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roosterforme · 1 month

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Yours Truly, Bradley Bradshaw Part 4 | Rooster x Reader

Summary: As you and Bradley start to blur the line between professional and personal correspondence, you feel yourself falling for him even more. He has charmed your students as well as you, and you decide to continue taking a chance on him.

Warnings: Fluff, language, Bradley sounding hot

Length: 3800 words

Pairing: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x Female teacher!Reader

Check out my masterlist for more! Yours Truly, Bradley Bradshaw masterlist

Bradley spent an hour bundling up all of his letters to your students, getting them ready to be sent back to California. Sure, he wanted to impress you, but he also couldn't deny that he was attached to hearing from Oliver, Violet, Jayden and everyone else. And according to you, they were just as happy to hear from him.

Without giving it a second thought, Bradley went all in with your personal email address. An account where he assumed you could say and send anything you wanted to. One that nobody else was monitoring. His thoughts strayed constantly over the past few hours to what that might mean. What did you deem too personal for your school account?

You told him you were single, and you made it seem like you were into him. You said he gave you butterflies, and now he desperately wanted to see this thing through. When he closed his eyes, he could picture the photos of your smiling face, and he felt a little dizzy. He wanted you to tell him everything. He wanted you to wait for him so he could take you on a date. Or several. He wanted to know what your lips tasted like.

It sounded like your ex was a real tool if he didn't appreciate what you did and how hard you worked. You taught eighteen kids enough about aviation that they asked Bradley some pertinent questions and brought up information that was relevant to his job. He was impressed as hell, and he thought he could be better than what you had before. He already knew without a shadow of a doubt that you were better than Vanessa. It was obvious.

"Lieutenant Bradshaw."

He turned toward the voice calling his name as soon as he dropped the package with your name on it off at the mail center. "Hey," he called out to the mechanic who let him take those photos for your class a few weeks ago. He read his jumpsuit again just to be sure. "What's up, Marty?"

He jerked his thumb toward the main deck and said, "I just got around to unpacking some new engine components. You still writing to those kids?"

"Yeah."

"I'm about to do some repairs if you want to take some more pictures or a video for them."

Bradley had been planning on stalking his inbox for the rest of the day in the hopes that you'd write back and comment on his brief missive telling you he wanted the conversation to go further, but this seemed better than driving himself crazy. He could practically picture you and your kids flipping through some photos and watching a cool video he managed to snag for you. "Yeah, Marty. Let me grab my phone, and I'll meet you out in the shop."

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

After you read the email from Bradley where he called you Gorgeous, you were up most of the night. First, you screeched and almost spilled hot tea all over yourself as you rushed to set your mug down on the coffee table so you could giggle and kick your feet in the air. Then you read and reread the short email for about five minutes, curled up in a little ball with your phone right in front of your face. Then you sprawled along your couch and let yourself imagine what he might be like in person.

It was too early to get your hopes up about ever getting that far, but you couldn't seem to stop yourself from thinking about it. You hummed softly, because in your daydream, he lived in San Diego and asked you out on a date, and he was a perfect gentleman until you didn't want him to be any longer. You didn't even consider what reality might hold, because you were sure you wouldn't like it as much.

But for now, he was on board with going further. Your expectations of things included chatting about your likes and dislikes as well as learning more about him. "I'd like to take it further," you read softly, trying to imagine it in a masculine voice. But what did that sentence mean for him? You sat up on the couch. Surely he wasn't going to turn into a pig and start sending you anything too raunchy. Right?

You swiped out of your email inbox and looked at the photo of him standing in front of his jet and moaned. It was actually your mind heading for the gutter as you wondered what it would feel like to be wrapped up in his big arms. What it would be like to tug the zipper of his flight suit down slowly, enjoying the feel of the pull between your thumb and index finger.

It was like the fictional leading man in a romance novel came to life and told you that he thought you were pretty and that he liked your students. You flopped back down on the couch and screeched into the pillow so as not to alarm your neighbors. You needed to respond, but you didn't know what to say since you were probably past the point of playing it cool. You chewed on your lip while you typed and then deleted several versions before sending him something that you thought was okay.

Bradley,

I'd like to take it further, too. I don't usually do this kind of thing (oh, who am I kidding... I never do this kind of thing), but there's just something about you that made me feel like it was worth the risk. I hope I'm not being too bold if I say that I found the photos you sent me quite distracting. However, it's not just your looks that made me share my personal email address with you. I like the way you give me butterflies. There's something sweet that comes through in your writing, and I want to get to know you better. On that note, if you feel so inclined, please tell me three things I should know about you.

Yours Truly,

Your favorite pen pal

Once again, you had written back to him so quickly, it should have been embarrassing, but you had nothing to lose here. You tossed out the bait, and he took it in the most spectacular fashion. You didn't want to miss an opportunity like this, even if he did seem too good to be true.

But he still hadn't written back when you got to work the next morning. The ping of the email alert on your phone made you reach for it immediately, but it was just a reminder to pay your bills on time. As you unlocked your classroom door and flipped the lights on, you considered that maybe your message was a little bit boring. After all, you were the one to bring your personal account into play. Perhaps he was expecting you to reply with some sort of dirty picture. Your cheeks burned with mixed embarrassment. You wanted to take it further, but you didn't know how. You just knew that you wanted to keep him engaged without compromising yourself.

You tucked your bag and your phone away in your desk drawer and pulled out your lesson plans for the day. You'd start things off with language arts and then work your way through math and science before your kids had art class. There was no reason you had to think about Bradley at all right now; he could just wait until later with his big hands and his thick thighs and his mustache and cute smile.

Just before your students were due to arrive, you opened your laptop and logged in to see which parents had emailed you with questions or concerns about their child. You froze when you saw an email that was sent a few minutes ago from Bradley with the subject line A visit to the mechanic's shop. When you opened it up, you found that he had attached a video and a handful of photos.

You were a little bit annoyed that he didn't respond to the message you sent from your other account where you asked him to tell you about himself, but that melted away as soon as you clicked on the video. His face flashed up on your computer screen, and all of the features you'd shamelessly memorized were right there in front of you. Cute smile, tidy mustache, brown eyes, wavy hair. But then you heard his voice.

"Hey. I just thought I'd take all nineteen of my favorite pen pals on a little tour around the mechanic shop aboard the Theodore Roosevelt. Sound good?"

You slammed your computer shut and moaned, thighs pressed tight together as your heart hammered. He was too much. It was just a video. He wasn't even really here, but he was an absolute assault on your senses. He called you gorgeous, but meanwhile it was hard to look directly at him for fear that you'd burst out into a fit of giggles. You shook your tingling hands out and slowly opened your computer again.

"Bradley Bradshaw. How are you this hot?" you whispered at the video paused on your screen. His face was frozen mostly in profile as he looked to the side, and for the first time, you saw some long scars on his cheek and neck. "Oh." They weren't new, rather giving the appearance that they had faded over time. You wondered how pronounced they would feel beneath your fingers. Would he let you touch them? Let you drag your lips across them while your hands found their way to his tousled hair?

After taking a few deep breaths, you let the video play again. Another man joined Bradley on the screen, and he was holding up a long, metal rod.

"This is my friend Marty. He's been a mechanic in the Navy for twenty-six years, and he specializes in aircraft repairs. He knows more about my Super Hornet than I do, and I'm not ashamed to admit that. So I'm just going to stand here and hold my phone still while we watch Marty do his thing."

