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#then you're doing the exact same thing and in none of those cases is it considered that you're not putting your identity in Christ first
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bonny-kookoo · 9 months
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Yoonkook x Reader
Touch-Starved [Main Story]
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Yoongi has a crush on you, but is convinced you're not interested in him. You have a crush on Yoongi, but are sure that he'd never like you if he knew your secret. Jungkook has a crush on you but won't admit it to anyone, and you have a crush on Jungkook, but you think you know that he'd never see you as a possible partner, because he knows your secret. It's all just such a mess. How could you ever sort this out?
Tags/Warnings: Wolf!Bangtan, Wolf!Jungkook, Wolf!Yoongi, Dog!Reader, Puppy!Reader, DDLG aspects and themes, no judgement allowed here, non-sexual regression!!!, none of those themes are sexualized in this work, hurt and comfort, major fluff but also lots of angst and insecurity, friends to lovers
Length: idk long didn't count
-> Masterlist
There is no taglist for this fic.
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Yoongi is not good at things like affection, or relationships at that.
He easily turns red as bright as a spanked ass whenever he has to try and compliment someone he's even just remotely romantically interested in, or he will otherwise simply not find the courage to do it at all. Backhanded compliments are a regular thing with him, his character not allowing him to show someone he cares without implying that he doesn't- a trait that he hates about himself.
He'd learned it from his father, making him even more upset since he never really got along well with that man in the first place. Yet the more he thinks about it, the more it seems like his family history will just repeat itself, and he will find himself in a marriage simply created because of convenience, not love.
He cringes at that, throwing the rest of his sandwich away. His appetite has been long gone anyways.
The reason of his foul mood is in the dorm currently, sitting comfortably on the couch playfully wrestling with Jungkook over a pack of chips he can't identify from his spot.
He hates Jungkook sometimes.
He's always pictured as a shy boy, yet he's actually the exact opposite - easily likable, charming, and most of all- he's your age. The maknae and you are merely half a year apart in age, and he can see why you get along with him. He is a nice person, with his bright smile and large eyes, talented, strong, and likes video games as much as you do.
Yoongi himself does play some games to a small extend, however, he rather buries himself in his work, losing sense of time whenever music is involved.
Overly confident is not how he would describe you- you are simply uncaring of trends of the masses. You don't crave to stand out like Taehyung does, you rather enjoy simply living for yourself and what makes you happy no matter what people would think of your 'goals'. You love stuffed animals and soft colorful things no matter how childish it might make you look. You rarely take selfies of yourself, and never really pose much in images- you just smile, simple as that.
God that smile. If there is an emotion for hate and love at the same time, he is constantly feeling it when it comes to you.
Yoongi wants to be close to you as well, maybe even the closest if he is honest, yet he doesn't know how the hell he is supposed to do that. You both rarely text- he is too unsure if he can, since he is only in a groupchat with you, and only got your ID from Hoseok, who gave it to him in case Yoongi needs to text you something important. You rarely visit him in his studio, but then again, he never told you you'd be welcome anytime. Every small thing he does for you he either brushes it off as nothing speci¹al, or sometimes even tells you that he didn't do it, but one of his members, claiming that he has no Idea what you are talking about. You also show absolutely no interest in him whatsoever.
Which makes his embarrassing crush on you all the more awkward.
He's Min Yoongi for god's sake! He could have anyone if he really tried, if just for his fame and wealth and status as a full blooded Wolf-Hybrid coming from a 'clean' bloodline- yet he is stuck with you, the tiny dog hybrid who sees him as a friend only- if even that at all.
"Yoongi! Finally leaving your wife in there to join us in being social for once?" Seokjin remarks with his signature laugh following, making you chuckle as well.
"Don't be mean Jin." You softly scold the oldest. "Yoongs works hard in there." You look over your shoulder, one of your floppy ears unfolding while you smile that goddamn smile at him- not huge, not a smirk, simply a nice friendly gesture towards him, curled tail wagging a little.
The nickname doesn't make it better.
He hates nicknames, however, he could definitely keep living with your cute versions of his first name any day of the week. He wants to answer you, give you a verbal response, yet all he can bring himself to do is a shrug of his shoulders.
What the fuck.
But you only playfully hold your heart, falling into Jungkooks lap with a dramatic sigh. "Ah, always so cold-!" Which makes the guys laugh, and himself involuntarily smile to himself. He sits down, managing to actually place his ass next to you on the couch without instantly retreating for once. You bravely put your legs over his lap, and his mind is beginning to form the same amount of error messages like his PC system the last time he spilled his iced americano over his MIDI-board.
Yet he only grunts on the outside, and takes his phone out to search for something.
You chuckle, mumbling a sorry under your breath and move to slide your legs off of him again, but his unused hand stops them, shifting them back. His fingers are touching the small patch of bare skin on your calf between your leggings and fluffy sock that had slid down a little- and he has to use all of his self-control not to burst into flames.
He's never really had any very close contact with you, and always imagined what your skin may feel like- as creepy as that sounds. The smile he can see you forming from the side of his view makes him relax, as well- the first sign spotted that he might have some sort of effect on you. Taehyung makes a noise, but is silenced by namjoon who pulls him into a conversation to avoid embarrassing the producer, well aware of his own personal dilemma with you. He is the only one who really knows of his feelings towards you- having told yoongi that you actually feel the same way, yet a bit different. You are, according to namjoon, scared to overstep boundaries with Yoongi, worried that he may snap at you like he did a few months back.
There's that certain feeling whenever you do something stupid and then want to apologize, but you miss the chance and now weeks after it's just awkward, so you don't mention it, while also having to deal with the consequences daily.
Yeah. He still thinks of that moment he'd yelled at you sometimes at the most random of times, cringing internally at it. He'd been stressed with the new Album he wanted to put out, having been stuck on one song, and you had just turned up at the wrong time. You didn't cry or anything like that, you simply apologized for opening his studio without knocking, and left with your tail tucked between your legs. Since then however you'd become a bit more distant with him, more careful, and less touchy than you were with the rest of the pack.
He knows you're a sucker for skinship and cuddling, especially as a dog hybrid who's grown up in a carecenter between many other hybrids, yet you also respect if someone wants space. He loves how much attention you pay to your surroundings, eyes always wide open- you remember things for a long time, and you are able to keep track of so many things at once- yet he's also seen your apartment, a glimpse of your more raw personal side that you tend to keep close to yourself. You're a chaotic person, and he doesn't know how you find anything on that desk of yours.
You struggle to keep track of chores and your own health sometimes, yet you try hard, he knows that. And that makes him feel such an extreme need to make sure you're always happy and taken care of, that he's the one to take care of you.
"Oh, YOONGI!" You suddenly gasp at him, and he raises his eyebrows, looking at you as you move around a bit, your hands searching in your sweater pocket for something. "I actually cleaned up my apartment yesterday, and I found this. I think I borrowed it sometime ago, but lost it- sorry for that again by the way, won't happen again I promise!" You say, showing him a black and silver USB stick, your curly tail wagging in excitement.
You're right, that is his. He actually had forgotten about it.
"Took you long enough." He simply says and takes it from you to put it in his own pocket, seconds later cringing at his sentence. He could've definitely phrased that better, or maybe even simply thank you for giving it back even after all this time. Yet the timeframe of saying thank you without making it seem weird or out of place is already overstepped now, so he has to suffer.
Jungkook chimes in instead.
"I helped her get some order back into that place. Poor puppy had been so stressed with work that she couldnt keep up anymore." He says, laughing along with you, and Yoongi lets a chuckle of his own slip. But instead of telling you what a good job you did, or any praise he really wants to tell you, he only pats your leg gently two times, running his thumb over your calf for a second, internally imprinting into his mind how soft your skin is.
You however beam at this, visibly feeding off of his small gesture like a touch starved pet- and he can't help but find it cute.
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A knock on his door makes him look at it, giving a verbal response in a low "Hm?", as he hears your voice from behind it.
You're not really saying anything, just a sound of confusion and discomfort escaping you from behind the door, and he can slowly hear your slippers softly moving away, when he gets up from his chair to open his door to see you stop to look at him. You're standing in front of him with wide eyes and lowered ears, one of them being pulled on by your hand as he can hear the rest of the pack laughing in the main living room of the dorm. He chuckles at that, waving you into his studio, making him and yourself smile. You thank him somewhat quietly, and go to sit down on his small couch he has inside his studio, laying down so your feet still touched the ground as to not overstep any unspoken rules he might have.
Yoongi however walks up to you, and puts your feet up for you, grabbing a spare blanket from besides the couch, something he always kept here since he sleeps in his studio quite often. You thank him quietly for that, the soft buzzing of his studio PC and the nice air conditioning already helping your fuzzy head a lot.
Jumping over your shadow and coming here was a good idea after all, it seems like.
Yoongi sympathizes with you when it comes to headaches- and it's clear from your behavior that you probably have one, which could also explain why you don't really talk, since it probably hurts. Due to the fact that he seems to solely survive off of caffeine and a cup of instant ramen smashed in between his busy schedule, he gets them more often than he would like to admit. Yet he also remembers how you'd told him once how easily your headaches evolved into migraines if you weren't careful, so he is mindful to help you in avoiding that this time. He digs around in his mind for any small excuse to talk to you, yet ultimately decides against it, thinking it would probably be better for you to have as much silence as possible.
He wonders what your secret is.
Namjoon had mentioned something you kept secret 'for a reason', but he wouldn't tell the producer what it could be, not even a hint. You hopefully know that nothing could ever really make Yoongi see you any different than he does right now.
Except maybe murder- but he doubts that that's what you're hiding.
He also knows that Jungkook is aware of it too. Maybe you both are a couple? He does sleep over sometimes after all, seems to be awfully good with calming you down whenever you're anxious or panicking. It's like the young wolf is aware or something Yoongi isn't, able to manage you when you're becoming restless about things.
Another knock is heard. Yoongi attempts to call out- but gets up to walk to the door instead so he won't shout and worsen your headache. It's Jungkook- because of course it is.
