#the prior is much better. the latter is *ok*.

[wri0thesley]

dealt with my Bad Brain from a few days ago by buying books, naturally

where will they go? who knows. will i have fun? yes.

#nat.txt #i am so sad i dont really have friends who like to read irl bc i buy so many books and then like #do what?!? #going to take a huge bag to the charity shop soon but i wish #i had a pal i could give them to #on a fantasy kick as u can tell #i just finished patricia a mckillip's 'in the forests of serre' #bc ive also been on a russian folklore inspired fantasy kick specifically #read the witches of the winter wood a few days ago #the prior is much better. the latter is *ok*. #books tag

[theecholegend]

Just relax

Synopsis: Time’s brain needs a break and Legend needs a nap

warnings: none

categories: fluff, lots of fluff

~~~~

Time sighed and turned over onto his side. His eyes opened slightly and fixated themselves on the empty beds beside him. His mind raced with thoughts of the chain's upcoming battle. 

The Links were currently residing in Saria town, a small settlement in Hyrule’s era. Hoards of monsters were spotted travelling straight for it days prior to their arrival. So the group made sure to pick up their pace and warn the villagers.

Time and Legend were up for most of the night discussing battle strategy. They had thought of a pretty good plan that seemed like it would work. But…The proclaimed “old man” of the group wasn’t so sure. They were lacking in the way of potions and skill. Yes, they had fought against many hoards of monsters before but the group was certainly not fighting the way they usually would.

The oldest Link rolled onto his back and groaned, sliding a hand down his face in frustration. He was worried something would go wrong. If they mess anything up then it could very well cost a life. 

“Crap…” Link mumbled and decided that no matter how hard he tried he wasn’t going to get the nap he had hoped for. But just before he could sit up, the door creaked open and in came Warriors- carrying Legend? What?

“Let me go Wars!” The Vet slapped his arms but the Captain just rolled his eyes and continued to make his way over to Time, who was more than a little confused. But the scene was a bit amusing.

“Hey, old man,” Warriors deadpanned and dropped his companion beside Time, causing the younger hero to yelp. “He could hardly keep his eyes open and practically fell over in his chair.”

Time raised a brow and shuffled a little to the side. He opened his mouth to ask what exactly he was supposed to do but Warriors had cut him off. “Sorry to interrupt your nap, but he needs sleep. Keep him here for me, ok?”

“Um…” was all the eldest could respond with before the sight of the Captain's royal blue scarf disappeared behind the now closed door. He turned his attention to Legend who was laying on his back and had draped an arm over his eyes.

“Don’t worry, I’m not planning on staying. I’ll get a coffee or something and I’ll be fine.” The Veterans voice was quiet and his words almost slurred. He definitely sounded tired.

Now, Time had two options: keep Legend here and cause the Vet to hate his guts or let him go and…hm, that wouldn’t do anyone much good. If Legend was dead tired then tonight's battle wouldn’t go over very well for him.

The younger Link sat up and sighed. He almost seemed hesitant to get up. That’s it. Time practically lunged forward and wrapped his arms tightly around Legends middle. “GAH!” The latter yelled as he was violently dragged down and pulled against the former's chest.

“What the- let me go Old man!” Legend tried prying Time’s arms off of him but his grip only tightened. “Are you trying to kill me or something?! Let me go!” He continued to squirm in the oldests grasp.

Time chuckled. “No can do. Capn’s orders.” He smirked and continued to laugh at the Veterans failed escape attempts. But after a minute of struggling and whining, Legend settled with a long and exaggerated sigh. 

Time smiled and loosened his grip slightly. “Feeling better?” He joked.

Legend crossed his arms and hmph’d. “I hate you.” 

“I love you too.”

A silence then fell over the room. Not uncomfortable, it was actually very comfortable. Time turned onto his side with Legend still in his arms. He shuffled a little before sighing contently as he felt the younger hero ease in his grasp. 

And surely enough, after mere minutes of Legend relaxing in his predecessor's arms, his breathing slowed and a few quiet snores followed suit. Time’s grin widened. He liked this. He liked having his brothers so close to him. That way he could always know where they are and protect them.

Maybe he was overreacting, maybe it was his “fatherly instincts” the others often joked about but he didn’t really care. Time felt no shame in wanting to protect his family. Because Legend, and the others, were most definitely a part of his family now. 

~~~~

note: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIME AND LEGEND!!!🎉 this isn’t very birthday related but that’s ok. I write for myself often but haven’t posted anything anywhere since 2020. I literally just came up with this idea while trying to get out of bed this morning. It’s short but I hope you liked it regardless!

#I also have a drawing in the works but I don’t know if that will be posted today #Probably not #But I’m happy I was able to have something for today! #it’s also my sister’s birthday today #So that’s obviously main priority #But my boy and father Time deserve my love too #linkeduniverse #lu legend #lu time #Lu fanfiction #Fluff #lu warriors #Woops #forgot to add a cut

[goodqueenaly]

Did Daemon want to push his "Velaryon" stepsons out of the way for his own Aegon to become king, or was he OK with Jace becoming king and his Baela queen? I'm thinking the latter: His daughters were betrothed to two of the Velaryon princes, and even Daemon wouldn't be OK with slaughtering his grandsons (Jace and Baela's sons) just to put his son on the throne. What do you think Daemon's plans for the succession were?

@anovelaboutyourcheapthrills asked:

How much of a threat to you think Daemon would’ve been to Rhaenyra’s “Strong” sons in the long run? I just finished Fire & Blood and i can’t help but think that if it weren’t for the Baela/Rhaena betrothals he would’ve tried to have them killed asap once he has kids with Rhaenyra bc he’s just awful

As I talked about before, for better or worse, we're not inside Daemon's head for any of the textual information we have about him. Therefore, it is very difficult to say what might have been motivating Daemon's actions, or what long-term plans Daemon might have been envisioning for himself and/or his progeny. (That Daemon never actually reigned in peacetime as either king or prince/king consort naturally further complicates the issue.)

I can say, as I said before, that Daemon evinced a clear desire to rule as Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, sitting the Iron Throne. I can say that Daemon appears to have wanted a legitimate son of his own body, because Gyldayn refers to his short-lived child by Laena as "the son Prince Daemon had so long desired" and remarks at the birth of the future King Aegon III that "Prince Daemon had at last a living son of his own blood" (though whether this desire was simply the expression of a male-focused patriarchal society or a reflection of future royal ambitions which required a male heir is impossible to say). I can say that Daemon almost certainly knew (given that it was a very open secret) that the ostensibly Velaryon princes were actually fathered by Harwin Strong, giving him (and, again, everyone else who knew) an easy argument to remove them from power in the future if so desired.

On the flip side, I can say that Daemon appears to have done nothing, in both the nine-ish years he was married to Rhaenyra prior to the start of the Dance and the few years he was her consort during the Dance, either to undermine or remove any of the ostensibly Velaryon princes or their betrothals to his daughters by Laena. In fact, the only move Daemon appears to have made with respect to these princes was to arrange the murder of Prince Jaehaerys Targaryen, declaring (via letter) that "Lucerys shall be avenged" as "a son for a son". That lack of action does not mean Daemon had no ambitions against these stepsons, of course, only that if such ambitions existed, they were either connected with longer-term plans or otherwise (and for other reasons) kept dormant.

Ultimately, we'll never know unless GRRM provides more clarity. (Again, the continual reminder that I don't talk about That Other Show and do not tolerate talk about That Other Show in these posts.)

#asoiaf meta #daemon targaryen #jacaerys velaryon #lucerys velaryon #joffrey velaryon #fire and blood volume 1

[operafantomet]

Has there ever been a non-replica production that had great sketch-to-costume interpretation in your opinion? The Greek revival costumes look so different from the Greek premiere/Norwegian revival ones.

Good question. To be brutally honest I'm not really loving most of the costumes in non-replica productions. I find most of them too modern or low-key (Serbia, Finland/Sweden), or too jarring (Bulgaria, Estonia). So many of them intentionally do another era than the 1880s, which I have a hard time getting on board with, and for the majority of them I never saw the costume designs anyway.

Of those I've seen some costumes designs from - largely Norway/Greece, Czech Republic, Hungary and Sydney Harbour - I tend to like the costume designs more than the actual stage costumes. Being sketches, they can of course to edgier silhouettes and more details. but the beauty of the actual costumes is that they can play with fabrics, trims, drapes and beading and make the look rich and sculpted. And for some reason I often think this does not happen.

OK... Gabriela Tylesova's design for Sydney Harbour. She went for fairly clean hoop skirt looks for Christine. To create some drama - especially for such a big outdoor arena - it would be cool if they did the finished costumes larger-than-life, like in the design. A more exaggerated off-shoulder look , a pointier bodice, a bigger skirt, more frills and details on the wedding dress underneath. A big fat Aminta rose in her hair. PIMP IT!

And yeah, the aforementioned wedding dress, which was worn under the Aminta dress in PONR... It needs something more. Surface, depth, defined skirt hem, and this too would have been cool with a more exaggerated off-shoulder look and longer bodice. It looked like the white fundaments to a hoop dress on stage, more than an actual costume. Zooming in on backstage photos do reveal more details, but in that giant arena they need twice as much going on for it to be visible.

But there's also costumes I think turned out wonderfully in the Sydney Harbour production, like all the ballerina costumes, Christine's dressing gown, and Raoul's Hussar costume. Here's the latter! It has drama, details, funk. Perfection.

In general I liked how the costumes turned out in the first act and the Masquerade costumes, while the majority of the second act looks a bit more... rushed? So Sydney Harbour is a 50/50 affaire for me. (but I loooooooooved the sets)

Norway/Greece... I liked the way Andrew Riley pimped his costume design for the Norwegian premiere, with many new costume designs much changed from the Romanian premiere some years prior. But I don't always think the costumes was faithfully recreated from the designs. The silhouettes were - as in Sydney Harbour - smaller and straighter than the costume designs, and details often left out.

Take Christine's Elissa costume, which is large and dramatic and draped in the design. In the stage costume the drape was reduced to a minimum, and both skirt and skirt hem a lot smaller. There's also less relation between the bodice and skirt, which in the design has a golden neckline and choker, while the gold is almost gone from the stage costume. It makes it seem like the bodice and skirt is not really related.

This went for a lot of the costumes of the leads. Cool details in the designs, a bit lost in the finished costumes. It also went for a wonderful ensemble costume in Masquerade, where the design shows different board games, while the finished costume just sports different black and white patterns decorated with gold. Missed opportunity, dude!

On the other hand, I think Christine's Masquerade Angel costume turned out better than the design, with its richer bodice and three-tiered skirt. It was more defined and more glittering. And this meant Andrew Riley re-did the costume design for the Greek revival in 2023, closer resembling the stage costume. Which is pretty cool, and a testament to the skills of the costume maker.

The Phantom's Red Death costume in this production is also a good example of a cool transition from design to costume. So Norway/Greece is another 50/50 hit and miss for me. And no, I don't really like the new Greek costumes. They have weird silhouettes and underwhelming details. I'm actually quite disappointed. And again, this goes for the actual stage costumes and not the designs.

A production I think has a funky and successful transition from design to costume, but which interestingly often depart a bit from the design, is Roman Solc's design for the Czech production. For example the Red Death:

And the Hannibal Slavegirl costumes:

But what the stage costumes do, which I like a lot, is to keep the exagerrated lines, bold colours and ornate surfaces. So in many ways I see this as one of the best design to costume transitions, even if the stage costumes doesn't reflect 100% on the designs. But I think they reflect on its style and impact, if that makes sense. Which I also realize is a bit hypocritical, as I often critize costumes that depart too much from the design... But there ya go.

Speaking of which... I have always been absolutely gaga over Nelly Vagó's design for the Hungarian production, the first non-replica production. She has a style that reminds of Maria Bjørnson, and also sticking close to Bjørnson's choice of colours, but still adding a dash of her own flair to it. It's high drama and beauty. And then... I frankly don't think one single of the designs was translated well onto stage. And it makes me so sad. It makes me so sad to think of what the costumes could and should have been.

Christine's Elissa costume, with its ballet-like bell shaped skirt with drapes and bodice with tabs and peacock-like decorations... Does not look like that on stage. It looks lumpy. I can kinda tell it's the same costume, but I'm not loving it.

Same with the dressing gown - feather light, flowing and poetic in the design, a not-super-becoming stiff bodice and hip flounce in the stage costume. It looks so heavy in comparison.

So yeah. I think Nelly Vagó's costume design is stellar, and I do think that the Hungarian costumes works well on stage. Which of course is what matters. But imagine Vagó's actual costume design on stage! Oh my. Ironically I think Roman Solc's design is more different from the stage costumes as such, but they managed to transform his larger-than-life expression into the costumes, and I appreciate that a lot.

The Norwegian/Greek costumes have nice designs and many nice stage costumes, but there I wish they managed to incorporate more of Andrew Riley's ideas from the costume sketches. They have many good details and shapes which never made it to the stage. Same for Gabriela Tylesova's design for the Sydney Harbour production. And those are the ones I've seen the costume design for. It might be that some of the other non-replica productions has super good design-to-costume details, but as long as I have only seen the finished stage costumes it is impossible for me to tell.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk! :D

#phantom of the opera #from design to costume #non replica #gabriela tylesova #andrew riley #roman solc #nelly vago

[lexenharte]

Introducing my WoL (plural)

This will be a long one. To begin with, a little context. While I do not roleplay my characters, I enjoy exploring their stories. My characters are pretty much my babies and I am awfully fond of them all. Back when I first started playing XIV, like any seasoned altoholic, I spent hours in character creator before I emerged from it with several new characters of different races and backgrounds.