The rest of the video was fascinating. It was still interesting the second time when you watched it with your class instead of doing your language arts lesson. The kids sat at rapt attention, eating up that little introduction that Bradley gave just as you had. He didn't talk to them like a bunch of little kids who didn't understand anything, which you loved. He and Marty explained what they were doing without making it too juvenile. Then when the video ended, your kids started raising their hands with question after question.

"You know what to do," you told them, holding out a dry erase marker for Jackie to take. She wrote down the list of questions that everyone had for Bradley while you tapped through the photos, once again imagining how warm and rough his hands would feel wrapped around your own instead of an intake manifold.

The impromptu aviation lesson lasted for two hours until your kids left for art class, and now you were a little concerned about all of the additional, more personal questions you had for Bradley besides the ones your class came up with. You wanted to know how old he was and where his scars came from. You wanted to know where he lived now, but you were too afraid of the answer. According to one of the notes he wrote back to Violet, he went to the University of Virginia. He even sounded like he was from the east coast.

You sat at your desk alone, digging your snack out of your drawer along with your phone. There was a new email. You smiled as you realized he must have sent it to you just after he emailed the video he took for your whole class to watch. The opening greeting once again had you kicking your feet beneath your desk, snack forgotten.

Hey, Gorgeous,

I'm still having a hard time believing that you want to get to know me better. Full disclosure, I'm a little nervous you'll get bored talking to me. I don't have much family, and I know it's cliche, but flying really is my passion. I spend a lot of my time on aircraft carriers which makes it hard to maintain relationships and friendships with people on dry land.

Talking to my nineteen new pen pals has been the most exciting part of my deployment. But you're right... you're my favorite one. I could tell from the first letter that wasn't even specifically meant for me that you were funny and sweet. And then I saw what you look like, and I kept going back to the photo for another look. You're just as gorgeous as you are funny and sweet.

Three things you should know about me? One, I'm afraid of spiders. Like so afraid of them that I might have a crisis on my hands if you tell me you have a beloved pet tarantula or something. Two, I loved taking piano lessons so much when I was a kid, I actually still take them. (Now I'm sitting here wondering why I'm telling you embarrassing shit.) My next door neighbor is a retired music teacher, and when I'm home, I trade yard work for piano lessons. Everyone wins. Third, I like giving Gorgeous teachers butterflies. That's a new one, but I thought you should know about it.

I'm giving you some homework, hope you don't mind. I want you to send me a picture of one of those San Diego sunsets where the sky somehow looks both blue and orange at the same time. If you happen to be in the photo, I'm not going to complain. I would also love to hear three things I should know about you.

Please tell your kids they have mail on the way. I hope to hear back from them. And you.

Yours Truly,

Bradley

Oh. This crush was even worse than you thought.

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After days of running drills, Bradley was finally grounded because of a bad storm that was closing in, and he was given a few hours off. He stood out on deck, letting the first drops of hard rain hit his face. He was hoping to get a nice sunset photo to send to you, but the past few days had been terribly cloudy. And now he felt like he was being torn in three directions as his flight suit got wet: he was sweaty, hungry and curious. As a result, he couldn't decide if he should hit the shower, the mess hall or the lounge first.

He reasoned that he'd best appreciate an email from you if he was cleaned up and well fed. If you'd had time to write back to him, it would top off his night in the sweetest way possible. So he took a shower and unfortunately had to eat cabbage rolls for dinner. He chuckled to himself as he walked toward the lounge, picturing a bunch of fourth graders eating dinner in the mess hall and ranking the foods. They would probably love that, actually.

As Bradley logged in and watched his email inbox appear on one of the lounge computers, he muttered, "Hell yes." There was a new message from you, and he couldn't click on it fast enough. Before he started reading, the attached photo caught his attention, and he grunted softly. Fuck.

There you were, on a stretch of beach in Coronado, not even a mile from his house with the sun setting behind you. Your features were in shadow, but your smile was a little shy and very pretty. You looked so soft, standing there on the windswept sand in denim shorts and an oversized sweatshirt with Mira Mesa Elementary printed on the front, and all he wanted to do was touch you. He could already imagine a picnic dinner on that beach, snuggling up with you as cooler temperatures moved in. Enjoying the blues and oranges until the sky got so dark, he'd lead you back to his house with your fingers laced with his.

Bradley,

I'm turning in my homework. I hope I get a passing grade. I'm not usually the student, so I'm a little out of practice. A Naval officer from Top Gun took this photo for me. Apparently aviators just like you are all over the beaches in Coronado.

I have some good news for you. While I'm not actually afraid of spiders, I promise I don't have a beloved pet tarantula. And I'm sorry, but the idea of you still taking piano lessons made me giggle for a solid minute. The mental image is just that adorable.

You always seem to know what to say to make my butterflies go crazy, and that's just through the written word. As an educator, I always stress the importance of honesty to my students. So let me just say that honestly, I'm not going to get bored talking to you. I also can't lie about the fact that I watched the video you sent several times just to hear your voice. (Now I'm the one embarrassing herself.) And I really can't see how you would have a hard time maintaining a relationship while you're away. Maybe your previous partners didn't appreciate how rare it is to find someone who is willing to put in some effort. Or maybe they didn't find your arachnophobia oddly endearing. But I kind of do.

Three things you should know about me: 1. I graduated from college with a 4.0 GPA. 2. Sometimes I fall asleep during movies, especially if I'm snuggled up on my own couch. 3. I have a crush on you.

Hitting send before I can change my mind.

Bradley couldn't help the smile teasing at his lips as he tucked his hands behind his head and read your last few sentences again. He always wanted to continue talking to you, so maybe it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that you wouldn't grow bored with this. Maybe you'd care more about him than going out on dates, unlike Vanessa. He wasn't going to wait before responding to your email. What was the point? You were into him, and he was definitely into you.

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"We got mail!" you announced, holding up the package that was waiting for you in the school office when you refilled your travel coffee mug on your way to your classroom. Your students erupted into delighted conversation.

"Is it from Lieutenant Bradshaw?" asked Jayden.

"Of course it is," Violet told him. "It must be. He's our pen pal after all."

"Did he send us more notes?" Oliver asked, practically bouncing out of his seat in anticipation.

"He did!" you confirmed as you tore into the package and enlisted Harrison to help you hand the individual notes to their recipients. The room went silent as soon as they all started reading, and then one after the next, the kids started to get out their notebooks to start their responses.

You felt warm all over. Bradley was on your mind a lot, and you didn't really want him going anywhere. You watched the video he sent again last night before you went to sleep, and you dreamed about a strong man with a sexy voice curled up behind you in bed. You knew you had a new email from him, but you were waiting until you could sit quietly during your lunch break to read it.

At some point, you were going to have to taper off the aviation curriculum and focus on other things, but you just didn't want to have to do that yet. Not when your class was so engaged. Not when it made you feel connected to a man thousands of miles away who you had feelings for in spite of the fact that you never met him in person. In spite of the fact that you were too afraid to ask him where he lived.

After you eventually walked your kids down to the lunchroom, you were free to read your email from Bradley in peace. But the more you thought about opening it, you started to get nervous. You already admitted you were interested in him, so there was really no going back. If he hadn't sent you something similar, you were going to have to crawl under a rock, but you got your phone out as you took a deep breath and started reading.

Hey, Gorgeous,

Now wait right there. I have some concerns. I'm going to address them in order, so please bear with me. First of all, you didn't just pass your homework assignment, you got an A+. I've never seen such a beautiful sunset in my life, and yet it was barely noticeable next to you. But here's my main issue. I can't have another aviator taking sunset photos of you and sweeping you off your feet. How about you just stay off that beach in Coronado for the time being? Give a guy a chance here?

