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gb-patch · 3 years

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Ask Answers: July 10th

I really let asks get away from me lately. I was super focused on working on that Patreon Moment. With that done I can finally think about doing other things, so here’s a new collection of answers!

Thank you for sending in questions everyone ^^.

For the new Patreon moment, will you be able to reference it in step 4? Or just like a tiny nod to it if you pick certain choices?

There won’t be. I’m sorry if you were hoping for that! The Patreon moment is meant to be entirely optional, it’s not something that gets you extra content in the main game.

Is the new CG artist the main one now? :0 I’ve noticed theres been a difference in the art style recently. Is the old CG artist still going to make art for the game? :0

The original artist still makes CGs for the game sometimes, but he mainly focuses on character sprites.

Are you going to put the NSFW our life moment on a website other than patreon? I would love to get it but I can't use patreon atm.

I don’t know. I'm afraid we can't release the Patreon Moment on a normal game storefront because we can't mix 18+ content with our family friendly game. If there's some other place similar to Patreon where it's not the normal type of full-scale public content releases we'd consider using that, but I’m not sure if there is another site that’s better than Patreon in that regard. I'm sorry.

Out of curiosity, in all of your games so far, which characters in each were the most fun to write? They obviously don't have to be your favorite characters!

Buffalo Seer in AFA, really everyone in XOD/XOBD is pretty equally entertaining to write, The Guide in LoV, and Cove in OL!

idk if you accept "personal" questions, but is there anything you've been watching/ listening to lately

Mostly, I’ve been watching/listening to Authortube videos as of late! It’s people who talk generally about the process of how books become traditionally published and/or share their own experience as they attempt to be published. I don’t have an interest in writing normal text based books, but it’s really interesting to hear about that world. I’m listening to a video about royalties right now as I answer these asks.

Will one of the desserts we get to pick be fudge? That'd be such a cute reference!

Haha, yeah, it should. Unless I completely blank on it and forget when trying to include the various referential food options.

I don't know if this has been asked previously but what would be the approximate heights for the presets MC can choose from Step 2 ~ 4? Are there any measurement you had in mind? Sorry if I didn't make myself clear kk I've been struggling with my English lately 💀

I don’t know, ahah. I didn’t have any numbers in mind for that. So it’s whatever you imagine it is!

I noticed a bug with the Patreon moment when it comes to what your character wears. When Jamie and Cove are kissing while my character only had dresses selected, I had both the option to remove the dress or to remove the shirt... Picking one of the options to interact with Cove, after he removed his shirt, it had Jamie remove their shirt followed by ther pants despite only having dresses picked.

Thank you for reporting ^^

I keep refreshing steam to see when the new doc for xobd will be released. I noticed you haven't posted anything about it in quite some time. Would it be possible to ask about a timeline/potential date? (If it's even this year—) I know you and your team are probably working super hard, I'm just super curious! ~Thank you!~

There are more stories done, I just haven’t gotten around to publicly releasing them. Hopefully I will have a chance to spend the time on that sooner rather than later!

hello!! i’m not sure if it’s an update but i’ve just replayed our life and at the end i can’t propose to cove anymore? :(( i’ve actually tried playing twice but the options are not there anymore, did you guys remove the options? i’m sorry if you’ve answered this before!! thank you and have a good one :)

I’m afraid things haven’t been changed or removed, so I think you might’ve accidentally picked the wrong things somewhere along the way and locked yourself out of being able to propose by mistake. Sometimes you meant to say you want to get married but instead you mis-click and have it so the MC isn’t thinking about marriage or something. All I can suggest is starting from the beginning of Step 3 and making sure to follow the steps listed in the FAQ. I’m sorry for that.

Did yall remove some of the options for when youre making out with Cove in the charity moment? I could've sworn you could grab his bonkadonk and its not there anymore

This is the same situation as the above. We didn’t remove things and you’re not wrong that there are sometimes those options. But there are various choices you have to make to get those options and it sounds like you accidentally missed something. If your relationship isn’t long-term, you can’t do it for example.

HI IM SO EXCITED I CAN FINALLY GET THE STEP 3 DLC

Thank you for getting it!

Is Shiloh super totally straight bc I’m very gay and a huge Shiloh fan, would my man make an exception?😩

Sadly, he is one of our super straight characters. I’m sorry.

Hi, I have a very dumb question. In Step 2 does Cove not wanna share his drink with us at the mall (or rather why he stops drinking it) because it's an indirect kiss? Or is it like ...weird to him to share? Because if I remember right he eats off our spoon in the birthday scene right?

Yeah, he’s awkward about it because he likes the MC and it feels very personal to share a straw with his crush.

Hi! If you don't mind me asking, who is the artist for OL2? Their style is so pretty!

Thank you for saying so! This is her Twitter- https://twitter.com/redridingheart

Do Beginnings & Always and Now & Forever exist in the same universe?

Yep! XOXO Droplets also exists in the same universe. It’s one big GB Patch world, haha.

Do Pran's parents regret the way they raised him? Do they feel ashamed of it?

No. They’re the type of people best cut out because they’re not gonna change. Which is why Pran does go very limited contact when he’s an adult.

Hi! I just wrapped up my second playthrough of Our Life, and I absolutely adore it, but I had a question. I went to the gallery and found I was missing 2 CGS (specifically Step 1-3 and 2-3) and I had no clue where they would've shown up. Which moments are those found in?

You get it by telling Cove about his dad offering you money to be his friend in Step 1 and Step 2. You can’t get both in one playthrough, since you can only tell Cove the truth once. I’m really glad you liked it!

Hi hi! Please, how tall is Baxter and Derek? Love the game so much and I can't wait to see more!

I don’t know, aha. I think Baxter was around 5′10 and Derek was like 5′8/5′9, maybe. I really am not one who has specific heights for things in mind.

is adult cove a bottom, top, or switch?

A switch, though would choose the top if he had to pick.

I was wondering if there is a way to transfer save data? Even if through the game files. I wanted to be able to transfer my save data from my desktop over to my laptop so that I could continue playing right where I left off from but I'm not entirely sure how to go about that.

If you save the save folder/persistent data of the game from your desktop and put it into the game folder on your other device, that could work.

Hi! Is it possible for us to know the date when our life: now and forever comes out on steam? Sorry if you've mentioned it before but I haven't seen it and I'm looking foward to that happening and just wanted to know :)

It’s gonna be a long time, I’m afraid. There’s no estimate right now.

I started playing Our Life with my sister a while ago, and I think you guys should know that we discovered your secret. >:)

L from death note and Cove are clearly the same person, and this whole game is just an origin story!!

I’ve never seen that show so I’m sorry to say I don’t understand the connection/reference you’re trying to make. I’m pretty out of the loop when it comes to media. I don’t watch movies or TV.

Will OL2 have options for disabled MCs?

I understand if it's too complicated, just curious

Unfortunately, it’s not really something we have a plan for. We couldn’t finish the game if we tried to include every disability and have it be meaningful. It’d just be too much content to create. But if we decide to only include a few, how would we choose which disabilities get to be represented and which are left out? I don’t know. It’ll probably have to be something we don’t include as an option again, sadly. I’m sorry.

playing our life > anything else

Haha, I’m glad you’re enjoying it.

Honestly, I would like to thank Our Life for helping me come to terms with my sexuality. Before, I never would've actually thought that it was possible to like boys romantically and still be asexual. Almost all of the BL visual novels I've read had unskippable sexual content in them and it honestly just didn't click with what I feel. I'm glad I found Our Life. I love the game, the developers, and this fandom so much. Now, I can safely come out as homoromantic AND asexual (at least anonymously here anyway; my parents are still huge homophobes 😂).

Aw, it’s great to hear you felt comfortable being yourself in the game! That’s wonderful. I’m really sorry about your parents, though.

Will the demo for OL2 be on android? Really not sure if I could wait any longer than I have to aha

Yeah, it’ll be available for Android once we eventually release a demo!

Do all these reveals perhaps mean development is progressing ahead of schedule? Please let that be the case I'm already obsessed with Qiu

No, sorry, aha. Art comes along much faster than script/programming-work for us. It’s gonna be a long time before the game is a finished thing you can actually play. But at least we can look at the beautiful images.

Hey! First of all I wanna say I reallllllyyyyy loooovvveeee Our Life and XOXO Droplets! I have over 300 hours of playtime on Our Life… Anyways, I was just wondering, are the Derek and Baxter DLCs going to come out at the same time? If not, which one do you plan to release first? :3

They will come out separately and Derek will be first! Glad you like the game.

I keep replaying Our Life to get every possible iteration and I am loving it <3 I was wondering if Cove gets locked out of his confession because MC was talking to Lee, would it be possible to confess to him in step 4?

Yeah, you can avoid the confession in Step 3 and then get it in Step 4.

Hi, my Cove wears bracelets through step 2 and 3 but I still don't get an option to give him a bracelet? I didn't even know that was possible until I seen someone else ask about it lol

Hm, did you use the Cove creator? Maybe there’s a bug where using the creator to add bracelets doesn’t fulfill the requirement to give Cove a bracelet in Step 3.

Wait, I'm dense, when does Baxter appear in step 2? Is it from big park firework? I feel so bad since i really love Baxter and waiting to buy his dlc.

It’s in the Soiree Moment. You have to be just friends with Cove, indifferent, or crushing but not ask Cove to the dance at all. Then while there you can find someone new to dance with. But if you bring Cove to the dance while crushing, the MC won’t wanna dance with anyone else so you can’t get the scene.

In step 2 when we go to the soiree I made my mc go alone and baxter chooses the mc to dance, i'm curious, why did he pick the mc? sorry if this has been asked before!

Because the MC looked to be around his age, seemed to also be searching for a partner, and had nice legs. A perfect option for him.

I read some of the FAQs, and I saw that we could tell Baxter about the condo that he rented there was previously the mean old grandparents. how do we get the mc to tell him that?

It happens in the DLC Moment “Late Shift”. If you don’t have a job you instead get a longer scene with Baxter.

I don’t know if you’ve addressed this or not, but are you planning on paying voice actors for our life: now and forever?

Yeah, we pay our VAs in all our projects.

hey can i ask how you did the moments thing in ol? im trying to get into making visual novels and while im VERY sure its out of my comfort zone and all that atm i kinda wanna know just for the future, bc im p sure it would work well for something i wanna do :O but its also fine if you cant say for other reasons :>

I’m afraid I’m not sure what you mean. Are you asking how we programmed the screen or something script related? Adding Moments like that is pretty straightforward, though. You just have buttons that open to different labels and then the scripts are essentially individual short stories/vignettes. Good luck with your VN!

Since Autumn becomes gender fluid later in the game, will there be a character who remains as he/him to romance in game?

OL1 has the he/him LIs, OL2 is all about other genders.

I don't want to impose on your creative plans, but a parrot could possibly make a good pet in an OL-type game? They're pretty long-lived and likely to still be thriving by the end even if the MC got them back in step 1.

I do appreciate the suggestion, but I’m afraid it’s not likely going to happen. I understand there are technically some animals that could theoretically live long enough to last the whole game that or we could have the MC only get a pet after some years have already passed. But the many things that would have to be considered/accommodated for makes it just something we probably can’t manage adding. I’m sorry.

As time passes will we be able to see Qiu and Tamarack's other stage arts as well?

They are both so cute i can't wait to be friends with them!

Yeah, we’ll show content from other Steps in the future. It’ll be a little while from now, though.

Can you date Cove and still have your family comfort you in the car?

You can’t get Cove’s Step 3 confession scene if you have the family comfort you in the car. But that’s not the only way to date him. You can get together with him earlier in the game or later on in Step 4.

Is Mc always going to be the one walking down the aisle or could Cove do it? Also could you choose to have one of your moms walk you?

No. Cove wouldn’t want to walk down the aisle like that and the MC automatically respects that. And the MC also gets to have their preferences respected, so it’s up to you whether they want to do an aisle walk or not. You also can pick who, if anyone, walks with you.

Once step 4 is out, will you be able to go the whole game on crush/love without either of you confessing?

Yes, as long as you tell the game you don’t want to progress the relationship. Even in Step 4 it won’t force you to officially get together.

Howdy, so in Step 4, there will be any Romance with Derek that is not part of any dlc?

He’s only a friend unless you get his romance story.

Will the step 4 in OL2 be one big step or are you considering moments?

Step 4 is just an epilogue in both games.

hi kind of a weird question but!! we know tht cliff doesn't start dating again but. wht abt flings? like does he ever do 1 night stands or anything? thank u!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nope. Cliff has a very small interest in sex. If he’s not in a real relationship with a partner he’s crazy about it simply isn’t something he feels a need for, so one night stands wouldn’t even cross his mind.

sorry if you've already answered this, but i was wondering if there were plans for there to be bonus love interests in OL2 like how we have derek and baxter in OL1.

Maybe! There are side characters who could be given romance stories, but whether or not it will happen depends on funding and how long everything else takes to finish.

I don't know if i'm allowed to ask about ol2 here yet, if not u can ignore this or answer it later. My question is can you date one of them and be good friends with the other? I don't want to be strangers with the other bcs i love them both a lot :<

Yes you can!

what patreon level do i have to be to unlock the nsfw moment? im on the $5 one right now, will that give me access to the moment, or just access to the moment progress?

That’ll give you access! Tier 2 and anything higher allows the player to download it.

#our life #ask #gb patch #gb patch games #all projects #Our Life Beginnings & Always #Our Life: Now & Forever

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inkblotclouds · 3 years

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some things to know!

Hi lovebugs! I’m Liz, and I figured it was about time I shared my clownery with the masses. I’m super new to this, so please know everything here is subject to change if I find I’ve done something catastrophically wrong, but until then:

What will I be posting?

Alas, left to my own devices, I am far from a consistent writer. I tend to get sporadic bursts of inspiration out of nowhere. But if I should find myself typing up something coherent, this is where I’ll put it! I write a lot of original content and characters, but I do also do fan pieces! The main fandoms I am currently drifting through are:

Omori

Dimension 20

Genshin Impact

Here’s the super fun thing though!! Usually, my long dry spells of writing are due to a lack of inspiration. The solution? Strangers on Tumblr, of course! :D

All about suggestions and requests!

If you have something you want written, go ahead and shoot me a request! Are you currently interested in the same things I am? Amazing! Looking for ship or spinoff content from one of those things? Great! Want me to write a one-off with your very own OC in a canon universe? No problem! Give me as many details as you can about what you’re looking for and I’ll go for it, be it a well-known piece of media or your original ideas.

Even if you don’t see your favorite fandom on the list, you can definitely send me a message inquiring about it! It’s very possible that even something I don’t have listed above will be something on which I have enough knowledge to write.

Guidelines Pt. 1: Hard and fast rules

I will not write about:

Anything NSFW or explicit. Ever.

This includes anything intended to be for the purpose of a kink or fetish.

Abusive and toxic relationships and situations.

In regards to fandoms, anything that directly conflicts with the media’s canon.

I feel like this should go without saying, but since I know it does not: I will not write for ship pairings that are minor x adult, inc*st, etc.

Highly graphic content of any kind.

I will not write for (fandoms + tropes):

Yandere characters in any capacity

Harry Potter

MCYT/Dream SMP

Youtube content creators (Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, etc.)

Proshippers are not welcome here, and anyone found to support proshipping will be immediately blocked. The same applies for homophobia, racism, transphobia, and anything along those lines. Get the hell off my page.

Be patient with me. I’m doing this for fun, and I will not be setting myself any defined schedule or hard deadlines. I have a life outside of writing, and real-life struggles of my own.

I reserve the right to refuse any request for any reason.

Guidelines Pt. 2: Heavily encouraged

Regardless of what you’re requesting, give me as many details as you possibly can, as it will help me immensely and make sure you’re getting the closest thing possible to your vision. These include but are definitely not limited to:

Plot outline

Specific scenes you want included

Character personalities (the more in-depth the better!)

Character appearances

Tropes you want to invoke/subvert

Please give me at least one sentence of prompting to work with. It’s likely that I will ignore requests that have no information beyond “angry [character]” or are generally very unclear/vague.

If requesting an x reader, specify a specific gender for the reader if you intend to have one! If a gender is not given I will write the reader as gender neutral.

As of now, I think that’s all! Please feel free to interact at any time--the one thing I will ask specifically is to not send me things that are sexual in any capacity. Doing so will end in you being blocked. But if you have questions or want to chat or know my opinions about writing, about anime, about OCs, about anything, I promise I don’t bite! Usually.

Farewell for now! I hope to see you soon :)

#i dearly wish i had one (1) clue what i was doing #please send me things #it makes me feel special #writing #fandom #fanfiction #original fiction #writing requests

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kim-ruzek · 3 years

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I'm SO in my Stella Kidd feels today so I'm just gonna scream in appreciation about her, and about how amazing the evolution of stellaride and Kelly has been, but before I make a different post on that, I really need to express just how brilliant this whole storyline has been and that even if it's made her a "bad friend", it's so good it's NECESSARY and WORTH being a "bad friend"

First, this fandom is so amazing and lovely and it's such a breathe of fresh air and I LOVE how that one anon in Sky's ask just immediately got everyone screaming in Stella Kidd appreciation, like I truly love that for us.

Second, I do have issues with how Chicago Fire-- and one chicago in general-- handles their poc. I mean CF does it much better than the other two, but there's still issues I have, but I'm not going to touch upon them, bc this is an appreciation post and because I TRULY adore how they've given this storyline to Stella this season and how they did it.

Like, some people may hate that they're not just focusing on her, as a good firefighter, going into the journey to becoming a Lieutenant, but that they're making it about a woc becoming one, but I seriously adore that. Because as a woc, we don't have the luxury to be just a person, we'll always be seen as a woc. And as much in some circumstances that truly sucks, in others it's needed, because everything we do, everything that made us us was through those lenses, and it makes us more heightened to stuff, that we see and notice things others just don't.

So Stella will always make choices and decisions as a Lieutenant through those lenses. And to make the storyline not just about someone becoming an officer who just happens to be a woc, but instead making that a center focus is something SO amazing bc I think sometimes people get caught up in that we don't want to be defined as just woc that they ignore that it's still such a huge part of us and the way we exist in this world.

Third, and onto the main point of this post: I LOVE how they evolved this storyline. Like how Boden's been such a big part of it, especially because Stella never was someone who's ever believed she's the kind of person who should be aiming high, never had anyone tell her she should. And I love how it wasn't someone like Matt or Kelly, someone white, but Boden. Especially that scene when he showed her the photo of the first black firefighter station, that he appealed to her to be a lieutenant not just because of her amazing skills, but because the CFD needs more woc with those skills.

And I love how much girls on fire has been part of this journey for her. Like I've seen people criticise that we haven't seen her do much incredible things out in the field (which, uh, I don't buy into bc we absolutely have) but like... being an officer, especially in this day, isn't just about how you operate in the field but how you guide. Being a lieutenant means you need to be able to lead, and girls on fire shows she can, alongside all her field work.

Plus, season eight was all about showing her off in field, this season is showing exactly how incredible she's going to be in all areas of being a lieutenant. The fact that you have to have the right demeanour, that you need to make the people under you feel comfortable confiding in you, that they trust you, that you will be their guide. That you have to be comfortable talking to the people above you, arguing for what you think will help your team.

And they've shown that Stella can ABSOLUTELY do this.

I also really love how they've shown what she needs from Kelly. That she just needs him to support her from the sides, because she doesn't need him to hold her hand, guide her, just needs to know he's standing there, proudly, watching her shine. Because she doesn't need help, but she's perfectly qualified and able in her own right, without him. But she's still human, so she still needs her partner to be her cheerleader, to help get keep her self doubts at bay, because that's the one thing she can't do herself.

And I love how they've used Boden. Especially because when as a poc you're finally realising your worth, all that encouragement and appreciation for who you are, it means SO much more coming from a role model who's also a poc.

And I love how they've shown when he encouraged her, when he stood back and let her process things, how that when he's complimented her efforts it's not just out of no where, not just making her feel happy, it's when he truly thinks she deserves it.

Also. I know some people didn't exactly like her meeting her CFD role model, but I LOVE that they did that because yet again, that would mean so much. Especially bc that does something Boden's encouragement can't, bc they'll always be a voice that says Boden knows her, he's bias, but she didn't. And of course, Boden may be a poc, but he's still a man so having a fellow woc recognise her as great? So, so necessary.

Plus, as woc we're constantly told, maybe not directly but definitely indirectly, that we shouldn't aim high, that we should be content, that if we do aim high we should be meek about it, apologetic. And that's wrong, so seeing Stella appreciate her own worth? NEEDED.

Finally, I know a whole lot of other people besides woc can relate to Stella, and her storyline. It's the great thing about stuff like this, it's layered and everyone can find something in it that they relate to.

But I'll never be able to overstate how refreshing and healing this storyline has been for me, a woc, and my fellow woc. Like Stella has been kickass, has been recognised as such, has had goals and been unapologetic about it, has had a supportive partner just letting her shine, like all that? It can be a struggle to find stuff that explores all that, and it's so needed.

Like me, for example. I'm comfortable in my skin, I'm passionate about this, I'm so much more validated and self accepting and so unapologetic about it than I was in my younger years but I still have this need, this craving, to be validated in my shows and over mediums. Because I grew up without it, with it barely being there.

I can count on one hand my woc role models in shows I had growing up, with fingers left over. Even now, it doesn't take long to list. And while I'm fully unapologetic with who I am and how I experience the world, I still need these storylines, these characters.

And a little part of me would die inside if I saw such a kickass character be reduced to a plot device for petty white people drama, because Stella and all of us woc are so much more worth that. We exist. We are people. We have feelings. And I'm so happy that the show is giving us kickass Stella Kidd, and that most of the fans respect that.

