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yukidragon · 4 months

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Sunny Day Jack - Dragon Jack Fantasy AU Headcanons

So, I know that Jack’s fursona is a snake, because he wants warm cuddles his sunshine won’t run away from, which is where we get naga Jack, but what if he was a different sort of mythical creature?

No, not an incubus, but you can check out my incubus headcanons here and here. I’m talking about a different fantastical creature that still has a few scaly features.

It’s the year of the dragon, and that got me thinking about a certain piece of absolutely gorgeous artwork my friend Mars made back in August, which in turn made me think, dragon Jack AU?

Dragon Jack AU.

Oh hell yeah, let’s get fantastical.

Credit for this beautiful artwork and fueling my inspiration goes to the marvelous Mars, who you can find over here on tumblr and on twitter. Please consider popping on by to leave a kind word or two. Trust me, you won’t regret looking at all of her jaw-droppingly stunning art!

Content warnings: There is going to be spice in these headcanons, and it’s going to get a bit kinky at times. I mean, we’re talking about Jack as a dragon getting frisky with his sunshine. Bad Dragon didn’t get its name for nothing after all. Oh and there’s also some dark themes like going insane from isolation, families being awful to one another, exploitation of workers, bullshit politics in a medieval inspired fantasy setting, deadly monsters attacking people, yandere obsession, that sort of thing.

Overall it’s going to be pretty lighthearted, especially in comparison to the super dark and angst-filled hurt/comfort story that I recently posted, so this post shouldn’t get more intense than the game itself.

The Cursed Prince

Let us begin this AU with the tale of Sunny Day Jack, a poor soul who was damned to be left alone and forgotten by all who knew him. In this case, that place he was left to be forgotten was a castle in the middle of a dark and twisted land, bound by a curse that not even the strength of a dragon can break.

Jack wasn’t always this way. Long ago, he was someone grand, a prince by the name of Joseph, though not in line for any sort of throne. He was the spare of the spare, the unwanted and unneeded family member who was a risk to the true heir to the crown. He had to learn how to be strong and cunning to survive the castle politics, while at the same time he was overlooked and ignored by all.

Initially, Joseph tried all he could to earn favor with his family, to be loved by them, but no one cared. Because his family didn’t care about him, and he had no “purpose” in existing except as an obstacle to the heir to the throne, others often ignored him as well to not risk showing favor and appearing to side with him against the current forerunners to the crown. Acting out and creating mischief that the royal family couldn’t ignore was the only way for Joseph to get people to pay attention to him.

Unfortunately, Joseph pushed his luck one too many times. He ignored a family member’s warning that it would be best if he lived as a dead rat, forgotten and unseen. An assassin struck in the guise of a tutor during one of his lessons. He barely escaped, but uncovered a terrible truth. The family he always hoped might someday truly see him and love him had been behind the assassination attempt. How many members of his family were involved in the plot, he never knew for sure, but their indifference and disdain for him left him with no one he could trust.

The unwanted prince was then forced to flee the kingdom, never to return. Joseph lived as a wanderer, hiding his identity. He changed his appearance as much as he could, even stealing a potion from a wizard once. Sadly, the potion he stole could only change his hair from brown to blue, but it was better than nothing, and he quickly grew fond of the look.

Yes, blue hair is something natural in this setting. This is a fantasy world where dragons and magic exist after all. We can have people with anime hair and eye colors. ;3

The unwanted prince learned the ways of the world firsthand and took many names as he drifted along like the wind. No longer a spoiled prince, he learned how to put on a smile, to placate people instead of antagonize them. He was still alone, forced to be a wanderer until he was far, far away from his homeland, but eventually he tried to set up roots. There, he took a humble job as a jester for a noble, hoping that maybe he could find a new life, one where he could be seen and loved.

Fortune smiled on Jack, as more and more people came to watch his shows, and he earned the stage name of Sunny Day Jack. His performances with silly jokes and stories with sound moral lessons delighted the children. Nobility took notice of him, and he started to make real connections and a real life for himself in this distant land. The lord ruling over the country even eventually took notice of him, a rich and powerful ruler that could afford to throw plenty of gold this entertaining jester’s way… provided he was always entertaining.

Sadly, his good fortune was not to last. Jack got too much attention from the nobility, and a traveler familiar with his homeland took notice of how eerily similar the jester looked to the lost prince.

Word eventually got back to those who saw Prince Joseph, however unwanted and overlooked he may have been, as a risk that could not be accepted. His popularity, however frivolous, made certain people of power nervous that perhaps one day he might return and lay claim to the throne of his homeland.

It was during a performance that the world came crashing down around Sunny Day Jack. The lord that favored him and helped him most with his fame and acclaim had betrayed him to his homeland in exchange for more riches. The trap was sprung as Jack stood before a crowd of hundreds, a sudden accusation ringing out that he was a notorious criminal who had done several heinous acts while the knights of the land came at him in force to arrest him. He barely managed to escape, though not unscathed, his new life destroyed and forever sullied to all who knew his name.

This time the pursuers were relentless. Jack wasn’t known here as a prince in this foreign land. There was no one who would show even a token loyalty to his royal blood and aid him. He was now a heinous criminal, wanted dead or alive, with none willing to give him shelter. There was no way for him to use his former name or royal bloodline to gain assistance, as Prince Joseph was long since declared dead.

Jack was a clever man, and a clever man who has nothing left to lose is capable of anything, including mutually assured destruction. His time as a jester wasn’t spent as a simple fool. Though he tried to be sincere when forging his friendships, truly wanting a life of happiness where he could be loved for who he was, he had tasted betrayal once, and it cost him everything but his life. Sadly, he was prepared should this happen again. He learned how to be charming, and he used his appealing and kind nature to learn secrets that might help him one day.

One of these secrets Jack learned was of magic treasure that the lord’s family guarded and exploited for generations. He also learned of a few secret passages in the lord’s castle, which helped him to elude his pursuers. With nearly all the knights put to the task to capture or kill the escaped criminal, this left the castle vault’s security unusually lax. It granted him an opportunity that could save him, or damn them all.

There in the vault was one of a set of golden cuffs, the symbol and pride of the lord’s family, and the very thing that allowed them to take dominion over the land generations ago and rule to this day. These cuffs were said to possess a magic too powerful for any one person to control, so no one dared to wield more than one at a time, but the truth was that if anyone was foolish enough to do so, they would unleash a terrible curse that would doom the land. This was why they were kept separately, for the safety of everyone.

These cuffs have their own history to them, as a fae was tricked into creating them, a bargain for power and a price not yet paid, which was the reason behind their curse. I could ramble on about ideas I have for how they came to be, but their backstory doesn’t really matter to Jack… yet.

Betrayed, branded a criminal, his hopes for a new life dashed to pieces, and everything spiraling out of control, Jack managed to break into the vault and steal the golden cuff hidden there. Before word of the theft could spread, Jack repaid the lord for his betrayal, launching a surprise attack and stealing the other cuff before it could be used by the lord to fight back against him.

With the power of both of the golden cuffs, Jack defeated all the knights that came for him, but the power he used went out of control as the curse took hold. The power was too much for a human’s body to contain, so it changed him into a fierce creature that was made of magic, a dragon.

The land around him changed as well, the natural ley lines of magic in the land exploding out in all directions and birthing all sorts of monsters from cracks in the earth. It was chaos, and those that could fled. It was a terrible night of horrors so great that survivors who witnessed the apocalyptic destruction dared not speak of it. Over time, the plants in this tainted land grew strange from the saturation of magic, and what few animals that braved to remain in this twisted land were changed as well. The land, once prosperous and full of smiles and laughter, became a dark and foreboding place where humans refused to linger long, for fear that they too would be cursed and forever changed.

Years passed, and with the survivors refusing to speak of what happened, all traces of what happened the night the kingdom fell were lost to history. The name of the country was lost as well. The place was only known as the dark woods now, named for its twisted features and the heavy clouds that covered the land and hid it from the sun. Speculation of its creation sprang up over the years, the details growing more fanciful from storyteller to storyteller until it became only myths. The closest to the truth was that the fae had regained the land and turned it wild, which, in a way, they had when a clever but desperate prince turned fool unleashed the fae’s curse that had long been kept at bay.

What happened to that foolish prince? The curse kept him bound to the heart of the land, making it nearly impossible for him to stray far from the castle where he unleashed the curse. The more he struggled to escape, the more ways the curse would manifest to bind him to the land, chains erupting from the ground to hold him, thorns of an unnatural, cold substance blotting out the sky, monsters birthing from the land to hold him back and inflict pain on him until he could no longer fight back.

Jack had become a powerful dragon, but his power came from the very curse that turned the land into his own personal hell. His body was warped, a scaled monster with wings and horns, terrifying to behold. Those who saw him would flee his presence, save for those that tried to slay the beast that legend has it is the heart of the curse.

The dragon of the dark woods, unnamed and feared by all, was known as the master of the dark woods, dangerous and cunning. Adventurers that dare risk going into the cursed land for its materials rich in magic are wary of the great and powerful beast. Its scales gleamed of fire, its eyes spoke of endless hunger, and its power was unmatched. None could hope to slay this beast, and all who tried all failed, for only the curse itself is more powerful than the beast it created.

Despite it all, Jack struggled to hold onto his humanity. He read every book in the castle, every scroll and scrap of paper, desperate to learn the way to undo this curse he unleashed. Naturally, this was difficult for him to do with giant claws, but unfortunately for the former prince, he had nothing but time to learn how to use his altered body.

As the world forgot about the lost prince, the sunny jester, and the awful day an entire kingdom fell along with the names of all three, Jack started to forget his humanity bit by bit. He didn’t learn how to break the curse, but he did learn of other magical artifacts that had been gathered in the castle long ago, including an enchanted belt that would allow him to change his form into whatever he pleased. He used it to become a “human,” but by that point he didn’t quite remember what he used to look like. The passing years eroded his memory of humanity, and he had gotten used to his imposing dragon body. The result was a form that was a mishmash of both, a humanoid man with scales, a tail, wings, claws on his hands and feet, pointed ears and fangs, with horns and blue hair.

Jack might have started to forget things over the years of solitude, but he was at least certain that he had blue hair when he was still human.

Funny enough, no matter how large or small Jack became thanks to the magic of the belt, the golden cuffs remained fastened to his wrists. The curse wouldn’t allow them to be removed, only warp in size and shape to match whatever form his body took. Even if he were to, say, transform into a copy of a different person to fool someone, his golden cuffs would give away the ruse.

When Jack learned how to transform back into a “human,” he went through the motions of being a human in his empty castle filled with riches that were all but useless to him. He wore clothes again, even learned how to alter the fancy clothes left behind to suit his tastes. He learned how to cook the strange plants and animals of this cursed land. He no longer had any need to eat due to the magic of the land sustaining his flesh, but food still tasted good, and there was some satisfaction to be had from creating something. He kept himself sane with what hobbies he could, learning new things, but he could never learn how he could free himself from his lonely hell.

The presence of adventurers into the heart of his land was both a blessing and a curse. It was rare that it happened, and in fact it was several years after the land changed that anyone dared to venture into the dark woods for fear of being cursed for doing so. It was years more before they found its master at the heart of the cursed land.

At first, Jack was elated. He tried his best to be friendly, overly so, desperate for company and help, but this was before he found the belt that made him at least passably human. It had been so long since he had been around another human that he hadn’t tried to speak, and with his draconic muzzle, all that came out were terrible growls and unholy noises. The adventurers that found him only saw a great horned beast with claws and fangs, another monster to slay for materials, riches, and acclaim.

Jack never wanted to kill anyone. He learned to fight when he had to, though he tried to avoid killing if he could. Unfortunately, when he unleashed the curse, people perished in the chaos, much to his dismay. Though he tried to approach these adventurers peacefully, he would not allow them to cause him further suffering. His power was so great that it was difficult to hold back, so the damage he could cause was severe. He would let those who fought him live if he could, allowing them to flee, but none saw this as a mercy. He became a nightmare spoken in hushed whispers, a challenge for adventurers to overcome, rather than a lost soul desperate to be free.

In a twisted way, over time Jack started to look forward to anyone brave enough to venture into the heart of the dark woods, even if the result was always violence. It was always a rare thing due to the intense danger of the dark woods. Certainly, they would always try to kill him, but at least he got to spend time with another human being! Being alone messes with a person’s mind, especially for such a long time. Humans are pack animals not meant for solitude.

Sometimes these adventurers would leave stuff behind, and Jack kept them. Dragons have an instinct to horde, and the castle is already filled with treasure. Plus they were reminders that humans were still out there and that someday, hopefully, he’d join them as one of them once again.

Jack tried his best to learn how to talk with his new body, to sound friendly instead of fierce. Unfortunately, oftentimes he found himself getting the opposite result, the words coming out of his muzzle sounding strange and uncanny, which only added to the nightmarish legend of the master of the dark woods.

Every encounter with Jack was a battle more fierce than the last, and the dragon’s legend only grew. His attempts to follow after the humans who fled from him led to the land itself stopping him, and others would be caught in the crossfire. To Jack, the humans that came to visit him were his only hope, and he would struggle harder against the curse to escape, to be with them. This made the curse fight back even harder in more brutal ways, summoning worse monsters. Soon the heart of the dark woods was known as a hellish place, where the land itself would turn against you if you tried to escape its brutal master that hunted you relentlessly.

Over the years, humans adapted, as they often do. Adventurers learned to stick with the outer fringes of the dark woods to harvest materials. It was the least dangerous, relatively speaking, and what could be gained deeper in was not worth the cost, especially if they strayed to the heart of the land where its terrible master lay in wait for any poor soul to enter.

It’s been a long, long time since Jack has seen another human, and he’s slowly going insane from solitude. He does what he can to distract himself or escape, trying desperately to hold onto his humanity, but it erodes bit by bit with each passing year. Even gaining the ability to transform into a “human” form hasn’t stopped his ever steady decline into madness. He fears that one day he might lose his humanity completely and become the mindless monster that those who fought him believed him to be.

Perhaps all that Jack and the dark woods need to heal is a little bit of sunshine.

Beyond the Dark Woods

Outside the fringes of the cursed land, time marched on. Years went by, rulers came and went, borders changed as land was annexed or reverted to wilderness. A lot can happen over the decades, especially in a fantasy world filled with magic, monsters, and mischievous fae.

How long Jack was trapped alone in the dark woods is a mystery. Maybe it’s 40 years, or perhaps a lot longer than that.

Regardless, the homeland that once had a lost prince named Joseph is still around, a relatively stable country all things considered. In fact, it had grown over the years thanks to annexing land from other countries that had been weakened by the results of the curse. Monsters often wandered out of the dark woods, putting nearby villages in danger and impressing the need for more adventurers to cull the monsters that threatened human life. What was once a kingdom had grown into an empire, growing prosperous with its many strong knights and adventurers, though like any place, it had its own share of problems.

But enough politics, let’s get into the other characters, shall we?

MC is a knight, as demonstrated by the lovely Thea in Mars’ art. Well… they aspire to be a knight anyway. Bullshit politics have kept them as a squire to a knight of higher nobility since they were a teenager. It’s been over 10 years already! How much longer do they have to wait to become a knight? They’re sick of having to polish and shine Barry’s armor, and if they have to scrub his codpiece one more time…

Yup, Barry is a knight in this AU, though only technically. Nobility sometimes get granted a knight title for some reason or another, usually as a token to honor them and/or their families. These nobles usually were just knights in name only, parading around as if they’re this grand figure when other knights did the real battling. They can play the hero without ever actually having to go into battle and send squires to do the menial work for them.

In a sense, Barry is a rich man who bought a title because it was cool, and he makes a big show of it. It’s pretty much a vanity project, and a way to increase his clout to maybe move up in the ranks of nobility. He has MC announce his presence grandly, something just as over the top as the greeting to Yogurtopia. Perhaps something like… “Announcing the great, honorable, and very handsome and still very single and looking for a bride, Sir Barry of [insert surname here].” Or something like that, maybe with his noble title thrown in there for good measure. Maybe he could insist his squire plays a horn first…

Man, even with a proclamation heralding Barry wherever he goes, no one is interested in him. He hasn’t had a date in way too long. Maybe he needs his armor to be polished a little brighter.

While MC isn’t Barry’s only squire, they are the one often left doing the work, as other squires slack off or wind up getting elevated to knight despite being younger than MC is. It’s understandably really, really frustrating for MC. They come from a lesser noble house, just barely above a commoner, so they’re an easy mark for any higher ranked noble to rub the power difference in their face.

Really, it’s all enough to make MC consider quitting to become an adventurer. Sure, adventurers are basically mercenaries for hire at the guild and the jobs can be infrequent, and money can be hard to come by, but… Ah, who are they kidding? The squire job might suck, but at least they get the security of steady pay, regular meals, a place to sleep, mild prestige, and they don’t have to go camping in the woods for days on end hunting some specific monster or harvesting a certain number of rare herbs.

Besides, MC admires the knights (aside from Barry). Their best friend became a knight a few years ago, lucky dog. Still, Shaun didn’t rub it in their face like the pal he is. Shaun looks so regal in his shiny silvery armor, even having it adorned with pretty badass etchings and other decorations. There’s a very feline feeling to it as well, since cat daddy has to be cat knight in this AU. Hey, I don’t make the rules.

…Oh, wait. :3c

Anyway, the other knights can be pretty cool as well. There’s this one knight who has been friendly, though MC doesn’t know his name yet. The guy acts strangely shy when they’re around, which is confusing to them. They’re just a squire after all, not a cool knight in studded leather armor like him.

Poor Nick has a crush on MC in this universe too and is pretty tongue tied around them. MC might still be a squire, but there’s just something about them that lights up a room. Their spirit isn’t crushed despite the fact that they should’ve been a knight years ago. He envies how easily Sir Shaun can chat with them.

Of course, Shaun is in the same boat as Nick, in that he also has a crush on MC and can be pretty clumsy with how he tries to express it. Still, in spite of this, he would have tried to see if they could be something more if not for a certain scandal that happened.

The reason why MC is still a squire, or at least one of the biggest reasons, is because of rumors that they were the secret lover of Prince Ian, the current heir to the throne.

Of course, given that MC is barely above a commoner, the idea of them getting together with the crown prince is scandalous. They got to know each other as children, with MC serving as a page to play with the young prince. When the queen caught wind that the prince saw them as anything more than a playmate in their teen years, their relationship got exceedingly strained.

Ian is in love with MC, and they felt the same, at least at one point. All the time they spent together while growing up led to fondness, then sweet first love. Unfortunately, they knew early on how their different stations meant that the chances of them being together were almost non-existent. This led to a lot of mutual pining, moments where they were tempted to act on their feelings, and some secret encounters between the two.

In spite of the queen’s interference separating them, MC and Ian saw each other in secret as much as they could. They started a forbidden romance together, and the two of them convinced themselves that maybe, somehow, they could defy the odds.

But the weight of the crown hangs heavy on the head. As Ian was swept up in his duties and the time he would be crowned as king drew ever closer, he had less and less time to spend with MC. His mother’s interference certainly didn’t help, especially since she was trying to get him engaged to a high ranked noble woman to ensure that he would be able to sire the next generation of royalty.

While yes this fantasy world is far more open with gender expression and loving others regardless of gender, nobles tend to be uptight when it comes to making sure their bloodline and power continues. Plus Ian’s mom is still abusive and controlling of her son in this universe too, and she uses not only religion to bully Ian but politics and duty as well. As queen, she has a lot more power too, and a lot more flying monkeys to spy on her son and interfere.

