#i asked to be given a different position if hes hiring this person and he said no so.... ♥️

[terrorbirb]

Hmmm boss made a really bad choice hiring someone to do my roll because I don't have time due to me doing everyone else's roll and guess who's definitely definitely leaving

#totes bro #i got a resume out #i am actively looking now #yeah it may mess up disability #but i dont want the charlie work of my job #i asked to be given a different position if hes hiring this person and he said no so.... ♥️ #our hr person was also taken back by this and said 'how does this get stuff off Nicole's plate' #and it doesn't! it takes the parts of my job i like away from me! #i asked to be put in charge of warehouse and engineering because warehouse is a lot less than the office jobs i do extra #which for thr record i currently act as warehouse manager too #so ✌️this is it #if you have a job as a lab manager or just like project manager of a technical project #let me know i can do many things

[runnning-outof-time]

“Darling” | Tommy Shelby x Reader

Request: yes by @raincoffeeandfandoms

Pairing: Tommy Shelby x reader

Summary: Tommy and (Y/N) have a lot of explaining to do to the rest of the family when Tommy lets a term of endearment he doesn't normally use slip one night at the Garrison.

Warnings: language, drinking, implication/brief mention of stalker-like behavior

Word Count: 2857

A/N: I really loved this request, Flor! There’s something about Tommy using terms of endearment that just get to me. I hope you like it. Enjoy! :)

Let me know if you want to be tagged in future stories similar to this one!

(Y/N) (Y/L/N) was the only person Tommy Shelby called "Darling".

What started off as "I'll take my chances by myself, darling," — said in a rather snarky tone — after she'd offered her help one night at the Garrison, had now turned into the main term of endearment he used when addressing her. (Y/N) liked hearing him say it as much as he did...it reminded her of the journey that they'd gone on to get where they were now.

(Y/N) was hired at the Garrison by Harry, who owned the pub before the Shelby family took it over. She was kept on the staff by Arthur, who assumed the 'owner' position, although he didn't do much work behind the scenes. She met Tommy one night when he was having trouble working out what she now knew was a plot to sell the stolen guns that he had in his possession. She offered her help, but was only given "I'll take my chances by myself, darling," as a response, a curt way to get her out of his sight.

But then he started coming to her. It wasn't for things that had to deal with the guns, but rather just business in general. (Y/N) had some ideas on how to run the pub better and Tommy was, surprisingly, all ears. The more times they found each other, the more a different type of feelings developed between them.

The night that everything changed was when Tommy managed to save (Y/N) from two men he saw watching her at the Garrison that evening. He trailed them as they trailed her back to her home and was able to deal with them before they could do what they'd set out to do. (Y/N)'s question of "why did you care so much to follow me and make sure that I was ok?" gave Tommy the opportunity to tell her what he'd been wanting to do for the last several weeks. And unlike he'd been done in the past, he took that opportunity and explained to her how he felt. Thankfully, she felt the same.

And so they started seeing each other. (Y/N) stayed longer on nights Tommy was there so that he could walk her home, and then stay the night at her place. They made time to do things together around Small Heath, but always had to make sure that they'd go unnoticed. It wasn't because they were worried about the town gossip. No...someone would be dumb to spread rumors (that weren't really rumors) about Tommy Shelby and his lady. But instead they were worried about his family, who were the people she oftentimes waited on, finding out.

They both thought that it would be better to keep the other Shelbys out of it. It was all so new, and they were content with where they were at that moment, so why ruin a good thing? That's why Tommy checked in all directions and made sure that they were alone before he called her "darling". Him doing so only made the giddy feeling that coursed through her stronger.

(Y/N) was behind the bar, dealing with some customers one evening. She was pouring out some gin when the door to the pub opened. From a slight glance in that direction, she was able to see Tommy remove his peaked cap and stuff it into the pocket of his jacket. He made his way over to the bar, moving behind it just as (Y/N) was finished pouring a drink.

"We're out of mild, (Y/N), can you go and get some from the stockroom?" Harry asked as he came around the bar from the other side. He then noticed Tommy and sent a nod as a greeting in his direction.

"I can," (Y/N) answered him, setting the bottle she was using back on the shelf before she made her way through the door on the same wall and into the small stockroom. She went about looking for what Harry had asked for, hearing the sound of someone walking into the room seconds later. She already had an idea of who it could be, but a quick look taken just in case confirmed that Tommy had followed her into the room. He glanced behind him to make sure nobody had trailed him before he made his way over to (Y/N).

"When's your shift finished, darling?" he asked her, his voice low.

(Y/N) smiled as she grabbed what Harry needed before she turned to face Tommy. "Shouldn't you know when?" she teasingly asked him, her one eyebrow quirking upward as she posed the question. Tommy pursed his lips and shook his head slightly as a response to her question, making her laugh softly. "I've only got a half hour left," she then provided him with the information he was looking for.

"Good. Come into the snug when you're finished," he told her, nodding his head in the direction of the mentioned room as he spoke. It was (Y/N)'s turn to purse her lips, thinking over the suggestion that he made. Tommy, who always needed to know a person's answer immediately after he posed a question, was beginning to become impatient with each silent second that passed. "Will you?" he asked her, leaning in closer to her as he awaited her response.

A smile formed on (Y/N)'s face as she sensed his urgency to hear her answer. She always loved to make him wait; to see him become impatient, and she made sure to do so at every chance she got. There was something about seeing cracks form in Tommy Shelby's composure that scratched an itch she didn't even know she had.

"I will," she finally answered him, a beaming smile on her face as Tommy chuckled. He knew what she was doing...he'd caught onto her little game rather quickly. But he let her do it for the sake of seeing her smile.

"Good," he gave the same response that he had previously. He then stole a glance behind him, making sure that no one was in the room with them before he leaned in and kissed her lips quickly. "I'll see you in a half hour," he mumbled against her lips, feeling her smile against him.

"You will," she agreed with him, kissing him one last time before she pulled back, "I've got to take this out to Harry before he gets to wondering what we actually came in here to do," she said to him then, holding the jug up between them to assert her point.

"Go on, darling," he obliged to her statement, stepping out of her way then so that she could make her way out of the stockroom and back to the bar. He watched her go, eyeing her body over as she disappeared through the doorway. He waited for a few moments then, making it seem like he actually had a purpose for coming in here. When that time passed, he too exited the stockroom and walked back into the pub's main area. He stole a glance at (Y/N), who was still working the bar, before he made his way to the snug.

Arthur was the only person in there when Tommy entered the side room, but he quickly announced that Polly, John and Esme would be joining the group once they finished their duties back at the shop. Tommy nodded upon hearing this information, and he sat down in his usual chair, accepting the glass that Arthur slid his way once he was sitting.

They got into talking about the business then, and although Tommy would have rathered to leave that conversation rest for a later time, he took part in it. Doing so would pass the time quicker than just sitting in silence, and right now all he wanted was for thirty minutes to go by.

—

Tommy didn't know why he was anxiously counting down the seconds for (Y/N) to be finished with her shift. It wasn't like he could do anything overtly to her while in a room that was full of his family. But yet as the new hour came around, he found himself trying to suppress the smile that was threatening to appear on his lips. His family would never let him live it down.

About five minutes before her shift was due to be finished, (Y/N) opened the door to the snug. There was cheers exclaimed as a greeting from the packed room, and she sent everyone a smile before going about asking what she intended to: "is there anything I could get anyone before my shift's finished?" she asked no one in particular, looking at each person after she spoke. She tried hard not to let her eyes linger on Tommy, who had been shamelessly looking at her because he was technically allowed to...that was what you did when someone was speaking, right?

"Nah, love, we're good in here," Arthur answered for the rest of the group, "but why don't you come in after you're all finished up? 'S been a while since we've seen you properly," he suggested then, and (Y/N) had to wonder for a moment whether Tommy had told him about the two of them.

"If you all would be fine with me joining then sure, I'll come in," she answered, unable to shake the feeling of Tommy's eyes still on her.

"Of course we'd be fine! Go on and finish your shift so you can get back in here!" John hollered at her, waving her out of the room with his signature grin plastered on his face. (Y/N) shook her head and laughed at his words, saying goodbye to them so that she could go and finish her shift's final minutes behind the bar.

Five minutes later, like she agreed on doing, (Y/N) re-entered the snug. More cheers sounded off as she greeted everyone again. She then clasped her hands together over her waist and looked around, trying to figure out the seating arrangement and how she'd fit into it.

"Care to make some room for her, Pol? Bring another chair into the room?" Tommy spoke up, addressing his aunt, who was sitting on the end of the booth that was furthest away from him.

(Y/N) looked over to the older woman, who was now in the process of standing from the booth. "You don't have to be the one to move, Polly, I can..."

"No need to worry, (Y/N). I was about to get up and get another drink anyway," Polly stopped (Y/N) midway through her sentence, brushing the younger woman's statement off as she stood and moved towards the door.

(Y/N) stayed frozen in her spot though. She then turned to Tommy, her brows furrowed slightly. "Tommy are you sure about me taking Polly's seat, I can just go and..."

"Yes, I'm sure, darling...have a seat," Tommy cut her off this time, his words rolling off of his tongue without a second thought. (Y/N) nodded, not giving much thought to his response either as she went and sat down.

Everyone else in the room stopped what they were doing the second they heard what Tommy said. Sets of eyes were going between the two for a few moments before either of them caught on.

Noticing the sudden shift, Tommy broke the silence, "alright, what? What's happened?" he addressed the room, his eyebrows raised as he looked at each of his family members.

"I believe you should be telling us what's happened, brother," John answered, his gaze still shifting between Tommy and (Y/N).

"What?" Tommy asked again, confusion apparent in the single word statement.

"When have you taken to calling (Y/N) 'darling', Thomas?" Polly asked from where she was standing at the door, her brows raised.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he continued to play it off as if it was nothing, looking over to (Y/N) to see if she was still in his corner. The second he saw her wide eyes, he knew that he was on his own.

"'Yes, I'm sure, darling, have a seat' doesn't ring a bell to you?" Arthur joined in, quoting what Tommy had said just moments ago.

"That's what I said..." Tommy trailed off, not denying that those were the words that left his mouth. He looked between all of the people in the room then before his eyes settled on (Y/N). She immediately began giving him one of those 'will you speak first, or should I?' looks, hoping that he'd choose the first of the two.

Polly was the one to break the silence before either of the two could speak up. "Spill it," she insisted, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked at the guilty couple with pursed lips. She was a spitting image of a principal who was asking a child to own up to something they did; right down to the aura she was exuding.

Tommy held his gaze on (Y/N) for a moment longer before he exhaled a sigh and ran his hand along the back of his neck. "(Y/N) and I are seeing each other," he told the room their secret. He looked over at (Y/N) again to see that she was sitting in a rigid manner as she waited to hear how they'd react. Inside she was panicking, holding her breath and hoping that she wouldn't combust from the anticipation that was building.

"For how long?" Esme questioned from (Y/N)'s right. She took that opportunity to finally look away from Tommy, although his eyes burning into the side of her face reminded her that he was still very much present.

"A few weeks now," she mustered up the ability to answer the question, still waiting in limbo to see how they'd react. These Shelbys were good at withholding their emotions and reactions, and that really wasn't helping her case at the moment.

"A few weeks and you didn't think to tell us?" John chimed in, leaning out past Esme so that he could look at (Y/N) more properly.

(Y/N) opened her mouth to speak before she had a clear answer, so she said nothing, which made her eyes widen slightly. She was crashing hard here. Thankfully Tommy stepped in to cover her as she continued to draw a blank. "We didn't want it to become a big deal. Neither of us felt there was a reason to tell you, so we chose not to," he explained to them, really trying to downplay the importance of it all.

"It's not that we didn't want to tell you guys, it's just that it was...new," (Y/N) added on, making sure to let them know that this choice wasn't made solely because of them.

The room fell silent then after (Y/N) finished speaking. To her, it felt like the air was thick enough with tension that she could cut it with a knife. It made her ring her hands together and stare over at Tommy with a pleading look in her eyes. She hated the anticipation of what would be said next.

"Well in that case..." Arthur started as he stood up from his end of the booth. He didn't say anything as he made his way to the empty area of the room and turned to face the family again. Just finish your sentence already! (Y/N) was screaming at him in her mind, her nerves kicking into overdrive. Time seemed to move slow until a smile spread across the eldest Shelby sibling's face. "Welcome to the family, (Y/N)," he finished his statement, his eyes focused on the woman he was addressing, "next round's on me!" he then announced to the rest of the people in the room.

"Let's fucking celebrate!" John exclaimed, a wide grin spread across his face.

(Y/N) smiled as she looked around at the rest of the Shelby family. She couldn't help but giggle as her eyes focused on Tommy, who was in the middle of getting affectionately slapped on the back by Arthur, who John then followed with the same gesture. Her heart swelled as she saw his smile.

She kept her eyes on him until she felt a set of arms wrap around her. "Welcome to the family, (Y/N)," Esme offered her own kind words as she hugged the woman sitting to her left.

"Thanks, Esme," (Y/N) responded, pulling away to smile at her.

"Wait until Ada finds out," she said with a grin then, "she's going to be thrilled to have another woman in the family." (Y/N) smiled at her statement.

She couldn't deny the giddiness that she felt bubbling up inside of her. This moment had gone the way that she hoped it would, and it would be another that she would remember for a long time...part of the reason being because it was another instance when Tommy called her "darling".

Tagged: @mgcldydrms @the-anxious-youth @cloudofdisney @look-at-the-soul @elenavampire21 @mrsalwayswrite @julkaamazing @evita-shelby @lilyrachelcassidy @notyour-valentine @shelbydelrey @december16-1991 @onlydeadcells @peakyswritings @just-a-blackhole @watercolorskyy @strayrockette @peakyduchesss @alexxavicry @captivatedbycillianmurphy @yummycastiel @dark-academia-slut @tommystargirl @stevie75 @lyarr24 @signorellisantichrist @zablife @anotherblinder @midnightmagpiemama @cillmequick @rangerelik @lovemissyhoneybee @dandelionprints @letal-y-poetica @raincoffeeandfandoms @itscheybaby @gypsy-girl-08 @lora21 @insanitybyanothername @depxiety @dragons-are-my-favorite @sunsetbeachesandwriting @forgottenpeakywriter @cilliansangel

MASTERLIST

#tommy shelby #tommy shelby x reader #tommy shelby x y/n #tommy shelby imagine #tommy shelby one shot #tommy shelby oneshot #tommy shelby fanfiction #tommy shelby fanfic #peaky blinders #peaky blinders x reader #peaky blinders x y/n #peaky blinders imagine #peaky blinders one shot #peaky blinders oneshot #peaky blinders fanfic #peaky blinders fanfiction #fanfiction #fanfic

[laststandx3]

There are many bad things about wish, but one of the most annoying is how it fails to pay off its own set ups.

It's established Asha's father believes in the magic from the stars. He died of an illness (never specified), that Asha's grandfather (her father's father) never got his wish granted in YEARS, well now to me this feels targeted.

Follow my thoughts for a minute, how easy would have been with this already established set up to add the part where it's Magnifico who killed Asha's dad because he was promoting a different kind of magic that would undermine Magnifico's power? This would've established Magnifico as an actual villain from the start, manipulating people's perception of him with magic and the lengths he would go to keep his power and crown.

This would have impacted Asha's journey as well,instead of asking Magnifico to grant her grandfather's wish immediately (which imo is a good reason for him not to hire her, she literally asks for favoritism the moment she arrives), let her instead be perfect for the position, not clumsy and awkward but make her qualified and respectful of the king's secrecy about the wishes. And still she's still not hired. And then she starts questioning him, she's studied, she's ready and it's not enough and the king seemed to like her until she mentioned her father.

And then she talks with the people of rosa about the king, if that was unfair of him maybe , but the answer is that the king is good and kind and doesn't he grants everyone's wishes, isn't that so wonderful of him? (and maybe this can be a song) and at first it sounds like she just doesn't want to accept that she wasn't chosen but after the forth person answers the same exact thing, well then this starts to feel more like a script than an original thought. Just then she looks at all the wishes Magnifico's granted so far and they're all material, it's all about people owning bigger houses, better clothes, riches, nothing is about community, knowledge, about people becoming something(musicians, teachers, scientists, artists...) . The guy that got his wish granted last year also got it granted a few years ago too, Isn't that weird? Some people never get their wishes and this guy twice? And also his wish was so selfish? He wanted a swimming pool! How in the best kingdom, with the best king, nobody wishes nice things for others? And isn't that weird that she and her friends used to make graffitis and jokes on the guards but when Sleepy gave away his wish at 18 suddenly he doesn't make jokes about Magnifico's beard anymore? He's so respectful of the rules now.

