#I've thought about it recently and that's what got me rereading it

[yesimwriting]

in ur bestfriend!felix series do you think farleigh cares for the reader even if it’s just a little bit? like we all know how he can be (#1 shit stirrer) but it really got me thinking!! i don’t think he cared much when she first started hanging out with felix he was probably like ‘whatever just another one of his charity cases’ but would that change later on when he sees how felix really does care for her and she’s not going anywhere anytime soon or ever possibly sorry for the long rant!! i was rereading and the one u wrote were he refused to let her get high because of felix made me think 😭🫶

a/n omg me and @ker0senebunny were just discussing their dynamic potential

farleigh and reader have such potential for an oddly endearing frenemy arch,, they definitely still bully each other, but they bond over gossiping and (lightly, at least in reader's case) judging others, especially after farleigh finally realizies that reader isn't another one of felix's phases

also can def see them growing a smidge protective of each other?? like if farleigh makes a mean joke about reader they laugh,, but if someone else makes it they both kind of side eye each other 😭

anyways here’s a drabble that also briefly features slightly flustered felix and socially unsure ollie

"Here." Farleigh's standing in front of your spot on the couch, arm stretched forward lazily. You blink, eyeing what looks like a joint skeptically.

Farleigh isn't quite looking at you as he continues to hold out his offering, but he isn't moving away. You extend a hand, taking it from him cautiously. Smoking tonight wasn't really a goal, but you're not exactly feeling against it.

You sit up a little straighter, mentally debating if his attempt at socializing with you is a result of the small scale setting of tonight's plans or if he's just that high. Maybe it's both. "Thought I was on weed probation."

He sighs. "Do you want it or not?"

You tilt your chin up to frown at him, "Moody."

Farleigh's eyes finally meet yours. His scleras are tinged pink, making his gaze seem far off and slightly irritated. You bring the joint to your lips out of the instinctual desire to seem amicable. Farleigh's far from your best friend, but recently, there's been an undertone of understanding in your catty comments. More like Farleigh laughing with you than at you.

He steps past your legs before sitting next to you. Not the weirdest thing that's ever happened to you, but still, strange. Normally, on more low key nights like this, when it's just some of Felix's closer friends hanging around in an off campus apartment instead of a full fledged rager, Farleigh's close to the center of the action. Maybe he's more bothered by Oliver's presence than you thought.

After a beat of silence, Farleigh explains flatly, "It's different tonight." You're not sure you're following, but there's a good chance that Farleigh's high enough for it not to matter. "You're not drunk and tonight's...calmer, there's nothing for Felix to worry himself sick over."

You roll your eyes. "Felix doesn't get worried sick over me." You take another hit of the joint, pretending the gesture doesn't feel performative. "And either way, it's not his issue."

Farleigh scoffs. "Please."

"Please what?"

He leans forward, propping his head up on one elbow. "Sometimes you seem so smart, it's nice to know that in some ways you're still like a little kid."

Not the worst backhanded compliment he's ever hit you with. "Mhm."

Farleigh lets himself slump against the couch before extending a hand in your direction. A silent request. You hand him back the joint. "Oh, you're cold? Take my jacket. You're thirsty? I've already gotten you a water. You're tired? Give me a minute to say goodbye to some friends and then I'll tuck you in, lovie."

The general teasing is easy to dismiss until he tacks on Felix's favorite nickname for you. It doesn't feel right to hear it in a negative context. "Leave him alone. Felix is my friend and he's nice." You tap your fingers against your knee, body feeling much too relaxed for the annoyance that wants to break through. "It's not weird or anything."

Farleigh takes his time letting more smoke fill his lungs. "Defensive." You roll your eyes. "Look around, every girl here wishes Felix was that friendly with them." His sentence is a hint too loud for you to be comfortable. The last thing you need is for some girl to take it the wrong way and blame you for it. "His new lapdog probably feels the same."

It takes you a second longer than it should to get the reference. You're not exactly close with Oliver. He's new, and Felix really enjoys his company, but you've yet to bond with him. Something in you just hasn't been able to get there yet. Sometimes you'll see what Felix sees in him, but that isn't the same as feeling close to him. You want to like him, though, so you're sure it's only a matter of time before you click over something. Felix and you spend too much time together for it not to work out between you and Oliver eventually.

"That's mean." You turn to better face Farleigh, your shoulder sinking against the seat's cushioning at an uncomfortable angle. "Like really mean."

Part of the defense is instinctual. You're not one to make fun of people behind their backs just to act like you're friends in front of them. But it's also more than that. Felix wouldn't let anyone talk about you like that, and without him or Oliver there to fight against Farleigh's snark, it feels wrong to let that kind of thing go.

"Fine. Better analogy. Sometimes the way Oliver looks at Felix feels like he wants to be his escort, or something."

You understand what Farleigh's getting at almost immediately. There's this urge to please quality about Oliver that you can't judge him for. People want Felix to like them. People want Felix to love them. It's not a draw you'd ever fault anyone for falling for. But something about the concept of an 'escort' in this context makes you want to laugh. You bite your tongue.

Farleigh holds out the joint again. You take it back instinctually, taking a quick hit to avoid having to say anything right away. "Yeah, but isn't that everyone with Felix?"

You're not sure what the goal of your response is. A poor attempt at changing the subject and steering the conversation away from making fun of someone with no one there to defend them without alienating Farleigh entirely. It's a joke, and not a very good one, but with the way you and Farleigh start cracking up, no one would ever be able to tell.

"We're..." You try through a fit of giggles, "We're awful."

"No," Farleigh shakes his head once lazily, "Not awful. We're familial bonding."

You squint at him as he plucks the joint from between your fingers. "We're not related."

Farleigh brings the joint to his lips, taking a deep inhale. "No," he mumbles, "I'm just getting ahead of the inevitable."

It takes you a beat longer than it should to understand his reference. "Farleigh." He's smiling slightly, the look smug. "Felix and I are just friends. You know that."

His head falls against the back of the couch. "Does anyone ever get along with their in-laws?"

You steal the joint from him before letting your back hit the cushioning. "Shut up."

With your body angled forward, you can see the center of the living room. Felix is near the entrance to the kitchen, Oliver by his side.

When Felix's eyes land on yours, he grins. You smile back before finally bringing the joint back to your lips. By the time you're exhaling, you can see Felix nudging Oliver's shoulder.

"Here we go," Farleigh sighs, taking back the joint.

You ignore the comment in favor of tracking Felix's path across the room. The world parts for him, as always.

"Hi." You beam, stretching a hand forward as soon as Felix is within reach. He grabs your hand immediately, squeezing your palm against his. "Felix, Oliver."

Oliver nods once at the acknowledgement, "Hey."

Felix tugs on your arm gently. "Lovie, where've you been?" His thumb brushes against your knuckles. "Been looking for you."

"I've been here," you admit, "I was waiting for you guys to get back with everyone's drinks and then Annabel wanted to sit...and then Farleigh."

Felix nods as if you've said is something of great importance. "Farleigh treating you okay?"

Farleigh tilts his head, halfheartedly glaring at Felix. You grin. "Yeah, we're just chatting."

"Chatting," he muses, looking between you and Farleigh. Before you can respond, Felix is moving to sit, taking up the last of the couch's remaining space. He looks up at Oliver, noting the lack of room for a fourth person. Felix squeezes our hand. "Sit with me?"

You nod, instantly understanding what he's getting at. You're sure Farleigh will hold you leaving your spot to give Oliver the opportunity to sit next to him against you, but there's not much else you can do, so you stand.

Felix is pulling you towards him before you can fully register the fact that you're standing. You frown, an attempt at a wordless scolding. He beams at you, the picture of affectionate innocence.

As soon as you're sitting on his lap, he's setting one hand on your knee and the other on your shoulder. Felix is always warm in the same way. There's a soothingness to it, a familiarity that you can always trust.

Oliver doesn't move until Felix's hand drifts away from your leg to pat the now open spot on the couch. Farleigh leans back slightly to make it easier to throw you a look that seems to say that Oliver's proving his earlier point.

You don't generally find Farleigh's snideness funny. You're not in the habit at laughing at his comments or behaving differently in hopes of winning him over. But, there's something about the solidarity of the look paired with your high. You laugh.

"What?" Felix asks, leaning forward to rest his chin against your shoulder.

You shake your head. "Nothing." A pinch of guilt nips at you. "I'm--I'm high."

"Could tell." Felix grins, dipping his head forward to press a kiss against the start of your back. "Farleigh's a terrible influence, hard to imagine what the two of you were up to before me and Ollie got here."

Maybe it's the lingering guilt, or maybe it's because Oliver's been almost completely silent since he got here and you know what it's like to be that person. You don't know what it is, but something makes you want to look over at Oliver. "Don't know, what do you think we were up to, Oliver?"

"Oh," he starts, tapping a finger against the edge of his solo cup as if something about your sudden attention startled him. "Up to no good, 'm sure."

You smile. Oliver and you may not be close, but at least he doesn't have an issue with carrying on a bit. Some of Felix's friends do. The first time Felix left you alone at one of these things, you made the mistake of making a joke in front of a girl who just stared at you.

"Little faith," you accuse with a shake of your head that indicates a disappointment your smile doesn't match.

"We were talking about inevitability."

Felix turns his head to look at Farleigh, "And what's inevitable?"

Your nails press into the skin of your leg. Some instinct tells you to beat Farleigh to the punch. "Oh, our wedding, apparently."

Felix tenses. "Wh--what?"

"To Farleigh," you clarify as quickly as possible, "I promise I'm not planning on proposing any time soon, so you can relax."

His hand finds your knee again. "Right," Felix sighs through a dry laugh, "Cause I--" Felix pauses, his forehead falling to your shoulder. "Farleigh...he'll say anything when high, it's..." He scoffs.

You turn your head with no warning. Felix's head slips off your shoulder. He pouts. "So the thought of being married to me is that bad?"

"No." He stretches out the vowel sound in an attempt to buy himself some time. "I--" He leans in closer, eyes flitting away from you and towards your lap. "I didn't--not like--"

You laugh. "I'm making fun of you, Lex." His skin is still slightly flushed, a pink tinge to his cheeks that's almost masked by the low lighting. "Y'can relax."

Felix's lips part in mock offense. "Lovie." He leans his head forward, hiding his face against the side of your neck.

You giggle, lifting a hand to brush your fingers through his hair. "I know, I'm mean."

"Very." He's quiet for a moment, head resting against you even though the angle can't be comfortable. "It wouldn't be bad." Felix whispers the sentence so quickly and quietly you almost feel like you've imagined them.

Before you can respond, Felix lifts his head slightly, setting his chin back on your shoulder. "Me and Ollie were talking about leaving early, watching that movie you rented." He squeezes your arm, the gesture warm. "If you want to."

"Yeah," you grin, "Sounds fun."

----

taglist; @vader-is-hot @spiritofbuddha @getosangie @freyafriggafrey @ilovehyperfixating @aryiannarae @willowpains

#bestfriend!felix #bestfriend!felix x reader #felix x reader #felix catton x reader #saltburn x reader #felix catton #jacob elordi #jacob elordi x reader

[writingfool001]

Unexpected Events

Author’s Note: When I presented the prompt, this request came first so sorry to Malleus requests. I may do one later. Also I absolutely love indie or alternative style jewelry. As much as jewels are lovely and pretty, I like the interesting shapes or designs of them. For those who need a mental visual, imagine hot topic’s silver looking rings that are sold in packs.

Pairing: Azul x GN! Reader

Warning: newly wedded, You/ your pronouns, and reader is gender neutral. We’re going to act like both (YN) and Azul are 18. Also (Y/N) is a second year and a childhood friend.

“Potato, what is that?” 

“Hm?” You are brought out of your thoughts and look at your hand. “A ring? I wear a few rings.” 

“Obviously,” Vil rolled his eyes. “But why are you wearing one on your marriage finger?” 

“Maybe (Y/N) got proposed to by a distant prince or suitor?” Kalim chimed in. 

“Pssh as if.” Leona grumbled. 

“I also wonder why you’re wearing a ring on your ring finger.” Riddle added. “It sticks out of the ones you wear.” 

“I saw it and liked it. I may not have expensive rings like Vil or Leona, but this one caught my eye, and it just happens to fit this finger.” you answered, waving off their suspicion.  

The only reason that you were wearing one was due to a foolish decision that you made when you were younger and didn't fully know the laws on marriage for Merpeople. This was only brought to your attention recently.  

There was a furious banging on your door, and you opened it to be welcomed by immediate dried rice being thrown at you which you immediately closed your eyes. 

"Congratulations, shrimpy!" You heard Floyd cheer. 

"We're so fortunate to have witnessed such a monumental event." Jade chuckled. 

"What?" You exclaim, opening your eyes and brushing the stray rice off of you. "Why did you throw rice at me? What do you mean by monumental event?" 

"I've been told by clownfish that people throw rice at married people." Floyd explained. 

"I'm not married though and those are at weddings." You respond as your eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why are you two here exactly?" 

"To deliver this to you," Jade presented an envelope to you. "Azul told us to deliver this to you."  

You carefully take the envelope before opening it and taking out the paper then begin reading or skimming the page. Yet one line stood out. 

As of this year, the Coral Sea government now recognizes your marriage to Azul - is valid. 

…. 

… 

"What?!" You yelled as you reread the line before closing your door and making your way to your alleged husband as the twins followed. 

As the meeting started, you were somewhat listening as you fidgeted with the octopus ring. There were several topics that were touched on as it was school related. When I was acknowledged, you just replied with uh huh. 

"You're not even listening." Azul spat. 

