#I will eventually make a muse page for her that works

[chosetherose]

The Fortnight video foreshadows the convergence of Taylor Swift and her brand

In her videos, Taylor has continually played with the idea of herself as a person versus as a brand. These portrayals have almost been adversarial in nature. Think about the relationship between the two life sized Anti-Hero Taylors. The hooded robot Taylor who got to exist in the world while her bare counterpart was trapped in glass. Etc.

The Fortnight video introduces similar characters but flips the script because there isn’t a me versus her dynamic anymore. Instead, there is a story about coming together.

A scene by scene breakdown:

Taylor Swift™️ is chained to a bed in a white gown with a spicy slit and garter. A faceless nurse enters walking upside down on the ceiling (a continued theme suggestive of PR games). The nurse presents “Forget Him” pills, arguably reminiscent of a dark time where the world thought they could “cure” homosexuality. After Taylor Swift™️ begrudgingly takes her dose, the nurse unchains her.

We then see Taylor Swift™️ approach a two way mirror and wipe the mask off her face, revealing face tattoos we know to be Post Malone’s in real life. This reveal is setting the scene that within this video Post Malone represents Taylor’s inner self, her true soul behind the veil of celebrity. I’ll call him True Taylor.

Next, the mask is back and we see Taylor Swift™️ walk out of the observation room and into the workspace. She goes from wearing a leggy white gown with garter to a fully covered black poet-esque dress. She isn’t dressed for voyeuristic eyes anymore, she’s dressed to work on her art. I love this light to dark transition because black can be seen as the absence of light. Fitting for a tortured poet who can’t live her truth in public with her sunny muse by her side.

Note that we don’t get to see black dress Taylor Swift™️ through the two way mirror. She exists behind the bright lights of fame, making art in a room hidden from our view. Maybe the pills numb her enough to twist the art for an audience who likes to her to be chained to a bed while they watch her suffer.

But wait Taylor Swift™️ and True Taylor are collaborating. They start work separately but their art eventually drifts out of their typewriters, combining into a white light that bursts into a rainbow. Remember how I said black light is the absence of light? Well white light is comprised of all hues on the visible light spectrum.

We know there are layers to Taylor’s music: the surface layers chock full with to red herrings for the grocery line Swifties and the deeper layers of Taylor’s truth. They both exist in the art, swirled together.

But here is where things start to feel different. We cut to True Taylor and Taylor Swift™️ away from all those faceless people - they are alone in the middle of a road. That in itself is ridiculously symbolic of being on the way to somewhere (maybe brighter days). But there’s more because they are dressed identically, laying inside Taylor’s head that is made up of their art. This scene is like bonking us on the head that these two people are one and the same.

Note: The silhouette here is from the Style video which also portrays Taylor’s inner self as a man.

Taylor Swift™️ runs to True Taylor and they embrace in the middle of the road as pages of their art float around them. In the chaos, Taylor Swift™️ reaches out to True Taylor.

Maybe this scene is suggesting the public version of Taylor is ready to embrace her real self.

Then we see Taylor Swift™️ strapped to a table, wild hair from dropping the hairpins we saw in the opening scene. The drugs aren’t working, it must be time to escalate to shock therapy. The men around her gather and there is literally a sign in the background that says “Master Control”.

But one of the men in the room making decisions for the brand is actually True Taylor, who has been there all this time.

Enough is enough when True Taylor can’t take the pain and pulls the plug on the procedure, freeing public persona Taylor from torture.

Next we see True Taylor, familiarly encased behind glass, on a phone call. Perhaps making plans while safe from the rain. Taylor Swift™️ is elevated on a pedestal, out in the storm, in her best dress FEARLESS! Credit to @rep-princess-witch who put the fearless connection together in another post.

I’ll say it again, that is the huge difference in this video compared to others. Here, Taylor Swift™️ is not an antagonist, she is ready to brave the storm.

So what does she do? She’s back in the workspace burning all the files. It’s not without emotion but it’s necessary. We then see a stoic Taylor Swift™️ with no regrets.

After burning the files she’s back in the observation room. It’s time to fight back against the voyeurs and she does so by smashing the glass between her and them. She regains her agency by squashing their ability to hide. Shes deserting her past life.

Note: We don’t see True Taylor back inside. This fight is specifically for Taylor’s public persona.

In the closing seen, we see True Taylor leave shelter, step outside into the storm, and reach for Taylor Swift™️. The person and the public persona are weathering the storm hand in hand.

*Please check out @heyitsmoog on TikTok - he shared thoughts there that inspired me to make this post.*

#I could tweak this for days but here it is! #analysis

[lunaroserites]

Art and Ice - Doodle

Pairing: Eventual Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader

Characters: Natasha, Wanda, Pietro, Loki, Bucky, Sam Wilson, Clint Barton, a lot of the avengers cast is mentioned.

Summery: MC asks Bucky to be her focus on her project.

This might a 2 or 3 parter (it's gonna be more because cannot help myself). College AU, our boy Bucky is on the hockey team, and reader is an art major (because I love that trope and couldn't help myself)

Warnings: Not beta'd! All mistakes are my own. Friends fluff, swearing, mentions of college students being college students. Bit of friendly harmless flirting between friends. Bucky is a playboy. Fighting.

Word Court: 2770

Likes, reblogs, comments are appreciated!

Please do not repost, translate or otherwise copy my work elsewhere, without my express permission, thank you! Lunaroserites on tumblr and ao3

Catch up here: Chapter 1 Chapter 2 ❤️

“You think I can just say fuck it and drop out?” The words tumbled out of your mouth quickly as you walked with Nat toward the arena. Practice was in the afternoon today because there was a game tonight. According to Nat our rival team would be here later to do some warm up before the game tonight. 

“Seriously?” She raised a manicured brow at you. 

“Maybe Pietro was right. I should be a drama major,” you whispered, mostly to yourself. You knew you were being over dramatic about the ordeal, but Barnes was an egotistical jerk and he was going to make this project hell. Was that a pessimistic take on it? Maybe. Were you wrong? Probably not. 

You pulled your school hoodie tighter, winter's grasp was holding on tight this year. The wind nipped at your nose and cheeks as you both made your way into the arena. Once inside the main doors heat blasted at you, you rubbed your arms with your hands and looked at Nat who was doing the same. 

“You are dramatic. But it’s gonna be fine,” her confidence almost made you believe her. Originally you were just going to wait and ask him outside the arena, in hopes maybe his cocky, surefire attitude would be on the back burner. But Nat said practice was amping up now as the season drew closer to playoffs and the team would be traveling a lot more. Nat led us to our seats next to the bench, another woman was sitting there already. 

“Peggy!” Nat said cheerfully, as she sat down next to her. 

“Natasha!” she said cheerfully back. “Who’s this?” She smiled at you. You waved and introduced yourself.

“Oh you’re the one doing the art project? Steve mentioned it,” she asked. 

You nodded, “news travels fast?” you laugh a little weirded out how she already knew. 

“Hockey players gossip worse than fishermen wives in the locker room...”

“And out of it,” Nat added with a laugh, Peggy chuckled as well.

 “And Barnes can’t shut up about the fact you drew him,” Peggy said with an eyeroll. Right, you thought. Peggy probably spent a decent time around him, since Steve and him were best friends, from your understanding it was rare to see one without the other. 

“I’m not surprised,” you chuckled, looking down at your sketchpad. The night before you stayed up and watched videos of Barnes’ best plays and a couple of his interviews. There were some very detailed pictures of his face there. You quickly turned to a black page so Nat wouldn’t see it and poke fun. When you found a muse, it was hard for you to focus on anything but it. You could feel the hole you were digging getting bigger and bigger. 

“Fuck,” you glared at Barnes as he slammed into the glass in front of you, startling you. He had his helmet lifted and he was giving you a bright and flirty smile. You raised an eyebrow at him and shook your head, uninterested in his antics. He slipped his helmet down and pushed back, skating backwards, he moved so fluidly, you couldn’t help but pay attention. 

“Oi! Barnes. Pay attention,” someone snapped, you looked towards the voice and stared for a moment. 

“Coach Fury,” Nat said to you, “the only person that can get Barnes to pay attention besides Steve,” she finished. You nodded before looking back at the players. Your eyes were drawn to a smaller player, he wore a 12 on his back, Stark. He had been in one of your business classes you took in your second semester. He was an interesting guy, cocky and arrogant, he also came from money. His father was the owner of Stark Industries. He was speeding up and down the ice with ease. 

“12, he's fast,” you murmured to Nat, who nodded.

“He broke a record last year, his size makes it easier for him to zoom around,” Nat answered as she looked down at my paper, “Barnes really has your eye doesn’t he, this is like the Hela thing all over again,” she chuckled.  

“Yeah,” you blushed deeply and looked back down at your paper. You really wished one of the other teammates caught your attention, if Clint did this would be much simpler. But of of course the school hot shot had to be one to catch your eye.

“Hey,” Nat lifted your chin and made you look at her. “It’s fine, muses come and go. That’s how art is,” she smiled, that was one thing you loved about Nat, she never questioned or made fun of your muses or how ridiculous an idea you had was when it came to your art. She would poke fun, and make silly jokes, but nothing harmful. Just good natured fun. Her support was unwavering and true. 

Nat was a dancer, she was studying dance and dance theory. That’s how you two met, you accidently stumbled into one of the dance studios after hours instead of the art room. She was there practicing, and made small talk with you. You ended up just sitting on the dance room floor and working on your project talking with her as she practiced. 

“You know what’s funny, I didn’t think about dance for this project,” you chuckled after you relaxed a little. Nat’s face broke into a wide smile. 

“It would be the same as Pietro and the track team, but at least we look cute in our dance attire,” she mused lightly. You laughed loudly at her comment. 

“You really hate those track uniforms,” you shook your head as you chuckled some more. Clint zipped passed a moment later and Nat‘s eye followed him like a magnet. “Goodness, you’re so in love, it’s sickening,” you mused, she pushed your shoulder playfully. 

“How long have you two known one another?” Peggy asked. 

“Since first semester,” you answered her with a smile. 

“You guys are such good friends, I would have expected childhood bestfriends,” Peggy said, as she smiled at Steve who skated by. 

“We just clicked,” you shrugged, returning to your sketchpad. 

Practice drew to a close a little while later and you followed behind Nat and Peggy as they made their way back toward the locker room. There were a few girls, including Pepper Potts, Starks on again/off again girlfriend. Every other week Nat would be talking about it. The girl Bucky had on his arm last time was missing from the group of girls waiting for the players to leave the locker room. First out was Clint, and he made a beeline for Nat, instantly pulling her into a hug and pressing his nose into her neck, she squealed a little as his cold nose made contact with her skin.

