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lustbile · 3 years

Text

To Provoke

Incubus!HaechanxReader

Word Count: 4.4K

Warning: dom-ish haechan, semi public (alley way), oral&fingering, biting, blood consumption, & can maybe be interpreted as degrading but not really

notes: a resounding thank you to whoever gave haechan curls and horns im in love with you nct stylist person. I wrote this all today and it made me stupid so I will try to go through and do more editing. Also not that I think anyone would, but I made the edit for this, horns and all, and im asking politely no one repost it, i know it’s not the most extravagant edit but im asking u pls.

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You were trying to provoke him.

You were always trying to provoke him.

Everything you did, every move, blink, sigh, and turn was an attempt to pull him from the shadows.

To admit you’re addicted to him is embarrassing, degrading even, especially with the way it fills his chest and wild eyes with hunger and pride. His ego was one thing that never needed to grow, big enough to fill every nook and cranny of the universe, but something about the way your pretty eyes would glitter at him in awe pushed it over the edge in free fall.

The outfit you chose to wear was maybe a bit too revealing for the weather, the nipping cold dancing along your shoulders and thighs in a way that makes your stomach clench and your teeth chatter. But it was the same outfit you had worn on the night you had met him, the outfit that his greedy fingers tugged and pulled on to get access to your skin, and it still had the smallest of tears in the seem from his impatience that night.

But it got you attention, and that's what mattered in the end.

He had always had a jealous streak, something he’d deny sharply if you had the nerve to accuse him, but that didn’t change the fact that some of your best nights with him were spent after he showed up to remind you that your body and skin were for him only. And that jealousy was the exact thing you needed to get him to show his face again.

It had been far too long since you had felt him last. You had no clue where he could have possibly ran off to for such a long time, but that didn’t stop the fire that was building in your belly. And no matter how many times you tried, your own wandering hands were never enough to quench your body’s thirst like he could.

The man you spoke to at the club meant less than nothing to you, even when you felt his growing excitement pressing against your back when you agreed to dance with him. The sloppy kisses you allowed him to press against the skin of your neck felt no different than just air as your mind was too distracted by the man that had taken ownership of your heart and soul so long ago, regardless of his absence.

It didn’t feel long before the lights became too bright, the alcohol that sloshed in your cup too bitter for your tongue, and the smell of the strange man too stale and unfamiliar. But when you pushed away from his chest and checked the time on your phone, while you ignored his grumbled complaints of you being a tease, you saw that it was only a handful of minutes past midnight.

You had stayed out much longer than that before, much later in fact and with glee, but something in your chest, a heavy and daunting weight, was pulling you towards the entrance on unsteady feet and a taunting disappointment on your shoulders.

Your mind still felt muggy even after you broke away from the stuffy environment of the building, but you brushed it off as a combination of the minimal alcohol you’d consumed and the angry unsatisfied monster that had made home in your gut.

You had enough of a head on your shoulders to scan your purse for your pepper spray and pocket knife before you decided that maybe the short walk home would help clear your mind and disappointment. It was still cold, your icy fingertips begging for a uber or cab instead, but you were hoping the biting chill would help calm down whatever lustful beast you had become because of a man you couldn't even contact.

Your legs felt too heavy to carry with every step you took, your neck feeling like your necklaces were made from tons of lead instead of whatever cheap metal the random online store you had ordered them from used. You were grateful that the only company you had on the back streets you had chosen to take were the flickering street lamps and the skittering rats you could hear in each alley you passed.

You could almost taste the relief of the cheap bottles of wine you had stashed in your kitchen paired with a trashy netflix horror film when you turned onto your street, your apartment building somehow looking inviting with its old brick and foggy windows as it sat on the corner. The only thing stopping you from kicking off your heels and making a run for it being the memory of one of your less than polite neighbors dropping a large glass vase and not feeling any need to pick up the broken pieces before leaving for the day.

Instead you grit your teeth to help bear the pinching of your shoes, and break into a quick and awkward jog down the desolate stretch of sidewalk. Your eyes watering as you're met with icy air.

Peace and warmth and cheap familiar alcohol is only a few strides away when you hear it. To anyone else in the city it would have been no different than the sounds of an everyday creature scavenging in the trash for food, but you had lived here long enough to know what's a rat or raccoon or, in this case, a cat.

It was a stray you had befriended long ago, one that could climb and duck into your conveniently opened balcony door for a bowl of food and a scratch behind the ears. It was just a sweet little boy that was grey and covered with scratches and scars, but due to a no pet policy had to be kept labeled as a stray and a secret to your landlord.

You huff in frustration, assuming he would have been curled up on your couch when you returned home and not chasing rats in the alley next to your building, but he had always been mischievous from the day you met him. So with the hope that you could block his image from the security cameras, you turn and head into the dim light of the small alley.

You had lovingly dubbed him Oscar when you came home more than once to your trash can tipped over and learned he had a special love for garbage, and that name along with some weird chattering cooing left you mouth as you tried to coax him from whatever trash can he was creating chaos within.

Your teeth were already gritted and you back stiff as the playful feline found enjoyment in jumping out and scaring you in times like this and you assumed this time would be no different as his evilness seemed to only raise as it got deeper and deeper into the night. So you were already mentally prepared for an attack from an overly excited ball of fur, what you weren’t prepared for was a voice.

“What are you doing out so late?” the voice was gruff and slightly accusatory and made you all but jump completely out of your skin. And as you whip around in circles to try to find the face that the words feel from, you see your love and joy Oscar jump from the tallest trash can and scale the fire escape up to scramble back into your home like a guilty teenager that was caught by their mother.

“I asked you a question,” this time the words were followed by strong hands gripping your shoulders and a shrill yelp escaping your throat.

Your hand was pushing into your purse for at least one of your weapons as you squat to get out of the person's hold and turn to see their face, the grinning and prideful boy behind you washes you with a wave of relief before stabbing at you with annoyance.

“Haechan, what the fuck,” you whisper harshly as you pull your hand from your purse and stand up straight, your now free hand now moving to jab a rough finger into the dip of his chest, “how many times? How many times have I told you to not fucking sneak up on me like that. I know the pepper spray can’t hurt you and a stab wound would heal in like five minutes but that doesn’t mean I want to stab you, idiot.”

“Why not?” his head jerks back as if you said something dumb like the sky wasn’t actually blue or he wasn’t really the sexiest man to live, something that just has no logic behind it in the slightest, “like you said it would heal so maybe we could try, might be kinda hot.”

He punctuates his words by grabbing you roughly by the waist, his other hand wrapping gently around your neck before he pushes you against the rough brick behind you, the permanent evil glimmer in his eyes sparkling with excitement.

“Do you ever get tired of being an absolute freak?” you thinly veiled insult doesn’t pack as much of a punch as you had maybe hoped, but when he begins to mouth at the skin of your jaw and cheek you can’t really find it within yourself to care.

“Well isn’t that why you like me?” he asks rhetorically as he starts to nip light bruises in the spots that blur your vision, “freaky me must be your favorite, because otherwise you wouldn’t be dressed the way you are.”

He’s no wrong, not even in the slightest, but the confident way in which he says it is enough to make you want to lie, “wanting you and liking you are two different things, no one ever said I liked you.”

“Oh but you want me,” the way in which he takes everything you say in strides without even batting an eye is bit infuriating, but the way his fingers tighten against your neck and push into your jugular is enough to make you melt against him, “that’s what you said so for once that’s not me putting words into your pretty little mouth. But don’t say you don’t like me, that’s a dirty lie and we both know it.”

“You don’t like when I lie?” you pout at him, trying to pull more and more reactions from him, “but some of your favorite things I say are lies, like how big you are and how well you fuc-“

“Alright that’s enough of you,” he interrupts, his fist tightening that much more and his other slipping from your waist to reach under the hem of your dress, a satisfied growl and his tongue pressing into the inside of his cheek being his reaction when he realizes the underwear he was grabbing for wasn’t there, “I’ve had to watch you prance around all night, letting a low down dog of a man touch you. And for what? My attention? Baby, you already have my attention.”

Your words stutter violently, the only sounds coming from your throat are whines and gasps as his fingers slip between your thighs and glide against the dampened skin, never staying on your clit long enough to give you the pleasure you need but enough to make you squirm.

“You were watching me?” you finally gasp out, before it clicks in your brain how dumb of a question it was. He told you a long time ago that he always will keep an eye on you, and knowing what he is and the things he can do, you had no reason to not believe him.

“I always am my pretty baby,” he coos before pressing teasing kisses to your open mouth, seemingly tasting and feeding off of every little noise that slips out, “and it hurts to see you let such a nasty man touch you where only I should. You didn’t even notice him following you out of that trashy club did you, silly thing?”

You jerk back as much as you can with the way he holds you, eyes widening at the news that you were apparently being followed without your knowledge. Every emotion that swims in your brain feels like its fighting for dominance, but with the way he chooses to dip his middle and ring fingers just barely past your entrance you’re struggling to cling to just one.

“God, you are so lucky to have me aren’t you? Who else would take care of creeps and make you feel good hm?” he tilts his head as he speaks, his breath warm against the side of your face before his tongue dips to lick at the shell of your ear, “no one can make you feel the way I do can they?”

“No,” you finally answer after a moment, the word coming out as an airy breath as his fingers finally sink in all the way. He wastes no time before curling them and pressing at the spot that makes your knees buckle, “please Haechan, need you so bad.”

“Oh is that one of those infamous lies of yours you were talking about?” he pulls away slightly, but shows no interest in slowing the motions of his hand, “well it can’t be can it? I can always tell you know? Can hear the way your heart picks up when you lie, much different than the way it does when you’re about to come for me.”

His wrist starts to move faster, the heel of his hand finally pressing and rubbing against your clit as the muscles of his forearm start to strain. The telling signs of your orgasm feel too sudden, too fast, and with his hand still constricting the blood that tries to flow to your head all you can do is let your eyes roll as your breathing comes out as small puffs.

“But since you’ve asked so nicely,” you can only let out a pathetic cry when he pulls his hand away from you suddenly, your lack of oxygen being the only thing stopping you from letting out a scream loud enough for the whole block to hear as he denies you of any stimulation. All you can do is let out incoherent babbling and whines as your hands reach up to dig your nails into the leather jacket protecting his forearms.

He releases your neck, your skin burning from the friction and the sudden amount of oxygen and blood returning to your head making you dizzy. And while your eyes roll as they try to refocus and your heart rate begins to slow to normal, he grabs your wrists and pushes your weakened form to be flush against the wall thats scrapes against your exposed skin.

“You are by far the best thing ive ever tasted,” he mutters, not concerned with whether you heard him or not, before his mouth latches to the side of your neck. He seems to find the most interest in the finger prints he left behind, as he pulls the tender skin between his sharp teeth and works to create a bruise that won’t leave you for another week.

Regardless of denying you a proper release, he considers himself to still be a generous guy. As his tongue lays flat against the burning skin of your neck, he starts to kick at your feet until your clumsy legs are falling apart wide enough for him to press his thigh against your skin, and in the exact way he predicted, you can’t help but to begin grinding helplessly against him.

One of the main reasons the dress that you currently wear is one of his favorites, is the neckline. Low enough to show the expanse of your chest and just enough of your cleavage to make him salivate. He’s as transparent as glass with this love, especially as he mouth travels down between your collarbones and sternum.

You can hear a quiet pop in the fabric of the neckline when he bites down and begins to pull it with him as he sinks down to the floor, the huff you let out being both in frustration from him further ruining a nice dress and your impatience.

The straps dig harshly into the skin of your shoulders before they give and fall, the sudden lack of support making it easier for Haechan to take the fabric and expose your chest to the cold air.

The look in his eyes when you look down is mean and predatory, you fear one day he’ll snap and consume you whole, but for today he settles for wrapping his swollen lips around your nipple and sucking harshly.

Your hips quicken involuntary, broken moans filling the empty alley as you twitch and squirm in his hold. He seems to grow irritated at your impatience as he shoves your wrists back harshly, his knuckles audibly scraping against the brick.

“You can never be patient to save your life,” his head tilts forward and he presses his forehead against your sternum with a huff before he’s leaning back up to press a sloppy kiss against your panting mouth, “you’re lucky I missed you so much or otherwise you’d be in for a lot longer of a night.”

He keeps your wrists trapped in his hold as he moves to kneel on the ground, the rough and dirtied pavement doing nothing to help the tears that already litter his jeans.

You feel your face flush when he lets go of one wrist and uses his newly freed hand to shove the hem of your dress up and around your hips, and the burning beneath your skin only worsens when he leans forward and breathes deeply with his nose pressed against your pubic bone.

He leans back for a moment, his hand wrapping around the bend of your knee to pull your leg to rest on his shoulder and you feel your shoulder sting from the wall cutting into your skin from him moving you like a doll.

“Haechan,” you whisper his name out with a pout that you hope will get you exactly what you want, but you can only huff and petulantly twitch when he begins nipping and licking at the skin on the insides of your thighs.

His teeth are sharper than most, and he usually airs on the side of caution because he’s aware of this. His bites are gentle for the most part, but when you begin to peak in your feelings of impatience, you can’t help the way your hips begin jerking forwards in search of his tongue.

His palm pushing against your hip is his first warning, a generous one in his opinion, but when the warning seems to fly completely over your pretty little head he has no other choice but to lean forward and sink his teeth into delicate skin at the bend of your thigh.

You cry out for a second before you’re tucking your lip between your teeth. It stings terribly, the skin breaking around his teeth burns but you can’t stop the way you revel in the sharp pain. And at the exact same moment you taste the metallic ting of the blood falling from your bitten lip, you feel the same warm thick liquid drip from the wounds he’s created and straight into his grinning mouth.

More blood falls freely when he pulls his teeth from your flesh, his warm tongue flattening against the injury immediately to catch as much of the liquid as possible.

He laps at it for a moment, savoring as much of the taste of your life source as possible, before he starts at the bottom of the bite mark and drags slowly up.

Once his tongue moves off the wound, he continues across your skin. The moment he hits your labia, you let out a gasp and jerk against him again, your mind completely erasing the fact that the bite was meant to be a punishment for that exact thing.

He seems to have forgotten him wanting you to remain still, as he doesn’t hesitate in the slightest until his licking across your stil swollen bundle of nerves.

He moans as the flavor of your arousal mixes with the still lingering taste of your blood, the vibrations shooting straight up your spine and making you shiver.

He tilts his head up to smile at you, his eyes shining as he grabs your hands and moving them to thread into his curled hair.

“Why are you shivering?” he asks with a faux concern, his right hand smoothing over your thigh before pushing between your legs to return his fingers to their spot inside of you, immediately pumping and curling them slowly, “are you cold or something? Maybe it’s because you’re in such a skimpy little dress?”

You groan out in annoyance at his playful act, your eyes rolling back but for once not in pleasure. It’s not until he starts to proudly giggle to himself do you exploit the hold you have on the back of his head to push him back to your body.

You fear that being shoved around may be the exact thing Haechan would have wanted, when he happily moans before latching his lips to your clit again, but the pleasure that melts your muscles erases any need to call him out on his deviousness and perverted enjoyment.

He seems happy with your moving hips when they start to move against his waiting face. Your fingers mindlessly and desperately tug at his scalp as your head tilts back and thumps against the wall.

The hand that isn’t pressed deeply inside you slides across your hip, his callused fingers making goosebumps run up your arms as they push into your lower belly.

You can feel yourself fluttering around his fingers as the curl and push apart, your thighs tensing around his bobbing head as he licks and bites gently at your clit. It feels like it’s harder to catch your breath and you know you’re only moments from orgasm.

“Please, please,” you start to stutter the word over and over, praying both that he lets you come and that you’re neighbors are deep enough in sleep to not hear the noises you know will escape you.

You almost cry in relief when you feel his shoulders shift, his face and fingers both pressing deeper from the movement in a way that tells you he has no intention on letting up on your shivering body.

His blunt nails start to scratch into your skin and you can feel his heavy panting breath against your skin every time he begins to lap at you desperately. You can feel your muscles lose even more strength, and your head becoming heavier and dazed as he coaxed you closer and closer to your finish.

Your shoulders twitch up towards your ears and you feel your stomach clench as your back curves, small whines and whimpers leave you as the heel of your foot thumps against the space between his shoulder blades.

You gasp out when you feel it, them. They start as small bumps beneath your palms, and you feel your chest tighten when it clicks what they are.

