#THIS IS A DRAFT. OBVIOUSLY.

[kaizsche]

isn't it strange?

“You love me.” Elijah surmises.

“You hurt me, Elijah.” Her upper lip curls in a snarl.

Something inside him twists forward, to gather her in his arms, to pull her close to him. Like a forgotten memory, or perhaps a force of habit Elijah would never get to remember. To feel.

“You hurt me, Elijah!” Elena shouts again and again and again and Elijah desperately seeks her body curled tight against him again and again and again as well.

He makes a mistake.

“But I can’t remember that, Elena. Make me remember.” He beseeches, knees drawn on the ground. “I beg of you, make me remember everything.”

Hoping he might have a better understanding of what he did to her so that he may be absolved of his sins. She shakes her head violently that he can hear the air around her face startle from the sudden movement. “No, Elijah. Don’t. Don’t make me do that.”

“But how could I ever—”

“Just be like this.” She murmurs now, gazing upon him as if it is the last time he’ll see her. “Be a stranger for me, Elijah.”

from strangers to friends, friends into lovers, and strangers again. - CELESTE

#fic: isn't it strange? #elejah #elena x elijah #elena gilbert #elijah mikaelson #this fic is nowhere near done #dropping of a lil smth i wrote up a few seconds ago #and disappear from tumblr again #its me lol #credits to the owner for the wonderful gifs! #THIS IS A DRAFT. OBVIOUSLY. #don't take it too seriously lol #isn't it strange by celeste #song fic #this is trash im just gonna lay down and sleep and cry #bye everyone. here's a piece of me yall can shit on

[lotus-pear]

i think you guys are onto smth..

i unironically got invested in this HELP

#WHERES THE FIC AT IF SOMEONE WRITES THIS I WILL PAY THEM A HUNDRED DOLLARS😭😭 #kunikida serving the country while dazai's serving cunt😔 #dazai was born to malewife but forced to manipulate and i think that's the greatest tragedy of bsd #anyway some facts i would like to share abt this au thay i came up w while drawing!! #takes place in 1939 (start of wwii) and there was a mandatory draft that required one male over eighteen from each house to serve #both of them are still twenty two and had been engaged for abt two years before getting married that year #newlyweds! unfortunately kuni had to go fight and they were seperated :( #before the war kunikida was a math teacher at the local high school and dazai obviously managed the household and didn't work #he's hopeless at cooking and meal prep even w recipie books so they either get those prepackaged meals or kuni makes dinner when he gets ba #so like when he's making lunch for kunikida he normally just packs a basic sandwich w raw fruit #kunikida always appreciates the effort even tho hes probably sick of having the same thing everyday but he won't complain abt it #when kunikida joined the army he was relieved that the mess hall had better food than dazai #he was the only one in his platoon that never complained abt the food so his fellow soldiers assumed it was bc he came from a tough bg #when in reality he was just used to being poisoned on a daily basis from his dumbass husbands cooking and was hardly fazed from army ration #they write to each other although its more dazai sending and kuni receiving bc hes off fighting and doesnt have time to write back #dazai talks abt life on the homefront and how he has to grow a victory garden (everything is DYING HE CANT EVEN RAISE TOMATOES) #and kuni writes abt his fellow soldiers and how the war is going and when he thinks he'll be home and how he misses sleeping in a bed #ANYWAY yea thought i'd share sry for infodumping in the tags again #this post is for like the four ppl that care abt this specific flavor of knkdz so hopefully this gets four notes at least #bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs #dazai osamu #osamu dazai #kunikida doppo #doppo kunikida #kunikidazai #knkdz #lotus draws #bro sry for posting at two in the morning i couldnt sleep until i got this out of my head they have infested my brain

[blue-mood-blue]

I’ve grown to appreciate the aus where Shen Yuan enters the story as “Shen Yuan” - same name, probably similar face, generally able to interact with PIDW as himself and change the story through his added presence. I like the sense of “if only you’d been here, things might have been better the first time around” of it all.

And I was thinking, it’s a funny coincidence in that scenario that someone named Shen Yuan gets put into… another Shen Yuan. What are the chances? What a weird twist of fate that Airplane would pick out the name that his most dedicated critic could slip into seamlessly.

What about a version where it’s not coincidence at all?

Airplane goes to school with a kid named Shen Yuan. He’s prickly and hard to approach and a little intense, but Airplane is persistent. In fairness, Airplane is relentless - and maybe it’s a good thing that they end up being friends, because they’re a little too much for anyone else to handle. They balance each other out. They’re the “weird kids” in class and they’re okay with that, because even when they don’t have any words for it, they know they’re not like their classmates, not really. That’s okay; they don’t want to be.

