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#i will put them both in so many situations
ghouljams · 2 days
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Thinking about König again.. help
Kissing him could be so narratively(?) interesting if the hood stays on. It’s a situation where you have to come to him - his face is his territory, it’s gonna be on his own terms. And like,, not lifting the hood away, but lifting it so that you can put it over your own head also - kissing him under it. Allowing yourself to be consumed by the shadows kind of, but he is ‘the shadows’ in this metaphor. I bet he’d get off on that
I absolutely love kissing König through the mask, I think there's something incredibly tender and trusting about it. Not forcing him to lift it, meeting him where he is and not half way. It's the same reason I love when fics kiss Ghost through his mask. It's a level of understanding, an willingness to say "you don't need to change I'll meet you where you're comfortable."
That said, joining him under the mask to kiss him? Also so so good. Lifting the hood just enough to duck under, tipping your head with your eyes squeezed closed, König leaning forwards to keep you both obscured as he kisses you... There's something very... two becoming one in the gesture. Not just meeting him, but joining him.
There are so many ways a first kiss can go, so many ways the second will build off it, and so much more to the third. Here's Medieval king!König kissing his gardener for the first time(despite having fucked her multiple times before this)
It's a quick motion, one that seizes you when you least expect it. Something tender grabs hold of your heart, indescribable and unwanted, and you grab the bottom of König's chain mask to pull him down to your height. You press your lips to the skin warmed metal, hope he can feel the pressure at least of your mouth against his, and hold him there. There's a brief frozen moment, König stands more still than you've ever known him, held at the edge of breath with his hands curling into tight fists by his side. You pull away, still feeling the cut of metal against your lips.
And he grabs you, rips his mask up and pulls you against his chest as his lips meet yours. His mask falls against your head, weighing you down and forcing your head to tip back to meet the fervid press of his lips. It's not the first time you've felt the warmth of them, but it's the first time they've felt so wanting. The first time they've felt almost crushing with the way König pushes them against yours, and yet it is still painfully chaste. Painful in the way it makes your heart clench, and your stomach flutter.
There is so much you've done with this man, so many ways he's taken you, and yet he kisses you so plainly. He kisses you like he's never had the pleasure of kissing anyone, and you can't say you have either, but you'd expected something so much different from him. You'd expected domination, tongue and teeth. You'd expected that he'd be colder, that he'd treat you with the same arms-length respect that allows you to leave his chambers after each night you spend with him. Instead you find a man as warm as the sun that beats against your skin and, perhaps, as desperate as you are for such simple affection.
He pulls back, tilts his head, and kisses you again, gentler this time. His arms still hold you tight, still warn you not to try and escape, but his lips slide against yours with a softness that steals the very air from your lungs. König sighs against your lips, your own parting to kiss him a fourth and a fifth time. Your arms find their way around his broad shoulders, your fingers dig into the rich material of his cape, and he kisses you, like it's the only thing he's ever wanted to do.
So that when you part a final time, and his tongue traces along the seam of your lips, you find yourself smiling and feel his lips curve to follow suit. My König, you think.
"Meine Herz," König murmurs. You shake your head. It's rather silly getting fluttery over something so simple. König fixes his hood back into place, and tips his head, pressing his chain covered lips to your cheek. "I'll be good," He tells you, "and you will kiss me again."
As if that simple act were some great reward. Maybe it was.
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carigm · 2 days
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A BREAKDOWN OF THE POTENTIAL S5 EPISODE TITLES!!
Okay, so today entertainment journalist Jeff Sneider shared some alleged insider info about S5 of ST, mainly directors and titles of the first 6 episodes.
Here’s a screenshot
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It’s important to keep in mind that this guy isn’t always the most reliable, and considering he also said he believes S5 could come out before the end of this year, let’s not take any of this too seriously. (Many cast members have mentioned they’re filming until December of this year so that’s literally impossible). The information about the possible directors I believe is correct, because it’s been circulating around from other sources too.
The episode titles I’m less convinced about because it’s also possible the Duffers could’ve put out fake episode titles in case they leaked. I remember for S2 all the episodes titles they announced were changed later on lol. But for the sake of fun, here’s an analysis of all of them:
1. The crawl (only confirmed title) is a very broad, open title. It personally makes me think of the UD and vines, or maybe even the idea of Vecna crawling back to life. Could also be an allusion to the military.
2. The Vanishing of ___ Wheeler is arguably the most insane one. The journalist said he wasn’t revealing the actual name of the person because it’s a spoiler ofc. My gut tells me it’s gonna be Holly, mainly because of the recast and her supposedly being involved in the hospital plot, which we have guessed takes place in episode 2. Could explain why she’s suddenly “more important” this season, especially if she’s used as a plot device of sorts. Could also tie into what Ted’s actor said in a podcast back in February about the first episodes being a rollercoaster of emotions, and that comment he made about Ted having a soft spot for Holly. It would be a perfect tie in for Karen to find out about the UD as well. The implications of naming the episode the same as the first episode, which is so intrinsically tied to Will, is very interesting. It’s also a new connection/tie between the Byers/Wheelers that I assume will bring the families closer together. I don’t think it’s about Mike because I doubt he’ll go missing in ep.2, or be dragged to the UD just like Will was. It would be an interesting concept but I doubt it. I also don’t think Nancy’s gonna go missing. Karen could be interesting but I doubt it as well. Ted would be an incredibly funny choice. Imagine he just goes missing while at the house 😭 Nonetheless, I think Holly is the clear choice here, and I do very much worry for her if she goes missing. Mainly because while Will survived this, I’m not sure they’ll do the same for Holly :(
It also ties into Vecna’s threat to Nancy against her and her family.
Here’s an interesting leak from the same anon that leaked the hospital stuff (which seems to be correct)
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I think this could be the very same scene Holly goes missing.
3. Turbow Trap 😭 This one is utter nonsense. I have no idea what a Turbow is, so I assume it’s gonna be a code or nickname for something. Absolutely clueless here.
4. Sorcerer is incredibly interesting, and imo a clear allusion to Will. His D&D character being a cleric, basically a wizard. Could also be a reference to Vecna imo. Or both 😉
5. Shock Jock is clearly tied to the radio station plotline. Imo the title could be a reference to Steve, Jonathan, or even Murray (he fits that eccentric, somewhat annoying personality quite well) In case you guys don’t know a shock jock is like a very eccentric radio host.
6. Escape from Camazotz is another crazy title. He’s a figure from Mayan mythology who’s a bat spirit. That immediately makes me think of Eddie, but also Steve ofc. However, camazotz has a larger meaning that goes beyond “bat spirit”, it’s also a representation of death and night. So the title seems to be alluding to someone escaping from death or a perilous situation.
Even more interesting perhaps is that kamazotz is a name of a planet in A Wrinkle Time. It’s the planet where IT resides, the mind controlling antagonist of the narrative. So I guess in this comparison Kamazotz is the UD, and IT is Henry.
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could i request a chenle x idol male reader fic where dispatch catches them on a date and exposes them as a couple
𝗁𝖾𝗅𝗅𝗈! 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗄 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗌𝗈 𝗆𝗎𝖼𝗁 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗋𝖾𝗊𝗎𝖾𝗌𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀!
𝗰𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 - 𝗓𝗁𝗈𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝗁𝖾𝗇𝗅𝖾
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𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗆 𝖻𝖾𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗉𝗅𝖾𝗍𝖾𝗅𝗒 𝗌𝗍𝗋𝖾𝗌𝗌 𝖿𝗋𝖾𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗂𝗇 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾 𝗍𝗈 𝖻𝖾𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗌𝗍𝗋𝖾𝗌𝗌𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗈 𝖿𝗎𝖼𝗄 𝗒𝖾𝗍 𝗌𝗍𝗂𝗅𝗅 𝗂𝗇 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾 𝗈𝗇𝗅𝗒 𝗇𝗈𝗐 𝗁𝖺𝗏𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗈 𝗋𝖾𝗏𝖾𝖺𝗅 𝖺 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋𝖾 𝗒𝖾𝖺𝗋 𝗋𝖾𝗅𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇𝗌𝗁𝗂𝗉 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝗈𝗇 𝖾𝗂𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝗂𝖽𝗈𝗅𝗌 𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟦 𝖻𝗂𝗇𝗀𝗈 𝖼𝖺𝗋𝖽
○▹ 𝗂𝖽𝗈𝗅 𝖼𝗁𝖾𝗇𝗅𝖾 𝗑 𝗂𝖽𝗈𝗅 𝗆!𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋 (𝖿𝗍. 𝖽𝗂𝗌𝗉𝖺𝗍𝖼𝗁, 𝗐𝖺𝗒𝗏, 𝗌𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗇𝗍𝖾𝖾𝗇, 𝗇𝖼𝗍 𝖽𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗆) 𝘄𝗰. 𝟨𝟢𝟪 𝘄 𝖽𝗂𝗌𝗉𝖺𝗍𝖼𝗁, 𝗀𝖺𝗒, 𝗆!𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋, 𝖼𝗁𝖾𝗇𝗅𝖾 𝖻𝖾𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗁𝖾𝗅𝗉𝗅𝖾𝗌𝗌𝗅𝗒 𝗂𝗇 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋, 𝗅𝗂𝗍𝗍𝗅𝖾 𝖻𝗂𝗍 𝗈𝖿 𝖺𝗇𝗀𝗌𝗍, 𝗆𝖺𝗒𝖻𝖾 𝗌𝗐𝖾𝖺𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗀, 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝗉𝗋𝗈𝗈𝖿𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽
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Distraught, that’s the main emotion Chenle felt at that moment. It felt like the world had collapsed around him and slowly started to tear into him, seemingly leaving a gaping chasm in his chest right where his heart used to beat rhythmically.
