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occamstfs · 25 days

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Spanish Shortcuts

Heyo, Here’s a Latino cultural/racial change, also my first foray into a possession transformation! Lessons to be learned about clicking dodgy links and letting spirits walk all over you!

¡Espero que lo disfrutes Atajos en Espanol! -Occam

The foreign language requirements of any American high school are guaranteed to be lackluster. It is no wonder that a nation so fixed on instilling American and English supremacy was so wont to neglect the study of foreign languages and culture. For his part Claude had just about forgotten all the Spanish that he learned not too many years ago. At the present moment he is browsing the web looking for some way to reclaim and improve on his meager knowledge. Despite his desire however, he is shockingly unwilling to do much at all to pursue this end.

Rather than the tried and true method of studying each day Claude is instead looking for not only the easy way, but an instantaneous way to regain his lost knowledge. This is obviously a beyond foolish endeavor, though having long heard tales of people waking up speaking in languages they hadn’t learned he was deep in rabbit holes online scouring for a ticket to bilingualism. Unwilling to admit that they were just old wives’ tales or shitposts he clicks link after link sure the next one will lead to some fruition.

Deep in websites he certainly should not be visiting without a firewall he actually stumbles on a thread in Spanish. Hastily translating the page through Google it promises the fluency of a native speaker through a single click. Claude scratches his cheek wondering whether or not to go through with it, could be malware, probably just a link to a meme or the like. He looks at the link in blue text, it’s just a name: Carlos Herrero. With little further ado Claude decides fuck it what’s the worst that could happen and clicks the name in blue.

The lights in his room flicker as his hand holding his mouse is promptly shocked. He pushes away from his desk shaking his hand in pain as suddenly there is a chill in the air. He shivers as he hears a voice, deep and unknown, whispering in his ear. “Hola hola hola mi perrito.” Claude shakes his head feeling the tickle of a beard on his cheek and swats at the air. “Ay! Lo siento, ah- ¿cuál es su nombre? Claude ¿Verdad? ¿Me entiendes?” (Ah! Sorry, uh- What is your name? Claude, is it? Can you understand me?)

Claude looks around his room in shock at this mysterious voice, immediately assuming he’s lost his mind. He shakes his head trying to wake up or come to his senses, after a few shakes he feels a cold powerful hand grasp his jaw. He hears the voice continue to speak in words he couldn’t understand and did his best not to process lest it worsen the state of his mind. His eyes widen in shock as he stares into the space, feeling the skin on his face contort in response to a hand that is not there. He feels the grip tighten and his breathing accelerates as he starts to hyperventilate.

As if in response to his fear the hand disappears from his face and he feels a heavy arm around his shoulder. “¿No querías saber español?” (Do you not want to know Spanish?) Claude’s ears pick up as he hears Spanish he can just about recall. In doing so his brain immediately reprocessed the preceding events in order to maintain any semblance of sanity. The link must have worked! This is just a dream or something that will end with him knowing Spanish, just like a video game. He just needs to play along until he wakes up. Neglecting how real everything clearly is he addresses the voice, willing himself to believe whatever it is that it’s not malevolent. “Okay, uh I’m down for whatever, thanks for your help, uh, ghost?”

“De Nada, Claudio.” With this Claude’s visions flicker as the chill in the air fills him. He gasps and sees his breath condensate as every inch of his body is ice cold. Claude falls out of his chair and scratches at himself, instinctively trying to claw something out of his body. He rolls onto his hands and convulses, retching as if trying to throw something up. As the seconds pass he feels his body rapidly warm from the bitter freeze, unsure if this is a mirage of heat like the comfort one feels in the throes of hypothermia he paws at his chest.

Before finding confirmation in any way Claude hears the alluring whispers once more, though this time not tickling his ear. Rather it is now a voice within his own head. “Testing testing, ah would you look at that. Now I’m speaking a language you can understand huh? Hahah!” Claude’s brow furrows as he wipes spit from his mouth. This was not the easy nap and wake up anew process that he was promised. As if it had access to his thoughts the voice responds to this. “Ah sorry if I misled you little guy, this is going to be a bit of work. Trust though! It will certainly be easier and quicker than wasting your time studying!” Claude rolls his eyes before remembering since this is probably a dream that at the very least in reality this will be over briefly.

Claude then tilts his head and asks out loud to the voice in his head, “Why are you speaking in English now?” It sounds just like the one he heard earlier, if not a little more playful as it responds, “Ahh language processors, something or other- Don’t worry your little head about it, in time we both will be thinking in Espanol ya? In the meantime why not jumpstart it!” Claude purses his lips trying to find the inscrutable voice’s intentions as he does so the heat in his body begins to convert to energy.

He suddenly feels as if he’s had enough caffeine to power a body three times his size. He feels every muscle in his body demand attention and exercise as his hands start to shake. “Oh would you look at that! If it’s any help any time I used to get excited or stressed I’d always hit the gym, ya dig?” Already motioning to get changed for the gym to blow off some of this energy Claude pauses to once more try and understand the implications of the voice’s statement. “Sorry, what do you mean you used to?”

There is then a jarring silence in his mind. Claude stands, gym clothes in hand, without a thought in his mind before the voice replies trying its best to disarm him despite its deep gruff tone, “Ah well, you know how these things go, it’s just dream logic right? This is all lucid dream, the quicker you stop questioning the sooner you’ll be a pro.” He feels a vein of chill air dash through his mind once more and he nods in agreement. His eyes lose their sharpness as he decides to just listen, throwing on some clothes and heading out.

Heeding the voice he endeavors not to question his circumstances. He gets in his car and does not wonder why, if he is truly dreaming, that he did not just poof over. Feeling his heart start to beat quickly in his chest, in response to anxiety in his chest or to the energy only continuing to course through his veins he is not sure. He looks in his rearview mirror to calm himself and sees the same reflection he always has. Claude smiles at himself seeing at least his appearance is static in this dreadful dream and heads in to get this over with, the voice in his cheering him on as he makes his way in. Increasing in fervor and volume with each step towards the door.

Once inside he Claude is shocked as the voice suddenly drops out of his head leaving him once more with the harsh silence of but his own thoughts. After having such a loud visitor in his mind he is almost uncomfortable with the feeling. Stepping up to the counter to check in he greets the receptionist, “Heyo! It’s Claudio hermano!” The receptionist tilts his head as for a second it’s almost like two voices came from the man in front of him. Claude looks down at himself and clears his throat before trying again, “Lo, Urgh, Sorry about that, Um It’s Claude Smith.”

The receptionist checks him in and Claude goes off to stretch. He doesn’t usually spend much time at the gym, just enough to stay thin. But something inside him tells him that today will be different. Something inside him. His head twitches to the side as the idea washes across his mind. Looking around the room to ensure he’s alone he tries talking to the voice, doing so he does not notice that his pitch has lowered, “Hey uh, I know you told me not to ask questions. But did you make me call myself Claudio earlier?” Having paused his stretches he feels a burning in his arms and legs demanding they keep moving. Obeying the pain, his lips quiver as if he’s about to speak and the voice responds, “Ay ¿Crees? (You think so?)Es just a slip of the tongue ya?”

Claude continues stretching carefully, taking deep breaths to assuage the anxiety building in his chest. He is facing away from the wall of mirrors, unintentionally or through some subtle manipulation. Otherwise he may notice as his hair slowly begins to darken to a deep shade of brown. The blonde locks he has always been proud of maintain their length as they darken unnaturally. The thought pops into his head that he would look good with brown hair si? He shakes it away as soon as it appears though, biting his lip to avoid voicing his concern at how much power this “voice” has over him.

Trying to center himself he closes his eyes as he continues to stretch. The companion in his mind is thankfully quiet as he pushes away the discomfort at the silence and instead appreciates the freedom. Little does he know the presence is simply acting on him in other avenues as he stretches. Claude smiles as he feels the burning relief of his stretches, grunting quietly enough that he notices not how his voice has continued to deepen, inching closer to the voice that is not his own.

The pleasant burn of his legs as he stretches them becomes almost intoxicating as he leans against the mirrored wall. Were his eyes open he would see his calves begin to grow beyond those that he wakes up to every morning. They begin to bulge larger and longer as he extends them. Muscle the size of a baseball forces its way onto them as he stands smiling dumbly. His thighs then stain larger to match pace as they expand to hold the weight of someone a foot taller than he. The soothing burn of stretching hides the soreness that should be apparent and Claude begins to sweat as if he has been heartily working out for some time now.

Not to be outdone there is a whisper in his head that he should stretch his arms as well. Without a further thought, almost without his mind even sending the order to do so, his arms are out in front of him. Each second his arms lie extended they stretch further out from his torso. Claude motions to stretch his shoulders, wrapping one arm around the other, his biceps rub against each other as he squeezes his arm tight to his chest. His arms begin to show a bulge of muscle as he stands there biting his lip at the pleasure being wrought upon him through simple stretching.

Finally he raises his arms above his head to stretch his meager chest, struggling to do so as his larger muscles have begun to impede his dexterity. With his arms in the air and his pits exposed he notices that something has begun to stink up the locker room he’s been stretching in. Claude opens his eyes looking for the assailant, to no avail. He turns his head to the side thoughtlessly putting his nose in his pit, finding the scent closer he takes a deep breath before finding himself starting to chub at the scent. The voice in his head laughs, “¡Jajaja! ¡Nice brazos (arms) perrito! ¿A ti también te gusta mi olor, eh?” (You like my smell as well huh?)

Despite his best efforts at centering himself during his stretches, he is once more consumed with anxiety. He looks down at his body that he knows should be petite but instead finds one that does not go two days without hitting el gimnasio. He flinches as his mind automatically went for the word in Spanish. Wait, did the voice in his head just say his smell!? He sniffs the air and a thought forces itself to the front of his mind, Well this is what I wanted wasn’t it? His ears ring as he is not sure if those are his thoughts or ones implanted by whatever monster is doing this to him.

Claude feels an itch on his hand and he looks down to see the hand that clicked that link some time ago as it begins to darken. He sees a rich tan begin to spread up his suddenly muscular arm as veins throb down it aiming to increase the mass. “Q- What es, happening!?” Claude turns to look in the mirror and finds the tan racing across his body. He sees the patches of his unmistakably white skin tone become naturally sunkissed as his eyes widen in shock. He freezes up and the voice in his head takes advantage and tries to seize control outright, flexing his arm and revealing the thin patch of blonde hair in his pit as it grows dark as the hair on his head and thickens beyond the pale. The voice speaks in his mind deeper and stronger than ever as he begins to outright vie for control, “Tranquilo Claudio. (Chill out Claudio.) Let us see what I can do jaja!”

It takes a bit of concerted effort but the voice, who outs himself unsurprisingly as Carlos himself, step by step forces Claude’s body across the room in his catatonia. Claude feels a smirk on his face as Carlos positions him at the bench press. He clumsily lays back on the bench before checking the weights. Looks like some cabrón left his weights on the bar, though actually it's fortunate as Carlos doubts he has the ability to do such complex motor functions as he feels Claude start to wake from his stupor.

Carlos feels an itch on Claude’s face and he begins to smirk as he feels facial hair begin to grow, “Ay he might have cojones yet jaja!” Claude feels his mouth move of its own accord and finally notices that his voice has lowered considerably and he feels his body struggle as he tries to gasp as hears it develop a deep accent.

Before Claude can wrestle control back Carlos grabs for the bar and starts to do a rep. He grunts as he realizes this body is simply not strong enough at the moment to manage the weight that was left on the rack. As the pole is just about to pin him however Claude senses the peril and both minds in the body force the bar up. “¡Bien Claudio! Let’s see what we can do juntamente si?” (together yes?) Claude tries to grunt out a protestation but is suddenly racked with pain as his body must grow larger to force the bar up.

Both men feel as weight begins to pile onto the twink’s only recently muscled body. Claude feels as pecs develop on his chest, totally ripping the tank top that had grown tight while stretching. Carlos feels as his biceps surge larger than the thighs this weak body had not two hours ago. The expression on his face flickers between ecstasy and concern as he lies on the bench doing repetitions as his core strengthens and puts on mass.

After his chest and arms grow large enough to send existential fear into Claude’s mind and a hungry lust for more into Carlos’ balls, Claude stumbles off the bench and falls to the floor, letting the weights crash next to him. He feels pin pricks as tattoos begin to stain his tanned skin and he cries out in his changed voice, “No! Este es- This isn’t right!” with each word his voice cracks deeper and the English words become a tad more difficult to maneuver his mouth around. Without a beat, Carlos immediately takes control of his mouth and responds as his voice finishes changing to match the one in his head. “Ah, ahí estás equivocado amigo. Esto es perfección.” (Ah, there you are wrong friend. This is perfection)

Claude stands to stare in the mirror watching sweat trail down his body and ink rise in his skin. He looks at his chin as a beard begins to shadow his face. He sees his eyes as they flicker and begin to darken to a deep cacao brown. His lip quivers as if he is about to cry before without any input from him it turns to a sneer as he feels Carlos chastise him without words. Claude feels a pit in his chest as not only does he not need to hear them, he begins to feel the disdain himself. As if the will of Carlos was starting to become his own.

This causes a surge in his crotch as he feels in that regard Carlos has already wrestled full control. He feels his balls that are not his begin to grow and demand attention. They feel full and needy as pre begins to leak out of his growing erection. That happens anytime he goes to the gym si? As his eyes shift down to see his bulge make itself known his facial hair expands and his pubes begin to crest above his waistline. The small bush of pit hair begins to grow into a jungle as his balls work overtime to produce testosterone to power his poderoso body.

