid.”

"Hmm," she hummed signaling she'd heard you but you weren't sure she understood what you meant.

Before you could explain further, you felt her hand run through a section of your hair. The action caused your head to jerk backward – the mechanics of you hair wouldn't allow her to easily glide through. Her fingers were caught in your strands and she let out an “oops” as she tried to untangle them.

“Yeah, you can't just... do that.” You winced as she fumbled with your hair, trying to extricate herself without causing any harm.

“Sorry,” she said sheepishly once she got free. “Did I hurt you?”

“It’s okay. You didn’t hurt me,” you assured her, turning to look at the woman. “We’ll dentangle everything in a minute, okay?”

“Okay,” she nodded.

“Personally, I hate it, but I have a feeling you’re gonna like that part,” you winked.

“Sorry, again.” You could sense some embarrassment as she let out a nervous laugh.

“It's fine, Mel,” you smiled. “You're learning.”

“Speaking of learning, I have a question,” she said, watching you work on the last section. 

“About what?”

“You said there was a difference between feed-in braids and cornrows?”

“Yeah, so with feed-ins you feed in pieces of hair as you braid. Hence the name,” you clarified. “When you do a traditional cornrow, you only add the hair at the start of the braid. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “So what’s the reason for feeding the hair in?” she asked. “Is it better than doing it the traditional way?”

“Adding the hair gradually helps the braid become thicker and longer. It’s not necessarily better, but in my opinion feed-ins because they look more natural.”

 She nodded as she took the information in. “I didn’t know there was a difference.”

“Yeah, I usually don’t get them, but I decided to switch it up.”

“What made you do that?”

“For one, I was tired of sitting down for a million hours.” You weren’t joking, but Melissa laughed at your exaggeration. “But I also just wanted to try something new.”

“You usually get box braids, right?” she asked. 

You turned to face her once you were done taking the last braid out. Melissa had her chin in her palm, listening intently, and it made you smile. “Yeah, but then I saw everyone getting feed-ins with all these cute designs in them and I wanted to get them too. I’ll have to show you pictures so you can see what I’m talking about.”

“I’ve seen some of the students with them, and they have heart designs in theirs,” she shared.

“Yes, oh my gosh! Isn’t it so cute?” You tapped your hand on her thigh in excitement. “I didn’t get a design this time around, but I really want one next time.”

“Yeah, it is,” she smiled at your excitement. “I love when the girls come in with all the different color braids. Like right now Mikayla has pink and black braids. And the other day Aria came in with a haircut after she took her braids out, and she was so excited to wear her natural hair.”

“Aww, how cute!” It made you happy hearing about how the little girls at Abbott were embracing their culture. “I love how many new styles have emerged, and there’s so much versatility. Like I can truly do anything with my hair whether I have braids in or I’m wearing my natural hair.”

“I love your hair,” Melissa admired you, taking in your appearance now that you were void of your braids.

“I’m sure it looks a mess right now, but I love it too. Even though I complain about it a lot, I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.” You smoothed your hand along your curls. “I think I’d cry if I woke up with straight hair one day,” you laughed.

You spent the rest of the night talking while you finished up. As you suspected, Melissa was enthralled by the detangling process. You told her your curls would be fragile since you hadn’t touched them in a couple of weeks, and she took such good care to be gentle. After you dried your hair, Melissa was in awe seeing how much longer it got. She didn’t know your hair, which stopped at your shoulders when wet, would stretch to the middle of your back when it was blow-dried. You then had to explain the concept of shrinkage to her – how as your hair dried it lost its ability to expand and be elongated. It never occurred to you that she’d be so interested in the topic of your hair, but you were happy to impart your knowledge to her. You let her ask you questions until her heart was content.

✦ ✦ ✦

The next day, you woke up with a pep in your step. You were beyond excited to go to your hair appointment. Even though you knew it would be a long one, you had been going to your stylist for years and she always knew how to keep you entertained. You could talk to her for hours, never running out of things to discuss. If you ever got bored, you could always resort to taking a nap. It was a good way to pass the time, and you got lucky because she never complained when you fell asleep.

“Someone’s very happy this morning,” Melissa commented on your demeanor. You were practically skipping around the room as you were getting prepared to leave.

“I am! And you should be too.” You placed a kiss on your lips before flitting to the other side of your room.

“Why is that?”

“Because you don’t have to hear me complain about feeling dusty anymore,” you laughed. “Now I can complain about more important things.”

“Yeah, like what? How I don’t give you enough attention?”

She chuckled as you gave her a combination of a glare and a pout. “Come here for a sec.”

You waltzed over to her, taking a seat in her lap. “What’s up?”

“Just wanted to hold you while I talked to you.” She rested her palm against your back and began to rub circles over the area.

“You’re so cute.” You leaned in to press your lips against her cheek. You felt warmth under your lips as a blush rose to her face.

She bit her lip to suppress her smile. She didn’t acknowledge your remark, instead asking, “What time are you gonna be done?”

“I’m not sure, but sometime this afternoon. I’ll text you know when I’m almost finished.” You cupped her face. “Why are you blushing?”

“I’m not,” she said even though her face was clearly red. “What do you want for dinner?”

“I don’t know. I’m not craving anything in particular.” You rested your head against her shoulder.

“Okay, I’ll see what I can do. I’m gonna go to the store while you’re gone.”

“Ooh, can you get me ice cream?” You pleaded, standing up to put your shoes on.

“So I'm your personal shopper now?” She quirked her eyebrows at you.

“Don’t be mean.” You grabbed everything you needed and made your way to the door, Melissa following close behind. “I’ll see you later. The spare key is on the hook for when you leave.”

“Okay, I should be here when you get back.” She gave you one last kiss. “See you soon.”

✦ ✦ ✦

You left the salon at 5 pm, meaning everything took around seven hours to complete. Your neck and back were sore beyond measure, and your body was dying for some food. Nonetheless, your hair was finally done and that's all that mattered. You couldn’t wait to get home to shower and eat dinner with Melissa.

When you walked through the door of your apartment, your senses were filled with the delicious smell of food that instantly made your stomach growl.

“I’m home!” you yelled.

“In the kitchen!” the redhead called back.

You walked in that direction and saw the most domestic sight you’d ever laid eyes on – Melissa in casual clothes with her hair up in a ponytail. She was sipping on a glass of wine as she monitored the pan on the stove.

“Hi, hon,” she smiled, her lips hovering over the rim of the glass.

“Hello,” you walked over to greet her, enveloping her in a hug. 

“I thought you were never coming back,” she joked.

“And you say I’m dramatic,” you laughed into her neck before pulling away.

You watched as her eyes wander to your head, and you could tell that she was formulating her thoughts. She set her wine down and tilted her head slightly, drinking you in instead. “Your hair looks so good, baby.”  

“Yeah?” you said, trying to be modest even though you knew you looked good.

“Yeah, give me a spin,” she requested.

You spun in a circle for her so she could get the full view, stopping your rotation once you met Melissa’s earnest gaze again. 

“I like the brown. It’s very pretty,” she complimented.

You decided to get a pop of color this time. It wasn’t anything crazy, just something subtle that would catch the eye. “Thank you,” you grinned. “Is dinner almost done?”

“Yeah,” Melissa wrapped her free arm around your waist, “it’ll be ready in 30 minutes.”

You opened your mouth to speak, but you were cut off by a series of kisses: one on your temple, one on your cheek, and finally, one on your lips. “What are you doing?”

“Kissing the pretty girl. Is that okay?” she murmured.

You felt your brain go fuzzy at that and you almost forgot what you were about to say “Yeah, more than okay.”

“Mmm, good.” She continued to kiss you until you both ran out of breath. 

“Someone's hungry,” She asked once she heard your stomach growl.

“Hungry is an understatement,” you laughed. “Oh, did you get my ice cream?” Your burning question finally made its way out of your head.

“Yes. I almost forgot though.”

“Thank you.” You wrapped your arms around the woman, completing your embrace.

“You don't have to thank me for that.”

“Not just for that,” you murmured into her neck. “For helping me out this weekend. I really appreciate it.”

“You don't have to thank me for that either.

“I do.” You looked up at her. “'Cause you didn't have to do it.”

“What? You thought I would let you do it all by yourself?”

You shrugged. “I mean, that's what I usually do.”

“Right, but you had me this time.” She rubbed her hand along your arm.

“You gonna help me all the time now?” You were half joking, but also curious to know what she would say.

“Yeah, that's what I'm here for.” She looked down to meet your eyes.

“Wow, you must love doing my hair.”

“More importantly, I love you.” She kissed your forehead.

“How many glasses have you had?” you asked.

“I tell you I love you and that's your response?” she laughed incredulously. “Just one.”

“I'm just checking.” You threw your hands up in defense.

“It's not the wine. It's you,” she continued to chuckle. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Melissa.”

