#wish the masses could of shown it more love

[storiesbysoup]

Hey! Can I request ghost nsfw headcanons? Where he has a size kink and where he has a crush on you. Please?

Simon "Ghost" Riley with a Size Kink.

warning! this post contains mentions of NSFW — if you are under 18 years old, do not interact with it! notes: hello! yes of course, haha! thank you for the request, it's very much appreciated. <3 I'm not very good at headcannons, so please excuse me if this is bad! MASTERLIST.

Simon wasn't sure if would ever understand what love was.

He'd grown up with a void where the feeling of love should have been.

When he enlisted, he questioned if he would ever be happy with the choices he was going to make.

That was until he saw you.

You were a new recruit -- Private Lizard was what you were known about as.

The other members of 141 often called you by your real name from time-to-time, but Ghost never did.

"Keepin' it professional" was often what he would claim for his excuse, but you suspected it was because only Soap got a special nickname from the Ghost.

Simon remembers when he met you -- bright-eyed rookie that was excited to help out with something that they believed to be true and good.

Price recruited you to 141 and Ghost had no complaints. You were a pyrotechnics and sabotage -- two things that 141 was looking for.

Ghost trusted Price, so in return he trusted your ability to hold your weight while working with the team.

He had tried to keep himself distanced from you, but eventually failed as you grew closer with everyone.

Inevitably, he gained a small crush on you.

How could he not?

You were snarky -- not too much to be a smartass, but enough to get a laugh out of the hulking man. You were smart, you did your job well.

Often times on base, Ghost would hide himself in a secluded area and remove his mask. He'd breathe, taking a quick drag from a cigarette.

He wished he would simply quit, but knew it would take more than that.

Ghost would lean his head back against the cold, stone wall and let himself relax for the first time in weeks. In doing so, he failed to catch the sound of your soft footsteps slowly coming closer.

You simply sat yourself beside him and leaned your head against his shoulder, saying nothing. He jumped at the contact, hand immediately reaching for one of the few weapons he'd kept on himself.

When he recognized you, he immediately relaxed for hte majority. His mask was off -- he hadn't shown his face to anyone but Price. You had seen him.

Your eyes were closed as you rested against him, softly whispering.

"I didn't see your face, Ghost. Don't worry."

His heart leapt into his throat.

One of Ghosts hands came to encapsulate yours, his mind slowly churning as he noticed just how much smaller you were than him.

Ghost slumped himself down to let you lean against him better, gently placing his head on yours.

"You can if you want to."

That was the first time he said your real name and you think that's the moment you fell in love with Simon Riley.

He told you that you could call him Simon when they were off-duty. In this moment, he wasn't Ghost -- he was Simon.

You smiled, eyes fluttering open to admire his hand in yours.

The size difference was insane.

Simon was a big guy, that much was obvious: he stood at 6'4" and was a hulking mass. His hands reflected that as well.

As the two of you sat there, the size difference between you seemed to creep into Simons head more and more.

His crush on you grew from a simple, passing infatuation to a full-on immersion of love in the span of just four hours.

Simon's mind started to turn to the less flattering side of himself: he started to imagine what fucking you would be like.

How small would you appear to him if the two of you did have sex? Would his cock made you seem even littler?

He wasn't small in any places, after all.

The feeling of his cock growing harder as you said there, engulfed in each others embrace caused heat to rise to his face. He shouldn't be getting hard right now.

Plus, if the two of you were to have sex, it would be breaking so many rules. Lieutenant's weren't supposed to fuck their Privates.

But god did he want to.

He imagined what the taste of you would be like. Would you be sweet? You probably would -- you were a kind person at heart.

One day, Simon knew that he'd bring this up to you. He'd confess everything: the infatuation -- the love -- he bore for you, the perverse feelings that boiled inside of him.

One day, Simon Riley would admit he's in love with you.

written by storiesbysoup© 2023. I do not condone anyone translating my works and/or stealing them.

#ghost x reader #simon riley smut #simon riley #ghost #simon ghost riley #simon riley x reader #simon ghost riley x reader #call of duty #call of duty: modern warfare 2 #cod #cod: mw2 #cod ghost #cod: mw2 ghost #ghost smut #cod smut

[yandere-3-sagau]

Genshin Cult AU but reader really doesn’t wanna be creator

warning(s): mental-health issues, mentions of suicide, mentions of death and killing, angst

Isekaied reader who always dreamed of going to teyvat but when they actually go, they realize they took for granted their life before. They’re homesick and want nothing more to return to their family.

They hide and no one recognizes the creator’s face. Reader makes friends with people and becomes close. However, they’re devout followers of the creator. Reader goes to “mass” with them and when they’re there they can hear their prayers. They decide to help them out in their own way.

Someones missing, they goes out to find the missing person and since none of the creatures hurt them, it’s relatively easy.

Someone’s sick, reader buys them medicine or helps heal them.

Reader accidentally helps too many people and they begin to suspect them. Their very close friend apologizes before cutting reader and their golden blood is shown to all. Reader feels heartbroken at their close friend being distant out of respect. They just wanted to help people, they didn’t want to be put on a pedestal. They wish no one ever knew. And all of a sudden everyone forgot about reader being the creator.

That’s when reader finds out they can erase memories/control minds. They decide to leave since nothing is the same.

They become depressed and starts drinking. Reader heads over to mondstadt and drowns themself in alcohol and gets heavily drunk in front of diluc. He figures out that they’re the creator after ranting to him in their druken state. However, they erase his memories.

For years, reader lives while erasing the memories of those who discover them. During this time, they’ve tried to off themself several times only to fail. Finally, after the boredom and loneliness sinks in, they finally decide to give being creator a shot. They think it can’t be that bad and reveals themself. They were wrong.

Now reader has a suffocating pressure on them at all times. So, instead of erasing their memories (since they’ve been doing that for years), reader tries to do something different. They try to be evil.

Reader kills people off/orders their execution at the slightest of things. They hope that their evilness will spark the people’s will to kill them. However, no one bats an eye. All of the acolytes believe that they’re right no matter how cruel reader is. Even the families of the people they’ve killed think that there must have been something wrong with their loved one for the creator to sentence them to death.

Because they are so blind with devotion, reader tries to manipulate them into hating them. Poisoning the acolytes mind against themself. That still doesn’t work. Even if reader blatantly tells them that they don’t give a fuck about any of them, the acolytes just become more determined to fix themselves so that reader approves of them.

Next, reader tries to use mind control to force the acolytes into killing them. But no amount of damage they do can kill them. They are immortal. When it fails, reader erases their memories.

Finally, reader tells them that they’ve seen of a future where a powerful god/creator from a different universe is planning on invading. They urge everybody to create the most powerful weapon that could kill a creator/god. When they finally create one, reader uses it on themself.

Sad ending: The weapon doesn’t work on them because the acolytes made a safe guard to ensure no harm comes to the creator. Reader is so despaired that they kill everyone and is doomed to live an eternity in an empty universe.

Alternate Ending: Reader manipulates the acolytes to remove the safe guard and then uses it on themself, finally succeeding in killing themself after years of being trapped. But they don’t return to their home-world and remain dead. The entirety of Teyvat suffers from the knowledge that their beloved creator offed themselves to escape the world they created.

#can you see a pattern in my writing #i dunno why all of the readers i write never wanna be creator #can u tell my mental state from my writing #yandere genshin #genshin impact #yandere sagau #yanderexreader #archons #yandere #creator #genshin cult au #sagau #acolytes #yandere x reader

[audreyscribes]

Ω PJO DEMIGOD HEADCANONS:

🌊 POSEIDON: God of the Sea, Storms & Earthquakes, Droughts, Floods, Horses🔱

author's note: I had a sudden idea about writing some headcanons Camp Halfblood demigods being claimed and what it's like for each respective god and cabin, followed by a small blurb afterwards. Thank you for reading and please like and reblog! The order is not in order of the cabin numbers. [PJO DEMIGOD HEADCANONS MASTERLIST]

When you get claimed, it’s like a tsunami, a storm, and earthquake hit all at once; metaphorically and physically speaking. 

Everyone stares at you in disbelief, awe, and fear. 

You’re confused as you look at everyone’s reactions, then it starts to be unnerving. You’re even more confused when the people are parted, willingly and unwillingly when a boy with sea-foam green eyes pushes forward and stares at you with a gaped look. You stare at him back and notice the storm of emotions that passes through his eyes: shock, disbelief, joy, relief, fear, and anger. 

The boy finally reaches over to you and stands before you. You can feel the power from him, but you also feel a sense of ease. 

“Hi, my name is Percy Jackson….and I’m the son of Poseidon…your half-brother.”

You’re not taken to your cabin but instead, Percy leads you to the Big House, following Chiron, with a few individuals parting from the mass of people following behind you. When people whisper, you see Percy give them a look that made them freeze. 

Percy sticks by your side as you all gather around the table tennis with the other individuals, before you’re bombed with information about the Big Three, the oath they had taken, how it was abolished by yours truly, and how they didn’t expect to see another child of Poseidon; especially this ‘soon’. 

When you leave with all that information to process, Percy stands by your side and you two just stare out at Camp Half-blood, in awkward silence. You’re still reeling from the events that followed but there’s only so much awkward silence the two of you could take like a fish out of water. 

“So, you wanna see where the cabin is?” starts Percy, shrugging as casually he could. You could only nod before Percy helps take your bag and leads you. 

When you get to the Cabin, you open it up to see the large statue of Poseidon standing before you, feeling small and overwhelmed. Then you’re hit with the size of the cabin and how empty it feels. There are three bunk beds, but judging by two of them they looked already used, with stuff above the top bunk as some sort of storage. You can clearly tell which of the bunk beds is new as it’s not as used. You know they had to bring in another bunk bed from somewhere and manage to bring it in when you were guys having a meeting. 

You’re shown the ropes and as you walk together, eat together at the dinner table, and when you go back to your cabin, it hits you how long Percy has been alone by himself. He takes you to the repaired fountain in the back and as you soak your feet, he tells you everything and you tell him your story in between sharing the bag of blue candy. 

As you go to lie in bed, then it hits you that despite being alone and with the occasional visit from Tyson, you notice that while the cabin isn’t that occupied, you notice the life that’s been put into it. The decorations, the minotaur horn on the wall-

Percy acts like a big, supportive big brother that is there to catch you. He takes you to the water and the pegasus stall, the former where if you want to be alone and the pegasus stall to have them listen to you. He teaches you what he learned by himself and guides you in parts he wished he had someone there for. And you’re there to make him remember that he isn’t alone and he is loved. 

When you get claimed, its as if a tsunami, a storm, and an earthquake had happened all at once, and you were the epicenter. Everyone looked absolutely shaken and were gaping at you.

Then you see a boy with sea green eyes and when you two make eye contact, it’s as if you were both lost at sea and found each other in the giant ocean. You saw his face go through many emotions before it settled into a smile, before he stepped up towards you. 

“Hi, my name is Percy Jackson. I’m the son of Poseidon…and I guess you’re my sibling.”

You stare at him before the whispers of everyone around you become harder to ignore. Percy looks at them, some silencing themselves as his eyes land upon them before he sighs, rubs the back of his neck before gently hovering his hand behind your back. 

“Come on, let’s go talk in somewhere private” he coaxed softly. You nodded and followed his soft guide. You get a rundown of what has happened, the Big 3 and their oath, and how it was absolved by Percy. Given the fact the time frame, no one had expected another child of the Big Three to appear that soon. Though they were pretty sure Zeus already had a few and it was only a matter of them before they made landfall in droves. 

Everything was utterly overwhelming and you were trying to process it all, not just the information but also your emotions. The storm within you was building and you weren’t sure if you could contain it. 

Then you found yourself at the beach and then everything became calmer as you listened to the sound of the water overlapping each other. You dug your toes deeper into the sand and then you became more aware of the presence by your side. 

You looked over at Percy who looked towards the water, sitting casually on the washed up log that you were on, a bag of blue candy dangling in his hand. 

Without looking at you, he held out the bag of blue candy towards you in a silent gesture. You took one and inspected it, wondering why he had a bag of just blue candy.

“Blue’s my favourite colour,” started Percy. “When someone told my mom that there was no such thing as blue food or drink, she went out of her way to prove him wrong. My mom would always make blue cookies and cake, buy me blue candy. I have a feeling my mom also liked blue because it reminded her of Poseidon, but it also reminded her of me. And now when I eat blue food, I’m reminded of my mom and also our dad in a way.”

You listened as the blue candy sat on your tongue. You weren’t sure if it was the candy itself or what Percy said, but as the candy dissolved in your mouth, you swore it made you feel better. 

“I get everything is pretty overwhelming. It was like that for me and trust me, it was a lot…but you’re not alone like I was. I’ll do my best to be there for you, not as a child of Poseidon but also your brother. So if you feel a bit too alone, remember I’m here.”

You shifted your feet in nervousness. “It sort of feels like I have to fill in your shoes and I don’t think I can” you admitted. 

Percy put a hand on your shoulder, “And I don’t want you to. Not because of pride or anything, but it was tough. There was a lot of pressure and a lot on the line. I gained so much glory and so much more, but I could’ve lost it all. Hopefully you won’t have to go through like I did…but if you do, I’ll be by your side.”

“Thanks Percy…I’ll try.”

He smiled, “That’s all I ask” he said before he looked back at the water for a moment. He stood up and gestured to you, “Come on, let me show you the places only a child of Poseidon can go.”

You grinned before yelling, “I’ll race you!”

“You’re on!” laughed Percy before the two of you sprinted down the sand and jumped into the water, laughing in your private domain. As you descended into the water, bubbles reached up and popped in on your face, soft like a kiss to your hairline. 

#pjo fanfic #pjo imagine #percy jackson and the olympians imagines #pjo #pjo imagines #pjo x reader #pjo reader insert #percy jackson and the olympians imagine #demigod h/cs #demigod reader #demigod headcanons #demigod imagines #percy jackson #percy pjo #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo x you #percy jackson imagine #percy jackson imagines #percy jackson x reader #cabin 3

[littledead-ridinghood]

sorry if this is a weird question to drop on you you were just the first person I thought of who might know but do you know if it's canon/canonically-based evidence that jason is physically stronger than other bats because I always see people say jason is the one with "brute strength" and I can't remember if that's based on anything besides people saying that as a nicer way to call him a brute(maybe it was on lobdells stuff? but I wiped most of those out of my memory)

You thought of me first? <333333 I'm blushing. And it's not weird at all! Even if it was, I love answering weird shit.

Anyway:

So part of Jason being considered "the muscle" of the bats comes from the fact that Jason's currently the biggest of the robins. (Adult!Damian is usually drawn as the tallest of the kids when all is said n' done (that's vague for "age")).

Well, how big then?

I always go with this chart which was released while UtRH was being released:

(I Love this! I wish DC still did little info things like this within their comics. Or maybe they do and I'm just blind. But Look! Canonical Information!)

So canonically speaking, at least when running around pre-crisis, Jason is 6 feet tall and 180 pounds. (Also note criminal mastermind and put a pin in it)

But you've probably heard 200 & 220 thrown around a lot. Those numbers are specifically pulled from two different DC character encyclopedia books which I don't trust at all because there notoriously filled with false information and are dubbed as not canon all the time.

Personally, I use the 6', 180-195 pound range which estimates for fluctuating weight, the passage of time, muscle mass, and minimum bulk & cutting (which I assume is part of most superheroes' training to stay in fighting form, but please recognize that vigilantes are more athlete than bodybuilder) because it's from a canon source (Canon is "king" and all that). No shame to people who use the other numbers or even headcanon something completely different, but again, vigilantes are predominantly running all over cities day after day, not stagnant weight lifters. Cardio vs weights body compositions are quite different even if both are healthy. (And it's not all "swimmer's body illusion" either (they have that body because they swim? No, they swim because they have that body.)

How much muscle mass a person can maximally obtain is up to your genetics. But that max only comes with constant maintainment. It's not feasible for Jason to be doing all that cardio and also have that much muscle mass and fat. Cardio burns "fat" (calories), weights build muscle. We constantly see the former and former-adjacent workouts more than the latter with him. Jason is running across rooftops, flipping off them before falling into a shoulder roll onto the next roof over chasing after bad guys every night. The number of calories he'd have to eat and time put into lifting weights (too many reps a week lead to damage, not growth) to maintain his max (max being what a lot of weights category athletes try to achieve which Jason just hasn't been shown to be (except in his jailbird phase where he could literally only lift weights, read, and avoid being killed to pass the time)) isn't possible.

Using comic art to "prove" how much he weighs doesn't work either. Firstly, because everyone wears weight differently. Two people can be the same height, weight, and sex and look completely different. This is due to different body types, composition, genetics, diet, (what kind of) exercise, and many other factors. Assuming someone thinner is automatically "super light" doesn't factor in different body compositions (fat, muscle, bone percentages). (yes, I know it's stupid to apply science to comics. There's my digression. let me live). Secondly, Jason (just like everything else about him) isn't drawn consistently at all. Sometimes he's pretty damn massive, but we also have Twink and Twunk Jason (DC can't even decide on hair color? Do you think they're gonna decide on his body?).

So, comic book art isn't super reliable as evidence unless we want to theorize if, how, and why he seems to fluctuate between weights all the time (<- Which I have a whole headcanon about if anyone's curious), especially in comparison to the others because, seriously, it's totally a Jason thing. Most characters are pretty consistent in body type. Anyway, someone could argue "See! he is 210!" but it's also not for a long enough period to stick around :/ Again, hard to consistently maintain that much weight as a 6-foot-tall, cardio-based athlete.

Also note: DC is horrible when it comes to weight-to-height lineups. A woman hero can be ~5'7'' and then we're told she's 110 lbs which Fact 1. is considered underweight for this kind of height-to-sex ratio, Fact 2. probably isn't factoring in the fact that muscle is heavier than fat, she just "looks thin", and 3. Usually, totally, absolutely is just blatant sexism.