And idk maybe Asha doesn't just wish upon a star and everything is given to her. Maybe Magnifico's source of magic is Star and she frees it and that's why Star tags along. The magic of the starts was real, her father was right! Star knew her dad, he tried to save the magical pet but he was killed instead! Now it's not just about freedom and justice she wants revenge. And this is maybe when she fucks up because she was too reckless, she got discovered. Her friends/family are watching how she's getting arrested/executed for treason and that's SO UNFAIR such a cognitive dissonance it breaks Magnifico's brainwash spell.

Now a song about revolution makes sense. But singing about revolution bc they want to be able to wish? Are you kidding me? Not only the movie established that you can have new wishes and that they make you whole again, but also girl, you all read the terms of services when giving Magnifico your wish. You give it to him and if he finds it worth it, it'll be granted. Making questions about the king choices is the opposite of living under a monarchy.

Ultimately I agree with everyone who says this movie feels empty, because it's true, it's a bunch of disney trope stitched together with easter eggs that don't makes us feel anything and that contradicts its own message. The fact that disney doesn't want to make grey characters anymore it's felt. And it mirrors the way people have started to see enjoying stories as media consumption, everything that alludes to people being flawed is an endorsement of abuse. So disney's characters have all turned is these empty shells of heroine tropes. They're always bubbly, their worst flaw is being clumsy, but the worst is that they're always right. Asha's quest to free the wishes is based only on her conviction that the king is wrong in not granting everyone's wish. It's never even hinted in the movie that the subjects of rosa lack something. It's a fairy-tale kingdom in every aspect (maybe the king is a bit egocentric but that hasn't hurt anyone so far), except that her grandpa's wish wasn't granted and so the king must be wrong. If it wasn't for Magnifico's long exposition of I don't accept criticism she wouldn't have questioned him. And even then, that's what living in a kingdom means, that you follow the king's rules. I'm sorry but singing about revolution and then ending the movie still under a monarchy is just contradictory with the whole premise.

#wish spoilers #disney wish #Wish 2023 #Wish rewrite #Asha #Magnifico #Grey characters? Not in disney anymore #Where is the flynn Ryder type? Starts selfish becomes a better person #Elsa's self discovery? Anna growing out of idealized people #Moana tries to live on land to make her parents proud! It's only when her grandma gives her the heart that she leaves #Mulan disappoints her parents and leaves to save her dad #Not every plot has to involve the fate of a kingdom. Sometimes it can just be one person #Mulan pretending to be a man is still seen as a terrible thing by the society she lives she doesn't change everyone's mind just the people #She actually interacted with. Yeah and the emperor but she literally saved his life. He'd better be forgiving

[hopes-peak-postal-company]

For Mod Hajime, i hope this doesnt sound weird but could you do a platonic fatherly yandere imagine post with Elias Bouchard? I like to imagine he fixates on a new Institute hire who doesnt know the fears are real and just decides "Its Child time. There is nothing I wont do to make my new child happy." But he also has to work around Jon and them getting in his way because they just dont GET that he's a Father now.

A FATHER'S LOVE!

"surely you'd choose your father over your friends, wouldn't you?"

summary. getting a job at a spooky academic institute offers toms of spooky outcomes. you just didn't expect to get a father figure and a overlyprotective friend group.

contents. platonic yandere! elias; elias is a wet cat grandpa; the archivist gang are slightly yandere; happens right after season 1

✦ It was difficult. Getting by in the big London city and rent to your flat was quite ridiculously high, even for usual london rent standard. But thankfully, a position in The Magnus Institute had opened and you managed to get the spot after wrangling out your best qualities to the HR like you're trading them.

✦ Now, you were aware of what you were getting into. I mean, an institute that's notorious for having many people going MIA or dying, but this was the only job that accepted you out of the millions you applied for and frankly, it pays better than most of them.

✦ So, you worked as the institute's librarian. It shocked you to know that they have their own personal library but at the same time, you kind of expected it. After all, it is an academic institute and there's bounds to be numerous books and soucres to cite for every statement given, regardless of how strange there are.

✦ You've met a couple on the job. Some were nice and often has small talks with you while some simply comes and goes, not even bothering to talk to you unless they're checking a book out. It was fine, of course, you can't help but feel disheartened. After all, all you do is stand by, organize the library and do nothing. It gets a bit lonely sometimes.

✦ And then, one day, a certain someone came to the library and it was no one other than big boss himself— Elias Bouchard. You never met the man before, only hearing him from Rosie and the others, but he is generally well-disliked by his own staff. You had nothing to complain about him and honestly, you find his company nice.

✦ He comes to the library whenever he has free time and then would talk to you. It wasn't just small talk, not just noise coming out of his mouth to fill in the silence, but he talked to you. He told you so many things— his opinions, his likes and dislikes —and even asked you about yours.

✦ Elias would listen intently, taking in every information about yourself in a manner so ... different from how he usually carried himself. Elias Bouchard was a prideful asshole and you knew that obviously well from just his body language, and yet when it comes to you, he is oddly soft. He reminds you almost like a dad for some reasons.

✦ And your relationship with your boss became like that. You didn't mind, you understand to some degree but even still you couldn't wrap your mind around why he chose specifically you. Maybe he didn't choose or maybe he did, but either way, this outcome was better than him hating you.

✦ But then, only a few months into your job, you suddenly got promoted to assistant archivist, joining the very few others in the archives in their day-to-day life.

✦ It was ... suffocating at first. The institute did suffer damage from the Prentiss Attack as you heard from the other employees and with the archives being the main target for the worms, it was not surprise that the Archivist and his team suffered greatly. Though injured, all of them still came back in one piece so that was a good thing.

✦ It took a while getting to know the others: Martin was the quickest to befriend and he'd bring you your favourite cup of tea whenever he can. Tim was the second, jokingly flirting with you at first but he was comfortable to be around and somehow both of your intensive knowledge on memes made the two of you friends. Sasha, on the other hand, took a bit more effort but in the end, she was just as fun and cheery as the other two outside work.

✦ Jon, on the other hand... He was wary, of course, a bit of an asshole too but you were determined to let his walls down, and so was the team. He gradually came to accept (aka get comfortable with) your existence and doesn't glare you like a cat you just rudely woke up.

✦ Elias... Elias isn't too pleased with this development though as you come find. He finds every excuse in the book to have you in office, stalling you just so he could spend more time with you. He had moved to the archives for one very specific reason and that was so he can watch you carefully.

✦ I mean, how couldn't he? You were so nice to him, oblivious to the concept of the entities and you didn't even care if he gets a bit 'spooky' (as Tim puts it) at times. In fact, he claimed you as his kid the moment you seem to play along with his 'little cryptid act'.

✦ But The Archival team... Oh, did they get on his nerves. But he couldn't do anything, no, he was sure you'll know and they'll tell you about what he truly is and he couldn't risk that. He couldn't lose you to them, so he'll have to just slightly abuse his power a bit. Just to have you be by his side a bit longer.

✦ Of course, Archivist and Co. can't stand by idly and watch him take their friend! And so, everytime Elias and one of them come to your desk at the same time, it's practically a tug of war for your affection and attention.

✦ It makes you laugh honestly, seeing them fight like this. Reminds you so much like a father trying to shoo away any his kid's admirers.... Only if you knew though, then you wouldn't be laughing.

notes. hi hii!!! tysm for requesting this!! i always wanted to write for tma but couldn't. ik this is a pretty old req (i think like .... from june i think?) and i wrote this months ago but forgot to finish

reqs are alwyas open!! and dont forget to reblog any of our works here on this blog, it help us a lot!!! ty again for requesting!

#mod hajime #the magnus archives x reader #tma x reader #yandere tma #yandere the magnus archives

[tuliptiger]

Hello again! House/life update.

I am in a much better place mentally but really rather the same financially. I am currently laid off for a month seasonally since I'm still not a permanent employee. I have something in the works I'm hoping plays out so that I have a permanent position and worst case scenario I go back to work May 6th as a temp for 6 more months. I have side jobs and unemployment lined up in the mean time.

Anyway though! On to the house. Disappointing news but honest news in terms of the first contractor we hired. We still haven't gotten money back from him.

Recap: my mom and I fired him because he lied to us, charged tools on our account we up front said not to do, built a shoddy excuse of a foundation and frame for my house that we eventually had to pay our current contractor to demolish because it was so bad. It was for all definitions a different house the original contractor built. He used the wrong framing type for the blueprint and didn't even use framing nails to the city code. He wasn't even on site for 90% of the build and seemingly subcontracted it out which we didn't know.

In addition my mom is...not the best person to work with and makes a lot of mistakes. She's not a critical thinker on a lot of things. I made the mistake of asking her to help me buy land and build a house in the pursuit of escaping my generational poverty. I made the second mistake of asking her to take on individual responsibilities and not step in when the red flags started coming up.

I left her in charge of getting the money back from the OG contractor since she had all contact with him and she was originally the one who found him. That went as well as anyone could guess and she's, in summary, procrastinated doing any proper paperwork for attorneys or the contract board. I keep pushing her and she always says she'll get to it this day or that day or hits a dead end and then it goes nowhere.

This would not be a big issue but we're talking more than $20,000 he did in damages and $1,000 he directly stole from us like straight up $1,000 we handed him to do work he never did. The donations everyone has been sending in slowly are very much appreciated and remind me to keep fighting for this.

At this point I just want to get the house done so I can be done with the contractors and done with my mother. I don't want to be in this situation anymore and it's been dragged out for 3 years now. I've added pictures of where the house is at now and most of it having been done in January and February.

As the electric was finished and passed inspection I'm waiting in the HVAC and plumbing as the last things professionals must do before I can finish the house. I've started putting in flooring and the wood stove was just delivered so things are still moving.

The donations haven't covered anything large from the build but it has covered smaller things (I've used it for nails, locks for the doors, etc.) and given me strength to continue. Motivation from strangers, acquaintances and friends to not just walk away and to keep my head in the right space. I've emotionally and mentally been in a better place since I initially made the gofundme which has helped.

Anyway I've been meaning to make this for awhile and I'm sorry for the delay. I've been working my full time job before I was laid off, my side gigs, working on the house, still living out of my car and trying to work with my mother. I appreciate everyone who's been invested in this, shared it and donated. More updates will come in the future and thank you all again.

#words #house #it's been a full year #since i started living in my car #homeless #idk what to tag this as #donation #donation post #assistance #community help

[lonelywhalien22]

pretty lies - part nine (finale)

pairing: vernon x reader

rating/genre: enemies to lovers, slow burn, ANGSTY fluff, band au

summary: supporting your friend mingyu becomes way more than you ever could have bargained for when you become involved with one of his bandmates

warnings: cussing, vernon has issues in this story but please remember this is a work of fiction, mingyu stans don’t hate me but mingyu and reader are just friends

*credit: the lyrics referenced in this chapter are not mine, they are from the actual song black eye by vernon. and if you really wanna nerd out with me, listen to the band live session version he released, as that is what i imagined specifically while writing this part - trust me, it hits different.*

word count: 6.4k

prev. chapt. | series masterlist

~One year later~

“Ok, I think that’s enough for today,” you said to yourself, wiping the back of your hand across your brow as you stood up from your crouched position. You glanced around your apartment, trying to find your glass of water as you caught your breath.

Your living room was full of cardboard boxes, some of them taped shut with short descriptions scribbled hastily on the outside while others were still open, various items thrown inside haphazardly. It was spring once again, but instead of the seasonal cleaning you loved to indulge in at the first sign of sunny skies and warmer temperatures, you were moving out.

When you’d first been contacted about a competitive job offer a few months ago, you had immediately dismissed the idea. Though the hiring manager had been highly impressed with your skillset, the work would be notably different from what you were used to doing at your old job, and you doubted whether you could handle the requirements of the role. Your hesitation only became stronger when you were informed that you’d also have to relocate to take on the position.

What about my family? Mingyu and the rest of my friends? The life I have here? You’d spent weeks pondering the possible scenarios and all the things that would change if you took the offer, and you’d almost talked yourself into declining it. That was until you realized how much had already changed. 

It had been nine months since the guys had left to go work on their recording with Woozi. You still remembered the final hugs you’d given to Jay and Mingyu at the airport before they’d gone through security, a certain third person having not yet arrived. You still wondered to this day if he’d purposely chosen to show up as late as possible or if it was you who had come extra early to avoid having to interact. Perhaps it was both.

You and Mingyu had facetimed pretty regularly for the first month that they were gone. Sometimes you’d even see Jay in the background during your video chats as well, the two of you exchanging greetings and asking how the other was doing. By the time the second month had come around however, the distance made it hard to always remember to keep in touch. Eventually you all became busier and busier, your lives naturally moving in different directions. No matter how much time passed though, Mingyu always made sure to at the very least share the bigger updates with you:

~

“Why’s it taking so long to finish recording? I thought you guys would have been back by now,” you asked during one of your monthly catch ups. It had been four months at this point since they’d left. 

“Yeah me too. Woozi wanted it out sooner but his team advised against it. They thought it’d be best to let some time pass between the competition and the release so there would be less of a chance of his image getting tarnished with all the drama from the fight.” Mingyu skirted over that last part quickly, knowing that it was still a sore subject for you. “But in a weird way it works out well - with the extra time, we’re gonna be able to write some more stuff and put together a whole EP.”

“What is that? Like five or six songs? That’s so amazing, I can’t wait to hear them!” 

“You know, you could always get a sneak peak if you flew out here for a few days,” Mingyu offered once again. He’d been trying to get you to come for weeks now. “Nikki’s already seen me twice since we left!”

“She’s your girlfriend, of course she has. And you know I don’t have the time anyways - my boss would never let me take off for that long.” It was true that your job was a pain in the ass, but you and Mingyu both knew you had other reasons for not coming to visit in person.

“Just promise you’ll come see us perform when the EP is released.”

“Of course. I’ll be there.”

~

Now in the present, when you really thought about it, you realized that there wasn’t much tying you to the place in which you currently resided. Watching Mingyu and the guys for so long had given you a taste of all the possibilities life had to offer, and you were tired of limiting yourself to what you currently knew when it wasn’t really doing you any favors anyways. The job offer had just been the final push you needed, and at last you felt ready and excited to pursue your own little sort of adventure. Even if it wasn’t as glamorous as flying across the country to work with world-renowned producers, it was yours and yours alone.

You pushed the boxes you’d been working on packing up to a corner of the room, ready to call it a day, when you heard your phone ring from somewhere in your apartment. Taking a few moments to find it amongst all the disarray, you managed to answer right before it went to voicemail.

“Hey, what time did you say your flight was landing?” It was Mingyu. You could hear lots of commotion in the background wherever he was, voices and instruments faintly reaching your ears.

“Should be around eleven in the morning.” With the career change you had several weeks of cherished personal time before you began your new job. Besides the time you’d need to relocate, you were finally able to take a few days to visit Mingyu and see what the band had been working on for yourself.

“Shit, I don’t think I’m gonna be able to meet you at the airport. We’re putting the final touches on some stuff and won’t be done until around one.” You could hear the regret in his voice, but all you could do was chuckle in response.

“I’m gonna get there Thursday and I’ll be staying all the way through the weekend. Trust me, you’re not missing much. Airports suck anyways.”

“I know, but still. We’re all looking forward to seeing you. It’s been way too long.”

You couldn’t help but wonder who was included in that “we,” but there was no way you were gonna ask.

“Well, that’ll all be fixed very soon,” you said instead, glancing over at your half packed suitcase.

“I’ll see if Nikki can meet you at the airport instead since she’s also visiting,” Mingyu offered. You squealed in excitement. Since the guys had left, you and Mingyu’s girlfriend had become pretty close, unsurprisingly. What had at first seemed like an obligatory relationship born out of a common bond had over time blossomed into a true friendship. She was definitely going to be someone you missed hanging out with when you moved.

“You should have started with that option,” you joked as you tried to figure out how many pairs of socks you needed to pack and where on earth you’d put them. “Tell her I need someone to show me around when I get there.”

“She’ll be glad to hear that,” Mingyu said happily before he was interrupted by someone on his end. “Y/n, I gotta go. But we’ll see you soon, ok?” he finished quickly.

“See you soon.”

—————

When your flight landed, it only took you a handful of minutes to find Nikki, the brunette jumping up and down excitedly as soon as she caught sight of you in baggage claim.

“Hey -” you greeted, letting out a slight “oof” as she gave you a big hug before immediately taking the bags you’d been carrying out of your hands.

“I’m so excited you’re here! How was the flight?”

“Good, just glad there weren’t any delays,” you said as you took a deep breath. You couldn’t believe you were really here, about to see the guys in person again after nearly a year.

