#whatever ill just get back into anime and comics

[tootiredtocares-blog]

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[maxwellatoms]

Would you trust ANY Korean studio for hand-drawn animation today? I ask because, when The Powerpuff Girls came back in 2016, I noticed how slow and stiff the Korean animation was. Since then, most Burbank cartoons animated in Korea, namely Cartoon Network shows, have been like that — mostly on 2s & with less inbetweening. Look at any Digital eMation episode of Victor and Valentino or Samurai Jack Season 5; do they animate as loosely and smoothly as Digital eMation episodes of Billy & Mandy do?

Sure I would. It would all depend on the studio and the circumstances. There are good studios and bad studios, and either of those will treat your show differently based on their perception of how valuable it is to their client. In the early 2000s Rough Draft was a top-notch studio. One of the reasons I switched over to eMation from Rough Draft was that I felt like Rough Draft was putting all of its resources into making Samurai Jack look beautiful, and we were still calling retakes on three year old issues. I knew we weren't a priority to Rough Draft, and I knew that stemmed from Cartoon Network's negotiations with them, so my griping was only going to get us so far. It seemed to me that I needed a studio that was smaller and scrappier like we were. We were putting in a lot of work on our end to make cool stuff and it wasn't ending up on the screen, so we needed people who were just as hungry on the back-end, and eMation stepped up.

There's also the fact, though, that animation itself has changed a lot in the last fifteen years. Powerpuff Girls and Samurai Jack's animation always seemed to have an air of "motion comics" to it. And frankly, that's part of what I love about it. It was all a throwback to the old UPA cartoons, which were built on strong, clear poses and made for the cost equivalent of a turkey dinner. Likewise, CN storyboard artists usually had around four weeks to write and draw their boards on paper, so there just wasn't time to take the effort to do anything too complex. It was all about snapping between those 300-ish storyboard drawings and momentarily savoring them for their humor and design mastery. Now we have tons of digital tools that make the basics of animation a lot more accessible to everyone, and have changed the entire studio pipeline. Things just won't look like they used to because nobody makes them that way anymore.

When I've had to choose an overseas animation studio, the network's production arm usually gives me one or three choices and tells me that's all there is. Deals have already been made. (Sometimes they make you pick two to save on costs, which (IMO) usually results in two studios that are less functional than any one of them would have been.) The studios usually have reels, so that gives you a basic idea of what they can do. You can (hopefully) find some other show creators who have worked with the studios and get an honest review. It's an important enough decision that it's worth whatever research you can put into it. Even over good bones, an ill-fitting skin can ruin the mood.

The most important thing to remember, I think, is that it's your job and your crew's job to make animating the show as easy as possible. Really, it's everyone's job to make the next person in line's job as simple as they can. Ideally, there shouldn't be a lot of questions because the materials you sent down the chain are clear.

So... yeah. I'd still trust Korean studios as much as I'd trust any overseas or domestic animation studio. You get out of them what you put into them by feeding them money and your own labor. It's quite possible that the shows you mentioned didn't do enough of either.

I imagine the overseas studios are hurting right now, so who knows what that landscape is even going to look like in a few years.

As with every step of the process making a TV show, you just sort of have to weigh your options and find the path.

Hmm. That got long.

[russetfoxfur]

so i dont usually do liveblogs because i never show up to streams and also im not very good at reacting to stuff. However. i will make an exception because HGCZ IS OUT!! and i have seen so much hype about it that id be a fool to not at least read it. livereact will be under the cut for spoilers and. stuff.

- ok we arent even on the actual ZINE and the opening dedication?? "Of the arts, storytelling is one of the oldest: humanity weaves an endless tapestry of heart, hope, and home that continues to shape us all to this day. To tell a story is to bridge the gap between yesterday and tomorrow; to tell a story is to inextricably connect us all." THAT OPENING PARAGRAPH DUDE

- interesting premise. im intrigued. though i am a little concerned about the "classist violence" and "body modification" warnings. I suspect this is not all Fun and Games

- "I gotta say, "Hot"Guy, this is pretty disappointing. You can be AverageGuy. MediocreGuy." "Oh! "Guy"!" the best part is this is so in-character for them to do

- the ENTIRE EXPLANATION bit omg. joel trying to interject and comic-style getting talked over, lizzie robbing cats instead of cash... and her backstory...

- i. that sudden style shift is not in fact comical and i am now eyeing the unreality warning at the beginning of the zine with sudden alarm. should i be alarmed by this? maybe this is fine. lets say its fine

- JELLIE! hcing her supername is HotCat. she DEFINITELY needs a matching HotGuy costume. and i am somewhat more reassured!

- wait hold on. went back to that first hotguy comic to see the warnings (hidden in the title, missed them) and. WAIT WAS THAT REWRITING FUCKIN MIND CONTROL

- UNREALITY MINDCONTROL SCOPOPHOBIA AND INJURY??? WAIT HOLD ON IM REREADING THIS

- wait. WAIT THAT PANEL. THAT ONE WHERE JOEL SEES HOTGUY REWROTE THE ANIMAL CONTROL VAN TO BE A MONEY VAN. WAIT A FUCKING SECOND WE ARENT EVEN TEN PAGES INTO THE ZINE AND HOLY SHIT

- joels the only one who can SEE HES DOING THIS SO HOTGUY WRITES HIM OUT. JESUS FUCKIN CHRIST. HOTGUY??? UFHODQPHFWJPFAP AND THEN HE "GOES BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD" AND FUCKIN REWRITES REALITY TO MAKE HIMSELF SEEM COOLER. BUT REWRITTEN HOTGUY HAS THE SAME PLASTIC EXPRESSION. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST THIS IS ONLY ONE COMIC I THINK YOURE LYING ABOUT HIS SUPERPOWER MUTATION WHATEVER

- ALRIGHT SWIFTLY ON. WE WILL EYE HOTGUY WITH CONCERN BUT MOVE ON NONETHELESS

- :0 cuteguy appears! doody did rlly good work on this one!

- CUTEGUY IS AWESOME!!! those WINGS... agh i love comic bubbles they just have so much personality and those icy words... and cuteguy pointing HOTGUYS OWN ARROW back at him..... you could not have made a better introduction holy shit

- and then he just flies off. awesome. we should all aspire to be the same level of cool as cuteguy.

- ren would be able to just say hotguy like that. also sidenote i am hearing all these lines in my head as im reading so writers youve all done fantastically!

- UNIONIZE! UNIONIZE! UNIONIZE!

- is pearl... a journalist? or is this the wrong gal? if she is a journalist then good for her!

- oh :( everyone hates unionizing the vigelantes. sad but realistic :(

- MUMBLR?? DID MUMBO K JUMBO BECOME THE OWNER OF TUMBLR IN THIS AU? DID HE KILL MATT PHOTOSPACE WHOEVER THE CEO OF TUMBLR IS? DID THEY FISTFIGHT TO THE DEATH? THAT HAPPENED RIGHT. THATS THE ONLY THING ILL ACCEPT AS CANON. IN THIS AU MUMBLR IS TRANS-FRIENDLY! 🎉

- sweetferaline (bahm bahm bahhh)

- ok this is incredibly funny. teeth dog ftw

- CHATTER AND M JESUS CHRIST THIS IS NOW THE BEST SEGMENT IN THE ENTIRE ZINE. AMAZING COMEBACK THIS IS SO REALISTIC

- and the reply sections are always a cesspool! glad they got that right

- PIXLRIFFS RUNNING A BLOG ON TUMBLR TO EXPLAIN HERMITOPIA. THIS IS SO IN CHARACTER

- THE MAPLE PRINCE. THE MAPLE PRINCE

- THIS ENTIRE MUMBLR DASH WAS PURE COMEDY GOLD. FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS & HATS OFF TO THE WRITER

- ARIANA GRIANDE!!!! WOOOOO <3 <3 WE LOVE YOU GRIANDE!!!!!

- and now permit office grian! we are going through so many different iterations of grian... imagine we get poultry man next

- is that GEM??? IS GEM A VILLAIN? also i dont really know who the hippies are... idk its just hard for me to recognize this artstyle ig

- WAIT. HAS GEM BEEN SPYING ON GRIAN'S DETECTIVITY? or am i just reading this all wrong? i might be reading this all wrong

- alright i might have to reread that one-- WAIT MORE MIND CONTROL. AND BODY MODIFICATION??? THE MISSING CUB... guys if this is sculk!cub im gonna maul someone

- AAAA BEHIND YOU HOTGUY (i called it)

- also love how i instantly went "oh a tibbycaps comic!"

- ok i LOVE this panel where they figure out Arson. the way both conclusions are reached in tandem! and also YAY WOOO ARSON THIS BITCH UP 🔥

- OH MY GOD THIS IS HILARIOUS I LOVE HOW THE abrupt cut to disaster WAS DONE IN COMIC FORM

- THAT MERCH DESIGN IN THE NOTES APP ABSOLUTELY FUCKING SENT ME DUDE

- "i use sculk to season my pizza" ah. I see. typical cubfan behavior. carry on

- "None of us are perfect, despite what you say might feel when you look at me" this Bdubs email is SO IN-CHARACTER

- " i replied to some of these but then i kinda got bored and started sending links to cool space facts instead" honestly this is what i would do too. and i would be happy to get cool space facts in return for my hotguy email. i dont see what the issue is here

- oh is cuteguy taking issues with the supernovae. skill issue tbh

- this whole cuteguy-cub email chain is HILARIOUS. scratch that this whole email segment is hilarious jesus christ. grian is being SO BITCHY and im HERE FOR IT

- PEARLIPOP IS A REPORTER! YES! and zedaphs in this au! he isnt even going under wormman??? shocking (< says a zedaph fangirl who is completely fixated on one passing mention of him)

- oh my god this is the best storytelling format ever. the panicked exchanges between cuteguy n cub, pearl reporting as she is wont to do... genuinely i love this so much i am giggling so much im actually gonna stop liveblogging because i just want to read this. ill be with yall in a moment

- actually never mind "if he waits too long to answer it starts to play the whole Lilo and Stitch movie audio" cub i love you so much. hgcz i love you so much i almost forgive you for that very jarring first comic

- it looks like we have seven or so more years before hotguy becomes a reality... new reasons to live. also the chatter discourse is insane from what ive seen doc does just act Like That on twit/chatter

- "sumagram" well i guess we know who owns that now

- :000 HOTCAT APPEARS!!!!! WE LOVE YOU HOTCAT <3333333 EVERYONE GIVE IT UP FOR OUR BELOVED HOTCAT!!!

- THE AWKWARD EXIT. i love it

- I SEE THAT BIG SALMON DONT THINK I DONT

- SHIRTLESS SCAR.... im aroace but like. i can still admire a shirtless man cant i. artist did a good job

- NO YOU DID NOT PUT A LILACS AND POPPIES REFERENCE IN THIS COMIC I AM GNAWING THE ARTIST OF THIS COMIC WITH MY TEETH YOU ARE MAKING ME INSANE DEAR GOD THEY TEAMED UP BUT HOW IS THIS GOING TO END AAAAAA HOTGUY DONT DIE IN THE CACTUS RING PLEASE BUDDY

- CREEPER AW MAN

- horsegirl hotguy... wild stallion cuteguy... someone needs to write this au. i should write this au. actually hold on *scribbles furiously in my "crackfic ideas" notes* carry on

- update: now listening to scheming weasel for atmosphere.

- “Who’s the more foolish: the fool, or the fools who follow him?” stellar line. only a certified HotGuy can produce lines like these

- "after a tick or two" if hermitopians measure time in ticks like minecrafters do then thats such a cool worldbuilding detail

- FOR A MOMENT I THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING TO BURN DOC AND HIS LACKEYS ALIVE. THANK GODS THEY DIDNT

- testing of new weapons montage! i know hotguy is the star of the show here but god i love cub so much more. can cub be the "protagonist" here instead actually

- i. i have suspicions that cub is not sculk-free. or is this a flutterbat situation where it is all dealt with but its not but actually it is but it also kinda isnt? yknow. im gonna write this off as a flutterbat thing but i will still be keeping a very close eye on cub

- *snort* deep enough to hold twelve pieces of bamboo (i am such a sucker for in-jokes)

- grian is warming up to scar... also hotguy bandaids

- AND I GET THAT REFERENCE TOO!! very clever! grian shut up its two in the morning! "Scar doesn’t seem to know how to react, his mouth falling open and then promptly shutting again." same grian why would you bring up the nose hair incident and to an unsuspecting hotguy no less smh learn sone manners

- you know what if grian can learn first aid from the nose hair incident in alaska then scar can get injured in a volleyball incident (i have never watched scar which yes is a skill issue but also if this is also a reference i would not get it). beloved desertduo who cannot lie to save their fuckin lives

- THAT ENDING COMIC IS HILARIOUS. SUCH A SCAR THING TO DO

- alright im gonna take a break from liveblogging rn! i will be back in (my) morning with scheming weasel and a renewed spirit. goodnight yall! <3

[aineryeo]

10 Things I Hate About You Jake Kim.

Synopsis: "On the very first day in Jerry Kwon's new school, he instantly falls for Ryang Sang-min, the girl of his dreams. The issue is that Sang-min is forbidden to date until her ill-tempered, completely undateable older sister (You) goes and dates someone too.. In an attempt to solve his problem, Jerry singles out the only guy who might potentially be a match for Ryang (Name): His Senior, the same age as you, Jake Kim."

Themes & Warnings: 2000s Teen-Drama, Romance, Cliches, Fem. POV, Jake is a romantic idiot, slightly OOC, setting is in J-High, a little NSFW

Author Notes:

"Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" - Frankie Valli | 10 Things I Hate About You (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

This is basically the whole movie but the cast is Jake Kim, You, a random character as your younger sister, Vin Jin, Mary Kim, the Practical Music Dept, Big Deal (Jason, Brad, Jerry), and cameos of our favorite characters/main lookism cast <3 I even recreated the title sequence I'm so happy for this! 1/3 parts + The OG Cast are Seniors (Vasco, Crew Heads, Daniel, etc.)

LOOKISM, SOUTH KOREA — 갱단의 삶. » “THE GANGSTER LIFE”

*Set in a school environment & an alternate universe where Jake now attends J-High School, this includes the rest of the crew heads & Big Deal. There are no four major crews and no gangs, but Jake is still renowned as Gapryong Kim's son. Sinu Han is also present.

Chapter 1 (Current) » Chapter 2

Jaewon-High School. A second-rate vocational school that focuses more on giving its students the experience they need for the jobs they want in the department they chose. There are eight (8) departments:

Fashion and Clothing Department

Architecture and Interior Design Department

Beauty Department

Comics and Animation Department

Vocal and Dance Department

Practical Music Department

Baking Department

Computers Department

Out of these eight, you were in your third year in Practical Music. The school was full of tools. The Fashion Dept always flaunted their brand clothes because they’re the only department allowed to wear whatever they want. The Architecture Dept. Always full of creepy guys who don’t look their age. Bundled together in groups to show off their strength or something like that... Unless they have a leader already. A well-known persona in their Dept was a person named Vasco for Burn Knuckles, and he’s a sophomore from what you know. There’s a rumor that a second group of men was formed, but it is not like they were all serious gangs. You hear it was because they like one guy, similar to the Burn Knuckles. 

If that was how the Architecture Dept worked, you could say the same for the Beauty Dept. Except they’re all girls, save for one Senior: Eli Jang. They all love their one boy. You could go on and on about how everyone is the same, readable stereotype. They all do things because they think they should be doing them. To act cool, tough, rich, pretty, or popular, listen to this famous K-pop group or dance to this new pop song. You hate all of it.

What you hate the most right now, though? Freshmen.

“Hey, have you listened to NCT’s new release, 119?”

“Yeah, I waited all night for the exact time of their release, and I memorized all the lyrics, yeah!”

“Already a big fan? You rock! I just mentioned this the other day!”

“You know me~.”

The girls had brightly colored hair, and they played whatever new song they were talking about loudly through the speakers of their phones while you were in the seat just behind them on the bus. Getting annoyed, you remove your headphone’s audio jack from your phone and start playing Bad Reputation by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts at a volume rivaling theirs.

“Hey, what the hell?” The first girl looks back to where you were currently sitting.

Just as they begin to protest, the bus driver halts at the station you get off. You get your bag and walk past them, giving them a natural look that makes them stare back a little before turning their heads in defeat. You? You were still playing your music. As you step off the public transport bus with the girls behind you in tow, grumbling about you ruining their vibe, you’re met with a litter of J-high’s students scattered around the grounds.

As usual, you navigate through the messy crowd. Filled with students who were learning how to skate. Some were walking to school, while the others had their bicycles.

The most intriguing sight you missed once you entered was the freshman in his small bike with a basket. Contrary to his small bicycle was a massive build defying the logic of a teen’s average growth. Pedaling this bike was none other than Jerry Kwon.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Ki Young-Mi was engraved in the wooden name plaque on the desk filled with books, papers, and a small, thick, and visibly old laptop. Below the name was Guidance Counselor, was it?

Ms. Young was a middle-aged lady with old style, permed hair, and rectangle-shaped glasses that were quite thick for her age, connected to the white-laced retainers wrapped around her neck. Her glasses were tipping around her nose as she looked down at her laptop with puckered lips.

Tap.

Tap, tap, tap.

Tapppp…

That was how slow she typed. Jerry was sitting in front of her desk, fiddling with his thumbs as if he didn’t look like a Senior student.

“I’ll be right with you.” Ms. Young says.

Jerry nods obediently.

Behind the screen, little did Jerry know was Ms. Young’s… Hobby. Right, she was writing for her novel. She was unfocused on what Jerry was asking her since he came barging in as she was still in her brainstorming stage. And now… 

«Gushiken wakes up from her slumber after her intense battle with Akaza. With the dim moonlight shining on her, she opens her eyes to see….»

Ah, perfect. For now. Ms. Young closes her laptop and takes off her glasses, leaving them dangling around her neck. 

“So, what are you here for? Did Gordon send you in already?” The Architecture Dept again…

“Oh, I’m a freshman, Ms. Young.”

Ms. Young, in her many years in J-high, had never seen a kid look… Like this. Ah, but she gets such a small salary, anyways, she shakes off her shock. She shouldn’t be shocked. Some students here could pass off as adults in their mid-twenties if they wanted to, seriously.

“Then you must be Jerry Kwon. Here you go,” Ms. Young gives Jerry a yellow piece of paper, printed with his class schedule and where his room is.

The guidance counselor then looks over Jerry’s documents, standing near the window in her solo office. She hums with a slight nod.

“You’re big for a first-year high schooler. You—” Once more, Ms. Young takes a good look at Jerry and points at him accusingly. “Are you sure you’re not a convicted criminal or something!?”

