#twitter notes: 1- you’re lying and 2- everyone knows youre lying

[toastcryptid]

Yeah Twitter is a hellscape but there is some true comedic gold coming out of its death throes

[okanra]

⚠️ Note: This post is about Dragon Ball Super, and is written mostly for recap and research purposes, but it involves a few real-life related topics and will be pretty long so you should treat this like a blog post. If you’re comfortable with this and still curious to see what this is all about, keep your mind open and let’s go! 🤓

MY THOUGHTS/CONTROVERSIAL TAKE ON THE CURRENT STATE OF DRAGON BALL SUPER and DRAGON BALL FRANCHISE AS A WHOLE, AND THOUGHTS OF THE FUTURE OF THE BRAND

- PART 1: INTRODUCTION OF THE COMICS and TIMELINES -

1. INTRODUCTION:

Hello everyone, if this is your first time seeing me on your dashboard, my name is Kah and I’m an artist who have been working on a Dragon Ball webcomic named “Trunks and Goten in High school AU”, starring Goten and Trunks since 2021 and is still ongoing.

It’s used to appear on Google a lot until the current arc of Super happened, and Elon Musk’s decision to deleted the Moment feature on Twitter (that was the main link that mostly appeared on Google about my comic). It’s an art project that I’ve been letting it sleep inside my head for ~20 years and finally decided to manifest it into existence while infusing my style in it, until it got unexpectedly “canonized” by the Dragon Ball Super creators in late 2022 while the project is still in the beginning stage, in a way that I couldn’t predict it.

It changed everything afterwards of course. For both myself and the fandom, and maybe, the impact of this will be bigger than we think it will be 🤔

I know there’s nothing for you to believe in what I’m about to say, and I won’t force you to believe them too, of course, you have no obligation to do that. That’s exactly why you should try and read this and decide of what to think yourself, it can be something quite worthwhile.

The time this blog post is written is in January the 3rd, 2023. The incident was in December 2022, I will include timelines and many other articles down below, as well as images for you to see things more clearly. For the current me, this post is a recap for research purposes, and since I’ll be using myself and my work as an example, there’ll be some unwanted personal feelings unconsciously mixed in, but I’ll try to keep my mind as most neutral as possible.

You’re about to read my real thoughts on the current arc of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero since chapter 88, the similarity of my webcomic in it and many other deeper things, as well as my theory/glimpse at future of Dragon Ball franchise as a whole. I hope this read would be entertaining to you.

2. THE TIMELINE:

Before we get into the main topic, here’re some of my character designs and background visuals for my webcomic. If you can, read through some chapters as well, it’s not much but it will give you an idea of what to come next.

Ok so the first question to ask is, when did my webcomic project start? I say it’s around May 2021, in the midst of the Covid-era, when mostly everyone was quarantined at their homes. This webcomic art project is drawn so I can practice my drawing, storytelling and creative writing skills. It’s an indie project through and through, that takes a lot of time, effort and love. I don’t profit much from it tho, I mean my patreon is even opened in August last year and I didn’t even promote it much on any social media platform other than Twitter sometimes. So yes, the main purposes of it were mostly what I wrote above.

When did the current arc of Super start? Since 20th, December 2022. After the Granolah arc of the Dragon Ball Super manga ended, this is the arc that is currently running: the Super Hero arc. In appearances, there’re a bit of similar vibes from the manga and my webcomic in 2021, and while it may sound farfetched and like false accusation for everyone else, my intention is not exactly aiming towards that, it aims for something lying deeper. This is just the tip of the iceberg, that I would analyze and share a bit of it with you. Like I said, I would try my best to write it out as neutrally as possible.

From here on out, I’ll begin to list the entire timeline that leads to the current state:

- The last time Goten and Trunks appeared as main characters in canon was almost 30 years ago, I was talking about the Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT versions. Goten and present Trunks were not favored characters by fans, even when they have a small fanbase and have some fanworks throughout the years, they were still mostly listed as a funny dumb duo and unmarketable by the franchise. This leads to these two characters not being developed and touched upon by their creators for many years, because Toriyama is the type of artist that would draw because he likes it, yes, but he would cater to the masses of fans more (for example, a lot of his decision in the writing of Dragon Ball was suggested to alter into something else that fit the general audience more and he would mostly agreed, like his desire for Gohan to be the main character after the Cell arc, but Goku was brought back into the picture due to his iconic popularity and flat-character type, and that’s how we got 30 years of Goku’s journey). (what is a flat character: here)

This personality of his would later have a hand in him selling his ownership and license of Dragon Ball to Shueisha (main license holder), Toei (animation license holder) and Bandai (merchandise license holder). Akira Toriyama is the creator in name only, but big decisions are not depended on him. He’s pretty much like Stan Lee - the creator of Spider Man, but all the copyrights and licenses are hold by Marvel.

- In late 2019, I decided to re-picked up the Dragon Ball manga due to nostalgia. While remembering about my love for Goten and Trunks and seeing the lacked of content for them. Being forgotten by their own creators for unjustified reasons, I decided to write and draw my own story for Goten and Trunks, and published it to the internet since May 2021 on many social media platforms, but Twitter is where I’m the most active. And Twitter is the main international platform for many official account of Japanese brands, including manga, anime and of course, Dragon Ball.

- Any loyal Dragon Ball fans in the fandom community will know they mostly love the Toriyama style, and most will try to make their fan works in his style to honor him and the show itself (and will get more attention from other fans). And even though my webcomic is not as favorable as other Toriyama style fan arts and fanseries/fancomic due to the personal unique art style (I have my own drawing style) and differences in tone and storytelling (while the show mostly veers in the humor/gag/action direction, mine is more towards the dramatic/angsty/introspective side), it did raise the awareness to other fans in the community about the potential of the “forgotten half Saiyans”. Especially when two of my good friends that I usually talked and hyped with on Twitter are a Dragon Ball fanartist (@/amartbee) and a Dragon Ball content creator/YouTuber (@SLOplays) that always share official news of the show on his page, I included their handle names in here just for a few examples, in no way do I want to pull them in this whole mess of course. But anyway, both have a big following on Twitter, have big influences and love Dragon Ball.

- And they love my webcomic. The fanartist shared my webcomics a lot to her page and her community (blessed her), and while the content creator didn’t share it (except for a few times), he felt the love I have for Goten and Trunks that I put in my fan comics, and love them more and shared that feeling to his fans as well. So through my and their influences, the fans during the covid-era began to see the light on these characters, and want to see more of their potential as well as love them more. During this time, the Dragon Ball Super manga was in the Moro and Granolah arc, still focused on the journey of Goku and Vegeta defeating opponents in space, because they’re the fan-favorite, the icon of the brand for many years and Toei/Shueisha felt right to continue milking them for content and marketable purposes. Until the midst of 2021...

- After my webcomic started in summer of 2021 for a few months, the official account/website of Dragon Ball began to dropped the news of “DRAGON BALL SUPER: SUPER HERO” movie (in production) in late 2021. And everyone was curious over what’s this all about.

- Then in February 2022, we had the full key visual for DRAGON BALL SUPER: SUPER HERO movie like this. “That’s something we have never seen before right?”. Yes, indeed it was. It was. But everyone was ecstatic, including me.

- During the time of the movie being in the production stage, several visuals and interviews from the animation staff member as well as Toriyama himself were published online, twitter was always the fastest of course. Toriyama said he wanted to make Piccolo as the main character for this movie only, but Toei wanted to include Gohan as the co-protagonist to lure in the Saiyan fans, which held the more dominant side of the fanbase. Hence why the movie had two protagonists that were Piccolo and Gohan. But the weird thing is, they decided to finally include the Super’s teenager version of Goten and Trunks this time. They were drawn by Toriyama, but I can tell based on how good he was as a character designer, Toriyama himself didn’t think much about their designs due to how simple they were. This made me feel like they were not at the forefront of his mind, and more like he was “told to do”.

- When the movie was finally released across the globe from June 2022 until the rest of the year, we found out about the scene with Goten/Trunks was only about 2 minutes, and they did nothing major in the movie. This would later confirmed my theory of this movie being an experiment and a very clever survey from Toei to know the taste of the international fans at the time with characters other than Goku and Vegeta (because they had been milking them for almost 30 years and even when these two are still the icon, the taste of ithe fans have changed).

Despite that, their 2 minutes on-screen was enough for me, my friends, our friends and followers/fans to expressed our love for these two through likes, shares, fanarts and everything else.

- During this time, I still worked on my passion project aka the Goten and Trunks webcomic series, and with a few fan arts mixed in along the way. Still hyped with my friends and followers as a fan on many social media platforms. Love them, the hype in this fandom is real.

- After the movie was aired for a few months, in August 2022 chapter 87 ended with a note from the editorial staff that said the manga would go on hiatus to prepared for the next arc. This would later confirm my theory of “this break” being the time when the whole franchise and “Dragon Ball” brand’s marketing/research department to check on the stats from the movie (that acted as a survey for international fans) to know which direction to go next.

- Until August 2022, the official account/website of Dragon Ball dropped the visuals of the next arc, which included Goten and Trunks as super heroes, and this arc would be the arc before the Super Hero movie with them as the protagonists.

This is when I began to feel a queasy feeling that whispered something like “that was... Odd. Good but... Odd”. Because from the beginning of Dragon Ball Super until now, it has always been a Goku and Vegeta’s journey to space, there was no build up, no anything to lead to Goten and Trunks being protagonists at this point. Below are some examples from the Moro arc, they still remained in kid’s forms like what they have been for so many years like this.

- In November 2022, there’re leaks about the next arc of Dragon Ball Super aka chapter 88, and we found out this arc will focus on Trunks and Goten’s high school life, with Trunks as a protagonist and learn how to be a superhero.

This was when everything came crashing down on my head, shattered my rose colored glasses and connected all the dots. I decided to wait a bit longer to confirm my theory by reading chapter 88 and see the content in it. While most of the fans were ecstatic, because they finally got what they wanted: Goten and Trunks finally got their spotlight in canon; I was feeling nervous more.

- In 20th December 2022, chapter 88 got released and while it caught the eye of many fans from both Japan and the international, the first chapter of the arc got mixed reviews due to it focuses too much on Trunks’s crush on Mai to the point of forcing readers to accept it. I wrote this thread right after reading chapter 88, giving out my prediction. And later today, it got confirmed by Toyotaro himself in an interview: he did intend to put in lots of romance in this arc.

- But after all of this, I mostly saw the weird and lots of lots of “coincidence” in my theme and the Super manga theme. They are both alike, and TOTAL POLAR OPPOSITE. Imagine two similar (or same) products, but they are being produced under two different brands (in this case, it’s from a company vs a homemade one), with opposite directions and purposes.

We’ll continue the next part after this, it’ll dive deeper into the real life topics to emphasize my points and researchers. The theme of the next post aka part 2 will be:

THE CURRENT STATUS OF THE DRAGON BALL SUPER, THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE MANGA WITH FANS AND FANWORKS, AND THE FUTURE OF THE DRAGON BALL FRANCHISE AS A WHOLE

- end part 1 -

[circethegoblin]

STAYING ALIVE MASTERPOST, FROM A BROKE TEEN WITH ADHD

here you go. some down to earth tips on how to not die metally nor physically.

tired of those "drink three liters of water everyday uwu" and "wake up at 5 am" and "buy a bath bomb and a fec mask and some other things you don't have the money for" shit? i'm here for ya.

1. NOT DYING

eat at least three meals a day, one of which m u s t be warm and above 300 kcal (it can be istant ramen with an egg added if you have to)

you technically should shower everyday, but we know how it is. A change of clothes is sometimes enough.

DRY SHAMPOO AND BABY WIPES!!!

keep bottles with water everywhere. On your desk, near that spot on the floor you always end up sitting on, near your bed, basically whenever you know you spend a lot of time. No need to get up and go to the kitchen will help. Obviously change the water in the bottles as often as you can.

Get some form of physical activity. It doesn't have to be much, you can for example replace scrolling on tiktok by walking around your room and scrolling on tiktok! Brilliant, isn't it? Obviously, running or doing those 10 minutes workouts from youtube is better, but you are still getting like an hour of walking.

Buy blankets. Steal blankets. Summon blankets from other dimensions. Just make sure you have a lot of warm, soft blankets in your house. You will thank me when you won't have the anergy to wash your sheets (just take them off and throw some blankets on your bed), or when the power goes out.

If you have pets, ALWAYS keep spare food that'll last for a week for them.

things to always have in the kitchen: milk, eggs, flour, rice, pasta, yeast, cheese, oil, a leafy vegetable, onions, tomatoes, apples, patatoes, some flavourful sauce, sugar, salt, spices and an emergency chocolate bar. You can make a lot of food with those. Just make sure you won't eat the chocolate too fast.

Have a lot of spare batteries. A lot.

Get urself a flashlight, a lighter, and a pocket knife.

Remember the apples? eat one a day. if you don't like apples or you can't eat them for any other reason, you can take a kiwi, banana, orange, basically something that will give you vitamins and non processed sugar.

do the dishes before your sink starts developing it's own ecosystem

drugs from that one guy around the corner = very bad time

2. NOT DYING INSIDE

Open the damn window.

Don't watch so many commentary videos. You are probably not even checking the sources, so you can easily make unjust judgement, and like. did you even hear of half of those people before?

make a discord server just for yourself. get into the habit of writing little things that happened to you there. rant about the fanfics you read. or the movies. vent there if you don't have anyone you can vent to. write your ideas there, write e v e r y t h i n g. make a section for passwords, for quick ideas, for your to do lists. you won't lose it as you do with sticky notes or notebooks. there is no risk anyone will see it. oh, and when you'll have a strong impulse to tell emily that you hate her? write that message in your private server and list all ur arguments. look at tat the next day and decide if you really mean that.

life sucks. come to peace with it.

cuddle ur pets if you have them

1 hour a day without a lot of sensory input. if you have to, reduce to half an hour.

if you find yourself scrolling endlessly through social media, make sure it's pintrest (just don't compare urself to the people here; if you have issues with that, tumblr may be better)

delete. twitter. from. your. phone.

influencers are lying to you; maybe not even intentionally. remember when you were watching that cute-aesthetic-productive morning routine, and you were wondering why your life isn't that pretty? why your room is a mess? why you cannot for the life of god be aesthetic 24/7? its the filter. don't worry about it, their lifes arent that nice either.

realize there's actually nothing stopping you from screaming as loud as you can right now. like there is no physical barrier. think about it. realize there's no actual physical barierr to many other things.

your body is your body. you can decide how it looks like; just remember it's in your greatest interest to keep it healthy.

3. BEING A LITTLE BETTER THAN JUST ALIVE

If you wear make up, take it off before you go to sleep.

moisturize your body; everything is better when your skin doesn't feel dry

have a one brand of cosmetics that you love and buy things mainly from it. they often have sets of products that complete each other. i like ziaja. it's a polish brand, it's surprisingly cheap and has nice quality

cleanser, moisturizer, face mist

of you can, change your sheets once every two weeks

do the dishes before your sink starts developing it's own ecosystem

do a deep house clean once a month (don't beat yourself up when you don't tho)

keep your workspace organized (it doesn't have to look organized to other people, remember)

sunscreen

cook your own food

keep a calendar

no money for scented candles? got ya. make a simmer pot: throw some apple peel, a couple of cinnamon sticks and whatever spices that smell good you have into a pot, add some water and simmer. boom. your house smells good, and you haven't spend 20 dollars.

If you really like candles, buy scented wax melts. it's cheaper.

Buy urself scented mists. they're pretty cheap and will make you feel A LOT better.

keep your clothes clean. if you aren't sure if that shirt thats on your chair is dirty or not, throw it in the washing mashine anyway. better be sure.

if you can, make your bed right when you get up

wear clothes that make you feel good. put some effort into your outfits. really.

4. OTHER PEOPLE

be nice to essential workers.

if you have money, give tips.

remember, you do not owe anyone love; it is not something you can force. even if they saved your life. even when they helped you in your darkest time. if you don't love them, you don't.

you don't have to be in a romantic relationship to be happy.

if you want to, date! date everyone! date girls, date boys, date nonbinary people! date people completly different than you, date people from different countries, date them!!! just make sure they're kind and won't kill you. even if you don't end up in a relationship, you can learn a lot.

don't be afraid to piss off people that deserve it

smile to strangers :)

5. NOT FAILING SCHOOL

heard of dark academia? check it out

romanticize the heck out of studying

do not let your studying be just reading the same partagraph over and over again. it won't work. believe me.

seterra for geography, quizlet for everything else

try to make yourself intrestet in whatever you are studying (watch veritasium, listen to podcasts about weird history facts)

notes are for you and you only; don't worry about them looking pretty. doodle on margins, make weird metaphors, squeeze in as much info as you can.

when you're studying, listen to music without words/in a language you don't understand.

chew gum while you study

get the forest app, get attached to the trees, focus.

don't feel guilty for taking breaks

grades aren't everything, but they are important.

eat something in school

don't just use the cheapest pens. invest a couple dollars in something that will make writing enjoyable and smooth

those study with me videos? they're great

if you like to argue with the teachers, take care of your grades becouse. they may not like you afterwards.

be nice to your classmates and help them with homework. if you don't do your homework they'll help you

executive dysfunction won't let you study? been there. sometimes it's better to wake up ealier tommorow and do that homework then.

don't feel guilty for failing a test

go to the goddamn class

don't pull all nighters oh my god don't especially on weekdays

6. OTHER LIFEHACKS

don't get involved in the crime, and if you do always have a believable explanation why you were doing it

have different alarm sounds for every day of the week

set a daily limit of money that you spend

great hobbies that don't require a lot of money; urban exploration, writing, hiking and learning other languages

thrift stores

don't eat grapefruits while on meds

nail polish removers dissolve most strong glues.

if you have a cut on your skin, desinfect it. do it. please just do it.

always have pads with you. even if you don't get periods, at least one of your friends probably does

sign up in your local library. its free

[imonthinice]

The Criminal Psychology Majors, Jason Todd x Fem!Reader Part 12/?

Word Count: 4.4k

Author’s Note: Y/N - Your Name, A/N - Any Name (Your Best friend’s name)

God idk what i’m doing with this but i’m liking it lmao

next one might honestly be smut idk

Warnings: Violence, Swearing, Description of Blood, Gets heated, hints at trauma, no beta bitch we die like Jason Todd

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7) (Part 8) (Part 9) (Part 10) (Part 11) (Part 12) (Part 13) (Part 14) (Part 15) (Part 16) (Part 17) (Part 18) (Part 19) (Part 20)

Y/N walked through the streets of Gotham, which were once bustling with people, but now were quiet with the occasional hooker, she had caught the city as an unlively hour, where it seemed to sleep the night away while the vigilantes of the area watched it like their lives depended on it. In some ways it did, the stories they would tell when being interviewed were horrific sometimes, but Y/N figured a decent amount of it was for dramatization, to keep the people of Gotham off of the streets to protect them all from it.

The question was always protect them from what, and they never answered. So, it never kept the people of Gotham at bay from the streets at night, and had Y/N’s car not been towed, she would have been driving home in the safe, secluded area of her car, not the vast wilderness of the streets of Gotham.

She looked up at the sky to see one of the virgate boys using a grappling hook to fly to the other building, which was such a sight to behold for someone who never witnessed a superhero beyond Superman at home. She wished and longed to know more about the vigilante, but didn’t dwell or dote on that man, because she didn’t need to.

Something told her that he was watching though, tracing every step she made to make sure she got home in one piece. She thought she was crazy, her life didnt matter more than anyone else in Gotham. He’s not following me, why would he? she thought, Even though I’m dating Jason Todd, they probably don’t know Jason, so my life doesn’t mean much more to them than any one of the hookers along this street. I’m overthinking it.

The walk home took two hours, she left Jason’s at 4am just to find herself back home at 6am, bright and early as the sun rose, ready to greet the day and all it had in store for everyone. But the things it had in store for Y/N was a class and if she was lucky, cuddling with Jason. Nothing more, nothing less.