Recesses and breaks are consumed with the elaborate stories that Airplane wants to tell, and all the holes Shen Yuan pokes into them. It’s not mean-spirited, though, even though Shen Yuan isn’t the kind to temper his words. It’s passionate. He cares about those stories the way Airplane cares about them, and it can’t be mistaken for anything else when they lean together conspiratorially across the lunchroom table. They’ve both got notebooks filled with details and characters and monsters. Shen Yuan’s practically got a whole bestiary sketched out in wobbly childhood attempts at art, entries fervently scrawled beside them. Airplane prattles out plots nonstop, always with the promise of shining eyes and being asked “what happens next?”

They come up with a whole world together. Airplane’s going to write about it someday. Shen Yuan is going to read every word.

Shen Yuan misses school. Shen Yuan starts missing school a lot.

Airplane goes to the hospital room instead. He doesn’t think to worry, because Shen Yuan is okay - that’s what he says. He looks okay, and he’s a kid, and it doesn’t feel real that anything bad should happen to a kid. He doesn’t think to worry. He doesn’t think to say goodbye.

It’s one of the older Shen brothers who catches him on the way up to the room one day, in the hallway just outside - snaps at him to go the fuck home, and when Airplane hesitates, pushes him into the elevator and tells him not to come back. “Tells” is a generous way to describe the way the words come out - a growl, a hiss, the sound an animal would make when a hand got too close to a wound.

(It’s not fair to name a villain after him, even if the name never really comes up in the story. He wasn’t trying to be mean. He’d lost a brother minutes before, and he was getting his brother’s friend out of the way so he didn’t have to… see. It isn’t fair, but then, none of it is fair.)

Death feels very real after that.

The notebooks get shoved into a closet, and it’s not until Airplane’s moving out and one falls on him from a high shelf that he thinks about it again. He’s written things, lots of things, but nothing as ambitious as this - nothing as important. It could be good, he considers. He’d promised. Shen Yuan wanted to read it.

The problem was that no one else does, not for a long time, not until Airplane has whittled himself and his art into a corner and into such an unfamiliar shape that he has to wonder how it’s still his own face he sees in the mirror. He has to eat. He has to pay rent. Shen Yuan would yell at him, but Shen Yuan isn’t there to yell at him, and who cares. Who cares if it could have been better? The people who actually are here love it, and it’s paying his bills, and sometimes stories don’t go the way they’re supposed to and the world is fucking unfair. It doesn’t matter.

(It does. But he shoves that thought away along with styrofoam cups and soda bottles to the bottom of a garbage bag.)

Authors are not gods and their power is limited, but Airplane exercises just a sliver of what he’s been granted and gifts an inconsequential sort of immortality. He thinks about making him a rogue cultivator, maybe the kind that goes around documenting beasts and compiling his findings. He thinks about making him someone too powerful for death to touch, or too important to threaten, but when Airplane looks at the world he crafted and everything that’s become of it, it feels like the kindest thing he can do for Shen Yuan is a childhood where he’s loved, and a death that’s peaceful. What does it say about that world, that he’d kill off his best friend too early again instead of making him live there?

(The best writing he ever does is the only, shining moment of humanity that his scum villain ever displays: a lament about death that comes too early, about a brother gone too soon. The commenters praise him. The commenters flatter over how real the emotions feel. The commenters don’t get any response from Airplane on that chapter.)

Death is incredibly real when it comes for him too early, too, still hovering over his keyboard with the story technically finished and incredibly incomplete. Airplane could tell himself that’s because the written version can never be the version in the writer’s head, always shifting and with every possibility still on the table, but he knows better than that. The System knows better than that, with its condescending message about “improving” his writing and “closing plot holes” and “achieving his original vision”...

…and he’s a child again. He’s a child in his own story, he’s Shang Qinghua now without the benefit yet of a peak or cultivation or anything, and maybe he’s a little bitter, and a little scared, and…

And Shen Yuan - with longer hair, with robes, with a couple of older kids watching him from across the street, but undeniably the prickly little boy who used to sit down imperiously across from him and tell him everything that was wrong with the chuck of writing that had been handed to him last period, but with that smile that said he was only invested because he knew it could be better and they were going to make it better - marches up to him with a fire in his eyes and a frown that warns of a coming tirade.

“You told it wrong,” is the first thing he says.

Shang Qinghua wants to ask how him how he’s here, how this is possible, or maybe laugh because, yeah - yeah, Shen Yuan has no goddamn idea how wrong he got absolutely everything.

(Shang Qinghua wants to say “I missed you” and “why did you leave so soon” but he’s here now. He’s right here.)

