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maariarogers · 3 years

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How They Steal Seojun’s Scenes and Ruin A Tiny Essence of Seojun and Suho’s Character(s) in the K-Drama: A Study

Hi everybody!

First and foremost, I’m not online a lot, and whenever I do lately, I mostly try to spend it by fixating on a certain fandom — which, this time, happened to be the latest K-Drama “True Beauty”. I’ve written about two other study / analysis / meta which you could find here:

Thoughts On True Beauty and Why I’m On Team Suho

Why Webtoon!Suho is Superior and K-Drama!Suho Needs To Catch Up 👏

I’ve recently noticed during my scrolling that there has been a lot of tension between Team Seojun and Team Suho, which... broke my heart a little bit, because for the last eight episodes, I wasn’t really aware of it. I just thought everybody was having as much fun as I was just watching the K-Drama, but you know, we still have our favourites and we still have times when we disagree with the direction of the show, but by the end of the day, it was still something fun to watch, to distress with, and to share with like-minded fans.

Regardless, this is a warning that I don’t write with any intention to specifically target any characters or storyline, whether it be webtoon or the K-Drama. I do equally adore all of the cast, the production; the characters in the webtoon — and I will forever be thankful that I was fortunate enough to stumble upon the story as I did.

To add some context: I am a film student graduate, and I’ve always been interested in objectively dissecting characters, especially from a franchise, or things that came from a raw materials like True Beauty is. For your reference, I am currently at Chapter 128 of the webtoon series, although I am aware of spoilers beyond the chapters. As for the drama, I am at Episode 10 while I’m writing this. (Started at episode 9, continuing after episode 10.)

This is purely an in-depth analysis, if you’re into those sort of things, mainly discussing the major differences between webtoon representation of characters Lee Suho and Han Seojun in particular, and their mirrored selves in the K-Drama. Under the category, I will be touching on:

What the K-Drama changed the characters specifically

How They Stole Seojun Webtoon’s Scene and Character

Why Some of It Worked, Some of It Will Never

How They Highkey Ruined Seojun and Suho’s Dynamics

Why They Didn’t Need to Change the Characters At All, really

Another warning, just so any readers are aware, I am primarily a Suho x Jugeyong fan, but I’ve never really minded Seojun’s relationship with Jugyeong, either in Webtoon and K-Drama. Again, this mostly has a lot to do with how excellent the execution for Seojun was in the webtoon particularly — but I believe we’ll be getting into that.

Also, this is mostly to address the differences of webtoon vs. k-drama (and why some scene worked, why some scene didn’t work), and while I’ll be touching on the issues underlying the characters a bit, for a more thorough analysis or thoughts on the mental health represented by the characters, I would recommend reading:

By Tumblr User imjukyung (speaking about post-episode 10, specifically for Suho)

True Beauty: True Trauma and Unsettling Regression by tumblr user life-rewritten

Last Warning: This is about 5,000+ words. I... yeah. I have nothing to say except it’s written.

1. What Changed Specifically

I think the massive change an audience could probably observe — or if you can’t observe, you would find yourself being annoyed by it at certain point — would be in Suho. Yes, we’re starting with him.

I’ve been noticing a lot that people do heatedly comment that Suho’s “boring” — which, to an extent, I agree. (I mentioned this too in the first meta.) He is a massive play on the “cold and distant” trope, which, in my head, I’d like to call, a massive Edward Cullen case. That trope is often repetitive, most of the time it’s horribly executed, and it’s just, yeah, I’m not a big fan of them.

But again, I’ve mentioned this before, it works for Suho. I think this was what he was meant to be. As reference, in the webtoon even, Sua was never impressed with Suho, and she did repetitively say that the only “good thing that was going for him” was his good looks, and that he’s “boring” (in fact, I believe this is a fact since high school towards their adulthood). So yes, I think he was written like that on purpose.

On top of that, in the webtoon, compare to the K-Drama, Suho really does — nothing.

I’ll circle back to this specific characteristic because it relates to Seojun again, but I do wanted to point out that it is actually a prominent thing that’s to do with Suho. All he does in the webtoon, really, is study. Some of the things we learn later while we read would be that: he reads horror comic books as a sense of escapism, and he’s a good cook.

That’s it.

We would learn later, of course, that it is more than that. This personality is intentional and, most importantly, purposeful. What we’ve perceived as “boring” was used right against Suho — especially in the Prince of Princes arc, where the influencer called Suho out for “never trying his best” when the other contestants, Seojun and Aiden if we’re being specific, truly had something to lose while they were doing the show.

So, it wasn’t just, something the webtoon author decided Suho to be and held him no responsibility over, no — she crafted Suho like that from the beginning, she made us get used to it, and then, slowly, we see cracks of Suho’s “perfect” image and how that backfired. And Suho? He paid for it.

More than the simple cold and distant trope, his continuously monotone exterior actually did raise important questions in the long-run: For someone so smart with such a solid background, why does he seemed the most lost out of the Seojun-Jugeyong-Suho trio?

In my second meta, I wrote this:

It felt like the writers were desperate to fill the gaps for Suho possibly being “dull” [while playing] this typical cool and distant character — when, in reality, Suho’s existence as is was quite enough. He didn’t need to steal Seojun’s fighting ability, and he especially didn’t need to rob Seyeon’s musical passion too, to be interesting and have depths of his own [...]

Which I feel unfortunate about when it comes to K-Drama!Suho, and I still stand by it now. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the K-Drama, because it could really hold up as its own separate storyline and timeline, but if we start to critically compare, we do see that, in reality, Suho could carry his “boring” character well and the K-Drama probably just didn’t know how to do this well, or thought the reception would be bad, so they added all of these unnecessarily profile traits to have him stand out.

To add, even when all he really does is study and read comic books, Jugyeong still likes him. To Jugyeong, Suho doesn’t really need to be more than what he is - their shared interest and their strong loyalty in ensuring they’re each other’s safe haven when it comes to emotional struggles were already enough for her; and for Suho, Jugyeong’s company as is had been sufficient to make him happy, or have a better outlook in life.

2. How They Stole Seojun Webtoon’s Scene and Character

This is quite a sensitive topic for Seojun’s fans, so I will try addressing this very, very carefully. If you have anymore to add and discuss, feel free — I’d love to know what else I’ve missed or might have overlooked.

In this specific section, I think I’d like to focus on three (3) major Seojun scene that was stolen. The band-aid, the wallet, and the spicy food. Of course, I’ll be touching on things they’ve stolen beyond those scenes because they did incorporate a lot of what Seojun should be experiencing to Suho, or other characters, and why this wasn’t okay — or it couldn’t be held up. But let’s start with the scene first and we’ll slowly walk to what other aspects of Seojun the writers think we wouldn’t notice being stolen.

The Band Aid Scene

In the webtoon (spoilers to those who haven’t read) in Chapter 34, Suho got into an accident in an attempt to save Jugyeong. This led her to be injured on the knees, which, after Seojun was called in, he helped treated.

In the K-Drama, Suho was the one who treated Jugyeong’s knees – but this happened very early in the series and it was specifically triggered because Jugyeong tripped on her way to run Suho’s errands.

Personally, for me, I didn’t really mind this scene was “stolen”. Now, okay, before anybody comes at me, allow me to explain why: I didn’t think it mattered? Which probably didn’t help my case in fending a lot of you off lol but — I just didn’t think it mattered because in either scenes, it was still an in-character thing for them to do. Each boy would still assist Jugyeong and treated her knees even if they’ve switched places.

What I really meant was though, the scene didn’t really take any of Seojun’s important and/or core personality away from him — which you’ll find what I mean more as we delve on soon — it was just an act which anybody would’ve done for Jugyeong in that moment.

Especially in the webtoon, the bigger focus was more towards Suho who just got into an accident. There wasn’t really any fundamental value or any obvious motivation towards the scene unless you counted Seojun finding out that Heegyeong was Jugyeong’s sister - which, even then, it was brushed over quickly because, of course, we focus heavily on Suho’s state towards the end, and we’re stirring into what really happened between the three S (Seojun-Suho-Seyeon).

In the K-Drama, it was set up in such a way with a clear motivation: Suho apologising for pushing Jugyeong to such a limit and therefore elevating their statuses in comradeship, and for Seojun to notice and took an important interest in Jugyeong after seeing Suho and her together, triggering his consecutive contacts with her afterwards.

Each of them could really hold up as their own separate acts, and both boys are still heavily in-character.

The Wallet

In Chapter 32, Jugyeong (bare-faced) met with her bullies and they had a quick confrontation in WcDonalds. We realise the bullies didn’t really think they were responsible for how they acted, and didn’t apologise. This left Jugyeong devastated, so she left the restaurant premises and went home without realising she dropped her wallet. At the restaurant, Seojun’s friends picked it up — but Seojun was the one who identified the wallet’s owner, and came back just as Jugyeong, now fully in make-up, came to get it. Despite probably having eaten, Seojun invited Jugyeong to eat, noticing she’s in a bad mood.

In the K-Drama, Episode 6 if I’m not mistaken, Jugyeong stumbled upon her former bullies bare-faced. She managed to run out of the restaurant premises before shortly realising that she dropped her wallet. When she turned, she saw Suho was with her bullies, grasping the wallet from them. She ran away, he chased after, and they had their mini confrontation and Suho shielded Jugyeong from being recognised by their schoolmates.

Again, like the first, I didn’t really hold up any grudge over the scenes? Mostly because the difference in context between them?

Allow me to explain: in the webtoon, it was clearly placed that way to show the slow elevation of friendship between Jugyeong and Seojun; that scene also progressed to Jugyeong meeting Seojun’s group of friends later, which triggers to more scenes of them in the future i.e. Jugyeong trying out clothes at the request of Seojun’s friend’s girlfriend and Seojun obviously falling hard during the whole process.

(I also think like these are the first few instances where we’re established a place Seojun and Jugyeong bonded over most besides school, i.e. the shopping street background, because them shopping together in that group, or just the two of them, are relatively mentioned or brought up again and again.)

But that can’t realistically work for K-Drama.

In the webtoon, we’re allowed for a slow-paced friendship between Jugyeong and Seojun to form, which was important, because it was meant to bring us to the tipping point wherein Seojun transformed from being that best male friend (and why he stayed being the male best friend), to her boyfriend. The why, of course, is important — but we’ll get to that soon.

In the K-Drama, we’re not allowed the amount of pace. And, more than that, all of Seojun’s friends in the webtoon, who are high school dropouts or older (and therefore were not attending school) I believe, are replaced by the massive group Seojun has in their shared high school. So, the opportunity as is wasn’t really there, and it was later restricted by the time frame of a sixteen-episodes.

I’ll be touching on the fact that they do make up for this with various scenes, various new opportunities, but you can still see how Seojun falls a little short still to compare with his webtoon counterpart.

Speaking of the context further, technically I don’t think Suho “stole” the scene. The act, yes, I’ll admit to that, but not the scene, nor the core of what bonded Jugyeong and Seojun together — Suho didn’t have an external group of friends which he brought Jugyeong to meet, and he certainly didn’t share the street-shopping backgrounds and have a comforting meeting place with Jugyeong there.

I would’ve been more upset if Seojun confronted the bullies himself and returned the wallet to Jugyeong in the webtoon, only for Suho to obviously rob this scene from him in the K-Drama, when it was obviously Seojun’s highlighted moment. But as is, it happened differently.

Suho’s acts could held up as his own, especially since, different than the webtoon, he already saw bare-faced Jugyeong and knew the owner of the wallet [as he’s watched the scene unfold], while Seojun happened to find the wallet and Jugyeong thankfully had her ID, the one with make-up on her face, which led to Seojun keeping it and giving it back to her when they bump into each other later.

They weren’t really any confrontations about insecurities, past mistakes or the truth to be had; for Seojun and Jugyeong, that scene was only a “beginning” (the first of many events to come, the trigger point on how the rest starts), while for Suho, it was a “conclusion” (scenes triggered by other events first, ending with a specific decision).

The Spicy Food

Now, this is where I get a bit iffy? I wasn’t happy with it, simply put. I understand they amended it in episode 9, but — it still happened. And hoo-boy, they weren’t sneaky about it at all.

In the webtoon, Episode 33, Seojun invited Jugyeong to eat tteokbokki with him. Jugyeong wasn’t really feeling up to eat, but she accepted because she likes spicy food. Later, while having the meal together, Seojun is obviously having a hard time eating the spicy food, which Jugyeong internally questioned about.

In the K-Drama, Heegyeong and Mr. Han went on a date, and then we later find out that Mr. Han couldn’t withstand spicy food. He didn’t want to return the meal though, thinking that he would’ve burdened the staff.

Again, one can obviously just argue that, it happened in different context too, just like it did in the Wallet Scene. Or, better yet, that it’s fine, since they did include this in episode 9 in the end. But — the reason I had a problem with this choice of writing was because, unlike the other two examples, not beiong able to handle spicy food is a major, if not a constant, Seojun’s characteristics and behaviour.

That’s a Seojun thing, rather than a simple action, and taking that from him, or basing it off of him, feels a little... lazy.

Mr Han in the webtoon, while he didn’t play a major part and Heegyeong eventually lost interest in him, was a messy eater. They could’ve gone with that route easily. That he’s a messy eater, and Heegyeong finds herself liking it anyway — that is, if, like how I’ve been viewing the direction of the show, they really do want them to be together.

That’s already been apart of Mr. Han’s already-established behaviour, why take it from Seojun?

Which led us to the few bits of how Seojun is stolen beyond simple scenes.

Seojun’s Character

Now, “stolen” is such a big word. It’s right, to an extent, but it’s still such a big word. More than that, I’d say it’s “chipped”? As in, the true essence of what made Seojun so remarkable and strong as a second male lead in the webtoon is taken apart to have it lend to other characters or, equally worse, downplayed in the drama.

I’ve always had such a problem and it’s a MAJOR problem when Seojun, in the K-Drama, told Suho, “You don’t deserve to be happy.”

Straight-up, honest to god? That isn’t Seojun at all.

Yes, he’s upset. And yes, he’s irritated by what he perceived as Suho not coming to his expectation when it came to their shared loss regarding Seyeon and/or what he thought Suho failed to do. These are all true. Seojun is angry, and he’s consistently angry at Suho until they reach their resolution together — but he would never wish that on Suho.

What drove his anger was disappointment, was a sense of hopelessness, was the loss, but it never came from hatred. Seojun felt a lot towards Suho, but hate to the point of wishing someone’s unhappiness was never one of them.

Just having that spoken by Seojun contradicted a lot to how he behaves in the webtoon — which was honestly this upstanding, responsible and caring guy. And he is!

And while I adore Suho and he has a special place in my heart, I do see a stark difference to how Seojun operates if we compare to Suho: Seojun’s always been straightforward with his actions, countlessly working hard once he sets his mind to something (either that by choice, or otherwise i.e. helping his mom pay the bills, and then pursuing a career in being an idol) — he’s a go-getter.

Suho isn’t, not so directly at least. He’s quiet, and he keeps things to himself, and he doesn’t like a show. Which was why a lot of him “helping out” Jugyeong — mostly driving off weird men or confronting them — happened behind the scenes and without anybody’s knowledge. He doesn’t even really wanna acknowledge it after.

Seojun’s direction in life is clear, too. He wants to work right after school, and he does. He wants to treat Jugyeong properly as her romantic partner, and he does. He wants to be an idol and succeed, and he works hard on it.

Suho, on the other hand, not so much. A lot of the major things that did happen to Suho, it happened externally. Something else was pushing him to do an action. Him flying out to Japan due to his father, him returning to Korea etc. Again, this is a lot to do with his mental health as well, which is a separate post altogether, but I just wanted to point this out as comparison.

Rambling over — yes, if you’re not an avid webtoon reader, just know that, that specific line from Seojun? He would never. That was already so out-of-character of him because, as I’ve said and I will say it again, whatever anger Seojun harboured for Suho, it never came from such ugly or raw hatred. He didn’t understand Suho’s motivation after and/or during Seyeon’s death, and I do believe he could lash out from that - but he never held any extreme grudges.

To add, in the webtoon, that line was actually spoken by Suho when he admitted to his therapist that he think he doesn’t deserves to be happy.

This is also a big thing in my opinion, because it shows how differently Seojun and Suho coped — either with Seyeon, or whatever that comes after. Seojun has always been more prone to anger while Suho, either that added by his fluctuating mental health or otherwise, is prone to sadness.

Now, these are two extremely big negative emotions to be associated with our ever-favourite boys, but it’s true. It’s consistent throughout their characters all-through the story (in the webtoon, at least). And it does play a role, because, again, it showcases the difference of characters between Seojun and Suho, and how they react to situations differently. Seojun with his quick-temper, and Suho, easily feeling hopeless.

So, why is it important to know this?

Because a lot of Seojun’s anger, a lot of that deep-rooted aggression — that was transferred to Suho in the K-Drama. And no cap? It shouldn’t have.

3. Why It Worked, Why It Will Never

Let’s go back to the broader subject briefly.

At this point of the K-Drama, which is ten episodes in, I felt a little moot comparing scenes specifically to what had happened in the webtoon. It’s always nice, of course, to critically analyse any form of entertainment so we could always better our watching experiences or give the proper feedbacks to the creative industry, and while I like delving in deep too, I also have to remind myself a lot to not .... take it too seriously, essentially.

Because at this point, obviously the K-Drama has adapted many of the plot points from the webtoon, and re-arranged it to fit into what they deemed to be necessary to work in that timeline. And that’s okay!

For example, while Seojun’s scene was borrowed to other characters, we do get the opportunity to see Seojun being presented slightly differently. We have that new arc regarding his mother, and we see a whole loveable cast of group Seojun has acquired during his time schooling, and Seojun gets a ton more interactive chances with Jugyeong to make up for what they couldn’t do — that is, the slow progress of them becoming truly close friends till they’re in their young adult years — and every scene of them could still hold up as a magnifying and incredible moment as its own.

For example, that scene when Seojun took care of a sick Jugyeong in the bus, and he said (although I’m recalling only from memory), “I don’t like it when people get sick.” Which I think was super sweet and super impactful at the same time. This didn’t happen in the webtoon, but in the K-Drama, among the first scenes they’ve introduced Seojun in was when he was in the hospital visiting his mother; we also learn later that he actually time off from school to do help his parent.

So obviously Seojun’s cautious on anything that’s to do with somebody contracting an illness etc — and not only it showed in that one dialogue, it’s made more brilliant when Seojun, who can’t really afford any expensive jewellery, made Jugyeong a flower-braid bracelet. I think that was such a nice contrast, a nice touch and ugh!!!!!

That really punched me straight into my Seojun x Jugyeong heart.

We also see a different way of them interpreting and putting Sujin brilliantly into the story. I really want to go deeper into this, but I don’t believe I have sufficient enough thoughts beyond the fact that I much prefer the way the K-Drama built up Sujin to compare with how the webtoon placed Sujin. She has more motivation, she has more leverage, and last but not least, she has much more flexibility to become a serious second female lead and rival.

I do have a problem with how they decided to go with Suho, because again, I think all of the extra personality traits are not necessary. Suho doesn’t need to be a good fighter like Seojun had been established to be, and he doesn’t need to be musically passionate, like Seyeon was, because his own personality and character should’ve been enough. He could carry that personality well; he doesn’t need to be “more”.

Which brought us to this: Seojun’s aggressiveness taken by Suho.

To make this short - it just doesn’t work. It didn’t... really feel out of character, per se, but I'm not the biggest fan of it. I felt like, personally, the writers sort of missed the point of what truly made Suho Suho — which was this guy who was more prone to melancholy-based emotion than anything else — and, in return, (again, I’ll be using the word) they “chipped” away at Seojun because of it.

So, what should’ve been Seojun’s distinctive reaction carried specifically by his character, it was shared by Suho.

Suho isn’t unpredictable, he isn’t quick-tempered, and he isn’t fast on his feet. These are all Seojun’s major personality traits. He’s opinionated, yes, and he isn’t afraid to set his boundaries — but mostly, only his own. One of the more primary example I could give from the K-Drama that I think sorta worked at first glance, but didn’t really when you think twice about it, in regards to this, was Suho chasing after Seojun and Jugyeong after a gang of people were running towards them. (This is after the karaoke scene.)

Honestly, rather than just wasting his energy, it’d be more appropriate if Suho calls the cop.

Suho’s incredibly logical, and furiously straightforward. He doesn’t precisely need to be running around for — what? What was he achieving anyways in the K-Drama by running after the gang? See how it sorta doesn’t make sense? So, yes, if it doesn’t make sense - Suho wouldn’t.

Again, this circles back to how the different way the boys coped or react, as I mentioned earlier, and it’s important to be distinctive with these because both boys are two separate individuals with two different ways of seeing the world and taking them in, and, cheesy as I may, representation matters.

And when it isn’t represented properly, and I’ll be repeating this over and over: Seojun’s character seems like it’s “chipped away”. Not stolen, no, because it’s still there but — what should’ve been an emotion his specific character should harbour, it feels ... lacklustre, almost. Like a joke: what makes Seojun’s anger so “special” compared to the obvious internalised rage Suho seems to have [in the K-Drama]?

4. How Is Seojun and Suho Dynamic Ruined?

Simply put: observe the way the writers put Seojun and Suho when it comes to Jugyeong.

In the K-Drama, it’s constant rivalry between the boys — driven, of course, by Suho’s possibly deteriorating mental health and the insecurity that came with. But it was also easily flamed by Seojun making jabs and/or crossing the boundaries by being there when he shouldn’t have been.

Now, I’m not into the whole Team Seojun vs. Team Suho thing because the real tea is, that just isn’t Seojun and Suho.

And when the K-Drama writers failed to incorporate how exactly Seojun and Suho had been when both boys clearly shared an affection towards the same person, Jugyeong, I feel like — out of everything, that’s when they lost the biggest essence of what made these two men who they are.

Because Seojun and Suho? They were mad respectful towards each other.

I think one of the most memorable and important scene, and I carry this in my heart, was when Jugyeong was supposed to go out on that date with Suho, and they promised each other — but then Suho’s father got into an accident, and Jugyeong wasn’t reachable because she broke her phone.

You know who showed up to that date to inform Jugyeong? It was Seojun.

And it was Seojun again who came to pick Jugyeong up and got into the taxi to the airport to see Suho off. Seojun was the one who gave Jugyeong and Suho some time to say goodbye between themselves, tapping Jugyeong on the back when he walks away. That’s how far Seojun really cared for the girl he loves: he was willing to let her love the person she likes.

He was supportive, without being discriminating.

And it was the same again when it’s reversed. During the whole time Seojun and Jugyeong were dating, Suho never once showcased that he was dissatisfied or he wasn’t happy with the development. In fact, again and again, he was supportive. He put in good words for Seojun, he encouraged Jugyeong to always work it out between her and Seojun.

Of course, there are hiccups here and there — but that was the true essence, I believe, of the Seojun-and-Suho dynamic.

Even despite the misunderstanding, even through the romantic interest coming in between them, there will always have this big respect to not go behind one another and put the other down, I think. They would confront, and have their clashing moments face-to-face (but never too aggressively because Suho’s weak and often pulls back lol), but very rarely does it go further than that.

Even when they’re driven with anger, jealousy, or disappointment — you could tell that the bond they’ve shared from their middle school and with Seyeon were always somehow stronger.

And yes, you could argue that maybe, in this point of the K-Drama, they aren’t reconciled yet, which is why they acted the way they did. But I feel like? That didn’t matter? Because, in episode 10, we could clearly see Seojun having the capability of being supportive and putting his good faith in Suho, despite not being on good terms with the guy (e.g. when he advised, “Suho would never do that to you.”) even though that’s quickly tarnished when Seojun, in the same breath, quickly suggest for a break-up.

I don’t really have any defence for Suho because I already felt like him expressing constant aggression towards Seojun is already wrong, misplaced, or poorly written — so whatever action that came after always came a bit off for me. For example, rather than putting the blame for his own jealousy towards Seojun or Jugyeong (i.e. episode eight in its entirety), Suho is the kind of person to blame himself. He would feel that he lacked something, that it was him that wasn’t enough, that it must be him that’s done something to push Jugyeong, or anybody, away.

(Again, echoing his admittance: “I don’t think I deserve to be happy.” or, if we’re going with the K-Drama route, from Seojun’s accusation.)

5. Why They Didn’t Need To Change At All

The worst part of knowing or realising these small details is that, the story could still work. It could still move the characters forward, and have the relatively same outcome i.e. Suho lashing out by the end, threatened by his own insecurity that Jugyeong might prefer Seojun after all etc — but instead, we have these amazing characters that came off at 90% in the drama adaptation, but the 10% that really mattered to their characters weren’t mixed in well enough.

So, the question comes: how exactly should they be acting?

First, Suho’s often more calm — the calmest, in fact, between the Suho-Jugyeong-Seojun trio. This still doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any pent-up guilt, or sadness, or even aggression, but it rarely ever comes out violently. Even if it does, in any shape or form, mostly the emotions are fired back towards himself i.e. experiencing massive self-loathing, self-doubt, which, of course, may in return affect his interpersonal relationships.

Episode 10 played this out nicely, in fact: because we do have a scene where Suho’s being incredibly understanding and respectful in the beginning, but then little things and mistimed events built up (without proper explanations from the other party, to add) and he essentially imploded on himself i.e. lashing out, spiralling, having a mental breakdown, and by the end of it, (trigger warning ahead) committing suicide and/or self-harming himself by walking freely and stopping in the middle of traffic.

Secondly, Seojun could’ve still held so much anger at Suho for what happened with Seyeon and had fallen for Jugyeong all the while, but he could still stay in-character by never explicitly trying to constantly put Suho down. It just goes against a character so substantial for putting his all towards the people he loves, or have loved. And Seojun have loved Suho as a best friend - so for him to act the way he did, to say that line ( “You don’t deserve to be happy” ) especially, that makes me sad.