Feeling the hormones from Carlos’ balls pump through his veins Claude realizes what a losing battle he faces. He feels his thoughts begin to mingle with the man he foolishly allowed into his body as he begins to feel himself overwhelmed with the pressure and lust issuing forth from his crotch. He feels his fluency in English begin to wane as Carlos begins to overpower every aspect of his personality. Claude continues to stare at his reflection in the mirror and the anxiety and fear rapidly dissipate as he enjoys the power that he wields. “¡Dios estoy tan chacondo!” (God I’m so Horny) The two men voice as one, his voice reverberating through his chest as he feels power continue to surge through him.

Claude watches as his body flexes itself in the mirror without a single thought or any input from him. Not that he minds, it’s doing exactly what he would be doing anyway si? He smirks seeing his cock bob up and down as he struts across the gym floor. Every thought in his head is in fluent Spanish as he feels his identity fully mingle with Carlos’ as they truly become one. Despite this originally being Claude’s body he feels himself shrink and mold as he becomes an aspect of Carlos’ personality. Every action, every word, every movement will be crafted by the two of them. Though altogether Claude will just about always find himself thinking just as Carlos does, and both minds will more often than not be ruled by the powerful hormones coming from below.

“Debería haber preguntado sobre los términos y condiciones, Hermano.” (Should’ve asked for the terms and conditions bro.) He thinks to himself as he makes his way to the gym’s showers to pump one out. Over time even Carlos would forget that this has not always been his body. Each day he would continue to make it his own, increasing his mass and power. Outgrowing a wardrobe of clothes he would never be caught dead wearing. It did not take long at all to establish his supremacy as Carlos Herrero. Though there was some inherent difficulty navigating this land only knowing Spanish, Carlos managed well enough, confident that if needed he could perhaps let his passenger breathe enough to regain some English. At this point however it’s hard to say if any remnants of Claude remain, and moreover if he would even desire to emerge back into his own mind, it is of course much easier to simply indulge in the ceaseless pleasure he has found for himself within Carlos’ mind.

#male tf #cultural change #racial change #masculinization #hair growth #race change #mental change #possession #jockification #muscle tf

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i-am-baechu · 19 days

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ᡣ𐭩 Title: Mutual Understanding

ᡣ𐭩 Paring: Rich! Playboy! Taehyung x Fortune teller daughter! Reader

ᡣ𐭩 Summary: She wants nothing to do with love and he hates relationships. Perfect.

ᡣ𐭩 Rating: Explicit (18+)

ᡣ𐭩 Genre: Romance, angst, smut, slow burn, fake relationship au, and cat and mouse vibes

ᡣ𐭩 Part of the The Legendary Seven

ᡣ𐭩 Playlist - Cat & Mouse by Black Swan and Selfish by YooA

ᡣ𐭩 Authors note: I’m proud of this story and honestly my best writing so far me thinks 🥺

May 22 - I edited and added a scene that I felt like it was needed!

“One of the legendary sevens is off the market. Jeon Jungkook, the heartthrob, is going out with one of the students who was accepted through the Kim Scholarship. I heard she’s a fangirl for a gamer streamer so it will be interesting to see how their relationship goes. It’s of course noted that Jungkook’s father tried buying her house. I guess that's another way to keep your house. Until then, Pen.”

“Your mom was right.”

Y/N rolled her eyes and rolled over in Seungkwan’s bed, “Don’t say that.”

“Y/N, she literally got every detail right. I have to give her credit.” Seungkwan tried to show his phone but she kept avoiding it, “Come on, Y/N. Can’t you just listen to your mom?”

“Seungkwan, can you just show me that new game and forget about this?”

“Remember what your mom said? You will find love in the next two months.”

Y/N let out a scoff and sat up in his bed, “That’s like me saying Kim Taehyung will be faithful. It will never happen.”

Seungkwan pouted at his best friend and shook his head, “Let me dream for you.”

“Keep dreaming.”

L/N Y/N, is one of the top students in her major (Radiologic Technology) and her best friend Boo Seungkwan is the top student of his major (Marketing) and was on the gossip site for their school. Seoul University is filled with rich people that lacked basic human kindness which is why everyone loved this website. The person behind it has never said their name but whoever it is, knows more than everyone.

After Seungkwan’s badminton competition, Y/N went over to his house like she always did. Being friends since high school, they basically knew everything about each other. Like how Y/N’s dad left after a night out with his coworkers, she was only six. The one thing that Seungkwan was always curious about was her mother’s “power”. Her mother was a famous fortune teller who gets paid well by CEO’s and she's been doing this for years. Y/N didn’t believe anything her mother said but Seungkwan on the other hand believed every word.

Y/N stood up from his bed and headed to the bathroom to brush her hair. Seungkwan followed her as he scrolled down his phone, “This says that Namjoon has a secret admirer.”

She raised her eyebrow through the mirror and let out a small chuckle. “Are you surprised? Everyone has a crush on that group.”

“Not you.”

“I have a brain, that's why.”

Seungkwan’s phone chimed and he smiled at the screen, “Vernon’s here.”

“Is Seokmin here too?”

“No? Why do you want him here?”

She put her brush down and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, “Yes, it sucks feeling like a third wheel.”

Seungkwan’s face turned red and pointed at her, “YO-YOU SHUT UP!”

Y/N let out a laugh and shrugged her shoulders, “It’s true. Let’s go downstairs to your boyfriend.”

“YAH! YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE A BOYFRIEND!”

“NO, I’M NOT!”

“YOUR MOM SAID-”

“DON’T BRING HER-”

“BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!”

Seungkwan and Y/N glanced at the door with a nervous look. Seungkwan’s sister isn’t someone to mess with, “So-Sorry.”

Vernon came in and they were hanging out in Seungkwan’s room. They weren’t really talking but their company made it better. It wasn’t until Seungkwan shot up from his spot making Y/N jump, “What the hell?”

“Taehyung dumped Jennie.”

Y/N scoffed at this and rolled her eyes, “They weren’t together. Just fucking.”

“So, it doesn’t matter. They're done now because Jennie just posted a picture with her ex.”

Vernon sighed and glanced at Seungkwan’s phone, “We shouldn’t care about other people's lives.”

“Especially Taehyung’s, he’s just a piece of shit that breaks poor girls' hearts.”

Kim Taehyung let out a puff of smoke as he glanced at Jungkook who was texting on his phone. He glared at this and gently nudged him to get his attention, “Dude, you said you wanted to hang out but you're talking to your girl.”

Jungkook glanced up at Taehyung and rubbed the back of his neck, “Sorry.” He put his phone back in his pocket and gave his friend a concerned look, “I wanted to hang out because I saw Jennie’s post.”

Taehyung hit his cigarette ash in his diamond ashtray and shrugged his shoulders, “What about it?”

“I know you guys were seeing each other-”

“Her pussy was good.”

Jungkook rolled his eyes and shook his head, “You literally saw her for four months straight and wouldn’t call your other girls. That means you liked her.”

“Why would I like her? I’m Kim Taehyung, I don’t fall in love with basic girls.”

“Sometimes I wish a girl would slap you for your attitude.”

Taehyung shrugged his shoulders and leaned back against his leather couch, “Would love to see it happen.”

Jungkook’s phone buzzed in his pocket and he took his phone out, “I have to go.”

“Go to your girlfriend you simp.”

“At least someone likes me for me and not just for my money.”

Taehyung scoffed at this and continued to smoke with annoyance, “How can you stick to one pussy?”

Jungkook let out a laugh and stood up from the couch, “When you find the right person, nothing else matters.”

“Whatever dude.”

Jungkook went to leave and bowed to Taehyung's mother who was coming into the living room, “Ah, Kook, you're going home already?”

Jungkook bowed and gave her a sheepish smile, “My girlfriend needs me.”

Taehyung’s mother sighed and placed a hand on her cheek as she glanced at her son with a frown, “I wish my son had a girlfriend. I need to tell him the good news.”

“The good news?”

Taehyung’s mother nodded her head happily, “I went to see a fortune teller today, she told me that Taehyung will fall in love in two months.”

Jungkook glanced at Taehyung and then back at his mother, “Taehyung? Your son will fall in love with someone?”

“Isn’t that exciting!? My son falling in love, what more can I want?”

“Taehyung...falling in love. I have to go, it was nice seeing you, Mrs. Kim.”

“Bye Kook, be safe.”

Taehyung’s mom smiled at her son and walked towards him with her heels clicking away. Taehyung quickly put his cigarette out and sat up straighter, “Mom?”

“My Tae, I have good news.”

Taehyung raised his eyebrow at his mother, “This can’t be good, what’s the news.”

“A fortune teller told me that you would fall in love with someone in two months. Isn’t that good news?”

“You believe in that? Mom really?”

His mom nodded her head and glanced through the living room windows, “With a son like you, I have to believe in that.”

“What is that supposed to mean!?”

“You know what it means.”

“Mom, just let me live my life the way I want.”

His mom sighed and stood up with a little smirk on her lips, “Well hurry up because in six weeks grandma is coming over and I told her you had a girlfriend.”

“You did what? Mom, you know I don’t have a girlfriend.”

She shrugged her shoulders and nodded her head, “Figure it out. Also, no more smoking, or I will have your father do something about it.”

He swallowed his spit nervously, “Please don’t.”

“Good, let’s go have dinner.”

He watched her leave and fell back into the couch and stared at the ceiling, “What the fuck am I going to do?”

Kim Taehyung, is the second richest student at Seoul University. Everyone knows who he is. He had loving parents and siblings who were perfect. Being part of the legendary seven, it was a blessing and a curse. Everyone knows your business, even those who you don’t want to know. Taehyung hates relationships because what’s the point of being in one when you're in college? You're supposed to have fun and go to school. Why put love on top of the stress of school? Love is just complicated and a headache for him. It will always be like that. Always.

.*･｡ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･｡

Seungkwan and Y/N walked down the hallway talking to one another about random things. It wasn’t until she heard someone running towards her. She turned around to see her other friend running towards her with a wide smile, Hwang Eunbi, “Y/N! I have something to tell you!”

She smiled at the girl and grabbed her hand with ease, “What is it?”

“I got a note from Kevin and he told me that Yunho has a crush on you!”

Y/N rolled her eyes and dropped her hand, “Not this again. Stop trying to set me up with people.”

Eunbi frowned and glanced at Seungkwan, “Did you tell her?”

“Tell me what?”

Seungkwan let out a nervous laugh and turned towards Y/N, “You see...My aunt is having a party next week and I kinda told her...I told her that you had a boyfriend because she kept asking about you and I lied because she wouldn’t leave me alone. I’m sorry and I know you hate relationships but I panicked and she was talking bad about you-”

“Seungkwan, relax.”

Seungkwan raised his eyebrow and glanced at Eunbi, “You're not mad?”

“I know your aunt so I know how you act around her.”

“I’m sorry...I just hate how she talks about you. It’s not fair.”

Y/N shrugged her shoulders and put her hands in her pockets, “Like I give a shit what she says. She’s already on her fourth husband so maybe she should take her own love advice.”

Eunbi laughed at this and wrapped her arm around her neck, “But you should ask Yunho to be your fake boyfriend to show his aunt up.”

“Why would I care? Also, I wouldn’t do that to Yunho because if he has feelings for me then asking him to be my fake boyfriend would be morally wrong.”

Seungkwan smirked at her, “To wipe off that look she always has. You can ask someone else then.”

“That’s tempting but I don’t really care what she thinks about me. Let’s go to lunch before we have to run to class.”

Seungkwan and Eunbi watched her leave with frowns on their faces. Eunbi turned towards Seungkwan, “What are we going to do?”

“I don’t want my aunt to harass her at the party.”

Eunbi's eyes became brighter with an idea that was going to change everything and grabbed Seungkwan’s arm, “I have an idea.”

“Is Y/N going to kill us?”

“Maybe but your aunt will be defeated.”

“Let’s do it.”

Y/N walked into the lunch court with her hands in her pocket. There was a group of girls that had a crush on her because of how cool she was. Y/N’s personality was very laid back and unlike her best friends, she didn’t care about anyone’s opinions. When she got made fun of her mom, she told people to fuck off. She didn’t see a point in fighting with people who only listen to rumors.

She got her usual sandwich and looked at the usual table they always sat at. She dropped her backpack and Seungkwan jumped at the sound, “Why do you always do that?”

“Because it scares you.”

“Y/NNNN!”

“Seokmin, you can use your normal voice.”

She felt an arm around her shoulders and that laugh she came to know, “Where’s the fun in that?” Seokmin removed his arm and sat next to Y/N, “What’s new?”

Eunbi leaned forward with a little smirk, “Do you want the tea about everything you missed?”

“You know me so well.”

Seungkwan pulled out his phone as Y/N ate her sandwich ignoring the whole gossip talk. Seungkwan handed his phone to him with excitement, “Apparently, Taehyung is looking for a girlfriend.”

“Kim Taehyung?”

Eunbi took a sip of her banana milk and nodded her head, “I know right!? Out of everyone, he is the last person I would think would want a relationship.”

“Especially since he was in love with Jennie.”

Seokmin nodded his head and glanced at Y/N, “What do you think, Y/N.”

She placed her sandwich down and shrugged her shoulders, “Why should I care?”

