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zorya-wellness · 3 years

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Should You Read Reversed Tarot Cards and Learn Their Meanings? Beginner Tarot Guide.

Often when people start to learn Tarot cards, they limit themselves to some boundaries or rules.

Some people put aside Minor Arcana cards to learn Major Arcana on a deeper level; others ignore elements “for now”, to avoid getting confused.

But the majority first tend to ask the question: “Should I read Tarot reversals?” and try to sort of choose the side from the beginning.

I learned Tarot reversals and how to read them as a part of my Tarot education program. At the beginning of my Tarot path, I even considered them in a reading.

I also read various perspectives of different Tarot professionals on the internet, just like you are reading this Blog post right now.

But at one moment I decided to ditch the reversals completely and put all my cards in the deck upright once and for all.

No, not because it is difficult to work with reversals but because based one my knowledge and experience this was the most logical thing to do.

I will explain to you my logic and approach but always feel free to choose a path that works for you. There are many wonderful Tarot readers that work with reversals but also plenty amazing ones that never did. The choice is yours.

Reason #1: Confusion with Card Meanings and Interpretation

Yes, this is something that is worth to consider. The interpretation of reversed Tarot cards can get really vague and personal.

For example, you can “reverse” the meaning of the card, saying that the reversed Tarot card meaning is just the opposite of the upright.

In that case, if we take, for example, the reversed Devil Tarot card, we can say that its meaning is quite positive and signifies the release from the boundaries and addictions.

But we may also say that the reversed Devil card meaning is even worse than that of the upright and the person described by this card is at the point where they can’t get out.

Same applies to the rest of the cards in the deck. You can either see their meaning as the opposite of what they mean upright, or make them worse than their meaning is, in case it is negative to begin with.

Reason #2: Repetition of Cards’ Messages

This is not something you will see often if you are reading cards only in their upright positions.

Yes, you may get 5 of Pentacles and the Tower together in a business reading and both would point on financial loss but the cards’ nuances would still provide with additional information that will create one full story.

When you read both reversed and upright cards, the card meanings can once again become blurred.

It becomes much more complicated to see those nuances and differences and many cards start to simply replace one another instead of complementing. It also becomes difficult to tell if the reversed card means the same thing that the upright next to it or something else?

Reason #3: The Upright Tarot Cards Already Have SO MUCH to Tell

There are 78 Tarot cards, friends! For a reason, don’t you think?

And consider the fact that, practically in any spread, Tarot cards influence each other’s interpretation – so that the meaning of one card depends on the surrounding cards.

There really are plenty of Tarot cards in the deck and based on all the combinations, situations and nuances, we can really draw a conclusion that there is more than enough information as it is in the deck to give a quality reading. There really is no need to multiply all of this by 2.

Let’s look at a quick example here. Take the reversed 2 of Cups card that speaks about conflicts, misunderstandings and relationship struggles. Let’s say that this card came up as a Significator for a relationship reading.

Would something change drastically if there was an upright 3 of Swords or 7 of Wands card instead?

In my opinion, no. Both cards can describe the situation perfectly well, in their own ways.

For example, 3 of Swords card can say that the conflict that took place was really heartbreaking to the partners, while 7 of Wands can point on continuous arguments, clashes of opinions and misunderstandings.

And, in my opinion, these upright cards would give much more information than the reversed card, the meaning of which is quite questionable.

Reason #4: Some New Tarot Decks Do Not Have Meanings for Reversed Cards

And here you can say: “Well, a Tarot reader should be able to work with any deck.”

And this is generally the truth, but you need to take into an account that there are WAY MORE Tarot decks being created now than needed. And some people that release those decks have nothing to do with Tarot and are just hiring the artists to draw the cards choosing a popular theme, the prettier the better. Whatever sells well.

As a result, sometimes we pick up a deck that has really nothing to do with Tarot. And the meaning of the card completely deviates from the original or traditional interpretation.

RELATED POSTS: TAROT FOR BEGINNERS: STARTING WITH BASICS. HOW TO CHOOSE A TAROT DECK that is right for YOU.

For example, look at this “The Lovers” Tarot card that appears to be a Game of Thrones inspired Tarot deck.

And don’t get me wrong, I’m a huuuuuuuuuge fan of Game of Thrones (House Bolton, anyone? No?)

But this card has absolutely NOTHING to do with the meaning of the Lovers, as the Loves card has nothing to do with love!

It is a card of CHOICE more so than anything else.

This is why when you look at the traditional version, you see that he is looking at her and she is looking at the Archangel and behind them is a snake. What is the path you chose?

When we look at this Game of Thrones version of the Lovers card, we can see a couple deeply in love. They are together, they don’t need anything else or anyone else. In fact, there is nothing here pointing on a choice.

And you may say here: “Oh, well, John Snow made a choice. He left Ingrid and went back on the wall.” You know this, I know this. Does a person who has never watched Game of Thrones and just picked up this deck know this?

So, it may seem that I deviated from our original conversation on Tarot reversals here but not really.

The point here is that if the upright position of this card does not really mean what it should, what does the reversed card even mean? Does it point on a break up? Are they falling out of love? What if you pull this card for career? Well, I suppose, you can say that is signifies breaking of a partnership.

In reality, this is my PERSONAL interpretation and you can see this differently.

In this case, we will all just interpret the cards how we “feel” not how they should be interpreted.

Here I really like the approach of Aleister Crowley. Unlike Waite, who does talk about reversed Tarot cards, in fact, most of the literature on Rider-Waite deck talks about reversals, Crowley does not mention reversals at all.

All he mentions is “the shadow side of the Card.”

And it is absolutely an amazing way to put it.

Each card has its Shadow side but you don’t need to see it reversed to understand when it shows it.

Reason #5: The Process of Tarot Reading

This would depend on how you personally deal with shuffling and picking cards during your reading.

When I get a question, I start shuffling the cards while concentrating my mind on the question and the spread. After that I pull individual cards either from the deck itself or I spread the cards from right to left and pick the cards I am drawn to.

The most mystical process happens while you are shuffling the cards and thinking about a question. It is sort of similar to a mini manifestation meditation when you let go of the unnecessary thoughts to allow your mind to concentrate on one specific matter.

RELATED POSTS: What to Do with a New Tarot Deck? How to Cleanse, Charge & Store Your Tarot Deck? Beginner’s Guide.

What was happening to the deck before the shuffling process or how I pull the cards after shuffling is done is not important. After you are done shuffling your Tarot deck, the cards that are meant to be pulled are already waiting for you.

For this reason, I don’t favour card reading method when the reader pulls cards for additional questions to clarify something. For the most accurate reading it is one question – one spread.

So, the thing is, while you are shuffling the cards you don’t flip them. When you shuffle a brand-new Tarot deck, all cards are in the upright position. How do you then get the reversals?

You get them when you are not collecting your cards gracefully after the reading and are just being sloppy.

Doesn’t it then seem like you are the one creating reversed Tarot cards yourself?

Of course, you can continue to flip the cards while you are shuffling, but it is already way too much hustle, if you ask me.

Reason #6: Look at The Spread as A Whole, It Has A Story to Tell

During many years of my work with Tarot, I have learned to analyze the spread as a whole and not read each card individually. This means that I don’t interpret each card one by one, I look at the surrounding cards, their elements and how they influence each other.

RELATED POSTS: TAROT FOR BEGINNERS: HOW TO BECOME A GOOD TAROT READER: My 3 Tips for Beginner Tarot Readers

For example, when I’m doing a relationship spread, I like to understand the nature of the partners. Not based on what THEY tell me, but based on what THE CARDS tell me.

So, I usually throw three cards per partner with the positions: what he/she thinks, what he/she feels and what he/she does.

When I analyze those cards, I look at the connection between them and also at any inconsistencies that may arise. For example, a partner may think one thing but do something completely the opposite, hide something, or may feel completely different inside.

This allows you to have a full portrait of a person as a whole.

And this applies really to any spread. You always try to read a story not just interpret one card after another.

Should You Then Ditch Tarot Reversals Practice for Good?

The thing is, there are many methods and techniques used by the readers. There are even those who chaotically throw cards on the table and pick the needed ones using their intuition.

There are many approaches to Tarot and divination as a whole.

My blog post does not call upon ditching reversed Tarot cards but rather asks to think about the process for a minute.

Perhaps, if you are a Tarot beginner, it would be a better idea to leave the reversals out and focus on other important aspects, such as elements, numerology and cards combinations.

But I notice more and more that even advanced and experienced Tarot readers leave the reversals out more often.

The ultimate choice is yours and depends solely on your preference. There is no right or wrong way.

#tarot #tarot cards #tarot witch #tarottribe #tarot basics #tarotreading #divination #pagan wicca #paganism #paganlife #psychic #tarot newbie #tarot lessons #tarot learning #tarot life

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swampythesweetsketch · 3 years

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Mimzy Mochama (NSR Edition!)

Name: Mimzy "Mariposa" Mochama-Supernova They/She | Poly/Demi Glitter Ball Object head Age 21-23 (varies for AUs) Themes: Flora/Fauna (from Father) and Galaxy (from Mother) Colors: Green and Gray/Black Music: Dance Pop (Ex. Circle ft GUMI, Again and ECHO by Crusher-P)

Mimzy was born to Oliver Mochama and Isabelle "Intergalactic" Supernova.

She was left behind in Vinyl City for unknown reasons and was instead raised by her uncle, Thomas "Subatomic" Supernova.

Thomas raised his niece while phasing from his professor job to a professional artist in NSR.

Mimzy was kept away from the other NSR artists at a young age due to her love of dancing. And Thomas did NOT want Tatiana to make Mimzy a child artist like what happens to Yinu years later.

When Mimzy was a bit older, she was introduced to Eve. The two were okay but Eve's insistence on "interpreting" and "defining" Mimzy's dance routines lead to the two quickly fighting.

She also met Tatiana, after Thomas/Nova allowed, and to confirm his fear- she did in fact question Mimzy if she wanted to lead her own district after displaying her dancing.

She turns down the offer at first.

Until she met NeonJ and 1010.

Neon J and her got along quite fine, she's very patient with his army persona and knows he has some issues.

Now 1010-

She and Rin were immediate enemies. Come to find that 1010's personalities from "gentleman" can easily phase into "jock". Rin wasn't the best at conversations early on, so his unwelcome advances and flirting towards Mimzy pissed her off to no end.

Purl-hew and her got along at first. But come to find that Purl-hew was a friend of Eve's, and after Eve got to push her perception of Mimzy to Purl... yeah. Their friendship fell apart, worse off when Purl-hew defended Rin.

ZImelu and Mimzy were okay at first, they don't like Purl and Rin and want to spend anytime AWAY from any NSR events to only spend time together. Zimelu developed a crush on Mimzy after the two began sneaking off to underground karaoke bars and got to hear her sing for the first time.

Haym and her are... well- Mimzy didn't like him at first. When the fight between her and Rin happened, Haym tried to de-escalate. Which convinced Mimzy that he was on Rin's side. Haym lost his cool with his brothers sometime after, the two ran into each other and spent time tucked away in Cast Tech to help him out with his conflicted feelings. He started to crush on her when she became ride-or-die with him and Zimelu.

Eloni was an odd case as he tried to ignore her, kinda complacent with his weak popularity within 1010's group. Mimzy was too preoccupied with fighting Rin and Purl-hew at the time to talk.

Mimzy decided to take Tatiana's offer after the 1010 fiasco, but Thomas/Nova urged her to have Mimzy get a portion of Cast Tech instead to help avoid the energy consumption of constructing a new District.

So after 2 years, Mimzy obtained a quarter of Cast Tech to turn into a night-themed park called Lunar Trail with a central dance studio and open stage. The place is a favorite when it's nighttime, fairy lights are used to brighten the place but not too bright to blot out the night sky.

As she begins the process of opening her stage to smaller acts and new dancers, she finally gets to meet Eloni. Zimelu and Haym snuck him out to see a late show, and the two hit it off quite well despite Mimzy's hesitance. But after they close up the stage and go off to get food, they find to have a lot of shared interests with memes and internet culture, along with sharing their own interests like Mimzy's love for old cartoons and Eloni's passion for ice cream making. (Yes I am making a headcanon that Eloni is the one behind all the ice cream shops in Metro Division. fite me)

When the two start secret dating, Zim and Haym are supportive! (and a little pissed that their bro got to be with Mimzy even though they had a crush on her before he did.) Yeah, these four are idiots in love (after Zim and Haym confess too) and don't dare tell anyone.

During the DK West riot, Lunar Trail is one of many places caught in the fires and destroyed. The loss of the mini district hit NSR hard and DK West is ran out of Vinyl City, Cast Tech had to close off a portion of its district to rebuild.

Mimzy, feeling without purpose, was advised to use her skills to work with 1010 or Eve. She chose Eve. She didn't want to deal with Rin or Purl-hew.

Though Eve did turn down her partnership, the two did talk about their problems and left a bit better than before.

She was pushed to work with 1010 afterwards, and Rin ignored her for the most part. Purl-hew got word about her and Eve (kind of) making up and tried to talk to Mimzy, but they too ignored each other.

Zimelu, Haym, and Eloni got to spend more time with her. They were happy with it, then they got worried that Rin might catch them.

Mimzy returned to her almost complete district as NSR went to judge for their monthly Lights Up auditions to check everything before it went back online.

Then B2J came to audition...

Mimzy held off opening the district to avoid B2J coming there to get her Platinum Disc and had her uncle stay in her rebuilt flat until the Rock Revolution hit its peak.

After the game...

Mimzy reopened Lunar Trail to new artists and performers like she planned to. As she got to meet B2J as a friend instead of corporate foe, she came to find out that Zuke was DK West's brother. Yeah, she didn't like him so much after telling him what damage his brother did to destroy Lunar Trail the first time.

Mayday, she kind of enjoys her company but doesn't consider a friend due to Mayday's company. She enjoys her more plain and skin-deep approach to analyzing things.

With the other NSR artists gaining more free time thanks to new artists, Eloni started to open up his schedule to babysit Yinu.

The tiny child wanted to see the "Natura rip-off" that was in Cast Tech. Well, she sees Lunar Trail and then has the time of her life playing in the playground and seeing the night sky and now she wants her own playground in Natura. (To help visualize the difference between Natura vs Lunar Trail- Natura to me is this posh plaza with golden colors, small statues, and a more garden/apartment flat setting. Lunar Trail is a lax park setting with blue/green lighting, circling trees to close it off to the rest of Cast Tech, and few buildings to be found.)

Rin and Mimzy get to work with a small collab, and Rin apologizes for his dumbass behavior. Mimzy accepts and the two become casual work buddies.