After a few days of running around as miqo and elezen, I settled on a female roegadyn by the name of Fair Rowan. In my head I imagined her to be an orphan raised by a mercenary company. Although I was tempted to violently retire the mercenaries and make her a sole survivor (in the spirit of the main character of another game), I figured that was too much trauma for my very first adventurer in the world of Eorzea (I KNEW NOTHING, OK). And so the mercenaries retired "peacefully" due to old age and the last fledgling of theirs was left to fend for herself. My lady roe was strong, beautiful, full of life. Her voice boisterous, her grip strength smashing... I digress. In some ways she was my emotional support during a rather difficult time in life, where I myself also needed to be strong, both physically and emotionally. Her adventure lasted all the way to SHB, during which I had to take a break for about half a year due to irl commitments.

Upon my return, for the first time in years I felt that it was time to make some changes. After many hours of agonising and staring at the fantasia potion, I finally convinced myself with "worst case I'll be buying another fantasia" and soon my main was reborn as Remi, a gorgeous elezen lady with a charming smile. I imagined her to be well-read, skilled both in magics and martial arts, and stalwart in her convictions. While I originally intended for one to pick up the adventuring and all that Warrior of Light business after the other, I did not have the heart to retire Rowan permanently and settled on pretending each of them existed in their own version of this universe. A promptly created alt with her appearance softened the blow.

For Remi, the backstory was a little more elaborate. Having completed HW, enamoured with Ishgard and its many characters, I liked the idea of Remi coming from a minor destitute Ishgardian house, which she would have fled from with her parents and older brother prior to the events of ARR. After a terrible accident at sea, Remi was then picked up by a Limsan pirate ship and brought to the marine city-state. Suffering partial amnesia, separated from her brother (who ends up in the Shroud but that's a story for another day), and not even fully aware that their parents are already dead - she drifts around until she becomes entangled with the Scions.

What I loved about Remi's character the most was that my headcanon was slowly beginning to overlap with the characterisation of the WoL in SHB/EW, in particular during the MSQ cutscenes. I remember feeling amazed by how well animated and alive the WoL seemed during the latter part of the SHB cutscenes. The facial expressions where like nothing we've seen before! And with each cutscene the animation was getting better. It fit so well - as she progressed through the story, Remi was beginning to piece together her memories - rediscovering herself, becoming whole again. The roller-coaster of EW that followed took her to places and people she wouldn't dare to forget. It was truly a beautiful journey, full of regret and longing. And at the end there, right after the cutscene in Revenant's Toll, I had a faint feeling that Remi, too, was getting ready to retire.

I loved her so much! How could I even entertain the notion of retiring her? After nearly a month of agonising and listening to a friend who kept encouraging me with something along the lines of "go bun, you'll love it" I finally caved in. Honestly, viera weren't even on my radar at first. They were pretty, for sure, but somehow did not strike me as particularly interesting. Until one night when I sat down to seriously think about what kind of character my WoL would become this time. I didn't want to simply use fantasia and call it a day - I wanted to know their background and purpose first. The result of this mental exertion was Soren, a mild-mannered quiet viera male who smiles mysteriously and laughs under his breath a lot.

He's gone through a few updates as far as the colour scheme goes, but in terms of story he came out pretty solid right off the bat. While the painfully limited viera lore left a lot of room for interpretation, I wanted to give him a lore-appropriate background but also a valid reason to be outside the Skatay Range. I also wanted to incorporate the fact that I myself am no longer a novice player into his backstory. I have about a thousand words written expanding on his background, which I will share another time. Soren came to Aldenard after spending ten years living in seclusion as a Wood-warder. Although it wasn't a decision that he made lightly, he left his birthplace in search of his exiled mother, hoping to fulfil his father's promise to her in his stead. This search eventually leads him to her last known place of residence, the city-state of Limsa Lominsa, where he later learns that she died during the Battle of Carteneau. Now, this is a very brief summary and it may seem like pretty standard fare, but the extended version contains more details, in particular with regards to his parents and their motivations. I'm hoping to expand on his story through a series of short memory recollections. Sort of, him looking back at the journey so far. A chapter on his youth, a chapter of his time spend in solitude, another on his journey to find his mother's whereabouts and several more during the ARR-EW timeline. I'm planning to go through new game+ just to relive those with him as the protagonist.

It's pretty obvious by now who the favourite child is. While I've only known him for about nine months, Soren grew on me so much that I am even considering throwing out all those unwearable hats that are taking up so much space with my retainers. No, I haven't gone mad. Don't look at me like that. This will be the first time I'm sharing anything about my characters outside a small circle of friends. I keep wondering, will I have the courage to share the stories when they are ready? Or will I keep stashing them away into folders with dubious names in some forgotten corner of my hard drive as usual? Would anyone even be interested in reading this? As much as I like to write because I enjoy the process, some vain part of me wants to share the results hoping someone would find them curious or entertaining. So if anyone manages to get through this post, do let me know your thoughts on the matter.

#ffxiv #ffxiv wol #ffxiv oc #viera #elezen #roegadyn #warrior of light #ffxiv writing #lexenharte #lexenstory

[calcbench]

Dispatches From the Dark Side of Q2

Corporate America is filing a flood of earnings releases at the moment; you could view our Recent Filings page any given day this week and get a bird’s-eye view of corporate earnings and the state of the economy right now.

Today we want to look at a few examples that, alas, are not a pretty picture.

One interesting example is FMC Corp. ($FMC), maker of pesticides, fungicides, and assorted other cides. FMC filed a Q2 earnings release this week that makes you wince: revenue down 30 percent from the year-ago period, operating income down 62 percent, net income down 77.3 percent. Even non-GAAP earnings were down 74 percent. Ouch. 

So what happened? Let’s start with the income statement, shown below in Figure 1. 

As you can see, revenue plummeted and, um… that’s pretty much the whole story.

Specifically, notice that operating expenses (selling, general & administrative, R&D, and restructuring costs) actually fell from $355.5 million one year ago to $300.6 million this quarter, a decline of 15.4 percent. But revenue plunged by roughly twice that, and hammered gross margins. 

So one can’t say FMC was overspending while revenue dried up; it wasn’t. Rather, demand for its various pesticide products fell off a cliff. 

OK, but why did revenue fall off said cliff? FMC offered an explanation near the top of its Management Discussion & Analysis:

As a result of increased inventory carrying costs and improved security of supply, growers and the distribution channel abruptly and significantly reduced purchases across all four regions during the second quarter of 2023. Volumes were down significantly driving a decline in results compared to the prior year period. However, grower consumption and demand for our innovative portfolio remains steady.

Next question, then, is whether that reduced demand from customers will continue. FMC addressed that too:

The channel's active inventory management is expected to continue. However, new launches are expected to partially offset volume headwinds. We expect adjusted EBITDA of $1.30 billion to $1.40 billion, down approximately 4 percent at the midpoint versus 2022 results. We are expecting cost tailwinds and improved mix from new products and launches to continue during the second half of 2023, which should mostly offset anticipated volume headwinds. 

An adjusted EBITDA decline of only 4 percent in latter 2023 is certainly better than the 48 percent plunge in adjusted EBITDA that FMC reported for the second quarter. But those projections do depend on several factors going FMC’s way: lower inflation (we assume that’s what “cost tailwinds” means) and new product launches that win favor with customers. 

Maybe those things will happen, but financial analysts will want to keep a sharp memory about these predictions so you can follow up with FMC executives when third quarter rolls around. So yet again, read the footnotes, people! They are brimming with detail you’ll want to know.

Meanwhile, in Microchips

Qualcomm ($QCOM) also reported a rather vertiginous plunge in revenue: $8.45 billion in the second quarter of this year, down 22.7 percent from $10.93 billion one year ago. Operating income plummeted 59.2 percent to $1.82 billion, net income down 51.6 percent to $1.8 billion.

Why so down? The gist of it, as described in Qualcomm’s MD&A, is overall “weakness in the macroeconomic environment.” Consumers and companies are buying fewer pieces of technology (smart phones especially), and those items they do buy, they’re drawing down from retailers’ existing inventory — all of which means depressed demand for new chips from Qualcomm. 

Even worse, Qualcomm reported sales declines in every significant operating segment it has. See Figure 2, below.

Will the situation for Qualcomm improve in coming quarters, as FMC expects for its business? Perhaps not. In another footnote discussing Qualcomm’s “Other” line of cost and revenue, the company discussed how it had spent $285 million on restructuring costs over the prior nine months. (Qualcomm’s fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.)

The good news: that $285 million seems to be the bulk of what Qualcomm had expected to spend on its current restructuring plan, announced earlier in fiscal 2023. 

The bad news: Qualcomm is now preparing another restructuring plan, “to consist largely of workforce reductions, and in connection with any such actions we would expect to incur significant additional restructuring charges, a substantial portion of which we expect to incur in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023. We currently anticipate these additional actions to be substantially completed in the first half of fiscal 2024.”

So the drumbeat goes on. It’s just not a pleasant dance. 

#financial analysis #research #earnings #sp500

[skijjiki]

at some point in time i have to rewatch aa6/soj because i only.. remember.. the last case.

aa5/aa6 rambling under the cut-- I have SOOO many incoherent thoughts about these 2 games.

starting off with AA6/SoJ... I only remember the last case, which sucks bc you had Trucy's case and Athena/Simon team up!! i remember NOTHING about the latter and only remember the former because Trucy's brave face cracks and it hurts so bad!!

soj did a good job of FINALLY giving Apollo some solid recognition. even when Phoenix is there, he isn't blasted forward into the spotlight like dd and aa4 did. this is the element they were missing in aa4 and aa5, and it's so satisfying to see that they could make it happen. it's just unfortunate that it happens so late.

I definitely have a lot of critiques about soj and dd-- they both performed well in some aspects but fell thru in others. aa5/dd did a MUCH better job of story telling and memorable cases, in my opinion. not to say they were all good cases, but i recall them more easily than aa6/soj, a game i just finished 2 days ago.

aa6/soj did a great job with giving their characters (ok, mostly Apollo, Phoenix, Rayfa and Dhurke) their own time to shine and find a good balance of when to use which characters. it was fresh perspective. but when they fell flat with this (obvious example being Nahyuta; could argue Athena as well, despite her having her own case without the two) it was suuuper disappointing and frustrating.

I'm honestly really upset at how empty they made Nahyuta's character. Even with his motives later revealed and how the game ended, I don't feel like I understand him at all. Him finally standing up for himself falls flat; Rayfa's is definitely way more rewarding to watch. They did great with her storytelling and greatly neglected utilizing Nahyuta.

Aa6's ending makes sense but it doesn't necessarily feel... completely satisfying? It does a good job of "ending" Apollo's story but it feels really... weird. Nahyuta asking Apollo to stay just feels like it comes completely outta nowhere and it doesn't hit like it should. It also feels rushed, kind of like a last minute decision? Sure, it makes you interested, but coming from Nahyuta... I don't know. Like I said, how Nahyuta's character was executed is really disappointing. I want to like him-- his design is cool (aside from the blatant whitewashing) and his base backstory IS interesting! They just... don't do shit with him until the very end. Even when it's revealed him and Apollo have past ties in the 3rd case, it?? Again, sure it's interesting, but with how Nahyuta is hard to connect with, it just... is a surprise but you move on pretty fine from it. Sure, I wanted to know their backstory-- that's the point of the game, one of them at least-- but I wasn't as anxious to know as I should have been.

Another thing about the ending-- I respect Apollo's decision but I really wonder if he had known about Trucy, if it would have been a bigger struggle to make a decision, especially by the next day. You can feel that he thought over the decision almost all night, which is good. Nevertheless, I think his decision would have hit much harder if he knew about Trucy. In my mind, it was like he was 'leaving' (using that very lightly; he would keep in contact) one family for another that we didn't get the greatest chance to connect with. If anything, you get intrigued on how Apollo and Rayfa will evolve, but Nahyuta and Apollo-- the ones who HAVE the prior history? I didn't feel any interest at all. This is a roundabout way of saying, if he and Trucy knew when he made his decision, it would have hit a lot harder. I think it was a missed opportunity.

I'm surprised they were still able to make Apollo's ending still feel satisfying enough; he's off on his own, he's going to take what he's learned and pass down his teachings onto others while he STILL learns himself! It's great! He's come so far to where he can hold his own ground and it's satisfying to witness, especially through the blunders he had to endure from aa4-aa6.

aa5/dd.. imo, had more interesting cases than aa6. the overall plot they held was GREAT! learning about Athena and Simon's backstories is SOOO interesting and the reveals have real IMPACT. SO GOOD. And when you find out who the real antagonist is!! I've heard that people have gripes about it, but I personally think it's FUN! IT FUCKS WITH YOU!! IT'S A MEMORABLE REVEAL!! Not to mention that dd broke the terrible 3rd case curse with Turnabout Academy! That is SUCH a fun case!!

Its major flaw is struggling to balance the defense team (especially with Apollo-- he also had backstory in this game, but they shove him away in the background of his own backstory reveal. We should have been able to investigate as Apollo when he went on leave!!)

Side tangent-- I haven't watched an aai2 playthru yet but I know generally that Edgeworth gives up his badge because being a prosecutor restricts him from getting information, despite the advantage it should give him. He quits the legal system to be able to FREELY investigate what he wasn't able to before, and I think that's a very INTERESTING plot. With that being said, they could have EASILY done the same for Apollo, and I think it woukd have been doubly fun! Apollo and Edgeworth operate differently, which is why this plot point being used a second time wouldn't have gotten old or felt overused!

Tangent done-- but yeah, "balancing" (aka shoving Phoenix in the front yet again, despite Athena's debut) the defense team was poorly executed. To give credit, Athena is given enough time for us to learn her personality and become connected with her! (Even if you put aside learning about her backstory, you still get to know her well!) She's fun, her motives for getting into law are interesting, her mechanic is an interesting take, and her backstory HITS. Her AND Simon's! They had a great debut.