In a way, it’s lucky that the queen hasn’t decided that MC is a threat that must be entirely eliminated at all costs. No assassination plots… yet. Mostly it’s interference and petty revenge by forcing MC to remain a squire instead of a knight. She could throw MC out, but then how can she occasionally be petty if MC never comes to the palace? MC might be Barry’s squire, but everyone follows the queen’s orders, and a narcissist needs attention and others to bow down to them.

Unfortunately, the queen’s schemes did succeed. Ian, in a moment of weakness, fell for the seductive charms of one of his potential fiancees. He felt awful for betraying MC, to the point that he had to see them despite the risk of his mother catching them, so that he could confess what he had done and beg for forgiveness.

MC’s heart was broken, but what was worse was that it became a huge scandal. Someone had seen Ian’s confession and begging, and soon word spread like wildfire. Now everyone knew that they had secretly been lovers and that the prince was begging a mere squire for forgiveness. Ian’s reputation took a hit, while MC’s outright tanked due to the scandal, and things became much harder for them, and people have been keeping their distance from the squire that dared think they could become a future king’s consort.

Since then, MC has kept their distance from Ian as much as possible, and Ian, reluctantly, has given them space, knowing that he’s messed everything up for them. But… when he’s king, not even his mother will be able to stop them from being together. When he’s king, he’ll be able to fix everything. He just has to do what he can to make sure that happens. Then he and MC can finally be together in the open, stations be damned! Then he can truly make amends and be forgiven for what he’s done.

Shaun was there to support MC with their broken heart. While his becoming a knight has put a bit of distance between them, as he has more duties to attend to, including being sent away on missions for the country, he makes sure to keep in touch and meet up with them as best he can. Anyone who dares to say a bad word about MC in front of him is getting this cat’s claws.

Nick is no stranger to scandals. He’s basically the most popular knight in the realm, with countless admirers. Perhaps they could offer MC a word or two on how to deal with so much unwanted attention and rumors rumbling in the background.

A Squire’s Quest

Now, how does Jack factor into MC’s life without a compelling VHS tape to tie them together? Well, the instigating factor in this universe is that a thief made off with an important treasure, and Barry the knight was tasked with retrieving it. As Barry’s squire, MC was compelled to come with him to assist, which usually meant doing 99% of the work if there were no other squires with them at the time with Barry taking all the credit. But don’t worry, he only does it because he knows they’ll do a good job at it, and it just shows that they’re one step closer to becoming a true knight!

After traveling quite a ways, tracking down the thief (with MC doing most of the work picking up the trail in the first place), the pair realize that the thief went into the infamous dark woods.

Well, that’s not good. Sure there are areas that have been explored for materials, but still… the cursed land is quite dangerous. Barry decided that the best way to divide the work is for MC to continue to follow the thief’s trail, as they were better at tracking, and he, being much better at supervising and dealing with people, would see if anyone nearby could get information about what the thief might have been after, maybe set up a trap that MC could chase the thief into.

MC had to seriously consider their life choices up until this point, but if they quit now, that meant kissing goodbye to the stability they had going for them. Also, it’d probably bring dishonor to their name, maybe damage their lineage permanently, and so on and so forth.

Well, if they quit to become an adventurer, they’d have to do stupid things like trek through the dark woods anyway. Besides, the thief already stole a national treasure, which meant they weren’t stupid enough to go hunting for the invincible dragon guarding the heart of the forest, right? Sure there’s rumors that maybe the dragon guards the greatest treasure of all, but no way the thief is that dumb. No one’s actually ever seen any real treasure, or have a consensus on what the supposed greatest treasure is actually supposed to be.

After a hard internal debate, MC ultimately decides to brave the dark woods, tracking the thief stealthily. They may only be a squire, but they would probably be the greatest knight in the kingdom if not for politics. Their exact combat style is up to interpretation and personal preference, but they’re no stranger to slaying powerful monsters. They’re also used to Barry giving them unreasonable demands like this one.

And, hey, at least they’re not mortifying themselves by singing Barry’s praises when he enters a room while they’re busy with this stupid quest. That’s got to count for something, right?

Right?

Yeeeahh, okay, MC is obviously just lying to themselves and they know it, but damned if they do, damned if they don’t. They swear to themselves that they’ll only go as far as the hunting expeditions usually travel into the forest. If the thief really is stupid enough to go to the dragon’s lair, MC will just circle back and just tell Barry that the dragon probably just killed the thief, or something. No way they’re going to risk getting eaten by an unstoppable dragon.

These thoughts are a small comfort as MC follows the thief’s trail. Occasionally they have to fight magic-tainted plants or monsters. Their skill shines despite the dark gloom of cursed woods. They even get some nice materials they can sell for some extra cash. Maybe being an adventurer wouldn’t be too bad a gig after all…

Just then the loud noise breaks the eerie calm. Some sort of explosion. Magic? Fireworks? Regardless of what it was, it riled up something. That something is big, nasty, and charging right at them! In fact, it’s a lot of somethings! A pack of creatures got aggravated, and MC is forced to run!

Now, was this a natural occurrence? A bit of misfortune? Did the thief make a false trail to trick MC into going on ahead while they secretly doubled back and used a small explosion to make the monsters go nuts on MC while they used the commotion as a cover to make their escape?

Perhaps. Perhaps. MC certainly isn’t in a situation to figure out which of these possibilities it was at the moment though, as they’re too busy running for their life, inwardly cursing Barry, the queen, the thief, and anyone else that annoyed them lately. If they knew they would die today, they wouldn’t have held back last week when that one jerk stole their cinnamon roll. They would’ve at least had the satisfaction of telling them off for it!

Sarcasm and sass are a good way to cope, but MC knows full well the gravity of their situation. They quickly lose the trail back the way they came, forced to do battle with creatures that are in their path while avoiding being overwhelmed by being so outnumbered. It’s only through a mixture of skill and sheer dumb luck that they manage to survive.

And by dumb luck, I mean that they fell into a catacomb through a ruined ceiling that was keeping it hidden underground.

Well, shit. From bad to worse, right?

Nothing for it, MC is forced to find a way out of the catacombs, then somehow find a way to leave the dark woods without another group of monsters going aggro on them.

Piece of cake. Noooo problem. They just have to avoid the castle at the center of the dark woods that the dragon supposedly uses as its lair, and they’re fine. An old crypt with some undead ready to pop out is better than an unstoppable dragon. Right?

As you may have guessed, MC is, in fact, going in the direction of our lonely dragon prince. Is it just bad luck? Is it some sort of intuition or instinct drawing them to Jack? Are they bound together by fate? Is it some sort of spell Jack has cast that compels humans to seek him out because it’s been forever since a human came by, and he’s desperate for both company and freedom? Maybe some combination of these things or something else entirely. Who’s to say~? It’s up to interpretation/personal headcanon~

In any case, MC is very taken aback when they meet Jack face to face for the first time, as is Jack really. It’s been so long since he’s seen someone. A part of him wonders if MC is actually real. When they get defensive and try to figure out who or what he is, he does his best to placate them, even if they might have their weapon out and ready for battle.

Jack puts his best foot forward, being friendly and welcoming. He invites MC to his home. They look exhausted and like they’ve had a hard time. MC isn’t exactly trusting this at face value, being very guarded about the whole exchange despite how cheerful and friendly this man with wings and horns is being. He’s also getting dangerously close. Should they try to use their weapon to ward him off, like Thea might have done with her sword, Jack is skilled enough in combat by this point to easily redirect her sword with his claws.

Oops, that put Thea off balance. Don’t worry, her new pal Jack is quick to catch her before she takes a tumble.

“Careful, we wouldn’t want you getting hurt, would we?” Jack said, his tone playful.

Despite MC’s skills, they are hopelessly outmatched by Jack. He has far more experience with combat, and he has the insane powers that the curse granted him.

Of course, MC is pretty quick to put together that Jack is the invincible dragon that rules the dark woods, which means that they’re utterly screwed. Strangely enough, Jack isn’t really acting like the monster people whisper about. It’s almost enough to make MC wonder if they aren’t mistaken, but the dragon features and his overwhelming strength kind of gives it away. The fact that Jack brings MC back to his castle pretty much seals the deal.

So MC is stuck as a guest with Jack. The dark woods are too dangerous for humans to wander around alone, especially at the heart of the forest. He’s curious about MC and why they would take such a risk, very concerned by their recklessness. Why were they there?

It’s an awkward situation, but MC has no choice but to play along. How much they resist or comply depends on the MC. I figure Jack indulges even a very resistant MC due to how lonely he’s been. He can easily disarm any attempts to attack him or thwart them from getting away, so they pose no threat. He has all the time in the world to convince MC to lower their guard.

And Jack is just so… so nice. It’s hard not to find him charming. He seems so concerned about MC, and they’ve been having such a hard time with, well… everything. The castle, despite being old, has been maintained decently well. The rooms are decorated so nicely, filled with clothes for them to wear, and the food Jack makes is fantastic. Holy crap, his cooking is out of this world!

Really, the longer MC stays there, the more it seems like there’s nothing Jack can’t do, and their stay is kind of like a vacation in ways. Given how much time he’s had to teach himself new things, it’s no wonder he has become something of a jack-of-all-trades.

I make no apologies for that pun.

Here then comes the classic conundrum when it comes to Jack - does MC fall for his charms, or remain suspicious and hold him at arm’s length? They’ve been feeling pretty lonely and beaten down by life for a while now, and Jack seems almost too good to be true. It’s not like he’s keeping them captive, but they’re in the heart of the dark woods. Outside this castle are some of the worst, most dangerous monsters imaginable. Jack can protect MC if they stay there in the castle with him, but he can’t go very far from the castle, so he can’t help them leave the woods. That is why he’s keeping them from leaving the castle. You know, aside from not wanting to lose the only company he’s had in so many years.

Jack is right about the danger, unfortunately. Whether MC tries to slip away from the castle or just scopes out the surroundings via a window, they find that it’s surrounded by monsters far too dangerous for them to handle alone. There’s no way they could make it, and if they tried, they’d only survive thanks to Jack coming to their rescue.

Of course, Jack acknowledges that MC is powerful. He saw them try to attack him if he did, or he just can tell in simply because they made it all this way on their own. It’s just, well, there’s only so much anyone can do on their own. Sometimes we all need a friend to help us out.

If Jack could leave, then he could help MC leave too, but he’s stuck in the castle. He’s been there for such a long, long time.

Whether his tragic plight is enough to make MC sympathize is, of course, up to the individual. I do know my gal Alice is going to want to help him after hearing him out. Being trapped in this awful place by a curse is a fate she wouldn’t wish on anybody.

Not to mention helping Jack would help MC leave the dark woods. There’s no threat he can’t handle after all. They’d be getting their own personal dragon bodyguard.

Perhaps with a pair of fresh eyes and more knowledge of the state of the world, MC will have better luck figuring out how to free Jack from the curse. Maybe they’ll just play along to not upset their super powerful host so they can escape. It would certainly take time for MC to really trust Jack, even if he seems so friendly and kind… and, they have to admit, this place is lonely and very unsettling for anyone to stay in, even if Jack has tried his best to make it look nice. It’s certainly creepy to be alone here in the heart of the dark woods. The castle is better than the woods full of monsters, but still…

Anyway, the interactions between MC and Jack are up to the individual to decide. Romance the dragon, or flee from the dragon in the end. Being stuck together can bring a sort of fondness, and Jack falls in love. It makes him determined to never lose MC, ever, so he falls down the yandere path, which can lead to some pretty obsessive moments depending on the choices made.

As for the alternate love interests, after Ian receives word that MC disappeared in the dark woods, he sends knights on a quest to find and rescue them, despite the queen’s interference. This of course includes Shaun and Nick, who are the first to volunteer for the rescue mission. Despite the queen’s meddling, not wanting to waste manpower on a thorn in her side, Ian finally takes a stand against his mother for the sake of MC and their love, and the expedition is sent.

Unbeknownst to the knights, Ian sneaks along with them in disguise. He can’t just sit back and wait while MC is in danger. He can’t let them down a second time. He’ll prove to them, and himself, that he’s truly worthy of their love.

From there it’s trials and tribulations of the guys trying to rescue MC from the dragon… provided that MC still wants to be rescued by the time the guys reach the castle.

Really, in order for all of the love interests to spend time with MC and interact, perhaps Jack will be brought back with them somehow, like he found a loophole in the curse or a way to bind him to MC. That way, Jack can leave the forest, so long as it’s with MC, with the added bonus that he can’t stay too far away from his sunshine. It’d create something of a dynamic similar to the game, only in this case everyone can see Jack and learn that he’s an incredibly dangerous dragon that has the power to kill all of them if he so chooses. Not that he would ever! He’s MC’s best friend after all. He just wants to protect his sunshine.

Though chances are MC will want to hide the whole “dragon” thing if they decide to leave with Jack. Maybe coach him on how to better pass for a human. Best not to scare people, am I right?

Or this AU could just stick in the castle where MC chooses to either romance the dragon or flee the dragon. I know which one Alice is going to choose, regardless if they stay in the castle or go back to civilization.

On that note, let’s get to the part that I suspect you’ve all been really waiting for.

(S)laying the Dragon

With Jack being a mythical creature, that offers possibilities for a very kinky fun time. There’s his obvious features like his sharp teeth and claws, but there’s also those long pointy ears that are perfect for nibbling, and maybe offering a bit of emotional expression in the way they tilt. Then, of course, there’s the tail and wings, perfect to wrap around his sunshine. He’s got even more limbs to hold them close!

Now… dragon anatomy is pretty much whatever we want it to be. Bad Dragon has the name for a reason after all. Want dragons to have two dicks similar to snakes? Go for it. He could still have that while he’s in his “human” form too. In fact, with a belt that allows him to change his shape, he could alter himself in very fun ways. A funky fantasy dick with ridges and/or bumps? Perhaps some tentacles anybody?

I mean, Jack has been alone for a long, long time. He’s only had himself to entertain and experiment with. He might have some very kinky tricks that no one has ever tried before.

To be fair, the tail is probably prehensile, so it might be able to be used like a tentacle for sexy times. He might not even need a second dick to plug up all of MC’s holes at once.

Dragons tend to have long tongues, so french kissing Jack is going to be intense, especially if it’s forked too. Then of course there’s oral. Naturally, he’ll be careful with those sharp teeth of his. Well, unless MC is into something a little rougher. Jack doesn’t want to hurt his sunshine (humans are so fragile after all), but if they like a little pain, well, their good old pal Jack will oblige them!

In my personal fantasy headcanons, pointy ears and the base of wings and tails are sensitive erogenous zones. Nibble on Jack’s ears, please! Preen his wings and make him feel loved and cared for. Rub at the base of his tail, and he’ll get hard instantly.

The scales might be harder than armor, but they’re nice and smooth, and have a nice feel. Jack has some control on just how hard or soft his body is at a time due to the belt’s power. Unless otherwise requested, Jack is very gentle with his sunshine, worried about going too rough due to how easy it was for him to hurt others.

Of course… Jack is also so desperately lonely and horny. MC’s presence has been his only bright spot in so long, and he loves them so much. When they love him too… well, it was already so hard for him to hold himself back. It wouldn’t be that difficult to rile him up and make him start to lose control, struggling to hold back his power even as he tosses MC around and takes them.

Naturally, many of my personal sexy headcanons for Jack apply in this AU. This includes a breeding/seeding kink. It’s a bit more pronounced here. If MC has his child then they’ll never ever leave him after all, and they’ll be bound together forever and ever and ever. Even if a child is off the table, the act of breeding/seeding alone is enticing, making them beg him to take them and fill them up with his hot cum is something that he fantasizes about often.

Of course, Jack doesn’t simply want sex with MC, he wants to make love. They make him feel truly loved for the first time in forever. Did he ever feel so loved before? He wants to experience their love in every way he can, fill them up with it until he’s a part of them forever.

Jack won’t ever force his sunshine, no matter how desperate he is for their love or to make love. He’ll go crazy with need, but always hold himself back if they need him to. As long as they love him, he can take care of himself sexually like he always has. He’s just been so empty, alone, and unloved for so long. MC fills them up with love in a way that he can’t live without anymore.

Naturally, when the pair do start making love, Jack can’t get enough, and his stamina is insane. MC is without a doubt going to be the one passing out first after they’ve been fucked senseless with Jack thrusting inside them, babbling how much he loves them and how good they make him feel. The more they go on, the more feral for their love Jack becomes. He’s needed his sunshine so, so badly, and now that he has them and their love, he can’t live without them anymore.

Of course, with a dragon AU and a shapeshifting ability, you can get really creative. For one thing there’s his full dragon form, which would be a giant compared to MC. Size difference anyone? Plus the exact details of how Jack looks in his dragon form could offer interesting possibilities of its own.

Then of course there’s even more furry-related kinks like oviposition or stuff like that. It's not for me personally, but I can imagine Jack would be open to experimentation and indulging in MC’s kinks, even the more outrageous ones. After all, it’s all just more ways to show just how much he loves his sunshine~

You best believe Jack has a predplay kink in this universe. He can smell MC and track them down easily. If that doesn’t work, there’s all sorts of magic he’s learned over the years that can do the trick. Of course he doesn’t want to scare MC, but when it’s good fun, it can lead to a delightfully spicy time~

While I’m on the topic of Jack smelling MC, he is addicted to their scent. The smell of their pheromones easily riles him up, practically sending him into rut like an alpha from Omegaverse!

Naturally, since Jack is a dragon, he has a horde. The castle was loaded with treasure, and it is pretty and shiny. It looks nice all piled together, maybe even neatly decorated. No doubt he’ll want to make love to his sunshine atop a pile of shiny gold coins and jewels, though he’ll make sure that he’s on the bottom so they don’t get jabbed by the hard edges… unless they’d like that, of course.

Of course, the true treasure Jack is hoarding in his lair would be MC. Gold and jewels are nice, but they don’t hold a candle to the love of his sunshine~

Wow. I think this is the longest headcanon post I’ve ever made while sticking with neutral MCs for the most part. I think I’m long overdue to shamelessly self-indulge with my OTP. Let’s see how Alice’s choices will affect this AU and how events unfold, shall we?

Lady Alice of House Rose

Naturally, Alice can’t have the surname of King in a setting like this, so I’m going to use her middle name as the house name.

Fun fact, Rose is the middle name for Barbie and Coraline too!

Yes, that means Barbie’s full name is Barbara Anne Rose King.

Yes. Yes, that pun was indeed intentional.

No, I will not apologize. Her name was picked to be a pun in the first place after all. ;3

Anyway, back to Alice. Being the eldest child, she has the responsibility to elevate the status of her household. Not only are they barely nobility, but their finances aren’t in the best shape. She needs money to help her family, and the honor of being a knight in hopes of gaining a better title.

It’s a shame that the queen doesn’t care for Alice and she’s been stuck as a squire way longer than is reasonable.

Alice knew that it would be impossible for her to marry a prince like Ian, no matter how kind he was, or how close they were. She couldn’t avoid falling for him though. It made her more determined to earn a better title, to make something of herself and earn acclaim. Maybe if she became the greatest knight in the kingdom, maybe she can prove herself worthy of royal consort and be with Ian as his wife one day.

Alice busted her ass trying to be a knight despite all the rough training and being forced to work menial, often degrading tasks as a squire. The weapons she specializes in are the bow and magic, combining the two to devastating effect. She’s also very good at keeping quiet and being stealthy.

In this universe, Alice never had sex with Ian. Although this fantasy setting is more open about sex before marriage, the gap between her and Ian was so wide, she didn’t want to risk doing anything that might ruin their chances of being together. That’s why finding out he cheated broke her heart, regardless of them being physically intimate together. Worse, his outburst when he begged her for forgiveness made it sound like they had been sleeping together to those who overheard, and the rumors were very unkind to the two of them, Alice especially.

