#you’re not boycotting this entire list

[transmasc-tfw]

Listen I get it you want to feel high and mighty in your bedroom telling us to boycott Eurovision. But do you actually boycott anything year round?

Do you boycott everything on all of these lists or are you still booking holidays and order McDonald’s and using Google to search on your Dell or HP computer to search for things on Amazon you’re buying. Are you still watching the latest Disney or Marvel film? Yes? Then telling us to boycott 6 hours of tv is going to do nothing because you’re performative wanting nothing more than to have an excuse to shit on other people and feel high and mighty.

[hanggarae]

WAYS WE CAN HELP PALESTINE:

as of 9am today, 8131 palestinians were killed, 20438 are injured and 1.4 million have been displaced. it’s important for all of us to help palestine in as many ways as we can.

i also cannot stress how much just spreading awareness in general can help. staying silent because of your discomfort is not an excuse to sit by while a genocide takes place. when we learn about these events in history we often think “how was this allowed to happen?” but that’s exactly what’s happening now and it’s our responsibility to not sit by and let an entire country be wiped out. i will continue adding more ways to help to this post and i’d really appreciate it if anyone can spread this as much as possible.

it’s important to get educated on everything going on in palestine right now, here are some sources that could help!

decolonize palestine - made by two palestinians, answers a lot of questions regarding everything right now (including debunking a lot of myths from biased news stations) and provides a lot of historical context.

list of documentaries to watch if you want to gain further knowledge

list of accounts to follow on twitter that can also provide information

linktree with information

you can also donate to organisations! even if you can’t donate tons of money, you can help by spreading these links so others can also try to donate!

red crescent

PCRF

MAP

doctors w/o borders

palestinian social fund

palestinian in pain launch good

this website is free and uses ad revenue for donations, all you need to do is click it once daily!

some more places you can donate to and some more

boycotting will also help!! also some of the kpop idols we stan have brand deals with ones that support 🇮🇱 so please let’s not interact with their posts with those brands

list from BDS of companies to boycott

signing petitions!

write to representatives and demand they retract their support of 🇮🇱

ways to contact local governments about helping palestine

if you’re in the uk here’s a link to contact your local MP

change org ceasefire petition

Text "CEASEFIRE" to 51905 if you live in America. The link provided leads you to a page to sign and call for a ceasefire once the goal is met. They are so close to meeting its goal!!

here's a link that lets you send a letter directly to your state representatives

here are some threads that will also give you ways to help.

thread of things we can do to help palestine

HOW TO HELP PALESTINE!! resources and links to other threads on how to donate and spread awareness of what's happening in palestine currently!!! a thread 🧵

here’s what we know, and links to donate to help aid palestinians, a thread:

Here is a list of list of resources and people you can follow to educate yourself on what’s going on in Palestine RIGHT NOW🇵🇸

Ways US, Canada, and UK residents can reach out to their state representatives and MPs to call for ceasefire in Gaza:

if there are any more sources that you would like me to add pls send me an ask or dm me !!

[neon-vocalist]

hey, doki fans? niji haters? you all do realise that finding a reason to hate EVERY niji liver, sorting them into categories like “snake” and “backstabber” and “bully,” is just as bad as that doki fan hit list, right? you know there are real people behind the avatars, right? you know people are nuanced and it’s impossible to expect people to be entirely good and never do anything wrong, right? you know people make mistakes under pressure? that people make mistakes in general? that attacking the livers is going to do nothing but make niji management’s mistreatment worse and do nothing to actually hurt the company? that the flying allegations are mostly false? that all you’re doing is making this worse?

you know being a doki fan doesn’t give you an excuse to hurt people? you know being on the “good side” doesn’t make it impossible for you to do any wrong? you know both sides have fucked up and lost sight of the original purpose of supporting doki & boycotting niji?

you know how to tell when things have been taken too far, right?

NOTE: op is a doki fan & niji hater. you can tell by the pfp and multiple previous posts made on this matter. fuck kurosanji, doki forever.

[nayeonline]

My Top 15 K-Pop Songs of 2023

I genuinely don't know how, but somehow we have made it to December 10 2023, exactly 1 year after my top songs of 2022 post which I've decided to make a permanent thing on this blog. This year I was a lot more organized with formulating this list - I created a spotify playlist in January, and any kpop songs I cared about this year I added to it in chronological order. This list includes songs released between 2022/12/10 and 2023/12/10, and is entirely based on my personal opinion - feel free to let me know ur top songs of the year in the comments and rbs <33

(15) BYOB (bring your own best friend) (English Ver.) - Billlie

I just know some eyebrows are being raised but HEAR ME OUT, this song just speaks to me. It’s not a club banger, it's not an anthemic stadium hit, but it is something for the girlies, and I love it.

(14) Girls' Capitalism - TripleS LOVElution

What a hilarious concept for a song, TripleS is too good. Is this song literally just ‘Generation’ the sequel? Yes! I don’t care!! It’s really good!!!

(13) Standing Next To You - Jungkook (BTS)

Now I’m not an army, and none of Jungkook’s previous singles really spoke to me, they were catchy of course but not for me. This song, on the other hand, is artistry. His passion for what he does is so obvious in this song, I am severely impressed.

(12) Spicy - aespa

Aespa just KNOWS how to do a concept. So many other groups would feel stagnant with the futuristic concept, but aespa keep reinventing themselves perfectly while retaining a sound that is so distinctly them. Spicy is peak girl pop; Ningning you outdid yourself on this one.

(11) Drama - aespa

Can aespa release a bad title track??? Drama would probably be higher if it came out earlier, but based on the month I’ve been listening to it, this is an absolute punch up for aespa. Our stint in the real world was fun and all, but we’re in kwangya again and it feels fucking good. Aespa, keep doing what you’re doing, and I’ll keep streaming.

(10) Fast Forward - JEON SOMI

People didn’t like this song this year, but I fucking loved it and this is my list. As a UK resident and 80s music enjoyer, this spoke to me on a molecular level. I know it's trashy, I know it's been done before, I don't care. Fast Forward is amazing.

(9)  In Bloom - ZEROBASEONE

Category is: Boy Group Kpop (but it's actually good). Pure excellence, this is how to sample a classic song, this is how to debut, this is how to break the mold of boy groups and do it with actually good music (cough cough boynextdoor cough cough). Imagine if they kept this energy for their first comeback. Imagine lol

(8) Cherry Talk - TripleS +(KR)ystal Eyes

People (including tripleS stans) loooveee to shit on this song but it’s literally their best song since Generation, and I will stand by that. This is extremely LOONA coded, if you don’t like it, that must suck for you. BOOM CHERRY TALK CHERRY CHERRY TALK.

(7) Cool With You - NewJeans

They’re literally too good. I have no words.

(6) ETA - NewJeans

NewJeans said this year that being consistent hitmakers is easy actually, this song is fucking excellent. Controversially, I love the production, it's so funky and subversive. I got this song from day dot, if you get it you get it, if you don’t you don’t, and if you don’t I feel sorry for you xx

(5) Attitude - fromis_9

This is fromis_9’s second time showing up very high on my yearly roundups, I’m thinking I need to pay more attention to them. This song is the shit I live for in kpop, its SO HIGH QUALITY. Not a second wasted in this song, just pure goodness throughout. Fromis’s ability to be so extremely on trend never ceases to amaze me. This song is really fucking good, and the whole album is too good as well. Fromis_9, you have my attention. (that actually wasn’t on purpose lol)

(4) Air Force One - ODD EYE CIRCLE

Utter euphoria. That’s what this song feels like. LOONA had a rough 2022, and orbits were feeling it. We were boycotting and fighting for the girls to be free of that fucking company, and when we won, we were happy of course, but mostly exhausted. Then Odd Eye Circle dropped ‘Air Force One’. This song feels like a second wind, it builds up and up from the first second, tension rising, exhaustion fading and then ‘ready set and GO’ and its ANTHEMIC. You can exhale now, the work is done, LOONA is fucking back.