Really, the numbers don't seriously mean anything of actual substance because their comics, are unreliable, and also usually just...scientifically wrong. But Jason's perception on page, as well as the information we've been told, is one reason he's considered "brute strength first and foremost."

Furthermore, Jason has been shown repeatedly to be on par with Bruce (even when Jason, most of the time, plays defense in their physical fights) but many people chalk this up to him and Bruce having similar physiques making it "easier". Again, counter-productive argument because Bruce and Jason have been drawn very similarly before in stories as well as completely different from each other in others. Also, this purposefully, blatantly ignores Jason's actual skills. No one chalks Dick Grayson or Cassandra Cain beating Bruce up to their body types. Moreover, when Bruce and Jason are drawn similarly in body, no one refers to Bruce as "Brute Strength" either. Bruce gets to be tactical, strategic, clever. (Also Also: In Pre-Crisis, Bruce, Dick, and Jason are deliberately drawn to look similar (height, mass, looks, etc.) to get that Brothers in Blood effect. Still, No one chalks the formers up to all strength. Just Jason)

And that brings us to your question, Anon: Is there canonical evidence for Jason being stronger than the other Bats?

Remember how I told you to put a pin in that "Occupation: Criminal Mastermind" note? Well, first off, Jason creating jobs for his community. Go off, king. Second off, and more importantly so, "Mastermind": a person who supplies the directing or creative intelligence for a project (Merriam-Webster).

When Jason was first re-introduced, what made Jason dangerous was that he was highly skilled and smart. He was playing with both Black Mask and Batman like a cat batting a toy mouse. He orchestrated an entire "slow-growing" takeover of Gotham's underworld (he was actually very quick about it). Jason controlled the situation and planned so well that he had the villains and heroes who were both after him fighting each other so he could slip away and do what he actually needed to do.

Throughout Jason's history, he's always had tools with him when he fights. To the point that Bruce says to Jaybin "You won't always have this" cutting his utility belt, insinuating he relies too much on it, which Jason returns the favor to on his return and fights B hand to hand <3 Love a cocky callback. Furthering this, he knows many, many different fighting styles and techniques both from life experience and from extensive training. Jason's a quick learner by nature and is incredibly adaptive. Guns; knives; swords; pens; sets bombs to specifically implode, not explode; makeshift gadgets; a baseball bat just laying around; a tire jack that one time; brains. I could go on. Jason doesn't just hit things. He uses what he has as a means to an end. He's canonically known as one of the best strategists in-universe and is incredibly creative with his surroundings. Jason isn't just great at extensive, long-term planning either. Bruce himself has remarked on the fact that Jason thinks incredibly quickly on his feet, he's really good at improvisation. Concisely, he has plans A-G and if all those fail, he can pull something out of nothing. Contrast this with Bruce who needs to have a plan for everything. Even if it doesn't look like he's following a plan, Bruce is. Opposed to Jason who can go with the flow and figure it out along the way.

Jason even said this in present-era in TFZ:

And that's the whole point, isn't it? Jason is strong. Incredibly so. He's big and tall and has gorgeous thighs. Not to mention, has a mean right hook. But just because Jason's strong doesn't mean he isn't a bat first and foremost who relies on his brain before anything else. He died 4'6 (on his death certificate, his height varies depending on what source you pull) and famously had to defend himself his entire life ever before being Robin. Being young and small and forced to survive shaped Jason into a quick thinker who could either get away or take enemies 10x his size down. Nowadays, he just has a longer reach.

In Event Levithan when Damian says: "Jason Todd is one of the Great Master fighters of all time" He doesn't say strongest because Damian doesn't mean strongest. Damian means adaptable, smart, capable, and well-rounded in skill.

While I don't doubt that Jason is most definitely one of the strongest Bats due to his size, what makes Jason dangerous is not his body, but the fact that he knows how to use it. It's not "Brute Strength" as many people like to say, it's Strategic Strength. He knows just because he's stronger than someone doesn't mean he'll always win. A la see panels above. Jason knows throwing his body around won't do anything of real, long-term substance. That it's just blindsided and stupid.

I'm sure if I looked I could pull panels where other bats and/or vigilantes refer to Jason as the muscle, brute (strength), all brawn (no brain), other such implications, etc, but whenever people do, it's always to undermine Jason's skill. Because it's not actually about his strength. Jason, with his taller, more built form, makes walking quiet seem easy. And it looks easy because he's good. Jason himself knows his skill set, it's everyone else that undermines him time and time and time again. (Again, Event Levithan, Bruce doesn't agree with Damian's statement even though Jason just outsmarted the six or so people who all just tried to take him down (for something Jason didn't even do, mind you))

But, again from Damian, Jason's not known as "the muscle," he's "the emotional one" also usually used to...degrade Ja--We can't have anything nice apparently is what I'm saying. But yes, when people refer to Jason as "Brute Strength" it's usually them trying to find a nicer way of saying Brute or "thinks with his fists" or "Jason hits first, asks questions later." It's in the same vein as when people say "Jason likes books" as short-hand for "see, he's smart at something" rather than acknowledging that Jason achieved a degree's worth of knowledge in comp-sci by age 13.

Anyway Smart and Strong Jason, my beloved. I wish DC & others loved you as much as Rosenburg and the teams of artists he's been working with do.

#jason todd #jason todd meta #every thought I have has a 2nd secret thought behind it and I've been trying to be better about not rittling my metas w 2nd thought->(...)

[itsbubbleteataro]

hello! Saw your requests were open! If its cool can I request some headcanons (or whatever seems the best fit) with Sampo, Jing Yuan and Sunday finding their anxious! reader ( constant buzzing like a bee level anxiety) under multiple thick blankets (woth a weighted one onto as well) being all cozy, calm and sweet? Im talking the level where you can't tell there's a person untill they peek their head out. Reader finds the squish really comfy.

(Also just wanted to let you know that your pinned post has jun Yung listed under hsr. I just assumed it was Jing yuan but if not feel free to ignore him in my request)

thank you!

Dgejoaajwnebrhrwqknerbsjwjw thank you for catching my spelling mistake im so sorry!

Sure that sounds lovely! I can also say that I confidently relate to reader here as I too can be found typing away under a mound of blankets!

HSR headcannons!

Sampo with Anxious!Reader

Finds it strange at first but chalks it up to you hiding away from the cold

That was until he realized that you usually ended up under your mountain of blankets after situations that usually resulted with you feeling anxious

how did he find this out? Well he's Sampo, so he simply followed you home and looked through your window to find you under all your blankets

placing two and two together he figured out that you tend to always be buzzing with some kind of anxiety based off of how often you wind up under your blankets

one day you had invited him over, telling him to just let himself in

Overall I think he would find it adorable and just a tad concerning

Sampo's eyes drifted over to a mound of various colored blankets laying on a bed, his ears perking up once he hears a squeak coming from it. A smile crosses his face as he watches your head poke out from from the hoard of blankets. He can't help the laughter that fills the room as you give him a sheepish smile

Jing Yuan with Anxious!Reader

The first time he finds you under your pile of blankets is after a particularly rough meeting, one where you ended up agreeing on biting off more than you could chew

The second time he found you under your pile of blankets was after you went through quite a scare, turning in his and your paperwork just before they were due

The third time he finds you under the pile of blankets he ends up laying down next to you, however leaving you to the mass of blankets

With a lazy grin he asks what's bothering you this time, only to be pleasantly surprised to find that nothing was amiss and that you simply just enjoy laying under the mass of blankets

Can't say that he entirely understands but is just wanting to spend time with you

May not be happy about sharing your space with a mass of blankets, may push it off just so he can cuddle you

You and Jing Yuan had decided to play a game of go together. He looked up at you, your brow furrowed in concentration as you lay on your stomach. About twenty blankets lay on top of you including a few weighted ones. He can't help but smile as his golden orbs watch as you work hard to beat him while retaining the comfort that your mass of blankets bring

Sunday x Anxious!Reader

How strange is it to him that when you're not in the dream realm, your found under a mass of blankets, poking your head out of anyone wishes to speak

The first time he had found out about your love of blankets, you had shown him a new weighted blanket you were excited to buy

After that the two of you took to the dream realm, excitedly dragging him from blanket store to blanket store showing him the softest of ones

The loss of his sister hurts him in ways he can't express, so you decide to gift him a weighted blanket, hoping it may have the same effect on him as it does on you

I think Sunday would be glad that you tend to stay under all your blankets, ensuring him that you will remain safe as long as you are in the waking world

"Where are you dragging me this time?" Sunday asked, an annoyed look on his face though his tone betrayed him. You rush past the animated billboards trying to get your attention as you push the door open to a store. You excitedly show him a weighted blanket and his expression softens. He placed a hand on your head, ruffling your hair. "You really are fascinated by the strangest of things aren't you my dear?"

#honkai star rail x reader #honkai star rail headcanons #jing yuan #jing yuan x reader #sampo koski #sampo x reader #sunday x reader

[zscribez]

you know i remember reading someone’s meta pointing out the casual racism in lena’s dialogue when you bring up the kind green ape and she reveals that she believes kim to be a completely separate species from the rest of them 

and up to that point, lena was shown to be a very loveable character and understandably everyone loves her (i do too) and so plenty of people would be caught off guard by her casual racism

i think when lena’s casual racist remarks came up in my playthrough, i was prickled and disappointed but i don’t think i would describe my feelings at the time as complete surprise. lena’s remarks were not dissimilar from the kinds of comments i would get about my own background and country of origin

although i never encountered rhetoric that was explicitly race science in its ideology that is evident in lena’s remark, all of the rhetoric i encountered dehumanizes my heritage and assumes that i wish to ‘ascend’ from my own home culture. for instance, many canadian queers i encountered would overly presume that i had suffered greatly due to my queerness in my home country when that is very far from my actual reality as a queer person existing here. they would ask if i had applied for asylum, when that isn’t really an option for me because i would have to prove that my life was in immediate danger, which is an experience i just do not have even though my home country is very queerphobic in its society, institutions and legal system. there exists a strong undercurrent of homonationalism that threads through a lot of my interactions with most queer people who are invested in first world countries as being inherently more lgbtq friendly than other countries, despite evidence to the contrary.

whenever i encounter the opinions of liberals on asian politics (both irl and online), they betray their actual convictions that view asian-ness as inherently ‘lesser’, ‘backwards’ or ‘barbaric’. they constantly refer to the asian immigrant narrative as one of realizing their liberal subjectivity and by extension their personhood via moving towards the first world liberal democratic countries and to shun and cut off ties to the homeland, with the implication that asian cultures and societies are inherently ‘sexist’, ‘homophobic’, ‘racist’ and ‘unenlightened’. this does the work of ignoring the historical, political and socio-economic contexts of issues within asian societies and instead attributes these problems to our own heritage and ‘backwards’ culture. liberal rhetoric frequently dehumanizes the people who still remain in our countries, framing the high population count as ‘swarms’ or ‘brainwashed masses’ and our prioritization of the collective over the individual as ‘authoritarian’. although many liberals i meet would pay a lot of lip service to being pro-asian, their actual words reveal their continued subscription to yellow peril tropes disguised as concern for the poor yellows in their despotic homeland.

lena’s casual racism couched in her benevolence is way more pervasive than the blatant racism espoused by the racist lorry driver and measurehead. lena’s disability also factors as i could never be free from the racism within other marginalized communities, my encounters with queer communities being a prime example

#disco elysium #zee.txt

[subastian-swallows]

HLC ROMANCE — WHAT WE DESERVED

Sebastian Sallow — Head Empty, Thoughts

Hello, my fine friends. I had a thought and I desperately wish to relay it. SIMPLY because — adding romance into this game, would have been so freaking easy and I am mad. So here it is, my interpretation of Hogwarts Legacy if they had the BALLS to add romance. I have a great stand on this, because my two favourite games in the world are Dragon Age and Mass Effect and BOY DO THEY UNDERSTAND ROMANCE. ( ˘͈ ᵕ ˘͈♡)

So let us begin at the very beginning:

If you decide to be in Slytherin, you meet Sebastian in the Common Room. Already he shows clear indication that he is interested in you, albeit, because of your entrance into Hogwarts. Surviving a Dragon? Hello? Points already. If not, you meet him in DADA (officially), if you decide to do Charms first, well no interactions — apart from glances and amusement. WITH THIS: I will go from the DADA stand point, it's already pretty perfect. Sets up Sebastian, at first glance as a cocky, flirty guy. Easy. Having added conversational dialogue here, to tease him or flirt back, would have been easy to add. Such as: teasing his title of being a great duellist etc.

Now you have Hogsmeade. You choose Sebastian, obviously. Now I also believe this was pretty well done — it terms of setting up a friendship and more with Sebastian. HOWEVER, needed more. This is where we needed to see more from the cutscenes, the moment with the troll, flirty banter, PERFECT MOMENT FOR SEBASTIAN TO FLIRT HIS BUTT OFF. "So, you're not just a pretty face." Then with the Three Broomsticks and with Rookwood, it's already pretty good, I wish that the little moments of him looking at you were more obvious. He could have said more, which is the whole point of this post, SEBASTIAN COULD HAVE EASILY SAID MORE.

Pause of the quests to bring up gifts. It has been shown, that it was coded to have been a thing. SAD, that they got rid of it. This is a big thing in Dragon Age, especially in Origins. I think this would have been such a fun thing to do, to have, not only raise friendships — thus making friendships seem more real, rather than just, "hey we are besties now." Example: for Sebastian, it could be gifts you find on your journeys around the outskirts of Hogwarts. Books being a main factor, especially those that you find in Ashwinder camps.

Normal books: x10 romance points

Curse books: x30 romance points

Other small things could be used too. I also think shrivel figs could be something you could often give him, to slightly gain points. It being important to his quest with Anne.

Restricted Section. Hello, I hated how this couldn't have been more flirty LMAO. But I do think it did enough. Especially the ending, with him taking the fall for you. I would have loved to see more moments of him supporting you. Say a cutscene when you enter the restricted section and he holds you back from walking around the corner, before a ghost appears. Other than more flirty dialogue, this quest was pretty good. I still think that although Sebastian is flirty, it's not like he's head over heels for you....yet.

Undercroft, was also good, but like everything it could have been better. I like the idea of him telling you and risking Ominis being pissed, but I think it would have been better IF Ominis caught you both inside. More intense and fun. Before that, I think flirty dialogue could have fitted in so easily here, Sebastian complimenting your quick ability to learn spells, etc. He could also step in and take the heat for you from Ominis.

Meeting the family. Already a big step for a stranger, thus the gifting thing could have really come into play. Perhaps, you couldn't get this until he had a high enough romance level, would also make it seem more "real." This would have been a great place to add more dialogue to support Sebastian, if you wished. Stepping in or not being a complete observer. I understand it's the first time meeting his family, but I think being able to at least step in, would add points to Sebastian's romance. Talking to Anne also, getting insight on Sebastian, bringing it up later in other moments.

Scriptorium. HELLO, this whole quest screamed perfect opportunity for flirty banter. It had some and did well enough, but I would have loved to see more, seeing as at the point, your romance should have improved, point wise. More dialogue. When it's time to curse you, MORE EMOTION. This would have been interesting, if you could manage to get enough relationship points, I like the idea of making it a thing, that you could miss. If you have enough points, he would be more worried, support you to your feet, check you over. If you didn't, it would be like it is now in the game. The ending would be interesting too, if you had the points and maybe he could say something to you, or hug you.

Relic moment. Now I would love to say that having enough romance points would support this not happening, but it needed to happen for the plot, so we shall keep it. I would like to think the lead up to this was already pretty neat, flirty and such. BUT, we needed more, like literally everything else LMAO. When you get to the relic, I'd like to believe, with enough relationship points, you could make him hesitate, and although he takes it. HE, hesitated, meaning he considered what you thought. Being able to get Ominis to let you leave without using a spell, would give you huge relationship points. THIS I THINK WOULD HAVE BEEN NEAT, if you had to make sure at this point, Ominis and your relationship points were high enough, if not....RIP, and you lose points with Sebastian.

The Mine. RIP. I think it was pretty good. Should have been more intense, especially if your relationship was huge by this point. More relationship style dialogue. Making the moment he calls you ignorant, hurt more.

A BETTER APOLOGY BITCH WTF. I think the way he apologised was dumb, I hated it LMAO. If your relationship points were high enough, I think he should have apologised to you in person and more nicer than he did. BUT I do like the angsty, the relic is affecting him thing. The mountain quest was pretty neat, I like that he was a grumpy boy. This could have worked better with romance dialogue, and showing that you were hurt.

Solomon LOL. This would have been SO GREAT IF YOU COULD HAVE ROMANCE POINTS BECAUSE WHAT IF YOU COULD STOP HIM BEFORE IT ALL. Like look, I get killing Solomon, I get that it had to happen. But I like the idea of having romance points high enough to change people minds. In Dragon Age, if you have high enough points you can persuade people, THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THIS GAME UGH. I would have loved to be able to see Sebastian first and persuading him against this. THUS, not killing anyone and Sebastian not becoming a killer.

THE ENDING BITCH: Regardless of everything, when you meet Sebastian in the Undercroft, IT WAS THE PERFECT MOMENT AND OPPORTUNITY FOR A KISS OR HUG MOMENT. LIKE IT WAS THERE, I WAS WAITING FOR IT LMAO. SHOULD HAVE BEEN ADDED.

Bonus: A winter ball scene for shits and gigs, if you had enough romance points, you could ask him. If not he goes with someone else. RIP LMAO.

Alright my guys, this was random and I might have missed stuff, but overall, WE NEEDED ROMANCE AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN EASY.

