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emeraldgreaves · 2 months

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12,14, 17 and 30 for MoiraxRed and/or any/all of your BG3 pairings!

man i need to play more bg3. but this got way too long so here's the moirared!

Do they have similar goals? If they clash, how do they deal? I think their goals end up being fairly similar--I tend to describe them as two Weird Academics, so they're generally happy to support each other up to a point. i think moira finds the concept of the worldwalkers fascinating but also incredibly risky, so she'll help detangle power cables when Red wants to put together a new machine but doesn't have a problem pointing out the gaps in his reasoning. on the flip side, I think red does value moira's compassion and will gladly listen to her explain how antinausea potions were originally synthesized from lizard venom, but her self-sacrificing instincts in their particular line of work are a source of worry for him, and it's tricky to talk her down from expending so much of her time and energy because Healing/self-worth issues have basically trained her to operate that way.

Is there anything they associate with each other?

wasn't quite sure how to answer this one so have some patchwork vibes.

moira->red: once or twice across a barroom, she heard a laugh that was almost his. she draws such perfect chalk circles because of how much practice she had constructing them around their midnight experiments. he was the first person to recommend her favorite playwright. (she kept skipping shows of his favorites, and regrets forgetting how funny they were.) the book in chandry's shop seemed like something he might have liked. if she'd ever seen the sea, it would be a couple of shades away from his eyes. once on the road, maybe a week after she'd left for good, someone tugged on her braid the way he occasionally did and she hacked the entire thing off that evening.

red->moira: she prefers lavender soap for her hair. recipes for tonics and elixirs tended to read themselves in her voice. sometimes he finds her in the kitchen when he goes to scrounge up midnight snacks. (he didn't realize he looked forward to it until she was away on mission.) half the delight in a new discovery is explaining it to her over dessert. in their fifth year, she gave him a bookmark she made that would cling to the point in the page where you left off.

Their ways of expressing their love. lena's probably got an ask for things red does, but (1) moira feeds people and will bring snacks down if red is lost in the research sauce lmao (2) will happily donate time to the parts of research that don't require an advanced degree (rubber ducking, flagging stuff from the vaults that looks useful, etc.) (3) forehead. kisses. (4) in an established relationship, they send a letter home at least once a week so that the other person is guaranteed to receive them at some point. in the flirting stage they passed a lot of notes LMAO (5) giving the other one space to just Be A Person. IMO red is actually really well-suited to understand how heavy being The Hero of Haven can be, since he's done that as archmage. it helps that both of them knew the other person before they had a dramatic title to carry, so there's already a trust that they'll be forgiven for being less than perfect.

How does their love change as they get older? okay i can never write short about this but TLDR: they're not just exes. they were close friends whose miscommunication over their breakup drove a narrow but deep wedge between them that persists even in the present, and i think about that constantly. i think fundamentally the circle berakup came down towards red's thoughtlessness vs moira's passivity, plus her growing guilt/fears over keeping a large secret that potentially endangered anyone she gets close to. so things are better in game time! it's kind of interesting how time has reversed which one of them is more careful vs more carefree--red getting burned means he intends to make absolutely certain they're on the same page this time, moira getting forgiveness (and clarity) about the words of power removes a lot of her hesitations. there's a deliberateness and an openness that they hadn't quite figured out the first time. i think the biggest test for them actually comes postgame when it becomes clear just how fucking fragile moira has become due to the events of the game. and it's terrifying for her to be that vulnerable around him, but even admitting she was hurting would have been unfathomable to her when they were seventeen. (yes, this is another fic. no, i don't have enough information to finish it.) i'm also actually super curious to see if red's personal arc goes where i think it will (somewhat along the same lines of the major choice in riel's second day off, if that makes sense) because i think that's going to be a fascinating conversation for them. one of the ongoing jokes with some of my fics is that they add +10 to the redharden stat LMAO by the time we hit The Future in Take Your Daughter To Work Day, there's a point of contention around how much moira's tried to put hero of haven stuff behind her--on the one hand, it was probably the most painful period of her life by a long shot, but at the same time it's difficult to pretend it didn't happen, especially given that one of their kids joins the shepherds. they go back and forth on how much information it's right for them to have. but honestly i don't think it affects how much they love each other. sometimes i think about how much they care about each other and want to lie on the floor.

#emerald speaks #god this got long do not feel obligated to read the whole thing LMAO #moira linden #ask meme

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souryogurt64 · 1 year

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ur panic essay sent me into a spiral last night i can’t believe that’s how brent ended up

yeah the police report loudwire obtained said they were seeking warrants for his phone and computer and its since been taken over by the federal government instead of the state of nevada so they are probably waiting to charge him with dealing heroin until thats over because the amount of heroin that was supposedly in his car is worth something like 9k. im not like a heroin expert but it seems like a lot of heroin and there were scales in the car too.

i didnt want to say this in the brent essay because so much of what i was claiming was already kind of speculative but when i was writing the peteryan essay i ran into ryan ranting about how he had gotten a speeding ticket in brents "rich neighborhood" and the stuff about them using their house to practice and borrowing money from him for their van led me to believe they only kept him in the band for those reasons and then as soon as fever went gold and they had the upcoming tour they didnt need him for that anymore.

this was compounded by the fact that it seemed like brendon was implying he was owed brents share of the royalties and they got into it legally and then blake said brent won, though i dont think thats entirely true. similarly brendon also went on to sue shane over a financial dispute and that suit was dismissed by a judge which is character evidence imo

i dont doubt that brent was not able to keep up with them professionally and he was not doing a good job of being in a band and obviously panic were not responsible for whatever choices he made but spencer and ryan also ended up seriously addicted to drugs as well

and i feel like the way they handled it was shitty and immature. a couple people got upset about the essay but i stand by what i said the mtv writer i talked about actually went all the way to brents house in las vegas which seemed a bit excessive to me so its clear he saw a story there and he kept harping on the same themes in every single article he wrote about panic

later the same mtv writer was accused of helping tank the young veins career because he had it out for ryan. i dont know how accurate that is because i was like ten in 2009 and busy playing with littlest pet shops instead of reading mtv but the articles were incredibly brutal.

ryan and brendon (mostly ryan) developed kind of an attitude about pete during pretty odd and there was the whole wentzlee-ross sleepover incident that immediately preceded the split and then during the split, which was literally a month after the sleepover (where pete was tweeting it up about how ryan was his bestie), that writer made some pretty brash accusations that pete no longer considered ryan a friend despite saying pete refused to comment which a publication like mtv absolutely would not have gotten away with unless he and pete were deliberately playing a mind game which seems in character if you read the book they cowrote lol, as does some of the plausibly deniable sarcasm in the articles

i genuinely believe this mtv writer and pete were in cahoots (lol) on some level during this period because even though petes book came out in early 2013 he pushed the release back several times and began writing it as early as 2004 and other people like william beckett and some girl were also involved in writing it because it took forever so i would suggest they were likely working together a lot during the young veins thing and possibly the panic split at the very least

ANYWAYYYYYYYYYY pete wentz conspiracies aside this wasnt just like something i came up with because i have a hateboner for brendon because he took the band in a pop direction, this was something i wrote because while researching the peteryan essay i kept running into the brent thing being discussed with a much higher level of emotion and anger than i had anticipated and people calling panic shitty in ways that mirror how theyre discussed today and i AM NOT crazy because petes friend was saying the same shit

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gallavich-headcanon · 1 year

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I don’t know that Mickey had direct info on El Chapo honestly (I think he’d already been recaptured at that point) but I do think Mickey had info on how the cartel works and who’s who inside it. Mickey’s smart, a lot smarter then the show sometimes gave him credit for imo, but it’s a practical, survival based, kind of street smarts. Over the show we see Mickey being really observant and quick on his feet in terms of adapting to situations. Add in being raised in what was basically the Milkovich crime family and I bet he got a pretty good lay of the land just by keeping his eyes and ears open. We know he can be good with people who aren’t Ian when he wants to be (conned a guard to break out of jail) and he was a gay kid living in Terry Milkovich’s house for most of his life so I could see him making a kind of mental map of the cartel’s structure just from gossip and reading people. Gotta admit, my first watch through of the groomzilla episodes, I was really expecting Mickey to reveal that it was mostly just a play to get Terry locked up for hate crimes by making it impossible to ignore. I do still wonder what a interesting storyline it would have been if Mickey wasn’t at least partly still an informant after they got out and that was why he kept working with Terry and wasn’t worried about getting a job. It would have made more sense to me but oh well. I also wanted them to get married at the baseball field bc it was their spot! 🦖

Hello again 🦖 anon! Your asks are always fun!

Mickey’s smart, a lot smarter then the show sometimes gave him credit for imo, but it’s a practical, survival based, kind of street smarts. -> I couldn't agree more!!! We got a few examples in canon- he's great at running business and problem solving (and math). I think he realized pretty quick how things work there, and as always used the way people underestimate him for his advantage.

This got me thinking about how Mickey got a female guard to fall in love with him and help him and Damon escape prison. Like the amount of planning and manipulation a person needs for that. Especially as a gay person that was never in a relationship with a woman, but somehow managed to woo that guard.

If I remember correctly Mickey mentions the Sinaloa cartel in 10x12 talking about Terry handing them over to child services for a year so Terry could work for them (?) so maybe he got a lot of info as a kid and hoped some of it would turn the cartel on Terry.

I wonder how much Terry knew about what Mickey did. in s9 Terry tells Ian that Mickey is in Mexico. And there's no way Mickey picked this cartel randomly. Did Terry ever find out Mickey was a snitch? Mickey was helping him move guns and shit in s10, so he must have trusted him enough. What do you think?

The groomzilla episodes -to get Terry locked up for hate crimes -> that's such an interesting plot line! I was also a bit suspicious about it at first! I was kind of waiting to see what happens with the whole idea of recording the wedding and tying Terry to a chair to make him watch it... but nothing happened.

I got to say I would have love to get to see Mickey take Terry down by helping the police but I feel like he's too into the southside rules (Don't snitch, unless it's in order to reunite with the love of your life) to be a police informant.

Oh I wish they got married at the dugouts!!! Unfortunately according to Ian it was the winter and 40 degrees and suppose to snow... I wish they did something there, maybe the proposal or I don't know, them sitting there planning the wedding.

#🦖 anon #my thoughts #gallavich headcanons #shameless meta #shameless #asks #my headcanons

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we-pay-for-everything · 1 year

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If you're not sick of asks yet: I've heard that SMG and NB went to the writers to see if Buffy/Xander could get together in Season 7. I have so many mixed feelings about that! I know you wouldn't have ever shipped them as much as you do Bangel, but could you have seen potentially shipping them at all or at least disliking them less than Spuffy?! What do you see as Buffy and Xander's similarities, differences and the possible strengths and flaws of them as a couple? As always, I can't wait to read your response!

I wouldn't have shipped them. I tend to only ship one couple at best and I don't ship the same person with multiple people, though I can casually enjoy different ships.

I'm 100% sure I would've disliked Xander and Buffy less than Spuffy. Xander is miles better than Spike, though I think the Scoobies should be friends and nothing more. I don't have any objections to Buffy and Xander, but I think neither was interested in the other and it would've been a case of them getting together because they were lonely and sort of on the rebound.

Buffy and Xander knew each other well and worked well together to help Dawn and run the household - they were presented as a family unit in season 7. Maybe they figured they'd have better luck in love if they dated each other. They would've lasted a few episodes at best, but maybe it could've a dynamic worth exploring. A lot of people date or even marry because they don't want to be alone, and I can see two people who have become so weary of the world just settling for each other. It wouldn't have worked out in the end, though, because they aren't the type to just settle.

Buffy and Xander had history together, trust, love, respect. They both loved Dawn too and were the most reliable adults in the series (apart from Tara). Buffy was reliable as the slayer and Xander was reliable as a support system. They both used humor to cope and smiled their way through life. Xander used to be a toxic male but got over his need to prove himself. I'd say that by season 6, at least, he wasn't insecure about himself and his place in the group anymore. So he didn't need Buffy and, unlike Spike, wouldn't have put pressure on her to take care of him and give his life purpose. But Xander had strong opinions and Buffy wouldn't have responded well to them in season 7. The thing about Spike was that he was always on Buffy's "side" even when she was very wrong. Xander could also be overprotective and Buffy never responded well to boyfriends with strong opinions on her job. She always needed to be free to do what she thought right. In season 7 in particular, Xander probably would've been even more frustrated with her choices had they been dating. Besides, Xander needed a partner who was emotionally available, and that person wasn't Buffy in season 7. I said that Xander overcame his insecurities in the end, and wouldn't have pressured Buffy like Riley did, but he would've pressured her a bit nonetheless. Likewise, Buffy needed someone who could really understand her and make her feel less alone, and Xander couldn't be that person for her - practically no one could, because she was so closed-off.