“I know you’re probably hungry, but do you think you’d be good with just some snacks for now?” Nikki asked. “I tried talking him out of it but Mingyu’s insisting on everyone meeting up for lunch after they finish for today.”

“That’s fine,” you said as you began looking around for some place where you could buy some fruit or a salad, craving something fresh after being forced to eat airplane food. Nikki noticed the look in your eye, the way in which you immediately distracted yourself at the mention of the lunch. It was something that only she could have picked up on besides Mingyu, the two of them knowing the most about your past with a certain someone.

“In case you were wondering, he will be there,” she said softly, following behind you as you picked out a snack from a nearby stall and found your wallet to pay. “I just thought you’d wanna know.”

You let out a sigh. 

“I appreciate that, but I’m fine. It’s been months,” you said simply.

Nikki only stared back at you, her brow raised slightly as she tried to keep herself from calling you out on your bullshit.

“Really. I am,” you insisted. “Is it gonna be awkward at first? Yeah, probably. But this was bound to happen at some point. Let’s hope he doesn’t hate me and everything should be fine,” you said jokingly at the end, hoping she’d believe you then.

“Ok…” Nikki said. She piped up again after a few beats. “You know y/n, he’s changed - since being out here.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s not the same person he was the night of the Battle of the Bands competition.”

“Nikki,” you said with a warning tone, not liking where this was going.

“I’m not telling you to get back with him or anything,” her hands raised themselves innocently into the air. “I just don’t want you to let the way things ended between you two a year ago get in the way of you having a good time while you’re here,” she said gently.

“Thank you for that, but for the last time, I promise I am fine. Now - no more guy talk. Wasn’t there some thrift store you wanted to show me?” You brought up her weakness for clothes in an effort to change the subject once and for all.

“Say less,” Nikki said eagerly as she ushered you out of the airport and the two of you caught a ride to the hotel.

—————

“Y/n!”

Mingyu immediately pulled you into a hug that was even stronger than Nikki’s from earlier when he saw you. You couldn’t help the toothy smile that emerged on your face.

“Hey Mingyu,” you said simply. You really had missed your friend so much.

“Let her breathe,” Nikki chided playfully.

“Yeah, leave some hugs for the rest of us,” Jay said, arms open wide as you gave him a hug next.

“It’s so great to see you guys. I missed everyone so much.”

It was a little after one, and you and Nikki had finally met up with the guys to have a late lunch at a spot near the studio where they were recording. It was a bright and sunny day so you all had elected to eat at the patio seating out front. There was just one person missing though.

“Vernon’s running a little late but he’ll be here,” Mingyu said, seeing the question in your eyes. “He just had to finish going over some edits.”

Some things never change, you thought before you could stop yourself. You wondered if they were just covering for him with empty promises - if he’d somehow manage to avoid you for this entire trip.

You all finally sat down at a circular table outside. Mingyu and Nikki were to your right and Jay was to your left, leaving one last spot for Vernon just across from you.

“So what’s this I hear about you moving? And a new job? Congrats!” Jay started once a waitress had brought you all drinks. The four of you immediately began to catch up, most of the focus on you.

“I still can’t believe you’re gonna be gone,” Mingyu whined.

“I’m not dying, just moving. And now you know how I felt when you guys left,” you said playfully. “Who could have predicted we’d be spread all over the place like this?” 

As you continued to chat, you couldn’t help but reminisce about where you all had been just a year ago - struggling to get by and constantly putting in overtime to make things work with the band, your day jobs, and your personal lives. And now look at you all, on your way to better things. It made you feel so proud when you really thought about it.

“I’m really sorry I’m late you guys.”

You all looked up at the interruption, seeing Vernon approach the table in a bit of disarray. He was clad in a simple white tee and light wash denim jeans, an unbuttoned light blue collared shirt layered over his tee. As he sat down, his hand came up to brush some hair out of his face, but a few stray strands fell onto his forehead anyways.

“Was it the sound engineer guy again?” Mingyu asked him knowingly with a smirk. Vernon laughed in response.

“Yeah - he went on a rant about compression techniques this time.”

“I told you to stop asking him questions,” Jay threw in, “you’re too curious for your own good sometimes man.”

“I know, I can’t help it, but anyways - ”

He looked over at you, a polite smile on his face as he scooted up his chair.

“Hi y/n.”

“Hi Vernon,” you said curtly with a tight-lipped smile. You looked down at the menu in your hands, eyes skimming over the entrees again even though you already knew what you wanted to order.

“So,” Nikki started, clearing her throat in the lingering silence. “What did you all work on today?”

“Just rehearsing the songs from the EP in preparation for the showcase,” Mingyu responded, the two of them tag-teaming on moving the conversation along.

“Vern’s been instrumental in helping us craft some amazing songs,” Jay propped the man up with a pat to his back.

“It’s all thanks to Woozi really,” Vernon brushed off shyly, but Mingyu shook his head adamantly.

“Don’t sell yourself short bro, you’ve done some great work on this.”

“I can’t wait to hear it,” Nikki piled on another compliment.

“Thanks guys.” Vernon let out a cheeky smile, looking down at his lap for a moment before fiddling with the menu on the table to distract himself, his cheeks burning.

You hadn’t really taken Nikki seriously at first when she’d said so earlier, but she was right - something was different about Vernon. He seemed lighter somehow. And it was quickly becoming apparent to you that the guys had grown much closer after working on music together for the last nine months. You could see it immediately in the way they interacted with each other, the three of them trading jokes and stories easily as you all waited for the waitress to come back.

“What’s that you mentioned about a showcase?” you asked.

“We’re putting on a performance the day after the EP is released,” Jay explained. “Woozi and Seventeen are gonna make an appearance as well, so we’ll likely be performing in front of thousands.”

“That’s incredible,” you said with a stunned expression.

“It’s part of the reason I wanted you to come this weekend specifically,” Mingyu said. “I’m not sure the timing would have lined up so nicely if you didn’t already happen to be moving -”

Nikki nudged Mingyu, cutting him off with a stern look, but it was too late.

“Wait, you’re moving?”

You looked back over at Vernon, his brow furrowing as he looked at you with a crestfallen expression. No one had told him?

“Yeah,” you said nervously, glancing over at him for a second before looking away again. You reached for your glass of lemonade, taking a sip so you didn’t have to say anything else, another awkward silence filling the table.

“So, what can I get you all,” the waitress finally appeared, ready to take your orders.

You’d never felt more thankful for a distraction.

—————

The rest of lunch had gone as smoothly as it could have considering the circumstances, with everyone mainly focused on their food. Mingyu, Jay and Nikki did most of the talking, sharing more stories from their time away from home as you politely listened along, soaking up just how much you had missed and throwing in a question or two from time to time. You tried your best to keep from looking at Vernon, which wasn’t really all that hard considering he stayed quiet for the rest of the meal. When his name came up in the conversation he’d always give a smile or a nod, laughing along at Mingyu’s ridiculous exaggerations, but besides that he gave no input.

“Well this was fun,” you said as you all walked out of the restaurant. “I guess we can hang out more tomorrow when you guys are finished with work again?”

“Actually…we were wondering if you’d come with us to the studio,” Mingyu suggested. “We wanna show you what we’ve been working on.”

“Really? Now?” you said in surprise. “Are you sure?” You’d assumed you wouldn’t be able to hear any of the actual songs until the official release of the EP.

Jay nodded before adding on, “As of today, the mastering is done so the songs are officially finished.” You noticed how he looked over at Vernon briefly, the man’s face a little red with eyes averted and hands tucked in his pockets quietly, before he continued. “We all agreed awhile ago that we wanted you to be the first outside of the production team to listen to it, as a thank you for all of your support.”

You felt honored, nearly tearing up at their words. It was such a kind gesture that you didn’t bother worrying too much about the fact that you’d have to spend even more time around Vernon. Like Nikki had said earlier, you didn’t want your history with him to stop you from sharing in such a precious moment.

“You guys…this is really sweet…”

“We know. Now come on,” Mingyu ushered you towards him eagerly.

You looked back at Nikki in confusion as she kept her place on the sidewalk.

“Go on,” she said with a smile. “The guys insisted you had to hear it first. Alone.” She said that last part with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “I’ll be waiting for you back at the hotel.”

—————

“Wow,” was the first word that left your mouth when you and the guys arrived at the studio.

The main area was bigger than the living room of your old apartment, a bunch of fancy recording equipment with hundreds of knobs and dials against one wall to your right. Comfy couches and chairs adorned the wall that was directly across, with plush carpets and decorative little knickknacks accenting the space. The recording booth was its own room, separated from everything else by a shiny sleek glass. When you peeked inside you saw a plethora of instruments and mic stands, and you even recognized Vernon’s guitar sitting in one corner.

“Crazy, right?” Mingyu urged you on with an elbow to your arm before he plopped himself into one of the chairs near the control booth. Vernon and Jay had already seated themselves. 

“Sit down!” Mingyu said, patting the last empty chair, which was beside him but also just so happened to be next to Vernon. You knew it was just by chance and that Mingyu would never set you up like that purposely, but that didn’t stop the nervousness that bubbled in your stomach.

“No way am I sitting that close to the controls,” you tried joking as an excuse. “I’m scared I’ll break something.” 

You backed up towards the couch against the opposite wall, planning to sit there instead, but the devastated look on Mingyu’s face made you stop in your tracks. Unable to take anymore of his expression, you glanced over at Vernon on instinct and your heart fell even more when you saw the way he immediately looked down at his lap, scratching the back of his head despondently.

Fuck. Was I that obvious? you thought, immediately feeling stupid for making things awkward.

“I can switch with Jay if - ” Vernon started, but you quickly cut him off.  

“No! No it’s fine,” you said, shaking your head before taking a step forward. “I’ll just - ” you didn’t bother finishing that sentence because what were you supposed to say exactly? No, it’s fine, I’ll just sit down next to my ex instead of making you all switch chairs because I still feel weird about breaking up with him? That would have been even more embarrassing. Maybe Nikki was right - you weren’t as over your past with Vernon as you’d thought.

You finished making your way to the final seat at the booth and promptly sat down, folding your hands in your lap as you tried to muster up some semblance of poise.

“Show me what you guys have been working on.” 

Mingyu looked at you seriously for a moment, making sure you were really ok first. Once you gave him a genuine smile and elbowed him playfully, he released a breath, the anticipation growing on his face again.

“Jay, can you play the first track?” he asked.

“Sure thing man.” The bassist clicked away on a nearby monitor before sitting back, sound beginning to flow from the speakers.

For the next half hour or so, you listened to several of the songs the guys had spent months crafting, worries quickly melting away as you couldn’t help but absorb yourself completely into the music. At the end of each one you immediately gushed over the melody, production elements, or other details, Mingyu and Jay eagerly offering in-depth input on more of the behind-the-scenes process. Vernon also chimed in from time to time, slowly becoming more comfortable as he gave insight on lyrical choices or even helped to elaborate upon your comments when you struggled to articulate in technical terms what it was you’d noticed in each song - “We added some more reverb here in the bridge,” “Woozi had them redo the mixing so many times on this song so they could capture Jay’s pedaling,” “That bit you’re hearing is a layer of syncopation over the main melody.” It was hard not to notice the passion in his voice. It exuded from him every time he spoke - an unbridled joy you had never seen before. You found it endearing, a smile slowly growing on your face the more you watched him.

The fourth track was the official recording of Visions. The four of you stayed completely quiet throughout the entirety of this song, fully absorbing Vernon’s raw vocals and the way they glided over the rich instrumental. Goosebumps covered your skin by the end.

“Vernon…that was beautiful.”

You were the first to interrupt the silence that filled the space afterwards, unable to stop yourself from looking directly at him. Despite everything that had happened, Visions would always make you feel something that was hard to put into words. You two didn’t have to still be together for you to regard that song with incredible care and awe.

“Thank you…that means a lot,” Vernon said, holding your gaze timidly for a moment before looking down, rubbing his hands across his jeans. He hoped you couldn’t see in his eyes how much your words still meant to him, after all this time.

“Thank you for trusting us with it,” Jay added in, Mingyu nodding along. 

No more words had to be said, the group of you sitting comfortably in the silence for a little longer before Mingyu quietly spoke up again.

“There’s just one more song left,” he said, eyebrows beginning to wiggle mischievously.

“There is?” you asked, curiosity peaked at the thought of even more music to listen to. But Vernon’s head jerked back up in panic at Mingyu’s words.

“N-No. There’s not,” he said abruptly, eyes wide as he quickly shook his head in denial. He looked legitimately scared.

“We discussed this already and you said you’d do it. I really think it’s best you stick to your word,” Mingyu said to Vernon, getting up from his chair and patting him on the back before walking towards the door. “Y/n. You good?”

“Yes…?” you said, appreciating his checking in before he seemingly left you alone with your ex.

“No - Mingyu wait -” Vernon said.

“You got this bro.”

“Rarely do I say it, but for once I’d have to agree with Mingyu here,” Jay said as he also got up and retreated towards the studio door. “Plus he stole my guitar pics and won’t give them back unless I agree to this plan so…”

The two bandmates exited the room, the door closing with a sort of finality as you and Vernon were left alone together in the studio.

What is happening right now? Why the hell would I tell Mingyu I was ok with this? Your mind went into overdrive as you fully processed the situation you’d so easily gotten yourself into, and yet, there was another part of you with so many questions that you found yourself glued to your seat.

If it was any consolation, Vernon looked just as unnerved as you.

“I’m sorry. I swear I had no idea they were gonna do this, I promise,” he said as he glanced over at you, immediately feeling the need to explain. 

This wasn’t how he’d imagined sharing this last song with you. If he was being honest, he’d never been able to figure out how to go about it, or if he should even try at all. So now that you were right here, sitting beside him again after a whole year had passed, he felt himself panicking. When all he heard was your silence in response, he continued to ramble on nervously.

“You can totally leave if you want. I won’t stop you.” It may have sounded like a cruel suggestion, but to Vernon it would actually have been so much easier if you did - if you left him again just like you had at that bench by the river a year ago. That way he wouldn’t have to reopen an old wound - wouldn’t have to rub salt in something he wasn’t entirely sure had healed. He could just continue to live in denial, never again having to confront the pain that had been so much of his existence or the hurt from his past with you.

“Why did you decide to record Visions? After everything that happened?” Vernon finally heard you ask instead. 

It was something that had tormented you nearly every day since your breakup, the question coming to you randomly late at night or when, against your better judgement, you’d listen to certain songs you knew would make you think of him. If you’d been in his shoes you didn’t think you could have done it, and so in this moment you found yourself desperate for an answer.

“I almost didn’t,” Vernon admitted, the confession spilling from his lips rather effortlessly once he’d recovered from his surprise. “But every time I tried to convince myself not to, I would think about the times I’d gotten to perform it on stage…” He looked forward, focusing on the recording booth before continuing. “I didn’t have the words for it then, but now I realize that it was healing - getting to share that song with others. And I think deep down there was a part of me that was tired of hurting myself as a way to cope with the things that had happened to me. So when you still asked me to record it, even after the way things ended, I couldn’t ignore that.” He looked over at you again, repeating your words from a year ago: “It’s like you said, I was tired of hiding in silence. So thank you - for encouraging me. I know that couldn’t have been easy.”

You weren’t sure what you thought you’d hear, but you certainly hadn’t expected something so…introspective.

“I’m glad. That it was healing for you.” 

His words were their own kind of salve, freeing you from a self-inflicted purgatory you hadn’t realized you were in until that very moment. 

“Sometimes I worried that maybe you hated me for it,” you acknowledged the last bit of fear you’d been holding in your heart.

“I can’t deny that I wasn’t upset at times, but I’ve never once hated you,” Vernon said earnestly. “Not even the first night we met - and not after you told me goodbye either.” He desperately needed you to know that.

You let his words seep into your heart, the look in his eyes telling you that he truly meant it, before you finally moved on. Once and for all.

“So,” you said with a deep exhale, suddenly finding it hard to hold his gaze. “What’s this last song? The one the guys want you to play for me?”

“Right. The song…” Vernon began with an anxious gulp - he’d almost forgotten why the two of you were in this situation to begin with. He mulled it over in his head for a second, trying to find the right words to explain what the song meant and why he’d written it, but eventually he realized that defeated the purpose. The song existed for this precisely - because he had always struggled to adequately articulate his feelings in any other way. So instead of stumbling over his words for any longer, he leaned over the control booth and pressed play:

Running 'round the whole city for someone

To look me in my eyes and tell me pretty lies

Teardrops keep blurring up my sight

And right now I'm driving in my car

Going so fast, baby, so fast, baby

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Don't leave me in the dark

You said you won't be far

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

I can't stand the quiet

Is anyone out there?

Is anyone out there?

I'm on my worst behavior

Don't stop me now

I fucking hate this world

So show me a way out

Wake me up from this nightmare, please

I can't stand this reality

I'm on my worst behavior

How you like me now?