She would open her front door, unscathed from the journey home, except maybe for a few callouses on her feet, it was the last time she wouldn't pay for more than a day of parking, that’s for sure. Heels were not the shoes you wanted for a two-hour walk home in the Autumn cold, but they were what she had.

She thought about what she was going to do next, and the first thought she had was to shower. Not because she needed to, but because she wanted to nurse the terrible headache she had and to think some things through. What she normally did in the shower.

She wanted so much more from so much of her life. the main offender of seemingly not being enough for her was Jason. Not because she didn’t want more, but because she craved more from him. He was injured, so she wouldn’t get much more rom him for the time being, and it stung a little for her. She just wanted him, maybe sexually, maybe in a more romantic setting or maybe just on her couch on a Thursday afternoon. It was all three of those options and she knew it.

She pulled out of the shower and looked at the time, 6:50am. Okay, she thought, little more time than I wanted to spend in the shower, but I guess the universe had different plans for me today. What else do you have for me, universe? And how much of you plan involves Jason?

She would open her phone after quickly getting dressed. While she still cared for her appearance, she didn’t want to dress like she owned a law firm every day, so she didn’t. Just black jeans and a black top and she felt like a million bucks. 

Just some quick outfit inspo. I like doing these a lot. I think fashion is funky :))

Artemis had sent her a message asking where she was at around 4am, she wondered why the time, but she then remembered that Artemis’ boyfriend worked with Dick Grayson, who was Jason’s brother, who worked most nights until radical hours of the night. The chances that he saw her on her two-hour walk home was high, but the chances that that had also made it back to Jason was higher. She knew she was in for it.

Hey sorry, I was at Jason’s. Fell asleep in his arms the whole shebang. And yeah, that was me who screamed the yo momma joke at the press. It was super childish, I know, but I don’t care. Those fucks are sucking my life force out of me and harassing my boyfriend, even your boyfriend.

She would then look at the articles calling her a gold digger and worth-nothing childish insulter of the press. She laughed. If the press wanted a fight from her, she was more than willing to oblige and load the canons. 

She didn’t know how to fight back that well, since it was a mainly verbal fight, and she barely even knew how to  fight physically, hence all the running and non-confrontational arguments she had had to the press.

And like fucking clockwork, Jason texted her.

Did you walk home alone or are my brothers lying bastards?

I walked. I knew someone saw me, fuck.

Why did you walk home? I thought you drove here?

I did, but we spent more than 12 hours together Jason. I didn’t buy enough hours, suddenly my car was being towed.

You could have asked for a ride home from Alfred! He would have in a heartbeat.

I was going to! But  I got distracted and it all became a blur and suddenly I was part of the way home in the dark by myself!

What if you had gotten hurt?

Well, I saw one of the vigilantes of the city on the rooftops, I’m sure if I screamed they would have seen me. They always do see that stuff.

So, your car got towed huh?

Yeah, I don’t know when I’ll be able to pay it off. It’s not exactly like money my parents give me should go to my car getting towed because I got fucked over by seeing my boyfriend. 

You’ll figure it out. Sorry about the car, that’s got to suck fucking ass.

You think? I’m stuck taking the fuckin’ subway till I get my car back. I hate the subway, too many people. Far too many people. Too many eyes. It gets stressful really quickly. Might just walk every where honestly, I can’t deal with the eyes of strangers.

But you’re a C-list celebrity.

Internet is different. I can just block the bad eyes and move on with my life, you should see my block list now that some people are connecting my name to the girl who flipped off the press, thank god Twitter has a fuckin block feature.

You should really just meet my family so you don’t have to run away before they get home, would probably cause you a lot less financial stress, Y/N.

I’ll think about it.

You should think a little harder about it. I don’t want you to get your car impounded ‘cause you’re seeing me, why did you even park in pay-to-park?

Did you not see the massive mob trying to get to you? It was impossible for me to even try to pull into the driveway. Hence why I’m being insulted, you know, ‘cause I yelled at the press to get them to leave me alone. I fucking hate the press, you’re stabbed, severely injured last time they got information, and they’re harassing me, asking me what I like to do on the weekends.

Fucking vultures. Yeah, I’ve seen that. I’ve read the articles. But that’s the press for you, absolute trash and spitting bullshit in everyway.

Fucking hate the press, that’s for damn sure. Despise them. I won’t ever change that, even if, knock on wood, we break up.

Praying we don’t break up so I can see you lose your shit at the press when you’re bored.

She would get up to go make some coffee, since it was closer to 7:20am and if her roommate woke up, she could just tell her to get up anyway.

The press can suck my dick. she said.

You have a dick?

Oh yeah. Massive. 20ft long. It probably won’t even fit all the vultures.

Oh my god, that’s not as big as mine.

lmfao is it now?

Oh yeah.

Nice.

Anyway, my brothers are staying home from school today,  I think they’re making me play Resident Evil 8 with them? You know that game?

Of course. Everyone in that game is infinitely hot.

Are you bi? 

I don’t know. Haven't thought that far ahead to actually label myself. I just like people. Sometimes it’s men, sometimes it’s women. But you have to agree when you see them all. That game came out when I was still in  high school, so I’ve played the entire thing. My phone background is actually one of the characters.

Which one?

I’ll show you if I come over tonight.

My brothers might be in my room, though.

Okay, but, RE8 is an amazing game. So, worth it.

You won’t meet them normally but I pull out a game you love and you’re down?

I’m very easy to convince.

You still have notes to write when you come over though.

Oh yeah, I was probably going to have to come over both ways, just because I need those notes and you do too.

Do you not own a printer?

I barely even own a laptop, I’m waiting for my old one to come in the mail. 

How do you even manage?

With a whole lot of will and spite, anything is possible.

And that’s when her discord group chat @’ed her. She was on Do Not Disturb because she was Jason, and apparently they missed her.

Y/N! C’mere. One said.

Yes? Whatduhya want nerds?

We’ve decided to hold a fake internet wedding between you and Christopher. Another said.

A what.

We’re getting married!

Sometimes I wish I never left Metropolis and then I remember you fucks live there. Why are we doing this? You do know I have a boyfriend right? She asked them.

I don’t know, we’re bored and we miss you. We can have a bachelorette party in Gotham, if you want.

I’m this close to going back on DND.

The group chat was made way back when they had all first met in grade 9 and had been active ever since. They all had stayed in the city when they graduated though, but since Y/N received a scholarship, fully paid for, she took the opportunity and jumped.

They were some of her closest friends, even if they lived in a different city to her now, even if they were all busy with school, even if she was busy with school and a boyfriend, A lot of her life wouldn’t be complete without her crack friends in her hometown.

They had all ben partying like crazy while she was gone, and if she wasn’t so hung up in her own life, she’d probably be down there with them. 

Before you do, can you please explain why you’re screaming at the press, lmao.

Because fuck the press, dude. Why else? 

What did they do to you?

Have you seen the recent articles?

That’s true.

She laughed and finished her coffee. Jason had not responded yet, she assumed his brothers were either checking on him or they had started the game. It was around 8am when A/N finally left her room.

“I thought you were staying with Jason?”

“I was, but then I remembered he has like 9 siblings and I’m not about to meet them all. Then I walked home.”

“You walked?”

“Car got towed.”

“Fuck, can you afford the bill? I can’t.”

“Nope.”

“Guess we’re going to take the subway for a while, huh.”

She sighed and put her cup in the sink, “At least you don’t have school to go to and your lover comes to meet you, I have shit to do and places to be,” she frowned, “Inconvenient.”

“Could you borrow money from Jason’s dad?”

“I don’t borrow money from family, it’s hard enough for me to accept the money my parents send me.”

“I know it is, when’s your class?”

“3pm, I’ll be leaving at 12pm though, because the subway is unreliable.”

“This is going to be a hard hit for us.”

“Well, it’s not like it’s fucking your credit. Mine’s tanking.”

“You’ll pull through it.”

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

She got onto the subway at 12:30pm. She really hated the way it was running. The people, the faces, the staring eyes of unwanted attention. People knew who she was and she hated it. She didn’t like the attention, she just liked the fucking with people. She wanted to get off the subway the minute she got on.

She eventually couldn’t take it and got off a few stops away, there was still a substantial walk towards the college, but she knew it would be. She even brought a leather jacket with her so that she could walk if she couldn’t take it anymore.

And there she was, in the busy streets of Gotham, walking to her college. Barely aware of the people who did stare at her, because she just kept walking, lost in her thought but aware of the people in her trail, the cross walks and the lights she was waiting for occasionally. She just kept walking until Artemis met up with her,

“Hey! I didn’t know you were walking to school today,” Artemis said.

“Oh! I didn’t want to, my car got towed though.”

“Your car got towed? That sucks so much. Well, we’re going the same way, so I’ve decided I’m going to walk with you, you get no say.”

“Of course. I was going to ask if you wanted to,” she laughed, “It’s more fun with a friend anyway, Art.”

“So, how are things with you and Jason, I’m legally obliged to ask as one of his friends.”

“Well, we made it official if that’s the kind of thing you want to hear,” she laughed again, “I’m sure it’s the answer Dick will eat up.”

“You’re right about that one. Dick’s a sucker for a romantic story, you should write one, since you write. He’d probably read it all.”

“Well, that would be fun, but I still don’t have my laptop.”

“You could use Jason’s?” Artemis suggested..

“Nah. It’ll be fine,” she said, “I’ll manage.”

“Aren’t you collecting notes for him for your psychology class?”

“I am, it’s not like he can go anywhere. I actually told him he’d need to walk eventually so that it’s not a learning curve when he’s healed.”

“That’s what all of us are telling him too, he’s a stubborn man, good luck with that one,” Artemis laughed, “He’s always been the stubborn friend. Worse than Will, actually, and Will is really bad with being stubborn.”

“It’s fine,” she laughed, “If you asked any of my Metropolis friends they’d say the same about me.”

“I bet you were quite the wild child in your heyday back in your city,” Artemis laughed, “I hate Metropolis.”

“Who doesn’t? It’s so crowded.”

“Uh, Clark doesn’t. He thrives there, no idea why, he grew up in Smallville. If anyone should be uncomfortable with Metropolis it should be the small-city country boy, but I guess it’s his thing.”

“I forget you know everyone.”

“We know a lot of people, are you’re slowly being let into our massive circle of very well-known people. Welcome to the group, I guess,” she laughed, “You'll either hate or love the fame that comes from this.”

“Well, if its paparazzi and press, I think I’ll hate it.”

“I can promise you right now that it’s not all paparazzi and press, we haven’t been bothered today, probably because we are on the move.”

“You shouldn’t say that, you’ll jinx it.”

“I know a lot about not jinxing it, but that’s a story for another time,” Y/N noticed that when Artemis said this her eyes glazed over and she looked upset.

“You don’t ever have to talk to me about something you’re not ready to talk about,” Y/N reassured her.

“Hey, the trauma makes me funny.”

“Two can play that game.”

They would ramble on for the rest of the walk to their college. Nothing really of substance, just getting to know each other further. She was glad she found a friend in Artemis, it would have sucked if the two of them didn’t get along, but with each word they exchanged, they had so much fun.

She even told Artemis about that time she played Katherine Howard in her school’s budget play of Six - The Musical. She was proud of the riffs she was able to do, but she didn’t talk about it often. She was never the type of brag about her achievements, no matter how amazing they were.

But Artemis and Y/N parted ways and Y/N went to her class and wrote the same, boring, scribbly and barely legible notes. She figured eventually she’d need nicer handwriting, but did she want to work on it? No.

When she finished, she saw Artemis and who she could only assume to be Wally, at Artemis’ class doors. She waved to Artemis, before Artemis called her over.

“Y/N! Hey, I would ask how class is, but this is Wally,” she gestured to the red-head boy beside her, and Y/N held out her hand to shake Wally’s.

“Hi, Wally.”

“Y/N. It’s nice to meet you since Jason can’t shut up about you and my girlfriend likes you a lot.”

“Well that's sweet of you Artemis. You’re just so in love with me,” Y/N joked.

“Girl. You know it,” Artemis joked back.

“You two already have a close bond? That’s impressive,” Wally said, “Never seen anyone win over any of my friends this quickly,” he muttered.

They joked for a little while longer, just getting to know Wally before she had to go, she had to get to Jason’s.

The walk was a while away, so she went and sat on a park bench for a minute to check her phone, Jason had texted her.

Hey baby, are you coming over?

I am, yes. I actually just met Wally.

You met Wally and I wasn’t there to see it? C’mon.

Artemis introduced us! Go yell at her.

Oh. Never mind. I won’t do that.

Ha! Scared of her?

Maybe a little, she can be scary, okay?

You can’t tell but I’m laughing at you.

Dhmu.

That’s fine, I’ll just go hang out with Alfred and not you. He seems like he would be spiteful like me.

That’s unfair.

I thought you said don’t hit me up?

Fuck.

Checkmate.

I am upset.

No you’re not.

No I’m not.

She would walk down the street further, maybe within a couple steps to reach the Manor, when a man dragged her into an alleyway. She yelped.

“Uh, hello? Can I help you?” she asked, pretending she wasn’t terrified.

“How much would Bruce give me for you?” the attacker mumbled before he tried to knock her to the ground, but she had another plan.

He grabbed her, put his face close to hers, and she head-butted him, he would stumble back, and she started running to the Manor.

“Come here you fucking bitch!” he screamed. She could feel her nose bleeding as she ran and ran, the security saw her and pulled her into the gateway before drawing their guns and urging her to run to the steps of the Manor.

And she ran. The security at the door saw her and let her in, and yelled for Alfred.

“What is this nonsense, oh,” Alfred paused when he saw the blood running out of Y/N’s nose, “Miss Y/N, what happened to you?” he asked before grabbing her hand and pulling her into the entry-way bathroom and opening a first-aid kit.

“Okay so, what happened was I was walking to the Manor because my car got towed right? And this fucking bastard dude pops out from an alleyway and pulls me into it, asks some bullshit about how much Bruce would pay for me, when he grabbed me and tried to knock me down, when I head-butted him and started running,” she said, completely unphased.

Alfred didn’t respond to her and started to stop the bleeding when Bruce called for him, “In the entry-way bathroom, Master Wayne!” he answered.

Bruce came around the corner and saw Alfred was already tending to Y/N, “Well, this is the event where I meet my son’s girlfriend, when she is bleeding and running from a strange man in an alleyway.”

“Heh, sorry,” she said and outstretched her hand to shake his, “It’s nice to finally meet you, Bruce.”

“I can tell you’re going to be quite the addition to this household,” he said as he took her hand and shook it, “As long as you’re okay.”

“I’m okay.”

“That’s good. I guess you can’t get mad at Jase for being a reckless man now.”

“I really can’t.”

“Alright, you should be good, Miss Y/N.”

“Thank you, Alfred. But you really didn’t have to.”

“I’ve been taking care of 5 boys and 3 girls since most of them were little, Miss Y/N. A little blood is really no big deal for me to handle.”

“That’s obvious.”

“You can go see the boys now, they’re going to ask you though,” Bruce said.

“I know.”

She walked to Jason’s room, hoping that he wouldn’t have all of his siblings in the room, he did though.

“Hey, Y/N- what the fuck happened to you?” Jason exclaimed when she opened the door.

“Oh great, all your siblings are here. Anyway, I guess,” she paused, taking in a big breath so she could run through the events quickly, “So I was walking here ‘cause my car got towed, right? When some fucking bastard man grabs me and yanks me into an alleyway and starts going off about how much Bruce will pay him to get me back or something,” she paused again, “And when he tried to knock me down by getting really close and personal to my face, like an idiot I should add, I head-butted him.”

“You did what?’

“I’m not done yet, met your dad when I actually had blood running out of my nose because that's just my fucking luck. Okay, now you can be disappointed in me,” she joked.

“I will say again, you did what?”

“Something stupid?” she said.

“You could say that again, my god, what went through your head?”

“Uh, nothing. Just survival. Fight or flight but I head-butted a man, and hi, everyone.”

“Hi, Y/N, I’m Dick,” Dick said, “You clearly are meant for Jason,” he joked, “That's something he would do.”

“Don’t encourage her, Dick!”

Stephanie got up and greeted her, “You know, Y/N, I always wanted a crazy sister,” she joked, “I’m Stephanie, the black-haired girl is Cass, and the red-head is Barbara.”

“Me too,” Cass hopped onto the joke.

“It’s something else when you meet the girl your brother is dating after she head-butted a man, apparently,” Y/N laughed, “I know it’s far-fetched-”

“Not really,” Tim cut her off, “You know Jason protected Will when they were attacked?”

“That’s Tim, by the way,” Dick said.

“So you can’t yell at me for head-butting a man!” Y/N joked at Jason while going to sit beside him, he slinged an arm around her shoulder and leant his head into her head.

“Well, you seem like a nice enough girl,” Barbara said, “Take away the reckless behavior, and you are lovely.”

“That is valid, to be honest. Not exactly the way you want to meet your brother’s girlfriend.”

“You think?” Jason asked, sarcastically.

“Ha ha.”

“See, she thinks I’m funny, why can’t you fucks?”

Y/N laughed and then asked Dick, who was playing RE8 at the time, staring at the photo of Donna Bentiveno, “She’s cute, isn’t she, Dick?”

“Have I been staring?”

“Let’s just say Angie is probably very pissed at you.”

“Oh! Whoops. There’s a point to this, I forgot.”

“I don’t blame you, I remember forgetting there was a point and the little bitch devil doll would attack you.”

“Language.”

“Oh no, you’re lame. Gross.”

“Excuse me?” Dick asked as the rest of the room erupted in laughter.

“Do you guys see why I like her now?” Jason asked.

“Uh no, she’s mean,” Dick said.

“You’re going to die if you don’t start paying attention, Dick,” Y/N said.

“Oh!” and he died.

“And that kids, is why we listen to the person who’s 100%’ed the game.”

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

Y/N and Jason would spend hours with his brothers and sisters until the sun started to set and they all scattered to their own rooms to  do their own things. you can’t keep a lot of kids in one room for so long.

Once everyone left, Y/N placed her hands on Jason and kissed him, she was actually able to be laid on his pillow, he was able to pin her to the bed. And they did just that. He was on top of her, using his one arm to prop himself up and using his other hand to touch her face.

Her hands found their way into his hair like they always did, she found a lot of joy in playing with his hair. Their tongues danced together, they never fought or anything, they just enjoyed each other when Jason let out a small moan and she let out a small laugh.

“Keep it in your pants, Tiger,” she joked, “You’re not fully healed.”

“You literally smashed your face into another man but I can’t moan when I kiss you?”

“Because I know you want more.”

“Hell yeah I do,” he said as he went back for more, actually using his strength to keep her to the bed, but she didn’t protest this time.

[eyessharpweaponshot]

hi there!! are there any fics you’re reading right now that you would recommend? i need something good after the season we’ve been given so far 😣

hello there!

I agree, this season has been disappointing - especially considering it’s the last one. but thankfully, our fandom is full of amazing writers that serve us goods regularly. I have so much to recommend, it’s a joke. so prepare for a long fic rec. In no particular order, let’s begin:

1. Chasin’ You - @burninghoneyatdusk

okay. you’re gonna see a bit of a theme with me in these fic recs because the authors I mention are some of my favourites in the world - sam being one of the TOP TIER ones. this fic is a modern au, written about clarke and bellamy as exes (a favourite trope of mine) that have went their separate ways. clarke has moved away and hasn’t kept tabs on bellamy but he's soared to the top as a country star, his hit single being about her and what they had. if there’s any fic from this list you need to start reading, it’s this one.

2. Voices in the Water - @burninghoneyatdusk

It’s the canon version we all wanted. set on earth, clarke’s aunt (nia) forces her into an arranged marriage with king bellamy to unite the clans. but under it all, nia has tasked her to kill him. obviously, as clarke falls in love with bellamy, it’s the one task wanheda probably can’t complete. I'm in love with the imagery and descriptions in this fic. there are honestly some lines that sam writes that I want to frame and put up in my house. absolute brilliance.