Despite this, though, Phoenix (who I love dearly) gets the lead way too much. In this game, they failed to place him more in a mentor role (I know the game didn't really intend for him to take the backseat, but I think it should have). As a result, sometimes, Athena and Apollo's presences don't get to hit as much or get completely drowned out. It was the first time I REALLY wanted Phoenix to just. Not. be in the game. Getting annoyed of the series' titular character is very disheartening to experience. But that's just how bad the balancing act was handled! You don't get to feel the full impact of Apollo pulling away and being distant towards Athena; you don't get to fully grasp how important Clay was to Apollo (dgmw, you understand he was important to Apollo, but their backstory is explained too quickly and what you do learn about them somehow doesn't feel like enough. I think how they handled the conflict between Apollo and Dhurke is what they should have aimed for with Apollo and Clay's backstory). Despite him having stakes in the plot, Apollo was poorly utilized. It's fun to see his angsty side though! Hard but fun.

Also... Phoenix being underwhelmed when Trucy gets taken hostage??? What was that? That was really disappointing, especially since he had so much focus on him. You get a general "Oh no! Trucy! I hope she's okay..." But?? That's your DAUGHTER! Some of the writing choices make you feel a disconnect with the characters, especially in moments like this.

Anyways! Now I'm too sleepy and lost my train of thought. It's 5am after all! Gnight!

#tdl #aa #i still have many thoughts but i'm done for now

[mrjoelgarcia9]

Let's Talk #TheLoudHouse: Season 5 Final Thoughts

After starting off in late 2020, Season 5 of The Loud House has finally come to an end.

It was a season full of changes to the show's status quo, albeit not to the extent most fans may have wanted to see. Despite that, it was overall good.

For my final thoughts on Season 5, feel free to keep reading. There will be spoilers.

Prior to the season, I saw how several fans were eager to see what impending changes would take place. Some went as far as drawing up possible new looks for the characters. I wrote an entire post about what could happen and even some predictions.

A few of them would actually occur. Leni now being in charge was only the focus of a single episode. Lily did get a redesign and now talked albeit not in full sentences. As for everyone else, there were no redesigns.

In that same post, I theorized how it could wind up like Rugrats, where the status quo occasionally changed but the main characters stayed the same. It went both ways, with the siblings going up a grade but not much else. The Loud House Movie also didn't do much with the status quo, only establishing the family's Scottish ancestry.

For some, this season focused far too much on Lincoln's middle school antics. It only seems that way since he showed up in nearly every single episode, mostly in a supporting role. There were a lot of episodes focusing on his friends, especially Stella and Clyde. Even Chandler got a couple of episodes.

Lori's departure for Fairway University turned her into a recurring character who only showed up a few times. She did get a couple of episodes to herself, such as one where she felt left out of the family after moving away.

Lily received the least amount of attention after "Schooled!" She did play a major role in a few episodes, but her involvement was limited to being a supporting role up until the penultimate episode "Appetite For Destruction". At least said episode defied expectations by featuring an older Lily as a rebel with a mostly shaved head, aside from a tuft of hair.

This was the first season Ronnie Anne did not appear in any form or another. Her nonappearance made some sense, as The Casagrandes has yet to explicitly state if she and Bobby also moved up a grade. A downside of this disconnect was how it limited crossovers between the shows to the spin-off and only with either Lincoln or Lori. With the spinoff's cancelation, there is the possibility of seeing some actual crossovers in the future.

Nearly every single character got an episode for themselves, some of sharing it with at least one of the Loud siblings. Even Mr. Grouse had a couple of episodes, including one where he (briefly) moved away.

This season also included two film premieres: The Loud House Movie and the live action A Loud House Christmas. The former was an OK film that worked perfectly fine for the show, even if some fans hated the fantastical elements or cliché plot. It should be noted that the film is based on a show that has featured robots built by a 4 year old, a trash monster, and explosions.

The latter film was a decent adaptation of the show into live action and far better than past (and future) adaptations of The Fairly OddParents. It also served as the unofficial debut for Jahzir Bruno as Clyde, who will take over the role from Andre Robinson in Season 6.

When it comes to the season's best and worst episodes, there were thankfully more of the former than the latter.

Camped!: This half-hour episode had the whole family going camping in a likely rejected (but still fun) premise for The Loud House Movie. It also introduced Lynn Sr's dad Leonard.

In The Mick of Time: It followed up on a couple of episodes from Season 1 and highlighted Luna and Sam's relationship.

Rumor Has It: Not only did it reveal Lincoln's middle name to be Albert, his grandfather's name, but also resolved his seasonal conflict with Mr. Bolhofner.

Training Day: One of two Lana-centric episodes, the other being "Animal House", which had her dealing with Stella's pet rabbit. It was also a rare episode where Stella appeared yet had nothing to do with Lincoln.

Appetite for Destruction: The season's penultimate episode focused on Lily in a story similar to the Season 2 episode "Future Tense" by how Rita and Lynn worry about her attitude.

As for the bad ones...

Ghosted!: The season's Halloween special was wasted on a ghost story that dragged down Lori while focusing a bit too much on her siblings hanging around the university.

A Flipmas Carol: It expanded upon Flip with an OK parody of A Christmas Carol but could have been better presented within a half-hour instead of a quarter-hour.

Friday Night Fights: It wasted a potential story with Lynn and Lisa in a mostly forgettable one about sports analytics.

Undercover Mom: A great premise that in execution came off as rushed, too short, and underwhelming.

Flying Solo: Out of all the middle school episodes, this was the weakest by how it felt more like fanfiction for a cliché high school show.

Overall, Season 5 was full of both major and subtle changes. While not to the extent that fans may have wanted, the episodes were for the most part still fun and entertaining. If there were any missed opportunities, it would have been more episodes about Leni, Lily, and Lynn Sr.

Season 6 will bring a couple of changes behind the scenes. In addition to Bruno, Bentley Griffin will now voice Lincoln, replacing Asher Bishop after three seasons. Prior to the start of the season, Bruno and Griffin began voicing the characters in a clip show. Griffin also made his debut as Lincoln in an episode of The Casagrandes ("Skatey Cat").

During its fifth season, the show was tied with The Ren & Stimpy Show, The Wild Thornberrys, All Grown Up!, the 2012 TMNT series, and Hey Arnold! as the fifth longest-running Nicktoons.

Once Season 6 begins, the show will take sole possession of fourth place. The three Nicktoons which have lasted longer are the original Rugrats, the aforementioned OddParents, and still ongoing SpongeBob. It will also hold that position for the foreseeable future as Nickelodeon has unofficially renewed the show for Season 7.

No other Nicktoon can currently catch up to those shows.

It's Pony has all but been canceled, The Casagrandes is in its final season, and only a few have been renewed for additional seasons (Kamp Koral, the Rugrats reboot, and Star Trek: Prodigy).

Considering the show's longevity, hopefully Season 6 will continue to be fun and entertaining to watch for its many fans (and haters).

Season 6 of The Loud House premieres March 11th on Nickelodeon. The first four seasons currently stream on Paramount+.

Until next time, thank you for reading!

#the loud house #tv #animation #nickelodeon #lincoln loud #tlh #luna loud #lori loud #leni loud #lily loud #nicktoons #paramount plus #the loud house movie #a loud house christmas #season 5 #season 6 #season 7 #nicktoon #spongebob squarepants #hey arnold #rita loud #lynn loud sr #stella zhau #lana loud #lola loud #lynn loud jr #the loud sisters #lucy loud #clyde mcbride #ronnie anne santiago

[jikookiekosmos]

Classified & Confidential || kth (Part 1)

➥Pairing: detective!taehyung/reader

➥Summary: It’s been years since your close friend passed away, case going cold due to lack of evidence. You never once believed the story the police gave you, since they classified it under an ‘unfortunate accident.’ Now that there are telltale signs of something similar at play regarding someone else you hold dear, you decide to take things into your own hands. You hire world renowned private detective, Kim Taehyung. And he goes above and beyond everything you expected.

➥Genre: strangers to lovers (kinda slow burn), detective au, mystery, angst, eventual smut, fluff

➥Rating: 18+

➥Words: ~7.1k

➥Content Warnings: detective/mystery au, (tw: mentions of death, brief mention of suicide in relation to a criminal case, implied foul play, stalking behavior, non-graphic detailing of a crime scene), slight forensic talk, mentions of nervousness and anxiety, some cursing, mentions of cops/police, unhelpful law enforcement (like they’re kinda terrible with the whole solving this case thing), feelings of unease and tension, we get bestie hoseok, tae is kinda extra but for good reason, no suggestiveness/smut in this chapter but it’s still 18+ due to it involving some of the aforementioned warnings

A/N: This will be a multi-part series that explores some darker themes, and each part will have appropriate content warnings listed; please read at your own risk. This part touches on backstory and introduces the characters, things will start getting a little more intense in the following chapters. I don’t have any kind of specific update schedule but ideally I’d like to get updates out every few weeks at the latest! I hope you look forward to this, and if you wanna be added to a taglist, please let me know~

Thank you @dntaewithluv​​​​ for your constant motivation and support (and for always beta-reading for me, even when we scream at each other about our ideas); hopefully I do Tae justice for you! I love you lots ❤️

taglist: @inlovewiththemoonn @mwitsmejk​ @bangtanhome

⊱──────── ✬ ✬ ✬ ────────⊰

5 Years Ago

The night sky was dark, blanketed by stars as it emitted a peaceful aura. There was no way to bask in the calmness of the night, however, with all the hustle and bustle that surrounded you outside of the apartment complex.

Crime scene tape marked off the area, and many onlookers had gathered to try and get a glimpse of what happened. You were one yourself, but you weren’t there out of sheer curiosity.

Your breathing was ragged, staggered, as you tried to hold yourself together and observed the scene in front of you unfold.

Police wouldn’t let you beyond the tape, despite knowing the person currently covered by the white tarp.

Minutes prior, one of the cops had been politely trying to hold you back as you thrashed around, mind muddled by the vision of your best friend’s face before the tarp concealed it.

“I’m sorry, we can’t let anyone unauthorized come past this tape, please stay where you are.”

“You don’t understand, that’s my best friend, please let me through, please-”

You couldn’t control the volume of your screams, prompting a few of the other bystanders to try and calm you down seeing as you were very clearly distraught.

An unknown amount of time passed before the thickest part of the crowd decided they’d had enough excitement for one night, retiring to their own homes. You stayed planted in your spot, prepared to not move until you got more of an explanation for what was going on.

You’d resigned yourself to the fact that if someone wanted you to leave, they’d have to do it by force, but you eventually complied after two cops convinced you to come down to the station and issue a statement, given your relation to the victim.

They didn’t grill you hard, which was something you appreciated at the time, since you were really in no state to handle a grueling interrogation. You knew you could be marked down as a potential suspect, but everything from their investigation pointed to them believing it had either been an accident or a possible suicide attempt, the latter of which would almost entirely exclude your involvement.

Over the next few weeks, you cooperated with the investigation and helped them with whatever leads you could provide; you were determined that foul play was involved, because you knew your best friend better than anyone, and the story the cops were feeding you wasn’t adding up.

The theory as you knew it was this: she jumped from her apartment window, which was up a significant amount of stories, more than enough to kill a person. A potential suicide note was found at the scene on the nightstand by her bed, typed on a sheet of paper, so handwriting analysis wasn’t an option. The apartment was undisturbed aside from the window having been open.

It almost seemed like a cut-and-dried case, aside from one other small factor: unknown DNA from a hair follicle was found in the apartment alongside the victim’s own.

This didn’t surprise you…at first. You knew Ky had been perusing multiple dating apps and would often invite people over to her place after successful dates. But as far as you also knew, Ky hadn’t recently been on any dates, so there wasn’t a clear reason for that DNA to show up.

Ky had told you in the weeks leading up to her death that she was afraid someone had been following her around, and it unsettled her so much so that she deleted all the dating apps on her phone until she felt safe again.

Sadly, that day never came, and this fact alone caused the nagging suspicion of foul play to burrow itself even deeper into your subconscious.

Since the DNA was unknown, tracing it would be no easy task, but that didn’t stop you. Anything you could do to shed light on what had actually occurred, you were going to do it, plain and simple.

Which is why when the police decided to close the file on the case and label it as an ‘unfortunate accident,’ you were floored.

You begged them to keep focusing on leads when there really weren’t any, offering to aid in any way you could because there was no way that there wasn’t something missing.

Their response?

“Go home, Y/N, there’s nothing else you can do.”

You left the station that day only after you had caused somewhat of a scene, arguing back and forth with one of the lead detectives until you were ‘carefully escorted’ outside. Enraged, you banged your hand against the glass of the door before you slid down the wall beside it, hugging your knees as you tried to compose yourself.

You weren’t sitting that way for long before you felt a gentle tug on your sleeve. You looked up reluctantly and were met with one of the softest pairs of eyes you’d ever seen.

The stranger offered you a kind smile, one that made your heart ache in the aftermath of everything you’d endured the last several weeks. You’d been tackling this situation all on your own, with barely any help from mutual friends or Ky’s family since she’d been estranged from them.

But now, this man stooped down in front of you and smiling at you like everything would be alright…

It almost made you want to believe it.

“Hi, I uh, couldn’t help but overhear about your situation,” he finally spoke up, sounding somewhat bashful. He had bright red hair that peeked out under a cap he wore, and he was sporting a rainbow colored sweater.

A tinge of embarrassment fluttered through you. “Oh. Sorry you had to witness that.”

So this random stranger heard you telling off the police by yelling at them in broad daylight. Way to make a first impression.

To your surprise, he simply shook his head, smile widening. “No, don’t be sorry! I was, uh – happy to be able to listen.”

