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bookofmirth · 3 years

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I saw your recent response to an anon where you mentioned the drama that occurred the other day based around bookprofessor’s post. Obviously you don’t have to respond to this or publish it if you do not wish but I just wanted to bring up that while it is important to focus on the real life issues at hand, the OP was hypocritical in her post which is why people were getting upset. She was preaching against ableism while simultaneously flaunting her IQ and degree which is a form of ableism. She was speaking out against racism while ending her post using the racial slur “cracker” when talking about the possibly Caucasian Twitter elriels.

Obviously she had some important points but it was completely overshadowed by her participation in the hate speech and prejudice that she was speaking out against.

This does not in any way justify the nasty messages she received but on the same hand, I do not blame anyone that called her out for her hypocrisy. I hope you can understand why her post was so negatively received and how flawed it was. My hope is that one day everyone can just ignore the negativity, report those who are being racist/prejudiced in any way, and block those who are just being loud and who you don’t wish to see content from. But unfortunately I do not see that happening any time soon.

There are a few things I want to address in this because I think it's a good moment for the fandom to step back and reflect on how we treat one another, how we react to such issues, and how we behave moving forward.

First off, thanks for explaining your point of view without being antagonistic. I do think that everyone's emotional reactions to the post were valid. I do NOT think their responses, in terms of words and actions, were valid. Now before I move forward, I want to clarify that when I use the word "you", I am referring to anyone who may have had the response I am describing - not you personally, anon. Also please don’t freak out about how long this is, as a majority of it is a response to the fandom in general, not you in particular.

What was - and wasn’t - said in the original post

In this post, there were completely valid criticisms of the way that people in this fandom behave, and it wasn’t “generalizing” a certain group, it was literal, actual proof of things that had been said, by multiple people. I’m not going to get too into what Alyssa argued because her critiques of those tweets was flawless. The original post had very valid criticisms of what was happening on Twitter. Alyssa exposed the actually racist, homophobic, and imperialistic underpinnings of those tweets.

However, a lot of people are stuck on the bits before and after those critiques. @bookprofessor apologized for different aspects of her post in a few different asks. There were perhaps better ways that some of those things could have been phrased, some things that could have been left out. And she apologized. People can accept that apology or not but we can’t act like it didn’t happen. Like she didn’t reflect and learn to do better.

However, the people she was calling out have not done the same thing, and if anything, comments that focus more on Alyssa’s tone than why she wrote the post in the first place lets those people off the hook.

On cracker - Using the word "cracker" is not racist in the same way that using racial slurs against POC is. Is it prejudiced? Yes. But you cannot say that it is the same thing when that is demonstrably untrue, given centuries of oppressive history. No one has been oppressed for being white. Those are not the same. Reverse racism is not a thing because a white person punching down on POC is NOT AT ALL the same thing as a POC punching up at white people. The actions look the same, but the impact is so unequal it’s not even funny.

Racism is a systemic, institutionalized problem. It is not defined by individual actions, though those actions can either support or challenge racism. When someone calls a white person a cracker, there isn’t centuries of oppression giving power to and reinforcing that statement. That is not a “gotcha” moment.

Saying “I have x IQ” or “I have X degrees” is not ableist. I’m sorry to whoever told you it was ableist (again, not you specifically anon but people who had read the “aw shucks guys” vagueblogs about it), but it’s not. Those are facts. I have no idea what my IQ is, but I have five degrees from institutions of higher education. Me saying that is in no way ableist.

Often, people mention those things to be elitist, yes. Sometimes, they can be used to say “hey I know more about this than you”. They can be used in a way that tries to make themselves feel superior. I suspect that this is the impression that a lot of people got of the post. However, there is a fine line between saying “hey that’s elitist” and professing anti intellectualism. Which is perhaps a side issue so I’ll let that go for now.

Another reason that people mention their degrees or qualifications is to establish their background knowledge and credibility. If I were to say “hey y’all I have two MA degrees” (which is true) I am not being ableist! It is a fact! It is factual! And I worked my ass off for those, I will be in student loan debt until I die for those, I have every right to mention them if I want to, and often I do so in order to establish my credibility, to explain the position I am coming from. And my prior knowledge of these topics is relevant when we are talking about literature since that’s what my degrees were on - literature and linguistics. That is why Alyssa mentioned her background, though she did pair it with comments about other people, for which she has apologized.

My final point about this is that I 1000% understand feeling insecure or less than because of educational attainment. I dropped out of high school. I had a complex about that for a long, long time. But I also know that if I took offense at someone else saying they had a PhD, then that offense is about me, not them. Someone else’s inferiority complex is not reason for people to pretend to be less than they are.

If those two comments are what overshadowed the bigger, more important issue for a lot of the readers of that post, then y’all allowed them to overshadow those more important issues. I am 99% sure that someone right now is reading this and thinking “but Leslie, it was the way that she said it!” Boy have I got some news for you!

How we react

This next section is not specific to this ask; instead, it is a discussion of how the fandom responded. If it were only one person who had said “but her tone” then I wouldn’t need to make this point. The fact that multiple people are exhibiting the behavior explained below is what makes this a cultural problem within the acotar fandom.

The main argument I saw on the post itself, and indeed any time I see people bring up how nasty Twitter can be, is that “it was a joke” and “that’s how stan Twitter works”.

No.

Those responses were quite useful for this post, though! So buckle up everyone, because I am going to talk about gaslighting, racism, respectability politics, and tone policing. While I understand that some people might have taken personal offense to what was said, there is a much bigger issue at stake that has nothing to do with individual feelings, and everything to do with ensuring that POC stay silenced and white supremacy is upheld.

Back to the “but it’s a joke” thing. Thanks for gaslighting! Great example of that, person I’m not going to tag! Gaslighting is when you make someone question their experiences, when you try to make them think “wait, did I really feel that way? Is my feeling about that valid? Do I need to re-evaluate my response to this?? Am I blowing this out of proportion???” And saying “it’s just a joke” is a perfect way to do that. Did I say something accidentally sexist? It’s just a joke, nbd! Now you’re the problem, because you didn’t understand my joke and laugh!!!

Saying “it’s a joke” or “oh they are old/young/ignorant, they will learn” is not a good response to... anything. It takes the responsibility off the people who are doing the harm, and putting it onto the people who were hurt. And in this case, anyone who read those tweets and found them harmful (which should be everyone?) is completely valid. You aren’t lesser for being angry or emotional or for seeing a problem where other people saw a joke. The people who see those things as acceptable jokes are the ones in the wrong.

This is a tactic that is used against women all the time. Any time a woman is sexually harassed at work or online, for example, and she gets upset about it, and someone chimes in with “oh they weren’t serious, can’t you take a joke?” So you can imagine what this is like for women of color.

It is a very, very common tactic for people of color to be silenced via tone policing and respectability politics. Tone policing and respectability politics are very closely related, especially in this context. The idea is that if Alyssa had just written that post in just the right way, it would have been more palatable to white people, and therefore okay to write. The idea that if she had tried to be “understanding” or “see it from their perspective” or understand that it’s “just a joke” are all ways to silence and de-legitimize any accurate, valid criticisms that were made of those tweets. It effectively re-routes the conversation away from the real issues, and to the person trying to bring them up. It’s essentially an ad hominem attack in disguise.

We see respectability politics in media when people of color who act or dress or speak like white people are afforded more respect. Or any time that a person of color is pulled over and people say, “well if they had just done what the police officer asked...” There is a pervasive idea that if people just “act” properly, aka if you act white, then the police won’t feel antagonized and try to kill arrest you. If we are nice enough, meek enough, smile enough, etc. then we will be accepted.

When we tone police, we refuse to allow marginalized people the right to be angry. We say that "hey, we can only have this discussion if you leave emotion, which you rightfully feel, at the door, and we can only continue this discussion if you behave in a way that makes me feel comfortable." But guess what? It isn’t about you! These discussions are often highly uncomfortable. There is no nice way to tell someone they are being racist. And yet somehow, that is the ever-moving goalpost. It seems reasonable, right? “Just be civil, be nice, don’t insult each other!” And there is that. But those criteria change constantly, to the point where anyone (white) at any time can say “WHOA WHOA THIS IS MAKE ME UNCOMFORTABLE???” Then we find ourselves at zero, and suddenly the focus of attention has shifted away from the actual problem.

Before we go further, I want to say this: people have a right to be angry. They do not need to make their anger palatable or tasteful for the consumption of others (read: white people).

We saw this last summer, and I’m not sure how the message didn’t get across. But people are rightfully angry about racism. They are angry about the murder of people of color by police, they are angry about lack of quality education, or clean water, of centuries of oppression that have led to this very moment when all of that ceases to matter because a white woman’s feelings got hurt one time.

And that is what pisses me off so much. There is no way in this world that we could criticize tweets like those that everyone would agree with, and that everyone would “approve” of, that would be “nice” enough and yet still be impactful and make the authors of those tweets understand the gravity of what they have done.

The least we can do is allow one another to express our anger, our outrage, because it’s highly likely that those people know exactly what the fuck they are doing, and they do not fucking care. By criticizing a woman of color for the way in which she chose to engage with this topic, we are avoiding the issue and letting the people in those tweets off the hook.

There were many responses to that post that were positive, that agreed with Alyssa. There are a ton of people who disagree with those tweets, who find them disgusting, who understand exactly how and why they are problematic. That should be what we are talking about. Getting to the core of the argument, on that post or any about racism or other problematic behavior in fandom, requires getting past our own egos. It requires us to be able to step back, say “hm this thing is frustrating but there is a bigger picture here”. It’s not easy, and I recognize that.

The fact that it is a common tactic though? To say “hey this hurt me personally and so I’m going to ignore any valid points you made?” That feeds directly into centuries of white supremacy because it, once again, silences POC and makes them try to play a losing game. And they will always lose, because no matter how hard they try to play the white game, the goalposts are constantly shifting. So you know what? Fuck the game, and fuck respectability politics, and fuck tone policing and “uwu be nice guys” because when it comes to things like racism and sexism, I don’t expect the people who deserve to be criticized to be nice. In fact, trying to be nice only serves to fuck POC over in the end.

Indeed, in response to that post, certain blogs have taken the opportunity to position themselves as “the nice ones” or “the ones who would never” or “uwu let’s be nice guys” while completely ignoring the fact that a woman of color was attacked for calling out racism. And yes - that was the point of her post. People getting hung up on mentions of her degree are (intentionally or not, it doesn’t matter) completely obfuscating the fact that that is not what her post was about, which was to call out disgusting behavior. idk how many words the post actually was, but essentially, people are focusing on 5% of it to the detriment of the 95% that was actually really important shit. These types of vagueblog posts about the issue fall into exactly what I am talking about - these are people who have decided to look at this issue, see how Alyssa (and anyone else who dares speak up) has approached it, and intentionally try to act like they are “better” because they can be “rational” and “kind”. Newsflash, if you don’t have something to be angry about, then being “nice” about racism isn’t that much of a flex. If it didn’t bother you, then congratulations. That doesn’t make you better than people it did bother. You just got lucky this time, and decided to use that to your advantage to look like the good guy.

I am not saying that all calls for peace are doing this. Obviously it’s what we all want. This is the worst I have seen this fandom in the 4+ years I’ve been here. But we cannot have that by ignoring the real problems and pretending that if we are all just nice to each other, then we will solve racism and sexism and all bullying in the fandom will stop.

So combining all of this - the gaslighting, the tone policing, and what do you get? You get a fandom that refuses to actually engage critically with its own problems and take accountability for them. You get a fandom that decides that it’s easier to be distracted by this one mean comment over here than it is to engage in the fact that you know what, the culture in this fandom has actually turned incredibly disgusting and a lot of people are just okay with it. You’ve got a fandom that is using the tools of white supremacy to avoid the discussions that should actually be taking place. Maybe people don’t realize that that’s what they are doing. But if someone still thinks that after reading this post, then godspeed my friend, I hope you enjoy Twitter.

Okay so my last thing I want to say is that I didn’t come to all of this knowledge fresh from the womb. I do a lot of work, in my personal life and my professional life, to be better. So here is a list of books that I have found particularly helpful:

How to Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America also by Ibram X. Kendi

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo (side note, I was kinda meh about this one but the chapter “White Women’s Tears” is particularly helpful)

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment by Patricia Hill Collins

I’m not going to talk specifically about Alyssa’s post anymore, but if anyone wants to continue talking about these broader issues going on in the fandom, I am game. (I really should be grading papers though, so it might take a bit.)

#cw racism #acotar #acosf #acotar fandom #fandom wank #fandom things #this is the long post i mentioned earlier #i will link it in my meta post

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calpops · 4 years

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reassurance | c.h.

Your relationship with Calum is accidentally exposed to the public and you both have to deal with the hardships it entails. Based on the prompts “nothing is wrong with you”, “I’m not going anywhere”, “you’re the only one I wanna wake up next to” and “you make me feel safe".

1.7k words

dates with cal masterlist

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Your eyes are glued to your phone screen, the light burning in the otherwise dark room. You sit alone on the edge of the bed. Calum is still at the studio, another late night of finalizing keeping the comfort of him from you. Photos are surfacing online and it’s the first time you’ve been publicly spotted with Calum. How you’ve managed to keep your relationship to yourselves for so long is baffling but something you both cherished. Now that’s broken; the intimacy taken from you and splashed across headlines and social media. Your hands shake and your phone screen comes in and out of view with the motion and burning eyes. You take in a shallow breath and swipe out of social media that makes your mind spin and heart ache. You fumble to dial Calum’s number and wait with bated breath as the phone rings and rings and rings. You didn’t expect him to answer; completely used to his voicemail greeting on nights when the band takes precedence.

He doesn’t answer and familiar words flood you but you can’t fathom getting your own words out, instead you hang up and toss the phone on the bed. Willing the entire situation away from you with the action. The photos and words attached to them are clear in your mind as you crawl into bed with your clothes still on; too tired and uncaring to change into pajamas. You can picture the snapshots vividly, they were taken at a distance but capture you both in a moment you thought was private. Intimate. His hands cupping your smiling face and his lips pressed to your forehead. The words of fans and media outlets burn in dark red behind closed eyelids. They’re fleeting but come back in haunting whispers as you wait. Wait for them to go away, wait for Calum to come home, wait for assurance that everything is okay and those words aren’t true. They’re lies and rumors and misconceptions based on wild theories. You try to remember that as time ticks on and Calum still hasn’t come home. It’s later than his usual late and doubts begin to plague you, to settle in your brain with twisted words and venomous vengeance.

It’s compulsory when you reach for your phone again; you try to convince yourself it’s just to see if he’s texted yet but no notifications from him light up the screen and yet you unlock the phone anyway. You don’t know why. You know how heavy the words were the first time you were presented with them. With only minutes between you dive back into the words from faceless people that shouldn’t hurt but make your chest tight and eyes well up with tears anyway.

You’re curled into your side with a quivering lip and tear stained cheeks when Calum finally gets home with phone in hand and worries hitting him hard and fast. He saw your missed call as soon as they wrapped up the session; the lack of voicemail to accompany it was unusual and spiked anxiety and questions through him. He raced home with only thoughts of you as the rest of the world became faded. He could’ve called but the drive was short and seeing you was his first priority—the lack of your voice on his messages instilling that need tenfold. He finds you in bed, day clothes still on, phone in hand and silent sobs escaping you. He doesn’t know what’s wrong but he’s moving to your side on instinct, replacing the phone with his hand as he pulls you up and to him. You’re shaking in his hold and he does his best to calm you and stop the tears. A million scenarios race through his mind and none of them are pleasant, most of them begin with loss and heartache and leave him breathless.

“Sweetheart, what’s going on?” He asks as gently as he can manage.

