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redgoldsparks · 7 months

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I wrote a 12 page epilogue to my 2019 comic "Harry Potter and The Problematic Author" because I found, in 2023, that I had more to say. You can also find this comic on my website, and I have PDF copies available on etsy. I may sell print copies at some point in the future.

instagram / patreon / portfolio / etsy / my book / redbubble

Full transcript below the cut.

PAGE 1

Part one: Ruddy Owls!

I was in fourth grade when the first Harry Potter Book was released in the US.

Panel 1: Sometimes our teacher would read it aloud in class. “Mr and Mrs Dursley of number 4 Privat Drive were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much…”

Panel 2: I was 11 years old when Harry Potter finally broke through my dyslexia and turned me into a reader.

Panel 3: Every night in the summer before sixth grade I waited for the owl carrying my Hogwarts Letter. I cried when it didn’t come. “I have to go to Muggle school!”

PAGE 2

Part Two: Hats

I dedicated myself to being a fan.

Panel 1: I began collecting Harry Potter News article.

Panel 2: I asked my relatives to mail me ones from their local papers. I filled a thick binder with clippings.

Panel 3: I wrote my own trivia quiz

Panel 4: and participated in the one held annually at the county fair. “Next contestant!”

Panel 5: I usually got into one of. the top five spots. I won boxes of candy, posters, stationary, and once a baseball cap. (Hat reads: I survived the battle of Hogwarts).

Panel 6: In high school I sewed a black velvet cape and knitted many stripped scarves.

PAGE 3

Part Three: Double Trouble

Watching the last film in 2011 felt like the final note of my childhood.

Panel 1: I remember driving home from the midnight showing thinking about the end of 13 years of waiting; wondering what would define the next chapter of my life.

Panel 2: That same month I heard of something called Pottermore. “Okay, so there’s a sorting quiz… I already know my house! Patronus assignment? Mine’s a barn owl. Duh!"

Panel 3: You can read the books again but with GIFs? Why?

Panel 4: I lived in a place with very slow and limited internet at the time. Pottermore sounded inaccessible, but also boring. I never joined.

Panel 5: "I’ll just read the actual books again, thanks."

PAGE 4

Part Four: Sweets

In 2016, a series of short stories titled "History of Magic in North America” were released on Pottermore to pave the way for the first Fantastic Beasts Film. These stories display an extreme ignorance of American history, culture, and geography, but the worst parts are the casual misuse of indigenous beliefs and stories. Fans and critics immediately spoke up against this appropriation. Some of the most quoted voices included Nambe Pueblo scholar Dr. Debbie Reese who runs the site “American Indians In Children’s Literature”; Navajo writer Brian Young; Johnnie Jae (Otoe-Missouria and Choctaw), founder of A Tribe Called Geek; Dr Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation), a Professor at Brown University who runs the blog “Native Appropriations”, and writers N.K. Jemison and Paula Young Lee.

PAGE 5

Rowling is famous for responding to fans directly on twitter, yet she did not respond to anyone calling out the damaging aspects of “Magic in North America.” Her representatives refused to comment for March 9 2016 article in the Guardian. She has never apologized. All of this, plus the casting of Johnny Depp and the specific declarations of support by JKR, Warner Brothers, and director David Yates left a sour taste in my mouth.

For further thoughts on the new films read The Crimes of Grindelwald is a Mess by Alanna Bennett for Buzzfeed News, November 16, 2018.

PAGE 6

Excerpt from Colonialism in Wizarding American: JK Rowling’s History of Magic in North America Through an Indigenous Lens by Allison Mills, MFA, MAS/MLIS (Cree and Settler French Canadian)

Although Rowling is certainly not the first white author to misstep in her treatment of Indigenous cultures, she has an unprecedented level of visibility and fame, […] One of the most glaring problems with Rowling’s story is her treatment of the many Indigenous nations in North America as one monolithic group. […It] flattens out the diversity of languages, belief systems, and cultures that exist in Indigenous communities, allowing stereotyping to persist. […] It continues a long history of colonial texts which ignore that Indigenous peoples still exist. […] In the Wizarding world, as in the real world, Indigenous histories have been over-written and our cultures erased.

from The Looking Glass: New Perspectives in Children’s Literature Volumn 19, Issue 1

PAGE 7

Part 5: Music

Panel 1: Also in 2016 I discovered two podcasts which radically altered my experience of being an HP fan. The first was Witch Please created by two Canadian feminist literary scholars Hannah McGregor and Marcelle Kosman.

Panel 2: “If it’s not in the text it doesn’t count!” “Close reading ONLY!”

Panel 3: They talk about Harry Potter at the level you’d expect in a college class with particular focus on gender, race, class, and the troubling fatphobia, fear of othered and queer coded bodies, violence against women, white feminism, gaslighting and failed pedagogy in the books. They bring up these issues not because they hate the series, but because they LOVE it.

PAGE 8

These passionate, joyful conversations went off like fireworks in my mind. I had never taken a feminist class before. I gained a whole new vocabulary to talk about the books- and the world.

PAGE 9

Panel 1: The second podcast I started that year was Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, created by two graduates of the Harvard Divinity School, Vanessa Zoltan and Casper Ter Kuile.

Panel 2: They read one chapter per episode through a theme such as love, control, curiosity, shame, responsibility, hospitality, destruction, or mystery. Like Witch Please, they are interested only in the information on the page, not thoughts from the author. The delights and failures of the text are examined in the context of the present day, and new meanings constantly arise.

PAGE 10

What does it mean to treat a text as sacred?

Trusting that the more time we give to it, the more blessings it has to give us.

Reading the text repeatedly with concentrated attention. Our effort is part of what makes it sacred. The text is not in and of itself sacred, but is made so by rigorously engaging in the ritual of reading.

Experiencing it in community.

“To me, the goal of treating the text as sacred is that we learn to treat each other as sacred.” -Vanessa Zoltan

PAGE 11

Part 6: Tooth and Claw

In October 2017, Rowling liked a tweet linking to an article arguing that trans women should be kept out of women’s bathrooms because of cisgender women’s fears. In March 2018, she liked a tweet about the problem of misogyny in the UK Labour Party which included the line “Men in dresses get brosocialist solidarity I never had.” The author of the tweet had previously posted many blatantly anti-trans statements.

Rowlings publicist claimed she had liked the posted by accident in a “clumsy and middle-aged moment.” Yet, in September 2018 she liked a link posted by Janice Turner to her column in the Times UK titled “Trans Rapists Are A Danger In Women’s Jails.”

Screencaps of these tweets can be found in the article “The Mysterious Case of JK Rowling and her Transphobic Twitter History”, January 10 2019 by Gwendolyn Smith (a trans journalist), LGBTQNation.com

PAGE 12

Excerpt from: Is JK Rowling Transphobic? A Trans Woman Investigates by Katelyn Burns

Ultimately, the answer is yes, she is transphobic […] I think it’s fair that she receives criticism from trans people, especially given her advocacy on behalf of queer people in general, but also because she has a huge platform. Many people look up to her for creating a singular piece of popular culture that holds deep meaning for fans from different walks of life, and she has a responsibility to handle that platform wisely. (Published on them.us March 28, 2018)

PAGE 13

Part 7: Home

At age 30, I’m still not over Harry Potter.

Panel 1: I’ve recently found a local bar that does HP trivia nights. “Poppy or Pomona?” “Poppy!”

Panel 2: I currently own an annual pass to Universal Studios so I can visit Hogsmeade.

Panel 3: I love talking to kids who are reading the books for the first time. “Who’s your favorite character?” “Ginny!”

Panel 4: And I’m planning a relisten to the audio books to next year to help me get through the election cycle. “Jim Dale, I’m going to need you more than ever…”

Spoiler from 2023: I did not do this. By mid-2020 JKR had posted her transphobic essay; we were in covid; I never visited Universal Studios again.

PAGE 14

But I do want to learn from her mistakes. I never want to repeat “Magic in North America.” As I write, I will do my research. I will consult experts and compensate them. If a reader from a different culture/background than me speaks up about my work, I will listen and apologize. I KNOW I WILL MAKE MISTAKES. But I will own up to them and I will do better.

PAGE 15

Excerpt from Diversity Is Not Enough: Race, Power and Publishing by Daniel José Older

We can love a thing and still critique it. In fact, that’s the only way to really love a thing. Let’s be critical lovers and loving critics and open ourselves to the truth about where we are and where we’ve been. Instead of holding tight to the same old, failed patriarchies, let’s walk a new road, speak new languages. Today, let’s imagine a literature, a literary world, that carries this struggle for equity in its very essence, so that tomorrow it can cease to be necessary, and disappear. (Buzzfeed, April 14, 2017)

PAGE 16

Harry Potter is flawed, & JK Rowling is problematic. But the books helped me learn a lot:

*One of the greatest dangers facing the modern world is the rise of fascism

*The government cannot be trusted

*Read and think critically

*Question the news: who paid the journalist? Who owns the paper?

*Trust and support your friends through good times and bad

*Organize for resistance

*Educate and share resources with peers

*The revolution must be diverse and intersectional

* We are only as strong as we are united

*The weapon we have is love

MK 2019

PAGE 17

PART 8: EPILOGUE

In 2021 I removed a Harry Potter patch I sewed to my book bag over a decade ago. I took 15 pieces of Harry Potter fanart off my walls. I got rid of my paperback book set, 2 board games, and 8 t-shirt. [images: a Hogwarts a patch with loose threads, a pair of scissors and a seam ripper]

Panel 1: Maia holding up a shirt with the Deathly Hallows logo on it. Maia thinks: “Damn, this really used to be my entire personality.”

Panel 2: The t-shirt gets thrown into the Goodwill box.

PAGE 18

I wrote my zine wrestling with JKR’s legacy in 2019, after her dismissive and racist reaction to indigenous fans and critics of “Magic in North America” and after she had liked a couple transphobic tweets. Since then, she has gotten so much worse.

A Brief Timeline (mostly from this Vox article)

June 2020- JKR posts a 3600 word essay making her anti-trans position clear

August 2020- The Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Org issues a statement about her transphobia, JKR doubles down on her position and returns an award they gave her

December 2020- JKR claims 90% of HP fans secretly agree with her anti-trans views

December 2021- JKR mocks Scottish Police for recognizing transgender identities

March 2022- JKR criticizes gender-inclusive language and legislation

December 2022- JKR retweets trans youtuber Jessie Earl’s critical review of Hogwarts Legacy, starting an onslaught of transphobic harassment towards Earl

December 2022- JKR removes her support from an Edinburgh center for survivors of sexual violence with a trans-inclusive policy and funds her own center which explicitly excludes trans sexual assault survivors

January 2023- JKR tweets “Deeply amused by those telling me I’ve lost their admiration due to disrespect I show violent, duplicitous rapists.” It got nearly 300K likes

March 2023- One the podcast “The Witch Trials of JK Rowling”, hosted by a former Westboro Baptist Church Member, JKR compares the trans rights movement to Death Eaters.

PAGE 19

What are The Witch Trials of JK Rowling?

Panel 1: Maia speaking. “It’s a 7 episode documentary style podcast hosted by Megan Phelps-Roper. Nearly every episode contains interviews with JKR as well as critics, journalists, historians, protestors and fans.

Panel 2: Maia speaking. “In episode 1, JKR speaks more candidly than she has previously about being in an abusive marriage. Her ex-husband hit her, stalked her, broke into her house overlapping with the time she was writing the first three HP books.”

Panel 3: Maia speaking. “What she went through genuinely sounds horrific. I have a lot of sympathy for the kind of life-long traumas those experiences leave.”

PAGE 20

HOWEVER.

It is clear from reading the June 2020 essay on her blog and listening to the podcast, that JKR still to this day feels unsafe. Despite her wealth and privilege she moves through the world with the mindset of a victim. And the group of people she finds most threatening are trans women.

Or rather, she is afraid that allowing trans women in women’s spaces invites the possibility of male predators entering those spaces.

Here’s a direct quote: The problem is male violence. All a predator wants is access and to open the doors of changing rooms, rape centers, domestic violence centers [...] to any male who says “I’m a woman and I have a right to be here” will constitute a risk to women and girls. - from The Witch Trials episode 4 as transcribed by therowlinglibrary.com, March 2023

Image: A stem of Belladonna with flowers and berries.

PAGE 21

Let me introduce here the term: TRANSMISOGYNY. The intersection of transphobia and misogyny, this term was coined by Julia Serano in 2007. Scout Tran, on tiktok as Queersneverdie said: “Transmisogyny occurs in people who have been previously hurt by traditional misogyny. Who have been driven to hate men or at the very least to be scared of men. They will sometimes take out that rage on trans women. (March 2023)

JKR claims to care for trans women and understand they are extremely vulnerable to assault and violence. In her 2020 Essay she wrote: “I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe.”

So she cares about trans women… just less than cis women, and she’s willing to throw all trans women under the bus because of her unfounded, prejudice fears.

PAGE 22

Panel 1: Maia speaking. “JKR claims to have seen data that proves trans women have presented physical threats to other women in intimate spaces, but never cites sources. She also uses “producer of the large gametes” as a definition of “woman”.

What about transmen and nonbinary folks?

Panel 2: Maia leaning on a stack of all seven HP books, the first four Cormorant Strike books and The Casual Vacancy, gesturing to a series of quotes with a tired and disgusted expression.

I’m concerned about the huge explosion of young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning. * [...] If I’d been born 30 years later, I too might have tried to transition. The allure of escaping womanhood would have been huge. -June 10 2020 essay

I don’t believe a 14 year old can truly understand what the loss of their fertility is.

-Witch Trials episode 4

I haven’t yet found a study that hasn’t found that the majority of young people experiencing gender dysphoria grow out of it*. -Witch Trials episode 7

*No sources cited

PAGE 23

It’s hard to over emphasize how fixated JKR has become on these topics. As of the date I’m writing this, 14 out of her 20 most recent tweets (70%) are in some way anti-trans. She tweets against Mermaids (a UK based trans youth charity), against trans athletes, against gender neutral bathrooms, and in support of LBG Alliance- a UK org that denies trans rights while upholding gay rights. Here are some gems from her archive:

“People who menstruate.” I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud? -June 2020

War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. The Penised Individual Who Raped You Is a Woman. - December 2021

And in response to someone asking “How do you sleep at night knowing you lost a whole audience?”