Seungkwan frowned and took the phone from Seokmin, “You're no fun.”

“It’s not my life and I don’t really care for him so what’s the point?”

Eunbi laughed at this and slammed her drink dramatically, “Talking shit about someone is the fundamental of being a college student. It is our duty to fulfill it.”

“I thought our duty was getting good grades.”

“That’s second.”

Y/N raised her eyebrow and nodded her head, “Sure, Seokmin are you free next week?”

“I have a track meeting and then I have a meeting with a CEO my dad set up.”

Y/N frowned at this and nodded her head, “Boring. I’m going to be at this party all by myself.”

Seungkwan pouted at this and looked at Y/N, “I’m going to be there too.”

“Trying to show off to your aunt which means I’m going to be left alone.”

“I don’t show off...”

“You do.”

“You didn’t have to answer all at the same time.”

Taehyung sat down with annoyance and Jimin raised his eyebrow at this, “What’s wrong?”

“My mom.”

Hoseok raised his eyebrow at this and chuckled, “Your mom is an angel.”

“She can be but she can be a devil.”

Namjoon rolled his eyes and took a bite of his food, “What did she do?”

“A fortune-teller told her that I would fall in love in two months, so she told my grandma I have a girlfriend.”

Seokjin let out a laugh and covered his mouth, “That’s unfortunate for you.”

“Shut up, at least I have a choice in my wife.”

“Someone is on their period.”

Taehyung sighed and started playing with his rice, “I’m sorry. I just don’t want to see my grandma sad when she sees me with no girlfriend.”

“You can always have a fake girlfriend.”

Taehyung glanced at Yoongi and thought about it, “I didn’t think of that...”

Jungkook let out a laugh and leaned to his side kissing Bora on her cheek, “Watching you struggle is funny.”

Bora hit his thigh and shook her head at her boyfriend. She glanced at Taehyung with a small smile, “There’s dating apps. You can always use that and put in a bio you need a fake girlfriend.”

“I guess I can do that.”

Jimin nodded his head and clapped his hands, “See it’s that easy. Bora, did you see you were an article by Pen.”

Bora frowned at this and nodded her head, “I saw this and I made the decision to ignore it. It’s upsetting to know that people know the insides of my relationship and to make me look like a charity case but I know the truth.”

Jungkook nodded his head and placed his hand on her thigh, “It’s just meaningless gossip.”

“But gossip is so fun.”

Y/N walked down the hall with Eunbi getting ready for their next class. As they walked down the hall, Taehyung and Jimin were going the opposite way. Taehyung walked past Y/N and he glanced down at her. He raised his eyebrow when she didn’t even give him a second glance. He stood still while Jimin stood there in confusion, “What?”

He stared at Y/N not knowing anything about her, “Nothing...nothing.”

.*･｡ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･

Eunbi and Seungkwan sat in Y/N’s bedroom as they set up a dating profile for their friend. Y/N went to go pick up food and they thought this was the perfect time to make it. Eunbi snatched the phone out of Seungkwan’s hand and shook her head, “God, that’s not a good picture of her. Use the one when we went to your friend's party. She had that purple dress.”

“This isn’t real Eunbi. We’re just doing this so she can have a fake boyfriend.”

“You can at least treat it like it’s real. There’s better pictures of her and you should use them. She needs someone hot.”

Seungkwan raised his eyebrow at this and shook his head, “Is this for her or for you?”

“Both.”

Y/N entered her house, throwing the keys in the bowl. Y/N didn’t live with her mother and she thanked god for that. She couldn’t hear her mother going on and on about her future. It was annoying. She took her shoes off and went towards her cat, Socks. She walked towards her bedroom and opened the door, “I got the sandwiches.” She jumped when she heard a loud bang and raised her eyebrow when she saw Eunbi’s phone on the floor, “What the hell?”

“We were looking at Pen’s new post and you scared us.”

She nodded her head and shrugged her shoulders, “That’s what you get for being involved in other people’s lives.”

Seungkwan glanced at Eunbi and let out a nervous laugh, “Yeah...”

Eunbi grabbed her phone and smiled when saw the profile get uploaded, “Everything always turns out good.”

Taehyung was in his bedroom on his phone. He was scrolling through Instagram and he stopped on Seungkwan’s post. He’s met him once or twice but he was pretty cool. He zoomed in on the picture and saw the girl he saw in the hallway. He thought her name was Y/N but he wasn’t sure. There were no tags on the picture. He clicked on Seungkwan’s icon and saw multiple posts with her and he finally found one that had tags with her username. He clicked on her profile and was looking through her pictures.

“What are you looking at?”

He jumped and looked to see Jimin with his arms crossed, “Nothing.”

“Really? I saw that smile you have when you see someone hot. Show me.”

“Get lost shorty.”

The next day, Y/N was by herself in the library studying for an upcoming test. It wasn’t until she heard one of the chair moves. She looked up from her book and raised her eyebrow when saw Jimin sitting there with a smile on his face. She took off her headphones and tilted her head, “Can I help you?”

“Are you Y/N?”

“Why?”

Jimin shrugged his shoulders and leaned forward making her pull back, “He usually doesn’t like...I’m Jimin.”

She nodded her head and put her headphones back in, “That’s cool. Are you studying or just bothering me?”

He let out a small chuckle and nodded his head, “Can you do something for me?”

“Oh god...what?”

“It’s for a friend.”

Taehyung entered the library with a confused look. Jimin doesn’t go to the library, why does he want to meet in the library? It was weird. He continued his way through the silence but froze when he saw who Jimin was talking to, “That little fucker...” Taehyung made his way towards Jimin with haste. He knew Jimin wouldn’t leave this alone after last night, he never listened to him.

“You like Y/N? Seungkwan’s friend?

Taehyung rolled his eyes and stood up from his bed with annoyance. He tried snatching his phone back but somehow Jimin was faster than him, “I don’t like her. I just saw her in the hallway and thought she was cute.”

“Interesting.”

“You want me to be Taehyung’s fake girlfriend?”

Taehyung stopped in his tracks and his mouth dropped, “Jimin, what the hell are you doing?”

Jimin looked over his shoulders and gave his friend a smirk, “Helping out your situation.”

Taehyung glanced at Y/N who was looking at them with an annoyed look, “I’m not saying yes but I want to hear the reasoning.”

She was looking straight at Taehyung and he felt nervous under her stare, “I saw you on Instagram...I just thought you were cute and Jimin took that into his own hands.”

She nodded her head and picked up her stuff, “I kinda figured. The answer is no and leave me alone.”

Taehyung watched her leave and his mouth was wide, “Did she just reject me?”

“Technically she rejected me.”

“Jimin, shut up. She just rejected me, what the hell?”

Jimin let out a laugh and leaned back in his chair, “Not everyone has to like you.”

Y/N walked down the stairs but was stopped when she felt a tap on her shoulders. She turned around to see a panting Taehyung and she raised her eyebrow at this, “Dude, what?”

“Please be my fake girlfriend.”

“Huh? I just said-”

“I know you said no but I-I just need someone. Please.”

She leaned against the railing and a small smirk appeared, “What do I get?”

“What do you want?”

“You don’t have an offer?”

Taehyung let out an irritated sigh and looked down at his shoes for a second. Y/N couldn’t help but laugh at the sight. He looked back up and shrugged his shoulders, “Just tell me what you want?”

“I need you to be my fake boyfriend for this party and I would also like tickets to Japan for a vacation. I deserve it after being with you.”

“You want a vacation? Do you think being my fake girlfriend would be that-”

“Yes, because it's you.”

Taehyung tilted his head and crossed his arms over his chest, “What do you mean by that?”

“You sleep with everyone and break girls' hearts. Do I need to draw a picture for you?”

“You're very blunt.”

“It’s obvious you only have yes men. If you don’t want to give me that ticket to Japan and a nice hotel, bye I have to go study and stop following myself.”

Taehyung rolled his eyes and nodded his head, “Fine, I’ll give you a trip. How many tickets?”

“Three.”

“Fine but starting now you're my girlfriend.”

She cringed at the word and scoffed at this, “Don’t ever call me your girlfriend. Fake or not, I don’t want to associate that with me.”

“Being someone’s girlfriend? Relationships are fun.”

“How do you know that? Anyways, bye.”

She started walking away and Taehyung grabbed her wrist, “Do we have a deal?”

“We have a deal. Now let me go.”

He let her go and put his hands in his pockets nervously, “Sorry. Can we meet up Friday at Supernova’s?”

“Sure.”

He watched her leave and knew he wanted to prove something to her. He was going to prove that he could be a great boyfriend and prove her wrong about relationships. He wanted to change her view of him and he wasn’t sure why it bothered him so much that she saw him like that. It made him feel uneasy. He barely knew her. Why should he care?

Y/N took a sip of her water and stared at Taehyung who was nervously playing with his fries. It’s been quiet for five minutes and she wasn’t going to be the first person to say anything but this was getting ridiculous. She took out her phone and went to send a text to Seungkwan but stopped when Taehyung let out a small cough, “So...girlfriend.”

“My name is Y/N, use it.”

He nodded his head, “Sorry, Y/N. We have to act like a couple in front of people so stop looking at me like I’m the devil.”

“It’s really hard to ignore the horns.”

He let out a chuckle and shook his head, “Can we be friends at least? It would make it easier.”

Last week, Y/N found herself in Seungkwan’s bedroom listening to him talking about the person in front of her. She heard everything from her best friend’s mouth. Rumors are rumors and she knew this. This was her philosophy and it would be hypocritical of her to listen to the rumors. She had no idea how to deal with the playboy but she was willing to take a chance, “Friends...Sure.”

She watched a boxy smile appear on his face and she noted how bright his eyes looked. There was a touch of mystery behind those brown irises. It was interesting to see how bright they can be. She took a sip of her water and took her phone out, “I have to go, Eunbi needs my help.”

He watched her lick her lips and his eyes couldn’t leave them. The feeling that was erupting was something he never felt. It was annoying. He shook his head and nodded his head, “Since we're friends, can I have your number?”

“I suppose since we're friends. Don’t give it out to anyone.”

Don’t worry about that. I wouldn’t want anyone else having it, “I won’t. Trust me.”

She showed her phone to him and he glanced at the numbers. His eyes slowly went towards her face and he noted how the sun highlighted her face. It showcased her eye color perfectly while showing off her lips. He let out a small cough and sent her a quick message. She smiled at this and put her phone away, “Since we're friends, you should come to Seungkwan’s game tomorrow.”

“To-Tomorrow?”

She nodded her head and slid out of the booth, “Since we have to fake being together, it would make sense for you to be with me there. He is my best friend. Remember?”

“Yes, best friend. Do you want me to pick you up?”

She stood by the table and nodded her head, “Nothing too fancy. We don’t want girls flocking to you. I’ll see you tomorrow, Taehyung.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Y/N.”

He watched her leave the cafe and he continued to do so through the glass. He watched the plaid shirt around her waist sway with each step she took. He never noticed how good her legs looked in jeans. There was also something about the way she walked, it was filled with confidence. He cracked his neck and look down at his fries, What the fuck?

“Eunbi, what’s wrong?”

Y/N opened her bedroom to see Eunbi sitting there with a smile, “I have good news.”

“I also have news but you go first.”

Eunbi sat up with her phone in her hands. She turned the phone to show her a picture of Taehyung causing Y/N to raise her eyebrow, “What?”

“He swiped for you. He’s interested in you.”

Y/N let out a laugh and took the phone out of her hand, “You signed me up for a dating app?”

“It worked! What's your good news?”

“Taehyung is my fake boyfriend.”

Eunbi stared at her with pure shock and her mouth dropped, “Kim Taehyung? The famous-”

“Yes, he needed a fake girlfriend so it worked out.”

“Your mom was-”

“Don’t finish that sentence.”

Y/N waited outside her building and she was scrolling on her phone. Taehyung said he would be coming in ten minutes and knowing he was rich (his car would be fast). She hated making people wait. She heard the gates open and she looked up to be pleasantly surprised to see a dark blue Nissan pulling up to her. The window came down to show off Taehyung wearing sunglasses and his boxy smile, “What?”

“I wasn’t expecting a Nissan...I was expecting that BMW that everyone talks about.”

He shrugged his shoulders, “Well not everyone knows I have a Nissan.”

“Does that make me special?”

“You are special.”

They made eye contact and Y/N felt her chest feel lighter at the comment. Compliments come and go but this one stayed with her. It stayed with her longer than it should. She let out a small laugh and nodded her head, “All ready to see Seungkwan play?”

“Yes, I am. Let me get to the door.”

She rolled her eyes as she watched Taehyung quickly unbuckle himself and rush to open her side. She let out a small laugh and bowed to him, “Thank you for being a gentleman.”

“Anything for my lady.”

The drive was pleasant. There wasn’t a lot of talking but it didn’t bother her too much. The jazz music played in the background as she watched nature out her window. Every now and then, Taehyung would glance at her through his mirror and would smile to himself. A smile that he didn’t even realize was on his face.

“Seungkwan!”

Seungkwan turned around with a smile but it quickly changed into a confused one when he saw Taehyung standing next to her, “H-Hey, thanks for coming?”

Y/N glanced at Taehyung and chuckled at Seungkwan’s nervousness, “This is my plus one that I told you about.”

Seungkwan stared at him with shock and stuck his out to shake, “I’m Seungkwan-”

“I know who you are. No need to introduce yourself as a star badminton player.”