“I know,” he says instead. “I’m sorry. It all kind of… spiraled out of control.”

Shen Yuan frowns, but then it dissipates the way it always does, and his eyes shine with ideas the way they always used to. “That’s okay,” he relents, grabbing for his hand. “We’ll fix it. We’ll make it what it was supposed to be.”

#scum villain self saving system #svsss #shang qinghua #shen yuan #airplane shooting towards the sky #this got more into the feelings than i thought it would #surprising no one #anyway just! childhood friends au! as a reason for a shen yuan insert! #obviously he is not going to die as a child in this version #shang qinghua would not have that nope not again #also pls consider poor shen jiu who looks at this child that shen yuan has picked out for a best friend like '...really? that one??' #(it's up to you if he's shen yuan's actual brother from his first life) #(put there's a part of me that likes the idea that shen jiu also gets a second chance to spend more time with his brother) #a second chance for them to grow up together! #THAT SAID #RIP TO SHANG QINGHUA #WHEN SHEN YUAN IS OLD ENOUGH TO LEARN ABOUT ALL THE PAPAPA #the LOOKS shang qinghua is going to get #anyway here have a thing because I CANNOT add another au to my drafts thank you and goodbyyyyye

[stpansy]

JE RÊVE DE TOI / I DREAM OF YOU

Of All the Gin Joints in All the World - From Under the Cork Tree / clandestinerip / Hold Me Like A Grudge - So Much (for) Stardust / Champion - MANIA / Pete Wentz Blog Post on thisismynewperspective / Love From The Other Side - So Much (for) Stardust / New Dreams - PAX AM Days / Clandestine Industries Je Rêve De Toi socks - no longer available / falloutboyrocks.com Q&A, 2005 / So Good Right Now - So Much (for) Stardust / Pete Wentz's Twitter, 2009 / Flu Game - So Much (for) Stardust / Heaven, Iowa - So Much (for) Stardust / Last Of the Real Ones - MANIA / Riff With Patrick in Milan, 2023

#i can’t believe two of my references are fucking SOCKS #what the fuck PETER #anyway um. here’s this #it's obviously not every instance of the dream motif but these specifically i wanted to put together #um. it's very. well. yes. alsdjfl #mine #<- jesus this has been in my drafts forever lmao i'm posting but you CANT be mean to me

[megamindsupremacy]

I need a dpxdc Crossover scenario where, somehow, Danny Fenton and Billy Batson end up at the same school. Maybe Danny is a year older but he got held back in a subject, so they’re both in the same bio class. Danny as a Sophomore and Billy as a Freshman. They’re lab partners and they hang out during school, and neither of them have any clue the other is a superhero. Danny is so used to everyone having Kinda Weird vibes from Amity that Billy doesn't ping anything and Billy has the same thing where everyone is Fawcett is a little Off, nothing particularly different about this guy.

Later on, both of them have joined the league as Shazam and Phantom and they still have literally no clue the other is a superhero. Billy doesn't recognize Danny as Phantom because of the altered features and Extremely Weird Vibes and obviously Danny doesn't think to compare the adult man Shazam with his fourteen-year-old buddy Billy. They both think the other is a semi-immortal being and they are both desperately making shit up about past events and praying they got it right. They both are continuously amazed that they're so good at guessing historical facts. They keep having to agree to random historical events that may or may not have happened because the other guy said so. They are both passing World History with flying colors because of the research they have to do to keep the "ruse" up

Eventually, someone's identity gets revealed (I'm thinking Billy) to the League, which is really dramatic and emotional about how Billy lied to everyone about his age and history for so long. And then Danny arrives ten minutes late with a Starbucks like "hey why is everyone freaking out. Why is Superman crying. WHY is B-this random kid here. On the Watchtower. What."

Someone: Phantom, I know you and Shazam were close, did you know he was secretly the fourteen-year-old Billy Batson? He's been lying to us about his past this whole time!

Billy: D:

Phantom: :/ UH so while we're on the subject *transforms from Phantom to Danny* hey Billy!

Billy: DANNY?