Ian cheating proved to Alice that she was only fooling herself that they could be together. Their worlds were too far apart. Ian was to be king someday and she… well, maybe she’ll reach the title of Baroness. Though Ian begged for forgiveness, and Alice gave it to him, she couldn’t go back to the way they were. Advice from Shaun and others helped her see that it was best for everyone involved that she simply remain as the loyal (future) knight and Prince Ian as only her liege.

Let’s skip ahead to the mission to catch the thief in the dark woods. Alice’s best means of combat is the stealth kill. She sneaks quietly, sets up magic traps, fires arrows when the enemy is unaware, and in general takes her time to take her enemy at her own advantage. She actually works pretty well as a solo fighter due to being so stealthy. Though she is good at hand to hand combat if need be, she prefers to strike before her enemy realizes she’s there, and she’s amazing at her skills. Why, if she put her mind to it, she could be a skilled assassin. (Or in another world, a sniper.)

The horde of monsters the thief set off to charge after Alice was almost her undoing. By the time she fell into the catacombs, she passed out from exhaustion, having drained her mana dry. She might have been doomed if a monster came upon her then, but fortunately the master of the dark woods found her in time.

Alice was pretty darn shocked to wake up in a surprisingly fluffy bed, with her armor removed. Not all of it fortunately. She had her modesty protected and her softer clothes still on, but the uncomfortable hard outer plates were removed so that she could sleep peacefully. Jack was apologetic about removing any part of her clothes without asking, even blushing about it, but he didn’t want her to be uncomfortable while she recovered.

Needless to say, Alice is wary of Jack at first, but he did save her life. She does piece together that he’s the dragon pretty quickly and is naturally wary, deciding that the best course of action is to rest up, heal, and carefully get information from the legendary master of the dark woods.

The rumors and legends are so varied, it’s hard to know what exactly is the truth. The dragon of the dark woods doesn’t even have a name, and some of the tales are clearly exaggerations. Since Jack is showing himself to be surprisingly friendly, and he saved Alice from certain death, she decided to trust him… at least enough to remain civil and learn more about him, the castle, and the dark woods.

After asking many questions and getting as much information as Jack can give her (though much of it is confusing due to how rusty he is with socializing), Alice agrees to help him find a way to break his curse. She’s taking a risk, but if she leaves the castle on her own, she’ll die. If she stays, she can keep an eye on Jack to see if he’s really as good and gentle as he presents himself to be. If she has to, she’ll find a way to escape without him if she gets the sense that he’s using her to escape the forest in order to conquer the world or something.

Being very good at sneaking, Alice does slip away to search around the castle for answers on her own as much as possible. However, Jack can’t stand the idea of losing track of her, and all it took was one time of losing track of her for him to leave a magic tracker on her discreetly so he can find her wherever she goes - for her own safety of course! He can’t stand to be far from her. He has to give her time to herself, since if he leaves her with no privacy she won’t trust him, but it’s so hard to stay away. He’s so lonely.

At first Jack’s feelings for Alice are platonic, just a lonely man in desperate need of friendship, but over the time they spend together, getting to know one another, he falls in love and falls hard. Alice, naturally, takes much longer to fall after her relationship with Ian fell apart. At first, Jack is someone she can’t quite trust because he’s a stranger, then she is cautious because he’s a powerful dragon with many unflattering legends about the monster that he is, then it’s concern for the power imbalance between them… but eventually she sees that he’s just a lonely, sweet dork who just wants a friend.

Of course, Alice won’t realize he wants much more than friendship until later. Jack doesn’t want to scare her away after all.

I don’t think Shaun, Nick, and Ian are just going to sit back and wait long to try and find her, but I want to give Alice and Jack plenty of alone time, so I’m going to go with the idea that when humans come deep into the heart of the woods, at first Jack is excited. More friends! Then he becomes fearful when he realizes they’re looking for Alice. They want to take his sunshine away. She’ll leave him, forever!

Well, that won’t do. Jack doesn’t want to hurt them, but he can just make it difficult to find the castle. Maybe use the power of the cursed land to rearrange the forest when the search party isn’t looking, mix them up so that they find themselves suddenly outside the woods. Jack might not be able to leave due to the curse, but he’s not known as master of the dark woods for nothing. He can wield the golden cuffs’ power however he likes, just he can never leave.

Jack just needs to divert them long enough that they give up and leave, or he can find a way to escape with his sunshine’s help. Alice knows many interesting spells, being very creative with magic in ways that he never thought of before, and she knows of things that he doesn’t due to coming from outside the woods. With her help, he is able to figure out a way to free himself from his imprisonment… provided that he remains close to his sunshine. It’s more of a change in the curse than an actual cure for it, but it’s a vast improvement! He can leave the dark woods! Finally! At long last! He can converse with more people! He can make friends! He won’t have to be left alone and forgotten in the dark anymore!

Of course, Alice helps Jack prepare to be around people by helping him refine his “human” form. People aren’t going to understand that the deadly dragon of the dark woods is really just a sweet marshmallow, practically a giant cuddly puppy in human-ish form! When Jack can master looking properly human, they can come up with a cover story that he was a wanderer that found her lost in the woods and helped her until she could get back home. It’s not a lie technically. He used to be a wanderer after all, and everything else is true. He’s been nothing but helpful to his sunshine~

So Alice has to hide the secret of her new dragon friend, who has made it his mission to win her heart. Jack is willing to wait for her to be ready to love him the way that he loves her, even if the wait drives him crazy, but he’s very territorial, not liking the way the other guys look at her. However, Alice does notice his more possessive behaviors even as he tries to remain subtle about them, and she makes sure to keep her new “pet” dragon on a tight leash. Jack is fine with that so long as it means he’ll stay close to his sunshine.

I’m going to say that the change to the curse to bind them together does cause an empathy connection because I really love empath magic. Plus, allowing the pair to feel each other’s emotions and even pleasure and pain is very intimate. When Alice realizes they now can sense each other’s pain as a result of what she did, Jack makes it clear that he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe so that she won’t have to experience any pain. He’ll promises to protect her for the rest of his life.

Of course, such a declaration leaves Alice feeling rather flustered. ;3

Overall, it is a bit more of a slow burn than Sunshine in Hell, but eventually the two of them fall in love, much to the dismay of the rest of the male leads.

Naturally love will overcome the curse, because I am an absolute sucker for happy endings. Jack and Alice will find a way to break the curse and remain together so they can live happily ever after. And make love like rabbits hopped up on viagra.

No, I won’t apologize for that pun either.

It won’t come too easily, of course. There’s plenty of people who aren’t going to be keen to immediately trust Jack, and not just the male leads. He came from out of nowhere, with no known background. Alice’s family is certainly going to be concerned by the stranger that waltzed into her life after her heart was already broken by Ian, especially since by the time they meet Jack, she’s already shown signs of crushing on him. The family is going to need to make sure that this new guy is worth potential heartbreak.

Then of course there’s the whole political aspect of things. This country used to be the very kingdom that Joseph was chased out of many, many years ago. The lost prince is a story that could be uncovered to potentially explosive results.

Why, if Jack had the mind to, he could take back the throne and rule the kingdom that once chased him away… with his sunshine ruling by his side after all.

Will that happen with Alice? Maybe. Maybe she’ll actually become a queen after all, or maybe she’ll just live a simple life with Jack who doesn’t let on that he’s powerful enough to level the whole kingdom. After all, all he truly wants is to be loved, and Alice is sure to give Jack all the love he could ever ask for.

Perhaps that love will wind up with a lot of adorable half-dragon babies running around. Though they could be fully human if Jack does become a human after the curse breaks. I kind of like the idea that Jack is freed of the curse, but he is still a powerful dragon and can still use the belt to have fun with his shape. Plus baby dragons are the cutest and the idea of Jack and Alice’s kids being little dragons with tiny wings and cute pointy ears heals my soul.

…Holy crap this ramble went on for 26 pages. That’s over 11,000 words according to google doc! This must be my longest ramble yet, and that’s saying something! Well, I suppose that’s what happens when a dragon lover makes a dragon AU, haha. Fantasy has always been my jam, and I love playing with magical elements.

Anyway, I’m going to take that as a cue to wrap things up here for now. Let me know what you think about this AU and if you want to hear more about anything in particular. Also, let me know if this post inspires you to create anything of your own and please share it with me! I love it that we can inspire one another to create in this fandom, just like Mars’ lovely art inspired me. I hope I’ve given you a few new fun ideas to play with. Thanks for reading this far!

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur

#Sunny Day Jack #Something's Wrong With Sunny Day Jack #SunnyDayJack #sdj #swwsdj #Headcanon Ramblings #Fantasy AU #Dragon AU

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survivalove · 4 months

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debunking lies zutara shippers say about the atla creators & writers

disclaimer: this is in no way an endorsement or defense of bryke or anyone mentioned. literally just debunking false statements i see spread throughout and outside the fandom as it pertains to kataang

1. that bryke made kataang endgame because the nice guy should get the girl

this is something I see often usually linked with this video of a man ⬇️ who they claim to be bryan/mike echoing this sentiment.

this man is in fact john o’bryan, one of the three known zk shippers in the writers’ room (we’ll expand on this in point 5) talking about how he saw aang. not the creators. so of course it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he doesn’t even like kataang in the first place.

2. that bryke made kataang endgame last minute and zutara was the original pairing

bryan and mike (notice how i’m using both of their names separately. this too will be important in the next point) have talked about how kataang was planned since they originally wrote the show.

they have also talked ad nauseam in a video (which I will not share here cuz it made a lot of ppl angry) about why they do not like zutara and its shippers, so this entire point is bogus.

++ the reason why they say zk was the original pairing is because of one of the zk writers (joshua hamilton) wrote this in the atla fun facts that used to run on tv. (we’ll get into him later) those atla fun facts contain a lot of inaccurate/non canon “facts” which you can check and verify on avatar wiki if you know what i’m talking about.

3. that aang is bryke’s self insert (specifically mike)

yeah, here’s where the separation becomes important. bryan (L) and mike (R) are two different men. mike has never said that aang was his self-insert, nor has he directly talked about relating to aang. bryan, however, constantly talks about how much he relates to zuko. even, going as far to say he tries to think like zuko when he writes characters and shows.

the only time mike has come close to saying he relates to aang is when dante said he thinks mike is more like aang while bryan is more like zuko, and they, mostly bryan, agreed. (mike has actually said he relates to korra more than aang but hey) bryan also is the one who drew mike’s beard on adult aang because he considered it a nice reference to his friend. this is the main reason why shippers ran with that self-insert narrative because half the time, they think bryke is actually one person ☠️

++ in fact, aang’s original character design is based off the mixed black-chinese son of sifu kisu

4. that atla was supposed to have a season 4 where katara and zuko got together

this is mostly something that has come out of a fabricated interview by the head writer, aaron ehasz. he was allegedly asked what he would have liked to do if given the chance to write a fourth season of the show and talked about an azula redemption arc among other things. zutaras then made up a whole fake interview including that he wanted to make the two characters endgame.

ehasz then came out to say that most of these “interviews” were faked and that he has never talked about having a preference for any ship. if you go on his twitter, you will see him talking about an azula redemption arc tho.

as for atla having a 4th season at all, it was never intended. the creators, the music composers have all said at various points in time, the show was written and pitched as three seasons, three elements.

5. that most of the other writers shipped zutara and bryke’s authoritarianism shut it down

as I said above, only three writers on the original show have come out to say they preferred zk at some point. atla has had a total of 21 staff writers. 3 out of 21 is not most if you ask me.

as for bryke (yes now i’m using the shorthand cuz i proved my point earlier) being authoritarians, no writer or staff that has worked with them on the show has said this so…? idk where that came from but i’m not here to back them up just mention facts.

6. that all the women who worked on the franchise shipped zutara while only men shipped kataang

atla has very few female staff as it is:

5 writers (elizabeth welch: zk; others: unknown)

1 director (unknown)

5 storyboard/character artists (lauren montgomery: ka; elsa garagarza: ka; angela song mueller: zk; others: unknown)

1 comic writer (faith erin hicks: ka)

2 comic artists (gurihiru: ka)

++ mae whitman (katara’s voice actress) has expressed her like for both ships throughout the years.

so i’m not sure what defines all and only for some ppl but those definitions are not in my dictionary. disclaimer: i’m not declaring anyone here as a shipper in any official sense. this is just based off statements they have made that you can google!

7. that katara is written poorly in post-atla content because of kataang/bryke

I mean the first part isn’t really a lie, more of an opinion which I can agree with to an extent.

why I mention this here is because zks will not only go on a tangent and link the misogyny in the writing to a m/f ship and say the other m/f ship would have been more feminist…

but they also refuse to hold all the men involved accountable. like I said, 3 known atla writers shipped zk and 2 of them (joshua & john) were men (who would’ve thought men could like a ship and it could still be considered feminist 😃). they were also 2 out of only 4 atla writers that came back for legend of korra, outside of the creators. (19 to 4 ☠️ no comment). these shippers very well know this and instead of holding these men accountable for the misogynistic writing, they instead brag about them shipping it and ask them about zk whenever they have the chance.

another example is gene luen yang, a comic writer who again shipped zk (another man GASPPPPP) responsible for the first 5 comic books. everyone knows his comics suck in terms of characterization, particularly katara’s. in fact zutaras have made multiple threads on how poor the writing is. funnily enough, they always fail to mention that gly was the script writer or acknowledge his part in this mischaracterization, while bragging about him shipping zk in other posts. ironic.

meanwhile, bryke have never offered writers’ commentary on any of gly’s comics besides the search - mike (because they were mostly writing legend of korra during his run.)

basically these shippers don’t care about misogyny or holding male writers accountable if they ship zk which is funny because I thought it was… for the female gaze? why are you hyping men shipping it anyway? confusion.

#atla #atla fandom problems #anti zutara #antizutara #pro kataang #kataang #if you want me to remove any tag let me know!

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writing-for-marvel · 1 year

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Everyone’s Watching Him (But He’s Looking At Her) (3)

Actor!Bucky Barnes x Assistant!Fem!Reader

< < PART 2 | Series Masterlist | PART 4 > >

Summary: You’ve barely had time to recover from the controversial interview the night before, but it’s time for Bucky to step into the limelight yet again for his movie premiere.

Warnings: body insecurity and mention of reader sucking her stomach in, idiots in love, soft fluff, shy & insecure reader, jealousy, multiple POV switches, miscommunication, angst (yes, you read that right, though it’s me so you shouldn’t be surprised)

Word count: 4.6k (I may have gotten a little carried away)

A/N: photo credit to @justarandomgirly, banners by @vase-of-lilies

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Sunshine creeps through the partly closed curtains, the brightness flickering against your closed eyelids causing you to wake from your serene slumber.

The bed is as soft as a marshmallow, and smells divine, like good quality fabric softener and an undeniable musky scent, which, when surrounding you entirely in the sheets, pillows and large duvet, is like coming home.

You’re still drowsy when you spread yourself out like a starfish, stretching all your joints that have become stiff with sleep. Which is when your brain kicks into gear and realises, in fact, this bed is much too large and comfortable to be your own.

Your eyes shoot open, and what you see confirms your suspicions that this indeed isn’t your bed. You’re met with a luxurious sized room, a large projector screen hanging from the ceiling against the wall opposite the king size bed and a chaise longue over in the corner beside a full length mirror.

Recognising it immediately as Bucky’s bedroom, you do a double take, checking to see if he’s in the bed beside you. You find your stomach sinks in disappointment when you realise you’re alone.

A soft meowing coming from the door catches your attention, but before you can shift positions too get a better look, a fluffy white cat jumps onto the bed and curls up beside your head. Much like his dad, Alpine was a little stand-offish at first, but once he became familiar with your presence, he’s been the most affectionate cat you’ve ever met.

“Good morning, handsome.” You murmur whilst reaching out to scratch under his chin. Alpine purrs in contentment. “C’mon, let’s see if your dad’s awake.”

James Barnes is of course not awake, though that doesn’t surprise you. He always needs a good eight hours of shut-eye, otherwise he’s in a horrible mood for the rest of the day.

Now that you’re wide awake, the memories of the previous night come back to you. In an attempt to distract Bucky from the chaos which would have been erupting online, you stayed up until four in the morning reminiscing, watching old movies and eating all the junk food in this extensive pantry.

Though from your last recollection you were still beside him on the couch, head resting on his shoulder as you became sleepy - you could only speculate that Bucky carried you to his bed after that.

You lean against the doorframe of his guest bedroom, coffee mug in hand and Alpine brushing against your leg as you take a moment to watch Bucky sleep. He looks so peaceful, his lips pressed together in a smile. You can’t prevent your mind from wandering to what exactly he dreams about when he closes his eyes at night, and the hope inflating like a balloon in your stomach that perhaps you have something to do with the subconscious smile he’s expressing.

After the ordeal the night before, you hate to wake him from the tranquillity he’s found for himself, rouse him into a day where all the headlines, both good and bad, will be about him, where his name will be trending on twitter, and all the gossip columnists will be speculating about who he’s dating and why he needs a prosthetic arm.

You wish you could protect him from the scandalous storm, but you also know he has a lot to do in preparation for his movie premiere tonight. The part of you who is employed as his assistant wins out this time.

“Bucky…” You coo gently from the doorway, hesitant to encroach on his personal space while he’s unconscious. You are just an assistant after all. Once you see him stir but not fully wake, you call softly again. “Buck, it’s time to get up.”

“Not yet.” He mumbles in response, making no effort to move or open his eyes, let alone get out of bed. You chuckle at how adorable he is when he’s tired. Most people would consider it being grumpy, you actually find it endearing.

“I made coffee.” You know those are the magical words to get Bucky Barnes moving for the day. He finally opens his eyes and they instantly meet yours, all you can think about is being the first thing he sees every single morning for the rest of his life.

“Thanks.” He says with a soft smile. “I’ll be right out.”

* * *

Bucky is still getting dressed when the doorbell rings.

He’s not expecting anyone, but he’s sure it’s just Maria coming over with last minute directives concerning the premiere tonight. A shiver runs down Bucky’s spine at the thought of stepping out in front of all those cameras again so soon after last night's debacle. It’s horrible timing really, but he doesn’t exactly have a choice but to attend, however reluctantly.

He’s buttoning up his shirt when he hears the distinctive sound of a toddler laughing, and he instantly knows who has paid him a visit.

When he exits his bedroom he’s met with four smiling faces. You, his darling sister, his best friend and their beautiful daughter.

“Buba!” She calls, not quite able to say his name yet.

“We thought we’d pop around after everything that happened last night. Much like her favourite uncle, Jamie has an infectious smile, and we think you could use some of that today.” Becks comments as she tickles her daughter's tummy, making her giggle. Bucky finds that contagious smile spreading over his features as his sister hands him Jamie, who, by the way she’s squirming in his grip, seems very happy to see her uncle.

He didn’t know it when he woke up this morning, but this is exactly what he needs to take his mind off yesterday’s disaster and his impending public appearance tonight.

You offer to leave, so he can spend time alone with his family, but he’s adamant that you stay. Bucky’s sure he will only ever be able to find true contentment and happiness with you by his side, because when you’re elsewhere, there will always be a fragment of himself missing.

The rest of the morning is filled with smiles, laughter and pure joy. His schedule has been so busy the last couple months with finishing the production of the movie in a different city and the press tour, that there’s a lot to catch up on in little Jamie’s life, as well as that of her parents.