6. Conclusion

True Beauty, on the surface, will always be a light-hearted romance comedy that honestly has very interesting and well thought-of characters that... don’t necessarily stand out, I don’t think, among other high school K-Drama, but it does represent young adults or teens who seemed to “look like they’re doing well” but a lot of us really aren’t. We’re just figuring things out as we go along, and that’s what Suho, Seojun and Jugyeong seemed to be doing with us: they’re figuring things out as they go along, too.

In the end, there really isn’t much of a point expressing these thoughts except that it gives me simple pleasures, and if it can attract a few people who loves True Beauty too, I would simply die of appreciation. I hope a lot of the K-Drama audience can have a slight knowledge that, yes, Seojun is absolutely super kind, way kinder than he’s been portrayed on screen, and yes, Suho isn’t normally that possessive - protective, yes - he never stalks or particularly demands anything out of Jugyeong though.

Okay, before this got too long again, I thank you for reading!

Feel Free To Ask Me Anything

#True Beauty #Lee Suho #Han Seojun #i did this over three days like.....#why #why must i? but i must #i think its mostly triggered by seojun's ''you dont deserve to be happy'' line #like..... he did that man dirty #and i am here to TELL IT LIKE IT IS!#i feel like... its one thing to make a typical two men in rivalry over the same lady trope #but its another when.... its canon that these two men #are actually very astounding and very good people #i dont know #its just been in my head #since episode 8 i think #and i need this OUT #True Beauty Meta

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imalifegen89 · 3 years

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A Legacy Left Behind - Chapter - 5 - The Gemmond Incident

Part 2

P3X-422 - Planet Gemmond

John was glad that he'd activated the stealth mode on the Jumper the moment he entered the Gate. He was pretty sure that was what kept them from getting blown to hell by the nasty-looking craft that flew past right in front of them.

"Sheppard!"

Lorne shouted out a warning even as Sheppard jinked the Puddle Jumper violently to the left to avoid colliding with the other Dart that came swooping down from above. The pointy little flyers looked like they were made of biological - or maybe organic stuff - combined with metal alloys. They emitted a loud whine while flying and John felt that the name 'Dart' would suit them nicely, what with them being so pointy. The design of the exterior of the flyers reminded John of the exoskeleton-like layers on the Wraiths. The moment that thought crossed his mind, he knew they were facing the Wraith. He wondered briefly why he wasn't experiencing the change that overtook him when he was in the vicinity of the Wraith. Then he realized the link with the Puddle Jumper was acting as a buffer, maintaining a safe environment for the moment, preventing the embedded instinct from taking over.

He kept flying the Jumper in a series of left, right turns and corkscrews until he was clear of the angry, buzzing nest of Darts that were flying randomly around the Stargate. The inertial dampeners thankfully kept everyone inside the Jumper from truly experiencing the g-forces Sheppard was pulling while flying. The previously clear screen in the front of the Jumper had now transformed into a transparent Heads-Up-Display, with the gathered data scrolling down, as the little ship ran its scanners on their surroundings. Everyone in the cockpit and the back of the Jumper was focused on the screen, trying to get a feel of the situation they had just flown into.

Sheppard didn't really focus on the HUD. He had it all in his mind, therefore he was completely focused on flying.

He finally managed to get the Jumper into a higher altitude, turn it around, and then hover. The ship had finished the scan and was informing him what it had found.

'There are five Wraith Darts in the immediate vicinity,’

Clever, little shit had picked up on the name, John thought fondly. He could feel the Jumper preening in the back of his mind at the praise.

“They appear to be flying at random as they try to pinpoint our location. The sixth Dart that was on the ground maintaining the dial-in, has now joined the others to continue the search.'

John could see the dimensions of the Dart appear on the interactive HUD with neat little labels on weak points, weapons, hull compositions, etc. He watched Lorne minimize the window on the Dart and bring up the map of the area again. Lorne was tracking the six Darts now flying around looking almost panicked, vainly searching for whatever had just come through the Gate.

"These are Wraith Darts." Lorne inhaled sharply the moment he realized what everybody was now looking at.

John felt Steve squeezing his shoulder in response to the other Major's exclamation. John knew he was asking whether they could maintain control without Steve having to ask the question out loud.

"It's alright Steve. We're good. The Puddle Jumper is acting like some sort of a buffer. We're not directly engaging the Wraith at the moment, so the imperative isn't going to take over as long as we are inside the Jumper," he assured Steve and Lorne. Lorne had started to go pale, realizing that he was going to go through his first 'Online Experience' before the day was over.

"They know someone's here - they've probably informed the others in the swarm by now. So I'm going to take us on a flyby over the city to see what these things are doing here in Gemmond," Sheppard announced, as he turned the Jumper back from the gate and pointed the nose towards the city.

..........

It took about a minute to get right above the city. There were fifteen Darts circling the capital city of Gemmond and Sheppard maneuvered right through their ranks to get to a higher altitude. He held the Jumper stationary while scanning the city below. They were all focused intently on the HUD.

It was carnage. It was horrendous.

The natives were all in states of absolute fear and sheer panic as they were all running around trying to get away from the Darts. The Darts were behaving in a certain pattern - They'd circle around the city, then the moment they noticed a cluster of people, one of them would swoop down on the huddle, emit a transparent yet shimmering transporter beam, fly over the group, dematerializing them and sweeping them up into the Dart. Then it would fly away and another Dart would take its place to repeat the same actions.

"It looks like these things are collecting the humans and taking them away for storage as if a farmer would herd his sheep into a barn, or scoop his chickens and drop them in a coop," Adam Noshimuri commented quietly, greatly disturbed by what they were witnessing.

"Let's follow the next one and see where they’re taking them. They’re not killing them, so they must be still alive somewhere," said Sheppard. He felt the anger rising in him as he watched the horrific scene unfolding beneath them. What was obviously a once-thriving city, was now in a state of chaos. Its citizens running around and screaming in fear instead of celebrating the fruits of their hard labor. Some buildings and structures seemed to have blown up or set on fire. Sheppard figured the Darts must have fired at the buildings to get the people out in the open, making it easier to hunt them. He unclenched his fingers that had unknowingly tightened around the flight controls and took a deep steadying breath. He was going to destroy each and every one of these Wraith assholes, he made a promise to himself.

Then another Wraith Dart suddenly swooped down to sweep another group of Gemmondians into its belly and started on a direct course away from the city. Sheppard abandoned their observation post and directed the Jumper after the Dart. They flew for about five minutes, passing a few cities, a couple of farms, and then a jungle terrain. Just after the Dart cleared the jungle, they could all see its destination ahead.

There was a bigger ship that had landed on the ground. The Jumper scanned the ship and scrolled the data on the HUD. It was made of the same organic/metal combined composites just like the Darts. It was only two-thirds of an earth warship in size. The Jumper identified it as a 'Wraith Dart Carrier', a slightly smaller spaceship than a 'Wraith Cruiser'. It had the capacity to carry thirty-five Darts but had only fourteen Darts inside it at the moment. The rest were away busy collecting humans and guarding the Gate. There were fifteen 'Wraith Drones' inside the ship for security and they had over one hundred live humans in captivity. There were two male Wraiths controlling the entire operation.

Sheppard was starting to feel the change slowly beginning to take over, responding to the Wraith atrocity that was right in front of them. He could see Lorne was still himself, but he knew it was going to change the moment they closed the distance.

"Alright, here's what we’re going to do. I'm going to follow one of those things in and land us inside somewhere clear of the Drones. You guys are going to separate into two teams, one take left and the other right. You go after the prisoners and take them out. Then lead them out of the ship and get everyone as far away as you possibly can."

Then he concentrated. Two interior hidden compartments opened and two small rectangular PDAs came out. Sheppard took one out as Lorne took the other. Then he activated the PDA which was actually an LSD, a life-sign-detector, with a thought and programmed it. He handed it to Steve over his shoulder. The LSD stayed active with its screen blinking and emitting a soft blue, despite the fact that it was in the hand of a non-gene carrier. Then he did the same to the other detector and handed it to Danny.

"I’ve programmed it to stay active for three hours. It’ll show you any Wraith-related life sign in a red dot and humanoid in a blue dot. You can also see a map inside the ship here. It’ll orient automatically as you move along and show you scales and dimensions."

Both the SEALs studied the instruments intently.

Then Sheppard focused his attention on the data on the Jumper screen. He went through a few information windows at speed and got the information on the Wraith weapons to the front and center.

"Steve, if you can get your hands on a few of these Wraith stunners, you should be able to stun them quietly and then shoot them. According to this, the stunners work on them better than bullets since the stunner attacks the nervous system while bullets just bounce off their skin." Steve and the rest of the group went through the data Sheppard pointed out quickly.

"What will you two be doing?" Danny knew the answer but asked the question anyway. He didn't like the fact that the two zoomies were going to turn into out-of-control killing machines the moment they touched the ground inside the ship.

"You know we’re going to go after the Wraiths; it won't help any of us if they manage to get into your heads and turn us all against each other. We’ll close in and engage them directly, keeping them distracted while you carry out the prison break. Radio in the moment you clear the ship, we’ll finish them and get back to the Jumper. Once you're all clear from the blast area, I’ll blow this thing to hell." Sheppard laid out the plan.

They had all practiced war games on scenarios such as this and Sheppard had the tactical lead on this mission as it was Wraith-related. They were all well-versed in the comms codes they'd be using once they were on the ground, keeping chatter to a minimum. Sheppard only outlined the rough plan, knowing the SEALs, the Agents, and the Marines were all capable of taking care of smaller details on the go as they carried out the mission.

"Just saying, man, you two are the only ones who can fly this tin can and I don't want to walk all the way back - I've got a bad knee," replied Danny pointing at his right leg with the fake ailment, looking quite serious. Sheppard recognized the unvoiced message hidden inside: 'be safe and get back in one piece.’

He gave a smile and got ready to fly the jumper in, right on the tail of the Dart. It was just entering the ship through an entrance on the cargo bay which had slid open, recognizing the Dart that was closing in on it. Steve and the rest of the team quietly got ready, mentally preparing themselves for the task in front of them.

Inside the Wraith Dart Carrier

Planet Gemmond

Sheppard had followed the Dart inside the Carrier and then taken them closer to the bulkheads above to see what it was doing.

The Dart had entered the spacious cargo area and then carried out a low sweep, depositing its terrified cargo. The newly re-materialized, scared, and panicked group of Gemmondians were then herded further into the ship by the Drones that were waiting for them. They used the pointy ends of their stunners to poke and prod the prisoners until they moved along the path presumably leading to their cells.

The Jumper now had a detailed map of the interior and was showing them the cells area, cargo bays, the bridge, the living areas for the Wraith and the Drones. Sheppard slowly guided the Jumper further inside until they came to a secluded area. It was a food storage bay for their human cargo and was not under guard at the moment. It had enough space to land the Jumper.

Once they all got out, Sheppard locked the back door and turned to face the group. Everybody took a collective step back noticing the expression on his face.

Sheppard was different. His normally bright and hazel eyes had gone completely dark, pupils blown, almost swallowing up the entire sclera. His expressive face was blank, lips flattened in a tight line and his head cocked to the side slightly, as if he was listening to something far away. His demeanor was decidedly more alien and predatory than human.

Lorne wasn't much better. But he looked downright normal compared to John. His pupils were enlarged to a point to cover only his irises. Not the entire eye looking like a black hole like Sheppard's. And he looked somewhat pale and afraid which was much more easier to digest than Sheppard's visceral metamorphosis into a deadly, alien hunter.

"Go free the humans," said Sheppard. His voice was quite different from his usual lazy drawl and now had a deep and vicious quality to it. With that he turned and took off through a tunnel exit leading towards the middle of the ship, way faster than any of them could match, with Lorne following closely behind.

..........

"Fuck," said Danny softly. Steve felt that it was an apt description of what they had just witnessed. They had all known about this, but seeing it for the first time was an entirely different experience. He didn't know whether to be disturbed, happy, or scared. He had plenty of reasons for all those emotions. But he firmly pushed all those thoughts away to deal with later. For now, they all had a job to do. They were on a timer and they had to move fast to make the maximum use of the elements of stealth and surprise they had on their side at the moment. So he signaled everyone to separate into two teams and move.

..........

Steve cautiously led his group towards the left side of the Carrier. 'Spaceships are supposed to be cool. This one’s a nasty piece of crap.' He complained to himself. The interior was dark with a red hue, thanks to the membranous interior, with what looked like veins spread inside them. It gave off the feeling of being inside the belly of a beast instead of a spaceship. Steve thought that he saw the soft tissue-like areas of the bulkheads moving at random intervals as if the thing was breathing. It made a creepy sort of sense because according to the data on the LSD, these ships were grown out of bio-organic materials and then blended with metal alloys to make them space-worthy. It also had a strong, pungent, almost rotting smell that reminded him of a carcass of a dead animal. Steve suppressed the shudder at the thought of walking inside a cadaver.

Then the screen on his Detector flared for a brief moment, alerting him of the incoming three Drones only a few yards away from a corridor to their left. He had a few seconds to act before the Drones took the turn and came face-to-face with them.

He quickly signaled Adam to come over and give him a boost. Steve lightly stepped on his cupped palms and pushed himself up, hanging onto the narrow ledge that was protruding out of the wall. It ran horizontally along the wall about 7 ½, maybe, 8 feet above the ground. It seemed to be a part of an interior major vein/pipeline system and was sturdy enough to support his weight. At Steve's signal, Bates boosted Adam onto the ledge directly in front of Steve and then quickly retreated to hide in the small alcove they just walked past with Cadman.

Steve hauled himself onto the ledge and stood straight, plastering his torso against the wall, the narrow ledge barely supporting his footing. Adam positioned himself on the ledge on the opposite side of the narrow corridor and gave Steve a nod. Steve glanced at the LSD once more, started a mental countdown of seconds, and placed it inside his tac vest. Then he took his K-bar out and got ready to face the Wraith Drones.

Just when he reached six on his mental countdown, the three Wraiths took the turn and stepped into the corridor Steve and Adam were waiting. They were staring straight ahead as they walked, oblivious to the threat that was hanging above them. Just as the trio walked past them, Steve and Adam made their move.

Adam jumped onto the back of the Drone that walked closest to his position and landed on its shoulder. He wrapped his knees around the Drones’ upper body and drove his knife into its exposed throat twice in rapid succession. Then he switched hands and stabbed it again on the other side of the neck for good measure. The whole thing took about five seconds and the Drone slowly sank into its knees, the stab wound to the enzyme sack on its neck proving fatal.

He looked up to see Steve finishing up his Wraith Drone in the same manner. The third Drone was frozen in shock and it took a few seconds to move towards Steve, his stunner pointing at the SEAL team leader's face. But that few seconds’ delay proved to be a fatal mistake. Steve dropped to the ground and extended his leg, sweeping it in an arch along the floor, catching the Drone on the foot and toppling it over. The Drone landed on the floor on its butt and Adam didn't waste any time dragging his knife along the thing's neck, splitting it open and killing it where it lay.

Then they dragged the bodies to the side and propped them up against the wall. They collected the three stunners the drones had dropped and Steve tapped his comms to let the others know to join them. Now armed with more effective stunners, they continued towards the holding cells where the captive humans were held.

They reached the cells without running into more Drones. The six Drones that were standing near the cramped cell area were quickly dispatched with Stunner fire to their heads followed by quiet shots to the necks with suppressed MP7s. Bates made quick work on the cell door by shooting at the keypad-like thing with his suppressed handgun. The cell door retracted with a sickly noise.

"Hello people, we’re with the SGC, you need to move now and come with us, we’re going to get you guys out of this messy place," Cadman had a ready smile on her face while she talked to the scared and pale Gemmondians. Then they broke out of their frozen stupors, finally recognizing the uniforms of their allies, the Tau'ri, and they all started spilling out of the cell eagerly. Cadman managed to keep them quiet, celebrations at being rescued to a minimum, got them all out and paired them up efficiently. She signaled that they were ready to leave, and Steve, who was keeping watch, acknowledged. Then they all started moving towards the closest exit out of the ship with Steve and Adam in the front, the fifty or so Gemmondians in pairs in the middle along with Cadman, and Bates taking the rear keeping an eye on their six.

..........

Danny's team was having a bit of hard luck. They had been edging towards the right side of the ship and managed to dodge a few Wraiths by taking cover, thanks to the advance warning received from the LSD. Now they were facing a problem. They were all taking cover behind a small wall that was jutting out from the floor and peering over to observe the holding cell. They could see there were about fifty people crammed in the entirely too tiny cell and there were five Drones milling about in the area. They needed to distract the Drones and lure them away from the vicinity of the cell, so Kono and Vega could take the shots from their positions.

A quick rock, paper, scissor session elected Danny Williams for the bait. He sighed and started to crawl back from the safety of their cover to reach the corridor that ended at the cells. Then he stood up and walked back in the corridor about a ten-meter distance from the cell. Once positioned in the middle of the corridor now in plain view, he waved at the Drones with a grin on his face to get their attention.

"Oi you, fuck-face, where's the.." He didn't even get to finish the question as the Drones all reacted. They all adjusted their weapons to face Danny and came running towards him.

'Oh, you aren't very bright, are you?' Danny had a few seconds to shake his head in sympathy before they started firing their stunners. Kono and Vega, who were ready with their rifles primed, but couldn't risk the shots earlier because of the prisoners, now had clear lines of sight to fire. They dropped three Drones with shots to the necks before the Drones even had the chance to fire. One Drone got a shot off as Danny threw his knife at it. Then he dove off to the side to dodge the stunner fire. He only partially succeeded. Vega finished off the remaining Drone as Kono shot the Drone that was already on the ground writhing with Danny's knife buried in its neck, killing it. Higgins came running towards Danny to see whether he was okay.

"Ah man, I can't feel my shoulder, please tell me I still have a shoulder." Danny was concerned. He wasn't panicking at all, not really - just very very concerned about his shoulder which he really couldn't feel anymore.

“Yeah, man, you're good. It only grazed you. Not even a tear on the uniform to show for it. You'll get the feeling back soon.” Higgins was palpitating his shorter colleague's shoulder with a chuckle. Danny could be a downright diva when it came to field injuries.

Danny moved his own gun to the back with the help of Higgins and picked up a stunner with his left hand. His entire right arm was going to be out of commission for a while. They all armed themselves with a newly acquired stunner and moved towards the prisoners. They had to move quickly. They were not sure whether the dead Drones somehow managed to send out an alert that there were intruders on board.

Kono and Vega got busy getting the prisoners out of the cell to move. They quickly organized the now big group and started their trek towards their closest exit with Danny and Higgins in the front, and Kono and Vega taking the rear while keeping the newly rescued bunch of Gemmondians safely in the middle.

#fanfiction series #stargate atlantis #steve mcgarrett #john sheppard #ao3fic #cross over #hawaii five 0 #stargate #fiction #my writing #writers on tumblr #bamf!John Sheppard

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panharmonium · 4 years

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no man can know his destiny...

...because if we told him what it was, he might decide to tell destiny to bugger off!

all right, folks. i am obviously eight years late to this party (party? maybe not party; that’s...maybe not the best word), and i am aware that everybody who was ever in this fandom has probably already consumed all the finale reaction posts that they ever needed to read. i am putting this S5 finale round-up together for my own purposes anyway, because now that i’m no longer avoiding spoilers, i want to make sure i get all of my own thoughts down on paper before i accidentally run into anyone else’s.

fair warning before anyone decides to invest their time: this post is sixteen single-spaced pages long. i am putting it under a cut here, so feel free to scroll on by.

with that said, off we go!

in a land of myth and a time of magic (i fell in love with a ten-year-old tv show):

so, to preface this, i think it’s pretty fair to say that i very rarely complain about merlin.

i watched the first episode of merlin on a complete whim - i was by myself, on a trip to atlanta, and despite the fact that i usually never sit down and just decide to watch random tv, i was scrolling around on netflix before bed and saw merlin and thought “oh hey, that’s always been on my list as something i thought i might like.” i clicked it. i watched it. i thought it was going to be a silly, fun, low-investment show i could use to fill the spare time on my trip.

it was silly. and it was fun. it was not low-investment. i fell in LOVE.

and i know this comes through in the way i write about it, like - the vast majority of the blogging i have done about merlin has come from a place of THIS THING IS GREAT AND I WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT BECAUSE IT’S GREAT. sometimes the story will go places that stress me out or make me sad, but usually that hasn’t impacted my enjoyment, because generally, when i evaluate stories, i react more to my perception of the story’s integrity, as opposed to whether or not i personally ‘liked’ the ending. so i might personally prefer stories that don’t end in tragedy, but if the story has earned its ending, with integrity, then i won’t feel any desire to criticize it. i will talk about how sad i am or how low it made me feel, but if the story has earned its ending then i can’t - i just can’t argue with it. i have to respect it.

and i think i’ve demonstrated that well enough in all the other blogging i’ve done about merlin. with 5.10 and 5.11 particularly; i felt those episodes were impossibly tragic and dark and SO unhappy, but i respected the storytelling, despite this. i wasn’t hopping on here to make posts like ‘ugh this is getting so dark this episode sucks!!!’ i was writing about the story they were crafting - which, yes, WAS getting dark, certainly - and about how impactful it was (even when that impact was just “OUCH”). i was still deeply engaged, at that time.

so - i think i have earned the right to say honestly that the following analysis does not come from a place of ‘this was SAD and that makes it automatically CRAPPY!!!’ that’s not how i assess things. 5.10 and 5.11 were devastating, but i respect them. i loved watching them. i would watch them again. i thought that the show had the potential to pull off something masterful, after those two episodes.

but the one thing this series has always struggled with a little bit is follow-through. bbc merlin is at its finest when they aren’t afraid to go barreling after the moral ambiguity and complexities that their show inherently contains (‘to kill the king,’ ‘the sorcerer’s shadow,’ ‘the disir,’ ‘the kindness of strangers,’ ‘the drawing of the dark,’ to name just a few), and they achieve real greatness in those moments. but they sometimes pull back from the difficult questions they pose. and i can’t tell if it’s that they’re deliberately chickening out, or if it’s just some variation of carelessness or ineptitude that makes them fumble the ball, but the end result is that they hit these amazing highs of “wow, i can’t believe we’re finally going there; we’re addressing the central conflict” and then all the complicated questions they asked just get dropped.

it happens in ‘the sorcerer’s shadow’ (which is an amazing episode otherwise), when kilgharrah kind of...word-of-god handwaves away merlin’s conflict, saying ‘we just gotta wait for arthur to be king, that’s the right way to go about this.’ and they double down on this by having merlin say that it was gilli, not merlin, who had betrayed their kind - which is just not - that is not what that episode had been saying, up until that point! the entire point of that episode was that yeah, merlin has in fact gotten himself into a position where he’s made a morally questionable decision to serve a regime that oppresses him and others like him. they show us how conflicted he feels when he’s confronted by this reality. they show us that he knows it’s true. it was brilliantly done - and then they pulled WAY back.

but even then i don’t think it was like...unforgivable, at that point. it doesn’t break the story’s integrity; i can definitely believe that merlin would take that tack - i’m not sure he’s quite ready to confront/accept the reality of his situation at that point. so i get it. it wouldn’t be a big deal - if the show had eventually addressed/followed through on this conflict in the end.

and i think the same is true of the episodes leading up to the finale. they were dark and complicated and tragic, but they were telling an important story; and none of the terrible things we saw happening to the characters were dead-ends, story-wise. there was a place for that story to go. there was room for morgana to have her arc resolve in a meaningful way. there was room for mordred’s arc to do the same. the place in which we found ourselves at the end of 5.11 was as dark and complicated as merlin had ever been, and it was still bursting with potential.

and then you watch the finale and it’s just - empty. i described it as a paper castle in some other post, and that’s what it felt like. no substance. it was like they stuffed us on a bullet train and whizzed us past material that should have taken an entire season to handle, and you didn’t see any of it or feel anything because the trip took ten seconds and the scenery was a blur.

it honestly felt like they thought they had another season coming and then someone popped in and told them “actually you have to wrap this up in two episodes.” i can’t think of another way to reasonably explain how dramatically the quality of the storytelling downshifts between 5.11 and 5.12. i wasn’t watching the show then, so i don’t know, but it’s - at least if that had been the case, i would UNDERSTAND what had happened. it’s just insanity, otherwise.

so anyway, with all that said, here are my own reasons for why i think the last two episodes were objectively bad writing, as opposed to just writing i don’t personally like. nobody is obligated to agree with me on any of these points, but i’m also not putting them up here to debate them, really - i truly believe that almost everything i watched in the last two episodes was poorly-conceived.