I don't think Buffy and Xander would have had strengths as a couple. Their friendship had strengths, but the added romantic component wouldn't have strengthened their bond any further imo. I just don't think Xander could really understand Buffy. He saw himself as the sidekick, so he didn't know what it was like to make the decisions Buffy made and his priorities in life were different from hers. Xander had plans to settle down and enjoy a simple, quite life while Buffy was totally lost and couldn't really see a future for herself. They also had a different outlook on life. Xander's being more optimistic and simple-minded while Buffy became jaded and carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. They both had very strong opinions and could be quite hypocritical though (for example, Xander with Angel in Becoming pt.2 vs. Anya in Selfless, and Buffy with Anya vs. Spike in season 7).

Anyway, I'm not sure I fully answered your question, but I did my best! Thanks for the ask! And thank you for your interest :)

#ask #btvs #buffy summers #xander harris #thanks for the ask!

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gwynrielendgame · 3 years

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Gwynriel smut lol

Okay yall I truly struggle writing smut...I deal with a lot of shame revolving anything with sex, but I figured writing a fanfic might be therapeutic in a sense. If you don't like it, please move along. It may not be spicy enough or perhaps you find it too spicy; either way, pls be considerate in the comments below. Probably 18+ if you read acosf then this is about the same level IMO. Idk what type of warnings to give with smut so I supposed continue at your own discretion.

“Um, Az?” Gwyn hesitantly called for her mate. She did not want to admit to being stuck, but there was no avoiding it.

“Yeah?” He released his cock from his hand to look at the beautiful female tied up in his bed. He caressed her soft backside before nipping it quickly.

“Az! Focus,” her giggles undermined the harsh tone she was attempting to use. “I’m stuck.” She tried to look back at him. But the ties they were using were particularly tight. She would have to teach Az a softer knot.

“That is kind of the point, is it not?” He continued to nip at her bottom in a playful manner. The giggles it elicited sent heat straight to his groin. He gripped his cock again and started pumping it with one hand while his other hand drifted to her thighs that were spread apart with the help of the very sturdy ribbons they were using.

“Azriel.” She whined his name.

They were attempting something that Gwyn found in a book that Nesta so kindly gifted her for Gwyn’s birthday one year. It clearly needed more detailed instructions because this was not as “loose” nor “comfortable” as she had read the position to be. Azriel gave one final chuckle before surrendering.

“Where do I need to fix it, love?”

“Loosen the ties on my wrists. I want to be able to prop myself up.”

He immediately went to work on the ribbons around her wrists. The action caused a rush of heat to flood Gwyn. As much as they teased each other, he always listened to her requests. Even if it doused some of the ambiance, he always stopped to make sure she was comfortable. It was the single most attractive thing he did, in her opinion. Nothing made her want him more than his quietly respectful demeanor. She could think of a few instances where his manners benefitted him greatly at the end of the night. Her fantasies were interrupted by the ribbons loosening. She sighed as she propped herself up on her elbows, making sure her backside was on perfect display for her mate. He stifled a groan by sinking his teeth into her more than supple bottom. She often found little bruises there from all his sucking and biting.

“Please continue.” She moaned as his teeth scraped at her. She never wanted him to stop especially when he brought his fingers back in between her thighs.

“What was that, love? I do not think I heard you.” Azriel said in his quiet, spymaster voice. It always turned Gwyn on when he used this tone, so she could not find it in herself to be mad that he wanted her to beg. She would beg if it meant he would keep talking.

“Please?” She tried again. “I want you to-“ her body jerked as he brushed lightly over her most sensitive area. She tried to scoot back towards his hand when he pulled away, but the ties prevented that. She whimpered to show her dissatisfaction. Azriel only chuckled in response.

“Please what?”

“Please touch me!” It was a desperate plea. She would allow him to tease her later for how quickly she started to beg; but for now, she simply needed his touch.

“Your wish is my command.” He used that same quiet, sultry voice.

Finally, his fingers were moving with a purpose. He circled her clit while using his other hand to pump inside of her. She started to wriggle underneath his touch. He knew she was close now.

“Yes! Azriel yes!”

It always filled him with so much pride when he could get her to moan his full name. His shadows roamed, untamed. They caressed every part of her that they could reach. She moaned even louder when a shadow slowly creeped up her back.

“Let me touch you.” She said in such a demanding tone that Azriel could not stop his smile even if he tried. He moved his hands faster, swirling her clit in a rhythmic motion that had her bucking against the ties.

“Soon.” He mutter. He would finish her off several times first. He could feel it building in her as her body tightened and she held in her breath.

“Do not stop!” She demanded once more. A sly grin slid onto his face even though he knew she could not see it since his fingers were sliding into her from behind. He slowed his speed down until he completely pulled his hands away altogether. She practically screeched in outrage.

“What was that? Did you say stop?”

“Azriel!” She yelped.

He plastered his front to her back, brought his mouth to her ear and his hand around the front to cup her. He started slow ministrations over again that had her whimpering.

“Who gives the orders in this bed?” Azriel asked with so much smugness that Gwyn wanted to yell many obscenities at him. She did not though considering he was slowly bringing her right back to the edge of her climax. She promised to pay him the same courtesies when it was his turn in the ribbons.

“You.” She muttered as though she was displeased, but truly she could not be more aroused. She knew he could tell by how wet his fingers must be by now.

“That’s right. I will let you know when I start taking orders from bossy Valkyries though.” The rough tone was so erotic as his mouth brushed against the shell of her ear that she thought she might finish right then and there. Secretly, she loved when he told her what to do. She had a feeling it was not much of a secret to him though. He intertwined one of his hands with hers while the other hand continued to torture her. He kept his chest firmly pressed against her back as she rode his hand. The restraints only added to the pleasure coursing through her veins.

She felt his very large cock press against her entrance from the back. She pushed back against him to try and take it all as his fingers continued to play with her. The restraints kept her legs in place though. She groaned out in frustration.

“Please?” She asked once again. She turned her head to look at his beautiful face only to see a look of utter concentration.

He, normally, only looked like this when he was writing a report for the High Lord. It always made her blood pump with arousal, so she was excited to see it now. He pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder and then lined himself up at her entrance.

“Azriel, I love you, but I swear to the cauldron if you do not enter me right now- ah!” She moaned loudly as Az finally entered her in one rough push.

He began rocking his hips- in and out. Gwyn tried to meet each thrust with one of her own, but the ties were proving difficult. She would need to add her own angry anecdote to the page on this position in her book. He thrust so deeply that Gwyn screamed out for all to hear.

“Fuck yes. Keep going please.” She made sure to add on the please at the end to keep him appeased. He made a loud moan himself as he continued to pump into her.

“Unless you want Cassian and Nesta to hear, I suggest you quiet down.” He was gritting his teeth as he said it. He was clearly trying to maintain some sort of control. Gwyn smirked as she knew that he always finished fast from this position.

“Payback.” Is all she uttered.

Azriel’s fingers swirled around her clit right as he hit a deep spot inside her. It had her coming so hard and long that she was certain she lost her vision for a second. She may have also been screaming, but she was not entirely sure. His fingers did not stop their movements on her though. It was such an intense feeling she almost wanted to ask him to stop. He kept pumping into her though while he tried to find his own release. Her hips were meeting his thrust for thrust. She could feel as his speed picked up and he became more wild and unhinged. It was her favorite part of sex with him. When he was so close that he almost gave over complete control and was not quite as gentle with her as he normally was.

“Fuck.” He muttered much quieter than Gwyn had when she finished. The hand that was interlaced with hers was squeezing so tightly that she worried her hand would go numb. She sighed contently. She knew with the Shadowsinger at her side, they could accomplish anything.

“Think I’m pregnant yet?” Gwyn asked once she had been untied, and they had finished a few more rounds.

They both lay on their back with Azriel’s arm tucked under her head. He pulled her closer to place a kiss on her forehead. It was such a tender moment that it made her heart squeeze. She started tracing his chest tattoos with her fingers. Azriel smiled softly at that. He noticed she could never sit still. If she was not tracing his tattoos, then it was his scars on his hands. If not that, then she was chasing his shadows around the room. She was only truly still when she slept.

“Good news is that we can keep trying until you are.”

“Very good news indeed.” A mischievous smile curled at her lips while the hand that had been tracing tattoos started trailing downwards.

“Again?” He asked astonished. He figured that she would definitely be sated at least until tomorrow. She rolled her eyes, but the smile stayed in place.

“A baby is not going to magical insert itself, now is it?” A smirk played at his lips.

“Just for that I am not going to let you finish for at least the next two rounds.”

#gwynriel #gwyneth berdara #azriel #fanfic #smut #acotar #acosf

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balillee · 3 years

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my unpopular dsmp opinions, some of which genuinely should be popular

c!dream has crossed the moral event horizon and is irredeemable. once you cross that threshold, you're no longer a 'morally grey' character.

pre-recorded, heavily produced lore killed the lore. it was cool, sure, but you completely misunderstand the magic that the smp had when people watched it initially. the story is improv and that's how we like it. we can tell the cc's have lost interest in it, you can admit that to us, we'll understand, just stop lying to me.

c!dream's pov isn't necessary to understand his character or his motivations. if you've watched literally any c!primeboys stream he's basically spelled it out for you.

i don't understand how fans can dislike l'manberg or have claimed to be against it since the beginning. i honestly don't get it. what's so bad about wanting your own spot where you make your own rules and skirt accountability that has been used to technically oppress you before - and, before someone who never saw the earlier streams tries to disagree with this, the og l'manberg crew were imprisoned for shit that everyone else on the server was practically encouraged to do. also, what do you have against fun and happiness?

i think some of you forget that 'hybrids' aren't a thing, discounting c!ranboo. there's no piglin hybrids, c!techno is just a pig. there's no avian hybrids, c!phil is just a man with wings. there's no creeper hybrids, c!sam is just a creeper who's indecently exposed from the hips down. canonically there's no hybrids, and therefore no hybrid discrimination. people ran with that concept too much.

the loss and the fanon rewriting of the early lore up until pogtopia has ruined fandom perception of c!dream and the og l'manberg boys. c!tommy is more morally white than you think he is, and c!dream has always been a villain - he massacres and he kills and he destroys and he schemes and he always has broken his own rules. no wonder the boys wanted their own space after how they were treated.

i think ranboo oftentimes forgets his own lore. he brings stuff up that c!ranboo may have done, such as exploding the community house to frame c!tommy, holding onto Cat, and it goes absolutely nowhere. we've gotten all of these developments in his story but they have never been expanded on, and we're nowhere closer to figuring out his relationship to c!dream and what his other side is and honestly i see no hope that we'll be any closer to knowing even by the end of the year.

your characters don't all have to be morally grey for the story itself to be morally grey. this is fiction - some people can be nothing but evil and others can be nothing but good. being purely good or evil doesn't mean that you're one dimensional, either.

c!dream apologists have ruined c!dream for me. he's not a good person. how about you let me enjoy a villain for who he actually is, rather for than your percieved woobified ragdoll you pass off as c!dream.

the story was better when there was a central writer. it was brilliant back when wilbur wrote it to be that the environment drives the characters and the story, and it was really good in early s2 up until techno's execution day when it was more character driven. since then, the amount of autonomy people have over their characters without any central 'director', as it were, has been a detriment to the story overall. there needs to still be one overarching figure or director or writer.

not everyone is a main character. just because they have a pov, doesn't mean they're a main character. some characters have such little impact on the overall plot and describing everyone as a main character oversaturates the story and makes some characters seem more important than they are.

the egg lore had so much potential up until it didn't. all that built up threat that we were expecting and we still don't even know what the egg wants really other than just controlling people. does it hatch?

genuinely, if there's no major plot developments by the end of the year (and let's be honest, it's a very big possibility at this point), a few of the more prominent members of the server should do a podcast style stream talking about where the story would have gone, because at least then we would have gotten somewhat closer to a conclusion.