3. All Because of You - @burninghoneyatdusk

*sheepishly raises hand* - hi, it’s me again, fangirling over another one of sam’s fics. if you have followed me for a while, either here or on twitter, you’ll have seen me screaming about this fic. I've pulled over while driving to read an update that came through to my email. no lie. I don’t say this lightly but it is definitely in my top 3 favourite bellarke fics of all time. sam DELIVERS with this one. bellamy knocks up his sister’s best friend when they’re both young and they grow together in raising their daughter. this fic flashes between present and future in the most seamless way and we see how in love they were back then but too scared to admit it, combined with how in love they are now that they are mature and older - but yet can’t seem to take the leap. I can’t tell you enough how good this fic is. I'm in love and it’s one of those fics that I would happily have as a book on my bookshelf, the pages worn and falling out from the amount of times that I re-read it.

*I just want to note that sam is doing a fantastic job at running @bellarkefic-for-blm. This is an opportunity for the bellarke community to directly support the Black Lives Matter cause through reading and writing fanfiction. For every fanfiction prompt a participating writer receives, they ask that you donate to an organization that supports the BLM cause. This initiative includes non-bellarke the 100 ships and requests for other content (e.g. gif sets, icons, moodboards, fanart). please check them out and request a prompt (this also includes updates for the above mentioned fics)*

4. Count Your Teeth - @icantloseyou-too

let me tell you, you guys will be well fed after reading this fic. It’s one of the most original idea’s and we get so much bellarke and the blake siblings in this one. bellamy is a treasure hunter and married to clarke, after leaving his thieving days behind him. that is until his past comes knocking and drags him back into that world again - and clarke along with him. absolute chefs kiss!

5. Cups and Sorcerers - @icantloseyou-too

again, such a unique plot with just the right amount of fluff. clarke is a witch who owns a coffee shop and she ends up meeting someone just as unique as her. I’m invested in this to an embarrassing degree and it always puts me in a good mood when this fic is updated. such a light and heart filling read and ciara does a fantastic job of world building in this fic.

6. Paint me in Trust - @pawprinterfanfic

I'm sure this fic needs no introduction. everyone and their mother has heard of it and if you haven’t read it yet, believe me, you’re missing out. a harry potter au that runs alongside the last few movies without being involved with the main characters. essie manages to make an already existing world so different, thrilling and gripping. it emotionally upends you and takes you along for the ride without any intention of letting you off. I'm just in love with it and rightly so!

7. When the Wolves Come Home - @pawprinterfanfic

I don’t know how people aren’t RAVING about this fic more because I certainly am. it’s massive for me to even say this because I love all of essie’s work but it’s my favourite fic that she’s written. I can’t describe the feeling I get when I read how she’s written bellarke in this. it’s a percy jackson au but you don’t need to have knowledge of that world to enjoy this. I actually started reading the books because of this fic. essie writes it so well and incorporates a lot of fantastic elements from greek mythology while also keeping me on the edge of my seat with bellarke’s journey. HERE FOR IT ALL THE WAY.

8. I’ll Find You in the Morning Sun - @cominguproses13x

I’ve never seen a fic talked about as much as this one. with 60 chapters, it’s bound to satisfy any hunger you have for bellarke. it’s set in a post apocalyptic world and it is beyond a shadow of a doubt, my favourite setting to read bellarke in. I've actually stopped reading this fic on chapter 5 because im currently writing my own post apocalyptic au as it was a trope on my bingo card and I don’t want any subconscious spill over, but I fully intend on reading the rest of the fic in one go once my fic is published and done. it deserves all the praise and hype.

9. For Blue Skies - @kombellarke

kayla’s fics make me actually weep. her writing style is just unbelievable and she sucks me into stories so fast. this one is no different. I live and breathe for bellarke as exes and this fic is one of my favourites. it’s a modern au with clarke as a mother and she cascades back into bellamy’s life without warning. perfect angst and anticipation. in love.

10. Love Like Fools - @talistheintrovert

the way I love talis with my whole heart. I'm always obsessed with her fics and the way this one was written was just magnificent. enemies to friends to lovers, roommates, angst, emotional comforting? SIGN ME UP. the perfect mix of all of those and I felt so good after reading this. always a fan.

11. It Had To Be You - @useyourtelescope

I had the honour of pre-reading some of this fic before it was published and I felt so privileged. a regency au with a prank war sprinkled in? perfection. hana honestly writes this so beautifully and I can’t recommend this enough. it’s so unique and we are all so incredibly lucky that there’s something in the bellarke fic world for everyone.

12. Veni, Vidi, Vinci - @carrieeve

Again, proof of the pudding that there’s something in fic for everyone. I’ve never read one like this before and it THRILLED me. murphy and bellamy working together to steal a Vinci? it was the fic I never knew I needed. the bellarke interaction in this was beautifully written and I am just completely obsessed. we really struck gold with the bellarke big bang works this year.

13. A Twist of Fate - @queenemori

let’s be honest, soulmate au’s are always wanted and needed in this fandom and kara does an excellent job of serving us this one. we got some team cockroach in here along with some top tier quality bellarke. what more could you ask for? if you haven’t read this fic yet, you need to. so thankful for kara being the absolute gifted babe that she is.

14. Power Over Me - @sparklyfairymira

okay, if you recently watched the witcher on netflix like I did, believe me, you NEED to read this fic. if you haven’t watched the witcher, this fic will make you want to watch it. the smut in this, the plot, the WRITING. absolutely phenomenal. have I mentioned how lucky we are to have such fantastic writers in this fandom?

15. There’s a Serpent Lying Deep Down in These Still Waters - @shaeheda

post apocalyptic au? SIGN ME UP. bellarke thrown together in unkind circumstances? SIGN ME UP. this magnificent human writing a fic? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP. I'm so in love with this fic already and I haven’t even finished it yet. as I've said, I've stopped reading fics in this genre until my own is completed but I’ve read enough to tell you that this needs to be on your next to read list. forever in awe of the talent here and this fic makes me feel so lucky to be part of something so great.

I hope this satisfies you for a while and that you enjoy all the bellarkey goodness that comes from these fics. I'm gonna drop some of mine below because why not? just in case you’re in need of something more.

1. I Found Peace in Your Violence

clarke griffin has it all. she’s popular, an artistic prodigy and has a wealthy family to boot. so when her perfect world comes crashing down around her, it’s time to sink or swim. she tests positive for the Homicidal Tendency Syndrome gene, also known as the kill gene. clarke is plucked from her comfortable life and placed into a school with people just like her - carriers, delinquents. when she meets bellamy blake there, he looks like everything they say HTS carriers are. a monster, a criminal. yet, he’s the one who protects her.

2. I Am Lost This Time

a void!bellamy fic that we all deserved to have happen in canon. an au where bellamy hears clarke’s radio calls from earth, sees her memories in m-cap and where she really is the key: the one that unlocks his memories and brings him back to her.

3. Purple, Blue, Orange, Red

bellarke are childhood friends and teenage lovers, reuniting in the midst of the same grief that tore them apart.

4. Devil Side

post apocalyptic setting and my favourite fic to have ever written. both of them coming together to survive and protect those in their family, including two small children. bellarke started out as strangers, who would have thought that they’d end up co-parenting in the middle of a world that is too dangerous to survive out in the open?

5. Waste It on Me

a soulmate/reincarnation au that I wrote based off my own breakup and feelings. probably my most popular fic and should keep you going in terms of bellarke feels.

[laraplisetski]

Dating Takahiro Hanamaki

A/n: Makki and Matsun are honestly some of my favorite guys from Seijoh. I hope I portrayed Makki well enough. Hope you guys enjoy reading it. :)

Words:1100

Tags: @imthatchishiyasimp​, @kekozume​

Hello dear friends, I hope you like this

Hanamaki’s a pretty calm and collected guy-

From that sentence only you know I'm lying 

This guy is the most Crackhead person you will ever meet aside from Matsun that is.

He loves to make you laugh, because of that he sends you memes 24/7. 

It's lowkey annoying but you love him.

He also sends you random facts about anything at like 3am and then he gets sad when you dont reply.

‘One-quarter of all your bones are located in your feet’

And your just like, ‘please go to sleep’

He loves to prank you and Matsun but then you get back at him when you team up with Matsun.

Also Matsun is your bestie cause yes and you are friends with the other third years. 

Iwaizumi got more people to tease Oikawa. You guys like to gang up on him when he misses a serve and start teasing him.

It's not bullying I swear.

Also you really trust the other third years a lot. 

If you have a problem and Makki isn't there, you go ask Matsun for help. If he isn't there as well then you go to Oikawa or Iwaizumi. 

It isn't just the third years that like you, The whole team loves you and they're all your children.

You help Iwaizumi keep them in line and you're like the team mom.

Even though you tell everyone that you don't have a favorite, Oikawa is secretly your favorite child.

Side note, Oikawa and Kyotani are tied for favorite children.

Aside from the team you guys have sleepovers and movie nights that are very calm until Matsun makes an appearance and then it turns chaotic.

Say goodbye to your house cause it'll be on fire till the morning.

When Matsun doesn't join, it's all calm and quiet and you guys just bask in each other's presence.

If you don't want to stay at home and you want to go out he's down to go anywhere you want to go. 

Want to go skydiving? He's in 

Want to go to a haunted house? He’ll try it ig

Want to go to eat ramen at a convenience store? Hell yes

But anyways you guys have weird ass date ideas, some examples are given above.

When you guys go on dates Makki always has matching clothes ready and he seems to think they're really cute.

(honestly I don't get the hype in matching clothes. Like I don't mind matching clothes that have a few elements that are matching but I hate the ones that are fully the same. Sorry for going on a rant, can't believe i got pissed over matching clothes)

You guys also sometimes go to the countryside on the weekends and you guys book like a little cottage and stay there and catch chickens or whatever.

Makki’s not that romantic but he’s trying his best oKay.

He likes giving you kisses. 

Just coming up from behind and giving you a little peck on your cheek and running away. Or when you guys are cuddling you get a forehead kiss.

He also gives you forehead kisses when he wakes up in the morning and you're not awake. When he wants to wake you up he starts peppering your collarbone with kisses and starts whining really loud which makes you want to punch him.

When you wake sleepover at his house, you usually wear one of his shirts to bed and he finds it very hot when you come stumbling into the kitchen looking all soft and cute in his oversized shirt. 

Also Makkis hugs are amazing cause 1. He's soft 2. He smells very nice.

Also when you're tired and don't want to walk to your bedroom he tends to pick you up and have your legs wrap around his waist.  Like yk how parents pick up their children.

I'm sorry if you don't get what I mean.

Y'all also vent to each other. 

You just sit down and hold each other in your arms if you've had a rough day.

When you get sick he takes a lot of care for you.

Like brings you soup and makes you stuff to eat.

You're not allowed to get up, if you need anything he's there.

He will still make fun of you. 

He’ll refuse to cuddle with you because he ‘doEsN’t wAnT tO caTcH gErMs’.

Sakusa is that you.

If he does this you tell him to give back all the pens he took from you. 

He shuts up and obliges right away.

Also he's a supportive boyfriend. 

When youre doing anything new, he'll hype you up.

Entering debating? That great

He’ll research whatever you're doing and try to help you as much as he can.

Anywaysss

He has a meme account on instagram. I'm not gonna dive deeper into this topic but lemme tell you it's very chaotic and it's about Oikawa, and Oikawa hates it.

Usually he wouldn't let anyone touch his meme account because that's his baby but he lets you post some of you guys pictures or little snippets on his story.

Other than that you're his twitter manager congrats.

Whatever he posts on instagram you post on twitter for him.

It's free real estate really.

He has this habit of making dirty jokes.

(I just know, don't ask)

Like sometimes his timing is really bad and you'll have to shut him up before he offends someone.

‘I swear to god if you make another dick joke you will be going inside the grave as well’

Also his flirting skills are…. questionable if I'm being nice. Like he's gonna use the most horrendous pick up lines on you and you'll be like wtf.

Makki doesn't get jealous very easily and usually if someone's bothering you he will expect you to tell them off on your own but if someone's bothering you even after you told them off he will step in.

Suddenly the person will have the school volleyball team towering over him.

That person will never be seen again, jk jk, unless..

But last point and I swear I'm done.

You tend to watch practice and help with stretches. You sometimes even comment if his technique seemed off and you study volleyball strategies with the coach. 

Plus points if you're a volleyball player.

If you're a setter he will make you set for you and if you're a spiker he’ll have you spike a ball and hell see if he can receive them, if you're a libero it's gonna be the other way around.

[trainsinanime]

How to make a fake post

I just watched the excellent video by Sarah Z about fake made-up posts, i.e. screenshots of Tumblr posts that are clearly stupid made-up stories, except the screenshot itself is also fake. And that inspired me to do something I’ve wanted to do for a while: Make an illustrated tutorial on how to make a fake a screenshot of a tweet, Tumblr post or similar that are indistinguishable from real ones.

This works on desktop on any modern web browser, though the specific UI will look a bit different depending on which one you use.

Step 0 - if your web browser is Safari on Desktop

This step is not necessary if you’re using Firefox, Chrome, or something based on either (typically the latter) like Edge or Brave.

Open the preferences.

[Image description: Screenshot of Safari app menu open on macOS with the “Preferences…” item highlighted]

Go to “Advanced” (the last tab) and at the very bottom, make sure that “Show Develop menu in menu bar” is selected.

[Image description: Screenshot of Safari preferences window on the “Advanced” tab; the last item, a checkbox saying “Show Develop menu in menu bar”, is selected.]

Step 1 - Open an example post

I’m going to fake a tweet by myself, which you can find here: https://twitter.com/zcochrane/status/1406004939810295808

The specific tweet is irrelevant; this one is about programming and complains about how SwiftUI, a technology for developing Mac apps, is full of issues. It’s easiest to choose one that doesn’t have any hashtags.

Step 2 - Drill down

Now, right-click on the text of the tweet, and select “inspect element” or whatever menu item in your browser sounds the most like that.

[Image description: Screenshot of a random tweet by twitter user zcochrane (aka me); a word is highlighted, and a context menu is open, with the item “Inspect Element” highlighted]

This isn’t to give anyone ideas; you can assume that all the worst people on the internet already know this. That is really the key. I want to destroy your trust in screenshots of posts, especially screenshots of very weird and outlandish posts. (Note also that this isn’t the only way to do this, and it only works on desktop, but it illustrates how easy it is).

On the bottom or the side of the window, a new, complicated view will open that shows you the inner workings of the web page. You can do a lot of fun stuff here, but we don’t need a lot for our purposes.

[Image: Screenshot of a Safari window showing the same tweet, now with a blue box is lying over the text, and the bottom half of the window has a complex view of details about the text in that box and its place in the site’s internal structure.]

The important thing is the tree view on the left. If you can’t see the text of the tweet in there, click the disclosure triangle next to whatever thing is highlighted there. This should show the text directly.

[Image: Screenshot of a tree view showing various HTML elements. They are all expanded. The inner-most item is just the text of the tweet from above.]

Step 3 - Change it

Now you can just double-click on that text and enter something new.

[Image: Screenshot of the same tree view, now wider (don’t know why the window just jumped around on me). In place of the static text from last time is now a text entry box containing the words “It is impossible to fake screenshots of tweets.”]

Once you press enter or the focus moves somewhere else, the text on the website will change.

Step 4 - Take a screenshot

[Image: Screenshot of a tweet, the same one we’ve had the entire time with the same user and date, but it now says “It is impossible to fake screenshots of tweets.”]

And that’s it! If you want to do something with multiple paragraphs like your average Tumblr post, then you probably need to know a little HTML, but it’s not that hard.

For better results, you can also use the same technique to fake the time and date when the post was made, so it looks like the post was deleted - though honestly, that’s probably not worth the time and effort. And you can, of course, also change the number of likes and retweets, or for Tumblr posts, the number of notes, and other information like the user names and so on to fit whatever narrative you want to tell.

What makes this particular technique so useful is that you cannot compare pixels or whatever to prove a tweet is fake. The pixels that the screenshot grabs get generated in exactly the same way as for the real tweet. Proving that this tweet is fake is somewhere between difficult and completely impossible.

The point

This may seem like dangerous secret knowledge to some, maybe. But it’s really not that difficult, and you can assume that everyone who has more than a passing knowledge of web development (and that is a lot of people) can figure this out if they want to. (And if you’re into web development but didn’t know this yet, try it out, it’s super useful!)

In particular, you can safely assume that all the worst people in the world already know this trick and others like it. What this means is that every single screenshot ever is suspicious. Did that post really exist? There is genuinely no way of knowing, unless you find the actual post in question.

That means if you see a particularly stupid post, or a particularly offensive one, by someone you respect, or by someone you hate, or by just anyone in general, then you must always assume that it’s very possibly fake. It takes maybe ten seconds more to create a fake screenshot than to create a real one.

Not all screenshots are fake, and sometimes screenshots are the only source for something because the original was deleted, but all screenshots might be fake, and so you should tread very carefully when one is involved.

There is also an inverse to that: If you want to share a post or a tweet somewhere that you know is real, you should always include a link to the original (and also an image description for people using screen readers). If it’s a good post, it allows people to leave the hearts and stars where they belong; if not (or if that’s debatable), it provides the context and proves that the post is, in fact, real.

[bulkyphrase]

Everybody & the Avengers Team

I've got a new fic rec list for you!

The stories in the "X & the Avengers Team" tags focus on one person's relationship to the Avengers team as a whole. Courtesy of AO3's tag browse and Excel, here's a ranked list of the top 20 most popular pairings:

Tony Stark | 2470 total, 240 OTP

Peter Parker | 2255 total, 85 OTP

Steve Rogers | 602 total, 56 OTP

Loki | 387 total, 26 OTP

Natasha Romanov | 308 total, 35 OTP

Clint Barton | 268 total, 46 OTP

Bruce Banner | 244 total, 15 OTP

Thor | 209 total, 7 OTP

Avengers Team | 174 total, 24 OTP

James "Bucky" Barnes | 156 total, 7 OTP

Wanda Maximoff | 143 total, 4 OTP

Phil Coulson | 105 total, 9 OTP

Darcy Lewis | 91 total, 6 OTP

Matt Murdock | 60 total, 8 OTP

Sam Wilson | 53 total, 5 OTP

Nick Fury | 41 total, 5 OTP

Harry Potter | 40 total, 0 OTP

Pepper Potts | 31 total, 1 OTP

Vision | 29 total, 2 OTP

Stiles Stilinski | 25 total, 0 OTP

In chart form, if you like charts:

Notes:

The numbers after the names are the number of stories tagged with that ship. OTP means the number of stories where that is the only relationship tagged on the story. Numbers are accurate as of July 2021.

Story Recommendations

For your reading pleasure, included below is at least one fic rec for each pairing except the crossovers from non-Marvel fandoms (apologies to Mr. Potter & Mr. Stilinski). Most are gen fic, and even in the ones with a romantic pairing, romance is not the focus.

Tony Stark

As Subtle As Cognitive Recalibration by petroltogo (Teen, 8949) tumblr: @tonystarktogo

Standing inside his penthouse, listening to Rogers, Barton and Banner explain to Fury how they just happened to stumble over the Tesseract on a routine security check of Stark Tower’s roof and wouldn’t you know, they’ve managed to fight off the looming alien invasion before it could really start and secure the missing overpowered nightlight is one of the most surreal situations Tony has ever had the displeasure of experiencing.

Peter Parker

the worst field trip ever by shrill_fangirl_screaming (Teen, 3420) tumblr: @i-am-having-an-emotion

"We're on a field trip," Peter said. "To here. And Tony decided to be our tour guide and absolutely embarrass me, so can you please help get him under control?"

Which is how Peter Parker, architect of his own destruction, ended up with not one but two superhero pseudo-dads being annoying on his school field trip.