(there’s an entirely different discussion to be had, of course, about the relative merits of ending your, uh, hopeful fantasy story on a bummer of a death knell, and i might touch on that later, but that’s a little bit more subject to personal preference, and honestly, it’s not the point i’m trying to make here, because to be frank, these episodes are bad without even getting into who lives and who dies.)

i. plot contrivances: EVERYWHERE.

i don’t mean plot devices. plot devices are important, in a story. a plot device is something like how merlin throws excalibur into the lake in 1.09, and then is able to retrieve it in 3.13 because of a choice he made to show someone compassion in 2.09, and thus he is able to save the day and defeat the undead. excalibur is a plot device, in that scenario - the ability to use it in 3.13 unfolds organically.

a plot contrivance, on the other hand, is artificial. it’s unnaturally convenient. it doesn’t feel convincing. it’s what you reach for when you can’t think of a way to make something happen, but a writer is supposed to look at these things when they edit and think ‘hey. if i can’t make this happen without it being contrived, maybe it shouldn’t happen. maybe i need to look at this again.’

so like, from the very beginning of 5.12, we have:

the face-sucker slug. never seen one before. never heard of it before. never given any indication that any such creature ever existed. never given any indication that “stealing” magic was something that could even happen. no idea where morgana found it. created for and introduced in this very episode, just to give merlin a reason to go to the crystal cave; removed from the episode ten minutes after it’s introduced, forgotten.

gwaine’s sudden girlfriend. NEVER SEEN HER BEFORE. NEVER HEARD OF HER BEFORE. NEVER GIVEN ANY INDICATION THAT ANY SUCH CREATURE EVER EXISTED. where does she come from? why do we care? (surprise: we don’t.) created for and introduced in this very episode for the sole purpose of explaining how morgana could get the information she needed to interfere with everyone’s plans, which was a contrived idea in and of itself, because it relied completely on making gwaine act like the kind of dope who tells a civilian military secrets.

you just. you can’t. if your plot point can’t function without a) introducing a brand new character in the penultimate episode of your show and b) forcing a long-standing character to do something they just wouldn’t do, you can’t use it. you just can’t. you have to figure out something else.

this lady’s very existence is nonsense. absolutely, utterly contrived. to waste that much time on a character we’ve never seen before and don’t care about, in the last two hours of your five-season show...incredible.

morgana’s army. they outnumber camelot’s forces “five to one.” where did they come from? how did she amass such a force? in season 4 she was losing all her allies - the episode with annis and caerleon was specifically designed to show us how people were turning from her methods and aligning with arthur. and then she spent two years in a pit. how did she amass such a force in such a short period of time? what could she offer them? why do they fight for her? there is no explanation of who the “saxons” are or what they want - the show just needed an army for camlann.

aithusa. aithusa was, apparently, just a vehicle to enable mordred to obtain a blade forged in the dragon’s breath. beyond that, he served no purpose. he literally just vanishes, along with that entire storyline - the future of the dragons, everything - just dropped, forgotten, never mentioned again.

morgana in the crystal cave. “gee, i finally caught merlin, the guy who’s supposed to be my doom. i think i’ll just...trap him behind some rocks. wouldn’t want to kill him, while i have him completely powerless and at my mercy. how then would he escape from this super powerful magical cave and ensure that the next step in this impossibly weak plot unfolds?”

the crystal cave itself. what is the entire point of this detour? killing time while arthur and merlin are separated? i mean, the whole “merlin loses his magic for all of five minutes” thing was a contrivance itself, just to ensure that merlin and arthur had a reason to be separated during the battle. but even putting that aside, once merlin is in there, and balinor says ‘you have to go into the light to discover who you truly are, you have power of which you cannot conceive’ - what purpose did that serve? all we see merlin do once he gets to camlann is call down some lightning. he’s done that before. he...he did that in season one.

the entire detour in the crystal cave changed nothing. it was a contrivance to mark time so merlin didn’t arrive at camlann at the same time as everybody else.

arthur at camlann. the idea that we are supposed to believe that arthur somehow finds himself all alone on that battlefield, long enough for mordred to sneak up on him and stab him and for him not be found by a single other human being until merlin shows up. he is the KING. there is no conceivable circumstance where his army lets him go wandering around by himself after the battle has been mostly won. it doesn’t make sense. it isn’t believable. it’s a contrivance to make sure mordred has an opportunity to get him.

“only the sidhe possess such magic.” the SIDHE????? you guys. the last time we saw the sidhe was in that gooftastically wonderful filler episode where a pixie wanted to bone gaius. you can’t - you just - you can’t center your entire ‘this is how we save arthur’ plan on a race of beings that we haven’t heard of since early season 3 and which we never knew anything more about than that they once possessed a farting princess.

“not without the horses.” are you telling me. that the reason they don’t make it to this fabulous isle in time. is because. their horses. were conveniently scared away. that’s what killed the glorious once and future king. the horses ran off.

and the horses conveniently ran off because they were conveniently scared away by morgana, who conveniently happened to show up because she was conveniently put in a position to extract information from someone who conveniently knew where arthur was going - all of this, of course, predicated on the impossible-to-believe assumption that a) gwen would ever tell anybody where arthur was going, when the stakes were this high, when nobody needed to know and camelot had already fallen prey to spies multiple times, and b) that gwaine and percival would, if they did for some reason know where arthur was headed, be so foolish as to literally serve themselves up to morgana on a plate, when they know that the whole point of this scheme is that they WANT morgana to hang out in brineved wasting her time in order to allow arthur to reach the isle safely.

I SAY AGAIN: if your plot point cannot function without making characters do things we just do not believe they would do, you can’t use it. you can’t. you have to revisit what you’re doing. you can’t just make anything happen that you want to in order to drive the story to the place you want it to go. it has to make sense.

kilgharrah. is called just in time to deliver a pat explanation of the ending, but not in time to shuttle arthur over to the isle? merlin could have called for a ride ages ago. merlin and arthur weren’t traveling fast, or far. it’s not like kilgharrah was having that much trouble getting around. we see that he handles carrying the two of them just fine. we see that he flies away, zoop, no problem. there is no reason for him not to have been called even a single hour sooner, other than that the plot demanded that he could not be, because the plot demanded that arthur not get there in time.

it breaks the boundaries of disbelief. it takes you right out of the story. it reminds you, inappropriately, that all of this is a thing someone planned (poorly). all of it is contrived.

ii. dropped plotlines

i can’t believe i actually have to say this.

i’ve seen tv shows tank before, but usually, when tv shows tank, it’s just that the quality of their writing has declined, and they’ve resorted to resolving their plotlines in ill-conceived ways.

i have never, in my life, seen a tv show DROP all of its major plotlines before it ends. i have never seen a tv show just. FORGET. to address their premise. never. i still can’t believe it actually happened. i’m sitting here trying to remember if the merlin finale was actually some kind of anxiety-induced fever dream i had while i was gearing myself up to watch the last few episodes.

merlin bbc had, at its outset, two major plotlines. these would be supplemented later by other throughlines (many of which were also dropped), but the two major ones always stayed the same, one for arthur and one for merlin:

for arthur, the question of him one day becoming the greatest king in history and uniting the land of albion

for merlin, the question of him one day liberating the magical community from oppression and being able to live free from fear

those were the two constant throughlines in this show, from episode one. the struggle to unite the land of albion, and the struggle to make the land a free and just one for ALL of its people, not just those without magic.

this show, somehow, ended without actually addressing either of these things.

it’s amazing. i don’t even know how they managed it. somehow, this show ended without actually ending.

to elaborate on this (and other dropped plots):

a) the once and future king: we never see a united albion. the show is driving at it, in seasons 4 and 5, when arthur makes peace with annis in S4, and then gets annis’s permission to travel through her lands in 5.01, and then helps Mithian’s father in S5, and makes peace with odin in 5.04, and then tries to make peace with the sarrum in 5.08, and it’s all making sense, and you expect that plotline to continue until we see its eventual fulfillment at the end of the show. you would expect, if this were supposed to be such an important thing, that the big struggle at the end of the series would have been all the peoples of albion united together against a threat.

but we never see any of these kingdoms again. we never hear a peep out of them. no one ever mentions them. it’s like they all just vanished into the wind. as far as we’re aware, camelot fights morgana’s army on their own - it’s like annis and odin and godwyn and rodor and those five kings that came together to sign the treaty in 2.10 never existed.

the dragon says at the end, “all you have dreamt of building has come to pass,” but we’re just like - WHERE? we literally didn’t see it! it was never shown to happen! you can’t just say that the most important outcome of your five-season series happened when it never did! it demonstrably NEVER DID! you can’t…..oh my god, you can’t...try to end your show offscreen, lol; i don’t know what else to say!

look - this is something i wrote before i knew how the series ended, when i was considering the possibility of arthur dying:

i wrote that before i even knew what happened. that’s not the result of, you know, retroactive complaining because they killed a character and i didn’t like it. i was doubting the idea that they would even be able to kill arthur, because i legitimately didn’t believe the show had shown us the uniting of albion yet (and they hadn’t, lol).

it just...it truly doesn’t make sense. something got tangled as they approached these last episodes. in 5.10, finna tells merlin, “without you, emrys, arthur cannot build the new world we all long for,” indicating that it hasn’t been built yet. but that scene takes place just a few weeks before the finale - you’re saying “the new world” hadn’t yet been accomplished at that point, but now, a few week later, it has? arthur didn’t DO ANYTHING in that interval! we saw camelot fight off a bunch of invaders (alone) like they’ve done a billion times before. there was nothing to hint that now albion is united.

and if finna was referring to the “new world” meaning a magical world, i mean - arthur didn’t do anything to build that, either. he died.

something happened. some wire got crossed. i don’t know what it was, but it meant that the show ended without actually closing out Main Plotline #1.

b) one day, we will be free: this show also somehow managed to end without addressing the plight of the magical community, which was THE central conflict of the show for all five seasons. more than that, it was the show’s premise - it was how they crafted their entire idea; it was one of two defining features of their pitch to BBC: that they would “wind back the clock” to when the characters were young, and that magic in this universe would be outlawed.

they literally abandoned the show’s premise. the episode directly preceding the finale was entirely about camelot’s wrongdoing and the right of magic-users to stand up and fight for their rights. it is not a crime to fight for the right to be who you are. and then we literally never heard a word about this struggle again. it was dropped like a hot sack of bricks.

IMPOSSIBLE.

and yet

it’s just left, twisting in the wind. we have no idea what happened. the one and only glimpse of camelot that we get at the end of this show has nothing to do with magic; it’s grim and somber people chanting ‘long live the queen’ in the throne room. and then we’re gone from that place, forever, never to return. it’s like they don’t even remember that ‘freedom for magical folk!’ was the driving source of conflict for the entire show. you would never have known that “magical oppression” was ever a feature in this show, if you just watched the end. camelot’s wrongs are never addressed, never referred to, never amended. the fate of the magical community is never hinted at. we don’t have any inkling of what happened to those people. we literally do not even have any indication of whether the magic ban was lifted.

it’s like none of that ever existed. it’s like the show just FORGOT its entire premise.

this truly might be the most unbelievable thing about the finale, for me. i’m still having trouble wrapping my head around it. in a roomful of writers and editors and producers, not a single person pointed out “hey uhhhh...we haven’t actually resolved either of our plots?”

i was exposed to enough vague reactions from fans to expect the finale to be disappointing. i assumed that the show would resolve its major plotlines in ways that i either didn’t approve of or found unsatisfying.

i did NOT expect them not to resolve their major plotlines at all.

i have never seen a tv show literally forget to end. never. never seen that happen before in my life.

c.) i am the last of my kind: the reveal of merlin as a dragonlord ushered in a third important plotline - his responsibility to the dragons, his duty to protect them and help them thrive. and the question was always ‘all right, so as a dragonlord, how is merlin going to ensure the survival of the dragons as a species, since they’ve been almost exterminated - .’ and that was also dropped. like a hot potato. like it never was. we never get clarity on what the heck was going on with aithusa, and then at camlann, aithusa just vanishes. gone. literally never to be seen, mentioned, or wondered about again.

d) i am old, merlin: this is a smaller thing, but in 5.10 the show starts this subplot about kilgharrah being unwell and merlin suddenly confronting the idea that kilgharrah is not, in fact, immortal. and it was actually very poignant and made me emotional despite how kilgharrah kind of drives us insane. they set us up for the idea that we are going to lose him. they set us up to expect that we will eventually see merlin arrive at a place where he doesn’t have that voice in his ear anymore, kind of like when luke goes to cloud city and obi-wan can’t help him.

but then, in the finale, kilgharrah just shows up like he always does, and there’s no mention of anything that came before. he’s fine.

it’s - it’s inconsistent, it’s not appropriate; there’s no emotional throughline. the exchange they have in 5.10 is such a beautiful moment, when a wavering merlin asks “what will i do without you?”

and kilgharrah says, like it’s the simplest thing in the world, “you will remember me.”

that’s such a powerful thing. for someone like merlin, for someone who has lost so many people who mattered to him - you can feel that line expand to cover miles and miles of ground. it’s about more than just kilgharrah.

but having kilgharrah then show up at the end of the finale to deliver his neat little explanatory summary the same way he always does dilutes that previous moment down to almost non-meaning. there’s no emotional consistency. they emotionally prep us for this figure’s departure, and instead he shows up, the same as always, with no reference to the fact that a few episodes ago we were getting ready to watch him leave us.

it’s not good writing. it just isn’t good writing.

iii. i want you to always earn your ending

i think it’s hard to come to grips with the idea that bbc merlin was specifically a show whose kind of...big premise was being a deliciously torturous slow burn up to some massive and long-awaited reveal, and then it fizzled just before it gave the audience what it had been leading up to for five seasons. it’s really just...wow. i’ve seen shows fizzle before, obviously, but the fact that this one was specifically built on the idea that you were waiting for something momentous (and inevitable!) to happen - which then doesn’t happen? that’s just...hoo boy.

the long-awaited, promised “payoff” doesn’t happen in any way that is convincing or satisfying or remotely plausible. it’s a little walk in the woods, and it ultimately doesn’t matter, because as soon as it’s over, so is the show, and everybody except merlin is long dead.

not with a bang, but with a whimper, indeed.

for a show that had its audience waiting on tenterhooks for five seasons for merlin’s secret to be stripped away, the fact that the show’s biggest “payoff” ended up carrying so little weight and feeling so unconvincing is truly a shame. there was no way for the show to give this concept the weight it deserved by flying through it in thirty minutes. the audience knows that there’s no way this could have been resolved so quickly, so everything that happens between the “reveal” (such as it was) and the end feels...false. it doesn’t seem real. it’s not believable. it feels (again, to use the word that truly sums up the entire spirit of this finale) contrived. rushed and squished together to be neatly tied up in the time they had available.

and that’s poor craftsmanship. stories shouldn’t feel like ‘well, i needed to reach x destination no matter what, so i made this that and the other thing happen to ensure that we got there.’ a reader/viewer shouldn’t be able to sense the presence of the author. they shouldn’t be able to feel the hand of god reaching in and arranging pieces to force a conclusion or extract an emotion that hasn’t been earned.

stories, if they are crafted appropriately, should feel like they have no author at all. like they just are. like everything that happens is the natural next step to whatever came before, as if events could not possibly have unfolded any other way. and i don’t feel like the “reveal” and arthur’s reaction to it met those criteria. all the supposedly super sad and emotional moments they were having at the end made me feel absolutely nothing, because the things arthur says don’t feel real. they haven’t been earned in-story. i felt like i was watching that sequence from a hundred miles away...just like...clinical. removed. like i was taken completely out of the story. like i was in the lighting booth of a theater watching some scripted scene play out below me.

(and this might be the time to mention that this has NOTHING to do with the actors. the entire cast was killing it. they were AMAZING. their performance threatened to wring emotion out of me even despite me being completely unconvinced by the idea of what was happening.)

but that aside - how can you stay immersed in something when you can feel the creator’s hand coming down and forcing a resolution that doesn’t make sense, that hasn’t been earned? it snaps you right out of the suspension of disbelief that all stories require you to maintain in order for you to engage with them. the writers needed arthur to say these things sometime before the end of the show, and so he says them, regardless of whether or not it would ever actually happen like that. but i didn’t believe it, because it wouldn’t have happened like that, and so the emotional impact was zero.

here’s the truth: you can’t use lines like “i want you to always be you” and expect me to get weepy about it when you haven’t earned that kind of resolution. it’s a false tearjerker. the writers are relying on our previous emotional attachment to these characters and our burning desire to see merlin validated in order to slip a contrived resolution past us without actually doing the work to make it plausible. they’re playing on our affections in order to cover up the structural shortcomings of the story they cobbled together.

i don’t like when a story tries to manipulate me like that. i’m not going to play that game.

iv. you are destined to be albion’s greatest king (*thor face* are you, though?)

i think there are probably some people out there for whom arthur’s death would have been a dealbreaker no matter what the rest of the story looked like. i respect that.

i’m in the camp where i could have accepted the ‘legend-compliant’ ending, if only it had been earned. as it is, arthur is never allowed to fully realize himself before he dies. the show keeps saying, and i quote, “one day you will be the greatest king this land has ever known,” but arthur skips off to avalon after having reigned for a whopping total of three years, during which time he is not shown to accomplish the only goal that was prophesied for him (uniting the land of albion) and during which time he also becomes further entrenched in his father’s anti-magic views (along with the hypocrisy of using magic for his own purposes), as opposed to ever seeing the error of his ways. he doesn’t right his father’s wrongs. he doesn’t usher in justice and freedom for all camelot’s people. he doesn’t change the status quo in camelot much at all, to be honest - and then he dies. and they try to tell us “there will never be another like [him].”

how? how can that not fall completely flat? he hasn’t accomplished his goal yet! he hasn’t become what they’ve kept telling us he will become.

so i can understand the ultimate plan of arthur shuffling off this mortal coil and being prophesied to return, and i could even accept that as an appropriate ending, but not when it hasn’t been earned. the way it actually unfolded, watching this moment feels like we skipped a season somewhere. it feels like a sham.

we’re being asked to give arthur credit for something he did not actually achieve, and it makes the whole thing feel like a farce.

v. gratuitousness and inconsistency

i had no emotional reaction when i realized they had actually killed gwaine.

that is insane, because you know how much i love him. but his death was so ridiculous that I actually started laughing in disbelief. and that in and of itself should be a sign that something wasn’t working. when your emotional beats are landing this wrong - falling this flat - something has slid fundamentally sideways with your storytelling.

i laughed when they killed my favorite knight! but what other reaction was i supposed to have? it was laughably silly! the premise itself was already foolish - that gwaine and percival would even come out here and endanger arthur in that way - and then gwaine dies because morgana used a nathair to extract information from him? we’ve seen morgana use the nathair twice before! she tortured elyan with it. she used it on alator. neither of them died. it’s never been indicated that being tortured with this creature will kill you. which isn’t to say that it can’t be the case, but from a writing perspective, if you’re going to use a sudden inconsistency to kill a major character, it’s noticeable! it’s jarring! and it makes us feel, once again, that the writers just grasped at any little thing they could think of to make what they wanted to happen happen.

and then there’s the whole question of why they wanted gwaine to die in the first place. what purpose did it serve? gwaine didn’t have to die in order for morgana to get the information the writers wanted her to have. and you’d assume that if they still killed him after that, that there would be a reason for it, or that it would at least...matter, somehow, but - WE LITERALLY NEVER HEAR ABOUT HIM AGAIN LOL. i wasn’t even sure he was dead at first. that’s how insignificant it felt. i felt like zuko in the ember island players.

that’s it. we never see him or percival again after that scene. there’s this weird moment where percival examines a footprint and the implication is that he’s going to follow morgana or something, but then it never happens. it’s like the showrunners ran out of time and were like ‘ok well, we just won’t be able to get back to that dangling thread.’ they gratuitously axed their most developed knight and then forgot they did it.

that’s why i laughed. it was so unbelievably bad - there was literally nothing else for me to do.

vi. let the bodies hit the floor (but like, anticlimactically)

i don’t feel like i need to examine mordred and morgana’s fates too closely, because i suspect the subject of “they deserved better” has already been done to death, and that’s kind of a different conversation than what i’m dealing with here. i’m not here right now to argue that they should have lived (though of course, yeah, i have my opinions on what would have made a better story), i’m just here to deal with how ineffectively the story we did get was executed.

one thing that amazes me is that when i watched the S5 deleted scenes, i realized that the showrunners did in fact originally have the right ideas about making morgana and mordred’s arcs deeper/more nuanced, but somehow these ideas never made it into the final cut. there are two deleted scenes that change so much about what could have been - one where arthur and merlin are talking about morgana and arthur is expressing regret and confusion about what happened to her, and merlin says it’s not arthur’s fault, that “there were others better placed to help morgana,” indicating his own guilty feelings.

and the other one was after mordred defected to morgana, where he has a whole conversation with her about how he thinks there is still GOOD in arthur!!!! he’s uncertain about what he’s doing! I JUST

i can’t believe

they had the seeds

of this better story

and they consciously decided not to pursue them. it’s not like they didn’t have the idea. it’s not like they just never thought of it. they thought of it, filmed it, and deliberately removed it. unfathomable.

it’s also pretty remarkable that the big baddie they’ve been touting for the last three seasons just pegs out from a stab wound in about 5 seconds as we’re being hustled on to something else. there is no space devoted to morgana’s death scene (such as it was…). it’s a parenthesis. it feels like, ‘oh we gotta get this out of the way quick hurry up let’s move on.’

and the thing is, i am not wholly opposed to the idea of morgana ultimately destroying herself - it’s not necessarily my first choice, but there are ways they could have gone that route and still told a meaningful story - but if they wanted to go that way, her death would have to matter. it would have to be treated like the terrible failure it represents. it would have to be given the weight of tragedy.

but structurally, the way this scene is set up, there is no way for this to happen. the viewers are already hyper-strung out on tension, when she appears, because they’re suddenly starting to get this horrible realization that one of the show’s two central characters might actually be about to die, but nobody wants to stop clinging to hope despite their bad feelings so there’s just this desperate, screamingly loud ticking clock running in the background, and when morgana shows up in the middle of that clenching fear, there’s absolutely no way her death can receive the attention she deserves. the audience doesn’t have room for something like that. they don’t have room to feel anything on top of what they’re already feeling. they’re already about to explode. they’re already maxed out on investment. they can’t focus on her; they want her to disappear because something more urgent is going on.

and so the show hustles us past her, and her death is just this blip. it barely registers. if you sneezed, you would miss it.

(and then mordred, for his part, doesn’t even have the benefit of a structural problem to explain the anticlimax of his death. he just gets taken out like the trash. for a character that they just spent all this time developing and making sympathetic - boy.)

i think...the thing, ultimately, is this: if this show truly felt that what they had to do was take their previously hopeful premise and stun their audience with the death of the hero, then they should have understood that trying to stack other things on top of that is too much. trying to squash morgana’s death right up against arthur’s is foolish. it’s ridiculous to expect your audience to be able to process morgana’s death and arthur’s in-progress dying at the same time. these two things happen within two minutes of each other. the audience has been following these characters for five years. it’s unreasonable to expect your audience to hold so much emotion at once.

vii. you’ll just have to trust me

the last thing i want to say is a more general thing.

the rest of this analysis focused on the ways in which the finale is poorly-crafted, rather than on my personal feelings about who they did dirty. it’s not really about my own personal thoughts re: the merits of killing gwaine and morgana and mordred and arthur or stranding merlin across the centuries; it’s about if these things (and all the other things in these episodes) were done effectively, and the answer, sadly, is no. the show could have killed all these people and still written something i would have respected (even though it would have been devastating), but that’s not what happened.

but here, at the end, i think i can make room for a little sentiment.

so what i want to reflect on here is this: ultimately, i don’t end up rejecting stories just because they do things i don’t like. the pre-finale episodes were filled with things i didn’t like. i hated how merlin turned mordred and kara in instead of letting them run. i hated how he let the execution proceed. i hated how arthur refused to see the injustice of his own actions. i hated how merlin was getting so wrapped up in ‘make sure arthur doesn’t die’ that everything else was fading away, that he was doing things he could never have done in good conscience before. but i was still deeply wrapped up in these stories, because i believed they were plausible and true. i accepted them. it made sense to me, that these things would be happening, dark and unpleasant as they were.

i don’t start rejecting stories just because they go places i don’t want them to go. i start rejecting stories when i feel they’ve betrayed my trust.

writers and readers/viewers can only ever move together if they trust each other. i allow stories to take me places i don’t want to go because i trust the authors to keep me safe while we travel. i know that they may take me somewhere i don’t want to be, but i trust that they will never take me somewhere i don’t need to be. i trust that they are taking me somewhere intentionally, with the story’s integrity in mind. a creator i trust can take their story anywhere, because i know they will take care. a creator i trust can end their story tragically, because they remember that i am experiencing it alongside them. they don’t surprise-punt me off the edge of the cliff so i can crash, alone, into the painful conclusion. they carry me the whole way, and by the time we get to the end of the line, we can both look back and see that the road that led us here was straight and true. i don’t fault them for taking me here. it was the right place to go.

the end of merlin didn’t feel like that to me. putting aside the fact that it was all so contrived that it didn’t even feel real (illustrated clearly enough in the ten pages above) - the truth is that even if it had displayed the highest quality writing in the world, the way this show ended felt like the audience had been abandoned. the bond of trust between the creator and the consumer was severed. the show forgot to take care.

i’m a ‘galaxy far far away’ girl first and foremost, so i’ll borrow an excerpt from the world according to star wars in order to make my point:

kasdan: i think you should kill luke and have leia take over.

lucas: you don’t want to kill luke.

kasdan: okay, then kill yoda.

lucas: i don’t want to kill yoda. you don’t have to kill people. you’re a product of the 1980’s. you don’t go around killing people. it’s not nice.

kasdan: no, i’m not. i’m trying to give the story some kind of edge to it…

lucas: by killing somebody, i think you alienate the audience. (x)

i think merlin forgot this.

i’m not saying that merlin shouldn’t have killed anybody at the end of their show. i’m not even saying that they shouldn’t have killed arthur. i’m saying that they forgot to take care.

merlin bbc betrayed their audience. you cannot take a show whose underlying theme has consistently been the promise of better things and then turn around and end it like that without taking special care of the people who are watching. you cannot just take an audience who has spent five years listening to someone bright and full of unflinching hope say - without any indication that anyone should doubt the certainty of this statement - “one day things will be better” and expect them to walk into this kind of ending safely.