Calum’s in a half crouched position at the side of the bed, his arms wrapped around you as best as they can be. You sink into his embrace and take comfort in the familiarity of his hold; revel in his concern and use it to instill faith in the things you should already know and never forget. You don’t know if you can manage to say much, throat tight and burning and chest weighed down by revelations of the night. For a selfish moment you stay silent and press closer into him, holding onto the fragmented pieces of hope that everything is still okay. Calum didn’t want to go public with your relationship and you’d never batted an eye at that—also content to keep whats yours between the two of you with only friends and family knowing. Now that’s shattered. You never wanted to live under the scrutiny of media and fans and eyes always on you, seeing you, judging you. Now you’re shattering.

“There’s pictures,” you manage to choke out and pull away from him but guide him up to properly sit on the bed though his arms don’t want to leave you. He settles on the edge and pulls you back before you can even catch your breath. “Everyone knows. Everyone hates me.”

Calum goes still; you can’t even feel the rise and fall of his chest beating out breaths. He’s stoic and contemplative as he figures out your words and rejects their meaning. You peer up at him through hazy tears and find a frown creasing his features. Guilt eats at you—tries to tell you it’s your fault and he’s upset with you for the broken bit of privacy his life once had. You suck in a shaking breath and wipe at your face, determined to move away and find refuge and safety from the moment under the covers. But Calum shakes himself and doesn’t let you go, he’s soft and warm as he invites you back into his side and does his best to rid your face of the rest of the tears.

“Can I see the pictures?” He finally asks and you can hear the hitch in his breath as reality crashes through.

You slowly nod; the articles and tweets still litter your phone, all you have to do is unlock it and hand it over. Calum doesn’t let go of you as he accepts the device, his eyebrows furrow and brown eyes glint with recognition and then glimmer back to concern. He swipes through, rolling text passes in a blur and a sigh escapes him. You’re two seconds away from another sob but bite your lip and try to keep it in. He tosses the phone away and looks down at you, hands gentle as they come up to cup your face and lips warm and familiar as they place a kiss to your forehead.

“It’s about time the world gets to know how much I love you,” he says and leaves you shocked with disbelief.

You had no way to gauge what his response might be other than late night conversations detailing how much he values your shared privacy. That he appreciates you being okay with staying under the radar. One simple sentence blows all of that away, a kiss and a sigh accompanying it in a delicate form of reassurance. But hostile words from unknown people still settle in your heart and haunt your thoughts. Knowing Calum is okay with your relationship being public is only a slim margin of the battle. The rest comes in droves of hateful words and bold headlines.

“You don’t believe any of it, do you?” He asks abruptly, tone tight and clipped. You know he means the hate, the disparaging words that dance through social media so mindlessly, so heartlessly.

You force a shrug and wipe the rest of your tears away, eyes downcast at the notches in the wooden floor. You can hear his heartbeat, the steady rhythm grounding you and forcing you away from the spiraling whirlwind of negativity and doubt.

“Maybe some of it's true,” you whisper and feel the pull of Calum pulling you closer, holding you tighter, repositioning you to settle into his lap completely and find comfort in his actions.

“It’s not,” he says firmly and keeps his gaze steady on you. “No one else’s opinion matters. There’s nothing they can say to make me think there’s something wrong with us or you.”

He’s saying exactly what you need to hear, things you already know but need to be reminded. Taking your fears and doubts from other people’s words and pushing them away so effortlessly. Comments that pick you and your relationship apart don’t feel as heavy and honest when Calum’s there to lift them away and cast light on your truth. Calum’s always considered himself a man of few words but he always has the right ones in the right moments.

“They don’t know you like I do. They don’t get a say in our relationship. I’m not going anywhere; not without you. No one else’s opinions matter,” he repeats and kisses you again. “I hope you know that.”

You did and now you do again. You nod against his chest and decompress, body easing after hours of tension and uncertainty. You move with him as he leans you back against the pillows and toward the sliver of moonlight that peeks through slotted open curtains. It’s silent for a few minutes and in that time Calum sends out a tweet of confirmation and defense. You don’t know what it says and don’t care to look or ask; you trust him and his words. Know how safe and protected he makes you feel.

“Feel any better?” He asks as he turns his phone off and tosses it away too.

“Yeah,” you answer quietly and gnaw on your lip for just a second before asking, “you’ll be here in the morning?”

You have to ask, wanting to know if the band will take precedence again, if his side of the bed will be cold by the time you wake up because of an early morning session. But there’s another meaning that sinks into the question. Reassurance being sought out.

“Of course,” he answers just as softly, with two meanings capturing his voice. “Always wanna wake up with you, sweetheart.”

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shoezuki · 3 years

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This is a post on the cheating accusations around dream mostly surrounding his response video.

If you don’t want to see this or any of these posts then blacklist the tag #discourse

SO I’ve been doing a lot of digging into what dream has said in his response to Geosquare’s original video and report, which was compiled and conducted by the Minecraft Java mods on speedrun.com.

I won’t talk about that original report in detail, but basically: the mods came to the conclusion that Dream had a 1 in 7.5 trillion chance of getting the pearl bartering rates and the blaze drop odds that he did within the 6 streams he did. As in, someone would need that luck to replicate what dream got. Therefore, he cheated.

I’m going to put this into a sort of ‘point form’ in according to topic, attempting to put it in chronological order.

Dream’s Initial Tweets

Ok so first like. these are bad. these tweets are what he said (on twitter, excluding in the speedrunning discord) directly after the video was Uploaded to Geo’s channel.

worth noting he did apologize later, although i wanted to talk about these two instances so i felt the need to include it.

there’s a lot of interesting wording in the apology tweet itself too. I personally find that when he apologizes he tends to still be very subtextually angry in them with the tone, but more specifically. where he says ‘although i have reason to be upset’, that’s kinda weak and really unneeded. Alongside the ‘intense criticism’, it reads as him trying to say he’s still in the right. kind of like “im sorry i was rude even though I had reason to be rude’. Its an apology sure but he’s not saying sorry for how he really reacted; its justified to him.

Dream’s Response Video

Dream posted a response on his side channel DreamXD on the 22nd, along with the report he had a supposed astrophysicist conduct. I’m going to talk about the report separately from the video for reasons I’ll explain.

Frankly, the video doesn’t really summarize or explain the report in a meaningful way. At most, it takes some points from it but tends to twist the numbers around, misunderstand the probability and math, and also what the report itself concludes.

Essentially, dream’s video insists that the numbers found by the mods are wrong and therefore he didn’t cheat at all, yet the report concludes that the numbers found by the mods weren’t entirely accurate, however they’re still extremely unlikely. This is also all under the assumption that the report is entirely correct (ill say how its not next)

His first point is that only his 1.16 run (that was at 5th place two months ago, would have now been 16th) was deemed cheated. This is true; the mods have said that he isnt banned outright and theres no reason to question the legitimacy of his 1.15 runs.

He also concludes that Geo’s statement that Dream didn’t cooperate with them, and that he deleted 1.16 mod folders, was false. This one is a little more complicated. It could more be chalked up to a miscommunication, although it’s relevant. Geosquare posted screenshots of the specific conversation they had:

Essentially it wasn’t entirely clear, i can understand how geo and the mods interpreted it in such a way. Altho April added in a quote retweet thread that dream didn’t supply the folder she asked for, so he didn’t supply everything they asked for like he states in the video

Essentially: yeah, misleading and weird on both ends. I dont think this is really anything quantifiable, although dream talked about this in the video heavily.

Out of this though, Geo DID correct himself in the description of the mods’ video. Dream shows this in his own response, but it crops out some of what geo says. here’s from dream’s video

that Update 2 is where he corrects himself. literally why the fuck would you crop it like this and put it in the video i mean this looks so weird and genuinely doesnt provide anything. Here’s what geo actually said

Dream specifically cut it before the line where geo mentions how he said he deleted his specific 1.16 speedrun profile. This one is just so dumb to me. I’d say ‘why not include that’ but either i feel its a) so there’s no potential for people to say what he had actually said could be interpreted otherwise easily or b) doesnt want people to know he got so upset he deleted files (ego wise yknow). Again, I dont think this is definitive of anything but god. it feels scummy lmao

The Video: Incorrect Representation of His Own Report

Dream straight up doesnt present the report’s numbers properly. In fact it makes the entirety of his visuals forfeit, i.e. the gold block analogy that goes on for like 20 minutes.

The mods said his luck was 1/7.5 trillion. Dream’s report says its 1/10 million (with the addition of 5 other streams) or 1/100 million (only the 6 streams).

I’ll only consider the 1/10 mil odds, since its all dream really brings up. but Basically; there’s not much difference between 1/10 million and 1/7.5 trillion.

Dream says that the difference is 7.5 trillion minus 10 million, aka 7.4999 trillion. This is what his entire visual with the gold blocks is based on. This is absolutely incorrect, i cant stress that enough.

You can’t find the difference of fractions by subtracting only the denominators. Like. this is elementary school math. it just doesnt work.

It’d actually be calculated as: (1/10 000 000) - (1/7 500 000 000 000) = (74999/7 500 000 000 000)

If the mods are wrong, they’re only wrong by 749999/7.5 trillion. that’s literally only 0.000000099999866666667.

Dream no doubt saw the numbers, considered 10 million vs. 7.5 trillion, and used these big numbers to hold his own point. PROBABILITY DOESNT WORK LIKE THAT. I really think he was just taking advantage of the seemingly big numbers here and wrote it out in a way that favoured him. The gold block analogy in the video played throughout the entire video practically, jokes were made on it, and he made a point of it being ‘so big the game crashed’.

It’s just plain wrong. even so a difference in the odds doesnt prove shit. He’s downplaying his own odds that he found too. 1/10 million isnt a small number. Even though the legitimacy of that calculation is in question, it is still significant enough to proclaim he cheated.

Some quick points before I move onto the report; these aren’t as significant in my eyes but it adds to the picture

there’s been criticism of his joking manor throughout the entire video, very specifically the Bill Nye joke. Considering he doesnt actually have a name to provide for his astrophysicist, this joke doesnt feel right

the mod he had a voice clip from (willz) even believes that he cheated and has agreed with the mod team the whole time.

Dream never has a name for the mod who is apparently on his side (more understandable), the minecraft developer he quoted, or the astrophysicist (most damning)

Dream states that fabric is used by most speedrunners which is true, but fabric and fabric API are different; dream also had the latter installed. my knowledge of how theyre different is limited, all i really know is the API is what can enable editing of the code while fabric is more a modloader. im not entirely sure on this

Dream has said at the end of the video that all funds will go to the mod team so they can make a client that will regulate cheaters. this has been noted as feeling manipulative or like a ‘bribe’, but it definitely puts the mods in a bad position.

either they accept it and look like they ‘gave in’ to dream and therefore acknowledge him in the right

they deny it and look selfish/taking dream’s kindness for granted

geo said they would insist it goes to a charity instead

Dream constantly disregards the mods as young, inexperienced, ‘just volunteers’ etcetcetc, despite the fact that theyre analysis has been discussed by people with confirmed PhDs without much criticism

Dream’s Report

The report itself is extremely interesting, in that it’s very questionable, but even so it doesn’t come to the conclusion that dream didn’t cheat. The tone between the video and the report is drastically different.

This is from the “3. What are the goals of this document?” section:

It essentially says this isnt intended, from the very beginning, to completely exonerate dream of cheating. Also note that the author says the mods’ report was mostly correct.

This is at the end of “9 Conclussions”:

It does notably say cheating isnt the only explanation, but it doesnt actually go as far to say that it’s not possible that he cheated.

But this can be argued to not matter if we consider the validity of the report as a whole

Dream’s Report: Criticisms

Possibly the first and most known debunking of the report is by u/mfb on reddit, although there’s been much more such as this programmer criticizing the code provided at the end of the report (partially due to how the author of it stated that piglins barter 4-7 pearls, which is incorrect: it’s 4-8), Andrew Gelman, an actual statistician professor from harvard, commented on the original mods’ report as ‘impressive’ while Dream’s report is being regarded as something funny in the comments, and even analysis of dream’s behaviours and his argument by a law student

But what u/mfb posted is what i’ll focus on. Some background into the user; he’s a particle physicist, is moderator in subreddits like r/cosmology and r/astrophysics, he’s regarded as a reliable source on r/askscience and r/askreddit. Basically, multiple other people have vouched for him and before all this he had many posts in these fields.

that’s already better than the unnamed astrophysicist.

The post is better speaking for itself but here is a few exerpts from it;

Essentially, the report’s methods are debunked by u/mfb-, alongside that a moderator of r/statistics regarded the report as ‘nonsensical in its application of statistics’ and linked to u/mfb-’s comment.

i’m going to end this here. Partially because severe backpain or whatever,.

but I want to say at this point its practically definitive that dream cheated, that he lied to us, and that he continues to do so. Much more could be said on his video such as his tone, intentions, the overt emphasis on the ‘biases’ of the mods.

I havent even mentioned that the ‘astrophysicist’ themself may be a scam; they are sourced from a website that is extremely sketchy, has no names attached to it, and was created less than a year ago (with practically no traffic on it until maybe a month ago).

But i hope this is coherent. I have interest in this so if theres questions im always open.

#dreamwastaken #mcyt #discourse #this ends suddenly because chronic pain a bitch but it stands

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grim-on-the-darkside · 3 years

Text

George Lucas Sequel Trilogy [Some new info and some old]

George Lucas's Sequel Trilogy

~ George Lucas Interview, Star Wars Archives: Eps I-III: 1999-2005: by author Paul Duncan.

"Darth Maul trained a girl. Darth Talon, who was in the comic books, as his apprentice. She was the new Darth Vader, and most of the action was with her. So these were the 2 main villains of the trilogy. Maul eventually becomes the Godfather of crime in the universe because as the Empire falls, he takes over.

The movies are about how Leia - I mean, who else is going to be the leader? - is trying to build the Republic. They still have the apparatus of the Republic but they have to get it under control from the gangsters. That was the main story.

It starts out a few years after Return of the Jedi and we establish pretty quickly that there's this underworld, there are these offshoot stormtroopers who started their own planets, and that Luke is trying to restart the Jedi. He puts the word out, so out of 100,000 Jedi, maybe 50 to 100 are left. The Jedi have to grow again from scratch, so Luke has to find two- and three-year-olds, and train them. It'll be 20 years before you have a new generation of Jedi.

By the end of the trilogy Luke would have rebuilt much of the Jedi, and we would have the renewal of the New Republic, with Leia, Senator Organa, becoming the Supreme Chancellor in charge of everything. So she ended up being the Chosen One."

............................

[Luke dies in Episode 9]

.............................

Commenter - 'How many students were at Luke's Jedi 'academy"? Was it even an academy?'

Pablo - "We'd likely never use that term. That's very EU, not very George. It'd be a temple. As for numbers, can't say now."

~ Pablo Hidalgo, 2015

https://ibb.co/k38HzwX

..............................

"In late August 2012 Star Wars fans from all around the world gathered in Orlando, Florida for the sixth official Star Wars convention, Celebration VI. The lineup was strong despite the live action movies, always the brightest and biggest stars in the franchise’s galaxy, coming to an end seven years earlier. Though he was not scheduled to attend, series creator George Lucas was there. Publicly, he was just there to make a surprise appearance during the panel for the animated The Clone Wars TV show. But privately he was there to talk to original trilogy stars Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. They were brought to a conference room away from the convention floor where George broke the news: he was working a new Star Wars trilogy and wanted them to reprise their iconic roles." [Disney didn't buy Lucasfilm/Star Wars until October 30th of 2012. This meeting occured two months before the sale, and at that point, the sale couldn't be assured.]

(1/3/2018)

Just days after posting this, Lucasfilm Story Group member Pablo Hidalgo tweeted out some information about the early versions of Episode VII (Skyler is another name for the Sam/Finn character).

Skyler and Kira (and Kira wasn’t the first proposed name either; she had at least two others) became, after a fashion, Finn and Rey. The Jedi Killer morphed from Talon corrupting the son to becoming the son. Uber became Snoke. The starting point shifted. Yadda yada yada.

The son falling to the dark side was always in the mix. The movies just ended up having it already an established fact.

Skyler was the son in some versions. And as for how all that was gonna go down, that ain’t my story to tell.