Y/N watched Seungkwan’s face blush and she smiled with pride, “Seungkwan is a star on the court. He needs to be reminded by others and not just his friends.”

“Y/N...”

She heard his coach and she smiled at him, “Good luck.”

Taehyung smiled at him and patted his back gently, “Good luck.”

“Thanks, I'll see you later.”

Y/N watched him run off and she turned toward Taehyung with a smile, “Thank you.”

“For?”

“Boosting up his confidence. He doesn’t believe me when I say it.”

Taehyung shrugged his shoulders at this, “He’s your best friend. I’ll show him my support.”

“Well, it meant a lot to me. Thank you.”

They walked towards the stands and Taehyung glanced down to see their fingers touching. He wanted to intertwine their fingers together but he had to stop himself. He notices all the moles along her arm and the little cuts that tell a story. A story that he wanted to know. There was something about Y/N that he wanted to know so desperately. It was like a man that needed water. He glanced up to her face and the moles decorated her face like a castle with flowers. It was a sight to be seen. She was something he has never seen before and he wanted to capture all the different expressions she has. This was a feeling he has never had before and it was making him feel sick.

Y/N sat down with Taehyung following. She glanced at him and pulled out a bag of Skittles, “Want some?”

He glanced down at the candy and then back at her with a mischievous look, “You can get in trouble with that?”

She tilted her head at him with a smirk, “Are you going to tell on me?”

“Maybe I should so you can be taught a lesson.”

She rolled her eyes and popped a red skittle in her mouth, “No fun.”

“Don’t worry I also brought some snacks. Do you like sea salt chips?”

“I should tell you. You do know the best chips are the ones in the green bag?”

Taehyung let out a laugh and shook his head, “Of course you like spicy chips. It matches your personality.”

“Are you saying I'm spicy?

“It comes in waves, a person with boldness with different levels that captures the whole room. With that fiery attitude and that fire in their eyes. A spicy personality to make it known who you are. It’s admirable.”

She let out a laugh and shook her head, “You're so weird...a good weird though.”

“Does that mean your opinion of me has changed?”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

.*･｡ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･

It’s been a week and every day, Y/N and Taehyung would spend time together to get to know each other. Every night, Taehyung would drive her to the river and they would just talk as the stars listened. Every morning, Y/N would make him breakfast and they would sit in the park near school listening to jazz. There were quiet moments but it didn’t feel uncomfortable if Taehyung accepted it. He didn’t get a lot of those in his normal life. Y/N relished in their quiet moments because it taught her more about Taehyung than his words could ever do.

Today was Seungkwan's Aunt's party and it was their first event to act like a couple. She was nervous that everyone was going to know she was lying. A piece of her wanted to run away and she never wants to run away. She always faced challenges head first but this was different. Seungkwan’s aunt loved to bring up the fact that her father left her. It was known throughout the families that Y/N was basically parentless and they would throw it at her whenever they could. Her mother made her rich but she also barely took care of the girl, she had to be her own parent. When people use the past to insult you in the future, it hurts more when it isn’t your fault.

She stared at herself with doubt. She was dressed in a light blue ballerina dress that had floral beadwork all around. When she turned the skirt would shine under the light and it made her feel seen. She put her hair up in a high bun with pearl earrings when she heard a knock at the door. She glanced at it and felt comfort knowing who it was. She carefully made her way with her heels clicking away on her floor and she opened it with a smile, “You're early.”

Taehyung shrugged his shoulders and passed her flowers, “I was too excited to get you these.”

She glanced down at the red tulips and smiled to herself, “Red tulips? Is there a reason?”

Taehyung shrugged and leaned against the doorframe, “It’s a secret.”

“We’re keeping secrets now? Come in.” He walked in and his eyes drifted to the delicate fabric on her body. The dress showed off her collarbones and the way she looked so elegant. It was something he wasn’t used to from her. She set the tulips down on her coffee table and glanced at Taehyung, “What?”

“Come here, please.” She gave him a raised eyebrow but did what he asked. He gently grabbed the hand and smiled at her, “Twirl for me.”

She did a twirl and when came back to face him, she asked, “Do you like it?”

“Like it, I love it.”

“You flatter me.”

“You deserve it.”

She smiled at this and glanced down at their fingers and let out a small cough. She gently removed her fingers and went to her kitchen ignoring her heart, “Do you want some water?”

“That would be great.”

The building was always grand. Seungkwan’s aunt always did this for him (even though he hated it). She claimed she wanted to show off her nephew's talents but in reality, it was to network. It was almost always to network for her company and she was just using Seungkwan as a cover-up. Seungkwan’s parents never noticed because they were too kind. Far too kind to be related to that witch.

They entered the building and everyone was dressed in their nice clothing. Businessmen with their ties a little too tight and wives that had blood-red lipstick smirking at you to feel small. It was like this every year. There was something about the room that made the confidence that Y/N usually had been completely wiped away.

“Are you okay, Y/N?”

She turned towards Taehyung and gave him a fake smile, “I’m okay...well I’m going to be. You’re good company.

Taehyung could sense that Y/N wasn’t feeling like herself. He intertwined their fingers together and rubbed her knuckles gently, “I’ll be here for you okay.”

“O-Okay.”

She quickly finds Seungkwan and Eunbi with Taehyung by her side. She gave them hugs and relief was written on her face, “You look beautiful, Y/N.”

“Thank you Seungkwan. You look good too.”

“Well if it isn’t L/N.”

Y/N felt that shiver and she slowly turned around to see Seungkwan’s aunt looking her up and down. Disapproval written all over her face, “Good-”

“I see you brought someone for once.”

Y/N glanced at Taehyung and nodded her head, “I’m sorry for the late-”

“I’m shocked you can get someone as good-looking as him. Especially when you're fatherless. It's shocking.”

Taehyung glared at the older woman and walked to be in front of Y/N with annoyance on his face, “Please don’t talk about my girlfriend like that when I am present. If you're going to insult one of us then insult me for I picked the wrong socks for the occasion.”

Y/N stared at him with wide eyes not knowing what to say but she felt her heartbeat louder. Seungkwan’s aunt tilted her head at him and studied his face, “Kim Taehyung, from the Kim family. It’s an honor to meet you.”

“I wish I could say the same. You insulted my girlfriend and now you’re trying to kiss my feet. Do you have no shame?”

Seungkwan’s aunt glanced down at her shoes and cleared her throat, “Is your father here? I would love to talk to him.”

“He is not but I am. The answer will be no. No matter what question you ask, it will be no. Y/N, let’s have a dance.”

Taehyung grabbed her wrist and they quickly made their way to the middle of the dancefloor. He wrapped his arm around her waist and they started to dance with the delicate strings filling the air. Y/N was in a state of shock at what just happened and Taehyung could sense that, “No one deserves that treatment.”

She looked at his face and shook her head, “It was said that it was my fault my father left...maybe I do deserve it.”

“It was his fault. He is not a man but a child. You deserve the world and I won’t let an old hag destroy that.”

He brought her in closer and she couldn’t help but smile, “You're passionate.”

“When it comes to you, yes.”

She let out a small laugh and looked away from his brown eyes, “Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

She glanced back and they continued to stare, “I’m not sure but stop it.”

“I can’t help it. I’m just looking at you.”

After two more dances, Taehyung took her out to the garden and they stood next to each other with flowers around. The moon shone in the water fountain as they sat on the white stone. Y/N’s fingertips gently touched the water and smiled, “You know this is the first time I had fun at Seungkwan's aunt’s party.”

“Did I do it justice?”

“You did. I actually danced usually I just stayed in the back avoiding her but tonight I actually danced. It felt nice.”

He smiled and picked up a rose. He placed it in her lap and glanced at the stars, “I’m glad. Would you like to dance with me now?”

She glanced down at the rose and then back at him, “There’s no music. How will we dance?”

“We don’t need music to dance. We have each other to do so.”

She placed the rose on the stone and slowly stood up with Taehyung. He smiled at her and they slowly started dancing under the stars. His hand was on her waist as she avoided his eyes. There was something there but she couldn’t figure it out. The feeling in her chest was becoming too strong and she wanted to run away but it was as if Taehyung knew this, so he held on to her tighter. Their eyes met and he couldn’t help smiling and she returned it. It felt good to smile and it also made her sick.

“Mom, why are you here?”

Y/N was in her living room reading up for her test when there was a knock at the door. She was expecting Seungkwan or Eunbi but there she was with her mom. It’s been two weeks since the party so she expected them to come forward with some tea. Y/N sat on the couch with an annoyed look as her mother sat there with a smudged look, “Everything's coming together.”

“What is?”

“You're falling in love, can’t you see it.”

Y/N frowned at this and stood up, “I think it's time for you to go.”

“Falling in love can be beautiful. Just let it happen.”

“Are you trying to be my mother? Now? Where was this when I was younger?”

Y/N’s mother frowned at this and stood up, “I’m trying to give you advice. Falling in love can change the world.”

“Then why did dad leave? You give love advice to everyone but you can’t even follow it.”

“I told your father to leave because he wanted nothing to do with me.”

Y/N frowned at this and stared at her mother in shock, “What about me? I’m his daughter. Did he not want me?”

“I kept you-”

“You kept him away from me. Didn’t you?” The silence in the room made it clear to Y/N and she nodded her head at this, “I think it’s time for you to go.”

“Just fall in love, Y/N.”

Y/N opened the door and she was met with those brown eyes, “Taehyung? What are you doing here?”

“I came to visit you. I had to tell you something...”

“Are you Kim Taehyung? I told your mother that you were going to fall in love this month. How is it going?”

Y/N’s mother pushed past her and looked at Taehyung with a smile, “Your mother was excited to know her son was going to fall in love.”

Taehyung glanced at her and then back at Y/N, “Y/N, who is this?”

“This is my mother....”

Taehyung looked at her mother and then back at her, “Your mother is a fortune teller...the fortune teller that told my mother I would fall in love, and then I met you a month later...”

Y/N scoffed at this and looked at Taehyung, “Are you saying I set this up?”

Taehyung's eyes widened at this and shook his head, “That’s not what I’m saying. In fact the opposite.”

“What do you mean?”

“Y/N, I’m in love with you.”

Y/N stared at Taehyung with a shocked face and shook her head, “You can’t love a person like me...I have nothing. My mother and father both left me. What do I have to offer?”

“You offer me so much that I can’t even put it into words.”

“Y/N, this is love.”

Y/N shook her head and stared at her mother with anger, “You need to go. I can’t do this.”

“He just told you he love-”

“GO. NOW.”

Y/N watched her mother leave and then she glanced at Taehyung with a frown as tears started to form. Taehyung stood his ground and looked at her, “Y/N...I’m in love with you. You are the stars at night that keep the moon company. You are forever on my mind. When the sun makes its way or even when the moon appears, you always appear. I crave sleep because I know I can always see you. Y/N-”

“Tae...I simply can’t”

Taehyung glanced at his shoes and then back at her, “Is it because you won’t let yourself feel love?”

“I can’t do this right-”

“Y/N, please. Give me a chance.”

She stared at him and a single tear fell, “Don’t do this to me.”

“Y/N, I want you. In the short amount of time that I have been with you, I have learned so much. Please Y/N. We can be scared together.”

Y/N bit her lip and more tears came down, “Please...”

Taehyung nodded his head and took a step back, “I’ll be waiting for you...”

She watched him leave and quickly closed the door. She leaned against the wood and fell to the floor with tears coming down. Her mind is telling her to focus on her school but her heart wants Taehyung. It only wants him...but she is so scared to be in love. She can’t be left alone again.

.*･｡ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･

Sometimes silence can be the greatest enemy. Y/N sat on her bed as she stared outside her window. The day was beautiful, not a cloud to be seen but her heart felt clouded. The look on Taehyung’s face was sketched into her heart and it made her feel sick. Was she making the right decision?

There was a knock at the door and she slowly got up from her bed. Not even caring to look through the peephole to see who it was, she opened the door. She let out a deep sigh and leaned against the door frame, “Mother now is not the time.”

“This is the time. You need me.”

Y/N glanced at her shoes and shook her head, “You won’t listen to me. Come in.”

They both sat on her couch while Y/N stared at the wall with an emotionless stare. While her mother looked at her with concern, “Y/N, the truth about your father...”

“Mom, I don’t think I want to hear it.”

“Please.”

Y/N looked up to see her mom’s face twist into a serious face and she nodded her head, “Okay...”

“Your father never loved me. He made that very clear. He just picked me because he knew I was the easiest to marry. When I became pregnant with you it was the happiest day of my life but he was the opposite. He wanted a son and I was afraid that he would...he would hurt you. He visited and acted like your dad until you were six, I had enough. It wasn’t fair for you. I told him to leave and never come back...and that’s what he did.”

Y/N stared at her mother with wide eyes and guilt creeping up her throat, “Why did you let me hate you for so long?”

“I felt like I deserved it. I made you think your father loved when in reality he never loved you....I’m so sorry.”

“No mom, I’m sorry.”

Her mom stood up and sat next to her grabbing her hands. She put her hands into her lap and smiled, “When I saw that my daughter was going to fall in love, I felt so happy.”

“I don’t think it's going to work out..”

“Nonsense, do you see how he looked at you?”

Y/N glanced up at her mother and shook her head, “No...I didn’t.”

“He looked at you as if you were his summer sky after a long winter. He loves you.”

“I can’t be capable of that.”