And yeah, that anon or anyone else who had that opinion, may not have meant it as Stella doesn't deserve this focus or she's pointless if not fixing white adult drama, but sorry, woc can't exist in this world without being seen as that, and that means when you say stupid stuff like that? You can't ignore that she's a woc, can't just remove that from the equation. Because this isn't just Stella, firefighter and Brettsey's friend becoming a lieutenant, this is Stella Kidd, woc becoming a lieutenant and that makes all the fucking difference.

This may be incoherent but I don't care because I love Stella Kidd, I love her storyline and it is Needed to be said.

#ree has thoughts #that no one asked for #stella kidd #chicago fire #stella kelly + stellaride meta coming up soon but i needed to say this first #i mean most of the fandom gets this but it still needs to be expressed

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franeridart · 3 years

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Anon said: [Spoilers for non-manga readers] opinion on Baku's hero name?

Very Bakugou, honestly don’t mind it at all! Mostly just surprised it’s, like, legal in the bnha universe for heroes to call themselves stuff like explodo-kills (and also that there isn’t a character limit for hero names??) but that Bakugou would stick with it is pretty damn in character for him so I like it xD still, I’ll probably just call him Dynamight if I’ll ever need to use his hero name lmao

Anon said: not to be the most romantic sap but uh just a kiss by lady a is killin me

Nothing sappy about letting romantic songs get to you!!!! I say, as I’m constantly crying over romantic songs so this mindset benefits me as well lol

Anon said: i may or may not have stumbled across some of your older kiribaku art, the stuff with akane, and she's the best child oc tbh. i actually like her and i tend to not be a fan of child ocs but she's just the cutest darn thing 🥰

I’m so glad you like her!!!!! She was a lot of fun, what a good gremlin ;;;

Anon said: uve heard of dragon!kiri w his hair spikes up, now get ready for dragon!kiri w his hair dowm lookin like the softest boy

AW HECK I think I’ve drawn him in the past, actually!!!! Spike-haired Kiri will forever be my fav Kiri, but there’s just something about hair down Kiri isn’t it!! What a cute boy ;;;; all sharp edges and soft curves, what a lovely sight

Anon said: can i just say your itafushi art is so cute? these two already make me feel and then your art just (つω°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥｀)

THANK YOU SO MUCH I really need to draw them more, don’t I! goge kinda monopolized my attention there, but the way itafushi makes me feel..........boy the way they make me feel ;;;;

Anon said: good day, poké au thought: 12 y/o bakugo somehow catches a dreepy as like his 2nd pokemon and never questions it

WHY NOT WHY NOT I have a whole team in my mind for the boy tbh but dreepy is so cute ;;;; and anyway, I like my poke!bakugou with as many dragon types as he could possibly get his hands on hahaha

Anon said: Please know that, amongst other factors, you were one of the maon reasons I stsrted Jujutsu Kaisen two days ago and there isnothing more to say except thank you and I'm absolutely in debt with you for that, thank you so much 😍

I’m so so SO glad you’re liking it!!!!!! It can get kinda heavy but it’s such a great story.... honestly I’d been wanting to start it since I saw the first pv for the anime all the way back last year but I was like, you know it’s a mappa anime! so I wanted to watch the anime as a new thing, cause I love mappa, but three episodes in I couldn’t hold back and just binged it. It’s kind of story that just makes you wanna drink it all in one go, isn’t it? so good so good

Anon said: makeup artist kirishima and model bakugo or makeup artist bakugo and model kirishima? :0c

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm can’t say I see either of them much into fashion tbh, but if I had to pick probably model Kiri and artist Baku? I just don’t think Baku would be able to stay still enough to get photographed, and he wouldn’t like the photographer bossing him around anyway, and catwalks would be impossible for him to stomach imho, he’s too restless for it! At least it’s the way I see it haha

Anon said: fdgdhdkfhdafs i had a thought, what if bakugo prefers dogs and kirishima prefers cats and when they meet each other and become friends it's like, "oh." because they have some striking similarities to their fave animals

That’s been my headcanon for a while now, actually!! I think for me it came from two characters in a manga I like that are a lot like a dog and a cat but have inverted fav animals and when I read about that I was like “oh, right, makes sense since they like each other” and then my brain turned it krbk because when does it not lmao

Anon said: your art is the soothing balm to my soul recently, thank you for posting so much beautiful content. i hope you have a lovely week. ♡

sob thank you so much, I’m glad my doodling can help you feel better ;; <3

Anon said: Friendly reminder anon from last time: that post I left last time I had only eaten 7 gingersnaps that day and hadn’t drank any water. So that encouraged me to actually self care. Thank you.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! well I hope you’re taking care of yourself today too! And as fair trade, I’ll do the same myself! <3

Anon said: Hi! I'm an artist and I'm thinking of making a sideblog for my art. Do you have any tips?

Ah man, I’m sorry but I’m not the best person to ask this to! I started this sideblog cause I had too many followers on my main and I didn’t want my stuff to be seen by that many people at first, so whatever I did probably isn’t what you’re looking for :( but really there isn’t much to it, just post whatever you like to draw, tag it as best as you can (but remember that only the first five tags appear in the search page) and be patient, since whatever you do at first you won’t get much attention anyway - the only real advice I can give is to draw something that makes you happy and that you’d draw anyway even if no one were to see it, it’ll make keep posting despite a possible lack of activity a lot easier!

Anon said: Your goge art🥺🥺

I just love them so much ( TT’’’TT)9

Anon said: how the fuck have i not been following you? I remember seeing your bakushima art in the bnha tag and always thinking it's so cute. Now you're into JJK too??? and the satosugu art??? fuckin, diabetes incarnate. I love it. I love you. Your art 10/10. I'm tired lmao.

WELL thank you for the follow!! And for thinking my stuff is cute!!!!! I do my best with that, I want all the soft things for my favs 😌

Anon said: Are you gonna draw Gojou/Getou comic?? 👉🏻👈🏻 WOULD LOVE TO READ IT

you mean an actual doujin? I don’t think I will, sorry! I’m really no good at long projects orz but thank you so much for wishing to read something like that from me!!! ;A;

Anon said: Hello! YOUR ART IS SO FREAKING GORGEOUSSSS!!! I love them so much!! If I may ask you one question. Between Getou amd Gojou, who do you see as top/bottom? Just curious

THANK YOU!!!!! And I honestly don’t care as long as they’re happy and together!!! please let them be happy and together 🙏🙏🙏

Anon said: i want you to know!!! i followed you for your kiribaku art but!!! i love your art so much that idc what you post because it's all just!!!! incredible and wonderful and stunning!!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!! this means a lot to me so seriously thank you so much!!!!

Anon said: d'you think bakugo has like headaches or migraines after training or battles because of how loud his quirk is? like, i listen to music slightly too loud and my head is sending me to hell. (unless you go with the hoh hc which is also 👌)

I like to think Baku’s body is attuned enough to his own quirk that he wouldn’t get drawbacks of the kind tbh, though that wouldn’t be a bad thought for when he just starts to increase the output/width and strength of his explosions............ well, I myself suffer from chronic headaches and migraines so I’m always up for projecting on my favs ngl lmao

Anon said: so like... dragon kirishima's eyes glow right? like, if we equate his dragon-ness to unbreakable his eyes glow? they also glow when he's half shifted? honestly i just live glowing eyes

Oh hell yeah I’m all for that, definitely definitely, I love glowing eyes with my whole heart and Kiri’s eyes in unbreakable are just so!!!!!! NGH *chef kiss* the more of unbreakable there is in his dragon form the happier I am ( TT^TT)9

Anon said: me, scrolling through your blog: ah shit guess im gonna have to start watching jjk

!!!!! hope it won’t hurt you too much, anon!!

Anon said: dragon!kiri and bakugo having a tug-of-war match over a piece of meat. both have it in their mouths. both are determined to win.

Kiri is turned into his dragon form and Baku still wins, hell yeah

Anon said: your satosugu is top tier!! it's hard to find stuff for them that isn't straight up angst so your art has been super cool and also very very cute!! (tho if you went with angst, it wouldn't be a bad thing obviously)

AH I’m so happy to hear you like them!!!! but also happy you wouldn’t mind angst, as I do like them the best happy and soft but my brain, my brain has been throwing sads my way for a while now 👀 I got some ideas

Anon said: What program/device do you use??

Easy Paint Tool SAI and a wacom intuos!! Though I got myself an ipad+procreate just yesterday and I’ve been messing around with it, let’s see how that one goes!

Anon said: *inahles* i am simping for mohawk man please tell me everything about your ocs immediately or i will detonate

THANK YOU FOR LIKING HIM HE’S CALLED DAVIDE Dav for short, he’s a cat of a man and a music instrument enthusiast (mostly string ones, but he’s very good with the piano as well) - he works in a music instruments store, and he’s a uni student majoring in philosphy! He doesn’t like bothersome things, he isn’t very good at taking anything seriously or putting effort in stuff, but he’s very chill to spend time with and generally a nice chat both if you want mindless thoughts or deep conversations (he’s a philosophy major after all). He can’t sing for shit, he’s got two cats (tago and schelly!), and he just wants a quiet life to laze around but all his friends are hurricanes in human bodies, but then again, he picked them himself so he can’t complain. He’s a good boy!! I’m planning a comic for him and his boy Ross >:]

#fran answers #SORRY FOR THE DELAY #i wish i could say i was busy but actually i just got distracted #ah also #jjk spoilers #cause my sis has a habit of readin my asks and she can't know about the otp just yet #lol #is the readmore for this showing? this is pretty damn long....#long post #just to be sure

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magnificent-nerd · 3 years

Text

Why Naqib in The Boys sucked

Image description: fictional character Naqib in Amazon Prime’s show The Boys.

(Is the fire in the background an excuse to use racist Yellow Filter to show how exotic he is? Hmm.)

I first posted this on my blog in Dec 2020, and since nothing in superhero media has changed for the better at this time (September 5th, 2021), I’m going to keep talking about it.

Because nobody else does. So, without further ado:

WHY NAQIB SUCKS.

I was a big fan of The Boys season 1; I love superheroes, I love deconstructing a genre. Sure, it has its problems, but overall I enjoyed season 1 and thought the show had potential.

(That’ll learn me for being hopeful!)

When season 1 ended with this big build up of mostly nameless brown and background characters as Muslim terrorists (deep sigh) we the audience are left thinking this one Muslim character (Naqib) whose superpower is to blow himself up repeatedly (insert another long deep sigh here) is going to be The Big Bad of season 2.

I had my misgivings about that direction. Firstly, as you can see from the image of Naqib, he is highly exoticised and is walking around bare chested with Arabic writing on his chest. He looks more like a generic western media depiction of a genie than he does a supervillain.

And yet he's the first prominent Muslim character in superhero media I've seen in YEARS.

(See my post about MENA and Muslim character good guys, including Joe played by Marwan Kenzari in The Old Guard, which is technically a comic book movie but it’s not what I’d call ‘caped and costumed’ superheroes so it’s more... superhero adjacent.)

I follow superhero content closely and as far as I'm aware the last time we saw any named Muslim characters in superhero movies WITH SPEAKING LINES was:

Instance 1) Iron Man 1 back in 2008 with The Ten Rings in Afghanistan, showing multiple Muslim characters as baddies/terrorists, but only two of them as a named character and with any meaningful lines to say. And despite one of them, Yinsen (actor Shaun Toub), being a good guy he still dies! Which is common in western media for Muslim and MENA characters.

Note: Fellow Iron Man 1 castmate, actor Sayed Badreya, makes an important point in this GQ article: "I die in Iron Man, I die in Executive Decision. I get shot by everyone. George Clooney kills me in Three Kings. Arnold blows me up in True Lies…" (x)

Instance 2) A more recent instalment in Batman V. Superman in 2016, with some unnamed 'General' character and mercenaries/terrorists in Nairomi, Africa, referred to only as "the desert" throughout the movie. All reference to the General's actual name are available in an extended/deleted scene only, so a very poor and vague depiction in the final cut.

Instance 3) The generic and badly written ‘bad guys’ in Wonder Woman 1984 (2020 movie), which was honestly such a racist depiction of Arabs and Muslims that many critics pointed out we hadn’t seen a depiction this terrible since 1994′s True Lies. (At least most critics were in agreement that WW84 movie was generally terrible, so there’s that.)

And that's it, those are the only major instances showing any Muslim actors or characters in a caped and costumed superhero movie.

Some other fleeting glimpses of Muslims onscreen:

Glimpse 1) I spotted a girl wearing a hijab among the nameless and unspeaking background characters of Peter Parker's class in Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). A first for Marvel movies, apparently.

Glimpse 2) Disney Plus show Falcon and Winter Soldier (2021) had two nameless Muslim characters walk by in a scene that’s supposed to be Tunisia (using Yellow Filter), and ‘thank’ the present American Air Force (eye-roll).

Glimpse 3) Netflix show Jupiter’s Legacy (2021) had a nameless Muslim sailor conversing with one of the main characters in a scene, with meaningful dialogue about racism. (WOW. Really good.) Bonus: no yellow filter. It’s a pity he’s a nameless background character because this brief instance is the least problematic MENA rep I’ve seen in ages, but it is very brief.

I just wrote about Glimpses 2 and 3, and how the Netflix show outdid Disney when it comes to these nameless walk-on Muslim characters.

This is pretty pathetic overall, these small crumbs, especially compared to better rep and probably the only instance of legit MENA superheroes in a ‘costumes and capes’ style superhero show, the Tarazi siblings on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

Anyway, now I’ve listed what crumbs are available across the live action superhero genre, back to The Boys.

I was intrigued about how season 2 would handle Naqib and any characters relating to him, and what storyline they'd use.

Was I excited at the possibility of seeing Muslim supers onscreen? Damn straight I was. Did I mind that they were baddies? Well, yes and no. When you only ever get crumbs or no crumbs at all, you tend to get excited over one stale old crumb.

After the build up for season 2, I eagerly sat down to watch the first episode, only to have the first five minutes of episode 1 Trigon him.

Note: who's Trigon, you ask? Well if you didn't watch the DCEU's Titans show, Trigon was The Big Bad who was hyped up throughout season 1, introduced in the season 1 cliff-hanger episode as this big 'oh shit!' moment for the cast of heroes, only for him to fizzle out like a wet fart in the first episode of season 2 while the show pivots wildly in another direction.

Exactly what happened to Naqib in the first five minutes of The Boys season 2.

Erm, so, Naqib. Farewell, I guess? As a character you briefly appeared in 2 episodes, portrayed by a different actor in each (Krishan Dutt, and Samer Salem). It seems the writers used you as a plot device when they needed a cheap cliff-hanger for a direction that ultimately went nowhere.

Am I disappointed? Yeah, I am. Overall I thought season 2 of The Boys was weaker than season 1, but I'm not here to talk about the whole season: I want to talk about Naqib and this missed opportunity.

The Boys and its showrunners sell the show as being a satire of recent and well known superhero content, of all the big movies and TV shows. There's been a lot of patting themselves on the back for calling out overused tropes in superhero media (and sometimes they've done this satire well: see the LGBT marketing scene with Queen Maeve in season 2), but my issue with the show on their Muslim rep, or should I say lack thereof, is if your show has even less Muslim character rep than the content you're trying to parody, how is this a win for satire?

Naqib and that whole angle came across as a lazy, half-assed swing from the writer's room. Sure, perhaps a lot of the non-Muslim and non-MENA audience won't even notice, as we've been ignored by western media or made into nameless, generic, vacuous baddies for decades now. Non-Muslims and non-MENA just accept that we're always the baddies for no particular reason at all (which feeds into Islamophobia, by the way) and The Boys' writers could say they are simply satirising the tropes already present in media...

But, and this is a big but, the media that The Boys is satirising has already made a step toward better inclusion and representation: Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), Marvel comics' first Muslim superhero, is entering the MCU as a lead character in her own Disney Plus show, debuting in 2022.

Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan is also cited to appear in upcoming Captain Marvel sequel, The Marvels (2022), which will be a major movie.

The MCU has also cast a Muslim actor (Mahershala Ali) as the lead in a reboot of Blade. That's going to be big news when it starts filming.

So to the showrunners on The Boys, I say this: now you've done this small angle of 'all Muslim characters are terrorists, yuckity-yuck!' like we've seen in major superhero movies thus far, and you've brushed that aside in favor of focusing on other whiter villains, my question is will you come back to Muslim and MENA characters again? Or is that all you got?

Because if that was ALL, then the current score is Disney/MCU:02, Netflix:02, DCEU:02, and The Boys: a big ZERO as far as Muslim and MENA rep goes.

Originally posted on my blog, magnificently nerdy.

If you, like me, are always on the lookout for onscreen Muslim and MENA characters in superhero media, and have spotted any characters in superhero TV shows I haven’t watched yet, let me know about them!

Here is my post on good guys, featuring Old Guard’s Joe, and Blindspot’s Rich Dotcom.

Here’s my post about the Tarazi siblings on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow TV show.

And, if Marvels’ Eternals gets released on schedule for 2021, we will have a MENA actor portraying a supporting character. I just hope Marvel gives him a name.

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heyjude19-writing · 3 years

Note

Im the list anon again and boy do I have more for you but this time I also have some questions as well if your time allows and you are willing to answer of course. First with the other things I loved:

1) the fact that Ron warmed up to Draco so quickly! I genuinely think thats so much in character. Ron is not a distrustful person and as a middle child as they come is very easygoing and would for sure make stupid jokes at Draco

2) The patronus. My god the Patronus. I seriously put the phone down and made a small slow clap during that chapter. At first I was like hmmmm *insert unsure kombucha girl face* because almost all fanfics have him with a dragon patronus and leave it at that (and lets be honest at this point my expectations of you were quite high dont blame me blame your bloody brilliant writing) but then, and I dont know if you did this on purpose or not (I have a feeling you did) but the fact that the dragon was the same (pale white) wounded but still feral dragon that Hermione FREEED (!) from a bank (£££) dungeon, malnourished and used for its nature, surrounded by darkness, wealth and misery!! And it was Hermione who broke its chains!!!!! Is just *chefs fucking kiss* slow clap*

3) the way you describe sex scenes are so natural! Ive never read a fanfic or book that doesnt make me gag a little bit (I am not a fan of smut at all but ill go with it because of a good story) until I read yours. Its so simple but yet intricate and you make the entire act so intriguing and normal and intimate. Bravo.

4) I LOVE SASHA. I love that Theo fell for her head over heels and the way you portrayd her reminded me of a friend of mine who works as a sous-chef in London so I always pictured her when reading it!

5) Dracos inner voice is ON POINT. Like I genuinely think you shoud own the rights to that character now.

6) Ill say it again. I love Ginny. You should also own the rights to her character too.

7) my interest for Quiddich (even when reading the books/wathcing the movies) was on par, if not lower than Hermiones. You managed to get me interested in that too so yes another slow clap to you

7.1) Also such a clever career for Draco!! Made si much sense!

Now to some questions

A) What was the deal with Malfoy referring to Ginny as Weasly and refusing to aknowledge her Potter surname. And why did everyone kept correcting him? It was hilarious granted but I wanted to know whether the reason you included this time and time again had to do wih something deeper? Or was this included as just a funny recurring joke?

B) Why did you choose for Draco to have a “fantasy” to produce a patronus and not for example for him to have had to do that after theyd exchanged “i love yous”. Very interesting angle and i liked that it was sort of a loophole to all the ‘death eaters cant have patronuses’ but quite curious on the thought process

C) Why did you opt for Draco to remove his mark? Do you think that stands as reward for him more or for Hermione? Very smart solution by the way

D) if you have the time- Could you please elaborate a tad more on what the soul-bonding means? Why was it so taboo? At furst hand it seems like a very romantic/amazing thing to do with your partner right?

Lastly- Do you ever itch to make a second part to this? And in the most acceptable case that you dont, I always wondered what you had in mind for them in the future- because of the soul bonding thing, you mentioned that the generational curses will be erased, which means I guess that the Malfoys can have more than one child now, and girls as well. (I cannot believe im asking for this as I am the one to avoid any pregnancy fanfics but) do you imagine them with children and if yes, how many? How do they integrate muggle devices(I know youd agree wit me that Hermione would definitively bring some muggle stuff over!) and which devices would Draco really secretly like?

Pleasewriteasecondpartwhereyouelaborateyourthoughtsonthisthankyou.

Ok rant done. :D

List anon! You’re back with another amazing ask. I’ll do my best!

1.) I like to think Ron matured a lot post-war (not enough to stop making terrible jokes, though.)

2.) Regarding your beautiful analysis of my specific dragon breed for Draco’s patronus: How many points would you like for your Hogwarts house of choice? I will add that according to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the Ironbelly’s scales are normally a metallic grey. I will also add that I subscribe more to book canon than movie canon. In the book version of events of the Gringotts escape, Harry breaks the chains and Hermione (with eventual help once the boys catch on) destroys the ceiling so it can have a way out. The partially blind dragon does the rest of the work on its own.

3.) Thank you, that’s very flattering.

4.) Does your friend also get you into fancy restaurants and can they make salted caramel bread pudding???

5.) Thank you, it was one of my favorite aspects of writing this story.

6.) Thank you, she’s so fun to write and flesh out from her book portrayal.

7.) Haha, I felt so validated by that line of dialogue in Cursed Child when Draco tells Harry he wanted to play quidditch professionally, but wasn’t good enough.

Now to some answers:

A.) It’s definitely a recurring joke. It’s up to the reader to interpret Draco’s actions here: is he doing it to be a massive troll? Or is he genuinely not retaining the information of her married name because he considers this fact so unimportant that he does not bother to keep it in his brain? Troll, snob, or both, you can decide!