Anyways its a whole confusing mess and everyone is yelling and nobody knows what the fuck is going on but eventually its cleared up that yes, both Phantom and Shazam are secretly kids, they apparently know each other but only in their secret IDs, and they have in fact been bullshitting Ancient History facts like there's no tomorrow

But the important part here is that Billy and Danny pass their lab final, because thats what really matters

#mads posts #dp x dc #danny phantom #dc #billy batson #the high school is in Fawcett not Amity #I want to add Wonder Woman and any other immortals of the team are definitely. so confused about Shazam and Phantom comparing Ancient #History notes #but like. obviously they seem to be in agreement #so maybe they (the other immortals) are in the wrong? #The Gang Accidentally Gaslights The Justice League #From The Drafts

[kazbiter]

very interested in how the storyline of ronan's sexuality is developed in the dream thieves as a battle between kavinsky and gansey while adam is almost never present in these scenes, which makes it even more interesting that we found out in CDTH that ronan was set on adam the moment he saw him. i think that ronan is attracted on some level to both gansey and kavinsky (you can draw the lines of how much romantic intention you think he hold towards either of the yourself, that's a rabbit hole I would need a whole other post to go down) but more so I think he was attracted to the IDEA of both of them and certain qualities that each possessed, and that the real question wasn't does ronan want gansey or kavinsky because we know he wants adam but rather who's qualities resonate more with who ronan is, or who he is choosing to be at this critical moment in his character development. kavinsky is a dangerous thrill and often comes wrapped in ronan's other favorite self destructive attempts to outrun himself, while gansey is ronan's history and proof of his deep capacities for loyalty and love. he tells kavinsky it was never going to be me and you and that it's not going to be ronan and gansey because that was never the question- maggie was obviously always planning on bluesy and pynch. the answer to who ronan WANTS in adam. the question of who ronan IS- that's what he's trying to decide here. his self hatred is such a heavy weight on him and theme in tdt, and the kavinsky/gansey dichotomy represents the the path he will choose to take to deal with it- keep try to drive faster than his demons or accept that he can still be loved even if he isn't the person he once was. the dream thieves my beloved ronan lynch my beloved

#obviously I'm not the authority on this lmao these r just my thoughts but I would love to hear ur thoughts as well!!! #this has been in my drafts for a while while I kept updating and tweaking it but I think this is the best way to say what I'm trying to say #also lot of kavinsky posts here at kazbiter recently not very sure what's up w that #anyways yeah I really do think this is why she did it this way like I don't think kavinsky ever even says adams name?? i could b wrong tho #and I always found that interesting and while I appreciated he was the leader of ronsey nation I was like how does he not know abt adam #and this is my conclusion I think it was an active writing choice of Maggie's bc the dichotomy of gansey/kavinsky just really works for #ronans personal overarching plot of the book that is undoubtedly his in trc

[cha1cedony]

Yeah so I actually headcanon [insert character] as aromantic—

“Nooooo my ship 🥺🥺”

I don’t care 💞🧚

#I’m sure this post has been made a million times but lol #chalcy stuff #aromantic #sure I’ll tag this. why not #this is lighthearted btw 😭 don’t get mad at me #obviously my hcs are not imposed on you and you can still ship aro characters etc etc. whateverrr #you get it #🧚🧚🧚🧚 #not prompted by anything (recent) btw. this has been in my drafts. just worded differently

[pencap]

the coward's way out

if the fates conspire that only one of us may live, then lover, it must be you.

i will save you the grand speeches about how you are good and deserving. you are. you are. you are, but in the end, that is not the reason why.

the world may call me brave or strong or selfless but lover, you know the truth don't you?

in the end, i am only more afraid of facing a world without you than i am of facing death of facing anything.

in the end, i am only too weak to be the one left behind to pick up the pieces of a broken life a broken promise a broken heart and keep on bleeding when the blood in your heart is already dry.

i'm sorry. i'm sorry. but will you let me be selfish one last time?

can i ask you to live for me? to face what i feared most so that i might find peace in my eternal sleep with a smile upon my face?

if it is cruel of me to ask, then i beg you to forgive me. or curse my name and hate me if you must, only live.

only live, my lover so that my life and my death and all that came in between may mean something. may mean everything.

#spilled ink #poets on tumblr #poems on tumblr #writeblr #writers on tumblr #poetics #sometimes i write like some kind of possession #i had a brief thought of 'sacrifice as a selfish act?' #and then i was just like. speaking this poem to myself #out of the blue #i fixed some things from the first spoken draft obviously but #the rhythm of this feels important to me #and i'm not convinced i did the best job of linebreaking it #but it will do #The coward’s way out #why yes I did update the title a week later #this feels much cleaner #not giving away the thesis in literally the first word #Technically before the poem even starts

[starryluminary]

You Matter To Me

Sara Bareilles (ft. Jason Mraz)

╾━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╼

◃◃ II ▹▹

Noah and Cody have a quick chat.

Cody really didn't expect to like Noah as much as he does. He also didn't expect Noah to make him this happy. That's why it hurts when he realizes Noah's better off without him. Without his baggage, without his adversity, without his mess. Man what a mess it is. He wouldn't blame Noah in the least if he thought it was too much to handle and left without looking back.