He felt that lump sits at the base of his throat, begging and pleading to come up in the form of acidy vomit. The sounds around him evaporated into muffled noise like he was being drowned, he felt like he was being drowned and the one thing that brought him to was the soft gentle touch on his shoulder. That one touch is what broke the tension in his shoulders, he could slowly feel the fear and anger dissipate. God, how could he have been so stupid.
He couldn’t help but feel like this was all his fault. I mean he is currently in promotions every move he makes is being honed in like he’s the main attraction at a zoo, he knew going out was risky yet all he wanted to do was see his boyfriend, is that too much to ask? He finally had a day off, the first one in weeks, and just because some guys who couldn’t find anything better to do than ruin idols' lives decided to show up he was the one to blame. They just couldn’t leave him and his boyfriend alone.
Chenle could slowly feel the anger growing steadily, the gentle touch on his back moving quietly in time with his growing emotions to tightly grasp his hand. Finally having the courage to look up for the first time in the droning meeting, and god he didn’t regret it, just meeting those perfect brown eyes; speckled with gold almost as if honey was swirling in his iris, those plump rosy lips curving up into an unnoticeable smile, and the cheeks dusted in light freckles, curly hair brushing his forehead and running down the nape of his neck like a veil a beautiful, blush pink veil that made those eyes he loved pop.
The managers in the room began to stop their rambling, noticing the one the meeting was for was no longer listening. They could see the love pouring out of the young man's eyes as if he was willing for his partner to take everything from him even his heart and he would just follow him to the ends of the earth, the managers weren’t stupid they could see the romance between the two it wasn’t just a fling and they doubted this ‘scandal’ would break what they had and they were glad. For the first time in years, they’ve seen their two idols truly happy, truly joyous and now they don’t know if each other was the cause but they can see they played apart.
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In the following hours, both SM Entertainment and Starship Entertainment put out statements regarding their idols.
“Chenle of NCT Dream and M!Reader of Cravity are in a relationship and have been seeing each other for 2 years we wish them the best and hope fans do the same”
Both fans and idols alike were shocked the first openly gay idol couple had been revealed and many were truly happy for the two, although like many situations there was a ton of hate yet both companies took action and dealt with any malicious comments.
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Several weeks had passed since the news broke out, and the couple was doing well. They didn't have to hide anymore and were over the moon. I mean, who wouldn't be? Getting caught and being in love, at this point, who cares what others think when you have each other? You're in love at this point who cares what others think.
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𝗁𝖾𝗅𝗅𝗈 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗄 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗌𝗈 𝗆𝗎𝖼𝗁 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝗂𝗇𝗀!!! 𝗌𝗈𝗋𝗋𝗒 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗍𝖺𝗄𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗌𝗎𝖼𝗁 𝖺 𝖻𝗂𝗀 𝖻𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗄 𝖨 𝖺𝗆 𝖻𝖺𝖼𝗄 𝗍𝗁𝗈 𝗇𝗈𝗐...
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jacksgreysays · 3 days
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Extremely late, completely unnecessary opinion of the Watcher situation, (2024-04-24)
So this is a relatively belated post — several days after the initial “Goodbye Youtube” and one day after the “An Update” videos — and surely by this point there are more interesting/insightful op-eds (both in written form and video form, especially penguinz0’s fairly objective POV as, essentially, a YouTube expert) but there is something about the Watcher situation that made my brain itch. Thus, I wanted to write about it in order to make sense of it all as well as get into a philosophy that seems to be haunting me in recent years and which I think applies greatly here.
This may seem completely out of left field considering 1) definitely not fanfiction and 2) about Watcher Entertainment, a YouTube channel which—as far as this tumblr is concerned—I’ve not engaged with whatsoever, but I don’t know where else I would put this, and weirdly enough I think the general tumblr response to this whole predicament is maybe the… if not objective… then at least, most thoughtful?—or, perhaps, least immediately reactive?—amongst the various social media platforms, that I think some people might appreciate this anyway.
In terms of my relevant background: I majored in Management Science (which is just a fancy way of saying Economics + Business + Accounting because they are, weirdly enough, separate things) and minored in Film Studies in school, I am currently working in the stage tech industry (which, I know, is obviously different from film/video industry), and I like to think I am a fan/consumer of a wide variety of independent creators, some of whom I am lucky enough to be able to afford being a patron/subscriber. I won’t go into all of them—because it is a lot—but there are four in particular whose business models I want to analyze in comparison to Watcher’s admitted blunder:
A) RocketJump (known for Video Game High School and Anime Crimes Division; the core group which turned into the podcast Story Break, then became Dungeons and Daddies) B) Dropout (formerly College Humor, we’ll get into their discography later) C) Drawfee (previously an offshoot of College Humor, now fully independent) D) Corridor Digital (used to be mostly behind the scenes of how VFX studios work, have since become a mostly original content creator)
I will say, right off the bat, I am a patron of Drawfee as well as Dungeons and Daddies, and I am a subscriber to Dropout. I am not subscribed to Corridor Digital’s streamer, which I will get into why later. I understand that being able to sustain those two patronages and one subscription is a luxury that not everyone can afford and so my point of view is already skewed by being such a person who could theoretically afford another streaming service if I so chose. I also acknowledge that many fans of Watcher are not in similarly financially secure places as I am and that regardless of the business model, any monetization that comes from fans would have been a rough ask. However, I wanted to go into this essay in a way that accepts Watcher’s statement—that they needed more funding—in relatively good faith rather than assuming the worst (although that is another point I’ll get into later, largely related to the philosophy I brought up earlier.)
All four of the above listed content creators started or, at least, hit their stride on YouTube:
RocketJump and College Humor were, if not household names, then the digital equivalent of it in the “early days of YouTube.” They were part of the wave of content creators that made YouTube seem less like a bunch of eccentrics with cameras making videos on the side and more like a viable way to support yourself/your team with the art you create.
RocketJump’s Video Game High School went from short (less than 10 minutes) minimal location episodes in season one, to 30 minute plus episodes with full on fight scenes and car explosions by season three thanks to a Monster Energy brand deal. They also had two seasons of Anime Crimes Division, a literal TV quality show, thanks to a Crunchy Roll sponsorship. Unfortunately, RocketJump shut down not long after (their videos are still up on YouTube but they obviously don’t add anything new) but the core creative team behind that have been involved in several projects outside of YouTube (Dimension 404 on Hulu being one of the biggest ones so far) including the podcast Story Break (part of the Maximum Fun network) and now the independent podcast Dungeons and Daddies, the episodes of the main campaigns which are free with ads or, for patrons, ad-less along with additional mini-campaigns and other benefits.
I will say, during RocketJump’s decline, they did try their best to keep going. The partnerships with Monster Energy and Crunchy Roll were the big swings to get the funding to make those TV quality shows they wanted. I believe they lucked out with those brands in particular, or, at least, those brands didn’t seem to inhibit the creative process or ask too much of them that it felt like “selling out” but I also don’t have insight into why they didn’t pursue this model of, essentially, very weird but interesting season long commercials. Maybe they just couldn't find the right brands or maybe they did feel like it was too stifling. Regardless, before they shut down completely, they did also downsize—moving out of the actual city of Los Angeles over to Buena Park. Which is in Los Angeles county, and basically counts as LA still, but is way cheaper than literal Hollywood real estate. (I should have added to my relevant background that I’m born and raised LA county, and have relatives and friends in the film/movie industry, so trust me when I say literal Hollywood/city of Los Angeles is so overrated and unnecessarily expensive. There is a reason why LA traffic is the worst and it’s because everyone is commuting INTO the city. Respectfully and with affection, no one should live there. No one’s start up should be located there.) Obviously the downsizing didn’t necessarily work for RocketJump, but they also didn’t have multiple successful revenue streams the way that Watcher currently does.