“Why?”

“I’m so stubborn...I put my foot down so fast that I can’t even think. I’m...I’m scared to love him. Not because he’s a bad man, the opposite really. He’s a great man. It’s rare to find that...I’m broken and I’ve been left alone for so long. Why would anyone love something broken? I couldn’t even get my own father to love me? How could I hold something so delicate?”

Y/N’s mom frowned at this and pushed hair behind her hair from her forehead, “That’s what love is. You take that chance and the person you chose to love makes a beautiful painting. Even through the hard times, the painting gets more colors. You deserve to be loved and cherished. Don’t let fear hold you back. Be in love, Y/N.”

Y/N looked away with a tear escaping and she let out a sour laugh, “Do you think he would want me still?”

“I know he does?”

“Why because you're a fortune teller?”

“No, because I’m your mother. For once in your life, do something for yourself.”

After the conversation with her mother, Y/N ran to Eunbi’s house not caring what shoes she had on. She knocked on the door to see Eunbi and Seungkwan looking at her with curious eyes, “Are you okay, you haven’t called us?”

Y/N nodded her head, “I need help to get ready for a party...I need to tell Taehyung something important.”

Seungkwan raised his eyebrow, “What is it?”

“That I love him...I’m still scared but I want to be scared with him. I want him...I want him so bad that I-I can’t even explain it. I need help.”

Seungkwan smiled at this and nodded his head, “I’m so happy you finally figured it out...Let’s get you ready.”

Eunbi opened the door wider and clapped her hands, “You need to wear lavender.”

“Why?”

“Taehyung loves lavender...duh.”

Taehyung stood next to Jimin as he stared down at his shoes with an emotionless face. Jimin sighed and nudged his shoulder, “Think of the positive...you get to see your grandma.”

“I have missed her. I wish she could’ve met Y/N.”

Jimin rubbed his shoulders gently and gave him a soft smile, “Breakups are hard. I should know.”

“This wasn’t even a breakup. It was me finally meeting the right person but it never goes my way.”

The door opened and Taehyung’s mother came in with a smile, “The party is starting. Your grandma is excited to see you.”

Taehyung nodded his head, “I’m excited to see her as well.”

His mother frowned and walked towards him to fix his tie. She fixed his hair and smiled, “Just remember the night has just begun.”

“Mom, she’s not coming...”

“You don’t know that to be true. So, just wait.”

Taehyung and Jimin made their way downstairs. His grandma was talking to a small group of people and hearing her laugh made him smile. Ever since his grandpa passed away it was rare to hear that laugh. He continued to walk towards her but he stopped in his tracks when he heard a familiar voice. He ignored Jimin’s voice and made his way through the group of people. He stood there frozen when he saw her.

Y/N turned towards him and gave him a gentle wave, “I didn’t want you to wait any longer....”

Taehyung glanced at his grandma who gave him an approved smile, “Grandma, I’m going to take Y/N.”

“Go right ahead.”

Taehyung’s grandma watched with a smile on her face. She turned towards her daughter and smiled, “Is she the one?”

Taehyung’s mom smiled and nodded her head, “I believe so.”

“I hope he is happy.”

Jimin walked towards them with a wine glass in his hand, “I know he is.”

Taehyung grabbed her wrist and made their way to the library where no one would be. He touched his finger to her chin as the light detailed out her face. Her eyes held anticipation and her lips were the perfect shape. He was glad no one noticed them. He smiled and this smile was as wide as the Cheshire cat.

“Taehyung...” She whispered and the softness of her voice made him want to fall to his knees.

He leaned in with their foreheads together, “Yes?”

“I-I love you...”

He smiled at this and brought his lips to hers, the gentleness that he wanted to showcase was taken over with hunger. He kissed her with a passion that he didn’t even know he had. This wasn’t about sex, this was about love. Love in its purest form.

“Taehyung?” Y/N gasped as he was gently pushing her down onto the sofa. He was kissing her jaw and then her neck, “Taehy-”

He smiled to himself when he nipped her earlobe and removed himself from her to stare down at her, “Yes?”

“I just-”

He kissed her again with the desire that was harboring in his chest. His hands went under the hem of her dress and looked back up at her, “Yes, my love?”

“Nothing. Continue.”

He pressed his hips against her and let the moon shine through the windows blush at the sight. He slid his hand over the soft skin of her thigh and then towards her stomach, “Don’t leave me.”

“I would never leave you. I will stand by you from now on.”

Taehyung smiled at this and leaned forward kissing her neck. His large hands cups her face as his thumb traced her jawline. He pressed his lips to hers as he slipped his tongue between their lips. She moaned into the kiss digging her fingers into his suit jacket. His warm lips were new but somehow they felt so familiar, “We can’t take off our clothes...someone can walk in.”

He frowned at this and kissed her forehead, “I’ll make it quick then. I’ll take you back to my apartment and show you properly.”

“Who said I’ll go home with you?”

He rolled his eyes and unbuckled his belt in record time. He unzipped his pants and glanced at her, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

His fingers toyed around her underwear before pulling it down to her ankles. She bucked her hips forward and he couldn’t help but smirk. He went under her dress skirt and started to place kisses around her clit, sucking it. A breathless moan left her lips as his fingers ran up and down her folds, “Taeee~.”

“I need to make sure you're ready for me, love.”

His fingers became coated in her arousal and she felt her body becoming tingly. He pulled away and she frowned at this. He leaned forward placing a kiss on her collarbone, “Don’t look too upset, you're going to come on my cock.”

He dragged the red tip along her wet folds causing her to whimper at the touch. She was already so sensitive. He switched positions and had her on top making things easier. She gripped onto his shoulders, guiding him into her. “O-Oh, please Tae.” He kissed the side of her head and groaned when she sank down fully.

The two panted heavily, relishing the moment before he started to move his hip. His mind takes over as he feels her clench at every movement. The sound of skin slapping echoed in the room that would make anyone blush. It wasn’t time to be shy.

“Look at you, just for me and only for me.”

He brushed soft kisses across her collarbones, thrusting in and out. His chest is pressed against hers as hands intertwine with each other. He clenched his jaw and leaned down to bring her into a passionate kiss. She pushed him gently and groaned, “Tae, can I come?”

“Yes, you can love.”

He swiftly thrusts into her and this was it for her. She arched her back and he smirked when he felt her cum go onto his pants. He continued to thrust into her and he kissed the side of her head as she wrapped her arms around his neck, “You did so good for me.” He let out a breathy groan and he couldn’t help himself from coming in her. She moaned at the feeling and they kissed as they moaned into each other's mouths.

When they pulled away she smiled at him, “I would like to go to your house.”

“Anything for you.” He leaned down and kissed the moles on her wrist.

.*･｡ﾟ☆ﾟ.*

“Taehyung?”

Taehyung turned around and raised his eyebrow, “Jennie?”

It was the start of a new semester and something Taehyung wasn’t looking forward to. He was in line to pick up his tea when he felt a tap on his shoulders. He was surprised to see Jennie looking at him as if she was begging him, “You never texted me back.”

“What? That was like four months ago, I thought that would be clear.”

Jennie frowned at this and crossed her arms over her chest, “I thought you wanted me. We could always spend time at the pool. I know you liked it there.”

“Listen, Jennie, I-”

“Babe.”

Jennie turned around to see Y/N smiling at Taehyung. Y/N walked past Jennie and hugged Taehyung. She kissed his cheek and turned towards Jennie with a raised eyebrow, “And you are?”

“I’m Jennie, who are you?”

Y/N smirked at this and kissed Taehyung’s neck. When she looked back at Jennie she smirked, “I’m his girlfriend.”

After the party for his grandmother, Taehyung asked Y/N out. It was a beautiful confession, I love you and I’m not used to love but I want to learn with you. I know you're scared of love but I am too. Let’s conquer this fear together. I love you Y/N. How could Y/N say no? Taehyung did keep his promise. He gave the tickets to Japan to her but they went together with his mother. The small vacation was enjoyable. It made Taehyung happy to know his mother loves his girlfriend.

Everyone at school was shocked about him being in a relationship. He understood why. Y/N’s friends were equally shocked because Y/N was so against relationships for the longest of times. It was clear to everyone that they were in love with each other and nothing was going to change that.

They went to visit Y/N’s mother and he tried his best to keep the peace.

“I can see a wedding in the future and five kids.”

Y/N rolled their eyes and intertwined her fingers with his, “Mom, no fortune telling. I’m trying to have a good lunch with you for once.”

“I can’t help it if I see it.” Y/N’s mom leaned forward towards Taehyung and smiled, “You like the name Aria?”

Taehyung nodded his head slowly, “Yes?”

“I love that name for my future granddaughter.”

“MOM!”

Seungkwan and Eunbi stopped reading Pen’s articles after they saw Y/N’s name. It wasn’t fun anymore when someone you cared about was being talked down to. Y/N was glad they stopped reading the trash. She still didn’t understand how Pen knew some things but she wasn’t going to think too much about it.

She smiled when she saw Jennie’s face drop when she said this. Jennie looked around her awkwardly and just left the scene. Y/N smiled at this and looked up to Taehyung, “I don’t think she likes me?”

“Who cares? I love you.”

“And I love you.

────°˖✧ ✧˖°────────°˖✧ ✧˖°────

Tag List:

@sumzysworld @whoa-jo

#bts reactions #bts scenarios #bts imagines #bts jungkook #bts namjoon #bts seokjin #bts taehyung #bts jimin #bts yoongi #bts x reader #Bts #taehyung x reader #bts taehyung x reader #bts fanfction #bts fanfic

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mostlysignssomeportents · 2 months

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The true post-cyberpunk hero is a noir forensic accountant

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me in TOMORROW (Apr 17) in CHICAGO, then Torino (Apr 21) Marin County (Apr 27), Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

I was reared on cyberpunk fiction, I ended up spending 25 years at my EFF day-job working at the weird edge of tech and human rights, even as I wrote sf that tried to fuse my love of cyberpunk with my urgent, lifelong struggle over who computers do things for and who they do them to.

That makes me an official "post-cyberpunk" writer (TM). Don't take my word for it: I'm in the canon:

https://tachyonpublications.com/product/rewired-the-post-cyberpunk-anthology-2/

One of the editors of that "post-cyberpunk" anthology was John Kessel, who is, not coincidentally, the first writer to expose me to the power of literary criticism to change the way I felt about a novel, both as a writer and a reader:

https://locusmag.com/2012/05/cory-doctorow-a-prose-by-any-other-name/

It was Kessel's 2004 Foundation essay, "Creating the Innocent Killer: Ender's Game, Intention, and Morality," that helped me understand litcrit. Kessel expertly surfaces the subtext of Card's Ender's Game and connects it to Card's politics. In so doing, he completely reframed how I felt about a book I'd read several times and had considered a favorite:

https://johnjosephkessel.wixsite.com/kessel-website/creating-the-innocent-killer

This is a head-spinning experience for a reader, but it's even wilder to experience it as a writer. Thankfully, the majority of literary criticism about my work has been positive, but even then, discovering something that's clearly present in one of my novels, but which I didn't consciously include, is a (very pleasant!) mind-fuck.

A recent example: Blair Fix's review of my 2023 novel Red Team Blues which he calls "an anti-finance finance thriller":

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2023/05/13/red-team-blues-cory-doctorows-anti-finance-thriller/

Fix – a radical economist – perfectly captures the correspondence between my hero, the forensic accountant Martin Hench, and the heroes of noir detective novels. Namely, that a noir detective is a kind of unlicensed policeman, going to the places the cops can't go, asking the questions the cops can't ask, and thus solving the crimes the cops can't solve. What makes this noir is what happens next: the private dick realizes that these were places the cops didn't want to go, questions the cops didn't want to ask and crimes the cops didn't want to solve ("It's Chinatown, Jake").

Marty Hench – a forensic accountant who finds the money that has been disappeared through the cells in cleverly constructed spreadsheets – is an unlicensed tax inspector. He's finding the money the IRS can't find – only to be reminded, time and again, that this is money the IRS chooses not to find.

This is how the tax authorities work, after all. Anyone who followed the coverage of the big finance leaks knows that the most shocking revelation they contain is how stupid the ruses of the ultra-wealthy are. The IRS could prevent that tax-fraud, they just choose not to. Not for nothing, I call the Martin Hench books "Panama Papers fanfic."

I've read plenty of noir fiction and I'm a long-term finance-leaks obsessive, but until I read Fix's article, it never occurred to me that a forensic accountant was actually squarely within the noir tradition. Hench's perfect noir fit is either a happy accident or the result of a subconscious intuition that I didn't know I had until Fix put his finger on it.

The second Hench novel is The Bezzle. It's been out since February, and I'm still touring with it (Chicago tonight! Then Turin, Marin County, Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, etc). It's paying off – the book's a national bestseller.

Writing in his newsletter, Henry Farrell connects Fix's observation to one of his own, about the nature of "hackers" and their role in cyberpunk (and post-cyberpunk) fiction:

https://www.programmablemutter.com/p/the-accountant-as-cyberpunk-hero

Farrell cites Bruce Schneier's 2023 book, A Hacker’s Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society’s Rules and How to Bend Them Back:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/06/trickster-makes-the-world/

Schneier, a security expert, broadens the category of "hacker" to include anyone who studies systems with an eye to finding and exploiting their defects. Under this definition, the more fearsome hackers are "working for a hedge fund, finding a loophole in financial regulations that lets her siphon extra profits out of the system." Hackers work in corporate offices, or as government lobbyists.