Peggy excused herself to go wait by the door for Steve who emerged with Barnes a moment later. She whispered something in Steve’s ear and pointed over at you with a smile. Steve nodded and waved with a small smile of his own. Barnes followed his gaze and instantly he perked up when he noticed you. He swaggered toward you, past the gaggle of girls waiting to try and get his attention, you noticed a couple of them glare in your direction. You stood with your arms crossed over your chest, sketch book tucked against your side. You looked up at him as he came up to you making a complete stop a foot in front of you. He really didn’t care about personal space, you took one step back so you didn't have to crane your neck as much to look him in the face.

“And what do I owe the pleasure today Doodle,” you cocked an eyebrow at the nickname, and squinted slightly. The nickname didn’t make you scrunch your nose or want to gag so it wasn’t the worst. You sighed heavily and danced on the balls of your feet for a moment. He just stared, watching you intently, a dumb cocky smirk plastered on his face. 

“Would you let me draw you for my art project?” You asked, you wished the weight bearing down on your shoulders lifted but it didn’t. You dreaded the thought of spending more time with this menace of a man. His lip twitched further upward and showed some of his perfect white teeth. 

“Ah Doodle, I thought you'd never ask,” he ruffled your hair with one of his big hands. You groaned and moved your head from him and tried to fix your hair. 

“Don’t touch me, please,” you said sternly. “I just need permission to draw you and use your likeness.” 

“Ah don’t be like that,” he moved forward and you stepped backwards and to the right, dodging him. He huffed in annoyance and you stared at him with your arms crossed again and slight scowl. “Will you be at the game tonight?” He asked, finally standing upright, his own arms crossed across his broad chest. 

“Seats are sold out besides the reserved seats for team partners,” you stated, “so no not tonight.”  

“There's always a seat reserved for my girl, you can have that one,” he stated matter of factly. 

“I’m not your girl,” you said back firmly. “This whole thing is for my art project,” you moved your hand jestering to both of you, “it ends once my project is done.” 

You couldn’t quite place the look on his face after you said that, but you could pick up the small look of challenge in his eyes. It seemed he was making this game, like he was contemplating how long it would be before you would cave and give him what he wanted. Another notch in his bed post. From what you could tell based on his body language alone he was not used to being rejected. Women usually flaunted over him and fell in his lap, all he had to do was choose who he wanted at that moment. Your determination to not be one of those girls was considered a challenge to him, met head on with stubborn determination to break you down and get what he wanted in the end. That made your stomach twist at the thought, he only wanted to do this to sleep with you, have some fun and then dump you off on Loki’s lap heart broken. 

You shook your head, lost in your own thoughts. Barnes was still looking at you, a contemplative look on his face. He had his chin in his hand as he rubbed it, “this will be fun, see you tonight Doodle.” You glared at him as he walked away, twirling his keys around his finger. 

“Jerk,” you said softly to yourself before you made your way over to Nat and Clint. 

“Well that went better than I expected,” Nat said quietly as the three of you left the rink until you had to be back later. 

A sleek black car was parked at the curb, you waved goodbye to Nat and Clint as you ran over to the car and slid into the passenger seat, you rolled the window down and shouted “goodbye! See you later,” Nat waved and they continued walking. 

“Hey Loki!” You said cheerfully. 

“Hello darling, I take it asking Barnes went well?” He asked as he put the car in drive and pulled out from the curb. 

“It went alright. The cocky bastard,” you clipped your belt in place and turned your head to look at Loki fully. “He’s already flirting with me,” you shook your head in annoyance. 

“At least he has good taste darling,” Loki said sweetly as we sped down the freeway into town to have an early dinner.

“Have fun darling,” Loki shouted out the open window of the car as he dropped you off at the arena. You turned back and gave him an unamused smile and flipped him off. 

“Yeah, fuck you,” you said with a slight laugh and turned away, waving, “love you dork,” you said over your shoulder. Nat was waiting just inside the arena for you and led you to your seats. 

“So one of the perks of dating hockey players? Free seats?” You mused sitting down next to her, the arena was still pretty empty as the game didn’t start for 45 minutes. 

“One of them,” she chuckled. Warm ups started and Clint stopped for a moment in front of us and lifted his helmet.

“Hey girls,” he said with a smile before darting off to warm up. 

“Looks like Barnes just noticed us,” Nat said as he skated over. 

“He had me clocked from the parking lot,” you grumbled. Nat laughed loudly and placed her hand on your shoulder wiping a tear from her eye. 

“You’re not wrong,” she said between giggles. Barnes skated forward and came to stop sending glittering flecks of shaved ice toward the glass. 

“Nat, Doodle, how's my new favourite girl?” He asked with a cocky smile. You rolled your eyes, and placed your cheek on your hand as you looked at him with a deadpan expression, Nat smirked next to you. You watched as Barnes ran his tongue over his teeth, he then winked and skated off to join warm ups. 

“Do the woman he dates actually like that attitude?” You mused absently as you doodled on the open page of your sketchbook. Nat shrugged.

“Honestly, they’re probably more interested in his looks, and don’t care about anything else. That or the potential paycheck he’ll be earning if they can tie him down long enough,” She said softly. Your gut twisted uncomfortably at that, and you grimaced. Sure the guy was an arrogant prick, but he deserved better than that. Nat noticed your facial expression and nodded. “It’s not really fair, there's moments when he’s more than the arrogant show off, he’s pretty sweet. I think he’s just gotten used to hiding it; he doesn't bother being anything else.” 

“Be what they expect of you and no one will question it,” you hummed. You mindless doodles turned into a simple sketch of his face. You admired the sharpness of his jaw, his mouth set in a soft line that was slightly upturned.  

The game started, and you were too focused on watching Barnes skate to really watch the game. Not that you really understood the sport enough to really understand what was happening in front of you. First intermission passed and they were half through the second period when a black punk landed on your sketch pad. It startled you and your head shot up and you meant Barnes eyes. Nat was giggling next to you as you picked the offending puck up and handed it to the kid sitting behind you, who happened to be wearing a Barnes jersey. The kids day was made and Barnes’ narrowed his eyes at you. You smirked back in return and went back to drawing. 

The crowd erupted in loud chants as Barnes scored with less than a second left in the third period, winning the game for your college. You watched as Barnes skated around celebrating his goal only for the captain of the other team to get up in his face. You tensed up as you watched the guy push Barnes shoulders and then grab his protective gear getting in his face. 

So the rest of the team came to investigate and there was an all out brawl on the ice right in front of you. You stood up and looked down. Barnes was on top of the captain, his fist raised and he was breathing heavily. 

“Bucky,” his name left your lips before you could stop it and he had to have heard you because his face tilted in your direction for a fraction of a second and the captain took that as an opportunity to flip Barnes over and bring a hard fist down on the bridge of his nose. You shrieked as blood gushed out of Barnes’ nose. Nat was standing next to you as you both watched in horror. 

You turned your head and saw your college coach hopping the bench and helping refs break it up. Steve hauled the other team's captain off his best friend and shoved him into the arms of other teammates who pulled him further away. Steve helped Barnes up and took his face in his hands, Barnes just gave him a dopey smile. His gaze turned to you for a moment and he smiled a bigger smile.  You looked at him with wide eyes and your mouth agape, horrified. 

The captain of the other team didn’t look like he fared much better. He was bloody and his eye was swelling shut with each passing second. Coach Fury looked pissed, and was stalking over to the other teams coach for a few words, a ref following close behind.

Taglist: @vicmc624, @calwitch, @learisa, @aaqua-tofana

Feel free you send me a message if you have a request or would like more, or would like to be added to the tag list <3

#bucky imagine #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #marvel #bucky barns imagine #bucky fanfic #bucky x you #hockeyplayer!bucky x artist!reader #college!bucky #college au #college fic #bucky barns x reader #bucky barnes x female reader #reader insert

[baohanhanesel]

You are an artist and they are your muse.

Mentioned: Captain John Price, Kyle Gaz Garrick, John Soap Mactavish, Simon Ghost Riley, König, Valeria Garza, Rodolfo Parra, Alex Keller, Farah Karim, Alejandro Vargas.

Captain John Price was stunned when he caught your sketchbooks filled with his face and his body. You had taken a liking to his smile and beard because there were many pages of that one, alright. Price didn't know how to feel after seeing all of that. He felt his chest squeeze to just how meaningful this all was. He felt admired, and for making him feel like that he admired you back. After you suggested giving him a page of them so he'd remember you, he was enthusiastic to choose the drawing he gets to keep. He eventually wanted the page filled with his smile, it had many errors and was the first page you had done but it made it more meaningful for him. It was basically the beginning of your admiration for him, and your captain wouldn't change that to anything.

Kyle Gaz Garrick laughed while turning the pages. Giggles and chuckles filled the room while his fingers dragged along the art and felt the texture of the paper. He looked mesmerized by your keen eye for details. You had sketched his entire gear along with each crease under his eyes when he smiled. He was embarrassed but amazed at the same time. After looking through each and every one of them he flashed you a bright smile of pure happiness. He had given you inspiration? This just gave him a huge boost of confidence.

John Soap Mactavish occasionally muttered while he inspected each page very carefully. "wow" "ya got that too?!" "goodness, bonnie these are damn good!" "Ya looking to sell 'em? Can I have half the price?" He laughed and made countless jokes while going through the sketchbook. After he was done, he just looked so proud and happy. You told him he was your inspiration, and you swear you just heard that grown man giggle and gasp after you said that.

Simon Ghost Riley took his time looking through the pages. You drew his each and every mask since you joined the team, and that was impressive of you to never give up or get bored of drawing a skull themed mask. He stole glances at you while he looked through the pages. Somehow the sight of those pages both got him uneasy and warm. You spent your time looking at him and putting his face details down... No wonder you always stared at him because you also had many sketches of his muscles. "Keen eye." He jokes softly before giving you the sketchbook. But after you give him a page from it? He feels blessed. He will hide that for the rest of his life even though it seems like he doesn't care about it on the outside.

König was amazed. He kept going through the same pages again and again. He was silent while he took his time to admire your work. When he came to a page he specifically liked, he just pointed at it with his finger and looked at you as if you were serious. He seemed at ease and calm while he went through your work. Your pen scratches and the overall form of art was fascinating for him because you had spent your time on that? On him? He cleared his throat and gave the sketchbook back to you hesitantly. His reaction took you by surprise because you could see the happy bright glint in the usual dule blue of his eyes. You gave him the whole sketchbook because just now he gave you a month's worth of fuel.

Valeria Garza just hummed while she went through the pages, she didn't even go through all of them before setting it on her table and wanting you to come closer. "Mi carinõ, you need more reference?" She instantly flirted back with you because truly, for her? That sketchbook was a marriage proposal and she was more than happy to oblige. You as an artist had chosen her as a muse? Sketching only about her and going into detail? Valeria had to win the upper ground in this relationship because what you had just given her was a strong expression of your admiration for her.

Rodolfo Parra softened while he looked at your work. He was smiling sweetly. Not even two pages in he wrapped his arms around your shoulders and gave you a big hug. He babbled with his words about how amazing you are and how grateful he is to have an artist buddy around. He asked you if you needed any art supplies and when you didn't want to burden him he dragged you into an art store himself. He'd make you feel your worth for him too after seeing the sketchbook.