In contrast, College Humor was acquired by InterActiveCorp and was turned into CH Media which was three pronged: College Humor, Drawfee, and Dorkly. In 2018 they made Dropout, which had exclusive content separate from their YouTube videos which involved all three prongs. Then some financial shenanigans happened early 2020—IAC withdrew their funding—and there were a bunch of layoffs right before the pandemic which extremely sucked. It has been stated by multiple people involved that it was basically a miracle that Dropout survived through all of that, but there were definitely some sacrifices along the way to make that happen. Currently, Dropout seems to be thriving with mostly exclusive content with the occasional “first episode of a season” posted to YouTube, OR if Dimension 20 is doing a “sequel season” in an already established campaign they will put the entirety of the previous season on YouTube.
IAC withdrawing their funding did put CH Media in a bind. They had to layoff a lot of people right before pandemic and, understandably, a lot of trauma was had. There were also weird issues with who controlled certain IPs/brands/digital assets (I mostly come at this from a Drawfee POV, it took several years for them to own the Drawga series and be allowed to host all of the episodes on their YouTube, and there was also something about the sound file for their opening animation?) but mainly the difference is what kind of content they generate. Originally Dropout had multiple scripted shows with high budgets and pretty cool effects/animations/stunts (Troopers, Kingpin Katie, Gods of Food, Ultramechatron Team Go!, Cartoon Hell, and WTF 101) whereas now almost all of their shows are variations of improv comedians being put into different scenarios or given different prompts. I’m not just talking about Game Changer and Make Some Noise, because Dimension 20 and Um, Actually also technically fall under that description as well. Which is not to say that these shows are worse than the scripted shows—I subscribe to Dropout, so clearly I’m a fan of their current shows—and the budgets for them have since increased to resemble, if not match, those early shows, but it is a noticeable shift in their content creation strategy as a response to the lack of IAC funding. And I will say: Dropout releases at least three videos a week if not more and at least two of those are long form at 30 minutes plus (Dimension 20 being the longest, of course.)
So, these first two business models are not really the most applicable to Watcher Entertainment considering their origin was to get away from Buzzfeed—they’re probably not keen to be partnered with or purchased by a larger company—but there are some aspects to both that I believe are valuable in at least showing the strategy in how these former YouTube creators could successfully extract themselves from YouTube or how they still utilize YouTube even if it is not their main hosting platform or revenue stream.
Then there is Drawfee and Corridor Digital, both of whom are currently—if not primarily—on YouTube, whose situations are more comparable to what I believe are Watcher’s goals.
Drawfee had to rebuild themselves like a phoenix from the ashes of the CH Media layoff during the beginning/worst of the pandemic. Side note: I’m happy that Nathan (one of the four main artists of the current Drawfee team) at least has forgiven(? or let bygones be bygones) Dropout enough to be on an episode of Game Changer (although I will say that this happened after Drawga was “returned” to Drawfee, and after Dropout officially split from College Humor as a brand.) All that being said, Drawfee was a team of four artists plus their editor who wanted to stick together but basically had all of their support system taken away from them. They took a bit of a break to assess their goals and options, announced a patreon with several tiers with great perks, and stuck to their upload schedule. In addition to two videos a week, they also stream on Twitch weekly, have a patron only stream once a month, and a draw class (for one of the higher tiers) once month. After asking their patrons on the relevant tiers if they were okay with it, they began releasing the patron only stream and the draw class to the general public for free after a month. The patreon perks also include things like merch discount codes, high quality PNGs of the final rendered art, access to the draw class with live interaction/critique, and a commission from the artist of your choice. The only “ads” they run are for their own patreon and merch store and, even then, they’re usually at the end of the videos with a credit scroll of the patron names during their exit banter.
Admittedly, they only have MAYBE eight employees—that’s including their video editor(s?) and their discord mod(s?)—with the main four artists doubling/tripling up duties as additional video editors, CFO, and marketing/merch leads. It’s a very streamlined crew and their production costs are not very high since it’s mostly screen recording of their drawings with their audio recording overlayed onto that footage. Although the video editors do sometimes have clever cuts to relevant images depending on their vamping. Sometimes they will have a guest artist but, again, since it’s screen and audio recordings, there’s no travel/housing costs. So, very minimal expenses due to low production costs and small crew but, again, their only revenue source is the patreon/merch, they don’t do outside ads and they very rarely do live shows.
Corridor Digital is, I think, the most applicable to what Watcher would ideally do, which I suppose is somewhat ironic for this essay in particular considering they’re the only one of the four that I don’t financially support. They have two YouTube channels: their main one being where they show the “final product” videos, but I believe their Corridor Crew channel which started primarily as behind the scenes type of videos is where most of their views come from. Especially their React series (VFX artists, Stuntmen, and Animators React etc.) On Corridor Crew they usually upload two videos a week — one which is a React and the other which goes into fun projects/challenges (involving VFX or not) or using VFX to explain scientific concepts — as well as the first episodes of their exclusive content on their streamer. Also behind that paywall are longer and ad-less versions of the videos on YouTube. They also have merch. All of them have merch, I don’t know why I’m stating that. They don’t have a patreon as far as I know, but I also don’t know if their subscription to their website comes with similar perks like discounted merch or something similar.
Anyway, their studio seems to be about 15 to 20 people — not all of them are VFX artists, of course. I believe they have higher equipment costs than Watcher since, understandably, Corridor has to be on the cutting edge of video editing technology. They do occasionally travel for shoots, but it doesn’t require big teams, and that’s only when the local locations available to them don’t match the requirements for the “final product” videos. Otherwise most of their videos are set in the studio or in the alleyway outside their studio in Los Angeles (the city itself, not just the greater county, though they are in a rougher and thus probably cheaper part of Los Angeles). I personally don’t subscribe to their website primarily because their exclusive shows don’t appeal to me—either they’re too technical or a little too dry; to be fair, most of them are VFX artists first before they are performers—and I don’t particularly feel the need to see the extended cuts of the videos uploaded on YouTube. Also I sometimes get a little bummed out by their lack of diversity.
All of this to say, from these four different business models, a bespoke Frankenstein business model for Watcher could be cobbled together. But also, even with that bespoke Frankenstein, there are some changes that Watcher would have to make: primarily their upload schedule. As of right now, I think they do MAYBE one video a week if not, perhaps, one video every TWO weeks. If they want a monthly subscription model, their rate of content generation would ideally be higher to double/quadruple their current upload rate. Obviously they want to create videos with higher production value, but at that rate of generation, something’s got to give: supplement their TV quality shows with either a behind the scenes type series or an increase of “we get four episodes out of Shane and Ryan get increasingly drunk in someone’s backyard” or something similar. Leaning into shows like Worth A Shot (the first season in which Ricky Wang makes cocktails based on a random ingredient, the second season threw in some competitive aspects which I didn’t really find necessary) or the Beatdown which has relatively low production costs (no travel, one location, maybe two cameras at most therefore smaller crew requirements) but a higher polished look. Otherwise, for a separate streaming subscription service, 2-4 videos a month is not going to cut it.
As of right now they probably can’t back out of the separate streaming subscription service because those set ups usually require some level of contract/paying for servers for the website and whatever is hosting their videos for a set amount of time. However, what really strikes me is that I literally didn’t know they had a patreon until I scrolled through the comments of the first Goodbye Youtube video. Maybe it’s been linked "tactfully" in the descriptions of videos, but considering they claim to be lacking in funds, the fact that they weren’t plugging their patreon at the end of every video is not just strange, but also irresponsible considering they do have 25 employees that they don’t want to layoff.
Additionally, I understand artists needing to be in a space that promotes creativity, but there are cheaper places that must be comparable that aren’t in literal Hollywood. It’s an unnecessary expense. On top of that, other people have already brought up that it was fairly crass to introduce this paywall, attributing it to the increased production costs, when the next planned “new series” is a reboot of an old Buzzfeed series in which people travel and eat expensive food. I’m not even talking about the personal expenses of Steven, Shane, and Ryan; what kind of car they drive or the cost of their wedding venue doesn’t matter on a business model basis.
But getting back to the patreon: again, I literally didn’t know they had one. I’m looking over their tiers— they have $5, $10, $25, and $100 — and for the most part they seem okay, although I think they have more to offer that wouldn’t necessarily cost them more. Ie, something that has baffled me for a while: the fact they don’t sell the mp3s of the Puppet History songs; they already exist and it doesn’t cost them anything additional because they don’t need to put it on physical media. Or maybe they do and they’re not marketing it similarly to how they weren’t overtly marketing their patreon?