As Henry says, hacking isn't intrinsically countercultural ("Most of the hacking you might care about is done by boring seeming people in boring seeming clothes"). Hacking reinforces – rather than undermining power asymmetries ("The rich have far more resources to figure out how to gimmick the rules"). We are mostly not the hackers – we are the hacked.

For Henry, Marty Hench is a hacker (the rare hacker that works for the good guys), even though "he doesn’t wear mirrorshades or get wasted chatting to bartenders with Soviet military-surplus mechanical arms." He's a gun for hire, that most traditional of cyberpunk heroes, and while he doesn't stand against the system, he's not for it, either.

Henry's pinning down something I've been circling around for nearly 30 years: the idea that though "the street finds its own use for things," Wall Street and Madison Avenue are among the streets that might find those uses:

https://craphound.com/nonfic/street.html

Henry also connects Martin Hench to Marcus Yallow, the hero of my YA Little Brother series. I have tried to make this connection myself, opining that while Marcus is a character who is fighting to save an internet that he loves, Marty is living in the ashes of the internet he lost:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/07/dont-curb-your-enthusiasm/

But Henry's Marty-as-hacker notion surfaces a far more interesting connection between the two characters. Marcus is a vehicle for conveying the excitement and power of hacking to young readers, while Marty is a vessel for older readers who know the stark terror of being hacked, by the sadistic wolves who're coming for all of us:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I44L1pzi4gk

Both Marcus and Marty are explainers, as am I. Some people say that exposition makes for bad narrative. Those people are wrong:

https://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/my-favorite-bit/my-favorite-bit-cory-doctorow-talks-about-the-bezzle/

"Explaining" makes for great fiction. As Maria Farrell writes in her Crooked Timber review of The Bezzle, the secret sauce of some of the best novels is "information about how things work. Things like locks, rifles, security systems":

https://crookedtimber.org/2024/03/06/the-bezzle/

Where these things are integrated into the story's "reason and urgency," they become "specialist knowledge [that] cuts new paths to move through the world." Hacking, in other words.

This is a theme Paul Di Filippo picked up on in his review of The Bezzle for Locus:

https://locusmag.com/2024/04/paul-di-filippo-reviews-the-bezzle-by-cory-doctorow/

Heinlein was always known—and always came across in his writings—as The Man Who Knew How the World Worked. Doctorow delivers the same sense of putting yourself in the hands of a fellow who has peered behind Oz’s curtain. When he fills you in lucidly about some arcane bit of economics or computer tech or social media scam, you feel, first, that you understand it completely and, second, that you can trust Doctorow’s analysis and insights.

Knowledge is power, and so expository fiction that delivers news you can use is novel that makes you more powerful – powerful enough to resist the hackers who want to hack you.

Henry and I were both friends of Aaron Swartz, and the Little Brother books are closely connected to Aaron, who helped me with Homeland, the second volume, and wrote a great afterword for it (Schneier wrote an afterword for the first book). That book – and Aaron's afterword – has radicalized a gratifying number of principled technologists. I know, because I meet them when I tour, and because they send me emails. I like to think that these hackers are part of Aaron's legacy.

Henry argues that the Hench books are "purpose-designed to inspire a thousand Max Schrems – people who are probably past their teenage years, have some grounding in the relevant professions, and really want to see things change."

(Schrems is the Austrian privacy activist who, as a law student, set in motion the events that led to the passage of the EU's General Data Privacy Regulation:)

https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/15/out-here-everything-hurts/#noyb

Henry points out that William Gibson's Neuromancer doesn't mention the word "internet" – rather, Gibson coined the term cyberspace, which, as Henry says, is "more ‘capitalism’ than ‘computerized information'… If you really want to penetrate the system, you need to really grasp what money is and what it does."

Maria also wrote one of my all-time favorite reviews of Red Team Blues, also for Crooked Timber:

https://crookedtimber.org/2023/05/11/when-crypto-meant-cryptography/

In it, she compares Hench to Dickens' Bleak House, but for the modern tech world:

You put the book down feeling it’s not just a fascinating, enjoyable novel, but a document of how Silicon Valley’s very own 1% live and a teeming, energy-emitting snapshot of a critical moment on Earth.

All my life, I've written to find out what's going on in my own head. It's a remarkably effective technique. But it's only recently that I've come to appreciate that reading what other people write about my writing can reveal things that I can't see.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/17/panama-papers-fanfic/#the-1337est-h4x0rs

Image: Frédéric Poirot (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/fredarmitage/1057613629 CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

#pluralistic #science fiction #cyberpunk #literary criticism #maria farrell #henry farrell #noir #martin hench #marty hench #red team blues #the bezzle #forensic accountants #hackers #bruce schneier #post-cyberpunk #blair fix

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f1ghtsoftly · 2 months

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While, I don’t hate the women that express “doomer” ideology, I do think it’s Really Bad for a wide range of reasons. One of the most important of which is the all or nothing type of valuation it places on resistance, we either destroy all patriarchy, or we’re all doomed, and the way it negates our power as living breathing adult women to do anything at all the change our circumstances, because I can’t change all of it-I change nothing instead.

There are thousands of women on this website that are alive right now who want a better world-do you seriously believe none of our efforts, do you believe the efforts of all the women who’ve ever lived amount to nothing just because we haven’t achieved a post-patriarchal society? Think about all the ways women’s resistance, big and small, has nurtured you-even before feminism was a thought in your head. Did that not matter to you? Did it not help protect you? To warn you? To feed your soul? Not enough of course, but all of that effort was enough to make you brave enough to dig for answers, to not immediately give in to all that was expected of you, to find a place here on this website, surely. It did matter, even just hearing or seeing something that made you feel seen for the first time in your life-that does matter.

I think one of patriarchy’s most pernicious effects is the way it corrupts intimacy between women. We are trained to play act images of women that men create through media and social control we end up worrying if we’re successful in our impersonation of this being we call “woman” always trying to be nice enough, tidy enough, small enough etc…and disrupts our images of woman’s actual humanity and personhood. Remember how crazy you felt before you discovered feminism, imagine all the other women and girls who already do and will one day feel like you. You thought no other woman was like you, until one day you went to a secret place, somewhere men didn’t control, and discovered, it wasn’t true.

Women’s ability to resist patriarchy is a gift to us, it lets us know, even hundreds of years into the future, that we have never really been alone. Women who acted out to the point of being disciplined via religious, psychiatric or state institutions. Women who worked in secret as men to be able to write, create, make and live independently. Women who pushed politically for their rights. Even just women who survived and gained power for themselves in environments that were hostile to it. They all gave us a gift and that gift is the knowledge that they were alive, they mattered and they didn’t like it-they weren’t these images of women that men created-they were human, just like us. More than just giving us comfort, these big and small acts of resistance allow us to more fully understand not only the totality of what we’re up against-but also to appreciate the incredible fortitude of women who persisted against incredible odds. They didn’t know what their fates were going to be either and it probably felt as bleak, if not more, than it does right now. We can find women like this in the historical record, even if Big Patriarchy is still around.

It’s true that individually we don’t have a lot of control over the Really Big Historical Picture, but the good news is we don’t have to-we just need to control our slice of it. There are so many women just waiting to find women like us, there are girls growing up who need to see us to know that they’re not alone and that there is a community of women who feel like them and who are worth fighting for. Focus on making yourself visible as a human being to the women around you, on trying to make a mark big enough so that women in the future can find you. We are alive and we matter-and I really think this is enough. It’s a very worthy effort to live by and for other women and usefully it’s also a really critical step in building solidarity, so even if some of us get crazy ideas about doing something to change the Big Historical Picture, they’ll have a much better chance of achieving it.

#watch me write the exact same essay about having daughters ahahaAHAHAHA I hate antinatalism #how is it that my mom almost killed me a million times (exageration)#and Im the one getting weepy eyed about babies and female solidarity #radblr #radical feminism #radical feminist #char on char

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cerastes · 1 month

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So I'm just wondering, to really fully understand Arturia's kit. She specialises in Necrosis damage, right? Is she DPS or more kind of a support?

Arturia’s hat is indeed Necrosis damage. Valarqvin walked so Arturia, proper codename Virtuosa, could do a quintuple backflip with a split. While her normal attacks don’t build Necrosis, simply being in her range does, slowly adding Necrosis and a miliseconds-brief Slow every second, as well as increasing all Necrosis damage taken.

You can check what skills do on the website of your choice (like the wiki.gg), I’ll talk about application.

The thing about Arturia is that she’s fully functional without Masteries at high level play, and Masteries let her do that even better, so she’s good at all levels of investment from lv7 to M3/6/9.

*Normal and Elite enemies have 1000 Necrosis Health, while Bosses have 2000. Necrosis deals 800 Elemental Damage for 15 seconds for a total of 12000 damage that no enemy in the game resists. It additionally halves their Attack, with this effect decaying throughout the 15 seconds.

S1 makes it so she can only attack when using S1 charges, and she tends to apply Necrosis in two hits with it, three for Bosses. It’s good for single target damage and single target Necrosis. At M3, it makes Arturia a very strong helidrop, as she’ll have 3 charges ready to go immediately. This is theoretically also true for lower levels of Mastery, so M1 is enough to make her a strong helidrop, but you do get more damage and Necro from Masteries for continued use after helidropping.

S2 allows for some funky positioning strats: If you have a Fortress like Firewhistle or Horn in range as your highest Attack unit, S2 allows them to bombard Necrosis on very distant enemies thanks to S2’s property of granting her Necrosis to an ally. It’s an effective multitarget skill with good cycling otherwise.

S3 is the Dead Zone. It allows two applications of Necrosis on the same enemies per use, the range is huge (Suzu S3) and the various buffs just nake you stronger while the Necrosis and expanded range make everything weaker.

In my opinion, Mastery order should be S1 <—> S3 > S2. I think S1 is the most important one to allow powerful helidrop and stronger single target functionality. S3 makes the skill last a comfy 40 seconds (for its 60 SP of charge up). S2 is already pretty much plug and play at Lv7 and the Masteries are extra gravy to make it better but it’s otherwise practically fully functional, with its biggest boon being the 30 -> 24 SP upgrade for better cycling.

Arturia can deal damage and add utility through Necrosis’ 800 essentially True damage per second on top of whatever she does and a potent ATK% debuff (rare debuff!), so she does both damage and support. The way she works, she’s kinda like Saileach and Shamare in that the stronger the enemy is, the stronger and more useful Arturia is. So she does in fact turn into a DPS unit on real hard and stat-heavy maps, like high risk CC.

#arknights #arturia #virtuosa

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thewriteadviceforwriters · 1 year

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Unleash Your Inner Witch: Tips for Writing Witchcraft

Introduction

Witchcraft has been a fascinating and mysterious topic for centuries. From the Salem witch trials to modern-day Wicca, the practice of witchcraft has evolved and endured. Whether you are a seasoned practitioner or a curious beginner, writing about witchcraft can be a powerful and transformative experience. In this blog post, I’ll help you explore tips and strategies for writing about witchcraft, including researching the history of witchcraft, developing your own unique system, selecting tools, creating spells and rituals, incorporating mythology and folklore, and writing with intention and purpose.

Explore the History of Witchcraft

Before you can write about witchcraft, it's important to understand its history and evolution. Witchcraft has been practiced in various forms throughout history, from ancient pagan traditions to medieval and common era witch-hunts. A thorough exploration of the history of witchcraft can provide context and inspiration for your writing.

One way to explore the history of witchcraft is to read books and articles on the subject. Look for works by reputable historians and scholars, such as Ronald Hutton's "The Witch: A History of Fear from Ancient Times to the Present." You can also visit museums and historical sites related to witchcraft, such as the Salem Witch Museum in Massachusetts or the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in Cornwall, England. Google is another way to research, but the articles you find on the internet aren’t always true; it’s best to use search engines other than Google to find more truthful information.

Finally, consider connecting with other practitioners of witchcraft and participating in online communities and forums. These communities can provide valuable insights and perspectives on the history and practice of witchcraft.

Research Modern-Day Witchcraft

While the history of witchcraft is important, it's also essential to understand modern-day witchcraft. There are many different traditions and practices within the broad umbrella of witchcraft, from Wicca to Hoodoo to modern eclectic witchcraft. Researching modern-day witchcraft can help you develop your own unique system and style of writing about witchcraft. Start by exploring different books and websites on modern-day witchcraft. Look for authors and practitioners who resonate with you and your writing style. Consider attending local events and workshops related to witchcraft, such as pagan festivals or Wiccan covens. These experiences can provide valuable insights and inspiration for your writing. You don’t have to go to physical events or workshops in order to learn about witchcraft, but if you want a realistic experience and authentic knowledge on witchcraft it’s best to do so.

Remember that witchcraft is a constantly evolving and changing practice. Stay open-minded and willing to learn as you research modern-day witchcraft.

Develop Your Unique Witchcraft System

Once you have a solid understanding of the history and modern-day practices of witchcraft, it's time to develop your own unique system. This can include selecting tools and materials, creating spells and rituals, and incorporating your own personal mythology and folklore.

When selecting tools and materials, consider what resonates with you and your writing. This can include herbs, crystals, candles, and tarot cards, among others. Experiment with different tools and materials to find what works best for you.

Creating spells and rituals can be a powerful and transformative experience. Consider what intentions and desires you want to manifest through your writing, and craft spells and rituals accordingly. Remember to stay true to your own personal beliefs and values.