"Hey- is- oh, there she is. I was wondering where she went " jungkook says, entering after the rapper walks aside, silently giving him permission to come in. "Hey- everything okay?" Jungkook wonders softly to you, and you quietly shake your head, whining slightly to yourself before you pull down your ears once more over your eyes, clearly signaling your headache to him as well. "I told you to drink more, puppy. Come on, let's get you home." He gently says, helping you sit up.
"She can just nap here, I don't mind." Yoongi offers- but there's something in Jungkook's eyes that seems oddly suspicious as he looks for an answer inside his head it seems like.
"Ah, I'll rather take her home, but thanks hyung." He tells him, averting his gaze as he instead occupies himself with you who's silently reaching out for him, clinging onto him as he picks you up, showing clearly how used to it both of you are. Jungkook holds you almost effortlessly, while you're instinctively laying your head on his shoulder, arms around his neck.
Yeah, you're probably a couple, and you just don't want to say it out loud.
"You know, you could just tell everyone." Yoongi grumbles more or less as he opens the door for the two of you, Jungkooks wide eyes looking at him. "No one's gonna get mad or something if you told them." He shrugs, and Jungkook looks around for a second, on edge. "You're together, right?" He asks, and Jungkook shakes his head- though with a hint of shyness in his face.
"Ah no- hyung.." He sighs. "I'll- she'll explain when she's ready okay?" He says, as you whine into his neck. "I have to bring her home now- thanks for looking after her!" He says already walking away-
leaving Yoongi confused.
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Jungkook honestly wishes you and him were a couple.
But life doesn't work like this, and sadly, you're not into him like that. You see him as a comfort person, a packmate and a friend- but nothing more than that. He remembers when he first 'caught' you in the midst of regressing in your home-
the whole apartment a mess, cluttered and absolutely disorganized.
You're one of only three percent of dog hybrids that fall into a different headspace when stressed or overwhelmed. It's not something you can control, and neither is it a trauma response- it's just nature playing a cruel joke on you, making your mind shut down to a certain degree to protect you. It's like your brain is overprotective- trying to shield you from all potential mental harm.
But all of that comes with a lot of issues and troubles, such as difficulty holding a job, or simple things such as keeping your apartment clean.
Jungkook remembers how terrified you were of him finding you in your messy apartment- having had to calm you down for a good hour or so before he could even attempt at helping you clean up and take care of your needs. He's not sure why you're so adamant on hiding it from the rest of the pack- but he's got an idea.
Dog hybrids with your condition are alienated, isolated, judged terribly. And you're probably terrified of being cast out of the pack for it, leaving you alone and without anybody.
Your personal nightmare.
So he just instead has decided to take care of you, and wait until you feel ready to tell someone else. You deserve happiness and the feeling of safety and comfort, but he can also understand that you're worried of how it'll be taken by the rest of the guys.
And yeah, he also gets to be a little selfish himself when he's got time with you like this. He gets to live out a little dream here and there, where you're actually his to love. Because he does love you, to the moon and back- and he knows his heart will surely break a little one day when you find someone to give your own heart to, instead of him.
So he takes these moments for himself, and enjoys those daydreams for now, until he has to wake up.
"There we go, that's already better isn't it?" Jungkook hums after he'd taken out your hairtie, fingers massaging the spot where it had been pressing against your scalp for the past few hours. You hum in agreement, nodding against his shoulder while you move a bit to get comfortable on his thighs.
You don't even know that you almost exposed your secret to Yoongi of all people- the one wolf of the pack you've got a crush on.
Everyone kind of knows it, everyone also knows about his crush on you as well- though you seem rather talented in finding excuse after excuse as to why that can't be true. Jungkook knows your main fear is what you're right now- and that Yoongi could find you appalling, or childish, or anything else negative that could come to your mind.
And Jungkook can't say he doesn't understand your fear- because he does.
"You're gonna get all stiff if you nap like that." Jungkook chuckles, patting your back a little, making your curled tail wag happily. "Don't be a brat now. Come on, we'll take a nap on the couch, yeah?" He hums. You whine. "No? Not a nap?" He wonders, but you nod now. "Okay, yes to a nap, no to the couch?" He navigates, laughing when you nod now, tail wagging. "Puppy if we nap in bed you'll sleep for hours though." He sighs.
But you simply wiggle out of his lap, before you run to the bedroom-
The wolf hot on your heels, when your doorbell rings.
When Jungkook opens the door, it's Yoongi- the producer holding up a jacket. "She left it at the dorm." He informs Jungkook, who reaches out to take it- though Yoongi holds it back. "I'd like to give it to her myself-"
"You can't." The younger wolf denies, panicking a little when he hears something jingle, and feels the toy hit his back softly, fabric ball tumbling to the ground, bell inside the cotton filling the cause of the noise. Jungkook closes the door a bit more now to keep you out of sight. "Just- uh, she'll grab it tomorrow-"
"Her phone and purse are in the pockets." Yoongi says. "I'm sure she'd like it back right now." He challenges, and Jungkook can feel himself squirm uncomfortably under the strong gaze of his packmate, having to avert his gaze. "What's really going on?" Yoongi asks, as the toy hits Jungkook's back again.
"Look, this is really bad timing right now-" Jungkook whines as he kicks the toy back with his food go occupy you at least for just a second to give himself more time to think of an excuse. "-She's.. not feeling well right now." He tries to justify.
"Jungkook you're not being very convincing right now." Yoongi sighs. "What the fuck is going on? Does she hate me?"
"NO!" Jungkook barks, before he pinches the bridge of his nose. "Ah.. God, fuck, alright." He sighs, defeated, letting the door slowly open more, while he turns around to throw the soft fabric ball towards where you sit on the floor, toy flying over your head, making you flop onto your back as you try to catch it.
You don't even realize it's Yoongi who's now in the doorway whole Jungkook sits in front of you to start a game of tug-of-war with the soft llushy toy with you, successfully pulling your attention away from the producer who just silently enters the apartment, and closes the door behind him before he hangs up your coat.
It takes him one good look to realize what's going on.
The hazy look in your eyes. The way you don't even greet him, rather occupied with the game Jungkook plays with you. Your almost clumsy way of movement.
"So that's the secret?" Yoongi hums as he sits down near his packmate, watching you with an unreadable expression.
Jungkook nods. "She's scared of anyone finding out." He reveals, while he watches you now nibbling on his finger instead of the toy, before you yawn.
"Why?" Yoongi wonders. "It's not like it's her fault or choice." He mumbles.
"Yeah, I know." Jungkook shrugs. "But I get it, you know? You hear horror stories about it all the time. Friends and family being weirded out and stuff." He explains, and Yoongi grows quiet.
It really is understandable.
"So that's why you sleep over so much?" He asks, and the younger wolf nods.
"She used to be triggered easily since she didn't have a person to rely on." He explains. "But when I took on that.. role, I guess, she became more stable. It doesn't happen so randomly anymore, she's got more control over it. Today was just a bad day I guess." He shrugs.
"She must be tough to handle." Yoongi mumbles.
"Not really." Jungkook denies. "She's very sweet. The beginning was hard, yeah, but mostly because I didn't know what to do. These days it's become easier." He nods to himself, though Yoongi doesn't miss the look on his friend's face.
"You love her." He states.
And Jungkook only nods.
"I do." He agrees. "It's hard not to."
Yoongi hums in agreement, and Jungkook wants to be swallowed by the ground. Now that the producer knows, he'll take over the care of you- you'll grow closer, emotionally and physically, and you'll no longer need Jungkook to care for you.
His dream is ending, and he hates it.
"She loves you too." Yoongi offers. Jungkook laughs a little.
"Situationally, yeah." He nods.
"No, in general." Yoongi argues, but he can't seem to push through the thoughts of Jungkooks mind, the wolf having already decided his stance on things. "Jungkook.."
"You'll take good care of her, right?" He asks, looking at his packmate with round eyes that try hard not to let any tears fall. "You'll make sure she doesn't have to.. feel ashamed, or bad, right?"
"I'm not taking her away from you." Yoongi shakes his head, and Jungkook nods.
"I know you're not." He says, trying hard to keep it together even as you crawl into his lap to comfort him, sensing his distress.
"She was never mine to begin with."
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You're absolutely mortified when you're informed of what happened- or rather when you connected the dots yourself, after waking from your nap with both wolves next to you in bed.
One look exchanged with Jungkook signals to him that you've pulled yourself out of your headspace- body shaking now with the overwhelming sense of shame you're feeling as Yoongi sits up now as well to look at you with a sense of worry.
"Hey, it's fine." Jungkook reassures easily. "He doesn't hate you or anything, he's cool with it."
"Oh god this is so weird.." you hide your face in your hands, embarrassed by the events unfolding like this.
"Its not. It makes sense, really." Yoongi shrugs. "So this is why you don't want to move into the pack dorm with us?" He wonders, and you nod.
"Its weird. You can say that, I know myself that it is." You sigh.
"You're not weird." Jungkook shakes his head, taking your hand to reassure you. "Promise."
"I agree. This isn't weird, it's something that happens to some." He shrugs. "I still like you." He says without thinking, as you slowly look at him.
"You.. do?" You wonder, and he nods.
"Very much." He smiles a bit awkwardly, when Jungkook let's go of your hand, clearing his throat.
"I'll.. I'll see myself out then." He mumbles, and at that your head snaps towards him.
No- he can't leave like that. Yoongi might've..somewhat confessed, but you still need him. You still want him here.
Wait.
If Yoongi likes you, and toy like him back, and that leads to you Noth becoming partners, that's great. But if that means you can't have Jungkook, you don't want it. You need jungkook.
You love jungkook, too.
"Hey, Yoongi will stay with you, you're not alone anymore-" He tries to settle your clearly bubbling panic, but its to no avail. Your head is filled with the fact that Jungkook wants to leave, and you don't want that.
You want both. Why can't they both stay?