Steve Rogers

Do You Remember Being Happy? ('Cause I Sure Don't) by GalaxyThreads (Teen, 11022) tumblr: @galaxythreads

That seems about right. He doesn't know how he knows that, though. He does have vague memories of an annoyed fondness at finding peanut butter in some sort of jam. Thor's doing, because he doesn't see the point of using two knives when one works just as fine. He knows that. How does he know that? He knows all those little details, though, almost innately. How can he know these strangers so deeply?

Everyone else below the cut!

Loki

Proprietary by TheThirdMarauder (Teen, 7639)

No, Loki simply wants the Avengers conquered. The details of whom, how, and when matter not. Unless, of course, said details interfere with Loki's plans. Then, well, then none can fault him for protecting his own interests.

Loki has always been exceptionally good at lying to himself.

Natasha Romanov

What Girls Are Made Of by enigma731 (Teen, 4613) tumblr: @enigma731

She rolls her eyes but does as he’s indicated, using his shoulders to leverage herself up onto his back, her arms around his neck and her legs hugging his waist.

“You know,” he says blithely, “this isn’t really what I tend to picture when I think of a hot girl riding me.”

Natasha groans, deciding that if his sense of humor gets them arrested, she’ll kill him herself. “Just go.”

Clint Barton

Dear Clint Barton (circa age 7) by pollyrepeat (Teen, 4221)

With a normal person, this might count as blackmail material, but a) this is a case of mutually assured destruction if ever there was one, and b) Fury is immune to embarrassment. Not just in the regular, Tony Stark way, either, oh no. Things that could possibly end up being embarrassing to Fury get somehow warped and changed until they go from mortifying all the way over into useful and/or good for his image. It’s like a superpower.

Carrying Clint’s small child self around on his shoulders more than once has probably already hit the interagency rumour mill as an example of Fury’s innate awesomeness: good with rocket launchers and small children.

Also available as a podfic!

Bruce Banner

They're Not Wrong by Trumpeteer34 (Teen, 10163)

As Tony began to pace around the hole in the road to keep himself from shooting repulsors at the nearby buildings in a fit of rage, Thor began to study the nearby area. There was no sign of either the Hulk or Bruce Banner beyond the crater. The surrounding area, aside from the rubble of the fight, held no clue as to their friend’s location.

“Guys, he’s gone,” Tony growled into the communicator on their private line, drawing Thor out of his darkening thoughts. “Someone tranqed him and took him. He’s gone.”

Honorary mention goes to the Responsible Science series by @letteredlettered - the stories don’t have the "Avengers Team & Bruce Banner" tag, but they could, and they are amazing. The best Bruce Banner writing I've ever come across.

Thor

Fortunately, I Am Mighty by onward_came_the_meteors (General, 3062)

Steve was the first one to speak. “Are you okay?”

Thor nodded. Which was a bad idea, as it turned out, because now there were little gray lights flashing in front of his eyes. “I’m fine.” Absolutely everyone narrowed their eyes, and he added, “But, uh. Could we possibly not get back in the car just yet?”

Avengers Team

Civil Wasn't by onward_came_the_meteors (General, 7123)

"We're having an ideological conflict here," Tony stated with disbelief. "Are you telling me you still want to go out to dinner?"

"It's a standing engagement, Tony," Rhodey reminded him.

"Not you too—"

"We already had to reschedule from Friday when Natasha was..." Rhodey frowned. "What were you doing?"

The question was directed toward Natasha, who shrugged and said, "Spy stuff."

James "Bucky" Barnes

You Know How I Feel, aka, The Adventures of Bucky and Muffy the Dinosaur by ifeelbetter (Not Rated, 4511) tumblr: @ifeelbetterer

“As you may have heard, Bucky Barnes, a.k.a. The Winter Soldier, recently rescued a tiny part-robot dinosaur during the Avengers’ battle with Dr. Doom in Antarctica,” the other newscaster explained. “Pictures of Barnes and the dinosaur were posted on twitter by fellow Avenger, Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye, and immediately made Barnes’s new pet America’s sweetheart.”

“Her name’s Muffy,” said Steve."

Wanda Maximoff

and the woman was young again by Mira_Jade (General, 3669)

Tony Stark called them the Cap's Kooky Quintet, and sometimes the term amused her – causing her to lift a sardonic brow where someday a smile would truly smile. She enjoyed the presence of comrades – true comrades – and she enjoyed the way their minds wove and bound together about each other to fluctuate against her senses as one. There was something soothing about being in their midst, and even when their loud and brash ways – their painful Americaness - rubbed her raw and drained on her, it was ever the knitting of their minds that soothed those moments over, and made them inconsequential.

Phil Coulson

Coulson's First Day of School by storiesfortravellers (Teen, 3055)

Coulson looked up at him. “I like drawing pictures with Mr. Rogers. I like having tea parties with Ms. Potts. I like it when Dr. Banner reads me books, and I like it when Natasha teaches me things. And I like when you play with me. You do really good voices when we play action figures. And you’re the only one who lets me do stuff like jump off the high diving board at the pool or eat three cupcakes or play tackle with kids at the park.”

Clint didn’t realize that. He was pretty sure that meant that he was doing something wrong.

Darcy Lewis

Beginner Yoga for Dummies (Darcys) and Sad Hobos by chailover (Teen, 3434)

Darcy had a theory: crazy attracted crazy, working kind of like gravity. It was pretty much her explanation for her life after Thor. And if she had thought the type of crazy Thor attracted was bad, be it Loki or the Warrior Three and Sif, or the dark elves and the Convergence, it was still nothing against what the Avengers manage en masse.

Matt Murdock

Double Blind by smilebackwards (Teen, 2381) tumblr: @smilebackwards

Stark snaps his fingers. “You can’t see half of my inventions. This explains so much about you and why you’ve never been properly impressed by me.”

“Does it?” Matt says, ambiguously.

Sam Wilson

Bystander by scribblemetimbers (Teen, 52029)

“I just want you to know,” Sam says loudly, cautiously raising his hands, “That I’m very poor and very sleep-deprived and literally the only thing you can kill me for right now are my notes.” He pauses. Wait. On second thought: “Please don’t steal my notes.”

“I’m not—I’m not a mugger,” Not Mugger rasps out, and for all that he looks about to keel over and die, the man actually manages to sound offended.

Nick Fury

Bedtime Story by dixiehellcat (Teen, 2532) tumblr: @deehellcat

Fury snorted. “I have to check in with the duty officer. I’ll be back in, let’s say twenty minutes. I expect all of you to have whatever your pre-bedtime routines are completed, and be in here pajama’ed and ready to be read to.”

He tapped the book under his arm, then left with the usual dramatic swish of his long coat. Bruce scratched his head. “Did…he just say be ready to be read to?”

Pepper Potts

Pepper and the Avengers (Which She Knows Nothing About) by rebelmeg (General, 6696) tumblr: @rebelmeg

The Avengers, that mismatched group of hurt and heroism, was one of the most important things in Tony Stark’s life. So, naturally, Pepper had made them an important part of her life too.

Vision

039. Intoxicated by aimmyarrowshigh (Teen, 100) tumblr: @aimmyarrowshigh

It might be nice to fit in, just this once. To lose a bit of composure.

Vision floated over to the refrigerator and, with some timidity, pulled off a magnet. He stuck it to his forehead.

[gossipchii]

Drive to survive

FF.net: here / AO3: here

Characters: Ishida Yamato

Words: 5100+

Notes: I promised this on twitter, and here as well and well, it happened. A Digimon story on my latest obsession. the Formula 1.

It’s safe to say I got excited, this is my longest story in forever!

Anyway, hope you like it as much as I do. Enjoy!

He was making history; he could not let himself forget it. Not ever had there been a Japanese driver to win podiums, and so far, during that season only, he had five. He had been working towards where he was right now ever since he was 8, when his dad had taken him to a kid’s go-kart circuit in Tokyo and had found out his heart had never beaten quicker. His mom had gotten scared when he told her how much he had liked it, and that he wanted to go back.

The owner of the place, a former engineer for Formula 1, was impressed as soon as he placed his eyes on him.

“He’s got talent,” he had told his mother, she shrugged it off. It was only a hobby, it had to be.

When his grandparents had gone visiting from Paris, Yamato had insisted on them seeing him race, he was only ten at the time. His grandfather knew he raced go-karts from his calls with his mother, but since she had insisted it was just a hobby, he took it that way. Of course, as an old French man, he was a big afficionado of car races, and nevertheless he was impressed by how fast his young grandson was.

“He’s a natural Natsuko, you must understand this is not just a hobby.”

Yamato traveled back to France with his grandparents, after he had heard them discussed with his mother about him taking a shot at race teams in Europe, professional ones. He had never been a professional before, he was not even sure what that meant, since Formula 1 was not a popular sport between his classmates, it was all about soccer and baseball, he did not know people could get paid by racing.

Michel, his grandfather, had a friend, who knew a friend, who was a part of the recruiting team of Renault’s quarry, and as soon as they saw 10-year-old Yamato behind his tiny wheel, they knew he was a natural, good enough to start training as soon as possible with their team.

It all happened too fast for him, he had to go back to Tokyo to pack up his life and leaving for good. He was not even certain if he were feeling sad or nostalgic, all he knew was school would turn into something he could do at home, and in French, and that he would be racing all the time. It all sounded like a dream, really.

“Don’t tell your grandma I’m telling you this but go kick those English kids’ butts!” had been the encouragement words coming from his grandpa before his first-ever professional race. He was 13 at the time, already gaining enough attention from the media, especially from his home country, despite only stepping foot in Japan once a year.

He tried not to read anything regarding himself, they tended to be mean, and underappreciating him. He knew after the first article he had read, he would never read it again, what was the point anyway?

“Next time I see anyone writing something mean they’ll be fired, even if they work elsewhere,” his dad had threatened.

“It’s okay, I don’t even care anymore. Let them talk, all I care about is getting podium, again.”

And so, he did, until he was old enough to jump to the bigger leagues. From Formula 3 to Formula 2, and finally, with only 21 years old, signing a five-year contract with the team Michel had always admired: Scuderia Ferrari.

Sadly enough, he had not had the chance to see him drive in red, because he had passed away due to a heart-attack, his grandmother passing away shortly after. People said she had died from heartbreak. Yamato only took it as another reason why he had to prove his best. His management team had told him media were already calling him the best Japanese driver in history, and that was nice, but only if he made it reality.

Yamato had helped Ferrari pound back to being the first-place team once again, after years of competing against Red-Bull and Mercedes. But he had only been the fifth best racer, not good enough if he wanted to make history.

That week he was back in his homeland, Japan greeting him as a hero for the Japanese Grand Prix. It was scary how much his face was everywhere he looked, even more so than pop-icons. He was glad his team respected his choice to remain mostly private, and when they wanted advertising, his team-mate, an Austrian dude who was six years older than him, was more than happy to do the interviewing.

It was safe to say he was not pleased when they asked him to do a photoshoot for a local fashion brand, up and coming worldwide, apparently. Yamato did not care much about fashion, despite him being called the best dressed racer a few years in a row. Not that he knew about it, plus he usually put on an all-black outfit and he was through.

“Why can’t Lechner do it?”

“They want you specifically, Ishida.” His manager said softly, “even the Japanese embassy is paying for this partnership. Aren’t you proud to be Japanese?”

“Of course, I am, asshole.” He smirked, rolling his eyes as he decided it was the perfect timing to visit his brother.

As expected, he was on a tight schedule, this could never count as a vacation visit to Japan, but he had asked his team to send him into Japan two days earlier to visit his family. It was a tradition he tended to do ever since he started racing world-wide.

He took his ever-loved motorbike and drove as fast as he could to Odaiba. Driving a motorbike had been what he could call his hobby, since karting had turned into his job, having built a couple of them while living in Italy.

“He better be home,” he stretched his arms as he opened the door in front of him, knowing damn well his brother always made the mistake to leave it unlocked. He heard him singing in his bathroom, which meant he was finishing taking a shower. He looked around to confirm his mother was not home and shrugged it off. He had drifted apart from her when he initially moved to France with his grandparents, and even more so when his parents (finally) got divorced.

“Don’t you dare opening that door if you’re naked.”

“YAMATO?” Takeru opened the door wearing nothing but his tiny white trousers.

“I truly do not feel like seeing you naked,” but of course his younger brother could not care less and ran to greet him with a hug. He was the only person on earth allowed to hug him.

“What a funny way of admitting how much you had missed me!!” He gifted him one of his traded white smiles, the warmest smile Yamato knew. “Nervous for this weekend?”

“As long as it doesn’t rain, I don’t see why I should be.”

“Even when it rains you succeed, you’re always making everyone proud!”

“Even you?” he served himself oolong tea. He was surprised to see beer in his mom’s fridge, forgetting for a second his younger brother was legally allowed to drink.

“You know I’m your number one fan, those old-rich men are nothing compared to the original Yamato Ishida stan!” Takeru walked into his room to get dressed, for Yamato’s relief. He had offered his mother if they wanted to move to a bigger apartment, considering he now had the money to provide her and Takeru with something better, but she had refused, and he gave up after the third time.

“Going out?”

“I was going to, with the good-old gang, but that was before I knew you would pay me a visit.”

“So Hikari and company, I’m guessing?”

“Yeah, even Taichi is coming, you should come, too!” Taichi was his oldest friend, the only one he missed when he moved to Europe.

“Nah, you know I don’t drink.” And it was not merely because of his strict diet, he was not a fan of what alcohol did with his mindset. “But you go and have fun, I must get back to my place, anyway, and be as early as possible in Suzuka tomorrow morning.” Takeru looked disappointed, Yamato felt a pinch of guilt for not being what a fun older brother was supposed to be. “But I’ll text Taichi! Remind everyone they’re invited this weekend, VIP seats and all!”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, brother.” Yamato smiled softly before playing with Takeru’s hair like he used to when they were kids, even if he was almost his height.

He took a chopper ride from Tokyo to Suzuka the morning after. He had much rather taken the train, but Ferrari strictly prohibited him from doing so.

“Are you insane? People would eat you alive, you’re pretty much as famous as Hello Kitty is in this place!” He ignored his comment, it was always annoying to Yamato when they were in Japan, because most of his team-mates were foreign to Japanese culture, and he did not have the patience to educate every single one of them.

It was Thursday, which meant he could do strength exercises before the testing race the next day.

“How’s my superstar doing?” the mere voice of his manager irritated him, but he had another year signed up to him, afterwards he had decided to work by himself. After all, he still had another three-year contract with Ferrari.

“He’s extremely focused,” and he was strength training was the hardest to him.

“Don’t forget you have that photoshoot I had mentioned you in an hour, and I wouldn’t like you to go there all sweaty.”

“Do you think I would forget?” but in fact, he had forgotten it, his mind had probably erased the memory of that specific event.

“I’m glad we’re finally on the same track,” he winked at Yamato, before shutting the door of the hotel’s gym.

Yamato did not have much of a choice, so he took a cold shower before heading to one of the hotel’s meeting rooms. It had all been transformed for it to look like a Sakura garden. In reality, it was October and Sakura’s were far from blossoming. He would be lying if he did not admit it looked rather breathtaking.

He had heard about this up-and-coming brand. They had turned the Japanese typical attire and turned it into mainstream. He had to admit he was a fan.

He had also heard the brand had been started by a young student from Bunka Fashion College, under the wings of a bigger brand. He had heard, not that he cared, really, that the founder was around his age. Suddenly, he was curious.

“Ishida Yamato, what a pleasure to finally meet you!” a man around his thirties greeted him rather enthusiastic.

“You must be…?”

“Oh, you’re a funny one! Yoshio Fujiwara, of course!” And the Fujiwara branding was the bigger one who had taken the young designer under his wings, he wondered where she was.

“Of course, of course,” he bowed, always traying himself to remain close to his Japanese customs and traditions. “A pleasure to meet you, Fujiwara-san.”

“No need to be formal with me, I’m very used to western traditions, having spent most of your life in Europe, I would have killed for an opportunity like that!” Yamato tried his best not to roll his eyes, faking his best smile. “It is our biggest pleasure that you have accepted to be the face of our newest collection.” Yamato saw a petit figure running around the room with pieces of clothing covering her, he wondered if that was Fujiwara counterpart.

“It’s always delightful to put Japan’s name high, you know.” He cleared his voice, “so, am I also going to meet Takenouchi-san?”

“You absolutely will, she must be somewhere around… Sora!?” The fast-paced person finally stopped, uncovering her face from the piles of clothing she was carrying. “Don’t be rude and introduce yourself to Yamato.”

“Sure thing, just let me finish up the final touches and…”

“Now?!” Yamato noticed a subtle sigh coming from her lips. She surely seemed young, barely his own age. For the first time since the encounter started, he felt safe.

She ran right next to him, her attention still clearly on the mess she had left. He could immediately tell how passionate she was about what she was doing.

“It’s a pleasure, Ishida-san. I would love to lie and say I’m a fan, but truth is this is my first time having an encounter with races, or cars in general…”

“Sora! You’re being rude!”

“Sorry, I still take the subway and I never got a driver’s license!” Yamato snorted, in those five seconds he decided that redhead was his favorite person in the room.

“Well, I’m glad to admit this is not my first encounter with your brand, I’ve read so much.” Her eyes lit up; Yamato could have even sworn he spotted a subtle blush in her face.

He was rather awkward in front of the cameras, never quite a natural. Another reason why his team-mate was the one to do most of Ferrari’s advertisements. But Sora helped him feel in his element, somehow. He liked how much she got into her character, almost ignoring him by how much she cared on how her designs looked on him.

“I think we’re good, we shouldn’t take much more of your time.” By then, Fujiwara had left the room, Sora was certain he had slipped into the hotel bar.

“That must have been the less stressful photoshoot I’ve ever had, thank you, Takenouchi-san.”

“Oh, don’t call me that! I’m not older than you are.”

“Then you must accept to drop the formalities with me as well.” A grimaced appeared on her face, clearly unsure.

“But you’re a client, that would be completely unprofessional!”

“I promise I won’t tell anybody,” Sora liked that, a dirty-little-secret.

“Fine, but if Fujiwara is around, I’ll go back in character.”

“Deal,” Yamato grabbed a bottle of water and doubted if he should say what his mind was begging at him to do. “Are you staying for the race?”

“I wasn’t lying when I said I had no idea how this worked.” She shrugged, clearly embarrassed. “I don’t understand why it lasts so many days, it’s confusing. This whole sport is confusing.” Sora liked sports, for instance, sports where a ball had to go from one side of the court to the other, not cars and tires.

“It’s not that hard, you’ll see,” they took a seat on the fake grass Sora had built for the photoshoot. “The first day is merely for us to get familiar with the track, nothing formal. The second day the places for the actual race, which is on Sunday, get settled. And that’s pretty much it.”

“And you get to travel the world for that?”

“People can be very serious about their cars.”

“Incredible,” she locked eyes with Yamato, she was not familiar with his sport but she sure was with his face, and not only because it was everywhere she looked around the city’s billboards, but because she had studied it for the whole photoshoot, and even for the particular line she was about to launch.

“It would be fun if you stayed, some friends around our age are coming too, so it won’t be that weird for you.”

“Okay, but I’ll stay for fun, not as a part of my job schedule.”

“Great!” He said way too enthusiastic, regretting it right away. “I can get you great tickets, so don’t worry about that.” She chuckled, taking out her VIP pass.

“Don’t worry, I have that part settled.”

“Of course, you do,” he felt stupid, all sponsors got the best tickets, even better than he could even get most times.

“So, I’ll see you around? Do you say break a leg for this?”

“Absolutely not! But I appreciate your luck wishes.”

He was glad on Friday’s there was never much of a crowd, that way he could stay focused on what mattered: getting comfortable enough with the track. Whenever he raced, he felt an almost out of body experience, where he could disconnect from his current reality and be one with his car. Ferrari had nicknamed him the racing samurai, for how dramatic his recovering could be whenever he was behind on the race.

Japan had never particularly been the biggest crowd when it came to Formula 1, but ever since he had started getting podiums, and making a name out of himself, it had a 180 degrees change. Ferrari could not be happier with the now 23-yeard-old racer, he was smart, analytic, and cold headed.