And, okay, maybe they didn’t want to seem desperate — in the early days of Dropout and independent Drawfee, they both were very blatant in getting people to subscribe/join their patreon. As they should be. Desperation maybe doesn’t look cool and sexy, but it is earnest in a way that conveys equal effort that fans who can afford it would want to see. The fact that we weren’t getting rotating ten second clips of Steven, Shane, and Ryan asking people to join the patreon at the end of every video — even if its the same clip every three videos — is wild. And yes, the $25 tier includes a shoutout every 3 months on Watcher Weekly+ (which I don't quite understand what that is,) but the fact that they weren’t doing a quick post movie credits scroll of all the patreon names is, again, wild. Once you have that initial list, it’s not too difficult to add any new names that join and put that title overlay on top of, again, those nonexistent ten second clips of the three.
As others have already stated, it seems like an extreme mismanagement of their existing successful revenue streams, if they are actually struggling to pay all of their employees. Which goes into the philosophy part of this essay: don’t assume malice when it might just be incompetence. It’s something that I have to remind myself of often because I do get paranoid about people’s intentions sometimes and I have to check myself. Am I being overly suspicious of what might be just an honest mistake? Am I assigning ill will to an action just because it inconvenienced me?
Yes, of course, a lot of this situation could be misconstrued as straight up greed. But, also, Watcher is a relatively young company, helmed by three people who certainly don’t have experience running their own company:
They like to travel. They like to bring a full crew around with them. They’re renting out a shiny office in the heart of Hollywood where everyone knows is where real show biz happens. They’re adding more employees to the team because surely more people means better. And they want better productions values because the prettier the videos the more people will like them right?
It’s naive. It’s a level of inexperience combined with giving responsibility to officers whose main priority is to entertain. And if that means entertaining themselves and their staff, then they might not know the difference. It’s the kind of mistake that first time managers make—trying to prioritize fun over getting the job done. Prioritizing making friends with their employees rather than making sure the work the employees put in is equal to (or greater than) what you spend on them whether that is in paycheck or bringing them to cool locations for fun shoots. It’s a mistake anyone can make, it's just unfortunate that they made this mistake in front of millions of people. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s solely a greed induced cash grab.
But then comes the catch-22 of the philosophy—is it worse to assume incompetence than it is to assume malice? Or, in this case, greed. Especially for the heads of a company that holds the livelihoods of 25 employees in their hands. At what point does it not matter if it’s incompetence or greed if the end result is the same?
Is it better to think that Watcher knew about the various other business models of independent creators and just ignored the efforts put into achieving those successes or is it better to think that they didn’t know and just stumbled into one of the worst moves they could have done. Again, other people have mentioned that Great Mythical Morning—which Watcher has had multiple collaborations with—has managed to make the YouTube subscription/tier system work to the point that they can sustain themselves as well as spinoff channels. Is it incompetence or greed that led to Watcher thinking they could bypass that completely in less time and with less content?
I’ve been at this mess of an essay for several hours when I should have been asleep. Ultimately I want to say, regardless of incompetence or greed… yes, Steven is CEO and yes he is ultimately the one who makes the final call but it is disheartening to see the pointed vitriol at Steven specifically and the infantilizing of Shane and Ryan in comparison. Either they’re all silly uwu boys who are messing around not knowing how to run a company, or they’re all complicit in a crass cash grab in an extremely busted economy.
I think what’s most frustrating to me in all this is that there were so many other channels and creators who have literally walked this path before them and, again, whether through incompetence or greed or arrogance, for them to just ignore it… It’s not betrayal because I don’t know them and so there’s no relationship to betray, it’s just so inefficient and convoluted that I don’t understand. Or, no, even if it was greed, it’s an incompetent greed because at least pure greed would have been pushing that patreon every second they could. Their ratio of YouTube subscribers to patreon members is less than 1% and I bet that’s because a lot of their audience, like me, literally didn’t know they had a patreon. I probably would have become a patreon member of theirs had I known earlier, ESPECIALLY if it included access to those Puppet History songs. Drawfee has half as many YouTube subscribers and nearly double the patreon members as Watcher. I’m just baffled, is all, and maybe by this point sleep deprived.
Anyway. That’s my extremely late, completely unnecessary opinion of this situation.
Edit (several hours later after some sleep): I forgot to mention, because they did walk this back almost immediately, even before their "An Update" video, but I believe the original plan was to put EVERYTHING behind that paywall and pull their content from YouTube entirely. Which is, again, extremely baffling, because if ALL of their content is behind a paywall, how would they possibly gain new fans? Even if all of their current fans were able and willing to pay for their separate subscription streaming service, how would a brand new person even stumble on their content enough to want to subscribe if there wasn't a significant amount of "proof of value" free content on YouTube? Again, extremely baffling, and a level of incompetence that overshadows a "cunning" greed. But, like I said earlier, they did walk this decision back almost immediately. If I've misunderstood this and that was never their plan, please let me know, I don't want to be spreading misinformation in a situation that is already so convoluted.
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springypaws · 7 hours
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There’s so much in Malevolent to be devastated over so why am I the most sad about the way things turned out with Yellow
Like, Yellow is John’s other half— the half that had been the main villain, threat, and danger for so many episodes now. And then, one day, POOF!! His memories were gone, and he was put into the same situation that John was in when he first met Arthur. I know it would have taken so extremely long, and may never have happened, but I keep imagining what it would have been like if Arthur helped Yellow feel some humanity, too. What would have happened if both Yellow AND John were changed for the better? Would the King in Yellow as a whole no longer be some evil Erdrich god, torturing souls for the heck of it?
Them beating Yellow in the finale of season 4 is one of the saddest parts to me, because it’s made very clear that Yellow wants to be cared for; he wants the bond and change that John had. Yellow goes so far as to ask John how he had made it so that Arthur would love John and care for him as much as he did, and what made John more lovable than himself. But he never receives it. Perhaps he simply can’t.
I just find it so sad— like this man is definitely not great, very far into the dark grey area of the moral spectrum, but he had so much opportunity to be good, even if it was taken away in the end. And I mean, perhaps he never could have changed, since John explained that Arthur cared for him because John cared for Arthur, which implies that Yellow couldn’t do the same, but the thought that he, once, might have been able to… he at least deserved someone to care about him, instead of trying to use him like Larson :(((
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ash-says · 2 days
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Handling curiosity so the cat doesn't get killed:
We all have been there at least once in our life where we allowed the curiosity to get the best of us and instantly regretted the decision. Being extremely mercurial in nature it comes naturally to me. To be curious on the continuous lookout to find something that will stimulate my brain or make it go crazy obsessive.
That's how I learned the harsh way that being a curious cat might sound cute but it can cost you your life or sanity. One of my dearest friends once said something along these lines,"Some truths are better left unknown. Truth and knowledge can turn into poison when consumed carelessly."
The reason why I am talking about this is because I hardly find people discussing it.
Yet mythology has so many great examples, Pandora opening the box, Eve eating the apple it wasn't just temptation it was also laced with curiosity of what might happen?
I am listing out a few things that you should avoid pursuing under sheer curiosity to save the poor cat in you:
1) A street fight. Two people are fighting. Let them. It's not your job to be the mediator and it's irrelevant to find the reason. Until and unless there's no aggression involved mind your own damn business.
2) Spiritual stuff especially dark ones. I believe energy is both light and dark in nature if you don't know the way to alchemize it better stay away.
3) Attempting things without any prior knowledge. Especially speaking about dangerous stuff here. If you love your life better do it under professional supervision.
4) Your partner's/crush feelings towards you. Girl if he likes you. You will know. Trust me. Been there. Done that. Constant microanalysis. It's tiring. Let him be.
5) Others life. Stalking and obsessing over how a particular person is living their day to day life is literally embarrassing. Get a life, Sushma!
6) Know the red zones in a conversation. If meeting in a professional setting try to avoid personal questions. Learn to sense a person's discomfort and never push someone to answer your questions that have literally nothing to do with you.
7) Celebrities personal life. Another waste of time.
8) Do not show your curiosity for sexual acts, things,etc in front of a man. It's the easiest way to put yourself in danger. You are the target babe. Congrats!!
9) When someone tells you knowing the truth will hurt you. Let it be a secret. Don't persuade that person to tell the truth. I strongly believe when you don't control the situation the truth automatically finds its way to you (conditions applied).
10) About the stuff people say behind your back. A full proof route towards people pleasing, anxiety, self doubt etc. Don't go out of your way searching for what's cooking. The cake might turn out to be burnt. Who knows.