And in 2016, he confirmed that Thea (Kira/Rey), Skyler, Darth Talon, and the planet of Felucia were in George’s plans.

Question - ‘But Talon was in the treatment, right?’

Pablo - “Yes.” “

‘Hmm… assuming this is still 30 years after RoTJ, wouldn’t that kinda mess with the Chosen One thing?’

Pablo - “Depends on whether or not she was a Sith, I suppose. George wasn’t all that interested in her EU backstory.”

~ Pablo Hidalgo Tweet [Archived] (June 19, 2016)

https://ibb.co/NYVW7w3

......

(1/6/2018)

Added quote from Harrison Ford about George Lucas telling him during their first Episode VII related call that Han would die. Also added more information about the timeline.

(6/14/2018)

Added information and quotes from George about the inclusion of the Whills in his sequel trilogy.

(6/26/2018)

Added information from Mark Hamill about Luke training Leia in Episode IX before dying.

(11/28/2018)

Added concept painting from artist Christian Alzmann that received a “Fabulouso” stamp from George Lucas.

https://medium.com/@Oozer3993/george-lucas-episode-vii-c272563cc3ba

“The ones that I sold to Disney, they came up to the decision that they didn’t really want to do those. So they made up their own. So it’s not the ones that I originally wrote.” ~ Lucas on his Sequel Trilogy

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

More generally, Hamill compared the approaches between Lucas and Disney's Star Wars films:

Mark Hamill quotes about Lucas Sequel Trilogy -

"George had an overall arc – if he didn't have all the details, he had sort of an overall feel for where the [sequel trilogy was] going – but this one's more like a relay race. You run and hand the torch off to the next guy, he picks it up and goes.

"I happen to know that George didn't kill Luke until the end of [Episode] 9, after he trained Leia. Which is another thread that was never played upon [in The Last Jedi]."

Where Lucas would have taken the second set of prequels. Though Leia and Luke communicate telepathically, fans have never really seen her use the Force. Mark Hamill had this to say about Leia using the Force in George Lucas' original writings.

"This is always something that interest me because we can communicate telepathically and I tell her in one of the movies, I guess the third one, you have that power too. So I always wondered, and I don't read the fanfiction, [Expanded Universe] why she wouldn't fully develop her Force sensibilities and I think that's something George Lucas addressed in his original outline for 7, 8, 9. I was talking to him last week, but they're not following George's ideas so we'll have to wait and see on that one. But it seems like a waste of an innate talent that she should utilize in some way."

https://movieweb.com/star-wars-leia-originally-used-force-george-lucas/

[The next three Star Wars films] were going to get into a microbiotic world. But there’s this world of creatures that operate differently than we do. I call them the Whills. And the Whills are the ones who actually control the universe. They feed off the Force.

Back in the day, I used to say ultimately what this means is we’re just cars, vehicles, for the Whills to travel around in…. We’re vessels for them. And the conduit is the midi-chlorians. The midi-chlorians are the ones that communicate with the Whills. The Whills, in a general sense, they are the Force.

All the way back to — with the Jedi and the Force and everything — the whole concept of how things happen was laid out completely from [the beginning] to the end. But I never got to finish. I never got to tell people about it.

If I’d held onto the company I could have done it, and then it would have been done. Of course, a lot of the fans would have hated it, just like they did Phantom Menace and everything, but at least the whole story from beginning to end would be told.”

~ George Lucas, James Cameron interview

https://io9.gizmodo.com/george-lucas-ideas-for-his-own-star-wars-sequel-trilogy-1826798496

Dear Maker, You are missed. You are the canon.

#The Maker #Star Wars #Lucas Canon #Lucas Sequel Trilogy

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noona-clock · 4 years

Text

What’s Your Sign?: Cancer

Genre: Roommate!AU

Pairing: Minhyuk (CNBLUE) x You (Female!Reader)

Warnings: Mentions of nudity, Cursing, Robbery/Attempted assault

Words: 6,203

Author’s Note: Since I’m so fascinated by astrology, I decided to do a Zodiac series! I will be writing a one-shot fic for each sign featuring different members from different groups (and even an actor!). Each story will be posted on the 5th of the month during that sign’s season. Please reblog, comment, or send in an ask with your feedback! Thank you for your support 💜

No one ever really knows when they wake up in the morning that the upcoming day will change their life.

If you had woken up this morning and known that... well, you weren’t sure what you would’ve done about it, but at least you would’ve been prepared. At least you would’ve gone about your day knowing that things wouldn’t be the same when you went to sleep that night.

But you hadn’t woken up this morning and known that today would change your life. You hadn’t been prepared whatsoever.

In fact, you weren’t prepared for the next few days!

But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We still need to get through today.

And let’s start with the backstory.

After graduating from University, you and your best friend/roommate/partner-in-crime had signed a lease for a beautiful apartment and had been roommates for the last five years.

You’d had many, many wonderful times in this apartment with her. Movie nights, dinner dates, board games, dance parties...

And then she’d gotten married.

Don’t get me wrong: you were happy for her! Thrilled! There was nothing you wanted more than for your best friend to be happily married to the girl of her dreams.

But that did mean you'd been left without a roommate in a two-bedroom apartment.

You had a fairly good job with a fairly good salary, but you still couldn’t afford a two-bedroom apartment by yourself.

You’d had to find a roommate -- and fast.

Since you hadn’t trusted simply putting an ad out on the internet or finding someone on some random message board, you’d asked around. You’d asked your friends, your family, your co-workers, and thankfully, the receptionist at your company said he had a cousin who was currently in your situation: looking for a roommate.

He had very quickly warned you that his cousin was a guy, but you dismissed the fact with a wave of your hand.

You were old enough and mature enough to handle living with a guy! As long as he was clean, respectful, and paid rent on time, you didn’t really care who your roommate was.

He gave you his cousin’s contact information -- Kang Minhyuk, his name was -- and you messaged him as soon as possible.

It had taken you less than a week to know you wouldn’t have any problems having Minhyuk as a roommate. Most of the time, he texted you back within minutes which meant he was responsible and observant. If you ever texted him somewhat late at night (meaning after 11), you didn’t receive a response back until the next morning which meant he was probably on the same sleep schedule as you. And he used emojis which meant he wasn’t some “I’m too cool for emojis” dude.

Honestly, what more could you ask for?

Minhyuk had moved in two weeks after your first message, and the two of you had been cohabitating pretty peacefully for over a year now.

He was no replacement for your best friend, of course, but you would be lying if you said you hadn’t gotten close to him. He was an incredibly nice guy, and while he did kind of keep to himself most of the time, you basically never saw him without a smile on his face. He always did the dishes whenever you cooked a meal for both of you, he always opened the very top cabinet when you couldn’t reach it (which was all the time), and he even insisted on answering the door if anyone ever knocked on it after dark.

Really, the only somewhat negative thing you could say about him was the fact he could -- and did -- play the drums. But he didn’t even have a real drum set in his room; he had one of those electric ones, and whenever he played them he plugged in his headphones so you could only hear the soft thud of his sticks and nothing more. I mean, unless you specifically asked to hear him play, which you had quite a few times. The guy was good!

He was also super good about grabbing something you’d forgotten after you’d already left the house and running down to meet you in the parking lot to give it to you.

Which, sadly, happened more often than you liked.

And which, sadly, had happened just now.

Today, it was your watch. And, yes, you could totally just use the clock on your phone, but you were just the kind of person who liked wearing a watch. You wanted to be able to just glance down at your wrist at a moment’s notice and not have to worry about finding your phone or reaching into your pocket or seeing all of the notifications you had to go through -- emails, messages, Tweets, Instagram posts...

You just liked wearing a watch! And if you weren’t wearing one, you felt weird.

So, once you rolled up to the first red light after realizing you’d forgotten to put one on this morning, you grabbed your phone and quickly sent a message to Minhyuk. He usually replied within seconds, and just after you pressed ‘Send,’ the light turned green again. After tossing your phone onto the passenger’s seat, you moved into the turn lane so you could turn around and head back to your apartment building. You knew he would see your message, go into your room, grab the first watch he saw, and head out to the parking lot to meet you -- it had happened several times before, and it was going to happen several more times after this, of that you had no doubt.

But, just a few minutes later, when you pulled up to the spot in which you usually parked, you didn’t see Minhyuk out there with one of your watches in his hand. You didn’t see him at all, actually...

Even though it would probably mean you would be a bit late for work, you pulled into the parking spot, turned off your car, and headed inside.

You began to get more concerned when you didn’t even run into Minhyuk on the way to your front door, and as soon as you unlocked and opened it, you called out his name.

“Did you get my message?” you asked, heading back to your room.

Just as you left the living room and turned the corner, you heard his bathroom door open. You could hear the shower running, and before you could even register that Minhyuk was walking toward the linen closet with absolutely no clothes on, you realized that was why he hadn’t been waiting for you outside. He had been getting ready to take a shower, so he hadn’t --

OH MY GOD, HE HAD ABSOLUTELY NO CLOTHES ON.

“Oh god!” you cried, your eyes widening before you quickly brought your hands up to cover your face. “Sorry!”

You heard Minhyuk’s astonished -- and embarrassed -- cry, and then you heard the rapid sounds of him opening the closet and grabbing a towel.

“What are --”

“I forgot my watch,” you explained hastily. “I texted you, but I didn’t know you were -- I was just coming in to -- I am SO sorry!”

“I was going to take a -- but I forgot --” he stammered.

You peeked through your fingers, seeing he had successfully covered himself with the towel he’d originally forgotten, but you still decided to put him out of his misery -- put you both out of your misery, actually -- and end the awkwardness.

“No -- no worries,” you said. “I’ll just --”

And you practically tripped on your own feet as you dashed to your room to grab a watch. (You actually grabbed two watches so you could keep one at work for when this happened again -- and you knew it would. You would much rather just have a backup watch in your desk drawer than risk this ever happening again.)

By the time you got back out into the hallway, Minhyuk was gone, and his bathroom door was closed.

Thank god.

You got back in your car and drove to work in a daze, your mind both completely blank but also filled with the image of a completely naked Minhyuk.

But it wasn’t until you actually arrived at work and sat down at your desk that you realized...

His body? Absolutely banging.

You truly almost screamed out loud when you thought that.

No! You should not be thinking that about your roommate!

You should not!

Not ever!

Never!

...Even though it was true.

NO!

Stop!

Stop it right now!

Stop thinking about his very well-muscled arms.

And his broad shoulders.

And his sturdy chest.

And his lean waist.

And his --

You blinked hard, squeezing your eyes shut in hopes that it would make all of these highly inappropriate thoughts vanish from your mind.

But, of course, it didn’t.

In fact, you went through your entire workday unable to not think about Minhyuk’s body -- his naked body. And, needless to say, you also went through your entire workday with flaming hot cheeks.

When your watch beeped to signal the end of your shift, you truly almost collapsed onto your desk and cried.

How were you supposed to go home and face him?! How were you supposed to act normally around him?! How were you supposed to look at him and not imagine him with no clothes on and not imagine him holding you with those well-muscled arms and kissing you with his sweet lips and carrying you into --

Your eyes widened.

...Oh my --

Why had you --

Oh no.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

...Ah, yes. In case it hasn’t become obvious, today was the day when you had woken up in the morning and hadn’t known it would change your life. Today was the day you had absolutely not been prepared for -- the day you had accidentally seen your roommate naked.

And now you had to go home and see him and try to hide the fact you had been thinking about his body at work all day and also that you’d kind of imagined him kissing you and carrying you to his bedroom while he was still naked.

Shit.

You took a deep breath as you stood at the door of your apartment, one hand resting on the doorknob. Never in your life had you thought you would ever have to prepare yourself to walk into your own apartment, but here we are.

“Just be normal,” you whispered to yourself. “Normal is not that hard. You’re normal every other day of your life, so just --”

“Hey,” Minhyuk interrupted, sounding a bit confused as he walked up behind you.

You jumped at his sudden presence, scrambling to turn around as your heart nearly leaped out of your chest.

“Oh, sorry!” he replied with slightly widened eyes. Obviously, he hadn’t thought you’d be so scared by his simply greeting you, just like you hadn’t thought he wouldn’t be inside the apartment! “I didn’t -- Are you okay?”

“Yes!” you assured him hastily.

“You just... were standing there for a long time. Did you forget your key?”

Oh, god, why had he used the word ‘forget’? It only reminded you of what had happened this morning. Did you now have a reputation of forgetting things?

“No, I --”

But you didn’t even bother coming up with an excuse. You simply whirled back around and opened the door.

It wasn’t until you got inside and hung your bag and jacket up in the coat closet when you realized Minhyuk was carrying two boxes of pizza.

You opened your mouth to ask him about it as you closed the closet door, but he began speaking before you got the chance.

“I hope you’re hungry for pizza,” he said, and one glance at him awarded you the view of his very sweet but very awkward grin.

“Yes,” you answered. “Always. Of course.”

“Good. I figured... I wanted to apologize --”

“Oh my god,” you intervened. “No, you don’t need to -- I should be the one --”

“I usually wait until you’re --”

“I should’ve known when you weren’t out in the parking lot --”

“And I hardly ever forget a towel --”

“I called your name, but I guess you couldn’t hear, and I --”

“I’m so sorry,” you both said at the same time.

Somehow, that seemed to break the awkward ice, and both of you let out a soft, relieved sigh.

“So,” Minhyuk said with an adorable grin. “Pizza?”

A grin of your own tugged at the corners of your lips, and you nodded. “Pizza.”

And you thought it was truly resolved. Honestly, you did.

But then Minhyuk suggested watching an episode of the drama the two of you were watching together, and you both plopped on the couch with your pizza, and even though you weren’t sitting that close to him -- like, you weren’t even touching him at all! -- just the fact that you could reach out and touch him was enough for all of your thoughts from earlier to come rushing back into your brain.

Great.

I mean, it didn’t help that he was wearing shorts and had a penchant of stretching his legs out to prop his heels up on the coffee table.

Minhyuk had definitely worn shorts before, and you had definitely seen his bare legs before -- why were you just now noticing how wonderfully sculpted they were?

He had definitely worn short-sleeved t-shirts before, and you had definitely seen his bare arms before -- why were you just now noticing how exquisitely toned they were?

It had to have been because of the drumming thing. That absolutely accounted for his muscled arms and bulging biceps --

Wow, the word ‘bulging’ was absolutely not the best word for you to be thinking right now. In fact, it might even be the worst!

Suddenly, Minhyuk let out a burst of laughter, and you jumped yet again. You, apparently, had been so lost in your own head that you hadn’t been paying enough attention to the drama.

And Minhyuk noticed.

After his laughter died down, he glanced over at you with a somewhat concerned expression. “You okay?”

Your eyebrows shot halfway up your forehead, and you nodded hastily. “Yeah, I -- just zoned out a little. Work was hectic today.”

Good save.

Minhyuk lifted his heels from the coffee table, setting his feet gently down on the floor in front of the couch and looked as if he was going to reach for the remote. “Do you wanna just finish this another time? If you’re stressed out, you should go relax. Take a bath or something.”

Noooooooooooo!

Why had he suggested a bath?! It was bad enough that you had seen him naked; you certainly didn’t want to give him the opportunity to see you naked! Or even think about it!

“No, no, I’m good,” you choked out. “We can finish this.”

And you shoved a piece of pizza into your mouth before you could say anything else. Your mind was so chaotic with thoughts of Minhyuk naked right now, you were actually terrified you would unintentionally blurt out something you would immediately regret.

Somehow, you managed to make it through the rest of the show -- though, you’d ended up eating almost an entire pizza as a way to distract yourself both from thinking so much about Minhyuk with no clothes on and saying something about it.

Minhyuk had, of course, mentioned that you’d eaten the whole thing. Not in a bad way, of course. He was rarely ever mean-spirited. In fact, if he ever had been mean-spirited, you hadn’t been there to see it. He had simply chuckled and pointed out that your day must have really been stressful.

You had just chuckled in return and nodded before taking another huge bite.