Alex Keller nodded his head repeatedly at each page and made an impressed expression before handing the sketchbook to you. "Can I show Farah? She's gotta see this!" He seemed so happy while he asked that and after you told him it was completely fine he gave you a pat on the shoulder. "Do you work with commissions?" He was smiling warmly while you felt all kinds of excitement rushing through you. He wanted you to draw something for him? You'd draw him anything he could want.

Farah Karim had a wide smile on her face while she looked amazed! She paid attention to the details you put into your work and praised each one of them individually. While she talked about your work and smiled happily you knew you chose the right person to admire for your work. After she was done praising your work you wanted her to keep it but she refused to take your hardwork. If she lost it she wouldn't forgive herself. So you insisted she at least takes one page with her to remember you. She made you choose the page.

Alejandro Vargas was laughing loudly and patting your shoulder quite enthusiastically. "You got my eyes right!" He kept making lighthearted comments and showed you the ones he especially loved even if you were the one creating it in the first place. "You got talent, amigo! Those are all so special!" Alejandro kept laughing while looking at you and the artwork. After you suggested giving him a page he was more than happy to hide it close to his heart and cherish it.

#cod modern warfare #cod #call of duty #call of duty modern warfare #captain john price #john price #john soap mactavish #john mactavish #simon ghost riley #simon riley #kyle gaz garrick #kyle garrick #konig #könig #valeria garza #alejandro vargas #rodolfo parra #farah karim #alex keller

[fandom-junk-drawer]

The Witcher Headcanon - Headaches

Geralt is no stranger to headaches. He gets them when he's dehydrated, gone without eating or sleeping for too long, or when Jaskier won't stop talking. He usually just drinks some willow bark tea, or takes one of Yennefer's potions and rides it out. He doesn't really get them often, not like Jaskier does.

Jaskier gets the usual types that humans get. As a bard, he is familiar with hangover headaches. They don't really last that long, surprisingly. After a few hours, the hangover is gone, and Jaskier is ready to inflict another on himself with another round of drinking while entertaining the crowds.

He also gets the I-stayed-up-too-late-working-on-a-song headache.

Geralt is surprised that Jaskier doesn't get those types of headaches more often. Many a time, Geralt had woken up to find Jaskier still awake, well past midnight, frantically scribbling away by candlelight.

"Only work on my songs during the day light hours? Perposterous! When the muses speak, I must listen!"

"Wait until morning?! But the idea is already there in my head!"

"Make a note? Make a f***ing note?"

"Do you even know how inspiration works?"

He's always a real b**tard in the morning after these late nights.

Jaskier whines as they travel, about how his head hurts, and about his eyes hurting, rubbing at them and squinting. He eventually stops complaining, and returns to his cheery self, going back to annoying Geralt for fun by making up silly songs to go with the situation.

Geralt mostly ignores the complaining and the whining. He's used to it by now. He can tell when something is really hurting his bard. It's all in how he complains.

"You okay, Jaskier?" Geralt asked as he watched Jaskier from the other side of the campfire. The bard had been quietly working out a tune, making notes and adjusting lyrics, pausing often to blink his eyes or rub them.

"Yeah, Geralt. My head just...hurts, and my eyes too."

No overly dramatic whining. Uh-oh... Geralt saw how the bard's eyebrows pinched together and he closed his eyes for a second.

"I'll make you some willow bark tea."

Jaskier had nodded and put his notebook away. He'd finished the tea and turned in. He seemed better in the morning and was back to his chatty self.

Hmm...

As the year went by, Geralt noticed Jaskier was getting those random headaches more often, and his eyes kept feeling tired. Geralt said nothing, merely kept an eye on him. Jaskier was squinting more when he worked on his music, and especially when he was copying lyrics and notes from loose pages to his notebook.

He would pause and hold up his page, staring intently at it, sometimes holding it at a distance. Then he would grumble and go back to scribbling.

Jaskier tried to ignore the f***ing sharp pain in his temples that he would get after only a few minutes of working. He tried sitting closer to the fire or use a few extra candles at night. He tried working on his compositions during the day, in the sunlight. His eyes just sometimes refused to focus on the letters, but he didn't seem to have a problem seeing.

He didn't notice that he was slowly having to hold small things farther and farther away from his face. When he did notice, it was right in the middle of patching Geralt up after a contract. It had been quite inconvenient when he'd had to ask Geralt to thread the needle for him first. He'd blamed it on the adrenaline and his shaking hands.

The headaches became an almost daily thing, and Geralt was starting to worry. Adjusting Jaskier's neck didn't help, and Geralt didn't know what else to do. He was getting to the point where he was about to suggest Jaskier see a Healer.

He watched Jaskier trying to write a letter to Yennefer one evening as they rested at an inn. Jaskier wrote her often as he and Geralt traveled the Path, keeping her abreast of their adventures, and indirectly telling her how much he missed her by complaining about Geralt and what an inconsiderate c*ckwomble he was, dragging him all over the Continent, etc.

Jaskier leaned away from the table, head craned back a little, and doing The Eyebrow Thing while he tried to stay close enough to write comfortably. After a few monents, he heaved a quiet sigh and closed his eyes, wincing.

Something in Geralt's brain clicked. Ah, that could be the problem! He pulled out the supply list he'd made earlier and handed it to Jaskier, rumbling casually, "Here's what we need from the market. Is there anything else you want to add to it before I go tomorrow?"

Jaskier held the list out at almost arm's length to examine it.

He did The Eyebrow Thing.

"You can't see it clearly, can you?"

"Of course I can f***ing see it! I just can't tell if that's and 'a' or an 'e'. Your handwriting is sh*t!" *holds paper a little farther away and squints*

Geralt: *takes paper and runs to the opposite side of the room with it* "Can you see it now?"

"You're such an a**hole!"

"And you're having trouble with your eyes, Jask. That's why you're getting so many headaches."

"It's just the late nights and early mornings! My eyes are a little strained!"

"Then what's the list say?" Geralt held the paper up at a normal reading distance. Jaskier glared at him, tried to force his eyes to focus on the writing, then answered sarcastically, "It doesn't say anathin. Paper can't talk, Geralt."

"Don't be a smarta**."

"Fine, ya b**tart! Ah can't f***ing read it that close!" he snapped, Northern accent getting heavier.

Jaskier's tone went from annoyed to anxious, "Geralt...do, do ye think am going blind...?" Geralt was quiet as he thought about that possibility.

He knew there were instances when healthy humans just lost their eyesight to some weird human disease. He tipped Jaskier's head back and looked closely at his eyes. He didn't see any cloudiness, or odd coloring. But that didn't mean it wasn't there. It could just be in the early stages.

Jaskier gripped Geralt's arms abruptly, fear lacing his voice, "Geralt, what if it's what happened to that man at the harvest festival last year?"

Geralt felt a little icecicle of dread slide into his heart. Last year, a young man complaining of a headache had dropped dead in the middle of the harvest festival.

It probably wasn't the same thing, but the tiny seed of doubt had been planted, and Geralt did not want to take the risk.

"Let's go see Yen. She'll take a look at you and find out what's wrong." Geralt contacted Yennefer that night, and arranged for her to meet them on the road.

They found each other on the road outside of White Bridge. Yennefer had rushed, rushed to meet them, and she made sure they both knew it. Geralt saw right past the front she was putting up. She was worried about their bard. She had jumped off her horse and swept up to Jaskier, demanding to know what dumba**ery he'd gotten himself into.

Jaskier had stood there looking like he was considering taking his chances going blind or dropping dead from whatever mysterious disease he was suffering from. A few moments later, after Yennefer had intensely examined his eyes and his head, she was yelling at him for scaring making her waste her time.

Then they were arguing back and forth, insulting each other and carrying on while Yennefer fixed the very minor problem.

"Absurd, absolutely absurd, making me leave my very important work because your dumb a** panics over f***ing age related vision changes!"

"Age related-!"

"You're 40, you kn*b! You're starting to feel your age. Here, hold this! *hands him his open notebook*

*gasps dramatically, goes Northern* "Feel my age-! How dare ya, ya hag! Implying that am old! Remind me again who's over 70--what the h*ll am Ah supposed tae be doing with this?"

"Just hold it right here-!"

Jaskier: *starts moving book away*

Yennefer: *slaps him on the head* "I said right here! Melitele, can't you follow simple directions?"

"But Ah can't read it! It's all blurry-!

Yennefer :*lays her hand on his head and does magic* "Can you see it clearly now?"

"Oh, f**k! Wow, Ah can! And it's so clear! It says...it says, 'F**k you, you mediocre tw*t. P.S. Your eyeliner looks like sh*t, and that shirt is ugly!'" *affronted screeching*

Geralt watched them fuss and cuss at each other while Yennefer made a few adustments to Jaskier's eyesight. They were still quarreling when they set off, escorting Yennefer back to Aretuza.

Geralt sighed. He felt a headache coming on.

#the witcher #the witcher headcanon #the witcher netflix #twn #geralt #geralt of rivia #yennefer #yennefer of vengerberg #jaskier #julian alfred pankratz #geraskier #geraskifer #geraskefer #yenskier #yennskier #yennaskier #yenneskier #headache headcanon

[foreverindreamlandd]

I'm Forever Yours

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

WC: 1.5k

Summary: Eddie thought it would be easier to break things off when you went to college. You deserved better than some loser who can't even graduate from high school. But now you're back for the summer, and if there's one thing you've learned this year, it's how much you need him.

A/n: This is my contribution for the lovely aphrogeneias 's Power Ballads Writing Challenge! I literally have not been able to stop thinking about this since seeing the prompt from Journey's Faithfully. We got a good ole exes to lovers with a lil bit of DnD thrown in because me lol. Be sure to go to Luiza's page to check out the other participants of the challenge!!

"two strangers learn to fall in love again"

Eddie’s knees were restless under the table.

His fingers tapped menacingly against the wood surface, eyes mindlessly scanning over the notes on the DM screen.

“Uh…you okay, Eddie?” Mike asked, his face contorted in confusion.

Eddie nodded, responding without even looking at him. “Yep. Yeah. Totally fine. Why?”

“You look like you’re about to shit your pants, dude,” Dustin said, pulling out his dice.

“That’s because his soulmate is joining us tonight,” Gareth mused, bumping elbows with Jeff as they shared a knowing smile.

The Dungeon Master of the Hellfire Club froze, eyes darting to his friends with a glare so deadly their smiles immediately dropped.

“Watch it, or disadvantage on all rolls tonight.” They muttered a sorry and Eddie grabbed his favorite d20 - the one you gave him two years ago - and fiddled with it in his hand. “She might not even show,” he said sadly.

“Bro, she’s gonna come,” Gareth replied. “She knows what night it is.”

“Unless being at college has made her too smart to remember a dumb nerd game,” Jeff murmured, and this time Gareth punched his arm. “OW!”

“Can someone please explain to us who this mystery girl is?” Dustin asked, arms crossed in front of him. 