Your cheeks are wet with tears as your puppy-mind refuses to accept the situation. You've slipped right back again, as you make jungkook hold yoongis hand, before you yourself hold onto them, stubbornly holding onto their connected hands, before you lay down on them, eyes closed and ears pinned back.
"I uh.." Jungkook stampers a big awkwardly, attempt at pulling his hand away responded to with a low growl from you, eyes glaring.
"Seems like we'll have to share." Yoongi teases surprisingly, catching the younger wolf off guard as hemeeys the older one's gaze.
"I mean- uh-" he stammers, unsure. "Is that.. will that even work out?" He worries, while you happily fall asleep hiding both their hands.
"Guess we'll have to find out." Yoongi shrugs, laying down again next to you, Jungkook slowly doing the same a few seconds later.
Looks like his dream didn't end after all-
Maybe it just begun.
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ecoamerica · 2 months
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youtube
Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared
The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!
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jasper-pagan-witch · 28 days
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I was wondering if a spell would work if I just . Made it up? Like using correspondences and all, and just doing it in a way that makes sense to me, do you perhaps think it would work? Or is it necessary to follow a proper spell from someone who is more experienced? Sorry if this is a dumb question ily you're awesome thank you for being so wonderful all the time x
Anon, dear anon, this is the art of spell work. The great thing about art is that anyone can do it. How do you think most people on Tumblr get the spells they create posts for? They have to make them and (usually) cast them. And you should absolutely create your own spells. They'll make more sense for you in the long run, you'll get some practice under your belt, and you'll be able to figure out what didn't work!
And who's the "more experienced" person in this case? More years of being a magical practitioner? Well, years of existing as one does not equal years of active effort. More years studying spell work specifically? Studying doesn't necessarily yield results without practice. They seem more knowledgeable about [stones/plants/whatever]? They learned that through study and practice, and you can do that too! They have a bunch of fancy titles? If you're not in the exact same branch of practice that they are, those titles mean diddly squat! You look up to them? We're all here on Tumblr. None of us can take the high road.
I am a wizard who firmly believes in the addage of "fuck around and find out". If you're worried about something like spell backfire/malfunction, then practice on spells that won't have catastrophic consequences. (One of my earliest spells that I designed was a Pokemon-based spell jar for luck. Even if it didn't work, it wouldn't be catastrophic, ya know?)
Now, if you're working in a specific paradigm that requires particular things for spells, that may be more tricky and I cannot assist because I operate in no such paradigm. But that doesn't seem to be the case based on how you phrased your ask, so I won't try getting into that.
Here's a link to a tag full of spell work resources.
As a final and very broad note, I am not an authority on magic and do not want to be treated as such. I'm happy to shoot the shit over any topic, but please don't see me as a teacher or - worse! - an influencer. I just exist in my little blogs and talk about my little blorbos. (I'm not saying you, anon in particular, are treating me as such, I just have to add this disclaimer to just about everything nowadays.)
~Jasper
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valdaycare-au · 8 months
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How come exactly all of them got hired or found the job? (Like for example how did Sasha, who is literally from the russian tundra, found a babysitter job to be fitting, and how did all of them got to be in the exact same workplace???)
Heya! Iris here, in charge of most of the writing (the post text and even some of the in-character responses for the ask submissions) and lore alongside Domi who was in charge of the beautiful, crispy, amazing art you guys are being served with our blog! Now yes, there is lore, there is a story to be told about all of these and we actually planned to do a weekly post about the backstory of how the daycare came to be and how all of the sitters ended up in Little Wonders but both Domi and I are college students and alongside with the submissions, we got dumped so none of the lore tidbits we initially planned are done.
I do, however, have written very juicy notes about that so we'll give you a little preview of the sitter's backstories.
Please take note that this is written within the convenience that all of the agents are living in the same country (or in this case, are immigrants and/or have been born in said undisclosed country) and that the tale of their residence in that country isn't within the scope of this AU. After all, it is quite realistic for other ethnicities to move in and live in other countries for their own reasons.
So, let's begin! (I apologize in advance for the poor verb tenses [i made sure to beta read it, of course] and the google translated spanish. I should really get a hold of my past duolingo lessons 😔)
Sage - Ling Ying Wei
So she is the one that started it all. Little Wonders was quite the old daycare center and as an immigrant in a foreign country, it was quite hard to land a job because of racism and other horrible human things that weren't really inherently helpful. She landed the job at Little Wonders who was owned by an unknown individual who wanted to build a daycare. But the economical inflation caused prices to skyrocket, and the expenses in the daycare had grown demanding—Ying Wei ended up being alone after the owner and everyone else left due to the lack of budget and the loss of their clients because it has gotten unaffordable. (In short, you know those games like Lily's Garden? Yeah, she's Lily and the daycare is her garden.) Ying Wei felt lost, so she decided to vent it out to a friend and this friend decided to help out.
Skye - Kirra Foster
Kirra was the friend to the rescue. Having met in a forum online years (if not decades) ago, Ying Wei and Kirra are tight-knit and are like two peas in a pod that were separated from each other and had been joined again. She is, to put it simply, one of those dedicated online friends that you have. (Except that she actually managed to meet Ying Wei a couple of times and unlike most of us.)
In any case, Kirra heard that Ying Wei was suffering and told her everything. She flew to the country to console her, talk, and eventually offered to help her restore the daycare in its former glory for the reason that it held a special place in her friend's heart. She thought that it was quite absurd—why would Ying Wei, a normal employee, be left with this bankrupt daycare when it's supposed to be the owner's responsibility to rebuild it again? But nonetheless, she stayed and told Ying Wei that she'll only stick around once the repairs and the recuperation is done but like her internet bestie, she grew fond and excited for the daycare's great comeback.
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We'll get through this, Ying Wei, you and I. You're the bloody rightful owner of this daycare, 'n we'll make it prosper again, yeah? [redacted] isn't going to get a single penny from when you finally make this work, hear me?
Kirra, I legally do not own the daycare nor do I hold the title. They're still going to get a cent.
Eh, fuck that! I'm telling ya, Ying, if they do come back, we're going to demand full ownership of this place, yeah? Cheer up, mate.
Sova - Sasha Novikov
He was a man destined for greatness—until some tragedy happened that had completely scraped his dream and his career down the drain. Immigrating to a different country, Sasha worked as a salaryman with a discouraged outlook in life. Despite being discouraged, he worked hard and diligently and earned promotions and raises to accompany his loyalty and services. But sometimes life grows bleaker and Sasha thought that his journey as a salaryman was now coming to a close. He decided that he wanted to do something meaningful and thought of jobs that would make him feel fulfilled—finding the hiring poster for Little Wonders flying right to his face (literally). He thought he wouldn't be accepted considering his experiences as a sitter was lacking, but he did. He immediately proved himself to Ying Wei and Kirra and became a formidable member of Little Wonders.
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Wh-what the—? A hiring poster for a daycare?
Chamber - Vincent Fabron
Being a Frenchman born in a life of nobility and privilege; Vincent found himself enjoying life in another country after moving in with his parents after graduating with latin honors in Mechanical Engineering in France. It's not like his parents told him to get a job anyway and there's a vast new world to explore; so explore he did. Unfortunately, Vincent got carried away and ended up spending more and more until he was reprimanded by parents who didn't exactly care but felt like they should hold him off anyway.
He was forced to get a job. And getting a job wasn't exactly easy even with connections. If it were in France, he would've landed a job easy but this is a different country. He was forced to grovel. 5 months had passed, and he still wasn't able to find a job. In a moment of desperation, he found the job listing as a babysitter and for some miraculous reason, he was accepted. Maybe it was his strong demeanor, maybe it's his suave and silver tongue, but Vincent who only knew how to take care of dogs ended up as pretty problematic babysitter who tolerates children more than caring for them. Due to the lack of manpower, Ying Wei couldn't bring herself to fire him. He did and still does try to do his job properly and has resorted into doing administrative work more than actual babysitting for the daycare. (But with the presence of new competition, he finds himself working with the kids once more as he now sees his job being compromised.)
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Madame Ling, I finally caught them like you requested.
VINCENT WHY ARE YOU HOLDING THOSE KIDS BY THEIR SHIRTS?! ARE YOU INSANE?!
Gekko - Mateo Armendáriz de la Fuente
Wanting to create money for himself and get a working experience from all those seminars his mother (practically) forced him to attend, young and bright Mateo applied for the job recently as a part-timer for the daycare under the recommendation of his family friend and considered aunt, Zyanya Mondragon (who has connections with Miss Ling but that will be elaborated in the future, hopefully?)
As a bubbly and cheerful young man with hopes and dreams (which the other sitters envy), he drew the attention of the children with extreme ease and was regarded as the rising rookie within the staff as he easily befriended the children and played with them. While Vincent saw and has since labelled the college student as a threat (just a little bitter), Sasha and Ying Wei found him as a great addition to the team and had considered hiring him as a full-time babysitter once he graduated college. Mateo is currently majoring in Architecture.
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Tienes esto, pequeño. You underwent training, you even got a certification for babysitting specifically. You said you want to earn a little more money so you don't burden your mother, don't you?
L-lo sé, lo sé... I'm just worried that the kids I'll take care of won't like me... you know. They're kinda brutal, mi reina.
Ay, you're a nice kid, Mateo. Cree más en ti mismo, ¿por favor? You're going to do just fine.
Okay, okay, okay.
____________________________
In any case, these can still change overtime until it can be finalized. In the meantime, we both just want to have fun for now and enjoy writing how the sitters react to people wanting to date them. Would there be a dating sim revolving the mommies and daddies—I mean, the sitters in the future? No. JK. Unless? 🤨
We're glad that you're also having fun with this silly little AU that we have! (Hopefully you guys stick around us because we seriously have so much in store. We haven't even introduced the parents yet, but make your guesses!!) All the best and thank you so much for 100 followers here on Tumblr!!
We also created a Twitter/X Account too, yes this is an actual link and not a sentence I wanted to underline for emphasis (because we both thought that Domi might want to separate some non-AU art from her account, but we both love the reach it gives her). Please give us a follow! We love you!