"I don't need to because it's always the same with you. Poor unfortunate souls and shady deals followed by you going on about who knows what." You retort back. 

“You both bicker like an old married couple.” Leona groaned, causing Kalim to laugh and Vil to chuckle. 

That comment made you think back to how you confronted Azul. 

I busted through the door as Floyd whined about how he didn't have any more rice to throw. Jade only chuckled and pulled his brother away, leaving Azul and you alone. 

"I see you got the news about our current endeavor." Azul calmly stated as you closed the door. “It would appear that we are married.” 

"We don't have a marriage license." I pointed it out, thinking that would change anything. “Wouldn’t that make it invalid?” 

“They already did a background check on us and delivered us one.” He slid the piece of paper over you which showed the government issued marriage license. 

"Tax write off and other benefits we can both enjoy." Azul corrected. 

"How are you calm about this?" You question him, glaring at him suspiciously. 

"As I said, it is beneficial for both of us and when one of us decides to split, then we can just divorce." Azul repeated calmly which fell off in a way, yet you agreed with that arrangement. 

It's never that simple with Azul. One thing you learned from your friendship was always read between the lines. Especially when it came to Azul. 

Only Jade and Floyd knew about the marriage between you two. Jade would stop Floyd before letting it slip too far if you all are around others in public. There is the occasional bickering, but nothing to the point that either of you say anything extremely hurtful to one another. Eventually, the marriage thing slipped both of your minds and you went about your normal day to day lives. 

You were scrolling through Magicam as you looked at endless posts that had rings that would be considered funky or strange and would fall under the indie style category. You saved a few to look at later. You didn’t know that Azul caught a glance over your shoulder and remembered that you would always wear a few rings that sat on the base of your fingers and a few thin knuckle ones. All the rings you wore were more indie than anything. Tasteful and interesting yet nothing too crazy. 

 One night, you were sitting in Azul's office, studying since it was the only place that was quiet enough and no one would think you were off the top of their head. While you studied, Azul was working on contracts at his desk as you both enjoyed doing your own thing while still being in the same room. 

As you were in the middle of reading a page, you heard Azul clear his throat and look up to see him set a small black box on the table. 

“I noticed that you have a certain taste in rings, and I saw this one. It reminded me of you.” He explained sheepishly, even though he tried hiding his reluctance. You both held eye contact in silence for a few seconds before he went back to working on his contracts, leaving you to your own devices. 

You looked at the ring and it was simple, yet it had a unique flare to it. Looking back to see Azul went back to being busy. You slip it on and quietly walk over closer to him so that you can see the small wrinkle in his nose he gets when he's focused. 

You lean over and kiss his cheek, catching him off guard. 

"Awe you still look so cute when you blush." You lightly tease, making his cheek get rosy. 

"I'm not cute.” He grumbled as he went back to work where you noticed a slight outline under his glove, particularly on his ring finger, making you chuckle. 

Maybe being married to him for now wouldn't be so bad. 

#twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #twisted wonderland x mc #twst azul x reader #azul x reader #azul ashengrotto x reader #twisted wonderland azul #azul ashengrotto

[kazehita]

hi! i noticed your recent post recommending the fic natural satellite and i think i've noticed other isat fics around your blog too. because of that, i was wondering if you had a list of recommended isat fics! i will admit i am not someone who just peruses around on ao3 but i love reading about these characters so if you have any recs, i would greatly appreciate them! thanks and i hope you have a lovely day :3

I love ALL isat fic - each and every one is so special and wonderful - but if I listed the whole archive that wouldn't really help huh... So! Im going to list just some off the top of my head., this is in no way definitive. Isat spoilers ahead - get all the way through the game and the secret before proceeding.

Big recommendation list below:

Additionally, mind the tags for each fic - I wont be specifying the content warnings here.

(don't just read the complete ones!!! Incomplete fic is just as delightful I promise :3)

Complete: Bloom - Level99Eevee Most people know it, it sits at the top of the tag! It's my every wish fulfilled for post-cannon moments.

Memories of defeat - dirtbagtrashcat Stuff in and immediately after the loops, fantastic extrapolations!!!! Very much Loop <33 I find this very grounded and realistic!!!!

Emotion Sickness - dirtbagtrashcat Post cannon fun/trauma with siffrin and the gang.

Memories of Touch - dirtbagtrashcat look i just really like their work sjkdjkfjkasdf its all good go through their profile. This is Isa thoughts.

And if I were not myself, would this be easier? - rabbit_soup Post-game! I love how they flesh out the world.

The Understudy - kittyorange Suuuuch a loop fic I love it to bits. Post cannon loop and the gang stuff.

Star-Speckled Skin - Lora_Blackmane Funn angsty moment, title is very descriptive. Lives in my head rent free.

Clinging to dying embers - Coffeewolf67 Odile's perspective of sif using the dagger. appropriate content warnings apply :)

between the end and a new start - glowingjellyfishtreelights SICKFICCC I had a very funny experience with this one where due to memory mishaps I got to read it for the first time twice! Absolute banger.

What's in a name? - Raaj Explores siffrins love of plays. I have to regularly reread this for my brain to function.

Starstruck - Dusk_Illusionist Isa yearns. The fic. It rocks.

Saturn Devouring His Son (Time Choking on Stone Choking on Blood)- BasilPaste Post cannon moment... I like it...

(Why) you can't let them know by Mayasynth sasasap fic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i like it. i hold it. i like it. UGH theres more but I have already listed so many.. my other favorites... im so sorry.,.. i love you guys too... Incomplete:

How To Rest by rabbit_soup Sequel to "And if i were not myself, would this be easier?" Loop is here and I love violence.

TRY IT AGAIN, CHEATER! by discatded "[Loop returns to their own universe after everything. It's hard.]" - from the summary. Love it love it. I will never get enough of this premise.

To Extend our Reach to the Stars Above by Cinnamin_Is_a_Star "Sif if he was team rocket" and is so fun. Very excited to see this one pan out!

until we move on. by Anonymous (also known as lozy) LOOP MY BELOVED..! loop returns to their universe and promptly looses it like the universe intended. Cant get enough of it.

Natural Satellite by dirtbagtrashcat If a single fic makes me the Most insane its natural satellite if I'm honest.... like bro... It just gets right to me...

Sunder by Miranda_tries_their_best Post-cannon Loop fic!! They travel on their own for a bit (but not forever), and I love it dearly.

Face the Light by Kaimiiru Post-game, I hold it close to my heart.... Ah... It's so dear to me.

These next two are sloop so if that's not your thing you have been warned :]

raconte-moi qu’on puisse crier tout bas by bibliomaniac I'm holding this high above my head so everyone can see it the characterization is off the charts.

To Cut You Open With a Knife and Find Your Sacred Heart by Hexea_Art Changeling Loop fic!! What a fun concept. I am excited to see where it goes. yay! AGAIN... THERE ARE SO MANY I LOVE SO MUCH but im forcing myself not to look through the tag else I'd add everything. Honestly, I do recommend just launching right on into the ao3 tag for ISAT even if you aren't super familiar with ao3. Just be sure to filter out anything you don't want to see!

Consider this a good starting point ^^

#asks #del-phi-nium #kaze speaks #isat spoilers #oh boy 12am /joke #uh i hope this is helpful. lemme know if any of these links are broken i didnt check any of them. #i think all these are viewable w/o an account also #if anyone finds this useful do let me know i'd love to hear #isat

[somewhereincairparavel]

An in depth analysis on Jiper - Why it was much more toxic than we realize.

okay. I know Calypso is known for her horrible treatment of leo, but hear me out, Jason grace was in a toxic relationship without even realizing it. I've recently reread Hoo, and I can't believe that it only just struck me how much of a red flag Piper was in the relationship. I made a whole analysis on this, and I'm going to put it here.

If you are a fan of jiper or Piper Mclean in general, then, this might be triggering for you to read, so I recommend you not to. You can agree to disagree with my analysis, just be respectful about it. I don't dislike Piper, I just dislike the way she is written, so no harm intended on her character.

so let's begin.

♦ She obsesses over him for a long time and then complains that he doesn't give her attention, like mf, he's trying to save the world here. She compares their relationship to percabeth wishing jason wasn't so serious all the time, when she was the one who claimed she liked his rule following nature and chose to date him. Before she got him, she complained that he would never like her, after she got him, she complained that he is too uptight.

Like, him being a rule follower is a part of his personality, take it, or leave it. She really doesn't like him for who he is and seemed very intent on wanting to change his morals. Like wanting his to trash the rules for her, she puts unrealistic expectations on him and gets disappointed when he doesn't meet them.

This highly contrasts Jason's treatment of her, when she vocalises her jealousy of Reyna being so "pretty, powerful and Roman" and jason says that he only wants Piper to be Piper, not anything else. Jason knew better than anyone else what is was like to pretend to be someone he's not.

♦she claimed jason as some kind of prize to drew, I physically cringed when the other Aphrodite kids cheered for her when she when she said jason was her boyfriend and he just didn't know it. Like. Jason said it himself, to Hera, "I belong to no one". If only he'd heard what she said about him behind his back lol.

♦She guilt tripped him so hard till the point he promised her that he would never go to camp Jupiter unless she came along, that's like the biggest red flag ever… Camp Jupiter was like his only home, his sister is busy, his mom is dead, and he wasn't even supposed to go there?

♦she got jealous of Reyna, annabeth and Thalia without any context, simply because they are acquainted with him in some way. Even after all the war chaos, jason reassured her patiently like twice that he only had eyes for her. She got jealous when he spoke about camp Jupiter, is he not allowed to talk about his home, the place he's grown up in for 12 years? She controlled jason like a puppet and took advantage of the fact that jason is very passive and had abandonment issues. If you read into their dynamic, Jason was in an unhealthy relationship without even realising it, because he clung on to anyone who gave him affection, it's honestly sad. He hadn't thought that anything was wrong in their dynamic because of his sheltered upbringing in camp Jupiter and lack of experience in love. His sister was lost for years, his dad is a douche, his mom is dead, so you really cannot blame him for not wanting to leave Piper.

♦ Also, in TOA, she was absolutely despicable, We see that jason is still very confused about why she broke up with him, and didn't properly understand why she dumped him bc he thought that they were still going strong, so we can get the hint that piper never exactly gave him a proper reason or anything and just ended it abruptly. Despite all this, he still respected her choice without any resentment against her, and chose to die so she could have more time with her dad. Fucking thoughtful and selfless.

♦ She doesn't voice out her concerns on their relationship to jason. Only the jealousy thing, but other than that she never seemed to tell jason about her issues she has with their dynamic, jason is more of a blunt kinda guy, so her lack of proper communication really hinders their dynamic in many ways, this is clearly seen in the fact that jason was deluded into thinking that their relationship was going great.

♦ She was also quite cold about their breakup, when Grover asked her why, she said stuff like "you thought what? That we'd be together forever like Percy and annabeth?" Like that's so cold and for what reason?? She ended stuff with him, and was acting like she got dumped.

[Take this single paragraph below with a grain of salt, since this one can only be derived out of assumptions, since it wasnt really confirmed properly, as there seemed to be a LOT going on]

♦ coach hedge and mellie thought he dumped her, so it can be implied that she might have dramatized the break up, if that is true, then she practically victimized herself in front of them. She drew so much attention to herself after the breakup, but then gets all cold when people ask her about it. Leading everyone to dislike jason for the breakup. If she did indeed tell mellie and hedge an aggravated version of their break up, then you can't tell me she did all that "unintentionally". I may sound harsh here but it seemed to me that she just wanted sympathy and attention, it's not all surprising either, considering how she chopped her hair off so that her dad can pay attention to her. So we can see a pattern here, she does go to great lengths to gain everyone's sympathy. I honestly don't know if she does it subconsciously or not. But take this paragraph with a grain of salt, since we dont actually know what she told hedge and mellie, so only strong assumptions can be made.

♦ Mellie treated jason which such hostility that even self absorbed Apollo could take the time to notice it. Jason asked apollo if piper told him that he dumped her or something, so even jason sensed that people were blaming him. he didn't even complain about it either. on the contrary, he literally said it was okay if mellie blamed him and that it was better that way.

”One more thing,” I blurted out. “About Piper. It’s just…you seem like such a good power couple. Did you really—did you break up with her to make it easier for her to leave LA?” Jason stared at me with those azure eyes. “Did she tell you that?” “No,” I admitted. “But Mellie seemed, ah, upset with you.”Jason considered. “I’m okay with Mellie blaming me. It’s probably better.”“Do you mean it’s not true?” In Jason’s eyes, I saw just a hint of desolation—like wildfire smoke momentarily obliterating a blue sky. I remembered Medea’s words: The truth was enough to break Jason Grace.“Piper ended it,” he said quietly. “That was months ago, way before the Burning Maze. Now come on. Let’s go find Caligula.” ‘ ~The Burning Maze, Chapter 23 Last Page

♦ Don't even get me started on how she found someone else weeks after her ex boyfriend whom she was with for a year died for HER. I'm sorry, but I couldn't even think of dating someone else for a long time if I were in her position. It's canon that literally even annabeth cried herself sick when she heard about his death and they weren't even close, and Percy couldn't even mention jason without breaking down, Percy and jason barely knew much about eachother. Heck, even hera, a literal goddess who only saw jason as a pawn, started sobbing at his death. So compared to those, piper literally had the reaction of a stale bread. I'd expected her to react in a similar way to nico, just genuine devastation and anger. Now she is using someone else as a rebound when she isn't even emotionally healed?