So, yes, while you had made it through the rest of the show and had headed off to get ready for bed without letting slip what it was that had you so bothered, you were now flopped across your bed with the fullest stomach you’d probably ever had in your entire life.

You were definitely going to regret this tomorrow. Actually, you were going to regret a lot of things about today. But you were also going to learn from your mistakes and make sure they never -- ever -- happened again.

Ever.

Your eyes shot open in panic.

“Oh, my god,” you whispered in-between heaving breaths as you slowly sat up in your bed.

The clock on your bedside table beamed out five AM, and you knew immediately you wouldn’t be getting back to sleep. Your alarm was going to go off in an hour and a half for work --

...Except. It was Saturday.

Lovely.

One of the two days you could sleep in, and you ended up waking up even earlier than you did during the week!

All because of this dream.

Oh, this dream.

It was the reason why your eyes had just shot open in panic, and the reason why your chest had been heaving trying to catch your breath.

It will be no surprise to learn that the dream had been one of the more erotic variety, and it had starred Minhyuk.

Of course.

Of freaking course!

Could you be any more obvious?! Having a hot and sexy dream about your roommate the night after accidentally seeing him naked. Wow.

Well, there was really only one thing you could do right now. Since you weren’t going to be able to fall back asleep, and since your hormones and adrenaline were both raging at the moment, you dragged yourself out of bed and got changed into your workout gear.

You were in the perfect mood to exercise, and since this so rarely happened, you needed to take advantage of it.

So, once you got changed and filled up your water bottle, you hauled yourself over to the complex’s gym in the main building. Unsurprisingly, as you got onto an elliptical and put your headphones in, you thought in the back of your mind that Minhyuk had to visit the gym very regularly to get a body like that.

You quickly set the time and intensity on the machine as high as you dared; you would have to go long and hard to get the images of Minhyuk working out expelled from your brain.

And now you would probably have to add ten extra minutes because of the words “long and hard.”

Sigh.

As you’d expected, the adrenaline you’d gotten from your dream had been the secret ingredient for a workout that you’d usually been missing. If you ever found a) the time and b) the energy to exercise, it was typically right before you went to bed, and your adrenaline was basically non-existent.

So, suffice it to say, this morning workout was without a doubt the best workout you’d had in quite some time. When you got back to the apartment almost two hours later, you were exhausted and energized and disgusting.

But at least you had elliptical-ed your Minhyuk dream out of your brain.

...Kind of.

It was still definitely there, but more like near the back. Not right in the forefront. Not screaming out for attention. Not standing right in front of you making a smoothie --

Oh, wait.

Since it wasn’t even seven in the morning, you had expected to come back to a quiet, empty apartment -- not truly empty, of course. You’d just thought that Minhyuk would still be asleep. Because, as we established earlier, it was Saturday. And we all know why you were awake this early on a Saturday, but why would Minhyuk be?

Alas. He was. He was in the kitchen in a sleeveless t-shirt and shorts, standing in front of the blender and making a smoothie.

He jumped a little when you opened the front door, glancing over his shoulder and looking both confused and relieved when he saw you.

And he also looked sweaty.

Wonderful.

Fantastic.

Just what you needed right now: a sweaty Minhyuk who was showing off his arms and legs. Great!

He stopped the blender and said, “You’re up early.”

“Yeah, I -- I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I thought I might as well go to the gym,” you explained.

“Oh, yeah? I just went on a run.”

Which accounted for his sweatiness.

“Do you want a post-workout smoothie?”

You had been kind of sneaking your way to your room, but when he asked you that, you paused. “Oh -- no. No, thank you,” you answered.

Minhyuk then turned around fully to face you, leaning back against the kitchen counter and frowning at you. “Are you sure you’re okay? You’ve been acting really weird since --”

He stopped talking, and your heart stopped along with him.

Oh, god, this conversation was about to get really awkward, wasn’t it?

To your surprise, though, he simply nodded slowly to himself before turning back around and grabbing a glass for his smoothie.

Without another word, you hurried to your room to get ready for a shower.

Quite early on in your roommate relationship, you discovered that Minhyuk was a homebody. If he wasn’t going to work or over to his parent’s house for dinner, he usually stayed home. Most of the time, he was in his room either practicing his drumming or reading or something. Sometimes, he watched movies out in the living room, and he also liked to spend time in the kitchen.

And this is exactly why, after showering and getting ready for the day, you headed out.

You went to visit your best friend/former roommate and her wife. You went to visit your parents. You went to the local mall to do some shopping. You treated yourself to a movie and some dinner afterward.

Basically, you did whatever you could to stay away from your apartment.

Working out had helped temporarily -- mainly, it had pushed the dream you’d had from your mind and made it less vivid. But it really hadn’t done anything about what had started it all. You still saw Minhyuk’s unclothed body every time you closed your eyes, including when you blinked. And you saw it in extreme detail.

But it was now getting dark outside, and you’d done everything you could think of to keep yourself from going home. Everything short of spending the night with your parents, of course, and you weren’t quite so desperate as to do that.

A deep sigh escaped your lips as you exited the restaurant where you’d just had dinner, and you clutched the strap of your bag as you headed out to the parking lot.

You began to rehearse what you were going to say to Minhyuk if he asked where you’d been all day -- and he would, of course. He was just like that. He cared about your life, and he seemed to genuinely enjoy hearing about your day if you did anything out of the ordinary. You knew you needed to be careful about what you told him because you didn’t want him to get the wrong idea.

You weren’t hiding from him.

You were just...

...Well. You weren’t exactly sure what you were doing because it certainly seemed like you were hiding from him.

But you weren’t! You were just --

All of a sudden, you felt a presence behind you. You blinked rapidly and turned to look, but before you got the chance, you felt a strong grip on your bag.

“Wha --” you gasped, your body jerking in shock as the strong grip began to tear your bag away from you.

Before whoever it was could fully take it from you, though, you reached out and grabbed onto it as tightly as you could. You whirled around, your heart stopping when you saw some guy you’d never seen before. He was wearing a dark turtleneck and hat with sunglasses covering his eyes even though the sun was almost fully set.

“Stop!” you cried out, trying to yank your bag out from his hands.

When he wouldn’t let go, you kicked one of your legs out in an attempt to knock him down -- but he was too quick, and he, apparently, thought your idea was a good one because he followed suit.

He kicked you right in the thigh, and you went flying down onto the asphalt.

You cried out in pain, and when you saw the guy running away with your purse tucked under his arm, you cried out again. “Stop! That’s my --!”

But the pain was becoming too intense now -- you realized just how hard you’d landed on the ground and how hard he’d kicked your leg.

Tears pooled in your eyes, and they began to stream down onto your cheeks as you thought about the fact he now had your bag.

Your keys, your wallet, your work ID card... everything you needed for your daily life.

But, thankfully, not everything.

Your phone was still in your back pocket, and even though you had fallen squarely onto your butt, when you gingerly lifted one side to take it out, you found there were only a few minor scratches. Thank god.

You first called the police, explaining to them as steadily as you could that you’d just been mugged. You were relatively okay -- no ambulance was necessary at the moment, but he’d taken off with your bag. You gave the best description of the guy you could muster as well as a very detailed description of your bag and its contents, and they promised you they would be there within ten minutes.

When you hung up with the police, you called the first person you could think of: Minhyuk.

“Hey, what’s up?” he answered, and you heard the muffled sounds of a movie in the background.

You hated to interrupt his movie night, but... this was kind of important.

“Hey,” you sniffled.

Before you could even get another word out, Minhyuk said, “What’s wrong?”

“I --” you stammered, feeling your throat closing up. “I just -- I had dinner, and I was just walking out to my car, and this guy -- he -- he took -- and he kicked --”

“Are you all right?”

“Kind of. He kicked me down to the ground, and -- and he took my bag, but I don’t think anything is broken or bleeding,” you told him, your voice thick with emotion.

“Did you call the police?”

“Yes,” you nodded.

“Where are you?”

Your heart began to race inside your chest as you told him the name of the restaurant, and after promising he would be there as soon as he could, you told him to bring your spare key. Even if you didn’t drive yourself home tonight, all of your purchases from your mall shopping spree were in your trunk -- you sure as hell weren’t leaving without those.

“Do you want me to stay on the line as I’m driving?” he asked. You heard the sound of the front door closing behind him, and even though he wasn’t physically here with you yet, you felt so much better just knowing that he was on his way.

“No, it’s okay,” you assured him.

“All right,” he answered, though he didn’t sound too convinced. “I’ll be there soon, just hang tight, okay?”

You hummed in response, and when the call ended, you slowly pushed yourself off the ground to stand up.

Thankfully, your car wasn’t too far away, and you managed to limp over to it before anyone going into or out of the restaurant could see you. It would be embarrassing enough to have Minhyuk see you like this -- you didn’t need strangers to!

And, now that you actually had some time to think about it... why had you called Minhyuk? Why hadn’t you called your best friend or your dad? Was it because he had been in the back of your mind all day? Because you basically hadn’t thought of anyone else since... oh, yesterday morning?

I mean, yeah, he was a guy. He was strong, and it would have been really helpful if he had been here just a few minutes ago. But there was nothing he could do about the situation now. He couldn’t chase the guy down and tackle him to the ground to get your bag back.

When you saw blue flashing lights in the distance, you suddenly realized that you’d called Minhyuk because he was the only one who had access to your spare car key!

Of course! That was totally the reason why! Your key was in your bag, and your spare key was in the apartment, and Minhyuk was also in the apartment, and that was it!

You almost let out a sigh of relief at finally having figured it out, but the police were approaching you, so you had to get your wits about you to give your statement.

You greeted the officers quietly, assuring them you were all right and repeating the description of both the event and the perpetrator you’d given over the phone.

Just as you’d finished telling them the color of his turtleneck, you heard the squeal of brakes on tires, a car door opening, and --

“Y/N!”

Your heart jumped up into your throat, and your eyes darted over to see Minhyuk getting out of his car and jogging over to you.

Your eyes filled with tears again at the sight of him, and before you knew it, he had reached you and enveloped you in his arms.

“Oh, my god,” he breathed into your hair as he held you carefully. “Are you okay?”

You nodded even though you were currently crying, your fingers clutching the back of his shirt.

And you knew this was why you had called him. Not because you needed your spare key -- though that was true.

You’d called him because you needed this. You needed his arms around you, you needed his comforting, familiar scent surrounding you.

You needed him.

“Thank you, ma’am,” the officer interrupted. “I think we got all we need. We’ll give you a call when we find him so we can return your things.”

You were so deep in Minhyuk’s embrace, that you couldn’t even lift your head to say ‘Thank you’ or nod at them in response, so Minhyuk did it for you. He thanked them for their time, and as they left, one hand moved up to cradle the back of your head.

The two of you stayed there for at least a few minutes after the police drove off, though it seemed like much, much longer.

When Minhyuk finally pulled away, he took your face in his hands and began to examine you for injuries.

“I’m okay,” you assured him, your voice raspy and soft.

“Where did he kick you?” he asked in harsh, clipped tones.

“My -- my leg. I had tried to kick him, but he dodged it, and then he kicked me.”

“You’re sure nothing’s broken?”

You nodded, and Minhyuk’s hands moved to your shoulders.

“You don’t need to go to the hospital?”

You shook your head. “I just --” Tears began to fill your eyes once again, and you swallowed down the lump forming in your throat. “I just want to go home.”

“All right,” he whispered. “I’ll drive, and I’ll come to get your car later, okay?”

“Wait -- I have some bags in the trunk. I -- I went shopping earlier.”

Minhyuk nodded and reached into his pocket for your key. He unlocked your car, popped your trunk, and grabbed all of your bags before transferring them to his own trunk.

You managed to get into his car by yourself, wincing and groaning as the pain got even more acute and obvious.

You were not looking forward to how you would feel when you woke up tomorrow.

When Minhyuk joined you in the car, he turned the engine over, put the gear in drive... and then he reached for your hand.

He took your hand and brought it over into his lap, his fingers grasping yours tightly.

But you didn’t even have time to process what he’d done -- what he was doing -- before he asked, “You didn’t know the guy?”

“No,” you murmured.

“So, it was just random,” he stated rather than questioned. “It doesn’t make it better but at least we know you weren’t a strategic target.”

“He -- he does have my license now, though,” you pointed out. “He knows where I live.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to leave your side until he’s found and arrested.”

...Oh, boy. You’d spent the whole day trying to avoid seeing him, and now you would have no choice but to see him.

Maybe it was the adrenaline or maybe it was the feeling you’d gotten from being in his arms... or maybe it was something else entirely, but you felt the very strong urge to tell him everything. Tell him why you’d been out all day. Tell him why you’d woken up so early.

...So, you did.

“I stayed away from the apartment all day because I didn’t want to see you,” you admitted. “The... the situation yesterday just -- it really threw me for a loop. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you, and I woke up so early this morning because I had a dream about you, and now I don’t think I’ll be able to stop thinking about how it felt to be in your arms, and if I had just not forgotten my stupid watch, none of this would have happened, and --”

“Wait,” he interjected, squeezing your hand. “You... you haven’t been able to stop thinking about me?”

...Why did he not sound totally freaked out?

“Uh... no,” you gulped.

And, believe it or not, Minhyuk let out a sigh of relief.

A sigh of relief!

What?!

“I thought I had traumatized you,” he said. “Like, in a bad way. I was honestly waiting for you to tell me you were going to move out or something!”

You would be lying if you said you hadn’t thought about that, but hearing him say it actually hurt your heart. You hadn’t realized until now that moving out was the last thing you wanted to do.

But, still. You couldn’t quite believe that he was relieved.

“No, you didn’t traumatize me, but... I mean, you heard me say I had a dream about you? And, like, in the dream you were very much in the same... outfit as you were yesterday morning. If you know what I mean.”

“I know what you mean,” he chuckled.

Chuckled! He chuckled! Why was he being so nonchalant about this?!

“So, why are you still holding my hand?” you asked, your brow furrowed as you stared at his fingers linked through yours. “Why aren’t you grossed out?!”

“Because I like you!” he answered, sounding as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “And, I swear to god, if I ever find the guy who did this to you, I will kill him.”

Your eyes widened. That certainly wasn’t the Minhyuk you knew. He barely argued with the landlord when something in your apartment was broken, and you definitely could not imagine him ever wanting to kill someone.

But one look at his face told you that he was incredibly serious about his statement.

Which meant he really must like you.

Why else would he get so... protective? Why else would he state his murderous intentions and promise you he wouldn’t leave your side until the robber was caught?

“...You -- you like me?” you asked meekly.

Minhyuk glanced over at you and dipped his chin in a small nod. “Yeah,” he answered. “I... have for a while now.”

And, despite the throbbing pain in your thigh, hip, and back, despite the fear in your stomach, and despite the fact you’d spent the last two days wishing it had never happened, you said, “Well, you should have made me walk in on you naked earlier, then.”

Minhyuk burst out laughing, and the sound of it made your heart glow. He brought your hand up to his smiling lips, placing an amused kiss on your knuckles as your heart glowed even more.

You knew there was quite a serious talk you had to have when you got home -- maybe not tonight, but certainly very, very soon. There were boundaries you should establish, feelings you needed to flesh out, and decisions you needed to make.

But, right now, you were more than content to sit in his car, hold his hand, and finally -- finally -- let yourself think about him with no clothes on.

It would probably be a while before you saw that again, but hey -- at least now you didn’t have to feel creepy about it.

OTHER SIGNS: ARIES, TAURUS, GEMINI, LEO, VIRGO, LIBRA, SCORPIO, SAGITTARIUS, CAPRICORN, AQUARIUS, PISCES

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jackdawyt · 4 years

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ICYMI: As my last video/post for 2019, I figured we should have a reflection on Dragon Age 4’s major news updates and uncover what we know about Dragon Age 4 throughout this year and beyond! So, we can go into 2020 with the right expectations and understanding of the game’s development!

The Dread Wolf Rises:

To boot of this year - we had the most exciting announcement from The Game Awards in December - the official confirmation of the next Dragon Age project with the current given title: #TheDreadWolfRises.