Finally, consider incorporating your own personal mythology and folklore into your writing. This can include family stories and traditions, personal experiences, and cultural mythology. By incorporating your own unique perspective and voice, you can create powerful and authentic writing about witchcraft.

Choose Your Witchcraft Tools

Once you have developed your unique witchcraft system, it's time to choose your tools. This can include physical tools, such as candles and crystals.

When selecting physical tools, consider what resonates with you and your writing, including whatever fits the plot of your story. This can include materials that have personal significance or symbolism, as well as tools that are practical and useful for your writing process.

Find Your Writing Software

When selecting digital tools, consider what will help you stay organized and productive. This can include writing software, such as Scrivener or Google Docs, as well as online communities and forums for feedback and support.

Remember that your tools should support your writing process and help you achieve your goals as a writer of witchcraft.

Create Spells and Rituals

Creating spells and rituals is an essential part of writing about witchcraft. These practices can help you manifest your intentions and desires, as well as connect with your own personal mythology and folklore.

When creating spells and rituals, consider what you want to achieve through your writing. This can include personal growth, healing, or manifestation of specific desires. Craft spells and rituals that are aligned with your own beliefs and values.

Remember to approach spells and rituals with intention and respect. These practices can be powerful and transformative, and should be treated accordingly.

Consider noting what spells would fit in your story, for example if you’re character wants someone to fall in love with them consider creating a love spell, make sure to have a note-taking digital software or app to help you note down everything about the spells and rituals you create. Including the incantation, the items your character needs to cast it. And anything else that has a relation with your spell(s).

Incorporate Mythology and Folklore Mythology and folklore are an important part of the history and practice of witchcraft. Incorporating these elements into your story can add depth and richness to your work.

When incorporating mythology and folklore, consider what resonates with you and your story. This can include cultural mythology, family traditions, and personal experiences. Use these elements to add authenticity and depth to your writing.

Remember to approach mythology and folklore with respect and sensitivity. These are living traditions that should be treated with care and reverence.

Write with Intention and Purpose When writing about witchcraft, it's important to approach your work with intention and purpose. This can include setting goals and intentions for your writing, as well as staying true to your own beliefs and values.

Consider what you want to achieve through your writing. This can include personal growth, healing, or sharing your experiences with others. Craft your writing with these goals in mind. Remember to stay true to your own voice and perspective. Witchcraft is a deeply personal and individual practice, and your writing should reflect this.

Practice, Revise, and Share Your Work

Like any form of writing, writing about witchcraft requires practice, revision, and sharing your work with others.

Take the time to continually research about witchcraft and the traditions, and incorporate your research into your revision process. Revise your work with intention and purpose, and seek feedback from others to help improve your writing. Don’t be afraid to get a real practitioner of witchcraft to become a beta-reader for your story. They can help you find anything offensive or misleading about witchcraft in your novel.

Finally, share your work with others. This can include submitting your writing to publications or sharing it with online communities and forums. By sharing your work, you can connect with others and inspire them to explore their own inner witch.

Conclusion

Writing about witchcraft can be a powerful and transformative experience. By exploring the history of witchcraft, researching modern-day practices, developing your own unique system, selecting tools, creating spells and rituals, incorporating mythology and folklore, writing with intention and purpose, and practicing, revising, and sharing your work, (try saying that five times.)

You can unleash your inner witch and create powerful and authentic writing about witchcraft. Remember to stay true to your own voice and perspective, and approach your writing with respect and intention.

(Note:) It’s important to note that witchcraft is a craft/practice not a religion. All Wiccans are witches and pagans, but not all individuals who practice witchcraft are wiccans or pagans.

TheWriteAdviceForWriters 2023

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ausp-ice · 4 months

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Devastation. It can be a terrible thing. It can be a beautiful thing. It can be despair. It can be love. It can be a revelation. It can be the moment you understand that everything has changed, that there is no way back in any true way. Devastation is profound, inescapable change. Will you, too, experience it one day? Perhaps you'll see it coming; perhaps you'll try to outrun it. Perhaps it will strike swiftly, so suddenly a thing that you never expected it at all. No matter. Devastation simply is. It shall come when it comes.

Devastation (they/any), Edeia of Devastation.

An Edeia I've been thinking about for a while! Their main story exists in the Calamity Continuity, a different timeline of the Ideation universe where physical reality collapsed, leaving only Abstractions for all beings to exist in.

Edeia Site | Edeia Discord | Personal Website

Name: Devastation Idea: Devastation Gender: None Pronouns: they/any Masterlist: #445

About

Devastation — Vast for short — is, perhaps surprisingly, gentle. They enjoy the little happenings of existence: flowers growing out of the cracks, rain on a sunny day. They enjoy the "present" and whatever delights it can give, but at the same time believe in the transience of it. They experience the world with the thought that anything and everything could be lost in a single moment. When they do experience loss, they do not quite mourn; they simply accept it, and continue moving onward. So it is the same with friendships and other connections: they love, and truly can love wonderfully, but do so without attachment.

They give "cold comfort" not infrequently. They might offer to one who has or will experience devastation a gentle caress, a hug, a little song, someone to talk to. They might say such things as, "Time washes all things away, good and terrible;" "All shall return to dust, in the end;" "The future is unknown, and shall become what you make of it." For those who have yet to experience devastation, their company may be both a blessing and a curse: an omen of impending, inescapable change, yet also a reassurance that they will make it to the other side. Some have attacked them in rage, some have wailed in grief, some cling to them in denial and fear of what shall come. Devastation will give their cold comfort, and devastation will come, in the end.

Each moment of devastation they are able to experience or witness is profound for them. They see them as beautifully terrible, terribly beautiful things. The emotions they feel might compare to religious ecstasy, and they cherish and commit to memory each moment they know. At the same time, they are in no hurry to rush these moments — they are content to watch them come as they will. If another Edeia or powerful being tries to interfere in these moments, however, then Devastation may try to shield the sequence of events leading up to them from other influence.

Abilities

The Impending

A form of prescience. Devastation can sense potential devastating events all across the universe, with the sense having a stronger intensity the closer it is physically and the more definite its likelihood of occurring. As Devastation focuses, they can begin to perceive the threads of possibility to see how events might unfold, leading up to, during, and after the moment of devastation.

The Inescapable

Devastation can "plant" a dream consciousness within an individual who is likely to experience devastation in the future. This dream consciousness is a temporarily independent, parallel entity that can observe and interact with that individual, both in their dreams and as waking "hallucinations." The dream consciousness can remain with the individual throughout crossing time, dimensions, etc., and after the moment of devastation passes, the dream consciousness can disperse. Any memories experienced by the dream consciousnesses become part of Devastation's subconscious or deeper memory — if they think about it, they can access the memories, but otherwise, they are not affected from moment to moment. The closer the event of devastation, the more powerful the dream consciousness becomes.

Depending on the individual, they may or may not be aware of having Devastation's presence in their mind. This ability can work on Edeia, though Edeia can banish the dream consciousness if they try.

Prior to the Calamity, Devastation needed to be in proximity to an individual to use this ability. After the Calamity, their powers grew to become able to transcend the borders of Abstractions, though in that case they can only plant a dream consciousness if the devastating event is nearly certain to occur, and not too far off in the future.

The Inexorable

Devastation can protect certain threads of possibility from interference from other Edeia and supernatural beings, in order to ensure certain events unfold the way they expect. The extent of the protection may vary and may only be partially effective against other Edeia.

The Profound

Devastation can grant abilities, augmentations, and other magical influences to those who have experienced devastation. The more intense the emotion, the more powerful the effect.

History

Before Actualization

Devastation's home is in the Calamity Continuity of Ideation. They were born of a human and a demon from another dimension around the 1600s, though their birth parent did not know the other was possessed. They were given the name Vena, and were raised as a human child. As magic was part of the world, when Vena started to show inhuman characteristics, their birth parent thought that they were manifestations of the potential to become an Edeia. However, Vena showed no sign of learning any particular kind of magic, and Sam — their birth parent — questioned their father, who simply suggested that it was a more subtle manifestation.

Vena grew rapidly, having the appearance and mentality of a teenager when they were around ten years old. Eventually, conflict came to their door, and their father revealed his true form to fight off the threat. Sam by then had put together some guesses, and asked what their father truly was. For a moment, he hesitated, and then he braced himself and told Vena's mother his origins: though his body was called Alba, he was truly a demon who went by Katasa.

Here, Vena witnessed a moment of devastation for the first time. Sam's face crumpled, and he demanded to know if everything was a lie. Katasa denied this, stating that he truly does care for him and their child. That Sam was the one who taught him how to love — that it had changed him. And Vena realized — that must have been a powerful moment, despite happening so long ago. This was the moment that Vena's Idea began to take form.

Their parents sorted things out, and things went well for a time. However, the world was not a gentle one, and one day some ill-willed members of their village decided to try attacking Vena for their strange appearance — which had grown ever stranger so as to be entirely and obviously inhuman. Vena struck back, and accidentally killed several of their attackers. The remaining fled, at first, and Vena rushed home with a heavy feeling in their heart, telling their parents what happened. Their parents decided that they needed to leave, and so they fled.

"We can find a Sanctuary," Katasa said. "I've heard about them. We'll be completely safe there."

Unfortunately, it was not to be. An Edeia who sought to balance the scales of justice and death found them before they could find a Sanctuary. Katasa defended them, but could not effectively defend against the Edeia's idea magic. Vena stepped forward, drawing up the power they had felt growing in them, only — they didn't actually know how to wield their power in battle, and Sam jumped in front of them to take a hit for them. Katasa fell into despair as he watched Sam perish, his wail of grief reverberating in the air. And, oh, oh, how horrible. Devastation struck Vena deeply as they suddenly understood: one of their parents was dead, and the other was likely to soon follow. What a powerful feeling, in themself and their father. The feeling seemed to grow and pour out of them; by instinct, their magic reached for Katasa and augmented his power immensely. He struck back at the Edeia, and was able to disperse them. However, his body took far too much damage, and he settled beside Sam's body to weep.

When Vena approached him, Katasa screamed at them with the force of his demonic power — blaming them for Sam's death, demanding to know why they couldn't save him, too. He wailed and cried, and Vena simply reached over to rub his back — to which Katasa only cried harder. Eventually, Katasa calmed down some, and he turned to Vena and hugged them. "It's not your fault," he said. "I didn't mean that. We should have left before. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Then, his body began to fall apart. Katasa continued to apologize, saying that he didn't know what would become of him from here — for his species of demon, to possess nothing is to have no ego. He would disappear, and did not know if he would remember them in his next host.

Vena shed a tear for him, and for Sam. "I understand," they said. "Goodbye."

Katasa's body crumbled away, leaving only Vena with Sam's body. They closed their eyes and felt that crushing weight of devastation. Everything has changed, and there is no going back. How terrible. How beautiful. They felt something shift within them, and with one breath in and one breath out, Vena Actualized into Devastation.

After Actualization

Devastation gave Sam and what remained of Katasa a burial, observing the funerary rites they knew of before letting them go, departing without a backwards glance. They began to seek out moments of devastation, using their power to sense the potential of one occurring. For centuries, they sought these moments, meeting and parting with countless others along the way.

Then, they began to sense the potential of a profoundly devastating event, potentially affecting almost all denizens of the universe. It was strange — what could possibly affect so many individuals to such an intense degree? Devastation looked deeper as time went on, and soon foresaw the end of the world. They shook with something like anticipation. What could come of the end of the world? Where would all these lives go? How would they adjust to such a profound change of reality? Devastation began to seek out those who would be most involved and most affected (in an emotional sense, mostly) by such an event, planting their dream consciousnesses all across the universe.

Devastation foretold the apocalypse in dreams and "hallucinations" — less of a warning and more of a promise. They comforted those who would accept their cold comfort; they told the harsh truth to those who would listen. Many did not believe Devastation, whether they knew Devastation was an Edeia or they thought they had started hallucinating. Still, the Calamity was inexorable; Devastation barely even touched those threads of possibility, as they were converging upon the end of the world on their own.

When the moment came, Devastation stayed to watch. They lifted their hands to the collapsing sky, witnessing everything falling apart and burning it into their memory. The end of the world. How beautiful. How devastating. They wept tears of light, though they were not of sorrow — only of the profundity of such devastation.

After the Calamity

Many people and some Edeia remember their dreams and visions of Devastation; some thought they were at fault, while others understood that it was a complicated process of various factors that led to the Calamity. Devastation did not particularly care. They simply opened up their Abstraction to any who would come, and would wander to others' Abstractions wherever they were welcome.

#creature #my species #original species #art #my art #procreate #edeia #spirit #ideation #scheduled

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essential-randomness · 5 months

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Your angle or yuor devil: choosing between LLC and nonprofit

It's time! For this week's Tuesday Content, I'm cheating a little: first, it's Wednesday; second, instead of new content, I'm "unpaywalling" a section of my $upporters-only "Quarterly Extravaganza".

Learn below (or in the blogpost) about the eternal dilemma: should our org be a nonprofit or an LLC?

To support our project (and get early access to this content), support me on Patreon!

The first step to settle the LLC vs nonprofit debate was to look at the path chosen by other fandom-adjacent entities. Turns out, there's historical examples of both!

So, armed with grit, we took the logical next step: get clarity on the legal differences between the two!