“She’s just an old member,” Eddie said, running his fingers through his hair.

“Dude,” Gareth complained, then turned to Dustin and Mike. “Her name is Y/n. She’s the coolest girl there is, and when I say she’s Munson’s soulmate, you have no idea. Those two have been inseparable for years.”

“Used to be inseparable,” Eddie corrected, an ache forming in his chest.

“Right, well, she graduated last year and went to some fancy school in Canada. Hasn’t been back since, and now she’s home for the summer.”

“Are you two still together? I bet I can give you great advice on long distance relationships,” Dustin suggested with a smug expression.

Eddie’s eyebrows furrowed in discomfort before shaking his head. “We tried to make it work, but things got too crazy and I guess we just kind of lost touch.”

That was a lie. Eddie stopped answering your calls until you eventually got the hint and stopped trying to get in touch. He thought it would be easier for you to move on and realize that there was a much better life for you when you weren’t tied down by the loser of Hawkins High, whose legacy would only be the Hellfire Club and Corroded Coffin.

He hoped it would hurt less to cut the cord before having to look in your perfect eyes and see the realization of how much better you could do than him.

“That sucks man,” Mike said, giving him a sympathetic side smile.

Eddie nodded. “Happens.” He checked his watch one last time with a sigh. “Alright, you adventurers ready to get started? Quick recap from last session. The party had just returned a group of kids  to their families after being stolen by a Beholder, where-”

“Where they ran into a fierce cleric, Lyvia,” Eddie’s heart stilled at the familiar voice as you emerged from behind the curtain. “Daughter of the High Priestess of Lathander.”

He sat there, staring at your smiling face, wondering for a moment if he was dreaming.

But there you were, donned in your favorite denim jacket covered in pins, a Journey t-shirt, ripped jeans, and the black converse you bought with him last summer. His eyes flickered down, chest swelling at the sight of the heart shaped pendant around your neck.

Your eyes met his, and suddenly everything else in the room disappeared, as if there were a spotlight shining just on you.

Though no amount of time could make him forget how beautiful you were, seeing you in the flesh was almost too much for him. 

You were perfect. Radiant. Just as he remembered.

He wanted to run up and wrap you in his arms. To cradle your face in his hands and kiss you a million and one times. To tell you he was a bigger idiot than he could have imagined and he was sure this was the biggest mistake he’d ever made in his life.

He stayed sitting though, glued to his chair as Jeff and Gareth shouted your name and ran to tackle you into a hug.

You giggled as they collided into you, hugging them back.

Finally, Eddie managed to stand, his hands interlacing together behind his back.

His body bent forward into a bow. “M’lady Lyvia. ‘Tis good to see you have done well during your travels across the continent.”

You grinned, chin bowing down. “I have learned many things and have had many fun adventures, but I gotta say, DM, nothing feels as good as being with your party.”

Eddie took a sharp intake of breath, eyes widening slightly and your smile grew.

“Besides,” you continued, “something tells me this party is in desperate need of a lady to make sure y’all don’t fuck everything up.”

His brows rose in amusement, and the guys laughed as they escorted you to the table, shuffling their seats around to make room for you.

“Hey guys,” you said to Dustin and Mike with a wave. “I’m-”

“Y/n,” they said in unison and Eddie nearly decided to kill their characters in the first fight. “We know,” Mike finished with a smile. 

You nodded slowly. “Right. Okay…” You looked to Eddie.

He clapped his hands together, ready to be in any other situation than this.