You quirked an eyebrow. “Ok…may I ask why?”

“Well,” there was that bashful tone again, hand flying to the back of his neck as he looked to the side, “I’d been coming up here for a while, hoping to hear something regarding this case specifically. Usually when I stop by, there isn’t much going on and it’s not like I can just walk in and ask for classified information-”

He stopped speaking immediately once you held up your hand. You didn’t want to be rude, but you were thoroughly confused.

“Is there a reason why you’re eavesdropping for information about this case?”

He nodded eagerly. “Sure is! See, I’m working as a crime reporter, and-”

You scoffed as you pushed yourself to a standing position. “Unbelievable.”

Without sparing another glance to the gentleman, you shouldered past him, earlier hopeful mood soured by the fact that he was just another person looking for a scoop about Ky’s demise.

He was quick to follow, almost jumping down the steps to catch up to you.

“Hey, wait! Please.”

The way he begged pulled at your heartstrings because of how genuine he sounded, and for reasons beyond you, you turned around to face him and decided to hear him out.

You crossed your arms as he sighed with relief.

“Thank you. Ok, to start with, I’m a crime reporter, but I’m not trying to report on this case as everyone knows it.”

Another eyebrow raise from you. “What do you mean?”

The man smiled shyly, brushing away the red hair in his eyes. “I want to bring the injustice of the system to the public’s attention.”

That got your attention. “You do?”

“Yes. And I think your story could help with that.”

“My story?”

He nodded again, this time more eager than the last. “You’re pretty adamant that what happened to your friend was no accident, am I correct?”

Any mention of Ky caused the dull pain in your chest to come back, but at least this time, she wasn’t being mentioned in a gruesome or negative light.

“Yeah, I really don’t think it was an accident. But no one believes me.” You looked down at your shoes, scuffling one against the pavement.

You only looked up again when you felt the stranger’s hand on your shoulder.

“I believe you.”

All of the breath was knocked out of you.

“You…you believe me?”

The smile he gave you this time was bright and sincere as he dropped his hand by his side. “I do. I’ve been following everything posted online or in the newspaper about this case, and some of it just really does not seem plausible. And then after hearing you today, it made so much sense as to why.”

It still bothered you a bit that you were loud enough in the station to be heard outside, but that worry was now being overshadowed by the possibility of having someone else who could stand by you on your conviction.

“It…really means a lot to me that you would even consider my side of things. Truthfully, I think the police only tolerated me this long due to protocol.” You wrapped your arms around yourself.

The red-haired man grimaced at your remark. “Yeah, no kidding. For as long as I’ve been in this line of work, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them take things as seriously as they should.”

“How long have you been doing this?”

“About a year. But trust me, I’ve seen a lot during that time.” His determined expression might have made you giggle under other circumstances because it clashed so much with the rest of his soft demeanor.

“I don’t doubt it.” You walked over to the nearby bench seated a few feet away and the stranger followed hesitantly, only sitting beside you when you didn’t give him any indication his presence was unwanted.

The both of you turned toward each other slightly before you spoke up again.

“So, how can I help you with what you’re wanting to do?”

He seemed pleased that you were on board, eyes shining. “For starters, do you think I could interview you? I’d have to ask some sensitive questions, but I feel like I could have a better understanding of the case that way…only if you’re comfortable, though.”

You swallowed as you thought it over. Your participation in the numerous interrogations during the investigation had now proved to lead nowhere, but maybe this time the outcome would be different.

“Sure, I don’t mind. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know, to the best of my ability.”

The stranger beamed, looking happy enough to nearly jump out of the bench, despite the current subject matter. “Great!”

His cheerful nature was a little infectious, you had to admit, because you already started to feel a little lighter in his presence. A hand appeared in your line of vision.

“My name is Hoseok, by the way. We haven’t been properly introduced yet so that would be the next best step, I think.”

You did giggle this time at his action. “Nice to meet you, Hoseok. I’m Y/N.” You took his hand into your own to give it a small but firm shake.

“It’s my pleasure, Y/N. Now,” he regarded you with that same soft look he had in his eyes when you first saw him at the station, “what do you say we discuss some logistics over lunch? My treat, of course, since you’re agreeing to help me.”

For the first time in ages, the smile that graced your face was wholeheartedly genuine. “Sounds good.”

Thus, the beginning of a beautiful, long-lasting friendship bloomed that day outside of the one place you’d begun to loathe more than anything else. Over the next few years, Hoseok stood by your side in more ways than you could count, and he was now someone you considered to be one of the best friends you’d ever had.

One of the only best friends you’d ever had.

What you never expected was to be seated with Hoseok at the same diner that started your initial conversation about Ky’s case 5 years later, discussing something much too similar for your liking.

⊱──────── ✬ ✬ ✬ ────────⊰

Present Day

You sipped from your coffee mug, enjoying the warm beverage as you waited at the diner. The weather had been less than ideal, with rain pouring all day long and displaying little signs of stopping.

But Hoseok had been adamant about the two of you meeting up after your voicemail you left the previous night.

As you were thinking about your close friend, you heard the bell above the diner door ring, signaling his arrival. He spotted you across the room and quickly rushed over to your table, leaving rain droplets in his wake.

Hoseok shrugged out of his soaked jacket and tossed in into the booth seat beside him as he shook his head to – hopefully – rid himself of the water trying to slide down his face.

“Hey,” he finally breathed out once he was settled. His usual wild red hair was darker now thanks to the rain, stern expression plastered onto his face.

“Hey.” You responded meekly, attempting to give him a weak smile. Your stomach was churning with unease at the conversation you were about to have.

Hoseok took a deep breath before he folded his hands together and rested his elbows on the table. The coffee you’d ordered for him had been pushed to the side, momentarily forgotten.

He lowered his voice. “Are you sure the pattern of behavior is the same?”

You nodded slowly, going over all the details again in your mind. “I’m positive. The only difference is Yuri waited longer to tell me that she thinks she’s being followed than Ky did.”

Ky. Not a day went by where you didn’t think about her, seeing her smiling face when you would close your eyes at night and try to drift off to sleep.

Slumber came much easier these days than it did those first few months, but every now and then the same nightmare would plague you about the night you saw her on the sidewalk.

You shook your head to shrug the thoughts away. Now wasn’t the time.

“Shit,” Hoseok finally responded. “That doesn’t seem like good news for us.”

“My thoughts exactly. Who knows how long this has been going on. And she’s been receiving the same kind of ‘gifts’ Ky would get, too. Random text messages, voicemails from unknown numbers…she tries to brush it off, but I know this scares Yuri.”

“She doesn’t recognize who’s speaking in the voicemails?”

You shook your head solemnly. “No, they’re using some sort of voice modifier.”

Hoseok cursed again, this time under his breath. “Well, what do you want to do?”

You gulped. Truthfully, you didn’t know the answer yourself. On the one hand, everything currently happening to your friend mimicked what happened to Ky, almost exactly. But on the other hand, Yuri made it known time and time again that she thought you were too paranoid for your own good sometimes.

So, you were at a loss.

Yuri and you were close, in a sense. You’d been friends for the last 4 years, working at the same company after graduating from college and even getting transferred to a new one in the same division so as to not be separated. Outside of Hoseok, you considered her your dearest friend.

But at the same time, you knew that Yuri had those she held very dear in her own life that were there before you, and you’d never try to overstep.

Still…the events surrounding Yuri were too specific to be coincidental in your opinion, and if the hunch you had right now was correct, you needed to do something.

You wouldn’t – you couldn’t – let another person die. Not if there was some way for you to prevent it.

Something you didn’t do with Ky, and that would haunt you for the rest of your life-

Hoseok pulled you out of your thoughts by calling your name, frowning deeply once your gaze focused on him again.

“I…I don’t know. I feel like if I push too hard on this, I’ll also push Yuri away, and I don’t want that.” You worried at your bottom lip, your most infamous nervous habit.

“Be that as it may, this doesn’t seem like something you should ignore either. What’s worse: pushing her away but potentially saving her life, or not saying anything and she ends up in danger?”

A heavy sigh wracked through your body.

Your silence was enough for Hoseok to continue with his own line of thinking. “Well, we could consider going to the police-”

“Absolutely not,” you answered fiercely, with more emotion than you’d displayed the entire conversation, “not after how they handled everything with Ky and how they treated you.”

You and Hoseok had made a name for yourself throughout the town as ‘Public Enemies 1 and 2’ with the local police department. You, due to your persistent insistence that they were wrong in their deduction about Ky, and Hoseok because of the article he published that shamed their name.

The article was the first – and last – one that he published under the company that had hired him to be a reporter, seeing as the police department had enough sway to get him fired afterwards. He wasn’t able to find another reporting job anywhere within the town or those surrounding it.

There also weren’t any remaining records of the article anywhere online or in paper publication, but as a ‘fuck you’ to the department, Hoseok had a copy of it printed and hanging up on his wall for anyone and everyone to see. You had always admired how he handled the situation with grace even though it made your blood boil every time you thought about it.

Even so, some good had come from the whole ordeal. After failing to find another reporter job, Hoseok had made a somewhat notable career as a crime novel author, popular among locals because of how he came to be a novelist, and eventually rising to fame due to his own amazing writing skills.

He enjoyed his career and had a happy life, but that didn’t mean you had to forgive and forget the shitty events that happened to get him to that point.

Hoseok nodded in understanding. “Ok, so no police. Does that mean we try to tackle this whole thing by ourselves?”

“Neither of us have any legit experience with this kind of stuff, so that’s out of the question, too.”

Hoseok tapped his chin as he pondered another idea. The way his eyes lit up as it came to him made your lips curve upward.

“What if we go to someone who isn’t involved with the police but does have experience with that?”

“…not sure I’m following you.”

Hoseok huffed in an endearing way. “Have you ever heard of a private detective?”

The word ‘detective’ made you wince, considering your last encounter with one evolved into a screaming match…but it was also how you met Hoseok, so there’s a silver lining for everything.

“I’m not familiar with a private detective, but I’m open to listening to your idea.”

He grinned. “Perfect. Ok, so in my research for my latest novel, I actually ended up looking into some real-life private detectives.”

“And what did you find?” Your own curiosity was definitely piqued now, as it always was when Hoseok would talk about something so passionately.

“There’s one who’s basically world renowned, like he’s really fucking good. And his office isn’t too far from here, it’s basically in the next town over.”

You took another sip from your coffee, swirling the now lukewarm liquid around in your mouth as you contemplated.

“What else do you know about him?”

Hoseok’s shoulders slumped slightly at that. “Not much. The only information I have on him is his name and how you can contact him. From what I’ve read, he seems to be pretty selective with clients.”

“No idea what he looks like?”

Hoseok shook his head. “None. There weren’t pictures or anything like that, I’m not even sure how old he is.”

You hummed as you pictured this mystery man in your head, automatically defaulting to envisioning an older man, maybe in his 50s with already graying hair. A wise old soul who had seen so much in his long years of investigation work.

“Not like all that really matters, I guess. Do you think I should reach out to him?”

Hoseok nodded around his coffee cup before he tilted his head back to take a large sip. “That’s our best shot right now. And if it doesn’t work out, at least you tried.”

Such a simple statement but it made your stomach twist at the memory of Ky and how you weren’t able to save her because you didn’t know how. “Right.”

Hoseok pulled his phone out of his pocket and scrolled through what looked like Google search results. When he found what he was looking for, he texted you the information.

“Kim Taehyung?” You said the name aloud, making sure you got the correct info.

���Yup, that’s him. If you do decide to contact him, let me know how it goes, ok? I’m already worried as is about you delving into something like this again.”

You patted his hand. “I know, Hobi. Don’t worry. I’ll be careful, and I’ll keep you updated as much as possible.”

He smiled brighter than the sunshine. “That’s all I can ask for, bub.”

⊱──────── ✬ ✬ ✬ ────────⊰

You paced around your apartment, staring at the text that Hoseok had sent you earlier. The rest of your time with him at the diner had been calm and helped to quell your nerves, but now that you were alone again, you were riddled with anxiety.

You had typed in this Kim Taehyung’s number into your phone, ready to call him and just get it over with. The worst he could do is decline your ask for help, but you wouldn’t know unless you tried.

After a few more minutes of useless pacing, you finally hit ‘send’ and raised the receiver to your ear.

You were met with an answering machine almost immediately, wondering if maybe you typed it in wrong until you heard ‘you have reached the number for Kim Taehyung.’ The name had been uttered by a human voice, one that was deep and took you off guard.

You had barely enough time to ponder over the voice before you heard the tell-tale ‘beep’ signaling for you to start your message.

“Oh! Um, hello, Mr. Kim. This is Y/N- well my name is Y/N. I was referred to you by a friend of mine who said you may can help me with a situation I’m having. There’s…some suspicious behavior involving someone dear to me and I’m afraid they could be in danger, but I’m not sure who to turn to. I-If you’d like to give me a call back, you can reach me at this number…”

You finished your voicemail with your contact information before thanking him and wishing him a goodnight. Once you pulled away your phone, you checked the time.

10:36 PM. No wonder you got his answering machine.

The anxiety that had settled down while you were leaving your message started to come back, so to combat that you made the decision to go ahead and get ready for bed. There wasn’t anything else you could do right now, anyway.

You texted Yuri just to wish her a goodnight, and when you received a response almost immediately, you breathed out a sigh of relief. At least she was alright and that was one less thing to worry about for now.

You didn’t dream that night – which was a blessing in its own right – as you thought about the deep timbre of the voice from the answering machine. You’d only heard it briefly, but it left enough of an impact, that was for sure.

⊱──────── ✬ ✬ ✬ ────────⊰

You awoke around 8 AM, your typical time no matter what day it was. It was the weekend, so you could get more sleep if you wanted, but a quick check of your phone had you sitting upright at a record speed.