I read my most recent royalty cheques and find the pain goes away pretty quickly. -October 2022

PAGE 24

Hashtag Ruthless Productions a queer nerd podcast company created a great guide on ethical engagement with HP. Image: the two hosts of Hashtag Ruthless productions, Jessie (They/she) and Lark (he/him).

Stop buying all official HP Products: books, movies, games, toys, etc, Universal Studios tickets, food, merch.* Boycott any new TV series or movies. Instead: buy the books and DVDs used. If you still want to wear HP merch, buy fan-made. Engage only with fan content: fic, podcasts, fanart, wizard rock, etc. Show transphobia is bad for business. None of this will change JKR’s mind. But the Fantastic Beast series was canceled and after record Pottermore sales in 2020, they fell in 2022 by 40%.

*She gets a portion of ALL tickets. In 2019, this was her largest income source. Read the full guide: hashtagruthless.com/resourceguide

PAGE 25

As late as 2019, I was still reading JKR’s murder mystery series. But by the fourth book my experience began to sour.

Panel 1: Maia holding a copy of Lethal White. “The only gay character in this book is a government official who gropes his staff?”

Panel 2: “The only genderqueer character is misgendered and portrayed as a whiny faker?”

Panel 3: “The only Muslim character is disowned by his family over gay rumors?”

Panel 4: “Even the women aren’t portrayed very well…”

Panel 5: “Why is the main female character defined by the rape in her past?”

Panel 6: “Wait, what happens in the rest of this series…?” Maia scrolls on eir phone.

Panel 7: “Is the series heading towards an employee/boss relationship?”

Panel 8: “And has a man wearing women’s clothes to commit assault?”

Panel 9: “Yeah, I’m done. I’m never reading a new JKR book ever again.”

PAGE 26

And as for JKR herself?

As tempting as it might be to tweet your frustrations at her, I don’t recommend it. In 2021, she tweeted, “Hundreds of trans activists have threatened to beat, rape, assassinate and bomb me.” Getting hate online feeds her sense of victimhood and she waves it as proof of her moral high ground. Instead I suggest you block her on twitter, then delete twitter, go to the library and try to find a new book that feels magical.

Stack of books: In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, Gifts by Ursula K Le Guin, Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane, A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik and Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir.

PAGE 27

In “Emergent Strategy” adrienne maree brown writes: You do not have the right to traumatize abusive people, to attack them, personally or publicly, or to sabotage anyone else’s health. The behaviors of abuse are also survival-based, learned behaviors rooted in pain. If you can look through the lens of compassion, you will find hurt and trauma there. If you are the abused party, healing that hurt is not your responsibility and exacerbating that pain is not your justified right.

PAGE 28

Seeing anyone over age 12 wearing HP merch now makes me uncomfortable. Are they ignorant or actively a TERF? I hate wondering how much money JKR has probably poured into anti-trans legislation… This zine is a culmination of my slow breakup with a story that once brought me joy. Now it just makes me angry, tired and sad.

Image: Candle in a fancy holder burned down to less than an inch.

Maia Kobabe, 2023

#harry potter #harry potter and the problematic author #jk rowling #transphobia #jk rowling transphobic

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rhysdarbinizedarby · 6 months

Text

Couch surfer in his 30s. Oscar winner in his 40s. Why the whole world wants Taika

**Notes: This is very long post!**

Good Weekend

In his 30s, he was sleeping on couches. By his 40s, he’d directed a Kiwi classic, taken a Marvel movie to billion-dollar success, and won an Oscar. Meet Taika Waititi, king of the oddball – and one of New Zealand’s most original creative exports.

Taika Waititi: “Be a nice person and live a good life. And just don’t be an arsehole.”

The good news? Taika Waititi is still alive. I wasn’t sure. The screen we were speaking through jolted savagely a few minutes ago, with a cacophonous bang and a confused yelp, then radio silence. Now the Kiwi filmmaker is back, grinning like a loon: “I just broke the f---ing table, bro!”

Come again? “I just smashed this f---ing table and glass flew everywhere. It’s one of those old annoying colonial tables. It goes like this – see that?” Waititi says, holding up a folding furniture leg. “I hit the mechanism and it wasn’t locked. Anyway …”

I’m glad he’s fine. The stuff he’s been saying from his London hotel room could incur biblical wrath. We’re talking about his latest project, Next Goal Wins, a movie about the American Samoa soccer team’s quest to score a solitary goal, 10 years after suffering the worst loss in the game’s international history – a 31-0 ignominy to Australia – but our chat strays into spirituality, then faith, then religion.

“I don’t personally believe in a big guy sitting on a cloud judging everyone, but that’s just me,” Waititi says, deadpan. “Because I’m a grown-up.”

This is the way his interview answers often unfold. Waititi addresses your topic – dogma turns good people bad, he says, yet belief itself is worth lauding – but bookends every response with a conspiratorial nudge, wink, joke or poke. “Regardless of whether it’s some guy living on a cloud, or some other deity that you’ve made up – and they’re all made up – the message across the board is the same, and it’s important: Be a nice person, and live a good life. And just don’t be an arsehole!”

Not being an arsehole seems to have served Waititi, 48, well. Once a national treasure and indie darling (through the quirky tenderness of his breakout New Zealand films Boy in 2010 and Hunt for the Wilderpeople in 2016), Waititi then became a star of both the global box office (through his 2017 entry into the Marvel Universe, Thor: Ragnarok, which grossed more than $1.3 billion worldwide) and then the Academy Awards (winning the 2020 best adapted screenplay Oscar for his subversive Holocaust dramedy JoJo Rabbit, in which he played an imaginary Hitler).

Waititi playing Adolf Hitler in the 2019 movie JoJo Rabbit. (Alamy)

A handsome devil with undeniable roguish charm, Waititi also slid seamlessly into style-icon status (attending this year’s Met Gala shirtless, in a floor-length gunmetal-grey Atelier Prabal Gurung wrap coat, with pendulous pearl necklaces), as well as becoming his own brand (releasing an eponymous line of canned coffee drinks) and bona fide Hollywood A-lister (he was introduced to his second wife, British singer Rita Ora, by actor Robert Pattinson at a barbecue).

Putting that platform to use, Waititi is an Indigenous pioneer and mentor, too, co-creating the critically acclaimed TV series Reservation Dogs, while co-founding the Piki Films production company, committed to promoting the next generation of storytellers – a mission that might sound all weighty and worthy, yet Waititi’s new wave of First Nations work is never earnest, always mixing hurt with heart and howling humour.

Waititi with wife Rita Ora at the 2023 Met Gala in May. (Getty Images)

Makes sense. Waititi is a byproduct of “the weirdest coupling ever” – his late Maori father from the Te Whanau-a-Apanui tribe was an artist, farmer and “Satan’s Slaves” bikie gang founder, while his Wellington schoolteacher mum descended from Russian Jews, although he’s not devout about her faith. (“No, I don’t practise,” he confirms. “I’m just good at everything, straight away.”)

He’s remained loyally tethered to his origin story, too – and to a cadre of creative Kiwi mates, including actors Jemaine Clement and Rhys Darby – never forgetting that not long before the actor/writer/producer/director was an industry maven, he was a penniless painter/photographer/ musician/comedian.

With no set title and no fixed address, he’s seemingly happy to be everything, everywhere (to everyone) all at once. “‘The universe’ is bandied around a lot these days, but I do believe in the kind of connective tissue of the universe, and the energy that – scientifically – we are made up of a bunch of atoms that are bouncing around off each other, and some of the atoms are just squished together a bit tighter than others,” he says, smiling. “We’re all made of the same stardust, and that’s pretty special.”

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

We’ve caught Waititi in a somewhat relaxed moment, right before the screen actors’ and media artists’ strike ends. He’s sensitive to the struggle but doesn’t deny enjoying the break. “I spent a lot of time thinking about writing, and not writing, and having a nice holiday,” he tells Good Weekend. “Honestly, it was a good chance just to recombobulate.”

Waititi, at right, with Hunt for the Wilderpeople actors, from left, Sam Neill, Rhys Darby and Julian Dennison. (Getty Images)

It’s mid-October, and he’s just headed to Paris to watch his beloved All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup. He’s deeply obsessed with the game, and sport in general. “Humans spend all of our time knowing what’s going to happen with our day. There’s no surprises any more. We’ve become quite stagnant. And I think that’s why people love sport, because of the air of unpredictability,” he says. “It’s the last great arena entertainment.”

The main filmic touchstone for Next Goal Wins (which premieres in Australian cinemas on New Year’s Day) would be Cool Runnings (1993), the unlikely true story of a Jamaican bobsled team, but Waititi also draws from genre classics such as Any Given Sunday and Rocky, sampling trusted tropes like the musical training montage. (His best one is set to Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears.)

Filming in Hawaii was an uplifting experience for the self-described Polynesian Jew. “It wasn’t about death, or people being cruel to each other. Thematically, it was this simple idea, of getting a small win, and winning the game wasn’t even their goal – their goal was to get a goal,” he says. “It was a really sweet backbone.”

Waititi understands this because, growing up, he was as much an athlete as a nerd, fooling around with softball and soccer before discovering rugby league, then union. “There’s something about doing exercise when you don’t know you’re doing exercise,” he enthuses. “It’s all about the fun of throwing a ball around and trying to achieve something together.” (Whenever Waititi is in Auckland he joins his mates in a long-running weekend game of touch rugby. “And then throughout the week I work out every day. Obviously. I mean, look at me.”)

Auckland is where his kids live, too, so he spends as much time there as possible. Waititi met his first wife, producer Chelsea Winstanley, on the set of Boy in 2010, and they had two daughters, Matewa Kiritapu, 8, and his firstborn, Te Kainga O’Te Hinekahu, 11. (The latter is a derivative of his grandmother’s name, but he jokes with American friends that it means “Resurrection of Tupac” or “Mazda RX7″) Waititi and Winstanley split in about 2018, and he married the pop star Ora in 2022.

He offers a novel method for balancing work with parenthood … “Look, you just abandon them, and know that the experience will make them harder individuals later on in life. And it’s their problem,” he says. “I’m going to give them all of the things that they need, and I’m going to leave behind a decent bank account for their therapy, and they will be just like me, and the cycle will continue.”

Jokes aside – I think he’s joking – school holidays are always his, and he brings the girls onto the set of every movie he makes. “They know enough not to get in the way or touch anything that looks like it could kill you, and they know to be respectful and quiet when they need to. But they’re just very comfortable around filmmakers, which I’m really happy about, because eventually I hope they will get into the industry. One more year,” he laughs, “then they can leave school and come work for Dad.”

Theirs is certainly a different childhood than his. Growing up, he was a product of two worlds. His given names, for instance, were based on his appearance at birth: “Taika David” if he looked Maori (after his Maori grandfather) and “David Taika” if he looked Pakeha (after his white grandfather). His parents split when he was five, so he bounced between his dad’s place in Waihau Bay, where he went by the surname Waititi, and his mum, eight hours drive away in Wellington, where he went by Cohen (the last name on his birth certificate and passport).

Waititi was precocious, even charismatic. His mother Robin once told Radio New Zealand that people always wanted to know him, even as an infant: “I’d be on a bus with him, and he was that kind of baby who smiled at people, and next thing you know they’re saying, ‘Can I hold your baby?’ He’s always been a charmer to the public eye.”

He describes himself as a cool, sporty, good-looking nerd, raised on whatever pop culture screened on the two TV channels New Zealand offered in the early 1980s, from M*A*S*H and Taxi to Eddie Murphy and Michael Jackson. He was well-read, too. When punished by his mum, he would likely be forced to analyse a set of William Blake poems.

He puts on a whimpering voice to describe their finances – “We didn’t have much monneeey” – explaining how his mum spent her days in the classroom but also worked in pubs, where he would sit sipping a raspberry lemonade, doodling drawings and writing stories. She took in ironing and cleaned houses; he would help out, learning valuable lessons he imparts to his kids. “And to random people who come to my house,” he says. “I’ll say, ‘Here’s a novel idea, wash this dish,’ but people don’t know how to do anything these days.”

“Every single character I’ve ever written has been based on someone I’ve known or met or a story I’ve stolen from someone.” - Taika Waititi

He loved entertaining others, clearly, but also himself, recording little improvised radio plays on a tape deck – his own offbeat versions of ET and Indiana Jones and Star Wars. “Great free stuff where you don’t have any idea what the story is as you’re doing it,” he says. “You’re just sort of making it up and enjoying the freedom of playing god in this world where you can make people and characters do whatever you want.”

His other sphere of influence lay in Raukokore, the tiny town where his father lived. Although Boy is not autobiographical, it’s deeply personal insofar as it’s filmed in the house where he grew up, and where he lived a life similar to that portrayed in the story, surrounded by his recurring archetypes: warm grandmothers and worldly kids; staunch, stoic mums; and silly, stunted men. “Every single character I’ve ever written has been based on someone I’ve known or met,” he says, “or a story I’ve stolen from someone.”

He grew to love drawing and painting, obsessed early on with reproducing the Sistine Chapel. During a 2011 TED Talk on creativity, Waititi describes his odd subject matter, from swastikas and fawns to a picture of an old lady going for a walk … upon a sword … with Robocop. “My father was an outsider artist, even though he wouldn’t know what that meant,” Waititi told the audience in Doha. “I love the naive. I love people who can see things through an innocent viewpoint. It’s inspiring.”

After winning Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award for JoJo Rabbit in 2020. (Getty Images)

It was an interesting time in New Zealand, too – a coming-of-age decade in which the Maori were rediscovering their culture. His area was poor, “but only financially,” he says. “It’s very rich in terms of the people and the culture.” He learned kapa haka – the songs, dances and chants performed by competing tribes at cultural events, or to honour people at funerals and graduations – weddings, parties, anything. “Man, any excuse,” he explains. “A big part of doing them is to uplift your spirits.”

Photography was a passion, so I ask what he shot. “Just my penis. I sent them to people, but we didn’t have phones, so I would print them out, post them. One of the first dick pics,” he says. Actually, his lens was trained on regular people. He watches us still – in airports, restaurants. “Other times late at night, from a tree. Whatever it takes to get the story. You know that.”

He went to the Wellington state school Onslow College and did plays like Androcles and the Lion, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Crucible. His crew of arty students eventually ended up on stage at Bats Theatre in the city, where they would perform haphazard comedy shows for years.