Jerry sweats nervously at this. He shakes his head and his hands in swift denial. “N-no! My father is—”

“Okay, that’s enough.” Ms. Young regains her lost composure. “I’m sure you’ll fit right into Jaewon. It’s not any different from the local schools, or any other schools, for the matter of fact.”

Splat! Behind the window protecting Ms. Young, who smiled with her eyes closed.

“Same little ass-wipe shit-for-brains everywhere.” And then she laughs as if it was normal. It probably is.

Poor Jerry didn’t know what to say, stuttering. For a big, intimidating guy, Jerry remembers what his big brother, by bond, had always told him: Respect your elders.

“Sorry, sorry… Should I go?”

The more Jerry sat on the chair, the more Ms. Young looked sweetly aggravated. “Go, I have deviants to see and a novel to finish. Bye-bye now.”

Jerry leaves with his bag on his shoulder as Ms. Young pats his back while ushering him out of the Guidance office. As Jerry approached the door, his prominent figure was almost rivaled by a familiar figure in a black compression short-sleeved shirt from Under Armour. Despite Jerry being in the original school uniform, the Architecture Dept was well-known to follow a different setup. The students usually wore jumpsuits.

“Big bro Jake!” Jerry grins.

Jake only gave a brief closed-eyed smile to Jerry, giving his head a small pat as he now faced Ms. Young, who had her arms closed.

“Jake Kim.”

Jake walks into the office just as Jerry leaves.

“I see we’re making our visits a weekly ritual.” Jake smiles at Ms. Young. Was it an attempt at charm? He nods a bit at the end of the statement. Jake places his hands in his school pants’ pockets.

“Only so we can have these moments together. Should I hit the lights?”

“Oh, very clever, the big boss, was it?” Ms. Young raises her thinly drawn eyebrow at the report in her hands. “Says here you exposed yourself in the cafeteria?”

“I was joking with the guys since it was bratwurst day. Doesn’t come all the time. And I didn't mean for the lunch lady to see anything.” Jake shrugged.

“Aren’t we the optimist?” Ms. Young’s eyes flit down briefly before flicking back to his eyes in a middle-aged, tired fashion.

Jake’s brows furrow at this. Always the weird faculty this school has. Though the students were much worse off. So, Mano a Mano. “Next time, keep it in your pouch, okay? Now scoot!”

The brief session in the guidance office was done in no time. Ms. Young had other… Business to attend to, yes…

«…“Are you looking for a wife? Oh, you know, just like a wife. Get married.”»

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Hello! Brad Lee, Sophomore from the Architecture Dept.” A similarly head-shaven guy approached the innocent Jerry waiting nearby the guidance office from earlier. Next to him was a lanky guy who wore red Converse shoes.

“Jason Yoon. We’re supposed to show you around; I’m a sophomore like Brad. It's rare, even for us, to see our No. 2. We usually just hear about you from Jake. Nice to see you in Jaewon, finally.”

They both shake hands with Jerry, whose other hand is holding onto the strap of his backpack. Brad looks at the little paper before looking back at Jerry.

“So… You play the flute?” Brad jests as they begin to walk.

“For a performance before, the flute is very important to me. It was given to me by big brother Jake.”

“Woah, the boss is amazing,” Jason remarks, walking with his hands behind his head.

Jerry hums in acknowledgment as he nods along. Brad then taps Jerry’s shoulder and points his chin toward a group of girls huddled together. Some had hair curlers for their bangs, even blow dryers. They all wore the standard uniform, but their hair was of different colors.

“Here’s the breakdown. Them,” Jerry looks at them again. “They’re from the Beauty Department.”

“Basic beautiful people.” Jason shrugged and looked up at Jerry, who was listening attentively. “Now, unless they talk to you first, just don’t bother.”

Jerry nods obediently at this. “They mostly only care about the only boy in their department, Eli Jang.” Brad chuckles.

Still walking along the long hall, they pass by a different group of kids. They were small, younger-looking boys.

“To the right, you’ll see the dweebs from the Fashion Dept. They’re your classic rich kids—” Jason explains.

“Hey, watch where you’re walking! You almost stepped on my Limited Edition Air Jordan 1s! You can’t find these anywhere anymore! Huh?!” A funny little lamb wearing glasses yelled. None of the three paid any mind.

“Tell them there’s a sale of whatever limited pair of pants, and they’ll come running alright. They won’t mess with you, though, I’m sure.” Jason gives Jerry a thumbs up.

Suddenly, some guy with his friend bumped into Jerry. The guy was petite compared to the giant Jerry Kwon, but he didn’t seem scared. No, his eyeglasses seemed to have lit up as he adjusted them.

“Konnichiwa (*In Japanese: “Hello”), are yuu new hero? (*In English: “Are you new here” — Korean accent)” 

Brad and Jason sweat at this. Brad leans close to Jerry to whisper and explain before Jerry thinks of beating him up. Though Jerry didn’t think of that in the first place.

“He must be from the AniCom Dept. Most think they’re the next Light Yagami or Satoru Gojo.”

Jason joins in and whispers on Jerry’s other ear, tip-toeing to reach it like Brad. “Never touch their body pillows.”

Jerry only nods rapidly and gives a brief wave before moving on.

“Arigato Gozaimasu!” The boy bows deeply for Jerry, catching a few stares from the passing students.

In one of the rooms they were passing by, they could hear loud laughter and a bunch of yells from the teacher. When the door opened, Jerry, Brad, and Jason could see the class monitor displaying… Porn. Obscene moans filled the rooms, and the furious teacher figured out why the remote wasn’t working suddenly. In the room, a particularly mischievous boy who sat on his chair with both his feet up like it was a dirty alleyway caught Jerry’s eye. 

“Dumbasses.” Jerry hears from the boy with purple hair and a devious smile.

“Kouji!!!!” The teacher screams. “Was it you again!?”

“Hah? You have no proof whatsoever, Mr.”

Jason laughed along while the porn didn’t stop playing. “Computer Department. That Kouji kid’s already famous for being known to hack easily into the school’s whole PA System.”

“Woah,” Jerry says something for the first time since their tour after exchanging names. This makes Jason Yoon and Brad Lee look immediately into whatever caught the quiet Jerry’s attention.

There walked a somewhat petite, classic, a little vintage-in-style girl. Sweetly holding her books as, for some reason, the wind picked up inside the school!? How was this possible?! But then Jerry thought, I guess for a goddess…! 

She had a strawberry-printed oversized jacket paired with the prettiest smile in Jerry Land while she walked over to a blonde girl with a cloth headband.

“Did the wind pick up just now?” Jerry hears her ask her friend.

“No, it’s just that fan over there. Someone turned it on just right on time.” Her friend replies while they walk off together.

Jerry couldn’t take his eyes off her. Is this what a campus crush is? He doesn’t think he’s seen anyone his whole life, which caught his fancy. With this, he whips his head towards his tour guides.

“Who is she..?” Jerry asks shyly. If you look closer, you’ll see a tinge of pink on his cheeks.

“The don't-even-think-about-it girl.” Jason sighs, putting his hands down on his head.

“She’s Ryang Sang-min of the Ryang sisters. A freshman like you, but she’s great friends with Mary Kim, Senior, since they’re in the same department.” Brad explains kindly.

Ryang Sang-min. Ah, Jerry will remember that name for the rest of his life. Brad and Jason notice how Jerry seems to be in wonderland, showing a small smile, but they worry for the little… Well, big guy.

“You see Jerry, Ryang Sang-min, a beautiful, deep, and a good dancer too. That, we’re sure of.” Brad Lee states, looking off into the direction that Sang-min and Mary walked off to. The trio was not so far behind the two girls walking off to their respective classrooms.

Sang-min speaks dreamily while holding her stack of papers in her arms, “You see, there’s a difference between like and love.”

“I like my Skechers, but I love my Prada backpack.”

“But I… Love my Skechers.” Mary replies.

“That’s because you don’t have a Prada backpack.” Sang-min shrugs.

Mary thinks about Sang-min’s point for a while until she finally gets the message. I mean, she didn’t have a Prada backpack, so that much was true. Mary chuckles and palms her forehead, “Ohh….”

And then they pass by the Second years’ Architecture Department room. Where Jason and Brad’s stop should be. Jerry still looks off towards the girls’ back. Specifically, Sang-min's, in pure awe until Jason waves a hand in front of him, and Brad starts talking.

“Look, Jerry, Ryang Sang-min has a very strict, uptight dad. It’s a widely known fact that the Ryang sisters don’t date.”

None of what they did or said got to Jerry, though, as he stared off into the distance. “Uhuh… Yeah.”

Jason Yoon and Brad Lee look at each other worriedly. They were here on behalf of Jake Kim’s request to look out for Jerry on his first day as part of Big Deal, but they don’t know if they failed or succeeded.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

After the bell rang, all departments were in their given rooms. There were a lot of reasons why Practical Music had a strong competitiveness against the Vocal & Dance Dept. While they battled for agencies to take them in, performances, the lot, they also had mixed classes. Mixed classes are different from auditorium sessions. It was unique to the two departments since they had ragingly similar lessons anyway. Auditorium sessions take up all the departments in the most enormous room in Jaewon. However, it was primarily used for seminars. It was easy to skip if you tried.

The mixed classes between Practical Music and VD would happen with the core subjects and Music Theory or whatnot. But topics specific to your department are when the two would separate. For now, it was Literature. The sound of clapping hands garnered the students’ attention, stopping their mid-class talking.

“Okay, then. What did everyone think of ``The Sun Also Rises?``” Your professor, Mr. Il Pae-min, asks.

A student with a pixie cut raises her hand from the back. Dreamily, she says,

“I loved it. He’s so romantic.”

“Romantic? Hemingway?” You pipe up. Scoffing after looking at her, then looking upfront to your professor, who already saw your rebuttal from a mile away. “He was an abusive, alcoholic misogynist who squandered half his life hanging around Picasso trying to nail his leftovers.”

This makes Mr. Pae-min roll his eyes. 

“Look who’s talking, Ms. I’m-bitter-Boohoo-I-have-no-friends.” Vin Jin, the twerp who always wore sunglasses and some ugly-ass hat, laughs right after his statement. He’s even got the backup extras laughing with him and giving him undeserved low-fives.

This makes you roll your eyes.

“Shut your mouth, ripoff.” Mr. Pae-min scolds, and Vin frowns at his retort.

You found your opportunity, so you’ll take it. Laughing a little at first, you say, “I guess in this society, being male and an asshole makes you worthy of our time.”

“Oooh.” The class reacts. Vin Jin was definitely pissed off. But as they spot you open your mouth again, half the class groans.

“What about Sylvia Plath, or Charlotte Bronte, or Simone de Beauvoir—?” Your little speech is cut off when the door slides open, revealing a student who was unquestionably not from either Practical or DV.

It was a guy with a tattoo sleeve decorating both his arms, and in his hand was a black bomber jacket, probably to pair with his compression shirt. Without missing a beat, he asks, and you’re not even sure if it was genuine, “What’d I miss?”

You sigh exasperatedly. Attention has already gone from the boy who just entered. You answer his question. “The oppressive patriarchal values that dictate our education.”

“...” You don’t see it, but he nods and smiles. “Good. Not my class.” And just as quickly as he disrupted your class, just as quickly he left.

“Hey!” Your professor yelled at him, but he couldn’t catch him as another student called out for him. He looks to the student and, oh, another asshat.

“Um, Mr. Pae-min…” Vin Jin initially calls in mock sadness before morphing into an angrier tone. “Is there any chance we can get (Name) to take her Midol before she comes to class?”

You look back at Vin Jin, who sat on your left, just right behind you, with an unamused expression.

“Someday, you’re going to get bitch slapped, and I’m not gonna do a thing to stop it.” Your professor butts in before you do.

Vin Jin’s smug smile turns into a dissatisfied grunt. “Tch.”

“And Ryang (Name), I want to thank you for your point of view.” Now it was your turn to nod and feel the sweet, sweet satisfaction. That is until “It must’ve been hard for you to overcome all your years in upper-middle class suburban oppression.”

Mr. Pae-min shakes his head to express his point better, “Must be tough.”

“Anything else?” You ask. Whether sarcastic or not, your professor isn’t taking it anymore. So he replies, “Yeah, go to the office. You’re pissing me off.”

“What? Mr. Pae—”

“Later!” He cuts you off, not giving you any more than that. This fucking sucks, you think. Makes your day even worse than the annoying freshmen on the bus earlier. You roll your eyes and get your stuff, kicking Vin Jin’s leg before you leave.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

In the guidance office, there sat Ms. Young, eyes closed to envision the scene of her novel in her head. Along with this, she vocalizes the lines herself. “A different and yet all the more beautiful….” And she opens her eyes.

“Yeonhui!” Ms. Young calls her intern.

“Yes, ma’am?” She springs from the open door that led to Ms. Young’s office. 

“What’s another word for engorged?”

“I’ll look it up.” The young adult says.

“Okay.” Ms. Young replies, shifting her attention back to her retro laptop. “Swollen. Turgid.” She recites to herself in thought.

“Tumescent?” You continue for her, hands in your jacket. 

Ms. Young looks at you, “Perfect.” Then types in the rest of her thoughts while talking. “So, I hear you were terrorizing Mr. Pae-min’s class. Again.”

You sigh. You couldn’t count how much you’ve done this for the day already. And it was just your first class. Sitting, you reply, “Expressing my opinion is not a terrorist action.”

“Mhm, the way you expressed your opinion to Doo Lee?” Ms. Young retorts, finally closing her laptop and taking her reading glasses off to dangle around her neck once more.

“My statement remains that he kicked himself in the balls.” You cross your arms.

Ms. Young gives you a second to stare at you with a smile that says how talking about it with you is just not going to work this time. Not like it worked all the other times, anyway. So, she gets her tall CBTL coffee mug, “So, the thing is, Ms. Ryang (Name)... People perceive you as somewhat—”

“Tempestuous?” You continue with raised brows.

“Heinous bitch is the term used most often.” Ms. Young smiles once more. You lay back on your chair with a sense of disbelief. Though you’re not so surprised about what the guidance counselor said. “You might want to work on that. Thank you.” She finishes.

You stand up from the chair facing Ms. Young’s desk. “As always, thank you for your excellent guidance.”

Just before leaving and fixing the strap of your sling bag on your shoulder, you say, “I’ll let you get back to Kyojuro’s quivering member.”

Ms. Young looked up at your back that was leaving. Humming, she nods. “Quivering member. I like that.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Virgin alert. Your favorite.” One of his friends pointed with his chin.

Vin Jin looks to his back, right where a familiar face greets him, exactly when Mary flips Vin off once she catches his attention. Sang-min notices Vin staring, and she gives him a shy smile while walking to the canteen with Mary and her other friends she met in her class. 

“Lookin’ good, ladies. And Mary.”

Vin and his lackeys stare at Sang-min walking off. “Oh, she’s out of reach, even for you.” 

Vin looks at Chul with an air of confidence only he can have. “No one’s out of reach for me.”

“You wanna put money on that?” Chul replies.

Putting his hands in his pants pockets, Vin smirks at Chul. “Money, I’ve got.” Looking back into the direction that Sang-min walked off to, he continues. “This, I’m gonna do for fun.”

As Vin and his friends kept ogling at Sang-min and her friends in turns, on the other side of the open grounds were the three loners in the big group that was Big Deal. It was only break time, and Jerry’s not precisely the most… Approachable in terms of face and body structure. So once Jason and Brad saw Jerry walking alone, they approached the big guy. And there they were now. Jerry is drinking strawberry milk on the bench next to Jason and Brad.

“Who’s he?” Jerry points innocently with his finger that could probably stop a truck single-handedly.

“Most people call him Vin Jin, sometimes Jin Ho Bin,” Brad answers first. “Aspiring rapper. Take note about aspiring.” Jason continues.

“He’s a prick, basically.” Brad chuckles, laying back on the benches behind them.

Jerry nods, taking note of the boy who is visibly interested in his goddess. While sipping the last strawberry milk, his eyes flit to Ryang Sang-min. So much so that he fails to notice that the box is already empty and crushed in his hand. “She’s so pretty….”

“Conceited.” Jason cuts him off, a notebook covering his face from the sun.

Jerry visibly gasps at this. “She’s perfect!” The boy rumbles. Twiddling with his fingers, Jerry is suddenly bashful as he recites how pretty Sang-min’s smile is or how her eyes are reflected in the sun. Jason and Brad were not entertaining Jerry’s ideas, looking at each other as Jerry kept going on.

“Look, Jerry, Sang-min is a snotty princess.” Jason scrunches his nose and removes the notebook that covers his face, “She wears short skirts and tighter blouse, all against the school dress code. So that guys like us can realize that we’ll never be able to touch her, and guys like Vin Jin realize that they want to.” Jason finishes bitterly.

“No, you’re wrong.” Jerry shakes his head, which is shining from the sun. If you listen closely, you can hear someone slipping due to momentary blindness.

Jason laughs. “Take a shot, big buddy.”

Brad hums, interested. “She’s looking for an English tutor.”

Jerry shines brighter ever than before. Like a lightbulb that lit up but instead of having it over his head, it was his head. “I can teach her.”

“You speak good English?” Brad asks.

Jerry sweats. “I will.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

End of class.

You walked with Crystal Choi to the bus stop when Vin brushed past you on his off-road motorbike. Was that new? But you internally groan and scold yourself for even glancing at it because now the dude is stopping to talk to you.

“Hey,” Vin smirks. “How’re those shitty headphones doing, (Name)?” He then leans into the handles of his bike with the cockiest face he can make, with half his face hidden in seven-layer tinted sunglasses. It wasn’t even hot out.

“Run along, loser.” You wave off, and Vin frowns, roaring his engine back to life and driving off slowly to greet another passerby.

[...]

“I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed,” Sang-min’s friend trails off. “But can you ever just be… Whelmed?”

Sang-min didn’t know what to say, but she did think about it. “I think you can in Japan.” She shrugs.

“Hi, ladies.” Vin greets with his hotshot attitude. His motorbike calmed down next to them while Vin looked at the girl of his current interest. “I’m here to pick up a certain princess. Got one more free seat for a ride.”

This makes Sang-min giggle and look at her friend before she hopped on Vin’s ride. Wrapping her arms around his waist and waving goodbye to her friend. 

“Careful, the seats are brand new.” Vin notices, giving himself a little laugh once he feels the girl wrap her arms around him, “Heh.”

Somewhere near the school entrance, you can hear a certain blonde raging about someone stealing her cousin’s bike. You and Crystal watched the whole exchange between the jerkoff and your sister. Both of you were not close friends, but at that moment, the same thoughts were running through your heads.