Put a muzzle on me

I'll spit in your mouth

Wake me up from this nightmarе, please

I'm scarred and bruisеd with a black eyed face

Woke up on the highway

I didn't go home last night

What you know 'bout me?

I ain't got nothing

So why you keep coming to me?

With your innocent eyes, you smile so bright

Stop wasting your sunshine on me

'Cause I can't tell if it's real or a lie

Solitude

I got a couple friends

Just me, myself, and I

We play with fireworks all night

I'm okay

I'll just let it burn everything around me

'Cause you can't save me from my sadness

No, don't save me

I'm on my worst behavior

Don't stop me now

I fucking hate this world

So show me a way out

Wake me up from this nightmare, please

I can't stand this reality

I'm on my worst behavior

How you like me now?

Put a muzzle on me

I'll spit in your mouth

Wake me up from this nightmare, please

I'm scarred and bruised with a black eyed face

Turn on the radio all the way up

'Til your eardrums explode

Let's dance all night long

But if you come too close

I might just burn you whole

Turn my back and shut the door

Knock, knock

Is there anybody out there?

You couldn’t bring yourself to look at Vernon as the song filled the studio, body frozen in your seat even after it was finished. So many lyrics had stood out to you:

pretty lies

tears blurring up my sight

don’t leave me in the dark

you said you won’t be far

I can’t stand the quiet

on my worst behavior

didn't go home last night

what you know 'bout me?

your innocent eyes, you smile so bright

stop wasting your sunshine on me

can't tell if it's real or a lie

just let it burn everything around me

you can't save me from my sadness

black eyed face

“Y/n? Are you ok?” Vernon asked, turning his chair to face you fully as he saw your expression. He was terrified of what your reaction would be.

“I’m not sure…” you said honestly, finally looking over at him. “Are you ok?”

“I am, I promise. This is something I started writing around the time I joined the band. Right before I met you,” he tried to explain.

“But clearly that’s not when you wrote all of it - black eyed face? ” The more you went over the bits of lyrics you could remember, the more you saw parts of your relationship and his time with the band sprinkled all over it. You didn’t really know how to feel.

“You're right - I added different parts at different times until it all came together. It was my way of coping with what I was going through at the time…and eventually that included pieces of you too - pieces of us.”

“Pretty lies? Wasting my sunshine on you? Is that really all you remember when you think of our relationship? The painful parts?” you asked quietly, a little afraid to hear his answer.

“No, of course not,” Vernon looked at you gently. He wished he could hold your hand in that moment but he held himself back.

“Then I don’t understand. Why write this -”

“Because I love you,” Vernon said finally, his stomach dropping at the confession. He couldn’t bear the thought of you misinterpreting his words any longer. “I love you and I’m sorry for how things ended. For what I put you through. This song was my way of acknowledging that - not by attacking our relationship, but by putting myself back in that negative headspace and being open for once about the fact that I still had things to work through. When it was too late to be better for you or for the guys, I had to find a reason to be better for myself. And so I wrote this song as a reminder.”

You heard everything he said, but you could only focus on one thing.

“You love me?” you couldn’t help but ask, feeling strangely emotional for someone who had supposedly moved on.

“I mean…yeah. I’m not sure the feeling will ever go away,” Vernon’s face turned red as he decided to be completely honest with you.

“I…”

“You don’t have to say anything. I’m not asking you to take me back - it’s just something I want you to know.”

Just then you heard a noise on the other side of the door, the two of you looking over just in time to see Mingyu peek his head into the room.

“Sooo…the song’s good isn’t it???” the man blurted out, brows once again wiggling. “I was thinking we could call it Pretty Lies.”

You rolled your eyes playfully, ready to tell him to knock it off, but someone else beat you to it.

“Leave them alone!” you heard Nikki say, dragging him back by the collar of his shirt. You thought she was at the hotel, but apparently even she couldn’t stay away for long.

“What? I just wanna -” but the door promptly shut, blocking out Mingyu’s antics. 

The two of them really were made for each other, you thought with a bit of admiration. You and Vernon couldn’t help but begin to laugh.

“I guess that means it’s time to wrap it up,” you started, standing as you gathered your belongings. Vernon followed suit, still facing you.

“Just so you know - the label doesn’t know about this song,” Vernon said. “And regardless of what Mingyu wants, I’m not sharing it unless you’re comfortable. The EP is great as is.”

“You’re right that it’s great,” you started, “but it’d be even better with this song. It’s really, really, good Vernon,” you said honestly. You couldn’t deny that, even if it had been a little surreal to listen to in the beginning.

“You sure?”

“I’m sure,” you said, walking towards him and reaching out for a hug. He was the only person you hadn’t given one to since arriving, though this one felt notably different from the others, the familiarity of his touch sparking something in you. 

Vernon held on to you tightly, his head instinctively tucking into that familiar spot on the side of your neck while you rubbed his back softly, neither of you letting go.

“We’re gonna miss you. I’m gonna miss you,” he admitted once you two had lessened your hold enough to look at each other, the thought finally dawning on him that whenever he did finally return home, you wouldn’t be there waiting for him.

“I know. I will too,” you said wistfully. “But this doesn’t have to be goodbye forever, you know?”

You stood up on your tip toes then and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips. It wasn’t one of fiery passion, nor was it one loaded with secrecy or shame or hurt. And to Vernon, it was his absolute favorite of any of the kisses you two had ever shared. When you looked up at him, you could barely hold in your laughter, his face morphing into the perfect mixture of bliss and confusion.

“But how? You’re moving,” Vernon couldn’t help but ask despite the happiness he felt.

“Slowly. We can visit each other. With my new job I’ve got more flexibility, and you’re all gonna be famous soon anyways,” you only half-joked. “Even when you guys finally do come home, I have a feeling you won’t be there for long…”

He looked down bashfully at that but you placed a hand to his face, angling it back towards you as you looked at him seriously again.

“Vernon. I want us to explore this - the way we are now. If you want to.”

“I do,” Vernon said confidently.

“Then we’ll figure it out,” you said assuredly. “I trust this. I trust us. Ok?”

“Ok.”

—————

When you and Vernon finally left the studio, you found Mingyu, Jay, and Nikki all waiting for you out in the lobby with bated breath. Nikki let out a near shriek when she saw that the two of you were holding hands.

“You guys have my blessing to include the final song,” you said immediately, deciding not to keep them in suspense for any longer.

“Oh thank god,” Mingyu immediately blurted out. “If I’m being honest it’s my favorite and I really wanna make it the single -” Nikki smacked Mingyu’s arm. 

“Ow! What was that for?” 

“‘Gyu would you please think before you speak???”

“What are you talking about??? You screamed before I said anything and have been gushing about double dates for the last five minutes.” 

The two of them continued bickering playfully.

“What they’re trying to say is - we’re really thankful we get to share the song,” Jay translated. “And we’re happy for you guys.”

“I am too,” you chuckled lightly. “Although now that I think about it, I have one request - can you call it Black Eye instead of Pretty Lies?”

The guys all looked at each other for less than a second before speaking in unison.

“Deal!”

—————

It was the day of the showcase. You stood in the crowd once again, just a speck in a sea of thousands of fans as you watched the guys perform. It brought you back to the best parts of old times, sitting around on Jay’s beaten up couch when all they could have hoped for were a hundred people to show up if they were lucky. But now you got to see them on their biggest stage yet, Mingyu happily tapping away at the drums, his head of hair moving all over the place as he kept the beat going. Jay was his usual chill self, just vibing out on the bass contentedly. And then there was Vernon, looking a little shy as the opening chords of Black Eye began to ring out from the strings of his guitar for the first time live. It reminded you of when you’d seen him take the mic at the first gig the guys had ever performed at together, except that now there was a distinct sense of determination in his eyes despite the trepidation that you couldn’t help but admire - the sight awakening a long lost feeling of butterflies in your stomach. He caught you looking at him, gazing at you fondly for one last time before leaning into the mic and beginning to sing.

prev. chapt. | series masterlist

a/n: if you made it all the way here to the end, I just wanted to say thank you to each and every one of you who took the time to read this story! if you've got feels, feel free to share them with me here or reblog the ml if you're so inclined. please take care <3

taglist: @twogyuu @yourfavoritefreakyhan

#vernon fluff #vernon smut #seventeen fluff #seventeen smut #seventeen #vernon x reader

[jeannereames]

The Upcoming ATG Docudrama

I've been asked about this a couple times. I was required to sign an NDA, so there's not a lot I can say at the present time.

Edit: I realized I forgot to include a link to the trailer, so here it is.

Also, again, a reminder: please don't repost, here or by a link to it from elsewhere. I turned off reposting for a reason. Thanks!

To answer the most common query: yes, Hephaistion will be shown as ATG's lover. I wouldn't have agreed to be advisor otherwise. It will even be shown onscreen for the first time (if they don't back down). Hephaistion and Ptolemy are the two chief secondary characters on the Macedonian side. It's not my view of Hephaistion's personality but....

Their story, their vision. That's the first rule of being an advisor.

I had no hand in writing scripts, etc. I was hired to catch glaring historical errors, and offer suggestions. They then decided what of my suggestions to take. They did listen when it was very factually wrong. Details often had to be adjusted due to lack of funds (for sets, for actors, etc.), or the need to make the story clear for the average viewer. Also, they made their own choices regarding some controversial matters, following different scholarly opinion. Witness the "making of a god" subtitle. I don't think he ever actually believed that, or not in the way most viewers will take it; other scholars disagree with me. Clearly, they went with the other view.

Women get more screen time than you're probably used to in an Alexander documentary/docudrama. (The docudrama's chief producer is female.) They were very keen on the fact Persian women had political influence and power. You'll also see more female "talking heads,"* and several are actual ATG and Macedonian specialists, some suggested by me.

The Persians will not be shown as uncivilized barbarians. In fact, that's the chief reason I agreed to help. It's also why you keep seeing the actors for BOTH Alexander AND Darius given. This will be a rise-fall story, yes, but it will focus far more heavily on Persia (and Persia in a positive light) than what you're used to seeing. Darius matters. So does Statiera, his wife.

Despite the network, this was relatively small-budget,

There aren't as many named characters as I wanted to see, or fought for. Same thing with sets. They couldn't splurge on something to be used only once. It meant details of settings are changed in several cases. This will annoy viewers in-the-know, but the average viewer will have no idea.

I had no input once filming began. I also had no input on costuming, nor (for the most part) sets. I never saw any design boards, etc. And if they use those silly nicknames for Hephaistion and Ptolemy, I categorically refuse to accept responsibility. Ha. I warned them, multiple times, to drop them. I hope they listened.

--------

*No, I'm not among the interviewed experts, despite being the series historical advisor--nor is Beth Carney, who was also on their list, but is even older than me. I'll leave you to your own speculation. I'm not sure who all they ended up with (lots of secrecy), but we (the scholars) do talk to each other, so I know a few who were filmed, and a few who weren't. I'll be curious to see, myself, who ended up on screen.

#asks

[desidarling123]

If you haven't read this expose already, please do, because it's NUTS.

TLDR; Hasan Minhaj admitted to fully just. Lying. About things that, until recently, he posited as things that actually happened to him.

Some of the craziest excerpts from this article (imo)

But was his invention of a traumatic experience with his child or with law-enforcement entrapment distasteful, given the moral heft of those things, and the fact that other people have actually experienced them? “It’s grounded in truth,” Minhaj said. “But it didn’t happen to you,” I replied.

Dude. DUDE. What the fuck?!?!

There’s a palpable discomfort among comedians when they are asked to comment on another person’s art—a sort of code of omertà. But a number of writers and performers who spoke with me bristled at Minhaj’s moralizing posture. “He tonally presents himself as a person who was always taking down the despots and dictators of the world and always speaking truth to power,” one former “Patriot Act” employee said. “That’s grating.”

Yeah, this always drove me crazy about his style, but now coupled with the truth that he's been making half his shit up? Fucking insidious.

“If he’s lying about real people and real events, that’s a problem,” the writer said. “So much of the appeal of those stories is ‘This really happened.’ ”

Exactly. Hasan's whole claim to fame is being a "truth-teller" so discovering how much of his stories are lies... yikes!

Many stories on the cancellation also mentioned a series of tweets from former female employees of color alluding to their poor work experience behind the scenes. A document reviewed by The New Yorker revealed that three women had hired an attorney and threatened litigation against Netflix and “Patriot Act” ’s production company, alleging gender discrimination, sex-based harassment, and retaliation.

I remember when these came out. My IRL acquaintances did not really believe it, but I definitely felt odd about it. No smoke without fire...

Oh, and this ending fucking FLOORED ME.

When we spoke, I asked, were he to get “The Daily Show” hosting job, if his fabrications could put him in a compromised position when commenting on someone such as George Santos. Minhaj brushed the question off. “I think, when George Santos says he’s on the volleyball team, it’s a pointless story,” he responded. Minhaj’s “fiction” was always in service to a bigger point, putting him in a different moral category than Santos. He appeared unwilling to engage with the idea that his position in the comedic landscape is unique, or that the host of a comedy news show might be held to more stringent standards of accuracy across his body of work. When it came to his stage shows, he told me, “the emotional truth is first. The factual truth is secondary.” ♦

What a bunch of word scramble to justify.... not telling the truth? "Emotional truth", what a load of garbage. It's fucking identical to the same concept "Alternative Facts" the Far-Right was pushing so hard on us just years ago.

As a POC I find this especially rankling because we fight so hard for our stories to be heard... only for some fucking rando to not just co-opt those experiences and traumas, but fully... make them up? And claim them as his own? For clout?!?!?

What a mess. Unlikely to hurt his career (unfortunately) but goddamn.

#hasan minhaj #patriot act #the daily show #us politics

[lilikags]

♡ ·  ·  ·  · 𝐍𝐎𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄 | 𝐈𝐃𝐎𝐋!𝐀𝐔

៚ · CHARACTERS | diluc, childe, thoma, kaeya, albedo

៚ · WARNINGS | mention of Crepus's passing

៚ · NOTES | i swear i dont have a favorite idol group (narrator: she is lying) and if you can guess which which enstars group(s) i like from this post i will hug you and give you my affection

" I PROMISE MY VICTORY TO YOU, ON MY HONOR. True princes, under the name of Noblesse. Signed as an idol group, Noblesse comprises of five young men under the names of Diluc, Childe, Thoma, Kaeya, and Albedo- each with their unique voices harmonizing upon the sparkling stage for all to admire.

── ♡ :: DILUC

✩ If each of the members of Noblesse were princes, Diluc would be the charismatic one. The one with the most commanding stage presence of all, the one who would seemingly be the leader of the group.

✩ Diluc is very popular among fans and even idols alike, and he has quite a good reputation. Between idols, he's very professional- concise and respectful, just like in the business world. He chooses his words carefully, and he rarely loses his temper around others.

✩ He also has a very clean record- none/few scandals, outside of many businessmen being angry that he decided to become an idol instead of focusing on Dawn Winery after his father had passed away.

✩ While many have positive opinions about him (and perhaps some thinking he may be a little too formal at times), the only incident that one could truly remember was rumors of him having gotten into a bloody fight with Childe and Kaeya. (Although the rumors have died down quite a lot, many still remember when asked.)

✩ Diluc's singing is powerful and elegant and is described as "a mellow promise". His singing is very consistent and can do long notes, but he rarely is given high notes or raps.

✩ Diluc always has strong opinions of whether the group should release a certain song, even if it was written by one of the group members or given to them by their agency. He cares a lot about the success of the group, not only for himself but for all those who depend on them.

✩ Diluc rarely writes songs, and if he does, he doesn't often want them to be performed by the group, and he won't often choose to perform them either. He feels that his songs doesn't fit the princely theme of the group, and sometimes, they're a bit too personal to share with the world.

✩ In terms of dancing, Diluc is a pretty good dancer. His performances are powerful and clearly well-rehearsed. He's often praised by the dance teachers and the choreographers when they're around because of his fast work in learning the choreography, and he always loves to work with them as well. He holds a lot of respect for them, and they like his natural talent in dancing.

✩ Diluc's not the most synced of the dancers, though Noblesse isn't really the most synced group out there, due to their inherent differences in values. But nonetheless, they're able to pull off amazing performances and their choreographies always put their individual talents and habits into consideration.

✩ Aside from being an idol, Diluc is also a model. He models for various companies, usually high-end or luxury brands. He's very selective of which offers he accepts and he's very expensive to hire.

✩ Despite him becoming an idol as well, he's still involved in Dawn Winery quite a bit. He no longer holds an executive position, although he is still the owner and communicates with the board of directors regularly.