“When are you going to tell her?” Becks asks in a low voice as the two of them make lunch in the kitchen, but Bucky can’t take his eyes off the scene playing out in the living room. He’s far too invested in watching you babble, laugh and play with his niece, the miracle his sister and best friend named after him, to care about anything else in the world.

“Tell her what?” Bucky asks, not paying enough awareness, even to his own sister, to figure out what she’s implying.

“That you’re in love with her.” This, however, does capture his attention and are perhaps the only words Becks could have uttered in order for him to take his focus from you.

“How do you know?”

“The way you look at her. Like she’s everything you’ve ever wanted and all you’ll ever need. Everything you’ve waited for.” Bucky chuckles, his sister knows him too well for her own good and he knows there’s no point in trying to deceive her - she also happens to be far too smart for her own good too.

“How come I could never see that between you and Stevie before you told me you loved each other?” It was the love found between his sister and best friend that made Bucky truly believe he too could find a love with someone that would transcend the remainder of his life. It may have taken him a couple years after that, but he then finally met you, and all fell into place.

“Because you were oblivious. Still are actually.” It’s now Becks’ turn to chuckle, but in a way that makes Bucky feel like he’s missing some vital piece of information.

“Why still?”

“Because you clearly don’t realise she’s in love with you too.” Bucky's entire world stops. All he can feel is his heart thumping so forcefully in his chest it might burst at any moment.

“You think- no, no she isn’t… is she?” Only in his fantasies do you return his affections. He’s dreamed, sincerely hoped, that bashful smile and twinkle in your eye when he says anything remotely flattering about you is an indication of something beyond friendship, but he’s never let himself fully believe that in fear of having his heart completely crushed.

Could you really love him?

“She’s the one who invited us around today, she thought seeing your family would be just the spark you need.” And that’s when he thinks his heart stops completely. You organised this? Without him asking or prompting in any way - you simply did it because you thought it would cheer him up? You knew exactly what he needed, what would brighten his day and you were content not taking the credit as long as he was happy?

“Buck, take it from someone who waited far too long to tell the person they loved that they indeed loved them - don’t wait. Stevie and I danced around it for years because he’s your best friend and I’m your sister. If you love her, tell her. It might just be the best decision you’ve ever made. It was for me.”

And with that Becks pats Bucky on the shoulder and leaves him with his l thoughts as she joins her daughter for feeding time.

Tonight. I’ll tell her tonight, Bucky pledges to himself with a new found surge of courage.

He just needs to get through the anxiety of this damn movie premiere without someone asking him why he’s missing a limb before he does.

* * *

After you bid farewell to the Rogers family, realisation sets in that it’s time to prepare for the premiere. You can tell by how tense Bucky’s shoulders are that he’s not looking forward to the occasion, which is a shame because he’s put so much time and effort into making an entertaining film for it to all be ruined by one bully interviewer.

And that’s what you attempt to remind him of, but to no avail. There’s a sharp, stabbing pain in your gut at the thought that, at least this time, you’re not enough to be able to cheer him up.

However begrudgingly, Bucky allows you to take him meet with his stylist for the final reveal of his attire for the night. After the award show season, he wants to go with a slightly different look, and Bucky seems to welcome the change.

“What do you think?” Bucky asks, strutting out in a navy blue suit with a cummerbund, doing a performative twirl just for you which makes you chuckle.

“I much prefer when I get to help you with a tie.” Is what you say, because you’re sure if you try to articulate how gorgeous he looks you’ll end up admitting he’s the most handsome man you’ve ever laid eyes on. The memory of helping you fix his tie last night flashes in your mind and your cheeks heat at simply the recollection of being that close to him.

“I’ll have to remind the stylist only suits with ties from now on.” Bucky smiles, his hands twitching in a way you hope indicates he wishes you were within proximity to touch. “Oh, I also have a surprise for you!”

He ducks back into the dressing area and for the minute it takes for him to return, excitement and suspense grow in your stomach. When Bucky comes back, he has a garment bag in his hands and a cheeky grin on his face.

“Try this on for me.” You try to protest, to object to him having spent any amount of money on you, but when he forces the garment into your arms and directs you to the dressing room with his large hands on your waist, you’re putty in his hands.

“Can you zip me up please?” You ask nervously, as you walk back out to model the gown for Bucky. You turn around and a wave of vulnerability overcomes you as he stares at your bare back. He slowly makes his way over to you, hands careful as he zips up the gown.

He looks at you in awe, but you’re sure it’s just because he’s used to seeing you in a pair of jeans and a band tee rather than an elegant dress.

“Bucky, I can’t accept this… this is far too beautiful and expensive.” You advise, though you're too busy admiring how the dress fits in the reflection of the mirror to fully appreciate the absolutely enamoured expression he’s regarding you with.

“Doll, it was made just for you, you wouldn’t want it to go to waste would you?” He says with a smile, unable to take his eyes off the dress and how perfectly it fits your body. He knows he’s going to have not so innocent dreams about it tonight.

“Thank you Buck, I promise I’ll pay you back.”

“No, you’ve already done so much for me, more than you know, please, let me do this for you.” You don’t push the matter any further, but make sure to express your gratitude again before leaving for the premiere. After feeling so out of place during the recent award show season, it means the world that Bucky would do this for you.

You feel confident in your custom dress when you arrive, not only because the gown you’re wearing actually fits you properly, unlike every other second hand dress you’ve worn to important events, but because of the way Bucky looks at you while you’re wearing it.

But when you get separated, him moving to the red carpet along with all the other exquisitely dressed celebrities and notable attendees, and you with the behind the scenes help, the distance between you allows space for doubt and uncertainty to creep in.

You watch Bucky greet his co-star, the gorgeous Sharon Carter. You can’t deny it, she looks absolutely stunning. Perhaps more than stunning, if that’s possible. A woman out of a man’s sexual fantasy.

A fire red dress plunges down her front, a long slit in the side shows off her tall, slim legs and taught material over her abdomen and hips leaves no room for questioning how flat her stomach is and the desirable curves of her waist. It makes you suck your stomach in, suddenly overly insecure about how your body looks in your gown.

It’s hard to breathe watching Bucky looking at her with such a genuine smile and an eagerness in his eyes that you could only describe as attraction. And that even though they’re in front of flashing cameras and being recorded for the entire world to see, you can see that he’s not feigning a second of it.

Everyone in attendance is abuzz with comments of how dashing they both look, but more notable, what a breathtaking couple they make.

Bucky’s hand slides lower and rests on the curves of her waist, making jealousy spread through your body and stomach churn with insecurity.

The ache in your chest is the painful reminder that it is only in your imagination where he is yours, even if in every version of reality you will always be his.

From that moment on you find it difficult to truly concentrate on the importance of the occasion, or the anticipation of seeing a blockbuster film before the majority of the world. You’re too caught up in the self doubting thoughts bouncing around your head like in a pinball machine.

The movie itself goes by in a blur. You try your best to remind yourself that Bucky’s playing a fictional character, but it’s difficult to sit through two hours of the sexual tension between him and Sharon which ultimately ends in a steamy sex scene.

The chemistry between them is tangible and you recognise that spark in his eye on the big screen as the same way he looked at her on the red carpet. It’s easy to convince yourself that there will never be that electrifying magnetism between you two when not only have they shown it while filming a movie for six months, but also have exhibited it right in front of your eyes tonight.

By the time the movie ends, it feels like someone’s sitting on your chest, every breath agonising, even though you have no right to be jealous. He’s not yours, he’s your boss, he’s never vocalised any romantic interest in you and quite clearly he’s capable of doing much better than you anyway.

The first person Bucky hugs as the credits roll is Sharon. Seeing him find solace in her arms is enough to push you to the edge - you need to get out of here.

As the cast is preoccupied by all the recognition and acknowledgements, you take the window of opportunity to slip out the side door, needing the fresh air and space between the setting bringing you so much anxiety.

You think you’ve escaped inconspicuously until you hear a door closing behind you. The way Bucky’s voice calls your name is like a warm embrace in the cold, lonely night and compels you to stop.

“Where are you going?” He enquires as he catches up to you, a confused furrow in his brow.

“I’m sorry Bucky, it was all becoming a bit too much for me in there, I just want to head home.” The concern brimming in his eyes is enough to make your knees weak and for you to forget that you’re actually incredibly insecure and jealous right now. Bucky knows you don’t like crowds so that’s the excuse you’ll stick with.

“Doll, why didn’t you just tell me? Let me drive you.” He offers thoughtfully without any further questioning.

“Bucky this is your night, you should be celebrating with your friends not driving me anywhere.” Your last wish is to inconvenience him, that’s why you attempted to leave unnoticed, because in the back of your mind you knew Bucky’s benevolent enough to try something like this on a night that should instead be dedicated to him.

“I want to make sure you get home safe. Please.” He looks at you with those puppy dog eyes you intrinsically know you’ll never be able to say no to, those same eyes which regard you with a tenderness you’re only familiar with from him, that make you feel more beautiful and treasured than all of the precious gemstones money can buy.

“Okay.” It should perhaps concern you how quickly you yield to him, but the elated smile which forms on Bucky’s face as you do is reward enough for conceding so easily. That, and the knowledge that if he’s with you, he’s not with Sharon.

“Thank you!” He exclaims, as if you’re the one doing him the favour instead of the other way around. His large hands cup your face as he leans in and kisses your forehead, much too quickly for your liking because before you’re even able to savour the feel of his touch he’s pulling away and rather all you can feel is the cold absence of where his contact was the moment before.

Bucky can see the shiver which runs down your spine and shrugs off his jacket before you even have the opportunity to protest.

“Here, take this, can’t have you feeling cold.” He places the large jacket around you without hesitation, making sure the shoulders are aligned correctly before his hands smooth down your arms before finishing in your hands. His proximity makes you feel dizzy and you’re suddenly hyper aware of how sweaty your palms are. Bucky looks down at you, eyes briefly flickering down to your lips as he licks his own, before settling on your eyes. Your desire to kiss him is about to overrule every professional instinct you’re attempting to exert, when he opens his mouth to speak. “Just wait right here, I need to say a quick goodbye to some people but I’ll be right back to take you home. I promise.”

He squeezes your hands as reassurance and before you’re even able to process the glint in his tender eyes, he’s disappeared inside.

You pull his jacket tighter around you as the wind picks up, losing yourself in the same captivating musky scent you were surrounded by this morning in his bed sheets. It’s soothing and reminds you that it was in fact you who was comforting him last night when he broke down. Not Sharon. You.

“Are you heading off?” A familiar voice asks. You look up to find Maria taking a drag of a cigarette, and for a rationale you’re unsure of, your grip on Bucky’s jacket becomes tighter.

“Yeah, Bucky’s driving me home.” You say with a smile you can’t suppress.

“Oh darling, he can’t leave the celebrations yet. He’s the star of the show!” Maria takes one last puff of her cigarette before she stamps it out with her red bottom shoes you’re sure cost more than your month's rent.

“But he-”

“Besides, I’m sure he’d much rather go home with his girlfriend.” If her words don’t kill you first the nonchalant tone she uses to implode your entire world just might.

“Girlfriend?” You choke out.

“Sharon - I mean, you saw how cosy the two of them were today? They’ve gotten awfully close after all those long months playing love interests.” Simply hearing her name makes your heart clench and brings back the suffocating envy you were feeling mere minutes ago.

“I guess.” Is all you can manage to say.

“Look, darling, you’ve had a long couple days working, you should head home! There’s a taxi rank just around the corner.” Maria almost pushes you forward, but with how weak and pliant you’ve become with self doubt, your body puts up no resistance. You mumble a quick goodnight before your feet shuffle you the rest of the way to the cab stand.

There was a small part of you that hoped, perhaps even believed, that Bucky reciprocated the overwhelming feelings of love and devotion you held for him.

Over time you’ve needed to syphon off larger and larger segments of your heart to be able to store your ever growing feelings for him and all the memories you’d made with him you refused to forget, until you realised that small section had instead become your entire, overflowing heart.

And you pondered that when Bucky looked at you like he didn’t even want to blink in fear of missing out on a single second with you, perhaps that’s what he was doing too.

But why should you trust your instincts when they’ve led you astray so many times before? When all it’s resulted in was the pain of heartbreak and rejection.

Why would Bucky Barnes, renowned playboy and the biggest movie star in the world, be any different?

To your dismay, it turns out he isn’t.

* * *

Bucky leaves the celebration with a pep in his step.

He’s going to take you home and tell you how he feels.

He can’t help the nervous twisting of his stomach at the thought of baring his heart to you. Revealing that his soul has become intertwined with yours and you carry his fragile heart wherever you go, but that there’s simply no one else in the entire world he wants nor trusts more to have that privilege.

He’s about to reveal his most closely guarded secret, open his heart and expose his most vulnerable side to you with the prospect of complete rejection. And as much as it scares him half to death, he’s taking his opportunity. Becks believes you love him, and that’s about as sure as he can be.

When Bucky rounds the corner, Maria is standing alone exactly where he left you and his heart squeezes tightly with anxiety.

“Where is-”

“She left, said she needed to get home and didn’t want to wait for you.” Maria informs flatly, but Bucky can’t believe it. You’re always so patient, so accommodating to his insanely hectic schedule, had you really grown tired of waiting on him?

“She left?” Bucky can hear the distress in his own voice. He looks around, desperately confused, feeling an abyss being carved into his chest as the realisation of your departure sets in.

He told you to wait right here.

He promised he’d be right back.

He was going to tell you he loves you…

Even though Maria confirmed otherwise, part of him expects to see you standing there, wearing his jacket over your shoulders and that shy smile of yours which makes his stomach perpetually flip. But there is nothing aside from the faint music reverberating from inside, and a cool breeze that reminds him you’ve left with his jacket, and his heart, without so much as a goodbye.

“She’s off the clock Bucky, no wonder she wants to go do her own thing, she’s not getting paid to cater to your every whim 24 hours a day. Besides, this gives us a chance to chat. I have to talk to you about Sharon Carter.” Maria platonically drapes her arm around Bucky’s shoulders and directs him back inside without knowing her words are like a knife to his chest.

Of course you want to do your own thing, you have a life outside of being his assistant, you don’t want to be around him every second of every day working. That’s why you were in such a rush to leave tonight.

How could he be stupid to mistake you doing your job for anything more?

“What about Sharon?” He doesn’t want to deal with any work talk right now, all he wants is to go home and nurse his bruised heart by himself.

“I’ve talked with her management, and we’ve agreed to push the angle that you two are dating.”

“No, Maria, I don’t want to do that, I’ve had enough of PR relationships.” You are all he wants. Bucky doesn’t want to have to hold hands, kiss and be excessively affectionate with someone else when it’s really you he wants to be able to do all those things, and more, with. He finds his palms are sweating at the mere thought of being able to do that with you, even if you don’t want that with him.

“James, it’s already in motion. Everyone’s speculating about who you’re dating after last night's interview, so we pushed the story before the red carpet tonight to drum up buzz about the movie. It’s perfect timing!”

Dread settles in the pit of Bucky’s stomach. The next week will be filled with press for the new movie and he’s going to have to play the part of Sharon’s devoted boyfriend when all he craves is to be yours. This was a nightmare he desperately wanted to wake up from.

Two hearts, connected in a way even their owners don’t understand, go to sleep that night feeling more alone and unloved than ever before, when in actuality they both dream of the same thing: being with each other.

Part 4 > >

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Everyone’s Watching Him (But He’s Looking At Her) [Actor!Bucky Barnes] Taglist: @sunnyjane4 @ravenodindottir @valhalla-kristin @learisa @crispysublimecupcake @iamfandomwasted @blackwidownat2814 @hailey-holt @rosepetalsinwinter @wifeofbarnes @bucky-fricking-barnes-reads @vicmc624 @oliviagreen99 @gabshouse @raging-panda @priya212 @highlyintelligentblonde @buckyseddie @erynnnn @endless-summer-soldier @one-shot-plus-size @takeabreathdearh @its703pm @nefelibatansoul @theweekndhistorybook @albinotigerpython @goldenharrysworld @buckyslove1917 @supersanelyromantic @gothkitteh @ahrahrahraha @hopelessromantic423 @misshale21 @happeevacationday @farfromjustordinary @blackgirlbydna @mrsgweasley @readreblogfics @ashenc-blog @redbarn1995 @thewackywriter @missvelvetsstuff @broadwaybabe18 @buckys2lut @arny-montana @calirindo @justfic

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neverwritewhatyouknow · 9 months

Note

Ok hi respectfully I think your “hypothetical” question on twitter was not the best way to get your point across. This movie is a really big deal for queer Latine folks and treating the reduction of background character’s religion as something worse than a fully white British actor playing an ethnically Latine character was very selfish of you. If Nora’s Jewish identity was more central to her identity in the book it might have made it into the movie but that’s not my point. Alex is a canonically Mexican character being played by TZP who is actually Mexican himself. That doesn’t happen often. Latine characters get played by actors who aren’t from their countries all the fucking time (not that you or any non-latine notice, much less care) and finally that’s not the case with this movie. It makes me really sick how you are trying to overshadow what this means to queer Mexicans, Mixtec and queer Latines. If you want Jewish representation that’s fair but you should fully understand the significance of this first, acknowledge that the method you used to make your point was harmful, and stop making it all about you.

Hi, respectfully

Jewish isn’t just a religion. Judaism is the religion. Jewish people can be followers of Judaism, but you don’t have to be religious to be Jewish.

It’s an ethnicity, a culture, a people, a tribe.

I am in NO way trying to devalue the importance this movie is for Latine people. I’m so fucking happy that they actually cast an actor for Alex who actually fits Alex. That was the first thing I checked when the whole cast was revealed. I literally couldn’t be happier.

I do notice every single time that a minority in anything is played by the wrong minority, so thank you for assuming I don’t. I actively work in the Hollywood industry, I live in LA, and I’m a part of various organizations that fight for the rights of all minorities to have equal and positive representation in media, that always includes Latine people.

The question, in question was to prove that it’s wrong to erase any minority. People, a lot of the time, don’t seem to want to really understand where others come from unless you make a super big and wild example. Do I want a white guy to be Alex? FUCK NO! Literally even when I was typing it, I was like, there’s nobody who would agree with this, it’s fucking insane. (Luckily, it only looks like 2 people agreed and I’d claim those as bots before thinking anyone would agree).

Was it the best comparison? Probably not. But was it effective to get people to understand that canon ethnicities can’t just be erased when the production wants a cool actor? Yes. And it’s not to take away from Alex or his story or anything even related to him, it’s to show that the question is So blindly upsetting, because it is really upsetting when your ethnicity and culture get erased. It’s so painful and upsetting and terrible. No matter who it is. Jewish characters are so rarely played by Jewish actors, non-Jews play them all the fucking time. So yeah, I get it, Anon. We’re fighting the same fight. We both want representation for who we are, and we both deserve that a million times over

Nora also isn’t a background character. She was one of the biggest characters in the book. She was in just about every important scene that wasn’t just Alex and Henry. She’s kinda a big deal (don’t know if they made her smaller in the movie, especially with the whole June thing). Her Jewishness was on every page, it was central to her because it’s who she was. She was smart and awesome and cool, and Jewish. It shouldn’t have to be central to her story to be worthy of representation. Jews don’t have to “play Jewish” to be seen as such. We exist just like you, it’s just a part of who we are. We don’t have to constantly be, what? Eating bagels and talking about pogroms? to be seen as Jewish. We’re normal people. It not being central to her is actually what makes her so different from other Jewish characters, because she’s not a Jewish joke.