“Taika was always rebellious and wild in his comedy, which I loved,” says his high school mate Jackie van Beek, who became a longtime collaborator, including working with Waititi on a Tourism New Zealand campaign this year. “I remember he went through a phase of turning up in bars around town wearing wigs, and you’d try and sit down and have a drink with him but he’d be doing some weird character that would invariably turn up in some show down the track.”

He met more like-minded peers at Victoria University, including Jemaine Clement (who’d later become co-creator of Flight of the Conchords). During a 2019 chat with actor Elijah Wood, Waititi describes he and Clement clocking one another from opposite sides of the library one day: a pair of Maoris experiencing hate at first sight, based on a mutual suspicion of cultural appropriation. (Clement was wearing a traditional tapa cloth Samoan shirt, and Waititi was like: “This motherf---er’s not Samoan.” Meanwhile, Waititi was wearing a Rastafarian beanie, and Clement was like, “This motherf---er’s not Jamaican.”)

With Jemaine Clement in 2014. (Getty Images)

But they eventually bonded over Blackadder and Fawlty Towers, and especially Kenny Everett, and did comedy shows together everywhere from Edinburgh to Melbourne. Waititi was almost itinerant, spending months at a time busking, or living in a commune in Berlin. He acted in a few small films, and then – while playing a stripper on a bad TV show – realised he wanted to try life behind the camera. “I became tired of being told what to do and ordered around,” he told Wellington’s Dominion Post in 2004. “I remember sitting around in the green room in my G-string thinking, ‘Why am I doing this? Just helping someone else to realise their dream.’ ”

He did two strong short films, then directed his first feature – Eagle vs Shark (2007) – when he was 32. He brought his mates along (Clement, starring with Waititi’s then-girlfriend Loren Horsley), setting something of a pattern in his career: hiring friends instead of constantly navigating new working relationships. “If you look at things I’m doing,” he tells me, “there’s always a few common denominators.”

Sam Neill says Waititi is the exemplar of a new New Zealand humour. “The basis of it is this: we’re just a little bit crap at things.”

This gang of collaborators shares a common Kiwi vibe, too, which his longtime friend, actor Rhys Darby, once coined “the comedy of the mundane”. Their new TV show, Our Flag Means Death, for example, leans heavily into the mundanity of pirate life – what happens on those long days at sea when the crew aren’t unsheathing swords from scabbards or burying treasure.

Waititi plays pirate captain Blackbeard, centre, in Our Flag Means Death, with Rhys Darby, left, and Rory Kinnear. (Google Images)

Sam Neill, who first met Waititi when starring in Hunt for the Wilderpeople, says Waititi is the exemplar of a new New Zealand humour. “And I think the basis of it is this,” says Neill. “We’re just a little bit crap at things, and that in itself is funny.” After all, Neill asks, what is What We Do in The Shadows (2014) if not a film (then later a TV show) about a bunch of vampires who are pretty crap at being vampires, living in a pretty crappy house, not quite getting busted by crappy local cops? “New Zealand often gets named as the least corrupt country in the world, and I think it’s just that we would be pretty crap at being corrupt,” Neill says. “We don’t have the capacity for it.”

Waititi’s whimsy also spurns the dominant on-screen oeuvre of his homeland – the so-called “cinema of unease” exemplified by the brutality of Once Were Warriors (1994) and the emotional peril of The Piano (1993). Waititi still explores pathos and pain, but through laughter and weirdness. “Taika feels to me like an antidote to that dark aspect, and a gift somehow,” Neill says. “And I’m grateful for that.”

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Something happened to Taika Waititi when he was about 11 – something he doesn’t go into with Good Weekend, but which he considered a betrayal by the adults in his life. He mentioned it only recently – not the moment itself, but the lesson he learnt: “That you cannot and must not rely on grown-ups to help you – you’re basically in the world alone, and you’re gonna die alone, and you’ve just gotta make it all for yourself,” he told Irish podcast host James Brown. “I basically never forgave people in positions of responsibility.”

What does that mean in his work? First, his finest films tend to reflect the clarity of mind possessed by children, and the unseen worlds they create – fantasies conjured up as a way to understand or overcome. (His mum once summed up the main message of Boy: “The unconditional love you get from your children, and how many of us waste that, and don’t know what we’ve got.”)

Second, he’s suited to movie-making – “Russian roulette with art” – because he’s drawn to disruptive force and chaos. And that in turn produces creative defiance: allowing him to reinvigorate the Marvel Universe by making superheroes fallible, or tell a Holocaust story by making fun of Hitler. “Whenever I have to deal with someone who’s a boss, or in charge, I challenge them,” he told Brown, “and I really do take whatever they say with a pinch of salt.”

It’s no surprise then that Waititi was comfortable leaping from independent films to the vast complexity of Hollywood blockbusters. He loves the challenge of coordinating a thousand interlocking parts, requiring an army of experts in vocations as diverse as construction, sound, art, performance and logistics. “I delegate a lot,” he says, “and share the load with a lot of people.”

“This is a cool concept, being able to afford whatever I want, as opposed to sleeping on couches until I was 35.” - Taika Waititi

But the buck stops with him. Time magazine named Waititi one of its Most Influential 100 People of 2022. “You can tell that a film was made by Taika Waititi the same way you can tell a piece was painted by Picasso,” wrote Sacha Baron Cohen. Compassionate but comic. Satirical but watchable. Rockstar but auteur. “Actually, sorry, but this guy’s really starting to piss me off,” Cohen concluded. “Can someone else write this piece?”

Directing Chris Hemsworth in 2017 in Thor: Ragnarok, which grossed more than $1.3 billion at the box office. (Alamy)

I’m curious to know how he stays grounded amid such adulation. Coming into the game late, he says, helped immensely. After all, Waititi was 40 by the time he left New Zealand to do Thor: Ragnarok. “If you let things go to your head, then it means you’ve struggled to find out who you are,” he says. “But I’ve always felt very comfortable with who I am.” Hollywood access and acclaim – and the pay cheques – don’t erase memories of poverty, either. “It’s more like, ‘Oh, this is a cool concept, being able to afford whatever I want, as opposed to sleeping on couches until I was 35.’ ” Small towns and strong tribes keep him in check, too. “You know you can’t piss around and be a fool, because you’re going to embarrass your family,” he says. “Hasn’t stopped me, though.”

Sam Neill says there was never any doubt Waititi would be able to steer a major movie with energy and imagination. “It’s no accident that the whole world wants Taika,” he says. “But his seductiveness comes with its own dangers. You can spread yourself a bit thin. The temptation will be to do more, more, more. That’ll be interesting to watch.”

Indeed, I find myself vicariously stressed out over the list of potential projects in Waititi’s future. A Roald Dahl animated series for Netflix. An Apple TV show based on the 1981 film Time Bandits. A sequel to What We Do In The Shadows. A reboot of Flash Gordon. A gonzo horror comedy, The Auteur, starring Jude Law. Adapting a cult graphic novel, The Incal, as a feature. A streaming series based on the novel Interior Chinatown. A film based on a Kazuo Ishiguro bestseller. Plus bringing to life the wildly popular Akira comic books. Oh, and for good measure, a new instalment of Star Wars, which he’s already warned the world will be … different.

“It’s going to change things,” he told Good Morning America. “It’s going to change what you guys know and expect.”

Did I say I was stressed for Waititi? I meant physically sick.

“Well…” he qualifies, “some of those things I’m just producing, so I come up with an idea or someone comes to me with an idea, and I shape how ‘it’s this kind of show’ and ‘here’s how we can get it made.’ It’s easier for me to have a part in those things and feel like I’ve had a meaningful role in the creative process, but also not having to do what I’ve always done, which is trying to control everything.”

In the 2014 mockumentary horror film What We Do in the Shadows, which he co-directed with Jemaine Clement. (Alamy)

What about moving away from the niche New Zealand settings he represented so well in his early work? How does he stay connected to his roots? “I think you just need to know where you’re from,” he says, “and just don’t forget that.”

They certainly haven’t forgotten him.

Jasmin McSweeney sits in her office at the New Zealand Film Commission in Wellington, surrounded by promotional posters Waititi signed for her two decades ago, when she was tasked with promoting his nascent talent. Now the organisation’s marketing chief, she talks to me after visiting the heart of thriving “Wellywood”, overseeing the traditional karakia prayer on the set of a new movie starring Geoffrey Rush.

Waititi isn’t the first great Kiwi filmmaker – dual Oscar-winner Jane Campion and blockbuster king Peter Jackson come to mind – yet his particular ascendance, she says, has spurred unparalleled enthusiasm. “Taika gave everyone here confidence. He always says, ‘Don’t sit around waiting for people to say, you can do this.’ Just do it, because he just did it. That’s the Taika effect.”

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Taika David Waititi is known for wearing everything from technicolour dreamcoats to pineapple print rompers, and today he’s wearing a roomy teal and white Isabel Marant jumper. The mohair garment has the same wispy frizz as his hair, which curls like a wave of grey steel wool, and connects with a shorn salty beard.

A stylish silver fox, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if he suddenly announced he was launching a fashion label. He’s definitely a commercial animal, to the point of directing television commercials for Coke and Amazon, along with a fabulous 2023 spot for Belvedere vodka starring Daniel Craig. He also joined forces with a beverage company in Finland (where “taika” means “magic”) to release his coffee drinks. Announcing the partnership on social media, he flagged that he would be doing more of this kind of stuff, too (“Soz not soz”).

Waititi has long been sick of reverent portrayals of Indigenous people talking to spirits.

There’s substance behind the swank. Fashion is a creative outlet but he’s also bought sewing machines in the past with the intention of designing and making clothes, and comes from a family of tailors. “I learnt how to sew a button on when I was very young,” he says. “I learnt how to fix holes or patches in your clothes, and darn things.”

And while he gallivants around the globe watching Wimbledon or modelling for Hermès at New York Fashion Week, all that glamour belies a depth of purpose, particularly when it comes to Indigenous representation.

There’s a moment in his new movie where a Samoan player realises that their Dutch coach, played by Michael Fassbender, is emotionally struggling, and he offers a lament for white people: “They need us.” I can’t help but think Waititi meant something more by that line – maybe that First Nations people have wisdom to offer if others will just listen?

“Weeelllll, a little bit …” he says – but from his intonation, and what he says next, I’m dead wrong. Waititi has long been sick of reverent portrayals of Indigenous people talking to kehua (spirits), or riding a ghost waka (phantom canoe), or playing a flute on a mountain. “Always the boring characters,” he says. “They’ve got no real contemporary relationship with the world, because they’re always living in the past in their spiritual ways.”

A scene from Next Goal Wins, filmed earlier this year. (Alamy)

He’s part of a vanguard consciously poking fun at those stereotypes. Another is the Navajo writer and director Billy Luther, who met Waititi at Sundance Film Festival back in 2003, along with Reservation Dogs co-creator Sterlin Harjo. “We were this group of outsiders trying to make films, when nobody was really biting,” says Luther. “It was a different time. The really cool thing about it now is we’re all working. We persevered. We didn’t give up. We slept on each other’s couches and hung out. It’s like family.”

Waititi has power now, and is known for using Indigenous interns wherever possible (“because there weren’t those opportunities when I was growing up”), making important introductions, offering feedback on scripts, and lending his name to projects through executive producer credits, too, which he did for Luther’s new feature film, Frybread Face and Me (2023).

He called Luther back from the set of Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) to offer advice on working with child actors – “Don’t box them into the characters you’ve created,” he said, “let them naturally figure it out on their own” – but it’s definitely harder to get Waititi on the phone these days. “He’s a little bitch,” Luther says, laughing. “Nah, there’s nothing like him. He’s a genius. You just knew he was going to be something. I just knew it. He’s my brother.“

I’ve been asked to explicitly avoid political questions in this interview, probably because Waititi tends to back so many causes, from child poverty and teenage suicide to a campaign protesting offshore gas and oil exploration near his tribal lands. But it’s hard to ignore his recent Instagram post, sharing a viral video about the Voice to Parliament referendum starring Indigenous Aussie rapper Adam Briggs. After all, we speak only two days after the proposal is defeated. “Yeah, sad to say but, Australia, you really shat the bed on that one,” Waititi says, pausing. “But go see my movie!”

About that movie – the early reviews aren’t great. IndieWire called it a misfire, too wrapped in its quirks to develop its arcs, with Waititi’s directorial voice drowning out his characters, while The Guardian called it “a shoddily made and strikingly unfunny attempt to tell an interesting story in an uninteresting way”. I want to know how he moves past that kind of criticism. “For a start, I never read reviews,” he says, concerned only with the opinion of people who paid for admission, never professional appraisals. “It’s not important to me. I know I’m good at what I do.”

Criticism that Indigenous concepts weren’t sufficiently explained in Next Goal Wins gets his back up a little, though. The film’s protagonist, Jaiyah Saelua, the first transgender football player in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match, is fa’afafine – an American Samoan identifier for someone with fluid genders – but there wasn’t much exposition of this concept in the film. “That’s not my job,” Waititi says. “It’s not a movie where I have to explain every facet of Samoan culture to an audience. Our job is to retain our culture, and present a story that’s inherently Polynesian, and if you don’t like it, you can go and watch any number of those other movies out there, 99 per cent of which are terrible.”

*notes: (there is video clip in the article)

Waititi sounds momentarily cranky, but he’s mostly unflappable and hilarious. He’s the kind of guy who prefers “Correctumundo bro!” to “Yes”. When our video connection is too laggy, he plays up to it by periodically pretending to be frozen, sitting perfectly still, mouth open, his big shifting eyeballs the only giveaway.

He’s at his best on set. Saelua sat next to him in Honolulu while filming the joyous soccer sequences. “He’s so chill. He just let the actors do their thing, giving them creative freedom, barely interjecting unless it was something important. His style matches the vibe of the Pacific people. We’re a very funny people. We like to laugh. He just fit perfectly.”

People do seem to love working alongside him, citing his ability to make productions fresh and unpredictable and funny. Chris Hemsworth once said that Waititi’s favourite gag is to “forget” that his microphone is switched on, so he can go on a pantomime rant for all to hear – usually about his disastrous Australian lead actor – only to “remember” that he’s wired and the whole crew is listening.