── ♡ :: CHILDE

✩ As an idol, Childe is pretty well respected for his skills. He's quite good at dancing and singing, has a pretty wild reputation (in a good way), and, of course, he's quite handsome.

✩ Childe's singing is energetic and fun, a lighthearted yet meaningful oath to the listeners when he sings his lines. He always brings in a bit of fun to the songs, even as romantic as they are.

✩ He doesn't do many long notes, but he often does the high notes for the group and some of the raps. Even though one may say his voice has less volume than some others, he is still a powerful singer, and sometimes he does add in a giggle here or there into the song.

✩ His dancing is also really good, and like Diluc (and mostly, the other members of Noblesse as well) he's not the most synced. His dances are a bit bouncy, very energetic. All the fans can tell he's having fun up on the stage.

✩ He's better at faster dances; slower songs tend to be a bit more boring for him unless it's a challenge. Sometimes his voice does shake a bit when he's performing, and he's great at improv when things go wrong. He'll play it off like it was intended.

✩ Childe's also popular among both idols and fans, as neither are immune to his good looks! To fans, he's charming, and they see a lot of content of him because of his constant streams. (It's so easy to see him a lot and fall for his charms, he's so silly)

✩ He also knows everyone (and their mom /j)- he has connections everywhere in the industry. He's worked in a lot of places and hopped around a lot, but for now he's settled with Noblesse and is (somewhat) happy. At least, it's exciting.

✩ However, some people do dislike working with him, as they think he is too free spirited on does things on his own terms. But he always gets his work done on time, so can they really complain?

✩ Childe actually writes a lot of songs. He can take a lot of things and put them into song, though his forte is always going to be parodies. (And he posts them on his social media posts. He gets made fun of sometimes but they're really funny)

✩ Childe is not only an idol- he's held a variety of jobs over the years, from odd jobs around his neighborhood to a variety of careers now. He's held jobs as babysitters (he was actually good) and lawn mowers (decent) before, but now he's juggling being a streamer, voice actor, actor, and a model.

✩ Childe actually streams pretty often, but they're often shorter streams, from usually around 10-40 minutes. He jokes around and talks with the chat, and usually they're pretty spontaneous. (Pro Tip: have notifications on)

✩ He does a lot of stupid things on camera (including many challenges he finds online), and everyone loves him for it, and sometimes he does sing and dance to show off a bit. Of course, he's not only silly but he's also cute and sexy at the same time.

✩ Childe's also a voice actor- he's pretty good at it too. He has a very unique yet versatile voice, and he plays a variety of roles. He is often casted for iconic shows with big budgets, and he always gets a main character. He's good at both the main character and the villain. (He has that famous villain laugh)

✩ Alongside being a voice actor, he's an actor as well and has starred in a bunch of shows, all who use his name to boost their name. He mostly goes for movies and rarely TV shows, unless it's really interesting. He gets a ton of offers, so he gets to be selective with what he picks- especially because he's so busy.

✩ Like many other idols, Childe is also a model. He accepts jobs from time to time, in which he puts his good looks to use. A lot of people know he's great for ads, especially since his fanbase is so loyal to him, and thus he gets a ginormous amount of offers. Of course, he only picks the ones he finds interesting. (if your offer is crazy enough, he'll be likely to accept it)

── ♡ :: THOMA

✩ In the whole instability of the entire group, Thoma is the one that keeps the peace and is an overall positive element to the group's uniqueness. If there's one with a burning passion, another which flows through the rough waves of the sea, an ice-cold arrow amidst the sky, and an intricately carved presence, the warm, subtle flames is what's holding them together. In other words, Thoma is the sane one.

✩ Thoma's singing is sweet and gentle, and many fans say it "warms the heart". It's reflective of his personality, and that's one of his charms. It gives a sense of lighthearted sincerity, one that tells that he truly enjoys being up on the stage, and while it might be tiring to be practicing for lives, dealing with such individuals in the industry, and everything in-between, he wouldn't have it any other way.

✩ Thoma and Childe (mostly Thoma) are given the high notes, and he's pretty good at long notes too- though, he's not as good at rapping. He and Albedo share a lot of lines.

✩ His voice is still powerful like the rest of Noblesse (it's one of the things they're known for) but, his isn't forceful or overwhelming. It's dynamic and charming, while keeping its gentleness and sweetness.

✩ Thoma is pretty good at dancing, and he's pretty adaptable. His dances tend to be cool and energetic- he loves making himself look cool. He also has a pretty stable voice when dancing- he makes it look so much easier than it is. He also has a really good stamina when on stage- he can go for more songs than the average.

✩ Thoma also knows how to breakdance and do a lot of other dancing tricks, and he films them a lot to share with his fans. (it makes him feel cool- though he's already cool)

✩ The member who writes the most songs for the group is Thoma; he's somehow especially good at coming up with concepts for songs that fit the knightly theme of Noblesse. He's gotten quite used to a lot of the common vocabulary that is used in their songs, and he can be often seen at his desk, pen in hand and writing down some ideas he has for future songs.

✩ Thoma actually reads quite a lot. He reads a lot of books, mostly, among other texts he has to read or that have caught his interest. He's taken a slight interest in royalty romances as of late, since they're an inspiration to the types of songs that Noblesse releases. They're not his best cup of tea, but he finds them enjoyable too.

✩ Thoma also writes songs for himself and other artists, and he's collaborated with a lot of others on numerous occasions. Everyone loves working with him.

✩ Speaking of how he's known, his reputation is very positive, both by fans and others in the industry. He's a pleasure to work with and he's often complimented as hardworking and talented.

✩ Among fans, he's adored quite a lot. There's an astonishing amount of Thoma fan blogs and accounts out there, especially because he interacts often with his own accounts. (a huge boost in his popularity is because of this)

✩ He communicates with his fans a lot through his streams, where he mostly cooks or does lifestyle explanations or singing streams. The fans enjoy them a lot, and he does too. He thinks he looks cool on them (he does)

✩ Thoma is a great cook, and his cooking streams get so many views not only because he's a famous idol, but he's just a great chef in general too. He cooks all kinds of dishes, but one can tell that he has favorites too. (which also the Kamisato siblings enjoy)

✩ He does lifestyle videos on youtube and occasionally on stream, though not too often because he's quite busy. He's actually really organized, and he shares a lot of his tips on keeping your space clean and organized. He's such an icon in that. He also has written a book on it- it sold pretty well too.

✩ His singing streams are always enjoyable, and there are never any disputes of whether he lip syncs or not because he proves himself during those streams. Some may say that he sounds better on stream than on stage.

── ♡ :: KAEYA

✩ Kaeya is known for being the "mysterious" one in the group, Albedo coming in next. He knows what to keep to himself and what to share with the public.

✩ Kaeya's singing is charming, and in a sense, calming as well as being strangely alluring. It's not overwhelming like some others, and it's sweet, though not in the same way as Thoma's.

✩ Kaeya isn't given a lot of high notes, but he's been given his fair share of long notes. He has a little bit of a hard time with them, but he's gotten quite good at it.

✩ Kaeya is also the main rapper of Noblesse, though both he and Childe do a lot of the rap parts in their songs.

✩ He makes the choreography looks easier than it is, although they always have a hard choreography. He doesn't sweat that much either, which makes it seem easier too.

✩ He usually has the same expression on when dancing, a closed-mouth smile (which he opens when he sings, of course). It's uniqely Kaeya, it has its own vibes.

✩ He's also very adaptable to what kind of dance they're asked to do, and he's pretty flexible as well. (He's good at dance challenges) He's also really good at improv for when things go wrong.

✩ Within the industry, he's known to be a pleasure to work with as well, though it's hard to tell what exactly he's thinking and some may feel that he has more thoughts that he hasn't shared. (He acts professionally and a little distant)

✩ But nonetheless, he's quite in demand and respected throughout the industry. He came seemingly out of nowhere and is known as a powerful force in the industry now- partly because of his fans and also his talents.

✩ There are an absurd amount of Kaeya fanpages on the internet. Pretty much all social medias have at least a few fan accounts dedicated solely or partly to Kaeya, and larger ones have more than one would even want to count. The fans are known to be the "hardcore Kaeya fans".

✩ Kaeya keeps a lot of his information to himself, and he uses that to make himself seem a bit mysterious. The fans feel like they know him well, but there's also a lot that they don't know (that they wish to know).

✩ He also does a lot of modeling jobs outside of being an idol. He receives a lot of offers, and he can pick the ones he'd like to model for. He mostly accepts offers from luxury brands- he looks very good with jewelry. He does some clothing brands too aside from jewelry brands.

── ♡ :: ALBEDO

✩ Albedo is the one who writes a lot of songs for Noblesse, alongside Thoma. He's a great songwriter, and he works together with Thoma to make some decisions regarding the group, as he's also the most levelheaded of all of them.

✩ Albedo's singing is calming and gentle; it has a sense of stability, and his voice rarely ever wavers, even while dancing. It's kind of lighthearted, yet somehow there's so much meaning in each of his lines. It's not the lines themselves but how he says it with such heart. It doesn't sound the same when someone else sings it.

✩ Albedo's stability allows for him to do a lot of long notes, although he rarely raps. He doesn't have the biggest voice range, thus he doesn't have a lot of high notes, but his voice is very unique.

✩ In terms of dancing, he has very precise moves. They're clean and easy to follow, and he's always on beat. Even if something interrupts him, he can elegantly get back on beat without problem.

✩ He rarely ever makes mistakes even live in front of the big crowd, so he doesn't need to pretend that any mistake was actually intentional. Thus, he's not very good at improv, but he can always keep calm and think rationally whenever something goes wrong.

✩ Albedo learns the choreography easily and quickly when it's well laid out for him. He follows it step by step and repeats it. If he messes up, he looks at what he's doing and what he's supposed to be doing, identifies what's different, and fixes it.

✩ Albedo's reputation in the industry is very positive. Many enjoy working with him, and he's described as a brilliant young man as both an idol and songwriter and composer. He's respectful, straightforward, and a pleasure to work with.

✩ His reputation among his fans is very positive; they basically have one (1) bias only, and it's Albedo. They're pretty chill though, in general, and they rarely ever make fun of him. They will usually put something about being an Albedo fan in their bios though.

✩ Albedo is also a songwriter, and his songs are very popular and in-demand. He writes songs that match the princely theme of Noblesse well, but he can also write songs for other themed groups as well.

✩ A lot of people want to co-write songs with him. He works better alone, but he doesn't mind working with other people. It's a learning experience for him, and those he will always welcome.

✩ A lot of artists would like to be able to perform one of the songs he writes. They're pretty well known in the music industry, and they often get a lot of demos before they can find the best person/group to sing them.

✩ He's written a lot of songs that people are familiar with but don't associate with him, because he didn't sing it. (He wrote it) He always appreciates it when someone recognizes him for writing it though!

✩ Albedo does modeling work too, but not that much. He doesn't really enjoy it; he's not creating anything really- though, it's not something that he particularly minds doing either. Sometimes they do pique his interest (sometimes), but he'll accept a job if someone he knows is offered the same job and they want to model together.

✩ Albedo also paints (professionally). He paints a lot of scenery, canvas paintings out in the wild. His paintings sell for a high price as well, and not really because of his idol status. (though, the price that fans are willing to pay is astonishing...)

✩ He will sometimes go out to a scenic place he has in mind when he has a free day (though, he'll sometimes just be excused from work to work on a painting since he is a big money maker for his agency anyways). He'll post pics of the painting on social media sometimes; the fans love it. Sometimes, if he can get a good enough connection, (or is in the mood for it) he'll stream while painting, he doesn't mind it much, and the fans love it.

WORD COUNT | 3186 words

NOTE FROM LILI | THIS IDOL AU HAS BEEN BREWING IN MY BRAIN FOR LIKE . A YEAR AT THIS POINT i hope it wasn't too long v_v and im off hiatus yaaay. if you wanna be tagged for the rest of my idol au stuff send me an ask !!!! either off anon or ur URL being somewhere in the ask. ty !!

[taglist will be tagged in the rbs!]

IF YOU LIKED THIS POST, PLEASE REBLOG IT! It really helps content creators like me <3

#genshin #genshin impact #genshin x reader #diluc x reader #childe x reader #thoma x reader #kaeya x reader #albedo x reader #diluc ragnvindr #diluc #childe #tartaglia #ajax #thoma #kaeya alberich #albedo #adl

[thyandrawrites]

how do you think that dabi and natsuo/fuyumi/shouto's relationship could be like in the ~~future~~/post-canon? like, your "ideally", what you'd like it to be like, take and your "what's most likely to happen" take, if you will.

Mmh, well, if you've been on my blog for a while, then you probably already know I don't think the story is building up towards a jail ending. At the very least, Dabi, Shigaraki, Toga and Aoyama are not getting locked up in Tartarus after AFO is defeated. I know this opinion is not considered "realistic" enough by the fandom at large, but bnha has never been a realistic story; if Nagant—the literal hired gun executing people on behalf of a corrupt, authoritarian government—can still be understood as having an inherently heroic heart by the moral paragon of the story, Deku, then it goes without saying that writing a gritty and realistic tale on cruelty and lack of forgiveness was never Horikoshi's intention. Besides, there's already foreshadowing of restorative justice ending.

That being said, given how the Todofam plot is headed towards reconnection, making amends and eventual healing, I think the natural consequence should be depicting Touya having a more normal and healthy dynamics with his family.

Since you asked about his siblings in particular, here's my thoughts:

- for one, Touya and Shouto were never allowed to socialize or spend time together. Shouto was still a baby when Touya tried to attack him, and Enji isolated the youngest from then on. Only recently was Shouto shown to form a relationship with Natsuo, so I expect him to be stubborn and develop one with Touya as well. Reconnecting with his family is a major point in Shouto's personal journey, and it's all the more important now since he never really met his big bro but only watched him from afar.

- same but different from above, Touya should also form a bond with Shouto. Like, the effort to be a family cannot be onesided. For much of his life, Touya didn't allow himself to see Shouto as his own person, but only as his replacement. At times he was shown being rational and realizing Shouto had no faults of his own, but then it was back at square one and seeing him with jealousy and pity alike the moment trauma resurfaced. That's not healthy, and that's now what I expect their dynamic to be like after the war. If Touya is able to depersonalize Shouto into this puppet made to dethrone him, it's only because Enji's parenting and their isolation exacerbated those feelings of inadequacy. But they actually have a lot in common, and they could only benefit from talking about their similar experiences and struggles to define themselves in opposition to their father.

- as for fuyumi, she grew up acting as a substitute mother figure, and I think it would benefit her to have Touya around, and be a little sister again. Frankly, she deserves the break. Just... Having someone older she can vent to or be vulnerable around would be a great thing for her, I think. It can be so isolating, having to be the mature and reliable one all the time. And true, maybe Touya will never be the responsible big bro who packs you lunch and kisses your hair when you leave for school, but just... Not having to be the Big Sis™ around at least one member of the family? Please and thank you

- Natsuo... Well. Natsuo devoted his career to helping people in similar positions to Touya. He's studying medical welfare (not medicine!), and it's implied to be because Touya's death left a mark on him for life. Having Touya back would not only finally ease the misplaced guilt he carries since he was eight, but it would also mean getting to hang out with a big bro who isn't as unhappy all the time anymore. I expect their dynamic to build up to be like... annoying little bro being a menace to his long-suffering big bro who secretly loves the attention.

But overall, I expect them all to eventually grow into a real family. Which means having meals together, fighting over tv channels, eating each other's food hidden away at the back of the cabinet... And staying up late at night to talk instead of sleeping. That kikd of mundane stuff, you know?

Now, realistically, I don't really expect the story to show all of that in great detail. It would need to change genre and become a slice of life to do so. So what I expect from canon is that foreshadowed meal together as a family, but with Touya in it. I can see it being the final wrap up of their overarching plot

#Ali replies #Bnha #Todofamily #Todosiblings

[chrisgraves09]

The Return to Freddy’s Rewritten: Chapter 2

>Chapter 2: Birth of Fazbear INC.

It is now the 1960s, about 20 or so years ever since Alison and his men raided Gilbert Facility for Gilbert's Machine. They have already started running their own business called Fazbear Incorporated, a manufacturing facility where they create a whole line of animatronics of their own design and create different businesses all around America to receive more cash money, making Alison's ego and greed grow stronger and stronger with how much they're making. It's exactly what he wanted from the start: To gain absolute power at the palm of his hand and he won't hesitate to take matters by any means necessary. Putting up a "Help Wanted!" sign on the building's window of Fazbear INC, quite a lot of people flocked into the building and were hired by Alison. One person he hired speaks to him in particular and it was a relatively well knit man wearing a fitted purple shirt and golden badge that reads "Vincent Smith '' on it. His face looks like he had just recently come back from the war.