Connecting all of these points, it's such a shame how jason got taken advantage of for his passive nature. It dawned on me how jason was SO trapped in the relationship with only Piper as the centre of his world. I know Piper was just a teenager herself, but that doesn't make me feel any better about her treatment of him tbh, she's also seemed to have lots of internal misogyny, bringing down the other girls for ogling at jason as if she weren't the one who did the same like 5 minutes ago. Any thoughts? Rick really fumbled the bag with Piper imo, especially in the trials of Apollo.

#pjo #pjo hoo toa #pjo hoo #pjo toa #pjo fandom #pjo series #jason grace #piper mclean #percy jackson #annabeth chase #Don't come at me y'all #I don't hate Piper #Im merely laying out the stuff she's done and said in the books that really struck me off as a red flag

[pandenewie]

RULE THREE: No Kissing (on the lips)

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“Dude, since when could you draw like that?”

The sudden question from Jake leaves Niki stunned for a second. What is he talking about? He hasn’t drawn anything serious since freshman year.

“Is it a self-portrait?” Sunoo asks, making Niki’s eyes widen. Did they find it? He spins around to see Jake and Sunoo looking intensely at an opened copy of The Promised Neverland. Niki had been rereading it recently and knew it was the perfect place to keep the drawing Y/n had given him… apparently, he was wrong.

“Stop snooping through my stuff.” Niki scowls, ripping the book from their grasp (careful not to crinkle the drawing.) “Woah, no need to get so pissy. It’s cool to see your art; you never draw anymore.” Jake says sincerely. “It’s not mine… Y/n drew it.” Niki mumbles, the mention of their name causing Jake and Sunoo to look at each other with a smirk. “Aww cute! He’s using it as a bookmark!” Sunoo gushes.

“You should invite them to come bowling with us this weekend!” Jake exclaims. “Why the hell would I do that? They’d be so uncomfortable.” Niki grumbles defensively. “No, they wouldn’t! Sunghoon’s bringing Gaeul, come on, it’ll be fun!” 

“He’s bringing his dog bowling?” Niki asks, disgusted.

“Not his dog, his girlfriend.”

“I still think that’s really weird by the way.” Sunoo chimes in. “That’s like Niki dating someone named Bisco. Or like you dating someone named Layla.”

“Okay, let’s not judge Hoon for his dating preferences. He’s bringing Gaeul so you should bring Y/n. It’s a great way to integrate them into the group!” Jake attempts to convince him. The thought of Y/n getting involved with his friend group terrifies Niki. The two of them could barely keep it together during lunch - how are they supposed to keep this act up for an entire evening? And if the relationship gets exposed as fake, Niki will never live it down.

On the other hand, he doesn’t want to seem like a possessive asshole who’s gatekeeping his relationship. The guys are already on the fence about whether it’s real or not, keeping Y/n hidden away could only add fuel to the flame.

“Okay… I’ll invite them. But I can’t promise they’ll show. And if you guys pull that same crap you did at lunch we’re leaving immediately.”

“Y/N!”

The sudden sound of their name being yelled through the halls cuts off Y/n’s conversation. Y/n turns to see Niki jogging up to their group. “Oh, hi Riki.” Y/n smiles, the mention of his real name causing the girls to look at each other with wide eyes. “Are you free this Saturday?” The question was unexpected and caused Y/n’s eyebrows to furrow with confusion. Noticing this, Niki elaborates: “My friends and I are going bowling and they told me to invite you… it’s all good if you’ve got plans since it’s kind of last minute but… I don't know, it’d be fun if you could come.” He rambles, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. Eunchae snorts slightly at the boy's out-of-character shyness, earning a glare from Y/n. “I’d love to go.” They smile, relief washing over Niki’s body as the words fall past their lips.

“You have the audacity to ask Y/n to go bowling and not invite us as well?” Eunchae asks, gesturing between herself and Danielle. “Well, did you want to come?” Niki asks. “No.” The girl shrugs simply. 

“Why would you get upset about me not asking if you were just going to reject me anyway?”

“It’s your punishment for not asking in the first place!”

"Okay, I think we should go before this escalates any further." Danielle interrupts, pulling Eunchae away from Niki. "Are you coming Y/n? Or are you two eating lunch together again?" She continues, her eyes darting to Niki. Y/n looks at Niki for confirmation, causing him to shake his head with a smile. "Go ahead, I've probably been stealing you too much recently… I'll see you this weekend, anyway." He says, ruffling Y/n's hair before turning around to find his friends.

As Y/n turns back to their friends, their eyes immediately roll at the expressions on their faces. "Don't you even start." Y/n warns, their words falling on deaf ears as the two girls begin to awe at the affection they just witnessed.

"That was so cute! He definitely has a crush on you." Danielle teases. "He definitely does not. We have a deal and real feelings are not a part of this." Y/n argues, earning a scoff from Eunchae. "If either of you think that you're gonna stick to whatever rules you planned, you're both much dumber than I thought," She says. "Now come on, I want to get to the vending machine before all the good stuff is gone."

Y/n doesn't go out a lot. Not in a weird way, they just happen to spend a lot of their time at home. And in the circumstances where they do leave the house, it is usually with the comfort of Danielle and Eunchae - not their fake boyfriend and his entire friend group.

"If you start to feel uncomfortable, just tell me and we'll leave, okay?" Niki asks. He had gone through the effort of picking Y/n up from their house (something Sunghoon has insisted all good boyfriends should do) and the two had caught the bus together to the bowling place.

"You don't have to worry about me, just have fun with your friends." Y/n reassures. Their words cause Niki to look at them with a deadpan expression. "Okay fine, I promise I'll tell you if I get uncomfortable." They add, earning an assertive nod from Niki.

As soon as Niki's friends are spotted, he grabs Y/n's hand tightly, leading them towards the group.

"So the lovebirds finally showed up, huh?" Heeseung teases, immediately earning a slap on the head from Jay. "Sorry about him, we're glad you could make it, Y/n." Jay says. “It’s okay… thanks for inviting me.” Y/n smiles politely before turning to the only member of the group they don’t recognise.

"I'm Gaeul, Sunghoon's girlfriend." The girl says, waving slightly. Y/n waves back before turning to Niki, their eyebrows furrowed ever-so-slightly. "Wait, didn't you say his dog was called-"

"Anyway, should we start bowling?" Niki asks, interrupting Y/n’s question. “Come on, let’s go pick our shoes!” He continues, dragging Y/n by the hand.

Since half the group has never gone bowling before, they decide it’s best to split into teams - with Niki, Y/n, Jungwon and Sunoo on one team and Heeseung, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon and Gaeul on another team. Juniors vs Seniors.

“I feel like these teams are a little uneven…” Jungwon points out, looking at the difference in skills between each team. “It’s fine, Sunghoon will bring them down.” Niki laughs, earning an offended scoff from Sunghoon. “Yah! Have you seen me bowl? Tell him, babe.” Sunghoon points, turning to Gaeul for reassurance. “Well… you can definitely hit some of the pins.” Gaeul replies sympathetically. “I’ll show you.” Sunghoon challenges, only making his friends laugh further at his competitiveness.

Y/n quickly finds that they suck at bowling. Niki, on the other hand, is practically a prodigy. He even joked at one point about putting the gutters up and using the kiddy ramp to “give them a fair shot”. His teasing only made Y/n even more determined to get a strike but at this rate, that won’t be happening any time soon.

“Come on, try it with this one.” Niki reassures, walking towards Y/n, a cherry red bowling ball perched carefully between his palms. “Isn’t that one heavier?” Y/n questions, attempting to take the ball from Niki’s grip. As soon as they get a taste of the weight, however, they immediately give it back to the ball. “Yeah, no. I’ll break my wrists trying to use that.” They laugh, patting Niki’s arm before walking to grab their regular ball.

“You can do it, Y/n!” Sunoo cheers. “Y/n, fighting!” Jungwon adds, making Y/n laugh as they get ready to bowl. Y/n gets into position, aiming as best they can before carefully rolling the ball down the lane - mustering as much power their body can handle.

Everyone watches eagerly as the bowling ball rolls slowly down the lane, starting to lean towards the left gutter as it goes along. “Come on, come on.” Niki please quietly, praying he has somehow gained telekinesis that can lure Y/n's ball back to the centre. Although that doesn't happen, the ball does somehow manage to keep out of the gutter, knocking down the far two pins before rolling off.

“I got something!” Y/n exclaims, jumping with excitement. Their team matches their enthusiasm, jumping out of their seats to cheer for their member. Niki runs towards Y/n without thinking, picking them up in a bone-crushing hug and spinning them around as if they've just scored the winning point.

“Yah! Let them hit the rest of them, you idiot!” Jay scolds playfully, a look of fondness present in his eyes. “Okay, if you get a strike I'm gonna throw you in the air.” Sunghoon says bitterly, making Gaeul laugh. “It’s not a competition, babe.” She says, patting his chest reassuringly. “It is now. I'm not gonna let some 17-year-old out-boyfriend me.” He scowls, only making her laugh more.

“Okay, okay, you can put me down now.” Y/n laughs, patting Niki’s shoulder as he lowers them back onto the ground. “You can do this.” Niki cheers quietly, pressing a chaste kiss to the top of Y/n’s head before walking back to his seat.

Y/n can’t do this. It's as if all their luck and bowling skills left their body the second those two pins hit the polished pine floorboards. They miss. By quite a long shot, as well. “Nice try, Y/n!” Jungwon exclaims. “If it makes you feel any better, Sunoo was making you guys lose anyway.” Jake says, attempting to reassure Y/n. “Uh, rude.” Sunoo scowls. “Come on Y/n, don’t let him turn us against each other.” He continues, shielding Y/n from Jake.

Eventually, the bowling comes to an end, with the seniors absolutely thrashing the younger team. No one expected a different outcome - the other team was far more experienced. Jungwon however, claimed that their team had better chemistry and therefore, they were the real winners.

“Niki, you need a ride?” Jay asks, twirling his car keys around his fingers. Niki turns to look at Y/n, unsure of what to do. “Go ahead, my bus is almost here, anyway.” Y/n smiles. Unsure, Niki turns back to Jay. “Nah, I’ve gotta make sure Y/n gets back.” His words cause the boys to break into a chorus of oohs, causing Niki to roll his eyes. “Uh… yeah, I don’t need a ride either. Gotta make sure Gaeul gets back safe.” Sunghoon coughs, causing the group to erupt into fits of laughter.

As the group splits up, Niki and Y/n begin walking to the bus stop. “You could’ve just gotten a ride, you know? I can get myself home.” Y/n mumbles. “What kind of boyfriend would I be if I did that?” Niki scoffs, nudging his shoulder against theirs Y/n goes to remind him that he isn’t actually their boyfriend but for some reason, the words don’t come out.

The peaceful silence of the bus ride is suddenly cut short by a grumbling sound coming from Y/n’s stomach. The two pause to look at each other for a moment, both silently wondering whose stomach it was before their thinking is cut off by yet another growl.

“Sorry… I haven’t eaten much today.” Y/n mumbles, sheepishly, their words almost immediately being waved off by Niki. “It’s okay, we were a bit busy with bowling… did you want to get something to eat?” He asks. Y/n seems apprehensive at his words, looking up to check how far away their stop is. “There’s this really cool sushi place down the street from my house… my treat.” Niki adds, wiggling his eyebrows as he attempts to convince them.

Y/n would be a fool to pass up sushi. Free sushi, at that.

As soon as the sushi roll hit Y/n’s tongue, it was as if the taste had exploded in their mouth. Niki was right to recommend this place, the sushi is amazing. Y/n had largely underestimated how hungry they were.

“Slow down before you choke!” Niki laughs, reaching forward to hold Y/n’s chopsticks away from their face - waiting for them to finish their current mouthful before letting go. Y/n rolls their eyes, shoving another sushi roll between their lips.

“Did you have fun today?” Niki asks, digging into his meal. Although he had tried his best to keep his attention on Y/n throughout the day, being around the boys occasionally distracted him. Hopefully, Y/n didn’t feel ignored. Niki’s overthinking gets cut off by a wide grin from Y/n. “I did! The only people I really hang out with are Danielle and Eunchae… and I guess you, now. So it was fun to get to know new people and do something I haven’t done before… even if I ended up being really bad at bowling.” Y/n says, laughing slightly as they think back at their failed attempt at bowling. “That’s good, I was scared the guys were gonna say or do something and make things weird.” Niki sighs.

“I never really asked… why are your friends so obsessed with you being in a relationship, anyway?” Y/n asks, causing Niki’s eyebrows to furrow. “I don’t really know, I guess it’s because I’m the only one in the group who’s never been in one… unless you count the whole thing with Eunchae.” Y/n nods at Niki’s words. “Any particular reason?”

Niki doesn’t remember the last time someone asked about his love life in a way that wasn’t to tease him. “At first I just wasn’t that interested. I didn’t want to just date for the sake of dating and I was never put in the position where a relationship would naturally happen so I just… didn’t.” He shrugs, the words spilling from his lips a lot easier than he thought they would. Y/n smiles at this, almost like they completely understand what he means. “You say at first, what changed?” They ask sweetly.

The extra question causes a subtle blush to spread across Niki’s cheeks. He considers dodging the question and changing the topic but the way Y/n’s eyes sparkle with curiosity somehow tricks his brain into answering.

“Ah… it’s kinda dumb. Jake was in a relationship with a girl called Lily… you probably remember seeing them around school together.” Niki starts, earning a nod from Y/n. “Well, they were basically like… the it-couple in our friend group. Everyone else would date around, get together, break up but they were consistent. For a while, it felt like they were going to be together forever. And then one day, they were done. Nothing bad had happened, no one did or said anything, they just broke up. And that kind of freaked me out because… they were so in love, you know? And suddenly… they weren’t. I don’t want something like that happening to me.”