He’s always had a good hold on controlling them, keeping them hidden so he can wreak havoc without being clocked as something inhuman. They had peaked out a few times, usually in moments like this, but it’s such a rarity that you can’t stop the way your heart begins to thump in your chest.

Out of everything about him, you were obsessed with all of him, but you loved his horns the most. They were small and sharp at the side of his head and the way he looks when they’re poking out amongst his curled hair, and especially when he was grumpy or mad, made you want to jump on him and kiss him all over.

You were so caught up and distracted by them growing to full size directly under your hands you forgot how sharp they were at their tapered ends. The reminder you get is when they sharply down push into your palms like thorns.

You gasp sharply, but the way they curl makes you afraid to pull away. It makes you tremble and flush with embarrassment, but the pain bleeding into your hands is the last straw on your nerves. All you can do is wrap your now bleeding hands around the horns and cry out into the cold air as your erratic hips move across his face.

He groans deeply against you as your nails scrape at the skin that surrounds the base of his horns, the feeling of his and his still moving tongue pushes you through and past your gasping orgasm.

You sign in relief when he finally detaches from your body, his mouth moving up to press your hip and across the space of your stomach the dress reveals. He puts your leg down slowly and he creeps back up your torso, now hyper aware of your wounded hands still stuck on his horns.

“Sorry my love, they’re kinda sharp aren’t they?” he rhetorically asks with a soft but guilty grin. He stays ducked down enough that your hands don’t go too high that they start to slip, and he follows with his own to help you detach them.

“I just keep making my mark on you tonight huh?” he sighs as he stands at full height and brings your still bleeding hands to his face. You grit your teeth and scrunch your nose when he gives you a knowing look that says ‘we both know what I have to do.’

He is quick and gentle when he swipes his tongue across the deep cuts in your hands, not wanting it to sting more than necessary.

A teasing grin fills his face when he looks up to see the tired pout on your face, “just like the one on your leg, there won’t be anything left than a bruise if you just wait like an hour,” he’s sincere in his words, and you know it works, but you still feel all wounded and tired.

“Take me home,” you demand, wrapping your slowly healing hands around his shoulders and leaning until your head rests against his shoulder.

“Hey now,” he contradicts his tone by wrapping his arm around your waist and helping guide you walk to your apartment, “you still have to feed Oscar, and take a shower, and I’m not even full yet so you have to let me play with you until I wear you out.”

His tone is far too genuine and loving for the words he says, and you swat weakly at his chest in annoyance, but all he does in response is a laugh.

#nct smut #haechan smut #nct imagine #nct oneshot #haechan oneshot #haechan imagine #nct 127 smut #nct dream smut #kpop smut #nct fic #nct fanfic

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butterflyinthewell · 2 years

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I’m tired of sitting on this… the reason I can’t take fandom antis seriously is I have seen actual, legit, very real, 100% genuine child predator stuff before.

I’m putting this under a cut because it’s very disturbing and I don’t want anyone seeing it without warning. No screenshots or photos of any sort, because this was over a decade ago, I knew saving any of it broke the law and I was terrified I might get trouble for seeing what I saw, so under the cut is just me talking about it.

I reported what I saw to the FBI website after I looked at it because it was that messed up. You’ll see me say that again under the cut, but I want to make it clear that I reported it.

Still…

***TRIGGER WARNING: I’m talking about serious child sexual abuse stuff under the cut, do not click this if you’re a csa survivor in a fragile mental state, if you’re in a fragile mental state period or if you are a sensitive person. This will be upsetting.

Last chance to turn back.

❌

This is legit gross.

✋🏻

🤚🏻

⚠️

Okay, here goes…

Sometime around 2009-2010, I was visiting a certain drama wiki, because that’s where you went when drama hit fandoms back in the day, and I came across an article about the show To Catch a Predator. Since it was a satirical site, it was making fun of the show and at the bottom it had “PedoBear” links that mostly led to online catalogues of kids’ clothes as a joke.

But one link led to a forum where real child molesters used to gather. It’s likely long gone now, I don’t even remember the url because I was so traumatized by the contents. I thought it was fake at first and made the mistake of clicking around to look.

It wasn’t fake.

Y’all, it was evil stuff. The content fandom antis today claim is “pedo shit” is G-rated compared to the things I saw written about real children on that forum.

And not teenage children. This was stuff about kids. Prepubescent kids. Age 12 and under. Little tiny kids. Toddlers. Babies.

I didn’t dare click on any threads that had a paper clip attachment icon, I was afraid of seeing CSEM at that point and I knew I couldn’t bear that, so I only stuck to the text.

These people were describing, in graphic detail, what they wanted to do to these kids’ “young, underdeveloped, innocent bodies”.

They talked about how children tasted, smelled and sounded.

There were some describing the experiences of having sex with children, of how tight they felt and how their faces turned red.

They were swapping tips on how to penetrate babies with fingers and worse.

The sole focus on their posts was how young, underdeveloped and innocent their targets were.

One was a father lamenting that his daughter was starting puberty and “won’t be beautiful or taste the same in a few years.” That child is probably close to her twenties now, if she’s even still alive after what her disgusting father did to her.

The forum had a fiction section where predators wrote out their fantasies, and none of it was fanfiction of fictional characters. They wrote creepy gross stories about seducing, grooming and befriending young children and slowly consuming them with lust. The sex scenes were written just like their posts where they talked about how tight and young kids’ bodies were. It was nothing like a date or like some awkward teen story about a celebrity crush. The contents of these stories were obsessive about the child being so young.

It was so disturbing that I feel sick remembering it.

There wasn’t a single post about teenagers during or after puberty. That’s not to say that adults wanting real minors sexually isn’t wrong because it is, it’s disgusting, but I’m pointing out that I saw none of that there.

Real predators in fandom won’t last long because they won’t keep their content to fiction. They’ll be targeting minors who write fanfiction, and it won’t matter what kind of fanfiction or how innocent it is.

Real predators want real kids, not cartoons / anime characters.

And yes I reported the link to that forum to the FBI website, though I don’t know if it led to anything. I remember I was using Firefox at the time and I felt so sick that I deleted that browser and switched to another one because just seeing the browser interface reminded me of that forum.

I regret thinking I could handle it to see how fucked up people can be.

It was traumatic, and I wasn’t even any of the children who were hurt by these people. I hope everybody who shared pics on that forum or detailed how they harmed children got caught and charged for what they did.

But places like THAT are safe spaces for predators.

Fandom is not and never will be.

#proship #proshippers #fandom discourse #shipping discourse #tagged for blacklists #swearing #Tay don’t look #Opal don’t look #csa mention #rape mention #not safe for life #very disturbing content

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superfamilyexchange · 3 years

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Superfamily Fanwork Reveals!!

THE DAY IS FINALLY HERE!!! All twenty-six (26) gift works had been revealed earlier today! Dive right into the Ao3 collection (here) and hop on over to the Discord server to scream and cry and laugh along with everyone else!

Creator reveals will be next Wednesday, July 7th. Also check out the fanworks below the cut!

A Boyfriend for Dad for betheflame (T, 6k)

Peter wants the best for his dad and worries that he'll be alone when he goes off to college. He needs to find a boyfriend for his dad. The best candidate is Mr. Rogers, his Academic Decathlon coach, but Tony hates Mr. Rogers. Peter decides to try anyway.

A Father, a (Super)Hero. for Sprout (G, 2k)

It's Father's Day in the Stark-Rogers' household, and Tony's had to leave early in the morning for a work emergency. Steve and Peter decide to surprise him with some flowers and chocolates, but can anything be as simple as that for a family of superheroes?

A House That's a Home for Skeeter (G, 6k)

Steve and Tony go through the long process of becoming adoptive parents. It's a harder road, as far as they can see, full of bumps and potholes. It's all worth it when they meet baby Peter for the first time - who captures their hearts and refuses to release it, not that they'd want him to of course.

ace in the hole for Huntress79 (T, 10k)

Sheriff Steve Rogers falls for the new guy in town (and for the adorable boy he has with him), but when Tony's secret catches up with them, will his love be enough to save them all?

basic unit [FANART] for Perlmutt (M, art)

steve never imagined he'd have a family of his own until he met tony. first, it was just two of them, and then he knocked tony up and they had peter. when peter graduated high school, tony was in his labor month.

it was perfect.

bring him home for geekymoviemom (T, 17k)

During the clean up after the Battle of New York, Steve finds a little boy in the rubble of an orphanage. He finds out this little boy is almost as strong as he is, and he knows he can't let anyone get their hands on him. People would do crazy things for a mutant child. Steve vows to protect him so he can grow up as a child and not as a lab rat.

citrus and lavender for captainstars (T, 8k)

Tony wasn’t his. He had made it very clear that he didn’t need some alpha in his life to mess with everything he’d worked so hard to accomplish. Especially not Steve Rogers.

Dying Inside to Hold You [Art] for Infinitywrites (G, <1k)

It was his wedding day. Tony looked over the sea of people in front of him, at Steve by his side, and felt his heart clench. He wondered, for a split second, how he had even got to this moment.

Family Is... A Web of Love for crypticrose (T, 1k)

Following the sudden death of his Aunt May, Peter is, more or less, shell-shocked. Good thing he has Tony, Steve and the rest of the Avengers to catch him.

Finding home for Pookiethefrickinbunn (G, 4k)

Tony and Steve are in an established relationship or married. Peter has been Spider-man for a while, but his parents don't know/have their suspicions. I would love a confrontation scene between the Avengers and Spider-man and Peter ends up getting injured and the husbands find out who there son actually is. Tony and Steve would definitely feel guilty for what has happened to their kid, and maybe Peter would think his parents hate him. Some fluff at the end would be fantastic.

Forever and Ever for Neverever (G, 3k)

"Can I see it just one more time? Pretty please?" Peter hounds Steve, using the bigger man's knees as leverage so he could jump up and down.

"Okay, okay, one last time. But we need to be quick so your Dad doesn't see."

AKA: Steve, Tony, and Peter all go on a family vacation together, but Steve has a couple of tricks up his sleeve.

Head Full of Stubborn, Heart Full of Hope for ChocolateCapCookie (T, 2k)

In which Steve makes a decision for all the right reasons, but it still wasn't fully his to make, because parenting means discussions.

Heights in Depths, Depths in Heights for parkrstark (N/A, 5k)

"Suddenly everything that had happened prior came rushing back to him. Peter and him were going on a trip. A plane. The craft had jolted and made a loud noise before it began to lose altitude. The pilot had said something about engines failing, and because they were currently over the Rockies there was no safe place for them to land. Steve had buckled Peter up. The pilot told them to brace for impact. And then nothing." ---- Steve goes with his boyfriend's son on a trip across the country, just the two of them, to try and get some bonding time in. But this was not the kind of bonding he had in mind.

In my Favorite Dreams (I feel your heat) for wingheads (E, 6k)

Steve is on his morning run in DC when a ghost from his past comes back into his life. And he's not alone.

Just Desserts for JehBeeEh (G, 2k)

Tony grabs a midnight snack... Steve helps him finish it. There's one bite left before they read the note. They have have 45 minutes before Peter wakes up

Just the way you are for starkspangledsoldier (G, 4k)

'The view was beautiful but deafening. He could enjoy the sight in silence. But the silence was oppressive since it was not his choice. The silence did not help with the voices in his head, rather it made it worse.'

Let Your Haunted Dreams Go Tonight for UisceOneLove (T, 14k)

Tony Stark and Peter move to the suburbs to start a new life. On this journey Peter befriends resident hermit of the area, Steve Rogers. Little did the kid know it was gonna change his father's and own life upside down.

My Boys for Corsets_and_Cardigans (G, 10k)

Steve is assigned as the bodyguard to omega Tony Stark and his son. Through fluff and angst we watch as Peter subtly plays matchmaker and Steve does everything he can to keep his boys safe.

once upon a childhood for SilverDraconyx (G, 10k)

“Would it be okay to tell you a story, Pete? I hope it is. It’s the only thing I have planned for tonight. Just wake up if you want me to stop, okay?” Steve pauses, and the silence is unnerving but not unwelcome. No one stirs, especially not Peter, so Steve hums and Tony releases the breath he has been holding.

AKA

Steve, despite being a wanted vigilante, visits a comatose Peter in the Avengers Facility Medbay hoping to wake him up with stories about their past.

Six Letters for jacobby (T, 3k)

This was not at all what Steve had imagined when he’d dreamed of starting a family and being with Tony for the rest of his life, and as he drove the car up to the secluded cabin, he prayed inside that this trip could make it all better.

Sun Breaks Through the Sandcastle Walls for starksnack (G, 4k)

With the sun deciding to shine today, Tony ditched work and took Peter to the beach. What he wasn't expecting was to see his boyfriend there, too, and now his orbits were crashing together before he knew it.

The Heart of Heroes for Coffee_and_notebooks (T, 9k)

Peter has an internship at Stark Industries. It’s cool, except the most interesting thing he gets to do is be in the building. He figures that the internship is to gain good press by ‘helping poor orphans’.

That all changes, when he is sent to bring coffee to the Tony Stark!

As he spends time with Tony and Steve, they can’t help but come to love the teenage vigilante.

The Hundred Million Dollar Question for LenkaVittoriaElisse16 (G, 5k)

Maybe this was the hardest question that Tony and Steve ever had to answer. Their children's big puppy eyes surely didn't make it any easier. "Papa? Daddy? What's love?"

The Man Out of Time for sweetspiderstew (T, 17k)

For a moment, Steve is frozen, absolutely convinced that his eyes are playing tricks on him.

Because it can’t be right. Wanda destroyed the Mind Stone, so how could Thanos have possibly gotten his hands on it?

But even besides that, there’s something else. Something that Steve’s swirling mind and throbbing head can’t quite wrap around just yet.

He only knows that it’s wrong.

To Begin Again for IronDadStan (M, 11k)

Steve, a 35 y/o. Alpha meets Tony, a 21 y/o. Omega through an online art forum. Realizing that they lived in the same city, they decided to meet in person. And when they met in person, Steve gets instantly attracted to Tony. After all, Tony was handsome, intelligent, and has easy to be with. There was one problem though, Tony is a married omega.

You and I, we belong together for MCUKenna (G, 3k)

“What’s your name, kid?” He asked him.

“Peter. Do you…” The kid’s eyes darted around the room. “Do you not remember who I am?”

Memory loss. Tony hadn’t considered that one. It could be, he was still betting on an illusion, but (he quickly calculated the statistics in his head), it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. “Maybe. If this place is real.” He told the kid, Peter.

#superfamilyexchange #superfamily #tony stark #steve rogers #peter parker #gift exchange

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totally-incorrect-theatre-quotes · 4 years

Text

After the Rain (Fanfic)

Delia

In which in an attempt to bond with Lydia Delia takes her on a shopping trip. Worried about her step-daughter making friends at her new school Delia tries to guide her, though often making the situation more awkward than it already was.

Note: this fanfic goes to show that coming out comes in many diffrent ways, there’s no one way to do it

_______________________________________________________________

Lydia wasn’t the biggest fan of shopping but Delia suggested that they go on a step-mother-step-daughter shopping bonding trip that weekend and Lydia literally couldn’t think of one reason not to despite her best efforts to come up with one at the moment. She just hated how crowded the mall could be and she doubted that what Delia meant by shopping was a trip to the electronics store where Lydia could browse around all the camera accessories and expensive cameras she’d never be able to afford. She had guessed correctly that their outing would be browsing the local mall in the next town over, getting their nails done, and getting lunch. Not all of those things she hated, she actually enjoyed going to the nail shop with Delia who didn’t even push it when she got black nails, as usual, the only thing Delia suggested was some glitter which Lydia reluctantly added and refused to admit that she actually quite liked.

“Lydia I know you’re starting school in a month or two and I thought maybe we could get you some new clothes,” Delia suggested, pushing her food around her plate while they sat in the restaurant

Lydia smiled, “I have a uniform, but thank you anyway.”

“I know you have a uniform, don’t know why Charles insisted on picking a school with the ugliest uniform I’ve ever seen-”

“It’s only a white button-up shirt and a black skirt.” Lydia teased, “It’s not the end of the world.”

“Maybe not, but you do need clothes for not school. When you go out with your friends and do things that typical teenagers do like..I don’t know do Fortnight dances and talk about memes. You want to be up to date on the newest fashion trends so you can look...as the kids say, Lit AF.”