“I wouldn’t know about that, because I don’t listen to what other people say about anything – I’ve told you this,” Waititi says. “I just try to have fun when there’s time to have fun. And when you do that, and you bring people together, they’re more willing to go the extra mile for you, and they’re more willing to believe in the thing that you’re trying to do.”

Yes, he plays music between takes, and dances out of his director’s chair, but it’s really all about relaxing amid the immense pressure and intense privilege of making movies. “Do you know how hard it is just to get anything financed or green-lit, then getting a crew, getting producers to put all the pieces together, and then making it to set?” Waititi asks. “It’s a real gift, even to be working, and I feel like I have to remind people of that: enjoy this moment.”

Source: The Age

By: Konrad Marshall (December 1, 2023)

#rhys darby #taika waititi #next goal wins #our flag means death #hunt for the wilderpeople #interview

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wingzie · 1 month

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Jikook: But I Still Want You

During Seoul Final in 2019, Jimin and Jungkook changed the lyrics at the end of The Truth Untold to “but I still want you.” Compared to every other change made for the final concert, this was never explained. These different lyrics hold a significance that still applies today.

In a year of uncertainty, the members strived to do their best for us in 2020. They filmed and released content throughout the year, putting us first in their minds. They kept us going during our darkest times and made us feel less alone when most of us were struggling, online and offline. They tried to make each performance unique but with the same powerful moves and meaning. With certain restrictions, they would try to keep themselves positive both backstage and onstage. They kept the flow of music and happiness going and expressed wanting to do this for many years. Not just during the hard times. It’s obvious that Jimin and Jungkook also spoke about this together previously, as seen in Festa:

A special performance is MMA 2020. Black Swan is already a heart wrenching song, even more so with the cancellation of the tour afterwards. To lose your true love and passion for something, to face those fears and then conquer them within art is such a powerful message. It must have been incredibly hard for them to go through their worst fears during lockdown and we could see how they supported each other during these times. With Jimin and Jungkook, we saw them nearly always together as we usually do. And this was reflected in their performances too.

In a cruel twist of fate, they wouldn’t be able to perform Black Swan live in front of an audience for a few years. I wish that BTS could have performed their MMA 2020 set in front of a live audience, but of course that wouldn’t be possible. The performance is so tender, as we see Jungkook being dragged away from Jimin. Jimin then struggled to get through and then the powerful lift when they reunited. You could still feel the impact of the performance though through the screen and there are countless praises for Jikook’s part especially:

It would be a long time until BTS would be reunited with Army again. They continued with their releases, but we could see how much the distance between them and us was affecting them. We saw this when Jimin suddenly cried during MOTS:Online and how Jungkook comforted him, very much aware of what they were each feeling. Once we were together again,we gave them so much love and you could see the relief on their faces. That they had made it and Jimin and Jungkook seemed just as affected by this too. They have an extra connection on stage and that was in full force as they played around, got extra close and flirted together. It was like no time had passed at all. This hug is different from their normal ones, it silently says “We did it. We made it.”

Chapter two began and, though they did their separate things, that connection remained strong. They supported each other as much as they could, occasionally missing each other and talking about the other at any opportunity they had. This would have been a different set of circumstances that they are used to, but they made it work. Whilst also enjoying time by themselves or working on other things. Another new situation is enlistment. Though it’s been a talking point for many years, it was soon time for each member to enlist. With Jimin and Jungkook deciding to take part in the buddy system. Showing that with each struggle or new experience, they are always there for each other. And will continue to be. No matter what happens, that look and message from 2019 still remains:

#jikook #wingzie #jikookttu

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andi-kook · 13 hours

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DEAD KIDS ✦ Chapter 2

SUMMARY: A group of university students kidnaps their rich batchmate for ransom. However, things take a darker turn when the new recruit grows a dangerous obsession with the captive and all hell breaks loose.

PAIRING: Jungkook x Fem!Reader

GENRE: Slow burn Yandere, Crime AU

WARNINGS: Not suitable for audiences below 18. Please do not engage with the story if you are underage. WATCH OUT FOR: dark and morally corrupt characters, foul language, mention of Catholicism, slut shaming and objectification of women, mention of inappropriate relationship between professor/student, mentions and depiction of “rape” and “rape fantasy” throughout the story, masturbation, threats, MC has an NSFW blog with hard kinks and fantasies, non consensual touching. Overall, this is a disturbing chapter – based on my standards – so if you are not comfortable with these topics, do not proceed. Inspired by the film, Dead Kids (2019).

TAGLIST: @hopeworldsupremacy @aliajomarie011 @ackercute @tatumrileyslover @ane102 @jjk174 @dontcallmeelle @merrygo1427 @taekritimin123 @r1r111 @gguksfilter @coralmusicblaze

If I didn’t tag you – either your blog doesn’t exist according to Tumblr or because you did not show your age in your blog. Thank you!

ANDI: I send my love to the beautiful souls who sent me asks about Dead Kids as well as these equally beautiful souls – @.taekritimin123 @.hellbornsworld @.tinytangerineangel @.namjesusdaughter – for commenting on Chapter 1. I cannot express just how much I appreciate your words. I would have tagged you directly, but I wasn’t sure if you would want that. But I wanted to show my appreciation.

WORD COUNT: 3K

“Why did you really want to take her?” Jungkook asks Namjoon as they sit and eat the ramen he cooked around the living area. Beside him, Yoongi and Hoseok are fast asleep, the latter clutching onto the former’s arm like it’s his plushie while the former has his head thrown against the headrest.

Namjoon, who is seated on the other makeshift sofa, gulps down the soup from his ramen before letting out a satisfied sigh and wipes his mouth with the back of his mouth. “How many times do we have to say that we kidnapped Y/N for ransom?”

“I’m not stupid, Namjoon,” Jungkook says. “We’re already tied to this shit until the ransom drop. The least you can do is be upfront on why you did this in the first place. I’m not taking a bullet for you or anyone.”

The buzz-cut haired man leans his back against the sofa, which unlike his premium one, is built from scratch by Jungkook using old wood and cases of beers around the warehouse. He gazes at Jungkook for a while, studying him while swimming in his own thoughts. The tattooed man wonders if Namjoon is contemplating telling him the truth. He wonders if the two sleeping men beside him also knew the truth.

They claim to have been friends since the fourth grade, but does time really make you know a person inside out?

“My father didn’t used to be the way he is now – corrupt. Growing up, I looked up to him because of how honest and upstanding he was as a cop. I knew he did some off-the-books shit, but he still had a moral compass, still had lines he didn’t cross. But then he met Y/N’s father, Kim Seokjin, when I was ten. Suddenly, everything changed,” Namjoon narrates, letting out a scoff as he shakes his head and rubs his palms on his baggy jeans. “He went from being a great husband and father to my mother and I to a complete asshole. We didn’t have religion but after meeting Kim Seokjin, we were suddenly Catholics, attending church with his family every Sunday. I was baptized and Kim Seokjin became my godfather. But the worst part was seeing him erase all the lines he drew and swore never to cross when he began to use his position as a detective and then eventually sergeant to now the chief of the entire police force in Seoul to protect Kim Seokjin and his criminal empire.”

Jungkook inhales deeply. “So, kidnapping Y/N is you taking on revenge against Kim Seokjin for corrupting your father? It is personal. It’s never about the money?”

“Of course, the money is important and integral to the plan. But yes, you are correct – I want to avenge my father from Kim Seokjin by hitting him where I know it will hurt the most: his only daughter, Y/N.”

“You promised that we are not going to hurt her,” Jungkook counters immediately.

Namjoon doesn’t say anything.

“Namjoon,” Jungkook clicks his tongue. “If you do that – what makes you different than Kim Seokjin?”

“Why are you so protective of her?” Namjoon asks pointedly. “What? Just because she gave you a boner, you’re suddenly fucking in love with her? Don’t think I didn’t notice. We all did. Yoongi is right – drop the morally upright act, Jeon. You’re just as demented as we are. The moment you agreed to this plan, you’re just as fucked up.”

The sudden call out makes Jungkook turn crimson and Namjoon smirks, placing his leg over the other. “Don’t worry – unlike you, I don’t judge people. To each our own. If shit like that turns you on, then that’s on you. Why don’t you take the opportunity to act on it?”

His eyes widen, shocked and disgusted. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Jungkook knows exactly what Namjoon is talking about, but he is completely aghast at the insinuation.

The de facto leader only widens his smirk, pulling out his packet of cigarettes and lighter from the front pocket of his large, oversized coat. “You know what I’m talking about, Jeon. A pretty naked girl tied to a chair in your warehouse – it’s perfectly normal to feel aroused by such sight. We won’t judge you if you just get it over and done with.”

“You’re more than fucked up,” Jungkook hisses, face flushed and veins popping out on his neck. “I’m not going to fucking touch her.”

Namjoon lights the cigarette in between his lips. Then, he inhales, and smoke leaves his lips as he replies, “Why not? Y/N is a dirty slut who fucks her married professor with kids her age after church and dinner every Sunday night and more – I bet you all my cut that she’s not going to resist you because she’s probably into fucking someone having their own way with her. No, in fact, I can tell you she’s going to enjoy it.”

Jungkook feels hot. Images of your naked trembling body and whimpering pleas filling his mind and ears.

“She has a blog, you know? A secret blog where she writes these fantasies and kinks she has. Posts her nudes on there too. Do you wanna know what is one fantasy she keeps on writing about?”

“No, I really don’t,” Jungkook says through gritted teeth.

“It’s a rape fantasy, Jungkook. What a fucking dirty slut she is, right? I bet she’s fucking wet right now at the thought, at the anticipation that one of us or all of us are going to have our ways with her. I bet she’s aching to be touched. I bet she wants you to rape her, Jungkook. So, why not just do it?”

He stands up in a jolt, hitting his knee on the makeshift table he made from old tires and steel roof and stammering some excuse that he needs to go the bathroom or air – he can’t remember. Jungkook finds himself in his room, back pressed against the door. His shirt sticks to his skin because of the sweat, and he takes it off, leaving it discarded on the floor. Namjoon’s words mixed with the flashing images of your perky nipples, smooth skin, sound of your whimpers, pleas, your smell – it makes him hard. Harder than he’s ever been.

Before he knows it, Jungkook is unbuttoning his jeans, pulling it down along with his boxers, his erection springing free. He spits on his palm before he begins stroking his length, shuddering at the touch, making his mouth dry. He presses the back of his head against the door, eyes closed as he imagines you on your knees – like you were with the professor – those lips around his shaft, head bobbing as you suck him dry. He imagines hearing your moans, imagines his dick hitting the back of your throat as you go deeper and beg him to fuck your mouth like a whore. Jungkook’s stroking himself faster. He imagines hearing you gag as he fucks your mouth, not stopping even when you’re clearly suffocating. Then, he cums, toes curling and a guttural groan escaping his lips.

As he comes back from his high, Jungkook stares at the white sticky substance covering his hand and cock. He just jerked off to you, a girl they kidnapped, and he knows it won’t be the last time.

“Where the fuck have you been?” Yoongi hisses at him the moment he comes back from his room, showered and changed into more comfortable clothes.

Jungkook deliberately ignores the stare of Namjoon and flops on the seat beside Hoseok who is eating the remaining ramen. “Why the fuck do you care?”

“I’m going to punch this kid, I swear to God,” Yoongi grumbles, rolling his eyes. “We’re making the ransom call, you dumb fuck. Or rather, you are.”

Jungkook furrows his brows. “What? Why me?”

“Every one of us here has already encountered Y/N’s father at least once. The man remembers everyone he encounters. You’re the only exception,” Namjoon explains as he hands you a black phone. “It’s a burner phone, untraceable. I took it from my dad. And this is what you’re going to say – make sure you sound intimidating at least. Put it on speaker too.”

Namjoon places his phone on the makeshift table and Jungkook clicks his tongue. “The deal was you only use my warehouse. So far, you got me doing far more than that.”

“Do you want 25 million or not?” Yoongi asks, crossing his arms over his chest. “Cos if you do, you better start calling Kim Seokjin.”

I’m going to punch you soon, Jungkook tells himself before he unlocks the phone and goes to the contact list where Kim Seokjin’s name is the only one listed. He takes a deep breath, going over the script on Namjoon’s phone before clicking on the contact and putting the call on speaker. The ringing sound echoes throughout the warehouse. The tension is palpable again, like it was back in the car earlier that night.

After a few more rings, Kim Seokjin’s voice fills the warehouse. It’s light but a hint of roughness and irritation is noticeable right away.

“Who is this?”

Jungkook licks his lips as he read the script in front of him. “We have your daughter. If you want to see her alive, prepare 100 million won and bring it to 2020 this Friday night. Otherwise, the next time you’ll see her is on the news, dead.”

Hoseok covers his mouth to keep himself from laughing while Yoongi stares hard at the phone. Namjoon, on the other hand, is relaxed on his seat, smoking.

“You sound young, boy,” Seokjin remarks. “You are not the first person to call me in the middle of the night asking for ransom. Do you really have any idea what you’re doing?”

Namjoon motions for him to repeat what he just said.

“If you want to see her alive, prepare 100 mill—,”

“Don’t you think I would be able to find my daughter faster than you could ever imagine? Do you know who you’re talking to?”

That triggers Jungkook. He’s been hearing that question – that discrimination his entire life and he’s sick of it. He’s fucking sick of it.

“I don’t give a fuck who you are. Either you give us 100 million in exchange for your whore of a daughter or I will personally make you watch as we do everything we want with her, make you watch as she begs you to make it stop, make you listen as she takes her last breath before I fucking slit her throat so deep her head nearly decapitates. You have until Friday night – and you better make sure the police don’t get involved. Don’t fucking ask me who the fuck you are again.”

He ends the call, gripping the phone tightly.

“What the fuck was that? Why the hell didn’t you stick to the script?! Are you trying to get us all a one way ticket to prison?!” Yoongi exclaims.

“Did you not hear what he’s saying? He caught on that we are fucking amateurs. I saved our asses – you should be fucking grateful,” Jungkook snaps, clenching his jaw. “If you didn’t want me to do the call, maybe the three of you should have done it yourselves. Fucking useless bastards.”

“Hey! What did you say?” Hoseok stands, pushing Jungkook by placing his hands on his chest. “Who are you calling useless, huh?”