B.) I’ll address the second part of this first, because it was not intended as a loophole. I 1000% do not understand the “death eaters can’t have patronuses” thing. It makes absolutely no sense. Snape has a Patronus. But beyond that… Umbridge has a Patronus (a cat). If we’re letting that woman have a Patronus, then yeah, I think Draco can cast one. As for the vision that Draco used to conjure it… up to you whether that’s a fantasy or a glimpse of a certain ritual actually working. Draco’s thoughts on the matter: “An image of such striking tangibility that he might have already lived it, or perhaps experienced time in such a way that he lived it now.”

C.) I wanted Draco to have a choice, obviously a recurring theme for him in RN. For my characterization of him, that symbol on his arm causes him nothing but shame and self-loathing (see the end of chapter 36 during his heart-to-heart with Hermione). He’d already exercised almost every known avenue to rid himself of it before Hermione entered his life (he lists these in chapter 44). Hermione already loved him (and has told him so) by the time she’s figured out how to remove it: “I love the man you are today and I will love that man tomorrow, bare forearm or not. I simply wanted you, for once, to have the choice. It’s your body.”

D.) Ooh anon, you are tempting me here. I really hate to be coy, but you might see some future writing on this very topic.

I can at least answer the taboo part: I think soul magic in general (horcruxes, the use of unicorn blood) is quite taboo in the HP universe. As no one knows what happens after death (not even ghosts, Nearly Headless Nick says as much when Harry asks him point-blank in OoTP) I think most magical folk would think the intense ritual (blending magical cores) an unnecessary thing anyway. As Draco explains in chapter 48, since no one actually knows the effects or if it works, it’s considered a bit over-the-top since it’s probably futile anyway. It is also not a Vow with a death component; Narcissa is obviously alive in this story even though Lucius is already dead. I wrote the generational curse protection theory in as a dig at Cursed Child for the way they handled Astoria’s character.

The idea of it I think is romantic, but I will stress it is very dependent upon the intent of the two participants. To quote Draco in chapter 48 again: “To twine one’s soul to another showed a willingness to not only physically tether one’s self during your time here on earth, but to commit to a blending of your magical cores, putting faith in your magic to recognize its bonded counterpart in another life. Should other lives even exist.”

If you re-read Draco’s experience during the bonding ceremony in chapter 51 (starting from this bit: “The cognizance of his own powers never felt sharper, more familiar, but suddenly another power pulsed within to join with his.”) you might find it bears a resemblance to the trajectory of their relationship.

Lastly- I’ve left Draco and Hermione to their wedded bliss. I’ve got nothing planned for them beyond where they are in the final lines of chapter 51. I don’t have that itch to write more into their future because it would feel forced. Draco laid out his two envisioned futures with Hermione in chapter 48 when they discuss having or not having children. They are happy and content in the life they chose together. That’s all I ever wanted for them.

You will see more from this story though. I have an entire series of one-shots and outtakes from the published Remain Nameless timeline that I’ll start posting soon.

Thank you so much list anon! These were fun to answer!

#remain nameless #dramione #list anon #asked and answered

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vegetacide · 3 years

Text

TaG: Bloodlines (Part 4)

Veg • notables: Just a quick one. Though medical terms and conditions are real I am not an expert and these conditions have been purely used to enhance the events that are to unfold. Any errors in my research and experiences for this are strictly my own

Ty to @gumnut-logic and @scribbles97 for the brainstorming help and the encouragement.

Previous: Part 1 | Part 2 Bit 1 & Bit 2 | Part 3

Rating and General warning: Mature content head. If you are not a fan of medical issues of a female nature in relation to pregnancy please proceed with caution.

Characters: Virgil, Kayo, (V/K)…..

Location: TaG-verse AU | Auckland Gen.

E N J O Y

8-8-8

Part 4 - Peperiksaan

“Lift your hips, please” The female technician asked kindly, her hand patting her knee in reassurance as she indicated the triangular wedge and large absorbent square pad. “I’m just going to slip this under your pelvis.”

Kayo shifted her gaze back to the technician briefly before complying. The tech was gentle, her hands though gloved were warm and caring and a light of understanding shone in her intelligent eyes.

“That’s right, scooch down a bit, that’s it.. Perfect. I know it’s not the most comfortable but this shouldn’t take long. Okay?” She smiled warmly at Kayo before moving down the end of the bed and pulling the metal bracing that was tucked in either side out.

“Sorry, these are cold. With all the technology we have we still haven't come up with a better set up for these.. Sometimes the simplest things are the best.” She reached down and tapped one of Kayo’s feet and with little resistance Kayo did as she was asked. Settling one and then the other into the stirrups.

Kayo looked up to the ceiling, heat high on her cheeks as the unsettling feeling of being vulnerable and exposed crept in even though she was technically still covered.

The urge to sit up and bolt also made an appearance and she quickly checked the exits. She didn’t like this. She felt trapped and naked in the paper-like temporary hospital johnny they had supplied her and her flight or fight response was kicking into overdrive.

The observant technician leaned over her and caught her eyes. “It’s okay. This is standard procedure and you’ll be out of here before you know it. I won’t start though until your husband is here, would that make you feel better?”

The woman’s lips turned up again, laugh lines around her kindly mouth and eyes rising up with the action. “I’ll just turn the lights down a bit to make you more comfortable, by the way, my name is Mariam and you’re in good hands. Doctor Coxley is a fantastic OB-Gyn. You couldn't ask for a better doctor.”

Just then the door just behind them opened and a nondescript orderly breezed into the room pushing an ultrasound trolley and right behind him was Virgil. Gowned and gloved.

The orderly rolled the device up to Miriam and they had a conversation about programming upgrades that Kayo paid little attention to as Virgil came up the other side of the bed and took her hand.

He bent down and brushed a kiss over her brow, a question in his loving eyes. Kayo just shook her head and he gave her hand a squeeze.

“Dad and Grandma are out in the waiting room, Scott is off talking to our security detail. Hubbert and his team are here.” He told her by way of distraction.

“Good.” Was all she could manage.

Miriam finished setting up her equipment and plugging in the necessary information into the database. Newly gloved and gowned she settled down onto a wheeled stool and cleared her throat.

“Okay, we are all set.” She plucked a wand out of its cradle and slipped a clear plastic sheath over it before adding a lubricating gel. Reaching around with her other hand, she adjusted Kayo’s covering and lay a hand on her shin. “I’ll make this as quick as I can but you may feel some discomfort so try to relax. Part your knees a bit for me.”

Kayo squeezed Virgil’s hand and did as instructed.

“Good, that’s perfect. Now take a deep breath. In one, two, three.. Out. One, two, three… that’s it.”

Kayo bit her lip and turned her head to Virgil at the cold, mechanical intrusion. Even with modern day scanning equipment, internal aids were still needed to get clear, concise and detailed pictures.

Virgil skimmed her brow again, nonsensical words of comfort slipping quietly from his lips as the technician went about her exam.

It hurt. God it hurt and Kayo couldn’t stop a tear from escaping.

Virgil brushed it away as if it was never there and she tried to lose herself in the scent of him. She winced as the wand shifted and nudged deeper.

“Sorry, dear.” Miriam’s voice drifted over, slightly distracted. “You’re doing great. I’m almost done..Here, this might help distract you.”

The briefest of keystrokes and a rapid whump-whoosh, whump-whoosh of sound started to emit for the speakers.

Kayo sucked in a breath and Virgil’s hand tightened around hers.

“That’s a good heart beat. Little one doesn’t seem put off in the slightest of my unscheduled visit. Oh feisty one. Just gave me a kick. You got a fighter in there.”

Virgil grinned, eyes watery as he looked down at Kayo. “Just like Mom.”

Kayo smiled back but winced again as Miriam moved the wand around.

“I just need to take a few more measurements and pictures and I will be all done, this one is most likely going to hurt so take a deep breath.” She warned and waited for Kayo to comply.

Kayo stiffened, her nails digging into Virgil’s hand as pain shot through her pelvis and another tear slid down her cheek.

“Almost done… just a little further…”

Kayo grit her teeth and the stat monitor that she was hooked up to beeped in protest.

“There, got it.” The tech said, gently slipping the wand out and quickly disposing of the plastic covering in the biohazard bin.

She turned back to Kayo, towel in hand, rolled it and settled it between her legs.

“All done,” She informed, turning back to the monitor. “Bleeding has increased a bit but I had to be thorough. Make yourself comfortable and rest here for a bit while. Doctor Coxley will be in shortly to discuss the findings. Deep breath, Dear.. its done.”

Kayo gave a single nod and Miriam left the pair in the dim lighting of the exam room.

The OB-Gyn looked up from his electronic chart at the pair and smiled warmly.

“From what I can see of the ultrasound, the baby's fine. The placenta is intact, no abruption. You have mild placenta previa though that I want to keep an eye on. It’s common to have it in the first few months of pregnancy but looking back through your chart this is the first that we’ve seen of it.

“Have you had any blurred vision or headaches?” He asked, taking Kayo’s wrist and glancing down at his watch.

She gave a shrug and with trepidation supplied. “A little here and there.”

Virgil’s instantly stilled. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Kayo looked away. “I didn’t think anything of it ..”

“Kayo…”

“I was going to bring it up at our next prenatal and I didn’t want to worry you. You have enough on your plate..

Before Virgil could say more the Doctor hmm’ed and let go of her hand. “You’re BP is elevated. Have you been getting adequate rest? Not overworking yourself?”

“Yes”

“No.” Virgil supplied frowning at Kayo with disapproval. There would be words later.

The Doc hummed again. “Well, for the most part everything looks good, you just need to start taking things easier and get your blood pressure back to baseline. Preeclampsia is a sure fire result if you don’t.”

“The bleeding is that from…?”

“The placenta previa aggravated by a small vaginal tear.” He replied with a raised eyebrow that had Virgil cursing. “The amount of bleeding can be attributed to that and the pregnancy in general. There are a lot of things going on down there. The tear will heal up on its own but you two have to take it easy for a bit. At least two weeks of no activity of any kind.”

I want you to put your feet up and rest, young lady. No work, no play. Just veg out and let this strapping husband of yours do all the work.

The chances are even with rest, the bleeding will continue so we need to be careful as you get closer to your due date. I want to see you in a couple weeks time to check things out again and see how you’re progressing.

Also until then.. No flying. I will make arrangements to come to you. Keeping your feet turf side is the best course of action right now..excluding the trip home. If I see an improvement when next we meet we will see about modified activities. Both work related and other.”

They both nodded in understanding.

“Good. If you have any questions, concerns or if anything changes let me know. My line is always open to you both.” Setting the chart back in the cradle, the Doc gave another warm smile. “Everything will be just fine. Relax and enjoy this time because before you know if your lives are going to be flipped on their heads.”

“Thanks, Doctor Coxley. We really appreciate you coming in on your night off.”

Doctor Coxley, held up his hand. “It’s no bother at all. You and your family do enough for the world at large, it's only right of me to return the favour.

I’ll start the discharge paper but take your time. There is no rush.” He pointed to the room’s only other door. “ Just through that door is a small ensuite bathroom, fully supplied with whatever you might need.”

Doctor Coxley looked to Virgil, “ Just keep an eye out for dizziness.”

He settled his stethoscope back around his neck and he pushed up from his wheeled stool. “One more thing, I just need your verbal consent to discuss treatment options and follow up with Doctor Tracy. Are you fine with that?”

Virgil helped Kayo swing her leg off the side of the bed, his hands gentle but his posture stiff and radiating barely contained disquiet. Kayo said nothing, just nodded her head.

“Great. Take care and call me anytime” And the Doctor slipped from the room..

8-8-8

TBC

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbird fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic #TaG Bloodlines #vegetacide #Virgil Tracy #Kayo Kyrano #virgil/kayo #Virgil X Kayo

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anikkis-fantasirealities · 3 years

Text

“Finding the Captivating Dialogue for You”

④ How-to-do Feature ┊ ᴬˡˡ ᵒᶠ ᵃⁿ ᵃⁿᵉᶜᵈᵒᵗᵉ ˢᵒ ᵃʳᶦᵈ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵃˡˡᵘʳᶦⁿᵍ ᵃᵗ ᵒⁿᶜᵉ··· ᶜᵃⁿ ᵇᵉᶜᵒᵐᵉ ᵃ ᶜᵒᵐᶦᶜ ᶜᵃᵖᵗᵘʳᶦⁿᵍ ᵗʰᵉ ᶜᵒʳᵉˢ ᵒᶠ ᶜᵒˡᵒʳᵉᵈ ᶜᵒʳⁿᵉᵃˢ·

꒰⁺˚₊·₍₍loading...₎₎ ✎...۪۫❁ཻུ۪۪ -ˏˋ 🃏 ˊˎ-

༘✶ ㊉㈦〘 ⅯⅯ 〙⋆｡˚𓆟 ༉ ║ Posted : ０６/１５/２１° ｡༄ ‧₊˚ ๑ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ •ଓ.° ｡❍ ㈩㊇

- - ——— ꒰ An article by Nicole “Nikki” Elaine S. Chua ꒱

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ₊·͟͟͟͟͟͟͞͞͞͞͞͞➳❥ ࿐ྂ—͙❬₊° ᶦ ᵃᵐ ᵃ ᵇˡᵒᵍᵍᵉʳ ᵃᶠᵗᵉʳ ᵃˡˡ·“= ‹⸙͎

Cure your boredom by finding something new! Enter the world of art and stories combined! Find the story to obsess over, only here on WEBTOON! Hold on, let me just shake out all the interpretative literary devices I had from my previous articles... There, much better! Welcome back to your favorite bunny—Nikki’s Tumblr blog! It feels a bit different here compared to when I am on Amino, to be honest. Yes, when I formally write without too many literary devices, my blogs smoothen like this, like it was polished with sandpaper or something. Anyway, I loosen up in order to display my love for something I’d like to offer to this world—one of those precious gems that have not been excavated in the realm of fandoms. Today, in this article, let’s enter the world of Webtoons and figure out 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙒𝙀𝘽𝙏𝙊𝙊𝙉 (𝙇𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙒𝙚𝙗𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙣𝙨) 𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧!

Oh, hold on your horses! You’re asking what do I mean by Line Webtoons? My apologies for not explaining that before I bring you along this own carpet ride. To begin with this sudden class session, webtoons are webcomics that have a vertical reading format. In Korea, “manhwa” is often something you’d hear when the locals there refer to comics. These webtoons originated from South Korea, and now, they are rebranded by different companies with their hit titles. One of those brands is Naver Webtoon, and internationally, it is known as Line Webtoons. In 2019, it has now become WEBTOON, for short! Korean webtoons that are from Naver Webtoon have been officially translated into English, Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Thai, Spanish, French, and German languages in the present. At the same time, all these countries of the world wide web get to also be webtoon creators, too!

Comics are a mix of art and writing in multiple panels. Though unlike those readable from right to left, or the complete opposite of that, webtoons take advantage of vertical scrolling to reveal shocking key plot points and add more aesthetic in the blooming & stunning art they provide to the audience. They don’t upload once a month or year—in WEBTOON, there’s always something to read daily! Most WEBTOON series upload once a week, depending on its creator. As a reader, you’ll surely enjoy the vast options of webtoons to choose from reading at your own pace. There are many interesting genres, art styles, character designs, pairings, story lines, and themes to look forward to. The best part is, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨, 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚! There’s a perfect story to dwell into for all kinds of people, so if you’re curious in knowing how to begin reading, let’s go ahead and jump into the app!

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𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 ⓵: 𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗘𝗕𝗧𝗢𝗢𝗡 𝗮𝗽𝗽 𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗘𝗕𝗧𝗢𝗢𝗡 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲.

The first step to get started with WEBTOON is approaching its services, first! You If you haven’t encountered WEBTOON yet, you could either take a little peak behind its digital pages online. I recommend downloading the app to enjoy the WEBTOON experience to the maximum level. If your first language is not English, perhaps a more comfortable version of the app made for your location fortunately exists! Search for WEBTOON on the playstore, and you will spot the application in a flash. It is only 21 MB or megabytes big, so it is not painful to the phone storage.

However, if you want to save space, you can always take the other route and access the WEBTOON site here. You can search for WEBTOON on your device’s browser, and the link you see immediately will lead you to the destination you desire to land onto. The site is mostly used by personal computer users and those who cannot download the app. It functions the same way as the app, but not all the features, events, and other cool activities can be done here. So, I still suggest to head over to your device’s playstore to get the application!

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 ⓶: 𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻-𝘂𝗽 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗘𝗕𝗧𝗢𝗢𝗡 𝗮𝗽𝗽.

Any app would instruct the user to create an account to use its services. For WEBTOON though, this is very worth it, for it gives you a chance to use your account to comment on WEBTOON episodes you adore, or subscribe to the series you want to follow and support. You can create an account using your email address and the password to access it personally. Just the same as any other process in signing-up for an account, you will type your own username. You could also your very own Facebook, Twitter, Google, or LINE account to enter, and your name on the site you’ve chosen to log-on with will become your name on WEBTOON.

It is editable, so don’t worry if your username so happened to be humiliating, and you absolutely must change it! Though, if you don’t want to create an account just yet, users can view webtoons with a press of a finger without signing up for anything, if you’d press the return key on your phone or if you’re browsing on the site. Once you submit your approval that you’ve read and understood the Terms of Use & Privacy Policy of WEBTOON, you can finally set foot on the real fun of webtoons!

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𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 ⓷: 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 “𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀” 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗲.

Okay, do not get confused! We’ll get to the rest of the areas of the app in a little bit! There’s a lot of things to do, now that we’ve finally arrived on WEBTOON platform itself. Though before being hyped at the things you are seeing right now, I’d like you to scroll down to the bottom of this “For You” section, and dig up the “Find your series” questionnaire to answer it. This is so that you can have an idea of what to expect here on WEBTOON, as well as what to read first. This is a questionnaire that will also introduce you to stories that you’d enjoy, without getting totally overwhelmed with content to stretch out into. No pressure in choosing, it will not affect how your account is set-up! Don’t worry about the results either. Answer as natural and honest as you can! This step is only applicable to those who are on the WEBTOON application. It is also optional to the reader, specifically if they are already used to reading webcomics and know what to expect.

Once you enter, it’d ask what are the genres you like. There is horror, comedy, thriller, fantasy, drama, romance, superhero, slice of life, action, and sci-fi. To clarify, slice of life does not literally mean a splitted life! It is a genre for stories that showcase the everyday life of a person, that are either relatable or engaging to read about. Choose as many genres as you want—it’s totally fine to check everything, or to choose one specific genre. Then, you can choose which art styles you prefer from the choices you see in front of your screen. Again, don’t worry about picking art styles—this is not a critical survey! Go ahead and pick many art styles you find pleasing to the eye. Then, you’ll get a list of webtoons recommended to you by the WEBTOON management! Easy, right?

You can take note of these titles given to you, or you can press on the webtoons you find interest in, and you will be taken to the webtoon’s contents in a jifty. That’s where you can read the description of the title’s plot, and you can instantly start reading if it strummed your heartstrings. You can continue discovering more stories to read from here, since the freedom is yours. Even so, there are still parts of the application to discuss that may give you an extra hand later on. Stick around this article for more of that, especially when you need an enthusiatic tour guide like me!

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 ⓸: 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 “𝗢𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀” 𝘁𝗮𝗯.

If you’re still following me, you may exit the questionnaire that you entered into a while ago. Now, if you scroll up, we’re back seeing graphics moving sideways at the front page. Oh, did you something catch your eye there? These graphics that WEBTOON fans usually call as “banners” (or, for me, personally—anyway,) are another way to gain interest in choosing stories to read. Long story short, when I became a WEBTOON reader, my all-time favorite webcomic from WEBTOON was first shown to me on a banner. (A very epic one, too!) Most of the webtoons shown here are in the “Originals” tab! From “For You,” press the Originals tab next. These are the tenths of webtoons that you can also read here on WEBTOON. The image is just one section of that. If you can observe, there are the seven days of the week stated at the top of these webtoons, under the word, “Daily.” You might be asking why is this section called, “Originals.” All these webtoons found under this tab are in partnership with the WEBTOON management, and these stories release new episodes weekly!

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That simply means that the creators of these webtoons are working together with WEBTOON to share their stories with us, and what’s the best thing? They get to tell their stories, while fulfilling their dream full-time job as a paid webcomic creator! Their work is now known as “WEBTOON ORIGINALs,” though before, they used to be “Featured Webtoons.” Everyday, various webtoons of different genres update with new parts to continue the story from where they left off previously, so there’s definitely something to look forward to from Mondays to Sundays. There are also more choices here than those in the questionnaire, so if you weren’t contented with what you got from answering questions, you can also come here to pick out stories. There are also webtoons under “Completed,” and we’ll get to those in a bit. If you’d ask me what I usually do on Originals, I read everything in general, so I never run out of things to read, but I’m more fond of fantasy genres. You can also choose webtoons from all days of the week, so you can keep reading something everyday before going to school or work, or perhaps, when you’re about to sleep.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 ⓹: 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 “𝗖𝗮𝗻𝘃𝗮𝘀” 𝘁𝗮𝗯.

Now, there must be another question in your head. “How are these webcomic creators chosen to be featured, or have their work included under WEBTOON ORIGINALs?” There are a couple of ways, though, we’ll focus on this canvas of ideas for this article. Usually, creators are discovered on the fan submissions area of the application. Yes, you heard me right! If you are someone who loves drawing comics as well, then you can give this opportunity a shot and meet other aspiring creators here on “Canvas!” So, let’s move from the “Originals” tab and head straight into the “Canvas” section. The webtoons here are under the word, “Spotlight.” It’s simply because these webtoons are uploaded by other webcomic creators who are not affiliated by WEBTOON, yet. So, you could say that this is the wider scope of webtoons to look through. The best thing about “Canvas” which used to be “Discover,” is the fact that we can support these writers and/or artists by reading their stories.