[Unknown] 6:28 AM: I got your voicemail. If you want to discuss your case, meet me at this address.

Your heart thumped faster as you re-read the words over again. The following message had an address attached, and when you opened it, you noticed how it was for the neighboring town.

With all of the context clues, and taking into account everything Hoseok told you yesterday, you figured that it was Mr. Kim who had texted you. Obviously it would be from an unknown number, and he wouldn’t give out any explicit personal details to lead back to him; that’s just how he did things, as Hobi had mentioned.

And if he contacted you back, that meant he was interested in helping you!

Well…he was interested in hearing you out, at least. Still, you wouldn’t pass up on this opportunity. You quickly crafted a response before you started to make yourself presentable.

[y/n] 8:03 AM: Thank you! When should I meet you?

You had just finished brushing your teeth when you heard your phone chime again.

[Unknown] 8:06 AM: Whenever is best for you. I’ll be here all day and don’t have any other clients lined up.

You clutched your phone to your chest. This was really happening.

Once you were done getting ready to head out, it was just past 9 AM. You called Hobi to let him know what you were doing, and his excitement was tangible even through the phone. He urged you to keep him posted about all the details, which you assured him that of course you would.

The drive to the address you’d been given didn’t take too long, maybe around 20 minutes or so. What surprised you when you arrived, though, was the outward appearance of the building.

It looked abandoned, for lack of a better term, and you checked the text message 3 more times to make sure this is where you were supposed to be.

[y/n] 9:28 AM: I’m here…but I’m not sure if this is the correct place?

There was an eerie feeling settling in your stomach as you waited for a response. Maybe this had been some sort of trick? Had someone set you up?

The sound of a deadbolt clicking grabbed your attention, and the door a few feet in front of you opened up to display an older woman. At first, she seemed a bit disgruntled at having an unexpected guest, but before you could apologize for intruding, her gruff expression was replaced with a warm smile.

“I take it you’re Y/N?”

You gulped and nodded, placing your phone back into your jacket pocket.

“Follow me.”

She turned on her heel to walk back into the building, not bothering to wait and see if you would obey. You quickly scurried after her, only stopping once you were a foot or so behind.

You walked through about 3 or 4 different hallways, trying to remember the directions you’d taken but failing miserably. There wasn’t much to this building…you saw what appeared to be a few offices here and there but otherwise, not much else.

“Here we are,” the woman croaked, gesturing with her arm to a much nicer looking door that had gold lettering on the window.

The etchings were bold, and it was very evident where you were as you read the words:

KIM TAEHYUNG

Private Detective

The older woman rapped on the door 3 times with her knuckles before she walked off. You were standing there, dumbfounded, until you heard a voice softly telling you to come inside.

The doorknob clicked easily under your hand, and as you entered the room, you were in awe of how different everything looked.

The office was tidy and, dare you say, extravagant compared to what surrounded it outside of this room. There were two brown leather couches that had a decent sized coffee table seated in between them; further into the office, you saw the same type of leather chairs, one in front of and one behind a large wooden desk. You also spotted a few plants that looked to be well taken care of, one sitting in a windowsill and the other on a small table next to some black filing cabinets.

Whoever had designed this room clearly had a knack for matching furniture together, because it all meshed well and you appreciated the sleek look to everything.

Your eyes ended their scan as you looked over to the far wall, almost letting out a gasp when you noticed the figure across the room whose back was turned to you.

When you softly shut the door, the other person in the room turned around. It took you a second to start thinking properly again, because he was not at all how you pictured he would be.

For starters, he looked much younger than you thought originally, closer to your own age, which you thought was admirable considering his high status as a detective. He had brown hair parted down the middle that was slightly wavy, with bangs covering his forehead. He had very handsome facial features as well, some of the most handsome you’d ever seen, if you were being honest with yourself.

He was wearing dark jeans and a shirt with black and white print that was hidden underneath a black leather jacket. Everything about this man seemed to scream fashionable and it was throwing you for a loop. You weren’t trying to stereotype him based on your own experience with detectives in the past, but he was just…so not what you expected him to be.

You were wondering again if this might be a prank, until he finally spoke up and acknowledged your presence.

“Y/N, is it?”

You nodded dumbly, scrambling to walk across the office as he motioned to the chair in front of his desk. He sat down in his own once you were close enough, and you shrugged out of your jacket before following suit.

There was a moment of silence between the two of you, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. If anything, you felt small under his scrutinizing gaze. He was leaning on one elbow, chin resting in his palm as he stared at you with intensity.

He spoke suddenly, almost making you flinch with surprise.

“So, you mentioned a friend of yours might be in danger?”

You nodded, not sure what to say or if you should say anything.

“Does this friend know you’ve come to a private detective about their situation?”

You opened your mouth, closed it, and opened it again. “Well…no.”

The man nodded, more to himself than you, it looked like. “Alright. That’s not an issue, just have to cover all the basics first.”

“What do the basics entail?”

He seemed amused by your interest as you took the initiative to ask questions now.

His fingertips drummed along the desk, a rhythmic sound that you found to be oddly soothing.

“It entails me finding out as much about your case as I’m willing to before I decide whether or not it’s something I can assist you with.”

He started twirling a pen with his unoccupied fingers, clearly waiting for you to speak first again before he continued.

“What do you want to know?”

“Anything you feel is pertinent to tell me.”

You sighed. “Well, to start with, I think my friend is being followed by someone-”

“Proof?”

You frowned. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Do you have proof? Does this friend have pictures or a video of them being followed, or is it just a feeling?”

“To my knowledge…no. It’s more that they sense it than have actually seen it.”

“And you want me to find out if this is happening or not?”

“Um…yes?”

It was his turn to sigh this time. “You don’t sound very confident in your answer, Y/N.”

His tone rubbed you the wrong way. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“What it means,” he broke off to look away from the pen to your face again, “is that I need to know what it is you want from me before I can agree to help you.”

You were catching onto his game now. He wanted you to very specifically lay it all out for him, instead of leaving him to figure it out by grasping at straws.

“Well, Mr. Kim-”

“Taehyung.”

“Sorry?”

“Taehyung. You can call me that, if you want. I’m not super big on formalities for myself.”

You chewed the inside of your cheek. Why was his presence so overwhelming?

“With all due respect, Mr. Kim, I’ve never done this before. All I know is something isn’t right, and I don’t trust the police to offer assistance in the way I need.”

You swore you saw something flash in his eyes.

“Why don’t you trust the police?”

You crossed your arms and leaned more into the chair. “The last time I worked with them, it didn’t end well.”

“You’ve worked on the force?” He almost sounded impressed.

“No, sorry, poor choice of wording. I tried to help them with a case before.”

“Ah,” his eyes narrowed as he busied himself with the pen again. “Were you a suspect, or?”

“I was close to the victim,” you said softly, almost a whisper.

For a moment, his expression softened. “I’m so sorry.”

You shrugged, inhaling a shaky breath as you looked at your lap. “It’s fine. Just…there’s your answer. I don’t want to work with them again, so I came to you.”

“If I’m able to take your case, I’ll make sure you don’t regret that decision.”

His tone had you picking your eyes back up. You noticed a fire within his own, one that made you feel like he meant every single word he’d just said to you.

“Thank you.”

He carded a hand through his hair, the action drawing your attention to the silver watch that adorned his wrist.

“Can I ask…could you tell me about the case you were involved with?”

A slow nod from you. “If it’ll help, I can do that.”

He motioned for you to continue. As you started telling him the details, you noticed as his eyes widened. At one point, he politely interrupted you.

“Sorry, just – I remember that case. You were involved with that?”

“Yes.” You were twisting your hands together in your lap. “Ky was my best friend.”

“And the police just let the case go cold, without considering all traces of evidence?”

“I begged them not to, but there wasn’t much I could do. They made that known several times,” you trailed off. You thought you heard some semblance of a growl coming from the detective.

“I always knew something was weird about that…every report they published made no sense, and none of the pieces of evidence seemed to corroborate their theories.” His hushed tone suggested he may have been talking more to himself, but you didn’t question it.

“There were signs of suspicious behavior leading up to her death that they never considered, and any time I tried to bring it up, I was shut down immediately.”

“Are these ‘signs’ something you’re noticing now, with your other friend?”

“Yes, exactly.”

Taehyung hummed. “I see. You want to inspect this before it gets out of hand, so you came to me because the police are a lost cause.”

You nodded feebly, voice softer than ever when you spoke again. “I don’t want to see another person die.”

“You won’t.”

His answer startled you, even if it was as quiet as your own. Your eyes met briefly before he started looking anywhere but your face.

Another hush befell the room, and this one seemed more awkward than the last, considering Taehyung cleared his throat before he rifled through one of his desk drawers.

“Before you tell me anything else, I need you to look over something first.”

“Sure, whatever I need to do, I’ll do it.”

A crooked smile tugged at Taehyung’s lips. “You know, you’re a lot more obedient than most of my other clients.”

You…weren’t sure how to take that.

“I am?”

“Yeah. Most of the time they come in with demands and don’t like to listen when I push back on something. It’s part of the reason why I’ve gotten choosier about who I decide to do business with these last few years. But you,” he fished out a piece of paper from the drawer, “are proving much easier to work with. I appreciate that.”

“Oh. Thank you.”

He chuckled, the sound low. “You’re also way more polite than most people I encounter.”

You smiled at him for the first time. “I’m grateful you’re taking the time to hear me out.”

His eyes lingered on yours for just a second before shifting down.

“First and foremost,” Taehyung slid a piece of paper across the wooden desk that separated the two of you, “if we agree to do business, you’ll need to sign this contract. It lists my stipulations and services I can provide.”

You picked up the paper, not quite sure what to expect.

“Take your time to read over all of it carefully, just so everything is clear on both our ends.” He leaned back in his chair, the sound of squeaking leather breaking your concentration for a moment.

You scanned through every line, all of the contract terms seeming straight-forward and easy to agree to-

-but the last line caught your attention.

“Could you explain this last part, please?”

Taehyung leaned over to look at which line you were pointing to before he let out a soft chuckle. “Ah, that. My #1 most important rule. Never get involved with clients’ personal lives.”

“But don’t you have to sometimes?”

“For work, yes. But this is more referring to what happens outside of that. Things can get…messy.”

“You talk like that’s happened before.”

Taehyung smirked but offered nothing more to that specific conversation.

“So, are we in business?”

You didn’t have to ponder long before you signed the contract with a flourish. When you passed it back across the desk, Taehyung smiled.

“Perfect,” he stood up to shake your hand, “I’ll be in touch with you shortly, once I’ve reviewed your case.”

You returned the shake. “Thank you, Mr. Kim.”

He squeezed your hand once before letting it go.

“The pleasure is all mine.”

You waited to see if there was anything else he might need from you, shifting your weight from one foot to the other. He leaned down and sifted through his drawer once more, this time pulling out a Manila file folder.

“I use these to get the typical information needed for me to start my research. It just asks for client’s name and contact info, as well as a summary about what you’re wanting from me and other names of those involved. In this instance, it would be your friend. You can give me as little or as much info as you think I need.”

He handed the folder to you, and upon opening it up, you saw everything he had just mentioned to you on a sheet of paper stapled to the inside.

“I’d prefer you fill it out now so you can leave it with me, but of course I can’t force you to do anything.”

His tone suggested he was teasing, but you were quick to sit on one of the couches and begin filling out the paper. It didn’t take you very long, and when you were done, you noticed he was sitting on the opposite couch, elbows resting on his knees with his hands folded.

“Finished?”

You nodded as you slid the file across the coffee table, his pen placed on top. He accepted both and smiled at you.

“Alright, if that’s all you want to discuss, you’re free to go. As I mentioned before, I’ll be in touch with you after I’ve looked over everything and have some sort of plan on how to proceed. And of course, all of this information is strictly classified. You read that in the contract, but I always reiterate it anyway, due to some problems I’ve had in the past.”

“Of course.” You agreed with no hesitation. Honestly, you couldn’t fathom just how much he’s had to endure in his line of work, how many times he’s probably had to change locations and phone numbers.

Hell, Kim Taehyung may not even be his real name, and you’d never know.

“Any questions for me?”

You mumbled some form of ‘no’ as you shook your head. Taehyung walked over to the door to open it for you, and you certainly weren’t expecting the same woman from before to be out in the hallway, but there she was.

“Ms. Choi will show you out since this place is a bit of a maze,” his tone was light, a sheer contrast to the mood that had settled over the two of you from when you stepped into his office. “Don’t forget: I’ll contact you.”

“Yes, sir.” You couldn’t help the authoritative term as it slipped past your lips, and you walked through the door before you could see the look on his face. You thought you might have heard some sort of laugh from Ms. Choi as she escorted you back to the front, but your imagination liked to play tricks on you sometimes.

Besides, Taehyung said he wasn’t one for formalities, so it didn’t really matter that much, did it? He had to be older than you anyway…right?

You spent the entire walk through the building trying to justify in your head what had just happened, and Ms. Choi gave you a soft smile as she held the door open for you to leave.

When you settled back in your car, you gripped the steering wheel and took a deep breath, leaning your head back as you shut your eyes.

You still couldn’t quite believe that the last 30 minutes or so had happened. Taehyung had proven to be quite different than what you anticipated, but he was truthfully better than you could have hoped.

He seemed driven and motivated about his line of work, and the way he reassured you when you had your doubts-

-it made you feel…safe. Like this was a step in the right direction after all.

As you called Hobi to fill him in on everything during your drive home, you started to believe that maybe, just maybe, things would turn out alright.

⊱──────── ✬ ✬ ✬ ────────⊰

➥Part 2

➥Series Masterlist

➥All Works Masterlist

#bts #bts smut #bangtaninn #taehyung angst #taehyung x reader #taehyung au #taehyung scenarios #detective!au

[thoughts-on-bangtan]

Memories of 2020 - Initial asks and a small discussion

*cracks knuckles* Here we go.