-Iris and Domi
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betasquads · 8 months
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DON'T BE A STRANGER, Sharky
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summary: The love of your life suddenly turns into a complete stranger.
warnings: none
A/N: Just wanted to say that this is rlly short (I apologize) but i hope you enjoy !
It was your birthday. You weren't excited as every year that passes by, your birthday was just like every other day.
You never really saw the ideology of how celebrating birthdays were a good thing or important, as you had a the thought of people celebrating it was stupid. Because at this point, you were just celebrating being closer to death.
The only person that truly made that mindset go away was now a nobody to you, someone that you had forgot about.
This was your first birthday without him and you weren't really planning anything since he was the one that always forced you.
But today, it was an exception.
As you walked through the aisle looking for a cake mix, you were forced to celebrate it with your mother. You didn't deny since she was terribly sick with stage 4 cancer, doing anything possible for her.
But truly, you were bothered by the fact that the people that surrounded you was happy, laughing, and had no other problems in the world except by being here.
You were terribly exhausted and even by the way you looked, you looked extremely tired that you had to be in this hard situation with your mother afterall.
Your eyes lazily search the shelf, trying to find the red velvet cake mix. You finally spot the last one and you reach for it, but one person beats you to it.
You sigh, annoyed, about to turn around to find other flavors, but a familiar voice breaks your thoughts, "y/n?"
You freeze, immediately looking up at where the voice was coming and you even thought you were going a little crazy since you heard him, especially on the day where you were always thinking about him.
You're shocked when you realize it was actually him, "Sharky?" Your voice is barely audible or heard, his name felt foreign on the tip of your tounge yet it sounded so familiar.
"Hey how have you been?" He sends you the same exact smile that he always does whenever he saw your face, except, there was something missing. Like the glimpse of the warmth was now completely gone. You know what it meant.
It meant that you were no longer his priority, his girl, you were just a nobody.
You're still shocked that on that specific day you just happened to find him. "I uhm– I've been great. How about you?" You sounded a little hesitant, even a little unsure in your tone, like you were forcing yourself to say those words.
His eyebrows are furrowed, concerned at the way you hesitated, "I'm doing good." He nods, but you caught the way his smile falls for a second, like he hasn't been doing good at all.
You wished that if that was indeed the case, is that he he wasn't doing good without you.
No way. That's impossible. could that be the case? You knew you were overthinking it.
He glances at the red velvet cake mix that was held by his hand, a wide grin forming when a thought strikes him, "I thought you didn't do birthdays?" He chuckles, handing it to you.
You're still a little shocked by seeing his face, shaking your head to get out of the trance that you were in. "I don't. My mum requested to celebrate it and I couldn't say no." Your voice is silent and you take the mix from him a little too aggressively, placing it inside your cart.
As if realization hits, his smile drops. Like a sense of deja vu had hit him. "Oh right. How is she–" He was cut off by his phone ringing.
"Sorry I have to go." He barely even looks at you when he leaves, like he didn't even care.
You were left dumbfounded, even a little surpised that the person you loved with all of your heart was now someone that could leave without saying a goodbye. You could feel tears forming at everything that you started to remember.
The giggles and laughter that would be heard whenever you both were left alone in the same room, the genuine smile whenever you saw him or he saw you. The way his brown dreamy eyes would light up whenever he saw your face or even a mention of your name was heard.
The both of you couldn't even spend a minute without each other and the rest of his friends would call the both of you, ' disgustingly cute ' at your clingness towards each other.
You even remember the tears that was spilled from your eyes when you found out your mother had cancer and you cried on Sharky's shoulders as he whispered sweet words like, 'It's all going to be okay, baby.' or 'I promise you that i'm going to be with you through it all.'
But did he even mean it at all?! You were now struggling all alone, without him to help you wipe your tears. He never kept that promise.
Those were meaningless words that were temporary, just to feed on the need of comfort you had wanted at the moment.
That was all a play and a memory, a memory that can't be reminisced in anyway since it was clear he didn't want to have anything to do with you by the way he didn't even bother sending you a glance while he left.
There was a huge chance you wouldn't see each other and yet, he didn't even say goodbye.
Now your mind was pounding with words, especially the phrase, 'please don't be a stranger.' and you were silently begging for him to turn back and take you back.
But you knew he wouldn't.
You had felt ashamed, because the only person that truly knew all of you was now a stranger.
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halfagone · 7 months
Note
*with the same caution as someone who has been alerted to the fact that they've woken up in the middle of a minefield*
What might the other things be, so that I and others know to avoid those things? Logically, there's the new one of feeding the story to AI. There's also stealing the work and making demands of authors, but I am a recovering lurker and I'd like to make sure I do not horribly misstep.
Hello!! I know I've definitely seen you around before, and I would like to say thank you for actually asking! It may seem daunting but a lot of the time we really do appreciate and acknowledge the effort to try and do the polite thing.
First off, you are absolutely right about AI, stealing works, making demands. You've hit that right off the bat. I will say, since you mentioned that you are/were a lurker: if you're wondering if you did something to offend an author before, or you realize after reading this post that you have, please don't beat yourself up for it too much. I've known people who moved on from just a reader to a writer and then learned/realized that some of the comments they used to leave weren't the most polite. It sucks to realize, but we all gotta learn somehow! The most important thing is that you grow and don't repeat the same mistakes.
(Please keep in mind throughout all this post that none of this is directed at you specifically, but a general audience. This is not to callout specific people, but a general reminder that these things CAN and DO bother authors.)
Some things may differ from author to author, but some of the most common ones to remember are:
Do Not Leave Constructive Criticism Unless EXPLICITLY ALLOWED
In some cases, the author may have a tag or a comment in their notes saying something like "Constructive Criticism Welcome!" But that is not the same thing as, "Let me know what you think!" Or "Feel free to tell me what you liked about the chapter in the comments!" We're doing this for free, most of us aren't looking to make this a career, and we're doing it to have and share some fun! It is not our fault if you do not like the direction the plot is taking; it is not our fault if you do not like the verb tense. You can always click the back button and save yourself the trouble of reading something you were fundamentally never going to like.
Here's something to keep in mind: there's this book series that I absolutely adore, and I don't say that about too many First-Person pieces of literature. It's a great book, but the editor was not. Super thorough. You know how I mentioned that it was in First-Person? More than once there was a missing quotation mark for dialogue, and when a story is in First-Person, that gets confusing pretty fast. And this is a book I paid for. You are getting this for free.
Do Not Correct Grammar and/or Spelling Mistakes
On a personal note, I do not mind if you tell me I made a spelling mistake. I've had someone point out that I spelled 'bated' as 'baited' and I was cool with that. It's one of those words where I know the difference but only get it right the first try 50% of the time. You know, like breath and breathe. However! Not everyone will feel the same. If you want to point something out, then you can ask the author. UNLESS! The author previously, openly specified that they are not interested, and even if they are, I would probably recommend not making the whole comment about that.
Grammar, on the other hand, is a hard no from me. I had someone give me a mini grammar lesson at the start of a comment using examples that weren't even relevant to the chapter they were on. To this day, I don't know if I had made an actual mistake or not, although I presume that I must have since they felt the need to mention it. But the most ironic thing of all is that the grammar they were correcting me on was beyond my control, because Google Docs keeps autocorrecting those words the exact same way. Only more recently have I managed to keep it from happening (although it still does on occasion) and that was more brute force than a change in settings.
It wasn't human error, just a computer program mistake. And it's more common than you might think! The other day Google Docs corrected my 'beat' into 'ebay' for some reason. Shit happens, it's not always our faults.
Respect One-Shots For What They Are: ONE CHAPTER
I cannot tell you how many friends I have that have gotten so many rude comments about this one in particular. I've gotten a number of them too, but not nearly as much as some of the others.
When we say that it's a one-shot, please just accept that it's a one-shot. Could more be added to it? Maybe. Would you like to see more? Yes? That's great! But sometimes that one chapter is all we have and all we want to have for this plotline. If you want to read more, you can write it.
There are situations where an author mentions a possible sequel, or talks about possible other ideas to write more with the original concept. I know I've done the same thing with a number of one-shots, and I knew to expect people requesting for more chapters.
But that's the key difference here. Requesting is not the same thing as demanding. There is a difference between saying, "I loved this story, I would totally read a continuation if you ever wrote one." Or "This fic was so good! I liked this and this and this, and I'd love to see more from it if you ever get the chance." And saying, "Part 2 please?" Or "Where is my second chapter????"
You can see the difference, right? You didn't even tell the author you liked the fic. You just came up to the chef, slammed your empty plate down, and demanded, "More." It's not as flattering as you think it is.
As for asking or requesting for more ideas from the audience, let's move onto:
Popular Fanon Is NOT CANON and Please Stop Acting Like It Is
This is one of those requests where I am willing to beg on my metaphorical hands and knees. This is an issue I have only seen in DP and DPxDC thus far, and that's because we have so much fanon and fanlore that it's just about everywhere you go in the fandom. On one hand, that's awesome!! We're exploring the worldbuilding opportunities and sometimes that means some favorite tropes or headcanons emerge from it. But that doesn't mean you should expect to see it every time.
Here are some examples: Danny is not Ghost King in every fic. Danny is not even eligible for Ghost King in every fic. Jason does not have Pit Madness in every fic. Danny cannot 'cure' Jason's Pit Madness in every fic. Jason is not liminal in every fic. Jazz is not liminal in every fic. Dan does not get redeemed in every fic. Danny does not have a Protection Obsession in every fic.
I have written 69 Danny Phantom fanfics, and not a single one of them gives Danny a Protection Obsession, but you would be surprised by how many people automatically assumed he did, just because it's popular fanon. I have written more than one fic where Danny was eligible to be Ghost King and people assumed he already was King, despite all evidence that he wasn't yet and didn't intend to be.
I understand these are popular headcanons and tropes. I understand people enjoy them a lot! But it does not mean they are relevant to every fic out there and for you to act like it is just leads us to believe you have poor reading comprehension. ESPECIALLY when we have EXPLICITLY STATED that it's not going to happen.