WEBTOON is a platform perfect for people to test the waves of being a webcomic creator. At the same time, they are given the chance to gain a community of a readers that you could also be a part of! However, since these webtoons labeled as “CANVAS WEBTOONs,” are not fully paid by WEBTOON, there is no guarantee that they’ll upload episodes every week. They are free to upload on their own running schedule, but in return, they are also free to create any story they like, as long as it follows the WEBTOON guidelines. Just a brief heads-up, you must have a computer or laptop, in order to upload your own webcomic on WEBTOON. For us readers, it’s a big chance for us to find stories we’ll fall in love with—the one that will make us invested and devoted to how the story continues. If you give the CANVAS WEBTOON more support, who knows? You might be a part of their life accomplishment journey to doing what they love for a living. Very heartwarming, I see.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 ⓺: 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱, 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗴𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗽𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.

We’ve already seen all the webtoons that the app has to offer to us. Despite that, there’s a chance that you still don’t know what stories pique the elements you like in a plot. Now that you know that there are more webtoons to search for on the WEBTOON app, you might need a guide or factor to know what’s the best story to try out. This is why the rankings and genre sections exist on the app! You can view the rankings of WEBTOON ORIGINALs and CANVAS WEBTOONs in their respective tabs. For ORIGINALs, you can click on the badge-like icon to the top right, while in CANVAS, you can see the rankings immediately. If you want to see the complete rankings list for CANVAS WEBTOONs, pressing the arrow at the right side of the rankings preview will do the trick! This step is for users who cannot decide based on what gem of a webtoon preview has caught their attention. If you'd like to find out what webtoons are popular overall, or in their corresponding genres, be sure to use this feature to weigh the odds. We are people who are influenced by whatever is loved by many, after all.

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If ten genres weren't enough choices during the questionnaire, well, thankfully there is more to play with! In the genre sections of both types of webtoons on WEBTOON, which you can see alongside the rankings, you can also view webtoons listed under the supernatural, mystery, sports, historical, heartwarming, and informative genres! So, in total, there are 16 genres to step into, and that's a plenty! In that said area, you can tell which genres have the best stories based on how many people read each webtoon. You can also sort these webtoons by interests, likes, or date. Just press the "Genres" button next to the "Daily" or "Spotlight" text on either tabs. The "sorting the webtoons by interests" option would depend on what your account has read, so far. These features are really handy to introduce to you new webtoons to take your eyes on or pay attention to.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 ⓻: 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 “𝗠𝘆” 𝘁𝗮𝗯.

I suppose you've already chosen a webtoon to read, or maybe you're already into collecting webtoon titles to remember reading. Regardless, let's make things a little easier. You'd need your account, first! If you haven't created one yet, head to the log-in page and go back to Step No. 2. Catch up here when you're done, alright? If you’re already here, let me take you a stroll around this “My” tab. This section has list of features that are for the account’s convenience and personalization. It tells you what webtoons episodes have you recently read, downloaded, commented, and unlocked. It also states what webtoons have you subscribed to. Oh, yes, you can do all these things for your favorite stories on WEBTOON! To try that out, go to your chosen webtoon to read. As a reader, you are given the chance to rate the webtoon from 1 to 10—whether it is an ORIGINAL or CANVAS-type. That also makes heads turn away or stare closer at the stories, to see if they are worthy of their time.

Just like how subscriptions work on Youtube or any other platform, subscribing to a webtoon with your account means that you’ll get notifications whenever it uploads. It’s also easier to access subscribed webtoons through the “My” tab, instead of continously searching for your favorite stories all over the application or site as if you’re in a never-ending maze. You can track down the episodes you’ve downloaded for offline use as well, which comes in great situations where wifi is not available. Be aware that downloaded episodes will remain on your account for 30 days only, however. After 30 days, you may download the episodes again. Commenting on episodes can give you interaction with other readers’ ideas—those reactions, arguments, discussions, and, well! You could even talk about romantic pairing wars and all that’s fizzling in the premise of the story. With this section of the app, your account will be able to be fit and active, while it gives access to more parts of WEBTOON—including the possession of fast pass coins to unlock episodes for early reading! Wait a minute. Why must we, and how do we do that?

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𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 ⓼: 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁.

Fast pass on WEBTOON allows you to read episodes before they are publicly released. In other words, you can gain early access to your most awaited ORIGINAL WEBTOONs’ episodes, especially when they get on that gripping cliffhanger that makes you want to go crazy with what happens next! The question is, how can we use fast pass? We can do that with coins called, “fast pass coins.” This in-app currency will permit you to avail one fast pass episode every five coins. In order to get coins, however, there is real money transactions involved. Though, do not fret, because you do not need to spend a dime or a single peso over buying fast pass episodes! WEBTOON offers users to gain five or more fast pass coins through events in the app.

These vary from having to log-in in 7 days, or read similarly themed webtoons that are featured per event. It’s free to do, though, they do not come by all the time—events do not run forever, after all. So, take on the challenge when it arrives, and get yourself some fast pass episodes to enjoy! One benefit in taking part in fast pass coins events is reading new stories that you’ve never tried peaking into before, because who knows when will it become your top webtoon choice in the future? Take it for me—one webtoon became my favorite when the first fast pass coins event entitled, “Climb the Tower challenge,” occured. I participated and had climbed 100 episodes, and now here I am chilling with floors and betrayal!

If you haven’t asked, all fast pass coins given to each webtoon will have a part of its value given to the creators of the said stories. In other words, it’s like directly supporting the artists, writers, and creators of the stories you love! This step can only be done to ORIGINAL WEBTOONs. CANVAS WEBTOONs do not have fast pass, though its creators can provide Patreon accounts where fans can donate or give thanks for their eloquent and awesome stories to tell.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 ⓽: 𝗗𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲.

Remember when I mentioned “completed” webtoons prior to this step? It’s interesting that there also webtoons that have ended, so there is a section for WEBTOON ORIGINALs that have ended in the “Originals” tab. Here, you can still binge-read completed webtoons for as many times you want to, and you can also gain a collection of read finished webtoons on your proud wall. The satisfaction is there when you finish a story—but, wait a minute. We are familiar with fast pass, now, what’s up with this daily pass? For some completed webtoons, they are readable with the daily pass feature. This makes a webtoon’s episodes first episode public for reading, but the twist is, to read the next episodes, you must come back everyday to continue. Episodes in the middle until the end of the story are locked, and can only be carried on if you’ve lended a daily pass entry for it to be opened for a limited time. Then, you can access the next episodes in the following days. Tedious as it may be, you could also pay for fast pass coins to read these specific completed webtoons quicker.

However, if your route is free reading, it is also a fulfilling experience to follow a story as if it was still uploading everyday, instead of reading it in one sitting. This is the patience, yet satisfaction, that can be acquired from daily pass. That is also the goal of WEBTOON for implementing such a feature to their application. You don’t have to pay for anything if you don’t want to speed up your time in reading. This step is definitely for you, if you’re already reading ongoing webtoons, but want to find more stories in the completed section. Trust me, the stories we got here with the daily pass feature were real hits back in the day—somehow, the dust on their covers will be swept away when you touch it. It’s worth it, so why not give it a shot? I heard that one completed webtoon here was recently adaptated into an anime, another has been published physically, while the other was given a live-action K-drama on Netflix! Let’s see if you can figure out which stories these are!

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 ⓾: 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗻𝘀!

So, once you’ve found your beloved webtoons, fully invested into them with your account, made use of fast pass, and indulge into daily pass, the only thing left to do to begin on WEBTOON is to stick to it! Keep being a WEBTOON reader, and enjoy as many webtoons as you’d like. As you keep being on the application or site, you will encounter more features of WEBTOON, and maybe, as you stick around, more surprises & stories will be coming your way. There’s the fan translation area to explore, where you can translate the webtoons you’d love to support and be a contributor to its spread to other languages. There are thousands of CANVAS WEBTOONs being promoted in the front page for explorers to uncover reading. Spotlights at the bottom of the front page compile webtoons together, and you’d get to see more webtoons that may be under the spotlighted theme you adore!

You will be a part of this passionate WEBTOON community, and I’d like to thank you if you keep engaging into this craft as a reader. WEBTOON is a group of people who loves comics, and webcomics alike. It’s a place where creators and readers get to connect, at the same time, reach for their dreams. This is where their imaginations sprint wild—the happiness, sadness, anger, fear, worry, doubt, cheer, and excitement at every panel scrolling down your devices. You will be joining along with its growth, as well as all webcomic creators trying out on the platform, that WEBTOON sincerely cares for, wherever or whoever they are. You can witness how its stories will not only become panels and dialogue, but also animation, live-action, physical books, and other media types all around the world.

Do continue finding the captivating dialogue for you in WEBTOON, because for sure, it will become the message you will hold onto for life. Dramatic Nikki aside, thank you very much for reading this article! I had a blast—almost like I was going to be blasted on a rocket ship to Mars, while I was writing this feature. I hope my steps were able to help you get started on WEBTOON, and I’d like to bid you all the best on your personal voyage here. I believe each story of how we became attached to something is very significant, so take this moment to make it a memorable event in your life. Once more, thank you for reading! Come back again in another blog in the unknown future, where my fantasies become realities! A Nikki reminder: don’t just be ordinary when everyone is doing wrong—be unORDINARY, right & just, and continue to climb without holding back!

· * ✫ * ⊹ * ˚ . . 　　· ⋆ * . * . . · . · . * · . · · + . ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤ· ** ˚ . . + 　　· ⋆ * . * . . · . · . *

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ. . + 　· ⋆ * . * . . · . · .˚ ⊹ · * ✧ ⋆ · * . · . · · .. . .

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ· + ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ· * ✫ * ⊹ * ˚

ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ · ** ˚ . . + ㅤㅤ　· ⋆ * . * . . · . · .˚ ⊹ · * ✧

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ⋆ · * . · ㅤㅤ . · · .. . . · + .

ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ. · + . *

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤ ⋆ * . * . .

ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ . · ·

ㅤㅤ﹙dedication. ﹚ ୨˚୧ ˚ ༘♡.↳ ₊˚‧

This blog is dedicated to you who is like me, and him who is like her. Both webtoon characters that I salute the most—and that beautiful set of panels that has become my lifestory. May you be in work for ten years or five years, I will cherish you, with this shining sword—diamond, ADAMAS.

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ﹋﹋﹌﹌﹌「 🗼 」﹌﹌﹌﹋﹋

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ┊彡 Credits

➥ Cover Edit

➫ WEBTOON app

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ

➥ First Blog Dividers

➫ Soara Academy

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ

➥ The Rest of the Blog Dividers

➫ WEBTOON app

➥ Source of Information

➫ Webtoon Wikipedia page

➫ WEBTOON (Line Webtoon) Wikipedia page

➫ My own knowledge as a WEBTOON reader

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ﹋﹋﹌﹌﹌「 end. 」﹌﹌﹌﹋﹋

...Are you asking me if I wanted to be a WEBTOON ambassador...? Yes, but I have no social media influence. I'm just a small bunny in a burrow who loves talking and helping people get to know more about WEBTOON. Also, thank you for liking this, cheezbot. You're such a cute Tumblr bot, indeed.

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ⭆ Back to Homepage ⭅

⇦ Previous Blogㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ

#NEU-IS PH #Creative Non-fiction #Feature Article #Blogging #How-to-do Feature #aNikKis Fantasirealities #WEBTOON #Webtoons #Webcomics #Webtoon Originals #Canvas Originals #Fast Pass #Daily Pass

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northwestofinsanity · 3 years

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I was tagged by @ritchieblackless Thank you!

1. Why did you choose your url?

The “Northwest” comes from “Northwestern”. As far as that part goes, it’s a long, complicated story, involving a character from some original stories I used to write for my younger cousins when they were kids, and my favorite vessel on Deadliest Catch (it used to be a good show). “Insanity” comes from exactly what it sounds like. I’m never fully sane... but majority of the time, I’m not entirely insane, so I played a pun on what became my online name to suggest I’m just a little up the road to the north and west of true insanity.

2. Any side blogs? if you have them, name them and why you have them.

None so far.

3. How long have you been on tumblr?

February 2017... so that’s a little over 4 years as of now.

4. Do you have a queue tag?

No, and I don’t really use the queue. I’m not active enough on Tumblr to have much use for it, and I pretty much just post whenever the mood strikes me, and when I have time to search and focus on what my hyperfixation du jour is.

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place?

The community I was in on DeviantArt (not band-related) was melting down in a really nasty way, and one of my closer friends there became abusive, so once I got everything I was in charge of there handed over, I abandoned my account. I was in some *intense* emotional pain, and I needed distraction, and distance from the fandom. I basically came to Tumblr to hyperfixate on my favorite bands more -it was something I’d considered, but didn’t have the time before that to commit to it.

6. Why did you choose your icon/pfp?

My icon is Jeff Pilson and George Lynch. Dokken was one of the bands I was most hyperfixated on in 2017, and they, along with a friend who is also a fan of them, really were helping me get through that hard time when I made this account. Besides that, Jeff and George have a really wholesome friendship despite the turbulent history of Dokken. As for my pfp, I just chose generic guitars I found on Google Images to create a minimalist background. I have a tight data limit, and I tend to force every ounce of life out of my devices, so I make my own stuff as easy to load as possible, and most likely to function even if an outdated, semi-incompatible browser doesn’t format things quite right.

7. Why did you choose your header?

“Classic Rockhaven” (I assume that’s the header?) comes from my love for classic rock, and the idea of rock and roll being a safe-haven for me at the time. “Rockhaven” also closely resembles the name of a neighborhood a few miles away from my own in my hometown, so I knew it would flow right.

9. How many mutuals do you have?

I have 14 as of now. I’ve lost a few due to some people leaving, or switching accounts

10. How many followers do you have?

429. Some are unfortunately fomer-porn accounts I haven’t had a chance to weed out and block. A good number are just empty, lurker accounts as well, but as long as those followers are enjoying classic rock content, that’s fine by me. I’m grateful for the followers I have who do enjoy and interact with my posts.

11. How many people do you follow?

Officially, 38, but there are a good number of accounts I “unofficially” follow, by visiting blogs every night I have the chance. I’d love to follow more, and am looking to officially follow a few of those, since a few of the people I already follow have gone inactive or left. With my lifestyle, and data limits, I just have a hard time keeping up with my dashboard even with the tiny amount of people I follow, so I like to really get to know blogs first, and then slowly add them to my follow list so I don’t get overwhelmed.

12. Have you ever made a shitpost?

I believe so, depending on where you draw the line on that. (at least in my definition, I have). Do snarky posts about Tumblr’s glitches and that time I drowned my phone at work count? Or the crazy, crack-fic cartoons I drew in quarantine?

13. How often do you use tumblr each day?

On my weekends/off-days, whenever I want and can. On my 12-hour workdays, I check my dash before I leave home, once over data while I’m on my lunch break, and then at least once when I get home. If I’m getting home on time, and not late because the evening ran long, I’ll check on blogs I watch without following yet.

14. Did you ever have a fight/argument with another blog once? who won?

Not that I’m aware of... I’ve made neutral posts discouraging other blogs from fighting though, because I’ve seen plenty of traumatic things internet fights can lead to in the events leading to me joining here, and I don’t want to see anyone go through that when usually, nobody wins. At best, I think I had someone misunderstand what I said on a post where there was affectionate teasing of a certain 80s guitarist, and I meant to play along with the joke to say “don’t tease him, he’s a nervous wreck” -and added some band history for any watchers who didn’t know the story behind why said guitarist is so nervous... but it didn’t come to anything.

15. How do you feel about "you need to reblog this" posts?

9 times out of 10, I agree with what they’re saying, but I don’t like reblogging these things, because it feels like it’s being crammed down everyone’s throat -I’m much more receptive to things that don’t feel forced, along with plenty others. To begin with, they’re not really what I’m here for. Tumblr is a place I joined for a mental escape from the world’s problems -not a place to ruminate on them. And when I’m seeing them when I’m half-mentally numb in the middle of a 12-hour shift with only 1 gigabyte per month of data to work with, or when I’m home after that day and dead on my feet, it just turns me off.

16. Do you like tag games?

I like doing them when I have the time at home to sit down and do them over Wi-fi. The only thing I’m iffy with is tagging others, because I don’t want to make someone feel pressured into doing it.

17. Do you like ask games?

As long as the questions aren’t about a certain few things I will not share about, I have fun with those. I just have to find one to reblog from someone I follow that comes up at a time I know I’ll have time at home to answer.

18. Which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

I don’t know if anyone truly is, but @mccoys-killer-queen ’s sideblog is pretty well known.

19. Do you have a crush on a mutual?

No, but I do care for a number of my mutuals (including a couple I haven’t officially followed yet) a great deal, and can say I wish nothing but happiness for them, and if they were to leave, I would truly miss them (but also support it if they deemed it best -as I have with a few past mutuals).

20. Tags

Anybody who wants to!

#tagged #tag game

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rnbwrv · 3 years

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“The Sims 4″ Gamer Review 6/10

Hello everyone! This is Rainbow Raven Jezell (he/him) with the initial major post of this tumblr, the intro & 1st gamer review. I hope you enjoy!

Welcome to the Rainbow Rave, home of the Rainbow Raven streaming community based from my twitch, twitch.tv/rnbwrvnjezell. Here I will be doing amateur game reviews. I am by no means an expert or even an experienced gamer. All of these are my own opinions. I am writing with the primary audience of new or non-gamers in mind, those who are interested in getting started gaming in-general or in different game genres / platforms than they are used to. Ultimately my goal is to get you thinking about what you enjoy about games and whether the games I review are worth your time and money.

“The Sims 4” - 7 years after release, is the simmer dream still alive? …Eh yeah, if you believe in it enough- 6 out of 10 stars

[Disclaimer: I play and stream on the PS4. I have multiple packs and kits of different varieties, but I do not own them all. I have owned “The Sims 4” since 2018, and it is the primary sims game that I have played as well as my primary game overall. I stream Sims 4 on Twitch through console 2-3 times a week.]

Gameplay- I’ll be putting my reviews into 3 categories that mean the most to me. The 1st of which is “gameplay,” and I say “gameplay” for lack of a better word. What I mean is the overall experience of the game, such as the main activities, side quests, actions, and diversity of things to do in the game. Is it complex or simple? But most importantly, does its content engage with the player to pull them in? “The Sims 4” is a “sandbox game.” There are aspirations, worlds, careers, and families to engage with / build up. However, there is no “story mode.” And it might be controversial to say, but I give “The Sims 4” 3 out of 3 stars for gameplay. I never lack for activities or things to do in this game. You are only limited by your imagination. There are so many player-created challenges that can keep one occupied for years. I don’t see this as lack of gameplay in the sims. I see the open nature of the sims as it’s strongest point. For me, it is a storytelling device, and I keep coming back to the sims to create unique sims and narratives. I return to many other simmers / content creators on twitch + youtube to watch their stories / series as well.

Aesthetics- As all of these are subjective, aesthetics really are a personal preference. For me, I give “The Sims 4” 1.5 out of 3 stars for aesthetics. I like more realistic looking games personally. Overall, “The Sims 4” has a good look; the quirky nature and styles of the sims are realistic enough but campy in the right ways. However, it was knocked down in points due to the visuals not working often because of glitches and crashing. Top simmer news sites, other content creators, and myself can name multiple visual glitches that happen every time the game is played, breaking the emersion too much to avoid deceasing the quality of the game. Also, players with strong PCs can get custom content to make their sims look more realistic or more cartoon-like. Build and buy objects can also be downloaded, often for free or much less than EA sells “The Sims 4” DLCs. Custom content allows the game to become more personalized in gameplay and aesthetics. Sadly, a lot of PC high quality tech is needed to use this content plus console players, like myself, cannot get custom content at all. With a franchise as old and well-supported by a huge fan-base as the sims, the game should be fully playable and customizable for players of all ages (teen and up) on all platforms to enjoy the whole experience, running relatively-well.

Enjoyment- This is the hardest one to rate for me. “The Sims 4” offers a sandbox experience like no other out right out. I constantly play the sims and, for the most part, enjoy the experience. However, the experience is by no means smooth. I give “The Sims 4” 1.5 out of 3 for enjoyment. “The Sims 4” has a huge fanbase with tons of content creators + storytellers + modders that are constantly inventing new ways to play and improve the game. The blank slate of no story mode with the backdrop of the sims worlds allows a wonderful individual playground on your platform while connecting you to a community of lovely simmers. If you love the idea of creating your own sims and growing their grandkids up for generations, “The Sims 4” is for you. If you like the idea of being left alone to provide care or inflict chaos on your sims while also having a huge base of fan ideas for gameplay, give this game a shot! However, to the other side, if the past two sentences don’t intrigue you, there might not be much for you in the sims. There is no direction for how to play from the game itself and sims can feel generic on console without a lot of imagination. From a larger view, the enjoyment of the game is largely knocked down by the constant crashing and game-breaking bugs that frequently prevent the storytelling that players are tying to portray. The lack of response from the sims team is concerning. Some apologies and explanations have been posted, but it’s unrealistic to expect the average player to constantly be turning in save files for bug inspection when everyday gameplay is prevented due to those issues. Larger social justice issues like bad skin tones and hair textures for sims of color still linger while pronouns have finally made the “laundry list” too little too late in 2021. With DLC such as “The Sims 4: Knifty Knitting” less than a year old (July 2020) excluding non-binary sims + they/them pronouns, featuring “Lord and/or Lady of the Knits,” I fail to see the sims team living up to their proclamation of being super progressive in their support of the LGBTQIA+ community. Supporting a few LGBTQIA+ content creators and adding a trans flag to new trailers (Dream Home Decorator Game Pack, 2021) does not de-construct the gender binary in the game (language such as “boyfriend/girlfriend, male/female bodies, he/she” only pronouns). The sims team listens to some of the sims community, but whether it is EA or Maxis or something else that is blocking a deeper social justice dialogue is still unclear. Only time will tell if “The Sims 4” addresses the issues with an overhaul, but with leaders discussing 10-15 years of sims 4 while sims 5 is in process, I am not hopeful.