(3) OMG - NewJeans

Oh look, more NewJeans. The audacity to release one of the best songs of the year on January 2nd is crazy. ‘OMG’ is so effortlessly catchy, it’s ridiculous. It’s full to the brim of hooks and creative melodies, this is pop music at its best. It’s serotonin in a song, and the ability and self assurance of the members in their skills is palpable, and oozes from the seams of the track. In a somewhat forgettable year of Kpop, NewJeans were constantly reinventing and redefining what a hit is, and OMG is the physical form of that. Congratulations NewJeans, nobody is doing it like you.

(2) Sugarcoat (NATTY Solo) - KISS OF LIFE

I am being deadly serious when I say this song altered something in my brain. I struggle to comprehend how much I love this song, and I’m struggling even more to express that in words. I found Kiss of Love’s other debut songs to be quite fun, but this song eclipses anything they have ever and will ever release. Natty is such a powerhouse, I am in awe of her skill. If you haven’t heard this song, which is upsettingly likely as while this song had a moment on TikTok earlier this year, it was still a quite niche trend that didn’t last long, PLEASE go and listen, this was the best song released in 2023. But, this list doesn’t just include 2023. It also includes that tiny window after December 10 when literally no one releases music. No one except…

(1) Ditto - NewJeans

Ditto is one of those songs where you listen to it for the first time and you’re left a little bit speechless at the end. I don’t think I’m ever going to forget this song, or how it makes me feel. Ditto has changed the kpop industry forever, and it will go down in history as a defining moment of the genre. It’s melancholic and nostalgic and heartfelt, it's laughing through your tears, it’s hugging your best friend before you go your separate paths in life. I still get a little tug on my heart whenever Hyein’s beautiful intro vocals come in, and I think I always will. NewJeans, you’ve released a lot of amazing music this year, but thank you especially for this one, I’ll love it forever.

[inkydreamzart]

why do you make art?  is what you make honest and true to your beliefs and values?  does your art center, or distract?  These are a few questions I’m thinking on after attending an artist teach-in for Pal3stin3 yesterday.  

I’ve been sitting with current events and processing a lot lately.  We are out here watching whole human beings being mass bombed and murdered every day, because the powers that be are fine with sacrificing entire family lines and destroying history and cultures for oil and land.  It’s soul-crushing.  The islamaphobia, orientalism, and casual anti-asian hate I’m seeing people in my life share on social media, is also soul-crushing.  as william faulkner once said, and as all my professors have always said, the past is never really past.  

when i see all this, i feel consumed by horror, and disgust, and anger. when i see our government continue to murder Indigenous people like it always has, it’s still jarring witnessing what has always happened, happen again.  Hearing my partner’s refugee family stories, and watching more people become refugees, is terrible.  I don’t understand why Pal3stinians need to do so much to prove their worth and humanity to others, and am equally freaked out how videos of their struggles are not enough for some to care.  But watching the homies continue to make art, share stories, share information, and build community through protests + teach ins, reminds me that people have always been fighting oppression, and always will– the past of our resistance continues to the now. I make what I make because it’s useless to just sit with my feelings and the facts, and take them nowhere.  I would also rather die than make dishonest work.  I hope that if I keep writing and posting about this, that you dear friends, will consider how much power your individual and group actions can have towards creating a world we can all live in.  Your feelings right now are important– they’re motivation to do something.  It’s a privilege that we’re able to sit with them.  If you’re unsure of what to do and are feeling overwhelmed, don’t worry–  I’ve got a list of things you can do right here.  

1) you can learn more!  If you don’t feel well informed enough to be sure that your actions match your intentions, you can check out @palestinianfeministcollective, or @bayareapym to sign up for a teach-in session with organizers and academics. You can also check out the readings & educational resources they have linked in their bios.  Ethnic studies and Feminist studies scholars from around the world have a lot of great stuff to say on these pages.

2) you can attend protests, and share info on protests!  @JVPLA is the LA branch of Jewish Voice for Peace, a great org that has been leading huge c3as3fir3 protests all around the world.  @bayareapym is also another great page to check out for protest information and political education.  If you are located near a school or university, you can also check out its branch of SJP (for example, @ucsbSJP), or students for justice in pal3stin3.  JVP, SJP, and PYM all have local branches all over the place, so see if your town or city has a branch you can get together with!  USCPR is also a great org that’s working to end US military support to 1sra3l.  Our elected officials are ignoring us when we ask politely for them to stop murdering, so going out and protesting will help make sure they hear us and actually represent our values and beliefs.  

3) if you don’t have money or time, there is also the power of boycotting!  Never underestimate the power of a “no”.  Check out the next slide to see how boycotts work to help defund the war machine, and save lives. Art credit for slide 2 goes to Mona Challabi.  Withholding your time and money from corporations that are willing to sacrifice people’s lives for resources will teach them through boycotts, that people are not down for mass murder for the sake of material wealth.  I definitely don’t want my tax or spending money going towards killing random people. if I can help it, I will make sure my money goes somewhere it will do good.

4) email or call your elected officials to tell them directly that the people want an immediate c3as3fir3!  Check out @woketeachers for info on what numbers to call, and some scripts if you need help figuring out how to voice your demands.  You can even use those phone scripts as a template for emailing your elected officials– I like to use it as a little outline before expanding it into a longer message.

Anyways, there are four powerful ways to take action instead of stewing directionless in feelings.  Please do something– your voice matters.

(photo credit from @/eye.on.palestine of a father saying goodbye to his child who was murdered by the occupation)

[ketchupchipsaregross]

important reminder that if you can’t protest, truly cannot protest, physically, emotionally, whatever, you can boycott. You can call your reps. You can support student encampments at universities. You can post, talk about it, educate yourself, and so much. check the bds list for your country, and boycott. Even if you don’t think they work (they do) you shouldn’t be okay with your money funding a genocide. and as a rule of thumb, local is always a safe bet. especially if you’re a big reader find those local bookstores, because they charge the same as major corporations. If you can’t boycott every thing, boycott the big three. Macdonals, Starbucks, and Disney.

block celebrities and brands on social media that have either been silent on palestine or actively support isnotreal. Follow palestinian journalists instead. Bisan, Plestia, Lama, Motaz, they are reporting on the destruction of their lives in ENGLISH so that we can learn. student encampments at universities near you likely have supply lists and fundraisers for palestine. keep an eye on their instagrams if they have them because they’ll put out requests for more people when police presence is high. my university used brute force to disperse peaceful protestors at 4 IN THE FUCKING MORNING.

and most importantly: remember that it isn’t just palestine. It’s congo, sudan, haiti, and so many other Indigenous people who continue to suffer under colonialism. If that feels overwhelming remind yourself that you are pulling on a thread to dismantle an entire system, especially with boycotting.

if you still don’t care about Palestine, i’ll ask you this: why are you the side of the people who throw up n*zi salutes at pro-palestine protestors? Silence is the tool of the oppressor, staying “neutral” is picking the colonizers side

[a-polite-melody]

Y’know…

I’ve been thinking about this since that “purging problematic books from my bookshelf” TikTok screenshot going around…

But uh. The mentality that you should fully reject any and everything that has been put onto lists of “problematic media”, and that you should never consume anything problematic, and that this is what “being critical of media” is, is actually kinda dangerous.