Queer Latine people SHOULD celebrate this movie. I’m celebrating with you, for you. But two things can be true at once, Alex is fucking great and obviously should only ever be played by a Latino actor. Not even a question. And, that it was wrong of the movie to erase Nora’s ethnicity too. Because Jews deserve rep.

And honestly, if you want to be mad at anyone for the hypothetical existing at all, blame the production. Not for removing Nora (I mean, yeah, that’s the reason for all of this), but because for the past year I’ve been trying to show them how what they did was wrong and I’ve been educating on Jew-erasure and antisemitism, and informing them on all things everything. And they have remained silent or blocked when questioned at all. I wouldn’t have had to post it, had the movie acknowledged at any point what they did, besides the blocking.

But anyway, welcome to my Tumblr, Anon. Please take a look around. If you have any questions, you know where my Ask box is. I’m way more likely to see messages on here than Twitter.

#rwrb movie #talking with anon

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eddieydewr · 9 months

Note

Some people on twitter saying Noah Schnapp has "no character, sense of identity, backbone or integrity" as if that guy didn't just write a long ass essay about bullying at 13, comments on random ppl's coming out to say he's proud of them, go out of his way to make his fans happy, fought with tr*mp supporters, has been very supportive of the LGBTQ community eversince before he came out, supports and donates to organizations for kids with cancer, donates to Syrian and Turkish charities, the casts saying how sweet and wholesome he is, him writing long letters for his friends, and Millie saying how comfortable and empowered he makes her feel. I've also seen him commenting on a BUNCH of tiktoks to send comfort like when no one came to a grandma's birthday party, and there's a lot more similar to that. The things I've mentioned are only the ones I've seen him do online, pretty sure there are a lot more good things that he's done for people that didn't make the list because obviously, I don't know him personally. All I know is that the people who Actually know him- his friends, coworkers, and even people he just met have nothing but only nice things to say about him.

Also, Noah is a teen. He's still young and the people saying this and agreeing with this are those who are years older than him. Let the boy figure himself out. It's probably harder to do that when he's in the public eye since he was 12. They're talking like they know everything about him, his morals, personality and beliefs when they only know like 5% of his life.

Also this being agreed by @lucylucyyy_ and @user747, Noah's 'ex-fans' (because of the isr*el thing) confuses me lmao. If he has none of those things, why did they even become a fan in the first place? Also them saying they don't support him anymore yet they still keep track on who he follows, his activities on his PRIVATE ig acc (idek how they knew it lol), talks about him only. Like if you're not a fan anymore then act like it 💀

i’d heard about him donating to charities in syria and turkey, and writing long letters for his friends, but the rest, i had no idea! i don’t have much to add but thanks for sending this in; he is a good kid. yes, he makes mistakes but it’s illogical to expect your fave to never ever mess up 🫠 we need to stop putting celebs on a pedestal. but saying that somehow means i’m saying they shouldn’t take accountability for their mistakes. that’s a whole new sentence 😭

some former fans still check out what noah is up to because they have a parasocial relationship with him, and it’s hard to let go. especially if they’re young fans. that, or they don’t hate noah really. some of the outrage is performative and they’ll say anything to stay on the good side of the fandom or whatever. who knows, i have no idea how their minds work.

#noah schnapp

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starified-lizzy · 2 months

Text

I figured I should redo my intro to my blog-

ELLO >:DDDD

Name’s Lizzy! Or Star! I really don’t give a fuck which you use!

I draw shit for FANDOMS

I write shit for FANDOMS

I got OCS whom I LOVE and ADORE.

“Can I draw fanart of your fics?” My sibling in Christ, we are married. /pos

“Can I draw fanart of your fanart(like DTIYS)?” My sibling in Christ. /pos

“Can I draw fanart of your OCs?” CHRIST. /pos

RAHHHHHH (it’s really fucking early I shouldn’t be doing this now ;-;)

Here’s a list of my socials, it is very limited because I hate the “standard” socials like Twitter and Insta and stuff like that. So it’s more like- fanfic sites, and any other blogs I own for you guys to check out >.>

My AO3

My Art Fight

My YouTube

My TikTok (basically dead at this point, I only ever like/favorite things on it, but I might start up again with my FNF au instead)

My Pinterest

My Spotify because sure

My FNF au blog

My demonpocalypse blog ([possibly] forever retired due to a severe issue in the community it was for)

Blog for food/recipes I want to try because MMMMMMMMMMM FOOOOD

Wow that’s actually not limited like I thought- hot damn I need to touch some grass.

HERES A LIST OF FANDOMS IM EITHER CURRENTLY IN, OR HAVE RETIRED FROM (Also CCs):

Retired-

DSMP (and MCYT as a whole for the most part), dude our community is in *shambles*. I’m so glad I left when I did, but at the same time O W.

ATLA. Technically I’m still in this fandom, but I only really get back into it/brainrot about it if I get a reminder, otherwise I kinda forget about it

FNAF. Same with ATLA, still technically in it, but I gotta be reminded it exists sometimes.

BATIM. Ditto

Wings of Fire. Ditto

Undertale. Ditto. Lizzy, my main persona, was actually an OC created from Undertale, who just ended up becoming her own person, and then ended up being associated with mine and my friend’s Minecraft au instead.

Onto CCs I no longer watch:

Any of the DSMP ppl, with very few exceptions

Jacksepticeye. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still watch a video of his if it pops up and spikes my interest, but I don’t actively seek his content out anymore.

Any of the old Minecrafters. Like DanTDM, Stampy, Tiny Turtle & Little Lizard. Hell, I don’t even think any of the ones I listed even do YT at all anymore. I’ll still watch their old videos tho.

Current-

FNF. I really could give less of a fuck if y’all think it’s “bad” or “for kids (it’s not, I promise you)”. The music slaps, and quite a few mods are really well made, so eat my ass.

Day of Dragons. The dragons are cool. I don’t care about any drama in the community. I’m here for the cool fucking dragons.

The Isle. Once again, I don’t care about any drama in the community. I’m here for the cool ass dinosaurs because you can customize your own skins and they just look and sound cool (Dilo, Herarra, and Ptera are my faves)

Lethal Company. Do it for the Company.

RainWorld. Scugs and Scups. Need I say more?

Hollow Knight. Sorta falling out of this one, but until I beat the entire game (P5) I am not finished.

Minecraft. Technically in “the fandom”, but not really attached to a specific YTer or anything like that anymore. I just like the game.

CCs I still watch:

Astral Spiff. Sprog is a good gamer.

Smii7y and his friends like Grizzy, Droid, Puffer, Blarg, etc.

Jack Manifold. I only watch his You Laugh You Loose and Ghost Sighting Compilation videos. I don’t even know if he still does Minecraft anymore.

8-BitRyan. While he doesn’t swear in his videos, it’s kinda a breath of fresh air. Plus his edits are quite funny.

Markiplier. Yes. Just… yes…

IGP. His content is just interesting. The way he freaks out over shit is funny as hell. Does he do content with IcyCaress anymore? Their banter was funny, but idk if something happened, cuz I just don’t see much stuff with Icy in it anymore.

As of right now, that’s all I can think of. It’s nice to meet you!

#blog intro #introductory post #redid my intro because things changed and I wanted it to be more COLORFUL and CRAZY #artists on tumblr #fanfic writers #writers on tumblr #small youtuber #for fun

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eyeballskunk · 1 year

Text

Joon-gi Han Summer Holiday Character Story

Card description: Head of the Jingweon Mafia. Even the cold face of a boss is somewhat calm under this sunlight. However, no one knows what he thinks behind his relaxed appearance.

NOTES: I am NOT fluent in Japanese, so while translating this I heavily relied on other translators and dictionaries. Also, I’m assuming this story is all actually spoken in Korean since all of the characters have Korean names and they’re most likely on an island near Korea. For translating the Korean names from Katakana, I used the Korean translation of the story made by ppuyoppu on Twitter.

Another thing to note is that they use RGGO Joongi’s sprite in half of the story, but it’s not him I promise LMAO

July 2016, five months before Kiryu Kazuma begins searching for Haruto Sawamura’s father.

Han: “Welcome to the Jingweon Mafia.”

Han: “Over the past few months, you have overcome various trainings of our organization, and joined our ranks.”

Han: “This trip was to celebrate. I hope you enjoy it.”

Jingweon members: “WHAT!?”

Jingweon Rookie 1: “Look at this beach. There’s no one but us.”

Jingweon Rookie 2: “No wonder. This is a small island owned by the Jingweon, that means we can own the whole beach.”

Jingweon Rookie 1: “All right! Today we’re going to eat, drink, and have fun!”

Jeon: “Wait, are you sure?”

Jingweon Rookie 1: “Huh? What’s up?”

Jeon: “We’re in the mafia, aren’t we? Us as underlings shouldn’t be frolicking around infront of the boss!”

Jingweon Rookie 1: “What are you talking about? Boss said he was gonna have fun today too, didn’t he?”

Jeon: “Yeah, but—!”

(Han notices them and walks over)

Han: “They’re right.”

Jeon: “Boss!?”

Han: “It’s also a welcome party for all of you, I don’t mind if you guys have fun.”

Jeon: “I-Is that so? Well, if the boss says so…”

Han: “You’re the new member… If you don’t mind, why don’t you talk to me over there for a bit?”

Jeon: “Eh!? Understood!”

(They walk away)

Han: “Don’t be so nervous. I just want you to have a little chat with me, take it easy.”

Jeon “Y-yes sir…”

Han: “This is the second time I’m speaking with you. I believe the first time was when you came to say hello after entering the organization.”

Han: “By the way, how old are you?”

Jeon: “20 years old.”

Han: “My my, why at such a young age? You knocked on the door of the Jingweon, right?”

Jeon: “Y-yeah… I had no other places to go.”

Han: “What’s the matter?”

Jeon: “….Actually I was working at my father’s company until last year. It was the worst…”

Jeon: “No matter how hard I try, my father doesn’t appreciate me and he’s always nagging me.”

Jeon: “Then one day, I had enough. I got into a big fight with my father, so I left home.”

Jeon: “After leaving home, I stayed at my friend’s house for a while. But then I ran out of money…”

Jeon: “I heard from a friend that the mafia was the easiest way to make quick money.”

Jeon: “I had nowhere else to go… that’s why I joined the Jingweon.”

Jeon: “That said, my higher-ups always scold me, so I’m worried about wether I’ll be able to do well from now on.”

Han: “No need to worry…. Between you and me, I have the most expectations of you among the newcomers.”

Jeon: “Huh?”

Han: “I’ve already checked the details of your training and how you work within the organization.”

Han: “Your grades are astonishing compared to the other newcomers, keep up the good work.”

Jeon: “Oh! Thank you boss!!”

Han: “Huh, actually I’m sure you’ll be able to pass the ‘Final Exam’.”

Jeon: “Final Exam? What do you mean?”

Han: “Oh, that’s—“

(They hear yelling from the distance)

Jeon: “What was that?”

Han: “I heard it from the beach over there, let’s go check it out.”

(Cue bad sand walking sfx)

Jingweon Rookie 1: “TAKE THIS!”

Jingweon Rookie 2: “URRAAHHH”

Han: “What are you guys making a fuss about?”

Jingweon Rookie 1: “Ah, boss!?”

Jingweon Rookie 1: “F-Forgive us! We were trying to see who the strongest newcomer is out of all of us!…”

Jingweon Rookie 1: “And I got excited and decided to win!!”

Han: “What.”

Jeon: “You idiots! You guys are going too crazy! What are you doing infront of the boss!?”

Jeon: (This is crazy! I told them not to fight, but they did it anyway! Are they gonna die??)

Han: “No, it doesn’t matter. I was the one who told you to do whatever you please.”

Han: “If it’s just a fight, I can’t ignore it, but this is a competition between each other’s skills, isn’t it?”

Jeon: “Eh? Boss…!?”

Han: “If this trip serves as a meet-and-greet with you newcomers, then this fist-fighting is also apart of that exchange.”

Han: “There’s no need to hold back. Feel free to fight me.”

Jingweon Rookie 1: “Oh, I see! If the boss says so, then I’ll do my best! Let’s go!!”

(Joongi beats the everliving shit out of them)

Jingweon Rookie 1: “Guh… So strong… I can’t feel my teeth anymore…”

(Han starts clapping)

Jingweon Rookie 1: “?”

Han: “Amazing. I admire your spirit to rise up and face me even though you have fallen.”

Newcomers: “Huh…?”

Han: “…What are you guys doing? Applaud his fighting spirit like I did!”

Newcomers: “E-Eh!? Yes sir!”

(Newcomers all applaud the Jingweon Rookie)

Han: “Now that the fight is over, let’s shake hands.”

Jingweon Rookie 1: “T-Thank you so much Boss!!”

Han: (Hmm. Maybe a fight like this could be a good show at Stardust.)

Han: (A bloody battle where your favorite hosts beat each other up… perfect for ladies without enough stimulation.)

Jeon: “Good job, Boss.”

Han: “Uh-huh.”

Jeon: “It was amazing to see you beat them without taking a single hit!”

Han: “If it’s an attack like that, even you would be able to dodge it.”

Jeon: “Really!?”

Han: “Of course. As I said earlier, I have high expectations of you.”

Jeon: (Phew, I’ve always had a scary image of mafia bosses, but he seems to be different.)

Jeon: (They even talk to lowly people like me and treat them in a friendly manner!)

Jeon: (Besides, it’s strong and cool to to praise the opponent you beat like a sportsman..!)

Han: “Well then, I think it’s time to go back to the inn and take a rest.”

Jeon: “Ah, sorry Boss! But what was the ‘Final Exam’ you were talking about earlier?”

Han: “Is that so? Well, I was planning to tell everyone tonight, so I guess I’ll tell you first.”

Han: “You newcomers are about to join the Jingweon Mafia. You have overcome the training tests and joined the ranks of the organization.”

Han: “But actually, your exams aren’t over yet.”

Jeon: “Eh? What do you mean..?”

Han: “I brought you to this island not just to celebrate.”

Han: “The real reason I called you to this island… was for you to take the final exam of the Jingweon Mafia.”

Jeon: “Final exam…!? What are we supposed to do?”

Han: “The content of the exam is very simple.”

Han: “You newcomers will be asked…

to kill one of your friends this evening.”

Jeon: “What!?”

Jeon: “What do you mean boss!?”

Jeon: “I understand the real purpose of coming to this island is to take the final exam but…”

Jeon: “Why do I have to kill another person on this island for the exam!?”

Han: “It’s a test of resolve.”

Jeon: “Resolve..?”

Han: “Yes, the Jingweon mafia is a mafia, after all.”

Han: “There are some jobs that can’t be accomplished without killing people.”

Jeon: “Wait Boss. So half of the newcomers on the island… were they summoned to be killed?”

Han: “Yes. They were the ones who failed the exams before this trip, and I've called them in to be used for this final exam.”

Jeon: “That cant be…!”

Han: “….Please take this.”

Jeon: “What is this?”

Han: “It’s a fast-acting poison capsule. It’s tasteless and odorless, and if you put it in a drink, no one will notice it.”

Jeon: “After you return to the inn on the island, give one of your companions this capsule and you will pass your final exam.”

Jeon: “!”

Han: “Don’t worry. All the guest houses on the island are divided into two rooms.”

Han: “When you get back to your room, have a drink with them, and sneak the capsule into their sake.”

Han: “You can do it quietly without making a fuss.”

Jeon: “But, I’d be killing someone…!”

Han: “I understand your fear.”

Han: “But you just have to give the capsule to your friends… that’s all you need to do.”

Han: “Then the rest will fall asleep and breathe their last. There is no need to worry about your conscience.”

Jeon: “….”

Han: “But what you do in the end is up to you. Come to the beach again at 9:00 tonight.”

Han: “I will explain everything to the other newcomers aswell.”

Jeon: “Yes, I understand..”

Han: “You can do it. So what are you waiting for?”

Jeon: (To kill someone in the final exam…!)

Jeon: (He said he will explain it to the others on the beach tonight, I wonder if the other guys will take the test…?)

(Timeskip to 9:00 PM, everyone arrives at the beach)

Jingweon Rookie 1: “What’s the point of calling half the newcomers to the beach on a night like this?”

Jingweon Rookie 2: lI think the boss wants to talk to us about something… Hey, Jeon? You know about anything?”

Jeon: “C’mon…”

Han: “It looks like everybody is here. I will begin explaining the final exam.”

Newcomers: “?”

(Han explains the final exam to them)

Han: “…This concludes the explanation of the final exam. Anyone have questions?”

Newcomers: “……….”

Jeon: (Everyone is at a loss for words...of course. Anyone would be perplexed if suddenly told to kill someone.)

?: “Is this a joke!?”

Jeon: “!”

Jingweon Rookie 3: “Boss, I would never do a test like this!!”

Jingweon Rookie 3: “I joined this organization because I heard it was a quick way to make money! I don’t want to kill people!!”

Han: “So you’re refusing the exam?”

Jingweon Rookie 3: “Yeah! I'm not staying with a bunch of murderers! I'm going home!”

Han: “I don't mind if you refuse to take the exam, but I don't want you to take liberties with me.”

Jingweon Rookie 3: “Huh? Then what are you gonna do!?”

Han: “Let me end you here.”

Jingweon Rookie 3: “W-What!?”

Han: “After you refuse an exam, you are no longer in the Jingweon.”

Han: “Besides, it would be a problem to send you back knowing what’s happening on this island.”

Jingweon Rookie 3: “Isn’t that great! Then I'll tell you how to get off this island even if you beat me!!!!”

(Han beats him)

Jingweon Rookie 3: “G-Guh!…”

Han: “It’s the end for you.”

(Han punches him one more time)

Jingweon Rookie 3: “…………..”

Han: “…The nuisance has now been eliminated. Now, gentlemen, does anyone else object?”

Han: “I don't think so. Now, when everyone goes back to their rooms, the exam begins.”

Han: “The time limit is midnight. I will have my roommate take the capsule by then.”

Han: “I will visit each room when the time is up. Next, I check the results.”

Jeon: (The test will start when I go back to my room, huh?)

Jeon: (The person in my room is Hwan, a fellow newcomer... Do I have to kill him now?)

Jeon: (But if I don't do it, I might get killed like the guy from earlier... Kuh!)

(Jeon goes to his room)

Hwan: “Hey, you’re back. So what happened?”

Jeon: “O-Oh… It’s not a big deal.”

Hwan: “Oh, really? Never mind. I've got some drinks. Why don't you join me?”

Jeon: “O-Oh, sure..”

Hwan: “What's the matter with you, man? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Jeon: “No… I’m fine.”

Jeon: (Kuh… It’s almost midnight…)

Jeon: (I have to poison him in time, but I still can’t do it!)

Jeon: (At this rate, I will fail the exam… What should I do…?)

(Screen fades to black, flashback)

Han: “Just between you and me, I have the most expectations of you among the newcomers. Keep up the good work.”

Jeon: (Unlike my father, he has high expectations of me... So I am living up to his expectations.)

Jeon: (I’ll do it… I’ll do it….!!)

(He puts the poison in the drink)

Jeon: (Alright, the poison got mixed with the alcohol, after that…)

Jeon: “Hey, how good is this sake? Give it a try.”

Hwan: “Oh, really? Then let's have some.”

Hwan: “Cheers to our bright future!~♪”

Jeon: “Ah, cheers…”

(He drinks the alcohol)

Hwan: “Hmm? Huh? My eyelids suddenly feel heavy…”

Hwan: “Uhhh….”

(He passes out)

Jeon: (He’s not breathing…. He’s dead!!!)

Jeon: (I did it...! I… I really killed someone!!)