Overall - 6 out of 10 stars. “The Sims 4” is worth buying, especially if you’re new to the game and if the game is on sale. With 3 points for each above category (9 total), I leave a single point for myself to award games if I definitely recommend them. However, I stand by 6/10 for “The Sims 4.” The game offers an experience like no other main simulation title out there right now, but the lack of forward planning and game-improvement focus leaves many with unfulfilled dreams 7 years after release. Some of the packs are worth the time and money, but sims content for the sake of content is becoming unplayable due to bugs. I recommend buying the packs that intrigue if they go on sale while leaving out the rest. Spend your money on other games to experience, “The Sims 4” will likely be here for you to come back to with us simmers trekking along (hopefully not) decades later.

#thesims4 #game review #ps4 #thesims #the sims custom content #gaming #lgbtqia #Socialjustice #newgamer #twitch #streaming #smallstreamers #contentcreator #content creation

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scotiaeire · 4 years

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BURNING BONES: THE WORLD HISTORY OF BONFIRES

“ The source of the word is suitably gruesome for this time of year when tradition holds that the veil between the world of the living and the dead is whisper thin. The bon in bonfire isn’t from the French word for good (no matter what the wonderful Dr Johnson thought), it’s from bone. The original bonfires were fires for burning bones. “

ARTICLE SOURCE: https://wordfoolery.wordpress.com/2020/10/26/burning-bones-the-word-history-of-bonfires/

INTERESTING ARTICLE. AS A BAIRN I WAS TAUGHT “BONFIRES” STEMMED FROM BALEFIRES...FIRE NORMALLY LIT ATOP HILLS WHICH SIGNALLED INCOMING RAIDERS, AND BEFORE *THAT*, “BAL”FIRES, TO AN ANCIENT SUN GOD.

OF DR JOHNSON, I’M NOT AMONG HIS FANS. HE WAS PRETTY SCATHING TOWARDS THE NATIVES OF THE LAND OF MY BIRTH AT TIMES...

“ Although Johnson admitted he understood nothing about Scottish Gaelic, he reported what he had been told about it: "Of the Earse language, as I understand nothing, I cannot say more than I have been told. It is the rude speech of a barbarous people, who had few thoughts to express, and were content, as they conceived grossly, to be grossly understood". He thus popularized the misconception that the Gaels had no written literature going as far as reporting "that the Earse never was a written language; that there is not in the world an Earse manuscript a hundred years old; and that the sounds of the highlanders were never expressed by letters, till some little books of piety were translated, and a metrical version of the Psalms was made by the Synod of Argyle."

THE ASSUMPTION THAT LITERACY WAS ONE OF THE FEW THINGS TO DESIGNATE INTELLECT AND CIVILISATION IS AN ANNOYING ONE. THE GAELS HAD A STRONG ORAL TRADITION IN WHICH PEOPLE WERE TRAINED FOR MANY YEARS TO MEMORISE, CONTAIN AND PASS ON NOT ONLY MYTHOLOGY AND LORE BUT THE HISTORY OF CLAN, PLACE, EVENTS AND MORE, AND TO DO IT *ACCURATELY*.

HOW MANY FOLKS CAN DO THAT NOW? PEOPLE NOW ARE SO USED TO STORING INFO ON THEIR DEVICES SOME I KEN HAVE TO LOOK UP THEIR OWN NAMES.... OK, SERIOUSLY, I *DO* KNOW FOLKS THAT HAVE TO LOOK UP THEIR OWN PHONE NUMBERS OR POSTCODES...

THAT THE GAELS WERE BARBAROUS SAVAGES WITH LITTLE CULTURE WAS A PREDOMINANTLY ENGLISH VIEWPOINT OF US. THE FACT THAT PEOPLE CAME TO SCOTLAND TO BE EDUCATED IN THE ORAL TRADITION AS WELL AS OTHER ARTS AND THAT INCLUDES WARFARE IS OFTEN IGNORED AND FORGOTTEN.

EVEN CUCHULAINN HIMSELF WAS SENT TO SCOTLAND TO BE TRAINED IN FIGHTING BY THE WARRIORESS SCATHACH.

SO AYE, JOHNSON CAN BUGGER OFF. SPENT MUCH TIME COMPLAINING ABOUT THE FOOD (BUT ATE PLENTY OF IT ALL THE SAME) AND MOANING ABOUT THE WEATHER (POSSIBLY IGNORANT OF THE FACT THAT THE FURTHER NORTH YOU GET, THE WILDER THE WEATHER ALSO BECOMES)

I DON’T KNOW IF BONFIRES ARE LEGAL OR NOT IN IRELAND (NOTE TO SELF: FIND OUT!) BUT I DO HAVE A WEE FIREPIT AND AM HOPING AGAINST HOPE THAT SAMNHAIN WILL BE A DRY ENOUGH NIGHT TO LIGHT A WEE FIRE. THOUGH GIVEN THE RAIN WE’RE HAVING AT THE MOMENT, IT’S PROBABLY 50/50 EITHER WAY.

WHERE I COME FROM, YOU’D LIGHT A BONFIRE THIS TIME OF YEAR AND SEND MESSAGES TO YOUR ANCESTORS IN THE FIRE VIA PIECES OF PAPER BURNED (DR JOHNSON WOULD NO DOUBT HAVE APPROVED) AND YOU SCRIED FOR OMENS IN THE FLAMES.

YOU ALSO BOBBED FOR APPLES, PEELED APPLES AND THREW THEM OVER YOUR SHOULDER FOR THE LETTER OF THE FIRST NAME OF YOUR FUTURE SPOUSE AND OTHER SUCH GAMES...YET THE APPLE IS IMPORTANT IN BOTH CELTIC AND NORSE CULTURE, NORMALLY REFERRING TO HEALTH AND LONGEVITY, AND FERTILITY.

ROASTING MARSHMALLOWS, ENTIRELY MODERN TRADITION BUT HEY, I’M NOT AVERSE TO GOOD CHANGE! THOUGH I’D RATHER DROP MY MARSHMALLOWS INTO A STEAMING HOT MUG OF CHOCOLATE AND JUST LET THEM MELT.

WHEN IT COMES TO FIRE IN GENERAL, THE ONLY TIME I LIVED IN A HOME WITHOUT A HEARTH WAS IN EXILE IN BELGIUM. IT FELT...STRANGE. WASN’T THE HOUSE’S FAULT..AT ONE POINT IT DID HAVE A FIREPLACE, AS YOU COULD SEE BY THE DEFUNCT CHIMNEY ON THE ROOF.

SPEAKING FOR MYSELF HERE, I BELIEVE A HOME NEEDS A HEARTH, WITH A FIRE AT IT’S HEART. FIRE REPRESENTS SO MUCH AND THE ROOTS OF IT GO BACK SO FAR IT’S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO SEPARATE THE HISTORY OF FIRE FROM MANKIND.

AND AS WITH THE AUTHOR OF THE ARTICLE, I TAKE PRIDE IN USING FLINT AND STEEL OR FERRO ROD AND A WEE KNIFE I USE FOR A STRIKER, TO START A FIRE.

I DID, ONCE, MANAGE THE STICK RUBBING. TOOK ME AGES, LEFT MY HANDS AND ARMS ACHING AND I SWORE TO TAKE MY ZIPPO WITH ME NEXT TIME. SO I COMPROMISE..THE ROD AND STRIKER IS “IT” IF I’M CAMPING OR CAN’T FIND THE HOUSE MATCHES.

BUT WHAT CAN BEAT SITTING ON A COLD WINTER’S NIGHT IN FRONT OF A BLAZING FIRE, TOASTING FEET OR MARSHMALLOWS, OR STARING INTO EMBERS AND SEEING LANDSCAPES OR EVENTS UNFOLD AND KENNING OUR ANCESTORS WOULD IDENTIFY WITH THE COMFORT, ENJOYMENT AND IMPORTANCE OF THE LIVING FLAME.

TALKING OF BONE BURNING, BTW, THAT TAKES SOME HEAT.

IN THE NORTH OF SCOTLAND THERE ARE “BURNT GLASS MOUNDS”. I’VE SEEN A FEW SO DISAGREE WITH THE “BATHING AND COOKING” THEORY, SIMPLY DUE TO THE SIZE OF SOME OF THEM, AND THE HEAT NEEDED TO CREATE GLASS. NOBODY’S GETTING IN A BATH *THAT* HOT....FOLKS INTERESTED IN GLASS MOUNDS CAN READ MORE HERE THOUGH THERE’S A LOT OF INFO ONLINE...

http://assyntfireandwater.aocarchaeology.com/what-is-a-burnt-mound/

SUTHERLAND WAS MY STOMPING GROUND BEFORE MOVING TO SCOTLAND, WITH ASSYNT NOT TOO FAR FROM US. FROM BURNT MOUNDS TO SOUTTERAINS AND “DRUID TEMPLES”, STONE CIRCLES AND HOLLOW HILLS, THE NORTH OF SCOTLAND IS AWASH WITH HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY, MUCH OF IT STILL REMOTE AND UNINVESTIGATED. WHICH, IMO, IS NICE. :)

“SUTHERLAND” BTW WAS NORSE NAMED, FROM “SUDRLAND”, LITERALLY, SOUTH LAND.

IF YOU’RE LUCKY ENOUGH TO BE LIGHTING YOUR BALEFIRE THIS YEAR, MIND BE SAFE AND HAVE FUN. TRY A WEE BIT SCRYING. IF YOU FIND OUT NEXT YEAR’S GOING TO BE AN IMPROVEMENT ON THIS ONE, PLEASE LET ME KNOW...

#BONFIRES #HALLWEEN #SAMNHAIN #GLASS MOUNDS

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ancientwastedlores · 4 years

Text

The Support System (Ch: 6)

SUMMARY: The Avengers have managed to collect all the infinity stones across the universe, and are currently keeping them in far corners of the world, only for research and to see if they can improve the planet and its people. Reader is a researcher with Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, as well as a field agent. Loki is currently serving time for his actions in New York City in 2012.

A/N: Find this chapter on AO3 here. This chapter is mostly soft Loki and some badass Y/N.

AO3: The Support System Tumblr: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5

Warnings: N/A Audience: general.

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CHAPTER 6:

It’s very obvious to the rest of the Avengers that Loki only started watching Doctor Who with you so he’d get to spend the night in your bed. You know it too, but understand that he would spend it in anybody else’s room but his, because being alone at night haunts him. If someone else wanted to something about it, they would, and if they don’t, they don’t get to give their opinion about it.

And they know you aren’t about to listen either, so they keep shut.

The rest of the week passes like usual, with Loki sleeping in your bed and Tony playing concerned father and quippy teen at the same time. Then arrives the morning when you have to leave.

You wake up and don’t find Loki next to you as usual. You take advantage of the space and stretch, moaning loudly. You feel like you’ve cracked every single joint in your body, and sit up. You keep sitting, making a mental list of the things you need to prepare before leaving.

The dealers were expected at the secret venue at 7 in the evening, but Tony, being Tony, insisted the team get there a full 12 hours earlier. Natasha rolled her eyes and tried to convince Tony that two hours would be enough, but he wouldn’t budge.

The cars would leave at 6 AM. You look at clock and see you have a full hour before leaving.

The door opens, and Loki enters with a tray.

‘What! Aww, Loki’ you laugh. ‘I thought you could use a breakfast in bed before heading out’ he grins as he walks to your bed, ‘I made it myself’ he exclaims proudly, placing the tray on your lap.

Well, there was no doubt about that. It was a plate full of fruits, a bowl of cornflakes, and some toasted bread. You were looking forward to digging into some pancakes and bacon before heading out to a gruelling mission, but the excitement in his eyes makes you abandon the thought completely.

You smile and ask him to sit and share the food. He obliges.

‘So you’re coming round to the idea of me going’ you tease. ‘What’s the matter, find another Doctor Who fan?’

He looks severely offended and you immediately regret saying it. ‘I was only joking. Thank you for doing this, it’s lovely’.

His expression softens, and then he reaches into his pocket.

‘I know you’ll be fine, but I did take the liberty of an extra precaution’ he produces a small rectangular object, no larger than a fingernail. It’s silver, and has odd markings on it that glow green, and attached to a chain.

You start to protest because amulets are absolutely the kind of thing you’re against, when he clutches your arm. ‘Please’ he pleads. ‘It makes no difference to you, since you don’t believe in it, but for my peace of mind?’

‘Loki, if I wear that, and something does happen, you’ll blame yourself for the amulet not working properly’. ‘No, I promise, quite the opposite…’ he unclasps the chain, ‘I’ll know I did everything I could, and you died because you did something stupid’.

You laugh. ‘Fair enough. You promise you won’t start beating yourself up?’

‘I swear on my honour’ he says, putting the chain around your neck. You tuck the amulet under your shirt, knowing if Natasha and Clint ever saw it, they would never let you live it down. You talk for a while longer while finishing up your breakfast, and then Loki leaves so you can change.

‘Good luck, kiddo’ Tony slaps your arm. ‘Give ‘em hell’. ‘Thank you’ you give Tony a small salute before getting into the car with Maria Hill, Clint, Natasha, and Sam Wilson.

T-3 hours to the expected time of arrival of the dealers. You’re leading a group of ten agents, and everyone is already in position. You’re sitting, leaning against the wall with your group, circling a finger over your bullet proof vest which hides the amulet Loki gave you.

Ridiculous, you think. But nice. You smile.

‘What is it?’ an agent asks, seeing your smile. ‘What? Nothing. Shush’ you say.

Natasha’s voice comes on the earpiece: ‘If anyone tells Tony this, they’re fired, but the convoy is here’.

You smile, knowing Tony would gloat for ages if anyone told him the convoy reached earlier than expected.

‘Alright gang, up up’ you stand up, and help a few up since they’re carrying heavy guns. ‘Look sharp, and if you find something weird, for god’s sake, don’t touch it. We got Thor for that’.

You put your helmet on and take a deep breath, waiting for instructions.

You hear the dealers come in, boxes being dragged across the floor, clicks of guns and clanging of metals.

‘Where’s the Vibranium?’ a voice comes. Someone mumbles something in another language.

‘He’s saying there’s another truck coming’ Natasha’s voice comes. ‘Nobody move until every single one of them is in the room and the door is shut’.

You nod at the rest of your team to ask if they understand. They nod back.

You return your eyes to the group that has just entered. You look up, just to scope the room, and spot a figure move.

‘Yo’ you whisper as low as you can, ‘did anyone see that?’ ‘What the hell is that’ Clint’s voice comes over the ear piece. ‘Oh, if that is who I think it is…’ Sam’s voice comes. ‘Ssshh’ you hiss. ‘Wait’. ‘Did you just shush me, don’t ever…’ ‘Ssshhh!!' you, Clint, and Nat say in unison.

It’s a grave situation, but you can’t stop yourself smiling before returning your attention to the back of the room. The tall figure is still moving, shooting something that makes no noise.

‘For god’s sake’ you hear Sam’s disgusted voice. ‘It’s the spider kid’.

You inwardly groan. You thought Tony would have told him to stay away.

‘Tell me he isn’t our responsibility, please’ Sam says. ‘If you want to die at Tony’s hands, sure’ you say. ‘Stark put a comms system in his suit, someone tell Stark to get him out’. ‘We aren’t carrying cell phones. And we don’t know how he got in in the first place’ Nat says. ‘Let it just play out’.

You sigh.

You wait a while longer, and the ‘other’ truck arrives. After all the contents are loaded in the room, there’s a spat about payment, and then the truck guys clear off. The one you assume is the leader shuts the doors and walks over to one of the crates with a crowbar.

‘Hold it…’ Nat says.

You stretch an arm out to inform your team to stay as well.

You quickly glance back up, the figure is no longer on the roof. You dread that he’ll announce his presence at the wrong time.

And he does.

‘Anything here for me?’ you hear Peter shout. The dealers all cock their guns and turn around to point it at him. ‘NOW’ Nat shouts over the comms.

You put your arm down and your team moves out, guns pointed at the dealers. From the right, Clint’s team enters. From the left, Natasha’s. Thor is on the balcony-like structure upstairs, looking over the whole congregation. Maria and Sam come from the North side. You have them surrounded.

‘Whoa, no way, you guys came!’ Peter exclaims. ‘Get outta here, kid’ you yell. ‘No way, let me help, I can help’.

You roll your eyes.

‘Ay, what the hell is going on’ one of the men say. ‘Put your weapons down’ Nat shouts. ‘Turn over everything you have’. ‘Yeah, that’s not happening’ the man laughs, removing a cylindrical object and throwing it on the ground, creating a force field around his own group, also trapping Peter.

You look up at Thor. He’s already swinging his hammer and aiming it at the force field; it hits its mark and the shield breaks so your team can move in.

A fight ensues, with you managing to dodge most of the attacks, while also grabbing onto some of the new tech the dealers have left lying around to use it.

‘This is so cool!’ Peter yells, swinging from wall to wall, pinning dealers to the walls with his webs. Okay, maybe he is helping a little.

You manage to get every single one of them, either knocked out or pinned to the wall. Sam celebrates by slyly putting some of the new guns in his holster. You laugh and yell that you can see him, and he yells back ‘You see NOTHING’.

Peter is just gushing over what just happened. ‘I didn’t know you guys were coming, this is so cool, I’ve always wanted to be part of a strike team!’ ‘Peter…’ you start. ‘And, and look at this gear, wow can I try that gun, I swear I’ll be careful…’

You take off your helmet. ‘PETER’.

‘Oh’

He sees your face. ‘Oh h-hey I didn’t know it was you, hi’.

You sigh, remembering his crush on you. ‘You’re in way over your head’. ‘Mr. Stark says the same thing, you know, I’m much more capable…’ ‘Thank you for your help’ you say sternly. ‘I’ll inform Mr. Stark you did a great job today. But you have to go now’.

His eyes twinkle. ‘You’ll tell him I did good? Will you tell me what he says? Do you have my number? You can just text me what he says…’

‘Peter, honey, Tony has your number’. ‘RIGHT. Yes, he does. Okay. Bye!’ he shoots a web to the ceiling and goes out of the broken skylight you hadn’t noticed before.

Everyone else is putting weapons back in crates, while the Avengers are talking at the middle of the room. You walk over to them. ‘Hey’.

‘How’d you get him to leave’ Sam asks. ‘I just said he did good’ you shrug. ‘We’re sure these guys haven’t made any calls?’

Clint holds up a little device. ‘Blocks out any outgoing and incoming calls within a 2km radius’ he grins.

Stark’s trucks arrive and the men get out to help load the crates in. Natasha and Hill oversee the operation, while Sam and Thor are in some conversation, and Clint helps you aid the wounded S.H.I.E.L.D agents.

While you bandage a woman’s arm, Clint walks over to borrow a pair of scissors. You hand it to him, and kneels down next to you.

‘Blink twice if you need help’ he says. ‘Excuse me?’ ‘You and Loki’. You sigh, frustrated. ‘We’re friends’. ‘I’ve been under his control. It’s easy to not understand the difference’. ‘Clint, he doesn’t have any way of controlling me, okay?’ ‘You just look badly beat up’.

You finish bandaging the woman and she thanks you. You smile at her and stand up. ‘I appreciate your concern, I really do. And thank you for asking. But there really is nothing to worry about. I decided to give him a chance, and I think all of you should too’ you pat him on the back and walk towards where the trucks are.

‘Hey, the last of the crates are loaded, I’m just calling Stark’ Hill informs you. You nod and she leaves, her phone in hand. ‘Off to Dubai, then. It’s a long ass flight’ Nat says. ‘When are we leaving? I hope we land at night, it’s beautiful’ you say, remembering your time there ‘I think we can manage that’ she grins.

After the driver calls something out to her in Russian, she responds and hits the side of the truck next to her twice. The engines start and the line of trucks head out to the Avengers Tower.

‘We follow through; can you get the team into the cars?’

You nod and rush back in, ‘Ya’ll got five minutes, get your asses in those cars’ you call out. ‘Anyone who needs medical attention, yell’.

One person from the corner of the room yells.

You turn to Natasha. ‘I’ll take him to the Tower and drop him off, get a new guy, and meet you at the jet’. ‘You sure?’ ‘Yeah. Save me a good window seat’. ‘You got it’ she smiles and sits in the car.

The rest of the group files in, and you’re left with a large black BMW. You haven’t driven in a while, but the car has sirens, so you hope people will just get out of your way. ‘Okay mate, what’s your name’ you ask, as you pick him up. ‘Paul’ he chokes out. ‘Paul. Well, Paul, have you ever been inside the Avengers Tower?’

He shakes his head.

‘You’re in for the pampering of your life, if you manage to stay with me till the ride there, Paul’ you help him into the backseat of the car, and buckle him in. You run to the drivers’ side, get in, and flip the sirens on, driving at top speed to the Avengers Tower.

You make a call while rushing through the streets of New York. Over the bluetooth - ‘Hello?’ ‘Tony! Okay, I’m bringing over Paul, he was hurt badly in the fight…’ ‘Yup, Nat told me, med crew is already at reception’. ‘Excellent, I also need you to keep a S.H.I.E.L.D agent ready for me to take as a replacement’. ‘Also downstairs waiting, with full gear’. You just love this man. ‘You’re awesome, Stark’. ‘I know, kid. See you soon’ he hangs up.

You pull up to the entrance of the tower and the med crew rushes to help Paul out of your backseat, which is covered in blood.