c!techno is a villain and an asshole and a bad person. he stops caring for people once their interests don't align with his or if they look at him funny. he makes meta-jokes about his own tyrannical and oppressive nature. stop taking that away from him. he's a bad person. cc!techno does a fabulous job portraying that in a comedic manner and the balancing of him being a deeply flawed person with deeply flawed morals and ideas with his comedically-portrayed stubbornness and lack of willingness to hear out opposing viewpoints is incredible. i want to like characters who are arseholes for the sake of being arseholes, and who refuse to take into account the hurt they've caused either out of self-righteousness or because they don't care, so let me. he's the anti-peacemaker, LET ME HIM ENJOY HIM FOR THAT!!!!

i think tommy and wilbur's way of doing lore is my favourite. relies heavily on improv, voice acting, sprite acting and facial expressions. really shows off the acting props and they pull off the emotional moments well for the insanity of the creative medium.

i'm not a fan of fan-music. i find songs about media i'm into difficult to listen to. coincidentally i'm also not a fan of shit like slam poetry or live music/musicals/pantomimes.

the death of l'manberg killed people's motivation to go on the server casually. i've talked about it more in depth before, but destroying what was a central, driving environment for the story killed momentum and motivation. imagine in an episode of she-ra, the princess alliance just nuke the freight zone and all of the members of the horde just have to deal with it. that would be shit.

until season 3 has some momentum, i'm counting the end of the smp as january 20th. that had a conclusion. season 3 has... whores, technoblade and tommyinnit. that's about it.

i wasn't a fan of the development of c!tubbo joining las nevadas. i preferred snowchester and the walled city conflict. give c!tubbo some backbone and some badassery. also tubbo where's the fucking nuke bro if you're shelving that plotline just tell us on like an alt stream what the plan was i beg

add like 2 or 3 new people to the server so that michael mcchill has someone to talk to and so that there's something always happening on the server. it gives the og's more motivation to return if things are happening in and out of canon and it'll help with momentum, and who knows? maybe they can write their own story/stories.

i really think that c!sam is an underrated character. he's multilayered, extremely interesting, and the dichotomy of his loyalty to his job and how far down the rabbithole that's taken him versus the genuine love he has for his friends that drives him to do what he does out of wanting to do right by them is brilliant. i don't talk about c!sam enough.

STOP HAVING FUCKING VILLAIN ARCS!!! I'M FUCKIN SICK OF IT!!!! i want to see more characters who see everyone else being absolute selfish, abhorrent cunts and go 'if nobody else is going to be a good person, i fucking will'. GIVE ME SOME MORAL WHITENESS!!! IT'S INTERESTING AND MORALLY GOOD CHARACTERS ARE FUN!!!

let tommyinnit build cobblestone towers. everyone bullied him too much for how ugly they were and the one he built outside of the prison looked genuinely really nice. it gives the boy something to do.

i'm a fan of the revive book and the canon lives system. don't ask me why, but i think it might just be the morbidity of it. it adds to c!dream's god complex persona, and i think the fragility of death itself is a really fun concept. not enough fan cc's have made connections with that and c!mumza, and it could make for cool fanfic.

ranboo your house is fucking ugly. it's an eyesore

c!niki, and to some extent now c!jack and c!fundy, are boring me and ruining my mood. i think c!jack is the closest to being an actually interesting sympathetic villain, mainly because nobody else seems to realise that c!niki is a villain. not a good one imo, but she's a villain. c!jack just has the problem of starting a new project over and over and over and over again and because of the slow in momentum for the primary cast, there hasn't been a lot of recent development for him.

not really a dream smp opinion, but if philza went full geordie accent, i would love it. i want him to, in canon, say shit like 'me n ye' instead of 'me and you' and use geordie dialect. i want him to be physically unintelligible because it's funny.

i don't really know what's up with c!foolish but i think he's a dumbass. he had a while to think about c!q's proposal and then changed his mind about joining the guy to admitted to letting him die just because. moron

i wish there was more c!eret lore. i wish he was an actual king with an actual kingdom and actual subjects and royal advisors. c!eret is far too fucking cool to be the king of nothing and nobody. fatten up the kingdom and the castle with people who work with c!eret, and don't just make it tyrannical and dictator-y to prove the point of the server's 'anarchists'. make it a healthy working environment, please - if you want moral greyness, have 'anarchists' who claim to care about the welfare of the server oppose a kingdom of happy people under a fair and just ruler because their ideologies clash.

the server needs more characters who oppose anarchy in more peaceful ways, or passively wish for systems to be a part of. i think a chaos vs order conflict ending only in mutual understanding where everyone understands that they should just leave each other alone would slot nicely into the story that's been created so far.

you need to have watched all of the previous arcs to understand the story. i've seen people argue that they don't need to know about earlier lore to understand the prison, but that's the equivalent of only watching the final season of pretty little liars and expecting to understand the context of what's going on.

some characters aren't that morally grey. some characters, take c!tommy for example, are definitely on the whiter side for the morality scale, he's just an asshole. he's abrasive and rude and a dickhead but he also doesn't agree with terrorism, he's patriotic, he strives for a better world, he's apologetic, but he's also a fucking BITCH.

you can add onto this if you want, but not if you're a c!dream apologist. nobody likes your opinions

#dream smp #dsmp #esclaposhitpost

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idontlikeem · 2 years

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I'n still mad about the Pens and their rut that seemingly may have happened at the "wrong" time while most teams are feeling high over a W heading into the break...until you realize at least we already know what issues we need to fix. Some others look good now, but the cracks will inevitably show later on and by then it might all be too late to resolve them. It could be worse, we could be the team who made history for having two dubious losing streaks in just half a season...

yeah, i think i have to disagree with you a little here, anon! i don't think this is the wrong time for a little bit of a slump at all.

we've got 40-odd games left, which means points here, while useful to bank, do not make or break either playoff eligibility or home ice advantage. but at the same time, we've already played 40-odd games, which means not only is fatigue setting in, but complacency. setting back and not trying your hardest when it's january and nasty out is absolute not uncommon for anyone, including hockey players lol.

one of my biggest gripes with sully as a coach is he can be very rigid in his personnel decisions, and IMO something that might shake a team up at times like this (and it happens, if not exactly during this timeframe then very close, every season) is mixing up the lines. this makes the guys play with a bit more attention because they're not with their usual linemates and can't default to the habits they've established over the first half of the season (some of which aren't good!), and it also shows potential combinations that might even be better than what we've been running so far. i wish he'd do it from the start of a game and not as a mid-play punishment demotion, because there are a lot of combos i'd like to see tried out while we can still play and the win/loss of any one game isn't quite so fraught with consequences.

i could talk about what i think the lines should look like to at least try it out all day, haha, but to start with i'd really like to see erod centering the third line with kappy on his wing and jeff carter on geno's wing, to help with faceoffs. erod was at his best when he was playing center this season IMO, and he and kappy had chemistry and produced good stuff—this might wake both of them up. and i think geno and jeff work very well together, not just for the faceoffs—they generated quite a few scoring chances in those first few games geno was back.

maybe keep mcginn up on the second line then—he's physical and plays a simple game, he's either got the puck or he's heading for the net, but jeff also plays physically, so it won't be totally up to mcginn to do the grunt work on that line, which tires him out. i think they could really get something cooking, and then suddenly our second line is MUCH better than it currently is.

one of the things i'm most concerned with right now is the depth scoring drying up, and all that takes to solve is a little tinkering. i hope sully tries a few new things out in practice and maybe the next few games because we cannot succeed when the only people putting up points are sid, geno, rusty, and jake.

#asks #anon #pittsburgh penguins #PROBABLY WAY MORE THAN YOU WANTED I'M SO SORRY #I CAN'T STOP MYSELF I JUST LOVE THINKING ABOUT HOCKEY

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phoenixyfriend · 3 years

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I’ve been trying to figure out the best obi wan ship. They all have one slightly problematic thing this way or that. I’ve landed on the idea of obi wan and an equal is pretty top tier. But then I saw a picture of Coran from voltron. Coran and Obiwan might be a disaster but also both are dad shaped, both are bad ass, both are ginger, both have an accent. I think it could work. But another part of me is like Coran is just obi and jarjar mashed together. At the very least they hooked up.

Hey I just had restaurant ramen and Starbucks and actually feel like a human being so let's do something unnecessary but funny. I'm taking this as a challenge, anon.

Also IMO Coran has more in common with C3P0 than with JarJar

So obviously, both of these happen in Big Space, but the difference appears to be density. We see about the same complexity of culture and species interactions, but Voltron covers more galaxies. It's vaguely implied that Earth, at least, is the only planet with sapient life in the Milky Way.

I think the way I want to play this out, culturally, is that the Voltron area of the universe covers a much wider, but much more sparsely populated area, while the SW-verse is just the one very densely populated (in part because apparently humans just went Literally Everywhere) galaxy, where they didn't necessarily bother with developing the tech to go to other galaxies (except Rishi, which only sort of counts) because they haven't really even charted out their own yet. It was never contacted by the Voltron side of things because [checks notecards full of excuses] it's really far away from Altea and all that, and the Force shielded the galaxy from Galra interests because Reasons.

All this to say that the two franchises didn't interact until after the Voltron plotline was already over. We'll say it went mostly canon, except Allura survived because uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh fuck that.

We'll say that this is mid-TCW, you know, before Obi-Wan is a bundle of repressed traumas and bad coping mechanisms that's lost almost everyone he's ever loved to the dark side through death or corruption. He's still (mostly) okay! Anakin's not dark (or at least, not as dark as he could be; Obi-Wan doesn't know about the Tuskens), and Ahsoka's still in good standing and most people are alive and--and okay the army is a massive ethical violation he hates with his very soul and he misses Qui-Gon and Anakin's keeping secrets and pulling away from him every day but He's Fine, Guys.

He's Fine.

In comes a ship from not Wild Space, but beyond that. Intergalactic visitors, from the direction of the deeply concerning Force bullshit they felt a few years ago. Translation tech is decent enough on both sides that they get to talking pretty quickly. The explorer is actually a member of the Blade of Marmora, who gets the absolute most basic info (approximately this many inhabited planets, approximately this many trillions of sapients in the recorded galaxy, basic structure of the government for the past however many years, most recent conflict, etc.)

BoM person is like "cool, okay so you guys are really well set-up so I'm just gonna head back and kick this up a few rungs of the coalition ladder because this is way above my paygrade, I'll make sure you get some diplomats who can maybe help out with the whole galactic civil war situation as neutral parties."

The Voltron Coalition does send a diplomat! They, uh, also send Coran, who isn't technically a diplomat, but he's high-level.

The thing is, okay, that Coran is mostly just... passably competent at things. He's a jack of all trades, master of none type. He knows a lot of things, actually, but his practical knowledge in high pressure situations tends to be up in the air. He knows how to fix the Castle Ship and various technologies, but all of that info is ten thousand years out of date. He was a competent fighter at one point but these days his back gives out. He's very knowledgeable regarding intergalactic politics but, again, that information is ten thousand years out of date. He's also a little prone to social gaffs in dicey situations (e.g. the inciting incident in the Voltron Show episode where he misses the single day with clear skies), but puts in so much goddamn effort to make things happen.

In this manner, he's like a warped mirror of what Obi-Wan is and could be.

THAT SAID

Coran is actually really good with teenagers, and specifically with training them.

And Obi-Wan... isn't.

Obi-Wan's snarky and snippy and sassy, and he's decent enough at teaching and he's great at being a jokey friend and all, but he's not necessarily very good at emotions. And unfortunately for Obi-Wan, the teenagers he spends the most time with are Really Full Of Emotions. He tries, bless him, but he's just... he doesn't respond well to emotional conversations at the best of times.

His son-figure saying "You're like a father to me" leads to a response of... radio silence. Guys. That's not the mark of a man who knows how to talk about his feelings with the people he cares about.

In swans Coran with the various other diplomatic envoys of the visiting extragalactic community. The entire situation is really leading to a lull in the war because nobody wants to risk pissing off this clearly well-funded, well-powered third party. As a result, many of the High Generals can interact with the envoys, even if they spend quite a bit of time eyeing the Separatist representatives on the other side of the room, because clearly Everyone Needs A Seat At This Table.

It's a very tense situation.

Obviously, Coran is exactly the weird uncle that goes around telling plausibly-exaggerated stories about Weblums and Yalmors and Balmeras. I'm going to say at least one former Paladin is there, maybe Hunk. Hunk's fun, and also very willing to help Coran make friends and seem Amicable instead of Distant by correcting some of the exaggerations. There's a nice, calm atmosphere in a bubble around Coran and his nonsense, and it's a weird situation but arguably just... you know. It's good. He's good at making people feel safe around him.