(Someone knocks on the door)

Han: “Good job.”

Jeon: “B-Boss…!”

Han: “It’s exactly midnight. Looks like you passed the test.”

Han’s Entourage: “Boss. The fallen newcomer is definitely dead.”

Han: “All right. Take the corpse out of the room.”

Han’s Entourage: “Yes sir.”

Jeon: “Boss…! My hands haven't stopped shaking, and I...”

Han: “It's okay… It's okay. You didn't do anything wrong.”

Han: “Worked as per my instructions. Excellent. You have completed the final exam.”

Han: “Instead, be proud of yourself.”

Jeon: “B-But..!”

Han: “You’ve lived up to my expectations. Your determination to kill people for the sake of the organization seems genuine.”

Han: “You just keep doing what I tell you to do and you'll be fine. Understood?”

Jeon: “Y-Yes…”

Han: “Very well. Then you should take rest now. Let's talk again tomorrow.”

(Han leaves)

Jeon: (.......That’s right. I’ve done nothing wrong.)

Jeon: (And I passed! This is something to be proud of!)

Jeon: (Yes, just do what the boss says and you should be fine ......!)

Jeon: (Just do what the boss says…

Just do what the boss says...!)

(Timeskip to morning)

(Someone knocks at the door)

Han: “Good morning.”

Jeon: “G-Good morning, boss!”

Han: “I know you had a hard time last night. I knew you could do it.”

Jeon: “Thank you, sir..!”

Jeon: (I don't know why I couldn't sleep since yesterday because I felt guilty for killing someone...)

Jeon: (The moment the boss praised me, I somehow felt the fog in my mind lifted.)

Jeon: (And now I’m proud to be in the Jingweon Mafia with the boss...)

Jeon: “So, boss, what can I do for you?”

Han: “About the final exam yesterday… Actually, it isn’t finished yet.”

Jeon: “Huh!?”

Han: “Don’t worry. Next time is really the last time.”

Han: “I believe that you’ll be able to pass the next exam. I have high hopes for you.”

(Timeskip)

Jeon: (…Is it about time?)

Jeon: (The boss said that there will be a final exam tonight at 9:00 on the beach.)

Jeon: (If I don’t fail, I’ll be able to join the Jingweon.)

Jeon: (I don't know what kind of test it is, but I've already killed one person. I can't turn back now.)

Jeon: (If this happens, I'll do whatever it takes to pass the final exam and join the organization!)

Jeon: (And I…. can get the approval of the boss!!)

(He goes to the beach)

Jeon: “Boss..!”

Han: “Hey, you came on time.”

Han: “You’re about to take the final exam of the Jingweon Mafia. Are you ready?”

Jeon: “Yes, I’m prepared.”

Han: “Very well, let's begin.”

Jeon: “Are those… bottles?”

Han: “The final test will be done using these two vials. The test is quite simple.”

Han: “One bottle contains plain water and the other contains a deadly poison.”

Jeon: “!”

Han: “If you've shown me that you're "ready to kill for the organization," now I want you to show me that you're "ready to die for the organization."

Han: “If you show me your determination, I will welcome you as a member of the Jingweon Mafia this time.”

Jeon: “…Wait. Does that mean if I drink the poison, then I’ll die!?”

Han: “That's right. But it won't be just a death, your name will forever be remembered by the Jingweon.”

Jeon: “W-What do you mean…?”

Han: “First of all, Joon-gi Han is not my real name.”

Han: “It's not just my name. Those who have died honorably in the organization in the past are supposed to carry on their names in this way.”

Han: “Even if you drink poison here and die, your name will forever be remembered in the organization after you died an honorable death.”

Han: “…By the successors of the Jingweon Mafia.”

Jeon: “I didn't know there was such a secret in the boss's name.”

Han: “Now, take whichever bottle and drink whichever you prefer. It will decide everything.”

Han: “Will you meet a spectacular end that will leave it’s mark on the Jingweon, or will you move on to a new future as a member of the organization...?”

Jeon: “I-I understand…”

Jeon: (If I overcome this, I’ll be recognized as a member this time!)

Jeon: (If I get scared here, I'll get killed like that guy yesterday! Then I'll never get out of here!)

Han: “Come on, show me your resolve.”

Jeon: (They're both just water! I'm gonna end this quickly......!!!)

Jeon: “Kuh!”

Han: “What’s the matter? Drink.”

Jeon: “Kuhhh…..”

Jeon: “…I’m sorry boss, I can’t do it.”

Han: “What?”

Jeon: “I’m sorry! Knowing that I could die from drinking this is making my hands shake!”

Jeon: “I’m really…. I’m really sorry boss.”

Han: “…I’m so sorry. I had high hopes for you.”

Han: “But you’re a talented person who passed the exam yesterday.”

Han: “So let me give you one last chance.”

Han: “You’re gonna have to fight me. You're going to hit me with the spirit of wanting to stay alive."

Han: “Does that ultimately make you the right person for the organization? This fight will tell.”

Jeon: “! …So I need to beat you up?”

Jeon: (On the first day of the trip, the strongest among the newcomers couldn’t even scratch the boss.)

Jeon: (I know I can’t beat him.)

Jeon: (But I want to win here and be recognized by the boss! To that end, I will win here at any cost!!)

Jeon: “Let’s go, boss!! Please see my full power!”

(They fight)

Jeon: “Uguhh…!”

Jeon: (Haa… Haa…. No good! I can’t beat him after all!)

Jeon: (I couldn’t even drink the poison, so I’m done here too.)

(Han starts clapping)

Han: “Congrats. You passed the final exam.”

Jeon: “Eh!? What do you mean!? I thought I had to beat you to pass the test…?”

Han: “Huh. I never said anything like that.”

Han: “I said, ‘I'll see if you're worthy of the organization in this battle.’”

Jeon: “Then, how did I pass the exam..?”

Han: “Look at my right cheek. You got a scratch with your fist, right?”

Han: “It's okay to only scratch the surface, even if it's just a graze, and people aren’t like that in the Jingweon.”

Han: “It’s true that you refused to take the poison in your final exam. It can be said that you weren’t ‘prepared to die for the organization.’”

Han: “But now I wanted to see your "tenacity to live" this time.”

Jeon: “Tenacity to live..?”

Han: “Yes. I believe that a person with that tenacity will be an excellent asset to the organization.”

Han: “That's why, in this battle, I was allowed to test your ‘tenacity to live.’”

Han: “And you showed your tenacity and scratched me beautifully. That tenacity was near perfect.”

Han: “Congratulations, Jeon. Your name is Hare now. He was a member of the Jingweon.”

Jeon: “Boss…”

Han: “As soon as this trip is over, I want you to come to Japan with me.”

Han: “I am now the owner of a host club called Stardust in Kamurocho.”

Han: “I want to entrust you with the post of manager there.”

Jeon: “Make me the manager?”

Han: “Yes, it's an important job as my right-hand man.”

Han: “I have determined that you are the right person for the post in this examination. Will you accept?”

Jeon: “….”

Han: “What’s wrong?”

Jeon: “Thank you for giving me such a wonderful post. It's a great honor, Boss.”

Jeon: “I know you have high expectations of me.”

Jeon: “However, I don’t deserve to be entrusted with such a powerful post.”

Jeon: “So I want to be the kind of person my boss wants me to be... I want to be the kind of person he expects me to be...”

Jeon: “That's why I have to stay the way I am! That's why...!”

Jeon: “G-Guh…. Guhhh….”

Han: “Did you drink the bottle I gave you earlier!?”

Jeon: “Yes... I thought that if I didn't drink this, I wouldn't be able to become the true subordinate that the boss wanted.”

Han: “…So, are there any changes in your body?”

Jeon: “No, not at all. I drank the water instead of the poison.”

Han: “Excellent. Now you’re the real deal, you’re a member of the Jingwon Mafia.”

Han: “I have high hopes for you, Jeon.”

Jeon: “Haa!”

(Timeskip, still on the beach)

Han: “……”

Hwan: “Boss. Jeon returned to his room.”

Hwan: “I will tell those who are pretending to be dead to hide in the basement until tomorrow morning when they leave the island.”

Han: “Yeah. If Jeon finds out, that’ll ruin our plan.”

Han: “You had a hard time too, Hwan. Was it hard to pretend to be poisoned?”

Hwan: “Yes. I had temporary asphyxiation from the capsule. I’m fine now, but…”

Hwan: “...This time, the trip wasn’t only to test the newcomers, but to test Jeon specifically.”

Hwan: “You used many members of the team to give various instructions.”

Hwan: “On the first day, you tell all the newcomers, except Jeon, to go make a fool of themselves on the beach...”

Hwan: “When you gathered the new recruits to explain the final exam, you instructed them to discuss in advance and even pretended to kill one of them.”

Hwan: “What was the intention?”

Han: “I instructed them to fool around. To relieve the tension.”

Han: “If the people around you feel like they’re on a summer vacation, you'll be less nervous and it'll be easier to take advantage of them.”

Han: “And the reason I killed someone at the briefing was to make them think that they could not get out of the exam.”

Han: “If you kill someone as an example infront of everyone, they’ll be forced to take it seriously, right?”

Hwan: “I see… But why are you so particular about that newcomer?”

Hwan: “Not only that, but to trust him as the manager of Stardust…”

Hwan: “There must have been many other candidates for manager... what were you thinking when you planned this trip?”

Han: “Oh, yeah, I haven’t explained it yet.”

Han: “Well, it's getting late, but let me explain why I planned this trip.”

Han: “Have you ever heard of the name Seoul New Drug Company?”

Hwan: “N-No…”

Han: “It is one of the pharmaceutical companies in downtown Korea. Jeon is actually the only son of the president of that company.”

Hwan: “Eh!? That guy is…!?”

Han: “Yes. Moreover, according to my research, that pharmaceutical company is likely to develop new drugs soon and generate explosive profits.”

Han: “By chance while researching, Jeon decided to knock on the door of the Jingweon.”

Han: “If it turns out that the son of the president of a major pharmaceutical company is connected to the mafia, the image of the company will be ruined.”

Han: “Threatening them with that would make the pharmaceutical company one of the main sources of funding for the Jingweon Mafia.”

Han: “That's why I came up with this trip to keep Jeon from escaping from the Jingweon.”

Hwan: “To keep him from getting out?”

Han: “Oh. It seems that he didn’t want anyone to recognize him.”

Han: “That’s why on this trip, I gave him a trial in the form of a final exam.”

Han: “And by overcoming it, I satisfied his desire to be appreciated.”

Hwan: “But what if Jeon: refused to kill his comrade on the first day of the exam?”

Hwan: “And even the bottle from earlier. What if he had chosen to drink it…?”

Han: “It doesn’t matter what he chooses.”

Hwan: “Eh?”

Han: “If he were to refuse to kill his fellow members, I would’ve said: ‘Taking the lives of your compatriots is unforgivable in the Jingweon Mafia. You’ve passed the test.’”

Han: “Same with the poison vial. Both of those bottles contained nothing but plain water.”

Han: “If he were to drink the vial, I would’ve said, ‘I've seen your resolve to give up your life!’”

Hwan: “Does that mean he passed the exam no matter what he chose?”

Han: “Yes. All to satisfy his desires and make him submit to me to his core.”

Han: “The reason I gave him the post of manager of Stardust was to arouse his sense of mission and increase his obedience to me.”

Han: “With this, he will not leave the Jingweon Mafia.”

Han: “At a time when his father's company has made huge profits, it could be one of the main sources of funding for the organization.”

Hwan: (As expected of a boss. This guy knows how to charm not only women, but also men.)

Hwan: (His charisma is unfathomable!)

Han: “Well, let's go back to Kamurocho tomorrow.”

Han: “Let's begin the rebuilding of the Jingweon Mafia.”

END

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA translating this was a nightmare but also so fun, and finding out that everyone in the Jingweon has a codename after a dead member??? But what makes the Joongi’s special then? Was the original one that high ranking? I NEED TO KNOWWWW

#yakuza #Ryu ga Gotoku #ryu ga gotoku online #rggonline #rggo #yakuza 6 #joon gi han #i need more jingweon lore to ponder about #rggo translation #龍が如く #龍が如くオンライン

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logically-asexual · 1 year

Text

One more time with feeling

summary:

Part one of this series is 'I can tell I've rotted in your brain', about Logan being slowly pushed away over the years until one day he is kicked out of Thomas's conscious mind and becomes the orange side.

This is part two, about Logan finally coming back.

Read on AO3

Chapter 2

| First | Next |

words: 1664

Thomas locked his phone and tossed it to the other side of the couch. Virgil and Roman sat next to him, one on each side. He groaned, with his face down in his hands.

“Maybe if you try checking again,” Roman suggested.

“He checked an hour ago and the video has been up for two weeks, Princey, the number is not magically going up,” Virgil countered.

“I tried so hard,” Thomas said, muffled by his hands.

“I know.” Roman reached out to put a hand on his shoulder.

“This was supposed to be the good one.”

Roman hesitated. “Well, I guess it was not realistic to expect one video to make a difference. But we can keep going and a good pattern will surely change people’s minds and bring those views back!”

Thomas didn’t move.

Roman turned to Virgil, asking silently for help.

Virgil shrugged. “That might sound reasonable but, I don’t know, dude, everything just sucks right now.”

“Um… Oh! We also have that call at the end of the week to look forward to! Maybe you got the role!”

Thomas leaned down even further. “I saw John posting on Twitter that he got the role, so I don’t think they’re calling.”

“Oh.” Roman looked down at his feet. “Did we congratulate him?”

“Thomas doesn’t speak to him since we forgot about his graduation ceremony, remember?”

Thomas’ face was now on his knees.

“Right…” Roman felt lost. “I’m sorry, Thomas. I should be leading you into success, I… I don’t know what went wrong.”

“I don’t know either,” Thomas sighed. “Everything was going so well.”

“Maybe this is the beginning of the end and we just gotta lay down and embrace it.” Virgil said as he leaned back on the couch.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing! Like, how am I supposed to keep up with everything? I’ve been using the calendar on my phone and I still don’t know what day it is.”

“A calendar doesn’t help with the mess we have here, either,” Virgil commented, looking around him at the clothes, food, and electronic devices thrown around.

“Damn it, I was supposed to clean up here today early so I’d finish in time before going to my parents’. Gosh, what did I even do all day today? I can’t remember.”

“Well, you had oatmeal for breakfast,” Roman said.

“Right.”

“And you’ve been sitting here since.” Virgil looked at the empty bowl right in front of Thomas on the coffee table.

“And what time is it?”

“Three pm.”

Thomas sighed again. “This was supposed to help me. You know, staying calm, giving inspiration time to strike and then let things flow. That was the idea. It was working!”

“The life of an artist is not easy, Thomas.”

“If I was a good artist it would be.” Roman frowned.

“Of course it wouldn’t. Have you read how depressing all painters’ and musicians’ lives are? You think I’m dramatic, you should know there’s a million worse than me,” Virgil argued. “You’re supposed to know that and you still chose to live like this.”

“Because the good moments make everything worth it, emo! That’s what you don’t understand!”

“Good moments? Where? I don’t see any coming any time soon.”

“Okay that’s enough.” Thomas sat up. “This isn’t working.”

Both Sides went silent.

“It’s getting late, let’s leave already and maybe… my parents will have some advice.”

Roman frowned.

“Are you okay, Princey?”

“Yes, it’s just that… You shouldn’t need help. I– I mean, we should be able to solve this on our own. It’s our job after all. But… I don’t really see any other option.”

“It’s going to be fine.” Thomas said softly, turning between Roman and Virgil. “They love me and they’re not going to think less of me for struggling.”

“I guess,” they both mumbled.

“Come on, we can begin planning the next video on the way.”

Thomas arrived back to his home feeling exhausted and defeated. Talking to his parents didn’t seem to help, with them instead providing him with a never ending list of ways his life was out of control and nothing like what a serious adult should look like.

Thomas didn’t want to be a serious adult. At least not the picture of one that his parents had in mind. He wanted to have fun while he could, to create, to be with his friends, to interact with the thousands of people around the world that enjoyed the same things he did.

They were right in some aspects. He needed some amount of control, he couldn’t just take life as it came.

Thomas didn’t know how to do that, though. Other people seemed to just know when to take the reins and lead themselves and others to success, but what would that look like for him? In school success would mean to get a good grade, in an office job it would mean to request a raise or seek a promotion and then obtain it.

But his life wasn’t like that. Patton would tell him one can’t measure how “successful” a friendship is; people just change with time and you either stick together or you don’t. Roman would say success in auditions didn’t depend solely on him, since casting choices consider much more than the quality of his acting.

Success in his YouTube channel, well… He thought he had that one figured out but it was now slipping away, too. It was impossible for his team to churn out fun, high quality productions once a week, and he had learned he couldn’t make promises to his fans without disappointing them, something Virgil wouldn’t forgive.

Then… What was he supposed to do? He wasn’t equipped for this. Nothing made sense.

Thomas groaned as he laid face-down on his bed. It was only eight, but he didn’t feel like letting this day continue any longer.

“You’ve wasted this entire day, and now you want to waste the night, too?”

Thomas could recognize Virgil’s harsh tone even without looking up from his sheets.

“What do you suggest I do?”

Virgil stayed silent and crossed his arms.

“That’s what I thought,” Thomas said with his face still on the mattress.

I know someone who would know what to do, Virgil thought. He couldn’t stop himself from bringing it up any longer, but he tried to choose his words carefully.

“Thomas,” he called. “You don’t think Roman, Patton or I have any idea on how to solve your issues, right?”

Thomas thought for a moment. “I don’t know. Maybe you do, but the ideas need more time or… I don’t know.”

“Maybe. Though not every single one of your thoughts and ideas come from us.”

“What do you mean?” Thomas finally turned to look at the anxious Side.

“Sometimes… there are thoughts that… seem to have been hidden away and then they… suddenly appear, apparently from nowhere.” Virgil struggled formulating the idea subtly enough, avoiding the best he could to catch Deceit’s attention. Thomas’s memory about having Dark Sides was locked away by denial, which made it impossible for him to just say what he wanted.

Thomas was making that confused face at him that he always made whenever he wasn’t understanding a single word a Side was saying.

Virgil inhaled deeply. “I, uh… I think that you do have the solutions you want in you, somewhere within your mind. You just need to… I don’t know… seek deep inside and… summon them.”

“Okay?” Thomas began sitting up. “How do I do that?”

“I don’t know,” Virgil confessed. “You could maybe… think really hard about what you want?”

Thomas still wasn’t convinced, but closed his eyes and tried anyway. “Fine,” he sighed. “Um… I want to be more organized. I want to be more responsible. I want to not disappoint the people around me all the time.”

Virgil looked around him, waiting for anything to happen, but nothing did.

Thomas opened his eyes slowly. He looked at Virgil, who nodded at him, encouraging him to keep trying. “I want to… have some stability. I want to feel in control of my life.” Thomas’ eyebrows wrinkled. “I want to keep doing what I want without people judging me all the time.” His fists clenched. “I want to be able to stick to a release deadline without other people interrupting my momentum complaining about inconsequential–”

“Hello!” Patton suddenly showed up with a big smile. “What are you two, kids, doing up so late?”

“It’s only eight, Patton,” Virgil said, willing him to leave and let Thomas keep trying to summon Logan.

“Oh!” he laughed. “Right! I was just thinking that sometimes…” He looked between Virgil and Thomas, his smile not faltering, “when we have unlucky days we begin having some… not so friendly thoughts at night, and the best solution is to get back into the comfort of our sweet dreams early to feel better in the morning.”