“That’s an odd development.” Crystal remarks beside you.

You look down at Crystal, then back at Vin and Sang-min. Agreeing, you get on the bus that just arrived and sit next to her. “A disgusting one.”

The rest of the ride after that ordeal was comfortable. Later on, Crystal got off first. It was an upward stretch filled with shabby houses. Crystal was such a commendable spirit. She knew a lot of great bands, too. You think she’s fantastic for caring for that dog she told you about. Vin is more of an asshat for messing around with that mixed-breed golden retriever. You hope that one of these days, he gets just what he deserves.

Looking out the window, your bus quickly passes by the guy that mistook your room for his. You stare at him for a couple of seconds. It seems he felt the piercing look you gave him as he looked up at you from the sidewalk. Neither of you breaks eye contact, trying to see which of the other looks away first, an unspoken competition you’ve partaken in. You notice that he had a pretty well-defined face, a subtle side part where his slick hair was pushed back a little, sharply arched brows, and his black compression shirt. His bag was slung over his torso, and you know he probably wore a shirt like that on purpose.

And then he closed his eyes for a polite smile, catching you off guard.

You look away quickly, feeling your face heat up for no reason. Geez, who just suddenly flashes a smile at a stranger like that? This school’s filled with a bunch of weirdos. As your ride finally goes past him, you flip him off without looking back.

Back to the boy you had a staring competition with…

Samuel Seo, in his side-slicked undercut, white Ralph Lauren long-sleeve shirt with two open buttons at the top, the blue school tie hanging loosely on his neck, school pants, a missing coat, and his handbag lazily thrown over his shoulder, turns a corner and finally sees Jake Kim, face chasing a look to the bus that just left. The middle finger proudly displays itself in the window. When Samuel's eyes flit back to Jake, he focuses on what he is wearing. Making him scoff and call his friend out.

“The fuck you doing in my shirt?”

Jake looks back to see Samuel and walks to him. Shrugging, “Forgot to wash the jumpsuit.”

“Nasty,” Samuel replies.

“This shit’s fucking tight. How do you breathe in your shirts, man?” Jake pinches the front of his shirt, inspecting the material. 

“Shut the fuck up.” Samuel retorts, slapping the back of Jake’s head as they both walk off to their shared dorm.

[...]

“Have you seen Jerry?”

“Nah.” Samuel suddenly vividly remembers when he almost stumbled on his feet during the break when the sun shone on his glasses. Jake hums in reply.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Finally, you arrive home. You assume your sister got here first, considering she got a ride from the nation’s biggest asshole. Knocking on the door, you’re greeted by your middle-aged dad, who was just about to sort the mail in his neutral tone checkered shirt, covered by a brown vest and a tie underneath. After removing your shoes by the entrance, you get sorted into the living room and sigh from your typically long day.

Your dad approached you as you sat on the couch, putting your socked feet up. Still looking into the number of mail he had on his hands.

“Hello (Name). Made anyone cry today?” Your dad jests.

“No, but it’s only four-thirty.” You smile cheekily at him, to which he chuckles back at you.

“Hi, daddy.” Your sister butts in, coming down the stairs. Sang-min gives your dad a quick kiss on the cheek. “Hello, dear.” 

Looking at your sister and lying on your stomach on the sofa with your hands supporting your chin, you start your array of questions. “So, where have you been?” 

Quickly shutting you down, Sang-min looks at you with threateningly wide eyes. “Nowhere.”

“Hey, what’s this? Kyonggi University in Suwon?” Your dad suddenly pipes up, making you shoot yourself up from the sofa. Taking the piece of opened mail from your father’s hands and scanning it yourself. And there, it was written in bold:

«We are pleased to acknowledge and congratulate Ms. Ryang (Name) on her application’s acceptance. We were very impressed….»

Any message after that didn’t matter to you as the excitement and happiness caught up to you first. Jumping around and looking between the fancy paper, your sister, and your father, anyone could see how happy this made you from a mile away.

“I got in. I got in!!!” You yell for the umpteenth time, now running and plopping yourself back on the sofa, currently reading the whole message of the letter.

Your father followed behind you with a worried look. At the same time, your sister was curious about the current situation, following suit with your dad.

“Isn’t Suwon too far off Central Seoul?” Your dad asks.

“That’s one of the reasons why it’s absolutely perfect!” You grin.

“I thought we… Decided you were going to stay here and go to school? There’s a lot of universities in Seoul.” Your dad suddenly starts listing all the universities nearby, including the one he went to, even mimicking their university mascot. “Wooh! Go, Seoul!”

Your eyebrow raises before it scrunches together in confusion. Facing back to meet your father and sister’s gazes, you reply. “No, you decided.”

A small air of silence.

“Oh, okay. So what, you just pick up and leave, is that it?” Your dad gives you the same expression that you were now showing him. An air of annoyance was starting to radiate off you, and your sister didn’t seem to have picked up on that. Even annoyingly does her sweet smile while saying, “Let’s hope so.”

You now mirror her sickly smile. “Oh, dad, ask Sang-min who drove her home.”

“(Name) don’t change the—” Your dad points at you before facing your sister at record speed. “Drove? Who drove you home?”

“Now, don’t get upset, Daddy, but there’s this boy….” Your sister starts, testing the waters.

But you cut her off. “Who’s a flaming imbecile, by the way.”

“Please.” Your dad shushes you, but your sister starts blowing off. “And I think he might ask me—”

“Please! I think I know what he’s going to ask you.” Your dad then cuts your sister off too. Holding on to her forearms in a worried manner. “And I think the answer is always no. No. It’s always no.” Your sister’s expression turns crestfallen at your father’s reaction.

Your dad then directs her to sit beside you on the couch. Starting with his sermon every time the topic of dating arose. “What are the two house rules?” He says, volume now raised.

Once your sister sits on the couch, your dad answers his questions. “Number one. No dating until you graduate.”

And… “Number two. No dating until you graduate.” Your dad finishes counting the rules with his fingers. “That’s it. That’s all the rules.”

Sang-min crosses her arms, showing a deep pout. “But that’s so unfair!”

“Alright, you wanna know what’s unfair? This is for you too.” Your dad starts again, and you can already see where this is going. “This morning, I delivered a set of twins to a fifteen-year-old girl. You know what she said?”

In your mind, you recited: I’m a crack whore who should have made my skeezy boyfriend wear a condom.

“I’m a crack whore who should have made my skeezy boyfriend wear a condom?” Your sister said for you aloud.

Yeah, got that right. Sometimes, you even wonder how you and your sister can share the same thoughts. Your dad pauses for a while, raising his brows in acknowledgment. That hit the nail right on the head. “Close, but no.” Never mind, then.

“She said, ``I should have listened to my father.`` ”

“Oh, she did not say that!” Sang-min argues.

“Well, that’s what she would have said if she wasn’t doped up.”

You remained quiet for the whole ordeal while your sister was totally blowing up. You hear your sister groan, and she flails her arms forward before saying, “Can we please just focus on me for a second?”

“I am the only girl in school who’s not dating.” 

“Oh, no, you’re not.” Your dad shakes his head quickly and then refers to you. “Your sister’s not dating.”

“Aaand I don’t intend to.” You assure your point by looking between your sister and your dad.

“And why is that again?” Your father declares.

“Is that even a question? I mean, come on, dad. Jaewon’s either filled with boys who probably don’t even wash their hair,” You count with your fingers. “Snotty prepubescent little boys who think they’re it with their branded clothes, probably stolen shoes, or just major criminal-looking men.” The last one suddenly had your brain remind you of the boy who flashed you a smile. Internally shaking away the intrusive thoughts because that was not what you meant by criminal looks.

“Where did you even come from?” Sang-min gawks, “Planet Loser?”

“Oh, yeah? As opposed to Planet, `` Look at me, look at me.``” You taunt, with your hands flailing around like one of those nobles from the 1800s.

A swift clap of hands disrupted your little argument, making the two of you look up at your father. “Okay, here’s how we solve the problem. Old rule out. New rule in, Sang-min can date.”

Your dad’s statement leaves your mouth open in shock, and for Sang-min to cross her arms and smiles happily. Your father begins to walk off, but just before he does, he finishes his sentence. Walking backward and pointing to you. “When she does.”

And suddenly, the happy smile Sang-min had was replaced with the bitter shock that overtook her. She stands up abruptly, trying to chase your dad while you laugh at the situation.

“Wait, dad, but what if she never dates? She’s a total mutant!”

Your dad shrugs. “Then you’ll never date.” Turning his back, he mumbles to himself. “Oh, I like that. And I’ll get to sleep at night!”

Raising his finger, he makes his point clearer. “The deep slumber of a father whose daughters aren’t out being impregnated.” Then the ring from his phone indicates the end of the conversation.

Standing up from the sofa, you walk off to your room while your dad points at you as he prepares to leave. “We’ll talk about Kyonggi University later.” You give him a hum of affirmation, going up the stairs that lead to your room. On the other hand, your sister tried to convince your unmoving dad, so, in the end, she resorts to you.

With a hand on the wooden rail of the stairs, she yells. “Can’t you just find someone blind and deaf to take you to the movies so I can have one date?!”

Turning to face her and looking down, you smile at her. “I’m sorry. Guess you’ll just have to miss out on the dreamboat Jin Ho “Eat me” Bin.” You pout.

Your sister gives you a scoff, waving you off and whining. “You suck!”

“You suck~” You mock her back, and she groans, annoyed by you.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Flipping the pages of the thick book that had «Speak English for Dummies!» right on the title page, at the moment, Jerry was trying his best to take in the overloaded amount of information so he could teach Sang-min all that which he learned. Yeah, he got lucky to score an English tutoring session with Sang-min, so he was trying his best on this! While avidly reading, the quick tapping of heels behind Jerry and the following plop of a bag on his desk made Jerry look up at the beauty that greeted him.

Sang-min smiles at him, and he feels his heart fly out of his chest.

“Hi. I almost thought I got the wrong table. I didn’t expect someone like you to volunteer as my English tutor.” Sang-min begins, and Jerry? Well, he was still formulating the words to reply in his head. “Actually… Can we make this quick?”

“Zack Lee and Daniel Park are having an incredibly horrendous public fight in their class, again.”

For the whole duration that Sang-min was talking, Jerry was unknowingly leaning close to listen to her voice more. It was until she stopped speaking did Jerry regain his stance. Stuttering, he says, “O-oh… Well, you s-see. Okay, I thought we’d start with pronunciation, i-if that’s alright with you.”

“Not the overuse of Rs. It’s actually so hard to remove our natural Korean accent. Can we start on anything else, please?”

“Ah, well, there is an alternative.” Jerry poses.

“There is?”

Jerry scratches his cheek, looking back to the back. “Yeah, uh, we can try American Food. We could, uh, e-eat some together. Maybe… Saturday night?” As subtle as he can, he tries to look back at Sang-min.

Sang-min squints her eyes with a genuine smile. Trying to decipher what was going on. Speaking up, she says, “You’re Asking me out?”

Then Sang-min grins, showing off her white teeth. “That’s so cute! I never expected you to be so timid too. What’s your name again?” She leans on her chin.

“J-Jerry.” He says, looking down bashfully with his hands and fingers crossed together in such a behave-looking position. “Jerry Kwon.”

Jerry clears his throat and smiles at Sang-min too. “I know your dad doesn’t let you date, but since we’re studying so you could learn English, you know….” Around Sang-min, Jerry had the peculiar habit of scratching his cheek or picking on his nails.

“Oh, sorry, wait a minute. Tom…” Sang-min cuts off.

“Jerry.” He corrected timidly.

“My dad actually came up with a new rule. So I can date when my sister does.” Sang-min trails off with her sentence.

“Really?” Jerry perks up, and suddenly, his whole body faces her while he is still sitting on the chair. “Do you like sailing? I read about this place that rents boats made for—”

“A colossal problem, Jeremy.” Jerry almost speaks up to correct his name again, but Sang-min continues. “In case you haven’t heard, my sister’s a hideous breed of loser.”

Feeling down, Jerry picks on the corner of one of the pages in the open book. “Y-yeah, I heard she was a little antisocial. Do you know why?”

“The only mystery even Scooby-doo can’t solve.” Sang-min shrugs. “She used to be popular, and then it was like, she got sick of it or something.”

“Theories abound as to why, but I’m pretty sure she’s incapable of human interaction. I mean, she basically, like, has no friends now.” Sang-min continues, smiling at Jerry again. “Plus, she’s a bitch.”

Jerry sweats at this, trying to cook up his solutions. “But I’m sure, you know, that there are lots of guys who wouldn’t, you know, mind going out with a difficult wo-man.” Jerry stutters throughout his sentence. Trying to regain his point, he shakes his hands because he feels what he said was wrong.

“I mean, you know, people jump out of airplanes and ski off cliffs or beat up a hundred guys to protect a street. It’d be like, uh, like, Extreme Dating!”

“Shhh!” A couple of students reacted at the back when Jerry picked up his volume by the end. Though once they saw Jerry apologizing sincerely, they piped down due to sheer intimidation.

Now hush-hush between Sang-min and Jerry, who leaned into each other to whisper instead. Sang-min cooks up a reply to what Jerry was trying to say earlier. “You think you can find someone that extreme?”

“I think so…” For you. Jerry thinks.

“You’d do that for me?” Sang-min holds her hand out to touch Jerry’s arm. Suddenly hyped up, Jerry immediately says: “Yes!” Nodding his head avidly.

A smack of a hand on their table catches their attention briefly. Showing a brunette guy with a messy haircut looking at them with an intense glare. “Quiet down.” And then he leaves, Jerry, taking note of the black army jacket that he wore.

Jerry comes down from his high, focusing on the girl of his dreams right next to him. “I mean— I’ll, I could, I could look into it.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“There’s a lot of guys from our department. Maybe you can find one here.” Brad says, leading Jerry into the Sophomores' area, right into the deep man cave—the jungle that is the Architecture Dept.

With his hand resembling the “OK” gesture, Jason kisses the tips of his put-together thumb and index. “The finest of Jaewon.” And then the door opens.

It revealed a bunch of guys who were… Weightlifting? Half the class wore black leather jackets with “BNC” and a burning knuckle brass on top of the text. It trailed off to the sleeves with duplicated horizontal lines trailing down to the end. The other half had their jumpsuits down to reveal either a white shirt covered with a plain black coat or just the black jacket paired with whatever shirt or lack thereof they had.

Yes, the Architecture Department was filled with only men for the longest time. Usually, they’d form a single group under a single leader who had shown the most tremendous power amongst the whole batch. But for this year, there were two groups. The other was Burn Knuckles under Vasco, and the other was Big Deal. Under Jake Kim.

What they had in common was that they were formed with the pretense that they were solely just like their leader and had chosen to follow either of the two for as long as they could. Does this spark war, you ask? Well, neither of the leaders aren’t really into unnecessary fights. So, in the end, they simply coexist. Initially, Big Deal was from Sinu Han, an alumnus of Jaewon.

“Osu! Everyone from Big Deal, say hello to the No. 2!” Brad Lee pipes up, and the members of Big Deal immediately stand up from their seats to greet the freshman.

Even the men from Burn Knuckles thought Jerry was already an alumnus, whispering about how big he looked. Is this guy really a student? Was the question most asked.

“No. 2, Jerry Kwon! Welcome to our classroom!” They bow at a perfect ninety-degree angle.

“Geez, what’s the ruckus?” Jace scratches his ear, waking up from his power nap on the floor. When his eyes flit to Jerry, he reels. “Woah.”

“Our junior here was just asking for help. He’s looking for a guy that would be fit for a girl.”

“...” The classroom freezes and digests the information.

“A girl.”

“A girl?!” They yell in unison.

“Should I volunteer, Jace?” Vasco grins, tapping his best friend’s shoulder. Contrariwise, Jace was measuring the situation. He thinks about why a mafia boss has visited them. Vasco and I were just visiting the sophomores. I guess it was the right time to hang around…

Suddenly, everyone was raising their hands and asking questions.

Is she pretty?

From what department?

Can she lift 100kg?

“Who’s the girl first?” Jace asks, raising his hand, and the crowd goes silent. They were all waiting for the answer. Yui Kim? Zoe Park? Joy Hong? Ryang Sang-min?

“Ryang…” They all listen closely. Sang-min? Sang-min? Sang-min!?

“(Name).” Brad finishes.

And suddenly, they all slump their backs. No longer listening to whatever offer Brad and Jason were trying to give them. In the back, even Vasco was put down. Shivering, he recalls, “She once told me that I smelled.”

He cries to Jace, “Do I smell, Jace?!”

Jace pats Vasco’s back while the rest of the Burn Knuckles yell their reprisals. “You don’t smell, Vasco!”

“If Vasco smells, then Burn Knuckle smells!”

“It’s the true smell of a man.”

The other half of Big Deal was awfully quiet, avoiding the looks Jerry, Jason, and Brad were giving them. Absolutely no support whatsoever. None, nein, nothing. Brad sighs and palms his similarly shaven head.

“Well, we’re empty. Sorry, Jerry.” Brad apologizes while Jason tries to comfort the sad giant.

“I told you it was pointless, the girl’s hopeless man,” Jason says.

Jerry frowned as he slowly left the room. He looked like a sad baby. All things, including the scars on his face, were set aside. The rest of the sophomores felt terrible, mainly the ones under Big Deal, but it even caught the attention of Vasco and Jace by the end. At least until Jerry bumped into someone right before the sophomores’ classroom. When Jerry focused on who it was,

“Jake!” Jerry exclaims, to which Jake replies with an easygoing smile.

“Hey. Eat lunch yet?” Jake greets, patting Jerry’s shoulder. “You should eat more. Nutrients are important.”

Once the other members of Big Deal spotted their leader standing right outside the door talking to Jerry, they immediately crowded the entrance in a straight line. Once more, in unison, they speak at a volume that could be heard from the highest to the lowest floor of the whole school.

“Boss Jake! Welcome to our class!”

“Don’t I get a greeting too?” Samuel pops out beside Jake, who was busy telling them to lower their voices to not disrupt other classes.

The other Big Deal members stay quiet, and Samuel laughs, putting his hands in his pockets. “How come I feel a little hurt, huh? I was your number two for a while, too, you know.”

“The only number two you’ll be from now on is when you go to the toilet,” Jake says, using his index finger to pull his cheek down and poke his tongue out toward the male. Samuel was smiling, but a visible irk mark formed on his forehead.

While the two bicker, Jerry is downcast again. Jake immediately notices this.

“Hey, you okay, big guy? You know, if something’s wrong, I can always help.”

This perks Jerry up, and Samuel flinches at the sight of how Jerry is starkly different from what you’d assume his character was at first glance. It was then that Jerry recalled everything since the very beginning. From when he met Sang-min to his current dilemma: Finding someone that can date you.