I couldn't agree more about the importance of being honest. Honestly, I'm letting out the breath I've been holding, worried that you were going to send me a photo of you with your pet tarantula. And honestly, smart women really do it for me, so any time you want to bring up that 4.0 GPA, I'm going to need a minute. And honestly, nothing sounds better than watching a movie with you on your couch right now. Can't stop thinking about it, actually.

Please, tell me in an overabundance of detail, what you would do if I promised I would take you out to dinner but then changed my mind and told you that I was tired from work and wanted to spend a quiet evening on my couch with some takeout instead.

You have a crush on me? Gorgeous girl, all I can think about is the couple days of leave I'm going to have once this aircraft carrier finally docks back in San Diego. Where you are. You and my eighteen other pen pals. I think I have a thing for fourth grade teachers. Or maybe it's just you. I can't wait to hear from you again.

Yours Truly,

Bradley

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Okay. Some admissions have been made. Little bits of feelings have been established. She has seen him and heard his voice, and I think we're ready to keep taking things further. Maybe a phone call? Maybe another photo or two? We also can't leave the fourth graders hanging. Thanks @mak-32 and @beyondthesefourwalls

PART 5

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come-rain-come-shine · 7 months

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As I was watching "Day of Death" a couple of weeks ago (as one does), I paused on this whiteboard to see what it said, and something stuck out to me.

On this whiteboard detailing the events of the night that Lucy was abducted, someone wrote this:

The board says:

hates cats (won't tell anyone)

sucks on lemons

This seems to be personal facts about Lucy that have been included with facts about the case. It's possible these points are about Caleb — maybe things that Lucy relayed to Tim while she was looking Caleb up on social media — but since it's stated repeatedly in the episode that they have "squat" to go on about him, it's more likely that these points are about Lucy.

I have two theories for why these bizarre points are on this board: an in-universe explanation (grounded in the story and the characters), and an out-of-universe explanation (grounded in reasons related to the actual creation of the show).

In-universe: Tim and/or Jackson, desperate to contribute to the investigation, were yelling out whatever they could think of to help build the case.

Now, I can't guess why anyone could have seen these particular tidbits as possibly relevant. But since they all had so little to go on, it would seem that they were throwing absolutely anything at the wall to see what would stick.

This theory mostly stems from the way that Tim was regurgitating every little thing he knew about Caleb the moment he knew that Lucy was missing. His wild spouting of facts is rather out of character: Tim is usually in control, focused on the job. But when Lucy is missing, logic flies out the window for him.

He tells Grey about the video of Caleb playing with a puppy, why?? Because it's all the information he has to offer to the case. Even if it's not really pertinent, he says it, because he doesn't know what could help Lucy. Also, he's not fully in control of his actions, and he's possibly suffering from motormouth.

I include Jackson as a possible contributor because he is probably the person who is second-most concerned about Lucy, plus one of the people who knows her best, and he has a history of babbling when stressed (I'm thinking of season 1, episode 13, "Caught Stealing," when he tells the Internal Affairs investigator about the gifted creme brulee completely unprompted lol). But in my Chenford shipper heart, I want to say Tim was the one to make these less than helpful contributions.

I can picture Armstrong writing out all this information about Lucy's whereabouts the night of her abduction, stating facts that they know, and Tim and/or Jackson blurting out personal details that might (somehow) give them a clue about where Lucy is now. Maybe Armstrong writes out the addresses of where she was on December 8th, then the stuff about other victims, and then he says, "What else do we know?" and then Tim and/or Jackson start wildly interjecting. They know literally nothing else that is relevant, so all they can say is random trivia about Lucy. And Armstrong, who can see that emotions are very high right now, writes it down to placate them? Or because he's like, "Irrelevant information is better than no information"? (I'm not sure how a detective would think in this scenario.)

Out-of-universe: Some of the set decorators or other crew were messing around, writing down whatever on the boards, and someone forgot to erase this. 😆

I like the in-universe explanation better, since the writing is rather large and this behaviour by Tim and/or Jackson would be consistent with what we see earlier in the episode.

#the rookie #analysis #season 2 #day of death #lucy chen #tim bradford #chenford #my posts #2x11

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starburstfloat · 4 months

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Let's Talk Innuendos and Queer Subtext: TXT's Poppin' Star Lyrics Analysis

One of the joys of making progress in my Korean language journey has been the ability to analyze lyrics more critically by dissecting tone, word choice, or rhyme schemes that would have otherwise slipped by me a few years ago. And as someone who has a deep love for literary analysis and kpop, there's an unparalleled joy in getting to bridge the two together. I'm happy I have this space to do that. So without further ado, let's take a look at TXT's Poppin' Star from their first full-length album, The Dream Chapter: Magic (thank you nika for requesting this!).

This song feels like a sonic representation of this memefied image:

It's literally bubblegum pop at its finest. It sounds sparkly, cute, uplifting, and deceptively adorable, and anyone who has seen the choreography can attest to watching the video with a ridiculous smile on their face.

I could give high praise endlessly about this underrated early TXT Bside, but I wanted to prioritize the lyrics for this post! We're going to talk about the superficial meaning of the song before we dissect some of the more suggestive, metaphorical elements. Heads up I'll be mentioning sexual innuendos, so if that's not your cup of tea then please kindly leave.

My goal is to get you to see that, at the very least, this song is not just about eating candy. Whether or not we agree on the queer subtext is another debate, but I'm hoping this analysis post can be a lesson on interpreting figurative language and grasping inneundos.

Whenever I do analysis, I always start with the surface level face-value of what's being presented, and then I try to peel the layers and discern the underlying themes or suggested connotations based on context clues. Usually I leave out the initial face-value in my posts because it's something so obvious that it feels contradictory to present it. But it feels relevant to include for Poppin' Star. So what is the face-value meaning of the song when we look at the lyrics as a whole?

On the surface, this song appears to be about a young male protagonist who experiences a burst of emotions - dizzying warmth, sweetness, and a clouded brain - after he eats a variety of flavored candies. He states that he is not satisfied with the burst of flavor he's experiencing - now that he knows this intense feeling, he's craving more.

cr. color coded lyrics (though I'm cross referencing multiple translations and using my own knowledge of individual words and tonal conjugations to understand the song)

It doesn't take much of an analytical eye to catch the innuendo presented in Poppin' Star. What exactly is an innuendo? An innuendo is an allusive hint to something typically sexual. The keyword here is hint - it's something you pick up on based on subtly provocative language. Critics could argue that "your brain must be in the gutter" if you find sexual context where there is supposedly none. I'd say blaming the observer for a sexual interpretation is disrespectful to the art in question. Inneundos are meant to be spotted and discussed - they have the potential to heighten the art and unveil a greater message. Just because something is sexual does not mean it is bad.

Now that we have that cleared, it's pertinent to reflect on the surface value of the lyrics in contrast to the glaring inneundo jumping out at the audience. Let's look at the opening lyrics together:

One look at the lyrics, and you'll raise your eyebrows and go, "Really? You sampled a mouthful of candy and can't stop talking about how you're tingling all over, feel dizzy, and are melting from the sweetness?" The song's lyrics and language is quite figurative: the audience is guided to see beyond the literal meaning.

If we break down the individual feelings our protagonist shares, it sounds reminiscient of a first kiss or sexual experience. Considering how strongly the lyrics center on oral pleasure (oral as in the literal sense of the mouth), the rightfully assummed metaphor here is kissing. Let's look at all the instances where the song connects pleasure to the mouth:

별가루 가득 물면 느껴지는 불꽃놀이일까? / (Is this) fireworks that I feel when I bite a whole mouthful of stardust?