“Who do you think?” He scoffs.

“Let’s fucking kill this son of a bitch, Hobi.”

“Gladly.”

“Enough,” Namjoon says sternly. “No one is going to kill anyone. Not amongst ourselves. What Jungkook did is right, Yoongi. Jungkook saved our asses. And you,” He turns to the long-haired man, glaring at him. “Mind your fucking tone and language with us. We’re not fucking useless. Remember that we recruited you. Not the other way around. If anyone should be grateful to someone, it’s you. We’re the reason you’ll get out of this shit hole.”

Nobody says a word.

“It’s getting late. Let’s gather here tomorrow after our classes. Just go about your usual days until the drop. Don’t be suspicious,” The de facto leader reminds. “Jungkook, keep an eye out, okay? Don’t forget to check in on our little friend from time to time. Make sure she’s still breathing.” He smirks as he pats his shoulder on his way out.

Yoongi and Hoseok follow suit. Once Jungkook hears Namjoon driving off his – rather his aunt’s – property, he resigns to the sofa behind him. He buries his face into his hands. Five days. You’ll be stuck with him at the warehouse for five fucking days. Granted, he has classes to attend to, so he won’t be at home all day, but he’s sure you won’t leave his mind wherever he goes.

The phone in his hand buzzes and he stares at the new notification on the screen – a text message from an unknown number. Jungkook unlocks the phone, goes to the messaging app, and clicks on the new text.

avirgins1ut on tumblr if you wanna read some things tonight

“Fuck you, Namjoon,” Jungkook mutters under his breath. However, when he goes to his room, grabs his shitty phone and opens his data – he installs the app despite knowing it will consume almost all the remaining gigabytes he has left.

Jungkook lies down on his bed and creates his profile. He doesn’t bother customizing it, going straight to your blog which is all black and hot pink. Instantly, he’s drawn to your profile picture – a simple mirror shot of you hiding your bare chest with your arms, head tilt slightly to the side and a black panty covering your cunt. He swallows the lump in his throat as he scrolls down, reading your pinned post:

“Hey. You can call me Angel. I’m 23 years old. This blog is filled with all my fantasies and kinks, sometimes my nudes. Feel free to send me yours too.

My kinks: cnc, free use, somnophilia, spit, slapping, marking, choking, daddy, and more.

My favorite fantasies: rape play, kidnapped, kept as sex slave, knife/gun play, forced gangbang, and more – why don’t you help me unlock those? DMs and asks open for all your threats and nudes.

Update: already got myself a master/daddy. Asks and messages are off.”

As he scrolls further down your blog, Jungkook doesn’t even realize he already has his hand wrapped around his dick as he masturbates to your the latest fantasy you wrote albeit months ago.

I can’t stop masturbating to this dark fantasy of mine – being raped by someone so brutally after they kidnap me. How they would keep me chained to the bed, always naked so they can easily rape me whenever and however they want. They would mock me whenever I would tell them to stop (“You shouldn’t have worn those skirts if you didn’t want to be raped. But you did. So, this isn’t rape. You were clearly asking for this like some depraved filthy bitch in heat. You’re fucking loving this, don’t you? Isn’t this what you want?”) and choke me as they pound into my wet and clenching pussy relentlessly. They would slap and spit on my face, abusing my cunt for hours until I’m full of theirs and their friends’ cum whom they called to let them have a taste of their new toy.

They would rape me day in and out until my body gets so used to it that I start asking for it – crying and begging to be fucked. “Shh, angel, daddy’s going to fuck you, okay? Don’t cry.” Slowly, I would forget all my autonomy and identity, wholly submitting myself to them because I was never my own in the first place – I was always theirs.

“Fuck, Y/N!” His entire body shakes as he cums again. Jungkook can’t stop – he wants to read more, see more as you posted a picture of your cum covered cunt at the end of the post and he imagines it’s his. But he gets a notification that he is out of data and Jungkook slams his phone on his bed, frustrated beyond bounds. He is still hard. He still wants to see more of you, read more of your fantasies.

Namjoon’s words echo in his mind. I bet she’s fucking wet right now at the thought, at the anticipation that one of us or all of us are going to have our ways with her. I bet she’s aching to be touched. I bet she wants you to rape her, Jungkook. So, why not just do it?”

And before he knows it – he is standing across from your limp body. You’re still unconscious – sack over your head, tied and bound on the metal chair. Jungkook walks towards you, gently touching your shoulders to see if you would react but you don’t. He bites his lower lip as his eyes fall on your naked chest. He reaches down to trace its curves before ultimately cupping one breast in hand, fondling, squeezing, twisting the nipple and pinching it. No response.

He begins to stroke himself as he continues to fondle your breasts. This is wrong, but why does it feel so good?

“F-Fucking slut, you’re asking for this,” Jungkook hisses through his teeth. He’s not going to last any longer – not when those perky nipples are so inviting and moments later, he cums all over tits. He’s panting, an exhilarating feeling he hasn’t felt before rising within him as he stares at your cum covered chest. He swallows, breathing heavily. Should he stop now or keep going? He doesn’t have data anymore, but he does have the real thing right in front of him. But you twitch and he jumps in surprise. Suddenly, the realization of his actions washes upon him. He feels a coil in his stomach. What has he done? He scrambles out of the room and dash straight to the bathroom where he extensively washes his hand and splashes cold water on his face. Then, he throws himself on his thin mattress, staring at the ceiling as he pants. Namjoon is right – he’s just as fucked up as they are.

CHAPTER 3 is coming soon.

TAGLIST: Wanna be part of Dead Kids’ taglist? Fill out this form and don’t forget to read the short note in order for me to tag you.

ANDI: I do not condone the behaviors exhibited in this story. The characters of Jungkook, Namjoon, Yoongi and Hoseok do not reflect who they are in real life. Fanfiction is just fanfiction. I have no schedule in writing – I write whenever I can. Please try to refrain from sending asks about updates (or at least be kind and polite about it) and let me know your feedbacks instead as they help a lot in motivation and inspiration! 🦉

#yandere jungkook #jungkook x reader #jungkook fic #jungkook smut #jungkook fanfic #jungkook au #yandere jeon jungkook #yandere bts #bts x reader #bts fic #bts smut #bts fanfic #bts au #dark jungkook #dark bts #andi.writes 💭

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lxclerc · 2 years

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𝐢'𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 | 𝐜𝐥𝟏𝟔

SUMMARY: you find yourself reliving your worst nightmare as charles crashes in spa REQUEST: "okay so random idea: the reader is anthoine's sister and she's dating one of the drivers. there is a crash during a race and it looks bad and no one will tell her anything so she's panicking because it feels like 2019 all over again. the driver ends up being okay, he was just stuck in the car and the radio broke and all he could think about was getting back to the reader because he knew what she must feel like. fluffy ending 💓 (i was actually thinking of exile: "i think i've seen this film before, and i didn't like the ending")" PAIRING: hubert!sister reader x charles leclerc WARNING: angst, like lots of it. many mentions of death and losing a loved one, talks about grief, talks about anthoine hubert’s crash in detail, eventual fluff WORD COUNT: 3.2k

NOTE: i ended up making this sadder than i meant to. The crash is based on Grosjean's fireball crash. let me know if you want to be added to the tag list!

masterlist

You never thought there’d come a time where you’d have to live in a world without Anthoine in it. Born a year before you, Anthoine walked you through life – from teaching you how to ride a bike to teaching you how to drive a car. He’s always been there. Always there to tease you, always there to protect you, always there to threaten Charles about breaking your heart, always there to wipe your tears.

You don’t truly realize how big of an impact someone has on your life till it’s gone. Before Anthoine’s death, you were already out of the house. Busy with university, you barely had time to talk to your family apart from weekends.

The week after he died, you tried to convince yourself that it’d be easy to adjust to a life without him in it but you never expected all the little things that suddenly disappeared. From receiving random scientific articles in the middle of the night to sudden facetime calls as a plea to help him with his homework, you never thought the simplest thing you used to take for granted – and even be irritated at – would hurt so much.

It was like losing a limb – you never truly get over it. It was like losing your hands and learning how to write all over again. You know you could do it before – you could write just as easily as you could breath that you never even bothered to wonder exactly how difficult it would be to not be able to do so. You know there used to be something there, something that isn’t there anymore. You know you used to have a brother and you never even bothered to think about what it would be like without one.

It was almost like the warnings not to go to the deeper parts of the pool in case you drowned. You always ignore the warning. Why should you be afraid of going to the deep parts when you know how to swim? Why should you be afraid of losing your brother when he knew how to drive? It was never meant to be like this.

After Anthoine’s death, you selfishly begged Charles to quit racing. On your knees in front of him with tears falling down your face like a waterfall and your body violently shaking from grief, you pleaded for him to stop. You all knew it was dangerous before, but this was never supposed to happen.

You’ve known Charles nearly all your life, following him, Pierre, Esteban and your brother around during your childhood as they raced and won and lost. Even as children with toothy smiles and sweaty hands, you and Charles have always had something. You went from innocent children chasing each other around and jumping on each others’ backs to awkward teenagers promising each other the world and more to adults holding each other through heartbreaks and grief.

But he only sank to the ground beside you, arms tightly wrapping around your figure as he apologized again and again, his own tears falling as he carried the grief from losing a friend and the heartbreak of seeing the love of his life breaking before his eyes. He apologized because he won’t do it. He knows the risk, perhaps a little more than anyone. He knows what he might lose but he will not give up the one thing he dedicated his life for.

So instead, he just apologized, trying to hold you together as you break apart. He won’t give up racing, not even for you.

Adjusting to life without Anthoine in it meant many things. It meant bittersweet birthdays knowing you’re getting older and he never will. It meant a sudden burst of grief in the middle of the day as something mundane reminds you of him. It meant separating yourself from the things you once loved. Where you once lived for racing, for the thrill of it all, you now hold contempt for it. You hold contempt for the sport that took your brother, that has the chance of taking your lover.

You very rarely attend GPs, usually only going when you know Charles truly needs your support above all else. You don’t keep up with it anymore either, at least not as much as you used to. Anything you know about it comes from Charles. You no longer watch races, your TV shut every weekend, hating the nagging anxiety in your chest every time you do so, always waiting for Charles’ car to skid over to the barriers despite your efforts of telling yourself that it won’t.

Instead, now you choose to wait for his text, going about your day as you do your best to act as though everything is perfectly normal. The first thing Charles always does as soon as he jumps out of the car is text you, letting you know he's okay and the race is over.

You especially avoid Spa, learning very early on that it holds nothing but bad memories.

But Charles has been struggling all season, his own team seemingly sabotaging him. You know how stressed he’s been despite his best efforts to unwind and focus all his time on you and spend some quality time together during the holiday break and so despite yourself, you insist on coming and supporting him in Spa, knowing how much he needs you.

“You don’t have to go,” he murmured against your skin the day before your flight to Belgium, arms tightly wrapped around you. “You don’t have to put yourself through that. Not for me.”

Early morning sunlight trickles in through the drawn windows, dancing against Charles’ bare skin and you can’t help but trace it with your finger, finding satisfaction in the way he shivered under your touch. The two of you decided to get up early for the last day of his holiday break, determined to make the most of the day. Charles had even cancelled his training sessions with a promise that he's all yours for the day.

Loving Charles has always been easy. It’s almost a part of you, almost like breathing. People often say that love fades over time but you’ve loved him since you were a child and the two of you still act like you did the first time you got together, only more in love than ever as you held each other through grief and hardship.

You still smile when you think about him, still fall in love with the sound of his laugh. You still feel giddy over little touches and your heart still flutters every time your eyes meet. You still crave him just as hard as you did before.

Falling in love with him was the easiest thing you've ever done and you both choose to remain hopelessly in love with each other through the years. When you're gray and old, you know it's him by your side.

“I want to be there for you,” you assure him, planting a kiss at the top of his head. You take all of him that you can.

Charles tries to focus on the topic at hand rather than the feeling of the pads of your fingers against his bare skin. “I know, but you don’t have to be. I know how hard it is for you especially Spa–”

You cup his cheeks, softly pressing your lips against his to cut him off. “Je vais m'en sortir. Arrête de t'inquiéter autant, mon amour.” I’ll be okay. Stop worrying so much, my love.

“I know you’ll be okay,” he says between the kiss, his lips ghosting over yours. “But it’s my job to worry.”

“You don’t have to,” you say. “You know I won’t do it unless I’m absolutely positive and I want to be there to support you, Charles.”

He meets your eyes, searching for any sign of hesitation in them and when he finds none, he lets out a low groan as he starts attacking your lips, sucking and kissing, soft and rough, overfilled with love and adoration for you. He will never be loved like this by anyone else, loved so gently and so fiercely, so softly and so roughly. It's always been you, it's still you and it will always be you for the rest of his life.

“I’m going to marry you someday, Y/N Hubert.”

“You better.” You grin as you feel him trying to pull you closer. You don’t think you could ever get enough of this.

—

Walking into the paddock, the media is immediately at your face, asking questions after questions about Anthoine. You hate that they still use him as headlines. You hate that you have to deal with them. But Charles holds your hand tightly, pulling you to his side and shielding you from the cameras the best he can without looking like he’s making a big deal out of it. He doesn’t stop for pictures and autographs as he usually does and instead focussed on getting you away from the spotlight.

As soon as you step into the circuit, you can already feel your heart beating against your rib cage, your brain reminding you of the last time you were here. Reminding you of Anthoine and his easy smile, trying to convince you to wear his Renault merch in support of him rather than the Ferrari shirt you were wearing in support of Charles.

“If I win, you have to change your shirt and support me for the rest of the season,” he told you with a grin and you only playfully rolled your eyes as you tapped on his helmet the way you know he hates.

But he didn’t win. He didn’t even reach the finish line. His season ended there. Instead, the stands were filled with gasps as his car flew over the gravel before Correa crashed into him.

“Mon amour,” Charles muttered softly, giving your hand a light squeeze as he pulled you out of your thoughts.

Concern is evident in his eyes as he takes you in and you do your best to give him the most reassuring smile you can manage. “Go focus on your race and stop worrying about me. I’ll be fine and I’ll be cheering the loudest later.”

Charles makes a face as though he doesn’t believe you and you know he must see the grief in your eyes and so you offer him a kiss before letting go of his hand and heading over to where his family sat.