Fortunately, Cody matters too much to Noah to let him go so easily. Cody couldn't be more grateful. Maybe one day he'll learn to tell him.

#ellipsis are a guys best friend! love those things! #anyway WOW was this a struggle. Words are so hard sometimes #like OBVIOUSLY I had this whole event drafted and I knew what was gonna happen but the dialogue I figured out as I went #Is it good?? Do you get it?? Lord I hope so #total drama #total drama world tour #tdwt #total drama noah #td noah #total drama cody #td cody #cody anderson #noco #total drama noco #td noco #world tour but noco are the only ones kissing #Starry makes art #Dear Cody: I hope someday somebody wants to hold you for 20 minutes straight #They don't pull away... they don't look at your face... and they don't try to kiss you #All they do is wrap you up in their arms and hold on tight without an ounce of selfishness to it #I hope you become addicted. I hope you become addicted to saying things and... having to matter to someone #this is also half waitress propaganda. You Matter To Me was written for waitress and its SUCH a good musical please you have to believe me

[trillscienceofficer]

These are highly subjective interpretations but to me Jadzia and Seven are two (opposite?) flavors of gender indifference:

Jadzia: gender depends on what's funnier in the moment/what allows her to commit further to the bit. Always aware on some level that she's putting on a show and she loves it, especially if other people get confused. Not her job to explain! Figure it out yourself!

Seven (Voyager edition): wants OFF this ride, it's already a concession that Seven is using I/my/myself pronouns instead of we/us/ourselves, why is being an individual tied so closely to gender in the first place. She/her is, for the moment, just the least exhausting option when interacting with others among pronouns that all feel alien to her

#releasing this post into the wild after months of sitting in my drafts #i'm using the 'canonical' pronouns as a basis here but i really love when people use different pronouns for both of them #they/them jadzia and they/them seven are also very different gender flavors to me but i don't think i'm the right person to make that post #anyway. discussion very welcome! #seven of nine #jadzia dax #obviously like. canon never intended to support these readings /at all/ but i can do what i want etc

[jazzfordshire]

WAIT JAZZ YOU'RE PUBLISHING A BOOK WHAT.??? CONGRATS AND OMG WANT TO BUYYYY

YEAH I STILL DON'T REALLY FEEL LIKE IT'S REAL BUT HERE WE ARE

Ylva Publishing approached me to turn small town au into a book??? Which is. Insane honestly but they've been very kind to me about my massive impostor syndrome lmao.

TO BE CLEAR: the original fic will not be deleted when I publish, I feel I need to be really vocal about that haha my biggest reason for not publishing has always been that I never want to delete my fics, so the original will always be accessible to everyone on ao3 and I'm obviously going to keep writing fanfic because I can't stop won't stop

#i have too many WIPs to ever stop with supercorp #the first draft is almost done already so it's full steam ahead with fanfic still obviously

[misspoetree]

And adding this text post meme again because it's a very important fact:

KinnPorsche + Text Posts: Arm Edition

[Character Editions: Pete Part I & II & III | Vegas Part I & II & III | Tay Part I & II | Tankhun - Part I & II | Big Part I & II | Porsche Part I & II & III | Kim | Porchay | Chan | Kinn Part I & II | Macau | Pol]

[Themed Editions: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | ?]

[Episode Editions]

#Good Lord I'd totally forgotten about this unfinished post in my drafts! #Arm obviously deserves his own character edition #I mean he is as smart as he is kind #he is as slutty as he is silly #his presence puts people (Tankhun) at ease and he's always ready to help any friend in need #so...what's not to love? #he's the friend and colleague everyone secretly yearns for in their life #so hope you enjoy! 😁 #kinnporsche the series #kinnporsche + text post #kinnporsche arm #text post meme #because the kinnporsche brain rot is still real #thai bl #kinnporsche meme #bas asavapatr

[starbylers]

Rambling about things that’ve been said a million times but like…character’s final scenes in each season foreshadow what will be going on with them in the next season right? We’ve seen this. So by that logic we literally know what’s going to happen in s5. (In terms of character’s journeys, not talking about plot). Like we know for certain. They’re barely even theories to me anymore it’s just canon waiting to happen 😭. A huge amount of my Byler confidence comes from this tbh so if you need a little boost maybe this will help.