“Oh, so that was your only problem?” Samuel reacts first. Leaning with his hand on Jake’s shoulder, he rubs his fingers together in front of Jerry. “If you’ve got money, maybe I can find someone to take up the job.”

“I’ll do it.” Jake perks up.

That was the second time that everyone froze. All motion stopped inside the classroom. It wasn’t just Big Deal that reacted harshly, screaming altogether with Burn Knuckles.

“WHAT?!”

“He’s a true man, Jace. Maybe I should have taken the chance too. He feels so cool right now.” Vasco feels a teardrop on his cheek.

“Vasco…” Jace says. Looking at the unknowing man who was scratching his chin, Jace thinks He’s not normal. Is this why he’s the ``Big Boss`` of Big Deal!?

“BOSS! You don’t have to sacrifice yourself!” Some of the members from Big Deal retort.

Samuel recovers, breathing heavily as if he’d just been beaten to a pulp. “Jake, you’re different after all.”

Jerry sees his new hope surface in the face of Jake Kim. He hugged his big brother, who was ironically smaller than him. Unbeknownst to Jerry, he also accidentally squeezed Samuel. Squishing the two men together in the bigger man’s arms, making their cheeks stick and for Samuel to tap Jerry’s back multiple times as a sign for Tapping Out.

Suddenly, Brad speaks up. “But for Boss Jake to date (Name), he’ll need money for the dates. Do you have any funds on you, Boss?”

Jerry lets go of the two boys who are fixing their clothes. Samuel was rapidly wiping his cheek off, acting as if Jake had cooties. Jake, on the other hand, simply patted himself off of imaginary dust and replied, taking his pockets out that held nothing but crumpled paper and a bunch of coins.

“Nope.”

“Then you guys need a backer,” Samuel suggests, fixing his glasses on his nose.

“What’s that?” Jake asks.

“Someone stupid, but with money.”

From the room, anyone could hear the oohs coming from the Archi Dept. 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

It was break time in the school’s crowded cafeteria. At one of the tables, there was a student drawing boobs on one of the lunch trays with a permanent marker. That student was surrounded by his lackeys, as usual, save for one who wasn’t a lackey.

“Oh yeah.” Vin Jin says as he keeps on with his masterpiece.

“You look like a third grader who just learned how to draw, Vin.” Mary insults. 

“Vin Jin,” Jason says, sitting on the table with the rest of Big Deal, save for Jake. “He’s perfect.”

“Wait, he has money?” Brad asks.

“I mean, his shoes don’t look cheap. And he’s perfect. He likes Sang-min, too, so he’s sure to back Jake up if it means ``scoring.``”

Jerry grumbles at the term. “He will not ``score.``”

“Of course. Since that also means you can go on a date with your girl and have a chance at beating the jerkoff. We let him pretend that he’s calling the shots, so while he pays Jake to take out (Name), you can take your sweet time with Sang-min.” Jason explains

“Win-win!” Jason cheers, putting his arms up.

With this, the rest of Big Deal also cheers at the table. Jerry nods, understanding the situation. He admits, “It’s a pretty good idea.”

But a question now raises itself: Who’ll ask Vin Jin? See, none of them were intimidated, but they needed to pick the right person for the job to be done right. Because if Vin Jin refuses, then Jerry will never get married! Big Deal offered to gather up their funds together for Jake, but Jake refused to use his own group’s money. As Samuel said, if he was going to use someone else’s money, he might as well use the money of someone he didn’t care about. This made the other Big Deal members cry and inadvertently strengthened the loyalty they had for Jake Kim.

In the end, they picked one of the most reasonable people in Big Deal. Their one and only Lineman. Just as he approaches Vin’s table, Mary leaves to buy a drink. She gives a quick greeting to the guy, which Lineman acknowledges before passing each other. At the same time, Lineman takes the seat Mary once sat on and turns it so that he faces Vin Jin, who is puckering his lips in disdain.

The whole exchange was watched over intently by Jerry, Jason, Brad, and the rest of Big Deal. Lineman was their No. 6, after all. They couldn’t hear anything, but they saw the expression on Vin’s face change from annoyed to semi-interested. Even putting the cap of his marker back on, forgetting about drawing on the lunch tray. On their side…

“The Ryang sisters, they can’t date. Specifically, Sang-min can’t date if her older sister doesn’t.” Lineman starts pointing at the table to simply prove his point, “She can’t go out with you because nobody wants to go out with Ryang (Name). Well,” Lineman claps.

“See, what we think—”

“Wait, we?” Vin cuts him off. “Who the fuck are we?”

Lineman gives a glance and a nod to the side, pertaining to the many eyes that were overlooking the single table that had Vin and his two other friends in tow. Vin, for some reason, feels more animosity from the monster that sat in the middle of their long, lined table staring at him. Vin stays quiet and looks back at Lineman, who continues what he is saying.

“What we think is that you need to hire a guy who’ll go out with her.”

Vin places his elbow on the table, resting his chin on his palm and tapping his cheek. Still, with his puckered lips, this time, in thought. One of Vin’s friends then speaks up.

“What’s even in it for you guys?”

Lineman wastes no time responding, already having thought of this coming. “Our boss thinks that it’s a good idea to form good relationships with other departments. And you look like you’re the boss of Vocal & Dance. It’s only necessary to strengthen our bonds as students of Jaewon-High.” He preaches with no stutters.

“Who’s the guy you have in mind?” Vin Jin asks.

Right on time, Jake enters the cafeteria, yawning and looking like he just woke up from a sound sleep. He had a cowlick on the right side of his head, and a pen that he probably overlooked was still stuck on his cheek. Lineman points to him subtly with his hand.

“That guy? What makes you think that guy could stand the nutcase of a woman?” Vin inquires, already skeptical that he is just getting used for his money.

“He’s not the boss of Big Deal for no reason. A solid investment.” Lineman smirks.

With the sound of chairs being pushed back and feet padding across the hall, a clear path was made just so Jake Kim could pass through to an empty table with a meal already prepared with no problems. Vin also notices the visible slanted vertical scar that grazed Jake’s mouth. He felt a subtle chill on his neck before he cleared his throat.

“Tch. Fine. I’ll think about it.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Field day.

Jake was sitting on one of the benches while the other students of J-high were either doing gym classes, having free time, or running around the grounds playing whatever sport they felt like. The sun was high, and it was hot with no shade, so Jake had to squint everywhere he looked. His black coat was off, leaving him in the baggy pants of the black jumpsuit for those in their Senior year with the top half let down, leaving him in a white tank top, his tattoos from his chest visible up to the ones on his wrists due to the sweat cultivating on his skin.

Jake had just taken a single stick of cigarette and lit it up, putting it in his mouth and inhaling.

Smoking was banned in school, but since his first year in Jaewon, Jake’s learned the habit of the professors that scolded the students for smoking. Plus, he’s got lookouts.

“Hey.” The callout makes Jake look at Vin, wearing gold chains and his leopard-printed sunglasses, he was missing his hat, and his favorite black and white-striped jacket hung on his shoulder, so this time, he was also in a tank top, though it was black. “Fuck.” He utters under his breath.

“You're the Big Boss, right?” Vin Jin asks. He was with his two other friends.

“Do I know you?” Jake asks, looking at Vin with bored eyes, tapping on the cigarette to let the ashes on the tip fly off in the passing wind.

Vin laughs under his breath, annoyed. He was about to take back his greeting and leave, thinking that the guy that talked to him probably messed with him. But Jake interrupts Vin’s thoughts as Jake remembers what Jerry told him.

“Nevermind, I remember now.”

Of course, I’m the boss of our department. Hah! Everyone knows me! Vin rubs his chin, releasing a devious smile. This makes Jake stop and visibly cringe. Man, this dude’s ugly. 

Standing a little closer, Vin smugly puts his hands on his hips and looks at where you are currently playing soccer with your class. This makes Jake look in front of him, right where Vin Jin is looking.

“You see that girl?”

“Hm,” Jake replies, inhaling another hit from the cig. 

“That’s Ryang (Name). I want you to go out with her.” Vin ordered.

While Jerry Kwon was in class, he suddenly felt the need to sneeze. “A-Who do you think you are, talking to Jake like that-Choo!” Everyone in his class looked at him weirdly, deservingly so. But Jerry seemed to have no clue why everyone was staring at him as he rubbed his nose. A thought came into mind while the professor in Jerry’s class resumed his lesson: I wonder if someone is disrespecting Jake right now…

Back to the field where Jake and Vin were staring at you— correction— Vin was staring at Jake, and Jake was staring at you. Jake realized that you were the girl that flipped him off on the bus a couple of weeks ago.

“You already know the conditions, right?” Vin continued as Jake remained silent. Giving Vin the passive treatment.

Now that Jake was actually at the premise of pulling it off, he felt terrible. Not for using Vin’s money. But because this whole ordeal felt as if you were the ultimate pawn and that everyone just wanted to get past you so they could get to your sister. But the image of Jerry’s sad face, and Vin’s annoying-ass face, got Jake reeling. I mean, he’ll be using this asshat’s money, and he’ll get to know you. Maybe it’ll be worth it, Jake thinks as he watches you breathe heavily, bending over slightly, with your hair sticking to your forehead, in the school’s soccer team uniform that was nearly skin tight from the immense practice it went through.

“So, you’ll be investing in me, isn’t that right? Let’s get this over with.” Jake puffs out another smoke. He hands out his hand, waiting for Vin to hand over his ``downpayment``. 

Vin smirks, happy to get his plans in motion.

Vin takes out the cash from his wallet and hands it to Jake, folded. Putting the cigarette in his mouth, Jake unfolds the cash to reveal about a hundred bucks. Guess Vin was stupid. But with money.

Jake pockets the early compensation and puts his cigarette out with his foot. With that, Vin walks off with his friends.

[...]

“Great practice, everybody! Good hustle, Ryang.” Your coach, Mr. Minji, calls.

You jog to the bench where the rest of the team’s stuff is placed. You thank your coach for the praise before you wipe the sweat on your forehead, threatening to drip on your eyes. God knows how much it stings when it drips into your eyes. You were fixing your bag, trying to look for your thermal 1.8L water bottle. When you finally found it, you unscrewed the cap and took a long drink to rehydrate.

Just as you finish, a familiar face greets you.

“Hey there, pretty. How’re you?” Jake Kim offers you his most charming close-eyed smile, along with a wink right after. Even leaning on his knees for a second to adjust to your more petite frame in contrast to his larger build.

You give a tight smile back, nodding. The fuck… “Sweating like a pig. And yourself?” You sling your bag over your shoulder.

“Here, trying to get your attention.” Jake shrugs and points to himself with his index finger. “You certainly got mine.”

“Finally.” You breathe out, and Jake tilts his head. Finally…? Were you— “You’ve certainly helped me achieve my mission in life since I’ve struck your fancy. It worked. Thanks.” You say with the most lifeless tone. Oh. 

Jake gives you a small laugh, following behind you closely whilst you walk. Which was faster than an average person, he noticed. Having a hard time catching up even with his giant strides. He places his hands in his jumpsuit’s pockets, now walking toe-to-toe beside you. Leaning a little closer so you could hear him amidst the array of students, Jake says with an air of playfulness:

“Pick you up on Friday?”

“Oh. Right, Friday.” You nod in mock enthusiasm before raising your hand in front of his face. “Uhuh.”

“I’ll take you places you’ve never been before.” Jake raises his already naturally arched brows.

“Take me places— Where? The Hypermarket in Gangnam?” You squint at him, unknowingly raising your shoulders in protest of his bad ideas. Plus, “Do you even know my name, dog boy?”

Jake stops in his steps for a while as you continue walking in front of him. “Ryang (Name).” Which makes you stop walking to face him with squinted brows. Both from the heat of the sun, and the way that he did, in fact, know your name. You two stand there for a while, almost recreating the time when you saw him on the bus.

“Doesn’t matter. Screw off.” Then, you walk away. Leaving Jake Kim to think.

In the sophomores’ classroom in the Architecture Dept, everyone, including non-Big Deal members, watched the whole interaction between the infamous Ryang (Name) and the more famous Jake Kim. They even saw how their Big Boss was left in the dust by the girl. Some were still commending Jake, some of the Big Deal members cried for Jake, while Jason and Brad…

“Jerry’s screwed. We’re screwed.” Jason relays to Brad.

“Hey, no, are you saying you don’t trust the Big Boss?” Brad replies. Though in his mind, he thought the same thing. To distract himself, he says, “We should be upbeat, upbeat!”

“We’re~! Screwed~!”

Brad could only nod and sigh at Jason in defeat. Placing his gaze back towards their boss, who was still standing there in the middle of the field, looking in the direction that you left him off with.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

You just finished washing your face, already preparing for bed. You wiped your face off the droplets of water sticking to your skin, feeling refreshed.

“Have you considered a new look?” Your sister brings up abruptly. You shared the same bathroom, after all. “Like, seriously, you have some definite potential under all that hostility.”

Still patting your face with the soft towel, you give her a reply. “It’s not hostility. Just annoyed.”

Sang-min begins playing with your hair, trying to style it before you lightly push her off. She sits on her chair where a vanity mirror is displayed, reflecting her image. “Why don’t you try being nice? People won’t know what to think.”

You check if you have any zits on your face, “You forget, I don’t care what people think.” 

“Yes, you do.” Your sister quips, brushing her hair lightly as she stares into her reflection.

“No, I don’t.” You say with a subtle authority in your tone. You squint at Sang-min’s reflection, “You don’t always have to be who they want you to be, you know.”

A small air of pause as Sang-min finally notices you looking at her through her reflection. She looks back at you, “I happen to like being adored, thank you.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

You come out of the B&B Music Store after your little hustle of finding new headphones. You often visit here because they also sell instruments. And since you’re a well-known regular, sometimes, they let you try out the electric guitar you’ve been pining for and saving for since the dawn of time. It was almost afternoon, but the day was relatively calm, and the sun wasn’t too intense. A perfect day.

Until you see who’s leaning on your car. It was a blue and white used Chevy Chevrolet 1955 car that you also saved up for the longest time. Though your dad chipped in when it was your birthday, you’re proud of using the majority of your money on it. You don’t use it often since Jaewon wasn’t exactly filled with angels.

“Nice car. Very vintage.” Jake comments with a friendly smile, supporting his tall frame with his forearm on the roof of the car.

“Jake Kim…” You breathe out, pinching your nose. This makes Jake flinch, propping himself up from your car. “Are you actually following me?” 

With your accusation, Jake quickly raises his hands in surrender. “I was not! Please don’t think I’m a weirdo!”

You raise your brow, crossing your arms, waiting for more than that shitty excuse. Jake takes the hint and points back with his thumb. “I was in the laundromat. I saw you enter the store a couple of minutes ago. I came over to wait for you so I could say hi.”

“Honest.” Jake finishes off, drawing a cross over his heart. Today, he was in white, casual loose pants, a hoodie in a really light shade of brown, coated with another jacket in dark denim that was open, and plain white shoes.

“Eyes up here, pretty,” Jake smirks playfully, crossing his arms this time. This idiot. To think I was about to compliment his fashion taste.

“You came to say hi, right? Well, hi.” You remark, walking over to the door that led to the driver’s seat, just where Jake was blocking earlier. Just as you were reaching for the handle, he slid to stop it from your reach again.

“You don’t like talking much, do you?” Jake cranes his neck to level his face with yours.

You smile sweetly at him. “Hm, depends on the topic. My car nor your trip to the laundromat doesn’t really whip me into a ``verbal frenzy.`` Run along and wash your sweaty uniforms now.”

“You’re tough. You’re not scared of me?” Jake pouts. You don’t give him a reaction. He sighs and rolls his jacket sleeves up. “Not even one of these guns?”

“About forty-five percent of the school’s population consists of boys like you flaunting their inked skin. So why should I be afraid of you?”

“Hmmm… I don’t usually flaunt this, but how does being No. 1 of Big Deal sound?”

“Sounds like you’ve thought of that name just so you can say that you’re ``The Big Deal`` ‘round these parts. Corny when you actually hear it, sorry. Not afraid of that, big boy. Think of something else for me.”

Jake, still with his jacket sleeves rolled up, chuckles. He finds your replies genuinely interesting. Leaning a little closer towards you, “Okay, well, maybe you’re not afraid of me….”

“But I’m sure you’ve thought of me naked.” Jake gives you a cheeky smile and a sneaky wink.

You gasp. And Jake thinks he’s finally got you. “Am I that transparent?”

Placing your hand over your chest and leaning a little closer with every word, “I want you, I need you. Oh, baby. Oh, baby.” Jake actually blushed a little from the distance you closed in the short amount of time. If only you didn’t say that with the dullest voice and expressionless face, maybe he’d have felt butterflies.

You finally got a hold of the door handle, prompting Jake to push himself off the door. He scratches the back of his head in another failure.

“Careful on the drive home.” Jake waves, going back to his dirty laundry, waiting across the street as you prepare to leave, happy to be in your car with no nuances anymore. You put in the key, trying a couple of times as usual before the engine starts. Putting the gear on reverse, you were just about to leave.

But a motorbike parks right behind you to block your exit, and you groan, realizing who it is. Today was definitely an asshole day. You switch gear back to Neutral and raise your hand break. Peeking out of your open window, Vin Jin walks past you.

“Do you mind?” You ask, already pissed.

“Not at all,” Vin replies, twirling the motorbike’s keys around his index finger.

“Fine.” You whisper. You push the hand break back down, shifting into reverse, and you back onto the bike. Enough to tumble it to the ground.

Across the street, Jake watches and laughs at the exchange. Samuel, in his casual wear composed of mid-thigh shorts and a printed black shirt covered with a maroon hoodie because his tattoos were showing more this time, looks to what made Jake laugh and saw the scene, chuckling to himself too. They both continue to observe you laughing at Vin’s rage.

They hear Vin Jin panic and scream at you for being a massive bitch whilst you drove off, probably not listening anymore.

The whole affair with you maiming Vin’s bike, which you found out was actually Mary’s cousin’s motorbike, reached your dad and your sister later that evening. Sang-min was mad that she had to take the bus to school instead of being taken to by Vin, and your dad was angry because, well, of course, you had to pay for the minor damages to the vehicle. Still, you say, it was worth it.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Vin Jin grimaces angrily as he finally spots the guy he hired. He walks towards Jake, who is sleeping on his desk. Vin pushes Jake’s shoulder to wake him. Jake stirs awake, still in the throes of his break time nap, when Vin already starts his scolding, trapping Jake on his chair with Vin’s arms that hold both sides of the table. Jake leans back, unamused and certainly not intimidated.