The trailer, while enigmatic, showcased the next Dragon Age centring on the Solas’s plan to rise up and destroy the veil, fulfilling the Dread Wolf’s prophecy. At least that’s one interpretation of it.

The trailer seemingly was made for the fanbase of Dragon Age with the given title, because if you didn’t know what Dragon Age was, or anything about The Dread Wolf, you could totally pass up that trailer as a different game entirely. So, it was more of an ode to the fans that the next Dragon Age game is in the works.

Alongside the release of the trailer, the Dragon Age website was updated for #TheDreadWolfRises with Mark Darrah, Executive Producer & Matthew Goldman, Creative Director sharing a few words on the production of the next Dragon Age.

TLDR: Mark is excited to show more and Matthew states that this is the strongest team yet and they’re venturing forth on the most epic quest ever.

In a September blog post, Casey Hudson wrote that ‘I can confirm that indeed the Dread Wolf rises,’ alluding to the narrative and production of Dragon Age 4. Before we delve into the current development of Dragon Age 4, we’ve got to talk about the two initial iterations of Dragon Age 4.

Project Joplin:

Based on Jason Schreier’s expose’ into the past and present developments of Dragon Age 4 - the previous iteration of Dragon Age 4 was known as ‘Joplin’, like Janis Joplin.

Janis Joplin was one of the biggest female rock stars of her era, she revolutionized her genre of music for the next generation – clearly, this is something the devs were going for with the original Dragon Age 4 project – to revolutionize the Role-Playing Game genre.

The developers on Joplin were committed to avoiding the mistakes they’d made on Dragon Age: Inquisition. Veteran Mike Laidlaw was the creative director of ‘Joplin’ until the project was canned and reworked so ‘live service elements’ could be added. After the decided rework of Dragon Age 4, Mike left the studio in late 2017.

Project Joplin’s initial concept followed the next protagonist ‘playing as a group of spies in Tevinter, a large chunk of the narrative centred on heists. The goal was to focus as much as possible on choice and consequence.’

There was an emphasis on this ‘hugely reactive game, smaller in scope than Dragon Age: Inquisition but much larger in player choice, followers, reactivity, and depth.’

The developers talked about building systemic narrative mechanics, allowing the player to perform actions like persuading or extorting guards without the writers having to hand-craft every scene.

It was very ambitious and plenty of the developers were excited, stating that they put some of their best work into this project.

However, Anthem was in real trouble, and there was a concern that it might never be finished unless the studio did something drastic. EA and BioWare took that drastic action, cancelling Joplin and moving the bulk of its staff, including executive producer Mark Darrah, onto Anthem.

Project Joplin was reworked into Project Morrison with a skeleton team building the very foundations of the next Dragon Age.

Project Morrison:

The latest iteration of Dragon Age 4 that is currently in the works is known as ‘Morrison’, like ‘James Morrison’ – the lead singer of the rock band ‘The Doors’.

Jim Morrison is regarded by music critics and fans as one of the most iconic and influential frontmen in rock history. (Wikipedia).

Morrison is being built on Anthem’s tools and codebase of the Frostbite Engine, this will save time as Mass Effect: Andromeda, Dragon Age: Inquisition and Anthem were each built from scratch. With a pre-set already there, Morrison’s development can save a lot of time.

This new version of the fourth Dragon Age is planned with a live service component, built for long-term gameplay and revenue. It’s not clear how much of Joplin’s vision will shape Morrison.

Matt Goldman, art director on Dragon Age: Inquisition and then Joplin, took over as creative director for Morrison.

Many of the BioWare developers “know it’s going to change like five times in the next two years.”

Morrison will change its shape multiple times. However, “Dragon Age games shift more than other games.” So, it’s not uncanny for a Dragon Age project to undergo drastic changes in its development.

Live Service/Multiplayer:

It has been confirmed on LinkedIn that BioWare has hired a software engineer to work on a multiplayer component for Dragon Age 4, however, it’s unsure what exactly this multiplayer could look like.

Jason Schreier stated that “he heard some ideas for Morrison’s multiplayer include companions that can be controlled by multiple players via drop-in/drop-out co-op, similar to old-school BioWare RPGs like Baldur’s Gate, and quests that could change based not just on one player’s decisions, but on the choices of players across the globe.”

In 2018, Casey Hudson tweeted a statement on live service: “Reading lots of feedback regarding Dragon Age, and I think you’ll be relieved to see what the team is working on,” he wrote on Twitter. “Story & character-focused. Too early to talk details, but when we talk about ‘live’ it just means designing a game for continued storytelling after the main story.”

It’s still unclear how much of this game will focus on live-service elements and multiplayer, it could follow something as simple as Dragon Age: Inquisition’s separate multiplayer mode, or it could transform the game completely. Take note that Morrison is still early in the works and it will change multiple times until release. That is for sure.

Production:

Now we get to the tea - The past and present developments of Dragon Age 4’s new iteration.

So, Project Joplin was canned in late 2017, with Project Morrison rebooting sometime after that with an essential, small team. The rest of the Dragon Age team that worked on Joplin, went to fix Anthem during its troubled development. Even Mark Darrah, the Executive Producer of Dragon Age was shuffled to Anthem’s production. All the while, Morrison lay low in very early pre-production stages.

In 2018, the majority of the news we got on Dragon Age 4 came out in January, with Joplin’s initial codename and Anthem’s reshuffling. However, with Morrison in deep pre-production, nothing substantial - production-wise - was heard on this project until The Dread Wolf Rises teaser launched at The Game Awards eleven months later in December. Of course, this trailer was hype hype hype!

In early 2019, BioWare resumed their focus on Anthem and its release date. After Anthem was released in February 2019 - according to comicbook.com - the core Edmonton team working on Anthem, returned to work on Dragon Age 4 in full-scale development following the reworks of Morrison.

Built on Anthem’s codebase and its pre-sets of the Frostbite engine, following a very enigmatic live service model – Dragon Age 4 entered its pre-production stages with a full-team. As Casey Hudson later confirmed in September:

“We have several other big projects in the works. I wish I could tell you more about them, but they’re mostly super-secret right now. I can say however that one of our projects has a large and growing team in Edmonton working through pre-production, and based on the progress I’m seeing, I can confirm that indeed the Dread Wolf rises.”

Key processes during the pre-production stages include:

Concept Art

Storyboarding

Level Design

Mechanic Design

Around June, an IGN Greece article resurfaced again, according to said article ‘an anonymous BioWare employee had given clues Dragon Age 4. Stating that the game will be released in 2020 and that the voices of the characters are already being recorded, which indicates an advanced stage of development.’

This article initially launched in 2018 and has many rebuttals, the first being the release date.

This 2020 expected release date has been debunked because according to EA’s 2019 earnings call, the new release window for Dragon Age 4 is at least April 2022, and any time after that. Perhaps Joplin’s initial release window was 2020, and the developer may have shared that, but as far as Morrison is concerned, the project is 3 years away.

However, voice work being in the works could be plausible at this stage. Alix Wilton Reagan has teased a few seasons of her in full mocap mentioning NDA’s and #dragonage and #inquisitor, this could just Alix teasing us, or using social media to its full advantage, or it could be something Dragon Age-related.

Surely the Inquisitor will make a cameo appearance and that could justify why Alix could be doing VO?

On top of both Alix’s tease and IGN Greece’s article, very recently Jo Berry, a writer at BioWare tweeted about voice over work coming in and it being fantastic, however, they have to remove the goofy robot text to speech which is awkward and funny to listen to.

“When VO is coming in and it’s fan-tastic, but it means saying goodbye to that goofy robot text-to-speech that makes you all laugh.”

So, indeed voice work does seem to be going on for Dragon Age 4’s development at this stage.

In jest, BioWare hasn’t replied to my request for voice acting a character in Dragon Age 4, so I think because of that, we can assume that they haven’t started the majority of the main character’s voice work just yet, right?

Moving on…Throughout the months of August and September, BioWare moved to a new office space in downtown Edmonton. Once they had settled in, a few very interesting Dragon Age 4 titbits came to light.

Emily (Domino) Taylor posted a picture on Twitter, showcasing a post artboard for Dragon Age 4, as we can assume it’s Dragon Age! There’s a Grey Warden and their Griffon-friend showcased in the picture.

Griffons and Grey Warden’s confirmed for Dragon Age 4? It’s not too much of a stretch considering the drama at Weisshaupt and Last Flight’s ending, but alas, as we can see BioWare’s art division are getting ready to line up concept artwork for further production and development. Probably for 3D model creation and animation stages.

Regardless, it’s very exciting to see the start of official artwork developing for Dragon Age 4, I’ll be keeping an eye out to see how this board develops further.

Another huge titbit that was revealed with BioWare’s office move, was when the mayor of Edmonton decided to visit and congratulate BioWare at their new offices. On one of the photos the mayor and his team took, there was a shot of an HD version of Solas on a TV Screen.

I personally believe that this is a shot from Dragon Age 4 or the prototype version of Morrison showing off Solas. There’s been no confirmation of where this shot comes from, and I’ve spent an entire video dissecting it. However, my point is, I don’t think this comes from Dragon Age: Inquisition, it’s way to HD, look at his face, the fur on his outfit, the outside environment. It’s very distinct, and I believe it’s the first shot of Dragon Age 4 revealed.

I’ve not seen any rebuttals to this, and I’ve openly asked multiple times online, however, no one has come up with anything. So, even towards the end of 2019, it remains a mystery. I think this is a Dragon Age 4 shot, let me know if you think otherwise!

Around the same time, Matt Rhodes, an Art Director, posted a short story on his Instagram stating that he’s “more excited working on Dragon Age 4 than any other project so far.”

Just after BioWare moved offices, Fernando Melo, a senior producer on The Dread Wolf Rises left the studio after 12 years.

As stated on his LinkedIn profile, a lot of Fernando’s job on Dragon Age 4 surrounded “help[ing] establish the vision for the game. Guid[ing] the team through EA’s concept and early production phases. Prov[ing] out the core concept and key innovations of the game”.

He signed off with an email sent to everyone on the Dragon Age team, stating that he left at the “least disruptive timing as it would likely get.”

Considering that Fernando’s job was ensuring the pre-production stages were completed efficiently, and with his departure being at a time where it’d be least hectic for the development of Dragon Age 4, it’s safe to say that the pre-production processes are wrapping up and the team can begin to enter full production.

Fernando said that “with a great game leadership team in place, a fantastic creative vision, and some of the best devs in the world. Morrison is well underway to becoming the definitive Dragon Age experience - and I’m incredibly proud and honored to have played a part in that. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the opportunity to experience the next DA as a fan this time around.”

So, with Fernando’s send off via email, the entire Dragon Age team has moved on from the initial pre-production stages to the main development of the project with an estimated release window of any time after April 2022.

Mark Darrah Major Hints & Teases:

Now we get to the most divisive news topics - the teases from Executive Producer Mark Darrah!

Mark has actually been teasing us since the beginning of 2017, when he dropped a video of an artbook that collated a plethora of Dragon Age concept characters, with many mysterious and ominous photos showcasing potential concept art and character designs.

A logo of a wolf, on fire encased in a tower, was all we had on Dragon Age 4 at the time. However, considering Project Joplin was canned at the end of that same year, I think it’s safe to assume this work went alongside that project, whether it will remain, we’ll uncover in-time.

At E3 2018, in a video interview with Game Informer, Mark Darrah said that Dragon Age 4 was going ‘swell’ with a cheeky grin.

At Pax West 2018, Dragon Age 4 was officially confirmed again since it’s reboot in development, the Triforce Quartet played Dragon Age: Inquisition’s theme as Mark Darrah confirmed that the next instalment is in the works… again.

Towards the end of November, Mark Darrah teased the entirety of Twitter with his Dragon Age remarks. Having tweeted the single words “Dragon Age”, he had PC Gamer and many other onion articles writing up on his huge Dragon Age 4 tease.

However, to be fair, Mark dropped an image that resembles Dragon Age, only we’ve never seen anything quite like it before.

Midnight snow, rocks, forests, a completely different landscape to any of the maps in Dragon Age: Inquisition, yet very familiar with its Frostbite Engine aesthetic… is this a shot of Tevinter, more than likely taken on Mark Darrah’s phone?

Well, I think so. It doesn’t resemble any location I can recall in Dragon Age: Inquisition… But you might say “there’s snow in Tevinter, which is the opposite end of Thedas’s Equator, that doesn’t make sense lore-wise.”

Well, Mark Darrah replied to someone questioning if and why there would be snow in Tevinter, he sent them a link to this article that explains how there can be snow on the equator, meaning that Tevinter can have snow.

So, is this our second or first look of Dragon Age 4? Well, depending on if the Solas shot is viable, I’d say definitely, but I’ll let you make your own mind up on that. Speaking of Tevinter, Mark Darrah also teased that the working plot title of Dragon Age 4 is titled “Tevinter of Our Discontent”, which is a huge story reference that I’ll touch upon in a separate category.

However, back to the picture teases, and Mark Darrah also posted another photo…

A sun blinding a knight, very ominous, I don’t even know where to start with this one… I mean it could have some subliminal message about how Solas may destroy the veil, or it could have a rather obscure context that fits to Dragon Age 4’s narrative, but I honestly just don’t even know what this is…

On Dragon Age Day, Again, Mark Darrah posted another screenshot of Dragon Age 4 with everything redacted other than a pixel in the corner.

And, erm, yep. That’s super. Thanks for that, Mark.

If you’d like to see more Dragon Age 4 teases that may or may not make sense and will most likely leave you frustrated and clueless, why not give Mark Darrah a follow-on Twitter. He’s one to keep an eye out.

Story:

The next narrative surrounds the Dread Wolf rising and attempting to destroy the veil, it’ll most likely be our next protagonist’s goal to stop Solas from achieving this.

We will have a new protagonist, like every other Dragon Age game. It’s been confirmed copious times by many developers old and new that the Hero of Ferelden will never return in the future, so stop asking. And even if they did return, Patrick Weekes is in charge now.

Dragon Age 4 will be set in the Tevinter Imperium, if Trespasser’s ending wasn’t a good enough clue for you, Project Joplin was also set in Tevinter. Alternatively, according to PC Gamer, it was the newly announced Tevinter Nights book that confirmed Tevinter to be Dragon Age 4’s setting.

Mark Darrah confirmed and teased on Twitter that the working plot title of Dragon Age 4 is Tevinter of our Discontent, derived from Shakespeare’s “The Winter of our Discontent” which is the opening lines from the play - Richard III (3rd).

As a TLDR: the words lay the groundwork for the portrayal of Richard as a discontented man who is unhappy in a world that hates him. However, since his family were victorious in the war, they reign the nation once more, and so as winter dies, glorious summer is upon them.

There are plenty of references we can make to Solas and his scheme to destroy the veil, he’s woken up to a world that despises his name and people that revoke his actions as evil. He wants to correct this world and restore his ‘family’ so to speak. Perhaps, like Richard the 3rd, Solas’s glorious summer is what awaits him in the next game.

So, we have plenty of plot potential with this given title and I do have a separate video for even more thorough speculation on this topic. However, based on Shakespeare’s work being the main inspiration for Dragon Age 4’s narrative, we should expect tragedy to be one of the main themes of the plot.

According to Video Gamer, in 2017, Alexis Kennedy was writing freelance for BioWare, ‘working on a whole chunk of lore and backstory for the faction in the game that you would think of if you were thinking big old goth. You know, if you were interested in death.’

Instantly what comes to mind is Nevarra’s Mortalitasi – Death Mages that’s responsible for the mummification process of the dead in Nevarran culture. However, we’re not sure how much of his work went into the cancelled Joplin, considering the timing at which he worked on Dragon Age 4.

According to Alexis’s LinkedIn page, he worked freelance at BioWare from February – August 2017. The end of 2017 was the same time Joplin was canned, and Mike Laidlaw left the company, so there’s a huge possibility that Alexis’s work has been shelved.