This leads onto the next subject:
Please Stop Asking Us to Include Specific Characters
I get it. You want to see your faves interact. Who doesn't? But I am crying screaming throwing up and asking you not to demand a character appear. It's one thing to be curious about how a character might react or interact in a situation, and it's another thing to go: "Where is So-and-So? This would be totally different if they were here-" And that's why you'll never see them in this fic! Problem solved. And we can do that, by the way. No one can stop us from declaring someone dead off-screen.
I cannot tell you how many people have demanded that Ellie appear, or Jazz appear, or Dan appear (for some reason? Which goes back to- please stop expecting every author to give him a redemption arc, I quite like him as an ostentatious bastard of a man). I have had more people ask where Ellie and Jazz are than Sam and Tucker combined and those two were more the main characters than Ellie and Jazz ever were.
These characters have lives of their own! Please do not expect for them to leave everything at the drop of a hat. Sometimes their appearances will just further complicate the plot so they aren't included ahead of time because of that. This is not a 'plot hole' on our parts. For you to indicate that it is somehow shows a gross disrespect for our planning skills and writing abilities.
Most of all,
Please Just Respect the Author's Direction
Would you like for things to go another way? Maybe true, but we wrote the fic this way for a reason and please respect that. It might not make sense right now, but there's a very likely chance it's building up to something! And if it bothers you that much, then no one is stopping you from hitting that back button and moving onto another fic that's more to your liking. All the power to you.
But we are not going to change our entire plans for our fic because one person or a few people didn't like it. If I were to change all my plans now for certain fics, then it would be unrecognizable and make no sense, because I had built all the puzzle pieces to paint the exact picture I wanted it to. And maybe to you it's ugly, but it's art to me, and art I worked very hard on.
A General Consensus
Everything is based on respect. If you don't have the words to describe how you feel, then please don't feel pressured to make an elaborate comment about it. I adore keyboard smashes, and heart spams, and even comments going, "You made my cry, fuck you 😭❤️". We appreciate the effort you do make, and we understand all too well when you don't have the spoons and energy to write something longer.
If at any point you wonder, "Can an author take this the wrong way?" A good rule of thumb would be to remove it from the conversation entirely, or rephrase it in a way that makes your point clearer. We cannot always decipher your tone through text, and sarcasm doesn't come across as clearly as you might expect. Unless the authors know you, they can read something very differently than how you intended it to be.
I have readers who comment regularly, who I've chatted with in comment sections. I'd say I know their tone and humor well, in some cases, so when they make certain remarks, I know how to read it. Not everyone will have that luxury.
I know this might seem like a lot, but these are some very real frustrations I've struggled with for a long time. Please don't be discouraged if this feels overwhelming all at once. You've already put in some effort by trying to find out what you can do to be more thoughtful to authors! And that's the kind of effort that doesn't go unnoticed. <3
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ecoamerica · 1 month
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youtube
Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc
The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!
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xxlovelynovaxx · 2 days
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L+bodymind dualism+prescriptivism and exclusion of people who have every right to use a term differently due to oppression olympics+misrepresentation of plural history and endomisia as well as "pro"-endo sysmedicalism and not recognizing that origin≠disordered status and mixed origin traumaendo disordered systems exist:
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Anyway
There's no such thing as an "able-bodied" neurodisabled person. There's only neurodivergent people who do not identify as disabled and neurodivergent people who do, in which case they have a disability of a physical organ, the organ which is interconnected with and controls all other physical organs no less; and the vast majority of neurodisabilities have EXTREMELY high rates of comorbidity with chronic illnesses to the point it's rare for many of them NOT to co-occur. In fact, the dividing into discrete "mental" and "physical" diagnoses actively impedes our understanding of both and limits treatment and management options for us mad crips. Your bio claims you are "critical of psychiatry and the medical-industrial complex" and yet body-mind dualism is one of the biggest pillars supporting those, what are you even doing?
Words can mean multiple things. That's one of the functions of a dictionary. "Only x group is using [word] correctly is bog standard exclusionism shit and idc how much you echo the "I promise my exclusionism is different this time bro" it's not. "But it makes abled people think that people who are always nonverbal can turn it on and off like people who are temporarily nonverbal" no ABLEISM makes them think that, also temporarily nonverbal people CAN'T turn it on and off and that's also ableism, the whole POINT is that NONE OF US have control over it, because if we did that would just be choosing not to speak.
As an addition to the above, if we wanna get technical, "going nonverbal/semiverbal" or "temporarily nonverbal/semiverbal" in fact actually clarify specifically that they are nonpermanent, implying a permanent state is possible. However, technically, if you are still scribal, you are NOT nonverbal by the definition of nonverbal as nonverbal refers to ALL language. Unless you are relying solely on nonlinguistic AAC, you are NONSPEAKING. Now, I'm not going to police this, I only point it out to note the hypocrisy of kicking people out of a word for using it "incorrectly" while many of the exclusionists (especially many people who are NEITHER permanently nonverbal nor nonspeaking) are doing the exact same themselves.
Endogenic plurality can involve CDDs, even traumagenic CDDs when the trauma occurred after the formation of a system. It can also involve CDDs in traumaendo systems. They're not in fact totally discrete separate concepts and acting like they are is just, you guessed it, more exclusionism! Also no, the online plural community was not about "disdain for trauma survivors with CDDs", ever. It WAS about disdain for medicalization, as in, treating plurality as INHERENTLY pathological. If you're referring to "natural systems" terminology, people actively SPECIFICALLY changed that out of understanding that, however well intentioned, it could POTENTIALLY imply something harmful about traumagenic systems.
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olgiisworld · 9 months
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My Best Friend // Choi Beomgyu
summary; you're in love with your best friend, Choi Beomgyu, but you can't confess. You spend a nice evening with him skating, and as always, he makes your heart flutter.
Y/n x Beomgyu of Txt, genre: fluff, pure fluff
Word Count; 882.
Warnings; none
note; I hope you enjoy it :). This is an old draft. It's my first time posting on Tumblr, and English is not my first language, so I'm sorry if you spot any mistakes <3
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And the weather was soft, just like him.
His features were like a paint of a brush.. soft yet strongly noticeable. The details of his eyes captured my attention like a trap...
Wish I could take that smile off of my head but I've been thinking about it so much that my stomach automatically spins.
Sitting across the skating court, skateboarders flying around me while I lock my eyes with the sunset, drawing so very delicately the beautiful layers of the shades of it, feeling free of the things I have to do.
My best friend's skating right in front of me, dancing across the detailed scenery behind him. It made everything better. Prettier.
He was pretty.
I sneaked a glance every now and then, assured that he wouldn't see me staring at him, when he focused on his every action just to end up falling down.
But he always tried and it made me smile. I unintentionally smiled while staring, readjusting my position when his hand landed next to mine, his heavy breaths catching my attention.
"Can you give me a hair tie of yours?"
His skin is so light blended with the colors of the sunset, catching my stare 'til it moves to his eyes.
"You should buy your own, you've literally taken every hair tie I own."
He grabs my wrist and fights off my playful punches, managing to take one of my hair ties and tie his long hair into a low ponytail, taking some of it off his neck, feeling the sweet breeze brushing through his skin, smiling lightly at the sensation.
I felt myself blushing while staring at him, and I turned my attention back at my sketching.
"What's you making?"
I grabbed a few colors and proceeded to finish the small drawing before the sun sets completely. I felt his head leaning up on my shoulder, his touch sending shivers down my spine. I turned to look at him, realizing we're too close to each other, nonetheless, he did not flinch a bit.
I stayed looking into his eyes, and he did the exact same thing, unfazed. After a few seconds, he broke a smile and moved back a bit before he laughed it off, grabbing the bottle of his water, opening it while looking in front of him, all those skater girls.
My eyes fell ill in my drawing.
Does he find them beautiful? Am I boring?
Why am I not skating? Why am I sitting here, drawing this stupid picture?
He noticed the sadness in my posture, my back lowering a bit, and he immediately grabbed his camera, capturing the moment in front of him, the beautiful blend of the sunset's shades.
He loves taking pictures. He loves it so much that it's honestly the first thing I think when he comes to my mind. He's always walking around with that camera. It holds so many precious memories of him.
When I looked at him, he wrapped his arm around my neck, pulling me so close, our cheeks touching, when he turned the camera our way.
"What are you doing?!"
"Say cheese!"
The face he made, made me laugh and then, click, a new memory has been saved.
He turned to look at the picture, searching it through the box of his memories, so passionately that it made me smile.
He had so many photos of me, smiling, dancing, eating, crying, laughing. I always hated people taking pictures of me, but I never minded when he did it, 'cause in that case I found it heartwarming that I was in his memories.
He turned to show me the picture and it was so beautiful, I wanted to have it myself, something to stare at every night. Instead, I kept silent and let him have the memory we shared.
He turned it back to himself.
"You look so pretty. Have you noticed that when you smile, your eyes disappear?"
I felt my heart skipping a beat.
"What?"
"Yeah, it's like, you're so happy but you can't see. Look, here."
He moved closer to me, his one hand leaning back to support his body, landing upon mine and his other hand holding the camera full of my pictures, smiling.
I felt myself blushing so hard that he must have noticed.
I brought my hand up to fix my hair, feeling the awkwardness of my blushing spreading through the air.
Him, on the other hand, seemed clueless.
"Do you want to grab a bite?"
I felt the redness fade away when I heard his voice, so I turned back to look at him.
"Sure, I'm starving."
I stood up, grabbing my stuff and wearing my backpack, ready to leave while he was grabbing the skateboard and the camera, holding one of them under his arm and the other around his neck.
"Where are we going?" I asked, kinda confused.
"You'll see, I got something like a 'small date' planned out"
I felt the walls of my heart shattering down when he said 'small date' and I stopped to look at him.
"A what?"
"Be patient love."
He then grabbed my hand, held it tight, and led me to a small adventure, a small date.