I mean. Boycotting the works of currently alive and active bigots is one thing. But like.

Consuming something you know to be problematic can be done critically. I think it’s actually an important skill to develop—a critical eye for how bigotry and harmful rhetoric can creep into media. Because not every piece of “problematic media” is going to be on a list that you’ve seen.

And what then?

Without having learned what to look for, and without practicing having done it, will you really be able to catch veiled bigotry and harmful rhetoric?

Becoming entirely reliant on other people to tell you when something is bad is not a good way to protect yourself, and the heavy moralizing of any consumption of “problematic media” can (and will) backfire. Because you will, one day, end up only finding out about the problems with certain media after you’ve already finished it—regardless of if you’ve actually been critically reading things as a point of reference for what to look for, it will just be likely to happen less frequently then—and your worldview will tell you to hate yourself for it, which only harms the learning process for being able to be critical of media you’re consuming.

[sam-moss]

Just saw a mutual on Twitter selling what looks like their entire SKZ photocard collection. So many complete sets. One might think “We evolve and change, it happens” but I feel like I watched the joy they found in SKZ be ripped from them in real time, so seeing this final chapter was absolutely heartbreaking.

(warning: long half-vent half-story)

It has been WAR over there for Stayville. There was a single released that was produced by zionists (with a debatable amount of SKZ creative involvement) which caused a movement of Stays boycotting the song. This decision tore the fandom in HALF. You’d think that everyone would be on the same page, right? It’s not like this is the first time we’ve boycotted a song with zionist ties! But later it was realized that this was different for too many reasons to list here. Basically some people thought that if you promoted boycotting the song you were calling all of the members of SKZ zionists, you were virtue-signaling for attention, and you were never a fan, you’ve hated SKZ the whole time and you’ve just been waiting for the chance to jump on them and ruin their reputation. And this is all in the heat of the college campus protests were happening.

And then things got PERSONAL. An account said that boycotters should black ocean if SKZ ever performs the song (I’ll shorten to LMB). Another account saw that and said “I’m going to knock out anyone who doesn’t have their lightstick up during LMB” and a big account replied in support. Boycotters said to block and report the accounts. That big (antiboycott) account did NOT like that and said that boycotters were worse. Started getting REAL personal about those account. Flooded a ton of boycotter accounts, big and small, with hate. Every day it was getting worse, accusations and threads thrown everywhere.

One account of the accounts affected was my mutual. Their account was pretty big, big enough for me to be surprised and excited when they followed me back. But they would like my posts, and we DM’d sometimes but not enough to get really close.

This fanwar affected for her mental health in such an extreme way that it affected their real life. They were in such a low place. Then I found out they deactivated. That was devastating, but you hope it’s for the better. Then I found out that another account (much closer to them than me) received a text from a stranger that they were in the hospital.

After a few days that account said wouldn’t update further on the other’s condition.

Yesterday, my mutual reactivated their account and came back with words of hope. So many people showed love and support while they were gone and the same outpouring occurred at their return. It feels like it’s been forever since this all started but it might’ve been a just a month or two that this whole situation has gone down.

Today they posted what looks like their entire SKZ photocard collection up for sale.

The heartbreak hidden the context absolutely knocked me down. I can feel it thru the screen. I hope this decision is what is best for them. I can’t imagine what they’ve been thru since they’ve been gone, but I hope they’re able to move forward.

It’s so ridiculous that so many are willing to be so cruel over a dumb little song produced by zionists. Moral of the story, touch grass. Evil is over-represented in online spaces. Not only that, but don’t be the evil. Be kind. Not because the other person may be going thru a lot, be kind because that’s how you’re supposed treat people.

[argumentativeartisan]

Hi welcome to me complaining into the ether again

So I’m gonna start this by saying anything i mention about anyone in this is alleged until proven in a court of law and all of this is my own opinion. Do I realistically need to be worried about big bad gaming companies coming for me, a literal nobody? No, am I gonna cover my ass anyway? Yes. 

If you're boycotting Hogwarts a legacy because of JKR being a) transphobic, b) racist/ antisemitic or c) any other probably vial reason to dislike her, that. fine. But if you’re willing to let literally the metric fuck ton of other equally bad or even worse people/companies slide on by, I can’t get behind you. and it feels a little misogynistic to hold a woman accountable but not the scores of men doing it too. But it’s not necessarily misogynistic to be fair. 

Lets be clear, I don’t like Rowling, not anymore. I do  still like Harry works and I think it’s entirely valid to like things from problematic people. You can like Kanye’s music and still recognize that he’s a dickhead yatzi, you can like Hp and recognize JK is a transphobe. 

That all being said, Hogwarts Legacy doesn’t deserve what it’s getting. Firstly, you aren’t giving Rowling money, not really, they probably licensed the rights to make a game with her IP and paid her then. Or because WB owns the rights to the movies, they just did it and gave her a cut/ offered royalties. And even if she does get some of the money, as far as bigots go, she’s the least harmful, she gives most of her money away to domestic abuse charities, she literally lost her billionaire status from donating so much. So, not a good person, but the money found it’s way to a good cause at least.

Secondly, I 100% see the issue with the whole goblin rebellion thing and how they are fantasy Jews in a lot of media, but lets not pretend that’s a Rowling issue, it’s something the fantasy media community needs to address as a whole. Because it is very common to purposely or accidentally create pseudo Jewish characters in fantasy. Tolkien did it too, the dwarves were a Jewish stereotype. It’s an issue and we need to fix it, but it’s not a Rowling-invented issue. Even after all that you still hate the game because of the IP creator, that’s all fine and good, but for one I hope you aren’t one of those absolute troglodytes bullying streamers because they played a fucking game and for two you better  be giving the same energy to Activision Blizzard, Microsoft, Ubisoft, Konami and more, because guess what besties? They’re fucking up peoples lives! A lot more than Rowling’s twitter rants, that’s for sure! 

Between brutal crunch to make the next shitty live service made to get you addicted and drain your wallet, the abhorrent sexual assault allegations and firing hundreds of people while the upper management rolls around in money pools, they’re absolutely screwing us, their workers and eventually themselves, If your mad about about Hogwarts Legacy but you don’t give a damn about the list of offenses that other companies are currently commuting or already got away with, I don’t wanna here it. You don’t get to stand up on a high horse and pretend you’re better than everyone for dogging on an internet bigot while giving your money to literal sex offenders and thieves 

[middle-earth-mythopoeia]

Hey I have a question. I want to see Amazon burn and to do anything in my power to hasten that end.

Would dropping negative reviews of RoP help at all? Or will that just make them think I’ve watched the show and add that to the count? I know they were deleting negative reviews off IMBD but idk if spamming stuff like that would help

If you’re not sure could you tag some blogs you think would be able to answer?

Tysm!!

Hi, thanks for the ask!

Leaving negative reviews is certainly what Amazon deserves. But yeah, like you said, they’re probably counting numbers of views, and they’re also just deleting any negative reviews they receive because they’re cowards. We’re probably not going to win the battle over reviews, as much as I hate to say it. Amazon’s too afraid of admitting how unpopular their show is.

In terms of how to hasten Amazon’s demise: it’s hard to know how to end Amazon, but there are always small things you can do, and if enough of us do them, it will make a difference.

Boycott Amazon entirely

Boycotting Amazon is a good first step, but it’s also great to encourage other people in your life to find alternatives to Amazon as well. If you search online for “alternatives to Amazon” you can come up with a lot of good options. I think many people who have become dependent on Amazon don’t know what else is out there. I’ve found that by having that information on hand I’ve been able to recommend alternatives that people didn’t know about.