“There’s my favorite Leclerc,” you joke as you approach Lorenzo, the oldest of the brothers offering you a hug.

“You mean me right?” Arthur, whom you hadn’t noticed was there, butt in, practically throwing himself at you as he hugs you. “Because I’m obviously the best out of us three.”

“Oh you wish, mate,” Charles grins from behind you, his arms snaking to wrap around your waist. He always has to be touching you. No matter what, he needs to be holding you all the time. He feels calmest with your body pressed against his. “I’m obviously her favorite. She’s dating me.”

“Don’t get cocky,” you scold half heartedly, leaning against his chest. “I was clearly talking about Pascale.”

The woman turns to you upon hearing her name, immediately pulling you out of her son’s arms and into her own, making Charles frown and everyone else laugh at the childish display.

“Y/N, darling, I didn’t expect you here,” Pascale greets kindly, practically situating you next to her.

“Someone needs to kick Binotto’s ass if he messes up again,” you grin.

“Baisse la voix. Je ne veux pas être viré !” Enzo jokingly says, making all of you laugh again. Keep your voice down. I don’t want to be fired!

“Ils n'oseraient jamais vous virer, Enzo,” you say with a laugh. They’ll never dare fire you, Enzo.

Charles takes a moment to admire the sight of you so easily getting along with his family as though you’ve always been a part of it. At this point, he’s convinced his mother likes you more than him.

“I’ll see you later, chérie” he tells you softly, planting a kiss on your temple as he detaches himself from you, going to his garage to prepare for the race.

You try to keep your worries at bay as you watch him walk away, but everyone seems to notice as they protectively scoot a little closer to you.

“He’ll be alright,” Pascale reassures you with a smile. “He’s a tough one and the sport is much safer than it used to be.”

You’re not sure if she’s trying to convince you or herself.

—

The race was intense with Chrles leading and Max attempting to fight him from p2 and the rain had begun pouring. You’re at the edge of your seat through it, listening to his radio as you focus on calming your nerves, repeating again and again that racing is much safer now than it used to be.

“Box, Charles, box,” his head engineer says. “We need to switch from dry tyres to wet tyres.”

“No,” your boyfriend insisted, his breath jagged. “We’ll lose our place.”

“The rain is only getting harder, you need to change tyres.”

But you know he won’t do it. With Max leading with 80 points in the drivers championship, every win counts. Charles is desperate to close the gap in order to have a shot at the championship.

“No! It can take three more laps–”

You felt your heart drop as gasps filled the circuit and Charles’ car came skidding through the gravel, losing a front tire in the process before colliding with the barrier, his front wing completely and two other tires detaching from the car. Everyone who knows the basics about formula 1 knows that a collision more often than not, causes another one as the debris from Charles’ car causes Max to lose control of his, spinning till it collides with what was left of the ferrari car.

The silence is deafening and you feel yourself freeze as you watch it happen. Dimly you’re aware of the announcer saying something about what a nasty incident it was. Dimly, you felt Arthur move behind where you and Pascale sat, wrapping an arm around the two of you.

But mostly, you can hear the sound of your heartbeat as though it’s beating against your ear. You can hear the Ferrari engineer calling Charles’ name again and again and you watch as his car catches fire, releasing a fog of black smoke as the marshals try to extinguish it.

“Anthoine,” the Renault engineer calls again calmly though there’s a certain fear in his voice now. “Please confirm that you are okay.”

Silence follows as you and everyone else in the garage waits for an answer. You can already feel tears sliding down your cheeks as you gripped your headset, hoping and praying for a sound.

“Anthoine,” the engineer calls again. “Confirm your position.”

But no answer comes.

“Charles,” the Ferrari engineer calls again. “Charles, are you okay?”

You and Pascale grip each other’s hands as you wait for an answer.

“Charles, can you please confirm if you are okay.”

“If I win, you have to change your shirt and support me for the rest of the season.”

“I’m going to marry you someday, Y/N Hubert.”

You've seen this before, have been in this situation before. You've talked of the future so callously before only to learn that you've lost it and you can't do it again. Not Charles. Never Charles.

You grab the headset out of the engineer’s hands, becoming more and more desperate. “Charles!” You’re screaming now, you realize, your voice hoarse. And you hadn’t even known you’re crying till you felt the wet teardrops fall to your shoulder. “You better answer, Leclerc!”

But still, nothing but silence follows as the rest of you watch Max climb out of his own car and try to help extinguish the fire, the red Ferrari car still bathed in flames and smoke as he obviously wants to help pull Charles out of the burning car.

“Charles, please,” you cry out.

“Tonio, please,” you begged. “Don’t do this to us.”

But no answer comes and you feel an arm wrap around you as you cry to the headset.

Inside the car, Charles fights to get his seatbelt off as the heat engulfs him, trying to push himself up as he struggles to free himself. The race had been stopped as everyone watched. The silence is loud as they all wonder if they’re watching another tragedy unfold.

But all Charles can think about is you and how you must be feeling right now. “Y/N!” He tries to scream into his radio despite knowing it won’t do anything.

Eventually, he manages to remove his seatbelt and he once again forces himself to push his body up despite the heat and the pain the action caused. It doesn’t matter if he’s got broken bones or third degree burns, he needs to get to you. He needs to wrap his arms around you and assure you that he’s okay, that you won’t have to mourn him too.

Maybe it’s the adrenaline or maybe it’s his pure determination to get to you but eventually, he reaches into his halo and pulls himself up, feeling a tiny bit of relief as the air hits him. Max and another marshal reach forward, helping pull him out as he jumps over the burning Ferrari.

He needs to get to you. He needs you to know that he’s okay.

“Y/N!” He screams at the top of his lungs as Max pulls him farther away from the car and into the track where the ambulance moves toward him.

From your place in the garage, a sob of relief escapes you as you watch him emerge from the fire and smoke. You sink to Enzo’s chest as you cry, feeling as though you could pass out.

“Thankfully, Charles Leclerc seems to be conscious, seemingly calling out to his partner Y/N Hubert” the announcers say, relief clear in their voice as everyone cheers. “He will now be taken by the ambulance to treat his injuries.”

—

You, Pascale, Enzo, Arthur and a bunch of the Ferrari team rush to the hospital where you were informed of his injuries. They say it’s a miracle he didn’t acquire worse injuries than a sprained ankle and first degree burns. They assure you that he will be okay and that you’re more than free to see him and before you know it, you’re running through the hospital hallway, pushing everyone out of your way as you reach for him.

Pushing his door open, Charles couldn’t help but finally breathe a sigh of relief when he saw you, immediately jumping to his feet to wrap you in his arms. Your eyes are red and your cheeks tearstained, helplessness clear in your eyes as you suddenly look smaller than you actually are. The sight breaks Charles’ heart.

“I was calling for you,” he says, hugging you tighter than he ever has before. “The radio was broken but I was calling for you.”

You’re crying again as you grip his shirt, breaking down in his arms. Charles holds you closer, his own tears falling. For a moment in that car, he thought he might die and all he could think about was you.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles against your hair, trying to fill himself with you – your scent, your touch, the feel of his skin. The thought that he could have lost this feels worse than death. “I’m so sorry.”

“I can’t l-lose you,” you tell him as the two of you hold each other as tight as humanly possible. “I can’t lose you, Charles. I can’t.”

“I know,” he says. “I know, baby. And you never will.”

taglist: @ricsaigaslec @dragon-of-winterfell @coffeehurricanes @rdtbattinson @lostinketterdam

#charles leclerc #charles leclerc x reader #formula 1 #charles leclerc fluff #f1 #charles leclerc one shot #charles leclerc x you #f1 one shot #charles leclerc angst #charles leclerc fanfic #charles leclerc imagine #formula 1 one shot #formula 1 fanfic #f1 fanfic

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dynared · 11 months

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As Dreamworks's deal with Netflix for exclusive shows expires (they first signed a deal with Hulu for exclusives and now seem to be given shows to them and Peacock), shows have begun to leave the service en masse. However, due to the nature of staggered contracts, many of these shows will not be leaving Netflix for at least a year, while others may have several years left on the service. What's on Netflix did some calculations based on when the final seasons were added and came up with some removal dates for the shows -

Voltron: Legendary Defender (N Original)December 14, 2018 December 14, 2024

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (N Original)May 15, 2020 April 10, 2026

3Below: Tales of Arcadia (N Original)July 12, 2019 August 7, 2026

Wizards: Tales of Arcadia (N Original)August 7, 2020 August 7, 2026

Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia (N Original)May 25, 2018 August 7, 2026

There are plenty of other expiration dates on that list, but these are the big ones I noticed, mostly because they were attempts at franchise creation that fell completely flat. Voltron's big-budget Amazon movie is due for a 2025 release in a best-case scenario (worst-case scenario is more Robotech-style development hell) and with the rollout of a lot of classic Voltron merchandise including the oft-mentioned Voltron beer, the plan to erase VLD from everything come the film release is well underway. Dreamworks doesn't seem to mind, since they're still the video distributor for DOTU on behalf of World Events Productions, their name is on the Voltron beer.

She-Ra is a similar story. The franchise is also with Amazon via Dreamworks, for a live-action show directed by one of the directors of the Watchmen TV show. Hopefully, whoever plays Hordak can chew the scenery as hard as Jeremy Irons did. It probably will air sometime in 2025-2026 best case scenario as well, just in time to see SPOP eliminated from everything (something Mattel is only too happy to facilitate given their release of classic She-Ra figures for their Masterverse brand of toys).

Trollhunters was meant to be a franchise but despite a lot of big names attached to it, it went absolutely nowhere and everyone seems to have disavowed the whole thing after the ending. So it's just getting tossed to one side.

The internet means IP gets recycled and discarded faster and faster these days. And these are three examples of shows set to disappear from the face of the earth, to the glee of the license holders.

#dreamworks #netflix #voltron #voltron: legendary defender #voltron legendary defender #keith #shiro #lance #she ra #she ra and the princesses of power #amazon studios #prime video #trollhunters #tales of arcadia

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luhafraser · 6 months

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Anons in my inbox... Sorry... I'm not ignoring you, but what do you want me to say? Nothing new here...

New Blah Blahlands?!

Another blah blah blah book... Nothing new in this "I had Covid" speech or have you guys already forgotten the Xmas 2021 - QT LA playlist on Spotify?! ... He's just unfolding a script that he created in December 2021... There was his "wee" accident too... A series of misfortunes... True or not?! Believe what you want... 😜🤣 Fact is that at the beginning of January 2022 he no longer had anything (or he wouldn't have gone to the Chargers game with Marina and Alex), he was in LA and I don't need to mention where Caitríona was, right?!

(The best part was Cait giving her location in a interview, where she was supposedly at the end of 2021 - London -, and this article being published on January 1, 2022... Because it's very common for Cait to give her location! 😜🤣)

All the "clans" in this fandom are fed with these books... We already had "the gardener" Sam, the bluebell flower thing, and now even the believers in gay theory are well served with this pathetic description of Sam and his flirtations.

Oh... And the article in The Telegraph? He should be ashamed of that. But tell me... How many thousands of people, from outside this fandom, are going to read and/or pay attention to that?

Of course, one or other will read it because of the usual bait...

Oh and of course, JJ...

Regarding this "I don't have time for relationships because of my work", I already gave my opinion in another post.

It doesn't make any sense... After all, he supposedly had relationships years ago while filming Outlander.

---

Years ago (2019) a well-known shipper stopped believing that Sam and Caitríona had children (in secret)... One of her statements to stop believing is exactly what Sam has been using for a while to justify why he doesn't have a relationship/family. She even said that Sam would never deny his child...

Well, I don't blame this shipper, far from it... But let's be honest, SC use a lot of what we talk about here... Very little in favor and much more against shippers' beliefs.

Sam for Philippine Daily Inquirer magazine, in early 2020:

He probably added "the trauma of his father's absence" in Waypoints book, to cause commotion and be a slightly better excuse than that lame one used first?!

And the announcement of the blonde child, in August 2021, was a blow delivered using what that and other shippers started to claim. We are often our own worst enemies, even if unintentionally.

---

And what Sam said about "his daughter"... Well... He didn't lie. He doesn't have a daughter WITH MM...

😜🤣

---

It's as if the SC is always on the defensive, justifying something... Which seems strange at first, but... If Sam just said "I'm single because I want to be"... That wouldn't tease us, right? Maybe not in the same way... It probably wouldn't cause a buzz talk (here)... Anyone outside of this fandom will see just another unknown actor, who is not romantically involved with his co-star (and that's what they want).

It's been years of the same....

All of this crossed the line of ridiculousness, and when the world outside is so chaotic, sometimes it is impossible to have fun and be distracted by this circus. Sorry, Anons.

#sam heughan #outlander #caitriona balfe #sam and caitriona #shit show

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atlasdoe · 7 months

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Unpopular Marauders opinions

i'm bored so here are some opinions that i'm too scared to say on any other platform

Deciding that Pandora Lovegood had to be from a death eater family (Rosier, Malfoy, Lestrange) was the worst thing this fandom ever did to her character

The fannon characterisation of Marlene McKinnon gives me massive self inset pick me vibes and i hate every part of it (and i really mean every part of it)

This fandom isn't misogynistic y'all are just too demanding and expect the fandom to be the exact same as any other where we have a hardcore cannon source for every one of these characters and ships. we do not. we know more about Barty Crouch Jr then we do about Marlene McKinnon, Mary MacDonald and Dorcas Meadowes combined. it's unrealistic and stupid to expect everyone to care about the same characters and ships to the same capacity as you do when we are not watching/reading the same thing. (if any of that makes sense)

Barty Crouch Jr, Evan Rosier and pretty much every single other death eater were villains. it's okay to like them and want to expand on them but stop trying to make every bad guy secretly good

We cannot keep blaming Dumbledore for everything. Dumbledore had nothing to do with half of the deaths that you are accusing him of. blaming Dumbledore and headcannoning that he obliviated Mary and turned Regulus away and all that takes away from everyone else's characters, sacrifice and choices

The Marauders weren't child soldiers. They had a choice on if they wanted to join the Order or not and they chose to because they're Gryffindors and they're The Marauders and probably thought of themselves as some invisible hero's. They don't need to be seen as victims to Dumbledore for them to be tragic

There is a cannon and you cannot be mad at people for wanting to stick by it

Similarly Fannon Sirius is against cannon. Sirius is one of the primary adult characters in the Harry Potter series. He is literally the title character to the fan favourite book/film. We have so much information about how he acts and "oh Remus i'm your little bitch please let me sit on your lap because i'm only small" ISNT ONE OF THEM

Death to alpha male Remus. DEATH I SAY

This fandom is so obsessed with making every character tragic that the word has lost all meaning. It is possible for Mary to be happy yknow???