Even if Alexis’s work wasn’t shelved at the time, given his recent allegations and controversy, Mark Darrah confirmed on Twitter that BioWare no longer has a working relationship with him, so his work seemingly has been scrapped.

According to Dark Horse writers Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir who’re creating the comics. In a comicbook.com interview, they shared the collaboration with the BioWare writers, it’s a case of sharing notes on where the narrative is going, and how the comics can help reach that point for Dragon Age 4’s narrative.

So, if you want to see where Dragon Age 4’s narrative may go, or which characters could turn up, read the comics as they’re pushing the narrative forward.

According to Chelsea Fariello, Assistant Animator at BioWare, it seems we could have a Mabari War Hound companion, or at least NPC in Dragon Age 4, as she stated on Twitter that she was interested in what interactions people would want to see for a dog-like creature in a video game. With the hashtag Dragon Age. Perhaps Mabari War Hound, or even a Griffon? “What interactions would people want to be able to do with a dog like creature in a video game? I need to know…for reasons… #DragonAge “

The “creature” part in that tweet is what makes me think it could be a small griffon? If it’s a Mabari then it’s just a dog, however, if it’s a small griffon then that could make sense. That’s just my hot take.

On Dragon Age Day, Arby’s expressed their interest in opening a new branch in Thedas, could we see a new type of cuisine in Tevinter? It’s hard to say, other than the fact that John Epler loves Arby’s, not Wendy’s though. Don’t mention Wendy’s!

Weekes’s Tweets:

Adding to the story category, we have plenty of tweets by Patrick Weekes that hint at future elements for Dragon Age 4.

Patrick Weekes responded to Autumn Witch when asked on Twitter ‘to pick one character from Dragon Age that has never been a companion or advisor that you would like to see as a companion in DA-4? (For the sake of this post, Lace Harding is also not available.)’

Patrick said: “Oh that’s obvious, I’d go with (Reads parenthetical) THIS IS RIGGED.”

So, Scout Harding as a Dragon Age 4 Companion teased? I freaking hope so.

Patrick Weekes posted on Twitter that they just teared up reading a scene, so unless they’re cutting onions while writing, we should expect tears to be shed in Dragon Age 4. If I were to guess, I mean Solas is walking the Din’anshiral. Which means there is only death on this journey…

Weekes was asked about non-binary lingo & representation and if the players would have the option to not identify as a male or female in the next Dragon Age. They replied saying:

“No guarantees (it’s something that is very difficult in romance languages we get translated into), but our team is always looking for better ways to let players see themselves in our games.”

Other Dragon Age Projects:

According to EA’s 2019 Earnings Call, “there are plans for not only Dragon Age 4, but other Dragon Age products too.”

At a guess, this ‘other product’ could simply be a mobile companion app to coincide with Dragon Age 4’s launch. Or it could be the rumoured tactics game that we haven’t heard about since Mark Darrah’s tease in 2017.

On top of that, at a guess, it could also be an extension to the Dragon Age Keep.

Expectations:

There’s still a couple of years yet with an expected release window at any point after April 2022. However, that doesn’t mean the news will not be coming, just look at all the tidbits I’ve uncovered from developer tweets on the side.

Not to mention that BioWare generally start the marketing phases of their upcoming games two years prior to release, so if Dragon Age 4 were to release in 2022, we could actually see something in 2020. I’m not banking on that, but just for the doubters out there, we’ll easily hear something regarding this game in 2020, whether that’s a trailer or small tweet trials of news, we’ll be sure to get something, and I’ll be sure to stay on track of that.

if you have anyone saying there’s no news for Dragon Age 4, just gently send them my way and share this video in their dm’s!

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comebbackbehere · 4 years

Text

i’m gonna say my 2 cents and leave because what’s going on isn’t right. currently for the past maybe 4 or 5 hours i’ve been in tears because of recent events on twitter.

around 3 weeks ago i joined a chain groupchat on instagram since i had fun joining in on chains and a lot of my close friends were in the chat so i thought it would be a fun way to interact with my friends. i’ve kinda just always done what i was told and when i was told something was right from one person, i believed it. but when i was told something was wrong by another, i believed it. then i get confused and had no idea what was right or wrong so i did neither.

see this is the case with what happened today, i saw a chain on my dash that wasn’t very big. maybe 5 people in total so i added and decided to send it to that groupchat since it looked fun and thought they would wanna join. maybe around 20 minutes later after a few have added someone sent screenshots from the original poster, the screenshots were from twitter. apparently the original poster didn’t like the idea of chains, but with me who was told chains were okay, i thought i wasn’t doing anything wrong. apparently i was.

it stirred up so much drama for me saying 7 words in the chain, i felt like it was directed at me since i’ve had really bad experiences with issues like this in the past and it gives me a ton of anxiety and i have having countless panic attacks tonight because i was so upset with myself from doing something wrong that i thought was right because that’s what i was told, a year ago. a year ago when i first joined tumblr i was sent chains to add onto and i did and all of my friends at the time loved chains so i did too. since i was new to the app i kinda just went with the flow.

i had also noticed that one of my closer friends i trusted a lot had replied to the tweet and was laughing about it. meanwhile while i was shaking and crying in my bathroom because i thought it was going to lead me into being bullied out of the fandom because i know it’s happened in the past. i’ve always had a hard time trusting people because i’ve only had a couple friends in my life and it never ended well, and i trusted the people who were against me. but in reality i was against myself too. after told that i was influenced badly i got confused and i didn’t know what to do or not so while everyone was all stirred up i decided to leave my accounts.

before i made a fan account i was a part of a toxic community that i was bullied out of (no shocker there) because i was framed by someone who didn’t like me. sorta like this situation? anyways, i thought taylor fans were always so welcoming and positive and nice and kind to eachother and i was going through a really hard time so i thought if i surrounded myself with positivity while posting about my love for my idol, things would get better. they did, for a while. but now it’s just a downward spiral again.

i have no idea what to believe and i never mean to make anyone upset but i feel like it would be best for me to stay away for a while since a lot of people are upset with me for that post. it wasn’t my intention and i didn’t know it wasn’t supposed to be a chain.

i didn’t know that sharing my love for my idol would turn into this, i was just trying to have fun.

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lightwoodsmagic · 5 years

Note

Hi! So I agree Liam is queer, and the pink🔺in his video compels me not to ignore it. I saw one of your Ziam posts making its rounds after the SIU video, so I thought you were the person to ask. I only joined the fandom after Zayn left, and I’ve always had a hard time finding info on why and how that played out at the time (nobody seems to agree). Could you elaborate (or link to previous posts) on why you think Ziam is still a thing, and how they are telling us? Thanks for your insight so far!

Hi anon!

Thank you so much for thinking of me! I’m sorry it’s taken me a little while to answer, but it took me a bit to gather all the info I wanted (while I should’ve been working oop).

Okay, please know that this post is gonna be loooooong, so I’ve popped it under the cut.

You’re right about nobody agreeing on Zayn leaving the band, and it makes sense that people have differing views. It’s such a complicated thing; there was a lot happening at the time.

I’m going to start by saying there’s a brilliant masterpost about Zayn leaving here. It’s incredibly detailed, talks about pretty much every aspect of it, and there’s so much to look into. It’s also wonderful to demonstrate how much the boys and Zayn still hinted at things and loved each other, like Harry using Zayn’s mic one night, Liam talking about him fondly in interviews, Niall still calling him by his nickname, and Louis wearing his clothes.

It’s a long read, but incredibly worth it, as it this stunting timeline.

Everyone is absolutely entitled to their opinion, so I’ll just give you mine. I’m gonna keep it (kind of) short though. A lot of what I’m about to say can be found in the masterposts I’ve linked above.

I believe that Zayn leaving was out of his control, and was never completely his decision. I believe that he was set to return, but for some reason, the plan changed. Mind of Mine was apparently written before he left, and while I think he would’ve been working on solo music before he left (and that all of them were to some extent), to tease an album right after the announcement that he left makes no sense. A contract like the one that 1D had/has with Syco would cost an obscene amount of money to get out of, and Zayn’s net worth didn’t change at all. They made it seem so simple in the very few interviews with Zayn afterwards, saying he just called his security, got on a plane, and left. I think Zayn struggled a lot with everything, they all did, but I don’t think he could’ve just left. There were articles put out about his new album that mentioned Simco and everything, but when people pointed out that it didn’t make sense with the narrative that Simon felt ‘betrayed’, the references were removed straight away.

There’s also a very solid theory that MoM was counted as One Direction’s sixth and final contracted album, and it really stands up. Check it out!

Look. There’s a lot to unpack with the whole situation, and I’ve hardly touched on it at all, but I really do encourage you to look into it with everything I’ve linked above 💞

Okay, now onto the second part of your ask!

Ziam. My loooovveesss.

I’m going to start by saying that there’s a lot of ways that Liam and Zayn have hinted that they’re still together, and honestly? The boys ain’t even subtle about it. I’ll start by talking about heaps of ways they’ve done that since Zayn left!

Alright, let’s start with the fact that they WILL NOT STOP LIKING, REBLOGGING, AND RETWEETING POSTS FROM ZIAM ACCOUNTS.

(x) (x)

These aren’t subtle Ziam accounts, and it’s not just these examples. This also isn’t just something in the past; that bottom right one references Stack It Up.

They’ve also both reposted fanart from a well known Ziam where each drawing referenced the other one.

(x)

The Zayn art says ‘Love Payne’ on the beanie. Well then.

And the Liam one? That he posted on his personal insta? The artist added the ‘love’ tattoo from Zayn’s hand onto Liam’s. It’s obvious, and it’s not like Liam wouldn’t have noticed that suddenly there was a new tattoo added ON HIS OWN HAND.

Not very subtle, hey.

It’s also not the only shady social media activity related to the boys 👀

There was the time that Liam explained why he’d written ‘personally’ twice in a thank you post in his insta story to Bvlgari.

But he hadn’t. What had happened was that Twitter account @TheZiamNews had made a small mistake, and had actually written it twice. The only explanation was that Liam saw it on a Ziam update page VERY quickly, thought he had made the original mistake, and then explained. Interesting that Liam keeps up to date with them.

There was also the time Liam blocked an account for talking absolute shit about Zayn, or when Herbie Critchlow (a producer from Icarus Falls) retweeted a tweet about Common being about Ziam. Also can’t forget Brandon Colbein posting on insta about some songs he’d written, and somehow there was one for Zayn and one for Liam.

Oh, and when Liam’s friend Andy (who seems to…split the fandom, but alas) posted a video of him listening to Icarus Falls, or every single mirroring insta post Liam and Zayn can’t seem to help making.

And their eyebrow slits! 😊 this goes allllll the way back to One Direction days.

(x)

Now, this is a constant, recurring thing for them over the years.

It’s usually at the same time, and it usually signifies something.

Zayn went ALL OUT one day, just after Z*gi ‘broke up’, and put a slit in his eyebrow, but it wasn’t a normal one. It was in the shape of an L. That fucking sap. Not to be outdone though, Liam popped a lil’ Z in the graphics for his show last year in Japan.

SAPS, THE BOTH OF THEM.

Now, jewellery.

OOOOOF are we in for it now. You’re probably regretting this ask already.

Cartier.

Say that single word around someone who believes in Ziam and you’ve lost them forever.

Back in 2015 (so yes, a while ago but bear with me) during the OTRA tour, Zayn suddenly started wearing a gold Cartier bracelet. It was interesting because Zayn didn’t wear bracelets at the time. It was particularly interesting because Liam had been seen earlier that day with jewellery bags buying a present. Curious.

Or obvious.

Either or.

A similar thing happened when Zayn attended the ‘Straight Outta Compton’ premiere, one of his first appearances after he left the band. He was wearing a Hublot watch, which was also interesting because Zayn didn’t wear watches either.

But GUESS WHERE LIAM HAD BEEN 2 DAYS BEFORE THE PREMIERE?

You’re damn right, anon. It was Hublot.

Now, the Cartier love bracelet.

This picture was posted when Liam was getting ready for the Brits in 2017. For those that don’t know, the Cartier love bracelet has little screws, and can only be undone with a little gold screwdriver that comes with it.

Liam wore it everywhere that year, and so often. It didn’t make sense for it to be ‘given to him by Ch*ryl’, because they would’ve used every opportunity to show that damn screwdriver.

But they didn’t, because she didn’t have it. Zayn did.

There’s also the other matching bracelets they’ve worn by Alexander McQueen.

And also the other time Zayn wore Cartier in his film clip, or the fact that Zayn started wearing a ring on his right ring finger that was sold and marketed by Cartier AS A WEDDING RING.

They also share watches if Zayn decides to wear one, because they’re cute like that.

Now, they also share clothes.

So many clothes, ohmygod.

(x)

A prime example of this actually happened just last year! TWICE! IN NYC WHEN LIAM WAS THERE (obviously to see his husband). Both times, Liam was out and about wearing two of Zayn’s jackets.

It’s also absolutely not a coincidence that when Zayn was staying at G*gi’s apartment on Bond Street, Liam stayed at a hotel a few minutes away a number of times, but when Zayn moved to Soho, Liam suddenly switched hotels to one in Soho, a few minutes away from Zayn’s new place. Just can’t stay away from an old band mate you hardly talk to, hey.

Also can’t ignore Liam wearing numerous Kooples shirts during the time Zayn was doing promotional stuff for them. Husbands givin’ gifts.

NYC isn’t the only city that relates to Ziam though!

Ahhhhhhhh. Ziami. What a time, what a time, what a time (for you and I).

Anyway.

At the start of last year, Liam and Zayn were both in Miami at the same time filming music videos for Let Me and Familiar respectively, arriving either at the same time or a day apart. It was at a time when Zayn was all over his socials, posting poems and selfies and generally being his relaxed, gorgeous self, which wasn’t incredibly common for a while.

People were convinced they could hear Zayn in one of Liam’s insta stories, talking in the background just before Liam realises and raises his voice. It’s definitely not firm though, and Liam has someone in his team with a similar accent, but I’ve linked it so you can judge for yourself! Regardless, we knew they were both there, but it was a fun lil’ talking point!

Anyway, according to people who live in the area and know the coastline, they were in the same area at the same time, and we also knew that Liam wasn’t with Ch*ryl because she was back in the UK. Now, Liam posted an Instagram story the next morning half naked in bed, his 4 tattoo (we’ll get to that) and roses on full display, and saying he’d wrecked his voice.

Well then.

He also posted this.

It was a video, but it was Liam, in his room ‘alone’ with two desserts for breakfast at a time when we knew Zayn was there and no one else was, and he suddenly had no voice.

Okay okay, we get it.

They also consistently reference the number 25, and honestly, no one knows why the fuck.

Just casually on Liam’s jackets and shoes, Zayn’s shoes and a shirt that was sold (even the red and yellow, ffs Zayn), and also Zayn’s NECK, which he got in 2018. There was also chevrons on a collection for Zayn, just like Liam’s tattoos.

Speaking of tattoos Zayn got in 2018.

That big, red wolf on his chest just up there?

One of the biggest Ziam things to ever happen.

Red was Liam’s mic colour in 1D, everything they fucking do seems to be related to red, and Liam’s nickname is Wolfie because he’s from Wolverhampton.

It’s a red wolf, directly on his chest, and it’s 100% for Liam. It’s not the only red wolf tattoo Zayn has; he also has one on his leg with feathers, just like Liam’s feather tattoo.

The media often talk about the eyes Zayn has underneath that, and that they’re for G*gi, but the eyes underneath are so much lighter than the surrounding ink, the shape fits easily, and to me, it seems clear they’ve been done in a way that they can easily be inked over. It was designed for a cover up, and hopefully it’s coming. Zayn also has Liam’s name literally inked into his skin.

They also have coordinating hand tattoos. The mandala on Zayn’s hand and the roses on Liam’s are explained brilliantly in this post. The two of these together mean ‘Symbol of Eternity’. Fucking hell.

The three roses on Liam’s hand also translates to ‘I love you’. FUUUCCCKKKKKKK.

Liam also wore a ring for a while, until he was forced to take it off, but then he rebelled anyway, and got this.