입 안을 채운 콕콕 따끔한 이 느낌은 또 / This tingling feeling that has filled my mouth

혀끝에 건전지 / A battery at the tip of my tongue

Our protagonist talks extensively about the pleasure in his mouth in correlation to feeling dizzy, warm, fuzzy, electrified, and excited - all feelings heavily associated with heightened sexual experiences, and notably kissing.

A striking detail is the fact that our protagonist is not alone during the story - he's actively talking to another person, meaning he's not literally eating candy by himself and getting an explosive sugar rush as the superficial interpretation insinuates. We notice this from the opening line which calls to a direct "you":

짜릿한 정전기 you’re popping star / Electrifying static, you're popping star.

Not only is this a reference to the title, making it an important detail to note, but it's also inviting the audience into acknowledging the relevant prescence of another character, some unnamed you. He goes on to say:

머리가 띵하게 기분 좋은 my love / Making my head feel dizzy, that good feeling, my love

He's directly saying "my love," so this person is clearly special to him. This person is his popping star - someone who evokes all of these explosive, tingling feelings.

The chorus is riddled with suggestive language: "This isn't enough / I need something stronger / A chew full of lemon, lime, orange, yeah / I need more, more, more / A stronger popping / A chew full of lemon, lime, orange, yeah"

Our protagonist is craving more flavor as he seeks a pleasure high. My interpretation is that the other character is wearing flavored chaptstick, perhaps fruit-flavored or candy-flavored, and our protagonist wants to taste more of the character's lips. Another interpretation is that they're both chewing on flavored gum, and when they kiss, the flavors blend together in a satisfying burst. Both feel plausible to me. The chorus suggests a kiss through the explosive repetition of surprised "oh's" that the members sing. It's hard to explain without hearing it, so skip to 0:48 in the song to catch what I mean. The explosive instrumental paired with the high-pitched oh's feels representative of an epiphany, or at least a heightened emotional state.

Perhaps one of the most glaringly suggestive parts of the song is Beomgyu's line after the first chorus, where he says:

잠깐 쉬어갈 땐 slime vacation / When (I) take a short break, slime vacation

This implies he's taking a break from exchanging slime, or saliva, with the aforementioned "you". Keep in mind that Korean sentences don't always need an explicit subject, so it's unclear whether Beomgyu is saying "When I take a short break" or "When we take a short break". However, later in the song, during a critical moment that I'll get to shortly, Yeonjun explicitly mentions the pronoun 우리 (we/us) which means we can assume this whole candy-tasting fiasco is, at the very least, a pleasure-seeking high that our protagonist is doing with someone by his side.

The kissing metaphor is more strongly suggested when Taehyun says:

어제 했던 건 벌써 지루해 / The things that (I did/were done) yesterday are already boring

더 더 더 강한 popping이 필요해 / I need a stronger popping

which tells me the song is self-aware enough to recognize it's not just about eating candy. Why would yesterday's candy be described as "the things that were done yesterday"? I also find it interesting that he's using the verb 지루하다 instead of 심심하다 when mentioning boredom. Both of these verbs mean "to be bored", but 심심하다 refers to boredom through a lack of action, whereas 지루하다 has the connotation of being bored by something because you've been doing it for a prolonged time; as in, you're getting physically tired of it. So, Taehyun is saying that the stuff he did yesterday has become repetitive and tiring, and he's now seeking a stronger high. Very suggestive language.

There's a line from Heuningkai that really stands out towards the latter half of the song. He goes:

가끔은 조금 위험해도 돼 / Sometimes it can be a little dangerous

엄마 몰래 자물쇠를 열어봐 / Open the lock without my mom knowing

The conjugation here is very interesting!! He uses the 아/어도 되다 pattern at the end of the adjective for "dangerous", which is a conjugation used to give permission for something. So, rather than him stating the fact that it's dangerous, he's giving permission to the speaker to be a little dangerous. It's a subtle nod at him approving risky behavior, so perhaps a better translation would be "it's alright if sometimes it's a bit dangerous".

"Open the lock" reminds me of Soobin's verse in Sugar Rush Ride:

, which I interpret as a more blatantly sexual inneundo for losing one's virginity. I don't think Poppin Star implies more than kissing, but asking someone to open your lock without your mom knowing, and engaging in risky behavior, appears symbolic to doing something you wouldn't want your mom to see, so at the very least it's suggestive language.

This interpretation aligns with the direct album overview provided by Bighit, which states that "The Dream Chapter: MAGIC tells the story of 'magical adventures' that boys encounter together with their friends [...] the boys share their transformation, confusion and exploding emotions that arise during their transition to adolescence." Notice that the official statement itself says that the album centers on a boy and his friends as they transition into adolescence. Interesting.

I'd be happy to leave the analysis there and say, "See? The song is clearly an innuendo", but then the writers toss in the gayest shit during the last third of the song that forces the audience to pause and reinterpret.

Yeonjun and Taehyun sing the following lines:

이건 어쩌면 나라에서 허락한 / Maybe this is something that the country has allowed

우리끼리만 숨겨둔 유일한 / Something we have kept hidden just among us

자 아무에게나 허락된 게 아냐 / Alright, it's not allowed to just anyone

입안 가득 터뜨려 / Burst a mouthful

The verb used here is 허락하다 which means to allow, permit, or approve. Talking about what your country allows in connotation to something you've kept hidden among the two of you…feels queer-coded. Especially when the rest of the song has been dedicated to pursuing a thrill from "my love", a pursuit which they acknowledge is intimately private given the line "without my mom knowing". Why bring up what's allowed in your country in a song that centers on a boy seeking pleasure? The last line is odd too - it's conjugated as a command, so our protagonist is telling us, the audience, that we should pop a mouthful of the candy too. In connection to the line above it, it's implied that he knows popping the candy aka kissing his love is not allowed for everyone, but he's encouraging others to try. Adding to the intrigue is the fact that they repeat the last two lines again, but change the command to 입안 가득 터뜨려 봐 which is a less forceful command and more like "Give it a try".

If the song truly were just about candy, talking about what your country allows and who is allowed to do it feels very out of place and strange. This, paired with the striking fixation on oral pleasure makes me believe the song is about a boy kissing his friend, and it's been a fun, exciting little secret between the two of them.

It doesn't feel like an exaggeration to find queer subtext here. If you're an avid TXT fan, you'll know their songs are very queer-coded, from 0x1=lovesong having the most blatant thematic connection (I still regularly think about Soobin's "I can't go to heaven, I don't belong there" line) alongside Sugar Rush Ride, which suggests we "swallow the sugar rush"....sir, swallow what exactly??!

I hope this could spark your interest and see the lyrics from a new perspective. Sorry not sorry if this burst your innocent perception of the song...like I said, it sounds deceptively adorable 😂 let me know your thoughts and thanks for reading!

#lyrics analysis #txt lyrics #txt poppin star #kpop discourse #tomorrow x together #yeonjun #soobin #beomgyu #taehyun #heuningkai #txt moa

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littleeyesofpallas · 8 months

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So, Shutara in the anime, huh?

okay okay yeah i got around to e13 this morning and I see what everyone was excited about. Some of the new lore i'm a little iffy on, but ooo the visual designs are more than enough for me to chew on.

So the obvious highlight is Shutatsu Karagara Shigaraminotsuji[娑闥迦羅骸刺絡辻]

Shutatsu[娑闥]: Oldwoman* gate

*weirdly this kanji does not appear to be commonly used in Japanese at all, but does have the Japanese specific(as in Chinese and Korean don't use it this way) meaning of "old woman" but I have no idea in what context it would be used or if there is some other usage of it that could be evoked here other than to mean "old woman."