Someone in the fandom: "hey look at this cannon character who seems quite interesting" The rest of the fandom: "how can we make this character have some kind of relation to every other character that we already care about??" IM SO SICK OF IT!!! NOT EVERYONE HAS TO BE DATING EVERYONE

Stop trying to change the name of the Slytherin Skittles. Yes it's a stupid name but it's somehow stuck and you're not changing that. just let it be

I ship Remus with anyone who is not more then a year younger then him and i mean literally everyone. Give me Remus and Voldemort fanfic for all I care

I've already said this before but the prank is overrated

Leave my girl Emmeline alone. Why are y'all shipping her with Barty?? Why are you making her the other women to Marlily?? Why are you making her anything but a Ravenclaw?? Do you hate her?? She hasn't done anything to you😭😭 (no but seriously tho i get that headcannons are headcannons but Emmeline is my girl and i have been expanding on her character since 2019 when no one gave a rats arse about her so seeing her shipper with BARTY ruined my life)

That's all i can think of for now please don't hate me but if you wanna talk send me an ask or reply cause i love talking about this kind of stuff :)

#the marauders #harry potter #the marauders era #wolfstar #jegulus #james potter #remus lupin #sirius black #regulus black #dorlene #pandora lovegood #emmeline vance #barty crouch jr #evan rosier #rosekiller #marlene mckinnon #mary macdonald #aces unpopular opinions

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princess-pathetic-112898 · 1 year

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So I may or may not be currently hyperfixating on Cats after finally seeing it live (fantastic production btw the 2022-23 cast is so good) and looking back on the Boschian nightmare that is the 2019 film, you know what the worst thing they did was? And I mean the WORST thing. It wasn’t turning sweet & matronly Jennyanydots into Rebel Wilson scissoring the camera. It wasn’t shoving poor Victoria into the role of protagonist in a musical that’s designed not to have a protagonist. It wasn’t the horrific MoCap suits (but I do still feel so bad for the VFX team that got thrown under the bus). It wasn’t even James Corden existing. I will go to my grave insisting that the movie’s greatest sin was, in fact, the straightwashing. Tom Hooper took my beautiful boys-

And hit them with the hetero ray. How fucking dare he. The movie’s understanding of Tugger is so goddamn surface level it makes my head spin. Their version of him is a flirt and nothing else, and that isn’t actually the case in the musical. Like, for all his strutting and, ahem, gyrating, that Rum Tum Tugger isn’t actually all that interested in the girl cats who fawn over him is made pretty clear in his big number. But who DOES he show an interest in, in just about every version of the stage show?

The movie adds insult to injury by still giving the “Rum Tum Tugger is a terrible bore” line to Mistoffelees, but then changing the context to make it no homo. Rather than Misto playfully teasing Tugger, he’s now acting jealous & trying to dissuade Victoria from taking an interest in Tugger. Because the film is so committed to convincing us that this guy is straight-

that they wrote up a romantic arc for him out of whole cloth WITH HIS SISTER GUYS THEY WERE SO AFRAID OF GAY CATS THEY PAIRED HIM OFF WITH HIS SISTER. I know the film versions of their characters aren’t related (probably because Hooper & co didn’t know they were canonically siblings because they didn’t do their homework because they didn’t care they just wanted that awards bait)- but still what the actual fuck? No gays allowed but you can kiss your sibling. Truly a movie for Alabamans.

#fan post #fan rant #cats the musical #cats 1998 #cats 2019 #cats 2022 #rum tum tugger #mister mistoffelees #mr. mistoffelees #tuggoffelees #straight washing cw #lgbtqia

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quitealotofsodapop · 3 days

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As a nod to season 5, I can imagine in Wukongverse Old Li is the more favorable in Nezhaverse's opinion(I hc him as someone who was like Yunxiang in youth and paid the price hence his personality.)

If he was still alive I can imagine old Li calling out AU Li Jing despite the power difference.

I love the idea of all the Wukongverse wondering who's the worst/best of Nezha's fathers and begin comparing. Nezha (2019) Li Jing barely makes the "OK" ranking for trying to take Nezha's place when the Heavens did the ban hammer on him and Ao Bing - still not a great father. HiB Zhu Bajie is likely pretending to be the Pagoda King for clout so he's disqualified (never refers to himself as Li Jing or as Nezha's dad).

Soon the many Li Jings are compared and graded against one another - only for Ace (NewGods!SWK) to comment;

Ace: "What about you, tudi? Your dad seems cool." Li Yunxiang: "My dad isn't Li Jing though..." LMK!Nezha: "Rule is best or worst "Nezha's Dad". You're our reincarnation. Your dad counts." Whole Room: (*agreeable mummuring*) Peach: "Ok, it is official. Li Yunxiang has the best Nezha's Dad." Li Yunxiang: "Thanks...?"

Old Li I feel can be a bit of hardass on his sons, mainly out of fear/worry. They are living in a drought and economic depression, and he doesn't want either of them going down dark paths. Since the NewGods films take place roughly in the 1920s/Republic-era; I wouldn't be surprised if Old Li experienced the horrors of the first world war and was very much like Yunxiang at his age. And unlike the other "Nezha's Dads"; Old Li isn't a lord or a god, he's a mortal mechanic trying his best to raise his sons + his adoptive daughter.

I bet if Old Li was in a room with all the Li Jings (wukongverse shennangians) and saw how they treat their kids, he'd scold them without a second thought.

Old Li: "A god you call yourself, and yet you cannot even soothe your child's worries when he's made a mistake. I worry for you when he becomes a teenager."

May or not proceed to brag about his kids and how proud he is of them despite all the "god nonsense" his youngest has gotten himself tied up in.

The Li Jings are aghast and furious at the gal of this mortal, and ask him who is he to pass judgement on the Pagoda King?

Ace: "He's the father of my tudi, Li Yunxiang. The reincarnated Nezha."

The Li Jings all suddenly pause and stare. This frail, elderly mortal managed to fully raise his Nezha?! To adulthood!? How is he alive!?! How has he managed to control a demon child that brought gods to his knees and nearly kill them times over?!

Old Li, copying a slang he heard from the modern universes: "Skill issue."

Some of the younger Nezhas actually even prefer Old Li to their fathers. He's a bit tough sure, but he's a good man who's willing to make compromises with his kids.

#li jing #lmk li jing #wukongverse #new gods nezha reborn #sun wukong #li yunxiang #old li

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lilithgodd3ss · 19 days

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My Solar Return Chart Observation so far Sept. 2023-Sept.2024

I’m a newbie and still learning so be nice pls

(Part 1)

SR Gemini rising - the last time I had this placement was in 2019 and it was the worst year ever lol. I lost a lot of close friends to betrayal and significant job changes which explains since Gemini rules my 6th house (career, enemies, etc) natal. My cat passed also during that year. This time around, I started working out, eating better, and have a consistent routine. Also, a year where I started pet sitting and helping out my community.

SR Sun & Mars in 5H - definitely the year where I am involved with kids (I started babysitting/nannying again). The last time I had this placement was when I started working as a camp counselor. I’m also putting more effort and passion into my artistic hobbies (fashion & film)

SR Pluto in the 9H - honestly I thought it would be the year I travel but I think this is manifesting for me going back to school to pursue psych. And tapping back into the spiritual world again. I saw a psychic medium back in Feb. for the first time and it was an eye opening experience🤍

SR Mc in Aquarius - Definitely can see this as being on social media/online more. I haven’t posted on social media in yeaaarss; I recently have started posting more, creating new socials and etc. reaching out to fiends & making new friends online. — Emphasis on 15° (Gemini degree)

SR Jupiter & Uranus in 12H - this placement worried me for my mental health bc I’m already mentally chaotic but with Jupiter there I think this year it’s manifesting for me having such vivid and predictive dreams. (Eg. I’ve been having dreams about people I haven’t seen in awhile and the next day they contact me). Also dreams that are realistic day to day life where it doesn’t feel like a dream. More like deja vu in a dream idk?? Wild. Definitely a year I’m sleeping ALOT. 💤😴

Lmk if you have any input! If you had/have similar placement lmk how that played out for you!! or if I made any mistakes interpreting anything lmk!! Thank you very much for reading!!⭐️

#solar return #astro observations #astrology #astro community #astro notes

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artfilmaesthetics · 7 months

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films for the zodiac signs ✧.*

part III: cancer

✧ ‘The Florida Project’ (2017) dir. Sean Baker

✧ ‘The Shape of Water’ (2017) dir. Guillermo del Toro

✧ ‘Moonlight’ (2016) dir. Barry Jenkins

✧ ‘Before Sunrise’ (1995) dir. Richard Linklater

✧ ‘The Worst Person in the World’ (2021) dir. Joachim Trier

✧ ‘Waves’ (2019) dir. Trey Edward Shults

#films for the zodiac signs #cancer season #films #cinema #movies #film #film frames #cinematography #film stills #cinephile #screencaps #a24 #astrology #cancer sun

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peachjagiya · 2 months

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My Taekook timeline thoughts

Idea from @blue703.

I'mma try this. Let me preface by saying I'm baby Army, coming up to a year. I pick stuff up fast and I have ADHD so I hyperfixate and deep dive but there's definitely stuff I don't know/am still trying to figure out. I ALSO got exposed to a lot of rumour and speculation without much foundation early on so I'm trying to remove that from my thinking.

2013-2014

Tae is instrumental in bringing Jungkook out of himself. They're CLEARLY close. Initial puppy love vibes.

2014-2015

This always feels to me that the attraction is strongest/most obvious on Jungkook's side. I don't think it's one-sided but Jungkook wears his heart in his EYES and Taehyung finds it easier to centre himself, perhaps. 2015-2017

Jungkook is what, 18-20 at this point, Taehyung 20-22? (my maths is appalling. I think that's right) and they seem to have exactly the kind of relationship that two young guys figuring themselves out have ie; DRAMATIC.

Sweet and clingy and lots of eyes and touching. Doesn't seem beyond the realms of possibility that kissing/whatever might have occurred. They're young and besotted. But it also seems to be a time of some pretty intense down moments like whatever the heck happened around Tokyo.

If you think about the Inkigayo video where JK seems a little bit stroppy with Tae for not being there sooner - well, devolve his emotional maturity by 6 or 7 years. I know people say JK doesn't like when he's not getting attention and it's supported by some clips, I feel. Like the slight drama with Bogum. I can imagine this combined with scary queer feelings combined with *SPECULATION INCOMING* being seperated on camera*, against their natural instinct to be close, would create a pressure cooker of Feels which would only ever come out in drama.

Also: Stigma is released in this time, Namjoon says Tae has his own story about it. I have wondered if Stigma might have been related to HYYH but I don't think the storyline bled into the songs, did they? Please correct me if I'm wrong there.

*side note: Dispatch threat to reveal a same sex couple then Dispatch suddenly getting BTS exclusives is an intriguing theory but I think even if it's nonsense or about a different group, I imagine it would create nervous ripples throughout various agencies? Maybe seperating Taekook was precaution? I don't know. Just a thought.

2018

It's well known JK and Tae were having some of their worst times during 2018 and disbandment talks. What intrigues me is that Jin says JK isolated himself and didn't talk to the members.

But Yoongi sends Tae and JK the supportive text message and Tae says he and JK read the messages together and cried. JK is isolated and not talking to other members but he's with Tae at this point? Interesting.

(I don't know if anyone else gets this but there seems to be a kind of implied "Well except V" in a lot of these stories. JK in his 2023 Sirius interview "I didn't really get a chance to see the members this year." and yet he's with Tae on a number of confirmed occasions and maybe other unconfirmed? Almost like Tae is aside from the collective members when it comes to JK.)

I feel like intentions might have been set here and some kind of commitment made, though I'm not sure it's a "together" commitment. Just an undetermined milestone of things getting much heavier than they were. An admission, a mutual understanding, a commitment to stop the drama... I don't know.

2019-2021

Golden Disk Awards 2020. Grammys 2020. Atomix. That's all. :)

Oh I suppose we have BTS: ITS1 filmed in 2020 and as we all know, Tae and JK have been awkward for a while and the only way Jungkook wants to be near Tae is if Jimin tricks him into going. 🙄

They just seem real sweet and close these years. No particular dramas between the two of them are cropping up for me, correct me if I'm wrong. JK has his tattooist nonsense which just feels like a silly storm in a dumb teacup. Still being seperated and forced to pretend they barely like each other in lives but that's just Bighit Streisand Effecting themselves. 😇

If not 2018 then something in here feels like it might have been the actual commitment.

2022 onwards

Demonstrable time spent together. Confirmed private time where JK hangs out with Tae's friends. Unconfirmed time too. WHATEVER WAS IN THE WATER FOR DREAM PREMIERE. Obviously Jennie weirdness in late '22, early '23 but that feels so much like a press stunt that I just J-Hope side eye it.

I once looked up if there was any telltale signs of fanservice when I was newborn army and so confused. A lot of the response was just "if it looks gay, it's fanservice." LOL but one person replied, paraphrased, "Disregard stages, photoshoots, some of the promotional lives, anything under direct agency management. Consider whether they actually interact privately where nobody is." and I feel like that kind of sums up Taekook since 2022 when BTS are on hiatus and they're still in each other's orbit.

2023

If they're not a couple, they're in love and don't know it. That's a joke. Don't come for me.

Lets see what 2024 onwards brings!

#taekook #delululululu #theorising

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aziraphales-library · 10 months

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Hello lovely mods, thanks again for your miracle work on this blog. Just wondering if you have any fic recs where Crowley and Aziraphale don't meet at Eden, but sometime later. Bonus points if the rating is towards the E end of the spectrum. Thanks again, adore this blog and all your work ❤️

Hi! Please check our #different first meeting tag for more fics like this! Here are some more to add to the collection...