Cue the hissed argument between Skywalker and Kenobi. The actual cause of said argument isn't important, just the fact that, in a dark corner where they're less likely to cause a PR issue, Anakin and Obi-Wan are having it out. Anakin's maybe twenty, still a lanky ragebaby, all that fun stuff. Obi-Wan is a the endpoint of every too-young brotherdad. He's thirty-six but feels like he's sixty-three. He's tired, but trying so damn hard to still connect with Anakin and just--just--

Obi-Wan gives himself a few minutes to calm down before following Anakin. He doesn't even remember what they were arguing about, really, but he has to mend the bridge before it frays even more than it already has. If Anakin goes to Palpatine for advice again, he's going to... do something. Obi-Wan isn't sure what, but he just has to fix this.

What he finds is... well, Anakin did end up going to vent to a man of an earlier generation who acts like a slightly eccentric older relative, but it's not Palpatine for once.

The goofy, slightly abrasive but mostly charming, brightly-colored representative of the Voltron Coalition is standing in the little balcony that Anakin's made it to, listening as Obi-Wan's recently-knighted padawan vents. The man nods and makes noises at the appropriate times, and then asks questions that are... maybe a little too accurate.

"You said that you view him as a father, that he raised you after you left your mother."

"Well, yeah, but he doesn't think I'm ready, or--"

"No parent ever does."

"...my mom thought I was ready to become a Jedi."

"I can't speak for your mother," the representative says, "but the princess of my people, Allura... I half-raised that girl from the beginning, and after the destruction of Altea, we were all the other had left. I watched her lead battles and bring life to planets, trying to rebuild a universe out of the ashes of what we'd left behind... I saw the evidence with my own eyes, and I still, every time, I worried for her."

"Why?"

"I worried that she'd be hurt, that she wasn't ready, that she'd make a decision she regretted. Often, she did, and I had to help her back up, and while she's always come back, stronger than before... she is the closest thing I have ever had to a daughter, and I will always worry for her. Every parent does. Do you think, perhaps, that your own Jedi Master, that you consider a father, may worry because he looks at you like a son? That it's not that he doesn't trust you, but that he doesn't trust the world around you?"

Obi-Wan feels his heart in his throat.

The conversation continues in that vein. While Obi-Wan can't say he likes the fact that this stranger is putting words in his mouth, if only as hypotheticals, he can't deny that there's a part of him that relaxes as Anakin does, as every frustrated fresh-knight question gets a measured elderly-steward response that's angled to consider the interpretation that favors Anakin and Obi-Wan in equal measure. Every word encourages Anakin to talk things out and lay boundaries and express his frustrations to Obi-Wan in the plainest words possible.

There's a story in there, more than one. The representative tends to go off on tangents, ones that Anakin sometimes finds interesting and sometimes just resigns himself to. Mostly, though, it goes well, and Obi-Wan... well, he's always been 'a nosy little bastard,' according to quite a few people.

(In his defense, the terms they'd used about Quinlan's 'investigative personality' had been quite a bit stronger.)

He eavesdrops to the end, and Anakin doesn't notice at all. Obi-Wan's not sure if he should try to address Anakin's lack of awareness of the world around him. He's not technically Anakin's master anymore. The comment may be taken as a criticism of his worth and capability, rather than a sincere desire to see his padawan not die.

He approaches the representative instead. He intends to introduce himself. Instead, the first words that tumble out of his mouth are:

"How do you do it?"

The man--older than he looks from a distance, more wrinkles than the bright hair would suggest, but not quite elderly yet--turns and lifts a brow. "Hm?"

"I'm sorry, I'm--" Obi-Wan grimaces. "I'm Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. The young man you were just talking to is my former padawan, er, my former apprentice. I've been finding it harder and harder to speak with him over the past few years, and it seems that every interaction we have leads to an argument. How do you... manage that? I can't get him to listen to me at all."

"Ah, teenagers," the man sighs.

"He's twenty."

The representative pauses, and turns to him. "Are you the one he says raised him? The father?"

"Well... yes, I suppose that's one way to phrase it," Obi-Wan says, eyes darting to the side. He doesn't know how to explain the whole attachment situation to someone who barely knows what a Jedi is. He has even less of an idea of how to explain his own broken ability to speak of emotion, the parts of his mind that Bant clucks over and attributes to his own complicated relationship with Qui-Gon. "I had custody as his primary guardian from ages nine to nineteen and was the primary individual for handling his schooling, health, and general upbringing."

"That sounds to me like a very convoluted way of saying you were his father in all but name."

Obi-Wan grimaces. "I'm not exactly old enough to be his father, and I wasn't exactly the person he was supposed to learn from; I was the... back-up option."

"It seems he cares for you very much."

"He didn't have much of a choice," Obi-Wan says, with the kind of helpless smile and awkward shrug he's long gotten used to sharing with people when they ask. "And I assure you he'd have been happier with the man that was meant to teach him."

"I'd say that the 'would have' in this situation is much less important than what is," the representative says. Obi-Wan probably should have paid more attention to his name. "I wasn't in a position to define my relation to Allura or her father in the way that truly suited our situation, by... oh, tradition, social norms, public relations, take your pick. I was a very well-regarded official, of course, but I wasn't royalty, not even nobility, and I certainly wasn't wasn't legally or publicly part of the family. But for all the limitations there, I was still able to find ways to tell her and her family what they meant to me, and they in return. Your apprentice cares for you very much, and I'm sure you care back, but I'd hazard quite the guess that you've no idea how to tell him that."

"I... I shouldn't," Obi-Wan says. "I'm fond of him, of course, but I've no wish to smother him, and to simply say it would be undignified. I imagine he'd laugh in my face."

The representative raises one eyebrow and takes a sip of his drink.

"Master Kenobi," he says carefully. "Might I suggest you go find your young man, tell him you love him, and perhaps give him a hug?"

Obi-Wan's face flares red. It's been years since anyone short of Yoda has spoken to him like that.

"I'm not a child," he sniffs, trying to angle enough away that the blush isn't as noticeable. He's damnably prone to such things. "You're not that much older than me."

The man laughs, and Obi-Wan lifts his glass to his lips in a futile attempt to hid the embarrassment a little more. "Oh, not counting the stasis, I've well reached the age of six hundred and twenty-four, my boy!"

Obi-Wan chokes on his drink.

The man laughs a little more, but thumps him on the back until he's breathing normally again.

"Yes, most of the humans I've told have had quite the reaction!" the representative assures him. "But yes, even with the times adjusted to what any given local year is, I am significantly longer-lived than most species."

"No kidding," Obi-Wan manages. He wipes at his mouth with the back of his hand and looks over at the representative. He takes in the wrinkles and bright eyes, and says, "Well, I must say you look very well for a near-human of such an age. I can only name one person in that category that has managed better, and I haven't seen her since I was a child."

"I shall take that as the compliment it's intended to be," the representative says, twisting the edge of his mustache and beaming.

The man is... well, goofy, really, and quite a bit older than Obi-Wan had thought, but he's quite the charmer. Obi-Wan faintly compares him to a few different people in the back of his mind, but nothing quite fits. For all that the man is quite the jokester and--going by some things he'd seen from the corner of his eye in the main party--a master of physical comedy, the representative is actually more competent than he looks, and for all his visible age, not bad to look at. He is also, seemingly, an expert in dealing with teenagers and young adults, something Obi-Wan himself is... decidedly not.

He really should go speak with Anakin.

And there's a war to fight.

He doesn't really have much time, even with the recent lull.

He's in no place to be looking at the clean-shaven jaw and wondering what it would feel like under his lips, or to let himself consider whether this man would be the kind to have an hours-long discussion as to the narrative forms common in other galaxies, and whether they have anything paralleled to those in Obi-Wan's own, or if this man would show the same enthusiasm over teas that he'd shown over the hors d'oeuvres inside.

He should... really go find Anakin.

"I suppose it's time to find my padawan," he says, more to fill the air than anything. "Er... thank you, both for speaking with him, and for speaking with me."

"Not a problem at all, Master Kenobi!" the representative says, and Obi-Wan realizes that there's one last thing he may have... forgotten.

"This is terribly embarrassing, but I don't believe I caught your name?" Obi-Wan says.

"Coran Hieronymus Wimbleton Smythe, at your service!" the man says, with a sweeping bow. "As you can imagine, most simply call me Coran."

"Then I insist you call me Obi-Wan," he says, and before he can stop himself, "Might I bother you with an invitation to a shared tea time? You seem a knowledgeable fellow, and I'd appreciate the chance to... eh, pick your brain, shall we say."

It's not the smoothest come on he's ever put out there, or the most easily interpreted, but... well. Perhaps it's for the best. He's rather often found his tastes going in irresponsible directions, and it'll be much easier to brush this off without diplomatic incident if there's room for Coran to politely ignore the less platonic options.

Obi-Wan hopes he doesn't.

It's very selfish of him, but a dalliance with an older gentleman... well. He does, perhaps, make such irresponsible decisions, even now.

"I do believe I'd enjoy such a thing!" Coran enthuses, grabbing Obi-Wan's hand and shaking it in large, effusive movements.

Oh, this is a terrible idea, Obi-Wan thinks, even as he exchanges comm numbers and says goodbye.

Still.

He likes the idea of having at least a little fun, sedate or less so, while they have some time to themselves.

#Obi Wan Kenobi #Coran Smythe #Coran #coran hieronymus wimbleton smythe #anakin skywalker #Star Wars #Voltron #crossovers #Phoenix Posts #Phoenix Answers Asks #parenting

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itsclydebitches · 3 years

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While I agree that Oz shouldn't have to tell people about his history with Salem and trauma, not telling them she's inmortal is just stupid. Yes, people have betrayed him, but better weed out the Ravens and Lionhearts early on and have less allies but all in the same page, than Salem breaking them like she did with Hazel or his allies making bad decisions based on their faulty knowledge. (1/2)

It's a stance I'd definitely agree with if the show had done anything to show us that, as you say, the characters were making "bad decisions based on their faulty knowledge." But have we ever seen that? What mistakes have the heroes made because they didn't know about Salem's immortality? The closest thing I can think of is Ironwood believing that he can amass an army, but the core task there — supposedly uniting the world by telling everyone about Salem — is still presented as an unambiguously good thing because Ruby does that despite knowing no army will defeat her and despite not having Atlas' support in combating the inevitable grimm attacks. So clearly, "Telling people about Salem" is not (according to the story) some big mistake that people would likely refrain from making once they know of her immortality. Ruby still did that.

And what other choices have people made? To join the fight at all? That's the go-to answer within the fandom, that it's considered manipulative to coax our heroes into this war without providing them with a full knowledge of their enemy. It's another argument I buy on the surface, but not within RWBY's context, because everyone is already neck deep in this battle, entirely by choice. Everyone chose to become huntsmen and defend the people in an incredibly dangerous career. Everyone chose to fight in the Battle of Beacon when it was clear that human enemies were set against them — regardless of who might be giving them orders. Ruby, Ren, Nora, and Jaune all chose to go hunt down a Maiden themselves. It's only when they're halfway through this hunt that they realize, for the first time, that Ruby herself is also hunted. But that has never informed their decisions. It was never a story, from their perspective, about them being forced into this war, it's the story of them choosing it again and again despite knowing they didn't understand wtf was going on. The group didn’t get involved in dangerous stuff because they lacked knowledge, they got involved in dangerous stuff despite lacking knowledge. Knowledge was never a requirement for them to throw themselves into the fight. So I always found the argument that the group was maneuvered into this war because they thought Salem was killable to be pretty lacking. Ruby was determined to fight no matter what, right from the start, and everyone is quite literally just following Ruby. Yang says it the most overtly: wherever her sister goes, she goes. Salem's mortality or lack thereof was never the driving force.