Y/n smiles understandingly at Niki as they take in his words. “That’s not dumb, love can be scary.” They agree. “Giving someone your heart and trusting them to not break it… I don’t know how people do it so carelessly.” Y/n admits. “Yeah… I think I’ll just be forever alone.” Niki mumbles, making Y/n snort. “We can be alone together.” They smile, causing Niki’s heart to flutter.

“How many times have I told you that you don’t have to walk me home?”

“Probably the same amount of times that I’ve told you I don’t care. You never know who or what is out here.”

“The chances of me getting attacked are very slim, Riki.”

“And with me, they’re nonexistent.”

Y/n rolls their eyes as their mini-argument subsides, letting Niki win this round. He smirks proudly, nudging Y/n’s shoulder slightly as a silent “I win” before shoving his hands in his pockets.

The pair, once again, find themselves standing outside Y/n’s house. Niki’s feet begin to drag slightly as they walk up the neatly stoned path, towards the front door. He doesn’t want them to go inside; doesn’t want the day to end just yet.

Y/n pauses, almost as if they can read his mind, and turns around to face Niki. “Today was really fun.” They smile. “You already told me that.” Niki teases, earning an eye roll in response. “Just telling you again… thanks for inviting me.”

Smiling, Niki ruffles Y/n’s hair. “You’re welcome. It was way more fun with you there.” Such a simple complement and yet Y/n still feels their face heat up at the words. “I should probably head inside…” Y/n mumbles, turning their head to look towards the door.

With Y/n turned away, Niki leans down to press a kiss against Y/n’s cheek. He’s always been pretty good at timing things but he can’t tell if this is impeccable timing or the worst case of bad luck. Y/n’s face turns just as his lips go to make contact, the feeling of their lips and not their cheek causing Niki’s eyes to widen in shock.

…

They just kissed…

Niki had his first kiss…

And it was with Y/n.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Y/n gasps, pulling away completely from Niki. They stare at each other for a moment, eyes wide as saucepans, before Niki coughs awkwardly. He turns away to look down the street as Y/n stares down at their feet.

“Oh, would you look at that, my bus is coming.” Niki lies. “Gotta run so I don’t miss it, I’ll see you at school.” He blurts out, turning and practically running back towards the street. Y/n moves just as quickly, rushing inside their house and slamming the door shut behind them.

…

What the hell just happened?

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#enhypen #enhypen fanfic #enhypen fanfiction #enhypen x reader #enhypen fluff #enhypen niki #niki fanfic #niki fanfiction #niki x reader #niki fluff #enhypen riki #nishimura riki #enhypen heeseung #enhypen jay #enhypen jake #enhypen sunghoon #enhypen sunoo #enhypen jungwon #kpop #kpop fanfic #kpop fanfiction #kpop x reader #kpop fluff #fanfic #fanfiction #x reader #fluff

[wayfayrr]

So this is very much a self indulgent mini-fic, venting about some stuff that I've been dealing with recently <3 I'm working on requests and some other fics but I got told to post this to get it off of my chest anyway @cloudninetonine @angry-trashcan thanks for the confidence boost to be able to post this

“Hey, you’ve been sitting over here for a while, you feeling alright?”

“Just been thinking… I was part of some drama before I was uh brought here. It’s just, it’s just messed with me a bit I guess. I’ll be fine when we need to start moving again, don’t worry wars.”

After a brief second of fabric shuffling, he sits down and leans on me. It’s an oddly comforting feeling, different too like he’s bothered by something? What could’ve set him off so badly?

“Would you mind if I asked you about it? It’s clearly bothering you so, you should get it off of your chest and well, I’d just like to help you through this.”

“If you really want to know, it’s a little complicated though and while I can make a lot of it make sense to you I’ll have to leave a couple of things out.”

“Sounds like you’re willing to get it off of your chest though, so would you care to explain it to me honeybee?”

He’s being more persistent than usual too, have I really been looking so badly bothered by my thoughts? The worry does feel nice however, it feels more like talking to an old friend than anything which is wonderful seeing as I’ve not been able to reach them recently. I’ve just been stuck rereading old messages in a new context while my phone endlessly buffers to reach impossibly far servers.

“It’s… I’d been having issues with this person for a while… they used me more than anything, kept asking me for advice and making everything about them and brushed anything I or my other friends were trying to say off and sent things they really shouldn’t to people unwarrented… and then everything else.”

“Everything else? You don’t have to cut yourself off, with how you’ve been acting the rest feels like it’ll be worse anyway.”

“They just - someone connected some dots and pointed them out to me and I just… I’ve been going back over what they said and - and - and it made me think. They told me they associated my voice with a character they always got weird over, they kept fawning over my accent and how they’ve only ever heard it in fiction before, they gave me weird compliments when I was talking about things I did as a kid and that’s not even getting me started on how they treated my friends. I just… I feel so disgusted, seeing it in this light. Every bit of my skin just itches with disgust towards myself. Sorry I didn’t mean to share so much at once - I’m just tired. They didn’t even like me, it was like they only wanted me for where I’m from.”

The way he stilled sent a shiver down me, did I say to much? He might have not meant it when he said I could share… I mean theres no way he could’ve known… or does he think I’m simply overreacting? I’m probably just overreacting anyway.

My heart started beating again when he softened and pulled me to rest on him.

“I’m so sorry you had to go through that all. They’re the one who is disgusting, not you, never you. I’ll speak to time, you should just rest for the rest of the day. I can lend you my scarf and you can just have a nap or I could ask wild to make your favourite food and you can just rest.”

I didn’t get a say before he’s already draped it over my shoulders; he’s leading me back over to the others and setting me down next to sky as he goes to speak with time. 

“Hmm? Did something happen, are you feeling alright dove?”

“Ah well, wars is going to ask time if we can stop for the day because I’m just dealing with some memories. I hope it won’t bother the others.”

“I doubt it, everyone’s been tense and tired recently. I know I have, I’ve been about dying for a rest. Would you care to join me too?”

Leaning back against him is all the response he needs as my eyes flutter closed, he’s so warm and comfortable. There are few people I’d prefer to rest next to. 

><><><><><><

“So then old man, I think that’s a good enough reason to settle for the day, don’t you?”

I know he’ll agree, asking him like this is simply a formality. After all, how could we continue when a member of the group is in such a state? On the verge of tears just from thinking about someone for a little bit too long. 

“You’ve never asked this for anyone else, but fine.” “Thank you Time, I’ll pay you back for this.”

“And Wars?”

“Hmm?”

“Go take your anger out on something, it’s not a good energy in the camp. Not if they’re so fragile right now. There’s apparently a standard bokoblin camp just a little south.”

He’s seen right through me then, but now I don’t need an alibi for when I come back.

#venting #vent fic #linked universe x reader #yandere linked universe x reader #yandere linked universe #link x reader #moss✦writes

[thepixelelf]

25¢ Magic

Genres: fluff, romance, friends-to-lovers, mans-in-love-disease Pairing: Reader & Wonwoo (Seventeen) Words: 2.6k Warnings: other than some food mentions, none! all fluff 💕 Notes: yet another recasted fic sorry!! I reread the original last night and imagined it with wonwoo and liked it too much 😖 (i changed a couple things to be more inclusive since the original is a way older work! if there are any mistakes regarding inclusivity, please let me know!)

Wonwoo needed a little magical intervention. Definitely not for you. For his eyes. Yeah. His eyes.

Magic 25¢

Through his glasses, Wonwoo eyed the sign above the tiny corner shop as he stood there, debating whether or not to enter. You'd recommended the place to him a few weeks ago, even though you'd never bought the so-called "magic" yourself. According to you, the sorceress inside fixed whatever problem she deemed fit, all for the low low price of practically nothing.

At first, Wonwoo had brushed off your suggestion, scoffing at the idea of a mythical being actually solving his life problems, but now, he wasn't so sure. He couldn't be certain what exactly brought him there, to the small store in the middle of the bustling city, though he had his suspicions.

Lately, you'd been occupying his thoughts in weird ways. He had no idea why, but one day -- and he couldn't tell you which one -- he started looking for you whenever he found something funny or saw something beautiful, or thinking he'd seen you in a busy crowd when really you were never there at all; things like that. It confused him more than he would care to admit. You were his friend, yes. Someone he cared about more than most, but recently you got yourself a position in Wonwoo's heart that no friend has ever touched before. It scared him. What were you doing?

So he'd come to the corner shop. desperate for some sort of relief. The tinted windows and seemingly decrepit interior almost made him change his mind, but the brain-racking problem that was you made him enter.

A pervasive scent wafted up to Wonwoo's nose when he opened the door, smelling like rosewater and oranges. The shop was brightly lit, with various plants and flowers either placed on every available surface or hanging from the ceiling. Gold accents came in the form of geometric wires in various shapes accompanying the flower pots or hanging above the windows. From what Wonwoo could see, the only spot not covered with greenery was a marble counter near the back, which housed a silver service bell.

Before he could ring the bell, a girl popped up from behind the counter, startling him enough to jump back at her sudden appearance. She wore a plain white t-shirt and light wash jeans, matching the shop's simple feel, but her bright pink hair covered her face, and she spent a few seconds just getting it out of the way.

"Hi!" she greeted cheerfully, blowing the last few strands of stray hair away from her face. "Do you have a quarter?"

"Are you... the sorceress?"

She chuckled, a light sort of laugh that you do in front of people you aren't close to. "Sure am! I'm not what you expected, huh?"

Wonwoo didn't want to admit that he expected a haggish old woman wearing torn black rags and looking half past death, so he kept his mouth shut. Instead, he took a quarter from his back pocket and slid it across the counter.

"I'm guessing you know the drill; you give the quarter and I fix whatever I think you need most." She took the quarter and placed it somewhere under the marble counter, then pointed at a little table in the opposite corner of the shop, right next to the windows. "Have a seat. I'll be right back with some tea."

When she returned with two steaming teas in fine china cups, she sat in front of Wonwoo and looked into his eyes. He pursed his lips, not knowing exactly what to say, but also not wanting to turn away.

"I've decided. I'm going to fix your eyesight."

Wonwoo's fingers unconsciously fixed his glasses, though they weren't skewed in the first place. "My... eyesight?"

"Yup!" Her smile was soft, nothing like what Wonwoo expected before he came in. "Right now, it's what you need more than anything else."

Well, who was he to argue with a sorceress? It wasn't like he was going to straight-up ask her to fix his you problem. He was too shy to just give himself away like that to a total stranger. Maybe this really was what he needed. Though, he actually started to like his glasses after you said they made him look like, quote, "boyfriend material".

"So, if you would just take off your glasses--" the girl said, taking a sip of her tea. "--then I can get started."

Hesitantly, Wonwoo pulled his glasses from his face, placing them down on the wooden tabletop. From a little metal box that Wonwoo hadn't noticed before, she procured a small glass bottle, filled halfway with a lilac-coloured dust that sparkled in the sunlight. It was only then that Wonwoo questioned the windows . They looked tinted from the outside, and... the shop looked empty through them, but now they were clear and letting in plenty of sunlight, and the shop was clearly anything but empty. Was this really magic?

His eyesight wasn't that bad, he thought, especially since he could tell what she was doing when she pulled out the cork and poured some of the dust into her palm. She struggled for a second to plug the cork back one-handed and stick it back in the box.

"Keep your eyes open, please."

Without a second warning, she blew onto her palm, raising the dust off her hand and straight into Wonwoo's eyes. He flinched, falling back in his chair as he coughed. Through squinted eyes, he watched her gulp down the rest of her tea and pack up, then stand from her chair and walk away towards the counter.

"That's all. It should take effect by tomorrow morning."

With another smile, she disappeared into some sort of back room, leaving Wonwoo to wonder why the hell he ever followed your advice in the first place.

•

Wonwoo couldn't deny that he was a little excited to not need his glasses anymore. Sure, he didn't mind wearing them at all, but updating prescriptions costs a lot of money, and keeping them clean was a whole other ordeal. So, when he got up to make breakfast, he left his room with upturned lips, his glasses still on his bedside table.

It was only partway into breakfast -- when he tried to look at the clock on his oven and couldn't tell time -- that he realized his eyesight wasn't fixed at all. Same blurry vision, same nearsightedness. What happened? Had he been ripped off? But who on earth would scam someone for 25 cents?

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his buzzer. He walked over to the door, pressing the camera button to see a pixelated version of you standing right in front of it, a big bag in your hands as you waved towards the camera.

He buzzed you in, not thinking much of it. You had a habit of showing up out of the blue.

"Wonwoo!" you greeted happily when he opened the door. "Are you ready?"

In the time you took to get up the stairs to his apartment, he'd found his glasses and put them on, as well as cleaned up breakfast. But ready? He wasn't ready.

As soon as he'd opened the door, you shined like you never had before, like a sunset glimmering off the ocean horizon. It very nearly blinded him. Your smile seemed so bright, and when you frowned at his lack of response (aside from wide eyes and a slack jaw) he had this surging feeling that he absolutely needed you to smile again.

Though, your pout put him in just as much awe in a different, alluring way.

"Don't tell me you forgot," you whined, bottom lip jutted out. "You promised we'd go to the carnival today."

He couldn't stop staring. Your eyes, your cheeks, your lips. All of you drew him in, and he couldn't say why.

"Wonwoo!"

Snapping out of his reverie, he blinked a few times to clear his vision, but nothing changed. You still looked...

Enchanting.

He stammered, trying to get back to himself. The regular Wonwoo, not the one stumbling over the sight of you. "What... huh?"

You rolled your eyes, a move from you that Wonwoo always liked, and today was no exception. Except, this time, he almost lost himself again just with that one action.