#hogwarts legacy #sebastian sallow #hogwarts #sebastian x reader #sebastian sallow x you #sebastian sallow x y/n #sebastian sallow x slytherin!reader #sebastian sallow x mc #sebastian sallow x reader #hogwarts legacy sebastian #hogwarts legacy headcanons

[terrence-silver]

Hello 🖤 I love seeing your blog pop up in my feed, simply exquisite 🖤

I have a request. What would older Terry Silver do with an adult student who is rather boisterous in class, she listens but only when she wants, she's a smarty pants. Terry so wishes to teach her a lesson after many months of class passing, learning her mannerisms, learning HER. Ever the voyeur, finding her home, seeing what lies within when she's not home, Terry plans a little 'private lesson,' specifically for her at his home dojo. Ending with his gi sloppy on him, his hair a mess like the slut he is with his student underneath him with no mercy being shown. His student definitely listens to HIS wants and desires, eager to please.

Breaking Stone.

(Terry Silver x Reader)

---

-"How safe is this, Sensei? I mean, it’s solid rock."- 

Your voice speaks up from the gathered crowd and Terry Silver, he knew you’d have something to say without having to turn his back towards the mass of students keenly eyeing his demonstration in silence, standing jam packed in a circle around the erected board with a concrete block fastened to the center of the scaffolding propped up on iron legs, following his every word like a mantra only for him predict that your mouth will eventually move to utter something and dare interrupt him. Class fifty eight. A lesson on Brick Breaking. Tools necessary; pretty straightforward. A slab of rock and a fist. Additional spices; your usual commentary in the midst of it all. Happened almost daily. Happened to the degree it was a constant he could count on. -"We’ll break our hands on that."- You add with a sense of urgency and worry once the entirety of the exercise’s participants turn their eyes towards you, scrutinizing, weighing and accessing what you just blurted out and you tended to blurt out stuff frequently. Terry joins them in their quiet staring, finding a twitch of satisfaction stir through him once he realized you were jittery and stuttering, made self aware through the fact you were the sudden center of attention. Needing to justify yourself for placing the spotlight unto yourself, you blurt out some more bullshit. Nerves, was it? You deserved that. Deserved much worse for stepping out of line. -"What do we do in case we tear our ligaments punching the board?"- You ask, scratching the back of your head. Ligaments? Were you frightened of getting a boo-boo? At that point, Terry allows himself to turn his entire body towards you, taking his time, slowly --- painfully slowly --- looking straight ahead, towards you. You shift, from one bare foot on the mat to the other, like the stillness of everything around you gave you a sense of discomfort.

Stew in it. He hoped you'd stew in it.

-"Seems a bit extreme. Sorry."-

You chuckle, apologizing, looking down. Then back up.

Terry has to chuckle with you, neatly folding his hands in front of him.

A bit extreme? It was meant to be extreme.

-"Our student here thinks our methods are strange, but these classes aren’t mandatory."-

He simply shrugs matter-of-factly, addressing the people around him, all eyes leave you and pinning themselves in his direction instead, encircling him like a tightly closed ring, listening attentively, leaving you even more isolated in your folly. The great mother hen and the ducklings. The one, solitary ugly black duck that talked too much. -"Nobody’s here by force."- He explains, and contrary to popular belief, everyone here gave their signature of consent on a written contract. Terms. Conditions. Price rates. Health insurances. They showed up to daily classes because they wanted to, giving their hard earned money out of their own volition. He didn't go kidnapping people off of the streets of LA and harassing them into black Gi, in spite of what the likes of Larusso tried to accuse him of, same way not even Larusso himself was harassed into this, decades ago. -"Or are you all here by force?"- Terry purses his lips, looking around, enjoying this far too much to stop. In unison, they all speak up, one voice, stemming from one collective lung. -"No, Sensei!"- The dojo resonates with their shout. He tries again, spreading his arms, envisioning himself like Pontius Pilate about to wash his hands clean of you and let the crowds make their decisions. -"Why are you here for then?"- He inquires, raising his voice, encouraging them. Spurring them on. -"To learn, Sensei!"- Obeying, they repeat the motion, letting out a united cry and content, Terry squeezes his fingers into a fist once they all fall silent, all but an echo remaining, his other free hand caressing the concrete block in front of him, never taking his eyes off of you. At this point, with a mouth standing agape, forgetting you should've joined everyone in their jubilant war cry, you were as pale as a ghost. Not quite so chatty or smart anymore.

Perfect.

-"The lesson is —"- He begins. -"A true artist of the craft spends years, even decades just hitting things. Sand. Wood. Stone. Metal. Flesh."-

Terry coos, confessing, that he did, on occasion, imagine hitting you.

The sweetest thing he'd ever strike. Purely to shut you up, get you the way you were right now; As quiet as the dead; all gulps and anxious little eyes darting left and right. Preferably having you bent over his knee like an unruly child and taking the bamboo stick to you bare buttocks until they were rendered crimson red with punishment. After it was all done, he'd have you thanking him for the honor too. He smiles, just at the notion; an expression he doesn't bother hiding.

-"Having been broken so many times, it makes their bones so dense that when it comes in contact with solid rock, the rock breaks first."-

Terry digs his teeth into his lower lip, taking his stance and lunging forward suddenly, knuckles breaking through the barrier of the rock and crumbling, his fingers pushing through the crack he made on the other side. It was as simple as that. -"Asaa!"- He bellows and if the dojo was collectively holding it's breath, once he's done, the remains of sharp jagged tiny pebbles spilling on the mat under around his feet like so many rolling marbles, he senses an equally collective exhale. He can swear you weren't blinking at that point. What were you shocked by? The fact that he just smashed through a brick that weighed ten pounds like it was nothing or the implication he's broken his hand by choice so many times that he could pull shit like this in the first place? Maybe it wasn't smart to backtalk or question the methods of a person who could crush your windpipes in with merely just his thumbs. -"So, you see — breaking our fists, it’s part of the curriculum."- He shakes his head, staring you down, taking a couple of steps forward, until it was undeniable he was addressing you in particular; his infuriatingly Doubting Thomas, ignoring the students that wordlessly volunteered to clean up, scooting down to pick up the unfortunate remains of the rock slab, chirping away at the remains like a handful of chicks. -"This is part of what you signed up for when you came to this dojo. When you came to Cobra Kai."- He assesses firmly. -"You came to break with the old so the new and the improved could take its place."- He adds. Eventually, you'd have to bruise and break in those pretty little hands much like everyone else would and if you didn't have the guts to do that, you'd advance nowhere and your here would become fairly obsolete. Someone might as well tell you that upfront.

Even though, he confessed. The idea of a piece of rock breaking your hands?

Something shoots through him, like a radioactive phantasm of jealousy.

He wanted to do the breaking instead.

Not leave it up to an inanimate piece of training gear.

-"And if you can't imagine yourself doing that, you can always take up a knitting class."-

He adds, finally, earning himself a couple of amused chuckles.

Blood rushes into your cheeks.

Were you angry? Ashamed? Humiliated? Good.

—

Looking through your files was child's game after that.

He pretty much had everything he needed to know about you, printed in black and white in his own two hands, on the very exact form you filled the day you signed up for adulted classes six months ago; your home address, bank statement, contact number, email, age, place of employment, blood type in case an accident took place mid-training and a transfusion was needed on short notice. And yes, he's broken into your home before. Terry did it the first time you ever ran your mouth to backtalk him, asking if doing fifty consecutive push ups as warm was a smart decision because it was bound to leave everyone too exhausted to hold proper form and too distracted with tiredness to properly follow the class. He checked every drawer, every shelf, every nook, every cranny, supposing he wanted to find something he could spit on in indignation and discovering nothing more fitting but what he could only deduce was your framed graduation photograph, pursuing his lips and letting the saliva build up right before he hurled the spittle out of his mouth and right unto the glass inside of the frame, watching it trickle down your face, smearing it with his finger in retaliation, deciding the gesture was fitting punishment. If only he had a chance to do it with your actual face next. Spit in your mouth too, for refusing to shut up as it did. Spit in your mouth for missing three of your classes this week, like that was a thing you were allowed to do when you weren't. Did he tear into you verbally too hard last time? Was that it? Undoubtedly, but that still didn't give you permission to leave. He wanted you to come back so he could harass you some more, like you deserved to be harassed.

He knocks on your door, freshly having concluded this week's teaching.

Still in his Gi, jacket slung over his shoulders.

He did that on purpose, to make it seem like him coming here wasn't premeditated or something he tactically prepared for in advance, but rather, like a last minute decision he made in the utmost rush to the degree he didn't even have time to change out of his training attire, forgetful, overworked old man that he is. -"Who’s there!?"- Your concerned, slightly confused voice calls from the other end and he hears the keyhole clicking, only for your uncertain face to show up in the precipice of the doorframe illuminated by the warm light of your apartment's foyer looming like a halo behind you, brows practically jumping once you recognized him, appearing relieved. -"Sensei Silver!?"- You state in surprise, opening the door entirely, letting him step over the threshold, moving out of the way to usher him inside from the corridor. He tries not to seem too familiar with the territory, pretending not to know exactly where to stand; next to the shoe rack or the coat hanger. -"God. I’m so sorry. Got scared halfway to death!"- You place your hand over your chest, exhaling and smiling. Way too fidgety for someone who took Tang Soo Do classes. What were you afraid of? Of someone barging in and subduing you? -"What do I owe the honor of the visit! I didn’t expect anyone."- You shake your head, all charm. Of course he prepared an excuse for him being here and it comes in a form of a sleek pamphlet he produces from inside of his jacket, handing it to you. He had it printed, in bulk and giving out to everyone at the dojo solely so he could have a reason to give you one to you as well. -"The curriculum. For our future classes. I thought you might wanna look through it. Freshly printed."- Terry explains. He hoped you would've continued showing up, smart mouth you always were, but there you went, disappearing. If Muhammad wouldn't come to the mountain, the mountain would have to come to Muhammad.

-"You missed the last session so I brought it over personally. Where'd you go?"-

Terry feigns concern. He knew where you went. You were pegged down a notch.

Proceeded retreating with your tail behind your legs.

That's what you get for questioning him.

But, he didn't expect you to retreat quite so definitely.

Who'd you ask if you can do that? Did you ask anyone? Him?

You eyelashes flutter, like you were about to come up with an excuse.

-"I think you're right, Sensei. I mean, the whole Cobra Kai dojo scene, ---"-

You begin, looking away from him, vehemently staring at the pattern on the corridor carpet, holding the flyer with a sense of unease, like you weren't certain what to do with it. If you crumpled it up, he'd make you eat it. -"It ain't for me. I'm not cut out for it."- You confess, finally meeting his gaze, appearing a bit shy at the notion. He knew a tangent was incoming. Decides to let you have it. And knowing you, you wouldn't shut up any time soon in the next five minutes. -"I can't do any of those things you demonstrated last week. Break my bones on purpose? Smash through rocks? Ignore pain? I know when I'm out of my depth and there's no shame in admitting something ain't for me and gracefully moving on. What you said the last time --- you helped me see that. You really did."- You utter, in one solitary breath, and it takes everything within Terry not to laugh at you. So, humiliating in front of the whole class for interrupting him for the umpteenth time with some inane observation, you thought it was for your own good and that it made you see things more clearly? What? Was that why you left his dojo like it was a bus station? Did you really take up knitting as a hobby in the meantime as well? -"I had a great time studying these past few months under you, but I just can't continue."- You visibly gulp once he says nothing and you feel incentivized to further explain. You never had a problem with that before. Go ahead. He was giving you center stage to speak. So speak. -"I talk back. I interrupt. I question. I worry. I'm so sorry. I can't just let go and do it. Do what I'm supposed to do on the mat."- You add, your eyes widening, perhaps in anxiety, pupils dilating, looking back and forth between the surrounding furniture and the wall --- anywhere but at him. Why should he let you go? When it was so fun pushing your buttons? In fact, he decides you could use some more of that.

-"Do you like me?'-

He asks, bluntly. You take a step back, stammering.

-"Excuse me, sir?"-

-"I said, do you like me?"- He repeats himself, firmer.

Your mouth wordlessly forms a shape, but no sound comes forth.

You weren't certain what to say.

Finally.

You were speechless for once. That was a welcoming novelty.

-"Because, if you like me, you won't leave me here stranded, with one student less and waltz out impulsively, on such a short notice. That's not how things work. There's a price for that."-

He winds you up, deciding to stoke a fire and then immediately extinguish it, intending to fluster you for thinking what he led you to think, watching the abject shame settle into your expression like a newly formed wrinkle just because for a mere second, you thought this was a confession of something more than it was instead of a cleverly phrased and deliberately misguiding segway intended to put you on the spot and make you feel like an idiot with no listening comprehension. -"I'll pay everything I still own and ---"- You practically stumble over your words, clutching the pamphlet to your chest vigorously, like a shield, referencing unpaid lesson, trying to regain what little balance you had, visibly sweating bullets. Stoke the fire. Extinguish the fire. Stoke the fire. Extinguish the fire. Terry steps forward, shutting you up. Commanding you to stay silent. -"Don't talk."- He orders, flatly, putting up his hand alongside his finger as a warning and then coming closer still, until the tip of it is practically pushing against your mouth. You appeared flaggerbasted. Like you weren't sure what was going on, too shocked to actually move. This was why confusing people into a state of paralytic awkwardness was paramount in verbal warfare. He pushed his index finger between your lips and you still didn't move, letting him get away with it, too stunned for words. -"For once, listen. Don't speak."- He murmurs, staring at your mouth, pushing his nail inside, feeling your wetness and finding your tongue, frozen stiff, clasping it with his thumb and index finger and holding it, pulling on it, until you groaned, trying to mutely gibber and failing. -"This is the thing that always talked back. Can't talk back anymore, can it?"- He taunts and you shake your head with an expression that would place deer in headlights to shame, shivering vigorously.

You've seen what his hands could do. What his fists could do.

He could rip your tongue out of your skull and it would pose little issue.

He felt you knew that right about now.

Practically dangled by the tip of your mouth's organ. Your head slumping back.

Unable to release yourself, you slowly lower yourself, to your knees.

-"That's good."- Terry coos, pleased, watching you drool all over his hand.

-"Open that pretty little mouth of yours and use it for something really valuable for a change."-

He purrs, even as his fingers go fidgeting, lower his Gi's trousers, loosening the obi around his waist, pulling his cock out of his briefs, showcasing it to you so the state of the situation would settle in. He'd hatefuck your mouth. He was already hard. Already dripping precum. Almost like the very act of coming here and pestering you served to do it for him as he, without much deliberation, pushed himself inside of your lips, taking in the sloppy, receptive moisture, enjoying the symbolism of the flyer he's given you falling next to you on the floorboard until you were practically kneeling atop of it. -"Perfect."- He hums, praising. -"You've been badgering and badgering and I can't tell you how many times I thought about interrupting class and just giving it to you, in front of everyone, right there, in the middle of the dojo. Let them all see what happens when someone questions Terry Silver and his methods."- Now it was his turn to make some confessions, fingers tangling into your hair, coiling into a fist, making you look at him with your watering, teary eyes. He amps up his pace, bobbing your head back and forth for you, using your tresses as reins. Look how you've infected him. Now he was the one rambling and loving it. -"But, I wanted the occasion to be something special. Someplace I could really savor it --- and what better place than right under your very own roof."- He closes his eyes, smiling, enjoying the sensation of tense pleasure building up in his gut, right before looking down at you with your brows furrowed. You were just now realizing this was premeditated. Poor you. -"Oh, don't look at me like that. Don't think I haven't been in here before. Been here a thousand times."- He chuckles into his own chin, moaning. Of course he's desecrated something miniscule every time you talked back as an elaborate form of revenge and violation, like wiping his cock on the curtain after masturbating on your bed. Nothing was for free. Disrespect certainly wasn't.

-"And you'll be seeing a lot more of me just yet. Don't think this is over. Don't think you can disassociating with Cobra Kai and me on a whim. You can't."-

He flat out threatens, his hips rutting vigorously against your head.

You thought this was a game?

You sign up to his dojo for like six months and call it quits when things get hard?

Cobra Kai was a brotherhood. A society. Not an extracurricular pastime or a hobby.

That's what people weren't getting. He didn't want them to just yet.

But you? He'd was breaking the news to you hard and fast in the flesh.

-"You belonged to me from the moment you met me and put on the Gi and you'll belong to me until your dying breath."-

He grits his teeth, shaking, seething, feeling his tresses slide out of his ponytail and unto his forehead in an unruly mess, satisfaction coiling in his groin imaging you returning to the dojo on Monday, dressed in your uniform, all neat and proper, your attitude curbed and kept only for special occasions, releasing suddenly, just at the thought that he owned you, hearing you gurgle from the floor, droplets of his cum trickling down your chin and leaking unto the Cobra Kai pamphlet on the parquet in front of you. No, no. That wouldn't do. Not a single ounce wasted. -"Swallow."- Terry orders, catching his breath, scrutinizing you as you did so, still holding your hair, yanking forward suddenly, his cock falling out of your mouth, giving you leeway to breathe again and you do, gasping with sharp inhales of breath, a bubble of saliva popping between your lips as you rolled back to sob and cough. Pathetic. Eager to serve. So you were capable of shutting the fuck up, letting go and getting lost in an action after all? You were teachable. He knew you would be. Much like the rock slab on the training dummy, though, you needed to be broken in first. Terry slides his hand across the top of his head, slicking loose hair strands back, lifting up his finger to threaten and warn once again. Remind, in case you've forgotten. Had your brains scrambled in all sorts of awkward and unlikely directions. -"So, you better not miss out on any of my classes ever again or I'll have a reason to hold a very, very big grudge. Especially if you don't show up and break that stone like I've taught everyone to do. Understood?"-

-"Yes, Sensei."- You manage desperately, drooling, nodding your head.