That's when I thought..
I have the biggest crush on this man.
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moonstruckme · 10 days
Note
Oh babe I read your post about graduation and life after. I FEEL YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!! I’m graduating Friday and I pursued a film degree in a city with little to no opportunities for that industry. Don’t know why I did that. Sorry to my parents who sacrificed a lot to put me through school. Moving to a bigger city is not an option bc I can’t afford it. Might be moving back in with my parents might not be. Everyone is asking whats next for me. Girl idk. I’m stressed I’m anxious. I hate it here. The real world sucks and I just want to skip over all this character building stuff and get to the part of my life where I’m happy with a career and can actually afford groceries. Sometimes I wish my dreams weren’t as big.
Hi gorgeous! First of all, I'm so sorry you feel that way. I promise your degree has value whether you feel like you can get a job out of it right away or not, and I won't pretend to know how your parents feel but I doubt they would have sacrified anything if they didn't feel your education was worthwhile. Graduating from college is a big deal nonetheless ! We both know I'm struggling with this too but I have some pieces of advice that have been given to me and I've found helpful if you want them <3
Obviously, "almost no one works in something related to their degree" is a really disheartening thing to hear, and I bet you've been hearing it (like I have) a lot lately. But what I think the people who say that are trying to convey is that there is no shame in just doing a job that makes some money (and preferably also makes you happy), and sometimes that financial security can help you pursue your dreams with a bit more surety since you're no longer trying to find a way to eat at the same time.
A few months ago, I talked to my mom about how guilty I feel about potentially not being able to get a job relevant to my degree after she helped put me through college, and while I know not all parents feel the same way about this, I think she made some great points. She said that college is about learning how to think, and your education and the experiences you've had in college will always be valuable no matter what job you end up with. And did you have a good time? Did you like learning all those things you did about film? Did you meet some cool friends, or get to talk about your interests with people who get it? If so, none of it was wasted.
It's so, so easy to feel pressure from others when you're trying to figure out your life post-grad, but in my experience most of that pressure is really internal. People ask what's next for you because they're interested, not becuase they have any one specific path in mind, and the vast majority of the time if you seem happy, they're happy. If you're not happy, fuck it! Then your priority should probably be getting to a place where you are happy, and those conversations really don't matter when you've got bigger fish to fry.
Last thing, but as someone also struggling to re-orient herself in her life plan, I've been taking a lot of time to figure out my priorities. I kind of got stuck in this idea of what my life was going to be, and once that seemed less certain I started questioning what I wanted if I didn't have to do that. I'm making a pinterest board (always my first course of action haha), and it's helped me figure out that whatever I do, I want to be around nature and books, and to live in a mid-size city. Figuring out what I need to be happy has really put things into perspective for me, and I'm sorry I don't mean to assume we're in the exact same mental state but I just want to give you all the stuff that's been working for me in case any of it fits into your situation too.
You can still use your passion in film while working another job, or use that job to save to move to a larger city, or maybe even reflect and find that you're content keeping the film thing as a hobby and there's something else you enjoy doing for a career (I know how heartbreaking that can sound when you love something, but that's how writing has turned out for me so I just wanted to put it out there--feel free to reject it of course). For me, trying to open my mind to all the possibilities and re-evaluate what I want from the next few years has been super scary but also kind of exciting, and I hope that whatever happens for you you're able to find happiness in the big and little things. Wishing you all the best my love!
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booasaur · 1 year
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As someone at 27 y/o bi leaning towards women.. who’s born in a country that doesn’t support lgbt rights and also in the closet because of homophobic dad/relatives, im honestly so upset by this. The only way I can live my truth is to live vicariously through the wlw media that I consume and it fuckin hurts. It’s heartbreaking that even just being who I am is impossible and the only way I can is being ripped away from me. I don’t know how much more I can take, especially during pride month
Oof, I get you, anon. When it's your only outlet to something that for others can manifest in so many life-changing ways, crushes, first kisses, dating, sex, marriage, children, it can be so stifling when even the one avenue you have is closed off. And however far away it's happening, it's a reminder of the same homophobia and restrictions you see right around you, so it feels even more hopeless, knowing that in places that are supposedly better off, there are still these major battles to be fought.
I don't know your exact situation, but here are some of the things that helped me come to terms with these same frustrations:
First, focus on individual people more than trends. That's tough to do, for sure, especially when, again, you see so much homophobia directly around you so it seems ubiquitous, but if you're particularly taking WN's case to heart, remember that as much as Netflix tried to shut it down, the cast and crew fought for it! For all these cancellations, there are people who made the original media in the first place and tried to keep it going. It's not hopeless, there's so much support and so many allies.
This next part might be hard to accept, and you know, maybe it's not what'll work for you, but for me, I really did have to learn to not get really deep into any one show or ship. When things are good, they're so good, it all sucks you in, you check the updates all the time, and maybe most importantly, there's this whole community you become a part of. But when you lose it, not if, because in f/f you will, even if things end well, there aren't enough people to keep it going, the more you've made it a part of your life, the more you feel that loss.
All fans should exercise moderation and keep things in perspective, but I'm speaking more to people like us, who don't have anything in real life to balance out what we experience through media.
I answered this ask a little late because I did get sucked up into other shows airing right now that have f/f and that doesn't negate the core issue, this will be the final season for most of them, if not all, but there's still something to get into, even just in f/f media. Perhaps you may prefer lesfic, or the f/f Youtube/Tiktok scene, or webseries.
It's also worth getting into non-media hobbies. Or, you know, at least consuming non-f/f media. I remember being angry at seeing the m/f couples in pretty much everything else while we couldn't have anything, so I just didn't watch anything at all and instead just did those elaborate adult paint by numbers and listened to comedy podcasts. And once I did feel more in the mood to watch stuff again, it was goofy sitcoms and old school murder mysteries, where it wasn't really like, oh, I wish this had more of us. :P
Lastly, it really does sting at you if you feel isolated and alone even from your own family, so try to see if there are other ways you can connect with them. Otherwise it just adds to your negative feelings to resent and fear them.
None of this may work for you, there are so many other possibilities, moving away, coming out, getting involved with LGBT organizations near you or just meeting other queer people, but I'm sure you've already considered those options and they're not currently doing enough for you. But I would at least give some of this a shot, try some distance at first, and hopefully it'll start to feel better. It really doesn't help that we're globally going through a pretty rough time, but just focus on feeling better yourself.
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chirpsythismorning · 1 year
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Y’all will be your own undoing the fact none of you have not even the slightest bit of doubt is rather worrying. what happens if neither is endgame and let’s say Mike is killed off? You can’t say that won’t happen either because you don’t know the same way you can’t say byler is endgame because you don’t know hell even milevens can’t say they’re ship is endgame because they don’t know. Ego is ruining both sides and neither side is correct and shouldn’t proclaim to be.
I'm sorry anon, but I'm not all bylers. While there are a great deal of bylers like myself who have less doubts these days, there are plenty that have mostly doubts. PLENTY. Arguably the vast majority. And for good reason, ie. history.
To be completely honest anon, I don't think you're worried about bylers and their lack of doubts. I think their lack of doubt scares you bc it's caused you to go from confident to having doubts yourself. Why else would you be here on anon all condescending otherwise?
Personally, I'm not even here bc I want to believe byler's endgame. And no offense to those that have went through it, because the whole point of queer-baiting is to basically mock queer fans and lead them on with no intention of following through, but I have never been queer-baited before.
I did however, like many milkvans, go into Stranger Things loving Mike and El under the assumption they were peak romance. I literally skipped all of s2 during my first rewatch to get to their reunion! But genuinely, do we think the show is supposed to be watched that way?? Hell no.
If you're having to skip all of s2, most of s3, most of s4 in rewatches, bc Mike and El are separated, fighting, or broken up, what does that tell you?
If you're having resentments for characters like Max and Lucas and Will and Hopper bc the story has made points to have those characters interfere with your confidence in Mike and El romantically, I'm sorry, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you're probably watching the show wrong. To be clear, if you have resentment for ANY of the main characters, you are missing something!!!
And that was my problem back then when I subscribed to these assumptions, because I WANTED to believe Mike and El were the pinnacle of romance, despite the signs incoming that went against it. And what that meant is I had to hold resentments for all the characters, including Mike and El themselves and even the Duffer Brothers for ruining what I WANTED to believe.
After s3, me, my friends, family and quite honestly anyone I spoke to about the show, said that it went downhill since the previous two seasons. And I do think a big part of the reason why, is because of the Mike and El conflict conflating everything. It felt regressive. And s4 repeating that exact storyline????
It took me a while to even consider byler as an idea. It's not like I latch onto every non-canon mlm ship and just ship for nothing (very few bylers do this, no matter how much anti's need to convince themselves this is the case as an excuse to be homophobic).
I am a hopeless romantic. Doesn't matter if it's queer or straight, I only ship stuff that I feel confident is endgame bc why would I put myself through scenes of something that doesn't feel right to me, merely bc I want to believe it and despite everything pointing against it??
Full serious, IF I was confident in milkvan endgame as a possibility, I would probably just convince myself to like them and provide evidence supporting it, bc I would honestly rather be right? Who tf wants to be wrong?
The problem was it didn't matter if I was initially convinced Mike and El were the pinnacle of romance (I was a child okay, give me a break...). Once I let go of that assumption because of all the doubts I had of them piling up, and took off my heteronormative goggles, I went woah... Holy shit. This show is actually fucking epic. Doubts gone. And the rest is history.
So, what happens if neither is endgame and Mike's killed off? I guess I would be confused, especially because the Duffer's specifically mentioned not being able to kill off Mike in a podcast last year. They gave their reasoning as to why, being that they take deaths on their show very seriously, needing 1+ seasons for them to show the characters mourning the loss. And so ending the show on that exact note, would be kind of a spoiler since they brought it up specifically? Therefore kind of redundant?
I guess, sue me for thinking the Duffers care about the show and put a lot of meaning into it. All of my analysis and theories are based on that assumption. No one's going to change how I think about that, so trust me, not worth getting worked up over it, anon.