Purl-hew and Eve get to talk to Mimzy after Eve got her own beef with Zuke resolved, and the three come to terms with their grudges. Purl decides to pause his and Eve's friendship, as he wants time to discern his thoughts and feelings that've been influence by her.

Vinyl City improves, NSR gets reformed to allow leeway to new power and improvements.

Mimzy gets to close the stage late at night to go back to her flat. Zim, Haym, and Loni are there to see her after a long day.

#NSR #No Straight Roads #AU #Mimzy #OC

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sherrybaby14 · 5 years

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You’re Everything I Want

Summary: You reunite with Sam Wilson after the snap.

Warnings: Angst, fluffy smut, this is on the romantic side of things

Rating: E

Pairing: Sam Wilson x reader

Words: 2500

A/N: I was inspired by Anthony Mackie’s photo shoot with Men’s health and would very much like him to bench press me now.

The thick silence was worse than everything your mind cooked up.

“Say something.” You folded your arms around yourself.

“What’s there to say?” Sam rose from the couch. “It’s over.”

His face was blank, emotionless. You knew him well enough to know it was a façade. Whatever he was feeling he buried. It was a prime example of why you were breaking up with him.

“I love you.” You stood up now. “I’ll always love you. But this is for the best. You’re never here and when you are, you’re so deep in your head. I can’t live this way.”

“Goodbye.” He rolled his shoulder’s back and went for the door.

You wanted to chase after him, stop him from leaving. Tell him to fight for you, but Sam Wilson needed something. You didn’t know what it was, but the last few months it became obvious it wasn’t you.

So you stayed still. Not letting a tear fall until the slam of the door shook the frames on your wall.

Chaos was an understatement. Your hand shook when you put your key in the apartment door. You still had a hand right? Several of your co-workers disintegrated into nothing. Were you next? The street was filled with cries and it sounded like bombs were going off.

How many had vanished? Were there children without parents? Cars going ninety miles an hour whose drivers went poof? Why were you safe? Was anyone really safe?

You went to the bathroom and turned on the light, needing to see your reflection in the mirror. There was nothing but terror on your face as the tears continued to fall. You hadn’t cried like this since your break up with Sam.

Sam. Was he safe? You hadn’t spoken in months, but the thought of him leaving this Earth made you keel over.

You hit the bathroom floor and pulled out your phone. It didn’t work. Nothing worked. What the hell happened?

“Please be okay. Please be okay.” You pulled your knees to your face, mumbling as you rocked.

You continued to beg, but in your heart of hearts, you knew. Sam was gone.

Life went on, but everything carried a grey tint. The world figured out a way to work somehow. Every person on the planet carried guilt with them, nobody was unscathed by what had come known as “the snap”.

A year in you went on a date. He was more interested in talking about his long gone wife and your thoughts still stung of Sam. You never should have broken it off. You should have stuck by his side, given him the time to open up to you. Wherever he was, you hoped he knew you still loved him.

Two years in and you were ready for a mini-relationship. It lasted a few months, but he didn’t hold a candle to Sam. None of them did. You were in love with a ghost.

Three years in you decided to try casual sex. A few internet hookups, when you met up for the action you demanded the lights be off. It wasn’t a stranger between your thighs, it was Sam. The fantasy always broke when they didn’t touch you right, not with the same caress and obsession that came with Sam’s hands.

Four years and you accepted it. There would be another for you. You would rather be alone than with anyone else. When you shut your eyes you still saw his face.

“I miss you.” You imagined him reaching out and running a hand down your cheek while you lay in bed together.

“I’m always with you.” Sam pulled you closer. “Always.”

The fantasy brought a tear as you hugged your pillow, pretending it was Sam and squeezing on for dear life.

Five years in and you’d accepted your decision. Equal parts lonely and content. Moving through your day as fast as possible so you could crawl into bed with memories of your beau and the hope he made an appearance in your dreams.

The day started off like any other. You were sitting at your desk, trying to update your playlist for the day when you heard a familiar voice.

“Hello?”

It took you a moment to place it. You stood up from your chair, knocking it over. Had you finally cracked? Were you insane?

“That was weird.” Another voice from the past.

You ran to the hall. Your mouth hung open and tears stung your eyes. The other survivors came out too, all of you starring at the vanishers.

“How is this happening?” A coworker took off running.

Sobs broke out and you brought your hand to your mouth not to join them. They were back. The missing had returned. Your legs shook as you collapsed on the floor.

“Thank you.” You shut your eyes and pictured Sam.

A smile came with the tears. He was back. You didn’t know how, or why, but you could feel him. Your world.

That night you barely slept. Where was he? Was he thinking about you? Would he make contact? You still had his phone number, but would it even work? You were too scared to try.

Plus, given his Avenger status, you imagined he had bigger things to deal with. You still smiled thinking about him. If he never wanted to see you again you were okay with that. All that mattered was he was back, even if he wasn’t with you.

News poured in. Tony Stark saved everyone and he died for it. Life was not fair, but like everyone else, you were grateful for his sacrifice.

The world kept turning, the grey replaced by colors. People were smiling more. Yourself included.

You kept a news alert on for any mention of Sam, but as usual Steve Rogers got most of the press. The Avengers were not infallible though. They’d lost more than Tony Stark.

When you walked up to the stairs to your apartment you couldn’t keep the smile off your face at the sounds of the people. There were more televisions on, more radios blasting music that was popular five years ago, even footsteps.

You entered your place and went straight for the bedroom, stripping off your clothes and changing into a baggy old t-shirt before plopping down on your bed.

You laid down on your side and pulled out your phone. You found yourself staring at the thing quite a bit, still unable to dial the number. Last few years it was like you’d forgotten that you broke up with him months before the snap. That was the headset Sam lived in. Nothing had changed for him.

It had only been a week. Maybe, once he’d been back for a few months you would reach out. Reconnect over some coffee. Talk about your break up. Or maybe that was just a fantasy. Another one you could live with for the time.

A loud knock echoed through your apartment. Your eyes popped open as you sat up on the bed. The clock told you it was the middle of the night. The pounding didn’t stop as you swung your legs over, rubbing your eyes as you walked in the darkness to the door.

“I’m coming,” you didn’t want the person to wake your neighbors.

They ignored your comment and continued with the knocking. You groaned as you undid the locks and pulled open the door, ready to strangle the obnoxious visitor.

The sleep faded when deep brown eyes stared into yours. A gasp left your mouth. Neither of you spoke a word, but your fingers had a mind of their own. They reached out and touched his cheek.

You half expected your hand to fall through him like a ghost. All the times you’d imagined touching him over the years were nothing compared to this. He was real, flesh under your fingertips. Tears started to well up.

Sam took a step into your apartment and scooped you up, putting his hands under your ass. You brought your hands to his neck and wrapped your legs around him. There was something metal hanging across his back, large enough you were surprised it fit through your door frame.

He brought his foot up and kicked your door shut, before walking you to the bedroom.

“Are you real?” You had to ask the question, unsure that this was not a vivid dream. “Wait, don’t answer. If you’re not I don’t want to know.”

“I’m real.” He pressed his head forward and you did the same touching foreheads. “And I’m here. In every sense of the word.”

“I never should have let you go.” You slid a hand to his cheek again.

“I never should have left you.” Sam sat down on the bed, leaving you straddling him in your lap.

You reached over to your nightstand and turned on the light, needing to see all of him. Your brain wasn’t sure your eyes were telling the truth. You feared if you blinked he would vanish.

He reached behind him and took off the metal thing, tossing it to the floor. One of his hand ran up your back until he got to your neck. Sam pulled you forward.

Your lips parted before they touched his. You moaned, fantasizing about his kiss did not compare to how it really felt. His mouth was perfection on yours. Sam slid his tongue into your mouth and you gripped down on his shoulders, your body flooding with electricity.

You ran your hand down his chest until you got to his belt. You wanted all of him.

“Do you want to talk first?” Sam broke the kiss. “I have a lot to make up for.”

“I’ve spent five long lonely years thinking about this.” You moved to kissing his neck, missing the way his skin tasted. “If you’re gone in the morning I want one new memory.”

“Baby, I’m not going anywhere without you.” He grabbed the bottom of your shirt.

When his fly was undone Sam lifted his ass and you pushed his jeans and boxers down. You didn’t get to see anything since he was lifting your shirt over your head, blocking the view.

Once your top was gone you gasped at the sight of his cock. It was larger than you remembered, hard and angry for you. The sight of it eliciting a moan from your lips.

“I missed you too.” Sam dipped his head to your chest.

He took your nipple into his mouth and sucked lightly, flickering his tongue across the bud, making it harden into a pebble. You brought one hand to the back of his head, scratching over his hair while your other went to his cock and started rubbing the tip, your thumb gathering the amount of precrum that was already forming.

Sam let out a grunt before standing and flipping you to your back. His mouth left your breast, making the air feel that much cooler without his heat.

He took off his shirt and it took everything you had not to cry at the sight. His body was as defined as ever, perfect for holding you in the way you craved. He continued to undress, kicking off his shoes with his pants.

You used the opportunity to push your panties down, leaving yourself completely bare and ready for him, parting your legs and bending your knees.

Sam grabbed an ankle and brought it to his mouth. He placed a light kiss, his eyes on yours as he made his way down your leg. Your body began to shiver.

“What’s wrong?” He looked concerned.

“I’m so happy you’re touching me, but I want more.” You’d had five years of foreplay. “I want all of you.”

A grunt left Sam’s mouth and he dropped your foot and dove on top of you, his lips found yours again. You ran your fingernails down his back as he positioned himself.

“Mmmm,” You lifted your hips and dug into his skin when he began to sink.

“You’re tight.” Sam growled. “Really fucking tight.”

“It’s been awhile.” You arched your neck and he used the opportunity to bite and suck at it, making you purr while he stretched you with his massive cock.

“You feel amazing.” Sam moved up to your ear and lightly nibbled. “It’s been a long couple of months without you.”

A whimper left your lips. Sam had no idea. You wanted all of him, as much as you could get. So you lifted your legs and wrapped them around his hips, tugging him down until he was satiated inside of you.

He started slow, sliding in and out of you while you rolled your hips against him. Moans left your mouth as you tossed your head to the side.

“I can’t believe this is real.” You didn’t mean to say that out loud.

Sam moved a hand to your chin and turned your face to look at him.

“Nothing is more real.” His lips found yours and he increased his speed.

It felt like he was splitting you in two in the most delicious way. You rolled with him, your clit brushing against his pelvis with each thrust. It was too hard to pay attention to the kiss as your body came alive for the first time in years.

Again your head fell to the side and your arms went limp. Sam’s fingertips traced down your skin until they found your own fingers.

You wasted no time intertwining them with his, squeezing tight as he continued to pump you, your bodies perfect for each other.

“Sam, I’m going to cum.” You were getting dizzy.

“I know baby.” There was a breathiness to his voice. “Cum for me.”

His hands squeezed down harder on yours and it was all you needed. Your toes curled and eyes pinched shut as the pleasure crashed forward. Sam started to fuck you with abandon, each quick thrust sending another spasm from your core.

“Wait…” You didn’t know if the word came out right.

“Fuck.” Sam bottomed out.

“Ummmm.” Your head swam with what you wanted to tell him, but all you could focus on was his erupting cock, filling you with his seed.

It clicked. You looked up at him with some panic.

“I’m not on the pill anymore.” There had been no point with your inactive sex life.

“Good.” Sam smiled. “I want to start our life together right away. I’m not wasting any more time.”

Another round of tears started to form. Sam tilted his head.

“I love you so much.” You gave a half smile.

“I love you too.” Sam squeezed your hands again as he dipped down to give you another kiss.

Finally, it felt like your life was getting started.

#sam wilson x reader #falcon x reader #marvel #marvel fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic #sam wilson #avengers #anvengers fanfic

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seoyulhrs · 4 years

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thank everyone so much for the super sweet welcomes! i’m april n i’m so excited to be a part of this roleplay, i really love this kind of stuff and i’m eager to get seoyul into all kinds of troubles. the short of it is that she’s a real luna lovegood type, but with more of a personality disorder and pathological desperation for attention and validation then “cute quirky background and opinions.” less pure ravenclaw and more like slytherpuffclaw? chaotic, right? in terms of personality she is canonically whimsical, lackadasical, enthusiastic, mythomaniacal, and positive. she can also be bright, elusive, bizarre, alluring, erratic and (self, usually) destructive. i guess that makes her paradoxically unstable and lovable so i’m sure we can kick up some fun alright. check below the cut for the highlights! ETA: my discord is apricots#6128 if that’s easier for plotting!

kim seoyul is ilmyo born and raised, grew up in a big family with not much left over for her in terms of attention, affection, or cash.

retreated into fantasy worlds for her own amusement. loved to read, play make believe games, had a hundred imaginary friends, ran around the woods looking for ghosts and witches, you name it. she was one of those kids that REALLY wanted a hogwarts letter or to open the door to narnia. anything to get OUT of ilmyo and her shitty house.

obviously it didn’t work out that way.

she was a precocious, talkative, enthusiastic kid. really whimsical and dreamy, usually had trouble paying attention to lessons, but was really smart and highly verbal for her age - always read and spoke above level significantly, likely because of all the reading and storytelling she did - much to the chagrin of her teachers.

it was easy to be popular as a little kid because her weirdnesses could be overlooked and nobody cared she was poor as long as she could make up the best make believe games to play on the playground.

getting a little older though it got worse. her teachers and friends started to wonder about her being so relentlessly head-in-the-clouds and distracted maybe by her own imagination, like she lived in her own world.

her lies also gradually got bigger as people came to ignore make believe games and “my uncle works at nintendo” level bragging. as a result that meant she needed to get more creative to get the attention she wanted. to that note, it got to the point where she was acting out in general (as much as a preteen can) until her parents were called in by the guidance counselor.

it’s at this point that they raise a real concern that she’s got some kind of personality disorder or at the very least needs a significant amount of counseling to work through unhealthy coping mechanisms, but obviously her parents toss that idea to the side and brush it off as her just being her “usual odd self.”

high school is her chance to reinvent. this is paired with the fact that her grandfather dies and leaves them a lot of money - or at least, what amounts to a lot of money for them. they move into a decent house, she has some new clothes and shoes and a new backpack for the first time (the rest is all still hand me downs mostly but that’s not so bad), and she kind of sort of “lets” swan & co (also freshmen, also way cooler than she is right off the bat) believe she’s become rich, that the inheritance was much more than it was.

they’re willing enough to believe it, given her demeanor has changed so much - she’s more confident, watched some makeup tutorials, talks big about the parties she went too in seoul when they were there for the summer and the funeral arrangements (she didn’t, but that’s fine), boys are paying more attention to her. between freshman and sophomore year she has a real glow up (thanks puberty!) and things all seem to be going really well.

at least until SWAN outs her as a fraud and the cool kids mostly stop talking to her. she thinks its bullshit since it was barely even a lie (it was a lot of lies) and she didn’t hurt anyone (technically kind of true) but she doesn’t fight it because she knows she was never the queen bee type anyway - even when she was with them she wasn’t all the way in the crew, like she was always a step behind the three of them.

so the rest of high school she finds her own friends, does her own thing.

fucks swans boyfriend to prove she can (and because he’s hot) and generally is your run of the mill small town teenager, drinking in the forest and braiding flower crowns and maybe spending way too much time on the internet.

she goes to school and keeps spinning lies, big and small, mostly harmless. she’s not even sure why she does it, they just come out before she thinks about it, before she can stop it. for any number of reasons, too - so people will like her more, to seem more interesting, shock value, manipulation. she doesn’t usually intend to be malicious with them and they’re usually directed to facets of herself (maybe rooted in self loathing?) but it drives her crazy. she feels a constant lowgrade guilt that is always compounding, but the idea of being fully honest and therefore vulnerable is so frightening the idea of it makes her feel physically ill. coming clean about even minor lies at this point triggers her to minor self harm or bouts of panic. she really should have gotten counseling at some point.

instead she got a masters degree in library sciences and a job back in ilmyo....

some lies she probably tells, fully expecting people not to believe her, include cryptically suggesting she got lost in the forest over the weekend as a kid (she did, but it was only one night) and saw ghosts (probably untrue), that she saw the lovebirds fighting before they died (definitely true), that she is or knows the ilmyo talk blog creator (not true), that she’s psychic and reads tarot cards (half true, she knows the meaning of cards and supplements with her own intuition, like a party trick), that she dated a celebrity during college (exaggerated truth, dated a former c-list boy group member who’s group had disbanded), that she’s really, really going to get out of this dead end town someday (please god, let this one come true).