#terry silver #old man terry #kk3 #cobra kai #terry silver x reader #terry silver x beloved #tw; dubious consent #tw; teacher and student #tw; facefucking #tw; hatefucking #tw; stalking #tw; manipulating #tw; mind games #tw; all the warnings

[marimayscarlett]

Another list of unrealistic wishes for the 2024 tour

Back at it again with the delusional takes and here to make it everyone elses problem - a very warm welcome to volume 2 of our wishes for the upcoming Rammstein tour ✨ This time again carefully put together by @wizzardclown @gothtoast and me, with additional wonderful influences by my dear @m---e---l. Thank you ladies 🤍

(Read our first list here and please consider checking out the great suggestions in the notes!)

Set list and concert organisation in general

first up, the question of the supporting act: -> either not happening in general, since none of us actually want to endure another round of the piano tinkling, so we though about this concept:

This way, we get an even longer concert with no distraction from the pure Rammstein sound.

-> or, another idea which came to mind: to celebrate the literary-genius Flake, he could give us a reading of one of his books before the concert, lighten up the mood and feeding the masses with entertaining facts. Additionally, Richard could play some piano in the background during it, for dramatic effect (like the piano accompaniment during silent movies back in the old days).

Opener for the concert this year: 'Haifisch'. Would be an amazing and appreciative nod towards the fans in regards to the support the band was shown last year.

'Zwitter': a banger to set the sexual ambiguous mood for the evening.

'Mein Land': Not sure if they every played this one live, but it would be a fitting song to get some summer vibes going.

for sunset rather fittingly 'Sonne'.

Off to the first proper segment, welcome to the 👻haunting hour👻: fitting for the upcoming night time, a creepy conglomerate consisting of: -> 'Wilder Wein' (I could write a whole chapter about this song, it's so captivating), followed by 'Spieluhr' -> 'Hilf mir': perfect for some new haunting stage show (maybe as a replacement for 'Puppe'; or to quote @wizzardclown: 'When in doubt, set Flake on fire') -> 'Heirate mich': preferably with some 'sliding on his knees/a rolling board'-Till -> to end this phase with a classic: 'Du riechst so gut' is an absolute MUST.

following: 'Rein Raus', some relaxing ASMR to lighten the mood.

Welcome to the next section: 🔥Some like it hot🔥, consisting of: -> 'Wollt ihr das Bett in Flammen sehen': camera focus has to be on Schneider. -> 'Asche zu Asche' with burning mics (!). -> 'Du hast' with its fire rockets (my favourite pyro in the whole concert) because no Rammstein concert can exist without this song, that's a physical law, and additionally Richard would be sad if he couldn't play it. -> 'Engel' preferably with the iconic wings (poor Till really has to go all in during this concert).

as a moment to take a breather: Mutter.

'Deutschland': a song we all wait for, with a huge meaning, just overall a perfect piece - yet no remix this time, since we need the time to slide right into the next phase of the concert:

💗questionable on-stage actions and homoerotica galore💗, consisting of: -> 'Mein Teil', with dilf dad-dance moves AND several guitarist kisses (what better moment than the dick eating song for it) -> 'Zick Zack' with at least some sort of elaborate costumes, -> 'Feuerräder', for the perfect vibe with Flake riding on Till's back, neon tube ready to knock seven bells out of his tormentor (justice for Flake), additionally maybe Oliver skating with his roller skates which emit flames in the background and more guitarist kisses

after this breathtaking segment, how about some 'Anna'-sing along! Scream the name of your fave on the top of your lungs and show your love for him 💘

finally some unrealistic (as if the whole list isn't a fever dream already) wishes : 'Eifersucht' and 'Fellfrosch'. To finally give Olli's sick bass lines the stage they deserve 😤

2. some more outfit ideas

long hair Schneider with his handband, because this was a look:

leg belts for Richard 🖤

and last but not least, this is a PSA: If Frau Schneider makes an appearance and decides to grace us with her presence, consider everything on this list to be obsolete. Seeing the mother again would be the greatest joy of all, we don't need anything more 🙇🏼‍♀️🙏🏼

#rammstein #rammstein tour 2024 #maybe i should turn this post in a pdf and send it to the r+ managment. maybe we'd have some luck with our improvement suggestions #this post was brought to you by Lesben für Rammstein e.V. #delusional take but ha. watch me i say anything on this site #what a weekend with david lynch lemonade too much pasta and wonderful company can bring

[pythagoras180]

Why I Hate Adrien

So a few people have asked me why I hate Adrien so much. I've given it some thought, and I've realized that my hatred comes from 3 sources:

1. Adrien is a passive, useless character and a waste of screentime.

Adrien is a very passive character. He doesn't really have goals that he works towards outside of romance. He doesn't feel like a real person with a real life. He's just an object for the actual main characters to fight over. And to be clear, not every character needs to be active or well developed, but thei screentime should correspond to this. Adrien takes up a massive amount of screentime in the show. And since he ended up being worthless, I feel like he personally wasted my time by appearing so much. His screentime could have instead been used to develop the other characters.

2. Adrien is a creator's pet.

While Adrien doesn't really do anything in the show, I think I still may have felt bad for the character if I felt like this was because the writers didn't like him or something. Thing is, Adrien is the complete opposite, as the writers are clearly biases *for* him at every turn. He's almost always portrayed as right, even in situations where he clearly isn't. "Chameleon" clearly portrayed his "advice" about Lila as good, even though anyone with basic respect for their peers wouldn't be okay with letting them be lied to. There's episodes like "Kuro Neko", where Adrien is very clearly in the wrong amd being unreasonable, yet he's still clearly framed like we're supposed to feel bad for him. Part of the reason he has so much screentime is because the writers love to insert him in every situation they can. Even his status as a passive character can be considered as the writers favoring him. They think he shouldn't have to do anything because he's such a precious boy, so everyone should just do everything for him. I'm not inclined to like a character that I feel is getting special treatment just because of who they are.

3. Adrien does horrible things.

Those last 2 points definitely provide potential for me to dislike a character, but I don't think it's possible for me to actually do so if that character hasn't done anything wrong. Well, despite what the writers want you to believe, Adrien has absolutely done a lot of horrendous things. There's the fact that he continued being friends with Chloé despite her remorseless bullying of Adrien's "friends". He keeps trying to date Ladybug despite her repeatedly rejecting him, to the point where it's straight up harassment. This culminates in "Kuro Neko", where he quits his job of protecting the city because he keeps getting rejected (again, this is portrayed as symptomatic). Like I mentioned before, he tells Marinette to let Lila continue lying to everyone else. And why does he do this? I honestly don't know, and neither does anybody else. There's no rationalization for this moment. But the point is, Adrien put Lila above everyone else for some reason. He also emotionally cheated on Kagami, hurt her feelings, and barely cared afterward. He didn't have to do anything to make up with her, that just worked out on its own. He tried to Cataclysm multiple people despite knowing that it can be fatal, and the only time he displays real remorse over it is when Monarch is on the receiving end. Oh, but he only feels bad for like a minute, then he's fine (I believe that that was just to make Ladybug's exposition about not being able to fix it fee more natural, he wouldn't have shown any remorse if that wasn't necessary). Oh, and then there's that one moment in "Passion" where he pretends not to know what the consequences of making a wish is and tried to convince Ladybug to let him make one. If she said yes, he would have sacrificed somebody else to heal Nathalie. The show has made it clear that this is morally wrong. To me, this is the moment where Adrien became irredeemable. Also, in the Paris Special we find out that Adrien became a mass murdering supervillain in an alternate universe because he's sad that his mom died. He didn't have any grander plan, not scheme to bring her back like Gabriel did. Nope, he just killed people because he was sad, that's how they presented it. I know that this is technically a different person, but the alternate characters from tbe special are meant to be pretty close to the originals, just with different circumstances. So I think this shows who Adrien really is deep down. So yeah, I think Adrien is one of the most despicable "good guy" characters ever.

So that's the reason I hate Adrien, in 3 parts. I wouldn't hate him nearly as much if it wasn't for all 3 components. Kind of a perfect storm really, and I don't think I'll ever hate another character this much, for this reason.

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #adrien salt #ml salt #ml writers salt

[neotomiccccc]

🐓 Headcanons: Shane's past 🌶️

The following is all just my opinion and personal headcanons on Shane's life before moving to stardew valley :) Marnie remarks in canon that he only moved in a few months before the farmer did, so it seems like a lot went on for him before then!

TWs for: child neglect, alcohol abuse, death, grief, depression, suicidal ideation

LONG POST ..

🐥Childhood🐥

Shane was.. unplanned. His parents had a rather unstable marriage, and no desire for a child. It happened anyway.

Shane's childhood was rocky from day one. Neither parent really wanted to look after him, because neither of them had ever really wanted him. He was often just left to his own devices or to a babysitter.

Both of his parents had an alcohol problem. They would fight over it frequently, and had very unhealthy attitudes toward it.

After their fights, his mother would usually go out drinking, and his father would usually drink and watch TV. Drinking as a way of "coping" was something that Shane was repeatedly exposed to in his youth. He was never really shown any healthy coping mechanisms.

Occasionally, he'd get dropped off at Marnie's when his parents went away for a night or weekend. Shane and Marnie had a good relationship and Marnie grew to regret not being able to have him more often as a child. Shane's parents didn't like to make the trip to Stardew Valley too often, but Marnie wished she could have seen him more.

Other than occasionally taking care of Shane, Marnie and Shane's parents had practically cut ties. Marnie never really got along with her sister and when Marnie realised how terrible a mother she was being, that was the final straw.

At school, Shane didn't have many friends. Since his parents had never bothered to properly socialise him, he had his social anxiety set in very early and found it difficult to interact with other kids at school. Despite not having many friends, he was never really bullied either. Kids sort of instinctively knew not to mess with him.

If his 2nd grade teacher had to describe Shane, they'd have said he was very quiet, reclusive and withdrawn, but was creative with a spectacular imagination.

Throughout his life, Shane brought home consistently average grades. Usually C's and B's, maybe an occasional D here and there.

After school, Shane liked to practice playing gridball. He was always a part of the school gridball team, and his teachers always noted it was the only time anyone saw him come out of his shell.

He would also go home and watch gridball on TV as often as he could. Sometimes his dad would be watching it in the living room with a beer, and Shane would lurk in the corner, intently watching the game too.

Shane's favourite player and hero played for the Zuzu city tunnelers and wore the number 2. He idolised this player and often imagined what it'd be like if this player was his dad instead.

🐔Teenage years🐔

During his teenage years in school, Shane didn't change much. He brought home average grades, stayed quiet and reclusive, and kept out of people's way.

During this time, his egg cracked and he socially transitioned, alleviating a lot of the dysphoria he'd been experiencing. He also came out to his parents, who were almost completely apathetic to it. Shane figured this was a win, it was better if they didn't care.

He continued playing gridball and would go for long runs when he wasn't playing. He gained a good amount of stamina and gained a good amount of muscle mass during this time.

He didn't really speak to or see Marnie during this time. She sent him birthday cards but that was about the limit of their communication.

During this time, he became very close friends with two of his classmates. The trio all loved sports and could be seen training together pretty often.

🐔 16-20 🐔

At this age, Shane became almost totally independent from his parents. He stopped speaking to them completely, and rarely even saw them. He wasn't home much and neither were they.

At high school, he maintained his strong friendship with the two classmates. His two friends became a couple, but Shane was never treated as a third wheel. He was still their best friend and the three did many things together.

Occasionally, Shane would sneak out with them and go for drinks. Despite being young, he would sometimes stay out all night and go to parties.

Shane was formally a member of his high school's gridball team. He was a well loved player and talented at that. His entire team loved him.

Shane fondly looks back on this period as one of the best times in his entire life. He wishes things afterwards could have been different.

🐓Twenties🐓

Straight after high school ended, Shane moved out. More accurately, his parents kicked him out, claiming that he could afford to look after himself.

Because of this, Shane crashed with his two friends for a while. This lasted until he found a job and had enough money to rent a small place.

When Shane was still in his early twenties, one of the two friends became pregnant, and nine months later gave birth to baby Jas. The couple formally made Shane her godfather.

As Jas grew, Shane slowly became involved in her life. Starting in his mid twenties, his friends would sometimes have her stay at Shane's house while they went out. Jas loved Shane a lot, and he would teach her how to play gridball, or let her stay up late to watch movies. He was kind of her cool uncle.

It was on one of these nights that a serious accident took place. Jas' parents were both killed in a freak accident, and Shane's life was changed forever.

It turned out that Shane was the only person who had been named to take custody of Jas should anything happen. He took her in, of course, but he'd never be the same again.

Shane was in a perpetual state of shock. He didn't know how to handle himself. His only close friends were dead, he had to grieve somehow, and now he had to take care of a child that he loved but wasn't prepared for.

The next few years were extremely rough, and one of the worst periods of Shane's life. He started drinking heavily to cope with the loss, having never been shown any other ways of dealing with sadness. He was always kind to Jas, but he had to put in more and more hours at work to sustain the both of them. He'd needed a bigger apartment so that Jas could have extra space, but he couldn't afford the rent and was quickly going bankrupt due to low wages and his brain steadily becoming addicted to alcohol.

Shane had a major breakdown when he realised what was happening to him. He waited until Jas had gone to bed, and broke down sobbing in his apartment for the loss of his friends, the loss of control, the loss of his health, financial stability, and the loss of his entire life.

Shane had become very very depressed - the illness had come on rapidly, and he couldn't bring himself to do basic necessities like brushing his teeth or getting up on time for work anymore. He dreaded becoming like his own parents, but all he saw in the mirror was his mother and father staring right back at him.

At some point, Shane began to consider suicide. It was a nagging thought in the back of his mind, a quick escape. He had no plan at this point, but it was always on his mind.

He hit a breaking point one freezing winter night when he could no longer pay his rent and realised he was going to be evicted, and called the only person that he thought might be able to help him. His aunt Marnie.

Marnie was shocked to hear the deep, gruff voice on the other end of the phone - she hadn't seen her Nephew since he was little, so it was an even bigger surprise when he was standing at her door, with a couple of suitcases, dark, sunken in eyes, straggly hair and a face that could only be described as entirely miserable.

Of course, Marnie welcomed Shane and Jas best she could, and let her nephew know that the new superstore to the right of the village was hiring. Shane quickly applied and started working at Jojamart.

Shane's life became monotone from there, but at least it was stable. At least Jas was safe, and at least he had a job. His depression went untreated and steadily worsened, but you know that...

Little did he know, Shane's life was about to take a dramatic turn one more time when a new farmer would move into town, just north of aunt Marnie's ranch...!

#shaneposting #sdv shane #stardew valley shane #rambling #headcanons #sdv headcanons #stardew valley headcanons #i hope you guys liked this lol it feels good to write down my unnecessarily detailed hcs #i try to stick to what the game hints at as much as i can :] #tldr: this man has lived a tragic life

[piedpiperslists]

heyyyyyyy wondering if you have a list of innocent oc/experienced jk or the other way around fics recs

Hi. I'm going to assume you mean experienced in sex? These fics I included aren't necessarily innocent x experienced, but more of them being "inexperienced".

This is over 25 fics, so I put it under the cut.

* s - contains smut sm - social media format

Inexperienced!Reader:

Love Me by mono-moonchilds - drabble (s) / producer's daughter!reader, idol au Summary: Girl, I fuck who I want and fuck who I don’t. Got that A1 credit and that fillet mignon. She said, “I never wanna make you mad I just wanna make you proud.” I said, “Baby just make me cum, Then don’t make a sound.”

Angel by pixieknj - one shot (s) / wc~5.2k / fuckboy!Jungkook, university au Summary: After giving your virginity to the university’s most notorious fuckboy, he’s on a mission to slut your innocent ass out and take all that he can get... [or] small collection of fuckboy JK turning you out...

First & Last by kookiesjoonies - one shot (s) / wc~4.2k / friends to lovers Summary: During a game of never have I ever, Jungkook finds out that you haven’t had your first kiss yet and decides to show you how it’s done.

Milestone by 1kook - one shot (s) / wc~8.2k / brother's best friend Summary: Part of you is touched that Jungkook really has been there for every milestone in your life. The other part wishes he hadn’t shown up looking so ridiculously sexy.

No Longer Strangers by soft4gguk - one shot (s) / wc~9.4k / strangers to lovers, PWP

Pop Goes the Cherry by 1oserjk - one shot / wc~3.8k / angst, brother's best friend Summary: Jungkook comes back home to find you visiting as well, all grown up — in more ways than one.

Strictly Platonic by jeonqkooks - one shot (s) / wc~19.4k / friends to lovers, fake dating, college au Summary: Sometimes, Jungkook can be a little selfish; and sometimes, the lengths you would go to for his happiness mean relinquishing your own.

Practice by chryblossomjjk - series (s) / fuckboy!Jungkook, FWB, college au Summary: You usually spend Friday nights on your own. Tonight, however, your friend and campus fuckboy, Jungkook, decides to pay you a visit.

Ruin You by bts-bay-bee - series (s) / FWB Summary: Best friend!JK teaches you the basics of sex, and essentially ruins you for anyone else.

Shiver by hansolmates - series (s) / bad boy!Jungkook, church girl!reader, childhood friends to lovers, FWB Summary: Your childhood crush Jeon Jungkook has changed since he moved out of his small town church community and attended college. When he returns for a Christmas mass, you suddenly crave a taste of his fun and carefree life. In exchange, Jungkook craves a taste of you.

Inexperienced!Jungkook:

Close the Distance by hearts4joon - one shot (s) / wc~13.5k / college au, neighbors au Summary: Two different adults, living two completely separate lives — in the same neighborhood. A guy who’s overbearing mother makes him carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. A girl who’s parents are all too drawn to her younger siblings to even give her the time of day. While the two fall in an unlikely relationship (very unlikely), they still ravish each and every part of one another in every way — the best of attention, the one they both craved all their lives.