Still, when you smiled at him again, he felt butterflies in his stomach. “Right. Let’s continue. You encounter the luminous, stunning, beefy dwarf cleric Lyvia…”

~~~~~~

“Y/n, you are a fucking legend,” Dustin praised as you all packed up your things. “I can’t believe you took out three direwolves in one hit!”

You shrugged. “Listen, Sacred Weapon is no joke. I’ve taken out larger packs than this with that baby many, many times.”

Eddie smiled to himself, slowly folding the DM screen.

“Hell yeah,” Henderson continued. “Are you going to play with us through the summer?”

You looked over at Eddie, a questioning look on your face. “That depends on what our mighty Dungeon Master says.”

Eddie beamed, giving you a grand nod and waving a hand in the air. “You know Lyvia will always have a home at our table.”

A smile spread across your face as the two of you held eye contact and Dustin grinned. “I guess I’ll catch you guys later,” he murmured as he followed the rest of the guys down the dark hallway.

Silence.

More staring.

You bit the inside of your cheek. “Hi, Eddie.”

He stood up, hands snaking inside his pockets. “Hey, Y/n.”

Your smile slowly fell. “You stopped answering my calls.” Your voice cracked at the last word, along with Eddie’s heart.

“I thought…I thought it would make things easier.”

Your head flinched back, face contorting. “Easier how? By not having my favorite person there for me?”

Ouch.

“I didn’t want you to feel tied down.”

You shook your head, taking a few steps forward. “Tied down by what? You?” His silence was answer enough and you scoffed. “Eds, you’re the one who has spent years teaching me how to live. How to laugh, how to fuck up and learn from my mistakes, how to never stop pursuing your dreams. I never would have gotten where I am today if I didn’t have you there.”

Tears welled in his eyes. “But what if you find out that there’s someone better for you? Someone who managed to fucking graduate from high school and isn’t trapped in Hawkins.”

His eyes went to the floor, and suddenly he saw your shoes inches from his. 

Your hands gently moved to his face, slowly lifting his gaze until they were on your perfect, mesmerizing, tear-filled eyes once more.

“Eds.” Your thumb stroked along the apple of his cheek and his eyes closed from the intoxicating feel of it. When he opened his eyes, you were smiling again. “I did my year, I met new people, did new things, left Hawkins, and you know what I learned?”

He swallowed, eyes flickering down to your lips as your face drew nearer. His hand reached up to hold the heart-shaped pendant between his fingers. “What?” he whispered.

“None of it matters if I don’t have you in my life. You make it all better. All I could ever really need is you.”

Eddie breathed out a small whimper, smile threatening to split his face in two and he inched closer.

“I’m forever yours, baby.” His lips ghosted over yours. “Faithfully.”

You groaned, pulling back and rolling your eyes with a smile. “Really? You’re gonna quote the fuckin’ Journey ballad?”

He scoffed. “Are you serious? You’re the one wearing the damn shirt!”

You looked down. “Oh shit, you’re right.”

Just as you started giggling, Eddie tucked his ring-adorned finger under your chin, pulling you closer until his lips found their way home to you, rediscovering your kiss with newfound joy and gratitude. 

Even if the world fell apart and completely turned on its axis, he knew he would never let you go again.

He was yours.

And you were his.

Faithfully.

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x y/n

[scholastic-dragon]

Personal Heater

Warnings: hellboy being hellboy (sex jokes and language) and spelling mistakes

Summary: Stuck together on a mission in Alaska, you and Hellboy are forced to stay in a cheap hotel. With the temperature steadily dropping and no other option, you use Hellboy as a personal heater.

Word count: 1k

The wind howled around you. You yanked up your jacket for the fifth time in the last 3 minutes as you trudge through the snow covered street to the inn.

In was an old building that was barely visible in the snowstorm. The windows were covered in frost and snow but a warm light shown out of them and onto the street.

You grunted pulling the big door open, a small bell ringing above your head. You stomped your feet on the worn welcome mat and shook the excess snow off your shoulders.

"Welcome, dear, anything I can help you with?" A kind looking old lady sat behind a chipped desk across from you.

You nodded and gave your best smile, wiping at your red nose.

"Yes, I would like a room please, just for tonight," You approached the desk, rubbing your hands together in your mittens.

"Yes, let's see here," She pulled out a pair of reading glasses and scanned a large book in front of her. Mumbling as her finger traced over the worn and weathered pages. "I have an extra room, on the first floor, just down the hall."

"Perfect, I'll take it,"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trudging down the worn carpet, you found the door and unlocked it. It was a small room, the bed was a full size with two matching nightstands.

You sighed dreadfully seeing no fireplace or heater.

You closed the door, locking it behind you and went to the far window. It took a few tries to lift it all the way, but it finally went.

You stuck your head out and looked around, trying to find HB.

"Y/n!" He formed right in front of you, covered in snow and shivering. You quickly moved out of the way of the window and allowed him to crawl in. It was a tight squeeze, but he made it in.

You quickly shut it behind him as he brush snow off of himself. He looked around the room as you removed your scarf and mittens.

"Not bad, not bad," He murmered, rubbing his hands together.

"Yeah, I got it for a steal too, unfortunately it doesn't have a heater or fireplace,"

"Or another bed," Hellboy pointed to the bed, your eyes widened as the realization hit you.

"Shit," You mumbled, covering your face with your hands. "I knew I forgot something,"

"Easy, babe. If you wanted to get in bed with me, you could've just asked," He sauntered over to you, with his arms open and his classic smirk.

"It wasn't on purpose!" You shoved his chest, he didn't move which made you more upset as you walked past him.

"Oh, come now, don't get your panties in a bunch, we can make this work,"

You rolled your eyes and set your gloves and scarf on the nightstand. Next you removed your boots, setting them against the wall so you wouldn't trip on them.

You debated on your jacket, but the snow lef ton it had started to soak into it, making it wet.

That left you in your work pants and shirt, uncomfortable, but it was thick fabric.

You pulled back the large duvet and quickly climbed in, sighing when you felt how thick the sheets were.

"Going to bed already?" Hellboy mused with a smile. He hadn't removed any of his things, instead he lit his cigar.

"It's almost midnight, HB," You roll your eyes.

"Yeah, but don'tcha wanna stay up for a bit, maybe talk a little," He gently nudged your knee with his hand, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

"Shut up," You groan, rolling onto your side, facing away from him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About an hour later, Hellboy had joined you, you felt the bed dip and groan from his weight as he layed next to you.

You were curled up, trying to get some warmth but it wasn't working. Eventually your body started trembling and shivering, Hellboy glanced at you and gently tapped your shoulder.

"Hey, y/n?"

You simply hum in response, not wanting to move.

"You okay? You're shaking?" His large hand rubbed soft circles on your shoulder, his hand was warm.

"I'm cold, it's freezing,"

"We could snuggle, that might warm ya up,"

"Shut up,"

"I'm not playin' around," You could tell by his voice he was being sincere and not making more sex jokes. "Come here,"

You felt his hand slip under your body and wrap around you. Without any struggle, he pulled you flush against his chest.

"Better?" His voice was soft, his lips brushing against your ear.

"Yeah, a little," Your heart was racing, suddenly the cold didn't matter, only how close he was to you, how tenderly he was holding you.

"You sure? You're trembling," He commented, looking down at your small form in his arms.

"I'm okay, just..." You squirmed a little, wanting to see his face. You turned to face him, seeing now that he wasn't wearing a shirt. "Why aren't you wearing a shirt?" The disdain was thick in your voice.

"Don't need it, I'm my own personal heater."

"Whatever," You shake your head and snuggle up against him. Laying your head on his chest as his arm wrapped around you, holding you close.

His hand drew gentle shaped on your back, slowly lulling you to sleep as you warmed up.

"I could get used to this," You mumbled sleepily into his chest, eyes closed.

"What, snuggling or the cold?" He joked, feeling his heart skip a beat at your response.

"Us,"

"Us?" His voice falters, he's sure he misheard you. Why would you ever actually want someone like him? He knew he didn't actually have a chance with you, this was just banter.

"Yeah. Us. I want there to be an us,"

"You must be really sleepy, you're saying things you don't mean," He meant to have a joking tone, but it only comes out as sad.

"I wouldn't be snuggling with you like this if I didn't like you, Red."

His heart beat faster against his chest, he pulled you closer to him, kissing your temple and hair line with a large smile.

"You mean that?" You nod and hum, wrapping your arms around his waist and chest and holding him tight.

"Wait, was the one bed an actual accident or did you do that on purpose?" He peered down at you, laughing softly, seeing you had conveniently fallen asleep.

He placed another kiss to your forehead, before resting his head against yours and closing his eyes.

#hellboy #hellboy x reader #hellboy imagine #hellboy headcannons #one bed trope #romantic #fluffy

[phoenix--flying]

im bored <3

for a teeny bit of context this can be a demigod au or a mortal au but theyre aged up and are ~23

The door made a soft click as it closed behind Ethan, he glanced back, making sure it was locked before letting his eyes wander around the apartment, searching for the other occupant. When he came up with nothing, he dropped his bag on the floor behind the couch, slipped his jacket and shoes off and made his way towards the bedroom.

Sure enough, the only light in their room was the lamp beside the bed Alabaster was sitting in. The blankets were pulled over his legs and his nose was currently stuck in a book. Absorbed as usual, Ethan mused, considering his fiancée didn’t even look up when he entered the room. He chuckled quietly, glancing at Hex curled up in Alabasters lap before he turned to his dresser to get changed.

He scratched Hex’s head, eliciting a quiet mew from the kitten as he climbed onto the bed, wrapping his arm around Al’s waist and resting his head on the others shoulder.

“Hey.” Alabaster murmured absentmindedly, turning the page. “How was work?”

Ethan raised an eyebrow, pressing a quick kiss to his partners jaw. “Fine, you had the day off today, yeah?”

The brunette made a quiet humming noise close to an agreement and Ethan snorted again. “Someone drove through the wall today.” He said casually, watching as Alabaster’s eyes didn’t flicker from the pages.

“Mm?”

“Yeah, it was freaky. I think someone died.”

“That’s nice.”

Ethan snorted, shaking his head and pressing his face closer to Alabasters neck. “You’re such a nerd.” He murmured quietly.

He never took to much offense when Alabaster got to wrapped up in his books, even if the other man always apologized when he eventually put the book down. He thought it was cute, honestly. Especially when Alabaster always went on about the plot of the book while Ethan had no idea what was going on.

Ethan glanced down at Hex as she mewed again, stretching out to lay across his hip while also staying in Al’s lap. “Hey you little menace.” He murmured, scratching her head again. His eyes flickered up to the book in his fiancées hands, reading a few lines to try and figure out what exactly he was reading. It seemed like some fantasy mystery novel.

He sighed quietly, pressing another kiss to Alabaster’s jaw before cuddling closer to him and closing his eyes. His fiancées quiet breathing and Hex purring in his lap eventually lulled him to sleep.

#phoenix ficlets #phoenix drabbles #ethan nakamura #alabaster torrington #alabaster c torrington #ethabaster #ethan x alabaster #ethan nakamura/alabaster torrington #pjo #i was messing around with prompt generators #because i have been STRUGGLING #to write anything pjo #so i wrote the sillies bc comfort #might fuck around w prompt generators at work tmr too #im going to bed now tho #its late #im tired

[authorsadiethatcher]

I wanted to write an update earlier this month, but I was waiting on a piece of news to report. It took most of the month, but now I can talk about it fully below.

April was exciting, May started out great, but little bits of panic and anxiety have set in. Nothing to fear, but damn, have I needed a couple wins recently.

Amazon is where most people find my books, so here’s a link to my catalogue: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Sadie-Thatcher/author/B00B4MINAC

Smashwords is a great place to buy books, especially if you don’t like Amazon’s evil empire. You can find them here: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/sadiethatcher

Plus, you can find them at the Google Play bookstore: https://play.google.com/store/books/author?id=Sadie+Thatcher

I’ve added a new way you can get my books. It’s called Ream and it’s a bit like Patreon, but its author specific, made by authors for authors. I’m still working through a few kinks, but this is an opportunity to get all of my books at each month and a few bonuses. You can see my Ream page here: https://reamstories.com/page/lhssployqw

Additionally, my books are available through Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Scribd. I don’t have links to those stores handy, but if that’s where you like to buy books from, my books will show up there, eventually. I distribute through Smashwords and have to wait until the review team there approves my books for distribution. This can take days or even a week.

Big News Alert

My next fantasy novel is here, written under the name Libby Feron. Rogue Elf is the second book in the Magic’s Most Wanted Series, continuing Tempest Ravifort’s saga. She’s a bounty hunter trying to keep the magical world a secret from the humans, and put her sister through college. Poor, but noble. The book is currently available for preorder and the release date is May 30. That’s next week! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5ZTQFS3/

Plus, the cover is absolutely gorgeous.

If fantasy is your thing, take a look at all of my novels here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Libby-Feron/author/B09PJ9J5RN

And if you sign up for the Libby Feron newsletter, you get exclusive content and updates like cover reveals before anyone else. I have a bonus prequel scene up for the Magic’s Most Wanted Series that will be exclusive to newsletter subscribers. You can sign up here: https://libbyferon.com/newsletter/

With the fantasy novel plug complete, let me also mention some of the cool stories I have coming out in the next month month.

I’ve got two more books in the Bimbo Records Series to release. Women trying to break into the music industry find success, but only after they bimbofy themselves for their manager.

I also have a series coming up that features women who feel left behind by society’s rising beauty standards and they will do anything to keep up. Even though they know images are airbrushed and altered before going online, they push past that and make their realities as good or better. There might be an addiction to social media likes involved as well. I haven’t decided yet.