#GIRLWHOCRIEDWOLF / ooc

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bloodyshadow1 · 5 years

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Nature V NatureBlog:ModernAu

So this is my submission for day 4 critrole femslash week, prompt Alternate Universe. I choose to do a modern au with a vlogger/social media because when I started it I read a few and thought they were neat. Hope you enjoy, read, review, comment, reblog, they really mean more than you’d think when writing stuff like this.

“Oh sweet Pelor, she posted another freaking video,” Vex’ahlia ‘Vex’ Vessar screamed at her brother Vax’ildan, or Vax for pretty much anyone who had ever talked to him.

“Who my dear sweet even-tempered sister,” Vax asked half amused half mocking. He already knew who Vex was throwing her latest hissy fit over, she had been throwing tantrums over the other half-elf for months. It wasn’t fair, there was such a huge storm in Emon last week the meant she wasn’t able to go out and hike like she normally did which meant she hadn’t been able to film a new video. It also meant that she hadn’t been able to visit her sweet baby boy Trinket either and that was even worse. Maybe it was making her cranky, but she wouldn't admit that.

“You very well know who I mean,” Vex said rounding on her brother but her eyes never strayed from her phone, “Keyleth Zephara.” The newest Druid Diaries video already had a couple thousand views and it had only been up for an hour at most. Vex hadn’t watched it yet, but she knew it would be sweet and wonderful and oh so sickening, just like the woman who it focused on.

“Oh right the red-haired bimbo who has been the bane of your existence for the past few months. The one who updates every Saturday, which is today,” Vax said not even looking up from his tablet. He had much better things to do than listen to his sister go on and on about her one-sided war she was waging against her crush even if his sister wouldn’t admit it was a crush.

“I never said she was a bimbo,” Vex retorted. She glanced at her phone again seeing Keyleth’s smiling face as she traveled through the wilderness, “I mean yes I called her a strumpet, but I didn’t actually know what it meant. I thought it was an insult that you called pretty women.”

“I know,” Vax said finally looking at his twin sister, if only so she could see his shit eating grin. “Zahra won’t let you forget it.”

Vex didn’t need to be reminded about her ex-girlfriend/current best friend’s literal rolling on the floor laughter the first time Vex used the word wrong during a rant about Keyleth. Besides, Zahra didn’t matter right now, “I just don’t get how her blog is more popular than mine? I mean we’re both nature blogs, but I’m the 3 time gold medalist and fashion icon, whereas she’s just a nature blog. Why is she more popular than me? Vex’ahlia’s Visions is a masterpiece blog in my opinion, it combines fitness, fashion, and nature.” Vex had started it up sometime during the last Summer games and her third gold medal victory and it had been a very popular blog for the last 3 years. Her friend Scanlan had suggested it, said that she could boost her popularity and show her fans the real her. While she was initially against it she had to admit it was fun and she did love the praise she received for her breathtaking nature shots as well as people lavishing over her beauty during her fitness and fashion segments.

“How could my blog be losing to a blog about a gorgeous girl who does cute things with animals she sees travel the world. It’s only been up for two years.” A moment passed and Vex was about to answer but Vex stopped him, “I know, I know her blog sounds awesome, I realized it the second the words came out of my mouth. Still, it doesn’t explain why she’s more popular than me. She calls her fans Kikinuts for crying out loud.”

“I mean, it probably doesn’t help that you follow her and are like half the views on her videos.”

“I’m not half the views on her videos,” Vex shot back, “maybe a quarter, but not half,” she whispered to herself. She can’t help it, after all Keyleth of the Air Ashari was the competition, Vex had to watch her videos to see why they were so popular, at least 8 times each just to be sure, sometimes with and other times without sound. “Still, I’m a ranger and one of the most famous in the world, how does someone have a nature blog more popular than mine?”

Despite Vex’s complaints she did love Keyleth’s videos. They were always surprisingly informative about the places she visited, and she would always have animals in her videos that did cute things and she would talk to sometimes. Usually she would end up sleeping in the woods somewhere making a shelter, foraging for her own food and water, living under the stars. As a powerful druid she apparently had the ability to summon storms and perfect wifi no matter where she went in addition to her other magical and shapeshifting abilities. Being able to summon lightning meant her equipment was always charged too so that was helpful for a druid ‘roughing’ it.

“You might be a ranger Stubby, but she’s a druid. You both might have nature one your side but she can turn into animals and talk to them and people love animals.”

“I have animals in my videos.”

“You have animals that are running away from you little sister,” Vax said standing up giving his sister a kiss on the forehead since he knows how much she hates it. “Keyleth gets them to gather around her like she’s a Disney princess or something. And that’s not even getting to how she is with plants. Or she gets attacked by them which also leads to a lot of views because people like to see that sort of thing. I’m sorry but I don’t think you’re going to win this one. Especially since you want to keep my nephew out of the spotlight.”

“I swore I would never become a crazy stage mom and force Trinket in the spotlight for something as paltry as popularity. My child is a wild dangerous beast and my animal companion like the ones the rangers of old would ride into battle with. Not some dancing bear doing tricks for snacks and nose pats. The fact that he’s adorable and happens to love me with all his giant heart is a moot point,” Vex said matter-of-factly. She loved Trinket more than anything in this world, which is why she let him roam free in the wilds near Emon instead of stuck in her house like a pet.

“That makes me proud Stubby,” Vax said giving his sister the biggest sloppiest kisses he could muster on each cheek, one for him and one for his nephew. As she pushed him away he continued, “I know you’ve always wanted to be the type of successful woman that those bastards back in Syngorn would have to respect at least. But I’m glad you’re not willing to go crazy over that. I mean if winning three gold medals for archery in the past 3 olympic games didn’t make Syldor respect you, I doubt becoming internet famous will.”

“That might be because I competed on behalf of Emon and beat every pureblooded natural born son and daughter of Syngorn they sent up against me, along with the competitors from the Dwendali Empire, Marquet, and everywhere else,,” Vex said proudly. The memories of her father looking down on her archery skills back when she was 6 still hurt, he had only agreed to let her try after her stepmother convinced him to let her try. He had bet on her quitting in a week. Her stepmother had given her the gold piece when the two of them left to study abroad in Emon when they were 12. A reminder of the first time she forced her father to eat those words Devana said before sending her off with a kiss on the forehead and telling her to not make it the last.

“Syldor and the rest of them back in Syngorn would still respect you even if they hated you, the fact that they still don’t means they never will Stubby. So stop acting like having the best nature blog will make you anything more than an ambassador’s bastard half-blooded daughter to the stuffy elves back home and just enjoy your crush like a normal person,” Vax said as patiently as he could. He knew it probably wouldn’t get through, it wasn’t the first time they had this conversation, but Vex had a hard time letting their horrible childhood go.

“Whatever,” Vex said shrugging off her brother’s words, “why don’t you get out of here, I have a video to watch.”

Sighing Vax just decided to let it go, one issue at a time, “when you watch this time, maybe just forget about your one-sided rivalry with Keyleth for now and just watch her video. You know you always forget about how much you pretend to hate her once you see her break out in that embodiment of sunshine smile she always opens up with,” when Vex flipped him off in response he just let out a sigh and moved to the door. “Just try not to drool all over yourself this time or should I say don’t let her make you so mad you’ froth with rage,” he managed to say before he dashed out of the room dodging pillows that his sister was trying to assault him with.

Unfortunately for Vex this left her alone to deal with her brooding/crush over Keyleth. She wished Trinket was there, he always managed to make her feel better, but a bear wasn’t meant for a populated area, the woods near Emon were fine since he was less than a mile away at worst, but it still didn’t mean his absence wasn’t felt. She had a cabin deeper in the woods on private property that Trinket stayed in or around most days. It worked for Trinket and it worked for her wilderness videos.

She waited to watch the newest Druid Diaries, she knew it would be fantastic even if she could only see the thumbnail. It was of Keyleth sitting up in between two tree branches, she was smiling of course, wearing her classic green ensemble with her iconic antler crown framing her long mane of red hair. Initially she thought that Keyleth had a lot of followers and fans because she was a pretty girl. There were always idiots who followed pretty girls who made videos, Vex knew first hand when she was starting out, but that wasn’t the secret to Keyleth’s success. While she was adorably charming in a clumsy sort of way Keyleth did know her stuff when it came to animals and plants, even if she seemed a bit ditzy at first glance.

Quietly, Vex wondered where Keyleth was going to be shooting this month. The druid seemed a nomad at heart and despite loving each location she got to she only spent a month or so in an area to explore all the natural world had to offer with a video showing up each week before moving on. Vasselheim was an exception though, Keyleth seemed to fall in love with the ancient city and it’s forests full of magical beasts and stayed a whole 4 months before moving on. Her fans loved it though, everything from the forests and the monsters, to the way their idol had explored the ancient city. She had spent so long there that there was speculation on her forum that she had joined the legendary Slayer’s Take hunter’s guild.

Vex had always wanted to go but had never gotten the nerve to. But she would one day, she’d take Trinket there and explore the forests, see the wild magical beasts that hunted in those woods, maybe she’d even join the Slayer’s Take. It was supposed to be a pretty open guild, once you took a contract you needed to fulfill it but it also didn’t have a requirement to keep taking contracts.

That didn’t matter right now though, she had to watch the new video her enemy put out. Despite what her brother thought Vex did not find Keyleth attractive, just annoyingly beautiful and awkwardly charming, but not attractive no sir. Realizing she was just justifying her actions to herself, Vex let out a sigh and started Keyleth’s newest video. It was long enough that she’d by the time she finished she’d be able to watch Keyleth’s live Q&A segment that she always did after the first week. Every now and then her phone would go off to tell her that she had a new notification, something she normally checked religiously, but she ignored them, when it was Keyleth’s video watching time the building would be on fire and she wouldn't notice, which had happened before.

“Hey there Kikinuts,” Keyleth started out with her camera zoomed in way too far so they could only see her right eye. Vex gave a snort, this meant Keyleth was doing things solo, her best friend and camera man when he could Percy wouldn't have let her start a video like that. “Oh sorry, let me adjust that,” she said zooming out a bit until her whole face was in the video. “There we go,” Keyleth said giving the camera a smile and Vex felt her heart speed up. ‘Shut up Vax,’ she thought out loud to a brother that wasn’t there. Keyleth might have had the most gorgeous green eyes Vex had ever seen, but it was her face that she could, and have stared at for hours.

Vex couldn’t help but notice how the morning sun just lit up Keyleth’s long mane of untamed red hair like a sea of rubies or fire. She looked beautiful, Vex could admit that much as she sighed feeling the anger towards the innocent woman whose only crime was being more popular than she was and making her feel weird things.

“I hope you all enjoyed my last month in Whitestone, the home of my best friend and assistant Percival Fredrickstein Von Martini Koala De Rolo the Third,” she giggled. it was a running gag in her videos for Percy’s name to be unpronounceable to anyone other than him. “Unfortunately,” Keyleth said sobering up a bit, “Percy decided to take a bit of a leave of absence for a while. Don’t worry, we’re still a duo and having broken up or anything, he just needed some time to himself. Seeing his childhood home and his family made him feel a bit nostalgic so he decided to stay with them for a while to catch up. You can still keep up with him @Pderolo3 and of course you can follow me @TempestOfAntlers if you aren’t already. Remember if you like this video, leave a like and subscribe, maybe even a comment. Just a reminder because this is the first week of the month, I will be doing a live Q&A session 2 hours after the video airs so send in your questions. It’s weird to be saying that since it will be the future by then but it’s what we’ve been doing. Any way,” Keyleth said giving her fingers a snap, “now that that’s out of the way, we can start our video for real.”

It started off like it usually did with videos of her hiking for a bit and just enjoying the sounds of nature all around her. Vex didn’t usually like this part, it was fine but Keyleth did her best to be quiet for the first few minutes or so and as much as Vex loved nature, sometimes trees just looked like trees, and she had enough trees in whenever she went to visit Trinket. These trees didn’t look any different, which made Vex sit up, actually not only did they not look any different, those were the same trees she saw whenever she visited Trinket, the exact same trees. “Here I am in the Forests of Emon, the capital of Tal'Dorei, and home to Sovereign Uriel Tal’Dorei the Third,” Keyleth said breaking into the talking points of her show where she would list the history but Vex didn’t hear her. She was paralyzed frozen by the information that Keyleth Zephara was literally a few miles away in the forests she walked and hiked in for years.

It wasn’t until Keyleth got a familiar furry visitor, a large brown mass of fur lumbered into the clearing that Keyleth was currently filming in. The two of them stared at each other dumbstruck, neither expecting the other and Vex had a mini heart attack. She knew that Trinket was the sweetest being in creation, but he was still a wild animal, she knew that Trinket wouldn’t attack Keyleth but that didn’t mean that Keyleth wouldn’t attack him thinking she was in danger. Keyleth might not be a warrior, but she was a powerful druid, Vex had seen videos where Keyleth turned into sharks, or tigers, or giant rock monsters, she could destroy Trinket in a fight.