Curiosity by hobidreams - one shot (s) / wc~3.6k / best friend's brother, college au Summary: When innocent Jungkook comes to you with a not-so-innocent question… you decide it’s easier to just demonstrate.

Ghosts Just Wanna Have Fun by sugaxjpg - one shot (s) / wc~20k / med school au, psychic au Summary: When Jungkook discovered that he could communicate with dead people, the last thing he expected was that they would be there to give him romantic advice.

Gotcha by whatifyoulivelikethat - one shot (s) / wc~11k / childhood friends to lovers, college au Summary: The color blue. Two white hairpins. “Hey, Jungkook.” A laugh with shaking shoulders that Jeon Jungkook thought he would hear and see forever. Hey, Jungkook. But then those words became a memory, until she was standing in front of him again, sporting the title of “Virgin Killer” and Min Yoongi by her side. Was this his second chance or just another memory?

I Want to Have Sex by jeongi - one shot (s) / wc~7.2k / established relationship Summary: You plan on taking your boyfriend, Jungkook’s, virginity tonight.

Infatuated by namsjunies - one shot (s) / wc~3k / university au

Need to Know by pixieknj - one shot (s) / wc~4.4k / virgin!Jungkook, friends to lovers Summary: Jungkook’s tired of you teasing him…

The Virgin Volume by kpopfanfictrash - one shot (s) / wc~6.8k / angst, college au Summary: The story of how The Rich Man’s Crochet Club Jungkook lost his virginity. Prequel to The Monogamy Monologues.

Here's more Inexperienced!Jungkook but I keep getting an error, so I had to break up the list

Will You Make a Mess Now? by softyoongiionly - one shot (s) / established relationship, college au Summary: Jungkook’s never been touched before and, after a hectic end to his semester, he thinks he wants that to change… Can I Make a Mess Now? by softyoongiionly - one shot (s) / established relationship, college au Summary: Jungkook’s never had sex before but, after realizing that he’s falling in love with you, he thinks he wants that to change.

Twelve Hours by whatifyoulivelikethat - two shots (s) / film director!Jungkook, burlesque dancer!reader Summary: You have twelve hours to make Jeon Jungkook fall in love with you. He's about to get married. You're the entertainment at his bachelor party - a burlesque dancer. Long ago, he used to be the class representative and you used to be the class delinquent. Nothing has changed and, yet, everything has.

For Science by boymeetsweevil - series (s) / nerd!Jungkook, friends to lovers, FWB, college au Summary: Jungkook asks you to let him watch you get off. For science.

Love Formula by kimnjss - series (s sm) / shy boy!Jungkook, fuckgirl!reader, college au Summary: You’re barreling into his life when he least expects it, stealing all his attention until the nights spent studying are replaced with rolling around the sheets. He’s hopelessly romantic and you’re in it for the fun, but no one told you it would ruin your life.

One Time, In Your Room by ubemango - series (s) / established relationship, college au Summary: There are papers to write, and virgins to daydream about. (You can think about Jeongguk’s dick later.)

Both Inexperienced:

Taste the Feeling by 94hixtape - drabble (s) / established relationship, PWP Summary: Masturbation + Bodily fluids.

But We Loved Too Young by jl-micasea-fics - one shot (s) / wc~10.4k / childhood friends to lovers Summary: Jungkook is everything you’re not, the ying to your yang. Your tight knit friendship nurtured from childhood survived the major life events that most don’t, and to that end, you suppose you’re fated to be together, until unrequited longing is eventually noticed, and boundaries are forever crossed.

Helping Hand by minlucent - one shot (s) / wc~3k / ft KSJ, boyfriend!Jungkook, PWP Summary: You and your boyfriend are inexperienced in terms of sex. It is decided that the best way to fix that is to have a little help from a friend.

The Fuckbuddy Code of Conduct by yoongiphoria - one shot (s) / wc~2.7k / fuckbuddy!Jungkook, lawyer!reader, FWB Summary: A little experiment between you and your fuckbuddy leads to an unexpected confession.

#fics ask #fic rec

[onomatopagu-et-cie]

The Killing Vote (ep. 7 notes)

The Killing Vote (ep. 1-5 notes) The Killing Vote (ep. 6 & overall notes) The Killing Vote: more on Joohyun, Kwon Seokju & Kim Muchan

I don’t know if you saw, but they announced episode 8 will be out next week on October 5th……….. After THIS preview no less, you’ve got to be kidding me aaaaaaaa (PД`q。 ) ·。 ' ゜

This got again really long, sorry again!!!!

Have a nice week!

(SPOILERS UP TO EPISODE 7!!!!)

Let Jihoon, Joomin, Joohyun, KMC & KSJ get their happy found family ending (இ﹏இ`｡) Put them in a slice of life, far far away from this noir genre plsssssss

I appreciated the fact that no explicit violence (except when BWT was beaten up by Min Jiyoung's family & KMC) was shown on screen ie. for Narae nor her dog ; the violence implied from all the scenes were more than enough already (eg. the video on KSJ ; the audio recording Narae’s voice)... ! And by the way, Park Sungwoong's acting in this episode!!!!!! I also loved how KMC’s character was shown trying to maintain a composure/restraint (his voice damn) in front of KSJ’s grief.

And the Jihoon & Joohyun scenes were GREAT!! Joohyun sounds like that sister you can naturally rely on!

(She needs to live, you hear me?!)

(Don’t read the new OST’s lyrics you are warned haha, it was beautifully played for Jihoon’s scene and the lyrics could also very well apply to KMC & KSJ in KMC’s pov!)

♦ September 15, 2015 (Lrae091515)

Narae disappeared on September 15, 2015… Just like how the video test is titled!

OH and something I missed!!! In the first post I mentioned the video test title, I wondered if it could refer to both Narae and Dies Irae (since Mozart’s Requiem was played in ep4):

As for the ‘Lrae’… It could be a wild WILD guess but ‘Lrae’ could be ‘irae’ as in Dies Irae/day of wrath (capital i looks like a lowercase L), which is a sequence in Requiem mass!

But the capital L could also stand for the korean letter ᄂ/니은 (nieun), which is the first letter for Narae/나래. Added to the ‘rae’, it gives ‘Narae091515’.

♦ The items in LMS’s room & his ring

Some of the items that were in the display case in LMS’s hidden room were revealed in this episode (from left to right):

KSJ’s suitcase

KSJ’s book he signed for LMS

KSJ’s mug, which is seen carried in the present by:

Jihoon (we only see him retrieve it from the deliveryman)

LMS (a whole collection)

This Gaetal in ep4 with this particular red mug when they rage as the public opinion is shaken because KMC was believed to be dead.

The picture with Narae seems to have been taken the day of the conference shown at the beginning of the episode. LMS probably stole the picture because it was a significant day to him ie. when he met KSJ in person.

Also, about the ring, LMS had it even in the flashbacks (picture to the right). Could it be some device to send him a reminder to take his medicine?

♦ More on shame

Something I wanted to add to what I said in a previous post (‘On the frames facing down (ep. 1 & 6), shame and guilt’): when KSJ visited his house in the present thanks to Joohyun, he only dusted off Narae’s picture to face her stuffed bunny.

Ep7 showed the other frame was a picture of KSJ and her, so it could show how he still strongly feels he failed her as her father:

♦ Narae, Joomin and Jihoon

FINALLY a bittersweet but hopeful? (I don’t care if it’s wishful thinking, let me hope okay ;;) parallel that’s clearly the opposite of ep4 & 6’s framing, the new OST (Aalia, Blue) was a perfect addition, it was soothing:

♦ The third person meeting with Narae and KSJ

(1) « She »

At the beginning of the episode, Narae met KSJ and said a ‘she’ couldn’t join them for dinner according to the subtitle translation when I watched.

(I’m unfortunately not able to watch on Prime, so I’m not sure if it’s fansubs or the Prime translation ; I wanted to use my free trial to watch the drama and other series, but it’s region-locked in my country and I don’t have a VPN ;;)

The gendered pronoun is an addition of the translation as the original exchange omitted any indication on the subject.

Most of the time [in Korean] the subject is implied, and you would rather address someone by their title or name (with an honorific if need be) depending on your relationship eg. Joohyun calls KMC 팀장님/team leader and KSJ 교수님/professor, Joomin calls her sister 언니/big sister. Note: but it can also be used by a female speaker for an older woman she’s close to eg. a friend, a girlfriend (like 형 = younger man -> older man ; 오빠 = younger woman -> older man or 누나 = younger man -> older woman).

This is how Narae and KSJ’s conversation went:

« — 왜 혼자 왔어? / Why did you come alone? — 또 먼저 갔지. 오늘도 할일이 엄청 또 많대. / [They] left early again. [They] said [they] had a lot of things to do today too. — 셋이 같이 저녁을 먹을랬는데. (…) / I’d hoped the three of us could have dinner together. »

Nothing in this exchange hints at the identity of the person that accompanied Narae. KSJ only mentions the three of them (셋이), nothing else.

(Of course, translating this exchange could be really tricky because it’s about a context that only Narae and KSJ are privy of and we’re unfamiliar to, how to introduce a character we potentially know nothing of?)

But the conversation shows:

— That person usually accompanied Narae to see her father (and probably picked her up from school first & walked the dog together) ; that explains why the subject is omitted in the conversation because it’s implied from their daily life.

— They sounded like an adult habitually swamped with what looks like a usually time-consuming work (which excludes Jihoon)

— They seemed close enough to both Narae & KSJ (who jokingly says it’ll be a father-daughter date if they don’t come), dinner with them sounded customary.

— We know it couldn’t be about KSJ’s ‘late wife’ as Min Jiyoung comments ‘It must be hard for him to raise a girl by himself’ as they’re driving home from the conference.

— It has been highlighted twice already how hard, to society/KSJ’s surroundings, raising a girl by himself must be: first with Min Jiyoung’s housekeeper in ep5 (‘They felt sorry for me for raising my daughter alone, so they would share food with me sometimes.’), then Min Jiyoung herself in ep7. Whoever that was, this person also might've helped KSJ to raise Narae unbeknownst to everyone else.

So it was supposed to be someone close to the two of them.

(2) Kim Muchan?

In the same episode, when KMC said Choi Jinsu knew what kind of relationship he had with KSJ, CJS later described it as a ‘close relationship’ (가까은 사이), the same adjective KSJ uses to describe KMC in the present (see in a previous post the notes on 가깝다).

KMC is also the one shown in the very next scenes working hard to bust drug scenes (to the point of eating those painkillers like it’s popcorn). It’s also highly likely the other cases we saw on the news were also recklessly solved by him. (Also the ‘Lives Here.’ on the mirror is a fitting detail to his workaholic side!)

He's still the same in the present and brings work at home. Even though he gets around the law to arrest culprits, the reputation he has now can also attest to the fact he’s still relentlessly absorbed by his work.

This was indeed how Jodan described KMC to Joohyun:

« (…) aka. Wipeout. Pressuring criminals to admit more crimes. Making a case bigger to take more credit. He somehow makes cases into special ones. That’s how he made his way up to Seoul from the south. The master of promotions. (…) Based on his arrest rate, he should be at the top, but those up there must hate him. »

And KMC was close enough to KSJ and Narae to firmly believe Narae would never run away from home, like family would say ; KSJ was the only person he trusted and looked up to.

Not to mention KSJ was completely tensed as Choi Jinsu interrogated him but relaxed once KMC took over, letting out a sigh of relief and dropping his guard to cry.

EDIT: KMC also knew calling KSJ 'hyung' instead of 'Professor' would eventually make him react, as he was lifeless and caught in his thoughts so far.

(3) How long did KMC know KSJ?

KSJ began teaching at KNPU in 2008, which means KMC and him must’ve known each other for at least 7+ years (it’d be 15+ years in the present): ‘Have you forgotten? I said I’d be your number one fan. I said that at your first lecture at KNPU.’

Also KSJ is 44 years old btw, I missed that detail in ep4 when KMC checked his files!

♦ Relationships conveyed through pictures

It’s interesting how the drama keeps highlighting the importance of KSJ and KMC’s relationship, but there’s (yet) no picture to materialize this truth in people’s eyes, while the other significant relationships are framed in the drama:

-> Joohyun’s family portrait and a picture of Joohyun and Joomin in the present.

-> KMC picture with someone who might be his mother.

-> Many pictures of KSJ and Narae filled the house’s walls and the furniture and there was a picture of Narae and Jihoon with the handmade bunny toys hanging on their backpack.

And even though nobody might’ve heard of KSJ adopting Jihoon soon at the time (except KMC), he was present in Narae’s drawings by her and KSJ’s side. And he also drew the three of them together.

-> Min Jiyoung’s family portrait was ostentatiously exhibited in the past & is still used to build her image for her campaign. But there’s also a small portrait with only her and LMS at her apartment in the present.

KSJ and KMC’s relationship evades common portrayal. (Not to mention family portraits are often shown in dramas to foreshadow underlying dynamics between its members!)

The only picture we were shown of them was on the day KSJ was sent to prison:

♦ KSJ’s health and military service

On KSJ’s resume (first picture), you can see he was exempted of military duty.

Indeed, what’s written on the left column under his military status is 미필 (incompletion, if he had been discharged after completing his military duty, it would be written 군필), and the rank and service term columns are empty.

I can’t quite make out everything that’s under the last column for the reason of incompletion, but I read 기형 (deformity), 친환 (one’s parent illness) and 변재 (accident) … ?

However what we learned when KMC checked his medical files in ep4 (third picture) was that he’s got asthma (천식) and primary spontaneous pneumothorax (일차성 자연기흉) ie. occurring without an apparent cause when there’s originally no known lung disease while there’s a preexisting lung disease when it’s secondary.

« Until now the cause of primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP) has not been identified, however; several risk factors have been identified such as; smoking, male sex, and a family history of pneumothorax ».

So he was probably exempted due to his long-time health issue (asthma, lung collapse), and maybe KSJ’s family had a history of pneumothorax.

♦ Who is Gaetal?

Is LMS really Gaetal? Are Fan no. 1 & Gaetal different people?

As I said in a previous post, the drama plays with the bias that everything must’ve been done by the same individual/a same group with the same intentions, so it’s possible:

Gaetal in the video test

Gaetal in the prerecorded votes, at least the first one (because the tone, gesture and expressions seemed different compared to the two next votes)

Gaetal broadcasted live (for Cpt. Oh’s vote)

Fan no. 1 who wrote the letters to KSJ

Fan no. 1 JJW said he was working with who described KSJ as the one they admired the most but also said they destroyed the person he loved the most, so he must hate them

Are different people in some cases, meaning:

— The ‘Fan no. 1’ Jung Jinwook worked with might not be LMS, since they never met each other

— It could be Jihoon, or at the very least, he’s an accomplice (there’s this exchange with Joohyun about the shift from an accessory to an accomplice, it could be foreshadowing). He’s well-versed in hacking, he most likely ‘admired’ KSJ and feels guilty over Narae’s death (and probably over BWT’s murder by KSJ), as KSJ said to KMC:

« — [Narae and Jihoon] were supposed to meet that day. — Yes, he thinks all of this happened because he was late. He’s still in shock. »

(He could’ve been the one to have faced Narae’s picture down!)

We don’t know his whereabouts for these 8 years but he must’ve been in contact with KSJ at least once since what happened and given KSJ’s reaction when KMC asked him if he contacted him.

Also Jihoon was definitely searching for KSJ before Joohyun interrupted him when he was at the Police Agency at the end of the episode.

He looked like he definitely knew the content of the ‘video test’ too (or recognized the room), he seemed dumbfounded to learn Joomin found it in ep3:

Determined to help, a part of him could’ve held KMC guilty of the chain of events 8 years ago. KSJ entrusted his handmade bunny toy to KMC and said:

« He said he made them himself, so there are only two of them. Whoever has Narae’s is the murderer, so he told me to use this to catch him. He left this with me. I’m counting on you. »

And KSJ must have some part in whatever is happening now with the Killing Vote: after all, we never got the reason KSJ went out of prison in ep4 (‘If they find out what I did instead of performing labor, they might believe the suspicions are true.’).

-> This scene in ep3 (the first set of pictures on the left): of course this shows his relief because he still cares for KMC but it seemed like he somehow already knew for a fact KMC was out of danger, even before the janitor said he was barely hanging on and not off the hook at all.

— This was even before the video of KMC was revealed to the public in the next episode ;

— The present Gaetal might have informed him in advance a police officer got involved in the bombing against their will, without revealing it was KMC. This would explain why KSJ seemed genuinely surprised when the janitor said it was KMC (the last two pictures of the set) ;

— Someone else could have informed him even if it seems difficult from the prison (but we know he got lots of privileges there and we still don’t know what he did for the warden ; the visit register could have been fabricated and someone indeed met him) ;

— It’s worth pointing out KSJ was convinced KMC was Gaetal up until ep6, which adds another layer to this scene.

-> His reaction in ep5 was also curious (the second set of pictures on the right), he only got perplexed for the video test, as though he was well-acquainted with the rest of whatever was going on except for that one detail (which adds to the theory that Gaetal in the video test ≠ Gaetal in the Killing Vote/Fan no. 1).

Curiously, as I said just above, while KSJ seemed unaware of the video test's existence, Jihoon looked familiar with its content on the contrary.

KSJ never outright denied he was Gaetal eg. his interview with Joohyun in ep2:

«  — ‘Devils who were deemed innocent.’ The phrase that the killer used… You were the first one to say it, weren’t you? I think the killer has something to do with you. — The two people who used the same phrase must be connected. That’s such a naive approach. »

Ep6 only showed KSJ hoped KMC was Gaetal.