It’s important because not only is it on his wedding finger, it’s also what he said about it, and when he got it.

Now, not only is 4 as an angel number about changing the only things that you can in a situation, but Liam directly said that’s what it was. He can’t wear a wedding ring, so he did the next best thing.

It also came when Liam and Ch*ryl became ‘official’, and when he’d already quashed marriage twice in an interview. Interesting choice, then. He also spoke of the 4 and a ring forming a halo, but still somehow shut down marriage talk?

…….okay then.

Some incredibly brilliant people pointed out that it also came just before Valentine’s Day.

And just before he started wearing the Cartier bracelet from earlier.

There’s also the blatant references to a gorgeous, loving relationship throughout Icarus Falls, especially in Common and There You Are. There You Are was pushed as a Z*gi song, but people realised it was impossible when they found old pictures of the name of the song on his original plan for Mind of Mine, and realised it just hadn’t made that album. It doesn’t fit their timeline at all, but it does fit Ziam.

We don’t see Zayn very much at the moment, and I’m glad that he’s taking his time just doing what he’s doing! It does mean that we hardly see them interact or reference each other much, but I have absolutely no reason to believe they’ve broken up. The fact that they’re both still going through PR relationship bullshit, and the timing of Liam getting a ‘girlfriend’ right now instead of just rumours is very interesting to me, because Z*gi officially finished again not that long ago. When one is ‘single’, the other can’t be, it seems.

This isn’t even everything, anon. They’re not subtle; Zayn just isn’t in the public eye as much.

Everything they do screams love, devotion, and commitment to each other.

And it’s fucking gorgeous.

#ziam #zayn leaving #ziam tattoos #ziam coincidences #zayn malik #liam payne #ziam evidence #masterpost

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jisungsjheekies · 5 years

Quote

Surprise Bitch - Part 11

Genre: Fluff

Word count: 1815

Warnings: None

Requested: No

Summary: Meet Haley, a girl who loves dancing and her youtuber brother, Alex. What happens when Alex invites 9 famous boys to surprise his sister in his upcoming video?

Walking inside the studio, Haley set up her camera at the front of the room as the guys just stood, watching in confusion.

“Don’t just stand there, find somewhere to sit,” Haley ushered the boys to move out of the way. Sitting against the wall, out of sight from the camera, Haley turned to Jisung.

“Start the song.”

Jisung did as she requested before moving back to his spot. Music began to play as the boys looked at Jisung in shock. The boy just smirked before nodding his head back to the girl. All eyes watched as Haley flowed through the choreography for Side Effects like it was second nature. When came the part that Haley had originally had difficulty with, Felix, Hyunjin, and Minho tensed up at the memory. However, Haley showed no signs of nervousness, completing the dance perfectly. Jisung watched proudly, knowing he was the reason for this. Jaws dropped as the song came to an end. Shutting off the camera, Haley turned to the boys, everyone sporting shocked faces, except Jisung who had the biggest grin on his face.

“Well… What do you guys think?”

“How did you…” Hyunjin stared in wonder.

Haley just smiled and pointed to Jisung. Several heads turned to the boy, who just shrugged. “She asked me for help. What was I supposed to do? Say no?”

“So that’s why you didn’t ask me to go,” Alex realized.

“I couldn’t sleep knowing I didn’t finish learning the choreography. So I texted Jisung to see if he wanted to go with me to the studio.”

“At two in the morning?” Alex wondered.

“He answered,” Haley just shrugged, “He helped me learn the rest of the choreography and we ended up stopping around 5am so we just took a nap here.”

“Until you guys woke me up. Clearly I wasn’t kidnapped,” Jisung rolled his eyes and Haley giggled.

“Well the car was still with us, you were missing and you weren’t answering your phone,” Felix tried to argue. The members nodded along, “We were worried.”

“I’m sorry, I should’ve told you guys but I got caught up with helping Haley.”

“I’m sorry too. It’s my fault that he was out,” Haley’s shoulders slumped, guilt consuming her.

“It’s not your fault Hal. I’m the one that agreed,” Jisung comforted the girl, earning him a small smile.

“No more incidents though, right?” Alex questioned.

“Nope. He made sure I took breaks and drank water,” Haley reassured her brother.

Alex mouthed a thank you to Jisung, who nodded back at him.

“So what’s next now that you learned that choreography?” Minho wondered, the rest of the group turning to look at the girl.

Pondering her thoughts, she shrugged her shoulders. “I honestly don’t know. I work all this week so I just have to see what I have time for. We still have to do our cover of I am YOU.”

“What day do you guys go back?” Alex asked sadly.

“Sunday,” Chan replied, putting a damper on everyone’s mood.

Haley didn’t like the boys feeling sad so she tried to lighten the mood. “We should have a sleepover sometime this week.”

Immediately, ideas were shouted across the room about what movies they should watch, what games to play, what food to buy, and so on. Haley smiled as the sadness was forgotten momentarily, which was good enough for her.

“We could film our cover then have the sleepover?” Seungmin suggested, the others agreeing with him.

“Sounds like a plan,” Haley grinned ear to ear.

The rest of the day was spent goofing off around the studio until they decided to grab dinner before finally bidding each other goodbye and parting ways for the night.

***

As morning rolled around, Haley groaned when her alarm went off at 9:00 am. Throwing the covers off her body, she rolled out of bed to get ready. Quickly showering before brushing her teeth, she applied light makeup and got dressed. Her uniform consisting of a red t-shirt with PARADISE WINGS spread across the back, a black baseball cap with the restaurant logo and black jeans. Deeming herself presentable enough for the day, she shouted a goodbye to Alex, who sat on the couch playing a game, before heading off to work.

Arriving to work twenty minutes early, Haley helped her boss finish preparing everything needed for that day. Flipping the open sign on at approximately 10 am, Haley breezed through the first hour and a half of her shift before the lunch rush hit. Because the restaurant was located in the middle of the city, they typically were hit hard during lunch time as everyone seemed to come there during their breaks. So it came as no surprise when the crowd began to flood in at 11:45 am. Between taking orders, delivering food, cleaning tables and helping in the kitchen, Haley had no time to rest as the crowds continued to come and go. Even as the clock hit 2 pm, the restaurant remained packed.

“Table 19 is requesting for you,” her coworker Mia informed her before continuing to her own customers. She finished wiping off the table before grabbing her pen and pad, walking to the table Mia mentioned.

“Hello, I’m Haley. I’ll be your server for today. What can I get started for you?” she announced before she lifting her head to look at the group staring back at her. Not expecting to see her brother and the boys, she jumped in shock as the boys giggled at her reaction.

“What are you doing here?” She questioned.

“We wanted to see you,” Jisung smiled at the girl as Chan added, “but we’re mostly here for the food,” earning him a kick in the shin from Jisung.

Haley just laughed as the boys began kicking at each other before she interrupted, “do you guys know what you want to order or do you need more time?”

“We’re ready,” Alex answered, proceeding to tell her his order. After all orders were taken, she promised to have it out as quickly as possible before dropping the orders off in the kitchen and assisting to her other customers. In the meantime, Jisung’s eyes remained on her as she maneuvered through the restaurant.

“I feel bad that we came during the rush, she looks like she hasn’t taken a break since she got here,” Felix announced as the group also watched the girl.

“It’s always like this for her,” Alex mentioned. “She’s literally the best employee here. Quickest at taking and delivering orders. Always polite and helps the other workers when they get slammed. She’d never admit it though.”

The boys watched in amazement as Haley balanced a tray that looked like it weighed a ton in one hand while walking to their table. Gently placing each of the plates down, she tucked the tray under her arm.

“Anything else I can get for you boys?” Haley questioned, watching the boys dig into their food.

“We’re good, thanks Hal,” Alex smiled before basically inhaling his own food. Haley continued through the tables, coming back to check on the boys every once in a while. Noticing their cleared plates, she walked back over before getting their attention.

“How are we doing the checks?”

“Just one,” Chan stated, earning a glare from Alex. Delivering their bill, she announced that she’d be back to pick it up shortly.

Back at the boys table, they began to get ready to leave as Haley grabbed the bill. “I’ll be right back with your change.” But before she was able to do so, the boys walked past her towards the exit.

“No need, keep it,” Jisung smiled at her. Haley opened the envelope to see more cash than was needed, her eyes growing in shock before she tried to deny their very generous tip. Too late. Jisung winked at her before following behind the others, not giving her the chance to return the money. Huffing in response, she grabbed what was leftover from the bill and tucked it away into her apron. Thankful that the crowd had finally begun to die down, she worked easily through the last few hours of her shift.

As the clock struck 6 pm, Haley untied her apron, taking all the tips she earned and stuffed it into her pockets. Grabbing her phone, she saw that she had a message from the group.

On her way home, she grabbed Chinese takeout and plopped onto the couch to watch Netflix. Watching a couple episodes of The Office, she finished her food before throwing it away in the trash. After cleaning herself up, she lied peacefully in bed while scrolling through social media. Seeing that Seungmin posted on Instagram, she swiped through the photos to see that the boys must have went shopping before going to the movies. Double tapping the photo, she continued to scroll for a little longer before switching to Twitter. As she read through the tweets, her eyes began to flutter closed. Locking her phone, she placed it next to her on the bed before letting sleep take over her.

Around 9 pm, Alex and the boys arrived back at the apartment from the movies, looking around for Haley. Alex headed to her room and found her sound asleep in bed. Quietly shutting the door, he walked back out to the boys.

“She must have really had a bad day. She’s knocked out,” Alex informed the group. Jisung couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed, as he had been excited to see Haley. He understood how tired she must have been after seeing how hard she worked during their visit earlier in the day. His grip tightened on the gift he had planned to give Haley, saving it for next time. The boys bid Alex goodbye before heading back to their own place. Back home, the boys parted ways to their own rooms. Jisung laid in bed, unable to get a certain girl off his mind. He was desperate to see her again, even if it was only for five minutes. Trying to distract himself, he grabbed his phone to scroll through twitter. However, his attempt was quickly ruined as one of Haley’s tweets appeared on his timeline. Was it a sign? Jisung thought to himself as he clicked on her profile and scrolled through. He considered texting Haley to see if she had woken up, but was scared that she hadn’t and didn’t want to disturb her. However, he went against his better judgement and sent a quick text to the girl. Biting his lip, he waited impatiently for a response.

Twenty minutes had passed and she had yet to reply. Jisung was about to give up and shut his phone off until it vibrated in his hand. She’s awake. Opening the messages, a huge grin appeared on Jisung’s face as he typed a reply.

#stray kids #stray kids imagines #stray kids fluff #stray kids han jisung #skz #skz imagines #skz fluff #skz han jisung #han jisung #han jisung imagines #han jisung fluff

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ryanmeft · 4 years

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Movie Review: Cats

For anyone who was aching to see James Corden dive head first into a trash can full of garbage or Judi Dench inform you about how to talk to cats, all while singing and dancing in humanoid feline outfits, boy, do I have the movie for you. Some of the songs work, and the top-notch cast is trying their damndest, but when person-shaped cats shake their asses at the camera while hissing and baring claws, it’s the kind of movie that makes you want to protect your genitals.

I’ve been known to criticize the plots of films by claiming they don’t actually have one, and that’s rarely been more true than it is here. A cat named Victoria, played by Royal Ballet dancer Francesca Heyward in her major film debut, is dumped in a back alley by her owners, where she meets a bevy of other cats who begin to sing about the fact they are Jellica cats. I don’t know what that means, I’m pretty sure the movie doesn’t explain it, and if it does I didn’t catch it, because whenever more than one person sings and/or dances at the same time it’s a garbled mess. Among the cats who adopt Victoria, most don’t stand out in the slightest. The ones that do are a flamboyant show-off named Rum Tum Tugger (Jason Derulo), who seems like a cross between a playboy and a cabaret dancer, and Mr. Mistoffelees (Laurie Davidson), a self-professed magician who can never get a trick right.

The villain, who abducts cats through magic or trickery, is Macavity, played in his handful of scenes with reasonable relish by Idris Elba. He is backed up in a single number by his gun moll-like girlfriend; Taylor Swift plays the role and is onscreen for all of five minutes, which based on her name’s prominence in the trailer has got to be some kind of false advertising. He’s also got a thuggish assistant played by Ray Winstone, and together the three of them give it their all. In the grand Disney tradition, the villain even gets one of the better songs---or at least one of the few ensemble numbers that isn’t completely broken. Judi Dench gets the role of Old Deuteronomy, the very ancient leader of the cats, and Ian McKellan, who could play a rock and make it interesting, is a feline Lawrence Olivier.

The alleged plot is that all these cats are competing to determine which one Old Deuteronomy will elevate to the cat heaven---or maybe it’s the next life, or reincarnation, or just a ride in a balloon. To say the film isn’t clear about this is like saying ice is a tad cold. The obvious candidate is faded singing star Grizabella, who lives on the fringes and is in need of redemption. Jennifer Hudson imbues this character with a gravitas that the film doesn’t come anywhere close to earning. This alleged story doesn’t really even come into play until halfway through the movie or so, which would be fine on the face of it, as musicals are allowed and expected to take their time on songs that exist for their own sake. You have to do it right, though. This is not that.

The first major problem lies in the fact that the premise is inherently flawed, and that nothing in the film works to mediate that fact. Director Tom Hooper, working from a script by himself and Rocketman scribe Lee Hall, has, I am told, transplanted the Andrew Lloyd Webber original almost exactly, in the process overlooking an important fact. On the stage, we’re watching people in real time, and the fact we know they are just acting---we can see them in front of us, after all---is part of the draw. Films, because we do not see the bones of the sets and because no curtains ever fall to break up scenes, are taken by the human eye to be more literal. In this regard, Cats admittedly might have been doomed from the beginning, as no matter how good the CG fur is, a person’s face on a cat’s body is never going to look right to our minds. Yet the film not only wants us to believe in and emphasize with these characters, it wants us to do so at the same time that they are doing profoundly creepy things. You could be forgiven for thinking the opening scenes are setting up a horror movie. Let’s break it down, shall we? You have a dark alley at night. A bag is abandoned with something wriggling and unidentified inside. Out of the bag bursts a human-shaped cat, which prompts other human-shaped cats to advance toward the camera (and thus the audience) baring claws and fangs and singing something we can’t begin to make out. I don’t know about you, but if that happened to me, a jolly song-and-dance number would not be my immediate reaction.

By far the most cringe-worthy scenes in the film are given to Rebel Wilson and James Corden. The casting calls for these parts may as well have read “We need larger people to do some songs about being lazy, fat and greedy.” Wilson and Corden are, usually, funny people in their own right. Here, Wilson’s weight is used in a grotesque way to derive a laugh out of the very idea of her doing acrobatics, while Corden is given a supposed-to-be-funny-definitely-not-funny spoken aside that is all about how big his character is. Fat jokes, people? Really? We start with unintelligible music and uncomfortably sexualized animals, and then we bust out the fat jokes? Get someone to sit on a whoopie cushion while you’re at it.

Does the music at least work? Occasionally. “Sometimes the music is okay” isn’t a great blurb to slap on ads for a musical. As mentioned previously, if so much as a single person joins an existing song or dance, everything goes straight to hell. The cast sings over, around and sometimes against each other, and the only way you can understand a word they’re saying is if you already know the lyrics. Even the handful of good solo performances---Hudson’s rendition of the iconic “Memory”, Heyward’s performance of the only new song, the excellent “Beautiful Ghosts”---are marred by Hooper’s inability to sit goddamn still for 30 consecutive seconds. He sends Christopher Ross’s cameras onto close-ups, cutaways and jump shots so frequently that we’re denied the one pleasure any musical should have nailed: the ability to just watch dancers dance and singers sing. When you have people this talented at doing what they do, you put the camera on them and take your hands off it. Even the sets, which were huge so that the human actors appeared cat-size, don’t work---they’re so stuffed with puns about cats, on every marquee and billboard, that it gives the movie the final push it needs into full-on parody.