“Alright viewers,” Keyleth whispered into her camera, “I am going to show you how I deal with wild animals that could be potentially dangerous. Just a warning, don’t try this at home unless you are a druid to and even then, I wouldn’t recommend it.” With that she put her phone down so she was still in view, and for a minute she glowed.

Vex was about to run outside with her arrows, crush or not if Keyleth hurt her baby she’d shove an arrow so far up that bitch’s ass that. Luckily her rational side took over before she could do something stupid, it said that this video happened a week ago so even if she did rush out she’d be too late. Also, it said that she always knew when Trinket was in danger thanks to their bond so she had nothing to worry about. She had felt him be nervous during the storm that was after when Keyleth would have shot her video.

“Hello,” Keyleth said in a deeper voice than normal, “I am Keyleth,” her voice said was heavy and harsher than normal, like she was growling. Trinket just let out a large roar in response, Vex could tell he wasn’t angry or scared, just curious, “Oh, you speak common,” Keyleth said in response, “that makes things easier.”

Trinket growled back friendlier than before, “okay so you’re Trinket,” Keyleth responded, “it’s very nice to meet you Trinket,” she said giving Trinket a scratch on the chin. And Vex’s heart started to calm down a little, it also tried not to melt. Seeing the girl of her dreams befriending her son was not something she ever thought she’d see, but it did things to her. Not dirty things, but familial things that she hadn’t dreamed of feeling in a long time.

“You’re very nice for a wild bear,” Keyleth started to say, “I don't mean that other bears aren’t nice wild or not,” she said backtracking. “It’s just most wild bears I meet aren’t so nice or understand common. Oh you’re Vex’s bear,” Keyleth said excitedly and Vex’s heart just froze. The notifications were going off on her phone like crazy now and to the point where Vex had to plug her headphones into her laptop just so she could watch what could be her most important moment of her life. “Wow that’s amazing, I didn’t realize she had a bear, especially one as cute and cuddly as you,” she said in a cutesy baby tone as she gave Trinket a belly rub.

“No,” Keyleth responded to one of Trinket’s growls, “never meet Vex personally, I saw her up close once though,” she said surprising Vex. “It was during the games before last, I went there with my father to represent the Ashari tribes. We don’t exactly have the numbers for athletes to compete, but we were invited to spectate the games. It was a great honor for the tribes, but I was nervous, most of the competitors were hyper focused on their own events they didn’t have time for anyone who wasn’t a fellow athlete, a coach, or the press so I was lost. I didn’t feel like I belonged there so part of me wanted to just curl up and cry in my room from nerves and anxiety. Then at one of the dinner after the opening ceremonies, I saw her, arguing with another athlete form Syngorn despite her being a whole head shorter than him and probably ten years younger, and winning. I think probably the coolest girl I’ve ever seen and she was my age. I didn’t introduce myself back then, I was still too nervous to, but just seeing her stand up for herself made me feel braver. I kind of became a Vex fangirl after that,” Keyleth said kind of dreamily, maybe? It sounded dreamily to Vex who was trying really hard not to get her hopes up. This couldn’t’ be real right?

This couldn’t be happening, this was something after a cheesy romcom, granted it would normally happen with dogs opposed to bears, but Vex didn’t have a dog. “I went to each of her competitions and bought tons of her merchandise, I just was so into her.”

“Do you want to be,’ Vex thought absentminded, she really had no filter when she wasn’t paying attention.

“I got into vlogging because of her actually,” she said surprising Vex when she did. “I got a notification about her on google and saw her video for the first time and I don’t’ know I just subscribed then and there. Oh I don’t know why I’m tell you this Trinket,” Keyleth said looking cute and Vex thought her heart couldn’t take it.

“Oh Vex talked about me with you before,” Keyleth asked excitedly and Vex’s heart dropped, oh no.

For a moment she just watched and listened while Trinket growled amicably with a big smile on her face. Slowly though her smile seemed to fade slowly to the point where she Vex could hear Keyleth’s heart break, “I see she said that about me,” now it sounded like the Druid was about to cry. “I guess I could see that, she isn’t the first person to say things like that about me. I think we should move along, there are so many nice things to see in Emon,” but now she sounded like a carebear who was told love didn’t exist.

Vex’s alarm went off to let her know that Keyleth’s Q&A and Vex immediately shut her alarm off and saw she had hundreds of notifications. Some were “Why are you being mean to Keyleth,” or “I don’t get where you get off being mean to Keyleth, she’s great while you’re the worst,” which seeing how she was feeling right now she couldn’t disagree. Others were worse unfortunately, “I’m with you, Keyleth is an overrated bitch,” or “Keyleth is a cunt who doesn’t know anything and needs to shut her trap. Team Vex all the way,” which got a block from Vex right away. Even a few gross ones that say things like “if the two of you are going to have a fight you should film it with jello to boost both your views.” Honestly she wouldn’t mind getting jello with Keyleth, but she wasn’t’ going to have a catfight in it, at least not for people to watch.

Immediately she turned on Keyleth’s live stream and saw that the area she was filming in was partially destroyed. In the background of her shot though there was a cabin that looked far to familiar. “Hi there Kikinuts. There was a bit of a storm the last few days so sorry I’ve been out of communication. But I’m here and safe, my friend Trinket actually brought me to this nice cabin that belongs to his owner,” she gestured to the, “he took me to where the spare key was so we could both stay safe and dry. I just want you to know Ms. Vex’ahlia if you’re watching this I’m sorry, I never would have trespassed if it wasn’t an emergency. I’ll leave money for whatever I took to survive, I didn’t mean to intrude upon your space.”

“Oh fuck,” Vex swore aloud, the way Keyleth said her name now, it was so meek and formal, she’d talk to her father’s business associates like that growing up.

“Anyway, enough about me,” Keyleth said, “lets here from you guys, what do you want to ask me?” She started scrolling through the chat, “Alright let’s see here there…, there’s a lot of questions asking what the deal between me and Vex’ahlia,” Keyleth said with an aggravated sigh, “look, I don’t know. Like I said I was a huge fan of Vex, and if I could maybe talk to her, I still can be. I know this kind of seemed like I dropped this on you guys, but I’ve been wracking my brain over this for the last week. Maybe I insulted her some way when we were kids by accident or something, but I don’t really know what I could have done to make her…, upset with me but I don’t’ want to start guessing on here without talking to each other first. Since I’m in Emon I thought maybe I’d send her a message to see if we could meet up IRL and maybe clear the air without any cameras or people watching. Maybe I can apologize for whatever I did to offend her. Just don’t send her hate, like I said she’s still the coolest woman I’ve ever seen and Trinket here loves her,” she pointed over to Trinket the traitor who was just rolling around in the dirt being a happy bear. “He’s been talking about how much he loves his mommy all week and how great she is. So I’m sure this is just a problem on my end that I hope we can fix. I get enough hate because of what I do, I don’t ever want anyone else to experience that, especially over me,” her big green eyes were full of sincerity.

“Anyway,” she said trying to lighten the mood, “lets see about another question. Sorry, they’re going by really quickly so if I don’t’ get to yours I’m sorry, I’m not ignoring you it’s just hard to see them sometimes. Alright, how about this one,” she paused for a second before letting out a sigh of frustration, “no @AldarLoverL, I will not say what Vex said about me it’s private, she told her bear not me. I shouldn’t have learned it the way that I did so please stop asking. Moving on for…, are there any questions that aren’t about me and Vex’s so called feud?”

At that point Vex was already out the door rushing grabbing her keys and leaving her apartment. “Hey Vex,” Vax called her as she got to the front door, “are you watching…, I see you were watching Keyleth’s live stream.”

“I always do you know that, dear brother of mine,” Vex said trying to keep the frustration out of her voice. She loved her brother, her twin, the other part of her soul, but she needed to go to her cabin and clear the air. It was only a few miles away, on her bike she could be there in under 15 minutes.

“Are you really going to crash her livestream just to tell her that you don’t actually hate her?”

“Yeah or at least that was the plan,” she admitted, “she’s at my cabin with my son thinking that for the past week I hate her, I need to make things right. Now if you’ll excuse me,” and Vex was out the door quicker than her arrows. She tore down four flights of stairs faster than any sprinter she’d meet and got to the garage where she kept her other baby, “Death From Above”. It was a nice looking motorcycle that Vex loved to ride, she had beaten some crazy dragonborn necromancer in pool for it but it was hers. DFA was loud but it was fast and it got her where she was going and it made Vex feel like she was flying.

It was a quick ride, luckily there was no traffic the way to the cabin, once she was off the main road it was just a barely paved dirt road to get to her little slice of heaven. By the time she got to the cabin her heart was still pounding, she all but jumped off her bike and ran to the back where she recognized Keyleth was filming. She got back there right as she started to realize she had no idea what she was doing, Keyleth was still shooting her Q&A, it usually lasted an hour. Vex’s body moved before her mind could catch up and she was around the corner face to face with Keyleth before she realized these things.

Sweet Pelor the Ashari woman was more beautiful and cute in person, for a good thirty seconds they looked at each other not saying anything, Keyleth shocked just as much as she was. “I was watching your stream,” Vex started to explain, “after watching your last video. I saw you were at my cabin and were talking to my bear. I just wanted to say I don’t’ hate you, Trinket made a mistake. And now I realize how unprofessional this is, crashing your shoot,” Vex said awkwardly slinking behind the corner of her cabin embarrassed.

“Excuse me,” Vex heard Keyleth say to her viewers, and followed Vex.

“I’m so sorry about that,” Vex said her head in her hands sitting on the deck of the cabin That was one of the most embarrassing things that she had done.

“No, you don’t have to apologize for anything,” Keyleth assured her, “I mean it’s your cabin after all, I’m just trespassing.”

“Trinket showed you where the key was, that means you’re a guest,” Vex said giving her an attempt at a smile.

“This is not how I expected to meet you,” Keyleth said taking a seat next to Vex on the porch.

“Well if we’re being fair I didn’t you’d ever talk to my bear and spend the week thinking I hated you,” Vex said

“So…, you don’t hate me,” Keyleth asked quietly unsure if she was going to like the answer. “Trinket said you don’t say a lot of good things about me when you talk to him.”

“I promise Keyleth I don’t’ hate you,” Vex swore, “Look, it’s nothing you did, I just…, I have issues. I promise, I’ll make a video telling everyone that I don’t’ hate you, post an apology letter, anything you want. I owe you that much.”

“Well…,” Keyleth said thinking, “I mean you already said you didn’t hate me in my segment. Do you maybe want to come on with me and we can put the rumors to death for real?”

“You really don’t’ mind if I’m in your video,” Vex asked incredulously. She expected Keyleth to hate her for making her think that she was hated.

“I mean I kind of dreamed of collaborated with you for a while,” Keyleth said her cheeks red, “I wasn’t lying when I said you were the reason I got into making videos.”

“Let’s do it, if it’s really okay,” Vex said standing up face to face with Keyleth. She never realized how tall Keyleth was, even without the antlers she was almost half a foot taller than Vex. It was kind of a turn on.

“Great,” Keyleth said jumping up and down in excitement and hugged her. Vex never thought she’d feel like Elenore to Keyleth’s Tahani but, to quote the Good Place, “of course your hugs are amazing.”

Five minutes later they were in front of Keyleth’s camera starting their collaboration. “Hi Kikinuts, I’m back, sorry about that. I just had to work a few things out with my special surprise guest, Vex’ahlia of Vex’halia’s Visions.”

“That’s Keyleth, you can call me Vex though,” Vex said, not wanting to tell her that she liked it when Keyleth used her shortened name, it made her smile. “I was just in the neighborhood and thought I’d drop by,” she cursed herself for sounding so stupid. Of course, she was in the neighborhood this was her cabin. “I was watching your lasted video, which was great by the way,” she said turning to Keyleth, “you know up until you met Trinket, my animal companion.”

“Yeah, he’s wonderful but I think we got a bit confused,” Keyleth admitted.

“He’s my beautiful baby boy, but as much as I love him, he’s still a bear and doesn’t always understand the things I tell him. So I’m sorry about that, I can defanetly say that I don’t hate you Keyleth, I’ve actually a big fan. Subscribed the moment I saw your videos.”

“Well that’s really sweet, I’m glad that we got all that cleared out of the way, because like I said I’m a big fan of yours too,” Keyleth said giving her warm smile that shot through the heart. “Hear that views, Vex doesn’t hate me and I don’t hate her so maybe we can drop the whole thing, it was a misunderstanding.”

“Yeah, I didn’t really mean it when I said those things to him about you,” Vex explained without thinking, only to realize what she said when they came out of her mouth.

“Oh,” Keyleth said and the look on her face could make puppies cry, “so you did say those things about me.”

“Keyleth not like that,” Vex said she was normally so cool and good with her words, what was it about this girl that made her so stupid.

“It’s fine Vex,” Keyleth said trying to keep her smile on her face despite also looking like she was going to cry.

“I’m such an ass, it really wasn’t like that Keyleth,” Vex said turning away and saw the chat was exploding asking them over and over what she meant, or what she said. It was starting to get aggravating.

“Vex,” Keyleth said meeting her eye, despite looking hurt the druid’s eyes were also strong, “it’s okay, you said you don’t hate me and are a fan and I believe you. You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to.”

“Keyleth..,” Vex started she’d rather be vulnerable than let Keyleth think she hated her. “It’s true, I said those horrible things about you, I’d say it pretty often, Trinket being a bear only knows the words. If he was a person he might understand the nuance a bit better. I’m not exactly the best person, I’m really competitive and don’t really know…, pretty girls make me stupid, especially the ones that I have a crush on, not the best combination,” and there it was she just admitted in front of all Keyleth’s fans and the woman herself that she had a crush on her. “Like I said, if Trinket was a people person maybe he’d understand that, since all my friends have told me I have a crush on you despite my name calling.” There it was, Vex didn’t do vulnerable, but hey, it was a crazy situation and she didn’t have time to think about it.

“Oh,” was all Keyleth could say as she blushed as red as her hair.

“You don’t’ have to say anything,” Vex assured her. “I know this isn’t how you thought your day was going to go I just felt like being honest to avoid any more confusion.”

Keyleth started to hyperventilate and pulled out a paper bag. Vex was right, this definitely wasn’t how she expected her day to go. “Shit,” Vex said and rushed into the house to fetch Keyleth a glass of water. By the time she was back Keyleth seemed to calm down a little, at least enough to drink the glass of water. “I’m really sorry about that, I didn’t expect that reaction,”

“No need to apologize,” Keyleth said after finishing the water, “its just not everyday your first crush surprises you a dozen times over and admits to having a crush on you. Let’s turn this off,” she said jumping up and turning her camera off to the outrage of the chat. “We’ll tell you guys about what happens later,” Keyleth promised before signing off. She started to pinch her arm wondering if this was all just a crazy dream, maybe she died in the storm and this was hell.