Did they still deserve to know out of some generic respect towards all fighters in this war? Arguably yeah, but the story has done incredibly little — really nothing at all imo — to prove that from a practical perspective that's worth the damage knowing about Salem causes. As said, I think the closest we get to seeing the ramifications of not telling someone about Salem’s immortality is with Ironwood, yet the story (as you say) argues that lying to him was a GOOD thing, not telling Mantle about Salem's immortality was okay, and the one choice made under the belief that she was mortal — telling the world — is still their ultimate goal. So where are these mistakes everyone is making from not knowing about Salem immortality? It’s not when Raven left the fight. Or decided to murder a young woman to seize more power to protect herself. Or when Lionheart helped orchestrate the Fall of Beacon and the death of most of Mistral’s huntsmen. Or when Hazel decided that serving the immortal being was preferable to opposing her. Or when Tyrian came to believe that she was a God to worship. Or when Qrow decided that everything he’s done up until this point was useless and he sunk so deep into his alcoholism that his niece basically had to tell him to shape up or she’d ditch him. That’s a whole lot of bad attached to learning the secret, the tinniest timeframe within a multi-generation war, and none of the characters are positioned as making mistakes as a result of not knowing about her immortality. Everyone’s mistakes come as a result of knowing.

Meanwhile, the knowledge of Salem’s immortality hasn’t benefited the heroes in any way. They haven’t theorized over how to contain her instead of killing her; it hasn’t changed their approach to the fight. They didn’t even take that knowledge and use it as a means of survival, concluding that they must outrun her if they can’t defeat her. Remember, that plan, Ironwood’s, was unanimously rejected. So what benefit has the story shown us for knowing Salem’s biggest secret? And what detriment has come as a result of not knowing it? As far as I can see, it’s all bad in one category, no good in the other, and no evidence of successfully weeding out a core group who can weather the secret and are made stronger by it. Which makes that generic, “But keeping secrets is wrong” pretty flimsy imo. I think it’s very easy to assume that not having such a crucial piece of information would be detrimental to the cast and that having it would radically change their approach to this war... but RWBY didn’t write that. Instead we’re given a story where only bad things happen when this secret comes out and learning the secret has not yet assisted the few heroes who had the willpower to stay, yet simultaneously we’re told that spilling this secret is unambiguously The Right Thing To Do (unless Ruby decides against that, of course). As is so often the case in RWBY, the thematic message they want to impart doesn’t at all match up with what’s actually written because, as you say, anon, everything we get is basically done at the roll of a dice. Yeah, it could have been a great plotline. It would have been staggeringly easy to make it a great plotline simply by virtue of having the characters benefit somehow from learning this secret and pulling back a little on the extent of the damage done from other who’d learned it... but yeah, we didn’t get that. It’s only our real world beliefs that lying is bad, secrets are bad, and having all knowledge is automatically a good thing that causes this instinctual flinch away from these choices. The problem is, no secret like this exists in our world. We’ve never had to test the golden rule of truth against a secret that causes this much harm against so little reward. In the same way we’ve never had to test the justification of having an army against a world overrun with endless, evil monsters — so viewers tend to just work from their real life knowledge of, “Well, armies are bad” and assume the same must be true of this fictional world. But it’s not. My own upbringing indeed loudly says, “Yes. Such massive secrets are bad. Ozpin should have at least trusted his inner circle with this,” yet the story hasn’t done anything to validate that viewpoint. The vast majority of the series’ horrors stem from those who did learn of Salem’s immortality, the one inner circle member who took it in a stride was painted as the cartoon bad guy, and the group who overcame their feelings of hopelessness immediately copied Ozpin’s decisions and have yet to benefit from knowing this secret, three volumes later. So what in all that says that keeping this secret, in this world, was a bad thing?

#rwby #mymetas

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sugar-petals · 3 years

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Bts voice analysis anon here! I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to respond ❤ it made complete sense why yoongi is the deepest I kinda feel bad for him everytime he wants to sounds cheerful or speak in a way so people can hear him he strains his voice

lot to talk about, i’d like to expand on this. especially what his voice being the deepest means for bts’ songs. plus, where his undiscovered vocal talents are, and in what manner his voice will not strain.

that he’s very introverted contributes to what you say, but yoongi is certainly the odd one out voice-wise, such low baritones hardly sound upbeat. similar to how taehyung being the odd one out in the vocal line whose head voices are literal superpowers. i really respect him for singing with jin and jimin who can climb one octave higher than him, up to C#5! and with jk who has the best technique and breaks into the 6th octave if he goes on like that.

it’s very much like yoongi who probably has to mix their tracks back and forth to fit his parts with hobi (who is a tenor as a rapper! — very uncommon) and namjoon who raps in several modes. very low, very high, very impactfully. he’s the most full-bodied baritone in the group even if he’s only the third-deepest. the tone is just so rich. both hoseok and RM are extreme vocal chameleons on top of that. in speaking and in their music you can hear the difference to yoongi all the time. they don’t suddenly drop in pitch and they’re vocal acrobats.

hobi in particular, this guy can do anything. the sheer agility my god, he connects his registers. he can go up and down, impersonate and do a million effects, adlibs, you know the drill. it’s him who actually owns the “cheerful/loud and clear” brand you mention. which is good if not fantastic for yoongi’s production endeavours, the group mood, and how bts cannot be ignored — but tough for yoongi’s voice and comparison thinking, and when he tries to make a point in interviews. maybe it’s not bad that bts have to slow down sometimes to let yoongi speak, but his tone is drowned out (not intentionally of course) in other occasions and he wakes up hoarse often as we saw. which might sound hot, but it’s not good for him as you say.

to be clear. i wouldn’t chalk down his more monotonous and silent tone as a weakness, it’s just outside of bts’ other vocal variety. he makes up for it with speed and good lungs anyway. we just have to listen more closely to him in talks/episodes/conferences but i think he shouldn’t worry about it either or try to sound more enthusiastic, the fans love his soothing speech for its pure sake. he does change it regardless to be more poignant and blend in. it has pros and cons but it wears him out.

yoongi’s voice is under that strain not just in conversation but also in the studio if he wants to bring connection to the rap line parts instead of having 3 songs in 1. which usually ends up happening anyway. that’s also why the cyphers (!) switch genres mid-song so often: their voices are all strong in different registers! yoongi the lowest, joon midrange, and hoseok up high.

that’s why cypher pt2 is a HUGE stunt and production masterpiece: hoseok’s part is tuned differently, then other instrumentals start with namjoon. and you can literally hear, okay alright a deep voice is coming! from there it just gets deeper and deeper until yoongi is just rapping over a bass guitar (every baritone’s best friend lmao!). god, please give yoongi a big bassline for his every part. “ugh” is the exact opposite: yoongi has to start too high and namjoon also has problems with the key, only hoseok can fully take off after 1:50 with perfect vocal stability. guess which song is autotuned: it’s not cypher pt2! a 3 in 1 song fuels the rapline in a way where they are most comfortable. it’s crazy how far apart they are among each other vocally and it has to be considered.

it’s a dilemma but also why bts’ rap line can tackle any song with at least one member suiting it. they complement each other, every register (except the rare whistle register, aka what mariah/ariana do) is covered. i think that contributed to bts’ fame, it’s so important. however usually, the song caters to hoseok since tenors are preferred in kpop music, or it caters to RM as he’s the central songwriting entity even if mind you, he always thinks about all the members and works closely with yoongi.

but even with joon’s support, it doesn’t work if yoongi is caught in his wish to be a tenor. we’ve seen how much the guy talks about wanting his range to become wider and how he even tried singing quite high for his standards on d-2. he goes as far as collabing only with sopranos to help him achieve that pitch. yoongi is invested to pretty much change his entire vocal type 🙁because the environment simps for high notes so bad (which is fair, falsetto is related to releasing certain happy hormones and highlights parts in songs, but still).

... he actually can’t, unless he wants to damage his throat. that’s the last thing we want. a listener can get the serotonin from a very deep voice equally if they got good taste.

thing is. you cannot morph yourself into a different vocal type and shift your range to the opposite of your comfort zone unless you’re whitney houston. even one in a million tenors like baekhyun can’t make themselves a baritone. his lowest notes are less clear no matter how hard he practices, even if his chest voice is almost operatic and his technique excels. meanwhile, chanyeol (who’s a lyric baritone and exo’s deepest voice) effortlessly hits them without (!!) that kind of decade-long training. have baekhyun or jimin been called bad singers for not being able to cover the other end of the spectrum? nope. so: why would yoongi be a bad vocalist who needs autotune. with lessons, oh man, he could do a lot and many things he dreams of. he has a very unique timbre and enough musical knowledge to do so.

so, we see the magic of your natural supported range. it’s simply given to you. imagine that: if you know you’re not a tenor, you could sort of outsing jungkook — obviously not by technique, but projection— as long as the song is tailored to you and the notes are low enough. yep, jk’s lower register is not extremely forward. each note is perfectly sung because he’s jk, but his power vocals are settled much higher. joon/tae/yoongi would sound much fuller with huge oomph in those lines. that’s where yoongi would be much more clear-sounding to us. a lot of baritone rappers in kpop would be damn good singers.

that’s why it’s good how a lot of rappers produce solos on their own so they can try it out.

you just have to respect that your range usually (not always) goes in one direction. once yoongi rightfully decides to abandon his high note fantasy and goes lower just for fun, we are not safe anymore lmao! exception for range: female singers have an advantage there. trained mezzo-sopranos have great access to the head voice and lower registers since they’re in the perfect middle of the scale. but the guys, forget it, even the baritenors. yoongi’s fullest voice will always be coming from a chesty depth and we love him for it. guy just needs to realize.

that’s why his real challenge is rather somehow tweaking the rap parts so his voice finds good resonance like in “혼술” or even “ddaeng”. where his voice is strong, relaxed, and full and flowing. ddaeng — “boy with luv”, too— is ironically in a very high pitch and again caters to hobi’s tone the most, but: yoongi just scales down to his own octave and it still fits, so — great key choice and musicality! and adaptation. it’s not easy to do. you can tell he plays piano.

he either becomes less easy on the ear or has to autotune himself entirely if he works against his voice. or: goes on a track way outside his supported range (dynamite, WOW). it’s a shame. “daechwita” and “agust d” are such a case: both go into the head voice where your resonance should show the most aka the chorus. there are aggressive belts/snarls/shouts that make more sense for higher, trained voices. yoongi is most famous for raps that are literally designed to fuck up his vocal cords 😷that he’s so skilled as a rapper prevents him from that to a degree, but it’s still not healthy. he adapts a lot to bts’ overall delivery but he doesn’t have to, in fact: he could go in the other direction and it would work even better.

the reason for the title track issue: they are the most energetic. in k-pop, energetic means amping up the pitch. and that’s probably a logical choice and a natural human association. if you make a baritone kpop track with a lot of energy, it probably becomes pretty creepy, uneasy, film noir. but i think that’s exactly yoongi’s thing: to unsettle and critique and rage. i think it could work out. lil nas x is a baritone pulling it off. he achieves energetic title tracks, he honors his vocal type well imo. his live singing is cool af, i need this so hard in the rap landscape. so, it’s not impossible to do.

the trick is probably setting everything to minor key. surprise... yoongi’s challenging title tracks are all in major key. boy with luv: minor key, interesting. the former are extremely difficult for him to do so hats off. “shadow” is more suitable for his baritone as is “burn it”. it needs a very heavy, dark track. which is why it’s good that yoongi has that kind of public image. a baritone’s best genre is not super light and whimsical. that’s why all of our baritone faves are not main vocalists but main rappers. kai, taehyung, jaehyun: low voices in vocal lines are soldiers.

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now a note on yoongi’s best method of singing since it reflects his voice type and brings out the fullness of it. as in, how does it crack and strain less? guess why “사람” is yoongi’s favorite d-2 song to sing. it’s ALL his comfortable range and the singing — very beautifully done — is in mixed register (= head + chest)! which imo might be his secret weapon. it allows him to do what he longs to do successfuly without going extremely high. bingo.

because: even with baritones, the golden middle is still important. they’re not as deep as a bass, after all. that’s why their voices are so honey-laced in the mixed range and it sounds amazing. heaven, their timbre sounds so seductive. so, it’s wonderful when they find their middle and dare to sing.

i wish yoongi gets/makes more tracks aimed at just that. in “outro tear” he has to go both too low and too high so it takes a lot of production effort to patch it together. the rapline is doing god’s work to make all their voices sound cohesive without being trained singers. it’s always a trade-off and risk, an immense balance act. “paldogangsan” is hard on yoongi’s voice but works as a whole plus it caters to namjoon to carry the song’s message. the cyphers are chopped up and not chart-friendly but each member is in their comfort zone.