Fortunately, Tony also has another car waiting for you.

This man is on another level, you think, chuckling.

‘Take care Paul!’ you yell. He gives you a thumbs up.

The new recruit comes up to you. ‘Hi, I’m Sean’ ‘Hello, Sean. Get in, we’ll talk’

He gets into the new car and you’re about to get in as well when you hear your name called out and turn around. It’s Loki.

‘Hi! I have to leave…’ He comes up to you and gives you a hug. ‘I forgot to give you a hug before you leave’ he holds you tight. ‘Oh’… you smile against his chest and hug him back. You’ve removed your bullet proof vest now, so it’s just a shirt. Loki can feel the amulet through it, that’s how tight he’s hugging you. ‘Take care’ he says, and lets go.

You grin and turn to get into the passenger side, then shut the door. Off to Dubai, then.

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Feedback and requests welcome :) <3 Thanks for reading!

#loki #loki marvel #loki x you #loki x reader #tom hiddleston x you #marvel avengers #avengers fanfiction #loki fandom #reader insert #fan fiction series #the support system

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miss-oscurita · 4 years

Text

I’ve got people asking what the hell is going on, since it seems this shit is getting twisted somewhere along the line and because I do not have the time or energy to engage with squabbling over this any longer, I’m gonna to take some time to state the facts from the get go (since some people apparently can’t keep track) and explain how I see all this one last time, and then I’m done with this shit. Let me be clear - I am not, and never have been, claiming to “own tropes”, as so many have accused me of. I have absolutely no issue with anyone using time-travel and the associated themes in their Red Dead fan fics. This is not entirely about that, I’m sorry so many of you can’t see the bigger picture. My primary issue with this is that someone mentioning me by name (without a tag) and saying I’d approved the content of their story when I was completely unaware of the changes they’d chosen to make to it until after it had been seen by dozens of people here. I do also have an issue with someone telling me they’re going to remove something to avoid drama going forward, only to then upload it to a second site a week later with the additional changes and mention of my name/approval. Changes which stem from someone claiming that they’ve never heard of my story one day, and then a week after discovering it, going ahead and changing their story to include a necklace/stone too. Which is the same plot device that is the very foundation of my entire fic! Coincidence? Maybe. You be the judge on that. Now for everyone who’s jumped on the bandwagon while missing the start of this drama, this is what actually happened....

On September 8th - I was alerted to a story written by Charlee (previously @the-charlee-monstah) under the pen name GracelessTevy that was posted on AO3, called Fast Forward To Redemption. The story was about Arthur jumping through time into 2020, which is the same loose premise as my story Wish Upon. So what? Right? Right! There were enough differences for me to have zero concerns about this story existing. The main female character in FFTR was completely unaware of who Arthur was in relation to Red Dead, unlike my story where both the OC and Arthur know he’s a fictional character in modern reality. While the plot of FFTR appeared to follow the same path as my story with the OC helping Arthur find his feet in the twenty-first century and such, I didn’t feel it was that notably similar in any other sense. Now, this all came to my attention because apparently someone had commented on FFTR claiming that it was the same as my story Wish Upon. Due these comments on AO3 Charlee came forward, commented on WU, and the @’d me in a tagged post on here about the messages she’d received, and asked for my thoughts on what had been commented, because it appeared these comments were in defence of me. (There were a couple of other comments on the story that didn’t mention my story specifically but cried copying on some level. I’m unsure if that was in regard to my story or something else, since Charlee’s camp have repeatedly told me my idea is unoriginal and “been done” already....) At that time Charlee claimed she had never even heard of my story Wish Upon that random people were accusing her of copying. Concerned by this, for both my story and Charlee potentially being dragged unnecessarily by random strangers - I took some time out of my day to find her story, read what was posted. At that time I did not see any similarities beyond the element of Arthur existing in the modern day. There were some vague similarities, in the sense that Arthur arrived during a storm, and that the chapter began with the female character speaking to her friend about cowboys in a novel, but nothing that concerned me in any significant way. I responded to Charlee publicly and via DM’s and told her that what I saw was fine, and that I had no issue with anything she’d written at that point. Charlee repeatedly claimed to have no prior knowledge of my story but must have found it on AO3 in order to get my contact information from my profile to bring the matter to my attention on here. (Since AO3 still doesn’t have a Goddamned private messaging feature!) Charlee said in a comment she left on Wish Upon, that she would delete her story to avoid any further confusion or drama over it.

I thought that was the end of it, but since this began on AO3 I deleted the comment from my story because I wanted to avoid encouraging drama in the comments on my end, and I went on with my life. Skip to last night (Sept 14th) a week later, and someone comes to my inbox here and tells me that Charlee has decided to completely change the name of her story, to reference a stone, and had also made changes to include a mention of a necklace that would obviously be relevant to the plot going forward. (For those of you who don’t follow WU, the concept is that Arthur is bought out of the game and transported to 2019 into the life of a young woman who made a off-the-cuff wish about him being a real person, while wearing a magical necklace her aunt had given her for Christmas.) More surprisingly was that Charlee had also posted the story on here in the Red Dead tag, under the new title of Tempest’s Stone. Despite not having posted it here as FFTR. In the posted chapter on here and AO3 she included a mention of what had happened last week, including my Tumblr username (which is different to my AO3 ID) but didn’t actually tag me so I could see it in my notifs. Despite tagging me last week when coming at me for comment over the responses she’d received. She mentioned that I had given my approval for the story and that I saw no similarities to my (unnamed) work, and that any similarities were coincidental.

Seeing the anon message coming in to my inbox, about a necklace made me think I was going crazy, because I hadn’t seen any mention of any stone/necklace in what I read last week. I initially wrote all this off as just someone trying to start shit here again, so I approached Charlee to politely via DM’s to query if there had been a change or if this was just more of the same trouble making from nameless individuals. I was concerned about all this, because if I had seen any mention of a stone/necklace in what I read last week, I would have raised concerns with it right away to avoid drama falling on her going forward. The initial response I get is Charlee denying any copying.

While waiting for further elaboration from Charlee, I get a few anon messages. One of which offers to provided me with a PDF version of what was originally posted by as FFTR last week, which showed there was no mention of a necklace or stone. It was late, I’m constantly tired at the moment, I’m going through some serious shit in real life, so I wasn’t going to sit up waiting for another reply from Charlee, I accepted her response, put the rest down to being anon drama nonsense, decided I’d deal with it when I saw the PDF, logged off and went to bed. Next thing I know I get woken at 5am by my phone blowing the fuck up with responses to this issue, from Charlee and people from her side/hateful anons attacking me for daring to question the new addition to Charlee’s work.

Then I am inundated with friends of Charlee’s (on and off anon) attacking me in asks and DM’s, saying I have no right to be questioning any of this because my idea has been done before and time-travel stores are common and anyone is entitled to use the concept of a magic necklace, no one owns tropes etc etc etc. I never once claimed or implied that I “own” any tropes. Again, for the peanut gallery, I have no issue with people writing Red Dead timetravel stories! I do however, think it’s highly questionable that someone who apparently had “never heard of” my story a week ago, suddenly changes her story to include a necklace after publicly discovering my work. Also, I’m not claiming any ownership of tropes, but I do not think it’s unreasonable for me to claim ownership of a very specific alternative universe. My fic is an AU, tropes are just something that occur in a chapter but the over all fic is very much an AU, which has very specific elements. But whatever... Unfortunately there is no arguing the morals of this turn of events with these people attacking me in Charlee’s name, because when you try to question their angle of defence they just block you. (Then unblock you later on to continue telling you how wrong it is to have an opinion on your own work!) To elaborate a little on my concerns, I’ll say this... YES! Mother fuckers! I know I did not invent timetravel, or any devices used to facilitate that! Change the Goddamned record! I do however feel it is not unreasonable to have an issue with someone claiming not to know of my story one second, then just so happening to add in a plot point to their work that is the very cornerstone of my entire story, a week after admitting to learning of my work. Then on top of that, going ahead and changing the title, and posting it here -after having said they’d delete- AND claiming that I’d seen the story and approved it AFTER the changes have been made. Changes that I was COMPLETELY unaware of! Changes that would have continued to go unknown to me without an anon tipping me off! Because I was not tagged in the post that Charlee made with her story either on here or AO3, and I made it clear in my first response to Charlee last week that I do not read any fics or following the RDR fandom. The biggest issue in all this for me is that Charlee claimed I was okay with the stories content, when I was completely unaware of the changes she’d made. In the bigger picture it is also somewhat concerning to me that Charlee’s story is a reader insert, which predominantly gain more attention (especially on Tumblr) than original character fictions. Which, for the record, I have no issue with in general, we’re all just trying to enjoy ourselves with words. However, I’ll admit, I was concerned about Charlee continuing with her story in its revised form since we’re both playing to the same audience, and Charlee would have potentially been attracting a different/wider viewership on a reader insert (posting both on AO3 and Tumblr) and how that would potentially lead to people to accuse me of copying at some point down the line. For a bit of context... I have over two hundred thousand words of Wish Upon in first draft, waiting to be edited and posted. I have over one hundred and fifty thousand words already shared on AO3. There’s plenty of eyes out there to read both our work, it’s not an issue of who gets more attention or any other shit you lot would like to throw. I’d take one kudos and heartfelt comment over a 100 likes any day. The issue is that there’s a good chance that by the time I get to publish, let’s say, chapter thirty, that Charlee could have already explored the events of that chapter of my story. Which would then potentially cause her readers to come for me, claiming my work is a derivative of hers, when in fact the story I’ve spent two years writing is already finished in first draft, and is just awaiting final editing - which I cannot do quickly enough due to real life pressures! Is it wrong of me to be concerned about and want to avoid that kind of finger pointing bullshit, after having put so much time and effort into this story? Yes, it’s possible that it was a coincidence that Charlee decided to add a stone/necklace to her story, no one can prove it one way or the other beyond reasonable doubt. However, I am not going to pull punches on this one, and I’ll say I find it extremely questionable that this change to her story occurred AFTER finding Wish Upon, and AFTER the story views on AO3 went from 1042 to 1158 (with no new kudos/comments added) between this drama starting and as I type this. Someone was obviously reading my work over the past week, and with no update/bumps on it, I have to question who it actually was and how my work was discovered since it’s way down on the recent updates on AO3.... Anyway, the bottom line is Charlee claims she didn’t copy, I claim it’s a possibility that she may have, either consciously or unconsciously. BUT I gave her the benefit of the doubt on the vague similarities last week. But like I said, this isn’t just about copying ideas. It’s about claiming I’m okay with something that I was completely unaware of, and did not give my approval to. Whatever the case, I do not think it’s unreasonable for me to have issues with what’s occurred in regard to how Charlee has handled this matter. As a result of this drama being bought to Tumblr, I have been inundated with messages. Some from strangers showing support and raising concerns for my story and welfare, which I appreciate. Unfortunately, however, I have had even more people sending me increasingly hateful and combative messages. Attacking me for daring to question Charlee (who’s apparently been in the RDR2 fandom since August) and paint me as the bad guy over the issue of these changes Charlee made of her own freewill. My blog is now getting likes/reblogs from a bunch of people who I do not know, do not follow me, and have no reason to find my blog other than because of this drama! So it seems obvious to me that links to my page are being shared around somewhere out there and hate is being encouraged in my direction. Back to the matter at hand... Early this morning I politely suggested that Charlee come forward and make a post on her own blog, for her followers, to explain what had happened with adding the necklace and changing the title etc. While I waited for her to do that, I made a post of my own to address anyone following me who may have been involved provoking drama. Charlee decided not to make a post explaining the introduction of the necklace in her story, giving me a bunch of excuses as to why she didn’t want to, and some point today she decided to delete her account entirely instead. I’m now getting blamed for that, with people saying I had a hand in chasing Charlee off this site. When you can count the amount of messages (all civil and even toned) I sent her/regarding her on both hands and have still have free fingers. When I logged off early this morning her blog still existed. The first I heard of her deleting was an hour ago when I came on to find yet more drama had graced my inbox/DM’s in the wake of her flouncing. I couldn’t even interact with her if I wanted to, because she blocked me last night for reasons I do not understand, after I requested she explain the situation on her blog to square all this away once and for all. (I’m happy to share the full DM’s she sent me which are not polite and seem slightly combative from her end.) If the court of Tumblr want to come hang me for being concerned and questioning someone using my story concept AFTER being made aware of my story’s content - then go ahead, because I did that directly with Charlee in private. I did not bring this matter to Tumblr. It could have been dealt with privately or just on AO3. Charlee chose to highlight this for other people to see on here, why I do not know. But she tagged her original post last week so the entire fandom could see and jump on it. I didn’t have anything to do with that, so don’t any of you faceless haters fuckin’ dare come at me saying I encouraged or orchestrated harassment over this because I had absolutely fuck all to do with it at any point!!!! I’m wise enough to know attacking someone over plagiarism is pathetic, because plagiarism is solely an academic standard. This issue would be a matter of copyright. And you cannot copyright a fan fic, because by definition fan fic is copyright infringement. You cannot copyright tropes and I have never claimed dominion over any tropes in my story. This is fundamentally a moral issue, and I do not think it is unreasonable to have concerns about someone changing their story to use the exact same elements of a story to the one I’ve been writing for nearly two years. Especially in a fanom as new and as small as Red Dead is. And THEN claiming that I’m perfectly fine with the changes they made that I was TOTALLY unaware of! But if it makes me the bad guy for not being supportive of someone who for all I know saw my idea and ran with it, then fuck it - What can I say? I’m obviously the bad guy! Go get your guns! If you can’t accept it’s an appropriate response to be concerned by seeing someone do that to your ideas (and going on to add more of them to their work after you’d written the first concerns off as a non-issue) then it’s not my place to convince you. To the best of my knowledge I am “persona non grata” in the Red Dead fandom. I have thousands of followers, from various older fandoms since I’ve been here since 2012, but I do not interact with anyone with an interest in Red Dead beyond responding to comments on my work on AO3 and the occasional ask on my story blog. I do not have a support network on here. I do not post my work here, because every time I have it’s been ignored. I do not have fandom or followings that I can call upon to defend me, or people I can tag to come to my aid. However, I do truly appreciate that strangers out there have taken it upon themselves to alert me to what’s going on, since I do not follow fandom in any respect. However, I ask that they take a moment to consider HOW they go about addressing matters like this now, and at any point in the future, and that if anyone is still sending messages to other people on my behalf about this issue then I ask them to stop now. It’s between Charlee and I. Not Charlee, me, five of her friends, and twenty trolling anons showing their asses! Yes, Charlee also chose to add a necklace/stone into her story after admitting to finding my work. That could have been an innocent mistake, it could have been deliberate, who knows! I gave the benefit of the doubt once, only to wind up getting shit on and attacked by people defending her actions! Yes, maybe Charlee didn’t have any ill intent with saying I’d approved changes I didn’t know about. All we have is her word, and I don’t know her from Adam. I gave a pass the first time round, only for this to end up happening. Whatever the case really is, it’s not my fault that Charlee chose to include a necklace/stone in her story after discovering my story. She claimed to never have read my work, even after being made aware of it, but perhaps if she had made that effort to read it this could have been completely avoided. It’s also not my fault that Charlee decided to publically post about the drama that kicked all this off last week. Calling her dogs to come and attack me over comments people I do not know made on her story. And finally - for all the anon’s from Charlee’s camp, or any other, sending me actual hate and shitting on my writing, and pulling the old Tumblr classic of bravely telling me on anon that I should kill myself because Charlee deleted - fuck the lot of you! This is the last I’m going to say on this matter, I am fuckin’ done with this shit. I will not be deleting my blog, I will not stop writing my story, and I will not be engaging in anyone else who wants to keep prolonging the life of this particular unnecessary bullshit drama! The facts are there. It’s up to you to interpret them however you wish, but let’s be grown-ups about it, please? We’re all just here to try and show some love to a virtual cowboy who hates himself. There’s enough shit in the world right now, we don’t need to be adding to it over a Goddamn fan-fic!

#fan-dram #fandom #writing #writing is hard #Wish Upon #tired of the drama on this fuckin' site #I don't come on here for months and STILL this shit goes on #another night wasted dealing with this crap #when I could have been writing #thanks Tumblr!

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wonderlustlucas · 5 years

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greatest gift - park chanyeol

⇢ prompt I cannot form an answer with my lips because I am so focused on yours. ⇢ pairing chanyeol x female reader ⇢ word count 8.7k ⇢ genre fluff & smut ⇢ warnings explicit sexual content, fingering, unprotected bathroom sex!, dirty talk, chan loves mirrors, borderline dom!pcy but it’s pretty soft, friends to lovers, christmas, i kind of got some classic white people at parties vibe but that may just be me, chanyeol in christmas pajamas ⇢ summary After years of being in love with your best friend’s cousin, Park Chanyeol, one certain Christmas party leads to some unbelievable confessions and activities in the bathroom that most certainly would get you on Santa’s naughty list.—christmas party!au ⇢ a/n merry belated christmas!! i apologize for the lateness... anyway. & happy new year!! :) for being almost 9k and for me taking 15 centuries to write i actually wrote this moderately quick so yay i hope u enjoy sex c christmas chanyeol

read the sequel here!

Judging by the blinding streaks of radiant sunlight penetrating through the blinds and the distant hum of activity from the streets outside your window, you have slept way longer than you bargained for. With a mesmerized sigh you soak in the warmth upon waking up, stretch your arms and yawn, shedding the remaining glimpses of a dream.

However, the sound of your phone ringing like an annoyed rattlesnake renders your peacefulness impossible, having awakened you in the first place, and you grudgingly reach blindly for the chiming nuisance.

“Hello?” You mumble into the speaker after kneading your eyes with your knuckles and swiping across the screen, the thick enchantment of sleep still clouding your brain.

“Jesus, ___, did you just wake up?” The obvious bewilderment in none other than Park Seoyun’s tone causes you to laugh groggily, only fueling her astonishment tenfold. “Wow, I’m glad I called when I did then,” she utters.

“Why? What’s up?” You ask, converting the call to speaker mode and resting the device on your chest. “Because you’re supposed to be ready in three hours?” She says, tone laced with annoyance. “You know, the Christmas party? The one you’ve gone to with me every year?”

Oh, yeah.

Ever since you were young, Seoyun has invited you to attend nearly all of her family’s gatherings throughout the years, a tradition that began as a nonchalant need of a friend’s company to survive the dreadful hours spent with family and friends she had no real interest in seeing.

Sad, how that works.

Of course, you would not complain, considering over the years you have bonded with her family just as much as your own.

“Pfft, of course,” you laugh in a weak attempt to blow off your forgetfulness, “I totally remembered. I’m on top of the game right now, Sunny. Nothing to worry about.”

“Mm,” she hums in faux belief, you can practically see her eyeroll, “Chanyeol asked if you were coming.”

Chanyeol? Park Chanyeol? Park fuck-me-in-every-way-known-and-unknown-to-man Chanyeol?

“Of course he did,” you scoff, trying to play off the way your heartbeat rapidly picks up at the thought of him asking whether you would be there as if you do not care, “I’ve only been to every one of your parties for like, the past fifteen years.”

Seoyun laughs. “Anyway, I’ll be over around five. Try not to take too long just so you can impress your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” You shout in protest. At the silence that follows you realize she has already hung up. Bitch, you sigh, rolling over to check the time, sheets rustling loudly in your ears. The 2:00 pm blinking back at you from your digital clock takes a few moments to process through your brain before you realize just how badly you overslept and how much your sleep schedule is fucked.

Still, this cannot take the stupefied grin off your face.

It takes everything within you to kickstart your nerves into working, just some cereal and you’ll be on your way, you tell yourself, finally sweeping the ruffled blankets elsewhere and abandoning the warmth of bed. Walking out of the room, you make your way into the kitchen and wince at the momentarily blinding light bouncing off the windows before continuing on to unroll the bag of Honey Bunches of Oats and pour a hefty serving into a bowl, the scratching and ruffling of plastic filling the otherwise silent apartment.

Because even after eating, watching an episode of iCarly, and spending an unnecessarily prolonged time in the shower to shave, the thoughts racing through your brain are of one person and one person only: none other than Chanyeol.

Seoyun claims that it did not take her long to recognize your developing crush on her cousin, considering she had been shipping the two of you the second you told her that you thought he was cute in sixth grade.

According to her, the slaughter that your heart (and underwear, as you got older) endured every time you came twenty feet of the panty-dropping man was excruciatingly obvious and she forced the confession out of you like a fisherman casting mercilessly. Whether it was the effects of alcohol or solely the accumulation of being caught and needing to reveal everything to your best friend, you spilled everything to Seoyun after your first high school party without a hint of hesitation or embarrassment because let’s be real, there’s absolutely nothing shameful about being attracted to such a man.

Nonetheless, it was still terribly awkward. Not only is he Seoyun’s cousin, but Chanyeol has also always been a step ahead, considering he is three years older.

For example, years ago when he was starting university and you were only a junior in high school, you could have sworn that he was blatantly flirting with you over text only hours before he posted a picture with some gorgeous senior perched prettily on his lap. You mopped around for hours, and Seoyun’s only form of consolidation was, “Don’t worry. He’s a hoe.”

As if that helped.

Even before that, years prior when you were in eighth grade and he was a sophomore, you had joined Seoyun on her large family vacation for the first time. During movie night, you were curled up dangerously close to his chest and could not remember any of the horror film the following day considering you had prayed the entire time that he could not hear how your heart did somersaults in your chest or why your lower stomach squirmed every time his breath fanned against your neck. Weeks later, you cried yourself to sleep when you found out he had a new girlfriend, knowing it was way too good to be true for him to share your feelings when you were in middle school.

After all, you were just a ‘little sister’ to him.