by killing someone, i think you alienate the audience. and this doesn’t mean that nobody can ever die. but it does mean that if you’re going to kill someone, you have to understand that there is going to be an automatic pain reaction from your viewers/readers/etc, and if you want to maintain their trust, you have to take so much care. you have to be sure that you know exactly what you’re doing. you have to be sure that it’s the right thing. the only thing. you have to make sure that it doesn’t betray the fundamental promises you’ve made whilst crafting the rest of your story.

the end of merlin is truly stunning in a) its utter reversal/unfulfillment of every major promise that comprised its premise and b) the casualness with which it throws its characters away in the last episode. it’s not just “killing someone.” it’s a slaughter. we have to watch almost half the cast die onscreen, and then at the very end literally everybody is dead except merlin himself.

and this is merlin! not game of thrones! merlin is a “family show;” that’s what the writers/directors/producers keep calling it when you listen to the episode commentaries and they talk about how they can’t show certain things or make it too bloody. they wanted to follow in the tradition of “big, kind of epic family-entertaining shows, that—across generations—work on lots of different levels.” but i cannot imagine a young person who has watched this show for five years coming into the finale to see mordred and gwaine and morgana and arthur violently executed, and to see gwen in mourning, and merlin anguished and then more alone than he ever was even when he was hiding his secret, and then, whoop, there’s the credits, that’s all folks. aren’t you glad you got on this ride?

the show ends without fulfilling any of the promises it made repeatedly for years. the liberation of magic, the uniting of albion, and, for merlin, especially, the long-predicted day when he would be known and recognized for who he was - all forgotten. all abandoned. the finale finishes without giving the audience any of the things that they have spent five years being told to expect. the show rewards five years of emotional investment with death and desolation. it breaks all of its promises. it doesn’t take care.

i was lucky enough to have been so disconnected by how shockingly bad these episodes were that i mostly sat there shock-laughing at them in disbelief, the first time i watched. but going through them again to put this write-up together was just like - that’s when a deep sadness kicked in, for me. not at the ending itself, exactly, because, as i’ve said before, it was so poorly put-together that i can’t even see it as real. but just - at the idea that i still had to see it, period. that i had to witness this thing that i loved so much descend into this misery, for all that i didn’t recognize it as something plausible or true. that i still had to watch merlin drag arthur all over creation, still trying, still scrabbling for that sliver of hope, only to have arthur bite the dust like ten feet from their destination. that all merlin ever wanted in his life was to be accepted and loved for who he is, and that he put all of this on hold so he could (supposedly) bring about a world where it would be possible, and then he never gets it. that a life of hiding himself and believing that everybody around him hated who he was inside - that was as good as it was ever going to get, for him.

the writers just - piled it on. ‘you can watch mordred die, even though we just went to all this effort to make you root for him! and now you can watch gwaine die (why????? we don’t know!!! it doesn’t change the story, but why don’t you watch it happen anyway!). and now you can watch morgana die! but don’t look too long, because arthur is dying! and now you can see camelot cold and in mourning - but only for one second, because now you can see merlin, who we never showed meeting any of his friends ever again, wandering around as a solitary old man thousands of years after everybody else is dead and the universe we spent the last five seasons living in no longer exists!!!!!!’

unbelievable.

it doesn’t upset me in the sense of “it’s so terrible that the story ended that way” because i know it didn’t, really. it was contrived and false enough that i laughed through most of the episode. i know it isn’t the way things would have gone, and i won’t have any trouble forgetting it; whereas if it had been well-done, i wouldn’t have been able to dismiss it so easily. but i still had to watch it, regardless. you’re forced to watch it, because you care, and the creators know you care enough not to look away, and they use that trust to keep you glued there while they gut-punch you over and over and over again and then peace out without concluding any of their plotlines, saying, “isn’t it clever??? we really fooled you, didn’t we? technically, we fulfilled the prophecies - nobody ever said any of the characters would get to enjoy the new world they would build! i bet you’re so surprised!”

it leaves you stunned.

it’s so...mean.

it’s so careless.

i don’t have any desire to subject myself to that a second time. after i’m done with this post, i know i’m never going to watch those episodes again. they weren’t good, first of all; and if you need more clarification on that, please see the first ten pages of this document. but more importantly, i don’t feel the need to subject myself once again to the callous disregard for the trust i gave this show’s creators.

if i’m supposed to trust a creator to carry me over rough terrain, i’m trusting them to carry me all the way to the end. they can’t violently dump me to the ground two feet before the finish line, run me over with an ATV, and then expect me to willingly climb back into their arms.

viii: if you want something done right

in conclusion, i guess the one nice thing about this is that we can crawl the last two feet ourselves.

for me, sadly, i think canon!merlin is always going to end at 5.11. the last two episodes don’t feel believable to me. i couldn’t watch them and be convinced that i was watching something plausible; i felt like i was watching two hours of scripted theater. which is, of course, what we’re always doing - but if the story had been crafted appropriately, we shouldn’t have realized it. we shouldn’t have been able to feel the writer’s hand reaching in and making improbable things happen. we shouldn’t have been laughing in disbelief as supposedly “sad” things were happening in front of us, and we definitely shouldn’t have been almost falling off the couch because the last scene was so jarring we thought it was an advertisement. (the TRUCK, people. blaring across the screen and bulldozering through medieval fantasy-adventure show merlin bbc. nothing on earth or in high heaven could have prepared me for that moment.)

but the one good thing about a piece of media that ended so unsatisfactorily is that it lights a fire under people’s butts to go ahead and sort of...row the boat themselves. i was afraid, before i watched this, that seeing it would make me never want to go back to merlin again. i put off finishing season 5 for an entire year because i was in the middle of writing a fic and i thought that if the end of the show upset me, i would never want to write another word. but now that i’m finished, i’m relieved to be able to say that the finale, while it will always be a bitterly disappointing sore spot, was also SO laughably bad that i don’t feel the slightest compunction about just...letting it lie unrecognized. if it were well-crafted and i was just ignoring it because it made me sad, i’d feel guilty for being petty. but it was Just Actually That Bad, so my conscience is clear.

and so is the path to more fun things, i hope, because that is the point of fandom, in the end, to have fun with something you love in the company of other people who love it the same way.

i hope i haven’t written the last merlin thing i’ll ever write. i hope there’s more inside me that i want to say. i hope i haven’t come in too late to make connections. i hope i’ll enjoy rewatching (most of) this show someday. i couldn’t imagine that any of these things would be true, when i knew the end was going to be a let-down, but now that i’ve finished, i feel like there’s infinite room to play, and that, at least, makes me smile.

i’ve said before that this was a hell of a ride. it ended in a trainwreck, sure, but i’m not sorry i got on.

#the once and future slowburn #merlin S5 #meta

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abusybuzzingbee · 4 years

Text

Skin | Supernatural Season 1 Episode 6 Rewrite | Dean x Fem!Reader

A/N: this gif is SAUCY i should not find it as attractive as I do

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Fem!Reader

Major Characters: Dean Winchester, Reader, Sam Winchester

Warnings: canon level violence, language, Dean and the reader being assholes to each other TW: shifter calls the reader some pretty terrible things that may be triggering to some readers. if you tend to have self-deprecating thoughts, you may not want to read this episode. also, heavy topics mentioned in a fight between Dean and the reader

Word Count: 7,547

Summary: The boys and the reader head to St. Louis, Missouri when Sam gets an email about one of his college buddies. Tensions continue to rise between Dean and the reader following their dispute in Toledo, Ohio.

Series Masterlist

Season 1 Masterlist

Click here for the series playlist!

Dean unbuckled his seatbelt and turned to face Sam. “Alright, I figure we’d hit Tucumcari by lunch, then head south, hit Bisbee by midnight.”

Sam did not respond to him.

“Sam wears women’s underwear.”

“I’ve been listenin’, I’m just busy,” Sam answered, never looking up from his phone as he scrolled through it.

“Busy doin’ what?”

“Reading e-mails.”

The older brother got out of the car and began to fill up the Impala’s gas tank. “E-mails from who?”

“From my friends at Stanford.”

“You’re kidding. You still keep in touch with your college buddies?”

“Why not?” Sam shrugged.

“Well, what exactly do you tell ‘em? You know, about where you’ve been, what you’ve been doin’?”

“I tell ‘em I’m on a road trip with my big brother. I tell ‘em I needed some time off after Jess.”

“Oh, so you lie to ‘em.”

You picked at your nails as you sat in the backseat. “What else is he supposed to do? Say, ‘Hey, I’m hunting ghosts’?”

“I get why he’s lying, I’m not tellin’ him to tell the truth.”

Sam looked over to Dean. “So, what am I supposed to do, just cut everybody out of my life?”

Dean shrugged.

“You’re serious?”

“Look, it sucks, but in a job like this, you can’t get close to people, period,” Dean answered.

“Oh, whatever.” You flopped back onto the leather seat.

"You’re kind of anti-social, you know that?” Sam told his brother.

“Yeah, yeah.” Dean shook his head.

The younger Winchester went back to his emails.

“God…” he trailed off.

“What?”

“In this e-mail from this girl, Rebecca Warren, one of those friends of mine.”

“Is she hot?”

You scoffed. “Really, Dean?”

“I went to school with her, and her brother, Zack,” Sam explained. “She says Zack’s been charged with murder. He’s been arrested for killing his girlfriend. Rebecca says he didn’t do it, but it sounds like the cops have a pretty good case.”

Dean paused. “Dude, what kind of people are you hangin’ out with?”

"No, man, I know Zack. He’s no killer.”

"Well, maybe you know Zack as well as he knows you.”

“They’re in St. Louis. We’re goin’.”

Dean leaned down into the passenger’s side window, chuckling, “Look, sorry ‘bout your buddy, okay? But this does not sound like our kind of problem.”

“It is our problem,” Sam argued. “They’re my friends.”

“St. Louis is four hundred miles behind us, guys.”

“So?” you questioned.

You and Dean exchanged annoyed looks before he got in the car and pulled away.

***

“Dude, this house belongs in the Hills,” you told Sam as you took in the large two-story house that sat on a beautifully manicured lawn.

He chuckled at your comment. “This one’s no big deal compared to some of my other friends’ houses. You should’ve seen Jess’s parents’ house.”

You smiled faintly. “I bet it was beautiful.”

Sam nodded, mirroring your expression. He knocked on the wood of the large front door which opened to reveal a pretty girl with blonde hair.

“Oh my God, Sam!” she exclaimed.

“Well, if it isn’t little Becky,” he replied.

‘Little Becky?’ you thought.

“You know what you can do with that ‘little Becky’ crap,” she grinned. The two of them hugged.

“I got your e-mail,” he explained to her.

“I didn’t think that you would come here,” she said.

Dean took the opportunity to step in. “Dean. Older brother.” He extended his hand to her.

She shook it. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

“I’m (Y/N), I’m a family friend,” you said, effectively pulling her eyes away from Dean as you shook her hand. You were not about to watch him eye-fuck one of Sam’s friends.

“We’re here to help,” Sam told her. “Whatever we can do.”

“Come in.”

Becky led you three into the house.

“Nice place,” Dean commented as he looked around at the tall ceilings and seemingly expensive furniture.

“It’s my parents’. I was just crashing here for the long weekend when everything happened. I decided to take the semester off. I’m gonna stay until Zack’s free.”

“Where are your folks?”

“They live in Paris for half the year--” Becky replied.

‘Of course, they do. Wasps.’

“--so they’re on their way home now for the trial. Do you guys want a beer or something?” she asked as she led you into the kitchen.

The older Winchester smiled. “Hey--”

Sam cut him off. “No, thanks. So, tell us what happened.”

“Well, um, Zack came home, and he found Emily tied to a chair. And she was beaten up and bloody, and she wasn’t breathing.” Becky began to tear up. “So, he called 911, and the police—they showed up, and they arrested him. But, the thing is, the only way that Zack could’ve killed Emily is if he was in two places at the same time. The police—they have a video. It’s from the security tape from across the street. And it shows Zack coming home at 10:30. Now, Emily was killed just after that, but I swear, he was here with me, having a few beers until at least after midnight.”

“You know, maybe we could see the crime scene,” Sam suggested. “Zack’s house.”

“We could,” Dean agreed.

“Why? I mean, what could you do?”

“Well, me, not much. But Dean’s a cop.”

Dean laughed. “Detective, actually.”

‘Oh, great.’

“Really?” Becky’s eyes sparkled. “Where?”

“Bisbee, Arizona,” he lied."But I’m off-duty now.”

“You guys, it’s so nice to offer, but I just—I don’t know.”

Sam tried to convince her. “Bec, look, I know Zack didn’t do this. Now, we have to find a way to prove that he’s innocent.”

“Okay. I’m gonna go get the keys.” She walked away from you three down the hall.

As soon as she was out of sight, Dean turned to his brother. “Oh, yeah, man, you’re a real straight shooter with your friends.”

“Look, Zack and Becky need our help,” Sam countered.

“I just don’t think this is our kind of problem.”

“Two places at once? We’ve looked into less.”

Dean still was not completely convinced.

“Sounds a little bit like our gig, Dean,” you pressed further.

He said nothing but looked defeated.

You and Sam smiled at each other.

***

You and the boys stood next to Becky by the Impala. You stared out at the small, white house blocked off by yellow and black tape.

“You’re sure this is okay?” Becky asked Dean.

“Yeah. I am an officer of the law.”

You rolled your eyes at Dean’s unconvincing tone. ‘Good grief.’

Dean led the way up to the house, ducking under the tape, followed by you and then Sam.

Despite how frequently you work jobs, the sight of a gruesome crime scene always made you sick to your stomach.

Blood was splattered everywhere. It stained the newspapers on the coffee table, the knocked-over lamp in the corner of the living room, and the picture frame that hung tilted to the side.

“Bec, you wanna wait outside?” Sam asked her as she stood on the other side of the tape.

You looked over at the young woman. She had one arm wrapped around her stomach and one hand over her heart. The blonde steeled herself despite her obvious discomfort. “No, I wanna help.”

“Tell us what else the police said,” Sam prompted.

“Well, there’s no sign of a break-in,” she started tearfully. “They say that Emily let her attacker in. The lawyers—they’re already talking about a plea bargain.” Becky looked around her, more tears rising to the surface as she did so. “Oh, God….”

“Look, Bec, if Zack didn’t do this, it means someone else did. Any idea who?”

The blonde shook her head, but then a look of remembrance crossed her face. “Um, there was something, about a week before. Somebody broke in here and stole some clothes—Zack’s clothes. The police—they don’t think it’s anything. I mean, we’re not that far from downtown. Sometimes people get robbed.”

Sam and Dean walked away from you and Becky. The blonde followed after Dean as he went to the front door. Apparently, he was looking at the neighbor’s dog as you gathered from what Becky told him next.

“You know, that used to be the sweetest dog.” She looked over his shoulder at the barking animal.

“What happened?” he asked.

"He just changed.”

“Do you remember when he changed?”

“I guess around the time of the murder.”

Dean looked back at her before walking away.

You went to the kitchen to meet Sam. He was looking at something posted to the fridge door.

“Whatcha lookin’ at?” you asked the boy.

He gestured the picture in front of him. It was of himself, Zack, and Becky.

“You were really close to these guys, huh?”

“Yeah,” he nodded sadly.

“I’m sorry you had to leave all this behind,” you stated.

He shook his head. “It’s okay.”

Dean walked up behind you and his younger brother. “So, the neighbor’s dog went psycho right around the time Zack’s girlfriend was killed.”

“Animals can have a sharp sense of the paranormal,” Sam noted.

“Yeah, maybe Fido saw somethin’,” Dean affirmed.

“So, you think maybe this is our kind of problem?”

No. Probably not. But we should look at the security tape, you know, just to make sure.”

“You just can’t admit when you’re wrong, huh?”

“Nope,” he grinned.

You rolled your eyes and shook your head.

Becky walked over to you.

“So, the tape. The security footage—you think maybe your lawyers could get their hands on it, ‘cause I just don’t have that kind of jurisdiction,” Dean told her.

“I’ve already got it. I didn’t wanna say something in front of the cop,” she explained.

The older brother laughed.

“I stole it off the lawyer’s desk. I just had to see it for myself.”

“Right on,” you grinned.

***

Once you got back to Becky’s parents’ house, the four of you sat down to watch the security footage.

The screen showed the front of Zack’s house lit up in the dark night by the lights on either side of the door.

“Here he comes,” Becky said just as Zack appeared on screen.

Dean noted the timestamp. “22:04, that’s just after ten. You said time of death was about 10:30.”

“Our lawyers hired some kind of video expert. He says the tape’s authentic. It wasn’t tampered with.”

“Hey, Bec, can we take those beers now?” Sam questioned.

“Oh, sure,” she answered. She got up from the couch to go to the kitchen.

“Hey,” Sam stopped her. “Maybe some sandwiches, too?”

“What do you think this is, Hooters?” she joked with a grin. She left the room shortly after.

“I wish,” Dean chuckled. “What is it?”

“Check this out.” Sam rewound the tape and replayed it. One of the frames showed Zack looking right at the camera, but his eyes had an unnatural silver color to them.

“Well, maybe it’s just a camera flare,” Dean pointed out.

“That’s not like any camera flare I’ve ever seen. You know, a lot of cultures believe that a photograph can catch a glimpse of the soul,” Sam began.

“Right,” you affirmed. “Remember how that dog completely freaked? Maybe he could sense this was some sort of a dark double of Zack’s.”

“Like a Doppelganger,” Sam added.

“Yeah. It’d sure explain how he was two places at once.”

***

Despite how you and Dean were not verbally attacking each other constantly, the tension between the two of you was stronger than ever. He did not trust you, and you were still pissed at him for what he said to you.

Back at the motel, you hoped a shower would help clear your mind. You turned the water on and began to sing to yourself.

‘Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night and

Wouldn't you love to love her?’

You used to love listening to Fleetwood Mac with your mother. “Rihannon” was one of her favorite songs.

‘Takes to the sky like a bird in flight and

Who will be her lover?’

Both you and your mother had beautiful voices. The two of you loved to sing to one of her cassette tapes together. “Rihannon” was one of those songs that when you sang it with her it would make you feel genuine peace. With the life you led, moments of peace were few and far between.

‘All your life you've never seen

A woman taken by the wind’

One of your favorite memories with your mother was riding in her beat-up station wagon on a highway in West Texas. The sun was just beginning to set, the windows were rolled down, and the wind whipped through your hair. The shadows of the dense trees on either side of the road made shapes appear on your face with patches of light shining through the holes in the shadows. You were sixteen at the time. The two of you took this rare moment alone to sing together, simply enjoying each other’s company.

‘Would you stay if she promised you heaven?

Will you ever win?’

You scrubbed your scalp as you rinsed the soap out of your hair, closing your eyes in an attempt to bring yourself back to that day.

‘She is like a cat in the dark and then

She is the darkness

She rules her life like a fine skylark and when

The sky is starless’

If you could have your mom back, for even just a moment, maybe you would be able to feel that same peace again. You would feel safe and protected. The day before her passing was the last time you felt truly at peace.

‘All your life you've never seen

A woman taken by the wind’

Tears clouded your vision and your throat constricted as you continued to sing.

‘Would you stay if she promised you heaven?

Will you ever win?

Will you ever win?’

***

A loud knock on your door pulled you out of your deep sleep.

You jumped, grabbing for the gun you kept under your pillow. You cocked it, walked up to the door, and pressed the muzzle of the gun against it. You opened it with your opposite hand just a crack. To your surprise, it was Dean.

You slammed it back in his face.

“(Y/N), open the damn door,” he demanded unenthusiastically.

You did not, but put the safety back on your gun and threw it on your bed. “What do you want, asshole? It’s almost five in the morning.”

“Yeah, I’m aware of that. Look, I don’t wanna be up either. It was Sam’s idea,” he explained.

You opened the door just a crack. “Okay, what does he want at almost five in the morning?”

“I don’t know, he just had a thought, I guess.” Despite the fact that you were asking completely fair questions, his tone showed he was clearly agitated. “Get dressed.”

***

“Alright, so what are we doin’ here at 5:30 in the morning?” Dean questioned. He leaned against the hood of the Impala which was parked outside of Zack’s house.

“I realized something,” Sam stated. “The videotape shows the killer goin’ in, but not comin’ out.”

You walked over to the younger of the two brothers who was across the street from the car. “So, he came out the back door?”

"Right. So, there should be a trail to follow. A trail the police would never pursue.”

“‘Cause they think the killer never left, and they caught Zack inside,” you added.

“I still don’t know what we’re doin’ here at 5:30 in the morning,” Dean grumbled.

Both you and Sam chose to ignore him as you looked around outside of the building.

“Blood,” you noted as you looked at a smear on a wooden telephone pole. “Somebody came this way.”

“Yeah, but the trail ends. I don’t see anything over here,” he said before taking a sip of his coffee.

An ambulance blared its sirens as it sped down the street that separated you and Sam from Dean.

You looked up at Sam, who exchanged a knowing look with Dean.

Dean drove the three of you over to where you assumed the ambulance was coming from. He parked a few houses down from a house that was surrounded by police cars. One policeman was covering the house with yellow and black tape.

You got out of the Impala, watching as a man in a suit was handcuffed and shoved into the back of a police car.

Dean walked a few paces ahead of you, stopping next to one of the onlookers. She looked as if she had been going for a jog when she stumbled upon the crime scene, as her hair was tied back and she had an MP3 played secured to her arm.

“What happened?” he asked her.

“He tried to kill his wife. Tied her up and beat her,” she informed him.

Sam tore his attention away from the house and turned to the woman.“Really?”

“I used to see him going to work in the morning. He’d wave, say ‘hello.’ He seemed like such a nice guy.” The young woman shook her head.

You watched as the cop car with the supposed killer in it drove off.

The three of you decided to stay at the scene of the crime to dig around. You and Sam walked around the back of the house, looking for any sort of a clue. Sam lifted the lid on one of the two blue garbage cans behind the house.

“Why are you dumpster diving?” you asked Sam. “I don’t think the killer’s hiding in there.”

“Shut up,” he chuckled. “I don’t know, I’m just looking for... anything. I don’t really know what to look for.”

“Yeah, me neither,” you told him as the two of you walked around to the front of the house.

Dean came up behind Sam a moment later. “Hey.”

The two of you turned around.

“Remember when I said this wasn’t our kind of problem?”

“Uh-huh,” you nodded.

“Definitely our kind of problem.”

“What’d you find out?” Sam questioned.

“Well, I just talked to the patrolman who was first on the scene, heard this guy, Alex’s story. Apparently, the dude was driving home from a business trip when his wife was attacked,” he informed you.

“So, he was two places at once,” Sam affirmed.

“Exactly. Then he sees himself in the house, police think he’s a nutjob.”

“Two dark doubles attacking loved ones in exactly the same way.”

“Could be the same thing doin’ it, too.”

You thought for a second. “Shapeshifter?”

Dean shrugged.

“Dude, bear with me on this one. It’s something that can make itself look like anyone.”

“Yeah, I got that part,” he replied.

“Every culture in the world has shapeshifter lore. You know, legends of creatures who can transform themselves into animals or other men,” Sam added.

“Right. Skinwalkers, werewolves,” you continued.

“We’ve got two attacks within blocks of each other. I’m guessin’ we’ve got a shapeshifter prowlin’ the neighborhood,” the younger brother went on.

“Shapeshifters aren’t exactly known for flying--” you started as you headed off back behind the building, “--so I think it’s safe to say that I found a trail back there. Someone ran out the back of this building and headed off this way.” you pointed down the street.

“Just like your friend’s house,” Dean told Sam.

“Yeah. And, just like at Zack’s house, the trail suddenly ends. I mean, whatever it is just disappeared,” you noted.

“Well, there’s another way to go—down,” the older Winchester pointed out.

You looked down to where the trail ended to find a manhole.

The three of you climbed down the ladder into the hole, looking around the dark cavern.

��I bet this runs right by Zack’s house, too,” Sam commented. “The shapeshifter could be using the sewer system to get around.”

You went to take a step but stopped yourself when you looked at what you were about to walk into. You bent down, examining the pile of what appeared to be blood and skin.

“Is this from his victims?” Sam asked as he, too, bent down.

You took out your pocketknife, picking up some of the skin with the end of the blade. “Gross.”

“You know, I just had a sick thought,” Dean piped up. “When the shapeshifter changes shape—maybe it sheds.”

You looked back to see Sam’s nose scrunch up further as he thought about what Dean had said. “That is sick.”

You shook the skin off of your knife, wiping it off on Dean’s jacket.

“Hey!” He swatted your arm away.

You snickered.

“C’mon, you two,” Sam commanded with a groan as he made his way up the ladder.

Sam and Dean followed close behind you as you headed to the car. You leaned on the side of it as Dean popped open the trunk.

“Well, one thing I learned from Dad, is that no matter what kind of shapeshifter it is, there’s one sure way to kill it.”

“Silver bullet to the heart,” Sam nodded. A moment later, his phone rang. “This is Sam... We’re near Zack’s, we’re just checkin’ some things out...” He mouthed Becky’s name to you to let you know who was on the phone. His expression changed a moment later to one of confusion. “What are you talkin’ about?... Why would you do that?” Suddenly, he seemed irritated. “Bec—... We’re tryin’ to help... Bec, I’m sorry, but—” He was cut off when she hung up on him.

“What was that all about?” you asked.

“She found out about Dean.”

“What, how he’s not a detective?”

“Yep.”

“I hate to say it, but that’s exactly what I’m talkin’ about,” Dean jumped in. “You lie to your friends because if they knew the real you, they’d be freaked. It’s just--it’d be easier if--”

Sam understood where his brother was going with his statement. "If I was like you.”

“Hey, man, like it or not, we are not like other people. But I’ll tell you one thing. This whole gig—it ain’t without perks.” He held up a gun with a smirk.