“We don’t’ have to do anything about this Keyleth, hell, we didn’t even know each other before today. If you want we could write the whole thing off as a skit we made together to show people we don’t’ actually hate each other. We can say it was my idea,” Vex offered.

“I don’t want to do that,” Keyleth said firmly, “I’m not going to lie about how I feel. It’s just,” she started to say her face falling, “I’ve never dated anyone before, I’m a mess when it comes to talking to people, that’s why I move around so much and shoot videos in the woods with my only friend. I’ve had a crush on you for so long, but it’s always been from a far. What happens if I ruin that, what happens when I ruin that, I won’t even have my stupid childish crush to fall back on.”

“Well why don’t we start off small,” Vex suggested, “we don’t have to get together and go steady right now, maybe we can start off with something small. My name is Vex’ahlia Vessar, I’m a nature vlogger and 3 time gold winning medalist in archery,” she said holding out her hand, “it’s nice to meet you.”

For a moment Keyleth could only laugh, not at Vex, but at the whole situation, still, she took Vex’s outstretched hand, “Keyleth Zephara of the Ashari, the future voice of the Tempest and a nature vlogger as well.”

Those little gestures became conversations, those conversations became long talks and before you knew it, like and then love. Keyleth wound up spending a record six months in Emon, despite the forests being nice but not impressive. If it was Vex and Trinket’s home then it was the most amazing place in the world. And when she left Emon after those six months, she didn’t leave alone, she was never alone again.

I really needed to wrap that up, the ending was getting away from me. This was supposed to be a quick silly modern youtuber au that got out of hand. Originally it was supposed to end with Trinket telling Keyleth about Vex’s crush on her, but for some reason I added a lot of unnecessary drama. Oh well it’s done and I hope you enjoyed it. I realize that the characters are kind of ooc, but like I said they kind of got away from me.

I also don’t know why I made Vex an Olympic athelet, it just kind of fit since she is a ranger class still, despite the world not really needing adventurers as much as it did in the old days. Still, I did it and it’s done. For anyone interested, I’d say that they’re around level 10, sort of when everything picks up in the campaign.

#critical role #vox machina #vexleth #vex #vex'ahlia #keyleth #keyleth of the air ashari #crfemslashweek #critrolefemslashweek #fanfiction #fanfic

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forsetti · 5 years

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On Voting: Be Part of The Solution Not Part of The Problem

In a recent article in “The Week,” titled, “Confessions of an Ex-Voter,” Matthew Walther presents a perfect example of privileged arrogance and civic malfeasance. This isn't surprising because he begins the article laying out his childish, uneducated views of politics for the first twenty-three years of his life. His “American Idol” approach to politics and voting is an underlying basis for his argument about why he doesn't vote. Let's go through these reasons. (His words in bold) There are any number of reasons why I have not voted since. One is simply that I cannot manage to fulfill the minimum requirement of keeping my address up to date.

Translation: I'm so fucking lazy, I can't even be bothered to fill out a simple form and send it in. Right after telling us he doesn't know jack about politics, he informs us he is lazy, as well. It is going to be really difficult to make an argument that is taken seriously when your setup is, “I'm ignorant about the topic and lazy.” Another reason I have found for not voting is that in most cases it appears that my ballot will not make a difference.

This is a classic fallacy and not seeing the electoral forest for the trees. If a particular candidate wins an election by a wide margin, no single vote is responsible for their win or loss. The implication of this view is the only votes that “count” are the ones that decide an election by one vote. The thing is, even in elections won by a single vote, every single person who voted for the winning candidate's victory can be legitimately viewed as the “deciding vote.” The example the author uses is the presidential election results in Florida in 2000. If George W. Bush had won Florida by a single vote, then every single one of the 2,912,790 votes cast for him was equally important because they all contributed to him winning the election.

The decline of regional newspapers has made local affairs outside major metropolitan areas a matter of anagogic frustration to voters, who have only the faintest idea how and by whom most decisions are made in their states and cities. One simply accepts things as they are.

Even if this statement is true, it is nothing more than another example of the author's laziness. Yes, local news in many places is no longer disseminated by local newspapers but there are many good, online sources of information for anyone with access to a computer or a smartphone which I'm pretty sure covers the author. If you “accept things as they are,” the problem with voting isn't the process or the candidates, it is you.

But my principal reason for declining to take part in elections is moral. It involves, I suppose, a private objection to democracy itself.

Now that the blatantly nonsensical arguments have been laid out, the author finally gets down to the real reason he doesn't vote-he has a fucked up view of morality and democracy.

For most of history men and women enjoyed the luxury of knowing that the sovereign's rule was a brute fact about which nothing could be done. They went about the ordinary business of life — laboring, raising children, worshipping their creator — untroubled by futile expectations of change. Some of us continue to aspire to this happy ideal.

Go ahead, read the above paragraph a few times. Let the fucked up, idealistic view of history wash over you as you try and wrap your brain around this statement is at the crux of an argument against voting. Even if you ignore the fact that the time and situation the author longs for was the main catalyst behind the Renaissance, the formation of the U.S., and most of the progress made the past 300+ years, this is still a severely fucked up premise. The lives of the vast majority of people who lived under sovereign rule were deplorable. The problems and issues of income inequality now are nothing compared to the era the author pines for. The problem, besides not knowing a damn thing about history, is with the author's last word in the paragraph-”ideal.” His entire view of history and voting is idealistic in the dangerous, mythologized, untethered from reality way.

Popular elections are a recent phenomenon in human affairs. I do not expect the illusion that there is something nobler about choosing leaders than inheriting them to hold sway over our imaginations forever. The neoliberal economic consensus that has united both of our major political parties, and indeed most politicians in the industrialized world, is a more powerful force than democracy.

There is a lot to unpacked from this word salad of nonsense. First, “popular elections are a recent phenomenon...” Yes. So too are human rights, safe drinking water, indoor plumbing, television, the internet... The notion that just because something is relatively new makes it bad or a passing fancy is fallacious.

“The neoliberal economic consensus that has united both of our major political parties...” Of course, someone who has proudly expressed their laziness and ignorance tosses out “neoliberal” as a cudgel. Then, to make matters worse goes full, “both sides are to blame.” One political party has been obsessively devoted to supply-side economics and the other has not. One political party believes in unfettered capitalism and the other believes in capitalism with restrictions. One political party believes in large tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations and the other in taxing these to fund social programs. Just because someone uses, “neoliberal,” doesn't mean they understand it in the slightest.

In a bland way I hope to see Republicans control various state and national offices. This arises from a single issue: the legality of abortion.

The author has already professed his Libertarian bent and is a writer at Libertarian, Dudebro Central-The Federalist. Yet, when it comes to standing up for and defending freedoms and individual choices, he is 100% against women being eligible for either. So, besides being ignorant and lazy, the author is a misogynist and a hypocrite. The capriciousness of his (Trump) decisions, the hideousness of his conduct, and the visible descent of his mind and body into a ribald senescence are easier to bear if one sees him as a decadent potentate late in the decline of an empire... I have neither the power nor the will to alter the reality of Trump's presidency.

Earlier, the author claims the number one reason he doesn't vote is based on some sense of morality. Now, after laying out the immoral actions of Trump, he suddenly doesn't give a fuck about his morals. At least the author is consistent with his laziness. If you think you can't change politics in a representative democracy, you don't understand the meaning of “representative” or “democracy.” If you don't have the will to alter the reality of what the author labels as, “hideous conduct...ribald senescence...decadence...,” then the problem is you.

I like to imagine that my disinterest allows me to see things more clearly than partisans, but even if this is not so it certainly makes me happier.

Since the author starts the article with seriously faulty premises, he might as well end with one. His argument at the conclusion is basically, “Since I don't know a damn thing about history, politics, democracy... I see things related to these more clearly.” “Since I didn't go to med school or study surgical techniques, but I write about them, I see things in the operating room more clearly.” You don't get to state you are lazy, uninterested in the process and outcomes, then claim you see the things you are lazy, uninterested in, and really don't give a fuck about, “more clearly.”

This kind of self-congratulatory attitude about being lazy and ignorant about politics is bad enough. When it is used to discourage others from participating in the democratic process, it is dangerous because it feeds the very problem that makes America less democratic-voter apathy.

Voting is an individual right but a social obligation. To not vote, to argue that voting isn't worth it, that not voting is the moral thing to do... is the very definition of social negligence and unethical behavior. Of course, you should vote for the issues that are important to you and for the candidates you think best reflect these values. However, if there aren't candidates who perfectly match what you want, it is still ethically necessary to vote for the person you think will do the most good because, unlike what the author claims, a single vote can make the difference between millions having health care, millions having better wages, millions having clean drinking water... If you think not voting for moral reasons outweighs these kinds of benefits, your moral compass is severely fucked up.

It has been suggested to me this article was written almost as satire, to be provocative. If it was, it was executed very poorly. Also, if it was written as satire because it was done so badly, it comes across as serious and in so doing, adds to what is already a dangerous problem-voter apathy. There are far too many people who honestly believe the things written in this article. There are a lot more coming of voting age who already believe the propaganda both major political parties don't care about them. To write or say anything that feeds this apathy, this attitude is unconscionable.

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somaybeimbiased · 6 years

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SHINee 5 | Ghost Hunters AU

I redid this early post and I think I improved it, others also requests a couple things about this AU, so I just redid it bc the other one was messy

With increasing reports of things going ‘bump’ in the night, a team of 5 guys formed, and they travel around South Korea. They film their findings and post them on youtube. They have 20 million subscribers, even if they do talk in Korean. (Subtitles my guys) Viewers think they are all v cute and hilarious but also this is the most realistic ‘ghost’ show out there.

Onew- Research Analyst

He was never one to believe in ghosts.

He didn’t even think it was a possibility.

After his mom died and Taemin started blabbering about how mom was still around and that nonsense, it made him hate the prospect of ghosts.

But when his best friend in high school asked him to help out, he couldn’t say no.

His filming was trash, but it got the job done.

It was all fun and games until ghosts actually started moving stuff

The breaking point in his skepticism came when a door slammed shut behind him and locked him in Jonghyun’s cellar.

Might’ve cried a lil

After that, he went ham researching the paranormal.

His and Taemin’s dad is a cop so he will sometimes ‘borrow’ his dad’s database computer to see if there is any sketchy happening in the history of wherever they are heading.

He was kind of against Key putting the first video on youtube, but it got popular so he forgave it.

Never gets used to the prospect that he has fans who like him the most out of their group. Like he has fangirls

After becoming a hit and getting 10k subscribers with only crappy iPhone videos, so after a while, they decided that they need more people on their team.

Put an ad on craigslist

The only ones who answered were his brother and Minho

Very much against Taemin and his boyfriend? Best friend? Joining the team.

Thought that Taemin would turn it into a joke

But then he watched his little brother get possessed and he freaked tf out.

Got used to it after a while.

Their youtube channel continued through high school graduation and only got more popular.

They would film on the weekends.

He is really into it after a while and he basically becomes a human dictionary for ghosts

Like, ask him any question and he will spit out the answer

Minho will only let him touch and cameras and other $$$$ equipment

“You’re the least likely to get scared or get possessed so-”

Except he runs into stuff all the time so?

Like if you think he is clumsy during the day, you should see him try to get around with a night vision camera.

Sometimes he will just trip or fall and Key s c r e a m s

“ARE YOU OKAY DID A GHOST GET YOU?!?!”

Jinki just kinda laughs it off, bc Key is so jumpy.

But overall he likes being a ghost hunter

Like it’s fun, plus he gets to spend a ton of time with his best pals

Jonghyun- The Leader

Every great story starts with a stupid decision.

Jonghyun’s was letting Key convince him to make and use an Ouija board during a sleepover when they were 13.

He 100% thought it was fake until the planchette started moving by itself even though Key and he were on the other side of the room.

And then him and key just like took the board and put it in the garbage.

But the damage had already been done.

His house was haunted.

Ever since then, he and Key had been trying to prove it to someone that they’d messed up Jonghyun’s house.

They invited Jinki over to try to get evidence on camera

So they made Jinki film using Key’s crappy iPhone and a cereal box voice recorder Key had saved boxtops for.

But then they caught some weird voices and the cellar door shutting on Jinki and they were spooked

Key put the evidence on a youtube channel and people went crazy for it.

They loved the video.

He wanted to make more, so him Key and Jinki tried just them for a year or so before deciding they needed to expand their group.

The ad on craigslist seemed to work bc they got a cameraman and a medium.

How cool are they?!

Once they started getting more and more popular, people would email him about coming to their house, business, etc.

Their youtube views were high too.

He 100% carries around a lil suitcase full of traditional ghost hunting stuff, like an ouija board salt, sage, etc.

Screams in falsetto

Gets scared easily, but is nowhere near as bad as Key

Sometimes Key’s screams startle him more than the spooky ghosts.

He also always gets scratches on his legs?

Like?

He can’t wear shorts anymore.

“No, I don’t own a cat.”

Lowkey thinks Taemin might be lying, but only because Jinki said he thinks it might be a coping mechanism.

But then Taemin sprouted off how a demon was following Jjong and has been attached to him since he was 13 and Jjong hadn’t really told anyone besides Kibum and Jinki what happened when he was younger so like

“Wow, okay, accepted.”

Key- The Comic Relief / Face of the group

This guy is scared of ghosts

Doesn’t know why he thought hunting them was a good choice.

Only in it for the potential views at first when they made Jinki film them in Jjong house.

1000% believes in ghosts though.

Made a youtube account for them.

GhostHunters5_25

He s c r e a m e d when they went viral

“SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE SEEN MY FACE”

Basically became an instant meme.

Pictures of him screaming and crying a lil are all over the internet.

Any fame is good fame.

100% let it go to his head.

Like, fame didn’t change him, he just got cocky with the ghosts.

It got worse when they really blew up after Taem and Mango joined the team.

Made everyone wear makeup for filming.

M: “I’m behind the camera why do I need makeup?”

T: “Also we are in the dark, I don’t-”

“SHHhshhhHSHhHh”

He was crazy for the views and stuff.

A skeptic of Taemin, like legit at the beginning he said they should kick Taem out.

“I can bring my dogs instead. They are just as cute as Taemin and dogs can sense things”

Got possessed once

It was for like 10 seconds

But he didn’t take it suuuper seriously until that happened.

He wanted to quit at first like he walked out of the house they were investigating.

Taemin tried to talk to him about it like

“Bum, I know you’re stressed but like, It happens to me all the time, and I’m fine.”

“No, you’re a freak! That’s why they go to you! If you were normal you would know how I feel!”