Or, when the same event occurred only a few months ago, while you, Seoyun, and the rest of her cousins snuggled up to watch the new Jurassic World instead of going out for the third night in a row, Chanyeol eagerly leaped to sit beside you and, as a result of his dramatic begging, you became his pillow and slept through the night with his arms wrapped snuggly around your waist and his legs entangled with your own.

It would not have been so bad if you did not wake up with a boner pressing against your back.

Still, this excludes the random ab pictures sent over SnapChat if a conversation turned a certain direction, the videos of him playing a new song he would text, the intense checking-out, the questionable touches, the heart-stopping compliments, and so, so much more that has transpired over the years. And yet, the realization that hurts the most is not simply an attraction to a gorgeous man just out of reach, it is that you know that you love him.

If it was not for the years and personal time spent with him, you would have never developed such a raw emotion for Chanyeol. It would have never grown past a basic attraction. But no—his baby face mismatched with his deep voice, his bright personality that can lift the spirit of any room, the somewhat concerning way he still does not know how to handle his general largeness, his effortless ability to make anyone laugh, his unfailing kindness, his ears, his laugh. Oh, the list goes on and on.

The way he oozes natural charm fused with all the times and tiny memories spent together made for a solemn night several years ago where you had the incomprehensible realization that your universe starts and ends with Park Chanyeol.

Ever since they retired and moved into a smaller living space, Seoyun’s grandparents have held every holiday gathering in the common room of their apartment building. It’s convenient, free of charge, and, as a result of their first-class living, luxurious and very, very large.

After setting foot into the building’s first floor through the immaculately flawless glass doors and gawking at the pristine white marble floors, guests make their way to the common room just past the receptionist’s desk, where a woman sits in front of a computer, waiting drearily for her shift to end. The common room is like a perfect magazine cover with its linen white curtains, the kind of white untouched by hands and devoid of dust.

Upon entering said room, to the left is a fairly open space accessible for the Pollyanna gifts—aka where all the ladies in their mid-forties and fifties flock around like seagulls to discuss their favorite candle scents for the winter season.

To the right of this is a lounging area with a sofa, two loveseats, a long glass coffee table in the middle, and a fireplace against the wall. Nothing more, nothing less. Besides the facts that the leather of the couches and fur pillows appear to be real and that the fireplace’s mantel seems to contain enough expensive knickknacks to pay off student loans.

Past this is where the party really begins. Also known as the dining tables. Two huge mahogany tables with matching chairs take up most of the bright room’s space, left without a tablecloth and daring guests to ruin the perfectly varnished shine. Two tall, gold candelabras command attention from the center of each table, holding smooth white candles that go without being lit each year. To the right of the tables is a grand piano, shiny and pitch black against the white marble floors and white walls and waiting to be played. No one ever plays.

The far end of the common room is another lounging area, this one with an enormous television instead of an extravagant fireplace mantel. Next to this is the entrance to a small kitchen for the party to store and serve food “buffet style,” if so desired. Stainless steel appliances seemingly untouched by hands, brick walls painted white, and the same marble floor throughout the entire floor. Out of the kitchen, a hallway with two bathrooms leads back to the lobby.

Having been here so many times, walking in with Seoyun at your side is no problem. Even greeting all her family and their friends, albeit your awkwardness when it comes to being social, is not a problem. Trying to silence the animalistic sounds of your growling stomach until dinner is ready is also, surprise, ultimately not a problem.

Now, what is a problem, something that started as a minor concern during the first ten minutes after arriving but now consumes you alive, is that after two and a half fucking hours, Chanyeol has not spoken to you once.

At first, you thought he may have just not seen you. But after making eye contact for even a split second one too many times within the first hour, you know he had to of seen you. Even when you and Seoyun went over to stand by him and two more of her older cousins, he still refused to say a word. So now, as you sit alone on the leather sofa, angry, hurt, and trying to ignore a woman talking much too loudly about her new duvets while Seoyun is off doing God knows what, you have no other option but to just look around the luxurious room in order to occupy your thoughts in some way that does not end up going back to Chanyeol.

Deciding on the richly carved mantel of the fireplace just in front of you, you start from the exquisite plate-glass clock in the middle and scan to the right: a silver drinking-cup, a small oval portrait of a young woman framed in gold, and a crystal vase filled with white tulips. And then to the left: two dainty china figures of a lamb and a shepherd, a porcelain, heart-shaped box, a blue cloisonné pitcher, and several other bisque porcelain figures—a dachshund, a cat and kittens, and an angel.

Just as you are getting to the flower pots sparsely placed throughout the room, a flimsy box is suddenly flung onto your lap. When you look up, completely zapped out of your daze, Seoyun flops down beside you with a grimace.

“Pajama time,” she sighs, lifting the lid of her own box and pulling out the fuzzy Christmas top, “perhaps I’ll end my life now.”

Laughing, you do the same, amused and not as disappointed as you thought you would be when you lift the plain red long-sleeve shirt and plaid red and white pajama bottoms. “Hopefully it’ll be quick this year.”

One of Seoyun’s family Christmas traditions you have grown accustomed to is her grandmother buying all the children pajamas and forcing them into one big family photo, whether you are actually family or not. What many of you did not realize was that “children” simply meant the youngest generation.

So now, ranging between the age of two and twenty-eight, nearly half of the party’s guests have to stop what they are doing and change for the picture.

“I hope so, too,” she mutters, scowling as she watches a wave of guests head for the bathrooms, “come on. There’s a closet in the computer room where we could get changed.”

Nodding, you follow Seoyun to the hallway and head for the conveniently unoccupied computer room and shut yourselves in the dark closet before changing. “Are you okay? You’ve been awfully quiet,” she suddenly springs on you, effortlessly popping the bubble you have secluded yourself in. “What? No, I’m fine. Just tired… I guess,” you answer, laughing shakily as you pull the pajama bottoms up your legs. They are terribly snug around your butt.

Past the darkness speckling your vision, you can still see Seoyun glaring at you, seeing right through your bullshit. You take in a deep breath of the stale air.

“Just… I don’t know. I sound like a baby. Chanyeol has not said one word to me since we’ve been here,” you say, pushing your arms through the sleeves of the red shirt, “and I don’t know why, or if I did anything, or if he’s just being a dick. I have no clue.”

Seoyun exhales loudly, planting her hands firmly on her hips before, “Listen, I don’t know what is up with him, either. I know it’ll be hard, but don’t let him get to you. Just ignore him too, stop looking at him so he sees you don’t give a shit about him.”

“But I do give a shit,” you grumble, jutting your bottom lip out and staring at your feet.

“Well, today you don’t. Don’t let him win, okay? Show him you could care less,” she preaches, reaching out to pull you into a hug and you graciously take it. “Thanks. I’ll try,” you mumble into her neck, squeezing her tightly before stepping back and collecting your clothes.

“Ready for this picture?”

“I was born ready.”

You were not, in fact, ready. For as soon as you left the closet and met up with every other person dressed in ridiculous pajamas at the lobby, Chanyeol came sauntering in looking like he owned the damn place.

Even in Christmas pajamas, he still managed to look like a god.

Stop looking, you scolded yourself when he glanced over. And you did, turning away from where he stood and moving to the opposite side of the group for the twenty minutes it took until everyone was there for the picture. Huddling over one of Seoyun’s younger cousins, you smiled until your jaw was numb as every adult fumbled with their cell phone, proud that you managed to forget Chanyeol.

So, when you and Seoyun end up splitting up in search of another place to change since a young janitor had taken to cleaning the computer room, you were rather shocked to see that the only person in line for the bathroom was you. Perhaps everyone had gone home after the infamous picture.

But what is even more shocking is to watch disbelievingly as Park Chanyeol strolls towards you from the end of the hallway as you lean against the wall opposite of the women’s bathroom, waiting for whoever is inside to open the door. His entire walk you glare at him coldly, pulse quickly picking up as he gets closer.

After what seems like the walk to Calvary, he’s finally beside you.

“___,” he greets with an innocent smile, leaning on the wall with you and you wince, quickly looking away from him. From what you can see from your peripheral vision, he’s looking at you, yet you refuse to look back. There is simply no shot that you would so easily brush off the fact he has ignored you the past few hours, no matter how much you ache to.

“Aw, what?” Chanyeol whines after processing your lack of acknowledgment. He shifts closer, bare arm brushing yours and you cannot fight your shiver. So quickly you are putty in his hands. “Mad that I didn’t talk to you today?”

Yes. Biting your tongue to keep back the sarcasm that bubbles like acid at the back of your throat, you only grace him with an icy glance before crossing your arms and returning your gaze to the door across from where you stand. “Don’t be like that,” he grumbles, voice unacceptably low as he stoops down to rest his chin on your shoulder. Brain on overdrive at his proximity, you finally look at him with his big puppy eyes and sigh, “Say you’re sorry.”

“You’re sorry,” he smirks, eyes bright with triumph. What a child.

The hot annoyance burning its way through your veins only intensifies and you shrug his head off your shoulder, sidestepping further away and praying for whoever is occupying the restroom to hurry their ass up. When a quiet protest slips past his lips, you look over at him, head pounding because why does he have to be such a dick and why does he look so good?

You simply cannot fight it, the way your gaze mindlessly travels up his body, albeit the dumb Christmas pajamas that just barely stretch over his build, scanning over the proportions of his frame, lingering on how taut the white tee-shirt is against the expanse of his shoulders and chest, and finally struggling to settle back onto his face. When you meet Chanyeol’s eyes, you know he knows, for you were far from nonchalant.

When a noise analogous to a growl resounds from his throat, you are momentarily blindsided, seeing stars, as this was the last reaction you expected and yet, your nausea only triples when he takes two long strides to stand beside you. No—not beside you. In the blink of an eye Chanyeol is against you, hands reaching for your waist and pushing you back with enough force that a gasp escapes you upon impact with the wall. Or, maybe that was simply the shock from it all.

“You know,” Chanyeol mutters, voice so dangerously deep your stomach churns, “I did that on purpose. I like watching how you react to me.”

“Excuse me?” You laugh, sounding way more out of breath than you would like to as you stare wide-eyed at him, fear of the unexpected rooted deep in your stomach. Your mind simply cannot process his words or understand why he takes your change of clothes bunched up in your fist and drops it on the floor with his own. “You heard me,” he smirks, hands gliding lower, lower, lower, oh, you find purchase gripping his biceps when his fingers dare to press into the flesh of your ass, “I can read you like a book. Sometimes,” he pauses, tongue darting out to wet his lips, “I feel like I know you better than you know yourself.”

Every ounce of breath seems to be stolen from your lungs, floating in the air as he speaks, you cannot seem to think with him like this and the acceptance that you are simply a piece in his game of chess angers the sensible part of you. “That sounds like manipulation to me,” you finally say, cocking your head to the side and staring up at him with a certain hardness in your gaze. “Mm,” he hums, seemingly pondering for a moment before ducking down to press his lips under your jaw, placing a sloppy kiss to the tender skin before, “like I said, I enjoy watching. You can’t catch my hints to save your life, so I had to switch things up.”

Your mind is in no shape to process his words with his mouth on your throat, so quickly he tarnishes the skin there, bruising with bright magentas and deep violets and God, what about hints? Squeezing your eyes shut, you cannot help but wonder if this is it—the straw that breaks the camel’s back, shatters the vase and shakes the earth—whether you are stuck in some disturbingly unfair dream or if this is all happening because he somehow feels the same.

“You’re quiet again,” Chanyeol grunts, deserting your throat to meet your gaze and the curiosity softening his features has you weak in the knees, “what are you thinking?”

You swallow, overwhelmed, studying the hesitance that crosses his beautiful face before breathing, “I really can’t think when the only thing I’m focused on is your lips.”

That’s it. The chord inside him finally snaps and Chanyeol closes the distance, silencing the heavy breaths that leave your lips with his own. Twelve years still were not enough to prepare either of you for this moment. A sensation akin to the explosion of fireworks, kissing Chanyeol has a burst of vivid, fizzing sparks coursing through your veins and coloring your insides. The urgency of the kiss—opening his mouth with yours, his hands returning to knead your ass and pull you closer, your hands wrapping into his shirt—translates into a sort of unspoken mutual understanding that settles into the core of your heart, affirming that this should have happened a long time ago.

Chanyeol breaks away to trail his lips lower than before and your whimper of protest at the loss of just kissing him is quickly cut off with a gasp when he licks the indent of your collarbone, working back up your neck to slide over your jaw. When he pauses at the side of your mouth to offer you some recovery time and raises his eyes to meet yours, you gather the courage to tenderly cup his face in your hands and plant a softer kiss on his lips. In response he exhales in relief, hugging his arms around your waist and pulling you impossibly closer as his tongue finds its way working against your own once more.

Certainly, you must have died and gone to heaven to experience such bliss.

Warmth blooming in your chest, your hand slides away from his jaw to the nape of his neck, tugging at the hair there and Chanyeol gasps into the kiss, immediately responding with his lips moving and pressing in such a way that has your head positively swimming. Just like that, you are drowning in warm, heavy air as the dizzy sense of euphoria shifts into desire welling within you when he bites your lower lip, tugging it into his mouth to suck on. “I can’t believe,” he breathes against your lips, breaking away to stare down intensely into your eyes, “this is the first time we’re doing this.”

“In the hallway of your grandpa’s apartment lobby, to boot,” you laugh breathlessly, searching Chanyeol’s face for the emotion hidden beneath the darkening of his stare. You’re somewhere in between losing yourself to his lips roughly tumbling over the apple of your throat and dragging your fingers under his shirt, hands cool against the burning heat of his back, when the bursting open of the bathroom door across from where you stand turns the hot moment to ice. Scrambling to get away from one another, you and Chanyeol start in a frantic series of yelps, kicking limbs, and pat-downs before you urge yourself to glare at whoever occupied the single woman’s restroom for such an excruciatingly long time.

Gaze softening once you recognize that it is one of Seoyun’s distant cousins and her young daughter, you watch with a new wave of embarrassment flushing over you as her eyes flick back and forth between you and Chanyeol, both clearly riled up and panting, before leading her toddler in the opposite direction as she bites against a knowing grin. For a long moment you watch her go, the reality of what just took place sinking to the pit of your stomach and you trace your swollen bottom lip with the pad of your finger, clenching your eyes shut to somehow burn the touch of his lips into your mind forever.

Chanyeol’s loud exhale somewhere besides you cuts your daydreaming off short, and you turn to look at him as the fire in your veins starts to dwindle into ash. “We just,” you start, voice catching in your throat and sounding much weaker than you intended, “what was that?”

Having him off of you gives you unfiltered access to stare at him, pupils blown and his breath coming sharply, and your gaze subconsciously travels down the length of his body in order to engrave the image of how beautiful he looks in this moment onto your brain for eternity until, oh, you finally take notice to the bulge that the thin material of his pajama bottoms do little to hide. Seeing this, you at last register the hot drip of desire between your legs and the way your body trembles with uncontainable want.

“I… I don’t know,” Chanyeol admits, his low, hoarse voice draining any control you had left, “I would like to do it again, though.”

Do it, please, please do it, you want to say, pulse jump-starting at his declaration. Instead, you are rendered speechless, unable to form coherent thoughts, let alone words, with the muffled hum of festive celebration from his family just around the corners. In a sudden act of impromptu bravery, you bundle your clothes—his, too—into your arm from the floor and stretch over to grab his wrist before quickly kicking open the bathroom door and hurrying him inside after you.

“Let me get this straight,” you start once the door clicks shut, voice suddenly booming in the small confines of the bathroom and Chanyeol jerks in surprise when you slam the clothes onto the floor with an ungratifying thump, “what is going on here? Because that was not a normal kiss—that was like… a sicko mode kiss. And I mean, you have to know by now I have the biggest crush on you, no, actually, I’m totally in love with you. So if you’re just doing this to mess with me, then I don’t know wh—"

Overwhelmed but enamored by your quick, almost unintelligible spiel, Chanyeol figures his best bet at shutting you up is returning his hands to your hips to pull you flush against him and latching his lips to yours, capturing your mouth and train of thought in such a deep kiss it sucks all the air out of your lungs. Instantly, your fingers thread through his hair, lost once more to him—his musky fragrance, the sinful way his tongue wraps around yours, the effortless manner he lifts you up onto the marble countertop.

“Can I take this off?” He asks suddenly, breathless as he pulls away, fingers toying the hem of your tee-shirt up your back. Afraid your words would come off as a croak, you only nod, trying to reel yourself in on how oddly polite his question is juxtaposing to the darkness of his hungry eyes. In one quick motion, Chanyeol helps rid you of the garment, tossing it to join your change of clothes on the freezing tiles. Sighing at the sight, he brings his hands to your chest, lost in the way you shiver beneath his featherlight touches tracing the column of your throat, coasting over your collar bones and finally to the swell of your breasts spilling out from the underwhelmingly mediocre beige bra. It’s with yet another surge of bravery and desire do you reach behind you, fumbling to undo the clasps and watching as Chanyeol’s stare turns to something predatory as he soaks it all in.

“That’s just unfair,” he groans, hesitating, for he fears that if he reaches out and touches you this way, you will break under his fingers like a porcelain doll. In the end, he realizes he is being foolish—he knows you’re here to stay—and at last brings himself to stand between your legs. Finally. Your breathing turns heavy when his mouth starts its ravishing once more, nipping and sucking tender marks down your jaw and at the junction of your neck and shoulder. At last, his lips meet your breast and he does not hesitate in taking a bud gently between his teeth, rolling the other into a hard peak between his index finger and thumb. This time you cannot suppress your moan.

“Oh,” you swear, “fuck.”

Smirking against your skin, Chanyeol relishes in the sound, eyes heavy-lidded and blood pumping hotly under his skin as he bites a violet blossom on the mound of flesh before switching sides. “Chanyeol,” you whine, nails digging crescents into his arms when the sparks tingling up and down your spine seek for more. The sound of your voice, so weak, so needy, has his dick twitching against the restraint of his boxers and he growls into your skin before pulling away.

“___,” he starts, voice gruff as his hands come on either side of you, laid flat against the cold marble to cage you in, “I’ve fantasized about this moment for years, and I have to say I never once imagined it would be at our Christmas party.”

He pauses, gently taking your hands in his and helping you off the sink before hurriedly turning around to lock the door. Your heart suddenly seems to be surging electricity through your veins rather than pumping blood. When he steps closer again, he unexpectantly spins you around, hands splayed across your stomach to keep you upright, forcing you to take in the reflection in the mirror.

“On vacation, I’ve imagined waiting until everyone’s left to fuck you in the sand,” he starts slowly. Your eyes almost roll back into your head at the sheer audacity of his words. “Or, at Seoyun’s twenty-first birthday party. You had no idea how badly I wanted to rip that dress off and fuck you against the bar in front of everyone to see.” By now, you are shaking, knees ready to buckle under the weight of his words and yet you cannot find it in yourself to look away from the pink swell of his lips and the words that slip past them.

“I thought you would have caught on this summer when you woke up with my cock digging into your ass,” Chanyeol hums, nuzzling into your neck, “all night I had to keep myself from stealing you away and making that your favorite vacation yet. So tempting, you are.”

You press your legs together and swallow past the dryness of your throat.

“You seem to have forgotten that I’ve been waiting for this since I was like, twelve,” you sigh, his intoxicating touch making it rather hard to breathe, “well, not this. But having you. Being able to love you and… you know. Call you mine.”

“You’ve always had me, though. Always been yours,” he returns quietly, endearingly, and presses a chaste kiss to your shoulder. At this, you take a moment to try and memorize what the mirror reflects: the heavy breathing you share, untamed hair and swollen lips, cheeks over-heated, his hands traveling softly up and down the expanse of your abdomen in an oddly unfitting but appreciated act of gentleness, skin damp with a light sheen of perspiration and the cute curls of his dark bangs contrasting harshly to the heaviness in his eyes.

Washed in a warm glow from the dim overhead lights, you almost look untouchable together.

“It hasn’t always seemed that way,” you say, bitter, for all these years have passed of you hopelessly in love with him, “where we really both that dumb to never see it?”

Chanyeol blinks, understanding, before his grip on your waist tightens and he exhales on your neck once again before, quietly, “Let me prove it?”

His hot whisper against the side of your neck only causes a stronger wave of arousal to suck you in and you’re suddenly weak in the knees, the coil in your core winching tighter. Answering his question with only a miniscule nod, you are hardly able to form a response by the time Chanyeol is tilting your head to face him and melding his mouth to your own once more before nudging you forward, pressing you into the edge of the sink. His hands are quick to tug his shirt over his head and he does not even grace you with enough time to worship his figure as he is already crouching down, reaching around your hips to untie the knot of your pajama bottoms and shimmy them down your legs. An utterly embarrassing whimper leaves your throat when Chanyeol’s fingers hook around the elastic of your panties, yanking them down in an unceremonious rush.

You almost miss the gorgeous that slips past his lips when he rises back to his full height to admire you, licking his lips and surveying you with such a lecherous glint to his eyes that you quite literally feel yourself become wetter. “You okay?” He asks, pressing his chest to your back and growing harder just from watching you stare dumbly back at him with your fucked-out expression and he’s barely even touched you yet, every atom of your being vibrating with need as his hand travels tauntingly slow toward your center.

“M’perfect,” you gasp as he draws a featherlight line up your slit with the pad of his finger, “just perfect.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Chanyeol purrs in your ear, arm tense as a wire as it balances holding you upright and parting open your folds. Oh God he’s going to be inside me you think just as his middle finger finishes toying at your entrance and finally presses in enough to easily slide in to the knuckle. Your hands scramble to grip the lip of the sink as a moan tears from your throat, a shiver wracking your figure when he effortlessly adds a second finger to add to the delicious stretch.