That's all for today's show on ash-says. Stay tuned for more illegal tricks and explosive opinions.
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chronosdawn · 13 hours
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Attached - Alpha!Wriothesley x Beta!Reader
a/b/o AU, GN!Reader
A/N: I got the idea for this while working on another, longer a/b/o fic so instead of working on that like I was supposed to, I wrote this OTL
Word count: 1.3k
Content warnings: a/b/o dynamics, mild sexual content and themes (minors please DNI)
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Not many got the chance to know the Duke of the Fortress of Meropide well. Certainly, almost everyone in Fontaine knew of him, and as the Fortress’s administrator, many people had some sort of contact with him, be they convicts of the Fortress or proprietors of businesses hoping to gain a foothold there.
But among those, very few got to actually know the Duke beyond his title and position, and when you’d first met him, you’d had no reason to think you’d be any different. Sure, you had been invited there by him personally, which was rare, but made sense once you’d learned he was looking to procure resources for some project that was being worked on in the Fortress—something you had a lot of experience doing for members of the Fontaine Research Institute.
Over the course of several meetings—and more than a couple of pots of tea—a tentative friendship had formed between you. One that had turned into something quite different when you’d accidentally stumbled into his office while he was in a rut.
And that, was how you’d come to end up in your current situation—seated in Wriothesley’s lap with your overnight bag discarded by the door to his room. You hadn’t expected this to become a regular occurrence when you’d first offered him your assistance, but for some reason the stubborn fool had refused to seek out an omega to spend his ruts with, even if you both knew that was what he actually needed.
He nosed against the back of your neck before going in with a gentle nip of his teeth, dangerously close to where your small beta scent gland lay.
“Careful,” you warned, “you know our agreement, nothing that can’t be taken back. I don’t want to be the reason your future omega ends up developing some sort of complex.”
Wriothesley stilled briefly before grazing his teeth over your nape once more. “What would you do if I did?”
“What do you mean?” You tried to turn around to look at his face, but the muscular arms around your waist kept you locked in place, pressed tightly against the firm planes of his chest.
“What would you do if I decided to put a claiming bite on you? Right now, you’re not in any position to stop me.”
“You wouldn’t,” you said with absolute certainty, even as he nipped at you again, harder this time.
“What makes you so sure?” His rut had come on enough that even you could smell the pheromones he was pumping out into the air, a rich leathery musk with notes of clary sage.
“I know you, you just wouldn’t.”
“You sound pretty convinced of that.”  He went quiet for a moment, and when he spoke again, his voice was barely audible as he muttered into your skin. “Do you even know what I was originally sentenced here for?”
“I do.” He’d never told you himself but you remembered reading about his trial in the newspaper your father had left out on your dining room table. “But that’s neither here nor there. You’re not the sort of person who’d force a yourself on someone, and I can’t imagine you ever being disloyal to your mate. Even if for some strange reason you seem reluctant to go out and find them.”
He let out a chuckle but there was no real humour in it. “You know, sometimes I wish you thought a little less highly of me.”
“If I didn’t think so highly of you, I wouldn’t be here, you know that.”
“Yeah, I do.” He went back to worrying at your neck, his mouth over your scent gland. Instead of biting down, however, he sucked at the skin in a way that was certain to leave its own sort of claiming mark, but one that would fade within a week. 
“You don’t seem to be in any hurry,” you noted, as he took his time littering your nape with hickeys, despite the growing hardness you could feel pressing against your ass.
“How long can you stay?” His hands began to wander slowly over your body, the heat of his palms burning through your clothes.
“A couple of days.” You let out a sigh, allowing yourself to enjoy the feeling of his touch while you could. “I’ve got a trip to Liyue scheduled to check on some ore shipments and it’s too late to rearrange it. Sorry I can’t be here for the whole thing; I should be able to help you through the worst of it though.”
“And when will you be back?”
“I’m not sure. Some of the merchants we’re dealing with are really dragging their feet for some reason. I should be back before your next one, although whether that’s really a good thing or not, I don’t know. Might have been a good incentive for you to actually seek out a more permanent arrangement.”
“I really wish you’d stop bringing that up.” One of his hands slipped underneath your shirt, sliding beneath your undergarments so he could give your nipple a firm squeeze. “What’s so wrong with this?”
You let out an undignified squeak and chastised him with a light slap to the thigh. “I know I sound like some nagging old aunt, but I just want you to find someone who makes you happy. Truly happy, not just sex.”
“And if I said you make me happy?”
“I can’t, not in the way deserve,” you said a little sadly, before putting the thought out of your mind altogether. It was best not to think about what ifs that could never be, it would only lead to hurt. “Now, what do you say we get a move on, before you get so wound up you tear straight through my clothes. Again.”
Wriothesley loosened his hold enough for you to turn around in his lap, fingers moving to undo the buttons of your shirt as he watched with rapt attention.
“With the way you’re so fond of telling me off, anyone would think you’re the alpha in this relationship.” He made no move to touch you, simply observing as you shed your garments one by one. You weren’t entirely sure how he was managing it, you could see the flush on his cheeks, feel the tension in his body—a piece of elastic a hair’s breadth from snapping. Still, if any alpha would have the self-control to hold themselves back during a rut, it would be him.
“Come on mister, it’s not fair to make me do all the work.” You moved to start helping him out of his waistcoat, his jacket having already been shed before you’d even entered the room.
“Alright boss,” he replied with obvious sarcasm, a smirk curling at his lips. With no warning, you were suddenly lifted and flung onto the bed, Wriothesley following you quickly after, caging you in with his body and leaving no hope of escape. “If you’re that eager, you don’t have to wait for me to go into a rut, you know, you can come here anytime. I’ve asked the staff at the front desk to let me know as soon as they see you.”
“It’s a tempting offer.” You helped him out of his waistcoat as he pulled off his tie and tossed it somewhere in the room. “But I’d hate to be the reason for a decline in the efficiency of management of the Fortress.”
“Always an answer for everything.” You didn’t get a chance to retort before his mouth was covering yours, hot and hungry as he ground his hips against your thigh. It would seem his control had finally failed him, as when you kissed back, he let out a satisfied growl from the back of his throat, fingers digging into your flesh as he tugged you into the position he wanted.
You simply let him, tangling your fingers in his hair as you braced yourself for what was sure to be a long and tiring—if enjoyable—affair.
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myohmyimanxious · 14 hours
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Hazbin Hotel Headcanons bc I'm obsessed xoxo
(Some NSFW is implied/mentioned)
-Husk was there when alastor sold his soul to whomever it was
- He also has no trust is alastor whatsoever like he's terrified of him but he also wouldn't trust him for his life (literally)
- Angel has PTSD
- But he doesn't realise he has it, bc he represses feelings and everything
- Charlie and Angel have a sibling dynamic
- They're pain in the asses for vaggie and husk
- Charlie reminds angel of his sister molly
- He also doesn't really like to celebrate his birthday bc it's not the same without her (unless he's shit-faced drunk and won't remember)
- Vox will make his screen brighter or flicker to get and hold val's attention
- Angel is Husk's lucky charm in gambling moments
- Angel genuinely did love val in the beginning and thought val loved him too
- Whilst Alastor truly does believe that a smile is a both a way to control the situation and hide one's true intentions, his smile is stitched on and he physically cannot remove the stitches as it's part of his deal
- Alastor is colourblind in the same way deer are
- Angel knows what they said about him in Angel court and he plays it off but it really upset him
- Alastor was a serial killer in his life
- He was never caught though
- Alastor plays static when actively trying to ignore someone
- He also plays music for the hotel to dance too, finding that he and Angel enjoyed the same music (bc of the similar time period)
- Husk once got alastor drunk enough to dance with Charlie and taught her how to Charleston dance
- Nifty is like everyone's child. You cannot mess with her
- Nifty will bring bugs to the person she likes most that day (usually alastor)
- Vaggie has threatened angel's life on many occasions
- Those two argue constantly (it's friendly tho)
- Charlie spends a lot of her time breaking up little spats in the hotel
- Charlie has nightmares about the time she saw alastors true demon form
- It made her feel super bad for him too, and she's offered to cut the stitches on his mouth but he refuses
- Lucifer is trying to be a better dad
- It's hard but he is actively trying
- He likes to hand out rubber ducks he's made/painted when people are upset
- Angel has a lot of them, bc he frequently seems to catch Lucifer when he's returning from work
- Lucifer is autistic for sure
- And his ducks are his special interest
- Lowkey he's also smitten by fat nuggets when he meets him
- So much so that when angel is at work lucifer happily offers to feed and look after the lil guy
- Fat nuggets once ate off of alastors plate, and that's the only time it ever happened bc by fucking god did alastor go crazy
- He didn't hurt fat nuggets tho it's okay, he wanted to but angel was like ILL DIE AGAIN BITCH TRY ME MOTHERFUCKER and pulled out some guns
- Angel gives Alastor the tea of what's going down with the Vee's when he gets it
- Mainly bc he hates the Vee's as much as Alastor and also bc Alastor asked him too and he's kinda scared of him
- And also bc it's fucking easy bc Val is a dumb bitch who doesn't know how to be subtle if he tried, Vox thinks so little of Angel that he thinks Angel would be too focused on the sex and Velvette doesn't care much for Angel either
- That's not to say that the Vee's haven't tried to get Angel to be their spy on the inside too, it's just Angel is like nothing to report also I gotta work sorry and just lies to them
- A wannabe patron once was rude to Charlie and lucifer decked them
- Everyone was amazed he had it in him to do it like that bc damn mans was pissed
- Let's just say nobody is rude to Charlie anymore just in case
- Also Charlie is also fucking terrifying when she wants/needs to be
- Someone called Angel a whore and tried to touch him and she went off
- Lucifer had to hold her back
- Fuck with her friends and she will kill you 😊
- Charlie cries at everything (good or bad)
- Vaggie is a real trooper putting up with it
- Angel was like "would you be like that with me if I cried all the time?" To husk, and husk with no hesitation said "fuck no"
- Husk treats Angel like a princess in the streets but a slut in the sheets
- They've deffo fucked behind the bar
- Charlie and Rosie keep in touch
- They have tea parties with Alastor
- Val is scared of Niffty bc she's unpredictable and bc he's not over what happened in the club
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oldhalloweentape · 1 day
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🪨Venture (OW II) x (gn) reader ⛏️
(Love Language Pt. I Edition!)