***

The three of you headed back down the manhole, walking down the cavernous hallway with flashlights and guns in hand.

“I think we’re close to its lair,” you told Sam.

“Why do you say that?”

“Because there’s another puke-inducing pile next to your face,” you grinned.

“Oh, God!” he cried as he turned to see skin and blood on the pipe not two inches from his face.

Dean noticed a pile of clothes in the corner. “Looks like it’s lived here for a while.”

“Who knows how many murders he’s gotten away with?” Sam shook his head.

You heard a small splash in a puddle behind Dean. You whipped around and aimed your flashlight at the sound, seeing the shifter in the form of the businessman.

“Dean!” Sam shouted.

He wheeled around only to get punched in the face by the shifter. Dean toppled to the ground as the shifter ran away from you and the boys.

Sam shot after it a few times, but he missed. You tore down the corridor after it, not even once taking a look at Dean.

“Get the son of a bitch!” Dean yelled after you.

“That’s the idea, jackass!” you called back. You watched as the shifter climbed out of the manhole you and the Winchesters had used to get into the sewers. You scrambled up the ladder as quickly as you could, popping out of the ground and gazing out into the dark night.

You could just barely see the shifter at this point. You followed where you thought you had seen him turn. You held your gun inside your jacket, eyes focused on the alleyway you saw the shifter turn into. You pressed your back against the brick wall of the shop on the right of the alley before turning into it. You shined your flashlight down the dark alley, walking into it a few paces. The all too familiar smell of coconuts and tobacco filled your nose. When the beam of light hit the wall of the building along the back of the alley, you turned around, only to see the shifter in the form of the businessman staring directly at you. Before you could so much as aim your gun at it, it hit you over the head. Your vision went completely dark.

***

You woke up to an unfamiliar sight. The shifter had taken you to his lair; a cold, damp, dimly lit room in what seemed to be a house. You groaned before attempting to stand up, only to get choked by a rope that had been secured around your neck and pulled back by ropes around your hands. The shifter had tied you to a wooden post.

‘Brilliant,’ you thought.

You heard muffled voices behind you, one that sounded like it was Dean’s.

“Dean?” you called.

“(Y/N), it’s not--” Sam shouted, but cut himself off with a groan.

“Dean” walked over to you.

“Hiya, sweetheart,” he smirked, leaning down to your eye level. He put a hand next to your head on the post.

“Dean, the rope around my neck, it’s too tight,” you lied, struggling against the ropes. You pretended like your throat was constricted by making your voice strained. “Help me, please,” you begged.

The shapeshifter chuckled. “How stupid do you think I am?”

You dropped the act. “It was worth a shot,” you mumbled.

“You act like Dean-- I’m sorry, I-- would help you anyway,” he said as he walked away from you.

You looked up at him curiously.

He turned back to face you. “I’m so ready to leave your sorry ass in the dust,” the shifter laughed coldly. “All you’ve done since we met you is cause more trouble for us. I hope you’re tellin’ the truth about leaving the second we find Dad, ‘cause I don’t know how much longer I can put up with you. God, from your voice to your personality, you aggravate the livin’ crap outta me.” The shapeshifter leaned back down in front of your face, the two of you only inches away from one another.

“You’re a burden, (Y/N). You’re exhausting to be around. I constantly have to keep my guard up around you. I can’t trust you, not after what happened in Toledo. How do I know you won’t turn on me and Sammy?”

Tears welled up in your eyes, but you kept them at bay.

He turned away from you once more. “Sammy... that’s another thing. I hate how close the two of you have gotten. I mean, you roll up in your stolen car and immediately have him wrapped around your finger. He’s so ready to defend you against me. Maybe that’s why I hate you so much. You’ve replaced me. And sooner or later, you’re gonna take him away from me. Hell, everyone else in my life’s left, why wouldn’t he?”

The shifter took a deep breath, his frustrated expression leaving his face. He replaced it with a smug look as he continued on berating you. “Y’know, take your voice and personality away, Dean would definitely wanna fuck you. He thought you were hot the first time he met you. Then he actually got to know you, and, eh, things changed. But I’m sure he’d have tons of fun with Sam’s little friend Becky.” A wicked grin spread across his face. “I think I’ll go pay her a visit.”

With that, the shapeshifter disappeared.

You heard Sam mutter something, and then someone coughing.

“That better be you, Sam, and not that freak of nature,” you heard Dean call from somewhere in the cavern.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Sam confirmed.

You steeled yourself, trying to push the shifter’s hurtful words out of your mind. “Sam, that thing went to Becky’s carryin’ Dean’s face,” you informed him.

“Well, he’s not stupid. He picked the handsome one,” he told Sam.

“Shut up,” you groaned, trying to wiggle your way out of the ropes around your wrists.

“Yeah, that’s the thing. He didn’t just look like you, he was you,” Sam continued. “Or he was becoming you.”

“What do you mean?” Dean asked.

“I don’t know, it was like he was downloading your thoughts and memories.”

“You mean, like the Vulcan mind-meld?”

“Yeah, somethin’ like that. I mean, maybe that’s why he doesn’t just kill us,” Sam suggested.

You heard shuffling behind you, which you assumed was Dean walking over to Sam.

“Hey, jackass, you passed me up,” you yelled at Dean.

“I know,” he called back to you. He went back to his conversation with Sam. “Maybe he needs to keep us alive. Psychic connection.”

“Hands,” Sam ordered Dean. “Yeah. Come on, we gotta go. He’s probably at Rebecca’s already.”

“I’m still stuck here!”

Sam came over to help you get the ropes undone. However, Dean could care less about the state you were in.

You found all of the guns the shapeshifter had stolen off of the three of you, and you tossed each of the guns to their respective owners.

Sam boosted you up to a window high off the ground in the room you were in. You climbed out, “Come on. We gotta find a phone, call the police.” Sam started to head down the street.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.” Dean effectively stopped his brother. “You’re gonna put an APB out on me.”

“Sorry,” Sam grimaced.

“This way.” You took off down the street. The neighborhood you sprinted through was dark, the street lamps so scattered and dimly lit that you could hardly see your feet hit the pavement below you. As you came up on a block full of shops, you slowed your run to a walk as to not draw too much attention in the well-lit area.

You almost headed past a shop with a bunch of televisions set to a news channel in the window, but you stopped when you heard what the reporter was relaying to the audience.

“An anonymous tip led police to a home in the Central West End, where a S.W.A.T team discovered a local woman bound and gagged. Her attacker, a white male, approximately twenty-four to thirty years of age, was discovered hiding in her home.”

A sketch of Dean appeared on the screen next to the reporter.

“Man! That’s not even a good picture,” Dean piped up from next to you.

You looked around, making sure no one heard Dean’s loud exclamation and got suspicious.

“It’s good enough,” Sam muttered. He quickly walked past the shop to get back in the cover of night on the other side of the strip of stores.

“Man!” Dean grunted as he followed his brother.

“Hush, you big baby,” you snapped.

Sam turned down an alley with you and his older brother falling behind.

“Come on,” Sam urged the two of you quietly. “They said attempted murder. At least we know--”

Dean cut him off. “I didn’t kill her.”

“We’ll check with Rebecca in the morning, see if she’s all right.”

“Alright, but first I wanna find that handsome devil and kick the holy crap out of him.”

“Dean,” you started, “We have no weapons. No silver bullets.”

He stopped, turning to face you. "(Y/N), the guy’s walkin’ around with my face, okay, it’s a little personal. I wanna find him.”

“Okay. Where do we look?” You crossed your arms over your chest.

The older Winchester paused for a moment. “Well, we could start with the sewers.”

“We have no weapons, genius. He stole our guns, we need more.”

“The car?” Sam offered.

You shrugged. “He probably drove it over to Rebecca’s.”

“The news said he fled on foot. I bet it’s still parked there.”

"The thought of him drivin’ my car,” Dean snarled.

Sam rolled his eyes. “Alright, come on.”

“It’s killin’ me,” the older brother whined.

“Let it go.”

***

As you walked up the street on the right side of Becky’s house, you noticed the silhouette of the car outlined by the dim light of the street lamp.

“Oh, there she is!” Dean exclaimed happily, the relief in his voice evident. “Finally, something went right tonight.”

A police car appeared around the corner and parked next to the Impala.

“Oh, shit,” you muttered. You turned around, beginning to run away, but another cop car was parked across the street at the intersection you had come from.

This way, this way.” Dean headed toward a fence.

“You go. I’ll hold ‘em off,” Sam told you and his brother.

“What are you talking about? They’ll catch you,” the older Winchester said.

“Look, they can’t hold me. Just go, keep out of sight,” the brunet urged. “Meet me at Rebecca’s.”

“You got it, chief,” you called back.

Dean was the first to hop the fence and you followed. You stumbled upon landing in the backyard of the house you happened upon.

The voice of a police officer broke through the silent night as you and Dean started off to the fence on the backside of the yard. “Don’t move! Keep your hands where I can see ‘em.”

You climbed over the fence into the backyard of another house and ran around the left side of it to head down the street the cop car was parked at the intersection of. The two of you stayed out of the glow of the lamp lights that lined either side of the road as you ran along.

When you had gotten several blocks over from where you had that run-in with the cops, you and Dean stopped to catch your breath. You both sat down on the street corner, chests heaving. The older Winchester went to lay back, but you stopped him.

“Hey, stay sittin’ up,” you directed.

“What? Why?”

“You’re gonna pass out if you do.”

“Uh, okay.” He looked at you as if you did not know what you were talking about but still followed your orders.

The two of you sat in silence for a minute.

“So, what now?” you questioned.

He shook his head. “The cops are probably still snoopin’ around Rebecca’s house. Can’t go get the car ‘til they’re cleared out.”

“Yeah, so, what now?” you asked again.

“I don’t know, man,” he grumbled annoyedly. “You got any ideas, Einstein?”

“If I did, I wouldn’t be asking you, dumbass,” you responded snippily. “What time is it?”

“I don’t know. I don’t have a watch on me.”

“Great,” you sighed, standing up. You brushed your hands off on your pants and dusted the back of your jeans off.

“Could go get some burgers,” Dean piped up from his seated position on the grass.

“Your brother just got arrested, and you’re a wanted man, but sure, let’s take you where everybody in the joint’s gonna be able to clearly see your face.”

“Jeez, calm down. It was just a suggestion.”

“Yeah, a dumb one.”

“What’s your deal, (Y/N)?” Dean stood up, and you turned to face him.

“My deal? What about yours?”

“I don’t have one! But you’ve clearly got a stick up your ass.”

You shook your head in frustration. “Dean, don’t lie to me. You have a deal. With me, specifically. The shifter told me all about it.”

The young man tilted his head to the side in question. “What?”

“Yeah, he told me what you really think of me,” you continued. You took a step toward him with each sentence. “How much I annoy you. How much I exhaust you. How much of a burden I am to you.”

His face dropped out of its angry expression as he took a step back.

“He also told me how you think I’m gonna replace you in Sam’s eyes.” You laughed coldly. “Is that why you hate me so much? Because you’re so insecure about your relationship with Sam?”

The fact that Dean did not respond showed you that you were correct.

“I gotta be real with you, that’s pathetic.” You regretted what you said instantly.

The anger returned to his face. “Still think you don’t have a stick up your ass after you say something like that?”

“I’m sorry, I--”

“No. Just shut up.”

He walked off down the street.

Your frustration replaced your guilt in an instant. “Seriously? I say one thing that cuts slightly below surface-level insults and you get butthurt?”

Dean turned around.

You walked up to him. “What I just told you was fucked up, sure. But it wasn’t half as bad as what you said to me back in Toledo. That I probably drove my family crazy enough that they'd kill themselves over it? Does that ring a bell?"

“What do you want me to say, (Y/N)?”

“I want you to apologize, for starters!” you shouted back. Your tone changed to dripping with sarcasm. “Now, I know that would require you to humble yourself and get past your superiority complex, so I understand how difficult that’s gonna be for you.”

“I’m sorry, okay!” he yelled, throwing his arms out to his sides. “And I’m sorry about what that shifter said to you.”

“Thank you!” You took a moment to collect yourself. “And I’m sorry, too.”

“Thanks.”

You looked around at the houses that surrounded you on either side of the road the two of you stood in the middle of. “Now that we probably woke up half the neighborhood, let’s bounce.”

Dean chuckled, walking down the street away from you. You caught up to him.

“I don’t know where you think you’re going, we haven’t exactly decided what we’re doing.”

“I’m goin’ back to Becky’s. The cops probably cleared out by now,” he replied.

‘Okay, way to fill me in on what the plan is,” you scoffed.

“I didn’t realize I had to share every little bit of my thought process with you,” Dean clapped back.

“Well, it’s kinda helpful to know what you’re thinkin’ when we’re working together,” you told him.

“Whatever,” Dean brushed you off. “Why does it bug you, anyway? That’s such a stupid thing to fight with me about.”

“I don’t know,” you confessed. “Your face is just annoying.”

“Gee, thanks,” he retorted dryly.

As you approached the car, you noticed the sun had begun to rise.

“I guess that answers the ‘what time is it’ question,” you noted. “It’s probably somewhere around five in the mornin’.”

Dean popped open the trunk, shrugging on the navy blue canvas jacket he found on top of the gun compartment. You grabbed your duffel bag out of the trunk before Dean opened the hollowed-out bottom of the trunk.

You grabbed more silver bullets out of your bag and loaded them into your gun as Dean filtered through the weapons in his trunk.

“Doesn’t look like the shifter took anything,” he told you.

“Alright, to the sewers.” You headed up to the passenger’s seat after haphazardly throwing your bag over Dean’s head back into the trunk.

“Watch it!” Dean scolded. “You almost knocked me out!”

“But I didn’t,” you smirked, ducking down into the front seat.

***

You and Dean pointed your flashlights and guns around the sewer as you walked down the corridor together.

You walked into a chamber filled with candles and chains hanging from the ceiling. You aimed your flashlight at the ground, noticing many piles of shed skin and blood all over the floor. You even noticed a few teeth and fingernails near the pile.

“I’m gonna be sick,” you grimaced, looking up at Dean.

“(Y/N)?” you heard a muffled voice call from the far right corner of the chamber.

“Bec?” you responded, rushing over to a curled up figure covered by a tarp. You pulled the cover off to reveal a disheveled Rebecca, her hands and feet bound with rope.

“Thank God,” she sighed when she saw your face as you began to untie her. The blonde’s face was red, and tears had dried on her face.

Dean came over to the two of you, coming up behind you. “What happened?”

Rebecca started crying again as she spoke. “I was walking home, and everything just went white. Someone hit me over the head, and I wound up here just in time to see that thing turn into me. I don’t know, how is that even possible?”

“It’s okay, you’re okay now,” you coaxed her as you finished untying her binds.

“Come on. Can you walk?” Dean asked as he helped Becky stand up.

She nodded.

“Okay, we’ve gotta hurry. Sam went to see you.”

***

You jumped out of the car before it had even stopped rolling into the half-circle shaped driveway, rushing into Rebecca’s house behind Dean.

You held your gun out in front of you, Dean doing the same and yelling “Hey!” as he entered the living room.

You saw the shifter in the form of Dean jump off of Sam, whom he had previously been strangling. Dean shot the shifter in the chest twice, and it dropped to the ground dead.

You ran over to Sam. “Hey! Hey, are you okay?” you questioned as he slowly sat up, grasping at his neck.

The younger brother groaned, nodding in response.

You blew out a puff of air. Rebecca came running over, crouching down to yours and Sam’s level, looking him over.

You looked back at Dean and watched as he ripped the necklace he always wore from around the shapeshifter’s neck. He looked over at you, giving you a knowing nod. His jaw was clenched, and his eyebrows were furrowed.

You stood up, leaving Sam and Rebecca on the floor while you walked over to Dean. His eyes followed your face as you got closer to him

“So, what are you gonna do with... you?” you chortled, trying to make light of the situation.

He scoffed at you. “I guess have Becky call the cops once we get the hell outta dodge.”

“Sounds good,” you nodded, glancing down at the shifter. Your movements tensed as you remembered the awful things he said to you. Things that had apparently been on Dean’s mind; the reasons why he hated you. Despite the fact that Dean had apologized, you were still hurt.

“You okay?” Sam asked you when he walked up behind you.

You turned around to face him, noticing Dean had left his crouched position next to the shapeshifter.

“Yeah,” you lied, “I’m good.”

He gave you a knowing look with a tilt of his head.

You smiled half-heartedly. “We’ll talk about it later.”

***

You and Dean were packing up the car while Sam said his goodbyes to Rebecca. You looked on as the two friends shared a hug. When they pulled away, the blonde waved to you and Dean. You smiled at her, waving back.

“So, what about your friend, Zack?” Dean asked as soon as Sam walked up to the car.

“Cops are blamin’ this Dean Winchester guy for Emily’s murder,” Sam smirked. “They found the murder weapon in the guy’s lair, Zack’s clothes stained with her blood. Now they’re thinking maybe the surveillance tape was tampered with. Yeah, Becca says Zack will be released soon.”

Dean rolled his eyes before he got into the car, leaving you and Sam chuckling to yourselves.

***

Dean broke the silence in the car that you three had been enjoying the entirety of the ride up until that point. “Sorry, man.”

You looked away from the trees that flew by outside of the Impala’s window over to Dean.

“About what?” Sam inquired.

“I really wish things could be different, you know? I wish you could just be….Joe College.”

“No, that’s okay. You know, the truth is, even at Stanford, deep down, I never really fit in.”

“Well, that’s ‘cause you’re a freak,” Dean quipped.

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Well, I’m a freak, too. I’m right there with ya, all the way.”

“Yeah, I know you are,” the younger brother laughed.

“Aw, isn’t this sweet,” you piped up from the backseat.

“Shut up, (Y/N),” Dean responded, making you snicker. He paused. "You know, I gotta say—I’m sorry I’m gonna miss it.”

Sam turned his head to his brother. “Miss what?”

"How many chances am I gonna have to see my own funeral?”

You snorted, curling up against the window while the car went quiet again. The shapeshifter’s words swirled around in your mind, causing the corners of your lips to turn down.

Were you really a burden to Dean? Or was the shapeshifter just saying that to get under your skin?

‘I mean, he never denied feeling that way when we were fighting,’ you reminded yourself. You huffed, crossing your arms.

‘I’ll talk to Sam about it next time we stop,’ you told yourself. You closed your eyes and decided napping was a better idea than being in your own head at the moment.

One final thought made its way into your head before you could suppress it.

‘He can’t really think that badly of me... could he?’

Feedback is always appreciated and tags are open!

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tinsley-goldsworth · 5 years

Text

with great power comes great responsibility (chapter 1)

summary: in a world where normal humans coexist with people with supernatural powers, ryan meets a girl who knows something about the dark future that lies ahead. after all, with great power comes great responsibility

read on ao3!

For somebody who believed in the supernatural, Ryan Bergara had a hard time believing in reality. As crazy as it sounded, it was true that people had gotten superpowers and that society was able to function normally. While this might sound surprising, there really was not much to adapting to this change as most of the superpowers weren’t powerful enough to make people superheroes who could save the world. Sure, healers were considered an important asset on the battlefield but other than that, superpowers didn’t have much of an impact.

Superpowers had been around since the late 20th century and to be completely honest, nobody knew where they came from, even if scientists claim to have figured it out. Only 15% of the human population had some sort of superpower and each person’s ability varied in terms of power. Some people were more powerful than others and sometimes that would get to their head so the government worked with people with powerful superpowers to create new rules and regulations to control these power-hungry people. The government invested a lot of money into enforcing rules and there was a dramatic decline in dramatic super villains who didn’t do much other than scare a couple of people.

Ryan was seven years old when he placed a name on his power. Ever since he was young, he had seen a faint light around everybody’s bodies but didn’t question it, assuming that everybody else could see these ring-like lights. But then, he learned about superpowers in class and he learned that the ring-like circles were called emotional auras that could only be seen by people with special powers and that those people were called empaths. Ryan did some research and found out that different colors corroborated with different emotions, and he excitedly told his parents about his superpower.

His parents were generally nice people and when they found out, they couldn’t help but feel a little worried. They didn’t know if this would put Ryan at a disadvantage and even if it did, they couldn’t take it away from his as it was innate. They did some research and eventually were able to accept Ryan and they took Ryan to a superpower specialist who helped Ryan enhance and control his powers.

By the time he was ten years old, Ryan could read the emotions of people easily and the colors of auras were more distinctive than before. When he was younger, auras were sort of hazy, grey-colored rings of light but as his superpower developed, he could identify the color from a mile away. His power was useful when trying to identify how a friend felt, and he usually helped out people who had rather blue auras feel better.

Ryan’s parents’ worries about discrimination became relevant when Ryan began applying for jobs as he grew older. Companies didn’t really want people with superpowers as there was still a lot of stigma around hiring people with supernatural abilities but he was able to become an intern at Buzzfeed. The best part of being at Buzzfeed was obviously the ability to create videos but another benefit was that it paid its employees with superpowers the same wage as their regular human employees.

Now that people knew supernatural powers existed, they began to accept conspiracy theories easily and Ryan also got caught up in the conspiracy storm. He had always been fascinated with unsolved crime cases as well as the unexplored supernatural world and decided to start a show at Buzzfeed called Buzzfeed Unsolved. He discussed unsolved cold cases and also visited haunted locations in hopes of finding evidence of the paranormal. His companion in these adventures was Shane Madej, a normal human who had a strong belief that “just because superpowers exist, it doesn’t mean that ghosts and demons do too”.

Ryan was determined to prove that ghosts were just as real as telepaths and the result was a five season-long series on the supernatural. It was wildly successful and as not many people with superpowers were famous for their work, many younger kids with superpowers looked up to Ryan. It was nice to know that he had an impact on people’s lives and Ryan decided to keep creating content for his enjoyment and for others’.

Today, Ryan walked into the office and read people’s auras per usual. Many interns had their usual heather purple auras, signaling that they were extremely stressed. Some people at the office had graphite grey auras that showed they were definitely not getting enough sleep and did not have enough energy to function. There were a select few people who were harder to read, like Jen Ruggirello, whose aura always seemed oddly hazy, but for the most part, people had parmesan yellow auras, meaning they were relatively content.

When Ryan and Shane had been participating in Kelsey’s Sims series, Kelsey brought up the analogy of auras being similar to the color of the Sims’ moods. There were some differences in correlation between color and emotions but for the most part, the colors in the Sims that matched with certain emotions matched with the colors of auras for those emotions. But even as accurate as the colors generally were, they didn’t express the full scale of human emotion. For instance, when somebody was feeling in love, the aura’s shade of pink would vary, unlike the standard fuchsia pink in the Sims. Sometimes the pink would be more magenta, which was more of a cautious feeling of love and coral pink was a very fleeting, lustful love that, if turned to a ballet slipper pink, could turn into more emotionally-connective love.

As Ryan took a seat down at his desk, he noted that Sara and Shane were standing across from each other as they talked, their auras radiating an intense ballet slipper pink and he caught Shane’s eye, making a mock face of disgust. Shane rolled his eyes and continued talking to Sara, who was showing him her latest drawings. Sara had the unique ability to communicate with animals and her interactions with various types of critters fueled her creativity. She drew elegant mythical creatures that seemed to pop right off the page with vibrant colors. Being an animal communicator was almost as rare as being an empath and it was even rarer for any people with superpowers to possess the amount of talent Sara had.

Ryan turned back towards his computer and right before he put his headphones on, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He swiveled around in his chair to face Steven, who had his usual, happy mustard yellow aura, and Steven grinned as he read Ryan’s thoughts. Steven was probably one of the nosiest and noisiest telepaths Ryan has ever encountered because even though Steven talked a lot, he was also chatty inside Ryan’s head. Every child had learned how to block their thoughts from a telepath from a young age but Ryan put a thin filter on his thoughts and allowed Steven to see the majority of them because he trusted Steven. But while Steven could be a sweet guy, he could also be an annoyance.

“Ryan, Ryan, Ryan. You know better than to be envious of people in love. I know you’re single but the sooner you put yourself out there, the less sad you’ll be around couples,” Steven reproached in a playful manner and Ryan shot him an annoyed glance. So what if he was a little bitter that everybody around him seemed to be in love while he was as single as he could be? Ryan knew that he should probably at least make an attempt to start going on dates but because work had been so draining lately, he couldn’t find the effort to.

“Shut up, Steven. Shouldn’t you be searching for a restaurant with golden truffles or something?” Ryan teased half-heartedly as he turned back towards his computer, clicking on a file to open it up. As ready as Ryan was for Steven to drop the topic, Steven wasn’t ready to let the conversation end.

“Seriously Ryan, you need to stop moping around and find somebody. I’m sure lots of people would want to date an empath,” Steven scooted over to next to Ryan, still sitting in his office chair. Ryan was tempted to push Steven off his chair to wipe the smug smile off his face but resisted the urge to do so. All he wanted was for Adam to teleport here and take Steven away to another location.

“Okay, I’ll keep that in mind,” Ryan replied dryly and Steven took this as a victory, pumping his fists triumphantly before scooting back to his desk. Steven wasn’t a hundred percent correct about people wanting to date an empath; there was a good chunk of people who still found people with superpowers strange and refused to date them. This was yet another obstacle people with superpowers had to face and Ryan pushed any deep thoughts about the topic back into the recesses of his mind.

Ryan put his headphones on and began the tedious task of listening to all the audio files from the haunted location he and Shane had visited. He found some clips that sounded pretty compelling and saved them to show to Shane later. Later that day, Ryan filmed a post-mortem with Shane and Shane’s aura was a mustard yellow, which helped raise Ryan’s energy levels a little more. Ryan found that in addition to being able to read the emotions of others, he could also be influenced by others’.