“I shell out a hundred. I expect results.” Vin says with clenched teeth. Even with multi-layer tinted sunglasses in a dimly lit room, you could feel just how piercing Vin’s gaze was toward Jake. Anyone could feel it. But he’s Jake Kim. All that did was remind him that he probably had saliva that dried on his chin, wiping it off during the whole ordeal. “Watching that bitch violate my motorbike doesn’t count as a date.”

“Now, if you don’t get any, I don’t get any.” Vin taunts, “So get some.” He pokes Jake’s chest.

Just as Vin turns to leave, Jake speaks up. “I just upped my price. Add ‘nother fifty, in advance.”

“Huuuuh? Forget it.” Vin scowls. “Well, forget her sister, then.” Jake rebukes, starting to lay back down on his desk, taunting Vin by making it look like he was making himself visibly comfortable.

The next series of events were Vin grumbling as he reached into his pocket and slammed the bill in front of Jake. “You better hope you’re as smooth as you think you are, Jake Kim.”

Jake sighs exasperatedly, pulling the bill to place it in his pocket. He then goes back to his nap to replenish enough energy before the bell rings.

[...]

“Class Schedule, Reading List, Concert Tickets to one of her many favorite indie bands playing tomorrow.” Sang-min lists off, giving some of it to Jerry.

Jake didn’t know what he was doing here right now. With your sister, Jerry, as well as Jason, and Brad, who were waiting outside to give him a call in case you get home. This is definitely wrong, an absolute breach of privacy. This all feels against his personal code of morals, and in the back of his head, he can hear his previous superior, Sinu Han, scolding him in the form of a tiny angel sitting on his shoulder.

“I don’t want to do this,” Jake says, out of the blue, making Sang-min stop rummaging through your drawers to look at him.

“You didn’t seem so opposed earlier. Plus, we’re doing this so I can go to the party with Jerry that Beom from Practical Music is hosting. Right, Jerry?” Sang-min recalls, placing both her hands on her hips as she looks at Jerry for affirmation. To which the big guy nods frantically with a small smile. Seeing how Jerry was really into going to a party with your sister, Jake couldn’t help but let go of his morals for a little bit.

“Plus, it was you guys that asked for help. I refused at first, too, because it was creepy when I first thought about it, but for the sake of my social life….” Sang-ming trails. “And we’re not going too far into her stuff. You guys better not be stalkers or something.”

Typically, Jerry didn’t really ask for much.

But rummaging through a girl’s room is wrong! Imaginary Sinu says. Well, he was right, but…

But she’s actually pretty, isn’t she? Plus, poor Jerry doesn’t ask for much. Stop worrying. Who was this? Jake asks himself at the immediate entrance of a new imaginary figure. It was… Samuel?! What the fuck was going on in his head…?

“Oh, look, black panties.” Sang-min smiles cheekily, nitpicking your plain black underwear taken from inside your top drawer. Jake immediately covers Jerry’s eyes with his hand.

“Cover your ears, Jerry!” Jake sputters quickly. And Jerry, ever obedient, follows quickly. Already having a light shade of pink on the tips of his ears at Sang-min exposing your… Garment.

“What does that have to do with me dating your sister?” Jake asks with a clenched jaw, pissed but more so flustered and red at the same time.

Sang-min couldn’t believe that a guy like Jake Kim didn’t know what black panties meant. “She wants to have sex someday.”

On Jake’s shoulders sat the imaginary figures. One was laughing his heart out, while the other had a similar reaction to Jake. Sinu, who was also quite red despite being depicted as an angel, gives Jake a go-go-okay sign. Who does he think he is for giving me a go sign?! Go away! Samuel couldn’t stop laughing and hitting Jake’s shoulder in his miniature stature.

“She could just like the color. How can I trust you?” Jake rebukes, peeling his eyes off the article that is still in your sister’s hand.

Sang-min groans as if it was apparent. “Women just don’t buy black lingerie for nothing. They buy it because they want someone to see it.” She raises her eyebrows at Jake when she finishes her sentence. Jakes covers half his face with his other free hand, and he feels the heat that stuck to his skin because of whatever Sang-min said.

[...]

“So, first thing, (Name) hates...” Brad starts. Jake puffs out a smoke whilst leaning on a billiard table that he and the guys reserved just to hang out for the night. “Smokers. She said, and I quote, ``Would rather die than date a smoker.``”

Jake puts his cigarette out, recalling the detail that Sang-min told them earlier.

“And she likes pretty guys!” Jason remarks with his index finger pointing up, “As proven by the picture of that idol DG that Sang-min showed us earlier.”

The small group went quiet as opposed to their other buddies talking on the other reserved billiard tables in the local night bar. Jake forbids most of them to drink if they’re under twenty-one like him, though. Which, really, they all are. It just so happens that this was run by one of the girls from their street. None of them spoke a word as Jake pushed his hair back on both sides. “I guess we have no problem with that part.”

“...” Jason and Brad stare at Jake.

“...” Jake stares at Jason and Brad.

“What?”

“Nothing, boss.” Brad states.

“You don’t think I’m pretty?” Jake asks the question they all dreaded. If Jerry was here, he probably would have agreed with no brakes, but Jake made him go home early. So he doesn’t forget to do his homework.

“Hey, no, he’s stunning!” Jason argues, lightly pushing Brad away, and points to Jake with both his hands. “Prettiest guy in Jaewon!”

“Gorgeous guy, of course.” Brad agrees, too, all of a sudden, grasping his head. “Just taking opinions. Everyone knows Jake is a pretty guy.”

Jake looks off, playing with his hands now that he can’t smoke. “So, she likes traditional Japanese food, indie rock, and psychological horror movies that can be portrayed easily in real life?”

Jason and Brad nod, knowing that Jake got it all right. 

“All right, then.” Jake finishes the conversation quickly, pushing himself off the edge of the billiard table and getting a cue stick, ready to play Pool. 

“Club ViVi, tomorrow night, her favorite band’s gonna be playing there,” Jason adds, getting a cue stick, too, whilst Brad prepares to arrange the balls for their game.

“Club ViVi?! I can’t be seen at Club ViVi.” Jake suddenly pipes up.

“But she’ll be there. She’s marked it in her calendar.” Jason rebukes, making Jake grasp his forehead in thought. He remembers getting into a brawl with their top bouncer there once, Xiaolung, was it?

“I mean, it’s just one night. Did you do something wrong there, Boss?” Brad looks at Jake, now having the balls arranged and prepped. He got a chalk to rub on the tip of his cue stick.

She has a pair of black underwear. His small demon, Samuel, whispered in his ear. Instinctively, Jake swats the image away, making Jason and Brad think there is a fly bothering Jake. Though they both wonder why their boss was red-faced all of a sudden.

“Nothing. It’s fine. I’ll go.” Jake shakes his head, still stuck on a particular image in his head.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The sticky air filled with sweat that any typical club would radiate permeated through the whole environment that was Club ViVi. Jake was easily let in by the two bouncers up front, allowing him to delve deeper into the club. He was trying his best to lay low and avoid meeting Xiaolung accidentally.

The club was full of drunk young adults, guys in loose shirts, and women in tight dresses. Jake opted to wear a black silk short-sleeved shirt that was unbuttoned from the top with a simple silver chain. He had black pants and black Johnston & Murphy pair of dress shoes. Jake didn’t bother tucking the shirt in his pants like Samuel told him, just allowing the smooth silk to stretch through his body. His tattoo sleeves were easily seen, and he was ogled by the many ladies that he quickly passed by.

The neon purple, pink, and the occasional green were blasting all through the rooms of Club ViVi, and Jake had to push through a bunch of people to get to the stage where a band called Bad Suns was playing. Jake’s eyes flit to the denser crowd surrounding the scene in the center of the glistering dance floor. Then to the band that was playing on the stage, shining with sweat.

“I had no reason to breathe,” Uninterested, Jake suddenly spots your image. “Until you knocked the wind out of me.”

You were wearing a white crisscrossed wrap top. Covering only what you wanted to cover. You had light-washed denim jeans and white strap heels, and despite the thin heels supporting your feet, you were still excitedly jumping around and dancing to the rhythm of the song. Full of energy, with a huge grin, your hair swayed and wrapped around your face. The same grin you had on was contagious enough to infect Jake Kim.

“Thanks for listening to Life Was Easier When I Only Cared About Me, now for Daft Pretty Boys! A one, a one-two-three!” The singer yells into the mic as the beat shifts.

As the song begins, Jake slowly makes his way to your singular form. He couldn’t believe that you go to clubs like this all alone. Even if there were so many raving people around him, Jake excused himself to keep going. Until he finally got behind you, who was still unaware. Jake bobs his head and moves lightly to the beats of the song just so he can meld with the others who are dancing with much more fervor than he was. He chose to focus more on you, waiting for you to notice his presence. Unwilling to disrupt your excitement and happiness at this moment.

“Like the gates of heaven are open now,”

Suddenly, Jake thinks about how anyone could ever be scared of you. How could anyone be angry with you? You were just— Abruptly, you accidentally stepped back and tripped backward, yelping on instinct. Your hands try to reach out for the closest support; your other leg is raised as the other is losing its balance. But just as you grab the silk material, Jake already has his stable hand supporting your back, you face him, and he meets you.

The flashing lights and the dark ambiance made it hard for you to recognize Jake at first. Thinking he was just a random boy who was trying to shoot his shot. Which wasn’t a pretty far-off conclusion, actually. 

Your eyes glowed with the neon lights, and his eyes could only softly reflect yours. With a dazed look, you finally figure it out, “Jake.” You breathe out.

“She says, ``There’s a dangerous kind of cool about you.``” The singer on the stage sang with fervor.

Jake raises you up from your leaning position smoothly. “What are you doing here?” You appraise, fixing yourself.

Still, Jake had his hand unconsciously on your back, ghosting above the semi-exposed skin. “I hang out here every now and then. I know a couple of people here.” Jake replies, leaning closer to your face so you can hear him talk. You face him, and you catch a whiff of the natural musk and a touch of mint from when Jake spoke. “You’re not surrounded by your usual cloud of smoke.”

“I quit.” Jake grins at you, and he cups his mouth. “Apparently, they’re bad for me.”

“You think?” You snarkily reply. You clutch your forehead, regaining your balance while you hold onto Jake’s forearm that he so generously offered to you. “But thanks for having my back. I think I need water, though.”

As you started to navigate through the dancing crowd that was taking your last place, Jake’s figure was right behind you, helping to push the other people lightly. He has his arm stretched out, reaching just above your head, and you look back at him, and all he did was give you a thumbs up and a wide grin. Noticing his scar that stretched out with his grin and you try to clear your throat, ignoring the way his shirt was brushing your back as you walked off.

When the both of you arrived, the bartender was cleaning a glass. When Jake looks up from your form, he notices who the bartender is. “Johan?”

“Oh. Hey.” The boy replies curtly. Jake leans on the counter, sitting right beside where you sat. “Did you always work here? Aren’t you a minor?”

“I make the drinks. I don’t drink them.” He explains. “I’ve been looking for a well-paying part-time job these days.”

Johan then looks at you then flits back to Jake. Mildly interested in how Ryang (Name) and Jake Kim mixed out of the blue.

“Uh, hey. I just need some water.” You call out to the boy. Nodding, Johan reaches out from the cooler behind him after he places the shot glass down. When he handed it to you, he decided to leave you and Jake to your own devices. Johan wasn’t one for engaging in gossip or whatnot.

Taking the cold bottle of water, you try to open the cap. But it was way tighter than it should be. Jake was looking at you struggle all this time, and you felt your cheeks heat up in embarrassment. He takes the bottle from your hands and opens it with ease, handing it back to you.

“Thank you again.” You fix a strand of your hair and drink the water. Both to cool down from all your burst of energy on the dance floor earlier and from the irritating man that was sitting beside you. Wiping your lip from the water, you face Jake. “If you’re planning on asking me out again, you might as well just get over it.”

Jake opts to lean on his enclosed hand supported by the table. He chooses to change the topic just as he drinks the glass of orange juice Johan left for him. “You know,” Jake starts with a loud volume, giving you a cheeky side glance, “These guys, Bad Suns? They’re pretty good. Though they’re no Weathers or the Technicolors.”

You feel your ears perk up at what he said. Skeptically, your reply. “You know who the Weathers are?”

Jake stands up and leaves his glass on the table. You quickly follow right behind him, with the both of you ending up just a ways back from the center, looking over the most crowded area in the entire club.

“Secret’s Safe With Me. Gave it a listen.” Jake says, inserting his hands in his pocket and using the other to tap his ear.

You pause, still holding on to the water bottle you got earlier. You’re surprised someone like Jake would even care about a band like Weathers. “I saw you out there earlier. Never seen you prettier than when you smile while dancing.”

“You’ve probably only seen me like, what, three, four times?” You chuckle. Jake then notices a waiter carrying trays filled with a bunch of margaritas about to pass by you at an unsteady pace. So, by instinct, he clears the path for the waiter. By having his hand no longer ghost above your back.

You face Jake’s semi-exposed chest, and you internally reel at the proximity of your bodies. Jake could feel your breath near his neck, and he had to gulp to think of something else quickly. But your hands were grounding him, and he could almost feel how you were trying your best not to be pushed further into him so that your chest won’t crash with his. Jake finally looks down at you only to find you already staring up at him, and he feels a form of heat rush up to his head, losing his cool and finding his words. Looking for them in the glimmer of your eyes.

“Come to Beom’s party with me.” Jake finally breathes out, something only you can hear in the noisy atmosphere.

What he says finally grounds you, “You never give up, do you?” You lightly tap on his chest, and he’s left there dumbfounded as you walk back to the dancefloor, right in front of the stage.

But Jake has to know. Cupping both his hands around his mouth, he shouts. “Was that a yes?!”

“No!” You reply, back turned.

Jake tries to catch up to you, grabbing your wrist lightly. “Then, was it a no…?”

You face him, with a close-eyed smile, just like his. “No.”

[webginz]

Recs for a budding jason fan?

okay!!!!

a little disclaimer: this is a really long list (sorry ;_;) but it isnt anywhere near all of jasons appearances (though thats not hard to find of you want it after reading these ehehe)

in fact this basically turned into a webginz approved jason reading list!! which wasnt my original intent but.... 👍

im gonna sort them with little stars. 1 star = tecnically skippable, but i still think it should be on this list. 2 stars = important. 3 stars = ESSENTIAL. my favorites and the most important!

as robin:

batman 408*** jasons first appearance and origin

batman 409-413*** continuation of jasons origin story

batman 416** nightwing drama, but warning- this is writen by starlin, who hates robin and esp jason (more on him later). so just be aware while you read, lol. i have mixed feelings with this comic..

detective comics 569-570*

dc 571** vs scarecrow

dc 572* sherlock holmes crossover

dc 573-574** the focus is more on batman in 574 but still

dc 579**

batman 424-425** this is the infamous comic where jason may or may not have pushed a guy off a building. BUT, disclaimer, this is written by starlin and was meant to make jason look bad. so keep in mind that this isnt a "killing rapist good" comic, and more of a "wow robin is so evil!!" comic. #jasondidnothingwrong

death in the family aka batman 427-429*** a big disclaimer for this one!!! its also written by starlin and another thing about this guy is that he likes to shoehorn in modern politics into whatever story hes writing, being really insensitive to the point of it looking like a joke. so yeah. warning for the biggest whiplash between child murder and insane irl politics being basically mocked.

post resurrection:

batman: hush* his first post resurrection appearance technically, but its very brief. no number bc the parts that matter are included in the utrh omnibus.

under the red hood*** i could give you the exact issues but, JUST READ THE OMNIBUS. its the collected stories, plus a couple extra.

some parts of this story can be a bit confusing without context, but to get full context youd have to read a metric ton of stories, none of which include jason. so just use context clues for anything you dont get (or dm me and ask, lol).

theres an animated movie based on this story, but a few things are cut out/changed.

batman annual 25*** flashback/explanation for how jason came back. one of my favs of all time (also included in utrh omnibus)

red hood lost days** prequel, but read after the others. shows jasons life between his resurrection and utrh stunt.

these both take place after utrh, not necessarily jason focused, and they are pretty out of context. nevertheless, here they are:

green arrow 69-72* dont judge jason too harshly for this... he had a weird role in the sidekick ecosystem at this point.

outsiders 44-46* this is a brief appearance but i like it, interaction with nightwing

NOW... my final recommendation is:

robin 80th anniversary, specifically jasons story- "more time" *** really short and was written really recently, but its by winnick who's the author of like half of this list and basically THE post-resurrection jason writer. so you can read it with only the knowledge of this list and understand it! please do! IM BAWLING!!!!

---

on modern (2011-now) comics:

i dont remember enough about new 52 to give recommendations. the only jason centric story is rhato, WHICH SUCKS. SO BAD. SKIP IT, IM SERIOUS. in fact, skip anything written by lobdell.

however.. as much as i hate to say it, lots of the new 52 stories set up his relationship with the rest of the batfamily, and these dynamics stayed to this day.

i have no specific recommendations, though... maybe "batman and robin eternal" and "robin war" ???

for rebirth and infinite frontier id have to make a whole new post if i wanted to be in detail because i have a lot to say. ill just say- i liked the urban legends issues that focused on jason, task force z was weird but alright jason characterization, despite hating lobdell and it being shitty i also like the beginning or rhato rebirth. gotham war is a poorly written ooc mess but i must admit i love the angst LOL. jason also makes a ton of small appearances in batman/nightwing/etc which (though i havent read all of them) seem to mostly be good.

---

I AM ALSO A HUGE FAN OF ARKHAMVERSE JASON. this is an alternate universe (the video games) and so none of the comics on this list are canon to that universe, and none of the arkhamverse stuff has any connection to 'main canon' BUT THAT DOESNT MATTER. i think arkhamverse jason is almost perfect.

for arkhamverse jason: play batman arkham knight, then read arkham knight genesis! also theres a red hood dlc! i love him so much 😭❤️😭❤️❤️😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️

i have some fluffy non-canon recommendations, but ill make a new post for them later because this has taken me forever and its way too long!!!!!

thank you for the ask and for reading!! yay for new jason fans!!!!!

[ihopesocomic]

As a bi and nonbinary person i feel like lgbt media that doesn't make romance ina homophobic society or a coming out story is geniunely refreshing. Im really tired of the same old stories that are like that. So i really like i hopeso a lot better than mypride... Like

If you guys want homophobic or transphobic "realism" idk go watch mypride or whatever. Im geniunely tired of having to experience and having media reflect real world prejudice that has an effect on people.

So anyways ihopeso is really good in terms of being an lgbt friendly comic. I hope more stuff like yours comes out soon.