Taemin just left, and he ignored Key for 2 weeks straight.

Jjong and Jinki convinced Key to talk to him, bc if they didn’t patch stuff up, they’d lose their cameraman, their medium, and two of their best friends.

Everything was okay after he apologized.

From then on he would bring a doll with him to all investigations

The doll was an old cabbage patch kid

He named her Susan

“The ghost can possess the doll instead of me now”

The doll never actually gets possessed.

But sometimes 2min hide his dolls so he thinks it might’ve worked.

Also the fun cop™

Makes them go to the library before every new place to do research about it led by himself and Jinki.

Takes it suuuper seriously.

“Jonghyun, stop putting paperclips in Taemin’s hair”

“Where did Minho go?”

“Taemin, wake up you’re drooling all over the phonebook from 1987!”

“Minho when did you go get Panda Express?!”

Done with their bullshit

Minho- The Man behind the Camera

Didn’t actually know the others before this.

Like vaguely knew Jinki bc he is Taemin’s brother brother

But he really only knows Taemin, his bestboyfriend

They don’t like labels

One night Taemin showed him a crappy youtube video for three dorks hunting for ghosts.

“Isn’t that your brother filming? I didn’t know anyone could be so bad at filming! Who let that happen?

The film major was not impressed.

Left an angry comment on their video about how they need to get a proper cameraman.

A couple weeks later he was scrolling through craigslist while ignoring his homework and he found an interesting ad.

In search of extra crew to help investigate paranormal

“YO Tae, wanna become ghost hunters?”

Like he was aware Taem had that power, and those three morons needed a good camera guy tbh

Were the only ones serious about answering the ad

Him and Taem got the jobs because they were the only ones to actually answer the ad.

He told them that he was there just to handle equipment and be a cameraman

Quickly given a crash course on the good angles of Kim Kibum

Purposely zooms in on Key when he screams.

He is hella good with the camera work, and he is able to use extra footage sometimes for his film classes.

But he never really gets used to what happens

Especially when he watches his best friend get possessed the first couple times

Did not cry

One time there was a loud crash in an old house they were investigating and they sent him and Taemin to check it out.

Surprise.

It was a skunk.

So now he always checks the site before setting up.

He also now keeps a few jars of tomato juice in his trunk for emergencies.

Taemin- Mr. Medium

He lowkey resented his brother for starting a paranormal investigation team after teasing Taemin a large portion of their children over Taemin making things up.

He and Jinki were never as close as they were before their mom’s death.

Jinki claimed Taemin was making stuff up, but Taemin let it slide because his mom told him that he was the only one who could see.

Like those rumors that younger kids can see past the physical world but as they get told that ghosts aren’t real and whatnot they lose the ability.

Those are true, but Taemin’s mom being a ghost made it so that he never stopped believing

When they asked Taemin what he could contribute to the team he just deadpanned

“I see dead people”

Jonghyun and Key asked him if he needed therapy.

He almost cussed them all out for being close-minded when they were the ones hunting the ghosts

He is a self-acclaimed Clairvoyant and a Clairsentient

He found out at a young age that he wasn’t normal

His and Jinki’s Mother died in an accident when he was 7

When his father got home to tell him the news

“Don’t joke! She’s right behind you!”

Therapy sucks.

It’s a touchy subject for him to this day.

He has fun with this though, he is able to feel and see the ghosts when they don’t hide themselves

This makes him a valuable asset to the team

Glad that the others allowed his bestboyfriend to be the cameraman too, bc Mango hadn’t shut up about Jinki’s shaking filming.

He instantly became a hit on the youtube channel

He got fangirls from this too.

It’s great to have anyone other than Minho alone believing him.

A lot of comments are about how the hot medium is their favorite and how genuine he is.

Like ‘oh hello, how did all these flowers end up at our house Minho?’

Also, if we talk about Key being a huge meme, we can’t forget about him.

He has a hilarious expression at least 50% of the time.

Gets possessed all the time though

OT4 asked him why he was the one to get targeted all the time

“What can I say, I must just be irresistible”

“They like me because I sympathize with them and my emotions are easily manipulated to suit them”

Also bc he is lowkey into Wiccan charms and it’s only to protect the others from harmful spirits.

Got really hurt when Key got possessed bc he was the one that stopped the spirit from being inside Key for too long, and then after the fact Key hurt him.

He also jokes around a lot outside of the site and when around OT4

Pulls lil pranks on them

But once they arrive, he is all business.

Randomly stares off into the distance all the time bc he sees a ghost

Lowkey afraid of ghosts, but only because he has gotten really hurt in the past from them

Prays all the time to try to protect himself more

/AN// I hope you guys enjoyed! I am wrapping up the semester next week so I’m hoping to start writing more! Thank you <3

See More of My Work on my Masterlist

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justowrite · 6 years

Text

Late night Stories(2)

genre(s): fluff and a little bit of angst

summary: You know when it's just really late you have the weirdest/deep conversations?

warning: long mention about sexting

words: 1634

a/n: okay, i am glad people reading, like the story! so here is another chapter i hope you enjoy this one! :D

i tried that there wasn't any mistakes but again english is not my first language so I'm sorry if there's any...Thanks for reading anyway!!

Ao3

Part 1 / 3

****

Part 2:

“Did you sleep well Simon?” It takes a moment to respond to answer Agatha’s mom at lunch after I yawn for like the fifth time. I simply nod.

I didn’t.

I barely got any sleep after talking to Baz. It felt like if I went back to sleep like I imagine it. It was worse when I saw what he had uploaded to his history before wasn’t there anymore.

But I shake the feeling away across the day. There are people and things floating by themselves around the house in preparations for the formal dinner Agatha’s parents are having tonight. Which means I have other things to worry about other than Baz. Like having to correct everyone when they say that Agatha and I make a good couple. Or not spilling my drink on a suit that isn’t mine. Last year was a mess after that happened. I get chills from the memory. Instead I am trap on conversation, about the Mage, about his politics, about the humdrum, about why is he not with me.

Not much of an improvement really.

Finally, the dinner ends, and I sigh relived. People are standing in the living room, talking. I avoid everyone with my goal in mind. The couch. As I sit peacefully, I take out my phone and unlock it. By the time I am comfortably sitting snapchat is already on the screen. I scroll down everyone’s name.

I see Agatha’s story first, even though she is a couple of meters away from me. It’s a mirror picture of her posing in her blue dress. Stunning, no surprise there. I sigh and look for her around the room. She is talking to someone that I don’t know the name of, next to her parents. Fake smiling. Only now I realized how many time I received that smile. I click on Penny’s.

It’s a video of her brothers cleaning, then of her cleaning a mirror. With This is the real reason my parents had so many kids as a caption. I laughed. After, it was video of the same video but instead she was holding her phone with her two hands and the cloth was moving by itself. I noticed in her hand, her ring is shining. (it’s not a waist of magic Simon) I roll my eyes as I read the caption and swipe down to make the video disappear.

I keep watching other people histories until there was nothing to see. I look up again. I realized how asocial I must look. Not that I really care. I don’t mind talking to people, unlike Penny, but I dislike this type of parties. They just highlight how much I don’t in this world. Unlike Baz. If Baz wasn’t a vampire he would probably make a way better boyfriend than me.

Instead of thinking I pick my phone up and take a video of surroundings. I tried to think of a caption, I come up with nothing, so I just use the hour filter. I upload it before changing app. I am scrolling Instagram for who knows how long (the internet makes me lose my sense of time) when I get a snap. My heart stops as the notification pops up.

Baz.

He responded to my snap. It takes me a minute to click on it. Another one comes in.

It’s a wall. Just a wall. I knew you were popular, but I am shocked in how much Snow. I roll my eyes at the first one, then again at the second one. (that was sarcasm, just in case)

I can see it’s sarcasm Baz. I take a photo of my legs.

It doesn’t take him too long to answer. I’m sorry if I doubt of your abilities to communicate since you haven’t demonstrated them to be many.

Did you only talk to me to bother me?

That’s not too different from you, isn’t it? He shows me the forest, from a window this time, as if a reminder. The window is wet like it’s been raining.

I didn’t know what you were doing yesterday I take a photo of the empty space next to me, only because I feel like using the same picture, for some unknown reason, is weird.

And you just had to know. His bed looks tall and ginormous even from afar, at least three people fit in there. Very different from ours at Watford. It is kind of creepy though. It has dark figures on the wood that I can’t really see clearly in the photo.

This time I put the phone up and just take a picture of the people talking away from me. You could have been doing something illegal

So you planned to stop me from snapchat? Well…yeah…kind of…

I don’t answer immediately, I don’t know what answer. I wait for a few seconds looking at my phone like an idiot. You couldn’t do it if you were busy talking to me.

He changed place. It’s the window but from afar, I can barely see the forest now. I think he is sitting on his bed, judging from the other photo. Master plan Snow, I could have ignored you.

But you didn’t. He doesn’t answer. I feel proud. For the first time in my life, I’ve left Baz without a comeback. Or he is ignoring me.

Still, I wait, staring at his chat. I wait until his names pop up again. It’s a fireplace from afar. I didn’t know he had a fireplace in his room. I don’t know lot things about his room, actually.

Neither did you.

****

You’ve never thought about it? Really Snow? I frown, why would I think about that?

I don’t care about taking a decent photo of the roof, I just click it and start typing. No!! why would I do that?? why are you???

He doesn’t seem to care either, I get moved the photo of his own ceiling. It’s obvious Snow.

I truly don’t understand how it is.

I shouldn’t be surprised, you are as observant as a wall. I roll my eyes, more than a half of his texts are insults. Just think about it, first it’s a photo that you can only see for a few seconds, then disappears from the conversation and it tells you if someone takes screenshot of the photo. A final one comes after that. All of them are of thick dark red covers of his bed. It was invented for sexting.

It’s not like he is not right, it’s just that… I don’t want to think about it. It’s gross …I don’t want him to be.

Oh come on Snow, don’t tell me you’ve never done it with Wellbelove? He shows me the dark brown couch of his room(everything in his room seems to be a dark something).

“What the fuck? No!” I say out loud on my phone as if he could hear me. I sit down and rest my back on the backrest of the bed.

Another moved photo goes by. Again no!! first we…never did those kinds of things and second I don’t see the point of it I take another fast photo of the between the ceiling and the bed -it just looks like weird stricks of the colors in that in-between- before he answers. It’s not like you can do…anything about those feelings…it just leaves with the idea in your head that’s just worse isn’t?

I guess it’s just idea of having someone thinking of you on the other side of the phone people are attracted to. I ignore the background of the words. My heart jumps as I read. A notification pops up and my heart stops. And have you heard of masturbating Snow? Or that’s another thing you haven’t done. I feel almost cheated.

This conversation is already weird enough, I decide to ignore the last one. It’s not like sexting is possible with no wifi and sharing a room with other 6 kids.

Right, you only spend Christmas with Wellbelove. When school is done you back to who knows where. I try to find sarcasm or a mocking tone, I try to look for a way to say it like only Baz could(like an asshole). But I can’t, for some reason. The next one comes as I am (over)analyzing his text. It’s not his room -I’ve learned how it looks through all the day. It’s a white floor and he is wearing no shoes. It seems like his favorite way of walking around is no shoes. You don’t talk to anyone on vacations?

Even if I had wifi, I have forbidden to reveal my ubication to anyone. I can’t call anyone, and no one can call me either

He is in a kitchen, I assume from the fridge on the picture. The Chosen One, the Mage’s Heir, the most powerful wizard that has ever lived can’t call anyone without permission? He is still an ass then, my mistake.

Who do you think gave the order? I put my finger on the camera lens, so the photo it’s just dark.

Baz likes eating cereal at 1:23 am…what I am supposed to do with this information? Shouldn’t you be with him instead of unfortunate normal kids? You are his Heir after all, aren’t you?

Suddenly I fell angry. I used to think that too. Ha, that was just to let me enter to Watford and no one would be opposed to it…he has never act like a father really When I stopped dreaming of my parents coming back, I would dream about Watford, about the Mage’s house and how he would take that empty place in my mind someday.

It’s a dark one like he covered the camera like I did before. Yeah…I think I get that.

#carry on #carry on fanfiction #simon snow #snowbaz #baz pitch #agatha wellbelove #Penelope Bunce #carryonsimon #the mage

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fatgirlsguidetodating · 7 years

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I wrote this a little while ago to be anonymously posted on a friend’s blog. It’s one of a few events that have shaped my life. (I have two or three more to write about both for her blog and mine.) I decided to share it here in the hopes that it helps people understand me more and the impact- long and short term- bullying can have on someone. I don’t see how it could help anyone really unless to tell you if you have been bullied or were bullied you can survive that shit and you will be stronger for it down the track.

*****

I know that for many people high school can be hell in parts. I know that many kids have been bullied in school. For me that part was almost the entire year of 8th grade, a year so horrible that I regularly contemplated killing myself, cried myself to sleep most nights, woke in the morning crying because God hadn’t answered my prayers to let me just die, and just generally was completely and utterly miserable and totally alone. I remember one day, with my usual puffy red eyes in the morning, thinking how if it were possible that we only get a certain quota of tears in our lifetime that I must surely have used up a shitload of them. I remember mum, in tears with me, having to practically drag me to school. I remember countless meetings with the school social worker, the year co-ordination, the vice principal and mum. All this was because it had been decreed by the popular girl of the class that I was persona non grata. Nobody was allowed to talk to me in class or out of class- unless it was to say something cruel like about how I was fat. That was allowed. Tripping me over was allowed. But nice things? No.

There were only 2 people who went against this. On one occasion one of the boys who I had also gone to primary school with asked me if I was ok? Such small words. I managed to nod, unable to speak past the lump in my throat. “Hang in there,” he said. “It’ll blow over.” I had to hide my face behind my then long hair so he- and nobody- saw my tears. That one simple act of kindness meant more than he will ever know.

The second was when one of the girls I used to hang around with before the decree returned a book she borrowed from me. Her little sister had made a mess of the book. She offered to buy me another one to replace it. I said it was fine. I didn’t need to be hated anymore than I was. She left me a note inside the book apologising and signing it with xoxo. I remember thinking how hollow it was given she hadn’t spoken to me in a few months.

How did this happen? In an absolutely ridiculous fashion.

Something mean was written about me on a table: it said, in essence, my name is X and 1) I want to be Y’s boyfriend, 2) Z’s best friend , 3) I never have showers and I think there MAY have been a fourth one but I can’t for the life of me remember what it said. I think I blocked a lot of that year out. My minds way of protecting myself I guess, like people often do for traumatic events.