"So your name's Vincent, huh? And you served in the military, you say?" Alison spoke, observing him closely.

"Yes, I did. I just got out not long ago, actually." Vincent replied. "Hmm, I see..." Alison said, his mind already working overtime as to how he can use it to his advantage.

"Well, welcome to Fazbear Incorporated. We're glad to have you here to work with us." Vincent gave Alison a silent nod as he was given an annual Fazbear INC. uniform to put on. Alison could see the military air about his new employee. This was exactly the strong and competent staff he wanted for his company.

------------------------------

As Vincent started work on developing the animatronics, Alison became more intrigued by this new employee as he saw many possibilities running through his mind. He had his personal agenda when it came to what this company would become, and he had a lot of ambitious plans laid out for it. He could sense that Vincent could play a big role in his plan, but Alison would need to gain his trust first before going further.

"So Vincent, question. What made you want to join this company instead of continuing serving the military?" Alison asked, his tone and expression indicating curiosity. Vincent shifted awkwardly as he felt pressured to leave after a certain event happened, but didn't want to elaborate on it.

"It's... complicated," Vincent said hesitantly.

"Hm.. complicated, huh? Alison said, sensing something going on with Vincent's past, but decided not to go deeper with any more questions. "Well in any case, you're starting to be a hard worker and a diligent employee," Allison said with a grin forming on his face, "And I can tell just from looking at you. You have what it takes to succeed here at Fazbear INC, especially for a military vet like you, no less."

Vincent smiled as his tone became slightly relaxed,"I appreciate the compliment, and I promise to do whatever task you or your other employees ask me to do." Alison nodded as he walked away, leaving Vincent to continue on his work.

------------------------------

A few days later, Vincent was hard at work in his new position at Fazbear INC. Everyone in the company saw how hardworking he was and respected him for that. Vincent put in his best efforts and continued to do his absolute best, gaining recognition and trust by every employee, especially Alison who seems to rely on him more. One day, he was on his work break talking to someone on the phone about his job. Unbeknownst to Vincent, a young adult woman was silently watching him with a knife in her hand on the other end of the room. She quietly approached Vincent and was just about to stab him until Vincent looked back and quickly moved out of the way, with just a small scar on his arm. Vincent was in shock for a few moments to process what just happened. He looked at the woman with a mix of shock and fear in his eyes.

"You..." she said in a cold, menacing tone, clearly blaming Vincent for her outburst as she pointed the knife to him.

"What... Do you mean?" Vincent asked, his voice getting shaky while struggling to keep his composure. The woman just keeps advancing, getting dangerously close to Vincent and gripping the knife in her hand. Suddenly, Alison walks into the room and watches the scene unfold before him.

"Scarlet, what are you doing?" he said, his tone remaining neutral but sharp, approaching towards them. Scarlet remained in her aggressive position for a few moments before putting the knife down and ran off with a huff. Vincent felt his heart racing after that sudden encounter as Alison turned towards him with a neutral expression on his face.

"Sorry about Scarlet," he said with a slight smile, "She's one of the few employees that worked here for about a year and heh... time hasn't been too kind to her and she grew more unstable and irritable, you know what I mean?" Vincent tilted his head slightly in confusion before nodding as his heart rate began to steady. Alison then continued speaking calmly with a sly grin.

"She'll get over it like normal," he said dismissively, "Things like this happen often here so don't worry if you're feeling stressed." Alison then walks away with his hands behind his back, leaving Vincent alone to give him some room to breathe and to process what had just occurred.

------------------------------

On October 29th of 1963, weeks after the sudden incident, Vincent was on break once again as he recollected what had happened throughout his time working at Fazbear INC. When he begins to sip his cup of coffee, a fairly skinny man wearing a green fitted shirt and yellow tie walks into the room and notices Vincent who looks up to see him too.

"Gron? Is that you?" Vincent asked, putting his coffee mug down and rose from his seat.

"Hey Vincent! Good to see you again after so long," Gron replied happily before giving Vincent a genuine handshake. Vincent smiled back at Gron, feeling happy to see an old friend after so long.

"It's been ages. How are you and Lynda doing?" he said, clasping Gron's hand firmly with his own.

"We've been doing great, thanks," Gron replied, feeling just as happy to see Vincent. "Having to take care of our two kids with a third one coming has been quite exhausting, but we've been doing fine though, haha." Vincent chuckled, feeling more at ease as he catches up with Gron.

"Sounds like you guys have got your hands full," he said before continuing,"so what brings you here? You got hired for the company?"

Gron replied, "Yeah I did, and almost everyone is just so nice to me after I got employed. Well, apart from getting a side eye from our boss." Vincent's expression turned concerned as he knows who Gron is talking about. "Alison?" he asked.

"Yep, after I got employed, he looked at me in kind of a stern and threatening way. Almost like I did something wrong or that he saw me from somewhere," Gron explained, feeling a twinge of shiver in his spine. Vincent looked over at Gron, listening intently as he recalled a similar event happening while working.

"Alison has been acting off since I started working here," he replied,"he commented that one employee was acting all stressed out due to stuff in her life after she attempted to attack me. And yet, I don't exactly know what to make of it." Gron looks at Vincent for a few moments, trying to think of a possible explanation for this.

"You think Alison has something to do with that employee's strange act of violence?" he asked, his curiosity growing by the moment. Vincent slightly nodded at Gron's answer.

"Maybe... we'll just have to keep an eye on him in case he does anything irrational," Vincent commented with a concerned expression, getting an uneasy feeling on what kind of company both he and Gron are working under.

------------------------------

Later, both Gron and Vincent spotted Alison turning his head left to right, acting as if he's being suspiciously watched.

"He's hiding something, and we have to find out what it is," Vincent said, his tone growing determined.

"But what if we get caught?" Gron whispered back, feeling a tiny bit anxious but willing to take the risk.

"Then we'll have to be careful and not alert him," Vincent replied as they both started to quietly and stealthily follow Alison. The pair grew more and more suspicious of Alison, making sure they weren't making too much noise. As they watch Alison, they notice that instead of walking to his office like normal, he was heading down a hidden stairway that when closely inspected, looks to be covered with red stains.

"Something just isn't right..." Gron said, his voice whispering and filled with caution. Vincent felt inclined to agree, but didn't say it out loud so they continued to quietly follow Alison, not making a sound.

Continuing down the stairs, Alison took a second glance to make sure no one is following him as he heads to a secret area that no one but Alison is aware of in the building. Gron and Vincent followed silently behind him, feeling their curiosity peaking by the minute.

"He's definitely up to something, let's see what it is..." Vincent whispered, as he and Gron creeped down the steps, remaining out of sight. Gron and Vincent were now nearing the bottom of the stairs, being able to see that there is a door at the very bottom, as it appears to be locked.

"Damn, a locked door... and there doesn't seem to be a keyhole," Vincent whispered to Gron, remaining as quiet as possible as the pair got close to the door.

"Perhaps it needs some kind of code?" Gron suggested, looking around the dimly lit area for some kind of clue. Both of them search the door and its immediate surroundings for any sort of hint until Gron looks under a nearby table to find small numbers that read "204-863". Once Gron saw the small hidden numbers, he immediately knew what it was: A passcode.

"Found it," Gron exclaimed quietly to Vincent as he implemented the code into the door, unlocking it instantly. With quick, silent movements, Gron and Vincent carefully and quietly opened the door to reveal a small narrow staircase. The pair felt their anxiousness and suspicion grow as they descended deeper below ground. When the pair reached the last stair and peeked beyond the corner, they were both left speechless.

------------------------------

In this rather large area that is being unveiled before their eyes, there are people enslaved, whipped and abused until their bodies are bruised and bloodied, and are forced to work continuously without rest. The cries of many echoed all around them as they were being forced to worship an animatronic chained to the wall that was under construction. Vincent felt his gut churn as he looked at the scene, feeling more and more horrified by the second.

"What... is that?" he muttered, his tone shaky. Gron too is filled to the brim with shock and disgust that he couldn't bare the words to say what it is. In the centre of the room, the large unfinished animatronic emitted unknown voices and whispers as the enslaved workers worshipped it by reciting a word for word poem in its honour.

"Those are our co-workers down there..." Vincent whispered out, repeating it while feeling a mix of rage and sorrow welling up inside him. What has Alison been keeping secretly from so many people? They both knew that Alison was suspicious, but didn't realise he was this horrible. Vincent and Gron quickly escape the hidden room, making their way to the building's top floor without anyone noticing them. However, Alison knew they were there, hearing the metal staircase as the pair made their way upstairs. They soon reached the elevator and quickly entered, not wasting any time before confronting Alison.

"We need to stop him..." Vincent said, his tone grim.

"Immediately." Gron agreed,"

------------------------------

Soon, the elevator ascends up to the last floor of Fazbear INC where the duo enters the room to find Gilbert's Machine, the one thing responsible for creating the animatronics, in the centre of the room. Vincent approaches it with slight caution, making sure no one's around.

"So this is the machine that Alison told me about," he said in a grim tone, looking over to Gron who also approached it with an uncomfortable expression on his face. Gilbert's Machine was grey in coloration and shaped like a bucket, having a wide chamber sitting right at the centre, cables and cords sitting at the top with switches and dials on the side. It truly was a complex device designed to create robots.

The duo decided to sabotage the machine so no more animatronics were created and Alison's company would go out of business. Gron quickly finds a power switch while Vincent examines the wide chamber, figuring out how to damage it. Having attempted to pull the power switch, the machine wasn't gonna let up that easily. Vincent then damaged the chamber by slamming his fists onto it while Gron spotted an emergency shutoff button and pressed it, resulting in the machine to have stopped moving.

"Phew, hopefully that should do it," Gron said, wiping a sweat from his face as he and Vincent went into the elevator and descended to the first floor again.

------------------------------

With Gilbert's Machine seemingly disabled, Gron and Vincent returned to the first floor only to see Alison standing across from them, looking furious. His expression instantly hardened and his eyes narrowed, looking directly at the pair with a stern glare.

"Both of you, what the hell were you doing on the top floor?" Alison said in an aggressive but stern tone. Gron points a finger at him angrily.

"What were YOU doing to our co-workers? We saw what you've been doing in that room!" he yelled, not backing down. Alison steps closer to Gron and Vincent, his face growing more and more furious as his tone becomes darker while his temper flares.

"What exactly do you think you saw there?" he says, growling at Gron in particular. "Look here, whatever you saw is what I always envisioned ever since I was a child: Having to overpower the weak and making sure they're in their place, doing exactly what they're told to do. By any means necessary. And I'm not letting some Vietnam veteran and some vomit weakling ruin what I have built up to and is accomplishing!"

Vincent then stands in front of Gron with a firm expression, speaking in an aggressive way to Alison. "Just because you're our boss doesn't give you the right to treat innocent workers in a way that's despicable. What you've been doing to our co-workers has been nothing short of barbaric and unjust! So how about instead of acting like the problem is just our presence on the top floor, you begin fixing yourself up and become a better person, owning up to your actions?"

Alison just started laughing maliciously before glaring at both Vincent and Gron.

"That part of myself died a long time ago..." He grinned evilly before running towards Gron, attempting to kill him first.

Just as Alison was about to kill Gron, Vincent stepped in and brutally punched him directly in his face so hard that he became knocked unconscious on the side of the floor, giving Vincent and Gron the opportunity to make their way out of Fazbear INC, escaping the building quickly and successfully.

------------------------------

After that day, both Vincent and Gron came to a horrifying realisation: They've been working under a man who could only be described as a monster, someone who was doing the deeds of the Devil himself. It was as if Alison were a demon, hellbent on controlling the lives of innocent people and causing large amounts of pain and torment.

"We worked under him this whole time, not knowing his true colours... how could I be so blind?" Vincent said, his voice becoming more sombre and grim. Gron shared his friend's grave tone as he too felt sombre.

"And I had just got hired by him on my first day too," he said,"I can't imagine how many people that also worked under him were brutally abused by... that creature."

Soon, their voices grew quieter as they both tried to take their minds off of that by drinking.

------------------------------

Meanwhile back at Fazbear INC, Gilbert's Machine, now damaged, had suddenly turned back on, starting to create animatronics that couldn't be described by anyone. Due to Gron and Vincent's sabotage, its AI and whatever that inhabits the contraption became corrupted, leading to unexpected developments to occur like a torturous future hitting the world.

End of Chapter 2

#five nights at freddy's #fnaf fangame #the return to freddy's #trtf

[saintqueer]

hello jordan. i hope you're doing well. it's been a while that i have sent you an anon ask. i used to be here a lot of times in 2021 but used to talk to you about bbg. i was fairly new and always had tooo many questions about bbg and you seemed be very very hopeful back in aug 2021 or around that time and it was good to talk to you. then shit went down with constant bbg push and ever since then till now i am quite confused about what the fuck is happening with Louis and his stunts. i am quite tired and i did notice that you are too. you aren't as active as you used to be. i hope everything is fine and you are happy and healthy.

i dont dig into these things these days but i saw the dm discourse and all this time even after everything that happened with bbg in 2021 up till now, i was hopeful it's leading towards the end but this is so disturbing and has been for a while with the way tomlinsons are being with F (Lottie pregnancy video also had mentions of F). I will never believe he his kid until and unless i get the positive dna test but i can't make anything out of it than we have been pushed under the bus again and it's a never ending circle.

i also read on a discourse that maybe louis wants us to believe he's his kid now. the way he's trying too hard but that just breaks my heart for the same boy who fought so hard and was able to not participate in this for four years is now okay to play dad roles all of a sudden. like that would be so bad. altho i agree that he made a conscious decision regarding what ever is happening with him and nobody is forcing him to do this on this level (like lot of blogs).

i liked your opinions on bbg always. they seem to console me. if you want to pls share your genuine opinion on why it's happening now? and where do you think things are leading?

because honestly i am only here till lt2 comes out and if things aren't better i am swearing on myself this shit is not worth my time. i would honestly just disappear in the general crowd of people who listen to their songs and then forget about them.

ps: did you get the job you were talking about? I think it's been few months since i last checked on you. also saw your new house, it's amazing. congrats!

this is such an amazingly articulated message, anon! i'm so happy you came back to talk.

first, thanks so much for asking about me! i am feeling so much more hopeful in my personal life rn. i got the job in a contract position and will move to salaried once the hiring freeze lets up in the company. getting out of my roommate situation has changed so much for the better just in the last week or so. i don't know what is going on with you, but i hope you are happy and healthy!

okay, onto the meat of it. yes, i was so hopeful. i mean i was cheekily so sometimes. like i didn't actually always think babygate was gonna "end today" but i did have hope it could still end by lt2.

anyways, i stopped engaging on tumblr as much because of many things, not just personal. ive become frustrated with the state of the fandom and i also just got more and more confused by HL's actions. i didn't have patience for the discourse and the clout-chasing and the biased opinions (i know i'm not immune to those things). basically ive still been very tuned in but just in private, on discord. i engage a lot still with their content but just in private because the fandom felt so different. i tend to know generally what the "fandom discourse" is on any given day but i'm a lot more detached because there are very few takes i can fully agree with anymore.

ive been very confused as to everything that has gone down since, i would say, April of 2021. and ive felt very conflicted by HL's choices since this past winter. i don't have the same interest in theorizing or expecting change as i once did because i don't see a particular pattern anymore. HL's motivations appear to be different and i'm not sure what to make of it.

as to the discourse... yeah those dms were something and that discussion blog is...um...ok....lol...

for me, the attacking of larries is not a matter of "he has done it before and it's to be expected". it's a matter of: it is 2022 and this is playing into his homophobic image which is no longer necessary for his closet and unhelpful for his career in current society. this isn't 2011 anymore. i know he did the same in 2017 but like??? he has left Syco, he had a tour filled with rainbows, he has young 14 and 15 year old queer women who look up to him. for me, there aren't excuses for specific things that have been done in the last two years. for both harry and louis. i feel conflicted about both of their actions in equal measure.

i agree about the apparent lack of fighting tbh. things feel wildly different than 2020. something has changed and i'm not sure what it is. it does feel like something happened that kicked off this extreme change in energy around spring 2021. as my friend Brenda says, it feels like we are missing a piece of the puzzle. that being said: it's been going on so long and it's gotten so bad and relentless that very little feels fun anymore. even compared to the start of louis's tour, something feels off. HL are less loud and less combative and less rebellious and even moreso since february 2022. even the larriebaiting we've gotten since then feels more passive and subdued.

i've gone through many emotions watching it all with my friends from angry to sad to heartbroken to apathetic. i've gone crazy enough to be reading them with my tarot deck on the regular, trying to make sense of why they've been doing what they are doing.