And you wouldn’t say KMC’s ‘I’m a cop.’ is a real answer too. Hate to admit it, but KMC stayed silent when KSJ wanted to confirm he was sincere: his feelings might be genuine, but denying he’s Gaetal could very well be a lie.

As for KMC’s front ie. keeping silent when asked about his relationship with KSJ, I guess it comes from his determination to solve all this by his own hands this time: he knows they would take him off the case otherwise. (And for some reason, I can’t help but also suspect Joohyun aaaaa we still don’t know anything about her past!!)

KMC or KSJ, one of the two might be related somehow ; if so, I guess they’d be trying to plan something without the other knowing in order not to involve them and also because the other would disapprove (eg. KSJ to put an end to KMC’s guilt ; KMC to offer some peace to KSJ after all the tragedy and his past mistakes).

— Plus, the Gaetal of the first vote sounded suspiciously like KSJ (his silhouette and gait too) eg. t h a t tremulous voice when he gets angry (the actor plays a lot with that in his roles overall).

— The first vote was prepared from a redevelopment area and BGC was murdered there (pictures on the right).

In ep7, in addition to the video accusing KSJ of being dubious and the witness statement, Narae being found in a redevelopment area was what made the police suspect KSJ of murdering her, since he was known for standing up against said building’s demolition:

« You’d been to the place where the body was found, right? Don’t even think about lying. We know you protested against demolishing that building. »

(Even before Joohyun showed him the Gaetal video test, KMC must’ve had his suspicions from BGC’s murder scene and the broadcast after the body was found eg. recognizing KSJ’s tone, 'the devils deemed innocent' or the ‘rational justice’!)

Narae might’ve been found in the lower part of the building BGC’s vote was prepared in: even though the first story doors were repainted in red and handrails were added to the bridge, the overall architecture and the sort of electricity meter/letter box on the ground floor look the same.

And even without it being the same building, it holds enough resemblance for it to seem like a disturbing recall of the events 8 years ago, combined with Gaetal’s keywords.

— LMS could’ve killed BGC’s wife as Gaetal's copycat at first but that still wouldn’t explain his involvement to the Killing Vote, saying he would give it to his mother as a present.

(But his conversation with KMC when he interviewed him in the present really gave me the impression he knew something about KMC we were not shown, and that could foreshadow what'll happen in the next episode!)

— About LMS’s true perception of justice: we never got to hear his opinion, Narae came running to her father and KSJ interrupted the conversation. So far, the drama didn’t show if his ideals align with Gaetal’s for example, but some elements in the flashbacks clearly show it could be the case.

In fact, his notes about ‘proper justice’ could align with Gaetal’s concept of vigilantism to make up for a failing official retributive justice.

And his ‘If you pass judgment without looking at things clearly, it’s not being fair. It’s being indifferent.’ clearly parallels KSJ’s opinion in the present (ep6):

« Lady Justice wears a blindfold because she’s afraid of bias in decisions. That always bothered me. If you don’t look at cases and the people involved clearly, how can one pass fair judgment? Can judgments without experience be right? Only after losing my daughter did I realize I was qualified to judge others. »

KSJ’s past self would’ve been moderate and warned him however: ‘Relying solely on your experiences can also lead to bias. Experiences are gained through situations and conflicts. They can’t be absolute truths.’

But this detail is something KMC doesn’t know, he instead focuses on LMS’s elitism because he didn’t have those kinds of exchanges with him.

♦ ‘No. 1 Fan’ & LMS

So…………………… You mean to tell me « No. 1 Fan » was originally a memory both KSJ and KMC held dear? That LMS chose this very nickname as a penname for the 5 whole years he sent letters to KSJ? That LMS described KSJ to JJW as the man he admired the most, just like KMC said in that exchange.......... ?

There’s literally no way in hell LMS didn’t listen KMC and KSJ’s conversation ; « no. 1 Fan » could be common in any other cases but not in this one: LMS made everyone around KSJ gone from the picture, it wouldn’t surprise me KMC was/is meant to be the next (LMS even describes him as a ‘cockroach’ hard to kill in ep5).

As to how he got to learn all that, bugging one of the two’s communications/belongings/Narae’s room (eg. that ‘My Daddy My Hero’ seems to be the only thing taken from the house, or the device Jodan found in the ceiling, as it’s totally covered with dust) or even hiding in KSJ’s house that day and listening to their exchange wouldn’t be that surprising given what he did and how he seems to enjoy playing recklessly.

What Jodan found looks like the kind of device that transmits frequencies to another device (eg. cell phone, a recorder prepared to this end).

In this episode, we saw LMS watched everything among the crowd each time (when Narae’s body was found, when KSJ was sent to prison), there could very well be times he watched unnoticed from KMC or KSJ.

I guess he learned about the ‘rational justice’ the same way: he could’ve heard the ‘devils deemed innocent’ from his mother or some other way (eg. if he hacked the court’s archives, he could’ve found the trial transcripts), but ‘rational justice’ was something only KSJ and KMC knew about (at least, at this point of the drama).

Given his obsession for KSJ, LMS could benefit from deliberately using a precious memory that KSJ could only attribute to KMC and posing as KMC: that would finally make him assume a special position in KSJ’s eyes (and it worked: that’s probably why KSJ firmly believed Gaetal and/or the one who wrote him letters was KMC).

And he probably deludes himself into believing it was originally his by right, not Narae’s, not KMC’s nor anyone else’s (I don’t think he knew Jihoon even if he observed the house): he considers himself KSJ’s only entitled Fan no. 1.

At the same time, becoming Gaetal, a figure that would finally bring the justice to KSJ which KMC failed to do, gives him the opportunity to finally ‘judge’/destroy KMC as he wished. Eg. making him the next Killing Vote target by showing people he was deceiving them (his ‘Wipeout’ reputation) ; or distorting facts about his involvement in Narae’s case (just like the video Min Jiyoung/LMS made on KSJ to divert the attention off her son).

And this seems to be the case in the preview:

The screen on the left side of the shot displays an edit of KMC (which looks like those Gaetal did for the previous targets ; the picture seems to come from when the journalists gathered at the prison when they learned he was alive), and if I’m not mistaken you can read on the banner « 속였습니다 » (‘I/He deceived/lied to [the people maybe?]’), which might be a reference to what he said in ep4 where he also used 속였습니다.

♦ « This house had good natural lighting »

Losing Narae left KSJ lifeless. In this episode’s flashback, his profile, livid, is blinded by white light, like a ghost.

Even though he stood in Narae’s room, he was perhaps longing for the house that was already not there anymore and that initially had ‘good natural lighting’, as Joohyun said in ep4. It symbolized all the happiness he shared with Narae.

And KMC could only witness, helpless, KSJ’s grief.

In retrospect, on the second set of pictures to the right, the sight of KSJ’s silhouette in a similar setting and lighting (when KSJ was transferred to the Police Agency, ep5) might’ve reminded KMC of this memory.

The drama highlighted this theme in other previous scenes too. They have in common a silhouette shot in an overall dark setting facing a strong backlighting.

[And you can notice the shots get gradually brighter as the drama progresses and KSJ gets out of prison!]

Joohyun's scene on the top right was so beautifully shot... !

-> When KSJ is transferred to the Police Agency ;

-> When Joohyun interviews KSJ and makes him listen to Mozart’s Requiem in ep4. And also KMC’s reaction we could better understand in retrospect as he listened (the pictures on the bottom right) ;

-> When KSJ enjoyed the light from the prison in ep4 ;

-> When he looked outside from his cell’s window while meditating in the first episode ;

-> When KMC wanted to visit KSJ but he refused to meet him in ep2 (and we can once again better interpret his expressions in retrospect to ep7).

Note: in ep3, KMC’s reaction to the tagged wall (‘the 13th was wrong’) and the news articles about the case from 8 years ago could also now be interpreted as pained in retrospect ; his surprise upon discovering this also shows it’s at least not him who messed the room that way. If he cared for Narae as this episode showed, he probably wouldn’t have damaged her room. It's also maybe relevant to note again that the video test didn't have the tagged wall!

♦ Min Jiyoung’s classism

Whatever Min Jiyoung found on KMC was something she did not approve according to her standards: she went from ‘that detective’ when she first met him to ‘bastard like you/the likes of you’ at the end of the trial.

I get BIG classist undertones when she speaks to him, and it's not the sole occurrence:

-> When she fired her previous aide because he advised her in a way she deemed unsatisfactory, she commented: ‘촌스러운 새끼’ which was translated to ‘What a loser.’ The adjective she used is 촌스럽다 (unpolished, countrified, dowdy ie. « one’s attitude or taste being unsophisticated and looking like that of a country person »).

The Naver Dictionary also gives the expression ‘촌스러운 사람’ and translates it as ‘a lout, rustic, clodhopper, boor’.

새끼 means offspring (cub or child/kid), but it’s often used as an insult to mean someone’s a jerk/bastard/etc. which is the case here (eg. 개새끼, SOB/bastard).

-> The housekeeper: KSJ described her as ‘도우미’ (assistant, helper) and was getting along well with her and her husband (‘They felt sorry for me for raising my daughter alone, so they would share food with me sometimes. (…) Though we didn’t know each other very well, we were quite close.’).

And Min Jiyoung, who lives with her and her family, calls her…… an expense (‘비용’) if I’m hearing well (at the very least, it doesn’t sound like any of the words commonly used for housekeepers eg. 가정부, 도우미, 파출부, 하녀…), and it could explain why KMC made her repeat.

-> She used 너 같은 새끼 to insult KMC (‘bastards like you/the likes of you’), right after calling LMS his son (아들), which could imply the latter qualifies more as a person than him. She even deems him a taint/테인트 threatening to spoil their status/reputation.

-> She said to LMS in ep5: ‘[KMC] must be trying to make ends meet. You better stay away from those vermins.’

And be it a coincidence or not, Jihoon’s grandmother was also judgmental towards Joohyun and her sister (ep4, first set of pictures).

Her reaction to KSJ’s idea (she was taken aback and raised her eyebrow then looked embarrassed as she tried to answer) could also be explained by some distance she wants to put between her and disreputable people (ep6, second set of pictures).

Gaetal targeted the rich so far (‘The law that is more harsh on victims than on criminals… It feeds like a parasite off of money and power, so the ones who deserve to die are still alive.’), like some sort of Robin Hood as KMC commented.

♦ « Hyung »

(breaking my silence once again…) KMC and KSJ were lovers/KMC was in love and they were in their domestic life bubble (and ngl that ‘… [and the one] I look up to.’ delivery with that hesitant interruption felt like a left out confession)

The scene in Narae’s room was paralleled in the present at the end of the episode:

You can notice with this comparison that most (if not all) of KSJ & KMC’s scenes in the present are submerged by blue tones in the prison cell and at the Police Agency, just like in the lyrics of the new OST with the wordplay on the color blue and feeling blue! eg. 눈을 감아보면 I see blue — 그런 너의 모습에 feel so blue (When I close my eyes I see blue — At the sight of you feel so blue) 네게 가려진 난 I see blue — 몰랐던 너의 모습에 feel so blue (I’m covered/obscured by you I see blue — This side of you I didn’t know feel so blue)

♦ Gaetal, masks and dogs

Gaetal could be translated as ‘dog mask’ (개, dog + 탈, mask).

GAETAL AND MASKS

Gaetal’s excentric and playful, Robin Hood-esque character and their theatrics could be a reference to the traditional Korean masks.

« [Korean masks] were used in war, on both soldiers and their horses ; ceremonially, for burial rites in jade and bronze and for shamanistic ceremonies to drive away evil spirits/illness/bad luck out of an individual or a village (often horrifying or grotesque to invoke fear and humor), to remember the faces of great historical figures, and in the arts, particularly in ritual dances, courtly, and theatrical plays. The present uses are as miniature masks for souvenirs, or on phones hung as good-luck talismans. There are two ways to categorize masks: religious masks and artistic masks. »

Indeed, KSJ had a glass display of Korean masks in his house (it’s a limited Seoul 1988 Olympic Games Korean Masks Collection):

Masks are in fact known to be used in talchum/talnori (mask dance/play), an art developed after a cultural shift in society: masks were initially used in religious activities, but entertainment and festivities factored in through time.

« An ensemble of musicians accompanies masked performers who humorously explore social issues through dramatic combinations of cheerful, energetic and rhythmical songs, dances, movements and dialogue. »

They mostly originated from the pre-modern society of the Joseon dynasty. The country was governed by a rigid social hierarchy (eg. the aristocracy and the buddhist monastic hierarchy) and a strict patriarchal system. They sharply criticized contemporary society with satire and witty humour, depicting the falsehoods and hypocrisies of the upper classes (eg. decadent noblemen, apostate/depraved monks, patriarchal husbands) but also mocked stereotypical versions of annoying personalities within the lower classes (eg. the drunkard, the gossip, the flirt of the complaining grandmother). It offered people both catharsis and important life lessons, and masks are a key means to do that.

On the nobleman mask (Master Kim Dongpyo, maker of Hahoetal): « yangban noblemen prioritize dignity and saving face above all else. The gentle curves of a Hahoe yangban mask embody this character. » In other local traditions, noblemens’ masks may express greedy and pretentious personalities.

Talchum offered an opportunity to commoners to unleash their pent-up emotions, their suppressed anger and for the governing class to hear the people’s complaints, ultimately promoting greater unity within society. Their will for resistance is voiced.

Gaetal's apparent intentions correspond to all this to a great extent.

« Once a person dons a mask – men and women, young and old, nobility and commoners – all are freed from social conventions and restrictions. The appearance of the Korea mask itself is also liberated by convention. Nevertheless, everyone manages to find a part of the mask with which they can identify. In this way the mask is truly the face of the heart's hidden desires. (…) Korean masks are grotesque and vividly colored. Masks are painted in vivid primary colors, representing both the individual personality and social class of the character as well as his or her age and gender eg. black & dark for an elderly character ; red & bright for a young character ; white for a young female character. In terms of personality, a red, darkly-colored mask represents recklessness and aggressiveness; a yellow or lightly-colored mask characterizes foolishness and incompetence ; and a black or darkly-colored mask exemplifies an anxious, socially marginalized character. To symbolize a character's duplicity, masks are sometimes painted half red and half white. »

[For posterity, in the drama, Gaetal’s mask is fully white ; we also don’t know Gaetal’s gender, Joohyun evokes this possibility, it could very well be herself, Min Jiyoung or her assistant, even Jihoon’s grandmother ; Min Jiyoung’s attention to her clothes also reflects the good/evil duality with her outfit at BWT’s final trial.]

Professor Heo Yongho, Korea National University of Arts: « Korean mask-dance dramas deal with such universal themes as freedom and equality. However, they present these common subjects in a distinctively dynamic and exciting way. »

All these emotions, ambitions and desires can therefore be put on display without fear or shame. The characters mock and satirize the duplicity and foolishness of the ruling class and pray for a new world and a better future, like Gaetal does in the Killing Vote.

This page even theorizes 탈 derived from the Chinese character for ‘to rid/free oneself from something’.

« Korea adopted Chinese characters prior to the invention of their own, unique alphabet under King Sejong (1397-1450), and still use Chinese characters extensively. Thereby, the original meaning of the talnori or talchum, is a play or dance that helps shed ones stress and grief. Originally talnori was performed at night, often in a clearing around a fire and the exaggerated colors and expressions on some of the masks reflect a time when such vibrant colors and expressions were necessary to make them visible in the poor light. » [This bit could be relevant later on in this point when I’ll talk about the moon and the fire symbolism!]

The interaction with the audience is important, it completes the performance. As the UNESCO page describes: « talchum performances do not require a formal stage: any empty space can become a venue. The audience plays an essential role, contributing to the production with their cheers and jeers as the drama unfolds. »

Talchum players improvise their lines and actions in response to the spectators, quickly forming a bond together.

In a distorted fashion, the Killing Vote seems to strongly rely on the country’s participation to vote for the ‘judgement’ of the culprit, introduced as corrupt and deeply irredeemable people (even though we know the reality is more ambiguous: two broadcasts were pre-recorded and pretty compelling cases were deliberately chose to obtain an unanimous vote, not to mention Gaetal’s true intention eg. if they’re LMS).

The country even becomes an entertained audience in addition to their participation: each vote brings its fair share of debates, cries of support, admiration, disgust, anticipation or emulation. The Killing Vote becomes an outlet to everyone's fears, anger, frustration.

Gaetal's judgment of 'devils that were deemed innocent' by a failing legitimate system which would even condone their deed inflames passions: revealing the culprit's corrupt side in a sarcastic, unfiltered fashion the conventional society would (or could) never dare to do makes people look up to Gaetal.

It also makes people relate to Gaetal because the votes serve as an example that they wish was applied to their own tragedies eg. Joohyun, KSJ, Joomin & Jihoon. Exemplifying the 'judgment' of their cases could be seen as a prophylactic step to 'exorcise' the deep-rooted evil and appease the tormented souls of their victims.

And Gaetal engages with the people with a witty and sarcastic speech, and sounds deeply concerned with people’s opinion (again, it could be false pretenses) eg. when they cautioned sensitive souls to close the video as its content might be too violent ; when they got angry as they read forums after KMC was thought dead ; when they broadcasted the video revealing KMC was alive.

The Killing Vote also seems to touch on people’s duplicity, hidden desires and ambitions in society eg. especially KSJ, KMC, Min Jiyoung, LMS and people’s ambivalence in the face of good and evil (everybody has in them the risk of becoming a ‘Gaetal’ or one of their targets if faced with certain opportunities and circumstances) as I talked about it in a previous post (’The Killing Vote and a vigilantism built on a twisted basis’).

The hahoetal (Hahoe [Village] masks) are one of the most known Korean masks, designated as national treasures.