If any of you have spent any amount of time today on any ARMY sns platform, I’m sure you’ve seen the mess which, as seasoned ARMY, I can tell you was the exact same mess we see...every single time. I can’t particularly say I’m surprised by any of it, especially when watching the entire process, as in the first clips hitting the TL and then the rest slowly following suit like a flood building steadily as the hours went by.

From anon: be ready for insecure vminies 😂

I’m pleased to report it wasn’t actually as bad as I expected, though now that I’m typing this I probably jinxed my own luck and the flood of asks will come soon enough, but maybe not. I’m holding on to the latter.

Based on the cycle in which these things happen every time, as in that the first clips that hit the ARMY spaces are Xkook ones, followed by vmin and other ships, and lastly more OT7 content, I expected our asks to go haywire after that clip, you know which one I mean. But we’ve only gotten two (?) about it, kind of, so I guess most people understood that it was just for laughs and nothing serious that anyone would have to get insecure over.

From anon: Sigh. This is my first memories of bts as army and i'm already tired of how all of twitter seems to be about 1 j*/k*ok moment now. There were so many j*n/kook m*ments and hugs and a sweet h*pe/k*ok backhug moment and a good number of vmin moments including slow dancing so why is the focus always on that one ship?

Here’s the thing, maybe my TLs are just well curated, I don’t know, but on mine no one really focused on that moment? Even non-shipper OT7s just briefly had a chuckle and then moved along to other things, awww’ed at vmin moments, there was lots and lots of talk about J*nk*ok being super cute and there being so much content when it comes to their interactions, there was a lot of chatter about basically every duo and OT7 moment. I know ship specific spaces went nuts, Xkookers butting heads like their lives depend on it, but outside of them?

“All of twt” is an exaggeration and I know, believe me I do, that Xkookers have the ability to make it seem like everyone just cares about their moments because they themselves (the shippers) are loud and seemingly everywhere, but when you look past them, that isn’t the case. Shippers have a tendency to generalize, especially those who follow a lot of their fellow shippers, but when you step outside of shipper spaces, things look very differently.

Like anon said, though I’d like to preface this by saying that I haven’t seen the entirety of Memories of 2020 so I can only go by what I have seen though I’d say I’ve seen nearly everything that was posted on twt or at least as much as I could find (including Xkook things), there were a lot, and I mean a lot, of amazing moments between basically all the members, regardless of who your favorite duo might be, I’m sure there was something for you there. Even those who are supposedly a rarity. And even as vminnies, this time around we had a feast with so many amazing vmin moments, some funny ones, some random ones, some super cute ones, whatever you want, there is something there for you to find. And the same can be said about so many other duos, we even got Yoongi and Hobi FaceTiming each other, and Yoongi saying they look like a couple while looking at the pictures Hobi chose for the coffee truck he sent to Yoongi’s Daechwita MV filming set.

There’s one discussion I’d like to get out of the way below the cut, but after that I will have another post very, very soon in which I want us to just have some fun and look at vmin, namjin and the other moments because there is just so much to find. And this is just day one of people having the DVDs, these discussion will continue for a while because, like I mentioned before, Memories are a treasure trove for OT7 content and fun stuff, and there’s more than eleven hours worth of it to be watched, discovered and discussed.

But, okay, let’s get into that moment since anons wanted to talk about it and know my thoughts on it, so let’s do just that. And yes, other anon from a while ago, I remember you once mentioning how I shouldn’t talk about other ships and shouldn’t “debunk” them and their moments, though I’d hardly call this debunking, but as I said many times since our first post, I’m ARMY before I am a vminnie and namjinist, and our blog is called thoughts on Bangtan and, as far as I’m aware, both JK and Jimin are part of Bangtan, so I don’t see a reason why I can’t show my perspective on it and also voice my grievances with shippers when it comes to that moment. And, before anyone comes into our asks to yell at me for being toxic/problematic or only doing this to make my ship look better or whatever, no, that isn’t the point, like at all. 

“Debunking” moments makes literally no difference whatsoever in the grand scheme of things and doesn’t affect reality, all I am doing is having a chat just like everyone else. I’m not even asking you to agree with me, you’re more than welcome not to, I can’t and won’t stop you. Also, just so you know, my initial reaction was just to laugh amused by it, no hard feelings, so I’m not the bad guy.

That being said...the Xkook moment.

Here’s the thing, when it first surfaced many hours ago, the moment itself was cut down to show just the moment of Jimin leaning close to JK and JK leaning back and turning his head away so his cheek faced Jimin...and cut, some even cutting off the video before JK turned his head. That’s it. People, as in shippers, freaked out, and everyone else had a good laugh and moved along to other things, even vminnies were joking about it and everything. I saw none of my fellow vminnies getting angry or insecure about it. Then, as time went by, someone else posted that scene but this time also showing the things leading up to it, so putting it into context instead of removing it. With the context suddenly the whole thing looked and felt completely differently since moments prior Jimin was pretending to stab JK with the pointy end of his mic and then acted as though to check if he was d*ad, as in the end of the scene. Turns out it was just for giggles and not some grand romantic moment in a room full of people and a camera close to their faces.

By that time, of course, those who cared most about that moment had long decided what meaning this holds and didn’t care once context was shown. Gifs and art had already been created, the yelling was loud, and the fights between Xkookers were reaching levels of toxicity I hadn’t seen in a while, which was disgusting and fucked up the say the least. But, the thing is, I don’t think the moment itself was the issue. In context and as rational ARMY you know it was just Jimin playing around with JK as they usually do, things we’ve also seen other members do in similar (though not quite like this) fashion, and after eight years since debut and nine of knowing each other, this isn’t shocking or new in any way. No, the issue were Xkookers and the way they treated this moment, some even going as far as taking screenshots and editing them to make it seem like they were about to kiss, as in they changed the placements of their heads to fit their narrative, as well as others making gifs where they play the moment backwards (leaving out the part where JK leans his head away and to the side) and thus they created their own version of the moment which was different from what had actually happened.

That is my biggest issue with this whole thing. The blatant manipulation of moments to create narratives that don’t match reality, twisting them and using them in stupid pointless fights. But imagine vminnies were to do any of that, all hell would break loose and we’d be attacked without mercy because how dare, and yet they don’t follow their own “logic” and “rules”. It’s more than okay to find any and all moments cute, we all do, to make jokes and whatnot, but twisting context, manipulating it and basically creating your own version of it goes too far. 

Take what we are given as what it is, instead of what you want it to be.

So, now that that’s done, please fellow vminnies and ARMYs, don’t be insecure or let people ruin your mood and fun over it. It’s not worth it. Instead let’s check out and have a talk about some of the fun vmin and OT7 moments we got, along with other ones, including my reply to another anon when it comes to namjin. Of course what I will mention in the post (HERE) is basically just the tip of the iceberg since tumblr has a limit on pictures and everything, so just know there is so much more still left to see than just that.

Before I’ll go, for those who still feel a little insecure/doubtful/whatever else, while I was working on this post and the other one, another anon sent in this well timed vmin ask:

From anon: I have to say this as a Vmin supporter. Whatever is going on with Vmin we can rest assure what they is special/untouchable. They graduated HS & college together, going for Bachelors together. Jimin-ah I like you the most. I want to live with my lovely Taehyung for the rest if my life. Their future is together, friends/soulmates or more they said it. I won’t tear down other members closeness (good for them) their bonds don’t erase Vmins. I’m just happy with the moments Vmin allow us to see.

#answered ask

[tigerdovefan34-realone]

So why is there such a damn passion for Sayonika?

Are we going to ignore what Monika did to Sayori leading up to her in game death? Manipulating her files, likely verbal abuse, psychological torture, things most people would go to jail/be crucified online (rightly) for?

And then there's all the Monika love and the excuses for her... Yeah, she's lonely and yeah, she's in love but there are better ways to go about it than fucking torturing the Club VP and deleting the other two girls.

Should we forgive AM from IHNMAIMS because he was programmed to be hateful? Should we forgive Skynet for genociding humanity as a means of self-preservation?

No, no we shouldn't. In their respective fictions, they're the clear cut villains, so why do so many people make excuses for Monika?

She needs more of a punishment than just simple deletion. She seriously got off light and when I have enough experience, I might make a mod where's she receives a proper punishment for what she did.

Also, to those who are attacking MC because of what he does to Sayori, please note the following : 1) He does not know about Sayori's depression. At this point in time, it seems only Monika knows (I haven't been able to look at the Natsuki DDLC+ Side stories, so maybe she told Natsuki there (and also, can we not forget nor forgive what Monika did to Sayori despite knowing that she was going through a lot of bad stuff because she was wonewy?)). To MC, all of this happening is just Sayori being a ditz like he's always known her to be since they were children. 2) he's incredibly dense and not that smart (like some Teenage guys are, sadly enough). It's not him being rude, he just genuinely understand what's the matter. 3) any "rude" thing he says to Sayori is clearly in a teasing and playful manner, since that's what childhood friends do with one another. Sayori understands this and plays along with the teasing, because at the end of the day, she knows he doesn't really mean all the 'mean' things he says to her (the conversation leading up to fixing her Blazer is clearly the two having fun chatting it up like good friends. Same with the snack conversation).

4) The moment Sayori's mask begins to slip, being when he sees "Bottles", he immediately begins to put a stop to his teasing for the most part and shows a lot of concern for her. There's multiple points in Act I where he drops the teasing and playfulness and just interacts with Sayori like the friend she is to him, like the closet chat

5) When Sayori doesn't act like her usual happy, bubbly self (aka, her mask), he drops the teasing and immediately tries to help her, even getting Monika involved because he's never seen her like this before so he's trying to get as many possible to help.

6) As soon as he learns about her Depression, he drops all pretenses of teasing and making fun of her and makes it known how much he treasures her as a Friend.

7) with her confession, it's up to you to decide how to respond, but canonically, there could be two reasons why he'd say the bad option : 1) He genuinely doesn't love her that way but wants to let her down as gently as possible or 2) He actually does love her but doesn't say that because he thinks it's important for her to learn to love herself before any relationship. Either way, that answer will crush her, so it's a lose-lose, but can you say you would've done better in such a situation? I know I wouldn't have. I mean, for God's sake, MC's a teenage boy, not some all knowing, OP protagonist.

8) leaving Sayori behind on the day of the festival is a dick move, I agree, but look at it from his perspective. His oldest and dearest friend from childhood just told him she's depressed and in love with him the day prior all in the span of a few hours and depending on your answer, you two either have started dating or you crushed her unintentionally. In both cases, he doesn't know what to say to her, he's likely still processing everything that happened and trying to find a decent thing to do for her. Also, with it being stated Sayori did what she did before MC even woke up, it's made clear that even if he checked in on her, it would've been too late anyway.

9) The moment, the absolute moment he sees '%' and realizes Sayori had a breakdown, he drops everything and rushes to her place and tries to check on her. When he sees her body, he suffers a breakdown himself which I will detail here word for word, so TW : "...What the hell...? What the hell?! I-Is this a nightmare?! It...has to be. This isn't real. There's no way this can be real. Sayori wouldn't do this. Everything was normal up to a few days ago. That's why I can't believe what my eyes are showing me...! *Surpresses vomit* Just yesterday...I told Sayori I know what's best and everything will be ok. Then why...? Why would she do this...? How could I be so helpless? What did I do wrong? [Place choice statement here] this is my fault---! If I just spent more time with her. Walked her to school. And remained friends with her like it always has been...then I could've prevented this. I know I could've prevented this!"

"Screw the Literature Club. Screw the festival. I just...lost my best friend. Someone I grew up with. She's gone forever now. Nothing I can do will bring her back. This isn't a game where I can reset and try something different. I had only one chance and I wasn't careful enough. And now I'll carry this guilt with me until I die. '''Nothing in my life is worth more than her's'''...but I still couldn't do what she needed from me. And now...I can never take it back. Never."

This breakdown shows that the moment he saw what he did, his world collapsed. He's just a young teenager, do you honestly expect to know everything and handle this better and that you'd handle it better than him because if you say that than I know you're fucking bullshitting.

In conclusion, all the people hating MC for what he does to Sayori are either misunderstanding what he does, not paying enough attention, or just doesn't care and hates him to hate him. I can forgive the former two, but if you're the latter, then I guess there's no getting through to you. Have fun being spiteful to some teenage boy, hope you have a fun life.

Also, I might be a tad bit biased because I hardcore ship MCori but even with me being open to admit that, it doesn't discount my argument.

#sayori #mc #ddlc #ddlc+ #monika #Sayonika talk #monika hate explanation #protagonist #protagonist defence squad #MCxSayori #MCori #ProtagonistxSayori #rant i guess

[spir1tfar3r]

𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲: 𝐍𝐨 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞

prompt(s): “i can’t have this argument with you again” “but-” “no. i’m done” from @/moanlightlust’s prompt list

summary: it was hard for kageyama to think after one fight had escalated so much that it drove you away from him

warning(s): my writing😔✌🏻 it’s pretty angsty lmao

words: 888

special tag: @karasimpno

book twenty of kairi’s library event

It was still strange not being greeted by you. Everyday you had always given Kageyama a kiss on the cheek after either of you had come home, but for the past week you avoided him. Not because you didn’t care anymore, but you were sure the moment you two started talking the argument you had two weeks prior would be brought up yet again. Normally, you’d have small fights but it was never serious, only things like him eating your food and things like that. But after a certain practice that you surprised him at, your relationship didn’t seem to stay as happy as you had wanted it too.