nothing will ever convince me out of what i know yo be true. nothing will ever convince me that louis is the father of freddie. even if he got himself a positive pat test, briana was never pregnant. nothing will ever convince me that their het images are real. for me, it's just becoming a question of how much i engage. i always felt appreciated and loved and connected as a fan even when shitty things happened. i cannot say i feel that way anymore. sometimes it feels like they want a shift in the fandom and i don't want to be in a place where i feel unwanted. this might mean i don't buy merch anymore or i only get one copy of the album or i don't engage in content creation anymore. i'm not totally sure what it means but if things keep up as they have the last year, i probably won't re-engage.

to answer your question of what i think this is leading to: fuck if i know. it's starting to feel like nothing. we could wake up next week to find out all this bullshit was leading to a custody case where louis ends it and then we get leaked pics of HL kissing during the dwd premiere ruining olivia's whole career. OR this could go on and on and we have to put up with louis using a full on child who is old enough to understand what's happening and has been exploited by his own family for promo of his new album while an independent artist and watch harry get engaged to olivia to sell a shitty movie advertised as all about female pleasure when's it really about hostage and rape. i just don't know anymore because everytime i thought they had a plan and a direction they were moving in, it just got worse.

to be perfectly clear: i'm always gonna love these two boys from the bottom of my heart. they are imperfect and have made many mistakes but i still love them. i'm never gonna doubt what i know about them up to this point. i'm always gonna think they are gay heroes intheir own right. i still believe they have been misled and are being talked into things by greedy and corrupt execs and managers. i'm never gonna think louis is a dad and i'm never gonna think harry is a womanizer. i'm gonna continue listening to their music. i am gonna buy lt2 (but tbh if bg ended, id buy five copies instead of just the one). i'll likely never stop keeping an eye on them even if from a greater distance. BUT i believe the mistreatment of the gay subset of this fandom has grown and has become less acceptable over time as they have gained more say in their promo strategies. i won't put an immense amount of effort and time and money into a fandom where i am constantly gaslit and made out to be insane. at the end of the day, no matter how fond i am of them and the way they fought, they are two extremely privileged white rich people who have been in this very fucked up industry since they were teens.

i hope that answers your questions. i know i really went on there but louis and his stunts make no sense to me and have not for a while. nor his social media activity. i think he could be scared and making really dumb decisions out of fear of losing the success he has had. but, of course, i really have no clue at the end of the day. in my opinion, he is being nowhere near as transparent as he once used to be.

sorry if there are a billion typos, i just typed this all out in one go on my phone lol

#in case anyone else was wondering where i'm at with all of this #this is the basic summary #obviously how i feel is even more nuanced and intricate #but yeah i'm keeping up and i don't think things are good or will become magically good anytime soon #love you all tho and im still gonna be here and around #anon

[tiredspacedragon]

Ooh I wanna send some questions. I think A3, A21, A22, B3, B17, C6, and C11 interest me the most!

Ooh, lots to answer here

A3 Favourite Villain: It might not be an interesting answer, but it's Makuta Teridax. You really can't beat a good big bad. At least not one like Teridax. He's got one of my favourite qualities in major villains: charisma. Some big bads are just so thoroughly unpleasant that it's not fun to watch or read about them because you just want to drive a stake through their skull whenever they're around, or worse, they're boring, but Teridax is just a joy. He is so theatrical, so secure in his arrogance and superiority that he chews up just about every scene he's in. And it helps that he's actually smart. So many villains are portrayed as that "backup plans for my backup plans" evil schemer archetype, but then fall flat in execution when they get undone with relative ease. But Teridax actually manages to pull it off, both because he's terrifyingly good at using that facet of his personality as an intimidation tactic; go ahead, try to fight him, he has a plan for every move you could make; and because he actually wins. To this day, Teridax is the only villain I have seen succeed in their plans by taking advantage of the trope of Good Guys Always Win. How do you, as the villain, succeed when the heroes are always going to come out on top? Easy, make the heroes accomplishing their goals result directly in you achieving yours. Brilliant! And I will say, I enjoy both versions of Makuta. Both the schemer, and the malevolent force of nature of the early years. I would have liked to see more overlap between the two characterizations, but I'm happy with what we have.

A21 Favourite Order of Mata Nui Member: Uhhh...Axonn, I guess? I don't know, I've never been a big fan of most of the OoMN. I like them in concept, but very few of the characters actually interested me after they were revealed. I mean I like Helryx, first Toa and all that, and Krakua is sweet, but picking one of the two members who are Toa feels kinda cheap, especially given the whole "no Toa allowed" rule. So I guess Axonn. I do enjoy me a good heavily-armoured holy warrior every now and then, and it helps that whenever I read any of Axonn's lines, I hear them in Kevin Michael Richardson's voice in my head, so he feels a lot more defined and present than most of the 06-08 characters.

A22 Favourite Dark Hunter: Well aside from everyone's favourites, The Shadowed One himself, Lariska, and a certain spidery lad, I have a soft spot for Darkness. 'Cause like...what the heck is he?? He just shows up one day, tells TSO "Hey, I live here now. And btw, if you ever show a sign of weakness, I'm going to eviscerate you and claim your criminal empire for my own," and apparently that was totally cool? We're never given any indication that TSO hired him, or pays him for his services. He doesn't go out on jobs, doesn't make any profit, just sits there and waits for murder time with 0 explanation of how or why he is in that position. He is fascinating and I don't want to know anything else about him because quite frankly, that might just ruin him.

B3 Favourite Titan Set: I answered Lhikan and Kikanalo as my favourite set in a previous ask, so I guess that qualifies here too. For the sake of saying something different, though, I'm also gonna give some credit to the Axalara T9. I never used to care about the vehicles in Bionicle, but I have since come around. I am older, wiser, and I know awesome when I see it, so I've warmed up to the gigantic flying battle machine. It's good old-fashioned Technic wizardry, and I completely understand how it managed to win awards.

B17 Favourite Movie: Web of Shadows, no contest. I get the feeling this is an unusual choice in the fandom, but I love Web of Shadows. It's easily my favourite of the original trilogy, and TLR really does not come close. The voice acting, the music, the visuals, everything about this movie does it for me. Especially the character designs. I love the asymmetrical, more bestial Toa Hordika, especially how their weapons became natural tools, and also, I'm just gonna come out and say it, the Rahaga's propellers should have been cannon because they absolutely rule. My only gripe is that, like its predecessor, Web of Shadows moves too quickly. The pacing feels a little rushed sometimes, especially Vakama's side changes, and so much of the 2005 story is cut out to fit into the hour-and-a-half-ish time frame. It's handled better than LoMN was, but still, I would have at least appreciated an acknowledgement of time passing between certain scenes. Like at least a hint that there's like a whole month between the first scene between the Hordika and the Rahaga when Vakama storms off, and when he actually gets captured and betrays the team for that sweet snake-lady...uhh, affection. But that's my only complaint.

C6 What Character do you Think is Underrated?: Gonna stick with Morak and Krahka on this one. And also I'll add on every single Turaga ever. Like sure we talk about their Toa selves all the time, but I feel like the Turaga don't get talked about much, in-story or out. Which is a shame, because they're still our guys, just in a new stage of life. I feel like Turaga in general get written off as a little lame, and maybe if they were talked about more, that impression might start to fade a little.

C11 What Character Should Have Been Given (Another) Physical Set?: I'm tempted to say Teridax here, because it seems odd that the big bad only ever got one true set, excluding Dume and Maxilos as disguises, and completely disregarding Ultimate Dume because it's a travesty. Hell, you could even argue he appeared in every Piraka set too, in their Zamor Spheres. But I don't know if I actually would have wanted another set for him. Teridax worked pretty well as a behind-the-scenes villain, he didn't need another physical form, because the one we got for him was great. I wonder sometimes if Icarax was planned to be a Teridax set, but Greg nixed the idea for the same reason I just stated and made Icarax his own character to continue letting Teri stay in the shadows. So with that said... I might have liked to have seen the Turaga Metru re-released in larger forms to stay in-scale with the later years. So either them, or another proper Teridax set, because it still would have been cool, even if it made no sense.

#bionicle #bionicle ask game #i apparently feel more strongly about turaga than i thought i did #huh

[gothprentiss]

hi sona! i'm sending this as an ask so you can ignore it as long as you want. i have been noodling on this and wonder if you have thoughts too: emily and strauss. in "book of the dead" you wrote that convo between derek and emily about strauss' drinking and derek's issues with hotch when they were stuck in traffic with that very funny christmas truck. in hit/run we see erin strauss thank derek for calling her out on her drinking. do you think strauss ever tried to make amends to emily? i like to think so, and i like to think about how poorly that conversation might have gone, given what strauss did to emily and perhaps colored by emily's experiences with matthew. i went back and looked at some of strauss's episodes, and it appears that any lingering animosity between them was gone by season 7, i guess put to rest(?) by emily's death. so maybe an amends conversation wouldn't have gone as poorly as it would have in say season 5. follow up, do you think CME section chief emily ever thinks about strauss? because i sure found strauss haunting me as i watched.

first off: thank you so much for sending this as an ask because i did have to watch a couple of cm eps about it! and many other things in the interim. so my initial instinct re amends— in the style of strauss reaching out to derek— was not really, kind of, maybe and i don’t think that’s changed, but i do have a lot to say now. unfortunately. nb and disclaimer i didn’t watch back every strauss ep so whatever’s dumb here is 50/50 just me being dumb / i don’t remember what happened. tldr i don’t think strauss would have seen herself as having anything to apologize for or remedy without prompting from prentiss, and i don’t see prentiss in a position to do that without either a) strauss surviving until the later seasons or b) reimagining how much was going on behind the scenes of prentiss exit s7.

so first (yuck fic talk sorry) — i’d meant to write something longer about strauss in “book of the dead”. when derek’s trying to decide how far he thinks hotch was willing to see strauss fall, i’d been meaning to write prentiss more overtly wondering how far she’d have been willing to see it go, examining the conditions of her own resentment and compassion, etc. something more about reid, too, whose struggles with addiction i think would have weighed on her mind more in that context, and more, too, after matthew’s death. [more on this below. if i remember.] i’d thought about whether she’d then tell him about strauss’ role in hiring her; it strikes me as the primal scene for emily leaving, even though it’s never brought up in that context, because it’s unimaginable to me that a profound sense of you weren’t supposed to be here hasn’t dogged her ever since. a lot of the s6-7 prentiss arc works because she is fundamentally a different kind of person than the rest of the team, and she’s aware of that. the conditions of her hire, i imagine, might be part of how she names that difference for herself. at the same time, though, i can see her really wanting to say something about it— wanting it as a clean breaking point, easier than everything in the wake of the doyle case— and deciding not to, knowing she’d regret it and hate what she’d expose herself to by opening that door. so i just left it. point here isn’t just something i didn’t bother to write, it’s that i really do think of early season strauss as pretty critical to prentiss as a character, even if that’s kind of reading against the grain of the show. the show, after all, thinks of prentiss as having earned her place on the team through the events of 3x02, which i assume is why we don’t really see her processing this moment. 

as for making amends. i say not really because i think not overtly— in part because i do not think strauss would consider her actions worth amending. i think strauss would largely see herself as having operated in good faith albeit without the right big-picture mentality, but also as having handed prentiss a really good job which she wouldn’t have gotten anyway. her whole speech to prentiss is basically like, i am your benefactor who got you what you wanted, i see this unit as a huge problem, i want you to help me fix it. sneaky, cloak and dagger shit, sure, but a kind of office politicking i don’t know that strauss would have totally reneged on by later seasons, and likely not something she’d see as anything other than typical quid-pro-quo. it leads to some initial awkwardness and a sense of a lingering liability (prentiss could make things more difficult between hotch and strauss, which could presumably go up the chain of command and get strauss in trouble?), but i don’t know if this would have translated to guilt for strauss. (i was sort of wavering on how much i’m overreading this, because i know i read against the show’s grain a lot.) 

one way strauss was thinking of her relationship with prentiss was as one of potential protégée: she was, after all, pretty honest about her intentions, and pretty clear that, while she was holding the job as a cudgel over prentiss’ head, she effectively expected prentiss to work for her. you’d choose this person carefully; i don’t think strauss saw herself delivering the kind of verdict on prentiss’ merit and place on the team that i think prentiss received. i do kind of wonder if she saw a younger agent who had a bit of a reputation for ambition and hotheadedness and saw someone she could shape— probably a career she could build too (lots of upward job mobility if hotch goes, after all). i think ‘saw her younger self’ would be pushing it too far, but i think there are some parallels between the recklessness and ambition that strauss throws at prentiss and the recklessness and ambition we see from strauss in her villain arc. in some ways, i can see strauss thinking of prentiss as an unfortunate lost cause, impressed and exasperated in equal measure by her display of hard-headed devotion to the bau. 

what i can see, though, is strauss catching animus off prentiss and either going after her about it or really examining the situation. i haven’t rewatched every strauss episode, so i don’t remember how much the strauss redemption arc they go for coincides with the period of time in which that would be possible or reasonable— after all, i imagine strauss knew very well how unpopular she was among the bau team. i don’t think something like the extremely bad vibes she caught off prentiss in 5x09 would have done it, precisely because it arises from that more generalized hostility— and, as i said above, i think strauss probably had an impression of prentiss as, by nature, obstinately loyal to the team and hostile to her authority in the wake of 3x02. 

so that’s what i think about strauss’ character. i did really like her as a villain, and in general i love a careerist woman character who is just so driven by her own ambition that she doesn’t really know how to do anything other than aim upwards. my fondness for that kind of character does shape the above thoughts, too, since i see her as a kind of character who is pretty limited in her capacity for guilt, or her capacity to act on guilt. shame, sure, and i think that underlies her conversation with derek. like, bottom line TLDR etc— i think strauss would have regrets about prentiss but would put the onus on prentiss falling in line with the unruly BAU and its practices. there’s an element of the moral (administratively so) crusader to strauss in her anti-hotch agenda, one which i think would largely lead to her seeing prentiss as a bit of a letdown whose resentments were immature and poorly conceived.

i also said not really— i do think if we imagine more going on behind the scenes of prentiss’ departure, there’s space for there to have been some kind of confrontation during s7, as you say. like blah blah the show’s short memory and inconsistent commitment to totally smoothing out issues jars oddly with the way that we see prentiss often really holding onto resentments (e.g. 4x17). i think in some ways, the only person prentiss would have brought up the ‘i wasn’t supposed to be assigned to this unit’ thing to would have been strauss, because she’d see it as established knowledge between them— it wouldn’t require the same measure of vulnerability or confession. (or, like, impossibly, when prentiss becomes unit chief. if she hadn’t died and had remained in the fbi after the uhhh… replicator? storyline, then 100 percent i can see prentiss bringing it up in later seasons.)

as for prentiss— like i said, i think she would have a MASSIVE chip in her shoulder about all this. but one thing i find interesting is whether or not that would translate to hating strauss. i declined to say that strauss would see prentiss as a younger version of herself, but i do think one thought that was VERY loud in prentiss’ head as she stared up into the far distance at the end of season 2 was the realization that not letting her mother get her a job didn’t disentangle her from getting politicked upwards. this is because of my family, even. here, more overthinking: i think the extent to which strauss is not just one person who fucked with her but also emblematic of everything she didn’t want for herself is less than the extent to which that is true of her mother, and in a way that i think she would have sat down and reckoned with. it’s not a resentment and anger she can necessarily get rid of (cf. 5x09), but it’s not one she can meaningfully act on. 

in the same way that i think prentiss is a letdown for strauss, strauss strikes me as a letdown for prentiss. i was thinking about how in limelight prentiss jumps to agent morris’ defense in this moment of the show doing lil babby feminist politics— if she were a man you’d say she had balls, or something like that. there’s the obvious angle of responding to what she sees as chauvinism from her peers, but i think it also bespeaks a level of admiration for ambitious women. you know, growing up around ambassador prentiss, i’m sure she had her fair share of women in power that she admired even as she came to resent the kind of power-politicking that came with said positions. the show leans into a particular kind of incompetence (i.e., bad in the field) for strauss as it progresses— i kind of imagine prentiss watching, cataloguing, and feeling more angry and let down the more she saw. i guess (circling back to yuck fic talk) that’s another reason i wanted to write prentiss thinking about strauss— i see her as unable to figure out how she feels about the possibility of the woman’s professional downfall. i think she might think, at some point, there’s no use really holding a grudge (which she nevertheless holds) after strauss no longer is a threat to the team— like i think she is aware that her life’s path has been eased (/her agency over her life has been limited) in equally significant ways which were simply not made so apparent to her, and the grudge against strauss is really just a grudge against the condition of her existence. i think of when she tells reid, worried about failing to live up to his potential, that she thought she’d be a bored socialite at this point: i got the sense that prentiss thinks, despite it all, that this is probably one of the better ways her life could have gone. 

blah blah my sense of how prentiss works and ticks is very much hinged on me being like She’s Just Like Clarice Starling and the self-examining steely* control that starling has is very much central to how i think prentiss thinks as well. (*steely isn’t impermeable. but i think prentiss has learned to compartmentalize well partially by just having to when she was growing up and developing individuality which was antagonistic to her environment, and partially by sheer force of will. i feel like i am always beating this drum in fic lol.) so other TLDR bottom line— i don’t think she would have let herself bring it up except under extreme duress.