"The carnival? C'mon, you promised, so get dressed. We're leaving in ten minutes." Grunting, you used all of your might to push Wonwoo through his small apartment into his room and closed the door between you.

Once you were out of sight, Wonwoo stumbled backwards into his room and practically fell onto his bed, head in his hands. What the hell was happening to him? You looked exactly the same as you always did. Your face was the same, your style of clothes, the way your eyes moved with each expression. So what changed?

Whatever. Wonwoo assured himself that all these weird feelings would fade soon enough. He was probably just tired.

"So," you started once he stepped out of his room. "I've made a one-hundred percent foolproof plan so we can go on every single ride and hit every stall I want. Plus, I've written down our choices of what to buy so we stay within budget."

You were already halfway out the door before he could respond, giant carnival map held in both hands.

•

Wonwoo had a hard time concentrating on the carnival with you right next to him. He'd started noticing little things he'd never picked up on before, like the way your smile grew half a centimetre wider after you scored a single point at a stall game, or the way your eyes screwed shut when you screamed on a rollercoaster. Normally, Wonwoo could barely handle keeping his own eyes open on rollercoasters, but this time he just couldn't keep them off you.

It was by the time you bought food that you noticed something was up.

"Are you okay? You've been quiet all morning," you asked him as you sat down with your lunch. (Not the healthiest thing in the world, but hey, that's what carnivals are for.)

The concern on your face reminded him of something. He didn't know what it was, exactly, but he knew he both liked it in a weird way and wanted you to never feel concern ever again. "I'm fine." He sat up straight. "Just... thinking about something."

"Oh? Like what?" You chewed on your food, leaning forward on your elbows and propping your chin in your palm. Why did he find every single thing you did endearing?

"It's nothing," he assured you, though he was mostly trying to convince himself that. He needed to switch up the subject -- far far away from his feelings -- otherwise he might just burst. "I heard you beat Seungcheol at Mario Kart yesterday."

Your face lifted as you sported a triumphant smile, launching into the riveting story of how you finally won a grand prix against Seungcheol for the first time. Wonwoo concentrated on your storytelling for only a few seconds before he got lost in your eyes and how they sparkled like a thousand, no, a million stars.

"And the, when he asked for a rematch, I stood up and went, 'I'm king now! Your words hold no power here!' so he chased me around his entire apartment, that brat!" You waved your hands around to illustrate your story. "It's okay though, 'cause guess what? I won a second time for our rematch! Gosh, it was so satisfying."

"Really? That's cool." Wonwoo tried to react instead of just staring at the way your skin looked today.

"Uh huh... and then he kicked me out of his house."

"Oh, nice." Your furrowed brows were so adorable.

"Yeah, and then David Bowie rose from his grave just to serenade me as I walked home."

"That's fun." You've got something on your lip; Wonwoo wouldn't mind helping--

You clapped your hands in front of his face. "Wonwoo!"

Jolting up, Wonwoo blinked a few times, but the beguiling you didn't disappear. "What-- what?!"

"You're spacing out on me! Are you okay? Do you have a cold or something? Why didn't you tell me?!" You reached out your hand to his forehead, brushing underneath his hair to feel his temperature. "Oh my god, you're burning up!"

Yes, he was feeling hot, but definitely not because of some fever.

"I'm taking you home. I can't believe you didn't tell me you were sick!" You grabbed his wrist and pulled him up, about to walk away and abandon your lunches.

Oh god. Oh no. If you took him home and started fawning over his "sickness", while looking this ethereal, Wonwoo would probably spontaneously combust.

"No, uh, no!" He wrenched himself from your grip. "I'm fine, really!"

Scrunching up your face, you mocked him, "'No, uh, no!' I think you mean: yes, uh, yes, because we're leaving. C'mon."

"No, we can do more. What about your foolproof plan? What about the rides? Let's keep going."

You crossed your arms and huffed. "I'm worried about you."

Were you trying to make him explode?

"I'm fine. Better than ever. I can do more."

"Are you sure?"

"One-hundred percent."

You sighed, uncrossing your arms. "Fine," you gave in. "We'll do one more ride. Just one."

"Great! What's next on your plan?"

Grabbing your paper map, you tried to read your own writing. You squinted at your plan. "Uh... next up is the Tunnel of Love."

Wonwoo choked on his own spit. "The what?!"

"The Tunnel of Love. I've heard it's really famous here."

"Why would we go in a Tunnel of Love?"

You crossed your arms again. "Because my friend told me it's really pretty on the inside. We could just go home, if that's what you want."

"No, no," Wonwoo said. "I'll go on it."

Your friend was right, it was really pretty on the inside. At least, you thought so. Wonwoo was too busy staring at you under the pink and red lights, oh and the reflection of the chandeliers and fairy lights in your eyes. Your smile was just as stunning as whatever the ride had to offer, in fact, he would argue that you were ten-- no a hundred times more stunning.

He liked the way you smiled and pointed at the things you thought were pretty. He liked the way you looked at him every time, just so you could see if he was enjoying himself, too. He liked the way your smile got wider when you saw his. He liked you.

He liked you.

"See, I knew you'd like it," you said cheekily. Your face looked so cheerful under the coloured lights. "Are you feeling any better?"

Wonwoo nodded. "I think I'm feeling..."

He always imagined falling in love to be something unexpected, like spilling coffee on someone in a cafe, or getting wrapped up in a dog leash with an attractive stranger, or meeting someone outside of a club who hated them as much as he did, but this was much better. Sure, seeing you in an entirely different way, in a whole new light than ever before was sudden. It was like falling into a pit trap with how quickly it happened, but unexpected? No. Wonwoo should've seen this coming.

I've decided. I'm going to fix your eyesight.

For the low, low price of practically nothing.

Without any warning, he leaned in and landed a sweet peck on your lips. "...much better."

•

"Oh, did you ever visit this place?" You gestured towards the Magic 25¢ sign. "I would, but I don't think I have any problems worth fixing right now." Peering through the dark windows, you furrowed your brows at the seemingly empty shop. "It looks closed..."

Wonwoo pulled his hand up, yours in tow with your fingers interlocked in his. He placed a quick kiss on the back of your hand, smiling. "Maybe, but I bet she works wonders."

#jeon wonwoo scenarios #jeon wonwoo imagines #jeon wonwoo x reader #wonwoo x reader #wonwoo scenarios #wonwoo imagines #seventeen scenarios #seventeen imagines #seventeen x reader #svt scenarios #svt imagines #kpop imagines #kpop scenarios #.100 #.200 #.300 #.400 #.500 #.600

[detectivebambam]

For the choosing violence thing.

I curious about your thoughts on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24, and 25

(Your thoughts make my day tbh)

lol i gotchu pinky

the character everyone gets wrong: Dan. she's not a badass. i mean she is, but she's not. she's a scared little girl who had to raise herself and has no idea what she's doing at any given time and i love her for it

why andrew would never top or bottom: actually he does both, and tends to enjoy it. kind of an agressive top but Neil likes it, and sometimes likes to follow orders when he bottoms 🫣 i think they do anything and everything with each other. Neil could be dominant or submissive at any given time, which gives Andrew space to learn about what he actually enjoys. He finds that as long as it involves Neil, he doesn't mind

worst tumblr take I've seen: that Andrew was a misogynist because he doesn't like being manipulated, and "manipulation is a woman's weapon" like how is THAT not misogynistic be so real

why did you block that annoying person?: kept saying that Kevin abused Riko as much as Riko abused Kevin. don't know how far they had to reach into the depths of their asshole to find that one, i just hope they didn't get stuck

i don't have discord

which ship fans are the most annoying: y'all are going to absolutely murder me for this but kevaaron. 1) where did it come from? 2) what's wrong with Katie?? 3) no hate ship what u want but also, i can ship what i want? and it's fine it's literally fine

what character did you start to hate because of fanon: i hate to say it but Thea. i adored her when I read the books originally, but after 4 years of exclusively fanon content i didn't like her. but i did a reread recently and adore her again so it's all good

common fandom opinion everyone is wrong about: Andrew being a sex god. Neil is his first consensual sexual partner. like yeah he knows how to suck dick like a dying man, which he learned in juvie (when he was 13-16?) but in terms of sex? he doesn't know what he's doing and he's probably really scared and nervous

worst part of canon: kevin and thea turning their daughter into a mini Raven 😔

worst part of fanon: Renee erasure 😔😔

fandom related words you've filtered: as of currently? anything tsc related because I don't have access to it yet and people aren't tagging properly. but I also have Rinee (rixo x renee) blocked because,,, what do you actually mean

unpopular character you like and why people should like them: Aaron. yeah he's an asshole and a little homophobic but he was raised that way and he's getting better

worst blorboification: if this means what i think it means, fucking riko. like wdym "he serves cunt" he needs to serve time

answered prev

answered prev

you can't understand why this is popular: kevaaron, any riko ship, riko himself, ichirou x neil, andreil breaking up in fics ?

there should be more of this: fic: oral fixation. sexual or non sexual idc but let's Freud these bitches. fanart: ANDREW WITH LONG HAIR PLS PLS PLS

it's criminal that y'all have been sleeping on: STUART HATFORD. LITERALLY NEXT TO WYMACK ON THE FATHER FIGURE SCALE. I LOVE HIM

you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like: i don't feel guilt I'm Presbyterian

part of canon you found boring: anytime they were in class like wdym

part of canon you think is overhyped: this one is going to get me in trouble so i wanna start off by saying that yes, Riko was a victim of abuse. I'm not disputing that at all. but the part where he got beat by Tetsuji and "was more blood and bruise than skin", while being horrible, was also because of Kevin leaving due to Riko breaking his hand. Tetsuji lost one of his biggest investments because of Riko's petty ego

fav part of canon that everyone ignores: Stuart Hatford man

ship you've unwillingly come around to: Kandreil lol. i didn't like it at first but idk the more fanfic i see I'm like yeah that could be cute

topic that brings up the most rancid discourse: picture this, if you will: Nora Sakavic says something about her own damn characters. yeah that's all

common fandom complaint you're sick of hearing: "it's poorly written" it's not. if you can get over the first chapter of The Raven King, the rest is actually written very well and it's so so beautiful and depicts traumatized characters in a way I haven't seen before that is very refreshing

ty for the ask pinky ily

#aftg #all for the game #andrew minyard #nora sakavic #the foxhole court #neil josten #andreil #kevin day #aaron minyard #jean moreau #alison reynolds #matt boyd #renee walker #stuart hatford #riko moriyama #tetsuji moriyama #dan wilds #nicky hemmick #kandreil #kateaaron

[fefairys]

I just read up to the breakup with Meenah and Vriska and fuck, i really dislike that whole situation. Got any thoughts you wanna ramble about regarding that?

OKAY I FINALLY GOT HERE IN MY REREAD.

god yes everything involving meenah and (vriska) and the vriska (vriska) confrontation is extremely fascinating to me. mostly because i resonate with a lot of it so hard it hurts. long ass post below. i got very personal lol what can i say. i vriska.

(vriska) goes into people-pleasing mode when she and meenah are alone. it actually reminds me of how she would sometimes act with kanaya. the vulnerability, mainly. but like. its a little different. with kanaya it was more like 'youre the only bitch around here i respect, but im still better than everyone else. i want you to like me but i dont NEED you to! (<-lie)' but with meenah its like 'you are the only person i have and so i have to be good for you so you dont leave me.'

she backs down super easily with meenah. sometimes she does argue for herself, but ultimately she always ends up deferring to meenah. she wants to agree with everything she says. wants her to like her:

^ she doesnt want to say the carnival looks fun until she's gotten meenah's approval. she has to be cool for meenah.

her suggestion gets shot down and she immediately sides with meenah. oh yeah i didnt want to do that anyway in fact i hate horses!

it's tricky, because of some of it seems like actual Character Development, and her getting over some shit. and i definitely think these thinks dont have to be mutually exclusive. she can be realizing things about herself and moving on from them while at the same time falling into habits that are equally unhealthy for a person.

she realizes she used to care way too much about stuff and tries to counter it by not caring at all. she realizes she used to push people around to much and counters it by becoming a pushover herself. this is sickeningly relatable to me.

the scene where meenah convinces her to get a tattoo is a good example of this.

she realizes that a long-held opinion she had is actually kind of bullshit, and that she cared way too much about it for no reason. good job, vriska!

but then she pretty much leaves the actual decision of it up to meenah! she asks meenah to tell her what to do instead of thinking for herself. she justifies it by agreeing that she loves pirate stuff anyway! shes trying to make up for a lifetime of bossing people around by asking someone else to boss her around. and she convinces herself that this is making her happy! and i mean it definitely is, in a way. it feels good to feel liked by someone. to have the approval of someone you look up to. it is making her happy. but is that... good for her? i dont know! it doesn't feel good to me.

this stuff is hitting me extremely close to home on this reread because i like JUST came upon the revolution that i kinda did this? not to this extreme polarity, but it still resonates.

i was (kind of am still, it's in my nature) a very bossy and controlling person, and i lost an entire circle of friends because they were rightfully tired of me telling them what to do and being so self-righteous all the time. so when trying to make new friends after that, i turned on people-pleaser mode. and i'm kind of still stuck there and trying to strike a balance between being a doormat people-pleaser and being a huge bitch that wants everyone to behave how *i* want them to. it is a hard balance to strike. its hard knowing when i should stand up and say something and when i should let something go, so most often i let things go. and OFTENTIMES i live to regret it. "i should have said something" is something i've been finding myself thinking A LOT in recent months...