When he got back to the Pits, he was greeted by his family, not expecting to see them until the day after.

“You were pretty fast out there!” his dad said, as awkward as he usually was.

“This was merely the boring race, we were just testing the track,” he smiled widely, greeting him by what could be considered a hug, or sort of one.

“But Hiroaki is right, you were extremely fast. That car you’re racing, is a beauty,” seeing his mother was always an adventure for Yamato. Ever since he left home, at such a young age, they had drifted apart. Naturally, she was worried for her older son, racing and putting his life at risk every time he did so. Yamato had heard her fighting with his grandpa countless times, until she finally gave in. She was never going to win, Yamato loved karting the same way she loved writing.

“You were tremendous there, superstar!” his manager came to greet him, as much as he annoyed him, he was not a bad person, he just clearly loved the money Yamato made him gain. “You better keep up the pace the rest of the weekend.”

“That’s the plan,” Yamato served himself a cup of tea, while he took a seat in front of the screen that was studying his track performance. He was nearly obsessed with improving, never not paying attention at even the slightest mistake.

“Before I forget,” his manager was French, and spoke a very heavily accented English. His family, apart from Takeru, barely spoke any English at all, hence why they did not communicate with one another. Yamato despised that, considering he could speak four languages. “Young Takenouchi asked me to give you her number, Romeo.” Yamato’s cheeks flushed, as he took with both hands the business card he was being given.

“I’ll quickly go to my room,” he excused himself with his family, promising he would meet them for a quick dinner.

He wrote and re-wrote his text message towards Sora, not wanting to appear desperate. Formula 1 drivers, at least some of them, had the reputation of being more than successful with the opposite sex, however Yamato was rather unlucky. He put so much effort into his performance inside the track, he tended to neglect everything else. Hence why it felt nice to have a close to normal conversation with someone his age, a woman his age.

“This is Yamato, I heard the rumor you wanted to have my number,” he finally sent, wanting to throw his phone over the window right after.

“How come we spent so much time talking yesterday and I had to ask your manager for your number?” she replied right after, Yamato felt relieved.

“I guess we lost track of time.”

“Hey, I had to come back to Tokyo, business matters. But I’m not one to break any promises, so I hope you still save a seat for me for the big race on Sunday. Did I say that correctly?”

Yamato immediately felt disappointment, but he had to understand he was not dealing with someone unoccupied; this was a young entrepreneur with a worldwide successful fashion brand.

“Are you sure you want to make a four-hour trip to see some car racing?”

“As I said, I’m not a promise breaker. Plus, is not Formula 1 supposed to be the best car racing in the world? I won’t miss it, and I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t worry, and your spot on Scuderia Ferrari will remain untouched.”

“Great, I’m actually pretty excited! You have turned it into such a big deal for the country, I’ve never seen such a media coverage on the sport before. How was the tracking test?”

Yamato’s stomach made a turn. He did not want to focus on the pressure it meant to be in his home country, he just wanted to do what he always did, which meant to give his 100% performance, and get better every time. He just really hoped it would not rain on Sunday…

Him and Sora kept texting for the rest of the day, and the morning after as he got ready for the weekend’s second race. His goal was to qualify on the front row, that was always a determining factor for the final race. His mom had been right when she mentioned his car was a beauty, because it may not be the fastest car, that would still go to Mercedes, but if Ferrari had something no other team could fight with, was beauty.

He was not one to make many friends, but he was always amicable with the rest of the drivers. He saw them more than he saw his family, and even grew up with a big amount of them, but he always tried to focus on what they really were: his competition.

The weather so far had looked hopeful, a rainy race was one of his biggest fears, he had already had more than one rainy accident, and they had been hard to get over. He tried not to put too much thought into it, how he put his life at risk every time he got into the car, because there was no point in doing so, considering he was not going to stop, racing was the most important part of his life.

He got behind his wheel and his team assured his car was ready to go for the last time, and he got into driving mode, forgetting everything else, the pressure, the people, the weather, his friends. He almost disassociated from everything, but the track, and his team speaking whenever there was something to say, like which place he was on at the moment.

He had gotten so used to Ferrari, after being over two years on the team, that he could go as far as to describe its motor as a part of him. The first few laps were always the most stressful ones, and were most of the accidents happened, everyone tried to gain that valuable P1 as fast as possible, but Yamato thought of it as a waste of energy, he would rather stay behind for the first few laps and give it all in after. It had worked for him so far, avoiding the turmoil behind it.

There were 53 laps in the Japanese track, not that he counted them, but he always studied the tracks of wherever he was at. He just focused on staying in track, passing the rest of the drivers and being fast, and his team made sure he did not forget where his position was at the moment, which was a P5, his teammate was currently second. Fifth was not a bad position, it was still second row, but it was not his goal, he truly wanted first row. In the end he had managed to end up fourth, which his team congratulated him for, he still was not happy.

Back in Ferrari’s box, he had a bigger crowd greeting him, not only his parents and brother, but some of his closest childhood friends.

“Man, how does it feel to be able to fly!” Taichi said before giving him a big hug, which Yamato did not mind, he guessed he was also allowed to hug him.

“What I wonder is what that amount of speed can do with your body, I read you lose up to 3 liters every time you race,” Joe patted his shoulder, the soon-to-be-doctor never missed to drop a random anatomy fact on him. “And sorry, but it seems to Koushiro your car’s machinery is way more impressive than you.”

His third friend, a genius redhead, had been talking non-stop with his team’s engineers, asking questions Yamato could possibly never answer.

He spent the next few hours doing interviews, as much as he hated them, it was on his contract to do them before and after every Grand Prix. He also took more time studying his career, and where he could improve. He wanted to get podium on his home country more than he had ever wanted before.

But of course, he also took the chance to spend some time with his loved ones, catching up about their crazy adult lives.

“Koushiro could soon enough buy one of these teams, you know? He’s getting so rich!” Taichi had a big mouth, but they had gotten used to it. And to be fair with his brunette friend, he was not wrong, considering Koushiro’s software startup had gotten public, and the dude was only 22.

“And Jou’s about to be a doctor, and you, well, you didn’t get kicked out of Uni!” They all laughed, Taichi rolled his eyes. Yamato had gotten so comfortable with their conversation, he got scared when his phone began ringing.

“Yes?”

“Guess who’s just landed in Suzuka!” it was Sora, his heart skipped a beat. “I’m glad I made it a few hours before I had promised, I truly didn’t want to miss tomorrow’s race.”

“Where are you exactly? You should come join us! I’m at Ferrari’s tent with some childhood friends, I mean, if you’re not too tired.” His friends started yelling embarrassing things to him, as friends did whenever you spoke on the phone with someone, even if that someone was your own mother. Except, of course, it was not his mother.

“Great! I’ll ask the driver to drop me off.”

They spent the next few hours chatting, and laughing, and making fun of Yamato with embarrassing stories Sora was rather intrigued to keep on listening. Of course, Sora had hit it off with his friends, she was a great talker, they all had liked her, he could tell, especially with Koushiro, considering the man was the clearest book when it came to first impressions. He felt disappointed once he checked his watch to confirm it was time for him to go to bed, the big day was closer than ever.

Suzuka was one of the last races on Formula 1’s schedule, which meant every single point counted even more. He was disappointed when he checked the weather, there was a rain forecast, but there was nothing he could do, he still was willing to give the best race he had given in his career span. His friends and family wished him the best of luck, just as he dressed up in the famous red suit.

He had never felt this overwhelmed before, as soon as he stepped a foot outside of Scuderia Ferrari’s box, the crowd chanting his name was like nothing he ever heard before. He bowed shyly, turning the shouts even louder. Fame had never been something he had been looking for once he started racing in Formula 1, but he thought at the end of the day it was only inevitable. He really wanted to make his co-nationals proud.

P4 was not a bad place to start racing, yet he could hear his heart beating up to his ears. A rainy race was always messy, and there was always a bigger risk for accidents, not just for him, but for the other racers as well. He had to drive smartly; speed was not all that mattered in that moment.

His eyes were fixated on the checkered flag, as soon as it went down, his feet went all in. Suzuka’s Grand Prix finally starting.

As it was expected, some cars lost control on the very first curve, him being noticed by his team on the other side of the microphone. He hoped nothing bad had happened to them. On a rainy race it was important to have extra control while reaching a curve, and absolutely never trying to overpass another racer while on them.

By lap 30 he had improved to P3, the engine of the previous third place had had some issues, which pushed him into the pits. The Ferrari engine had significantly been improved for the current season, and it showed. It had been a while since the red team had had both of their cars in podium position, and he was doing quicker laps than the last year’s race.

Everything appeared to be going according to plan, Yamato wanted to win, of course, but he was not unhappy with the third place. Yet, the unthinkable happened on lap 49, when his teammate lost control of the steering wheel. It all happened so quickly, Yamato could barely avoid the inevitable crash, which was bad enough for them to call a red flag, every racer had been sent back into pits.

His teammate had been fine, he could even walk by himself; however, his car could have been confused with garbage. A shame, really, everything had been better than what they could have imagined. Now every podium expectation fell on his shoulders, and he could hear the public screaming his name even louder, as if he was some sort of rock star.

“Only 4 laps left, you can do it,” and he was now put in second place, a bittersweet feeling inside his gut.

The final lap felt like the longest he had driven, all he truly wanted was for it to end. He was less than two seconds away from the first place, which his team kept repeating. He knew he could do it, if he tried and overtake him near the end, right after the final curve… And so, he did, winning a podium for the first time in his short Formula 1 life career. He had not done it for himself only, but for Lechner as well. It felt insane, he was no longer feeling the ground, he was still flying somehow.

Champagne soaked him as soon as he stepped out of the car, being hugged by everyone on the famous red car team. He was not easily to make cry, but he could not help the tears coming out, and he wished, if he were ever going to cry again, it better be as good of a feeling as he finally lifted the trophy for Suzuka’s Grand Prix.

[brynwrites]

How to Write Non-binary Characters: Part III.

Visit PART ONE: the basics.

Visit PART TWO: the nitty gritty.

PART THREE: common pitfalls and easy fixes.

Here we'll cover some common situations where writing respectful non-binary characters can be trickier.

Writing Non-human Non-binary characters.

Non-human non-binary characters aren’t inherently disrespectful to non-binary people, but it can easily become negative representation when there are no non-binary humans present, because it implies that those with non-binary genders are less human (and usually more monstrous or more alien) than people with binary genders. You can read more about why this is a problem in this full analysis by Christine Prevas.

There's a very simple solution to this though: Write some non-binary humans. (Or, in the least, make it explicitly clear that non-binary humans exist, and are just as valid in their identity as anyone else.)

Writing Non-binary Villains.

This situation is very similar to the non-binary non-humans, but instead of implying that non-binary people are less human, it implies they are less moral, abnormal, depraved, or insane. Villainous figures in history have often have their villainy connected to or blamed on their non-gender conforming traits. We don't want to add to that clinging transphobic and homophobic belief with modern fiction.

As with non-binary non-humans, having non-villainous non-binary characters can go a long way in offsetting this, as well as not connecting (or letting characters within the world connnect) the villain's non-binary aspects with their perceived villainy. Instead of writing a non-binary villain, write a villain who also happens to be non-binary.

(On this note, I would be very cautious about writing villains who are being villainous because they've suffered from transphobia.)

Killing (your only) Non-binary Character.

This falls into the same category as the previous two sections, but it has just one solution: don't kill your story’s only non-binary or trans character. Just don't do it. If that character has to die to make the plot continue, let there be another primary non-binary or trans character in the story somewhere.

Writing “Coming Out” Scenes for Non-binary Characters.

Let's break this into two different types of coming out:

The casual, everyday coming out. This is the kind of coming out a non-binary person has to do every time they need to let new people in their lives know about their gender. If you're writing non-binary characters, you'll probably have to write some version of this at some point. It can be as simple as a character introducing themselves with their pronouns, wearing clothing or pins that say their pronouns, mentioning their identity casually, correcting someone's misuse of their pronouns, making a (respectful) joke involving gendered terminology (e.g. "I'm the king of monopoly today and the queen of monopoly tomorrow, but either way you're all going to lose!"), or a multitude of other ways.

While writing any setting that you create yourself (whether that's fantasy, science fiction, alternate history, etc), you can always do yourself a favor and work a method of identity presentation into the world building. Maybe in your fictional culture everyone wears a certain color accessory for certain gender identities or in your fictional boarding school the students all decided to introduce themselves with their pronouns no matter what gender they identity as.

The major, terrifying coming out. Often, this is the traditional coming out scene where the person sits down with family and tells their truth, even though they know things might turn out poorly. It might be the first time they've come out to anyone, or it might be that they've held off with certain important people in their life because they're afraid of those people's response. Be wary of writing out these scenes if you haven't lived through them yourself, because it's a very emotional and complex situation which, if represented poorly, can harm non-binary and trans people in real life. Sometimes though, you might want to allude to what happened during this scene because of its effect on the character!

Keep in mind that while there is much prejudice against non-binary (and trans) people in our world, that you don't have to include that in your stories. It is always the writer's decision to include transphobia and transphobic characters in what they write, as well as their responsibility to make sure that any transphobic inclusions are framed as the terrible, incorrect biases they are, and do not harm the trans and non-binary community.

Writing Non-binary Characters Discovering They’re Non-binary.

Realizing you're non-binary is often a long, emotional, and extremely personal experience. Unless you have a non-binary (or trans) co-writer or you've done an academic level of research, its best to leave these experiences to be written by the people you lived them, because there are many living people who have lived them, who will be effected by these stories on a very real, very personal level.

So, go write non-binary characters, but write them having adventures and falling in love instead.

Writing Societies Without Gender Binaries.

Because this is a huge topic where new pitfalls might appear at any moment do to the endless ways it can be used, the best thing to do if you're interested in writing it is to read speculative fiction from trans and non-binary authors and study the nuances of how they portray these societies, and, of course, always avoid the societal version of all the previous no-nos, like having only villainous or non-human non-binary societies.

Remember: when in doubt, get non-binary people to beta read your work.

Finally, here are two insanely easy ways to include non-binary representation in all your stories:

1. Give a character (or multiple characters!) they/them pronouns. 

You don’t have to explain this. The character never needs to come out as non-binary. There doesn’t have to be a focus on whether they’re androgynous or not. You can keep it so simple that their description is just “Parker had brown hair and a hooked nose and when they smiled their eyes lit up,” and there you have a non-binary-coded character without having to do any work or research at all.

2. Have a character refer to their family member with gender neutral terms. 

“Those are my sisters, my big brother, and my little sibling. We were on a skiing trip, but our step-parent came down with the flu so our father stayed back at the lodge and let our auntcle take us up the mountain.” Will any of these non-binary characters ever by in the story itself? Perhaps not. But it still shows that the author accepts the existence of non-binary people in their story’s world, and that the character speaking loves and respects the non-binary people in their family enough to refer to them in the ways those family members prefer.

Closing Words.

Non-binary people have had a long history of being ignored in Western stories. Having writers attempt to include respectful non-binary representation in their books is more important to us than having all that representation be perfect. So, write non-binary characters, find a few non-binary or trans readers to double check your work, and most importantly, and have fun.

While you’re at it, consider supporting non-binary writers writing ownvoices stories. If you don’t know of any, here’s the wikipedia list of the more famous authors and a little twitter thread with some lesser known voices. You can also purchase my debut novel, Our Bloody Pearl, a fun romp about a disabled, non-binary siren and a freckly pirate captain.

Stick around for a preview of Our Bloody Pearl....

SWELL BEGINNINGS

There is one thing I know for certain: We were right to hate the humans.

HUNGER HAUNTS ME like a bull shark. With every roll of the ship, the gunk inside my stagnant tub sloshes against my waist, stinging anew. The tight wooden room's stale air burns my lungs.

Steam whistles in the pipes that run along the walls, their copper gleaming in the dim ceiling light. My wrists throb where the metal cuffs locking me to the tub dig into my silver scales. The gill slits along my neck are clamped shut after a year without seawater and my head fins stick to my scalp like barnacles to rock.

I try to anchor myself with the memory of home, of fine sands and vibrant reefs, but I can barely recall the rush of the warm current or the thrill of the hunt. Even a single wrasse sounds like a feast now. Or a few human fingers.

At least I can still smell the sharp brine of the ocean. When the ship rocks, the small, circular window to my left reveals the sea rolling in an endless stretch of deep blue, begging me to return. The silhouette of an approaching vessel forms a blur on its horizon.

I squint at the hazy shape, but Captain Kian’s roar of irritation from an upper deck makes me recoil. My captor’s harsh voice is so loud it seems to shudder its way down my spine.

The new vessel leaves my sight as the ship I’m captive on—the Oyster—turns toward it. The steam stacks clatter to life somewhere beneath me. Fabric and metal wings stretch out from the sides of the Oyster, and the ship bursts forward, riding just above the crests of the waves.

The sudden change in speed shoves me backward, tossing up my putrid water. As the liquid recoils, it grazes my largest tail fin, lying limp over the far edge of the tub. For all the pain I suffer, I nearly forget my tail exists, its iridescent gleam washed away by the filth and grime of the tub. It must still be impaired from the massive, anchor-like weight my captor crushed it beneath when she first locked me here. I can’t bring myself to focus on its lifeless form for long. I wasn’t meant for this.

I need the sea.

Purchase the full novel on amazon, bookdepository, or kobo, or request it from your local library!

[tardisman14]

Enchanting: Chapter 3: A Night to Remember

A novelized version of Enchanting Grom Fright, told from Amity’s pov. A look into what was going through her mind in that episode, with snippets of happenings in-between scenes. Told in 4 parts (3 main chapters, plus the prologue), rated to be safe, and obviously Lumity.

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Bits of final scene and flashback inspired by this tweet (12/28/20 update: screencap because Dana deactivated her Twitter) and this image which was cut from the episode for time

That wasn’t Eda. It appeared to be some kind of human. In fact, Amity could’ve sworn they looked quite a bit like… Luz.

Amity saw Luz start to back up nervously. Was this one of her relatives? What was going on? With all these questions going through Amity’s head, she suddenly heard Grom’s form shout something from the arena.

“...have you been lying to me?!”

All of a sudden, Grom turned into a more monstrous form of whoever this was supposed to be. Lying? What could Luz have been lying about? Could it really be so bad that she couldn’t bring it up during the training session? This was bad. If Amity was reading the look on Luz’s face right, she wouldn’t last much longer.

And she was proven right. Amity saw Luz make a break for the door. And… Oh no. Grom was escaping! All around her, everyone started piling out of the bleachers and went right for the hallway. But Amity was so in shock over what just happened, she was frozen in place.

“Hey, kid! You in there?”

Amity was snapped out of it by Eda, now standing in front of her.

“Come on!”

Amity and Eda started following the others already in the hallway.

“Yeah, that's right, so let's follow them and see what happens next.”

Apparently King and Gus were leading the others to see the rest of the battle. Amity and Eda were still a bit behind, but with one look at each other, they both had the same thought. They had to help Luz, and fast.

Once they made it outside Eda summoned her staff.

“I’m gonna follow them from the air. Try not to fall behind.”

With that, the Owl Lady took to the sky while Amity followed from the ground. Judging by Eda’s current direction, Amity figured that Luz and Grom must’ve been headed for the woods.

As Amity ran towards that direction, her mind was racing. This was all her fault. She LET Luz get involved because she was too scared to face her fear. She KNEW Eda was right about Luz getting in over her head, and she went forward with it anyway. And now because of her, Luz was in danger. All because she couldn’t face the possibility of Luz not reciprocating any feelings she STILL didn’t know whether or not even exist!

Amity had to make this right. She just HAD to.

She made it to the woods, but lost sight of Eda. Just then, she heard some kind of blast and figured that Eda had caught up to them. She went towards the source, and came across the other students and Principal Bump gathered behind some bushes. She went to see what they were looking at and saw Luz, Eda, and Grom several yards in front of them.

Whatever thoughts might have been going through Amity’s mind at that moment, her body started acting on instinct. And right now, it was telling her to protect Luz, no matter how dangerous it might be.