Spread the word

I also think it’s good to spread the word about Amazon’s unethical practices among people you know. For instance, my mom reads the news a lot and is very well-informed, but she hadn’t heard about the recent Amazon worker deaths and the OSHA investigation into them. When I told her about it, she was shocked that this wasn’t bigger news. I think it’s really important to spread the word about these things because not everyone hears about them in the midst of their busy lives, and I wouldn’t underestimate the power of these stories to change people’s minds about using Amazon.

Here is an extensive list that I have compiled of many of Amazon’s crimes and abuses.

Support anti-Amazon legislation

Another thing you can do is call your representatives to support legislation that hurts Amazon, like this bill that already passed that Amazon was opposed to. It doesn’t do enough to reign in Amazon, but it’s something. And it’s good to support calls like this one to investigate Amazon’s unethical labor practices. I live in the United States, so my examples are from here, but I’m sure there are legislative efforts in other countries as well. I would recommend calling for this kind of legislation, too, if it doesn’t already exist where you live. In general, legislation can help fight Amazon if it supports union activities, protects workers’ rights, demands a livable wage, and forces the wealthy to pay their taxes.

And I think all these things fit together, too. If, for instance, enough outrage builds against Amazon for its unethical labor practices, that can help drum up support for legislation to hold Amazon accountable. But that means people need to be aware of it, and talking about it. One of the most insidious aspects of Amazon is how it’s become a “normal” part of so many people’s everyday lives. It shouldn’t be. We have to un-normalize it. Fight Amazon wherever and whenever possible. 

Anyone who wants to add onto this post with ways to stand up to Amazon, please do.

I leave you with some wisdom from Gandalf:

“It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.”

[vanquishedvaliant]

So there’s this trend I’m seeing on social media about people boycotting / encouraging people not to buy the upcoming Mass Effect remasters.

The reasonings being somewhat varied, some valid, others not, but mostly centering around one thing in specific; cut content relating to same sex relationships that didn’t make it into the games.

Now, I understand not being interested in the product being offered; I’m probably not going to buy it myself for a lack of specific features like multiplayer and... just not needing the buy the game for my fifth or sixth time. It’s completely valid to think the remasters are just not doing enough for you to justify a purchase, or that their faith in the company doing it properly in their current state isn’t there. I get that.

But the mood that’s come up lately isn’t just disinterest; it’s downright outrage. Violent, ideologically charged opposition to even the concept of the remasters because of a perceived failure to meet their extremely specific and often high standards and notions of progressiveness.

Now it’s not exactly news that Bioware has had a rocky relationship with inclusivity over the years, with queer characters flitting in and out of recognition and prominence, appropriation of queer archetypes, and less than stellar execution of what characters they do include. I’ve had my complaints with these myself from time to time, though it’s still always struck me historically as a generally positive, if clumsy attempt at progress that I appreciated despite the flaws; remember that the original Mass Effect 1 came out in 2007, and was the focus of a major media scandal about even including romantic relationships at all in the game, nevermind same sex ones. That’s 14 years ago! The most recent game in the series is 9 years old!

We can talk about the social standards of the times and the progress we’ve made, and we can also talk about the merits of restoring and improving media as it was, or recreating it to more closely reflect the values of today and which or both of them is a worthwhile pursuit, but I don’t think that’s what’s being sincerely argued here.

What we see instead is some protestation that failure to make the exacting changes that they see fit according to their personal ideology is some kind of radically regressive statement, as if it’s a conscious, malicious decision and not either one made in good faith or not at all. This movement has collectively decided that the remaster needs to contain exactly the changes that fit their fleeting whims or the entire thing’s at best a wash and a wasted effort, and in some cases a ‘homophobic’ statement of hatred, or cynically callous laziness. 

Let’s remember; the focus of this argument is the presence of available simulated dating options in a 14 year old game. The arguments posits that some of these alternative options are ones that were cut from the release of the games, notably the first one, and have some or numerous assets that exist in various forms within the game files that with some work can be accessed in the game with user-made modifications. Some of this is true; though much of it is exaggerated or misconstrued in terms of its scope or viability.

Many of these people just assume that this cut content that someone else has restored in a mod somewhere is just some sort of simple toggle done in moments without effort, ignoring the work those modders did on their own time and money to introduce those features. 

Even if we just hand wave any standards of quality or continuity or polish and integration these mods have, you have to consider the dozens to hundreds of volunteer man hours of labor these fans put into many of those mods to make them viable that a company paying it’s employees a fair wage and time to do without overworking has to budget. Which I should mind to you is something also incredibly topically relevant in game dev these days. Adding new content costs money. Restoring old content, still costs money.

Even then, the viability of many of those original assets is at question in itself; the 'ingredients’ used to create the content are not equivalent to the ‘cooked’ content found in the game files, so some of them are difficult to work with or lacking in features or quality. Hell, we know for a fact that half of the god damn development data for ME1 is just fucking gone, which is why the DLC isn’t making an appearance in the remaster at all; it just doesn’t exist anymore and would need to be remade from utter scratch.

Now there’s a dozen reasons undertakings like these would or wouldn’t make their list of priorities for remaster given the other work they are doing re; texture and model uprezzing, gameplay updates, etc. It’s not exactly strange for them to recreate the game largely as it was with a more limited scope of changes. Perhaps the decision was made to preserve some parts of the game largely as it was; with mostly minor cosmetic changes to things like Miranda’s camera angles; things that don’t have much overhead or ripple effect. Perhaps restoring the content was considered, but didn’t make the cut- maybe for the same reasons it didn’t make it into the game in 2007. Maybe for different ones.

Only the people involved know.

Now, would I like to see some of that content restored and improved? Sure! I think it’d have been a great thing if they’d promoted the series as having new or restored content; if they’d promised us such things. But they haven’t, and while it’s one thing to praise taking an initiative like that if they had, I think it’s completely unreasonable to be outraged that they didn’t.

We can celebrate that kind of outstanding and excellent steps forward in inclusivity, but we have to understand that while someone not being ahead of the curve may not be exciting or even disappointing; it is not in itself an act of directed aggression. And treating it like one is a waste of time and energy that we can direct to protesting actual aggression, or celebrating those outstanding steps.

But here’s the major thing that kills me; all those mods they love and praise aren’t going anywhere.

The remaster will come out and unless Bioware is so completely tone deaf and media blind from the past year they pull a WC3, the old versions of the game will all still be available. All those user made mods they cite in these arguments about “how easy” it is to add content to the game will still be there, ready to play as they always were. Some of them might even work or be easily made to work with the new versions!

All of that will still be there! And we’ll have access to a new version of the trilogy that is far more accessible to new players who haven’t yet been exposed to so much of the games content that they are desperate for more of it.

Just look at Mass Effect 1; that game has not aged well, and it was kind of a sloppy mess even when it came out! How many new players can we get to enjoy all the good things the series has to offer with an easily accessed, more enjoyable package to play through the entire series without issue? I’ve done numerous replays of the trilogy through the years, and Mass Effect 1 is always a huge stumbling block. It’s just a pain in the ass, straight out. Don’t you want at least the option to fix that?

And if not, you don’t have to buy it and no harm is done to you! Enjoy your existing version with your mods and familiar features and flaws.

And if you truly, genuinely care so passionately about Bioware improving their record of inclusivity; look instead to the new game that’s coming out and look forward to that instead. Every game in the franchise has been better than the last at this; ME1 cut the same sex relationships, but ME2 had some. ME3 had even more, and then Andromeda had yet even further than that after patching!

How many will the new game have?