[vacant--body]

stay with me pt 3

azriel shadowsinger x OFC

part one, part two, part four, part five

warnings: torture, violence, gore, angst

✧˖° ✧˖° ✧˖° ✧˖° ✧˖° ✧˖° ✧˖° ✧˖° ✧˖° ✧˖° ✧˖° ✧˖°

It had been a week since Ophelia left. A week since he heard her laughter, saw her smiling at him or swooning at her dizzying scent. It was already starting to slowly fade from the House of Wind. Without it, Azriel thought he might go crazy.

Even more than usual.

His shadows had told him that the day after…the day after Rita’s, Rhys had picked her up from the balcony outside her room. So, he figured she was out running a mission. But a week was unusual. She was normally gone for a couple days before she came back. Yet something just wasn’t sitting right with him. She had always checked in if she was going to be gone longer than what she said. And as far as he knew, she hadn’t.

And if he asked about her, he would seem desperate.

Okay, he was desperate. Desperate for her. For them to finally happen. Azriel was finally ready to tell her everything that he had been holding back all these months.

When she finally let him kiss her, he thought everything would fall into place. Things would work out, just as they worked out for his brothers. But of course not, nothing was that simple when it came to Azriel. The cauldron had cursed him, it was more than obvious now.

Had he done something wrong? Maybe he had misread the entire situation and took it too far. But she had wanted him, she was just as greedy to touch him as he was her. Everything had felt right, perfect, up until the moment Cassian had interrupted them.

Azriel was still pissed at him for it.

“You alright?” Feyre asked as Azriel stormed through the doors of the River House.

“Fine.” He spat back. As soon as the words left his mouth, he winced.

He didn’t mean to come off hateful towards his High Lady. He stopped walking and sighed up towards the ceiling, before turning around. “I’m sorry, it’s just-” What the fuck could he tell her? “Been a rough week.”

“I understand.” She smiled softly at him, her blue-grey eyes full of knowing. “Come, Rhys said he had something important for everyone.”

It was true, Rhys had summoned everyone to the River House. Maybe it was something Ophelia had relayed back to him and something was finally happening between the Human Queens and the Autumn Court. But as he and Feyre entered one of the sitting rooms, he could tell it was something much worse than that.

Eris was here.

“Now that Az is finally here, we can get started.” Rhys shot Azriel a accusatory glare from across the room.

“As you all know, Az and Phia had been gaining intelligence from the Autumn Court. It has been hard but every piece of information counts.” He began.

Rhys took a steadying breath, place a hand in his mates lower back. “Last week, I sent Ophelia out on a solo mission.”

A knot took form in Azriels chest. His knees felt weak and unsteady.

“She told me she would only be there for a couple of days, but obviously hadn’t returned yet.”

The knot tightened, it was getting hard to breathe.

“Feyre and I thought she may have found out something important and was still running reconnaissance, but when we traveled to the mountains in the Winter Court to see if the mental link would work if we were closer. Yet…nothing.”

The wood of the door frame shattered in Azriel’s hand, splinters embedding themselves into his palm. Many turned to look at him, but Rhys pressed on, ignoring his outburst.

“That’s when Eris returned, and told us.” There was a harsh moment of silence, and Azriels anxiety grew to a tipping point.

“She’s being held captive by my father and brothers.” Eris finished for him.

The room exploded into darkness.

Azriel couldn’t breathe, it felt like his breath was being sucked out of his chest. His ears were ringing, and he could have sworn there was blood on his hands. Whose blood was that? Was it his? When had he ended up on the ground?

Azriel!

His shadows receded back into him, only a little. He shook his head clear of that voice. He could only hear Ophelias. Could only hear her laugh, see her smile, see her.

Azriel!

Another voice. Female this time, he knew that voice. It had shown him kindness and compassion. Tried to look beneath all the scars. Just like Ophelia tried.

Black and red was all he saw.

Suddenly, someone was behind him, gripping him so hard from behind he could have sworn one of his ribs cracked.

His shadows finally dissipated and he was staring down at the wreckage that was Eris. The males face was beaten so badly he was hardly recognizable. Had he done that? He looked down at his hands, knuckles busted open. Hands coated in blood, a mix between his own and Eris’s.

He had definitely done that.

People were shouting at him, shouting at each other. But he couldn’t hear them, couldn’t see them. All he saw was Ophelia sitting on the counter, smiling at him. He had lost her before he even had her. Now, she was a captive. In the cauldron cursed Autumn Court.

The world suddenly snapped back into focus is a dizzying rush. He spun towards Rhys, teeth bared, pushing who he now realized as Cassian, off of him.

“You sent my mate to die!”

Silence.

Utter silence.

Feyre was the first one to speak. “Your mate is alive, Azriel.” Her tone was calm and steady, how he figured she would have talked to a wild animal who was cornered and scared. “You would have felt…” She trailed off, glancing at Rhysand. “You would have felt it.”

Azriel snarled again, turning on his heel.

“Where do you think you are going?” This voice was not Rhysand, his brother. This was the voice of his High Lord.

“Getting her back.”

“I cannot let you do that, shadowsinger.” Power rumbled throughout the room, the entire house.

A dark, humorless laugh came from Azriel. “You tore half of Prythian apart for your mate.” His voice was as cold as the steel of a blade. “I will do worse for mine.”

✧˖° ✧˖° ✧˖° ✧˖° ✧˖° ✧˖° ✧˖° ✧˖° ✧˖° ✧˖° ✧˖° ✧˖°

A cold splash of water woke Ophelia up. Gasping, she looked around wildly and found the sneering face of Beron staring down at her, eyes alight with barely leashed rage. She now knew why he was called Lord of Fire. It was evident in those deep-set brown eyes.

Great, she was already starting to go insane.

“Sleep well?” He chuckled, taking a few steps back from her. She didn’t know why, it wasn’t like she could reach him with her arms chained above her head.

“Go fuck yourself.” She spat, spittle flying from her chapped lips.

“So much fire in you, even after we’ve put most of it out.” Beron hummed. “Be good and listen, and maybe my sons won’t visit you tonight.”

Ophelia shut her mouth, biting down on her tongue so hard it drew blood. She didn’t think she could stand another visit from his twisted sons. That would be her final breaking point.

Her fae healing could only do so much to the burn scars around her wrists and ankles.

“Very good. Now,” He cleared his throat. “There once was a little flame princess, who stole the heart of her entire kingdom. She was the youngest of the king's children, having several elder brothers. And when her powers started developing, there was something different about them. They were too bright, burned too hot. So the king went to the queen, asking how this could happen? How could his daughter have the power of light when they were fire?” He took a deep breath, his eyes scanning her face.

“That’s when the king learned that the little flame princess was instead, a little sun princess. That his queen had tricked him into raising not one but two bastard children, right under his nose.”

“So your wife fucked another male, what does this have to do with me?” Ophelia muttered.

Beron inched towards her, a sick and twisted smile spread across his face, unnerving her. “Everything.”

She laughed. Yeah, Ophelia was definitely going crazy.

“The king was torn on what to do. See, he had come to love his little sun princess. But her blood was not his. So, he locked her in a tower, high away from everyone. Determined to keep her safe and secure. He would send his true children in to keep her company from time to time, but soon the king learned that they had scared his beautiful sun princess. She was ugly, littered with hideous scars that no magic would heal or hide.”

Ophelia felt like she was going to be sick. She tried to squeeze her eyes shut to stop the room from spinning but images flashed behind her eyelids. Images that were too bright and vivid to just be her imagination.

“To end her suffering, the king finally set the little princess free. He let her roam his kingdom for a bit before setting his hounds out. But alas, she has been spirited away to the kingdom of his enemies, a dark and nightmarish kingdom.”

“Stop.” Ophelia wheezed.

“And just when the king was almost done healing from his pain, he found her on the outskirts of his kingdom. A spy.”

The hot hands of the Autumn Court Lord wrapped around her throat, cutting off her airway. Heat danced at his finger tips, searing her skin, charring her pale flesh.

“A spying whore for the Court of Nightmares.”

His hand curled tighter around her throat, and she was sure he was going to break her neck.

“You’re insane.” Ophelia gasped, eyes meeting his. They burned with such hatred that she was sure this was it. He would bring her death.

“Little princess, you haven’t seen anything yet.”

With his free hand, he reached toward his jewel encrusted belt. He pulled on the hilt of a dagger, which had the pattern and swirls of the Autumn Court sigil on the gleaming blade. A blade made of ashwood.

Without even blinking, he plunged the dagger into her side, to the hilt. Pain exploded from the area, her vision going out momentarily. Her instincts kicked in, trying to overwrite the pain by blocking it out. But it was too much, too overwhelming.

Ophelia screamed, her voice going hoarse as she thrashed against the pain, and against his hold on her throat. Her body went into survival mode, bucking and kicking the best she could to get away, to get away from the pain.