Dustin’s scene shows he is going to be grieving Eddie (we’ve already had confirmation of this I think so we know the pattern follows for s4 that final scenes are foreshadowing)

Lucas’ scene shows he will obviously be doing everything possible to care for and help Max

El’s scene shows she’s going to be focused on 1) saving Max & defeating Henry and 2) her family and having the support of her dad back

Caleb literally mentioned that Lucas & El’s relationship will be explored and we know Max is the thing that ties them together (the boyfriend and the best friend) so that’s another piece of evidence of s4 final scenes being foreshadowing

So it has to follow that Will & Mike’s scene shows they are definitely going to be working as a team

And if we take symbolism into account…

Their final one-on-one in s3 lingered on a shot of a blue telephone on yellow wallpaper & we know all about their s4 communication issues so yeah we’re absolutely taking symbolism into account

…that red flipped couch? They’re going to be in the upside down. Together. In the season where Will is going to have an emotional arc which will ‘tie the entire series together’. (Although even if the couch stuff was somehow incorrect the team part still stands).

To me the chances of M*leven being endgame in this scenario are so tiny they’re almost nonexistent? If next season was about showing how strong of a couple and how in love they are (which is basically the only place their story could really go atp if the intention was for them to be endgame), they would’ve had their final scene together! El would be sitting in Will’s place on the couch! Mike would be reaching into the light and grabbing El’s shoulder, symbolising that he’s choosing her.

The meaning behind this shot is so clear it’s almost funny like it literally looks like some magical celestial beam of light from heaven is shining down on where they’re connected

They wouldn’t be spending the season with their stories primarily focused on & tied to other people (“other people” being Mike’s literal other love interest!!!) if the show was trying to tell a story of them being this alleged central power couple working together and growing together in a loving, healthy, mature, supportive relationship. It’s completely illogical.

I feel like it’s so obvious that Mike and Will are at least going to be working together next season, and it’s incredibly weird to me that people even try and argue us on that point. Is it denial? Is it the fact that deep down, they are actually aware of how foreshadowing and logical story structure work and they’re scared that if they admit Mike and Will are going to be paired up, they’ll have to admit where the story is inevitably leading…?

#byler #anti mileven #and I’m sure it’s not just the Byler scene that involves symbolism I mean the story Lucas was reading Max is definitely an Easter egg #I haven’t looked into it but someone on here must have #and then there’s the final scene obviously #this isn’t a super thoughtful analysis sorry I have a bunch of stuff in drafts I’m just too tired to work on it atm 😭

[0fps]

HONKAI: STAR RAIL Favorite Tracks from Experience the Paths Vol. 1

#hsr #honkai star rail #hsredit #honkaiedit #gamingedit #m:gifs #m:* #long post #flashing tw #this has been sitting in my drafts for forever i'm too lazy to work more on it more ajdklfajsdf #i think my top faves are space comedy (WHEN THAT LUOFU PART HITS!!!!!) jing yuan's (THE DRUMS!!!!) and kafka's (obviously) #luocha's trailer music would also be up there if not for the dubstep adjfkladsf

[texasthoughtsaboutnothing]

EDIT: I have received several new pieces of information that I'm distributing throughout the doc that further reinforces my stance on this, and is valuable to know. Also, I have sections where I'm more clear on my stance after thinking on it for a while and following more discussions on this. I hope I don't disappoint anyone with my thoughts.

If any part of what I've written here resonated with you, I shamelessly ask that you spread it in your preferred manner, and if you feel there's parts that need work please let me know.

Still gonna regret writing this, I'm sure.

[Warning: Long. Like, really.]

Because of all the shit happening with Arknights, PM is under fire once again as it ties into the larger narrative surrounding Korea and its full on gender war (a real thing that's apparently happening).

For those who don't know, way back in July Limbus Company got the event for 4.5 that included swimsuit versions of Ishmael and Sinclair. The fact that Ishmael was in a full bodysuit while Sinclair was shirtless with a collar led the Korean equivalent of 4chan to accuse PM's lead illustrator of being a feminist, which I guess is a bad thing if you're drowning in Korean culture war bullshit.

Turns out the lead illustrator was a man so they pivoted to the CG artist Vellmori and invented a whole host of bullshit links between her and an extremist group to try and get her fired.

And in accordance with their wishes PM fired her. Except they didn't. Probably?

Most everything known from this point onwards is, bluntly, tainted. It's a lot of machine translated Korean posts or, one way or the other, hasty conclusions from people with agendas (including me, no one is immune to propaganda).

Did Vellmori reach out to a newspaper to whistleblow on PM's flagrant disregard for worker's rights? That was the story at first but follow-ups implied it might be a complete fabrication or an overstatement of her grievances (EDIT, I have received information that while there was a phonecall to Vellmori from PM, it was to set up a meeting to properly hash out next steps and any claims she was fired over the phone are incorrect, and the newspaper that reported as such quietly retracted that statement).