Look forward to that and make it clear to bioware you’re looking for that in their games; just.... ease off this ridiculous vitriol in trying to get people to avoid the remaster because it’s not good enough for you. No one needs to have this bullying done to either the developers themselves or the players looking to buy the game for themselves or others. It’s simply not productive.

Especially with this franchise’s sordid history with excessive media outrage and entitlement that’s been absolutely exhausted.

Just... relax. And have some perspective.

[incarnateirony]

So you want to punish Jared and a bunch of other actors(some who are actors of color) because your ship on Supernatural didn't happen?

Wah wah wah actor worship to protect corporate wah wah wah wah pretending this is all about a ship wah wah wah wah you want to eat corporate feces and call yourself the victor here wah wah wah you contribute nothing to society so you’re gonna be a coward on anon wah wah wah give me something new nonnie, this is old hat.

Did you know you’re actively considered an enemy to marginalized groups when you intentionally misframe their voices to diminish it?

So let’s check this out.

STS covered at least seven different shows that have historic issues on this network. Not just SPN.

Within SPN: Bisexual Rowena content deletion, disability rep deletion with Eileen, Found/Adoptive family messaging being gutted after years of marketing, and yes, blatant corporate interference on a dropped plot thread about one ship. One. And those are just the recent ones, not tabbing on older issues that were also mentioned. 

All, presumably, by all application of public common sense and available information, to market a new mediocre concept about liberals and conservatives learning to “meet in the middle” about their differences. That we’re expected to worship. Because Jarpad. And I was going to give it a shot. Because Jarpad. Until they did all of this shit. Just to market it. That was their choice. And now we, as consumers, also have a choice. SPNFamily who? They don’t know her. It’s Walker family now. That’s fine. SPNFamily doesn’t know Walker or the CW now, either.

Outside of SPN: Fetishizing of teenagers stripping (Riverdale, on a long list of problems with riverdale), general problematic queer content and/or dropped plot threads on shows as wide as JtV using queer content as temporary plot devices, active queer engagement/pullback (eg supercorp, Totally Platonic Friend Girl Kissing), ADR issues on queer love confessions in different regions/releases (the 100, just like SPN), the National Federation Of The People They’re Representing Boycotting Their Work For Being Problematic (in the Dark), the shock cancellation of a POC show on public socials before ever telling the crew (Black Lightning), a writer being fired for calling out studio/network sexism and racism (Superman & Lois, still upcoming, getting started on their shit EARLY), like we could keep going son.

Spare me some “about a ship” “uwu punishing an actor” emotional pleas just because you know this is going to influence a fave. Some things are bigger than your fave, karen.

You may be willing to sell your values up a river to try to lick Jared Padalecki’s abs on whatever he does, but not everyone is. Some people were giving the CW one last shot to not entirely shit the bed, since we’d already invested years in this particular product. Maybe piss it a little. But not entirely shit it. So you’ll have to forgive me that while hiding on anon, your attempts to hold a gun to the fandom’s head to Watch Walker Or Else Because Poor Millionaire Jarpad is, at best, comical. 

Yes poor Jared, not getting as much income because the network chose to abuse the actual majority of his fans. Then you should get mad at the network. Again. All things lead back to the network. This isn’t about Jared. It’s never going to be about Jared. But I’m pretty sure he’ll be fine rolling in his current net worth of over 13 million. I swear, Jared’s not going to end up homeless because you can’t force people into watching a bunch of literal maga-pandering garbage lmao what

Guess what? I worship Bobo berens. I was about to watch Kung Fu along with Walker, because Berens is the showrunner.

BUT SOME PEOPLE HAVE ETHICAL VALUES, JANET.

So I’m not.

I got over it.

I’ll live.

So will Berens. So will Jarpad.

Maybe you don’t have values. That’s--fine for you I guess. Continue not having values somewhere else.

[efinna]

Some Notes on Dramione Fan Fic - My First Text Post!

So I just worked on this as one of the permanent pages on my blog (you can find it in the sidebar menu now) and spent entirely too long on it not to post it here too...three cheers for fan fic!

I do have several Dramione fic ideas and (surprisingly long and detailed) drafts of my own floating around in the ole noggin and hard drive, respectively. For the moment, though, I’m having a blast focusing more on drawing and don’t have enough time outside of work to do both drawing and writing well.

If you’re interested in following my currently empty account on fanfiction.net in case anything cool pops up in the future, go for it and thanks in advance! If I publish I’ll post about it here as well.

To hold you over and/or win you over to this ship in the meantime, here are some amazing Dramione fics by some really amazing people.

Have Read / Would Strongly Recommend:

Clean / Marked by @OlivieBlake

OlivieBlake is truly SO talented. This is a two-part series where you need to read the first (Clean) for the second (Marked) to make total sense, and it is 100% worth every one of the 300k+ words. I laughed. I sobbed. I fell in love with Theo as a character for the first time. Lots of amazing character development all around. This is my current all-time favorite Dramione fic. Hermione is such a badass and the writing will punch you in the gut.

The Fallout by Sage / EveryThursday

This one is truly foundational to the whole ship, but somehow I completely missed it until a friend recommended it in fall 2019. Cue my descent into adopting Dramione as an OTP and creating an entire art blog mostly focused on them, oops. Lots of angst, action-driven, a bit impressionistic in its treatment of time and the progression of Hermione and Draco’s relationship, will 10 out of 10 make you cry. It’s a classic for a reason.

Breath Mints / Battle Scars by @Onyx-and-Elm

Enough angst for you, your mom, your cat, your third cousin twice removed, and the entire rest of the world for that matter. I love that both Hermione and Draco are broken and flawed yet still sharp as a tack in this fic. The storyline will keep you on the edge of your seat, or, in my case, just glued to the couch in pajamas all day binge reading. The dialogue is top notch. U will cri everytiem for Theo also.

Isolation by Bex-Chan

Another classic that's constantly recommended for a reason. This one accomplishes the transition from enemies to lovers very believably in my opinion and does a great job branching out from a sole focus on that dynamic to a broader storyline that incorporates a lot of other characters very well. I really loved the inclusion of Andromeda especially.

Nightmares and Nocturnes by @OlivieBlake

I just like….really really love OlivieBlake’s writing, ok? And this one is extra noteworthy for me to have loved because in general I really don’t vibe with a Hermione who’s lost her mojo in fan fiction. A very creative, unique concept, and OlivieBlake always masterfully fleshes out side characters in a way that makes you care about them deeply.

Currently Reading and Loving:

The Disappearances of Draco Malfoy by Speechwriter / @BatmanSymbol

A work in progress but the writer updates regularly and also posts on Tumblr about it! The storyline is fantastic and the progression of events and writing style both feel very true to the original HP books, which perfectly fills a void left in my heart from having boycotted buying any more JKR merchandise due to her transphobic nonsense. Highly recommend! Let’s sit on the edge of our seats together waiting for more updates!

On the To-Read List / Heavily Recommended by Others:

Manacled by @Senlinyu

(I have avoided this one for a while due to being very very sensitive to descriptions of non-con situations. BUT Senlinyu is lovely, everybody I know who has read Manacled loves it, and I do in fact love The Handmaid’s Tale despite how dark it can be. Planning to dive in soon while also keeping up with Disappearances!)

The Right Thing to Do by @Lovesbitca8

Cruel and Beautiful World by @LenaPhoria (fic is no longer on ff.net or AO3 but a file can be found with some creative googling)

Wait and Hope by @MightBeWriting

The Gloriana Set by ThebeMoon

If you’d like to recommend anything else, well…hey, you’re here so you know how to find me :)

[byastrodust]

I’ve read Graceling by Kristin Cashore so you don’t have to

I wanted to love this book, I really did. My Mum loved the main character and the love story, so I was confident it will be a good read. Well, it wasn’t.