“You will die here, just as you were born here.” Beron snarled, finally releasing her throat.

Gasping and sputtering, she tried to reach for the dagger with her bound hands. But she couldn’t reach it. Blood poured freely from her wound, coating the floor. A sliver of thought returned to her and she glared up at Beron, her entire body twitching.

“I…” Blood bubbled out of her mouth and dribbled down her chin. “Will fucking kill you.”

The last thing Ophelia heard was the sound of laughter as Beron left her cell, the sound echoing in the darkness.

[landinrris]

Re: your tag “a top 10 video of the day tbh” - that made me curious. What ARE your top videos of the day and why?

Shuffled back through the videos for this, so here we go in no real particular order because I'm endeared to all of them and horrible with ranking things when they all make my mind vibrate in equal amounts. Shoving this under a "read more" because it got long (top 10 moments and all) and fic-y.

I'll start out with the first real video of the day that I remember (not counting Shaun Farrugia's Insta Story that clued everyone into Lando being on the boat). Just them dancing with each other in essentially a circle of people. Martin's hand on Lando's shoulder, his thumb splaying out along Lando's collarbone. Makes me weak and ill in equal measure. They have several moments caught on camera that feel like a "this is us being close while still in public," type thing.

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Them dancing together at the Decks. Who knows the state of Lando's sobriety at this point. It's so carefree and open. I love the little flags on his cheeks and the ribbon around his head (the chain of his necklace poking out the back of his hoodie overtop his undershirt). I'm pretty sure this is around the same time that Lando asks Martin if he wants a drink as well because Eva's on the other side of Martin as the camera pans up.

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This is a more understated moment that's pretty quick, but I just love that they're dancing in their own little world with everyone. Parked up next to each other because where else would they be? (original video link)

This video of them with Lando asking Martin if he wants a drink 🫠. Lando taking the second to ask Martin if wants anything, Martin pulling him close so he can hear what Lando's trying to tell him, the person recording the video panning over to them and then almost immediately pulling away, Martin stealing Lando's drink and then not letting him go while he pretends to drink it.... it's every bit of the video as you can see 😅. Like bro, you can let go of him, it's okay. But no, it's another one of those little moments I mentioned earlier where they can let themselves have this little thing in the middle of a crowded boat with who knows how many cameras pointed in their direction.

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This video simply because it's cute and short and sweet. Them both vibing. I've put it here more so because of Lando's little dance and shimmy. It makes me sickeningly endeared. Lando may have quit DJing apart from special circumstances, but you can tell he loves getting into the rhythm of it.

I have... too much to say about this one... The fact that they're kind of sequestered off to the side a bit- Lando even behind what looks like a makeshift curtain of clothing. There are a few others around them, but boy if their attention isn't solely on each other. Their little mirrored dance is so much as well. But what absolutely annihilates me is the way you can tell they're both smiling at each other towards the end. Plus the fact that it looks like Lando either leans into Martin as the video cuts, or Martin pulls him in. In any case, it's a moment of privacy and it makes me ill.

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These are two long Insta stories I recorded for reasons, the first one more pertinent to it immediately being here than the second. I just love Lando sitting in and amongst everyone. He's sitting next to Martin's father (which is an entirely separate thing tbh) chatting and having fun. The second video was included because when the lights go off and a spotlight shines back onto the area he was, Lando doesn't seem to be there, which was an interesting note I wanted to have in the records because of the shot of Martin making his way back in that direction during the first half. Much to think about. (Tumblr didn't like my embedded video, so here's a screenshot of the first bit, but you'll have to go through the link to see all of what I'm talking about)

This was just a quick tiny thing piggy-backing off the last video, but it's a more closeup shot of Lando chatting with Martin's father. It makes me all soft inside that he gets close with the families of the people important to him. (Tumblr also didn't like the embedded video that was originally here, so here's a screenshot if you don't want to click through to see the actual clip)

Putting this video here because of both Mat Normann's arms around Lando, but also because Martin's there vibing and dancing by his side. Like, they're truly just existing and having a good time. Need to know who gave Lando that stupid little visor. But again, I love it for the subtleness and the comfort with how packed that room was.

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And then finally, this video that might as well be an hour long. The smiles, the bouncing back and forth... Martin's arm moves away from Lando at one point, almost like he was pulling Lando at the beginning. Many thoughts head very full. They almost never get to do this at the same time with each other, and it's an addicting feeling.

[stargazedwinchester]

Telephone | Sam Winchester #01

I actually wrote this 4 (yes 4) years ago, but I've been thinking about redoing it a little bit and republishing it, hopefully its a little better and everyone enjoys it!

I also have this on Wattpad, link here

Part 2 here

-

Your local library was quiet, yet soft, mumbled words came from all directions at any given time. It was a good quiet, though. So comfortable and calming. You browsed the fiction area looking for information on witches, their spells and origin. Your parents were outlining a mammoth-sized hunt at a rather large cabin in the deep forests of Connecticut.

You were new to this whole thing, but your parents had been hunting their whole lives, they knew letting you grow up in a world where you won't know whether your parents will come back from "work" alive or not was no life to live. As they were careful, they had many hunter friends who would go with one of your parents on a hunt, while the other can look after you without leaving you alone. At the age of 13, your parents asked you if you wanted to join them on your first hunt in Nashville. Of course, you agreed.

You found a witch mythology book in the fiction category, you slid it out of its slot, and managed to pick it up with one hand. You tossed the book a little higher so you could reach your right arm underneath it. It was a heavy book, almost the size of A3 paper. The spine of the book had silver embedded leaves, almost vine-like crawling up the side. The front held a cauldron with three witches gathering around it, the background a deep, crimson velvet red. The title read 'Witch Mythology: Spellbinds and Myths'. You were so captivated by the intricate detail of the book, when at the last minute, you noticed someone on the right, searching for a book. You jump and step back.

"Sorry. I almost bumped into you." You apologise, still remaining quiet. The guy turns around to face you, his grey, almost blue eyes glance into yours. He smiles and looks down at the floor, before returning his eyes back to yours. "It's okay, don't worry." He gives a reassuring smirk, and you smile back. "What are you looking for? I practically live here, so I know where everything is." You chuckle, attempting to not sound too nerdy, but it's true. You spent a lot of your free time here while your parents went away for a weekend or whenever you were bored. He purses his lips together and furrows his brows. "Something about demons, like demonic possession." He struggles to find his words, as if he's confused himself. You slide your book and balance it on one arm, while pointing at the shelf. "Right there." You say, and he nods. "Ah." He chuckles again, picking up the book. "Thank you. It's exactly what I was looking for." He says, scanning the book that you carried. "What's that you got there?"

"A book on witch mythology," You start, frantically trying to think of an excuse to not sound like you're either a weirdo, or a hunter. "It's for my history class I'm taking. It's a weird subject but I don't know, it kinda sounds interesting." You say, focusing your gaze upon his. "History? Where are you studying?" He questions, moving his stance onto his left leg. "Wichita State. Are you studying there too?" You ask him, and he shakes his head. "No, I'm at Stanford. I'm back here in Lawrence to visit family." He says, slowly walking backwards, ushering you to follow, and you comply.

You both sat down at a desk, opposite the bookshelves you were just chatting at. You scoot yourself into the desk, and feel yourself glancing at this tall, strange man as he does the same. "What's your name? I feel bad for not asking." He asks you, and you tell him. "Just Naomi?" he examines your face, as if to find an answer. "Naomi Grace Greaves." You tell him, and he smiles. "Well, nice to meet you Naomi Grace Greaves. I'm Sam William Winchester."

–

Some time passes and you both agree to talk outside of the library, the main reason of this was due to the librarian having to get up out of her seat every 5 minutes to hush you both and point to the "NO TALKING" sign glued onto the bookshelf. You both go to the reception and apologise, while also getting the book stamped for return in 4 weeks’ time.

You both exited the library walking next to each other, crossing the road and planted yourselves onto a picnic table where you both could talk freely and as loud as you like. Sam is across from you, wearing a light blue flannel button-up with orange accents, with a white t-shirt underneath. 'The colours matched him well, you thought. It allowed his naturally tanned skin to show against the bright white, also bringing out the relucent Olympic blue in his eyes. You force yourself to look away before he's driven to think otherwise. "So, what do your parents do? You said you study at Stanford, which is great, but what did your parents do?" You ask, seeing the question almost burn into his skull. "I just want to get to know you better, that's all." You manage to make out, and he coughs. "My mom died before I was born, my older brother Dean was about 4 years old. I haven't seen my dad for a few months, though. He disappears from time to time. I guess it's from losing mom, he wants to be alone." Sam informs you, and you feel your heartbreak inside. You felt for this guy, even though you met him an hour ago, it already felt like you were best friends, despite even knowing anything other than names. "Oh, Sam, I'm so sorry." You empathise, leaning more towards him."I lost my sister in a car accident when I was 6. She was 14. Jasmine was her name... She ended up in a coma for 4 months and she eventually woke up while my father and I was there, and she kept repeating that she saw black eyes. Black eyes and smoke. She'd say; 'Nai, they had black eyes. Smoke inside of them, Nai. Oh my God, black eyes. It's so scary.' Then..." You stop, glaring down at the picnic table. "She'd pass out. We still don't know if it was due to her comatose or from shock or something. She died 2 weeks later." You sigh, Sam looks at you with bleakness in his eyes. "I'm sorry." Was all that he managed to say, and that was alright.