Tobio was a lot more stressed out with volleyball than normal so you thought it would be a sweet idea to come and visit him at practice. He never minded before so he certainly wouldn’t mind now right? Oh how wrong you were. Almost everything that day was annoying him and although he knew you had good intentions, even you had gotten a bit much. It definitely didn’t help that one of his teammates was very obviously hitting on you and you didn’t even brush him off, not realizing that’s what he was doing.

Kageyama tried to calm down before asking you about it, he didn’t want to upset you or seem like he was mad at you when none of this was your fault. But soon enough, the conversation began to turn into an argument and voices were being raised. He left in the middle of that argument, going to practice some more, which didn’t even surprise you. You tried asking him to take a bit of a break, he already worked hard enough during practices but it fell upon deaf ears as he was so determined on being better than he already was.

You glanced up from the book you were reading, stretching your legs out on the couch so he wouldn’t have a seat next to you before going back to it. He frowned, unsure how to talk about everything that has happened so the two of you can move on. Tobio picked up your legs and sat next to you, letting them rest on his thighs. “Hey, can we talk about what happened?” He asked.

A sigh slipped past your lips as you put the book down and moved your legs from his lap. “Why? So we can yell at each other?” You retorted. It wasn’t very fair, you knew that. But anytime either of you mentioned the mishap, somehow it was always escalated and it never got resolved. Only, it put more things between the two of you that you needed to get past to even be back to how the two of you were. And you weren’t sure if it was even worth it anymore. “I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

“Of course you don’t.” He muttered under his breath. It wasn’t very loud but you still heard it as he had gotten up. You let out a small laugh, the pain very evident in your voice. Making the latter realize that he had said it a bit too loudly.

“Tobio are you kidding me? We have tried to talk about this multiple times. We never get anywhere. Why would I want to talk about it right now?” You asked, sitting up and watching him cross his arms over his chest as he thought of his reply.

“Because I want to try and fix this! It should’ve been fixed after our first argument! But you wouldn’t listen.” His reply made you roll your eyes as you got off of the couch. He carefully watched you, wondering if you were going to just retreat back to the room like you had whenever the two of you fought. You surprised him when you didn’t however, instead turning to him and giving him a sad smile.

“I can’t have this argument with you again.” You sounded tired, something he hadn’t noticed before. Were the arguments really that draining? Kageyama’s chest began to hurt as he felt his guilt build up. He knew the two of you weren’t the best couple but he prayed that if you two could just move past this, it’d be ok.

“But—” he began. You just shook your head, making him stop and grabbed your things. You pushed past him, not daring to look back at him as you put your shoes on.

“No.” You spoke. He stood quietly, wondering what you meant as he watched you unlock the door. You took in a breath, trying to keep your voice from shaking. This was always going to be hard, you knew that. So it was now or never. Hopefully one day you both will forgive the next two words coming out of your mouth. “I’m done.”

Those were the last things he heard before you walked out. Kageyama tried to process what happened, wondering if you would’ve stayed if he had just stayed quiet. He couldn’t tell if it was the fights that drove the two of you apart, now that he’s thinking about it. Maybe he has done something that couldn’t save it, no matter how hard the two of you tried. One thing he was sure about however, was he lost the person he loved the most.

✩taglist✩

@celestialfoxess-main @satan5-chi1d @volexis @lxvelylevi @keibby @tendous-queen @elianetsantana

#kageyama x reader #kageyama tobio x reader #tobio kageyama x reader #kageyama imagines #kageyama angst #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu!! x reader #haikyuu!! imagines #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu!! angst #haikyuu angst #—sanctuary

[firelxdykatara]

As much as I think ZK made more narrative sense than Kat.aang & as much as I'm a die hard ZK, there are so many other Katara (and Zuko) ships that I adore as well & I really wish Kat.aang was one of them since it's actually canon, you know? And really, all they had to do was let them have a convo in the finale about him kissing her when she said she was confused. If that was addressed, I could lowkey ship them, but it wasn't, so I'm left feeling unsatisfied. My girl deserved better :/

You!!!! You get it!!!!!!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll happily say it again--while I don’t think I’d ever ship kataang over zutara (enemies-to-friends-to-lovers is just much more my speed, and while I do sometimes have childhood friends-to-lovers ships, there’s usually something Else about them that gives them that extra oomf [and usually aren’t contrasted so heavily against a ship that has more tropes i love within the same narrative] which kataang just doesn’t have for me, especially while zutara is Right There), I wouldn’t be as staunchly deadset against kataang as I am if it had just been written better. If Katara’d been allowed any agency at all--if her feelings ever mattered in the slightest to the development of their romantic relationship, but especially at key points like the EIP episode.

And what really kills me is, it wouldn’t have taken much???? Even if you argue that there was no room in EIP for that conversation (and they should have fucking made room, or else not have a scene where the main character explicitly ignores his crush’s consent and kisses her while insisting that she admit to feeling something for him and completely riding over her objections, because the fact that he never apologizes for this nor is expected to by the narrative is exactly the problem), there were so many moments throughout the show where they could have subtly hinted at Katara’s feelings changing and just.... chose not to.

In the Cave of Two Lovers, for example, they kissed, and Aang was the one awkwardly trying to prolong the moment and get Katara to talk about what happened--it’s clear that Aang felt something in that moment, and Katara’s response is.... to completely forget about it, because she’s so excited that the lights came up and they can find the way out. There’s zero indication that she felt anything during or after that kiss except relief at figuring out the cave’s riddle and being able to escape--but there is indication that Aang felt something, and read more into the kiss than ‘a way out’. There’s no reason Katara couldn’t have had a similar reaction, but she didn’t, and the show even focuses a bit on her lack of reaction because Aang is disappointed!

That’s one of the most egregious examples, but it happens again and again throughout the show. The Fortuneteller goes to great lengths to explicitly parallel Aang’s crush on Katara with Meng’s crush on Aang--except the message in the latter case is ‘if the boy you like doesn’t like you back, that’s ok, if you like him then you should want him to be happy, even if it’s not with you!’ and the message in the former case apparently is ‘if the girl you like doesn’t like you back, that’s ok, because she’ll come around eventually, and in the meantime here’s a fortuneteller to inform her that she’ll be marrying ‘a powerful bender’, which an out-of-place one-liner from her brother will make her connect with you because you’re the Avatar, and they always get the girls!’ And when Aang kisses Katara (without any indication that she wants him to, or that she has any romantic feelings for him at all, since he never bothers to ask her how she feels) prior to the eclipse invasion, rather than animating her looking happy and contemplative (which you’d expect of someone who’d just been kissed by their crush, for whom they’d been steadily developing romantic feelings over the past few months), they chose--deliberately, since the animator originally did have Katara smiling, but Bryke made him change it--to have her frowning and looking upset and unhappy, keeping her feelings in confusion and never going back to that and having her explain what she was feeling or even if she felt anything for Aang at all.

Katara’s feelings just aren’t important to the development of Kataang throughout the show, and the one time she actually gets to vocalize them, her words are ignored in favor of being kissed against her will, and this is never once addressed by the narrative as something that should not have happened. In fact, considering that the very next time they are alone together is in the epilogue when Katara goes to make out with him, the narrative states approval for Aang’s actions in that episode, and he is rewarded for them by Katara ‘coming around’ and deciding she did actually have romantic feelings for him, after all.

There was absolutely no need for their relationship to have unfolded that way. There were numerous times throughout the series when Aang could have given any indication of actually caring about Katara’s feelings (he never once asks what he should do if Katara doesn’t like him back, and he’s constantly told ‘she’ll come around’ and ‘being the Avatar doesn’t hurt with the ladies’; no one took him aside and said ‘look, Aang, if she doesn’t like you back, you need to respect that and let her go’--the closest anyone comes to this is the guru, and we all know how that went), or where the narrative could have focused on Katara’s romantic feelings. Her feelings got more focus in one episode with Jet than they got in sixty-one with Aang, and that’s just a terrible look for any relationship, nevermind one between two of the main characters in such a small ensemble cast!

I may never have shipped kataang with the passion i hold for zutara, but jfc, I could have at least enjoyed it--I could have been ok with it, if Katara’s feelings mattered at all, if she had even the slightest bit of agency. This is only exacerbated by what was done to her character post-canon, but ignoring that and focusing just on the show, I could have been ok with kataang if it weren’t ‘Aang overrides Katara’s feelings and objections and gets the girl anyway because Reasons’.

Katara deserved better than that, and the audience deserved better than that, and my opinion on this is never going to change--because my priority has always been, and will always be, Katara. It’s just a pity that the show’s, and Aang’s, never was.

#atla #katara #aang salt #kataang salt #just covering my bases #salt for ts #asked #Anonymous

[randomingoftherandomness]

Modern AU: Cheng Ling and Gu Xiang get into a fight in school and the principal/ school calls their parents. Ah-Xu and Wen Kexing meet for the first time.

A/N: this was something interesting to write and I thank you for the opportunity 🌸

I’m still accepting WenZhou prompts 😊

—

Today was going so well for her; she’d gotten out of bed feeling well rested, her morning coffee was perfect, her drive to work today was smooth, and the radio was playing her favourite songs.

She should have known it was too good to last.

It’s not even ten and the two children in front of her were already glaring at each other at the verge of tears. It is a comical look that tethers into pitiful when the younger, a quiet, well-mannered boy had sniffled and the girl, only slightly older but already a known troublemaker in school blinks rapidly like she is about to follow suit.

“You’re really not going to tell me why you were both fighting out on the football field?” She tries one last time. She had scarcely believed it when the caretaker had stopped her on her morning rounds and told her that Zhang Chengling had been caught mid-scuffle with Gu Xiang from the year above him, and they needed two teachers to break both child apart.

Stubborn silences meet her. Alright.

A timely knock at the door draws their attention to the small face of his secretary ushering in the tall forms of the children’s guardians. At first glance, and by the gossip she’d picked up in the teacher’s lounge, she picks out Wen Kexing by the almost blinding smile on his handsome face and the tailored suits that probably cost more than a three month salary’s worth, and on the other hand, she immediately knows the man in the rubber Bata slippers and the khaki cargo shorts that look like they are in need of a good wash, is the equally fabled Zhou Zishu. The former is the guardian of Gu Xiang and the latter is the one who took Zhang Chengling in last year as a foster. 

She isn’t sure how that even happened, but there isn’t much time to wonder either.

“Good afternoon,” She clears her throat, gesturing to the two empty seats in next to their kids. “Please, sit.”

Mr. Wen folds himself elegantly into the seat next to his charge, smile never even once dimming, while Mr. Zhou frowns deeply as he slides into his own. Though, she is interested to note, give both their kids a careful once over that ends in both of their sights crossing over their sullen heads.

“I’ve called you in because Gu Xiang and Zhang Chengling were caught in scuffle. Neither one has confessed what has happened but yet we can guess.”

“Guess?” Mr. Wen asks, leaning in with that unsettling overly saccharine smile. 

She meets the glint in his eyes dead on. “Yes, Mr. Wen. We can guess. Gu Xiang has been demerited a few times for some small incidences but there is not an insignificant amount of complaints from the students that she’s been a bit of a troublemaker in the last year. With her prior behaviour, we believe she was bullying Zhang Chengling.”

“That’s some serious words you’re using there, Principal,” Mr. Wen says slowly. Turning to Gu Xiang, he points at Zhang Chengling. “If you’re not going to explain yourself, brat, don’t expect me to.”

The words seem to have an effect on the girl because her eyes brim with angry tears and she bites her bottom lip, suppressing her sobs. “So, you’re not going to explain? Fine. I’ll ask the other brat then.”

Mr. Zhou sparks to life then, hand shooting out over Zhang Chengling’s chest and meeting Mr. Wen’s smile with an unpleasant one of his own. “Leave my kid out of this. Yours bullied mine, remember?”

“And you’re going to believe that?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“I didn’t do it! I didn’t!” Gu Xiang sobs, tears streaking down her red cheeks. As if a switch has been turned off, Mr. Wen immediately deflates, wrapping an arm around her and holding her close. No trace of that overly-genial smile on his face as he comforts her gently, coaxing her quiet crying to quiet down. Mr. Zhou seems to lean back, curiosity clear in the tight lines on the corners of his lips. 

“Gu Xiang,” She says softly, ready to try prying the truth out of her when Zhang Chengling starts to cry too - harder and with infinitely more heartbreak. Surprisingly, before any of the adults could register it, Zhang Chengling reaches out to Gu Xiang, tugging at her pinafore.

“Ah Xiang jie, please don’t cry. Let’s just tell them, ok? Please don’t cry anymore,” He hiccups, snot dibbling down his chin. “Ah Xiang jie...”

Mr. Wen doesn’t keep her in his arms when she climbs out of it, going over to hug Zhang Chengling. “It was those kids from 5A,” She explains between the hitching of her breaths. Mr. Wen dives in just in time with Mr. Zhou and the tissues in their hands hang in the air right before Gu Xiang’s nose. Their eyes look up at each other in shock.

“I’m used to them calling me names and I fight back, but Chengling can’t. He’s so small. They tell us that we aren’t wanted and that’s why we had to live with Uncle Wen and Mr. Zhou. They tell us no one wants us.”

“Those little--” Mr. Wen seethes, only to be interrupted by Mr. Zhou’s soft tut, though there’s a curious quiet fire in the way the other man clenches his fist.

A picture starts to form in her mind. “So this morning you were protecting him?”

Big brown eyes, wet with tears meet her eyes unwaveringly. “Yes.”

Mr. Zhou reaches for his kid, cupping his cheek. “Why haven’t you said anything?”

“I didn’t want to worry you, Uncle Zhou, I’m sorry,” Zhang Chengling sniffles, wriggling out of Gu Xiang’s side and into a hug with his guardian. 

“So,” Mr. Wen says, a smile that was only marginally less despicable than the last curves his lips. “I guess this settles it?”