And in the second half of June, I will be beginning a Bimbo Academy series. It could be a finishing school or someplace where wayward women are sent to be rehabilitated into happy bimbos. We will see where my muse takes me on that.

Finally, the days of Fake It Until You Make It being available on Amazon Kindle Vella are numbered. I have requested the story come down from Vella so that I may publish it in other forms, including turning it into an audiobook. I don’t expect anything to happen on this until about June 7, but this is your warning to download those episodes now so you can read them at your leisure. Now I just need to get my narrator working on the audio.

#Sadie Thatcher #writing #BuildingBetterGiggles #story #announcement #State of the Thatcher Address

[pendragonsclotpole]

since nobody asked for my opinion, i’m 100% gonna give it: ttpd is the most unhinged taylor swift album we’ve gotten in years, and i understand it’s not the lyrical masterpiece of folklore, some songs on evermore, red, or speak now, but it’s 100% giving depressed emo sad 2014 tumblr era girl that bought into her own misery and thought her little poems were tortured poetry. i have beef with that but mostly because the true emotional torture i experienced was terribly verbalized by me because i couldn’t bring myself to relive all my thoughts and their cringeiness and the crippling possibility that my life was not/did not have to be as painful as the people around me were making it or as i was making it.

but anyway as someone who also wrote/writes cringey stuff and never had the guts to publish it, i give her props for publishing. sometimes you gotta put out the shitty drafts to grow from it. kinda like the lifespan of a pen.

you start off strong, you keep going, pen keeps penning, until eventually the ink starts running out and your writing looks like shit, all letters imprinted into the paper with no modicum of what it was once, and then you throw out the pen and start again. taylor just missed the step where you throw out the pen and paper the moment you realize the pen is running out and the gradually inkless writing is ruining the rest of the work, so you throw out those last few pages, get a new pen, and start again.

and that’s okay. not everything i wrote/write is a masterpiece, and occasionally you need to air out the lack of masterpieces to progress. everyone’s like, “a truly great lyricist has consistency,” nah a truly great lyricist isn’t afraid of criticism, scrutiny, gets themselves a good proofreader that doesn’t drink the kool aid before they publish it, and then decides not to publish because they realize that not everything they write is great

so is she great? Yes and no. she’s got skills, she’s merged pop music with a good lyricism, but to me she wades an interesting balance of self awareness. when she gets it right, she’s on top of the world. when she gets it wrong, she gets it wrong. after all this debate, i wonder if the only criticism and scrutiny she can get is from the public, but also rails at how little it knows about her, mostly because of the clear brand her team has created. i’m still side eyeing the clear muse *cough* not joe alwyn *cough*

But also: the second half of the album all sounds the same to me, huge skip. However best believe i will be using down bad, fortnight, my boy only breaks his favorite toys, the tortured poets department, guilty as sin, but daddy i love him, florida, who’s afraid of little old me, i can do it with a broken heart, the alchemy, and clara bow to write all the fanfics i’ll never publish. merlin i’m looking at you

#taylor swift #ts ttpd #ttpd era #ttpd #taylor swift ttpd #ttpd spoilers #ttpd predictions #ttpd tracklist #ttpd release #the tortured poets department #taylor swift tortured poets #the tortured poets society #tortured artist #our favorite tortured writer™ #tortured poets era

[trashideas]

Fanfic writer Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk who just finished the Scenarios

Part 1

Being the only reader of an entire series is hard. Not because of the pressure to read a chapter as soon as it came out, but because there were no people to interact with.

Dokja couldn't rant about how his protagonist deserves better or about how much he loves the world-building of the novel. It gives little details over the course of the story that builds up into an entire, beautiful, universe.

So Dokja has to turn to himself to give his protagonist any sort of comfort in his repeating life.

Dokja wrote along with the postings of the source material. His paragraphs weren't as detailed or thought out as the source, but they told a story no less.

At first, his musings started in his head. Short snippets of different “what if..?” scenarios.

Eventually, during one of his 43 hours straight of being awake, he wrote down a few sentences. They were mistyped and horrid, but they presented an idea.

“Whas id Yoo Joonghyuk he a hiddy endfing?”

“What if Yoo Joonghyuk had a happy ending?”

And that one sentence broke forth to many more. What were once 1 sentence questions slowly turned into paragraphs and pages.

Eventually, Dokja was writing a chapter each time Ways of Survival posted. He posted none of them, each snippet stayed in his documents for him only. He allowed himself to be greedy with his Protagonist’s happiness.

....

The day came for the final chapter of Ways of Survival and Dokja didn't know whether to be happy, disappointed, excited, or scared. His emotions were haywire but Dokja couldn't allow for a slip of his mask. He was on a public subway. He didn't want to garner any strange looks.

When he is done reading the chapter, he isn't quite sure how to feel.

The ending was open-ended.

So obviously, when Dokja gets home that night, he writes.

He writes the ending that his protagonist deserves. One where the scenarios are over. Where his mind is allowed to rest. Where he can be happy with the person he loves the most.

Dokja doesn't want to pin his protagonist with anyone for his perfect ending. While Joonghyuk once had a child with Lee Seolhwa in the second regression, he never showed interest in her since. If that was because he lost interest or he didn't want another heartbreak, Dokja didn't know.

Dokja’s ending statement was simply,

“Yoo Joonghyuk finally allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. All of the regressions allowed for this. An ending to the Star Stream.

An ending to the fighting.

An ending to the grief.

And an opening to be happy.

Yoo Joonghyuk could finally be happy because he had everything he has ever come to cherish and there was no threat of it being taken from him.”

Dokja felt satisfied with the new ending. He himself felt happy for his protagonist despite this not being the true ending.

Then Dokja promptly passed out from sleep deprivation.

....

There was a knocking on the door.

Dokja had the thought to ignore it, but he couldn't bare the thought of one of the kids standing at his door, waiting for him to answer. He begrudgingly dragged himself out of bed to answer the door.

And holy fuck he was not prepared for what awaited him on the other side.

He blinked a few times to make sure his eyes did not deceive him. He wasn't sure if it was better or worse that this absolute *unit* this drop-dead *gorgeous* man was actually standing in front of him.

“Sorry for waking you up,” the beautiful man said, holding out his hand for a handshake, “but I wanted to introduce myself before I needed to work. I just moved in to the unit next door.”

Dokja dumbly took his hand, “ah- my name is Kim Dokja.”

“Yoo Joonghyuk.”

Dokja’s brain malfunctioned. Joonghyuk let go and disappeared into the door next to his, proving that he did live next door.

Dumbfounded, Dokja went back to bed.

...

When he woke up to his alarm, Dokja figured that he had one of his hallucinative dreams again and didn't think much of what happened. He got up, dressed for work, and left, not even glancing at the door next to his.

Dokja spent his day wondering what to do. Did he just reread the novel? Should he pick up something else?

On the subway home, Dokja checked Ways of Survival to reread it.

It wasn't there.

Dokja felt as if there was a gaping hole left in his heart, a void that used to be where Ways of Survival sat.

At least... He still had the happy ending that he wrote for Yoo Joonghyuk. He opened up his documents to reread what he wrote the other night to fix up the mistakes that his sleep-deprived mind made.

[This account doesn't exist!]

[This account doesn't exist!]

[No internet connection]

What? Dokja checked his email and it was fine, so then why were his documents not loading? He would try again when he got home. He could at least try to open them on his computer.

...

#joongdok #yoo joonghyuk #kim dokja #orv #orv au #orv omniscient reader's view point #snippysnippet

[defectivexfragmented]

*    knowing  your  partner  well  can  potentially  make  writing  a  lot  easier,    repost,    do  not  reblog.

                                           meet the mun.  — basics

NAME:  May PRONOUNS:   she/her PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION:  I prefer tumblr until I know you and feel comfortable enough to share my discord. SINGLE / TAKEN: single

— three facts

I am a single mother to the most wonderful son and overly dramatic dog. I have been single for almost as long as I've been writing on here, short by a few months.

I have an indoor plant collection of 52 tropical plants and currently have 15 cuttings propagating. I'm working on setting up an indoor greenhouse for my cuttings that are propagating to free up space in the window. It's a weird hobby and my family makes fun of me for it but it makes me happy.

I work in an industry that is very male dominated. 95% of my coworkers and suppliers I work with are men. There is only 1 woman in a position higher than my own.

— experience

I started on tumblr in 2015 with a personal blog and slowly discovered roleplaying after several months, which prompted me to make my first rp blog kili-the-archer. eventually I made Kili more into an oc and then about 3 years ago I dropped Kili to make a multimuse that included Clint, Killian Jones, Enzo, and Mary Stewart. Within 3 months, I dropped everyone but Clint and added Bucky. In January/February 2021, I added Matt. On rare occasions I'll try to pick up other muses but they never stick.

— sub-genres

angst! I love love love angst! I'm not the best at writing fluff and lovey dovey things but sometimes I get in the mood for something sweet and domestic.

— plots vs memes

with new partners, I really at least some plotting in the beginning. just to make sure we are on the same page with muses, points in the timeline, and the direction we want things to go. I'm not saying it has to be detailed or in depth plotting. simply, "I want to write with Clint during the Blip and I would like this to be a love-hate kind of dynamic". That is literally all the information I need. With OC's, I do prefer more plotting. After the ball gets rolling, I am good with memes.

— long or short replies

I prefer long to novella replies. There are times when I do like shorter replies but they usually end up turning into longer ones eventually. Quick, short replies I will only write on discord.

— best time to write

usually during the day while I'm at work and at night. for some reason, I cannot write in the morning. my brain just doesn't work like that.

tagged by: @somewherebetweenrage (thank you hun!) tagging: @grimmusings, @lamentingwclf, @honorhearted, @whtwclf, @masquenoire, @lt-ghxst, @masteredlegacy, @apocketfullofmuses, @ofmythsandfables, @hexsreality, @thirt13n, @brooklynislandgirl, @whorrcr, @shieldretired , @baseballdilf

#dash games #~ queue and i remember budapest very differently ~

[rcguenights]

guess who ?? it's jae ( she/they ) again with a second muse because i just couldn't help myself. now i present to you kang deiji, moved to ansan about six months ago under mysterious circumstances. she would never tell but she's running from a past she wants to escape and thinks she can get lost in ansan to do so. publicly she works at at kawi-magki as a game attendant, but behind the scenes she's s freelance hacker who goes by the name rogue. as always, i'd love to get some plots going, either here or especially discord if you still need my username just let me know ! she has a pinterest board and a stats page as well !

unaware that she was actually born on the colony of astra, circumstances that led to the death of her parents forced her grandparents to take on deiji as a babe. living in the countryside outside of busan, deiji's early life was rather uneventful, boring if she were being honest.

while they took care of her needs, her grandparents were never particularly loving to deiji and it colored a lot of what she would end up seeking in friendships and relationships as she grew older.

currently 23 years old, her birthday is in november which will make her 24 at the tail end of the year. presents femme for the most part, but could be described a demi-female and accepts she/they pronouns. her hair is long and flows down her back and is currently half brown and half pink.

though her grandparents were a bit of a stick in the mud when it came to emerging technologies, deiji was entirely the opposite. any classes around technology and the history of it intrigued her. learning about the advances in cyberware and other technologies.

deiji found it easy to pick up on computers and other systems, dabbling in programming and computer science when she was just a kid. convincing her grandparents to take her into busan where each time she would grow to love being in the city, hating the moment she had to return to the countryside with them.

with her interest in technology, deiji began to dabble in coding and eventually what she would come to know as hacking. it started out as messing with the computer systems at her school, a more rural school system an all too easy target once she got the hang of it. if this meant that suddenly her lower grade in math was now above passing, then it was and no one was the wiser.

well into her teenage years she experimented with hacking local institutions and systems in the small towns that neighbored her home in the countryside. learning very early on to cover her tracks that it couldn't be traced back to her or her grandparent's home.

finally when she turned eighteen, she struck out with the meager amount of money she had earned from her part time jobs through high school and moved to busan. scrounging up what more money she could so that she could survive, living in small apartments that were barely the size of a closet, taking what money she could spare to invest in cyberware that would increase her skills and allow her to be able to hack remotely if needed.

something she learned of that with the addition of advanced technology in the world, so had a market for mercenary work cropped up. the world had become far more dangerous she realized, but fixers and the like were looking for anyone brave enough to complete jobs for cash that she knew she couldn't earn as easily with a regular job.

she started out with low level hacking jobs that she could do alone. someone was always looking for forbidden or secret information from a corporation or business in busan and more often than not she found with these types of jobs she didn't need to leave the comfort of her apartment to do so. as she slowly but surely started to make a name for herself, deciding that she need a moniker, an alias, all the good hackers had one. wanting something simple but edgy, she went with rogue.

after a slew of successful low level jobs, she was approached by a small mercenary group, three different people who had specialties looking for a mostly unknown but skilled hacker so that they could take tougher and more lucrative jobs. the more dangerous the job, the more the pay.