and its tricky, because it feels good when people i respect say they approve of me. i feel happy that someone likes me. but sometimes that has come at the cost of sacrificing parts of myself. and it can feel good in the moment, to feel connected to someone like that, but then one day you wake up full of dread because you dont know who the fuck you are anymore. (vriska) didn't really ever get to that point, or, she never voiced it. vriska points out that shes become an entirely different person, but she does it in a way that uhhh fucking sucks lol! and is not helpful, because vriska's not exactly doing great, herself! she shows off her hypocrisy DELICIOUSLY in this scene.

she calls (vriska) selfish for.... being dead, essentially. and she justifies all her own selfish actions with it being "for the greater good," just as she always has. this is par for the course with vriska

^ i looooove this part right here where she sidesteps the fact that she did in fact plan to go fight jack but john punched her in the face to stop her. "different shit happened!" (i actually made the exact same decisions as you, but an outside force changed things and now i feel superior to you because i got a serendipitous opportunity that you didnt)

this whole conversation hits hard with me. it literally sounds similar to conversations ive had with myself! it's hard to not want to side with (vriska) i mean she does feel like the more reasonable one in this conversation and has had more time to think and reflect on herself, and vriska is being a fucking asshole about it, but like, i don't think either of them is exactly Right?

like, vriska has a bit of a point that (vriska) doesnt seem to notice that she's gone people-pleaser mode. but (vriska) thinks this is what happiness is. she despises her old self who was obsessed with inserting herself into everything and feeling the need to be The Best and prove herself as such, to catastrophic outcomes. so of course she wants to separate herself from that as much as possible and strive to become the opposite of it. someone who doesnt care about shit, and who lets other people make decisions for her instead of her making the decisions for everyone against their will. i think (vriska) was on the right track, but just couldn't really... Get There without the right support. and meenah was definitely not the right support.

but anyways like. vriska yelling at (vriska) at how disgusted she is with her is so sickeningly similar to me, looking back and realizing that i used to like.. stand up for myself more. if someone said some shit i didnt like i TOLD them i had a problem. i didn't let people push me around. and i think god, what happened to me? i became a weak loser that bends to peoples idea of what i should be instead of being myself. am i really happy?

but its not like i was better off before, either. vriska still isn't right. yeah i didnt let people boss me around, because i bossed THEM around. when i told people i had a problem with them i was MEAN about it. i said rude shit unnecessarily. i made everything about me and didn't care about what other people thought.

my past self and my "current" self (maybe like, my 'a few months ago self' i like to think im working through it but im still having trouble lol) are disgusted with each other. im disgusted that i used to straight up bully people all the time, and past me is disgusted that i seemed to have stopped having convictions, that i let other people decide who i should be, etc.

neither of them are really happy, but (vriska) sure seems a lot kinder, at least. she's made progress, but in a way that benefits other people more than it does herself.

also i love vriska saying "what happened to not letting shit get to you because you always knew you were better than the one slinging it" that is such utter bullshit. she is ALWAYS letting stuff get to her. all of her god damn actions are because she lets stuff get to her. everything she does is to prove herself. the cycle of revenge shit?? yeah totally didn't let it get to you. thats why you killed aradia and blinded terezi. because you were just so totally better than them and not letting it get to you. this stuff:

yeah. letting it roll off your back. lol

anyways back to meenah and (vriska)

meenah recognizes this vulnerability in (vriska) and it scares her. she does the whole "im abandoning you... for your own good..." thing, which... sucks! as you said, this whole situation just fucken sucks, man.

(vriska) basically admits that at this point, without meenah, she's lost. she let meenah mold her into what she wanted, and to lose her would be to lose herself.

but i mean i don't think there was another way this could've gone. (vriska) was essentially meenah's rebound after aranea (and vriska is her rebound after (vriska) lol) and it's just.. ALL bad. its just... everyone here has such deep personal issues that they cant help but let effect each other, yknow? meenah realizes that her issues are effecting (vriska) and thinks that removing herself from the situation is best. maybe it is? it turns out okay for (vriska) in the end, at least. as "okay" as she can possibly get, i guess.

i don't know. there's a lot here! it all just hurts and sucks. teens, man. how it is.

this is just my (very personal, frankly) interpretation of the events, idk. i think i said a lot here without actually saying anything all that substantial, as i feel like i tend to do. i just resonate with vriska really hard, what and you gave me an opportunity to ramble about it lol

#asks #enviousennui #sams reading homestuck again #vriska #(vriska) #meenah

[riddlerosehearts]

okay, i've got some things i wanna say about twst EN's translation of scarabia's story that i was originally typing out as part of a response to an ask, but then i realized i was going off on a bit of a tangent and was like "this could basically be its own post"--so now it's going to be its own post!

i'm a twst EN player, and for the most part, i do really like the localization. i don't speak japanese but i love learning about language and the process of translation and localization, so at one point after finishing books 1-5 i went and reread them all (and 6 as well, once it was fully released on EN) with a fan translation and the localization side by side to compare them. and from what i could tell as someone who isn't a japanese speaker, i honestly thought it seemed like they usually did pretty well? sure, there were a few mistakes like cater claiming to be an only child (this one, i think, has actually been fixed recently), or how in book 2 they removed a small mention of falena making it seem like he's never mentioned at all until leona's flashback and they also removed the numerous times that he said "be prepared" (at least they finally properly translated it in book 6, though!!). but i thought most of these mistakes were somewhat minor and could be forgiven... until book 4 (well, and book 5, mostly in regards to vil and epel's conflict and i'm not talking about them here, so).

see, i actually realized that something was off about the localization when i first played through book 4, because i have a weird memory and have picked up a bunch of random words and phrases from being into japanese media and reading so much about the localization process. and i also play twst with the sound on because i love to hear the voice acting. so sometimes i would hear jamil speak, i'd pick out the words "shujin" and "juusha" for "master" and "servant", and then the subtitles wouldn't include them at all. so i'd guess certain things about the actual intent behind the story based on that. take this message i sent to my friend when i was sharing my blind reactions to the game:

and she ended up telling me that apparently, what i thought he should say essentially IS what he originally said!! according to the fan translation on wiki.gg he said this instead:

i had wondered if maybe i was reading into things and assuming too much, but it turned out i was completely spot on! but most people who play EN would not be able to pick up on this and realize that jamil was born into servitude to kalim and has no escape, because as i later discovered almost every single mention of him being a servant at all was removed, in events and vignettes as well. which is actually really weird to me because they don't remove it entirely, they do in fact bring up the fact that jamil has to test all of kalim's food for poison during book 4 and they also left in a line where he says he "works as kalim's servant". but they only really mention these things once or twice and then they try to sort of play it off as jamil being a paid employee or something most of the time... seriously, during beanfest there's dialogue where jamil says it would be rude to refuse an order from his boss but i've read that that line was originally him saying a servant couldn't disobey his master. and in the scalding sands event he calls himself "a dedicated employee" of kalim's... what, am i supposed to assume he works as a butler by choice or something? yeah, no. also, one of his birthday vignettes, which are fully voiced so i could TELL he said, with a devious smirk on his face, that if he had a parrot the first word he would teach it would be "shujin-sama". "master". what did EN change this into?

the person i was originally writing all of this in response to said that sometimes people's takes on jamil make them wonder if people are reading a completely different story but also that part of that can probably be blamed on the way EN completely changed the context of his situation with these translation choices. and yeah, i fully agree with that assessment: more casual fans or people who just aren't that interested in the scarabia duo could be said to be reading a different story with this whole "boss" and "employee" thing that has jamil make it sound like the worst that could ever happen to him if he got in trouble would be getting a really stern lecture from his parents.

and it makes me sad because i really do love both jamil and kalim so much and i think their dynamic is so tragic and complicated and interesting to think about. i think they're both really complex characters who are trapped in an awful situation. kalim is so kind and loving and would never wanna hurt anyone but he hurts jamil just by existing as part of the fucked up society they live in. kalim thought he and jamil were best friends, he had no idea of the toxicity of their dynamic and the pain jamil was in, and people say jamil should've just talked to him about it earlier... but jamil's first memory as a child is of seeing his parents bow to the asim family. being a servant is practically all he's ever known and he's had it drilled into his head since they were both small children that he can never be himself around kalim, can never just treat him like a normal person because he's a servant and kalim is his master. and even if he did accept kalim's offer to start over as equals and be friends, what would happen when they had to go home to their families? they won't be at school forever.

and i just. augh. i hate what the localization does with them. if you try to water them down to just an employee who's super mad at his obliviously crappy boss, or just two childhood friends who needed to communicate better or something like that, then you take away from the complexity of both characters. you also lose extremely cool writing choices like how jamil is a character who was born into servitude but has the power to make himself the master with his unique magic. i see so many takes about how jamil is just a jerk who betrayed his best friend and how kalim never did anything wrong in his entire life and i hate it but i'm sure the localization's choices are in fact to blame for a lot of this.

so anyway jamil and kalim's actual dynamic is fascinating and lives rent-free in my head, no thanks to how the EN version gutted it.

#twisted wonderland #jamil viper #kalim al asim #going to also add a small thing here in my tags: i personally don't ship jamil and kalim lol #i just love their dynamic... platonically?? feels like the wrong word because they're not really friends LOL #not in love. not even friends. but tied together in a secret third really fucked up and tragic way. #and the secret third thing is NOT 'annoying boss' and 'minimum wage customer service employee' #this also isn't meant to be discourse about like #'if you interpret their dynamic Wrong then you're stupid and i hate you' or whatever #because i'm mainly just complaining about what the translators did 😭 #scarabia boys

[prince-liest]

You inspired me to write! And I got up to 2k words for the first time ever when it comes to writing for myself... but I'm struggling a bit 😅 Do you have any advice about narrator POV and how you use your verb tenses? It's like I have no idea how you manage to "head-hop" while still being an omniscient narrator so smoothly & effortlessly. And verb tenses. if I write "was" one more time I might pop a gasket lol. any help is appreciated <3 have a good one!

First of all, that's freaking amazing! 2k is a lot, congratulations! That might sound weird coming from me considering how many words I put out, but I 100% remember the struggle of being newer to writing and hitting multiple thousands of words for the first time - I'm so happy for you!

Second of all: I actually write exclusively in third person limited POV, not third person omniscient! Even though I'm writing in third person, the narration is fully from the perspective of the point of view character, which I personally enjoy a lot because it allows for a lot of unreliable narration and also characterization through how their train of thought manifests (choppy, stressed, dreamy, etc). That's why when I'm writing from the point of view of character A, for example, any assumptions about character B's motivations are what character A is thinking, not an omniscient narrator informing you.

That said, you still have to head-hop specifically to write the actual visible actions and dialogue of the second character, and that's actually the most recent thing that I used to struggle with in writing specifically because I got most of my initial writing experience doing roleplay where I was only ever responsible for one character's thoughts and actions at a time.

Honestly, the main thing I can say is that it gets much, much easier with practice. When you start out, it will genuinely just take you longer to switch from the mindset of one character to another! I used to take character notes to put together little snapshot profiles of character headspaces to re-orient myself between the characters I was writing when I felt like I was getting lost. They included things like a few traits to keep in mind, behavior mindset, and snippets of dialogue that I thought were very representative. I don't use these anymore, but I do still do things like rewatch episodes or reread portions of books when I'm learning new characters to orient myself to their personality. It's like code-switching to me nowadays.

As for verb tense: I was a consummate Homestuck, so I started out writing in second person present tense, hahaha, and while I've adopted the third person POV (and believe me, this took adjusting), I've kept writing in present tense as a personal preference. I like it because it makes things feel more in-the-moment as they're happening, because there's less grammatical fuckery involved when describing the past vs the present, and just because I'm used to it. That said, past tense is more common and stands out less to people, and I think that you are finding all of your "was"s a lot more noticable than a reader would! People generally don't really notice the tense of what they're reading once they get into the flow of it.

#ask #personal #Anonymous #my writing #writing advice #I also tried to switch to past tense and kept fucking it up #like genuinely switching tenses halfway through a paragraph and not noticing at ALL #and unlike writing in second person POV it didn't seem like an actual issue wrt readability so I just stopped trying #long post #I hope this was at least a bit helpful! #I've honestly never written an omniscient narrator so I'm afraid I can't be much help with that #I'm too much of a sucker for unreliable limited narrators haha #I love how telling a narration can be about a character's mindset #also side note my oldest fic on AO3 which is a little Soul Eater oneshot from 2015 is in second person hahaha #A RELIC #(ofc I have some fantroll stuff on there as well but that's SUPPOSED to be second person)

[not-poignant]

@morbidlizard replied to your post “Can I ask, why do you love BL romance better than...”:

I mean it's unfortunate but asian BL is just hands down better than western for so many reasons <: / I've been reading asian BL for literal decades now (AHHH) and I can maybe count on one hand the western series I've enjoyed that had some sort of queer romance that had all I wanted or at least a part of the tropes I like...And even then, it's usually F/F relationships 9_9 (and when I say asian, I mean japanese, korean, chinese, some indonesian too! etc etc...)

​Actually yeah this is also really where it's at

I think a lot about how we're still getting extremely like... milquetoast wholesome queer narratives (most of the time) in western m/m romance media (I have nothing against Heartstopper, but it's extremely 'all queer people are pure wholesome need-to-be-protected jellybeans' and like, cool, but I want more than that as well - like give me 20 shows that are 'all queer people' in 20 different genres, thanks. BL will give me that - BL will pay people to give me that.

The only way I can get that from western media is fanfiction, and sometimes - kind of - from published m/m, when it's not paint-by-numbers rapid release that isn't about telling stories from the heart and it's about telling stories from the bank account instead (which is a valid reason to write, it's just not what I'm looking for as a reader - most readers who end up loving and writing fanfiction aren't looking for this imho)).