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(Not my picture!)
(I just keep having ideas, and the insatiable urge to write them down so, enjoy :))
Their love language: Physical Touch, Quality Time, Gift Giving, and Words of Affirmation (Pt. II!)
Physical Touch
- As I mentioned in the previous post (here), they love physical touch, especially with you, it’s just so natural to them.
- While on the job at Overwatch, the PDA is at a low, for obvious reasons.
- Though the second the mission is over, they almost immediately have to urge to wrap their arms around you and give you a big squeeze.
- Loves hand holding, rubs their thumb over the front of your hand and knuckles as they give you the details of the last expedition they did.
- Also likes putting their head on your shoulder, especially on the days you both are in bed and don’t have to do anything.
- Kisses with them are a must of course, with their kisses usually being quick yet affectionate but can be long and soft if the situation requires it.
- Their all-time favorite spots to kiss you in on the forehead, cheek, and lips. But they’d kiss you anywhere if you ask.
- They just love to pepper kisses all your face after an especially long day, their favorite activity actually.
- If they’re feeling a bit sillier than usual or you need some cheering up, they make loud smooching noises when they’re kissing you, usually doing it during cheek kisses.
- In general, Venture is a love bug and just can’t help spreading their affection, can’t get enough of you lol.
Quality Time
- This and physical touch go in tandem with one another, when they can’t touch you, it’s ok!
- They can always settle for being in your presence, being with you is always a positive in their eyes, and you just make things all the better.
- Wants to do so much and experience so much with you, meaning dates consist of mostly outdoor activities.
- Think like camping, hiking, running, and exploring in general, even if you just want to walk around a nearby park they’re all for it!
- They just love nature and they love you, so, the best of both worlds. Also, it’s a way for them to use up all that energy they just naturally exude besides their line of work.
- The camping dates are the nicest, just you, them, nature, and the bear you guys chose over a man.
- Jokes aside, the many moments between the two of you they cherish with all of their heart, remembering the littlest of details.
- You guys could be folding laundry together on a lazy Sunday only for them to break the silence of the room, “Hey, you remember that one time we went camping and you got some melted chocolate and marshmallows stuck in your hair cause you accidentally slept while you were eating?” Queue the slow head turn and side eye they get from you that just sends them into a giggling fit.
- They try their best to capture and memorize every minute, having photos of you and your guy’s escapades framed for everyone to see, or in various handmade scrapbooks filled with stickers of geodes, crystals, etc on every page.
- The little things in life, alongside someone they love as much as they love you is something they revel in, I can’t express enough how they are extremely happy to be with you.
(Will try to get Pt. 2 for Beginning relationship and Love Language out as soon as I can!!)
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btsworldz · 3 days
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MY LOVE, MINE ALL MINE (Part Three) - Taehyung x Reader
yandere idol! taehyung x reader
delusional taehyung, taehyung x reader, idol taehyung, bts x reader, yandere taehyung, taehyung is in loooovee
“What is your dream?” Taehyung asked you.
You were quiet as you internally thought of his question. You have always been a simple human, ones who lived by fate and let life takes you where it wants you to be. “I never thought of something big, if that’s what you asked me.” You let out a chuckle, a little bit embarrassed of your own answer.
Taehyung frowned, his eyebrows creased as you looked downward a little. “I never had a dream!” Taehyung said a little too enthusiastic. You laughed. “Thanks, that totally makes me feel better, Tae.” He wanted to smile but hid it so his cheeks puffed instead. You chuckled a little bit.
Letting out a huff. You stared at the distance. You both back at your grandpa’s drinking house, it was becoming a basecamp at this point by how many times you and Taehyung hang out here.
“Well, I have a dream.”
“What? Tell me about it!” Taehyung asked a little too excited as he scooted over a little too close that his knees were touching yours and his face was practically inches from yours.
“Wow.” You push his face away a little, earning a little pout from him. You swore he’s a puppy from how much he can be excited then sad at lightning speed.
“I want to see the northern lights someday.” You said, a little bit bashful when you thought of your dreams. With someone special, you wanted to add the last bit but decided not too. Afraid that it would be a little too corny.
“That’s…,” so cute. Taehyung wanted to say. His heart was beating off his chest from how you looked so beautiful with that bashful expression. He decided he has a dream now, and that is to make your dreams come true.
“What?” You asked curtly. Your expression cutting, testing him to say something wrong. He was smiling from ear to ear, he didn’t realize he hadn’t said anything. “That’s so precious.” He decided to say. Teasing you a little as he held your cheeks in his hands squeezing them until you slapped his hands away.
He chuckled. “Well, we can make that come true. I’m your boss remember?”
You frowned. “And I’m your personal assistant, remember? So, no. You have a very tight schedule, Tae. It’s not possible, and besides it’s not important.”
Taehyung licked his lips, you looked so sexy ordering him around. But he would never tell you that, not now at least. “Well, you’re the boss with that. But I’ve got to disagree with you, it is important to me. It’s your dream.” Taehyung looked serious as he said this, it scared you a little bit from how intense his face was.
“Right…,” you chuckled a little to lighten the situation. “Let’s just drink to that.” You quickly put up your glass and make a toast, and Taehyung as always following through with whatever you do.
“I think your allegation might not be right.”
“Allegation?” The psychiatrist raised his eyebrow, pausing his pen on his hand. His name is Mr. Min, Taehyung didn’t quiet remember his full name since he didn’t wear a name tag and it has been a long time since he visits his office. But his contact is saved under Mr. Min and Taehyung only called him by ‘Doc’.
“Yes, the one you said about me being a sociopath.”
“I said you have a tendency towards that but it will take more to come to that conclusion. On another note, tell me why do you think that is?” Mr. Min fixed his glasses, his eyes boring into Taehyung. Taehyung stared back at him, before leaning on his seat and staring at the ceiling.
“Well, I have a friend. A dear friend. And I think I care about her a lot.”
“Hmm, alright. Tell me about her.”
Taehyung tensed in his seat. He lifted up his head a little before giving the doctor a scrutinizing eyes. “And why do you need that kind of information for?”
Mr. Min stood calm amidst his patient’s stare, in his mind he would for sure be writing down this behavior later on. “I want to know what interest you in getting to know this friend.”
“Alright,” Taehyung said before he went back to stare at the ceiling. “Uhh, where should I start. I think I love how she always know what to say, she always says the right thing. And I love her presence. I didn’t know, I just love… being around her. Is that weird?”
“No. Not at all. It is completely normal, she must be a good person.”
“She is.” Taehyung smiled imagining your bashful expression when talking about the northern lights. “She’s also very honest with her expression and I think, I love that about her very much.”
“Right,” Mr. Min said as his pen was busy writing on the paper. He smiled, was underlined multiple times on his note.
“I think you found a friend, a good friend in fact. It’s important to have someone you trust enough to talk to about your day. That’s a good thing, Taehyung.”