“Delia I enjoy spending time with you but please for the love of God don’t talk like that again. I’m embarrassed for you.” Lydia covered her face with her hands and groaned, “And I don’t like the popular clothes. You must know by now that I prefer black.”

“We can work with that though! I know you like dresses but you definitely need some shirts and pants, and I know it’s a while until winter but it’s really cold in Connecticut so you’ll need a winter wardrobe.”

“I lived in New York all my life? I’m pretty sure I know how to dress for the snow.”

Delia blushed, “I know, I know you do I just want to help your transition to this new school smoother. I know you really struggled at your old school and kids can be so mean, I just don’t want you to have to deal with that all again. I want you to be happy here.”

“I am happy here, I have all of you guys at the house to keep me company.”

Delia got quiet and looked over at her step-daughter. She didn’t want to say anything to the contrary because Lydia looked so sincere when she said that. There was a genuine smile on her face, and while Delia was glad that she loved spending time with them she wanted to make sure that Lydia had friends of her own, friends her own age that she could really connect with and be happy around. Even at her old school, she was pretty alone, Lydia didn’t open up about much when they first met in New York at Delia’s old office but it was evident that Lydia spent much of her time at school by herself. She would mention a few kids every now and then but nothing to suggest they were more than passing acquaintances. She also knew that Lydia was harshly bullied and it would break her heart if it happened at this new school. Lydia liked to call herself an outsider, she didn’t like to follow the trends at school or online, and Delia sincerely hoped that Lydia would find her people in Connecticut, but shuddered at the memories of a desolate and lonely girl sitting with her knees tucked to her chest while she sat in Delia’s office talking about how she loves learning but can’t take the constant harassment from her peers. Delia had once tried to convince Lydia that her problem was positivity and that all Lydia needed to do was be more warm and friendly and as a result, people would like her. She now realized how wrong she was and how much more damage that did to Lydia by unintentionally shifting the blame onto her.

Delia shook away the thoughts of the past, wanting to move forward in her relationship with her step-daughter. She returned Lydia’s enthusiasm with a smile, “I know you love spending time with us, and I hope that you find more people to be around. I know it would be good for you.”

“Yeah maybe,” Lydia shrugged, disinterested.

The two of them finished their meal, paid their bill and went over to the mall. It was less crowded than the malls had been in New York, which eased some of Lydia’s tension. She still had to dodge the aggressive perfume testers offering her a free sample. They went to a couple stores mainly with Delia finding herself a couple of things to buy though she would suggest things to Lydia that would earn a scrunched up nose or a shake of the head. Delia kept trying to get her more colorful looking things, light blues, yellows, pinks, and reds. Lydia would be open to the idea of more color in her clothing but bright obnoxious colors had always been a turn off for her, she wanted to be able to blend in and bright colors made her stick out. Delia ended up convincing her to buy a blue blouse and a light grey cardigan.

Walking through the mall Lydia noticed a small kiosk selling lots of knick-knack trinkets that were a combination of wholesome to strange and unusual. Grabbing Delia’s hand she dragged her over and spent the next twenty minutes looking at all the items. She ended up picking out a new collar for the kitten they had just rescued the other week. They had most of the stuff they needed for the kitten already but Lydia had never really had pets as a kid so she was ready to spoil the hell out of the kittens she affectionately named Cation in response to Delia urging Lydia to be more positive.

With bags in their hands after a full afternoon packed full of shopping, they started to head towards the exit and back to the car. Delia was attempting to coax more conversation out of the teenager asking about her life and what she was looking forward to with the new school year starting in the next month, “You’ve been around town quite a bit when you go for walks around downtown...have you seen any people worth mentioning?”

“I mean I saw a person trying to befriend a pidgeon by offering it french fries if that’s what you mean. That was pretty interesting.”

“No I mean like,” Delia pursed her lips trying to think of how best to ask Lydia the question, “Have you seen any cute boys? When I was your age I had like a crush of the week basically. Didn’t really date much until later in high school but there’s no harm in having any crushes.”

Lydia blushed trying not to think about the cute girl at the ice cream shop she had seen when she took Skye after babysitting last week. She looked to be around Lydia’s age but what are the odds that in a small town like this that she’d find any other people like her, “No not really.” She lied trying to deflect the conversation.

“Really? Because you seem to be blushing an awful lot for somebody that doesn’t have a crush.”

Looking around for any conversation started that could be an escape from this embarrassing topic Lydia briefly locked eyes with a boy she had seen around town before. He was a jerk, always yelling with his friends’ really annoying and sometimes degrading things about the people walking past him. He had tried flirting with Lydia before, she didn’t give much credit to it considering he had hit on the girl before her and the girl after her. He was the least bit smooth and for a fifteen-year-old, he was more vulgar than she had anticipated. She quickly darted her eyes away when he noticed her and gave her a cock-eyed smile and a wink. Lydia rolled her eyes and groaned at him.

Delia playfully nudged her shoulder. She didn’t understand why Lydia had been so dismissive of the boy, even if she didn’t like him he might have been someone she could have been friends with when she started school so she didn’t need to start from scratch. Delia played around with the thought that maybe Lydia did have a crush on him and was trying to be coy about it to get her off her back, “Hey! Is that who the mystery boy is? You shouldn’t have ignored him, that’s not polite!”

Without even thinking Lydia blurted out, “I’m not interested in being polite or heterosexual.”

The minute the words passed her lips Lydia froze, she hadn’t even planned on coming out to Delia, at least not yet, not this way. It had been so hard when she told her father she had no clue why it just slipped up in this conversation, she was usually so good at keeping it on the down-low, changing the language so people didn’t ask. She always thought that coming out was this long conversation with lots of hugs and tears, and though Lydia felt like she was going to cry for being so careless in how she told her, Delia didn’t really seem to have much of a reaction. She simply smiled, shrugged and said, “So...are there any cute girls around town worth mentioning.”

#lydia deetz #delia deetz #adam maitland #barbara maitland #charles deetz #lawrence beetlejuice shoggoth #presley ryan #sophia anne caruso #dana steingold #leslie kritzer #kerry butler #rob mcclure #alex brightman #beetlejuice #incorrect beetlejuice quotes #beetlejuice the musical #beetlegeuse #beetlejuice fanfic #beetlejuice fanfiction

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meggtheegg · 5 years

Note

Hello! I was just wondering about the different interpretations between Laura Dreyfuss's, Olivia Puckett's, Mallory Betchel's, and any of the other Zoe Murphy actresses that you have seen (Gabi?)! I was just wondering how their interpretation's differ from each other?

I’ve been seriously considering buying the boot with Gabi, honestly, because I saw her as Alana and she was fantastic, so I’d love to see how she interprets this role! I think I’ll wait for the NFT date, since I feel kinda morally iffy about buying bootlegs, but it’s gonna drive me nuts!

As for the others, though...

Laura Dreyfuss’ Zoe is very closed off. Physically and emotionally, she keeps a barrier between herself and the rest of the world, especially after Connor’s death. Out of all of them, she shows the least amount of obvious growth, which is certainly a realistic way to do it. You don’t recover from serious trauma in the timespan of Dear Evan Hansen. Her Zoe is the one who feels like she was actually abused, and she probably feeds the most into the fandom’s idea of Connor. Her withdrawal from everyone and monotone voice and blank facial expressions lead to audiences really seeing a broken girl. For her, I think Evan becomes more of a comfort object than a boyfriend. He lets her feel safe, and she’s able to be kind of dependent on him. By the ending scene in the orchard, she’s still pretty broken. She’s just trying to make it through life, but maybe she’s starting to believe that she can do it. It’ll just be hard.

Olivia’s Zoe doesn’t put up with anyone’s shit. Where most of Laura’s snarky remarks are mumbled under her breath or said with complete earnestness, Olivia spits them out with the anger of a girl who knows she’s been wronged by life. She has to fight for every scrap of attention and live with a brother who probably doesn’t abuse her, but certainly (at least in her eyes) doesn’t like her. She’s angry at Connor. She’s angry at the world. She reaches out to the underdogs because she sees that they’re in the same boat, but she doesn’t dare befriend any of them for fear of being let down. She’s been forced to grow up way too fast and probably can’t wait to get to college and never come back. There’s not really any affection between her and her parents. You can tell there once was, but now they’re more like roommates to her. It’s Zoe against the world, and it probably has been for a while. In her case, Evan convinces her that Connor (and everyone else) might not have been trying to make an enemy out of her, after all. He’s the only person who is able to break through her preconceived notions about the world and let her be a vulnerable teenage girl. That’s what hits hard once the letter is posted online. Just as she was finally trusting the world, it turned around and attacked her. And immediately after, it turned out Evan was lying to her, too. In the orchard scene, she’s still recovering. Not as open as she was when she and Evan were dating, but much more open than she was in the beginning. She’s repairing her relationship with Larry and Cynthia, and she’s coming to terms with Connor’s life and with his death. She’s healing, but she’s doing it the right way, this time.

Mallory’s Zoe feels the most like a teenage girl. She and Connor were really close, once, but somewhere in there, something changed and they grew apart, and she became invisible at home. She still lives a regular life in school, and you get the feeling that she actually has friends and hobbies and things she gets excited about. Her involvement in jazz band is an important part of her life, not just another “cool” trait for Evan to pine over. But at home, she probably spends most of her time in her bedroom. Connor is the priority and she begrudgingly accepts that. And then he’s gone, and her school life is suddenly as much about him as her home life is. His absence is even more overpowering than his presence. Evan is the first person in a long time who lets her just be Zoe. And not only does he only expect her to be herself, but he adores her for it. Maybe it’s just because I saw MLB as Evan, but the two of them are genuinely, extremely smitten with each other. Yes, he helps her sort out her feelings about Connor, and that’s important, but by Act 2, their relationship is about so much more than that. She’s giddy to be near him. When they offer him Connor’s college money, she’s bouncing, because she’s so excited to be doing this thoughtful thing for him. And he doesn’t force her to grieve or expect her not to. He doesn’t force her to be black and white. And in letting her just feel, without expectations, she lets herself just react. She clings much more tightly to her parents, especially Larry. She allows herself to talk about Connor, but also is willing to ask to leave him out of the conversation. She grows so much and finds a way to be alright. I’d never cried during Words Fail before, but when I saw the show most recently, I did, and it was because of Zoe. It hits her in waves that all of what Evan did for her came from a lie, and all these new ideas she had about Connor are dragged into question. And she loses Evan. With Laura and Olivia, the relationship felt more one-sided. Zoe needed someone to lean on, and Evan was in the right place at the right time and got his dream girl. Mallory’s Zoe genuinely adores him, and he breaks her heart. By the orchard scene, she’s starting to really be okay. She made a lot of personal growth that wasn’t erased by the realization that Evan was lying about Connor. And they still care for each other. You get the feeling that they could reconnect years down the line and be good friends. They’re both going to be okay.

#wow can you tell which zoe is my favorite?#Anonymous

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personaehq · 5 years

Photo

INCOMING MESSAGE …

FULL NAME: park eunjae ALIAS: zion DATE OF BIRTH: 2116/08/15 ALIGNMENT: neutral OCCUPATION: n/a AFFILIATION: strategist for the fraternity ACCOMMODATION: pointe units, shinjuku FACECLAIM: choi minho

ACCESSING: BACKGROUND …

alcoholism tw, domestic abuse tw

from an outside point of view, eunjae is supposed to be one of the lucky ones. his father is a respected politician, and his mother is also well known in that circle of people — as such, it’s natural that one would assume the park children are born with silver spoons in their mouths. his older brother and eunjae should live an easy life, much easier than the majority of people living in tokyo. they have immigrant parents, but their residency has little to do with suffering, and more to do with picking the place most fitting for their comfort.

however, the story doesn’t follow through on the same pattern. mr. park has always been too fond of nightlife, and one way or another, he becomes associated with illegal gambling circles. when the honeymoon phase is over between him and his wife, when having another child isn’t enough to mend the broken ties between the two — it slowly becomes clear that they cannot live in the same house anymore. one night, he comes home drunker than any other night, and gets into a verbal fight with mrs. park. words are thrown around, yells reach their neighbours, the boys cower in their rooms. perhaps the pair is being more honest to each other than they have ever been — and separation becomes inevitable.

it’s decided that the oldest child stays with the mother, and the youngest stays with the father. they are both respectable figures that the court process is arduous, and each side leaves with losses and wins. the only reason they don’t fight verbally is because they don’t want to tarnish their reputation anymore. if you ask the boys, however, the worst part of it is that it’s clear the brothers will grow up separated, and the parents have no plans whatsoever to get them to meet regularly.

only occasions they see each other are events both parents needs to attend, but other than that — they are raised in completely different households, unaware of what the other is going through.

ii.

mr. park is — flaky at best, violent at worst. most of eunjae’s childhood is spent either alone, or with babysitters that come and go. when money becomes short, he is left to fend for himself after school, staying up however long he wants, spends time online with his laptop. it becomes his solace, a place of fixation where he can do whatever he wants, become whoever he wants.

earlier on, while he wished for his father to come home so they could spend time together, as he grows up, he wishes he would never return. there are times when he comes late, drunk and angry, screaming about yet another game he has lost. when eunjae didn’t know any better, he had tried to comfort him, get him into bed and make sure he drank water before falling asleep somewhere — but now, all he wants is to hide, hide and never see him again.

it’s a bitter feeling, the idea of his brother and mom being happy somewhere while he hides in a closet, clutching an aching arm to his chest. ’you look just like your mother, that bitch — it’s all her fault! it’s all your fault!’ the voice echoes in his head and he sheds silent tears in the darkness.

the next morning, his father leaves as if nothing happened the night before.

iii.

as eunjae gets older, his hatred for his father grows. slowly but surely, he understands the man cares nothing other than himself, and he desperately yearns to be away from him. if he can’t do so physically, he tries to do it on the computer. all the time spent on the internet hones his skills to a great extent. he becomes zion online, equipping an identity, working with independent hackers for more power and information. it feels exhilarating to be someone else for the day, away from the hellhole he has to call home.

one night, it’s worse than any other, mr. park is pissed to such an extent that eunjae wants nothing more than to get away. he is barely fourteen, but he knows he doesn’t want to stay home anymore. so, he runs away, packs everything he has into a backpack and slips out before his father returns home. the streets feel wider than ever, the world a bigger place, but it has so much potential that he can’t help but smile to himself. the unknown is scarier than anything he has witnessed before but he doesn’t want ever to return.

iv.

until he gets caught. a child wandering around in the higher layer unattended apparently gets noticed. someone reports it to the police, and the next thing eunjae knows is that he is being returned to mr. park. the man’s name is reputable enough that the police brushes him off as an unruly teenager, not digging any further into what’s wrong at the household.

that night, he sees mr. park angrier than he has ever seen before, eyes filled with fire and fury, lashing out with all he has. “you think you can leave me too? just like she did! who the hell do you think you are?” harsh words follow the harsh blows, and eunjae feels desperation like he never felt before. he thinks this is it — i’m done for. time takes a different quality, it gets black before he can hear loud knocks coming from the door — when he is let go, he slouches, hiding his face in his hands. all he knows is he doesn’t want to see him ever again.

his wish comes true — the night is all a blur, but he learns later that the man has made enough noise to alert the neighbors. it’s someone who has also seen eunjae getting dropped off hours ago, so he is told someone put all the pieces together. even though his body hurts and he has one hell of a headache — he is happy to be away from his father.

vi.

it gets better before it gets worse, life in the foster care is more difficult than he would ever have thought, and it only serves to sharpen him up more. he grows a hard shell around himself, and after a few bad experiences too many, eunjae counts the days until he can leave on his own.

luckily to him, he knows he can make money off of hacking, proud of his computer skills, that’s what separates him from the herd. he manages to wire money into his own account, stealing little from the rich, and little by little, he knows how to integrate himself into a new life.

vii.

he flies too high, drunk on his own freedom and independence, he pisses off people he should have stayed away from. when he steps on the toes of the fraternity, it’s one of the worst mistakes he could have ever done, crossing a criminal organization such as them. he is certain nothing good will follow, that he will get killed — and even if he tries to run away, he gets caught.

it’s the current leader at the time who decides to give him a shot, and eunjae suddenly has to work for them if he wants to keep living. it sucks at first, but he gets used to it much quicker than he would have ever thought. it’s a place he can belong, and when the initial fear is over, the fraternity becomes… a good place for eunjae to be. he works hard, befriends people slowly but surely, manages to be important to the gang. six years fly by, both difficult and exhilarating at the same time, and eunjae feels this is his place.

at the beginning of 2142, he gets promoted to a strategist position. having proved that he is capable of what it takes, can act fast and think faster, eunjae only wants to do better for the fraternity.