They were used during a kind of mask dance called 하회별신굿탈놀이, dance drama of Hahoe Village: it’s a shamanic dance drama passed down from the mid-12th century & performed to appease the local deity, pray for the village’s peace and wellbeing as well as a good harvest. It is said to be one of the oldest mask dances known in Korea.

It's a play in satire and humor directed at the ruling class from the religious perspective of praying fortune. The masks represent 12 stock characters needed to perform the roles in the ritual dance dramas included in the ceremony (eg. the monk, the scholar, the bride, the aristocrat …).

Their origin is not clearly known, but a legend about their original design exists.

« In the middle of the Goryeo Dynasty, there lived a craftsman, Heo. For years his village suffered from misfortunes but no one knew why. One day, he dreamt about a mountain god, receiving an oracle message that the misfortunes would disappear if the villagers danced with masks made by Heo. The god said he was not to have any contact with anyone until he finished. Heo then had a straw rope wound around his workshop to allow him to work undisturbed and immediately set to work. One hundred days had passed. A young woman named Kim was in love with Heo and was growing weary of waiting. She broke her vow to leave him undisturbed for one hundred days and peeked into her lover’s workshop to see what he was doing. He was carving the last mask, the scholar's foolish servant, Imae. The moment she glanced inside, Heo collapsed spitting blood and died. The mask was left unfinished, without a chin. Out of guilt for causing his death, the young woman committed suicide. Afterward, the residents of Hahoe village decided to serve the dead woman as a tutelary god and held annual rituals to assuage her soul. »

An annual winter memorial rite is held at dawn of the first full moon of each new year to console their unrealized love, appease their tormented souls and honor them. They would also pray for the well-being of the village and for its protection against evil spirits.

This also seems relevant:

The word 탈 also includes a second meaning of misfortune, illness and difficulty. Eg. when someone becomes sick or runs into trouble, you can use the verb 탈나다 (an accident happens/have a hitch/run into trouble/fall ill/get out of order or go wrong) or the word 탈 which is a homonym of the mask.

« The word for masks represents something that people hope is only a passing event. Interestingly, people were reluctant to hold onto the word 탈 in its meaning of a mask. In the past, they believed that if they kept a mask nearby, they would be in trouble due to the bad luck attached to the mask. Therefore, they stored the masks in a village shrine or burned them immediately after the ritual for which they were created. People regarded masks as religious objects, something that should be feared, worshipped and enshrined. »

But masks were also considered by ancient Koreans as a sacred symbol of the gods (or a particular god): as such, it was especially valued and worshipped, and always kept a certain distance away from living quarters.

In the drama, the mere existence of Gaetal calls for trouble and the police force endeavors to catch them. Gaetal nicknames themselves 'the citizens' watchdog' who will protect them from evil, and is compared to many heroic figures (eg. Robin Hood, Batman, …) but also to God. For example, Jihoon says to Joomin:

« That devil was set free by our incompetent legal system. If he wouldn’t be punished by the law or by God, I thought he should at least be punished by the people. »

The sight of their figure 'should' be feared by the culprits but only Uhm Eungyeong was really scared ; BGC and Cpt. Oh challenged and dared them to actually murder them. But in the end, the latter begged JJW for his life and promised him money, the thing he cared the most for.

This also ties well with the overall Christian symbolism exhibited in LMS’s room or Saint Michael (see the next point!).

GAETAL AND DOGS

As for the dog part, since one of the main plot points is a commentary on justice and the good & evil in people, it might be a reference to the haetae/haechi (해태/해치), a Korean mythological creature often associated for example to the Chinese guardian lions (also called shishi, lion or fu dogs) or the Japanese shishi/komainu.

Symbol of justice and law, the haetae is a hybrid beast: a mix of a lion, dog and dragon covered in scales or fur, wearing a bell and baring its canines, sometimes winged, sometimes with a reptile tail. It possesses the ability to divine and distinguish the true character in people, right from wrong, truth from lies in people.

The horn on its forehead was used to ram into the guilty in an argument.

It is said to feed off fire ; under Joseon, its statues were placed at the entrance of official places like palaces to protect the capital Hanyang (now Seoul, eg. at the National Assembly and the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office) from natural disasters and fires.

« Haetae statues lie on high pedestals at each side of Gwanghwamun, the main gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace (…) [they] represent the Joseon rulers’ political and philosophical ideals of protecting the nation’s dignity by applying the laws strictly and justly and providing peace and stability to all the people without allowing bias or personal feelings to influence decisions. »

This article explains how the Chinese characters for law (법, 法) derived from the ideogram for haechi.

What I gathered from this page is that law was initially written as 灋. Looking at its structure:

— The radical to the left, 氵, is associated to water (水): which means that the law must be as fair as water — The character 去 is placed under the character ‘chi’ 廌, which depicts the haechi. Making a creature said to judge right from wrong a part of the law character brings out its meaning even more.

The character was later simplified by removing the 廌, thus written 法.

[And as I said in a previous post, the hanja 橅, which means law, can be used for the Mu of Muchan!]

The haechi was also closely associated to the Chinese judicial system eg. on decorations and paintings, embroidered on the robes, crowns with a horn. The judicial officers were also named after the haechi.

It has become Seoul’s symbol since 2008.

The haetae is also mainly assimilated to the Chinese xiezhi, a mythical single-horned creature (a sheep, goat or ox) commanded during imperial criminal proceedings to ram into the guilty in the same manner.

Since Gaetal chases after evil, it could also be a reference to a breed of dogs native to the Korean Peninsula, the Sapsali/Sapsalgae.

Their name literally translates to ‘one that roots out evil spirits’ or ‘drives out devils’. Due to their appearance, they’re often associated to the haetae and sometimes called ‘Lion Dogs’.

Lion dances are indeed performed because it was thought lions contained the power to expel evil spirits and bring good luck.

Sapsali are also nicknamed ‘Ghost Hunters’ or’ Sunshine Dogs’.

Some aspects of the drama also involve dogs:

-> Gaetal used a mail address titled ‘watchdog’ that the journalist wanted to use as a catchphrase for her broadcast ;

-> KMC called KSJ their ‘hunting dog’, urging Joohyun to ‘get him off the leash’ ;

-> Narae’s dog LMS killed and all the past dogs of his family ;

-> The scene at the beginning of ep7 shows BWT beaten by Min Jiyoung’s family as his parents watch powerless. The next shot shows the Dalmatian puppy sitting quietly by his neat doghouse as the violent scene continues to unfold before it off-screen. The absence of pictures of BWT’s family in the house unlike the Dalmatian puppy could be interpreted as a further highlight of the family being poorly treated by Min Jiyoung’s family, even worse than a dog. It also aligns with the classist behavior of Min Jiyoung & co.

-> Indeed, 개 is often used as a prefix to an insult (or to emphasize words in slang, but it’s not used in the drama so far eg. 개싫어, ‘[I] freaking/really hate [it]’).

For posterity also, the word ‘mask’ (탈) is also the homonym/paronym of 달 (moon/month) and 딸 (daughter, perhaps a reference to Narae, since the video test seems to be titled after the day she was missing?).

For the 달 (moon/month), the most relevant connection to the Killing Vote is that they’re held every 15th (new moon) and 30th (full moon) of each month. It also ties up with how the talnori/talchum were originally performed at night.

If there’s also some symbolism with the moon, combined to the fire and dogs, the mythical dogs Bulgae (불개, lit. fire dog) might come to mind:

« According to a myth, one of heaven's realms, the kingdom of darkness, was called Gamangnara, the Dark World. Its king was concerned and weary with the perpetual darkness and desired the light of the sun and moon for his kingdom. He sent one of the gigantic fiery hounds, the Bulgae to chase the sun to bring it to his realm. However, when it tried to bite the sun, the sun was too hot, which made the dog unable to hold on to it, resulting in him giving up, and running back to the king, angry at the failure. He sent another more ruthless dog to steal the moon. When the Bulgae tried to carry it in its mouth, the moon was so cold, that the mouth of the dog was icy and frozen, and caused the Bulgae to drop it. The Bulgae tried many times to grab the moon in its mouth, but eventually gave up and ran back to the king in disappointment. The king never gave up this mission though. He continued to send fire dogs that were fiercer than the others, but none were able to collect the sun and moon. According to the Korean eclipse belief, during a solar eclipse or lunar eclipse, the dark sections are the parts where the dogs are biting. When the eclipses are over, the dogs have given up and run away back to its kingdom. »

Noting it down if it’ll hold meaning in the next episodes, we’ve got two scenes shot in the moonlight:

In the first episode when KSJ looks out from his cell’s window and moonlight enters the room ;

Right after KSJ got his health checked by Jihoon’s grandmother in ep6 and Joohyun gets in LMS’s car!

♦ Saint Michael and Kim Muchan

Following the previous point, in the nightclub KMC was investigating, a big statue right behind where he sat sometimes showed up.

It looks like a reproduction of the St. Michael bronze statue by Peter Anton von Verschaffelt on top of the Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome (the set of pictures in the middle).

There are other examples of similar iconography (the two pictures on the right):

— St. Michael defeats Satan by Guido Remi — Fontaine Saint-Michel in Paris (Bvd. Saint-Michel) by Gabriel Davioud, the sculpture, Archangel Michael and the devil, was designed by Francisque-Joseph Duret

I’ll quote this interesting page from EHNE, an online encyclopedia project developed in 2012 by the Sorbonne University.

« Saint Michael was a unique saint. As an archangel, he acted as the preferred messenger between Heaven and Earth. His struggle against the forces of Evil allowed him to serve as both a guardian and a warrior angel. » He’s also depicted as a champion/guardian of justice and a healer of the sick.

'Who is like God?' mmmmh

[What I didn’t know is that he was also considered the patron saint of the police, justice, military and many other trades and places, which is why he’s represented on the Saint Michael pendant!]

« As a victorious angel, defender, overcomer of evil and leader of heavenly armies, Michael the Archangel is often depicted in medieval art as an armored soldier [eg. pteruges, Byzantine armor or a fully feathered body or a mix of both] carrying such arms as a cross-inscribed shield, cross-staff, or the sword or spear he typically employs to fight the dragon during the Apocalypse. Outside of the apocalyptic combat scene, Michael also may be shown trampling and piercing the dragon as part of his overall iconography.  (…) He's also featured in other important episodes, such as the biblical narrative of the Fall of Angels and the Last Judgment [Day of Wrath/Dies Irae, where the just will be welcomed to eternal bliss, separated from the wicked, cast into ‘eternal fire’.]. In Last Judgment scenes, Michael the Archangel is often shown holding the scales of justice laden with good and bad souls. »

This thesis (p. 287 ss.) on Saint Michael’s italian iconography by Clémentine Denèle was also interesting:

[It could align with KMC’s restraint in front of KSJ most of the time, his mainly unreliable narration and expressions you could only interpret in retrospect. The same could be said of KSJ, but it’s less apparent to me: it was strong in the beginning of the drama but by now, KSJ feels less ‘cryptic’ than KMC who’s been hazy the whole time.]

Most of the time, Saint Michael's representations depict him with a neutral expression, totally disconnected to the threat and tension of his whole body engaged in his battle against evil that belie no hesitation: no emotions pass through (eg. compassion, anger, fear, remorse, hesitation, pride, judgment/disgust against the evil’s deeds or the violence he executes), only a solemn severity can be seen. Even for other angel figures of the Christian iconography, feelings were initially expressed through their gestures and hands. This changed at the end of the Middle Ages: angels were depicted with emotions and expressions eg. smiling to suggest their angelic gentleness, especially when represented suffering next to the Christ being crucified. But Saint Michael stays depicted with an impassive/calm expression, at most with a discreet rictus. Clémentine Denèle comments it could be explained by his ethereal nature and superior quality as an angel unlike humans & the overall idealistic representation of angels. She quotes the art historian Jean Wirth: he says the immobility and the impassibility are characteristic of the superior beings, because they convey an abstraction and reflect the stable order of invisible things. To materialize their constant presence by God and humans’ side, angels make themselves visible to the humans by assuming a human form as well. Vivid expressions were exclusive to the damned and the demons. It aligns with the attitude he exhibits in the Epistle of Jude 1:9: « But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” » Passing a partial judgement on the evil is not his mission, Clémentine Denèle says he only assumes his role as God’s armed wing and as such, his faithful obedience and trust in God command quietude under any circumstances: as the executor of divine justice, he knows for a fact his mission is devoted to the good and it must be fulfilled. She reports there were only rare occurrences depicting him with anger and aggressiveness or fear (he’s most of the time confident in the battle’s aftermath), and he’s also rarely present to mourn the Christ as he is crucified: it is not his place.

On a related note, Narae’s name (나래) is the synonym of wing, spelled 날개. 나래 was officially admitted as an alternate orthography for the word in 2011. But from what I gathered, it’s only used in a literary/poetic context, while the common spelling stays 날개.

♦ More on names & hanja

After all these episodes, some hanja that could be used for KMC, KSJ and Joohyun’s names now seem relevant to note:

— For Kim Muchan

-> Mu in Muchan Law (橅 & 膴, 법) as I mentioned in the first post: it aligns with his ambiguous position on justice on the past (‘a rational justice’ that doesn’t follow the official law if it’s unfair) and in the present (manipulating evidence and proceedings to arrest culprits but still handling them within the law, rejecting Gaetal’s ways)

Deceive/lie (誣, 속이다) & fog/mist/haze (霧, 안개): his unreliable narration, the way he deceived people to catch Gaetal in ep4 & the edit that appears in the preview ; KMC now seems even more ambiguous than KSJ.

Full of rumors (楙, 무성하다): his ‘Wipeout’ reputation

Rough/violent/tough (蕪, 거칠다): his overall reckless and violent behavior as he works

Work hard/try hard and strive/work/endeavor ie. devote oneself and contribute to doing sth (務, 힘쓰다): self-explanatory given what we saw in this episode, combined with the shots of his house and the first episode that explains his reputation!

Stroke/touch/caress with hands and figuratively soothe ie. calm down sb with warm words and acts (憮, 어루만지다 and 애무하다 which can have a romantic tone = caress, stroke affectionately ie. for sb to gently stroke the one they love): his overall restraint to reach out to KSJ and guilt over being too late to save Narae. The new OST’s lyrics also refer to those kinds of feelings (whoever the narrator is), especially ‘Let me hold your hand, 더 가까이 너를’ (‘Let me hold your hand, Closer to you’), ‘익숙치않은 이런 내 모습 미안해’ (‘I’m sorry for this unfamiliar me [I showed you]’) and ‘Oh, please tell me why — 더는 네게 — 늦지 않게’ (‘Oh, please tell me why — I won’t be late for you anymore’).

EDIT: also, some shots indeed focus on KSJ's hands as he buries himself in them to cry in front of KMC!

House (廡, 집): KSJ’s house he seems to know pretty well and possibly holds precious memories to him, and his own house he doesn’t seem to tend to, probably out of guilt (see a previous post, ‘On the frames facing down (ep. 1 & 6), shame and guilt’)

Warrior (ie. person who learns martial arts and practices it as a job) & soldier/military/army (武, 무사 & 병사 respectively): his potential association to St. Michael who led heavenly armies + for posterity, if they reveal later in the drama he also knows martial arts and it somehow involves him with the Killing Vote (the first episode & ep3 at least showed he was quite agile)

Shaman (巫, 무당 ; though the word is mainly associated to female shamans, male shamans can also be called mudang): a shaman « employs magic to effect cures, to tell fortunes, to soothe spirits of the dead, and to repulse evil »

Dance (舞, 춤추다): like… the talchum… masks… in addition to the shaman... you know… haha

— For Kwon Seokju

-> Kwon [You can also apply relevant meanings to Narae, since it’s her last name]

Prison (圈, 감방): both physical and figurative ever since Narae died and he murdered BWT

Abstain/refrain from ie. be careful about one’s speech or behavior (惓, 삼가다): his overall behavior in the present

Tired/exhausted/weary (倦, 고달프다): what he wen through these whole 8 years

Take care of/look after/oversee, heartfelt/caring (惓, 정성스럽다) & warm/friendly: self-explanatory about his character in general when we see his past self with Narae, Jihoon & KMC, and other people in general (BWT’s parents, LMS, his students) before Narae’s case

Loyal/devoted (惓, 충성스럽다): devoted wholeheartedly to his family

Look back/reflect on the past (睠, 돌아보다): also self-explanatory

-> Seok in Seokju

Untie (釋, 풀다 ie. return what has been tied, bound, or twisted back to its original state)/relieve anger or sorrow/get rid of one’s agony by handling it : he’s still waiting for the accomplice to Narae’s murder to be arrested to find some closure after all those years, he perhaps also wants to put an end to it all for KMC to stop feeling guilty over the case.

Night (夕, 밤), tide (汐, 조수 ie. seawater flowing in and out from the shore because of the gravitational pull of the sun and moon) & tideland (潟, 개펄 ie. wide expanse of mud revealed when the tide goes down): [if the moon and sun imagery holds some meaning in the drama] ; also, most of KSJ’s scenes in the beginning were shot in the dark compared to the bright scenes with Narae and Jihoon

... The Mont Saint-Michel is known to be a tidal island and for its fog haha

-> Ju in Seokju [You can apply the relevant meanings to Joohyun too]

House (宙, 집): the house that had good natural lighting (Narae, Jihoon and perhaps KMC) he cherished is now gone, it is derelicted after all these years

Bear/endure/put up with ie. endure sth for a long time, resist (拄, 버티다): self-explanatory too

Sunlight/sunbeam/sunshine (晭, 햇빛): the shots of him mourning or basking in the light

Timely rain but also heavy rain/downpour (澍, 단비 and 폭우) & wick and burn out ie. burn and eliminate sth (炷, 심지 & 불사르다) as I mentioned in the first post!

The fire imagery is also present with Joohyun’s character and her scar.