Here you have the main character, Katsa, who’s a graceling whose grace is fighting and she is used by her uncle, the king to carry our his punishments. I won’t go into the details because I simply cannot be bothered to waste time on it.

Here’s why I hated the book (in my usual bulletpoint messy delivery)

Katsa is intended to be a stong powerful female mc, instead she is a bully

every bit of inconvenience or annoyance she contemplates violence

seriously, if you look at Katsa a way she doesn’t appreciate she will image knocking all your teeth out

at one point she got upset by the king and the male MC tried to calm her and reason with her, in a total non-condescending manner and Katsa got annoyed so she slapped him across the room worrying she might’ve broken his jaw

this dude, Po, end up as her love interest

now imagine if Katsa was the dude and Po the female. we would be boycotting this book, instead I’m expected to applaud the feminism ™️, the gender nonconformity ™️ (pls @ me, I’ve written a whole thesis on gender nonconforming female fantasy/dystopian characters)

Po is a graceling too but only two people know about what his real grace is, it’s all for self protection, because he would be used and hunted if people knew about his real ability

so Katsa, our dear Katsa flips the fuck out when she figures it out, because Po had the AUDACITY not to tell her his biggest secret after hanging out for a couple of months. I mean THE AUDACITY.

Katsa doesn’t want to marry because it would tie her to her husband and strip her from her freedom

Katsa doesn’t want kids, and never really explains why but she doesn’t want them

she hates dressing up, getting her hair done, doing hot girl shit

Katsa is essentially a stereotypical misogynistic man at heart wrapped in a female character because feminism UwU

Katsa’s entire character chews on feminism, swallows it, half-digests it, regurgitates and chews one more time before serving it to you for dinner (you’re welcome for the image)

Katsa amd Po had no chemistry at all, I am unconvinced they love each other and all their physical contact was cringy as hell

Po loses his sight bc why exactly? so I will feel bad for him? so Katsa can pity the damsel in distress a little more?

the pacing was so confusing, many things left unexplored (khm Raffin/Bann) but I’m not complaining bc one another chapter and I would’ve never finished the book

can you tell I hated Katsa more fiercely than I ever hated any character?

honestly, she’s a bully who relies on aggression and violence to get her way and she moans about being a monster but doesn even move a single finger to change her fucked up mindset. Again, every time someone does something that doesn’t serve her interest she wants to hit them and hit them hard

oh even Po, the man she supposedly loves... he basically gives her his castle and titles and shit bc he wants her to be secure in case he dies in the woods (where she left him to die btw, anyway that plotline made no sense at all) and when she finds out she’s like “I will kill him and hit him bc he had THE AUDACITY to do something nice for me. fuck him, really”

A BIG HUGE FUCK YOU TO KATSA

whoever thinks that Katsa is a strong female character and this is how feminine power should be exlpored in literature, hmu I’ll give you a list of titles that actually portray women as powerful without turning them into a internalised-misogynistic bullies

on the flip side, I loved Raffin and it was a huge bummer nothing ever came out (😏) of his gay subplot. give me the damn Raffin x Bann spin-off.

If you liked this book, good for you! I would’ve probably liked the premis and the plot if not for the atrocious main character. But we win some and we lose some and my past 6 book track record was so great I was bound to read something awful.

[maidenof-thesea]

Snakes & Butterflies | Part III

Pairing: Jimin x Reader

Genre: Soulmate Au!, Fluff, Angst, Smut (Maybe, still debating)

Words: 3.1k

Warnings: Jimin is sort of mean but that’s just for now! :)

Note: Hi guys! Here’s part 3 of my story and I just wanted to let you know that in this story, all of the boys will be semi-fluent in English, just so that it’s easy for mc to have conversations with them, but I will still keep the language barrier so as to not take away a main aspect of their personalities. Whenever conversations are happening in Korean, this symbol * will be displayed before and after the conversation. Plus the point of view switches from the readers point of view to Jungkook’s. 

“Yah Jeon Jungkook!” a deep voice boomed from Jungkook’s phone. The rest of the dialogue was in Korean that I was unable to understand but the voice sounded upset. 

“Taetae?” Jungkook questioned in confusion. And once again I was unable to follow along with the conversation. It was evident that this ‘Taetae’ was not Jimin, based on Jungkook’s confusion. I began to pet Yuki absentmindedly as Jungkook continued on with his conversation. Although the conversation from earlier was still running in my mind, and Minho was also still in my mind. Jungkook’s attitude about my lack of a Mark was still quite confusing and so was his anger with Jimin. But Jungkook had a point. I looked at him and he was smiling at whomever he was on the phone with, his dimples on display. His eyes were twinkling. I wonder if Jimin’s smile was still the same, just like Jungkook’s was. At the thought of Jimin, I was reminded of my dream and Miss Cassandra’s knowledge of it.

I felt a slight headache emerging, granted I did have an anxiety attack earlier and my father dropped a bombshell on me today. Yuki was starting to stutter in her constant purring, she must have sensed my fatigue before I did. I went to the kitchen to put my bowl of pasta in the fridge after wrapping it with saran wrap. Jungkook was still immersed in the conversation by the time I made it back to the living room. 

“Hello!” the deep voice said with a slight accent, which made me skip a step. It was directed towards me. Jungkook turned around with his eyes wide, almost as if he had forgotten my presence all together. The voice belonged to the most beautiful boy I had ever seen. He had a box smile that adorned his heart shaped face, along with big eyes that were filled with curiosity but had a hint of mischief. 

“Noona,” Jungkook said, turning to face me, missing how Taehyung glanced at him in surprise.. “This is Taehyung, one of my hyungs that will be coming next week. Hyung, this is Y/N.” 

“Hello,” I said with a slight wave and a smile. 

“She cute,” Taehyung said with a wink, causing me to blush for the umpteenth time today. 

“Hyung!” Jungkook scolded. “Y/N-”

“It’s okay, Jungkook,” I said, gathering Yuki in my arms to stop the dwindling of my thumbs. “I’m actually gonna head to bed early, I have an early shift tomorrow. Goodnight Taehyung, Jungkook.”

“Goodnight Noona,” Jungkook said with a warm smile. Yuki meows as I start to walk to my room. “Goodnight to you too Yuki!”

                                      Jungkook

*

The moment Y/N shut the door to her room, Taehyung just about exploded.

“Yah!” Taehyung yelled. “Who was that? She’s super cute! I’m gonna love America! You never said the girls there were that pretty!”

“I just told you her name hyung,” I said with a hint of annoyance. However I could never stay mad at him, I found him too endearing to be annoyed with him for too long. “It’s Y/N.”

“So that’s why you’ve been ignoring my phone calls!” Taehyung ignored what I just said. “Keeping her all to yourself huh? I don’t blame you!”

“I told you I had two finals in the morning,” I said, feeling myself getting a bit hot. “Then I had to go get the list of things Seokjin hyung asked me to get.”

“But you have time to answer Jiminie’s phone call and not mine?” Taehyung all but pouted. “Plus why do you call her ‘Noona’? You just met her today!”

“We are childhood friends,” I said, averting my eyes from the screen.

“WAIT!” Taehyung yelled, causing me to flinch and shush him. “The girl that you and Jimin grew up with?!”

“Yes,” I said, picking up the phone to take outside to the porch before Taehyung woke her up. “The one and only.”

“Jungkook,” Taehyung said, his eyes widening in understanding. “I only heard rumors but is it true that she is Jimin’s-”

“No, those are just rumors” I said, clenching my fists. As much as I hate lying to Taehyung, it wasn’t my story to tell. “I mean she was--is really special to us just promise me you won’t tell Jimin about Y/N.”