Deciding to act, Amity lept out from behind the treeline and rushed to put herself between Luz and Grom.

“Stay away from her!”

Just then, Grom reached out and grabbed a hold of her. Amity knew what was coming next.

“I'm sorry, Luz. I should have fought my own battle. I-”

Right then, Amity could feel Grom going through her head, searching for what it was that she feared the most. She could barely hear Luz calling out to her. And then, Grom had found what it was looking for.

Amity had felt Grom set her down. When she came to, she had seen that it had transformed into some kind of humanoid form, roughly around age if she had to guess. It reached into her pocket, took out the note, ripped it in half, and crumpled it right in front of her.

And with that, Amity had her answer. And it hurt even worse than she could have imagined. It didn’t matter how vague Grom’s form was. Deep down, she knew exactly who it was supposed to be. And while she knew it wasn’t the real them, she could still feel her heart shatter into a million pieces in that moment.

As Amity picked up half of the crumpled note, she saw Luz run over and pick up the other half. Well, looks like the secret was about to get out.

“You were afraid of getting rejected.”

And when Amity looked up at Luz, she could see her start to… smile?

“Amity, it's okay. What if I went to Grom with you instead?”

Had Luz not seen the half that had her name on it? Whatever the case, Amity started to feel as a weight was being lifted off of her.

“Really?”

“That’s what friends do.”

In all that time Amity had spent that day worrying about the idea of her now-confirmed crush turning her down, she had forgotten about one of things that she admired about Luz the most. Her kindness. All those times. At the covention, the library, fixing Willow’s memories. It was always Luz trying to reach out to her. There was no way she could see Luz deliberately hurting her like that.

With her worries eased, Amity felt a renewed sense of determination flow through her. There was a shapeshifting fear monster that needed to be dealt with. She knew that Luz would be by her side to face it together. And given the occasion, there was only one way she could think of at that moment.

“Well, then, if that's settled, may I have this dance?”

It was now Amity’s turn to reach out to Luz. And Luz seemed more than happy to accept. They joined together, and it was as if something had clicked in that moment.

The two began their dance, taking one step after another. Throughout it all, the two were in perfect sync, never missing a beat. It was like neither one needed to tell the other what to do next. Amity used the routine to cast a spell circle with her feet, rising her and Luz atop a giant abomination. They continued from there, with Luz placing her glyphs on the abomination before they leapt off, sending the abomination into Grom itself. At that moment, the glyphs start to take effect, causing various plants to bloom from Grom’s body. Finally, the two land, finishing off their routine in a flourish as Grom explodes behind them.

In Grom’s place, a tree stood before them. The two look in awe as tiaras appear on each of their heads. They look at each other and smile as, for the first time that night, all felt right.

“Sooooooo.... who did you wanna ask out?”

“Oh, it’s… not important.”

Amity tossed her half of the note aside. As amazing as that moment was, she still didn’t feel like she was ready to tell Luz. Not yet, anyway.

“And there you have it, folks. A happy ending for this year's Grom. Let's give a big hand to our Grom queens, Luz and Amity!”

Well, Amity was certainly caught off guard. She had been so caught up in the moment that she had forgotten there was anyone there besides her and Luz. Right then, the rest of the students and Principal Bump came out from behind the bushes and started cheering the two queens. As the two were lifted up by the crowd and started to make their way back to Hexside, Amity felt on top of the world.

---

Hexside gymnasium,

Not much later

Now that Grom had been taken care of, the rest of the evening went a lot smoother. More students had been dancing than before the main event. The photo line was even longer than before. Everything was going great.

...And then, there was Amity just standing off to the side.

“Hey, kid. Why the party-of-one?”

Amity looked to her side and saw Eda standing next to her.

“*SIGH* I know I should be thrilled that Grom was defeated. But… you were right. Luz got in over her head trying to help me, and she almost got hurt because of it. I should’ve done more to keep her from doing it, but I was too scared to face my own fear to do anything about it.”

There was a few seconds of silence before Eda spoke up.

“Look, don’t be too hard on yourself. Fear can be a powerful thing. Even for most powerful witches, having to face your worst fears can be intense. The importanting thing is that when the time came, you stepped up and were willing to face yours so that Luz would be safe. The way I see it, it all worked out in the end, didn’t it?”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“Also, speaking from personal experience these last few weeks, it gets harder and harder to say no to Luz when she offers to help. The kid’s just more endearing that way.”

“Heh, yeah.”

Amity would admit, trying to turn down Luz’s help was getting difficult for her at this point.

“Plus, I won’t lie. You two look rather cute together.”

...WHAT?

“Uh- W-well I mean, I g-guess it WAS a rather impressive dance routine, and I suppose Luz’s outfit COULD’VE been way more unusual than what it already was. But, um… Is it me, or is the room getting smaller?”

“Kid, you can save it. I’ve seen the way you’ve been looking at her all night. I’ve seen it plenty of times before with many different people.”

“...Oh.”

So it was that obvious.

“Listen, I’m not gonna tell her if you don’t want me to. That’s your business, so it’s up to you to decide when you’re ready.”

Huh. That’s actually pretty cool of her.

“Although, I will say this. You can’t wait for the right moment forever. ...But for now, I’d say enjoy tonight. Have fun with your co-Grom queen”

At that moment, Eda looked behind Amity.

“Speaking of which…”

“Get in here, Blight!”

Amity felt Luz yank her towards where the photos were being taken. She was so caught off guard, she could feel herself blushing. Right then the photographer spoke up.

“Say ‘Grom Fright!’”

“‘Grom Fright!’”

Amity realized that there were two other voices there that weren’t her or Luz. After the photo was taken, she turned to see that Willow and Gus had managed to get in as well. 

Maybe Eda was right. The worst part of the night was over with. Amity should be having fun with her friends. If Luz could be enjoying herself after everything that happened, then so could she.

---

Blight Manor,

Later that night

The walk home that night had been surprisingly quiet. While Amity may have had a lot on her mind then, it was rather jarring to not hear a word from the twins. Although, given what she had heard, she couldn’t really blame them. Apparently their dates had stood them up. While they could be annoying a good amount of the time, she couldn’t help but feel a little bad for them. She was just glad that HER night hadn’t been as bad as she feared it would be.

As Amity made it to her room for the night, she decided to reflect on the evening. The night had certainly been eventful. Not just for her, but also Luz, if that one conversation was anything to go by.

*flashback*

“You really think Willow and Gus will be able to convince Bump to let you back into the dance?”

“We’ll see. Looks like I at least found one thing magic school and mortal school have in common. Otter suits are a ‘no’ at dances.”

“Yeah… Sorry you got kicked out because of it.”

“Eh. I at least got a picture in with it, AND I lasted longer than my last school dance. I still consider this a win.”

“Well, I guess that’s one way to look at it. So, just in case they can’t convince Bump, you want me to stay here until Eda’s done chaperoning?”

“I’d like that,”

There were a few moments of silence. Then, Amity figured this would be a good time to ask about something that had been on her mind since the fight against Grom.

“Hey, there’s something I wanted to ask about. But, you don’t have to answer if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“Well… I guess it depends on what it is.”

“That last form Grom took when you were going up against it. It wasn’t anything you had brought up while we were training. And from what I saw, you weren’t expecting it either.”

Luz looked uneasy for a moment. Did Amity cross a line? After a bit, Luz gave an answer.

“That last form that Grom took… That was my mom.”

“Your mom? Did something happen between you two? All I was able to hear from where I had been sitting in the stands was something about lying. What did she mean?”

“*SIGH* You know how I can be a bit of a weirdo at times?”

“Um… yeeeeeessss?”

While Amity didn’t like saying it after how close they had gotten, if Luz wanted the truth, she supposed it was only fair to tell her.

“Well, back home, it was starting to become a problem. My mom had decided to send me to a summer camp to help straighten out my eccentric tendencies. While I was waiting for the bus, Eda’s palisman, Owbert, got a hold of one of my Azura books. So I chased him to this old house, which actually turned out to be a portal to the Boiling Isles that Eda had been using.

Eda agreed to send me back if I helped her and King with something. After I helped her, she held up her end of the deal. ...But I decided I wanted to spend some time in the Isles so that she could teach me magic. And the rest is history.

While I’ve still been able to keep in touch with my mom through my phone, I still haven’t told her where I am or what I’ve been up to these last several weeks. I feel bad about having to lie to her, and I know I’ll have to tell her eventually. But, I still don’t know how, when, or even IF I’ll be able to tell her.”

To say Amity was surprised would be an understatement. To think that Luz has been having to deal with this for weeks… No wonder she looked so freaked out when Grom took that form.

“...Wow. I had no idea.”

“Yeah. I know I should have brought it up during training so I could’ve been better prepared. But, I guess I thought that I could distract myself from one big fear with another. Guess we both know how well that turned out.”

It was then that Amity remembered what Eda had said to her earlier.

“Well, as someone rather wise told me, you can’t wait for the right moment forever. Maybe at least start with trying to open up to her a bit more.”

“...yeah, maybe you’re right. Thanks Amity. I felt good to talk about this with someone other than King.”

“Did he have any advice?”

“Well… sort of. But, I think yours was more helpful.”

“Anytime.”

*end flashback*

It really put things into perspective for Amity. If she had been having a difficult time trying to tell Luz how she feels, she imagined that Luz was feeling even worse. She hoped that Luz would be able to work it out somehow.

As she took off her tiara and placed it in her hope chest, Eda’s words ran through her head once more. ‘You can’t wait for the right moment forever.’ Amity knew that at some point, Luz was going to have to leave the Boiling Isles and go back to her realm. She didn’t know when, but she knew that it was certain. How will she know if she’ll be ready by the time that happens? It looked like all she could do for now was make the most of her time with Luz and hope for the best.

But, Amity would choose to worry about it tomorrow. For now, it had been a long night, and she needed to get some rest. As she got ready for bed, she thought about everything that night had been. Intense, nerve-wracking, and scary for sure. But most of all, that night had been… enchanting.

[bebewheezy]

Somebody Loves You

Notes: hi guys! so liam payne is apparently engaged now and 1- I WANNA GO TO THE WEDDING  2- it inspired me to write :) enjoy folks

word count:  1,386

My phone was buzzing manically on the coffee table in front of where I sat on the fluffy couch alone. Harry and I had been stuck in our LA home since March due to quarantine, and I was starting to become mad. We had seen hardly anyone besides one another for five months at least, and even though I had Harry with me the entire time, I felt lonely and almost as if our relationship was stuck in a rut. Even though I was most likely overthinking the entire situation, the thoughts of Harry feeling sick of having me around were still present. I couldn’t stop thinking that while we were alone together for this long, he had realized I wasn’t someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. 

These thoughts only increased as I checked my ever-beeping phone. My Twitter was exploding with tags and hashtags that were trending. All of them were about the same thing: Liam Payne was reportedly engaged to his girlfriend. I met Liam and his girlfriend a few times at different award shows and such, with him and Harry being close friends so long ago and still good friends now. 

My heart felt like it had been hit with a sledgehammer. Two people I considered friends were in love, engaged, and I was questioning where my relationship even stood. Before I could become fully lost in my overbearing thoughts, Harry came into the TV room holding two glasses of wine and some popcorn. It was Friday night, and while we would usually be out for a whimsical dinner or at a bar with friends, our routine had changed into a movie night to catch up on films at the end of every week. Harry silently handed me one of the glasses and sat down beside me. His phone buzzed on the coffee table where mine sat not five minutes ago, and he made a face into his wine glass as he read the notification.

“Did you see that Liam is engaged?” He curiously glanced over to me.

“Yeah, my phone has been blowing up for the past half hour,” I spoke softly and took a sip of my wine. He must’ve sensed something was wrong with my mood as he set his phone down and turned his frame more towards me.

“Are you okay my love? You’ve seemed a little bit off the past few weeks,” His green orbs worriedly searched mine for any sign of distress, and unfortunately it was written all over my face.

“I don’t know,” I tore my head away from his intense gaze.

“You can talk to me about anything, love. This is an incredibly difficult time we’re currently facing and I don’t want you to hold your emotions back from me,” His free hand grasped mine while he continued to speak. “I know you tend to get all up in your pretty head about things, and I don’t want your mental state to deteriorate because you’re keeping everything bottled up.”

“I know, thank you for always being here to talk with me,” I said as I got comfortable next to him for our movie night. “I’m just not sure if I’m ready to talk just yet.”

“Well whenever you are ready, I’m here.”

While the night went on and we watched a handful of movies, the thoughts of loneliness and unlove got worse as I was left alone with them. I knew I was going to need to inform Harry soon, I was just terrified to admit my feelings. What was I going to do if my speculating was all correct? I don’t know how I could live knowing the one man I was fully head over heels in love with, didn’t want me like I wanted him. I went to bed that night unsure of my future and more distraught that I had been in months.

*****

I woke to sunlight peeking in through the cream colored curtains of our bedroom. I tried turning onto my opposite side in avoidance of the everwaking light, but to my dismay I was stopped by a tattooed arm pulling me closer to his warm body.

“Good morning, my darling. How did you sleep?” His groggy morning voice always made me weak in the knees and sent pangs through my chest.

“Not the best,” I admitted, if it was going to happen, I might as well get it over with so I could begin to sleep well in the coming weeks.

“And why is that love? You had me to keep you warm and cozy all night, you should’ve slept like a rock.”

“In my head again.”

“Do you want to talk about it yet?”

“Yeah. I guess I’ve just sort of been having doubts about our relationship and where we stand after quarantine ends.”

“What do you mean, love? Once quarantine is over, hopefully sooner rather than later, we’ll just try to go back to our regular life.” “So nothing’s changed during the five months of us being trapped in this house together?”

“Y/N, are you okay?”

“Do you still love me?” I was trying my hardest to keep the tears at bay. “I feel like since you’ve only really seen me for the past five months, that you’ve realized you don’t love me anymore and I’m going to get my heart broken again like so many times before.”

“Y/N, why would you think that, love? I’m so sorry I led you to feel that way, I’m such a shit boyfriend,” He responded and pulled my head to his chest as the tears began to fall.

“This isn’t your fault,” I cried. “I’m just unconfident in myself and you can do so much better.”

“No, I really can’t do much better than you, my love,” He cooed and caressed my hair in a calming manner. “I was waiting until this was all over, but I supposed there’s no time like the present.”

Harry placed a kiss on the crown of my head and gave me a light squeeze before he rolled over and reached for his nightstand. I was left lying in our oversized bed, wiping stray tears from my flushed cheeks as he rummaged around for something in the bottom drawer. Once he finally stumbled upon it, he tried to quickly hide the velvet box behind his back before I could catch sight of it, but he wasn’t fast enough.

“What are you doing, Harry?” I questioned as I sat upright against the many fluffy pillows that lined the headboard.

“First I wanted to apologize again for making you so upset and in the dark about my emotions toward you. Y/N, you are the most wonderful, kind-hearted and loving person I’ve ever met, and trust me when I say that because I’ve met a lot of people in my day,” I spared a small laugh at that. “I’m just gonna get to the point now so, second, I want to spend the rest of my life with the best person in the entire fucking world.

After his final sentence, he crouched down onto his right knee and brought the little box out from behind his back.

“Y/F/N Y/L/N, will you do me the honor of marrying me?” He opened the small maroon box, and inside was a rock of a diamond. The gem itself was cut into a long rectangle, and shone brighter than the stars in the sky while the band was skinny and engraved with smaller jewels. It was the most perfect ring, simple, but just flashy enough to show off its worth, much like the man who had purchased it.

“Oh my god,” I covered my gaping mouth with my right hand. “Of course I’ll marry you Harry Edward, I knew I wanted to marry you after our second fucking date!”

He slipped the delicate ring onto my left hand and stared at it for a minute before kissing me harder than he ever had before.

“I can’t wait to make you mine for eternity. You’re going to look so goddamn beautiful with this ring on for the rest of your life, and I can’t wait for everyone to call you Y/N Styles.”

God, did it feel good when somebody loved you.

taglist:

@calleighat  @mukeillusions  @livlovesflowers 

[balmasedas]

THE TRUTH.

(SHAWN MENDES).

WARNINGS: ANGST, SWEARING.

WORD COUNT: 2,5K.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Haven't written for a while so it may be shitty. This is my first imagine here, so I hope you enjoy it! Please make me know if you do so, maybe I'll make a part 2. :')

○○○

Thank god for makeup and alcohol. People like you needed it. Well, people in your situation, you deduced, cause it wasn't part of your nature to get extremely drunk. A radical change of plans, a sudden turn in the oceanic currents —you were sure many could relate.

But, then again, how many were secretly dating a superstar? And how many had to bear their lovers being publicly, and falsely, in another relationship? A better question was: How many of them could get through it? You had done it for over almost a year now. Six months of being silent —no, muted. You were a shadow, a secret.

You had done everything you could. When Shawn had asked if it was ok, you had nodded. You knew that success was part of his dream, and if a little white lie could contribute to that, then... whatever, right? After all you hadn't gone public and it was supposed to be only for a while. Two months top.

But two months turned into three. Your pleasent smiles turned into frowns. Silence turned into screams and discussions with him that drained you completely of energy. "I'm your girlfriend.", "I'm your boyfriend and you should support me.", and yada, yada, yada.

Then Shawn wasn't living with you anymore. He was on tour and you would've been fine with it if you hadn't went through tons of pictures of him passionately kissing Camila, walking hand-to-hand literally everywhere. And you started to wonder if they were even pretending anymore.

Apparently not.

Your first therapy was to dance to music in the apartment that you shared and pretend to not worry about it, but his scent was everywhere. Memories were too hunting, thoughts were too loud and your cries were unstoppable.

A club was the second obvious choice, you decided that night.

The first half of it you were with your friends, and yet you still felt utterly lonely.

The second part, you drank it all, and you felt carelessly free. Everyone was beautiful, everyone was your friend. The lights were pretty, the music was great and you were fucking ecstatic. No Shawn Mendes.

"Two Marg–marga shit ass." you laughed at your own word game. The bartender knew you should call it a night but who was he to deny you more poison? You recieved the drink and struggled to catch the straw with your tongue.

"Here." a hand appeared from your left and helped you take the straw with your mouth. You drank a bit and looked who was the misterious assistent: A guy. He looked older than you, thought the lights and your drunkness forbid you of guessing his age with more precision. You could, though, see his mocking and handsome smile. "You're a mess."

You smirked. "I'm single." Yes, shamelessly flirt, go fuck him and make Shawn pay.

"You are?" Unfortunately, you weren't that drunk. And you went from happy drunk to sad drunk.

"No. I'm not–tsk." you pouted. "I have a boyfriend." your forehead wrinkled "I think."

"What do you mean?"

"He's a celebrity and that shit. Shawn Mendezzz? You know him?" The name rang a bell, apparently. More than it, because the man's posture completely shifted.

"Yeah." he nodded. "And don't get me wrong, you're beautiful, but you aren't his girlfriend. Unlless you're Camila Cabello." that sparked anger inside of you.

"Of courrrrrse not, shtupid!" you poked his chest. Then you proceeded to clumsily reach inside your dress, between your breasts, and took out your phone. The device read your fingerprint and you shoved it in his face. "Look!" you weren't anymore aware of what you were really doing. You just smiled proudly at the photo of you and Shawn kissing in front of a beach sunset. It was your favorite picture. One of the last ones you had taken months ago, when both of you were still happy. "Yeah, Carmela Cabitch is only a– a promo! She's fake and shit!" you went to your inbox and looked for Shawn's chat. "Here! lmao! See?" You showed him his messages, where you talked of the PR stunt, of how he promised it would all be over soon. You were too busy laughing hysterically to notice this guy taking his phone out. "I'm a fucking no one so!" you shrugged, happily. As if you had no choice. He laughed with you and asked for a round of something, that you didn't hear, but when the glass of alcohol was set in front of you, you welcomed it.

He raised his cup towards you, "Cheers for... the truth. May everyone hear it soon."