Also I don't know how they did it but they seriously wrote nothing and hover with the charisma of an obligatory heterosexual couple in every piece of media ever. Thats all ill say on all of that

Thank you! Just based on personal experience, enjoying a thing without it having to be bogged down by rampant bits of bigotry just makes it all the more enjoyable. Right from the start I wanted to make it absolutely clear that homophobia/transphobia/ableism/etc was just not a thing in this world. Not only do the readers not have to stress out about whether it's gonna happen, but look at that, the main couple also has a brief Romeo & Juliet moment. But it's because they have different cultures, and not because they're two girls who are romantic.

Since there's no "cishet default", there's no "corrupt religion", so why include something that only exists because one sector of humans decided to hide behind religion to justify oppression? Starts not making sense when you think about it.

Unless the point of someone's story is to deconstruct discrimination or just generally speaking about one's experiences, there's no reason to include it. Animals or fantasy or whatever. Your fantasy world has Off-brand Catholicism in it to justify discrimination against queer people? Then why are you boring, that's my question. It just especially doesn't make sense with animals. It's a good fuckin way to take any queer readers you have right out of the story. Most days I just put it down and never look at it again cuz I'm fuckin tired. It's 2023, queer tragedies are old hat, no one cares.

And if someone's one of those people who thinks it doesn't make sense to not include it, then you need to assess why you think this way because it's not normal. Or if you don't wanna do that, then yeah, go back and watch MP, cuz an off-putting amount of people bug us about why characters aren't ableist or homophobic. Y'all want homophobic lions, go watch MP. That's clearly what some of you want LOL And you're not gonna get MP 2.0 out of IHS, as much as people want it to be.

As for Nothing and Hover, there's a strange phenomenon in queer media where they have to include one or multiple bad sapphic tropes. Specifically where one is the "meek feminine one" and the other is the "boistrous masculine one". Essentially making them a poorly-written cishet couple. MP just has the extra bonus of Nothing being disabled and Hover being ableist. They complete each other/sarcasm.

And to go on a bit of a tangent, homophobia and ableism doesn't even make sense in the context of My Pride lol I know what they were trying to do, but in simplest terms, woman-haters don't worship women. And it just becomes even stupider when you remember that they're trying to explain "realism" in lion behaviors. - Cat

[sicparvismorrigan]

Friendly Fire - Chapter One: Wild Animals

Ellie Thibodeaux holds arguably the worst job in Bridgehead City. She’s not a cook. She’s not even a cleaner. She’s the resident RDA psychiatrist, and her next assignment is helping the formerly deceased Project Phoenix come to terms with being brought back to life as an entirely different species.

Enter Colonel Miles Quaritch, the most reluctant, and most challenging patient she’s ever had the displeasure of treating.

James Cameron’s Avatar - The Way Of Water (2022)

Recombinant Quaritch x ofc (currently professional/platonic, enemies/annoyances to friends, could be more) & Quaritch x Paz Socorro

Warnings: mild swears

Tagging: @kmc1989 (lmk if you want added to the taglist!)

Read on Ao3

Prologue | Chapter 2

Wild Animals

“Take a seat-“ Sir?

No, screw that, Colonel Quaritch wasn’t her commanding officer.

”-…over there.” Ellie gestured at the comically large armchair placed opposite her own human-sized one.

She stifled a nervous giggle. Strange to be the one giving the orders for a change.

Just make sure these recom soldiers are of relatively sound mind. Flag any issues. That’s your only job.

Ellie understood why her role existed. The big bosses of the RDA were more than a little twitchy at any mention of recombinants after the actions of Jake Sully, Na’vi sympathiser. It could not happen again.

The destruction of the Omatikaya Hometree sixteen years prior had been a colossal waste of money and lives. Ardmore called the shots now, and was determined to do things differently this time around. She figured cheaper and easier to employ a psychiatrist, than be doomed to repeat history. Video diaries alone weren’t going to cut it anymore.

It might be Ellie’s only job, but it was one Hell of a job. She was the one holding the metaphorical scales judging the outcome of Project Phoenix.

She ran through her usual welcome-to-the-session spiel as she sat down to face Quaritch, adjusting her visor under her chin.

That was another thing. Neither of them could breathe the other’s air.

A power move for sure, since she was the one currently speaking through an exopack, the rubber seal itching her face terribly.

Compromise. It had to happen.

Part of her didn’t think Quaritch would even deign to show up. But Ardmore had reassured Ellie that he took his schedule very seriously. And if the Colonel was one thing, it was punctual.

But why would any of the recombinant soldiers bother with a shrink in the first place?

The General had promised certain motivations for those who regularly attended their appointments with Tibbs, M.D. Things that were hard to come by. Items that made living on an alien planet, and in a new alien form, a little more bearable.

Zdinarsik had a penchant for pink bubblegum. Sure thing. Mansk had a quite frankly embarrassing collection of expensive sunglasses. Forget about it, done. Fike and Wainfleet, Ellie wasn’t privy to their wants, but she had a feeling they were of the adult reading material variety.

Still only human, even in a non-human body.

Quaritch, well, Ellie wasn’t sure what he liked yet.

Did he like anything?

Judging by the look on his face, he certainly didn’t like her.

Goddamn it, initiating conversation with these blue giants never got any easier. They were all just so intimidating.

Ellie cleared her throat and tried to look ill-at-ease as she took the first step.

“So, what would you like to talk about today?”

No response.

Well, that was rude.

She tried for more casual, conversational. “How’s Project Phoenix treating you so far?”

Still nothing. Maybe an expletive muttered under his breath as he stared her down.

Oh great, he was going to be one of those.

”Whatever, it’s your hour.” Ellie shrugged. “I get paid the same whether you talk or not.”

They sat in claustrophobic silence for over forty-five minutes, the Colonel clearly going to the place deep in his mind where he could feel no pain, and Ellie wishing she could do the same.

Towards the end, when it was apparent he wasn’t going to give her anything at all, she started writing on her notepad, scrambling for something she could type up later that was incrementally more interesting than the colour of the walls or what the weather was doing.

The incessant scratching of pen on paper was what finally got the Colonel to speak up.

”What you scribbling there?” His cat-like ears flicked back in irritation. “You sketching my portrait or something?”

“Hm?” She glanced up, startled by the sound of his voice. “Oh, it’s just notes.”

”I ain’t done anything.”

”You haven’t said anything.” Ellie tapped her pen against her notepad. “I wouldn't write down specifics we discussed, doctor-patient confidentiality rules. But I can still write about your overall demeanour, how stressed you appear…unwillingness to co-operate. That’s the sort of thing I report back to the General.”

“Got it all figured out, doncha?” His sardonic reply made her stomach drop. “I don’t have to tell you anything, shrink-wrap.”

”No, but you may as well get something out of our session.” She replied, exasperation threatening her tone. “We can talk about literally anything.”

“Anything?” He suddenly leaned forward, fixing her with eye contact so intense she found it hard to hold his gaze. “Stays in this room?”

Ellie tried not to let her excitement show as she nodded agreement. Less than an hour and she was already wearing him down, a notoriously difficult customer. Who said the Colonel was hard to break?

“Alright.” He settled back in his oversized chair with a smirk. “Why don’t you tell me, about how that arm of yours ain’t real?”

Ellie couldn’t catch the shocked widening of her eyelids fast enough. ”Excuse me?”

She fought the instinctual twitch of reaching down to tug at her sleeve with her remaining hand. A nervous gesture, to cover herself.

But he was right on the money. Ellie Thibodeaux only had one arm.

Still a very sore subject. Power moves, indeed.

She could only gawp at him stupidly, speechless.

”I’ve seen my fair share of busted limbs.” Quaritch drawled. “I know a prosthetic, and a bad one at that, when I see one, even with your clothes on.”

Ellie meanwhile, was just staring back in horror.

“What got you? Landmine, congenital defect?” He quirked an eyebrow at her discomfort. “Wild animal?”

“That’s none of your concern.” To her annoyance, she sounded upset when she finally spoke. Ellie’s voice shook as she croaked out her words.

Crap, audible weakness.

With her exopack on, she couldn’t take a sip of water to break the tension. She couldn’t do anything except fog up the inside of her visor with how her breathing had quickened.

“I’m gonna go with the latter. The hand that still moves just strangled your pen to death.” Quaritch nodded knowingly, visibly pleased with his own intellect. “Guess you just didn’t run fast enough, back on Earth, huh?”

“Maybe I’m still running.” Ellie muttered. She blinked after the words hung in the atmosphere between them.

Why’d I say that?

“Are you, now?” He finally looked somewhat interested in her. “What are you running from, shrink?”

The datapad on the table to her right started beeping insistently. Ellie‘s end-of-session alarm was sounding, an entire hour had finally passed.

Thank Christ for that.

She forced an angelic smile, beyond relieved.

”Sorry, Colonel. That’s all the time we have for today.”

“Hm.” He nodded, already standing to leave. ”Was just getting good.”

”Will you be attending our next session?” Ellie asked, unable to keep the hostility out of her voice. She was hoping for a firm no. Fine, let Ardmore deal with him.

Her professional facade had well and truly slipped. Quaritch had successfully rattled her.

”I might.” He didn’t even look back. “See you around, shrink-wrap.”

Oh God. She would see him around, no doubt. Bridgehead City was big, but not big enough. The entire planet of Pandora was no longer big enough for her liking.

Ellie exhaled and slumped down in her chair, exhausted. “Shit.”

That could have gone better.

He’d told her nothing, and gotten uncomfortably close to her heart in record time, homing in on her missing arm as easily as an enemy target.

Who’s breaking who, then?

Obviously, he wasn’t Colonel for no reason. She knew that now.

Ellie was already dreading his second session more than she ever thought possible.

***

Thanks for reading!

[tootally-noot-a-cult]

I dont like the young justice TV show

OK OK before you say anything hears my opinion on this TV show

the one on HBO max I mean

I hate it, it makes me want to rip my hair out

and here are some of the reasons why

First off, they put the whole ass wrong Robin in there

They put Dick in there?? No?? The Robin that was in the Young Justice was Tim Drake not Dick. He was never a member of the Young justice

Time, Conner and Bart where the three IfirstI members of the Young justice, they made the team, and by the time that Tim is Robin Dicks a full grown adult so why would he be in there??

Dick was a Teen Titan sure but a young justice member?? Hello?

I mean like a quick google serch can tell you what Robin it was and like i guess benifit of the doubt the robins are a bit confusing but they have Tim come into the show later on like he was the Robin after Dick? No? Where did Jason go? After Dick Jason was Robin, not Tim.

Like for what reason (also why did they flatten his hair like that)

Like thats Tim in the first Young justice comics

You can litrally just Google it and get the right one

Okay i could talk about just the robins for hours but moving on to my second point

CONNER WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU

Why did they compleatly change him?? Why??

Not only did they give him worlds most boreing design but they also compleatly changed his backstory to??

Starting with the disign thing because thats my bigest ick this is what hes suposed to look like (what he looked like in his protraal in the comic books)

Like look how cool that is with the Leather jacket and the belts all the color design, like you can get a pretty good grasp of his personality just based on his design, but what they did with him in the show...

CONNER WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU

They just took out everything that made him a unique character, like everything

His entire personality was also changed witch i absolutly cannot stand. He almost acts like a wild animal in the show like for what reson did they need to make him the worst character ever in the show I hate it so much

Why did they change his whole backstory to?? Like he was made from super man and Lex Luthors DNA right?? Not in this show! He was made by like a cult in the tv show for whatever reson

They compleatly changed his character like compleatly and its probally one of the biggest resons why i dont like this show

but i guess ill give them points on actually putting in the right super boy because its the only charachter who was actually a member of the young justece

Third off, they goofed up Bart big time

Another backstory they almost compleatly changed.

They kept in him coming from the 31st century but he comes from like a post apocoliptic world?? Hello??

The TLDR on Barts actually backstory: He couldnt turn off his super speed abilities so his grandmother (iris) took him back in time to wally so wally could help him, since he grew up so fast he was hooked into VR so that he could mentally age at the same rate goofing up his fear responce and makeing him very impulsive.

The thing is the time that Bart goes back to is the time that wallys the flash, In the show Wally is still the kid flash

Witch is another point in of itself Wally was never a member of the young justice and the flash (barry allen) isnt suosed to be around

Why they changed what Robin and 'Kid flash' where in this tv show only to later introduce the correct ones is unknown to me i have no idea why they would do that.

long story short they put the wrong speedster in there but later put the right one in there only to goof it up

Fourth off

why did they change arrowett like that?

They not only changed her name and the color of her costume (why??) but they had a weird side romance with Wally and her wich why AND they changed her whole ass name??? Her name is Cissy? Why did they flipin change that??

Last but not least

Where are wonder girl and seccret??

Wonder girl is important?? literally what?? Not only that but they took out secret to? Shes kinda important?

Someone please inform me if im wrong on them both not being there I didn't watch the whole show its mind melting

That' s her and she made like three of four big plot lines in the comic series.

Small things i wont elaborate on for the sake of lenght,

Why was speedy there?

I hate what they did to Miss Martian

Why did they need to change the whole timeline for this show?

I could go off on this show for literal hours and how bad it is but thats just the top five reasons i might make another post like this

TLDR: I hate the young Justice TV show :)

[hannahhook7744]

New Crewmate info:

1. Zee Snoops.

Parent Relationships:

Medusa: Medusa pretty much ignores Zee until she needs her to steal something. When she does need something from her, she'll shower her with attention and gifts until she gets what she wants,  then goes back to ignoring her. This makes Zee attention starved, and willing to do whatever it takes to please her mother.

Once she joins Hannah, she realizes that this isn't normal behavior and cuts contact with Medusa, no matter how much she begs. (Though she has bad moments where she's tempted to contact her again)

Snoops: Before and after joining Hannah, Zee had the same opinion of her father: he's a selfish, spineless, cowardly idiot who just does whatever his wife tells him to do. He'd often blame Zee for something that he himself did just to avoid Medusa's wrath.

(These were easy, as we already see how these two interact with children in canon, so hurray for taking the easy way out!)

Age: 13.

Hobbies: Stealing (formerly-ish), shiny things, collecting random objects, reading, adventuring, climbing, jogging

Pets: A baby crocodile named Sobek

Weapon of Choice: A fucking glock I guess??

Personality: Selfish (she's working on it), petty (she's not working on it), awkward, angry, dorky, sweet (eventually), problem solver, people-pleaser

And favorite color: Pink.

Met Hannah: While searching for Diamonds in a hole.

Zee tries to steal something from Hannah's crew on behalf of her mother. She gets caught (obviously) and Hannah tries to convince her to join them. Zee is reluctant at first (think Zuko joining team Avatar, (idk if you've ever watched ATLA)) and is kind of an asshole, but comes around eventually.

Other random things:

-She is TERRIFIED of mice and rats

-Because of this, she has an overblown, one-sided rivalry with Claudine Frollo

-Once the barrier opens, she and Penny get along fantastically

-She has glasses that she used to despise. Once she joined Hannah, she actually started wearing them, and can finally fucking SEE

-She's a huge fucking dork, a trait that she used to hide to appear tough and cool

-Is insanely jealous of her younger sister, Ramonda, as she feels like her parents find more use out of Ramonda then her

-After hanging out with the junior crew members of Hannah's crew, she starts to appreciate her sister more.

-Since her mom is Madame Medusa (who is inspired by Cruella de Vil), she puts more effort into her appearance. She likes pinks, animal furs/skins, and jewelry and won't wear contrasting colors like pink/red, red/green, blue/orange ect.

-Before joining HannahZee had close to zero friends. Madame Medusa kept her isolated for the most part, but she knew the Tremaine grandchildren, since Madame Medusa spends a lot of her time at Curl up and Dye, and maybe the de Vil cousins, since Cruella and Medusa are frenemies.

- Zee brings a rock and a stick over to the bridge to try and bash the barrier down herself, just to taste that sweet, sweet chocolate once Hannah is in Auradon.

2. Kyle White:

Middle child of Snow White and Prince Florian.

Age 13 years old.

Personality: Absentminded, selfish to other aks, loyal to Hannah, petty, disinterested most of the time, immature, etc.

Weapon of choice: Rocks and Sword.

Hobbies: Jogging, nature walks, chess, video games, reading gossip magazines, maybe photography, etc.

Any pets: A deer named 'Daisy'.

Favorite color: Black.

Theme song: Lazy song by Bruno Mars.

Also didn't care about Hannah hiding three other vks in her room and tries to comically hide the information from other people and cover it up.

3. Olivia LeGume.

Age 15.

Affair baby of the Enchantress and Gaston LeGume born while he was married to Laurette.

Personality: Sweet, level headed, a bit ill tempered occasionally, but overall loving.

Has a pet horse named 'Sweetie' (eventually) and a pet cat named 'Lovely'.

Hobbies: Cooking, painting, reading, napping, looking for candy, watching tv, hanging out with friends, and listening to music.

Weapon: She's handy with a bow and arrow.

She has magic.

Her favorite colors are teal and black.

Tolerates Treycor. Doesn't like Eduardo, Parker, or James.

4. Nate Stiltskin.

Only surviving (adopted) child of of Rumplestiltskin.

12-15 years old.

Personality: snarky, somewhat sweet, responsible, sneaky, mischievous, playful, and mysterious.

Has magic.

Pet: a pidgen named 'Spotter.'

Hobbies: Disappearing, fake magic tricks, studying, pulling pranks, setting up boobytraps, reading, writing, gaming, spying, etc.

[rezonan]

Yeah.. let's leave out the fact she's a mass murdering terrorist that used to talk about wiping out the human race. Like she's a great character and all but c'mon don't leave out information like that just because you hate Bruce. Like c'mon dude Bruce used to send her to Arkham ASYLUM for a reason. (Mostly talking about her post crisis version by the way, I'm aware DC has been pushing her and Harley as Anti-Heroes/villians since new 52)

Would be like if I started defending Ra's Al Ghul because he also wants to save the world. Ignoring LITERALLY everything else about him and his methods. But whatever it's the whole Bruce punches poor mentally ill take all over again with a new coat of paint.

Edit: couldn't resist to talk more about this and her tbh

The well-intentioned extremist as a villain is a classic (see Magneto or Azrael). Ivy is a little unique in that she is in Batman’s rogue gallery vs someone like Swamp thing. The well-intentioned extremist is usually a dark mirror of the protagonist.

The fact that Bruce (in theory) represents exactly who is a danger to the environment in some peoples eyes makes it an intriguing concept that COULD have some emotional depth and nuance… but rarely does.

Nuance is hard, so Ivy gets reduced to absurdist villain or misunderstood anti-hero, depending on the writer, with no in between. And Bruce is either a dumbass, asshole or just plain in the right. Just no nuance

Another thing is that depending on the writer line.