The pair of you sat there in silence for a few minutes, collecting your thoughts whilst unsure on what to say next. Sams ringtone broke the silence, and he quickly answered his phone. "Hey, Dean." He says, then covering the microphone. "Sorry, one sec." He says, removing himself from the table and walking 3 feet away from where you were. You grin at him, attempting to not listen in to his conversation. Was Dean his brother? Maybe father? You asked yourself, unclear on who Dean was.

"Are you serious?" He exclaims, furrowing his eyebrows. "Look, I'm with a friend, and I-" He motions his hand at you, then smirking. "Okay, Dean. Okay. Okay, okay, give me 10 minutes and I'll be back." He hangs up the phone and makes his way back to you. "Sorry again, it's my brother." He explains, and you nod. "Do you need to be elsewhere?" You try to not pry, while still attempting to get a straight answer. "Yeah, my brother needs me somewhere, so I need to go. What's your number?" He scrambles out of the seat again, and so do you. You pull out your flip phone and tell him your number. He enters the digits and sends a quick "It's Sam" text, before picking up his library book. "Sorry to cut this short but I'll text you when I'm next in town." He grins, walking away. "See you later, Sam." You almost yell, and he waves. "Goodbye, Naomi."

You pick up your mythology book and stare at your phone screen, you changed the 10 digit number to 'Sam W'. You smile to yourself, uncertain on what could unravel with Sam Winchester.

–

Later on that night, you receive a call from Sam. Your heart felt like it warmed from seeing his name on your screen, and you press answer. "Hello Sammy." You giggle, thinking of the little nickname on the spot. "Ha ha, very original." He says, then chuckles. "What are you up to?" He asks you, and you softly view the contents in your room. "Nothing, why?" You sit up properly on your bed, one hand sandwiched between your thighs. "Just wanted to see if you were free to call, that's all." Sams' end of the call went silent, and you look up at the clock. 9:42PM. "Yeah, sure, I can talk."you smile, laying back down onto your bedsheets. "When will you be back in town?" You ask him, smiling to yourself. "Soon." He laughs, understanding that the word 'soon' could mean tomorrow, or in 6 months time. "Sam!" You exclaim, and he huffs playfully. "What? I said soon." He guffaws. "When is soon?" You ask again, hoping for a serious answer this time. "Maybe... two weeks?" He even questions himself, "I'm not sure. I go back to college on Friday. Then my brother wants me to go on a roadtrip with him on Saturday." He sighs, you hear him rub his face, the facial hair coming into contact with his hand. "Okay. I guess I can wait." You joke, and he laughs. "You miss me already?" Sam practically smiles through the phone, and you do too.

"Yeah. I do."

[jamiebluewind]

Shubble and Wilbur situation

This is a post compiling links to all the information on the Shelby Grace aka Shubble (formerly lilshortysgs, she/they) and William Patrick Spencer Gold aka Wilbur Soot (formerly SootHouse Wilbur and current lead singer of Lovejoy, he/him) situation that I have found. I tried my best to keep my language neutral and put all the data in one easy to look through place so that everyone can see it and make their own decisions (I also attempted to reblog most of it myself so that the version linked is frozen to the one that existed when I read it). I've included a post with the public reactions of content creators, which - while decidedly not neutral - show the public reactions of a lot of people who knew one or both of them at the time.

That being said, I'm one person. I probably missed plenty of stuff and there is most likely new information that has came out since I posted this, but I tried my best with what I had while also sick with bronchitis. The post I personally made on the subject is linked at the very bottom (I wanted to be as transparent as possible).

Anyway, here is everything I've gathered.

(Also, for anyone who is still learning English, bias in this case means something that sways opinion one way or the other)

The re-upload of Shubble's video on YouTube (Post where video was taken from is at the bottom of this post due to containing the opinion of a tumblr user)

Post that describes Shubble's video in text form for anyone who can't watch the video

Note: Text concerning the video is fairly neutral and accurate (other than Wilbur's name being used which was not stated in the video and was revealed later), but the last paragraph at the bottom contains @mysticalblue09 's opinion as someone who does not personally know Shubble or Wilbur (as far as I am aware), so be mindful of that.

Link to Wilbur's appology on Twitter/X

https://x.com/WilburSoot/status/1762505851699380353?s=20https://x.com/WilburSoot/status/1762505851699380353?s=20

Post with image of Wilbur's appology and a compilation of reactions (bias warning). Original post by @raixkim with additions by @galaxyempire-lilith (both all verified by me) and myself (all images save a link to one reaction and embedded video of another)

Note: I went through various minecraft roleplay wikis and former and current members of Lovejoy and added as many screenshots as I was allowed to in my reply (image limit) on March 4th (then I got to sick to finish the post). This is only to show how people in their circle at the time and former and current Lovejoy members publicly reacted to the news and not to gossip or shame someone for what they did or did not say. (Also, I genuinely attempted to find public posts by someone who knew one or both of them that was supporting Wilbur or even not supporting Shubble to keep my addition neutral, but I found none on my own after going through multiple discords and over 70 Twitter/X profiles, so I had to eventually give up)

Shelby's full statement on Wilbur's apology (just images)

Direct link to it on Twitter/X

https://x.com/shelbygraces/status/1763623249416704219?s=20

----------

Below are links to a couple how tos, links to posts by tumblr users that contains personal bias, and my own post on the topic. These things are all by people not directly affiliated with the parties involved. While most of them are not actively combative, most show some level of bias towards Wilbur Soot/Gold. I put all of them at the bottom because I wanted readers to make up their own minds without being influenced by my opinions or the opinions of people not connected to Shubble or Wilbur. Hopefully by this point, you'll know if you want to read more or stop here.

My personal reaction

Ideas on what to do with merch from things you no longer like/want to support by @elfchaos

Bands similar to Lovejoy by @st4rryskiescO

Tip: You can block an artist on Spotify mobile (some sites say it doesn't work on desktop) by going to the artist profile, clicking the 3 dot menu, and selecting "Don't play this." As of this time, I could not find a similar feature on Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, or Pandora other than individually disliking songs.

The post I found the Shubble video embedded in with a list of what @proudfreakmetarusonniku felt they learned during the video

Post that contains the opinions of @mor-starz on Wilbur's influence going forward. Includes a link to a video that summarizes everything (video wasn't linked in the previous section because while it is the closest to neutral I found, there was still bias in the video and thumbnail)

A post with reactions of Wilbur's reddit community and some of his mods by @megastrangeskeleton

Since then, all twitch mods have been removed/unmodded by Wilbur as well as the bot that linked to charities. According to multiple former mods (including kalli which can be found on twitter/x), someone made a new account on May 1st that is a Simpson's reference (jebediahspringfield12345), followed Wilbur, and was modded by Wilbur within minutes of following, leading them to believe that Wilbur made an alt account (named after a show he's known to enjoy) and then made that account a mod to avoid getting banned for having an unmodded account.

[wingzie]

The Process of Writing Jikook Posts

Since being less active, I have been asked about the process of how I make the Jikook posts. Therefore, I thought that I would make a post about it. The below is my current schedule:

There are about 15 more scheduled posts on this list, but I didn't want to spoil too many! I work mostly with spreadsheets and I also have a one for "Completed Posts", so that I know which ones I have already done and don't overlap myself.

As you can see above, I also have a spreadsheet for the Live Reactions series. I am currently on my third sheet out of four. Some of these are requested and I am aware that there is quite a back-log at the moment. (Sorry!) This will also include the PTD DVD and the future Travel Vlog series. To make the Live Reactions series, I first advance search social media posts and take screenshots of various reactions. I then choose 25 out of however many I took and format them for the thread.

The above is my Google Drive folder for my old DNA post and a typical example of how I organize all of the posts.

The above is what is named as "Info & Links." It's where I research for the moments, search or find the links on Twitter and get the embeds. The ones highlighted in red are to show that I have finished describing them in the "Write Up" section. It helps me when I am switching between the two. For whatever reason, video links and embedds sadly no longer work for me on Tumblr. Which is why I tend to just link the original post from Twitter on here.