If your evidence is all based on the assumption that the Duffers are not that good of writers, that almost everything on the show is coincidental and there's no deeper meaning beyond surface level, why are you even watching it in the first place? You do you I guess, but I just don't know why you wouldn't want to watch something that is more worth your time?
People being confident in their theories wont hurt you. If it bothers you so much, maybe find a way to be confident with your theories after looking at all the evidence from both sides. All sides. Any sides. If you still come up completely indifferent, then don't work yourself up by going on anon and making it other peoples' problem.
If it turns out everything meant nothing, and I was wrong about everything or most of what I interpreted, I will be okay! Because the show went from being about what I wanted to believe, to just what I genuinely believed.
Would I be disappointed? Sure. But lets hope I'm right bc in my scenario the show is epic and everything means something... not sure why anyone would root for the alt...
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ihopesocomic · 11 months
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It's awful that people are trashtalking something you've clearly worked hard on because of a video that I thought was actually harmless and very helpful. What makes it worse for me is that you both spoke up from a place of oppression and yet you're getting 'if only you'd kept your traps shut and let me enjoy my cartoon lions, then i'd respect you and your work'? Disgusting. I can tell how done you both are with this situation and I think I speak for everyone when I say I don't blame you at all.
I think my favorite part of the whole thing was we weren't even the first and only people to make a lot of the points we made in our video. And all those people who said it first were quickly dogpiled and didn't say anything afterward until we posted our video. It was really something witnessing whole-ass adults saying how amazing MP is for its "mature themes" and "good representation" of queer/disabled people, while in the same breath ridiculing those who come from one or both of those groups who dare try to point out serious flaws (it doesn't really matter whether the fans are also queer/disabled, you just. Don't do that when you're an adult? That's shit I expect from children.)
So frankly we're tired of it. Its unacceptable, and too many of them are well into their 20's. Everyone else who is a MP fan has had perfectly normal reactions and discussions with us, I don't know why everyone else takes it so personally to the point they have to defend objectively harmful tropes just because their favorite pointy lion is attached to it.
Everything RJ has said before, and in my case, what, am I not allowed to point out tired old offensive lesbian tropes? Because I've been doing it a long time, and I'm gonna keep doing it until people stop making offensive lesbian stereotypes LOL (And like I've said before, these are stereotypes that were old years before MP came out. Guess that's on me for assuming people would care about butch lesbians in the year our lord 2020.) I'm not gonna stop just because you happen to like the show. You can either listen or not. It doesn't help that MP is a lot of peoples' first exposure to queer characters in animation. And since it's made by professionals, why would they doubt it, am I right? lol
I've talked about how I'd fix Hover many times, and none of those times had been what we're currently doing with Storm. It would be easy to turn Hover into a character that's closer to myself and call it original. But guess what, I'm not the only kind of butch lesbian out there. I wanted to show appreciation to the kings out there that aren't taller than their girlfriends, that don't have the deepest voices, or the biggest muscles. Cuz contrary to popular belief, butches are diverse. Which means we aren't crass chucklefucks who abuse our partners. You'd think that'd go without saying, but here we are. Not only does it STILL happen in media, but an off-putting amount of people relate to Hover, or like her without bothering to understand why a character like Hover would be offensive to some of us.
Which is all it boils down to. We've been very consistent with our opinions for the last 3 years and people make the exact same arguments against us. They don't want to learn, because if they did, they'd at least acknowledge what we have to say instead of making assumptions every single time we mention MP. - Cat
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You know what. I said this in the comments but I'm gonna say it out here because I think people need to see it. I've seen a lot of bitching from Izzy stans when I come across them that people are getting "harassed" (read: criticized) for liking Izzy. And then they go off on this big tangent about how dare you say x y z when I relate to Izzy. I think what those people are missing is that when people talk about homophobia or racism in the show, they're doing the exact same thing that you are doing, which is to say, relating the show back to their lived experiences.
I'm gonna use the homophobia here because I can only really speak for myself, but I'm sure the same applies to when black and brown fans talk about racism.
I'm a flamboyant gay man (I'm also trans and disabled, which informs some of the things I'm about to say but I'm focusing on the homophobia). I have been called a bitch more times than I can count, I have been told I'm lazy and good for nothing, I've been called a monster, a freak, a dyke, a tranny, you name it I've been called it. The characters I happen to relate to most in Our Flag Means Death are Lucius and Ed, for reasons unrelated to all of that. So for me watching the show and Izzy walks up to Lucius right after he's just gotten done fucking Black Pete and says "you're a bitch now get back to work" I can be forgiven for looking at Lucius and saying "Damn I've been there, girl." But for some fucking reason when I make a post saying, essentially that Izzy is giving off homophobic vibes, and I personally as someone who has been through that shit find it weird that some people didn't pick up on that but whatever" for some reason Izzy stans take that as a personal fucking attack, and then they attack back and then I have to block a bunch of people and it's a whole thing.
And then I'll see them complaining about "Older queers and closet cases relate to him so you can't talk shit about him" and I'm like good for you but I'm also a queer and I relate to Ed as a queer and Izzy objectively screamed at him about how he was pathetic and soft because he was sad about his boyfriend. I've been yelled at for being pathetic because of being with my partner. Why is it that when I talk about that I get lambasted for it.
So Izzy stans, I genuinely want to know. Why for thee and not for me, huh? Why is it that when I relate this show back to my personal experiences you perceive it as an attack, but when you relate to this character no one is ever allowed to say anything mean about him. And if you talk about main tagging even once you're getting blocked because some of the shit you guys put in the Ed Teach tag is unhinged so that's another layer of hypocrisy.
Final thing. None of what I've said here means you can't like Izzy. I love Calico Jack and he's gay and homophobic. None of this is an attack. I'm just talking about my experiences. And yeah. I know I'm opening myself up to harassment by putting this in the Izzy tag. but I'm hoping that we can all have a mature conversation about it. And I'm not gonna tag this izzy critical. I've only said things that are objectively true and it's not really about him it's about why you guys are always crying so damn loud that I somehow hear it.
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variablejabberwocky · 7 months
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so i've seen a lot of "bruce is a good dad", "no bruce is a bad dad!", "no THIS version is good for THESE reasons", "but THIS version is BAD for these other reasons" kind of stuff and ,honestly, what im getting from all this is that we've all collectively identified A Problem but haven't quite figured out the root cause yet.
well, i think i've gotten a little closer. to be fair tho i wouldn't have if there weren't so many amazing people spouting excellent meta theories and writing advice and whatnot here on the tumbles.
so here is my opinion on this that literally no one asked for but you're gonna get anyway:
the root problem is a narrative perspective incongruence
let me explain: so superheros are, at their core, a power fantasy (at least the dudes are, anyway) and what fantasy they are about differs between characters. in batman's case the fantasy is...complex, but basically boils down to staring at the uncaring void of the universe and making it blink first. its a fantasy of getting to grow up to become the thing that would have saved you. of being such a badass that you can drag the world even that tiny bit closer to being fair, even if you have to use force to get it there. its about making it so no one else has to go through what you had to. its about being someone who CARES in a way it felt like not enough people did when you needed it most.
and thats a powerful fantasy. very appealing to a LOT of people for a LOT of reasons. but its ultimately a fantasy told from an adult perspective. we don't see little 8-12 year old bruce dress up and go out fucking shit up in the night. we see, at the youngest, 19-20 year old bruce dressing up as a bat and starting his whole thing. and usually its more like 22-24 when he gets started. and that means he has an adult's idea of what is right and wrong, what is good and bad, what is fair an what is not baked into it. which is absolutely fine, its just also deeply incompatible with a child's perspective of the same things. because to an adult, a good adult, children are a thing to be protected, not endangered. and to a child an adult is a threat at worst and an obstacle at best.
which means the problem... is ROBIN
because robin is ALSO a power fantasy, but one for children. robin is about a little 8-12 year old kid dressing up to menace the kind of people who hurt them or those they care about. its a fantasy about getting justice NOW, of getting an adult that treats you like an equal ["partner, not sidekick" anyone?], an adult that understands and validates your feelings and wants and trauma and HELPS you in the exact ways you want them to help you at the time, even if its something other adults would be mad about.
which is also a powerful fantasy, but because its being told from the perspective of a child it has a VERY different set of requirements for the setting than something told from an adult perspective.
see, for a child (or children, or teens, or any other not-adult) to be able to be the hero or protagonist of a story it NECESSITATES that the adults in that setting are all some form of terrible. usually in one of the three following ways: dangerous, absent, or useless.
dangerous adults are ones who want to kill, maim, or otherwise assault the kid protags. they're usually the more dangerous bad guys of a story or even the 'final boss'
absent adults are usually the mechanism that allows for all this adventure and why a kid is the one all this responsibility falls on. this can mean anything from "all the adults magically disappeared one day and now its just us kids in the world", to "all the adults are off at war", to "none of the adults care to check in on us so we're left on our own to do what we want", to "all the (relevant) adults are dead" [insert "you're not my real dad" jokes here]
useless adults are, i think, what trips so many people up. because these are the adults that try to help, that try to take responsibility, that try to do the right thing. but because this is a story about kids they can't actually SUCCEED without making it all about the adults instead. and this is, unfortunately, where the vast majority of "good" adults in a child-perspective story have to be. and that't not even getting into how a 'good' adult from a kid's perspective is a very different thing from a 'good' adult from an adult's perspective.
because, no, a kid is not 'an equal' to an adult in all things. an equal person? yes. an equal in basic human rights? yeah they should be. an equal in power? in responsibility? no, by the very nature of kids being kids they are NOT ready for that. an infant is literally unable to care for themselves and will die without that care, a toddler is not ready to work or pay taxes, an older child/younger teen is not ready to be wholly responsible for themselves much less parent someone else. and that means there is gonna be a power imbalance. a 'good' adult is one who is capable of balancing the independence of a whole-ass separate person with the power-over and responsibility-for someone who isn't able to be as independent as they want yet.