“I know, doc.” Taehyung smiled, showing his teeth. “I will never let a good friend go, it’s hard to come by. Right, doc?”
That night Taehyung got the phone call, when he was just busy surfing on the internet about the northern lights and how to travel there.
When he heard about what the person on the other line said, he froze for a little. His face void of any expression, the cloud on his mind returning bringing the darkness that has always been lurking underneath.
“Father is dead, Taehyung. You are expected to come home, now.”
“I’ll be there.”
He ended the call. The silence suddenly filling his ear drums more than ever, it was like the world pause for a second. He didn’t know what to do now, and how to make out anything of the situation. To be honest his father is not a good man, but he wasn’t bad either. He’s just never there for Taehyung, so he was saddened but it was just like hearing a neighbor died. Well maybe a little heavy than that, but Taehyung was never sure of what he was feeling.
He needs your guidance.
He wanted to see your reaction to the information he was about to give you. So the next thing he knew his phone was already on his hand. You picked up at the third ring, he took notes of it. It was stirring his heart a bit, a genuine frown crossed his face, but it was wiped out in a second when your voice entered his ear.
“Hello, what’s up Tae?”
“Y/n…” Taehyung said in a sad tone.
You took a pause, he noted. Probably assessing his tone. Cute.
“What happened? Are you okay?” Your voice entered him, coated with concern. Taehyung was having a full blown smile, it was hard for him to keep being sad when you were so cute but sadly out of reach.
He needed to see your face, your expression, and maybe he just needed to be close to you. He wanted to bask in your presence, in your pity, and whatever emotions you had for him. Taehyung deeply wanted to bask in it.
“I-I didn’t know what to do,” Taehyung tried to make his voice crack and he was trying his best to cry. To really cry. “My father… he… died. Can you come? I-I don’t think I’m okay…”
Please believe me. Please come. Please come. Please come to me.
“I’m so sorry to hear that Tae and I’ll come to you now, but feel free to change your mind and call me if you need time alone-”
“No!” Taehyung cut you off in a panicked voice. “You need to come.” He felt his act slipped, so he added a please in a sad quiet voice.
“I will be there in a second.” You hung up on him after you said that.
Taehyung was quick to run to the nearest mirror, he make sure to crumpled up his shirt and make a mess out of his hair as if he had been pulling it in frustration. He make sure to put his acting skill to cry on screen and do it.
The quickest way to make his eyes red was to think of something sad, before he met you he couldn’t do it. But now he just had to think of you leaving him or the possibility of him never meeting you in that fateful day, he cried in seconds. He was full on sobbing imagining you were leaving him for someone else or you were cheating with someone that you think was better than him.
In a matter of minutes he looked at himself and smiled in exhaustion. His eyes were perfectly red and puffy and his hair looked like a mess.
He just had to sit and wait for you.
When the doorbell rang at exactly 10 minutes after the phone call, Taehyung almost beamed at your quickness and took notes of how you must have rushed here to comfort him.
He didn’t waste any time to hug you. He missed you like hell and he was glad that you care for him like this. “Tae…,” you said in a weak voice. Returning the hug as tight as Taehyung hugged you. Taehyung was in a bliss, you had never been like this.
“Y/n,” he breathed. He loved how you smell, you had that natural scent that he loves and has ever plagued his mind ever since. He took advantage of the moment and dive his nose deeper in your tresses. His lips ghosting around your neck. He was still debating.
Would you be mad? If his lips touched your neck. He wanted to test it.
He sniffles a little, as if he was crying and moved his head closer so that his lips are now fully touching your neck. He loved how your skin was warm, he took notes of how you flinch but then relax once you took on his crying and you even pat his back.
Oh, you are so perfect.
“I love you,” he said muffled in your neck.
“What?” You asked him, because you didn’t hear him.
“I’m sad,” Taehyung said now finally letting go of your skin, but his hands now settled on your waist. He took on your expression. You have a frown, a pout, but how he love your eyes…
It was a full blown concern, maybe you love him back. It was a possibility, Taehyung thought to himself looking at your expression now.
“I know, Tae. I’m sorry to hear that. I’m here if you need me.”
“I do.” Taehyung said in a heartbeat. “I do need you.” He said again.
“Okay, what do you need me for?”
“Please be by my side,” Taehyung said without even thinking about it. The atmosphere made it so easy for him to say what has been on his mind this entire time, the only plea his heart resonates these days.
He waited with bated breath for your answer.
“Okay,” you said meekly. But that was enough for him as he further tightened the hug.
It has been a week since you attended Taehyung’s father’s funeral. You have been taking care of him more, paying attention to the little frown and blank stare. You wanted to be there for your friend and you really hate seeing him sad, but it was understandable why he was sad.
“Do you need anything?”
Taehyung only pouted and shook his head. “Only need you here,” he said and proceeded to hug you. Burying his face on your hair, you knew what he wanted to do by now. He had already make a habit of hugging you. Each day longer than the day before.
“Tell me if you need anything else,” you murmured.
Taehyung froze hearing your sentence. In his brain he was trying to come up on what your tone indicated and what that sentence even mean? Were you not happy to be right besides him like this?
Much to his reluctance, he had to break the hug off to look at your face. To really look at it and maybe understand you more.
Taehyung was met with sad eyes staring into him, those beautiful lashes adoring the two pool of eyes that held concern for him. And only for him. I love you, he wanted to say at that moment.
But instead he smiled and caressed your cheek with his thumb. “Thank you.”
“Oh wait actually! I want to go on a vacation with you.”
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anemoiashifts · 1 day
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why everyone won’t shift.
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⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.
“do you think everyone will shift?”
no.
“but if they really want they’ll eventually—“
no.
before you pick up your pitchforks & form an angry mob in the comments, hear me out.
first & foremost. what is a want ? a want is something you desire. but not every want is desired. for example, ive been thinking of getting a cat once i move out of my parents house. i want the animal & have the funds for it. when i dig deeper in my desire, i see all the vet trips, the having to feed it & take care of it & i realized that i don’t actually want the cat at the moment. im not ready to make that drastic of a change in my life. on the surface, id like one but i don’t want to take on the responsibility for taking care of a pet at the moment.
i like the idea of getting a cat (shifting) — but when the actual time comes to get a cat (actually shift), i don’t actually want a new pet at the moment (to create that big of a change because i am comfortable with my situation & not mentally prepared / mature enough).
i made a post about comfort already. what previously spoke about can tie into this.
if you don’t actually want something & just like fantasizing about it, that’s okay. but fantasy & imagination needs to be backed by intention. you need intention & effort put into your shifting attempts. ive seen so so many people say “i tried to shift” & all they do is say “i said one affirmation & rolled over & went to sleep & hoped i would wake up in my dr.”
you could say a million affirmations & hope you will wake up in your dr & not shift. you know why ? hope. it’s not hoping you will shift — it’s that internal knowing. it’s letting go fully of the comfort & all you know of this life to go to another & a lot of people don’t want to do that even if they say they do. again, they like the idea of shifting, but aren’t stopping to consider that you’re actually living it.
this isn’t a bad thing. if you actually have come to the conclusion that you don’t want to shift & are in the community — that’s okay. if you’re just interested in the science or content for the subject & that’s why you’ve stumbled across this blog, i don’t have an issue with that.
when i say not everyone will shift, i mean that not everyone wants to shift in the first place despite what they may say. what they want is an escape. time & time again i see comments on tiktok say “i want to get out of this reality”. that statement has nothing to do with wanting to shift — it’s wanting to get out of the situation you are in. you do not have to shift to get out of your current situation. if you live with family or are younger, it’s different, i understand.
if you’re someone who thinks “when i shift, ill be happy.” no no no. happiness comes from within you. while the 3d can bring you momentarily happiness, that only lasts so long. if you don’t have internal happiness & self love those feelings won’t last. shifting — in my option — can sometimes be putting a bandaid on a bigger issue & that’s loneliness & a yearning for another life. you can solve both of those right here at anytime.
lastly, shifting takes effort despite what you may think. “but such and such shifted without trying”. cool, that’s them. but have you ? if you’re reading this im going so safely assume at least a handful of you are saying “no” internally. when you want something you have to work for it. weather that be manifestation or putting yourself first. if you wake up & think “i didn’t shift” or “i hate this world it’s sucks” guess what ?? you’re focusing on the negative. what you pay attention to & give your energy to expands because you’re shifting awareness to it. you make up your thoughts & control them, thus affecting the 3d.
im not saying you can’t shift with negative mindsets or anything. im saying confidence helps a ton. how are you going to believe other people can shift when you can’t even extend that belief to yourself ? you’re making it much, much harder for yourself. doing healing work, finding the root cause of why you want to shift (for love, sense or belonging, etc.) & finding that here first, may alleviate the desperation to shift. when you have a sense of knowing, there’s nothing to be desperate about because whatever happens, you know the outcome already.
⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.
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cupofteainme · 3 days
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I've been so happy with queer representation in Young Royals. I also have notes. Here are some musings about season three.
We didn't get to see many ripple effects of Wille coming out in the show, but trust me, the world changed the moment he held that speech at the end of season two.
Nils and Stedrica
Nils found the courage to come out to his best friends. We don't know how much he was directly affected by Wilhelm. The common struggle with restrictions and the the graduation seemed to tighten the bond between August, Vincent and Nils. Honesty was a strong thread of the season. Wille's confession inspired students to come forward about iniations, later even August yelled at people to stop arguing and to just be sad about Hillerska closing—to be honest about their feelings.
We can make a mental leap and say that Nils was affected by these events and found his courage to be more honest. He also complimented Wille on his bravery and asked the prince if he regretted coming out and Wille answered with a firm no.
I liked how Nils said that he 'sleeps with guys'. You could see how hard it was for him to tell him friends. In season two Nils uses the word 'gay' about himself to Wille. I like how YR shows how people can use different definitions of themselves in different situations or choose to be unlabeled. I got a feeling that this was a huge first step on Nils' journey to accept that part of himself.
Stella and Fredrika are minor characters so they didn't get much screentime regarding their romance. Them ending up together was motivated by something the show explored in season two with Simon, Marcus and Wilhelm—jealousy. While I enjoyed Rosh being frustrated with her gaydar, Stedrica's arc left me wanting. In season two, Stella told Sara that she hesitates to make a move on Fredrica in fear of losing her beast friend if they break up later and things get awkward.
In season three we weren't shown what made Stella feel like she and Fredrica have a good enough chance to succeed in their relationship to put their friendship on the line. It's a shame. I would have loved to see some character development.
The audience is introduced to the sexual side of Stedrica straight after the white party when emotions ran high, Rosh was there to hit more on Stella and the teens were drinking and partying their hearts out. At the time of Stedrica's hook-up Wilmon were broken up, demonstrating exactly what Stella was afraid of—losing the other person completely. We can say that Wilmon didn't set up an encouraging example for them.
Even though Frederica's face looks blissful with Stella, I'm left wondering, am I supposed to read their kissing as a passing fancy that they can play down as part of their friendship again. ("every girl makes out with her best friend while drunk")
I was hoping for some connection to the main story with their arc. It could have been something with honesty, one remark from Stella to Madison for example: "I can't keep lying to my best friend."
Choosing the foundation
Queer matters were lifted to the table and discussed in the scene where Wille needs to pick his charity. Good for Simon for encouraging Wille to use his platform. I especially loved hearing that Wille knows how his love for Simon is changing the world. Not bad for a sixteen year old who's been out of the closet for five seconds.
Let me say this clearly: Queer people don't have to represent a group they identify with, not even Crown Prince Wilhelm. A young person's identity is rarely so strong yet, that they have the strength to carry the public's negative reactions. We saw how much online hate hurt Simon. He and Wille both have the right to protect their identities and relationship. Simon deserved better help with his social media.
Wille told Simon in season one that he doesn't want to say anything (referring to the sex video). At the end of season two, Wille took it back in his speech, but his attitude didn't change. It was a part Wille wanted to keep as private as he could. Over time, Wille could talk about both his mental health and his queerness more openly and in a way that would affect change. He has time to do so when he grows up.
I thought that the pressure for Wille to use his queer identity for good press would have come from the monarchy. It was mentioned once when Farima talked about new royalists and then dropped altogether.
I don't know why YR wanted to differ from the real Swedish monarchy in this instant and rule out LGBTQIA topics as political, when in real life the Crown Princess has taken a stand for them. (Plot reasons, duh, but it's irritating. I was under the impression that for example the amount of LGBTQIA rights and the discrimination LGBTQIA people face are on the same level in real life Sweden and in the YR universe. When one detail doesn't match, it makes the whole foundation wobbly).
That said, LGBTQIA rights don't exist in a vacuum. Sport and health foundation is a brilliant and super topical place to advance non-discrimination and inclusion in sport. Wille could advance LGBTQIA rights without drawing attention to himself when he's underage, perhaps still figuring out his identity and in his first relationship with a boy.
I can't stress enough how impactful it would be to have a queer Crown Prince (or King!) patronage a sport foundation. We can see that the pictures in the launch event of the foundation are taken with diversity in mind. Even if this is a PR strategy on the Court's part, people far removed from the court are going to work in those charities every day. And what do people think about when they see Wille's name and title associated with the foundation? The answer is not a straight boy playing football.
I hoped that YR would have shown in more concrete way that Wille understood the positive impact his queerness brings to people. We got a moment like that with Simon on the First of May when he was asked to take a picture. He got to feel like a role model. Wille could have had a similar encounter at his birthday or even at Hillerska. I feel like the show very carefully avoided to give Wille any good experiences related to the monarchy.
Is there homophobia at Hillerska?
There is a disconnect in how much hate we see Simon get, how Wille is not allowed to support queer rights versus how casual and obvious being queer is to Hillerska students. We saw girls at Hillerska openly kissing next to August in season two. Nobody batted an eye. The students of Hillerska knew it was Wille in the video and there was gossip but no negative reactions.
Young Royals seemingly treats queerness as a neutral or positive thing—even the biggest bully Vincent is not a homophobe and supports Nils when he comes out. Simon's parents are cool with their son being gay. Wille gets personally no backlash after his speech (or at least we don't see him be affected by it as Simon is).
Season three paints a very gloomy picture in contrast. 1. Simon gets mostly negative comments online. These comments hit to where it hurts, into the intersection of Simon's identities (latino lover) and his aspirations with music (chacing clout). 2. Queen Kristina falls sick straight after her son comes out. 3. Erik took part in homophobic hazings that were a tradition at Hillerska.
We don't get to see instances of this homophobia in the school or in the interactions between students except in s2e4 in 'Wille to the table' scene when the Forest Ridge boys celebrate Wille kissing Felice (and conforming to the heteronormativity). It tells us that being straight is the preferred option.
Young Royals claims that homophobia is in the walls, it lives in traditions and institutions. I partly agree. Homophobia needs also people to survive and everyone at Hillerska was shocked and appalled by the hazings. That made it kinda feel like YR put homophobia on-call for plot reasons.
Where is my big scandal about homophobic monarchy?
The journalist in Sweden might have had a keen interest about the disappearance of their Queen from active duties especially when it coincided with Wilhelm's historical coming out speech. Any accusation about the Queen's homophobia would have been devastating for the Monarchy in a country where support for same sex marriages is over ninety percent. (Go Sweden!)
Media would also have a field day about the hazings and their connection to Erik. It's very recent history. The media would wonder if Erik was a victim and/or the perpetrator. No way there would be radio silence. The burning question would be if the freshly out-of-the-closet Crown Prince suffered from homophobic hazing as well.
In season one, Wilhelm had to give a statement about a video he denied being in. In season three Wille has just come out and it turns out that his school has messed up homophobic traditions, the Queen is unable to perform her duties and it's confirmed that somebody filmed the Crown Prince with another boy and uploaded the video. There is nothing 👀
Queer up!
Wille's character is not only queer for loving Simon but queer in the broader (queer theory) meaning of questioning the prevailing conditions by bringing in new ideas, like in season one: 'What if I just want to be with him and not say anything?'
Wille never had the tools to question his position morally or academicly. At the same time he always knew what he wanted at the emotional level. Simon helped Wille with these questions. They had talks about the monarchy and Wille said he was learning from Simon.
Simon was the catalyst for Wille to find his voice and to figure out what he wants his life to look like. More than that, Simon's character allowed the viewers to look into the life of the rich and powerful through queer theory's lens: questioning, revealing, challenging status quo.
Whatever direction their ways ago after the ending, Wille's and Simon's love will continue to make a difference.
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amongsthorns · 10 months
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when they're both doctor frankestein and the monster – they've created each other, they're each other's freaks of nature – and their very essences are so tangled together, so deeply woven, they can't shake themselves off. they become a haunting and an obsession, prey and predator, all at once, both at the same time.
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offkilterkeys · 20 days
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The world isn’t ready for my alpha kid readings.
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seance · 9 months
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GOOD OMENS (2019-) / ALL THINGS END (Hozier, 2023)
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nell0-0 · 25 days
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Wanna draw so much stuff but so little time lately, augh
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