It’s associated to the tragedy she had to live, and we could project the same theme to KMC & KSJ who went through the same, all linked by this ‘terrible rage’ still waiting to be put out.

The hanja 火 (which is what 炷, the hanja for wick/burn out is composed of) is associated to anger (화, anger, fury) and fire (불).

Given the previous posts, you can also link it to the haetae (symbol of justice which feeds off fire, is said to prevent fires) or the eternal fire at the Last Judgment.

— For Joohyun

-> Hyun in Joohyun

Snoop/nose around (俔, 염탐하다): self-explanatory hahaha

Bright ie. a place being light as a result of getting a lot of sun/light or brilliant (adj.)/break or dawn but also fig. cheerful/bright (炫, 밝다), sunlight/sunbeam/sunshine (昡, 햇빛 and 晛, 햇살) and kind-hearted/benevolent (賢, 어질다): self-explanatory for this lovely character!!

Wise/sagacious/sensible (賢, 현명하다): she has a soothing and mature side to her eg. as she talked to KMC & Jihoon

Clever/bright/intelligent (儇, 영리하다): self-explanatory too!!

Connect/link/join (縣, 연결하다, can also be used for people): she seems to connect with people around her with ease, and she looks like she’s trying to reconnect KMC to KSJ

♦ « The person Kwon Seokju cherished the most »

I don’t know where this will lead, but KMC JJW’s quote in ep6 as he relayed it to KSJ: initially, it was about ‘the person KSJ loved the most’ (가장 사랑하는 사람 ; 사랑하다 = love/care ie. cherish, value, and care for sb with all one’s heart).

KMC quoted it as ‘the person KSJ cherished the most’ (가장 소중한 사람 ; 소중하다 = valuable/precious/cherished/dear): while the two adjectives almost mean the same thing, ‘cherished’ feels more personal than the general ‘loved’ (사랑하다 is also used a lot) and conveys the invaluable dearness better in this situation to me.

#국민사형투표 #the killing vote #tkv #kdrama

[lovelyladyabsinthewrites]

Knight in Blue and Red

Pairing(s): Rhaegar Targaryen x Tully!Reader, Catelyn Stark x Ned Stark

Warnings: none really

Words: 1694

Summary: You wanted to be in charge of Riverrun when your father died, but because you were the third and youngest daughter of Hoster Tully that was highly impossible. You would show him. Show him that you would be a better successor than your brother Edmure.

No one could believe it. Rhaegar Targaryen, the prince of the Seven Kingdoms, had just been defeated in a joust. His opponent staring down at him from atop of his horse. A knight that paraded themselves in armor of blue and red.

The crowd around them was hushed as Rhaegar’s vassals scurried to help him up. Rhaegar didn’t need any assistance though. He waved away the helpful hands and dusted himself off. In a tourney like this it was bound to happen. Rhaegar had been winning for several days now as the Tourney of Harrenhal was in full swing.

Shooting a charming grin despite the dirt on his face, Rhaegar takes a bow. “Well done! You have bested me, good ser.”

Swiftly dismounting their horse, the knight takes off their helm. . .

To reveal a mass of auburn hair, bright and beautiful which complimented the feminine face of its owner. Vivacious blue eyes crinkle as the she-knight grins.

There’s cries of outrage in the stands at this revelation and Rhaegar himself can only gawk. He still held his smile though. How odd, how amazing that this armored lady easily bested him.

“It was an honor, Your Grace.” She grins and offers her hand to him.

**

“A disgrace. Do you know what you just did?” Hoster Tully turns on you. Normally your father was so docile, but you knew you had taken a great risk in stealing Edmure’s mount and participating in the tourney. “You’ve embarrassed the future king! I can’t imagine what he’ll do to us.”

You shrug while undoing your braid. “He didn’t look too upset.”

“(y/n).”

His serious tone made you stop and let your hair fall down onto your shoulders. “Father. . . it’s okay. I didn’t do anything wrong. I beat him fair and square.”

Old and withered, your father sighs and collapses in his seat. The sound of the tourney was still going on outside of your tent. “Why do you do these things. . .”

Shame started to seep into you. You loved your father. The only reason you did what you did was to show him that you would be a better head of House Tully than your brother Edmure. Even though he was older than you, you knew he was weak. You saw it when he would practice his blade skills; always landing on his butt pathetically. At a young age he had shown you a few moves and within a couple of months you were able to disarm him quite easily.

“I’m sorry father. . . I didn’t mean to upset you.” Hanging your head, you hold your hands in your lap. “I just wanted to prove myself to you.”

“Well that was not the right way. If you wanted to show your worthiness you should take note on your older sisters.”

At that a fire lit inside of your chest. You hated when he lumped you in with Catelyn and Lysa. You loved your sisters but you didn’t want to shape your life based on finding a lord husband. That wasn’t the life you wanted.

“Lord Tully?” A bannerman hesitantly peeks his head through the tent flap.

Your father straightens in his chair. “What is it?”

The bannerman licked his lips, glancing at you. “His Grace, Prince Rhaegar wishes to speak with you.”

Oh no.

The reality of what you had just done settled in. Panicked, you stare at your father to gauge his reaction. His eyes are serious and grave as he nods. “Go. I have nothing more to say to you.”

Teeth sinking into your bottom lip, you obey Lord Tully and stand to leave. When you open the tent though you immediately lock eyes with Rhaegar Targaryen who still bore dirt on his face.

With a smile, he steps aside. “My lady.”

Averting your gaze you give him a small curtsy before rushing away.

“You’ve certainly gotten yourself in quite an ordeal now.” Cat folds her arms once she finds you alone in your tent that you shared with your sisters. Lysa was thankfully off trying to flirt with the many bannermen in the hopes of finding a worthy husband. “Embarrassing father and Prince Rhaegar-”

“Yes, yes. I know. I heard enough of it from father.” Back turned to face your older sister, you continue to viciously stab your sewing needle through your torn sleeve.

There’s a pause before Catelyn’s voice softens. “Let me have that. You’re going to ruin it.”

Still refusing to look at her you merely hand over your work sullenly. Another failure as a lady. No matter how hard you tried, sewing just wasn’t your thing. It’s like your hands would suddenly get stupid once presented with a needle and thread.

Cat’s gentle fingers brush against the back of your hand. “You were great out there, by the way. We all thought it was Edmure until. . .”

“Edmure could never fight that well.”

“No. . .” She nods and sits in front of you on your makeshift bed. “No he couldn’t.”

Finally you look up. “That’s what I was trying to show father!”

Now it’s Cat’s turn to look down as she mended your sleeve. “Why do you want to be Lord of Riverrun anyway? It’s more suited for a man, don’t you think.”

“Edmure isn’t a man, Cat. Father gets older and older each year while Edmure seems to get. . . well, dumber. He’s my brother and I love him, but he would not make a good lord. He has the temperament of a child still and you know it. And Uncle Brynden doesn’t want the title. I just want Riverrun to prosper after father dies.”

Her own blue eyes flick up to you. She knew. She acknowledged all that you said was the truth. There was no good argument she could present to you so Catelyn remained silent.

Pursing your lips, you concede. “It’s not like I’m opposed to being married. . . Of course I’ll marry once I’m the Lady of Riverrun. I’ll find a fine man to be my husband. Someone who will care for Riverrun by my side. Not above me. I want an equal.”

“Only the finest man for my sister.” Catelyn nods with a gentle smile as she glances up at you. It wasn’t often you got along with your sisters because of your polar personalities. In that moment though, you and Catelyn developed a bond. You were her high strung, wild, little sister. One that would rather play with the boys then participate in sewing. You had defeated Petyr Baelish when you were but 10 years old and claimed aloud that he wasn’t worthy of Catelyn’s hand until he was able to best you.

Abruptly, Edmure enters panting and a little disheveled. “(y/n), father wants to see you.”

You frown. “But he just told me to leave.”

There was a shine in his eyes though. “Things have changed.”

Sharing a confused expression with Cat, the two of you follow Edmure back to your father’s tent where you found him with an equally shocked face.

“What’s wrong, father?” Catelyn immediately asks.

He appeared at a loss for words, his brain trying to compile a complete sentence. The lines on his face were even more exaggerated. “Prince Rhaegar has asked for your hand in marriage, (y/n)...”

**

“Aunt (y/n)!!” Arya shrieked with delight and ran for her aunt. Many times, Catelyn had to remind her youngest daughter that she needed to address her aunt as ‘Your Grace’. The girl who had once been her spirited little sister was now Queen of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Trident while Edmure was waiting to become Lord of Riverrun as Hoster Tully still proved to be hanging on. Once she became the young bride of Rhaegar Targaryen, (y/n) prospered greatly. Rhaegar had fallen in love with her at first sight. Well that is once she had taken off her helmet. Through the years he continued to support (y/n) and her sword fighting, calling upon many infamous swordsmen and knights to train and teach her. She had fought by his side when the time came to depose the former King Aerys.

Catelyn had found herself Lady Stark, but not from marrying Brandon. He had died during the siege of King’s Landing as he helped Rhaegar overthrow his father Aerys.. Her husband had become Ned Stark. And with him she had five beautiful children. Arya, reminding her every day of her sister (y/n). She had the wild spirit of both (y/n) and Lyanna Stark.

The King and Queen were a lovely pair with their own heir, young Jaehaerys who possessed his mother’s auburn hair and his father’s striking violet eyes.

(y/n) gathers Arya in her arms, giggling and twirling her niece around. “How big you’ve gotten! Have you been practicing your sword fighting?”

Eagerly she nods. “Jon and Robb have been helping me!”

Rhaegar smiles over at his son who right away sought company with his cousins. “Perhaps you could help Jaehaerys.”

Arya beams up at him. “No problem! He’ll be an expert swordsman in no time!”

Catelyn shakes her head while Ned tries to suppress his groan. Arya had definitely taken after her two aunts more than anyone else. The looks of her departed Lyanna and the temperament of her royal (y/n).

"The both of you must be tired from your journey. Come inside and warm yourselves." Ned gestures toward the castle of Winterfell. Evident on the king and queen's face that they would much appreciate it.

"I'll lead the way!" Arya announces and hurries through the snow. (y/n) could only move so quickly though as Rhaegar held her hand to help her walk. She was pregnant with their second child.

Siddling to the other side of her sister, Catelyn takes her other hand. "You shouldn't have traveled in your condition."

(y/n) snorts and rolls her eyes. "Oh hush. I'm fine. This child isn't coming for quite some time. You're as worse as Rhaegar."

"Our fault for underestimating our sturdy queen." Rhaegar chuckles. He looks to his wife, complete adoration and love overflowing. Catelyn smiles to herself. Yes. Only the finest man for her sister.

#prince rhaegar #rhaegar targaryen fanfic #rhaegar targaryen #rhaegar targaryen x reader #rhaegar targaryen fanfiction #reader insert #game of thrones #game of thrones fanfiction #game of thrones fanfic #asoiaf #asoiaf fanfic #asoiaf fanfiction

[meraki-yao]

RWRB Movie Thoughts: Emails

The emails are my favourite part of the book, partly because that is how I show affection: I write lengthy letters to my friends during their special occasions, and I keep every message of love they send me in a cherished chest. The emails detailed their growing relationship and love not only in a wonderfully written way but also in a way that speaks true and is personal to me.

That being said, I went into the movie knowing they can't do the full extent of what's in the books out of practicality: the audiobook takes like fifteen minutes to read an email, and with visual media, there has to be something on screen, and long montages don't work. I've accepted this and just was curious about how they were going to deal with it.

And I liked that part of the film! It wasn't as innovative as how the texting scene was done, but texting allows that since texting is a conversation, basically talking online, while email is not that, and is something closer to continuous monologues, so it can't be presented in the same way. What we heard was less poetic or epic than the book emails, but it was soft, sweet and adorable in its own way, and I loved the book quotes we did get: "When we’re apart your body comes back to me in dreams" & "I'll be damned but I miss you", and I do wish it was longer and we got to hear more.

But with that being said, two things I noticed:

1. From the middle until the end of the email scene. I think starting from Henry's "Wait don't they have napkins in Texas?" line, there are actually at least two overlapping audios of their emails playing, it's just one is louder and subtitled. All I could pick up from the other audio is

Alex: Dear Henry, I miss you too Henry: Dear Alex/ Affectionately

but there's definitely more, I just couldn't pick the words up. So what is the other audio??? What are the other emails ??? Are there more that was recorded but wasn't even put in the movie??? I NEED to KNOW!!!

2. We may not get a lot of emails in the movie, but when the emails were leaked, the newscaster who questions Miguel says there's 72 emails, and the British newscaster still calls them "the Waterloo letters", which means in universe, the "Hometown Stuff" email thread, with “memories are difficult", " I thought, it someone like that ever loved me, it would set me on fire", and my favourite:" A INCOMPLETE LIST: THINGS I LOVE ABOUT HRH PRINCE HENRY OF WALES" with certain changes to fit the movie canon, EXIST IN UNIVERSE, even if we don’t see/heard it.

If I'm gonna stretch this point a bit further, since Henry looked so damn broken (applause to Nick here) and Alex mentions “most private and intimate thoughts", "fear and truth", and honestly as sweet as it is, I don't think the emails shown in the movie reaches the level of "most"," I imagine most if not all emails in the book still took place and were written between movie Alex and Henry with certain changes: "Paris?" during the time jump between polo and Paris, “You are a dark sorcerer” maybe after their night in Paris, "A Mass of fools and Knaves" maybe a little earlier than where it is in the book, or have the "Dear Henry, so I just came out to my mom” be the last email in that thread, "Bad metaphors about maps" between runway goodbyes and the email leaks...

I literally don’t know if this brain rot made me happy about the potential cross-universe point that is their emails or even sadder that these were the bleeding words that fucking asshole Miguel leaks to the world. Henry’s face during the whole scene breaks my heart into pieces.

But there you go, something to think about.

P.S: Also I really really really want to hear Taylor and Nick read the book emails :D

#red white and royal blue #rwrb #rwrb movie #alex claremont diaz #henry fox mountchristen windsor #henry hanover stuart fox #firstprince #rwrb thoughts #emails emails emails

[meadowmines]

Some headcanon-leaning Majima meta/rambling/bullshit

I threatened to write this up over on a Discord and I'm now like a week ahead on Day Job Shit and I have time and it's fresh in my head so brace for hc/meta dump about Majima and Catching Feelings.

There is a whole sequence of Majima's Shoulder Devil Nishitani-voiced internal monologue I ended up cutting from The Bit, and while I did manage to keep that general thread in there, I wish I could have worked in this whole scene because it really spelled out a whole lot of Majima's bullshit. Specifically, how Majima believes he can't trust his own heart because he only ever loves people who are bad for him or who he's bad for.

It's not like he just pulled this out of his ass, either. Everyone he's shown as getting even the least little bit emotionally close to either has something awful happen to them, or does something awful to him. Saejima? Makoto?

And... Sagawa. Oof.

This is definitely my headcanon but tell me Majima, fresh out of a year in the hole, wouldn't just latch right onto the first person to show him even a little bit of kindness. Tell me Sagawa wasn't the exact kind of Bastard who would take advantage of that. There is a line Shoulder Devil Nishitani drops in that deleted scene, something to the effect of:

"He knew exactly what he was doin' to ya. Easier to put a collar on a dog that loves ya, right?"

And sure, he showed his true colors eventually and sure, Majima figured him out (or hell, he's enough of a Bastard that he might have even just come right out and said "sure I've been playing your heart like a cheap kazoo but you liked it so who's really at fault here? :)" ugh god I still wish we could have thrown him off a fucking pier but I digress). But the damage was already done.

As for the actual Nishitani: I think he was a little of both! He was also a Bastard, but the kind of Bastard that's exactly what it says on the tin and doesn't pretend to be anything but, and Majima was definitely skeeved out by getting hit on by this horny weirdo but also... kind of relieved, maybe? That this one was at least honest about his bullshit right up front? It sure would have been a refreshing change of pace after three years of Sagawa's mind game bullshit.

...and then of course he watched said weird horny bastard take like five bullets in center mass for him which, I would imagine, did little to dispel the "they're bad for me /I'm bad for them" dichotomy he'd built up. So that's always in the back of his head, that he can't trust his gut or his heart or his feelings, because every time he does someone gets hurt.

Then along comes Kiryu, who is both the first Secret Third Thing he's ever encountered, and somehow also both of the other two things at the same time and Majima does not know how to handle this. He's trying to push Kiryu away and drag him in closer at the same time. It's messy and ugly and he hates it but he has 0 idea how to be an adult human person in a healthy relationship of ANY kind with another adult human person and, let's be real here, neither does Kiryu.

Kiryu has NO idea what he does to Majima when he takes that bullet at the end of The Bit.

He thinks he had one chance to keep Majima from getting his head blown off and taking that bullet in his shoulder was the best thing he could do in that situation. And he wasn't wrong! He had to spend a night or two in the hospital about it, but he was fine! Majima was fine and went on to beat the shit out of the bad guys so Kuroshi and Kei-chan could deliver them to the Third Chairman in a gift bag with a shiny purple bow on top! Solid net positive outcome, right?

Does Majima see it that way? HE ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY DOES NOT! All he sees is one more person he's fallen in love with getting himself hurt, almost getting himself killed, and he knows he can never let it happen again but "never letting it happen again" means "cutting Kiryu out of his life" and at this point he might as well cut out his own literal heart.

And hoo boy does that shit ever compel me. I love reading and looking at other folks' soft fic and art, don't get me wrong, I love seeing these two happy, but I also love putting two dudes in the Feelings Smashing Machine and cranking that shit up to 11 and these two have a lot of delicious Feelings to smash, especially Majima.

#yakuza #headcanon bullshit #meta bullshit #majima goro #I just think he's neat #also his extensive trauma and trust issues