Thomas Baudinette is actually doing incredible work in this area of Media Studies, where it's literally a known thing that BL - particularly in countries like Korea, Thailand and Taiwan - is actually taking huge strides ahead in the genre, comparatively, especially when up against western BL.

It almost feels like we're on a giant lag, buffering behind them, and about the only place we aren't is in fanfiction, which makes sense, because the cross-pollination between fandom and south-east Asian BL is incredible (literally, they got omegaverse and guide-verse from western fanfiction and western fandom, and imho are doing a lot more with it for money than we are, see: Pit Babe).

I've been reading up pretty heavily into Baudinette's work, and also a lot of the recent and up-to-date work in BL Studies (a thing), and like, it's just kind of fascinating the different interrogations of BL we have going on in different cultures and subcultures, and how different senses of place and culture and ethnicity and minority and belonging can influence our tales, along with many different manifestations of capitalisation, economy, influence etc.

And that isn't to say there aren't huge problematic areas for BL in all countries, not just western, I can critique western BL so easily because I am western, and it's been really interesting reading critiques of BL from academics who live within other countries from their perspectives too. But I do think if I want really great BL romances, turning to fanfiction and then turning to other cultures and what they're doing is often the first thing I do. I just don't have to search as hard to find what I'm looking for. And like, I'm lazy, lol, I don't want to search through 100 published works to find like 1-5 stories I might reread but not over my favourite manhwa or like fanfiction or whatever.

This has been my area of like... personal study for a few months now (literally reading Regimes of Desire: Young Gay Men, Media and Masculinity in Tokyo by Baudinette atm) and I have a lot of thoughts of which this is just a very generalised ramble and not actually anything of great meaning but like sadkljfas TL;DR yeah

#morbidlizard #idk how to categorise this but #pia on media studies #i do think it's really incredible that we get Pit Babe in part because #western fanfiction exists #what korea and thailand and other countries are doing with omegaverse #i just think hollywood and indie movie studios in the west are fucking cowards #run largely by puritanical evangelistic supremacists #and that other countries are seeing that actually omegaverse could spin them a LOT of money #in the mass media #already #absolutely wild

[mimikittysblog]

✨MimiKitty's 2023 Fic Wrapped✨

So as a fun activity my friends all decided to make a 2023 wrapped ppt! So I decided to make one for all the fics I read in 2023! (I didnt get to present it btw lol)

I put what I decided to be my top fics for each month! Whether it be because of amazing writing, gut wrenching angst, sickeningly cute fluff or nastiest smut I decided to put it as my favorite fic for that month!

NOTE: Some of these were not exactly written/published in the month that I put them in but it was when I read and/or reblogged it!

Now without any further ado! Here is my 2023 Fic wrapped!

January

Happiness by @end-hyphen

Why is painter hoon so attractive???? 😭 The angst in this fic is SO GOOD! Its just really memorable and I love the ending too! ALSO THE PLOT TWISTS?!?! I was gagged yo. I was gripping my phone when I was reading this!!! It's just a really beautiful well written fic! Loooove it so much!!

February

In Another Life by @httphannie

First of all the smut was great!! Loved it! But maaann THE ANGST THROUGH OUT THE WHOLE FIC IS SO GOOD!! The ending is one of the most tear jerking, gut wrenching, heart breaking, soul crushing endings I've ever read. SEUNGCHEOL!! YOU SHOULD'VE JUST FUCKIN ESCAPED PLEASEEEE! I remember BAWLING when I first read it, and ✨surprise surprise✨ I cried again just recently when I reread it again. Its so beautifully written, I get every emotion thats poured into this fic and the story itself is so good and unique in a way I just love it! (also kinda funny but love how this is the only SVT fic that made it on this list 😂😂😂)

March

More than This by @heesbaby

KITTY JAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Thats all.

But in all seriousness, this is a wonderful smau!! I loved every bit of it!! Its so cute and soft! Jay is so BABY KITTY 🥹🥹🥹 I love him to bits! And the funny parts are also so funny! The smut is also good but to me its also so cute too! ALSO THE ANTAGONIST MAKES ME WANT TO COMMIT ARSON HOW DARE SHE HURT MY PRETTY BBY JAY!!! But when a fic gets me reacting like that you know its good! Overall an amazing smau! Love love!

April

The Archer and His Queen by @forjongseong

ARCHER JAY GOT ME ACTING UP DUDEEEE!!! The thought its so hot but you wanna know whats hotter??? HOW RESPECTFUL HE IS THROUGH OUT THIS FIC!! He truly respects his Queen and then truly falls in love with her?!? I CANNOT! Also I like how unique it is! In a way that Jay isn't a knight, not a prince, not a king, not just like a commoner, but an archer. Idk I just like how different it is, how often is it to have the love interest be an archer? (I'm sure pretty common but I rarely see it hehe) plus.. again, thats hot 🥰 The smut is so gooooood!! and the ending is adorable!

May

Ship Happens by @/tfwheeseung

MERMAID JAKE!!!!! Like. MERMAID! JAKE!! Now this story, I don't think any of you can read it anymore? as tfwheeseung (lily) has deactivated. So thats a shame, but if theres a way you can read it please do!! Its so cute and so funny! Jake is like a mermaid pup combined he's adorable here!! HE JUST WANTED TO CATCH YOU A FISH!!! How adorable is that?! Its just a simple and adorable fic that I cant stop giggling about every time I think about it!

June

Angels Like You by @ham-st4r

OH THIS ONE IS SOOOOOOO GOOOOOD!! DUDE THE HEART BREAK I FELT FOR HEESEUNG IN THIS FIC AAAAAAA!!

“I believed that you had changed, I really did,” // “I gave you my heart” // "I trusted you with my body,” //“I-I loved you”

Heart breaking dude 😭😭😭 Like how dare the reader break this soft boys heart!! BUT THE ENDING IS SO BEAUTIFUL!!! LIKE AAAA!! I shed some tears!! Overall I truly absolutely adooooree this fic!!! Plus reading it while listening to the song makes you cry harder 👍

July

Hype Boy by @onlyjaeyun

DOMESTIC JAKE!!! Bro Jakes backstory man 😔😔😔 I've never heard of anything sadder like I FEEL SO BAD FOR HIM AND HIS ADORABLE AND ANGEL OF A BABY BROTHER! I adore the Sim brothers so much and I will do anything I can to protect them AAAAAAAAAA!!!! Hype Boy is such an adorable and sad smau but it ends so beautifully! Jake has an amazing support system in this smau and just the love he has for his baby brother and the reader is unmatched I love love love!!

August

Rule Number 1: Don't Fall in Love by @jaylaxies

Dude idk why I love fake dating tropes, especially when its to get revenge! So I was hooked from the beginning!!! So HAHAHAH GET FUCKED HOON! Jake is SUCH A GREEN FLAG THROUGH OUT THIS ENTIRE THING ITS GORGEOUS TO READ!!!! Also Undercut Jake?!?!? 🤭 yes pleaseeeeee!! also this one?? the smut?? oh yeah it is NASSTYYYYY IN A GOOD WAY AND I LOVE THATT!! But the aftercare is just perfect!! This is a reaaaalllyy good fic that I always find myself constantly rereading!

September

Poison by @onlyjaeyun

Oh wow another onlyjaeyun smau??? well duh when this on is just AN ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE!!!! LIKE OOOHH MY GOD IS THIS ONE AMAZING! Like heeseung is so... AKJSJS I HAVE NO WORDS 😭 The fact he actually gets off on the readers pleasure??? HOT BRO. And how can I not put this as the best thing I read during september when it has lines like THIS:

"I've never wanted anyone as much as I want you, princess" // "I just can't break this promise, Sunghoon is my everything",

"and what about me? What am I to you?"

"My most precious treasure."

Do I need to explain further??? Yeah. I thought so 😊

October

Come Back to Me by @enhaheeseung

This entire series was a rollercoaster of a read. Like the way I went from "FUCK YOU HEESEUNG!" to "NO WAIT TAKE HIM BACK" to "YES GO HEESEUNG GO!!" to "HEESEUNG YOU DICKHEADDD" to "Oh god you poor thing" to "Omg yay! theyre together 🥰" is absolutely amazing!! As this was a series, every time I saw a notification for the next part of this fic showed up I immeeeediately read it! Caused me to be late for work a couple of times but it was worth it 👍👍👍👍. It's written really well! I just love this story and how it makes my heart clench and have me at the edge of my seat! Just amazing!

November

Verboten by @heesbaby

YES. JUST AN ABSOLUTE YES!! This smau is SO FRICKIN GOOD! Daddy Heeseung?? like duh yes please! But even before then reader got to play around with 02z 🤭🤭🤭🤭 so that was fun! and what made me love this one so much was also HOW FUNNY IT IS??? Like Cinna I don't think we give you enough credit youre like- SO FUNNY?? How you even thought of having Niki doxx Jake I'll never know but it's just so funny and I'll forever laugh at that thought. But this smau is also just so frickin fluffy at times! the relationship heeseung has with the reader is so fucking healthy, I'm actually jealous. I loved this smau very very much!

December

Strictly Business by @onlyjaeyun

And a surprise to absolutely no one!!! Of course Zadie's third smau had to be on here! NOT MY FAULT SHE MAKES AMAZING STORIES!!! Plus Jay??? as a CEO??? WHAT CAN BE HOTTERRRRR?!?! Of course it's automatically my favorite!!! But besides that Jay is just... so amazing!! He'll literally do ANYTHING for the reader and thats so fucking endearing! My mans in love your honor! We love a rich man who's in love! Find me a man like that please! Besides that the smut is amazing yo, and the ddlg parts 🤭🥰🤭🥰 got me kicking my feet and twirling my hair bro!! It's really no surprise how amazing this one is! especially with how sweet and amazing everyone is (besides some of the antagonists of course!) 100000/10 smau! truly!

And that was my 2023 fic wrapped!!! Also Honorable mentions to these specific creators and fics cause I also REALLY LOVED THEM! I just had to mention them:

@ham-st4r for Wrong Doings

@enhaheeseung for Nobodies

@strzlun for Midnight

@yunjardi for Double Trouble

@luvyeni for Forever and Always

@shanbinswf for Brand New Moves

@yeonjunszn for So Sick

@kitten4sannie for Space in Between

@yoursjaeyun for Endless Love

Thank you to everyone who wrote all these amazing stories! You all really make my days better! I hope you all continue to write for 2024!! I also wish 2024 will be kinder to you! Love you all! 💕

#Hehehe hope you like this 2023 wrapped! #I had fun making it hehe #even though I didn't get to present it at my friends group sleepover #I hope you guys like it hehe #Please continue making great stories guys!!! #They brighten my day so so much!

[butterflydm]

More thoughts on the Seanchan Problem (TM)

I recently ran across a very interesting set of posts about what we know & can guess about historical Sparta and how it doesn't much match Sparta as it gets glamorized in media: acoup[dot]blog/category/collections/this-isnt-sparta/

It got me to thinking about the Seanchan, and I wrote up a lot of what I'm posting here and but, funnily enough (I guess it makes sense that we're all thinking about how the show will handle the Seanchan right now!), some discussion about the Seanchan came up with @ofthebrownajah re: the show needing to handle the Seanchan differently than the books did (very much agreed on that point) and @markantonys re: the issues with how the Seanchan were handled in the books (also very much agreed) and it all seemed pretty related to this post that I had been working on.

So, the thoughts in the Sparta blog posts that I linked, about how a majority-slave population works (or fails to work), reminded me a lot about various questions that I've had about the Seanchan, especially as I've gone through my reread.

We know that the Seanchan were kinda a mishmash of Every Empire, but the slavery mentioned in Spartan society in particular seems to strike a pretty familiar chord (because it sounds like it was pretty brutal even by Greek standards).

This does get critical and it does get into major spoilers through Knife of Dreams.

We know from The Fires of Heaven (Rand & Avi's honeymoon trip) that there are constant uprisings and slave revolts on the Seanchan continent. The Seanchan like to playact at being the embodiment of 'order' when they come to try to conquer the Westlands, but they cannot even keep their own house in order. The whole reason they're good fighters/generals is explicitly because they've been fighting each other this whole time (we learn that in Winter's Heart).

Which is one of the reasons why Crossroads of Twilight and Knife of Dreams feel like such bizarre departures from the previously established 'reality' of the Seanchan as we know them -- in CoT & KoD, we're suddenly living in Tuon's sheltered dream-world about how the Seanchan work and the narrative (at least in Mat's storyline) seems to be asking us to take it at face value, both because Mat doesn't challenge it (and he should know better -- and DID know better back in WH) and because it backs her PoV up by giving us ~glowing~ recommendations from all her slaves that just adore her ~oh~ so much -- she's a GOOD slaver-owner who only beats her slaves *checks notes* when they say something that pisses her off while doing their best to obey her orders (Tuon's intro in Winter's Heart). Ah.

But at least she... allows them to get their wounds treated once they've groveled enough and convinced her that they love her more than anything and will lick her hand like a dog! So it's totally okay!

idk, even after some distance from my rereads of CoT & KoD, they are such a jarring experience. I have some complaints about the Sanderson co-authored books, which I talked about in-depth in my last reread post about AMoL, but nothing that approaches how I feel about how the Seanchan were handled in CoT & KoD, specifically in Mat & Perrin's storylines(*). Just... the whiplash that I get from the 180 that got pulled in-between WH & CoT in Mat's behavior alone(**).