“Why?” Taehyung said, confused. “If the rumors aren’t true then it shouldn’t be a big deal.”

“I want to surprise him,” I lied once more. There was no way Jimin would come if it meant reuniting with Y/N. I admit that I hadn’t really thought about it before, but Jimin was the last to agree to the vacation. I have a feeling he only agreed to come after hearing that the beach house was nowhere near the old town we were raised. “Where is hyung?”

“Working out,” He said, stretching, making the phone drop, no longer making him visible to the camera. “He let me use his phone because you were ignoring me.”

“Taetae,” a voice said offscreen. “Were you able to get a hold of Jungkookie?”

“Yea!” Taehyung replied with a hint of mischief that made me nervous. “He was busy all day apparently.”

“Being an international playboy?” Jimin said smiling, picking up the phone. He was freshly showered, with his cheeks red and his skin glowing. “Lots of pretty girls in America right?”

“I wouldn’t know,” I said smiling back. Even though I was upset with him, I couldn’t help but miss him. It had been a while since I last saw him. “I’m here getting an education not dating, besides-”

“Yea, yea” Taehyung laughed, coming back into the screen. “You’re waiting for ‘the one’, the one that rings the bell or whatever. But you really just can’t talk to girls can you?” 

“Enough,” I said, yawning. It was only ten o’clock at night but I was also getting tired myself. “I’m gonna sleep now, bye hyungs!”

“Wait!” Jimin said seriously, making me pause. “This is important.”

“What?”

“So..are there pretty girls?” He said seriously but cracked a smile once Taehyung started laughing.

“Ugh,” I said rolling my eyes. “See you guys next week.”

****

I hung up the phone on their laughing faces and almost immediately I got scolding text messages about me hanging up on them first. And I walk back inside the house to see Y/N’s door closed and the light off. After today, I realized that Jimin never fully explained what happened when it came to Y/N. And I have a feeling Jimin has been hiding something from me. I mean I knew the gist of what happened basically through my parents discussing it but growing up, I never questioned the bond between Jimin and Y/N, I mean we were just kids! Then our Grandpa came to visit, and from what I remember that was when everything changed. That was when Jimin changed. His Soulmate mark-

“Jungkook?” Y/N said coming out of her bed, rubbing her eyes. “Why are you just standing there? You should be in bed.”

“Sorry Noona,” I said following her into the kitchen. “Are you thirsty?”

“Yea,” she said as she pulled out a water bottle from the pantry. And she unscrewed the cap and finished the entire bottle, almost choking. I took a step forward to rub her back but she placed her hand up to stop me. “Sorry, I was just so thirsty.”

“Bad dream?” 

“Sort of,” She winced as she scratched at her arm. “The henna tattoo is just getting itchy, so I’m gonna put some ointment on and go to sleep. Goodnight Kookie.”

“Goodnight.” I say and I head off to bed. But sleep was almost impossible to achieve whenever I thought about what may happen next week. “I just want you both happy.”

“Hey!” my boss Patricia said as she entered the lobby. “I need you to start at three tomorrow afternoon, Melissa called out again.”

“I’m starting my vacation tomorrow,” I said, as I wiped the counter. “So I can no longer cover for call outs.”

“Crap!” she exclaimed. “I’ll pay you overtime please?”

“No, sorry” I said, no matter how obligated one feels toward their job, one has to remember other responsibilities, plus they just view you as a number, easily replaced by the next number. “You know I need to do this so I could live there for cheap right?”

“I know,” she moans. “You’re just the only reliable employee I have.”

“I know.” I said rubbing her back. “Besides why don’t you just fire Melissa? She only works eight hours a week and yet she still can’t be bothered to come in.”

“Trust me, I’ve been wanting to,” She says leaning on me, like I’m not trying to clean. “But she’s my boyfriend’s cousin and she sort of found out about us so she’s blackmailing us.”

“She found out that you aren’t Soulmates?”

“Yea,” she sighs. “I mean come on, it’s not my fault I haven’t met them yet you know? I love him and I’m not getting any younger, I want kids now, not later.”

“No I get it.” I say. “I’m sorry I can’t help.”

“It’s okay,” she says shrugging. “I’ll probably just get him to do it, to punish him.”

My boss was living proof that love can happen outside of Soulmates. She’s been with her boyfriend for years now, and they want to get married and start a family but the law won’t let them without permission from their actual Soulmates, that is if they are still alive. Which is barbaric and countless people have been boycotting certain laws pertaining to the ideology of Soulmates. Although the whole purpose of the Soulmate principle is pretty much obvious but that is not always the case for certain couples. Take my parents for example, I know my mom wholeheartedly loves my father, and my father loves her as well but it is evident that she loves him a lot more. Which is normal in relationships, not ideal but normal. Relationships fall apart, which is also normal, what’s not normal to a sense is that your freedom to move on from the relationship is determined by your Soulmate. 

“Should we just change our names and move to Mexico?” Patricia sighed once more. 

“Only the rich can do that.”

“True,” she laughed. “You can go home now, don’t your visitors arrive today?”

“Yea they do,” I said. “Rosa spent the whole day cleaning the house yesterday, even though I told her it wasn’t necessary.”

“Can I hire her to clean my apartment?”

“She’s expensive but I’ll let her know.”

“Ughh.” She moans once more.

“Alright bye! See you in two months!”

“WHY?!”

I was walking home today since I let Jungkook borrow my car to pick up the other guys, although I doubt they will all fit into my jeep, but he said something about them killing him if he didn’t at least greet them at the airport. He initially refused since he didn’t want me walking at night, but I reassured him that it was fairly safe since it was a short fifteen minute walk. The sun was starting to set and I put one headphone in to listen to some music. I was about to exit the property of the hotel, when a tall figure collided with me, knocking me flat on my but. 

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” a familiar voice said, reaching down to take my hand. I squinted to see through the sunlight, and Minho’s face was staring back at me in concern. “Y/N?”

“Minho?” I said standing up by myself without accepting his help. “Do you have a tendency to pop up out of nowhere when it’s inconvenient?”

“I deserve that.” he said with an awkward chuckle. “But do you have a tendency to insult people?”

“Only when they wait by my car at night after fraternizing with my father.”

“I deserve that too.” He says not denying the accusation. He takes another look at me and regards my outfit. He points to the hotel and then me. “Do you work here?”

“Why?” I say, feeling my gut clench. My instincts were telling me to lie, but I couldn’t really, my uniform already gave that away.

“I’m staying here!” He said with a wide smile. “Wow what a small world.”

“Huh,” I said nervously, good thing I was now on vacation. “I have to go now, have a nice stay.”

“Wait!” He says trailing after me. “Can we start all over? Will you let me take you to dinner? Or if you aren’t comfortable with that, we can go to the university. There’s summer classes in session and I’m teaching a class.”

“I’m gonna be pretty busy during the summer. So-”

“Please, Y/N.” he says, his eyes wide and his lips were formed into a pout. I never really thought about it, but he was quite handsome, he could be an actor or even a model for that matter. I felt my resolve wavering but my palms were becoming sweaty which has a tendency to happen when I’m nervous. “I really want to show you my work, I know I shouldn’t mention your father, but he did mention that you have a love for history and I believe the past may hold the answers to our mutual dilemma.”

I felt my eyebrows raise at that, my father hated that I chose a major in anthropology. Once I graduated, I was supposed to go study abroad in Mexico in the Maya Temples with a professor but certain complications happened since my father didn’t approve. But does that mean-

“You don’t think we’re Soulmates?” I said before I could stop myself. I felt my face flush with embarrassment. “Cheese and rice, please forget I ever said anything!”