You giggled and cheered with him. "Whatever dude." you emptied your glass. And you kept drinking and drinking. The man was with you for the rest of the night. He was fun, actually. You had fun.

So much fun that you let him keep your phone until you said goodbye.

○○○

There was a buzz. An annoying and incesant buzz. You had heard it too many times for not being able to recognize it as your own phone but you were too tired to do something about it. Your face was buried in the pillow, you were spread like a starfish on the bed with one leg hanging over the side. Too comfy to move.

You groaned when you had to stretch your arm and reject the person who was calling you non-stop. You thought you had found peace for your headache finally, but the phone started vibrating again. And you were fucking done. Your reached for it and squinted your eyes for the sudden light in your eyes. You thought your sleepy state had fooled you at first and made you see things that weren't there but a few blinks confirmed what was right in front you.

Over 5K twitter notifications.

Over 1K on Instagram.

Hundreds of messages.

Dozens of missed calls from Shawn, your best friend, your mom.

You quickly sat up. You brushed the hair out of your face. You suddenly felt sick and it wasn't because of the hangover. You had a bad feeling cause that didn't happen unless something was really, really wrong.

You went to your messages. Your mom was asking if you were okay, she was worried, "it's not your fault" she stated. Your bestfriend had texted "hmu as soon as you read this.". She had also called you a few times. Then your dad and last, but not least, Shawn. You were extremely anxious. His calls and messages were the most, and he was the one you'd rejected a few minutes ago. If something was wrong, it had too do with him:

"Y/N."

"Y/N pick up."

"R u ok?"

"How could you do this?"

"You fucked up. You fucked us all up."

"Jesus Christ, pick up!"

"What the fuck?" You murmured. Your hand went from your stomach to your mouth. You opened twitter, cause everytime something happened it was there first. 'Shawn Mendes' was trending, 'Camila' too, your fucking name was trending third and in 5th place was the word 'PR'.

You immediatly knew what it was, but how?

You started reading the tweets involving your boyfriend.

"I knew Shawmila was PR!!!1 I called it first but lol, how could Shawn's gf sell him like that. Yikes"

"Y/N was clearly jealous but how can you fucking expose your boyfriend?????? like????? You agreed to it, didn't you?"

"I know it was fake, but Shawn was better with Camila than a snake like Y/N. #Facts"

And the tweets got worst and worst, but not a million of them could prepare you to see your pictures all over twitter. Your photos kissing Shawn, him with your family. The screenshots of your texts. His and your intimacy violated by the world. The insults did nothing in comparision of the pain you felt then.

In the middle of desperation, you started wondering what did you do wrong, if anything could compromise your privacy the night before and suddenly everything came back: The man. The man stole your shit straight from your phone. You were so stupid, so drunk you didn't noticed.

Your hand went from your core to your face. You sprinted to the bathroom and emptied everything from your stomach on the toilet.

You were there for a few minutes, lying on the floor, crying, to weak to get up. Your phone started buzzing again, and you were ready to ignore it again when you remembered: "Shawn." you got up so fast you almost tripped. You put on a hoodie and pants over your pijama, went to the living room and dialed Shawn's number. You had to talk to him. You needed to explain yourself desperately.

"Please, pick up, pick up, pick up." you mumbled while searching your shoes. Suddenly, a ringing echoed in your apartment. And not any ringing, Shawn's. It was Shawn's tone for your calls.

You turned your head and there he was: Coming out of the kitchen with a glass of water. You would've jumped to his arms, it would've been normal if it wasn't for his face. You've never seen like that. You wish you never did.

"Shawn I–" you started but he stopped you midsentence.

"Had to take a flight all the way from Japan just to be here." he offered you the water and you drank it, with the pill that luckily would help with the headache. He observed you in silence. You felt little under his eyes, painfully ashamed of what was happening. You couldn't stop the tears from flowing again and sobbing with the glass still in your mouth. "Don't, please. You'll choke."

He gently took the glass away from you and you covered your face.

"I'm so sorry. I–I–"

"You what? Y/N" any hopes of discussing with calmness dissapeared when he raised his voice. You couldn't hold in your sadness and he couldn't hide hise anger. "Do you know what this means?! For all of us?!" you crossed your arms over your stomach.

"I saw it."

"You saw it? They're destroying you. Look." Shawn turned the TV on and did a quick zapping over most of the news channel. Half of them focused on Shawn and Camila's stunt, half of them focused on you. You tensed your jaw and looked at an empty point on the floor. Shawn said something else, but you couldn't focuse on his words as you recalled what started it all.

"How much more can I be destroyed?" you whispered. Shawn turned the TV off and looked at you, somewhere between concerned and taken aback.

"What?"

"Yeah, you heard well. What's a bit more of pain? I mean, everybody is hating me but at least they know who I am, right?" Shawn scrubbed his face and you could practically see the words inside his mind: Not again. But weren't you telling the truth? You wouldn't be in that situation if it wasn't for the contract extending that long. If Shawn had the decency to not push you to a side, you wouldn't have gotten drunk and the secret wouldn't be out.

"We already went through this!"

"No we didn't!" you screamed. Shawn stared at you speechless "We didn't talk it out! You just avoided it, and avoided it until I wasn't part of the picture anymore." At this point your face was drenched in tears. The sobs were painful but, at the same time, you felt free. You had contain your anguish for too long.

"You know I had no choice!"

"Yes you did!" you poked his chest with anger "You had the choice of calling me, of reaching out to me! You were travelling the world with Camila and I suddenly didn't existed. The contract said you had to pretend to be with her, not stop loving me."

"I never stopped loving you, what the hell are you talking about? I kept in touch with you."

You laughed. For the first time you laughed, but it wasn't filled with joy. You were frustrated, furious. You advanced a few steps and stood before him, chest to chest.

"You bet?" you asked low "Pick up your phone, Shawn." no movement. "Pick up you god damn phone. You'll find my fucking texts, my fucking calls and only fucking me caring for us."

"I forgot to call you a few times. That. Was. It."

"That was it." you repeat, nodding with your head, as you finally understand. "Then this is it."

Shawn blinked a few times.

"What?" he mumbled. Your eyes got teary, his too. You don't have to watch it anymore as you strode to your bedroom.

You grabbed a suitcase from your closet and started throwing some clothes in it. Shawn called your name a few times and stopped at that door.

"What are you doing?" he asked. You knew his tones enough to guess that he's scared.

"Going to my mom's. We're done." you laughed and corrected yourself "I'm done."

"What? No, no, no. This isn't over. If anything I should be the one quitting, you fucked this all by selling me." you turned abruptly, but your voice wasn't strong or determined. If it was even possible, something else shattered inside of you. You knew he was affected by happened, but never did you imagined that he'd believe what they were saying.

"You really think I am capable of hurting you on purpose?" you choked out a sob. Tears started falling again.

What he didn't said was enough. You slowly nodded.

"Y/N" he murmured, when you grabbed the suitcase and passed beside him. You walked to the door and his voice, again, this time did stop you. "Y/N, stay. Let's talk. Please."

You vaguely dried the tears on your face with your hand and turned around. It took all of your strength to look at him.and talk: "I was drunk. Was it my fault? Maybe. I don't know. Maybe I should've not drown myself in alcohol. But there were two people in this relationship. I tried to talk to you and you just didn't listen. You just didn't—" Shawn was crying now. His jaw was locked, his hands tugging tightly his hair. You wished you could erase that image from your head.

"Please, Y/N. Shit! I'm so sorry. We can work this out. I believe you, baby, but don't go. I beg."

You smiled with a certain nostalgia. Your memories were holding you in, hope had it's role too. But was there really hope for you both? If he really loved you, you both wouldn't be standing there. If he really loved you, he would've taken five minutes of his day to talk to you. Your heart was aching, and you've had enough. It was the fact that he evidently didn't love you that made you took a step out.

You slowly closed the door, but not before hearing his now-loud cries. "Goodbye, Shawn."

[sociallyintroverteddumbass]

The Toxic people in the HH Fandom

Now this is something I wanted to talk about.

I have been in this community for some time now and it has been the most eventful, yet exciting time of my years. Seeing a large group of fans support a passion project / show made by talented and independent people is pretty damn great and I love it. But, there have been some situations that had reeked some havoc here and I think it’s time we talked about some of them. 

Unfortunately, I could not fit everything I wanted to talk about in this post since it’s a bit overdue , I will be discussing 5 types of toxic people and some situations that had happened in the HH community. 

Note: Most of the stories I’m going to talk about were either made public or had been told by my friends or people who have experienced these situations. 

I will not reveal the names of the toxic individuals or their social media names as I don’t want anyone to witch-hunting any of these people. As much as I hate these types of people, it would be inhumane to go and attack them. In this community, we are trying to bring positivity to the fandom and not attract any drama here. Despite this, I will offer the details of what these individuals have done that should have some light dazzled to help and inform of these disgusting  crimes in the community. Also if you go out of your way to harass any of these people I will beat you up and eat your fingers. You know better then to do that.

1. Harassment

Harassment is no uncommon thing. It can happen to everyone, but that doesn’t mean it’s ok. If you are being harassed or spammed by someone, BLOCK THEM. It is never ok for you to stay silent, especially when that harassment is continuous. If you disagree with someone about something, do not go spamming them in their dms or comments, cause’ that just make you look stupid and immature af. 

Allow me to explain. Role-Play / Role-Players are seemingly the most common in the HH Fandom and often answer questions from others to the the character they are rp-ing as or their ocs. But sometimes they are going to get weird fucking questions.

For example, my good friend @carol1826​ is a roleplayer. She roleplays Charlie and asks / answers ask from others (HH related or not). One day, she had a very annoying anon asking her the question “Are you single?” on her posts and ask box. Of course, she was uncomfortable about that question and deleted those until the anon finally said:

“Dumb bitch deleting questions I was only asking a question...”  

“I bet the real Charlie would answer my questions...”

Ok, first of all what the actual fuck and what type of human being would ask someone that question, especially to a Charlie rp blog. More specifically, why would anyone ask a roleplayer that question. It disgusts me that this anon would do this and I hope they get what’s coming to them.

----       ------      ---    --------         ----------  --   ----------------   -----                   ------- Another example of this comes from Tumblr and DeviantArt. You see, a strange user (we will refer to as “the User”) has been asking artists (minors and adults) a specific request in the HH fandom:

“Draw Angel Dust’s butt looking like his fluffy chest” Or sometimes even these asks: “Draw Angel Dust swallowing bullets” ”Draw angel dust smuggling drugs up his butt” “Draw Alastor killing Pentious with a penance stare” “Can I get a shot of Pentious' eye on his hat?” But it seems that the User would often ask artists to draw Angel Dust with his butt out or doing weird shit, but mostly Angel Dust’s butt.

Of course, they would be constantly asking and spamming artists to do this, even if the artist didn’t want to. They even went as far as asking a 13 yr old artist to draw his request. The User has also admitted that it was a fetish (butt fetish to be specific), which is ok but that doesn’t excuse their actions. Fetishes are normal and I have nothing against anyone who has one but it is not ok to try and demand and spam someone to draw it if they don’t want to. The User has been also stealing art, not crediting artists, participating in art trades but never doing their part, begging or persuading for artists to give free art to them (despite some artists who only do commissions), making fake accounts and harassing /  impersonating people, acting racist, etc. I recommend any HH artist to block this user immediately if you get an ask from them.

If the artist doesn't want to draw your request, then you should leave them alone.

It is not ok to spam an artist’s askbox or DMs the same request they rejected over and over again. It’s not going to do any good for you if you do this.

Not only that,

The User also does this to HH roleplayers, sending really weird rp asks to them, mainly those who roleplay Angel Dust. In fact, there was one instance where they sent an ask to a Angel Dust roleplayer in which they basically raped Angel or asked very perverted question about their “Fluffy Butt” (the worst one is when they asked Angel rp-ers to swallow a rat and see if it comes out through the butt), along with other weird asks and it’s fucking disgusting / disturbing as this makes the User look like an extreme creep. It is not uncommon for these types of people to ask others to satisfy their fetishes or sexual desires, and will do whatever it takes to get that fetish / desire expressed from anyone (minors or adults) they can contact, even if it is illegal.

Unfortunately, this User has also ask artists these requests on DA as well, but way worse than you could ever imagine. The worst instance was where they’d ask various artists to draw a frog with worms up its ass. Yeah, I’m calling the Art Police.  Recently, the User had posted on DA discussing this issue. Of course they were acting very perverse, deny that they spam artists (even though it’s the truth) and trying to pull a bullshit pity party / sob story by explaining how they used to be homeless for 2 years, abused and attacked, which (I clearly doubt is true). The fact they tried to defend themselves by talking about how shitty their life used to be fucking disgusts me and is so very pathetic, it makes me gag knowing that these people exist and we are forced to live among them. The User is obviously trying to pull people away from the situation by using the pity card, and it failed. Why the hell should anyone give you the benefit of the doubt that you have done these sick, twisted, and inhumane things to artists by spamming them gross requests and being a big baby when people call you out, as if you should even deserve pity to begin with?  Now of course, what the User is saying does sound very hard to deal with and very sad, but once it crosses the line (due to these actions the User has done and has been very immature and uncompromising about it) people won’t care about how you got there nor feel pity about it. Besides, I doubt anything that the User said is actually true, especially the “homeless for 2 years” part, since if that were the case, you’d be more focused on money and rent rather than asking artists to draw a character clapping their ass-cheeks. Currently on this user’s DA page, they’ve been doing these abominations of status posts for some time, posting pity-post stories in order to get sympathy and just bad. In one of their posts, they go completely ape-shit. Like, this is what happens when desperation and lies is your only option to escape your problems because you’re to perverse to try and fix those issues. I doubt anything this guy says is real anymore since, at this point, anything they say is just a way for them to get pity-points.  Here are the posts btw -----v

Overall, this user is a art thief, spammer, pedophile, manipulating, lying disgusting immature pig that should be eradicated from the internet and all communities for they have been nothing but harassed and cause problems in the fandoms they entered. 

In conclusion, If you are an HH rp / art blog and you are getting uncomfortable asks like these, do not respond and / or block the person asking, you have that right and these people can’t tell you otherwise. If you are harassing people like this, then shame on you for your actions and you seriously need to stop. Its not fucking ok and it will never be ok. NEVER FUCKIN’ EVER. 

2. Art Theft 

Now those of you who have been here for a long time in the Vivziepop Fandom, you will know that many people would sometimes repost Vivz’s artwork. Most of the time we usually don’t do this in the intent of stealing it but to share it or even criticize it. Seemingly Vivz doesn't have a problem with this, unless you are stealing it for you own personal gain and lie that it’s their art. That’s right, these bastards steal her art and claim its theirs. If you been frequently going to Vivz’s Twitter back in 2017, you might remember her calling out a blog that was stealing her art and saying it was theirs.

If you thought that was bad, not only does this happen to Vivz, it happens to other artists in the the HH fandom, the two I’m going to talk about come from @rabbit1225​ and @ztoonsz.

Rabbit1225 makes beautifully drawn artwork of characters, and they are especially well known for their fanart on HH characters in the fandom (Lucifer from HH to be specific). But, unfortunately as Rabbit continues with the fanart, others take it without permission. In fact, there was one instant where someone had ask Rabbit if they could use their picture of Lucifer in the Hazbin Hotel Wiki for Lucifer’s bio in a conversation on DeviantArt. Rabbit said no, but they didn’t care. They not only posted it on the wiki, they spelled Rabbit’s DeviantArt name wrong. Fortunately, Rabbit told the person to remove the pic immediately and told them off for not listening, and so far the pic was removed from the wiki.

This would soon lead to Rabbit putting big watermarks over most their artwork so art thieves couldn’t steal them. I mean, the watermarks are so big they take up the whole pic, which is smart. But still it is a very sad thing to see this happen to artist like Rabbit just because they make some good art of their favorite characters. Sure, asking artists for permission to use their artwork is ok, but taking their art (even if the artist said no) without permission is extremely wrong and disgraceful.  -------    ----              ------------                 --------------------------    -----    ----------

Ztoonz is also an artist who draws HH characters, including their HH oc. Suddenly, an Instagram user was not only stealing their HH art, but stealing various ones from another artist. Ztoonz confronted this thief, and it went pretty bad to say the least. The thief kept saying it was “Their art” and kept calling them insults like “Bitch” or “British Cunt”. What really put the nail in the coffin was when the thief  threaten to repost Ztoonz’s art and claim that Ztoonz was the one stealing it. Now that’s just cold. Of course, Ztoonz made a post regarding this and everyone started to report this thief. Thankfully, the thief deleted all of the art because they knew they fucked up and they deserved it. 

If an you are reposting another person’s art, you must ask for permission first. If don’t and just straight up do it anyway, be sure to credit them at least.

If the artist asks you to remove the reposted art, Do IT, as the art is theirs and not yours and you could get sued or even arrested by the artist for stealing their art.

 Respect an artist’s request to leave their art alone or credit them and move on with your life.

It’s not that difficult. You’ll look bad.

This also goes for Ocs as well, of course.

It is despicable and stealing another person’s character and / or art , it makes you look like you are devoid of creativity to make your own and it’s scummy.

 3. The Attack Of HH Shippings 

This is a tweet Vivzie made on her Twitter. I hope you read or at least acknowledged this tweet, because I’m going to talk about a certain issue regarding this. You see, the reason why Vivz made this tweet was because of the fact that there was an increase of actual people bullying other for certain  ships, canon or not, which I must say is just sad. Like, guys they’re just cartoon characters, calm the fuck down. If you’re seriously going to debate others about a certain ship and whether or not it’s canon for 2 hours, then you are the real fool here.  I don’t know what’s worse: -People shipping real-life people that don’t know each other / have no love or sexual relations with.  OR -People getting into heated arguments about certain fictional character ships from cartoons or shows. What more do we need to tell you? How many fucking times do we all need to say it to you people? Doing this is just going to make you look like a shit person, and an immature one at that. There is no reason for you to do this.There is no reason to attack someone for having some ship of an HH character because you disagree with it. I’ve said it, everyone has said it, even Vivzie herself has said it.  I know this is common in almost all fandoms and communities, but come on, ya’ll should be mature enough to know that being a bitch about stupid shit is just stupid. You guys are old enough to learn how to respect an opinion / interest, yet you people are crying like babies about how some people are shipping Vaggie and Angel Dust cause’ he is gay and not straight. THEY’RE JUST SHIPS! Not only that, even if Angel Dust and Vaggie used to be a couple in the older version of HH and it’s not canon anymore, you can still ship them regardless.

Sure, we all love our demons guys n’ gals but we need to remember they’re just characters and we can do whatever ships we want. Of course, there are going to be the weird looking ships, but we need to respect those ships. You have no authority to tell a person to kill themselves all because they shipped Charlie with Alastor. You are not the God of Ships, nor are you entitled to say you are. 

Speaking of the Vaggie x Angel Dust ship, my friend @scarecrowinc93 told me about someone supporting that ship here on Tumblr. They loved it so much, they made a kickstarter to make the ship canon. Fucking Madlad. But when people tried to tell them that it might not come true, they went ape-shit. They responded to all of this in a post and were extremely rude and bitter about it, though they tried to cover their tracks by deleting it as soon as they realize they fucked up. Now as much as we love fan ships and wish they could be canon, it might not happen and you need to except that fact. 

Just because you’re in a fandom that have excepting ships does not mean you can harass people for disagreeing with your ship or anyone else. I get it people should have free opinions here and there, but you don’t have the right to speak in a rude manner because someone didn’t like your ship. That’s not right and you know that.

4.”Is Hazbin Hotel a Scam?” Bullshit and Clickbait Slander

What happens when someone is desperate for views on YouTube? Slander and attempting to start drama of course! There had been two videos that have caused a bit of a steer. 