The "Gate" in question though seems to be a more obviously superficial reference to the shape of the bankai itself using the bits of sewing machine to make a tori gate.

Karagara[迦羅骸]: "Kala" Husk

So it appears that the Kara[迦羅] here is from the Chinese writing[摩訶迦羅] of the Sanskrit Mahakala[महाकाल] which is alternatively named Daikokuten[大黑天] in Japanese, and is a Buddhist god of wealth. (it is also the way the Japanese write the name of a 6th century Korean kingdom? but that doesn't feel relevant here...)

But of note, the Japanese name itself made up of ka[迦] which has no meaning(?) and is just used phonetically? and ra[羅]: referring to "Silk" or "gauze" or other similar lightweight fabric. The -ra at least seems to have more literal applications here, but honestly it feels less pertinent next to the extremely conspicuous word choice...

And gara[骸] is "shell"/"husk" and other similar things that get left behind when you remove the innards. The character itself can also mean a "corpse"/"cadaver" but not generally when it's pronounced as "gara." (The image it evokes to me is letting a robe or gown slide off your shoulders and drop to the ground, the robe being the "husk.")

(but apparently some people think this could be a play on the sanskrit karagara[कारागार], meaning a "prison"/"jail" or otherwise "place of confinement"? But i have no idea why anyone would have chosen the kanji in question to approximate that... I'll be honest, I don't buy it; it gives me very "I'll send you to the netherlands!" translation flub vibes. The techniques themselves do feel reminicent of the Buddhist naraka in theme and aesthetic, but the leap from "prison" to "naraka" seems unsubstantiated by the wordplay here.)

Shigarami-no-tsuji[刺絡辻]: Bloodletting crossroads

shiraku[刺絡] is the bloodletting technique used in old Chinese medicine. It's sometimes thrown under the umbrella of "acupuncture" but the methods are different. Where as the needles in acupuncture are meant to be precise and release pressure, the blood letting involves a few semi-random pricks in a localized area and then the use of a heat cup to create a vacuum that draws the blood out.(better than leeches at least...) The thing with the heat cups is what's being referred to here.

But broken down it's, shi[絡] "thorn"/"prick"/"splinter" + kara[絡]: "entangled"/"entwined"/"enmeshed"/"wrapped up in" etc... literally describing being "in the middle of (many) needles"

tsuji[辻]: a "crossroad." Nice and straight forward.

my issue however is that I'm not entirely sure where the "mino" phonetics here came from, or what that very deliberate choice of alternate reading might mean in this context... (see comments section)

(also, sorry if anyone's squeemish about cups full of blood, but I tried to find an image that at least obscured the actual needle wounds)

and then there is...

Shideno Rokushiki Ukimonnohata[死出六色浮文機]

Shideno[死出], lit."death+exit" a more specific term for "Death" from shide-no-yama[死出の山]: "mountain of death" that refers to a mountain the dead cross to get into the afterlife. Appropriately evoked by forcing the Sternritter each through their own illusory ordeal.

Rokushiki[六色]: "Six Colors" appears to just refer to the fact that there were 6 of them.

Ukimonno Hata[浮文機]: "Brocade Loom." "Brocade" being made up of the words [浮文]: "Floating+Character" referring to the raised patterning. and [機] being a kanji for "machine" but when pronounced "hata" it specifically refers to a loom or other textile machine.

Much easier to pick apart by comparison at least...

#bleach #bleach tybw #senjumaru shutara #bleach meta

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anghraine · 1 year

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One of the things I love about Austen's work is how layered it is and the various ways it can be interpreted by readers. Nevertheless, do you think we tend to lend too much to the romantic angle, particularly in the case of Pride and Prejudice, and neglect the biting satire of Regency life and social commentary of the status of women?

This may be a surprise (or not), but I actually don't think so.

It really depends on what you mean by "we." If you mean fandom circles, that's how fandom is about pretty much everything. I don't think Austen's commentary on Georgian culture is at all uniquely neglected, and fandom often ignores things that are more immediately pertinent to our lives than the failings of Georgian England.

For instance, I'm very fond of Rogue One fandom in general, but I find the fandom's treatment of politics and revolution much more anodyne than the actual film's because of this, and it does bother me at times. It's not to say that Austen's critiques and satire have no relevance to modern life, of course, just that in the grand scale of fandom fixating on ships, it's nowhere near the most objectionable case to me and I don't really mind.

Also, we don't always know what people are paying attention to outside of what we see from their blogs/fandom presence. You wouldn't know from my blog that P&P plays only a very minor part in my dissertation, say!

And if we're not talking about fandom but are including academics and such as well ... IMO Austen academics are, if anything, vaguely embarrassed about the romantic elements of Austen's writing (esp with regard to P&P, the most iconic of them all). They constantly work to tie those elements to satire, social commentary, and/or nuances of characterization to legitimize their presence. In my experience, there's not much sense that the romantic angles have value in themselves or are really worth focusing on.

And I'd add that I actually think it's more justifiable with P&P than any other Austen novel to focus on the romance, because it's so central to the structure, main characters, and themes of the book. That is not true of every Austen novel, or most Austen novels in my opinion. But it's center stage for P&P and I think fandom's sense of the romance as particularly essential to P&P and to the general appeal of P&P is quite accurate. That's also true of Persuasion, but P&P is much more cheerful and in some respects more polished, so it's not surprising that it matches fandom tastes so well.

#fantasticalnonsense18 #respuestas #austen blogging #austen fanwank #general fanwank #sw fanwank #long post

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honestsycrets · 9 months

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Hi I have question for you.

I have been seeing post about hoe Miguel is fetishized and I was just wondering what would you considered fetization of Miguel and what isn't. And along with how would you write him in things like AUs without him still falling under the fetization category? Thank you for asking this one. I'm still hesitation when writing Miguel and smut

edit: believe i misunderstood a bit (sexualization vs fetish). i will say, as a latina, i centralize my cultura in my pieces overall. not only to avoid this, but to create a space for my cultura. if you're looking for a discussion on how to avoid discussion on 'the noble mexican', i would just advise you to not overly interject these one-sided cultural details (ie: details that are only relevant to Miguel: Spanish pet names, excessive references to skin color). Include details that are pertinent to the story as a whole.

OG text: Hm. God, I stay in my own corner a lot. I suppose I can see that. When I’m in Pinterest, any piece of fan art or screencap of Miguel tends to be heavily sexualized by either (or both) the creator and viewer. It’s a lot easier to look to fan art and claim that is sexualization, but I can see how smut no plot would play into that with fics like my Stung. Enfocate could be along those lines as well, but I am working more plot into the fic.

Writing smut by nature demands sexualization and should not be demonized. I tend to moreover have an issue with exoticism over people finally finding POC characters they resonate with. It’s a slippery slope on both sexualization and exoticism. While Miguel is heavily sexualized, there are other characters in ATSV that are as well… Hobie comes to mind.

If you’re concerned with overly sexualizing Miguel, write fics with context. Situate your smut with build up. There are no definitions without context. AUs by nature require storytelling, worldbuilding, character definition, and dynamics not inherit to canon. Focus on these things with the same fervor as sex and tension and you should be okay.

#sy talks 🍒

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yamatossideboob · 22 days

Text

ONE PIECE 1114 SPOILERS!

This week's deductions:

YAMATOOOOOOOOOOOO 👍👍👍👍👍

lmao the Marines are bricking it. I wonder how much Akainu knows about the impending flood...