“You are,” you rasp, squeezing your eyes shut when he takes care to draw a rough circle to your clit, “such an asshole.”

“How so?” Chanyeol chuckles darkly in your ear as you greedily roll into his hand to meet his thrusts and suddenly his shoulders are trembling. His control is chipping away at a much faster rate than he had hoped.

“You’ve kept me waiting—fuck,” you hiss when he dares to dig deeper, “all this time.”

His pace is absolutely agonizing, swirling his fingers as he pulls them out, massaging your clit for only a heartbeat before pressing back inside of you again. “How do you think I feel?” He growls back, ignoring how you whimper and writhe under him as he finally pulls out of you to ruthlessly flick at the sensitive bundle of nerves. “Chanyeol,” you sob quietly, arms trembling violently and knuckles white as you grasp the sink impossibly harder, “ngh, Chanyeol, please.”

“You look so pretty like this,” he sighs, other hand coming up to stroke strands of hair away from your face, “I bet you’d look even prettier with my cock stuffed in you.”

“Fuck, fuck,” you whine, clenching around nothing as the tight coil begins to unravel and you manage to choke out, “if, fuck, if you want that to happen you have—you have to stop.”

“Mm,” Chanyeol contemplates, obsessed with the idea of making you cum like this but also dying to bury himself within your velvet walls, “alright.” Not that he wouldn’t pay up to do both.

Next time.

With the muscles in his arm beginning to grow tired, he finally relents after a particularly brutal flick that leaves your eyes rolling into the back of your head.

Without the sticky press of his body against yours and the relief of his fingers off of your cunt, you are left to shiver again, sucking on your bottom lip viciously to try and recover from the earth-shattering pleasure that still smolders like a forest fire in your core and ignites your nerves. You turn slightly to focus your gaze on Chanyeol as he stares, breathless, at the floor, chest erratically rising and falling and hand glistening as a result of your arousal. Finally, you can appreciate his figure in a different light, mesmerized by every curve and indent of muscle glistening with sweat. It is during this moment of adoration that you decide that Chanyeol’s shoulders are your next favorite thing, second to his ears.

Well, maybe your third, you remind yourself when his length, arching impressively long and thick beneath his pajamas, catches your eye. Ignoring the fragility that has your bones rattling, you cannot help but reach out for him, wrapping your arms around his shoulders and pressing your bare chest to his, breathing out a relieved sigh against his skin. He shivers, and you realize he is just as shaken up as you are no matter how sturdy his hold feels once his arms curl around your waist.

“You said you’re in love with me?” He suddenly asks, voice vulnerable as if he fears you are going to take everything back and desert him. “For as long as I can remember,” you swear honestly, it really has always been him, and lean up to skim your lips along the sharp angle of his jaw. Chanyeol exhales shakily and curls his fingers into your sides when you reach the soft nook under his ear and suck at the skin, proud that you can reciprocate the same effect he has on you.

Laving your tongue over the bite once you are satisfied with the mark, you step back until you can sit on the edge of the marble countertop, heart racing a mile a minute as he loosens the tie of his bottoms just enough so he can drop them to his ankles. “Cute,” you pipe, regarding his Santa-spotted boxers and ignoring the rush of heat to your already drenched core. Grinning at your comment, Chanyeol ultimately shuts you up when he tugs down his last article of clothing, his now unclothed length red and angry when it slaps against his stomach.

“Wow,” you say without remorse, staring only a second more before dragging your gaze up to his eyes, “I knew you had an award-winning dick!”

“You can’t just say that kind of stuff,” Chanyeol chuckles, guiding you to stand before turning you to face the mirror. Then, in a tone lower than you have ever known it, “Are you still on the pill?”

Impressed with how he happened to remember such a minute detail about your life, you offer a tiny nod, suddenly feeling flushed and dizzy all over again because how is this real?

“Thank God,” he says, leaning over your shoulder to kiss you and once more you cannot think or breathe with all the love and adoration loaded into one kiss. After pulling away and pressing a firm hand on your back to further bend you over, Chanyeol groans at the sight of your breasts swaying so enticingly at this angle, but redirects his attention to taking hold of his cock and dragging it along your slick center, coating it in your juices and his precum. You nearly jump at the contact, a shock of electricity darting up your spine at the realization that this is really, truly happening.

You have only just registered him carefully positioning himself to your entrance by the time Chanyeol is rolling his hips forward, slowly dragging against your velvet walls and filling you to the brim. “Oh my God,” you breathe, followed by a series of moans that tumble past your parted lips.

“Fuck me,” Chanyeol groans past gritted teeth, thrusting into you at a slow pace with you clenching so tightly around him. “I am,” you simper, dragging your eyes up from the floor to see his disappointed eye roll as your core slowly but surely loosens around him. “Still rude, even with my dick in you.”

You are keenly aware of Chanyeol leisurely drawing his cock almost completely out of you, nestling just barely within your entrance before slamming back in to draw a high-pitched cry past your open mouth. “Baby, you have to be quiet,” Chanyeol rumbles from above you, voice like thunder in the small bathroom as the powerful, rough tilts and thrusts of his hips ease slower but harder.

The fire in your stomach that had begun to simmer down after his fingers had left you only minutes before suddenly consumes you whole, pleasure washing over you hotly with each thrust of his cock past your slick walls. You’re a panting, mewling mess in no time, euphoria fizzling in your abdomen and shooting up your spine when the hand that is not anchoring you in place dips to brush against your throbbing clit.

“Look at me, baby,” Chanyeol shudders, fucking into you relentlessly, “please look at me when you cum.”

With your fingers growing numb as a result of your iron grip on the sink, you blink away the stars clouding your vision and focus on his face, strands of obsidian hair damp with beads of sweat that trickle down his sideburns, cheeks flushed and glowing rosy, and his soft features struggling to hide the haze sitting over his mind of how incredible you feel as your walls start to tighten around him once more.

“___,” he moans, hands curling into the dips of your waist to rock your body in synch with his drives, “I hope you know I love you more.”

This is all you need to hurl you over the edge. The coil within your core winding tighter and tighter suddenly snaps at his words harmonizing with a particularly hard thrust against your g-spot. For a blissfully long moment, all you see is searing light freckling your vision, body trembling as your orgasm washes over you. Chanyeol moans sharply at the feel of you clenching so impossibly tight around him, throwing his head back and praying to memorize your loud cry.

Ensuring you ride out every second of your climax on his cock, Chanyeol sloppily thrusts into you, chasing after his own high at the sight of you so blissfully fucked-out in the mirror. He quickly follows, coming inside of you with a harsh shudder. Limbs growing weak with pleasure coursing hotly through your veins, you remain in your bent position, eyes widened in adoration as you watch him give one last feeble thrust into your raw cunt to finish out his high.

Then, he draws out of your walls, trails of his pearly cum seeping out with it, and a rush of air escapes your lungs. The moments that follow are peaceful, quiet to catch your breath and not once do you worry that any of what just occurred was a mistake.

When you finally heave one last breath and open your eyes, you spin around to Chanyeol, who leans utterly exhausted against the wall. “Hey,” he smiles innocently when he looks up, all the lust that had darkened his features completely draining away. In its place is his usual soft goofiness. “Hi,” you reply, stepping closer to wrap your arms around his waist.

There is no roughness in this kiss. Instead, it’s deep and longing and reassuring in that this was not a one-time thing.

“If this doesn’t make you my boyfriend, I think I’ll have to end my friendship with Seoyun,” you breathe against his lips before reclining back to meet his eyes. He chuckles, hand dropping to pinch your ass and you yelp, jerking closer to him and away from his hand as he retorts, “This better make me your boyfriend. I don’t know what else I’d have to if it didn’t. I’m all out of ideas.”

“Yah,” you grumble, planting your hands against his chest to push yourself off of him, “or, you could’ve just flat out confessed.”

Chanyeol raises a brow, watching as you clasp your bra back on, “Hey, I’m not the only one who goes without blame. You could have said something sooner, too.”

“Yeah, whatever. We’re both dumb,” you grumble, sitting down to pee while simultaneously pulling your sweater back over your head. You watch on, calmly, naturally, as he dresses himself back to his regular clothes before standing to do the same.

“I don’t want to go back out,” Chanyeol whines, bumping his hip to yours to make room so he can wash his hands with you, “I wanna stay here with you.”

“In the women’s bathroom? Really?” You laugh disbelievingly, running your hands through your hair to somehow not only tame it, but lay it so it covers the love bites higher up on your throat. Groaning at your dumb sense of humor, Chanyeol waits for you to zip up your boots, not even bothering to explain what he meant, before gathering your pajamas with his and cracking open the door to check if the coast is clear.

“Good?” You whisper, clinging to his back. When he nods, you head out into the hallway together, clinging to his side like a koala and barely blinking an eye when his fingers intertwine with yours, his hand snugly enveloping your own. With a different wave of warmth blooming in your chest and up to your cheeks, you yank Chanyeol to the wall just before the corner, smothering his lips with yours and curling his sweater in your fists.

“Are we telling them… or just winging it?” You whisper, drawing back when his tongue threatens to slip past the seam of your lips. Too soon to get lost in his taste again, no matter how sweet he tastes against your lips.

There would be plenty of time for that later, anyway.

“Act natural now, but,” he murmurs, staring down at you with so much marvel weighted in his gaze you feel as if you may implode, “maybe by the end of this damn thing they’ll know.”

“Okay,” you agree, leaning up to peck his top lip one more time before continuing on through the empty kitchen and into the main room, ignoring the faint thrumming coming from your groin. Navigating through the dwindling crowd, you first make a pit stop to grab your cell phone where you left it on a coffee table before seeking out a spot on the sofa. Not even two seconds after sitting down, it dings with notifications.

[9:04 PM] yeol (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧: I can’t believe I can kiss you whenever I want now

[9:04 PM] yeol (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧: I miss you already

[9:04 PM] yeol (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧: even though I can see you rn

Your head snaps up, dying to find him and unable to hide your smile. Once you find him across the room, looking unfairly delicious for someone who just had their dick inside you, he winks. You grin, looking back down when your phone buzzes again.

[9:05 PM] yeol (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧: I want everyone to know ur my wifeyyyy

[9:05 PM] YN: yeol its been like

[9:05 PM] YN: a minute

[9:05 PM] YN: and slow down there, tiger. i need the ring first

[9:05 PM] YN: but don’t worry. they’ll know soon:’)

“___!” Shouts a familiar voice and you jump, scrambling to shut off your phone before searching over the cluster of guests until you find Seoyun waving near the piano. You make your way over, grabbing a bowl of potato chips on the way.

“Hey, where have you been? Took you an awfully long time to change,” she asks as soon as you are close enough, suspicious, “you missed Pollyanna.”

“Sorry, I, uh…” you trail off, frantic, mind drawing a blank as you try to think of a reasonable excuse, “had to—”

“She was with me,” a gruff voice cuts in, thick with smugness as his hand slaps onto your shoulder. Face draining of color you side glance to Chanyeol who stands closely behind you, his other hand sliding to hook his fingers into the belt loops of your jeans. When you dare to slowly look back to Seoyun, her gaze follows the path of his hand, processing, before focusing back on your face with raised brows. Then, “What are these?” She gasps, reaching to pull the collar of your sweater down, exposing a splotch of purple blossoming across your skin.

“Ay!” You grumble, smacking her hand away and jerking closer to Chanyeol. “You guys… seriously?” Seoyun grumbles disappointedly, pinching the bridge of her nose between two fingers. You tilt your head up to Chanyeol for help, the corners of his eyes crinkled as he gives a lopsided grin.

“It took you guys this fucking long just to fuckin a bathroom at our Christmas party?” She hisses, planting her hands on her hips as she bellows out a disbelieving laugh.

“We’re dating,” Chanyeol announces loudly once she has stopped snickering to herself like a lunatic. So loud, in fact, that a few heads close enough spin to see just who is dating who.

You suddenly wish the floor would swallow you up.

Seoyun nearly chokes. “Well, then,” she coughs, rocking on her heels, “shove a quarter up my ass because I just played myself.”

Her face softens when she watches Chanyeol securely wrap his arms around you from his spot behind you. She sighs. “I knew it was going to happen soon. You guys have been all over each other this past year. I’m pretty sure half the family has been waiting for this,” Seoyun beams, eyes twinkling joyously, “except you didn’t get a shot of getting one of Julia’s Italian cookbooks as a gift.”

“Fuck, man. I really wanted to add another to my collection,” Chanyeol fake whimpers and you laugh with Seoyun. “What’d you get?” You ask her, pouting in disappointment when Chanyeol unwinds his arms to stand next to you.

“Don’t be jealous, but,” she pauses, digging into her pocket before pulling out an Amazon gift card, “I actually got the best gift, to be honest. All the other shit was dumb knickknacks. Key chains and shit.”

“Seoyun!” Someone calls from behind you before you can express your envy. She grits her teeth.

“I’ll talk to you lovebirds in a bit. Mom needs me,” she sighs, giving your hand a squeeze as she moves past you.

Only a heartbeat later Chanyeol is stepping in front of you. “Sorry you missed out getting a gift,” he frowns, dropping his hands to hold yours but pauses when he realizes you are still holding the basket of potato chips, “I hope you’ll still have a merry Christmas.”

You laugh, brows drawing together when he seizes the basket out of your hands to place on top of the piano albeit the please keep things off piano sign. “Seriously? Nobody could ruin this Christmas even if they tried.”

When Chanyeol leans in close, resting his forehead against yours and sharing your breath, your fingers run down his spine to pull him close. The world falls always when he kisses you again, soft and slow and comforting in ways that words would never be. With his hand resting just below your ear, thumb caressing your cheek, you cannot help but smile against his lips when you feel the beating of his heart against your chest.

“Love you,” Chanyeol whispers.

Screw Pollyanna. In the end, you got the greatest gift of them all.

2K notes · View notes

yourultraarchive · 4 years

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Reply to @prurientpuddlejumper on this ask:

I’m sorry you’re frustrated or if I offended you somehow, but to be frank I don’t appreciate the tone you’re using here. However, to answer you anyway:

> they def meant the links to these alleged "online generators," because I am in the same boat as anon

First of all, unless you ARE that anon, I don’t think you can say they “def” meant anything, since they never came back to clarify, and I did try my best to answer them the first time, and I seemed to have helped since they didn’t come back to report any problems with my answer.

Second of all, “alleged”? That’s very rude. Just because you cannot see them on tumblr mobile, does not mean they do not exist. Plenty of other people have used them just fine, as evidenced by the many posts submitted to this blog. And as the last two people who’ve asked about mobile access before never came back with problems, I can only assume they simply went on the desktop site to use the generators instead of accusing me that it’s not accessible at all.

> post after post about how you updated the UI or whatnot with no link to the thing you updated

It was only two posts (so far anyway), and if you read them closely, you may have noticed I said I was only working on new updates, that they weren’t done, and that they aren’t out yet. And also that “the current generators are still up” so that people have a fully functional version of the generator to use, even if it’s not as pretty as the update is going to be. So no, there is no “link to the thing I updated”, because it’s not done yet. And as the point of the post was about the updates-to-come, I saw no need to promote a link to the generators that are currently available. Seeing as you want that though, I shall go correct those posts and link it, for your and future readers’ convenience.

I apologize for the misunderstanding, if I wasn’t clear enough about the updates being a work-in-progress. I was just trying to update my actual followers (of which I noticed that you are not one) that I was working on stuff, since this blog is usually pretty quiet.

> I REALLY wanna see it, and am growing increasingly frustrated about how much work you're pouring into this *thing* without giving mobile users any way to *access it*.

Again, I’m sorry this is frustrating to you, and you do bring up some legitimate feedback about the mobile accessibility. As I mentioned, I’ve answered at least two asks about this issue before, but since it’s been a few years and phones have definitely gotten more powerful I can look into developing a proper mobile version. But a lot of issues come up with making a mobile version, namely UI and responsive design (because I’d have to account for both vertical and horizontal orientation, and again I reiterate that UI design is hard), dynamic coding/image generation/data input/font importing and styling/etc., and how to save the actual generated image or at the very least the export/import save data for later use on a desktop browser. It takes a lot of work (more than most people realize, I imagine), so if you would like to help with that, let me know, otherwise you have no right to shame me for not making a mobile version, taking my time, or doing any of this.

As it is, you can actually still access the generator on mobile, just not tumblr mobile. You just have to go to a browser on your phone (there’s a reason my URL is so simple). However, as mentioned above, the template was not designed with mobile in mind, so all the fonts and effects and arrangement on the template itself just looks... not like it’s supposed to. Which, again, is part of the issue with the design, but at least you can access it on mobile, against your claims that you cannot.

Also, I mainly made this a desktop site because of how large the dimensions of the template are, in order to make sure the text is visible/legible even in the downsized preview image. Even when I view the template on my phone, I have to zoom in a lot, and with the current live version of the online generators, it would have made scrolling around to input data annoying. The PSDs, as well, would be inaccessible on mobile as far as I know (if Photoshop Mobile has improved enough to handle all the layers, masks, and effects, I’m unaware) so it was a conscious decision to make this whole thing desktop-only when I first started this blog several years ago.

> Even the "downloads" link you just shared just redirects back to this same page. Which is probably because you've hidden all the links away in "pages" which are completely invisible and inaccessible on the mobile app

It’s very much tumblr’s fault, and I really should have thought of that at first, but again, it was a conscious decision to make this a desktop site. Even if I made rebloggable/viewable posts with the links in them (which I plan to do soon, if only to satisfy mobile users like you), only the PSD download links would work (but again, not sure how well downloading PSDs work on mobile devices), as the tumblr app will still loop back to the blog, since the online generator is still one of those blog “pages”. And that is not changing for as long as I don’t have the time or money to host it on its own domain.

I can’t change the fact that tumblr mobile doesn’t automatically open blog pages in an external browser, so the only solution I can offer you is to take the extra step to copy the url and go into your mobile device’s actual internet browser, or just go to your browser and type in my URL manually.

If you actually couldn’t access the templates at all (which should not be an issue if you “REALLY wanna see it” given that not only did I offer you explanations and solutions for the tumblr app problem, but also that it IS accessible on desktop and you reasonably could have just gone on a computer) or had any other problem with them, I have made no stranger of myself and have always been open to help people. They have been polite or nice when they do talk to me, and I’ve always tried to be cordial in return. Your feedback is legitimate, and I appreciate it, but you really could have worded your implied suggestion a little better. And to be quite honest, I was offended by the rudeness of your reply, especially when you called my hard work a “*thing*”. Those asterisks imply a very negative tone, in case you weren’t aware.

I get the impression that you think that your demand will be fulfilled right away if you make enough fuss about it, but I’m not going to be manipulated or guilt-tripped because you feel bad. Maybe you don’t mean it that way, but you can “grow increasingly frustrated” all you want, because not only am I working on this for free, on my free time, and by myself, but I am also not doing this for you. You’re right that I am pouring a lot of work into this, as much work as any fan artist or fanfiction writer will put into their own works, and I’m very proud of it (both as it is now and what it will be in the future) and I have fun working on it, but this is not my job. And you’re not paying for a service.

I’m not working for anyone, and I have no reason to have made more than I originally did--originally I only made the student template PSDs for some friends, and the generator (which seems to be my most popular template, even though my original focus was on the PSDs) only came about because one of my friends didn’t have Photoshop. And I wasn’t even going to release either of them to the public, but I did, and the villain ones came over a year later because of this blog and the people who follow it. No one asked for a user interface update (in fact, more people have asked for a pro hero template), but I’m doing it anyway because I can and I want to. That’s all this boils down to. Also my free time (if you hadn’t noticed, everything on my blog runs on a queue, and when I do queue stuff it’s usually like 3am or so--including right now... it’s currently 5am actually) and motivation (I’m well aware of how few people actually use the templates compared to how many people follow and reblog the posts, and honestly it’s a little discouraging). So if I do make a mobile version, be aware that it won’t be coming out for a very long time. (Also, I think you’re the only one in several years who has complained about it, and you are literally 1 in... what, 3000+ people? Judging by the number of notes on the original post I made when I started the blog and my current number of followers. And again, you’re not even one of them. So to be honest, I’m really not motivated to work on this quickly.)

If you want it faster? Being nice when you show your interest helps, it’s how I got encouraged to make the villain templates. Though I never asked for much other than patience. Or at the very least, the respect any fandom content creator deserves--I may not be cranking out fanart daily or new chapters of a fanfiction weekly or anything, but I am still providing the fandom with something they can enjoy at no cost. And like reviews on fics or comments on art, many people have expressed that they’re grateful the templates and generators exist at all, unlike you, which is really the reason this blog continues to exist and the generators/templates to be updated with new and improved features. I could have just left my original template generator up there and abandoned it, but I know how it feels to find out a fanart you loved years ago was deleted or a really good fanfic was discontinued. So I’ll continue to work on it, and yes I’ll put mobile compatibility for the generators on my to-do list, but I’ll do it at my own pace.

Also I’m not making money off of this, but hey, if you wanna give me incentive that way, hop into my DMs or something and we’ll talk, but I’ve never asked for donations or anything and I don’t plan to. The generators and templates are free for use, and most of that is because of tumblr, which gave it a platform and a home. If I hosted it on its own domain, I’d need a means to pay for that, and I’m personally not invested enough to do that when tumblr is free and works well enough.

If you or anyone else wants to help change that, come talk to me, the ask box is always open.

Otherwise, please visit this blog page on a desktop browser or at the very least something that isn’t just the tumblr mobile app, because nothing can be done about mobile compatibility right now, and I’d hate for you to miss out on seeing the templates. Hopefully I can look forward to whatever you will create with it.

-archivist

#archivist #prurientpuddlejumper #replies #long post #blog management stuff #kinda

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