After filming the post-mortem, Ryan called it a day and decided to walk to Starbucks to get a quick drink with caffeine so he could manage to stay up a little late to finish up some final touches on an episode. He wasn’t paying much attention to where he was walking as he was too busy scrolling through Twitter to look where he was walking and he bumped into somebody. Instantly, he lowered his phone and turned to the person, apologizing. “Sorry about that. I wasn’t looking where I was walking.”

The girl he bumped into turned towards him and Ryan almost lost his grip on his phone. She had the brightest aura Ryan had ever seen and it was probably brighter than the light of the sun and stars combined. It was a strange silver color that Ryan had never seen but at least it wasn’t an angry scarlet red. Her eyes were golden, meaning that she was a seer and could tell the future. Seers were rare and Ryan had never met a seer with such an intense aura. Her golden eyes flashed with recognition as she replied, “No worries. Have I seen you before?”

“Maybe? My name is Ryan Bergara and I’m the host of a show called Buzzfeed Unsolved. Maybe you saw me on the internet somewhere,” Ryan reasoned, still fascinated by her silver aura. He wanted to reach his fingers out and try to touch it as it seemed so metallic that looked physically smooth but suppressed the urge. The girl shook her head and her tangled curls bounced delicately.

“Doesn’t sound familiar. I’m Marielle by the way,” Marielle looked like she was about to say something more but her phone rang with a notification of a new text. She glanced down at the screen of her phone and quickly began typing a message. Before she left, Marielle met Ryan’s eyes one last and said, “I have to go. I’ll see you soon.”

“Soon?” Ryan’s question was left hanging as Marielle disappeared into the endless stream of people walking down the street. If Marielle was telling the truth, then there really was no need to answer Ryan’s question right now.

While society seemed like a utopia because of its ability to function normally with people with superpowers, it still had its faults. Many people were anti-superpower and firmly believed that people with superpowers had no right to be wandering around in the world and should be locked up. Los Angeles was a more progressive area and generally, people accepted those with superpowers, which is why Ryan was surprised when people showed up at the front doors of Buzzfeed, protesting.

Ryan had been minding his own business at work as he finished up working on an episode and admittedly, he had been letting his mind wander as he mindlessly checked for errors in editing. He couldn’t forget about Marielle, whose mysterious remark had been on repeat in his brain, and wanted to know more about Marielle. Ryan felt naturally attracted to Marielle because of her metallic aura but he also thought she was one of the prettiest girls he had ever seen. He hoped that she would be true to her word and they would somehow manage to meet again but for now, he had no way of contacting her so he could only wait.

Just as Ryan took off his headphones and prepared the file for sending, he heard a distant commotion outside and stood up, walking over towards the source of the sound. As he got closer, he could hear the chants of angry people and see a distant dark glow of red. Near the glass doors at the front of the office, there was a crowd of anti-superpower protestors yelling and holding picket signs walking down the street. A bunch of Buzzfeed employees were standing in the lobby, watching the protestors march down the street and Ryan walked next to Steven, Shane, Sara, and Andrew, who were watching with concern flashing in their eyes.

Their usual comforting auras now were a plum shade of worry as the protestors’ chants of “Freaks are making our economy stink!” rose louder and louder. The front doors of the office were locked as everybody at the office knew that protestors wouldn’t hesitate to try to attack Buzzfeed since the company paid people with superpowers equally. A couple of protestors left the horde to bang on the doors and picket signs were thrown at the glass doors. Ryan winced at the clunking noises as the signs hit the doors and Steven’s usual grin was now a painful grimace.

The protestors eventually stopped bothering the front doors and joined the rest of the mob as they continued down the street, causing a ruckus and worsening traffic. Shane had an arm wrapped comforting around Sara’s shoulders as Sara leaned into him, biting her bottom lip as her plum aura deepened to a sangria purple. She was scrolling through her phone and announced, “These protests are happening everywhere today. It’s like they all came together to protest on this one day to get their message across.”

“I still don’t understand why anti-superpower people don’t accept people with superpowers. I mean, people with superpowers lose their powers,” Shane frowned as he spoke and he left the last part of the statement unsaid. Nobody had figured out how to remove powers without killing the person and if anti-power protestors wanted to get rid of all people with superpowers, they might as well come together to commit mass genocide right under the government’s nose. It’s not like the government would act quickly enough to stop them.

“Some people think that having equality will result in them losing power but in reality, equality just means equal rights for everybody and they don’t have to lose power in order to have equality,” Jen walked up next to Ryan and Steven nodded in agreement. Many people didn’t like talking about politics but because politics now controlled their lives and rights, it was kind of necessary for them to discuss it.

Steven looked like he wanted to share more but one of the office managers walked into the lobby, telling everybody to get back to work and ignore the commotion. The small crowd of employees dispersed as everybody scrambled to get back to their respective workspaces. Ryan wasn’t a seer but he had a feeling that these protests were going to lead to something bigger in the future; he just didn’t know what this all could mean.

The protests only worsened and while the first few protests were organized throughout the nation, the hate spread and protests became a worldwide trend. Hundreds of people throughout the entire world came together to scream angrily about how people with superpowers shouldn’t be considered human. The protestors in Los Angeles constantly crowded around the Buzzfeed office to the point where Ryan had to enter the building through the back doors since the glass doors leading to the lobby were bolted and covered with planks of wood after a few protestors threw picket signs that smashed through the doors.

After a week of dealing with the protests, Ryan really needed a break from all the stress and as he walked back into his apartment, the last person he expected to see was Marielle. His first instinct was to dumbly think, “Wow her aura is still so bright”. His second instinct was to ask how she found her way in and how she knew where he lived but Marielle quickly closed the door behind him. Before he could ask the questions, Marielle stammered rapidly, “Your, um, roommates let me in. I told them I was here to help you with a video thing. I, uh, found your address by asking my friend. She knows you.”

“Oh, okay, yeah,” Ryan replied as if she had definitively answered all his questions. He wanted to ask more questions but Marielle seemed like she really was rushing to tell him whatever she needed to say so he kept his mouth shut as she continued to talk.

“Listen, I don’t have much time to say this but I came to tell you that you shouldn’t go to work tomorrow. Tell all your friends not to go too. I can’t tell you more and I don’t have that much time. It’s just… dangerous,” Marielle nervously curled one of her curls around her index finger as she spoke, clearly anxious about something, or maybe someone. She seemed like she was in a rush and needed to get out of Ryan’s apartment as soon as possible.

“Wait, why? Wait, sorry, right, you can’t tell me. Um, why this is going to sound weird but why should I trust you?” Ryan had trouble sounding coherent as he wasn’t used to sort-of strangers showing up at his place and telling him not to go to work the next day. He didn’t know Marielle that well but his instincts were telling him to believe what she was saying.

“I can tell the future. What else is there to make me more credible?” Marielle grinned as she scribbled something down on a random slip of paper lying on the kitchen counter with a pen from her pocket. She handed Ryan the slip of paper and he saw that she had written her number along with her name and a small smiley face. “Here’s my number. You’re gonna need it in the future. You’ll know when you need to. I have to go.”

Before Ryan could ask any more questions, Marielle brushed past him and left, closing the door behind her with a dull thud. Ryan was still in shock as he glanced down at the slip of paper in his hands, wondering what on Earth had just happened. He remembered that Marielle said they were going to meet again but he hadn’t imagined it to be like this. Ryan remembered the honesty in her golden eyes as she warned him of the dangers of going to work and glanced down at her handwriting on the slip of paper. Since she had predicted them meeting again a second time, Ryan should probably trust her words. So, he saved her contact in his phone and waited patiently for the time that he would need to talk to her again.

chapter 2 is here!

#fics #bfu #buzzfeed unsolved #ryan bergara #shane madej #superpower au #Marielle scott #maryan #sara rubin #shara #empath #jen ruggirello #bfwi #buzzfeed worth it #steven lim #adam bianchi #fanfiction

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absoluteturnip · 5 years

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Some Drifted, Missing (and Some Drifted, Found) CH.1

Summary: Soooo basically I got an idea inspired by Shay’s post here. Horror movie AU but slightly to the left? And then it became chapters. “What if the sides were idiot teenagers playing with a Ouija board and then they had to save themselves from supernatural creatures.”

If it interests anyone, Deceit is in here, he’s called Dee, we keep it simple up in this b*tch. And he’s not the villain/monster and is twins with Logan because I wrote it once with a friend and it’s now a personal hc. Rip. I also started this before DWIT came out so I’m gonna... omit Remus.

Pairings: No romantic, just platonic DLAMP

Triggers: non-major character death, murder mention (very brief and non-descriptive!), sympathetic Deceit, swearing, minor crimes (B&E basically), ouija boards, uh... spooks? I’m new to tagging triggers for my writing, so feel free to tell me if i'm missing things!!

Taglist: @sidespromptblog @effortiswhatmatters

AO3 Link

/wee-juh/ noun. a device consisting of a small board, or planchette, on legs that rest on a larger board marked with words, letters of the alphabet, etc., and that by moving over the larger board and touching the words, letters, etc, while the fingers of spiritualists, mediums, or others rest lightly upon it, is employed to answer questions, give messages, etc.

The five teenagers stood at the gate to the oldest house in their combined neighborhoods. An awkward hush settled over their group as they stared at the old, rotting corpse of a building perched in the very center of an overgrown yard.

The tallest, and by far the lankiest and most gothic looking, of the five shrunk back behind two of his friends with a soft whine, “Guys this is an awful idea. People have died in there! And people who’ve gone in to explore or find shit have gone missing!”

One of the boys, an almost equally tall but muscular brunet, laughs loudly as his bright green eyes light up with the idea of an adventure, “Oh, come now Virgil, those are just stories to keep us off the property! Plus, Jason Toddler, there have probably been as many deaths at the local Taco Bell!”

Virgil grimaces and shifts to stand behind a different friend, “Thanks Roman, not helping.”

Roman shrugs a little, apologetic, as one of the brown eyed and strawberry blond twins shoves him, “Hey! Don’t scare Virgil, only I get to do that!”

The other twin, identical except for the thick framed glasses, rolls his eyes, “Very mature, Dee. Now, are we going or not?”

The fifth in the group, a little blonde who sported round glasses and was who Virgil had tried to hide behind, laughs, “Slow down, Logan. Let’s get Virge calmed down first, okay? I want everyone to be on board before we go in!”

Logan adjusted his glasses with a sharp nod, “Right, of course Patton. Virgil, there is truly nothing to fear as the so-called ‘paranormal’ does not exist. That is what we are here to prove tonight, is it not?”

The group watches as Virgil takes a few steadying breaths and stands up straight, “Yeah, it’s fucking bullshit. You’re right, let’s fucking go.”

Patton bounces on his toes, blue eyes sparkling, “Aaah, I’m proud of you kiddo! Let’s go, go, go!”

Dee rolls his eyes with a grin, kicking the front gate open, “A’ight bitches, up you get, Ro and I have a bet to win! Ro, you got the Ouija?”

The brunet grins, passing Dee the case, “Yep! Time to blow some non-believer’s minds.”

Virgil shoulders past Roman and Dee, heading for the porch, “I couldn’t handle your stalling, get up here already before my sanity kicks in.” He turns to face them as they scramble to catch up and sees Logan opening his mouth, “Just because the paranormal isn’t real, doesn’t mean this place is safe, dude. It’s old as dirt.”

Logan sighs, looking around as he joins Virgil on the porch, “I will concede to that point, I suppose.”

“Lo, quit being a posh bitch. There aren’t any of your debate buddies, you’re fine to quit being the Smart Twin™,” Dee snorts, shaking his head.

“I’m sorry, did you just say the trademark symbol out loud?” Logan openly stares at his twin, stunned, “Bitch, what the fuck?”

Patton laughs, “Alright, settle down everybody. I’ll be counting for the swear jar, remember that!”

Roman whines, stomping a little on the porch steps, “Paaaat! That’s not fair, what if something spooks us?”

“Easy, don’t swear when you scream,” Virgil snickers, “I know it’s a difficult concept, but I believe in you.”

Patton giggles, “Okay, okay, no fighting. Now... about this door. Is it locked?”

Dee reaches for the knob, twisting it to test, “Yep, locked. I could maybe kick it in; can definitely kick it in with Roman or Lo’s help.”

“Nah, it’s fine, I got it,” Patton shimmies through the group to crouch at eye level with the lock, “Oh! It’s an old tumbler lock, this’ll be easy.”

“Patton, what ar‒” Roman’s voice peters out as they all watch Patton pull out a small soft case of lockpicks and start on unlocking the door.

“This’ll ruin the lock but‒ c’mon baby, c’mon don’t be mean‒ it works in a real pinch. Ah-ha! Here we go,” Patton wiggles in excitement as he stands up, opening the door and turning to face the group.

“Um, guys? Is something wrong?” Patton’s smile falls as he sees his friends’ disbelief and shock.

The twins are the first to shake off their surprise as they both clear their throats with a shake of their heads, completely in-sync, “No, just, uh, new information!”

Patton’s smile came back almost instantly, “Well? What are we waiting for then? Let’s go!”

The four watch as the endlessly sunny blonde spins on his heel and skips into the old house. Him spinning back around and waving for them to follow finally spurs them into action, Roman and Dee scrambling to catch up as Virgil and Logan share a concerned look before following their friends.

Inside, it is silent. Almost to an oppressive degree. Everything is coated in dust and grime but there was still furniture. It looks like nobody had ever moved out. The floorboards still has visible wear patterns from the old owners, but they weren’t completely rotted out like the boys thought they would be. The paint is faded in places from where the light came through the windows but otherwise it was a uniform, dark burgundy color that made the rooms feel smaller than they actually were in the late evening sun. The group walks through the house, chattering softly about little things they see as they walk through the still-furnished living room and dining room, in awe of the old architecture looming above them.

Roman and Dee are determined to find an old room with a nice atmosphere to set up their ouija board for a session, covertly keeping a close eye on each other and the rest of their group. They definitely aren’t afraid of the idea of ghosts, no siree. Just worried about the others wandering off in a weird, old, condemned house.

They wander into a large library, coated in dust but otherwise looking like the residents might walk in at any moment to catch them trespassing. The book titles are hard to read, the dust is so thick, but Logan immediately started wandering the edges of the room to try to see what the shelves held in them. Light streaks in from a cobweb coated window and hit the desk in the middle of the room perfectly, obviously arranged there for that exact reason.

Dee glances over at Roman and holds up the weathered travel-case and rattles it with raised eyebrows before gesturing to the desk in front of him. It's their best bet, in his opinion, short of setting up on the floor. Which, again, in his personal opinion, is nasty and he could see some weird stains on the carpeting that hasn’t been cleaned in who knows how long.

Roman nodded, clapping his hands together, “Alright! Logan, Virgil, time to finalize the bet. If we contact a spirit, you both owe Dee and me ten bucks each. If we don’t, we owe you both ten bucks each. So that’s twenty from each loser and twenty to each winner. Sound good?”

Logan’s eyes narrow as he stalks over to grin at his twin and their friend, “I’m fine with that, if Dee and Virgil are. Vee?”

“Yeah, sounds good. We’ll be winning anyways.”

“Oh you’re on,” Dee grins, leaning over the desk to offer his hand to shake Virgil’s.

Roman does the same with Logan as Patton tilts his head, scrolling through his phone. “So we’re here because of the murders, right? The double homicide that happened to the original owners?”

“Well, yeah?” Roman broke off his staring contest with Logan for a moment, “Why?”

“Well we’ve chosen a fitting room, I can tell you that much!” He grimaced as he stepped around the stains on the carpet before looking at his phone again, “Because these are blood.”

#sanders sides fic #patton sanders #logan sanders #horror #virgil sanders #sympathetic deceit #deceit sanders #roman sanders #blood #murder mention #death mention #ts virgil #ts roman #ts deceit #swearing #ouija board #ts logan #ts patton

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ennergetics · 7 years

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FILLED REQUEST: down with love, a fuckboi! seongwu au

(image credit)

pairing: ong seongwu x reader genre: fluff, angst wordcount: 3023 summary: Ong Seongwu is the campus’s resident type-A fuckboy. when you, an unknown writer, attempt to steal his spotlight, he tries to get revenge by making you fall in love with him. warnings: provocative situations, but nothing too steamy (inspired by the movie of the same name! same verse as the sungwoon prince au, but with a different reader + earlier time period. cross-posted on ao3.)

one | two

Each term, Ong Seongwu beats three of his own personal records: the number of features editors who’ve quit at the campus publication he heads; the amount of attention its social media has garnered under his editorship; and the size of his contacts list, the names of interviewees mingling with those of all the people he’s slept with.

Everybody on campus knows Ong Seongwu, and he wants to keep it that way. A consummate professional, he entered university knowing exactly what he wanted and how he was going to get there. After all, one doesn’t become an excellent reporter and social media influencer overnight; Seongwu built his brand through hard work, god-given good looks, and a knack for making people laugh. He flirts with all of them and fucks them without batting an eyelash, and none of them can say they didn’t know what they signed up for.

Yes, it’s easy to fall for Seongwu, with a story like his: a talented boy on scholarship with big dreams, eager to find someone to share his life with. The best lies are half-truths, after all. Seongwu does work hard, but he doesn’t think there’s a place in his life for love. Still, that doesn’t mean he can’t have fun, and he’s broken the many hearts of people who’ve wanted more.

PRODUCE, the publication he helped found as a freshman, is his current project and only love. He can’t help it if all the features editors up to this point have fallen hopelessly in love with him, tried to change him, and quit their jobs after failing. They were then banned from ever returning to PD101, the fond nickname for the publication’s office on campus. It’s been Seongwu’s home for his entire stay at college, and no simple flings would be able to drive him out of there.

Seongwu is at his usual spot in PD101, alternating between scrolling through PRODUCE’s social media accounts and editing the article queued for publishing within the week, when someone clears their throat.

“Boss, I’ve got an interesting piece you might want to look at.” The current features editor is a deceptively quiet boy with a knack for finding the best stories. Park Woojin quite easily turned down Seongwu’s early attempts at banter, and Seongwu’s glad to find an editor who might actually last till the end of the year and beyond. Woojin is clever enough that Seongwu might bring him onto the team when he expands PRODUCE beyond the campus, but that’s not important right now. If Woojin says a story’s got promise, Seongwu’s willing to bet on it.

He takes the tablet from Woojin and skims the article someone sent in to their submissions email. The sender, one L/N Y/N, doesn’t even have a picture up on their profile, which is a red flag for Seongwu. He gives it a cursory read-through, his expression souring as he gets further. It’s well-written, sure, but the article hinges on a tip for those lost in love: take control of their romantic lives ‘by not fucking scrubs more than once.’

He vaguely remembers what the word means: it’s a gender-neutral word for “fuckboy” that was popular in the ‘90s. Seongwu snorts. “Of course we’re not publishing this. It’s barely worth the minute I gave it my attention.” He doesn’t really think that, but PRODUCE is his magazine and he’s not going to publish anything so contrary to his own lifestyle. There’s something about this piece that feels like a personal attack, though Seongwu can’t quite place his finger on it. Before texting his next hook-up for the week, he gives Woojin a look; Woojin shrugs; and that’s the end of that.

Two days later, everyone on campus is talking about an explosive blog post promoted through the school’s online billboard system, titled “DOWN WITH LOVE.” Seongwu checks out the link and finds a more polished version of what had been sent in, complete with properly sourced memes and gifs. That annoys Seongwu enough, but now none of his regular fuck buddies will pick up his calls or reply to his texts—that is, except for the three who sent him a link to the blog post.

Seongwu looks you up and discovers you’re quite attractive, your photos tastefully shot and social media clean. He’s scrolling through your twitter when he sees a question about whom you think ‘the worst scrubs on campus’ are. There’s only one name there: his. “Never met him, but everybody tells me he’s an ass,” your answer says.

That’s the moment he decides he’s going to get his revenge. Ong Seongwu doesn’t lose, and it should be easy enough to make you fall in love with a self-proclaimed fuckboy like himself. You’ve never met him—in fact, you refuse to meet with him or any of the PRODUCE staffers—and his carefully curated social media means he can control his image perfectly. Seongwu puts on glasses, parts his hair in the middle, and borrows from his friend Jisung’s wardrobe, making himself practically unrecognizable, then sets himself up as a new student in your project management class.

Adopting a Busan accent that’s a passable approximation of Woojin’s way of speaking, Seongwu strikes up conversation with you. “Hey,” he says softly, “have you got a copy of the syllabus? I just shifted into this class.”

“I do,” you say, your tone oddly hopeful. “You don’t know who I am?” You look surprised that he’s talking to you. He imagines you must not be popular; infamous, yes, but you probably didn’t make many friends publishing and promoting your post like that. Your campus is filled with easily identified scrubs who probably didn’t take too kindly to having their beds suddenly empty.

Seongwu cocks his head in a way he knows makes hearts flutter, blinking at you. “No, should I?”

“No, no, not at all!” you say, a grin lighting up your face. “Here, I’ve got it on my phone.” You hand him your phone, and Seongwu makes sure your fingers touch his. He exaggerates his reaction, looking down with a sheepish smile, but he feels his cheeks turn warm. Seongwu shakes his head. It’s been a while, he tells himself, and that’s all it is.

The class starts and he has no chance to return your phone. You’re engrossed in the professor’s explanation—something about the various management frameworks, and Seongwu realizes he’s in over his head here as a communications major—but you glance at him occasionally, worrying your lower lip with your teeth.

Within ten minutes, the class is over, the first day a simple explanation of the syllabus. Seongwu doesn’t need to graduate with Latin honours, but he wants to. This class is beginning to look like an obstacle, and he curses how foolhardy he was with this plot. It spoke volumes about how much you’d shaken up his routine. Still, there was a way for him to kill two birds with one stone.

“Um, thank you for lending me your phone,” he says, scratching at the back of his head. “It’d be great if we could be study buddies?” Seongwu says, letting his hair fall over his forehead just so. “I’m Hong Sungwoon, but my friends call me Ong. They say I’m too much of an old man,” he says, chuckling. This way, you’ll use a name he’ll recognize, but won’t know it’s him.

You’re smiling up at him, then he sees a spark in your eyes. Bullseye. “Maybe I should get your number, Ong-sshi,” you say. “It wouldn’t be hard to study with a cute face like yours beside me.”

Seongwu covers his mouth with his hand. “Gosh,” he says, “I’ve never had anyone be this forward with me before, especially not someone as attractive as you.” Your eyes soften, and Seongwu admits it’s a look that makes him feel warm inside. He almost feels bad about how he’s going to break your heart.

“Then we’ll both be lucky,” you say, handing him your phone. Your fingers linger at his arm, tracing a light pattern on his bicep as Seongwu inputs his number. He ignores the shiver up his spine at your lazy smile, keeping the act up and trembling slightly when he hands your phone back.

Your first study session is in the following week, right before a quantitative quiz Seongwu has no idea how to answer. Hong Sungwoon is a man afraid of crowds, so the two of you study at the roof of the old biology building, a spot you’ve apparently been keeping to yourself since you got to university. It’s conveniently near PD101, so everything works out for Seongwu.

He’s sitting with his side flushed against yours, watching you push up your glasses every few moments while explaining the necessary diagrams to him. When he feels you shiver at the chill, he places an arm around you as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “You shouldn’t be cold,” he says, wide-eyed.

You grin up at him, snuggling closer and leaning your head on his shoulder. The hand with the papers you’re scribbling on falls onto his upper thigh, and when you show how the items flow from one department to another, he feels the pressure of your finger against his skin.

The rest of the session continues like this, with Seongwu finding excuses for innocent touches here and there, with you escalating each one. Your breathing becomes shallow, a cute flush beginning to show on your skin. Seongwu resists the urge to pull you into a kiss, internally reminding himself of the part he has to play. It’s when you’re done explaining the whole lesson, practically sitting in his lap, when you turn to him and place your hand on his chest.

You draw your face close to his and whisper against his mouth. “Ong,” you say, looking into his eyes, “how would you feel about lessons of a different kind?” And Seongwu springs away as if burned, sputtering while trying to hide his laugh at how corny your line had been.

“I couldn’t possibly do that, Y/N-sshi!” he says. “I mean, I’ve never really done that kind of thing before, and I want to save myself for someone special, you know?” But before you can say anything else, he adds, “I would certainly be honoured to take you out on a date, though. You seem swell, and I’d love to get to know you better.”

Seongwu sees you considering it, and for a moment he’s worried you won’t take the bait. “I mean,” he says, pressing his hand into the small of your back, as if he doesn’t feel you shuddering under his touch, “it’s hard for me to control myself when you’re so pretty, but you could be...”His fingers curl up, scratching lightly against your shirt in a way he knows you’ll feel. “…you could be my first.”

He’s got you there, and right after a grueling, fifty-point quiz, he takes you out to a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant. The auntie running the kitchen waves at him when he ushers you in, flashing both of you a big smile. “I’m not the most well-off,” he says, milking your sympathy. As you look around with wide eyes, though, he feels his throat itch with apprehension. In a way, this is an honest side of himself, one no one, especially not his hook-ups, ever get to see.

“I love it,” you say solemnly. He orders for the both of you, and you dig into the home-cooked meals with gusto. Seongwu makes sure to feed you once or twice, ignoring how your tongue slips out to lick the rich sauces off your lips. The whole time, you both talk about how you ended up at the university, Seongwu giving you a sanitized version of his history, omitting how cutthroat he’d been throughout the years while building his virtual empire. He finds out that you’re just as driven as he is, with a mind skilled at data visualization and a minor in publication management.