deiji would join them and after her first successful mission with them she thought she had finally found something for herself. for a person who hardly had a family, she thought maybe she had found one. for years they would go on to complete job after job, allowing deiji to upgrade her equipment to bigger and better, both in the computers and devices as well as her cyberware.

something that would make it fall apart around her was the closeness she had found with the defacto leader of their little group. a closeness that turned into a relationship that lasted for the years she spent with them. swept up in the idea of first love, she didn't see the signs early on. didn't see as they became far more controlling, as they became angry and possessive when they were under the influence and negative ways in which they began to treat her.

despite the near perfection of her parts in their jobs, it never seemed enough for them. criticizing her for the littlest things, becoming demanding, and deiji surely accepted it far longer than she should. but she was naive, never knowing that she didn't have to settle for this.

a nearly botched job became the last straw, their partner's reaction was violent and it was the first and only time that deiji was physically hurt by them in their anger and drunkenness. fearful of someone she thought she loved, deiji packed up everything she had and snuck out into the night, never looking back and leaving busan as fast as possible.

that was six months ago, deiji wound up in ansan, hoping to get away, start a new life. entering herself in the lottery to astra, but thinking that even so she would never probably be chosen for it. with a nagging worry in the back of her mind, in between small jobs that she's taken as a freelance hacker again, she started working at kawi-magki as a game attendant. it's nothing exciting and sometimes for fun she hacks the very games she's supposed to keep working just to see what reactions those who use such machines might have, get on her good side and you might just win a plushie or prize from a gacha machine or you'll be forced to waste all your coins on it.

all in all, she's keeping a low profile, hoping to never be found by her ex or the people she used to run with and she's been successful enough so far, just another lost soul in the many that live within ansan.

personality wise ; observant and meticulous, deiji is a bit of a perfectionist. sometimes she thinks she's all too well of her surroundings but she can't help it. she's always been bubbly and outgoing, but there always seems to be something behind her eyes even when she's like that shows she's changed since leaving her ex. the type to be looking at something and if you start talking to her, she'll keep to what she is doing and tell that she's listening because she really is. a multi-tasker. has a nervous tick of picking at her nails which are usually long and stiletto shaped. chugs down caffeine like its water, so she can be known as wired all the time.

plots

neighbors in jindallae apartments since she lives there ? she holes up there quite a bit when she's not working at the arcade.

you hang out at the arcade quite a lot and she's seen you a bunch of times, depending on how you act there, maybe she rigs some games in your favor or the very opposite and makes you lose more than possible. maybe you've noticed that and question it and her ?

she likes to hide in the corners of aquatica and just watch the various sea life for hours upon hours, maybe join her and keep her company ?

you speculate that she's a hacker somehow and want her help with a job or two ? she'll probably deny at first that she is but you're not convinced and keep trying to get her help, maybe you'll wear her down eventually?

after leaving her ex, she'd only be able to give herself to flings and has a fear of getting into another relationship, so maybe some flings, maybe you want to get to know her better, but she's not forthcoming about herself but you keep pushing? ( she's bisexual, so open game for just about anyone )

anything??? let's plot !

#rmnt:intro #. *. ⋆ — ᴍᴀʏʙᴇ ᴀ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ʟɪɢʜᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ᴅᴀʀᴋɴᴇꜱꜱ ᴍᴇᴇᴛ / intro . #abuse tw #relationship abuse tw

[indvcible]

don't mind me...coming to class late and unprepared. 😳 you can find more about rie under the cut while i work on eventually getting her pages up probably later than sooner soz. still going through everyone's intros, but pls hit that heart button down below and i'll slide into your ims to plot if you don't beat me to it!! xoxo, always super late girl 😘

tw: mention of death

originally born as nakamoto yukiko (mom used to call her yuki before she gave her up to her bosses lol)

her mom was (and actually still is) the secretary of an up and coming cosmetics company who were on track of becoming super super big throughout japan!!!

(tw: mention of death) at their peak, the company heads lost their daughter (tw end) who was coincidentally around the same age as yuki

after a few years had passed, they asked her mom to take yukiko in as their own as they were in need of an heir and unable to produce more of their own (for timeline purposes, yuki was prob about 12-13 years old at the time)

to this day, she still has no idea what conspired between the adults involved in the discussion, but she's sure as hell bitter that her mom had given her up so easily on top of the fact that she was a "replacement daughter" and her "parents" never let her forget it

to say she was an angsty teen would be an understatement, but she never reacted outwardly or rashly. rather, she just acted as a lifeless doll, never really reacting much to anyone around her or showing much emotion around her "dear family"

this was beginning to raise questions throughout high society as the sato daughter, who had hardly (if ever) made any appearances when she was younger, had always been said to have been clingy but endearing towards her parents. but now that she was a frequent event attendee, the daughter was now the complete opposite

in order to hide the truth and keep others from digging too deeply for the dirty details, yukiko (now rie) was shipped off to study abroad in south korea, where she couldn't harm the company's prestige

there, she was forced to play the role of the perfect daughter or risk being cut off financially

for a while, she remained quiet in the background, allowing others to assume whatever they wanted to about her. at the time, she could barely make out anything they said anyway — she simply wanted her time in the country to pass

but then they appeared [subplot 7/muse l + m!!!] and changed her life around. now that she had friends that she found dear and could (sort of) open up to, rie was a bit brighter and expressed herself a bit more. their company also made a rapid difference in how quickly she was able to advance her korean language skills

when the whole "seduction" plan was brought up, she'd honestly thought it to be a dumb little game that she didn't care for whatsoever, but she went along with it anyway bc they wanted to do it

the one time she decided to act on her feelings and do something of her own volition to make herself happy, it ruins her entire friendship and rie is suddenly back to being on her own all thanks to someone she doesn't even end up with in the end

this incident makes her shut down once more and now she's beginning to understand that maybe her "parents" were right in insisting that doing what she was told and looking pretty was for the best. so she does just that and quietly makes it to graduation

the same thought process continues in the present day; she's become the face of her "mother's" cosmetic brand and is currently a grad student majoring in operations management, ready to step in and take over the company whenever the time comes

she does still see her birth mother every now and then, but chooses to ignore her whenever possible

plot bunnies 🐇

the only person she's ever come close to revealing her secret to; that her entire identity is a sham. but something always came up that kept rie from doing so

someone she considers a true friend. though she remains closed off around all others, you break down those walls. she's always ready to drop what she's doing to be at your side if you ever needed her to be

you were enemies in high school and you're still enemies now. despite doing everything in her power to avoid you, somehow you always end up appearing before her, proving to be a constant thorn in her side

a colleague begged rie to go on a blind date in her place, and there she met/reunited with you. can you two hit it off or will this be a horrible disaster?

she gets a little homesick every now and then, but your presence reminds her that she's not alone (req. muse must be from or have lived in japan)

current fellow snu grad students

one night stand turned regular fling

fellow models/industry workers

#revintro #[ ✶ ] ── * 𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐎 𝐑𝐈𝐄 { intro } #tw: mention of death #it's a v brief mention but tagging just in case xx

[ggonghui]

hi-hi, i'm EG (or eggy, whichever) and i was here a few months back with a muse i was really stoked about and had a lot of plans for, but life kind of prevented me from investing as much time into her (and rp, in general lol) as i would've liked! but, fortunately, the new year is basically a free hack for more downtime, so here i am again, with a plate that is significantly less full :3 i have every intention of bringing #her back, but i figured i'd start off easy this time with a veteran idol who can forge more temporal connections and work my way back to a rookie, and then, eventually, a staff member! so, without further ado, this is gong huiseok! extremely-reluctant-morally-ambiguous-nepo-baby and idol-actor. to know him is to.....know him. below the cut is a "brief" rundown of him as a person, pretty soon i'll have some pages linked that are mostly self-indulgent but definitely help paint a more comprehensive picture for his celebrity profile and his history in the industry, as well as his familial background. do-too-much gene, chronic world builder disease, etc. etc. but this should be a good huiseok starter pack while i'm work-week lazy!

personage

—— welcome to infinite entertainment! it's GONG HUISEOK, who is the MAIN VOCALIST of INDIGO. i’ve heard whispers that the 25 year old is pretty INTROSPECTIVE but lowkey PRIDEFUL. also, doesn’t he remind you of LEE MINHO (LEE KNOW)?

— gryffindor as a person, it’s not a secret that huiseok is someone with strong bravado and determination, but he’s also someone who likes to play the hero and challenge the status quo - maybe not always for all the right reasons, but who said that gryffindors were always the good guys? he’s daring, nervy, charismatic and every bit the puffed up jock type underneath all his pretty boy persona. reckless and impulsive, he has a tendency to get himself into tricky situations, but never falters in his confidence that he’ll make it out on the other side - no matter who he has to take down on the way up. he’s independent and guarded in all the ways the world has taught him to be, but has a not-so-easily-hidden naïveté that betrays the untouchable image he’s created for himself in his personal life and his perspective of the world. — daemon: cavitave in the world of daemonologie, huiseok tests out as a cavitave. according to the science itself, people with this classification are natural showoffs. like others of his kind, huiseok thrives in the spotlight and has a particular affinity for garnering admiration. while his gryffindor sensibilities cover the bases for his compassion and that pesky desire to help others (whether the reasons for that are entirely pure of heart or not), his daemon is a reminder that regardless of his surface-level charms, as a person, huiseok is dynamic in his perspectives and motives, but is generally pretty consistent with regards to his core values. or lack thereof. — infp-a (assertive mediator) introversion, intuition, feeling, perception. despite his larger than life perception of him and his appreciation of attention, huiseok is quite introverted and values his alone time a lot. he prefers close, smaller friend groups to massive ones (admirers excluded, obviously! but, really, only from a distance, thank you) and his strength in this regard speaks to how quickly he had to grow up while still somehow never really growing and his fluctuating ability to see the “bigger picture” in most situations. he sees things through to the absolute end, almost to a fault, and takes things a little too personally. he’s emotional but reticent, expressive but subdued. in all matters outside of music and performance, he’s not quite as detail oriented as he probably should be and more often than not lets his impulses guide him. his idealism could be his downfall but the other elements of his mbti suggest that a big enough fall could knock some sense into him. — type 8: the challenger the powerful, dominating type: self-confident, decisive, willful, and confrontational. despite the way he presents himself, huiseok is deceptively fragile, but outwardly very strong-willed and -minded. he’s the kind of person to speak his mind, even if it means stepping on a few toes, when it goes against his own beliefs and well-being. he has a strong desire to be self-reliant and to prove his strength as an individual after spending so much of his life being perpetually taken care of and wilting under his father’s shadow, and has a hard time coming to terms with the fact that sometimes being vulnerable is okay.

bare-bones bio TW DEATH

huiseok looks just like his father. even if he didn’t already think so himself, more and more as he gets older, he hears it often enough that it must be true. he thinks maybe it’s their way of comforting him, but it’s been years and his dad lives on in his mirror; in the pictures that cover their family home; in the comments that people leave under everything he does, good or bad. he lives. and sometimes, when huiseok has a particularly rough day, when the people around him go out of their way to make him feel like he’s as good as wearing his father’s skin, he kind-of hates him for it and then hates himself for hating him for it. all of the best things that huiseok has wouldn’t even /be/ his, if it weren’t for the industry “in” he’d had by virtue of his parentage. he’s gong hanwook and choi sunhui’s only son, the sole carrier-on of his father’s legacy, and that means something. it means everything, actually. he starts young, a fresh face on a children’s show, a child in the presence of adults who make all the decisions for him. he’s cute and he’s charming, and obedient in the way that all introverted little kids tend to be. he takes direction like a champ and they decide, before the velcros are even off his shoes, that he’ll be a star. he is his father’s son. mercifully, they give him his youth, and it’s of his own volition that he comes back into the industry, first through acting and then, finally, through music. becoming a member of indigo feels like the first thing that he ever really does on his own. with acting, he’s a name and a face, but as a member of a group…okay, he’s still a face, but he has his merit, too; his voice, his dancing, his words. that much feels true. for a while, at least — and, for years, it is. he does “music” and takes on acting roles when time allows to appease the tiny voice in his head that still, always, wants to make his father proud. his father dies in an “accident” in late 2019 during the early unfolding of a scandal. huiseok does not take it well and neither do his father’s fans. he feels suffocated. people are a lot more forgiving than he deserves when he lashes out about it. there’s headlines about him partying, getting belligerently drunk and causing scenes that are only ever documented through hearsay, the year after it happens and people respond with pity. he’s a boy without his father, afterall. he’s 22 and that ship has long sailed, but he lets them think that they understand what things were like between them. it’s complicated and, more than that, none of their business. maybe it’s guilt, a sense of obligation (the persistence of millions of middle-aged women who want to relive their glory days,) or just time that leads huiseok back onto the screen. he couldn’t tell you for sure himself, but his big return to acting following the passing of his father is a major role on a drama. the comments are about what he expects him to be, but he learns to tune out the part of his brain that aches with the comparisons and copes with the money he rakes in from brand deals, more roles, growing publicity, higher demand; the lucrativity of a pretty face - his father’s face. it makes his mother happy. (he is his father’s son.)