There’s one good thing that came out of me going to this dud, and that is that I learned that T.S. Elliot once wrote a book of poems about cats. It is, apparently, what the original 1981 musical is based on, and reading it is what I should have done instead of seeing this movie.

Verdict: Not Recommended

Note: I don’t use stars, but here are my possible verdicts.

Must-See

Highly Recommended

Recommended

Average

Not Recommended

Avoid like the Plague

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https://www.facebook.com/ryanmeftmovies/

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https://twitter.com/RyanmEft

All images are property of the people what own the movie.

#idris elba #cats #taylor swift #james corden #movies #judi dench #ian mckellan #francesca hayward #ray winstone #tom hooper #musicals #rebel wilson #andrew lloyd webber #ts elliot

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spiftynifty · 5 years

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On Let’s Voltron, the showrunners, and fandom

On Thursday an interview came out on Let’s Voltron, the ostensibly final interview with the showrunners of this now-completed show. Within an hour a few tweet threads appeared and incited a new wave of hatred and anger towards the showrunners, mostly by people relying on these tweet threads rather than listening to the interview themselves.

I don’t like secondhand info that sparks outrage; and having watched both AB interviews and seen how outraged people got over them, without having seen either, I strongly suspected that this interview was nowhere near as incendiary as the tweet threads suggested.

And lo and behold, I was right. Much of what was reported in tweets was misconstrued, or lacking the additional information that listening to someone’s tone provides. I didn’t hear two snarky showrunners smugly enjoying the chaos that their truly lacklustre season provided. I heard two people who were exhausted and beaten down by both the expectations of the fandom and the limitations placed on them by people with more money and power. They didn’t call Shiro “boring”, they referred to their initial vision of him as boring. They didn’t say he was repetitive, they said his backstory was repetitive of other characters’ in the series and was cut. There was one salty comment from JDS about how Voltron and Atlas merging was cool but everyone was too bummed about s8 to appreciate it, but there’s a dark humor to it that reads to me like a man struggling to joke about something neutral and positive in a season that was poorly received by fans and many critics alike. The vast majority of the interview is not much we haven’t already heard, though there is a very telling segment that lasts about 5-10 minutes where they discuss the heavy limitations on representation in cartoons. Ezor and Zethrid were allowed to exist, they say, because they were secondary characters. And female. The words “main heroes” with an S, are repeated several times by LM when describing who was and was not allowed to be LGBT. She explicitly states that wlw is one thing, but mlm is a whole other battle.

As disappointed as I am in the mistakes JDS and LM made, I find myself feeling very defensive of them as I see the people who once defended them from ants now begin to exhibit ant-like behavior themselves. “They should never be allowed to work in animation again” says one tweet. “They never gave a shit about this show” says another. “S8 was their explicit revenge on fans.”

It makes me unbelievably sad to read this. JDS and LM made mistakes. S8 was objectively terrible. Their attempt to shoehorn in “bonus” representation backfired terribly. They’ve been upfront about Voltron never having been planned with a happy ending in mind, and buckle down hard when confronted with the notion that killing Allura was a bad move.

But as they’ve said many, many times, this show was a labor of love for them. They worked their asses off to pitch something grand to Dreamworks because they were fans of the original and wanted to do it justice. But then they got the show and proceeded to get buffeted around for 4 yrs by dreamworks and the rules of a pre-existing IP and half the story ideas they come up with get shot down by execs for any number of reasons. People have latched onto the fact that the last third of the series wasn’t properly planned from the beginning, but I’d like to remind people that the plan they had for s3-6 was completely upended by one (1) executive call. The showrunners have said that they purposefully left things out of the bible to make it harder for execs to say NO to something well in advance. They were, as my director frequently calls it, “playing the game”, the careful balance of trying to tell a good story while also pleasing the client demands for a robot toy show. It’s a fight. Part of playing the game is leaving decisions so late that it becomes far too late to be changed by executives. But the downside of this is sometimes running out of time to do the things you want to do.

I’d like to point out too that in the interview at one point they actually say, “we knew who our audience was. They [the marketing people and higher ups] didn't.” So for 4 yrs they struggled to make the story they wanted to tell, they lost directors and writers, because the demands were way too high and people were burning out and leaving in an industry where being overworked is so par for the course that burnout is just a constant state of being. In other words, it takes extreme amounts of stress for people to burn out, and there is a certain mentality in this industry of burning out being a sign of weakness. When 2/3 directors left (one of them without the safety net of another offer) they put a bit of their reputation on the line-- and left anyway. And through it all JDS and LM, like any creators, were just trying to tell the story they wanted to see, scrambling to manage executive demands, working on multiple episodes at once and trying to maintain the storyline through them, losing people to burnout, having to rewrite entire scenes when voice actors weren’t available, and fighting for the show to be better than it was.

I'm not absolving the showrunners of guilt, I'm just feeling bad that this is where they ended up because at the end of the day they genuinely were coming from a place of good intentions and a desire to tell, from their perspective a good story. And they did fight for rep, to the point that when initially Shiro was not allowed to be gay, they considered getting up and walking away and ending the project but they stayed because of the crew who would have been summarily put out of work. They weighed the importance of having that representation vs the jobs of 100s of people. That’s how important it was to them.

Obvious, they didn't stick the landing, and it’s fair to say they outright screwed it up in a massive way that’s going to be remembered for a very long time. On the Shiro front they didn't have time to, in a way that would have felt genuine and agreeable for everyone. Keith was never ever going to be allowed. Maybe if Shiro and Keith had both been women, it would have been, which is a sad thought on the state of this industry and the kind of gendered homophobia that still exists in media both animation and otherwise. JDS and LM didn’t think far enough ahead on this, didn’t think outside of their pool of internal knowledge as non-LGBT people. As terrible as it is, it’s important to note they did this not out of a place of malice or vengeance, but an earnest, if misguided attempt to try and diversify the landscape. It did a lot of damage and they should not be rewarded for this move; but they also shouldn’t be being painted as the mustache-twirling villains so much of the fandom tries to make them out to be.

I hope this has been a huge lesson for them on the importance of stepping outside of your own situation when creating minority characters and properly discussing these characters with multiple people in real life who fall into those categories. No one LGBT person can or should speak for the entire community, as we’ve well seen with certain crewmembers.

Killing Allura is a much harder act to forgive because that was something they had time to think about and plan for and it should have been the more obvious lesson. There was ROOM to ask someone outside of themselves, “does this work”. There was room to be educated on why this was a terrible move both socially and narratively. There is room and time now, and dozens of articles about this very issue, that both showrunners should be reading and absorbing especially as their next projects involve a host of diverse characters. Their insistence to buckle down on the Allura Issue to me reads as; they haven’t learned anything from this, or taken the time to understand people’s pain about it. This is something that desperately needs to change especially as they continue to make movies and presumably TV shows. I do hope it’s something that will.

All this to say, please listen to the interview yourself before adding to the hate mob. If you’re still angry after listening to the interview yourself, that is your prerogative but I encourage you not to transform that anger into venomous hatred against the showrunners. The show is over; as fans we can transform this space into whatever we want it to be since Voltron is effectively ours now. Is attacking the showrunners, as ant1s have famously done for years, the image we really want to hold onto going forward?

#voltron #salt #sorta??#i just want people to be mad while also maintaining compassion towards other humans #the animation industry is a brutal one #especially for creatives #vld

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dnp-and-blankets · 5 years

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Ceramic Bowls Are Too Cold

"Good morning, sleepy-head" Phil chuckled as Dan walked in. He had slept in, which was rare, contrary to popular fan belief, he was usually the first one awake. He makes breakfast most days, and watches whatever show he's been watching without Phil. He turns it over once Phil comes in, and they then eat breakfast together whilst watching an anime- they're currently watching Erased. Dan made a small noise in response. Phil chuckled even more. "What's wrong baby?" He asked, turning to fully face his boyfriend, and take in his gorgeous, bed-head self. His curls were completely wild, having grown out for a while, in a fashion similar to their Getting Over It video; his eyes were heavy lidded, still somehow sleepy; he was wearing nothing but an old pair of Phil's boxers, and one of Phil's oversized hoodies, that managed to look like a dress on Dan, giving him sweater paws. This will always confused Phil. Dan is taller, and they have the same clothing size, and yet Dan can manage to look tiny in Phil's clothes. Dan shuffled over to the sofa and plopped down, resting his head on Phil's shoulder. "Why're you so tired?" Dan only shrugged his shoulders in response, grabbing onto Phil's arm and holding on, like a baby koala. Phil smiled and ruffled his hand through Dan's curls.

"Mmmph," was Dan's response. "Did you have nightmares? Stay up late on Tumblr? Get to a good chapter of whats-it-called?" "Something like that," Dan giggled, his voice still soft from sleep. "Cereal?" He asked as he let go of Phil's arm and looked up at him with puppy dog eyes. "Are you sure? I thought we were having healthy breakfast this week?" "Cereal?" Dan repeated. Phil caved immediately and got up, gently easing Dan off of him beforehand. "Okay sugarplum, which cereal?" Dan shrugged again. "Golden Nuggets, Crunchy Nut, or Chocolate Weetos?" "Golden Nuggets please" He asked softly, rubbing his eyes. Phil tried his hardest not to coo out loud. He instead opted to laugh, "Nice manners today." Dan smiled. Phil looked into his boyfriend's eyes and smiled back. It was impossible. The dimple was just chilling there, existing, and it was the best. He got a ceramic bowl out, and Dan whined. Phil raised an eyebrow in question.

"That one's too cold! That's why I bought plastic ones last month." At least Phil's original question was answered, but it raised many more. Ceramics never ever annoy Dan. Sometime's he'll opt for a plastic one, but he's never complained about ceramics being 'too cold.' Phil poured in the cereal and as he went to grab the milk, Dan whined again. Phil let out an exasperated sigh, throwing up his hands, he sarcastically said, "What now? Chocolate milk?" To which Dan replied, "Well actually..." And Phil had to comply. Because Dan looked utterly heartbroken over Phil making fun of him. "Are you going to tell me what's going on?" He asked as he handed Dan his bowl of cereal. Phil had opted for some Crunchy Nut, with normal milk, in a normal bowl. Dan just rolled his eyes and started eating his breakfast. "Don't wanna watch Erased today, what about that new babysitter one everyone's been talking 'bout?" "Gakuen Babysitters?" "Yes" "Okay..?" Phil paused, Dan hated starting a new anime in the middle of bingeing another one. This confused Phil especially, because Erased was only one season, meaning they were almost finished it. They probably could finish it today, but alas, Lord Daniel desires a change of scene.

They put the anime on, but Phil didn't watch it. He watched his boyfriend, intensely, trying to figure out if everything was okay. Dan's bright eyes were glued to the screen, breaking every now and again to make sure he didn't spill his cereal on himself. Every so often he would let out a soft giggle. That was definitely new. He had heard it once or twice every now and again, but never multiple times in the space of 10 minutes. "Baby?" Phil finally asked. Dan turned, his cheeks suddenly dusted with pink. He looked at Phil to signify he was listening. "Do you promise me you're okay?" "Mhm" Dan nodded vigorously, then looked down shocked as some chocolate milk split on him. He furiously wiped at his chest and pouted. "I'm fine, aside from spilling this on myself" He said, finally in a normal voice. It was short lived however, as the soft sleepy voice returned as he asked if Phil could make him a coffee whilst he got changed. "Of course sweetheart."

Phil set the kettle boiling, and got Dan's favourite mug out, along with one of his own. He put the correct amount of coffee, sugar and milk in -he even considered putting chocolate milk in Dan's before deciding against giving the boy even more sugar- and then went to grab the fully boiled kettle. He heard a sob come from their bedroom. The speed at which he ran towards it, is a speed Phil saves solely for Dan Related Emergencies. Dan rarely cries audibly, which meant he was either badly hurt, or something really bad had just happened. "Baby, baby, what's wrong?" Phil puffed as he swung the bedroom door open. The sight he saw was pitiful, Dan was sat down on the floor, a clean hoodie half way on, but seemingly abandoned, and every single drawer in the room had practically been emptied. "I can't find it." "Can't find what?" "You'll laugh," he sniffled. "Of course I won't." "Lion." "My lion?" Dan nodded in response. Phil thought for a moment before going into the AmazingPhil room. Lion sat decoratively on the dresser, and Phil scooped him up, then turned on his heel and brought him to Dan.

Dan took lion and immediately stopped crying. "I thought he was lost," he sighed. Phil just shook his head, smiling as he returned to the coffee mugs. Dan eventually padded back into the living room, lion held firmly in his little fist, and they pressed play on the anime. Phil snorted as one of the adult characters began playing with the children. "He looks like one of those weird kinky people that act like babies," he laughed at his own joke before sarcastically adding on, "I'll never make you wear a nappy whilst we have sex, so you better not be a DDLB kid, those guys are nasty." Dan visibly froze. "You're not, right?" "Absolutely not, they sexuality kids," he scrunched his nose up and pretended to gag. Phil laughed in agreement, and sipped his coffee. "Shit, I forgot to-" "Bad word," Dan scrunched his nose up. "Daniel, darling, have you ever heard yourself playing Mario Kart? You, good sir, are the King of bad words." Dan just pouted and huffed through his nose. Phil giggled and kisses the tip of his nose.

"As I was saying, I forgot to tweet about a new video coming soon." Phil pulled his phone out and began opening said app before he even finished his sentence. "Also, people are @ing me asking where you are, you've been inactive for a while, I recommend tweeting, or at least replying to some replies to your older tweets." "Ugh, fine, if I must." "You do realise how incredibly lucky we are for this to count at us doing work, don't you?" Phil laughed, as he finished composing his tweet, "If you don't like it, I'm sure Tesco is hiring." "I don't know where my phone is" "That doesn't come as much of a surprise to be honest babe." Dan stuck his tongue out and started checking under the couch cushions. "Do you want me to call it?" "No!" He practically yelled. "Chill out Dan, I don't care what you've set your ringtone to this time" "It's not that-" "I'm calling it, shush, we need to listen." The two men stood silent for a while before they heard vibrations. "Great. I love hunts for phones that are on vibrate." They both began walking around the living room, pausing every few seconds to listen. Phil almost face palmed as he saw it in the Kitchen.

He marched over to the kitchen island, and picked it up. "Uh, Dan?" Dan froze again. He looked up at Phil with fear in his eyes. "Why is my name on your phone, 'Daddy <3' when you told me years ago that you don't have a daddy kink?" "I don't have a daddy kink." He said, stomping his foot. Phil tried to swallow the bubbling anger, but when Dan lies to him when the evidence against him is very prominent, it's very irritating. "Stop bullshitting me Dan" "I knew you'd react like this" "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" "Please don't yell at me," Dan begged, Phil could see the tears forming. He inhaled, and carried on more gently, "Daniel, I don't like it when you lie to me. Please tell me why my name is daddy." Dan looked at him pleadingly, before inhaling sharply and hurriedly saying, "I'm not into DDLB, I'm a safe for work age regressor, which means sometimes I'm little," the last bit was said all in one breath, "SosometimesIuseadummyandIlikestuffiesandblankies-" "Hold on baby bear, slow down, I heard that it was non sexual, so take your time. I'll listen. And I won't judge." "Sometimes I use a dummy, and I like stuffies and blankies, and I get fussy and sometimes sleepy, and in my mind you already look after me like a daddy so the other day I was little and thought it'd be a good idea to set your contact number as such."

The discussion took around 4 hours, of Dan showing Phil his private sfw agere tumblr, teaching him signs of when he's little, and setting boundaries for when that happened. They agreed that Phil should look into it some more before officially becoming Daniel's daddy, and finally, a month later, that's where they were. "Daddy! Get! Up!" "Nooooooo" "I want pancakes" "Go make them then" "Okay" there was silence for a moment before Phil realise Dan had called him daddy, and he shot out of bed, just in time. "Don't touch the oven!"

#my writing #dan and phil #sfw age regression #phanfiction #sfw agere phan #phan #phandom #daniel howell #little!dan #sfw daddy!phil #phil lester #amazing phil #danisnotonfire

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