The "Write Up" is where I take the embedded links and describe what happens in the clips within the Twitter word limit. I do sadly get hate on/for some of my posts, but I am honestly just describing what happens in the clips. When they are ready, I make sure there are enough to fit a thread on Twitter (25) and then get ready to post it. Either on or before the scheduled date. Overall it can take a few days or a few weeks to finish making these posts. I do plan to continue working on these posts and on the Live Reactions series too. I won't be going anywhere, but it might take me longer than usual to finish them. As always, I thank everyone for the on-going support. Not only for myself, but for BTS and Jikook too. They are the reason why I am here making these posts in the first place: To continue showing them as much love and support than I can. I hope this helped explain for those interested. May December and 2024 treat us all well. Look after yourselves. Much love xx

[noonaishere]

All of the Times Ateez Has Been Plagiarized (That I Know Of, So Far)

For legal purposes, these are all allegations.

So, I’m making this little essay/list/thing partly for myself (because I know *I* keep forgetting all of these instances) and partly because I always see incomplete lists going around and it annoys me a little that some of the people on this list seem to have been forgotten for whatever reason. Also, a lot of lists I’ve seen aren’t in chronological order? Which I just find odd. I’m going to try and include as many links as I can to articles, videos, etc, and I’ll be including pictures from them here, just to make it easier for you lovely readers.

(Also, if you think I'me being biased towards koreaboo articles, it's only because they embedded the tweets they used correctly, so they actually click through. Other sites I looked at, either the tweets show an error, or they're static images of low quality.)

Here's the incomplete article that inspired this.

So here is the list of:

All of the Times Ateez Has Been Plagiarized (That I Know Of, So Far)

---2020

MONOPOLY, HOLY MOLY – 2020 (Sept)

I can’t find anything about this artist, it seems to be only one person so maybe they’re just releasing it for fun? They plagiarized Treasure: Epilogue Action To Answer (and not even well, if you look at the shape of the black bar closely).

They did end up apologizing and changing the cover to something else, so at least they have more integrity than some of the other people on this list.

.

---2021

Ammonit, Reverse – 2021 (Oct)

Another small artist or group, Ammonit plagiarized the style of the Fever series album covers. Like Monopoly, Ammonit also changed their cover later. Though I haven’t seen whether or not they issued an apology, at least they changed it.

.

TRINITY, Life Ain’t Over – 2021 (Dec)

For their 2021 release of *Life Ain’t Over* Thai three-member group TRINITY copied Ateez’s Deja Vu photoshoot (the one member even having the same shirt as wooyoung), and their Fireworks mv. I’m actually not sure if they had ever acknowledged that they were being accused of plagiarism or not or apologized when I tried searching. (I thought someone had made a video comparing the two, but I can’t seem to find it.)

Now we get into Ateez’s worst year for plagiarism (so far)...

.

---2022

Soyeon, Sun – 2022 (Feb)

This is probably one of the biggest ones to happen, I won’t lie. I remember the indignation of Atiny, the disappointment of (G)-IDLE fans, and general disappointment and confusion by Knets.

This was the finale of the survival show My Teenage Girl, and the song in the video, Sun, was written for the contestants by (G)-IDLE member, Soyeon. The chorus sounds like a pitched up version of the chorus from Ateez’s Wave.

Sportskeeda article

Koreaboo article

At first people wondered if it was maybe a sample, but it wasn’t. To sum up the initial discussion:

Then on Feb 28th it got weird, because suddenly EDEN-ary (Ateez’s production team) had a credit on the song on Bugs (though this wasn’t changed on other platforms). 

Also on the 28th, KQ issued a statement after receiving reports from fans about the similarity:

“On the 27th, the Challenge Team’s stage, called ‘SUN’, was broadcast for the first round of the FINALs on My Teenage Girl. Afterward, we received multiple reports through the company’s official channel and mails from webmasters that the song’s chorus melody was similar to ATEEZ’s ‘WAVE’, which was released in 2019. As the company was monitoring the related issue, they discovered that the company’s producing team, Eden-ary, was listed in the credits for ‘SUN.’ We want to clarify that we did not have any discussions before with the company or Eden-ary. In hopes of respecting creators and their unique works and in hopes that any misinformation can be corrected, we ask everyone to refrain from making unreasonable assumptions regarding the issue. Thank you.”

So they did not have discussions with CUBE about the use of Wave prior to the premier of Sun on MBC. 

CUBE then released a statement: 

“Hello, this is CUBE Entertainment. We would like to explain what happened on MBC’s My Teenage Girl regarding the song ‘SUN’ and (G)I-DLE’s Soyeon. First, we sincerely apologize for the concerns caused by the production of the song ‘SUN.’ Following the broadcast, through monitoring the episode, we recognized some of the similarities in the two melodies. Our artist immediately reached out to the original composer to explain the situation and apologize. In this process, especially since we admitted the similarities, we decided the song credits should be edited and properly given to the original composer. Soyeon discussed this option with the original composer and we asked the producers of the show to implement the credit change.”

So their statement seems to be that they realized the similarities after, and that Soyeon contacted EDEN-ary and then added them to the song credits. Their statement continues:

“An hour before the song’s release, however, the original composer’s agency declined our suggestion to be credited. We asked the producers of the show to undo the credit change but the change could not be applied and the song became released as-is.”

So, an hour before the show aired, they called up KQ, KQ declined a song credit (I would guess because it sort of made it look like a collaboration and let CUBE/Soyeon off the hook for plagiarism), and it was too late to change it.

Soyeon’s statement is a little different: 

“After the episode aired, I thought I should apologize to the original composer for some of the similarities that have been suggested. So I got in touch with the original composer, explained what happened, and apologized for it.”

In that, in her recounting of events, her apology took place *after* the show aired.

Koreaboo article

As one person observed:

So yeah, kind of a Grade-A Mess.

After everything died down, CUBE registered the song copyright and it seemed like comments regarding the controversy were disappearing? No clue what that’s about.

Koreaboo article

.

NMIXX, OO – 2022 (Feb)

Welcome to: A Bigger Mess.

Koreaboo article

Someone at JYP is a BIG Ateez fan, I think. There are similarities between the look of their mvs (NMIXX even having some locations be the same as Ateez’s mvs), but there’s similarities with lyrics, graphic design choices, and lore. Basically, the only thing that isn’t similar is their sound.

The studio DIGIPEDI has worked with Ateez before and worked on NMIXX’s O.O video, but Illusion (the mv that NMIXX’s debut seems to mirror most strongly) is not one that DIGIPEDI worked on.

Now, while it’s not as if another group can’t have a pirate ship, can’t have a dreamy landscape - in fact, the group Treasure has a flying ship and a dreamy landscape in some of their mvs - but, as someone observed:

(I apologize for having to screencap a tweet from an article, but Mr. Muskrat has made his website so unusable that I can’t even find the original tweet.)

Even if the production team at JYP somehow happened on the same concept and look that Ateez has used for years, it would still be on them to realize, “Oops, this is too similar, we need to change something before people think we’re copying,” and then change the things that were too similar so they didn’t look like they had no ideas. Marketing research is a thing that companies that make stuff (even music) do as a prelude to starting a project, so I don't understand why it seems like JYP's team didn't do any.

Like, Charles Dickens had books where people were arrested for stealing bread, Les Miserables has a main character arrested for stealing bread, the Disney movie Aladdin has a character almost arrested for stealing bread; having the action “someone stealing bread” doesn’t mean that all of those creators have stolen the idea from each other, the idea exists as an idea a lot of people have. Just like flying ships and flying whales (Gojira, anybody?) and pirates and dreamlands aren’t owned by anybody - not even Ateez - it’s when you use all the ideas someone else has already used, and you use them in a way that looks JUST like the person or people you got the ideas from that it starts to become a problem. You can take inspiration from someone or something else, but you can’t just take That Thing and make it “2 inches to the left,” you know? For instance, I might read Lord of the Rings and want to write a book with elves and dwarves and a terrifyingly evil bad guy with a ring - those are all things in other stories that no one owns - but I CAN’T write a story where a group of people take a ring once owned by a terrifyingly evil bad guy and bring it to a volcano to throw it in, I have to write a different story where the ring does something else and the elves and dwarves maybe won’t even work together and there’s a different type of battle, and the bad guy looks a different way and maybe isn’t even a guy, and the world doesn’t look like Middle Earth-- and definitely I can’t use hobbits because they’re legally owned by the Tolkien estate because they were his original idea (that’s why they’re called “halflings” in DND, because of legal reasons.)

Anyway, back to normalcy. Please direct your attention to the lyrics portion of this video:

There’s a lot of similarities with their lyrics as well, so I don’t think NMIXX’s look kind of being “Ateez but 2 inches to the left” is as coincidental as some people wanted others to believe.

(PS: this is not me hating on the girls in NMIXX at all, they seem talented and nice. This is about one of the Big Three companies having a production team that doesn't need to copy others but seem to have done so anyway. But, since their look and even their sound seems to have changed a whole hell of a lot since debut, it seems like JYP has sort of abandoned NMIXX’s look at debut?)

.