Thomas nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Virge. We weren’t getting anywhere anyway.” He fell back onto the bed. “We’ll think of something else,” he murmured before falling asleep.

Virgil bit his lip as he sank back out to his bedroom.

Why didn’t Logan appear when Thomas mentioned responsibility and organization? He couldn’t have received a more explicit call. Did he not want to show up? Could he just decide not to even if he hasn’t ducked out? Did he… duck out?

Maybe Thomas didn’t really believe what he was saying. But that was strange, too, since Virgil thought that Thomas lied when he would insist he didn’t want some stability.

Nothing made sense.

However, there was no going around it. Logan was the solution. Thomas couldn’t keep ignoring his entire existence, no matter how hard Anxiety and the other Sides tried to make up for the lack of his role. Virgil would bring Logan back, even if it meant he had to drag him out of the subconscious himself.

| First | Next |

#>:)c #logan sanders #virgil sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #thomas sanders #sanders sides #ts #one more time with feeling #erase me

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greyias · 1 year

Note

lemme guess, something about ai?

Yes.

Like I get and respect that people don’t like it for various reasons. It is the technological bogeyman of the day, sometimes for extremely valid reasons, some of them less so, but that’s not really my issue here, or what I’m annoyed about. Hate “AI” all you want, your opinion doesn’t negatively impact my life one way or the other.

And like, just so I’m not vagueposting, the TL;DR situation is someone has written a script to leave troll comments on AO3 fics that they’re fic was “flagged as written by ChatGPT” (let’s put a pin in that, I’ll get back to it). I have seen at least one of my friends receive that comment a few days ago. According to this post, this has evolved into them inserting a link to paste your work to check it against some website that can check the level of AI written words vs human written words. While I haven’t personally seen that evolution, I absolutely believe that report because it follows the typical pattern of mass deployed bots both on AO3, Tumblr, Twitter, etc. They’re suggesting to not click on the link and report the comment as spam. Absolutely, you should not click on that link, and you should absolutely report that comment as the spam that it is.

Basic Internet 101: You should never click on sketchy links. Regardless of the device* you’re using. Period. It is playing with fire, for many reasons, including malware, viruses, ransomware, social engineering, identity theft, compromising your social accounts and/or financial data, and a slew of other things that have actual real world consequences

* If you are that curious to where it leads, you need to understand your devices and internet security, and set up a playground in a proper environment that you understand (ie: a virtual machine that doesn’t have any personal information and can be safely isolated from your actual network, etc). I do not understand mechanisms and potentials for failures, so I’ve never done this, as it’s a waste of resources in my opinion about 99% of the time.

No, what I’m taking issue with is them talking about “we shouldn’t click on malicious link from spam comments” because “they might be tricking you into helping train an new AI system”. Because maybe the person reading that statement hates AI and doesn’t want to train a system (and would somehow click this link otherwise). Or maybe it’s the opposite, and they don’t mind, so they would click the link then? The reasons we don’t click sketchy links on the internet isn’t because we all hate “AI” and want it to die, the reason is we don’t want to get malware installed on our machines or possibly our fucking identity stolen.

Accidentally training an AI dataset is not the same level of threat as the actual reason bad actors want you to click on sketchy links. It’s not the reason they send you social engineering e-mails. It’s not the reason they try and infect you with ransomware sometimes used to try and cripple real world infrastructure or systems (that hey, also sometimes leads to bomb threats in real life totally don’t know of this happening in real life noooope 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃). Yes, there’s a lot of ethical concerns and some potential for harm with certain arms of this technology — but your fanfic on AO3 is not on the same level as why we don’t click on sketchy links.

It’s just not.

I mean this in the nicest, kindest possible way, but someone doing this? Doesn’t care about your fanfic. I’m sorry, but no matter the scenario, they just don’t. Even if it is the most beautifully written masterpiece to grace AO3, someone who is writing and deploying a script to write spam comments, and spam comments that involve sketchy links to websites? That is someone who is already engaging in unethical behavior. It’s hitting up any story on AO3, regardless if the story itself was first handwritten on paper and then typed up, or (extremely improbable if you’ve ever even used the system) ChatGPT. So you have a few options of what clicking that link will lead to, and I’ll start with most likely, to least likely.

Most likely: you’re being redirected to a malware ridden website, designed to either capture your personal data or install something on your web browser and/or system.

Less likely, but still more than what’s said on that post: It’s some sort of social engineering scam, although without me knowing the link and going to the website, I can’t see what credentials it would be trying to trick you into passing over.

Even less likely: Someone has set up one of these “AI writing checking websites” (another thing I need to circle back to at the bottom), and is trying to drum up usership and/or are using the AO3 links to try and boost their Google SEO rating (ala the same method as Tumblr porn bots). The usership boost is less likely because they start off by insulting the writer, so if anything, if the website link is to an actual “AI writing checker” deploying a script like this would be for artificially inflating its Google ranking, at the most innocent. However, knowing what we do of people who deploy bots of that nature, then it likely originated from the Dark Web, as quite a few (but not all) of these malicious bot scripts come from. Also extremely sketchy. Circle back to the malware likelihood above.

Potential Maybe: Some very sad person who hangs out at whatever website the 4chan/8chan/etc crowd has migrated to. Has an unreasonable hatred of the typical AO3 user and wants to make them fear a comment in their inbox. Maybe set up a website to troll them to tell them every time they submit a piece of text it returns a result that they’re SUCH a bad writer they look like a chat bot. Seems like a waste of resources and time to me, but what do I know?

The absolute most least likely, because COME ON: Someone would like to train a new AI dataset, but for some reason they want this data either user submitted (again, they can easily capture this data without this step), so therefore it’s opt-in and I guess “ethically” sourced? (Although not really because the initial link you clicked to get there is deployed via a bot with a lie that you didn’t write what you wrote). But let’s roll with this, they for some reason want you to submit this text, rather than just get it on their own. Somehow they’ve buried in the TOS that everything you submit via the website is permission to use to train this AI dataset. And if anyone objects later, well, they just didn’t read the TOS. And they’re going to use it to build some new sparkly dataset, or somehow improve their AI checker. Or make some new writer bot. And it needs this user submitted, opt-in data. Except… uh… here’s the thing: with datasets like these, quality does matter some, but quantity is what builds the more sophisticated systems. So for them to capture enough of this user submitted data, they would need to get enough submitted words numbering at the very least in the millions in order to get enough needed to make this effort worth it. ChatGPT and Bing’s system use, I believe, GPT-4, which I may be misremembering this number in a largely astronomical scale, is at least 4 billion? Or possibly an insanely high number. They literally scanned the entire gd English internet to build those, so. You know.

There’s probably other scenarios I haven’t outlined above, but I don’t really believe any of them would lead to anything positive and sparkly. So no. I’m sorry, but that link is not being used to somehow trick you into submitting your fic to give up your words via some weird scheme to train a laughably bad AI dataset. Like, regardless of your feelings on “AI” (and I do use those air quotes loosely, because it’s not actually AI as we understand, but that’s another tangent and this has already gotten stupid long), it’s at best a further attempt to troll a fic writer, or at worst, something that’s going to infect your system.

So I said I would circle back to two things: ChatGPT, and these websites set up to supposedly “detect AI written text”. Right now, ChatGPT as a phrase is a marketing buzzword. The service itself went viral near the end of 2022/beginning of 2023, so everyone is talking about it. Even my technologically less-inclined colleagues at work are either starry eyed about it, or clutching pearls that somehow it’s going to steal their job (it’s not). AI is a buzzword right now, and it’s one that has a lot of emotion built up around it, both positive and negative. Some people love it, some people hate it, but everyone has an opinion, and a large majority of it is polarized. Scammers, fraudsters, and grifters like to tap into people being irrationally emotional (positive or negative) about things, because it has more potential to bypass your internal voice that makes you stop and think a little and engage in critical thinking. The message as written is intended to kick you into a panic mode, so you will go and prove it wrong. This is grifter 101. And also why it’s always a good idea to be very aware of your hot button issues, and the ways they can be potentially used against you. And why when you get extremely emotional about something online (especially something that makes you scared or angry), you should take a step back before engaging without thinking critically about it.

And finally, these websites that supposedly detect if any given set of text is actually generated by AI. In short: they all suck, and none of the ones I’ve seen actually tested work on any degree where they can be deployed to generate an accurate result. Including the one set up by OpenAI, the company who runs ChatGPT. Several people have run several tests with both generated text and genuinely written human text, and way more than half the time the generated text comes up as written by a human. And then human written text will sometimes gets flagged as generated content. Right now, all they amount to is basically a random number generator. Because either these engines have to be programmed by a human person who has to know what patterns to look for, or be written or augmented by these neural networks (aka what every single thing marketed as “AI” really are, because it has nothing to do with what we understand as intelligence, artificial or otherwise, it’s a type of programming not a being or Skynet or anything other than 1s and 0s that look for and recognize patterns). And either way, they have to know what is positive and negative. If you alter text in anyway, (ironically, by using a rephrasing service also built off neural net/this same technology), it can throw of the system. OpenAI even flirted with the possibility of trying to embed some sort of text watermark in their generations to be able to track it. But again, the moment you rephrase it, that gets broken. So, it’s useless at actually catching anyone doing this a large portion of the time, and not sophisticated enough to deployed at a large scale without causing harm.

But yeah. To circle back to my point. I wanted to reblog the original post in question, because I want to let people know about the potential for people getting these comments and knowing to report them as spam, but also being aware to not click on the links. Sure, I could have reblogged the version with them acting like the bad part was training an AI dataset, and put the ACTUAL reasons we don’t do that in the tags. But sometimes I just get annoyed and stubborn about stupid things (in this case, me reblogging something I don’t find accurate). I think most of us already knew at least the basic strokes of a lot of the above, so I’m probably preaching to the choir.

But seriously, if you want to criticize the technology, please, do so. It is currently a black box filled with potential for both good and harm. But at least do your research to understand why a thing is bad, that way it’s an informed discussion that educates people about the actual harms being perpetrated and how they can be mitigated. Instead of just like, making shit up. Because the more myths and misinformation you create about something (even innocently), the more it can be used against you later in ways that are actively malicious. Because I can guarantee you, some bad actor will eventually recognize how unreasonably angry this subject makes people, and they will find a way to turn that anger against you. Education is your best defense.

#Sorry but this got long #TLDR OBVIOUSLY DON’T CLICK ON SPAMMY LINKS #It leads to bad things #But your fanfic being used in a dataset is not one of them

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chirpsythismorning · 1 year

Note

Do you know who runs the stranger things twitter account? Is it like the Netflix account where it’s just a random intern so nothing they say on there matters since it’s just promo and they don’t know where the story is going? I’m just curious if the person that tweets on there knows anything about what’s going to happen in season 5 lol

It depends.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think the Duffers themselves are literally behind these accounts.

I do however think that a lot of what they post (not including every sly reply or comment towards random users) comes from the guidance of higher ups, with a lot of it being planned and scheduled in advance.

There are people hired to come up with the ideas for posts. There are people hired to literally design said posts. And there are people hired to schedule and post said posts. Those are not going to be the same person. Bc there are checks and balances that need to take place. Marketing is a specialty in and of itself. A lot of the final decisions are going to be made by experts in marketing, who are very likely also informed by the Duffers/Netflix about what should/shouldn’t be posted at certain points.

No, I don’t think every reply or every post should be taken as definitive endgame proof alone, but I also don’t think that everything they post is necessarily random and meaningless either. There is thought put into details of what is posted on days like Stranger Things Day. We have seen there be Easter eggs hidden in promotion over the years, it’s actually quite frankly the Duffer Brothers’ style.

And the Duffer’s have admitted that marketing played a big role in the foreshadowing provided in the details of st4 posters, hinting at concepts that didn’t even come to fruition fully in s4, which means there are indeed higher ups in marketing at Netflix, who know at least some endgame details, solely for the sake of promotion purposes.

They need people who know the deep details of the story, otherwise the content online promoting it would suck. Like imagine someone amazing at design, but whose never actually seen st more than once, try to make something engaging to hype up the fans, without being given any pointers from those that are involved with the production?…

That would also be way too much labor for one or even a few to do all on their own. They need people who have the inside scoop first and foremost, so that those people can advice others with different skills, like graphic design and social media engagement, so that they can come together and make something that is acceptable for promotional purposes in general. It expands from few people having the inside scoop at the top, to a bunch of employees working as social media interns, for super specific accounts ranging from genre based to country based.

So yes, please, please don’t harass the interns behind these accounts. They themselves have no clue what’s going to happen, they’re just the messenger.

#stranger things #asks #st promotion #byler #think about ppl behind the scenes who light byler scenes…#or the dudes who make the soundtrack who have made scores specific for byler scenes??#or the guy who did subtitles making a cryptic comment about the tender emotional music line and it’s importance…#there so many people that know about endgame byler #without even needing to be told #there are just so many ppl involved with the process #the marketing behind Netflix/strangers things knowing small details isn’t the half of it #reminder: this show costed 35 million per episode #if you think they’re gonna pay some interns to cook up impressive graphic design work… only to post it themselves…#and then also be the ones engaging with fans about it…#and so therefore it has no value…#again 35 MILLION…#meaning how they promote it better be intentional #it’s their biggest show of all time #if you think something means something #there is a chance it could #but don’t let it be you’re driving force obviously #so #we can talk about it and theorize but of course there’s more compelling evidence #even still #yeah I don’t think it’s all random unintentiaonl either

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londonspirit · 10 months

Text

London Love

First day back home and it all feels 'wrong' *sighs wistfully*

Oh well, i had the most wonderful six days in my favorite place with my favorite people so I shouldn't really complain, right?! Still, always harsh to come back to reality after the time away... especially this time. What a trip it’s been!! Didn’t expect all that happened - did NOT expect to see a Kiwi live and in the flesh but that’s London for you - full of surprises!!!

Walked all the ways again (a total of 114(!!!) km's, that's 163621 steps!), saw all the beautiful things; just one play and one reading though and yet my whole being feels nourished and bursting with joy and happiness.

Trip started out a bit worried as my stomach did some weird things, and there was a strange pain on the lower right side (yes, I was instantly thinking appendix, but did the thing and it was fine). Nerves, maybe (it had been a while), I thought, or too much strain from carrying those last few boxes from mom’s place to mine and sis’s, and it did indeed settle a bit once I was over. Still, I felt a tad troubled so got some Ibuprofen and some Paracetamol and self-medicated. It didn’t get worse; got better over the past days but yeah, first day was a tad off.

Still, met with Nic and even tho we were both saying to not do THAT much walking we ended up with almost 28km’s! I love her, we barely see each other and don’t text much at all, but WHEN we met we have ALL THE THINGS to geek out over and it’s always great to catch up with her. I was soo happy I had her all day to myself. Oh, and running into/past the one and only Ali Plumb (sadly on his phone) had me off to a great start!!! *hehe*

Day 2 was the calmest of them all, FINALLY seeing Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms after missing out on them for the past five years was the only booked thing on my agenda that day! And BOY is it worth it!

Soo soo stunning, I went twice!!! You only have two minutes in the room but you can queue again, and on Monday early afternoon it wasn’t that full so that was no biggie at all! After that I was meeting with a friend but she was running late (I knew that, she’s a busy busy bee) so I sat outside her workplace and waited, the sun was out (I had sunscreen on), I had food and wifi, it was perfect.

I was aimlessly scrolling through Twitter when a tweet from Rosie popped up:

And I LOST MY SHIT!!! I mean, that was for like in THREE days!

I did NOT have ‘being able to see RHYS FUCKING DARBY LIVE’ on my bingo card for London AT ALL!

And suddenly there was the chance!!! OF COURSE I TOOK IT!!!

Cue a few freaked out texts to my Sally, a rushed check of earlier trains, and booking a ticket for STAND UP!!! I don’t do standup... unless it’s RHYS FUCKING DARBY!!! So yeah, there I was, cackling to myself like a total lunatic (thankfully Lex is used to me losing my shit (although it’s been a while since she’s witnessed that in person!)) with the prospect of seeing RHYS FUCKING DARBY LIVE!!! (and thankfully I had packed not only my Orange shirt (gotta represent) but also my newly made DJ shirt (which I KNEW could ONLY be appreciated my fellow OFMD fans!!!).

So having that sorted and having calmed down (barely), Lex and I spent the evening catching up until it was time for her to leave for home. Since I didn’t have any plans at all, I had a stroll round town before returning ‘home’.

Tuesday was ‘meeting Jo in Leeds’ Day! Only day it was raining in both cities, which was fine, we spent the day indoors, catching up (it’s been a year since we last saw each other) and just enjoying ourselves! We did see a bit of Leeds, but with it being very wet and very moist, there wasn’t THAT much walking and sightseeing happening! Although I spotted this, which made me laugh:

Starting your pirate BABIES early, I guess *hehe*

Wednesday was the only day with a play!!! Yeah, I know, I have no idea how that happened - too many things to see, too little time. Praised be matinees! Romeo and Juliet at the Almeida (first time there for me), seeing the lovely Toheeb Jimoh on stage, being all dramatic and shit? COUNT ME IN! (even though I’ve had my fair share of Shakespeare before Covid hit).

And since I had the morning to myself I naturally had to check out that Chilean restaurant in Paddington. Yes, THAT one. (And accidentally dressing like the Elizabeth line!) And goodness me, these empanadas are GOOD!! Even at 11 am in the morning (only time I could be there, they close at 4 during the week and as I said, too many things to do and see, not enough time!).

Walked them empanadas off on my way to the theatre, past Abby Road, had a GREAT seat for a VERY small price and managed to catch the darling man after before he was off to lunch. Didn’t know whether he’d do stage door but he did, and BY GOD, that man’s even more lovely in RL! Im soo happy I managed to tell him that (and how brilliant he was on stage, of course!) And he was - he was enjoying himself, and he ‘died’ VERY realistically! It was amazing! And that smile is fucking DEADLY when aimed at you!!!

Got me a Humble Crumble on the way back (SOOO GOOD!) and then it was already time for Elliot Page!

I've NEVER been in a room with this many queer people (aside from Pride marches!) and it was the most amazing thing; you could FEEL the happiness of being there; the reception for the man himself was INSANE and made me actually tear up a bit (he deserves ONLY THE FUCKING BEST (and all the fucking HUGS!)).

There was an energy in the room... can’t even describe it, just felt very special. Not a signing, a talk about the book and q's from the audience (pre-submitted). Elliot felt very shy but also VERY naughty. Loved writing the sex scenes *grins* But by god, he's the happiest he's ever been. I've started reading the book, bit more than halfway through and GOOD LORD, he'd suffered soooo much!!! I can't even relate... which makes my HATE against people wanting to take away gender affirming care even bigger!!! *exhales* Anyhow, it was really good. Very inspiring. Soo soo powerful and soooo deserved!!!!

And then it was KIWI DAY!! God, Im still sooo high on actually seeing him LIVE and SOOO close - even more amazing as I’d NEVER thought I’d ever get to see him (what with him being mainly US or Aotearoa based!)!!! Sometimes the universe works in mysterious and beautiful ways!!!

But first I went to Nottingham to see Sally and Pam! It was beautiful! They took me to Wollaton Hall which is fucking gorgeous, and we just had a lovely wander around the park, seeing deer and blonde ducks, soaking up all the sunshine. After we went into Nottingham itself for some lunch before it was already time to leave again.

I arrived back in London around 6 and went straight into town, wanting to meet up with a friend who I knew back from the MTV awards (I was happy to actually know somebody at the show although I do NOT mind being on my own but it’s always nicer with people who know!)