Outside of the Batman Animated show, Ivy has never been written consistently. Like more than usual for comic characters

She debuted as a femme fatale who was in love with Bruce Wayne and Batman (kind of like a plant version of Catwoman) and then barely made any more appearances in Batman for the better part of a decade, mostly showing up in JLA…

old Ivy was a Good Ole‘ Southern Belle who wanted money And she didn’t have any control over plants in her early Batman issues. What her powers are, or her motivations, change from writer to writer…and when Dini re-invented Ivy as an eco-terrorist (possibly because a children’s show can’t lean as hard into the horny femme-fatale who seduces men) the Comics were still portraying her as Batman-obsessed and money-focused (Hothouse/Shadow of the Bat Annual #3).

During ‘No Man’s Land,’ Ivy was a lot more sympathetic…kidnapped by Clayface and then protecting orphaned children in Central Park…but then with Hush she is back to being a typical super-villain, mind-controlling Superman.

She is not some good all loving hero that that dude is talking about most of the time that's for sure, everyone should read Black Orchid because God that's when you'll know how disturbed this woman is.

While all the topic of poison ivy, check out her current series, it's peak, probably my favorite take of the character of all time.

[lynxmoonrising]

An Introduction Post

Hello hello! ♡ This is my blog about my practice and journey. Scroll below for the blog, posts, reblogs and chaos.

🌿 About Me Debs | She/her | Slavic | Living in Ireland

Aside from the magical and spiritual I am also a big bookworm, friend of nature, 90s Geocities Internet nostalgee, husky mom, cat mom, chinchilla mom, music nerd, singer, pianist writer, occasional artist, obsessive tea drinker, wannabe scientist, behaviorist, dog trainer, pet care advisor, lover of travel, dragon enthusiast, carebear collector, Heroes of Might and Magic devotee-- I mean fan, comic book geek, Halloween queen, knitter/crocheter, amateur genealogist, polyglot, a fun lesbian aunt(I have no nieces or nephew. I'm your aunt now), Duolingo streak bragging person, crafty crafter, and an autistic wreck whose sensory issues all go away as soon as it's grey and rainy outside, or better yet, as soon as Autumn arrives. (I dislike Summer with a passion.)

You can usually find me straying off a path and heading deeper into the forest, reading a book, doing magical wibbly-wobbly stuff, listening to or playing music that ranges from 80s glam metal through classical through Dutch rap to symphonic metal, studying an outrageous topic the average person has no interest in hearing of, writing, or having a breakdown over having to clean the house. (Hey, breakdowns are healthy. I promise. They are. I promisewhydoesittakeme5hourstocleanmykitchen?!)

I'm super-duper-Alice-Cooper friendly, and a real chatterbox, so if you want to ask me anything, talk to me about your own practice, ask me for advice or info, get a reading, get help with your own reading, or literally just talk, I'm a message away!

I used to be on Tumblr years ago and organized a yearly Pagan/Witchcraft Themed Gift Exchange for a couple of years. Keep you eyes peeled as I am going to bring this back this year!

Oh, and I kind of really love dragons.

🕸️ My practice I have had a pull to the divine and spiritual since I was a child, being approached by Kemetic deities when I was very young but have been actively practicing for 13 years. As you can see from my personal blurb above, I'm a pretty mixed and positively chaotic person, and my spiritual practice is no different. I love to help in any and all aspects that I'm familiar with, and I'm also always constantly learning myself(I'm kind of obsessed with continuous learning). I'm a spiritual sponge and absorb whatever I work with and get happily attached to my deities, spirits and practices, so I don't ever really stop practicing something. Here are some but not all branches of my path:

Kemetic devotee

Slavic polytheist

Freja & Skadi Follower (Restarting my relationship with Them after some years)

Solitary eclectic hedge witch (Ask me to elaborate if you wish)

Hecate Follower (Beginner)

Spirit work

Ancestry/communication with the dead

Nature work

Draconic magic

Constant personal study of mythology, history, language and culture of the paths I follow and others.

Pagan: There's a lot, I know. If you struggle with describing my practice when talking about me, you can just call me "pagan".

🔮 What I Do

Divination (Cards, runes, tea leaves, incense smoke, candle flame and wax, crystals, Slavic divination, and others)

Sigils

Herbal Recipes*

Crystal prescriptions*

Spells

Rituals (Ask me for details)

Devotional writing (Prayers, poetry, hymns)

Devotional art (of any deity, even if I don't follow Them)

Animal/pet healing*

* Important disclaimer = * = I do not give medical healing or medical prescriptions. I am NOT a licensed medical professional. I have education and extensive work experience in animal health/illness/first aid and care but I am NOT a vet. None of my prescriptions or healing include medical diagnoses or the use of medicine. Please consult with a medical professional for physical ailments, disease, injury, mental health. My crystal and herbal prescriptions and healing are not to be used as a substitute for professional medical/mental health help. They are there to be used as a boost and cleansing of energy and spirit, and can be used in conjunction with already-prescribed professional treatments. For herbal recipes, please ensure you are aware of any contraindications and interactions with anything you may already be taking.

DNI if you're a cun- please be nice. We're a respectful bunch. Don't talk shit about mental illnesses, I have some too. (A whole alphabet of abbreviations, I'm at a point where I'm anticipating a diagnosis of PhD.) See? We can laugh about our own mental health for the sake of healing, but don't be a judgy bitch. If you're in any way a homophobe, transphobe, acephobe, arophobe, anyone else who falls under the category of LGBTQI+phobe, racist, ableist, and insert any other shitty quality here. Also, I'm an adult, I talk about adult things, I don't post explicit things but there may be mentions of adult stuff or sexyjokes. So if you're a minor, well, I can't stop you from using the internet so it's your own risk what you do on the web, but be safe, and I'll tag anything that mentions that kind of stuff as "ac mention"(stands for adult content mention) - you might wanna block that tag. Also if I follow anyone and you don't want me to follow you let me know and I'll unfollow.

[lordkingsmith]

Adam Park OC Children

Adam’s a great guy and a total fucking sweetheart and the comics have and do him a disservice. I can’t fix that, but I can soothe my inner annoyance and give him a load of kiddos and loving relationships in all the alternate realities I can think of. And talk about the child he does canonically have in Coinless. Nameless Coinless boy also gets an au version. he deserves it, and his dad too.

Canon Children:

Unknown Mother;

Apparently a boy of unknown name, personality, or age. Child aged, maybe? So…probably anywhere from newborn to early preteens because the kid would probablyotherwise have been a sentry? I don’t know, I just… think they could have done a lot more with this mystery kiddo? child being assumed dead and then avenging Adam dying would have been a very cool plot twist! but no! he's so light on character he's not a character! He's a mention in a backstory to make Adam tragic! Who's his mom, who is he, how old was he, what illness did he die of, did he die of an illness, I-c'mon. there's light on character and then there's this. May the child come back in a reboot or just in general. And be a badass. I wish this for all of them, by the way.

My OC and Alternate Reality Kids for Adam:

Eugene Skullovitch;

Eugene doesn't believe in himself, but Adam does, did, and always has. They started dating after Adam encouraged him to play the piano in the talent show. Adam loves his music, and they're both encouraging of each other. Aisha is a surrogate for their son, Lukas. Given how close she was to Adam, it was only natural in her mind to offer. She loves him, loves he's found happiness, and when they decided they wanted kids she wanted to help that happiness grow. Lukas Park's 17, plays piano, and volunteers at the animal shelter. Adam's a doctor and while Lukas respects and likes this, he'd rather be a veterinarian. Or, like Skull, a professional classical pianist. They support Lukas with whatever he wants to do or be, and he loves the fact he's not being pressured. Skull once sat him down with a list of every job he's ever done (the list was actually more like an entire manila folder bursting out the sides, it was frankly impressive), a ranking system and how much each profession made. Everything from a cop to a detective to an undercover agent for the government to a waiter at a bar to a judge at a pet show to rockstar to pianist-it was comprehensive and a little overwhelming, but at the end of each profession Skull said if it was what he wanted, he'd be proud. At the end it left Lukas fairly calm and certain no matter what choice he made, it'd be the right choice for him, and his dads would support him in this. not associated with a color

Tommy Oliver;

They’d been friends since a bit before the transfer, and Tommy was Adam’s leader for years on three or four different ranger teams. There’s a level of trust there you don’t usually get, and they were both black and green rangers in their lives. After Tommy became Dino Thunder Black, and shortly after a divorce between him and Kat, Adam and Tommy started spending more time together. The getting together thing was an accident. Both of them at a Christmas party and then things going from one thing to the next, and Tommy says he’s never felt so at home waking up in someone’s arms.

They have one son together, Isaiah Park. Tommy cashed in on a favor owed by Grace, and soon enough JJ Oliver was trying to figure out where his baby half brother had come from. His opinion was Adam, because he was shorter. It wasn’t until several years later they were able to explain it in a way JJ would understand and accept. But they never let him live the cute story down, to his embarrassment. Given Tommy’s immunity to time fluctuations and manipulations by the Machine Empire, they found out they were living in the same town as Time Force. Tommy was able to complete a doctorate in, to Adam’s perception, a day. Tommy is a lead paleontologist due to this, and Adam works at the museum. However given Tommy being Tommy, there is currently a divorce. Tommy wears his trauma on his sleeve and Adam has given up trying to fix him.

Isaiah Park is sixteen. He’s quiet, thoughtful, and tends to think with his emotions rather than his mind. Lucky, charming, and a natural heartthrob to his school, though he doesn’t seem to notice. Loves music, especially classical, and reading. He hasn’t really thought about being a power ranger, though he wouldn’t say no if he was asked. He was babysat by the Dino Thunder team as a kid, and kidnapped by Mesogog once. All hell broke loose when this happened, and Isaiah’s unsure if he wants to be a ranger when this sort of danger could happen to any of his loved ones. Tommy and Adam are currently in the process of divorce, and Isaiah’s getting used to that idea as well, but it’s nice having JJ to talk to about it.

He has enough to deal with with his dads. They love telling the story of when he was three, they’d go “see you later alligator” and “after awhile Crocodile” and he’d respond, loudly and enthusiastically; “bye bye, froggie!” To this day he’s been unable to get them to stop telling this story to his friends, love interests, and any adult who’d listen. JJ feels the pain. Isaiah is not associated with any color. This is probably a good thing. However if he was, it’d be black.

Aisha Campbell;

It was just natural for them to get together. They’ve been friends together since forever, they’ve always been friends and it progressing to a little bit more made sense. They got married a little after joining SPD together. They have four kids together. Wendell, aged 26, Rocky, aged 26, Koniqua, aged 19, and Jacqueline “Jaq” Park, aged 17.

No way they weren’t going to name one of their kids after their closest friend aside from each other. Rocky was best man at their wedding even. When they found out they were having twins they simply used the middle name they were intending for a boy for Wendell. Rocky’s the older by eight hours, Wendell was a more difficult pregnancy and took his time, which actually was a foreshadowing to the twins’ personalities.

Rocky Park is rambunctious and a goofball. He loves making people laugh. Like his mom he’s empathetic and strong willed. Like his dad he’s prone to flashes of intense introspection, but never for long. Surprises people with his love of classical music. He’s enthusiastic to the point of being intense. Can be hard for him to dial it back. He’s a yellow ranger for his team.

Wendell is everything Rocky is not, and is a little bit of a little shit. He's often not noticed by other people, and tends to use that to his advantage. He knows his brother is a yellow ranger, and while he's not a ranger, he takes the opportunity to tackle or ram cars or steal from the monsters of the week. he's not noticed and it gives other rangers openings usually. He's given Rocky everything he's stolen, and is pleased when they're incorporated into the team's arsenal.

Koniqua is a lover of poetry, fables, and the history of the power rangers. She's determined to be one of the scientists who creates a new team, or unlocks the mysteries of the grid for general use. Pragmatic, quick thinking, happy to help her dumb brothers. They don't think she knows. She knew who'd saved her as soon as Rocky said "you're safe now civilian" and tried to act dumb. She barely resisted the urge to call him out. Doesn't bother fighting the monsters, her brothers got that covered, but she does help get other civilians to safety when needed. not associated with a color. She's going into historical costuming, with the intention of working for tv productions.

Jaq would love to know why earth is so valuable to bad guys that they keep trying to take it over. Genre savvy type, and doesn't take shit. Has psyched out two villains and one of the comedy duo by just asking over and over "okay but why". Not popular, has two best friends and they're all kind of outsiders. Prefers it this way. You will not find Jaq anywhere near the monsters when they appear, she's gone and dragging her friends off with her. not associated with a color, but has made the big bad main villain question themself and then cry. her brother was torn between disappointed, impressed, and terrified of his little sister. Jaq's considering maybe being a therapist specializing in rangers and their villains would be a lucrative career move.

Rocky DeSantos;

They make too much sense for anything else, they were best friends since the beginning. They adopted a kid who lost their home in a fire brought on by a monster. Peter's eleven and scared of the world. Adam and Rocky fully understand, but hope he can open up. They care for him and are worried about him. Peter DeSantos doesn't know how to feel about power rangers as parents after what happened, but he's glad Adam and Rocky are stable and they do try. It's just hard to open up. They have time, though, and that's what matters. Adam's been helping with his anxiety by showing him how to sew. Whenever he gets scared and his dads aren't there, he sews little projects. It helps and he's proud of what he makes.

tangential au; Rocky and Aisha and Adam are together with all above mentioned kids, and Aisha and Rocky's two kids. They live on a large ranch and the kids are thriving.

Scorpina; fascinatingly there is an episode where the Stone Canyon Trio deal with her in a human form as an exchange student named Sabrina. Adam was way into her. Coinless version Adam's finding Scorpina hot in general and she's flirting. A weird pairing but hey, there's a good history of evidence for mutual attraction! Of the trio Scorpina was always more flirtatious to Adam than Rocky or Aisha (this also makes him similar to comic!Skull in that a love interest is a long lived alien pretending to be a teenager for ulterior motives. imagine bonding over that extremely specific thing happening to you, yikes).

Scorpina is not banished to the dark dimension, and like Rita and Zedd, becomes good via Z-Wave. She simply takes the form of her human persona, the now young adult exchange student Sabrina. As Sabrina, she decides to see if she can patch anything up with Adam. Adam for his part needs to think about it. It's not that he doesn't trust she's redeemed, it's just so much has happened can he forgive her and accept the version of her genuinely trying to make things right? It takes a year and a half, and in the meantime they do see other people. But, eventually, they get together. They have a kid who's half alien, as Sabrina's species wasn't changed, she is more interested in looking human to help distance herself from her misdeeds, and blend in. For a time, at least, she eventually goes back to her true form when their daughter Luna Park is thirteen and develops her stinger. This is mostly to teach their daughter how to correctly use said stinger and other abilities without hurting herself or loved ones.

Luna Park is nineteen, very fashionable, calculating, and very good at getting her way. She generally doesn't do this maliciously, and works at a youth center, as the fundraiser manager among other things. She's extremely good at getting people to invest their money in good causes and very good at public events. She's a shapeshifter, but not as accomplished as her mom. While she looks like she'd be snotty or full of herself, she takes a lot after Adam and is very considerate and very polite and encouraging. However this doesn't mean she's a pushover, and she's sent more than one person who thought they could rough her or get handsy to the hospital. Rarely uses her stinger, Luna is an accomplished fencer and hand to hand combatant, though prefers kickboxing to martial arts. Think Daphne Blake with a stinger. Luna is not associated with a color

in a tangential au, she's a power ranger mentor and the green ranger for the team, when necessary.

tangential coinless au; Scorpina keeps protecting Adam, affectionately nicknaming him 'my little froggie' (to his concern), and doesn't let him die. However this annoys him because it sometimes mean she doesn't even let him fight. Eventually they produce Luna, and she's raised in the palace, often passed around by the sentries and Kim. Adam's not allowed by Scorpina to partake in anything potentially life threatening while Luna's young, and he gets placed as stay at home dad/personal body guard to own child duty. Eventually, Luna becomes a commander of black sentries, and works fairly well with the coinless. for the most part. Not much is different personality wise except she's more willing to commit murder and injury. Skull adores her too, and helps with the training when she's a kid.

Carlos Vallerte;

Several years after Adam transfers Carlos his Color, and after they team up, and a year after Adam joins SPA, he and Carlos reconnect. They got along well each time they teamed up, and after everything they get the chance to actually be able to get to know each other again properly outside of power ranger stuff. While both are busy with respective lives and careers, they do have joint custody over two kids, Miguel and Gwena. Aisha surrogated for Miguel, Gwena is an adopted alien girl from Inquiris. It's been a challenge to balance their careers with their kids, but they make it work. Generally, they don't live on earth, they currently live on K0-35 when not on duty with their kids.

Miguel is 13, and quite interested in nature, and earth. He's never actually been, because life kept getting in the way, but he wants to eventually. He's been promised he will, and that's nice. He likes ninjas and puzzle books and horror movies. Especially likes vampires, Carlos is just. Accepting this is going to haunt him for the rest of his life. Told Miguel if he wants to become a vampire that's fine but he needs to wait, and find someone who's not on the galaxy's most wanted list. Or working with a warlord or conqueror. the list of suitables is extremely small. Miguel's also thirteen, and he's realizing maybe he just likes the species in general more than the idea of becoming one. Loves vampire and zombie movies best. Not associated with a color.

Gwena is seven and from Inquiris. Any question given to her is answered with a question. Given how much human children do this in general...you can imagine the annoyance. Carlos and Adam quickly learned to phrase the questions as open ended statements for Gwena to respond to with statements of her own. She's very smart for a seven year old, and wants to know all the answers to all the questions, but is happy to question everything for the sake of asking the question. One day wants to go to earth, but also wants to go back to Inquiris again. She's also heard a lot about two infamous women from Inqiuris; Dimitria and Divatox, twins and very proficient in their own rights. At the moment, she flips between pretending to be Dimitria the good mentor, and Divatox, the pirate. She's seven so neither Adam nor Carlos are worried, but they do hope she'll decide Dimitria, who's a friend of theirs, will be a worthy role model, and not Divatox before the Z-Wave. not associated with a color, that anyone knows of. However Inquirians tend to gravitate to white or red color schemes in their clothing so it's hard for her dads to actually tell. Likes fables and magic and playing pirates. Vicseron, a friend of Dimitria from Inquiris, is Gwena's biological father, but was killed. Her mother also died, and Gwena had nobody. Dimitria had reservations about how well she and Divatox could look after a child. She brought the child to the most dependable ranger couples she could think of.