OH I ALMOST FORGOT THE LAST PART. yeah for sure i think she thinks about her. i do kind of imagine her desire to not be like her mother has a far more complex echo in strauss, who is presumably the imprint for prentiss’ sense of what misuse of power looks like in behavioral science. i assume she thought a great deal about strauss, who thought what she was doing was right, and that the agents caught up in her desire to roust hotch should either bend or break. i’m cutting this off here. this is long. i just think the show should actually try to write prentiss as good at her job so i can more fully commit to like, oh yeah i also think that the way she wasn’t (imo) ever fully able to respect or not respect strauss really dogs her and her capacity to evaluate her actions as leader. 

#DONT OPEN THE READMORE UNLESS U REALLY REALLY WANT TO. THIS IS 2K WORDS #prentissposting #idk i've had this in my head for a minute so now i'm just like unwedded to most of it and find all my takes boring but these r them i think #grandhike #smooches! as well for your list of eps. you are a hero

[rinisbowen]

curious about your take on matt’s story. have a fear that it’s hinting at him wanting to have a career bts as a director and that tim will attempt to keep him in the show as miss jenn’s assistant director next school year.

there are a few reasons why i don’t like that at all. 1) i feel like it sort of takes carlos’s role as miss jenn’s right hand man and gives it to ej as a reason to stick around. yeah, carlos is a choreographer and he’s interested in starring now, but i feel like his relationship with miss jenn was unique to him and the show. also, i feel like there’s this thing with this show where they try to make everyone change their initial interests (yay, growth!) as a life lesson, but its also normal for someone to know what they’re passionate about and stick with it. one thing i didn’t like in s2 was that everyone besides nini was involved in the play. think it would’ve been cool to see big red wanting to know more about tech and mazzara could’ve mentored him.

anyway, i just got completely off track, but ej potentially wanting to be a director is such an obvious plot device to keep him in the show. they could’ve atleast developed this way better in s2b after he got rejected from the colleges but they decided to put all that on the back burner in favor for relationship drama for him.

another reason i would hate it is if they continue pw. i’m sorry, but i’m uncomfortable with the shift in power dynamics in that situation. ej would be in a position of power and be dating a student (basically his student if he’s a hired assistant director). it just gives me the ick. and what growth does that show if he sticks around his high school. with his high school attending friends, with his girlfriend who’s in high school?

hi anon! thanks for the ask, i really love talking in depth about these things. i find it to be a lot of fun!

honestly- for my personal take on matt's story, i think i'm best off making a separate post explaining my thoughts, but the gist is i think it's potentially something about his sort of getting ready to grow up and such maybe? but i'll explain it better later when i get a chance haha.

--

i do think the directing / miss jenn's assistant director path for ej is definitely a strong possibility, regardless of whether it's what they're going for with the 'becoming something different' thing. i think it's good to remember though that ej spent a single episode filming something, and it's notable to me he also wasn't the one to organize any of the you ain't seen nothing video stuff. if they wanted him to do filmmaking, they could've easily given him a nod in that episode to him being involved in maybe the editing (which big red did) or any part of the planning / organization process. gina did say he did a great job with the video he made in 2.05 when they talk in 2.08, which could potentially point to this all coming back, but i think as much as this is an easy thing to do, it is just something a lot of the fandom's theorized at this point, and not a guarantee by any means. we don't even know if ej likes film- the whole point of 2.05 was for him to focus on other people than himself, not actually be physically behind the camera. is that an easy thing to extend the metaphor on? yes. but it's just a theory still. we don't know for a fact this is where they're going with ej.

--

now to your points of potential distaste, because i think you raise some very good arguments here.

i agree with you that the bond carlos has with miss jenn, particularly in season 1, but also in season 2, is fairly special amongst the group. in season 2, miss jenn bonds with nini a bit in 2.04, which was a nice moment (and foreshadowing for season 3's musical), but the relationship miss jenn has with carlos in particular is the closest of the whole theatre group. theoretically, it should be the sm, natalie, who's miss jenn's right hand, because that's how it works in theatre, but carlos, as choreographer, has that role on this show, and that's just something we accept haha. to make ej the assistant director for east high's theatre department would definitely put him closer to miss jenn (at least in a professional sense), and i think that'd perhaps be a hard pill for carlos to swallow, which actually could be an interesting character thing for him, but we shall see how it goes.

as a slight tangent- making carlos want to act a lot more from here on out, after canonically in season 2 he only did it to be able to potentially win an award, will bug me a bit. carlos definitely wants to shine, and he does, but he seems vastly more confident choreographing than being on stage himself. look at how shaken up he was in 2.11? he clearly prefers the control of his role behind the scenes. but i mean it's obvious a lot of the time this show is created by people who were actors and not techies in theatre in school, so y'know, it's not shocking they want to push all of the kids into on stage roles. it's easier to write about. like you bring up big red- and that's a fantastic example. he absolutely could've been a tech focused character, and that could be a lot of fun actually, but in fairness i'm sure once they learned larry could tap dance they were like oh we definitely have to use that and lean into it. carlos and big red could've just been techies, that's totally totally a great thing to be. like the being sure of and then sticking to your passions thing is less applicable to big red bc red didn't go into this like- totally wanting to tech a musical, but carlos especially. would it be so bad if he was satisfied being a choreographer?

exploring new interests is fun, and not everyone does know what they want, but i think sometimes the show forgets that it's okay to have drive in one specific area. the idea of ambition is usually looked down upon, when truly as long as you take ambition as drive and apply it in a positive way, it's not an inherently bad thing to be ambitious and passionate. nini's the only character who's been allowed to be truly ambitious in the sense of deeply and wholeheartedly pursuing her big dreams, but i'd argue that's likely due to the fact she doesn't tend to believe in herself so much necessarily, so it's more emotionally loaded when she achieves things for herself. (even if it doesn't turn out how she expected when she does).

--

if they make him aspire towards directing, they'll need to grow that interest in season 3, because he did seem to be having a good time in 2.05 making the video, and it did turn out well according to gina, but they didn't spend much time on showing any real development of a true interest. it was more of a teachable moment than a fleshed out thing, beyond him somehow becoming president of the av club in what can't have been more than a few weeks haha. as a note: i don't consider his being an anchor on the morning show a development towards him wanting to make films- that's him being in front of the camera again, even if they do have their one bit that we see focusing on nini's song blowing up, the slideshow of photos focused on him and gina being the intro to the morning show tends towards the self-focus that mazarra was in theory trying to guide him away from by suggesting he try being behind the camera. (that said it does fall into 'telling stories'- which mazarra mentions in 2.04- when ej interviews nini)

but yeah idk- i think there is definitely time to prove this is what he wants to do during season 3, if it is the case that he goes in this direction, but they are going to have to dedicate time to it. i think the majority of ej's arc this season has to be about him coming into his own and finding out what he wants going forward. if they use directing as a way to keep him more involved on the show, and don't develop it right, yeah- it'll probably feel like more of a plot device. like you say- in 2b, which is when he started properly having screentime this season, he didn't have a lot of personal focus so much as it was involved with gina. the good thing there, is that they tied a lot of that into his personal arc, but they could've for sure done more with his actual future- considering they ended that with the no duke thing, without getting into what that means he will do. we could've seen ej contemplating that a bit at the end like particularly to go with his 'senior moment'.

(also like- the writers know that unless you're taking a semester off or planning on going to a community college you are required to make your college decision by may 1st right? by the time season 3's timeline begins he should technically already be decided, but for show purposes he won't be i'd assume.)

--

i'll try to keep my thoughts on this semi brief- but i agree with you on this, and it's why i actually have been concerned about the ej potentially coming back and working at east high idea since people started talking about it ages ago. it's also why i feel a bit weird about him being a counselor in terms of that relationship (and have been saying since the season was announced to be a summer camp that they probably should avoid that), but his working at ehs is worse. if they want me entirely on board with this relationship, they cannot put him in a real position of authority over his girlfriend. like the counselor thing would feel better if she were going into senior year rather than junior year, but that aside, him working at the school would be... a lot. it's going to bother me if they go there too, so please know you're not alone. like the power dynamic shift you mention is for sure a potential issue. if they frame it carefully enough, maybe they'll get away with it, but it's still a concern. it gives me the ick too haha

--

the last part about his growth is slightly more complicated for me... because ej's arc trends towards him connecting with other people- and being satisfied with genuine connections and genuine emotions rather than trophies and being mr. perfect with his flashy ivy league (duke isn't technically an ivy but it's close) acceptance and such... so if we take away the hanging around the high school when he's graduated aspect, it would be a positive thing for ej to keep his strong connections with the wildcats even as his world expands. i don't think that needs to be through working on the musicals with them though. i think it's good to like- evolve past high school, and for him to have new connections and find himself in a new environment would be great to have, because i think that would allow ej to perhaps gain a sense of himself disconnected from places associated with all the ways he wasn't being as genuine... but this requires them to down his screen time, given they cannot logically show ej at college much if at all, with the show's focus being the east high theatre department. they'd realistically try to tie him in primarily through relationships with ashlyn as his cousin, and gina as his girlfriend + him coming to support the group at bigger things, particularly if his college is semi-local.

ej finding a group of people that accept him for himself is important, given how much he's put on a front, and i think it's not necessarily a disservice to the character to keep him in utah, but i think him working at east high does deprive him of the opportunity to carve his own path that isn't so tethered to his past. (if we see any degree of regression from him in season 3 with being back at camp {if this is the same camp he's gone to prior} i think that will lend towards him leaving slc for school)

there are levels to this. it's in some ways a question of would you rather see a bigger progression of opportunity for ej with him maybe guest starring and we hear about him a bit from the others- or would you rather see a lot more of ej but have him confined to salt lake. i think there are good and bad ways to keep ej in slc, and i think there are ways he can grow and be in slc... but there is for sure a certain sense in which the character could have more. (but then it's the question of does he want more- which the ej we knew in season 1 definitely would, but while i don't see ambition as bad, maybe ej's ambition to go beyond this town would be seen as him regressing in that way? i disagree with that concept, but y'know, this show typically frowns upon ambitious tendencies.)

#hsmtmts #ej caswell #portwell negative #//sorta? #//as a warning this isn't negative on the ship mentioned but it does discuss it in a way that would be... negative? idk idk idk #answered #anonymous #//i never know whether i should put stuff in the tags or not but i'll just do it anyway #//even though people are talking about people 'writing dissertations' or whatever like i don't care i find analysis fun #//like there's a reason i'm in cla haha #hsmtmts: ej caswell

[writingsofaghost]

Drinks on Me (non-idol Ateez fanfic) PART 1

Female Y/N x ???

Warnings: 18+, use of cigarettes, swearing, mentions of smut

Synopsis: Y/N starts a new job in a bar. Her new coworkers are fascinating and her boyfriend starts acting strange. Follow her as her life unfolds.

Have you ever sat back and really thought about the events in your life? You just end up sitting there and thinking to yourself, god damn why is this some sort of kdrama shit? I haven't personally, but a friend of mine has. This is not my story. But hers.

Y/N. Fairly average in anything really. Typical childhood to most. Good grades, countless bullies, issues at home, plain looks. The same as every story really. She dotted from place to place, hoping for a place to belong.

Y/N scrolls through her phone when a message pops across the screen.

My mum is always sending me job adverts. As i look through, I notice something familiar. I have worked for them before. This time, they have opened a new bar. As I look through my purse, I find only a penny and a bit of tissue. I really need a job. I guess it will have to do. I send a message to the owners in hopes they will take me back. Within 5 minutes, they text back an immediate yes. Guess they missed me huh? All my education and here I am at 22 years old working as a glass collector in a bar. Any job is better than no job. Optimistic thinking right?

The day of my first shift arrives. I bite down my nerves and head to work. I check my phone for any messages. There is. A message from Yeosamg. Yeosang and I have been dating for a year. We travelled to different countries together and things were going fine. Just fine. He's been slightly off wince I told him about my new job. But he's always been more of the expensive type. I'm sure he'll come around. I text him back a 'Don't worry' as i enter the building. As i look up, I see 2 men in front of me. Co-workers. One is quite relaxed, with an attitude of I could care less. The others eyes light up at the sight of me. He rushes over to me and says in an excited tone "You're the new hire right? You're going to be a bartender right?" I look at him confused. "No. I mean, yes I am here to work but as a glass collector" i stutter out. He looks at me with confusion until I see a familiar face. Seonghwa comes over and greets me "Y/N! Hey! I heard you were coming back!" I relax when I see him. Seonghwa and I have worked together before. We used to be work besties back in the day. "Ignore Mingi. He just wants someone to replace wooyoung as bartender" he grins. Mingi, the excitable one from earlier, pouts and slumps back to the bar. Seonghwa points at the other man. "And that is San. He's a little grumpy but once you get to know him, hes a lot better". Seonghwa shows me around and tells me the basics of the job. Seonghwa doesn't come to the bar as much since he works in the restaurant in the other city. I'm surprised as last I heard, he was the manager. Since they needed one for the restaurant and the bar, mingi was given manager of the bar instead.

When its time for seonghwa to go back to the restaurant, i relaise how daunting it is to be there with new people. I take a deep breathe and try to stay positive. "Sorry about earlier. You running low on bartenders or something?" I say to mingi. He immediately stops pouting and says "Nah. Just sick and tired of how dumb Wooyoung can be" He chuckles. He can't be that bad can he? Famous last words. Turns out this Wooyoung has about the same braincells as a lemon. Holding a mop, he asked what it is for. I have to stifle a laugh as I hear the exasperated sigh of Mingi mext to me. This will certainly be fun.

A few weeks go by, San has really opened up to me. To the point, that we are not allowed to be alone together as we are not serious enough. I have also found out that at 22, I am the oldest there. My own manager is younger than me! By 2 years! You could say its a strange dynamic there. I would say like a family, but its more like a dysfunctional family with the pet they are trying to adopt out.

"So what happens if we mix fireball and sourz shots?" I ask curiously. Mingi looks at me incredulously. "Do you want to kill someone? Hell no" He's used to me asking him these sort of questions. Yet, somehow he is still shocked by the amount of times I can suggest a dangerous combination. Even still, he can shock me. "Hold up. San has never dated? Anyone?" I lookn at mingi in surprise. "Exactly! I've told him he's missing out. Getting your dick wet is the best" I fight the urge to cringe at those words, but i understand his point. "I take it you're the opposite then?" I ask Mingi, who nods. "If I find a girl hot, I don't see a reason not to shag her" I roll my eyes at him. "So we have the virgin, the sexaholic and the tied down housewife. This is like some start of a bad joke" I mutter to which Mingi laughs. "Kinda is, isn't it?".

I feel my phone go off in my pocket. I pull it out and check it. "From the boyfriend I assume?" Mingi asks curiously. I nod. "He's asking what the coworkers are like." I say as i text back. Yeosang doesn't exactly trust men. He says he trusts me but he doesn't think its a good idea for me to be working with guys. I put my phone away, promising myself to deal with it later. As I work, I find myself constantly rolling my eyes at Mingi's antics. He shamelessly flirts with the women at the bar. Has he no standards? At the end of my shift, I wait outside for my taxi when Mingi walks up to me, hands in pockets. "How are you getting home?" He asks curiously. I show him my phone. "Waiting for my taxi" I say calmly. He looks at the destination and cancels my taxi. "Hey! What the hell was that for?" I scramble to book a new one. He, however, just leans against the wall. "Just get a taxi with me. I live around the corner from you" he says, not looking at me. I look at him sceptically, to which he holds both his hands up. "Think of it as a way for your boyfriend to know you're safe" I sigh and put my phone away and nod slightly. We both wait for the taxi in silence. I sigh as I take out a cigarette. Mingi raises his eyebrow at me. "You smoke?" He asks me. I roll my eyes at him and respond "What? You going to tell me its bad for me?" He shakes his head and chuckles. "No. I was going to ask if i could have one actually". My eyes widen in surprise as I pass him one.

He lights up his cigarette and exhales the smoke slowly. "You know, I'm supposed to be quitting. But nothing beats nicotine after work" he smirks. I hit him softly on the shoulder. "You should have said you are quitting. I would have said no" he just smirks again and says "I know."

#ateez fic #ateez