ACCESSING: PERSONALITY …

POSITIVE TRAITS: driven, analytical, quick NEGATIVE TRAITS: stubborn, guarded, daredevil

he has grown very secretive over the years, especially considering his father is a high ranking official, and his experiences with him are most likely on record. the hard shell he has built around himself still remains, and it’s very rare that he shows his true colors. there are very few people he is comfortable with to do such thing, so he is always careful in his relationships.

analytical and guarded, he can think rationally under high-stress situations, which helped him a lot during his time with the fraternity. he is a good planner, and collecting data is a crucial part of planning. as such, it takes a lot of time to go with every detail and make sure everything is going to go smoothly — but eunjae devotes himself to it fully. at the same time, he is a daredevil when it’s himself on the line. he loves the exhilaration of doing something dangerous, but he has always been better at brains that brawns, so he knows where he should stand during operations.

… END OF MESSAGE.

#human #t #a

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acespaceandcraze-blog · 5 years

Text

My Crazy Little Space

Hi! This is my 3rd tumblr account and I want this one to be my online diary, or more like my absorbent when I have thoughts running in my head and I have no one to talk to. You might think I’m such a lonely person. I’m actually not. I am a very optimistic person and very patient too! However, I am very quiet and submissive. I don’t know how to get angry or throw a fit. I try to understand things that I can not control and move on. I mastered the art of “deadmatology” and learned the technique of energy-allocation.

I thought of starting this kind of blog after I dreamt of death. I am not scared of death itself, I just fear my daughter wouldn’t have me by her side in this complicated world growing up, she’s only 2! She needs her momma, at least for the next 30 years. I want to document some parts of my life here so that (God forbid) when I die, my daughter can read everything in here and somehow still feel my presence.

Right now, I am currently in my office, Tom and Charlie are already asleep, it’s Friday and it’s already 2 minutes past midnight. So technically, it is already Saturday. We had a good day. Tom is already driving so he drove me to a client meeting and we decided to bring Charlie too so we can enjoy the fall weather as much as we can. Tomorrow, or should I say later, we’ll be going to a minor injury clinic to have Tom’s shoulder injury checked then have dinner around the area and head to Nuit Blanche to see this year’s artworks. I’ve never been! I only see them on Instagram and I never really had the chance to go see it since I got pregnant, that’s why I’m so excited for tomorrow! I may or may not join my mom, my sister and my ninang to go to LA Collection for my sister’s wedding dress fitting. I was with her when she said yes to the dress but we had the biggest fight a couple of months ago. We just started talking casually and I still don’t know how I feel about the situation. I honestly think I am so drained already that I don’t have the energy to make another effort to try to understand why she is the way she is. Right now, I just want to get out of her way, expect nothing from her and move on with my life. I have given her so many chances and been so unbelievably patient with her for as long as I can remember and I am just not ok to continue being treated like that. I’ll just do my job to be a sister to her on this wedding but I won’t be doing all the extra efforts that I used to do for her. I’m just not that nice anymore.

Tbh, I can’t solely blame her for disrespecting and belittling me all the time. Growing up, we didn’t have our dad with us physically and emotionally because he had to work abroad in order to provide for us. We would only see him maximum of 3 months every other year or if lucky, once a year. I feel so bad for my dad for all his sacrifices working in a ship, throwing up and being seasick, homesick and not being able to spend time with the love of his life (my mom), and also sacrificing the chance of having a relationship with us, her daughters. I remember being shy and somewhat scared of him every time he’s home because I never really knew him, we never had a real father-daughter relationship. I feel so bad that yes, we did went to private schools and always had food in our table in exchange of having a great family relationship. I wish I could somehow make him feel that all his hard-work, blood and sweat did not go to waste, that we still see it and still very grateful for what he did for us. I pray that Charlie may somehow fill in that missing piece and be able to build a great relationship with him.

You may be wondering, so if you don’t blame your dad and not solely blame your sister, who should I blame? Well, it’s more of my fault than mom. I think if I did not allow her to disrespect me the first time, it wouldn’t have continued for years as we were growing up. I did not stop her and say, “that’s not right!”. Instead, I brushed all the hurt off and tried to befriend her. I thought I was doing the right thing by relating to her so we can start a relationship. I agreed to the wrongs, I stood up for her even when she wasn’t right, I wanted to show her I can be her friend no matter what she does. I was so wrong. But now I realized, it was not my sole responsibility to correct her. It was more of the mother’s. So I tried to understand what caused this.

I was a “late-bloomer”. Most people would say high school life is the best part of their lives, it wasn’t for me LOL! My sister and I are 7 years apart and we went to the same school and it was just about a 5-minute walk from our house in Manila. So everyday when mom picks up my sister, I also had to go straight home. I was never allowed to go out with friends, let alone have a sleepover. I did not have a single drop of alcohol in my mouth until I was in 19! We also had same curfews, 6pm Rosary time. I’d like to think I was a good girl. But I also never had a great relationship with my mom. She just was not approachable and there was no chance of having a heart-to-heart talk with her. She was just always mad, always concern of what other people will think or what will her in-laws would say because again, my dad was not there. It has not been easy for her too, I guess. All her parenting decisions were limited by the fact that my dad was not there so if ever something happens to us, she’s the one to blame. I swear, I truly understand where she was coming from, but what I couldn’t understand is why she never trusted me way before I made my very first mistake as a teenager.

We lived in Tondo. No offence to anyone but you can see the worst lives in there. I was no near that! I did not start drinking until I was in college, I never liked smoking, or even tried any type of drugs! I did not get pregnant until I was 31! I was pretty fine but I was treated and disrespected by my own family UNTIL NOW RUBBING IT IN AND EVEN TELLING MY OWN DAUGHTER that I was the worst daughter one could ever have. I still do not understand. I had real family outside home. I had to find love, trust and respect somewhere else because if I didn’t, I could have ended up just like the person they always think I was.

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jewels2876 · 6 years

Text

I Like Your Style

Pairings: Reader x Scarlett Johannsson, Reader x Elizabeth Olsen, Reader x Sebastian Stan

Word Count: 2421

Warnings: swearing, condom reference - but mostly FLUFF and shopping

A/N: Oh my god, the rewrites! I kept adding and deleting; I don’t think it’s one of my best but I wanted to keep writing – it’s good for my soul!

divider by @firefly-graphics

You had been a fan of Sebastian Stan the minute he stepped on screen in Captain America: The First Avenger. His beautiful blue eyes alone had been enough to draw you to him; that is until you saw Captain America: Winter Solider. The sheer virility on screen had you hot with desire; he only had one line and it still broke your heart every time you re-watched the movie. Since then you had indulged in every movie, show, video, ANYTHING you could get into your hands.

With the approaching Infinity War untitled movie, Marvel had thought it would be a great idea to set up contests for fans to meet their favorite Marvel heroes. Marvel was woefully naïve about the turnout they were expecting. Fans worldwide had crashed the Marvel site; the female contest numbers were through the roof and Marvel had to scrap the idea all together.

Or so they had led the world to believe – One of the contest sections, aside from the standard name, age, and email address, had been deceptively obtuse, asking the person to tell them who their favorite character was and why in 150 characters or less. Most of the entries had been underage teenagers telling emoji stories, while the vast majority of female entries had admitted vulgar suggestions for the actors involved.

You had chosen to answer honestly: I’ve been a huge Bucky fan – living in a world that never wanted to accept him, I could empathize – I learned my place was to help others, and I think he’s learned that as well. The only other question Marvel had put on the online form was a daytime phone number. So when your cell phone rang, showing a California number, you hesitated. You were on your lunch hour, what would one phone call hurt? Apparently, it could hurt an eardrum! You screamed louder and higher than normal when Marvel asked if you would be interested in walking their red carpet. Um, duh!

So here you were, at LAX, looking around for the car service. You spotted the sign “Y/l/n” with a sharp dressed man in sunglasses. You approached him with a smile. “Hi, you’re waiting for me.” He nodded without saying a word, which you thought was just a tad weird. But hey this is LA, right? They have weird people too.

You approached a large black town car, your luggage in tow. The driver put your luggage in the trunk, then opened the door for you. “Thank you,” you smiled again. He seemed unaffected as he moved around to the other side. You chuckled to yourself and shook your head. As you slid in you noticed the driver in the front seat already. The car started up quickly and in short time he dropped you off at your hotel. You thanked him again and left him a tip.

The hotel was standard by your experience. You weren’t expecting the royal treatment; the only thing you were really here for was the movie premiere! But as you emptied your luggage you realized the dress you brought didn’t seem nearly as special enough. You reached for your phone and dug around your emails. Marvel had said if you needed anything to call them, and what you needed now was directions to the nearest shopping mall and maybe a partner? Before you overthought it too much, someone answered your call and put you through to Marketing. The woman you spoke with didn’t even hesitate when you asked; she promised another car and a shopping partner in one hour. You thanked her and hung up to put away the rest of your stuff.

An hour later, the front desk called your room to let you know someone was here; you grabbed your purse and room key and headed down to the lobby. As the elevator deposited you on the lobby floor, you scanned the room. “Over here!” you heard someone yell. You did a double take at a blonde woman who was waving you over and the brunette beside her. You gave them both a polite smile. “Um, hi… Sc….”

“Shhh! We’re on a covert mission to get you a hot dress,” Scarlett Johansson deadpanned. “This is our deciding vote, Liz.” You giggled and extended your hand. “Y/n.”

“Enough with the introductions, let’s get out of here!” Scarlett ushered you out the door and into the other black town car they brought with them. The next hour flew by as you befriended the two actresses; even going so far to admit your huge crush on Sebastian. “Really?” Elizabeth smirked. “I’m pretty sure the guy’s single at the moment.” You blush hard. “Let’s not go there right now. I have a red carpet to get past, then I’ll let you set me up.” Elizabeth giggled. “Yes!”

The car finally came to a stop; Scarlett and Elizabeth got out first, you at their heels. When you step onto the sidewalk, your jaw drops slightly. “Um, I think we’re in the wrong place?” The two women smirked as you stared up and down Rodeo Drive. “No seriously, I’m not going to be able to afford anything here!”

Scarlett pulled out a card from her back pocket. “Who said you were paying?” You squealed in excitement. “OH MY GOD! Ok I have to chill, I know, but this is so NOT what I expected when I agreed to do this.” You stared again at the street full of stores, trying to put a game plan together.

“No way,” Elizabeth stated firmly. “We’re starting at Saks; if you can’t find something there this could be a lost cause.” You laughed and agreed to let the two pull you in tow. It didn’t take long for you to find a tasteful sheath dress, a standard little black dress. Scarlett gave you the once over in the fitting room. “I mean it’s nice, but it’s not… red carpet, wow, awesome. You need something… vibrant!” You liked your reflection in the mirror, but agreed to keep looking. Another hour and three dresses later, all of you were getting a little frustrated and punchy. You spied a bright blue dress, pulling it out to view. There were small cutout on the sides, but the back was nothing but straps and cords at the top. You hopped back into the dressing room again. Your eyes popped out a little and your jaw went a bit slack; you looked… hot! You stepped out of the dressing room and heard a few audible gasps.

“That’s the dress,” Elizabeth intoned. “I’ll say,” Scarlett concurred. With a satisfied fist pump, you went back into the fitting room and changed back into your clothes. Scarlett took the dress from you and went to be rung out; Elizabeth waited for you just outside the dressing room. “Well that was fun! You two are a riot!” you thanked them both in the car ride back to your hotel.

“Did you think this was over?” Scarlett asked. “We are taking you out; you cannot come to LA just for a lousy movie premier!” You stared at her in mock horror. “Did you just call the Infinity War (part 2) movie premier LOUSY?” The three of you all fell into a fit of laughter. “Seriously though, I have hair and nail appointments tomorrow; I’m glad I saw those silver strappy shoes on our way out or I would have needed another shopping trip! I’m tired.” To emphasize that point, you sank back into the car seat.

Elizabeth looked at you thoughtfully. “You know, you’re right. You’ve been flying all day; we kidnapped you to go shopping on Rodeo Drive. You get a good night’s rest; I think you’ll need it for tomorrow.” She grinned and winked at you. You groaned good-naturedly. “You guys are going to do something crazy to me aren’t you?” The car pulled up to your hotel lobby. You gave both women a hug goodnight. “You never know with us,” was Scarlett’s parting reply.

You woke up with a start; the blackout curtains were open just a tad so you could see soft sunlight peeking in. You glanced at your watch on the bedside table and groaned inwardly. It was early enough that you had nothing to do but kill time until your hair appointment, but late enough that you should not consider lying in bed for much longer either. You decided to keep up the yoga stretches you had been doing to de-stress, so you hauled yourself out of bed. Thirty minutes later and several yoga poses later you felt more refreshed. You started into the bathroom when you heard a knock at your door; you cracked the door to see your new friends. “Come on in ladies,” you held the door open. “What brings you here this early?” Scarlett threw herself in the armchair while Elizabeth settled onto a corner of the bed. “We’re here to take you to your appointments; make sure you get to your destination in one piece.”

“Ok, entertain yourselves then! I’m going to jump in the shower,” you grabbed the plushy bathrobe. “Should I be expecting anyone else before I get out?” Elizabeth chuckled at the question. “No,” she answered, “but we all get a memo this morning about treating our ‘fan’ with lots of attention.” She gave you a side-glance. “If that dress is any indication, I may not have to play matchmaker!” You blushed and giggled, the bathroom door closing behind you.

Four Hours Later

“Oh my god, this is fucking amazing!” A pair of strong hands was massaging your hands, as someone else finished your pedicure. You took off the cucumber slices and turned to the other women. “If this is the pampering you get for being an actor, I’ve been in the wrong business!” The nail tech declared your pedicure done. You admired the bright fuchsia polish on your toes and the French manicure on your fingernails. “This looks awesome! Thank you so much!” You shuffled off to pay for the services; Scarlett waved the black card around in the air. “Don’t even think about it y/n! Marvel is still footing the bill, I promise!”

“No way! I can afford a mani/pedi, along with the lunch and hair appointment,” you handed over your own debit card. “I came for a premiere, not for all of this.” You waved your hands around to make your point. “You ladies have been great friends; I think footing my bills is going a bit overboard.” Scarlett and Elizabeth snickered as their own pedicures were finished. Elizabeth confirmed everyone was done and you went with the two women to change.

Two and a half hours later, you emerged from the hotel all glammed up; your two pals gave you a once-over just to be sure there were no rips, tears, makeup stains, etc. “Damn y/n the guys are going to be drooling!” You smiled and clutched your purse a little tighter. It was holding the only things you needed that night: your phone, lip-gloss, and what Scarlett jokingly referred to as a “lucky charm,” a condom. You made your way down to the hotel lobby and escorted to a limousine. You slid in, followed by Elizabeth & Scarlett. The driver sped off; you used the time to calm the butterflies starting in your stomach. Elizabeth seemed to notice your distress. “Don’t worry; most people at a premiere are here to get us ‘big’ stars so you won’t have to worry about cameras being shoved in your face or being asked stupid fashion questions. Who are you wearing by the way?” You continued to stare out the window as you answered “Aidan Mattox dress, Jimmy Choo shoes.”

The limo came to stop; you started to get out, but Scarlett held you back. “Let me go first, then Elizabeth, then you. Let’s see what kind of trouble we can get you into.” You chuckled to yourself as you watched them get out. The bulbs were already flashing and the butterflies hadn’t left as much as multiplied. It was your turn, and already the lights had ebbed. You flashed a grin and stood tall for just a moment getting your bearings.

You heard a low whistle and turned to your right. The limos had been lining up, and right behind you had been none other than Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan. Your heart did a flip, and then flopped HARD. Sebastian’s hair was shorter, but the beard had been trimmed back to just scruff. His blue eyes were bright and shining, which seemed to match your dress. The two men approached you with friendly smiles. “Are you the fan we’re supposed to pay attention to?” Chris asked. You nodded, not trusting what might come out of your mouth. “I don’t think we’re going to have much trouble with that, are we Seb?”