And it's really that soft-focus glamorizing of the Seanchan in Mat & Perrin's storylines in CoT & KoD that makes me think about historical Sparta and how pop-culture history only focuses on the elite 5-10% of the population and not on the vast majority of the population who were being abused by said elites (if you're looking for a group in WoT that really does resemble "the 1%", then you should be looking at the Seanchan High Blood, not the Aes Sedai).

It does look like the show will be going hard with the Seanchan during S2 and really showing how horrific the slave-breaking is and I feel like, since they do have an overall plan in place, they probably already know what their endgame is for the Seanchan, so we won't get an abrupt "okay, slavery bad, sure but... what if the slaver is HOT when she tortures her slaves or prospective slaves? Have you thought about that?" and "What if you could save your wife for the low low price of selling two hundred women into a torturous existence for hundreds of years? What a bargain! Slavery is such a convenient tool, isn't it?" face-heel narrative turn like we had in CoT & KoD for Mat & Perrin.

But that kinda ties into a larger issue that it feels like Jordan was only partially aware of -- on one level, he definitely realized that objectification of women is not a great thing, but he also fell into it a lot without seeming to realize that he was doing it. There tends to be a vibe of "women being killed is an evil thing but women being tortured forever is okay because they're technically alive and that's all that matters; the quality of that life is not relevant in the way that it would be for a man".

In plotlines where Jordan was focused on women as people, he tended to do a lot better, but that only makes it stand out more in the places where he's failing to do that, imo.

The two hundred Shaido Wise Ones who get thrown into slavery are treated with less humanity than the single (male) Shaido prisoner whose hand Perrin cuts off. They're just the background element as Perrin thanks and praises the slaver who helped him buy his wife back with blood. Jordan frames two slavers (Tylee and Tuon) as "good ones" without actually making anything about their behavior different from the "bad ones" of the Seanchan, because they are important to the narratives of two of the main male characters and so get boosted into being 'better than the other Seanchan' without any actual behavioral changes on their parts(***). Protagonist-centered morality at its most 'yikes'.

When you combine this with Rand sending the damane back to the Seanchan after Semirhage's attack as a 'gesture of good faith', it just adds up to a vibe of "women's freedom is negotiable". And because of the focus in the latter books on the damane as opposed to the da'covale(****), it is women's freedom specifically that is shown not to be valued in the main male PoV chapters. We'll make a big deal about how we can't kill women, but we can let them be tortured and enslaved.

It's a very ugly theme for the three Two Rivers' boys all to be sharing in at the end of KoD. Jordan makes all of them make choices that are very dark, but Rand is the only one getting real narrative push-back about those choices (*!) by having people he respects with openly disagree with him on the matter (*!!).

The show really does need to either commit to having the change in Seanchan society actively begin to happen on-screen (*!!!), or they need to not have the boys willing to throw their morals away so easily. Ideally, both.

As it is, in the books, Perrin is just straight-up selling people into slavery at the end of KoD. Mat is having thoughts about how he would just curl up and die if this horrible slaver lady got killed. And, like Perrin, Rand has decided that women are property to trade around, though he is much more reluctant about it than Perrin (*!!!!).

...

(* Hmm, random thought but - I wonder if, for me, being so deeply unhappy with what Jordan was doing in Mat, Perrin, & Rand's storylines in CoT & KoD, meant that the different take that Sanderson had on the story (which is inevitable; no matter who took over the series, they would have a different take than Jordan did) was more likely to be something I would find positive because I was so disappointed with the state that Jordan had left things in?)

(** I know I repeat this a lot but Mat flips from sympathizing with the slaves to sympathizing with the slavers in less than a week, all off-the-page in-between Winter's Heart and Crossroads of Twilight so it just really stands out to me when he starts doing things like using slavery as a threat against the Aes Sedai and forcing former slaves to share a wagon with their former abusers; Bethamin was actively abusing Teslyn a week ago and Mat makes them share sleeping quarters, meanwhile Tuon gets to be in a wagon alone with her slave and Setalle Anan who, just like Mat, has flipped from sympathizing with slaves to sympathizing with slavers in less than a week, taking Tuon under her wing and behaving as if she's a wee child in need of protection and being amused when the child throws tantrums and breaks things)

(*** contrast this with Egeanin, who does have to undergo a lot of changes, and who actively goes against the Seanchan norm more and more as her storyline progresses -- but, notably, Egeanin has a lot less temporal power in the Seanchan empire than either Tylee or Tuon, and also notably, her change in direction began when she was part of Elayne & Nynaeve's storyline and finished up in Egwene's storyline -- meanwhile, Tylee making a deal with a local in order to secure two hundred more damane sounds like something any Seanchan Blood would be willing to sign off on, and all we see from the Mat and Tuon 'relationship' is him making concession after concession to her while she throws tantrums, makes threats, and hurts his companions. We do have Alivia as representing the people who are injured and marginalized by the Seanchan elite, but we get so much less on her background and narrative PoV than we do for Tuon, who is on the top of the social heap. Giving Alivia more page time and a PoV or two would have helped balance out all the Tuon/elite High Blood focus in CoT & KoD; instead all her big conversations with Rand happen off the page and the books never explore her justified anger at her oppressors)

(*** though even the da'covale seem to be weighted towards women? The 'entertainment slaves' who dance for the Blood's pleasure always seem to be women and it seems like the majority of the da'covale that we see are women)

(*! though the Wise Ones disapprove about what Perrin does, the narrative ignores them just as much as Perrin does; and the same goes for Mat's bizarre choices in CoT & KoD -- we're never let inside the PoV of one of the people with him who disapproves of what he's doing)

(*!! Nynaeve, though even she, in accordance with the laws of No One Is Allowed To Offer Solutions About The Seanchan Especially Not To Rand, doesn't tell Rand any of the information that she has that might actually help him make better choices, like all sul'dam being capable of learning to channel, which is important military information for him to have!)

(*!!! which means that we, at least, need Tuon acknowledging that she can channel and that their society needs to change - it has to come from someone who actually has power in the Seanchan Empire, not just exiles like Egeanin)

(*!!!! I will also never back down on this being one of the biggest TACTICAL mistakes that Rand ever makes in the series. Sending back the sul'dam would be fine, whatever, because they're essentially prisoners of war, but sending back the damane tells the Daughter of the Nine Moons that Rand agrees that women who can channel are fair game as property to be bought and sold, which is the worst possible footing to begin his negotiations with the Seanchan on, as he has already conceded that women can be property)

#wot book spoilers #wot spoilers #knife of dreams #seanchan content warning #this is kind of a ramble #my wot meta #wot #wheel of time #the wheel of time #yes the notes are just as long as the rest of the post

[ltwharfy]

Recently, I was looking over my list of stories on AO3 and I realized that today is the first anniversary of when I published my first "Bob's Burgers" fic, "Surely It's Okay If I Just Tell Pancake?". In some ways, it's sort of weird to think that was only a year ago; in others, it seems weird that it happened at all.

I never thought I would write "Bob's Burgers" fanfic. It had been maybe 15 years or more since I had written any fanfic or any completed fiction writing.

Then one day I just woke up with the idea for this story in my head. Maybe it's not that surprising, since I at the time I had recently come up with the idea of rewatching all the episodes with Rudy in them. Which led to me wanting more content about him and Louise. Which led to me looking at "Bob's Burgers" fanfic and fanart again for the first time in years.

So, maybe it's only natural that I would come up with my own idea. But then I wrote it down. And shared it. And some people actually liked it.

And since then I've written 16 more "Bob's Burgers" stories. And I sometimes think about writing fics for other shows or writing original works. I've discovered that writing can be a creative outlet I enjoy again, not just a thing I have to do for work.

And then I joined this silly website, and found out how wonderful the "Bob's Burgers" fandom here is. And I've got a bunch of cool mutuals. And even made some really meaningful friendships.

And, when I was writing that first story, I found myself having a surprisingly strong emotional reaction when writing one line, which lead to me to examining what that was all about, and led to me actually addressing some stuff in my own life that I'd been ignoring for too long and hopefully growing as a person. (Which seems like a weird thing to say about a story that can be summarized as "9-year-old boy talks to stuffed fish" but I'm mentioning it because it matters to me.)

And for all those reasons, I'm so glad I wrote this story.

Finally, I reread the story for the first time in months and, it's still one of my favorite stories! I might be biased, but even after writing more stories and the show adding new details about Rudy- I still think this story is cute and sweet and captures Rudy's voice really well.

So, happy anniversary "Surely It's Okay If I Just Tell Pancake?", and thank you to everyone who's read, kudosed, and commented on it over the year!

#fic stuff #about me #personal

[one-flower-one-sword]

Hello! I’m new to your blog so it’s possible you may have shared similar thoughts. I recently finished the novel and just wanted to share some random thoughts. :-D Did you figure out Hua Cheng was Wu Ming before the novel revealed it? I was spoiled on this before reading and so saw the hints leading up to it. I don't know if I would have figured it out beforehand, but I just think it's interesting seeing some of the hints. One being when Hua Cheng and Xie Lian were running on the rooftops of the Heavenly Capital, trying to get to his guoshi. Xie Lian felt a sense of deja vu I think. And then Hua Cheng's reaction when Xie Lian made a joke about being stabbed and turned into mush. I just thought that was really good foreshadowing. _____

I’ve seen some of the jokes about Hua Cheng being a stalker and I have to say again just how not true that is and it’s not even something I want to joke about. Seeing how Jun Wu actually stalked him, tormented him and all the pain that caused Xie Lian. Hua Cheng never did, and would never do anything like that. This man has such a visceral reaction to any pain Xie Lian has that it would be, at this point, like going against his very nature to do so. He is so careful about not wanting to cause Xie Lian harm by his own actions ( and of course by others).

—--------------- I was reminded from a TGCF discussion thread how young Hua Cheng was during the time Xie Lian was the White Clothed Calamity. He was 16-17 or 17-18. After all the suffering he saw Xie Lian go through, of course he was ready to burn the world down for him. It’s completely understandable even if one doesn’t agree with it. And as soon as Xie Lian changed his mind, he put aside his own desire for revenge and helped Xie Lian stop it by sacrificing himself.

I once read a thread where a comment was made that Hua Cheng encouraged Xie Lian to commit genocide because he asked why wait 3 days to inflict the Human Face Disease and it bothered me because that just wasn’t the case. And I feel it kind of does a disserve to Hua Cheng - missing out on the fact he too had just witnessed his beloved stabbed to death. Ofc, he wanted revenge but he never let that desire override what Xie Lian ultimately wanted to do.

I remember a fanfic I read kind of addressed how back then Hua Cheng didn’t try to stop Xie Lian from doing something that would’ve hurt him mentally and emotionally. Hua Cheng said at present he would say something to Xie Lian if  something were to happen again. Although Hua Cheng didn’t deny he’d ultimately follow through if Xie Lian persisted, Xie LIan said he wouldn’t because he’d listen to Hua Cheng. I know it’s fanfic, but I thought that was the best way to surmise how things would play out because Hua Cheng at present wants Xie Lian to keep from being hurt in all ways, not just his body, but of course will ultimately follow whatever Xie Lian says.

I guess I just wanted to know, from your reading and thoughts on the characters, how do you think Hua Cheng would respond to Xie Lian if he was on the verge of doing something of that nature again? 

Sorry for the word vomit, happy to clarify anything that got too jumbled up! And if it's too much to answer, any thoughts you'd like to share about anything I mentioned is just fine. :) Thank you!

hi, thank you so much for your ask! I'm honestly still really humbled people want to know my tgcf opinions, I did not expect this much interest at all when I started posting.

I was also spoilered for Hua Cheng being Wu Ming, but yeah, the foreshadowing in this novel really is amazing! as with the Black Water arc, every time I reread the novel I spot another small bit of foreshadowing.

I also feel your frustration in regards to the "Hua Cheng is a stalker" thing, I'm continually baffled when it comes up in fandom - because like you said, it was Jun Wu who repeatedly displayed this kind of violating behavior towards Xie Lian, not Hua Cheng. I've mentioned it in previous meta posts, though I've not yet talked extensively about it. I have a longer post in the works though where I tackle several takes on hualian's relationship that seem popular in fandom yet I feel are directly contradicted by the text.

In regards to your last questions, I've also wondered about these kinds of what-ifs, though I think the point of this storyline was that Xie Lian ultimately did choose kindness and forgiveness, and also that he was only brought to this point after suffering through the trauma of incredibly brutal violation and torture and the loss of his parents through suicide. and in regards to Hua Cheng, like you said it needs to be kept in mind what witnessing Xie Lian be violated and tortured like this did to him as well. it's very obvious both from Hua Cheng's wrath against anyone and anything who causes Xie Lian pain - including Hua Cheng himself when he feels he's failed Xie Lian in some way - as well as his unflinching self-sacrifical protectiveness towards Xie Lian, how deeply he was traumatized by what he witnessed people do to Xie Lian. unfortunately i feel like the complexities of the whole situation often get flattened out or outright ignored in certain fandom circles in favor of takes like "and that's why hualian is a toxic relationship" and other such nonsense.

also like you said it's often a disservice to Hua Cheng in particular, who I've several times seen described as one-dimensional and "walking red flag of a person". honestly one of the reasons I've been focusing so much meta on him is because of how baffling and frankly annoying I find these kinds of takes.

I think I may have read that same fanfic btw! that conversation feels familiar :3 I don't remember all the details but it did make sense to me.

don't apologize for rambling btw, always feel free to send me your thoughts! I feel like this reply ended up also quite rambly, I hope my answers were at least somewhat satisfactory anyway. some of the things you touched upon I will definitely address with more detail in that longer post I mentioned on hualian's relationship that I've been working on.

#answered asks #tgcf #hualian #hua cheng