She hums, wanting to say that, no, no it wasn’t even in the slightest, but a look over at the children holds her tongue. “Maybe the kids can go back to classes now,” She offers instead. “I’m sorry to have taken you out of your day like this. Please be assured that we will be looking into this.”

“You better,” Mr. Wen purrs sweetly and the utterance of that last syllable sends shivers up her spine. Mr. Zhou says nothing but levels her with a glare of his own. The children link their hands together as they walk out of her office and she hears a cajoling Mr. Wen ask, “Say, why don’t you take my name card and we can arrange a play date for the kids or something?” 

The door closes before she can hear anymore and she exhales heavily. Huffing quietly to herself, she wonders what sort of menace these two are going to wreck now that they’ve met each other.

#wenzhou #word of honor #wen kexing #zhou zishu #gab writes stuff #this is one of the longest things I've written for this fandom #i'm going to go stretch my spine now

[strangebrainrot]

this is kinda angsty BUT hc that tommy was bullied as a kid before king steve declared them as best friends and ever since then he’s always been super self conscious abt his looks and weight and everything but always tries to push it down. when it really really gets to him he’s always gone to steve but after him and billy and steve all get together is the first time he feels it without saying anything to steve cuz he doesn’t want to make them realize they’re both “better than him” and billy walks in on him sobbing one day and is just sort of like 👁👄👁 babe what the fuck stop that, but then ends up comforting him rlly well until steve gets home and joins him in ensuring tommy they think he’s perfect

Tommy's experience at school wasn't great for the longest time. Kids are mean and don't know when to quit. He grew up rarely being called by his name at school and it was devastating to his self confidence. All sorts of nicknames like Tummy, Speckles, and exchanging the H in his last name for all sorts of things that went straight to his heart.

Then some new rich kid moved to town in 6th grade from New York and Tommy thought is was gonna be more of the same. Everyone knows rich people are the meanest, so he prepares for the worst when they meet and some other kids cut in to make some stupid comments about how Steve should be careful about touching Tommy in case his freckles rub off on him. Tommy can feel himself deflate, but is shocked out of it when Steve Harington, the rich boy from New York, starts enthusiastically shaking his hand.

"I'm Steve! What's your name?"

"I'm Tommy." Tommy can't bring himself to make eye contact, fearing that this might be some joke at his expense.

"Those guys seem like jerks. Wanna be best friends?"

Tommy's eyes light up because Steve just looks so genuine and like he means it. Call it bad judgement if you want, but he can't help but trust this boy. From then on, they really were best friends.

They know everything about each other. Steve knows that Tommy still hasn't really been able to fully shake all those things that people said about him. Tommy knows that Steve has nightmares and trouble with feeling left alone. They know they both like boys and still stay friends for years, no matter how many arguments they had. Then Billy Hargrove happened.

They had had a really rough argument the year prior and Steve and Tommy weren't really as close afterward, but Billy's sudden appearance makes things better and worse all at once. Tommy has someone new to rely on, but that also means they turn against Steve. It ends with Billy beating Steve up and Steve going to Tommy's afterward because he wouldn't know where else to go.

He explains what happened and Tommy told him, "Yeah, he didn't need to beat you to a pulp, but you gotta admit that does sound creepy. Plus his dad's kind of a piece of shit so if Max was missing, that probably got him in some major trouble." And that was the moment things started clicking together for Steve.

He and Tommy really reconnect after that and even start hanging out again. It's a relief for Tommy to have his best friend back. They're out at the quarry when they hear a familiar roaring engine.

Billy steps out, slamming his door, walking to a few feet from the edge and just screaming. Steve and Tommy have no idea what to do with that, but they're both out of the car before even a thought.

"Billy, are you ok, man?" Tommy looks legitimately concerned for the boy in front of them.

Billy just turns to them and doesn't say anything because there's nothing to say. They clearly saw him break. He has tears running down his face as he just falls to his knees. Tommy rushes up to Billy and put his hands on his shoulders.

"Man he really got you huh?"

Billy leans his head on Tommy's shoulder and Steve can finally see why they were friends for so long. Tommy cares so much about his friends and Steve never saw it. He finds himself coming up behind Tommy and putting a hand on his shoulder.

They spend a while like that. Just sitting at the quarry together. Tommy supposes that's where it started.

It's been a couple months since the night at the quarry and Tommy, Billy, and Steve are happy. They have movie nights on Fridays and Billy cooks them dinner every night. But there are some days. Days when Tommy can't help but compare himself to his boyfriends. He knows he shouldn't that it'll just make him feel like shit, but he can't help it.

Billy can just lift him without much difficulty and Steve can just look at someone and know how they're feeling and Tommy is just... Tommy.

He tries to not bring it up when he starts feeling like that, not wanting to bring the others down, but he has to let it out somehow. So he opts for sitting in the empty bathtub and crying. Steve is out shopping and Billy is working out. But apparently he's wrong about the latter because the next thing he knows, Billy is by his side.

Normally, Steve is the one that helps him when he's feeling stuck, but he's not here and Billy is. Billy just gets in the tub behind him and asks what's wrong. Tommy does his best not to break down further than and there. He just asks why Billy and Steve love him.

"Because you're perfect," Billy runs his fingers through Tommy's hair, "Every inch of you is just so perfect, I can't even begin to explain it. You're funny and handsome and caring and all this stuff that I just keep wondering how lucky I am to be with you and that I don't want to fuck it up." Billy hugs around Tommy's waist and kisses his shoulder.

Steve gets home not long after that and finds them just like that. He can pretty easily guess what's going on and squeezes in front of the other two in the tub. They aren't small guys so it's most definitely a squeeze, but it's worth it for Steve to be able to help.

"Baby. You know Bills and I love you more than anything. You're perfect and deserve the world."

The three of them stay like that, embracing each other and when they get out Tommy feels better,

Save for the cramps in his knees.

#i loved this #it's definitely longer than initially planned #but my fingers said to keep going #i hope this is what you had in mind! #i had a great time writing this #thank you so much for the ask anon #tw: bullying #tommy hagan #steve harrington #billy hargrove #ask response #thank you for the ask! #anon #kegboys #stranger things #j writing

[dreamylyfe-x]

Reactions: 11x06: Do Not Go Gently... (etc)

You know, I was going to do one of these for 11x05 and then I got so mad about the “Pollack” thing that I just couldn’t. 

Shameless is such a challenging show in so many ways... because there is a lot of cringe a lot of the time and I am a delicate flower about those things. But... I do love it and so much of its strengths at this point are the performers and just the length of time we have been with these characters. And sometimes you really see that, and sometimes you frustratingly don’t, but this episode was much more the former than the latter. 

I’m going talk about Carl right off the jump when I thought I was going to avoid talking about it at all because... not a topic I enjoy. If you don’t enjoy, I will keep it all in this bullet so it’s really skipable. I will see where I eventually land on it, because I am wary -- lots of bad consent on this show over the year and very little longterm exploration and all. But. I have seen a lot of sexual assault storylines over the years. I can’t readily remember if I’ve ever seen someone on a TV show have that moment where they feels weird, tell someone why, and get someone emphatically tell them that they’re right to feel weird, because they’ve been violated. That is something that is so common in life. I have unfortunately had more than one conversation with someone that took exactly that trajectory. There is so often this period of shock and uncertainty and people will then use that against people to demonstrate how they couldn’t POSSIBLY have been hurt. If they were going to tell a story about a sexual assault, I’m glad they did this -- something that they set up like “this is grey!” and then have Debbie say “It’s not grey. It’s a crime.” Weird to them basically SMASHCUT to a totally new topic but I will swing back around to that. 

I like Debbie best with Sandy so this was a rough one for me with her. 

Frank: WTF, why do I care about Frank’s story? They’ve set this up all season so it’s not a surprise, but... I dunno. Frank is awful. But he’s also an addict. And the thing I will always have empathy for on the topic of addiction is the way it can steal your life. What’s happening to Frank is scary and a direct result of an addiction which we have pretty much never seen him try to get out from under in any meaningful way. He has lost his life to it -- his potential, his relationships, his children -- and now he’s losing his mind. Just. Fuck. 

Speaking of: Lip. WTF are you doing? I feel like, by the end of the episode, they’d made it clear that Lip is acting out. That he’s angry and frustrated and it’s making him do stupid and destructive things that aren’t actually going to add up to ANYTHING good for him. Which... Kinda classic of Lip. But those moments where Mickey is looking at him and is the voice of reason ... I mean, I love that. But Lip. That’s not a great look for you. 

Once again, V’s story just sorta weird? Like active shooter drills being a replacement for gym class... Um.  Wait. What is this story about, exactly? Gun violence or school funding? Or both? What are we doing? 

Liam: Stop going to Carl with your problems. Christian: I love what you’re doing. Because boy do I feel Liam’s terror. And I’ll come back to that, too. 

Gallavich! It was a Gallavich story where the focus was on MICKEY. Just... Wow. I literally didn’t think that was going to be a thing this year. We love to see it. 

Mickey helping Lip rob Born Free... There are a lot of blanks in all of that, but he seemed quite integral to the operation, Ian clearly knew it was going down and Mickey seems to have primarily seen it as a way to do a thing for family. I love the Lip and Mickey relationship -- I love the history of it. I love that they’ve known each other since grade school and are completely different kinds of alphas. Lip has always had being the smartest in his back pocket, but Mickey often leaves him speechless by just being the most fearless. I love how there’s always been a bit of begrudging respect (and on Lip’s side, maybe a bit of sympathy) there and I love that the show let us have a moment where Mickey is going out to help Lip do crime and then coming back to the house with donuts for everybody. Just. Beyond my wildest dreams for season 11. 

Speaking of “beyond my wildest dreams” -- that there would be some decent level of complexity with Mickey and Terry. I think a lot of that complexity was left up to Noel to convey -- but that’s a choice they’re making and I think it’s the right one. I loved Ian observing that this was the most Mickey ever talked about Terry, because that seems true. It’s a little nod, too, to when Ian desperately WANTED Mickey to talk about Terry and the fact that Ian has, for years, accepted that Mickey won’t. It’s in character for Mickey not to want to SAY a lot about his dad, and it’s also just a true fact that the writers can give Noel a non-verbal moment (or five) and get us as the audience what we need to understand about where Mickey is at. And that’s history, too. Because we have watched Noel let the audience see Mickey’s heart through nothing but his facial expression for 10 of 11 seasons. 

One of those Milkoviches looks a lot like Jody, so that was weird. 

So one of my less popular Shameless opinions is that it makes sense that Mickey is involved with Terry in season 10. For many reasons I won’t get into here, but one of them is just that... people who have been abused by their parents do tend to have some kind of relationship with those parents. Most of that is just the fact that Terry -- while being absolutely horrific -- is still Mickey’s father. And Mickey clearly struggles to completely shrug that off. He struggles with it in seasons 3 and 4, and he struggles with it now. He understands that he has every right. But. Mickey isn’t Terry. And that’s going to make it harder for Mickey to completely shut that door. Since Mickey actually DOES have empathy. 

Ok -- everyone has and will say what I’m about to say, which is just: The scene on the couch was amazing. Being take care of is such a loaded issue for Ian. It was loaded enough that it broke them up in season 10. Ian might talk about being paralyzed, but he’s saying that knowing that he will have to rely on Mickey to take care of him sometimes. He knows Mickey knows that and he knows Mickey signed up for it. But it’s hard for him. I think Ian knows the answer to the question -- has to -- but he asks it to ground Mickey in the idea that they both have each other. Mickey isn’t going to end up like Terry. He isn’t going to be alone in his chair with every single member of his family satisfied to leave him on the curb in a hospital gown. 

To take a step back, this is also why I love the prior scene on the sidewalk, because that is a lot of how Ian takes care of Mickey. I reblogged Gallavictorious’s post yesterday that talked about an accusation that the fandom promotes the idea Mickey is supposed to solve Ian’s problems. This is the show helping her rebuttal, because my gut response to that idea was “where is Mickey now if Ian hadn’t shown up and loved him the way he did?” -- and that moment on the sidewalk is an example of how that still impacts Mickey. That’s what Mickey sticks around for. To have someone standing right in front of him when he wants to do something that will blow his life up just saying “Don’t.” Like how powerful is it for Mickey to have someone care like that? Mickey doesn’t want to talk. That’s not how he wants to receive love from Ian. But I think it’s incredibly valuable and important that Mickey has someone telling him he doesn’t need to give up his life to punish his father. That Terry isn’t worth it and that Mickey’s life IS. 

Back on the couch scene tip: How exhausted must Mickey BE at this point? He’s up all night helping Lip, then he’s driving with Ian all day. Just what a long 24 hours for this guy. 

I love that Ian doesn’t chase Mickey when he gets up. That he follows, but he doesn’t seem alarmed. He seems to understand they are past the gun-to-the-forehead part of this experience. 

I also love that Ian helps him. I’ve seen several people note that this is Ian observing Mickey’s boundaries and it is. But it’s also Ian pointing out that Mickey isn’t in this alone. 

It WAS big of Mickey, Ian. I fully agree. Far beyond the call. 

I think Ian’s been wanting to tell Mickey he’s better than that all day. But this was the moment where Mickey was most going to be able to hear it. 💕

Selling the house: Well, we are really getting to the “last season of Shameless” stuff. I get where Lip is coming from, when he looks at his options. I get Debbie’s reaction. I also understand, given Ian’s day, while he is IMMEDIATELY all in. I only have one question: WHAT ABOUT LIAM???? I’m already mad at all of you for not giving that kid a hug. 

But. I mean, overall? Literally wanted to see that much Terry/Mickey stuff for years. I never thought it would get here, so I’m happy. 

But oh my God. We’re halfway done. 😳

#of course I will always take more #but this was good #Save Liam #Shameless season 11 #Shameless 11x06