I'm loving the little location cameos, microdosing nostalgia

Doflamingo what are YOU doing here!

Hi Magellan! still shitting for 8 hours a day?

how much does Doffy know.... more than Magellan thats for sure lol

I love the earthquake detail, we needed a way for this global audience to know Vegapunk isn't just bullshitting and this does the job nicely. Terrifying!

LONG RING LONG LAND!!!!!!!!!!

This big panel of the Mother Flame finally revealed is so chilling... the image of a single flame, suspended in liquid and still burning, in a gigantic mechanical vat is so ominous to me. What on earth was the ancient kingdom cooking...?

WAIT FUCK THE ANCIENT ROBO IS DOING SOMETHING?? UGHHHHHHH WTF ODA GIVE US ANSWERR

I know we won't see his visage yet but I want to see Imu seething over Vegapunk dropping lore SO badly lmfao. See him kicking a table over or something.

Do the CDs actually *know* what the Void Century was about? Or are they just manky over VP knowing what they're not allowed to lmao. Also hi Celestial Dragon Woman being set up to be relevant later.

JAGUAR D. SAUL YOU SONNOVABITCH (clasps his hand in friendship). I'm loving this, our lad is chilling in Elbaf, loling at auld Vegapunk fucking WG shit up by dropping the no-no history. I wonder who his companion is...

ORANGE TOWN??!!! BOODLE??!!! FUCKING CHOUCHOU????!!!!! we really are in the final saga lads christ alive

Tiny Amazon Lily panel,ty for the morsel

I hope that pertinent Robin panel is hinting that SHE'LL be the one to actually tell us properly about the Void Century and the ancient kingdom and the rest, but i am increasingly doubtful :/ Vegapunk DOES say later he knows barely anything about the VC, but unfortunately this is Nico Robin we're talking about, and few are more underserved than she...

Edison you champion, ty for your sacrifice

So yeah we're REALLY gearing up to gtfo of Egghead now aren't we

I just. fucking love the juxtaposing of the Joyboy namedrop, coupled with the new knowledge that he was the First Pirate, this incredibly significant piece of informaiton, with Luffy being a Nika doofus lmfaooooooooooooooooooo

I've already seen people spec that we're getting a massive flashback next chp, and that doesn't feel wrong, but I just want Robin to be the one to share all that... cop that Nika namedrop too, I wonder if people watching who've met Luffy are going to make that connection? fufufu

but yes, another 2 week break, earned but godddddd I cannot wait for whats coming next. until next time! 💪✖️

#live from ohara #op spoilers

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wackus-bonkus-maximus · 2 years

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I'm curious how you perceive Luka in the show. I love what you've been doing with Luka in "one does not love breathing", with accentuating personality traits that we've seen evidence of in the show - Luka lying to Marinette about not knowing Ladybug and Chat Noir's identities, and not speaking up in Ephemeral about knowing Chat's identity, even though it was pertinent to Ladybug's plan (I wasn't too happy about that plan, but it's not relevant here), seem like the inspiration for Luka's whole "stay quiet about what I know because if I rock the boat it could cause harm" stance in your fic. The show didn't really make it clear why Luka made those decisions, but through your Luka's actions, I can better see what might have been going through Luka's head in the show.

My own feelings towards Luka have always been... frustrating. He's a nice, kind guy, no doubt, with most of what we saw of him in seasons 2 and 3 were just him being selflessly enamored with Marinette, but without any of the negative feelings that I'd normally expect from anyone who's pining over an unrequited love. I can sort of see why he was popular for that - he's about as unproblematic of a dream boyfriend as you could get - but I just couldn't look at his depictions and reactions in the show and make him into a full person, with his own thoughts, feelings, problems, and complex internal emotional world, especially since he mostly seemed to exist for Marinette. The big standout during that period that helped to develop him further was that 30 second cameo where he interacted with his sister, since it showed his feelings and interactions with someone else he cared about.

I did get a lot more from him in season 4, with him being frustrated and hurt about Marinette vanishing on him all the time, even if he still took it insanely well. I loved seeing that he can have negative feelings for his own sake, not just for Marinette's, and that he has some emotional baggage of his own, with his mom refusing to mention who his dad was. I still have struggled with understanding him at times - like trying to figure out what he was thinking that prompted him to directly lie to Marinette when she asked him whether he knew hers and Chat's identities - but they do show some more complex character traits, even if I'm not completely sure of what they are. Though I like your idea of what character trait prompted him to do that.

Anyway, I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on what makes Luka tick in the show. I don't see many of analyses of him that I agree with - either they're overly negative and ascribe some form of malice or abuse to his actions (which is nonsense, Luka doesn't have a mean bone in his body), or they're overly positive, and put a spin on his actions as being more wholly virtuous than I think is warranted (like the whole "he sacrificed his honesty in Wishmaker because it would freak Marinette out if he answered her question truthfully, he's so selfless, only thinking of what's best for her" thing).

*cracks knuckles* buckle up breathers and breatheren, it's luka analysis time.

to start off, the show doesn't do the greatest job with consistency. sometimes its own characters will be ooc, especially marinette and adrien. in dearest family, she despairs over stealing galette when she's never had an issue with it before, and adrien dates marinette without telling her is identity in cat blanc (something i really don't think is consistent with his character but w/ever). if you see an inconsistency in my analysis of luka, it might be because of the show's flawed depiction of his character.

that being said, i knew the minute luka learned ladybug and chat noir's identities and decided to do NOTHING that he was an enneagram type 9, just like me. way to put me back on my enneagram shit again. I even have him typed as a 9 in my miraculous enneagram post if you're interested in that.

i liked luka fine in the show until wishmaker, when they finally gave him potential. he then became one of my favorite characters because he became interesting. you look at him on the outside and you see a guy who's easy to get along with, understands everyone's points of view, and will lend a listening ear when you need him. these are what make him such a nice person and probably why everyone in the show likes him. i mean, marinette broke up with him after lying to him for quite some time and still didn't tell him anything, and he comforted her with a hug because he could tell she was going through it. after wishmaker, it is very clear he is afraid of rocking any boat he's in because he's actually really afraid of causing conflict. for luka, conflict = separation (exemplified by his parents' relationship), and if he is separated from people he cares about, he will be alone.

luka is someone who is always trying to make connections with people by understanding them. he likes to listen to everyone's "inner melodies," which i think is just lukaspeak for comprehending people in depth and seeing their perspective. i truly think he gets stuck in other people's perspectives rather than his own, as evidenced by how he refused to speak up about ladybug's plan in ephemeral and how he gently guided marinette to adrien by telling her "knowing the whole other side of someone helped me love them more." it's my opinion that luka thinks he's less important than the people he cares about, and so in a sense "goes to sleep" to his own wants, needs, feelings and opinions. this is why he doesn't tell marinette and adrien the truth in the show, and what i expanded on in odnlb; luka really just did not know what to do, and before he knew it six years had gone by, and he didn't know silence could be so dangerous.

a lot of people said they "forgot" about luka in odnlb until chapter 7, when he was facetiming adrien. i actually really really loved that because it was just so LUKA of him to be forgotten. he doesn't think he's important compared to marinette or adrien, and so he talks to them about their issues and ignores his own need for growth/action. luka's sin is sloth, which might sound like the least harmful of all the 7 deadlies but which i think i've shown can be extremely sabotaging to others and to himself. it's also a character trait i've not seen portrayed too often, but whenever i do the characters are really interesting. those of you who don't have this issue will easily think, "all he has to do is SPEAK." well, that's literally the hardest thing for him to do! because if he does, he's going to rock the boat and lose connection, and that's the thing he's afraid of most.

this was a great ask, @flightfoot! i love all your questions but this has been my favorite so far!