PS: i said bts’ rap line covers all registers except one. i think that jin is the one to complete bts’ entire spectrum coming from the vocal line. i’m no whistle note expert but dionysus went pretty high up there, i think he might be able to do it. it’s very impressive, even jungkook and jimin probably don’t have access to that register. so, another point for bts being a very ‘complete’ group.

#anon #ask #cub mail 🐆#vocal analysis #yoongi #suga #bts #baritones #tenors #mixed register #long post

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potteresque-ire · 3 years

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Hi! I have been reading your posts and responses to anonymous and I am inclined to comment on your broadly realistic views and detailed analystic answers and let us not forget your ability to be warm in putting forward your opinions. I am truly a huge fan. Thank you for being a station for various answer seekers.

If you have time and patience, please elaborate on the situation GG is still facing post 227. Recently I read various comments insinuating GG copied DD for Douyin night which is absurd but the implication that only one party is still being targeted unnecessarily raise hackles of a lot of solo fans. And I, under any circumstances, DO NOT believe the involvement of the other party. Firm believer of BJYXSZD.

My point is what is being done to stop these antis from targeting GG. Since one of the motive to target GG is to severe the relationship of GG and DD, IMO at least. Does constant attack (external stimulus) on GG (belittling him by comparing him to DD) may have the possibility to effect their relationship (internal reaction)? Objectively yes, but given your perception of their relationship, what is your opinion in this matter, however subjective it may be?

Moreover, how much extreme and sometimes irrational analysis done by bjyx community can lead to harm to both of them especially GG?

Also, I have seen DD being the captain of BJYX in various circumstances but also throwing off people from their old predicted/maintened theories especially in case of Kadians. I am not sure how much to trust these 'candies' since he has a reputation of not giving a f*** of others opinion. So why would he post GG related or non-related content with same kadians. I mean if he posts private content with GG related kadian then why post promotional content with GG related kadian. Does it imply that kadians are related to GG or not or he doesn't care and we are thinking too much. I am not sure what I am writing now, maybe multitude of thoughts poring out here. I am extremely sorry for that.

I do not know whether people believe or not but 1st post by GG yesterday had initials YB in the circle. Not at all explicit, and depends on believers but I felt like he was just trolling BJYX, it may be good naturedly but after his promotional brand picture of shrimp in bunny's hand. I do not know I just felt, dissappointed/bitter/unsure about all of this. I think it is normal to feel this way from time to time even for SZD because along with emotional investment we have rational perspective which is necessary to scrutinize evidence(maybe) from time to time.

I whole heartedly apologize for writing an essay length ask, this is the reason I wanted your patience 😅.

If any other blogger wants to add or comment on this please feel free to do so. Your suggestions are highly welcomed. 🙏

Hello Anon!

I take it that your questions about safety are concerned about the behaviour of c-solos and c-turtles? International fans aren’t likely to put Gg and Dd at any risk. That said, however, frequent fighting among i-fans would likely drain Gg and Dd’s international fanbase, as many fans do not enjoy being a combative atmosphere (I, for one, will run away as quickly as a turtle can run!). Lost i-fans can’t be easily replenished, whether they’re turtles or solos ~ The Untamed, as a foreign language show so beloved that fans are willing to scale tall language and cultural barriers to understand it, isn’t something that comes around often. (stanning Gg and/or Dd does take a lot of work!)

About the arguments. I probably only know about a fraction of them since I do not interact directly with fans outside Tumblr . As far as I can tell, however, recent arguments among c-solos and c-turtles have been ordinary fights, and also, fairly “bi-directional” between the solos (ie. I don’t think Gg or Dd has been relatively exempt from attacks compared to each other).

These arguments can be heated and some of the attacks may sound vicious, but there’s nothing much to worry about from a safety angle, as they haven’t caught the attention of those outside the fan circles.

The theorising by turtles are also not inherently dangerous. c-turtles have mostly been careful about keeping their discussions among themselves. The only risk it may lead to in the future, that I can think of right now, is the associated YiZhan content on China-based websites (ex. Bilibili, Douyin), which has become fairly plentiful. YiZhan candies used to be relatively obscure given the guidelines of CP fans to keep them among themselves (they call this practice 圈地自萌, literally, drawing a circle on the ground and have fun in it by oneself). These days, however, anyone who’s curious can get a good sense of YiZhan’s story by browsing Bilibili.

This probably contributes to the continued growth of the turtle population; however, some of this content is created by non-turtles who seek viewership and have little concern over Gg and Dd’s safety. They are the ones who re-upload the BTS, for example, despite the repeated pleas and warnings by the “站姐”s—the superfans who take/purchase these videos—as well as the turtles to not do that. If these content creators go overboard, there’s a possibility that YiZhan content may get caught in the government’s “Eradicating Pornography and Illegal Publications”（掃黃打非) movement. The movement originated in the mid 2000s, and its recent waves have been used as pretext to remove LGBT+ and BL content on line (I will eventually set up a post re: those events). Just last month (2020 Dec), Bilibili has been explicitly named by the government for hosting questionable materials, which means it’s already under scrutiny. Sweeps performed on an entire website are usually broad-based enough that no specific individuals are targeted; however, the government also encourages, with financial incentives, the reporting of specific content and has set up a dedicated website for doing so. While all YiZhan content has no direct relation to Gg and Dd, removal of such content may cause an over-reaction from fans, which can, in turn, lead to accusations of poor fan management by Gg and Dd. Most people will also assume the YiZhan content to be created by turtles.

(Another example of how an alleged turtle mis-step can get the YiZhan fandoms and Gg and Dd tied to the 掃黃打非 movement: a few days ago, a Weibo post showed a photo of a hardcover version of an explicit BJYX fanfic, reportedly sold for profit, and GG haters were calling for an arrest for “illegal publication.” So far, there’s minimal noise on the issue, so it isn’t something to worry about. It can also be fake news, which is so bountiful on the platform and on every aspect of daily life that most die a very peaceful, very well-deserved death.).

Whether fan arguments / theories may affect Gg and Dd’s relationship (assuming they’re in a relationship) … my guess is, not much. Gg and Dd are busy people, unlikely to closely follow their fans’ discussions. Again, I expect effects to be felt only if the arguments get out of hand ~ as in, if they begin to involve the public and/or the government.

As for the question about what is being done to stop Gg being targeted: fan wars are incredibly common in China (as in everywhere else), and Gg and Dd’s aren’t special in that sense ~ it’s just that as turtles, we know about those surrounding Gg and Dd and they feel significant to us. No individuals can stop a fan war ~ all we can do is to not join these wars ourselves.

Personally, I think the international fan base of Gg and Dd, as solos and cpfs, have more chance to achieve peace than its Chinese counterparts — if they choose to want that. Popularity in China is not only quantified (which is likely true everywhere, by marketing departments), but very visibly so. Sales numbers, votes, traffic attributed to each idol are frequently released to the public, possibly to foster competition among fans and drive these numbers further upward. c-turtles’ demonstrated strong performance in pushing these metrics has made them a target to those who wish to have usurp their consumer power. They, therefore, have good reasons to be wary of anyone who try to sway them from their “turtle-ship”, whether to turn them into solos or to lure them into an entirely different fandom. The swaying messages are also not always obvious, not always a direct “your cp suck”. They can be subtle, many even come from netizens who appear to be fellow turtles, who may say “oh, maybe we (turtles) are wrong” or “we have to be realistic; Gg and Dd will never look at each other publicly again”—messages that cast doubt and sink morale in a fandom that’s already running an uphill battle. Remember: traditionally, CP fandoms are not expected or welcomed to last, and solos have been happy to (correctly) point out that the BTS, the origin of the most solid “evidences” of BJYXSZD, are getting older by the day. c-turtles can’t expect anyone else to help defend their ship if something happens, given CP fandoms’ lack of respectability, given YiZhan being a real person M/M pairing that is often frowned upon. So it’s understandable, to me at least, why c-turtles are on guard, and occasionally, clash with those who they feel may be trying to take away what they love.

i-turtles, I feel, don’t have that many reasons to fight. We don’t really have other fandoms (for example, the up and coming danmeis—the adapted BL dramas) vying for our attention (and wallets). No one can put an expiration date on the YiZhan communities except ourselves.

Another way to see this is: we—as in, the combined Gg + Dd international fanbase, the solos + CPFs—are lucky in a way the fans in Gg and Dd’s home country are not. Collectively, we’re much further removed from the pressure to perform as fans, which is immense in China with their fan circle culture and fan economy. i-shrimps and i-motorcycles ~ some of you are reading this, I think? (hello!) ~ here are my humble thoughts: the solo/turtle ratio of Gg and Dd’s international fans doesn’t make much of an impact on Gg and Dd’s star status, on the popularity metrics that matter. Our spending power is limited outside China’s borders, and while Gg and Dd likely love us equally as fans, our adoration for them doesn’t really matter much, if at all, to the production/media/commercial companies that control the trajectories of their careers.

Along this line, the turtles’ “double loyalty” doesn’t have much of an ill effect, because there are few popularity contests here that mean much; few times (if any) when the turtles must face the dilemma of whether to vote for Gg or Dd because only a single vote is allowed; few situations where they have only x amount of dollars and must split it equally between Gg or Dd’s endorsements. There’s also much less cause to worry that i-turtles may draw the attention, or ire of the Chinese government ~ the whole international fanbase is too far away, too spread out to destabilise the regime in any way.

What the turtles do have in common with you, the solos, is their knowledge, their love for Gg/Dd. Knowledge, in particular. The people who know about Gg/Dd are still far and in between—at where I am, at least, and my guess is, it’s likely true for many of you too. Think of the turtles as people who you can talk to about your favourite star in places where few people know about him, can help promote The Untamed far and wide—many people still haven’t heard of the show, and they deserve to.

For the turtles ~ no one can take away our turtle-ship identity, as long as we don’t give it away. No one can report on the our communities to the government and get them dissolved. Our votes, our spending habits are no one else’s business but ours here.

So, Anon, here’s what I think, and these are all very personal opinions, very personal decisions on how to navigate fandom …

I truly hope that we, as the international fanbase, can try to use this luck that we have. Make our communities not mere copies of their (combative) Chinese counterparts but something different, something with our own flavour, something with more peace and less fighting.

Specifically, I see little cause to try to persuade/dissuade anyone to be a solo/turtle. I find them… not the best use of time. Why? Because frankly, neither solos nor turtles have a better grasp of who Gg and Dd are. Neither solos nor turtles have a truly good grasp of who Gg and Dd are. These discussions are therefore bound to end up with more ill will than conclusions, since both sides are short of facts.

We’re all short of facts as audiences, who’ve all only seen a tiny sliver of who Gg and Dd are as human beings.

I don’t mean Gg and Dd’s star image is fake ~ it’s just that, their star image is their “work face”, and even I, a lowly turtle, must act somewhat differently in my own office. It’s part of being professional.

Gg and Dd’s star image are their professional face, and no professionals worth a salt truly ignore other’s opinions, especially when the profession is being an entertainer whose job is to face and hold the attention of the public.

This is true for Gg; this is true for Dd.

Social media accounts are also part of Gg and Dd’s professional face ~ whatever is posted on there will be scrutinised by millions of fans, and they know that. The posts do provide some insights about Gg an Dd’s personalities, but they can’t be expected to show a complete picture. No parts of these posts, therefore, whether it’s the content or the kadians, are sufficient evidences for / against any aspect of their personal lives (especially as private an aspect as their romantic lives). Anon, you mentioned promotional marketing materials, and here’s my understanding of them ~ ambassadors such as Gg and Dd have minimal control over their design. The shrimp-holding bunny you’re referring to, for example, is very likely provided by the company.

However, may I also add this? Please try to not think of the shrimps / motorcycles as enemies of the turtles. Millions of people are behind each of these labels, and true for any group of this size, a fraction of its members are bound to be annoying. A small fraction may be awful, even. But they don’t represent the entire group. The shrimps are not only Gg’s fans, many of them have supported him longer than any turtle (since turtle-ship can’t be older than 2018); they’re also the reasons why Gg is in the industry ~ they voted for him in X-Fire. Likewise, a subset of motorcycles have been with Dd since UNIQ; they were there when the Korean ban effectively dissolved his group; they stuck with him when he was attacked for taking on the role of LWJ.

We’re all Gg and Dd’s fans, if you ask people outside the fandom. Remember: few outside China understand why heated arguments can occur between a bunch of shrimps, turtles and motorbikes. (It sounds a bit kafkaesque, just typing it out.)