We'll Meet Again (don't know where, don't know when) by OfSnakesLiesandKings (T)

Aziraphale and Crowley missed their first meeting on the Wall of Eden and each had to go through 6000 human years on their own. What would happen when Aziraphale is sent to Earth for the first time since the garden, with the objective to keep an eye on Hell’s oldest agent as Armageddon approaches?

Rated for: discorporations (no graphic details), (canon typical) drinking and swearing.

sugar by Sway (E)

"We have decided,” Beelzebub says, “to punish it in a way that fits the crime.” They wave a hand and one of the demons shoves the other a step forward. “It will be given to the demon Crowley for 40 days, may he do his worst with it.”

Aziraphale likes sex. She really does. Heaven - obviously - does not so they decide to punish her under their new Redemption Policy. Forty days with a demon of Hell's choice.

Temptations Spa by Quefish (E)

Crowley is a demon who owns many businesses designed to get the humans rolling in the Seven Deadlies. Aziraphale is an angel who owns a bookshop. An advert brings Aziraphale to Temptations Spa where they meet for the first time.

The Long Way Around by redundant_angel (M)

Aziraphale and Crowley never meet in Eden and the pair go on through time believing that other is the enemy. With Armageddon quickly approaching, Crowley is sent on an important assignment: to kill the angel and retrieve the flaming sword.

Things go sideways, however, when Crowley is severely injured. As Aziraphale naively nurses the demon back to health, Crowley begins to wonder if he'll be able to go through with it after all...

The Angel Heaven Forgot (& the Demon who flipped off Hell on his way out) by ximeria (M)

Somewhere around the death of Jesus, Aziraphale started wondering if anyone paid him any attention. By 1100AD he was quite sure and by 1800 he thought 'sod it' and opened a bookstore in Soho.

This is canon divergent from the Garden of Eden. Aziraphale and Crowley do not meet and yet the End Times are still foiled (though who knows how - maybe an angel and a demon weren't all that necessary after all). Instead Aziraphale runs into Crowley and they end up striking up a friendship.

The Way Home by GiggleSnortBangDead (E)

Aziraphale and Crowley meet in 1979 while working on a film adaptation of an Ezra Fell novel. Aziraphale just had another fight with Gabriel and is looking for something casual, even if it's with a human. Crowley is not a human, but Aziraphale doesn't know that. In Crowley's defense, he also doesn't know that Aziraphale's not a human.

Aziraphale and Crowley meet again in 2019 while working on a film adaptation of the same Ezra Fell novel.

- Mod D

#good omens #ineffable husbands #different first meeting #adult omens #mod d

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twistedtummies2 · 7 months

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Top 5 Scar Appearances

Tomorrow is Halloween, everybody! Good news, bad news, WORSE news time: the bad news is that a very special month-long countdown I WAS planning to do in November isn’t ready yet. I’m going to try and get it done in time for either December or January. The WORSE news is that I also didn't have time to write a Halloween story special. :( The good news is that, since I don’t have those things to worry about, I now have a chance to present to you all a smaller list in commemoration. And, seeing as how Halloweentime is the “Season of the Villain” for Disney, and we’re still in the month of Disney’s 100th Anniversary…how about a list devoted to a lot of people’s favorite Disney Villain: Scar, from The Lion King. I’ve never been AS into Scar as a lot of other people I know are. I love him, make no mistake, but he’s never been my absolute favorite Disney baddy; he’s not even in my Top 10. However, do not misconstrue this as me thinking Scar is a bad character or even an unfit antagonist: there’s a very good reason he’s widely considered to be one of Disney’s greatest and most sinister evildoers. Many people name him as either their number one favorite, or at least somewhere in their Top 10; I’m an outlier there. You can’t blame anybody who does: Scar is one of those wonderful villains who is equal parts menacing and delightful. He does some of the absolute worst things any Disney Villain can do, which is saying a lot, yet it’s hard to completely hate him because he’s just such an entertainingly vile character - the secret formula that makes a lot of villains, especially those from Disney, so uniquely enjoyable. Despite his notoriety, Scar is surprisingly not a villain who makes a LOT of appearances beyond his film, and most of the ones he does make are relatively small. There are a lot of possible reasons for this, but whatever the cause, it does mean that making a full Top 10 for this list was very difficult. Ultimately, I decided to shorten things up and make this celebration of Scar a simple Top 5. Also, I’m just going to say it right now: I WON’T be including the 2019 Remake version of the Lion King anywhere on this list. This is for two reasons: a.) the remake sucks, Sucks, SUCKS, and b.) even if it didn’t suck, it doesn’t really do anything new or meaningfully different with Scar compared to the original, in my opinion. (Unless you count making him infinitely more boring.) With this in mind…I know it sounds sordid, but I think it’s time Scar be rewarded, and at last be given his dues! Be Prepared: these are My Top 5 Appearances of Scar (since the original Lion King).

5. Kingdom Hearts.

As I’ve said many times before, Kingdom Hearts is quite possibly my favorite video game series of all time (alongside Castlevania), and Scar’s big appearance in the franchise was in my favorite game of the series, “Kingdom Hearts II.” You’d expect, therefore, for this to be in my Top 5…so the greater question is why the KH version gets the lowest billing. Well, first, let’s focus on the positives: Scar provides an awesome boss fight in the first visit to the Pride Lands, which essentially follows the footsteps of the original film, but with Sora and Co. inserted into the story. It’s also cool to think of Scar siding up with characters like Maleficent and Pete, since part of the reason he becomes a threat is due to his joining forces with them. I also really like the way the second visit to the Pride Lands plays out, in fact I like it more than the first visit: in that one, Simba is now King, but is haunted by the recurring reappearances of a shadowy “ghost” of Scar. This Ghost seems to pop up all over the Pride Lands, mocking Simba for his past failures and calling him a coward. It’s revealed that the mysterious Ghost of Scar is a lingering trace of Scar’s inner darkness, which feeds off of fear, and survives off of Simba’s doubts about his role as the King. Villains who have a legacy even after their gone are fascinating to me, and this is one of the best examples of such a thing I’ve ever seen. While I really love all these elements, one specific point drags this Scar down to the bottom: the voice. He’s played by James Horan, who does, to his credit, provide a near pitch-perfect impression of the great Jeremy Irons…but something about Horan’s performance feels like it lacks a lot of energy and direction. He’s honestly much better during the boss fight, providing the necessary aggression and intensity for the battle taunts and dialogue, but everywhere else in the game his work feels somewhat wooden to me. It’s a pity, because Horan is a fantastic actor, and I feel could have done so much better with the part…but, for whatever reason, the stars just weren’t in alignment. Still, this is ultimately a nitpick above all else, and KH still provides perhaps the most memorable appearance Scar has had in a video game to date.

4. Lion King: The Musical.

While I didn’t feel the 2019 cinematic remake of “The Lion King” deserved credit on this countdown, I think the stage musical does. This is, once again, for two reasons: a.) the musical isn’t an abominable waste of time and brain cells, which the remake largely is. And b.) while the show basically follows the same story as the original film, and does include a lot of the dialogue and other elements you would expect, the Broadway-originating musical does do a few new things with the material. First of all, aesthetically, it has to use some very clever costuming, choreography, and staging to bring the African Savannah and its wildlife to visual existence onstage. Second of all, the musical does actually do a few new things with Scar, in particular, giving him a few extra scenes and songs absent from the film. The most notable is the infamous sequence called “The Madness of King Scar,” where the audience checks in on the villain after his hostile takeover. While there is a scene like this in the film, the musical takes more time to look at the situation, and gives it a musical number to accompany it, diving into the depravity Scar has fallen into as tyrant ruler of the Pride Lands, and indicating that his sanity is slipping just as the kingdom is crumbling around him. The Broadway version of “The Lion King” is one of the most popular musicals in the world, and has been brought to other countries and theaters worldwide, such as London’s West End. This is not to mention numerous touring companies! There’s even a “Junior” version of the show intended for younger performers to put on, typically for High Schools and community theatre productions. Scar has been played by some pretty big names in musical theatre over the years, accordingly, such as John Vickery (the original performer in the role) and Patrick Page (pictured here). Ultimately, the only reason the musical doesn’t get into the top three is because, aside from the fact it’s basically just a staged version of the original film, I feel it’s a show best experienced live, and I unfortunately have not had the proper pleasure of witnessing it in such a fashion. Hopefully someday that will change.

3. The Lion Guard.

There is a LOT I could say about this show, just revolving around Scar alone, and I DO mean a LOT. It’s kind of hard for me to figure out where to begin. I will attempt to be as succinct as possible. “The Lion Guard” was a Disney Junior series that acted as a spin-off/official sequel to “The Lion King,” and covers the period of time between the end of the first movie, and the events of the earlier sequel film, “The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride.” The first season of the show was essentially a series of disconnected adventures, with the main characters - led by Simba’s son, Kion - having to protect the Pride Lands from a variety of antagonists. However, in Season 2, Scar was brought back, and became the main villain of the series until early in Season 3. (A new main antagonist, Makucha, became the primary rogue for the remainder of the show’s time.) Resurrected in the form of an angry, fiery spirit, dwelling in the bowels of a vast volcano, Scar is unable to do anything DIRECTLY to cause chaos for his rivals, but the phantom’s mind remains as cunning as ever. He thinks up an elaborate scheme to destroy the Pride Lands, vowing that if he cannot rule, no one shall. Instead of Jeremy Irons (or James Horan, or even Jim Cummings, who helped with singing duties in the original movie after Irons strained his vocal chords), Scar is voiced in the show by one David Oyelowo, who brings his own unique flair to the part while still carrying the mixture of foppishness and cruelty the original version had. The show gave us what are now considered the official origins of Scar, and while I have a few niggling issues with those origins, it did lead to some interesting story points for the show in its final season, as - much like in KH - Scar’s wicked deeds still have an effect even after his second defeat. Again, a villain with a legacy is a grand thing, and this is probably Scar’s biggest post-original-film outing, outside of direct adaptations of the same. “The Lion Guard,” in general, was a surprisingly well-crafted series; it went a little deeper and a little darker than most other Disney Junior shows have gone before or since. You might say it is the “Batman: The Animated Series” of Disney Junior…though how much that’s really saying is somewhat up to debate. Regardless, while neither Scar’s depiction nor the show as a whole were totally perfect, both have more than earned their placement in my Top 3.

2. “Disney Villains: Scar” Comics.

Recently, Disney teamed up with Dynamite Entertainment - a comics company that I know best for publishing things like “The Shadow” - to produce a series of comic miniseries focusing on the stories of several of their greatest villains, all set in a time before the Events of the original films. Of all the ones I’ve read so far, Scar’s miniseries is by far the best. This simple four-part miniseries takes place in the time between Simba’s birth and…well…the rest of the movie. It tells the story of how Scar formed an alliance with the hyenas, and thus began to work out the machinations of his grand scheme for power. While this is an interesting premise on its own, what these comics do so beautifully, and why they take top-billing, is that they do something for Scar that, honestly, no other version has really achieved before: they humanize him. (Or…lionize him, I guess? Semantics.) While Scar is, of course, fully immersed in the shadows by this point, so to speak, the comic dives into his mind and his heart, as we see what really makes him tick. The way he’s written, and the way other characters rebound off of him, gives us a more empathetic and almost tragic look at the dark lion than anyone has really ever attempted. Past origin stories of Scar always depict him as a bad seed, even before getting his namesake wound and becoming the scoundrel we all know and love to hate. “The Lion Guard” indicated Scar already had a desire for power and glory before getting his scar, and an earlier story, “A Tale of Two Brothers” (now considered non-canon) was much the same. While this comic doesn’t describe Scar’s origins, per say, it actually makes you FEEL for him, as we get the feeling there WAS some good in him somewhere, and he DID have a chance to see the light. The tragedy of Scar, as the comic makes it out to be, is that he was so blinded with anger and jealousy, there was no way to save him: it wasn’t that he didn’t have a good side, it was that he SHUNNED that goodness in favor of his ambitions and his rage. That’s something no other version has honestly TRULY achieved, which is funny because, in my opinion, Scar is one of the easiest of the Disney Villains TO make into a sympathetic, or at least empathetic, character. This miniseries does that, but still makes sure to make it clear that Scar is too far gone to be anything but the bad guy…which, of course, is what we love him as best. I actually debated making this one number one…and considering what I DID end up making number one, I sincerely hope it won’t be considered blasphemy of the highest order that I did not…

1. Leona Kingscholar, from Twisted Wonderland.

Okay, so…I had to fight with myself over whether or not I SHOULD make this lad and this game my number one. Because he’s not actually Scar HIMSELF, and therefore it felt like massive cheating to make him number one. After discussing the issue with a friend, they made a very simple and very good point: “I think Leona should be number one, because it’s been a long time since you’ve gone this crazy over a character.” I realized…yeah, that was correct, and therefore, even if I HAD placed Leona at number two, it wouldn’t have really been HONEST. For those who don’t know or have simply forgotten: “Twisted Wonderland” is a game that takes place in a parallel world, set in a school of dark magic called Night Raven College. The school is inspired by seven of the great Disney Villains, and many characters reference those villains. Scar is the villain who inspired the Savanaclaw dorm at NRC, and is seen in some flashbacks…but his main claim to fame here is the analogous character, Leona Kingscholar. Like Scar, Leona is the second prince of an African-styled kingdom ruled by leonine beings, but whose claim to the throne has been ruined by his nephew, after years of living in his older brother’s shadow. Also like Scar, Leona is sadistic, lazy, gluttonous, selfish, and while he absolutely can throw down in a physical fight, his true asset is his intellect. Leona lacks Scar’s elegant manners, but underneath his more beastly exterior, he’s a genius and a master strategist, who always has schemes within schemes (within schemes, sometimes). He’s also indicated to be one of the most powerful characters at NRC, second only to the Maleficent character, Malleus. Despite all these despicable elements, what separates Leona from his inspiration is the same as many other TW characters: he isn’t too far gone yet. While he resents his family, he actually does still care about them, and despite his at times downright narcissistic behavior, he genuinely cares for his kingdom as well. He’s not very nice, and he’s willing to go to some dangerous extremes to get what he wants, but he’s not pure evil the way Scar is often seen to be. It’s hard for me to say why I love this guy so much, but the fact is that I do. It’s probably going to be something a lot of people disagree with, but at the end of the day, he takes the cake at number one on this list. Whether it’s Scar or Leona…Long Live the King.

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