Eltee Skhillz, Odg – 2022 (Mar)

(Sorry for the quality.)

I don’t even have to say anything, the evidence is right there. 

I think I have a moral obligation to make the joke, “His name is Eltee Skhillz [elite skills], but the only thing he’s skilled at is not having his own ideas.” (I think I’m allowed to be salty, he really went frame by frame as he copied.)

Eltee Skhillz (or someone in his team) put in the youtube description of the mv, “Partly inspired by ATEEZ "The Real" and "Say my name" music video”. Please see my earlier tangent about how inspiration and copying are not the same.

.

Vata, New Thing choreo – 2022 (Oct)

This accusation was about a point of choreography. On the dance competition show Street Man Fighter, We Dem Boyz leader Vata performed a dance move that looked pretty similar to Atinys:

This is straight up the Driving move from Ateez’s first comeback, Say My Name. It’s in between a “starting a bike” move and a “getting off a bike move”, but the move in between is the SMN Driving move. 

Interestingly enough, there’s a moment in Street Man Fighter where We Dem Boyz is unhappy that it seems that another group has copied their choreography, and they say, “They copied about four counts,” of the choreo, from 1:48 - 1:54:

I WISH I could find this other video, where they were in the middle of a dance battle on the show, and Vata copied another groups move. The other group got annoyed and started arguing and Vata and his group said, “If it’s three beats, we’ll consider it copied.” Meaning: if someone does 1 oe 2 beats of someone else's move, it's not copied, but 3 or more beats is. I just found that so funny because Vata insists he didn’t copy the SMN move, but it’s 3 or 4 beats, both of which match with WDB's (conflicting) arguments for why they didn't copy other teams during Street Man Fighter.

(If anyone finds that clip, please let me know. I saw it around the time everything was happening but I can’t find it now. It was sort of dark and the two groups were in kind of a tight ring as the members of each were dance battling and the camera angle was from higher up.) 

During the show the groups were allowed to “vandalize” each other’s rooms earlier in the season, and other groups wrote some interesting things on We Dem Boyz flag: 

From this Koreaboo article:

(Written on the paper) “Melvin copycat ㅋㅋㅋ” and “JBLAZE copycat” (the comment circled with the hearts) “JBLAZE copycat” “This is SMF but they said they’re going to do Street Boy Fighter after!!” “Tristan copycat” “We Dem Kid” “Some people might think you made Fear of God” “Some people might think you also made Essentials” “If you mess with us” (knife) “You need to practice dancing. ‘You should dance the same dance at least, you guys are a team'” “Vata [cut off] Melvin copycat”

JBLAZE (along with Anze Skrube and Josh Smith) are the choreographers who created the dance for Say My Name (Anze credited Josh with creating the Drive move). Coincidentally, Melvin Timtim is another choreographer who also worked with Ateez, so that’s kind of interesting that the other groups accused WDB of copying him as well. It seems as if Vata has a well known history (in the dance community) of copying other choreographers.

Anze Skrube took to Instagram to reblog some posts regarding the situation (there was more than just this, he was popping off for days) and talked about it on his Stories:

(“I thought you are a friend of San” is in reference to San and Vata having done a challenge together a few weeks before and KQ uploading it to social media.)

Allkpop article

Mnet also coddled Vata, not taking a stance, but saying "We are in the midst of arranging a position while respecting the situation of the artist (Vata) as much as possible." Which fans HATED, because - if anyone needs to be respected here - it’s the people who were stolen from, not the one doing the stealing. (What the *fuck* Mnet? Why are you like this? This is why kpop fans use a snake emoji when they talk about you and how shady you are.)

Koreaboo article

Vata made an apology:

“This is Vata. I thought this would be a cold wind that would breeze by, but I am writing this to stop the misunderstandings. When I first heard the song, I thought of the wilderness and so I made the intro of riding a horse or motorcycle. That’s why in the beginning, there is a motion of kicking to start the engine and a motion of getting off the bike. These are parts of one move that transition from one to the other. I think the choreography its being compared to has a different transition and means something different entirely. As someone who loves the dance culture, I believe it is at its best when the artist and dancer respect one another. It saddens me to see that this isn’t taking place. Regardless of the reason, I apologize to viewers of Street Man Fighter and to those who root for We Dem Boyz for any controversy that had occurred on my behalf. I will repay you by putting on a better stage.”

Koreaboo article

I just have to say: this really reads like one of those youtube apologies, where the youtuber deflects and doesn’t want to be held accountable for their actions. He also seems to say that Wooyoung and Anze are being disrespectful by calling him out. (And he even said "I was hoping this would blow over" I don't think you're supposed to say that in your "apology" even if you were thinking it, homes."

Because, PS!: Wooyoung called him out with the “biting” motion during a stage at Kcom Saudi Arabia:

And here are some other shorts that have clips from Anze and his IG:

Short 1

Short 2

While everyone was doing WDB's dance on tiktok, San did the LAW challenge instead (which I feel is a better song anyway, but that's just me) and it seemed that, aside from Wooyoung's call out, and San's snub, KQ was not commenting on it.

Atiny, meanwhile, streamed Say My Name and made art about respecting artists (what Vata had NOT done to Ateez). There were hashtags and SMN challenges and tweets galore:

The thing that made this whole incident REALLY strange, is that the dance Vata had plagiarized the Drive move for was for the kpop artist Zico… who is managed under KQ. So, when the music video for Zico’s song, New Thing, came out, it lacked the drive move at the beginning:

Dance Performance video

So all the people trying to say that it wasn’t copied or tried to defend Vata (I saw someone say they would defend him because he’s more famous than Ateez… please lick boots somewhere else) didn’t matter because… Zico and KQ thought it was too similar to let it slide.

(Oh! Also, Carats, EXO-Ls, Shawols, Ahgases, Monbebes, ARMYs, ELFs, and Inspirits were spotting tweeting on Atinys’ behalf, so I would like to personally thank our friends who stan other groups for their help and support. The kpop world needs some love more often than not, because we are not each other’s enemy… capitalism is our enemy.)

(Love you, bbys 💖💖💖)

.

---2023

Super Dragon, Revolution – 2023 (Feb)

I hate trying to look this group up because the SEO for their name is GOD awful. Like you could not pick two more common words to name something. It’s also the name of several restaurants, the co-creator of a California wrestling promotion, and - of course - part of a title for a Dragon Ball series.

Maybe that’s why this is probably the incident I see the least. Maybe it just gets lost in the SEO sauce and no one even sees it so it’s just flying under the radar? Which is weird, because it’s like a combination of the TRINITY incident and the incident that will come next. A Frankensteinian amalgamation of a lack of imagination, if you will. 

But oh, oho! I have twitter-- I don’t have twitter, I have *a friend who has twitter,* and she messaged me very early in the morning on February 21st to send me a bunch of tweets of this band:

It’s the sound of Wonderland and the look of Fireworks.

The two songs played at the same time:

The thing that - I don’t know if I find it the funniest or if I hate it the most - but the thing is… there’s such a *severe* LACK of imagination. I’m inspired by things all the time, people, places, things, any kind of nouns, inspire me… but like I said earlier, there’s a difference between writing a story with elves and dwarves and just rewriting Lord of the Rings and pretending it’s your own. And this is just a poor man’s version of Wonderland.

.

3WICH, Kicking Your Face – 2023 (Sept)

On the Taiwanese music competition show, Music Maker, group 3WICH had a song that didn’t just seem similar to Ateez’s Guerrilla, but seemed to be almost a carbon copy:

If you listen to the whole song, it’s literally just been skinned so they could put new lyrics. Originally, 3WICH and their composer, Jhen F, did a livestream where they denied there was any plagiarism, and at first the song had been left up pending investigation, but was soon taken down until the copyright issues could be clarified. The president of the TV station that ran Music Maker, Huang Liang-hsun, made a statement:

(translated by @ananmiyabi630 on twitter (I think))

Koreaboo article

This story is still developing as I write this, but it seems to have affected the president of the TV channel Music Maker is on a lot:

If he goes, I hope he has fun. 3WICH and Jhen F can sit in the parking lot and think about what they did while they listen to the stadium scream “Break the WALLLL!” at the end of the concert.

.

------

So yeah, those are All of the Times Ateez Has Been Plagiarized (That I Know Of, So Far). I hope you enjoyed all of this mess, and maybe people won’t try to plagiarize them so much, now that they’re a bigger group and it’s more apparent that people are paying attention to them.

Idk.

Probably not.

I’ll update if I see any new ones in the future.

[bigfrozenfan-fanfics]

About tough decisions to use the right music track to a specific scene

Not all readers of "The Broken Bridge" listen to the hand-selected music tracks for my scenes(*), but I want to go into a little more detail in this particular post so you can see how much effort can go into just one scene.