It’s important not to lose sight too, that Gg and Dd’s social media accounts, where many new candies are found, primarily function as bridges of communication between them and their fans. These accounts do have different degrees of “professionalism” ~ Weibo and the official accounts being more formal, and Oasis, Douyin being more laid back and intimate; still, they all serve similar purposes. They’re not candy generators, or a script Gg and Dd have an obligation to follow to confirm / refute BJYXSZD.

Also: these accounts are accessible and watched by the public, not all of whom are friendly to Gg and Dd.

Re: Gg’s drawing on Oasis. He used the account as it’s intended for—to interact with his fans (the caption of the first draft was an unspoken invitation to shower him with ideas) and maybe, to show off a little (it was a very nice piece of artwork ~ a comment that I, sadly, haven’t seen much of). I doubt he posted his drawing because he wanted fans to carpet-search for traces of Dd in it (even though he probably expected that would happen); I very much doubt he posted his drawing because he wanted his fans to fight over scratch marks or black dots.

If these fights keep happening, I can imagine a possible outcome. He’ll stop showing us his drawings. His social media accounts will become less and less personal, as they already have.

I’ll share with you my thoughts about candies too, while I’m at it. These are probably not-so-popular opinions, so please take them all with a grain of salt.(Salted caramels? 😊 )

I haven’t looked at why candies are called candies, but I find the name appropriate for how I think of them ~ candies are 1) neither evidences or truth, 2) sweet, 3) treats (non-essential, not like the main course).

The first point is, perhaps, the one I try the hardest to keep in mind. There are posts out there claiming the candies as made-beliefs—generated from edited pictures or videos, exaggerated translations, and their interpretations forced by “guidances” in the annotations/narration. There are also posts claiming that turtles are deceivers, or have been deceived by brainwashers who maliciously created these make-beliefs. A turtle may assume these posts are all lies, all made by antis.

But, speaking turtle-to-turtle, I’d venture to say this … there’s some truth in the *first* statement. Many candies do, indeed, taste different if their taster returns to the original source—not necessarily unsweet, but less sweet. Candies, remember, are generated by fans like you and I. Same for c-candies ~ they aren’t endorsed by Gg and Dd, aren’t necessarily closer to the truth just because of the relative proximity of their birthplaces to their leads.

Candy generation is The Tradition of CP fandoms. It’s a celebrated skill, and who doesn’t want to generate a candy that will be talked about, that will be part of the BJYX canon, for as long as the fandom lasts? Some fans are, therefore, also more … efficient in the “marketing” of the candies they generated — in persuading others that their candies are evidences, the truth. “Guidance” photos and videos (which pinpoint the place to watch, sometimes with appropriate sound effects for emphasis) have come about that way, and because they’re easy to digest—especially where language barriers exist—they end up spreading to i-fandoms.

These photos and videos may look more professional / trustworthy, but they often have an additional layer of subjectivity ~ on top of the already subjective opinion of what makes a candy. Translations (of BTS, fake rumours house content etc) also introduce a subjective element. Word choices can significant modify the tone of a conversation; speakers of different Chinese dialects may also have different interpretations of the same phrases. Example: I, as a non Chongqing/Sichuanese speaker, can guess the literal meaning of the “puppy” term Gg used for Dd — 狗崽崽 (gou zai zai) — but I also had to rely on others to tell me how endearing the term is; me being a Chinese speaker actually doesn’t make my interpretation any more valid, or authoritative, in this scenario, because my dialect doesn’t use this term at all.

It doesn’t mean the people who’ve put in the work have any less-than-good intent; the vast majority of them come from a place of deep love. It’s just that we all carry our own perspectives, and as fans, our strong emotions in our fanworks.

This is why candies are often insufficient as good “points” for arguments, why they fail to convince non-believers, sometimes to the disappointment of some turtles. As evidences, they aren’t objective enough; they’re also often touch upon the assumption that’s mark the fundamental difference between solo and cp fans — the assumption that Gg and Dd are (not) together. Take, for example, this segment from a (polite) ask I got from an anon solo:

All the matching clothes, jewelry, shoes etc. Stopped being valid candy when I realized that the brands have popular stars "endorse" their products. The lightning pendant? Other actors have also worn it. Does that mean they are in a 3-way with (Gg) and (Dd)? Probs not.

Solo anon was correct! Brands have star endorsers, and other entertainers have, indeed, worn the same lightning pendant. The implied argument is also valid: people who don’t care about, don’t even know about each other can wear the same things. Most of us do that on a daily basis with our mass-produced garments.

However, a counterargument can also be made to the statement above, and easily: even the most precious, most beautiful wedding rings (say, from Tiffany!) are not exclusive to the first RL couple who bought them. It doesn’t mean the first RL couple is sleeping with all the couples who bought the same rings afterwards, doesn’t mean those rings aren’t significant to every one of these couples as romantic mementos. More often than not, couples wear matching things not because these things are exclusive to them—because how often can one find things that only exist as a single pair in this world? They wear matching things because they want to see something on themselves that remind them of their significant other and so, as long as the things aren’t so prevalent that everyone is wearing them, they can already serve their purpose.

But you see, Anon, that arguing over this would’ve been a waste of time? Because the solo came in with the assumption that Gg and Dd were not a couple, and the counterargument was made with the assumption that they were. The pendants alone are insufficient to prove either side correct or wrong. No one knows why those pendants ended up on Gg and Dd’s necks, except Gg and Dd and their teams. If I were to argue with anon solo, we can go on and on and on until we’re both left with bitter tastes in our mouths and WWX-red in our eyes, and forget the one thing that really matters: we’re both Gg’s fans.

(We could’ve spent the time talking about how that scene in The Wolf with Ji Chong throwing Zai Xing in the water is ❤️.) (I can’t believe the script waited 30+ episodes to do it. 😂)

This leads to my second point, Anon. Candies are meant to be sweet, and they’re meant to be sweet for you. In Chinese, a term for an expert candy person is a 嗑學家 (the candy-eating in CP fandoms is called 嗑糖 (ketang) ～ with 嗑 ke denoting a specific form of eating that requires breaking something open first with teeth—such as watermelon seeds; a 嗑學家 is a 嗑 (ke)-ologist). A 嗑學家 isn’t someone who can recall the longest list of candies, or spread the most candies around, or convince the most people that the CP behind the candies is real; they are those who can find their own candies in a source material, and be overjoyed by the sweetness of their discoveries without outside help. To me, at least, this term encapsulates the subjective nature of candies ~ what’s right for you may not be right for me and vice versa, and that’s perfectly all right. In other words, there are many candies out there but you’re not required to believe in all of them; instead, you’re free to choose candies to your own liking, compose your own version of the BJYX canon that you love, that you find sweet.

Wait, but you may say. Doesn’t that make my canon fantasy? Yes and no, because candies are based on real events. They’re interpretations, which sit somewhere between reality and fantasy. They’re like … opinion shows on news channels.

But what if I need to convince people of my canon —

Your “opposition”’s canon is as fantastical, and as real as yours — maybe it isn’t, but neither of you have a way to prove it one way or another.

Wouldn’t solos call me delulu, or clowns?

Maybe. But one step outside the fandom, and all of us fans—solo and cpfs—are delulu, clowns.

(That’s why while I’ve used the cpn label, I haven’t called myself delulu, or a clown. Anyone who thinks I have the truth about the love story about a pair of idol I haven’t met from thousands of miles away … the joke’s probably on them, don’t you think?)

Of course and again, Anon, this is only my take! I like candies precisely because I like to watch the real-time generation of candies, which ones different people claim as their own, which candies fall away and which stick around in the fandom over time. As a fic writer, this ship has gifted me with a treasure trove of information ~ what do people think of as romantic gestures, as give-away signs of love? The fun/amazing part of BJYX is that candies are available for so many different answers to these questions. Some people think of longing gazes and sweet smiles; some think of touches that can’t be helped (the many, many, many “fights”); some think of service (buying foods, designing clothes); some think of caring about the other’s well-being (throat candies and dumplings + noodles + crackers); some think of being The Other’s One and Only Exception (Dd being so talkative around Gg, Gg being so … fussy around Dd); some think of expressions through the arts (songs, drawings, dances); some think of grand gestures (the wave heart in the ocean); some think of matching clothes and symbolic accessories (rings); some think of birthdays and anniversaries (314, 622, the first snow); some think of sharing life’s hassles and small tidbits (fake rumour house); some think of … just looking VERY good together. Etc etc.

Some think of a subset of these, some think of all of these…

(Personally, I’m a very picky candy eater. I know about many of them, but only a small fraction impresses on me.)

(Still, I love watching candies. I love watching the joy of people sweetened by them ~ or, when c-turtles exclaim kswl! — the short form of ke si wo le! 嗑死我了! I “ke”ed so much I’m dying!)

This gets to 3), Anon, and I apologise to you too, for answering your not-essay-at-all with an essay! Candies are, to me, treats, and I don’t expect them to come at any frequencies higher than treats do. The reason isn’t because I don’t like candies ~ I enjoy watching them, as I said, even if I don’t eat many of them; the reason is because I don’t expect anyone’s romantic love to leave a trace in everything they do. For example, if I truly find myself in a SZD/SJD discussion re: Gg’s drawing, I’d say the lack of Dd in Gg’s self-portrait doesn’t really mean much. Even if Gg and Dd were head-over-heels in love with one another, Gg doesn’t have to put Dd in everything he touches. Likewise, Dd doesn’t have to present a consistent, or decipherable story with his kadians. This is true for the real-life couples around us too, isn’t it? They don’t perform every single act in life leaving a noticeable trace of their significant other. And the misunderstanding that couples do that — that their romantic lives take over who they are as individuals — IMO, partially explains why people who choose to not to date or marry, people who’re aro-aces, often have a difficult time convincing others that they’re complete humans. Romantic love is, of course, very, very important and can be life altering, but it also isn’t everything about a person ~ especially not if a person who has a career as exciting as Gg’s and Dd’s. Gg and Dd who also have friends, family, (many) talents and interests …

(And lots of ugly icons on their cell phones. Yes, I’m talking about you, Gg. That long-armed Pepe from your 2018 snowless Beijing post will give me nightmares…)

#pie metas #pie answers #yizhan #BJYX

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heliads · 2 years

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Haha being sick means I have nothing but time so I can spew out my thoughts about things that have bothered me so I'm all in for spilling the tea 😂

i'm not saying fic writers have to jump through hoops trying to perfectly fit every facet of a character's personality into their fics

That's one way how some people seem to misinterpret people who ask for in character Kaz pieces, they start defending themselves and being like "yoU CAN'T ASK ME TO BE LEIGH BARDUGO" and I'm like??? No??? But it can't be so fricking hard to keep Kaz's fingers off Y/N 😅 And if you can't create cuteness and a romantic relationship into the fic without Kaz being glued to the reader, people will less likely read it if they appreciate in character stuff more than OOC stuff. If you simply don't know how to do that realistically, you should practice, ask for advice from writers who know how to do it etc if you actually want attention here and want more people to actually read your stuff and not just scroll past.

For some time, I offered help with people's shorter pieces (under 1k), looking them over and saying if I found anything to fix. A lot of times, when a OOC Kaz piece was presented to me and I pointed out that (for example) that passionate, heated kiss against the wall comes way too soon with Kaz's character, maybe it could be replaced with a partial handhold or something, some people defended themselves with "BUT I WANT THEM TO KISS!!!" and I replied ok, that's cool, it's your fic. Once a writer came back after a discussion like that accusing ME for still not getting enough attention for their piece even through they had me proofread it and "approve it" and said I was no use and they wasted their time on me, the situation ended in me having to block them. (This happened in like October? November?, I made a post about not being a public beta anymore shortly after and deleted all my posts where I advertised my will to look through short pieces and giving constructive feedback if someone wants to improve as people rarely bother to give other feedback than "part 2?" if that either)

I've gotten thank you's more than once because I write Kaz as he is, or at least try to write him as he is. People feeling the need to say thank you about it tells me that they haven't found many other writers who write in character Kaz either which is… kinda concerning in terms of enjoyable Kaz x reader content.