He stammers for a second and starts to laugh which made me blush even more. 

“I’m not gonna lie,” He says once he stopped laughing. “When your father told me about you, I initially thought so. But after seeing you and realizing that you are younger than me, it’s sort of impossible for us to be Soulmates. Most Soulmates are born in the same year. It’s very rare for them not to be the same age.”

If it was even possible, I felt my face flush even more.

“Don’t take it the wrong way!” Minho says after realizing I wasn’t responding. “I wouldn’t object to dating an attractive girl like yourself. You are ve-”

“I’m sorry,” I interrupted him. “I feel stupid. Please forget I ever said that.”

“Only if you agree to see my research.”

“Fine!” I said walking away. “But I decide when!”

“Fine!” He replied also with a laugh.

After that, I decided to jog my way home, since it was getting dark fairly quicker than I had anticipated. So focused on getting home on time, I failed to realize that the guests may already be there. By the time I reached the doorstep, the door was already being opened and a very startled familiar figure once again collided with me. However this time instead of falling flat on my butt, strong arms caught me, a shiver erupted in my body as soon as hands made contact with the exposed skin of my waist. I look up to see a very startled Jimin, who looked like he had seen a ghost.

“Jimin?” I whispered and a shiver went through his whole body and all of sudden I’m on the floor and Jimin took a step back, almost as if he recoiled from me. And for some reason that I can’t explain, that hurt more than the bruise forming on my bottom. 

“Noona!” Jungkook yelled from the pathway that led to the private beach. He was running towards me followed along by another man. He helped me stand up and the other man picked up my satchel. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” I said breaking eye contact with Jimin. “I just slipped. Thank you.”

“Hello, Y/N.” The man who picked up my satchel said as he handed it to me. “Nice to meet you, I’m Namjoon. Kim Namjoon.”

“Nice to meet you,” I replied tucking my hair into my ear. 

“The others are still at the beach,” He continued with a dimple smile. “Do you want to join us?”

“I would love to, but I think I need to shower and I need to feed my cat.”

“I already took care of that,” a familiar deep voice said. Taehyung appeared behind Jimin, whose expression was emotionless. “She’s a very pretty cat. So you can come swimming with us if you want.”

“Thank you but I really have to shower,” I said with a small smile.

“She doesn’t want to,” Jimin said with a cold tone, and he walked briskly past us, causing me to flinch out of his way. “Let’s go Tae!”

Not only me, but also Taehyung and Namjoon were in shock. Why was he so angry?

*

“I thought you said he would be happy to see her!” Taehyung said to Jungkook. “It was supposed to be a surprise!”

*

I walked quickly inside, letting them continue their conversation, but mostly because I felt tears pooling at my eyes. I must be starting my cycle. It has to be that, otherwise why would I be so sensitive?

                                       Jungkook

*

I wanted to follow Y/N inside, to see if she was alright but from the trembling in her shoulders, I felt like she needed space, especially after Jimin dropping her and being cold to her. This was not how I expected this to go.

“What was that about?” Namjoon asked me. “Taehyung said you guys were childhood friends, or at least that’s what you told him.”

Taehyung had already trailed after Jimin, who was already deep in the trail. Their voices morphing with the waves. I shrugged and started on the trail, I had to come up with a plan or else things would just get worse from now on. 

“Hyung,” I said stopping in my tracks and Namjoon faced me. “I think Jimin is hiding something from us, I think he’s been lying to me this whole time.”

“About what?” Namjoon asked. 

“About his Soulmate.” 

“His mark is jagged which indicates that he was rejected. According to our history, we Neanderthals-”

“I know, we can choose to reject and accept it,” I said with my fists clenched. “But I don’t think that’s what happened here.”

“What do you mean here?” Namjoon said, confused. “Are you saying there is a connection between Jimin and that human?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying”

*

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[the-bjd-community-confess]

Just my view, feel free to disagree. This is gonna be long, get some coffee or tea. Ok, so I think here’s the problem with Shoe, and why people continue critcising, and pointing fingers at him. If you own a company, are the leader,  and/or the face of a company, there are certain standards you will be held to, and just some unwritten rules people will hold you to. Or maybe they’re written in some handbook about “How not to be the public face of the company.” Your words, and actions, will be held in direct response to the entire company image, if you take that role. If he just was someone in the back, or keeping himself out of the limelight, the rate of critique against him would probably have fallen rapidly, or maybe even not exist. But instead he pushes himself, as a person, into everything. If a company does a small production fuck up, it’s not one specific person that fucked up, at least in the minds of people, because they will assume it was a problem along the command, and production chain. If you buy a bag of trail mix, and there’s no chocolate in it, you’re not gonna say it was Kevin from sector B who forgot to add the nuts, you’ll just think the company fucked up, that’s that. Shoe on the other hand, puts himself between that, and takes everything that’s said, and leads it back to himself, even if he had no hand in the production, and even when the actual criticism is about an objective critique against THE wares. I’m capitalising “the” because it’s not he who made them, so it’s not “his” wares, even though he wants to make it seem like that, it’s the company’s wares. He also doesn’t allow for any critique to be taken in a constructive way, or even as a buffer to then instruct, or explain to his workers, he put  himself there in order to gain that ire, and what he perceives to be hate towards his person, in order to put himself on a pedestal of being the victim. People in his position should be neutral, polite, and be able to hold a dialogue with the customer, or the one giving the critique, in a way which shows the professionalism of the company, both as a company, and as the face of the products. They also should be aware about what topics they can, and should talk about, and the relevancy of different topics.

In most cases, there’ll also be a PR team, or something along those lines, behind the company, to avoid situations, like the one Shoe creates. Not every company is big enough for a PR team though, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be a person, or more who could be the voice of reason for public appearance. If you want to be the face of everything, every product, and every action, you will have to be able to deal with people sometimes being dissatisfied, and be able to handle that in the way a representative of the company should. But not just that, Shoe will also make his personal views, or feelings into something to represent the company, which is just a downright horrible idea, especially when you can’t deal with criticism, or opposing ideas.

Shoe is not the only one who fucks up like this with the public image of his company though, since it was mentioned recently: We can take RingD0ll in this example, they used their official company pages to make a highly aggressive politicial statement, which in no way has any relations to their products, this practice is kinda counted as quite distateful, and is a really bad move. People called them out on it, and now the company is on many people’s shit list. Many have boycotted the company, and won’t buy from it anymore. Yet, there wasn’t a public outcry from Ringd0ll fans that this unjustified, or that it’s just the non-fans who’re being dumb. Also, no, I’m not comparing the HK hate, with Shoe throwing tantrums, I’m comparing how people reacted to how the companies use their public images, and how people reacted to it. So it’s not just Shoe who does this, and it’s not the first time people have called out a company, or criticised their actions. The problem with Shoe, though is that he has a horde of people openly backing him for all of what he does, even his downright ridiculous actions, statements, and reactions. Which most companies don’t have, and even if they do, they’re obviously not as prevalent, and obvious as Shoe fans. And it’s not like people are just supporting the Smartd0ll line, they’re actively standing behind anything Shoe does, which is also, again, a shit move, since him as a private person, and the wares from the company, should not be conflated with each other. It also results in people who aren’t even saying anything negative, being hit by his ire, because they were giving a feedback to faulty products they receive. Which, again, is an absolutely bullshit move. Anyway, this is getting long, I think this is enough, people already know about him, I just wanted to elaborate on some of the thoughts behind it, at least mine, and why his actions, and conduct is just absolute shit, and he should technically know if he were a better business man, when it came to public image.

~Anonymous