Prince Trey of Triforia;

While Trey crashed in Aquitar and needed help, when they sent him to earth to the other zeo rangers he helped them first, several times. Adam was, like the rest of them, very curious who the mysterious gold was. When they met properly, he had a little bit of a crush. When Jason took gold so Trey could slow down whatever was happening to him (his logos, pathos and ethos had split into three people, thoufh all of them were of the same mind. Triforian thing, apparently. It took a bit to get used to, to say the least.) Adam spent as much time as he could in the command center with Billy and Trey. They talked quite a bit, and Trey got a bit smitten with the curious green ranger.

When Trey was restored and he got zeo gold back, he decided to stick around for a little while to assist the other zeo rangers, and he and Adam began seeing each other. Adam thought it was kind of odd a prince wanted to date him, but he wasn’t against it at all.

They have one daughter. Crown Princess Tara, aged 20. Adam’s a diplomat between earth and Triforia, and Tara lives mainly on Triforia with Trey. She inherited Zeo Gold, and is noble, calm, and carry’s herself regally as she can. She does have her moments though, and feels like she can’t live up to her parents legacy, sometimes. She does try, though. She never stops trying. She’s going to be the best queen. It’s hard for her to believe it, but she’s going to be. Trey’s a great king, and he’s her dad. And Adam’s awesome, and he’s her dad too. And her teammates are awesome too.

Tangential au; Triforian life span might be longer than humans (I’ve got no idea, heellpp) and she’s the gold to the canon grandson of Tommy’s team. She’d be in the equivalent of early 20’s, in the hypothetical longer lifespan idea.

(we needed a green/gold lol. and this works, they did talk a little in canon. not much but I'm taking the opportunity)

Dulcinea;

She thought he was charming and sweet, and every bit a prince if he just had the self confidence to see it, himself. She made a child using magic, some years after the events of the movie. It killed her, but the child is hers and Adam's. He was confused and deeply saddened when he got the kid and the explanation. He loves Garrett, but it's a bit difficult. Garrett is an owl shifter, like his mother. He greatly resembles Adam. Garrett is 16, and doing his best. He's friends with the punks at his school, and has the constant air of wiser beyond his years. Often lives with Rocky or Tommy and Kat or any other dozen of Adam's friends while Adam's working off earth. He's got an odd, very inhuman air around him, even to other half human alien hybrids. There's something about his owl self that bleeds into his human form. He's never felt at home anywhere he's ever been, and he feels like he should go back to the planet his mother's from, guard what's there. He's a bronze ranger, and Adam wonders if this is from Dulcinea.

Unnamed Mother;

Adam made a mistake in highschool and while the girl wanted to keep the baby, her parents didn't think it'd be a good idea. Adam offered to take the baby off her hands, and while his parents disinherited him over it, Nemo grew up with a village for parents. Skull, Bulk, Aisha, Rocky, and Tommy and a few others off and on, all helped him during high school, with Aisha and Rocky stepping in during college, and Skull after, helping with whatever expense Adam needed. Nemo's fourteen, healthy, happy, and thriving despite everything. Adam's doing okay as a single parent, it's been hard but he's doing good. Adam's a tailor and Nemo mentioned wanting to go into this as well, and Adam about teared up he was so proud.

Coinless verse child has been given a happy alternative woo~

-

if I missed any, let me know! I think I covered most of Adam's possibilities ^-^

[sleepysoubrette]

about me

> ᐨ Personal

> 🫀 Name - batz (or odette)

> 💒 Age - 22

> 🔨 Pronouns - she/it

> 💞 Gender - possessed magical girl

> 🧠 Sexuality - enm/poly grey neptunic lesbian

> 🫖 -shit poster, working on my mental illness haver, vaper & weed smoker, good cat parent, i dont believe in cringe culture but its girly pop we're all just just built different yknow. im not afraid to block someone to protect my peace, without warning

ᐨ Other Info

℘ Siblings - @vellex-23 @jessashrr

@stxrwalker

> ᐨ Basics

> 🎟 Likes - comics, 420, sunshine , manga and anime, adorable and goth aesthetics, video games, reading, learning

> 🩰 Dislikes - bigoted people, people ignoring my boundaries, feeling unheard, most social situations

> 🥩 Comforts - poison ivy, nana, my cat, birds of prey, fruits basket, sailor moon, sanrio, psychological horror anime

ᐨ Boundaries

⩩ DMs - ask

⩩ Nicknames - yes

⩩ Flirting - ask

> ᐨ Extras

> 🍨 - my favorite books are perfect (ellen hopkins) the merciless (danielle vega) and the catcher in the rye (jd salinger)

> 🪞 - my favorite movies are the possession, anything dc, alice in wonderland, black swan, the twilight franchise, and perfect blue

> 🔪 - tone is extremely hard for me to understand, please try and use tone tags if you can

> 🫐 - my social battery is not very good, if i don’t respond its not you, my social battery is just dead

> 🪻 - i am obsessed with comic books and always love a good info dump

> 🦢 - i am a multi-fictive and the host of a system if you’re a fake claimer go touch grass and get the fuck off my shit.

> 🎠 - our system name is the oracle system, but as a collective we use the name odette. other accounts are comatosecoquette tiredtemptress fatiguedflirt. we are a monoconsious traumagenic system! because of this we tend to identify as one being. so when talking to us you are not talking to individual alters, but rather all of us at once. we identify as a conversation, and thats why you wont catch us using any proxys! we tend to flip flop back and forth between plural and singular pronouns for us. we are collectively poly as well and taken by our amazing partner (080920) !! do not fake claim us, just block, or you can and we'll block you we really don't care. speaking of not caring, whatever your system origin you're valid!! its almost like being a system is caused by intense dissociation that causes you to forget things (like trauma) to protect you and that trauma is extremely relative or something <3

> 👛 - twitter

[skyartworkzzz]

@auravs YO IDK WTF IS UP WITH TUMBLR BUT IT SOMEHOW DELETED UR ASK SO IM PINGING U TO ANSWER,,,

Heres my replies Ive tried more than 3456789 times sending, hope it didnt spam or smtng and the site was actually trolling me 😭:

OKAY SHIT FIRST OFF THANK U SO MUCH!! Rlly appreciate ur support,,! 😭💜

NOW, My Personal guide for begginer artists:

1. Try to copy arts u find online or even from medias u enjoy! (comics, cartoons and etc)

On each drawing u copy u will notice u have learned smtng new! So from there, try to draw an image by urself without any reference, and once u have an idea of how the artstyle u want works Personally, Id copy many anime images with similar art styles to then try and make pieces of my own!

NOW ITS IMPORTANT TO NOTE: it is not wrong to redraw images for PERSONAL and LEARNING purposes. What Would be wrong of u is to post it around claiming that You were the original creator of the image and not crediting the original one/the artist responsible for it

So as long as u aint stealing anyone's work, ure fine!

2. Use guidelines and shapes when drawing!

They are very important when beggining to understand anatomy! Ofc u dont have to draw All the lines detailed-ish, but at least to an extent in which u can see what is going on

So les say for example u want to draw a human body: u will have to understand that the top of the head is a circle, that the neck has a cone-ish shape, that the chest follows the form of a ribcage and so on It may vary from artist to artist, but if ure struggling to draw smtng specific, try seeing a shape on it to then make ur job easier! The body has to become a literal puzzle to ur eyes

However, I will advise u to plz not let these limit u. Indeed, as a begginer u have to learn how normal anatomy works, but its totally fine to change that depending on what artstyle u choose!

3. CONSISTENCY IS A SCAM!!!!

DO NOT WORRY IF UR ART DOESNT LOOK AS RECOGNIZABLE ON EVERY PIECE, I myself have only learned this recently and seen many other artists getting unmotivated cuz of this, but consistency truly does not exist. Whatever u do with ur art is nothing but ur RANGE. Its all the knowledge u have on it which makes u produce many pieces in different styles, and that is awesome!!

As an artist, u will always be learning smtng new, and what u learn cannot be un….learned (if that word exists IUSDNJKADLS) so its bound to show in ur work

4. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACT-

NEVER STOP DRAWING!!!! Like Ive said beforehand, u are ALWAYS learning smtng new!! Everything u draw is progress!

So no matter how bad u may think the things u do look, just remember that theyre likely looking MUCH better than the thing u drew yesterday

Art takes time to reach a level in which u feel comfortable and proud with how u do it, so its important to be patient and keep on practicing if u rlly want to get better at it!

Since u are a begginer, and if u have the time/motivation, Id suggest doing a doodle here and there to start picking up the habit to draw often. It is much easier to learn and less tedious once ure used to it and, ofc, enjoying it!

HOPE THESE ARE HELPFUL,,,, once again, they are based on my own experience thus far and some things I wish I knew back there………

AS FOR THE AU: ILL ANSWER THAT IN MY NEXT POST CUZ TUMBLR IS BEING A BITCH, amma ping u for my response if u dont mind so heads up,,,

[hollowsorrows]

How was the latest chapter in ymu?

OH BYO OH BOY OH BOY absolutely destroyed me!!!! made me lose my shit for about two whole days!!!! it was BAAAD. and its also THE most game changing thing to happen so far. gonna put what happens under the cut bc spoilers 😁😁

i just finished typing this oopsies i rambled about the entire comic

cw for a lot of things.

SO. lemme set the scene for you. you have 3 main characters: KK, BK and RK.

kk is the main protagonist. he is the 8th generation in a long line of heroes; the KK clan. he is utterly shit at being a hero and hes still so bubbly and silly and honestly kinda childish but i dig it hes aweaome. he also has some traumaaaa!!! bros dad kinda sucked (he was like. WAY too immature to be a father; worth noting that he's the 7th generation kk) and when his father didnt come back home from war his mom went out to figure out what happened to him and kickass. which left kk all alone for like around 10 years maybe more if im being honest. hes not okay <3333

bk, we know JACK SHIT about. hes the demon king/devil, whatever you prefer. he likes animals. he likes carrots. hes straightforward, blunt, and way too trusting and forgiving. but like people are scared of him cuz hes the fucking devil he just hasnt used his magic yet. it will be plot relevant im 99% sure. we know Nothing about his past. we know he was involved in the war against humans and demons when kk was a kid (which kk's dad fought in). and bk was essentially a refugee. he ran to the desert and some shit happens but its quite literally blurry we dont know whay happened. hes VERY overprotective of kk too!! like VERY over protective ykyk. so somethings going on with him.

RK. OH BOY, RK. rk is like severely fucking insane like genuinely he has so many fucking problems. he is surprisingly the one we know the most about considering how much of a mystery he was in the older chapters. he calls himself the alien and doesnt reveal his name. he flies. he has a box on his head all the time. he has a dead ghost girl hallucination thingy that he talks to ghat nobody else sees. he has a gun. hes amazing. dude has canonically committed quite a few attrocities like man. his first on screen murder was fucking BRUUUTAL. "see you in hell." GOD he makes me insane. anyways his past is SUPER fucked up; born with magic unlike anything his family has ever seen before, the king (his adoptive father) exploits it and uses it to kill captured demons. he also had this whole thing where he found kk's mom in jail, kept a photo of her and kk, and helped her escape which did end up killing her. and he forgot that. anyways dude has some fucked up shit happening and is severely gone in the head

worth mentioning that in season 2 the three find the one eyed village which is keeping a princess there. princess violet. ill talk about her a bit more later in the post. the one eyeds get fucking evaporated by a group of demons that are specifically out to get bk, and only a golden tree remains of the village. rk knows about this. kk doesnt know ANYTHING

so. this expansive lore stuff is revealed like throughout the comic in pieces. and it starts out funny and sillt and like slice of life comedy but it gets fucked up around season 3 where kk gets his sword fixed and it becomes alive. he then basically dies and goes to this world where he is fucking god. and his sword is there. and its imbued with the soul of this random ass guy qho we call the musician. and its fucky wucky. the guy who fixed the sword also had a buncha kids hidden behidn a wall and rk takes them each to their hometowns via magic portals whatever. this is also where we see rk fucking shoot said guy and go actually insane for like 15 minutes. ill show screenshots cuz what the fuck man. then season 4 where princess violet, a character from another kingdom whos sister (named princess L) killed herself during a fire in the kingdom (said sister is also rk's brother's fiancé no this is not confusing), goes through what is essentially a demon realm where she has to adhere to the rules of a demon her sister kept and find out which of her 6 sisters killed princess L. in the end its revealed that it was a suicide which is lovely :)

season 4.5 goes more into rk's past and rk's brother, rj. like. rj is the king of the kingdom, since rk's adoptive father passed away. hes a really cool guy but is DEFINITELY either marked by or an avatar of the lonely iykwim. he has like no loved ones around him he is alone man. he was also princess L's fiancé! i love him. anyways rk and rj reunite but then rk kinda hates the r kingdom so he leaves and also finally reveals to kk hes actually insane so :)

season 5 has like this tower which will be relevant i think cuz there was a teaser of kk's teacher entering it the end of season 6 season 1 and being shrowded by darkness. its not sinister at all trust me :). i dont remember this one well but it had to do with the best side character ever angel do i love you do

season 6 season 1. huge lore dump on rk's part. kk bk and rk find this tower that is stopped in time. two wizards live inside: oz, the moon wizard, and of, the sun wizard. they control the moon and the sun. they also are prophets, disciples of the first kk, and know a lot about what they shouldnt! including rk's forgotten past :) they task the gang to go to this portal and defeat the demon paimon lest it unleash chaos into this world. and they do!

along the way kk finds out about the one eyeds. he loses trust in bk, and rk has to give him a pep talk and it genuine is kinda sound actually the only w rk ever had

and they find the portal. they enter the realm. the demon there is named paimon, and is a fucjing bitch and was foreshadowed ALL THE COMIC. and are tasked with going through each a designated room. each room has a shit ton of clones of the characters. only the real one can go through the door at the end. kk goes through just fine, although he had a bit of conflict. bk made it through bc ofc its bk. and rk. oh. rk. his room is empty with scortch marks on the ground. and theres fog. its implied that he killed all of the rk's before proceeding. he goes through the door. as it turns out, the real rk already made it past the door, scratched up, from whay it seems. and what does the fake rk do??? he shoots the real one. in the heart. the real rk dies. just like fucjing that.

did i mention that rk cannot die?? hes tried killing himself. a lot. but each time he regens. the only places he hasnt tried are the heart and the head. so the fact that he was killed via the heart. ugh its so good its amazing from an analytical perspective i ranted about this before but its genuirnly amazing. the character thay is established as being hard to kill. killed at his own hands. it was his own hubris that failed him. raintime you bastard you are a fucjing genius how did you write such an amazing comic

oopsies that was not meant to be the entire comic :) also i need to mention that these guys look like this

blue haired ones kk, black haired ones bk, blonde bitch is rk

[nat-alianovnaromanova]

this poem reminded me of bucky barnes (i just got into marvel comics like a few months ago lmao). particularly wrt nat. and of course the dog coding of both of them is very interesting to me also. dog as in a tool dog as in a loyal servant dog as in devoid of identity except for their place as a cog in the machine. what do you think?

ohhhhh i love u for this. hm yes obviously this is more bucky than nat but sidebar it has echos of younger nat in the red room/when she first starts out as black widow. i dont think she is as pathetically beaten down as ws bucky bc she’s never had her autonomy & personhood completely stripped away like him so she is not a tool like he is. like yes she’s had her memories altered and tampered with but essentially she could always think for herself and so she could always pick up and go. but when she was younger not really she just wanted to be a good little spy, ergo the dog, until she escapes the kgb and becomes the fugitive dog never to be chained again. however

the winter soldier is literally a nameless dog on a leash. they kick him when he whines. he sits and waits and speaks when he is spoken to and rolls over when he is told to. and it is all insanely brutal and violent but it is all he knows so he thinks ah well this is how the world works!!!! i am either going to be thoroughly violated or completely ignored!!! and so i must be Good and Obedient. good cog in machine. good soldier. and again its literally all he knows. and when i say knows i mean … idk how to explain it but essentially he’s cognitively impaired as the soldier: brainwashing + drugs + cryostasis have obviously done a number on him! and when he’s only let out for hours at a time before being shut back in—which means he can barely begin to comprehend his surroundings let alone figure out a way to approach them—he behaves very mechanically. very doglike in that he obeys cues (ie sit shake roll etc). so over time he is conditioned to only behave in the ways his superiors like (follow this man. kill this woman. mission report. stand over there and don’t speak. or actually no come here us have fun with the good little soldier) bc it gets him the desired reaction: no reaction! to him no reaction = he’s been good and loyal. so bucky is chained. no control whatsoever. and it's learned behavior. when nat happens he's very ill-equipped to deal with her bc she wants him to speak and she doesn't give a shit about his being good and loyal. which is ironic because she is the only time bucky ever WANTS to be good and loyal to another person!! so here he needs to learn different behavioral patterns to earn the 'no reaction' which in nat's case IS reaction. sorry i feel like im explaining this wrong + ive veered off the dog topic. going back to that - the last part of the poem about the dog learning to love is VERY bucky during and after his time as the winter soldier. because he is essentially learning love from nat he thinks love is like. a smile. and he has no idea how to get it so he whatever he tries that works is the thing he relies on - and he does it again again again in the hopes that it will earn him love. he's like when you feed a stray once bc you felt bad and he keeps coming back even though you try to kick him away. so with the black widow he's like. when a dog brings you a dead bird and expects to be praised for it bc he knows no better. and anyway character thesis for the winter soldier is that he's treated more like an animal than a person. he is an attack god foaming at the mouth. someones sharpened his teeth for him but all the biting and snapping is his own. no one gives a shit about his identity or his wellbeing beyond serving his purpose which is to be a good loyal soldier. ergo dog. during recovery bucky becomes soooo pathetic about wanting to be good and loyal. essentially he curls up at the foot of nat/steves bed and waits for one of them to pet him. but also he pretends he doesn't want to be pet so that neither of them can see the extent to which he is desperate for it.

ALSO obviously there is love as biting. like digging into the flesh is an act of affection. where the black widow and the winter soldier think that love is like. hey i killed someone for u! here's the severed head :) circling back to the dog with the bird in its maw. circling back to trying to learn kindness and coming back for the hope of it even after they've been let down (by one another or the red room/hydra or wtv). they get one (1) mildly affectionate gesture and it drives them crazy forever.

anyway in conclusion bucky and nat are specifically dog coded in different ways. nat is more rabid. she is the kind of dog who bites first and back. she bites for fun! (otherwise she risks being bit and she is much too wary to let that happen.) bucky only bites back and that is out of fear. they are both always scared & poised to attack. bucky only knows to wait for scraps. nat digs in the trash for her own. bucky and the winter soldier are also dog coded in different ways. bucky is more of the pathetic one sitting in the foyer while the ws is the one who barks and bites and gives u rabies until one good kick turns him into a curled up whiny puppy. hope this helps!