“Nope, not at all,” Seb smiled and offered his right hand out. You glanced warily at him, not 100% sure of the intention, but took his hand. His other hand rested on the small of your back and he escorted you up the carpet. “I might give you all my attention,” he murmured low in your ear. Other parts of you were clenching in desire. Dear LORD, what that man’s voice was doing to you was sinful enough. You let him lead you a short way before the reporters started getting his attention. He let go of your hand, and whispered, “Don’t move” while he keeping a hand on your back and answered questions easily, with you by his side.

One reporter, whose microphone had the ET logo, asked how long the two of you had been dating. Without missing a beat, Seb answered “It’s new” with a smirk in your direction. You couldn’t help it; you rolled your eyes and laughed. He laughed with you, thanked the reporters, and continued further down the carpet. The process repeated a few more times, the last time one actually asked you about your outfit and you answered with a friendly smile.

Finally, you made it into the theater, trailing just behind Seb, taking the experience all in. “You ok babe?” he asked. “You seem awfully quiet.” You took his hand and gave it a squeeze. “I’m just… happy, you know? This weekend has been awesome. The minute that movie is over, this is over for me. But meeting you, seeing this movie, I’m going to remember this.” He squeezed your hand back. “Who says you won’t see me again?”

Tag list: @sarahivi @lokiandbuckyaremine @pseudonymfox @puckerupplum @writing-for-a-chance @woodworthti666 @greenarrowhead @thejemersoninferno @marvelc00kie35 @lovely-dreamer19 @moondancewrites @ticklikeabomb @white-chocolate-mocha-fan @thenormreedus @lionhe04 @yafriendlyfangirl @lokilvrr

#marvel #rodeodrive #elizabeth olsen #scarlett johansson #fanfiction #fanfic #sebastian stan #chris evans #fluff #shopping #et #scarlett johansson x reader #elizabeth olsen x reader #sebastian stan x reader

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flydotnet · 5 years

Text

Tango à Trois - Chapter 1: Hollyhock

Next Chapter (TBA)

Summary: Aoi Zaizen is a confused bisexual girl with two crushes at once and who doesn't know how to cope with that. Miyu Sugisaki is Aoi's best friend with a crush and doesn't know how to cope with growing another crush. Yusaku Fujiki is a confused teenager with a crush on his classmate and doesn't know how to cope with having a crush at all.

Chapter Summary: (N/A)

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS Pairs: Aoi/Yusaku/Miyu (subsets: Zinnia, Angelmaker, future Moonlight), secondary Kiku/Takeru and Ema/Akira

Chapter Count: 1/?

Notes: If everything feels kind of weird, it's because it's all set in a no-LI, no-Link VRAINS-ish AU for VRAINS I've come up with like eons ago in Internet time.

I came up with this ship on the fly (haha pun) in a group chat on Discord and stuck with it for some goddamn reason, and now I can't let go of it. In case you were curious yes I actually have some semblance of plan for this despite having this rushed, shitty first chapter because this is literally a random outlet for when I'm less inspired by my actual WIP novels lmao. While I know nobody is really gonna give a shit, I'm still posting it to show there are other ships than DSS around this hell of an Earth

xoxo, Fly

AO3 version available here.

Aoi had always been a rather confused girl when it was about romance. She used to blame it on her brother’s overprotectiveness, but seeing as she was still confused when he started dating Ema, her current future sister-in-law (there was no way they were getting split up, they were the perfect awkward couple in her eyes), that had clearly been a wrong hypothesis and, needless to say, she felt dumb because of it.

In fact, Aoi was confused enough by what love even was to begin with. It was about finding people attractive and wanting to spend something like eternity with them, right? So why did she find everyone attractive? Why were girls cute and boys handsome? Wasn’t she supposed to be like her brother Akira and find either boys or girls attractive? He had told her it was fine if she was into girls, but he had never said anything about being into both, if that was the term for it. What if that wasn’t natural? What if she was never meant to find both attractive? Was she defective? So many questions…

So she turned to her childhood best friend, Miyu. The latter had always been more in-touch with relationships and socializing, she’d have an answer, right? So they sent each other messages on one night, because Aoi was way too shy and intimidated to bring up such a sensitive topic in a public setting like school (someone could hear them, and it’d be catastrophic). Sure enough, Miyu told her it was called being bisexual, and it was perfectly normal.

Aoi’s heart strangely fluttered when her best friend, her most trusted confident, confessed to her that she, too, was bisexual and into both girls and boys. Was it relief or excitement, she didn’t know. She couldn’t guess or make a solid supposition, she couldn’t know.

On another evening, she took it to Ema to make sure it was normal. Her brother’s girlfriend, recently turned fiancée, had truly become the big sister figure she had never gotten: Ema was the best person to confide something to and yet make sure her brother would never be aware of it unless Aoi told him herself. Ema had taken the topic seriously yet lightly, never overdramatizing everything like her sister-in-law had the tendency to do. However, even after confiding that she, too, was a bi lady (there really were a lot of bisexuals in her circles, huh), the flutter in Aoi’s heart didn’t appear again. She put it on the behalf that it could have just been her relief making her heart be all weird, but… there had to be something more to it. She knew it.

Aoi’s next step was talking it out with a long-distance friend she had met right before her brother had gotten his current job at SOL: Kiku. By that point, she knew she was bisexual and to distinguish romantic attraction from platonic feelings (mostly by using her brother and Kiku as references), but she still wanted to talk it out with another confident. Much to her fortune, Kiku took the news very well, wording huge words of supports and wishing her all the happiness in the world she could muster. The encouragement would have not been this overwhelming would Kiku’s boyfriend Takeru not have heard her happy squeals and joined in on the fun. Aoi was pretty sure she was radiating red when she got showered with an entire dictionary of nice words.

Eventually, she told her brother about it. Even if he was the one person she trusted the most in the world, the one she’d no doubt count on would something ever go wrong, the man who had raised her instead of their parents since she had been ten, she was still tense when telling him about it. He had shown distress at first, mostly because of how nervous she was when asking him “big brother, can we have a talk, please?”, but quickly untensed when she spat out the information. A pat on her shoulder and a hug later, her ears almost went deaf when he told her he was proud of her for being brave enough to tell him and wished her the best of lucks. Her entire being destressed with all of this behind her, but that didn’t solve another issue that had risen.

The fluttering in her heart.

The thing was, Aoi had ever only felt her heart flutter in this strange, intense way around two persons: Miyu and a boy from her class that she had eventually befriended. She wasn’t surprised to figure out she had a crush on Miyu: it only took her a few days to get over it, strangely enough. Perhaps it was because they had known each other for years; and knowing her best friend was no stranger to being attracted to girls comforted her into getting over it and acknowledging her romantic feelings. They had always been very close, always holding hands as children in the park and indulging in it when nobody was looking in middle school: there was nothing weird about what they were doing, what she was feeling.

Perhaps there even was a chance for Miyu to be in love with her too.

However, the boy was another question altogether. Yusaku Fujiki was his name: he had always been rather quiet, not overly shrouded in mystery but never proactive in group conversations. They had shared classes for a few years by then, mostly subjects where she rather preferred teaming up with someone as discreet and apparently socially awkward as Fujiki rather than anyone else in the classroom (it also allowed her to escape from alpha bitchy popular girls and guys trying to hit on her as soon as they crossed gazes). Eventually, they became comrades, then friends, hanging out in most classes and between those to pass the time. Miyu had never been in the same class or workgroup as her: but it wasn’t too grievous when she had someone to rely upon, her now-trusted Yusaku.

Oh, that phrasing may have been too forward.

While Miyu and she had always been on a first-name basis, as calling each other by one’s surname was not a thing in kindergarten times, it hadn’t been the same with Fujiki. Getting to know each other as classmates passing papers off to each other to pass the time, helping each other in subjects in which they absolutely sucked (hers was Maths, his was Literature, and they were fine with that), joking about shared teachers were how they bonded, different experiences still retaining value to them: but they had to grow comfortable with the other and being close to them.

It wasn’t an easy task for someone like Aoi, who had always been “the SOL Security Manager’s sister” and trying to be profited upon (and, usually, her brother could immediately tell and sent them off): but Yusaku wasn’t like the others. He had never given a single damn about her brother’s job (or her brother at all, now that she thought about it), had never seen her as anything other than a classmate he liked to hang out with even outside of classes.

And that was where it hurt, in a way.

She was convinced Yusaku only saw them as that: friends. Considering their respective characters, it was already a miracle they had befriended each other and texted the other so often (as in, every day, and she was always excited to see what next trivia he could send her about his cat Ai and his friend Jin and his online best friend Takeru… Wait, that name was familiar), she couldn’t ask him to do much more than that. They were too introverted to have a mutual crush on each other…

…oh wait, that was even weirder.

Okay, finding both genders endearing and attractive was perfectly fine. Aoi was bi, her best friend was bi, her sister-in-law was bi… but falling in love with two persons at once, if that was her case, had to be abnormal. No, her feelings for Yusaku had to be something else… Perhaps she saw him as a twin brother? No chance, it was different from how she felt about her brother… Perhaps she saw him the same way she viewed Kiku, a trusty friend? No, no luck there either, there was the flutter and the weird pulses to hold his hand and maybe kiss him passionately against the wall… But then, what did she feel for Miyu?

The same thing, yes. Oops.

#vrains #yugioh vrains #fanfiction #aoi zaizen #yusaku fujiki #miyu sugisaki #ema bessho #akira zaizen #hireshipping #zinniashipping #angelmakershipping #kiku kamishirakawa

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tessariel-aerlinn · 6 years

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No excuses

I don’t usually make posts like these but after reading some of the responses in a certain facebook group for the Balmung server I just got tired of the victim blaming and excuses being spewed in regards to a certain chain of events that involve a ‘prominent’ community contributor. There is an article from PC Gamer that has published the story of what has happened in our nook of the MMO world and the link is here: https://www.pcgamer.com/prominent-final-fantasy-14-community-leader-accused-of-blackmail-and-sexual-harassment-by-over-a-dozen-women/

Now I’ve read it over seen things cross my tumblr feed in regards to this. I remained silent because I have no reasons to doubt what happened here because I didn’t have it happen to me and it’s far too common for these things to happen within the online communities we create to escape the real world. We build relationships with people across the globe based on a love of something which in this case is FFXIV. What has happened to these women is inexcusable regardless of the circumstance. This was a game, a psychological one played by a man who had nothing but ill intentions towards these women from the start. He was never their friend and had a profile he was matching these women to in order to get the biggest bang for his buck.

The ego/narcissist in this...I can’t even call him a man but I shall continue propelled his behavior because he hadn’t been caught and he had cowed these women into silence using various methods of blackmail. How did he do this? He waited for the opportune moment to befriend these women and knew who to look for. The targets were women who were at a low and likely suffered from self-esteem or even anxiety. They were possibly introverted as well which meant the internet allowed them a safe outlet to not worry about being judged for looks or anything else they felt made them feel inadequate for whatever reasons. It falls into the hunter/prey category where these women were his prey and he used every move he had in his bag of tricks to get his way. He befriended them to gain their trust and told them the things they wanted to hear from a male figure. Those who rejected his advances he seemingly backed off of and moved onto his next target but he would revisit if he saw the opening to try again. It’s not an unusual tactic and is rather common in abusers like him. When he found these women he made sure neither knew of each other and the typical use of no one will believe you do you know who I am speech pushed them into silence along with any blackmail he had on them which unfortunately was sexually explicit.

Now that these women have found each other they’ve found the strength to speak up and bring these atrocities to light. Their reward for doing so? Victim blaming, shaming and the brush off it’s the internet you should know better and the best one yet it’s a game get over it. Really? Regardless of the medium used this behavior isn’t acceptable period. Daily people are held accountable for things said on their social media. The internet is the means we communicate with others on a daily basis and the excuse of you should know better it’s the internet or it’s a game is being tossed at these women. The other excuses of they should have known better than to do xyz with a guy they didn’t really know is laughable. It made me wonder how many of these macho men who seem to be the one crowing the loudest in this debate to shame and defend the actions of the ‘man’ accused used the internet to date someone or even made friends with another but because they haven’t had this experience they have a sense of entitlement to just blame the victims for what happened. It shouldn’t be the case because whether the victims are women or men harassment or abuse of this kind or any kind is inexcusable, unacceptable.

I don’t care if others agree with me or not but if you feel that these victims should have known better unfollow me right now and pray that this never ever happens to anyone you know or even to you. There is discrimination when it comes to harassment because the one doing the harassment doesn’t care about the victim at all. Doesn’t matter the gender, race or sexual orientation. You are their target and will be until you fight back however you can. This predator is only sorry he got caught just like any other harasser be it sexual or not.

And speaking of harassment in a broader sense...If you someone who thinks you have a right to harass someone for anything you’re wrong. Period. If you are going out of your way to do harm to anyone else as revenge or because you simply get off on it. Get over yourself and seek help. In my eyes if you do this you’re no better than the guy who did this to those women. At one time I was a vindictive person when I was a teenager and into my 20s. Now? I’d rather ignore it until it comes up to my doorstep. Anyone who is knowingly doing things to harass someone to where they make them uncomfortable to leave the game or feel unwanted then claims ignorance to their actions are scum. I hope you know that the actions you do to others will come around to you later and be paid back tenfold.

#stop the harassment #stand up for the victims #ffxiv #don't be a douche #harassment isn't the answer #seek help

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fountainpenguin · 6 years

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Foils: Antagonists In FOP

I hope you all enjoyed “This Is a Box” last Tuesday. I know I said I was going to do a worldbuilding post this week, but since “This Is a Box” is so long, I decided to do a post that wasn’t going to make you take in too much new information. Thus, this week we’re discussing character personalities and fanfic writing tips.

Specifically, our topic today is foils, and how I write seven FOP antagonists as distinct characters despite their shared interest in villainy.

WHAT IS A FOIL?

Foil: In literature, a foil is "a character who contrasts with another character to highlight particular qualities of the other character.”

Anti-Fairies are intended, literally, to be foils to their counterparts. Foop is nitpicky and proud, whereas Poof is laid-back and modest. Cosmo is clueless and doesn’t like taking responsibility, whereas Anti-Cosmo is intelligent and wants his name smeared across everything he does. Wanda takes charge with organized efficiency, whereas Anti-Wanda is reckless and deferent. And so on.

But foils don’t have to be Fairy and Anti-Fairy counterparts. Any two characters can be foils if you develop them that way. Cosmo and Wanda are foils for each other, with Wanda being the responsible motherly type and Cosmo being the childish playful type. Dinkleberg is a foil for Timmy’s Dad, as Dinkleberg is ridiculously considerate and generous, while Timmy’s Dad tends to be jealous, selfish, and judgmental.

WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT FOILS AS A WRITER?

Designing characters to be foils is a simple way to flesh them out and draw a reader into the story. Foils can complicate relationships in interesting ways between friends who hold some opposing views, or even between a hero and villain who hold some similar views.

Foils are typically used to balance a protagonist with their main antagonist. But how do we balance antagonists with other antagonists?

VICKY

The key to writing Vicky is remembering her motivation. This is where “Certifiable Super Sitter” fell short. Vicky’s motivation throughout the series has always been greed. She craves money. She’s in the babysitting gig to get paid, meaning that she would never want parents to stop hiring her. “Certifiable Super Sitter” was inconsistent with this motivation, because Vicky acted openly evil in front of Timmy’s Dad and had no concern that he would stop hiring her or tell her to go home.

In addition to earning money, Vicky also enjoys bossing the kids she babysits around. This too has a purpose. She forces them to do chores she brought from her own house, or other tasks that their parents had left her to do that night. Obviously, this too has a purpose. Vicky avoids doing dishes or cleaning toilets by blackmailing or threatening to hurt the children she babysits. The chore gets done with little to no effort on her part, and she still gets paid. Although blackmail can be effective, Vicky gets a thrill out of scaring children, and tends to rely on physical, cartoon-y violence whenever possible.

However, Vicky’s work isn’t done. She must also convince the parents that she is worth hiring again, and prevent the children from convincing their parents that she’s horrible. Blackmail is sometimes used, but often, Vicky will break or damage something and blame it on the kid she babysits. She plays the victim who tried and failed to stop this child, and who, weeping, blames herself in front of the parents. The parents trust her more, and their children less.

So, Vicky’s greatest weakness as a villain is that she is constantly maintaining a “secret identity” from parents in Dimmsdale. She must play the part of a sweet and caring babysitter in front of them, and also make them believe she’s sweet and caring even after she’s left and parents speak with their children. Vicky is different from most other antagonists in FOP because she can’t be openly cruel in front of most of the town.