You insist on splitting the bill, but the auntie surprises you both by telling you the meal is free. “This young man is a regular customer, and I’m happy to see him finally out on a date,” she says, and Seongwu thanks the stars for having her back up the alibi he’s given.

He walks you home, and at your doorstep, you give him a kiss that tastes like auntie’s best tteokbokki, and Seongwu deepens the kiss for a moment before remembering the long-term plan. You’re breathing hard when he pulls away, your pupils dilated and your grip on his neck tight. “Come in,” you say breathily, your hand moving to stroke at his jaw.

“I-I’m not sure that’s a great idea,” Seongwu says, though every bone in his body—as well as all the blood that rushed south at the feel of your hips against his—disagrees. “I’ll see you in class next week.” He kisses you on the cheek before extracting himself from your grasp.

Numerous dates and study sessions go by, with your hands wandering his body more and more desperately and his famous self-control slowly but surely being eroded by your touch. One night he gives in and you make out on your couch, his grip around your waist tight as you grind against each other. He waits till you come and leaves with a terrible case of blue balls, insisting on being a gentleman all the while. Never mind how dirty his groans are when he jacks off later in the shower, your name on his lips. As he leans his head against the shower stall, his heavy pants fogging up the glass, Seongwu thinks something has to be done.

You’re at one of the smaller study halls, one rarely frequented by students, when Seongwu decides it’s time to enact the final phase of his plan. He ignores the uneasy feeling at the back of his mind, willing himself not to feel anything when you thread your fingers between his. For once, the two of you aren’t caught up studying, and he pulls you to a rarely visited section of the hall, where you crowd him against the bookshelf and pull his lips to your own.

Your lips are puffy and his hair’s a mess when he pulls away, stilling the gentle grind of your hips with one steady hand. “I’m not sure,” he says, putting all the confusion and turmoil he’s feeling into his next words. “I think—I think you’re the one for me, but I don’t know how you feel.”

Seongwu’s set up a hidden camera on the top shelf, ready to record your confession for posting at prime-time. Everything’s in place for him to succeed, but he can’t deny the apprehension he feels. He wants you to confess because it means he wins, that you’re a hypocrite who doesn’t walk your talk. But part of him wants you to confess because he wants to know how you’ve felt about these last three months you’ve spent together.

You sigh once. Seongwu holds his breath. “I’m in love with you. I wrote an article decrying love and its associated pains, but it all feels like a lifetime ago. You’ve made me so happy these past three months. It was impossible for me not to fall for you.” And Seongwu smiles, having won both your heart and the competition you hadn’t even known about.

“That is, if I hadn’t fallen for you already, Ong Seongwu.”

You stand on your tiptoes and reach for the camera, switching it off. Seongwu’s jaw hangs open, and while he’s staring at you wordlessly, you begin to speak. “A year ago, an impressionable junior applied for the features editor opening at PRODUCE magazine. I needed some experience for minor credits, and yours was one of the most-talked-about and better-run among the accessible publications. I was starstruck by you then, so smooth and suave and skilled. You knew precisely what you wanted and how to get it.

“I told myself that I wouldn’t sleep with you, even as your flirting got more intense. It’s easy enough to fall in lust with you, Seongwu, but the sides you showed during the magazine’s times of trouble, the rare moments you bared your heart—in the end, I fell hard. You took me to bed during the Christmas party and never talked to me again.”

Seongwu’s brows furrow. “So you wanted revenge by getting me to date you?”

“No, you silly boy,” you say, reaching out to touch Seongwu’s face. “I just wanted you to like me. I knew it’d be irresistible to you, the idea of making someone crack, to the point that you’d let down your cool exterior and be the you no one else gets to see.”

He’s floored. There it is, that feeling again, of being bested by someone else—the same someone, no less—but it’s overshadowed by the realization that everything you’re saying is true. Maybe he hasn’t fallen in love with you just yet, but he’s certainly getting there. Ironically enough, words aren’t always easy for him, and he hasn’t verbalized the meaning behind his enthusiasm as he checks for your messages in the morning; the energy he feels after laughing in class with you; the tenderness of your interlinked arms as he walks you home.

“I do like you,” he says, “more than I knew. More than I should. But we can be happy now, can’t we? I’ll release this cover story, we’ll go on dates for real, I’ll ask you to go steady, and we’ll live a good life, or whatever it is always comes at the end of romantic comedies.”

You look troubled for the first time, and Seongwu feels the seed of worry grow. “I can’t. So many people here on campus are better off because of me. No more awful ghosting, no more one-night stands that they expected more from, and no more silly attachments.” You shrug before pulling him close. “I’ll miss you.”

Taking the camera with you, you smile sadly, giving Seongwu one last chaste kiss. “I guess I’m a down-with-love kid, after all.”

#wanna one #ong seongwoo #ong seongwoo imagines #wanna one imagines #wanna one scenarios #para fic #mine #seongwu #seongwu fic #s: down with love #w1 #mywriting

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the-chameleon-art · 6 years

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Happy holidays, my dear @forever-is-my-promise-to-you. Here’s my @dwsecretsanta present for you! I hope you like it <3

Ao3

The Last Week of School

Monday, 7:27 AM

That morning the staff room of Coal Hill School was so quiet you could hear a needle drop. Most of the teachers hadn’t arrived yet and the rest was peacefully getting the last minutes of sleep before the day started.

The loud bang of a bag hitting the table top didn’t even make some of them stir.

„Rose, dear, what have you got in there? Bricks?“ Jack peered intrigued at the bag trying to deduct its content. „Well, it definitely feels like it,“ Rose replied a little bit out of breath. „No, these are just a few holiday presents.“

„Presents? Oh Rosie, you shouldn’t have,“ Jack went to grab the bag only to have Rose snatch it back. „For everybody,“ Rose simply added as if Jack hadn’t even said something in the first place. „That’s good, seeing that I’m proudly part of everybody,“ Jack proclaimed with his signature smile. He seemed very pleased with himself as he held out his hand to receive a gift.

„Wait, does that mean that he’s also getting a present?“ Jack’s smile turned into a devious grin Rose didn’t like one bit. She groaned in response. „Yes. I couldn’t exact not give him one while giving everyone else something,“ With that she handed Jack a small, wrapped package which he practically ripped open the second it touched his palm.

„You know, I really don’t understand how you can’t like him. I mean have you seen his hair? Gorgeous. He’s a big, walking flirt. Everyone loves him. He always travels around the world during holiday breaks, did you know that? Always to places where people need help. I heard he once lead a caravan of camels loaded with litres of water to desolated villages in desperate need for it,“ Jack nibbled at the chocolate he’d found in the package.

Rose just shrugged „He’s infuriating. Everybody’s blue-eyed boy. Don’t you remember his first day?“

„Rose, you’re being overdramatic, honey.“ Jack finished his chocolate and went over to his desk. „Don’t forget that the Brig is going to make an announcement for tomorrow’s school excursion before the lessons starts,“ he looked up again and Rose noticed that his focus shifted to something besides her. And that bloody grin returned to his face.

„Hiya, Doc. You know one of these days I’m gonna get you show me what you put into your hair because even though you wear that helmet it still looks like you’ve styled it just a few seconds ago.“ Rose rolled her eyes. „He’s probably been here for hours curling his hair.“

„Ah, Tyler. Didn’t see you there,“ John Smith glanced at the bag still sitting on the table. „What’s this? You packing your stuff? Has a miracle happened?“

„Don’t worry, Smith. If I would leave, you’d be the first to know.“ Rose looked into his eyes defiantly. „Oh, I’m counting on that. See you later, Jack,“ Smith moved past them and disappeared into the growing crowd of teachers arriving.

Monday, 7:53 AM

„Also some additionally information; as some out you might know last night some sort of teacher ranking has been posted online. I know I don’t have to remind everybody, but just to make sure everyone’s getting this; Don’t let this interfere with your work ethic. It’s been posted by some students and we’re working to find out who did it. In the meantime just continue as normal. And now we move on to some basics for the school excursion…“ Headmaster Lethbridge-Stewart started talking about safety risks when Rose turned around to face Donna. „What teacher ranking?“ „You haven’t seen it yet? You’re in for a surprise,“ she pulled out her phone and with a few clicks opened a website.

„Here, take a look.“ Rose scrolled through the list of grades until she reached some typical American yearbook questions. Hottest teacher, most likely to, etc. When she finally found her name she had to make a double take. „Most likely to end up together? With John Smith? Are you kidding me?!“ She hissed at Donna. The only response she got back was a big smile.

„Ms Tyler. If you’d be so kind to pay attention seeing that it concerns you too.“ Rose could hear someone snicker near to her and she was pretty sure it was Smith. „Yes, sir,“ she shifted on her chair.

„As I was saying,“ Lethbridge-Stewart continued. „Sadly Mr. Sullivan has called in sick for at least three days which means there have to been made a small rearrangement for tomorrow’s excursion: Ms. Tyler takes over Sullivan’s spot and teams up with Mr. Smith. You two’ll have time to go over the details. That seems to be all for today. Success and please don’t cause any major incidents.“

Slowly the room emptied while Rose continued to glare at the table.

„Well, at least you didn’t really end up with him together.“ Donna tried to cheer her up. Looking up she saw John stare at her from across the room with an unreadable expression. Then he suddenly stood up and walked out of the staff room.

„Can’t change it now. Guess I just have to live with it. It’s going to be one day, right. What harm can it do?“ Rose shrugged and went to grab her sportswear. There were students waiting for her.

Monday, 8:16 AM

„You did this, didn’t you? Well, if you wanted to do something with me so desperately you should have said so.“ Smith leaned against her table. Rose had just given out nearly all of her presents. The only one left was for the person currently watching her like a cat that just ate a canary. „‘Scuse me? Are you implying something?“ She shot him a short glance.

„Not at all. What’s that?“ John pointed at the present she had been holding close to her chest. „Holiday gifts for the staff,“ She replied.

„A little small for the entire staff. Mind that the most important things in life turn out to be incredibly small. Are those Jelly babies?“ He proceeded to grab a handful out of Rose’s bag. With a small jump he almost was off again. „It’s for you.“ Rose simply said, still confused by his change of topic.

„For me?“ Rose shoved it into his hands.

„Don’t look so smug.“ She turned around quickly and left.

„Thank you, Rose,“ John said quietly to an empty space.

Monday, 3:41 PM

„Smith, we have to make plans.“

John looked up from his papers. „Look, if we’re going to make this work you might as well start calling me Doctor like everybody else,“ Rose just looked at him annoyed. „I’m being serious. Seeing that Sullivan and you already discussed the basics helps a bit but like the Brig said, we still need to talk about specifics. Like what we’re gonna do if students injure themselves?“

„Rose, we’re going to an art gallery. They might get dizzy because of an Escher or they’re legs turn jelly from looking at a Dali but they’re not going to get deadly injuries. Relax.“ He said it with so much confidence Rose almost felt at ease. John started to work on his papers again „Now, do you know if this is supposed to be a lambda or an h? And like I said, The Doctor will do.“

„Isn’t that name a bit pretentious?“

„P-pretentious?“ Ah, that got his attention. „I’ll have you know, Ms. Tyler, I worked very hard to get that title. I think. It’s all a bit hazy actually. I have to ask Romana about that. Which reminds me of a funny story which happened to me off the coast of Java.“ And there it was gone again. As John continued to talk about how he and a few rebels once boarded a ship in the Indian Ocean to save a small island Rose sighed. This was going to end badly.

Tuesday, 2:39 PM

It had in fact ended badly. Not as dramatic as Rose had thought but close.

„Oh, come on, Rose. I couldn’t have done anything about the art gallery paying thousands for a fake. So technically it’s not my fault.“ Smith tried to talk to her.

„Not your fault? Smith, you still managed to get us into a holding cell. Did you have to call the curator a moron for not noticing?“ Rose retorted. „Let’s be honest, it really was very obvious.“ John shot back.

„And can you explain to me why you had to try to prove it was fake by tearing the painting? I don’t even want to start about what you said to the police officer in front of the students.“ She let her head fall against the wall. „You always manage to get others into trouble for things you did. I can’t understand how everyone seems to trust you so quickly. Do you’re always wrap them around your little fingers with your charms and looks. Like seriously, do you sleep with curlers? What’s up with your hair, Smith?“

„Doctor“ John interjected.

„What?“ Rose snapped.

„Doctor,“ Smith repeated. „Could you please call me Doctor instead of Smith?“

„Why? I think you’re full of yourself when you call yourself that.“ She kicked a pebble across the room.

„I never liked it. Smith. Always felt wrong. Also I think we’re passed the phase of addressing ourselves with surnames.“ Rose stayed silent after that.

„Why do you hate me, Rose?“ The Doctor asked out off the blue.

Rose looked into his eyes and noticed for the first time how bright they were. „I don’t really think I hate you. To be honest, I don’t even remember what started us fighting half of the time. It just kind of happened.“

„Do you think, that maybe we could start over? We could go on one of my adventures,“ His eyes sparked hopefully.

Rose thought it over for a second. „Tell you what, when you get us out of this cell I’ll consider it.“

„Nothing simpler than that.“ The Doctor jumped up and went over to the door.

Rose blinked. „Why didn’t you do that from the start then?“ She shouted after him.

Friday, 3:24 PM

The rest of the week proceeded like nothing had ever happened. The rumors that something indecent happened in that holding cell circulated in the school so much that even fellow teacher started to speculate as well. Rose just tried to ignore it. Donna had been on her back for days and Jack simply gave a knowing grin.

She hadn’t talked to The Doctor. The last time she’d seen him was when Lethbridge-Stewart reprimanded them for the scene they made in the art gallery. „I hope he didn’t get fired,“ She had told Jack and could have kicked herself at the exact moment those words left her mouth. ‘Yes,‘ she admitted to herself. ‘You started to care about him.‘

„I hope you got all that down. I know it’s the last day of school before the Christmas holidays start but I can assure you that this is going to be important for the exam,“ The school bell rang and Rose started to clear the blackboard. „Happy holidays!“

Some girls started to giggle as they passed her on the way outside and Rose turned to the door. There he was. The Doctor stood there dressed completely in motorcycle gear.

„Hey,“ He smiled. Rose smiled back. „Where have you been?“ She stepped closer and studied his face. „And what have you done to your hair?“ He had cut it. It was shorter and less curly. „I had to make some preparations. Don’t you like the hair? I needed it shorter for the holiday break,“ His smile widened. „Rose Tyler, how do feel about a little adventure?“

Rose looked at him incredulous. „I-I need to pack.“

„That’s a yes, then?“ He chuckled. Rose agreed. „Yeah, let’s do it.“

The Doctor grabbed her hand and pulled her along.

„We’ll take the Tardis. That’s my motorcycle. Trusty old thing. Never let me down. Funny story how I got her actually. It all started in a little junkyard actually not that far from here….“

The End

#doctor who #dwsecretsanta #doctor x rose #forever-is-my-promise-to-you #eighth doctor #rose tyler #fanfic #My writing

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nancydsmithus · 5 years

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The W3C At Twenty-Five

Rachel Andrew

2019-10-11T12:30:00+02:002019-10-11T10:54:40+00:00

Last week, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) celebrated its 25th anniversary and invited folks to share why the open web platform matters to them via the hashtag #WebStories. As I’m both a member of the CSS Working Group at W3C and the representative for Fronteers, I think it’s a good time to explain a bit more about the role of the W3C in the work that we all do.

What Exactly Is The W3C?

On the W3C website, the About page describes the W3C as:

"... an international community where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. Led by Web inventor and Director Tim Berners-Lee and CEO Jeffrey Jaffe, W3C’s mission is to lead the Web to its full potential."

There are links on that page to details of the mission and vision of the W3C, however, the key motivation of the organization is to ensure that the web is for everybody — and on everything.

Access to the web should not be limited by who you are, where you are, or the device you are using.

“

Who Are The Member Organizations?

A W3C Member is an organization who pays a membership fee to be part of the W3C. At the time of writing, there are 449 members, and you can see the full list here. If you read through this list, you will find that the majority of members are very large companies. Some are names that we as web developers readily recognize: browser vendors such as Google and Mozilla, large internet companies such as Airbnb and Facebook. However, there are members from many different industries. The web touches pretty much every area of life and business, and there are companies doing interesting things in the space that we might not think of as web companies. For example, people working in traditional publishing (a lot of books are formatted using web technologies) and the automotive industry.

What all the members have in common is that the web impacts the work that they do, and they are keen to have a say in the direction things move, and even to play a part in creating and specifying web technologies.

I represent Fronteers (the Dutch organization of web developers) in the W3C. This year, Fronteers took the unusual* step of becoming a W3C Member Organization.

* “Unusual” because they are a voluntary organization representing web developers, rather than a big company representing the interests of a big company.

The Advisory Committee (AC)

Member organizations take part in the business of the W3C by having a vote on various matters. This is organized by the organization’s AC representative whose job it is to ferry information from the W3C to the organization, and also bring the point of view of the organization to relevant topics being discussed at the W3C.

I’m the rep for Fronteers and so I attend two AC meetings a year — and get a lot of emails! On voting matters, I have to find out from Fronteers how they want to vote and then cast the Fronteers vote. In the last year, one important voting matter was the election of Advisory Board (AB) members; Fronteers held an internal vote, and I took the results back to make the official vote at the W3C.

W3C Groups

Most web developers are probably more aware of the W3C working groups than the rest of the organization, as it is through these groups that most of the work we care about goes on. Any member organization can opt people from their organization onto a working group. In addition, the groups may invite certain people (known as Invited Experts) to participate in that group. I was an Invited Expert on the CSS Working Group, and now am part of the group as the representative for Fronteers. In practical terms, my interaction with the CSS Working Group remains the same, however, I now have a role to play in the W3C as a whole as the W3C rep for Fronteers.

There are a large number of working groups, covering a whole range of technologies. These groups typically work on some kind of deliverable, such as the specifications produced by the CSS Working Group. There are also a number of Interest Groups, which allow for the exchange of ideas around particular topics which may also fall partly into the remit of some of the working groups.

The above groups require a significant time commitment and either a W3C membership or Invited Expert status, however, there are a number of Community and Business Groups that are open to any interested person and do not impose a particular time commitment. The Web Platform Incubator Community Group is one such group and has a Discourse forum for the discussion of new web features, and also various proposals on GitHub. Many of these features ultimately become CSS or other language specifications and therefore part of the platform.

Getting Involved And Following Along

In addition to joining a community group, it is worth noting that anyone can become involved in the work of the W3C, i.e. you don’t need to be an Invited Expert, part of a member organization, or have any special qualifications. For example, if you want to know what is happening at the CSS Working Group, you can take a look at our Issues on GitHub. Anyone can comment on these issues to offer new use cases for a feature and can even raise an issue for a feature they feel should be part of a CSS specification.

As with most W3C groups, the CSS WG uses IRC to minute meetings; any discussion on an issue will be posted back to the issue afterward so anyone who is interested can follow along.

An example of a message that was auto-generated regarding an issue that had been discussed in a meeting.

If you are keen to know what the wider W3C is doing, then the strategic highlights document is a good place to look. The latest document was produced in September, and exposes some of the key work recently achieved by W3C groups. Scrolling through that document demonstrates the wide range of activities that the W3C is involved with. It is so important for the web community to engage with standards, as we’ve already seen examples in the past of what happens when vendors control the direction of the web.

This history is explained beautifully by Amy Dickens in her post, “Web Standards: The What, The Why, And The How”:

"Without the Web Standards community, browser makers would be the ones making decisions on what should and shouldn’t be features of the world wide web. This could lead to the web becoming a monopolized commodity, where only the largest players would have a say in what the future holds."

My #WebStory

Why does all of this matter to me? One of the reasons I care so much about the web platform remaining open and accessible to new people who want to publish on and build things for the web is because of the route I took to get here.

As mentioned earlier, the W3C is celebrating their anniversary by inviting people to share stories of how they became involved in the web.* In that spirit (and perhaps to encourage Smashing readers to share their stories), here is mine.

* So many folks have already shared their journey on the W3C Blog of how they were first amazed by the web and continue to be in awe of its potential. Join in and share your story!

I had never intended to work with computers. I intended to become a dancer and singer, and I left school at 16 to go to dance college. My father is a programmer, however, so we were fairly unusual at the time as we had a computer in the house by 1985 when I was 10.

As a child, I liked typing in the code of “choose your own adventure” games, which appeared in books and magazines. I liked spotting the strings of text which would then show up in the game I would later play (usually, once my dad had fixed it up) on our Amstrad CPC464. I liked to visit the computer lab at Newcastle University, see the huge computers, and talk to the women who worked on them. Perhaps most importantly (and despite my arty interests), I never grew up thinking I couldn’t use computers. I just wasn’t especially interested.

The books I copied games out of as a child.

At school, I learned to type on an electronic typewriter, and the only computer in evidence was in the art room that was used for basic drawing applications. As we did have computers at home, I had used them for schoolwork, despite some teachers not being happy about printed essays.

I ultimately left dance and went backstage, working in the West-End of London. Moving lights, automated sets, and show control systems were about to make huge changes to an industry that had seen little change in years. We were seeing the beginnings of that change when I was in the West End; I remember laughing with the crew as we heard news about some show with a “fancy computer system” which had lots of problems that our traditional production didn’t have. None of us could have imagined the changes that were coming.

Then I became pregnant with my daughter and had to leave the theatre. I was good at crewing and loved the theatre, but it was heavy and sometimes dangerous work with unsociable hours — not really a job for someone with a baby. I didn’t know what I would do, but I could type so I thought that perhaps I could type up essays for people. I was upsold to a computer — having gone into PC World looking for a wordprocessor. It was a Packard Bell 486 with a built-in 640×480 screen — a terrible machine that would allow me to either get the sound card working or the modem, but not both at once. I chose the modem and this is where my web story really begins. Even getting this modem working and getting the computer onto the Internet was something of a challenge and, once I did, I went looking for information about… babies.

I didn’t know anything about babies. All my friends were men who worked backstage in theatre. I had no support network, no family around me to help, and so I logged onto ParentsPlace and found people who didn’t mind my questions and were happy to help. At the time, there obviously was no Facebook. This meant that if you wanted to share photos and stories, you built a website. So among the forums about childbirth and toddler tantrums, there were people teaching each other HTML and sharing sets of graphics along with the code to place them. It was like typing out those “choose your own adventure” books again. I was amazed that I didn’t need anyone to fix my code — it just worked!

Pulled out from the Internet Archive, this was a website named ‘ParentsPlace’ that existed around the time I was pregnant with my daughter. archive.org link

Before long, people would pay me to build them a website, and I felt that I should repay at least in some way for all of the questions I had asked. So, I started to answer questions in the forums. That was how it seemed to work. People would learn and move one step up the ladder, the new people would come in with the same questions and the people a step ahead would answer — all the while asking their own questions of those further along. I loved this. I could never have afforded lessons, but I had time. I could help others, and in return, people helped me. I discovered through this that I was quite good at explaining technical things in a straightforward way — an ability I have always accredited to the fact that I struggled to learn these new things myself. It was never easy. I was willing to spend the time, however, and found it interesting.

With my daughter on my knee, I started to teach myself Perl because I didn’t like any of the off-the-shelf guestbooks and wanted to write my own. I installed Linux on a second-hand Compaq, and learned the basics of systems administration, how to compile Apache, wrapped my head round file permissions, and so by the time my daughter was three years old, I got a job heading up a technical team in a property “dot com” company.

I became interested in web standards essentially because it made no sense to me that we would have to build the same website twice — in order that it would work in both browsers. At the time, Dreamweaver was the tool of choice for many web developers, as it made dealing with the mess of nested tables we had to battle with much easier. So, influenced by the work of The Web Standards Project, I (along with my then-boyfriend, now-husband Drew McLellan) began sharing tips and Dreamweaver extensions with the Dreamweaver Usenet group, while all along explaining why web standards were important and showing how to make Dreamweaver support standards.

My bio on the WaSP site in 2002 — there wasn’t much to say! (archive.org link)

Ultimately, we both ended up on the Macromedia Beta, helping to make Dreamweaver itself more standards-compliant. We were also invited to join the Web Standards Project — specifically to be part of the Dreamweaver Task Force. I couldn’t believe that Jeffrey Zeldman emailed me, asking me to join WaSP! These were the people I looked up to and had learned so much from. The fact that they wanted me to be part of the organization was amazing and gave me so much confidence to continue with the work I was already doing.

That involvement became the bedrock of my career; I realized that my ability to explain technical things could help other web developers learn these new technologies and understand the need for standards. I also discovered that being able to explain things clearly was useful in raising bug reports, and writing up use cases for new software features (in browsers or tools such as Dreamweaver). Two decades after discovering web standards, I am still doing this work. It continues to interest me, and I think it is more important than ever.

The open nature of the web, the relative simplicity of the technologies, and the helpful, sharing attitude of the community is why I am here at all. One of the biggest reasons why I have stayed after all these years is because of Web standards and the continued fight for the open web. That’s why I think that the W3C and the standards process is vitally important, and why I think it so important that web developers get involved in the process, too.

I want to help ensure that the voice of the web developer working on small projects is heard, and that the direction of the web isn’t dictated by a few giant companies. The web is where we have made our careers, and often even our social lives; it is the way that we communicate with each other. I want it to stay a place where I want to be. I want it to remain open enough that the next person without a technical background can pitch up and start publishing and creating, and find it a place they want to establish a career, too.

What’s Your Web Story?

Whether you have been working on the web for over 20 years or only one, please share your stories on the W3C blog, on your own site, or perhaps write up something in the comments section here below. I’d love to hear your journey!

(il)

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statemant · 6 years

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AN ODE TO GEORGIA - VETEMENTS SS 2019

JULY 1, TBILISI, 7:11 PM – I’m sitting in my kitchen with two of my friends and sipping final gulps of homemade iced coffee to bite with incredibly hot weather outside and scrolling my Instagram.