Did a labor union jump the gun on spreading this story to gain political capital without reaching out to PM for their side of the story? Maybe if PM's version of events is true, but that's assuming a lot of malice of an institution doing it's best (EDIT, I have received information that the people directly responsible for handling the PM issue acted independently and were later found in violation of several union laws, including allegations involving CP that I do not want to and will not get into).

PM's story is that once the harassment flared up and involved physical visits to the development office, Vellmori wanted to quit. (EDIT, I have received information that the wording of the various statements can be interpreted as Vellmori leaving of her own volition but also under encouragement; if you see claims that she was forced to resign this is what that claim references.) There was a rumor about her getting 2 years of severance pay, but I don't know if that was ever corroborated and is likely false, but she would have gotten something in accordance with Korean Law which they were found in compliance of.

Everything after announcing her termination of contract (not translating the initial announcement, framing it as a company policy issue, keeping quiet on it for months, constant vague threats of lawsuits) was supposedly a bad attempt at trying to quell the harassment by making it go away. Instead, it exploded, and now if you're a fan you'll have to deal with this coming up forever. I know there's fans who follow me that'll resent me for making this post as they just want to move on (or think I'm wrong or misrepresenting some details).

I resent making this for what its worth, and am trying my best to be accurate, but for me this is part of moving on, acknowledging the bad and the factors that mitigate it. And yes, I think there are several mitigating factors.

Why did Cassie Wei, lead singer of Project Mili who is both Korean and a woman, speak out in KJH's defense?

Why hasn't, to my knowledge, Vellmori said anything since and by and large just disappeared if she was so poorly mistreated?

Why have, again to my knowledge, none of the Voice Actors and Actresses spoken out against PM in solidarity?

Why do PM continue to have partnerships with progressive companies like Arc System Works?

Why did the labor union retract their statements against PM and apologize following an actual investigation?

EDIT: New info. Why did the labor union censure the people responsible for handling the PM issue, who later quit the group seemingly in disgrace?

Why did PM not bring their own lawyers to the meeting with Vellmori while she was allegedly encouraged to bring hers?

None of these questions completely absolve PM of wrongdoing, if you were set on condemning them it's not hard to interpret each in a very uncharitable way. For example, most of this is easily answered by the fact we live under Capitalism and we inevitably all have to swallow our morals and ideals to make rent. I could retort that maybe PM did the same by capitulating in any degree to harassment (which they have done historically as what happened with Ruina's ending) and not specifically endorsing any ideology or political belief (which is wild considering the actual content of their stories). But I think that ends with a circular argument that boils down to whether you believe in PM or not.

To be clear, even if you want to interpret all the Vellmori stuff as charitably as possible, PM undeniably fucked up and has labor issues in its history. The artist for the manga Leviathan, Monggeu, came out during the whole thing to speak on her treatment as a contractor; how she was given an impossible workload and the company denied her requests for delays, delays caused in part by suicidal depression caused by the workload. Though KJH personally apologized to her, she was let go over the phone and spoke out only after she felt the company now had a pattern of abusive work policies. The author of Wonderlab also deleted her stuff in solidarity.

That's all bad. Really bad. I stopped playing Limbus because I felt extreme disappointment with the company and managerial tendencies of KJH. Credit to a reddit user I won't name for pointing this out, but this information is far more concrete than anything involving Vellmori as Monggeu broke her silence independently months after things happened on her personal Twitter. However, there isn't nearly as much focus on this or calls for Justice for Monggeu.

This opinion is mine and mine alone, but her situation, which I must stress was awful and shameful on PM's and KJH's part, doesn't tie into a culture war like "Vellmori being fired for feminist tweets" does. It is a clear cut example of bad labor and managerial practices that lead to harm towards an employee, but its an everyday tragedy, not a martyrdom. And so I wonder how much the treatment of labor is actually part of this discussion, the more actionable issue than changing all of Korean society. I wonder if PM's supposed kowtowing to incels is highlighted above all other context because it casts PM as an enemy in a culture war.

I say the above because I've seen online culture war stuff happen before, and it scares me beyond just whether a company I like gets redeemed in the eyes of others. I have seen lives destroyed in the name of a just cause for nothing, including good progressive causes like feminism. If the only thing that would satisfy or lead to forgiveness is a revolutionary purge, do you actually want to build anything?

I digress, and I hope I didn't turn you off too much with my thoughts and fears there. It's important though, because there was ultimately an apology from PM.