Vicky has another piece to her character that the other antagonists don’t: Her hate/love relationship with the alien Mark. The two break-up and make-up throughout the series, with Vicky loving his human form but struggling to accept his alien one. Even after seeing his alien form in “King Chang”, she sent him chocolates for Valentine’s Day as seen in “Invasion of the Dads”, and took him back sometime before “Fairly Odd Pet”, before breaking up with him again that episode after “having a fight with him”.

So another trait of Vicky’s that sets her apart from the other antagonists is her age. Vicky is a teenage girl dealing with teenage girl problems when she isn’t busy babysitting. She struggles with her sometimes-boyfriend, she busily attends high school, and she occasionally tries to find other jobs (Such as interning at the hospital, or working at the Cake ‘N’ Bacon diner).

Additionally, Vicky has a little sister, Tootie, who is an excellent foil for Vicky- while Vicky hates Timmy, Tootie is in love with him. Whenever those two and Timmy are together, they instantly clash.

CROCKER

Vicky is a teenager constantly working to keep her “true identity” from adults in Dimmsdale. Denzel Crocker has no such concerns. From early on in the series, other characters label him crazy- including his ex-girlfriend and current boss, Geraldine Waxelplax.

This is a problem for Crocker! People don’t take him seriously, and laugh at him both behind his back and to his face. He despises the “crazy” label, but instead of trying to convince the town that he’s “gone straight” and no longer believes in fairies, Crocker throws his all into proving that fairies exist. Crocker is both full of wrath at the thought of being considered crazy, and full of greed in his desire to gain control of fairy magic. Of course, what he most wants to do with fairy magic isn’t to live a life of luxury, but to seek revenge on all those who ever wronged him in the slightest. Crocker finds it impossible to befriend anyone who openly believes he’s crazy.

In contrast with Vicky, Crocker delivers far more emotional pain to Timmy than physical pain. As Timmy’s fifth grade teacher, Crocker controls a huge chunk of power over Timmy, from his grades to his social life. Crocker’s end goal, of course, is to prove to the world that Timmy has fairies. He does so by publicly humiliating Timmy whenever he can, trying to coax him to use magic to defend himself or poof away, after which Crocker intends to capture Timmy’s fairies and prove to everyone that fairies are real.

Crocker is the complete opposite of Vicky in that regard. While Vicky wants to keep part of her life secret and always wants to get Timmy alone so she can torment him, Crocker always wants to keep Timmy in public so that if Timmy does call on his fairies for aid, he’ll risk exposing them to the world.

Besides being thought of as crazy, another aspect of Crocker’s character sets him apart from the other antagonists. Despite his old age, he is unmarried and still lives with his mother. The two constantly clash because his mother is desperate for him to marry and move out, and Crocker dislikes being babied and bossed around. However, Crocker’s dating pool is limited, as the town believes he’s crazy. Even if his craziness doesn’t stand in the way, his age and looks make dating a struggle.

Some of the other villains in FOP don’t intend to target Timmy specifically. However, Crocker has a perfectly legitimate reason for doing so: Timmy Turner is in his class. Timmy does harass Crocker on occasion too, by publicly embarrassing him (Such as by switching the video Cosmo took of Cosmo and Wanda and tried to upload online with a video of Crocker wearing a dress in “Information Stupor Highway”). Crocker, despising it when people think he’s crazy, suspects Timmy’s hand in many of the bad things that happen to him, and the cycle continues.

Crocker is different from some of the other antagonists in the show because, mostly, he doesn’t really want Timmy dead. Occasionally his wrath will get the better of him and he’ll want to strike out at everyone who’s ever laughed at him, but both Crocker and Timmy would prefer to publicly humiliate each other instead of physically hurting each other whenever possible.

NORM

Norm is one of those characters who isn’t here to make friends. With anyone. Ever. In basically his whole life. The only time he’s interested in winning someone over is if he approaches them to flirt. If you don’t match the qualification of “pretty genie lady”, the odds for winning Norm’s cooperation without a side order of sarcastic remarks are not in your favor.

Norm is an extremely forthcoming person. That alone sets him apart from all the other antagonists on this list besides Crocker and Anti-Cosmo. Perhaps being bottled up for the majority of his life has left the genie with a craving for conversation. Norm has a tendency to blurt things out even when his conversation partner doesn’t have the context about why he’s so angry about a certain person or event. He’ll happily explain himself to anyone who takes the time to talk with him, frequently revealing his plans in the process. I suppose when you’re a genie with oodles of cosmic power at your fingertips, you can get away with saying whatever you want.

And it’s a good thing that Norm does have power at his back, because his big mouth would get him into a lot of trouble otherwise. Norm’s cockiness is always his downfall. Being a powerful genie, Norm typically expects things to work out for him. If he thinks the two of you are on the same side working towards the same goal, such as seeking revenge on Timmy Turner, then he’ll contribute everything to the table that he possibly can: Including revealing that a genie’s master actually can wish for more than three wishes.

While Norm may be proud and snarky, he actually does have some inkling of respect for authority. Not only did he jump through all the hoops to participate in Fairy Idol for the chance to become a fairy godparent, but he even put up with Jorgen stapling wings to his back and didn’t try to seek revenge on him for doing so. Norm likes to needle people out of curiosity to see if he can make them snap, but he doesn’t like direct confrontation.

Another sign of Norm’s cockiness is how touchy-taunty he tends to get. Put him in a room with another person, and he’ll inevitably poke them in the nose, rub his hand in their hair, or otherwise push and pull them around. However, he doesn’t appreciate being touched (or hugged) much in return. His displeasure is clear by the irritated faces he makes, but he doesn’t shove people off or snap at them. He’ll taunt and tease, yes, but again, direct confrontation isn’t his thing. This reluctant acceptance to let himself be touched and pushed around against his will is a surprising trait for a villain, and a very interesting one to explore.

Norm’s main goal in life, obviously, is to gain freedom from his lamp- a goal which he can’t achieve unless he is wished from his lamp by his master, or manages to exploit one of a few loopholes like the kind we saw in the show. Norm has no interest in taking over the world, blowing up the planet, or even in getting rich. The thing is, Norm isn’t outside his lamp nearly as often as he’d like to be. Once he gained freedom in “Fairy Idol”, he was delighted to explore the world, attend baseball games, and be waited on hand and foot. Things that involve other people, but with little effort and conversation on his end (Besides, of course, having dinner with someone who caught his eye).

Despite his utter lack of subtlety and his tendency to reveal what he’s thinking to everyone around, Norm is a very practical person overall. He’s used to time ticking out on him. He likes things to get done. He’ll go along with anything you want as long as he thinks it’s going somewhere, but he hates feeling used or ignored. One other thing that sets Norm apart from many of the other FOP villains is his reluctance to talk about his feelings. He’ll blab his evil plans, perhaps, and call you snappy nicknames every second of the day, but when it comes to actual emotions, he tends to keep his mouth shut or explain things through the use of logic instead.

REMY

Remy is an excellent foil for Timmy from the get-go. While both crave the attention of their parents, Timmy interacts with his much more frequently. Remy is barely allowed two minutes to speak directly with his parents. The original script for “Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary” even shows a deleted scene where he pleaded for them to stay and talk with him longer, and his mom softened and decided that they could deduct the extra time from tomorrow’s daily two minutes. Naturally, Remy envies Timmy for having two parents AND two godparents who all care about him.

Unlike Timmy, however, Remy is shown to be a very obedient child. Timmy often finds his parents dumb, or their rules strict, and uses Cosmo and Wanda to leave the house or gain access to anything his parents don’t want him to have. Timmy always tries to protest when he thinks his parents are being unfair, especially where Vicky and Crocker are concerned.

But Remy isn’t brave enough to stand up to his parents. In his desperation to win their affection, he is wholly compliant. He’ll do anything they say - stay out of their way, stay quiet, attend military school - and is even delighted to be called by the wrong name (Liam) due to the fact that he received a pat on the head from his father in the process. I think the fact that the scene of him whining to his parents was cut from the final episode emphasizes this aspect of his character completely.

One thing is for sure: Remy would never use magic to hurt or even slightly inconvenience his parents. He just can’t bring himself to do it, or perhaps feels that he can’t change their minds no matter how hard he tries with magic, and that the only way to win their love is to do exactly what they say and hope it will all pay off in the future. The thing about Remy is, he tends to rely on others to rescue him rather than fighting to help himself. Instead of trying to pull himself from his downward spiral and fight for his needs, Remy would rather lash out at those who have what he doesn’t.

I haven’t written Remy much yet, but whenever I do, I try to emphasize the passive qualities of his character. Another example from the original script of “Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary” that was cut from the final version is the scene during the magical duel where Remy pulls out his phone to call for advice on which amazing creature he should turn into. In the script, his phone couldn’t get signal in Fairy World. Instead of trying to come up with something on his own, Remy stood there helplessly, panicking, placing all his faith in Juandissimo’s ability to save the day (Juandissimo, of course, turned Remy into a tortoise).

Overall, Remy is a lonely, quiet child who tends to let things happen to him. He uses Juandissimo’s magic to escape reality and venture into comic books, and generally stays out of his parents’ ways. Unlike Timmy, Remy tends to think through the consequences of his actions, and tries to find more reasonable, easier, less risky ways to get what he wants (For example, he first tried to pay Timmy to wish Cosmo and Wanda away, instead of immediately calling magical duel in “Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary”.)

Remy has control over very few things in his life- Juandissimo and money being the most obvious two. When Timmy and Remy first met, Remy was determined to rent the entire movie theater out for himself- no matter how much pressure the other kids put him under. Remy may not be able to stand up to his parents, but when backed with Juandissimo and money, he is determined to get what he wants from people he doesn’t believe have the power to stop him.

ANTI-COSMO

Anti-Cosmo’s biggest foils are, of course, Jorgen and H.P., as they all hold prominent positions as leaders in the magical world, and even Jorgen has aggressive, threatening, not-wholly-good traits. Anti-Wanda acts as a foil for Anti-Cosmo too, since her reckless carelessness tends to interfere with many of his plans.

H.P. and Anti-Cosmo, though, are both villains who lead their respective races. Since I am currently writing a backstory ‘fic for each of them (Origin of the Pixies and Frayed Knots), and the two frequently overlap, it’s very important to me to make them distinct from one another. To do this, I always strive to emphasize certain opposing key aspects in their personalities- Logic vs. Creativity being the most obvious.

H.P. is a highly-controlling neat-freak. When I write him, I try to emphasize his OCD tendencies, such as his need to rewrite notes on a new paper instead of crossing things out, or rearranging flowers by color in the grocery store.

So to contrast H.P., I went against the idea of Anti-Cosmo that I usually see portrayed in fanfiction- Instead of making Anti-Cosmo neat and tidy, I made his work areas messy. To top it off, I gave him scruffy hair that he can’t seem to style no matter how much he tries. He constantly flits from one idea to another, coming up with ideas and throwing them into action with the blind confidence that they’ll work, instead of taking the time to carefully plot things out. He prefers to improvise, rather than proceeding in an orderly fashion like H.P.

This also works, because messiness is a trait my Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda share, so her habit of being cluttered doesn’t frustrate him as much as it could. Instead of being a point that drives them apart, it’s an area where they understand each other.

Another way I try to emphasize Anti-Cosmo’s creativity is by making him a lover of the arts. When I walk him past statues, paintings, or through gardens in my writing, I let him pause and admire whatever it is he’s looking at. I also gave him the ability to draw, which happens to contrast with Cosmo’s ability to build. In my short story “Yellow Flower Number 9”, Anti-Cosmo happily supported anti-fairy children at the craft fair, even though the quality of what they were selling was subpar. Most antagonists, especially H.P., would never do that.

Of course, Anti-Cosmo is also based on the British aristocrat stereotype. He’s polite, proper, loves his tea, and probably loves to read. When he speaks, his sentences are very long and boastful- not to mention, full of pompous vocabulary. Anti-Cosmo tends to act smugly and expects to be respected, even if he’s dangling from the Big Wand in Fairy World by his underwear. However, despite his expectation of being respected, Anti-Cosmo tends to make terrible decisions- such as trying to steal brownies from the von Strangle bakery in plain sight, rather than sneaking in to steal them later. Or buying them.

HEAD PIXIE

The other major trait pair between H.P. and Anti-Cosmo that I try to emphasize in my works is Justice vs. Mercy. H.P. makes his rules clear to his pixies and punishes anyone who breaks them. He believes that hard work should be rewarded, and will promote or demote the workers of Pixies Inc. regardless of whether doing so will cause their coworkers to resent them. Anti-Cosmo, however, is willing to forgive, teach, and nudge in the right direction without delivering much more than a scolding or light slap on the wrist. Anti-Cosmo is far more willing to trust those he doesn’t like and forgive those who have wronged him in the past than grudge-holding H.P. is.

H.P. is a curious character whose personality in-show seems to contradict everything you would expect of him. Despite his age, wealth, and business attire, the Head Pixie is a very casual man who tosses phrases like “Later, dude”, “Blah blah blah”, and “Go me, go me, it’s my birthday” into conversation. One deleted scene from “Oddlympics” even shows him fist-bumping. His sentences are short, a bit choppy, and frequently begin with conjunctions. Obviously, his speech pattern alone sets him apart from Anti-Cosmo.

The key to writing H.P. is confidence. And lots of it. Every time H.P. is on screen, you’ll know it. He always wants everyone’s attention on him, and tries to take charge in all situations. When he is expected to defer to someone, such as Anti-Cosmo while in Anti-Cosmo’s own home, he can’t seem to resist the urge to undermine whoever holds power over him- even if that person is his own ally. For example, when Anti-Cosmo wanted to name the baby they’d kidnapped Fauntleroy, H.P. made a point of arguing with him in front of Timmy and the gang, whereas a more tactful character (such as Anti-Cosmo) might have waited until they were away from witnesses before expressing distaste.

H.P. is a proud soul with very little shame. He acts as though he can get away with doing whatever he wants and make people look bad if he feels like it, and expects to not face serious consequences for doing so. Cocky H.P. believes he deserves respect and that he should always be in charge. Nothing drives him crazier than losing control of a situation. If he isn’t in control, he’ll gain it in whatever way he can- typically by sassing whomever holds power over him.

Another interesting aspect to H.P.’s character is, of course, that he is a businessman. And not only is he a businessman, but the pixies represent the neutral gray between the Fairy and Anti-Fairy races. H.P. is a character who holds no qualms about playing on both sides of the street. If it benefits him most to do things the legal, lawful way, then he will jump through all the hoops and fill out all the paperwork to do so. But if it benefits him to play the role of a villain and simply take what he wants (such as a fairy baby), then he’ll go about things in a more underhanded way.

H.P. has a very logical way of looking at the world, and isn’t usually conflicted when faced with multiple options. Vicky won’t torment a child in front of a parent. Crocker may hesitate to act if he feels he’ll be publicly humiliated. Remy is reluctant to stand up to adults he can’t win over with money. Anti-Cosmo’s temper flares when he feels he’s been insulted. Foop, when trying to be underhanded, might let something slip but will stammer and correct himself to hide his true goals. H.P., however, tends to be straightforward, blunt, and doesn’t try to disguise what he wants. You generally know what H.P. wants from you, and if you don’t yet, he’ll let you know very soon.

FOOP

Foop seems to take much more after Anti-Cosmo than he takes after Anti-Wanda, so when my writing gives me the chance to bring both Anti-Cosmo and Foop into the same scene, I try to emphasize the differences between them. Again, I try to play off Anti-Cosmo’s creativity and charity by playing up Foop’s logical outlook on life, along with his childish perceptions and his selfishness. If bringing Anti-Cosmo into a scene isn’t an option, then Foop ranting about ways his father annoys him can also do the trick.

The show doesn’t make the differences between Foop and Anti-Cosmo very obvious, but if you study them closely, you can get a feel for the ways they differ. “Fairly Odd Baby” makes it clear that Anti-Cosmo is much more interested in flaunting how smart he is than he’s interested in actually getting away with what he was trying to do.

For example, in “Fairly Odd Baby” alone, Anti-Cosmo took the time to reveal that he and H.P. were actually the ones disguised as Jorgen, taunted those who came to rescue Poof while they were caged, and explained his evil plan to H.P.- all instead of just going ahead with his plan. Foop is way more goal-oriented. Rather than monologue and threaten, he’d rather blast you and be done with it. If he’s in disguise, don’t expect him to reveal himself.