I know that VETEMENTS show is about to start, almost everyone who I follow has live tuned on and the show starts. The quality of the live stream was not perfect but I could spot long narrow table, where models started walking and guests were “served” with the latest VETEMENTS outfits while sitting around it. With each new VETEMETNS show announcement, I always think what’s gonna be the next offering from Gvasalia brother, since we all know how they’ve revolutionized and “disrupted” the industry and their unusual runways is one of the biggest part of the brands’ entire aesthetic. It was the same here, I was intrigued to see just for the sake of interest. When first three looks appeared, music started and models were walking with usual VETEMENTES-que “rush”, I thought, well, ok. But then I’ve screamed, shouted (my friends looking scared at me) and had goosebumps all over, since fourth look featured a hoodie saying “ტანსაცმელი”, which means “clothes” (or “VETEMENTS”) in Georgian! None the less! Then another one saying “გაზაფხული/ზაფხული” (that translates as “Spring/Summer”), then “უფალო შეგვიწყალენ” (meaning “god bless us”) and finally the Georgian flag printed anorak jacket..

I wanted to cry, for various reasons:

First – finally, it was the collection I was waiting since the appearance of VETEMENTS in fashion scene and I was absolutely sure it would happen once! Second - it felt so emotional to see someone pay tribute for my (and his) native country. And the 3rd that I’m an asshole and did not stay for few more days to attend such a historical and monumental show! Cause I was in Paris days before the show but could not stay for additional 3 days (I could manage to attend the show), because I spent all my money at shopping (mostly on VETEMENTS actually!) and did not spare more for 10 minute event, which I regret now VERY VERY VERY much!

It might be hard for someone, non-Georgian, to share same excitement as I have for this particular collection, but it’s definitely a moment which made even most non-fashion-related Georgians interested and very proud. It quickly became a major news for local tv and online media. As more facts became clear, it felt even more special for all of us – appears majority of the models were just regular Georgian boys and girls, selected by VETEMENTS casting directors right here, in the streets of Tbilisi. Collection featured some fresh “ugly” sneakers, signature dad shoes and combat boots,

various tailored pieces (my favorite VETEMENTS category),

some white hand-painted “graduation” shirts (which were actually painted in Tbilisi by locals, in various night clubs),

opening model wore a nude shirt covered with the types of tattoos Georgian prisoners would get to flaunt their mob ties,

there was a signature Alpha Industries bomber with a message - “We dance together, we fight together” - dedicated to the police raids held few weeks before the show in most famous local night clubs here “BASSIANI” and “CAFE GALLERY” and a massive two-day rave at the center of the city with the same slogan as above.

Leather jackets and suits were finished with zip up hoodies, masks, covering the faces of the models (as a symbol of unknown or no identities),

target prints symbolized the bullets that were once aimed at Georgia.

Georgian flag was seen in various colorways, including one in a rainbow - more or less provocative for local standards.

Besides the floral dresses (already a strong brand signature), we have seen a fabulous wedding gown at the finale of the show (worn with some classic white pumps, while some other variations featured a upside down Eiffel tower as heel)

and one off special maxi skirt, painted by Demna himself, and will retail for around 15 000 EUR (pictured below).

Finale of the show has brought highest emotions: it featured modernized version of Georgian national dance music and with all the Georgian models walking on this imaginary “wedding table” wearing Georgian alphabet features on that music, in Paris, on the center of fashion’s most important players, was just…terrific!

WATCH THE FULL SHOW

In a post-show interviews, VETEMETNS creative director Demna Gvasalia said: “I went back to my past in Georgia to face my fears and painful moments…like post Civil war and everything there in the ’90s, and I made the most personal kind of fashion proposition out of that. My house was bombed and it was destroyed. My grandmother, for one week, she didn’t have memory. These are all the things that influenced me, experiencing that when I was a child. I feel everybody today talks about war, refugees (and the show was held on 19th Arrondisement of Paris, which is now surrounded by refugees). And I am like, yes, I know exactly what that means. It's weird. This is about my life, but also it's about everything you see on CNN, as well," said the designer.

Here’s what’s behind the story: Sukhumi (Demna’s and his family’s hometown, capital of Abkhazia region, now occupied by Russia, for more than 25 years) was one of the epicenters of the Georgian Civil War at the beginning of 90’s. A strong ethnical conflicts have resulted into 30,000 killed humans and around 250 000 refugees – including Gvasalia and his family (here’s full story behind the Civil War). Also, here you can listen an exclusive rare radio interview with Demna via Radio Tavisupleba.

For me (and my entire nation), as a Georgian (even if I was just 1 or 2 years old during that Civil war), it’s very important to spread the message to the world what was our past and how we have come to the present times, what my parents and grandparents generation had to overcome to make Georgia a safe place to live. Demna has went through his entire youth traumas and came out with the most sensational VETEMENTS collection to date.

Besides all the Georgia-inspired pieces (which were mostly VETEMENTS classic fits, hoodies, oversized silhouettes and deconstructed denim) there were Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish (also a homage to Demna’s mother heritage) and US flag anoraks featured. These are countries that mostly influenced and affected Georgia (and Demna himself in various aspects) over the years, especially after 90s’ post-soviet era. Featuring Russian flag has actually generated mixed emotions between locals in Georgia (as I mentioned it became a major discussion topic in social media for a few days) with some mentioning that it kinda ruined entire thing and putting a huge flag of the country who has 20% of Georgia occupied (and continues to grow this share) was unnecessary and it at least should feature some protest slogans. I think (and majority) it actually felt absolutely right and genius to put a Russian flag on this specific collection, since if you want to tell us about the history of Georgia, it’s just impossible to miss Russian Federation and all its activities against us.

As for the cast, those 40 people, that Demna and VETEMENTS guys brought from Georgia, he said: “They represent for me what I represented when I came to Europe years ago - that certain naivety and voice they don’t think they have in their country”. I’ve asked some of the guys after they got back to Tbilisi (cause they are all friends of friends), what did they feel about the entire thing, some of them had just same feelings as me, some mentioned that they still didn’t filter in their mind how and what happened to them, since for majority it was not only first runway show ever, but first touch to the fashion industry, overall. But all of them were proud that they now became kinda part of the history.

It was a 10th collection of VETEMENTS, it will be hard to name brands that gained such an incredible success in such a short time and had influenced not only young but many of the well-established labels. Demna is a so-called “Margiela kid” himself (and that sensational Margiela exhibition at Palais Galliera in Paris is a proof of that) and he even mentioned how he got back to his design roots with its previous collection, entitled “The Elephant in the Room” (FALL-WINTER 2018, see here) where he has fully exploded what he does the best (some of the buyers and editors mentioned with me that label was kind of “back on track” with that collection, after not so-satisfying SS 2018, which was just re-edition collection, see my visit to the presentation here). And this latest “Georgia” collection was a continuation of his growing personal approach to the clothes: “It’s a very different way of working for me because I always did shows that were just about clothes…nothing else really mattered for me. But I think I’ve changed and probably my approach to fashion also changed. My interests changed. I realized that I need some storytelling next to making just clothes. Last season, it was going back to understand my creative roots. That’s why there was an elephant in the room, the whole Margiela, questioning creativity. This season I went back to my actual roots, which is this country that is troubled and that really shaped me creatively and also who I am.” – Demna said.

As VETEMENTS CEO Guram Gvasalia mentioned, they have sold more of this collection than any other recent ones (and even Demna told that once he made his personal order of the collection, he found it was biggest to date), which is very interesting for me, since it means that spreading the message (and not just selling a garment) is a cruicial part. Me and my natives have already been shocked or made fun of fashionistas from around the world wearing our grandparent’s wardrobe inspired clothes (that can be also found at second hand markets for 500 times cheaper than VETEMENTS), oversized outwear (that our parents were buying in bigger sizes, on purpose, to last for few years, while we would grow in height and weight) and table cloth print shoes, but I actually can not wait to see entire world wearing this particular collection pieces and I’m sure I can read a lot in Georgian during my next fashion week visits on everyone’s chests or shoulders.

One more note (just in case), I have met Guram year ago in Paris during their SS 2018 presentation and mentioned how popular they were in Georgia (I mean, they are! They have crazy fan pages and dedicated TV shows). Demna must be one of the most famous Georgians ever (on the international scale) and the fact of him not being heterosexual (and Georgia is known for its homophobic issues) does not affect the pride that most of the locals have (because of him)! After the latest show, I’m sure their fandom will double and the respect will move to another level, cause he is the man who could manage to tell the history of the country to the world, just in 10 minutes, without even a single word! Below, you can see the guy wearing custom-made cap, outside VETEMENTS SS 18 show, campaigning for Gvasalia as President and I think it never made more sense than it does now, after the show. And btw, that guy is actually ME!

And here’s me again, with my version of VETEMENTS definition, that I made 2 years before the show to show everyone the native heritage of the brand and “translate” the word for them, during the fashion week.

#STATEMANT #OBSESSIONS #PERCEPTIONS #VETEMENTS #DEMNA GVASALIA #GURAM GVASALIA #PFW #PFWM #SS 19 #SS 2019 #GEORGIA

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technifliers · 4 years

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15 ways to get your brand ranked among the top in 2019

If you’re hoping for your brand to reach top rankings on all of the search engines, you need to start taking proactive measures. SEO- Search engine optimization should be on your priority. You can’t generate leads for your brand if people don’t know about you. You need to be available easily on all major search channels.

More than 93% of your business starts from search engines on the internet. And unless your brand is being featured in the top 33% of the results, chances are you are close to unknown on the world wide web. And if you’re not on the ruling top searches of Google. We have sad news for you. You are not reaching your customers. You have missed one-fourth of your potential business, and over 80% of the people won’t even click on a website that is showing on the second of Google. Leave alone those that feature on the third page and so forth.

However, it is not too late for you to change that. It can be reversed anytime as long as you take proper care. It’s never too late for you to start. SEO at the right time can turn your workaround.

We have identified and listed down 15 ways for you to get your brand featured not only on the best search engines on the highest ranks but also to get a reliable recognition on various social media channels.

1. Make top-notch content

How often do you upload content on your website? If you haven’t touched it since the day you launched it, then you need to rethink. Your SEO is probably sinking and close to non-existent. To drive more traffic on your website, you need to increase its popularity, and for that, you need to ensure people keep visiting your site regularly. Other than SEO, your content needs to be top-notch and extremely SEO friendly.

Therefore you need to work massively on producing top-quality content that is SEO friendly.

2. Make the brand readily available on phone

If your brand is not readily accessible on the internet, then it will hardly grow. Therefore, you need to make sure your business is open on the top rankings of search engines. And for this, you need to have a website or a page that is easily accessible on the phone. Most of the people browse websites through phones. Having a seamless website with a fast website will increase the duration of your visitor’s stay. If they find the site is easy to scroll and use, they will revisit it.

Hence, you need to ensure your website is mobile-friendly. You can even launch your mobile app to makes it more customized and direct.

3. Use the right keywords

SEO SEO SEO! As evident, you need to find the right keywords that are also highly trendy and need to insert and customize them in your SEO marketing plan to ensure your website keeps on the popular searches.

4.Collaborate with other brands

Nothing brings more traffic than a collaborative PR. Transferring the traffic of one brand to yours is an instrumental and time old marketing technique. You can partner with brands, and participate in their events, campaigns, offer their customers discounts to get your brand noticed. This will not only bring light to your brand but will also shed light on theirs and could open a window of opportunities for both of you.

5.Market ‘Worthy’ campaigns

All startups have a limited budget, and therefore you need to be extremely vigilant about what you spend on your capital one. Spending on fickle and short-term campaigns may not be a great idea. Therefore, outline your campaign and make sure you spend your marketing budget on your best campaign. It could be your brand’s cash cow.

6. Get .com domain

87% of the top-ranking brands, websites have .com in their website’s URL. You don’t necessarily have to use your brand’s keywords in the domain name. Having a .com URL is more important as people tend to go for websites with more old school URL addresses.

7. Get some attention (press)

If you manually build links, it will not take you months but years to get good rankings from authentic sites. However, if you launch your website and promote them on recognized forums, your page will get coverage within just a few weeks.

Missing links from authority websites could slow down your website’s growth if your website is featured on other recognized, authentic, and high-reach websites. Your game could change overnight. Think of a meme going vial or a cover music video breaking across social media. Similarly, your site could also get the kind of recognition you think it needs.

8. Get featured on websites

Websites like podcast space could be an excellent forum to get your site featured on. The power of the press is dynamic, and with the help of the correct forum, your brand could become a sensation overnight. So, if you’re looking for PR, a simple way to get that is to get a PR agency who has a performance base model. These agencies will allow you to pay only when you have the results you need.

9. Get your brand interviewed

Another effective way to generate links is through interviews. Whenever you get interviewed, and the link to your website is posted. Your website’s visitor traffic will increase massively. People will be curious about your company, and they will be interested to know more about your brand and services and, therefore, will visit your website for sure.

Get yourself a well-directed and practiced interview and share the links on all significant forums to increase its reach.

10. Encourage social media sharing

Your brand needs to be exceptionally well promoted on social media. It’s common knowledge. What you don’t know is that promoting it on social media will also get you good SEO rankings. People sharing links of your website, page on their accounts on social media will increase the reach of your brand.

11. Use more than just text

The content on your website should be more than words. Pictures, videos, gifs, illustrations, infographics can all be used as content and make your text stronger and more appealing to read.

You can also add slideshows to your website, and all of this will increase the user experience.

12. Add Video Content

You can add attractive, fun informative and a bit humorous videos on your website and social media pages to engage your clients informally. Everybody loves interactive video. They also get shared more than regular content and if you could pull some strings and add a famous personality on your videos. It could give your brand a high mileage.

13. bloggers and other brands

Associating your brand with other known figures and authentic brands will build a trustworthy image within your potential clients. It’s hard to accept services and products from a brand-new brand which virtually known. However, associating the brand by featuring the right people could gain you, your potential audience’s trust quickly. Therefore, you can always tag and collaborate with other known brands or well-followed bloggers on youtube, facebook, and Instagram.

14. Market it on the right places

You need to figure the right platforms and websites for your page to be featured on. Slowly share and market your brand there. Certain websites have a substantial daily traffic. Getting your brand featured could shed massive highlight on your brand.

15. Be patient

Nothing happens overnight. You need to be patient but persistence with your brand. Start with building high SEO links that get

#branding #bloggers #Seo #link building

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stripedigital · 5 years

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How to Create a Content Marketing Calendar Your Followers Will Love

If you’re not using a content marketing calendar, you’re probably using an inefficient marketing strategy – if you even have a strategy at all. In this article, we will tell you how to create a content marketing calendar your audience will love, no matter what industry you’re in. After all, what they say is true: content is king!

Let’s start with the basics.

What exactly is a content marketing calendar?

A content marketing calendar is a tool to help you plan and execute your content marketing strategy in an efficient and timely manner. It is a calendar-based plan for your content that provides you a view of how your content will be laid out over a specified course of time. Think of it as a guide for what content you want to publish and in what order.

Content, of course, includes anything from articles on your company website to social media posts. Whether you have a company blog or even just a relatively active social media presence, a quality content marketing calendar can help you get organized and generate results in your content marketing strategy.

Now that we have definitions squared away…

Why do you need a content marketing calendar?

Content marketing simply is not something you can take care of on an as-you-go basis. It’s best to organize your content in the form of a calendar rather than a disorganized to-do list. This helps you visualize when exactly certain content will be published and in what order. Using a calendar format also allows you to easily plan content around major holidays and on a consistent, timely basis. It helps you make sure everything is actually being published on time and in the proper order. Plus, arranging your content on a consistent calendar format makes previously posted content easier to track and re-purpose if need be.

Picture this: you own a pet store. it’s August 26th. Just another day, right? Maybe you’ll make a cute Instagram post about some guinea pigs you have on sale. Or maybe you’ll publish a blog post on your website teaching users how to take care of a goldfish.

You start scrolling down your own Instagram newsfeed only to see all your friends sharing photos of their dogs with the hashtag #NationalDogDay. Uh-oh! National Dog Day may not be a “real” holiday, and it may not be important to most people (unless you’re a dedicated dog owner, of course). However, as a pet store owner, you’ve now missed out on an amazing marketing opportunity.

As your well-meaning fish care tips get drowned out by a sea of puppy pictures, you may find yourself wishing you had planned ahead. Now you have to scramble to create some canine content while your competitors are already racking up the retweets. This stressful situation could have been avoided if you or your agency had planned a content calendar in advance based around industry-specific holidays. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands, of fun holidays that are practically invented for social media. National Chocolate Day anybody?

Not only are pre-planned content calendars great for making sure you have quality content published on major holidays, they also help you make the most of events like new product launches or website redesigns.

Furthermore, a well-planned content marketing calendar will help you avoid spamming your audience with too much of one type of content. You may not have noticed you posted three blogs on how to secure a car loan in a row, but your loyal followers sure will, and it might tempt them to unsubscribe. By planning your content on an organized calendar, you can see everything at once before it gets published to ensure you aren’t missing anything important and have diversified your content themes to keep things interesting.

You should have content calendars for your blog posts, emails, social media posts, and any other type of media you are publishing on a consistent basis. Keeping separate but related calendars for each type of marketing allows you to link all your content and keep consistent themes across all media. This will make cross-promotion a breeze!

So now that you understand what a content marketing calendar is and why you need it, let’s keep diving.

How far in advance should you be planning your content?

In the world of content marketing, the longer you plan ahead the better. Generally speaking, of course. We recommend planning your content one month in advance, that way you can create a full month’s content marketing calendar at a time. Depending on how frequently you publish content, you might want to consider weekly, quarterly, or bi-monthly content calendars instead, but monthly calendars are typically ideal.

If you plan too far ahead, you may have to make adjustments when plans change. Likewise, if you don’t plan far enough ahead of time, you may be scrambling to create quality content in a timely fashion. No one needs that stress! Planning ahead also gives you more time to review content and proofread, proofread, proofread. The last thing you want is to rush through content and end up publishing something with an embarrassing mistake. Trust us, your followers will take notice.

What should your content marketing calendar look like?

Layout is important for the sake of organization. It’s best to use an Excel spreadsheet or Google Sheet to plan your content in. If you have a large team working on content, a dynamic platform like Google Sheets will be the most beneficial for you. A content marketing calendar created on Google Sheets can easily be worked on, edited, and shared across a group of people. They’re great for collaboration!

There are many different ways you can lay out your content marketing calendar depending on the amount of detail you wish to include. Some people prefer to organize their content on a standard calendar so they can see all the content at once. Others prefer a linear view with dates on the far left side and corresponding rows of content.

If you are planning to post the same or similar content across multiple platforms, create separate columns for each platform to include any different variations of the content you will need. Spreadsheets will also allow you to create multiple tabs so you can have one for website content, one for email content, and one for social media content. That way all your content platforms can be organized on one calendar for easy access.

Regardless of how you choose to lay out your content marketing calendar, there are a few steps you should take each time you start a new one. First, you should mark off only the days you actually want to be publishing content. Not everybody needs to post content every single day. Then again, some business owners post fresh content multiple times a day. It all depends on your audience’s demand and the industry you’re in. Aim to keep a consistent content posting schedule, whether it be once a week, three times per week, or every weekday. Consistency is key when it comes to content marketing.

Consistent posting allows you to track patterns more easily. For example, maybe content you post on Mondays gets more readership or social shares than content you post other days of the week. Maybe you get less traction on weekends and should avoid posting content on weekends for future content calendars. If you are not publishing your content on a specific schedule, it can be nearly impossible to accurately track patterns like this.

To find a content publishing frequency that works for you and your business, consider industry standards and available resources. You don’t want to overwhelm your content writers or proofreaders or else you could end up with low-quality content. Remember, when it comes to content marketing, always value quality over quantity.

Once you’ve marked off the days you want your content to be published on, it’s time to mark off any significant holidays or industry events on your calendar. This ensures you don’t miss anything! A well-organized content marketing calendar can save you a lot of time in the long run.

After that, you should mark off the remaining spaces on your calendar with themes you want to touch on. Make sure you alternate between themes so you aren’t posting content on the same theme too frequently. You may also want to include evergreen content, that is, types of content you always post on a consistent basis like a “throwback Thursday” photo or a regularly occurring employee spotlight.

In addition to addressing multiple different themes throughout your content marketing calendar, you should also alternate between different types of content. Not all content has to be in the form of text or text with accompanying images. Play around with videos, gifs, and even infographics!

On the subject of keeping your content diverse, remember to diversify your target audiences as well. It’s pretty typical for a business to have more than one audience. For example, a dog food supply company may be targeting breeders, doggy daycare owners, and regular people who own dogs. Keep all of your audiences in mind, and diversify content so that each audience is getting the same amount of attention. You don’t want anybody to feel left out!

Consider the following features about your audience when building content:

Demographics: choose images that represent the proper audience. For example, if you are trying to sell retirement plans, your content shouldn’t be full of images of young people. Similarly, if you sell dental hygiene products, you don’t want images of models with yellow teeth!

Posting times: what times and days are they most likely to be online? As a marketer, it is definitely not enough for you to just publish your posts randomly throughout the day. With today’s fierce competition, you can’t afford being overlooked by your audience because of the wrong posting time. So it’s very important for you to determine what times and days your users will most likely see your posts. This way, you have greater chances of engaging and converting them. For instance, if you are trying to target high school students, do not post content when they are likely to be at school since they will have limited access to the Internet. Likewise, if you are trying to target business owners, you should aim to publish content in the morning before typical working hours, in the evening after the workday is over, and during popular lunchtimes like 12:00 pm.

Pain points: consider what your target audience may be struggling with that you can offer a solution to. For example, if you sell energy bars, address how your energy bars can help people get over their mid-day slump or get pumped for a workout they might otherwise be dreading! Think long and hard about any questions or concerns your audience might have and answer them through your content.

Values: think about what your audience values and address these values in your content. For example, if they value timeliness, stress fast shipping times.

In addition to diversifying the themes and target audiences you address in your content marketing calendar, remember to add value to your followers with unique, custom content. That includes original images, infographics, videos, and articles or information. If all you’re doing is sharing information and multimedia from other sources, your followers will not be as engaged. Become an authority in your field by dazzling your followers with original material. If you fall victim to writer’s block, turn to pre-existing materials for content inspiration. FAQs, brochures, educational materials, or even older content calendars can help you plan content unique to your brand.

You should also be considering your overarching marketing goals in all the content you create. This may require thinking outside the box. If your goal is to increase sales by 25% in one year, it can be tempting to point all of your content towards pushing your product. The problem with doing this is that people don’t like feeling like they’re being sold to. Odds are, no one is checking out your blog or Instagram account because they want to be advertised to. They want to be informed, entertained, and most importantly, treated like real human beings rather than marketing statistics.

In order to generate sales in the long run, you will need to impress your followers with compelling content and build brand awareness and trust. People are much more likely to purchase from you if you’ve put in the work to build their trust. Great content marketing can turn website visitors into prospects, prospects into customers, and customers into repeat customers.

Plus, establishing your brand as a leader in the field through high engagement rates and large social followings is basically the online version of word-of-mouth advertising!

If somebody is in search of a particular type of product or service (like the one you sell!) they may land on your website or one of your social media profiles in their research, and they are going to want to see interesting and engaging content. In fact, consumers are becoming more and more likely to research brands online prior to making even smaller purchases. They are also more likely to purchase from you if you have a large following and tons of positive engagement!

Some great content marketing tips to increase engagement are to pose polls or questions that encourage comments and to run giveaways that require people to share, comment on, or otherwise interact with your content.

Now that you have filled out your content marketing calendar, it’s time for the next step.

Put your content to the test!

One of the most important parts of building a content marketing calendar is using analytics to track data on how your audience interacts with your content. You can use this data to create future types of content and improve the quality every month! Google Analytics will help you analyze traffic on your website. Additionally, all popular social media platforms include their own built-in metrics. However, if you want more detailed data, you may want to turn to third-party tools or a digital marketing company like ours to help you with this. There are tools that are more practical financially for a marketing company than they would be for a small business.

So what types of data are important to examine when it comes to your content? There are a few questions you should be asking yourself when it comes time to analyzing your content.

Which content themes get the best traction? What types of images have your audience engaged with the most? If a certain piece of content does particularly well, don’t be afraid to recycle it. You can even create evergreen content like an employee spotlight on the first of every month, regular giveaways, or weekly customer photo shares!

This may be difficult, but don’t just focus on the positives. You should also be analyzing which types of content performed the worst. No one likes to admit when they were wrong, but taking note of what types of content don’t resonate with your audience can help prevent you from making the same mistake twice.

Creating Content Your Followers Love

The best way to create a content marketing calendar your followers will love is to look at the content they react positively to and build off of it. If you’re starting from square one, some market research can help you out. To see what types of content your followers are most likely to be interested in, check out your competitors. We don’t recommend plagiarizing, of course, but there is no need to reinvent the wheel when you know of a company with a similar target audience already. Take a look at their content and see what gets the most engagement. Do their followers react best to list-style articles? Maybe that’s something you can incorporate into your own blog. Perhaps they get the most likes on social media posts with super bright colors. That is another easy detail you can work into your own content.

Just keep in mind that you want your content to be unique and original to truly add value to your followers and keep them coming back for more! Don’t have time to create truly unique content? That’s what we do at LYFE Marketing. All content is original, unique, and custom created for your audience. We put everything together in an organized content marketing calendar each month for you to view and approve. If this sounds like the addition you need to your marketing portfolio, contact us today to get started.

The post How to Create a Content Marketing Calendar Your Followers Will Love appeared first on Digital Marketing Blog.

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