As an adult I can say they were relatively benign statements but as a 14 year old they weren’t. The thing was the popular girl decided that I had written them about myself. (Seriously!) Her reasoning: it looked “kinda” like my handwriting (it didn’t) and it looked like my pen (one owned by almost everyone in the class including, ironically, her). Interestingly a few months later one of the popular girls told me that she had seen the bitch coming out of that classroom not long before it was discovered. I’ll never know who did it but the simple fact that the popular girl said it was me meant that naturally the class agreed with her.

So when she said nobody was to talk to me they all just did it. Not a single person stood up for me. I have felt lonely at many, many times in my life (haven’t we all) but the loneliness of that one moment will never ever be forgotten. Even now I feel literally sick as I remember that moment. It was like one of those movies where you wake up from a dream and everyone’s gone, and you are all alone. Or a dream where you suddenly become invisible and no matter how much you scream and jump up and down and wave your hands you remain invisible.

I had hoped that maybe my friends would have stuck up for me. I would even have taken them doing it not publicly but privately if they were too scared to disobey or too ashamed to be my friend in front of the popular girl and her best friend- my two tormentors. Like still hanging out with me at lunch and recess. The popular girl wouldn’t know after all. But no. Even the girls i had hung with pretty much since the start of school when we’d made friends with me followed and I was suddenly cut off from everyone, completely and utterly alone….

There are some things that stand out from the next eight or so months, things beyond the pain and loneliness. Moments where the bullying was worse than the usual daily taunts. Like the time they soaked a bunch of tampons in water so they became nice and big and ran around the corner and threw them all at me. (Because I found a spot to sit and have my lunch all alone day in day out. Technically, being at the front side of the school, near the road, it was out of bounds but I didn’t care. On rainy days I got a bit wet but I didn’t care- I even thought well maybe I’ll get pneumonia and even if I don’t get lucky enough to die from it I could get some time off school, away from my living hell. Sometimes I’d eat quickly- prompting comments from the girls about how fat people like me ate too quick- and then go to the library to hide in a corner and read. Being a bookworm over those eight or so months I got through even more books that I ever imagined I could.) I was trying to eat healthy (I was on a diet which, lets face it, I have been on for most of my life!) and I often had those little tubs of two fruits in my lunch. The girls would sneak around and laugh at my lunch. I’d be tripped over, had leftover bits of food thrown at me, was called fat and ugly so many times that even now I say it about myself and actually mean it. One day after PE I discovered my watch had been stolen from the box we put all our special items in. It was a Mickey Mouse watch I got from Disneyland that played music. I was devastated. These girls that I speak of were- surprisingly- not my two tormentors, the instigator of it all, but my former friends. I think that these girls, and the few boys who sometimes hung out with them, were actually crueler to me than the popular girl and her friend. I could never understand that. I still don’t.

For almost eight months my mum battled with the school to have me moved to another form but they kept saying that the numbers were at maximum in each form. I offered at one point to take a lie detector test to prove I hadn’t written those things. I spent way too many hours in the social workers office in tears.

At one point all of a sudden one of the boys started being nice to me. I lapped up the kindness, kind of like how an abused dog will still always want their masters approval. Every kind word was like a balm on my soul. He’d come and sit with me sometimes at lunch and we would talk and laugh. It was only when someone slipped a note in my locker- I suspect the girl who returned the book- telling me that he had been given a dare by the two tormentors to get me to sleep with him. Needless to say the next time he came to see me I said to him “I know what you’re doing. I know it’s a dare and you’ve been telling them everything I said!” (Probably one of the only times in my life I stood up for myself.) He didn’t even look ashamed or guilty, he laughed and said “well I wouldn’t sleep with a fat four eyes like you for no reason. You are pretty dumb for believing it.” Perhaps the saddest thing was the fact that I contemplated not telling him I knew. Oh I wouldn’t have gone so far as to sleep with him knowing what I knew but to just continue the ruse for awhile because he provided the only conversation in school hours, the only kindness, in all the pain and loneliness. But, ultimately, I knew being alone was better than living a lie.

My persona non grata status didn’t extend to just my class. All the popular kids knew not to talk to me and to make fun of me or even spit on me if I walked past. One of them even tripped me up on the top of the stairs so I went flying down them, landing on my side so hard it was bruised and hard to breathe for ages. I never told on them. I knew that “dobbing” would just make my life worse. Though how they could have made it worse than that I will never know.

The worst moment was when I actually did attempt to kill myself. This is something I haven’t ever told a single soul. I only told mum a few months ago now that I'd wanted to kill myself (not what I actually did) and she was devastated. But I never told her at the time because I saw how much it pained her to see me so unhappy. I couldn’t burden her anymore. The night it happened was a Sunday night, the night before school started again for the new term. I was pretty naive. It was pre-Internet which, in retrospect is probably a good thing because had Google existed back then I would have found a way to do it. I took a packet and a half of Panadol. I thought surely that was enough. It wasn’t. Not only did I not die, but I simply woke up the next morning feeling like absolute shit.

The turning point came about seven months in. A chance encounter in the library with one of the girls I’d gone to primary school with and I told her about what my life was like. She was horrified and said I could come and hang with her friends sometimes. Not all the time, she said, because they wouldn’t like that but sometimes. I probably should have thought it a strange offer but needless to say at the time a little bit was better than nothing. So maybe two or three times a week at lunch mainly I would go and hang with them. I didn’t really say much. I had always been shy but my ordeal had made me even more so. When people came up behind me and stuck crap down the back of my top or yelled “boo fatty four eyes” suddenly i would jump a mile. If I saw one of my two tormentors or any of their friends I would instantly start shaking waiting for what they would do or say this time. They soon learnt they didn’t even need to speak, just look at me, and I’d be affected. So when my school friend said to me that I couldn’t really hang out with them anymore because the others thought I was stuck up (because I didn’t speak much) I didn’t feel much emotion. It seemed to me that it was perfectly right. Why WOULDN’T they reject me too? Who would even WANT to be friends with someone like me?

Finally, FINALLY, after eight months battling the school by mum they let me move classes. Not to the form I wanted to go in as by then I had made a couple of friends through my childhood male best friend who lived a few houses up and I had known since we were three and who I spent most weekends and school holidays with along with my brother and his younger sister who were in the same year, but a new one nonetheless.

It was the middle of second period, I think, that I was moved. The class were in the science block so I’m guessing it was a science class but I can’t quite remember. The year level co-ordinator took me in there and just said, “X is in this class now. She’s been given the class schedule.” Of course everyone turned to look at me curiously. I slipped into a seat in the back of the room and put my head down. At the desk next along from me were three girls. At one point they said my name and I looked up and asked “yes?” I was given a withering look. “I wasn’t talking to you. X here has the same name as you.” I was told.

The next period those three girls asked me to sit with them and asked plenty of questions. But then after lunch they told me they’d spoken to my main tormentor and knew who I was and what I did. Great, I remember thinking, I could never ever leave it behind me!

But, slowly, over the remaining few months in the year I began to make friends. There were four girls in my form who became my friends- to this day one of them remains one of my best friends- and from another form there were another two. The six of them hung around together and, as time went on, I became part of their group. There were another few girls in the form who sometimes came to hang out with us.

I was with them (both had the same name and it also coincidentally happened to be the name of my main tormentor) one day walking across the courtyard when my tormentor and her best friend (the girl who had been one of my close friends for years before this all happened and who’s friendship with me seemed to threaten my main tormentor for some reason before the table incident) suddenly appeared. Apparently someone had written something in chalk in the girls toilet near the year ten common room (or it may have been year twelve then, I can’t remember when the merger happened) about her and I was blamed. One of the girls stood up for me, pointing out there were many with her name including my two new friends. But no. It was definitely about her because it had her last initial or name. She tried to get in my face, telling me she knew it was me and I had mental problems etc but my two new friends basically stood in front of her. They were a bit tough and told her that she’d have to go through them to get to me. She chose to walk away.

Though she did get the popular girls in my class to make extra fun of me for a bit but all of a sudden it was water off a ducks back because I had my new friends. They did try and get them to abandon me, telling them what I had done but I’d already told them my side and all the pain- though I had edited it because it was too raw to tell the whole truth, in all its intricate and painful details that soon- and the attempts failed.

Soon it was summer and I spent much of it with my new friends.

In the next school year my old friends and my tormentors still would make smart comments or something when I walked past but the more I ignored it, the more I showed no reaction, the less they did it though it never totally stopped throughout my whole time at high school.

Teenagers can be cruel and girls I think the cruelest of the bunch. Sure teenage boys can be cruel too but girls are bitchy and that is much worse in my opinion. Boys might have a fight and then it’s done with. Girls will just bitch and snipe and make you miserable. My tormentors never said sorry, never acknowledged I didn’t do it. I occasionally see their names pop up as comments on mutual friends posts on Facebook and I look at their profiles and see how perfect their lives seem. Both are married, one has two kids, one has one. I wonder, when I see them, how it’s fair that they get the perfect life and I don’t. There is no sign of karma having ever gone their way for what they did to me. As for the girls who were my friends before the decree, I’m Facebook friends with a couple of them. We never really spoke again at school. But, with school far behind us and time dulling some of the bad memories and letting most people look back at their school days as the halcyon days of youth, and remember the good times not the bad, a couple of them are friends on Facebook. Only one have I ever really caught up with but another two I do talk to sometimes on there.

I do believe that, to this day, it has affected me. Just writing this is affecting me: for instance I’m feeling a bit sick, my hands are a bit shaky, and I feel like I want to have a bit of a cry. (Yes- I still have tears left despite those eight long months. The human body can be, I think, up to 65% water. I swear back then my percentage was much lower because of my nightly crying myself to sleep.) But I feel good having written this, having gotten one of my stories off my chest. Sure there are others in my life I may talk about in the future but this is one that shaped me. For instance I know I can be a bit of a needy friend, wanting to see friends more often, wondering when I haven’t heard from them in a certain amount of time if I’ve been replaced or done something to make them angry or upset. I take things way too personally, am far too sensitive about things said or done, I overthink things. And I have no self-confidence at all. I don’t see the good in me. Outside or in. When someone gives me a compliment my first reaction is to laugh at them. Especially if they say something positive about my body. I look at them and I say, “are you blind…”

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patriciaselina · 7 years

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Seiyuu Picture Book: Komatsu Shohei

I think that I just normally don’t bring my feelings to the surface. I won’t be able to make it if I don’t push my comfort zone to the point of overdoing it, and isn’t that the fun of being onstage?

Da Vinci News’ solo interview/photoshoot featuring Idolmaster Side M and DAYS’ Komatsu Shohei! The entire interview can be seen on Wordpress but is also under the cut.

[Source]

We go interview seiyuu who catch the eye of our editors, seiyuu we have our eyes on, about their first jobs, up to their private time, and other things that we’ve noticed, and combine them with professionally-taken pictures for our popular project, the “Seiyuu Picture Book”.

For this 162nd chapter, we have Komatsu Shohei, who plays Idolmaster Side M’s Kizaki Ren, and DAYS’ Satou Hideaki, among other roles.

Komatsu-san, you became a seiyuu through your experience with stages; how did you start getting into plays?

Komatsu: As a member of the theatre club in high school, I joined a prefectural tournament in my hometown of Fukuoka, but I missed getting the grand prize, and that was when I thought I wanted to continue acting. As I was being handed the consolation prize, I thought I wanted to try for the top prize another time, so I went to the Kyushu tournament.

Why did you join the theatre club?

Komatsu: Somehow…my father’s a karate black belter, and I also did karate since I was in elementary – I’d strike at the sandbag we had in our garden – all that I’d done up to middle school graduation was related to martial arts, so I said that come high school, I’d like to try doing something I want to do. At first I was too shy to go onstage, so I’d been in charge of stage backgrounds. But, since there was so few male actors, I’d also done acting on the side, and it reached a point where I started thinking taking part in plays was fun.

So it’s because of you losing in that tournament that the current Komatsu-san is here.

Komatsu: During that time, it was then that I realized just how seriously I had come to take acting. But because I was in a high school that focused on getting its students into university, I had to stop taking part in club activities after my second year. For the sake of continuing acting, I tried out saying “I’ll drop out of school!” and running away from home (lol)

You ran away!?

Komatsu: My father was against my plans, so I took a night bus going to Tokyo, and up until I reached Kokura Station, I didn’t take any calls from my parents. But since I took a phone call from my sister, somehow or another my family managed to chase me to Kokura. When I saw my mother crying, of course I ended up thinking that I was horrible for making her cry. In the end they told me it was okay even if I didn’t go to college, as long as I finished high school, and I’d taken up part-time jobs in order to save up money so I could go to Tokyo.

Something straight out of a drama, wasn’t it. After all that, did your dad accept your choice?

Komatsu: Right now, they’re cheering me on. While I’m still far from getting the chance to be a lead actor, when they saw the live viewing at Fukuoka for the last Idolmaster Side M concert, he said something like “If that was me, I’d have done more. I’ll teach you how to kick.”

When I was still at my parents’ house, I’d taken up roles as an extra, but even then, if I didn’t take my morning prepwork seriously, my dad would get mad and I’d hear him say, “If you wanna do this, take it seriously!” I don’t think he’s given me his approval yet, but I think he at least recognizes that I am taking this seriously.

You’d been engrossed with the stage to such an extent – what do you think are its charms?

Komatsu: It’s probably because the stage is the only place where you can set yourself free of inhibitions, while still staying true to your real nature. Of course I’d caught the chuunibyou illness on my second year of middle school (lol) It came to the extent that my friends grew worried, and quickly stopped talking to me. I’d noticed that as I entered high school, so I kept to myself, didn’t talk much, stopped expressing myself.

So it was all thanks to your chuunibyou growing worse…!?

Komatsu: Well, it’s not just because of that (lol), I think that I just normally don’t bring my feelings to the surface. I won’t be able to make it if I don’t push my comfort zone to the point of overdoing it, and isn’t that the fun of being onstage?

In the beginning you belonged to the group called HIROZ. What kind of stages did you do?

Komatsu: Since I’d thought of going onstage, from the start I looked for a place whose main points were “action” and “performances”, and as part of that special troupe I’d been assigned to Kagawa prefecture; for around two years, every day, from morning ’til night, we’d do shows in the amusement park. As the stuntmen in hero shows, the main MCs on cruise attractions, as gourmet reporters, and the like. At the time, I was praised by people who told me “Your voice lingers in our ears.” I accepted that evaluation, and thought that, if I were to use [my voice] as ammo, wouldn’t it be better if I honed and weaponized it, so I set my sights on being a seiyuu.

And after that, you applied for the Seiyuu Awards’ Newcomer Discovery Audition.