Well, I totally forgot that the Mission Impossible premiere was happening at the same damn time!! Leicester Square was PACKED (and the Comedy Club is just around the corner!) So naturally I sneaked a peak, saw Tom Cruise and Simon Pegg (on a screen, they’re REALLY locking out normal people these days) but the excitement was too big so I went to the club.

And then the most magical thing happened: I met NEW people!!! (I mean, Ive had that ALL the time back in my old fandoms, but these days it happens so rarely so that made me REALLY happy). They approached me... because of the shirt and in the end we were four people, sticking together to watch the show - three of them with variation of THE Orange shirt!!!

First we sat 2nd row and then nobody wanted the 1st and then we just said, fuck it, we only get this chance ONCE (well, two of us) so we moved to the 1st row!!! God, that was close!! *lol* we weren’t too sure about it as neither of us wanted to get picked out for something - it was stand-up so who knew! But yeah, the thing one does for that kiwi!! *cackles*

It was pretty packed, not sold out but still full enough. And a LOT of OFMD/Rhys fans!!!

Good Lord, I haven’t laughed this much in a VERY long time (and those who know me, know how much this was needed). Every act was different but all hilarious, and yes, everyone got ‘picked’ on, especially the poor guy stage right, he was on his own and by god, they REALLY went to down on him. All in good spirits but yeah, I felt a tad sorry for him in the end!

At one point, Thanyia (Moore), the host/mc started to 'target' us - she was amazing, charming, hilarious as fuck and soo gorgeous. Anyhow, she wanted to know whether we all knew each other (because of the shirts, I guess) and was slightly shocked that in fact, we did NOT know each other prior to the show. And then we told her WHY we were there (pirate show, duh) and she wanted a synopsis ... she got one (GAY pirates) and she made fun of it but she basically summed up our show! (I do NOT know whether or not she knew about it all, i figure she did but not sure!) Still, it was AMAZING!!! (Rhys later sort of went with it as well - asked who did NOT know who he is, and there were like 4 people or so!!! NEVER once mentioned the show tho).

And then it was time! Rhys fucking Darby took the stage!!! God, we were LOUD!!! *lol* And by GOD, that man’s gorgeous that close up!!! I mean, he’s lovely and all but seeing him from like a metre away??? BLOODY HELL!!! That SMILE?!?! GUH!!! And so fucking funny! (never really realized how HARD those sound effects are - his head looked like it wanted to exploded during them, which worried me a tad *hehe*)

There wasn’t anything new, had heard most of it here and there already but still, actually seeing him (THOSE LEGS ARE LETHAL, and THAT ARSE IS ASDFGHJKLÖÄ... dont come at me, he kept waving it into our faces, ‘kay!), almost being able to touch him... yeah, that was quite something!!! I LOVE that fact that he’s enjoying himself soo much as well, kept giggling at his own jokes which I LOVE!!!

It was over way too quickly. My stomach hurt, my face hurt and we floated back out into the night, gathering at the entrance in hopes of being able to see him. Sadly he got whisked away by the wife, but he waved at us in passing (and I feel he especially waved at us in our lovely orange shirts!) And then we all went our separate ways, having exchanged socials to find each other again!!!

I walked back home as I needed to burn that energy in order to get ANY sleep that night (even walked into hoards of people waiting at the back of the cinema for the MI cast).

What a night!!! So sad I couldn’t be there for yesterday or today, but hey, I never in my wildest dreams thought of actually seeing him live at all, so I shan’t complain at all!!!!

Plus, we got these (thanks to the very generous sharer over on Twitter!)!

first row is NOT made for taking sneaky pics so I’ll be forever grateful to them for sharing these!!!

*sighs* And Friday was leaving day... having to say goodbye to my beloved city is never easy but this time around even more so!

BUT I did have the most amazing time, met old and new friends, and once again 6 days felt much much longer!!! My heart is bursting with happiness and joy and it will keep me going until I can come back again - hopefully very soon!!!

#personal #london love #vacation #toheeb jimoh #rhys darby #london #6 days of joy and happiness #elliot page

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trashquisitor-shirozora · 2 years

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Hi all! (and yes, I am absolutely thinking this in Stede Bonnet’s voice)

I want to talk about the mistake I made early on in this latest round of Dinluke Discourse and what I will do moving forward.

In retrospect, I shouldn’t have centered the dark!dinluke corner of fandom so early in my responses to reactions to my initial post. It was too easy to fall back on and retread the same well-tread ground as previous bouts of Discourse had, meaning we’d be stuck in a rut, arguing about “ymmv” and kink-shaming and fandom purity culture and pro/anti shippers and witch hunts and GOD I AM SICK AND TIRED OF ALL THAT. It becomes an “us vs. them” contest of wills and screaming matches and insults and harassment and threats, and then what? We flame out, nobody wins and nothing happens, and we go back to the status quo?

Absolutely not.

I proposed being more vocal and hostile toward harmful tropes, stereotypes, and trends that had become so prolific in the fandom. Right after that, I centered a specific group of creators and fans in subsequent posts, beginning yet another round of hostility, harassment, gaslighting, what-have-you. In doing so, I lost the intent of my original post. The narrative became, once again, about people dictating how everybody else should fandom based on what they like and dislike, which derails the conversations that should be had about how to make fandom a safer and more inclusive space for all.

It’s basically the pro/anti shipper debate, which is one of the fucking worst things to come out of contemporary fandom. Everyone is a proshipper until you do something others aren’t comfortable with and suddenly you’re the antishipper. You call out racist and xenophobic characterizations of Din and you’re now an anti for threatening the comfort of people who don’t want to be challenged, who don’t want their rose-tinted shades to shatter, who don’t want to be accused of being That Kind Of Person. “Oh heavens me, I never meant any harm, I just want to have fun in my lil’ ol' sandbox, how dare you accuse me of these things, blah blah blah.” So what about the people who experience daily microaggressions and would like to, oh I don’t know, not see more of that shit when they also want to have fun?

When I said we should’ve been “louder and meaner”, what I should’ve stated explicitly was we should make fandom hostile to all forms of aggression, be they the more subtle everyday microaggressions (a thousand cuts) or the more blunt and stark macroaggressions (a bludgeoning).

Today, I saw a lot of conversations about the “Luke in a dress” trope, and the harm that comes from turning acts of nonconformity and queer expression into reinforcements of heterosexual and cisnormative roles. That trope about him being the “Mom” and Din being the “Dad”? Terrible, it should die. Assigning character traits based on who tops and who bottoms? Set that practice on fire. Let these things sink to the deep dark depths of the void.

I’m not sorry if what I provoked made you uncomfortable about what you create and consume. You should feel uncomfortable. You know how uncomfortable I felt when I first read serious discussions about Pedro’s identity as a white Latine? Because I had misconceptions or simply Did Not Know That, and I had to check myself. I’m still correcting myself, I’m still learning. I’m reblogging posts and commentary from people who know these things far, far better than I do, because I know when to shut the fuck up and help amplify other voices. Honestly, I would rather reblog commentary from people who are well-versed in discussing issues with how fandom had been characterizing the dinluke ship because I’m supremely unqualified to carry deeper discussions. As someone pointed out in an attempt to shut me down, I’m Korean-American. It’s in my fucking bio. I’m also ace and AFAB. And I fucking care about my fellow BIPOC and queer fans. It’s called solidarity.

I found this twitter thread a few days ago. Stitch is speaking specifically about racism in fandom but I think this is incredibly relevant to how we should approach these issues in the fandom (any fandom, really) and how we should make this space a safer place. I don't expect toxic tropes and trends to be completely eradicated because that’s just not how anything works, but I am interested in diminishing their presence in the dinluke tags. I'm interested in centering more interesting, creative, and less harmful interpretations of these tropes and trends in these discussions and fanworks.

I’ll probably keep anon asks off for at least another week and take some time to draw and write. Somehow got myself so pumped up about dinluke again. Sorry, outline to that OFMD fic. You’ll just have to wait a while.

#dinluke #skydalorian #it's me the bastard (complementary) with some more thoughts about this past weekend #and what i did wrong and what i could do better #i am always seeking to do better (though sometimes i am down to clown)#i just hope these conversations continue and something comes of them #so that i'm never bracing myself whenever i dare to click the ship tags

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diorjadore · 2 years

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I’m high-key kinda mad vinnie hasn’t posted about roe v wade being overturned. Like he has such a huge platform, I think he can do better then just reposting a tweet

Okay this is coming from me, someone who’s dealing with local current events daily. I think I have enough experience to talk about this.

While I understand the need for urgency, it’s always better to educate yourself (Vinnie educating himself in this context) first rather than going on a frenzy to repost everything you see. Only then can you make informed decisions. Only then does your participation hold weight because a part of you knows what you’re fighting for, that this noise isn’t just for temporary. What you’re expecting from him is performative activism. Hell, the effortless sharing on Instagram or retweeting on Twitter is performative activism. Your contribution starts and ends there, then that’s it, you’re off the hook.

Unfortunately, this is a marathon of a fight that shouldn’t just die down after the first week, it’s a constant effort to do your part to change the system. Let them know that democracy still exists. While yes I get that it’s all over the internet and that it should be seen by everyone, will the people that only care at the beginning still care until the next few weeks/months? The effort for change should be constant, the noise and inconvenience to these officials should be continuous, that’s how you break systems. The lack of prolonged noise is one of the reasons why these systems still exist. That because of them, we’re all in it for the long run.

And would you rather him just retweet something to get people off his back or let him take his time to know what he needs to know about the issue (or rather the plethora of issues existing today)? Also, to clear things up, he did tweet and I caught wind of Roe vs Wade through him. He deleted this, posted on his story, and on Tiktok (which was quite a surprise honestly, didn’t expect that much to come out of him). Check @.VinnieHBR on Twitter as well! :’)

Also, if it’s worth something, Nate posted something on his story too. So yeah! I actually do wish to see him protest, that would be nice to see.

#vinnieasks

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klaineownsmysoul · 1 year

Text

I posted 1,602 times in 2022

142 posts created (9%)

1,460 posts reblogged (91%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@d-criss-news

@theavengers

@na-page

@mmack0621

@marvellegends

I tagged 1,523 of my posts in 2022

Only 5% of my posts had no tags

#darren criss - 398 posts

#mcu - 294 posts

#klaine - 292 posts

#wanda maximoff - 161 posts

#blaine anderson - 159 posts

#american buffalo - 133 posts

#dr strange in the multiverse of madness - 97 posts

#sam rockwell - 74 posts

#b99 - 72 posts

#anonymous - 71 posts

Longest Tag: 136 characters

#why are you paying someone else to raise your child when you have no outside responsibilities that would keep you from doing it yourself

My Top Posts in 2022:

Baby’s not even 2 weeks old and I’ve already seen comments from people on Twitter attempting to be the fandom police and declaring that “bluesy is a minor and even though her parents shared a pic of her face online for the entire connected world to see, fans shouldn’t reblog or retweet pics of her since she can’t consent.” Meaning of course, that they are once again absolving the person who posted the pic to her super duper extra special secret Insta and tagged her friends in it who then shared the pic from any responsibility whatsoever. Its not the fans’ job to protect the privacy of an infant. That job falls to her parents. If there are no pics posted, there will be nothing to share - see how that easy that is? They could have easily blocked out her face like so many celebs do, but they (she) chose not to. This is what happens and its going to continue to happen with any new pic that’s shared, if her desperate for attention mother’s history is anything to go by.

Its all calculated and done purposefully, much like the pap pics of their romantic strolls during lockdown and the “just so happened to be here” pics of her shopping at the supermarket while pregnant. Everything that relates to D’s happy home life is staged for effect and I have no doubts that baby will just become a part of that, especially if the little wifey has any say in it.

51 notes - Posted April 22, 2022

**Claps hands together**

Ok boys and girls - let’s get out our DC interview checklist and go through it to be sure we’ve noted that everything necessary took place and all the important points were hit. Keep in mind - this one was billed as an interview discussing his new Broadway role in AB.

Everybody ready?

1. Mention of his marriage and the little wifey is name checked. ✅

2. Obligatory pic of the happy little family so now not only does the internet know what she looks like, everyone who gets ABC has also seen her face. But remember - we as fans shouldn’t be sharing pics of a minor because she can’t consent herself. ✅

3. A rousing discussion of the now 4 year old bar he “co-owns” with the little wifey. ✅

Started by the incredulous moderator who pronounced it very deliberately to be sure she got the name right. Once that was confirmed as true, we moved into an explanation of why he would allow a business he’s supposedly associated with to have such a shitty embarrassing name (wait - never mind - he clarified that with the charming note that for as long as he’s known her, ((more on that later)) his lovely lady of many moons has been talking about wanting to name her bar that. So like the good little “yes dear” husband he is, he went along with it. Cool. And clearly this is where RR fell asleep on the job because - no pics of the bar? No shot of the classy neon “come inside me” sign? No shout out to the menu so people can plan ahead and get their orders of period sex and sluteater ready to go? Remember kids - ice is extra so hit up the ATM before you go in and buy one of these overpriced disgusting concoctions from a rude condescending bartender as you’re asked to get away from the VIP table that no one will be sitting in because who wants to blow that kind of money in a place like this. Cheers!!

4. A reference to their “great party” and how it was just the best day ever! ✅ But again - no pics of the newlyweds? How sad. Think of all the people who may not have seen D unshaven and looking wrinkled and unkempt in that white suit. But even more importantly - there might be people who hadn’t had the pleasure of seeing M in that wedding dress. How can you deprive them of wondering how someone who had access to the entire Vera Wang catalogue - money clearly no object as mommy works for her - could end up choosing that ill fitting ugly af monstrosity? It would have been easy to miss hearing about this, as it was such a private and heartfelt affair. I’m surprised there wasn’t a link shared across the bottom of the screen to the Vogue cover story.

5. More of the “ultimate collab, baby drop, out now” record metaphors that weren’t cute in October and by now have definitely been overplayed and need to stop. ✅

6. A hilarious LOL moment of one of the moderators asking him how he proposed and D doing his usual tap dance around giving an answer. ✅

No joke - I legit LOL’d at that because he’s been avoiding that question for 3 plus years now in the most awkward manner possible. No one knows what or where it actually took place (Japami FTW) but the possibilities based on what’s been shared include:

a) he proposed in Japan on vacation but somehow some of their friends were there as CK mentioned being present “the night her parents got engaged” which is so gross so please cut that shit out.

b) he decided to propose after having an epiphany in the bathroom of a bar in Miami (that little nugget shared courtesy of his deadbeat manager who naturally was his first call).

c) he might have actually proposed in the bar but he’s not really sure and doesn’t want to talk about (no shit - if my proposal story was that lame and tacky, I wouldn’t broadcast it either). Its fitting for her but completely OOC for someone of D’s depth, intelligence, and emotion.

All he ever had to say was that it was a private moment between the two of them, he would like to keep it that way, and consistently answer the question that way. Done. If he’d done that, people would have stopped asking. Instead he went with some bullshit about not wanting to bore anyone with the details of it which is such a bizarre roundabout way to answer a pretty straightforward question and only gives more credence to the idea that an actual proposal may not have taken place. Considering the numerous engagement rings that she went through until they got a designer to cough one up, nothing would surprise me. You don’t want to bore us with this, but you’ll freely share a story where your most likely blitzed out bride peed herself at a concert when she couldn’t be bothered finding a bathroom?

7. The ever changing fluid timeline that is the m/iarren relationship. ✅

JL somehow knows/remembers that they went to Disneyland for their first date. Ok sure why not? So she knows about a date they had before he landed glee. Hmm. I thought their decade of special togetherness preceded the show so I am confused? Or are you trying to tell me that they are close enough and this ‘date’ was so memorable that he just had to tell her all about it and this sugary sweet night of perfection stayed with her all this time and she just couldn’t keep it in any longer? I guess that story was so overpowering that it blocked out her memory of going to see D backstage at both H2$ and Hedwig so this was clearly not his Broadway debut.

She was a little manic overall, frankly, the way she kept jumping in and prompting topic after topic. It was almost like someone was hitting her with a cattle prod so she wouldn’t forget to keep bringing M up.

Alright everyone - is there anything we’ve forgotten? Anything missing from the list? What’s that now? There’s about 3 minutes left in the interview and they have yet to touch on AB? Oh well, that’s just what happens sometimes with D. If you have a partner as glamorous and winning as M is, with as many professional accomplishments as she has and the name recognition that she carries, D’s silly little jobs like a Broadway play just pale in comparison.

One final note from this trainwreck: you knew someone would ask about the baby’s name and he would have to explain it. I am glad that its not an actual reference to UMich’s nickname. It would feel a lot more touching and genuine if I thought for one minute he had a partner who could manage that depth of emotion and actually cared about him and his family. Its still a silly name but I could buy it as a nod to his dad and would just leave it alone. And just to clarify: she has one musician parent. The other is a desperate wannabe who has 4 songs in her singing repertoire (none of which sound like music) and plays in a shitty cover band no one has ever heard of that can only book their once a year gigs in venues owned by her family.

My expectations going in were low but holy moly they somehow managed to slide in under them. Not even a video of my darling Blaine singing, a glimpse of Teenage Dream, and a reminder of his otherworldly performance in ACS could save this debacle.

55 notes - Posted April 29, 2022

I’ve been thinking all afternoon and all evening about what I want to say, so here goes:

When I opened that Insta post yesterday, I had no idea what to expect but I could never ever have imagined its contents to be what they were. I was floored, completely surprised, and then after reading a bit more, heartbroken. I know how much he adored, revered even his older brother, and you could see it in their interactions and feel it in every word written. They had that push-pull give and take sibling vibe down but always with an undercurrent of love and respect. Getting to play together must have been such a joyful experience.

I am amazed at the strength it must have taken for him to compose that, click post, and know it would be out there for everyone to read. It was beautiful, elegant, authentic, heartfelt, articulate; everything I’ve come to know and love about Darren over the last decade. I’m glad he found it cathartic but I truly cannot imagine what it was like for him to put that together. It proves beyond a shadow of a doubt how much he loved his brother. Him saying that it would mean a lot to him if we would read the whole thing is quite possibly the most Darren statement ever to exist. Wanting to use this deeply personal situation as a way to advocate for mental health is just exemplary; its who he is and why I love him so.

2 of those pics he shared stood out to me. The one with him, Chuck, and 2 of his kids where Darren has the biggest happiest smile on his face - its the smile that lights him up and I adore so much. And the last one of their family - that’s the one that really got to me.

I’m just gutted and so so incredibly sad for him and Cerina and their family and those 3 little children. I want to hug them and let them know how much love and support they have and hope they can find peace at some point.

59 notes - Posted March 3, 2022

You know that scene at the beginning of S3 when K/urt is trying to convince b/laine to move to McKinley? I love that scene!! It's just so pure ! And lovely! And i love when b/Liane goes ooooohhhh ... I really miss them sometimes.. sigh

This one?

I love it too. Its perfect and a great way to start what I thought was going to be a Klaine filled season 3 now that Blaine was a full time character. Its all the best things about their early relationship in one scene: they're flirty, they tease each other, but always with that base of understanding and friendship they have. Kurt's line of "I want my senior year to be magical and that will only happen if I get to spend every second with you" is so so good. I'm pretty sure Blaine had already made up his mind to transfer, but he just couldn't resist giving Kurt a hard time about it. Even here with their relationship still so new, they have a rapport and vibe that flies in the face of how long they've been together. The back and forth, the give and take - its all the things that made me fall in love with them.

Here's that ooooh you mentioned.

See the full post

76 notes - Posted August 18, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Ariana DeBose is a fucking force of nature.

302 notes - Posted June 12, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #false

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