As you may know, HeinrichVSA, my beta reader and friend, and I work closely together to select certain music tracks. I write and he finds the music tracks that I end up choosing to use. It's not always easy, because on the one hand the length has to fit the scene and on the other hand it has to support the mood as perfectly as possible. I listen to the music while I read the scene at the same time, checking whether the dynamics match certain actions precisely and then I determine the sentence in the story where exactly the music should start. A perfect result would be if the track stops exactly at the end of the scene and the dynamics in it can emphasise certain actions. This doesn't always work, but sometimes it is desirable for the music to cover several scenes.

I can't use many titles simply because they involve singing or speaking, or because there is clapping from the audience at the end. This distracts from reading. So far I've only used two songs with vocals in "The Broken Bridge", but only as bonus tracks at the end of the chapters. With the exception of titles where the vocals are untranslatable and part of the music (S��mi Joik, for example). Watch a film and see how the score is used in certain scenes to heighten the drama, then you'll understand what I mean.

In the last chapter, "Corona", I wanted you not only to read about Fabian's joy at being back home and reliving a childhood memory, but to literally feel his emotions. Everyone knows the scene in Tangled where Rapunzel dances with joy in the square in front of the church and draws other people around her into it. In my opinion, it's one of the best scenes in the film and I love this song.

My only problem with it was how to integrate the relatively short song into the already written scene in such a way that it both emphasises Fabian's thoughts and feelings on the way through the town and ends exactly when the dance is over. The increasing speed of the dance also had to fit in as closely as possible with what had already been written. So I started looking for alternatives over the next few days after finishing the chapter. Some YouTubers extended the song, but either it lost its original dynamics, or you could hear too clearly where the song was edited or it was simply extended in the wrong place. There were also two very well-made remakes from fans to choose from, but either just as short as the original (2 min 20) or unfortunately with adverts at the end. In the end, I decided in favour of an extremely well-made extended version that met all my criteria.

(*) Many Frozen fans on Tumblr don't read fanfics on a computer, but on their smartphone. Tumblr unfortunately has the stupid habit of simply stopping embedded songs in posts when you read with the app. This doesn't happen if you read my chapters in the blog on a laptop, for example.

Here are the songs from Tangled Fans that I sorted out, but which are still great:

Heinrich's 1st choice, the Tavern Edition:

My find, as a violin duet, unfortunately with adverts for more of their videos at the end:

My previous favourite to use song in the chapter, 16 seconds longer than the original, but still extended in the wrong place:

And an alternative track that would have worked in theory, but was unfortunately too long and had applause at the end:

The remaining alternatives with edited originals are only given here as links:

youtube.com/watch?v=d6o9u0a3GJ8 (Kingdom dance (extended, doubled and tripled chorus)) youtube.com/watch?v=81GocqvwTMg (Kingdom Dance crossover with "How To Train Your Dragon" at the end) Someone even came up with the idea of editing this track for a real dance with a length of 4:02, but the dynamics are totally lost in the process: youtube.com/watch?v=cGnhmA3BNbI

The following were also up for selection:

youtube.com/watch?v=VI-JynUarrs (Rapunzel's Exordium by Frostudio Chambersonic) youtube.com/watch?v=sMCwW0TcBYk (Reels, irish dance music, good but far too long) youtube.com/watch?v=u9veEEnax-k (Reels traditional, by Katie Grennan, same as above) youtube.com/watch?v=tIQjHeMYBfg (Slip Jigs, by Katie Grennan, too long, wrong instruments for the scene) and a few others This one is funny for the dance performance starting at 4:19 (Apollo's Fire - O'Carolan Dance scene), but too long as well, laughing in the audience plus applause and too slow over all: youtube.com/watch?v=1OD4jAOp5So youtube.com/watch?v=givlwY9d9UQ (animated movie excerpt, but sadly with spoken words in it)

Last find for the Tangled fans here, a video with animated Corona scenes for relaxing Tangled music to study & relax, with a length of nearly one hour!

[toa-arania]

OC Masterpost

Since the first one is outdated but I wanted to keep the information in it available, it's time for a sequel~! As with the last one, this is a collection of information about my little brain people that I like to draw and talk about, specifically ones who are currently active. Since these characters are active, I'll easily be able to answer asks both about and addressed to them, and this should serve as a quick reference point for if I mention any of them without other context. This time I've also embedded links to image references in their names so I can have those without cluttering the post.

Valerie Wester (Val) (She/Her), a Witch for Rifters (Monsterhearts), the hot mess express herself, the oc I talk about the most here in my #val stories tag. Poster girl for women's wrongs and fucking around. Evil bisexual and monsterfucker on main. Absolutely convinced she's the voice of reason while being the single most unhinged person she knows. Down bad for a werewolf with no idea how to handle it.

Echo of Starlight (She/Her), a drow Bard for Arctera: the Starlight Paradox (D&D), who's honestly just here for a good time. She sings, she tells stories, she has severe memory issues and difficulty in distinguishing dreams from reality, and she sparkles~! Her solution to most problems is being where the problem isn't, which often involves turning invisible and sneaking away.

Alison Whitby (She/Her), a Necromancer for the Lost Soul Chronicles (D&D) who specialises in Osteomancy and is a fairly direct Locked Tomb reference. A half-lich created by an egotistical wizard to be his successor, she aims to become the greatest necromancer of her generation through the power of bone constructs, impromptu surgery, and daddy issues.

Harper Lewis (She/Her), a Godbinder for DIE who has been turned from a human into a tiefling by the magic of isekai and is unashamedly into it (average transwoman behaviour tbh). She's made fast friends with the god of Trickery and plans to make that everyone else's problem. She once nearly got disbarred for making her opponent cry in court.

Camilla Asche (Cam) (She/Her), a Blood Hunter for Curse of Strahd (D&D) who is being kept alive by celestial magic after a Too Angry To Die moment. After failing to save her ward when falling into Ravenloft, she is dead set on making sure no one else fucking dies under her watch, even if that means she has to burn through the magic holding her body together to save them.

Ilia Celestis (She/Her), a tengu Sorcerer for Zephyrnos (D&D) who has been sent by her people to sort of spy on the organisation exploring this "new" land. The people who used to live their accidentally wiped themselves out through hubris, and Ilia is here to make sure they fucking stay wiped out. She uses the magic of storms, and her pride has got her into far too many stupid situations.

Aurora Zephuros (She/Her), a pirate I play in D&D oneshots. She isn't linked to any particular setting and most times I play her are one-off events, so the philosophy of "fuck it, it's a oneshot" runs strong in her playstyle. Aurora's MO is to be hot and swordfight and she does it so well. Even aside from those, she has a few extra tricks up her sleeve for when she needs a little more gaslight with her girlboss.

I have several more characters just hanging out in my brain, who will get added to this post if they become active enough to warrant it.

[colgatebluemintygel]

The thoughts about their experiences with family and grief hurt on many levels. R sees that s has parents who are rich and still alive and probably feels a bit jealious and cant understand how s seems to resent it. S is self aware enough to know that outwards his family seems ideal and struggles with how he could let people know how things actually are (maybe even afraid that they wont believe him). As seen in OAO he feels that he takes up too much space and r's mom has just died so he feels guilty ab burdening him with this and r will later feel guilty ab his anger/not understanding the situation. I am shaking. I want to hug them both. (Also yes, I believe that s really craved even a smallest hint that his parents cared. He couldnt live with them but leaving didnt really make it easier bc he understood that he lost all hope of having his birth parents love.)

yes yes yes !!!! absolutely!

the difference in class and privilege absolutely factored into it as well (as mentioned in oao, remus was one of the only kids at that school not from an affluent background, and it was definitely alienating for him, especially as two of his best friends grew up amongst immeasurable wealth (i picture peter's family to be more upper middle class than upper class like s and j, but it's still different to remus's background). definitely every now and again sirius would say really out of pocket things relating to how his parents treated him, but i think once he noticed his friends reactions, he'd also immediately backtrack and try to play it off as a joke. so for the others it was tricky to get a handle of the severity of the situation, and what was true and what wasn't. i think early on, some of the other boys (i'm thinking frank etc) would have made little jokes about sirius and his rich boy problems (ie: i imagine sirius would always be sad on his birthday—he'd receive these expensive presents, but they were never be meant FOR him; they were status symbols. and they just served as a reminder that his parents don't see him for who he is, and they don't love him for who he is -> cue meltdown. and i imagine remus would be looking in on this kinda like ??? perhaps internally thinking that sirius is being a little bit ungrateful (again, gift giving has a totally different meaning in remus's family). he'd NEVER say that out loud (well. aside from their big blow out argument), but in his head he'd be like.... rich boys.......) (while also being like :-(( my poor pretty padfoot :-(( and fantasising about kissing the tears from sirius's cheeks xx (all this conflict chat makes me want 2 reiterate !! remus ADORES him. like so SO much. this whole situation was such a change from their usual dynamic, it really threw everyone for a loop))

and YES and as you say: sirius's mouth works faster than his mind a lot of the time, and he would make comments maybe about wishing his parents harm, and it absolutely sent remus reeling. their main fight occurred over something incredibly minor (it was months and months of emotional build-up on both ends), but each of these little comments were a blow to remus </3 and of course sirius was never ever trying to cause harm. he had no real way of knowing what was happening with hope, because from the outside it just looked like something had happened to remus, who was now suddenly super reserved with himself and his body and seemed to be totally caught up in self-loathing. and i think sirius resonated a lot with that (even if he was expressing it all in a completely different way).

but yes... the idea that s takes up too much space. it's sort of all he's ever known. he was never taught how to emotionally regulate himself; he was always just punished. and that link between his emotions and punishment is so embedded in his psyche that even if his birth parents aren't around anymore to punish him for his emotions, he does it himself.