In it, among other things, they laid out their flawed logic on how they wanted to handle the situation, addressed their treatment of both current employees and past contractors, and promised to improve and protect employees better. Since then, things seem to have changed at least from an outsiders' perspective. The game moved away from a strict list of deadlines and towards a more open-ended dev pipeline. The game is less buggy than it used to be after updates. They changed policies on content to make it easier to produce by limiting VA without any blowback from their VA's so we can assume proper talks were had. Translations don't have as many errors as they used to while the quality has been maintained even after losing a major translator (which is its own tale of baffling choices by the company in its own right). And they've kept all this up for Season 3 so far without any announcements of delays and, in fact, far more content than usual. All of this, to me, points to better management.

Maybe I'm naive to think so but I want to believe that the evidence points to the crimes of PM not coming from a place of malice and antifeminism but incompetence. I need to stress KJH didn't kill or rape anybody, nor was he verbally or physically abusive. He was a really shitty boss, and I understand how much it sucks to have a shitty boss, believe me. But a shitty boss can become not shitty, and my hope is that happened already, and that a company that produces good art that's worthwhile will thrive as a result.

I say all this because I actually care about this company and art it produces. If I didn't, last July wouldn't have hurt so much. If I'm cringe for it, so be it, but I believe constructive change should be recognized and rewarded, and it's for those reasons I came back after following the game for the rest of its second season.

To be clear, you don't owe a company your time or your money even if they improve their culture and policies, and if you felt that what PM or KJH has done is unforgivable you are well within your rights not to engage with it ever again or even tell others about your grievances, as much as I might disagree. But if you want them to suffer, to lose business, maybe even to go under despite how many other women work for and with them... I don't know. Please don't just think of these people as enemy units in the war against feminism? Ask yourself that if Vellmori broke her silence tomorrow and asserted she left of her own volition and condemned groups like the PMUA, would you believe her or immediately assume she's under duress?

This is not a cut and dry, black and white moral issue where a great evil needs vanquishing, it's a messy as hell moral and labor issue involving multiple people wrapped up in larger cultural and social issues no one initially involved intended. There are real people involved who stand to get hurt, not to mention who's been hurt already. Justice can involve other things than a firing squad. Please at least acknowledge that much. inb4 "No and kindly die"

EDIT, regarding the lawsuits. If you didn't know, PM is currently suing the labor union and a separate organization once called the PMUA (Project Moon Users Association) now called the KGA (Korean Gamer Association). I have seen unconfirmed reports that the former has ties to the disgraced Korean Ratings Board exposed by Blue Archive Fans for crypto bullshit. In addition, I have seen criticisms of how the PMUA used donations and their effectiveness in actual addressing PM and its labor issues, including demonstrations on days workers and management weren't even present and being the ones responsible for leaking documents that Vellmori allegedly wanted to be kept private. All of that supports PM's allegations that these organizations were in fact targeting them as part of political ploys and they never cared about any of the victims or ideals they touted as representing. For all the above, PM is suing for defamation, which is well within their rights by my reckoning. Regardless of my thoughts, this is where we are now.

Last and by no means least, feminism is good. Wanna be clear on that, I believe in equal pay, reproductive rights, that grip strength is a stupid metric to measure human rights by, that men are not owed sex and love by women regardless of circumstance, the whole shebang.

Also, what's happening in South Korea is scary and serious and bigger than just a terminally online culture war shitfest, more like an active bomb about to explode. I support the women who live there and their fight for equality, I just don't think PM fundamentally has anything to do with it and constantly trying to drag it into the line of fire feels like faux activism. I think the scope of the gender war is very far beyond the limits of gacha game discussion, or for that matter the actions of a single company of, like, 50 people.

(I swear to god if Vellmori makes a post tomorrow accusing KJH of SA or something after I wrote all this I will throw myself into the ocean.)

This will actually be the last time I talk about this unless something changes, I want to believe I was respectful the whole time and don't mean to belittle anyone for their beliefs or choices (unless you're an incel, please be better, also take a shower).

#project moon #limbus company #mysogyny #obviously this is a lot #sorry #was a draft i was gonna delete but this arknights thing popped off and I saw 2 posts linking Limbus even though it's tangential #guess I just want a better counternarrative to “PM is the evil antifeminist bad labor company” than “nuh uh” #because bad shit happened #i just also believe its gotten better and that many of the accusations are vindictive more than disappointed #anti-PM sentiment feels fueled by non fans getting news from other non fans sometimes

[wilsonsmcgillsweatshirt]

Why can I just imagine House sitting in the HR office twiddling his thumbs while they call Wilson on the verge of tears for the 100th time in a week, telling him to come get his person

#Cuddy and Wilson have to take turns going to pick House up and lecturing him #Obviously House can leave on his own but he likes inconveniencing everybody and the HR people need to complain to someone #clearing out my drafts #house md #house #greg house #james wilson #gregory house #hilson #hate crimes md #hatecrimes md #wilson #housemd