I do believe Foop’s strengths lie in being a planner. In “Playdate of Doom”, he went to great lengths to urge Jorgen to bring a block of ice to his jail cell. Foop used this ice to both cover his escape hole and make it look like he was still in his cell, despite the fact that he could have escaped earlier at any time. You can bet that Anti-Cosmo wouldn’t bother to hide his escape hole, and would instead leave it there to make his disappearance obvious as soon as possible. In his debut episode, “Anti-Poof”, Foop even appears distressed when Poof flew away without playing in the Sandbox of Sorrow he’d designed. It had a Shovel of Sadness and a Pail of Pain and everything!

It’s reasonable to conclude, then, that Foop values success more than brains. This is in line with the annoyance he seems to feel towards his father, as he doesn’t believe Anti-Cosmo could truly be smart if he doesn’t accomplish the things he sets out to do. Oddly, Anti-Cosmo and Foop are the only antagonists for whom jail time seems to be a serious consequence for their actions. In writing Foop, I try to emphasize this. His biggest concern isn’t that people will think he’s crazy. His biggest concern is being caught and punished.

One of Foop’s characteristics that affects what he does is, again, his age. Foop may be an evil genius in his own right, but he’s still a small child. He likes stuffed animals and wants to make friends at school. He’s scared of Vicky and sees Crocker as a weird old man who happens to share a few interests with him. Foop may see himself as a lone wolf who can take care of himself, but you can always expect him to get distracted with sweets or have his feelings hurt if someone criticizes something he’s worked hard on.

I’ve written Foop not only as a child in my works, but occasionally as a very young teenager. I see Foop growing up with an interest in science, to contrast Poof’s interest in sports. Even as he grows, I try to portray him as a smart but rebellious boy who is constantly torn between trying to impress his father, and trying to annoy him. He craves approval and awards, but constantly struggles against his desire to lash out when someone sets him off. Even as an adult, I think, Foop will always have a stubborn streak of childishness in his heart.

TO THE TEST

Here are seven snippets I wrote just now, with each of the characters above facing off with Timmy. Using what you know about the different characters, their motivations, and how they differ, can you tell who said each one?

“What? Still got a wad of industrial-strength floss stuffed in your ear or something? It’s a perfectly dreary day, and you’re sitting around in here? Come on, get out, smell the thunderstorm, huh?”

“Are you still here? Oh, please. What do you want? You have your reward. Our agreement has terminated. Yes, so you distracted the ruffians long enough to prevent them from getting away- So what? I’m the one who called the police to come and arrest them! And look which one of us isn’t sporting bruises in every color of the rainbow. Yes, very well done, you!”

“I hope you’re kidding. You know, I really don’t see how I could have made myself any clearer. Then again, I never bothered learning how to speak Simpleton. This plan was foolproof. I even wrote it out for you. You were supposed to unleash the giant spiders when I said ‘Two’. Two! Which I swear must also be the level of your intelligence on a scale from 1 to 10!”

“Ha! I’d like to see you try and take it, punk. And if one word gets out, I’ll grind you into mulch so foul, not even the worms will dig you up again.”

“What will it be, Turner? Escape now and reveal your secret to the world, or stand there and watch the girl of your dreams email that humiliating photo to everyone you’ve ever known?”

“Ah-buh-buh! I wouldn’t lay a single fingernail on that button if I were you. After all, you wouldn’t like it if I happened to accidentally tip that platform you’re standing on straight into the lava below, now would you? No, I didn’t really expect you would.”

“It really is that easy. Take back your bug, walk out that door, and we won’t have a problem. Or don’t. Then we might. That’s your choice.”

#FAIRIES!#Remy Buxaplenty #Jonathan Magnificent #Lava lamp dude #The bat with the hat #I'm wasp dad trash #Red babysitter #Big Crock #Nerdy blue bat son #Long post #ridwriting #screenshots #Dragonfly parents #Purple hippie dragonfly #Perfect pink beaver boy #Origin of the Pixies #Frayed Knots

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fallenanjjj · 2 years

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Connection Realization

Having moments alone made me think and realize various things, it also made me more aware of my connections (platonically & romantically) and the emotions I felt during the past years.

When I entered High School there's nothing in me that wants to be popular, I didn't even imagine being attracted to 1 person, having male friends, and/or having suitor/s because it was programmed to me that I'm not attractive enough and definitely not cool just like other girls till I had a group of friends (which my mom doesn't like btw). I never expected to have such bond with those girls because I'm not like them but eventually I've learned to adapt, if I will look back and describe myself I can say that I'm nothing but a Chameleon. I change colors to fit in, it was fun at first since I got to experience many things, It was a typical High School where you become visible from being invisible and I must admit I loved the attention I'm getting. Grade 7 and half of my Grade 8 were great, I didn't escape from dramas with friends and relationships but for me it was a hoot and a half. I used to know almost half of my batch and had friends from different sections, I also started experiencing boys adding and chatting me online, and being more close to male than female in my school which by that time I find flattering and that gave me an ego boost. As a teenager I thought having fun and having lots of friends and acquaintances is all that matters until I put my one leg to the grave and almost got burried. For someone who is just 14-15yrs old I was selfish and lost and super confused, I couldn't understand why do I have to go through those it's not like I'm a criminal. During those times I experienced people turning their back at me, judging me, throwing me under the bus, and even discriminated for something I never wanted to happened but it did, only very few people stayed and believed me. It was indeed messy but that didn't stop me from still looking for the good in people. I was so naive and innocent because for someone like me who've gone through shit in an early age because of people, I still didn't have the guts to judge or discriminate them for their looks or even weirdness, and that's when I met Dom. He's a very talented guy at that moment, very nice, and sweet but the only flaw that he has is his cleft lip but that didn't stop me from befriending him. He used to tell me how bullied he was and on how he got to be misunderstood most of the times so I vowed to myself to be his friend no matter what because I know how it feels to be discriminated. Our friendship was a bit messy since he wants something more than friendship but I couldn't give it to him, it was also messy because admittedly I took advantage of him which I didn't really meant to happen. Looking from my present viewpoint all I can see was, I was young, naïve, and technically somewhat insensitive at that time. But even so, our friendship lasted for almost 2yrs till he suddenly ditched me when he transferred in Senior High School. At some point I got mad, frustrated, and definitely lost when he cut me off. Nevertheless, as years passed by I realized that if it wasn't for him I wouldn't know Erth, Gian, Kenji, Akeem, Antonio, Ken, etc. They were not the kind of people who will stick around all the time, some of them I even lost contact but they are the people who either made my life better, sweeter, memorable, and even gave me a lesson learned.

For the past 7yrs I met many people and honestly most of them were wrong. Pete, Nhab, Wacky, Gian M.S, Reign, Jan, Dom, Martin, etc. and most recently, Angeline. There's a lot on my list but they are the once who completely took a big toll on me. Some of them made me lose my self-respect, made me question my self-worth, some made me feel like a disposable toy, some dumped me like I was nothing, some ruined my reputation, and above all gave me the toughest trust issues. There are moments where I have forgotten all happy memories that I have/had inside those 7yrs because of the guilt and regret I have/had which I hate. I want to keep every happy memory I had but it becomes harder and harder every single day. At some point I used to be good at expressing myself to others but now I shut down, sometimes I find myself wanting to talk about how am I honestly but there are no words comming out because I realized that usually every strong connection I have turns into flames and burns me alive. For every honesty I share it backfires to me (even to my own family actually), I realized that I was born alone so I don't have the right to seek for connection because I'm supposed to be alone and I should get used to it.

On a different note, I also realized that I never stopped loving Erth I just stopped chasing after the thought of having him as a partner, I stopped entertaining the thought of "Maybe we could work" and create various scenarios through my interpretation of his actions. I know I said before that possibly maybe I'm just inlove with the thought of having him because everything seems to fall into place but clearly I was wrong, I do love the person but in a very different way. I love him in a way that is constant but usually dormant. After Erth, everyone that followed are merely just a patch. I love them that's for sure but it's the kind of love that usually fades overtime, it will hurt for a while but it's more bearable as time passes. The years have passed but I still find myself going back to Erth till eventually I stopped. Having said this, when I finally gave up, that's when Yuan came in. That is when I started to fall deeply inlove again. Our relationship wasn't as pleasant but he's the only man I loved dearly after Erth, the only man I fought for and dreamed my life with a clear vision, and he's also the one made me forget the strong feelings I had for Erth. It was that kind of relationship where it was difficult to handle but I still don't want it to end because it was almost perfect. It was painful to accept that deep down I know there's no chance for us to be together again and have that kind of relationship that we always hoped for.

How I wish I have alcohol right now, I miss the feeling of being drunk and just being carefree to be honest.

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rejectedbyeharmony · 6 years

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My First Husband

The title is a little tongue-in-cheek as I have not been married again, but I think it’s funny to refer to him as my first husband. After I ruined my life by dropping out of college and had no plans for my future, my dad made me go to work for him. My dad worked in remodeling. He tried his hand at his own company, but ended up going to work for a friend; and this friend was generous enough to give his free-spirited wayward daughter a chance. So, Dad had me working manual labor during the week, but the bonus was that I had a full weekend. Most of my friends worked retail or in the service industry so they had to work on nights and weekends.

I took to the internet to build a social circle. If you grew up in the time that I did, you probably spent your fair share of hours in AOL chat rooms. I was in a particular chat room that was geared toward the tattooed and pierced community. It was predominantly young adults who had a couple trashy tattoos and a bunch of piercings in their face and perhaps in their genitals… It attracted people who worked in the community or people who were attracted to people who were tattooed and pierced. But it was a pretty mixed bag of members all over the country.

I befriended a girl named Misty who lived in New Jersey, and we had been chatting online since I was in high school. We met finally when she and her family were visiting DC and I felt like I had found my long-lost sister. This girl and I totally imprinted on each other, and were inseparable aside from the distance.

One of my free weekends, I decided to go visit her in Central Jersey. I had never gone that far north by myself. But I figured after my trek to Charleston, a four hour trip to New Jersey would be cake. So I drove up there and got in late at night. Misty was working at the local Stop & Shop and she told me to meet her when she got off work. I pulled up in front of the grocery store and sat waiting for her as she came walking out with a couple of guys.

I got out to smoke a cigarette with them and she introduced me to Dale and Joe. They worked in the deli and they were “hilarious”, according to Misty. So far Joe had only poked fun at Dale’s last name, which was Butts. I’ll admit that I have the sense of humor of a teenage boy, so I definitely did laugh at that. But the jury was still out on “hilarious”.

They were having a party that night and we were invited. I was down! And so we said our goodbyes and headed back to Misty’s to get ready. She said, “I’m really excited for you to meet Joe because I think he’s awesome and I think that you’ll like him.” She also mentioned that she kind of had a crush on him. I was confused, and asked “so... do you want my approval or do you want me to hook up with him?” And she laughed and said “whatever’s clever girl!” But that’s how Misty was... you never really knew what she was talking about, but that was all part of her appeal.

So, we go to this party and we’re having an awesome time and I’m definitely digging Joe. Misty wasn’t wrong, he was hilarious. And, I don’t know, there was just something about him that was different and really cool.

I stayed up there for the rest of the weekend and spent most of it with Joe. Misty seemed to be supportive of this union and wasn’t jealous or weird, so when I came home Sunday night, we just started this slow-moving long distance relationship.

We decided a few weeks later that we should meet up again, this time we chose Philly. I’ve never been to South Philly and Joe‘s roommate was from there and they wanted to show me how to order a decent cheesesteak in on South Street. So I spent another weekend with these guys and I was just loving life. These weekend trips happened at least every other weekend for about two months, until finally I told my parents that I wanted them to meet him.

Fast forward to St. Patrick’s Day. I spent the weekend with Joe, and we were Irish af and drank a lot of green beer. The next morning we woke up and Joe’s mouth and teeth and hands were all stained by green food coloring. OMG We tried really hard to scrub it off before meeting with my parents that afternoon, who had driven up to go gambling in Atlantic City and we’re going to meet us halfway in Delaware. Joe and I tried as hard as we could to get that green off, but it was permanently stained on his mouth and hands. [LOL]

We took showers, got dressed, and got in the car, and every time I looked at him I could not stop laughing at all the green. Deep down, I knew that my parents would probably appreciate it, being proud Irish-American people. While I enjoyed watching him squirm, I assured him everything would be fine.

We met my parents for lunch and had a great time, and they thought his Irish pride was hysterical. I think they could see how happy we made each other. My parents asked Joe if he would be willing to move, my dad said that he had already spoken to his boss and he could get Joe a job with us at our company. Joe emphatically said yes! We ended lunch, said our goodbyes (but see you soon’s!) and went back to Jersey to tell Joe‘s roommate that he was going to be moving out. Dale had already prepared himself for that and told Joe “well you’re good, so whenever you’re ready...”

He was ready. So we packed him up and left that night. Moving this man to my hometown was so exciting and gratifying. After having been through the trauma of uprooting myself for someone who didn’t share my feelings, this relationship was healing that wound.

We lived with my parents at first, until we saved enough money. We got our own place, my first apartment, just south of Woodbridge, in Triangle. It wasn’t the best neighborhood and it definitely wasn’t the best apartment, but it was ours and we were proud of our place. We were poor. And I mean POOR. We bought loose cigarettes from the Getty gas station on Graham Park road because we couldn’t afford entire packs. We got pay day loans to pay the bills. We always had weed and beer, though because... priorities.

I really thought that this was the person I was going to spend the rest my life with. We were so well-suited for each other, and we talked about marriage all the time. Finally one day, Joe sat me down and said that he wanted to join the military. He thought long and hard about his future, and the only thing that he could see in it was me. He couldn’t see himself going to college, and he definitely couldn’t see himself learning a trade on his own. He thought the military would really get him where he needed in life.

Growing up with a father who’s a Vietnam vet, I have my own feelings about the military and war. And Joe’s decision came mere months after 911. The idea of Joe going to Iraq or Afghanistan terrified me, and supporting his decision was not the easiest thing I’ve ever had to do. But, eventually he convinced me that the military would take care of us, and I would be able to finish school and figure out what I want to do with my life. My experience working with my dad had taught me that I really liked interior design. I loved working in people’s homes and making them their dreams a reality. So with eyes on the prize, we moved forward, and he started visiting recruiters from different branches.

He asked me if I would marry him. There was no ring, there was no fairytale proposal. He just asked me point blank: “if I join the military would you marry me, so you can go wherever I go?” That was more meaningful then any YouTube quality proposal I could ever get. (But in case my future boyfriend’s reading this, I expect you to make a big damn deal when you asked me to marry you.) I, of course, said yes, and we immediately went to my parents house to give them the good news. My mom and dad happily agreed that this was a great plan and they supported our marriage.

We started to talk about wedding dates, and Joe insisted that we needed to wait until he had his schedule set for MEPS and Basic training. In the next couple of weeks he was working closely with an Army recruiter. He had his MEPS center date selected, and had a vague idea of when he had to go to boot... and it was fast approaching. We knew that we need to plan a wedding in about five months so we immediately sent out invitations, and started looking for a venue and dress.

Over the next four months my mom and I planned a pretty elegant little wedding. My sister and Joe’s sister Vicky were my bridesmaids, and Joe’s two best friends were his groomsmen . We got married under this little gazebo in Occoquan, if you’re familiar with Mamie Davis Park. We walked two doors down to the Sea, Sea & Company restaurant (you probably know it now as Madigan‘s.) Their upstairs room was affordable, pretty, and would accommodate our entire party. It’s actually a pretty nice space and it laid out really well for the wedding.

While our wedding was small, it was joyful. All of our family was there and a few friends, because we decided to keep it small. Everyone danced, we ate great food and had a ton of alcohol. My sister had her first drink from the bar as an “adult” (she was 18, I had just turned 20 for those keeping up). She ordered a Roman Coke, and I heard her order it a few times before I finally asked her what are you ordering? I laughed so hard explaining to her the drink was called a “rum and Coke”. That was basically the feeling of the entire day thus far, fun and blissful.

But, everything went dark after that.

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fandomplethora · 6 years

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Speechless.

The following post deals with the game(s) Doki Doki Literature Club, Mystic Messenger and then a sinister “challenge” called Blue Whale.