SOBS poor poor babs :-((((

[storystartsanew]

Solo Para(Sadie/Violet/Robin): Ready or Not?

Sadie knows she has to be fast about this. If she wants to get her revenge without Violet stopping her, she has to be able to send the link out to as many places as possible before she gets shut down. The link she's sending leads to a document full of information about each of the three members of Enchanted Lies. All of their recent jobs, the fact that they were sent to Auradon to create ties with the government, plus everything she could gather about their personal lives. Their friends, their family, anyone and anywhere they might run to. She wants to burn them to the ground.

The link is also embedded with a fancy little computer virus. Harmless to any normal computer system, but will wreak havoc on Shadow's hard drive. Her bosses had been very pleased with her idea.

She pulls out the vial of blood she stole from Dove and drinks it. This is her last assurance that they can't come after her. If they try, she'll just come back as an even bigger problem. She hits send on the message with a grin.

-

Violet's eyes go wide when she sees it. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. No. This can't be happening. This cannot be happening. She rushes to the back of the store, not caring if Robin sees the batcave.

"What the fuck?" Robin follows closely behind her.

"Sadie. She fucking doxxed us to the town. I need to know who else she sent it to." Violet slides the wall open to reveal her set up, and Robin takes in a sharp breath. "Yeah, yeah, welcome to the batcave."

She's typing furiously on her keyboard in seconds, desperately trying to figure out where this message is being sent and how to mitigate the damage. She's able to kill some of the messages before they go through, but it's not enough. Sadie's burned them to most every major spy organization in the world. Fuck. With a sigh, she opens the attachment on a secure computer, so she can at least try to tell her team where they might be safe.

When her own phrase spits back out at her on the screen, she all but sees red. She types a small code into the computer and the screen goes black. Then she pulls the plug on the computer, turning it off and removing its power source completely before whatever information she's trying to get can be uploaded back through the cloud. "Fuck!"

She moves to grab her gear and Robin is quick to stop her. "You can't go after her. She's got vampire blood, remember? Besides, you're pregnant. You're in no shape to be hunting her. Where can you go, to be safe?"

Violet stares her down for a moment, before she concedes. She grabs her laptop off the counter. "I have an apartment outside of town. Daniel should know to meet me there. You should go. The longer you spend with me, the more danger you're in."

"I can take care of myself."

"Go. Please. Go find your mom. We're gonna have to run, and we're not gonna be able to take everyone with us."

It's enough to convince Robin to speed off. Violet turns to grab a couple knives, a gun, and some ammo. Not enough to go after Sadie, but just enough to protect herself in case something happens. She types the same code to wipe everything off the other computers, and the rest of the screens go black. It hurts, killing them all, but she has to. With a sigh, she grabs her bag and runs.

[shadowflash]

at this point in time i’m pretty sure most of us are aware that white hair is a sign that a character has gotten crest implants / cringe blood surgery in the 3houses universe and that arval is SUS™ for having, well, white hair in this context. the game explains few things about arval explicitly, but they definitely leave some compelling details out for us to make something out of what we have at the moment.

to really get into it i'm going to have to discuss a spoiler character from the bonus chapters as well as the spoiler paralogue. if you know, you know. i’ll also mention details from each route's ending so please be mindful of that.

Let's start with this: Having done the Arval paralogue*, I saw some pretty big similarities between Edelgard and Epimenides, as though they’re meant to occupy the same (or at least incredibly similar) roles in different eras of Fodlan’s history. They also both express disdain towards Thales and his methods. Given the emphasis on "cycles" in this title, it wouldn't be that surprising to learn that this was intentional. There's only so much to work with but the idea is that these two characters are working in direct opposition to what are essentially the same forces (Seiros' army / Rhea's church) for basically the same goal: Liberating humanity/Fodlan from the deceptions of a false prophet / the church in general.

With regard to this, some details of note is that one of Rhea’s lines as a boss unit in for the final battles of Scarlet Blaze:

“No matter how many years pass, you people will always be little more than fools.”

And in the cutscene preceding the final battle of Golden Wildfire, she claims:

“-In our absence, future generations are likely to repeat the foolish actions of their ancestors.”

It could also be inferred that Epimenides has something really important to do with crest science or whatever because his unique class, Avesta, has a skill called "Crestological Wisdom" which allows him to wield Hrotti (relic weapon - crest of timotheos) without taking damage. This brings to mind how Edelgard and Lysithea have white hair as a result of their cringe blood surgeries so.. Well.. And you know how people have also pointed out that Edelgard's hegemon form shares a concerningly similar silhouette with Epimenides' 'super' magic whatever stuff? Yeah. Epimedes, during his battle against Shez and Co., also has a line:

"Nothing I do is enough! How much more must I sacrifice?”

So uhhhh... Erm...

Another thing: The magic sword we see him wield in the opening cutscene / the one Shez comes to wield in their unique classes has an orange glow similar to that of relic weapons. Relic weapons glow orange around all the dragon people bone + crest stone stuff while epi/arv/shez’s sword glows orange in a pattern that resembles circuitry.

This one is a weaker thread to follow between Edie and Epi but it doesn't feel like a coincidence that Edelgard has a phobia of the ocean while we see a recurring motif of water and bubbles around Arval/Epimenides, and those clearly mean something. I cannot tell what though. Interestingly, we see bubbles from the opening cutscene (which was most likely from Arval's perspective**, something we learn from the bonus chapter) and at the very end of the bonus chapter, during Shez vs. Arval/Epimenides fight, we see bubbles fly across the screen while Shez rushes towards them. I don’t think this detail is indicative of Edelgard and Lysithea ‘being meant to house Epimenides as vessels’. I do think it has more to do with conveying, again, something about the nature of the abyssal depths of Zahras and why a character like Sothis (bearer of the flame crest / fire emblem™) is so afraid of it. Of course, there’s also the ‘flood’ (that could be metaphorical and/or literal) mentioned in the Shadow Library at Abyss.

We also see Epimenides responding to Arval’s earliest recollections with:

"That was an unforeseen accident. I was sure all had been lost to the waters.”

By the way: Arval’s secret skill from mastering Wyvern Lord is “Domineer” while ‘hegemon’ basically means “Having dominant / domineering influence over others” which has roots in ancient Greek that I’m just going to link to a wiktionary page for. Inch Resting. And “Domineer” grants Arval (and Jeritza) bonus damage to infantry units, not sure about the exact dmg calcs for this sort of thing but it’s a good skill by the looks of it. If you wanna make the strongest Arval imaginable you should probably invest in it #tbh #ToBeQuiteHonest.

* -> The Arval paralogue "Cycles of Nostalgia" is available to play if you have unlocked Arval with renown (NG+ only, 60 renown, you must've recruited Byleth in at least one of the preceding runs) AND you have chosen to kill Jeralt in the current run you intend to access it from. It unlocks right after you unalive Jeralt, so you don’t have to worry about accessing it in some later, later chapter.

People have walked away from it dissatisfied with the lack of answers as to who Arval and Epimenides are exactly, but I would ask to also pay attention to what Epimenides implies of the "truth" wrt to Seiros' teachings and what Thales claims to be fighting for in the final chapter battle of Azure Gleam (not sure if he says this in Scarlet Blaze as well). The exact details about it all are vague as is the case for the rest of the interesting shit in the game, but again, I think there's enough to make you go "Wait a minute.. WHAT THE HELL." if you’re invested in parsing what Those Who Slither are really fighting for.

** -> I say "most likely" just because what we see at the beginning of the game is Shez's dream. It could be argued that the water + bubbles memory actually belongs to Shez because of this, but it can be the case that this is an experience Shez and Arval share for whatever reason. I'm of the belief that this memory exclusively belongs to Arval/Epimenides though. What we see is Arval "initializing" / booting up(?) and what is definitely a vision into the past (as was the case with Byleth's dream in the beginning of 3Houses) that transitions to Epimenides' POV so you can see him get exploded by Seiros'/Rhea's super dragon form laser beam so, like, yeah.

speculation about shez continues in this post