Cutting to the chase, we chose to (very soon) incorporate as an LLC. It was not an easy choice, and we went back and forth–and agonized over it–for quite a while.

However, a few considerations tipped the scales:

First, while our projects have a “charitable intent” that would allow us to qualify for 501c3 status (a.k.a. become a nonprofit), we decided that the procedures required would place a too heavy weight on our already-stretched shoulders.

Next, as we spearhead many ambitious projects with very little budget, we wanted to be able to reward those who took a bet on us with their time and work, should our efforts eventually pay off.

(You can learn about these projects here)

Finally–without mincing words–the online (and fandom) discourse around nonprofits made us uncomfortable: while it’s true that nonprofits have a charitable intent, they still have a balance sheet to balance, and produce work that deserves to be paid for. This is too easy to forget!

Obviously, given that our projects have a clear “anti-corporate bent”, becoming a for profit corporation came with concerns.

However, we found that LLCs are an incredibly-flexible legal structure that gives us ample power to add ethical guardrails!

There's a lot to say about the various options, and we've just started exploring them. If you want to learn more about these, you can read the article/slides or watch this video by the excellent Sustainable Economies Law Center, whose help has been invaluable throughout all this!

(To be clear: until we have more resources in place and a better understanding of our future, we’re going to keep things simple: at first, our LLC will be what’s called a “single-member LLC”, owned by yours truly (me). We'll keep evaluating options as we work to reach stability!)

...and that is all for this week! Once again, to support this journey towards a better web, you can donate on Patreon or on my own website!

You can also help us by reblogging this post and sharing the blogpost with all your friends and fandom-oriented Discord servers!

We'll keep you updated about this all as the year progresses. Look forward to it!

#fandom #bobaboard #social networks #nonprofits #llcs #ethical entrepreneurship #legal stuff

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rpgsandbox · 2 months

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If you’re not familiar with 5E rules, don’t worry! Roleplaying games are about letting your imagination run wild as you create your own characters and stories. The rules provide support for your imagination and structure for your hero, but take a back seat to the FUN play at the table.

For those new to roleplaying games entirely, we are providing Jake’s Shmowzow Guide to Roleplaying Games with every copy of the Core Book exclusively on Kickstarter. It’s a simple guide to get any person started having fun with the Adventure Time RPG. Written by Ray Winninger, co-designer of the DC Heroes RPG and former Executive Producer of Dungeons & Dragons, the guide includes the needed core rules from the 5E OGL, a simple step-by-step explanation of the simple ideas you need to understand to begin play, and finally a walk-through of the character creation process. All guided by Jake!

Adventure Time has its roots in the older editions of Dungeons & Dragons, with episodes and story arcs that grew from the pastiche fantasy adventure that the second and third editions laid out so beautifully. We believe that the high-quality design of 5E—and its very nature—are well-suited to capturing the open-ended excitement and sense of wonder that are at the core of Adventure Time. If Dungeons & Dragons gave birth to Adventure Time, using 5E for Adventure Time: The Roleplaying Game brings everything full circle and is true to the spirit of the series.

We believe that we can craft and implement the world of Ooo and the features of the Adventure Time RPG best in 5E, empowering you with the feeling that you can be any person you want to be and that anything can happen when you step out your door for adventure!

But how, exactly, do you explore Ooo? This is a tabletop roleplaying game built using the Dungeons & Dragons rules, basically. In fact, if you are familiar with those rules, you already know all about how to play Adventure Time: The Roleplaying Game.

If you’re not familiar with those rules, you don’t need to worry. Dungeons & Dragons is a game about letting your imagination run wild; it is a game that is played through conversation, is moderated by dice, and takes place in your cranial. As you adventure through the amazing land of Ooo, stuff will happen. There is a player, called the Dungeon Master, who will tell you about that stuff.

As a brave adventurer, you will want to respond to your Dungeon Master with awesome heroic actions. Your character will have a set of attributes and some skills and powers that provide options for those reactions. But you can respond however a person could respond (if that person was a Wildberry Person, with an axe!). However you respond, you will tell the Dungeon Master what you want to do.

Once you choose your action, it’s time to get mathematical with it. You will roll a twenty-sided die and add a bonus number to it, based on the attribute (or skill or power) that is most applicable to the action. If the total number is high enough to equal or exceed a target set by the Dungeon Master, you will succeed, and the skill or power will dictate the results of that action.

And that's all there is to it! Imagine what the Dungeon Master tells you, have a conversation with the Dungeon Master about what you want to do, and roll a twenty-sided die to see if it works. Three simple steps to exploring (and loving!) the Land of Ooo.

And we’ve got some sweet new mechanics to enhance your awesome RPG experience and fill it with Adventure Time!

Kickstarter campaign ends: Wed, May 15 2024 8:00 PM BST

Website: [Cryptozoic Entertainment] [facebook] [twitter] [instagram]

#RPG #kickstarter #Adventure Time #Cryptozoic Entertainment #Dungeons and Dragons #5e

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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 year

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The media spectacle of generative AI (in which AI companies’ breathless claims of their software’s sorcerous powers are endlessly repeated) has understandably alarmed many creative workers, a group that’s already traumatized by extractive abuse by media and tech companies.

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/09/ai-monkeys-paw/#bullied-schoolkids

Even though the claims about “AI” are overblown and overhyped, creators are right to be alarmed. Their bosses would like nothing more than to fire them and replace them with pliable software. The “creative” industries talk a lot about how audiences should be paying for creative works, but the companies that bring creators’ works to market treat their own payments to creators as a cost to be minimized.

Creative labor markets are primarily regulated through copyright: the exclusive rights that accrue to creators at the moment that their works are “fixated.” Media and tech companies then bargain to buy or license those rights. The theory goes that the more expansive those rights are, the more they’ll be worth to corporations, and the more they’ll pay creators for them.

That’s the theory. In practice, we’ve spent 40 years expanding copyright. We’ve made it last longer; expanded it to cover more works, hiked the statutory damages for infringements and made it easier to prove violations. This has made the entertainment industry larger and more profitable — but the share of those profits going to creators has declined, both in real terms and proportionately.

In other words, today creators have more copyright, the companies that buy creators’ copyrights have more profits, but creators are poorer than they were 40 years ago. How can this be so?

As Rebecca Giblin and I explain in our book Chokepoint Capitalism, the sums creators get from media and tech companies aren’t determined by how durable or far-reaching copyright is — rather, they’re determined by the structure of the creative market.

https://chokepointcapitalism.com/

The market is concentrated into monopolies. We have five big publishers, four big studios, three big labels, two big ad-tech companies, and one gargantuan ebook/audiobook company. The internet has been degraded into “five giant websites, each filled with screenshots from the other four”:

https://twitter.com/tveastman/status/1069674780826071040

Under these conditions, giving a creator more copyright is like giving a bullied schoolkid extra lunch money. It doesn’t matter how much lunch money you give that kid — the bullies will take it all, and the kid will still go hungry (that’s still true even if the bullies spend some of that stolen lunch money on a PR campaign urging us all to think of the hungry children and give them even more lunch money):

https://doctorow.medium.com/what-is-chokepoint-capitalism-b885c4cb2719

But creative workers have been conditioned — by big media and tech companies — to reflexively turn to copyright as the cure-all for every pathology, and, predictably, there are loud, insistent calls (and a growing list of high-profile lawsuits) arguing that training a machine-learning system is a copyright infringement.

This is a bad theory. First, it’s bad as a matter of copyright law. Fundamentally, machine learning systems ingest a lot of works, analyze them, find statistical correlations between them, and then use those to make new works. It’s a math-heavy version of what every creator does: analyze how the works they admire are made, so they can make their own new works.

If you go through the pages of an art-book analyzing the color schemes or ratios of noses to foreheads in paintings you like, you are not infringing copyright. We should not create a new right to decide who is allowed to think hard about your creative works and learn from them — such a right would make it impossible for the next generation of creators to (lawfully) learn their craft:

https://www.oblomovka.com/wp/2022/12/12/on-stable-diffusion/

(Sometimes, ML systems will plagiarize their own training data; that could be copyright infringement; but a) ML systems will doubtless get guardrails that block this plagiarism; and, b) even after that happens, creators will still worry about being displaced by ML systems trained on their works.)

We should learn from our recent history here. When sampling became a part of commercial hiphop music, some creators clamored for the right to control who could sample their work and to get paid when that happened. The musicians who sampled argued that inserting a few bars from a recording was akin to a jazz trumpeter who works a few bars of a popular song into a solo. They lost that argument, and today, anyone who wants to release a song commercially will be required — by radio stations, labels, and distributors — the clear that sample.

This change didn’t make musicians better off. The Big Three labels — Sony, Warners, and Universal, who control 70% of the world’s recorded music — now require musicians to sign away the rights to samples from their works. The labels also refuse to sell sampling licenses to musicians unless they are signed to one of the Big Three.

Thus, producing music with a sample requires that you take whatever terms the Big Three impose on you, including giving up the right to control sampling of your music. We gave the schoolkids more lunch money and the bullies took that, too.

https://locusmag.com/2020/03/cory-doctorow-a-lever-without-a-fulcrum-is-just-a-stick/

The monopolists who control the creative industries are already getting ahead of the curve on this one. Companies that hire voice actors are requiring those actors to sign away the (as yet nonexistant) right to train a machine-learning model with their voices:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/5d37za/voice-actors-sign-away-rights-to-artificial-intelligence

The National Association of Voice Actors is (quite rightly) advising its members not to sign contracts that make this outrageous demand, and they note that union actors are having success getting these clauses struck, even retroactively:

https://navavoices.org/synth-ai/

That’s not surprising — labor unions have a much better track record of getting artists’ paid than giving creators copyright and expecting them to bargain individually for the best deal they can get. But for non-union creators — the majority of us — getting this language struck is going to be a lot harder. Indeed, we already sign contracts full of absurd, unconscionable nonsense that our publishers, labels and studios refuse to negotiate:

https://doctorow.medium.com/reasonable-agreement-ea8600a89ed7

Some of the loudest calls for exclusive rights over ML training are coming not from workers, but from media and tech companies. We creative workers can’t afford to let corporations create this right — and not just because they will use it against us. These corporations also have a track record of creating new exclusive rights that bite them in the ass.

For decades, media companies stretched copyright to cover works that were similar to existing works, trying to merge the idea of “inspired by” and “copied from,” assuming that they would be the ones preventing others from making “similar” new works.

But they failed to anticipate the (utterly predictable) rise of copyright trolls, who launched a string of lawsuits arguing that popular songs copied tiny phrases (or just the “feel”) of their clients’ songs. Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke’s got sued into radioactive rubble by Marvin Gaye’s estate over their song “Blurred Lines” — which didn’t copy any of Gaye’s words or melodies, but rather, took its “feel”:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/robin-thicke-pharrell-lose-multi-million-dollar-blurred-lines-lawsuit-35975/

Today, every successful musician lives in dread of a multi-million-dollar lawsuit over incidental similarities to obscure tracks. Last spring, Ed Sheeran beat such a suit, but it was a hollow victory. As Sheeran said, with 60,000 new tracks being uploaded to Spotify every day, these similarities are inevitable:

https://twitter.com/edsheeran/status/1511631955238047751

The major labels are worried about this problem, too — but they are at a loss as to what to do about it. They are completely wedded to the idea that every part of music should be converted to property, so that they can expropriate it from creators and add it to their own bulging portfolios. Like a monkey trapped because it has reached through a hole into a hollow log to grab a banana that won’t fit back through the hole, the labels can’t bring themselves to let go.

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/08/oh-why/#two-notes-and-running

That’s the curse of the monkey’s paw: the entertainment giants argued for everything to be converted to a tradeable exclusive right — and now the industry is being threatened by trolls and ML creeps who are bent on acquiring their own vast troves of pseudo-property.

There’s a better way. As NAVA president Tim Friedlander told Motherboard’s Joseph Cox, “NAVA is not anti-synthetic voices or anti-AI, we are pro voice actor. We want to ensure that voice actors are actively and equally involved in the evolution of our industry and don’t lose their agency or ability to be compensated fairly for their work and talent.”

This is as good a distillation of the true Luddite ethic as you could ask for. After all, the Luddites didn’t oppose textile automation: rather, they wanted a stake in its rollout and a fair share of its dividends:

https://locusmag.com/2022/01/cory-doctorow-science-fiction-is-a-luddite-literature/

Turning every part of the creative process into “IP” hasn’t made creators better off. All that’s it’s accomplished is to make it harder to create without taking terms from a giant corporation, whose terms inevitably include forcing you to trade all your IP away to them. That’s something that Spider Robinson prophesied in his Hugo-winning 1982 story, “Melancholy Elephants”:

http://www.spiderrobinson.com/melancholyelephants.html

This week (Feb 8–17), I’ll be in Australia, touring my book Chokepoint Capitalism with my co-author, Rebecca Giblin. We’re doing a remote event for NZ on Feb 13. Next are Melbourne (Feb 14), Sydney (Feb 15) and Canberra (Feb 16/17). I hope to see you!

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[Image ID: A poster for the 1933 movie ‘The Monkey’s Paw.’ The fainting ingenue has been replaced by the glaring red eye of HAL9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey.]

#pluralistic #luddie #chokepoint capitalism #generative ai #artificial intelligence #voice acting #labor #creative labor #exclusive rights regimes #copyright #copyfight #careful what you wish for #machine learning #ai #ml #blurred lines #melancholy elephants

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