#one does not love breathing #odnlb #odnlb discussion #luka couffaine #miraculous ladybug #enneagram type 9 #lmk if you guys want more analyses on different characters #i'm so ready to give them #i could go on and on about this for hours but i'm cutting myself off #ywc

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griseldagimpel · 2 months

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They/Them

Something I've noticed in online spaces is that the same words can mean slightly - or sometimes wildly - different things to different people. Take the they/them pronouns in the English language, for instance.

They/them can be a set of pronouns that simply does not indicate gender, they way "I" and "you" are pronouns in English that just do not indicate gender. The proper gendered pronouns for me are she/her, but they/them does not misgender me because they/them are not pronouns that convey gender.

They/them can also be pronouns that convey distance and deemphasize gender. If I'm talking about, say, an author or someone on the internet I don't know very well, and their gender isn't relevant to the topic at hand, I'll often use they/them pronouns for them. I don't know them well enough to know their pronouns off the top of my head, and it's not pertinent to the conversation at hand. I don't need to identify a person's gender in every context, actually.

They/them can also function as The Official Pronouns for the Non-binary Gender (tm). Using they/them pronouns is not actually synonymous with being non-binary, in truth, but using they/them pronouns can function as a shorthand to convey non-binaryness. You see this with fictional non-binary characters a lot, like Raine in The Owl House. A lot of language is about convenience, and sometimes complexity and nuance is sacrificed for that.

They/them can also function as a way to misgender trans people. If you're a big enough jerk, you can pretty much make anything a tool for your goal of being a jerk.

The fact that people use the same words to mean different things can cause difficulties in communication, but attempting to get everyone to agree on a meaning is an exercise in futility, I'm afraid. But it's a good idea to keep in mind that you and someone else might be using the same words to mean different things, since that can be useful avoid miscommunication. Sometimes you just have to define your terms to make sure everyone is on the same page.

#Language #Communication #Pronouns #But also #Many such cases

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lcvebvtes · 6 months

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Josie - ❝ it’s been a long time since someone stuck their neck out for me like that. ❞

Seated in court, Josefine is calm and collected as her defendant, Gregor Regis- the CEO of a major publishing company, is being grilled by the plaintiffs lawyer, an ex employee who had filed both a harassment and wrongful termination lawsuit. The other lawyer, a man she is familiar with by the name of Marcus Pike, is almost as good at his job as she is, however he's not quite on her level. He's midway through a tirade about how terrible of a boss Gregor is when she speak up "objection!" the judge looks to her in a querying manor and her chin lifts a fraction "counsellor Pike is leading the jury with his tall tales". The judge considers this for a moment and nods sagely "sustained, please keep your questioning concise and pertinent, counsellor." There's a glare in her direction and Marcus finishes up his questioning before returning to his seat and Josefine stood to begin her own.

"Mr Regis" she begins, hands clasped at her waist "tell me, before Ms Quinn filed this lawsuit against you- had you ever met her?" The defendant shakes his head and replies "not once in my life." "Interesting. Had you ever set foot in the Editing Department based on Whale Island?" "No, I can't make the journey due to my health issues" "can you please elaborate on these issues- for clarities sake?" "certainly, I have a heart condition and my body struggles to regulate my blood pressure. I take daily medication for it but my doctor advises me not to make strenuous journeys." "And I believe, climbing all the way up the vines to Whale Island would be classes as a strenuous journey- no?" The defendant chuckles slightly "there is a air balloon, you know" "I'm aware- however the wile change in air pressure is difficult for even perfectly healthy people to cope with- why there are many documented cases that attest to this where folks become unwell, or even lose consciousness due to these conditions." She heads back to her desk and plucks the relevant file and carries it over to the judge "for your consideration, your honour". She turns back to her defendant "so tell me, Mr Regis, has the plaintiff ever had business in your head office in Selphia?" "not once has she been called to the main office. Both her interview and hiring were held on the Island and we have never had cause to call a junior editor to the HQ of Regum Print and Publishing." "Interesting." She pauses "that is all."

After the court has adjourned for the day, Gregor and Josefine are heading back to her office in the back of his car, she can feel his eyes burning into her skull. "Yes, Mr Regis?" she asks, looking at him sidelong "I just wanted to thank you, you've done amazing work. I really think this case is going to be thrown out." She smirks and looks ahead again "I know it is. Pike couldn't puncture a hole in the defense I've raised today even if he had an enchanted harpoon." He guffaws and shakes his head "where did you get all that info about the people fainting and such after riding the balloon?" The car pulls to a stop and the driver moves to get out and open her door for her, "I have my sources, Mr Regis, if I gave them all away people wouldn't need to hire me." She steps out and pauses, turning and bending to look back into him "I'll see you tomorrow, bright and early." and with a final smile she turns and heads towards the door, ignoring Joon who was panting with a rattling chest after he had sprinted to hold it open for her.

#` meme day ' *#` josie meme replies ' *#` blood runs thicker than all else ' *

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tiny-cloud-of-flowers · 6 months

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i have a question for story! how did you and alise meet? and how long did it take for the two of you to trust each other?

"Story": "Oh!~ Something for me?~ Why, you shouldn't have!~ Ahh, I'm only joking, you see~ I would love to talk about my darling girl!~

Oh, my dear Alise.. Yes, of course I recall how we met, so intriguing as it was~ It was not perhaps the first time that our fates had quite been laid out as if to cross..~ But, it was the first time that one of those heroes she had been trying to help made it all the way to me without getting picked off along the journey. I don't even quite remember the finer details at this point. But that's because they are not relevant!~

What I do recall is putting on the usual sort of show, and seeing my would-be foe be unable to even live up to his feeble little title.. Honestly, some days it makes you wonder why I bother, doesn't it?~ Yet, even after he failed so pathetically, a little golden glow kept flitting back and forth, the poor thing..~ Ahh, but her demeanour wasn't quite what I'd expected it to be!~ No, no, it was really rather intriguing, as I said~ She was awfully curious, you see, and- well, whether out of curiosity of my own, or mere boredom, or perhaps even a little whim of Fate - I simply deemed it no small loss to answer a few of her more pertinent questions!~ And from there, well.. it wasn't too tricky to figure out a way to keep her around~ I truly have grown quite fond of her, you see!~ Are you surprised?~

Hm.. That should just about cover your first inquiry, shouldn't it?~ And so then, for your second.. I can't deny that there was perhaps some.. delay, let's say~ My darling Alise was, shall we say, a bit uncertain of how to think of me to begin with~ Quite understandably, given how we'd first encountered one another!~ There was certainly gratitude there, but a good bit of trepidation as well~ It wouldn't be wrong to say that I'd completely turned her world on its head!~ Even still, I at least knew I could trust her from the beginning~ After all, trust is simply confidence that you know what someone is capable of, isn't it?~ And it was quite plain that she would not have had the means to stand up to me, even if she'd wanted to~ I've had to teach her so much more about what she shows to the world, ahaha~

Well, I suppose that answers both of those, you could say!~ I do so hope that this has been satisfying, ahaha!~"

#heart of the void #selfshipping #mother: witch of fated tales (story)#familial F/Os #self‑insert: hero's guide (alise)#out of the inbox #selfship asks #neuvilline #F/Ovember #F/Ovember 2023 #i apologise if this doesn't sound enough like story #I am probably not awake enough to be trying to answer the last asks #but we shall see if I can get any done!