Komatsu: I was around 23 when I left Kagawa for Tokyo – if I’d gone into a vocational school then, the risk would’ve been too high. So I self-studied with my voice, and as I searched for a company, I got accepted into auditions. I got rejected the first time around, and the second time I got into an internet training school named “Koebu”, and thankfully, during that year I was able to garner the most amount of votes. I wonder if that was the effect of me being able to do action and doing a high kick right there and then (lol)

Starting 2016, you became the voice for Idolmaster Side M’s Kizaki Ren. A carnivorous character, isn’t he.

Komatsu: Within the series his dancing is good enough to be considered top-class, and he’s a martial artist. I thought it best to apply for a role that suited me. Until a little while ago I knew nothing about the seiyuu industry, so I thought that if I became a seiyuu, I wouldn’t have to show my face [to the audience]. If that was so, I thought that I’d never get to take advantage of my own strengths, such as doing action [stunts]. But because Idolmaster Side M is the kind of franchise where one could actually end up singing and dancing on stage, if I take advantage of my action experience, I think that I’d be able to do a performance that won’t lose to anyone else.

That isn’t just limited to Idolmaster Side M; even in anime and games, there are lots of action-packed scenes.

Komatsu: For example, the voice that comes out when you punch someone – I have confidence that I can play that kind of situation with a sense of presence.

Last summer, you got to take part in the release event for your CD. What kind of feelings did you have, standing on stage as an “idol” for the first time?

Komatsu: More than the passion from just going onstage, I felt the power of the franchise even more strongly. I’m getting to see this scene through the eyes of the character I portray. That’s why, in order to prevent both the world within the franchise and my character’s image from collapsing in on itself, I make a conscious effort to only show what is expected from me, even if I’d want to show more.

As part of the three-man unit THE Kogadou, are there any things you keep in mind?

Komatsu: Taiga Takeru’s seiyuu Terashima Junta-san and Enjoji Michiru’s seiyuu Hamano Daiki-san are two people who I’d been deeply entangled with since I first entered the seiyuu world. I’m really grateful to have such good senpai as them, and thanks to that I think the atmosphere within our unit has become a good one. I’ve learned a lot from them in terms of performing, so I think I’d like to give back to them through my specialties of action [stunts] and dancing, and I hope to grow with them as both a member of the unit and as a seiyuu.

It’s now your second year since becoming a seiyuu. Did you get to have more seiyuu friends?

Komatsu: Sometimes I’d get to meet some when we work for Side M together. Because there’s little time for intermingling, we’d just chat about how we’d do our best together and stuff. I started as a seiyuu pretty late, so I’m older than everyone else. In the beginning everyone talked to me using keigo, but that doesn’t feel equalizing, so I’d tell them “casual speech is fine, let’s get along better.” One time we all went out for drinks, the next time we went flower viewing (lol)

If you go to an amusement park, you might confuse everyone, after all (lol) Do you have any hobbies you do during your private time?

Komatsu: Since I don’t have any hobbies and am searching for one, I got invited by my peers to play tabletop board games together, and I’ve started to think they’re fun. And then there’s muscle training in order to keep the muscles I have now. Since I keep saying action is my specialty, I’d get embarrassed if my friends from back then would think I’ve let myself go (lol)

You do your muscle training at home?

Komatsu: No – recently, I’ve found a nice place where I could do muscle training. It’s a public park near my house, but people never go there, so at night I do sit-ups on the bench, and I practice backflips (lol)

What kinds of works do you want to appear in as a voice actor from now on?

Komatsu: The fun in being onstage is where you get to interact with people, so as long as it’s a place where I think I can move forward with my own emotions, I’d do any kind of work, whether it be in anime or dubbing. Since I usually record my lines for app games on my own, and I’ve yet to have many lines in DAYS, I hope I’d be able to take part in more roles I can apply myself to.

Any current challenges?

Komatsu: Getting my emotions across, facing nothing but a microphone, with no conversation partner or audience in sight. It’s a very basic thing, but it’s very difficult and I still struggle with it up to now. I’d like to be better at acting.

Lastly, please go ahead and give a message to our readers.

Komatsu: If you know of a seiyuu named Komatsu Shohei – it doesn’t matter how you knew me; if you’d remembered me, that’s good enough. I’m not going about this [being a seiyuu] thing in the usual manner – I do stunts, backflips, and all that – but if you think you’d be fine with someone unusual, then by all means, please see the franchises I’d gotten to be part of. And from now on, I’ll do my best to be someone you’d be able to like more.

Profile (KenPro) | Twitter | Video comment

my translation index

The incident he mentions in the first question (losing at the tournament) is the same one he mentions in his first interview for Nizista.

Chuunibyou – the middle school second-year sickness; being an overly self-conscious teenager.

Like I kept saying in the Nizista interviews, Shohei means “action” in the sense of “action stunts”, so keep that in mind!

There are a lot – a LOT – of nuances that get lost in translation – he makes particularly deliberate word choices in some parts, but in some points the grammatical correctness wins out, and in some points the motive behind the sentence wins out. Like I keep saying, I can only promise up to “reasonable assurance” on this…

Keigo – polite speech, used by younger kouhai on their elders.

There is a picture of him playing what seems to be tabletop DnD with his Side M costars. He was the dragon.

Thanks for reading! Please do not redistribute this translation anywhere without credit or permission!

#seiyuu #komatsu shohei #shohei komatsu #idolmaster side m #days #interviews #my translations #I CAN SLEEP NOW

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daryllarson42451ftr · 6 years

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Is Influencer Marketing Dead? A Hard Look at The Newest Data (and What You Can Do Instead)

Is anyone having deja vu?

Every time a new marketing tactic becomes more mainstream, marketers and researchers inevitably wonder if it has peaked and started to lose its effectiveness.

We’ve seen this before with SEO, email marketing, Facebook marketing, and many others.

It’s a fair question to ask, though.

After all, each year brings new trends in marketing, and some tactics can go out of style. It’s worth examining different approaches to see if they’re still effective.

The tactic we’ll evaluate today is influencer marketing.

Though influencer marketing has been around for a very long time, it has only become a popular marketing tactic in recent years.

With the influx of social media in 2004, influencer marketing exploded and became a lot more prevalent.

Now, fast forward 14 years later.

Influencer marketing has seen some incredible successes and even a few massive failures.

That’s why we need to take a closer look at influencer marketing in 2018.

Should you continue to invest in influencer marketing, or is it dead?

The answer isn’t exactly a simple “yes” or “no.”

But recent data can help you decide if influencer marketing has staying power and if it is the right tactic for your brand to implement in 2018.

The complex current state of influencer marketing in 2018

Let’s dive right in.

I’m going to address the million-dollar question that everyone is asking:

“Is influencer marketing dead?”

Here’s the answer: not really.

But, I have to admit, its future is uncertain.

At the moment, marketers are continuing to focus on influencer marketing as a viable and essential marketing tactic in 2018.

In fact, in the survey below, marketers picked it as the “fastest-growing online customer-acquisition method” over organic search, email, paid search, and more.

There’s no questioning the popularity of influencer marketing, especially in recent years.

Marketers seem to be searching for new ways to involve influencers on a variety of campaigns.

And they’re investing in their influencer marketing campaigns, too. The influencer marketing industry is booming.

Projections show that marketers will spend $2.38 billion on influencer marketing on Instagram in 2019. That’s more than a $700 million increase from 2018!

But it doesn’t matter if marketers are fans of influencer marketing. We need to look at the data to see if it works.

Is it truly effective? Are you getting a bang for your buck?

The answer to both questions is still “yes.”

Data shows that influencer marketing is still providing marketers with a strong return on investment. Let’s take a look.

The data shows that influencer marketing generates $6.50 for every dollar a company invests. Approximately 70% of companies earn $2 or more for every dollar, and 13% of companies earn $20 or more.

That’s valuable.

But you might not always be so lucky.

If you look closely, you’ll see that 18% of businesses didn’t receive any return on investment at all. When you factor this into how much a campaign can cost, things can get a little pricey.

This is one reason that many marketers (including myself) wonder how long influencer marketing will remain a viable tactic.

Many factors make the future of influencer marketing uncertain, too.

First, the FTC introduced regulations to “improve disclosures” in 2017. This helps consumers understand which posts are promotional, even if they are coming from an influencer.

While the regulations are needed, additional ones may cause some brands to stray away from influencer marketing due to the risk of malpractice.

Plus, influencer marketing campaigns are starting to get more expensive.

Mid-range influencers with 50,000 – 500,000 followers can charge anywhere from $400 to $2,500 for a post.

Influencers with a following in the millions can charge between $30,000 and $187,500 per post.

With such a large investment in a single post, marketers are expecting a huge ROI.

But there’s only one problem:

Many don’t know how to accurately measure the ROI from their influencer marketing campaigns.

An overwhelming majority (76%) of marketers agree that the biggest challenge of influencer marketing is determining the ROI of campaigns.

How can you improve something if you don’t measure it? Worse yet, how can you even know if it’s working?

But the problem isn’t just with marketers.

Consumers are evolving, too.

The scale has tipped, and millennials are now trusting influencers less than they were in previous years.

Can you blame them, though? After all, think back to the Fyre Festival influencer marketing gaffe.

Influencers including Kendall Jenner, Emily Ratajkowski, Whitney Fransway, and many others promoted the event. But it didn’t live up to expectations.

As a result of this failure, 94% of marketers stated they were “not likely” or “very unlikely” to seek out big-name influencers for future projects.

All of these factors play into the unstable future of influencer marketing.

As you continue with influencer marketing campaigns for now, you should also begin to test, expand, and optimize other areas of your marketing strategy.

Here are the alternatives to influencer marketing that you should be focusing on in 2018 to help accelerate the growth of your business.

1. Focus on experiential marketing for live events

Sometimes, it’s easy to forget there’s a whole world “out there.”

Your customers aren’t always online.

Live events can provide a unique touchpoint for your customers that influencer marketing can’t.

And they’re effective, too.

According to a recent study, “79% of brand respondents said they would execute more experiential programs this year compared to last.”

Take Clif Bar as an example.

They focused on creating an experiential marketing activation at Pitchfork Music Festival last year. Their activation included a tattoo parlor, photo booth, and more.

At the event, they distributed 26,000 CLIF bars, and one in 20 social posts with the tag #Pitchforkfest also featured the CLIF bar activation.

Live events provide a unique experience in real life, and their impact often expands onto social media.

HBO tapped into its live event playbook when they debuted their interactive Westworld event at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas.

Participants boarded buses and went right outside the city limits for an immersive experience that brought to life the fictional Westworld town from the hit TV series.

The experience was highly detailed and highly personalized. Participants could get their picture printed on a western “Wanted” poster, which aligned well with the brand.

People constantly shared experience on social media during SXSW. It stole the show and earned 62% of the entertainment brand mentions at SXSW.

Live events are an important marketing tactic to help you connect with your customers in a meaningful and authentic way. Influencers simply can’t do that for you.

2. Invest in video content to share your company’s narrative

Video marketing isn’t just flashy, and it isn’t a fad.

It is here to stay, and it can drive serious growth for your business.

Most importantly, though, is that it is becoming mainstream and responsible for a bulk of Internet traffic.

According to estimates, video will make up more than 80% of all consumer Internet traffic by 2021.

Hopefully, you already use video as a part of your content strategy. If not, you’re going to fall behind soon.

In a recent survey, 49.5% of marketers said that video will be a focal point for their marketing.

That’s nearly half of all marketers.

Now, I know what you might be thinking: “My influencer campaigns already use video, so I’m all set.”

Unfortunately, you’re wrong.

You’re missing the chance to focus on everyday people and create meaningful, evergreen content that showcases your brand’s values and embodies your mission.

You can’t rely on influencers to create content that resonates with your audience. You have to do it yourself.

After all, brands often miss opportunities to connect with their customers. A study found that 78% of people feel that brands never connect with them emotionally.

But LinkedIn recently did this well in a documentary-style integrated video campaign. They used the hashtag #InItTogether for it.

Eszylfie Taylor turned his past sales experience into a lesson in life. The more he gives people, the more he gets back. He’s in it to share the wealth. https://t.co/UNiC2JJiF1 #InItTogether pic.twitter.com/5WyqE4ij1l

— LinkedIn (@LinkedIn) January 18, 2018

Campaign Director Stacy Peralta talked about the impact of the campaign. She said, “I knew from the first reading of the boards that this was one of those rare opportunities.”

She added, “They asked us to tell real stories about real people, they wanted it shot in black and white, and they wanted energy, enthusiasm and candor from the people involved.”

That campaign generated great content for LinkedIn to share with their audience.

But where should you share your video content after you finish creating it? Well, consumers watch and engage with branded content in different ways on different platforms.

It’s important to know which works best for your business, but here are some generalizations across all social platforms for consumer viewing and engagement habits:

As you can see, Facebook has the highest viewership as well as engagement numbers (60% and 49%, respectively), while Twitter has the least (41% and 22%).

The interesting part, though, is that there is only a 2% difference in viewership among the top three platforms: Facebook, Instagram (Video), and Snapchat. YouTube and Twitter fall close behind.

On the engagement side of things, it is much different. Facebook is the clear winner (49%) with YouTube (32%) coming in second. That’s a 17% difference.

So that gives you an idea of where you should be sharing your content. But now, you might be wondering how long your videos should be.

Thankfully, there is data to support the ideal length, and the conclusions are clear as day. Here’s the basic principle:

Make them short.

Approximately 56% of all videos that users shared in 2017 were less than two minutes long.

Viewers will lose interest and likely leave if a video is longer than two minutes.

If you aren’t yet certain that video content can be effective in marketing, look at this experiment from HubSpot. They examined the difference between acquiring customers with video content and non-video content.

They tried switching to video content as opposed to blogs and whitepapers.

As they optimized and emphasized their videos, their views and engagement rates skyrocketed. Here were their engagement rates with their old strategy:

Now, here were their engagement rates after they started emphasizing their video content:

Before this experiment, their videos averaged 50,000 views per month. But in their first month of optimizing and promoting their video content, they achieved 1 million views. Those are clear results!

Another great example is BakedNYC’s video campaign.

BakedNYC used video to capture emails, and their results were fantastic.

Through this campaign, they achieved a 40% increase in pie sales, a 68% increase in leads, and a 30% decrease in cost per lead.

Video content presents a huge opportunity for your brand. But creating quality videos might feel like a daunting task.

Don’t fret if don’t think that you can do this alone. You don’t have to be Steven Spielberg.

There are plenty of tools that can help you create engaging video content on a low budget in a tight timeframe.

One of them is Promo.

I love Promo because they have over 12.5 million clips that you can customize. You can add music, text, and even your logo to personalize the clips and make them your own.

Magisto is another great tool to use.

The cool thing about Magisto is that it has a smart video editor, which makes it incredibly easy to cut and edit your videos online.

These tools can help create great video content..

from DIYS https://ift.tt/2MoH22N

#DIYS

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filipeteimuraz · 6 years