Also!! I've talked about this once in my blog last year, but imo people writing Kaz as this cuddle monster who healed only because of the Power of Love creates a harmful illusion of the reader having "fixed" him. If Kaz was real and I encountered him and immediately started to train him into being able to touch me, it might end up with his condition becoming worse because I'd pressure him into it too quickly and too soon. A lot of such relationships lead to breaking up because the partner isn't patient enough/is just unable to work through their s/o's traumas which prevents them from doing normal relationship stuff. It's incredibly exhausting in the end, and most of us might think we could do it but if we really got a such person in front of us we start crushing on and dating them, it would most likely turn out to be a lot harder than we thought, it's incredibly emotionally draining.

I once had a friend who had intense traumas because her mother was a monster and all that stuff and those delusions she had of her own husband… yeah, if my boyfriend constantly accused of me of something like that, I wouldn't have been able to take it for very long. Like she weekly accused of him of cheating, talking shit behind her back to her friends and they all having a "conspiracy" against her to ruin her live, stealing money from her, planning to leave her, insulted him having hypersensitive hearing and he couldn't stand her playing a flute etc. Those accusations eventually also mirrored onto me after she quit her medicines which, on a bad day, made me snap at her -> she wrote shit about me into multiple forums with my name -> her other friends attacked me on social media, through my irl friends and even here in my blog -> I confronted her about it -> she cut ties with me and poured all the fault on me and still continues with her parade after 2½ years from that, lastly she sent me an anon message accusing me of trolling myself which she has done multiple times since 2019. But if my boyfriend, someone who I'd deeply love, would be like that, I'd probably break into a million little pieces. Well, I don't think Kaz would be that messed up in a relationship, but it's just that traumas may do a lot of stuff, they may turn a person toxic even, like it did with H/that ex-friend.

+ People seem to forget that Kaz definitely isn't a good man. He's feared, and he aims to be feared, the most feared man in Ketterdam. Being a teary-eyed puppy whenever Y/N bats her eyelashes at him just doesn't fit the picture. And yeah, of course people can write about a character like that who's named Kaz Brekker who lives in Ketterdam and runs a gang, but it isn't the Grishaverse Kaz. It's just someone who took slight inspiration from Kaz but has mostly been built again, and most people don't want to read about a Kaz who isn't our Kaz.

hope you're feeling better, jenni! also i'm so sorry to hear about that stuff with your friend, you definitely don't deserve any of that.

but yeah, i feel like it's pretty difficult to find in character kaz fics. i mean, every fic author has a slightly different take on any given character, but still. if you want a grishaverse morally gray mob character who's affectionate, jesper is right there!!

aa it's just so frustrating to get reqs for very ooc stuff. i agree, most of the time i don't take them either, it just gets annoying after a while lol

#sickness cannot stop our tea #that being said i do hope you feel better soon #not writing

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cherryblossomstars · 4 years

Text

paper crowns (t. oikawa)

a/n: take a shot everytime i say the words “paper crowns” in this fic lmao. i hope you enjoy it! i’m really proud of this one

pairing: oikawa x reader

word count: 2,138

genre: childhood friends to lovers, very light angst, hurt/comfort, fluff, its like 85% fluff 15% angst and imo its not that angsty

summary: you were in love with the boy who wore paper crowns and kept galaxies in his pockets

you were in love with a boy who wore paper crowns and kept galaxies in his pockets in case the both of you ever got bored of the same old scenery the miyagi prefecture had to offer. he’d take the stars and universes out of his pocket and paint your skies with nebulas and show you everything beautiful the world had to offer.

“i want to travel the world with you one day,” he’d shrugged one day out of nowhere- as if you weren’t both in fourth grade and had no real means of being able to make that dream come true.

“we will.” you’d promised, anyway.

the paper crowns were a craft you’d shown him how to make when you were both little. he’d become so enamored with it the both of you had gone to the store and spent your pocket money on buying blue card stock paper, just to have quality, blue paper crowns.

when iwaizumi had joined one day, the both of you had offered him a crown. he refused, saying knights were much cooler anyway. and so, the three of you spent the day learning how to make a paper sword for your dear friend instead.

you and oikawa preferred the crowns much more.

“see, i’m a king, and you’re my queen!” he’d exclaimed. you wondered if it was a silly proclamation or a promise for the future.

the paper crowns remained on your heads all throughout your childhood and middle school. by the time you got to highschool, you’d realized with tears in your eyes and a heavy heart that oikawa had traded in his paper crowns for a volleyball and a net.

the paper crown you’d both made and decorated with stickers and drawings remained on his dresser, but your friendship had long since withered away.

the garden that was your friendship needed the care of two people and oikawa, busy as he was, had left you to do all the work. eventually, what had become this one-sided friendship of yours had dried up.

he regrets many things, but he regrets that the most.

he pretends he doesn’t see the way you steal glances towards him and look like you’re about to cry.

he pretends it doesn’t hurt when you stop. he has to steel himself whenever you walk by him without so much as a glance.

you don’t make paper crowns anymore.

he’s not sure if he was better off with you hating him or you ignoring him.

oikawa tooru loves paper crowns, attention, and volleyball. he’d realized too late that he loves you, too.

in his second year, he’d ditched volleyball practice for the first and last time. he’d gone to the store, just like he did many years ago, and bought a pack of blue card stock.

two new, clean paper crowns. he’s gotten much better at them, he thought proudly. he grabbed some stickers from takeru (much to his nephew’s protest) with promises to buy him more later. he’d stuck the stickers on carefully, the perfectionist that he is. and afterwards, after deciding that the crown looked too plain, he’d drawn and cut out some designs on a different sheet of paper, meticulously glueing on every little drawing.

the first and last time he’d ever ditch volleyball practice, and it was to make you a paper crown for your birthday. he’d even made a matching one for himself.

“i’m such a simp...” he sighed to himself. the both of you hadn’t spoken in two years, and he was about to show up to your doorstep with an origami project and a sheepish smile.

he decided he needs more because you deserve better than a childish arts and crafts project with sentimental value and a shitty friend. another stop at the store, with the crowns in his hand.

the florists are all closed by this time of day, so instead he buys a few cheap, half off bouquets that the stores sell.

he hates them, if he was being honest. so he compromises, stealing certain flowers here and there from each bouquet he bought and made it into one, beautifully done (almost professional looking, if he could say so himself) bouquet— just for you. he’d put the leftover flowers into a vase and arrange them later to give to his mother.

by the time he’s finally finished preparing, it was on the cusp of twilight. his mother had flashed him a knowing smile on his way out of the door, the pieces all fitting together when she sees the familiar points of the crowns in his hand. she’d seen them often enough in his childhood to know that they were worth more to him than just simple toys.

while the night is winding down, you open your door to a pretty bouquet shoved into your face, tied with a pretty blue bow and held by a pretty boy, with a shy, apologetic smile on his face. the real kicker was the paper crown placed on his head.

you smile, glad to see the boy you once called your best friend again. you happily take the flowers, side stepping away from your front door to let the chocolate haired setter into your home.

your family greets him with a smile, they’d always loved oikawa. to them, he was the boy that would spout facts about space and conspiracy theories about the government and the aliens that they were hiding whenever he could. his faces flushes bright red when it’s brought up.

they, too, smile knowingly at the familiar blue set of crowns in his hand.

you put the beautifully arranged flowers into a vase and ask him to follow you. he does, of course. he’d follow you to the ends of the earth if you’d asked him to.

he won’t say that. not right now, at least. your relationship still needed mending. he still needed to learn how to manage his schedule. it’s the reason the both of you had distanced yourselves from each other in the first place.

volleyball first, he’d always think. he’d just assumed you’d always be able for him to come home to whenever he needed. you’d just felt used, instead.

he thinks he’s learned his lesson. enough, at least, for him to try being friends with you again. properly, this time. and then maybe, just maybe, he’ll be able to confess the feelings he’s been shoving away from his heart for years.

you both enter your room, placing the vase of flowers onto your nightstand. his heart stutters with hope when he sees a paper crown left on your nightstand, right next to the newly set vase of flowers. he ignores how his stomach plunged with guilt, as well, for neglecting your friendship for so long.

you both pretend you don’t see your family peaking through a crack in your door to see what was going on.

they pretend they didn’t see oikawa hold you in his arms and whisper apologies, asking for another chance. they slip away without a word.

oikawa’s head tucks into your shoulder, his paper crown falling to the ground when he does.

you wonder how he could be comfortable in this position, considering your height difference. he’s grown so much taller since you knew him.

when he steps back, he places the paper crown he’s been holding in his hand onto your head. you bend down to pick up his, and place it onto his head.

you realize quickly that oikawa is still the boy that keeps galaxies in his pocket and that he’d never traded in his paper crowns for volleyball. he brought them with him.

he’d make a great king, you think, when you watch him play a highschool game for the first time.

you’d been avoiding watching your high school’s volleyball games out of fear and, quite frankly, humiliation for the friendship that withered after not seeing sunlight for two years.

he’s still a setter, just like he was in middle school, and he’s still amazing. he conducts his team with ease and, despite always receiving the brunt of their jokes, it’s clear they respect and trust him just as much as he does them.

you smile and wave at the boy who once held a paper sword in his hand. iwaizumi sends you a confused glance, but waves back nonetheless. he turns to oikawa, his furrowed brows and look of confusion still evident on his face.

oikawa turns to his friend, who then points to you. when oikawa sees you at his game, he complains about you waving to iwaizumi before you greeted him, yelling his complains all the way from the gym floor.

you roll your eyes, “i have an inquiry box at home, if you want!” you yell right back.

he pouts, “well maybe i’ll submit an entry! about how mean you are to me! hmph!”

he turns away with a smile on his face. he can’t help it— you’re finally at a game.

he’ll never admit he always looks for you in the crowd when he plays the sport he loves so much. when you finally show up to one, he finally acknowledges the feeling of pride that swells in his chest.

he confesses to you at the end of your second year, when he thinks that you’re both back and settled into your friendship.

he knows that he really should have chosen a better place to confess to you, rather than the halls of aoba johsai during a lunch period. he loves attention, but for once he decides he hates the stares of the students around the both of you, the air hanging heavily as everyone waits to hear your answer. he knows better than anyone at this moment that this wasn’t the best spot he could have done this, but he couldn’t wait anymore.

“take your time,” you’d always tell him when you were younger. he was never one to listen to that advice.

then again, he was also never one to be the person confessing. it was always him getting the confessions. he feels his face burn with embarrassment and fear that you’ll reject him.

you accept his confession with stars in your eyes.

he paints your skies with the galaxies he keeps in his pockets. he lays in your arms with a dazed smile on his face, your hands carding through his hair.

“you’re ruining it.” he complains with a pout.

you hum, “i have an inquiry box, you know.”

“you don’t. i think you should get one, i have a lot of complaints to put in.”

“is that so? you can go ahead and fuck right off, then.” you try not to laugh when you roll him off of you.

he whines, “i was joking!” he crawls his way back into your arms and settles himself between your legs.

after a period of silence, he brings up your promise from long ago. “let’s travel the world together?” he mumbles, as if he was shy to ask.

oikawa tooru is shy, you think with amusement. you may as well enjoy it while you can.

“hm? where’s this coming from?”

he buries his head in your shoulder in an attempt to hide his embarrassment. you won’t mention how you can see the tips of his ears turning red.

“don’t ask questions you already know the answer to.” he pouts, “remember? you promised we would.”

“ah, that’s right. i did.”

“so, can we?”

“well, i promised, didn’t i? promises are made to be kept.” you say, as if you both aren’t broke highschool students worried about college applications.

“where would we go first?”

“hmm. i’ve always wanted to visit argentina since we watched that professional volleyball game when we were younger. you know, the one where you had that dude sign your—“

“stop! stop! and for your information, his name was jose blanco! and don’t bring that up, please, it’s embarrassing. you just love watching me suffer, don’t you?”

“not my fault you decided to—“

“so!” he interrupts again to save himself, “argentina? we can do argentina.” he smiles against the exposed skin of your shoulder, his hand playing with your fingers.

“and then after that, let’s visit france. and then i’d like to see the philippines, too. so many places to visit, too little time and money, jeez.” you continue to ramble, your hands reaching for your nightstand to grab and place the paper crown displayed on it onto your boyfriend’s head.

he listens to your rambling intently, fully ready to do everything he can to make both your dreams a reality.

oikawa thinks his heart might explode out of his chest at the thought that he was lucky enough to fall in love with the girl with paper crowns and stars in her eyes.

fin.

#oikawa x reader #oikawa tooru x reader #haikyuu #haikyuu!!#oikawa #oikawa tooru #reader insert #haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu x reader #fanfiction #oikawa/reader #oikawa tooru/reader

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