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skywalking-through-life · 9 months

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bestie loved the new chapter update so much!!!! in awe of your writing prowess but the theme that was explored was also so pertinent and dived deep into the characters..like ofcourse someone as empathetic like percy will have self doubt and fear his ancestry and how it may impact his own wielding of powers. cannot wait for the next one and see his conversation with annabeth!

AHHH, hello again my dear friend! 💙

Thank you so much for sending me MORE amazing compliments?! I don't know what I've done to deserve such a sweet reader, but I am so grateful to you for taking the time to offer me your thoughts and feelings!

I am honored that you love my writing style as much as you do, but I'm especially pleased that you felt like the topics I chose to explore were relevant and important! I've wanted to write on these themes for a very long time, but I also know they are pretty heavy/difficult to reckon with/gray, so I was a little worried that folks wouldn't want to go there with me.

But you're so right! Percy is a lot more empathetic and thoughtful than (I think) a lot of folks give him credit for, and (I think) now that he has some time and space to breathe, he'll really start trying to think through where he came from, who he is, and who he wants to be! And those are big, unsettling questions to grapple with! Annabeth will hopefully be a big help as he wrestles through some of it. 😉

God, thank you so much for this sweet comment! I hope you keep enjoying my stories! 💙

#pjo fic #percy jackson #pjo hoo toa #annabeth chase #percabeth #high school #percy's senior year (mis)adventures

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airlock · 1 year

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6, 11, 27!

(pertinent to this ask meme)

#6 - Who's your favorite lord/protagonist?

I may or may not have recently declared a crusade in his name.

(Claude is up there as well also!)

#11 - A character that deserved better?

speaking of which, Claude would have been a prime candidate here, but at least, Three Hopes finally gave him a route that feels like it's his own and not the church's sloppy... firsts. although that route did bring with it a new candidate for this question (they did so little with shahid,)

anyway, god, how does one even begin to choose? I could nominate like half of every female cast from the Kaga era games for one thing. get to the modern games, and you get countless characters who would've benefitted greatly from not being under pressure from being a viable target for the resident customizable protagonist's gaping S-supporting maw. the ones in the middle of the maelstrom are safe from that sort of sweeping problem, but that's not to say they don't have any characters they inidividually did dirty... (Lyn deserved more story relevance, Elincia deserved more time in the limelight in Radiant Dawn, Eirika deserves more respect from the fandom if that counts, and that's just going through protagonists)

anyway, a solid chunk of Awakening's second generation deserved to be in a better game -- perhaps even their own game -- so I guess that's also a big one

#27 - Any fanfics/fan content you’d recommend? (You can plug your own stuff it’s fine)

sneaky creature you are to ask that, considering how much of your stuff I'll rec in a half heartbeat,

anyway, I'm not nearly as avid of a reader as I should be, for being a writer, but here's some of the finest Fire Emblem fanfic that my terrible brain managed not to wander astray from:

Princess of Dawn and its sequels by @wyvern-dork are the ultimate gesture of dedication to a blorbo that I've ever had the privilege of witnessing, let's see, around 80 chapters of so far. y'know, out of the 193 total that are presently up. to describe it only as a novelization of the Akaneia Saga, starring Minerva and featuring Minerva/Palla, would be selling it short. I think the more accurate thing to call it, rather, is the Minerva bible.

not looking for a work that will beautifully gobble up your entire life like that, though? first off all, why aren't you? but second of all, you can still get your Minerva/Palla from the same tap in shorter form: in Blades of Champions, where the two of them are some of the tryhardingest fencers in the whole modern alternate universe

and to complete the hat-trick on recs for this particular friend's works, there's Fingers Through the Sand. in this fic, Luthier dies at war and Delthea's journey to completely mishandle her grief eventually takes her across the sea and to befriend another magical powerhouse with a heart full of grief -- Linde. it will hurt you perfectly while dazzling you with stuff about magic

but lest you think I'm letting you off without another Akaneia rec with lots of magic in it -- as if; here's simplicity by name, the delightful gift I was given for nagamas 2021. it's Merric/Arlen, albeit with some flexibility as to how romantic you read their interactions here exactly, also they're both magnificently trans of gender in there

and I'm not done with the magic yet, or with the ones I've managed to prompt out onto existance. after all, @dornishsphinx‘s May You Arrive at Fertile Phthia dotted that year's FE Rarepair Exchange for me with some of the most evocative (and, at least once, haunting) descriptions of magic I've ever seen. besides that, it also has an intriguing Erk/Nino story largely set after Binding Blade, ie, well after they've both disappeared. it is deliciously detailed, and even has a bunch of Homeric references if that happens to be something you're interested in

while we're at Elibe, @royaltyjunk's the pain in my heart cannot be shared (i really miss you) deserves a mention at the very least because Lyn opening a text convo with Hector with "order bitch" remains one of the most beautifully in-character things I've ever seen for her and it's the first line of the piece- besides that, it's also a modern AU story taking place in our here world, but one might say that it's still about how much Lyn misses the plains.

anyway, let's cap this off with a hat-trick of @queenlua recs, notwithstanding that this tag there is entirely redundant with the other notifications she's about to be getting for this post- anyway, the first one of them is Silent World, a three-chapterer in which Naesala attempts to ruin Micaiah and Sothe's relationship for shits and giggles. it's not quite SFW and it does in fact feature Micaiah/Sothe, but if you're fine with both of those things, then you may join in me suddenly finding Sothe a much more interesting character than you may have originally figured (plus, that Micaiah and Naesala are great characters should require no convincing, but they're still in peak form here, so, that's just Oops! All Interesting)

and here's another three-chapterer while I'm at it -- Where the River Meets the Sea. it's a Claude/Hilda story that doesn't skirt around the dodgy history between Hilda and Almyra -- the opposite, in fact, as that's one of the central themes. the other being that these two are both extremely nonconfrontational people and, sometimes, that's not a good thing. anyway, Lorenz writes a strongly worded letter in this, so, that's the real #1 reason why you should go read it right now

and I'm not done asking you to enjoy Lorenz content either; for that matter, neither am I done with the modern AUs. because summer is miles and miles away is the white whale that I will always be kindly, playfully, yet persistently prodding the author about picking back up someday. it's a Claude/Lorenz story where all the Garreg Mach people are Harvard graduates, Claude is the tech startup bro he was always meant to be, Lorenz hasn't matured quite as fast as he did in canon without a war to light a fire in his ass, and Hilda is great

plus, there's always my own work to recommend, but I take in pride in all the stuff I got to make these days, so, it's hard to pick and choose just a handful. you could always check out my ao3 page and read every last one of them. but to select a few regardless: The Winter Bird is my love letter to all of the Dawn Brigade's obscure underappreciated blorbos; Forests and People features Jamke, Edain, Dew, and probably some of the funniest lines I've ever managed to get into a piece; Building Trust, slightly longer-form than my usual fare, is an ongoing effort to make Catria/Clair happen -- you know, on my part, on their parts, and on Minerva and Palla's parts, with the time they have to spare while they're not flirting with each other -- and if you're in luck I might actually finish the fourth and final chapter this year; and then there's my most recent piece, MozghuzCon, where I drastically exceed my own expectations vis-a-vis story length for a spot of modern AU Bernadetta/Marianne where they're both very transgender, very neurodivergent, and very nerdy.

#ask meme answers #Fire Emblem is tagged in this post #queenlua #whops; not me having to sleep on this post to finish writing all these fic recs #I couldn't spare a word less for any of 'em though. READ 'EM.

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