Recently I reblogged this post thinking that it was a joke about the game DDLC (Doki Doki Literature Club). I have played this game (along with a friend of mine) and I thought this was something edited.

It turns out...it’s not.

This is actual news coverage about a teenager that has committed suicide and his family, and the coroner, are linking his tragic death to the game. (At least a part of it.)

Here is the link to that and the full video as well.

So, I watched this video by PewDiePie (Felix) today talking about this. Watch it. I will link it here. (He begins talking about it around 6:35) anyways...they describe the game like this:

-advertised for 13 or older. (They ask if you are 13 and older before playing the game but also consistently warn you that this game is not suitable for children and not to play this game if you are easily disturbed due to it’s graphic content.)

-“characters suggest things to you and you decide what to do...” (I mean...kind of...but...they ask you to select words for poems and then it is a “decision making” game that needs to advance the plot. Just like any other game.)

-“the characters befriend and love you and give you tasks to do, but if you do not do them, they turn nasty.” (The game was made to begin “breaking” no matter what choices you made.)

-it is a free game. (Okay, that’s true.)

-it is an online game. (While it is on the computer...it is not an “online game” in that sense. But you do need an internet connection to play.)

-it is a mobile phone game. (Whoa, whoa, whoa...that’s not true at all.)

I was so confused because this is not how DDLC works. Also, again, DDLC has a consistent advisory warning about the content of the game and it is advertised as a psychological horror game. It does contain triggering content but it does warn you.

This just didn’t make any sense.

But, then, this is what got me:

-“...the game was linked with his mobile phone and he would be contacted by text message during the day and at night, often waking him up.”

Felix then says they were possibly talking about a different game.

A game that is actually mentioned in a different article about the same tragic event.

A game called Mystic Messenger.

A news article about that is linked here. (This article speaks about DDLC as well, so, to get to what they say about Mystic Messenger you will need to scroll down a bit.)

I was...speechless. Felix then says how they are describing a game “where you message people” and “gives your notifications at random points”...how he “thinks” this describes some main premises of MM (Mystic Messenger).

I have played this game as well so let’s match up the points to MM now...and also their contradictions.

-advertised for 13 years and older. (Some parts of the game are advertised for age 15 and older. Also, due to how the game is set up and how complicated it can get, it actually has attracted an older audience than 13 or even 15.)

-“characters suggest things to you and you decide what to do...” (They suggest guests...and you decide whether to invite them or not. But other than that...)

-“the characters befriend and love you and give you tasks to do, but if you do not do them, they turn nasty.” (The characters do befriend you and it is a dating simulation game...so, yes, they do “love you” and you do have “tasks” but, really, it is just the plot of the game to complete each route with each character. Also, you do have the “pressure”, if you will, to select correct answers to get a “Good Ending”. Other options...including missed chats, wrong chat options and not enough party guests in attendance for the finale of a game route will lead you to a “Normal Ending” or “Bad Ending”. These “endings” can be showing the characters, or your relationship with the characters, in a negative light. But, these characters never truly turn “nasty”. Not in my opinion.)

-it is a free game. (Yes, true...until you unlock other routes and other DLC’s.)

-it is an online game. (Not in the sense of interacting with other players...but, yes, you do need an internet connection to play.)

-it is a mobile phone game. (Strictly, so.)

But...just like Felix says in his video...it is like they combined the premises of both games (which...are not really the true premises). Then they twisted it in a way to create this dangerous view on these games.

When talking about this game(s) the family has said, and I quote, they “dragged his son in”, “it drags you in and makes it very real”, “once you get into it - it will not leave you alone”.

These sound like extreme exaggerations on both games. DDLC can be done in your own time and in one sitting or not. MM is over the course of 11 days but you do not have to answer any of the messages or chats.

Also, you can delete these games and stop playing them at any time. These games do break the fourth wall, can be considered “broken games” (by some), do deal with very real issues and Mystic Messenger does send you notifications in real time.

These games, as well, do deal with abuse, violence, mental illness, suicide, drug use and criminal activity.

These themes are also forewarned multiple times in both games to users.

But...at the end of the day, these are just games. You can stop playing. They can be deleted. And nothing will happen.

(There is no shame in not playing these games or deleting these games due to their content. Please, do so, if the content is triggering to you. Take care of yourself.)

(Comments on Felix’s video.)

The family has stated that “there is not confirmation yet, but we believe that the game could be linked to Ben’s (their child) death.” They have just listed it as a “potential cause”.

But the media is putting the blame and making DDLC the front face of this tragedy. And, now, an article is actually linking Mystic Messenger as a warning to parents and their children as well.

But these descriptions do not truly fit these games.

This media converage is disrespectful to a company like Team Salvato (DDLC) who created an intricate game as a pathway into a more intricate game (watch Game Theory if you do not know what I am talking about) and Cheritz (MM) that uses their game to donate to charities and provide “happiness” to their players. Both games also address severe issues such as abuse and watching out for signs of mental illness in the people around you. Even in yourself.

Also, I am not pushing blame on anyone for this tragedy. But there was something deeper happening here than a video game. Because, while a form of entertainment can have triggering content, it is not the root of the issue.

The media, and possibly even the family to some extent, did not totally know what their child was doing and/or did not fully understand it. (Which Felix also states in his video.) The proof of that is how poorly both games were even covered.

So, here’s where I’d like to bring up a more sinister, darker “game” that is truly not a “game” at all...

A “game” (or, “challenge”, if you will) called Blue Whale.

(Comments on Felix’s video.)

Blue Whale is a game that was in the news a while back for causing people to commit suicide. But it is much more sinister...this “game” “does not physically exist”, is “hidden in a world that cannot be found”, you are “trapped in a world with no escape”...”a world that lasts for 50 days, ending with you taking your own life.”

This game has spread worldwide. From Russia, to other places in Europe and now, as I have read recently, to Asia as well.

The game starts out between an “administrator” and a “participant/victim”. This game is mainly conducted through social media platforms. It includes the “administrator” assigning you daily tasks such as listening to certain music or watching horror-genre videos. These tasks grow in intensity as the days go on to things such as staying up the entire night, standing on the edge of great heights and mutilating your skin with a “whale” symbol. The final end task is to commit suicide.

These victims are, in my eyes, basically brainwashed, conditioned and manipulated. They could already been in a vulnerable place and the administrators of this game know this through monitoring them by their online presence. They make their victims think their devices have been infected by malware and viruses and threaten to release all their information and photos of them online if they do not “play”. The tasks they are given are meant to drive someone to that dark of a place where they will follow any instruction and, then, eventually, even take their own lives.

It’s evil.

In the last month (side note: DDLC does not take a month to play unless you truly spaced it out. Also, MM is an 11 day game unless you play more than one route.) of Ben’s life his family said they observed this behavior:

-no interest in school when he used to be one of best pupils in class

-problems sleeping

-problems eating

-“became darker inside”

They also stated that many things were happening in their son’s life but they believe the game is one part of it. That kids and parents need to be made aware.

They just want his death to “have meaning”.

And...that breaks my heart.

This whole situation is unfair and tragic.

But, if they truly observed a change in their son and also linked the timeline of it with a new engrossment in a game...they could be possible looking at the wrong game.

But...these changes in him alone are a sign of possibly severe mental illness. That’s the bigger picture...something very, very difficult was happening within your child.

And...there is a possibility that a sinister “challenge” such as “Blue Whale” preyed on that.

They are looking in the wrong place.

But besides that, games and challenges aside, the point is...your son was struggling with mental illness.

Even if he was playing a game such as DDLC or MM...that is not the root of the issue.

We need to reach out to our children, to our family, to our partners and our friends and speak to them, watch over them, help them. And pray they grasp our hands back.

Before it’s too late.

The games themselves are not the problem. The problem is a disconnect between one another where we miss something, overlook something, not pay close enough attention to something, not monitor your child...until a tragedy like this happens.

But no one is truly to blame. (Unless he did fall prey to such a sinister “challenge”.) from the information we do have, this is no one’s fault.

Also, the media needs to do their research (I know they had a couple people on the BBC interview that said relevant things but they also had some misinformation as well) before slapping a popular image of a game(s) on the screen for views and clicks. The game is not the point.

Missing something crucial.

Speaking out about the true root of mental illness.

Watching over each other.

Watching over our children.

That is the point.

#pewdiepie #youtube #doki doki literature club #ddlc #team salvato #mystic messenger #mm #cheritz #blue whale game #tw: suicide #tw: mental illness #video games #mental health #news #please watch out for one another #please watch out for yourself

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expatimes · 3 years

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The life and career of Rashid Khan, Afghanistan’s cricket prodigy

The life and career of Afghanistan cricketer Rashid Khan has seen the theatrical treatment: The curtains parted one day and there he was.

Among a cast of romantic, colourful cricketers from the country’s fairy tale, stood the teen prodigy, the one player ready-made for the biggest stage.

Online profiles feature Rashid’s One-Day International (ODI) debut at the age of 17, the 25 teams he has represented in various formats, his admiration for Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi, that whippy, whirly action, dead-eye wrong ’un, striking ability with the bat, athleticism in the field and the ICC T20 Player of the Decade title, even though he played in only half of it.

But what about the other parts of the man that was known as Rashid Arman, the sixth of 11 brothers? The dreamer who thought he would become the family’s first doctor? The computer science student with beautiful handwriting? The part-time English teacher? The boy who was called “Peshawari” in Afghanistan’s local cricket and “muhajir” (refugee) during his college days in Peshawar, Pakistan?

There are bits that make up his life from Bati Kot to Peshawar and back to Afghanistan’s Jalalabad then Kabul, before his October 2015 ODI debut in Bulawayo – on his way to becoming Rashid Khan, the superstar.

In the life of every cricketer, there are family, coaches and teammates who watch their rise with a mix of emotions: Love, pride, delight, among lashings of envy.

We begin with a story from Inzamam-ul-Haq, the former Pakistan captain who was Afghanistan coach from October 2015 to April 2016.

Looking at a list of his squad for a 2016 tour of Sharjah, Haq noted Rashid’s omission.

While Rashid’s performance in Bulawayo had not been earth-shattering, he – out of the roster of leg-spinners Haq had first called out and tried – had impressed.

So much so that Haq ended the arguments with selectors by saying: “Only after Rashid is in the team can you talk to me about other things.”

Six years later, Rashid’s name is first on every Afghanistan team sheet.

These days, Rashid is in Abu Dhabi for the Test series against Zimbabwe.

In the touring party is senior team manager Nazeem Jar Abdulrahimzai, who, in his many past roles in Afghanistan cricket remembers 2012 as the year he first met Rashid.

At a provincial Twenty20 match in Kabul, playing for a club called Kochian, Abdulrahimzai watched an unknown teenager, of small built, batting like a dervish.

“He was opening, he scored 93. When he bowled, no one could read him. It hit the legs, bowled. It hit the pads, LBW. It’s like they couldn’t see,” said Abdulrahimzai. “I had not seen a boy like that.”

Rashid had been spotted, marked for attention and encouragement.

Abdulrahimzai started emailing regional teams, asking them to try Rashid out, pushing those who hesitated.

“Listen, I’m the domestic manager, you take him, give him training and a trial. If you’re happy with him, fine. If you’re not, he can come back.”

Khan won the ICC T20 Player of the Decade title, even though he played in only half of it

In 2013, Afghanistan set up the Shpageeza Cricket League, which was to become its national T20 competition, one of the many steps Rashid would take on his meandering odyssey.

That year, at Peshawar’s Arbab Niaz Stadium, Islamia College Coach Ali Hoti was approached by a teenager who introduced himself as Rashid Arman and said he wanted to join the college and its famous cricket programme.

Islamia College alumni have represented Pakistan in various sports. Among its celebrated cricketers are Haseeb Ehsan, Yasir Hamid, Wajahatullah Wasti and Shaheen Shah Afridi.

When Hoti and team captain Sajjad Hashmi saw the youngster’s clean-hitting with the bat and his unorthodoxy with the ball, they knew they had spotted a winner.

But at the trials for the university’s sports quota admissions, the young man was missing. He had had to dash over to Afghanistan to play in a tournament.

This to and fro was due to Rashid’s nomadic boyhood, often as part of a business family alongside 10 brothers.

Cricket, the constant

During a period of uncertainty and war, as the family moved between towns on the border, cricket remained the only constant.

Rashid’s skills were homemade, on the concrete strip inside the housing compound meant for parking cars, in taped tennis ball contests with his brothers, especially brother number two, a football fan.

Once, so furious at being done in by Rashid, his brother wrapped extra tape on the tennis ball only for Rashid to get past him again.

The brothers were competitive but protective. Abdulrahimzai remembers one of Rashid’s brothers Jalil, sitting next to him during an early under-19 match, asking: “What will become of this boy? Of Rashid?”

If he had asked Rashid, he would have been shown him the road map.

At Islamia, Hoti said Rashid enrolled for a computer science degree from 2013 and the formalised structure of cricket training and competition.

Team captain Hashmi befriended the quiet, new entrant and saw what Abdulrahimzai had seen: Presence and confidence.

Hashmi, a former opener-wicketkeeper who played domestic cricket in Pakistan, said Rashid immersed himself in cricket, barely spoke and never complained.

“As college captain, players come and argue their case: Why did you bowl me so late, why can’t I bat in this position. With Rashid, nothing,” said Hashmi.

On one occasion, Rashid was dropped due to a dispute in the team and Hashmi went to his home to make peace.

“The next time I went to the ground, he was there. With his cones, doing his training and shuttle runs,” said Hashmi.

“Others might have gone into a sulk, but he knew what he had to do and wasn’t going to stop. Rashid didn’t waste time, he was driven and completely focused. It was like inside, his real talents were hidden, waiting for their time.”

Rashid’s batting, especially his clean hitting, added to his prowess as a world-class cricketer

Within three years, the world would see those talents.

We must turn to Abdulrahimzai’s Urdu to understand what Rashid’s on-field manner reflected: “Haawi rehna” (domination) and what Abdulrahimzai never saw in him: “Bebasi” (helplessness).

In collegiate and inter-university cricket, Hashmi said Rashid earned the reputation of being the spinner all batsmen thought best to see off.

Hoti is now director of sports at what is now Islamia University and recalls Rashid’s “zabardast” handwriting and the pressure from home to study.

“Rashid was a good student, a thinker. He would try to speak in English, practice it every day, along with his Pashto and Urdu.”

Rashid once said in an interview that he taught English for about six months before cricket took over as he prepared himself for a life beyond college and the towns he called home.

The variations

Rashid’s first cricketing schools – the restrictive and demanding surface of the concrete corridors in his family’s many homes – gave him the fast-arm action to get extra zip on the taped tennis ball.

Flipping the ball out off his fingers – who said wrist-spinners must only use their wrists? – he sent it whirring through the air, rushing the batsmen on concrete, matting, turf, anything.

Where conventional spinners use variations of pace, loop and flight to judge what works best where, Khan’s pace – more than 90km/h (56mph) – is his fundamental staple.

He said he has five grips to choose from during a game… and three googlies.

“Shahid Afridi was my role model while growing up in Afghanistan”. (Rashid Khan) Inspiration of many.❤️@SAfridiOfficial Thank you Lala.#BoomBoom pic.twitter.com/31Y1pyvuwA

— Zain Zahid (@ZainZahid____10) March 9, 2021

To most batsmen, the range is not the issue. Rather, it is the sameness of what everything looks like that leads to befuddlement over what is going to arrive.

As Haq described it, the batsmen’s lack “response time” to react to a ball that not only turns, but turns at speed.

It was not those skills alone that marked Rashid in Haq’s eyes.

On his debut tour in Zimbabwe, Rashid sat out the first ODI. Before the second, Haq told him to bowl at him in the nets.

“If I’m out, you’re in,” he said.

Rashid failed to dismiss his coach but remembers beating him once.

“Even if I had got out to him, it would’ve been fine, that’s the quality of bowler he is. I would have played him, but I wanted to see how he would respond,” Haq said.

What happened before their exchange had revealed more to Rashid.

“When I challenged Rashid, the 17-year-old looked me in the eyes and said ‘haanji, theek hai, aayein net main’ ,” said Haq with a chuckle.

Rashid’s game was always going to be on.

Read full article: https://expatimes.com/?p=18875&feed_id=36713

#Afghanistan #Afghanistans #Asia #career #cricket #Features #Khan #life #prodigy #Rashid #Sports

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