THE FATHER (and MOTHER!)

his father, Gong Hanwook, is a household name, an actor who rose to fame in the early 90s, first through a popular drama and then eventually for his visuals and multiple roles in deeply culturally impactful movies and media. there was a point in time where he was more or less the equivalent of a brad pitt, a tom cruise or a leonardo dicaprio in hollywood and, to this day, he's always a part of the "great actors of south korea" conversation. his wife, huiseok's mother, Choi Sunhui is a retired supermodel who rose to prominence around the same time as his father with a career more comprable to a devon aoki or a kate moss in terms of iconography. her star has faded some, but she's still someone that young women look up to for visual inspiration and it's fairly often that pictures of her modeling, and even off-duty, in the late 90s early 00s go viral. huiseok was always closer with his mother than he was his father and that really only worsened as he got older, tossed into the spotlight, and people began to compare the two of them visually. his father's passing unearthed a lot of really complicated emotions about this and coming to terms with those emotions has been one of his more complex points of development

tldr A lister parents, daddy issues

random anecdotes

he trained for six months, haters speculate that it's because the company was eager to push him after news of him signing with them dropped to capitalize on his name, but fans argue that he was just that talented upon arrival — the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

every now and then, a cover he did of grind on me by pretty ricky when he was like 17 makes its rounds through the fandom. people argue about it being spread because he was a minor and the subject matter is objectively super suggestive but others say it's funny, so it's something people fight about for forty days and forty nights whenever a new gongdoongie unearths the clip again lol

despite his focus these days being on his acting and honoring his father's legacy (and self-promo tbr...), he posts cover (dance and vocal) videos to the group's official youtube channel every now and then. he's also, in the last year or so, opened up a youtube channel of his own, but it's heavily curated and a lot more focused in Gong Huiseok the brand and legacy than it is on gong huiseok, the guy

plots

huiseok went out on a limb during their relationship and said the quiet part out loud, while muse, either unprepared for the seriousness of a love confession, hung up on another lover or not ready to say it at all, left him hanging. it’s not easy to be the first one to say the l-bomb, and after taking a chance on their relationship, only for muse not to say it back, huiseok ended things, ego bruised, but head held high. years on, wounds healed and seeing each other being an inevitability considering how small their world is, huiseok is willing to pursue a friendship. forreal this time. it’s just that… old habits are so hard to break, aren’t they?

in their rookie days, reckless and, quite frankly, cynical, huiseok and this muse went out on the town and made quite an event of things. so much of an event that pictures leaked onto forums and started quite the conversation. the only problem is that, in all of the commotion, muse wound up being the only one to take the heat. things were never quite the same after that. it’s been ages and huiseok wishes they could just move on, but that’s really easy for him to say.

something about this muse breathes life into huiseok's drearier days, they’re a breath of fresh air at the end of a particularly rough work schedule, and a warm reprieve from the coldness of the industry. it’s impractical to see each other all the time, but huiseok makes it a point to see them as often as possible. with no siblings and his mother constantly on the go, it feels nice to have someone that feels as good as blood in his corner and he hopes that, in some way, he makes them feel that way, too.

huiseok and this muse have been hooking up pretty regularly, both content to keep things mainly transactional while they blow off steam but the more time they spend together, the more they find they have in common. and what’s worse, they’ve started working together now, too.

huiseok and this muse are industry rivals, filling a close enough niche in the market that it causes constant comparisons between the two of them. fortunately, (or unfortunately, depending on who you ask,) the rivalry translates into a beef that’s withstood both the test of time and petty match-ups during variety show specials. they pretend to get along to keep things from flying into a media shitstorm, but if they were anything but celebrities, it would probably be on-sight.

huiseok overheard a conversation in the waiting room of a music show that put a bad taste in his mouth. now, he looks at this muse with something half-way between disdain and confusion. for muse’s part, they don’t have the slightest clue what could have caused this animosity and have taken to believing that the rumors of huiseok being cold and difficult to approach behind the scenes are true. on both ends, this is all a terrible misunderstanding, but it’s hard to clear up when neither of them has a clue in the world what the other’s problem even is.

someone who initially hated huiseok for being the kid who got put into the lineup through connections, not merit, but has come to understand him a lot better due to their forced proximity over the years - he’s still kind of a brat who got into the group with an unfair advantage, but he’s more than proved himself a capable and valuable member of the team (more than likely an indigo member but i’m open to exploring other idols having some initial wariness about his relatively easier path to debut)

someone who saw huiseok through his spiral in 2019 following his father’s passing; they offered him a reliable shoulder to cry on, someone to come to when everything felt like too much, a genuine friendship, and usually cleaned him up after his benders. huiseok loves and respects this person, and has spent the years since paying all of their love back

they’ve done a special stage together (award show, music show, any of the gayos)

they’ve appeared on variety shows together

they’ve bonded over often staying late in the company building

they initially only knew of each other but grew surprisingly close over the course of the tour

a mutual friend of theirs has set them up on a blind date once or twice to varied success

they think that huiseok is someone up his own ass who doesn’t respect his seniors after a misunderstanding made it seem like he ignored them altogether in passing

they’re a fan of one or both of huiseok’s parents (his late father was an actor and his mother is a retired model) and huiseok feels awkward about it

#infinite:intro #/ i'll come back at some point and tweak the way some of this is written bc i kind of hate it ! but it's up ! #/ i'll also do messages tomorrow im so gd tired dude omg

[xiaoli-bh]

ayoooo. it's yiska again and i'm bringing you the most princess coded girlie because i've been watching til the end of the moon and i'm in love with pianran and needed to make you fall in love with her too. hit that cute lil heart button if you want me to bother you for plotting (i also have discord for ease). as for her pages, i will be linking them and everything else will be under the cut! (ya'll pls ignore i don't have a wanted connections page again. we're going to ignore that as a group)

sᴛᴀᴛs / ʙɪᴏ / ᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ ᴄᴏɴɴᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴs

brief mentions of poverty.

xiaoli grew up very poor. didn't have a home to sleep in and slept under the stars with her family and often went without food. her father and her older brothers did any physical labor they could find while her mother and grandmother used to make/weave garments of beautiful quality.

eventually this talent sees them being summoned by the noble houses of beonhwa to see the garments of unrivaled beauty and quality. the houses agree that they live up to the hype and offer the meng's shelter, supplies, and a formal title of house meng in exchange for making garments for them for celebrations and important occasions.

house meng is only a house in name and get none of the benefits of being an important family. the men still have to work physical jobs and there's no arranged marriage between the children of house meng and other houses. invites to celebrations and political events were never received. to say they felt a bit snubbed is an understatement but they also felt extremely grateful because how couldn't they???

but them being foreigners and "outsiders" was always made extremely clear and never forgotten.

xiaoli attended beonhwa academy and did well, graduating with great honors with an eye for artistry and science.

despite her mother and grandmother wanting her to take after their craft, she chose her own road and after begging for money to start her own business, she soon opened her own vendors stall, the golden flower. you can find elixirs, tonics, remedies, salve, balms, etc as well as very unique and exotic perfumes.

she keeps her recipes for everything a secret but also uses her connections to outside lands to procure ingredients that aren't native to beonhwa to make perfumes that no one else can!

xiaoli gets so wrapped up in making a name for herself that she alienates herself from her family and misses the death of her grandmother and mother and is too ashamed to come crawling back.

now she's basically doubled down and works herself to the bone to be successful because if she can't be the best than she lost her family for nothing, y'know?

i'm sure i'm forgetting something but it's 3am so whoops lmao.

wanted connections:

sis wants a husband by any means. she wants to belong to a family native to beonhwa, preferably a big house so she can feel like she belongs. doesn't have to be mutual. can be one sided, can be legitimate, or both can be using each other tbh! we love angst and pain in this house!

fellow vendors that she has a warm and friendly relationship. maybe they're a little group that look out for each other?

other "outsiders" that understand how xiaoli feels.

listen i love angst and issues and drama so i do love negative plots so if you want them, i'm so game.

someone who wants to steal her recipes to make money for themselves? or sabotage her?

an old flame that she broke it off with after her mom and grandmother died? she felt she needed to focus on business and not love and dumped them unceremoniously and now there's beef?

a fling xiaoli uses to distract herself from problems?

xiaoli flirts a little too much, with men and women and may have flirted or tried to seduce your muse's s/o just to prove she could. she has a bit of a complex but also loves love and intimacy and has poor boundaries when told someone is off limits (plotted only ofc!!)

your muse can't pinpoint why but something is off about xiaoli. her smiles seem empty and she seems a little too eager to belong. what's behind the facade?

or lets brainstorm!!!!

#bhrp:intro

[smiletimeisrunningout]

important psa if we are mutuals but never started writing threads/wrote once with no ooc communication, because it's been months now and eventually I may go for a mass blocking:

If I sent you a message and asked you one of the following things: -hey, would you like to plot/wing it? -have you read her About Page for that fandom, are you okay with it? -you are a multi, are you okay with me interacting with X and Y characters of yours?

-and you haven't answered yet, I will not initiate ic interactions, because I don't know if you WANT to write with me or if you read her about page yet. So even if it's been months since I tried to interact, if you want to rp then answer to the question, it's okay, I don't mind if you took long or forgot! You can even say we'll wing it and that you know who she is!

-and if you answered that you hadn't read her about yet and we never spoke again, I will be waiting for you to come back and tell me we are good to go. It feels impolite to just keep asking if you have, maybe your silence means you did and changed your mind about writing!

This happens all the time and then we never rp, so especially now that I have less time in my hands, I'd suggest to NEW FOLLOWERS to send me an im/ic meme when you are ready to write too, even if I'm the one who followed first and should start the interactions, because it's disheartening to always be the one asking and more often than not not get answers.

The alternative is to follow people and start immediately sending memes or responding to things ic when they follow back, but if I do that and you answer as if she's Emma Swan or never answer, I'll just have to block you because it's too awkward for me. I'm honestly considering it, just assuming that you are ready to rp as if she's a canon character, because I don't know how much more clear I can make it, I wrote that you should read rules and about and that she's an oc/au LITERALLY everywhere in the blog.

But your pages are too long: don't follow me. They are that long because this way she can immediately be part of your fandom without you having to ask a thousand questions. It's meant to help you too. I'm too shy: so am I, and I reached out anyway, so you not answering means we'll never write because I'm not going to keep trying with no answer. I have anxiety, it's been too long since we last spoke: I'm saying here and pretty much everywhere in my blog that it's okay! Better late than never!!! I don't like talking ooc: I'm not requiring daily chats, just that you give me a sign you are not just automatically following back and that you know who she is; after that we are good. Of course when we are first starting I may still have questions so I don't assume things wrong but seriously, if you can't answer something like 'hey is it okay to answer that meme as if it's a week later?' just unfollow.

Emma is an oc. Reading the about page for your muse's fandom is as non-negotiable as reading my rules is. If in your replies it becomes clear you are thinking of Emma Swan, it's going to be awkward as hell. This is also a roleplaying blog, which means SOME cooperation and human interaction is to be expected.

Sorry for not sugarcoating this but it's a bit of a last resort before blocking starts. Regular unfollowing doesn't work with my bad memories, I'll just eventually follow you again.

#psa #I'd have already change the way I operate and just never send ims first #but honestly I want to plot settings so that I don't always write the same generic first meeting with an oc #and sometimes I find people who are so happy to come up with situations to put them in and it's so great?? #and I don't want to miss out on that