a 'bad' adult is one who doesn't do that. either because they can't or because they intentionally won't. a 'bad' adult puts a kid in danger, is sexually inappropriate with them, or slacks off on their responsibility towards a child under their power. a 'bad' adult will give a child what they want even if it is dangerous or otherwise a bad idea in a way that child isn't prepared to understand yet. either because of negligence or manipulation.
so if we bring all this back to batman what we get is a story that is trying to be told from an adult's perspective AND a child's perspective at the same time. one where batman HAS to be good to be batman but he can't actually be good the way an adult would view it.
which is how you get robins having to be the co-dependant emotional support for a grown-ass adult. of having to parent the parent. of having to parent the other kids while they still are one. of being 'allowed' to fight murderers and rapists and pedophiles and traffickers while being a prime target for ALL of that because even the 'good' adults don't seem to know what appropriate boundaries and limits for kids are. and all that is in the "better" versions of batman. don't even get me started on the horrors lurking in the bad ones.
so as long as robin is under 16-18, batman is REQUIRED by the narrative perspective to be some kind of terrible adult, because an actual good one WOULDN'T LET SOMEONE YOUNGER THAN THAT DO SO MUCH DANGEROUS SHIT. hell even that age range is pushing it a bit.
and before someone jumps in with the inevitable "lol, what makes you think bruce could stop [insert robin here]": alfred somehow kept tiny bruce from running off to fuck shit up. you think he can't still do that with the younger kids? that him AND bruce at the height of his power couldn't do that combined? that a bruce who has made friends with fucking SUPERMAN and WONDER WOMAN couldn't get a literal demigoddess and overpowered godlike alien to help him wrangle his kids? that a good-parent bruce wouldn't sacrifice his pride/territoriality over gotham if it meant saving/protecting his kids? that the most paranoid man in the world with terrifying stalker/invasion of privacy tendencies wouldn't be capable of having multiple trackers on each of his kids (including ones they don't know about) that set off a bazillion alarms and failsafe protocols the MOMENT they went off schedule or pattern?
i will absolutely grant you that the grown-up versions of the robins are all terrifyingly hyper-competent even in comparison to bruce (or at least they SHOULD be) but thats their GROWN UP versions. while they're still kids, still ROBIN, they are VULNERABLE and, like any other kid, deserve to be protected and as safe as reasonably possible.
going out at night to kick people in the head in spandex and booty shorts ain't it
so your options are:
bruce is a good dad and all robins are at least 16 before they start actually going out to fuck shit up. and aren't running off on their own to 'fight crime' until at least 18. they might or might not be involved in the background stuff like research or 'guy in the chair' duties but they ain't physically in danger until around mid-late teens. OR,
bruce is a typical useless adult of child-narrative stories that has no idea how to care for a child and lets them do shit that is inappropriate as hell but the kids think that makes him a 'cool' adult at the time so the narrative labels him a 'good' dad and not the textbook definition of 'reckless endangerment of a minor'. [and leads to the grown up kids having Complaints about their upbringing that never get addressed]
and i think it's pretty obvious which one the multiple iterations of canon consistently go for
so yeah: doylist take is batman is a bad dad (who is usually at least trying) but he's literally written that way by poorly thought out narrative choices trying to have it both ways that have been going on so long its beyond baked into the narrative and has progressed to burnt-in.
and that sucks because by all rights he SHOULD be a good dad if you keep to his "platonic ideal of batman" characterization. like this man should have spent like a year doing almost nothing but teaching himself how to parent when he got the first one. this is the dude that goes out and finds experts until he himself is an expert. why on earth would he do that for his 'mission' and not his kids when the WHOLE POINT OF BATMAN IS TO HELP TRAUMATIZED KIDS LIKE THEM.
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dualityvn · 1 year
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thank you nightmare for the delicious lore crumb i will now drive myself crazy over it for everyone's enjoyment
alright so, "the game isnt supposed to exist. you're supposed to forget it" right off the bat i have a pretty good idea of what i think the first part means, which ill get to, but ill be frank i have No clue what the second part is supposed to mean. maybe ill think of it as i work the first part out, maybe not, but going into this i am Clueless.
diving right into the first part then, as soon as i read it i was reminded of magic man, and how he interceded on our behalf to stop Keith from seeing an ask that would have upset him. when we questioned Keith and Tenebris about magic man later, we learned that he had approached and spoken to Keith the day we first meet him, after we had left the flower shop, and told him that we (the MC) would be someone who could love him. (i wanted to find the exact post so i could quote it but i cant find it so if im mis-rembering something let me know)
so, if we assume that magic man is in fact, magic, and somehow pulled some strings to get this "fated meeting" between the boys and the MC to happen, then i think that pretty solidly solves the question of why the game isn't supposed to exist.
because its not supposed to. we were never supposed to meet Keith and Tenebris, and they were never supposed to get attached to us, but it Has been created and they Did. but something that's not supposed to exist has to be created, which explains the existence of magic man.
what i still dont get is magic mans motives tho. if he is the one that made it possible for the game to exist, and for the boys and the MC to meet each other and fall in love, Why? why would he do that? what does he get out of it? what made him look at Keith and Tenebris and say "ill handle it"
is it because hes been in a similar situation? because he knows what its like to be deemed "unlovable" by those around him? we know from the one picture we have of him that he has some scarring on his face, what happened to him to cause that? does it have something to do with why he seemed to go out of his way to help both us and the boys?
magic man is such a fascinating character in this world primarily because we know nothing about him. we know that he is aware of us, and that he is aware of the power our words have on Keith and Tenebris. we know he gave advice to Keith that he wont tell us about, and that Tenebris doesn't know all the details either. and that's like,, it.
to be fair, i could be completely wrong here, all of this is counting on magic man being magic, and i honestly have no other leads if that's not the case.
i also still have no idea what "you're supposed to forget it." is supposed to mean. it could be related to a couple of things, like how in the game once you finish a playthrough, that's it for that particular version of the boys. they're done and move on, forever mourning the connection to you that they once had but will never have again. if you start a new playthrough, you are given a completely new set of them, who are exactly the same, but yet are not the same ones as before. (which, side note, is so cruel and heartbreaking to think about)
anyways, thank you nightmare once again for sharing with me i have been thinking about this nonstop since last night when i saw it and it has been eating my brain alive
Sorry for the wait, Cacti, I finally dug this out of my ask pile.
But you're right about the fact that "he" is involved. However, none of the motives you listed are right :P And unfortunately, you won't find out until a future game. But your efforts are appreciated!
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asachuu · 1 month
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Paul "I'm not going outside for 6 years bc my partner is the only one i want to see" Verlaine doesn't actually grieve his partner trust me guys asachuu said so
Paul "I'm so sorry rimbaud now that you're gone I'm so terribly sad" Verlaine
my brother in christ asachuu can you actually read!!!!
-rimbaudthursday (sadly still blocked :( )
Um…anon…? I’ll scratch this up to an honest mistake, but…
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You are aware that in the very same sentence I do acknowledge his grief post-epilogue, plus that is something I’ve never denied once, I’ve spoken about it multiple times as well, right?
Also, you are aware that I’m talking about every single thing happening pre-epilogue, in which— I’m not sure if we’ve read the same novel, but I’d like to sincerely believe you’ve accidentally skipped over what I quite obviously meant and downright said— Paul explicitly states himself that he hated Arthur, which is then further told to us on multiple occasions, and thanked Chuuya for bringing upon Arthur’s death, all which happened following his betrayal and Arthur’s “first” death…right?
To put it very simply:
Yes, Paul does indeed grieve his partner very deeply, regretting his actions more than anything, AFTER THE EPILOGUE OF STORMBRINGER.
BEFORE THE EPILOGUE OF STORMBRINGER, he does not— in fact, he does the exact opposite, expresses his disdain for Arthur in both words and actions many times, and this is what I’m referring to back in that post— I have absolutely no reason to be talking about Paul’s feelings at the very end when it’s absolutely irrelevant to covering his entire past with Arthur, in which it could not be made more clear those are not his feelings yet.
Additionally, on the chance you’re trying to make an argument of Paul carrying the grief with him up until the epilogue in which it’s made clear even to the audience— I don’t know if this is your opinion, of course, but I’ll say it regardless, just in case that’s what you were aiming at— you wouldn’t believe me saying this, but there is, canonically, at least some hesitation and grief in Paul’s mind shown to us right before he pulls the trigger on Arthur, but that’s where it ends for the time being, until the epilogue. Whether or not Paul somehow “secretly carried it around”, which…I can’t say I haven’t seen people claim already, would not only be downright impossible to tell with his constant reminders that yes, he did, in fact, hate Arthur, but also, it would change absolutely nothing about his behavior if it clearly had no influence on it— before the epilogue, I’ll remind you— when he still betrayed his partner, still expressed his joy over Arthur’s death, still spoke harshly of him on multiple occasions throughout the entirety of Stormbringer and still was the reason his late partner died sincerely believing he was never doing enough for Paul and he was the one in the wrong the whole time, among other ways he behaved extremely coldly towards Arthur that render any potential hidden guilt in his heart completely irrelevant, because none of it softened, let alone prevented a single thing he’d ever done.
Now, anon, I very much don’t find any use in being rude to anyone, but I do have to say, since you’ve been so kind and sweet to me first— and please take this in the most neutral, non-personal way you can— before you question whether I can read or not, in the case this wasn’t a simple, innocent mistake of yours at all, could you please find out the answer to this question about yourself first? While I will gladly explain what I’m talking about to you if you need more clarification on it, albeit I would be much happier to do so for a polite request rather than anything you’ve sent me so far, if you’ll deliberately ignore half of my words in the exact same sentence you must have read to even come up with this, I won’t be able to try to correct or explain it to you even if I do so fifty times, because you could easily just cherry-pick whatever you want to read yourself out of my words while discarding the whole rest again.
Nevertheless, with all that being said…to answer your question properly, yes, I believe I am able to read, thank you very much for asking. 💕
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