The first one was at the day of Christmas Eve, a video called “Is Hazbin Hotel a Scam?” was uploaded by some random person, and I gotta say I was pissed off and disgusted. This might as well be the most infamous video slandering Hazbin Hotel to exist. Words cannot describe this video, and the only way I can describe it is with this image:

I’m pretty sure everyone knows that Hazbin Hotel isn’t a scam. For one, Vivzie and the HH crew do not want to let the fans down, especially at this point in time as Hazbin Hotel is popular with a majority of fans, who are excited for the upcoming show. Do you really think Vivziepop would want to let her own fans down and lie about the upcoming show just to gain money? Yeah uh, how about no motherfucker. They’ve been working so hard to even stop the project at this point. Multiple clips from the pilot have been released to the public, and you can clearly see that the HH crew are working hard to make this show real. Animation that could make Disney cry, colors that pop and vibrate with beauty, and characters with designs that defy our ability to comprehend. For example, Ashely Nichols is one of the HH animators / artists working on the project. She is well known for the many streams she broadcasts. Most of them are usually of her animating various scenes, but with a bit of a twist. You see, to make these streams more entertaining, she brings in one of the several voice actors of Hazbin Hotel to the stream and have the viewers give voice requests said voice actor. In fact, she is currently in a relationship with Micheal Kovach, the voice of Angel Dust. Sometimes even Vivzie makes streams. During those streams some viewers would ask her various questions about Hazbin Hotel, and you know what she does? She answers their questions. Vivzie likes to talk about the Hazbin Hotel’s universe, especially her characters and want to share them with her fans.  So how is that a scam? If Hazbin Hotel was a scam, then why is the HH crew so dedicated to make this project successful? Explain that, cause’ it seems that the person who made this video might have something to say about this. I question whether or not this person is a troll or not, but I’m on the notion they did this for views since in their channel they have never talked about animation or anything related to that and probably doesn’t even know anything about it. Literally, when I first went on this person’s channel, there was barely anything in there that related to animation, art, or anything of that sort but (what I can assume to be) video blogs with barely any views. When I saw this, I could just feel the desperateness for views radiating from their channel. It’s like the equivalent of someone cashing in on a famous person’s death because they’re so desperate for views and attention. When first watching this “exposed video”, I honestly couldn’t even watch it at it’s fully entirety because it was that bad. The points this person made were too idiotic to take seriously and I feel bad for those who believed these disgusting lies. Here are just some of the “points” this person made about the so called “Hazbin Hotel scam”: - Having merch before the show has been released - Having no official release date - The crew only caring about money, not the fans - Having two Patreon pages (One is Vivziepop, the other’s Hazbin Hotel) These are just some of the “points” the person made in the video, and oh believe me it gets worse. While some seem understandable, most of them sound too abysmal to be true. Like seriously, “Having no official release date...”? How petty do you have to be to make up this shit? I get it, the internet can be a sketchy place and you can’t always trust the things you believe, but that statement does not make sense. Let me explain, most animation projects take time to make, like it can 5-7 hours to make a 10 second clip. Now imagine 30 minutes (which is how long the Hazbin Hotel pilot will be), imagine how long it would take to animate. Drawing every single frame neatly and correctly, making sure every scene is right, taking time and making it perfect. The amount of time and effort animators take on animating is astounding. Animation is hard and whether you animate or not, you know that it takes a great deal of toil and energy to do something like this, especially when it comes to 2D animation (which is the main animation style for Hazbin Hotel), where you have to draw each and every frame by hand. Animators need time to do this stuff and sometimes don’t when they’ll be done. Hell, animation companies like Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, etc. need time for this shit and it could take them months or even years to even start the animation process. Even if these companies have a larger budget then Vivzie, that doesn’t mean she can’t full-fill her animation dream. Like I said before, Vivziepop has already released multiple clips from the pilot, talked about the universe of Hazbin Hotel and it’s characters, and overall make the wait for the pilot something everyone can enjoy. If it were a scam, the animation wouldn’t look completed / smooth, Vivzie would not be talking about the HH universe as much, there wouldn’t be as many animation streams being made, etc.

Apparently, the video was so bad, misleading, and plain retarded, Jakeneutron (who is an animator well known for doing stuff related for Steven Universe), told the person off in the comment section along with other people who actually have a brain. This person, this fucking person, was just spouting bullshit claims like how: 

“They only care about money than the project”

and

“It takes 6 animators to make the merch line and several days to release the merch line”

This person obviously doesn’t know how to tell a good lie because his claims are total bullshit and easily debunkable. The video might have been deleted since it hasn’t been seen near the top when you search “Hazbin Hotel” on Youtube but I don’t want to say it too soon, but if the video is still up then I recommend to not watch it as, like I said, just an attempt to start drama and get views from a pathetic troll / leech.  Seriously, these lies are so bad I feel like my brain cells are slowly dying just reading them.

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

Next one, a video was uploaded seemingly in December  of another random person’s “reaction” to the Hazbin Hotel trailer and was pretty bad. One of the most idiotic claims this person kept dragging was that this was for children and it is very inappropriate. How? HOW?!

How is a show about demons, murderers, villains in Hell (with mild cursing and sex jokes) for children? This person literally thinks that anything animated is for children. I swear people with that mentality about animation always being “Family Friendly” are just plain idiots. Like look at Family Guy / American Dad / Bojack Horseman / Mr.Pickles / The NutShack, they all have mature and inappropriate themes in them, and they’re animated.

Generally speaking here, yes I do think young children shouldn’t watch HH for obvious reasons. Yes, even though the characters are really funny and enjoyable and the animation beautiful, it’s not mean’t for a very young audience. You could tell Hazbin Hotel isn’t family friendly the moment they talk about drugs, Hell, murder, genocide, etc. but this person acts like it’s going to corrupt our kids the nano-second they watch it. Not only that, they were involving religion into the video. Unfortunately, due my poor memory, I couldn’t remember what they said, but what I do remember was the title saying “I’m never leaving my church ever again...” and the thumbnail being the person seemingly holding a mini bible. Unsurprisingly, they got a lot of hate from that video, but for some reason the person was liking every comment (including the ones that were going against him), which begs the question, What the fuck? The video was deleted, of course.

Now, oddly enough this person is special in a way. They may just seem like your average slanderer towards HH, but they’re a weird one. You see for some reason this person kept making “review videos” on the HH clips or videos apparently supporting HH. Yeah, excuse me but what the fuck? Are they trying to cover their tracks? 

It’s hard to tell if they’re a troll or not because at this point I don’t know. First they slander HH, now they supporting it? What is this person doing and why?

One of my most biggest problems with their HH ‘review’ videos is how the jokes they make are bland, unfunny, and just confusing (to me at least). When they make an attempt at a joke, it’s hard to even call it a joke because it makes you debate whether to laugh or not. 

For example, in their “review” to “A Cautionary Tale”, Angel Dust says he’s “Not too big on politics”, and then the person takes out a MAGA hat, wears it, and says “Well, then you and I are gonna get along great!” I think it’s suppose to be a political joke since in the corner it said *Republican joke*, but at the same time it comes across as not really funny.

My second biggest issue I have about them is how they literally have no fucking clue on what they’re saying. Like they have no idea who the characters are, the universe of the show, etc. and honestly comparing them to an average HH fan, they have the IQ of a penny when talking about HH. In their “A Cautionary Tale” review video, they literally claimed there was no such thing as an “overnight” in Hell and that they’ve been hearing people say that everyone in the main cast of HH died in the 1940s (even though most of the characters have different personalities based on when they died, which is not just the 1940s). Yeah, this ain’t it chief. 

One of the most stupidest things this guy said was that Alastor was Adolf Hitler himself...  Yeah no. Like I’m not sure if this is suppose to be some sort of joke, but judging from this guy’s low knowledge on HH and them being obsessed the 1900s, it seems likely. 

Firstly, Alastor died in 1933, New Orleans (which was told by Vivz in one of Ashely’s streams) during the great depression before WW2, while Hitler died in 1945, Berlin during WW2. Literally, you could just google “Adolf Hitler” and it would show you his date of death on the right side of the screen when you google him, and for Alastor you would go to the Hazbin Hotel Wiki. It’s not that hard.

Secondly, if Alastor was Hitler, then he would have spoken in german or german accent, hate Jews / African Americans / Gays / Hipsanics / etc., have a swastika on this arm, and have the signature mustache or at least something like Hitler. Alastor speaks in a 1930′s voice and speaks english, literally (seemingly) doesn’t care about what race or sexual orientation you are, has no mustache.  

If you went and researched about these characters more on the Hazbin Hotel Wiki, then you wouldn’t look so stupid especially if you want to be invested in the show’s characters or the show in general.

If you haven’t noticed yet, this person is into some war history judging by his interest of World War stuff. I can understand that they may not know, but (like I said) you could literally go to the Hazbin Hotel Wiki to learn more about the story, rather than make dumb assumptions on things you don’t know. You have the internet, use it.

If you think that making video’s slandering a show or person gonna get you good-ass views, then fuck you. Doing this will do nothing but bring angry fans and confused people believing the things you say. If you find satisfaction from that, you are fucking disgusting and a trashy human being. 

5. Roleplay Bullying

Much like HH ship-bullying, roleplayers are being bullied by their way of roleplaying. One that has come to attention is one coming from the Twitter RP-Verse. They roleplay as Alastor and has been acting like a tyrant. You see, they are also an artist who do HH fanart and are well-known for it actually (but I won’t tell who). They would insult roleplayers for their ability or way of roleplaying behind their backs and it’s quite childish for someone to be mad at something so small and idiotic. The roleplayer would use their fans to try and force other rp-ers from the roleplay, as if they control it, which is false and you can’t really control a roleplay, unless someone’s being annoying af and I doubt that this Alastor roleplayer is doing what their doing for that reason. I can understand that territories like this can get pretty hostile, but regards to this specific situation there isn’t really an excuse. I’m not going to go too deep into this topic since (let’s be honest) is another version of HH ship-bullying but except it’s roleplay. Maybe next time I’ll go deeper into this.

So what did we learn today?

Today we learn how truly pathetic us humans can be. How people would go out of their way to conduct such petty crimes to satisfy themselves because they have nothing else better to do in their sad little lives. 

I might make a part 2 of this post, since I couldn’t talk about everything I wanted to say in this post since that would take forever to make. 

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Thank you all for read my post!   

I wish everyone in this community the greatest and to be safe on the internet. Toxic people are crawling left and right and it is important that we don’t let these people get to us, we are better than these people.

If any of you guys want to make a similar post like this, then go ahead! It would be much appreciated to help spread this awareness and make our or other communities less toxic. 

[volixia669]

Internet and Fandom Safety Tips

So due to some discourse about minors in fandom, as well as some things that I’ve seen go on, I’ve noticed a weird divide as to how we’re taught internet safety. My generation/age group of that generation? We were taught to be careful, every stranger on the internet is dangerous, etc. Nowadays? The focus is less on how to be safe on the internet, and more to stay in safe spaces. Which works...When you’re eight. By the time you’re thirteen and allowed on various websites, you’re beyond safe internet spaces. So have some more...helpful tips from one of those who’s been traversing the wild west for awhile.

TRIGGER WARNING: Mention of pedophilia, mention of the nastier aspects of the fandom and internet.

1. NEVER state your age. Ever. Even anonymously. On tumblr. On twitter. If you mention it on facebook, then make your facebook *PRIVATE*. Is everyone on the internet a pedophile? No. Are there pedophiles on the internet just looking for minors? Yep. By not mentioning your age, you are protecting yourself from dangerous situations. Likewise, don’t mention where you live either.

2. Look. It is absolutely no one’s job to protect you from content you don’t want to see. As various people have pointed out, we are adults making content for other adults. This is where tags and filters are your friend. You can filter out the content you don’t want.

3. Use an adblocker if you aren’t already. ESPECIALLY if you’re in any sort of anime/manga fandom. Because you’ll probably end up on sites that either have ads with NSFW content, ads with bordering on NSFW content, or just ads with viruses. Ublock Origin is a solid extension that should prevent any of that. (You should still have an antivirus on your computer.)

4. ANIME/MANGA/OTOME FANS IN PARTICULAR. Look. The guys are pretty. The voices are sexy. But a lot of this stuff is not made for anyone under 18. Or may seem fun now, but you look back and it’s actually pretty toxic.  So there may be weird content, toxic relationships, or NSFW content. Some anime/manga fandoms have fans who are obsessed with “lolis/shotas” which, means things can go south REAL FAST. (Again. Never. Ever. Mention you are a minor.) Enjoy the media, but be very selective with which parts of the fandom you hang out around, and which parts of the fanart/fanfiction you look at.

5. Trigger Warnings. Use them and be aware of them. When other people use trigger warnings, it means you know when something might make you uncomfortable, or might trigger some sort of PTSD or anxiety reaction in yourself. If anything you create might need a trigger warning, then use it. Even a post, like this one, could warrant a warning. Content Warning is another term that is often used.

6. Shipping. Oh boy. Where to even start? First off, it’s perfectly okay to ship characters. That’s just how fandoms operate. Things that are not okay however are...

     a. Dissing people’s ships just because you don’t like the ship. Everyone has different reasons for liking ships. Someone probably doesn’t like your favorite ships. Just respect that everyone ships differently.

     b. Insisting canon ships are the only real ships. Look. I did this when I was young and stupid. But try not to be that person. Sometimes non-canon ships can be more interesting. Sometimes non-canon ships are more canon than the canon ships. (Trust me, it happens) Ships are ships, and people will do what they will.

Also. It should be noted that sometimes people ship unhealthy relationships. There’s plenty of reasons for this. Often they know the relationship is unhealthy. Once again, this is a case of adults making content for adults.

7. This goes for real life as well. Always avoid those who are 18 or older and state that you’re “cool” and want to date you. Often they’ll use phrases like, “You’re so mature for your age.” Those are creeps and pedophiles. Stay away. They don’t actually think you’re mature. They just want someone they can groom.

8. I mentioned at the beginning to never state your age, and emphasized to never state you’re a minor. Never lie and say you’re 18 when you’re not. For several reasons. Creeps may assume it’s legal to DM stuff if you state you’re 18 in your bio. If you tell a website, or server mod you are 18, then for all intents and purposes they have to assume you are 18. Which doesn’t sound like a big deal to you, but websites and discord servers can get in HUGE trouble for allowing underage users to view and use NSFW content. Protect yourself by not lying in those cases.

9. Discord servers are a weird part of the internet. Honestly. If you’re under 18, just avoid the huge 2000 members servers. A lot of weird dangerous stuff can happen. Keep to smaller servers, with mods who keep NSFW stuff in the NSFW channels, and will prevent weird stuff from happening to you. Safety tip! Since you will need to disclose your real age (or just that you’re a minor) I highly recommend using a different username than you use for the rest of your online accounts, and not sharing your social media on the discord server.

There’s all sorts of other topics regarding the internet and fandom, but this is just the basics that should help you out. The internet can be a cool place, but it’s not a safe place. Be wary of strangers. Know that just because it’s mostly adults, it’s not our job to protect you from every little thing. And for the millionth time: NEVER MENTION YOU ARE A MINOR.

[cuethetommo]

LOUPOCOLYPSE DIGITAL STRATEGY BREAKDOWN: DAY 10 (05 Sep 2019)

Digital Happenings (All times are Los Angeles = UTC -7):

3:18 am - @ Louis_Tomlinson: Happy release day everyone! Exciting stuff (Twitter) (RT LTHQofficial)

3:39 am - @ LTHQ Official: Tommo’s joining @jackxsaunders on @BBCR1 tonight talking all things #KillMyMind and even playing some indie bangers. Tune in from 11PM BST https://bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00082jf (Twitter) (Instagram) (Instagram Stories)

7:01 am - @ Louis_Tomlinson: ITS OUT !!!! #KMM (Twitter)

7:01 am - @ Louis_Tomlinson: Let me know what you all think! (Twitter)

7:01 am - @ Louis_Tomlinson: Looking forward to this! Quote of .@Louis_Tomlinson joins @jackxsaunders on the Radio 1 Indie Show tonight! Make sure you're tuned in from 11pm to hear them chat new music and pick some of their favourite indie bangers Listen here: https://bbc.in/32zbmQq (Twitter)

7:05 am - @ LouisT91: #KillMyMind is out now ! So happy to be able to share new music with you all. Hope you love it ! Link in bio. (Instagram)

7:12 am - @ LouisT91: Kill My Mind is Out Now (Instagram Stories) (Also LTHQofficial)

7:27 am - @ Louis_Tomlinson: Thanks as always for the support! Quote of .@Louis_Tomlinson is here to #KillMyMind 😈🧠And you can listen now http://spoti.fi/2ks42W2 (Twitter)

~ 7:30 am - Handwritten note, Kill my mind is out (Subscriber Email)

7:48 am - @ LTHQofficial: How good is the boss' new banner?! Made by the brilliant @floreslla 👏 We want to see more of your art, keep it coming! #KillMyMind (Twitter)

8:19 am - @ LTHQofficial: Thank you for your hard work promoting #KillMyMind, here's a few things to help spread the word! 👉 https://smarturl.it/LT-KMMFanPack (Twitter)

9:00 - 11:00 am - @ LTHQofficial: RT Billboard & RT Shazam (Twitter)

11:03 am - @ Louis_Tomlinson: Thanks so much for the support!! Quote of Loving @ Louis_Tomlinson's new track #KillMyMind!!! Make sure to stream our Song of the Day on @AppleMusic ---> https://apple.co/2kuRuxi 🎉🙌🙏(Twitter)

11:28 am - Worlds. Best. Fans. Your support for Tommo is absolutely amazing 👏👏👏 #KillMyMind Quote of To celebrate the release of #KillMyMind , we teamed up with @LouisPromoSquad to bring a billboard to Times Square. It was shown at midday today on 7th avenue! Happy Release Day @Louis_Tomlinson @LTHQOfficial (Twitter) 

4:23 pm @ Louis_Tomlinson: Perfect way to finish release day. Thanks again for having me @jackxsaunders Legend! (Twitter)

4:29 pm @ Louis_Tomlinson: Thank you to everyone single person involved in today’s release. I feel so invigorated! (Twitter) (RT LTHQofficial)

4:35 pm @ Louis_Tomlinson: Most importantly to my fans, honestly today was a moment for us. Seeing all of you support the record in your own initiative ways is incredible for me to see. Even if I don’t always see you all I feel your presence and your backing. Love to you ALL! (Twitter) (RT LTHQ Official)

All Day: @ Louis_Tomlinson: Replying to fans & press/radio (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22) (Twitter)

My Opinion:

God almighty today was a DAY. I’ll call out a couple of things that I really liked today. I like the Fan Pack from LTHQ. I love getting official artwork to work with and make stuff from. I think it is a really great way to say, you’re doing a thing already and we’re supporting you. I also love that Louis used another Fan-Made header. Again, it is walking his talk of having fans involved.

I love the fan and press/radio interaction, and if you scroll through (or click my links) you can see them all. Louis is being fun and gracious and all the things we love. I also like the continued use of handwritten notes for the email campaigns. It feels like something special. And email marketing is under-appreciated in the age of email. I do wish they could time it differently (like so you got the email right at 7am) but resident tech genius @beccasafan says that’s not possible.

LTHQ was on it with the fan acknowledgment as well which I think is a nice division of labor between the accounts. 

There’s been a slight dip in Spotify numbers and I would not be surprised if it was folks who revoked access after getting the challenge and song. We don’t want Sony to have our data. (That’s a guess, I do not know).

Spotify Stats: 2,432,117 followers / 5,518,405 monthly listeners (8:00 pm UTC - 7)

My goal is to chart this over time, so there will for sure be mistakes. But if you want to see the rest of the series LOUPOCALPSE DIGITAL BREAKDOWN is the tag. (For folks uncomfortable with stunt mentions, I will tag stunt mention. I’m not willing to pretend they don’t happen.)

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Bias Disclaimer: I don’t believe in objectivity. I don’t think that’s something that humans are capable of and certainly not me. So, all I can do is be straight forward about what my biases are (as I know them). I’ve been involved in digital marking since the beginning of Twitter in both small and large capacities. There are certainly folks here who know more than I do, but I know a reasonable amount. I am also a recklessly optimistic person, and I’d be lying if I said that doesn’t color how I see just about everything.